Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: I missed Fred & Murder.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC (x2); Sett to Destroy; In a Flash; Old Shoes; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Two Cakes!
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 03
Subject (Task No.): Care of Magical Creatures (Task#1: Write about a faithful companion.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: R Romance Awareness [D28] (Soulmate's Touch Accelerates Healing)(Taylor Swift "Delicate"); Insane House Challenge [10] (Moonstruck); 365 [290] (Collarbone); Galleon (dandelion)
Space Address (Prompt): n/a
Representation(s): Remus Lupin/Sirius Black; Fred the Goat
Bonus Challenges: Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; Grease Monkey; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; Lovely Coconuts) Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; Creature Feature)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); FR (Satisfaction)
Word Count: 525

(^^)
When the Dog Got Home
(^^)

Sirius found him within a week of them both leaving Hogwarts. It had been difficult to keep functioning for as long as it had taken for Remus to wrap up the things necessary for the end of the term. Azkaban had sapped a lot of his health and for the past year, he had only been running on his obsession with getting revenge against Peter. Now that Harry had broken him out of that obsession, it was hard to keep the momentum he had built up with it. Luckily, Sirius knew exactly where Remus was going to go, because of course, Remus would go to their cottage to brood.

Unfortunately, Sirius could remember that Remus would go to the cottage after he left Hogwarts, but not really where the cottage was. Azkaban had caused a lot of his mental issues to worsen like the dementors tended to wither plants and spoil food with their very presence. Thus it took so long to remember where his home was, let alone summon the energy to get there. He had gotten lost a few times, too.

But he had stepped into the garden eventually. The sense of familiarity had made his head swim. Which was why he didn't see the goat charging him until she had butted his gut, knocking him off his feet. Then she proceeded to stand over him and yell at his face like a nagging wife whose husband had been at the pub too long. Sirius blinked away the stars dancing in his vision.

"Fred?" he asked in shock. "Is that really you?"

"Yep," Remus said from the door of the cottage. "She's getting on in years, but that's still her yelling at you."

"You kept her," Sirius said. He suddenly felt like crying, and not just because Fred had settled her not-inconsiderable bulk on his chest as if determined to keep him from running off again. Remus crossed the front garden to shove at the stubborn doe until she got off of him. Then Remus helped him to his feet.

"Of course, I kept our kid," Remus commented drily. He ran his hands over the bare skin revealed by Sirius' baggy shirt. Sirius shivered as Remus' fingers brushed over his prominent collarbone and the first rush of healing energy transferred between them. "I also kept Lily's villainous beast, but Murder passed away a few months before you escaped Azkaban. Fred gave me the same kind of welcoming, by the way. She's gotten cranky in her old age." Remus glared down at the unrepentant goat. "Maybe it's finally time to turn you into stew."

Fred didn't even bother making a noise, simply marching over to a nearby dandelion and biting the blossom off particularly violently. All the while, she maintained eye contact with Remus, as if to imply a threat of doing the same to him. Remus responded with great maturity: he stuck his tongue out at her.

"You never change," Sirius said, moonstruck all over again about his soulmate.

"And you love me anyway," Remus replied with a gentle smile.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, feeling like he was going to cry again, "I do."