=Sorry about the long wait, college is tough on a girl; I did say the updates would be slower, and for that I apologize but I've got four classes that I need to make time for. Now I will be updating, but it could probably just be one or two chapters a week, and I've got three I'm working on right now so depending on the popularity or the ideas I have it will go on.
Anyway this shows a little fluff between Sirius and Severus. Sirius has already seen part of Severus' soft side, and this time he's going to see much more along with a little hint at the end, but some words will come out beforehand.
I don't own Harry Potter.
Enjoy!
Grimmauld Place, the next morning:
Sirius was in the kitchen eating his breakfast, but to him the food had no taste. He was too busy thinking about what he'd seen last night, and couldn't get the images out of his head. Those scars, some of them looked older than others, and that one across his chest from Voldemort, which could've killed him.
He felt so horrible after finding out Snape's true loyalty and his reason for protecting Harry, if he had known about his love for Lily and his motivation to put up with constant torture from Voldemort and the other death eaters he would've left well enough alone; instead he taunted him constantly about being a death eater, and that he was a Slytherin no less.
It almost made Sirius look like the bad guy, because he didn't know the troubles Snape went through and now that a vampire was out to get him all that fear and sorrow was coming out. He had to make it up to him, he didn't know how he would, but he would make it up no less.
"First thing's first…" he stood up and finished his coffee, then almost ran up the stairs to see if Severus had woken up. He peeked into the door, and saw he was still sleeping. He checked his wristwatch and saw it was almost ten, so maybe the potion would've worn off by now. "Severus, Severus…" he gently shook him, and the dark eyes began to flutter open.
"Mm?" he blinked a few times before he saw Sirius.
"Morning, feel better?" Severus rubbed his eyes and nodded. "Hungry?"
"Yes."
"Ok…" he felt Severus' forehead. "You're still a bit warm; do you want to eat in bed?" Severus looked at him confused.
"I…suppose so."
"Alright, I'll get Speckle to make you something." He patted the side of the bed and stood up walking out the door. "Speckle!"
"Yes master?" the elf appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Fix something for Severus, but make sure it's easy to eat." She bowed.
"Yes sir." She bowed and went back into the kitchen. Sirius almost ran back to the room and saw Severus hadn't moved an inch.
"She'll bring it up soon, once you're done eating you can take a shower if you want. Then maybe I'll…I'll bring you the prophet or another book." Severus looked so confused it was almost funny. "Relax, just trying to be friendly." He sat down on the side of the bed.
"Speckle has Master Snape's breakfast master." Speckle came in with a silver tray that had coffee, a bagel, and some grits on it all hot and steamy.
"Bring it here." She did so and handed it to Sirius who set it on the nightstand. "Enjoy, if you need anything then don't hesitate to ask." Severus nodded, and Sirius left with Speckle trailing behind him. It was a start, but it was a good start.
To Severus:
Severus was completely confused, so confused he didn't know how long he'd been sitting in bed until his tray of food went cold. He cast a warming charm on the food, and began to eat but the shock was still deep.
Why was Black being so nice to him? Come to think of it, why did he even bother to help him yesterday? Only a couple of things could come to mind, either Black was drinking too much, or he'd probably hurt his head in an Auror training session.
As soon as he finished his food he slowly got out of bed and went to his trunk to find some clean clothes. Using his wand the shower began to run and some towels were set on the sink; he stripped off his robes, tossed them into the laundry basket, and stepped into the shower. The warm water felt good on his skin, against his scars. He was so uneasy, remembering Black had seen the scars twice and no doubt would question him later like the nosy Gryffindor he was.
Either way though, it was better than having Black insult him daily every hour; and the constant arguing was done as well.
"Master Snape." He heard the elf Speckle's voice outside the door. "Master Sirius wishes you to come downstairs as soon as you finished."
"I'll be down momentarily." He called. After washing and drying his hair, he slipped into some black pants and a dark brown long-sleeved shirt and shoes. He hardly ever wore any colors besides black, but he still wore dark colors since they suited him. His trunk magically closed, the bed made itself, and the room was cleaned of dust before he left the room. Those potions made him feel loads better, now he could make it through the rest of his days in this house.
"There you are." He saw Black/Sirius sitting on the couch with the prophet in his hands. "Feel better?"
"Yes." Severus sat down in the armchair across from Sirius.
"Want the front page?" he passed him the paper, and the story wasn't all too interesting. These days the top ideas were Quidditch teams and 'Where are Our Heroes now?', it was boring mostly. "You know, you don't have to ignore me all day. We can talk civilized right?"
"No offense Black but 'talking civilized' has never suited you." He didn't even look at him.
"Or we can talk plainly, just like that." That was the usual Sirius Black. "I have to admit though, you're not as bad I had thought you'd be."
"Oh really?"
"I mean you've changed a bit, from being a greasy git to an honorable hero. Yeah and you've actually seemed lighter…"
"You can stop with the casualties Black, I've been told those same words many times."
"And what you don't believe them?"
"Why should I?" he looked over the top of the paper and saw Sirius put his part down.
"Well considering the fact that you put up with Harry for so long and the fact that you almost killed yourself going back and forth between Voldemort and order meetings actually shows character."
"It doesn't matter, I never asked for anything that I didn't deserve." Black gaped at him. "Close your mouth before flies eat your tongue."
"I can't believe you…" Black stood up from his seat. "Don't you have any sense of self-respect?"
"Why should you care Black?"
"Um…maybe because you protected my godson more than I ever could have?"
"I didn't do it for him."
"Yeah I know you did it for Lily, and I'm sure if she were alive she'd be thanking you to no end. As much as I'd hate to admit it, things happen for a reason and the reason for Lily's dying was to give Harry the protection and love he needed that helped him survive the war."
"Don't think I haven't realized that already, her and Potter both died protecting their child."
"Well of course, any parent would do that." Severus cringed at that. "True my parents didn't, but ones like Lily and James, Molly and Arthur, Remus and Tonks, hell even Lucius and Narcissa would die for their children." Black sounded stern, and now Severus wished he would drop the subject.
"Not all parents would."
"Yeah I know, but all I'm saying is that if it weren't for Lily dying, then you wouldn't have had the courage and the strength to go against Voldemort and protect Harry." Severus slammed down the prophet and stood up in front of Black.
"And she wouldn't have died if I hadn't told him about the prophecy." His words were hard. "Yes she and Potter died for your godson, and yes I know various parents who would do the same thing but…" he stopped, realizing he was about to say more than he should.
"But what?" Black looked at him confused.
"Nothing…nothing…" Severus tried to sit back down but his arm was grabbed. "Let go."
"No. I don't like your act Severus."
"Act?"
"This mask you wear when you're cornered, the same mask you wore in the war. You act like nothing affects you and you bottle it up, then when it gets to be too much you lash out if not shut yourself away from everyone who wants to help you." He paused. "I don't like it, neither does Draco."
"It's none of your business Black."
"As long as you're staying here it is my business, you can't go anywhere else without that creature finding you. This is the only protected place, so I suggest you grow a pair and let go of that stupid pride of yours." The next thing Severus knew, his fist went flying across Black's face and knocked him into the couch making it slide back a few inches.
"You don't know a damn thing about me, what gives you the right to try and pry into my personal business?" Black stood up, but didn't attack like Severus thought he would.
"You don't get it do you? You have no idea how much everyone cares about you now, Draco is worried because you're like a second father to him, Harry is worried because of what's happened, Molly and the others are worried because you're acting odd, and I'm worried because I'm trying to help you yet you keep pushing me away! Dammit Severus why can't you open your eyes for once and try and let go of your pride?" Severus took several deep breaths before he'd blow his stack, then looked straight at his 'protector'.
"As if you have any room to talk, how you used to insult me every chance you got at the meetings? Putting me down in front of Dumbledore the man who saved me from Azkaban, then making poor judgments of me every time I came to talk to Potter?"
"That's all in the past! Look I'm willing to forgive, maybe not forget but I can forgive alright?" Black took a few breaths and then crossed his arms over his chest. "What is your real issue with me? We've gotten past most of our old rivalries, but why are you so distant?"
"I…I don't know…" Severus looked away, only to have Black grab his chin making him look back.
"I don't want your stay here to be unpleasant, I just want to try and make you feel more welcome here. Yes I know it's odd considering our pasts, but I want you to feel safe." That made Severus' eyes widen.
"You what?"
"I want you to feel safe, not trapped or obligated, but safe. If I could do anything to make you feel more at home here then I want you to talk to me, not ignore me, but talk. Alright?" Severus hesitated at first, but nodded. "Alright, sit down." He did so, still slightly in shock about what Black just said.
'Why is he acting like this?' he still didn't understand, but maybe he would soon enough.
"Do you want to ask me anything, about anything?" Severus closed his eyes, breathed in and out, then looked at Black.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because I want to, as I said earlier."
"Is it because I'm staying here?"
"Not fully, besides I'd wanted to talk with you for a while."
"About?"
"Anything, anything to make the tension between us ease a little. I know we've been enemies for a while, but I have some respect for you now."
"Even if I don't exactly deserve it." Sirius rolled his eyes and slapped his legs.
"There you go again, putting yourself down. Severus you're a brave, intelligent, strong man why do you doubt yourself?"
"Well for one thing my past has something to do with it."
"Well don't rely on the past, let it go."
"It's not that simple Black, you don't know what…" he stopped himself and tightened his lips together.
"Don't. Don't cut yourself off." Black moved in a bit closer. "Let me in Severus, you don't have to go into pure detail, but at least tell me something about your past other than what I already know."
"I…I can't." he heard Black stand up and walk closer.
"Yes you can, you'll feel better if you do." Severus looked at him.
"How do you know if I will or not?" Black surprised him by pulling up his sleeves and showing him some old scars across his forearms, but not in spots that seemed suicidal.
"Because I know what you're going through." He bent down to let Severus get a better view, and Severus' onyx eyes widened at some of them. "I didn't have a good childhood up until I started Hogwarts, and being at school was my only escape."
"You…?"
"Yes, I'm sure you remember my dear old mother's portrait?" Severus grimaced, the old bat's screams gave him headaches every time she managed to get out from behind her curtain. "She wasn't much of a mother, more like an abusive warden." Black was abused, by his own mother? "I never told anyone until one night in first year James saw me coming out of the showers and he saw my scars. He asked me about it and like you I shut myself away, until Remus came out and showed me his scars from his times as a werewolf, with James there. They helped me through it, and gave me the courage to stand up to my mother to at least stop more of the abuse."
"What about…your father?"
"He didn't abuse me, but he didn't comfort me either. More than half the time if my mother went too far he'd stop and sedate her with a potion; then he'd send me to my room and let the house elves tend to me. They never hurt Regulus, since he managed to keep to himself but then again my own brother never did anything against them. And why would he, from experience he learned to be obedient to them, so he managed to stay out of trouble." Severus was surprised, no he was stunned. He knew Black had never gotten along with his parents but abused?
"I…I'm sorry.." to his surprise Black took his hand in his own.
"It took me a long time to trust James and Remus with my secret, and they offered me as much help as they could even James' parents offered to call the Ministry for child abuse but I didn't want that. Regulus was still living there with them and if the Ministry got involved he'd have been taken away if not left on his own and he'd never go to the Potters." He sighed.
"Black…"
"Look all I'm saying is if you try and open up a bit then you'll feel a lot better. Yes it's weird coming from a git like me, but it helps." Severus sighed, then nodded.
"Alright…alright I'll tell you." Black's hand was on his cheek, and his face was directed back to the other man's.
"Start off slow, no need to rush." Severus felt a blush cross his cheeks as he stared into those eyes of his old enemy, but took a deep breath and touched the hand on his face.
"I didn't have much of a childhood either…"
Not a good end but I wanted to save the life stories for next chapter, and it'll have more fluff in there as well as the comfort grows.
Sirius is being nice to Severus because he can see similar signs of abuse just like when he was a kid. So it's natural for such abuse victims to find solace in each other.
R&R
Later!
