Professor McGonagall

Sirius had come up with exactly what he wanted to do today. A few days earlier, the idea had just popped into his head. It was funny when it first came to him, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed awesome. He knew that Professor McGonagall would never go for it, but he could dream.

When she arrived, Sirius was still in human form, sitting about halfway up the stairs.

"Good morning, Sirius. Why aren't you ready to go?"

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"I heard about what happened with Mundungus. If you don't want to go out today, I understand."

"That's not it."

"Well, what then?"

Sirius went down to the bottom of the stairs.

"Well," he said, "I was thinking... seeing as we're both Animagi..."

"Oh no! No. Do you have any idea how undignified that would be?"

"It wouldn't!" Sirius pleaded. "It would be fun. I wouldn't do anything inappropriate. I promise."

"I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced by that assertion, Mr. Black."

Mr.Black? Sirius was reminded of his many trips to Professor McGonagall's office while he was in school.

"Please? You were always my favorite professor."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

Sirius pouted. (That used to work on his aunts.)

Minerva sighed. "Fine."

"Really!"

"Just a quick run. To Saint Mungo's and back. And you have to wear the collar and lead, in case some Muggle dog catcher comes along."

Sirius shifted and started barking and bouncing to show how excited he was.

"Don't make me regret this."

Minerva put the collar and lead on him and led him out to the front walk.

"Give me a head start. I'm not as young as I once was."

Minerva shifted into a tabby cat and started for the corner.

Padfoot chased his a tail a bit, scratched at his ear, and yawned, waiting for Minerva to get sufficiently ahead of him. When she was out of sight, he went to the end of his front walk and looked down the street. Minerva was crossing at the corner.

He decided that was enough of a lead. He barked so she would turn and look at him. She did and then took off at a run.

Padfoot loped after her, barking happily. He slowed down but didn't stop before crossing the road.

Minerva went down an alley between a couple of row-houses and jumped lithely over the fence. Padfoot tried to get over the fence and then through it, but couldn't manage to. He went back around the row-houses to the other side of the alley.

Minerva was sitting at the corner two blocks away. If Padfoot didn't know any better, he would have thought she was smirking at him. She turned and started running again and he followed.

They raced to St. Mungo's. They went around the back of the hospital and headed back toward home.

They were about halfway home when Padfoot rounded a corner and couldn't see where Minerva had gone. He came to a halt and scoured the scenery. Then he spotted her, walking along the top of someone's garden wall, apparently thinking she'd gotten enough of a lead on Sirius to slow down.

Padfoot hunkered down, prepping to break into a sprint. He pushed off toward her, trying to be as fast and as silent as he could. His back foot caught in something and he stumbled. He had forgotten that the lead was tied to his neck.

Padfoot yelped and tripped. His back foot had pulled the lead (and the collar with it) towards his tail. He flipped over his front feet and rolled, taking out someone's dustbins.

Minerva had turned to see what was happening when he yelped. She started to trot back towards him, to make sure he was okay, but before he had even stopped rolling, he was scrambling back to his feet.

Minerva paused. Padfoot was still running towards her. She decided this meant he was fine. She turned and ran again, heading back to Grimmauld Place.

Since the lead and crashing dustbins had ruined his chances at being stealthy, Padfoot started barking again. He was almost surprised at how much he was enjoying just making noise where someone could hear it. He could crash around the house all he wanted, taking his frustrations out on his furniture; no one would hear, but that made it seem pointless.

Running down the street, making noise for no reason, felt kind of exhilarating, like screaming and cheering at a concert or a quidditch match.

Minerva was sitting on his porch when Padfoot came bounding up the front walk. She shifted back to being human and opened the door for him. He skidded through the turn onto the walkway and kept running up the steps and into the house.

Padfoot shifted as he ran into the living room and collapsed onto his couch.

"I take it you enjoyed yourself?" Minerva asked.

"Yes!" Sirius replied, almost breathlessly.

"Are you hurt?"

"Hmm?"

"From crashing into those dustbins?"

"Oh." Sirius felt his ribs to see if any of them felt broken. "No. I think I'm fine."

"I suppose I'll be going then. Don't expect this every time I come to take you on an outing."

"Oh, Professor!" Sirius hopped back up onto his feet.

"Yes, Mr. Black?"

"Thank you."