The beautiful two months that followed Snape's departure could only be described as a 'jolly olde time'. Sirius had a house to himself and if it weren't for the towers of books, the rundown home reminded him of his childhood, but in a pleasant sort of way. He found an old telle in a bedroom that looked as if it had not seen a living soul in a decade. After that discovery his time was spent either sprawled naked on a musty bed, watching static images on the glorious twelve inch screen or as a dog, frolicking around the old industrial town. The nakedness was a direct result of no willingness to wear Snape's clothes and the frolicking was because he had found a butcher's shop owned by a kind a plump man who seemed to take a personal interest in making sure that Sirius remained well fed.

It hardly took more than a week before some of Snape's last words really started to stick in his mind.

Sirius did miss his 'boy'.

Draco had been such a happy addition to his life that he had come to think of himself as a sort of father to the boy. A dog-father. In his mind, it was like a godfather, only much harrier. He couldn't aparate himself back to the Malfoy's, not even for a short visit in the middle of the night, not while he was still wandless. So he pushed the boy from his mind and focused on eating well and catching up on his daytime dramas.

As June came to Spinner's End, he found that the telle held less interest and the books a bit more. Though he had never been a reader in school, normally avoiding books and any kind of study in favor of quidditch or chasing girls, it was hard to ignore the truly staggering amount of books that Snape had managed to fit into a single house. He sought out any books that looked like they might have naughty pictures, and as he quickly exhausted the short supply of anatomy books he was forced to move onto other reading material. He found he liked the history books that were about war. Most were dry recounts, but occasionally he pulled out one of the dusty tomes and was rewarded with a more fanciful retelling of some great wizard destroying ogres and dragons and helping to conquer and divide nations.

He found himself in the midst of a sweltering June afternoon, with the temperature outside reaching almost eighty-three degrees, sprawled out with a carton of ice cream, halfway through a book about Merlin. The crusty old wizard was telling off some muggle king and Sirius took for himself another hearty spoonful of chocolate ice cream before turning the page to find out if Merlin hexed the king, when Snape came home.

One moment he was enjoying his lunch then next Snape was beside the bed, with a battered trunk of luggage, looking alternately tired, confused and then furious.

Sirius froze with the large kitchen spoon halfway in his mouth and looked at the other man with wide, startled eyes. He had known that Snape would return home, inevitably, but part of him had always assumed that he would be given some sort of warning before hand.

Their stunned silence stretched out as they both remained motionless, staring at each other in disbelief.

Snape was the first to move, one long, spiderlike hand going for his wand.

But Sirius was much less shocked by their meeting and much closer to the bedroom door. He flailed wildly, flinging the carton of ice cream at Snape and making a mad dash out of the room. He stumbled down the hall and threw himself out the backdoor. He managed to shift into his animal form a mere two seconds before Snape once more appeared beside him.

The greasy man looked at the black dog beside him, then out at his garden and the trees surrounding the house.

Sirius made a show of running around, barking loudly and sniffing at the ground as though something very important had recently been out there with him. But when once of Snape's hands caught his collar he feared the worst.

"Have you been here the whole time?" The anger that showed on his face did not touch his voice and his hands were almost kind where they scratched at his neck.

Sirius barked loudly, as if to say, 'why of course I have been. And by the way, where did that mysterious naked man get off to?' Then, as an afterthought he joyously (as much as he could pretend joy at least) began licking at the smears of chocolate ice cream that clung to Snape in sticky rivulets. It was the most logical dog-like behavior that he could come up with, and in all actuality it seemed a waste to let his last carton of ice cream go to ruin.

Snape nodded slowly as if he understood wild barking and gently lead Sirius back inside, rubbing his head and locking the door behind them. If the moist licking of his arms bothered him he did not show it.

"How did he get in here? You are possibly the worst guard dog even, no wonder Malfoy never came back for you." He made his way to the sink and washed his arms and looked in dismay at his chocolaty robes. Without any warning to Sirius (as seemed to be Snape's main plan for his first day back) the man unfastened his robe and shuffled out of the room. In only a simple black button down shirt and black pants, the man lost any bulk or intimidating presence. Snape had always been skinny, but Black had never seen him without the protection of his billowing robes. It was almost pitiful.

He left Snape to go find what remained of his ice cream and buried his face in the carton. After a few minute had passed he had the sad realization that his head was stuck. He whimpered and stumbled around until Snape came to his rescue, pulling the container off of the dog's head and smiling in amusement. "Worst dog ever."

.

.

.

That night, after both man and dog had been bathed (although separately) Sirius lay on his belly panting in the heat of the kitchen while Snape slaved over a cauldron in the hearth. It was beyond Sirius' understanding how Snape could possibly teach potions for so many month then come home to more mixing and brewing almost immediately, but the man had always been strange.

Around midnight the potion was done, and it was carefully poured, stinking and thick, into a small vile, then corked. Snape seemed almost impatient afterwards, not heading to bed, but watching the clock while he cleaned up after himself.

Sirius was dying to know what the potion was and who they were waiting for, but he dared not ask.

At two in the morning, Sirius was roused from his deep sleeping by a soft tapping at the back door. Snape got up from the table and a book that he had been reading with well focused intent, and went to the door.

"Yes?" Snape raised one eyebrow, looking as if he already knew exactly who stood outside in the dark but wanted to take some pleasure in keeping them waiting.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Can I come in?"

Sirius recognized the voce. He knew it was well as he knew his own.

He ran from the room as quietly as possible and hid himself in the back of the almost empty pantry.

Snape let Lupin into his kitchen, and though Sirius could not see them from his hiding place he could smell them and his heat ached for his old friend.

"You're late." Snape drawled

"I know."Remus sighed. "I already apologized once, Snape."

"I suppose you are here for your wolfsbane?"

Remus sighed again and then came the sound of a chair scraping across the tile floor as the two sat down. "I-" But Remus stopped talking and all Sirius could hear was the two men breathing softly. "I don't mean to alarm you… Severus… but-"

"But what Remus?" Snape did not sound curious, he sounded annoyed.

Sirius' ears twitched. He did not know when the two had started calling each other by their first names, but he did not like it.

"I can smell Sirius Black."

"Yes. When I came home from school today I found him naked on my bed, eating ice cream and reading children's' books."

"I would say that you're joking, but I don't think you can."

"He ran away like the coward that he is and I don't expect to see him again. Now do you want your potion or not?"

"I," Remus sighed deeply again, "Yes. Thank you."

It grew very quiet in the kitchen and Sirius longed to know if Remus had just aparated away or if the two were just staring at each other in a creepy fashion. He wished that he didn't have to hide in a pantry, but Snape was right, he was a coward. Remus still though that he had killed the Lily and James and until Sirius found wherever Peter had run off to, there would be no way to prove his innocence.

"Are you sure he's gone again?"

"It must have been sheer luck that that imbecile found my home in the first place. I doubt he even knew it was mine. Your old friend was never the brightest child."

"And you didn't kill him? I mean, I'm glad I guess. He was my friend… but I just assumed that if you were the one to find him…" Remus let the thought trail off, he did not need to reiterate the feelings between Snape and Black.

"I would have killed him? No, if he hadn't vanished I would have cursed him, and then sent him back to Azkaban."

"That's… uncharacteristically kind of you." Remus was almost chuckling and it hurt Sirius even more to hear such ease in the man's voice.

"Killing him would only be satisfying for the hour or two that it would take for him to die, but seeing an innocent man in prison is worth a lifetime of joy for me." Snape did not sound like joy was anywhere close to what he was experiencing.

"Innocent?" Remus was whispering as if trying to keep his surprise from the neighbors or anyone else who could possibly be listening.

"Your potion?" Snape moved, the sound of his old shoes moving over the kitchen floor were overly loud.

"Severus?"

"I've had a long day Now good night, Remus Lupin. ."

"Of course." Remus stood then too, Sirius recognized the man's gait, his slow quiet shuffle over the floor. "Thank you."

The back door opened, but Remus did not leave. The two men stood in near silence and only the sound of their breathing reached Sirius' ears to let him know that they were both still there. After what felt like an eternity had passed, Snape quietly cleared his throat and bit a soft goodnight.

Sirius waited in the pantry until he heard Snape move by himself to the dismal little living room, before he squeezed past the door and joined him.

The man was laying back on his short couch, looking like he was settling in for the night. Sirius wearily lowered himself to the threadbare carpet and tried to puzzle over what Snape had said. He had called Sirius innocent.

Innocent would have been good coming from anyone else, but from his childhood nemesis, it just sounded suspicious. He raised up his doggy head to look at Snape, where he lay quietly, his eyes already closed in sleep. Sirius huffed and settled back down. He would worry about it later. It had been a long day and the fact that he had remained after Snape's return confused him and only promised that the days to come would be equally long and perhaps even more confusing.

an: what am I doing and what's going on here? I have no bloody clue. But next chapter will have a time lapse somewhere and the following chapter, more Draco... because I miss the little jerk.