YAY! New chapter! Sorry it's taken a bit longer, I've got finals right now. Yes, I know this chapter isn't quite as long as the 2nd, but it's longer than the first! And I've cleared 10,000 words! Woohoo! Has anyone figured out the picture addresses yet? Here's a new one, my new favorite:
askandrea dot com slash sally slash sirius.jpg
It's lovely. I know you'll like it.
Time for thanks and such:
Yumi-no-baka: hurray for being my first reviewer!
HPSlashFan: sure you don't want a smooch? ¬_¬
Fany: Yeah, I'm trying to be as realistic as possible.
Jinsei: first, thanks! Second, shhhh!
TheMadHatter33: again, yeah I'm trying to stick to reality, thanks for noticing ^_^
Localgod325. ¬_¬ hi Sam. You're such a dork.
Rikku Motomiya: yay! I'm a favorite!
Viu: so am i…
Neurotic Squirell: whoa. I'm working working working working on it.
Mydracomalfoy: you should! His life sucks, doesn't it?
And very special thanks to my great sister Toni, who has beta-ed every bit of this story. It would suck without her. Seriously.
And now…..*drum roll*
Chapter 3
At five-thirty Severus was awakened by a cool, leathery hand on his forehead.
"Lily?" he squinted in confusion.
"Not by about forty years, Mr. Snape," said the kindly voice of Madame Pomphrey. "I do believe you're just about fit to leave," she stated, looking closely at his left eye. "That eye will still be a shiner, but it won't be as painful as before. And your ribs have healed perfectly."
Severus sat up. "I didn't have a concussion then?"
"Oh, nothing nearly that exciting, no," reassured the nurse. "Just a bump."
He felt over the back of his head, and sure enough there was a knot. As he ran his fingers over it, he noticed that it didn't hurt at all. Pomphrey must have put some kind of pain-relief charm on me, he realized. It reminded him nauseatingly of the way the beating had felt.
The setting sun shone through the west windows of the infirmary, painting the rows of hospital beds a rich pink. The light glistened through shelves of bottles to his right, which cast hazy little reflections all over the white walls. He glanced back to the end of the bed at Madame Pomphrey in her white nurse's hat and apron and noticed that she was writing something on a clipboard.
"Uh, Madame Pomphrey…are you going to–" he started.
"Don't worry dear," she said with a wink. "I've already been sworn to secrecy over the whole matter. Now, you best get a move on or you'll be late for detention."
Severus frowned as he remembered the obligation, and then slowly got up and began to dress. I can picture it now, he thought with a sneer. That fathead gloating over me the whole time…this will be lovely.
•
Sirius had been ten minutes early for the detention, but was not in any hurry to go inside Filch's office. He had been in the place a few times in the past, but the smell was so wretched he almost dreaded it more than Filch himself. Instead of entering, he leaned against the wall outside with his hands deep in his pockets.
I hope Snape shows up. I really don't want Mum and Dad to hear James's twisted version of all this. His thoughts drifted back to the sleeping boy in the infirmary. He doesn't really look that bad when he's sleeping. Maybe it's the lack of a sour expression. They sure did beat him good, though. At that moment, he turned and saw the subject of his thoughts walking carefully along the dark hallway.
It was obvious that Severus was trying to move as little as possible. The stiff fabric of his black robes shifted around his scrawny frame as he shuffled along.
"Hey Snape. Glad you could make it," he said as sarcastically as he could and pushed himself off the wall. Severus scowled at him silently and walked up to the rough wooden door to pause in front of it. Sirius grinned at his hesitation.
"Oh, he's in there all right. I just didn't want to be in that filth for any longer than I had to be, you know?"
Severus sighed and turned to the boy with a look of distaste. "What time is it?"
Sirius raised his eyebrows and quickly reached into his pocket to pull out an old-fashioned brass pocket watch. " It's five fifty-five on the dot," he said as he wound the timepiece. He noticed Severus staring at it and smiled. "It's not electronic. You know how Muggle electronics work in Hogwarts. Or rather, how they don't. You've got to wind it with this little key here," he said as he held up the key on the end of the fob.
Snape smirked at the object and turned back to the intimidating door in front of him. Sirius watched him for a moment before frowning and dropping the watch back into his pocket.
"Look, I just want to say that I'm–" he started, but Severus quickly grasped the doorknob and pushed through into the room.
Sirius grimaced at being cut off, but then shrugged and followed the other boy. He was greeted by a stench that was reminiscent of rotting fish. Inside, under a lantern swinging from the ceiling, Filch was sitting at a sturdy oak desk covered in stacks of papers. Boy, compared to Filch, Severus's skin looks perfect, mused Sirius. Filch's stringy brown hair hung down over his face as he looked over a pamphlet in his hands. He noticed the boys and hastily shoved the pamphlet into a drawer.
The boys approached the desk cautiously and stopped a few feet from it, taking care to stay a good distance from each other as well. The walls were lined with tall filing cabinets with words printed on their fronts. Condensation was dripping from the ceiling. Leaning back, Filch gave them an appraising glance.
"I suppose you'll be 'ere for punishment then," he said with a sinister grin. "I've got something very special arranged just for the occasion, too."
He spun around in his chair to open a high cabinet behind him. When he turned back he was holding two toothbrushes, one green and one red, in his gnarled left hand.
"There's great gobs o' creeping mold all o'er the grout in the dungeons. You'll be starting with the Potions rooms," he snickered and got up from the desk, hooked a finger from his remaining hand through the handle of a rusty metal jug sitting near the door, and shuffled out of the room. Severus immediately followed, but Sirius paused for a moment, and then grudgingly followed as well.
Filch led them meandering through the dank halls and passageways down to the dungeons where they halted at the latticed entrance. There were two torches burning dimly on either wall. The crooked man dragged past the boys and whispered something unintelligible through the frame. The door instantly swung open with a groan. Inside there was nothing but darkness. Filch turned to the two and sneered.
"Go on, then," he gestured towards the abyss.
Hesitatingly, Severus began to walk through the doorway. A few steps in, he heard a little bell ring, and suddenly the room erupted in light. Torches systematically lit one after the other around the expanse of the dungeon and he spun to watch their progress. As he turned, he saw that Sirius was following them as well. The boy looked to Severus briefly and gave a little half-smile.
"I guess I've never seen them turn the lights on before," Sirius said with a shrug.
Filch sneered and set down the jug with a clang. "That over there is where you'll be startin'," he pointed to the far left corner of the room. Turning to Sirius, he held up the toothbrushes.
"Pick a color," he said with a scowl.
Sirius cringed and chose the red toothbrush and Severus reached over for the green.
Filch pointed at the rusty can. "Tha' there's bleach. Pour it on and get scrubbing. Bet'er not be one speck left."
Severus stepped forward eyeing his toothbrush and then the bleach. "But shouldn't we have gloves?"
Filch's face broke into a wide grimace.
"Gloves!" he cackled uncontrollably, walking haltingly away from them. He put on a mocking voice. "Shouldn't we have gloves? Ha!" He suddenly flared around and squinted at them from outside the door.
"NO TALKING," he barked, and the door slammed in their faces with a reverberating boom.
They stood gaping at the entrance until the last echo had died.
"Well," Sirius said shortly. "No gloves then."
Snape smirked and turned to survey the moldy floor. I guess that's why it's called creeping mold, he thought. The residue had long, black, tendril-shaped trails leading all over the floor in a pattern that looked like ivy. He bent down to take a closer look and realized that the substance was deeply imbedded in the grout. It glittered in the torchlight like it was wet, but it felt like dry sand. Sirius sighed.
"Best get started," he said, reaching for the jug. He raised it with a slosh and began to sprinkle the bleach on the floor. "This is certainly going to be a job. I'll bet we spend three nights working on this. How long do we stay each night?"
Severus stood in silence, gripping his toothbrush. Sirius bent over to get splash bleach in the corner, and turned his head back at the other boy. Severus glared back defiantly.
"Right…why don't you start over in that corner there?" suggested Sirius, pointing to the corner to his left. "I'll just try to put a dent in it right here," he pointed to a thick deposit of the stuff at his feet.
Rolling up his sleeves and kneeling onto one knee, he poured a dash of bleach right onto the middle of the lump and started scrubbing. He saw with delight that it seemed to disappear within seconds.
Well that's easy enough! Maybe it won't take so long after all. He moved on to another tendril that looked surprisingly like the first. After rubbing it for a moment, it also disintegrated. He sighed with relief.
We'll be able to finish this today…what's this? He noticed that to his left was a large lump that looked very much like the first two. Suspiciously, he started scrubbing it, watching very closely. As he scrubbed, the material seeped off to one side to form an entirely new spot a few inches away. He huffed angrily.
"Damn. There had to be a hitch," he muttered and glanced to the other boy. Severus seemed to be having similar results. He was swatting at the retreating mold with his free hand while jabbing it with the toothbrush, but it was no use. The substance simply moved off to one side.
Sirius turned back to his own spot of mold and sat in thought. Then, leaning forward, he cupped his hand over the lump. Trying to create a seal around it, he jammed the toothbrush under his thumb and scrubbed furiously. It would have worked, but his hand didn't cover enough of the spot to keep it trapped, and it seeped away. What I need is a few more hands. The answer suddenly hit him, though he wasn't sure he liked it.
Severus had given up on his corner, and was crouched, glowering at the residue. His sleeves hung limply from his elbows and a film of sweat was appearing on his brow. Wish it wasn't so sticky in the dungeons. He wordlessly watched Sirius's attempts at trapping the mold. It kept slipping past a gap and the back of his palm. Severus smirked at the image of the amazing Sirius Black not being able to catch runaway mold.
Sirius struggled a few more times with the mold and then turned to find that Snape was leaning against one of the dank walls, smirking at him.
Sirius squinted back. "Giving up?"
"When you find out how to get rid of it, I'll be glad to help," Severus said sardonically.
"All right, come here, then. I've figured it out," Sirius retorted, gesturing towards himself. Severus gave him a look of skepticism.
"I'm telling you, I know how to stop it. Come down here."
Severus hesitantly knelt beside his archenemy. Sirius cupped his hand around one side of the spot of mold and reached towards the other boy, at which Severus jerked away convulsively.
"What are you doing?" he yelped, a glint of fear in his eyes.
"You idiot, I'm just trying to show you my plan," Sirius rolled his eyes. "You've got to help me keep it from getting away. You heard Filch. 'Not one spot left!'" he imitated.
Severus eyed him suspiciously, but then slowly sank down to the floor again. Sirius smiled at the caution and then began explaining.
"All right, you put your hands on that side of it, and I'll put my hand on this side. If we press them together tight enough, we may be able to stop it." Snape grudgingly put both hands around the spot and Sirius casually put his hand down as well.
The moment their fingertips met, something that felt a bit like a tiny electric shock went up Sirius's arm. Whoa… he thought, stealing a glance at the boy's impassive face. I mean, yecth, he recanted.
"When I say go, press against my hand and the ground as hard as you can. Ready?" he asked. Severus gave a curt nod.
"Go!" he shouted and began to scrub furiously at the spot. With no way to escape, the mold bunched from one side of its fleshy prison to the other, and finally drifted back to the center where it faded away to nothing.
"Ha! I knew it," Sirius beamed. Severus suddenly realized that his fingertips were still touching the other boy's palm and quickly pulled away. Getting to his feet, he began to walk back over to the corner he had previously been working on. Sirius gave him a quizzical glance.
"Uh, you're going to have to help me with the rest of these big ones," he pointed at the large remaining tendrils. Snape frowned, and for a moment Sirius thought he'd have to do the rest by himself. Then the sallow boy sighed and pulled his school robe off, revealing a black vest over a cream shirt and olive green slacks. Rolling up his sleeves, Severus settled his hands around the nearest lump.
Sirius grinned. "Ok, on three. One, two, THREE!" and together, they worked at scrubbing the next spot and the next. An indefinite amount of time later, after most of the tendrils had disappeared, Severus sat back on his haunches and looked thoughtfully at his companion who was still trapping the smaller lumps.
I guess it really wasn't his fault that all this happened. He's still Black though. He watched Sirius try to get up and stumble onto his backside, laughing at himself.
Severus sighed. "Two hours," he stated quietly.
Sirius stopped pouncing on the mold and turned his head towards the other boy, his eyes wide. "Pardon?"
"That's how long we're supposed to be in here. Two hours per evening."
Sirius let his jaw drop melodramatically. "He speaks," he whispered.
"Shut up and tell me the time," Snape said scowling.
Sirius laughed good-naturedly and stood, pulling his watch out of its pocket. He stared at the little brass bauble.
"Snape…we've been in here almost four hours," he said slowly. Severus looked just as surprised.
"Really? Well, I guess Filch forgot about us," he mused and looked around at the clean floor. "I…guess we ought to go then."
Sirius felt his shoulders slump. The last few hours had been almost…fun. "Yeah, we should," he said with more than a little disappointment in his voice. Who knew that having detention with Snivillus Snape could be so pleasant?
Severus turned and gathered up the toothbrushes and jug of bleach, and slinging his discarded robes over one arm, walked silently through the enormous door. Automatically, Sirius stood and walked after the boy. After trudging up several flights of stairs, they were back in a well-lit hallway. Severus turned and looked at Sirius suspiciously.
"Why are you following me?" he stated more than asked. Sirius scowled right back.
"I'm not. My dorm is in this direction too," he replied smugly. Severus looked troubled but kept walking.
They rounded a corner, and suddenly Sirius felt something crunch loudly under his heel. Severus heard the noise, and turned to see Sirius pick up what looked like a piece of black plastic with curved grooves in it. Squinting ahead a ways, he could see larger fragments littering the hall.
"Oh no…" he heard Severus whisper under his breath. The boy bent down to pick up a larger piece and examined it, and quickly took off running down the hall.
Sirius sprinted after him, noticing the black fragments growing progressively as they ran down the corridor. He soon could see the tall suit of armor that stood across from the Slytherin tower entrance. Severus was standing in the middle of the hall, his arms hanging limply. Running up next to him, Sirius saw why the other boy had stopped.
In Severus's hands were two halves of a Muggle record. Or rather, it had been a Muggle record. So that's what that black plastic was, Sirius realized.
Looking down, he saw that there was a jumbled pile of what looked like someone's belongings in the middle of the floor. A silver trunk with its lid hanging on one hinge was in the center, its contents of ripped black clothing strewn about. Books were lying open on the ground, and torn pages were scattered everywhere. What Sirius recognized as a little green turntable was mashed in on one side, as if it had been thrown against the wall. Hundreds of shards of record were covering the pile.
"Whoa. Whose stuff is this?" he glanced to his companion. Severus simply looked off into the distance with a blank expression.
"Mine."
Sirius gulped and surveyed the mess before him. Leave it to Slytherins to stoop even lower, he thought angrily. Snape leaned down and picked up a ripped set of robes, raining down a shower of shards that made Sirius wince. He stepped towards to pile, but Severus turned a glare on him instantly.
"Go away, Black," he hissed.
"Let me help you–" Sirius started. Severus turned to look down at the debris.
"I don't want your help," he replied, and picked up an armful of clothes that he then dumped unceremoniously into the trunk. Sirius watched this painful process for a few minutes, and then cautiously began to pick up the record shards and place them gently in the trunk as well. Snape paused at the other boy's actions, and then sighed and continued cleaning the pile in silence.
"You know," Sirius began. "You can't really stay here."
Severus sneered at the broken trunk. "That's quite an observation, Black. And where do you suggest I go?" he asked sarcastically.
Sirius paused and ran over the options in his head. There was really only one answer. They'd kill me if I brought Snape back to the tower, he thought and cringed. I can hear James now…what's with you and Snivillus? Getting a bit close there, aren't you? But there was no other choice. He wasn't about to let anyone get beat up if he could help it.
"Er…well…" he started and ran a hand through his hair. Severus looked up at him impatiently
"Oh, come on, Snape," he said, drawing out his wand. "Locomotor Trunk!"
The trunk flipped closed haphazardly, levitated off the ground, and began to follow Sirius as he walked back down the hall. Snape jumped to his feet.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he yelped and ran after the boy.
Sirius kept walking. "If you want your trunk, you better follow me," he said curtly.
Severus angrily trailed after Sirius as he strode down the hallway. Where are we going? I just know there is some new trick they're going to pull on me, but I need my trunk! After a few minutes of vigorous walking, they halted in front of the portrait of the fat lady.
"Crackers," said Sirius, and the fat lady gave him a hurt look.
"Well, everyone does seem to think so," she sighed, and the portrait hole swung open. Sirius stepped through and glanced back to Snape.
"Come on, then," he said and pointed into the room. Severus raised his eyebrows and scoffed.
"Oh, no! I'm not going in there! Not on your life!" he yelled, crossing his arms.
Sirius shrugged. "Your choice." He continued on into the Gryffindor common room with the trunk.
Severus growled at Sirius's tenacity. I've got no choice! I must have my trunk, he realized. Sullenly, he hunched down and stepped through the portrait hole. Walking through a short hallway, he emerged into the common room and was awestruck. The Slytherin common room looks nothing like this! Thick red and yellow curtains hung from the walls and the room glowed a faint gold, though there were no torches or candles anywhere to be seen. Looking down, Severus saw that he was standing on a thick oriental tapestry that extended to cover most of the floor. On the left, under a great oak mantle, a large fire blazed lazily in front of two worn in couches. Sirius was laying a blanket out onto one of them.
"I put your trunk there," he pointed to the end of the couch. "You're going to sleep here tonight." Severus opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius cut him off.
"I'm sorry, but you're not in any position to argue. If you want your trunk, you'll have to stay. You may notice that I've put an exceptionally powerful Adhereus Charm on it. It may as well be bolted to the floor."
Severus felt anger swell up inside of him. I don't need charity from anybody! He opened his mouth to say so, but Sirius cut him off again.
"No need to thank me," he said with a wave. Severus saw red. "I'm going to bed, I'll send down some pajamas in a minute. Goodnight," he said and walked off, leaving Severus scowling and grasping for words.
•
Sirius woke in the darkness. Looking out the window he saw that the moon was three quarters full, and it was glowing with an eerie light blue.
I wonder if Snape decided to stay, he wondered sleepily. "Lumos!" he whispered, and his wand lit up under the sheets.
Picking his watch off the nightstand, he saw that it was well after three in the morning. I hope those pajamas fit him all right. Maybe I ought to go check on him…
He slipped his feet out from under the covers and onto the floor, and softly padded past the other beds and crept down the stairs. Reaching the dim common room, he looked over to the crackling fireplace. Peaking over the back of the couch was a shoulder. Sirius grinned inwardly.
He took a seat on the facing couch and watched the sleeping boy. Severus was curled up on the cushions, blanket pulled tightly around him. He had indeed put on the pajamas, and though they weren't quite long enough in the arms, Sirius could see that they fit well enough. Suddenly, something caught his eye.
Severus's jet-black hair was flipped up on the pillow, revealing the back of his neck. There on the pale skin, Sirius saw something. He held his breath and moved to kneel next to the boy to get a closer look. There were about five or six small round scars dotting Severus's neck. Those couldn't have been from yesterday, he thought. There wouldn't have been any scarring. These are old…
Maybe he had been too noisy, or perhaps he was breathing on Severus's neck, because the boy suddenly rolled over and opened his eyes. Sirius froze, unsure of what to do. Severus squinted at him quizzically for a moment in the dim light, and then rolled back over.
Whew…Sirius thought, relaxing a bit. Time to go back to bed. He carefully stepped away from the couch and crept back upstairs to his bed, where he fell fast asleep.