He was sitting in front of the window when James walked into the room. Sitting there, head perched on his hand and staring out at the house across the street. James quietly snuck over behind his best friend to see what could possibly be holding his attention so thoroughly, and peered through the glass panes. He spotted a(n) (y/h/c) haired girl perched stomach down on a blanket, ankles crossed in the air, book in hand and soaking in the summer sun.

"Ah, I should've guessed," James said, shoving the boy in the arm, causing him to nearly fall off the chair.

"Oi, watch it!" The boy quipped back, regaining his balance, and turning his attention away from the girl outside.

"Sirius, you've been pining over (Y/N) for ages," James said as he sat on the end of his bed. "Why don't you just ask her out already?"

"Because that would mean her talking to me, which we both no she has no interest in doing. That girl... I swear she doesn't even know I exist," he replied and looked longingly back out the window. Only the scenery had changed a bit. The book was no longer in her hands, but rather on the blanket next to her, and she was playing with a golden retriever puppy as it chased a rope in her hands.

A smirk formed on the boys' lips and he turned back to his friend. "Prongs. I think I have an idea."

"This is most definitely the stupidest thing you've ever come up with, Pads," James told the boy as he paced back and forth in his bedroom.

"It's not! You said yourself, she loves dogs!" Sirius yelled back, his eyes darkening. "And you two have been friends for ages; she talks to you all the time. It'll be like I'm not even there."

"No, she'll just think I suddenly have a fully-grown dog, after living across the street from me for 16 years. She'll definitely believe that," James rebuked, rolling his eyes.

"Then just say you're watching it–me?–for a friend while they're away on holiday or something."

James took a seat on the bed next to his friend and pondered it for a moment.

"C'mon mate, what's the worst that could happen?"

"She finds out we're illegal animagi and we get sent to Azkaban?" James offered, and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Doubt it."

James groaned, and said, "Fine. But you better not do anything stupid."

"Hey, (Y/N)!" she heard being called out from her right. Her hands stopped rubbing the belly of her puppy and looked up to see James Potter strutting towards her with a... rather large black dog at his heels.

"James, hi!" she called back, standing up to give him a hug. "Who's this sweetheart?" she said bending over to scratch the dog behind his ears.

"Er–this is... Padfoot," he said. The dog looked up at James with a happy grin. The puppy sauntered over to the big black dog, and she sat in front of him, tilting her head to the side. The black dog mimicked the smaller's actions. The puppy then turned and trotted back into the house.

"I didn't know you had a dog," she replied.

"I don't. I–er–I'm watching him for a friend," James said, running his thumb along his jaw nervously.

(Y/N)'s eyes darkened slightly as she leaned forward to say in a hushed, somewhat teasing, somewhat seductive, and entirely joking tone, "a Hogwarts friend?"

James smiled back at her, and responded, "Yeah, actually." (Y/N) giggled and looked down when she felt a nose nuzzling her hand, and saw the black dog waving it's tail while looking up at her hopefully.

"Very nice," (Y/N) said, winking at James, as she sat back down to play with the dog. She looked the dog right in the eyes, and a strange feeling came over her... like she knew those eyes. A defined grey. What an odd color for a dog. Her attention snapped back to James, realizing she'd dropped the conversation. "Do I know her?"

Padfoot froze and looked back at James who chuckled and sat down across from her. "Er–I think you might know him. Sirius Black?"

The dog barked slightly, tail wagging even faster, and (Y/N)'s hands froze. Her eyes snapped up to meet James'. "This–this is Sirius Black's dog?" she asked, her cheeks reddening slightly.

"Yeah," James said, suddenly curious at her reaction. "You know him?"

She bit her lip, embarrassed, and said, "Hardly. I mean, we've had classes together every year, and obviously I'll see him in the common room. But aside from that, I don't think we've ever–no, I know we've never really talked."

"Well, I might be biased, seeing as he's my best mate and all, but you really oughta give him a chance," James said, shrugging his shoulders. "He's not that bad of a guy."

(Y/N) chuckled, looking back down at her hands. "You think I don't know that?" she asked, continuing to pet the black dog.

James and Padfoot both froze, attention directly on the girl. "How d'you mean?"

She let out a deep sigh, and looked James in the eyes. "You and I; we've been friends for a long time, yeah?"

"Yeah," James said tentatively.

"Can I be honest with you?" she asked and the dog's ears perked up, his attention full on her.

"Of course," James replied, leaning forward and giving her his full attention as well.

(Y/N) blush deepened even more, and she bit her lip slightly. Then confessed, "I've had a crush on Sirius since the moment I met him." James' jaw dropped, but (Y/N) kept on going. "Honestly, I remember when we got sorted and he was put into Gryffindor, and I was just praying that I would be too, so that I could talk to him. But I was always too nervous to. It's been six years, and he doesn't even know I exist–"

She stopped rambling when she noticed that James had fallen onto his back, laughing and clutching his stomach. "What's so funny?" she asked, feeling her heart ache slightly. She didn't like to be made fun of.

The dog hopped up then and sprinted back around the corner of her house, and her (y/e/c) eyes followed it back, and then snapped back to James, still curled over in laughter.

"Would you mind clueing me in to what the bloody hell is going on?" she asked, standing up, her face flushed and eyebrows knit together in frustration.

He regained his composure slightly, enough to point behind her, and say, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

She spun around and saw not the black dog of before, but a tall, devilishly handsome young man strutting towards her from around the corner of her home, and her jaw dropped.

"Sirius?" she asked, the blush returning. He continued to walk toward her fast, and she began, "but how did y–"

He cut her off, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in sharply, crashing his lips against hers. Her arms immediately wrapped around his neck, pulling him even closer. Until she realized.

Her eyes snapped open, and she pushed him away from her. "Wait a second," she began, looking back down at the floor, trying to organize her thoughts. "You–you heard all of that?"

He smirked at her, and replied, "Every word, darling."

She felt her knees melt slightly at the pet name. And then she remembered again. Pet. Dog. "You're an animagus?"

A look of guilt crosses his face, and he nodded.

"And you're a dog."

He grinned, nodding again.

She took a moment, searching his eyes–the same grey as the dog's. She smirked, and finally said, "That's bloody brilliant."