The Hellhound
[A/N at the end]
"Why are you hiding in your closet?" James asked as he threw open the doors of the closet that Sirius was hiding in.
The light streaming in from the opposite window almost blinded Sirius after the darkness, and he squinted up at his friend. "You can either join me or get out. Either way, you need to shut your gob and do it quietly," he replied in a hushed voice.
His bum was sore, his knees were aching, and he was so hungry that he could eat a horse, but he'd be damned if he left the closet.
James' eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses — which were a little lopsided atop the bridge of his nose — before he shrugged and crouched next to Sirius. He shut the door behind him, plunging them both into darkness, as something crashed in another room. The closet was lit only by the sliver of light that was poking through the gap between the door and the floor.
The first thing that Sirius Black could ever remember wanting was a pet. He had been sitting by the windowsill in his room and looking out at the footpath below when a family of four — a mum, a dad, and two little boys — had walked past with their dog. The family had looked so happy, so carefree, so full of joy that Sirius had attributed it to the fact that they had a pet. After all, his family had the exact same number of people in it — his family had a mother, a father, and two boys — and they were miserable. Perhaps if they had a pet, they'd be happier than they were.
But his mother despised anything with fur. Especially if it was loud, made a mess, or was overexcitable. Unfortunately for Sirius, dogs ticked every single box, so he had never been afforded the joys of owning a pet at Grimmauld Place. He'd considered getting one when he moved in with the Potters, but he wouldn't have been able to take it to Hogwarts with him, and it didn't feel right to force James' parents to look after it while he was gone during the school term.
"How's the missus?" Sirius asked as he shuffled over a little to make room for James.
"Lily's doing great, but her cravings are driving me mad!" James shook his head and huffed. "She asked for mangoes yesterday. Mangoes. How the bloody hell am I supposed to get mangoes?"
Sirius snickered with laughter at the obvious look of bemusement on James' face. When Sirius had found out that two of his best friends were going to have a baby together, he had positively roared with laughter and lost the plot. But when the look of seriousness on both of their faces hadn't disappeared like he'd expected it to, his amusement had turned to fear. Because only James Potter and Lily Evans could have a baby and a shotgun wedding in the middle of a war. It was monumentally idiotic, but they were young and worrying about tomorrow just wasn't in their mindset.
"Mangoes? Where do you even get mangoes in London?" Sirius replied.
"I don't know! I told her she was being mad, and she started crying. You know how bad I am with that sort of thing."
Sirius did know. He could still remember the time that he and James had stumbled upon Remus sobbing quietly to himself in their dormitory. James' first instinct had been to make a poorly timed joke, which had incidentally been the worst thing to say and had touched a sore spot. All it had done was make Remus feel worse. "What'd you do?"
"I snogged her. It was disgusting; there was snot and everything." James shivered in disgust at the memory. "But listen, don't think I don't know what you're trying to do."
"What? Trying to have a bloody good chat with my best mate?"
"Don't be a prat; you know what you're doing." James reiterated, wrapping his arms around his knees and resting his chin atop them. "Why are we hiding in your closet?"
"It's pretty cosy, don't you reckon? I could cast a couple of charms on it to make it a little less cramped, but I reckon I could fit a bed where you're sitting."
"Sirius, mate, you're rotten at lying."
Only to you! Sirius thought.
In reality, he wanted to tell James why he was hiding in his closet when he had arrived. But the reason behind the action was embarrassing, and Sirius had far too much pride to ever admit that his decision to buy a pet had been the wrong one. Especially when James had advised him so heavily against it in the first place.
He hadn't had any real intention of buying a dog. But one thing had lead to another, and the next thing he knew, he was Apparating home with a beagle named Titania. The first day had been perfect; he'd bonded with his pup and played with her a little, and then the tiny thing had napped the rest of the day away.
But it had now been three days since Sirius had taken the dog home, and he could count on one hand the hours of sleep he'd gotten. He had always thought that a dog would be the easiest thing to take care of. All you had to do was make sure there was food in its bowl, water for it to drink, and maybe a couple of toys for it to play with. But it seemed that he hadn't even bought a normal dog. No, he had bought the dog from hell.
Because apparently, this dog wasn't content with the toys that Sirius had bought for her. No, this dog had managed to chew up all of his cushions, piss on his leather couch, and, somehow, to take a dump in one of his shoes. The real cherry on top of the proverbial sundae was the fact that she didn't seem to know how to be quiet, either, and had kept him up most nights with her barking. And it wasn't even as if she was barking at anything; it was like she was barking for the sake of it.
"I'm hiding from Titania," he admitted reluctantly, recognising that there was no way James would let the topic drop before he knew the truth.
"You're hiding in your closet because you're scared of your dog?" James asked, his eyes narrowed and the ghost of a smirk dancing on the edge of his mouth.
"She's a menace. I haven't slept in three days, Prongs. You know how much sleep means to me!" Sirius sighed as he leant his head against the wall.
"What's so bad about Titania? I reckon she's actually quite funny."
"No matter what I do, she just can't sit still! I thought dogs were supposed to do what you tell them to, but clearly she didn't get the bloody memo!" He was getting a little louder than he probably should, but he couldn't help himself. He was tired of being quiet in his own home so that Titania couldn't find him.
The soft clicking of claws against floorboards and the high-pitched howl that followed it made the hairs on Sirius' neck and arms stand up, and he cursed his momentary cavalierness. She was here. She was here, and if they didn't shut up, she would find them. He had no doubt in his mind that his dog would find a way to get into the closet, even if it meant digging through the floor itself.
"Blimey, you weren't kidding. You really are scared of her." James shook his head as he spoke before bringing himself to his feet and dusting the back of his pants off. "Right, I've had enough of this. I'm leaving this closet and you're coming with me. You're going to have to get out eventually."
Before Sirius could protest — perhaps James hadn't heard Titania padding around outside like a hellhound lying in wait — James had pushed the doors of the closet open. Light streamed in, blinding him. Another high-pitched howl echoed through the room and Sirius braced himself for what was to come.
"It's funny, really," James commented. "After all, you're exactly like her when you're Padfoot."
Sirius was still gaping after him when Titania came bounding through the open doors and into his lap, licking his face excitedly.
Author's Note
Word Count: 1,414
Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Game/Round: 4
Team/Position: Seeker
Task/Prompt: Write about getting a pet for the first time and it turning out to be different than expected
I hope you all enjoyed this story x
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Until next time, Andy x