Shrieking Shack C3
Chapter 3
It was a week later, and Sirius was moodily sitting in the library, alone. Ever since that night, he hadn't really hung out with his friends, nor they with him. Dumbledore had assured them all that Remus was safe from inquiry and that Severus had promised not to tell. Sirius had been skeptical of the Slytherin's word, but no angry lynch mobs had appeared in front of Gryffindor Tower except for the ones angry about mysteriously lost house points, so he could only guess Severus was keeping his end of the bargain. He wondered what Dumbledore had to threaten him with to keep his mouth shut.
Everything had turned out ok, for the most part, except for the detentions and loss of house points. But Sirius was keenly aware of the rift between Remus and himself. James had forgiven him earlier in the week at Quidditch practice. Peter had said that he just wanted things back the way they were. And Sirius had to agree.
Remus though, even though he was talking to him, everytime he did, he just seemed to want to be anywhere else. Great Hall conversations were strained, common room meetings were brief. He wasn't around much, and Sirius could tell he was avoiding him. Sirius had thought he could accept that.back off and give Lupin some time to recover after the unexpected blow Sirius had just dealt to their friendship. But he suspected Remus had never really gotten to say what he really wanted to say. He either wanted to fix this now or break it off completely so.something, could happen.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted it, until he couldn't hardly stand it anymore. Suddenly, the answer struck him, and he resolved then and there what he was going to do. He got up and strode quickly from the library. He stopped by the Gryffindor dorm first, then began searching the halls. He finally met them in second hall corridor. James, Remus, and Peter walking along and joking together as normal, but they stopped and their faces all became closed when they saw him coming.
"Remus, we have to talk." He said abruptly stopping in front of them.
Remus blinked, "Sirius, I've already explained to you how I feel."
"Yes, but it nothing's changed since. This thing that has come between us has to stop. I can't live with these awkward silences and the fact you keep trying to run away from me. It's tearing me up. I want this to end. Now."
James and Peter retreated a couple of steps into the background. Remus suddenly looked angry, his ordinarily warm brown eyes hardening. "Fuck you, Black." He growled suddenly, "YOU can't live with it? After the hell I just went through this week, YOU can't live with it? You know, I've been having this war inside myself all this week thinking about what just happened. Any sane person would have ditched you a long time ago, but I've also been remembering all the nice things you've done for me. Right now, I'm thinking that maybe you were just throwing me a sop. You really are a selfish bastard, you know that?" He fumed and started to stomp past but Sirius stepped in front of him.
"What else?" He asked in a goading tone of voice. "I'm not letting you leave until you get this off your chest."
Lupin put his hand on Sirius's chest and shoved him aside, showing a surprising amount of strength for somebody who was smaller and lighter than he was and seemed to be perpetually sick. "That's a good one, you're not letting me leave. You're not my keeper, you dumb mutt, and you sure as hell aren't any authority to go telling people what's for their own good! Now get out of my way and stay there before I chain you to a post!"
"You think you can?" Sirius growled.
"I KNOW I can!" Lupin snarled.
"Guys, that's enough!" James said getting between them and thrusting them apart. Then he glowered at Sirius, "Have you lost you mind, man?"
"Yes James, I think have. Moony's been bottling that up all week, he needed to get it out of his system."
Lupin made a rude noise in his throat and started to stalk off again, but Sirius stepped in front of him again.
"But that doesn't mean I didn't mean what I said. I can't live without you guys around me. Remus, if you want, I'll Obliviate any knowledge I have of you out of my mind."
"Dammit, would you kindly cut the melodrama? I'm not in the mood for it."
"I'm not acting and this isn't melodrama. I'm serious."
"And I'm Remus, yes, we know."
"I'm NOT kidding. For once I'm not kidding around, Remus. I'll do it. You're right, I'm not the most trustworthy person in the world." He reached inside his robe sleeve and raised his wand to his head.
Peter's eyes went wide. James blinked as if he wasn't quite comprehending this was happening. Remus glared.
"God, is EVERYTHING about YOU, Black?"
"Yes, yes it is. This is my fault, it's my problem, and it's up to me to fix it. You guys are all absolutely right. I'm not doing this to get attention, I'm doing this because I seriously fucked up and I don't know that I won't do it again." He positioned his wand.
"You really are an unbelievable idiot, you know that?" Remus said, "You try to fix one dumb thing by doing another dumb thing?"
"Sirius." James started, a nervous warning in his voice.
Sirius cut him off, "You were right when you said you don't trust me, Remus. I didn't do a trustworthy thing and Merlin knows I have no fucking clue what to do to otherwise to make this up to you. I don't want to lose your friendship, I know that much, and if I have to wipe my memory of everything we did together away and start over on it, I'll do it."
Remus stared at him.
"Obli-"
"STOP!" Remus yelled.
Sirius stopped and heaved a sigh of relief, rolling his eyes back.
All of them had their mouths dropped open.
"You were really going to do it." Remus said in an awed sort of voice.
Sirius lowered his wand, "Yes. It wasn't a very smart thing.but I knew that. I knew it before I did it."
Remus gave him a long look for a moment before saying, "Well. I guess that's it then. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks."
Sirius blinked. Then his mouth quirked. Then he started laughing. Loud enough to ring off the high ceilings of the corridors. Remus chuckled, then he started joining in and soon, all four of them were laughing again, like old times.
"You really are a crazy bastard, you know that?" Remus finally said.
"Thanks for the compliment, Moony." Sirius grinned.
"Anytime, Padfoot."
They started walking down the hallways again, together this time. James remarked, "I'm glad that's done. I was getting sick of the long pauses in- between conversations. You sods were getting downright boring."
Sirius punched him in the arm and James grinned.
"Hey, speaking of boring, look who's ahead of us?"
Not far down the hall, was a familiar, tall, brooding black form. In the week since the Shrieking Shack Incident as it was now known, Severus Snape had taken to avoiding them as much as possible. Which Sirius admitted was kind of nice, for once. In the classes they did have together, they were placed on opposite sides of the room exchanging glares now then.
"Come on guys, let's catch up with him. I've got one more foolish thing to do and apologize to him before I commit to wising up."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. I owe it to him, and I want to get that over with as well."
"I dunno Sirius, I don't think he's cooled off enough yet." James said skeptically.
"Yeah well, I'm not walking around anymore with this hanging over my head..Hey, SNAPE!"
The boy ahead of them stopped as if he'd been struck in the back with a dart. He turned his head around slowly to look at them over his shoulder.
"What do you want now?" He asked frostily.
Sirus cleared his throat. "Look, Severus, I.um.I wanted to apologize for what happened."
Snape turned around fully and stared at him.
"I wanted you to know, I really didn't mean for you to get hurt."
Snape's face was stony. His eyes were cold, dark, and angry. Ok, so he was still sore. Sirius shifted from one foot to the other.
"I'm sorry." What else was there to say?
Snape glared at him, the hatred in his dark eyes blossoming to life and making his eyes glitter like hot coals. Sirius watched him rear his head back like a snake and seconds later, he pulled his fist back and let it fly.
Sirius felt his nose crumble under the blow and flew backwards into the wall.
"You're sorry all right.sorry you got caught," Snape hissed, his voice deadly. "Dumbledore might believe you when you shuffle your shoe and say "You're sorry," but I sure as hell don't. I don't believe for one second you didn't know fully what you were doing when you told me about the tree. One of these days, you'll ALL learn that 'sorry' doesn't cut it..and I'll be there when it does." He spat at Remus's feet, who jumped back, gave a final glare to them all, and stormed off.
For a second there, Sirius was certain he was going to say "I'll get you my pretty, and you're little dog too."
Sirius heaved himself off the ground and put a hand to his broken and bloody nose, glaring after Snape's retreating back. That, was one of the most hateful people he had ever met. He didn't go after him.
I'll let you have this one free shot, Snape, but never again.
"Cripes, you're a mess." James said, offering his handkerchief, "Let's get you Madam Pomfrey so she can fix your nose."
Peter inspected Sirius's face, "Yeah, this shouldn't be too hard to get back into joint." He chuckled.
"Ha. Ha. Bery fuddy Werntail." Sirius rolled his eyes and moaned, "Ugh, I hate da taste of Skele-gro!"
Remus grinned, "Well, while we're it, maybe we can convince her to give Severus some to get his nose back into joint too.Or shrink it..Or something."
"Ow, don't make me laugh!" Sirus cried, wincing and holding the handkerchief tighter.
"Come on dog-boy, if you're good for the vet I might give you a biscuit." Remus grinned.
"Ow, ow, ow," Sirius said through the tears of laughter, "Merlin, you guys are evil!"
James wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "That's why you love us."
"Like a dog loves fleas." Sirius said affectionately, grinning all the way to the infirmary.
Chapter 3
It was a week later, and Sirius was moodily sitting in the library, alone. Ever since that night, he hadn't really hung out with his friends, nor they with him. Dumbledore had assured them all that Remus was safe from inquiry and that Severus had promised not to tell. Sirius had been skeptical of the Slytherin's word, but no angry lynch mobs had appeared in front of Gryffindor Tower except for the ones angry about mysteriously lost house points, so he could only guess Severus was keeping his end of the bargain. He wondered what Dumbledore had to threaten him with to keep his mouth shut.
Everything had turned out ok, for the most part, except for the detentions and loss of house points. But Sirius was keenly aware of the rift between Remus and himself. James had forgiven him earlier in the week at Quidditch practice. Peter had said that he just wanted things back the way they were. And Sirius had to agree.
Remus though, even though he was talking to him, everytime he did, he just seemed to want to be anywhere else. Great Hall conversations were strained, common room meetings were brief. He wasn't around much, and Sirius could tell he was avoiding him. Sirius had thought he could accept that.back off and give Lupin some time to recover after the unexpected blow Sirius had just dealt to their friendship. But he suspected Remus had never really gotten to say what he really wanted to say. He either wanted to fix this now or break it off completely so.something, could happen.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted it, until he couldn't hardly stand it anymore. Suddenly, the answer struck him, and he resolved then and there what he was going to do. He got up and strode quickly from the library. He stopped by the Gryffindor dorm first, then began searching the halls. He finally met them in second hall corridor. James, Remus, and Peter walking along and joking together as normal, but they stopped and their faces all became closed when they saw him coming.
"Remus, we have to talk." He said abruptly stopping in front of them.
Remus blinked, "Sirius, I've already explained to you how I feel."
"Yes, but it nothing's changed since. This thing that has come between us has to stop. I can't live with these awkward silences and the fact you keep trying to run away from me. It's tearing me up. I want this to end. Now."
James and Peter retreated a couple of steps into the background. Remus suddenly looked angry, his ordinarily warm brown eyes hardening. "Fuck you, Black." He growled suddenly, "YOU can't live with it? After the hell I just went through this week, YOU can't live with it? You know, I've been having this war inside myself all this week thinking about what just happened. Any sane person would have ditched you a long time ago, but I've also been remembering all the nice things you've done for me. Right now, I'm thinking that maybe you were just throwing me a sop. You really are a selfish bastard, you know that?" He fumed and started to stomp past but Sirius stepped in front of him.
"What else?" He asked in a goading tone of voice. "I'm not letting you leave until you get this off your chest."
Lupin put his hand on Sirius's chest and shoved him aside, showing a surprising amount of strength for somebody who was smaller and lighter than he was and seemed to be perpetually sick. "That's a good one, you're not letting me leave. You're not my keeper, you dumb mutt, and you sure as hell aren't any authority to go telling people what's for their own good! Now get out of my way and stay there before I chain you to a post!"
"You think you can?" Sirius growled.
"I KNOW I can!" Lupin snarled.
"Guys, that's enough!" James said getting between them and thrusting them apart. Then he glowered at Sirius, "Have you lost you mind, man?"
"Yes James, I think have. Moony's been bottling that up all week, he needed to get it out of his system."
Lupin made a rude noise in his throat and started to stalk off again, but Sirius stepped in front of him again.
"But that doesn't mean I didn't mean what I said. I can't live without you guys around me. Remus, if you want, I'll Obliviate any knowledge I have of you out of my mind."
"Dammit, would you kindly cut the melodrama? I'm not in the mood for it."
"I'm not acting and this isn't melodrama. I'm serious."
"And I'm Remus, yes, we know."
"I'm NOT kidding. For once I'm not kidding around, Remus. I'll do it. You're right, I'm not the most trustworthy person in the world." He reached inside his robe sleeve and raised his wand to his head.
Peter's eyes went wide. James blinked as if he wasn't quite comprehending this was happening. Remus glared.
"God, is EVERYTHING about YOU, Black?"
"Yes, yes it is. This is my fault, it's my problem, and it's up to me to fix it. You guys are all absolutely right. I'm not doing this to get attention, I'm doing this because I seriously fucked up and I don't know that I won't do it again." He positioned his wand.
"You really are an unbelievable idiot, you know that?" Remus said, "You try to fix one dumb thing by doing another dumb thing?"
"Sirius." James started, a nervous warning in his voice.
Sirius cut him off, "You were right when you said you don't trust me, Remus. I didn't do a trustworthy thing and Merlin knows I have no fucking clue what to do to otherwise to make this up to you. I don't want to lose your friendship, I know that much, and if I have to wipe my memory of everything we did together away and start over on it, I'll do it."
Remus stared at him.
"Obli-"
"STOP!" Remus yelled.
Sirius stopped and heaved a sigh of relief, rolling his eyes back.
All of them had their mouths dropped open.
"You were really going to do it." Remus said in an awed sort of voice.
Sirius lowered his wand, "Yes. It wasn't a very smart thing.but I knew that. I knew it before I did it."
Remus gave him a long look for a moment before saying, "Well. I guess that's it then. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks."
Sirius blinked. Then his mouth quirked. Then he started laughing. Loud enough to ring off the high ceilings of the corridors. Remus chuckled, then he started joining in and soon, all four of them were laughing again, like old times.
"You really are a crazy bastard, you know that?" Remus finally said.
"Thanks for the compliment, Moony." Sirius grinned.
"Anytime, Padfoot."
They started walking down the hallways again, together this time. James remarked, "I'm glad that's done. I was getting sick of the long pauses in- between conversations. You sods were getting downright boring."
Sirius punched him in the arm and James grinned.
"Hey, speaking of boring, look who's ahead of us?"
Not far down the hall, was a familiar, tall, brooding black form. In the week since the Shrieking Shack Incident as it was now known, Severus Snape had taken to avoiding them as much as possible. Which Sirius admitted was kind of nice, for once. In the classes they did have together, they were placed on opposite sides of the room exchanging glares now then.
"Come on guys, let's catch up with him. I've got one more foolish thing to do and apologize to him before I commit to wising up."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. I owe it to him, and I want to get that over with as well."
"I dunno Sirius, I don't think he's cooled off enough yet." James said skeptically.
"Yeah well, I'm not walking around anymore with this hanging over my head..Hey, SNAPE!"
The boy ahead of them stopped as if he'd been struck in the back with a dart. He turned his head around slowly to look at them over his shoulder.
"What do you want now?" He asked frostily.
Sirus cleared his throat. "Look, Severus, I.um.I wanted to apologize for what happened."
Snape turned around fully and stared at him.
"I wanted you to know, I really didn't mean for you to get hurt."
Snape's face was stony. His eyes were cold, dark, and angry. Ok, so he was still sore. Sirius shifted from one foot to the other.
"I'm sorry." What else was there to say?
Snape glared at him, the hatred in his dark eyes blossoming to life and making his eyes glitter like hot coals. Sirius watched him rear his head back like a snake and seconds later, he pulled his fist back and let it fly.
Sirius felt his nose crumble under the blow and flew backwards into the wall.
"You're sorry all right.sorry you got caught," Snape hissed, his voice deadly. "Dumbledore might believe you when you shuffle your shoe and say "You're sorry," but I sure as hell don't. I don't believe for one second you didn't know fully what you were doing when you told me about the tree. One of these days, you'll ALL learn that 'sorry' doesn't cut it..and I'll be there when it does." He spat at Remus's feet, who jumped back, gave a final glare to them all, and stormed off.
For a second there, Sirius was certain he was going to say "I'll get you my pretty, and you're little dog too."
Sirius heaved himself off the ground and put a hand to his broken and bloody nose, glaring after Snape's retreating back. That, was one of the most hateful people he had ever met. He didn't go after him.
I'll let you have this one free shot, Snape, but never again.
"Cripes, you're a mess." James said, offering his handkerchief, "Let's get you Madam Pomfrey so she can fix your nose."
Peter inspected Sirius's face, "Yeah, this shouldn't be too hard to get back into joint." He chuckled.
"Ha. Ha. Bery fuddy Werntail." Sirius rolled his eyes and moaned, "Ugh, I hate da taste of Skele-gro!"
Remus grinned, "Well, while we're it, maybe we can convince her to give Severus some to get his nose back into joint too.Or shrink it..Or something."
"Ow, don't make me laugh!" Sirus cried, wincing and holding the handkerchief tighter.
"Come on dog-boy, if you're good for the vet I might give you a biscuit." Remus grinned.
"Ow, ow, ow," Sirius said through the tears of laughter, "Merlin, you guys are evil!"
James wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "That's why you love us."
"Like a dog loves fleas." Sirius said affectionately, grinning all the way to the infirmary.