Midnight Guardian Deleted Scene (Takes place during Chapter 1)
Hide and Seek
Harry looked around the kitchen one more time just to be certain that it was completely clean. Dinner had thankfully passed without incident and without Uncle Vernon speculating anything was out of the ordinary. He could hear his Aunt and Uncle walking around upstairs and knew it would be at least another hour before they retired for the night. Dudley was most likely upstairs playing a video game which was just fine with Harry. If Dudley was busy then he wouldn't be bothering Harry and wouldn't notice the leftover chicken that Harry was stealing before sneaking out into the backyard.
As discretely as possible, Harry carried the bowl of shredded chicken out to the bushes where the large black dog he had named Midnight was waiting for him. It was the same every night. Midnight would hide when the Dursleys came home, Harry would bring out whatever food he could and then spend whatever time they could together. Harry normally told Midnight stories of Hogwarts and his adventures there since that seemed to be what Midnight enjoyed the most. The dog always acted like an eager puppy whenever Harry mentioned the magical school. Well, except for Professor Snape. For some reason Midnight always growled at the mention of the Potion teacher's name.
Harry slowly sat down in front of the bushes and placed the bowl of chicken on the ground as Midnight slowly came out of his hiding place. His ribs and leg were really bothering him today since he had spent the majority of the morning tending to Aunt Petunia's garden. It was becoming more and more difficult to push away the pain that flared whenever he moved. Truthfully, Harry didn't know how much longer he could handle it all. There were times when running away sounded like an extremely good idea.
The only reason Harry still put up with it all was Midnight. He knew the dog would follow him in a heartbeat but the stray dog was already on the verge of starving in addition to the fact that a lot of places wouldn't allow a dog to enter. At least at Privet Drive Midnight would have a steady food supply and wouldn't be taken away for as long as Harry kept him hidden. He had no idea what he was going to do once September 1st arrived since dogs weren't allowed at Hogwarts but he knew that he wouldn't leave Midnight behind to starve. He would find some way to explain everything to Professor Dumbledore upon arrival.
Along with everything else that's happened.
The sound of Midnight licking the bowl pulled Harry out of his thoughts. With a shaky hand, Harry reached out to pet the dog who abandoned the empty bowl to lay with his head on Harry's knees. He gave the dog a small smile. "I suppose you want me to continue the story," Harry said quietly. "After Christmas, Ron, Hermione and I continued to search for information on Nicholas Flammel. It was hard staying away from the Mirror of Erised but knowing the affects of the mirror was enough for me. Our second Quidditch game of the season was coming up, against Hufflepuff this time and you won't believe who was the referee."
Midnight raised his head and looked at Harry curiously.
Harry grinned at the memory. "Snape," he said and nearly laughed when Midnight stared at him in horror. "Tell me about it. Of course this was when we thought Snape was out to get me so Ron and Hermione tried to think of ways for me not to play in the game. Ron even suggested that I break my leg. It ended up that the game only lasted five minutes before I caught the Snitch so it wasn't so bad."
Midnight lowered his head back to resting on Harry's knees.
"It was actually by pure luck that we discovered what Flammel actually did," Harry continued. "Neville came into the Common Room after being cursed by Malfoy. He was feeling rather down so I gave him a Chocolate Frog. Neville gave me the card which happened to be Dumbledore. On the back it had written of his work on alchemy with Flammel. Coincidentally, Hermione already had the book we needed checked out so we discovered that Fluffy was guarding the Philosopher's Stone."
Midnight let out a growl as he stared at Harry in disbelief.
Harry couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes Midnight's reactions were just too human. "I agree with you," he said. "I couldn't believe that Professor Dumbledore would keep something like that at Hogwarts but Hagrid insisted that Hogwarts was the safest place." Harry grinned as the memories flooded back. "Although Hagrid also believed that he could raise a dragon in his hut without it burning down." Harry scratched Midnight behind the ears as he shook his head. "Norbert was certainly a handful. It didn't help that Malfoy found out about it all and tried to get us in trouble. We finally managed to convince Hagrid that Norbert would be better off in a dragon colony so contacted Ron's brother, Charlie, who came and took the dragon away. Unfortunately we were caught and by Filch and lost one hundred and fifty points that night. Gryffindor wasn't too happy with us in the morning."
Midnight let out a soft whine as he stared up at Harry sympathetically.
Harry tried to reposition himself and let out a wince as pain flared from his leg and ribs. He quickly closed his eyes and bit his lower lip until the pain dampened a bit. Opening his eyes again, Harry looked at Midnight who was now sitting up and staring at him with pleading eyes. "Sorry, Midnight," Harry said breathlessly. "I don't think I can talk anymore tonight. Forgive me?"
Midnight stood up, took a few steps forward and licked Harry's face before he sat back down and gently nudged Harry's shoulder.
Harry let out a sigh of relief and carefully wrapped an arm around the dog's neck and pulled him close. "Thanks, Midnight," he said softly. "I don't know what I'd do without you here." Reluctantly, Harry released the dog, picked up the empty bowl and slowly rose to his feet, biting back a wince the entire time. He looked at the house and noticed the dark bedrooms. The Dursleys were thankfully in bed.
He took a few steps towards the house before a soft whine made him stop and look over his shoulder to see Midnight staring at him with those 'puppy dog' eyes. Harry let out a groan as he shook his head. Midnight did this every night. The problem was Harry just didn't have the strength to fight with the large dog at the moment. He seriously doubted he had the strength to fight Hedwiglet alone a dog that could tackle him with little effort. "You do know that this is a very bad idea, right?" Harry asked in defeat.
Midnight instantly stood up and happily hurried to Harry's side. Harry just shook his head and limped his way into the house with Midnight at his heals. As quietly as possible, Harry cleaned the dish while Midnight patiently waited. He put the clean dish away and motioned for Midnight to be quiet before walking out of the kitchen. It was extremely difficult for Harry to walk up the stairs quietly with his throbbing leg but he managed and was grateful that Midnight didn't push him to go faster. The dog was amazingly patient even after they entered Harry's room and the door was closed. It wasn't until Harry managed to lie down on the bed that Midnight jumped on the mattress and positioned himself so that his head was resting on Harry's stomach.
"We have to be careful, Midnight," Harry said softly as he mindlessly ran his hand over Midnight's fur. "If you hear anything, hide under the bed. I don't want Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon to know about you." He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I don't want them to hurt you." Harry quickly shook the thought out of his head. Thinking about what Uncle Vernon would do to Midnight only made Harry regret bringing the dog into the house. "Well, I suppose I can continue the story for a little bit. Hermione, Neville and I were given detention with Malfoy…"
Midnight listened as Harry explained about his detention in the forest and coming face to face with the creature that Voldemort had become. The dog appeared to be paying attention to every word but was actually trying desperately to keep his anger under control. Was Dumbledore completely out of his mind? How was it possible that no one had noticed anything? There was no way the entire teaching staff was that daft. Of course these are the same people who actually believe someone like Snape could ever teach children.
The overabundance of silence pulled Midnight out of his thoughts. He quickly looked up to see that Harry had fallen asleep. The boy looked so young this way and so much like his father that it was almost like a trip down memory lane. There were differences though. James was a fun-loving kid who lived to cause mischief while Harry was happy to survive the day without an overabundance of pain. James didn't have a worry in the world until he graduated Hogwarts but Harry had the worries of the entire wizarding world on his small shoulders. Harry wasn't a child; he had never been allowed to be one. This revelation only proved that something needed to be done, preferably sooner rather than later.
Harry woke surprisingly early the next morning to find Midnight sleeping soundly at the foot of the bed. It took him a few moments to remember that he had in fact brought the dog in last night and had to do some quick thinking on how he could sneak Midnight out of the house without anyone suspecting anything. His aunt would be up soon to pound on his door for him to start on breakfast, like she did every morning. Merlin forbid if Uncle Vernon's breakfast was five minutes late.
Reluctantly, Harry pulled himself out of bed, ignoring the sparks of pain at the movement. From the sharp intake of breath behind him, Harry knew that Midnight had awakened. He slowly pulled his shirt off as he walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a change of clothes. Changing clothes was a slow process but Harry already knew how to make it as painless as humanly possible. Sitting down while changing clothes was one of the tricks that had helped immensely.
Now changed into another set of Dudley's old clothes that were much too big for him, Harry stood back up and turned to look at Midnight who was staring at him with wide eyes. Harry let out a sigh as he limped to the dog and ran a hand through his fur. "Its okay, Midnight," he said with a small smile. "We should get moving before Aunt Petunia wakes up."
As if on cue, Harry jumped in surprise at the sound of footsteps from the hallway. They can't be up yet! In a desperate attempt not to panic, Harry lowered himself so he could reach the loose floorboards under his bed and pulled out his father's invisibility cloak. "Under the bed, Midnight," Harry whispered urgently. The dog obeyed then watched as Harry carefully placed the cloak over him, causing the dog to vanish from sight. "Please stay there, Midnight. I'll let you out as soon as I can."
Inhaling deeply, Harry pulled himself to his feet and limped to the door. He opened it slowly and peaked out to see no one in the hallway. Taking another look, Harry noticed that the bathroom light was on and Dudley's bedroom door was open. At the sound of the bathroom door opening, Harry quickly closed his bedroom door and listened as Dudley returned to his room and closed the door. He let out a sigh of relief before moving back to the bed and slowly lowering himself to the floor. He reached out under the bed and started to panic when he felt nothing.
"Midnight?" Harry whispered as he continued to feel underneath his bed for any sign of the dog or the cloak. How was this possible? How had Midnight been able to move with the cloak still over him? A low growl from across the room caused Harry to jump in surprise. "Midnight?" he asked again. "Midnight, this isn't funny. We don't have time to play around. Come here and give me back my dad's cloak."
A moment later, Harry felt something brush against him and instantly reached out to grab the cloak before Midnight moved again. Midnight appeared with what could only be categorized as a grin on his face. Harry just shook his head as he slowly sank down to the floor and folded the cloak. He knew that Midnight was full grown but the dog certainly knew how to act like a puppy. "My dad's cloak is off limits, Midnight," Harry said seriously as he set it down on the floor. "It's one of the few things I have from him so that means no chewing on it all right?"
Midnight let out a soft whine as he sat down.
Harry took that as an agreement as he looked over everything he had hidden under the loose floor boards before putting the cloak on top of his homework and wand. "This is the only way I can finish my homework," he explained as he put the floorboards back in place. "Plus I sort of feel safer with my wand hidden here. I know I can't use it but…well, I guess I'm more afraid of Uncle Vernon burning it than anything."
Midnight let out another whine as he bowed his head. It almost looked like the dog was remorseful.
"Its okay, Midnight," Harry said and slowly pulled himself to his feet. "You didn't know. Now come on. We need to get you outside before anyone sees you. We have a long day of chores ahead of us so I might as well get started on breakfast."
As quietly as possible, Harry slipped out of his room with Midnight right behind him. Not a sound was made as they descended the stairs and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. They entered the kitchen and walked to the back door. Harry slowly opened the door and stepped aside for Midnight to pass. They shared a look before Midnight continued on his way out into the back yard. This look was no different than the majority that Midnight always gave him. There was a protectiveness in the eyes of the stray dog that wouldn't be denied. Midnight would no undoubtedly do whatever was necessary to protect Harry and that worried the almost teenager. Just don't make Uncle Vernon angry and everything will be fine.
As soon as Midnight was outside, Harry quietly closed the door and began cooking breakfast. He had to admit that he had liked having Midnight in his room. It just felt right having the dog nearby and it was certainly better than making the dog sleep outside alone. However, the consequences that were bound to come would be something that Harry wasn't ready to face. He had a strong feeling that it was going to be very difficult to keep Midnight outside now and deep down Harry was actually relieved. This was a large risk but the friendship Midnight provided made it all worth it.