the, the dog and a rat
Detention with McGonagall used to be rather easygoing but since his last time something had changed. Instead of marking essays or reviewing the materials from last lesson, Christopher was supposed to write lines today. “All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions.” He had to keep his comment to himself because if he had said it out loud, he would’ve gained himself detention for the rest of the year. You can shove these stupid rules up your ass. Sitting down at a desk, the Gryffindor started to write. He was four lines in when he heard the familiar Swoosh in front of him. He didn’t bother to look up though, because for some reason, the cat version of his head of house seemed even more intimidating to Christopher than the human version. It might have been due to the similarities to Mrs. Norris, or the memories of Mrs. Figgs dozen of cats; either way the boy didn’t like it. Back when he first started at Hogwarts, the teenager had thought about becoming an animagus himself but the fear of turning into a female animal quickly turned that idea into a nightmare. All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. How he hated that line. Dumbledore always thought of every possible issue so why didn’t he think of this? Probably because he's an old white man Christopher thought.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. What a stupid rule.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. No one cares about it anyways.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. All girls- but I am not a girl.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. Just stop. All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions. Please. All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions.
All girls are required to wear skirts on schooldays without any exceptions.
He put his quill down. The chair screeched over the floor when Christopher got up. His head was pounding, his hand was cramping and his left arm was burning. He was so sick of it. “I’m done with my lines. I’ll see you tomorrow after dinner. Goodnight Professor.” Still in her animagus form, cat McGongall stared at him confused. Sensing that, he hurried out of the classroom.
If it hadn’t been for his small stature, people could’ve believed it was Snape who was now billowing through the hallways. The Gryffindors robes were billowing behind him, his shoulder length brown hair was covering half of his face and everyone who even dared to look at him got an angry glare. He was so filled up with rage that he didn’t even notice that he almost ran into Malfoy. “Watch your step Reid!” he spat. “Or wait? Isn’t it faggot now?” His laugh echoed through the empty corridor. “Fuck off Malfoy” Christopher got out through gritted teeth. “Feeling brave now little girl? Everyone saw your biggest fear, you want to sta- stay a li- little girl don’t you? Aww, didn’t daddy protect you enough? Oh wait- he’s dead” The brown haired kid could feel the anger building up inside of him. His fingers were tingling, his jaw was clenched and his breaths were getting faster. It took everything inside of him not to punch Draco straight into the hospital wing. Before he even had the chance to react to Malfoy's comments, the blonde’s face turned whiter than Christopher had thought was possible. Suddenly, a growl was echoing through the hallway. The Slytherin opened his mouth slightly but when the animal standing behind the two boys started barking, he began to stumble away as quickly as possible. The Gryffindor grinned mischievously. Malfoy is scared of dogs Turning around, he spotted the dog he had seen before. It had shaggy black fur and looked intimidating at first. Taking a closer look, one could spot soft looking eyes beneath the dark fur. Walking up to the human, the dog started to rub its head against the boys knees. Staring at the pet confused, Christopher murmured: “Come on, I’ll show you the where the kitchen is. But do me a favour and don’t scare the house elves- they might look appetising but believe me they’re not.” Turning its head to make up a nod, the dog started following the teen.
The Hogwarts kitchen was bigger than Christopher could’ve ever imagined. The first time he came down here he was an underweight 11 year old, but over the years this had started to become his favourite hangout spot, not only because Dobby was here. Spotting the dog the Gryffindor was accompanied by, the house elves froze in fear. “Don’t worry, he’s harmless. I told him not to eat any of you.” Grabbing a piece of bacon from one of the large tables, Reid threw it towards the dog. The animal caught it, swallowed it immediately and the licked the boys hand. Seeing that the dog was more or less friendly, the elves started to relax visibly. “Mrs. Reid! Mrs. Reid! How sweets of you to comes visit us! Can I get you anythings miss?” A pair of large green eyes appeared behind a stove. “Oh hi Dobby. Tea as usual? And maybe something for…I don’t even know his name- just some bacon maybe? For the dog I mean…” Nodding his head excitedly, the elf snapped his fingers. A tea tray and a plate filled with bacon appeared. “Miss? Is that a friend of yours?” Dobby asked curiously. “I think so. I don’t know. I just ran into him in the hallway and thought why not bring him?” The teen smiled at his friend. Taking a sip from his teacup, he started speaking again. “And Dobby? I have some news to share.” Christopher took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was to come. “It’s no longer Miss. It’s Mister, I’m Christopher now.” The elf’s eyes widened further than anyone thought was possible. Soon after, a grin almost as big as a normal sized plate appeared on Dobbys face. Throwing his small body at the teenagers leg, the fragile creature started sobbing. “This is- this- Master Reid- I-“ he couldn’t bring out any words. “I is so so happy for you. Does that mean that Mr Christopher is happy again?” In hopes of calming the elf’s sobs, Christopher nodded his head. “Yes Dobby, I am happier. But you have to keep this a secret okay?” The elf violently nodded his head. “Of course! Dobby just-“ he was disrupted by a hiccup. “Just wants to sees Mr Reid happys all.” The house elf’s sobbing was ended rather abruptly when the shaggy dog started to lick its face. The Gryffindor was laughing while Dobby made sounds as if he was drowning. Rolling his eyes, the boy threw a piece of bacon across the room, hoping to save his little friend from suffocating beneath the animals tongue.
“Sir? Is that why yous wearing pants today? Dobby was scared he had messed up masters laundry!” Almost choking on his tea, Christopher realised the consequences of his actions. Not only were people mad about him breaking the dress code, no- they were probably also blaming the house elves for this dilemma. “Oh Dobby- I’m so sorry! I didn’t realise that people might blame this on you! Did anyone get angry at you because I wasn’t wearing the required clothes?” The Gryffindor felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. He never wanted to drag anyone else into this. He didn’t even want to share his secret and now both his teacher and approximately half of the house elves working at Hogwarts knew about it. And, of course, the weird dog that was following him around. As if the animal had been reading his mind, he shot an angry glare at the student. Fearing the worst, Christopher threw another piece of bacon at him. “Profess McGonagall came down heres and was very unhappys sir! Kept talking about how this could gave happened. Dobby was very scared!” The other elves in the kitchen nodded in agreement. McGonagall will regret that Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down, the boy murmured: “I’ll fix this, don’t worry about it.” “Please be careful Master Reid or Dobby has to saves you again!” Fearing the worst, the Gryffindor knelt down, put his hands onto the elf’s shoulders and promised his friend to be careful this time. Can’t risk not getting back into school again.
Feeling hopeful after talking to both Professor Lupin and Dobby, Christopher managed to get through the rest of the week and his detentions with McGonagall with ease. He was still feeling uncomfortable thinking about his breakdown in class and the stares from him classmates weren’t helping much, but he now knew that things were not looking as bad as they seemed. His head of house even apologised to the house elves after learning they had nothing to do with the boys style of clothing. That however brought more trouble for the teenager. Still, he kept going with his plan. Wear pants until eventually everyone stops noticing.
Christopher knew his plan was succeeding when he left the potions classroom on Friday afternoon. Snape hadn’t said a word and since it was now the weekend, he could finally focus on the more important topics: figuring out where the dog came from.
Much to his dismay, answering that question was harder than he had imagined. Dogs couldn’t apperate. Besides its shaggy fur the dog looked too well maintained to be living inside the Dark Forrest. Maybe it belonged to someone in Hogsmead? He’d have to go around asking. Or maybe he would be able to spot the dog with its owner in the village? At this point the Gryffindor was wishing to be in Ravenclaw because he needed more brains than what he could offer to solve this mystery.
Saturday came with a cold breeze. While everyone who wanted to visit Hogsmead dreaded it due to the weather, Christopher was glad for the colder temperatures. Not only could he finally hide his chest beneath multiple layers of clothing, he could also walk around beneath his invisibility cloke without suffering a heatstroke. After packing a beanie, the marauders map, as well as some quill and parchment into his bag, the boy threw the cloke over himself and made his way out of the Gryffindor tower. The other students had left half an hour earlier and were now probably streaming into the shops to warm themselves up. This teenager however had different plans. Sneaking through secret passage after secret passage, climbing up the ladder from Honeydukes attic and squeezing himself through the amounts of students, Christopher was now standing in front of the store. Despite wearing glasses it took him multiple minutes to find what he was looking for: bright pink hair.
Smiling like a child in Christmas Eve, he made his way over to the people he hadn’t seen in so long.