Snape turned a furious glare on his ward, ignoring the yaps and squirming with which the puppy greeted the new arrival. "Do you know who this flea bitten mutt belongs to?"
Harry burst into laughter. "That's not a mutt! That's Padfoot!"
Snape stared at the small dog. It was unquestionably a puppy тАУ and a cute one at that тАУ bearing no relation to Sirius' animagus form of a grim-like creature. "What?"
Harry nodded, still snickering too hard to speak.
Snape gave the creature another shake. "Well then, turn back, you cretin! What are you waiting for?"
The puppy growled and yipped at him, making a very credible attempt to bite his hand. This time he managed to draw blood, and Snape responded with another, rather enthusiastic smack. The puppy's yowls echoed off the stone walls.
"Shut up, you melodramatic тАУ"
"Severus Snape! Are you harming that poor little dog?" Minerva McGonagall demanded in awful tones.
Snape froze, instantly regressing to an 11 year old who had been caught out after curfew. "I тАУ I тАУ It's - " He finally managed to regain some of his composure and reminded himself he was now an adult and a colleague of the admittedly scary witch. "It's Black."
"Of course, it's black, Severus," Minerva scolded. "I can see that. Whose is it?"
Harry began to laugh again, but quickly regretted it when Minerva's gaze fell upon him. "And just what is so amusing, Mr Potter?"
"I тАУ erm тАУ Nothing, Pr'fessor," Harry gulped, deciding maybe it wasn't such a good joke after all. "It's just that Da wasn't talking about his color. He m-meant that that's Sirius."
Snape blinked. Had Harry just been foolish enough to reveal Black's animagus form?
McGonagall's jaw dropped. "That puppy is Sirius Black?" she repeated, leaning over to examine the dog more closely. Sirius snuffled at her appealingly and wagged his tail.
Harry nodded. "Yes'm. I тАУ erm тАУ I sort of Transfigured him into a puppy dog."
"A cocker spaniel, if I'm not mistaken," Minerva observed absently, still looking over the now quiet puppy. Then her attention focused sharply on what Harry had just said. "You did this, Mr Potter?"
"Erm, yeahтАж"
Her eyes narrowed and she gave Snape a sharp look. "With your father's assistance?"
Snape glared back, affronted, even as Harry shook his head. "No'm. All by myself."
"And did your godfather give his permission?"
Harry darted an anxious glance at the puppy. "UhтАж not exactly," he reluctantly admitted. "It was sort of a тАУ a тАУ surprise. "
Snape and McGonagall exchanged a guarded look. That sort of spell тАУ involuntary animate to animate transfiguration of a mature and powerful wizard тАУ was hardly something your average second year student could do. Snape hoped McGonagall wouldn't point that out, as Harry's self-esteem was still fragile enough that if he thought he shouldn't be able to do something, then he would lose the ability. If Minerva told him that only extraordinarly strong wizards could do such controlled, focused magic, the boy would immediately decide that he therefore couldn't do it.
To his relief, Minerva didn't say anything of the kind, though her lips grew even thinner as she regarded the nervous boy. "If you don't want me to give you a surprise, Mr Potter тАУ and a highly unpleasant one at that тАУ you will Transfigure your godfather back to normal this instant."
Harry swallowed hard and hastily drew his wand. "Yes, ma'am."
Snape quickly deposited the puppy on the ground as Harry frowned in concentration. A brief incantation later, and Sirius sat where the puppy had been.
"Merlin, that was weird!" Sirius gasped, leaping to his feet and patting himself all over, as if to reassure himself that he had been properly reconstituted. "I couldn't change or anything!"
"Well, of course not," McGonagall snapped before anyone else could. "You were under an external geas. You were, for all intents and purposes, a cocker spaniel, which is not a noticeably magical breed." She turned back to where Harry had been hoping to sidle away. "And how exactly did you learn that incantation, Mr Potter?"
"Uh, well, you did it," he pointed out hesitantly. "With the trollтАж And then I saw it in one of Da's books, and, erm, it seemed really cool, soтАж"
"And it was, Harry!" Sirius assured him hastily, then turned a baleful look at Snape. "Until somebody attacked me."
"What?" Snape demanded furiously. "You attacked me!" He brandished his ripped trouser leg. "Remember this?"
"You kicked me!"
"I pushed you away, you stupid mutt! And just why were you attacking my ankle anyway?"
"Me? I was a harmless, cute, little puppy!"
"Harmless? Ha! You were as big a menace as usual! Look! I'm bleeding!"
"That's just a scratch!" Sirius scoffed, then rubbed his backside and winced. "I'm likely black and blue from where you beat me!"
"Beat you? I'll show you тАУ"
"Enough!" McGonagall's voice cut through their escalating argument. "Both of you. Go see Poppy."
The two wizards blinked at her. "But тАУ"
"GO!"
With mutual glowers of antipathy and muttered exchanges of "This is all your fault", the men reluctantly moved off. "Er, I could go with them," Harry offered.
"Not quite yet, Mr Potter." McGonagall's glare nailed him to the spot. "This latest prank of yours had the capability to be quite dangerous, and my patience with all of you is running thin."
Harry bit his lip nervously. He hadn't seen Professor McGonagall this upset since the time that Ron and Draco had tried hexing each other's hedgehogs and managed to turn the entire class' supply into one giant pincushion. And what did she mean "all of you"? It was just him playing the pranks on Padfoot. "Sorry," he quickly supplied, hoping to mollify the witch.
"I will have Madame Pince send you a book on Transfiguration hazards, and I expect a 3 foot report on it by this time next week. If you are able to carry out such complex transfigurations, young man, then you had best be aware of what you are doing."
"Yes'm," Harry agreed quickly. She had a point, and a three foot essay wasn't that bad.
"And while I am still at the castle, we had best arrange for some additional lessons," she mused, as much to herself as Harry. "Better to find out exactly how far this talent stretches before there are other students to deal with as well." Her gaze sharpened as she refocused on him. "An early bedtime will not be amiss either, Mr Potter. You may enjoy the rest of your afternoon as you see fit, because after dinner, I expect you to go directly to your room and bed."
He opened his mouth to argue тАУ in bed by eight o'clock?! In the summer???!! It wasn't even like school was in session or she was still his Head of House! тАУ but he suddenly realized he was unexpectedly tired, and even the thought of protesting the punishment was rather too strenuous. Besides, it was pretty clear that the school calendar had little to do with anything. He nodded obediently. "Yes, Auntie Min. I really am sorry."
McGonagall sighed to herself. Well, at least it wasn't a Weasley. "Very well, Mr Potter. I'm glad we understand one another." At her gesture of dismissal, Harry trudged away, stifling a yawn. His dignity wouldn't allow him to take a nap тАУ not after being subjected to such an outrageously early bedtime тАУ but he thought that wandering down to Hagrid's hut might be a good idea. The giant was always happy to see him and he might be able to stay awake when he saw whatever creature Hagrid was nursing back to health this week. If not, and he ended up snoozing in the sun with Fang, Hagrid wouldn't mind one bit.