I once read a perfectly lovely fanfiction (the name I will not say, because I don't want to cause…'drama') but I was under the impression that it would eventually lead up to some sort of torrid love affair. After about ten chapters I had the disappointing realization that they had become only the best of friends and would remain so for the next ten chapters.

In lieu of the passionate sexytimes that never were, I write this, not as a mockery, or parody of anyone else's work, simply something that was inspired by a sweet story that I wished was less sweet.

Draco was not what could have been considered, at best, a pleasant child, though to anyone who knew his parents it did not come as much of a surprise that he would have been more than a little spoiled. As Sirius watched his cousin, he couldn't help but feel pity for the poor child sitting despondently in his pram and watching the troop of acrobats performing hypnotic and thrilling movements that had captivated the attention of all of the other children as well as adults. The boy was only three years old and already had the same board, superior sneer as his father.

Sirius snorted softly, flexing his short toes in the light layer of snow that coated the sloping landscape where he sat tucked and hidden from sight behind a topiary resembling a sleeping dragon. Looking back, he still could not think of any real reason to be here, on the Malfoy's property, besides the fact that it was definitively one of the last places that anyone would ever come to look for him. He had fled Azkaban only days before and his deprived and confused mind had led him to his cousin Narcissa and taken his body with it.

He liked to think it was the smell of food, real food, not any unfortunate, uncooked squirrels, but a proper birthday feast that had led him to the property. But he would never know for sure what sort of misguided providence had led him to the house.

His mouth watered and he licked at his chops, shifting his gaze from the platinum haired prince of the party, to the extravagantly spread tables that held a meal that would have made the Welcoming feast at Hogwarts look like a mere picnic by comparison.

Slinking slowly, dragging his dark belly in the cold slurry of snow, he edged closer to the table, keeping a close eye on the house elves that lingered nearby in case any of the few hundred guests needed something. By the time he ducked beneath the green and silver table cloths he was drooling on himself. He could honestly not recall the last time he had eaten a meal and he could not find the strength to deny himself further when such a bounty was laid out for him.

Steamed dumplings, thinly sliced hippogryph thighs, snozberry fritters and stuffed pumpkins all vanished to the underside of the tables and were gobbled down without regret or caution. Sirius ate until his emaciated dog belly had become grossly distended and he worried that he might get sick all over the well manicured lawn.

He slept then, and much like his meals, it had been ages since he had indulged himself.

He woke to his ears being pulled, and whereas it never ceased to amaze him how much more sensitive his ears were when he was in his animagus form, by no means did it mean that he appreciated the intrusion on his much needed sleep. Out of habit more than malice he bore his teeth before even bothering to open his eyes. The youthful squeal that followed was enough to rouse him fully from his sleep, or at least enough for him to get his barring and realize just who the silver eyed child, who still stubbornly held his ear, could be. Retracting his teeth was not enough to comfort the adults that had gathered round the table to rescue the poor child from the vicious creature he had so innocently been pulling on with his sharp little talons.

Lucius was the one to scoop his son up into his arms and to relative safety while other adults and wide eyed children watched the bedraggled mutt with disgust and fear.

"Did it bite him?" Narcissa pressed close to her husband, checking over the pristine and unbroken skin of her only child's arms. "What a horrible beast." She fingered her wand that was tucked into the folds of her perfectly tailored skirt, but she spoke softly to Lucius. "Dear, get rid of it before it does something awful."

Sirius, realizing that he was suddenly in no small amount of danger hunched his back and tried to find somewhere beneath the table that would be suitable to hide.

"No, Mommy." Draco's voice, although was pitched in the dulcet tones of untainted youth, was quite clear and commanding. "Mine."

"Oh, honey, no." she soothed, taking him into her arms and balancing him against a hip. "Not that filthy thing."

"My birthday." He pouted, his bale pink lips turning down in an ominous pout. "My doggy."

Narcissa looked helplessly at her husband as if to say 'how am I to tell him no?' and by the look on Lucius' face he knew that his wife was crumbling already. "Draco, come see all of the presents for you." He gestured grandly to the impressive mountain of gifts.

The boy leaned suddenly in his mothers' arms, practically throwing himself down to the grown. "Doggy!" It was not yet a cry but it was getting close and Sirius felt his ears flatten themselves to his head in preparation for the horrible noises that he was sure were to come any moment.

"Lucius," Narcissa started softly, looking still with distain at the malnourished animal cowering under the table.

He gave her a kind, but warning look and Sirius had to admit that from such a towering height, the man was somewhat intimidating. Black had realized only too late that perhaps he had picked the worst possible place to try and recover.

As if he sensed in his parents the fact that they were on the verge of denying him one of his whims Draco pitched himself about in his mother's arms, arching his small back and sobbing, quite suddenly and hysterically.

Lucius looked stern, but his sour expression crumbled in moments and he patted his son gently. "Alright, Draco. You can keep the mutt." He nodded to a wayward house elf. "Get that thing cleaned up, it smells horrible."

Draco stopped his crying immediately and clapped his hands "Doggy. I love him." He beamed at his father then looked at the mountain of presents, already loosing interest in Sirius. "Presents!" he demanded and his mother set him down, letting him trot on short legs to the monolith of gifts that had been constructed in celebration of his birth.

"Oh, Lucius, that was sweet of you." Narcissa said in an almost teasing manner, gently taking her husband's offered arm and turning her back on the mangy black dog.

"He will be tired of the thing by the end of the week and we can send it off to a meat packing factory." He said with a sniff as he led her away.

Sirius let the house elves manhandle him and drag him towards the house. The thought of a bath was enough to keep him from running back off into the woods. A bath and a few days to regain his strength and he would be gone before the master of the house could give a second thought to that meat factory.