 Post 3 Gryffindor for life Notorious Niffler
So it was Christmas break and the castle had practically no students left. Mum, however, had written to Emmeline telling her to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, so the 11-year-old had decided to spend Christmas Eve with Sirius. Well, she'd be back tomorrow too, but today was ALL for her assigned cruppy. The first year trudged out to the infant nursery barn wrapped in her cloak, hat, and gloves; she had warming spells on her cloak now, because she'd sent one of them home to Nanny for charming, but she also knew how to cast bluebell flames and that other warming spell from Charms class if necessary. Emmeline slipped inside the nursery barn and quickly shut the door behind her. The icy winds blowing across the grounds, not to mention all the snow, made it way too cold to leave the door open for more than 2 seconds. She grabbed her usual supplies from the appropriate stations, plus a brush, and headed over to Sirius' kennel: "Hii Sirius, how're you today? It's almost Christmas!" She was planning to feed him some of his favorite cruppy treats that Professor Wayland had stored near the normal cruppy food in the nursery barn tomorrow. She wanted Sirius to get something for Christmas after all.
Sirius and Emmeline had a daily routine by now. The Gryffindor carefully measured out the amount of food that library book on cruppy care had told her to feed him twice a day and poured it into his food bowl. One quick water spell later and his water bowl was also full and ready for the day. Next, Emmeline freed the cruppy from his kennel and returned the bag of cruppy chow to its place while he inhaled his meal. The second the last of his kibble was gone, Sirius ran in circles around Emmeline, barking and wagging his tail like mad. She grinned at him and had to chase him around the barn a bit before he gave in and let her put his leash on. "You're such a silly boy today. Wanna go play fetch?" Emmeline knew that Sirius didn't understand much English, but he knew certain words by now like "food" and "fetch". Or maybe it was "play." Either way, Sirius's tail turned into even more of a whip because he was wagging it so hard. Emmeline laughed and led him out to the pasture thing behind the nursery.
The Gryffindor did NOT like being out in the cold, especially with so much snow everywhere, but Sirius loved playing in the snow. As soon as she'd secured the pasture door, Emmeline unhooked Sirius's leash, pulled a tennis ball out of her pocket and lobbed it across the pasture. Sirius was off like a flash, and she thought maybe he'd gotten faster as well as bigger since her last journal entry. Anyway, the cruppy was quick to scoop up the ball but just kept running around the pasture with it clutched in his mouth. "Bring it back, Sirius!", Emmeline called out.
She knew that the cruppy understood that phrase, at least somewhat, because he went from running around aimlessly to trotting around the other side of the pasture with his head held high, his tail wagging 100 miles a minute, and a veeerry smug air about him. The first year giggled; Sirius was always so proud of himself when he managed to get his ball. He rarely ever actually brought it back, although she knew he loved chasing the silly thing. She gave him a BIIIG grin in warning before chasing Sirius allllll around the pasture for a few hours. When he stopped to do his potty business, she cast the cleaning spells to vanish and then freshen up the area.
After a few hours (though she wasn't sure how long), Emmeline started to get kinda hungry and Sirius wasn't running as fast as he had in the beginning. She called him to her with his leash in hand, and this time the cruppy trotted over happily to her. He still held his ball firmly in his mouth, of course. The first year attached his leash and led him back inside the nursery to his kennel. Before putting him in, though, she picked up his brush from its spot and gave him several looong strokes with it. She didn't want any snow in his hair to melt, plus he needed brushing now and then.
Sirius had definitely gotten better about being brushed. Emmeline sat on the floor and barely had to hold him in place while she stroked him with the brush, and since he was sleepy, he ended up cuddling in her lap and resting his head on her leg. The Gryffindor beamed at him, and stayed cuddling her sleeping cruppy for a loooong time. Eventually, though, she carefully lifted him into his kennel and closed it up. Sirius opened his eyes when she picked him up, but he went back to sleep almost as soon as she'd set him down again. Waving goodbye, Emmeline put up the brush and the tennis ball on her way out of the nursery barn. She closed the door firmly behind her as she set off for the castle again, promising herself that she'd come down and see him again as soon as he'd had a few hours to sleep.
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