Idiosyncrasy |Harry Potter

Chapter Thirty Seven

Zakari's hands scraped against the ground, causing them to become raw as he was knocked aside from the caving of the ceiling. Lifting his head up, the debris had yet to settle as he and Ron were pushing themselves up. However, the boy instantly fell into a panicked state as he didn't see Duncan anywhere. It was only he, Ron and Lockhart, stuck behind a wall of rock. He ran over to the wall, neglecting the other two and began pulling at as many rocks as he could, silently praying he wouldn't find the corgi buried under the debris. Hot tears streamed down his face, if Duncan was hurt, he would blame himself for not staying behind as the dog had wanted him to. 

Ron called out to Harry and sighed in relief as he heard his friend's voice, although he was not thrilled about being stuck with Lockhart, who seemed delusional as the memory charm had hit him. Now he was stuck with the idiot and a boy who he couldn't communicate with.

"Well, this is just brilliant. Just brilliant!"

He looked down to see Zakari fall back onto his butt and sit in pure shock, unable to move the majority of the rocks on his own. The boy was sobbing terribly as he shook his head in defeat. 

Harry straightened himself from the ground after confirming to Ron that he was alright, Ron reassured them that they were fine on the other side. Or at least as fine as they would be stuck in the company of Lockhart. However, he wasn't very reassured as he heard Zakari's crying echoing in the tunnels. He wondered if he had gotten hurt during the collapse, but Ron hadn't mentioned it, leaving another thought to pop into his head.

He looked at the wall before something touched his leg. He looked down to see Duncan looking up at him. The dog was covered in the settling debris, letting out several snorts and shaking his fur trying to rid it. Harry sighed in relief as he looked down to the little dog, unsure what had occurred when he pushed Zakari out of the way. But he couldn't help but feel bad that the dog and Zakari were separated from each other, knowing how much Zakari relied on Duncan. 

"Ron, tell Zakari that Duncan is okay!" Harry called through the rock. 

"How the bloody hell do you want me to do that, Harry!?"

"You'll figure something out, I'm sure." He looked back down to Duncan who let out a couple of whines, scraping his paws against the rock trying to get back to his owner.

"Looks like it's just you and me." Harry told the dog. "Come on, stay close."

Ron turned to Zakari, trying to figure out how he was going to manage trying to the message across to the boy that the dog was okay. He tapped Zakari's shoulder, bringing him to look over at him. Ron cleared his throat and fumbled with his hands for a bit trying to think of any signs, but he failed miserably. 

Suddenly, he began to act like a dog, bringing Zakari to stare at him in fear as Ron attempted to bark at him. He was growing redder and redder believing how ridiculous he probably looked in that moment.

'I quite like the show that you're putting on!" Lockhart exclaimed clapping his hands together.

Ron stared in the man's direction before rolling his eyes. "Shut up." He turned back to Zakari before pretending to be a dog again, pointing to the rocks and then giving Zakari a thumbs up. 

Finally, it seemed he got the message through as the tears suddenly stopped and a smile appeared on Zakari's face. He quickly jumped up to his feet letting out a happy noise that Ron couldn't even try to imitate if he wanted to. Going back to moving the rocks back out of the way, Ron watched as Zakari moved one of his hands to reach for a rock, but it moved aside rapidly.

"How did you do that?" Ron asked.

But, of course, he didn't receive a response.

Harry was walking along when Duncan suddenly bit his pant leg and tried to pull him back.

"Let go." Harry ordered the dog, only to hear Duncan growl back at him. "Look, I have to go on, Ginny is in trouble. We can't just leave someone behind.  The sooner we get through this, we can get back to Zakari, alright? "

Duncan didn't budge just yet as he met Harry's eyes.

"What if it was Zakari that was taken down here? You would want someone to come after him to save him right? I know I would..."

Letting out a small whine, Duncan released his hold and turned to face the part of the tunnel that had just traveled down.

"He'll be alright." Harry reassured the dog. He figured if he could talk to snakes as a parseltongue, it wouldn't be much weirder to have a full conversation with a corgi.

The problem was, he couldn't hear what Duncan had to say on the matter of the situation. But he was sure if he could, what the corgi had to say wouldn't be very nice.

As  Duncan followed Scarhead, the only thing he knew was once they were all out of the creepy tunnel and back in safety, he deserved so many damn treats. 

And belly rubs.

Lots and lots of belly rubs.

Or he was going to bite someone.