Fabulam Stellae, a drabble
Haha I was bored. Tell me what you think =)
Words: 403
Sirius slips the invisibility cloak from his shoulders and tilts his head.
"It's really clear tonight," he says. "Just look at all those stars."
Remus looks skyward. He knows that the heavens must reach an end, somewhere, but they seem to go on forever.
"And there's me," Sirius adds, pointing unnecessarily to the brightest point in the sky, the faithful dog at Orion's heels.
"You were quite aptly named," Remus says fondly, and Sirius grins and leans against the balcony.
"Yup, a dog through and through," says Sirius, though Remus thinks the origin of the name suits him too—it's Ancient Greek, meaning scorching, or shining. "And look, the moon's so nice and round! Nearly full." His smile widens.
"Getting excited for the full moon, are we?" asks Remus, returning the smile.
"No, not exactly. I was just thinking, it kinda makes me want to—"
It takes Remus a moment to realize what he's going to do, and it's already too late: Sirius has become a great, shaggy dog, so big that his head comes nearly up to Remus' waist. Padfoot rears onto his hind legs and puts his paws back onto the ledge before letting out a long, low howl.
"Sirius!" Remus yelps. "Christ, not here—"
He laughs, helplessly, and tries to clamp his hand over Sirius' mouth while forcing him back onto the ground. Filch is sure to come running in a minute, but they have the cloak with them, (if they really needed it,) and Sirius is so careless, so spontaneous, so reckless, but still Remus can't force himself to be angry.
"You idiot," Remus tells him, and Padfoot wags his tail, looking exceedingly pleased with himself. Remus kneels and scratches him behind the ears while saying, "you're never going to grow up, are you?"
Padfoot shakes his black muzzle and then turns back into a boy, sitting on all fours and snickering.
"I don't plan on it. Not for a long time."
"Yeah," agrees Remus. "Me neither. Not if I can help it."
Beyond Hogwarts, there is reality and war awaiting them—but how wonderful it would be, Remus thinks, if they could go on being boys together, to be children, to laugh and to howl into the night, to gaze into the beautiful and vast unknown above their heads until the last twinkling light fades from the sky.
To simply wonder, what more is there beyond the stars.