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.
Once he was done being force fed, he found strength in him to stand up, and instead of continuing their game, Sirius did something no dogs ever did. He picked up the toy they were playing with in his mouth, and looking at Remus, threw it into the air, as though asking him to fetch it. His eyes widened as he witnessed what Sirius has done, and he glanced back and forth between him and the toy, a highly confused frown claiming half of his forehead.
❇
Remus collapsed onto his bed as soon as he touched the soft fabric of the bedsheets. Not even bothering to change his clothes, he enveloped himself tightly in the blankets, shivering slightly. The fever seemed to have increased, though he had only realised it on his way home.
He nearly dozed off into a slumber before he was awoken by the phone ringing obnoxiously from the table by his bed. Hands covering his ears, he groaned in an attempt to drown out the sound, but after a minute, he huffed and picked up the earpiece. "Hello," he mumbled, his voice hoarse and groggy.
"Remus," a cheerful voice spoke from the other side, and despite his fever, he found himself smiling when he heard his father's voice. "How are you doing?"
After the death of Remus's mother at the beginning of last year, Lyall Lupin had left to the countryside where he had spent the first few years of his marriage life, before Remus was born. Remus had wanted to accompany him, but Lyall said that he would be better off in the city, where he was used to living. Moreover, he didn't want Remus to leave the dog shelter where he had been working since he was still a student in school in order to support their financial needs, and Lyall knew how much he loved the company of the dogs.
"I'm good, Dad," he said, smiling, as he rolled over to lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. "How are you?"
His fever must have shown on his voice as his father immediately sounded concerned. "Remus, are you ill?" he asked.
"Just a cold."
They talked for a long time that day, mostly because Lyall knew how lonely Remus must feel at home, and he even taught him a few recipes over the phone and requested him to try them out in his spare time. He asked him to send pictures of his dogs, and also hinted that he might be coming to visit him over Christmas, bringing Remus to smile.
"I've bought a stash of chocolates for you, son," Lyall said just before hanging up. "Keep an eye out, I'll be sending them to you."
Feeling infinitely better after the conversation, Remus pushed himself off the bed and headed to the kitchen, preparing to try out the new recipe which his father had forced him to write down.
❇
Sirius was very angry indeed.
Not only has Remus left early, leaving him with the other humans whom he did not like one bit, but the man named Adam had forced him into a cage and locked him up inside. The cage was bigger than the rest around him, as he himself was large in size, but he continuously kept rattling the bars of the cage, demanding the workers to let him out.
While he didn't earn attention from the humans that away, he did catch the attention of the dogs around him, some of whom began to follow his actions, causing a deafening mayhem to spread around the room. He enjoyed the faces of the flustered workers for a minute, before his common sense said that if he was a bad influence to the other dogs, he would probably be locked up in a separate room, or worse, sent away.
As the thought came into his mind, he quickly stopped making the noise, and settled down in one corner of the cage, his head resting on his front paws. He looked down at the ground gloomily, wandering how many days he would have to stay there before someone adopted him. But then he thought, would he be able to get over his insecurities and once again, start living as a man?
Until then, what?
He was pulled away from his thoughts as the dog next to his cage reached his - or upon taking a closer look, he noticed - her head towards him, poking her snout inside the bars. Confused, he looked at her, frowning, and wondered whether he would be kicked out of the shelter if he bit her face off for invading his privacy. But unfortunately for him, she did not seem to catch his irritation as she continued poking her snout inside the cage.
Giving out an irritated growl, he got on his feet and stomped over to the other side of the cage, where he sat down and hid his face between his forelimbs, letting the other dog know that he was not interested.
He was never interested in girls anyway.
❇
17 November, 1981
Next morning, much to his annoyance, Sirius was greeted by Adam, who deposited a bowl of food inside his cage.
"Good morning," he said, flashing him a smile. "Looks like you're recovering. You still need to take your medicine though - Jem will be here to give it to you. Now, eat up." Giving him a gentle pat on the head, he left.
Sirius groaned, before lifting himself up and eating the food - first slowly, for he still wasn't sure whether his stomach could take it, and when it seemed okay, he gobbled it up.
Another advantage of being a dog, he noted, you don't need table manners.
His adventures in the dog shelter only continued to intensify, as after a few hours, he was taken out to be given a bath. He protested with all his might, trying to let them know that he could take a bath on his own, thank you very much. But who would listen to him?
Eventually, he gave in, allowing one of the workers to immerse him in a tub of warm water and rub his fur vigorously with a shampoo that scented of honey. He had to admit, he felt immensely better after the bath, though he couldn't help but laugh bitterly as he thought how he no longer cared about what brand of shampoo he was using, and that his hair might be damaged. He was quite overwhelmed by the magnitude of his change in just a few days.
After the bath was over, he was taken outside, where he sat on one of the benches, allowing the nearly nonexistent sunlight to dry him up. He was looking up at the sky, watching a bird flying with a rat in its beak, and almost didn't notice as a puppy slowly approached him.
It was a small puppy, so small that it could barely walk. Frowning, he looked around, and was surprised to see that no one was supervising him. He lowered himself from the bench and sat down next to the pup. His back was fully black, though in front he had white fur. The most interesting aspect were his eyes, which were lined with black, giving him a permanent frown. Nevertheless, Sirius couldn't help but smile at his cuteness.
Upon seeing the large shaggy dog so close to him, the puppy seemed to get nervous, but when Sirius nudged his head gently with his snout and nearly toppled him backwards, his nervousness seemed to vanish, as he took it as a sign to play.
Giving a small bark that sounded more like a purr, he launched himself onto Sirius, before backing away and lowering the front part of his body. Sirius looked at him confusedly, wondering whether he had gone mad, before realising that this was his invitation to play. Inwardly grinning, he lowered his front too, before hurtling towards him without any warning.
The puppy, however, seemed to be expecting this, as he moved out of the way before Sirius could blink, but his short and probably still immature legs couldn't keep up, causing their owner to fall on his side, and he rolled a good distance away before Sirius stopped him by extending a paw.
Head tilting to one side, the puppy looked at Sirius, still lying on its back, and he lowered himself down and licked his face affectionately, which caused him to let out another purr.
The sound of laughing took Sirius's attention, and he turned his head to see Remus walking towards them, his face pale and eyes sunken. "Made a friend already?" he asked, laughing dryly, sitting down beside them, but the puppy looked scared and took a few steps back, looking at him with wide eyes, head tilted. Sirius immediately planted himself between them, and gave Remus a warning look, daring the human to hurt his new friend. It only made him laugh harder.
"Oh, I won't hurt him," he said softly, and extended his hands. It was only when Sirius moved himself away that Remus reached out to pick up the tiny creature, who didn't seem so scared now. "Who brought you here?" he asked him, eyes glinting with mirth, holding him in front of his face.
Sirius was amused at how easily Remus talked to the dogs, as though they would answer him. He sat there watching the pair, but when Remus got too preoccupied with the new puppy and didn't even look at Sirius, he let out an annoyed huff, which took his attention. Looking at him, he smiled.
"Oh, look, it's the strange dog!" he exclaimed. "How are you doing? Do you like it here?"
Sirius was careful enough to not shake his head this time - instead, he let his head fall dramatically on the ground, letting out a tired growl. Remus laughed.
"I'll take that as a no."