Bathing fun, or something

Startled, Harry whirled around.

No, please don't! Did the fool have to attack THIS man? Was he tired of living?

"Blacky, get down now!"

The animal didn't even think about it, though. He stared down at the wavering potions master and growled.

Harry was already afraid that Snape would attack Blacky with a curse.

Fortunately, he remembered what he had read about dog training.

Quickly he was next to the black dog. He ran his hand over the dog's mouth.

"Taboo."

The command came calmly and firmly. It seemed to make an impression, Blacky turned to face the boy.

Harry took advantage of the situation and stared at the animal in the eyes and exactly what the books said happened. Blacky let go of his prey and walked backwards. The young wizard followed him, staring, to the other end of the room. He completely ignored the whimpering of the animal.

"Stay there." Harry turned and walked over to his teacher.

"I'm sorry professor, I don't know why he did that, Please don't hurt him."

When Severus saw the animal jump on him he had a flashback in that moment, He was suddenly back in the howling hut. However, this time he was only growled at. The animal didn't even try to bite him. However, it certainly showed its teeth at him.

In the background he heard Potter calling. However, the teacher did not expect the boy to succeed.

He was all the more surprised when a slender hand passed over the monster's muzzle and in a flash an issue was commanded and the beast? It was listening.

As Severus moved to a sitting position, he couldn't believe his eyes,

This giant beast was backing away from a way-too-short twelve-year-old. And then the animal started whimpering, too.

Obviously, the dog had accepted the boy as his confidant. Otherwise, this behavior could not be explained.

He had hardly finished his thoughts when Potter approached him. The boy seemed to be really afraid that he would hurt his dog.

Elegantly, he straightened himself all the way up again.

"Calm down Potter. The animal was probably just trying to protect you. Perfectly normal behavior for a familiar."

Intrigued, the jailer watched the dog watch him. The animal tilted its head and then made a soft sound. If he didn't know better, he would say the mutt agreed with him.

The brat in front of him exhaled in relief.

"Blacky, come here."

Immediately he obeyed.

'Incredible, The dog reaches up to the boy's shoulder and he still obeys the boy.' thought Severus.

"Blacky, this is Professor Snape. He'll be here more often now."

"Potter, that's a dog you're talking to. He doesn't understand you."

As if to contradict him, Blacky growled.

Harry grinned.

"Are you sure about that?"

Severus stared angrily at the boy and to the dog in turn. However, something else was bothering the man.

"How did you know what to do?"

Now followed by the rapid change in the student,

The boy began to chew nervously at his lower lip and started playing with his oversized T-shirt.

"Potter?"

"Uncle Vernon's sister breeds bulldogs. She taught them to chase me up trees.

and at some point I just decided to read some books about dogs in the school library so I could handle them properly. I succeeded, too, except for Ripper, they all listened to me."

As he spoke the boy looked down in shame. The black dog started whimpering again and gently nudged his little familiar.

The student gratefully accepted the comfort. He buried his face in the animal's fur.

Severus, on the other hand, had to swallow. For good measure, he asked again.

"She taught the animals this behavior?"

A nod was the only answer.

"Why."

Potter disentangled himself from the fur and looked challengingly at Severus.

"Because she thought it was funny when I didn't get down from the tree for hours, Just like my cousin. I think she was trying to please Dudley with it."

"Dudley is your cousin's name?"

Another nod.

"Is that why you blew her up?"

Confused, the boy looked at him.

"No, I told you I didn't know how I did it."

Oh great Merlin, please don't. Harry didn't want to tell his hated teacher about his relatives. It was all so embarrassing.

Before the man could ask any more questions, Harry decided to call it off.

"So Blacky, I think I promised you a bath."

Of course, he could tell his teacher wanted to say something else, but he didn't go into detail.

Instead, he grabbed the shopping bag and headed for the bathroom. Blacky followed him.

To his surprise, however, so did Snape.

Still ignoring the man, he ran the water and poured in some of the dog shampoo.

"Come on little guy, in you go."

Blacky immediately complied with the request.

In the background, he heard Snape snort.

"Little guy my ass, I hope that cattle is all grown up, Otherwise we've really got a problem."

Harry was soaping up the disheveled fur.

"He is."

How would you know?"

"I told you that I have read many books on the subject of dogs. Some of them had everything on sexual maturity, too."

When Harry realized what and especially to whom he had just said that to he became abruptly silent.

Merlin, this was getting worse. So embarrassing.

A quick glance behind him showed him that Snape seemed to be greatly amused by his self-consciousness.

'Son of a bitch.'

It took a good hour to get all of the dirt out of the giant dog.

"Come on out and don't you dare shake yourself cause then I'll make a Chinese naked dog out of you."

Blacky dutifully got out of the tub and didn't even bother to shake, Much to the amusement of the potions master.

The dog gave him a dirty look.

"Somehow I get the feeling that he understands a lot more than he should."

"That's good, that saves me a lot of work. Professor, could you give me a hand, please?"

"If you think I'm going to help you brush through this crow's nest, forget it."

The boy sighed in resignation.

"No, I wasn't going to but could you please dry Blacky's fur. Otherwise he'll drip all over the place."

Severus drew his wand and used a silent spell. In the next moment, the dog was dry.

"Thank you, come with Blacky."

In the room, Potter sat down on the floor and began to comb the mutt's fur.

Seeing that this would take quite a while, Severus decided to take his things to his room first.

"Potter, I'll be back in half an hour. Try not to burn the room down until then."

Satisfied, Severus left with the boy giving him a dirty look.

When he returned half an hour later, the boy was still sitting on the floor.

By now, however, he was working the mutt's claws.

"What are you doing? Are you going to put nail polish on him too?"

With incredible speed, the boy had jumped up, whirled on his axis, and was now holding a large pair of nail scissors towards him, ready to fight.

"Blimey Professor, do you have to scare me like that?"

Severus preferred not to say anything in response. However, he did notice the mutt's menacing look.

"So, what are you doing?"

The boy had gone back to work on the dog for the meantime.

"Blacky's claws are way too long. They're almost digging into his pads, I have to shorten them.

Interested, Severus approached them. He pulled up a chair and preached on it.

Potter was right, Blacky's paws were in terrible condition. The animal must have been traveling without human supervision for a long time. It was a wonder he let anyone get close to him at all. But he seemed to trust Potter completely. He had even laid down on his side so that the boy could better reach his hind paws.

When Potter was done cutting, he took a small cream jar out of the bag and spread the contents on the pads.

"What's that?"

Potter looked around and winced in shock. 'Now what was that all about?

"It's for chapped skin. The salesman said strays often suffer from cracked pads."

Severus growled. He could have made a much better cream.

Harry almost felt the blow when he saw his teacher sitting in the chair. He had sat there like that when he had embarrassed him in front of the whole class in first year. A horrible memory.

When he was done, he got up and headed for the bathroom.

"Blacky stay. I'll be right back."

When he was in the bathroom he heard his professor's soft voice from the room and then a loud growl.

"Quiet out there or I'll tell the vet to neuter you."

There was silence for a moment, but then he clearly heard Snape's voice.

"I wonder which one of us he was talking to?"

Just in time, Harry managed to hide his face in a towel. Otherwise, the two of them would have heard his loud laugh.

However, Harry never thought his teacher had a sense of humor, and especially not one like that.

Back in the room, he went down on one knee right in front of the dog.

"Potter, what have you got there?"

'Oh dear cauldron, wasn't this guy curious.' Harry thought annoyed.

"It's just something for his ears. I'm guessing Blacky has mites."

He looked at his teacher wearley.

"What?"

"Could you shine a light in his ears, please?"

"Am I your assistant?"

"I said please. Besides, it's not like I'm allowed to do magic."

"That didn't stop you yesterday did it"

Instantly, Harry was back to 180.

"How many more times do I have to say this!? I didn't do it on purpose!"

Snape snorted, Blacky growled and Harry pouted.

But then the man squatted down next to the two.

"You better not bite. Then I'll make a bed rug out of you. And since Potter has taken such good care of your fur, it will even be a thoroughly beautiful one too."

That was the most absurd compliment Harry had ever received. He decided not to say anything in response, however.

When Snape lit into the dog's ears, they both had to suppress a gag.

"By Morgana, if I can get my hands on his previous owners." Snape said struggling not to strangle someone.

Snape confined himself to looking somber instead.

Whole generations of parasites had made themselves at home in his ears.

Harry took a long cotton swab and removed the unwanted inhabitants. This took quite some time. Then he put another cream on the sore spots and massaged it in.

Blacky closed his eyes with in relish as he did so.

"That only helps with the itching., so I think we won't be able to avoid a visit to the healer."

Severus had gotten up again in the meantime. He watched Potter take care of his dog. It was quite amazing. He would not have believed the brat could have so much tenderness.

However, he had to agree with his student. There was certainly more to it than just that. Quickly, the man cast a diagnostic spell. Again without speaking, of course. He didn't want Potter to notice anything, the fact that the dog was looking at him knowingly was bad enough.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no internal injuries. Just underweight and some roommates.

"Potter."

"Yes?"

"We'll take the mutt to the healer tomorrow for a closer look. If Hagrid really takes him, I don't want this one possibly infecting any other animals."

The boy blinked in surprise.

"We?"

"Of course we. I told you I wouldn't let you out of my sight."

The boy looked anything but thrilled but he nodded.

The next moment, a loud screech was heard.

"Hedwig!"

Potter had jumped up and gone to his white fluff animal. The owl had just flown into the room and now he started pampering the animal with every trick in the book. The brat was just as bad as Hagrid.

"Hello beautiful, Did you have a good flight? Look, Blacky is still with us. Please friends with him."

Severus' eyes almost fell out of his head when he saw the owl nod. What kind of critters did the boy actually collect? Why did they all understand what he was saying?

Now the owl held out its leg.

Potter took the package from her.

"It's from Hagrid."

'Great, thinking of the devil.'

The next moment, the packet began to growl.

The student and teacher both looked at each other, allarmed.