Black dog

Healing ⛑

Marlene above!

It took Ashley six days and six nights to heal enough so that she could stand up. Every day the girls or Sirius would visit. Sometimes the black haired boy was accompanied by his two friends, James and Remus. She found herself liking the three teenage boys company and soon they would talk to her about their prank plans, which according to their words, was a huge privilege.

Sirius passed every free minutes he had in the infirmary, talking to Ashley, letting her know what they did in class and bringing her her homeworks.

He would have stay with her all day if Miss Pomfrey hadn't drag him out of the infirmary claiming that her patient needed rest. Sometimes he would even snuck in, in the middle of the night and lay down with her. He would place his arms around her and snuggle his face in the crook of her neck. Eventually they would fall asleep and Miss Pomfrey would discover them sleeping against each other but letting it pass for she thought that it was cute for the two of them to snuck behind her back just to see each other.

Every night in her sleep Ashley dreamt of the dog, it always had something so familiar and yet she couldn't find out what. It was so frustrating, the black animal had something in him that reminded her of someone, but she couldn't place who!

What she didn't know was that she talked in her sleep, and every night Sirius staid with her late. He heard every night her frustration and confusion as she couldn't manage to find out the little something that was missing. He had to tell her, and soon.

Ashley getting tired of just laying in bed and doing absolutely nothing she managed to convince the matron that she was strong enough to at least walk a little. With the help of Sirius she was able to walk a few steps but her knees gave up not long after.

Since then every day she would get up slowly and walk from a bed to another. Each day she tried to walk a little farther then she had the day before.

She was now able to walk short distances without stopping and Miss Pomfrey said that as soon as she was able to walk normally again then she could leave the infirmary.

She was pulled out of her thought when the doors opened and Sirius walked in. Her relationship with the boy wasn't clear to Ashley, they seemed to be in between the titles of being friends and being a couple.

They kissed sometimes but they generally snuggled against each other. It wasn't official and she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be. Sure she loved the boy without a doubt but was she ready to endure the constant glares of Sirius's fangirls?

The young Gryffindor walked towards her bed as usual and laid down besides her, his head on her stomach. She started to play with his hair while he buried his face in her belly, his arms around her waist. 

"How was your day?" She asked quietly, he tightened his grip around her waist and mumbled an incomprehensible answer.

"What was that?" She said playfully, the poor boy looked exhausted and she couldn't help but be happy of his presence against her. The feel of his strong arms around her waist made her heart go crazy. His proximity was everyday a little surprise in her heart for she feared that one day he wouldn't want of her anymore. Each day her feelings for Sirius grew and she started to fear that they would get out of control at one point. But right now it didn't matter, as long as his arms staid around her and his breath tackled her skin it was fine.

"Ashley?"

"Yeah?" She replied calmly, har hands were tangled in his hair and she could only see the outline of Sirius's face underneath the black trends.

"I..hum..I..oh Merlin this is harder then I thought....I.." She raised a curious eyebrow, clearly waiting for him to finish is sentence.

Sirius seated himself right in front of her, his eyes boring into hers.

He took a deep breath and spluttered:

"I....Iamsnuffles!"

"What?" Did she heard what she thought she heard?

"I am Snuffles." He repeated slower this time.

"You are what?" She exclaimed, the information still not reaching her brain.

"I AM SNUFFLES!!!" He almost screamed in her face.

She stood there, looking like a fish, closing and opening her mouths. She kept going like that for a few minutes, still not believing what she heard.

"How...but...you..dog...What the hell!!" She finally managed to choke out.

"Let me show you." Stated Sirius, looking calmer then what he felt. He was totally freaking out!!

He stood beside the bed making sure that no one was around and slowly, very slowly, he seemed to be shrinking. In his face, long black fur appeared and his nose soon formed a snout. His teeth sharpened and became fangs in his now black mouth. His clothes laid on the floor, way to big for him as a dog took his place.

Soon a dog was standing in Sirius's school uniform and a speechless Ashley was staring at him completely dumbfounded.

"I don't know if I want to be angry at you or if I want to hug." She stated still in pure shock.

"Hey Sirius! Oh, hey Padfoot! So you told her, I'm proud of you mate." Said a very happy James.

"You..you know Snuffles?" Ashley asked, giving James a confused look. What was going on? It seemed as her brain stopped functioning and nothing made dance anymore.

"Snuffles? That's what you named him? Ahah, he wouldn't tell us what you had named him, claiming it was a secret! Snuffles! Hey Snuffles! You want candies Snuffles? You're a good boy Snuffles!" Continued James, mocking Sirius new name.

The black haired boy retransformed himself back to 'human-mode' and jump at the bespectacled teen, pinning him to the floor. They started wrestling playfully, sometimes insulting each other with ridiculous insult such as 'I could throw you in the trash' and 'I wish you to step on a lego'. The last one coming from James, the boy had took muggle studies to know more about his 'Lily-pad' world.

Ashley jumped when she heard chuckling from behind her, Remus was laughing at his friends stupidity.
She hadn't seen him coming, to engrossed watching the boys being absolute morons.

She looked at Sirius's form, all tangled up with James's and remembered what he had showed her. He was the dog from the lake, the first ever friend she ever had.
That explained a lot of things, she frowned not sure if she liked the fact that she basically had told her crush that she had a crush on him without even knowing.

"You know, when Sirius came back at night from his little meetings with you, he told us everything that you had said. He told us about you, every night he would described how you looked today, even if you were wearing the same clothes he would always find a little something. I saw the way he looked when he talked about you, I had never seen him so happy before. So please, forgive him for not telling you, he was afraid of you rejecting him. But, Ashley, that look in his eyes, like he was far far away, seeing something only he could see. I hope you two sort this out and... James and I bet over who would ask who out first. Please ask Sirius out or I'm loosing five galleons." With that Remus walked away, dragging James with him. The two of them left the infirmary, leaving Ashley and Sirius alone.

"Sooo...." Sirius said, breaking the awkward silence.

But Ashley's mind was already set, she had already forgiven him before he even told her. She could never stay mad at him, he was so adorably cute when he was upset!

She quickly got up and walked towards him, smirking. He looked at her in fear not sure of what she was about to do.

She grabbed him by the tie, like the first time they had kissed, and pulled him close, crashing their lips together in a quick kiss.

To soon for Sirius's liking she pulled away, looking into her eyes he caught himself staring at the amount of beauty and elegance in a simple shade of grey he still couldn't and wouldn't get used to, ever.