Ok so I kind of abandoned this last year. But I recently got into the spirit of the season once again so I thought I'd take another bash at it, picking up from where I left off. Bit of a challenge really as I have no memory of where I was going with this and I think my writing style has changed a bit since last Christmas. That being said, enjoy wonderful people who read this! xoxo
Chapter four.
With his human self revealed Sirius felt a relief at being able to give up his charade. While he enjoyed being a dog he had to admit that walking around on four legs in the cold did make his back ache. However being able to walk around on two legs now presented him with a problem, he had no clothes. It was all very well to transform and run around at Hogwarts, there were always spare clothes to be found here and there. But in a strange woman's house the problem of clothing himself was all too apparent.
After staying with her for these past few days he was almost sure that she would have no men's clothes lying around. He would just have to make do. He pulled a spare pair of jeans from the wardrobe and the first blue jumper he could find. While he was confident that he could carry off any look, the prospect of a frilly pink jumper made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He didn't even want to think about underwear, there was nothing for it but to go commando. He could only imagine her reaction if she found out he had rifled through her knicker draw. Some women were very touchy about that kind of thing, especially when you didn't know them all that well.
The jumper fit him fairly well, slightly baggy, but he did the lived in look quite well. The jeans were another story altogether. Sirius quickly decided that wearing women's jeans was taking things a step too far, if only she had some running gear. He was out of luck in the clothes department however, the jeans were the only thing he could lay his hands on without hunting for more clothes or pulling the pyjama bottoms from his hostess's prone form. He decided to just own the look he was going for, all great trend setters had to start somewhere. He took a long, surveying look at himself in the mirror that hung from the back of the door.
It wasn't too bad a look. He twisted and turned to check out his angles, how great his arse might look in their new denim home. He was confronted with his own bare behind. The jeans crumpled at his ankles. Not such a good look for nursing a damsel in distress back to health. He would need a belt. He pulled up his trousers and spared a glance at Delyth. His current predicament was all her fault. Damn women, with their curves, and in and out bits. If she were James or Remus the clothes would fit him, he'd be able to do them justice. But no man could ever look good in women's clothes, could they?
Holding up his jeans he shuffled over to the figure on the bed, she was coming round. He watched as she stirred slightly, one hand reaching for her head. She'd given it quite a whack when she slumped against the wall. His fault of course, and something he would have to make up to her. It being Christmas and all he could hardly leave the lonely, half concussed woman now.
"Hey now, careful. Relax. No sudden moves this time. From me either I promise." he soothed as she opened her eyes.
Sirius watched as a range of emotions flicked across her face. Confusion was the one that reoccurred the most. He didn't need to be skilled at legimency to see that the thought that she had bumped her head too hard and had dreamt him changing into a dog race through her mind.
"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do. Let me start off by saying you aren't going mad and you haven't broken anything in your head. Everything I'm going to tell you is true and real. You just have to trust me and it will all be ok. I promise."
Delyth moved to sit up. She pulled what was left of the covers over her body and nodded. She had a distinct lack of trust on her face, but at least she had agreed to listen to him. Sirius would just have to wait and see what her next reaction would be.
"Ok. So I should start off by introducing myself, or else all those etiquette lessons will have been wasted and that would be a shame." he said it with a slight laugh, hoping to inject a bit of humour into the proceedings, to put her at ease.
"My name is Sirius Black, I'm a wizard."
A bark of laughter erupted from Delyth. This was not what Sirius had intended, for her to laugh at him instead of with him.
"Ok now I know you're the crazy one and I'm just fine!"
"No, no. Neither one of us is crazy. I can prove it. Oh wait. I can't. No wand. Damn, you know that's the worse thing about transforming I never have any pockets to put my wand in."
Sirius huffed. Now he was definitely and literally up a creek without a wand.
"Oh you're some wizard alright. Losing your wand, they should throw you out of the magic circle." Delyth teased, laughing once more. She no longer felt threatened by the strange man in her room, wearing, she noticed, the jumper her mother had given her the Christmas before she had left home for good. He was clearly crazy, but mostly harmless.
"There's a circle? How do you join? How do the muggles' know about it for that matter?"
Delyth rolled her eyes, they were getting no-where like this.
"I'm Delyth Ward." she said holding out her hand, and hoping to get things back on track. "And I'm not a wizard, clearly."
"Clearly." Sirius agreed. "You're a muggle."
"A what? What did you just call me?"
"Look it's nothing offensive-"
"So you say-"
"Think of it as a pet name. An affectionate term of endearment." Sirius finished.
"Ok clearly one of us is crazy, and I'm starting to wonder which."
"Why do either of us have to be crazy?"
"Because this isn't a normal conversation. You're talking gibberish as if it's the most normal thing in the world and I'm almost convinced I saw you turn into a dog. Therefore one of us must be crazy."
"No, we're both very, very sane. Look I show you you aren't crazy, and I'll explain myself so that you see that I'm not crazy. Watch."
"No!" she shouted, she grabbed his arm before he could move, her grip vice-like. "Please don't do it again. Just prove you aren't crazy first, then we'll deal with me."
"Right, well like I said my name is Sirius-"
"What kind of name is Sirius anyway?" Delyth interrupted.
"It's a damn fine name. I think I wear it well, donâ–“t you?"
"Well better then that jumper anyway."
"Look it's not my fault you have bigger boobs than mine. Nor is the fact that you've never encountered my name before. Do you want me to prove I'm not crazy or do you want to keep on having a go at me and interrupting?"
"I'm sorry." Delyth held her hands up in defeat before drawing her knees to her chest a nodding him to continue with his story.
"Ok. I'm a wizard. I can't really prove it at the moment because you won't let me demonstrate in the only way I can without a wand. So this is all going to be a bit difficult. Could you not just believe me for now and I'll prove it later when I get my wand?"
"Where is your wand?" she asked quietly.
Sirius thought a moment. It was hard to say really, it was probably at Hogwarts but that hardly decreased the number of places it could be. Then again James or Remus may have helpfully picked it up for him and put it somewhere safe. Safe places were always the hardest to find though because everyone always forgot where they were. He shrugged.
"Isn't that bad?"
He thought some more. Things usually turned up when he wanted them, and if not he would just replace them. He had never really had a dilemma over missing possessions, especially when he could just borrow someone else's. He shrugged again. Somewhere deep inside, sounding as though some monster was about to escape from within, Sirius's stomach rumbled.
"Are you as hungry as I am?" he asked.
It was Delyth's turn to shrug now.
"I haven't eaten since the day before Christmas eve. And it's Christmas day today!" he said with a realising grin. "That means turkey."
"That means a lot of cooking."
"Merry Christmas Delyth."
"Merry Christmas Sirius."
She couldn't help but laugh as he jumped off the bed and fell to the floor after taking one step and finding her jeans once more around his ankles.
"Let me find you a belt. It'll be my Christmas present to you." she said, stepping over his body and walking towards the wardrobe
