This came about due to a conversation about dogs, Sirius Black and James Potter and an exclamation along the lines of 'surely this isn't unknown territory for us?'

I do hope you like this, Anna :")

Word count: 1945

(20/10/17)

"PRONGS, OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD," Sirius Black, usually calm and composed, was frantically hitting his best friend James Potter on the arm.

"Pads, OW!" James shrieked, quite uncharacteristically if one were to observe. "What. Is wrong with you?"

"Prongs! Puppy!" Sirius pointed at an adorable little Cocker Spaniel puppy that was bounding all around the little park that dog owners had claimed as their own.

James glanced in the direction of his best mate's outstretched hand, before turning to look at him with an incredibly unimpressed look on his face.

"That puppy, regardless of how adorable it is, is the reason why my arm was so thoroughly assaulted?" he deadpanned.

Sirius did not even have the grace to look ashamed, merely waving a hand to dismiss James. He turned back to look at the little ball of energy and excitement that was running around people's legs, provoking dogs far larger than it was and generally being a carefree whirlwind.

He sneered at James, the expression not having any bite to it, and turned back to run towards the puppy, who was seemingly alone.

"Hey, sweetheart," Sirius greeted as he kneeled in front of the puppy. She- from what he had gathered it was a female- had a gorgeous brick red coat that was just begging Sirius to run his hands through it.

Who was he to resist? He cautiously leaned forward, showing himself as a friend and not a threat, and allowed the excitable bundle to sniff his fingers before she declared him safe. Sirius smiled slightly before running his hands through the soft, luxurious fur. He lightly dragged his hands over her back until he reached the back of her ear, which he scratched until she was purring in delight before him, her tail wagging like crazy.

However, it seemed like she had other ideas because she soon barked and got out from under his hand, bounding around him with endless energy. She nipped at his knees, before turning the other way, a clear indication for him to follow her.

Laughing at her demanding nature, he got up and looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'Well, lead the way then!"

The little one barked again and ran over to the little fountain that was in the centre of the park. She stood on the edge of it, just outside the range of the water, cautiously touching the water with one toe. She looked back at Sirius, who was watching her with an incredibly amused grin on his face.

Before he managed to invite any more of her displeasure, Sirius decided to make his way to the fountain.

When he got there, completely forgetting about James in the process, he looked at her with his arms crossed and a foot tapping the ground as if to say, 'now what?'

The little puppy yipped at him, before catching the fabric of his jeans between her teeth and dragging him towards the water.

He used the word dragging, but it was more like a hilarious attempt that looked more like a toddler trying to push his father off the bed but failing spectacularly.

Sirius laughed but just as he was about to step into the water after her, he heard a shout behind him.

"POLLYY! POLLY, NO!" He looked behind him and saw a cute blonde about his age running up to him. Without paying any attention to him, however, she leapt forward and grabbed the adorable little puppy, who was apparently called Polly, into her arms. Polly was, by now, thoroughly soaked which in turn made the mystery blonde woman's light yellow shirt go almost transparent.

Eyes going wide, Sirius quickly turned away before he saw something he shouldn't.

"Hi," the voice he had previously heard mid shout now came out much softer, and much more melodious. He quite liked it, Sirius decided.

"I'm so sorry about Polly, she keeps running away and I can't keep her still long enough to attach the leash to her collar," the woman apologised, a hint of red tinting her cheeks quite appealingly.

Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Sirius replied, "I-Uh it's no problem, really. I love dogs and she's really quite adorable. I didn't mind at all."

"He's not lying, trust me," Before she could speak, another voice broke in. James, Sirius scowled, always the worst timing. " He smacked my arm so many times when he saw her I think he left a mark."

The pretty blonde giggled, causing Sirius to scowl harder at James before he turned back to her.

"I-yeah. Anyway, I'm Sirius, pleasure to meet you," he introduced himself hastily, trying to divert her attention from his smirking best mate.

The woman smiled, "Likewise. I'm Anna. Nothing quite as astronomical about it, I'm afraid."

Sirius gaped at her, "Did you just-?"

James clapped his shoulder from behind. "I think she just did, mate." Turning to Anna, he said, "Not a minute and you've got this musclehead speechless. I already like you. I'm James."

Anna blinked at his rapid speech, just noticing how fast he spoke compared to those around him but smiled warmly at him. "I'm glad I have your approval...James."

James eyed her suspiciously, though one could see the mischief twinkling in his hazel eyes. "And what exactly do you need my approval for, ?"

Before she could say anything else, the neglected puppy in her arms saved her from answering what was sure to be a trick question by barking loudly.

Well, as loudly as a creature of her size could. Which was pretty damn loud.

Startled by the sudden sound, Sirius regained his speech again. "Wow. No one's ever related my name to astronomy before. They usually just write it off as a made up name two drunk hippies came up with to rebel against their parents."

Anna blinked again, but this time it was more incredulous. "That was….disturbingly specific."

Sirius grinned. "I edited it for your sake."

"Well, thank god for small mercies then," Anna shot back, making him stick his tongue out at her. She quite liked that tongue, if she was being honest. It looked nice and strong and...totally not what she should be thinking about.

Shaking her head slightly to get rid of the thoughts swirling around her head, she asked, "So what brings you two here? From the sight of your empty hands, I don't think you have a dog."

Sirius pouted, "Doesn't mean we don't want one."

"We're here because this idiot dragged me here to come look at the dogs. He's kind of obsessed," James said, cocking his thumb at the raven haired man.

Anna leaned conspiratorially towards said man before speaking in a stage whisper. "Guess what, I'm kind of obsessed too." She drew back, winking at him.

She didn't know where this sudden confidence was coming from. Usually, she was much, much more hesitant in approving strangers. Especially strangers that looked like they were carved by the creator himself.

She wasn't complaining, though. This was fun.

Just as Sirius opened his mouth to say something, Polly barked again, and started wiggling around in her arms. Anna sighed, she should've known her dog wouldn't stay still for long. She fished around in the pocket of her coat for the leash, intending to attach it to Polly's collar even if she had to ask for help from the two men in front of her when Sirius' voice interrupted her actions.

"How about you let her go like that and instead of putting her on a leash, all three of us can play with her? I'm sure she just needs to burn off some of that energy that comes with her young age. She couldn't be older than a few months, am I right?"

Anna looked at him in slight awe. Attractive and had a great knowledge of dogs? She should've known she was a goner when she saw him getting ready to splash in the fountain with Polly.

"I-Yeah. Just about 8 months now, actually. And, if you're sure you guys don't mind, I guess I could let her be…," she added hesitantly, not wanting to force them into something they didn't want to do. Of course, Sirius was the one who brought the idea up but still.

"Nah, Prongs and I are cool with this," Sirius shrugged, casually smacking James over the head when he made to protest.

Anna almost snorted at that but managed to disguise the sound as a cough and nodded.

"Well, if you say so."

—-

After almost an hour of goofing around like never before, Anna had come to the conclusion that she'd met the perfect man.

Of course she could be biased, but come on, he liked puppies, he had wavy black hair that she knew by experience was incredibly soft to touch (there was some grass in his hair from rolling around on the ground with Polly and when the opportunity to shake them away presented itself to her, who was she to refuse?), his grey eyes were fucking beautiful and from the sliver of skin she'd seen of his stomach when his shirt had ridden up hinted at a body that she was sure was the work of Gods.

In addition to that he was really sweet, almost sickeningly so at times (which she quickly deduced was an attempt to mess with her, which she didn't quite mind as much as he probably hoped she would) and he didn't really care what others thought of him judging by the downright insane things he had engaged in, uncaring of the glances and looks he was getting.

Before her thoughts could wander any further, however, Polly bounded up to her barking and yipping. She laughed and knelt down to cup her face in her hands, squeezing gently.

"Hey sweetheart," she cooed, scratching Polly under her chin and smiling when her tongue lolled immediately lolled out at the action. She loved it when people scratched her there.

Suddenly, Anna felt a presence beside her and when she turned to look, she came face to face with Sirius Black kneeling on the ground in all his six-foot glory. Anna gulped when she realized her sudden movement had caused her to be quite close to him. So close in fact that she could see that his eyes weren't just one solid grey, but they were a mix of different shades of grey, swirling together to create a beautiful picture.

She couldn't help it, she blushed. She wasn't used to being scrutinized by someone in such close proximity. In fact, she wasn't used to being scrutinized at all.

"You look adorable like that, you know?" Sirius cocked his head to the side and Anna bit her lip at the intensity of his gaze.

"Thank you," she said, not even realizing her hands had stilled in Polly's fur until she bit her finger, causing her to wince slightly.

Seeing this, Sirius picked Polly up and started tickling her. "We don't bite people, Polly, no we don't. It's not civilized, you see. Very bad manners."

Anna couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Sirius talking to her dog like she was some recalcitrant child in need of etiquette classes. Did she mention how much she found his love for dogs endearing? Because she did. Quite a bit.

"He's something else, isn't he?" James commented suddenly, startling her as she hadn't heard him come up to her. He smirked at her knowingly, as if he knew just what she was so engrossed in.

Anna smiled softly, "He is."