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Where Dogs Can Run Free


The problem with having gone out to the Shrieking Shack so early, of course, which neither of them had thought of before, was that by the time the sun began to sink below the horizon, both Sirius and Remus were positively famished. To the point of shaking. They ate some of the beef jerky that Remus had thought to toss in his bag, but a couple strips of jerky each was nowhere near enough for the amount of physical strain they were about to put on their bodies, becoming dogs for the night. They needed a good deal more protein than that to keep strong. Especially Remus, whose wolf tendencies would be heightened by an empty stomach.

“There’s nothing to do but go for food,” Sirius decided.

“You’re going to leave me?” Remus sounded upset.

Sirius’s stomach rumbled in reply.

Then so did Remus’s.

Sirius didn’t want to leave him alone. Especially knowing that hunger would heighten the wolf’s agitation. He was liable to eat his own bloody leg or something if he was hungry. Sirius didn’t like the idea of it - he could still see in his mind’s eye the wolf tugging the flesh from his own foot the month before. The fresh, concave scar on Remus’s wrist the evidence that the wolf had taken out actual chunks of his own skin without hesitation before made Sirius extra nervous. The last thing Remus Lupin needed was another scar. He had more than enough already.

Then Sirius had an idea.

“Well, we’re going to be dogs once we change over, aren’t we?” he said, “Dogs hunt. Why don’t we hunt? We’ll just go out and catch us a rabbit or something.”

Remus’s eyes clouded, “That’s a horrible idea.”

“Why?”

“Because, werewolves don’t hunt rabbits, Sirius!” said Remus, “They hunt people.”

“But you’re my Beta, so if I tell you to hunt rabbits, you have to hunt rabbits,” Sirius replied. He grinned, “You have to do whatever I tell you to do, Moony.”

Remus looked uneasy, “It’s a bad idea.”

“Stop being such a worrier!” Sirius answered, waving a hand dismissively.

Remus said, “Yes, I’m a worrier for being afraid a werewolf on the run through the center of Hogsmeade might be a bad idea.”

“Check your sarcasm at the door, wild thing!” Sirius admonished him. “I’m not proposing we go hunting through the center of town, obviously. There’s fields and woods and mountains for miles and miles in the other direction. We go that way, into the woods, into the darkness. The moon’s rays will be weakened on you, for one, so the wolf’s grip on your mind will be weaker. You may be able to control yourself without me, even, once we get in the real thick of it. And if not, you’re my beta,” Sirius reminded him, “You have to do everything I tell you do as your alpha.”

Remus hesitated.

“Have you ever stretched your legs as a wolf before? Ever run through the forest? Ever felt the leaves rustling beneath your feet?”

Remus shook his head.

“Oh man, Rey,” Sirius said dreamily, “The way it feels - the leaves and twigs rushing beneath your padded foot…”

Remus shook his head, “Look at you trying to sell me on this incredibly mad idea.”

“We can get food. You can experience being wild.”

“You’re insane,” Remus answered.

“It feels so good,” Sirius said.

“What if something happens?”

“Nothing’s going to happen!” Sirius replied flippantly.

“But what if something does?” Remus worried, “All because you’re being Mr. Running Feels Good On My Padded Foot.”

“Doooo ittttt,” whispered Sirius.

“Sirius…”

“Moony…”

“Padfoot.”

Sirius grinned. “Do it, Moony. Do it. Do it. DO IT.

Remus groaned. “You’re mad and you’re making me mad too!”

“Is that a yes?”

“You absolutely HAVE TO make sure that I listen to your EVERY COMMAND before we go anywhere outside of this shack,” Remus said, laying down the law, “You need to test me so bloody good that there’s no way I’ll possibly disobey you once I’m out there. You need to swear to me if I start to veer away you’ll kill me before you’ll let me do anything horrible to anybody. Even if you have to transition back and hit me with the avada kedavra. I mean it.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Bloody hell we’re getting a bit melodramatic, aren’t we?”

“Sirius, you need to swear it to me you’ll hit me with a killing curse before you’ll let me bite someone.” Remus stared into Sirius’s eyes very, very solemnly, his jaw set. “And you have to mean it. If I hurt anybody I’ll never, ever, ever forgive myself. Please.”

Sirius nodded, “I swear it to you, Moony.”

Remus took a deep breath. “Alright. Then… then yes. Yes, we’ll go hunting for rabbits.”

Sirius’s mouth curled into a brilliant smile, “You won’t regret this. You’re going to love it. The wind in your fur, the smells of the forest. Oh they’re ruddy brilliant. Merlin’s beard, I can’t believe I get to be there for your first time.”

Remus couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement at the way Sirius described it.

“Moony and Padfoot, Padfoot and Moony!” sing-songed Sirius excitedly, “Marauders forever!”

So the sun set in the west and the moon’s beams fell upon the shack full force, pressing their way through the cracks in the boarded windows. He had alohamoraed the door so that it was ready for him, as Snuffles, to simply nose the knob opened for their escape into the darkness outside. The dust floated through the blue rays, and Sirius stood back, as Snuffles, watching as Remus changed, his limbs stretching and cracking, his cries morphing into yelps of pain and then that howl - that glorious, vibrating, horribly melancholy howl that surged from the very guts of him. The howl ran chills through Snuffle’s spine and he shivered, shaking his shaggy fur at the shoulders. When the change was finished, Remus laid in a pool of moonlight, silver fur tinged blue by the light, shaking slightly, weakened from lack of food, a vicious gleam in his wolf-yellow eyes.

Alpha, Sirius reminded him, baring his teeth at the wolf.

The wolf met Snuffle’s eyes. Beta, he agreed.

Remus, Sirius told him. You’re Remus.

Beta.

Good enough. Sirius took a couple steps back, staring at the wolf for a moment. How would he test the control he had? He looked around the shack. Get up, Beta.

The wolf rolled onto his stomach and, with trembling legs, got up, staring at Sirius with expectancy.

Sit. Sirius commanded.

The wolf sat.

This was sort of fun, Sirius thought. If he was a human, he would’ve grinned quite evilly.

Roll over.

The wolf rolled over.

Jump up on that table and bark twice.

The wolf didn’t hesitate. He jumped up on the table. ARRROOO!! AARRO!!!!

Technically it wasn’t barking, but Sirius wasn’t going to quabble over something as minute as that. He ran about Remus excitedly. Let’s go hunting, mate.

Beta.

Yes, yes Beta. C’mon. Sirius ran for the door he’d unlocked, jumping up so that his paws were on the knob and he maneuvered it until it had turned and the door swung open and he turned to look at the werewolf behind him. Let’s go get us some rabbits, Beta.

The werewolf looked ravenous as he moved forward toward the door, tentative. His nose twitched and his tail was low, nearly between his legs. He crouched low, ears flat. Safe?

It’s safe, Sirius told him. And just to prove it, he bounded out into the grass, yapping playfully, tongue lolling out of his mouth and he turned back to look and watch as the wolf took his first steps out the door and onto the stoop of the Shrieking Shack, wobbly on his feet from the newness of it. This way, Sirius guided him, running forward and using his body to turn the wolf away from the direction Hogsmeade lay in. He nuzzled him along, directing him toward the trees across the yard of the shack.

The wolf lifted his foot up daintily as his pads touched the snowy ground, his feet unused to the sensations. He bent his nose to the ground, sniffing so that tufts of snow shot up his nose and he jumped back in surprise at the feeling of it. Sirius barked - doggy laughter. C’mon you big oaf, he commanded and he ran a few steps ahead toward the trees, turning to bark and wag his tail at the wolf.

The wolf looked up at him.

C’mon. Stay with me.

Beta.

Yes, yes, I get it. Beta. C’mon. Comeeeee with ol’ Padfoot. C’mon Moony. Let’s go. To the woods. Let’s get us some rabbits. Come along.

It worked. The wolf started toward Sirius and Sirius turned, ran a couple more steps and looked back. The wolf was following him, and so Sirius barked happily and shot across the field, and the wolf followed, the long grasses that stuck up from under the powdery snow scraping their sides, their paw print streaking as they ran toward the cover of the trees, away from civilization and all the trouble that could befall a werewolf on the full moon, toward a place where the dogs could run free.