Padfoot's Quest

A Sirius Series of Recollections Part 1: Remembrances

The large black dog ran through the forest joyfully and jumped up to snap at the lower branches of a tall tree. He pranced around it once, sniffed at its base and dashed off in a random direction. The Forbidden Forest. It held many happy memories for him, but none of them were made alone. He stopped prancing around and stared at the clearing he had come across unexpectedly. He looked around quickly, deciding the coast was clear, suddenly a bedraggled man stood in his place.

"Oi! James!"

The boy with messy black hair spun to face him. "Jeez, Sirius! You could have given me a heart attack. Don't do that!"

Sirius just grinned. "Just the reaction I was going for."

"What are you doing out here?"

This time both boys jumped and rounded on the short mousy boy that had followed Sirius.

"Peter Pettigrew, you weaselly little sneak! Did you follow me?"

James and Sirius advanced on him and Peter shrank back. "Come on guys, don't be like that. I won't tell anyone I promise." He gave a shrill nervous laugh but kept backing away as Sirius and James kept advancing. "I-I just thought that maybe… maybe you were going to pull a prank on the Slytherins. If you are…" Peter's nervousness faded slightly and his eyes hardened as he asked, "Can I help?"

Peter was small and not the most talented wizard in their year. The Slytherins seemed to think this made him the perfect target. James and Sirius stopped advancing and looked at each other. Sirius grinned first.

"A man after my own heart," he said approvingly throwing an arm around Peter's shoulders and squeezing slightly.

Sirius placed a hand on one of the trees and stroked it gently. A lot of firsts had happened here, other than befriending Peter.

"Sirius!"

A hand clamped on Sirius' shoulder and he turned casually. "Yes, James?"

"Dammit!" James seemed to consider hitting him but instead said, "Why can't I ever scare you, you bastard!"

Sirius laughed and clapped James on the back. "You try too hard."

"You sound like little old ladies," said the last of their group as he joined them.

"Watch it Peter. Unless you want a repeat of our defence lesson."

Peter muttered something that sounded like, "Umm sorry mate." but could have been, "Just you wait."

"Who was your partner again, James?"

"That Lupin boy."

Sirius grimaced in sympathy and James laughed and shoved him. "He isn't that bad. Just because you don't know how to read."

"I do so! I even own a book!" Sirius said feigning offence.

" 'My First Spellbook' doesn't count, Sirius."

Sirius clutched his heart. "Ouch. Touché, James."

"Seriously. I got to speaking with him, he's really smart. He told me about some theory he has about charms… we could use someone with his sort of creativity. Bend him to our evil ways!" James gave his attempt at a sinister laugh, which made the other two crack up.

"I doubt it James. He seems like prefect material to me," Sirius said once he was slightly more sober.

"Exactly. Imagine what we could do with a prefect on side?"

"What do you think Peter?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't know. If you tell him anything that we have planned he'll probably go straight to a teacher."

"There you go. Two against one. The future prefect is out."

A sound caught Sirius' attention and he threw up his head staring around wildly through his matted hair but it was just a rabbit or something. Their next attack on the Slytherins had changed his mind about Remus. He smiled slightly at the memory. Usually he was the smooth talking one.

"Put it there."

"No! The splatter effect would be better here."

"What if we…"

"No!" James and Sirius hissed at Peter, at least agreeing on something.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

The three boys turned to face Remus Lupin, who stood with a book under his arm and his eyebrows raised.

"Hello Remus," James said cheerfully and stepped forward to steer Remus somewhere where he couldn't see the 'project' they were working on. "Isn't it a bit late for an upstanding student such as yourself to be wondering around all alone?"

"I haven't been caught yet." Remus retorted, grinning at James' frown.

"Well listen, since you're here, perhaps you could help us with a little problem we're having." James ignored Sirius' horrified and animated attempts to persuade him to shut up.

"I don't think so James…"

"Oh come on! It's just going to affect the Slytherins, I promise. I'm sure you've heard some of those horrible speculations they have been making about your sickliness. You know, to do with dysentery and-"

"I've heard," Remus replied coolly.

"Don't you want to get back at them?"

"No. What good would that do? It won't prove anything."

"It'll make you feel better."

"I said no, Potter."

James placed his hands on Remus' shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Think about it. If not for revenge what about to test those theories you were so passionate about in Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"What? How?"

"Come on Remus. Concealment and locator spells? You can't think of anything?"

Remus' expression turned thoughtful. A corner of his mouth rose slowly. "That dung bomb would work best placed here." He pointed to a spot on the ceiling. "Gravity will do the rest."

This time Sirius didn't hear anything but it was a spreading feeling of dread that alerted him. He transformed just as two Dementors entered the clearing. Their heads swayed from side to side as they scanned the area but he went unnoticed as a dog.

He moved off, heading towards a certain tree. He couldn't resist passing close by one of the Dementors and tugging on its robe as he passed. It whipped around but he was already bounding off giving a bark that sounded a lot like a laugh. He was free.