CH 2: A Boy and His Puppy
A/N: You asked for it, ErikaRexen. Now you must suffer! (Art posted on Ao3)
Beta Love: Something something Dragon and the Incoming Snowstorm
A Boy and His (Stolen) Puppy
Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.
Max Eastman
Severus looked wide-eyed as he dangled his feet into his uncle Rada's pool. It was built like the old Roman baths (or maybe the Roman baths were actually Dacian; he wasn't quite sure), but it was much deeper.
Hermione wagged her spaded tails, eagerly waiting for her treat.
Severus flicked his eyes over to the pool and grimaced.
There was a very large whale in his uncle's swimming pool, now. He figured all whales were large, but this one took up most of the pool and seemed rather—disgruntled about being translocated to a small residence.
Hermione browled and tail wagged harder. Surely this was what he wanted? He was thinking it, obviously, so he must have wanted it. Where was her treat?
Was his father going to give him THAT look? The one that made him want to shrivel up and die under a table?
What was his uncle going to say?
No—
What was his uncle's expression going to be?
Oh, no. His mum. What was SHE going to say?
What if his father forbade him to be around Hermione anymore?
Said he was a bad influence?
Severus swallowed hard.
Hermione took his wrist in her mouth. Rrrrr.
Severus winced. "I'm not sure if it's right to reward you for a whale," he protested.
Rrrr.
Severus grappled for a good way to tell her she had failed in her mission.
Hermione looked him straight in the eyes. It was his father's expression. On a hellhound, it was terrifying.
Where's my treat?
Severus blinked. He stared back at the hound. Surely that wasn't normal.
You wanted the whale. I brought you the whale. Where is my treat?
"I didn't ask for a whale!" he cried.
Hermione was scowling at him. He imagined her speaking to him, surely, but that scowl was saying what mere words couldn't. He'd reneged on the timeless pact between hound and Sang. She performed a task and he didn't give her the reward.
But he hadn't asked for a whale!
Okay, well he wondered if she could fetch a whale, but he hadn't SAID IT!
The whale let out a sad song, unhappy with being in a pool. Even if it was a rather large pool.
There was a sound as his father, uncles, and his mum came in to use the pool. Severus wrote himself off as dead and slumped dispiritedly.
"Son," his father's tone of voice told him so many things and he shuddered instinctively
"Yes, Father?"
"Why is there a whale in your uncle's swimming pool?"
Severus grimaced and pointed to the hellhound puppy.
"You asked her to fetch a whale?"
Yes.
"No! I was thinking about what I wanted her to fetch and I may have thought about a whale but I didn't actually SAY IT!" All the words came out in a frantic rush.
Sanguini burst out laughing hysterically.
Rada looked somewhat constipated—quite a feat for a species that didn't ever get constipation.
His mum giggled into her towel.
The whale spewed salt water all over Severus.
Tobias sighed and clucked his tongue.
Hermione bound over to her master and tail wagged. He pet her head and scruff, smiling down at her. "Return the whale, please. To where it came from."
Hermione got a look of canine concentration on her face, the little dots above her eyes moving closer together.
FWOOOP!
She and the whale disappeared.
She returned with a woof, tails wagging with hopefulness.
Tobias praised her while petting her thoroughly, and he slid a claw down his neck and let her lap at it. Then, he pulled some dried blood figs out of his pocket. "Good dog."
Hermione gently took the fruits in her mouth and chewed happily, her tails condensing into one as she stared up at him for further instructions.
"Thank you for returning the whale," he said, "and sorry for my son being a blithering idiot."
Severus grimaced, but he knew there were far worse things he could've been called, and he HAD accidentally asked his father's hellhound to fetch a whale.
You're welcome! These are very tasty, thank you!
Tobias' expression didn't move, but he tilted his head. "You're welcome."
Hermione wagged her tail.
Tobias suddenly smirked.
Hermione tore off across the pool deck and promptly pounced Severus, throwing him into the pool. She paddled around him as his son spewed water out of his mouth and clung to the side of the pool.
Tobias, Sanguini, Rada, and Eileen all burst out laughing as they settled around the pool sans one relieved whale that was undoubtedly quite happy to be back in the ocean where he belonged.
Severus resolved to be much more careful in future about what he thought around hellhounds.
Very, very careful.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you wish for, and be doubly careful about what you think you want.