Ron’s Best Friend
Third Caper: Sit! Roll Over!
Ron woke and blinked at the room’s cheerful and cosy golden light for several moments, wondering, as everyone seemed to always do, what brought him out of sleep. He saw the empty space beside him and had a good guess. He flung off the covers, pulled on his pyjama bottoms, threw on his dressing robe and ambled out their bedroom. The moment he was in the hall, there was a happy yip from somewhere, and then a flash of brown and white skidded to halt by his feet.
Ron laughed and cocked his head at the dog, remembering how he and Hermione had worn Cerberus out in a rub fest and then levitated him to his basket. The pup looked very chipper and content now, on his back and paddling his legs in the air again. “Good morning to you, too, boy. But I’d rather cuddle your mistress first, alright?”
Cerb gave a couple of yips as if he completely understood, righted himself on the floor, wriggling like an eel, and trotted off with his whipcord tail high in the air. Master followed dog to the sitting room and through the open French windows, where Hermione sat curled in one of the patio chaise lounges, staring at her cannas, watering can at her feet and a book in her hands.
She must also be still in her nightgown, because she was wrapped in the aquamarine dressing robe matching Ron’s. She had that faraway look which meant she was thinking about something very hard. Ron had always known that look. It preceded Hermione’s diving for her quill and scratching away with frightening speed on a parchment.
“Hey,” he almost whispered, afraid to disturb her. She turned her face to him. In a second, he was hunkered next to her. “What’s the matter?”
She blinked at him and smiled. “What do you mean? Good morning, Ron.”
“For a moment there, I thought you were about to cry.” He stared at her and noted her eyes didn’t have their usual vivacity. “Are you alright?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She smoothed a hand against his cheek and kissed him. “I was just zoning off, waiting for you to wake up. And this book! Remind me never to read a Nicholas Sparks again.”
“ ‘A Walk to Remember’? That gives me an idea. I’ll make us some breakfast and then let’s take Cerb to the park.”
Hermione held up her arms and he hauled her to her feet, kissing her soundly. They went to the kitchen arm in arm, Cerb at their heels.
“Eggs? Bacon? Sausages?”
“I’ll just have some toast, Ron.”
He frowned at her and cracked six eggs over the hot frying pan. When they were done, he slid them onto a plate and threw bacon and sausages in the grease next. Hermione was at the breakfast counter, looking at Cerberus exploring and sniffing around the cupboard doors. Her eyes still had that glazed look.
“That book must have really depressed you, love.”
Hermione smiled ruefully and got up to fetch plates. He sat down with the sausages and bacon and doled her some of everything. Cerb barked from between their stools, wagging his tail.
Ron plucked three strips of bacon from the plate and was lowering it to the pup when Hermione dropped the pitcher of juice she’d just taken from the fridge to snatch the bacon away inches from Cerb’s mouth.
“Ron! He’ll learn to beg every time we sit to eat if you give him food like this. Last night was an exception, but today we begin training him, okay? Let him see that he gets his turn when we finish.”
Ron nodded. “Have you read up on this, then?”
Hermione transferred half of her food to his plate. “I’ve always wanted pets. I’ve researched training tips for dogs, cats and birds way back when I was in third grade in Muggle school.”
“I know some, too. Look.” Ron turned to Cerberus, who was whining by his feet. Ron took a bit of sausage and showed it to the puppy.
Ron stood and went over to the sink. Cerb followed. “Sit!” Puppies nearly always sat on their haunches anyway when looking up at their owners. When Cerb sat, Ron gave him the sausage. He went back to the breakfast counter. Cerb followed again. Ron broke off a piece of crispy bacon this time. “Sit!” And though Cerb was already sitting, Ron gave him the bacon.
“It’s a start.” He grinned at Hermione.
She rolled her eyes. “I told you not to feed him when we’re eating.” But when Cerb barked up at her and put a paw on her leg, she gave him a whole sausage almost automatically. She winced in self-reproach. Ron laughed and fed her a spoonful of eggs.
○0○
They showered together after giving Cerberus his breakfast of sausages and lactose-free milk. It was a lovely summer day. Hermione dressed in a pleated azure skirt reminiscent of her Hogwarts uniform. It danced around her knees. Her ecru shirt matched Ron’s blue one in design. He wore khaki pants. They made rather a lovely pair as they fussed over their puppy in their garden path.
“Is he too young to be leashed yet?”
As if in answer, Cerb clamped his little jaws on the red leash and began to chew. Hermione gave a small tug. “Call him from the gate, Ron.”
The puppy shot off at hearing his name, but Hermione pointed her wand at the leash to adjust its length until Cerb had to halt. “Heel, Cerb!” Hermione then walked beside the puppy while Ron continued to call to keep him walking. Cerb stayed at Hermione’s heels though, because the leash prevented him to go any farther.
After frequent stops to keep Cerb by her heels while intoning the command, Hermione reached the gate. Ron took the shortened leash from her, put an arm around her waist, and they walked down their street. Cerb tried to drag them, so eager was he to sniff around and explore the new territory. “Heel, boy, heel!” Ron would say, and tug until the pup was once again trotting beside their feet.
“Oh, ducks! What a picture you two make! Just a pram missing now and you’re perfect!”
It was Miss Buffwood, their middle-aged spinster neighbour. She was a witch. Almost all in their street were magical. There was just this young Muggle lawyer and his sister in the corner lot and the Muggle supermarket opposite. Mrs Buffwood claimed to be the first witch to settle there in Hydrangea Avenue, and she doted on the young Weasley couple to the point of making Molly grit her teeth in jealousy and possessiveness.
“Oh, hi Enid. Ron just took him home last night as a present for me. His name’s Cerberus.”
“Hello there, Cerberus!” The elder woman waddled down to her gate and looked down at the yipping puppy. “He’s a lively one. And look at that stone! My, my. Magical, isn’t he? Already knows his name after just a day. You shouldn’t have trouble training him at all. Perfect to keep you company. Ducks, you’re glowing this morning.” And she pinched Hermione’s cheek.
“Thank you, Enid, it’s the summer perhaps,” Hermione mumbled, grinning at Ron and raising her brows at his slightly disgruntled and nauseated look.
“The summer, my hind foot! Of course it’s your handsome husband here who put those stars in your eyes,” she crooned, winking at Ron.
“Yes, well, thanks, Miss Buffwood, we best get going now before Cerb tramples your flowerbeds.”
And with a nod and without waiting for the lady’s answer, Ron dragged Hermione and Cerb away, Hermione giggling. “She’s not so bad this morning, Ron. At least, she didn’t call you ducks.”
“That’s why I escaped! Before she could. And pinch my cheeks besides. Honestly, she makes Mum seem McGonagall-like. Heel, Cerb!”
Hermione giggled again. And then she squeezed his waist. “Do I have stars in my eyes, really?”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She scowled. Ron saw it and let go of her shoulder to tilt her chin toward him. “Your eyes don’t have stars, Hermione. They have diamonds. That’s the better betaphor, isn’t it?”
He grinned when she muttered an ‘Oh.’ That and the blush that tinted her cheeks were enough indication she was pleased.
“Stars, my hind foot! It’s not as if you look like someone clobbered you with a Bludger bat!”
Hermione let out a tinkling laugh that drew some looks from other morning walkers. She buried her face in his chest for a moment, not caring about the public display for once. Ron felt rather cocky and humbled at the same time and smiled.
“I’ve never thought of the expression that way. Oh, and it’s metaphor, my love. Heel, Cerb!”
○0○
They settled under an oak in the square park and lengthened Cerb’s leash, letting him explore and approach other dogs and people. He was rather friendly, unlike other young dogs who snarled at strange canines within a mile radius. Hermione lay in the grass with her head in Ron’s lap. He stroked her hair with his free hand (his other wrist was busy with the leash), and they talked about their house (trying to decide which of the four bedrooms to turn into a nursery), Harry and Ginny (who should get back for Harry’s birthday), and Hermione’s many job offers, most of which had begun to tempt with nice by-correspondence options and positions, since it was known that she and Ron were nesting.
“I don’t want you working, but that will be like you saying you don’t want me playing Quidditch.”
“Well said.”
Ron bent to kiss her forehead. “Look at the time. Do you want to go someplace for lunch or do we eat right here?”
There were several nice choices of bistros around the square, but Hermione simply pointed at a hotdog stand and took Cerb’s leash from Ron so he could buy some. Cerberus tried to follow Ron but was content to cuddle with and lick Hermione when she pulled him to her arms. “You are so sweet, baby!”
Ron returned with their sandwiches. They reinforced the ‘Sit!’ command to Cerberus and rewarded him of his share every time he promptly dropped on his haunches at the word. Ron even rolled in the grass, and rolled Cerb with him, with Hermione laughing “Roll over, roll over!” in the background.
That, coupled with his large breakfast and lunch, soon sent Cerberus into snore-land. He plopped on his belly on the grass, hind legs stretched out, his chin between his front paws, and closed his large eyes. Hermione snuggled back in Ron’s lap.
“Such a beauty, isn’t he?”
“Yeah,” Ron answered, staring at her and the way coins of sunlight seeping through he foliage above them dappled her hair, making it gleam with red and gold highlights. She reached up and tenderly pulled him down for a kiss.
Neither of them noticed the flash of a camera, and they only laughed when they saw themselves in that Evening Prophet’s Where are They Now? column, their picture kissing and snuggling with Cerb in the grass beneath the quote: “Hogwarts’ Indubitable Sweetest Alumni Couple”.
“Ginny would kill us and indubitably raise a protest to the Evening Prophet!”
“Even if she does, you two are just so sweet, ducks! I can’t stop looking at this photograph! Can I frame it?” Enid Buffwood appeared like a mushroom in their garden. Ron jumped and groaned. Cerb yipped happily.
Author’s Note: Woof! Sorry for the laaaate update. I’ve been and still am busy. But from now on, this story will run along fast. The chapters are shorter than my usual output anyway, so it will. The fluff has a spice of plot, of course, and it will begin in the next chapter and be finished after six more.
Doggie notes for doggie lovers: Most dogs are lactose-intolerant. So be careful when giving them milk. Forgot to note this in the last chapter. ‘Sit!’ is the easiest command to teach to doggies. ‘Heel!’ can’t be taught until later when your dog is big enough for leash-training, but it’s never too early to start trying (soon after your dog had got the hang of walking in a leash). Oh, it’s advised that you train with one command at a time and wait until your doggie has mastered one before moving to another. I hope I’m right in my babbling. Hehe! ^-^ In this story, Cerb matures and adapts fast intellectually thanks to his magical genes.
Book note: ‘A Walk to Remember’ is my favourite Nicholas Sparks novel. If you haven’t read it yet, do! But prepare tissue.
Thank you for reading, please review! Arf! Arf!