Kicked Puppy (Sirius Black)

Chapter 1

It took a while to adjust to this dungeon home, but the Slytherin common room had become more and more homey every day she spent at Hogwarts. Joby kept finding more things to like, more things to admire, and more people to talk to. Managing to keep up with her schedule was becoming increasingly less difficult, especially as Christmas came around, and she was finding new shortcuts to classes every day.

Christine had attempted to show Joby how to be More Like a Gryffindor, as if Gryffindor was the best house to be in, but Joby decided to ditch Christine for much more selectively loyal friends instead of the kind that would change her because she wasn't the perfect friend just yet.

Joby began to love Hogwarts and treat it like her home. Of course, she wouldn't be going back to her parents for any holidays, so she figured it would be best to make the most out of this place.

Joby decided to keep her tie under her robes as she found herself bullied by the older Gryffindors, and it wasn't as if she had learned any defensive spells or was a favorite of many professors. Although...

As years pressed on, Joby became smarter and faster and stronger much more quickly. She kept her dark hair up in a pony tail or bun with little bits framing her visage so as to not get caught or pulled by anything, and she felt the attackers wade off--possibly because they were leaving the school. She liked herself pretty well, and although her parents would not always come to similar terms, she kept her spirits up by staying close to her chosen family.

During fourth year, Joby had taken to wandering the halls secretly after curfew since Filtch didn't favor the dungeons and she could easily get away with it. She didn't find many other students do the same except for one. He was a Gryffindor, an odd kind of boy, and she figured he was the older (more handsome) brother of Regulus Black, who was a year younger than she.

Joby made sure to keep herself hidden from him, though she knew they would meet at some point. Other than the boy, there was a large black puppy who roamed Hogwarts after midnight whom she liked to see more than Sirius Black, though she still kept out of its way.

Each night, at ten-thirty, she would slip out of the common room and head across the school, through every hallway and up nearly every moving staircase to the Astronomy tower where she tended to gaze up at the stars and wonder. She liked her alone time, though it was scarce, and it meant that she could keep to herself for at least a half of an hour.

This is where she began to see who she called the "kicked puppy."

On a cold, November night, possibly the thirteenth or fourteenth, Joby could never remember, she found a figure in the Astronomy tower before her.

She kept herself low on the stairs up, just out of view of the person who was on his knees, whimpering on the floor below a telescope. The student's hair was dark, not much to be observed there for not many Hogwarts students had light hair, and the boy must have been tall and lean, possibly even fit.

She silently stepped closer up, thankful for the sturdiness of the castle's stairs, and tip-toed around to the figure.

Her fingertips gently brushed his shoulder to console him, but the boy lashed out and whipped around, crying out. "Who are you?"

Joby sat on the wooded ground, her legs crossed, and she put her two hands out. 'It's okay,' she mouthed. 'I won't do you any harm.'

The boy's eyes flew wide open, realizing who she was. His eyes flickered to the whitened scar running down her pale neck. "You're Joby."

Joby nodded, then pointed to the Gryffindor (by the looks of his tie, though who was to say; it was dark) in front of her. 'Sirius Black.' She held out her hands again. 'Take.'