Cobalt Eyes

Archive: Padfoot...Snuffles,
Summary: Bright cobalt eyes and a Quidditch star need I say more?
Pairing: Sirius & James / James & Lily
Disclaimer: JKR owns everything mentioned here, I don't
Spoilers: POA
Notes: Set during POA: Sirius is hiding at Hogwarts, disguised as Padfoot. Although JKR has stated Sirius' eyes are grey, I prefer to think of them as blue (hence the cobalt in this fic) winks

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"It was worth it," Sirius thought as he watched Gryffindor Quidditch team in training. "Escaping and getting this far, ok so I haven't managed to seek revenge yet, but that will come. Harry looks much better than James up there." The thought of James Potter brought tears to his canine eyes. Despite looking like Padfoot, he'd lost some of his skills of acting like Padfoot. It had been such a long time since he needed to use his Transformation skills for Moony , that his human thoughts had a tendency to intrude on his canine ones. Those thoughts were plaguing him now, thoughts of a similar scenario many years previously, when Padfoot had watched Gryffindor play Quidditch, eyes fixed on him favourite player: James. Watching him on his trusty Nimbus, with the wind blowing through his unruly hair, he looked the picture of any girl's desire. Except that Sirius, well, Sirius happened to quite like James, even more so than he liked Remus.

As more tears fell, Padfoot moved from the seats overlooking the pitch: memories were flooding back to him and he felt safer alone, especially as no-one was supposed to recognise him here. He ran into the Forbidden Forest, and lay down in a small clearing, resting his head on his paws. Ears flat against his head, Sirius let his mind wander back to his days at Hogwarts.

One particular memory was fresh in his mind, even after twelve years in Azkaban. He was back by the Quidditch pitch, watching a teenage James attempting to perform the Wronski Feint, laughing as James landed face first on the sodden ground. Yes he laughed, but he had winced when he saw the crash coming, and how James' good looks would be spoilt by the strain of knowing Voldemort was searching for them. Sirius' mind hovered over the last memory: the haggard, harassed-looking James trying to fend off Voldemort, only to be killed.
Sirius shook that last memory from his head. "Concentrate" he thought, "this is supposed to be a good memory, and nothing bad happens in a memory, not while I'm Padfoot". It may seem impossible, but he was determined to reach these memories: stored as they were at the back of his mind, only reachable while he was Padfoot.

How he managed it, Sirius would never be able to explain, but as if from nowhere, memories came flooding back to him. How James had appeared shocked but pleasantly so, when Sirius had told him that Padfoot preferred men, and how he himself was amazed to hear Prongs say that he'd admired Sirius for ages. On Valentine's night, after the Quidditch training and the Wronski Feint, they had declared their love for each other, sealing it with a kiss, and managing to never let anyone at Hogwarts find out. The memory growing progressively sour, Sirius found himself growling: one night James had come to Sirius and announced that he had been wrong - he loved Lily, not Sirius. Padfoot whined at the thought of his first love snatched from his claws, forever.

Opening his eyes, Padfoot looked up and pricked his ears. From the sound of it, there was a Quidditch game due to start. "It may no be the same as watching James," he thought, "but at least I can see Harry in a proper game now". Treading carefully on the sodden soil, taking care not to make himself too noticeable in the lightning flashes that lit up the Forest, he padded back to the pitch, sitting on one of the top row seats.

As the Gryffindor team filed out onto the pitch, Sirius fixed his blue canine eyes on Harry. Determined to keep happy memories in his mind, his kept the fixed stare on his Godson.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the pitch, and to his horror, Harry looked Padfoot straight in the eyes, something that James would never have done. If there's one thing no-one dared do to Remus and Sirius, it was make direct eye-contact; the canine and lupine threat. Only one person could do that and get away with it when Sirius was younger, and that was Remus. After all, the Alpha of their little pack has to assert his authority. "No wonder Harry almost fell off his broom," Sirius thought. The sight of two blue eyes in an impenetrable stare would make anyone fall from their broom.
Anyone except James...