Tricks
Sirius and y/n went out every few days for what was left of summer break but agreed that once they got back to Hogwarts they would see each other less in order to focus on their classes, which Sirius thought was complete bullshit, why can't he do both?
He came to his senses when y/n suggested they could hang out after they were both done their homework and would still see each other all the time at meals.
They also wanted to hide their relationship at least for a little while, plus it would add a fun element to it.
-
One sunny afternoon a couple weeks into the school year, Lily and her friends -y/n included- walked past James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus who wasn't paying a ton of attention to anything because he was doing his homework, even though James reminded him multiple times it was not due until next Thursday and it's the beginning of the year, Remus ignored him.
James did his classic ‘run his hand through his hair’ move and look like he was barely even noticing the girls walking by, they laughed which Lily tried to cover up or make them stop. Y/n wasn't really paying attention to her friends, she was giving Sirius a big smile and wave, he smiled back and y/n mouthed something and jerked her head in the direction of the forbidden forest.
After the girls were farther away, James was almost too busy rambling to Peter about Lily to acknowledge Sirius’s excuses to leave. Remus looked up from his textbook and took the end of his wand out of his mouth, “don't make excuses, I know you're just going to hang out with y/n, you aren't really fooling anyone just go” he said and went back to his charms book.
Sirius smiled again and ran off in the direction he saw the girls go.
He ran into y/n near the front steps of the castle, she caught him awkwardly so he wouldn't fall over from being stopped after running at that pace, “woah calm down” she said and let him go, he ran a hand through his hair and briefly looked at the ground. “Lets go around the corner” she said and began walking off.
“So we aren't going to the forbidden forest?” Sirius asked “of course not, do you have any idea what's in there not to mention how easy it would be to get lost” she said. He couldn't argue with that, getting lost is one thing, getting lost with whatever is in the forbidden forest is another.
They walked to the far side of the castle and there wasn't anybody there because there was no sun on this side of the building and who would want to be in the shade when there's perfectly good sun just a little closer to the door.
“So why are we here?” Sirius asked, “ok this is going to sound really weird when I say it so let me finish” y/n prefaced then continued “alright so muggles do these things called ‘dog shows’” Sirius could figure where this was going but waited to hear the rest anyway “and they teach the dogs to do a whole bunch of cool tricks, and you had fun whenever there were little kids asking you to do things like sit or lay down so why not do something harder and maybe more fun?” she said.
Sirius took a moment to think before nodding, y/n smiled immediately and was overall very excited. “So what kinds of things do you want me to do?” he asked, “basics first obviously but just so that we are clear on what commands mean what and that you're aware of how your dog body works and everything” “y/n I’ve had this dog body for 2 years, I think I know what I’m doing and how it works but the basics are still a good idea” Sirius said.
So they got straight to it, Sirius became a dog and y/n gave him some commands. “Sit, shake a paw, lay down, roll over” which he did flawlessly.
“Do you wanna try going between my legs like a basketball?” y/n asked. Sirius was sitting on the grass and very confused.
Basketball, what the hell is a basketball? He thought
He cocked his head and his one ear flopped over, y/n laughed and said “ok that makes you so much cuter you have no idea”
I don't wanna be cute, my goal is to be cool not cute
He shook his head and looked straight up at y/n “right you probably don't know what basketball is” she looked around for a moment, having not found what she was looking for, she mimed ‘basketball’ instead.
“It's a muggle sport, like how wizards have quidditch, but this one there’s one orange ball that can bounce and sometimes to confuse the other team one player will bounce the ball in between their legs kinda like this” she said and she sort of half crouched and waved her arms around and through her legs.
Sirius cocked his head again and was laughing which ended up just being a high pitched whining noise which made y/n lose it and fall over in laughter.
He got up and ran the couple steps over to her and rolled her over so that he could reach her face and started licking her, “hey! What's that for!” she said between giggles, Sirius stopped and sat a couple paces away to let her sit up.
“Can you change back to human so we can have an actual conversation?” she said, Sirius debated this “oh come on Smokey, we have to go to our next class soon anyways”
At this he became human again, “I was having a lot of fun watching you try to explain that” he said and they laughed together properly this time.
“I understand what you mean though so I could try it but next time cause we gotta go” Sirius looked at his watch. They both got up and began walking towards the main steps “why don't we meet in the room of requirement tonight, you don't have anything super important tonight right?” Sirius said “nope so tonight, but what is the room of requirement and where do you find it?” y/n asked.
Right of course she doesn't know
Sirius stopped them barely out of view of the steps, “ok, on the seventh floor corridor, there's a tapestry hanging there, walk back and forth in front of it 3 times while repeating what you need in your head, a door’ll appear on the wall opposite the tapestry and when you go through it, whatever you need will be inside” he explained as fast as he could and staring directly into y/n’s eyes which had gotten marginally easier but he wasn't thinking about it, he was just thinking about the fastest way to relay the message effectively.
“9 tonight, think ‘I need to train a dog’ as you walk past and it should work ok?” Sirius said, y/n nodded and Sirius started to walk away but before he had fully turned around she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Now slightly dazed he tried to go back to his original idea of running to the steps, he stumbled a bit but started running.
I dont think I’ll ever get used to that
The rest of the day went as smoothly as he could have hoped, classes were annoying but he went anyway.
-
That night, a few minutes before 9, Sirius made his excuses and went to the 7th floor, walked in front of the tapestry and the door appeared.
Inside was everything you could dream of for dog training, little jumps, pylons, those tubes that dogs run through.
Sirius became a dog and waited for y/n who showed up a couple minutes after 9.
“Ok that door is really cool” she said as she closed the door, turning around and seeing Sirius she giggled “Sirius you don't need to be a dog yet, we have to talk about what we’re doing then you can be a dog and do them” she explained.
He let out a sigh and became human again. “What kinds of tricks are we gonna do?” Sirius asked, “well you already know the basics of sit, roll over, shake, speak, so I thought maybe something harder, you up for it?” y/n asked “well yeah but what is it called? What do I have to do?”
Y/n scanned the room “can you do a backflip?” “I have no idea, I’ve never done it before but I also never tried” he said “ok, why don't we try like a half backflip, I’ll stand like this” y/n explained and took a stance like she was bracing for impact or ready for a fight. “Then you’ll run up and jump up to my sort of side hip area and twist yourself in the air and land on your feet'' she said and twisted her body as a form of showing Sirius the motion he should do in the air.
“I can try it” Sirius said, a bit unsure. Y/n smiled “ok great, you become a dog and I’ll say backflip and then you can try. And I’ll do this hand motion too” she curled all her fingers in except her pointer finger and thumb then flicked her hand from her foot closest to Sirius to her side and back at Sirius in a fluid motion.
Sirius turned into a dog again, walked backwards so he would have enough room and waited for y/n to get ready and give the signal, “Smokey backflip!” she said and Sirius did just that, he ran and as soon as he got close enough, jumped lightly onto her hip and flopped onto the ground with a thud.
“Are you ok?!” y/n asked as she bent down to check on Sirius who got up and nodded. “That was not how it was supposed to go but baby steps, I think you need a better run at it next time” she said and they backed apart again.
“Backflip” y/n said and Sirius ran a bit faster but still didnt put a lot of effort into pushing off properly from y/n’s side, “your footing is right so maybe try again?” she suggested.
This went on a few more times before y/n said “it's like youre not really trying, do you want to try something else?” Sirius looked at the ground and became human again. “I didn't want to hurt you by jumping full force off your body” he confessed, “aw Sirius, I appreciate the concern but I’m not made of glass, I can withstand it, don't worry” y/n said and moved towards him, touched his arm and waited.
“Ok, let's do it again” he said, determination in his voice. He became a dog once more, y/n smiled “you could try on the wall first if you want” she suggested and he did just that, lined himself up and ran at the wall and performed the twist almost perfectly, the landing could have been smoother but he actually did the jump.
Sirius ran, mouth open, tail wagging at y/n who was equally excited and pet him all over like how you would congratulate a normal dog. There was a spot behind his right ear that felt particularly nice for her to scratch, y/n laughed and kept going until Sirius backed away.
He gave y/n a look that he tried to express as ‘I’m ready’ and she took the hint. Y/n backed into the far side of the room and gave Sirius the command.
Sirius ran towards her looking directly at the spot on her hip where he wanted his feet to land.
It's just like the wall
Sirius made it to the floor a little bit in front of y/n’s foot and jumped, landing exactly where he needed and pushed off, did the twist which felt very cool and also pretty disorientating because he landed then wobbled and fell.
“Yes! Exactly like that!” y/n exclaimed and came up to him, Sirius looked quickly to make sure she wasn't hurt then joined in her celebration.
Lots of petting again and even a little kiss on his wet dog nose.
“Again your landing could be better but that was really good for a first try” y/n said, Sirius wondered what time it was and a clock appeared in the room, he half-hoped it wouldn't be too late but the clock read 10 pm. Y/n saw it too “we should probably go back, meet here again at some point?” she said.
Sirius became human for the last time that night and agreed, they both probably had homework and have class tomorrow even though he knew he probably wouldn't sleep for a while or do his charms homework, they called it a night.
“See you then” y/n said, “uh yeah” Sirius said and tried to smile, y/n gave him a hug and left. Sirius left shortly thereafter.
-
Sirius walked back into the nearly empty common room, James was reading a newspaper about quidditch near the fire, Remus was scrabbling on some parchment. There were some others in the room, a small group of sixth years and a fifth year frantically writing on his parchment.
Probably homework Sirius thought when he saw Remus.
“What were you up to?” Remus asked without looking up as Sirius walked past, “does it matter?” Sirius kept walking and sat on a couch next to the chair James was sitting on.
James looked over the top of his newspaper “probably doing naughty things with y/n” he said and buried his nose back in what he was reading as if he hadn't said anything, “hey!” Sirius said, James didn't flinch but he knew James wasn't really reading.
“Sirius I’m not gonna ask what you were doing but you weren't in trouble right, no detention?” Remus asked and turned to face Sirius and James from the bench he was sitting on. “Nope, no detention fortunately for us” Sirius said “why are you doing homework? It's the third week, who would give you over two feet of homework?'' He changed the subject.
“Sirius it’s 7th year, everyone will give you lots of homework, I guarantee you have lots that you are ignoring and hoping will finish themselves” Remus answered, “we got a grouchy one James” Sirius joked “yeah sorry I’m the only one who actually cares about doing well in school, you know the thing we are here to do” Remus argued, James and Sirius persisted, Sirius felt slightly bad but in all honesty who would start doing that much homework within the first month?
Remus grabbed his things and went up to the boys dormitories “you guys better not talk to me before breakfast tomorrow” were his parting words. The group of sixth years and the lone fifth year took that as their exit cue and made their ways to the dormitories too.
Sirius and James exchanged a glance “do you think we were too mean this time? That it pushed him off the edge?” Sirius whispered “I don't know, anyway so how was it with y/n?” James dismissed the topic of Remus and returned to the one Sirius was trying to avoid.
“Normal? Fine?” Sirius said, “oh come on, what did you do? Details Pads, I need ideas for when I finally end up with Lily!” James said, “well then I have bad news because you guys can't do what me and y/n did, sorry” Sirius answered with his snarky little grin.
“You didn't” James said, Sirius smiled and gently shook his head “I don't know what you're implying here Prongs, try being more specific” he was having fun with it now. “You know you shouldn't talk about that in public” James said.
Sirius gestured to the rest of the room and looked around “there's nobody here” he said. James leaned closer and whispered “did you, you know, like make out and it lead to something else?”
Sirius shot up in pretend shock “what! James, of course not, is that what you thought? Really? Get your mind out of the gutter” he smiled big, “then what did you do that I wouldn't be able to with Evans?” James asked, looking relieved now that he knew Sirius hadn't done what he thought he did.
“Just being a dog type stuff, she taught me what muggles call ‘dog tricks’” Sirius explained, “oh, that sounds way less exciting” “it was fun” “I guess there aren't really ‘stag tricks’” James said sadly, “hey maybe you could give Lily rides on your back, like horses” Sirius suggested “that's a brilliant idea, you're a genius Sirius!” James said “now I have to get with her so I can blow her away with that”
Sirius laughed at the thought of them and their partners walking around like a group of animals and people who just have weird pets.
I would feel bad for Peter, he's a rat, unless his future partner likes rats, then it isn't so bad
They sat in the common room in silence for a little while longer before they both went to the dorm.
-
A couple days passed and y/n and Sirius had decided to meet again on Saturday around 9 pm.
This time when Sirius was making his way to the room of requirement, y/n was walking towards him, they met in the middle “punctual” y/n said and they laughed, walked back and forth. Sirius offered for y/n to go in first then followed after checking that nobody saw.
“Do you wanna try backflip again?” she asked once Sirius had closed the door “yeah, I think I can do it properly now” he said, y/n nodded and they got ready.
Sirius went to the one wall and y/n braced herself on the opposite, Sirius became a dog and nodded, so did y/n.
“Backflip!” she said and did the hand motion, Sirius ran at her, full pace and jumped, performed the perfect backflip and landed on his feet facing y/n. He immediately smiled and looked up at her to see her reaction.
Y/n was ecstatic, she knelt down in front of Sirius and gave him all kinds of pets, even scratched him behind his right ear again.
They ran through the backflip a couple more times out of pure joy that it worked and perfecting Sirius’s landing until he got too dizzy to do anymore.
After the last one y/n petted him lots and then gave him a very long lasting hug.
As weird as this might look, I like the fact she cant see my face because it would be red
Sirius hugged her back by laying his paws on her shoulders and resting his chin on them.
They pulled apart and y/n wanted to try another trick, “remember what I was trying to explain outside the other day?” she asked.
In all honesty Sirius had forgotten but was hesitant to regain his human form because it might be awkward.
“Sirius just talk to me, this will go a lot faster if you do” she said, and he did. “I don't really remember” he admitted.
Y/n waved her arms around and mimicked what it would look like with an imaginary dog, then she explained how he needed to move for that to work properly. “So basically, you walk in a figure eight around my legs and that way -assuming you start on the proper side- it’ll look good” Sirius nodded “so I just walk to whatever side your hand is on and then around the back of that leg and repeat?” he asked “yep, I’ll call it dribble cause it looks like what muggles do sometimes when they play basketball and that's what they call it” she said.
Sirius became a dog and walked behind y/n then sat and waited for her to give the command. “Smokey dribble!” she said and bobbed her left hand mid-air in front of her left leg, Sirius walked between y/n’s legs and towards her hand then went around to her back again and saw she was doing the same bouncing maneuver with her right hand this time so he went through her legs and around her right side this time.
Y/n and Sirius did this for a bit until they got really good at it. “You're making me dizzy now” y/n said as she sat on a chair “you’ve got a real knack for this dog trick stuff though” she added. Sirius became human “it's really fun” he said, which it was and it was a cool way to hang out with y/n, it was also a different skill to learn than quidditch.
It was getting late but it's the weekend, as long as they're sneaky on their ways back to the common rooms, they won't be caught for being out after curfew. The pair of them sat in silence again, Sirius as a dog, it was a pleasant silence though not an intrusive one.
“Sirius” y/n said in a very calm and pleasant tone, “I want to try one more trick, if you're up for it and you aren't too tired” she said. Sirius’s ears perked up and he nodded. “Come over here then” she said and gestured to in front of where she was standing.
Sirius got up and walked over, “trust me ok” y/n said.
I mean I did before but now I’m questioning it, what are you going to make me do?
He was in too far now so he went with it. “Ok, put your back legs on my shoes” she said. Sirius didn't move but his eyebrows were furrowed, if that was even physically possible.
Where the fuck are my front legs supposed to go then!
He wanted to ask but it would take too much effort and way too long to transform, ask, then transform again so he stood there and thought about it.
“I’ll hold your front paws Sirius dont worry” y/n seems to read minds now, either way Sirius pushed his front legs off the ground with as much force as he could in order to get them high enough for y/n to catch.
She caught one then the other and adjusted herself a little so it was more comfortable for her to hold them. Y/n placed one paw on each shoulder and looked him in the eye as he watched, “see, it's not so bad” she said and put her own hands on the sides of his body. “We’ll call this one ‘up’ and I’ll tap on my collarbone shoulder area” she added.
Music started playing out of seemingly nowhere.
Very slowly y/n began moving her feet and Sirius couldn't do anything but follow her steps, he was having a hard enough time balancing but it was nice to have something to lean on. A few steps in y/n looked from the ground to Sirius’s face and said “see, now we’re dancing, isn't that cool?” and smiled.
Sirius licked his nose, this is a dance, oh no, what if I’m really bad or step on her feet?
His eyes went all over and he didn't quite know what to do but he kept following y/n’s lead, “Sirius, its ok, we can stop if you want, just jump down” she said and stopped moving. Sirius looked away “you're ok, everything is ok, we don't have to do this again if you don't want to” y/n said.
Sirius looked at y/n.
This is just like the wall again, nobody but y/n is here and she won't care if I mess up
This time Sirius tried taking the lead, that went better, things were less unexpected for him.
When he stopped moving them around and after some swaying on the spot, Sirius became human. Y/n jolted a bit but then let Sirius rest his chin on her shoulder again.
They pulled apart a little bit, just enough to look at each other’s eyes, Sirius pressed his forehead against y/n’s and they both smiled. As y/n tucked a bit of Sirius’s hair behind his ear it started to rain. Inside.
Moment ruined, fuck you rain!
Sirius thought but tried to not show it in his face, y/n glanced up at the rain then smiled and held Sirius’s cheek and brought him to her so their lips met. Sirius’s one hand went to the back of y/n’s head and held it while his other hand found its way to her waist.
Now
Sirius sort of pushed y/n in the most gentle way he could so that she was in a dip position like in real dancing, without breaking away. Y/n held onto Sirius with her arms holding onto each other behind his back, her hands slipped due to the rain but Sirius caught her and they giggled while kissing.
Sirius pulled them upright again and brought his other hand down to her waist and pulled them closer, he bit y/n’s lower lip softly as a way to tell her this kiss could be more if she wanted to.
Y/n immediately reciprocated and did the same which felt kinda funny to Sirius, but in a good way. He could feel her breathing both with his face and where his hands were situated on her waist. Y/n was holding the back of Sirius’s head now, her hand nestled in his curls. Their lips moved together like they had practiced, like a dance.
For as nice y/n was, she kissed hard and really well. Sirius just hoped he was doing well, he thought so anyways.
The rain was cold on their bodies, they were both breathing hard but had no intention of stopping, even though they were almost shivering from the cold.
Y/n’s lips were warm but Sirius could feel the rest of her body shaking underneath his hands. Sirius’s legs were particularly cold, his mouth and face were warm and all he could feel in his chest was his heart beating the fastest it's ever gone.
After they broke apart, y/n pulled Sirius back into a hug, which he was thankful for so she couldn't see how pink his face had gotten.
When they separated they just looked at eachother with sheepish smiles. Sirius held out a hand, “do you want to dance? For real this time?” he asked, y/n smiled and took his hand “of course.”
Glossing over the fact that Sirius did not know how to dance properly, it went well. They did a faster sort of partner dance and he spun y/n around a few times, she even spun him around once which was unexpected but fun.
They were both completely soaked at this point but that didn't matter, they were very in the moment and they were the only thing that mattered. They stopped and had an actual more romantic stereotypical kiss in the rain. “Am I in a movie?” Sirius asked right after, y/n laughed but they were so close that Sirius could feel her breath as she did so. She traced her finger along the edge of Sirius’s leather jacket and whispered “yeah, why not”, Sirius smiled.
They broke apart again but the air wasn’t as awkward this time. “Um, back to the matter at hand, we can't just walk out of here and into our dorms soaking wet like this” Sirius said and gestured at his whole body, to which the rain subsided and the music stopped. They stood there listening to their clothes dripping onto the equally soaked carpet.
Y/n pointed to the chair which now had a stack of clean towels on it, they both walked to it and a couple minutes later were as dry as they would get without having to put different clothes on.
Sirius poked his head out of the door to check that they wouldn't be seen and the coast was clear. “See you later” y/n said as she left “bye” Sirius said and waved. He waited a couple minutes before also leaving the room.
When Sirius reached the portrait to the common room he secretly hoped that everyone was in bed. He said the password, hopped through and the common room was in fact empty, Sirius tiptoed his way up the stairs and into the dorm where he found James, Remus, and Peter in their beds.
There was a faint glow coming from under the sheets of James’s bed and the sound of pages moving every now and again but Sirius hoped he wasn't paying too close of attention to him. He was doing really well with staying quiet and managed to get ready and into his bed without making a sound.
Sirius just layed there in his bed, staring at the ceiling replaying everything that happened in his mind until he managed to fall asleep.