Pinky Promise || Wolfstar

Chapter 12

Remus waved at Harry as he walked through the massive arch, Sirius quickly emerging afterwards. Harry, to his credit, didn't react other than a subtle stiffening of his muscles, quickly relaxing afterwards. Hermione grinned in delight—she probably thought Padfoot was a stray. Remus couldn't hold in his laugh at Ron's reaction, though—he'd spotted Padfoot mid–yawn, and had flailed around wildly as he lost his balance on the bench he was sitting on, before jumping up and saying, "that's a Grimm!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, punching him gently in the shoulder. "Shut up, Ron, it's just an Irish wolfhound—a muggle breed," she added, as he looked at her with a mixture of horror and confusion.

He still looked wary as Harry and Hermione approached Padfoot, Harry stumbling slightly as Padfoot put his paws on Harry's shoulders.

"Padfoot, down." Remus said sternly, huffing lightly as Padfoot shot him a dirty look, before going to Hermione for head–scratches.

She obliged, looking at Remus curiously before saying, "are you alright, Professor? You look like you've been crying."

Remus shook his head and rubbed his red-rimmed eyes. "I'm a bit tired, and... let's just say I have a soft spot for strays," he added, looking at Padfoot fondly, who's eyes were half closed as Hermione continued to scratch behind his ears.

"Yeah, this one in particular," Harry muttered from his side, earning an elbow from Remus.

Padfoot moved to Harry again, this time allowing Harry to kneel down before licking his cheek.

"Padfoot, sit." Padfoot sat, and Harry held out his hand, palm–up. "Shake." Padfoot once again obeyed, and Ron cautiously approached.

Hermione smiled. "See, Ron? Just a stray."

"He is well behaved..." Ron tilted his head, still rubbing at his eyes as he watched Harry fuss over Padfoot.

"Maybe he's just smart." Harry stood up. "Remus, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Harry."

Once they were out of earshot from Ron and Hermione, the latter of which was trying to convince the former to give Padfoot some fuss, Harry said "I don't really want to keep this from them—can we just show them that it's Sirius?"

"I'm sure that'll be fine. Maybe Ron will be less nervous, as well."

Remus nodded, and Harry called Ron and Hermione over. "We're just going to go upstairs—we need to show you something."

They both nodded and followed Remus up to his quarters, Padfoot trotting alongside with his nose in the air, occasionally having to be called by Remus when he found an interesting scent.

Once they were in the room, Padfoot spun around excitedly, enjoying the scent of Remus that filled the room. He ran around the room, sniffing and knocking over various stacks of books. Ignoring all this, Remus said, "What I'm going to show you will probably shock you, but please don't scream, or go and tell everyone, because, just—you're the only ones we're telling."

Ron and Hermione nodded soberly, Harry barely stifling his laughter as Sirius sat on an armchair, after having knocked over the three books surrounding it trying to climb on.

"Sirius, if you will." Remus said.

"Did he just say—" Ron started, but no more words came out as Padfoot transformed into Sirius, now lounging on the chair.

"I—Sirius Black. Hello." Hermione gave him a little wave, before turning to Ron with a small smile on her face, watching his face turn all sorts of colours—first a ghostly white, and then steadily turned darker shades of red as he spluttered.