"But Mum, I don't want to visit Uncle Dudley!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs, while her mother was tying the ribbon on her hat around her head.

"Don't worry, sweetie, we'll only be there for a few hours," Ginny consoled her seven year old daughter. "Besides, it might not be too bad. You had fun playing with your cousins last time."

Once her clothes had been fixed by her mother, she ran outside to play with her brothers, ripping of her hat as she went. She found them kneeling on the ground, huddled around a hole.

"What's in there?" she asked her brothers.

"A rabbit," Albus replied. "We saw it dive in the hole a few minutes ago, and we're waiting for it to come back up."

"James, Albus, Lily! It's time to go!" Harry called out to his kids, who were now all peering into the rabbit's hole.

Lily and James popped right up and started skipping back into the house, but Albus stayed where he was for a few moments. When his mom yelled for him to come inside, he reluctantly trudged back to the house.

"Oh, your clothes are covered in dirt now!" Ginny said exasperatedly, attempting to dust her children off. "Lily, where did your hat go?"

After a few minutes of extra grooming, the family piled into the car, which they were borrowing from Ron's dad. Dudley's wife, Alice, and children, Mary and John, didn't know that they were all wizards, so they had to act like Muggles around them, and that meant driving there in a Muggle car.

Due to the magic the car was enhanced with, they reached Dudley Dursley's house in just half an hour. When they reached his house, which was located in a quiet and respectable Muggle neighbourhood, Harry and Ginny quietly got out of the car, not wanting to disturb the neighbours too much. Their children, however, pushed and yelled their way out of the car.

"James shoved me!" Lily yelled to her mother, her hat slightly askew.

"I did not!" James defended, but the mischievous look on his face gave him away.

Still arguing, the three children ran up the walkway to the door, with their parents in tail. Albus was the first to reach it, so he was the one to ring the doorbell. After he had pressed it at least ten times, Alice Dursley opened the door.

"Hello everyone," she greeted, doing her best to smile, unsure of how the day would turn out. Visits with her husband's cousin's family were always strange, for various reasons that she couldn't quite figure out. Dudley appeared at her side, and they ushered the Potters into the sitting room.

John and Mary came into the room afterwards, with a small dog following them. The grey puppy immediately caught the attention of the Potter children, who ran over to it and started petting it.

"What's its name?" James asked, ruffling the dogs ears.

"Her name is Annie. We just got here two months ago," John replied. "She's a toy poodle, so she won't get very large."

"She's adorable!" Lily gushed, picking the puppy up in her arms. "Aren't you just the cutest dog ever?"

"She can do tricks, too. Do you want to see them?" Mary asked them.

Then they all ran outside, leaving their parents to talk by themselves inside.

"That's good that they're getting along. Where did you get the dog?" Ginny asked Alice.

"Our neighbour, Mrs. Wilde, was selling some puppies a few months ago. We wanted to get one from the pet store, but Mary and John fell in love with Annie."

Back outside, Annie was jumping up and down trying to reach the bone that John was holding high. James, Albus, and Lily sat on the ground, watching in awe. Not many of their wizard friends kept dogs as pets, favouring animals like cats instead, so this was a rare and fun opportunity to play with one.

"What else can she do?" Albus asked, as the dog was chasing a bird around the yard.

"Annie," Mary called to the dog, "sit." Hearing the command, Annie stopped the chase and sat down on the grass.

They spent the next hour like this, until they were called in for supper. They went back inside and sat down at the table. Alice had prepared sandwiches and soup for their meal. 

"This is really good tomato soup, Alice. What's in it?" Ginny asked, trying to make conversation.

Alice was about to answer, when Annie jumped up on the table and knocked over a plate of chopped vegetables.

"Oh no!" Alice squealed, jumping out of her seat and running to get some towels to clean up the mess.

Annie stood on the table, oblivious to the trouble she had caused. Mary reached over the table and picked her up, taking care not to knock anything else over, then she put her in her bed in the other room.

The kids scarfed down their food quickly so they could go and play with Annie, who was now chewing on a small bone. Once they were allowed to leave the table, they all went back outside to play with the dog.

"Do you have any ribbons we can put in her hair?" Lily asked Mary.

"Yeah, I can go get them, and we can brush her, too!" Mary exclaimed, then ran inside to get the supplies.

Lily brushed Annie's fur, and Mary smoothed out a ribbon to place on her ear. Then they tied it on her, and admired her beauty.

"Annie, you are the best dog ever!" Mary said, and then she picked her up and carefully hugged her, so her fur wouldn't get messy.

John kicked a football with James and Albus while the girls groomed the dog. James and Albus had never really played football before, much to John's dismay, but they quickly learned the basics of the sport.

"So we just kick the quaffle through the net?" Albus asked.

"Quaffle?" John asked confusedly. "It's a football."

"Oh, a quaffle is just the name of the ball in a game we made up," James hastily replied, hoping John wouldn't press the subject.

Lily and Mary joined the game after they had finished making the dog beautiful. Annie tried to grab the ball a few times, and she nearly ripped it when she pounced on it once. Her ribbons fell off, but the girls didn't care. They enjoyed seeing her run around the yard.

"Come inside now, James, Albus, and Lily! It's almost time to go!" Harry yelled for his children, happy for an excuse to leave the conversation about the newest television shows that neither he nor his wife knew anything about.

"I'm not ready to go yet!" James answered his father. "We're still playing with Annie!"

"Now, it's getting late." Harry did not want to stay with cousin much longer. The day had turned out okay, but it was still a little awkward to be with Dudley.

"Fine."

The children, who were by now all covered in grass and dirt, slowly walked back inside. Alice was very like her mother-in-law and was concerned about all the mud they were tracking on the floor. She did her best to hide the pained look on her face, but Ginny noticed it, and rushed over to clean her children a bit.

"Well, goodbye Dudley," Harry said to his cousin, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, see you later."

The children hugged each other goodbye, and with a final pet for the dog, the Potter family left the house.

"So it looks like you had a fun day after all, didn't you?" Ginny asked her three children once they were seated in the backseat of the car.

"Yeah I guess it was okay," James answered his mother. "I had fun learning about football from John, but I think I prefer playing Quidditch."

"I had a wonderful time today!" Lily squealed. Although she had been about to fall asleep a moment before, she brightened back up at the thought of the dog. "Annie is such a cute dog! Did you see the bows we put in her fur? She could have easily won one of the Muggle dog shows that Aunt Alice was talking about earlier. We don't always get to play with dogs, so I had a lovely time."

James rolled his eyes, exhausted by sister's obsession with the puppy. "Yes, yes, yes, we get it. Annie is the cutest dog ever!" he said sarcastically, imitating his younger sister's high voice.

Albus, who was quietly looking at the stars outside the window, quieted his older brother by saying, "Well you sure seemed to like her when you were tossing the ball around for her."

James stuck his tongue out at Albus but was quieted nonetheless. The family enjoyed a peaceful silence, broken only by the sound of radio playing, as the children started to fall sleep.

From the passenger seat, Ginny looked back to her dozing children and smiled. "Harry, you know they're going to be begging for a dog of their own soon."

"Do you think we'd be able to handle one? With our jobs, I don't know if we could take car of a dog very well."

"Lily and Albus would love and care for any animal, but James... I'm not so sure about him."

Harry nodded in agreement and added said, "Remember the time he almost killed the owl when he was trying to get the letter from your mum?"

"Poor bird; she couldn't fly straight for weeks. But James was only three years old at the time, so maybe he could take better care of a dog now."

"I guess that we still have time to decide. They haven't asked for one quite yet."

"So," Ginny started, not wanting to upset Harry too much with an unpleasant but necessary conversation, "did you have a nice time with your family today?"

Harry was quiet for a few moments, them said, "Well it could have been worse. No one got hurt, there wasn't too much damage to the house, and the kids liked playing with their cousins."

"And did you like seeing your cousin? I know you two aren't the closest of mates, but he's your family, so you have to love him."

"I guess I did like seeing Dudley again. I'm glad that he didn't turn out like Uncle Vernon, obsessed with destroying magic. He wasn't fond of magic after what Hagrid did to him, but he really warmed up to it, and to me, after I saved him from the Dementors. Still, I don't think I could spend the day with him more than once or twice a year."

"And it's good for the children to spend time with Muggles every now and then. They need to learn about the world outside of magic. Thanks for letting us visit your family today," Ginny said, putting her hand on his arm lovingly.

The car reached home a minute later. Harry and Ginny tried to gently wake their children up, but they were very sound sleepers.

Lily was the first to be woken up, so she aided in waking her brothers up, too. Despite her small size, Lily had inherited her mother's skill in dealing with her brothers and was able to poke and shake Albus awake in a matter of seconds.

Ginny took her youngest kids inside the house to get them ready for bed while her husband attempted to awake their eldest son. After five minutes and still no change in James' state, Harry gave up and lifted him out of the car with his arms. He took him to his room, laid him down on the bed, and pulled the sheets over him. Harry stood in the doorway of the room smiling at his son.

"Amazing," Ginny said, coming up behind Harry after she put Lily and Albus to bed, "an Erumpent horn could explode and he would still sleep through it."

---

Lily woke to bright sunshine streaming in through her window the next morning. Rolling over to look at her clock on the wall, she saw that it was only 6:30 in the morning. No wonder she was still so tired. A little girl such as herself was not to be awoken before 8:00, or else she would be a wreck the rest of the day, or at least until she had had her breakfast.

Sighing, she looked to the window, whose drapes were wide open, allowing more than enough light in. Her mother must have forgotten to close them last night. She groggily climbed out of her bed and made her way across the pink carpeted floor to the window, and after a wide yawn, closed the drapes, stopping the sunlight in its tracks.

As she snuggled down under her sheets a minute later intending to fall back asleep she suddenly remembered the dream she had been having before the sun so rudely interrupted it. In her dream, she was a princess, like the ones in all the Muggle fairytales her parents frequently read to her. Actually, she was a princess in many of her dreams, but this one was different because now she had a dog. It was a fluffy white poodle, or at least she thought it was - the dream was slipping through her memory every moment. They had been playing in a green field, enjoying some sunshine, but she couldn't remember anything else from it.

Lily smiled as she thought of the dream, hardly tired anymore. Jumping out of bed, she skipped out of her bedroom and hopped down the staircase. She found her father sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet, and ran to give him a big hug.

"Good morning, Daddy!"

"Morning, Lily. Did you have a good sleep? You're up earlier than normal," Harry said, putting the paper down to talk to his daughter.

"I slept perfectly but I was too excited to sleep anymore. I have something to ask," she said with a big smile. She held her hands behind her back, swayed side to side, fluttered her eyes, and continued smiling. The foolproof way to get anything she wanted.

"What is it that you want?" Harry asked with a sigh, although he suspected where the conversation was going. He'd thought about it all night.

"Well," Lily began, fluttering her eyelids, "we all had so much fun playing with Annie yesterday, so I was wondering if-"

"You could have a dog?" Harry finished.

"Yes! So... could we get one? We don't know many families with dogs, so it would be amazing to have one of our own."

Harry didn't have time to answer because at this moment James and Albus ran downstairs into the kitchen, followed by their mother. "Morning, everyone," Ginny said brightly.

"Good morning, mum!" Lily said, hugging her mother. "Daddy and I were just talking about getting a puppy!"

Albus, who had just been going to get a glass of milk, immediately stopped pouring and looked up excitedly. "We're getting a dog?"

"No, we're still discussing it," Harry answered his youngest son. "I'm guessing that you would like a dog, too?"

Albus nodded eagerly. "It was fun playing with Annie yesterday, and we don't know many families who have dogs as pets."

"That's exactly what I said!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Well James, what do you think about getting a dog?" Ginny asked.

He answered with indifference, but his parents could tell that, underneath, he wanted one.

"Well if you really want one, you have to prove that you can care for an animal," Ginny said. "Since Hagrid is our only close friend with a dog, maybe you can just help with stuff around the house for a whole month. If you can take care of that, you can get a dog."

So for the next month, the Potter children worked around the house, doing whatever chores their parents had them do. They were things that Ginny usually did with magic, but now the kids did it. "Besides," Ginny thought to herself, "these are good life skills."

"Well," Harry said one morning while they were eating breakfast, "you three have done a very good job with your housework this month. I think you can take care of a dog."

"Yay! We're going to have a puppy of our very own! Oh I'm so excited!" Lily exclaimed.

"Really? You're excited? I never would have guessed," James said sarcastically.

"I'm happy. I think it would be fun to have a dog," said Albus.

"We'll go pick one out next week," Ginny said. "Ron said last week that Luna had some newborn puppies."

Lily couldn't stop smiling as she said, "I can't wait!"

Dear Ginny,
I think it's so wonderful that you and your family are wanting a pet, and I think we can help you out. A few weeks ago our labrador retriever, Cassandra, had some puppies. Why don't all of you come over for lunch next Sunday, and then you can choose a dog? Lorcan and Lysander have been wanting to see your kids for weeks. Let me know if this will work.
Sincerely,
Luna

To the Potter family:
I heard it from my daughter that you are looking for a pet. She said that you were intending to get a "dog", even though I have told her countless times that these so-called "dogs" are, in fact, barwintars - vicious, deadly creatures. Luna is very lucky that neither she nor her children have been attacked yet. We had an article about barwintars in The Quibbler a year ago, but Luna laughed it off and called it rubbish. Please, I entreat you to not get a barwintar as a pet.
- Xenophilus Lovegood 

"A 'barwintar?'" Lily asked in disbelief. "Is he serious?"

"I think he is. I never really know what's going on in his mind," Harry said.

"He's crazy. Ignore the letter, and move on," James said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The Potters had been seated at the table on this Tuesday, eating their breakfast before Harry went to work, when the two owls had flown into, or rather one smashed into while the other flew in, the open window.

"Well then," Ginny said, "we'll write back to Luna, and say we never received Xeno's."

The whole rest of the day the Potter children were in raptures, delighted by the prospect of finally getting a dog. Lily sang songs all day long, or hummed when she didn't have any words to say. Albus cheerily worked in the garden. Even James smiled as he did his chores.

It was a tradition for the Potter's to spend time together relaxing in the living room after dinner and talk about the day. Lily occasionally performed for them when she felt like it. Sometimes their family came over for the evening, but tonight it was just themselves.

"I'm gonna get a puppy, I'm gonna get a puppy, and were going to play all day long," Lily sang as she danced around the living room that night.

"Encore, encore!" Harry cheered for his daughter from his favorite chair near the fireplace. Albus sat on his lap and clapped.

"Thank you, thank you," Lily said, bowing. "That is all for tonight, come again next time!" Then she laid down on the carpet near her mother's feet.

"Dad, what's it like being an Auror? Is it scary going after all the bad guys?" James asked.

"It's hard work, but it's gratifying. To know that we're keeping other people safe makes it worth it. I used to find it a bit scary, but as I've gotten more experience, it's gotten easier."

"I think it sounds like fantastic fun. Do you think I would make a good Auror when I grow up?"

"I'm sure you'd be amazing."

The next Sunday at 11 o'clock, Harry and his family made their way to Luna's home. James wanted to fly on a broom, but Ginny thought this idea unwise, because Muggles could see them. After a few minutes of whining and complaining in James' side, his mother gave in and let him fly with Harry, under the condition that they used a Disillusionment charm to appear invisible.

"But couldn't we just use Dad's invisibility cloak?" James asked.
 
"No, it's not large enough to cover both of you," replied Ginny.

Although he was disappointed that he didn't get to use the cloak, James was happy again when he got on the broom with Harry.

"Farewell!" James yelled to his mother, brother, and sister as they flew into the air, and he stuck out his tongue at them, although they couldn't see it, on account of his invisibility. 

Ginny, Albus, and Lily used Floo powder, the faster and easier method compared to flying, to travel to Luna's house. After stepping into the fireplace they arrived at the house in moments. 

Lorcan and Lysander were sitting on the couch impatiently waiting for their arrival. Upon seeing Lily and Albus, they leaped up and hugged them, disregarding that the children had soot on their clothes. 

"Hello, Ginny," said Luna, walking into the room. "Where are Harry and James?"

"James wanted to fly on the broomstick, and Harry gave in. They should be here in a few minutes. How have you been?" 

"Oh just wonderful. Lorcan has taken a liking to reading, and he does it quite well. He will be an excellent student when he goes to Hogwarts. Oh, did you receive a letter from my father? He said he was going to dissuade you from getting a dog." 

Ginny laughed. "Yes we did, and we decided it best to ignore it. 'Barwintars,' he called them." 

Shaking her head Luna said, "My father is certainly losing his mind. There are too many Wrackspurts in his head. He refuses to visit unless the dogs are outside the house and locked in a cage." 

In the other room, the children played with toys from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Their game of Exploding Snap was interrupted when James burst through the front door with Harry behind him. 

"I have arrived!" James shouted, unnecessarily, because his siblings and friends were seated just a few feet away. He sat down to play with them and was given big hugs from the Scamander children. 

Lunch was ready a few minutes later, and both families sat down to eat. 

"So when can we see the puppies?" Lily asked in between bites of meatloaf. 

"As soon as we finish eating Rolf can take you upstairs and show them to you. They're still very young, so they need their sleep," said Luna. 

Lily couldn't stop bouncing in her seat for the rest of lunch because of her excitement. She barely touched her food. Albus ate all his food politely, and James made a mess and talked with Lorcan and Lysander in between bites. 

"Did you hear that Pole might not play for Puddlemere next year?" James asked Lorcan. 

"Oh yes I heard something about that. Do you think he'll really switch to the Tornados?" 

Lysander piped in, "The Tornados don't deserve Pole; he's too good for them. Now, Whimble could play for them, and I'd be fine." 

After everyone had finished eating Luna and Ginny went to the sitting room to talk, and Rolf led Harry and the children upstairs to see the puppies. The kids trampled up the stairs quite loudly until they got to the landing. 

"Now be very quiet," Rolf said to the kids right before he opened the door, "they're still young and need their sleep, so we don't want to wake them up." 

Lily only half-listened to his speech, so as soon as the he opened the door she ran inside the dimly lit room and flopped down on the rug next to the dog's cage.

"Shhh," Harry whispered to his daughter. 

There were five puppies of various colours and sizes asleep next to their mother. The smallest dog was a female with hair so light it was almost white and looked like a smaller version of her mother. Even though she was sleeping her energy could be seen in her restlessness. Rolf, seeing Lily eyeing the dog, gingerly kneeled down next to the cage, picked her up, and laid her carefully into Lily's arms.
 
"Oh Daddy, look at how wonderful they all are! Look how pretty she is! Imagine how much fun this dog will be when she wakes up! Can we get this one? Oh please, Daddy, please?"

"I don't know. We'll have to see which one your brothers like best." Harry sat down on the sofa followed Rolf, and they happily watched their children play with the dogs. 

James, upon seeing the largest dog with drool running out of its mouth, immediately scooped him up and swung the black puppy around. Albus looked flabbergasted at the act, but after ascertaining that the dog was okay, relaxed and examined the dogs for himself.
 
Albus put his hand into the cage and pet all three of the remaining dogs. One was mostly black except for grey paws and a grey dot on its ear. The second had white hair that was quite long for it's young age, and its eyes was nearly completely covered by the fur. The third dog was grey. It had floppy ears, short legs, and big eyes. Albus found that it was the softest of the three, and suspected that it was also the gentlest.

Harry quietly left the room and went downstairs.

"How are the dogs?" Ginny asked him when he sat down. 

"They're really nice. Well-behaved, too, even if they were barely awake. Now, I know we had only intended to get one dog," Harry paused, then continued, "but you should have seen their faces."

Ginny sighed, then looked at Luna. "What do you think?" 

"You can have as many of the puppies as you want! Take them. They love being together."

"They've all chosen their favorite puppies," Harry said with his voice trailing at the end. 

"I'll go see them and think about it." 

So Ginny walked upstairs and went into the room and watched the children play. The dog Lily had been holding had woken up, and was feebly trying to chase Lily around the room. Albus was laying on the ground scratching the grey dog's stomach. The puppy looked blissful to have such attention. James was trying to spar, it seemed, with his dog. He held a toy wand in one hand and was attempting to poke the dog's nose, but the puppy danced around and narrowly avoided being turned into a stuffed animal. Lorcan and Lysander held the other two dogs, and Cassandra, who had been resting in the sunlight from the window, walked over to Ginny and laid down. 

"They do look so happy," Ginny thought to herself. 

"Mummy!" Lily yelled, momentarily forgetting to be quiet, "come pet Chrysanthemum!" 

"Chrysanthemum? That's a pretty name. Did you choose it yourself?" 

"Yes. She is as beautiful as a Chrysanthemum," said Lily as she stood up and danced around the room with the dog in her arms. 

James stopped his battle and ran to his mum with the dog trotting at his heels. 

"Can we keep them all? I don't want to get that prissy Chrysanthemum. Remus," James said, referring to his black dog, "is much better."

"I don't know," Ginny said teasingly. "After your match with Remus a moment ago, do you think you could really take care of him? I rather think Chrysanthemum would be a much better dog to have around the house." 

"But Lily's going to want to dress her up in princess outfits and tiaras!" 

Laughing, Ginny said, "Well what does Albus think about the dogs?" 

Albus walked over carefully with the grey puppy. 

"I really like this one. He's so nice. I think I'll call him Leopold. Can we please keep him? Please?" He clasped his hands in front of him pleadingly, and Lily and James stood next to him and did the same.

Harry came inside the room at this moment to hear the question, and with a look at his wife's smile and his children's faces, said with a sigh, "Yes, we can get the three dogs."

---

That night the Potter family was joined by three new members: Remus, Leopold, and Chrysanthemum. The children took good care of their dogs and had many fantastic adventures.

Their parents at times regretted the decision to get three new-born puppies, but Lily and Albus always cleaned up their mess whenever Ginny threatened to take the dogs away. James, on the other hand, was, well, James, and took every opportunity to create more trouble.

Dogs became the have-to-have pet in the Wizarding world when word got out that Harry Potter had three. Xenophilius Lovegood was distraught at the thought, and dedicated an entire issue of The Quibbler to the subject, but of course, no one paid him any attention.

The End