One Day They'll Know Your Name

My dogs name

It took a total of two weeks for the summer to go to shit. Oh, those two weeks were fun and all, he got to spend time with his friends almost every day and Sirius had brough up and interesting suggestion that Hermione was strongly against and everyone else was at least a little excited about, but the fifteenth day was when it all got bad. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start at the beginning of the summer, shall we?

The summer started as the previous one had, with all their parents greeting them together at the platform. The kids greeted them cheerfully, even though they'd seen most of them just the week before. Hermione hugged her parents especially tight and agreed to meet up the next day or the day after. As they all went their separate ways, Harry grinned at the thought of another fun summer.

The first week went by quickly, with Hermione quickly convincing the group to get their homework done so they would have more time later to do other things. Quidditch was a big hit with most of the group, and even Neville could be coaxed onto a broom if they weren't doing anything extremely crazy, so the children flew a lot.

Sirius pulled them all into the living room on the first day of the second week. "What do you lot know about Animagi? Besides that I am one, obviously." He grinned widely at the last part. Harry just rolled his eyes at the older man while Hermione immediately went off on a tangent about a book she read about the process.

"It's quite fascinating really!" she said. "The entire process should take just a little over a month if it's done correctly, but if it's not, you have to start all over at the beginning, unless you mess it up near the end, in which case you could be permanently stuck in a strange form!"

Ron, ever the typical Gryffindor, grinned. "Sounds fun. Are you offering to teach us, Padfoot?"

Sirius grinned right back at Ron. "I am. It took James, Wormtail, and I till our fifth year to do it, but if you want my help you'll be able to do it more quickly." He grew more serious. "If you guys decide you don't want to do this now, but you want to do it in a year or two, that's fine, but please come talk to me before you start. The Marauders were lucky and I prefer not to depend on luck a second time. Before you ask, Hermione, yes I talked to all your parents. They agreed that as long as you all do it one at a time, or at least transform in separate rooms when you do it just in case your Animagus forms don't get along right away, then they are ok with you doing this." Turning to Draco, he said, "Draco, your parents seemed especially pleased. I think they're hoping you manage it so you have a way to escape a bad situation if anything goes horribly wrong, or at least, that's what Narci is probably thinking. She always liked having a relatively foolproof backup plan or five." He turned back to Hermione. "Hermione, I explained everything to your parents, the entire process, the risks involved, that I've done this myself and know what I'm doing. They also agreed to it. But I don't want you guys to decide today. Think about it for at least a week, talk to your parents, talk to each other. Like I said, if you want to wait, or you don't want to do it, that's perfectly fine, but please, come talk to me if you change your minds in that case."

Harry glanced at his friends. They nodded, and he turned to Sirius. "Ok Siri," he said quietly. "We'll think about it and let you know at the end of the week." With that, Sirius' serious demeanor melted away and he grinned.

"Alright you lot, go have fun. I know Hermione prodded you into finishing all your homework already, so you have plenty of free time as long as theirs no chores any of you need to be doing."

Almost before he had finished speaking, all five kids bolted out of the room, laughing like the carefree children he hoped they could stay for a few years.

After a week of debate, mostly consisting of Hermione's "It could be dangerous!" and Ron's "But Padfoot is teaching us!", the five teens agreed to learn the Animagus Transformation. Hermione finally agreed because Draco brought up the very real fact that having a form that no one knew about (for now at least) would come in handy if they ever needed to escape a bad situation, which they all agreed was likely going to be the case if the last two years had been any indication.

Unfortunately, the end of the week marked the end of the happy summer, at least for Harry. A note arrived on the morning of the fifteenth day. It read; He is still alive. Beware. Sirius took one look at the note and blanched, disappearing to show Aunt Cissa and Professor Dumbledore. Barely an hour later a letter had come from the Ministry declaring that they weren't sure about Sirius' sentence at this point in time since the letter had come from someone who was supposedly dead. Because of this, Sirius no longer held guardianship of one Harry Potter. Not long after that, Professor Dumbledore Floo'd in and told Harry to pack his bags, and Sirius to prepare to spend the rest of the summer as a dog.

"I'll try to get this cleared up as fast as possible, but Madam Umbridge has some sort of vendetta against you so it will probably take much longer than it should," he said. "In the meantime, I'm afraid Mr. Hortensia will have to return to the Dursleys for at least a month, and quite possibly for the remainder of the summer."

Harry gasped. "What? But..."

"I'm sorry I can't keep you away from them, child. But that is why I'm sending Sirius with you. He will remain as a dog and I will inform Petunia that he stays with you as protection for all of you."

"Can I at least write letters to my friends first?" Harry asked nervously.

"Of course, my dear boy. You write them and I'll send them out as we Apparate to Privet Drive."

Harry nodded and disappeared into his room to pack and write his letters. He packed lightly, knowing that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon wouldn't allow him to keep most of his stuff.