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Challenges at the bottom.

Word Count - 614

Run Free

Remus let himself into the house, his arms laden with bags. He moved straight through to the kitchen to relieve himself of the burden, and, stretching his hands out to get his blood flowing again, he called for Sirius to join him.

Only for nothing to happen.

Remus frowned. Sirius hadn't mentioned that he was going out before Remus left the house; in fact, he'd been quite certain he wasn't going anywhere. He'd wrapped himself in his blanket and pouted when Remus refused to stay home with him.

"Sirius!" he called again.

Still no answer.

He was about to go upstairs to see if the lazy shit had gone to sleep when movement in the back garden caught his eye.

Walking over to the double glass doors, he watched as Sirius ran around the grass, chasing the pigeons that seemed to be taunting him. Not that he was genuinely trying to catch them, but he looked like he was having fun.

Remus opened the door and called, "Padfoot, what on earth are you doing?"

The dog's ears pricked up, and seconds later, Remus had a black dog against him, up on his hind legs, licking Remus' face.

"Yeah, yeah, it's good to see you too," Remus murmured, gently knocking the dogs legs so it dropped back to the floor. He wiped his face with his scarf and shook his head.

"What are you like?" he murmured, running a hand through the soft fur on Padfoot's head. "You wanna go for a walk?"

Padfoot's tongue lolled out and Remus rolled his eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes. You know you're going to have to go on the lead, right?"

Padfoot slipped past Remus into the house, and came back a minute later with the lead held loosely in his mouth.

Remus looped the collar around his neck and closed the doors. They slipped out of the back gate and Padfoot fell into step beside Remus easily.

They didn't do this often, but there were times when Sirius really needed to just not be human for a while. Remus thought it stemmed back to way he'd used his animagus form while he was in Azkaban.

Padfoot was as much a part of Sirius' identity now as his human form was. It helped, Remus supposed, since Sirius still couldn't go out in Wizarding public without mass panic; despite him being cleared by the Minister after the clusterfuck in the Department of Mysteries.

Honestly, he should have known this would be necessary when he'd seen the utterly woebegone look on Sirius' face that morning.

They stopped at the park and Remus released him from the lead. He walked slowly around the large field, keeping one eye on Padfoot running around like he'd never known freedom before.

Eventually, Remus took a seat against a large tree trunk, the grass damp against his trousers. He conjured a tennis ball in his pocket, and when Padfoot approached, he threw it as hard as he could in the opposite direction.

They played fetch for a while, until Padfoot, panting but seemingly much happier, trotted over and slumped beside Remus, putting his head on Remus' lap.

Remus ran a hand through his fur and then tried to tug the ball from his mouth. Padfoot growled playfully before he released it.

Grinning, Remus checked around them before he conjured a bowl and filled it with water for the parched dog.

"Feeling better," Remus murmured, when the water was half gone.

Padfoot licked his palm, and Remus clipped the lead onto his collar.

When they got home, Padfoot turned into Sirius, and Remus was engulfed in a warm embrace.

"Thank you," Sirius murmured.

"Anytime."

Written for;

Auction - Padfoot Animagus

Gym - Stair Stepper - Running

Funfair - Face Painting - Animal Set, 3. Dog: Growl / Creature Set, 4. Werewolf: Running

365 - 112. Identity

1000 - 8. Woebegone