((Sorry this one is a wee bit short, but it's been hectic lately and exams are coming up so this might be the last one for a while.))
The distant sound of laughter awoke the man curled up on the ground. Only he was still in his dog form. There was a group of girls not far down the beach that had already spotted him. They called out silly names like 'puppy' and 'doggy.' Sirius always found names like that odd. Especially that you never heard a guy say them.
Sirius got up slowly and trotted over to them, his tongue sticking out and his tail wagging happily. He was sore all over. He must have swam for days. Or floated at least. He was lucky to be alive and he knew it. All that doggy paddling really got to his muscles. He felt cold and lost. If he played his cards right, maybe one of these girls would find him cute enough to take home. He'd stay there for a while and then leave when he was feeling more like himself. As he trotted over to them, one girl bent down and patted her knees so he would come to her. Sirius smirked to himself and pretended to run right for her. Instead, he turned just at the right moment so that he pranced around her once, then stopped in front and barked happily.
She frowned and flipped her short brown hair out of her eyes. "C'mere, baby."
He stopped just out of her reach and patted his tail on the ground. When she tried to step closer to him, he backed up and sat down again. Getting frustrated, the girl crossed her arms and stared the dog down in a fake pout. He gave in. Sirius had a good set of puppy dog eyes himself, but he had always been a fool for them. She petted him happily and nuzzled her face in his neck. He must have smelled awful, but she didn't seem to care.
"Isn't he cute?" She looked up at the other two girls who were looking down at her like she was crazy. The blonde shook her head and the brunette grinned. "We should keep him."
"No, bad! Don't even get those sort of ideas! The landlord will have our heads on pikes before we can even get him in the door! He specifically said no pets!" The blonde that had been giving her the disapproving look before was now wagging her finger at the girl with her arms around Padfoot. These girls sort of reminded him of he and his friends. Except none of them acted at all like Wormtail. The way they interacted was very much like the marauders though. They seemed to be muggles. Their clothing screamed it anyway. The one with her arms around him had a long sleeved blouse with a sweater-vest over it (that he was getting extremely dirty) and pair of nice slacks that were rolled up past the knees. The blonde had on a sweater, a ripped pair of jeans, and a beanie. The last one had jeans on as well and a black, three-fourths sleeve turtle neck. None of them wore shoes.
A snort came from the other girl who now began to scratch the dog behind his ear. "Now, Catherine, stop it. He'll never have to know she's there."
"It's a he, Meredith!" The girl that was snuggling him said. He barked in unison with her.
Meredith ran a hand through her shoulder length brown hair, her blue eyes uncaring. "Whatever… same thing."
"Is not! There is a distinct difference between male and female." Catherine nodded lightly and went over to the dog. She gave him a pat on the head. "Okay… we can bring him home, but you have to wash him. He smells like a dead rat, Marla."
Marla shook her head. Her chin length brown hair fell in her eyes. "Lets get him home. He looks half starved." She looked into his eyes. Her dark brown ones seemed to search his gray ones. Sirius could tell it would be hard to leave these girls already. They seemed like someone he might want to be around more often. She smirked before saying, "He's really intelligent. You can tell by looking in his eyes. They're really pretty too."
"Right. Well lets get back to the car before it gets dark. Aren't the guys supposed to come over pretty soon?" Meredith cocked an eyebrow at Marla questioningly.
"Oh, blimey! I forgot." She stood up and patted her leg for Sirius to follow. He did, of course. "We better get back pretty soon, then. They've got a key if we're not there yet. Damn… I can't believe I forgot about that completely."
Catherine snorted. "Drop me off at the library. I need to finish reading up on my thesis. Plus, I don't want to be a witness to this love-fest."
"Love-fest? What?" Meredith chuckled as a soft blush crept up on her cheeks. Poor thing was embarrassed, it seemed. Marla shook her head before ushering the lot of them off to a blue speck in the distance. Before Sirius knew it, they were racing there. He felt weak, but kept running anyway. Then, everything went black. He awoke to soft voices around him.
"What do we do? I mean… Isn't he the guy that's wanted for murder?" Marla voice was hushed.
A deep voice answered. "Something tells me we should wait until he wakes up. He doesn't look like much of a threat, actually. He just seems tattered and worn is all. What I don't get is why he was in the form of a dog… I mean… that's not physically possible."
"Yeah! I don't see why you guys are so worried about him being a murderer! He was an effing dog! I watched him change back!" Catherine's voice was shrill and stressed. "I'm not crazy am I?!"
Sirius groaned awake. There was a shuffle of feet and he opened his eyes to a tall man with a tennis racket and a slightly shorter man with a baseball bat…
