TBAY: Here, puppy, puppy, puppy!

[susannahlm]

No: HPFGUIDX 47253

The early grey of dawn has begun to appear through the windows at 
George's Tavern. Most of the theorists have by now staggered off back 
to their ships, or on to newer theories. The ones that remain are 
mostly hung over. 

Not Captain Cindy, of course. 

She is having a grand old time--throwing the furniture about, 
Apparating back and forth between the Big Bang and the Tavern, and, 
oddly for her, waving the red flag tauntingly in front of the Sirius 
Apologist. 

Derannimer, having thwacked Charis Julia cordially on the back and 
made her adieus, walks toward Cindy in the Tavern. "Isn't this canon 
strange?" Cindy is saying to Dicentra, with a certain slightly 
malicious gleam in her eye. Dicentra is turning about as red as her 
robes. 

"I mean, Sirius is supposed to be a good guy. He was on Dumbledore's 
team, and he is probably good at Transfiguration. But there's nothing 
to suggest he knows the first thing about Dark Magic. We've never 
seen him perform any, and he hasn't even conjured a Patronus, so far 
as we know. Yet here JKR is hinting that Sirius is someone who 'had 
experience with Dark Magic.' What could she be implying there, 
exactly? That Sirius is *Ever So Evil,* do you think?"  

Derannimer stops and thinks, and then reluctantly shakes her head. 
No. *She's* certainly not a Sirius Apologist, but "had experience 
with Dark Magic" is what *Harry* is thinking. So the phrase must 
apply to something that Harry knows about. Harry certainly doesn't 
know Sirius to be Ever-So-Evil. It probably means time spent during 
VW1, Azkaban, etc. 

Still, teasing Dicentra really looks like fun. . . Derannimer 
continues to make her way over to Cindy. But only briefly--

"Oof!" she exclaims, or something like that anyway. Her eyes close as 
she hits the floor. She's not sure that she wants to open them. . . 
something knocked her down. Something is still pinning her to the 
ground. Something *heavy.* And. . . furry. And. . . 

YECHH! 

. . .possessed of a very warm, wet tongue. 

Derannimer's eyes snap open, and she beholds a very large and 
obviously friendly dog standing over her. 

"Get *off*!" She shoves the creature off her and scrambles to her 
feet. As she looks down on it, her stare is not a friendly one. 

The dog gazes back at her, a typically adoring and doggy look in its 
brown eyes. Derannimer suddenly notices that it is carrying a stick.  

"Awwww," she croons, melting. She squats down next to the dog and 
starts to ruffle its ears. "Poor puppy just wants to play doesn't 
you? Doesn't you? 

"What's a cute widdle puppy like you doing in a place like this? Who 
do you belong to, anyway?"  

Derannimer spots the collar on the dog, and twists it around to read 
the name. 

"Prank. Oh, that's cute. 

"Oh wait, hang on, there's more. It says:  

'PRANK--If you find me talk to Dicentra.'  

"Hmmmm, odd. I never knew Dicentra had a dog." 

Derannimer straightens and calls across the room: "Hey Dicentra! You 
still here? I think this is your dog--was he missing? Name of Prank? 
I want to--" she looks down at the dog, who whaps his tail 
encouragingly--"I want to talk to you about him for a sec!"  

Derannimer (who is *not* ordinarily a dog person, but who is 
currently thinking about buying a leash. Such a cute pooch!)