1James and Sirius had ample time to accomplish something productive before their lunch with Lily, but they chose to indulge in a much deserved day off. Both had no obligations until their evening practice session, since their Quidditch team had competed in and won a tournament the week prior, and they didn't have a match for a week and a half.
Both Sirius and James were a little put out by the fact that they weren't getting any information on why their enemy had been entrusted with a position at Hogwarts, and they were tired from a sleepless night. They decided to bypass the Quidditch pitch in their fatigue, and they made their way onto the grounds, and sat under a tree beside the lake.
They sat in silence wearing incredibly serious looks that their old professors would have sworn were impossible for the two, and thought.
Sirius' mind wandered to Snape. Sirius had always assumed that Snape was evil, and it unnerved him that he may be wrong, but it unnerved him even more that he might be right.
Sirius' own parents were openly supportive of the shifty group bent on removing "unworthy" people from their midst, and Sirius had spent his whole life avoiding and separating himself from people like that.
It'd been easy enough to get along with them in his earlier years: he was always such a carefree boy and his family just assumed he'd grow into their loyalties. But when finally pressured into telling what he truly thought, he'd been disowned. He hated his family just as they hated him. He'd even gone to school with his younger brother, who was now a sixth year, for years without speaking to him.
The weather was unusually warm for December, and the guys decided to take advantage of the unfrozen lake. While Sirius thought, he began throwing stoned into the lake, and before he knew it, all of the stones around him were gone.
"Toss me some rocks, Prongs?" he requested of James.
There was no reply, and when Sirius glanced at James, he was surprised to see that James had fallen asleep.
"Lucky chap!" he muttered, yawning.
Sirius stood, knowing that they couldn't fall asleep and miss lunch. He was starving, and tempted to go to the kitchens and get something to eat. But he didn't want to leave James, and he knew Lily was expecting them to eat with her. So he paced back and forth on the lakeshore.
Sirius was just about to wake James and head back to the castle, when he saw Severus Snape exit through the main doors and head toward the lake where James and Sirius were.
Sirius was sure that Snape didn't see them, or he wouldn't have come this far. Snape had never been one to openly seek the company of his enemies, especially ones who had embarrassed him so many times in front of his peers, among other things.
Snape was actually headed outside to think. The lake was good for that. He was in a lot of danger, being in the situation that he was in. He would be acting as a spy, a dangerous job, but his penance for getting mixed up in the wrong group of friends.
That was the ultimatum Dumbledore had given him, and he wouldn't refuse the man that had given him his life back. He was actually relieved at finally coming clean to someone, and was anxious to prove himself worthy of the trust that he had undeservingly been granted with.
That's what had discouraged him. He'd only been here a day; hadn't even begun teaching when he'd run into Potter and Black again, and had been unable to hold his tongue. They'd been the reason he lost his temper earlier, and they could very well cost him his job.
Those boys were why Snape had been prideful and taken so long to come clean; Snape didn't want to admit that they'd been right. He hated them. They were such unbearable torments, getting away with everything save murder. Snape never would understand why people loved them so much.
Of course he'd expected to run into some of his old classmates; he knew that Lily worked at Hogwarts and had even welcomed her company, assuming that she would forgive his poor judgment and accept him as a friend even with his sketchy background. She'd never been judgmental. What he had forgotten was that Lily had married that insufferable Potter. A stupid thing to forget, as he'd been forced by his status to attend the large event.
He had tried to ignore the marriage through his pretense of disinterest. If he had remembered, he wouldn't have agreed to work at Hogwarts, putting himself on a day to day basis with someone he detested so much.
Snape glanced up and was surprised to see Sirius Black standing just a few feet away, glaring. Sirius' family and his family were quite close. In their younger years, they'd actually spent summers with each other, though they were never attached. But when they'd started school, and Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor, their casual friendship had ended.
Sirius had been an oddity in his family and was treated badly at home. Although he was a family outcast, he had been popular at school; well received as a handsome, careless wise-guy with physical and intellectual talent. Snape would never admit, even to himself, that he envied Sirius.
Snape saw his enemy look down at James' sleeping form, and expected him to wake James up. Sirius considered it for a minute, and decided against it. He wanted to talk to Snape alone. Finally, Sirius looked up.
"I'm going to say this once,"Sirius said through clenched teeth, "I have no idea what you think you're doing, but you'd better not cross the line. Don't go near Lily and don't try anything funny. Yu may have fooled Dumbledore, but I know who and what you are, and I'm watching you."
Snape held his tongue. He didn't want to lose control again: Sirius Black wasn't worht that.
"You'd better get out of here before I decide to wake James up," Sirius warned, "because right now, he wants to kill you."
Snape was torn. He didn't want to take that abuse from Sirius, but there was no way he could take on Sirius and James together. It was arguable whether he could take on just one. And he didn't want to prove himself unreliable to Dumbledore. In the end, good sense won out. He silently turned and walked back to the castle, breathing deeply in an effort to calm himself.
