James stared at the tombstone.

Sirius Black. June 18th 1960 – June 9th, 1977

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He saw all these people, men in black formal robes and witches wearing tights and fox-fur veils. Several girls from school were also there, howling and weeping and one or two kissing the newly unveiled tombstone. Otherwise there wasn't a tear, none from the Black's oversized yet underbred family. People chatted to each other, some holding drinks provided by milling House Elves, empty glasses propped on the many surrounding tombstones. It was more a gathering, James thought, a family reunion with the perfect excuse to get together, a death.

A death…

James tugged at his tie; the sun was practically melting him. He gazed at the many people, living and dead, those deceased marked by stone. His shoulders quivered involuntarily; James hated being in a cemetery. It creped him out, imagining thousands of dead bodies rotting away beneath his feet. Why did people do that, cast the corpses of their beloved under the ground, stocked in boxes so they had no connection with anything? He'd never understand.

Without another glance James started for the entrance, trying not to imagine the sound of bones breaking under his feet. A large black dog was waiting for him at the iron gate.

"Remind me to put in my will," he said as he closed the gate behind him, "that I want to be cremated. Can't stand the thought of rotting in the ground someday, do you?" A bark was his only answer. James pulled his wand out of his pocket and jabbed it at his sleeve. It lost its velvet feel as the tuxedo turned into ordinary robes, and James, smirking, took off his Gryffindor tie and knotted it around his head.

Sirius shook his head as they started up the street. It was odd, watching his own unveiling, and funeral two years earlier. It was like being a ghost; he could see, hear, and understand everything, but couldn't interact. James, as a very distance relative, had gone in his place (Remus and Peter were on an Order mission, so unable to come to the cemetery.)

His family didn't care, he thought sadly, his tail drooping. Like James had noticed, it was a social gathering for the pureblood families, more about the whole than the individual, save for a few girls obsessed with him. Most of his family hadn't seen him for years, not since he'd run away to live at the Potters'. The man at his side (well not exactly, Sirius only came up to James's knee) was more of a brother than Regulus could ever be. Sod them!

Godric's Hollow was miles away, but as James couldn't Side-Along Apprate with a dog, they were forced to walk their way out of Hogsmeade. And he wasn't registered, so he couldn't turn into a stag and run alongside Sirius, relying only on foot in this part fo town, and back to Lily.

James's heart swelled in his chest. Lily, the woman he loved, who finally loved him back. There wasn't anything better in the world. He put his hand on Sirius's back and stroked the fur, thinking of his wife's hair in its place.

Everyone James knew (besides Snape) had felt sorry for him, after what was supposedly his best friend's death. No one every figured out what had killed Black, though, as James had been on the edge of the grounds, people assumed Sirius had drowned in the lake, or been killed by the Giant Squid or Merpeople down below. The only thing everyone knew for sure was, right after Sirius died, James got a large black dog of the same name, which greatly resembled his departed friend.

Only both boys, Moony and Wormtail knew the truth, that Sirius was trapped in dog form. They never truly found out why, though they suspected that the combination of spells Snape had hit him with (some they'd never heard of, possibly indicating that they were of Snape's design) had combined to lock Sirius in his canine body. They'd tried spells and concoctions, even dabbling with Polyjuice Potion and bits of Dark Magic, but nothing ever worked.

So Sirius accompanied James at Hogwarts, and at the Potter's house during the holidays, and when their year graduated and James married Lily, it was only natural for Sirius to join them (against Lily's wishes.)

By this point, James and Sirius had reached the train station. Though both were raised in pure-blood families and never needed anything other than a broomstick for travel, James had had to learn (with a lot of help from Lily) how to blend into the Muggle world, as Order mission required mingling with the non-magical. He'd never been on a train, apart from the Hogwarts Express, but that was different; you weren't allowed to show off your Nimbus 1000 when you boarded the Muggle station, and you didn't have to stand in line for a ticket. But they boarded the next train coming into the station, Sirius resting his head on James's feet.

James ruffled the dog's head. "Don't worry Padfoot, you've got real family."

But Sirius wasn't really paying attention. He smelled something much more interesting. Yes, he lifted his heat. A bitch in heat! Woof, just a few compartments down! He sprang to his feet—

"Whoa whoa!" James cried, grabbing Sirius's leather collar as he started off. People cowered at the sigh of this large beast straining against its master, but James tried to ignore them. "Sirius, calm down," he muttered as Sirius whined and twisted about, attempting for freedom. As James pressed his collar to the floor, Sirius bit him.

"Ouch!" James pulled his hand towards himself, examining the red marks on his index. "Why'd you do that?" But Sirius whimpered, an almost human apologetic look on his face. He pulled back his ears and licked his friend's marked hand, his only way of saying sorry. James stroked his head. "What's into you?"

Yes, Sirius wondered, lying on the carpet as the floor rattled, why had he bitten James? He hadn't wanted to, he just wanted to find that bitch in heat, and James got in the way. It had just happened out of no where, almost instinctively…

He sighed; things like this had started happening. A few weeks ago James, while attempting the new Patronus communication thing Dumbledore had shown them, his wand had slipped out of his hand, and Sirius had fetched it, racing after it and almost snapping it in half between his teeth, and when he'd returned it to James, crouched and wagged his tail. Another time, Lily had brought a new cauldron home from Diagon Alley. The first thing Sirius had done was sniff it, taking in the menacing scent of a male Alsatian, and peed against it! Lily had screeched and sent him outside for days without food. It had been a miserable half-week.

But the bigger issue, Sirius thought as the train rumbled along, James staring out the window, was that had no control over these things. None. It was like when he was a boy, making random bits of magic happen out of his control. But this was slightly different. His bran had started working oddly during those times. He'd chased James's wand because he wanted to retrieve it, and brought it back in the hopes that it would be thrown again. He'd marked Lily's cauldron because he felt it belonged to him, not some big male Alsatian who ate trash and raw meet and leather…

Sometimes it was like he had two brains, one man and one dog. Perhaps this was a result of the spells Snape had hit him with, or perhaps just the prolonged period of time, but the more Sirius was a dog, the more he thought and acted like one. He sighed. If only he could tell James…

The train rumbled to a stop and they got off the platform into King's Cross. Godric's Hollow was still several miles away, but as much of the area was forested, James felt safe enough turning into a stag, quite sure the Muggles wouldn't notice. So they galloped home, both emerged in the animal world of scents sand high-pitched sounds. They ran along, forgetting their worries about the Order and Voldemort and losing their minds. They were still two best friends having fun.

James turned back into a person when they left the forest—he'd never told Lily, or anyone besides the other Marauders about being an Animagus (he never mentioned Sirius either. Perhaps Lily wouldn't have been so reluctant to let him stay if she knew he was more than just a big, sloppy, bouncy cur). But a few blocks later there was the cottage, small and cozy and warm as ever.

The first thing Sirius noticed was a small grey (it was actually green) teddy bear on the threshold. Why was it doing here? Was it for him?

"Hello James," Lily swooped in from out of no where, kissing her husband.

Both James and Sirius were surprised to see Lily already home. She, like James and many other Order members, had a Muggle job, working under cover to gather more information, at a police station. She was normally home late in the afternoon, exhausted from gathering information to protect the Muggles, but it was hardly past one now, and here she was, bright and cheery and clearly bursting with news.

James kissed her back "Dear, what is it? Why're you home so early. Anything to tell me?"

"Oh James I, I…well this morning…well, um, er…" clearly she had a whole story to tell, but let it out in one quick quote: "I'm pregnant!"

A huge grin spread across her husband's face. He picked her up, kissed her deeply on the mouth. And they headed to the kitchen, shrieking and laughing, looking for a bottle of champagne.

Sirius stared at the teddy bear. It smelled distinctly of a Greyhound. He lifted his leg and peed on it, claiming it as his.