Obsession • Sirius Black

Chapter 16

A few days later, I was sat leaning against a tree opposite the Black Lake. The chill breeze wove through my hair sending a shiver through me and I wrapped my Gryffindor robe tighter around my body, savouring the slight warmth it gave me. It was October now and the weather was getting colder and colder by the day.

I'd visited Remus everyday since he'd told me about his lycanthropy. He was finally coming out of the hospital wing today and I was so happy to have him back.

The day Remus had told me his secret, when I had returned from visiting him and went up to my dorm, I was an emotional wreck. Lily and Marlene took one look at my tearful eyes and puffy face and grabbed some blankets, a bar of chocolate and held me as I wept, they didn't ask any questions, they were just there for me. We spend the whole night chatting and laughing and I took a moment to appreciate how truly amazing my best friends were.

I had avoided Black, Potter and Pettigrew these last few days, needing time to myself before I had to deal with them.

A twig crunched behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I swivelled my head around to see a deer, no, a stag and a black haired shaggy dog staring right at me. I gasped at the oddity of seeing a stag out in the open like this, especially in the day time, and dogs were not permitted at Hogwarts.

I peered around me to see if anyone else was seeing this strange sight but, as I expected, I was alone, nobody would be out here in the freezing cold. When I looked back, only the dog was there. Confusion overcame me and I wondered if I had imagined the beautiful creature. No. I could have sworn it was there a moment ago. I peered at my surroundings to find that it was nowhere to be seen.

The dog just stood there, staring at me and wagging its tail.

"Well, hello." I laughed at it and stood up, taking slow steps toward it.

When the dog didn't run away at my approach, I held my palm out to see if it was friendly. It happily trotted over to me and I knelt down to stroke its shaggy fur.

"Where on earth did you come from? Don't let the professors see you out here." I said and chuckled as the dog barked in reply.

The mutt had piercing grey eyes that were beautiful in contrast to its black fur. Its eyes were strange in a way. They were staring right at me with an awareness that a dog shouldn't have. I looked at my watch on my wrist and sighed as I realised lessons were starting in ten minutes.

"I have to go now, boy, sorry I don't have any food for you." I said as I reluctantly stopped petting it and stood up. The dog whined in protest and I gave it one last pet before I started my trek back up to the castle. I made a mental note to bring a piece of bacon or something the next time I came here.

                                            ***

Hours later I was walking into potions with Lily, Marlene and Remus, who was wincing every so often. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from asking him if he was okay every five minutes.

I'm about 90% sure that Lily knew about Remus being a werewolf because of the way she watched him every time he winced, with sadness in her eyes. It wasn't surprising, Lily Evans was the brightest which of her age. I just wondered how long she'd known, and if she'd ever thought to tell me.

We got to the potions classroom and took our seats. Black, unsurprisingly, wasn't there yet. Neither was Potter.

Slughorn instructed us to open our textbooks as Black and Potter strode into the classroom, looking as though they'd been dragged through a bush. Black playfully shoved Potter before taking his seat beside me. James gave me a small smile in greeting, to which I smiled back and gave him a small wave.

I peered at Sirius to see his usually perfect hair slightly messy and his uniform was in an absolute state. He was also sweating as though he'd just run a mile, his white shirt clinging to his muscles. I never realised how muscular Black actually was and his now see-through shirt left little to imagination. My heart started beating faster and I quickly looked away, cursing my body for having these rogue reactions.

"Page 194, we are brewing a simple Babbling Beverage today." Slughorn announced, the bags under his eyes suggesting that he was too tired to bother with our class today.

"You have a leaf in your hair, Black" I smirked down at my text book as he frantically combed through his hair with his hand. I stifled a chuckle, Blacks' hair was the thing he was most proud of.

"And hello to you too, Parker. Nice to see you after days of avoiding me." He retorted, crossing his arms across his chest with a half smile on his stupid face.

After a long moment of silence I decided to speak up.

"He told me." I admitted, keeping my eyes on the pages in-front of me, not being able to look at him.

Sirius casted a wary glance at Remus and said, "Oh."

I dared a glance at him to find him staring right back at me with a small sympathetic smile on his lips. It was a silent apology for not telling me and I returned the gesture. I understood why he hadn't told me. It was Remus' business and he wouldn't tell a single soul if his life depended on it, Black was fiercely loyal like that.

Noticing this wasn't the time or place to have this conversation, Black changed the subject, "So how was your stroll this morning?"

"How did you know I was out there?" I asked, very confused.

"Oh, I was out there too." An amused smirk was tugging at his lips and I got the feeling he knew something I didn't.

"Really? I didn't think anyone else was-"

"OI, PADFOOT!" I was cut off by James, who launched a scrunched ball of parchment as Blacks' head and I chuckled as it hit its target.

Such stupid nicknames. What kind of a name was Padfoot? It was the kind of name a... dog would have. The puzzle pieces slowly fit together in my head. Prongs. A stag. No. The stag. The one from this morning. Moony, because of Remus being a werewolf. It all made sense.

NO. That meant that the dog from this morning was...

I turned to look at him, my eyes wide and my mouth gaping. Sirius' head tipped back as he laughed hysterically at me.

"What in the actual fuck?! God, I feel like I need to disinfect my hands!" I whisper-shouted at him which only made him laugh even more.

"You thought I was cute this morning." He chuckled, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Sirius was an animagus, they all were. That's how they helped Remus with the full moons. Were they even legal animagi? Probably not, knowing them.

"Sirius Orion Black, I cannot believe you!" I said as I whacked his bicep with my potions book.

"I'm sorry but it was priceless, if I knew you could be that nice I would have stayed in my dog form for the entirety that I've known you." He teased, rubbing his bicep to soothe it.

My cheeks heated as I huffed out a sigh of frustration and stalked off to find the ingredients we needed. He was still laughing even as I walked away and I found myself trying to fight the smile that was tugging on my lips.