Chapter Text
Harry pinched the neckline of his shirt, raising it to wipe the sticky sweat off his brow, before wafting the faded material at his face to try and cool down.
The sweet, smoky scent of a barbecue drifted from number 5 Privet Drive’s Garden, and Harry listened to the soft murmur of his neighbours' voices above the crackling of their fire. Harry’s stomach grumbled, and he looked down at his cracked Casio watch. He shook his head. It was only 12:30. How had the morning gone this slowly?
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley had taken Dudley out of town to get measured for his brand-new uniform for Smelting Academy. They’d probably stop out for a celebratory lunch as well, after all, as Aunt Petunia kept chiming, “It’s not every day your boy starts Secondary School!”
Harry shook his head. He’d be starting Secondary School too in September. Not that Stonewall High looked very promising. He didn’t like rumours of how the older boys would haze first years, and with his uniform made up of Dudley’s old school clothes patchily re-dyed, Harry knew he’d be a prime target to get his head stuffed down a toilet.
Harry looked at his watch again. 12:31. He cursed that he hadn’t managed to grab a slice of toast off the table before Vernon had shoved him outside and demanded there be no trace of weeds by the time they returned.
Frowning, He looked up and down the neatly trimmed lawn, before homing in on a lone dandelion by the fence. Harry bent over and plucked the flower from the soil, twirling the stem in between his thumb and forefinger.
“Fill the whole garden with weeds as far as I care.” He grumbled, dropping the flower, and kicking it towards the green waste bin. Harry groaned when the pappus floated off the stalk and the seeds slowly glided to nestle in the flower bed. At least I know what I'll be doing next weekend, he thought to himself.
Harry’s mouth ached from thirst, and he smacked his lips together. He threw the trowel he’d been holding to the ground and sauntered over to the hose pipe that was fixed to the side of the house.
He pulled the hose off the rusted tap and turned the water on. Leaning over, Harry took his broken glasses off and slipped them into his pocket, before shoving his head directly under the freezing spray, gasping as the icy water washed over his face.
He opened his mouth and gulped down as much as he could. Pulling back from the tap, he turned it off and stretched his back. Shaking his sodden hair, droplets of water flew off his dark black curls and glistened in the sunlight.
Something rustled and Harry opened his bright green eyes. A shadow moved in his peripheral vision, and he whipped around. A tall, blurry, figure stood by the fence.
Harry jumped backwards, scratching his back against the brick wall. A bead of ice-cold water ran down the side of his flushed cheek, as he desperately searched his pockets for his glasses.
Pulling them triumphantly out of his baggy denim shorts, he slipped the oversized rounded glasses up the bridge of his nose, and blinked, staring at the creature in front of him.
Harry’s eyebrows knitted together. He could have sworn that the figure was almost human-like, but instead, he was faced with a dog. A humongous, black dog. The animal was thin and covered in a thick layer of wispy hair. It opened its mouth, and Harry watched as saliva dripped down its long canines.
The creature stalked forward, and Harry held his hands out in front of himself. “Erm, now listen,” he reasoned with the creature, “You just stay there, stay! Uh… Sit!”
The dog launched forwards and Harry squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the animal's teeth to break through the skin of his throat. The dog's paws felt heavy on his shoulders, and he could feel it’s hot breath against his neck.
Harry's heart pounded as he continued to wait, confused by the lack of pain he was in. Cautiously, he opened his eyes, drawing his breath in slowly as his eyelashes fluttered across his warm brown skin.
The creature pressed his nose against Harry’s face and snuffled. Harry shifted uncomfortably, uncertain how to proceed. Carefully he lifted his hand to rest against the dog’s chest. The dog barked and licked a wet stripe of saliva across Harry’s face.
“Uh! Gross!” Harry exclaimed, gently pushing the dog away, snickering as its tail wagged rapidly like a propeller.
A chorus of laughter erupted over the fence and Harry looked towards his neighbour's garden. He looked back at the dog. “Are you theirs?” he asked, pointing towards the noise.
The dog tilted his head to the side.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” he snorted, sitting on the grass next to the dog as he waited for his heart rate to return to normal.
The creature shuffled closer before rolling onto his back, his paws flailing in the air, as his tongue lolloped out of his mouth. Harry smiled, rubbing the dog's stomach. “You’re quite dirty.” He tickled the dog's neck, noting the lack of a collar. “Not that I’d hold it against you. I suppose you don’t have a home.”
Harry turned back to look at the house behind him. “I wouldn’t worry about it. They’re not all they’re cracked up to be.” he sighed.
The dog whined and Harry could've sworn it nodded sympathetically. Harry lay down next to the creature and felt a warm surge growing in his chest. The dog pressed its head into Harry’s side, and Harry wrapped his arms around the creature, stroking its fur.
“You won’t be able to stay.”
The dog huffed.
“Nothing personal. Aunt Petunia just hates dirt and animals, and no offence, but you’re both.” Harry felt his eye gently drooping closed, and he put his arm across his face to hide from the sun. “I’d keep you… Just not much room in the cupboard for two.” He murmured.
Harry pictured a future where he could have kept the dog. He’d have hundreds of them, and they would all be black and scruffy. He’d have to have a big house to keep them all in of course, and a garden. He’d have a massive garden, and it wouldn’t be like the Dursleys. It would be beautiful and wild, full of huge flowers and millions of bugs.
The dog raised his head and gently rested it on Harry's stomach. Harry smiled and nestled down; he hadn’t realised how much his muscles had been aching before. The grass beneath him began to feel softer, and taller, gently tickling his legs as it wiggled slowly towards the sky.
“No promises, but I’ll try and get you some scraps later…” Harry mumbled, drifting off to sleep.
***
The backdoor swung open, loudly slamming into the wall. Harry’s head shot up off the ground, he flipped his body over and pushed himself up off the grass. Everything was blurry. He patted the ground for his glasses, quickly finding them and shoving them up his nose so he could see properly.
Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway, his beefy figure taking up much of the frame. His face was contorted with anger and had turned a strange hue of purple. “Boy!” He bellowed, shaking his finger at Harry.
The hair on the back of Harry’s neck stood on end and his mind reeled, trying to come up with an acceptable excuse for why he had been rolling around the floor with a stray animal.
“He’s friendly, he’s not-” Harry began, looking round to find the scraggly dog to be nowhere in sight. “Oh”
“What are you on about, you stupid boy?” Uncle Vernon hissed, stalking towards him. Harry backed away before Uncle Vernon’s meaty fingers latched onto his hair and pulled him towards the flower bed, he’d been pruning all day.
“What is this?” Uncle Vernon spat, directing Harry’s head to face the gigantic flowers and shrubs that had sprouted all over the garden, towering over the fence.
Harry Blinked. “Weeds.”
Uncle Vernon's lips curled and tugged harder on Harry’s hair. “I know they’re weeds! Why are they here?”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know!” He exclaimed, “It wasn’t like this before.”
“Before?” Uncle Vernon seethed, “Before your little nap? Hmm. Oh, thought you’d just sunbathe and take it easy, while your aunt and I do everything around this house? Don’t we do enough for you? Huh! Do you think you're too good to do a few chores here and there? You’re just like your lazy, no-good Father. He was a liar too.”
“I’m not a liar!” Harry cried, “I weeded all morning and filled the bin! I don’t know what happened, I went to sleep and then they were all here, like magic…”
Harry cringed. He knew he shouldn’t have mentioned Magic. The Dursleys didn’t tolerate nonsense or anything remotely strange or mysterious - and magic was exactly that.
Uncle Vernon’s small eyes swivelled to Harry, and he lifted his palm, slapping Harry across his cheek as hard as he could. Harry fell back, clutching his face. He knew better than to put up a verbal protest and stayed crumpled on the floor.
A shadow moved across Harry’s peripheral vision. He continued defiantly maintaining eye contact with his uncle.
“How dare you talk about such, such, ridiculous drivel!” Uncle Vernon roared, spraying Harry with spit. Harry wiped his face, inwardly smiling at the vein in his uncle’s temple that looked like it was about to pop.
“I don’t even want to look at you right now!” Vernon bellowed, grabbing Harry by his shirt, and dragging him towards the house. Harry’s bare knees scraped across the ground, the grass burning his skin. “Don’t think you’re getting away with this either, you’ll be out here tomorrow as long as it takes and forget about dinner!”
Aunt Petunia was standing outside the door. She was ghostly white, and her finger was pointed behind them.
“Petunia? Dear, what is it?” Vernon asked, dropping Harry.
A low, vicious, snarl echoed around the garden and Harry looked behind him.
The dog from earlier was edging towards him, its teeth bared and eyes dark. Harry shuffled away. The dog looked larger than any normal one he’d seen before, and its scruffy fur which had seemed cute earlier, now looked twisted and matted.
It lunged forward.
Aunt Petunia let out a blood-curdling scream and ran for the house, closely followed by Uncle Vernon who was gasping at the exertion.
Harry froze on the spot. He heard the door slam behind him but couldn’t turn around to check that he’d truly been abandoned outside with a feral beast.
A beat passed and the dog sat down, extended his back leg, and scratched his head. Harry frowned. He opened his mouth but found that no words came out so promptly shut it again.
The dog tilted his head.
Harry frowned. He turned to look at the back door. The Dursleys were nowhere in sight. He looked back at the dog whose tongue was lolling out the side of his mouth.
“Look here,” Harry began unconfidently, “You can’t keep coming here, scaring me half to death, and then act all…” He gestured at the dog who was now cleaning his paws.
Harry stood up and the dog followed. He crept towards Harry and licked his bloody knee. Harry drew air in through his gritted teeth. He shook his head, the hint of a smile on his lips, “Yeah, thanks for saving me back there, but I better go inside before I get in any more trouble.”
The dog leapt forward and gently bit the bottom of Harry’s shirt, tugging him towards the gate.
Harry huffed, “Yeah, I wish.”
He looked towards the gate. If only it were that simple.
Harry pulled his shirt out of the dog's mouth and patted him on the head. “See you around, Dog.” He whispered, turning away.
The dog whined and Harry smiled back at him. “What?” He chuckled, swinging the door open and walking inside. “I said I’d see you around!”