A/N: Sorry it's been ages. The world has moved on. Ahem, sorry again, I've just finished Steven King's The Dark Tower. Anyways…I am back, and hoping to get into the habit of writing regularly again. This is dedicated, once again, to my own little Padfoot and Prongs whom I miss like nothing else. This chapter was written almost solely to give Peter a cool moment so I'd be really interested in feedback from that bit.
Disclaimer: After 14 chapters do you really need this? Not mine.
Chapter 15: Quidditch 3
Sirius gripped the basin in the empty toilets. Dimly he realised that he was holding on so hard that his knuckles were white. Oh to be back at Hogwarts he thought passionately. Then shook his head, what self respecting teenager longed to be at school during the summed holidays? He quickly revised the thought, oh to be at James's.
If he imagined hard enough, he could not only see the room (ridiculously untidy from James's whirlwind tendencies) but sense it. It would smell of the brand of floor polish the house elf used and Mrs. Potter's perfume and whatever was being made for dinner that evening. And in the current August heat it would be pleasantly cool.
A slight smile crossed his face as an image of himself and James walking down to the field to play Quidditch whilst his father called from the doorway that they weren't to fly too high or they would be seen by the local muggles came to mind. But beneath the smile were layers of bitterness and tension. It was where he wanted to be so much. It was where he should have been. Any other holiday…his parents would have railed and stormed about him spending the whole summer in the company of a Potter but they would have let him go just to be rid of him. What would they have done afterwards? They might send a howler? That was almost customary, and they couldn't be too vicious where others might hear. They might have beaten him before he left. But, he acknowledged, he would have been surprised if they hadn't and he would have taken that as fair payment. Gods, he wanted to be at James's. And if it wasn't for the Malfoy's he would have been.
If only they would ignore him. If only they would leave him alone to brood on how much fun his friends were having without him. If only they didn't have Carina. He opened his eyes and fixed his level gaze on the mirror.
Snape was standing behind him.
He whirled around so fast that it was hard to see how he didn't fall, but Sirius had always had a cat like grace. "Sni- Snape. What are you doing here?" he demanded, trying to look as though he had not been fantasising desperately about how else he might have spent his summer.
Snape smirked. Black's gaze and tone were level but it was clear that he was disconcerted. It also brought Snape no little amusement to see him too afraid of the consequences to use the condescending nickname he and Potter threw at him when they were at school. "I want an apology Black. Your friends really were extremely rude to me," he said, slicking his hair back.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "And no doubt you will force one out of me when you have Malfoy and Bellatrix at your back. For now however, the fact that I have prevented them from continuing will have to suffice."
Snape drew a wand from inside his robes and pointed it unwaveringly at Sirius's chest.
Sirius looked utterly unconcerned by this turn of events. He regarded the wand calmly for a moment before looking back up into Snape's hate filled eyes and saying, "You're going to get expelled Snape? For me? I'm touched but the answer is still no and in a minute I'll demonstrate where else you can keep that wand." He made as if to leave.
"This wand is Bellatrix's."
Sirius froze, "On first name terms with my cousin now are you Snape? I know that you're meant to be related to Grindlewald but I don't know why she tolerates you."
Snape was not to be distracted, "Which means, I can perform magic with it despite being underage. And it is not to be forgotten that Lucius has been teaching me the finer points of the cruciatus curse. You on the other hand…you are wandless."
Sirius would have loved nothing more than to produce a wand with a voilia motion. He was the better dueller by far, and had he been armed, Snape would never have tried this. 'Like you and James would never have tried those hexes on the Slytherin Quidditch team if you hadn't set an immobilising field to affect everyone over a certain height?' chimed in his conscience in Remus's voice. Maybe this was his comeuppance he thought fatalistically. "You do seem to have the advantage over me," he admitted after a moment in a grating voice.
"So an apology, Black, if you would be so kind."
A scowl of the ferocity which Sirius now directed at Snape made the boy fall back a step. Once again Sirius found himself out-manovered and outgunned. Under normal circumstances, he would take out any punishment Snape could devise but if Snape crucioed him, and if he was good at it (which was probable with Malfoy as a teacher) then James and the others would be able to tell. And they would over react; they always did about things like this. But still, argued his badly-dented-but-recovering-pride, it was Snape. It was Snivillus. He'd never apologised to Snape in his life and had no intention of starting now.
Snape had been watching him appraisingly and now he spoke again, "And more important than a simple apology Black, I protected your secret."
For the first time, emotion showed on Sirius's face.
Snape continued, ensuring that the point was thoroughly pushed home. "I did as you wished of me. I prevented Potter finding out just how pathetic you really are. Of course, if you'd rather I tell him, if that would restore your esteem by proving that you don't always give in…"
The scowl deepened, "Checkmate," Sirius bit out sourly. "Alright Snivs, I apologise. Whole heartedly for anything the others have said which has caused you offence. And thank you, for not…betraying me. Are you satisfied now? Will you leave me in peace?"
Snape merely smirked, "I didn't feel that that was sincere Black. I was expecting an apology from the heart."
There was a silence from Sirius who thought he could see where this was going.
"Or failing it being from your heart, I will accept it coming from your knees," continued Snape, proving Sirius right. Didn't they have anything better to do? Didn't he have any other ideas? Did he have to copy Malfoy? Better not point that out though, his basic survival instincts added suddenly, if Snape gets creative it can only be bad news.
Devoid of all other options Sirius lowered himself bitterly to the grimy floor. He could feel the water soaking into his robes. Sirius opened his mouth, just get it over with and go back to the others, just- The door opened.
There, framed in the doorway stood James. Sirius felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.
"Well Black?" prompted Snape, who's face had lit up in unholy glee at this new development.
"I'm…I'm-" but in front of James the words simply wouldn't come.
By now James had stepped into the dimly lit room. His eyes swept the scene quickly taking in every detail and lingering on the wand in Snape's hand. He tried a few times to formulate a sentence before managing, "What are you doing Sirius?" in the determinedly calm voice used for quizzing people on the whereabouts of his Quidditch trading cards. Then he shook his head, deciding that the answer to this was not important right at this moment and turned to Snape, "Let him up."
"Black and I were just settling a small matter Potter, we will be done shortly."
"Let him up," demanded James once again. He didn't know what was going on but he did know that he didn't want to watch Sirius kneel there any longer.
The door began to open once again and Remus called out, "Are you two still in there?" James slammed the door closed.
"In a second Reams! Let. Him. Up. Now!"
"Now Potter, you wouldn't dishonour him by having him shirk an agreement would you?"
"Let-"
"James?"
"In a second Reams!"
"Are there naked women in there or something?" And with that, Remus used his superior strength to force the door open. His eyes also swept the scene briefly and then rose to meet James's questioningly.
James shrugged almost imperceptibly and said, "Snivillus here is taking the 'I know something you don't know approach.'"
Remus nodded. "I'll go. I'll keep Pete out of the way too." But before he could even reach for the door it swung open once again.
"Guys?"
"Go away Pete!" cried Sirius desperately, regaining his voice for the first time in minutes and sounding like a drunk riding a hippogriff.
Peter ignored him. "What's going on?" Like the others he gazed in bemusement at the scene around him. Unlike the others, he did not then stop to ask questions. Understanding nothing but that Snape was hurting Sirius in some way he strode up to the boy, and with all the weight he could muster brought the model broomstick that he had just bought down on his head. The boy dropped like a stone.
For a second there was silence.
"Wow Peter! He had a wand and you didn't care…you just…crash, wallop…wow!" said James.
"Impressive," said Remus, somewhat more articulately.
"You twat," said Sirius as he got shakily to his feet pocketing the wand, "I'll be crucioed for sure when I get back now." Spotting the crestfallen look on Peter's face he quickly added, "Don't worry. It happens a lot. It's nothing desperate."
"So," James began, clearly struggling to bring some normalcy back to the proceedings. Sirius felt a blush once again scorch his features. "Want to go and watch the rest of the Quidditch?"
"Actually, can we…I mean, can we just- Oh never mind," stammered Sirius, finding asking a favour even more difficult than usual.
Remus turned to look at him and Sirius turned away from the penetrating golden gaze. "James, can we just go back to yours? I'm bored."
James hesitated for a fraction of a second, Quidditch was after all Quidditch. Then he smiled, "Yeah, sure. Mum'd kill me if I didn't bring you home for at least one evening. She's been going spare Siri. I think she loves you more than me."
"We'll have to take him," Sirius pointed out prodding Snape distastefully with a toe. "No one's expecting me for a while but he turns up without me…There'll be hell to pay later."
"No problem," said James easily, "We'll lock him in the toy room."
"Alright then," muttered Sirius, and it escaped no one's notice how relieved he looked.
"I'll go and get a portkey. There's a kiosk outside. Hang on."
A few moments later he was back, clutching an old shoe. "It goes in a few moments. Everyone touching it? Someone got Snivelly? Good." And the five boys disappeared.
A/N: Sorry about the ending, I had no idea how to get them out of that situation really. Review to tell me how bad it was. : )
