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Snuffles


The main problem with Sirius having managed to fully transform to his animagus form was that nobody knew how to make him turn back. Sirius himself couldn’t see to do it, and James couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with the fact that, as a dog, he couldn’t really use his wand. They stuck the wand in Sirius’s teeth so he could carry it like a stick and he awkwardly tried at tapping himself with it but every time he tried all he managed to do was poke himself in the side with it, or else get distracted by his own tail and end up spinning in circles.

“Will you stay focused, you ruddy mutt?!” James demanded one of the times that Sirius ended up running circles after his own behind.

Peter sat perched on one of the fallen logs they’d sat on around the fire and watched as James tried saying the spell himself to turn Sirius back to a human, but with no results. Sirius whimpered and laid down on the leaves, setting his head on his paws sadly. James sat down and rubbed his forehead. “Bloody hell,” he murmured, “I dunno what to do. My parents are expecting us back for dinner tonight. If we’re even a minute late, my mum’s going to come out here like the hounds of war…” He sighed, looking at Sirius, who had looked up at the word hound.

Peter shook his head, “I knew we should’ve done this with Remus or at the school or not at all or something,” he said. “None of us know what we’re doing and one stupid book isn’t enough to tell us, either. This was utterly reckless and idiotic. We were mad for trying this.”

James sighed. “I know that, but we did, and now we’ve got to figure out what to do. I can’t bring Sirius home like this!”

“Maybe your dad would know what to do - you said he’s really smart and stuff, maybe he knows what spell would help Sirius?” Peter suggested.

“That would take telling him what we’ve done,” said James.

Sirius stood up and put his head on James’s knee.

“Stop it, I know you wanna be a human again, mate, but I dunno what to do about it!” He looked at the big black dog’s shaggy fur and sighed and scratched behind his ears, making Sirius kick his legs with glee. James looked at Peter. “This is really odd if you think about the fact that it’s Sirius I’m scratching.”

Peter nodded.

James let his hand drop away from Sirius’s ears. “We gotta get this fixed - pronto,” he said. “Alright, here’s an idea. We sneak you off to the Knight Bus out front and have them take you back to Diagon Alley to meet up with your mother. I’ll tell my mum that you got sick from too many marshmallows or something and Sirius’s taken you home early and I’ve just finished packing up and I found this dog and he’s followed me home. My mum’ll be so busy gushing over how cute he is --”

“Is he, though?” Peter interrupted.

Sirius growled at him.

“Sorry, I’m just saying, you could do with a shampoo - you’re rather like Severus Snape at the moment, mate,” Peter said, holding up his palms.

James laughed, “It’s true, mate, you are a big mangy. Anyways, my mum won’t notice all that. She’s far too gaa-gaa over dogs. She’ll be all busy talking about how adorable he is and want to help the poor homeless pup and feeding him to fatten him up and all that, and I’ll find a way to mention it to my dad and see if he knows anything about animaguses --”

“Animagi,” Peter corrected.

“-- and if he knows how to make him back into a human.” James finished, ignoring Peter’s correction.

Peter said, “So I go back to Diagon Alley -- alone?”

“It’s only Diagon Alley,” James said. “Nothing dangerous ever happens on Diagon Alley.”

Peter’s fear flared instantly. “Yes it does, though! Your dad nearly got killed on Diagon Alley, remember?”

James waved this off, “That was a whole other story. You’re not my dad and your parents aren’t wanted by the Death Eaters for helping muggles, are they? You’ll be fine. Besides, it’s the only way to help Sirius without getting us all into loads of trouble.”

Peter still looked uncertain, but he stopped arguing. “Fine.”

They put the plan into motion - packing up the tent (with no help from Sirius, who insisted on taking the stakes and trying to run off with them) and dousing the fire pit really good with several healthy aquamenti charms. When they were settled, James waved for Peter and Sirius the dog to follow along behind him as they stuck to the woods, headed for the street by the Potter’s house. James was careful to lead them through backyards out to the main road, though, instead of going to the cul-de-sac the Potter’s house faced, so that his mum and dad didn’t see them all tromping along through the backyard sans Sirius Black.

When they got to the main road, James stuck out his hand for the Knight Bus like his mum had taught him to do when he was a kid and they’d taken day trips to Diagon Alley. Peter shivered as the great purple bus exploded into view and he ducked behind James, fearfully. “Don’t be such a baby, Peter,” James said, and he reached into his bookbag and withdrew several sickles and a couple knuts. “Here, this should get you to your house, mate,” he said, dropping it into Peter’s sticky palm.

Peter looked at Sirius, who was doing some business by the bushes on the lawn behind them, then turned back to James, flushing, embarrassed by what he’d just seen. “You’ll have to send Bubo to let me know what was going on with… your dog.” Peter finished the words lamely, seeing the conductor stepping off the Knight Bus toward him.

“I will,” James nodded.

“Welllllcome to the Knight Bus, I’m Ernie, at yer service!” called the conductor, polishing his pocket watch on his chest.

Peter inched toward the bus uncertainly. “Hullo Ernie,” he said, and he climbed up into the bus as James waved and Ernie started asking where Peter was headed to.

When the doors had sealed shut behind them, James turned to see Sirius soiling the lawn. “Oi!! Don’t do that there! Bloody hell, that’s inappropriate, mate!” Sirius barked and dug the ground with his back feet, then ran about happily, clearly rather proud of himself. James shook his head, “I’m so not picking that up. Mrs. Darrington isn’t going to like that a single bit… C’mon, let’s get out of here before she sees it’s you that’s done it.” James waved for Sirius to follow and Sirius hurried to catch up, bounding after James into the woods, back through the neighbors yards to the Potters.

As they approached the Potter’s yard, James slowed to a walk and Sirius did, too, padding alongside him. James took a deep breath, “Now listen up, this is real important, you gotta be a good dog if you expect mum to let me keep you,” James was saying. He felt stupid having to say any of this rubbish. “We gotta figure out how to turn you back and get you out of the house without them seeing… Unless we just keep you around and tell them you came during the night. That’ll probably work best… yeah.” He paused at the edge of the yard, staring down at the mangy black dog and realized he missed the Sirius that could answer him - this felt sort of like talking to an imaginary friend or something.

Sirius sat at James’s side, staring up at him. After a long pause, Sirius lifted one of his big black paws and held it up to James. James laughed, “You’re a barmy idiot,” he said, taking the paw and shaking it. “Bloody hell, mate, even as a dog.” He nodded toward the house, “C’mon. Let’s see what happens.”

Inside the house, Mrs. Potter was cooking dinner. She heard the backdoor open and James come inside, followed by a scurrying. “Welcome home!” she called, “I hope you boys are hungry I’ve made --” she stopped mid-sentence when she turned around to see James trying to pull a very large, very shaggy black dog out of one of the seats at the dinner table. “What is that?” she asked, horrified.

“It’s a dog,” James said, finally successfully getting Sirius down from the table.

Dora stared at it with wide eyes, holding her wand in one hand and a spatula in the other. “Well I can see it’s a dog, but what is it doing here?” she asked. Sirius bounded over and jumped up eagerly, licking her hand.

“He’s followed me home, I think he’s hungry,” James answered. Sirius barked as a reply.

Dora looked positively turned off by the idea of it. “James, I think it’s best if --”

“Merlin’s beard! A dog!” Charlus’s voice was ecstatic as he came into the kitchen, folding his newspaper quickly and tossing it aside. Dora had to leap to catch it before it hit the stove and started a fire. She looked between the dog and Charlus, a nervous look on her face. “Isn’t he a beaut!” Charlus exclaimed, looking Sirius over. Sirius eagerly ran to Charlus and acted all bouncy and excited as Charlus knelt to inspect him and rub his ears. “What’s your name? What’s your naaame?” Charlus asked in a funny voice.

“I think it’s - er- Snuffles,” James fabricated. “That’s what he answers to anyways.”

“Shnnufffffffles, hey Shhhhhnuffles,” Charlus said. James snickered to himself at the look Snuffles was giving him over Charlus’s shoulder. It was one of a bit less than amusement.

“How on earth did you figure out it’s name was Snuffles?” Dora asked suspiciously.

“We, uh, said a bunch of names until he answered to one of them,” James said quickly.

Dora raised an eyebrow, “And one of the names you tried was Snuffles?”

Realizing he was treading in shallow waters, James decided to just completely change the subject. “Dad, can we keep him for a bit?” James asked.

“Yes!” said Charlus at the exact moment that Dora said, “Of course not!”

They both looked at each other in surprise.

“Thanks dad!” James said, deciding to take the better of the two answers and run with it. “C’mon - er - Snuffles, you can come upstairs with me.” He waved for Sirius - a.k.a., Snuffles - to follow along behind him as Dora turned to Charlus with an unpleased look on her face. Whatever was to follow, James knew he didn’t want to be a part of it. Sirius’s feet banged on the steps as he led the way up to James’s room.

Sirius leaped onto the bed and James hastened to his desk to see if any of his textbooks had anything about changing animagi back to humans but he didn’t see anything. Sirius meanwhile was rolling about on the bed, stretching and digging at the blankets, trying to make himself comfortable. “You know,” James said, looking over at the lounging black dog, “You’d think you would be a lot more nervous, seeing as it’s your bloody life that might be spent as a canine.”

Sirius wagged his tail, his eyes sparkling.

“Yeah, I’m sure you think it’s right funny, but what happens if there isn’t anybody that can fix you?” James demanded, “Or worse, they fix you just to send you off to Azkaban for breaking the law?”

Sirius deflated a little, his tail drooping.

“Yeah, that’s more like it.” James sighed and closed the cover of his book. “Bloody hell, I wish I had a way to talk to Professor McGonagall about all this. She’d be dead helpful. If she didn’t figure us out, that is.”

Sirius was snuffling about at his pillow.

“Stop it, you’ll get drool everywhere,” he complained.

Sirius laid down on the pillow, making himself quite at home.

“Stupid git,” James muttered.