First you have to slog through all my replies to my reviewers before you
can read the chapter (not that I can stop you from skipping it - at least I
can rest assured that the people who reviewed will probably read it....)
Alia: Heh. I never thought of that one. But I was thinking about it last night and decided I might write that bit up just as an aside.... Maybe later.
Ayame: I can't believe you did that to Draco, not matter the provocation! Poor Dray. I'm trying desperately to un-alienate Draco, which is why he's so weird in this chapter.... I decided (as much as I love him) to torture Harry a little longer, as this chapter also shows, but we're ALMOST there!
schulyr: Unfortunately, all good things must end. But not for awhile, if I have anything to so with it....
Mikee: What? You don't like my cliff-hangers? *pouts* Not that I LIKE taking Draco down.... Soon enough for Dumbledore to start talking....
leXis 'rmour: I don't exactly know what to do with Remus, or Draco for that matter. But all that WILL come in the sequel. And THANK YOU for answering that question about the actor. I simply couldn't figure it out... I've been to the movie three times now (and counting) and sat through the credits each time trying to figure it out.... Erm, why are you feeling sad over James?
M. F. Luder: so you run a little on-line apothecary do you? Now I know where to go to get all my potion making needs met. Thanks. Poor little Draco is getting his head messed with....
Ariana Deralte: The whole school will be told. Eventually. ^_^ Yuh, you're probably right; the quetzalcoatls would distract Harry in class. *shrugs* He'll get over it.
gwendolyn-flight: Ooo! Two from you! = P Re the whole angst thing.... I think I may have stuffed that up a little....
Myr: Heyla! Hmmm... I'm scrabbling desperately here for a way to save Draco, but I haven't figured out a convincing and ORIGINAL one yet. Must think, must think. And you think Voldemort and Lucius are hypocrites too? Idjits that they are. Different Slytherin factions, hey? Intriguing.
Lisa: lazy. ^_^ *blushes* I had kinda run out things to say which is why I ended it that way. NO great plot or anything. Sev was fun to put back in the role of Potions Professor, only changed.
Night Sword: greetings and welcome to my fic. Don't actually know if you've been here before, but regardless.... Thanks for the high praise. To think you would count me among the best *blushes* And although it sounds it, I am NOT being sarcastic. I love that you think so highly of my tale. *grins insanely*
Still not quite where I expected to be:
Chapter Twenty: The little talk nobody EVER wants to have (and its not the birds and the bees)
A week is a long time to keep a secret at Hogwarts: it is an almost impossible thing to do. Hogwarts was almost famed for its highly effective grapevine. As Dumbledore himself had once said: it 'is a complete secret so, naturally, the whole school knows.'
But the thing this year was, *no* one knew. Possibly the most damning, damaging, dangerous, *controversial* secret in all the school's history and no one knew that had not been specifically told.
But then, Harry supposed, the secret *had* been kept for quite literally longer than he had even lived. Of course, for much of that time, only two living souls knew the truth.
And yet, and yet....
Now so many more people knew. A select number of the faculty.... Harry's godfather and his best friends.... And Ron wasn't the most discreet person in the world. Harry or Hermione was constantly hitting him about the head and arms to shut him up; Sakuna had even sunk his teeth into Ron's ankle once to prevent him letting the secret slip.
Still, the grapevine did still seem to be working to some extent. Harry was sure Draco Malfoy *knew* there was a secret waiting to be discovered, even if he didn't know what that secret *was*.
The Slytherin boy had been *watching* Harry. Just.... watching; nothing else. And that was what made it so disconcerting. In Potions class on Thursday afternoon, Harry had felt the pale gray gaze drilling into his shoulder blades all lesson. When he had sneaked a peek at the Slytherin, Draco had - very deliberately - looked from Harry to Severus and back again. He raised an eyebrow and Harry glared and told him to sod off.
Both Gryffindor and Slytherin had lost five points.
The Gryffindors had noticed something too, although they had no idea what it was in relation to. But when a certain redheaded fifth year takes to yelling out, seemingly randomly, 'OW! What the hell was that for?', even the most unobservant of people will eventually notice.
But Draco worried Harry. He always seemed to be *there*. And he always seemed to be *watching*. But he was *looking* without ever *seeing*. Particularly when Harry passed him in the dungeon halls beneath his invisibility cloak. He had slipped past the pacing Slytherin and waited only until his back had turned to whisper the password to his father's rooms (which had rather whimsically been changed to 'prodigal father') and slipping in before the movement was spotted. And when he had emerged two hours later, it was to find the same young Slytherin slouched in the corner of the corridor.
But still and all, in this particular instance, Hogwarts' notorious grapevine had broken down, and Dumbledore had made no gesture to fix it.
Harry was tired of waiting, tired of being perpetually tense; always anticipating the moment when the news broke. Harry *hated* waiting. Of all the things to hate in the world, waiting came second only to Voldemort. He just wasn't any *good* at it. And watching his father so calmly pace the halls of Hogwarts, he decided he must get his impatience from his Dad, James.
Then, on Saturday morning, came a sight that somehow assured him that the waiting was almost over. He didn't know why he was so sure this was so; just some intuition told him that *this* was what Dumbledore had been waiting for.
Harry was standing with Ron and Hermione at the bottom of the stairs up to the castle's grand entrance. Hermione was trying to convince the two boys that they should be doing their homework, Ron was arguing that it was their first weekend back and Harry was trying to ignore the dark, imposing presence of the man who stood six steps above him, listening to Remus chat.
Harry was also aware of Draco Malfoy *lurking* again, but he easily dismissed him as not worthy of his attention. Harry smirked. And there was the old-money, pureblood self-assurance and superiority shining through that could only have come from the Snape side of Harry's heritage.
But as Harry was so handily ignoring Draco, and almost ignoring his father, he was gazing off towards the Forbidden Forest. So fixedly that he didn't even notice the swift-moving black object until it was no more than twenty paces from him.
'Snuffles!' he cried.
Ron and Hermione whipped about, and Harry felt, with the hypersensitivity he hoped would vanish when the truth came out, his father stiffen behind him as he registered the same black shape.
Harry hadn't quite counted on what happened next. But then, Sirius had never been noted for his tact. The sight hit Harry, quite literally.
In very few bounds, Sirius, in his animagus form, had reached Harry's group at the bottom of the stairs. But he didn't slow down. Instead, he *leapt* at Harry, knocking him down. Ron and Hermione jumped back, gaping at Sirius, and Harry fell to the ground, flat on his back.
Sirius then planted himself firmly on Harry's chest and growled, long and low, teeth bared to their greatest extent. He wasn't growling at Harry; rather at the dark figure that had materialised at Harry's head. Harry hadn't known his father could move that fast; Remus was still running down the steps to get to them.
About the spectacle, a crowd was gathering, none game to come closer than five feet. Which was fortunate, because had they come any closer, they surely would have seen the wand Severus clutched covertly in his hand, pointing directly at Sirius's heart. And they certainly would have heard his words.
As it was, only Ron, Hermione, Remus, Harry and, of course, Sirius heard them.
'Get off my son, you godforsaken mongrel.'
It was actually quite amazing how menacing Severus could make a whisper. Harry shivered. Unfortunately, like the good Gryffindor he was, Sirius had more courage than good sense. He laid back his ears, impossibly curled his black lip further and growled louder.
From his prone position, caught in the middle of the confrontation, Harry saw his father's fingers tighten about his wand. Luckily for him, Remus had more good sense than either of the archrivals. He discreetly elbowed Severus in the ribs, and, using his greater-than-human strength, not so discreetly knocked Sirius from Harry's chest. Harry gulped air into his freed lungs and glanced gratefully up at the werewolf. He scrambled to his feet, unsure what to do now. His father and godfather were still eyeing each other dangerously.
'Um,' he said pathetically.
He glanced at the wide-eyed crowd, glanced at the apprehensive Ron and Hermione, glanced at Remus discreetly, impotently trying to break the tension and glanced at the black-ice frozen tableau. He didn't see anyway to break it without *saying* something and anything he said would be overheard.
He stopped.
*Overheard*, certainly, but not necessarily *understood*.
'Pater,' he hissed, careful to use Parseltongue, 'Pater, maybe we should go see Professor Dumbledore?'
Severus's eyes flickered imperceptibly. With no sign, without a word, he pocketed his wand, turned and swept into the castle, leaving a seriously disgruntled, large black dog behind. Not to mention a still gaping crowd of students, one of whom just so happened to be Draco *bloody* Malfoy, who was still *watching*.
Harry stepped closer to Remus and trusted the man's super-human hearing to pick up his barely audible mutter, 'Pater's going to Dumbledore's office and I think Sirius and I should go too, but....' he let his eyes indicate the other students.
Remus nodded his complete understanding, 'I'm sure Ron and Hermione will help me sort it out. You and Sirius go.'
Harry clapped a hand on his godfather's ruff and none-too-gently dragged him up the steps and into the dim Entrance Hall. Once assured the dog would follow him, Harry let go and strode down the halls, muttering at him out of the side of his mouth.
'I hate to say this, Snuffles, but you're an *idiot*. You do realise he could have killed you, don't you?'
The dog at his heels half-whined, half-growled and Harry huffed. He didn't say anything else, just hurried up the steps.
Severus was waiting for them outside the gargoyle. His arms were crossed and his foot seemed to be on the verge of tapping. When he felt Harry arrive at his side, he hissed at the gargoyle, not bothering with the password, 'Open.'
The gargoyle, as intimidated by his tone as Harry was, jumped immediately out of the way. Severus strode up the moving stairs, not content to allow them to carry him to his destination. Harry scurried and Sirius bounded after. When they reached the top and Severus raised a fist and pounded on the door, Harry glanced over his shoulder to find Sirius the man and not Sirius the dog standing there.
He tried a tentative smile. Sirius never saw it, because he was glaring daggers into Severus's back. Severus felt them, too; his back stiffened yet further. Harry was sure the wands were about to come out when the office door swung inwards to reveal the headmaster on the other side.
'Ah Severus!' he exclaimed as though nothing could have delighted him more - 'And Sirius. You've kept our appointment, I see.' - with the possible exception of having two bitter rivals to tea, 'Come in, come in.'
Severus glared and swept into the room, moving to stand against the far wall. Harry shuffled meekly and despondently into the office after him. He couldn't see this meeting going well, by any stretch of the imagination. Unlike Dumbledore.
'And Harry too. I didn't see you there, tucked away behind your father.'
It seemed to Harry that the bleaker the outlook became, the more cheerful Dumbledore got. He slumped into the most inconspicuous chair he could find, wishing he had stayed to help sort out the students outside.
Sirius stalked into the room in his wake and squared of across from Severus. Dumbledore bustled back to his desk and poured tea into four cups and cracked open the ubiquitous tin of lemon drops.
'Tea anyone? Lemon drop? No?' He settled him almost incongruously on the corner of his desk, like he didn't intend to stay there long, 'Then what can I do for you gentlemen?'
Harry blinked. Dumbledore was acting decidedly odd, even for him.
'We have come here, Albus,' Severus direfully intoned, 'To settle this situation once and for all.'
'I see,' said Dumbledore, popping a lemon drop into his mouth, 'I see. And you wish me to arbitrate?'
Sirius growled, 'The only thing that needs arbitration is the duel I intend to challenge that slimy git to.'
'Such creative insults, Black,' sneered Severus.
Harry decided to make himself conspicuous again before his father and godfather ended up killing one another, 'Professor Dumbledore, surely there's something you can do!' he gestured at the two bristling men on opposite sides of the room.
Dumbledore followed the gesture consideringly. He sipped at his tea.
'Oh, I'm afraid there's nothing *I* can do to help, dear boy,' he said in a sickeningly cheerful voice, 'This is all between the three of you.'
He set his teacup aside and rose from the corner of his desk, 'Now, there's tea and lemon drops, and you are free to the use of my office as long as you require.'
He smiled benignly at all three and moved swiftly out the door and down the moving stairs.
Leaving Harry stuck in a room with two men he was sure were bent on killing each other.
Needing something to distract him, Harry raided Dumbledore's desk of a cup of tea and loaded the saucer with lemon drops. He slunk back to his nicely inconspicuous chair and tried to gear himself up to enjoy the fireworks.
Because there was sure to fireworks.
Harry was not long disappointed. It was like watching two ticking bombs, wondering which would go off first. Only, one had a much shorter fuse....
Harry decided it would probably be best if he kept as well out of what was to come as he could.
'I just want to know what you did to James, you low-down Slytherin *snake*,' Sirius spat. Harry could see the animagus's hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.
Severus replied almost lazily, 'Your insults aren't improving, Black. And I didn't *do* anything to James,' he smirked and added, Harry was sure, to simply irk his rival; 'It was more a matter of James doing it to *me*.'
Harry almost groaned. All his father was doing was riling Sirius up, and Severus knew it. Harry wished Dumbledore hadn't left.
'Why, you *bastard*! How *dare* you defame James's name like that! He would never have forced-'
'*Forced*?' hissed Severus, 'Whoever said anything about *force*?' Now Harry could his father's hands working on his forearms where they were crossed, 'I merely meant that it was always *James* that took *me* to the next level of our relationship.
'Not that I believe you deserve to know *any* of this, but it was *James* who first kissed me. *James* who asked me to be his partner. *James* who first said 'I love you'. *James* who asked me to marry him. *James* who impregnated *me*. How dare *you* suggest I would defame my *husband's* name.'
Sirius looked as though every sentence from Severus's mouth had slapped him harshly across the face; even though the vitriol in that tirade hadn't been directed at him, Harry had flinched with each utterance as well. He crunched down hard on a lemon drop.
'I don't believe it,' Sirius stated stubbornly, his complexion pale, 'James would have told me. He was my best friend; he wouldn't have kept something like this from me.'
His hands clenched firmly about his biceps, Severus menaced now, 'I hate to break it to you, *Black*, but you were the entire reason James never told you. You and your homo-phobic tendencies made him terrified of losing your friendship, but it still hurt him to lie to you,' the obsidian eyes narrowed, 'I hated you for that. I *hate* you still for causing him that pain.'
Severus had the upper hand and was using it unmercifully. Sirius was floundering now, grasping at the fragile fragments of the truth, as he knew it.
'James *hated* you,' he faltered, patently unsure of himself and Harry wanted to make them stop this ugly conversation.
Severus smirked, the single nastiest expression Harry had seen on his father's face in a long while, 'Yes, he did. And I hated him. You have Lily to thank for the change.'
'Lily,' spat Sirius with renewed venom, 'And what did you do to *her*, you despicable arsehole? Tear her heart out and hand it to her on a silver platter?'
Severus straightened to his full height and loomed forward, 'Check your facts before you make accusations, imbecile. Lily was my *sister*. I distinctly recall saying as much last time we.... met.'
'So that excuses you treating her like trash?' Sirius's hands were fisted in earnest at his sides now.
'What the hell are you going on about, mutt?'
Sirius sneered at the epithet, 'Surely you weren't so *blind* that you couldn't see that Lily was in *love* with James. Or did you enjoy making her hurt? I'm sure that would be right up your alley.'
Harry drew his legs up onto his chair to make himself smaller and popped another lemon drop into his mouth, sucking it furiously.
Severus gave a bark of harsh and utterly mirthless laughter, 'I'll let you in on a little secret, Black. The only one of the infamous Marauders my little sister ever had a crush on was *you*, much to my ever-lasting disgust.'
Sirius stopped. Severus was systematically destroying his ammunition. Every time he came up with a point, the other man neatly shot it down. It was frustrating and lope-sided. Any rational objection to Snape's relationship with James, or even his relationship with Lily, that he had reasoned out over the past week had been shot to pieces. And it was simply *wrong*. This foul, despicable creature, this Slytherin, this.... *Snape* couldn't have been closer to James and Lily than he had, surely?
It wasn't right, and he'd be damned if he were going to let it happen again.
'I'll fight this, Snape,' he said.
Severus looked a little taken aback and in his inconspicuous corner, Harry drew his knees tighter to his chest and slipped another comforting lemon drop into his dry mouth.
'Fight *what*? There's nothing to fight, Black, and if you had one whit of intelligence in that oversized head of yours, you'd know that.'
Sirius gestured forcefully at Harry and the boy realised he wasn't as inconspicuous as he had hoped, 'I'll fight for custody of Harry.'
Harry blanched and Severus finally exploded. The potions master seemed to swell to twice his actual size, 'WHAT?!
Conversely, Sirius was the calmest he has been in a week, 'Whatever else you may be - James's Prince Charming,' he spat, 'Lily's perfect older brother - there's one thing you're not, Snape. One thing you'll never have a chance in hell of being.'
Sirius took a deliberate step forward and settled in a challenging stance. His voice took on layers of venom, contempt and vitriol, 'You're not a fit father. You're a filthy Death Eater, and that's all you'll ever be.'
Harry winced. Severus, however, relaxed back to his normal size and slipped behind his mask of perpetual control, 'Oh, and you're a fit *god*father?' he sneered, 'A penniless pauper on the run from the law?'
Sirius never stood well against insults, 'I'm not penniless, you arsehole.'
'And I,' Severus hissed, 'Am not a Death Eater. Harry is *my* son.'
'You don't deserve him, Snape,' Sirius said, contempt heavy on his tone.
'Deserve him or not,' spat Severus, 'There's nothing you can do to change the boy's parentage.'
'I never mentioned changing *that*, although I'm sure it would do Harry only good. I just want custody.'
Harry snapped. He decided remaining inconspicuous wasn't worth *this*. He leapt from the chair, teacup and saucer clattering to the ground, lemon drops scattering everywhere.
'STOP IT!' he yelled.
Both Severus and Sirius turned to stare at him, particularly stunned expressions on their faces. Harry didn't care.
'I'm not some sort of prize to be bickered over callously!'
Harry stormed to the door. On the threshold he turned back, 'Right now, if I had to choose, I'd pick *neither* of you. I'd rather be an *orphan*.'
Unfortunately, the doors in Hogwarts' castle never slammed satisfactorily, so Harry had to settle for pounding down the stairs.
If a complete absence of sound can be said to be deafening, this silence certainly was. Even the silver gismos about the office had curiously stopped their whirring and clicking. All the portraits were holding their breaths, watching the two men watch the door.
The door that wasn't opening again.
No black-haired, green-eyed boy was coming back to tell them that he hadn't actually meant what he had just said. And Severus and Sirius were just beginning to realise what they stood to lose if they kept on with this pointless, empty feud.
Sirius shuddered.
Severus wearily rubbed at his eyes, 'I don't like you, Black,' he said.
Sirius retorted, 'The sentiment's mutual, Snape.'
'Will you shut up and *listen* for once in your miserable life?' Severus snapped, 'I don't like you, but I loved James and I love our son, Harry, and for their sakes' alone, I'm going to try my best to tolerate you. If you care for them even half as much as I do, you'll try and do the same.'
Severus paced across the room, brushed past the man who had been his rival for decades and made his way down the stairs, without waiting for a response. *He* didn't need to hear it; Harry did. And Harry needed to hear it from him as well.
TBC
AN: Erm.. okay. Dumblydore was just a little ooc there but I think I needed him to be. Otherwise, I think, he would have played some major part in the conversation that followed and it wasn't really his place to be there.
Whooie. That.... was an interesting ride. To say the least. Did I do good?
Anyways, next chapter both Sev and Siri will have little chats with Harry and with any luck, Siri will even have a chat with Remy. And we might even get to the revelation.
Btw, you can blame.... I think it was Tantz.... for the delay in the revelation. She pointed out that it might be useful for me have this convo at some point.
Alia: Heh. I never thought of that one. But I was thinking about it last night and decided I might write that bit up just as an aside.... Maybe later.
Ayame: I can't believe you did that to Draco, not matter the provocation! Poor Dray. I'm trying desperately to un-alienate Draco, which is why he's so weird in this chapter.... I decided (as much as I love him) to torture Harry a little longer, as this chapter also shows, but we're ALMOST there!
schulyr: Unfortunately, all good things must end. But not for awhile, if I have anything to so with it....
Mikee: What? You don't like my cliff-hangers? *pouts* Not that I LIKE taking Draco down.... Soon enough for Dumbledore to start talking....
leXis 'rmour: I don't exactly know what to do with Remus, or Draco for that matter. But all that WILL come in the sequel. And THANK YOU for answering that question about the actor. I simply couldn't figure it out... I've been to the movie three times now (and counting) and sat through the credits each time trying to figure it out.... Erm, why are you feeling sad over James?
M. F. Luder: so you run a little on-line apothecary do you? Now I know where to go to get all my potion making needs met. Thanks. Poor little Draco is getting his head messed with....
Ariana Deralte: The whole school will be told. Eventually. ^_^ Yuh, you're probably right; the quetzalcoatls would distract Harry in class. *shrugs* He'll get over it.
gwendolyn-flight: Ooo! Two from you! = P Re the whole angst thing.... I think I may have stuffed that up a little....
Myr: Heyla! Hmmm... I'm scrabbling desperately here for a way to save Draco, but I haven't figured out a convincing and ORIGINAL one yet. Must think, must think. And you think Voldemort and Lucius are hypocrites too? Idjits that they are. Different Slytherin factions, hey? Intriguing.
Lisa: lazy. ^_^ *blushes* I had kinda run out things to say which is why I ended it that way. NO great plot or anything. Sev was fun to put back in the role of Potions Professor, only changed.
Night Sword: greetings and welcome to my fic. Don't actually know if you've been here before, but regardless.... Thanks for the high praise. To think you would count me among the best *blushes* And although it sounds it, I am NOT being sarcastic. I love that you think so highly of my tale. *grins insanely*
Still not quite where I expected to be:
Chapter Twenty: The little talk nobody EVER wants to have (and its not the birds and the bees)
A week is a long time to keep a secret at Hogwarts: it is an almost impossible thing to do. Hogwarts was almost famed for its highly effective grapevine. As Dumbledore himself had once said: it 'is a complete secret so, naturally, the whole school knows.'
But the thing this year was, *no* one knew. Possibly the most damning, damaging, dangerous, *controversial* secret in all the school's history and no one knew that had not been specifically told.
But then, Harry supposed, the secret *had* been kept for quite literally longer than he had even lived. Of course, for much of that time, only two living souls knew the truth.
And yet, and yet....
Now so many more people knew. A select number of the faculty.... Harry's godfather and his best friends.... And Ron wasn't the most discreet person in the world. Harry or Hermione was constantly hitting him about the head and arms to shut him up; Sakuna had even sunk his teeth into Ron's ankle once to prevent him letting the secret slip.
Still, the grapevine did still seem to be working to some extent. Harry was sure Draco Malfoy *knew* there was a secret waiting to be discovered, even if he didn't know what that secret *was*.
The Slytherin boy had been *watching* Harry. Just.... watching; nothing else. And that was what made it so disconcerting. In Potions class on Thursday afternoon, Harry had felt the pale gray gaze drilling into his shoulder blades all lesson. When he had sneaked a peek at the Slytherin, Draco had - very deliberately - looked from Harry to Severus and back again. He raised an eyebrow and Harry glared and told him to sod off.
Both Gryffindor and Slytherin had lost five points.
The Gryffindors had noticed something too, although they had no idea what it was in relation to. But when a certain redheaded fifth year takes to yelling out, seemingly randomly, 'OW! What the hell was that for?', even the most unobservant of people will eventually notice.
But Draco worried Harry. He always seemed to be *there*. And he always seemed to be *watching*. But he was *looking* without ever *seeing*. Particularly when Harry passed him in the dungeon halls beneath his invisibility cloak. He had slipped past the pacing Slytherin and waited only until his back had turned to whisper the password to his father's rooms (which had rather whimsically been changed to 'prodigal father') and slipping in before the movement was spotted. And when he had emerged two hours later, it was to find the same young Slytherin slouched in the corner of the corridor.
But still and all, in this particular instance, Hogwarts' notorious grapevine had broken down, and Dumbledore had made no gesture to fix it.
Harry was tired of waiting, tired of being perpetually tense; always anticipating the moment when the news broke. Harry *hated* waiting. Of all the things to hate in the world, waiting came second only to Voldemort. He just wasn't any *good* at it. And watching his father so calmly pace the halls of Hogwarts, he decided he must get his impatience from his Dad, James.
Then, on Saturday morning, came a sight that somehow assured him that the waiting was almost over. He didn't know why he was so sure this was so; just some intuition told him that *this* was what Dumbledore had been waiting for.
Harry was standing with Ron and Hermione at the bottom of the stairs up to the castle's grand entrance. Hermione was trying to convince the two boys that they should be doing their homework, Ron was arguing that it was their first weekend back and Harry was trying to ignore the dark, imposing presence of the man who stood six steps above him, listening to Remus chat.
Harry was also aware of Draco Malfoy *lurking* again, but he easily dismissed him as not worthy of his attention. Harry smirked. And there was the old-money, pureblood self-assurance and superiority shining through that could only have come from the Snape side of Harry's heritage.
But as Harry was so handily ignoring Draco, and almost ignoring his father, he was gazing off towards the Forbidden Forest. So fixedly that he didn't even notice the swift-moving black object until it was no more than twenty paces from him.
'Snuffles!' he cried.
Ron and Hermione whipped about, and Harry felt, with the hypersensitivity he hoped would vanish when the truth came out, his father stiffen behind him as he registered the same black shape.
Harry hadn't quite counted on what happened next. But then, Sirius had never been noted for his tact. The sight hit Harry, quite literally.
In very few bounds, Sirius, in his animagus form, had reached Harry's group at the bottom of the stairs. But he didn't slow down. Instead, he *leapt* at Harry, knocking him down. Ron and Hermione jumped back, gaping at Sirius, and Harry fell to the ground, flat on his back.
Sirius then planted himself firmly on Harry's chest and growled, long and low, teeth bared to their greatest extent. He wasn't growling at Harry; rather at the dark figure that had materialised at Harry's head. Harry hadn't known his father could move that fast; Remus was still running down the steps to get to them.
About the spectacle, a crowd was gathering, none game to come closer than five feet. Which was fortunate, because had they come any closer, they surely would have seen the wand Severus clutched covertly in his hand, pointing directly at Sirius's heart. And they certainly would have heard his words.
As it was, only Ron, Hermione, Remus, Harry and, of course, Sirius heard them.
'Get off my son, you godforsaken mongrel.'
It was actually quite amazing how menacing Severus could make a whisper. Harry shivered. Unfortunately, like the good Gryffindor he was, Sirius had more courage than good sense. He laid back his ears, impossibly curled his black lip further and growled louder.
From his prone position, caught in the middle of the confrontation, Harry saw his father's fingers tighten about his wand. Luckily for him, Remus had more good sense than either of the archrivals. He discreetly elbowed Severus in the ribs, and, using his greater-than-human strength, not so discreetly knocked Sirius from Harry's chest. Harry gulped air into his freed lungs and glanced gratefully up at the werewolf. He scrambled to his feet, unsure what to do now. His father and godfather were still eyeing each other dangerously.
'Um,' he said pathetically.
He glanced at the wide-eyed crowd, glanced at the apprehensive Ron and Hermione, glanced at Remus discreetly, impotently trying to break the tension and glanced at the black-ice frozen tableau. He didn't see anyway to break it without *saying* something and anything he said would be overheard.
He stopped.
*Overheard*, certainly, but not necessarily *understood*.
'Pater,' he hissed, careful to use Parseltongue, 'Pater, maybe we should go see Professor Dumbledore?'
Severus's eyes flickered imperceptibly. With no sign, without a word, he pocketed his wand, turned and swept into the castle, leaving a seriously disgruntled, large black dog behind. Not to mention a still gaping crowd of students, one of whom just so happened to be Draco *bloody* Malfoy, who was still *watching*.
Harry stepped closer to Remus and trusted the man's super-human hearing to pick up his barely audible mutter, 'Pater's going to Dumbledore's office and I think Sirius and I should go too, but....' he let his eyes indicate the other students.
Remus nodded his complete understanding, 'I'm sure Ron and Hermione will help me sort it out. You and Sirius go.'
Harry clapped a hand on his godfather's ruff and none-too-gently dragged him up the steps and into the dim Entrance Hall. Once assured the dog would follow him, Harry let go and strode down the halls, muttering at him out of the side of his mouth.
'I hate to say this, Snuffles, but you're an *idiot*. You do realise he could have killed you, don't you?'
The dog at his heels half-whined, half-growled and Harry huffed. He didn't say anything else, just hurried up the steps.
Severus was waiting for them outside the gargoyle. His arms were crossed and his foot seemed to be on the verge of tapping. When he felt Harry arrive at his side, he hissed at the gargoyle, not bothering with the password, 'Open.'
The gargoyle, as intimidated by his tone as Harry was, jumped immediately out of the way. Severus strode up the moving stairs, not content to allow them to carry him to his destination. Harry scurried and Sirius bounded after. When they reached the top and Severus raised a fist and pounded on the door, Harry glanced over his shoulder to find Sirius the man and not Sirius the dog standing there.
He tried a tentative smile. Sirius never saw it, because he was glaring daggers into Severus's back. Severus felt them, too; his back stiffened yet further. Harry was sure the wands were about to come out when the office door swung inwards to reveal the headmaster on the other side.
'Ah Severus!' he exclaimed as though nothing could have delighted him more - 'And Sirius. You've kept our appointment, I see.' - with the possible exception of having two bitter rivals to tea, 'Come in, come in.'
Severus glared and swept into the room, moving to stand against the far wall. Harry shuffled meekly and despondently into the office after him. He couldn't see this meeting going well, by any stretch of the imagination. Unlike Dumbledore.
'And Harry too. I didn't see you there, tucked away behind your father.'
It seemed to Harry that the bleaker the outlook became, the more cheerful Dumbledore got. He slumped into the most inconspicuous chair he could find, wishing he had stayed to help sort out the students outside.
Sirius stalked into the room in his wake and squared of across from Severus. Dumbledore bustled back to his desk and poured tea into four cups and cracked open the ubiquitous tin of lemon drops.
'Tea anyone? Lemon drop? No?' He settled him almost incongruously on the corner of his desk, like he didn't intend to stay there long, 'Then what can I do for you gentlemen?'
Harry blinked. Dumbledore was acting decidedly odd, even for him.
'We have come here, Albus,' Severus direfully intoned, 'To settle this situation once and for all.'
'I see,' said Dumbledore, popping a lemon drop into his mouth, 'I see. And you wish me to arbitrate?'
Sirius growled, 'The only thing that needs arbitration is the duel I intend to challenge that slimy git to.'
'Such creative insults, Black,' sneered Severus.
Harry decided to make himself conspicuous again before his father and godfather ended up killing one another, 'Professor Dumbledore, surely there's something you can do!' he gestured at the two bristling men on opposite sides of the room.
Dumbledore followed the gesture consideringly. He sipped at his tea.
'Oh, I'm afraid there's nothing *I* can do to help, dear boy,' he said in a sickeningly cheerful voice, 'This is all between the three of you.'
He set his teacup aside and rose from the corner of his desk, 'Now, there's tea and lemon drops, and you are free to the use of my office as long as you require.'
He smiled benignly at all three and moved swiftly out the door and down the moving stairs.
Leaving Harry stuck in a room with two men he was sure were bent on killing each other.
Needing something to distract him, Harry raided Dumbledore's desk of a cup of tea and loaded the saucer with lemon drops. He slunk back to his nicely inconspicuous chair and tried to gear himself up to enjoy the fireworks.
Because there was sure to fireworks.
Harry was not long disappointed. It was like watching two ticking bombs, wondering which would go off first. Only, one had a much shorter fuse....
Harry decided it would probably be best if he kept as well out of what was to come as he could.
'I just want to know what you did to James, you low-down Slytherin *snake*,' Sirius spat. Harry could see the animagus's hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.
Severus replied almost lazily, 'Your insults aren't improving, Black. And I didn't *do* anything to James,' he smirked and added, Harry was sure, to simply irk his rival; 'It was more a matter of James doing it to *me*.'
Harry almost groaned. All his father was doing was riling Sirius up, and Severus knew it. Harry wished Dumbledore hadn't left.
'Why, you *bastard*! How *dare* you defame James's name like that! He would never have forced-'
'*Forced*?' hissed Severus, 'Whoever said anything about *force*?' Now Harry could his father's hands working on his forearms where they were crossed, 'I merely meant that it was always *James* that took *me* to the next level of our relationship.
'Not that I believe you deserve to know *any* of this, but it was *James* who first kissed me. *James* who asked me to be his partner. *James* who first said 'I love you'. *James* who asked me to marry him. *James* who impregnated *me*. How dare *you* suggest I would defame my *husband's* name.'
Sirius looked as though every sentence from Severus's mouth had slapped him harshly across the face; even though the vitriol in that tirade hadn't been directed at him, Harry had flinched with each utterance as well. He crunched down hard on a lemon drop.
'I don't believe it,' Sirius stated stubbornly, his complexion pale, 'James would have told me. He was my best friend; he wouldn't have kept something like this from me.'
His hands clenched firmly about his biceps, Severus menaced now, 'I hate to break it to you, *Black*, but you were the entire reason James never told you. You and your homo-phobic tendencies made him terrified of losing your friendship, but it still hurt him to lie to you,' the obsidian eyes narrowed, 'I hated you for that. I *hate* you still for causing him that pain.'
Severus had the upper hand and was using it unmercifully. Sirius was floundering now, grasping at the fragile fragments of the truth, as he knew it.
'James *hated* you,' he faltered, patently unsure of himself and Harry wanted to make them stop this ugly conversation.
Severus smirked, the single nastiest expression Harry had seen on his father's face in a long while, 'Yes, he did. And I hated him. You have Lily to thank for the change.'
'Lily,' spat Sirius with renewed venom, 'And what did you do to *her*, you despicable arsehole? Tear her heart out and hand it to her on a silver platter?'
Severus straightened to his full height and loomed forward, 'Check your facts before you make accusations, imbecile. Lily was my *sister*. I distinctly recall saying as much last time we.... met.'
'So that excuses you treating her like trash?' Sirius's hands were fisted in earnest at his sides now.
'What the hell are you going on about, mutt?'
Sirius sneered at the epithet, 'Surely you weren't so *blind* that you couldn't see that Lily was in *love* with James. Or did you enjoy making her hurt? I'm sure that would be right up your alley.'
Harry drew his legs up onto his chair to make himself smaller and popped another lemon drop into his mouth, sucking it furiously.
Severus gave a bark of harsh and utterly mirthless laughter, 'I'll let you in on a little secret, Black. The only one of the infamous Marauders my little sister ever had a crush on was *you*, much to my ever-lasting disgust.'
Sirius stopped. Severus was systematically destroying his ammunition. Every time he came up with a point, the other man neatly shot it down. It was frustrating and lope-sided. Any rational objection to Snape's relationship with James, or even his relationship with Lily, that he had reasoned out over the past week had been shot to pieces. And it was simply *wrong*. This foul, despicable creature, this Slytherin, this.... *Snape* couldn't have been closer to James and Lily than he had, surely?
It wasn't right, and he'd be damned if he were going to let it happen again.
'I'll fight this, Snape,' he said.
Severus looked a little taken aback and in his inconspicuous corner, Harry drew his knees tighter to his chest and slipped another comforting lemon drop into his dry mouth.
'Fight *what*? There's nothing to fight, Black, and if you had one whit of intelligence in that oversized head of yours, you'd know that.'
Sirius gestured forcefully at Harry and the boy realised he wasn't as inconspicuous as he had hoped, 'I'll fight for custody of Harry.'
Harry blanched and Severus finally exploded. The potions master seemed to swell to twice his actual size, 'WHAT?!
Conversely, Sirius was the calmest he has been in a week, 'Whatever else you may be - James's Prince Charming,' he spat, 'Lily's perfect older brother - there's one thing you're not, Snape. One thing you'll never have a chance in hell of being.'
Sirius took a deliberate step forward and settled in a challenging stance. His voice took on layers of venom, contempt and vitriol, 'You're not a fit father. You're a filthy Death Eater, and that's all you'll ever be.'
Harry winced. Severus, however, relaxed back to his normal size and slipped behind his mask of perpetual control, 'Oh, and you're a fit *god*father?' he sneered, 'A penniless pauper on the run from the law?'
Sirius never stood well against insults, 'I'm not penniless, you arsehole.'
'And I,' Severus hissed, 'Am not a Death Eater. Harry is *my* son.'
'You don't deserve him, Snape,' Sirius said, contempt heavy on his tone.
'Deserve him or not,' spat Severus, 'There's nothing you can do to change the boy's parentage.'
'I never mentioned changing *that*, although I'm sure it would do Harry only good. I just want custody.'
Harry snapped. He decided remaining inconspicuous wasn't worth *this*. He leapt from the chair, teacup and saucer clattering to the ground, lemon drops scattering everywhere.
'STOP IT!' he yelled.
Both Severus and Sirius turned to stare at him, particularly stunned expressions on their faces. Harry didn't care.
'I'm not some sort of prize to be bickered over callously!'
Harry stormed to the door. On the threshold he turned back, 'Right now, if I had to choose, I'd pick *neither* of you. I'd rather be an *orphan*.'
Unfortunately, the doors in Hogwarts' castle never slammed satisfactorily, so Harry had to settle for pounding down the stairs.
If a complete absence of sound can be said to be deafening, this silence certainly was. Even the silver gismos about the office had curiously stopped their whirring and clicking. All the portraits were holding their breaths, watching the two men watch the door.
The door that wasn't opening again.
No black-haired, green-eyed boy was coming back to tell them that he hadn't actually meant what he had just said. And Severus and Sirius were just beginning to realise what they stood to lose if they kept on with this pointless, empty feud.
Sirius shuddered.
Severus wearily rubbed at his eyes, 'I don't like you, Black,' he said.
Sirius retorted, 'The sentiment's mutual, Snape.'
'Will you shut up and *listen* for once in your miserable life?' Severus snapped, 'I don't like you, but I loved James and I love our son, Harry, and for their sakes' alone, I'm going to try my best to tolerate you. If you care for them even half as much as I do, you'll try and do the same.'
Severus paced across the room, brushed past the man who had been his rival for decades and made his way down the stairs, without waiting for a response. *He* didn't need to hear it; Harry did. And Harry needed to hear it from him as well.
TBC
AN: Erm.. okay. Dumblydore was just a little ooc there but I think I needed him to be. Otherwise, I think, he would have played some major part in the conversation that followed and it wasn't really his place to be there.
Whooie. That.... was an interesting ride. To say the least. Did I do good?
Anyways, next chapter both Sev and Siri will have little chats with Harry and with any luck, Siri will even have a chat with Remy. And we might even get to the revelation.
Btw, you can blame.... I think it was Tantz.... for the delay in the revelation. She pointed out that it might be useful for me have this convo at some point.