dogsitting // SIRIUS

[eleven]

[siriusblack]

       `` ----------- you live for the fight
              `` -------- when it's all that you've got

Every other step seemed to screech as Sirius took them downstairs, but when he purposely skipped one and got the same results, he decided that it wasn't a particular pattern as much as the house having a personal vendetta against him and trying to make everything as difficult as possible. Though it honestly seemed like that was what everyone was doing these days. Things wouldn't have been so bad if he didn't know why Cole was here. Then maybe he could have simply accepted the company, and dare say it, sat down and talked to the man instead of shutting himself in his room only to realize he couldn't stand the confinement for more than a few days. Hours, actually- but he was stubborn. Fred and George had left a few of their expendable ears upstairs, and with about a quarter of the Order members having a conversation he wasn't invited to, the topic of the matter had been almost obvious. Needless to say, anyone 'keeping an eye on him' was in for a hell of a job.

He had been avoiding Cole like the plague since everyone left. If anyone had to stay, he would have preferred it be Remus, but like he'd said before, nobody was giving him his way. The majority of the Order members were assigned tasks- things to do, find out; places to be, protect. It wasn't the first time they'd done a sweep, but it wasn't any different than the times before in saying that he got left here. The fact that not only did he have to be reminded he was completely useless, but have someone else assigned to keep him from doing anything frustrated him to no end. "Not like there's anything I can do." he muttered. But he took a certain pride into wandering through all the parts of the house that the Order hadn't gotten to examine, and probably didn't know about. He was being difficult on purpose. "And of course he's just fine with doing nothing." But still, he wanted the time to pass in days where it seemed that it was only moving in seconds. He was still ranting sort of absentmindedly, mostly about Dumbledore and his completely unfair decision. "There isn't even a point of being in the Order if it's going to be like this" and Snape... because everything was somehow the greasy git's fault! As far as Cole hearing him, well he'd gotten used to an empty house. Empty excluding Kreacher, but the house elf practically made talking to yourself a fashion statement.

The floorboard he stepped on let out a nasty little sound and he firmly decided that the floor needed to shut up. A lot of other things needed to happen, but it seemed like that was the only one he might be able to take control over. And then, of course, he realized that he couldn't. Just like everything else. There was a vase on a table that probably should have gotten discarded when they were cleaning up things before but it found itself crashing to the floor rather haphazardly because.. because the best way to combat noise was with more noise. Of course, that had to turn on him as well. from entrance hall next door the curtains on the portrait swung open and Walburga started screaming. It wasn't anything over the usual insults, 'blood traitor', 'shame of my flesh', blah blah blah, but as Sirius moved into the hall and her voice rose he found himself countering with more than the usual "Shut up". The more he went on with it, the more he realized he had quite a lot to say to his mother after all this time. Of course, she always had even more to say in response.

`` tag ---- Cole
`` words ---- 638
`` music ---- bon jovi
`` credits ---- mine!

[eleven]

[siriusblack]

       `` ----------- you live for the fight
              `` -------- when it's all that you've got

In almost no time, all of Sirius' frustration with his current situation had been transferred to anger at his mother. He was even as far as defending the Order and their actions, because as much as he didn't like them right now, he liked them more than he liked her. He had no problem with telling her that she was wrong. That she was dead. That she lost. That Voldemort would loose and the wizarding world would remain of mixed blood. There were probably certain things he'd said that she shouldn't have known about, but in casting protection around the house, one of the many things that the Order had done was seal Walburga in to this particular frame, so that she might not be able to find another picture of herself and betray the Order's information. Of course, as Sirius had exclaimed at the prospect, it was completely beyond him who else might have a giant portrait of his mother lying around in their home. Just the fact that she permanently embodied herself here spoke wonders around the kind of person she was in life.

He turned quickly at Cole's voice, almost raising his wand at the man he'd managed to momentarily forget about. He credited the defensiveness to the threatening atmosphere Walburga seemed to radiate, but after registering Cole's words and that stupid grin on his face, he realized that no- he was actually mad at the Order member. This one wasn't something he could blame on his mother. And it was more than just the fact he was stuck here because of Sirius. It was that he didn't mind being here. He could actually lay on the couch and relax. "Yes." was all he said to the question rather curtly, and it was practically drowned out by the portrait's shouts anyway. Deciding he'd save them both the headache, he grabbed hold of the thick curtains and heaved them forward. "Help me with this, will you?" It only took one try to see that she was going to be rather difficult to shut up, given how riled up he'd gotten her. Cursing out your haggish mother's portrait with a bunch of muggle terms had that effect. And he was low on the patience to deal with her, that was for sure.

Once they'd finally got her down, he added with no less irritation, "Apparently cutting into the wall would mess with some of the wards. No one else thinks it's worth it. Not to mention we'd still have to keep her in the house. She's like Kreacher- knows too much and isn't afraid to go blabbing it off. Dare i say it, she's got the bigger mouth as well." The little bugs in the dump didn't deserve to suffer. And throwing her out there was basically announcing someone had taken up residence in the house. As the last remaining Black.. he was always rather good at incriminating himself. And as big as he was on getting rid of her, she wasn't worth going back to Azkaban. That wasn't something he was looking to do any time soon. Not for her especially.

`` tag ---- Cole
`` words ---- 539
`` music ---- bon jovi
`` credits ---- mine!

[eleven]

[siriusblack]

       `` ----------- you live for the fight
              `` -------- when it's all that you've got

With the portrait finally covered up again, the house seemed to go from deafeningly loud to... equally as deafeningly quiet. Sirius supposed that that's what he got. He wanted quiet after all. But he was finally resigning himself to understand that no matter what he did to 'improve' the situation, it wasn't getting any better. He was going to be equally as unhappy if the house was screaming bloody murder or quite as a mouse. Cole still didn't seem very bothered, more or less confirming what he thought about him making things worse than they had to be.

He frowned when Cole opened his mouth again. "Look, Sirius.." could start one of a few things. Either Cole was going to reprimand him for his behavior and coping abilities or he was going to offer some form of sympathy on the situation as a whole. Either way, as far as Sirius was concerned, he was wasting his breath. Neither of those were things he was looking to hear or willing to listen to. And when Cole came out with it, it was easy to see that he was one of those people. The kind that thought they knew everything but really hadn't experienced enough for their words to be more than words. Obviously, nobody would like being in his situation. No sane or even insane wizards would want to have done even half the things he had to since the war started. He didn't need Cole to tell him that. "But you're going along with it anyway." he wasn't anything short of trying to sound accusing. Cole had gone along with this whole plan without a question. So as far as Sirius was concerned, he didn't have a right to talk. And he didn't plan on listening to the rest of what Cole said.

Despite tuning him out though, some part of his subconscious was listening enough to interject with a "She started it" when he mentioned yelling at the portrait. Something to do with what he'd done sounding even more.. strange, uncalled for, insane.. coming from Cole, and he was going to defend himself, as bad as his defense was. He was even less pleased to hear that he should have 'gotten some freash air'. Because that was... well obviously something that wasn't going to be happening any time soon. And them Cole took out the leash. And he just sort of stared in confusion.

"This isn't funny, you know," he crossed his arms. But Cole's words were first coming through. The way he talked about the others, it almost seemed like he was being serious about this. And it wasn't like it took much to get him going along with the idea. Maybe he wasn't one of those people, Sirius corrected himself from earlier. he was the kind you had to actually let say two sentences before calling an idiot. The leash.. he wasn't exactly fond of it. Fond of being forced to go out as a dog. It was such an obvious restriction of freedom. But it was better than staying here, for sure. It would at least be a while away from the screaming portraits and creaky floors and general.. most Noble and Ancient House of Black turned good guy headquarters on his somewhat not thought through idea. Also.. Cole couldn't go back on this. It was his idea. He'd be just as at fault.. Well, maybe not. He wasn't being hunted by the Ministry and most every Death Eater with a vendetta ever, but he'd be.. somewhat at fault. He wanted to ask where this idea had come from, or why he was doing it.. but that might end up with Cole changing his mind and he wasn't willing to press it that far.. yet. Instead he asked "Do we have to use the leash?" Just trying to keep up his appearance of being increasingly difficult. It was obvious he was leaning on the bridge of being okay with the idea either way.

`` tag ---- Cole
`` words ---- 683
`` music ---- bon jovi
`` credits ---- mine!

[eleven]

[siriusblack]

       `` ----------- you live for the fight
              `` -------- when it's all that you've got

"You can as much as you can go against anyone elses." Sirius said- but he knew that wasn't true. Dumbledore wasn't exactly just another wizard. As much as he hated the situation Dumbledore put him in, he knew very deep down, he probably owed the man his life. Between not kicking him out of Hogwarts when he was a sixth year, and then.. believing him, after everything that happened. Well he knew Dumbledore was a large part of the reason he didn't receive the Dementors Kiss. He also was the reason there was an Order. The only thing about Dumbledore that made him uncomfortable was that the man knew too much about him. He knew exactly how Sirius would react in a given situation, and he used his vast knowledge to set up what he felt would keep things safe. But as much as he knew what Sirius would do under different circumstances, he disregarded the convenient repercussions to this one. When you knew everything about everyone, it didn't seem fair to pick and choose what you remembered.

But then, Cole seemed equally as good as Dumbledore when it came to reading him. Maybe he was just sort of.. obvious. None the less, he didn't know how to respond, or even, what he was supposed to be feeling. he was kind of upset, defensive, ashamed. Cole was right, about all of it. And that made things seem more real. Cole could see these things, and like Cole said, he didn't even know him. He wanted to snark off about Cole needing some manners, or just.. being wrong.. but he wasn't. Azkaban had changed him. It didn't make him a new person completely but it seemed like it.. it sort of amplified all the little things. He'd always hated doing nothing, but he'd never been this claustrophobic. He was always easily provoked, but now it seemed like he defended himself with more of animal instincts. Cole had been right. Again. "I don't." He didn't want to hear it. But it had already been said.

He'd only actually worn a leash once, and it'd been part of a big joke in school with James that ended with them both ridiculously tangled up and laughing their heads off because Sirius felt the need to run circles around his friend. But Cole was trying. It actually seemed like he was. Sirius supposed to could try a little. It wasn't like things could go any worse. Apparently, they were getting worse from not doing anything.. Looking at the floor instead of Cole, he transformed without a word. Part of it was resignment, agreement. The closest thing he could come to openly showing that. The other thing was that the pressure of everything lessened slightly. He honestly liked his dog form better than his human one most of the time. His thoughts were simpler. He felt he was harder to read for people and... And he'd gotten used to that being his only idea of safety. He was okay for now. He looked up at Cole one more time before walking towards the door, expecting him to follow.

`` tag ---- Cole
`` words ---- 515
`` music ---- bon jovi
`` credits ---- mine!

[eleven]

[siriusblack]

       `` ----------- you live for the fight
              `` -------- when it's all that you've got

Sirius gave a bit of what could have been classified as a mischievous smirk when Cole made it clear that he didn't plan on going against Dumbledore's orders. "What would you call this then?" he asked curiously, raising an eyebrow to further the implications. Because if defying Dumbledore wasn't what they were about to do right now, then he didn't know what was. He nodded curtly towards Cole's reflection on what he probably shouldn't have said but then stopped himself abruptly; "Word vomit?" he repeated. He was suddenly unable to stiffle a laugh. It sounded like something that Remus might have said. Something ridiculously funny, but you didn't catch it right away because it was said in a tone serious enough that it might as well have been a scientific term. Maybe Cole wasn't so bad after all.

In dog form, it seemed that Cole was looking down on him less than he had been before. Not physically; Sirius had been taller than Cole before, to be technical. But he seemed.. interested and impressed now. And he'd much rather appear impressive than insane. Or just.. inept. It seemed like that's what most of the Order thought, Dumbledore and Molly making it the most obvious. it didn't seem like that had any recognition that he was a grown man, in the same position as they were and perfectly capable of making his own decisions and taking care of his godson. No, Molly had been right, he hadn't been able to do that until now, but it seemed like as good a time as ever to do something. Like.. not spacing off and paying attention to the fact that Cole was still looking at him. He supposed he'd forgotten after this long that there really weren't very many animagi in the world. It was a bit ironic; when they first started out, he'd had a rather difficult time sustaining him form. Focus, and things. In his twelve years in prison and then two on the run he'd actually spent more time as a dog than a human. It was second nature now; simple as breathing.

He tensed up for a moment as Cole put the collar on him, relaxing again one when the former Ravenclaw got to his feet and he realized that his movements weren't terribly restricted. Testing it, he covered the remaining distance to the door, pleased by the results. When Cole commented, he nodded his head in agreement and barked, as if to say 'yes, I am'. He jumped slightly on his back legs and pulled at the door handle. The idea of being impresive hadn't quite worn off on him. On his second try he got it opened, and he looked back at Cole with the closest thing a dog could get to a grin. Obviously, that wasn't very 'in character'. But oh well. He'd never done domestic before. He'd scared the wits out of people by pretending to be the Grim, and he'd done the more tame, poor, stray dog approach when collecting leftovers from the shops in Hogsmeade last year. But he'd never been a pet dog before. It seemed like Cole had to do all the hard work actually... He could live with that.

`` tag ---- Cole
`` words ---- 547
`` music ---- bon jovi
`` credits ---- mine!