Okay background check, this is supposed to be set during Harry's 5th Year but as far as my idea's to continue this story go, it barely follows the books at all although the ending (if written properly) hopefully will. So, since I've had a couple of requests to carry this on here is the second chapter. Enjoy.
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Harry couldn't believe what he'd seen, but the sound of footsteps in the near distance didn't allow him the time to think as he flung his invisibility cloak over himself and slipped unnoticed through the door and out of the dungeons, all the way back up to Gryffindor tower.
When he entered the common room Ron was waiting for him, a happy grin on his face, "Did you do it?" he asked, his voice high pitched with excitment. Harry stared at his friend, unable to answer and the only picture in his head was that of a teenage Snape, laying in the dirt and shadows, broken and weeping and begging for death.
He felt his chest clench and had to run full force to the bathrooms, barely making it into a stall before he was violently sick and he let the tears fall and the reality of what he'd just witnessed wash over him.
He'd never look at Snape or Sirius the same way again.
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It had been a week since Harry had snuck iton Snape's rooms, a week since he'd witnessed the horror's in the pensieve. Ron and Hermione knew there was something wrong, Harry hadn't slept or eaten properly since that night, though Ron had put it down to Snape having cursed Harry after catching him in his rooms. That was what Harry had told them the next morning when no prank came in first lesson Potions.
Harry couldn't help but wonder what must have happened between that memory and Sirius being sent to Azkaban that allowed Sirius to get away with what he'd done to Snape. And he was beginning to have a clearer idea as to why Snape preferred to keep the distance between himself and others that he did.
Although it sounded like an utterly stupid plan even to him, Harry resolved that he needed to see what other memories were hidden in Snape's old pensieve, and found the opportune time when Snape was absent for the castle one Saturday night, and claiming to Ron and Hermione that he was off to detention with Filch for having been caught in Snape's rooms, Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and headed for his target.
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(A/N: from now on all the memories will be in itallics to prevent confusion)
It was an exceptionally frostly December morning which found Severus sitting on the very edge of the Astronomy Tower balcony watching the snow fall onto the grounds hundreds of feet below. It was only three days to Christmas now, which meant most of the other students had packed up and gone home for the holidays. As far as he knew there were only about 10 students left in Hogwarts, and he was the only Slytherin.
He heared the door creak open and then shut again, tentative footsteps falling behind him before stopping just short of where he sat. He felt those blue eyes he knew so well bore into the back of his head, watching him, studying him, as though at any moment he may throw himself from the tower to the snowflaked grass below.
"I know what you're thinking" he said, his velvety soft voice speaking each word cautiously. He refused to turn around to look at the other teen and so was unable to be fully sure if the bigger boy was in a good or bad mood today.
Sirius blinked and sighed, "I find you teatering on the very edge of the highest point of the school, staring blankly at the grounds below...ofcourse you know what I'm thinking...who else wouldn't be thinking that you were about to jump...?" Sirius sighed and moved to the side, holding out his hand to the smaller boy, moving slow so as to not make him jump. Severus just stared at his hand, his blank expression trying to register the gesture the other was making, "Please don't jump Sev."
Severus gasped and looked at him. His blank expression was gone and in his eyes was all the pain and suffering of years of torture and abuse, the love, hatred and fear battled for dominance but he knew it was no use, he would always give in to him.
"Would it matter?" the raven haired Slytherin questioned, his slight quiver of a voice losing its silky tones and showing the pain and stress of the bane of his extistance, "Who would miss me really? I'd expect your friends would celebrate quite cheerfully, infact I bet even my fellow Slytherins would take part in a toast to finally being rid of the slimy, useless, ugly little prick that is me..." Tears were flowing down the 16 year old's cheeks now, his body shaking with the hurt knowing that every word of what he'd just said was true.
Sirius shook his head and carefully took hold of the other boys hand, "I'd miss you" he pleaded with the boy. Severus sighed and allowed Sirius to trace the outline of a rather nasty bruise on his cheek, evidence of the last time Sirius had lost his temper only days ago.
Severus shook his head, his cracked voice a broken whisper, "If only that were true..."
Sirius shushed him with a gentle kiss, Severus instantly giving in to the offered comfort and responded eagerly to his lover. Sirius pulled the boy to him, carefully holding his shaking skeletal body in his muscled arms. He broke the kiss only when the need for air became to much and rested his forehead against the Slytherins, staring into the teary bottomless black eyes of his lover.
"You mean more to me then you know Severus" Sirius whispered, "I know I don't show it like I should...but you do mean a lot to me."
Severus drew in a shuddering breath, his whispered "I love you" met with another kiss, this time chaste and quick but showing how precious he was to the Gryffindor. Sirius smiled softly, storking the other boys cheek, "I love you, Severus."
Severus stared at him, shocked and blinking. His mouth dropped open and he looked as if he'd just been told a dragon was about to eat the school. "W...what?" he sputtered, shaking his head to try and clear out the blankness.
Sirius chuckled and kissed him again, "I said I love you Severus" the Gryffindor grinned happily, watching the show of expression burst out on his love's face, "And I do mean it, and now I am not under a curse or potion...nor have I been sneaking firewhiskey in from Hogsmeade either."
Severus just shook his head, his eyes still wide and searching every crevice of Sirius' face for false words, "Y...you've never said that before...I mean, not those words."
Sirius nodded, "I know, but I've always meant them." And with that he pulled the smaller into a long, passionate kiss, filled with all the love he held for the younger teen within that kiss and the memory began to fade with that picture.
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Suddenly Harry was shot out of the memory like a speeding bullet. Obviously that memory had taken place after the first one he'd seen as the weather had chaned dramatically from rain to snow. Even more confused Harry slumped into a seated position on the desk behind him, pondering the images he had just seen.
It was such a huge change from the broken and needy clinging Snape, and the angry, anxious and abusive Sirius he'd seen in the first memory.
What had happened in the middle of those two memories to have changed everything so much. Snape had still seemed clearly damaged and frightened of Sirius, but had fallen into his arms with only little hesitation. Even Sirius had seemed calmer, more gentle and had even openly announced his love for his abused victim.
And then Harry though to how they reacted to seeing each other again after Sirius' return from Azkaban and then how they'd openly mocked each other a fought like they hated each other all throughout the Order meetings. Surely long lost lovers would fall into each others arms, or at least be happy to see one another, how ever Snape and Sirius continued to look at each other with all the contempt and hatred built up from their childhoods.
Harry decided he needed to find what had happened in between those two memories, and after, so that he'd be able to understand why they'd changed so much.
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A/N: Well if you've got this far then thank you for reading. I'm sorry it's shorter then last time but my plan for this has just taken a dramtic twist and so I've redone this whole chapter in 2 days. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you think, all feedback is greatly apprecciated.