Disclaimer: I am not J.K.Rowling. I make no money from this. I am just an extremely bored person who didn't enjoy decorating her Christmas tree this year, this is the result.
Chapter one.
The Christmas Holidays were always bad for Sirius. Lily, James and Remus always had their families to go to. He'd tag along with James of course. But spending time with another person's family is never the same as spending it with your own. No one's family was anything like Sirius's. While he couldn't say that he loved them, or missed them especially, it would have been nice to spend Christmas with his own family. Well if they had all been lobotomised that is.
Which is why, on the Christmas of their first year out of Hogwarts, he decided to skip on the festivities and have a little fun on his own. He trotted off one night, a few days before the big day. He'd left James a note of course, no use worrying his best friend. He wasn't entirely sure James would miss him straight away anyway. He had Lily to think about, they had agreed that this would be the last year they spent with their families, come the New Year they'd start looking for a house of their own.
The air had a chill to it as he scampered along on four legs. It was much more conspicuous as a lone dog wandering the darkening winter streets. The wind whipped around him, buffeting his fur and urging him on. There was a smell of frost in the air, it wouldn't do to stay outside for long even if he was an almost fully qualified wizard.
He turned down yet another lonely street. The houses were all lit up like something out of a postcard, and he could see families gathered together in the windows. Fairy lights twinkled all over, doubled in the reflective surface of too much tinsel.
He loved decorating the tree, listening to carols as he skipped around the room trailing angel hair behind him. All the baubles twirling, catching the light of so many candles dotted around the room. James's family always had a huge tree. It was always real of course, none of that plastic nonsense that most muggles went in for. Real trees always smelt better to his doggy nose. He remembered being at Lily's one year, the smell of her musty old, plastic tree almost ruined his Christmas.
The great black dog stopped outside one house, at the end of the street. The lights were on, but the twinkle of fairy lights was missing. He could hardly see any tinsel, or baubles. There was no jolly fat man pretending to climb the side of the house. No cut out reindeer waiting patiently on the roof, pulling a two dimensional sleigh. No Christmas spirit whatsoever.
He sat on the pavement on the opposite side of the street. How could anyone leave it this late without decorations? There was only a week left until Christmas day. He could tell that there was no one in the house yet, there was no movement whatsoever. Not even a hint of an inhabitant. He decided to wait and see what kind of Scrooge could live here. Maybe he'd even give them a bit of a fright, the dog of Christmas past, present and yet to come.
He settled into the shadows, keeping close to the hedge as a way of getting some kind of warmth. He was lucky not to have to wait long, the owner of the house came swiftly round the corner just as he thought his tail was going to freeze and fall off. She was young, not much older than him. She was quite pretty and would give the girls at Hogwarts a run for their money, but there was an air of sadness about her too. It drifted towards him on the chill breeze.
So what was her problem?
Sirius waited until she entered the house before he went any closer. As she closed the door he padded across the street, jumped the short hedge and snuck up to the window. He jumped up on his hind legs, resting his front paws on the sill. He could see the girl now and the sadness surrounded her.
She was slumped on the sofa, her head in her hands. He could tell from the way her shoulders shook that she was crying. All around her people were celebrating with their families, yet here she was miserable and alone. The dog part of him whined and scratched at the window, but she either couldn't hear him or didn't care.
He continued to watch her. Hoping that she would eventually look up, see him, and let him in to keep her company. He had been practicing his adorable puppy look for a while and knew that now was the time to use it,
The girl started and stood up. If she had been a dog her fur would have been up and her teeth bared. Sirius knew that something had startled her but couldn't think what. Then he saw. A man entered the room. Sirius knew his type just by the way he walked. It was the same way his uncle walked. Proud, determined, but above all else controlled. This was not a man to be messed with.
Their voices were muffled but he knew from the stance of the girl that a fight was about to break out. He barked and jumped at the window. But they ignored him. The man waved his arms, over gesturing and pointing accusingly at the girl. His voice was raised, Sirius could hear him clearly now. None of what he said was in the least bit festive, there was no goodwill to all men in any of his words. The girl was backing away, making for the door. Her antagonist saw this though and quickly blocked her way.
Sirius hopped down from the sill and ran to the door. It was locked, he pushed against it anyway knocking his nose hard. He'd have a headache in the morning. He took off round the side of the house, searching for a back door. It was no use, that too was locked. He jumped up against the door, trying to see through the blurred pane of glass, as far as he could tell their backs were to him. He shifted back into man shaped and ran against the door, knocking it clean off its hinges his first attempt.
In seconds he was a dog again, tearing through the kitchen, dining room, and hall before finally reaching the front room. The man was blazing now, his hands were tightly pulled fists. Sirius knew he'd probably come off the worst in this fight if he were human, he thanked Merlin he'd had the sense to change before he ran in. As the man moved towards the girl Sirius leapt. He landed on the man's back growling and spitting for all he was worth. But he was thrown off. He landed with a thud and a yelp but didn't stay down for long. Sirius shot up and plunged his teeth into the man's leg.
It was the man's turn to yelp now. The dog let go and rounded him so he was standing in front of the girl. Shielding her. It growled and bared its teeth, daring the man to make a move.
"Got a mutt now have you?" he muttered. "Well lucky for you I've got somewhere I need to be."
The man stormed out, slamming the front door behind him.
The girl fell onto the couch exhausted. The blood was drained from her face, leaving her pale and washed out.
"Hey." she said. "You turned up in the nick of time pup. I dunno why but thanks. You want some chow? I'm sure I've got something nice and meaty here."
Sirius dropped his hackles and wagged his tail. It would be nice to eat something to get rid of the taste of dirty trouser and unwashed leg. All the adrenaline had improved his already healthy appetite.
"Come on then." she said getting up. "You might have just saved my life but there's no way I'm letting you slobber over my nice, clean rug
Sirius followed as she trudged out to the kitchen. The house was all hard wood floors, making it feel colder than it was. It also made it difficult for him to follow, he slipped and slid most of the way to the kitchen.
The girl opened the fridge and stared at the contents.
"Well little buddy what do you fancy?"
Sirius nudged her right leg out of the way, trying to get a better look at what would be his hero's reward.
"I'm afraid I haven't got much in, haven't had time to go shopping. Or anything really. How about some cold chicken? Will that do for now? And maybe some hot milk. But there's not much left, oh well we'll just have to share. How does that sound?"
Sirius barked, his tail wagging faster.
"I'll take that as a yes."
She took what she need from the fridge and kicked the door shut with her foot. Sirius backed away slightly as she put the plate of chicken on the floor for him. Sure it wasn't a Hogwarts Christmas dinner, but right now it smelt delicious.
"Come here you, let me see your tags."
She reached behind his head, trying to find his collar and i.d tags. No luck, the dog didn't have any.
"You a stray? Me too, well sort of. So what'll I call you?" she cocked her head to the side, studying the dog. "Looks like you're a boy. How about Brutus?"
Sirius made a disapproving noise. Brutus? What on earth was she thinking?
"Duke? No. Uh how about Blaidd? You look like a Blaidd."
Well it was better than nothing he supposed, Sirius thought as he wagged his tail once more.
"Ok then Blaidd, my names Delyth. And that charming gentleman was my step dad. We don't get on, as you might have guessed."
Delyth moved about the kitchen, taking a pan out of one cupboard, a bowl out of another and a mug off the side. She poured a measure of milk into the mug and the rest into the bowl.
"Here you go," she said setting it down on the floor alongside the plate of chicken. "It's not all that warm. I'm too tired to wait."
Blaidd finished off the chicken before gulping down the milk. He finished before Delyth and sat licking his lips as she slowly sipped her drink.
"I think I'll head off to bed. As much as I'd like to stay up and talk, it's been a long day. We'll figure out what to do with you tomorrow."
Delyth set her mug down on the side and walked out of the kitchen, she scratched behind Blaidd's ear before she left, stifling a yawn with the other hand.
"Been a real long day."
Sirius waited by the backdoor until he was sure she was upstairs. It didn't seem like she had noticed the door. He'd fix it, then leave. He transformed back into man shape once more, and quickly fitted the door back into the frame. He was thankful for some skills he had picked up from James's father, hanging a door being one of them. In no time the door was as good as new. He replaced the screwdriver back in its convenient home of a basket of odds and ends on the counter top and moved to leave.
There was a noise upstairs and he stopped in his tracks. Delyth was coming back down. He panicked, instead of fleeing he transformed back into a dog.
"Sorry bud, I almost forgot about you."
In her arms she carried two large blankets. She dropped to her knees and folded one up.
"Come on. Lay down." she said patting the blanket.
Sirius hesitated. More than anything he didn't want to be stuck here. But his only escape was shut tight and the frost was already crystallising on the grass outside. He stepped onto the blanket, turned three times and lay down.
"There we go." Delyth said as she placed the other blanket on top of him. "Can't have my favourite boy getting frost bite now can I?"
I have no idea where I'm going with this but I thought I'd post it anyway. Hope you like it. Happy Holidays!