The Consequences of Taking in a Stray

Title: Unknown, suggestions are welcome.
Date started: 05-2005
Status: Ongoing
Rating: currently 17+
Pairings: ofc/sb, ofc/rl, sb/rl, sb/ofc/rl
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything remotely related to Harry Potter. If I did…well, it certainly wouldn’t be considered a children’s book, that’s for sure.

Note: post final war- Harry found to be a Horcrux; Dark Marks on the Death Eaters’ arms are Horcrux; all those carrying the Mark are either dead or missing an arm. Hermione (who now works at the Ministry of Magic) brought Sirius back from behind the Veil. Ron was killed in final battle (hurrah!). McGonagall is headmistress of Hogwarts.
Summary: A young woman stumbles across a huge black dog while taking a walk. Not wanting to leave it to fend for itself, she takes it home. Imagine her surprise when he turns into a man.


The late afternoon sun was peeking through the forest trees as Julie walked along the little-worn path back to where she had parked her car. She loved the colors of the changing leaves and how the crisp the autumn air was. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the snap of a twig from somewhere to her left or the rustle of dry leaves practically right next to her. Suddenly a huge black dog bounded up to her, tongue lolling, ears forward, begging to play.
Recovering from a slight shock and feeling a bit embarrassed by the startled squeak she had voiced she glared down at the strange dog in front of her.
“Now, ‘little one,’ I can’t play with you. My cats are probably tearing up the house by now. You should be home as well, it’s getting dark.” Julie looked around for the dog’s owner but didn’t see anyone.
The dog certainly was not little; more akin to a full grown Great Pyrenees. He looked like a big scruffy terrier mix. He snorted with an indignant look plastered on his cute puppy face.
“Your human must be around here somewhere. Have you misplaced him?” Julie scratched the dog’s ears. “Don’t worry lil’ puppydog. Your person can’t be far off.” She searched around again, wondering who could have lost their pet. There were no other cars parked in the lot besides hers.
“I hope you don’t expect me to foster you if I can’t find your human right away. I’m not too sure how my cats would react.”
The dog cocked his head to the side with a questioning look.
“Yes, CATS, plural. Seven of them. I tend to whine about their poor housekeeping but they just ignore me. That’s why I like cute little puppy-dogs like you. You just want attention and a good ear-scratching. And you don’t glare at me when I babble incessantly for a while. Though I don’t usually talk to dogs outside of work I’ll make an exception for you.”
He gave a short bark and circled three times then lay down. Deciding to follow his lead she sat down next to him. “Let’s wait for your owner for a bit. If he doesn’t show up in the next hour then I’ll take you home and feed you.” She could have sworn the dog grinned at her which was, of course, ridiculous.
After five very long minutes Julie sighed and started to rummage through her purse.
“I know I put them in here somewhere…always misplacing things,” she muttered to herself. “Hey Puppy-dog, do you want to see pictures of my cats. They are cute little demons, getting into trouble whenever they can.” She pulled out a wallet sized accordion picture book and unfolded it. It had to have had two dozen pictures in it. “This one is Molly, a Maine Coon, scared of her own shadow. This here is…”

***** forty-five minutes later *****

“…and that is McGregor again, stealing cookies off of the counter.” Julie looked over at the dog and sighed. He had fallen asleep. ‘Oh well, at least it helped to pass the time.’ She glanced around and realized that it was dusk. “Not good.” Julie frowned and dove again into her purse in search of her cell phone.
*****
Phone:
“Hi, Michael? Has anyone called in for a missing dog? A 120 pound, shaggy, black terrier mix, five or six years old…No? If someone does could you call me back? I’m taking him home with me….*yelling on the other end of the line*…. I’m sure he will be fine. The cats won’t hurt him…oh, you meant the cats. I doubt he is cat aggressive but if he is I will just keep him in the bathroom…. I can’t let him stay here by himself and if you guys take him… just tell me if someone calls for him. Thanks. Bye.”

“Come on, Little One. The car is this way.” Julie started walking towards the parking lot. “I’m sure the cats won’t mind you staying until your owner comes to get you. Just try not to pee in the car; it’s only a short drive.
*****
“Alright, Puppy, we’re here! Now, hold still. I haven’t opened the door yet…oomph!” Julie suddenly found herself with a lap full of dog which, in itself, was quite remarkable as she was still scooted up close to the steering wheel of the car so her feet could reach the pedals.
“You are one heavy dog…now get off. I’m loosing blood circulation to my feet.” She quickly opened the car door and tumbled out followed by a very hyper black fuzz-ball.
“Now, there are two things that could happen once you walk through that door. One: the cats will run away, hiding under the bed and inside litter pans. Or two: they will swarm on you like ravenous ferrets…. I am betting on the former.” Julie opened the door and walked inside; holding the door for the dog who promptly bounded over to the bed, jumped up on it, circled three times and laid down. The sight wouldn’t have been as odd if there weren’t already four cats napping on the bed.
“Or…the third option: where the cats totally ignore the strange dog who is taking up their sleeping spots. That is just plain weird. I brought my brother’s dog over here once…all Hell broke loose.”
Julie hung up her purse on a hook on the door and made a beeline for the fridge. “I’ll make you some rice and ground beef, just make yourself at home…take up my spot on the bed, win the favor of my cats…” She put a pot of water on to boil and a baggie of a quarter pound of frozen ground beef. The beef she threw into the microwave on defrost (on a plate and out of the plastic) and dumped two cups of minute rice into the pot. Seeing as there was a while to wait until the beef was cooked she topped off the four cat-food bowls and two water bowls as well as the many fountains scattered about the kitchen and living room that the cats enjoyed drinking from. By this time the beef was done defrosting so Julie stirred it up and nuked it on high for a while. She then took the rice off the stove and put two cups of rice into a Tupperware and the rest into a heavy ceramic soup bowl. The microwave beeped annoyingly while she searched for the fork to stir up the beef and looked through all of the cabinets and drawers for the missing Tupperware lid until she finally took the beef out and scooped out half into each container of rice. Just as she was putting the extras into the fridge Mr. I’m-too-cute-to-sleep-on-the-floor padded into the kitchen, placed his paws on the counter, and started eating his beef and rice.
Julie let out a frustrated growl. “Ohh! Would you wait for me to put it on the floor? It’s bad enough the cats constantly sneak up onto the counters when I go to work. I don’t need another reason to disinfect my entire kitchen.” She stalked over and set the bowl on the floor near the cat dishes.
“This is your food, which is probably much tastier than the cat food, so leave the cat food alone.” The shaggy ball of fur sniffed at the cat food then scarfed down the rest of his. “That’s a good doggy. Finally a dog that does what it’s…Hey! That’s the cat’s water bowl!
*********************************************************************


AN: I’ll update as soon as I finish editing my friend’s romance novel. *sigh* If I read one more “Kitchen” with a CAPITAL K in the middle of a sentence I’ll be forced to rewrite all of her sex scenes, which would probably cause her to deliberately burn her own eyes out with a fire poker…or throw up her dinner.