The Queen (Harry Styles)

Chapter 17

It's a Friday evening and I basically clocked out for the weekend at this point in time. I was in the garden wearing shorts and one of Harry's lazy shirts. I brought one of the military dogs' puppies out with me. She was the runt of the litter, so I knew they would eventually get rid of her by selling her or euthanizing her. I know we just got Felix, but I felt this compassion for animals lately.

"Come on," I said tugging at the dog's leash. She trailed along with me sniffing the grass as we walked deeper in the garden.

When the puppy and I reached the clearing I sat down on the bench holding the dog's leash so she didn't wander off. She jumped onto her hind legs, her paws resting on the empty space beside me as she licked at my arm. I ran my hand over her nose, my fingers scratching at her flappy black ears. Her head leaned into my hand.

"There you are!" Harry's voice said as he entered the clearing. "I didn't know where you disappeared to, nor did anyone know where this one went," he said rubbing his hand over her head.

"I figured she should at least be happy before they put her down or sell her," I sighed looking at her. "They won't tell me what they're doing to her."

"That's because you wouldn't like the answer," he said. "Which is why I took the liberty of telling them not to worry. You've already started a mini farm in our room with Felix, why not add one more pet?"

"What?" I asked.

"I'm serious," he laughed. "I know you, and you wouldn't let anything hurt this dog if it were up to you. Her name is Phoenix by the way," he added. "Can we be done adopting pets now?"

"Sure," I nodded looking down at the large puppy.

"I used to have a Great Dane," Harry noted. "When I was a kid. My sister was always busy with her lessons and I was still learning basic maths. So my parents got me a Great Dane named Duke. Apparently the type of breed is supposed to symbolize courage and strength," he said. "Duke and I had some good times. We played baseball."

"Baseball?" I asked, a bewildered look on my face.

"I put one of those plastic bats in his mouth and told him to stay. I called his name, he turned his head and hit the ball. Of course, after that, Duke just ended up eating all the bats we had," he chuckled. "He was a good dog."

"Was he your first pet?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned. "I've had other pets, but none of them compared to Duke. Your first pet is always the most memorable because it's new. I've had three other dogs apart from him, but they were all so weird. I had this one, I named him Caspar, and he cowered in the corner with his tail between his legs. Another one, Dutchess, my sister named her, she would just pee everywhere. Then Boris, he ate everything. Boris chewed the legs off the furniture."

"Maybe you found your right dog, but you just never got the right breed," I said bumping my shoulder with his. "Sounds like you didn't like them because they weren't Great Danes."

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But when I heard you may have taken off with Phoenix, I felt like I had to say something to the breeders."

"Why do you have dogs for military?"

"Well, not all of them are for military. We do sell them as well. The Great Danes were for hunting. They help when we go hunting for sport," he said as Phoenix nudged his hand with the end of her nose. He took her head between his hands and ran them quickly over the sides of her head. She jumped back, and began barking at him.

A soft chuckle came out of Harry's mouth as he looked at the black and white Great Dane. He stood up from the bench and ran around her, a goofy grin on his face. I could see the childhood memories playing in his mind as he chased the dog around. Phoenix jumped up onto Harry's shoulders knocking him down to the ground. She began feverously licking his face. A smile was brought to my face as Harry's melodic laughter rang through the otherwise silent garden. Harry reached up, and rubbed her belly.