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Remus had a problem, as he enjoyed the train ride home from his sixth year at Hogwarts, he was looking forward to spending a good part of the summer with James, Sirius, and Peter. The moons were bearable now that his friends had become animagi, and they planned to spend the summer moons in the remote forest regions of Britain, galavanting through the night like the carefree teenagers that they were.
The only issue with the fact that his friends could turn into animals at will was that Sirius wanted to do it all the time, whenever it was just the four of them, Sirius would turn into Padfoot and be his typical, silly, doggy self. Remus felt like his friend spent more time as Padfoot than he did as Sirius. Which would be fine, except for the fact that Padfoot was always a complete mess after the full moons. Running in the woods, rolling in the dirt, and playing in the forest streams with Padfoot was really fun while he was a wolf, but when he turned human and just wanted to sleep off his aches. He didn’t need a smelly, dirty, wet dog jumping on his bed.
That’s why Remus had formulated a plan for the summer holiday moons. He just had to find the nearest shop in the muggle town near James’s house and drop padfoot off for a few hours. Remus had mentioned his plans to James who had thought it was brilliant and offered to pay for it. He too had become tired of finding dirt and pawprints on his sheets after a night in the woods.
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It had been a few weeks since they all started their summer holiday, and the full moon was quickly approaching. James had convinced all of them to go down to the local muggle village for lunch and a bit of shopping. The afternoon was hot and humid, but the four boys spent the day going to a few shops, then they sat down outside a cafe for sandwiches and some cold drinks.
“So, Where do you want to go for our night out?” Sirius asked as he took his last bite of sandwich.
“I was thinking about the Forest of Dean, limited camping areas, low predator population,” James answered. Everyone knew what he was referring to when he said predator, the werewolf populations around Britain had increased exponentially in the last few months with the war getting increasingly more prominent in the wizarding world.
“I think it sounds great!” Peter mumbled around his mouthful of food.
Remus liked the idea of the secluded forest as a place to spend their full moon and nodded his agreement.
“The game is pretty good out there as well, prime for chasing hairs,” Sirius said.
Remus cringed at his friend’s exclamations, but the wolf in him gave what felt like a happy tail wag. Of course the wolf would be excited about the prospect of chasing rabbits, Remus on the other hand could do without waking up with animal blood in his mouth again. “I would prefer if we didn’t hurt anything on our nights out,” he said.
“Aww, you're no fun,” Sirius said, fake pouting. They finished their meal as they continued to talk and plan for their full moon night.
As they walked back to the outskirts of the village Remus caught a glimpse of the shop he wanted to visit. He signaled James and he pulled the others along into a different shop so he could go in and make the appointment for Padfoot. The lady was nice and answered all his silly questions about the process and how long it would take and the cost. It all seemed reasonable to him so he booked an appointment for the day after the moon, thanked the lady, and headed off to find his friends before they missed him too much.
When he caught up to the group coming out of a clothing boutique he signaled to James that the appointment had been made, and they headed back to James’s house.
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The morning after the moon, after a few hours of sleep, James, Remus, and Sirius were getting ready to go back into the village. Remus was still pretty sore from his transformation, but the sleep had done him some good, even if his hip was bothering him more than usual. Sirius was still basically in bed, but with his plan Sirius wouldn’t have to look presentable as a human anyway. “Come on Sirius, we're leaving for the village in five minutes, if you're not up and ready by then, you can't go,” James said as he tried in vain to comb out his wild hair.
“Why do we have to go so soon after the moon? I'm tired,” Sirius whined, his face still buried in his pillow.
“If you don’t want to get ready, you could just go as Padfoot,” Said Remus. “You’re basically Padfoot all the time now anyway.”
“Yeah,” James said, “With how often you’re a dog it’s a wonder you haven’t made the change permanent.” He threw a pillow at Sirius from his own bed and the long haired teen finally sat up, his hair a bird’s nest of bed head.
“Na, being Padfoot is fun, but I would miss being human if I made it permanent.” Sirius got out of bed and stretched, “I’ll go into the village as Padfoot though, it might be fun to go as a dog.”
James and Remus shared a knowing look as they finished getting ready and headed downstairs, yelling a farewell to James’s mom who was in the kitchen. She told them to be back before supper and they headed out the door, Remus grabbing the brown, leather, dog collar and leash that was stashed behind his shoes in his cubby by the front door. Once outside Sirius went to the back of the house for a minute and bounded back as the big, black dog, Padfoot. Remus put his collar on and held the detached leash folded in his hand, letting the dog chase birds and sniff around in the bushes beside the road on the quarter mile walk into the village.
When they reached the edge of town Remus called for Padfoot and hooked the leash onto his collar. They had started using the collar and leash in town because muggles were always complaining about their loose dog, and it drew less attention. Padfoot walked politely on leash between the two teens and followed them nicely to the shop that Remus had visited and made an appointment a few days ago. Remus walked up to the lady at the desk and Padfoot jumped up and put his front paws on the counter, his tail wagging joyously.
“I’m here for the appointment I made a few days ago? Remus Lupin for Padfoot.” Remus smiled at the lady as he noticed Padfoot look at him with concerned, doggy eyes, his tail pausing in its wagging motion. “It's not the vet, I promise.” Remus winked at the dog. His tail resumed wagging, but with less excitement than before.
The lady was also looking at Padfoot, she was a bit taken aback by his size. He looked like a shaggy, 100 pound mutt, and though he looked well behaved for Remus, his owner, she wasn’t sure if he would be good for someone he didn’t know. “Has he ever been groomed before?”
“Umm, no, but I promise you he will be on his best behavior,” Remus said as he looked down at Padfoot with a warning look. “He’ll probably enjoy it more than you think he will, just a bath to get the stink and dirt off, I’m tired of finding muddy pawprints in my bed.”
The lady looked at Remus like she couldn’t believe his huge dog lived in the house and slept on the bed with him. “We’ll have him all clean for you in two hours,” she said as she cautiously took the leash from Remus and started leading Padfoot towards the door to the back. The black dog looked back at Remus with a betrayed, forlorn look about him, but with a little tug on the leash he politely followed the lady into the back room.
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James and Remus got an early lunch while they waited for Padfoot to have his bath. Sitting outside the small cafe at a table, they were just finishing their lunch when James asked, “do you think he’ll like his bath?”
“I told him to be on his best behavior, he did look at me like I had betrayed him when they took him back for his bath. I hope he doesn't hate me too much,” Remus said, he bagged up half his sandwich to give to Padfoot when he was done being pampered.
“He’s probably enjoying all the attention he’s getting,” James said as they packed up lunch and started walking the main street. “He’s always liked being the center of attention, the tosser.”
They still had around a half an hour before Sirius would be done, so they went to the local bookshop where Remus could pick out a book from one of his favorite muggle authors. After that James insisted on going to the record shop next door and getting the new Beatles album. “In case Sirius is really mad at us for the prank,” James gave the excuse. Remus knew he wanted the new album just as much as Sirius did.
By the time they were done with their shopping it was time to pick up Padfoot at the groomer’s. They walked in and the lady saw Remus and gave him a huge smile. “I guess I can take that as a hint he was good?” Remus greeted the lady.
“He was wonderful, enjoyed every minute of it. I’m sure he will enjoy being back with you even more though.” She said, as she rang up the total of sixty muggle Pounds. James paid the fee and put another ten in the tip jar on the counter with one of his signature, charming, flirtatious winks at the pretty, young lady. She smiled at him and made her way back to get Padfoot.
When the big, black dog came through the door his tail immediately started wagging and as the lady gave Remus his leash back, Padfoot barked joyfully with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. “Did you enjoy yourself? I’ll enjoy not having your muddy pawprints on my sheets, you mangy mongrel.” Remus laughed as Padfoot jumped around like an idiot, tail wagging.
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They all walked home and as soon as Padfoot changed back into Sirius he could not stop talking animatedly about how wonderful it was, how nice all of the girls were, how he really enjoyed himself, and how he couldn’t wait to go back after the next full moon. “We should find one of those shops near Hogwarts so I can get cleaned up after every full moon! Would keep you off my back about mud all over your sheets.” He looked pointedly at Remus and nudged him playfully with his shoulder.
Remus just rolled his eyes and thought how Sirius was going to want to get Padfoot cleaned up after every full moon, and honestly if it kept muddy pawprints from getting on his sheets, he would bring Padfoot to the grooming shop after every full moon for the rest of their lives.