Kicked Puppy (Sirius Black)

Chapter 4

The boys chased after Sirius as he hurried down to the hospital wing as quickly as he could. He had changed into a dog, too, which made him that much faster--and Remus had to run as a human.

For a while, James carried Remus on his back. "He really loves her, don't he?" Remus noticed.

Prongs snorted and nodded. His antlers almost hit Remus in the eye.

Sirius skidded to a halt, bashing sideways into the doors as he turned back into a human when he reached the infirmary. He shoved the doors all the way opened and almost hurled himself at her bed.

"Joby? Darling?" He grasped her fingers tenderly. His heart leapt into his throat when he felt her squeeze back, turning her head. Her eyes opened slowly.

She smiled. She mouthed a word. Sirius.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, it's me, beautiful." He cupped his hand over her cheek. "This is all my fault." He kneeled beside her. Her eyes followed him, even as she shook her head.

Mine, she mouthed. My fault.

Sirius brought her fist up to his mouth and kissed it numerous times. He sighed. "No. I didn't let us meet. I left you alone for three weeks, and--"

"Padfoot," called out another voice. "Just kiss her, already."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Why did I have to tell you about this, again? Maybe I should just obliviate the three of you," he considered.

Joby yanked his arm towards her, however, before he could go through with the threat to his friends. They're not wrong. She pushed her mouth onto Sirius's and let him pull her up to sit, curling up her legs underneath her. She threw her arms around him and pulled him close to her, touch starved as well as dehydrated and hungry.

She had to he stay aware of her new food-and-water bracelet, which injected her needed fluids into her as she recovered. Breaking that would not be good.

Her arms came back from around his neck to hold her hands on his chest as she continued to kiss him, and he curled his hands into the curve of her hips to hold her close to him.

Whistles sounded from the three others who watched this display of romance gleefully. Sirius pulled slowly away from Joby and held her in a tight hug, attempting to ignore his friends.

"You could have died because of me," he whimpered. "That's no one's fault but mine." He heard something come from the boys behind him, but he could have cared less.

Joby pushed Sirius away for a second. She examined his face, framing it with her hands. No. She frowned.

"Yes," he insisted desperately. "If I hadn't been so...ignorant, I guess, you wouldn't have stopped eating." He placed his hands on her knees and patted them with almost every syllable.

Joby laughed and leaned into his shoulder, for she was becoming more unstable by the moment. No. She pulled her wand out and waved it swiftly around once. A piece of paper snapped into existence and fluttered into her lap. She handed it to him.

The boys came closer and lay themselves out on beds near the couple. "What does it say, Pads?" James pried.

Sirius scanned over the cursive, and anger boiled hotter and hotter under his skin. "And this was written by your father?"

Joby nodded. She lay herself completely down in his lap and let her eyes fall closed. Kissing him had taken up much of her newly-acquired energy, and she wasn't supposed to have visitors at all for fear of breaking.

Sirius ran his fingers through her hair and pushed it from her face. It was soft and smooth, as if she had just taken a shower yesterday. He knew that wasn't true, though. She wouldn't have been so dehydrated if that appeared to be the case.