Noah

noahfarley:

Oh, wow, was Noah going to remember this moment for a long time. His first kiss. With Gladys. And it had been amazing. It was still amazing, with her standing there so close to him, grinning back at him just as wide as he was grinning at her. Noah was half-convinced he was dreaming, except he didn’t think he could have dreamed this. And he probably wouldn’t have dreamed the stupid words that tumbled past his lips. Only – Gladys didn’t seem to mind them. She seemed surprised, though, which Noah couldn’t understand. How could anyone not like kissing her? Noah didn’t get a chance to tell her that before she was surprising him even more, his eyes widening slightly. “I am?” Fuck, he sounded like a dork. Except Gladys had been surprised too. Noah let out a nervous chuckle and grinned at her. “I uh, I’m glad you think so.” He was really glad, especially because he really wanted to kiss her again. Just maybe not here, at work. Maybe he could do it on their date. Their date that she’d just said yes to! “Really?” Bloody hell, could he sound like more of an idiot? Yet even as he beat himself up internally Noah couldn’t help the grin that stayed on his face. Gladys had never been ice skating on a date before. Maybe that was just because it was a dumb idea, only she didn’t seem to think so. In fact, she actually seemed excited about it. Merlin! “Oh, uh – yeah, that’d be great!” He agreed enthusiastically at her offer to bring hot chocolate. Bloody hell, she was sweet. And pretty. And going on a date with him! Only – Noah still wasn’t totally sure how this worked. “Um. How about Saturday afternoon? Maybe, uh, 2 or 3?” That would give him enough time to get home from work and make himself look presentable. Speaking of work – Noah was still at work. Fuck! Quickly he cast his gaze around the shop, looking for anything out of place or any customers in need of help – only to lock eyes with the shop’s owner. Double fuck! Noah’s eyes went wide, but before he could do anything the kind older man gave him a wink and a smile. Oh. Okay. Letting out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding Noah looked back at Gladys. “Er – sorry. I’m sort of supposed to be working right now but Mr. Tippins doesn’t seem to mind.” Noah let out a sheepish chuckle, his cheeks flushing slightly at having been caught more or less slacking off to talk to a cute bird. The last thing he’d ever have thought he would do, which was probably why Mr. Tippins seemed more happy for him than anything else. Bloody hell, he was a loser. 

Gladys’ smile only widened at his surprise, her head bobbing slightly in a nod. It was good she’d told him, he should know that. Especially because she really wanted him to kiss her again. Something that seemed likely since he was glad she thought it. And because they had a date now. Or at least closer to having a second date. She giggled when he seemed surprised that she said yes. Merlin, he was cute. “Yeah, I’d love it.” This would be great. Ice skating. Hot chocolate. Maybe another kiss. “Wonderful, I’ll bring some then.” If only she could stop sounding so dumb. Hard to worry about that when he was setting a day and time. Thankfully Galvin didn’t have a match this Saturday, Gladys wasn’t sure how she’d get out of going if he did. “That sounds perfect! I can meet you somewhere.” It wasn’t that Gladys didn’t want to tell him where she lived. Or even have him over. It was just thinking of Galvin reminded her that one or both her brothers might be there on Saturday. They, to her knowledge, where unaware that she’d ever had a date. Something she wasn’t keen on changing just yet. As much as she loved them both they were not exactly normal. Or at least Gladys didn’t think that was normal. Dora’s brothers didn’t seem to fight at all any of the times she’d seen them. Gladys was worrying over her brothers scaring off Noah and remained blissfully unaware of the reaction Noah had gotten from his boss. Noah’s voice brought her back to the conversation and she smiled at his words, her cheeks growing pinker as she noticed the older man. Oh wow. “I’m glad he doesn’t. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble because of me. I didn’t realize you worked here. That must be a lot, what with training too.” Gladys knew she had it lucky not having to work while in training. It was just something she forgot occasionally as none of her friends in healer training had to work either. If she got Noah in trouble at work because of flirting with him she’d feel just horrible. “Would it help if I got you to help me find what I came for while we talk, or do you need to go?” It would be nice to continue talking to him at least, and nothing she had to get was embarrassing thankfully, but Gladys really didn’t want to get him into trouble.

Gladys had never been kissed in a way that stopped her train of thought, or train of worries that was. The few times she’s been kissed before had always been accompanied by a steady stream of fears and doubts, worries that she wasn’t doing something right, that it was going on too long, or not long enough. There hadn’t been any of that with Noah. Not even after they pulled apart. It was sweet, just like Noah. No hands trying to move places that Gladys definitely didn’t want them. There sadly was still the fact that they were around people. A fact that she never could get past the times she’d kissed other boys. Only today she had forgotten that. Was still having trouble remembering they were in a shop, in public! Except Gladys really didn’t want to move. Not just yet. Especially not when Noah was grinning at her like that. Her own lips pulling up into a matching grin. Growing even wider when he enthusiastically answered her. Helga, he was cute! Gladys flushed at his compliment, one she’d never received before. “Really?” Her surprise showing in her voice. “So are you,” she added softly.

Hopefully that meant there would be another kiss. Only maybe not just yet. Gladys laughed a flustered laugh of her own when he did, assuming it was thanks to the fact that they weren’t alone like hers was. Her eyes grew wide when he started talking again. The date! Gladys had forgotten how concerned she was that the date wasn’t going to happen. But he had a plan. A good one. “No, it sounds great. I’d love to! I’ve never been ice skating before. I mean with a boy on a date that is.” Her cheeks flushed again at how dumb she sounded. Still an ice skating date sounded so cute. Maybe the girls would help her find a cute outfit to wear. It’d been a while since they’d gone shopping together. And she could use her cute thermos! “I can bring hot chocolate for us, if you’d like.” Ice skating. They were going ice skating. On a date. Their second date. Wow! This was even better then getting a drink after class.

Oh, wow, was Noah going to remember this moment for a long time. His first kiss. With Gladys. And it had been amazing. It was still amazing, with her standing there so close to him, grinning back at him just as wide as he was grinning at her. Noah was half-convinced he was dreaming, except he didn’t think he could have dreamed this. And he probably wouldn’t have dreamed the stupid words that tumbled past his lips. Only -- Gladys didn’t seem to mind them. She seemed surprised, though, which Noah couldn’t understand. How could anyone not like kissing her? Noah didn’t get a chance to tell her that before she was surprising him even more, his eyes widening slightly. “I am?” Fuck, he sounded like a dork. Except Gladys had been surprised too. Noah let out a nervous chuckle and grinned at her. “I uh, I’m glad you think so.” He was really glad, especially because he really wanted to kiss her again. Just maybe not here, at work. Maybe he could do it on their date. Their date that she’d just said yes to! “Really?” Bloody hell, could he sound like more of an idiot? Yet even as he beat himself up internally Noah couldn’t help the grin that stayed on his face. Gladys had never been ice skating on a date before. Maybe that was just because it was a dumb idea, only she didn’t seem to think so. In fact, she actually seemed excited about it. Merlin! “Oh, uh -- yeah, that’d be great!” He agreed enthusiastically at her offer to bring hot chocolate. Bloody hell, she was sweet. And pretty. And going on a date with him! Only -- Noah still wasn’t totally sure how this worked. “Um. How about Saturday afternoon? Maybe, uh, 2 or 3?” That would give him enough time to get home from work and make himself look presentable. Speaking of work -- Noah was still at work. Fuck! Quickly he cast his gaze around the shop, looking for anything out of place or any customers in need of help -- only to lock eyes with the shop’s owner. Double fuck! Noah’s eyes went wide, but before he could do anything the kind older man gave him a wink and a smile. Oh. Okay. Letting out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding Noah looked back at Gladys. “Er -- sorry. I’m sort of supposed to be working right now but Mr. Tippins doesn’t seem to mind.” Noah let out a sheepish chuckle, his cheeks flushing slightly at having been caught more or less slacking off to talk to a cute bird. The last thing he’d ever have thought he would do, which was probably why Mr. Tippins seemed more happy for him than anything else. Bloody hell, he was a loser. 

Yeah, he thought she was lame. Gladys wasn’t sure how to answer his question. Didn’t have time to before he was stammering out the start of something else. Something he didn’t finish because Gladys had lost her balance in all her flustering. And now she was close to him and touching him. More importantly he was touching her. Her breath went in a sharp intake of air as his hand went to her waist. This was nice. Really nice. Maybe he’d kiss her. Maybe she should kiss him. Birds could do that. Daisy did that. Dora had too. But Gladys wasn’t Daisy or even Dora. She was lame Gladys Gundgeon who could barely tell the bloke she liked that he was hot. Helga, was he hot. His shoulders were surprisingly strong feeling. Noah always seemed so unassuming and yet being this close to him she didn’t understand how he hadn’t gotten noticed more. How she hadn’t noticed him more. Gladys felt herself holding her breath as Noah started to lean closer. He was going to kiss her! She didn’t have to worry about trying to find the nerve to do it herself. For a moment her eyes widened but then she slipped them closed. Had it been too soon? Gladys always worried about kissing. Not that she’d been kissed a lot. Oh…

As soon as their lips touched her stream of worrying and rambling going on in her mind quieted. It was soft and sweet. Her hands tightened on his shoulders just a touch. Gladys could have stayed like that for a while. Except a noise broke through the hush the kiss seemed to pull down on everything and reminded her that they were not alone. Her cheeks flushed as she pulled back a little. She let out a nervous giggle and looked up at Noah. “I’m glad you kissed me.” Oh, wow, she just said that. Out loud. To him. Okay.

For a split second Noah was terrified Gladys was going to pull away from him, that he was going to end up kissing nothing but thin air. Or that he was going to miss and somehow end up kissing her nose or something. Was their height difference a normal one? What if he leaned down too far and hit her chin? Or what if their noses bumped together? Or -- oh. She was kissing him back. He was kissing Gladys. They were kissing! Bloody hell! And wow, the kiss was nice. Soft and sweet and warm, just like the girl he was kissing. Who was tightening her grip on him, and wow was that nice too. A rush of warmth flooded over Noah, but before he could figure out what to do with his hand that wasn’t on her waist she pulled back, Noah only registering the noise that caused her to do so a second later. Oh. Right. They were in the shop, still. In fact, Noah was at work. And yet that thought seemed incredibly far away as he looked down at Gladys, eyes slightly wide because he’d just kissed her! And she was -- glad!? Merlin! A goofy grin tugged at Noah’s lips, replaced the slightly dazed look he’d been giving her. 

Noah was so kind. Gladys felt certain she could melt just from that smile of his. But his head, he’d hurt it. Only now that she was closer to him she was having trouble remembering that he’d hit his head. Instead thinking about his warm eyes and his very close lips once he’d crouched down some. Gladys wondered what kissing him would be like. Her cheeks warming up from the thought alone. Maybe he’d kiss her. She’d definitely let him. What he did instead of kiss her had her cheeks growing darker. Her smile grew. He did still like her like that. “Thanks. So are you.”

Oh, blokes weren’t pretty. Gladys scrunched up her nose as she realized her mistake. “I mean you’re…” What were blokes… “Handsome! You’re really hot, I mean handsome.” Oh wow. Gladys wasn’t sure what was lamer that her first thought had been handsome and not cute or that she’d said he was really hot out loud. Or maybe the fact that she’d taken it back only to call him handsome again. Handsome. That was something her grandma called her brothers. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t supposed to call a cute bloke handsome. He was never going to want to kiss her now. Or take her out on a second date. She’d blown it. It was just too hard to think when he was so close to her. Gladys nearly lost her balance she was so flustered and ended up grabbing onto his shoulders to steady herself. “Oh!” Now she was close to him and touching him. Gladys let out a nervous laugh. She should move. She couldn’t remember how to move. Wow.

Everything in Noah was screaming at him that he probably sounded like a stupid loser for not kissing Gladys and calling her pretty instead, but it was hard to pay those thoughts too much attention when her cheeks were flushing like that. Salazar, she was pretty when she blushed, especially when Noah knew it was because of him. And it was, wasn’t it? It had to be. And -- oh. He was pretty too? Okay. That was...good, right? Noah didn’t have too much time to dwell on that worry because Gladys was way too cute crinkling her nose up like that. And -- oh. She thought he was -- wait, did she just say he was hot? Or -- handsome, okay. 

Wow, Noah had a great smile. “Hi,” she found herself breathing out despite already saying hi. Gladys took the fact that his cheeks were getting red to mean he definitely still liked her. She giggled at his words. “Good, I’m glad.” Oh wait! “I mean not that it was er I would have…I’m sure I’ll see worse…I mean it wasn’t that…I’m gonna just look at it now.” Gladys’ cheeks got even redder as she stumbled through that. She was an idiot. Thank goodness none of her friends were here to see this. She almost wanted to just turn around and leave except that would be rude. And she’d promised to look at his head. Oh right! Finally pulling her eyes off her toes and back up to Noah she move closer to him. Goodness. Standing on her toes she tried to see the top of his head but he was so tall. Instead she found herself standing way too close and a lot closer to his eyes and lips… Gladys gave him a nervous smile. “I um…” What was she doing again?

Gladys was trying not to worry. Clearly Noah still liked her, he’d sat beside her in class at least. That had to mean he still liked her. But he’d yet to set up anything for the second date he’d asked her out on. It was hard not to be worried that he’d changed his mind. Then again Noah was a lot quieter then most blokes. She was trying to take that in to account. Even wondering if maybe she should be bold and make the plans herself. Or would that be push? Dating was confusing. All Gladys wanted to do was spend time with him, maybe even hold his hand a little. Why did that have to be so hard to set up? It didn’t seem fair. As hopeful as she was that today he’d set something up, once again nothing happened. It had only been two days she reminded herself. Except should it take that long? Gladys couldn’t ask her brothers. She couldn’t ask Gwen. Or Dorcas. Her stomach had dropped a little thinking about Dorcas and the rubble where they’d had class. Maybe she should have taken those classes more seriously instead of staring at Cene Tooker. And maybe it was selfish to even be thinking of boys and dates when so many awful things were happening. At the same time it wasn’t as if she were an auror or something. There wasn’t anything she could do about the awful things happening. Or about boys and dates it seemed.

Going out for coffees with her friends had been a nice distraction but now that they’d all scattered her mind was going back to that as she ducked into the potions shop to pick up a few things for her mum. Of course even if it hadn’t gone back to wondering about Noah she would be now that she found herself staring at him once again. “Noah!” Gladys smiled, surprised to see him but before she could step any closer a jar crashed over his head. Oh no! Poor Noah was now covered in Toad’s eyes. “Are you…” She spoke up at the same time he did and stoped with an awkward chuckle. Her nose crinkled up at the slime he had all over him. Ew! Maybe she shouldn’t be so icked out given that as a healer she would have to see worse. There was just something about being covered in toad slime that made it hard to keep her coffee down. But he seemed to recover well, cleaning it up easily and Gladys returned his small smile with a larger one. “It’s alright. Hi,” she replied, a nervous giggle accompanying her words. Oh wait he’d gotten hurt hadn’t he? “Did you get hurt? I can look at it if you’d like.” Her cheeks flushed as she offered.

Oh bloody hell, Gladys thought he was disgusting now. He was disgusting, dropping slimy toads eyes all over himself and still trying to talk to her. He should probably just leave now, except he was on the clock and she was a customer so running away wasn’t even an option. So he was stuck here, looking like a disgusting idiot who she definitely wasn’t going to want to go on a date with. Except she wasn’t leaving. In fact -- she was smiling widely at him. Wow, she was pretty. “Hi,” he repeated softly, his embarrassment momentarily forgotten as his own grin widened. Just as quickly it returned, however, when she offered to look at his head. His head that he’d only just covered in toad’s eyes. Bloody hell. “Oh, um -- no, I’m alright,” he answered, cheeks darkening again. “I mean -- you can take a look if you want,” he added quickly, letting out a nervous chuckle of his own. Bloody hell, how was she even cuter when she blushed? “I uh, I got all the eyeballs out, I promise.” Fuck, why had he said that? Noah let out another nervous laugh and ran a hand self-consciously through his hair, relieved to find that at least that had been true and he was eyeball free. 

And so now Noah was at work, still dateless. Gladys had probably forgotten about by him now. Or she’d already decided he was a weird loser and she was glad he hadn’t asked her out again so she wouldn’t have to reject him. All these thoughts swirled through Noah’s brain as he trudged back and forth from the stockroom at the potions shop he worked at after classes nearly ever day. Normally he liked slow days that meant less interaction with people, but today he couldn’t help thinking a distraction would have been nice. Of course he should have known better than to wish for a thing like that. For as soon as he did the bell at the front of the shop opened, and Noah turned his head from where he stood with his wand raised guiding a bottle of toad’s eyes to its home on a particularly high shelf only to find the very girl who’d been consuming his thoughts. The girl who probably thought he was a loser, and definitely didn’t know he worked her. Fuck. “Gladys?” Noah’s eyes widened in surprise, his focus on his task so completely lost that the next thing he knew the bottle of toad’s eyes was falling directly onto his head. “Ow!” He cried in alarm and mild disgust as the bottle fell on top of his head, breaking so that the eyeballs spilled on top of him. His ears instantly going red at the realization that Gladys was definitely still here watching him. Fuck! Why was he such a loser? “Uh -- sorry um -- let me just --” Noah quickly waved his wand and cleared the broken bottle off the floor then lifted his free hand to rub the top of his head where the bottle hit it, forgetting that he was still covered in eyeballs and now his hand was slimy too. “Ugh,” he frowned, pulling his hand away and wiping it on his robes, very much wishing the bottle had been full of acid so he could have just evaporated on the spot. He could feel his cheeks reddening to match his ears and wanted even more to melt into a puddle. Instead he found it in himself to mutter another spell, this one cleaning the slime off of him, and finally managed something of a small smile at Gladys. “Er. Sorry about that. I uh. Hi.” Wow, nice one. Yeah, Gladys was definitely never gonna want a second date with him. 

Sturgis was surprised to find out Farley had a bird he was into given how much of a loser the bloke had made himself out to be. Maybe the loser thing had just been in school. “Yeah? Nice. You got your eye on her or have you actually made your move?” So much for keeping it to animagus talk but he still had a vast amount of bird knowledge he might be able to help little Farley make his move. From everything Farley had said he probably could use the help. He was much more interested in the animagus stuff then Farley’s bird issues. “Wait! Did parts of ya turn furry randomly? Like when we tried Transfiguration for the first time and most of us had furry goblets, or that one bird whose goblet ran away.” Most classes had some funny results to spells done wrong but none as funny as those in Transfiguration. The only thing that had kept it from being super amusing was McGonagall’s death stare when they threatened to get too rowdy. Sturgis wasn’t sure where he stood on the animals being better then people. He’d seen his share, more he might say, of really terrible people. But he also would never have made it without McKinnon helping him through the darker parts of their imprisonment. The pair of them taking turns pushing each other to keep going. Or Freddie and Vi’s support after. Not to mention Charlie and her family. Besides Sturgis had always been a little jealous of those bloody horses his mum gave all her time to. He just gave a noncommittal nod when Farley said he thought so. “You definitely looked like a stray today,” he told the other still not completely comfortable with their exchange back in the Alley when Farley was a dog. “You just gotta get in there and shove right back.” If Sturgis didn’t do things like that he’d never get anywhere. He’d be trapped by fans till he could apparate out. “But I can see how it’d be tempting to go under, as it were, instead of through.” Still had to be a way to keep from getting scooped up by strangers. “You should wear dog tags, that way you wouldn’t look like a stray. My bird took me to this muggle place and there were blokes wearing dog collars and shit. Weird but at least you’d have a reason and not just wanting to look like a weirdo like they did.”

Noah wasn’t at all surprised by the surprise in Sturgis’s tone after he revealed there was a bird he was into. What he was surprised by was that the other bloke actually seemed somewhat interested in Noah’s love life. A concept that was still very new to Noah himself. “Uh. Well she sort of asked me out,” he admitted with a small grin, still shocked it had happened at all. “And then she said she’d go out with me again, only now I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with her.” Bloody hell, why had he said that part out loud? Not only did Sturgis clearly already think he was a loser, but he wasn’t exactly the type of guy Noah thought he’d even want girl advice from in the first place given the reputation Sturgis had. Not that Sturgis was going to give him any, he was probably just gonna laugh. Noah took a drink of his firewhiskey, wondering when it would be acceptable to get up and leave. At least the conversation wasn’t staying on his girl problems, if you could even call what Noah was dealing with that. It certainly wasn’t a problem that Gladys wanted to go out with him again, just that Noah had absolutely no clue what to do with a bird for a date. “Uh -- yeah,” he admitted with a sheepish grin, laughing at the memory of that poor girl in transfiguration. That class was always where the more amusing mistakes seemed to happen, not that he’d ever have dared laugh at Carrow or any of his housemates’ mistakes. “At one point I ended up stuck with a tail for about a week,” he added, because in hindsight that one was actually kind of funny. Aaaand then he was back to feeling like a loser for looking like some pathetic stray on the side of the road. “Er. Yeah. Someone kicked me into a bush.” Wow that was not helping his case at all. And the next thing Sturgis said wasn’t helpful at all. “Right, uh, I’ll keep that in mind.” Shoving -- or asserting himself in any way -- was not something Noah had ever done before. In fact, he was pretty sure he didn’t know how. He just nodded at the next thing Sturgis said, quickly distracted by what he added. Did Sturgis just say he had a girlfriend? That was a surprise, but not as surprising as hearing that the bloke also apparently knew about weird muggle fashion trends. Okay. “Wear dog tags?” He repeated, half-convinced he’d misheard. “I uh....I guess that’d help. Be sort of weird though,” he couldn’t help adding. “Maybe I could just keep ‘em in my pocket or something...” That actually wasn’t such a bad idea. He could put them on before he transfigured, though -- hm. Noah frowned. “I’d have to figure out how to keep them from disappearing with the rest of my clothes, though.” It was probably manageable, but it’d take some practice.

Maybe he should have commented on Farley’s admittance of not having mates but Sturgis had no idea what he’d have said. Seemed better to just not comment instead of giving out some lame response. Especially since he couldn’t really understand it. Sturgis had loads of mates, not really but his teammates and roommates counted sort of. They’d have all noticed something was off with him, surely. If nothing else Freddie would have because there were only a few things those two did apart. Now he had even more sort of mates, his fellow Order members probably fell in that pile. But he also had more close mates besides just Freddie. He wouldn’t call him and Vi mates but they were family which was almost as good. McKinnon was a close mate now. Tooker, too. Surely once he’d gotten out of Hogwarts Farley had gotten mates. Besides he hadn’t offered him a seat to chit chat about his mates, or lack of. He wanted to know about being an animagus. Which was what he was determined to keep the conversation on even if they kept going off topic just a touch. Like now he was wondering if Farley even talked to birds. But the bloke had talked to Vi, probably?, and if he could talk to her he probably talked to other birds. Most weren’t as much work as Vi had been in school. “Won’t know if it helps or hurts unless ya give it a go. I’d pick some random bird at a pub, that way if she thinks it’s weird you don’t have to deal with birds ya see a lot knowing.” Assuming he saw any birds a lot. Sturgis wasn’t sure why he was giving what amounted to a mini-pep talk to Farley about how to find out if birds were into his furry secret. Except he had a lot of experience chatting up random birds that was just going to waste now, might as well let someone benefit from it. None of his mates needed it. Not even Tooker now that he had that reporter bird he was banging. If Cene Tooker could land a bird surely there was hope for Farley. That wasn’t exactly an even comparison given that Tooker was a quidditch player and Farley was a healer trainee, not exactly babe magnet or so he’d assume. Sturgis was still weirded out by the whole petting thing but he didn’t wanna talk about that particular part of Farley being an animagus anymore. Sturgis hadn’t even considered that you’d not know what you were gonna be before you turned. “That’s wild. I forgot you don’t get to choose but wasn’t there any clue? I mean what if you’d turned into a bloody dragon?” Which would have been fucking cool, except if he ended up burning down half of Hogwarts while doing so. Sturgis was surprised to hear that dogs considered Farley one of them even when he wasn’t a dog. “Huh. Guess animals really are better then people.” Something his mother liked to say when the world got too unpleasant for her and she retreated to her stables. If what Farley was saying was right then they were. Because people were always pointing fingers at someone and declaring that person not one of them. Sturgis couldn’t help laughing at the next thing Farley said. What he wouldn’t do sometimes to be able to avoid people. But still he’d have thought Farley would have had enough of that at school. “Fair point,” was all he said. The eavesdropping definitely sounded interesting, might even come in handy for either side of the war. But that would be too big of a mess, and just the thought of it all made Sturgis feel uneasily. “Probably best to stay away from that sort of thing. No telling what sort of trouble you might get into.” Sturgis took a drink of his firewhiskey. “Seems to me you got kicked around enough today, might be safer as a bloke.” His attempt to bring things back to something that didn’t make him feel paranoid wasn’t so great. “You ever got brought home by someone else before today?” Maybe he wasn’t the only one that had been a giant idiot. Sturgis wasn’t sure if that’d make him feel better or not.

Was Sturgis Podmore giving Noah bird advice? It certainly felt like Sturgis Podmore was giving him bird advice, but that almost felt weirder than the other bloke picking him up and carrying him into his flat. Though the latter had already happened, so who knew what was possible at this point? Today was a weird day. “Uh. Well the thing is...” Noah began awkwardly, unsure of himself. As if Noah would ever be able to just go up to a random bird in a pub and start talking to her, but surprisingly enough that wasn’t even his problem with Sturgis’s advice this time around. “There’s sort of this girl from class, so I dunno if I really want to be talking to random birds in a pub or anything...” Noah could feel his ears heating up slightly. Bloody hell, he was such a loser, getting all out of sorts because one pretty girl had agreed to go on a second date with him. Not just some pretty girl, though -- the pretty girl. Gladys. Who was probably going to end up deciding he was a giant loser with or without the dog thing to help him along. Not a problem Sturgis had ever likely faced, what with being a famous quidditch player and all. Noah was pretty sure he’d heard about the other bloke getting with loads of different girls, too. Why he was even still talking to Noah right now was beyond him, but talking about his being an animagus was definitely preferable to talking about birds with a bloke who would never have the same kinds of problems with birds that Noah did. He even let out a laugh at the thought of suddenly turning into a dragon in the middle of the castle. “Yeah, there were some clues. Like -- I knew I was gonna be something small, since whenever I managed some partial transformation I always ended up shrinking a bit. And that’s how I knew I was gonna be something furry, too. Just didn’t know what until it finally happened.” Noah shrugged, surprised to find himself laughing once again when Sturgis said animals were better than people. “I’ve always thought so,” he answered more easily than he’d managed anything else in this conversation, because it was undoubtedly true. They communicated so easily, were so accepting. Sometimes Noah wondered if language, while being the thing that helped people advance so far, might also be the reason why they were so quick to judge and cast one another aside. It made things too complicated, too open for different interpretations and misunderstandings. Not where the discussion was going, though. Noah was surprised once again when Sturgis laughed at what he said, even more surprised that it didn’t feel like he was being laughed at. He nodded easily at what the other had to say one eavesdropping and such. “That’s the plan.” Noah had no intentions of getting into any funny business at all if he could help it. “Oh uh -- yeah, that didn’t really go as planned,” he admitted with an embarrassed chuckle at the next thing Sturgis said. “I er -- well I sort of get knocked around a lot as bloke anyways, I was hoping I could navigate a little easier but obviously that didn’t work. Was gonna change back as soon as I could but uh...obviously that didn’t happen,” he finished, awkward, because that was when Sturgis had scooped him up. “Ah -- no, I haven’t,” he answered with a shake of his head, though he felt compelled to add sheepishly, “But you’re not the first who’s tried. I’ve just always managed to get away the few times before now. Plus I’m not usually wet and covered in dirt so I don’t think people mistake me for a stray all that often.” 

Farley was not someone Sturgis ever took notice of in school. Had it not been for Freddie giving him shit, and Sturgis laughing about it, he wouldn’t have remembered the bloke. He had no idea who the bloke’s mates were. But surely they’d have noticed, that was the sort of thing mates did. Sturgis didn’t think it was a particularly hard question but the way Farley was acting it seemed to be. Or maybe he just didn’t have any mates. He just hung out with his sister? What a bloody weirdo. Sturgis supposed the addition of his house and the fuckers in it made sort of sense. Except he couldn’t imagine Vi blending into the background willingly. Sure she hadn’t gone out of her way to make any friends, making her and Charlie’s friendship all the weirder, but it wasn’t as if Freddie or himself had tried to expand their circle either. Maybe he could cut the bloke some slack on the lack of friends thing. Still kinda lame though. No wonder he became an animagus, made him less lame. He laughed when Farley said he’d never told a bird before. “You should give it a go, see if it works.” He would have. Not that he needed a gimmick to get birds but he’d have been curious about it. “So you have what dog senses?” that sounded kind of cool. What didn’t though was the petting thing. “You probably shouldn’t tell people that you don’t mind getting petted, that sounds bloody weird, mate.” Or maybe he was just weirded out because he’d petted this bloke. Fucking weird. Not thinking about that. Moving on. “So it’s like apparition at first where you get a little sick or was it something else?” Sturgis doubted he’d ever become an animagus, maybe when he retired or something but probably not. Still it was interesting knowing about it from a first hand account. “Do other dogs growl at you because you’re not really one of them?” Animals were supposed to be able to sense things, his mum was always swearing her horses could. “Does it come in handy being an animagus, like have you ever used it for something?” There had to be some benefits since the bloke kept turning back into the puppy. If not attention or to pick up birds what good was it?

Yeah, if Sturgis hadn’t already thought him a giant loser -- which surely he already did -- he definitely thought so now. Noah wasn’t sure if he should be more embarrassed or relieved that Sturgis didn’t even have anything to say to Noah’s more or less admitting that he had no friends. The other bloke saying nothing was probably for the best. What would he have even said, sucks you don’t have friends? Noah was already well aware of that fact, he didn’t exactly need it pointed out to him. Especially not by someone with Podmore’s popularity. Noah wasn’t sure what was funny about his never having told a bird he was an animagus -- maybe Sturgis could just tell from looking at him that he’d barely talked to any birds prior to Gladys -- but he let out an awkward laugh of his own all the same. “Ah...yeah, maybe,” he agreed, though he wasn’t sure how well that would go for him. Gladys would probably find it weird. Or maybe not, because she was too nice to think something like that. “Well. When I’m a dog, yeah,” he answered Sturgis’s question with a light shrug. “Otherwise I’m just normal.” Just normal, boring Noah. Or weird, boring Noah according to Sturgis. Bloody hell, he was a loser. “Uh. Right.” He answered awkwardly, taking a drink of firewhiskey. Much easier to just talk about the mechanics of transfiguring himself. “Yeah, sort of. It didn’t hurt, it was just bloody uncomfortable at first, same way apparition was. And really disorienting, especially the first time when I didn’t even know what I was gonna turn into.” Noah still remembered being startled by how big everything seemed, the grayish tint to the world, the fact that was walking around on all fours and then turning his head to glimpse a short torso with a tail wagging at the end. And then there’d been the strong impulse to start chasing it, weird as that had been. Noah kept that bit to himself, Sturgis thought him weird enough. He laughed at the idea of other dogs growling at him like he was some kind of intruder, shaking his head. “No, uh, it’s sort of the opposite actually. They’re really friendly to me even when I’m not a dog, since they can tell I kind of am one of them.” Maybe that was weird, but as disappointed as he’d been to find himself so cute and fluffy -- for lack of a better descriptor -- Noah also figured there were far worse creatures that could have represented his inner soul or whatever. Most people liked puppies. He frowned slightly when Sturgis asked what he used it for. Noah wasn’t sure it had much purpose other than he liked it. And -- “I dunno, mainly just to avoid people. And -- I mean, things aren’t exactly safe right now. Not really smart to be walking myself home from work after dark, but who’s gonna pay attention to some dog wandering around Diagon? It’s just easier sometimes.” Yeah, being a dog was easier than being a human, and Noah was officially a loser. Though this was a perfect example of why he preferred being a dog. “Theoretically I guess I could use it to sneak around, listen in on people or something,” he added. “I’ve just never really had a reason to do anything like that.” Noah shrugged. Eavesdropping and sneaking around were hardly how you kept yourself out of trouble. 

Finding out he’d brought home a bloke with him was weird. Really weird. As was finding out he knew the bloke. Sort of. But when your life consisted of birds popping out of trash cans and following you into bathrooms not to mention secretly fighting death eaters weird was normal. Now that he’d decided Farley wasn’t a threat or some nutty fan hoping to paw through their garbage or some shit he could brush aside the weirdness of finding him here. Sturgis still wasn’t happy with himself but he saved beating himself up over bad choices when he was alone. He’d probably be talking about how Farley got in with Freddie later. Figure out how he’d been so monumentally stupid. Now though he was interested in finding out about being an animagus. Books only told you so much. The only other person he knew of that was an Animagi was McGonagall and she had not been eager to answer questions from curious third years about it. But when they’d studied them in third year it had fascinated him and Freddie. At least till a new issue of Quidditch Quarterly came along. Finding out a bloke from his year was one brought back that curiosity. He nodded as Noah confirmed he was registered, made Sturgis trust him a little more. His question about who we was got answered before he could do more then lift an eyebrow at the word. Sturgis had no idea Farley had a sister, weird. Also weird was the concept of no one paying someone any attention. Never had Sturgis not had someone interested in what he was up to. Even before Hogwarts there were always nannies, tutors, and house elves giving him attention. Lack of attention was not something Sturgis thought of as a good thing, at least till this year. Freddie’s hospitalization, his arm, and having an actual girlfriend all made for attention he wasn’t liking so much. Not things he was thinking about right then. Instead he just looked confused. “Didn’t your mates wonder why you were spending so much time studying with your sister?” Sturgis wondered too about what it felt like to have no one care what you did. Even with the attention he wasn’t happy to get lately he didn’t think he’d like that. Being the center of attention was fun, most of the time. Maybe Farley really was just weird. But he still was the first Animagi that Sturgis had met his age. That made him interesting. “What’s it like? How does it feel being a dog? Do you do it a lot? I can’t decide if birds would be into it or freaked out by it.” Sturgis shook his head in amusement at the last point. Birds could be hard to figure out even for him. He stopped to let Farley talk again, taking a drink of his firewhiskey. Bombarding people with questions wasn’t something he normally did, Sturgis had been raised with impeccable manners thank you. The idea of animagi were one of the areas of magic that had always intrigued him. It was hard not to just shoot question after question at him. Besides this bloke had sort of came into his house uninvited so he owed Sturgis some answers. And he was being hospitable letting the elf give him a glass of a firewhiskey, telling him to sit. He wasn’t being rude. Just interested. Something Farley apparently hadn’t had too much of at school so he probably liked it.

As far as he could tell, Sturgis Podmore had never seemed like a particularly friendly bloke. Which wasn’t to say he seemed like a bad bloke. Just a little full of himself -- or a lot full of himself -- and sort of stand-offish. Definitely never seemed interested in anyone aside from Freddie Selwyn, Violetta Greengrass, and the gaggles of birds that followed him around. So it was weird that he’d so quickly gotten over the fact Noah was the dog he’d carried into his flat, going so far as to offer him a drink and a seat on his couch rather than immediately kicking him out. Noah would have preferred that, if he was being honest. He didn’t know how to talk to people who were this much cooler than he was. He didn’t really know how to talk to any people other than his sister, though, so that wasn’t saying much. Noah still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get Gladys Gudgeon to agree to a second date with him, let alone why she’d asked him on the first one. And now he was hanging out with Sturgis Podmore. Or something. Being inundated with questions probably didn’t count, and honestly it made it easier for Noah to wrap his head around why he was here in the first place. Podmore had been a Ravenclaw; he was curious. But bloody hell, couldn’t he have asked about anything other than Noah’s mates? Or lack thereof. “My mates?” Noah repeated, confused for a moment. Now there was a concept, having friends who paid any sort of attention to what he was doing. Maybe his friends would have noticed, if he’d had any of them. “Uh...” Noah took a drink of his firewhiskey. Bloody hell, this stuff was smooth. Unlike Noah. “Not really.” He finally answered lamely. “I er...mostly just hung out with my sister until she graduated, actually...” Yeah, he was a loser. Not that he’d ever really minded, but sitting with a bloke who was clearly loads cooler than him and telling him he had no friends wasn’t exactly fun. “I mean -- I was in Slytherin,” he tacked on quickly, before that statement could fester for too long. “My sister, too, and we er -- well, we didn’t really want any of that lot paying much attention to us...” He trailed off with a light shrug. Probably best to leave it at that, not that it would change the fact he was a giant loser. Much easier to just talk about being an animagus. Well. Sort of. Truth be told, no one had ever asked Noah any of the questions Sturgis was asking. Because no one knew he was an animagus. “Oh, uh,” Noah let out an awkward chuckle when Sturgis brought up birds. “I er, I wouldn’t know, I’ve never told a bird before.” He’d never told anyone, aside from Pip and his grandparents and the woman at the Ministry who put him in the registry. Would Gladys think it was weird? Bloody hell, she was probably gonna think it was weird. Not thinking about that right now. “But it’s uh...” Noah paused thinking it over for a moment. “It’s nice. I dunno. It feels...like I’m me, but different.” Wow, not a good explanation. “I mean my senses are sharper, obviously. But I’m still me. My brain doesn’t change. I guess I don’t mind people petting me as much as I’d mind random people trying to pat my head or something, but I’d have preferred to be something no one was gonna notice at all.” Honestly, Noah still didn’t understand how he’d ended up a puppy. Something people actually wanted to pay attention to. He wasn’t even an adult dog, he was a bloody puppy! “The transformation takes some getting used to, but now it doesn’t really feel any different than...I dunno, just standing up or something.” He shrugged, certain he’d probably done a very poor job of answering Podmore’s questions, but Noah had avoided talking about himself for so long he was pretty sure he’d always be dreadful at it now.

“Huh, that’s cool,” he replied absentmindedly to the correction of his assumption. Sturgis’ thoughts kept cycling back to the fact that he’d been stupid enough to bring home a stray. Maybe if he’d found it on a muggle street or something that’d be one thing but nope a fucking stray he’d seen in Diagon Alley. Clearly shopping alone was not something Sturgis should be doing. He obviously needed a bloody minder to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid because he was too focused on not getting recognized and what the bloody hell to buy his girlfriend for Christmas. The drink helped Sturgis’ frazzled nerves somewhat. Given Freddie and Vi’s insane families they had more on them then just the crap the bloody Order threw them into. He should have been smarter. The guilt was gonna get him. But at least there was no bloody mark. He’d heard that Black kid had one. Even heard rumors that bloody traitor Pettigrew did too. So not having one made him more inclined to believe Farley. Made sense too. Sturgis knew why Freddie hated him, though he was keeping that to himself. Freddie’s jealousy wasn’t any of this bloke’s business even if he’d been on the wrong end of it. But what he said about Vi, about why he’d chosen to sit next to her, made sense. As much as he distrusted Slytherins as a whole, he knew individually they weren’t all bastards. Besides Pettigrew had killed that whole dumb idea that only Slytherins could become Death Eaters some people, not really Sturgis, held on to. Satisfied Sturgis finally put his wand away. Though he had to add something on behalf of Freddie because he was his best mate. “Okay. Just know Vi’s taken so ya know if there was anything else to it better get over it fast.” Or he could be amused by watching Freddie put Farley in his place again, whatever he didn’t care either way. Sturgis caught the house elf standing there looking perturbed and it took him a minute to realize it was cause they were blocking him cleaning up the muddy footprints. And probably a little because he didn’t know Farley and the house elf had developed even more of a dislike of strangers then he had. “Sit, we’re blocking cleaning to be done and if we don’t move he’ll be muttering to himself in the kitchen for the rest of the day.” This was still weird but the Ravenclaw in him couldn’t help wanting to ask questions. Leading Farley to the couches he sat, leaning forward to indulge in just that. “So you did this at school? Are you registered or illegal? How’d you manage without anyone finding out?” There were loads of questions Sturgis had but he figured he’d start there.

Sturgis had been involved in a lot of weird shit, seen a lot of weird shit since graduating Hogwarts. But this, this had to be the oddest fucking thing to ever happen to him. “Freddie is gonna give me hell for this one,” he said shaking his head in disbelief that he’d actually been dumb enough to bring home a strange animal. Some bloke they went to school with. Weird. He only partially paid attention to the bloke’s explanation. As weird as it was he couldn’t help being impressed. Animagi were kinda cool. Weirdly cool. “So that’s what you’ve been doing since graduation?” Okay. His next words just made it all the more weirder. Or maybe that was just the reminder that Sturgis had carried some bloke. Bloody hell. “Did you not see the house elf? He’ll take care of it.” Would give him something to do, the three of them weren’t really messy people so Sturgis wondered oqccaiosnally if the elf didn’t get bored. As if on cue the elf was back with a drink for him and one for the other bloke apparently whatever. “Go ahead,” he told Farley with a tilt of his chin. He didn’t put his wand up yet because this was still a stranger in his bloody house. Sturgis was still trying to work out why he’d sort of recognized him if he wasn’t a quidditch player. Farley. Hmmm. “You were a fucking Slytherin right? That bloke Freddie messed with cause you were always sat beside Vi. What the fucking hell?” Well this just got weirder. “Let me see your arms.” Maybe the Ministry couldn’t do this but Sturgis fucking Podmore could in his house so yeah. The bloke had never seemed like Death Eater material but he was not taking any bloody chances. 

Noah had the unfortunate luck to have found himself in plenty of awkward situations over the years, but he was pretty sure this one outdid all the rest. He wasn’t just in some random person’s house -- no, that would have been too easy. Instead he was standing in the flat of a bloke he’d gone to school with. One who was now a famous quidditch player who didn’t even remember Noah. Which was fine, but bloody hell did he feel like a loser right about now. “Uh. Sorry,” he muttered again when Sturgis brought up Freddie. There was only one Freddie he could be talking about, and bloody hell did Noah hope he managed to get out of here before that bloke showed up. While Noah had more or less managed to stay off the radar of everyone in his own house, for some reason Freddie Selwyn had decided he was worth picking on just because he sometimes sat next to Violetta Greengrass. As if Noah wanted to date her. Her family was far too dangerous for that, thank you very much. She was just the safest option most of the time, not to mention their last names landed them next to each other more often than not. Noah was happy to think of something else, even if Sturgis’s assumption had been incorrect. “Oh. No, uh, I did it during school. I’ve been in healer training since we graduated.” Not that Sturgis cared about that. He probably just wanted Noah out of his flat at this point, though Noah felt too guilty to leave without offering to clean. Of course now Sturgis probably thought him even more of a moron, because there was, in fact, a house elf. Right. What a strange world to live in, where you could afford an elf to clean up after you. “Oh. Uh. Right.” He managed, fully prepared to leave except -- okay. Now Sturgis -- or the elf -- was offering him a drink. “Uh.” Noah hesitated. This was weird. But it felt too rude to decline, so he awkwardly reached for the offered glass and took it. “Thanks.” So maybe Sturgis didn’t hate him, then. Or he just hadn’t remembered who Noah was until right now. Fuck. Noah jumped slightly at the way Sturgis spat out the word Slytherin, like it made Noah an inherently bad person. That was true for most of his house, hence why Noah had worked so hard to keep a low profile all seven years at school. But he clearly hadn’t done well enough, because now Sturgis was apparently remembering Freddie’s problems with him. Great. And -- his arms? Bloody hell, did Sturgis actually think he was a Death Eater? “I -- uh -- yeah, ‘course,” he managed to get out, his voice nervous. Awkwardly, one arm at a time thanks to the drink he was holding, Noah pushed up his jacket sleeves and showed the other bloke both his arms. “I’m not -- I mean -- I don’t want anything to do with any of that shit, I swear. I stayed away from all those blokes, I dunno why Freddie hated me so much, Vi was just the safest person to sit next to since she never tried to talk to me. Plus she was always hanging around you blokes instead of the Carrows and all them.” Bloody hell, why did that even matter now, he hadn’t seen the damn bird in a year and a half! 

Maybe the apology and the empty hands should have encouraged Sturgis to put his wand back but he wanted this little bastard to be scared. Breaking into someone’s home was fucking deplorable. His eyes narrowed as the bloke told him his name. They were in the same year? Well that explained why he looked vaguely familiar. Though it didn’t offer much comfort. The dog? It took Sturgis a minute to wrap his head around all of this. It helped that as a kid he’d always been taught not to bring things home. He’d forgotten the main lesson of childhood. “You were the dog? Bloody hell.” Sturgis didn’t know if he should laugh or be grossed out that he’d carried some bloke under his arm into his flat. “We went to school together?” Sturgis cautiously lowered the wand. He knew he was kinda full of himself but he still mostly remembered people. “You didn’t play quidditch.” That much he knew. “What the hell were you doing in that bush?” He was the bloody dog. This was new. “Wait you’re an animagus.” He was still wrapping his head around it okay. “That’s pretty impressive. Was it as hard as they say?” He and Freddie joked around about doing it once but they were far more interested in quidditch then fucking around with magic that had nothing to do with quidditch. “This is bloody weird.” Sturgis called for the house elf to bring him a drink. “My mum would kill me if she knew I brought a strange animal home. I wasn’t even thinking, fuck.” Between quidditch, Christmas, having a girlfriend, and that latest attack which had put one of his mates and one of his fellow Order members into the hospital he was not one hundred percent at all. Clearly because he was bringing home fucking animagus.

For a few seconds, as Sturgis narrowed his eyes doubtfully at him, Noah found himself considering how quickly he could open the door, transfigure back into a dog and bolt out of there. Not nearly quickly enough, he decided, so it was a huge relief when Sturgis actually seemed to buy his story and even lowered his wand a bit. Noah would have preferred that Sturgis but it down completely, but seeing as he’d shown up very unexpectedly in the other bloke’s flat, Noah would take this. “Uh. Yeah.” He answered with an awkward nod, to both having been the dog and to having gone to school together. As for quidditch -- “Uh. Nope.” Truth be told it had always looked like fun, but the Slytherin quidditch team might as well have been called the “Future Death Eaters Club,” so Noah had stayed far away from it. He shrugged, the tips of his ears reddening slightly when Sturgis questioned why he was in a bush. “Er. Someone sorta knocked me into it.” Because even when he was a dog, he was apparently still a loser. Not that this was news to Noah. Quite the opposite, hence his surprise when Sturgis called him impressive. That was new. “Oh. Uh. I dunno.” He shrugged lightly. “Probably depends who you ask. It took me a couple years, but that’s just because there’s a lot to it. I dunno that I’d say it was actually hard. Just complicated.” He shrugged again. If he’d actually had some semblance of a social life while at school it probably would have been a lot harder, but Noah and his sister had to find something to do with all their free time. He grimaced slightly when Sturgis correctly labelled the situation as weird -- weird enough to warrant a drink, and that was probably a fair call. Noah just had no idea what to say to make it less weird. “Uh. You’re not the first person to try to take me home with them, if it helps. It’s just usually I manage to get away quicker, but I wasn’t expecting you to disapparate so soon and er -- well, you were going the same direction I was, so....” He trailed off and , sheepish at the admission he had not meant to make, that he’d definitely let Sturgis carry him through the crowds intentionally. Good one, Noah. “Sorry,” he added again. “I can uh -- “ he nodded to the small, muddy prints he was still mostly standing in. “I can clean that up, if you like?” He offered, not reaching for his wand yet for fear of giving Sturgis reason to turn his on Noah again. He’d wait for the other bloke to either accept or decline his offer before he pulled out his wand, thank you very much.

It hadn’t taken any time to stash the gifts he’d bought and dry off. Sturgis was on his way back to the living room when he heard the loud thunk. “What the fuck are you two doing in there?” he called out to the house elf thinking the noise was the elf and that damn dog. Walking into the living room he thought he’d find the dog instead he was met with the face of some vaguely familiar bloke. “Who the fuck are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my flat?” Confused Sturgis looked at the door and back whipping his wand out as he did so. “How the fuck did you get in here?” This bloke was probably a fan or some shit which meant maybe he should be nicer then to be pointing his wand at him. But at the same time he was in his bloody flat so no he shouldn’t. “Come on, out with it fanboy how the hell did you get in here? We have a lot of wards up so you’re not leaving till you tell me how you got in.” Because the last thing he needed was to be twitchy about people getting in to his bloody flat. He still had nightmares about his time stuck in that basement with McKinnon but for the most part the flat was his safe place. His, Freddie, and Vi’s. They earned it damn it. They deserved a safe place. He wasn’t gonna let some weirdo take that away. “Who are you?” he asked again because he felt like he should know this bloke.

Oh, shit! As quickly as Noah tried to scramble to his feet, he already knew when he heard Sturgis shout into the room that he wasn’t going to make it. And sure enough -- yep, that was a wand, pointing right at him. “I’m sorry!” Noah reacted instinctively, his hands instantly lifting above his head to show he was unarmed as he shrank back against the door. Maybe it should have been embarrassing that Sturgis didn’t even recognize him, but truthfully Noah was sort of pleased. He’d spent all seven years at Hogwarts trying to blend into the castle walls; seemed he’d done a good job of it. Maybe too good, though, because it probably would have helped him just a touch if Sturgis actually recognized him right now. At the very least it would have been preferable to being thought of as a crazy fanboy. “I’m sorry, I uh, I’m Noah,” he finally answered lamely, though that likely told Sturgis nothing. “Uh....Noah Farley? We were uh, in the same year at Hogwarts?” He offered a small, nervous grin, hopeful Sturgis might actually remember him if only so he wouldn’t decide to use his wand on Noah anytime soon. “I swear I wasn’t trying to -- I mean I er....I was the dog.” He admitted with a grimace. “And I tried to get away before I got stuck in here,” he added quickly, not wanting Sturgis to think him even weirder than he surely already did. “But I wasn’t expecting you to actually try to take me anywhere and then it turns out disapparating as a dog is even more disorienting than normal apparition and I couldn’t get out the door in time so uh --...yeah.” He finished lamely, figuring the rest was pretty self-explanatory.