Harry Potter
and the Death Eater Menace

Harry Potter and all associate characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

CHAPTER 30: The Blackest Day Pt 2 (Best Enemies)

12 Grimmauld Place
Master Bedroom
5:30 p.m.

"COLLOPORTUS TRIMENDIUM!" Harry yelled from outside the bedroom door, and before either Sirius or Snape could react, chains magically appeared to seal them in with what Snape knew to be one of the strongest locking charms he'd ever encountered. Behind them, there was another rattling sound that indicated that the ward extended to the room's windows as well.

"Harry!" Sirius bellowed. He strode towards the door with the intent of pounding on it with his fists, but he immediately jerked his hand back when the ward shocked him harmlessly but still painfully. Undeterred, he tried yelling louder. "Harry! Open this door at once!"

Snape snorted contemptuously. "Cease your bellowing, you cretin! That charm muffles sound among its other properties - not that the boy is likely to free us anyway if he thinks you're furious at his actions. And in addition to electrifying the door and windows, it also protects them against physical damage. Without a wand, it is impossible to break through."

"You!" Sirius said furiously as he turned from the door towards his old rival. "You're responsible for this! Somehow you turned Harry against me! Just like you did with Reg!"

"If only that were true," Snape scoffed. "Alas, Harry has ignored all my warnings about what a wretched swine you are. As for your brother, given his own personal history, it was inevitable that he would be disgusted with you once he inevitably learned what you did to me."

He smirked cruelly. "Honestly, I think I did him a favor."

With a strangled roar, Sirius launched himself at Snape, leading to a brief physical struggle between them. It was not an impressive battle. Both men were recuperating from serious physical traumas, and Snape, while deadly with a wand, had little experience with fisticuffs. As for Sirius, unarmed combat had not been a part of his Auror training, and after over a decade in Azkaban, his skills had not progressed far beyond the level of schoolyard brawls. A Muggle onlooker might have described it as more of a "slap fight" than real combat.

After less than a minute of ineffectual efforts to hurt one another, Snape finally shoved Sirius hard enough for him to collapse onto the bed before falling himself into an easy chair.

"Enough!" he gasped. "This … hooliganism is ridiculous! We are wizards! We should act like it!" He took a few seconds to catch his breath. "For now, Black, let us agree to concentrate on getting out of here and recovering our wands. And then, I will be only too happy to duel you properly."

Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Agreed," he muttered reluctantly. "So how do we do that? Can you apparate out of here?"

"Not without a wand, obviously," Severus sneered. "And before you ask, the same holds true for portkeys."

"I know that," Sirius said through gritted teeth. "What about runes? We took NEWT-level Ancient Runes together, didn't we?"

"Yes," Snape said hesitantly. "I received an O, but that was fifteen years ago. I … have spent little time studying runes since then. You? It was a prerequisite for the Auror Academy, yes?"

"Yeah, but you may recall something about me spending twelve years in Azkaban, where I didn't have much chance to practice. Getting caught doing rune work was presumed to be an escape attempt and punished with an automatic Kiss."

Snape shrugged as if unconcerned with Black's suffering.

"And also, I only got an EE," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Then our way is regrettably clear – we must wait here until your godson comes to his senses and frees us or until your brother calms down and does the same. Unless there is someone else who might come to our rescue?"

That last question was seemingly answered when Dobby materialized on top of a nearby side table, startling both men. He was bearing a silver tray holding two glasses and two bottles of Ogden's Finest that he gently placed on the table before addressing the two wizards.

"Begging your pardon, sirs, but at the Great Master Harry's direction, I have brought some liquid refreshment for you to enjoy while the two of you talk out your differences and disagreements."

"… WHAT!?" Sirius spluttered. "Talk about our …?! Has he gone mental!" For his part, Snape was literally speechless at the house elf's words. Sirius angrily jabbed a finger in Dobby's direction.

"Now you listen to me, Dobby! I want you to deactivate that ward right now."

Dobby shook his head with condescending sadness. "Dobby regrets that he cannot comply, sirs."

"Alright," said Snape. "Bring us our wands then."

The elf shook his head again. "Master Harry wishes for you two gentle-wizards to resolve your interpersonal conflict lest it undermine the mission to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named, sirs. Dobby is … committed to his Master's wishes."

"Dobby, I order you…!" Sirius began but was interrupted.

"Dobby apologizes, good sir," he said politely but firmly, "but Dobby belongs to the Great and Wonderful Harry Potter, not the House of Black. Dobby is not bound to obey orders which conflict with those from Dobby's master,"

"Surely you have other elves, do you not?" Snape said.

Sirius grumbled a bit at the thought of calling on his family's house elf, but he saw no other options.

"Kreacher! Kreacher!"

There was no response. Both men turned to Dobby who looked slightly embarrassed but completely unrepentant.

"Dobby did anticipate that Lord Black might call upon the Kreacher elf. And so, Dobby distracted the Kreacher elf by presenting him with a bottle of butterbeer."

"Rubbish!" Sirius exclaimed. "Kreacher is bound to me no matter how much he might hate it! He must come when summoned, even if he's … intoxicated! KREACHER!"

Dobby coughed diplomatically into his fist. "To be more specific, Lord Black. Dobby presented the bottle in question forcefully to the back of the Kreacher elf's head."

The two men looked at each other in astonishment as Dobby bowed deeply and then popped away.

"That is without a doubt the strangest house elf I've ever met," Sirius finally said. Snape could only nod in agreement.

After Dobby's departure, the two men surprisingly did not resume their argument but instead fell into an uncomfortable silence. Snape spent time examining the room for secret doors even though intellectually, he knew that the Colloportus Trimendium would have sealed any such exits. Meanwhile, Sirius finally broke down and opened a bottle of Ogden's to pour himself a drink, an act that caused Snape's lip to curl in disgust. Eventually, after nearly half an hour of sullen and mutual silence, Sirius finally spoke aloud.

"I cannot believe Harry would do something like this," he muttered to himself in frustration.

"We both have strong relationships with him," Snape answered without looking in his direction. "I am his teacher, his Occlumency mentor, and his Head of House. And, presumably due to a moment of insanity on Lily's part, you are his godfather. Given his background, I assume the boy became upset when you attacked me, and, out of a childish desire for his two surrogate father figures to" – for a moment, Snape looked ill – "become friends, he foolishly took this course of action. Grossly inappropriate for a Slytherin, but understandable, I suppose."

"What do you mean 'given his background'?" Sirius asked suspiciously. Then, his brain caught up with the rest of what Snape said. "Hang on! 'I attacked you'? Are you actually blaming me for this?"

"You did fire the first spell, Black," Snape said acidly. "As was usually the case throughout most of our school years. Or has Azkaban left you so feeble-minded that you've already forgotten events from within the last hour?"

"Hippogriff shit! I may have fired the first spell, Snivellus, but you started it. You intentionally manipulated Reg into forcing me to tell him about The Prank with the goal of upsetting him and turning against me!"

Snape stared at his nemesis in astonishment. "You utter hypocrite! You blame me for revealing to your brother the truth about what you did when you know his wife and child were massacred by werewolves! Did you think Regulus would never find out?!"

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but Snape cut him off angrily before he could get a word out.

"And another thing! How dare you continue to refer to your attempt to kill me as … The Prank! Are you truly such a sociopath that even now you think it was just another 'Marauder joke'?! Even Sainted James Potter had the decency to recognize the gravity of what nearly happened, even if he was crass enough to assert a life debt over it!"

"Just stop with your miserable whining!" the Marauder snapped. "You knew what you were getting into! And if you were so stupid as to knowingly confront a werewolf on the night of the full moon, then you deserved what you got! Which, by the way, was nothing more than getting scared a bit before James saved you!"

Snape did a double-take. "Knew … what I was … GETTING INTO?! You psychotic cretin, I had no idea that Lupin was a werewolf until he tried to BITE MY HEAD OFF!"

Black sneered in contempt. "Oh, and now you want to lie to my face so you can pretend to be the innocent! You knew perfectly well that Moony was a werewolf! That's why you sought him out at the Shrieking Shack! To expose him and get him kicked out of school, if not put down like a rabid dog!"

Snape looked at the other man as if he were an idiot.

"Then answer me this, Black," he hissed in barely contained fury. "How could I have possibly known that Lupin was a werewolf? Other than disappearing once a month around the full moon, he showed none of the symptoms – symptoms which are obvious to anyone who completed a Third Year DADA course. As much contempt as I had for Dumbledore's sentimentality in those days, not even I would have believed him capable of housing a potential cannibal-killer in a school full of children."

Sirius sat up in bed and snarled at the other man. "Well if you didn't think Remus was a werewolf, then WHY THE HELL DID YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY HE WENT TO THE SHRIEKING SHACK EVERY FULL MOON?!"

"BECAUSE, YOU IMBECILE, I THOUGHT THAT WAS WHERE YOU MARAUDERS WENT TO BREW THAT ILLEGAL HOMEMADE FIREWHISKY THAT YOU'D BEEN SELLING TO THE LOWER YEARS! I KNOW IT HAS A MONTHLY BREWING CYCLE! THAT WAS WHAT I PLANNED TO USE TO GET YOU MARAUDERS INTO TROUBLE AND HOPEFULLY EXPELLED!"

"DON'T BE SO STUPID! WE BREWED THE FIREWHISKY IN A BROOM CLOSET IN GRYFFINDOR TOWER!"

With that, the two men abruptly ceased yelling at one another, and a silence fell, broken only by the sound of their heavy breathing. Finally, Sirius spoke again, haltingly and quietly.

"You … you really didn't know about Moony? You thought he was going out every month … to brew firewhisky?"

Snape looked away in annoyance, which was answer enough. After a few seconds, the quiet was broken by a sudden snort from Sirius, followed, to Snape's annoyance, by several seconds of barely contained giggling. Soon, Sirius was laughing out loud.

"Heehee … you didn't … heehee … even know! HAHAHA!"

Snape's anger at Black's reaction continued to grow … until the man's delirious laughter turned into increasingly desperate wheezes as he became unable to breathe. Snape glared at the man before eventually shaking his head contemptuously. Then, he reached over to the bedside table for a Calming Draught that he tried to force down Sirius's throat

"Wha … what … can't breathe! Can't …!" By this point, there were tears in Black's eyes, and his face had gone pale.

"Just shut up and drink the damned potion, Black!" Snape growled. "As much as I despise you, I have no wish to have your godson and brother come back and find me standing over your cold, stiffened corpse. They might get the wrong impression."

Sirius allowed his enemy to pour the Calming Draught down his throat. His breathing soon calmed, and he closed his eyes as if falling asleep. Snape sat back down and looked around the room for a clock – it felt as though he'd been trapped with his old enemy for days. Silence reigned between the two men for several minutes. Then, just as Snape thought Black had fallen asleep, the other man spoke in a soft voice without opening his eyes.

"I tried to murder you."

Snape turned sharply. "What did you say?"

"I said: I tried to murder you."

The Slytherin snorted. "I know that, Black. I've only been saying that for over …."

"No, Snape," Black interrupted as he opened his eyes and peered deeply into those of his enemy. "This is my confession. This is the truth. I tried to murder you. It wasn't a prank that went wrong. I wanted you dead."

Snape opened his mouth to speak but suddenly couldn't think of a reply.

"Do you remember what day it was when I told you about the Whomping Willow, Snape?"

Snape stiffened. "Of course, I do. I will never forget that …."

"It was the day we learned that Marlene McKinnon's mum and dad had been murdered by Death Eaters."

That comment silenced Snape at once. He did know what had happened to Malcolm and Lena McKinnon, but until this moment, it had not occurred to him to connect that tragedy with the morning of his werewolf encounter. Everyone in Slytherin knew what had happened to the McKinnons. Or at least what had supposedly happened. The description of their brutal torture and murder that appeared in the Daily Prophet was so gory and lurid that those Slytherins who supported the Dark Lord (including a young Regulus Black) insisted that it was a lie, nothing but government propaganda meant to slander Voldemort's pro-Pureblood movement.

Sirius leaned back and stared blankly up at the ceiling as he continued his tale.

"I first met Marlene McKinnon when we were both Sorted into Gryffindor. We hated each other at first, of course. At the age of 11, I couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't instantly be starstruck by how awesome I was, while she couldn't figure out how I could get through doors with a head as big as I had. Then, in Second Year, James played a prank on her – turned her hair purple or something. She didn't run to a teacher or even plot a revenge prank. She just calmly walked up to James … and punched him so hard he got a black eye. Then, when the Head Boy told her she had three hours of detention, she just asked him – in front of the entire Gryffindor Tower – whether she could take six hours of detention instead in exchange for giving James another Black eye. I think that was when I started to fall in love with her."

He glanced over at Snape who seemed transfixed by Black's story and even more so by the oddly broken tone in which he shared it.

"Don't get me wrong. The Marauders were my best friends, and James was my brother in all but blood. But I could still laugh when one of us got taken down deservedly."

Snape gaped at that, and Sirius winced. They both knew how Sirius reacted when it was Snape who "took down" James Potter.

"Yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking, and you're right. My problem back then was recognizing when we deserved to get taken down and by whom. Pride blinds you to things like that, especially when you're a stupid, arrogant kid."

The Slytherin almost made a sarcastic comment but decided against it.

"When we were in Fourth Year, Marlene made it onto the Quidditch team … beating me out for a Chaser position in the process. I ended up as a Beater instead. She asked me after the tryouts if I was mad at her. I told her I was furious, but I'd forgive her if she went with me to a Hogsmeade weekend. We dated from then until …."

Sirius paused and shook his head.

"I'm getting ahead of myself. In 1975, I told my folks I'd be staying at Hogwarts over Christmas and then snuck off to James's house for the holidays. Mother found out, of course, but only after the break was over, so she didn't get to cane me for it until the next summer. But the important bit was that the McKinnons came to the Potter New Year's Ball which was a big social event even then. Marlene introduced me to her mum and dad. Such wonderful people. Malcolm was Head of a Noble House and an advocate for Muggleborn rights. Lena was a Senior Auror. Both were proud to be called enemies of You Know Who. And it was pretty obvious that they weren't fond of the House of Black, either. But that didn't stop them from giving me a chance. We talked for over an hour while sipping punch and ignoring the rest of the party. At midnight, we all sang Auld Lang Syne together. And as they were leaving, Malcolm shook my hand and Lena hugged me. They both asked me to write to them regularly, something my own parents never did. My family lineage was never raised as an issue by either of the McKinnons again."

"The summer after my Fifth Year, my mother …." Sirius paused in his account and swallowed painfully. He looked away for a few seconds before collecting himself. "The summer after my Fifth Year, I ran away from home to live with the Potters. I wouldn't see this place again until Reg brought me here after springing me from Azkaban." He took a deep breath. "I went to the Potters because I considered James my brother. But if they'd rejected me – or hell, if they'd just not been home that night – I'd have gone to the McKinnons instead. Lena had invited me at one point. Said that if …."

He stopped, once again overcome by emotion, and then he wiped at his eyes before continuing.

"They said that if things became intolerable with my parents, they would be proud to take me in. I was so grateful for that. But I was also grateful that it wasn't necessary. James was my brother, but I didn't want to look on Marlene as … my sister." He barked out a laugh. "Growing up with my parents, that's the last way I wanted to view someone I already wanted to marry at the age of 15. Later that summer, while on a date with Marlene at Diagon Alley, I proposed to her over a bowl of Fortescue's ice cream. She said yes. She insisted that we wouldn't get married until graduation, of course. And also that we not tell anyone until after I'd formally asked Malcolm for her hand at Christmas. But Marlene said yes. I even gave her a ring. It wasn't real, of course. After I got wiped off the family tree, I was flat broke, and I didn't want to borrow from the Potters. They'd already given me so much. So, I stole a spoon from Fortescue's and transfigured it into the fanciest promise ring I could make. I'd never been so happy as when I saw the look on her face as she put it on."

He closed his eyes tightly, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Then, his lips curled up into an animalistic snarl.

"Four months later, Malcolm and Lena were dead! And not just dead! The bastards tortured them for hours before finally killing them! It was sick the things they did to two of the nicest people I'd ever known just for standing up to the Dark Bastard!"

Snape licked his lips. He had never in his wildest dreams imagined this degree of raw honesty from a Marauder. And part of him was afraid of where Black's revelations would lead.

"Marlene came to me in tears. Those wretched muckrakers who ran the Daily Prophet got hold of an Auror's report and revealed every sickening detail. Believe it or not, that was how she found out – by reading it in the newspaper before anyone from the Ministry even bothered to send word. The Prophet even ran pictures. Marlene was almost hysterical. I tried to hold her, but she pushed me back. Then, she took off the ring I'd given her and threw it away. She said all she cared about now was revenge and that she was going to train day and night until she was good enough to take the fight to the Death Eaters. That there … sniff … there was no sense in getting married anymore, that love c-couldn't survive in a world with so much hate in it. That – sniff – that even if we did get married, the Death Eaters would just come and ruin whatever happiness we might have."

His eyes opened, and a strange intensity came into them. "As she walked away, I suddenly realized … she was right. The Death Eaters would never stop trying to ruin everything good in this world. And I hated them for it. Hated the bastards. In that moment, I just wanted to hurt them somehow. To hurt them like they'd hurt Marlene and her family, like they wanted to hurt everyone I cared about!"

Then, his head snapped towards Severus, and his eyes blazed so feverishly that Snape almost leaned back in his chair from the sight of them.

"And then, at that exact moment … There! You! Were! Severus Snape, who knew more dark curses than most of the Hogwarts professors. Who was the real mastermind behind every bit of cruelty Mulciber and Avery inflicted on the school, including the 'harmless joke' that sent Mary MacDonald to the St. Mungo's psych ward. Who called Lily Evans a Mudblood and made her cry for weeks when she thought no one was watching! Who I was certain would join the Death Eaters once he was out of school and would probably rise straight into the Dark Bastard's inner circle!"

Despite himself, Snape folded his arms as if subconsciously trying to conceal the Dark Mark under his sleeve. Sirius's eyes looked wild, as if he were caught up in a dream.

"There you were, sneering and sniping and trying to find out where Remus went every time there was a full moon! And I just … snapped! I said to myself 'if the Junior Death Eater wants to see a werewolf so bad, I SHOULD JUST LET HIM!'"

Then, almost instantly, the fury died, and Sirius slumped, seemingly drained of all his energy.

"So … I did. I told you how to get past the Whomping Willow because in a moment of rage and madness that would have done Mother proud, I wanted to hurt you because I thought you were practically a Death Eater already. But … after you left, I came to my senses and realized what I'd done. I spent the rest of the day as a nervous wreck. I used …." He paused. "I had … an item that let me know where people in the castle were. I watched it for hours while scared out of my wits. I assumed you knew what Remus was, and I just couldn't imagine you'd really go down there. Then…." He swallowed once more. "You did. I ran to tell James what I'd done and what you were doing as a result, and he dashed out of the room to save you."

"But you did not!" Snape said coldly.

"I wanted to! I was going to!" Sirius exclaimed as if protesting his innocence.

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU?!" the Slytherin raged.

Despite himself, Sirius barked out a laugh. "Would you believe it was because of Peter Fucking Pettigrew? He was always closer to Remus, just as I was closer to James. And when I revealed what I'd done, he went berserk! Even as James was racing out the door, Wormtail jumped me and knocked me to the ground. Then, he just started wailing on me and screaming obscenities in my face! Little bastard even knocked two of my teeth out! Then, some of the others in our dorm pulled him off me. By that time, the Head Boy had shown up, and no one was getting out of there. I had to sit in the Infirmary and wait to find out what happened while Madam Pomfrey was regrowing my teeth and healing my bruises. About an hour later, Dumbledore showed up to tell me how much trouble I was in."

Snape glared at that.

"And pray tell, how much trouble were you in, Black?"

Sirius twitched in embarrassment. "Not as much as I should have been, I know. Dumbledore couldn't reveal the truth about what I did for fear of exposing Moony, so he let it be known that I'd played a particularly cruel prank for which I'd be in detention for a month. That was the most he could give me without having to document all the details about what had happened for the Board of Governors. He also made it clear that if it weren't for Moony's situation, he'd have expelled me for what I did. And that if you'd actually been hurt or killed, he'd have turned me over to the Aurors."

He stopped suddenly. Then, his eyes widened, and he gave another hopeless laugh.

"What are you laughing at now, Black?" Snape growled.

"Irony," he said with a delirious snicker. "Cruel, cruel irony, I spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime I didn't commit. The maximum penalty for attempted murder by someone between the ages of 15 and 17 is only seven years in Azkaban. I just realized for the very first time that I'd have been better off if Dumbledore had turned me over to be tried and convicted."

"Why are you telling me this, Black. Don't pretend it's a guilty conscience."

"I don't know if it's guilt or regret or what, Snape. I hated you so much back then. I dunno – maybe I still do. I do know there's a snake tattoo on your arm and I can guess you did some awful things to get it. And I know you hate me too. I guess all this time I've been clinging to the idea that you really were out to get Remus, and that's why I told myself that you deserved it, that it was just a joke gone wrong."

He crooked an eyebrow at Snape. "After all, I imagine that's what you tell yourself about Mary MacDonald, right?"

Snape grew angry at that, but Sirius moved on before he could respond. "But the fact remains – except for that one moment where I lost control, I never wanted you to die, Snape. I mean that. For what it's worth … I'm sorry."

"Sorry?!" the other man spat. "Sorry?! I don't believe you, Black. If you ever felt any guilt over that night, it was because you endangered your pet werewolf. Not because you had any hesitation about my fate."

"That's not true!" Sirius answered hotly. "I see now that what I did was wrong, and I really am sorry!"

"You and I have hated each other from the second we met! Do you truly expect me to believe that had it not risked Lupin's own life, you would have regretted my death for a second?!"

"YES!" the other man yelled defensively.

"WHY? Why would you have even hesitated to see me torn apart if you and your friends could get away with it? Why would you ever expect me to believe you ever regretted what you did?"

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO BE LIKE THEM!" Sirius screamed, his voice breaking. "I DIDN'T WANT TO BE A KILLER! A MONSTER LIKE THE ONES THAT TORTURED THE McKINNONS!" As he raged, tears flowed freely down his face. "I DIDN'T WANT TO BE … A DEATH EATER!"

With that, he fell back against his pillow with his hands over his face as he wept uncontrollably. Snape stared speechless at his old enemy's desperate outburst. Despite himself, he looked down at his left arm which still bore the Dark Lord's mark, and he could not help but recall the things he himself had done to earn that mark. And the things he'd continued to do to preserve his cover even after he'd turned away from the one who'd marked him.

And then, he had another thought that crept unbidden into his mind. He remembered an incident from just a few weeks earlier when the Other Potter had come to him to apologize for past insults. Full of righteous indignation, he told the boy that he would never accept an apology from the Marauders under any circumstances. In retrospect, he now realized that he simply had not been able to imagine any of the Marauders ever apologizing to him with anything approaching sincerity. He closed his eyes and dilated his perceptions so that he could have a few moments to think about what had been said and, more importantly, how he felt about what had been said. Then, in a calm voice, with his eyes still shut, he spoke.

"I still suffer from wolf-fear as a result of that night. A magical stress disorder that triggers flashbacks when forcefully reminded of my encounter with the transformed Lupin. Just due to our discussions this evening, I will likely need to take a Dreamless Sleep potion tonight. I will literally never forget what happened that night. And to be honest, I am not sure if it is possible for me to ever truly forgive you for what happened either."

Slowly, sadly, Sirius Black nodded in acceptance.

"But," Snape continued. "In light of everything else going on right now – the Dark Lord, the Death Eaters locked away in the Longbottom dungeon, the Horcruxes – perhaps it is … counter-productive to … mindlessly and obsessively hate you for it."

He finally opened his eyes and looked into the cold grey eyes of Sirius Black, now reddened with the tears he'd shed.

"Perhaps … we can start with that and see where it takes us?"

Through his tears, Sirius smiled at Snape for literally the first time since their long and bitter association began. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Snape ignored the other man's expressions of gratitude as he reached for Ogden's bottle. "Don't thank me yet, Black," he said ruefully. "Not until we know what sort of hangovers we'll be facing come the dawn."

Almost two bottles later …

"Honestly, man, it's your own damned fault!" Sirius said with a slurred voice. "If you wanted to stay close to Lily, you should have been brave enough to follow her into Gryffindor!"

Severus tried to glare at the other man, but the usual effect was spoiled by how glassy his eyes were at the moment. "Me? In Gryffindor? You cannot be serious!"

"I am always Sirius!" the Gryffindor said as he puffed proudly before collapsing into a fit of giggles. "Hehe! That never gets old!"

Snape rolled his eyes. "It 'got old' before the end of your First Year. But as I said, surely you can't imagine me as Gryffindor material."

"I dunno -hic- about that, Snivelllaappe, Snape I mean!" He suddenly looked sheepish. "Sorry. That's gonna take some mental retraining on my part. But seriously …!" He paused to giggle once more at the invocation of his name. "You were a double agent spying on the Dark Tosser himself! That's pretty bloody brave if you ask me!"

Severus shrugged. "It's a moot point. The Sorting Hat Sorted. I never had a choice in the matter."

"Pfft! I'm the first Black in three centuries not to get Sorted into Slytherin! You think the Hat didn't plan on putting me into the Dungeon at first?"

The Potions Master did a double-take. "The Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin? And you … what, persuaded it somehow?"

"Weeeelll, I don't know if persuaded is the right word, but I did give a convincing argument."

"… which was?"

He grinned broadly. "I reminded the Hat that I was a Black and that no family in Britain knew more about dark magic than us. So if it didn't put me into Gryffindor with my friends, I would one day return to Hogwarts and burn it with Fiendfyre!."

"And that actually worked?!" Snape asked in astonishment.

Sirius laughed. "The Hat's exact words were: 'Well, I guess that counts as boldness.' The rest was history."

The corners of Snape's mouth twitched, a feeling he was so unaccustomed to that it was almost painful. While he drank firewhisky with some regularity and occasionally to excess, actual drunkenness usually triggered feelings of maudlin depression. This was perhaps the first time in his life that Snape had been intoxicated under circumstances that made him feel relaxed and easily amused rather than simply more bitter than usual.

"Out of curiosity, do you know how to cast Fiendfyre?" he asked.

"Nah! Not even I was ever that crazy. I mean, it might be possible that I hate Peter now enough to use him as a focus for the spell, but I doubt it." Sirius finished off his glass before reaching for the bottle. "You?"

"No." He paused for a few seconds. "Regulus can, however. I'm told he is … remarkably skilled at it."

Sirius's eyes widened in shock. "Really?! Wow! That's … kind of alarming actually." He thought for a moment. "Werewolves, ya think? Specifically, the one that went after his family?"

"I imagine so. Naturally, we've never discussed the matter. But that's the most likely choice for the target of his unremitting hatred."

Sirius thought about that for a second. "Wait a minute! Do you, Severus Snape, mean to say that after everything was said and done, you never actually hated me enough to be able to summon Fiendfyre by thinking about me? Nor Remus? Nor James?!"

Snape took another sip of his drink as he considered the question. "Apparently not. Though to be fair, I never hated the Dark Lord enough to summon Fiendfyre, either. It does, after all, require a hatred so intense that one would sacrifice anything and everything for the chance to kill one's enemy. As much as you and I hated each other back in the day – and by 'back in the day,' I mean 'earlier this evening' – I don't think either of us would have ever considered a suicide attack against the other." Then, he thought some more. "Potter might have, perhaps. His hatred of me seemed … purer than yours, which, in retrospect, was channeled against all blood purists among the Hogwarts student body rather than just me specifically."

"Nah!" Sirius said with a laugh. "James never really hated you. He was just insanely, obsessively jealous of you. There's a difference."

Snape did another double-take. "James Potter. Was jealous. Of me?!"

Sirius smiled. "From the day they met on the train in 1971, James was utterly smitten with Lily. He was in love with her before he knew enough about life to even know what romantic love was. Most of his craziest, stupidest ideas were really meant to impress her, which of course never worked since she hated pranks. And until you dropped the M-word on her, you and she were attached at the hip while she would barely talk to James without either insulting him or hexing him. It drove him insane!"

"But ... but ..." Severus wasn't sure if it was the firewhisky that had him tongue-tied or astonishment. "He hated me from our first conversation on the train, even before he knew Lily's name!"

"Well to be fair, literally the first words you ever spoke to James Potter were to insult his intelligence, his desired House, and - since all his ancestors had been Gryffindors for the past 200 years - implicitly his worthiness to be a Potter."

Snape didn't respond to that. His mind was still reeling at the thought of James Bloody Potter envying him instead of the other way around.

"So, um," Sirius began cautiously. "Did you and Lily ever think about … y'know?"

Snape glared at him silently. "If you mean, did either of us ever pursue … romance, then the answer is no. She was my best friend. No, she was my only friend. If I had not been so stupid as to ruin things just to curry favor with bigots, perhaps we might have become something more. But I was stupid, and so we never did. To be honest, considering my own upbringing, I don't know that I would ever be able to open myself up to someone romantically, not even her. I … did not have much … experience with such things growing up."

Sirius nodded. "Rough childhood? I can sympathize. You were a Halfblood, right?"

"How did you know that?" Snape asked suspiciously. The other man shrugged.

"I knew when we met on the train you couldn't possibly be a Muggleborn, and I can't imagine you surviving in Slytherin if you were. But I've never heard of any Pureblood families named Snape, and I'm pretty sure I'd remember a name like that."

Snape grimaced. "My father was a Muggle named Tobias Snape. My mother was born Eileen Prince."

Sirius's eyes widened at that. "Prince?! You're heir to the Noble House of Prince?!"

Snape laughed bitterly and shook his head. "My grandfather was so incensed at my mother's marriage that he ejected her from the family. Madness on his part. The House is dormant now because there weren't any other surviving heirs."

"Heh. Remind me to take you downstairs at some point. You can see where Mother blasted my name off the Family Tree."

"She didn't treat you well, I take it?"

"Nope! Neither her nor Father. Violent lunatics, both of them. You?"

Snape hesitated, but then recalled Black's casual references to getting caned by his mother for minor slights. It suddenly occurred to him that the other man might actually understand his upbringing in a way that no one else ever had. Not even Lily, whose parents had always doted on her.

"Apparently, my mother never told my father she was a witch until after the marriage. He snapped her wand and forbade the use of magic in our home. Needless to say, when I began demonstrating accidental magic, he … was displeased."

"Displeased. Yeah, I bet I know what that's a euphemism for. My parents were displeased pretty often as well. And your mum didn't do anything?"

"She …." Snape paused. "I don't know how to explain her actions to this day. I don't know why she ever married him. Why she stayed with him. Why she simply acquiesced to his demand that she not use magic. Why she tolerated his abuse of us both."

Sirius furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to absorb Snape's words through a haze of alcohol. And then, to Snape's shock, he grinned and let out a belly laugh. Snape grew angry.

"My home life amuses you?" he spat.

"What?" Sirius replied excitedly. "No, no, no. It's just … I had an epiphany! Hold onto your hat, Snape, because as Lily would have said, this will blow your mind!"

Then, he leaned forward and stage-whispered to the other man.

"If I'd gone into Slytherin like the Hat wanted, you and I would have been best friends!"

Severus stared at him in astonishment and then barked out a laugh of disbelief. "What?! That's … that's madness!"

"No, Sev, no. Just think about it. Me and you as 11-year-olds sharing a dorm in the scary Slytherin dungeons? Both of us coming from abusive homes? Both of us having just been separated from our best friends, one of whom was a Muggleborn and the other from a notorious blood traitor family? Oh yeah! We'd have been best buds. We'd have probably stayed up all night comparing childhood traumas!"

Snape put his hands over his face as Sirius continued.

"And it might have been better for both of us. You'd have helped me do better in Potions. I mean, I did fine in general – got a NEWT, of course – but you could have pulled me up to an O. And in exchange, I could have gotten you a make-over!"

At that, Snape's head jerked up. "A … make-over?!" he sputtered.

"Oh, don't give me that shocked expression, Sev! Harry told me that you were the one who told him to sort out his own hair, something no one's ever been able to get James to do. I'd have done the same for you if we'd been friends back then. And gotten you some clothes that weren't all-black." He tilted his head. "You should wear lots of red with your complexion. No wait! Red would be tacky…. Burgundy!"

"I assure you, Black, that I can imagine no universe in which you and I became fast friends by bonding over our shared psychological flaws. Nor one in which I would allow you to decide my fashion choices no matter how good you think I would look in … burgundy!" He paused. "Oh, and don't call me Sev!"

"Well, I'm sorry!" He suddenly paused to burp loudly. "But I need a new nickname for you since I can't use the one I used back when we hated each other! You don't like Sev? Okay, how about … Snappy!"

"I can think of nothing more likely to turn us back into sworn enemies once more."

"Alright, alright," Sirius said while holding a hand up in a placating gesture. "I'll keep working on it."

With that, he tipped the last of the Ogden's into his glass. There was a moment of silence between the two men, but one that was surprisingly companionable rather than icy.

"So anyway," Sirius began. "Now that we're such great friends and all, can I ask you a serious question? No pun intended for once."

"I think it incredibly premature to call us 'such great friends' at this point, Black. Let's see how we get along when we're both sober and free of this room."

"Fine then. Can I ask you a question as Harry's godfather talking to his Head of House?"

Severus tilted his head as he considered the other man who, for once, seemed entirely serious (pun or no). Black leaned in towards Snape almost cautiously.

"Tell me about the Dursleys."

AN 1: Tentative Update Schedule.
April 1, 2019: Last chapter of Strangers In Boston uploaded to for Patrons.
April 10, 2019: Chapter 114 of Prince of Slytherin uploaded to free to all members of the Sinister Man's Discord page.
Sometime in April (hopefully): Strangers In Boston will be published on Amazon.

AN 2: The idea of Sirius going into Slytherin and becoming Snape's best friend (complete with "Snappy" and burgundy robes) is cribbed from one of my favorite HP fanfics, "Stages of Hope" by kayly silverstorm. I highly recommend it.

AN 3: Thanks to the POS-Editorial crew from the Discord server for help in cleaning up this chapter: darkphoenix31, Pokeflute, chinmayee_1992, patronus, FeatheryMinx, and TrendyTreky.

AN 4: Some of you may find Snape and Sirius's transition from "mortal enemies" to "eh, he's not so bad" to be improbable. Personally, I found the nearly psychotic hatred the two men had for one another in canon to be even more improbable, based as it was on fallout from The Prank. The way it's presented in canon, IMO, is that Snape was a jerk for trying to expose Remus and an idiot for going down to the Shrieking Shack if he knew Remus was a werewolf, that Sirius was a jerk for sending Snape to encounter a werewolf and an idiot for not realizing that it would endanger Remus's life, and Dumbledore was both a jerk and an idiot for apparently sweeping everything under the rug. I don't like writing stories about idiots and jerks, so here we are. And anyway, the idea that sticking two people who hate each other in a small enclosed space together will cause them to work out their problems has a long and storied pedigree, as the TV Tropes page for "Locked in a Room" can attest.

AN 5: Relatedly, I should clarify now about the timing of Snape's Worst Memory (SWM) and The Prank. I had always assumed that the former occurred right after the Marauder-era kids took their OWLS and The Prank sometime later. However, it was pointed out to me that Lily knew James had saved Severus prior to their breakup, which puts The Prank sometime in their Fifth Year. This, however, means that the Marauders put Snape through SWM after nearly killing him with The Prank, which has the effect of making all four Marauders into loathsome psychopaths completely unworthy of any sympathy. So I ain't doin' that. In the POS-verse, SWM happened in June of 1976. The Prank happened at a presently unspecified point sometime in October or November of 1976.

AN 6: Milestones Reached - Over 10,000 Favorites. Over 1200 followers on Discord. Approaching 11,000 Reviews, 12,000 Followers, and 200 Communities which include this story.

AN 7: Check out my Author page for links to my original fiction (and how you can support it), to my Discord server (where you can discuss POS with other fans), and to other online sites like the POS Wiki and the POS TV Tropes page.