I went to school the next morning, same as usual, and I couldn't wait to get home and see how Summer was doing. Dad made sure that if he wasn't able to be home in time for me then either Mrs. Weasley or one of my uncles was, or even Misty. But today, Dad had a light schedule, and managed to get home just as I got off the bus, he was waiting for me at the bus stop.

"How is Summer, Dad?" This was the first time she had ever been left completely alone before, and I was anxious that she might have been lonely or something. One of the kids in my class had a dog that went nuts when she was left alone, cried and scratched at the door till her feet bled and made herself hysterical. I didn't think Summer was like that, but she had been inside her crate for nearly the whole day.

"I don't know, Harry. I haven't been home to find out," replied Dad.

"I hope she didn't miss us too much," I said, then looked up at my father and asked, "Can't you Apparate us home, Dad?" Normally we preferred to walk the short distance back to the house, but today I was in a tearing hurry to see Summer.

Dad sighed. "Very well. Come here, scamp." He picked me up and then concentrated and we were gone in the blink of an eye, and when I opened my eyes, we were on the front porch.

Some people get sick when they Apparate, or are taken along using Sidelong Apparition, like Dad just did to me. But I never have gotten the littlest bit sick. That's cause I've got a strong . . .constitution is the big word Dad uses, and I'm quite glad of that. It means I don't get sick very often either.

We came inside and I could hear Summer whimpering from her crate.

"Hi, Summer!" I called, and she started barking loudly.

"Get her leash and take her outside, Harry. She's been holding it in all day."

"Right, Dad." I got her leash and opened the crate. "Hey, girl!"

The puppy jumped all over me and licked my entire face. "Whoa, take it easy!" I laughed, clipped on the leash, and brought her outside.

She hurried up and went potty, then she was so excited to see me that she ran in crazy circles around me and tangled up the leash on my legs.

"Summer, you nut!" I cried, trying to unwind the leash. "Stop!"

But she just kept barking and jumping and my trying to unwind the leash only made me fall onto my bum. "Ow!' I yelled, then I felt stupid, because I wasn't hurt bad, only a little surprised.

Summer climbed into my lap then and licked me all over, her tail wagging like a wind-up toy. I stroked her fluffy fur, and managed to unclip her leash, so she could run about and I could get the leash off me.

Once I'd done that, I could throw sticks and bones for Summer to fetch, she  loved to fetch things. Dad said that's because she's a golden retriever, they're bred to hunt ducks and bring the game back to their owners, so they have to like doing that, and swimming too.

Summer had so much energy from being stuck in the crate all day that she didn't want to quit playing, even when Dad called us in for dinner. I was tired, I'd had school all day, tons of make-up work, and homework to do.

Summer kept jumping up on us while we were eating, and Dad yelled, "Down! No begging!"

Summer was so excited, though, that she couldn't sit still, and after scolding her four times, Dad told me to put her in the backyard till we were finished with supper, then feed her and hopefully she would settle down.

"Summer, come!" I called, and patted my leg.

She followed me right out the door and into the yard.

Once I had fed her, she calmed a bit, enough so I could finish my homework.

Normally, Summer grew sleepy around eight o'clock, just before my bedtime, and I could put her in her crate and go to bed. But tonight she was very hyper, and I had to pet and hold her a long time before she finally got quiet and went to sleep.

By then, I was pretty tired, and after my bath, I went to sleep, Dad didn't even finish a whole bedtime story that night. I think Dad was tired too, because he went to bed right after me, I found that out later.

* * * * * *

All was calm and quiet, until about one o'clock in the morning. That was when it started. The dreadful howls.

At first I thought I was dreaming. Because only a scary ghost could make such a terrible noise. I shot up in bed, almost falling right out of it, my hair sticking straight up. "Merlin!" I gasped, scared to death. "What was that?"

OOWWW! OWWW! RROOOWW!

I was so scared I almost couldn't move. Then I got up and ran down the hall to my dad's room. "Dad!" I called.

He came out, his hair all messed up and rubbing his eyes. "It's okay, Harry. That fool puppy is just howling." He scowled like he was real mad.

He probably was. Dad hates being woken up without a darn good reason.

"That's Summer making all that noise?" I cried, amazed. "I thought it was a ghost."

Dad snorted. Then he stalked down the hall to the kitchen.

OOOOWWW! OOOOWWW!

"Quit that racket, dog!" Dad ordered furiously. He spelled the lights on and

She thought we were coming to let her out. But Dad just glared at the crate and said, "Enough! Go to sleep!"

"Maybe she's gotta go out, Dad," I said.

Dad considered, then picked up her leash and said, "Fine, but once you're done, you go to sleep, you infernal nuisance."

Dad took the puppy outside, like he usually did when it got dark. I was afraid of the dark, kind of.

Summer licked Dad's face as he carried her out. "Ugh! Stop it!" Dad sputtered.

I followed, smiling, until Dad turned around and said, "Harry, get inside. You've no slippers and it's freezing, you'll catch pneumonia."

"Aww, Merlin!" I groaned.

But when Dad set the puppy down, she didn't go potty. Instead she dragged him halfway across the yard, howling her head off like a crazy thing.

OOOWWW! OOOWWW! WOOF! OOOOWW!

"Shut up, dammit!" Dad shouted. "You'll wake the entire neighborhood!"

But Summer just kept right on howling. I guess she saw something out there, but Dad and I couldn't tell, we didn't see or smell as good as a dog. She howled and howled, it made my ears hurt and my skin prickle. My feet were freezing, but I hardly noticed. I was too busy watching Summer and Dad butt heads like two goats.

Summer barked and howled as if the world were coming to an end.

Dad yelled at her every time she did that, and pulled on her leash to correct her. But she didn't seem to get the point. She just kept her mouth opened to a little O and the loudest howls were coming out of it. I never heard a puppy yowl so loud.

Dad was not amused.

"Stop it, Summer! Right bloody now!" yelled my father, giving Summer one of his famous glares.

Summer sat on her bum, pointed her nose at the sky and wailed.

OOOOWWW!! RROOOOWWW!

"Enough! Quiet!"

OOOWWW! OOOOWWW!

"Idiot animal! Nobody cares! Now quit howling, blast it!"

OOOOWWWW! OOOWWWW!

Summer's howls were growing sharper and my ears were starting to hurt.

"Shut the hell up, dog! NOW!"

But Summer wouldn't.

She howled and howled.

It would have been funny if it wasn't the middle of the night. And the neighbors weren't looking out the window and calling, "Hey, Healer Snape, what's the problem?

Dad went beet red, I could tell from the way the porch lamp lit up his face.

"Summer, quit it!"

Summer looked at him, wagged her tail . . .and howled.

OOOWW! OOOWW!

"Snape, can't you shut that stupid mutt up?" demanded their neighbor, he was also angry.

"Yes, I'm trying, " Dad said exasperatedly. "Bloody hell, I'm going to hex your mouth shut if you don't stop howling, you awful creature!"

"Maybe she's hunting something, Dad?" I suggested helpfully.

"Harry, get inside and go to sleep."

I smothered a groan and started to go back in the house.

Summer kept right on howling, like a train engine gone berserk.

Dad swore and grabbed Summer's muzzle, holding it shut. "Be QUIET!" he growled in her ear. "Quiet, understand?"

Then he let Summer go.

There was a moment of blessed silence.

Then she opened her mouth and . . . .OOOWW! OOOWW!

I nearly fell off the porch laughing, because I'd never heard of a dog howling for so long without stopping, and Dad was getting so mad I thought he was gonna fall over.

"Merlin, Snape!" shouted our neighbor from his bedroom window. "Either you shut that bloody dog up or I'm going to!"

"Ah, shut your trap!" Dad yelled back, drawing his wand.

"No! Dad, don't!"

His eyes snapped up to meet mine. "Harry James Severus, get your backside in bed, right now!"

"But, Dad . . .you can't hex Summer!"

"Get inside, mister! Now!"

I gulped and turned around, sniffling. Dad wasn't fooling around, he was mad as blazes.

Behind me, I could still hear Summer howling.

Then I heard Dad say something and suddenly the howling stopped.

"Finally!" our neighbor cried, and slammed shut the bedroom window.

I couldn't believe it. My dad had actually cast a silence charm on a puppy. I opened the door and went inside, now I was mad too. But at my dad more than Summer. I waited in the kitchen for Dad to come inside, and after a minute he did, carrying Summer, who was now quiet.

"I can't believe you did that, Dad!" I cried, glaring at him.

"I thought I told you to go to bed," Dad said, fixing me with one of his do-it-or-else looks.

"How could you?" I yelled.

Dad put Summer in her crate and latched it. She lay down, looking confused.

"Harry, I've had it with disobedient dogs and children. It's one thirty in the morning, I'm exhausted, and so is everyone else . . .except for you and that damn screeching barghest over there! Barking to go out is one thing, but barking and howling for over twenty minutes nonstop is a nuisance and I won't put up with it."

"But Dad, she's just a puppy, she doesn't understand!" I said, half-defiantly.

"Well, maybe now she'll learn something. Bed, Mr. Potter." He pointed a finger at the hallway. "Don't make me say it again."

"How long's the spell last?" I asked, sulkily.

"Until I remove it," Dad said sternly, then he turned me around and gave me a swat on the behind. Hard.

"Oww!" Now it was my turn to howl. I sniffled, though I knew it was my own fault. He'd already warned me three times.

"Bed, young man. Move!"

I listened this time, and scurried back to bed, rubbing my stinging rear end. Clearly Dad had run out of patience for both puppies and kids tonight. I crawled into bed and pulled up the covers, I was still kind of mad, but I wasn't going to test my dad and risk getting spanked.

"Go to sleep, Harry," said Dad from the doorway. "You have school tomorrow."

Like I could forget! But all I said was, "Yes, sir."

"Good night, son."

"Night," I mumbled, half my face was buried in my pillow. I didn't think I would be able to sleep after all that, but guess I was tired after all. Because next thing I knew, it was morning, and Dad was shaking me and telling me it was time to get up for school.

And Summer was barking in the kitchen.

"You took the spell off!" I shouted happily.

"I never cast it on her, son." Said my dad.

"But . . .but she was quiet."

"Yes, but that was because you couldn't hear her. I cast a bubble of silence around her, not on her," explained my father. "It startled her so much that she quit howling. Because she couldn't hear herself barking. Then I brought her inside and removed the spell once she was in her crate."

"You did?"

"Yes. I don't hex animals, Harry. At least not without a damned good reason."

"Oh." Now I felt like an idiot. I'd gotten myself in trouble for nothing. "How come you didn't tell me that, sir?"

"Because I was tired and I don't have to explain everything I do to you, child. I'm your father and sometimes you just have to do what I say and no backtalk, got me?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir." Guess Summer and I had both learned something last night.

"Good. Now get dressed and come and eat breakfast, scamp. I've made your favorite, cinnamon pancakes and bacon."

I grinned and leaped out of bed. In that minute I forgave my dad everything. Cinnamon pancakes and bacon are the ultimate peace offering. But I just hoped Summer didn't try and sing another lullaby to us tonight, the silly puppy!