After the lullaby in the middle of the night, Summer seemed to have lost interest in mischief and decided to turn over a new paw, so to speak.  Because she actually behaved herself for a whole four days.  Well, she did have the occasional accident because she couldn't hold it long enough when I was too slow taking her out or she got too excited when I got home from school, but that was expected and Dad didn't really scold her over it.  Puppies and two-year-olds have bladders like fish . . .they need to pee a lot. 

 I was glad that Summer was finally being a good dog for a change, since then Dad could see that I was responsible and that having a puppy around wasn't all bad.  If only she would have kept on being good till Uncle Matt came back from New York.  But, as some grown-up said, can't remember who, "all good things must come to an end".

And Merlin, did they ever, on Friday night, two days before Uncle Matt was due to return from America.

I was lying on the rug in front of the fire with Summer lying next to me, gnawing on a rawhide chew.  I was reading a book I'd borrowed from my school library, it was called A Puppy For Max, and it was all about a boy named Max who wanted a puppy and tried all kinds of things to make his parents get him one.  Wonder if he ever tried dogsitting?

It was an interesting story, but I must have fallen asleep, since Summer was lying next to me and the fire was nice and warm.  Anyway, next thing I knew, my eyes were shutting, and I was sleeping.  It was then that Summer must have finished her chewie and started looking around for something else to chew.

Now, I was asleep when this happened, but here's what I think went on. 

Summer was bored or hungry or whatever, and went sniffling around like her typical mischievous self for something else to chew.  Dad had been sitting on the couch,  experimenting with a new kind of diagnostic spell to detect germs in a patient as they first infected somebody, and he had his wand out and was practicing on a fake doll . . .what the Healers call a experimental dummy.  It had all the same body parts as a real person, and could be injected with stuff and healers could cast new charms and things on it to see how they worked before testing them out on a patient.  Least that's what Dad told me when I asked. 

But back to Summer.

Dad must have put his wand on the low table for a minute and gotten up to use the bathroom, because he was out of the room for a few minutes.

A few minutes was all it took for Summer to spy Dad's wand, jump up on the table, and grab it.

I guess it must have looked like a stick to her or whatever, cause she started chewing it. 

Dad returned after a few minutes and went to pick up his wand, only to find it missing.  He searched for a little bit, and then he saw Summer, lying on the rug, chewing on something. 

"You blasted destructive little MUTT!" Dad bellowed.  "Give me that wand!"

That's what I woke up to, Dad screaming and Summer grabbing the wand and running for dear life. 

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, the book falling off my nose and onto the floor. Uh oh.  I knew when Dad used that tone it meant one thing-big trouble.  If he'd used it on me, it would have meant being grounded and possibly spanked.  On Summer . . .it meant she was probably going to be puppy chow.

I got up and saw Dad running after Summer with a look on his face like he was going to skin her and hang her out to dry.  Not good.  Not good at all.  What have you done now, Summer? I wondered, even as I heard my father yelling, "Drop it! Right bloody now, or so help me, I'll turn you into a lawn ornament.  Permanently!"

"Dad? What happened?"

He ignored me, he was too busy trying to grab Summer, who was now hiding under the table in the kitchen.  His hand closed on his wand, and he tried to wrestle it away from her. 

But Summer must have thought he was playing, ‘cause she wouldn't let it go.  And then she . . .growled at him.

Not a nasty growl, but kind of a play growl . . .mixed up with a growl that warned you to leave her alone with her bone. 

At least that's what it sounded like to me.

But Dad thought she was growling at him and going to bite him, because he snapped, "Growl at me, will you? Over my own wand?" Then he cast a Summoning charm on her, he can do wandless magic sometimes, and Summer flew out from under the table and into his arms, still chewing on his ebony wand.  "Give . . .me . . .that . . .you stupid . . .damn . . .dog!" Dad snarled, and clamped a hand over Summer's jaws, pulling them open and yanking the wand out of her mouth.

Luckily, ebony's a real hard wood, so her teeth dented it just a little, and Dad could sand out the teeth marks.  But he was furious.  A wizard's wand is his life, it's sacred, and was supposed to be treated with respect at all times.  I never ever touched Dad's wand without asking permission first.  Summer chewing on it was a lot like burning the British flag or flipping off Queen Elizabeth, I guess.  It was the absolute worst thing she could have done, except maybe bite me and draw blood.

Dad totally lost it. He took Summer and shook her hard.  "Bad dog! No chewing wands! Bad!" He held the wand under her nose, tapped her with it and said, "No! Bad dog!" Then he smacked her on the bum, hard enough to make her yelp. "Very bad dog!" He gave her another smack, for remembrance, probably, like he does me, and then he shoved her at me and said, "Put her outside in the backyard and leave her there for ten minutes, before I throttle her, Harry.  I knew this was a mistake, agreeing to watch this puppy.  Nothing has gone right since she came here." 

I took Summer, who was whimpering and cringing, and hugged her.  "Aww. Dad! She didn't mean to . . ."

"Harry, no more excuses!" Dad exploded.  "Shredding my potions text and charts were bad enough, but chewing on my wand . . .Go! Get her out of my sight!"

I knew enough not to argue.  I did as I was told, though I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Summer.  She was shaking in my arms.  "You never should've done that, girl." I whispered as I went towards the back door.  "That was really bad and really stupid.  Dad's wand isn't a chewie or a stick."

She whimpered and I petted her, saying softly, "Yeah, I know.  Dad's hand is really hard, huh?" I almost rubbed my bum in sympathy.  "Hope you learned your lesson, though."

I quickly put her outside on the grass, and she ran and crept under the hydrangea bush, her tail tucked inbetween her legs.  She looked awful sorry now for being so bad. 

"I'll be back in ten minutes, okay?" I called to her.  Guess this was the dog version of time out.

Then I went back inside to see if my father had calmed down yet.  I had never really seen him that mad before.  Well, except maybe the time I took my broom off the property without permission and flew through the neighborhood.  Or the time when I chucked my Hogwarts Express and hit him in the head when I was three.

I peeked into the den and saw him sitting there, his wand across his knees, just looking at it, and shaking his head.  "Merlin help me!" I think he said.

I carefully went into the den to pick up my book. "Dad? Is it . . .like wrecked?"

It was a minute before Dad answered me.  "No, I can repair it with some polish and a piece of smoothing paper.  But this is the final straw, Harry.  That dog chews one more thing of mine and I'm locking her  in her crate and calling Matthew to take her away as soon as possible.  I'm sick and tired of her destroying my things!"

"No! Don't do that, please!" I begged.  I really loved Summer, even though she'd been awfully naughty.  "I'm sorry, it was my fault she chewed your wand, I fell asleep and didn't watch her. Please don't send her away, Dad!" I started to cry, quietly.

Dad didn't even look at me.  "Harry, stop it.  That puppy's nothing but trouble, and I've had my fill of it."

"But she's been so good, Dad.  She didn't chew anything for four days," I defended.

"And then she goes and chews my wand, Harry James Severus! I'd have rather her chewed off my finger than that!"

I came over to look at it.  "It doesn't look too bad."

"That's not the point.  The point is she nearly ruined my livelihood, and I can't have an animal around who chews wands or plays with them." Dad said firmly, meeting my eyes at last.  "Do you understand, son?"

I bit my lip.  I did understand, but I still wanted to give Summer another chance. "Please, Dad? Give her another chance.  I'll watch her, I'll make sure she understands that she can't ever chew a wand. This is the first time she's ever done it."

"First and last, young man." Dad scowled.  He ran his thumb gently over his wand.  "Goddamn fool mutt!"

"I'll get the wand polish," I volunteered, and ran over to the broom closet, where Dad kept the wand polish in a small box. 

Also in there was the wood smoothing paper, which was wrapped around a small rectangle and was used to smooth nicks and chips out of wands to keep them in top condition.  If you take care of your wand, it'll take care of you, was an old saying among us wizards.

"Here, Dad." I gave him both items, and a small soft cloth too. 

"Thank you, Harry." He took the wood smoother and started to rub Summer's teeth marks out.

It took quite a while and I stayed there watching until he was done.  Then he polished the wand with the special polish until it was shiny and as good as new.

"Go and check on the puppy," Dad ordered suddenly.  "You can bring her back inside now."

"Okay." I ran outside to get Summer.

But I couldn't find her under the hydrangea bush or anywhere else. 

"Summer! Summer, where are you? Here, girl!" I whistled and called.

But she was gone.  It was then I saw the hole at the bottom of the fence.

Summer had dug out of the backyard and run away.

I stared at the hole and felt my heart fall down to my feet. Merlin help me, but I had lost Uncle Matt's dog.