No one could have asked for a nicer dog than Magnus. He was affectionate, loyal and had the sweetest temperament of any pet to have ever graced the halls of Hogwarts. No one complained about the dog except two first years, one with hair that was almost white who always tried to tug on Magnus' collar and spoke in a disrespectful tone to his Boss, the other was another boy, but with dark hair and stupid looking glasses. That boy had never done anything to Magnus, except offer him a hand to sniff, but it was obvious that his Boss didn't care for the boy, so the dog did his best to snub the child.

School years were spent romping down corridors and summers were spent napping near his Boss' feet or chasing squirrels. No dog could have asked for more. Sometimes he did worry though, because even the most content of creatures still has to worry sometimes.

He worried for his Boss. Boss was a kindly sort of fellow, who did not smile much, especially not when there were children around, or old men with long beards. But as months turned to years, Magnus noticed the Boss smiled less and less when they were alone together. And some nights, when Boss had had his fill of bitter smelling drinks he would hug his dog firmly round the neck and tremble. Magnus did not mind too much, he liked when Boss held him, and he got to lick the salty wetness from Boss' cheeks, and that always elicited a depressingly sad smile. But a smile was still a smile, and so the dog had done his job as a perfect companion.

It was not until twenty-one years later (that is dog years of coarse, in human years it had only been three, but Magnus chose not to use any interspecies counting systems) that a proper upset came into his blissful doggy life.

A man came to the Boss' school. A man not so tall, with sandy colored hair and clothes with patches who the Boss seemed to like. In fact it seemed that Boss liked the funny smelling man more than his pet, because whenever the man came around, Boss would leave their room with the man and not return for hours. Magnus started to hate that man. He could hear when he came downstairs, could tell it was him outside of Boss' door before even Boss knew who it was. One time, Boss had gone off to dinner early and the man came by. Magnus could not open the door, but he did bark. He barked even when the man tried talking to him. Then the man left and Magnus knew at that point that he had chased away the Boss stealing man who smelled so strange.

But his efforts proved to be somewhat unsuccessful and later that night, when he was laying comfortably on his Boss' feet and all the lights were low, the man came back. And when Boss opened the door, the funny man pushed his way in. The two talked, quietly at first, then the fair haired man talked a lot louder all the while staring intensely at Magnus. The man came closer to him, holding out a hand and it was the first time in Magnus' life that he remembered growling at someone. Then the man yelled at his Boss, but Boss just got quieter and more upset looking.

Magnus chased the man out of their room, barking and growling and making such an angry fuss until the bad man left him and Boss alone. He returned to his barefooted, shaken looking Boss and sat at his feet, wagging and licking his hands. Boss collapsed around him again and stayed that way, no bitter smelling drink required. They slept there on the floor, and although Magnus did not know why, he did not mind. Why would he mind, as long as he could be with his Boss?

After that Boss spent a lot of time with old books and occasionally forced foul tasting potions into the back of Magnus' mouth. They made him feel sick and this seemed to upset Boss, so it was ok. Boss was not meaning to hurt him. They still loved each other.

More years passed, both human and dog years alike. The bad tasting drinks became less and less frequent but the sandy haired man who had yelled at Boss did not return, so life was not all together bad.

The worst tasting potion of all came into this mouth late one night, when Boss had been looming over one of his cauldrons all day and the whole room was choked with smoke. This one made him far more sick than any other potion had ever done. He lay on the floor, panting and cringing, trying to curl around the pain in his stomach. Boss was at his side, petting his head and helping him to sit, despite the pain that was already fading. But sitting seemed strange, his legs felt all wrong, and when Magnus looked down he saw, not his normal black fuzzy legs, but long pale legs like Boss'. It was distressing, and he whimpered into Boss' shoulder.

At first Boss acted happy, smiling for the first time in months, but then he became upset, then angry. Things were thrown about the room and he used words that Magnus could not remember him ever using before. He crawled to Boss and licked his hands, wanting him to know it was ok. He would just get used to having a different body, even if it was a little cold. Boss sank to the floor and let Magnus lick his face while he talked to himself in the most miserable way imaginable.

Magnus kept his funny body, and he looked a bit like Boss did, so that was not so bad. How could it be bad that they were so much the same now? But it did upset his Boss, so after a while, Magnus made a point to stay out of sight. There were no more head scratches, no more sleeping on Boss' feet and no more running down hallways or chasing squirrels. It did not take long before Magnus was the saddest pet to have ever graced the halls of Hogwarts.

The more time Boss spent away from his rooms, the more depressed Magnus became until he could not take it anymore and he went looking for his lost human. The old people and children alike were quite distressed when he came sniffing around them looking for any signs of his wayward companion.

The most upset of all was a horrible and short woman in a hideous pink dress and matching sweater. She yelled at him and made such a big fuss that he was forced to bite her. After that things got complicated and much worse. There were men in fancy robes and ones in suits and they all whisked him far from the school and his Boss. They tried to make his wear people clothes and sit on people chairs like people do and he hated those men. He barked and growled and bit at them until they finally kept their distance. Magnus just wanted to leave the big stone building they had brought him to and go back to Boss.

He was brought to a different room with many more men and even some ladies, all looking stern and unhappy to see a dog pretending to be people. Magnus saw the funny smelling man who used to try and steal his Boss, sitting near the back, not dressed nearly as nicely but looking far more upset than angry like everyone else did. Magnus felt hopeful for a bit, seeing that man. Maybe that man would tell his Boss about the people who had nabbed him. But the strange little man didn't have to leave, Boss was there sitting next to him, not looking at him… not looking at anything.

Magnus barked happily and tried to run to his Boss, but the chains that the men in suits had put around his ankles held him back. He sat on the floor and whimpered while the men all talked to each other. Perhaps they spoke to him too, but Magnus did not care. He could not answer then even if he wanted to. All he wanted was for the Boss to notice him and take him away from all of the rigmarole and nonsense that he had found himself in. He kept barking, trying to get Boss to look at him. He barked until one of the men put a spell on him and his voice became silent.

So he sat silently, forlorn and unloved in the center of the room while people spoke and his Boss ignored him. Finally the men made him stand, even though being on only two legs made him uneasy and a bit wobbly. Though the men spoke to him, he paid them no mind. He only had eyes for Boss. And, as if it were the most glorious moment or any day he had live though,(?) Boss finally looked at him. Eyes black at pitch met his own stormy grey eyes and Boss was smiling. Not his old sad smiles, but one that was made of victory and cunning, just how Boss should always smile. The men tried to take Magnus away and he struggled against them, strained to get to his happy and welcoming Boss. But Boss only waved goodbye, just like his had hundreds of times before, but Magnus did not think that he would be seeing Boss again.

He could not understand why Boss would be so happy about such a thing.

Something was wrong.

Magnus bit at the men who held him, he thrashed against them but they were so many and he was only one lonely dog.

()

Sirius sat up in bed, panting and slick with sweat. He looked at his arms in a panic. They were still people arms and it seemed strange to him to worry that they might not have been.

It had been a nightmare.

He told himself over and over again.

Laying beside him, sleeping like a lamb, was a languid and freshly debauched Severus.

Sirius was still upset about his dream, still roiling inside from the anger and the betrayal of Boss tricking him. Stealing his memories and leaving him as a dog.

His memories.

He had not dreamt that part.

He could remember Severus talking softly to him as he fell asleep.

But was he missing any memories? How was he supposed to remember a memory that was gone?

"Hey!" He smacked Severus with a pillow, none too gently.

"Bloody he-" But Severus' words were muffled as the pillow hit him again.

"What did you do?" Sirius demanded, rolling over to straddle the other man, holding his shoulders down firmly and scowling. Whatever they had done the night before, whatever trust that they had shared in those hours that they were entwined, it did not matter.

"I knew it was a bad decision to trust you. You really are a complete madman." Snape was oddly calm when faced with almost certain violence first thing in the morning.

"What am I forgetting, Severus? What did you do to me?"

"I have no idea what you're getting on about. Now if you will kindly get off, I need to get ready for breakfast."

"I heard you last night." He would not get up, would not let go. "What did you do to me?"

"Don't you think," he lightly placed a hand on either of the man's knees, seeming to bring into great clarity that neither of them had a stitch of clothing on, "that if I wanted to do something to you, I would have done it years ago, or when you were asleep."

"You stole my memories and I was stuck as a dog." He shook the man under him roughly. "And then you were dating Remus again, then you shipped me off to Azkaban and you were smiling!"

"Did I?" Snape raised one of his brows in mild amusement. "All of that last night?"

"I… it was a dream… but I know you did something to me last night."

"The only thing I did to you last night was make you beg." The smallest of smirks passed over his lips. "And if you get off of me, and you behave well today, I might be so kind as to do it again tonight."

"But… you-"

"You had a bad dream, Black." Snape gently pushed the encumbering arms off of his shoulder and sat up, so very close and so very intimate. "It probably came from an upset stomach from eating my shoes."

Feeling somewhat silly and only slightly embarrassed Sirius shrugged it off. How could he think that Severus would do something like that, especially after last night? It was just a bad dream, he reminded himself and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry… not about the shoe.. but yeah." He rolled away and lay amongst the tousled sheets, watching Severus get ready for the day. "I guess maybe I'm still a bit.. you know."

"Stark raving mad? Yes, you seem to delight in reminding me." He tied his cravat and leaned over the bed, stealing a surprising, but most welcome kiss.

"If I promise to be good, can I come to class with you today?" Sirius asked with their lips still pressed together.

Snape sighed, but he still wore the smallest of smiles. "Only if you promise."

Breakfast was delicious and the bad dream of the previous night was quickly forgotten as he was fed bits of sausage under the table.

After breakfast they made their way to the dungeons for class, but they had hardly reached the staircase when a thin and dark haired boy in stupid glasses approached and foolishly petted at Sirius' head. Black stopped, used to the children petting him when they thought Snape might not notice.

"Potter." But Snape had noticed. "This is not a petting zoo. Since you show a distinct lack of urgency to get to your first class, my class, that will be ten points from Gryffindor."

The boy looked bitter and disappointed and left with ginger boy straggling behind, both boys shooting back angry, but fearful glances at their towering potions teacher.

"It that boy touches you again, you have my permission to bite him."

Sirius wagged playfully. He tended to leave the Gryffindors alone, but he could always make an exception for Snape.

"And that pale one over there," Snape covertly pointed to a Slytherin who was attempting to trip the boy in the ugly glasses, "You can bite him if he comes anywhere near you, just not hard, he belongs to Lucius."

Sirius barked, startling many of the first years, but he didn't care. Permission to bite a Slytherin? No better offer had ever been given. He wagged happily and followed Snape down the stairs. He was in high spirits, completely pushing away any of the lingering doubt that Snape might have stolen his memories. It was just what he said. A bad dream from eating shoes again.

Together the two went to the first class of the day, just an old professor and his shaggy black dog.