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Closed to Sirius

Roddy waited outside the coffee shop, sitting in at one of the outside tables, sipping his drink. He wasn't really one for fancy drinks, especially ones he'd likely have to abandon partway through once they began their investigation, so he just got a plain black coffee and put a few sugars in it. He sipped at it slowly, while keeping an eye out for a big, black dog. He just hoped no actual black strays would wander by, but then, that was a chance they'd have to take to pull this off without drawing attention.

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If there was one thing Sirius appreciated about his shifted form, it was the freedom that it allowed him. He didn't have to worry about being recognized, since all anyone saw was a large, friendly stray roaming the streets of London. He had to remind himself a few times to keeps his mind on his mission, however, as it was easy for him to get distracted and start doing, well, dog things.

He finds the coffee shop eventually though, catching on to Roddy's scent. He lopes out from the back alley, trotting through the crowd and taking some pleasure in the stir he's causing and sniffing about here and there to seem natural. At least until he looks up at Roddy and tries to catch his eye, moving a bit closer. At least before looking away and gratefully accepting the last bites of sandwich from a small child.

Roddy caught Sirius's eye for a brief moment, giving a slight, subtle nod to let him know he saw, before taking one last drink of his coffee and heading out. Heading into a nearby alley, Roddy ducked behind a dumpster, crouching low, and listening carefully for the sounds of people before confirming it was safe to change. And then he shifted. Soon his clothes billowed around him, leaving a large pile of clothes behind, and a tiny little rat head poked out.

Then, just in case something might happen to his clothes while they were left here, Roddy decided it was best to get out his house key, so he rifled through his pockets until he found it, dragging it out before he ran out, key in mouth, forcing himself to listen for the sounds of a dog coming to join him and ignore the compelling scent of the trash nearby.

Sirius gave Roddy a bit a of a head start, seeing if he could get a few more morsels from the various passersby, as well as provide him with the chance to shift in private. Eventually he headed towards the alley, trying to look as though he had the intention of going through the trash and willing away the innate desire to do so.

Having longer legs, he catches up to Roddy fairly quickly, as scent or no scent, it's fairly easy to notice a rat with a key. He gives him a sniff and then looks down the alley as if to say "lead the way."

Roddy led the way on his surprisingly fast little rat legs. He wasn't as fast as Sirius, of course, but he made good time as he led the way down the alley and around the corner, then darted down the street, keeping the nearest wall close enough that he could feel his fur brushing against it as he went. There were, of course, a few times he had to run across an open space with no wall, and he always seemed to speed up then, rushing to get to the next wall, his rodent brain telling him it was safer that way.

Whenever he reached a street, he'd pause in a way that was quite uncharacteristic for a rat, checking both ways before he'd race across.

Fortunately, they didn't have far to go before they reached a nice, sizable house. A nice sizable house that, he noted, had no car in the driveway as he ran toward it, ready to examine it for any cracks or crevasses he could squeeze through.

It was almost comical, a large dog following behind a tiny rat, but Sirius does his best to keep his distance and not let it look too out of the ordinary.

When they get to the house, Sirius catches up to Roddy, sniffing around the lawn and along the house, trying to look natural and possibly find a place to hide.

Roddy, meanwhile, ran up to the house, pressing his body up against the bricks as he snuck along the wall, sniffing and searching for a possible gap or opening. Every time he'd find a bit of wall where the texture was a bit different or something was odd he'd put down the key, sniff it a bit, and maybe do a few experimental nibbles to see if it was something he could get through. And then he noticed a slight crack in the building's foundation, poking up from the ground.

Setting the key down, Roddy began to examine the crack. It didn't look quite wide enough for him, so he began to dig a little, seeing if it might be wider a little deeper. After a little bit of this, he paused, glancing around to see what Sirius was doing.

Sirius had found a place by the corner of the house where he could stay mostly hidden, but still have a view of the driveway and other places where someone might be coming to enter the house. He was mostly hidden by a rosebush, since he figured a large black dog sniffing around for a while might look suspicious. If it came down to it, he could just pretend he was sleeping in the shade.

Seeing that Sirius had his post, Roddy went back to digging. As he got deeper, the crack widened, and it looked like he could probably squeeze himself through. He paused, glancing at the key, before deciding to leave it there for now. He didn't want to risk dropping it somewhere when getting inside, or having it slow him down. He knew where it was and unlike the alley, random people were unlikely to wander around and pick up things that had been left behind.

He poked his head through the opening, before wiggling through until he dropped into the basement. Now it was time to explore. He sniffed and looked through the basement first and found nothing. Then he proceeded to run up the stairs, shifting to human just long enough to open the door and, after peeking to make sure he wasn't in view of any windows, slip through and shut the door behind him. Then he shifted back to rat. It wouldn't do to have the neighbors see a naked teenager running through their house, after all.

Roddy went on with his investigation, not spending much time on each room up here, figuring that he wouldn't have left evidence out in the open, until he came across a room that smelled like the potential perpetrator.

Again, he shifted to human, opening the door to peek through. Curtains and blinds were shut. This time he went through and stayed human, shutting the door behind him and looking around. The first thing he spotted was the cell phone on the charger. Going over, he looked through the text messages, and he noticed some vague, but suspicious texts between Carter (the guy whose house he was in) and two other members of his group of friends. They didn't directly state what they'd done, but they mentioned 'no one knowing it was them', which seemed suspicious.

Roddy texted himself the number of the other two boys from the phone, then deleted the text. He wasn't sure what he'd do with that, but it was the one piece of information he could take from this place without anyone knowing he'd gotten it.

Then, one more suspicious thing caught his attention. There was a slight, rat-like odor in the room, and it wasn't coming from him. Sniffing the air, he located the origin of the scent. A blanket shoved in the corner of the room, and when Roddy picked it up, he saw holes had been chewed in it. Seeing as he knew this house didn't have rats, or he'd have smelled and heard them all the way up here, that meant one thing. The rats Carter used to fill the teacher's car must have chewed on this.

Of course, while Roddy was examining everything, he was completely oblivious to the car that was now pulling into the driveway.

From where he was in the garden, Sirius had a decent view of everything, and was not opposed to shoving his head through the rosebush if he needed to. He was a dog, it would be cute if anyone saw. It was also kind of comfortable, and since not a whole lot was happening, not even kids out roaming the neighbourhood, he could feel himself dozing off.

At least until he heard the car pull up, waking up almost as it turned off and its occupants starting to open the doors. He stood up suddenly, barking as loud as he could. Hopefully Roddy could hear him because he would need to leave quickly. He didn't need the pound called on him again.

"Crap!"

He definitely heard the barking, so he shoved the blanket back into the corner, hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him, before shifting back to rat. This way, he figured, he could hide if he had to. Running along the hallway, he ran up any flight of stairs he could (he probably wouldn't be able to get high enough to exit through the crack he'd dropped through originally), until eventually he found himself in the attic. Investigating, he found a gable vent screen.

He wiggled through the vent, chewing on the screen until he got through, then squeezed his way out, gripping onto the outside of the vent once he did so, and looking around. Seeing a branch of a tree nearby, Roddy launched himself, scrambling onto the branch, before climbing along it to get down, his hook-like claws digging into the bark, and his long tail moving from side to side to help him keep his balance as he slowly made his way back down to the ground.

Once there, he took off, running back to where he'd gotten in at so he could grab his key, before running back to Sirius.

Sirius, in the meantime, has had to abandon his hiding place. He ignores the insults being hurled at him from the owners of the house, and heads towards the nearest alley he can find, hoping leaving enough muddy footprints for Roddy to follow. It's to be expected anyway.

Once there, he waits, and sniffs at a garbage can so as to look natural.

Roddy runs along, easily able to follow Sirius's tracks. Not only did he leave muddy footprints, but he left his scent as well, after all. Spotting Sirius in the alley, Roddy ran up to him, putting the key down and sniffing his leg to get his attention.

Sirius eventually catches on, turning around to look at Roddy and give him a nod.

"Get what you needed?" seems to be the indicated question.

Roddy nodded. Granted, he didn't know what he'd do with what he found, but he definitely knew who did it now, and knew there was evidence in his room that would look rather suspicious, once Roddy could figure out how to get the police to look there. But that was another thing for another time.

Picking up the key again, Roddy began to head back to where his clothes were stashed.

Sirius follows him for a bit, just to make sure that he gets back there safely, before heading his own way. He'll give Roddy a quick nod to let him know he's off. And resolves to check in with him at a later date.

He just doesn't want to stay in one place to long, lest he be noticed, or the men from the house come looking for him.

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