A/N: Written for Round 4 of the QLFC - Season 16. All prompts and challenges, listed at the bottom.
Word Count: 2096 (not including A/Ns)
I Will Guard Your Heart
Sirius' ears pricked up at the sound of faint fireworks, and he whined softly. He was curled up in the window seat of the lounge, eyes focused on the sky. Despite what people thought, dogs weren't colour blind, but he couldn't see half the range of colours that he had as a human. The fireworks sparked yellow and shades of silver.
He hadn't seen red or green in months. How it had been months, Sirius wasn't quite sure. It was 31st December 1981 and he had spent most of New Year's Eve watching over Harry and wondering when his normal life had started to involve chasing squirrels and acting as Lily's hot water bottle.
Two months ago, all their lives had changed forever. He sighed, remembering when he had arrived at Godric's Hollow, still a human then, to find James, his brother, dead. Lily had been crumpled at the side of Harry's cot and Harry had been screaming. Numb, Sirius had let events happen around him. Hagrid had taken the baby and Sirius had focussed on the one thing he could control — revenge. Looking back, he regretted every moment that had passed after he'd made that decision.
Peter, who Sirius would have died for — Peter, who had betrayed them all, had had one last trick up his sleeve. He had blown the street up, shifting into his Animagus form but not before shooting a spell at the hysterical, laughing man that had once been akin to family. Even now, Sirius had no clue what the spell had been. Peter had always been underestimated, by all of them.
Sirius could still remember the pain, the confusion of being forced into Padfoot.
He had lost four days, taken over completely by the dog. Slowly, his human consciousness had clawed its way back and he had found himself riddled with fleas, fur bedraggled and lost somewhere in a city he'd never been to before.
It had taken almost a week for Sirius to find some signs of the Wizarding World, to read the headlines of the Daily Prophet proclaiming that Lily Potter was, in fact, alive, that Harry was the Chosen One and had saved the world — that he, who had always tried to protect them all, was a mass-murderer. A manhunt was being conducted across Wizarding Britain and Europe in search of him, Sirius Black.
Through it all, Sirius had tried to change back. He had envisioned human legs, fingers, a duller sense of smell, standing tall with bare skin. Nothing had worked. Whatever Peter had done, Sirius was trapped like this. So he had walked his way to Godric's Hollow for what felt like an eternity, determined to still do whatever he could to protect those who needed him.
"You're not supposed to enjoy it this much! Come on, Harry, it's bedtime."
Shaken from his thoughts, Sirius twisted around, tongue lolling out as he barked, mainly to rile Lily up. Harry laughed, pushing himself up onto his feet and toddling towards Sirius, who jumped down off the window seat and sniffed as Harry gripped his hands in his fur.
"Pup p'low," he said, launching into a mixture of baby talk and jumbled words. He was a chatterbox, something Sirius was glad for.
He lay down on his side with a huff and Harry squealed, crawling up onto Sirius and laying his head down, squeezing his eyes shut and pretending to be asleep. Lily put her hands on her hips as she looked down at them both, still holding up the feather duster that Harry had been using to 'help clean' around the house.
"Yes, we all know that he's an excellent pillow. He's a very good boy and protects you every night, no matter how many times I tell him not to get on the bed."
Sirius wagged his tail slightly and Lily shook her head, fighting a smile. It still hurt him, knowing that Lily had no clue who he was, but Sirius had watched over her when she woke from nightmares, crying out for James. He had been there to keep Harry safe and had laid on Lily's feet when she'd murmured out loud about the cold.
A crash of thunder made him flinch and Harry was jostled, slipping onto the floor.
"A thunderstorm? And all those fireworks; oh you poor boy, you must be quite nervous."
It was true. The dog senses in him were screaming at the assault of noises whilst his human mind was preoccupied. He'd spent last New Year's getting drunk alone, convinced the war would never end. He could have never predicted what would have happened in the year to come, and now Sirius couldn't help but wonder what the next twelve months had in store for him.
"It might be New Year's Eve, but you, my little one, are just eighteen months old. It's a normal evening for you. Come on; let's go and do the puppy pillow in the bed." She scooped Harry up, who kept chanting 'Pup p'low' and Sirius scrambled to his feet, racing for Harry's bed.
"Hendrix, slow down!"
That had been another point of irony, in Sirius' mind. He had taken to barking whenever she played records in the house that he had bought for her what felt like a lifetime ago. Lily had just assumed that she'd adopted a stray who appreciated rock music and promptly named him Hendrix.
Whipping around the door into Harry's bedroom, Sirius sniffed the floor, tail high in the air as he searched for Harry's stuffed deer he slept with every night. Carefully picking it up as gently as he could, he laid it reverently on the bed, laying his head by it as Lily carried Harry in on her hip.
"Prongsie! Harry want!"
"Here you go. Now, you two get comfortable and ready for bed and I'll choose our book."
Sirius curled himself around Harry, who wiggled under the covers with Lily on his other side.
"What about The Preposterous Pterodactyl, Harry? This was one of your Dad's favourites."
"Yeah!"
Sirius whined, letting off a soft bark and Lily fondled his ears before she cleared her throat, opening the book to the first page.
"Farmer Jack had never seen such a strange looking chicken egg. 'It's preposterous,' he said. 'You could make enough omelettes to cover a country!' Look at the picture, Harry. Do you think you could eat an omelette that big? Hendrix certainly could." Lily smiled, turning the page. "When the chicken hatched, Farmer Jack couldn't believe it. 'It's preposterous', he said."
Sirius peered at the book in shades of black, blue and faint yellow. He'd learnt a pterodactyl was a dinosaur, but Lily hadn't told him or Harry exactly what a dinosaur was yet. It was one of the many Muggle things that Sirius had realised he hadn't a clue about.
By the last few pages, Harry was yawning and had put his head on Sirius' side, his eyes heavy with sleep. He had been the one to call Sirius his 'puppy pillow' since Sirius had made sure to see Harry off to sleep every night. Sirius was determined to protect his family against nightmares and monsters under the bed for as long as he could.
"Happy New Year, Harry. I love you," Lily murmured, kissing him on the cheek. "I'm going to take Hendrix out for a wee and then he can sleep with me since I think the thunder and fireworks are scaring him a little."
"Love you, Mummy. No sad doggy."
Sirius just wagged his tail and sniffed Harry until his godson was giggling.
It might have been New Year's Eve, but as far as bedtime routines went, it was the same as every night that week. Eventually, Lily managed to extract herself from Harry's pleas for another story, leaving the night light shifting between constellations on the ceiling.
"Go on and gambol around, just don't run off," Lily said.
It was always the same, just like when she let him out in the morning and cursed how cold it was. He hadn't heard anyone ever use the word 'gambol' before, but now it meant home to him, along with the smell of the mug of hot chocolate and cinnamon Lily had before bed and the fresh scent of the fox that skirted around the edge of the garden each evening.
"I wish you were here." That was new.
Sirius paused where he had his nose buried in a patch of grass that had an unfamiliar scent on it, his leg half-cocked. He knew he was a human, but Padfoot liked to claim territory and sometimes it was too hard to ignore.
"James, I miss you. It's been three months to the day. And God, I miss you. I read your old letters every day, and I'm trying, for Harry, for this bloody dog that I swear knows what I'm talking about, but I miss you." Lily exhaled, staring up into the cloudy night sky, her voice choked with emotion. Sirius tucked his tail between his legs, one ear twitching as fireworks went off again. The thunder was far away, with no sign of rain yet, but lightning followed the crash. The glow of yellow sparkles lit the sky up so he could see tears on her cheeks.
"I would fight with every bone in my body if it meant I could protect you," Sirius thought fiercely. Being trapped was an ongoing struggle, but it hardly compared to what Lily was going through. He wanted to escape, for the three of them to just escape and go somewhere where they could start afresh, but Sirius knew that was him being selfish. He'd always been good at running, and now on four legs, the urge to never look back was even stronger.
He was just about to go and put his head in her lap to offer her some comfort when he heard a crack that was distinctly different from that of the thunder or fireworks. Someone had Apparated to them in the dead of night. Sirius barked loudly, Lily drawing her wand as he shot off, ears pressed back, searching for the intruder. Sirius kept barking, determined to at least scare whoever it was shitless. A large black dog with bared teeth tended to do that to people.
"Excuse me, do you need something?"
Lily had followed him, her wand raised high and Sirius felt so proud of her. There wasn't a note of fear in her voice, only a challenge. Then his eyes rested on Remus, and Sirius' hackles raised, growling louder. He hadn't seen Remus in months, months before James and Lily had needed a Secret Keeper. He had been with the werewolves, cut off from society, and the rumour had been that Remus had been turned to the Dark.
They stared at each other, shock and recognition on Remus' face as Lily breathed his name, her wand light faltering slightly.
"Lily, I'm so sorry. I escaped from the werewolves two days ago. I'll tell you all about it. I understand if you don't want to see me, but… What's Sirius doing here?" Remus stared at Sirius, his amber eyes almost hopeful. "The papers said he was a murderer, that he betrayed you and James. I don't know what to believe, but I didn't want to believe that at all."
"Sirius? Remus, what are you talking about?"
His mind was racing. He had to protect Lily, to stay alert, but Remus knew who he was. Could Remus take off whatever spell Peter had put on him? Could Remus be trusted? He cast a look back at Lily, who was stood, gripping her wand and ready to fight to the death yet again. Remus had his hands up in surrender, his gaze still fixed on Sirius.
"That dog is Sirius Black's Animagus form. Did James ever tell you...?"
"Just that he mastered it, but he never mentioned… Sirius?"
"Sirius and Peter, who became a rat — "
Sirius started growling and barking, howling into the sky loud enough that he was sure he'd woken Harry up, but he didn't care. This was his chance. Up until now, everything had been average. He barked at the postman, took care of his family and was Harry's living, breathing pillow.
The lightning streaking across the sky mimicked the scar on his godson's forehead. 1982 was heralded in by fireworks blooming overhead, thunder and a sense in the air for Sirius that his everyday life was about to change, finally for the better.
A/N:
Chaser Two: Write from a pet's perspective about their everyday life.
Optional Prompts:
(word) pillow
(sound) bark
(word) preposterous
Hogwarts Writing Club
Character Appreciation: (trait) loyal
Disney: Write about a pet that is more like a friend to their owner
Amber's Attic: Write about someone learning to rise above their sadness.
Lyric Alley: 'Revealing the truth that was buried inside'
Ami's Audio Admirations: (word) chicken
Sophie's Shelf: Write about someone showing a lot of intelligence from an early age.
Em's Emporium: Write about a result of someone being underestimated.
Other Hogwarts Challenges
The Insane House Challenge: (word) Gambol
TV Addicts Challenge - Once Upon A Time: (trope) Chosen One, (genre) Family, (food) Hot chocolate with cinnamon
Eagle Day: (colour) yellow, (Action) searching
Film Festival: (action) reading a bedtime story
Best Friends Day (fortnightly): I will guard your heart (title), "I wish you were here" (dialogue)
Gobstones: Blue Stone - Deception: thunderstorm (weather), animal lover (trait), ongoing (word)
Hogwarts Summer Seasonal Challenges
Days of the Year: Write about a widow
Summer Prompts: (word) fresh
Birthstones: "I would fight with every bone of my body if it meant I could protect you."
Elemental: (word) glow
Shay's Musical Challenge: Write about caring for someone who lost a loved one.
Gryffindor: - Sirius Black / - Restless / - (ability) animagus
Summer Astronomy: (scenario) watching fireworks
Chocolate Frog Cards: Write about a hero.
Eastern Hogwarts Funfair
Penny Slot Machine: Sirius Black, (object) mug, (word) alert
The Circus - Knife Thrower: (dialogue) "You're not supposed to enjoy it this much!", (word) escape, (colour) black, (action) running
Northern Hogwarts Funfair
Tunnel of Love - Yacht 5: Slice of Life AU
The Ghost Train - Compartment 7: (colour) black