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Seeing Snuffles


“SNUFFLES!” James called when he saw the dog come out the back door of the house. Remus looked up, but he didn’t see the black fluffy mess of a mutt until Sirius had crossed over the line of the Fidelus Charm, carrying the now squirming rat in his mouth loosely. Snuffles ears went up at the sound of James’s voice and he sniffed the air, carrying Peter as he ran into the woods. James stood up as Sirius ran over, leaping clear over the log they were hiding behind and knocking Remus and James over in a single bound. James and Remus both hit the bracken with Sirius a top them. He dropped the rat and started licking their faces happily, his tail wagging as he jumped about, barking.

“Shut it before my dad hears you!” James hissed, pushing Snuffles off him, laughing, “He’s like to come out here and find us all and then we’re in big trouble!” Sirius stopped barking, but continued on leaping about merrily, his tail swiping at the brush they were crouched behind, sending leaves flying every which way.

Peter changed back into himself a few feet away, swiping gobs of dog saliva from the back of his neck and wiping it on his pants, “You’ve got so much spit, mate, Merlin! It’s as though I’ve taken a bath in it!”

Snuffles sat and if dogs could grin he certainly was, his tongue hanging out.

Remus wrapped his arms about the dog’s shaggy neck, “I thought we’d lost you,” he murmured into his fur.

“C’mon, let’s change him back,” James said after a few long moments of Remus clutching onto his Snuffles, and he drew his wand from his pocket as Remus did the same. “Ready?” James asked.

“Never been readier,” Remus replied, standing and aiming the wand the same as James was. “On three, then?”

James counted, “One, two, three ---”

“HOMORPHUS!” they shouted together and their spells struck Sirius at exactly the same time and with the crack of a few bones, he was back to a human.

Remus hurried to hug him again and Sirius hugged him back, smiling so hard he was nearly in tears. “Ohhh, I missed you, Moony… Bloody hell you lot!! I can’t believe you’re here, what’re you doing? Are you all mad?!” He was clutching Remus to him, but looking over his shoulder at James and Peter.

“Saving you!” Peter was clutching his chest, “Bloody hell! I thought you were going to eat me for a minute there in that basement!”

“You scared the bloody hell out of Mrs. Potter,” Sirius said, “I wasn’t about to eat you - just kill you is all…”

“Well-that’s-the-part-I-was-most-concerned-with-anyway!” Peter hissed in one long breath. “Bloody hell.”

Sirius smirked. “Well I didn’t, so you can relax. How did you get here?”

“We floo’d here from Dumbledore’s office,” James said.

Remus nodded, breaking their hug apart to reach in his pocket, “After we snuck in to get you this!” he held up Sirius’s wand.

Blimey,” Sirius gasped, “I never thought I’d see it again!!!” He took it and held onto it with excitement. “Thank Merlin!”

James said, “Now you know how we got here, but the real question is how in hell you got here and what the bloody hell happened at Number 12?!” he reached forward, punching Sirius on the shoulder quite hard, “And if you bloody ever write me a letter like that again without at least a hint of where you’re going, I’ll kill you myself! You had all of us ruddy terrified, mate.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t have time, I truly didn’t, and I really planned to let you know the moment I got to safety, but -- well, I had to literally jump out my bedroom window and shimmy down a drain pipe. Ended up in an alley, turned into Snuffles there before Father could find me, and then I couldn’t change back. I got my rucksack ‘round my neck and had to figure out my way here. It wasn’t easy… It took several days, and then when I got here there were Death Eaters outside. They take it in shifts, you know, watching your house, mate. They’re nearly always out front. I overheard them talking - they bloody want your dad something bad. He’s embarrassed them, escaped from them a couple times now, and they want to get him to show Voldemort they’re capable.”

James shivered. “Well they can’t have him! The Fidelus is strong!”

“It is. And thank Merlin for it. Your dad’s a ruddy nincompoop though! Always testing them. He keeps going outside on the front lawn and he’ll stand right at the edge of the bloody charm and saying all kinds of things at them... Your mum was pissed the other day about it, and she keeps shrieking at him for it. He used me as an excuse to do it, kept bringing me outside and going on about how he’d like to bust through the charm and blast them all to bits. Especially when the Lestranges were watching the house --”

“The Lestranges came here? To my house?!” James looked angry.

“Yeah, Bellatrix has a horrible song she sings to pass the time while she waits - she loves the idea of killing anyone Voldemort wants dead, so she’s made it a game. Your dad especially despises her. And her mother, Druella. Druella doesn’t seem to be coming ‘round to guard as much, though, but I over heard back at Number 12 she’s been working with Greyback.”

“Yeah, stealing children!” said Remus with a shiver.

“Yeah. They’re making a bloody army of werewolves! And not only that, they’ve got giants on their side, too.” Sirius said, “And they’re infiltrating the Ministry of Magic. The Death Eaters are sneaking in like nobody’s business with hardly any opposition -- the ruddy Minister has no idea! They think her security measures are a bloody joke. Father was making fun of her like crazy. Voldemort himself has walked into the Ministry without anyone taking a single look at him... She means nothing to him.”

“Ohh!” James shouted, “But it’s not without anyone noticing! They know she’s unfit… There was a bloke from the Ministry visiting Moody when we snuck into Dumbledore’s office. They were talking about forcing an election and that bloke becoming the new Minister,” James recalled. “But I don’t understand. If You Know Who can get in there, why doesn’t he just kill her? Why play this game? I would have reckoned You Know Who would just do the Avada Kedavra on her… why would he ever be polite enough to overthrow with an election?”

Sirius said, “Well I dunno about the whole plot, but I do know there’s at least five officials in the Ministry under the imperius curse, and there was at least three others but they started resisting so they forced them to leave and set up a fake kidnapping and they killed them, sent their wands to the ministry ---”

“-- wrapped in bloody cloaks!” cried Peter, “That was in the Prophet!”

Sirius said, “But one of the workers they have under the imperius is the Minister’s secretary. Father was talking about it the other day. Father was telling Mother and I was on the stairs listening in. He’s apparently the head of the whole operation and if something goes wrong Voldemort’s going to kill him. He was in the middle of telling Mother more details about the plan, when one of the stairs creaked and that’s when he realized I was listening -- that’s when I had to run. He blasted half the stairwell apart coming up after me, vowing to murder me… that’s why I had to jump out the window and -- well, here I am.”

“Bloody hell” James whispered, “But I don’t understand why they’re awaiting - if they just killed the Minister, Voldemort could walk right in and put his feet up on the desk and control all the wizarding world.”

Sirius shrugged, “There’s got to be a reason. And I reckon we need to be sure the Resistance knows all about what’s going on.”

“Yes so they can fight!” Peter exclaimed, getting worked up with excitement.

“SNUFFLES…. C’MERE SNUFFLES… TIME TO COME INSIDE NOW!” Charlus’s voice called out across the yard, echoing through the trees.

Sirius looked over his shoulder, then turned back to the other three. “I need to go.”

Remus grabbed onto Sirius, giving him another bone-crunching hug. “Not yet.”

“Yes, before dad comes out here and the bloody death eaters get him!” James said.

Sirius hugged Remus back and kissed his cheek as he pulled away. “I’ll see you. Very soon. You lot be safe. Please. Especially you.” He looked into Remus’s eyes. “Please. Especially on the full moon.”

“James came with me last one,” Remus said.

Sirius looked surprised and turned to James, “You did?”

“Yeah mate -- stag and wolf, we made an alright pair!” James grinned, “You said not to do anything you wouldn’t do… so… I wouldn’t let him go out alone!”

“Thank Merlin. Way to go, Prongsie,” said Sirius and he looked back at Remus. “Love you, Moony.”

“Love you back.”

“SNUUUUUUUUFFFFFLES… C’MERE BOY! SNUFFLES?” Charlus’s voice was louder, coming closer.

Peter looked back toward the tree line, “He’s got to be close to the Fidelus edge by now…” he said quietly.

“Goooo,” James whined, pushing Sirius, afraid for his dad.

“I’m going.” Sirius turned, then he paused and looked back, “You lot. You gotta tell somebody about the Ministry. Tell Professor Minnie.”

James nodded. “We will.”

“And Moody, too. And any other Resistance members you can. Tell you dad. Write him.”

“And you write us,” Remus begged. “Now that you can turn back.”

“I’ll send Bubo to you.”

“STAY SAFE!” Remus cried as Sirius morphed into the dog and looked back over his shoulder… his tail wagging goodbye… and off he went, running through the trees.

They heard Charlus greeting Snuffles with excitement and James drew a deep breath as Remus stared at the spot in the trees where they’d lost sight of the big black dog. James walked over and threw his arm ‘round Remus’s shoulder. “C’mon, mate. C’mon, Pete. We gotta get back to Hogwarts.” Remus nodded and took the cloak as James held it out, tugging it on. Peter and James changed into their animagus forms and they set off, back through the woods toward the center of Godric’s Hollow.