Girl
Sirius was busy sniffing the air for a specific scent that he thought he had caught a whiff of. Someone was definitely baking a chicken somewhere nearby. His stomach growled unhappily; he hadn’t had much to eat - a dog could only scavenge so much without looking suspicious. Not eating regularly had been the only downside of escaping Azkaban.
The village of Hogsmeade was very pretty in the wintertime. There were many little cottages with peaked roofs that caught the snow just so. Fires lit the windows from the inside, giving the houses the appearance of glowing. It looked rather like the picture books that Sirius had seen in Muggle bookstores “ all quaint and old-fashioned.
Sirius’ stomach rumbled again; he really did need to find some food. Wandering along the snow-covered streets, Sirius sniffed eagerly at every promising looking snowdrift, but only found empty bottles and other inedible junk.
As he passed the Three Broomsticks, the unmistakable smell of meat hit his nostrils. Rosmerta was obviously cooking up a hot meal for the holidays. Feeling envious of humans who could sit down and enjoy a large and satisfying meal, Sirius wandered away from the tempting smells of the pub.
He wandered aimlessly down the streets of Hogsmeade, paying no attention whatsoever to where he was walking. He went up several streets and turned a few corners without thinking about his actions. He was merely walking. However, he did slow down when he smelled the familiar, comforting scent of cocoa.
The lovely homey smell was coming from someone sitting on a wooden bench beneath a spreading oak tree. The wide limbs of the tree had kept most of the snow off of the bench “ it was quite picturesque.
When Sirius got a bit closer, he was able to ascertain that the person was a girl. A rather young slender female who was wearing a purple hat that looked as if it had been knitted by somebody with more enthusiasm than skill. Long, blonde hair flowed out from under her cap, and rather protuberant blue eyes met his after he gave a small bark. But the most curious thing about her was that she was holding a pale blue balloon in her left hand. As he got even closer, Sirius realized that the balloon was actually tied to her slender wrist.
Opening her peculiar looking eyes even wider so that they appeared almost comically too large for her face, the girl asked curiously, “Are you the Grim?”
Sirius was quite at a loss for how to respond. He couldn’t very well nod or shake his head in response. And he most certainly couldn’t transform back into a human. He eventually decided to walk closer towards the girl.
“You seem awfully friendly to be the Grim. I hope you’re not part of the new conspiracy that Fudge is running. I’d hate to think of the fright that you’d give people.” The girl peered down at him still more curiously
The girl was slightly mad; there was no doubt about it. However, she was a warm body and she smelled like fresh food. Sirius settled down at her feet and looked up dolefully into her blue eyes.
“Well, what’s your name?” She seemed to be expecting an answer. When none came, she said, “I’m Luna.”
The girl “ Luna “ took another sip of her cocoa and reached a hand into her pocket. Looking surprised (no great feat for her), she exclaimed, “Oh, how lucky! I have a bit of my lunch left.” And in her hand, she held the remains of a roast beef sandwich. She slowly lowered her hand and placed the partial meal in front of Sirius.
Sirius salivated at the sight and smell of real human food that hadn’t been stolen from the rubbish bin. It smelled the way that food should; quite unlike the rotted apple core he’d eaten for breakfast. He bent his head towards the ground and took the smallest bite he possibly could in order to savor the taste of the fresh meat and bread.
Luna took another sip of her cocoa and murmured, “I think you enjoyed that.” She then looked up and watched her pale balloon wave in the wind. It was a rather hypnotizing sight and Sirius couldn’t help but watch it as well. The balloon swayed back and forth in the breeze.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
A sudden gust of wind rattled the tree behind him and made the balloon do an interesting twist. Shaking his head, Sirius realized that he had finished his sandwich and Luna had finished her cocoa.
He gave a small bark just to break her trance. Luna turned her gaze towards him and asked, “Do you like balloons as well?” Without even pausing as if she might have expected an answer, she began to slowly untie the balloon from her wrist. Very methodically, she picked apart the two knots that held the thin string about her wrist.
Once she had undone the knots, she bent down and tied the ribbon around his front paw “ just as if he’d been a little boy. Sirius felt rather strange standing with a balloon tied to one of his paws. In fact, he couldn’t even remember the last time that he’d had a balloon.
Giving his shaggy head a loving pat, Luna stood up and watched the balloon sway above Sirius’ head. Sirius gave another small bark and for some reason Luna looked down at him and responded.
“Don’t ask me why I gave you that balloon -- you should know perfectly well why.”
She smiled an odd but happy smile, turned around, and began to walk back towards the castle. Every few steps she’d do a small pirouette. Merely out of interest as to what the eccentric girl might do next, Sirius followed her. As they approached the Hog’s Head, Luna noticed that Sirius was still with her.
“Oh, I suppose that you don’t know why I gave you that balloon, then.” She looked at Sirius in askance and continued when she saw his head tip sideways. “Everybody needs a balloon now and then.” Smiling at him again, she started to skip down the path towards the school.
Girl by Indigoenigma
Chapter Notes: This story was originally written for the Hufflepuff Generator Game. The credit for changing it into an actual story goes to my beta, ms weasley (Kate). Although she claims there wasn't much to do, her suggestions made this infinitely better.
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