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Best Served Cold	By : KohakuShadow Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Sirius Views: 12564 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters, nor am I making any money off of it. It's called FANfiction because I DON'T own it, right? Right. Good that we're clear.

Chapter List
- 1-1
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-Epilogue
- 7
- 8
- 9
Chapter
8

“Hey, Snivellus,” Sirius called.

Severus paused at the front door and turned a cynical sneer on him.
“What do you want, mutt?”

Sirius spun the brass button at him and watched as Snape caught it,
turned over his palm and slowly unfurled his long fingers. Even now,
he could clearly remember those fingers digging into his hips,
running along his spine. It was one of the few small joys the
Dementors hadn't robbed from him. It must be because the pleasure
and pain around Severus were so closely intertwined that sometimes
even he couldn't tell one from the other.

“That belongs to you,” he said and was rewarded when the
other man's eyes widened marginally.

“What are you playing at, Black?”

“Not playing, Sev,” Sirius said quietly. “Never
was. That was you.”

“Nice way to admit that you wanted me dead,” Severus
sneered.

“Maybe I did, a little,” Sirius answered. “But you
deserved it.”

“I deserved it?!” Snape's voice rose a bit with a
hint of his usual temper.

“Well, not the being dead, maybe, but the me wanting you dead?
Yeah, you deserved that. You were a coward.”

“I am not a coward!”

“Maybe not now,” Sirius snipped back. “But
then? You ran away at the first sign of things getting complicated,
and for what? To stay safely in love with someone you knew you'd
never have? That must have been nice. Loving someone when you know
there's no chance in hell they'll ever return your feelings –
it's safe isn't it? There are no surprises that way. The fact
that you're about 95% queer just made it even safer.”

Severus growled a bit and grabbed him by the collar. He didn't know
why he still had the stupid button clasped tightly in his otherwise
free hand. “You don't get to talk about Lily,” he
spat.

“Safer even now, isn't it, now that she's dead and all. You may
be brave about a lot of things, Severus Snape, but you're still
clucking when it comes to the most important one.”

“Be silent you foolish...”

But Sirius cut him off. “So what if I'm foolish? And reckless,
too. At least I'm brave enough to admit when I've been a git. What
do you want, Snape? A formal, written apology? Even if I apologized,
what difference would it make now? You're still you. I'm still
me. Nothing's changed.”

Severus didn't answer because for once Sirius was right. An apology
didn't make any difference. The fact that he'd kept a brass button
for the past twenty years might, even if he had spent twelve
of them in prison. Severus would have to analyze the particular
brand of psychosis that would inspire button-hoarding in more detail
later before committing to an opinion on the matter. He had far
greater concerns for the moment. He'd lingered here too long. “I
have to get back,” he said after a pregnant pause.

“Don't die,” Sirius blurted so abruptly it sounded almost
like one long word. Severus quirked a brow. “That button is a
reminder that you haven't gotten me back yet.” He plowed on
stubbornly because that was far better than looking like a fool.
“...so, don't die, because you still have to get your revenge.
It's best served cold, or so I hear.”

Severus didn't answer, stuffing the button into a hidden pocket
within his bat-like robes and swooshing out of Grimauld Place.
'Revenge, is it? I am loathe to admit it, but after serving over
a decade in Azkaban for a crime you didn't commit, even I think
you've suffered enough.'

*

Severus had stopped thinking about how it was inappropriate for a
student to wander the grounds late at night. He didn't really want
to talk to Sirius – he was a bit afraid that he'd lose his
resolve – but he supposed he owed the idiot Gryffindor at least
this much for all the blinding orgasms.

He took a deep breath and looked around before proceeding forward,
pointing his wand at the whomping willow. He had to time this just
so, but he had the timing down by now.

Just before he rushed forward, James Potter came barreling out of the
passageway and tackled him to the ground. His elbow crunched against
the hard earth. “What..!” but before he could properly
rage, James blurted, “You can't go in there.”

“Don't bloody tell me what to do,” Snape spat, shoving
James off.

James grabbed at him again and Severus shoved, and they ended up
wrestling on the ground like a pair of muggles. “Don't be a
git!” James hollered at him, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the
Whomping Willow. “You'll be killed!”

That's when Severus heard it – a wild howl and the thunder of
paws coming up from below. His blood ran cold and he scrabbled to his
feet. He thought he heard Sirius's voice a moment, but the next
thing he knew a mangy black dog had grabbed his sleeve and was
pulling him towards the forbidden forest!

The howl came again, and Potter suddenly transformed. He couldn't
keep track, but it seemed that he was battling a werewolf! Severus
struggled against the black dog, scared out of his wits now, and his
button snapped off as he fought for purchase, some way of escaping.

But he'd misunderstood. Sirius was trying to pull him to safety, at
the last moment realizing what a horrible plan this all was, that
Remus was too wild tonight, worse than usual, and he couldn't quite
keep him at bay without James to help. At the last moment, when
James went to stop Snape, Sirius had lost control. It was all he
could do to run out of the passage beneath the Willow ahead of his
dear friend. When he saw Severus still there he grabbed him, pulling
him out of the way. It didn't dawn on him at the time that having a
large black dog leap at you and drag you thirty feet wasn't exactly
comforting. His only concern was making sure that Remus didn't bite
him, didn't harm him. He adored the selfish prat. Even if he was
angry, he didn't really want anything to happen to him. He realized
this, and Snape's panic, and quickly transformed back.

“Severus. Severus calm down! It's me. Sirius. It's me, I...”

“You tried to kill me!” Severus screeched when he saw the
muddied boy hovering over him.

Sirius didn't have time to reply. He shot a glance behind him and
heard James call for him, and so, without answering, he transformed
again and jumped into the fray. While James and Sirius chased Remus
back down the path beneath the Whoming Willow, Severus ran back
toward Hogwarts, shivering with fear. Lupin was a werewolf?
He was going to school with a werewolf?! What if something happened?
And that bastard Sirius had tried to kill him. He was only alive
because bloody Potter had stopped him. His mind raced with a number
of thoughts that all came down to bitterness, loathing, and no small
helping of fear. He was so traumatized that he never left the dorms
after curfew again.

*

Severus sighed and leaned back in his chair. It had been nearly a
month since Sirius Black gave him the brass button. He must have
picked it up in the field later, but why? Guilt? Something more than
that? Knowing Black, it had been an impulse, but impulses could be
telling. Twenty some odd years later, this one told Severus that at
that time, Sirius Black hadn't been ready to let go. And the impulse
to return it rather than just throwing it away? What did that mean?
Did it matter what it meant? Sirius had nearly killed him. He'd
certainly left a dark mark on his life.

Severus instinctively touched the Dark Mark on his arm. Would he
have joined the Death Eaters if that night had never happened? He'd
cast Sirius aside, then lost even Remus's cold comfort. Lily had
grown tired of him, and fallen into a fancy for that git, James. He
had nothing. Nothing but Hogwarts, and in time, that also would be
gone. He hadn't fallen in with the Death Eaters because of his love
of the dark arts. It had very little to do with pure-blood fever or
righteous indignation. It had been a simple, obvious thing. Tom
Riddle had spoken to him kindly at exactly the right time –
when he had nothing left to lose. Or so he'd thought before he'd
delivered news of Trelawney's prophecy and Lily, who he still adored
in spite of the fact their friendship had faded to nothing, ended up
dead.

And Sirius! Sirius had betrayed her and his supposed best friend!
Half of it, Severus could only blame on himself, but the other half
had been Black. Or so he'd thought, until the truth came out that it
had been Peter who gave them up. It had been all he could do these
past two years not to destroy the worthless rat, to contain his rage
beneath the veil of his thoughts, in order to keep up the ruse and
remain at Voldemort's side as a spy. Nothing would have given him
greater pleasure than destroying the simpering rat. If only life
could be that simple.

So if Sirius was innocent, if he was just a fool and not a murderer,
did that change anything? 'It changes nothing,' Severus
decided, thoughtlessly tucking the button away in his pocket instead
of throwing it away. 'Even if he is a fool, that doesn't mean
that I have to be. Now, especially, is no time for foolishness.'

To
Be Continued...
- 7
- 8
- 9
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Best Served Cold