Boy-Snape

Sirius decided to call it quits after a second failed attempt at a game of exploding snaps. Severus had initially been curious about the cards and how they worked, but once Sirius had explained that and moved onto the rules of the game, his interest had waned. During the actual games, he'd done a piss-poor job of paying attention and had to be poked and prodded just about every time it was his turn by either him or Joan. Sirius sure as Hell didn't blame the kid, he'd just found out his mother was dead. And because his mother was actually worth a knut, he was devastated.

With a sigh, he gathered up the cards and put them back in their box. When done, he suggested to Joan and Severus, "Why don't we just have a bit of a lie-down? None of us have had much of a chance to be lazy bums this past couple of days." This suggestion went over rather well, all things considered. Joan nodded agreeably and Severus settled himself flush against her side.

Sirius started to get up to move to the bed next to the two, but the kid grabbed his sleeve and asked, "Aren't you staying with us?" He looked from boy-Snape to Joan, who was already rhythmically petting Severus's hair. When he raised his eyebrow to question if she was alright with the arrangement the kid was proposing, she simply smiled at him.

Given Joan's positive answer, he turned his attention back to Severus. "Yeah, why not?" Sirius replied with a flippant grin. Jumping up and down a little on the infirmary bed, he teased, "Who doesn't like being squished on a single?"

An impression of a smirk passed over Severus's lips before it disappeared entirely as he pressed closer to Joan. "Me and Joan aren't big," he assured Sirius.

"No kidding," he muttered before settling into the empty space on the right side of Severus. Once he had his head propped comfortably on his arms, Sirius began to stare up at the infirmary's ceiling for quite a while in silence. Severus and Joan stayed quiet too, both apparently comfortable with the little bit of peace the three of them had created. In fact, it was so serene (in spite of all the discord they were experiencing) he nearly dozed off into a kip.

However, before Sirius could entirely drop off, Joan whispered, "Professor Dumbledore wrote my family about finding me last night. Or he said he would, anyway, after making sure I was safe in the Dark Tower to transform."

Sirius turned his head to look at the girl, then down at Severus, who had fallen asleep at some point in the last fifteen minutes. She was still staring straight up when he returned his attention to her and, to Sirius's frustration, her profile gave nothing away. "Oh?" he murmured. "That's good news." He paused. "Right?"

He watched Joan suck her lower lip between her teeth. Finally, after a minute of chewing it, she released her newly abused lip and turned her face to meet Sirius's gaze. Her blue eyes were scared and fretful. "It's nearly noon and he hasn't come to speak to me about their reply. Surely if they still wanted me…"

"Hey, don't think like that," Sirius whispered untucking an arm from beneath his head. Reaching out, he grabbed the hand she had resting on her stomach and gave it a brief squeeze. "Maybe he's talking with them right now and trying to coordinate a visit for you all here at Hogwarts."

Joan's features softened with hope. "You think?" she asked. Then, turning her gaze upward once more, she said, "Do you know who I miss most?"

"Who?" he questioned.

The girl shifted to look at Severus's slumbering face. "You might think it was my Mum since I was little like Severus when Greyback stole me, but, really, the ones I've really ached to see since that day are my older brother and sister."

"I can get that," Sirius replied. "I know if I'd been in your situation, I'd probably want to see my brother more than my parents, and I don't even like the twat!"

"My parents weren't bad parents," Joan told him, her face twisted into a frown. "I was the one who wandered off while they were just trying to get Janice her school supplies for her first year at Hogwarts."

Sirius winced. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that… I just understood being more excited to possibly see them again over your mother and father."

Joan nodded. "It's okay." She bit her lip again. Then, timidly, she asked, "Did you know them? My siblings? They're Jack and Janice Moon."

Sirius blinked. He didn't know why he'd never connected Joan to the Moons before, but it suddenly felt like putting the last piece on a puzzle and seeing it for its whole picture. They'd both been brunettes, unlike Joan, but their eyes were all very much big and blue and identical. And if he squinted, he thought Janice and Joan shared a jaw-line, if he was recalling the older Moon correctly, that was. Shifting onto his side, Sirius propped his head on his fist as he answered, "Yeah, actually. Janice graduated just last year. She was a Gryffindor, like me. She was very loud and had an opinion on everything that she always had to share." He shook his head. "It's why I remember Jack at all. He was one of those quiet, loner Ravenclaws and every time someone mentioned them being related it always made me laugh, the two of them couldn't have been more opposite yet…"

"They're brother and sister," Joan supplied, grinning. "They sound just like I remember them being."

Sirius smiled back at the girl. "I bet it'll be like no time passed at all when they come to take you home, huh?"

The excitement in Joan's expression dampened a little. "If they haven't already disowned me for being a werewolf, anyway."

He reached over and gave her cheek a flick. "You shouldn't think like that! You're only going to feel guilty for thinking so little of them when they prove you wrong!"

Joan sighed and rubbed her cheek. "Maybe."

Sirius rolled his eyes and fell onto his back once more. The action startled Severus out of his sleep, as his little head lifted and he mumbled, "Sirius?"

He ruffled the kid's hair before nudging his head back down. "Sorry, I was just moving around a little, kid."

"Hmm," he grumbled before burying his face back in Joan's side.

Joan combed her fingers through his hair, eyes gentle and wistful. "What's he like when he's older?"

Sirius didn't have to even think. Lifting a hand, he began to list off every word he'd ever connected with Severus. "Greasy, vindictive, scheming, stubborn, clever, innovative…" he stopped a moment and looked at her, realizing he'd probably cocked up answering her inquiry. "I'm sorry, that's probably not a very flattering description of Severus. I swear he's not a bad bloke. It's just we were pretty much enemies when he was my age," he admitted to Joan. "Maybe I can ask Remus to have Lily stop in when he comes to drop off some class notes during his study period. They were mates for a while, she probably could tell you his good qualities without any effort at all."

Joan, lip between her teeth, nodded. "I see," she said. "For what it's worth, I wouldn't have guessed from how friendly you two have been the last day or so." A look of hesitation overcame her features. Her lips pursed, then, slowly, she asked, "What exactly about the last few days have changed how you feel about him?"

Sirius ran his hand through his hair a few times. "I got a look where he came from," he told her. "I see we actually had a lot of things in common growing up, shitty parents, mostly, but… Well, I realized we're a lot actually a lot alike personality-wise and can see now that's what led to some of our pretty epic clashes in the past."

"Do you think you'll still be mates when he's your age again and not a little boy?"

He had to look away from her inquisitive gaze. Sirius didn't know. In fact, he was sort of afraid of what would happen when boy-Snape was sixteen-year-old-Snape again. Severus was probably going to hate him for seeing him as a vulnerable little kid and would either go out of his way to avoid Sirius at every cost or up his usual level of nastiness to something else in an effort to make Sirius forget he'd been a little boy and renew his disdain for him. The thing was, neither was going to work.

He could never forget eight-year-old Severus or be made to loathe him as he once did. Sirius now knew and understood the kid on a different level than he ever had before. The only real problem was Sirius wasn't going to stand by and just let Severus hang around pricks like his brother or Mulciber and Avery. The kid was better than that and even if Severus didn't want to be mates anymore when they were both sixteen, he sure as Hell wasn't going to let those Death-Eater wannabes pull Severus down to their level. Sirius knew Severus was not going to appreciate that and would probably even loathe him for his meddling. Even so… Sirius knew he wouldn't regret trying to keep Severus out of You-Know-Who's clutches. He now got why Lily had been so insistent on the kid's goodness, he was good. Or he could be if he was given the chance to be. And that was something Sirius wanted to try and offer Severus. The chance to be good.

"Well? Do you, Sirius?" Joan pressed.

Pulled from his musings, he nodded at the girl. "Yeah, if he'll have me. I know I'd like to call him a friend still."

"Th—" Joan started, only to be cut off by the infirmary doors opening with a clatter.

Your thoughts? Who's come to the infirmary you think?

Thank you times a million for reading!