Fic: Smarter Then Your Average Wizard 1/1

[akelios]

Fandom: Dresden Files
Pairing: None
Warning: None
Rating: G
Notes: fill for this prompt on the meme
Also available at LJ or AO3

 

"Thanks for this, Murph." Harry ruffled the fur on Mouse's head again, leaving it standing up at odd ends until the giant dog shook his head once and it fell back into place. "I'll be back in a week, tops. And I'll call tonight with the hotel number and everything."

 

"Yeah Harry. We're good." I started herding Harry toward my front door. We did this every time he had to leave Mouse and Mister with me. Worse than a mom leaving her kid for the first time. Mister was already upstairs, sunning himself in the spare bedroom and Mouse was waiting patiently through the hugs and the double checks for food, emergency numbers and everything else.

 

"And you've got the number for the 24 hour vet?"

 

"Yes Harry." I added a little huff there at the end and rolled my eyes. Harry saw it and grinned, shaking his head at himself.

 

"Right, right. Sorry. I'm going. I'm going." He knelt down one last time to give Mouse a hug and ruffle his fur and then he was finally out the door. I waited until I heard the puffy wheeze of his clown car start up and back out my driveway and then I smoothed Mouse's fur down myself.

 

"Okay, mister Mouse. Let's go make some lunch."

 

The dog thumped his tail once, and headed back through the house into the kitchen ahead of me.

 

~

 

I went to bed pretty early, yawning and making a mild fuss about how tired I was. Mister had sniffed daintly from his post dinner time perch on the couch and trotted upstairs to his room. Mouse had taken one last stroll around in the back yard, done his business and then settled down on my living room floor.

 

It was close to midnight when I figured that enough time had passed and slid silently out of my bed. I was going to catch him at it this time.

 

I hadn't really paid it any attention the first few times I'd pet-sat, but the last time I'd realized that things were getting moved around in the house. Not like Mister bumped them or Mouse did with his tail. The cat only knocked things over when he was pissed, and Mouse had more grace in one rear paw than most humans I knew. Including his owner. No, I'd find newspapers slightly askew, or my magazines. Weird.

 

I went down the stairs carefully, dodging the creaking steps and floorboards. About half way down I paused to listen. Silence, and then the soft, nearly inaudible sound of paper sliding across paper. Another few steps and I could lean down and glance through the banister into the room below.

 

Mouse had his back to me, facing the big front windows. He was standing, head down, turning just slightly from side to side. A few minutes passed and then he lifted a paw and there was the sound of sliding paper again. I leaned over and flicked the light switch on at the bottom of the stairs. Mouse jumped, whirling around to look at me.

 

I came the rest of the way down as he plopped his butt on the floor and gave me a vacant, happy dog stare.

 

"Not falling for it buster." I turned on the light on the end table and looked down at what he'd been reading. I recognized one of my criminal law code books. Mouse whined and laid down, his nose resting on his paws, eyes wide and warm brown. "Oh, please. You were reading this, weren't you?"

 

A soft whuff. He rose and nosed the book a little, shifting it. A corner of a newspaper appeared. I picked the book up so I could see the top article. A story on one of Marcone's businesses burning to the ground. I knew about that one. Harry'd done it, of course. It'd been to get at the nest of giant preying mantis eggs in the basement, and Marcone had been in on the extermination, but still. Another building burned to the ground. It felt like there was at least one a year.

 

"The section on arson starts here." I set the book back down and flipped to that part from memory. "I don't suppose you need a notebook and a pencil?" Mouse shook his head. "Okay. Good night." I patted his boulder sized head and went back upstairs.

 

I left the light on in the living room for him.