"Okay." Susie didn't offer any more suggestions and left the front desk.
A little while later, she came back out with a red collar and an iron chain. Before Sirius could react, she had put the collar on him.
Two burly men in leather jackets came out with her.
"This is the Scottish Deerhound? His name is Black?" one of the men asked as the two of them lifted Sirius together.
Before Sirius could react, they carried him into the back room and gently lowered him into a large basin.
"Woof..." Sirius had barely let out a bark when water covered his mouth.
Help! I'm going to drown!
His eyes filled with despair. If he hadn't been afraid of frightening Harley, he would have turned back into a human and made a run for it right then.
But he held back.
Sirius tried to encourage himself:
"Come on, hang in there. If I can just get through this ordeal, I can sneak into Hogwarts and hunt down that traitor."
To Sirius's surprise, the two men looked like Bulgarian giants who could snap a wooden stick with ease, but they were incredibly gentle with him.
"Your name's Black, right? Look at how filthy you are!"
One of the men combed out Sirius's tangled fur while chatting with the other.
"Billy, this Scottish Deerhound is so well-behaved."
"You're right, Archis. This is the first time I've seen a big dog who didn't struggle during a bath. What a sweetie."
Archis replied as he took out a bottle of sky-blue, viscous liquid and poured it over Sirius's head.
Bubbles sprang up. Sirius half-closed his eyes and suddenly found himself thinking that this wasn't so bad.
After the two men had cleaned him for a long time, all the matted fur on Sirius's