GOOD DOG || Sirius Black

(Seven: Disappear)

Alex lay out her equipment by the fireplace, trying to ignore the at least (she ran the mental calculations, allowing for hyperboles) fifty people crowding Gryffindor common room behind her. She pushed the sounds of the douche third years playing exploding snap by the window to the back of her mind, taking deep breaths to counteract the sudden prickling in her fingers.

Camera: Check.

Lenses: Check.

Tripod: Check.

Spare batteries-

"What are you doing?"

Alex almost jumped out of her skin. Remus Lupin was squatting to her left, eyes lingering on her equipment. She almost fell forward in a rush to pack it all back into her bags, keeping her eyes firmly focused away from the boy's gaze.

"Er, I was just... Um..." Alex went red, "My camera." She explained dumbly.

"Funnily enough, I did know that." Remus smiled warmly, and Alex flushed a deeper red, cursing her own stupidity. The prefect leaned forwards to reach for her camera, making eye contact with her to ask for permission to pick it up, "Do you mind? My dad likes photography."

What Alex wanted to say was: Don't ever touch my camera. Going through her pictures was like reading her diary, like he was physically touching a part of her soul. She could feel it wriggling and twisting inside her chest with protestation at the idea of being held by someone else.

What Alex actually said was, "Yeah, sure."

True Gryffindor spirit, ladies and gentlemen.

Alex chewed her lip and swallowed against the rising bile in her throat as Remus flipped through the pictures on her camera. Her usual comforting sequence of 'Bracelet, camera, necklace' was thrown out of balance without the familiar weight bouncing against her chest, so she just picked at her fingernails and studdied Remus's face for any sign of disappointment.

After one of those minutes that could have lasted an age, Remus Lupin spoke, "There are a lot of sunset pictures on here."

"Er, yeah. I mean, I just, I'm out a lot, at that time. And, you know, it's pretty." It really was difficult for Alex to focus on anything over the slow clap in her mind.

"Are you going out tonight?" Remus asked.

Alarm bells started blaring at the back of Alex's mind, "Yeah, it's the full moon, and the clouds are... good, and I'll be back before curfew, I promise."

"You're not worried about werewolves?" Remus raised his eyebrows, completely ignoring her comment about the late nature of her outing.

"Not really." Alex explained awkwardly, "They wouldn't let them that close to the school on a full moon, would they?"

Alex had never really been scared of anything that could actually kill her. Werewolves, dementors and evil overlords were just a threat to whether or not she existed. It was everything else that could make that existence a living hell.

Something flickered in Remus's eyes, "I hope not."

"But, er, if you want, I don't have to go." Alex offered quickly, desperate to rid Remus's face of that dark expression.

Remus smiled again, "That would probably be for the best."

Alex nodded, avoiding Remus's eyes again as he placed the camera gently back into it's original position. She fought the urge to snatch it back up, check for damage and see how far back in her photographic history Remus had gotten. Her fingers itched to rest over the trigger button.