Welcome to chapter two of tOoS!

I should mention now that this will NOT be a Sirius/Lily story. Nope. Never. I'm James/Lily all the way. Sorry to anyone who thought it might be.

From now on "this" means Sirius's thoughts. Nobody else can hear these, so they're just there so Padfoot can have some input in his own story.

The Origins of Snuffles
Chapter Two: The Origin of "Snuffles"

As Lily Evans and the great black dog that was Sirius Black reached the entrance to the castle, the grey sky gave way to first rays of the rising sun. Sirius heaved a sigh of relief. He just hoped Wormtail and Prongs had managed to get Moony back to the Shack before the sun came up. Sirius recalled fondly the time at the end of last year when they hadn't made it and were forced to sneak a naked Remus across the grounds. That had been fun, although Remus still blushed crimson when reminded of it.

Knowing Lily was out of danger, Sirius attempted to give her the slip. Unfortunately, she caught him. (Well, if she hadn't, there wouldn't be much of a story, would there?) She quickly put her arm around his neck and cooed in his ear.

"It's all right, puppy. Come on, it's not so far."

"Hey, wait! I don't wanna!"

But he really had no choice. Lily was watching him like a hawk, and under her careful gaze, he was escorted all of the way back up to the Gryffindor common room. When Lily tried to lead him into the girl's dorms, though, something unexpected happened.

The staircase knew what the large black dog really was.

Sirius's paw had barely touched the third step when the stairs disappeared, leaving in their place a very slick slide. Lily, who had been walking behind Sirius, slipped first, landing on her rump at the bottom of the staircase. Sirius managed to scramble upwards for a few seconds longer (having four paws and claws for better traction), but he too went hurtling to the ground eventually, landing squarely atop Lily. And when you've got a dog the size of Padfoot on you, breathing is no easy matter.

"Ooomph," said Lily around the fur in her mouth.

"Sorry, sorry."

The bear-sized dog hoisted himself off of the girl and made a second dash for freedom. If he could only get out of sight... He had made half a bound and then fell flat on his face. The redhead had grabbed one of his hind legs. Whimpering in frustration, Sirius attempted to scrabble away, but it was no use.

"Oh, stop that," Lily sat up and shook her head, then glared at the staircase. "He's with me, and he's safe. Now let him pass."

Sirius snorted, then looked taken aback when Lily started to giggle like mad. He gave a shrug of his great fur-covered shoulders and decided to ignore her. When she tried to get him to go up the stairs again, he gave her a scathing look.

"Didn't we just try this? Didn't turn out so well."

"Come on, you," Lily said, looping her arm over Sirius's neck and pulling him towards the stairs. This time, the steps didn't dissolve, and Padfoot was able to ascend. Mildly surprised, he wondered if more things in Hogwarts were like that. 'Ask and be permitted.' Seemed easy enough... There were quite a few doors he wanted to try out now...

He was surprised at how similar the girls' dorms seemed to the boys', except for one thing: the smell. Everywhere Sirius went the smell of fruit and flowers followed him. Here was a whiff of chocolate, there, of cinnamon. The scent of baked goods and clean laundry permeated everything. It smelled like...like...girl. Dog's nose overloaded, Sirius snorted. Lily started giggling again.

The two turned into a circular room with five beds, a twin to the one Sirius stayed in with James, Remus, and the others. Lily whistled loudly and lumps in four beds began to stir. One by one, heads appeared from behind the curtains. A girl with frizzy blonde hair was the first to say anything.

"Lily...wow. Where'd you get that dog?"

Lily Evans grinned. "He was outside, just wandering around. He's such a sweetie. I'm gonna keep him, and I've already thought of his name. I'm going to call him Snuffles—"

"Whaaat? What kind of idiotic, unimaginative, undignified name is Snuf—"

"—because of this adorable snuffling noise he makes. It's just so cute!"

Sirius snorted in disgust and Lily giggled. "There! He's doing it right now!" Sirius could have killed himself. Did his snort really like a snuffle? How degrading...

While he was pondering this (and how to open the door without opposable thumbs), Lily went over to a trunk at the end of the unoccupied bed and started pulling things out. Finally, she held up a thin piece of red leather with a metal tag attached to it: a collar. "This was my old dog's collar. It's got a couple of charms on it, of course." She held it up and pointed her wand at the tag. "Snuffles," she said, loudly. A glimmer passed over metal and left the name etched there.

"I'm not wearing that; I have my dignity. And...and...I'm not even a dog!"

Sirius began to back away, hoping to sneak out of the room and transform in his own dorm. Unfortunately, he underestimated the persuasive force of five sixteen-year-old girls who are looking forward to having a new pet. He had barely moved when two girls leapt from their beds and were hugging him tightly. The other two followed shortly after.

Perhaps it was the happy-to-please dog nature in him, perhaps it was the fear of hurting someone in his escape, or perhaps it was the fact that four barely-clad females were holding him in place, but Sirius couldn't move as Lily fastened the thin red collar around his neck. Figuring he might as well play the dog, he thumped his tail loudly against the floor. The girls laughed happily.

---

Sirius was infinitely peeved that there were no classes that day. He spent the morning trapped in the girls' dorms, which was less fun than he and the other boys had always imagined. He was constantly fawned over, and was even forced into a game of catch with a few first years. Carrying the rubber ball back to them for the umpteenth time, he dropped it suddenly and spurted towards the stairs.

Padfoot hit the common room at a full run, crossed it impossibly fast, and took the stairs to his room in two bounds. He burst through the final door to see James, Remus, and Peter all sitting on their beds, grinning.

The three looked a little worse for the wear: James had a huge bandage up one arm to his shoulder, evident of the place the werewolf had bitten him; Peter was scraped up and had a deepish sort of cut beneath his chin; and Remus, the worst off of all of them, had massive bruising all over his face (not a few of which were hoof-shaped) and minute bite-marks all over his appendages. Nevertheless, none of them seemed in any way disgruntled about their injuries.

"Welcome back, Paddy," James laughed. "Where have you been?"

Sirius was in the middle of transformation when he noticed something was terribly wrong. By the time he was fully human again, he was clawing at his throat, eyes panic-stricken.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" Remus said, hurrying over to him.

The handsome teen's face was turning red, and he gave an occasional strangled cough. "...Can't...breathe...choking..."

Remus pulled down the neck of Sirius's robe and laughed. Sirius glared at him, then coughed weakly again.

Peter scurried over and peered at what Remus was chuckling over. "Snuffles?" he queried, giving Sirius an odd look as he stared at the thin red collar that was much too tight for a human neck.

James whooped, "You've been adopted, Padfoot! But I hope this taught you a lesson: always take off your collar before attempting to return to your human form." He reached over to Sirius's neck to unlatch the tight band. His fingers closed over the catch, but a burst of light forced him to pull back. "Ouch! It burnt my fingers! What is this thing?"

"...Li...ly...put...on...me...Said...it...was...charmed..." Sirius managed. His vision was becoming blurred, and because it seemed no one was going to be taking the infernal thing off of him, he slipped back into his canine form. Immediately, he could breathe again. Taking in huge gulps of air, he looked around at his fellow Marauders. "Well?" he thought.

Remus looked concerned. "Well, if it really is charmed, it probably can't be taken off by anyone than the person who put it on him. And if it was Evans, it's going to be difficult to get her to agree to anything. She hates James, and Peter and I aren't exactly her favorite people either." He too tried to take off the collar, but quickly withdrew his fingers. He retrieved a small knife from the nearby table, but was unable to sever the leather. "Hmmm... Looks like it's got an indestructible charm on it. I doubt we could get it off with the amount of magic we know."

Peter was still looking at the tag. "She named you Snuffles!" he said, barely able to control his giggles. Sirius snarled at him; he considered the name to be an insult to his pride.

"Evans did this to you? Where'd she get the collar? Her dorm room?" James asked. Sirius inclined his head. Immediately, the other three were staring at him, awestruck.

Peter swallowed. "You...you didn't actually go up there, did you?" Sirius nodded again. The others went wild.

"You got into the girls' dorms!"

"How'd you do it?"

"What was it like?"

"Does it look the same?"

"Is it nicer over there? It's nicer over there, isn't it?"

"Did you hear any gossip?"

"Does anyone like me?"

"Were there a lot of mostly-naked girls running around? Were they cute?"

"JAMES!" Remus cried.

James grinned cheekily. "Oi, Moony, you're so uptight."

Sirius barked in annoyance. After all, he was the one stuck as a dog. Glaring around at the others, he waited for them to get back on subject. When he noticed that James, who had Remus in headlock and was rubbing his knuckles against the other's head, Remus, who protesting loudly, and Peter, who was watching the other two with rapt attention, had no intention of giving him the time of day, he nipped James on the leg sharply.

James, letting go of Remus, muttered something impolite as he rubbed his sore leg. He was about to hex Sirius's fur pink when he noticed the great black dog was desperately trying to scuttle under the nearest four-poster bed. A moment later, his human ears caught the sound of a girl on a rampage. A few seconds passed before the door to the room was kicked open by one very annoyed Lily Evans.

"POTTER! My dog has just run up this way. Have you seen him?" she said, glowering.

Before James could make either a snide comment or a date proposal, Remus butted in. "It just so happens that we have," he said pleasantly. "Prongs sort of scared him under the bed, so I'll get him for you."

He dropped to his knees and lifted the bedspread. "Padfoot, you have to go with her. Just try and get her to take off that collar!" he murmured.

"I'd rather die. Now leave me alone, Moony."

Seeing that Sirius wasn't going to come quietly, Remus dropped to his stomach and began pulling "Snuffles" out by his front paws. Grumbling under his breath, the young wizard struggled to force Sirius's claws out of the grooves they were creating. The dog, meanwhile, was trying valiantly to bite the teen's hands off at the wrist.

"Geroff!"

Suddenly Sirius felt someone shoving against his hindquarters. He smelled Peter Pettigrew behind him, and knew he must be helping that traitor Remus. Between snapping at Remus's arms and trying to slice Peter open with his back claws, Sirius lost his traction. He felt himself sliding...

Lily watched, eyebrow raised, as Remus's front half came tumbling out from under the bed, followed closely by the huge black form of Sirius. She grinned as the dog sat up and shook his head violently, muzzle and shoulders covered with dust bunnies. "Snuffles! I'm so glad I've found you! Come on, I've fixed you some food..." Sirius looked at her balefully.

James batted his eyes towards the dog. "Oh Snuuuuffles! I've fixed you some lovely food! Come tuck in, and I'll keep you forever and love you and brush you and pet you and..." he cried, throwing his arms around the dog's furry neck. Sirius snarled loudly and tried to bite off James's ear, which was the closest thing to his teeth. James, not keen on having an ear torn off, backed away. "Hey, just watch that she doesn't have you fixed, Snuffles," he grumbled.

Grinning ear-to-ear at the growling dog, Lily said, "I'm glad my dog has taste. At least he knows a slimy creep when he sees one. I wouldn't be the least bit sorry if he did maim you, Potter." Slipping her fingers under the collar, she led Sirius away from the three boys sitting on the floor. Turning halfway around, she muttered, "Where's your idiot friend Black? Showing off again?"

Remus smiled slightly. "Maybe. But I believe he's going to be lying low for a while. Last I heard, he wasn't feeling quite himself."

Sirius snorted. Lily exclaimed happily and threw herself at him. "Oh, I just love you! You're so cute!" Then she led him out.

Behind them, the other three Marauders were hugging each other, crying "You're so cuuute!" in sing-songy voices.

Oi, those three are so mean. (laughs) So there's chapter two for you.