Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Thanks to erbkaiser, my fellow Magpie, for looking this over for me and Raybe, my lovely, for the title suggestion.

Written for Round 13 of the Quidditch League FanFiction Competition. Go Magpies!

Cold. That was all he knew at the moment. It was a bitter, freezing cold that permeated deep into his bones. He was exhausted and the violent shivers that wracked his body were greatly increasing his exhaustion. It mattered not though, as he was determined to get to Hogsmeade tonight. It took hours but he finally made it, even if he was half dragging himself during the last part of the journey. He made his way to some caves that were situated right outside the town that he remembered from his school days. Once there, he promptly collapsed from the fatigue that plagued him. Cursing his weakness he allowed sleep to overtake him.

"Harry! Let's go in here. Mum and Dad said I could get a pet!" Hermione spoke excitedly as she dragged Harry into the store. Laughing at his friend Harry allowed himself to be pulled into Magical Menagerie. They separated once they were inside; Harry off to look at the snakes and Hermione to see the owls. Hermione was eager as she had wanted a magical pet for a while, especially an owl. She looked intently at all the cute little faces, wanting to give each bird a fair shot. She didn't feel a particular pull to any of the owls. Slightly disappointed, she had started to turn away to leave when she heard a loud 'MEOW'. Whirling towards the sound, she saw the most perfect Kneazle in existence. It was huge, orange in color, with the cutest squashed in face she had ever seen. She squealed in surprise as the cat jumped right into her arms. Deciding that the cat was obviously meant to be with her she purchased him, ignoring protests from the owner of the store that the Kneazle was difficult to handle. Everyone missed the decidedly smug look that appeared on the face of the Kneazle, looking quite out of place on an animal, as Hermione carted him out of the store. Things were going just as planned.

He was unsure of how much time had passed. It could have been days – or even weeks – that he had been holed up in this cave. He was very slowly regaining his strength by eating anything even remotely edible that he could find near the cave entrance. His mind, previously addled from the constant exposure to the dementors, was also gradually recovering and he gave thanks to the fact that his animagus form most likely had kept him from going completely insane. His thoughts were focused completely on getting that traitor Pettigrew and just how he was going to get into the school. He needed a plan.

The plan presented itself some time later in a rather unexpected way. He was roaming the area directly outside of his cave, looking for some food, when he saw it. He narrowed his canine eyes as he saw a very large, very orange cat-looking animal approaching him. The cat, that he could now see was a Kneazle, sauntered past him and approached the mouth of the cave. Before entering it stopped and looked back at him, cocking its head as if to say 'what are you waiting for?'. Intrigued as dogs and cats, even Kneazles, did not normally get along, he followed after it. He entered to find the Kneazle sitting as if it was waiting for him. He always knew that they were an especially intelligent breed but this behavior was odd. What happened next shocked him almost more than anything ever had.

"Hello, Sirius Black. I've been waiting for you."

He heard the words, but the Kneazle was just sitting there, staring at him and giving no indication that it had just spoken to him. He groaned inwardly. He had thought his mind was improving but clearly that was not the case.

"You are not insane, Sirius Black. I am speaking to you in your mind."

"How? How are you doing this?"

"That is unimportant right now. You have a need for my help and thus, I am here to help you."

The Kneazle, who called himself Crookshanks or (Crooks for short), explained his plan. He would help Sirius by bringing him better food than could be found near the cave so he could regain more of his strength. The Kneazle somehow knew that Sirius had ways to get into Hogwarts so the plan was that Crooks would get his paws on the password to the Gryffindor common room. Sirius thought was this a wonderful plan and went along with it happily. He had to be patient though, because they weren't sure how long it would take to get the password.

In the time that followed that first meeting Crooks visited him many times, always bringing food from Hogwarts. He would often stay with Sirius to keep him company, something that the escaped prisoner was extremely grateful for. Because of this, the dog and the Kneazle began to grow closer.

"When I finally get custody of Harry, I want to take him far away from here. You can come as well with your owner, what was her name, Hermione? We'll be one big happy family together!"

"You're talking nonsense."

"Nonsense? I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, after all. And I certainly need something to wake up my brain cells."

This was it. Crooks had come through and delivered him a whole list of passwords to the Gryffindor common room. He was going to get in there and find that traitor, Pettigrew.

"I'm not sure I can ever thank you for the help you've given me. I still don't even understand all of this, how you can talk to me, how you seem to know so much about me. It's odd, I feel like I'm falling in love with you. Although I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, I always did enjoy a little pussy even if I prefer men."

"Don't be crass, Sirius."

"What, no 'I love you too'? Are you ever going to explain this to me?"

"Maybe, someday. And Sirius, I love you too."

Sirius would never get his explanation as things moved along quickly after that. He was able to get into the common room, but after ripping apart the 3rd years' dorm room, he did not find the Rat. Crooks proved his loyalty once more by luring the Weasley boy into the Shrieking Shack, Harry and Hermione following after. Harry freaked out over seeing Sirius and tried to attack him, but Crooks tried to steal his wand and then attacked Harry. When it became apparent that that wasn't working, he threw himself in front of Sirius as if to shield him from attack. Sirius was surprised at the lengths the Kneazle was willing to go to protect him. He felt his heart swell with love for Crooks and yet he couldn't understand what was wrong with him, that he could love a Kneazle. Things went to pot as Remus showed up, followed soon after by Snape.

After the truth came out and Sirius made yet another escape, thanks to Harry, Hermione, and Buckbeak, he had hoped he would see Crooks again. He wanted an explanation for what he was feeling and how the Kneazle just seemed to know things. That chance would not come though, because he would never see Crooks again.

Jegudiel looked down on Sirius, watching him as he paced in his library. It had been two years since he left the body of the Kneazle called Crookshanks and he would forever regret leaving Sirius heart-broken, however Sirius was not alone in that suffering. Jegudiel was an angel, Sirius' angel to be exact, and he wasn't supposed to fall in love with his charges. But he did and he would have to deal with the fact that he caused Sirius great pain. With a sad sigh he turned away from the scene, knowing that he would see him again soon. He could only hope that Sirius didn't hate him.

Sirius slowly opened his eyes, unaware of where he was. The last thing he remembered was fighting Bellatrix. He could see nothing in front of him, just a very bright white light. Suddenly he heard someone calling his name from behind. Turning around, he saw what had to be the most gorgeous looking man he had ever seen.

"I've been waiting for you, Sirius Black."

Sirius looked intently at the man, but he was sure he didn't know him.

"I'm sorry, you seem to know who I am, but I can't say the same about you. Where am I? Is this heaven? That bitch killed me, didn't she?"

"My name is Jegudiel. Yes, you are dead, and this is just one part of heaven. I brought you here to talk. I see death has not curbed that crass tongue of yours."

Sirius's jaw dropped in quite an unattractive manner as he realized just who was standing in front of him.

"Crooks?" he asked in an uncertain tone.

"Yes. Well, not exactly. I am the creature you knew as Crooks, however, I've never actually been a Kneazle. He was just my vessel."

"I knew it! I knew Kneazles were smart, but not that smart! I don't understand though, you said you were going to explain things, but you just left. Left me, depressed and broken-hearted. How could you do that to me? I needed you!"

"I'm s... orry," the angel choked on his words. "I wanted to stay, please believe me, I did. But I was your angel and it was forbidden. You needed my help to complete your mission and once that was accomplished, I had to return here."

"Do you... do you still love me?"

"I've spent every minute of the past two years in agony, waiting for you. I never stopped loving you – even if it was never supposed to happen."

Pure joy flooded through Sirius's body as he flung himself at Jegudiel. He captured his lips in their first kiss and both men would have thought they died and gone to heaven... if they weren't already there. When they parted, Sirius rested his forehead on Jegudiel's.

"Sirius, would you like to spend your afterlife with me? We'll be together for always."

A wide grin appeared on Sirius's face.

"Always. I like the sound of that."

More than pleased with that answer, Jegudiel took Sirius's hand and they walked towards their forever, together.

Always.

Pairing: Sirius/Crookshanks

Other prompts:

(2) crass

(5) "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living." – Dr. Seuss.

(8) happily