My first impulse was to run out of the gate screaming for Summer, but I remembered what had happened last time I'd left the yard without permission.  So I ran back inside instead, and yelled for my father. 

"Dad! Dad! Summer's gone!"

I burst into the den, crying because I was sure she was gone for good and we'd never find her.  Dad was kneeling in front of the fireplace, talking to Moony, whose real name is Remus Lupin. He must have Flooed my house while I was outside, and Dad was filling him in on all the bad things Summer had done.

" . . .and then the blasted little monster chewed my wand, Moony!" Dad was saying.

I threw myself at him, blubbering. 

"Harry, what in Merlin's name . . .?"

"Summer's run away! You gotta help me find her, Dad! Uncle Matt's gonna kill me!"

Dad turned and took me by the shoulders.  "Harry, calm down and talk to me.  I can't understand you. Breathe, son."

I sniffled and gulped, trying to stop crying.  Finally, I managed to tell my dad what had happened.  "Maybe she ran away ‘cause she thought you were mean, Dad."

"I was mean? The damn dog nearly destroys my wand and I'm mean?"

"Yeah, ‘cause you smacked her," I explained.

But Uncle Remus shook his head.  "No, Harry.  She wouldn't have run off for that reason.  Dogs don't sulk and whine over punishments like kids.  What your dad did was no worse than her mum would've done.  She probably smelled something, like a rabbit, or maybe chased it, and dug under the fence to try and catch it."

"You think?"

Moony nodded.  "Yes.  Remember, sometimes I'm a wolf, Harry, and I know how wolves and dogs, who are a wolf's cousin, think."

"But now she's lost!" I said, tears coming into my eyes again. "We gotta find her."

Dad scowled.  "This is just what I need.  Blasted animal! She could be anywhere."

"Let me come and help you look," said Uncle Remus.  "I can track her quicker in my wolf form than you could, Sev.  Even with a locator charm. Too bad Sirius isn't here, he could help too, but he got called away to investigate a Death Eater attack in Scotland, so I'm your best bet."

Dad looked at Moony and smiled gratefully.  "Thanks, Remus. Although, my first impulse is to let her remain lost." I gasped. Then he added, "But Matt wouldn't like it, so I guess we'll just have to search for the little beast." He stepped back so that Moony could come through the fireplace with Floo powder.

Uncle Remus quickly stepped through after tossing a handful of powder on the fire. Once he'd dusted himself off, he looked at me and said, "All right, Harry.  Show me where your little troublemaker made her escape."

I led him back to where Summer had dug out and then Moony became a huge gray wolf, almost as tall as me, and he sniffed about the hole.  Then he looked back at me and at Dad, who had followed us, and sort of barked, except wolves don't bark like dogs. 

"You've found something, Moony?" Dad asked.

The gray wolf nodded, his gold eyes dancing. 

"Well, go and track her if you can."

"How about us, Dad? I wanna help too."

"And you will, son.  We will follow Moony on our brooms."

Then Dad summoned our brooms from the closet and we mounted them.

Once we were hovering, Moony jumped over the fence, it was no problem for a wolf his size, and started smelling around.  Suddenly he let out a strange howl, and bolted off towards the far end of Aspen Avenue.  That way led to a big culdesac, and no wizard family here drove cars, so we didn't need to worry about a car running her over.

 But there were other dogs in the neighborhood and some of them weren't real friendly.  I was worried one of them might try and hurt Summer.  "Come on, Harry.  I think he's found her trail."

Dad and I flew just above the trees, high enough to avoid smashing into branches and yet still able to follow Moony, who was running very fast over the ground, his thick bushy tail stretched out behind him.

Moony in his wolf form was absolutely awesome.  A girl would have called him beautiful, I just thought he was way cool.  He ran quickly, his head lifted, not put to the ground like a dog.  But I was sure he had Summer's scent. 

He ran through Mrs. Alder's yard without stopping, I'd had to hang her laundry once and weed her flowers for snitching her panties off her line and throwing them into a birdbath with some other kids.  That had been the time I'd gone flying without Dad's permission, and I listened to the older kids and played pranks on some old people.  But that was something else I'd never do again. 

Moony raced through another yard and then circled about a blue house with purple shutters.  Ugh! What a combination!  Then he ran across the street.

"Where's he going, Dad?"

"It looks like he's headed for the park," Dad called, and we flew right after him.

Sure enough, Moony went right into the park, and then he started sniffing again, putting his nose to the ground a few times.  It looked like he had lost the scent, but then he pulled up his head and howled softly and started to run full speed across the grass, jumping over the seesaw and the monkey bars easily. 

I couldn't believe Summer had run so far, the park was like a couple of blocks from my house, but Moony knew what he was doing.  I trusted him to find my missing puppy.  Suddenly, I heard the sounds of dogs growling, like they were in a fight, and then came a high yelp, a puppy cry.

"Dad! That's Summer! Something's wrong!" I started to fly my Jetstream faster.

Moony had pricked up his ears and then he ran forward in the direction the growling was coming from.  As he ran, we flew, and just beyond a thick group of oak trees, we saw a group of four lean scruffy stray dogs, all of them bigger and stronger than Summer, surrounding her and growling like they wanted to eat her. 

"Summer!" I yelled.

She was trapped in the middle of the ring of dogs, whimpering, looking like she was scared to death.  Her ears were flat against her head and she had her tail tucked in and her head down. 

"Dad! We gotta save her!" I cried, but before I could move, Moony appeared.

He ran straight at the ring of dogs, growling horribly in his throat, he had his fangs bared and looked like he was ready to kick some arse and take names, like Uncle Siri says. 

One dog, a big brown one, looked around and saw Moony coming at him and backed off a little, but then he jumped at the bigger wolf. 

But Moony was too quick, he ducked, and turned his shoulder to the other dog.  His shoulder was padded with lots of thick gray fur, so the other dog's teeth couldn't hurt him too much.  When the brown dog attacked and bit down, all he got was a mouthful of fur.

And by then Moony had slammed into him and knocked him off his feet. 

I wanted to cheer, but something made me keep quiet.

Moony stepped all over the brown dog, snarling into his face and taking him by the throat and shaking him. 

The brown dog was whimpering and crying, and it looked like Moony was going to tear him apart, but then the wolf stepped back and the other dog got to his feet and ran away, with his tail between his legs. 

Then Moony whirled on the other three mongrels and growled at them too, his gold eyes narrowed. 

He was really scary, I was afraid, and he wasn't even growling at me!

So I wasn't surprised when the other three dogs backed off and then ran away, yelping like they'd been thrashed good. 

Moony followed them, just to make sure, but they were scared of him and didn't even look back.

Then I landed, along with Dad, and Moony returned and licked and nuzzled Summer, who wasn't all that scared of Moony.  She wagged her tail a little and smelled noses with him. 

"You were awesome, Uncle Remus!" I cried, going over to pet him.  He stood up and lifted his head proudly, and I stroked his head.  His fur was thick and soft like satin.  Then I knelt beside Summer, who was inbetween Remus's forfeet.  "Summer! Oh, Summer!" I hugged her to me. "Why did you run away? You could have gotten lost forever. Don't ever do that again!"

Summer whined and wriggled and licked me.  She seemed very happy to see me and I was so happy we had found her that I almost started crying again. 

Moony made a soft sound in the back of his throat and licked the top of her fuzzy golden head.

Even Dad seemed glad . . .or maybe relieved . . .to have found her.  He came over and patted her on the head, and Summer didn't even act scared of him.  She wagged her tail and licked his hand.  Maybe Uncle Remus was right and dogs really don't think like people, otherwise how could she forgive Dad so quickly for punishing her?

Dad put an arm around me.  "Harry, let's get this wandering beast back home, all right?"

"Sure, Dad." I said, and picked up Summer.

Dad looked at Remus.  "Coming, Moony?"

The wolf blurred and my uncle stood there.  "Well, I haven't had a good scrap like that in awhile, Sev." He was smiling. 

"Glad I could amuse you," Dad said, but he was smiling. "Shall we?"

Then we Apparated back home.

When we got back home, Summer went straight over to her water bowl and drank until it was empty.  Looks like all that running off made her thirsty.  Then she went into her crate and lay down with her head on her paws. 

"Looks like there's no place like home, huh, pup?" laughed Remus, sitting down at the kitchen table.  "Got anything to drink, Sev?"

Dad nodded.  "You know where the drinks are, Moony.  Help yourself."

Remus summoned a bottle of water from the fridge and drank it down just like Summer.  "Ahh! Much better.  Tracking always makes me thirsty."

"You were great, Moony!" I told him, grinning.  "The way you found her and fought all those dogs . . .you were like Batman!"

Remus looked puzzled.  "I was like who?"

"Batman.  You know . . .the superhero, he wears a costume, and goes around fighting bad guys." I explained.  Moony and Uncle Siri don't know much about Muggle stuff, since they weren't raised around it like me or my dad.

"Oh.  One of your Muggle heroes." Moony looked pleased.  "I like that."

Dad just rolled his eyes.  "Moony, for the love of Merlin! I'm going out to fix the place where she got out and cast a boundary spell." Then he left, muttering about the dog being more trouble than she was worth.

"I wish she'd stop getting into trouble," I told my uncle. "Then maybe Dad would like her more and stuff."

"Oh, Sev likes her well enough, scamp." Remus laughed.  "He just doesn't like her chewing on his wand.  Can't blame him for that.  I'd be the same."

I nodded.  Then another thought occurred to me. "Moony, can you, uh, talk to Summer? When you're a wolf, I mean?"

"Yes, I can understand what a dog wants or needs and so they can talk to me after a fashion.  Why?"

"B'cause . . .then you can tell her to behave and not be a pain in the bum.  And then Dad will be happy and maybe let me get a puppy."

Moony  chuckled.  "Okay, kiddo.  You've twisted my arm." He blurred into his wolf form and walked over to where Summer was snoozing.

Summer woke up when Moony barked and she came out, all sleepy and touched noses with him.  Then Moony started to speak to her, though all it looked like was gentle growls and rumbling, a lot of flickering with tails and ears.  That's how dogs and wolves talk. 

After two or three minutes, Moony blurred into his own form and Dad returned. 

"What's going on in here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing.  I had a nice chat with Summer, Sev, and she understands now what she can chew and what she can't."

"Are you positive, Moony?"

"Yes, Severus.  I explained all of it in terms a puppy can understand and she promised me she would never bite your wand or anything else again. She told me she didn't mean to eat so many things, but she forgot, like a certain little boy over here.   Dogs don't lie."

Dad looked very thoughtful.  "I can't believe I didn't call you over sooner.  I'd have saved myself plenty of heartache." He shook his head angrily.  "I'm so stupid, I really ought to know better."

Remus patted him on the shoulder.  "Okay, Sev.  So you forgot, nobody's perfect.  It's fixed now so don't worry.  Summer will be a good dog."

"Thanks, Moony.  You just saved my sanity."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

And that's how Moony saved Summer and kept us all sane and happy till Uncle Matt returned. 

* * * * * *

When Uncle Matt came here to pick up Summer, he almost didn't recognize her, she'd gotten too big to be carried in one hand anymore.  "Holy Merlin, Sev! What have you been feeding her? She's gotten so big."

"Oh, she's been enjoying a steady diet of shoes, paper, chocolate and wands," Dad said sarcastically.

"Huh? You don't mean . . ."

"Yes, I do mean, Matthew Morgan," Dad said, and then proceeded to tell an astonished Matthew all about our week with Summer. 

Guess she had never done anything like that with him, because he kept saying, "I'm sorry" and "I can't believe she would do that!" and "I can't understand it, she never did that at home."

"But once Moony talked to her, she was good, Uncle Matt," I chimed in.  "She's really sweet . . .except when she's bad," I added quickly at Dad's astonished stare. I was on the floor by his feet, with Summer in my lap.  She was nibbling my fingers and I was tickling her ear.  "I'm really gonna miss her," I admitted softly. 

"Well, kiddo, you can come over and visit any time you want," said Uncle Matt. 

"Okay," I said, but it wouldn't be the same as having Summer staying with me. 

"That's a brilliant idea, Matthew," said Dad, and then he smirked at his friend and actually went and petted Summer's head. 

I smiled to myself.  Maybe Summer was rubbing off on him.  I decided to test my theory. "Hey, Dad?"

He looked down at me.  "Yes?"

"I think I learned a lot taking care of Summer this week," I began.  "And I was wondering, Dad, if maybe, someday, I could get a dog? I'd take care of it all by myself and everything.  I'd love to have a puppy of my own.  Can I, Dad?"

For some reason my question made Uncle Matt start laughing like crazy.  He laughed so hard he nearly spilled his glass of iced tea all over. 

Dad looked like I had just said I wanted to adopt a man-eating tiger or something.

I waited anxiously for his response.

At last he said, very quietly, "Yes, Harry, you can get a dog someday."

"I can? When?"  That was easier than I'd thought.

"When you're seventeen and moved out of my house. That'll be the day another puppy crosses the threshold of this home."

"But . . .but . . .that's like . . .years, Dad!" I protested.  "Practically forever!"

"I know, scamp.  Wonderful, isn't it?" and then he smiled.

I didn't see what was so bloody wonderful about it. I didn't want to wait years to get a dog.  I wanted one now.  Why couldn't he understand that?  I scowled down at Summer's soft fur and hugged her.  Grown-ups! Sometimes there was just no understanding them.