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I've been occupied, sorry about all that

I'm putting up a couple of chapters today to make up for it

Usual apologies

Disclaimer: see previous chapter

Last time…

"Merlin, you're not going to survive are you Black?" Severus growled in frustration while Sirius just groaned in pain when the Slytherin helped him up to his feet.

"It was a cheap shot, I won't get caught out a-again..." Sirius trailed off and his eyes went wide while the rest of the class gaped and stared as devils snare started to cover every inch of the glass walls in the room and thicker vines swayed and twisted in the air.

A skinny teen with ratty brown hair and freckles on his face stepped forward and Sirius gaped.

'SIRIUS ORION BLACK VS. FRANCIS LONGBOTTOM'

The animagus' head snapped to the side and Severus just glared back at him as he snapped, "What?!"

"Longbottom, really?"

"I was tutoring him in potions a while back, it just happened."

"It just happened?! Did you sleep with him?"

"We never did more than kiss," Frank suddenly said as he stepped forward and a dark blush spread over his face as he finished, "Except that one time."

Sirius glared, "What one time?"

Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Does that honestly matter right now?"

"If he did more than kiss you it does."

'BEGIN'

Sirius' gaze snapped up towards the other and his eyes went wide when at least ten more vines rose up into the air.

"Frank, c'mon mate. You're not really going to fight me are you?"

Frank bit his lip for a moment before letting out a sigh, "I'm sorry Sirius, I promised."

Frank's wand hand gave a sudden flick, causing several vines to all suddenly dart out towards the animagus, forcing Severus aside while Sirius went skidding right across the room. The few remaining students still in the class all screamed before they quickly moved out of the way and did wisely to find the nearest exit.

Severus' eyes went wide when his back hit one of the work tables.

A vine came up out of nowhere, wrapping itself around the Slytherin's waist and right wrist as it gently helped him up and Severus looked over towards the brunette on the other side of the room.

"I-… Thank you."

"You're welcome." Frank said as he stepped closer and a blush spread right over his cheeks and right up to his ears as he continued and the vines dissappeared, "You look good Severus, I hope you're doing alright."

"I'm fine Frank." Severus said shortly as he brushed his robes off and the other stopped a few feet away. "That's good. I-I've been doing really well too. My potions marks are much better thanks to you."

Severus arched a brow at the other, "Alright."

"But I miss brewing with you." Frank said as he reached out to take Snape's hand, "I always loved watching you wo-"

"EXPELIARMUS!"

Frank was forced to let go and went flying back against the stone floors, until he came to a stop and looked up to see Sirius moving forward to grab the Slytherin's arm and drag the other behind him, while he kept his wand aimed at Frank.

"Keep your hands off him." Severus just stared in surprise while Frank's eyes narrowed into a glare, "I don't want to hurt you Sirius, you should just forfeit."

"That's not happening mate."

"You don't understand what you're doing." Frank said carefully as he stood up, "There are things you don't know about Prince."

Sirius could feel Severus tense up behind him and he frowned, "I'm so tired of people saying that! Exactly what is it that I don't know?"

Frank stayed silent for a moment before suddenly raising his hand with a look of determination so fierce Sirius almost forgot who he was talking to.

"You'll never find out."

Suddenly vines shot up between him and Severus, forcing the two apart before one of them wrapped around Sirius' ankle to throw him against the wall.

"Sirius!"

"Argh." Sirius moaned as he tried to pick himself up, ignoring the aches and pain in his body to try and focus on the situation at hand only to gasp when the vines were back on him again. This time they were wrapping all around his arms and legs, lifting him up into the air as they kept him spread out Sirius couldn't keep a hold of his wand as the vines tightened with every second that went by. It fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Shit!"

"Black. Sirius!" He heard Severus scream from across the room and looked up to find the vines restricting the Slytherin's movements as well, wrapping all around his body to keep him absolutely still.

Sirius' eyes went wide, "Frank let him go!"

"Never mind that! Focus!" Severus hissed as the vines kept wrapping around him inching up over his throat up to his jaw and the raven turned his head to stop them from covering his mouth for just a few seconds more. "He's using Devil's Snare. Devil's snare shouldn't be able to survive in day-"

Severus was suddenly cut off when the vines wrapped around his mouth and he ended up letting out muffled screams against the plant. Sirius understood Severus' point all the same. According to their textbooks and that one herbology class he remembered since it ended with Anna Halsey being hoisted up into the air by the plant in that very class, Devil's snare shouldn't be able to survive light. That's why the professor had blocked out all the windows during the class to demonstrate the plant's abilities, before Halsey ended up being tossed about like a rag doll of course. But its's broad daylight, the windows were completely bare of any coverings and the devils snare was thriving.

But how?

The class was vacant by then except for him, Severus and Frank, the rest of the students were outside, watching the duel from the glass walls of the green house. Sirius could hear them cheering just outside. Professor Partridge was out there with them, nervously wringing his hands together as he watched from the outside as well.

Frank caught his gaze on the older man outside and gave a slight shrug.

"The professors know better than to interfere with Prince's challenge, old magic is not to be trifled with."

Sirius frowned, "Old magic?"

"Powerful magic, pureblood magic." Frank explained as he watched the raven-haired teen and Sirius' frown deepened, "Pureblood-"

"Don't you see Sirius? There's so much you don't know, so much you don't understand." Frank said, taking a moment to pause before he spoke again, "I know what its like, I know how tempting he can be." The brunette said nodding to the Slytherin who was still bound by the vines, "But… its in your best interest to just give up now, before you go in too deep. At this point, you're only going to get hurt."

"I don't care." Sirius hissed out and those vines around him tightened ever so slightly as Frank's eyes narrowed down.

"You don't understand what you're doing."

"I said I don't care." Sirius hissed, "If you were with him, if you cared about him Frank, then you know why I can't forfeit."

Frank paused stared at the other before he lifted his wand, "As you wish."

Franks eyes almost seemed to glow and the vines tightened even more. Severus' eyes went wide and he started struggling in the vines but he didn't get very far at all. Sirius's mind raced as the vines tightened even more just before one more slipped around its neck and started to squeeze.

Sirius's mind started to race as he struggled for breath. He tried to think of how to get free how to get rid of the Devil's snare, but he couldn't think of anything. If he used a cronfringo then the plant would burn to a crisp along with anything else in its grasp, including him and Severus. Levitation spells would prove equally useless. For a moment Sirius almost thought that the blasted thing was unbeatable. For Merlin's sake it isn't supposed to be able to exist in light, the plant should be shriveling away. It didn't even look like normal devil's snare; the vines were a bright green color and not dark like it usually is.

But if it can't be harmed by light then-

Suddenly it hit him.

When they were children, there was a spell that their mother used to cast, one that she said her mother used to use whenever she brewed potions or simply required a dark room in order to commit whatever depravity they were conducting as most in the Black family line was inclined to do. Walburga learned the spell from her mother, she used it to torment the elves or whenever she was punishing the children. Sirius learned it, he used it to prank the first year Hufflepuffs and scare them senseless.

Maybe it can finally be used for some good.

Sirius strained to look down at his wand, eyes watering under the strain and lack of oxygen as he spread out his fingers and grit out.

"Accio-wand." The wand went flying up into his grasp and he twisted it around and aimed for the windows. "Reg-regneturi tenebris."

Frank frowned, "What-"

And suddenly the windows turned pitch black and the room was drenched in darkness. The Devil's snare screeched out in pain, almost immediately releasing its captives and retreating just after two loud thuds hit the floor. Frank stared wildly around him wondering what in the hell just happened when the darkness suddenly faded away from the windows, it was suddenly bathed in bright light and Frank blinked repeatedly as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden changes in light only to gasp mere seconds before a fist connected with his face and he was knocked out cold. Sirius glared at the teen on the floor, he barely noticed the look of absolute shock on Severus's face as he stared at the Gryffindor with wide eyes

'THE CHAMPION IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE! SIRIUS ORION BLACK WINS!'

Sirius let out a deep sigh and his frame went lax, he wheezed and coughed seeming to only remember that he was being chocked earlier. He barely even registered the cheers coming from the students outside or even the raven haired slytherin that approached him, not until Severus set a hand down on his shoulder. He looked up,

"See, I told you I'd be fine."

Severus only stared, "How do you know that spell?"

Sirius swallowed hard as he stood up straight, unwilling to tell his one obsession about his family but-

"My mother- well-"

Severus suddenly sighed and shut his eyes, "Of course, I should've known."

Sirius started to frown, "What do you mean-"

"Nothing." Severus said shaking his head as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on Sirius's lips causing the taller teen to blink in surprise as he spoke, "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Sirius said when he looked down at the teen who was still on the floor beside them with a sigh, "But seriously, Frank?"

Severus only rolled his eyes as he turned to the teen as well and aimed his wand at the teen, "Aguamenti."

Frank was immediately drenched with ice cold water which almost immediately woke him with a start.

"What-"

"You're a mess, Frank." Severus said as he leaned down to take hold of the brunettes arm and help him up, Frank let him though he still seemed confused by his surroundings until he caught sight of Sirius glaring at him and he quickly looked away.

"I always thought you thought mess was cute."

Severus laughed softly, "Clearly I'm insane."

Frank laughed too, curling his hand around the one Severus had on his arm only for the Slytherin to pull away.

"You should get that checked with madame Pomfrey." The raven said as he gestured to the bruise quickly forming on the brunettes face Frank couldn't help but reach up to touch the spot only to flinch a bit and hiss quietly in pain. Sirius couldn't help but smirk.

"I guess I don't know my own strength." The Animagus shrugged while Frank glared.

Severus rolled his eyes before letting out a sigh, "I'm sorry."

Frank frowned, "For what?"

"You know what."

"That wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"But-"

"I was never, I wasn't supposed to…" Frank sighed again, "It's not your fault so, don't worry about it and as for you." Franks gaze locked onto Sirius and the Animagus couldn't help but straighten up a bit at the intense focus that had suddenly filled the brunette's eyes, "I hope for your sake you don't lose."

"I won't."

"Good." Frank then suddenly reached out to take Severus' hand and pressed a kiss on it before the Slytherin could even protest. Sirius glared and glared hard while Severus suddenly flushed.

"Good bye Severus." And with that he turned around and walked away, but not without stumbling over a fallen flower pot just a few feet in front of the door, much to Sirius' satisfaction. He lifted a hand and gestured to the teen.

"Seriously?"

Severus rolled his eyes as he started to walk to leave the classroom as well and Sirius followed, "He was… cute."

"He was cute?!"

"Apparently I find the hopeless attractive."

"Oh ha ha. Very fun-" and then Severus suddenly stopped and turned around to face him.

"What're you doing tonight?"

Sirius blinked in surprise, "What-"

"Do you have plans or not Black?" Severus asked impatiently and Sirius paused to think, well it's the full moon. They usually spend the full moon with Remus.

"Why?"

Snape's cheeks started to flush and he looked away, "Aren't you always begging spend time with me? There are things we need to discuss, I think tonight is as good enough a time to discuss them."

Sirius frowned, "Wait, are you asking me out on a date?"

Severus glared at him despite the blush he wore and Sirius couldn't help but grin.

"If you want me to go out with you Severus, then I'm going to need you to tell me. I am a dunderheaded twit after all." The Animagus said smugly as he took a step forward, "You need to be a bit clearer."

Severus' glare got darker, "Forget it."

"Oh, come on, this is the first time you're sort of admitting to wanting to spend time with me." Sirius said with a slight whine to his voice, "Just one time for me?"

Severus let out a long-suffering sigh, his eyes rolled up to the ceiling seeming to pray for patience, before he looked at the Animagus. "Would you like to go out on a date with me Sirius?"

Sirius's lips broke out into a full-blown grin, "Absolutely."

Severus suddenly leaned up to kiss him before turning away, "You're ridiculous."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Sirius said as he followed the Slytherin out the door.

They agreed to meet after dinner, at the doors of the great hall. It was the middle of the week, so they couldn't exactly go out to Hogsmeade and Sirius didn't think his and Severus' relationship was quite at the point where he could convince the teen to break school rules and sneak off the grounds just yet.

He decided that he'd take Severus to the Room of Requirement. He already told the others about his plans, making sure to apologize profusely to Remus about the fact that he wouldn't be able to go to the shrieking shack. Remus didn't seem to mind much. He just gave his friend a smile as he wolfed down the meat piled high onto his plate during dinner. A habit they recognized from all the other times before Remus' transformations. Peter had only looked at him nervously when he spoke of his plans and James seemed much too preoccupied with Lily to really care, all while Lily glared and glared hard in Sirius's direction.

Her behavior was definitely very strange, but he didn't have much time to think of it when he caught sight of Severus heading for the Great hall's doors and he quickly finished off his plate before he got up to follow. Only to suddenly be stopped by-

"Evening Sirius."

"Uh, yeah, hi." Sirius said absently as he walked around the raven-haired girl that suddenly walked up to him. The girl moved in front of him again.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine-"

"That's good," the girl paused, "I was wondering, about-"

"Look it was really nice chatting to you, but I'm in a hurry." Sirius said quickly as he gave the girl a hurried smile and made his way over to the entrance. When he opened the heavy door, he found Severus sitting on the floor against the wall up ahead flipping through a book, hair covering his face as his head tilted to the side just a bit. Sirius smiled as he approached the teen. Severus didn't even look up at him as he spoke.

"That was fast."

Sirius shrugged, "I didn't want to be late for my first date." He held out his hand and Severus stared at it before letting out a snort as he took it and allowed the Animagus to help him up. The Slytherin closed his book and held it under his arm.

"Alright then, where are you taking me?"

Sirius smiled, "The Room of Requirement-"

Severus' eyes filed with realization, "Ah."

Sirius's smile started to fall, "Wait, you know about the room?"

Severus shrugged, "You didn't think you and your friends were the only ones that went exploring around the school, did you?"

"Well, no, I suppose not." Sirius said as he started walking and Severus followed.

"It's a good place to go, we'll need the privacy."

Sirius looked up at the other with a sly grin, "Really?"

Severus shook his head, "We'll need privacy to talk."

Sirius chuckled, "Of course, what do you want to talk about?"

Severus sighed, "The challenge what else?"

"Oh right," Sirius said with a cringe before looking over to the Slytherin, "Your ex-boyfriends are insane, by the way."

"Exes. I told you to quit while you still had the chance." Severus said smugly as he and Sirius walked down the empty hallway glancing out through the window towards the bright full moon.

"I just can't believe, I mean, Longbottom, really Severus?" Sirius asked incredulously and Severus gave a sigh as he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

"He has his charms."

"Like Rosier had his charms," Severus started to grin at that and Sirius continued, "Or Diggory."

The Slytherin's face instantly fell and he looked away making Sirius frown, "I hear he asked you to marry him."

"He did."

"What-"

"I don't want to talk about him." Severus said shortly not looking up even once, "Why not?"

"It's all in the past now. We all have our baggage, Black. Can you honestly tell me you've never had a complicated relationship? I suppose the real question here is if you can even remember the names of all the girls you've shagged in this school. Have you ever even had a relationship with anyone?"

Sirius glared at Severus, "Of course I have."

"Oh really?" Snape asked with an arched brow, "Name one."

Sirius stuttered and gaped for a moment until he gave a smile and spoke, "You."

Snape rolled his eyes, "Somehow that doesn't put my mind at ease."

"Alright, so I've never really been in a real relationship before, but I know what I feel for you is real."

"How do you know it's real, this is the first relationship you've actually been in and it's-"

"Absolutely insane?"

"Yes."

"Well I guess things would be easier if everyone you dated before me wasn't completely off their rockers." Sirius growled in frustration, "I mean I didn't even know you dated anyone, let alone that you have seven ex-boyfriends, where in Merlin's name are all these ex-boyfriends coming from?"

"Exes." Severus corrected, and Sirius frowned in confusion when-

'ROUND THREE WILL NOW BEGIN'

The two wizards looked up and found a cloaked figure walking towards them.

"Brilliant." Sirius said as he grabbed Severus' arm and pulled the Slytherin behind him and reached for his wand, "Of course it has to be tonight-" Severus pulled him back.

"What?"

"Look."

'SIRIUS ORION BLACK VS. REMUS JOHN LUPIN'

The cloak fell to the ground and Sirius froze when he saw sandy blonde hair and his best friends pale scarred skin glow in the light from the pale moonlight.

"Remus?"

The werewolf gave a small smile, "Well this is a bit awkward."

"You-you and Severus?" Sirius said with wide eyes as he glanced back at the Slytherin before looking back at his friend. "But when-…how?!"

"It doesn't matter, because I'm not going to fight you." Remus said quickly as he shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly. "I only agreed to join this stupid league because well... I-I, it doesn't matter. Severus makes you happy so I won't try and get between you two. You're my best friend Sirius and it's not like I get anything from making you lose so... I forfeit."

Sirius smiled back at his best friend and Severus let out a heavy sigh. "Remus I, thanks mate."

Remus just smiled, "No problem." The blonde looked up at the window and gave a slight shrug as he turned back, "I should probably get going, full moon tonight."

Sirius gave a nod when, "Wait, first tell me how this happened? How come I didn't know that you and Severus were-"

'ATTENTION CONTESTANTS, THERE HAS BEEN A RULE CHANGE'

Remus stopped and Sirius frowned as he stared up at the ceiling with Severus going tense for a moment.

'WHOEVER DEFEATS THE NEW CHALLENGER TO PRINCE'S CLAIM OVER SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE, WILL BE GIVEN CLAIM TO SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THEIR HOGWARTS CARREER'

Sirius frowned, "What does that mean?"

Severus sighed in frustration, "It means whoever beats you gets to have me until I graduate."

"Oh, you can't be serious." Sirius said incredulously, "Who would agree to only keeping you until you graduate that's complete-"

'CHAMPION, DO YOU STILL WISH TO FORFEIT?'

Sirius looked up to find Remus staring at Severus with a lost look in his eyes and he frowned in confusion.

"Moony?"

"You were right Padfoot." The werewolf said not taking his eyes off of Severus for even a second. "Being with Severus, it's-it's lovely..."

"Remus?" Sirius tensed as he pulled Severus behind him but that didn't stop the werewolf from staring as he pulled out his wand.

"We were only together for a few months, but he was always there you know and he's not afraid of me even though he knows what I really am... You're right about his eyes too they really do go on forever, but for me it was always his mouth. I could never, I always had this constant need to kiss him, I could never figure out what he tasted like it was strange and addictive and..." Remus said in an odd sort of daze when his eyes suddenly flashed and they snapped up to lock onto his best friend with an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry Sirius, but I have to have him. No hard feelings, yeah?"

"No hard feelings?!" Sirius' eyes went wide when Remus looked up out of the window and a sickening crack rang through the air. Severus let out a gasp and Sirius froze as he watched his friend tear himself apart as he changed.

A/N:

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