A/N: Hi! Welcome to this little story. It's a (late birrthday) gift for niffizzle because she told me that I just had to write a Dramione involving a Labrador named Theo. After all, I have a black Labrador named Theo lol. And because she is a wonderful, patient, encouraging, and fantastic human being and beta, I did it.

The story is completely written and has five chapters in total.

Alpha cheerleader love to mcal for her persistent encouragment and endless beta love to niffizzle because I made her beta her gift.

Everything belongs to JKR and associates (except for the black Lab who is MINE), and no money is made out of this.

Draco was beginning to think that their research would be all for naught.

That he would be stuck with this dog for the next several years. Did wizarding dogs have a longer lifespans than Muggle dogs? Was there even a difference? And if there was, did it apply to wizards-stuck-in-dog-Animagus form? His colleague would probably know, but he didn't dare asking her.

Sighing, he put Blaise's letter in his desk and rededicated his concentration to the case file in front of him. He didn't know how long he read, half-amused, half-horrified by the report of spontaneously combusting toilets, when a dulcet voice snapped him out of it.

"Draco! I called your name three times already!"

Draco finally looked up and into the amazing, brown eyes of his Auror partner.

"Pardon me, Hermione," he said with an apologetic shrug. "I'm having a weird day. What did you ask?"

"I said I brought your order from the Magical Menagerie. I was there buying some treats for Crooks when I saw your name scribbled on a package, so I offered to deliver it."

She smiled at him in a way that Draco knew she was fidgeting with curiosity just below the surface.

"I didn't know you have a familiar," she finally asked. "Who did you buy treats for? An owl? A kneazle? A toad?" Her huge eyes were scrutinising him, and he felt warm under the collar all of a sudden. She had the talent to look right into his soul; at least, that's how it felt.

"A friend," he couldn't help answering before correcting himself, "No, a dog!"

"A dog friend?"

"Yes, that's what I said, wasn't it? A dog friend."

"Awwww, how cute!" Her blissful smile turned his insides into a hot mess of flobberworm goo. "Why didn't you tell me you got a puppy?" Hermione sat down on the edge of his desk, minding the organised stacks of paperwork as she did so.

Draco tried to put on a cool facade. "Well, it isn't a puppy. Technically, he isn't even mine."

"Tell me more!" she cooed. "I love dogs. When I grew up, we had a Labrador Retriever named Minnie. She was the sweetest being on Earth and loved cuddles," Hermione reminscened.

That, in turn, made him proud of her as he was fully cognizant of how difficult it was to talk about her past, when her parents were still aware of who she was and not some foreign pair of dentists in Australia.

"Minnie?" He raised an eyebrow, amused.

She laughed at his expression, and the sound of it made his insides quite fluttery. "Yes, I know. Imagine how hard it was when Professor McGonagall came into our Potions classroom one day in second year, and told Snape something in hushed voices, and he said, 'Minnie, I told you Lockhart is bad news!' I had to feign a cough attack I was laughing so hard!"

Draco chuckled. "I swear, Severus secretly had a crush on her!"

"So when do I get to meet him?"

"Who?" he asked, somewhat distracted by her perfect behind on his desk.

"The dog, Malfoy!" she teased.

"Oh! I don't think you'll meet him at all," he rushed to insert. "As I said, he isn't even mine. I'm just keeping an eye on him while Blaise is on a research mission."

That was true to the letter. Blaise was on a research mission - just not for his employer, Malfoy Potions. He was off trying to find a way to get rid of their canine problem.

"That's quite generous of you," Hermione beamed. "Especially since Blaise can't have owned him for very long. We had coffee just a few weeks ago, and he didn't mention anything about a new pet."

"You had coffee with Blaise?" was all Draco filtered from Hermione's words.

She grinned and hopped off the desk. "It was just coffee, you overprotective partner. I am a free witch, am I not?

Yes, she was, Draco had to agree with her. But wasn't it his job as friend and partner to care for her well-being?

Even if that friendship was firmly wrapped around a huge crush.

Said (secret) crush came to visit about three weeks later.

And the dog was still there.

"You are going to stay away from the library this evening. Is that clear?" Draco asked the black Labrador.

The dog let his head fall on its front paws, as if he were pouting.

Though, Draco knew that he really was pouting.

"Theo, come on," Draco implored. "You know she is smart. Excruciatingly so. And if you don't behave exactly like a dog is supposed to, she could find out about your situation — something you desperately want to avoid."

Theo whimpered.

Draco huffed. "I know, you are desperate for some company other than me and Blaise. But you brought yourself into this situation, and you have to have some patience so we can find a way out."

With a strict glare, he closed the door to the East Wing, confining poor Theo to this limited space.

As much as Draco tried not to be a strict pet owner, he knew it was necessary tonight. For Theo was, in fact, not a simple, although beautiful, Labrador Retriever.

He was Theodore Nott, heir to one of the most prestigious wizarding families (though not as old or noble as the Malfoys or the Blacks, old Walburga's portrait never grew tired of mentioning).

And he was very much stuck in an Animagus form he didn't find very pleasing.

Making his way through the long corridors of Malfoy Manor, Draco recalled how shocked his friend had been when Blaise had initially shown him his dog reflection in a mirror.

To be honest, this wasn't the first time the three friends' experiments had gone wrong. But it was the first time the effect had been so lasting and seemingly irreversible.

What had started after the war to keep the boys entertained and distracted, quickly became a regular occurence. No longer boys and now grown wizards, Blaise, Theo, and Draco met monthly to do some magical experimenting. Sometimes, they tried to brew the newest Potion from Potion Monthly; other times, they solved harmless Aritmanthy riddles. And one night, they played around with the Animagus magic.

Which somehow resulted in Theo being unable to change back into his human form and Blaise and Draco first in howls of laughter and then in bouts of panic because nothing they did reversed it.

Communicating with Labrador Theo wasn't easy, especially when he couldn't use his voice — not to mention his lacking coordination of his four legs in the beginning. Draco was very talented at Legilimency, but it only worked properly with humans. At least he could catch his friend's general mood and emotions.

He tried to shake the frustrated thoughts when he approached the library. After all, he needed to check if everything was prepared for his meeting with Hermione. Books set up, quill sharpened, tea and whiskey, each at the perfect temperature, placed on a small table next to the fireplace.

Optimistically, he planned this to be more than a work meeting.

Enthusiastically, he prayed for a kiss on the cheek or a slight blush on the face of the witch he adored.

Realistically, he knew he would enjoy every minute of her presence, even if it stayed all friendly and professional between them.

Pushing the massive doors of the library open, Draco began to saunter into the room feeling confident. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he looked into it.