The remainder of the term passed just as quickly as the first week; with exams on the horizon, the First-Year Slytherins study group (the individual sets had long since merged into one) dedicated their weekday evenings to homework and exam revision. The weekends, on the other hand, were dedicated to visiting Hagrid’s hut and the Owlery. Hagrid’s ‘big secret’ had, naturally, dribbled out; confided as ‘top secret’ to one Slytherin at a time until everyone knew and, as a dragon egg is an irresistible lure to even the most sophisticated of eleven year olds, Hagrid quickly became the most visited member of staff in Hogwarts. However, Hagrid was, in his own words, ‘chuffed’ to share his interest in dragons; he enjoyed answering the children’s questions and telling them interesting, obscure facts about dragons and, when the other First Years realised that the forest held a myriad of ‘cool’ flora and fauna, his Game-Keeping duties. More than once, Draco complained that Care of Magical Creatures, a considerably more useful and interesting subject than History of Magic, was not taught until Third Year.

While Saturday mornings were filled with Hagrid’s informal CoMC lessons, Harry’s Sunday evenings were spent at the Owlery, where Ron, Neville and Hermione were bonding with their owlets. Draco and, surprisingly, Blaise insisted that they accompany their fellow Slyths; Draco was not willing to trust ‘Weasley’ further than he could hex him and, while Blaise didn’t mind Ron’s previous taunting, he had a deep-seated abhorrence of men who hurt women, which resulted in a cold, resentful suspicion towards the boy who had once shoved Hermione.

However, despite his misgivings, Blaise was the more convivial of the two, filling Draco’s frosty silences with pleasant conversation and smoothing the edges off his sharp remarks with diplomatic addendums. Neville and Harry, who both saw the benefit in burying the hatchet, chatted with Ron about Quidditch and Theo, on discovering that Ron was a chess addict, brought along his chess-board and the pair spent many hours in fierce but increasingly friendly combat, each determined to win but to proud to prove bad losers if they lost. (Ron’s owlet loved sitting on his shoulder and watching the game, wittering happily when the pieces moved and jumping up and down in excitement if they smashed. The little owlet’s interest was so intense that Ron decided to name her Vivian, after Walter Vivian, a famous chess master, and happily declared her ‘well cool’.)

Ron also appeared to be on his best behaviour and, without Seamus and Dean to impress, he was considerably more friendly- although he was still slightly touchy and more than once Harry, Hermione and Blaise had to exert themselves to prevent Draco or Ron saying something that, well, they probably wouldn’t regret it but everyone else would. However, aside from their mutual jealousy over Harry, Ron and Draco’s love of Quidditch slowly coaxed them into conversation and, one great day, just before the Easter Holidays, Draco finally admitted that Ron was ‘alright for a Gryffindor’. (Neville had long been promoted to an honorary Slytherin.)

However, despite his active school and social life, Harry dedicated Saturday Evening and Sunday morning as ‘Dad and Harry’ time, where they cooked together, read and discussed books and, if too comfortably relaxed for any greater exertion, listened to records on Severus’ ancient radiogram. Harry enjoyed much of Severus’ music, especially that of Tom Lehrer, who was rather naughty, but they did have their disputes; although Harry liked waltzes and Beethoven, he found Mozart ‘boring’ and didn’t care at all for Opera. Severus, however, enjoyed their discussions and smiled to himself at how similar Harry was to his mother, who, while loving Gilbert and Sullivan, had been much of Harry’s opinion with regards to other operatic music.

Thus, the Easter Holidays, known amongst purebloods as Eostre’s Holiday, were soon upon them and, with Hedwig’s blessing, Hotchpotch, Heidi and Vivian left the nest, joining their new humans for the fortnight’s holiday. Harry was rather concerned about Hedwig, it seemed scarcely fair to break up her family, but Hagrid reassured him that the owlets were ready to try independence and, besides, Hedwig and Xiao could always visit their babies and, seeing that the children would be writing to each other, it appeared unlikely that more than two days would pass without a visit.

While, Harry’s family had diminished by the owlet’s departure, it was also to expand by one; Severus had accepted Lucius’s offer and on the first morning of Eostre’s Holiday, Severus slipped into Harry’s bedroom and tucked the fluffy, plump and, by now, somewhat larger pup beside his sleeping son. The drowsy puppy, scenting Harry, recalled the boy who had comforted him and snuggled closer. Harry turned and cuddled into the dog, who gently licked his nose with a velvety, bubblegum pink tongue. Harry opened his eyes and gasped in delight at the sight of the plush, dark-furred, leonine dog.

“Dad!”

“Yes Harry” smiled Severus, slipping out from behind the door, from whence he was watching, unseen.

“You got him!” cried Harry, grinning wildly “I thought Hagrid was joking!”

Severus smirked wryly “Lucius was most persuasive. He reminded me that Abraxus, on Lucius’ insistence, I have no doubt, had gifted me my first familiar and that it would be a great shame to nip such a fine tradition in the bud.”

“You had a dog?” Harry asked, looking at his father appraisingly. Severus’ slender form, sharp eyes and effortless grace rather reminded Harry of a jaguar.

“Yes” Severus smiled, his eyes sad “Whilst I was at Hogwarts, Abraxus looked after her for me during the day and, in the evening, sent a house-elf to convey her to the Slytherin dorms. During the holidays, she remained at the manor but, as Lucius claimed my company for much of the summer, we were never parted long.”

Harry smiled “What was her name?”

“Aurora, after Lily’s middle name, because of her stunning golden coat: she a product of careful selective breeding. Lucius wanted a dog whose fur was of the same hue as his hair and, having bred her, immediately gave her away to me.”

Struck by a sudden idea, Harry looked into his pup’s large, round eyes, which shone like melted chocolate. “I think Toby suits him, Dad” Harry ventured, looking shyly at his father.

Although Severus’ expression did not reflect his surprise, his eyes, usually dimmed by his occulumancy shields, brightened. “I agree, Harry” he replied softly.

Harry smiled “Can we take Toby on the beach?”

“After breakfast”

“Aww, Dad! I’m not hungry” Harry complained.

“No, Harry, but I expect Toby is” Severus said patiently. “As he is your dog, you will need to get used to taking care of him, which involves feeding him, grooming him and training him.”

“I thought dogs only ate once a day.”

“Puppies need extra meals. At this stage Toby should eat three times a day.”

“Okay” grinned Harry, bouncing out of bed “I’ll be down in a minute”

Shaking his head, Severus smiled and strode downstairs to make his son his favourite breakfast of the moment, egg and bacon muffin, and open Lucius’ carefully prepared package of puppy food. It had always struck Severus as the ultimate irony that the Malfoy men, who even relied on their house elves to shave them, would prepare bespoke puppy chow with their own, perfectly manicured hands. Then again, as the Bard once wrote “If thou remember'st not the slightest folly that ever love did make thee run into, thou hast not loved.”

oOoOo

Severus stood back, smiling as his son introduced Toby to the sea. The little black pup slunk around Harry’s ankles, nervously regarding the water which was creeping, second by second, closer to Harry’s toes. When the sea was mere inches away, Toby decided that it had advanced far enough and barked a warning.

“It’s okay, Toby” Harry grinned, reaching forward and splashing his hand in the water. Toby concerned, jumped forward to wrest Harry away from the danger and, in doing so, planted his paws in the sea. Shocked, Toby bounced backwards and collided with Harry’s legs, sending them both tumbling into the soft sand.

*“Ssssilly wolfie, barksss at big water” psshed Reggie from his sunbathing rock, “Big water’sss for ssssswimming, not biting.”*

“Dumb mutt” Harry giggled, cuddling Toby.

“Perhaps he’d prefer chasing a ball” Severus suggested, picking up a small pebble and transfiguring it into a rubber chew-toy. He strode over to Toby and started throwing the ball from hand to hand, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he watched the pup’s chocolate gaze following the ball’s path. When Toby was bouncing on his paws, following the toy not just with his head but with his whole body, Severus threw the toy and, launching himself in the air Toby, raced after it, his fur rippling as his tiny muscles bunched and relaxed with his smooth, graceful gait.

The puppy returned with the toy, scrunching it happily in his mouth and, dropping the ball, sat down to chew his ‘kill’. Severus, however, was an old hand in this game and summoned the ball before Toby could grab it.

“Aww, poor Toby!” Harry laughed, his green eyes alight with amusement at the Pup’s confusion.

Severus smiled and, waving the toy to catch Toby’s attention, threw it again.

*“Why do you throw sssstone for Wolfling?”* Reggie asked curiously.

*“Wolflingsss like to play chassse. Hunting the stone like prey”* Severus hissed in return. Reggie flicked his tongue dismissively; you wouldn’t catch a snake doing anything so silly.

After a few cycles, Toby came to the conclusion that, as the big human would get the ball anyway, he might as well drop it at his feet; chasing the toy was the fun part, after all. When Toby threw the ball at Severus, Harry grinned at Severus in delight and ruffled Toby’s fur, telling him how clever he was. Toby grinned, his pink tongue hanging over bright, white teeth, and raced after the ball. When he returned, he carefully threw the ball at Harry’s feet.

“Dad! He chose me!”

“Of course, briards are very bright and Toby probably realised you’d like a turn” Severus said softly “Aurora always included everyone in her games, even if they did not wish to be” he added with a wry smile.

“Cool” Harry picked up the ball and threw it, smiling at Toby’s happy, shining eyes.

oOoOo

“Harry, don’t feed Toby at the table!”

“Draco always does” Harry replied pertly.

“And Mrs Malfoy always reprimands him. Human food is often too high in salt for dogs.”

“But Mr Malfoy knows everything about dogs and he gives his dogs human food.” Harry insisted, his eyes pleading “Toby’s still hungery.”

“Unlike Mr Malfoy, ‘puppy dog’ eyes do not work on me” Severus retorted “Toby has had a substantial meal of ground beef, carrots and rice. He is not hungry.”

“Harry, I saw that!” Severus snapped, a few minutes later.

“I just, er, dropped it.” Harry said, blushing.

“If you are going to lie, then lie convincingly.” his father replied, raising an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t lying. It just, kind of, fell off my fork.” Harry insisted.

Severus sighed “The next time something ‘falls off your fork’, Toby will have to eat in the other room”

“That’s not fair!” Harry cried “He’s done nothing wrong!”

“No, and that is why he does not deserve obesity, dental decay, diabetes and joint problems” Severus replied firmly. “If you cannot be responsible, then I must.”

Harry glared at Severus, his eyes flashing, but as he couldn’t think of an effective argument, he stabbed viciously at his potato. Why was his Dad being so mean? The occasional treat wouldn’t hurt Toby.

oOoOo

“Toby!” Harry cried “What have you done to my shoe!”

Clutching the trainer between his large, soft paws, the pup looked up, confusion in his dark eyes.

“Bad Toby! Very Naughty!” Harry made a grab for the shoe but Toby bit hard into the leather, pulling back with all his strength.

Harry grabbed his wand “Rel…”

“Expelliarmus!” Severus snapped, wrenching the wand from his son “Harry, you should never hex a dog!”

“But he had my shoe!” Harry cried “Besides, it wouldn’t have hurt him!”

“Nevertheless, it is wrong to cast anything other than healing spells on animals” Severus said firmly. “Perhaps this will remind you to put your clothes in your wardrobe rather than leaving them over the floor!”

“It’s not my fault!” Harry replied, almost in tears. Those trainers had been a present

“Nor is it Toby’s. Leather smells rather like dried meat and puppies enjoy chewing as it helps their teeth.” Severus tapped the shoe “Clacius reparo.”

“Thanks Dad!” Harry grinned, taking back his repaired shoe. He bent down and stroked Toby’s soft, domed head “Sorry Toby.”

Severus nodded “Remember, Harry, Toby is very young and he does not understand the difference between his rubber toy and your shoe. If you frighten him, he will become nervous and unhappy.”

“I’d never harm him, Dad!” Harry retorted, his eyes hurt.

“I know, Harry” Severus said comfortingly, putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder “But, if you shout at Toby and get upset, that can hurt him as much as a smack. You will need to be very patient.”

“Okay” Harry said sadly, picking up Toby and cuddling him. Toby licked Harry’s cheek, concerned by his boy’s sadness.

Severus smiled and ruffled Harry’s wayward hair “I have every confidence in you, Harry. Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to read some books on dog training.” Severus summoned a couple of volumes, one of which looked ancient “Here we have a book from Slytherin’s personal collection” he said “Written by Charlemagne; rumour has it that he kept briards. The other is a more recent addition”

“Wow” Harry grinned, looking at the beautiful, old book.

“Remember to place it in the draw of your bedside table.” Severus added with a smirk.

“Of course, Dad! I’m not daft!”

oOoOo

“Toby! Sit!”

Toby tilted his head to the side, gazing at Harry with confused brown eyes.

“Sit!” Harry repeated, pressing the pup’s bottom to the ground. As soon as he removed his hand, however, Toby stood up again.

“Sit! Toby, sit! Aww, Dad, he’s not listening!”

“Welcome to teaching” Severus said tartly, slashing a cross on the border of an essay.

“Daaad!”

“You will need to repeat the lesson a number of times, Harry” Severus said, looking up. “Try using a treat. We have some scraps of chicken in the larder.”

“Sit, Toby!” Harry said, pressing Toby’s bottom to the ground. Enthralled at the prospect of chicken, Toby remained sitting.

“Good boy!” Harry fed him the treat. Toby gulped it down and stood up.

“Sit!”

oOoOo

“Dad! Look at this!” Harry grinned, racing into the kitchen, his dog at his heels “Toby! Sit” the pup thumped his rear onto the tiles.

“Well done Harry” Severus smiled, as the dog snapped up his treat and leapt to his paws.

“I can’t get him to stay, though” sighed Harry “And he won’t sit unless he gets something.”

“He’s a clever boy” Severus said, the corner of his mouth quirking “Perhaps you should try teaching him to stay next.”

Harry sighed; dogs were hard work.

oOoOo

By the end of the week, Toby was sitting, staying and walking to heel, which Harry thought wasn’t bad progress considering that his mornings were devoted to revision. Working with Toby was fun, however, and Harry loved how his pup cuddled up to him or smiled at him with large, laughing eyes. Reggie, thankfully, wasn’t at all jealous of Toby; the ‘wolfling’ was no competition as far as the python was concerned- after all, he had to sleep down stairs while Reggie shared Harry’s bed!

Easter morning dawned bright and clear and Harry, to his delight, discovered that, on the crisp white cloth of the breakfast table, amid the Villeroy and Boch ‘Geranium’ porcelain, there were painted eggs in the egg-cups, a large, chocolate rabbit by his plate and, best of all, a huge platter of glossy, sticky hot-cross buns, fresh from the oven. Behind the vase of yellow and white freesias, Severus was drinking coffee, a tired smile on his face.

“Wow! Dad! This looks fantastic!” Harry beamed.

“I am glad you think so, Harry”

There was another wonderful surprise in store after breakfast. Instead of sitting down to revision, Harry was told to follow his father and, when he had ventured outside, saw an incongruous glimmer of purple. It turned out to be a foil wrapped egg.

“There are twenty five in total” Severus smirked, summoning a basket and handing it to Harry “Better start hunting.”

Thirty minutes later, Harry entered the house tired, hot and immensely happy. He had never done an Easter egg hunt before and it had been great fun tracking down the eggs, which had been hidden with all of Severus’ cunning. Running upstairs, Harry dumped the basket of chocolate on his bed and hurried down to help with lunch, which was his favourite: beef wellington.

As Harry polished off the last of his potatoes, he noticed that Toby was no longer lying under the table.

“Dad, have you seen Toby?”

“I thought he was here” Severus replied, frowning.

“Toby!” Harry called “Toby! Come here!”

There was a pounding of paws and Toby rushed into the room, a joyous grin on his face.

“Hiya Toby!” Harry laughed, taking the pup’s head in his hands “Hey! What’s this” Harry gently pulled the hard, crunchy thing from Toby’s beard. It was yellow foil.

“Harry, did you put your eggs away?” Severus asked sharply.

Wide eyed, Harry stared at his father, then at Toby, before rushing upstairs. He returned, white faced and holding the empty basket.

“Oh, Toby, you bad dog!” scolded Severus. “I have no potions which are safe for dogs so it’ll have to be the mustard.”

“Dad?”

“Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.”

“Oh no!” gasped Harry, his eyes frightened.

“It is not too late, yet, but we must get it out of his system” Severus said gravely, summoning a bottle. He spooned a few tablespoons of hot, English mustard into the bottle before filling it with water and, stoppering it, shook it vigorously. “Come, dog” he said, grasping Toby’s collar firmly and leading him outside.

Toby, it appeared, did not appreciate the mustard cocktail and tried his hardest not to drink it but Severus, knowing that this might be a matter of life and death, held the pup between his legs and poured the mixture down his throat. A minute later, Toby was heartily sick.

Then Harry, on seeing the vomit, also threw up.

Leading the resentful dog, whose eyes were clearly calling the Potions Master every bad name in the canine vocabulary, and his miserable son inside, Severus wondered what had possessed him to celebrate Easter in the first place.

oOoOo

The rest of the Holidays progressed somewhat more successfully. Toby, while not forgiving Severus, appeared otherwise unaffected by his chocolate binge and Harry’s spirits quickly returned; Toby was fine and, after all, Harry still had his chocolate rabbit.

After a week of revision, dog training and swimming, it was with a heavy heart that Harry considered their visit to the Malfoy’s that Sunday. Severus, Harry and Toby were invited to afternoon tea but, when they left for Hogwarts, Toby was to stay behind. Harry felt it very hard on him and it took all of Draco’s joy at seeing Harry and Toby's pleasure at being amid his relatives to make the afternoon bearable. However, when the time came to part, Harry could scarcely bear to leave and stood beside the floo looking at Toby with tearful eyes.

Lucius, noticing Harry’s anguish, patted the sorrowful boy on the shoulder “There, there, old chap. He’ll be waiting for you with your father tomorrow evening.”

Harry sighed and hugged Toby, burying his face in the pup’s soft shoulder, before running through the floo to Hogwarts. Severus watched his son vanish through the flames, his eyes concerned.

“It’s always hard, Severus” Lucius said quietly “I suffered the same as a lad. However, Harry will soon be amongst his friends. He’ll perk up.”

Severus nodded uncertainly and, clasping Lucius’ hand followed Harry to Hogwarts.

oOoOo

At the staff table, Severus observed Harry sitting between Hermione and Draco. They young girl was smiling and talking enthusiastically, obviously about her owl, and Harry was not just smiling but actually laughing at some of the anecdotes. Draco was also demanding Harry’s attention, chatting away nineteen to the dozen.

Severus smiled; children, in some ways, were ever the same.