Old Dog, Same Tricks: December 19-20, 1993

Sirius couldn't remember the last time he'd been so thoroughly content, and so very, very comfortable. To his utter surprise Malfoy Manor was a warm and welcoming home. He had been reticent when Draco had first broached the subject of bringing him home over the holidays. But the more the boy talked, and Hermione added her own arguments, the more he saw the benefits.

He was reluctant to leave his pup behind, but he had to admit that he hadn't made any further progress on locating the rat. And it had become almost impossible to breach the castle since his last- unsuccessful- attempt to break into Gryffindor Tower at Halloween. In the end the promise of a few weeks where he was guaranteed a warm place to stay and regular meals were too much to pass up. Since he'd begun receiving semi-regular meals courtesy of Draco and Hermione he'd realized that being reasonably well fed was important to his mental clarity.

And then, of course, there was the fact that while he got some well deserved R&R, he could also do some recognizance on his cousin's family. He needed to know how to function in this new world. And Draco and Hermione's relationship remained a mystery that he couldn't reconcile with the blood purist he knew Narcissa to be, and much more concerning, the Death Eater he knew her husband to have been.

Draco instructed him to meet him in Hogsmeade the day the Express was to depart for the Christmas holidays, assuring him that he would have transportation arranged for "Shadow" to travel to Malfoy Manor. He had to give the boy credit, he never underestimated his intelligence. It was refreshing. People had just seen through him for so long.

Actually, he had to give the boy credit for a lot more than that. As uncomfortable as Sirius was with his last name, he had to admit that while he could be a sarcastic git, Draco was one of the most thoroughly kind people he'd ever met. And Sirius knew that he was in no position to judge people for their last names.

If Hermione was any indication Draco also attracted other kind people into his sphere. That girl was such a laugh, he'd rarely met somebody so expressive. He was very interested to be able to watch them interact and see if they would balance each other the way he imagined. They were certainly much more mature than he had been at 13/14 and he thought their relationship very well might be the real deal.

When he arrived at Malfoy Manor via house elf apparition he was greeted by a host of other elves and the Lady of the house herself. And for the first time Sirius realized that his cousin was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever laid eyes on. He'd known that she was considered to be so, but he'd never really seen it before, she'd been all hard edges and cool glares. And then there was the fact that she hardly looked like she'd aged a day in the more than twelve years since he'd seen her last.

But she seemed like an entirely different woman. She was certainly gentler with him as a dog than she'd ever been with him as a human. And though she was wary of him, she wasn't frightened by him like so many people were because of his large grim-like form. No, much to Sirius' amusement she was just worried he was going to ruin some of her expensive furnishings or possibly dig up her well manicured gardens. He decided right then and there to prove her wrong.

He tricked the elves into giving him an extra long bath by playing with them. He'd discovered during his years at Hogwarts that elves loved dogs, or maybe just him as a dog. Either way he got to luxuriate in hot water for nearly an hour- a luxury almost beyond his imagination.

He didn't see the Lord of the Manor until Draco arrived home that evening. Sirius was waiting for the family of three in the Entrance Hall when they arrived back from Kings Cross, anxious to observe their dynamic. Like Narcissa, Lucius didn't appear to have aged much since he'd last seen him. And while his demeanor wasn't as soft inside his own home as his wife's, he was still wildly different from the cold, ruthless Death Eater, Sirius had been acquainted with.

The couple's treatment of their son went a long way to explaining why the young wizard was so thoughtful. Draco's relationship with Lucius was particularly surprising. While they behaved as Lord and Scion, there was genuine love and respect on both sides. Over the course of dinner Lucius asked his son's opinion on several House matters and Sirius was shocked to find a long dormant portion of his heart burning with envy.

That night saw him sleeping soundly on the plush rug at the foot of Draco's bed, joined sometime in the middle of the night by Nox who was annoyed at her wizard's attempts to take up all the space in his large bed, leaving her none. Then, the event he had really been awaiting came to pass when the next morning brought Hermione to the Manor. He'd been interested in seeing Hermione and the Malfoys together for months, and their interactions didn't disappoint.

The family didn't wait for her in order to start eating breakfast. A few minutes after they'd all been served she strolled in casually like she lived there. And considering the suite of rooms in the family wing that Draco had pointed out as belonging to her, he got the impression that she actually was as comfortable here as she was in her own home. He nearly choked on his own tongue when she greeted Lucius with a kiss on the cheek.

Sirius was fascinated by Draco and Hermione's easy banter, but when Draco pulled an eerily familiar bit of parchment out of his robes, Sirius went on full alert. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but then the younger wizard said the password that made the truth undeniable: somehow, unbelievably, Draco had the Marauder's Map. Sirius didn't think, he just lept. He got to enjoy one brief moment of triumph: he finally had a way to prove Peter was alive, and then everything went black.

When he returned to consciousness he was bound to a chair, groggy, and staring at his cousin and her husband who both looked much more as he remembered them: cold, shrewd, and calculating. It took him a minute to recognize the fuzzy feeling in his head. He and his fellow Order members had practiced with the Imperius curse, the idea being that they would be prepared to throw it off if it was used on them by the enemy. And maybe he would have been strong enough to do it twelve years ago, but he knew he had not been today.

He was irate at first. But by the end of the discussion he had to admit that he had been lucky to escape alive and intact. He'd been unbelievably reckless in revealing himself and a little questioning under the Imperius was the least he could have expected.

The snakes seized on the opportunity and he ended up being bound to so many unbreakable vows and loyalty oaths that he wouldn't be able to put one toe out of line without risking his life, or at the very least his magic. But somehow he didn't feel like he'd gotten such a terrible deal. He had powerful allies now, allies who supported his bid for freedom and to get custody of his godson. And while they weren't taking any chances, all they really wanted in return was an in with the Light, use of the Black library, and assurance that he would keep their secrets. He was happy to offer Hermione the protection of House Black, and if his robes hadn't been so filthy, he thought Narcissa might have hugged him when he'd made the suggestion.

When she led him upstairs and showed him the rooms he'd be allowed to occupy until arrangements could be made for him to surrender to the Ministry and then assigned him a house elf, he couldn't help himself, and he did hug her.

Author's note: This was originally written to be included in the main story but it just didn't fit. However, I thought you guys might like a little Sirius POV as an extra, so I wrote this to its natural conclusion and I'm putting it here. I hope you enjoy it even of the action itself isn't anything new. Thank you all for reading and thanks to Weestarmeggie for reading it over first!