A/N: YAY! Another update. Sorry it's taking so long but my dog has not been feeling great lately and insists on being held while I work. Most of this chapter was typed with one hand (all small caps) and then corrected later. He's better now so I was able to finish. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been sending me such positive feedback and encouraging me let the marshmallow bunnies run amok. So here goes.

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Chapter 8: Detention and Intervention

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At this evening's detention Sirius and Severus were asked to clean all the caldrons in the lab, without magic. Slughorn occasionally monitored their progress while he graded papers, all the while stuffing petite fours down his gullet, one after the next.

Meanwhile Sirius used every opportunity to graze against Severus' hands or legs or to try and catch the other boy's eye. When Severus ignored him, Sirius chucked sopophrorous beans at him until Severus hissed and heaved a scouring brush back at Sirius. After much of this sort of flirtation, Severus looked up at Sirius gave him a smile, the one that lit up his entire face. The smile that only Lily Evans had been able to coax out of the shy boy, and Sirius understood what she had seen in Severus Snape all this time.

"Mr. Snape!" said Slughorn. "I don't know what sort of behavior you call this but whatever you are doing is obviously causing Mr. Black distress. Just look at the state he is in. At home to Mr. Nervous. I daresay."

"My apologies Professor," said Severus. "I didn't mean to disturb Black's delicate nature. Perhaps you should send him off for a nice bubble bath and a potion to treat his menses? You know girls and their special time."

Sirius laughed and then pretended to choke on something stuck in his throat.

"Mind yourself, sir," replied Slughorn. "I am not above handing out an extra week of detention if I must. Force you lads to work out your differences, even if I must lock you in a closet until you find a new position."

Sirius chortled into his sleeve and Severus hid his blush under his long hair.

"Sir," Sirius said when he could control the tone of his voice. "We really can handle the rest of this mess. Why don't you take off and we'll settle things?"

Slughorn regarded his empty box of sweets and patted his potbelly. "Seeing how we are nearly finished for the night, yes. Yes. Why not? Close the door behind you and remember, lads. No fighting."

"No fighting, sir," they said in unison.

Once they were alone Sirius fell upon Severus and pinned him against the nearest wall. "Oh Merlin! I thought the gasbag would never leave. You were so far away from me all evening, Brain. Too far."

"Impatient, Dog," Severus put his hands on either side of Sirius face and kissed him until both their lips were swollen. He alternated nips and kisses as he made his way from Sirius' chin to his neck. "Your friend Remus, are you sure that he is all right?"

"You're thinking about him now? You really know how to charm a guy."

"Mere concern is all. The way he looked at me was so strange. Almost as if—"

"He's fine. Why are you asking?"

"Because he didn't look fine. He looked like a dementor with legs. It looked worse than a mere cold. Anything contagious by chance?"

"I said he was fine!" He held Severus at arms length. Why do you care anyway?"

"Because I'm falling in love with him."

Sirius' face turned the shade of sour milk.

Severus rolled his eyes. "And you were the one who accused me of not being more sensitive to people's conditions. I'm trying to figure out what he has, straw-head. You know we're going for career counseling in a few weeks? Well, I've been thinking more about going into the mediwizard field. Healers must learn to recognize symptoms."

"He's got Madame Pomfrey for that. He doesn't need you poking around into his business."

Severus was upset now. "I meant well. No need to feed me to the basilisk."

Sirius regained his composure. "I'm sorry, Brain. I didn't mean it like that. Remus is just a bit sensitive about his health. Blokes are always having a go at him because he's always sick and I guess the guys and I are a tad over protective."

Severus looked at his feet. "What the four of you have with one another. Like a family. I've never had that."

"You have me."

"You go around snogging your brothers?"

"Gods no! Peter is not my type at all." He wove his hands through Severus' hair and kissed his mouth, his nose, his cheeks, his jaw.

"We'd better get to our dorms before curfew," gasped Severus.

"What will Sluggy do? Give us more detention? Actually that's not such a bad idea." He raised his wand and blasted several jars spilling their contents everywhere. "Opps! Clumsy me."

"You're determined to get us expelled!"

"Slughorn won't expel me. I'm a Black, remember? Above reproach." He tucked his wand in his back pocket and kissed Severus again.

Severus used the embrace to lift Sirius' wand and then point it at Slughorn's desk. "Reducto!" A pile of smoking ash was all that remained.

Sirius was shocked. "Why'd you do that? And with my wand, too?"

"In case they check to see who had cast the spell. I'd rather not lose any more points from Slytherin." He tucked the wand safely into Sirius' back pocket and gave his rump a reassuring pat. "And as you said, you are a Black."

"Naughty, Brain!" Sirius ground his hips forward, rubbing their pelvises together. "You have been bad and need to be punished." One hand snaked down and unbuttoned Severus' fly, then slipped inside until his fingers wrapped around the already hard shaft.

"What… ohh… what are you doing?"

"An early taste of my birthday present." His fingers ran up and down the heated flesh until Severus was moaning and shivering in Sirius' arms. Suddenly Sirius withdrew his hand and stepped back.

"What are you doing? You can't stop and leave me like this!" Severus hissed.

"Sorry luv," Sirius flashed his golden smile, "but I did say you needed to be punished."

"Bastard!" Severus tackled him with more force that should be possible for such a thin boy and they both fell to the floor laughing and kissing.

xXx

"Hey, Sirius!"

"S'up Wormy? Prongs?" Sirius was still whistling as he dropped his pack by the Gryffindor fireplace and took his usual seat. "Where's Moony?"

"On prefect duties," Said James in his affable demeanor. "We thought we'd wait for you. Catch up on some homework."

Sirius eyed him cautiously. "You speaking to me again?"

"Wha? That? Honestly, Pad, you really need to lighten up. I was just blowing of some steam. Besides we've got Jordan to cover for you and he's getting better. Nothing on you mind but, well…. McGonagall can't keep you off the team forever. Another loss like that and she'll be begging you to rejoin the team."

"Pumpkin juice, paddy?" asked Peter, already filling a glass and set it on the table.

"Ta, mate. Good. I haven't finished my essay on Chimaeras. I mean, they're part lion and part goat so why do they lay eggs? Ah, this is Moony's area of expertise. Best wait for him, eh? Anyone done with his dream forecast homework? Let's see. I've already said that I'd fall off a tower and burn my tongue on some incredibly hot soup. What else can I put down?"

"That you'll betray a close friend?" said James.

"Nice one. That's sounds convincing." Sirius finished the glass and jiggled it for Peter to refill. "And on Thursday I am likely to… lose a cherished possession. How's that?" A smack of his lips and he was thirsty for another drink.

Padfoot," said James slowly. "How are you feeling?"

"Never better."

"You sure?"

"I already said so, mummy dearest."

James and Peter exchanged a strange look.

"What's with the two of you? You're acting very odd."

"We're not the only ones," James said.

"But that should all be cleared up now, eh, James, eh?" said Peter. "He said it was sure to work guaranteed."

"What's sure to work?" asked Sirius.

"Watched him brew it himself we did and he said it would remove all trace, so you should be fine now, Paddy. Back to normal, eh?"

"Brewed what? All trace of what? Talk sense already, man!"

"What's important," said James in a smoothing tone, "is that we figured out what that sneaky git was up to and we took care of it. Discretely too. Imagine if something like this got out. You'd be the laughing stock of the entire school. No. We simply asked Slughorn to show us the correct way to brew the strongest antidote for a love potion there is, and then we nicked some and put it in your pumpkin juice."

Sirius listened to this fantastic story. "Uh-hun. Right. Here's the thing. Why?"

"Because, and take it easy, mate, because that git Snape has somehow been slipping you love potion."

Sirius threw his head back and gave his bark-like laugh. "Mental. The lot of you. And how'd you two geniuses work that out?"

"Because Peter said he saw you holding his hand in Potions class," admitted James.

No one was laughing now. "Wormtail," Sirius said in a cold tone. "I think you're mistaken, mate. I wouldn't do that with Remus' guy."

"Then why were you snogging him?" Peter said in a very high and very squeaky voice.

Sirius felt as if the floor had just fallen away. "What did you say?"

"After I saw you holding hands I stayed behind. I thought something dodgy was going on so I transformed and hid in the rafters. I saw you… you and him…."

"That was last week. You're only coming to me with this now?" Sirius growled.

Peter's eyes went wide with fright. "I uh I wanted to make sure…."

Sirius seized the front of Peter's robes and dragged him over the table. "You mean you wanted to watch all our little snogging sessions. Did it turn you on wormy? Get your nasty little raisins off?"

Peter blushed and hung his head.

"Yeah I thought so. And when you had your fill you went running to James. Didn't even bother asking me about it first. Did you wank off again at the thought of finally getting James' attention with something this important?"

"Don't get sore at him, mate," said James and pulled them apart. "It's Snape who needs to be taken care of. I told you he wasn't to be trusted. He used an illegal potion on you so you'd be too distracted to concentrate on Quidditch. Maybe even hoped it would get you kicked off the team. At the very least he was trying to humiliate you. Well, I've got a little plan of my own to take care of him."

Sirius slammed his glass into the table, shattering it. "You think just because he's in Slytherin that automatically makes him evil. Well, you're wrong. We all were wrong. Sorry to tell you this but if either of you two ponces care to know, Snape never used a love potion on me."

"Of course he did. You're just confused. Slughorn said it was an after effect of the potion. Why else would you be acting like a…a—"

"Poof? Gee, I guess it's because I am one!" Sirius shouted.

Peter went very pale and James' jaw dropped. "No you're not. I've seen you with girls. Kissing girls."

"Yeah, and I never stayed with them for more than a few days, did I? Always thought it was them. That they were too boring to keep my interest, but now I know it was me. I like Severus. Not at first maybe, but there were things about him that struck me and, and I fell in love. Without the use of any potions."

James looked like Sirius had just uttered the most disgusting swear word imaginable. "You're mad! Barking mad. Look at you. You're not even trying to get back on the team when we need you. And every chance you get you're with him instead of us, your friends. Listen to me, Padfoot, Sirius, he's bad news. He's a bad dark wizard! We are best friends and you should listen to us. He cares too much about the Dark Arts, and Merlin knows we've seen enough of the curses he's invented himself. That's what he's like. He's no good for you."

"For your information," Sirius said through clenched teeth. "He told me that he's thinking of becoming a Healer. Does that sound like a Dark wizard to you? And Lily doesn't hate him the way you're dead set to do. He's different, James. You're just seeing the kid we liked to pick on because he was a bit different."

James stared at him. The heat from his face fogged up his square glasses. "Sirius if you do this, if you stay with that… that… I'll never speak to you again. I swear it!"

Sirius grabbed his papers and rucksack. "I'm going up to bed. And if you lads try to slip me a mickey again, don't."

He stormed up the stairs to the boys' dorm room, kicking and scrapping his feet every step of the way. His nerves were shaking. He wanted to hex something. He wanted to shout at James until Big Head Potter saw reason. He wanted to see Severus and hold him close.

The door opened behind him. Sirius was half dreading, half hoping that it was James, but instead Peter entered the room.

"Is… is it all right if I come in?" he muttered. His buckteeth chewed two holes in his lower lip.

Sirius grunted.

"I'm really, really sorry, Padfoot. Honest. I was worried about you."

Another grunt.

"Anyway, I thought that you were getting friendly with Snape for Remus' sake."

Remus. The blade cut into Sirius' gut and twisted. "Remus," he whispered. "Did you tell him, too?"

Peter shook his head. "Didn't want to be the one to tick off a werewolf. What are you going to do?"

"I meant what I said down there. Sev and I are friends. We're more than that. I need him."

"What about Remus, eh?" said Peter with a concern that is shocking. "He's your mate, too, and mates don't do that to each other."

"I didn't mean for it to happen. I really didn't! It just happened. And Severus feels the same way. Are you going to tell our Moony?"

"I don't know what'll hurt him worse; the fact that his sweetheart belongs to someone else, or that it's his best friend. Funny thing is, you know how Remus is. He'd probably have stepped aside if you had gone to him earlier, before you started to deceive him."

Sirius sank into his and put his hands in his face. Tears were threatening to spill.

"You should break it off."

"I can't," Sirius answered, his voice completely dead.

"Then you have to tell him," said Peter.

"I can't do that either."

"If you don't, James will. You saw what he's like. He's going to do something rash, I know it, and I just can't go against him. You understand that, don't you, Sirius? He's James, after all."

Sirius nodded, secretly feeling sorry for the little toady. "You do that, Wormtail. You do what you have to do. And so will I."