Dirty Mutt
Souls in the wind
Must learn how to mend
Seek out a star
Hold on to the end
Valley, mountain
There is a fountain
Washes our tears all away
Words are swaying
Someone is praying
Please let us come home to stay
Later that night, given how easily Ursa manages to rile all of them up whenever the mood strikes her, Moony insists Peter stays the night and supervises that Sirius doesn’t smother her in her sleep. Or vice versa.The question does rise of what if she kills Peter, but he’s incapable of saying no to his friends, so he agrees to stay the night and Sirius, being totally wiped, head over heels in love with Remus Lupin (even if he hadn’t figured that much out explicitly yet), means he agrees to his suggestion to try and exchange pleasantries instead of insults for a change and interact with Ursa as Padfoot instead of Sirius. His emotions always seem easier to control when he’s Padfoot, his mind grows less hectic and Remus must’ve picked up on this. There's a few things about him Remus didn’t pick up on. His betrayal was one of them, he didn’t see that one coming.
They tell the twins that Sirius will be spending the night at Moony’s, but before she can be too happy about having the bed and room all to herself, they mention Peter and his dog will be staying over instead. She takes a long look at the large dog’s thick black fur. Honestly, do they think she’s stupid? She smirks, maybe she can have some fun with this “Aren’t you cute?” she kneels in front of it and ruffles its mane with forceful pats “so cute , and adorable ”
“Scary too” James remembers too well Sirius insistence that Padfoot is intimidating and not cute as he’d once cooed
“Nah, nothing scary about him” she bops his nose and as if on command he growls “Oh shush, you don’t scare me. You’re absolutely adorable , couldn’t hurt a fly. He needs a bath though. You two should definitely give him a bath” the growls turn into barks of distress. She smirks at him in return without flinching or stepping back even though her face is dangerously close to its sharp and forceful fangs.
“I’m kind of tempted to say yes” Peter bites down a laugh and Padfoot barks at him with a hateful glare
“He’s not a big fan of baths” James tries to salvage it, anxiety decorates his face and she almost laughs. James definitely isn’t built to be a spy.
“Oh,” Ursa peers up at him with big, disappointed eyes, her bottom lip slightly quivering “I guess he can just stay outside then” James jaw goes slack, he’s out of excuses, and he grimaces as Padfoot’s the growling turns feral, drool foams at his mouth “Oh, you don’t like that?” she smirks at the dog, its eyes throwing daggers at her “Then I guess you’re going to have a bath” He muzzles her hand but doesn’t bite down on it, it takes a lot of self control not to. She flicks his nose and he tumbles her to the ground
“Okay Padfoot” James and Peter yank him back as his self control slips “lets get you into the bath”
His growls prolong throughout the entirety of the bath. It only makes it funnier. Ursa abstains from doing any actual bathing because that would be gross and no matter her family’s unconventional believes on incest, it isn’t something she’s keen on and she’d much rather not partake in it. Instead, she sits using the toilet for a seat so they can’t coyly trick her into not giving the dirty mutt a bath “Don’t forget his belly” she reminds them with a radiant beam, James scrunched up face of discomfort as he rubs his best friend’s belly-boobs and the anger on Padfoot’s eyes almost makes the uninterrupted hours of torture at Voldemort’s hands worth it “Is the puppy ready?” she coos “Oh, you missed a spot” she puts a large dollop of shampoo overflowing on her hand and happily ruffles the top of Padfoot’s unhappy head “Oops'' she scoops the shampoo off his eyes with a smirk. He nips at her and she shoves him back. He barks and bites the air, the arsehole almost catches her wrist. She’ll get him for that “You know what? I think it’s time for styling” she smirks at him, a challenge in her eyes. He shakes the water and soaks her head to toe, challenge accepted, now into a battle of wills.
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea!” Peter can’t hide the wicked grin on his face “I’m thinking ribbons ”
“What a brilliant idea” she muses. Padfoot growls at them and Peter knows he’ll probably regret it later, but Sirius is at times a cocky arsehole and one of his best friends during all time, so he’s always up to seeing his faux-aloof behind sweat in discomfort.
They adorn him with dozens of tiny little ribboned buns that honestly look ridiculous, but still Padfoot holds his ground. She surely thought that once they messed with his cherished and beloved luscious mane he’d cave. He’s even more stubborn than she thought. She styles the top fur into one large swirled wave that somehow makes his head look gigantic and his face minute at the same time “He looks awful” Regulus frowns at what used to be a feral-looking dog but now looks like an inelegant, ugly poodle in a competition for biggest, fluffiest hair.
“Yeah” Ursa chuckles and Padfoot nips at her “bad doggie” she flips his nose and laughs. Still, he won’t budge. She almost respects him. Almost.
She’s given the option to share Sirius’ room (and by extension the bed) with Regulus but she assures them with a flutter of long lashes that she’d rather stay with Peter, who makes an injured sound at hearing this, and “the ugly dog”. Simply being insinuated as ugly would usually have Sirius in feral, overdramatic mode in a heartbeat, but Padfoot remains serene except for a weak growl
“I’m scared” Peter squeaks to James. Ursa is dangerous on a regular day and Sirius has horrendous ribbons on his hair, which he doesn’t need to guess means right now he’s on dangerous mode too.
“You’ll be fine” James reassures him. When he glances at Padfoot’s drooling growl and Ursa’s taunting smile, he wavers “call if you need help and we’ll come running” Peter nods with a sigh of defeat, wondering not for the first time why he’s friends with these people.
They shut the bedroom door like the door to a cage-ring. Padfoot huddles in the middle of the bed and she smirks with an idea “No. Dogs sleep on the floor” He growls and barks at her but she holds her ground “ down ” with a huff he miserably curls up on the hard, cold floor looking sulky. Still, he doesn’t break. She clenches her jaw. Peter eyes the bed with weary eyes and she smirks once more “You know Peter, I think we should fuck” Peter lets out a squeak that sounds a lot like a rat’s and his wide eyes shoot to Padfoot who whimpers and scratches the door to get out “Coward” she narrows her eyes on the dog, but Padfoot doesn’t hang up the towel yet. He needs another nudge “take your shirt off” she nods at Peter, Padfoot growls at him
“There’s a dog here”
“Fine.” She shrugs “I’ll go first” she reaches for the hem of her t-shirt. Padfoot jumps and knocks her down. He stomps his paws onto her chest and growls at her face. His drool stains her cheek and she wipes it away “Ew. Even as a dog you’re insufferable” she shoves him off, she’s counting the body-tackle as him caving and her winning “Sirius I know it’s you, dumb-arse”
“...Whaaat?” Peter tries but it’s useless, she raises her brows at him, she knows. Sirius changes back into himself
“How did you know?”
“I’m not an idiot?” she offers. Alright fine, Kreacher was the one to figure it out, but she wasn’t about to tell Sirius that.
“When did you figure it out?”
“The second I saw you? I was just messing with you, I can’t believe you actually thought I’d want to shag him ”
“Hey!” Peter protests but she ignores him
“You put me in ribbons!”
“I’m surprised you let me do that, I kept waiting for you to bite me” she chuckles
“You shit-head! You’re dead!” he lunges at her and transforms into Padfoot midway through the air.
“JAMES!” Peter wails in horror as Padfoot viciously growls and nips centimeters away from Ursa’s face “HELP!” Peter fears she lacks the common sense to be frightened, maybe the cruciatus curse rattled something loose inside her brain. Then he remembers Sirius’ childhood stories and knows it wasn’t the cruciatus, her brain’s been missing a few screw for a long time now.
“You look ridiculous” she lets out through a chortle and undoes one of the ribbons, a tight long curl takes its place. Padfoot bites the air her face just occupied and collapses to the side in the shape of a chuckling Sirius.
“We’re he—” James freezes in the doorway, his head tilts to the side as he stares at the two siblings with a frown. Are they… laughing? Together? “—here”
“I hate you” he shoves her, but he’s smiling as he says it
“But you look so cute with your little ribbons” he lunges at her again, shifting in the air into Padfoot but she rolls them over on the ground and when she laughs again Padfoot changes back to Sirius and he laughs too.
“Fucking weirdos,” Peter mutters “Thought you were going to kill each other”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’d do it when there’s no witnesses around” she waves his fears away but Peter just blinks at her in horror
“On that note, James, I think I’ll stay with you guys tonight”
“I think your friend wants to make sure there’s no witnesses”
“I noticed that too” Sirius whispers back to her “Tell us, Pete, why do you want my sister to murder me?”
“Because you’re annoying me”
“Awww, Pete don’t go,” she taunts him with her fox eyes “don’t you wanna have sex with— Ouch” she chuckles and shoves Sirius back
“Since when are you an animagus?” Regulus leans against the doorframe “And an illegal one at that”
“Last year”
“And what are you?” he asks the other two marauders
“What makes you think we’re—”
“your co-depant, definitiv eine symbiotische Beziehung,” definitely a symbiotic relationship “he does nothing on his own” James sighs and shifts into a majestic stag. Regulus jumps back startled but a second later traces the blooming beautiful antlers with his eyes and caresses the slope of its snout.
“ Do not say—” Sirius stares at Ursa pressing her lips together holding back a laugh but she cuts him off saying it
“Guess now you can ride him more ways than one.” Sirius glowers at her and she giggles. Peter covers his laugh with a cough
“Why?” Regulus asks the gods and hides his blooming red blush with his hands
“Come on, I had to” and for the first time, Peter agrees with her “your turn” she tells Peter. He sighs and obediently transforms, bracing himself for the obvious incoming insult “Huh,” She tilts her head to the side staring at the meaty rat “Useful” she notes and that’s it. Regulus cracks, unable to hold back his laughter anymore, he stifles into the back of his hand.
“Rude” Peter says changing back into his human self
“Sorry” he laughs even as he says it
“I’m guessing Lupin’s is a wolf?”
“He isn’t an animagus, we all became animagi so we could keep him company during the full moons” James explains changing back into himself and Regulus kisses his cheek
“Why not?” Regulus asks “Isn’t the monthly transformation into a wolf painful?”
“Yeah, it’s awful” James admits with a shiver
“Then wouldn’t it hurt less if he was already shaped as one?” Ursa finishes Regulus trail of thought, sometimes what they say about twins is true, they know what the other one’s thinking
“A—” James opens his mouth and closes it back up “we didn’t think of that” he admits “We should’ve thought of that. Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Oh, you’re brilliant!” Sirius kisses the top of Regulus’ head, he tries to do the same with Ursa’s but she swats him away with an ew “I’m so glad you didn’t eat each other in the womb! I knew at least one good had to come out of your existence” he exclaims cheerfully
“If by something good you’re talking about your murder, then tonight might just be the lucky day” she bats her lashes at him.
“If this helps Moony go through less pain, go ahead, you’ve earned it” Sirius beams, too delighted to care or fight
“Ew. La sua felicità è snervante” His happiness is unnerving she sulks “e noioso” and boring . Where’s the fun in teasing him if he doesn’t take the bait he’s usually quick to lunge for?
“E tu chiami James e io sdolcinati” And you call James and I corny Regulus scoffs to his sister staring at Sirius with amusement
“La sua patetica sdolcinatezza non toglie nulla alla tua” His pathetic cheesiness doesn't take anything away from yours
“Are they just gonna pretend we’re not here also?” Peter asks James
“Almeno abbiamo capito che ci prendiamo cura l'uno dell'altro” At least we figured out we're into each other Regulus tells her with a roll of his eyes
“I think so” James nods while staring at regulus in awe
“E quando l'hai capito esattamente?” And when exactly did you figure that out? Ursa raises a challenging brow at her favorite brother
“They do it all the time, you get used to it after a while” Sirius waves it off “Do you still have the books we used to become animagi? We need to figure out if it’s actually possible for Moony to become an animagus” Sirius buzzes with excitement and heads straight for the library, the other two marauders close behind his heels, Sirius having to literally yank him away from Regulus speaking italian
“Non stavo mentendo, mi ha baciato per la prima volta quando stavo avendo un attacco di panico prima di Natale” I wasn't lying, he kissed me for the first time when I was having a panic attack before Christmas
“Quindi la prima volta che ti ha baciato è stato quando hai capito che eri innamorato di lui?” So the first time he kissed you was when you realized you were in love with him? She cocks a brow at him and his eyes go slightly wider.
“James, wait for me!” he chases after him and Ursa smirks. She looks at the room and smiles at the king-sized bed, cozy and finally lonely, no black dog to hog the blankets even in human form. She throws herself back on the bed with a satisfied hum.
When we are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark, we'll feel the light
Warm our hearts, everyone
Peter rubs his eyes to make sure they’re working right when he walks into the kitchen the next morning “Morning” Ursa grants him a dazzling beam, bright and wonderful, he didn’t know her bitter body was capable of. She’s wearing an apron and a flower in her hair.
“suprabhaat priy” Euphemia greets him with her usual easy smile
“ Good morning dear ” Fleamont translates for his wife “Good morning Peter, the boys are still asleep?”
“ suprabhaat peetar, ladake abhee bhee so rahe hain? ”
“Uh…” he looks at Euphemia with a confused frown “I think James went for a run?” He looks up when Ursa places a delicious-looking plate of food in front of him.
“Did you make this?” his mouth waters at the restaurant-worthy tiramisu
“Binly did, I merely helped him out” she bops the house-elf’s nose with a loving grin, he has a flower matching hers tucked behind his ear. There's a cheery tone to her voice, a kind one. An eerie one.
“Mrs Ursa is being modest, Binly hardly did any work” she winks at him and he actually flushes “ shreematee Ursa vinamr ho rahee hain, binalee ne shaayad hee koee kaam kiya ho ”
“Is this poisoned?” Peter pokes at it with a scrutinizing frown and Ursa chuckles
“nahin” she glances at the Potters and Euphemia nods with an encouraging beam while Fleamont gives her a thumbs up. Peter wonders if they’ve all been casted under a spell because that would make more sense than the present.
“What smells so good?” James saunters into the kitchen looking sweaty and trying to steal a kiss from a sleepy Regulus who complains about his odor as they walk through the door
“And it tastes just as good!” Fleamont helps himself to another delicious bite
“ aur isaka svaad utana hee achchha hai! ”
“Kreacher’s tiramisu?!” Regulus rushes in with a radiant smile.
“A decent attempt for it, no one can ever be as good as him” she puts two portions on the table and they waste no time getting to it.
“Kreacher’s your house elf, yeah?” Regulus vigorously nods at James while stuffing his face and mumbling how much he’s missed it
“Yeah, every other cook pales in comparison” she smiles fondly at the memory of her house elf and Peter’s mind draws so many laps around itself that it tangles up. Did she just praise a house elf? Does she care about him? “no offense to you, Mrs Potter, of course, or Binly over here,” she bops his chin “but his food is better than the one at Hogwarts, you know?”
“Ursa, aap vaastav mein ek adbhut rasoiya hain” Euphemia sings her praises and her husband translates for him
“ Ursa, you're a truly amazing cook ”
“What’s with the Hindi?” James asks through the savoring a spoonful of dessert
“Jems, apane munh se bharakar mat bolo. Ursa hindee seekhana chaahatee hain”
“ James, don't speak with your mouth full. Ursa wants to learn Hindi ” Fleamont casts a tempus and shoots to his feet “Euphie we’re late. Children, we gotta go, have fun, Ursa thanks for the breakfast it was delicious”
“ yoophee hamen der ho chukee hai. bachche, hamen jaana hoga, maze karo, ursa naashte ke lie dhanyavaad yah svaadisht tha ” she translates through kissed cheeks and the kids’ goodbyes.
“Why do you want to learn Hindi?” Peter remembers the day before, by the library, when she asked if the Potters were fluent
“Why not?” Ursa shrugs
“Is this about your languages competition?” James bites down on a smile
“Okay, is there anything at all that you didn’t tell him?” she points at her brother with a wooden spoon.
“What language competition?”
“Over who knows the most languages”
“And who knows them better ” Ursa gives him a pointed look. Apparently, that point is very important one
“I told you un millier de fois: academic knowledge is just as much worth as—” I told you a thousand times:
“et je te l'ai dit un million de fois: Hablar un idioma de manera fluida requiere de mucho más—” And I told you a million times: Speaking a in a fluid manner requires much more—
“Je n'aurai plus ce disput” I'm not having this fight again
“Per lo stesso motivo per cui stai usando solo il francese in questo momento: Ich habe recht und das weißt du” For the same reason you're only using French right now: I'm right and you know it
“pero per favore, posso parlare in un'altra lingua. Simplemente, a diferencia de tu, no soy un presumido” please, can I speak in another language. Simply, unlike your, I’m not a show-off
“Did you know they could do that?” Peter whispers to James as the twins easily shift through the different languages.
“In theory” James' voice sounds strangled, his face fixed into one of utter awe. As he watches Regulus dance through languages with ease, it’s easy to get turned on
“You think Sirius can do that too?”
“I hope not” he shifts his hips and most importantly his crotch away from Peter, too easy to get turned on
“Es a diferencia tuya , bruto, et je répète: Ich habe recht und das weißt du” It’s unlike you , brute, and I repeat: I’m right and you know it
“Fine. A diferencia tuya , main vaastav mein hindee bol sakata hoon” Unlike you, i can actually speak hindi
“I v otlichiye ot tebya ya mogu govorit' po-russki” And unlike you I can speak Russian
“Russki?! When did you learn to speak Russian?!” Regulus cuts in and she winks at him, a sly smirk playing on her lips
“Ursa, did you understand what he said in Hindi?”
“That unlike me he can speak Hindi? contrairement à moi, il est très prévisible” she scoffs. Unlike me, he’s very predictable
“ Tu es très prévisible” You ’re very predictable. Sirius saunters into the kitchen with sleepy eyes and a yawn “I heard arguing and definitely knew it was your doing”
“Ugh,” she rolls her eyes with an irritated groan at the sight of him “its too early in the morning to deal with your existence” she grabs her teacup and stalks away
“James,” Sirius gags as he sniffs “mate, you reek”
“He’s right”
“Go take a shower” Regulus suggests
“In a minute” James shifts his hips under the table and tries to think of naked grandmas
“Oh, fucking hell James, it’s eight in the fucking morning”
“Not my fault he started passionately arguing in multiple languages!”
“Yeah,” Peter nods with a sip of his tea “Even I admit, that was very hot”
“I can fix that” Regulus slips a hand onto James’ thigh under the table
“EW!” Sirius shields his ears with his hands “NO! I’M NOT LISTENING! THIS ISN’T HAPPENING!”
“Come on, looks like you might need some help with that shower” Regulus hand crawls higher to rest on the hard bulge and James is quick to intertwine his fingers with his and guide him to the bathroom
“I hate my life” Sirius slumps onto a chair
“There’s tiramisu” Peter offers and Sirius brightens up “so… how many languages do you speak?”
“Fluidly just English and French, I’m not a swot like them, I picked up on a bit of Italian though”
“Pity” Peter hums into his tea mug “say something in French”
“Va te faire foutre, c'est trop tôt pour cette merde" fuck off, it's too early for this shit . It may be too early for speaking in another language, but apparently it isn’t too early for studying. He pulls out a book and loses himself between the pages.
“Since when do you read?”
“I know we agreed last night to ask McGonagall about Moony becoming an animagus before we do anything, and I agree not to get his hopes up for nothing, but getting started on research can’t hurt”
“I see you’re not letting yourself get too excited over this” he says sarcastically, the exact thing they agreed last night not to let happen.
“I know I shouldn’t. I just can’t help it. It’s Remus, you know? It’s Moony. He deserves the best, he deserves everything, more than anyone else. He deserves the whole world and he’s stuck being a slave to the stupid fucking moon. He never complains but I know he’s in pain, we both do, we’ve seen him transform, we know how much it hurts him. Most of the time he’s in pain and it’s not fucking fair. I wish I could stop him from ever hurting again” he stirs his tiramisu around with his spoon but doesn’t take a bite
“That’s nice”
“That’s all you got? That’s nice ?”
“Fuck Pads, I don’t know, what else do you want me to say? It’s fucking early mate, my brain isn’t fully awake yet!” he kicks him under the table and he kicks him back “You should tell him that’s what you think though”
“I don’t want to hurt him. I’ve hurt him enough already with what I did. I don’t think he’ll ever be able to forgive me after that. And I don’t think he should, I don’t deserve it”
“I hope he does. Otherwise I’ll be stuck listening to you bitch and moan about how Remus hates you and how very sad that makes you for the rest of our lives”
“Pete, mate, you suck at this”
“Probably why you’re making me date your baby sister as punishment”
“Don’t say it like that”
“Hey, if you were looking for comfort you should’ve gone to James”
“He’s currently in the shower with my baby brother”
“Alright, fine. I don’t think Remus could ever hate you. At least not fully” he awkwardly pats his shoulder
“You truly are awful at this” he snorts
“I fucking told you” he throws his hands up in the air and their laughter fills the kitchen but Sirius does end up somehow feeling a bit better
If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
As high as souls can fly
The clouds roll by
For you and I