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Canine Unit
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The place was really quiet. Every step that he took down the hall while he carried his luggage had the floorboards groaning under the weight of him and what he was carrying. Everyone else had settled into this small-town inn earlier in the day. He was the last one to arrive because he had been on a well-deserved holiday up until yesterday and missed his flight home last night, which meant that he missed leaving with the entourage this morning and had to make his own way to this Southern corner of the isle.
It had been too dark when he arrived to really see what the place looked like from the outside, but his work mate had sent him a text letting him know which room he was staying in and the general location of where that room was, as they were bunking together, side by side in the twin beds.
Getting here had been an ordeal. He'd managed to catch the first flight out of Barcelona that morning and had to wait an extra hour for his luggage at the carousel, then dart home, well, using the term 'dart' makes one think that it was a straight shot, and it wasn't, it was a labyrinth of navigation on the underground with missed trains and congestion while he was muttering under his breath about 'Bloody Heathrow' the entire time.
Taking the underground was still quicker than taking a taxi from the airport, and it cost him much less.
Once home he threw his holiday clothes in the washing machine under the counter in the kitchen and quickly wiped the sand out of the suitcase before filling it up all the essentials for this work trip.
By the time he was packed up again, showered and had assembled a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for himself, he'd had just enough time to hang his wet clothes on the drying rack before heading straight for Euston Station and catching the next train towards Plymouth.
He should have driven.
There was a screaming child in every single compartment.
And normally he liked children, it was just that these ones were so loud! And he'd had a long travel day already. He didn't mind planes, but that TAP airline pilot had managed to find every pocket of turbulence he possibly could have, and Harry's stomach had been knotted up pretty good by the time the plane touched down in London.
He was also armed. He had his badge on him in case anyone had an issue with it, not that the gun was out on display for anyone to see, but he didn't fancy taking the train with his service weapon. There was always the chance that someone might spot it and start yelling about terrorists or something similar.
He was a specially trained Authorized Firearms Officer, as was the rest of his unit he was meeting up with, so he was always very careful about the concealment of his weapon.
After getting off at the right station, it was late, and there didn't seem to be any taxi's that frequented this remote station just outside of the little village they were all staying in for their training. Which meant walking. And walking in the dark meant there was always the chance that some punk kid could have come out of nowhere and snatched his bag, so he retrieved his gun and moved it to rest, secured, in the back of his trousers.
Every five to ten minutes he had looked down at his mobile and double checked that he was on the right path; that amounted to about ten checks of his phone map before he finally showed up and the sun had already set a while ago. There was no sound of persons moving around him, only the distant sound of owls or something making their calls. There was no one to greet him as he came through the door, no one at the reception desk, just a sign saying that everyone had turned in for the night and someone would be there to help at six in the morning.
He was now tired, his feet were sore, his arms were sore from carrying his luggage, and his trousers had somehow grown tighter from the moisture in the night air combined with his own sweat which was making his gun press into his back uncomfortably, so he pulled it out and double checked that the safety was on. He pulled his phone back out and reread Seamus' description of where their room was before starting to head up the stairs.
By now his arm was so tired that he had his one hand with his gun clutching awkwardly at the railing and the other one was heaving his luggage up the stairs with heavy steps, and slowly, as his knees protested.
Nearing the top of the stairs he heard a door open, and footsteps were echoing through the corridor towards him. He hoped it was someone from his group that could show him where he and Seamus were sleeping, also maybe take his bag for him.
Harry's hand on the railing was moving to grasp the top of the rail when he made out the shadow of a person at the top of the stairs, their silhouette having a glow around them from the moonlight through the window. Then there was a squeak of surprise before he felt his gun being pulled quickly out of his hand and felt a sharp blow to his face and he fell backwards down a few steps. Thankfully he didn't fall all the way to the bottom of the stairs but between the pain of his nose being hit like that and the force with which his bottom hit the wooden steps, he didn't know if falling the rest of the way down the stairs would have made a difference.
"What the fuck?!" he gasped out. Through the tears that had sprung up in his eyes as a direct result of the bash to his nose he made out the person at the top of the stairs now had his own gun trained on him. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? What are you doing?!" came the response. It was a woman; from the sound of her voice it was a woman around his own age.
"Trying to get to my room!"
"It's the middle of the night and we're full up with all guests accounted for, so why don't you try that answer again?" she growled at him.
He heard a flick of a light switch and then the blinding light hit him, and he looked down to shield his eyes from it. There was blood on his hands. He brought them up to his nose and wiped below his nose gently and saw that was exactly where he was bleeding from.
More doors opening sounded throughout the corridor and many footsteps came towards them.
"Ginny! What are you doing? Put that down!" a woman ordered in a hushed yell.
"Excuse me if my first instinct when seeing someone creeping up the stairs in the middle of the night with a gun out is to take it away from him," the woman named Ginny said back.
Next came a laugh that Harry was familiar with. "She get the upper hand on you?" his partner Seamus asked him with his distinctive Irish accent. "Looks like she might have broken your nose."
"Ginny, you didn't!" the other woman gasped. "He's a guest here!"
"How was I supposed to know that? It's the middle of the night and all the rooms are already full and booked. I just wanted some bloody cereal!"
Harry heard someone coming down the stairs towards him and lifted his bag out of his hand.
"Alright, to your feet." Tonks, his superior, said and assisted him up by lifting under his arm. "Doesn't look broken at least."
"We are so sorry!" the older woman stated hurriedly and stepped down to take his other arm, checking his injured face for herself. "There is a first aid kit in the kitchen. Why don't you get him sat down in the dining room and I'll get it." She then rushed off down the stairs.
Harry let Tonks lead him back down the stairs.
"No need to apologize," Tonks called after the matronly woman. "It was quick thinking on her part. I'd probably have done the same thing if it was me."
Harry grumbled. He felt an apology was the least that this Ginny could do after decking him in the face and sending him down several steps on his arse.
He opened his eyes enough to see the floor before him and just let Tonks guide him to a seat in a room downstairs.
"Had a good holiday then?" she asked in an entirely too chipper voice.
"Wish I was still there." He wondered if his nose really was broken.
Another person came into the room, it wasn't the older woman, it was the younger one. She was wearing a pyjama top with sleeves that came down to her wrists and matching winter themed bottoms. Fitted ones. She looked athletic.
"Ever thought about joining up with the forces?" Tonks asked her.
"It's not for me. Here, let me take over."
Tonks got out of the seat in front of him and Ginny took her place.
"Got any experience healing up cuts and such?" Tonks asked her.
Ginny waved a dismissive hand before opening the first aid kit and beginning to pull things out. "I've been cleaning cuts since I was six and doing stitches for two years."
"Oh, are you a nurse?"
"Veterinarian. If I have to do stitches on him I'd be surprised though."
Harry glared at both of them for carrying on like they were simply sitting and having a chat over tea, not over his mangled face.
"Got it. Well, Potter, I think you're in good hands then. I'm going back to bed."
"Good hands? She was the one that did this to me!" he exclaimed.
Ginny started dabbing his face delicately. "And with coppers like you around I feel so safe," she stated with an exaggerated sigh.
He gave her a glare, one that she gave him right back.
"Can you really blame me? Some bloke comes heaving up the steps late at night with a gun in hand and you'd just stand there?"
He clenched his jaw. No, he wouldn't have just stood there but he wasn't going to admit that to her right now, was he? He was tired and injured and frustrated.
She continued to gently wipe away all of the blood on his face and put two cotton balls up his nose. "I need you to lean your head back. The bleeding has mostly stopped and your nose really doesn't look like it's broken, but I need to give it another minute to be completely sure." She helped him lean his head back, her hand coming around his neck and her other one on his forehead until she'd assured he was in the ideal position. It was an uncomfortable position, but he'd take her word for it right now, he was too tired to protest.
She then took his hands and turned them palms up to look at before placing them back down on his lap, then she left the room.
Tomorrow he would have to start his training already black and blue, with Seamus and Tonks telling this hilarious anecdote about him getting taken down by a petite Veterinarian. Just wonderful.
The door to what he assumed was the kitchen opened again a minute later and Ginny came back in, and with her came the distinct sound of a spoon scrapping along a bowl and chewing.
"You actually went to get cereal?"
"Yeah. I was hungry. If I lost my appetite at the sight of blood then I'm in the wrong field."
Loath as he was to admit it, cereal actually sounded good to him right then. It was the perfect snack or late-night food.
"Is there anymore?"
She chuckled and sat down across from him again. "Let me finish getting you cleaned up first, then I'll treat you to a nice bowl of Frosted Flakes. And if you are a super good patient then there may be the option of Corn Pops or Lucky Charms."
The nerve of her patronizing him right now.
"Is that normally what you offer your patients as incentive?" he snarked.
"Would you prefer a liver treat?"
"Why are you here? Some kind of convention? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"The middle of nowhere that has a Bobby Training Facility with Police dogs that need care."
"You live here?" Why on earth would a veterinarian live in an Inn?
"This is my family's Inn. And clearly you aren't a detective."
"Would you lay off? I'm bloody tired, hungry and injured. This morning I was in Barcelona. To go from that to this... just, can you stop?"
"Hmm, Barcelona. That sounds nice. Judging from the color of your skin I'd say you had a nice beach holiday." He heard her take another mouthful of cereal and swallow it down. "It's been ages since I left England. I don't know if I'd go to Spain and sit on a beach though, we've got plenty of beaches around here. Might do something deeper into the Mediterranean; blue waters, interesting landscapes. In Spain you're just looking out over the same kind of sea view I can get by driving an hour East or West from here."
"I'd still rather be on the beach there than having a veterinarian tending to my bleeding nose here," he grumbled.
"Alright, alright. Be nice or I'll be bringing you All-Bran."
That made him chuckle a bit, which caused his cheeks to pull up and put strain on his nose. "Ow!"
"Oh, yeah, try not to laugh. Think of serious things."
"All I really want to think about is food and bed."
"Give me a minute and I can help you with one of those things." She then stood up and started walking back to the kitchen. "You can sit up straight again," she called back over her shoulder.
He raised his head, his neck protesting at the movement after being stiff from the multiple uncomfortable methods of transit he'd been forced to take that day. He twisted his head this way and that to try and stretch the pain away. His nose didn't hurt so much anymore but he could tell it would be delicate for a few days; it wasn't the first time he'd gotten hit in the nose.
She came back in, this time with a damp cloth in her hand. "This should help ease some of the swelling and wash the last of the blood away, then I'll put a temporary bandage on your nose. You'll have to sleep on your back tonight."
"Figured as much."
She sat down opposite him, her legs spread apart so she could shift as close to him as possible. She put the cloth over his nose and it was warm but not too hot. He groaned at the sensation.
"Better?"
"Yeah."
She held it on his face for him for a moment before he opened his eyes and they stared at each other.
"Sorry I hit you."
"I probably shouldn't have had my gun out," he admitted.
Ginny offered a small smile then and looked back down at his nose area. He watched her absently wet her bottom lip with her tongue before tucking it between her teeth. Then he was suddenly very aware of how close they were and that she was really cute.
His stomach gave a surprised clench at that realization.
Yet, it was too late and he was too tired to be thinking any kinds of thoughts about how the woman who had just decked him in the face ten minutes ago was cute.
"How much longer do you figure until I'm patched up enough for that bowl of cereal?" he asked hopefully.
She gave him a close-lipped smile then and started gently wiping his nose once more. "I'll just get the blood off, the bandage on and then we'll take out the cotton balls. You'll be good for a snack then."
Her gentle movements were so soft that he closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the warm cloth against his skin. He imagined that he was still sitting on the beach, the warmth from the cloth and the heat coming off of her hands was actually the sun shining down on him while he dozed in a beach chair.
She then pulled the cloth away entirely and he heard some paper crinkling, then felt the bandage being placed over the bridge of his nose followed by the tape to keep it in place.
Having her remove the cotton was an interesting feeling.
"There you go. All back to your normal, gorgeous, self," she teased. "And you were a fairly good patient, so what'll it be? Corn Pops or Lucky Charms."
He opened his eyes again and did his level best not to return the smile she was giving him. "Lucky Charms."
"Good call."
Ginny gathered up all the things on the table and headed back into the kitchen once more. He took the time that she was gone to actually look around at the room he was sitting in. It was small for a dining room, large enough though considering there were only about eight guest rooms in the inn. There was wallpaper on the walls and shelves lined with kitschy items. No photos or paintings anywhere. There were two large windows, but it was too dark out to see what they looked out onto.
She came back with a bowl and spoon in one hand and a mug in the other. "Warmed up some milk for you as well. I always find that helps put me to sleep. Not sure why."
He picked up the spoon and took his first mouthful, quickly chewing and swallowing it down before thanking her.
She then settled back down into her seat, moving the chair to the other side of the table from him, and waited there. It was somewhat unsettling to have someone sitting and staring at him while he ate.
"You don't have to wait for me to finish if you would like to head back up to bed."
"I promised my mother that I'd see to getting you fixed up and settled. That includes feeding you and showing you where your room is. So, you'll just have to pretend to be enjoying this awkward silence until you're done."
He stopped just shy of letting himself chuckle at that, knowing it would hurt his nose again.
Once he finished, Ginny took his dishes back into the kitchen and they walked up the stairs together, again in silence.
"Here's your room. You've got a loo in your room, but since you're sharing I'll point out that there is a spare loo up here, just two doors down with a sign on the door. And that's where we keep the extra supplies as well just in case you're room is missing something."
"Thank you," he whispered before ducking into the room and pulling out his phone to use the flashlight on it to find his bed and clothes.
Seamus was already snoring away on his bed and had tossed Harry's bag on the other bed. He had to be gentle about getting out of his clothes and opted to just sleep in his boxers, being careful about laying back on the pillow.
Ginny had been right about that warm milk. Something about his insides being nice and warm was making him feel drowsier than he expected. Or maybe it was just that the mattress and pillow were very comfortable.
The sound of Seamus moving around in the room woke him the next morning. The sound of that movement stopping even though there hadn't been the accompanying sound of a door opening or closing had Harry opening his eyes and finding his roommate standing over him.
"Nice shiners," Seamus grinned at him.
Harry groaned and jutted his hand out quickly to smack Seamus in the stomach, Seamus jumped back and was laughing all the way out the door.
Harry glowered at the closed door and sat up, then carefully touched the area around his nose, trying to feel for where exactly the injured area started. It didn't feel too bad. He got to his feet and headed for the loo, finding the sink an absolute mess from Seamus being unable to clean up after himself; there was dabs of toothpaste and shaving cream all over the small counter around the sink. It made Harry glad he hadn't unpacked his toiletry kit last night.
His reflection in the mirror did show he had dark lines under his eyes. The lines were likely more pronounced because of the lack of a full nights sleep he'd gotten as well.
He turned on the shower and let it run for a moment as the water turned hot, then stepped in and gently peeled off the tape that had been keeping the bandage to the bridge of his nose. It was only as he put his face into the water that he realized he hadn't taken his contacts out the night before.
Probably best to keep on wearing them since putting a pair of glasses that rested on his nose would simply make the injury feel worse.
By the time he dressed and made it downstairs to join the others for breakfast he was feeling a bit more human, still not awake enough to appreciate the round of applause that greeted him from the ten colleagues that were in the dining room, all from his precinct.
"Awe, you don't look that bad," Tonks told him and gestured for him to take the seat beside her. "Once you've had some of this delicious Weasley breakfast you'll be looking much better."
"Weasley?" The Inn they were staying in was call The Burrow, he didn't know where Weasley came from.
"Yes, it's the name of the proprietors here. They're all great! All their boys, and they've got a lot of them, live around here and chip in with the business when they can. I met some of them yesterday. You should see the son that does the gardening. Yu-mmy."
Harry tried tuning her out then and just focused on pouring himself a cup of coffee then looking around at everyone else there. All the seats were filled by his coworkers except for one table that had two identical redheads that both looked worse for the wear and were slightly slumped over, nursing their own cups of coffee.
"Are they part of the Weasley brood too then?"
"Yeah, don't know their names yet but we're here for another four days, I'm sure we'll meet them all eventually. There are seven kids in all. Can you imagine? Seven kids!" she exclaimed. "But, I guess that's country life for you. They used to work the land, then all the kids started moving out and they turned it into an Inn. A nice one too. Apparently they sold off some of the land to afford to renovate and expand the house so it was big enough for this."
Harry didn't have to ask how she knew all of this after only staying here for one night. Tonks loved to interrogate people. No doubt she wasn't as stone-faced and intimidating when she was talking to whoever checked them in as she was in an interrogation room. She was chipper with anyone that wasn't a criminal. So chipper in fact that he initially had a hard time believing she was good enough a Copper to be his superior when they'd first met.
She was though, no question about it.
He stopped listening again when the door to the kitchen opened and Ginny came in carrying three plates of food. She looked like she'd gotten enough sleep last night. Though, she could have been asleep for a while before trying to get to the kitchen for a midnight snack last night.
She was making a line straight for him too.
"You're the last one up!" Ginny smiled. "Guess that shouldn't be a surprise. Did you fall asleep alright though?" She set down one of the three plates in front of him and even though his nose was still a bit swollen he could smell how wonderful the food was.
"Yeah. Amazingly enough I think your warm milk did the trick. I thought that was just supposed to be for children that weren't old enough for the harder stuff."
She grinned at him. "Speaking of the harder stuff, I have to get these plates to the twins. Enjoy." Then she was off to the corner table after giving a wave to Tonks.
"Pretty girl," Tonks commented. "Nice of her to be helping out her parents like this even though she still has a career elsewhere."
Harry ignored her and started digging into his food, which was fantastic. The coffee was really good too.
Half an hour later everyone was standing outside the Inn and waiting for the vans that would take them to the training facility. They were all going to be doing a refresher course in tactical training and recertifying. All of them had to pass fitness tests again and sit through a seminar on how to react and behave when they were testifying. All things they'd been through before.
The reason they were using this training facility was because of their work with Police Dogs. There were only a few units in their area that had Police Dogs, theirs wasn't one of them, but the Chief was hoping that someone on the team would be interested in getting fully certified.
Harry hadn't been around dogs much. The one's that he had been around were the little yappy ones. He didn't have high expectations for him being the one that proved to be the ideal candidate. It would mean that he'd have to go to and from work with the dog as well. He'd have to live with it and treat is as a pet; and having a pet would mean that he couldn't just bugger off to the Amalfi coast for an extended weekend, he'd have to plan things like that out in advance.
The first day at the training center was all revision about safety protocols and testing them on their knowledge of the laws and district boarders.
It was a good thing for the sake of his face that they didn't need to get into the physical aspect of their training right away. He still received some ribbing through the day about it though. Everyone he worked with enjoyed the tale of a nice blunder.
At the end of the day they were brought out to the back building, where all the service dogs were kept.
"Think we'll need to lead them through an obstacle course like they do on those dog shows?" Seamus wondered.
Harry doubted it. "Probably just learning the different ways the give indications that there are drugs somewhere." That had been part of their afternoon sessions.
They were both wrong.
Each of them was told to pick a dog, they would be partnered with the animals for the full week. He turned to Tonks for confirmation that their instructor was telling them the truth. She looked just as surprised at the information as he was.
"We're staying at the inn down the road," Tonks pointed out. "I don't know if they'll be okay with us coming back with ten pups, no matter how well trained they are."
"This won't be the first time Mr. & Mrs. Weasley have dealt with these extra guests. In fact, they've even enlisted the assistance of their daughter, who's the local vet, just in case. The dogs are all well behaved, it'll be your jobs to make sure that they stay that way. We're testing your ability to interact with them properly. Through the week they will never leave your side."
Harry's eyes were still wide.
Yes, they'd just sat through an hour-long session going over the commands for the animals, but he still couldn't have anticipated this.
"Now, line up so each of you is standing in front of a kennel, the dog behind the door will be your partner for the week."
The kennel doors were all labelled with a different letter from the alphabet, Harry stood in front of the letter 'L'.
"Alright," the instructor called out, "you've just been through the session on how to treat them. Let's see you meet your pups."
Cautiously, Harry raised the latch on the gate and pulled the door outward. "Sit," he commanded before he could see the dog; the dog was in the back corner of the kennel, the movement of him sitting up so that he was in a sitting position drew Harry's attention to him.
Harry stepped fully into the kennel and closed the door behind him. He held his hand out, "come". The dog came forward and sniffed the hand, his tail wagging slowly from restrained excitement.
It was a dark Sheppard with a really thick coat of fur on him. The only light in the room came from the grated windows above the door and even with that low lighting Harry could tell how light brown the dogs eyes were in comparison to the dark fur.
"Good boy. Sit." The dog sat once more and waited patiently while looking up at him.
Harry crouched down and gave the dog a few scratches around his head and ears which he looked to thoroughly enjoy.
On the wall beside the door there was a harness for the dog that had lettering on the side; (K9-Legend).
"Legend?" Harry turned back to the dog. "That's your name then, is it?"
His response was to nudge under Harry's chin with his nose.
"Well, Legend, it looks like you'll be coming with me for the week." Harry managed to get the harness on the dog properly and affixed the lead, then brought him out of the kennel and stood back where he had been before with the dog at his side. "Sit," he ordered again, and the dog sat beside him patiently.
It was strange how calm the dog was. It was a big dog, shouldn't it be slobbering and jumping all over him? He wondered if the dogs at this facility ever got the opportunity to run wild and behave like actual dogs, or had they just had all that trained out of them?
They spent the rest of the time at the facility outdoors with their dogs at their side, going around an obstacle course and having to crouch or stay hidden, the objective being that the dogs would also stay hidden.
Harry was quite impressed with how this dog worked so well alongside him.
If Legend was any indication of what it would be like to be partnered with a dog, it wouldn't be so bad.
Although, that would still mean he would have to regularly take him for walks and clean up his shits and such. Plus, the dog would be dependent on him for every other care and consideration needed, so Harry still wasn't ready to commit.
He still couldn't help scratching Legend behind the ears as he sat beside him in the backseat of the van on the way back to The Burrow.
The Weasley family must have had this happen regularly because they had ten dog food bowls and a trough of water out on the front porch, ready to receive their four-legged visitors. Mr. Weasley was sitting out and greeted each of the dogs one after the other as though he knew them all. And, once Harry got back to his room to change out of his gear for dinner, he saw that there were now two dog beds in his and Seamus' room.
"I think it's a bit twisted that these lot knew what we were in for before we did," Seamus commented.
"They likely do this at least once a year judging by the fact that they already had the dog beds," Harry shrugged and watched Legend as he sniffed around the room and his bed before turning around three times and then sitting down.
Seamus' dog was named Granola and it was some kind of Retriever that also seemed familiar with the room. Granola had a lot more of a slobbery look to him than Legend.
"What do you reckons for dinner?"
Harry shook his head, Seamus only ever cared about food and women. Being where they were, food was going to win out over the choice of women available in this small town.
Although, he didn't recall seeing a ring on Ginny's finger yesterday.
After they'd changed, the dogs followed them down to the dining room. This Harry wasn't sure about; dogs around a dinner table, wouldn't they be trying to beg for food there?
He figured it was part of his task to make sure Legend showed restraint enough not to beg for food or try to steal any… he probably wasn't supposed to lick the empty plates either.
In the end, there were ten people and ten dogs in the dining room and three of the dogs kept trying to coax food out of their handlers; Legend wasn't one of them though.
It was a nice spread that the Weasley's put out. There were freshly made bread rolls and butter on the tables when he and Seamus got there, and two of the Weasley boys brought out salads and cheese and crackers before a dinner of pot roast, roasted veggies and mashed potatoes with gravy came out, then there was cheesecake for dessert.
He was very satisfied with the quality of food in this Inn.
After the meal, Harry was going to head up to his room to lay down, his sleep the previous night hadn't been very long and he was looking forward to shutting his eyes.
Legend had another idea in mind though, he went straight for the front door of the inn and used his paw to hit a bell that was by the floor.
It wasn't hard to understand what the dog meant by that action, and it was made even clearer by the little sign that the Weasley's had put up above the bell hanging two inches above the floor that read 'Bathroom Bell' and had a paw print beside it.
"Clever," he said out loud and opened the door for Legend.
There were some dog bags and treats that were on the table by the door as well, Harry didn't have to think hard about what that meant either. They were asking them to clean up after the dogs.
The sun was setting as he walked out, but there was light enough to see where Legend had headed off to, and he followed after him. The property was really well maintained, and he could see an opening in the brush that Legend had headed straight for that must have been a trail.
The dog had gotten a ways ahead of him, but since the dog seemed to know the area better than he did, Harry wasn't concerned. The cool air was nice and having a walk before sleep and after such a good meal, wasn't a terrible idea.
The trail had gone on for about a kilometer when he heard Legend making noise around the next bend, he was growling and when Harry spotted him he looked like he was about ready to pounce, on Ginny no less.
"What's going on?" he rushed over and reached for the back of the harness Legend was still wearing.
"I'm a forgetful idiot is what's going on," she said. She was turned around and stamping something out with her foot before scooping it up in a ziplock bag.
"What are you talking about?" Legend wasn't moving to attack her or anything, but he was tugging against Harry's hand. "Sit. Good boy." Then he smelled it. "Have you just been smoking pot? When you know that there are ten police and their police dogs staying at the Inn?"
"Yes," she groaned. "I forgot to get my gummies before I came and this was all my brother had."
"And you couldn't possibly go without?" he asked, unimpressed.
She rolled her eyes. "Relax, would you? It's doctor recommended for the pain. I've got a crap knee from a football injury, and I don't really need to explain myself to you." She snipped. "Legend, calm the fuck down," she barked at the dog, who stilled and stopped his whining.
Harry stared at the dog a moment; that wasn't one of the commands. "I forgot you were familiar with the dogs."
She stepped towards Legend and crouched down to let him sniff her hand before she used it to scratch behind his ear. "I've known this guy since he was a little pup. Even took a turn fostering him for a few weeks," she told him. "Do you remember me now?" she asked the dog, who responded by licking her hand. "Yes, you do. Good on you for doing your job, and thanks for not attacking me."
She stood up easily enough, he noticed. "What football injury do you have exactly?"
"My femur got stomped on near the knee and it didn't heal right because it took too long to get to the hospital. It was either cannabis or pills for the pain, I opted for the natural route."
"You seem to be moving around just fine."
"Between the brace and the joint I'm feeling pretty good." She started along the path and he and Legend followed after her. "How is your face doing?"
Harry's hand flew up to gingerly touch the bridge of his nose. "I'd actually forgotten about it. And no one has razzed me about it since this morning, so I'd say I'm healing up alright."
"Sorry about that. I don't remember if I said it last night. I was acting on instinct."
He shrugged. "No permanent damage done. And now that I'm not blinded with pain I can see where you were coming from."
They walked in silence for a few minutes, Legend bounding ahead of them and stopping every few meters to sniff something. Harry felt like he needed to say something more to her, but he was at a loss for what to talk about.
"Have you been here all day?" he finally landed on.
"No, I had a few appointments this morning and an emergency call this afternoon, but besides those I was here and getting the dog accessories set up."
"It's a shady thing for them to do, letting you lot know that we'll be returning with dogs and not telling us."
"This isn't our first time hosting a training group. And, it's the only time the rooms are full up too. Actually, the first time we hosted a training group was the reason I decided on becoming a veterinarian; two of the dogs had gotten into it and one of them wound up with a bleeding ear, another one had some seriously labored breathing and another one injured their paw. Then we realized that the only proper vet's in the area were all farm and large animal vet's. I had to look up what to do. And this was back when my leg was really fucked up, so imagine trying to Google what to do while holding down a German Shepard and attempting to remain balanced."
"That sounds like a disaster."
"It was, but it set me on a path I'm happy with. Now it's six years later and we get a lot of business from the training facility. Plus, the dogs all know me well enough now that they don't try to pin me down for having a joint."
Harry frowned at Legend, who was now quite far ahead of him. "He was supposed to do that, wasn't he?"
"Particularly since there was no place to corner me into, yes," she nodded. "Otherwise, what he did was correct; intimidate, indicate and wait." She pointed to him then. "Bomb's away!"
Harry's nose wrinkled now at seeing the dog doing his business. "I like this dog and all, but I'm really not a dog person."
"I think you can sack up for this, Special Agent… what's your surname again?"
"Potter. And I think as the more experienced of the two of us when it comes to dogs, you should really be the one showing me how this is done," he held out the bag he'd brought for her to hopefully take.
"Nope, learn by experience. But I'll talk you through it if you'd like."
She was grinning at him and he was caught for a moment at just how pretty she looked when she smiled.
"First things first, those bags are a real bitch to get into, so see if you can find the right end and get it open." She walked him through the whole process of getting the bag on his hand and flipping it over, then tying it up. The whole time he was doing his best not to gag.
"Urgh, you know, I've wound up having to see some really nasty things in the last several years, but this is just disgusting."
"You'd get used to it. And if you were out in proper nature, not just my parent's property, there's the 'stick and flick' method."
"Which is what?"
"Er… self-explanatory," she stated. "You take a stick, then you flick the droppings off of the trail and into the brush."
"Right," he shook his head. "I should have been able to piece that together."
She chuckled at him; it was a good sound.
"Are you single?" he asked, not feeling any urge to beat around the bush. He'd just been on a holiday that he'd hoped would involve a few vacation trysts that never came to fruition, he hadn't been seeing anyone for a few months now either, and she was pretty, smart and had a sense of humor. This was day one of only five, if he didn't say anything now then the chances of him making any progress with her would only go down as the days drew on.
"Your friend Seamus knows the answer to that one, he was already out here trying to hit on me earlier. Isn't London full up with women? Or is it just that I'm the only age appropriate looking one around right now?"
He hadn't known that Seamus tried to put the moves on her, and she didn't sound that bothered about having two men ask her that in the same evening. In fact, she asked that all with the same tone and inflection she'd been conversing with the entire time.
If she wasn't bothered with being asked, and pointedly not answering the question, then he could be cavalier about it as well. "Being the only age appropriate one around right now certainly makes you stand out, but you're also a nice sight to look at. And if you clearly turned Seamus down earlier, tell me, which of our group do you find the most appealing? There must be one of us that you find more attractive to you than the rest."
"I'm not answering that. I will answer your previous question though, and here's exactly what I said to your friend; I am single, but that doesn't mean I'm the kind that will just drop her trousers and fuck whoever takes my fancy. Particularly not when they're staying at my parent's Inn where I'm meant to be helping out for the week."
He wasn't upset by this, in fact, it made him fight back a crooked smile. "Ah, so it's Seamus you'd go for. Probably best that you didn't follow through. He'd likely do something thoughtless like smacking your arse while you're running around helping with the breakfast in the morning, for everyone to see."
She chuckled. "It wouldn't be Seamus. He seems like the type I could be friends with, but more of the kind of friend that you meet up with at the pub and play darts with, not the kind that you have a few one-off's with because there's nothing else going on in your love life."
"And that's the only kind of situation you see happening if you were to get on with someone staying at your family establishment? A few one-off's because there's nothing else going on?"
"Well, I'm certainly not one to delude myself into thinking that anything I could get up to with, well, someone like you, say, would turn into some whirlwind romance. I've read Jane Austen and I certainly wouldn't be one to sit around pining for Mr. Darcy to stop being a prick to me and my family."
"Then it is me that you're most attracted to of our lot," he grinned, reading between the lines.
She stopped in her tracks then and looked skyward with a sigh, it made him grin wider. Ginny then shook her head and smiled at him, "you're a prick."
"But you won't sit around pining for me. Yeah, I got it. Also, thus far you're the only one in your family that thinks I'm a prick, and I would certainly not want to give that impression to your parents; they've both been lovely so far."
They started walking again. The sun was fading fast now and it looked like they were close to the end of the trail, it had looped around the Inn and they were near the driveway where it started out. It was silent between them the whole way back to the building, but he felt much more content in this silence.
Ginny gave Legend another few scratches behind the ear as he was drinking from the trough on the porch, and said nothing to him before going through the door.
A minute later and there were six dogs that bounded out with their temporary owners, all heading for the same path he and Ginny had travelled.
Harry was well and truly exhausted now and headed up to his room with Legend at his heels where they both got comfortable in bed and slept all the way through the night.
When he awoke the next morning it was to see the glorious sight of Seamus sprawled half off his bed with his mouth hanging open; he'd let out a huge snore that had made Harry's eyes pop open. Both Legend and Granola popped their heads up at his movement, and neither moved from their dog beds as he got up and went to the bathroom.
He dressed as quietly as possible and indicated for Legend to follow him out of the room when he was done.
The Inn was very quiet, but there was someone making their way down the stairs. A petite red-head that looked to be having trouble getting her legs to cooperate and navigate her down the stairs.
"You weren't lying then, were you?" he asked cordially.
Ginny looked up at him and held his eye until he was on the same step as her. "Why would I lie about a buggered up leg?"
"No reason, I just hadn't noticed you having any issues until now."
"Mornings are when it's the most stiff."
"Want me to carry you the rest of the way down?" he asked suggestively.
He watched as she fought back a smile. "I don't have nearly enough food or caffeine in me to deal with your flirting right now."
"So, I should try again after breakfast?" He was keeping pace with her as she took the stairs one at a time.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Would you just go and take Legend outside so he can do his business? I can make it down the stairs by myself."
"But then I'd be missing this quality time with you. I reckon we've got another five minutes before you make it to the bottom."
"Piss off," she laughed.
Legend grew impatient and rang the bell by the door, it sounded incredibly loud with the Inn so quiet so Harry hurried off to take care of him.
Throughout breakfast he noticed that Ginny moved with more and more grace every time she entered the dining room.
She really was an attractive woman, she was smart, had a sense of humor, and she genuinely liked football; well, playing it anyhow, he didn't know if she enjoyed watching it.
If he could find someone like her that lived near him, he might consider giving the whole 'settling down' business a real thought. It would make his parents happy if there was the prospect of grandchildren sometime before they hit seventy.
Then he looked down at Legend and wondered what it would be like if he did have a dog.
So far, this one hadn't been so difficult. A few walks a day, give it food and water, he'd have a better security system at his flat, and, if it was a dog that was part of the Canine Unit, then he could bring it into work with him.
He mentally shook his head, he'd only had the dog for one day and it was already trained. He needed to put more focus on finding a girlfriend, not a pet.
When it was time for everyone to get piled into the vans to head back to the training facility, he caught Ginny's eye and gave her a flirty wink that resulting in her smirking and shaking her head at him.
She was interested, he could tell.
The group and their dogs were really put through the paces that day; it was all about how to communicate with the dogs and spotting all the indicators that the dogs had been trained to give. Harry had to admit, it was a bit fun; they did a kind of scavenger hunt and he spent the day busting down doors and searching outside for hidden paraphernalia while Legend sniffed it all out and showed him where things were hidden.
It was exhausting work though; a lot of running with heavy gear on. When they got back to the Inn, he called dibs on using the shower in the room first, then found a cozy spot to sit by the fireplace and put his feet up before dinner. He rested his eyes for a bit and was jerked awake at the sound of Legend bolting away from beside his chair.
"No. No, none of this is for you. Sit. Stay," it was Ginny, and Legend wasn't the only dog that had rushed over to her.
"Still carrying?" he smirked and got up from his chair to grab Legend, using that as an excuse to get closer to her at the same time.
"Oh no, it's something worse than that." She leaned over closer to him, "I made peanut butter dog treats today. They can all smell it on me."
The fact that she'd lowered her voice and told it to him like it had been a secret mission she'd pulled off made him smile.
"And you brought none back for these guys? They've been working hard all day you know."
"Don't tell me you're one of those men that would expect his missus to have a beer and dinner ready for him at the end of the workday like she hadn't been at her job all day too."
"Of course not, I would hope for a kiss at the very least though," he tried tempting her and leaned a little closer.
"Someone needs to train you how to behave, not just these pups," she said wryly.
"I know, and I heard you before. Just can't blame me for trying though, can you? I happen to think you're quite the catch."
"Sure, sure," she dismissed and walked through the assembled dogs and towards the kitchen. Leaving him there, staring after her, his expression not too different from the dogs gathered around his feet that also looked like they were missing out on a treat.
Dinner was the same affair as it was the previous nights, and when he went on his evening walk with Legend he didn't see Ginny out on the path. In fact, he didn't see her anywhere at the Inn after she'd shown up with peanut butter dog treats.
That night he went to bed and let his mind wander as he listened to the breathing sounds of the two dogs and Seamus. Ginny had said yesterday she 'did her best not to participate' in one-off's, did that mean that she had done so in the past? Had it been with someone that was attending this training as well?
And why did he care?
If they hooked up then it would just be a one-off, he could do that back home, he shouldn't be here, laying in bed, thinking over how he might best get her to go back on her word and toss him a shag before he left.
He should leave her alone.
He should also get a glass of water; his throat was completely parched.
Harry got out of bed and held his finger out to tell Legend to stay where he was, then slipped out of the room and down the stairs to the dining room. There had been a table set up with water pitchers and glasses on a side table all day, but it was cleared away now. Looking over towards the door to the kitchen, he wondered if it would be overstepping to let himself in.
He was too thirsty though, and no one would find out.
No one except Ginny, he realized as he stepped into the kitchen and saw her sitting on the counter eating a bowl of cereal.
"Er… sorry. I just needed a glass of water."
Her mouth was full and her eyes wide with surprise, but she indicated with her spoon to where the glasses were shelved.
"This is your nightly routine then?" he asked. "Midnight comes around and you slip down here for a bowl of cereal?" He filled his glass from the tap and took a sip.
"It's a lot easier to do at my place, there aren't any stairs between my room and the kitchen."
He rested back against the counter and looked her over. "Your knee feeling better?"
She straightened her leg out in front of her and turned her foot this way and that as though inspecting the leg for herself. "I have good days and bad. Got some stretches in this afternoon, that helped. So, yeah, it's feeling much better now."
As she rotated her leg he could see the scar that was left from her surgery, her sleep shorts she had on tonight were showing off a lot of leg. He paused with the glass halfway up to his lips as he stared at it.
"It's an ugly scar, isn't it?" she commented.
His eyes shot up to hers then and he realized she was self-conscious about it. "No," he assured her. "Certainly not enough to draw my attention away from the rest of your leg."
She blushed! He'd made her blush.
Ginny hopped down from the counter then and brought the bowl to her mouth to drink the milk that remained, and didn't quite catch all of it with her mouth. He chuckled as it splashed down onto her shirt.
"Hmm, I'm not as smooth as I think I am, am I?" she shook her head and wiped the remaining liquid off her chest.
"Well, if it were a full jug of water, that would have been better."
"And incredibly brazen of me," she stated.
"Certainly would be giving me very mixed signals." He finished off his glass of water and set that in the sink beside her bowl and spoon.
She was still standing in front of the sink and he raised his hand to sweep some of her hair away from her ear, noticing that her eyes closed at his touch and a small smile played about her lips.
"Well, goodnight then," he told her briskly and started for the door.
"That's it? You're not even going to try and snog me?" she challenged.
He turned back and raised his eyebrow. "Do you want me to?"
There was this look in her eye that had him thinking it was a resounding 'yes', the way she was biting her lip though, she was stopping herself for some reason.
"You do want me to, you just know you shouldn't," he answered for her. "Why is that exactly? We're both attracted to each other, we're both single… aren't we?"
"Yes," she said quietly. "The problem is that it's very easy to gain a reputation in a small town, and while you might be leaving in three days, I'm still going to be here, and if word get's out that I'm messing about with coppers that come in from the city, well… it disappointing my mum wouldn't be the only problem stemming from that."
Something inside him deflated.
It really wouldn't be fair to her if someone found out they'd done something. Anyone could walk into this kitchen at any moment and see them. Right now, whoever saw them would just be getting the wrong impression, but it could so easily be the right impression and either way this hypothetical person saw it, the situation would require a lot of defensiveness from both of them.
He so badly wanted to reach out to her then and just pull her into his arms and kiss her until the sun came up.
"Do me a favor," he asked. "The last day of our stay, slip me your phone number. I like you, a lot, but I see where you're coming from and I'm hoping that some day will come up where you'll need to come into the city, or I'll need to come back out here, and then maybe I'll find out if kissing you really is everything that I feel I'm missing out on right now."
Ginny's lips parted as she gaped at him, her blush spreading over her cheeks again. "That's some game you have there, officer."
"I mean it," he assured her.
"And it sounds it," she breathed out.
A moment later she had stridden across the kitchen to him and pulled him down to her by the front of his shirt, crashing their lips together and then wrapping her arms around his neck. He didn't waste another thought before kissing her back and tugging her towards the door, blocking anyone that might potentially want in there from seeing them.
Kissing her was exactly what he'd thought it would be. She tasted sweet, she smelled like wildflowers and her hair was like silk against his hand. Boy, did she know what she was doing with her lips too! He completely lost himself in kissing her. It had been a while since he'd experienced the simple joy of snogging someone he fancied, and he was most certainly enjoying this.
Ginny hummed in pleasure against his lips when his hands went down her back and starting massaging their way back upwards along her spine, her head rolled back at the sensation and his lips affixed themselves to her neck. Her grip tightened around his shoulder and she rose onto her toes to help him gain access.
Then his hands travelled south, to her very thin sleep shorts that covered her very lovely bum. She didn't stop him, and he couldn't resist giving her bum a few nice squeezes in appreciation; it was just such a lovely bum to knead at.
Harry felt her breath at his ear, then his eyes rolled back in his head as her tongue traced along the outer shell of it before she bit down gently on the lobe.
"Fuck, you're going to be the death of me," he groaned.
He grasped her bum harder then and lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist with no protest, and set her down on the counter, freeing his hand so he could grasp at her breast as soon as possible, his other hand coming back up to grasp her hair and pull her lips back against his own once more.
The desire to take her right on the counter was starting to consume him, but all those reasons she had for not wanting to get carried away were flashing away in one corner of his head too, begging for his attention before they went too far. That beacon started getting brighter and brighter the second he had acknowledged it.
"We need to stop," he panted as he forced himself to move backwards.
He kept his eyes closed and tried to focus on relaxing his heartbeat, hoping that would help clear his head and relocate all the blood that had rushed to his raging hard-on. He felt her legs come down from around his hips, and knew there was a counter behind him, if he would just put his arms out backwards, then he would have something to hold on to while this dizzy spell ran its course.
Harry took a few slow breaths and listened intently to hear if she was going to get up and walk out on him, but he heard nothing.
Finally opening his eyes, he saw her still sitting where he'd put her; her cheeks were flush, her lips were swollen and calling to him, her eyes were a shade darker than he remembered them being and her hair was suitably mussed from his own hands. He didn't dare look down at her sleep shorts then, but he could see that her shirt wasn't exactly sitting right, there was some exposed skin at her waist. The whole image made it difficult for him to swallow.
"Thanks for… stopping," she whispered.
He could only nod slightly, wishing that she would jump down from the counter and leave so that he wasn't tempted to come at her again.
She did get down from the counter then, but went to the sink and refilled the glass he'd used earlier to take a drink, downing the whole glass, then filling it again and brought it to him.
He drank the whole glass down and felt the cool water flow all the way down his throat and into his stomach, it helped with calming him down.
She took the glass back from him and put it in the sink, then continued standing there, facing away from him. "You'll keep this to yourself, right?"
His jaw clenched at her concern. "This isn't middle school, I'm hardly going to be spreading around that I got up to some snogging with the headmistress' daughter," he said in offence.
Ginny turned around then and crossed her arms, she didn't look angry, just sad. "And if your mate that you're sharing a room with is up and the lights are on when you get back to your room and asks what it is that gave you that?" she gestured down at his groin, where he was still sporting a partial.
"I'll just say I ran into you in the kitchen, and it's been a while since I got any," he shrugged. "Then I'll tell him I need a wank and head into the showers. Which is believable, because it's true."
Any hint of sadness left her face then and he watched in fascination as she tucked her lower lip between her teeth for a second, then ran her tongue along her lips. "Are you telling me you're going to head up to your room now and have a wank in the shower?" Her voice was a few notes deeper than usual for this question.
"I absolutely am," he told her, looking her dead on then letting his eyes trail down her body. "I'm going to head up there and picture exactly how this interaction would have played out if neither of had a conscience."
Ginny shifted slightly, like a shiver had run through her, and he noticed the muscles in her thighs clench.
"And I want you go head back up to your room and play it out too," he carried on. "Maybe you can tell me about that tomorrow, then I can picture you doing that to fuel my next one."
With that, he walked out of the kitchen and went straight back to his room. Seamus was still asleep, the dogs did raise their head in interest when he came in, but he paid them no mind and went straight for the loo.
The next day he and Ginny behaved no differently than they had on any other day, save for her passing him at the end of the day on the stairs and quietly letting him know that she liked pinching her nipples while she was wanking; he'd taken care of himself with that image in nearly record time that evening.
The following day, his last day, she'd caught up with him when he took a walk after dinner, Legend was back at the training facility, but Harry felt he could still do with stretching his legs after the big meal. They had been completely alone, both of them checked, when Ginny pulled him to her for another kiss, one that was much too short, and put her phone number in his cellphone.
The whole ride back to London on Saturday he'd been down about not getting the chance to be around her anymore. Sure, he had her number, but it wasn't the same as having her. It was a three-hour train ride distance between them, it would never work. He kept glancing at his phone and seeing her number, then looking out the window and not letting himself text her.
()()()
Two Years Later
Harry had been living in Southhampton for four months now and enjoying how much smaller it was than London. It was quick to get to the beach, it was quick to get to nature trails, and it had the same splashes of history around it that London had. There were less museums and tourists here, but that was a good thing to him.
He'd adjusted to living in his new flat, working with his new team, becoming a semi-regular at his new favorite pub; and he'd already dated and moved on from a local woman he'd met upon arriving there, they'd only gone on about six dates, and that had been enough to see they wouldn't work out.
Now he was sitting at the bar of a restaurant by the harbor and having a pint and lunch on his day off. He'd been going for a walk around the city and heard that the place had the best views and menu.
And that's where he was when he saw someone he recognized walk in with a few other women.
He'd never removed Ginny Weasley's number from his phone, he'd just stopped and stared at it from time to time as he scrolled through his contacts; always calling up the memory of that kiss they'd had in the kitchen and wishing that something more could have come of it.
He'd never texted or called her; he hadn't even looked her up on Facebook. They lived too far apart, that was always the reason he resisted the urge to reach out to her; it couldn't have resulted in anything other than disappointment or heartache.
But now, here she was.
It could be that she was on a girl's weekend trip or visiting friends from uni. But they were in the same place at the same time again, and in a country with millions of people and tourists.
What were the odds of that happening?
Now he would never forgive himself if he didn't do something.
He pulled out his phone and went to his contacts, his thumb hovering over the little speech bubble icon below her name for a moment before tapping it.
Hi Ginny, this is Harry. I know it's been a few years, but, do you remember me?
He sent the message and looked over at the table by the window that she and her friends were at and saw her pick up her phone and check the message. He watched her expression as her lips parted in surprise, then her brow furrowed in confusion. But then she started tapping her phone.
A moment later his phone gave a beep.
The same 'Harry' that was part of the K9 training and I gave my number to years ago and never heard from again until now?
He didn't need to see her expression to know she was angry with him.
The very same. I'm sorry it took so long to reach out. We just lived so far apart that I kept talking myself out of msging you before now.
He saw her scoff when she saw the message and give her friends a brief explanation about what was going on.
What is there to be sorry about? It took you two days to give me a kiss, taking two years to send me a text seems only logical.
She was angry. He couldn't help but think that was a good thing.
Why exactly are you reaching out now? What could have possibly changed?
He got up from his bar stool and went over to her table.
"The location bit has changed," he told her.
Ginny and her friends looked up at him in surprise and Ginny dropped her phone onto the table.
"Harry!" she gasped. She looked just how he remembered her.
"Sorry for the interruption," he told the other ladies. "Hi, Ginny."
"What are you doing here?" Ginny asked.
"I live here now. What brings you to Southhampton?" He mentally crossed his fingers and prayed that she wasn't just passing through for lunch.
Her cheeks lit up in a blush. "I live here now. I moved here a year ago and started working at the Vet Hospital."
It was his turn to be surprised.
"You live here," he repeated, gobsmacked. "Here, as in, in Southhampton. You live here?"
"Yes. I live here," she repeated, her eyes still wide.
This was fantastic news! His heart rate picked up and adrenaline started rushing through him from how glad he was to hear this. "Are you single?" he asked in a rush of words.
Her expression shifted into one of a bashful happiness and her friends appeared very happy on her behalf, not that he was able to notice them at all, because he and Ginny lived in the same city and they now had an opportunity to try and make something come of this after two years of 'what if's'.
"Yes," she grinned.
"Oh, go on," Ginny's friend beside her nearly pushed her out of her chair so she would stand up and possibly go to him.
Harry met her halfway and wrapped his arms around her waist, "can we finally give this a chance then?"
"Yes," she grinned.
Her friends cheered and clapped as he leaned down to kiss her.
()()()