Hipa- Thanks! You're my only reviewer you know, this section doesn't get much reading. N E ways, this chapter is for you.

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, if I did then Peter Pettigrew would be Sirius road kill pun intended, insert motorcycle engine rev here

CH2- Nausea

Sirius Black had never been more pissed off. When he'd stormed out of the library he convinced himself it was because had he stayed any longer he would have wrapped his hands around the pale slender throat of the Slytherin.

But something in the back of his mind let out an insulting whisper. "You're afraid of what other painful truths he might have to say. Perhaps Snivellus is more intelligent than you gave him credit for."

He growled causing Remus to look up at him with a quirked brow. Remus had always taken a back seat in their prank playing making quiet sighs when they went too far and giving lectures when they needed a definite rein in. And Remus knew all the signs that either James or Sirius had to be soothed unless he wanted them in detention for the next month.

Sirius, unlike James, hated being soothed. It made him realize how easily he could be controlled and manipulated by his emotions. That's why when Remus moved across the room with a smoothness only comparable to the gait of a wolf, Sirius glared at him. "Sod off Remus, I don't need a bloody hug."

Remus smiled calmly. "Sirius, I'd no sooner hug you in this mood than I would hug a rabid Hippogriff. I value my life, and my arms." he said smoothly.

Sirius looked at him warily, Remus wouldn't really have hugged him but the calmness presented by the lycanthrope mean he planned to nullify the situation. "I don't want a bloody lecture."

"I wouldn't dream of it." said Remus tranquilly.

Remus sat next to him even as he received a glare that could sent a blind flobberworm running for the hills despite their obvious lack of legs. It took three seconds. "He makes me mad! How dare he say that? I should have bashed his face in! Remus are you listening?"

"Of course Sirius. And if you'd calm down, I could understand what in Merlin you were talking about."

Sirius took a deep breath, allowing his head to clear despite his stubborn will to remain angry. "Snivellus."

Remus simply raised a brow and finally managed to get Sirius to tell the whole story. By the time he was done Remus was still nodding thoughtfully.

"It seems to me Sirius, that this was all your fault." said Remus finally.

Sirius opened his mouth to agree until his mind processed what Remus had said. "What?" roared Sirius furiously.

Now, if there were only two people that wouldn't cringe at such a roar, Remus was indefinitely one of them. And he proved this on more than one occasion. Remus remained entirely calm as his friend ranted furiously about how the slight wizard had started it and Remus rolled his eyes further infuriating his friend. Finally he held up his hand.

"Sirius. Stop. From your story, it sounds like Severus was simply unlucky enough to walk in on you and one of your trollops. When you insulted her, she left, and you took it out on him. It's natural that he should retaliate, though it sounds as if you scared him pretty badly."

Sirius fumed. Remus was intelligent. Very intelligent, and it wasn't often that one would find a flaw in any of his arguments. This wasn't one of those times. He glared out the window but he was as close to calm as he was going to get even if that meant he was sullen.

One image ran through his mind. Terrified black eyes sparking to life and bearing a fire that almost frightened him. He hated being afraid.

XxXxX

Severus walked into potions more quietly than usual that day sitting in the back. Though it was his favorite class, sitting in the front to listen to the teacher better would end badly. He peered about the room to see if the Marauders were there yet but they were not. As the minutes ticked by and his enemies didn't show up he sighed in relief. It appeared they had ditched.

"Why so reassured Snivellus?" whispered a voice right behind his ear.

He spun around so fast he nearly knocked over his cauldron. Behind him stood James and Sirius smirking while Remus looked off in disinterest while Peter grinned bearing overly large teeth and chilling maliciousness.

Severus was prepared to sputter an answer when the potion master glared in their direction. "Boys! Didn't I tell you to pair up? Never mind I'll do it for you! Pettigrew Lupin, Potter Evans, Black and Snape."

Snape froze. It was cliché. There was no other word for it. When it rained it poured. He shouldn't have put all his eggs in one basket, etc.

Black had an unreadable expression on his handsome face but it couldn't mean anything good.

XxXxX

"…Look…Black…We both know I'm an ace in potions, so just let me finish the potions without a hitch, we both get a good grade," said Snape as evenly as he could. It didn't help that Sirius' eyes were focused coolly on him.

"Fine."

Severus barely managed to bite back a relieved sigh as he began walking off towards the shelves of ingredients- right before his wrist was grasped painfully in a strong hold. "Don't think you're getting off so easily Snape. Meet me in the library during lunch."

Chills and nausea.

Nothing good could come of this.

XxXxX

Though Black had casually leaned forward to talk to James and Lily leaving Severus alone for the most part, he'd still been nervous. Black's warning lingered in his mind causing his stomach to turn flip-flops. Had it been before their encounter in the library he might have scoffed and even thrown a hex. But now he had the chilling suspicion that Black knew he slept in the library.

It was ridiculous. Anyone who saw their normal social interactions would see Snape as the threatening bad guy, not Black who would only be seen as a mischievous jokester by any but the closest onlookers. It was enough to have Snape adding a little too much firefly wing to the potion, he added some Bristle boar hair to nullify the effect but his hands were still shaky.

Eventually he finished his potion early and the teacher noticed what he thought was nausea in the potentially budding young student and sent him to the nurse. But not before Black could send him a casual but meaningful glance.

XxXxX

Snape had no want or need to be bothered by Madam Pomfrey despite the fact that the twenty year old nurse was quite beautiful she was far too fussy and observing for his tastes. So he did the next best thing.

He could have moaned as the hot water poured down his back and the lather from the shampoo washed out all the grime.

The dirt came off his body leaving him scented pleasantly of soap, his acne wasn't happening as much as usual because he'd gotten a good potion in class to prevent such a thing, and it felt marvelous to be clean again.

It felt so good that it almost didn't matter that Sirius intended to drag him behind a shelf and re-break his nose. Okay, so his rapture didn't dull the eminent fear. But there had to be some truth to the stereotypes surrounding the houses…Right? Sirius wouldn't really beat him senseless…or so he hoped.

In the end he reluctantly got out, dried himself, and garbed himself in fresh robes. "Impervious!" he said drying his hair. When he'd done so he was left with a shoulder length cascade of silk.

He pulled out a comb and brushed it out before tying it back with a bit of green ribbon. Luckily for him this had become a trend when Sirius had started doing it. He simply couldn't abide putting rubber bands in his hair and the girls scrunches didn't appeal to him either. In the end he had to say he looked better groomed than he had in months.

He intended fully to walk into the library with a snide look plastered to his face and have a verbal spar with Black until he either got the shit beaten out of him or goaded the Gryffindor into storming off again, as unlikely as that was.

Either way, he had more pride than people gave him credit for with his normally disheveled appearance and he had no intention of cowering as Black clearly expected. He sighed. Heaven help him he was about to have the crap beaten out of him.

XxXxX

It wasn't his style. It really wasn't. If Sirius Black intended to beat the crap out of someone he did it. No 'meet me by the flagpole' crap for him. But he'd done it and how he was waiting for Severus Snape to appear in the library, and he knew he would.

Even if he was a greasy little prat, he was a dignified greasy little prat.

Why on earth he'd gotten the sudden urge to speak to said dignified greasy little prat in private was a mystery to him. But then, he'd never been one to deny himself what he wanted. So he sat down in the alcove where Snape apparently frequented quite often, a section on Defense of the Dark arts. How suitable. It appeared more frequented than anyone might have guessed.

Hidden about were articles required for occupation. In other words, Sirius had a strong suspicion that more often than not Snape slept there to avoid his cruel housemates. And why not? The Slytherin weren't any kinder to each other than to anyone else, unless you were their leader, like Lucius Malfoy. Luckily for Snape, Lucius was a year ahead and didn't even seem to have noticed he existed.

Not that Sirius cared, it was just a thought.

It was when he heard footsteps that he was taken from his reverie and tossed into shock. Before him stood the slender form of Snape, but not as he'd ever seen it before.

XxXxX

When that slate gaze focused on him Snape's mouth went dry and only two thoughts ran through his mind. One was on a muggle documentary he'd seen in muggle studies on what to do when met with a wild dog. The other was a spell that could turn the floor beneath him into quicksand- if he could get his wand without being hexed.

Either way, when Sirius began walking towards him the sneer left his face and his limbs became completely immobilized. Sirius looked him up and down before circling him. That's when some semblance of Slytherin pride snapped back to him. "What's the matter with you? If it's at all possible you look even stupider than usual!" said Snape allowing his wand to slip from his sleeve down into his slender hand.

'BAM!'

It didn't matter. His hands- along with his wand- were pinned above his head against a bookshelf and with a quick jerk his wand had clattered to the floor as Sirius continued his scrutiny. Something in that scrutiny caused all of Snape's former bravado to drip off him and into the floorboards.

He shrunk in on himself wanting to reveal as little as possible to Sirius whose eyes felt to be raking his soul. Sirius shook him a bit. "Stop that." he commanded calmly.

That just called it. Snape began struggling, using all his strength against the larger boy. But between missing breakfast and lunch and the fact that Sirius was far stronger and more athletic than him it didn't do any good. "Let me go damn it!" snapped Snape.

Snape was silenced but not by any spell or charm. No, Sirius had pressed his lips roughly against his own and began plundering his mouth. At first Severus was shocked. And who wouldn't be? His worst enemy had just pinned him to a wall, most likely to bash his head into it, and had instead apparently decided to snog him senseless.

When the full of the situation occurred to him he began to struggle like mad once again, clawing at Sirius' wrists and trying to turn his head, either way the other boy didn't seem to notice. Suddenly, Sirius just dropped him on the floor leaving him to glare up panting.

He was, needless to say, more than a tad perturbed and even more disturbed at the thoughtful look on Sirius' face. "Well well Snivellus, What have you been hiding from the world eh?"

With that Sirius Black turned his back on Severus Snape leaving himself completely open as he made his grand and calm exit. But it didn't matter. The wand may have been at the tip of Snape's fingers but nothing could have been further from his mind.

His fingers traveled to his bruised lips even as the bruises on his upper arms and wrists continued to throb. One thought ran through his head repeatedly. "But…Aren't I repulsive?"

XxXxX

Needless to say, when Sirius returned looking like the cat that nabbed the canary, Remus was more than a little worried. "Sirius…Where's Snivellus?"

Smirk.

"Probably still in the library."

That couldn't be good.

"Sirius! How could you!" admonished Remus. "I really don't think he did anything this time!"

Sirius simply ignored him and continued up to the dorms with a dazed look on his face. Little did Remus know, it wasn't a smile that denoted that his violence had been sated, but a smile that meant he knew a secret, and he intended to keep it. And that secret was Severus Snape.