Shelter • wolfstar au

03 ; playmate

Chapter Three: Playmate

Sirius scolded himself several times as he followed Remus out of the building and into the grounds outside. True, he was known for being the reckless and the smart arse one at school, but that didn't mean he had to be the same now too. The truth was, he rather enjoyed their reactions, though he reminded himself that he must not act too humanlike. They thought he was a very well trained dog, but there were still limits to how much a dog could be taught to do.

Once they reached outside, Sirius saw several dogs playing or walking with the other workers of the shelter, but he realised, much to his delight, that each of them had a leash on. Grinning internally, he puffed his chest again, before remembering that he was supposed to act in a canine way.

For a moment, he wondered how a dog would react in a situation like this. But he was saved the trouble as Remus appeared out of somewhere with a toy in his hand. Waving it in front of his eyes, he hurled it into the air, saying, "Fetch."

Perhaps it was his canine instinct, or perhaps because he had spent the last two weeks in a dog body, but his legs moved immediately to run after the toy. He caught it in midair, before turning on his heels and sprinting back to Remus, who grinned at him. "Good boy!" he said, patting his head gently, as he took the toy back. "You are amazing. Do you want to play again? Fetch!"

In five minutes, Sirius was in full dog mode - fetching toys and chasing a football with Remus. In five minutes, he was laughing - in his mind - but the look on his face made it clear that he was enjoying himself. In five minutes, the pain on his side and on his paws had flown away with the wind that blew his tangled black fur, and he felt good. Something which he hasn't felt in days. But it wasn't only his physical pain that the wind took away - the pain that boiled inside him and grew each day was also lightened as he ran, forgetting, for the first time in a while, about his best friends who have been betrayed by his former best friend. He knew this was temporary, and that, at the end of the day, the pain would return, but he decided to revel in the happiness while he still had the chance.

When his legs finally tired down, he collapsed into a heap on the ground, the smell of grass and dew tickling his nostrils. His chest moved slowly and heavily, and he panted, his tongue sticking out of his muzzle, as he attempted to cool himself down.

He heard footsteps approaching, and a second later, Remus was sitting next to him, his hands shuffling inside his pockets. He brought out a small leather pouch, from which he extracted some of the food that smelled so bad that Sirius's nose crinkled once again. He moved his head away, refusing to even look at the food.

"You need to eat this," said Remus, holding a slab of the food in front of his nose. "See, you got tired so fast, unlike the other dogs, and if you don't eat, you won't recover."

This hurt Sirius's pride, and he immediately raised his head, obediently accepting the food. It tasted as bad as it smelled, but he swallowed it nonetheless, sending a flat look to Remus to show how much he hated it.