His Hidden Angel

The letter

The next morning I awoke to the familiar glare of the sun over the tree line. I unwrapped myself to only be met by a cold morning breeze. I quickly climbed back into my room and shut the window. I got dressed like I usually did and went downstairs. I wasn't sure if the dog was going to be there, so I went about my day like usual. I wouldn't have to do anymore gardening for a while since it was beginning to become cold outside, so I started on my chores inside the house.

After about an hour, I went outside to go for a flight. I spread my wings to take off, until I saw him move at edge of the tree line. He let out a bark to get my attention. He started to walk over to me casually as if he did this everyday.

"Good morning, Padfoot.", I called out to him. He stopped dead in his tracks, looked up at me, and tilted his head slightly to the side. The reaction made me laugh a little.

"I asked Moony if you could stay and he said you could stay if you wanted to. I asked about a name and he told me he used to know a dog that looked like you named Padfoot. What do you think?" The dog let out what sounded like a small laugh and started to jump around.

"Padfoot it is then. Do you want to race? I'm going to practice again." The dog got in his lowered playful stance again with his head low to the ground and his tail up in the air.

"I'll take that as a yes. Follow my lead." I spread my wings and began to take a couple strides before beginning to glide. Padfoot followed by my side as we headed towards the woods.

"Try to keep up", I called out before I started twisting and diving around the trees. I caught a few glimpses of Padfoot following the same path as I was until we reached the tree. I touched it and began to go back the same way. I started to take the same path and looked back to see Padfoot jump at the tree and push off on all four paws. He picked up a sudden burst of speed in an attempt to catch up. Since he now knew what the path was, he was willing to go faster than before. He caught up to me in no time and we were neck-and-neck. He eventually pulled forward and was the first one back to the cabin.

He started to prance around in his victory circle like he was taunting me.

"Good job. Want to see a trick?", I asked. He sat down where he was like he was waiting.

"Stay here." I said before ascending into the air. I went higher and higher until all I could see of Padfoot was a little black dog in the yard.

"Here I come!" I yelled towards him and began the fall. The featured and details of things became clearer the closer I came to the ground. I could here Padfoot barking at me the closer I got to the ground. As I came closer to the ground, Padfoot stood up on all four legs and began to crouch like he was about to jump, but I opened up my wings and skimmed the tree tops. Once I landed Padfoot came running over to me and tackled me to the ground and was barking at me.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I've done that before." He let out a huff and just stared at me.

"I know. I know. Be careful. Don't do it again. You know, Moony says the exact same things." He turned around and started heading towards the cottage.

"Where are you going? Had enough fun for today?" I said with a small laugh and jogged to catch up with him. He scratched on the door so tell me to let him in. When he went inside he hopped up on the couch and laid down.

"I know you're tired, but I don't know how Moony would feel about having you on the couch." The dog didn't budge from his spot.

"I'm going to make a sandwich. Would you like one?" The mention of food got him to his feet and going into the kitchen.

"Do you like peanut butter by any chance?" I asked as I started spreading peanut butter onto a slice of bread. I put an extra amount onto the slice and folded it in half. I held out my hand to him and he gently took the bread from my hand and began to eat. I finished making my sandwich and gave Padfoot another slice of bread. I ran upstairs to grab my notebook and a book and came back down. Padfoot was back into his spot on the couch. I took a seat next to him and began to draw. It only took a few moments before his eyes closed due to tiredness.