Sirius scratched the bridge of his nose thoughtfully as he pushed the bottle of Pristine Memories Potion, that Snape had completed the night before, across the table. Remus silently drank his tea with milk and watched the silent kitchen of the mansion on Grimmauld: over the past few months, the house again turned into the headquarters of not-yet-friends, but, for sure, already-allies.
Lucius Malfoy scribbled on the cost estimate for Hogwarts, referencing the colorful list Hermione had drawn up specifically for the Board of Governors. She had been spending a lot of time with Lucius, Andromeda, Longbottom, and Minerva: the allies were seriously concerned about the problems of education of the younger generation of witches and wizards. Hermione was finally able to fully manifest her potential in the area that occupied all her thoughts and feelings. However, each had their own ways of dealing with depression. Hermione chose to work days and nights.
Snape cautiously examined his former enemies and now - reliable friends - sitting around the table, and the only thing he wanted was to dramatically wave the flaps of his robes, snatch the object from Black's hands, perhaps launch a couple of hexes as goodbye and leave this kitchen and this house for good. For a complete collapse, he lacked only Potter, who would be habitually rubbing his scar and looking at the world with those sincere Lily's eyes.
Snape threw out his hand, trying to snatch the cherished artifact from Black, but the marauder was more agile. He jumped to his feet and ran to the opposite end of the kitchen. Remus exchanged glances with Malfoy and commented evenly:
"You both may as well go run around the table, sports improve health and mood, or so they say."
"Shut up, Moony," both opponents cried in chorus and exchanged irritated glances.
"Black, give it back, if you want shiny things, I'll give you a Christmas ball. Time-Turner is not a dog's toy."
"Is it so? I had the feeling, that you certainly know the value of such things and will apply them as intended," Sirius slowly lifted his hand, bringing the Time-Turner to his eyes and examining it into the light.
Snape sat down on the edge of the table and folded his arms over his chest.
"Black, you know perfectly well that we couldn't have saved the Potters. You saw them and Lily talked to you. What more do you want from me?"
Black snorted in annoyance: give or take, he looked like the dog soaked in the rain.
"I saw them. I talked to her. She explained everything to me. History would have taken a different fork if we had saved them. And our world would now be a dystopian novel embodied. Voldy would have won, we would have lost, it's simple. But that doesn't mean that I have to sit down and fiddle my thumbs."
"Sirius, would you first explain to Severus what you want from him and stop acting like a thirteen-year-old, for Circe's sake" Lupin advised.
"Well, so, the average life of a dog is ten to thirteen years. Black just had nowhere to get more mind," Snape gave out the sarcastic remark, waiting for a moment and snatching the Turner from Sirius' fingers.
"Stop it. You both. This instant. We need to seriously discuss everything, and you are acting like first years!" putting his flourished signature under the estimate, Lucius rested his chin on his intertwined fingers and looked inquiringly at those two men suffering from bouts of childishness whom he considered his friends.
Snape and Black looked at each other, shrugged, and returned to the table.
"You reproach me for selfishness and cowardice, Black, although you are not too different from me. And before we break our barely living non-aggression pact, which we signed right after Harry was born, I ask you: what would you do? What would you do, Black, if you were dealt good cards this one time in your life? I was sure that I would not survive the War. And if I did, I would have nowhere to go if not for my wife and your godson. Your Gryffindor sentimentality and passion for justice helped them convince Kingsley and beg his pardon for me. I was sure that I would end up in Azkaban. My own moral principles told me that I did not deserve any other end, and I agreed with them. And then, suddenly, my whole life turned upside down. Hermione saved my life by literally pulling me out of the limbo. I saw Lily, and she didn't explain anything to me except that I had to go on living. I laughed in her face. I was sure that Harry had lost the Battle. But no. At the last moment, he managed to beat the death, and Hermione performed an ancient ritual. You Gryffindors are always looking for some great justice! But I dare not complain. I knew I should have thanked her, perhaps take her as my apprentice and leave Hogwarts for good. But no. Out of habit, I wanted to hurt her more: how dare she interfere in the laws of life and death? How dare she bind me with the Life Debt? I wanted freedom, and the ritual made me obligated to live again. I missed her motives, they did not bother me. I wanted to get out of School. This, however, did not stop me from arguing with Hermione three times a day."
Remus poured tea into cups and exchanged knowing glances with Malfoy: not every day one had to contemplate Snape pouring out his soul.
"We fell under the Marriage Law, and it was the magic of the Debt that forced me to marry her. I didn't love her. Not even in my thoughts. Most of the time she just annoyed me, sometimes we had entertaining discussions, nothing more, nothing less. And so it would be. Time would have passed, the Ministry would have canceled its decree, we would have divorced. And if they had not divorced us, then among high society adultery was never such an unheard-of insolence. I'm sure she would have found a worthy lover for herself."
"But, as always, you are keeping something back," Sirius hissed through clenched teeth.
"The Ministry began to demand from everyone who fell under the Law, the birth of an heir, otherwise the marriage would be annulled by the end of the year."
"That's what you wanted, you Slytherin git!" Sirius could not resist, banging on the table with his fist. "The girl adored you, but you used her in your own interests, as you always did! She saved your life, how did you thank her?"
Snape looked down.
"You don't judge me, Black. Each of us has his own road to repentance, I have passed my way in full. Yes, you're right, that's exactly what I wanted, but I did not take into account two factors: if she had not been able to give birth to a child in a marriage with me, Hermione would have become the wife of someone else. Of all the free candidates, we only have the Death Eaters."
"The cauldron blames the kettle," Black grumbled. Snape ignored his comment.
"I would not wish such a fate to anyone. Even to your dearest cousin Bellatrix. And she, mind you, tortured my wife. But there was a second factor: there was a dark curse on Hermione that made her unable to get pregnant, unless her companion was a pureblood wizard, or if sincere love arose between the spouses."
Sirius laughed.
"You and love? What is there to love in you? Greasy hair? Crooked teeth? Inflated conceit? Slytherin sycophancy?"
There was the crunch of a knocked-out tooth, and Snape shook his bruised hand.
"I thought I asked you to shut up."
"Creacher! Potion!" Black croaked, feeling not even slightly offended by Snape's punch.
"The night my wife died, I found a Muggle pregnancy test in the bathroom. She was about three months pregnant with our baby, as shown by the residual magic. What would you do if you were me, Black? With your Gryffindor infallibility, which drove you into Azkaban and deprived Harry of his only relative? With your well-formedness, which left your Kin without a Head? With your thirst for justice that killed Regulus?"
Snape walked around the table and thrust the Time-Turner into Sirius's hand.
"Take it. Save your brother. Everything he did, he did for you."
Black dropped his head on the table, banging loudly against the tabletop.
"I'm an idiot."
"Bravo! It took you dying to admit it!"
"Both of you are idiots. You hate each other to the point of impossibility, but at the same time, you cannot live without each other. Both of you are in debt to each other. And behind your childishness, you do not notice the obvious way out," Malfoy scolded both of them.
Snape and Black looked back in surprise.
"Risk the Turner to prove to Sirius that you, too, are capable of nobility? Severus, I thought better of you, my friend."
"What then?"
"Padfoot, use blood magic, the patronage of Ancestral magic and you can bring Regulus back the same way Hermione brought you back to life. Wherever he is, blood magic will be able to find him," Remus explained. "And the Turner is better to hide until Hermione finds it. By the way, Severus, have you already figured out how to explain everything to her?"
Snape dropped his head to the table, joining Black in his despair.
Lucius shook his head and, summoning a bottle of firewhiskey, poured it into the glasses.