The Price Of Defiance
The castle walls were breathing.
Severus moved through the dungeons, each step too loud. His ribs still ached, his knuckles bruised from where they had connected with Sirius’ face, but he hardly felt it. His mind was somewhere else.
Shadows curled at the edges of his vision. Whispers slithered through the stone.
"You should’ve finished it."
Severus swallowed. His throat was raw. He hadn’t spoken since leaving Sirius crumpled on the floor, but the voices hadn’t stopped.
They never did.
His fingers twitched at his side, itching for his wand. The walls whispered again, voices thick with mockery.
“He deserved worse.”
Severus pressed a hand to his temple.
“Shut up,” he muttered.
The shadows laughed.
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The common room was empty. Good.
Severus collapsed into the nearest chair, exhaling sharply. His body begged for rest, but his mind was still sharp—too sharp. He could still feel Sirius’ blood on his hands, the memory of impact playing on repeat in his skull.
He should have done more.
Should have made him beg.
Severus’ fingers curled.
"You let him live."
He flinched. The voice was right there, close enough to be real. He jerked his head up, scanning the room—empty.
But when he looked down at his hands—
Blood.
Severus sucked in a breath. His vision warped. Red, wet, staining his palms, dripping between his fingers.
But he hadn’t—
No.
No, this wasn’t real.
He clenched his fists. The blood was gone. But the whisper in his ear remained.
“You’re weak.”
Severus slammed his head back against the chair, squeezing his eyes shut.
“You should have killed him.”
He didn’t sleep.
He couldn’t.
Every time his eyes closed, the shadows twisted into figures. Sirius, broken and bloody, but smiling. Whispering.
“It’s not over.”
Severus’ jaw tightened. No, it wasn’t.
Because Sirius Black wasn’t the type to stay silent.
And when he retaliated—
Severus would be ready.
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Severus knew it was coming.
Sirius Black was not the kind of person to let a beating go unanswered. His silence over the last few days was a warning, not a surrender.
And tonight—tonight was retribution.
It started after dinner.
Severus barely made it down the corridor before he realized the castle was wrong.
The air was thick. Too quiet. The flickering torchlight stretched the shadows into twisted shapes.
And then—
“Oi, Snivellus.”
His spine locked.
Sirius’ voice was behind him. Low, calm. But there was something in it—something coiled and dangerous.
Severus turned too slow.
Crack.
White-hot pain exploded across his skull as something blunt slammed into the side of his head.
His knees buckled.
The corridor tilted—his vision splintered.
He barely registered laughter.
Severus hit the ground hard, the stone biting into his ribs.
Boots stepped into his blurred vision. Sirius.
And behind him—Lupin, Pettigrew, Potter.
The whole pack.
Severus clenched his teeth, bracing his palms against the floor, forcing himself up. The dizziness was a storm behind his eyes.
Sirius crouched in front of him, tilting his head. Mocking.
“You didn’t think I forgot, did you?”
Severus glared. Didn’t speak.
Sirius’ fingers tightened in his hair.
Yanked.
Severus hissed through his teeth.
“You embarrassed me,” Sirius murmured, leaning closer. “Now, it’s your turn.”
Humiliation
Severus saw the spell coming a second too late.
“Expelliarmus!”
His wand was ripped from his grip, clattering across the floor.
Then—Sirius smiled.
“Levicorpus.”
The world flipped.
Severus was yanked upside down into the air, his robes falling around his torso, exposing his thin, bruised frame.
Laughter erupted around him.
His stomach curled.
Not just the Marauders—others. Students gathering, eyes watching, mocking.
Heat burned under his skin. Hatred, humiliation, fury.
Sirius strolled beneath him, arms folded, grinning.
“Not so tough now, are you?”
Severus’ fingers twitched. The whispers started again.
“Kill him.”
Something in Severus snapped.
The humiliation, the laughter, the pounding hallucinations—it broke something loose inside him.
“Let me down.” His voice was too calm.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, feigning thought. “Hmm… no.”
Laughter.
“Let. Me. Down.”
Sirius smirked. “Make me.”
Severus’ vision darkened.
His fingers trembled.
Then—he stopped struggling.
Sirius’ smirk faltered. “Oh? Given up alre—”
The air crackled.
Sirius’ wand snapped.
Without warning, the spell shattered.
Severus hit the ground on all fours.
For one frozen second, nobody moved.
Then—
Severus lunged.