Chapter Text
The seventh-year Gryffindor students were still in an off mood at the start of the school year. It was hard to get used to classes after the wildest summer vacation Sirius could remember in his life.
They had a double Potions lesson with Slytherin before lunch. Sirius sat at the table, looking longingly at the ingredients on the table, Remus Lupin was fiddling with his textbooks.
The sight of cauldrons and stirring spoons made him dreary and sleepy. He was jealous of James and Wormtail, who had decided to skip it, he would not have gone himself, but his Potions grades last year were lower than he would have liked, and this year was his final exams, so he had to try harder.
There was noise and chatter from down the corridor as students gradually filled the classroom and settled in. Snape entered the room after a group of arrogant Slytherins.
Looking at Snivellus, Sirius immediately felt more vigorous. If he had been in his Padfoot form, his ears would probably be perked up in hunting anticipation right now.
Lily had not spoken to Snape since their fight at the lake, and James had begun to pay less attention to him as well.
Sirius occasionally put out feelers about how they never pulled the underpants off the skinny Slytherin, but James brushed it off. Sometimes Lily started to respond to his random phrases when he addressed her, and that was the most important thing going on in his friend's life right now.
“Look,” Sirius poked Remus with his elbow, “Snape has come crawling in”.
Remus sighed irritably.
“We have a class with a Slytherin, if you haven't noticed. He never misses”.
“So much the worse for him, he's a pain in the ass”.
“You're obsessed with him, Padfoot,” Remus glared at him sternly, “If you're going to do anything stupid for the whole class again, I won't sit with you on potions anymore, you'll be brewing alone”.
“All right, all right,” Sirius replied conciliatory and stared at Snape’s back again. He often sat in potions with Evans, but now he was alone at the front desk, almost opposite Slughorn. Greasy hair hung down from his head on either side of his neck, and Sirius could see a glimpse of pale skin.
“Now, my dear,” Professor Slughorn addressed the class, “turn the beakers on slow burn!”
Sirius remembered that year — the time after exams.
Snape tried to fight back that time. Sirius held him down with one hand and pulled at his pant leg with the other. The surrounding onlookers watched with both interest and disgust.
Snape managed to kick into Sirius’ side by his knee, but it did not hurt, Sirius only pinned him down harder, laughing.
“Merlin, Siri, leave it, let's go,” James drawled carelessly, “I've changed my mind about looking at him, ew”.
Sirius slowed down.
“If you start something, you have to finish it, didn't you say so yourself?”
“Sometimes it's better to stop in time to avoid nightmares,” James waved his hand, looking away.
“And other wise sayings of James Potter,” Peter added.
“I refuse to waste my time on this,” Lupin, looking incredibly weary of the situation, motioned towards the castle.
“Leave him,” James agreed and staggered after him.
The surrounding crowd began to disperse as well.
Sirius stood up, releasing the captive. He slowly backed away, his back moving forward, keeping his gaze on Snape.
He seemed to have lost his strength to resist, though. Snape tried to stand up and adjust his clothes at the same time, shaking and fumbling awkwardly with his hands, still coughing from the soap foam spell. Even after moving farther away, Sirius turned around, not wanting to miss the moment when a curse would be thrown at his back.
Sitting in class, looking at the back of the Slytherin's head, Sirius remembered how skinny his legs were, how sharp his knees were. Thin wrists that could be broken if you squeezed them hard enough. He had not changed much in appearance over the summer, did not even seem to have grown.
He smirked until Lupin kicked him under the table with his foot and made him help with slicing orange caterpillars with red speckles.
The students came out of the office when Sirius told Remus to go without him.
Remus only rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.
Sirius knew his friend did not approve of their amusement, but Remus never said anything, only silently grimaced.
He decided to lurk in a niche, waiting for Snape.
Snape stayed. He always stayed longer in Potions than he did in other subjects, and now was a good time to do so. The corridor was already empty when Snape tried to walk past, but was stopped by a hand grasping his robes and pulling him into a dark corner.
Sirius immediately clamped his mouth shut to keep him quiet.
“There you are, Snivelly”.
Snape stared at Sirius with dark eyes full of hatred.
“I'll take my hand away, but don't yell”.
Snape nodded.
Sirius pulled his hand away. Snape's mouth left a wet mark on the palm of his hand.
“What do you want, Black?”
“Hmm, what I want... I want to know if you washed your underpants? Last time we didn't finish, I never got them off you”.
“Go to hell, creep!”
“Language, Snape”. Sirius moved closer to him, glaring at the lips that were brimming with insults. “If I'm a creep, then what are you? The sight of you makes everyone who dines with you in the great hall sick. Dirty Snivellus”.
With one hand, Sirius tugged at Snape's robe, trying to pull it higher.
“Leave me alone,” Snape said weakly, resting his fists on Sirius' chest.
“You probably stink because you don't wash, don't you?”
Sirius suddenly leaned over and plunged his face into the spot behind Snape's ear, where white skin covered black hair.
It smelled of herbs, cheap soap, and Snape's own scent. Sirius felt dizzy.
He bit down on his neck.
Snape jerked hard and cried out in pain.
“What are you doing, let go! Get off!”
A note of panic crept into his voice.
Sirius woke up, realizing that he had done something strange, even by Marauder standards. He had run around in his animagic form quite often this summer, having fun and practicing, but this was the first time something peculiar to a Padfoot had suddenly manifested.
He glanced at Snape's face, red blotches on his cheeks, breathing heavily and staring at Sirius fearfully, frozen and shrinking.
Sirius pulled away regretfully.
“All right, you go on ahead. I don't want to touch you”.
Snape shivered and practically ran towards the dungeon's exit.
After standing for a couple of minutes, calming down, Sirius moved towards the common room as well.
Apparently, that skirmish of theirs had turned something on in Sirius.
If Snivelly's greasy hair flashed on the horizon, Sirius would follow the trail and get him as fast as he could.
James and Lupin ignored his amusement, and he had sent Wormtail away harshly a couple of times when he tried to follow him and join.
Usually, Sirius would just sneak up unnoticed and dish out an insult or two. Sometimes he managed to snatch things out of Snape's hands, or even his wand. Snape would swear back with the foulest of words. Once, he had managed to curse him seriously, and Sirius had sneezed for two hours, even having to miss a couple of spells.
Then, driven by a thirst for revenge, he spied Snape in the passage between the shelves in the library and pinned him against the wall.
“You're pushing it, Mr. Snivellus,” Sirius whispered into his flushed ear, pressing Snape's face against the wood paneling, “how dare you curse me?”
“You're the one bothering me, asshole,” Snape hissed. “I'm not bothering you!”
Sirius twisted his arm behind his back and held it.
“Ouch!”
Snape flinched when Sirius clenched his fingers too hard. He turned Snape around to face him, pressing his whole body against him. Snape looked up, batting his eyelashes and sniffling, his lips quivering.
Sirius immediately wanted to bite him again, harder, Snape had healed that bruise too quickly last time.
“What do you want, Black? I'm not following you anymore, what do you want from me now?”
“I just want to teach you some manners. You say a lot of nasty things, good boys don't act like that”.
Sirius already felt like he was rolling in an uncharted direction again, but having finally caught Snape, he could not stop now.
He lifted his hand and ran his fingers over Snape's lips, mesmerized.
“Your mouth is so dirty,” Sirius muttered. “I'll wash it out and put it to better use”.
“You're sick, what are you talking about,” Snape objected in a trembling voice.
Sirius caught him by the chin, fixing it, and was about to…
“Siri! James is out there looking for you. Oh, you got Snivellus in there?”
“Damn it, Wormtail, get out!”
Sirius surprised himself with his growl and the aggression in his voice. He released Snape, and Snape immediately pulled out his wand and held it out expectantly in front of him for defense.
“Screw you, asshole,” Peter's voice was full of resentment. “I was going to ask you to come to Hogsmeade with us, jerk”.
Sirius was already regretting his abruptness.
“Okay, I'm on my way,” Sirius hurried after Peter, but looked back over his shoulder. “I'll see you later, Wormtail”.
Hogsmeade was fun and crowded.
They walked down the main street, meeting friends from other faculties. They discussed their studies. Sirius had forgotten about Snape, but he was in a great mood after today's prank.
He joked and teased James, James returned the favor, their friendly banter making Peter chuckle and Lupin smile.
Everything was great, they sat down at a table, ordered cocoa from Honeydukes.
“Sirius gave quite a tumble Snivelly today”.
Peter chuckled into his fist, pleased with his statement.
Sirius stared into his cup, nodding reluctantly.
“I met him at the library, by chance. Told him not to make people sneeze anymore and stuff”.
He looked up at his friends. James was smiling, and Lupin shook his head reproachfully.
“Describing so modestly, I'm even worried about Snivellus' health after your meeting,” James joked, "What did you do to him, fess up?”
Sirius shook his head.
“It's nothing like that,” Sirius looked at Lupin, who was shaking his head in annoyance, “Moony, don't give me that look! It's true, I was just having a word with Snivelly”.
Peter chuckled again, and Sirius, fearing without knowing himself, hurried to change the subject.
“The Ravenclaw match is next week. Are we ready, James?”
Later, Sirius decided that he did not want to discuss his quarrel with Snape with anyone else, keeping it to himself. He did not want to involve anyone else in their quarrels, either.