Hah! Sorry for the very late update but it took me a while to write this one, short as it is, because I went on vacation. Enjoy!
Needles. Needles are sharp, pointy, and they make a habit of drawing blood. They always seem repugnantly fascinated in one's thumb or index finger, always on the look out for ways to sneak up on their handler and slowly dig their way through the soft flesh of an unsuspecting finger.
It was here, on a day so beautiful with glowing nature, that Sirius Black realized that his needle was in love with his fingers, for this was the billionth time it had struck.
"OUCH!" Sirius hissed, flinching his index finger away from the small, metal menace. Studying the small cut it had made, Sirius watched the blood seep out and run down his finger in a slow, lucid motion. He wasn't paying any attention to the pacing boy in front of him who was howling on and on as if he were wounded, wounded and angry.
"IDIOT! FOOL! HOW COULD YOU? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN CAUGHT!" James Potter rambled on, as he had been doing so for the last fifteen minutes, tearing at his hair and moaning at the ceiling of The Hovel.
It had been a week since their big adventure and James had just been "released" from his mother's protective hold. Even now she didn't believe he was fully well and rested and it had taken his father and he to completely reassure her that he was just going to The Hovel and would be back by four that evening.
Shaking his hand and wiping the blood on his already stained pants, Sirius looked up from his work and sighed, "Oh, c'mon, James. I wasn't caught. So what does it matter now?"
James hadn't taken kindly to Sirius's telling of taking the Demiguise Hair to fix the messy haired boy's invisibility cloak. And that's when he'd begun his rant on how stupid Sirius had been. Whilst Sirius had to agree, he didn't think James had to rant on it for that long.
"It matters more than ANYTHING." James moaned but had stopped his tyrant and was now flopped onto the soft gold colored chair. Something soft and heavy landed on James's lap and as he looked down from rubbing his eyelids he came upon the face of a black and ginger cat.
"Hey, Danu." James smiled, gently rubbing his fingers through her thick fur and she purred reassuringly.
The cat that had been quite the help to Sirius during his adventure at Brookes and Creak had chosen to stay with Sirius to keep him company. And during that time, Sirius found out two things. One was that she was female, and the other was that she was a PREGNANT female. Danu was a Kneazle, as Sirius had come to the conclusion, for she was way to intelligent to be a normal cat.
Sirius had named her "Danu," after an Irish Goddess. It seemed the heir to the Black's Family Fortune had a thing for naming pets, for his family was filled with odd names.
"You still didn't have to go and get it." Sirius ground his teeth, "Well, I did. In payment for letting me stay here." James was startled, and slightly hurt, at Sirius's curt and very harsh answer. "Oh." James said softly, looking back down at Danu. She watched him remorsefully, butting her head and against his hand and mewing softly. James looked up before whispering, "Thanks for saving me."
It was now Sirius's turn to be startled. He blinked and turned toward the messy haired boy before shyly looking back down at the half torn cloak. "No problem."
They sat in an awkward silence for a while, not looking at each other and equally berating themselves.
"Sirius?" James began hesitantly, trying to ease out the tension clouding the room with the start of a conversation.
Sirius's head shot up and he peered at the boy gratefully, not wanting to be the one to speak first.
"Um…the day I woke up, the day you first got here, my Mum and Dad were looking at the newspaper and you were on the front page of it." James began slowly, watching the black haired boy in front of him carefully, "are you really the heir to the Black Family Fortune?" Sirius smiled down at the torn invisibility cloak grimly, "I was, was I?" He chuckled, "I suppose you would like me out of the tree house now, eh? Don't want a future dark wizard mucking up your place, eh?"
James was startled at this; he'd never been studied so thoroughly in his life. One thing was certain though, Sirius must never had a real friend.
"N-No! Of course not! Look, I don't care if you're Merlin, you saved my life and I really appreciate it. We're friends, okay?" James breathed out, flinching and not looking Sirius in the eye as he said it. He finally found the courage to look up and caught Sirius's expression, mistaking it for anger. "I-I'm sorry. I-I'll be going." The boy stammered out and turned to leave but Sirius caught his arm.
"No. You can stay." James whipped his head around in surprise and Sirius looked back, face shining with hesitant gratitude.
Friends they were, friends they'd always be.
--
"What do you mean 'it's time'? I thought she was only a month along!"
"That's what I thought but I guess I was wrong, eh? Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just sit and watch."
"You're terrible."
"Am not, just want some experience, is all."
"Still think you're terrible."
"It wounds the heart."
"As Black as it is."
"Augh. That was TERRIBLE James. At least learn better puns."
"Says your Sirius joke."
"Hey, that one never gets old!"
"And I'll be hearing it until I'm old and wrinkled."
"Hah. If you live that long."
"Shut up, Sirius."
"Oh, fine."
The yowling of Danu startled the boys out of their mock fight and they turned their heads to see two kittens, both nuzzling against the black and ginger cat's bloated stomach.
"She had two of 'em already?" James said, startled.
"Well, if you hadn't argued about it, we would have seen it."
James sighed and rolled his eyes, no use really.
"Should we name them yet?" James asked, desperately trying to get a full glimpse of the two.
"Nah, let's wait 'till she's done."
James and Sirius were kneeling down on the hardwood floor of The Hovel's kitchen, peering through the medium-sized crack in the bottom cabinet door. Danu must have crawled in there last night for she had comforted herself.
It had only been two days and the boys were already best of friends, spending as much time as they could with one another. Both of them found that they were very different but shared many in common, like Quidditch for instance, though Sirius was not as devoted to it as James was.
The strangled mew signaled the birth of another kitten and a sudden loud hiss was heard from the cabinet following it. Sirius laughed, "Not very happy to be born, that one." James grinned, flopping back into a sitting position and situating himself. "How many more d'you think she'll have?" "Not many, I hope." Sirius answered, placing his thumb and index finger beneath his chin thoughtfully.
She'd already had three, there couldn't be that many more to come, could there? Sirius had read somewhere that Kneazles could have up to eight in a litter but THAT was way too many. They wouldn't be able to take care of all of them.
"One more kitten, Sirius!" James cried, startling Sirius out of his thoughts, "not many more to go, I hope!" Sirius nodded, deciding to finally sit back as James had done. He closed his eyes and breathed in, smiling to himself.
He'd never had a Kneazle before, but he'd always wanted one. Cats weren't his favorite animals but he'd always liked Kneazles for some reason or another, he supposed it was because they were more intelligent than just cats in themselves. He couldn't wait to name them.
--
An hour or two later, both James and Sirius found themselves still sitting on the kitchen floor but this time they were peering at five newly born kittens.
Sirius cocked his head, studying each kitten closely whilst James stroked the new mother's fur.
"Alright! I've got it!" Sirius said suddenly, startling James.
"This one'll be Aeolus," the black haired boy began, jabbing a finger at the oldest one. It was the color of sand, speckled with large black spots.
"This one's Akka," this time he pointed to a ginger colored one with dark orange melding into the ginger.
"And…" "Wait, let me name one!" James interrupted, frowning slightly. "Okay, okay. Go ahead." Sirius grumbled, he'd been on a roll too.
"Um…uh…you're name will be…uh…Shatterbox!" James grinned down at the middle one, its fur purely black.
"Okay, there, there's your special one. Now, as I was saying. This one's Janus," Sirius began again, pointing to a fluffy grey one flecked with ginger.
"And this last one'll be…Elli!" Sirius Black finished with a nod, motioning toward the runt of the litter. It was fluffy as its older brother and was a soft ginger color, softly striped with orange.
"Now that we've got the naming done, what do we do now? Even if it's only five, that's a lot of kittens. We can't take care of 'em all." James said, softly brushing each kitten's head.
"Well…we could…" Sirius began, trying to come up with ways they could use to support the newly born kittens. A meow made both boys look down and Danu nudged her head against James's hand.
"Oh, so you'll handle it, will you?" Sirius asked, grinning as he realized what she was trying to say. The cat nodded and curled around her kittens, slowly dropping back into sleep.
Both boys stood up and tiptoed out the door as quietly as possible, wary to disturb the black and ginger cat from her just acquired slumber.
When they both had reached the living room again, the boys slumped onto the loveseat and sighed.
"She'll make a good mother, won't she?" James asked, folding his arms behind his head.
"'Course she will, never met a Kneazle who wasn't."
"Haven't met one, have you?"
"Nope, but that's not the point."
"Yeah, yeah…"
There was silence in The Hovel for a few minutes as Sirius watched the flames in the fireplace before him flicker and lick the stone surrounding it.
"James?" he whispered after a while, not looking up at his best friend. No answer came.
"James?" he tried again but still no answer. Sirius then changed tactics.
Leaning over, Sirius began to poke and prod James's left leg until the messy haired boy squirmed and groaned.
"What do you want, Sirius? I'm trying to sleep." James grumbled, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face into the pillow at his back.
"Your Mum's gonna kill you."
"Why's that?" James murmured, not really listening.
"'Tis about eleven and you were to be back at eight. Won't see you for a while, will I?"
James shot up, eyes wide and stumbled to the door. "Oh crud, you're right Sirius!"
"Of course I am!"
"I am SO dead. Bye, Sirius, see you in a week!" James called his farewell before running out the door and slamming it shut in his hurry.
Sirius stared at the door for a little while afterward before laying back down and situating himself for a good night's rest.
It would be alright, he could take care of himself. He did have the kittens for company, after all. He wouldn't get lonely.
And with that thought, Sirius Black drifted into dreamland without a second thought.
There, alright. 'Tis done. You won't be getting another one too soon because I'm working really hard on another fic for the Neopian Times on Neopets. I'm trying my hardest and putting all my time and effort into it. But by the end of the week you should have another update! Can't promise this but I hope it's true!
Oh and thank you all yet again for the updates. Just revamped the chapter since the mistakes were bugging me.