Dog days

A loud rumble jostled Harry awake.

He barely processed the hard surface he was resting upon, too concerned about the cage bars in front of him.

Harry felt himself slide forward in time with a mechanical sound, he could feel himself being jerked up and down in sync with thunderous sounds coming from beyond his confinements.

Wherever he is, it’s dark, he craws forwards towards the bars glancing around in the dim light provided by the flashing square up above.

Harry could see cages infront of him, inside there were large shadowy figures. Sleeping, if the deep breaths and light snores were properly interpreted.

Noticing the latch Harry tried to stand and reach it, a dark shadowy paw reaching for the latch.

Wait.

Harry paused, staring at the furry appendage in the air. Another flash of light confirmed his theory.

Shit. He’s an animal. He’s not quite sure if it’s his animanus form, the low level of light not showing enough for him to agree with, but maybe the cage is keeping him in his animagus form. Maybe it’s enchanted?

Or maybe he was transfigured?

Harry slipped backwards with a yelp as another shake caught him off balanced. Harry wiggled around, sliding backwards as the cage rattled. Claws clinked against bars, Harry froze.

“You awake?” He heard child whisper.

Harry tripped as he tried to right himself, stumbling towards the front to get closer to the bars. “Who said that?”

“Me!” The voice said with a giggle, one of the lighter colored figures in the cage in front of him moved, shifting to face him. The child’s voice came from a canine like creature who was probably a third of his size.

A larger shadowy figure shifted in the cage beside the young one, a loud snore sounding as they resettled.

Another child giggled softly. “Do you know where you are going? Mama always says we go somewhere special when we leave.” A boy, but still just as young sounding.

A deeper chuckle sounded beside Harry, “we’re going to the states.”

“America?” One questions with wonder. “Oh mamas mama was from America!” A shuffling sound following the paws that hit the cage doors, tan colored paws coming through the bars. “Let me out! Let me see!” The pup yipped excitedly.

“Is it big?” The little girl asks, her beady eyes shining in the light. She too had moved to sit closer to the bars, short silvery fur occasionally flashing pink whenever the light hit her.

“Oh yes,” the young man drawled out, “it’s quite large, me and my two stander traveled all through the states. We go through the valley of noise and rough soil often. I can’t wait to play in the water when we get there.” He said longingly.

Another rustle sounded and the snoring came to stop.

“The airport isn’t this bad usually.” An older woman comments. The dark shadow beside the little girl’s cage enlarges as the large creature (maybe a wolf?) stands and stretched, pearly white teeth illuminated like he was in a horror movie by the flashing light when she yawned.

“Oh no,” the man agrees, “we’re just going through the thunder clouds this time, my two stander called it ‘turbulence.’ She says it’s normal.”

The woman snorted, “considering the lack of rumbles I would have to agree.” Harry’s sees a flash of honey brown eyes, silvery fur rippling as she curled up and rest her snout close to the bars near the young girl.

In a softer voice the woman coos at the younger one’s, “go back to sleep.” She encourages. “It’s going to be a long flight.”

The pups whine but ultimately agree. Not long after they had curled up in their squishy neon colored beds and fell back asleep.

Harry sits in silence. The gigantic wolves falling into a deep sleep around him, content in their confinement.

In the flickering light Harry took time to examine himself again. His hands, paws now, are covered in inky black fur, with black paw pads, and similarly colored nails. Long claws that aren’t retractable, meaning he’s got to be some kind of canine.

He does look remarkably like his animagus form, just softer. His fur isn’t as corse or thick. He’s still fluffy but definitely less dense. He feels more anxious than normal too, which may be due to his confinement.

He examines his surrounding more carefully without anyone to distract him from them.

His cage is close the ground, based on what he can see from the one in front of him, there’s probably another row of cages atop of his. The floor is covered in a dark blue cover of some kind and based on the odd winkling in the flooring, maybe a tarp or some other cloth?

The ceiling with the red flashing lights had thick black cords connecting them to the white dim one he could kinda see on the opposite ends of the walkway.

He must be small if these creature, which must be dogs since he can see a silvery circle attached to a yellow collar on the largely white dog infront of him, are larger. So he’s either a small dog or a young dog.

Harry’s betting on young since his paws are too large for his current proportions for him to be fully grown.

With nothing left to do but wait, Harry does quick survey of the inside of his kennel.

The bars are a dark colored metal with some kind of manual lock, the sides of his crate are plastic with holes along the top of the sides for ventilation, and behind him there’s a cherry colored blanket with white paw prints.

Satisfied, he does a little spin before moving to laying down and get comfortable atop of the blanket. It takes a bit of shifting for him to get comfortable but soon enough the now-steady movements of the plane lull him to sleep.

🐾『𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐫』 🐾

“What a beautiful’ lad.” An older lady’s voice complements, pulling him out of his sleep.

The dog squints an eyes open, watching as a wrinkly hand slowly descend upon his flank. He allowed himself to be pet, setting his head down on his front paws and closing his eyes once more.

“Yes, he is isn’t he?” Another voice agrees, a man this time. “You should see his parents, his mama’s line competes.”

The woman hums, putting one hand under the Harry’s chin and moving his muzzle around.

The dogs eyes open, watching the older brunet lady examine the top of his head, one hand idly rubbing his ear, moving it around every so often, “he’s already quite a dashing young thing, beautiful fur, strong muscles, and polite too.” She notes, releasing her hold on the dog.

The older mans hand patted his side once more before pulling out of view. “Smart too, his daddy is an officer.”

“Ah, he going in the force?” A woman voice questions, moving around the table to lifting his back paw, “he’s going to be big.” She comments.

She released his paw when the pup tried to take it back, moving gracefully back around the table to pick up a clipboard and write something.

When he does get up he finds he was curled up on his cherry red blanket with white paw prints, standing on top of a metal table with scratches. Towards the door he can see a plastic kennel on the floor. Harry sits down, his leg absently coming up to scratched behind his ear, just like how he would run a hand through his hair in the morning

“You would think he’s a mix breed if it weren’t for his pedigree, though we almost had a close call when the neighbors Aussie, Lily, got through the gate and tried to mount Jammie early in her heat.”

The old man cackled joyfully, “Man, never in my life had I seen Blackie move so fast! Not even when he killed Georgia and Freddie’s rat! He was there in an instant, chasing the dog all the way back to the fence. That dog may as well have teleported with how fast he reacted to Lily’s presence.”

The veterinarian laughed, “yes, how is Blakie doing? Last time he was here I believe he had lost his littermate, Reggy was it?”

“Ah, yes. Reggie was a fine lad, strong too. Bless his heart, the lad died too young.” The old man crooned solemnly, his hand shakily coming up to stroke the dogs fur.

Harry tilted his head, his nub wiggling as the old man’s bony fingers scratched the base of his skull.

“Right,” the woman drawled, regaining her professionalism as she straightened and read over her clipboard. “Well, Seeker seems to have healed completely, I mean, the edges are clean, hair has already regrown, and his posting is already complete… seems like he’s through with healing, but if you have any concerns be sure to bring them to the vet-“

🐾『𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐫』 🐾

When Harry awakes again it’s to the sound of chattering. Reading over his odd dream, he only neatly novices how much more lively it was till pointed out.

Although the lights are still dim and flashing the other dogs had decided it was an acceptable time to be awake and chatting.

Harry didn’t automatically join in conversation, choosing to listen and observe what information they were willing to share before probing.

“Make sure you get your human to get that spot, the one on your underbelly,” Petal, or Milly as her human calls her, advises.

The two puppies nearby perk their ears forward excitedly as she beguins explains all the best places to get a two stander to scratch.

She’s the ‘English golden reviver’ in the kennel to his left infront of him. Petal is and older woman and spent most of her adolescence traveling. She and her human are heading back to America, they were traveling to England for more sight seeing.

She was very apologetic when Harry asked if she saw when he was loaded on to the plane. Apparently Harry was already on the plane when she was brought in so she doesn’t know where he came from. But from the passport leaning against the side of his kennel,  he probably came from far away.

Next to Petal is Blade, a silvery pup without a human. She doesn’t remember where she’s from and she was brought in from the bottom of another plane, but her mother said that she would have a lot of fun so she’s very excited to meet her humans.

Clover, the tan colored boy to whose kennel is next to Blades’ to Harrys right, doesn’t know what kind of dog he is either but is very eger to see America. His mom had been a hunting dog and so he heard all about the scents of animals and how wonderful the outside world is.

Beside Harry, to his left, is a poodle by the name Ruffles. Ruffles is younger than Petal but not by much. He’s the other one who was awake last night.

He and his, human ‘Love’ recently moved from England to Oregon, which is apparently where the plane is going, and allegedly his human is in the process of changing her name to Amelia.

Privately Harry just thinks Ruffles never knew her name.

Amelia had taken the winter brake to visit her parents and Ruffles is excited to go back home.

On the other side of Harry is another large dog, this one named Loco.

Loco is a ‘brittany spaniel’ and she apparently has all kinds of hobbies. She and her humans go hiking and swimming and plays —what she calls— fake attack with other humans.

She excitedly tells them all about the training and how it shows other ‘two walkers’ that she can protect her humans.

Harry found out that the two dogs in the kennel under him were named Salt and Pepper, they don’t know what they are but Petal says they look like chihuahuas but with the coloring of a ‘Yorkie’. They’re apparently small dogs, according to Loco, but Harry’s isn’t sure as he can’t see them.

Considering the extent of Harry’s dog breed knowledge he’s surprised he knows the few that he does.

Petal is happy enough to tell them all about the different kinds of dogs she met at events, leading Ruffles to tell them about a coyote he met.

After that the older dogs began exchanging traveling stories, much to the children’s delight. Even a the dogs a few cages over started sharing their own experiences.

“I can’t wait to try that with my two legged!” A capella, a young Husky in the cage above Petal, exclaimed. She, like many of the other dogs, had an accent, but hers was strongly Irish unlike Petals who sounded like a mix of a few depending on the words.

Harry’s heard many names for humans throughout the flight, most commonly ‘two stander’ and some variation of ‘two legged’.

He debated telling them that they’re called humans but the more he thinks about it the more two legged makes more sense. I mean, they literally have two legs.

It’s not like they need to get creative as they’re the only ‘giants’ —according to your they dogs— walking around in two legs.

When the plane finally does land Harry wasn’t awake to feel it.

He had been asleep when the plane touched ground, snoozing his boredom away as he waited.

He does however wake up to the sound of the dogs chattering noisily amongst themselves.

Now that he is properly rested and less stressed about being trapped in the bottom of a moving plane, he noticed how to one ear it sounds like dogs barking but to the other he can hear what they’re saying.

“Ooh,” Basil, if he recalls correctly, coos. “So close!”

Magic, stops excitedly, paws beating down on Harry’s cage where her own is atop of. “I can’t wait to smell the air!”

“Me too!” Blade squeals, “my ears feel better already.. but I still want to chew on some grass.”

Ruffles hums in agreement, “I could use some grass.”

“I’m hungry.” Petal complains, “I can’t wait for my human to get me out so I can get out of this kennel and shake off all these scents.”

“Oh yes, so many scents.” Salt complains.

Peppers claws hit the cage door, yipping excitedly when the sound of cars reached their ears. “Here they come!”

If possible the noise doubled, everyone cheering as the plane opened up.

The light was bright, brighter than he remembers light being. It illuminated the little dust particles drifting to the ground and cast harsh shadows around the room. The air was a different temperature than expected, cold and humid. 

It took a minute for them to acclimate, another get seconds of sneezing for them to adjust to the abundance of scents in the air —petrichor being the most prominent— before they were able to get a good look at the figures coming in.

There was a tall man, a short woman, and a brown hair man, walking towards them. They smelt of sweat, rain, and people. Behind them more workers were sting up some sort of mechanical thing, the thing making car sounds every so often.

The air itself smelt like faintly of ozone, petrichor, and pollution.

It must have just rained recently.

It might rain again. 

The smell of oil and smoke reminds Harry of the muggle side of London. When he grew older he had started to adore how innovative they were, how creative they must have been to evolve in such a way.

He should know, the wizarding world was so far set back in its ways that they don’t even use pencils! Or notebooks, or post-it-notes, or calendars, or notepads, or calligraphy pens, or Merlin forbid, erasers!

If dogs could cry, Basil would be sobbing, as it was she was just whining and barking impatiently.

The beagle must have been scratching at the bars on her door as the sound of nails clinking against metal was echoing through the room. Shes was urging the human to let her out so she could go pee.

Surprisingly the workers complied.

sort of…

The short woman grinned, ducking out of view shortly before the straps trying the stacked kennels down was loosed and then pulled away.

One by one the men lifted the kennels up and took them out of the plane, the short woman disappearing again to untie more straps while another woman, this one blond, came behind them and went further in the plane.

When the blond returned she was carrying suitcases, handing them off to another girl who took them away.

“Wohoo!” Ruffled howled, shifting excitedly as his kennel was grabbed.

He had been watching in anticipation as the top row was slowly taken, mumbling under his breath above how long it was taking and how he wanted to see his two stander.

“Stop moving!” One man snaped after the kennel tipped and hit his nose, making him groan.

The brunette beside him laughed, “looks like they’re more than ready to get out.” He turned to Harry’s kennel.

Harry of course was sitting, perfectly poised, in the center of his cage. It wasn’t that he was above whining or howling, he just isn’t exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of being taken somewhere.

At least in the plane he sort of knows what to expect.

After he’s taken off he doesn’t know what he’ll do, where they’ll take him, or why he’s going here. Does he have a human? I he a stray? He has a passport, so he must be somewhat owned. But what if he’s just going to an animal shelter?

Can he chance that?

Should he just escape? Run now before he can be caged again and under constant surveillance? Leave before he’s assigned an owner?

The man’s eyebrows raised caught sight of something, he lifted the passport up and set it atop of his kennel. He let out a low whistle, “you’ve been here for a while.” He leaned down and tilted his head, tempting Harry to copy the motion. “Man, if I was on the plane so long I’d be just begging to escape…You don’t look so excited though.”

Harry laid down instead of answering him, his ears perfectly trained on him, alert.

“Thats quite the pedigree you have.” He complemented, “man, I just know you’re going to grow up to be something, arnt ‘cha?” He quirked a smile and then hauled Harry cage up, jostling Harry slightly as he slid to the side.

Once the man stepped into the sunlight Harry could see the airport building looming over them.

From his new view he was able to anticipate the transfer of weight as two pairs of arms started reaching out to him.

When they did get him, they lowering him onto a ramp of sorts and then held onto the side so he was slowly sent downwards at a controlled pace.

Once he reached floor level he was loaded into a very long car and the caterpillar-like trolly continued to kennels loaded on.

The kennels clinked together like shoulders bumping as they centipede like contraption started moving forward, taking them away from the plane.

Harry, of course, immediately begins his escape.

He had spent most of his plane ride plotting his escape after realizing there were in fact no Wizards in this world.

He glances around, making sure no one is watching, before standing on his hind legs and sticking his paw through the bars, nudging the lock handle.

Once he got a grip be pushed it up and tugged it to the side, successfully unlocking the door.

Harry internally cheered, feeling his tail nub wiggle in relation to his internal joy.

Nudging the crate door open Harry waited till the car behind them turned into the airport opening to jump out, triping over his paws briefly before making a break for the where mechanical carriage holding the luggage went.

Once Harry was sure no one other than the dogs, who were yelling at him—most asking how he got out, Ruffles was just cackling, and Basil accused him of not being able to hold his pee—had seen him, he magically levitated the ziplock bag holding his passport and other information towards him. Once he snatched it out of the air he scurried away. If nothing else, it may come in handy when he eventually needs to interact with people.

Once he was out of sight Harry focused on his magic and cast the disillusionment charm on himself.

As soon as he felt the telltale signs that it was working he turned the corner and followed the cart with people’s trunks into the airport.

Once he was in he saw how they were transporting the luggage, rows and rows of bags were on a mechanical lift that went upwards.

Harry jumped on to the lift when they were distracted and began stumbling over and around the luggage, trying not to sneeze as the many scents assaulted his nose.

When the lift stared back up, moving him upwards, Harry paused and sat down, it was less effort to just let it take him.

After getting hit in the face by a rubber curtain Harry was introduced to the world of travel, crowd of people impatiently waiting for their luggage, loud noises of the planes heard even from inside as one took off, bright sterile white lights hanging overhead, and stale air scent mixed with the general smells of people; sweat, grease, and body odor.

He could hear the squeaky shoes and footsteps sounding more like stampedes than people walking around, as well as the chattering of people and loud children who hadn’t yet mastered volume control.

Harry hopped off the luggage caresses before someone could reach for him or the luggage around him, running carefully through the less crowded areas to get to the large glass doors. When a crowd of people grew near the exit Harry followed them out the airport, turning sharply around the corner as he made his way down the sidewalk.

Harry continued moving, not bothering to stop and look at the odd cars as he walked along the street. Muggle America seems to be much more developed than he thought it to be.

From the increasing scent of ozone and the increasingly dark clouds he could tell that a storm was approaching. Soon enough it would raining and he should probably find shelter.

🐾『𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐫』 🐾

Harry, in fact, did NOT find shelter.

Rain peppered the ground as softly as a tsunami caresses the sore. Thunder louder and more intense than the vestal lightning that streaked across the sky.

Each rumble of thunder shook the very ground he trotted on, lighting flashing violently, towering dark clouds filling the sky.

Every hair along his back was standing to attention. His ears up and tail raised and alert.

And when the storm finally passed it left him shivering and shaking.

Hours had passed by the time his fur had dried. His paws had long since sunk into the mud aside the road, not even splashing through the puddles had made him feel clean. Said mud was trailed along his legs and underbelly from where it had been kicked up, between his paws and under his nails.

The bag, he stole from atop of his kennel was covered in mud too, the ziplock bag held inbetween his teeth uncomfortably after hours of traveling.

The distant sound of sirens peaked his interest. It wasn’t the normal sound he heard that came only to quickly disappear. This sound was constant, one after another joining in till it was a cacophony of noise.

He should think, after crossing many roads and even going over a few bridges, he’s figured out how to get around.

But, of course, he’s not allowed to get too comfortable because the sun is setting at an alarming rate, meaning he should definitely get off the dirt —which was more like firm mud— road he’s been following if he doesn’t want to get hit.

So he follows the sound of sirens cutting through the forest where three cars and two motorcycles were parked. The place wasn’t taped off like he was expecting, there was no civilians or crime scenes to be seen too. Instead there were just a few cops, clearly waiting for something.

He wondered what they had all gathered for. They didn’t appear to be heavily armed or anything, but they did smell very concerned, sad too.

The radios made static noises every so often, police chatter filling the air as more police vehicles started pulling in.

Harry, noticing the k-9 vehicles were told to park near his location, reapplied his disillusionment charm and ran towards one of the original police card he had followed.

When the last car had arrived, the singular one brunet officer still in the car turned off the sirens, exiting the car and shutting the door in a smooth motion. Harry followed closely behind the guy, curiously to see what they were doing.

“Alright, earlier this afternoon you were should have been briefed on the terrain and situation. There are cops all over the county looking for this little girl.” The man shouted, holding up a photo of a brown haired child.

“Her name is HOLLY CLARK, she is SEVEN years old,  and she disappeared THIS MORNING.” he emphasized. “Now, all of you may be from different precincts but you volunteered to be here, searching thisarea.”

He gave them all a stern look. “That means everyone here will be putting any animosities aside and working with your assigned group.”

The man nodded to a group of police personnel off to the side who started listing off names. From there the officers called forward would pair off into smaller groups and instructed to cover a portion of the forest before regrouping.

With the exception of a few teams, the K-9 units started off the search. They followed the idly sniffing dogs into the forest, calling out for the missing girl.

Harry decided to stay out of sight, near a tree with a funky smelling bush, till most of the groups had fanned. Once he was in the clear Harry chased after the officer holding a bag of clothing. Once he snuck up behind him he was able to catch a whiff of the child’s scent under layers of other smells; it was canine-like but not from a canine, it was more akin to a werewolf near the full moon, angsty and fitgety.

The unique scent bounced around his nose like a ball in the water as he ran off to another section to help find the girl.

Once he was alone he started trying to find the girls scent by comparing it to others. He caught wind of more officers, of the serch dogs, and of forest animals, but not the little girl. The light breeze didn’t do much to help as it kept shifting everyone’s scents around.

The further he got into the woods the more determined he became to find the girl.  It wasn’t till he caught wind of human-blood-and-fear that he realized he had gotten separated from all the other officers.

Harry chased the scent further into the forest, weaving through trees till he came across a hurt man, he smelt so overpowering of anger and fright that Harry was half way towards him before he realized he smelt the little girl on him, on the wound. She smelt scared, terrified. 

Immediately Harry felt himself growl, “what did you do?!” He barked at the man, only to realize that he quite literally did bark at the kidnapper.

Seeing as he wasn’t under a silencing spell the  bark reverberated through the area, causing the man to twist around in shock, tripping over himself and falling to the ground. The man turned corse and fled… unknowingly into the scent path a K-9 unit had been following.

Harry debated chasing the man but when he heard the K-9 officers shout about their dog catching a scent, followed by dogs barking and increasingly loud footsteps as the officers chased after their dogs, he chose not to.

Harry turned tail and followed the girls scent back to were the man had come from till he reached the base of a tree where he could hear crying. He got up into his hind legs, trying to find out how the child had gotten all the way up there, before spotting the stakes.

Harry glanced to the side, not spotting anyone, and then closed his eyes; willing himself to shift out of his Animagus form.

Slowly but surely he could feel his magic pulse back in response, his bones reforming and skin stretching as he regained human form, the hair covering his body transfiguring into a pair of black slacks and a white button up, a long silvery translucent cloak returning to his shoulders.

Harry stuffed his ziplock bag in his pokey and pulled his hood up before lifting a foot, which wore knee high boots made with a sturdy black hide of some kind, to the stake and climbing the tree.

When he reached the top of the tree he could hear the child crying more clearly. Harry pushed the trap door open, glancing around cautiously before pulling himself in.

The child glanced fearfully at the trap door when it shut, eyes wide with tears. The child sniffled, pushing aside a strand of short brown hair that had gotten arch on the blood around her mouth. He hopes it isn’t hers.

Harry dropped the disillusionment charm, revealing himself ti the frightened child infront of him who flinched back in shock.

“H-“

“Go away!” The child interrupted him, more tears falling. She scooted back, pushing herself into the corner and pulling her knees to her chest, “go away,” she pleaded.

Harry’s heart clenched at the pure fright that came off her. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re Holly, right? The police are looking-“

“No!” The child shook her head, “no, you have to go. I’ll hurt you,” tearfully, the last part was barely as loud as a whisper, but teeth had sharpened and elongated like that of a canines.

“You can’t hurt me,” Harry assured the child.

“No- no I’m a mo- I’m a monster,” her eyes flashed red in distresses, reminding Harry once again of a werewolf. Only, deep inside him he knows she isn’t quite a werewolf, she something else, something new.

Harry quickly used the eye contact to his advantage. A silent probing to see what happened. What he found was both expected and unexpected.

Holly had been playing outside in the front yard while her mother was making lunch when her neighbor, Mr Addison, had offered to take her camping.

He told her to go wait in his car while he talked to her mom. When she tried to run back home, saying she wanted to tell her bye, the man grew angry and denied her, demanding she go sit in the car.

The little girl obeyed but only after the man had grabbed her arm and forcefully pushed her into the back seat.

The drive to the area was terrifying, the man was gloating about what he he was planning to do to the seven year old, talking about the two other victims he had raped and killed, in horrific detail.

He could feel Hollys fear, her anger, and her caution. When they had gotten to the forest Holly had pretended to be docile before escaping when he let down his guard, running as fast as she could to the hunting hut she’s in how.

Unfortunately for her, Addison had caught up after a few hours of chasing her around the area.

He was so angry. He shouted at her and pushed her, holding to the ground, and calling her names when she managed to turn oner onto her stomach to avoid his molesting hands.

When he tried to take off her pants from the back her she reacted out of desperation and instinct, her finger nails becoming claws and scraping against the ground as she pushed herself up, tuned her head to the side, and bit his leg.

She ran after that, faster than she thought possible till she reached the hut and discovered her hand and mouth were covered in blood. Then she hid, crying herself to sleep for a few hours before waking up to the sound of cops looking for her. She didn’t want to hurt them, so she stayed quiet till they passed.

Then Harry appeared.