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jmagnabo92 · 2 years

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Padfoot at the Pound

Could fit into the James Lives AU. Harry and Sirius Saturday plus some Prongsfoot Sunday. :)

Sirius and Harry play fetch in the park, and animal control ends up picking up Padfoot, who spends two nights in the Pound.

***

Sirius’ favorite day of the week is Saturday – not because sometimes he has dates with his lovely husband James, but because whenever Harry doesn’t have plans with friends, his kid likes playing fetch with Padfoot.

The ten-year-old had been far more interested in spending weekends with his friends than with his parents, but Sirius could admit that he missed the days when he and James were Harry’s whole world. Thus, when Harry announced that the sleepover at Connor’s was cancelled due to chicken pox, he immediately offered for two of them going to hiking through the woods to their favorite park where they typically play fetch just the two of them.

Arriving at the park, Harry says, “Alright, Padfoot, ready to play?”

Sirius nods, immediately chasing after the ball as he throws it and teasing him with it when he comes back by running around a gleefully happy Harry, who’s coincidentally yelling, “Bad dog – just give me the ball.”

Eventually he does, and Harry throws it again.

Again, and again the process repeats for hours until Harry gets tired and it’s almost time for dinner. As Sirius brings the ball back one last time, Harry says, “Wanna race home?”

Sirius nods, and they both take off.

Unfortunately, he lets Harry take the lead because he wants to watch and make sure that Harry will get home safely and as Harry makes it onto the path that leads through the woods, Sirius is stopped by a couple of men in uniforms. He’s confused and can’t change back to explain, so he backs up, growling at them, only to suddenly find that there was someone behind him who has a makeshift collar and leash.

He’s pulled back and suddenly feels a needle in his hindquarters and everything going black.

***

“Dad! Dad!” Harry yells as he runs through the door. “I lost Pads!”

“What do you mean you lost Pads?” James asks as he looks up from his sudoku puzzle. He’d been spending the afternoon enjoying the quiet while his husband and son played at the park.

“I mean – he was following me as Padfoot and then all of a sudden, he wasn’t – I realized, and I ran back, and I saw some animal control men putting him in the back of a van. I tried to tell them that he was my dog, but they wouldn’t believe me – said someone called about a rogue menace and that they were taking him to the pound.”

He’s not surprised to find that someone would’ve called animal control on Padfoot, particularly since there’s this one redheaded woman that purely loathes Padfoot since she always finds him a bit aggressive because she’s always flirting with James in front of him and he’s naturally jealous.

“Alright, best go break him out then.”

***

Sirius is furious when he wakes up again. He’s stuck as Padfoot inside a medium-sized cage with a muzzle and nothing else. Immediately, he wants to get it off. He’s a human pretending to be a dog – he should not be treated like an actual dog.

“Oh, look who’s awake,” a brown-haired worker comments, laughing slightly as his attempts to get the muzzle off.

“Don’t antagonize the dogs, Jack,” another man says, who looks vaguely familiar. “It’s hard for them to be locked up and you’re not helping by being aggressive towards them.”

“He was aggressive, first.”

“He’s a dog – he was reacting to being trapped.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t know why you care so much. There’re just animals,” Jack states before heading for the door, “I’m going on break. Be careful with that one.”

As soon as Jack leaves, the second man approaches him, and says, “Don’t bite me now, Padfoot.”

Sirius nods, still confused, slightly. This isn’t James, so who could it be?

The man takes the muzzle off, “There you go – I’d let you out, but I can’t – this is the longest job I have had in a while, and I can’t lose it. The people here are very understanding about the full moon nights I need off because the rest of the time I take the unwanted shifts. Just me and the dogs.”

Sirius tilts his head and narrows his eyes. Full moon? Padfoot? Not having long-term jobs? Remus?

“Ah, you didn’t recognize me at first. It has been a decade – more than really, but it’s me – Moony,” Remus says. “Not exactly how I thought we’d meet again.”

If he could talk, he’d say the same, instead he nods.

Remus smiles as he opens the food door to give him food and water. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get you out,” he says as Sirius snorts at the offering, “until then, you’ll have to slum it with the rest of the dogs here. Might learn a thing or two.”

Sirius snorts, and still refusing to acknowledge the food, no matter how hungry he is, and moves to the furthest reaches of the cage, which isn’t very far to be away from it.

***

“Hi, I think you have my dog,” James says as he enters the nearby Pound with Harry in tow. It’s late, and the receptionist is already gone, but there’s a nearby man who looks like he’s one of the workers, leaning against the doorway of a hall that looks like it has the dogs and other animals in cages.

“What makes you think that?” a brown-haired man with a nametag that reads Jack asks.

“Oh, well, my son was playing with him, and they were going to race back to the house, but he turned around only to spot animal control carting him off,” James states. “I can’t imagine why animal control would’ve been called, he’s a lovable dog really – just slightly big… which can be scary, but he really is…”

“Lovable? He’s a menace. We’ve had numerous complaints about him. So, yeah, when I got the call – I immediately went to go pick him up.”

“What? He wasn’t even doing anything wrong – he was playing fetch,” James states, angrily. “You were plotting against him? What do you have against my dog?”

Before Jack could answer, another man comes out, “Hi, I’m Zach, may I help you?”

“You have my dog,” James states. “My son was playing with him, and they weren’t doing anything wrong. This man claims my dog is a menace and that there’s mean numerous complaints, and that’s why he jumped at the chance to go pick him up when he was nothing wrong.” He’s angry and struggling to hold it in.

“Okay, take a deep breath, and tell me – does your dog have a collar?”

“Uh, no – he’s really good, he’d never run off so…”

“Okay, so tell me what he looks like.”

“He’s big and black, very furry, sheds everywhere, like a sheepdog or wolfhound, we don’t quite know what breed he is – just sort of guessed,” James states. “He’s here, right?”

“He is here,” Zach assures him. “And he’s going to stay here because if he doesn’t have a collar that means you haven’t registered him and we can’t let him go without registering him – filling out the paperwork, discussing the complaints that have been assigned to him, coming up with the plans to deal with the complaints and paying the fine.”

James frowns, all of that sounded like it would take time – a lot of time and he wanted to bring his husband home. “I – can’t I just pay the fine and promise to keep him on a leash from now on?”

“Not with the number of complaints we’ve had,” Zach states. “Not to mention the lack of paperwork.”

“Okay, fine. Giving me the paperwork, I’ll do it now.” Maybe he’s wrong and it won’t take too long.

“I can’t get you the paperwork, but I’m only the supervisor – you have to meet with the manager about the complaints and everything.”

“Great, is he coming in soon?” James asks.

“Uh, no, he’ll be in on Monday afternoon.”

“Monday?” James asks, aghast. “I can’t leave him in there for almost two days.”

“He’s just a dog,” Jack scoffs. “He can handle two days in a cage. Might teach him something.”

James glares at him, but Zach says, “Get out of here – it’s time to walk each one of them.”

“Fine.”

Once he’s gone, Zach turns to James, “I’m sorry, but he doesn’t come in on Sundays and he is the only one that can okay a release. Usually, it takes some time for the owners to make their way down here – especially on the weekend. He’s here Monday through Friday, so…”

“Paddy’s not coming home,” Harry questions from beside him. Their son is looking so upset and guilty when this isn’t his fault.

Zach looks down at him, “If it makes you feel better, you can at least say hi to him, but no.”

Harry looks up hopefully. “Please, Daddy?”

“Yes, of course.”

***

The sounds of Harry and James asking about the conditions of the pound and what normally happens to the dogs that have to stay overnight reach Sirius’ ears and he rushes to the front of the cage.

“Paddy!” Harry yells, rushing to him. “I’m so sorry.”

He lets Harry pet him through the bars of the cage, wondering why they weren’t opening the door. “It’s not your fault, Harry. Things happen – Padfoot understands that –”

“But he has to stay in here for two days!”

Two days? Sirius thinks, turning to James and trying to convey his confusion.

“It’s just a couple of days – something about registering, complaints and rules on release. You’ll be fine,” James assures him. “We’ll be back Monday afternoon.”

Monday afternoon?

“You talk to him like he’s human,” Zach comments.

“We’ve always treated our pets with the idea of them being a member of the family that could understand us,” James states to cover his strange behavior. “I just think of him as so much more than as a dog. He’s family.”

“Alright, well, I’m sorry you have to wait, but you’ll have him back soon – I promise.”

“Thank you,” he looks back at Sirius. “We have to go now, but we’ll be back on Monday – just behave.”

Sirius glares at him, while Harry whines, “I don’t want to leave him behind!”

“It’s just for a couple of days, as soon as we can get him back, we will, I promise.”

“But he can’t – can’t stay here…” Harry says, starting to cry.

“Oh, Harry,” James starts, looking upset and uncertain. Usually, Sirius would be the one to comfort him, but he can’t when he’s in a cage. “I – he’ll be fine…”

“I’ll take good care of him, Harry,” Remus says, reentering the room, with a different dog that was in the pound. He puts the dog in its cage and turns to Harry, James and Sirius. “I promise.”

“Remus?” James asks, eyes wide in surprise. “I – what are you doing here?”

“I work here – been working here about three months. I recognized Padfoot, but you got here before I could call or find your number,” Remus swallows, nervously. “I know it’s – it’s been a while…”

“Yeah, it has,” James states, not giving any sort of reaction. “But um, maybe we should talk another time.”

“Would you be willing?” Remus questions. “I haven’t seen any of you in a long time and – and I thought you…”

James takes a deep breath. “If you take good care of Padfoot, then yes, I think we’d owe you at least a dinner and a talk… it’s been long overdue.”

“I promise, I will,” Remus smiles.

“Good, then, we’ll see you soon.” He turns to Sirius, gives him a pet, and tells Sirius, “Be good, Padfoot. We’ll see you on Monday. I love you.”

***

Living in the pound had definitely been humiliating for Sirius. Only being allowed dog food and drinking out of a bowl, only being let out to do his business outside on a leash whenever the workers let him, having to whine for more attention when he needs it, and finally, living in a cage.

He couldn’t sleep and he couldn’t just get up and roam around like he normally would. He missed checking on Harry or waking James for some fun in the middle of the night. The cage was hard and cold, and he spent most of his time listening to the other dogs’ whines and barks, completely bored. He had no entertainment at all except for the workers.

He hated every minute of it – the only thing that helped was that whenever that arsehole Jack was giving him all sorts of bollocks about how he was a menace and shouldn’t be let out (apparently, his wife was the one calling the pound on him), Remus would intervene.

“Leave that dog alone,” he’d say. “Don’t you think being locked up here is enough?”

Jack continually scoffed, but would stop until the next hour or so, and do it again. In between Jack’s bollocks, Remus would talk to him. Tell him that it’s not that bad, that it’ll be over soon, and at least it’s temporary. Sometimes, he’d talk a little about his life in the last decade, how surprised he was to see them all – how he wondered if he’d ever see them, again. How he was sorry that he thought Sirius could’ve been a traitor. These things were meant to make Sirius feel better, but it was difficult when Sirius couldn’t offer anything back except for a nod or a shake of the head.

Thankfully it’s now Monday morning and he should hopefully be let out soon. He couldn’t wait, and definitely would be trying to forget every moment of this weekend of hell in this pound as soon as he was out.

He’s being led around on the leash by Remus in the yard for his business when he sees James and Harry.

“Paddy!” Harry yells running to the fence. He reaches through to pet him. “Are you okay?”

Sirius nods, and Remus adds, “He’s been fine, he’s just a little bit embarrassed by the situation, I’m sure.”

James nods, “Well, we’ll be getting him out soon – any chance Harry can just play with him while I deal with everything?”

“Of course, we can them in one of the getting to know you rooms, but,” he lowers his voice, “he shouldn’t change back until you’re back home.”

“I will make sure he doesn’t,” James assures him. “We’ll meet you in the front.”

Remus nods and he leads Sirius into one of the rooms where Harry’s led into the room on his own minutes later. He throws his arms around Sirius and mutters all of the reasons that he’s sorry about the situation. Sirius shakes his head, subtly trying to tell Harry that it isn’t his fault. Sirius should’ve been following closer or not to suggest that James shouldn’t also come so that he could spend some time alone with their kid.

It’s his fault and he should be more aware of how he comes off to other people – particularly that redhead that’s Jack’s wife, who hates him because he’s aggressive with her due to her interest in his husband. Harry’s not at fault for this.

“Harry, I’m sure that Sirius –” he gives Remus a look, “– that your Paddy doesn’t blame you at all. Why don’t you tell him about what he missed in the weekend?”

Sirius nods, and Harry still doesn’t appear to believe it, but instead, pets him and tells him all about their weekend. “Dad and I decided to distract ourselves from you being in here by going to Harrods to buy you some presents. Daddy said your anniversary is coming up and he wants to make sure that you have the best presents ever. So, we picked up some things that you’re going to love.”

He details the shops that they visited, their plans for special dinner tonight and how James called Harry off school because he figures that Harry wouldn’t be paying attention in school with one of his fathers in doggie jail. He talks about their plans for next weekend and how he really wants Sirius to come to his play on Friday night (as if he’d ever miss it) and how Connor’s sleepover was moved to Saturday, but he sort of wants to spend some more time with James and Sirius after the craziness of the weekend.

He’s just about to tell him about what he wants to do this weekend, when James is appears in the doorway. “We’re free to go,” he grins as he takes a new light blue collar with the name Padfoot on a tag and a leash and attaches it to Sirius. “We’ve just got to remember to keep Padfoot on a leash from now on.” Sirius growls a little at that, but James says, “I’d like to not have my husband at home rather than in the pound, so if Padfoot needs a leash and collar, that’s exactly what we’re going to do – especially since it cost 500 pounds with how many complaints there were.”

Sirius nods, feeling bad about the cost of this situation, and James turns to Remus. “Thank you for looking out for him. Um, maybe we could get together this week?”

“I look forward to it,” Remus states. “Feel free to give me a call or send an owl…”

“We live in this world, don’t actually have an owl,” James states, uncomfortably. “We’ll give you a call.”

“Sounds good. See you later.”

“Yeah, see you.”

***

Sirius basks in the feeling of the water of the shower. Luckily, he wasn’t bathed in that place since he didn’t stink when they picked him up. Still, he immediately made for the shower after assuring Harry that it was not his fault that Sirius had antagonized the woman at the park for weeks because of … well, he didn’t tell Harry why he’d been upset with her.

The water feels great as he washes away the grime, and he’s relieved by the freedom he feels at just being able to do something so basic on his own.

“Damn, you look so good,” James says, clearly watching through the clear shower door. “Despite the fact that you’ve spent the last two days in doggie jail.”

“You’re not going to let it go anytime soon, are you?” Sirius teases even as James joins him. “Teasing me about being stuck as Padfoot and thrown in doggie jail.”

“Hmm-mm, well, it is funny now that you’re out,” James grins, his hands wandering over his body. “To be fair, I know it must’ve been embarrassing.”

“It was embarrassing – eating dog food, being on a leash, in a cage – it was awful,” Sirius admits. “I’m looking forward to that welcome home dinner you promised me.”

“Hmm-mm, it’s coming along nicely – thought I’d use a bit of magic to watch it while having some fun with you in the shower.” James gives him a deep kiss as he fingers Sirius’ hole. “Are you in the mood for me?”

“Aren’t I always?” Sirius grins. “Could be just the distraction I’m looking for.”

“Good.”

***

James can’t help smiling at his husband with Harry as he reads him a bedtime story. Harry’s been ‘too old’ for bedtime stories for passed couple of years, but suddenly, tonight, he wanted Sirius to read him a story. Sirius, thrilled, had settled in for a long story while James watched from the doorway.

He loves watching Harry and Sirius together. He loves knowing that they have such a bond together. Sirius is a wonderful father and partner and James loves to see it.

“Alright, it’s time to go to sleep,” Sirius states, closing the book he’d been reading.

“No! Can’t you keep going?”

“Sorry, pup, but you’ve got school tomorrow,” Sirius states. “And you should’ve gone to school today.”

“I know,” Harry grumbles. “But I couldn’t help thinking about you in doggie jail.”

“I was fine – I told you. It’s not as comfortable as being home, but it was a little – doggie vacation.”

“It didn’t look like a doggie vacation,” Harry states, calling him on his lie. “All the dogs in there looked sad.”

“Well, they just missed their families, so it’s not the best doggie vacation, but it’s not so bad,” Sirius states. “Besides, it was only a couple of days – nothing to worry about.”

“But –”

“No, Harry, stop worrying. I was fine, and now, I’m home.” Sirius leans down and kisses Harry’s forehead. “I’m home, and there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You really don’t blame me?”

“Of course not, it’s all my fault – just like I told you,” Sirius assures him. “I love you, kid, believe me – you’re fine.”

“I love you, too, Paddy. I’m happy you’re home.”

“Happy to be home, now get some sleep,” Sirius says. Another kiss on the forehead, before getting up and saying, “Good night, pup.”

“Good night, Paddy. ‘Night, Dad.”

“Night, Harry,” James says as they turn out the lights, and close the door. As soon as they’re safely in their bedroom, James smiles because he always gets so turned on when he sees Sirius being such a good dad, “You’re so great with him.”

Sirius grins at him, “Well, he’s my son, too.”

James kisses him, subtly starting to undress him. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Sirius breathes between kisses. “And I missed you while I was in doggie jail.”

“I missed you, too – no more getting yourself thrown in doggie jail.”

“I promise, love.”

“Good.”