© 2017 Colour Me Black by Gryffindor Brat

© 2017 on fanfiction

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author.

All Harry Potter characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. I just own my original characters and the plot.

Cover credit: viiv-xvii on Wattpad.
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Shiloh held onto her mother's hand as they crossed the parking lot. In the other hand, she held on tightly to a little stuffed black dog. Once they had reached the car, Morgan picked her daughter up and put her in her car seat. In the process of being buckled in, Shiloh never once loosened her grip on her prized possession.

"Buckle Snuffles up too, Mummy!" The little girl cried.

"Snuffles doesn't need bucked in. As long as you keep holding him tight like that, he'll be safe," Morgan told her with a smile as she tightened Shiloh's seatbelt one last time.

But what if something bad happens, and Snuffles gets hurt," Shiloh asked worriedly.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen," Morgan assured her. He won't get hurt, honey, "Your arms are as safe as any seatbelt could ever be, OK?"

Looking unconvinced, Shiloh answered skeptically, and if was possible, she squeezed the stuffed dog even tighter.

Morgan kissed her daughter on the cheek. Shiloh held up Snuffles and said, "Snuffles wants a kiss too, Mummy."

Morgan obliged her little girl's request and kissed snuffles on his love-worn cheek. Satisfied, Shiloh settled back in her seat, and Morgan closed the door.

For a moment, Morgan leaned against the car door and allowed a single tear to roll down her cheek unchecked.

Oh, baby girl, I hope you're always so sweet and innocent.

She sighed and wiped the rest of the tears that threatened to escape from her eyes before putting the grocery bags into the back of the car.

As they were driving home, Shiloh blew hot air on her window and traced smiley faces with her finger onto the fogged-up glass. She was just about to add some hair to her latest creation when her mother caught a glimpse of what she was doing in the rearview mirror.

Morgan said, "Shiloh, how many times have I told you not to draw on the glass?"

Shiloh guiltily looked up from what she doing and answered, "A Kajillion times!"

Morgan tried her best to keep a straight face at her daughter's over-exaggeration. Choking back her laughter, she answered, "At least that many. When you draw on the window, you leave streak marks on the glass and that makes the window-"

"Dirty." Shiloh finished for her with a sigh.

"That's right." Morgan answered. She handed a pack of tissues back to Shiloh saying, wipe your drawings off the window, please.

"But I have to draw!" Shiloh exclaimed.

"You can draw when we get get home, Morgan promised. Now, please clean off the window."

"All right," Shiloh said. She sighed again to let her mother know how unhappy she was to erase her drawings.

Just as Shiloh was clearing away the last of the smiley faces, she gasped, "Look out, Mummy! Don't hit Snuffles!"

"Mummy's not gonna hit snuff- Oh my go-!" Morgan's voice trailed off and her eyes widened when she saw a big black dog sitting in the middle of the road. She swerved to the side to avoid hitting the giant beast. The force of the swerve propelled both Shiloh and Morgan forward in their seats. Morgan slammed the break petal all the way down on the floor, and managed to get the car to stop before it went into the ditch.

Once the car came to a complete stop, Morgan turned around and asked, "Shiloh, are you OK?"

The little girl nodded silently, looking a little shaken up, and clutched Snuffles to her chest.

Seeing that Shiloh was all right, Morgan threw off her seat belt, jumped out of the car, and ran towards Snuffles real-life twin. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You could've gotten us both killed, you git!" She waved her hands wildly yelling, "Go away! Shoo!" hoping the dog would run off, but instead he just there and in answer to her yelling, he cocked his head to the side and had the audacity to wink at her.

This only infuriated Morgan further. She growled and stormed back towards the car, the dog hot on her heels.

When she heard the sound of padding feet behind her, she spun around and screamed, "YOU STAY FROM ME!" The dog stopped in his tracks, sat down and stared after Morgan as she ran the rest of the way back to the car, tears flowing freely down her face.

Morgan got back in the car and slammed the door, waking Shiloh who had just fallen asleep in the backseat.

"Are you OK, Mummy?" Shiloh asked.

Morgan took a moment to compose herself before answering. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm just fine, Sweetheart!"

"You were gone a long time. What were you doing?" She asked.

"I was just making sure Snuffles was all right," Morgan lied.

"Mummy?"

"Yes."

"Can we take Snuffles home with us?"

"NO!" Morgan said a little too loudly.

"Why not?" Shiloh pouted.

Morgan lowered her volume and replied, "Because you already have a Snuffles. You don't need another one. Don't you think Snuffles would get jealous?" Morgan asked.

"No," Shiloh answered. I talked to him and he said he would be OK with it," she said seriously.

"Well, you tell Snuffles that the real Snuffles probably already has a home. His owner would miss him if we took him home with us."

"Oh." Shiloh was quiet for a few minutes before asking, "Mummy, can we get a dog?"

Morgan sighed and said, "Maybe when you're older we can think about getting a dog."

"Mummy?" Shiloh asked again.

"Yes."

"I'm older." Morgan smiled at her daughter's persistence. She put the car in drive and pulled back onto the road. As they drove away, the black dog stared after them with something much like sorrow in his eyes. When the car disappeared over the hill, Snuffles walked into the woods and disappeared.