Okay, just to let you know, this is my take of the scene in of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", when Snape tells Harry that he has to take Occlumency lessons and then he and Sirius are super close to getting into a duel, until Arthur bursts in. All dialogue and character are J.K. Rowling's, I just stuck in what I thought they might be thinking. It starts out in Severus' POV, then Sirius' POV, then Snape, then Sirius, and so on and so forth. And that's pretty much it :)

A Mutual Hatred

Severus Snape glared at the man facing him with his wand. Sirius Black, the bane of his existence. Not including James Potter, Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, his mother, his father, Voldemort, Crabbe and Goyle (two of the most stupid students he had the misfortune and shame to call his own), Bellatrix Lestrange, and the stupid Muggle who always insisted upon getting his pizza order wrong.

Okay, so maybe he had a lot of banes of his existence. Severus was not exactly the friendliest man out there. But the point was, Sirius Black had the pleasure of being in the top three. Yes, he really hated Black. His arrogance, his foolish over-protectiveness of his equally arrogant godson, his recklessness, stubbornness, and his hotheadedness; the list just went on and on, really. Everything about Black severely pissed him off. His friendship with James and Lily also added another reason to despise him. He hated how the Lily, one of the rare few he had loved, romantic or not, had begun to associate with Black after graduation. As for his almost brotherhood with James and the years they spent tormenting Severus…that had just been the beginning. Now, he hated Black for every possible reason known to man.

Sirius Black studied the man he had at wand point. The intensity with which he loathed this man, Severus Snape, could not be put into words. He, Sirius, knew a lot of despicable people. He had, after all, grown up with the biggest lot of insane, pureblood crazed wizarding families in his era, though the Malfoys came close. Yet Snape still managed to win the prize for the person in the world he hated most, even including his hag of a mother.

There was just something about Snape that irked Sirius. Even as children, they had been enemies. But then, it had been for immature, shallow reasons. Snape's awkward appearance, his cold manner, his polar opposite personality had all immediately cemented his dislike of Severus Snape the minute they met. However, as they grew up, it began to evolve into a deeper, more passionate hatred; by fifth year, he had hated Snape's fascination with the Dark Arts, his cruel demeanor, and his condescension for Muggle-borns. And now, even though Snape had turned away from the Dark Arts and blood prejudice, he was still the same cold, malicious man Sirius knew he would become from the moment he laid eyes on him.

Moments ago, Severus had offered, albeit grudgingly, to give lessons to Potter on Occlumency, which, Severus felt, was rather generous on his part; after all, he was one of the most accomplished Leglimens of his time. Besides, after the incident with Arthur Weasley and the snake, they (the Order) could not afford to take any chances with Potter. It was not as if Severus had skipped into Dumbledore's office, proclaiming his sudden fatherly love of Potter, and begged to be the one to sacrifice his Thursday evenings to spend more time with James Potter's big-headed, dim-witted successor. No, definitely not. So it angered him immensely when Black had acted as if this was a plot to torment Potter; Black really was an arrogant man.

Besides, if Black had not called him back to warn him about abusing Potter, the confrontation would not have escalated to what it had become. As if Severus had not already been told this by Dumbledore! How typical of Black to think that he was the only one to realize the tension between Potter and Severus. Black was one of the few people who were capable of angering Severus to that point. It was lucky, really, that the Weasley clan had entered the kitchen when they did, because Severus knew that he was only inches away from hexing him into oblivion. Not that that was entirely a bad thing. Too bad they needed the house.

Sirius was fuming. Who did Snape thing he was, to come swooping into the kitchen to harass Harry about extra lessons? And then goading Sirius about his confinement to the house! Really, Snape had started the whole thing. Besides, Sirius knew that Snape was going to use these lessons to torment Harry more. Did Snape not think that Sirius knew about the amount of snide insults Harry received in Potions alone? This was not counting in the hallways, mealtimes, and with the Slytherins; to subject Harry to more Snape time was just plain oblivious of Dumbledore, Siris decided. Anyways, Sirius had only been warning Snape not to insult Harry during these lessons; a sensible thing, truly. He did not know how it grew to a duel. He blamed it on Snape's ability to just plain piss him off. It was true, Sirius reasoned, his conscience telling him that more than a bit of this was his fault, not just Snape's. Oh, shut it, you.

He had appreciated Harry's attempts to defuse the situation, but it just wasn't going to happen. Not this time. Snape had pushed him too far, too long. He would never, under any circumstances admit to Snape, but those taunts hit right where it hurt. Yes, he was sick of being useless to the Order. He was tired of prowling around all day in the confines of his hated childhood home, a place he thought he would never have to see again. Then again, what better way to release some of his fury then by a little Snivellus torture? In retrospect, it was a good thing Arthur and his family came in, before things got a little ugly for Snape, which would have led to the loss of their only spy…though it might have been worth it to Sirius.

As Severus returned his wand to his pocket and walked past the Weasleys', who were staring agape at the two men who had been about to start hexing each other into little smoking piles of ashes, without any comment, he turned back to Potter. "Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter." And with that he left, no backwards glances to the man he hated so much.

Sirius glared after the back of his enemy, wishing so much he could just pull out his wand and-

His violent thoughts were interrupted by Arthur. "But what's been going on?" Mr. Weasley asked yet again.

"Nothing, Arthur," said Sirius, breathing hard. "Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends…" Forcing a smile onto his face, he continued, "So…you're cured? That's great news, really great…"

As Severus entered Hogwarts, he let out a long breath. I really do hate that man.

As Sirius tried to appear normal during dinner, he internally raged. I really do hate that man.

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Thanks for reading! I'm not sure if it's noticeable or any even any good, but I tried to point out a couple of similarities between Severus and Sirius. They both hate each other, for starters'. They blame the other for starting the argument and potential duel. They both agree it was for the best that it was stopped. And then there's a couple of similarities that come up in the book, but I couldn't find a way to bring them up in here. So. Please review and tell me what you think!!!! :) Oh, and I've currently got one other story for Harry Potter, so if you like this, you might wanna try that one! Again, thanks!

Love,

Leann