Sirius looked in the mirror at what that stupid dog did to him. His ribs were bruised and he had bites and scratches all over. James, Remus, and Peter were asleep, so he tried to heal himself as quietly as he could. He flopped on his bed and groaned. He felt like he could sleep forever, but Jasper had another fight for him tomorrow. He sighed and laid his head down. Anything to keep Jasper quiet
"Wake up, Sirius!" James shook him awake.
Sirius gasped as he touched one of his bites. "Alright, alright I'm up." Sirius slid out of bed.
Remus frowned as he grabbed his books, "Where were you last night, Sirius? We didn't see you come in."
Sirius put on his shoes, "Um, took a walk."
Remus shrugged and left with Peter following him.
James grabbed his robes, "Come on, Sirius! We'll be late for potions!"
Sirius groaned. Severus was in their third-year potions class and never seemed to stop glaring at them.
"Fine." He reached to grab his books, but he scraped a bad scratch on his stomach and gasped sharply.
James, almost out the door, turned around, "You okay?"
"Yeah," Sirius said quickly. "Just a little sore. Let's go." Sirius ran ahead of James and headed to potions.
"Six frog eyes, blah, two Hilly Beans, blah blah, water, blah blah, color of eyes and strength, blabla BLAH!"
Sirius was not paying any sort of attention. He was just worried about tonight's match. As he moved up the bracket the fighters got stronger and stronger.
"Uh, Siri, I don't think you should still have your hand in the potion."
"Huh? Oh!" Sirius pulled his hand out of the cauldron as James laughed.
"You're really out of it today aren't you?" Padfoot just rolled his eyes. Severus smirked at them as his potion got an A.
"What are you looking at, Snivelus?" Snape rolled his eyes as Remus and Peter snorted from across the room. Sirius had just been staring at the wall wishing tonight may not come. "You sure you're alright, Padfoot?"
"Hm, Yeah, I'm good."
"A, for Mr. Potter and Mr. Black." James grinned and Sirius just continued to space.
They were walking to the Gryffindor common room after dinner figuring out what to do. "I need to study," Remus complained.
James scowled, "Come on, just one time!"
James and Peter smiled as Remus gave in, "Fine, Sirius you coming?"
He looked up at them. "No, I've, um, got to take care of a few things." He ran down the hall. James called after him, but he was out of earshot. Sirius snuck out of the castle to find a blond Slytherin fifth year waiting for him
"There's tonight's winning dog. There are high stakes tonight so you better win or you know what'll happen."
Sirius nodded, "Let's just go, Jasper." Sirius morphed himself into the black dog and walked beside Jasper.
"I'm betting high so try and make it quick." Padfoot nodded in understanding as they reached a small crowd of kids on the edge of the dark forest.
"Looks like I'm putting you up first tonight, don't mess up." Jasper shoved Padfoot into a cage and a few other kids brought him to the center of the crowd.
A scuzzy sixth year stood up and shouted, "First tonight we have Jasper Mattson's undefeated monster of a canine, Arcturus!" The crowd of kids screamed as Padfoot tried to prepare himself. "Fighting him is Lance Renton's famous Gull Dong, Tucker!" The crowd cheered again. Most dogs in the fights were crossbreeds, like Tucker. Padfoot or 'Arcturus' was a little famous for being a purebred.
As soon as the cage was opened Tucker lunged for Padfoot. Who quickly dodged and, in turn, tackled the other dog to the ground. Tucker bit Padfoot's leg and he yelped. He swung Tucker around and growled. Padfoot tried to pinned Tucker again but he kept trying to bite at his neck. Once he realized Padfoot wasn't going down, he tried everything he could, clawing, biting, and shoving Padfoot. The kids surrounding them screamed and cheered at the fight. Money was exchanging hand left and right. He was vaguely aware of Jasper cursing at him. He panted and jumped at Tucker one last time, trying his best not to hurt the other dog too much. When he finally got the other dog down, the crowd cheered. Especially Jasper, he must have made a lot of money. Someone shoved Tucker in to another cage and gave Padfoot back to Jasper. "And Arcturus moves on tomorrow's fight!"
Jasper walked away from the fight. "Better rest up, Sirius, you got another tomorrow, and it's closing in on the finale." He walked toward the Slytherin room. Sirius didn't even bother transforming as he ran up into his own room. Peter was snoring loudly and James was also asleep. Remus was sitting on his bed with half his books open. He looked up to see Padfoot come in the room.
"Sirius! Where have you been? It's almost midnight!" Padfoot simply jumped on to Remus' bed and lied down. Remus sighed and resumed studying. He absentmindedly stroked Padfoot's back. He felt a thick liquid on the dog's fur and frowned at his hand. It was covered in blood, "Sirius, what happened?" The dog glared up at Remus and jumped off his bed to his own. After he fell asleep he changed into a human again. Remus' frown deepened and he turned off the light.
Sirius woke to blinding sunlight. James smiled, "Finally up, I see."
Sirius groaned, "Shut it, Prongs." He changed and grabbed his books. "Need to get to Potions early."
Remus watched as he limped out of their room. "I think there may be something wrong with Sirius."
Peter shoved his feet in his shoes, "What do you mean?"
"Well, he came in last night as a dog and he was bleeding. Also, he wasn't limping last time we saw him."
James frowned, "Yeah and he's always going out at night."
Peter seemed to finally understand, "I wonder what it is."
James shrugged, "Whatever it is, being late for potions isn't going to help."
They ran for the basement and sat down just as the bell rang. James looked at a distracted Sirius. "Hey, mate, are you okay?"
"Why do you keep asking that? I'm fine!" Sirius snapped at him. He sighed, "Sorry, James, just tired is all."
James nodded and shot Remus a look, "Excuse me, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Potter. Would you please pay attention? That goes for you, too Mr. Black!" Sirius looked guilty and returned to his work.
On their way to dinner, they were walking slowly to the main hall, not leave Sirius behind. He was seriously starting to get annoyed at the damn limp. James was noticed how bad it was, he could barely walk on it. Jasper Mattson walked by their table and gave Sirius a small smiling nod and Sirius just scowled.
"How do you know Jasper Mattson?" James asked.
Sirius had a brief look of panic in his eyes, "I've seen him around." James looked unconvinced.
"Hey, I uh, got to go, see you, um later." Sirius ran as best as he could out of the room.
James watched as he left, "Okay, Moony there is definitely something wrong with him."
Remus nodded. Peter just looked worried, "What do you think it is?"
Remus shrugged, "I don't know, maybe he's a vampire, with Padfoot it's impossible to know. As much as I hate to admit it, Sirius is smart enough that if he doesn't want us to know, then we're not going to find out,"
James thought, "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Peter said with his mouth full.
He grinned, "Unless tomorrow night, we follow him to wherever he's going."
"No, not a chance," Remus shook his head.
James pleaded, "Come on, Moony! Please!"
"No, Prongs, I am not stalking Sirius!"
James frowned, "Remus, what if there really is something wrong with him?"
Peter turned to Remus, who was sitting bedside him, "He has a point, Moony."
"Fine!" Remus gave in, "But when it turns out he's just being an idiot, you'll be sorry."
"Excellent," James smiled and got up to leave. Remus and Peter ran after him.
They stayed awake for hours waiting for Sirius to come back. Peter fell asleep first, then Remus, and then James at around eleven. Not one of them heard Sirius stumble in at one and cough blood from bruised lungs. At least I won. He thought as he tried to find a position to sleep in without agony, and at least Jasper's mouth is shut.
"Siri, wake up." James was quiet, which was never a good sign. The last dog had worsened the wound on his leg and his ribs were bruised to oblivion. He hoped he didn't have any blood left on his mouth. "Padfoot, it's time to go." Sirius groaned and got up. The other three glanced at each other when they noticed his limp was worse. "Let's, uh, get to potions."
They sat in silence during the review in potions and most of their other classes. Sirius would cracked a joke or two but the others just gave half-hearted smirks and continue to work. When they walked back to the common room, Peter, James, and Remus had begun to get anxious. Tapping their fingers and chewing their lips.
"Hey, I have to leave, Bye!" He took a turn down the hall. Peter tried to follow immediately after him, but James held him back.
"Wait a minute," They stood in quiet for a little while until James started to run, "Come on!" Remus and Peter following him out of the castle. Remus almost bumped into James when he suddenly stopped.
"Damn it, Prongs-" James quickly shushed him and pointed to two figures in the grass. One was Sirius and the other Jasper.
"What is this?" Peter asked.
James shrugged, "Drug deal?" Remus rolled his eyes, but glanced soon enough to see Sirus become a dog, "What? Jasper knows?"
Remus shook his head, "Not about me, he would have said something."
"But he knows about Padfoot? How the bloody hell did he find out?"
Peter pointed to the two figures, "Um, they're leaving." Remus and James looked up to see Jasper walking away with Padfoot.
"Come on." James ran, following the pair. He stopped again when he saw about forty students in a crowd at the edge of the dark forest. "What are they doing?"
"Let's find out." Remus ran down to the crowd and blended into the students.
"What the hell is everyone doing here?" Remus shrugged when a boy yelled with a voice charm.
"Alright everyone! Are you ready for our first fight of the night?" Everyone yelled affirmatively, "Yeah, okay. Over here we have a huge Alaskan Rottweiler crossbreed! Norman Vince's Duke!" The crowd erupted. "And fighting him is the one we all know. The black haired pure breed, Archturus!" The crowd yelled again.
Remus frantically whispered to James, "A black haired pureblood named after a star, sound familiar?" James just stared.
Peter, James, Remus' jaws all dropped at the same time. Duke pulled Padfoot into the center of the ring and push him hard on his ribs, scratching them in the process. Padfoot lunged at Duke and knocked him over, but Duke hit Padfoot's injured leg. He fell to the ground and Duke shoved him.
The crowd cheered around the fighting dogs and Jasper yelled, "You better kick his ass or everyone's going know!" This seemed to spark something in Padfoot and he jumped up onto Duke. Duke bit his side and threw Padfoot to the other side of the ring. Padfoot ran up and pinned down Duke. He fought back hard, but Padfoot kept him down.
"And Archturus wins again!" The crowd cheered as Padfoot slowly made his way back to Jasper, who was smiling at his winnings.
Peter worried at Remus and James, "Let's get out of here before he sees us."
Remus nodded, "Yeah, Let's go." James followed in silence. They manage to run to their room before Sirius got there.
"I can not believe what I just saw." Remus shook his head. Peter shrugged and James kept staring at the floor.
Sirius, as a person this time, finally limped into the door. "What are doing up-" James jumped up from the bed and grabbed Sirius' shirt collar, pulled the shorter boy up.
"What the hell were thinking, Sirius?" James shouted and Sirius went wide-eyed.
"James, wha-"
"Shut up, Sirius!"
Remus and Peter stood, "James, calm down."
He snarled as he dropped Padfoot, who grimaced at the impact, "How could you go and do that?" He yelled again. Sirius kept his mouth shut and looked at the floor.
James gritted his teeth, "Sirius! Dogs die in those fights!"
"You think I don't know that?" Sirius muttered.
James scoffed, "Considering the blood coming from your shirt, I wasn't sure."
"Stop it, James!" Remus stepped in. "Sirius, why do it if Jasper's the one cashing in? This isn't another psychotic, self-destructive adrenaline rush, is it?"
Sirius shook his head, "Not this time, no."
"Then why?" Peter asked.
"He, uh-" Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose. "He has proof about the prank we pulled that put Professor Hillson in a wheel chair.
"What?" James' eyes widened
Sirius looked up, "Yeah, he came to me about a month and a half ago, telling me that and he knew I was animagus, and he told me how to fix it."
Remus' jaw dropped, "He's blackmailing you into dog fights?"
James shook his head, "And you just went along with it without telling us?"
Sirius sighed, "It was the only way to keep him quiet, and he forbade me from telling you, he thought if I told you you'd make me quit!"
"You're damn right, we'd make you quit!" James yelled.
Remus shook his head, "There's no way you can go back there."
Sirius jerked up, "What? No, I have to!"
"Sirius, look at yourself," Peter gestured toward him.
James scowled, "You are beaten down, Padfoot, that next dog may kill you."
"And if I don't, we're all definitely getting expelled!" Sirius yelled.
Remus spoke, "We can't let you go back there, Siri, even if we have to force you." James nodded and Peter worried his lip.
Sirius laughed humorlessly, "You're going to force me?" He pulled out his wand, James and Remus both could probably beat short Sirius into a pulp. But, as much as Sirius hated it, he was a Black and, like a Black, incredibly gifted. "I'm going to that fight, I have to." He laid on his bed. Defeated, the others went to bed themselves.
No one woke Sirius up. In fact, there was no one there at all. He realized a lot of his cuts were gone and his limp was better. Remus. He tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside. James. He went to grab his books and noticed that there was a pile of little cakes on the table. Peter. He smiled and stuffed his mouth full of them. He grabbed his books and got to the table, "Alohamora." The door unlocked. James was such an idiot.
Sirius ran into the potions room just on time. James growl at Remus, "Damn it, he got out."
"You didn't really think that tacky lock spell was going to stop Sirius, did you?" Remus smiled a little. He shook his head, "He can't fight anymore, he shouldn't have even had to fight in the first place. I tried to heal him as best I could, but he's still hurt."
James kept his eyes on Sirius, "That bastard's going to get himself killed, we have to go back tonight and make sure it doesn't get as bad as it has been."
Remus nodded and Peter glanced at Sirius, who was fixing the potion.
Tonight's fight was big. At least twenty more kids showed up, including Remus, Peter, and James. "Tonight's the night we have all been waiting for. Archturus, the shadow warrior, the undefeated monster will be fighting the dangerous champion, the dog to kill three others, the king of the canines, a Caucasian Ovcharka-pit bull-hellhound hybrid, witches and wizards, say hello to Rex!" They revealed a demon of a brown dog, biting at the bars of his cage.
"Padfoot has to fight that?" Peter said incredulously, Remus and James were too shocked to respond. Hellhound? A wizarding dog, shit. Sirius thought as he prepared himself. You have to win, you have to win...
"FIGHT!" Sirius didn't even see the dog come at him. One moment he was standing and the next there was a huge dog on top of him. It bite him, not on the leg, but in the side. It hurt more than it should have, Venom probably. Sirius tried to shake Rex off him, but he was too massive. Rex gnawed on Padfoot's limp leg and he yelped. He threw Sirius against the floor, hard. No matter how hard Jasper screamed at him, he couldn't get himself up. Rex dug his claws into Padfoot's back. He swung back until Rex sunk his teeth into Sirius' side and threw him again with his mouth. Rex pinned Sirius sharply. While Jasper was yelling to get him to get up, James, Peter, and Remus were just hoping and praying that Padfoot didn't get killed. "And Rex takes the fight!"
Jasper was livid when he walked away from the ring. As soon as Padfoot came limping and whimpering back to him, he kicked him hard in the ribs. "Hey!" James practically screamed at him as the other Marauders ran toward the fallen dog.
"Potter? Lupin? Pettigrew? What the hell-?" He asked, but James cut him off.
"You arse, you made him do this!" He turned back to Padfoot. He changed back into Sirius. Without the black fur covering his skin, it looked much worse. His hair was a mess and matted with blood, he had] of scratches and horrid bruises covering him. The worst was the giant purple and blue bites on his stomach that were leaking blood. He made a high-pitched whine and pressed his hand to the wound.
"It hurts! It hurts!" He started kicking while Peter and Remus sat him up.
Remus tried not to panic, "Okay, Siri, I know it hurts, but you have to let me see it." Sirius nodded and removed his hand. The black teeth marks almost made Peter throw up.
"Shit." Remus looked at James, "Prongs, that thing was venomous."
"What?" He kneeled next to Sirius. "I told you not do this."
He groaned, "Had to. Keep you guys out of trouble." He screamed into his teeth.
James gave Jasper a look of pure fury.
"James, he has to go to the hospital." Remus said, healing him as best he could.
"No!" Sirius tried to sit up on his own, but clutched his ribs immediately and fell back.
Peter caught him, "God, Sirius, you're really beaten."
Jasper mumbled, "Yeah, better be, arse cost me gallons."
James shot up in front of Jasper, "You little prick, this is your fault." Not caring anymore, James hit him in the nose.
Remus' jaw dropped, Peter snickered, and James came back to Sirius, "If we tell Professor Dumbledore about the dog fighting, maybe it won't be such a bad punishment for the...you know."
"Are-are you sure?" Sirius's face was covered in tears.
"Yes," Remus stated, "it's going to be okay, let's get you to the hospital."
He nodded and allowed his friends to carry him into the castle.
THE END
A/N This was just a weird little thing I came up with, but who knows? If you dudes love it I'll make another chapter.
UPDATE 2019: I made it readable