"Hey, hey! What've you got there, Prongs? Looks like you've caught a slimy little snake!"
James jumped, startled, barely managing to keep his magic steady about Snape as he suddenly found himself facing an evilly smirking Sirius Black strutting out from the shadows surrounding the closest Hogwarts entrance to the Forbidden Forest. James bent at the waist and panted out the surge of adrenaline his friend's sudden and unexpected appearance had shot through him, bracing arms on thighs and willing his thudding heart to slow. He didn't dare take long; Sirius was heading straight for Snape, wand out, casually waving it in preparation to lazily cast a likely painful hex. James quickly straightened and rushed to put himself between Sirius and his favorite target.
"No, Sirius; leave him alone. I'm taking him to Madam Pomphrey; he's--he's really hurt." James swallowed, trying not to shiver at the events and revelations of the evening.
"Ah, just leave him here; somebody will find him, eventually," Sirius said carelessly, waving one hand and grinning with true malice in his eyes that James had never before questioned--or ever really noticed, truth to tell.
James stared at his best friend, stomach queasy as he realized that just hours ago, he'd have been agreeing with Sirius--if not suggesting it himself!--without ever bothering to find out just what had happened to Snape. He's have assumed, as Sirius obviously did, that the Slytherin had deserved it. It would never have occurred to either of them that Snape might be hurt badly enough that he'd die without proper medical care. He swallowed hard, disgust himself and his friends churning through him as he stared at his best friend, whose grin was slowly dimming into confusion as James just stared at him with that vaguely sick look.
Shaking his head, James turned and continued to carefully guide Snape into the school, determined to get him to the school nurse for proper care as soon as he could. He turned and directed over his shoulder, "Go on back to the Tower, Padfoot; I'll be up in a while."
Sirius gaped after him, stunned speechless and beginning to suspect hexes--or Polyjuice! Since when did James Potter give a damn about any Slytherin? Especially this one! The slimy gits only got what they deserved; sneaking around, spying on honest Gryffindors, hexing from behind your back! Feeling a not so vague sense of outrage growing, and never once considering as James now did that he fit that description much better than he thought any Slytherin did, Sirius stalked after his friend, determined to find out just what was going on here!
Hearing footsteps behind him, James glanced over his shoulder and saw the stubborn set to Sirius' face, the determined stiffness to his posture. Knowing better than to waste effort arguing, James rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying to keep track of just what Sirius was doing at any particular moment while still keeping from bumping Snape into a wall or something. The Slytherin's twitching hadn't subsided at all; James knew just enough about the Unforgivable curse Snape's father had used from his own Auror father to know that Snape needed treatment as quickly as possible.
The trick would be keeping Sirius from hexing the helpless boy before they got there.
Seven minutes of whinging, moaning, complaining, and even some near-desperate pleading from Sirius later, James was immensely relieved to be standing in front of the doors to the Hospital Wing. Sirius hadn't listened to a single thing he'd said, and James was about ready to hex his friend if he didn't shut up soon! No, they were not going to hex Snape; they were not going to just leave him laying about somewhere for some poor first-year to find, Merlin forbid he should die first; and they were absolutely not going to bounce him off the walls or ceiling all the way there...! Highly irritated both by Sirius' whining and the revelations he'd suffered through that night, James turned and snapped harshly at his friend, "Just get the doors open!" He glared at Sirius, still keeping himself protectively between his friend and Snape.
Sirius looked outraged and wounded at once at the unexpected tone, but after a moment's hesitation, he did step around to do as James said, exaggeratedly keeping his distance from the floating Slytherin, as if afraid of catching something from him.
James scowled, heartily wishing Sirius had just gone back up to Gryffindor Tower when he'd told him to. He just knew his friend was going to be a major pain about James' new decision to help Snape keep out of the Death Eater ranks, and was not looking forward to dealing with it. Hopefully at least Remus would be open-minded about it, especially as Peter would probably call him crazy and hide behind Sirius for the rest of term. At least Peter wouldn't work against him without direction from Sirius or Remus.
On the bright side, Lily Evans would maybe, possibly, actually look on him with something other than contemptuous disgust, for a change. She was actually friends with Snape--had been since before they came to Hogwarts. Perking up considerably at that sudden thought, selfish though it was, James continued his careful maneuvering until he had Snape hovering over the nearest hospital bed, yelling for Madam Pomphrey as he gently, gently, lowered Snape to rest on the mattress.
Sirius stared in mute outrage at this friendly treatment of their long time arch-nemesis as James wiped a hand over his brow, the strain of using that spell for the first time and for so long catching up to him with a vengeance and making his knees feel like jelly. There were reasons spells like that weren't taught until the upper years; young witches and wizards needed to grow into their magic, physically and mentally as well as magically. Slumping against the bed, James looked up at the sound of quickly approaching footsteps to see Madam Pomphrey in her normal Healer's robes and cap heading for them like a warship under full sail, face thunderous and concerned at the same time.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Black! What in Merlin's name are you two doing up at this time of night, and what in Merlin's name have you done to--" Her eyes widened and her concern and anger both increased as she came close enough to identify the student on the bed, "Mr. Snape?!" Her sharp-eyed gaze speared into James as she waited impatiently for an explanation, reminding him of a volcano on the verge of erupting.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, James glanced once at Sirius in nervous concern, knowing very well that in Snape's place, he would be upset enough at being rescued by one of his arch-enemies--but Snape was going to go absolutely ballistic when he found out that Sirius Black knew what had happened, as well. James didn't think there was any way he could avoid telling Sirius at least some of it, though, or his friend would definitely and actively work to sabotage anything James did to try and help Snape. If James was very, very lucky, he might be able to keep a lid on Sirius' darker tendencies towards pranking and insults, at least as regards this. It should strike close enough to home for Sirius to not want to breathe a word about it to anyone else, considering the bad blood between Sirius and his own family.
There was no help for it. James decided to just talk fast and get it all out before the outraged screaming could start, or Mount Saint Pomphrey blew up on him.
"Madam Pomphrey--I found him out on the edge of the Forest, he was meeting his father--that's a horrible man, really horrible! He cursed Snape--with an Unforgivable!" Earnest brown eyes bored into the nurse's shocked gaze as he poured out his confession in a breathless rush, "I didn't do anything to him, honest--I just thought Mobilicorpus was the best way to get him to you; I didn't knock him into anything, or hurt him any more, I was really careful--it was all his father!--he held the Cruciatus on him--twice!!--for a couple minutes or so each time--I think I heard a bone break!--and he was saying some of the worst things to Snape, how could a father treat his own son like that--!!"
"Hold! Stop, Mr. Potter!" The Medi-Witch's sharp command cut through his growing hysteria, stopping the nearly uncontrollable flow of words. Madam Pomphrey and Sirius were both staring at him with shocked looks. The nurse took a shaky breath of her own and directed an almost hyperventilating James, "Take a deep breath, now, dear--that's it. Now let it out; now another... Yes, that's it," she nodded encouragingly at James as he drew slow, shaky breaths. "Do you need a Calming Draught?"
James shook his head jerkily as she peered at him in patent disbelief. He struggled to keep his suddenly exploding panic under control, grateful he hadn't gone to pieces before then. If he took a Calming Draught before he was certain Sirius was going to behave himself, he might not be quick enough to fend off his friend's sneaky hexes at Snape. Finally the nurse nodded, though not totally convinced.
"Let me see if I understand you correctly, Mr. Potter. You saw Mr. Snape's own father hold the--" her voice went disbelieving in a shocked way, "the Cruciatus on him, twice, for a couple minutes each time?" Her incredulous gaze took in James' mute nod, the uncharacteristic and seemingly genuine anguished concern on his face; then she turned to Snape and paled as she truly noticed the distinct tremors throughout his whole body for the first time, without James' panic to distract her.
James and Sirius found themselves hustled out of the way as Madam Pomphrey went to work with a will, flitting about her patient and casting Accio to call various potions and salves to her from the Hospital storage cabinets as she coaxed the semi-conscious boy to take the potions, rubbing three different salves into his quivering skin in quick succession, all while waving her wand frequently in diagnostic spells to keep track of the progress of her efforts and somehow, in the midst of crooning comfortingly during her ministering she'd gotten him changed into Hospital pajamas... James found himself almost getting dizzy trying to keep track of everything she was doing, he had no idea how she did it all practically at once! She even, with a rather negligent wave of her wand and without looking, raised Sirius up and firmly planted him to sit on a bed farther down the row with a Sticking Charm to his seat, when he first showed signs of thinking her too occupied to notice him tossing a casual hex at Snape.
James had barely noticed the danger signs; he had no idea how the Medi-Witch had managed to notice, with her back practically turned on his friend!
It was with a sense of great relief that James noticed, about a half hour later, that Snape had finally stopped that uncontrollable, continuous twitching and trembling and seemed to at last be resting almost peacefully. He was still even paler than normal for him, his thin face rather pinched with discomfort even asleep, looking rather like death warmed over; but James was reassured by the nurse's muttered commentary that there was no permanent damage. Snape would be confined to the Hospital Wing for several days, not least because he couldn't be given any Skele-Gro to mend his broken arm until certain other potions were out of his system, and she definitely wanted the residual tremors to have finally stopped before he could go anywhere.
James sighed in relief.
The sound drew Madam Pomphrey's attention. She looked around at the two Gryffindors, gave Snape's blanket a final tuck and a laid a firm but gentle pat to his shoulder, and walked over to them. (James, deciding discretion was the better part of valor, had gone to stand by his best friend early on--mainly in the interest of not getting himself likewise Stuck there.) Her gaze was suspicious, but also curious. She came to a stop in front of them, staring mainly at James.
"Mr. Potter. The Headmaster should be here momentarily; he'll expect a complete explanation, of course, though in this particular case I suspect he will be pleasantly surprised at your behavior, instead of his usual disappointment." Her stern glare shifted to Sirius, then softened slightly as it came back to a slightly shell-shocked James, who wondered when in Merlin's name she'd had time to summon the Headmaster. She'd never left Snape's side! She nodded decisively as she said, "Just wait right here." She turned on her heel and walked back to Snape's bedside, making one more check before wandering tiredly off to her office to pull Snape's file and be certain it had automatically updated, and to add some personal notes to it. She left her door open so she would have a clear view of her patient--and the two Gryffindors.
James was rather surprised she'd left them even that close to alone with Snape, what with their four-year history, even with the Sticking charm on Sirius. He'd noticed before that the Medi-Witch had a surprising soft spot for this particular Slytherin, for whatever reason; he'd have expected her to stand over them with a continuous glare and her wand at the ready until the Headmaster arrived.
"So."
James twitched nervously as that deceptively soft word came from beside him. He slid his eyes sideways to Sirius. "...So."
"His old man...and an Unforgiveable?" Sirius was staring intently at Snape, but at least his expression lacked the usual edge of hatred he usually wore for the Slytherin. He didn't look like he was plotting anything--yet. His voice was remarkably neutral, for Sirius, with just a hint of disbelief and confusion to it.
James swallowed and tried to think what to say. He knew Sirius was going to be impossible about this--!
The Headmaster's arrival saved James from a likely explosion, at least for a while.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Madame Pomphrey tells me you've brought something of an interesting situation to the Hospital Wing...?" Twinkling blue eyes pinned both boys as Albus Dumbledore stepped in front of them from seemingly nowhere, reinforcing his reputation as being able to do the impossible--in this case, Apparating within Hogwarts, without even a pop on arrival for warning. He cocked his head, his lumpy, misshapen fuchsia hat tilting precariously.
James swallowed and tried not to squint at the fluorescent shades of the Headmaster's robes, which seemed much too bright to look at long enough to even roughly identify the eye-watering colors. His white hair and beard seemed almost dull in comparison as James fixed his eyes on the Headmaster's face, and the expression of patient expectation he wore.
"Headmaster...I'm sorry...really I am, but this time, I think it was a really, really good thing that I snuck out of the Tower." Earnest hazel eyes locked with twinkling blue that held just a hint of humorous disbelief. "I saw Snape sneaking through the hallways on my way to the kitchens, and I--I followed him..." James looked down briefly, embarrassed and slightly ashamed of himself; knowing the Headmaster must know his motives then were a whole lot less than pure. He looked back up and with a deep breath went on, "I know I shouldn't have kept following when he left the castle and headed for the Forbidden Forest, but--well anyway; I saw him meeting up with some guy, an adult. I was just close enough to hear what they were saying, and--and--!"
Concern overrode the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes as he reached a steadying hand to James' shoulder. "Easy, Mr. Potter. Take a deep breath; calm yourself, then tell me."
James took a couple shuddery breaths, nervous energy jittering through his veins, and tried to calm down again, at least enough to speak clearly. He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked back up at the Headmaster and nodded.
"It was Snape's father, Headmaster! He said the most horrible things...! He threatened Snape--told him he was going to, to take the Dark Mark, or else he'd end up like his mother! And when Snape still told him he wouldn't--the man cast the Cruciatus on him! On his own son! Twice, yet! I thought he was going to kill him!! So I--" Another deep breath; James determinedly refused to so much as glance at Sirius. "I ran over between them and yelled at him to stop. I know it was stupid--but something in the Forest made noise then, like somebody running towards the castle; I yelled for "Padfoot" to "go, get the Headmaster," and it fooled him--he Apparated away. I didn't know what to do for Snape; he looked--he looked like he was in a bad way. So I tried Mobilicorpus, and it worked, and I brought him here to the Hospital Wing." James swallowed again, fighting a suspicious sting in his eyes, and remembered to add on, "--Sirius must have woken up and noticed I was out of bed, and he came looking for me; he met me at the entry..."
James held the Headmaster's eyes, almost pleading, though he wasn't sure what for. He only knew his whole world had been turned on end this night, and he was suddenly overwhelmed with the childish desire for the Headmaster to put things right.
Dumbledore's eyes shadowed, and he glanced over at Snape for the first time since he'd arrived. James frowned when the Headmaster looked back after the briefest look and giving one small, disappointed sigh. His earlier suspicions came roaring back to the front of his mind--especially with the Headmaster's next words.
"It's a shame, but I'm certain Madam Pomphrey has things well in hand now; she'll have Mr. Snape up and about in no time. In the meantime, you and Mr. Black should get back to your beds." The Headmaster spoke with a tone of finality, the twinkle back in his eyes.
A wave of disappointment swept over James, even as Sirius shrugged and headed for the doors to head back to the Tower. James refused to leave things at that; if there was hope to keep Severus Snape on the side of the Light, James could himself testify that the boy had potential enough to make it worthwhile to help him. After all, Snape had held his own against the Pride of Gryffindor for four years, at four to one odds; as well as defying a father as horrible as what James had seen!! The more he thought on it, the more he was convinced that Snape had been arguing with the Sorting Hat, all those years ago. His Sorting had taken nearly five whole minutes! Had he been arguing himself out of, James' mind whispered the House of his growing conviction, Gryffindor?
He'd opened his mouth and started talking before realizing he was even going to say anything. From the corner of his eye, he registered Sirius spinning about to stare at him with his jaw agape.
"Headmaster, how are you going to help Snape? You've got to do something! His father--he'll kill him! We can't just let that happen!"
Dumbledore gave him a stern look over his half-moon spectacles. "Mr. Potter. Your distress for a classmate does you credit, but it's really none of your concern. Please go to bed."
Reluctantly, disillusionment and outrage building from the pit of his stomach and rising to burn the back of his throat, James backed away from the Headmaster, disappointment weighing on him like a lead blanket. Dumbledore watched him, a slight frown furrowing the old man's brow as James' expression seemed to confuse him. James had just enough self-control--and self preservation!--to not boldly demand if the Headmaster would have helped Snape were he a Gryffindor. Only someone else on the Wizengamot would likely be able to pin Dumbledore with that question long enough to make the powerful old wizard really think about his answer.
James spun and stalked by a skeptically confused Sirius to bang noisily out the doors in a juvenile show of temper, not caring if the Headmaster might be disappointed in his behavior--he was seriously disappointed in the Headmaster's behavior! The man hadn't even bothered with a false platitude about naturally helping all the students under his care! He'd just brushed the whole question off!
Sirius yelped and ran after him, barely catching sight of James as he took off running for all he was worth once through the doors, grimacing and glaring at nothing as he fought to control his newfound, absolutely crushing disappointment in the Headmaster. His eyes watered with angry tears he refused to shed as he ran, making the corridors waver as he pelted through them.
The man had no intention of helping Snape--James just knew it! He wasn't going to even try!!
Sirius was breathless when he caught up to James at the sleepy and disapproving portrait of the Fat Lady, unable to even ask what the matter was. James took three tries to gasp out the password, then slammed through when she glared and reluctantly swung open for him, eliciting a squeal of protest and an only vaguely lady-like imprecation hollered after him. Sirius grimaced and dashed through after his friend, not even bothering with a "sorry". It was only a painting, after all.
James was burrowing in his trunk when Sirius got to their dorm, not taking much care to keep quiet. Remus was stirring at the rustling noise of cloth and papers and the occasional thump as something heavier flew out to hit the floor, but Peter was snoring blithely away, prone to sleep through Armageddon unless it fell directly on him. Sirius eyed his smaller friend speculatively, somewhat distracted, a slow grin tugging at his mouth as he wondered just how he should wake the other boy.
A blank roll of parchment, a slightly ruffled looking quill and a dented inkwell finally landed on James' rumpled bed. James plopped down next to them and quickly sorted them into order, shoving a clear spot on his nightstand to serve as a writing surface. Sirius watched with gaping mouth as James started writing furiously. Remus sat up in his bed and stared drowsily at James, then looked to Sirius, who glanced over and shrugged to say he had no clue what James was doing.
Twenty minutes and multiple furious crossings-out and re-writes later, James had a letter he was apparently satisfied with. He rolled it up and sealed it with a charm, then stood up, only to see Sirius and Remus staring at him from Remus' bed, Peter kneeling behind them with his blankets half off one pajama-clad shoulder; all three looking bemused. He chuffed out a sort-of laugh, and sat back down on his bed.
"I guess you guys would like an explanation...?" He gave them a rather sickly excuse for a smile, wistfully hoping they'd let him off until daylight, but knowing they never would. The clouding of Sirius' face as his flighty attention returned to what had happened in the Hospital Wing told him he'd better get his explanation out before Sirius confused everything.
Remus spoke up first. "You guessed right. What's with the sudden urge for correspondence? You were too absorbed to even notice us asking while you were writing." Remus' eyebrows were up, his faintly scarred face set in an expression of polite curiosity that meant he'd keep digging--politely, of course--until he got an answer. Peter watched avidly, hoping for something interesting, as he'd been literally yanked out of a sound sleep by Sirius to watch James write like a madman. Sirius snorted, slinging one arm on Remus' shoulder and slouching on him as he stared at James with a mix of curiosity, exasperation and confusion. All he'd told his newly-wakened friends was that James had followed Snape into the Forbidden Forest earlier, ended up taking that Slytherin to the Hospital Wing, and had been acting weird ever since. Sirius had been too confused to get around to accusing Snape of hexing their friend, yet.
With a big sigh, James slumped over the scroll in his hands, gripping it tightly, then straightened up and stared intently at his best friends. "I discovered some things tonight; things my father needs to know about, since Dumbledore doesn't seem to want to deal with it."
Peter jerked upright while Remus gaped, but Sirius snorted in disbelief, crossing his arms and hunching forward over his knees. He let out a growl and said, "It's just Snape! What do you want the Headmaster to do? He's a Slytherin!"
"Knock it off, Padfoot; he's a kid, just like us! Anybody who's brave enough to face off against--what he stood up to tonight, should have been in Gryffindor, anyway!!"
Remus and Peter fell backwards gaping at James' vehemence, Peter springing up to bounce right onto Remus' bed. Sirius shot to his feet and glared, shouting, "He's a Slytherin! They're evil, Prongs! All Slytherins grow up to be Dark, you know that! Why in Merlin's name would you want to help one of the Darkest?! What in hell did you see out there?!! What did he hex you with!?!"
James also stood, glaring back from mere inches away and without even the faintest hint of willingness to back down. "I saw a young man brave enough to bear the Cruciatus curse--twice!!--just to refuse to serve the Dark Lord! Defying his own father, who said he'd kill him if he didn't take that Mark! I believe he'll do it, too! I saw somebody who I realized I've completely, totally, and utterly misjudged for four years--because you know what? Do you know why that scrawny, ugly little kid was sniveling so much on our first Express ride here...? Do you?!" James poked Sirius in the chest, even as his friend backed away one step, then another at this completely unexpected ferocity. James got within a couple inches of Sirius' face to all but spit his next furious words, "The kid we immediately started picking on for being a wimp, without one question to him..." James paused and drew a shuddering breath, fighting that prickling feeling in his eyes as he went on, "Just the night before, that eleven year old boy had discovered his mother's mutilated corpse in her bedroom, right there in his house!"
James had finally remembered all the gossip and news stories he'd barely paid attention to back when he first started Hogwarts. His parents hadn't managed to shield him from everything, and especially not once he was away at Hogwarts. He'd gotten a glimpse of an actual partial picture of Snape's mother's body that had been printed on the front page of The Daily Prophet during his first ever breakfast in the Great Hall.
Remus and Peter stared at him in horror, Peter's hands clamped to Remus' shoulders, while a stunned Sirius dropped limply back onto the foot of Remus' bed, nearly missing it to sprawl on the floor. James fisted his shaking hands, trying not to destroy the scroll he'd just written to his father. His voice cracked and broke as he said, "Yeah. Like any of us would've been dry-eyed, after something like that. Especially as it--it sounds like it was his own father who killed her...!"
There was silence for a few minutes as James tried to get control over his wild emotions, staring down at his hands with prickling eyes threatening to drip tears as he sank back down on his own bed. Shame and remorse had flooded through him so strongly he was afraid he'd start blubbering any minute. After a while, he heard a quiet, strangled sound and looked up into Sirius' tormented blue eyes.
"...He...he found her...?"
James nodded grimly.
"And...and we--I-- I made fun...of his grief...?" Sirius' expression went sickly, then haunted, as his imagination painted scenes of blood and horror for his mind's eye. He'd seen that front-page photo, too, though James wasn't sure that's what his friend was remembering. He didn't recall that either of them had really noticed a name to go with the article--the seventh-year who'd been reading the paper had whipped it shut and stuffed it into his bag the moment he'd noticed ickle firsties within range to see it.
Sirius shuddered briefly, unwillingly sympathizing with the boy he'd been hating so much for so long, now. James' lips quirked in a sad hint of a smile; Sirius wasn't stupid, after all--just prejudiced. If you rubbed his nose in something hard enough, for long enough, he'd even sometimes admit to getting your point.
"Pads...remember how long his Sorting took...? I'd bet you a bag full of galleons he was talking the Hat out of putting him in our House, just like you talked it out of putting you in Slytherin. The scary part is, he took twice as long to do it as you did." Meaning, the Hat had believed Snape to be more Gryffindor than Sirius was Slytherin, at least at the time they were Sorted.
James held Sirius' eyes as his friend suddenly looked like he'd just been gut-punched. Conflicting emotions fought over his expression. They had four years of dedicated enmity with Severus Snape, after all, and the Slytherin had certainly given as good as he got. The hard feelings ran both ways, and they ran deep; each party had caused sometimes rather serious damage to the other. Even with the completely uneven odds against Snape, he'd still managed to hold his own against them.
Sirius had to realize, though, that after their behavior on the Express, it was hardly surprising Snape might have fought tooth and nail to not share a dorm with them. There's no way Snape would ever have been put in Hufflepuff, not with the way that boy held grudges. That was likely what got him put in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw, the bookworm's House.
After another silent time, James quietly spoke his worst fear. "I don't think Dumbledore's going to do anything to help Snape get away from his father." He looked grimly at each of his friends. "I think Dumbledore's written off the whole of Slytherin House as soon as they're Sorted, and can't see that any of them are worth anything." His eyes hardened as he stood and started to pace restlessly. "I don't agree with that--not after what I saw! I think Snape could be a strong ally once we're out of school; just look how he's stood up to all of us, all by himself! His House-mates certainly never help him. He's always taken care for bystanders in our feud, too, even when we don't--and have any of us bothered to apologize for disrupting classes, our teachers' schedules, or our fellow students? Snape always does! Even when it was our hexes that caused the problem, not his. Slytherin or no, if you look really closely at the last four years, we certainly haven't been the ones behaving like true Gryffindors--bloody hell, we've been behaving just like we've always accused the Slytherins!"
Remus and Peter were staring at him wide-eyed, jaws agape. Remus' expression was guilty; of them all, he was quite well aware of just how much in the wrong they'd usually been, though he'd never tried too hard to change things, for fear of losing their friendship. Peter was shaking his head slightly in disbelief, though James could see his unwilling acknowledgment of the truth. Sirius was still too shocked to have gotten around to the rest of his reaction yet; James would bet on his friend being a right bear for weeks after this, until it all sank in--after about a 'zillion repeats of tonight's speech. The only thing Sirius hatedmore than being wrong, was being told he'd been wrong--unless it was for school work, which he didn't take seriously to start with.
Gritting his teeth, James pressed his point. "If Snape's against the Dark Lord, then he's our ally; and even if he'd rather go off and disappear into neutrality, he doesn't deserve to be left to face that--that creature that is his father, all on his own! If the Headmaster doesn't help him, who else is going to? How could we ever again call ourselves Gryffindors, if we let that happen?! I know my father will agree; he and Mum have given me enough lectures when I'm home, about tolerance and such..." He gave Sirius a sickly grin as the other boy winced; James' father didn't keep all his lectures just for his own offspring, he was quite willing to share them out. "I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with a semi-permanent house-guest over the holidays, knowing Mum."
James shuddered, knowing he'd then discover first-hand just how snide and biting Severus Snape could truly be, when he put his mind to it. There was no way the Slytherin would be falling-down grateful for being saved by a Gryffindor! James' mum would likely have to drag the Slytherin into their home, kicking, screaming and hexing the whole way.
Sirius shuddered in sympathy, only half jokingly; he knew James' mother. He couldn't wrap his mind around the thought of living with Severus Snape in the same home, though! How horrible that would be... His mind was treating the information like it was about someone else, and not the "slimy no-good git Slytherin" he'd been out to get since they started Hogwarts. He'd hated Snape on sight, and wasn't keen on admitting he'd had not even a vague hint of a good reason for it. Then he'd have to admit he was no better than his Muggle-hating family, all of whom he hated with a passion--including his Slytherin git of a little brother, Regulus; who'd betrayed their childhood pact to be in the same House at Hogwarts, to instead be Mumsie's and Dadsie's Good Little Boy. Sirius had spent nearly the whole of his meager fourteen years trying to be their opposite! His sense of betrayal had put his little brother firmly in the Slytherin Enemy category at Hogwarts, as his second-favorite target for his cruelest pranking.
James was talking again, his manner rather subdued. "I'm going to owl this account to my father right now. That way, when--uh, even if Dumbledore does fail Snape, he will have help." James, a bit embarrassed to have let his new distrust for the Headmaster slip out so blatantly, stood and walked out of the room, his friends staring after him. Sirius looked rather mutinous; it was Snape, after all...but Remus was approving. Poor Peter just looked bewildered, waiting on the other two to decide what he would do.
As James reached the door, Remus jumped up and grabbed his school robe, hastily shrugging it on over his pajamas as he called out, "I'll go with you!"
Sirius looked at Peter. A worried Peter stared back. A minute later, the dorm was empty, all four Marauders on their way to the Owlry.