This place was slowly driving me mad, the grey dampness eating at my mind, head absorbed in painful thoughts of the past, of the cruel legacy my parents left behind, unable to break from this hideousness 'in fear of my freedom', as Remus had once said. But what sort of freedom was this? I was trapped in my own home, whatever way you looked at it the Ministry had me locked up, just not behind thick metal bars this time, but on one side of a cold sheet of glass, without dementors sucking out my will to live but the beauty I couldn't reach. At least in Azkaban there was a thin slit in the wall that would let me breathe the day, the night, feel the breeze in my hair and the winter on my skin, but here, all I could feel was the taste of mothballs clogging my throat. I'd always been someone who'd strived for beauty in whatever form it came, but this place was so lacking, so malicious I could hardly stand it. Even the most beautiful man in my world lost his shine, like the unpolished silver that littered the cupboards, embellished with the same pretentious mark in the centre of his palm. Something told me it was never going to clear, like the one on his chest, still dark against his pale skin after over 20 years, though this wasn't made for the beauty nor the love, but the hate of me and everything I held dear.

I pressed my cheek against the pane, placing a hand on the glass and watching the people roll past oblivious to the sensation of freedom, to the wonder that they unknowingly embraced every day of their ignorant lives.

"Hey, Arthur..." Remus muttered on the other side of the room, shyly as he had done in the past. "Do... you think the Ministry know that Sirius is an animagus?"

My head snapped out, cracking loudly in the motion, before I was bounding happily at his feet, hardly able to believe my ears. Oh, Rems, you're a stunning, stunning human being.

The redhead looked up to him and down to me through his thick, horn-rimmed glasses, then returning his focus back to a coil. "They do... I think... just not what he is yet..."

Remus beamed down at me, scratching the top of my head and shiver with joy as my tail beat at my sides. "You hear that? Let's go for a little walk, okay?"

I was at the door before he could even think about stretching out from his previous scratching position, bouncing at the handle, willing the door open with my mind.

"Wait up, Sirius." He chuckled, opening the door with a warm gust of wind, spiralling dust and cobwebs to the end of the corridor.

This was the taste, the feeling I'd been craving for so long, stretching to open all my senses to the wonder of liberty. I hadn't been in dog form for a while, everything seeming more exciting and vibrant, fascinated by my own tail that flashed and swished about like a big, black feather duster. Moony was on the opposite side of the road, patting his leg and calling me over. I began to skip across the road, and then stopped midstride. Wait... fuck this shit... he's not going to ruin my freedom... that's the whole point of being free...

I hurtled past him into the grassy area, lapping around the park, revelling in the ability to use my legs. I hadn't felt this good in weeks, months, since I'd set foot in that blasted house, the grey in my mind dispersing as the August sun stroked along my back, heating my dark fur with its friendly hands. Remus had sprawled in the light, glowing perfectly, hair intertwined with the grass in a beautiful love story of gold and green. I hadn't seen him stand so boldly since I'd been carted off to Azkaban, finding myself almost breathless, lost in the dizziness I'd felt when I first realised he was the most stunning being that had ever lived. Had I been human, I would have snogged the living daylights out of him, but I settled to simply licking from his chin to his hair line as he protested.

"Go and piss up a tree, Snuffles, anywhere, anything, just stop licking me..."

That was a hard blow. I slumped upright, whining, letting my eyes glisten with hurt tears.

"Sirius, you've got your free time, do something decent with it rather than wasting it here!" He groaned in my direction, wafting a hand about to shoo me off.

I sigh and padded away. What the hell was I supposed to do? Life was only fun when I was with him. Ok... I lied... life was only worth living when I was with him... but there were fun but worthless things I could do... like chase birds... or chase birds... or fat kids that looked like Peter, which I was currently participating in with a chubby little blonde girl who was carrying a king-sized bucket of KFC in her arms, her flesh rippling as she quickly waddled away from me, faintly resembling Professor Slughorn.

"DA-DDY! DAAADDY! DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, DADDY!" She screamed as I bounced behind her.

"'Kay, Aimée! Stay righ' there, daddy's comin'!" bellowed a middle-aged man with a beer belly and a shaven head. "It's ok, dogs are like wasps – if you ignore 'em 'ey'll get bored 'nd go 'way!"

The fat girl halted, freezing stiff and clutching the bright red bucket to her chest. I wasn't going to pretend to be a wasp. So I head butted the child into the pond in front of her.

Before I could move from my position of rolling laughing on the dry dirt path, her father had stormed over, grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and carrying me on a parade around the park like some kind of trophy, looking for my owner, completely disregarding my wheezy breaths and squirming. I thought I was going to die. Remus stood, glaring at the man.

"Take your greasy hands off my dog!"

The man threw me into a heap at Moony's feet. "Tha' thin' jus' knocked my lil princess inna the pond! Pu' 'im on a fuckin' leash, ya stu'id nob!"

I snarled up at the beast – no one who could barely speak English had the right to call anyone else stupid, let alone my Remus.

"That thing is my dog! Maybe your 'lil princess' was in the way, isn't he big enough to see coming?"

The man's fist balled, a thick blue vein pumping to the surface, ready to attack, stepping closer. "I'm sure tha' thin' is on the dangerous dogs list, th' way 'e wos runnin' after ma gal like tha'!"

"It will be in a minute if you don't shut your trap." Remus huffed.

"Is tha' a threat?"

I was really done with this guy, part of me wanting to gnaw his ugly fat leg off, but I decided to use the safe option of growling and snapping by his legs.

Remus bent down and muttered "I can fight my own battles." As if I wasn't worthy.

I sighed. I would actually quite like to be imprisoned again. Oafs like this made the world ugly. And I don't like ugly things.