Sirius Black was a dog with a mission. He had his super sniffer and a plan. He heard that the school had been attacked and he was going to his damnedest to make sure that his godson was okay. That boy was his only reason for living.

Snape had correctly assumed that Black had been patrolling the school grounds when the attack had happened; however, oddly enough Snape had overestimated Sirius' ability to be everywhere at once. Sirius had been on the other side of the grounds when the attack had begun. By the time that Sirius had located where Harry had been bit and thus turned, it was already over an hour since the event. The school grounds extended far beyond the school itself and doing a patrol around took far too long to realistically respond to any emergency event. No one had thought to notify Sirius and thus he had patrolled obliviously to the dangerous events happening within the school.

When he reaches the scene of the attack, Sirius nearly loses his mind in anger. He couldn't believe that he failed his godson again. He could clearly smell his godson, werewolf, blood, and a tang of magic in the air. Ever since his stay at Azkaban, Sirius was familiar enough to the smell of blood to know that Harry had been both bitten and turned by the werewolf. The fact that he had a werewolf wizard as his godson was secondary to the fact that his godson was living.

In fact, Sirius had quickly dismissed his godson turning into a werewolf. Sirius was secure in the knowledge that between Remus and Sirirus, they would both be able to help his godson deal with change.

Sirius did not stop to consider why Harry was bitten but instead focused on finding out where he had been dragged to. Sirius began following the path of the scent. The scent had been diminished by the weather. The morning after the attack had been a moist morning and thus the trail was a tricky one to track. Sirius moved slowly but confidently at tracking.

Sirius had been sniffing through the forest trees for nearly an hour when he noticed a secondary sound. It nearly blended in with the natural sounds of the forest but was only the slightest out of sync with the rest of the forest. Sirius nearly howled at the pride he felt at identifying the out of sync noise.

Turning around as if to backtrack, Sirius manages to sneak behind the odd sound. The sound stops and Sirius wound up to attack. Leaping Sirius dove into the bushes and landed on soft grass. He turned his head rapidly back and forth searching for the noise. Finding nothing, Sirius relaxed.

Suddenly, a shadow tackled Sirius and bit down on his throat. If Sirius tried to wiggle, he would be instantly punctured by the canine teeth wrapped around his neck. Sirius froze and tried to get a glimpse at his captor.

The most noticeable fact about his captor was their light brown fur. Sirius' instincts kicked in and he immediately relaxed. The other animal released him, Most likely thinking their prey was killed. As soon as Sirius felt he was free of the teeth, he lunged away. Reassured there was enough space, Sirius shifted back into a human. In his human form, Sirius was confident that he had the advantage.

Snarling, the wolf wound up to pounce and then lunged. Sirius, anticipating this action, dove to the left and spelled up a shield which surrounded Sirius like a dome. The wolf halted its lunge at the sight of the shield. Sirius smirked and lowered his wand slightly.

The wolf snarled at his smirk and lunged at the shield. The wolf went through the shield and bit Sirius' wand arm. Shocked, Sirius shouted and tried to twist his arm away. The wolf's teeth had punctured his skin and the movement caused it to tear further. Smelling the blood, the wolf opened its mouth and released him.

"Mother of Merlin!" Sirius was cursing and shaking his arm as if to alleviate the pain. His wand had fallen while he had been bitten so Sirius bent over to grab it with his left arm. The wand felt clumsy in his hand but he managed to cast Ferula after a few tries. Sirius was so focused on casting the healing charm that he didn't realize that the wolf had not attacked him while he was weak.

The wolf was sitting patiently like a dog about 8 meters away.

"What in blazes is going on?! I do NOT have the time nor the patience to deal with a weirdly polite but aggressive wolf! I have a godson to save and he desperately needs me. He has just been bitten by a werewolf and he is probably alone and scared. So back off!"

Sirius' face was flushed, either by embarrassment about talking to a wolf or from exertion, he wasn't sure. The wolf had listened to his rant and nodded.

The wolf then stood on its hindlegs and morphed into a VERY naked woman. Sirius' jaw dropped and his eyebrows rose.

"I think…I think I need to have a lie down."

The woman smirked with amusement and let out a laugh. It was the kind of laugh that you would only see after finding something so amusing that it could bring tears to your eyes.

"Well you're quite the character and I think that we can both help each other, but before I do that I need to make sure that you are sure. Do you really not care that your godson is a werewolf?"

"Of course not! My best friend is a werewolf and he manages just fine. Besides, he is my whole world. I won't have a reason to live without him."

She listened to his words but took a step close to him and took a deep breath.

She hummed in thought and took a step back.

"I believe that you believe that you're telling the truth."

Sirius tilted his head to the side, "that is the weirdest way to say you believe me."

"Well I can't really tell if you're telling the truth but I can tell that you believe it to be." She had a small smile but shook her head as if to discourage further questioning.

"I am sure that you're able to guess that I am a werewolf. I am the Beta of my pack so don't get any ideas about messing with me. I know that my alpha has found his mate. His mate was injured and so he took him into the forest to protect him."

Remus had told Sirius about his life as part of a pack. When Sirius was in prison, Remus had no one left and decided to join a pack. However, once he found out that Sirius was innocent he decided to stay with him. The whole escape from Azkaban was dreadfully dramatic and their reunion was worthy of one of the Hallmark movies that Lily always made them watch. Sirius was grateful that he was able to reunite with Remus and that they were both able to live their lives without the past interfering.

Nonetheless, it meant that Remus had taught Sirius everything to know about living in a pack. He knew that to be the Beta of the pack, you had to be a badass. As a Beta, you were the face of the pack and dealt with more of the pack fights.

The werewolf could see that Sirius knew what her title meant and continued telling her story, "My alpha has been searching for his mate longer than most. He has only found three people with the potential of being his mate. One man was compatible with him but the pack was embroiled in conflict and he didn't want to risk them. It was a noble gesture but also potentially a foolish one…. Our pack was later attacked and the potential mate was one of the ones who had been killed."

She was not too sure about mentioning the attack, it was a balance between being open and being vulnerable. Sirius nodded in understanding.

"Earlier I said my best friend was a werewolf, but that's not the full truth. I am the mate of the werewolf."

Her eyes widened in shock, "you're the mate of a werewolf and you weren't turned!"

Sirius tentatively nodded.

"I feel like I am missing something. Why are you so surprised?"

"Traditionally the werewolf feels an incredible urge to turn their mate into a werewolf. It increases the bond and it also makes their mate more durable."

Sirius' eyes widened. Remus had definitely not told him about that fact and it caused his chest to tighten.

"Remus never told me that."

It was now her turn to have her eyes widened, "you're the mate of Remus Lupin?"

At Sirius nod, she followed with, "That's very good news. You are part of the pack."

"You are part of the pack that Remus was with before I came back?"

"My name is Aspen. I will take you to my Alpha and your godson."