A History Black
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I make no moneys.
AN: Some of you have asked about Hermione's whereabouts, rest assured she is vacationing with her parents in France, right now I'm setting up the story so no worries okay? When she's introduced we'll be on her like a shadow.
One of you guys asked if Regulus is Hermione, the answer is no, but they are connected and you'll all see how soon. Thank you all for reviewing it makes me want to write more and give you guys answers. I'm glad you guys are excited about this story as I am!
And as always, Read, Review and most importantly Enjoy!
"Sirius?" Harry pauses as the man peers at him from over his glass of Fire Whiskey. "Why did you and my dad hate Snape so much?" The question hadn't stopped running through Harry's head, especially after learning about everything Snape had done to protect him from Voldemort.
Sirius sighs and gives the boy a sad smile, for a moment he could pretend he was talking to his oldest and dearest friend, but only for a moment because as sure as he was sitting here, Lily's eyes were staring back at him. "The truth is Harry…your father and I was down-right arrogant little berks." As Harry opens his mouth, his cheeks flushing red, ready to defend his father, Sirius hushes him gently. "Now Harry, I know you love your father and right you should, he was a good man, but Harry you must understand the world isn't as black and white as you'd like it to be."
"What do you mean?" Harry pushes.
"Snape was, and I suppose in some ways he still is, an oddball. Even amongst his Snakes he never quite fit in." Sirius shifts, setting his tumbler down onto the table and leaning closer to his Godson. "As far as I recall, the man only really had two friends."
Harry frowns, "But surely that's not a good enough reason to bully him, if it were, why the same could be said about Hermione!"
The older man cringes at the hate and anger appearing on the young Gryffindor's face. "No, Harry it isn't enough of a reason and I'm sorry to say that we don't much have a better one. James and I had different reasons for singling out Snape, though petty as they may seem now. You know now that Snape and your mother, Lily, were close before they came to Hogwarts. When James took notice of Lily, he also took notice of Snape; James could see that Snape loved your mother, even then." Sirius huffs and stands to refill his glass.
Harry tracks him around the room. "He was jealous of Professor Snape? Did he know about their Patronus' being the same?" He demands.
"No Harry, none of us knew, not until recently." Sirius says once he reclaims his seat. "It is only now that we can see how kindred Lily and Snape were, Harry. Back then though, as arrogant as we both were, being different and liking Lily was a good enough reason to single the boy out. It was justified in our self-righteous minds."
"What about you Sirius, what were your reasons?" Harry gulps, stuck between needing to know the men he so desperately looks up to and not wanting to tarnish the image of these men he already held.
Grief clouds Sirius' vision as he looks down into his glass; he pushes it away with a clearing of his throat. "At first it was the same as James, at the time I was doing anything and everything I could to distant myself from the stigma of being a Black and at the time, picking on the Slytherins seemed brilliant. Then, as we came back for our second year, my little brother was sorted into Slytherin. I was devastated."
"Of course dear Mother and Father were ecstatic!" Sirius scoffs. "By that time Regulus had already spent a year at home under not only our parents but Bellatrix as well and after seeing Andromeda disowned from the family right before my first year…well he became the right proper Pureblood idealist son they wanted. I had lost my brother." Sirius shakes his head. "He distanced himself from me, the bad seed of the Black family, and almost instantly Snape had taken him under his wing. I blamed Snape for my brother turning his back on me and before I knew it I was running away to live with James' family and then…Regulus and I found ourselves on opposite ends of a war."
"Please Harry, you must remember that your father and I are human and so we have great faults. You are not wrong for idolizing your father, he was a great man, but that doesn't mean he hadn't done wrong in his lifetime. I have done wrong Harry. I am ashamed of how I acted in my school days and how I treated Snape, and that guilt only grows when I think about how much he sacrificed for your mother and you, despite what James and I did."
Sirius pauses to drinking from his glass, allowing his Godson to clear the tears from his eyes before he continues. "I hated Snape for petty things; I was foolish and let my pride get in the way. I cannot change the past Harry. You should respect your Professor for the brilliant man he is, no matter what you think he's done to you Harry…we both know the truth now and it is by this truth that we both must strive to live by. He protected you when I could not have Harry and this alone makes me respect him and see him as he is not how I believed him to be."
"Have you spoken to Professor Snape about your brother? He might know why Regulus turned against Voldemort." The boy offers through a rough and scratchy voice.
"Briefly Harry, briefly." Sirius smirks softly. "All he could tell me was that Regulus found himself unable to deal with the things being asked of him, that he didn't agree with orders given to him. When Regulus found out Voldemort's secret…he made his choice. Snape…Severus said that my brother had found a different moral compass to follow." Sirius chuckles sadly. "What that means, I've no clue."
"We should get to bed now." Harry offers after checking the clock ticking in the corner of the kitchen.
"Ah yes!" Sirius stood with a crocked grin on his face once more. Harry thought it better to ignore the lingering sadness in his Godfather's eyes, he was sure his eyes reflected the same. "Molly will scold me good if she finds I kept you up this late!" Harry laughed at the mental image of Mrs. Weasley putting Sirius into the corner. "Besides tomorrow we have doxies to eliminate! Best to have our wits about us then."
Harry grinned and watched as Sirius continued down the hall after leaving the boy by his room. He knew his perception about the world had changed, as had everyone's, after hearing the details of Voldemort's fall, the real one. A man he thought was his enemy was his greatest ally. His father wasn't as noble as he once thought. And Sirius was more complicated than Harry believed him to be. Harry shakes his head, knowing that if Hermione was here right now she'd tell him that it was for the best.
'You need all the information available before you can make the right choice, Harry.' He smiled at Hermione's voice in his head, knowing that at the very least he had put his faith in the right kind of compass. No one was more sound and logical than Hermione Granger, at least, no one he knew.
