Three
"You didn't tell me." Sirius accuses. It's Lily. He shouldn't use that tone with Lily. That voice, that he saves only for the people he shares blood with.
"About what?" Lily asks. She isn't bothered. She is rarely bothered when someone speaks harshly at her. Only to the people she loves. That's what made James fall for her.
"About him." Sirius is still dirty. He has covered her colourful carpet with mud. "His mother fucking died, and I went there like..."
Lily looks at him sharply.
"Like?"
"He fucking stunned his father." Sirius says. He doesn't know what to think. About the house. About what he saw.
"Good." Lily says. "I'm sure he deserved it."
It's rare. She never approves of fights, of violence.
"Anything else?" She asks. She is upset.
"You should have told me that I was going to his mother's grave. I would have...I don't fucking know."
"Did he go to his house?" Lily asks. She isn't upset. She is concerned. Afraid.
"Yes."
She nods to herself.
"I'll prepare something for dinner."
"How can you be so...?" Sirius trails off. Practical he thinks at first. But no, she should be more troubled. Sirius is. He doesn't fucking know what happened there.
"Sirius." Her tone is gentle. "What do you want me to say? I couldn't leave Harry, but I didn't want Sev to go alone."
"He...That place was..." A disaster. And Sirius knows of houses that are bad. He grew into one.
"I've known him half of my life. Do you think I don't know?"
Yes. Lily knows him. They grew up together. She isn't troubled, she knows. It's just that Sirius always thought, he imagined something else. Sniv had that air around him. That fucking arrogant authority. He believed, he can't remember what he believed. Not that.
"Why didn't you ever say anything? Even when you two weren't talking?"
"Did you hear anything about me from someone? When we didn't talk? A personal detail about my life?" She smiles. "Sev is like that. Loyal."
She walks to the kitchen.
"Let's stop talking about it. He wouldn't appreciate it."
"That's an understatement." Sirius laughs it off. Yet the threat was real. He felt it in his bones, when he grabbed him, when he looked at him and he said he would kill him. The words were as black as his eyes. And that man- he was the same as the boy who always stood in front of them, never backing down from a fight. That stupid little thing, bony and weightless, with a mouth sharp and ready for insults, had grown up in a house like that.
Sirius can't wrap his head around it. So he laughs it off.
_____
It starts as a rumour at first. A few scattered words. He picks something up. Then Remus comes, haunted by his mission, he comes and he sits close to the fire of his little flat, trying to keep the cold at bay. And he speaks of it too.
Sirius reassures him, offers him meals, a place to sleep. He tries to keep him together. To keep them together. He tries to brush off the toll the war has on them. They will survive. Together. Always. He tells Remus not to leave. To abandon the mission. Little Sniv had done the same. But his friend is too stubborn to prove his loyalty, too eager to show his worth -he is more than the animal that lives inside him.
Or maybe Sirius isn't convincing enough. If James was here, surely, he would do better.
Albus is the last one who mentions it. Voldemort is hunting the Potters. He is hunting the boy. There are words of a prophecy, the stupid little thing Sniv had said perhaps, about Harry and Voldemort and the eventual...
He won't dwell on it. Nothing is going to happen to Harry. Sirius will protect him. He is going to kill Voldemort and every one of his followers.
He thinks about Reg.
There is an order this time. A Fidelius Charm. Albus proposes himself as the Secret Keeper. Lily and James refuse him. It's not that they don't trust him, Dumbledore is the last stand, the man that scares Voldemort.
But a Secret Keeper is an intimate affair. It should be one of them. They all think of him. He knows he's the obvious choice. So he proposes Peter. Peter isn't in the frontline and he can help them in the house. He will be good at keeping them company if needed. He is a grounding presence. Quiet and calm. And nobody will think of him.
It's a solid plan. All three of them agree. They won't tell a soul. Everyone will think that Sirius is the one that holds the key. He will deflect the danger.
He is packing things out of their house. He won't be here for a while. It's fine. It won't be long. He will kill Voldemort. It's personal now. More personal than before.
He hears voices from the other room. Sniv has arrived. He has the ability to be quiet and signal his presence at the same time. He's infuriating.
"So you came to your senses at last." He's saying, condescending even when he agrees.
"Where will you stay?" Lily is asking him. Concerned for him, while her life is in danger.
"I have a place." He says, the fucking liar. "Potter give me that. You're insufferable."
Sirius can't see them. But he's sure that it's nothing, whatever that it, a chance for Sniv to insult them.
"At least Black proved to have some worth. Passive as his role is in this situation."
There is a silence. A beat of the heart. A second. Sirius wants to go there and say something. Distract the slimy, little bastard.
"Yeah." James says too late, because he is a terrible liar.
Another silence.
"Lily." It's always distracting, how he says her name. Everything feels like a curse from his mouth, except her name. "Black is still your Secret Keeper." He doesn't ask. He only asks questions when they serve as insults. Anything else comes out as a statement.
Sirius moves. He can still prevent it. The whole plan is based on no-one knowing.
"Lily."
"Yes Sev, Sirius is still our Secret Keeper." He relaxes. Lily is good at lying, or it's because she rarely does it, that nobody questions it. He knows she lies to Sniv, not out of mistrust, but out of concern. She wants to keep him in the dark so he's safe.
Sirius doesn't care. There are traitors everywhere. He wouldn't bet James life on little Sniv.
"Potter." He hears and of course. He is fucking annoying like that. Paranoid. He hits the easiest target. James can't lie even if his life depends on it. And it kind of does at the moment.
Sirius can't see in the next room. But whatever James does, Snape knows.
"Are you crazy?" He hears. "Please tell me you pointed Albus at least." Another silence. "Lupin? You're going with Lupin? He is amongst werewolves half the time. He is a liability."
Sirius wants to storm into the room and tear out his tongue. Remus is risking everything for them. He's becoming a shadow. He hates himself, because he agreed against Remus.
"Not Lupin? At least, you have one last brain cell."
"Sev, please. We know what we are doing."
"Clearly not."
"We have a plan." James adds. That man, his emotions on his sleeve.
"And what's your brilliant plan Potter?"
"Guess." James challenges him. He shouldn't. Snape has never walked away from a challenge.
Sirius grips the handle tightly.
"You didn't. Pettigrew? You chose Pettigrew over Black? Are you insane?"
He stays put. He doesn't know why. Now it's the time to rush into. To mock Sniv, drag his attention away.
"Did you agree to this madness?"
"Harry is sleeping." Lily is good, but Snape is relentless.
"Pettigrew is a coward. I can't believe I have to explain the basics to you."
"Peter is a safe choice. Nobody is going to suspect him."
"And Black will never betray you, even if they torture him to death." It's surreal. It's the nicest fucking thing Snape has ever said about him. He thinks, he is sure, he misheard him.
"It also protects Sirius."
"It does not. They will still come for him. I expected this level of elementary thinking from Potter, not you."
"Listen..."
"No, you listen, Potter. Black will protect your secret even if it kills him. He is your safest choice. He will take it to his grave, do you understand? I can't believe, I have to tell you that. He is an absolute disgrace of a person, but he will die for you."
"I don't want anyone to.."
"We are at war. We are all risking our lives. Black's life -mine- doesn't matter. What matters is for Harry and Lily to survive. What matters is not to die because of naivety. Change it back."
"Sev.."
"Change it back. Appoint Black."
Sirius opens the door. Snape turns at him.
"Did you agree to this farce?" He asks.
"Peter is the best choice." He shrugs a shoulder. Casual, as if he hasn't heard a word. "You are not the cleverest person in the universe." He lights up a cigarette. Walks to put music on.
As if Severus fucking Snape doesn't believe in him more than himself. Even if it's only for this.
"Are you seriously trying to save your worthless, deadweight body?"
A side glance.
"It's a fucking brilliant plan." He puts on a record. "Are you unhappy because you never thought of it?"
"They appointed you their child godfather." Snape says. "Act like it."
There is a swirl of his black robes as he flees the room. The ash of Sirius cigarette falls to the floor.
_____
And because Snape is always a meddling, fucking massive problem, because he comes again and yells, insults, because Harry wakes up in the next room and Sniv, without thinking, in the middle of his outburst, takes the boy in his arms, they change it back.
The problem is Lily. She is trusting him too much. She bets her life, James life, Harry's on Snivellus judgment. And because Lily agrees, James follows. Sirius tries to reason with them, he tries to explain that Peter is nice, good, better than the man Sirius is. Peter speaks carefully, always afraid to upset anyone. He's a good little boy.
He fails.
"You realise that now he will know too." He points his finger at Snape, who stands tall, unyielding. Smug, because he won.
"Sirius, I understand your frustration, but I trust Sev."
"Maybe it's for the best, mate. I don't know." James shrugs.
"Black is right." Snape interrupts them. "You shouldn't trust anyone. Not even me."
How can a man be so infuriating? How can he agree with him, and Sirius still wants to punch him in the face?
"I will take an Unbreakable." Snape states.
He can silence an entire room, he gives him that.
"What?" James is the first to respond.
"An unbreakable, Potter. Do you even know what that is, or are you failing at the basics too?"
"A Vow like this isn't the basics." Lily says.
"Do you even know how to...?" James runs his fingers through his untamed hair.
"I've known since I was thirteen."
"Why did you even search that at thirteen."
"For light reading." Snape mocks him.
He is so sure of himself, it's maddening. Every time he speaks, Sirius wants to throw something at his face. A shoe, a spell, anything.
"Sev." Lily touches his hands. She is the only one who's allowed. They know, all of them, through many threats, not to touch him. Sirius has touched, only when they fight. "That's dangerous magic."
Snape tries to speak. Lily stops him.
"And you should follow your own advice. How can you be sure that I won't betray you, if it means I would save Harry."
Sirius watches as the man's lips curl and then the sound. It's unfamiliar. Unguarded. As if he almost forgets about him and James, as if it's only Lily in the room.
He laughs.
It's the first time Sirius has heard him laughing. And it's not pretending, it doesn't come from forced mockery. It's genuine delight.
"Hey, I'm serious." Lily shifts too. She shakes him a little. It's a window, this scene, a rare display to how they are when there's no one else around. Their connection. A part of him that only Lily knows.
"Firstly, I don't think you are capable." Snape tells her. He has regained his composure, but there is still a trace of his laughter in his voice.
"Secondly, there is always a possibility. I simply don't care."
Lily groans.
"You can't lecture us for safety and then discard your own."
"I'm not." He tells her. "I work with the best possible scenario in mind."
"And what exactly are you going to...How does it work?" James asks.
"Finally, a proper question." Snape replies, as though he's a teacher and James had been a lost cause until now.
"I will take a vow that I won't reveal to anyone that Black is your Secret Keeper. Me, Black and Lily will be the participants. Simple enough for you." He coughs. "And you will change locations without telling Pettigrew anything."
"What?" Sirius yells and James follows suit. They both understand what Snape is implying.
"I told you to not trust even me. And I know where my loyalty lies. I won't risk it all by trusting a coward like Pettigrew." But Snape of course, won't stop at implying. He will say it, right to their faces. He will tell not to trust their best friend. Their companion. Their Peter.
"There are spies inside the Order." Snape continues. Cold. Logical. Ready for a punch in his face. "As there was a spy in the other side. I'm taking measures against it."
Sirius is in front of him. He hasn't realised it. The draw of his wand. The pressure he puts on Snape's throat.
"You mistrusting piece of shit. We tolerate you for months, months, just for Lily's sake. Your insults and your poisonous, dirty mouth. Say one more word about Peter and I will kill you."
A hang grips his arm, someone trying to stop him, calm him down. Not Snape. He just stares at him, calm, without a ripple on his forehead. Black eyes, black like his hair, like the darkest of magic, are looking at him impassively.
"Are you finished?" His jaw is clenched and Sirius is an inch away from murdering him.
Someone pulls him back, dragging him.
Snape raises a hand and wipes his throat. There is red there. Blood. He doesn't even look at it. He's so unbothered that it makes Sirius' blood boil.
"Do you think that all of us change sides so easily? Do you think we forgot the groups you were hanging with? That you called Lily mud..."
He feels his mouth closing. He tries to open it again, but he can't feel his lips. The bastard hit him with something. He hit him with something without even raising his wand, without opening his mouth. Wandless magic. A threat.
"What did you do?" James is talking to Snape, but he's touching Sirius face, searching, worry in his eyes.
Sirius wants to reassure him, he wants James to only look happy.
"If your tantrum is quite finished..." Snape says and Sirius parts his lips.
"I will.." Sirius starts.
"You can try." Snape replies.
"Everyone shut your mouths." Lily yells. Her face is as red as her hair.
She starts pacing. Nods to herself. She takes a breath.
"Okay." She says. "Okay."
Another breath.
"So." Lily turns to Snape. "I know you don't like Peter, but this is taking it too far."
"It's not a matter of dislike. I can separate..."
"Can you?" James interrupts. "If we start to be suspicious of our friends, it will break us." His hand is on Sirius shoulder, a squeeze, then a smile. He's brilliant.
"Really Potter?" Snape takes a step. "Why didn't you choose Lupin then?"
James' face falls.
"See, I'm not afraid of speaking the truth. You can pretend all you like, I personally don't care, but in the end, you arrive at the same conclusion." Another step, an imposing figure even here. Dark robes and dark hair, inside the warmth yellow light of this house.
James is breathing faster. His fingers tightening around Sirius' shoulder.
"You didn't choose Lupin, because you, too, think that he is a liability. You can yell about righteousness, about everlasting trust, but in the end you choose survival." He crosses his arms. "And I am telling you that if you don't let your idiotic sentimentality go, if you don't choose Black, all the nightmares you have about your family, they will come true."
"And how can you be sure Sirius won't betray me?" It's a taunt. It's a deflection. James doesn't want to let Snape's words sink in. Not now, not in front of him. So he taunts him. Sure that Snape will take the bait.
"Do you seriously ask me that?" Snape says.
"Yeah." James replies. He relaxes a little. They won't talk about the dismissal of Remus as a Secret Keeper. About James' shame of that. "Sirius can be as much of a traitor as any of us." He can say this. He can push, because Sirius knows he's lying. He knows James doesn't believe a word he's saying. They have that trust with each other. Sirius will never misunderstand him.
"He can." Snape says. "But he won't betray you."
"Why?" James asks, he mocks Snape. He doesn't realise that Sirius is panicking, he doesn't hear the rapid beat of his heart.
Snape stares at him and then he turns his gaze on Sirius.
He knows. He fucking knows. And he will say it. Just to prove a fucking point. Here, in front of Lily. He will tell them the reason. Why he would never betray James. Why he would choose him over everyone else. Even over Peter and Remus. He will tell them, that while James sees him as his best friend, the brother he never had, Sirius thinks all that and more.
This silence, this agony, it's just to torment him.
"Because I say so." Snape replies. "I'm a great judge of people."
Sirius stares at him. He keeps staring, even when Snape's eyes leave his own. And then again, a brief glance and away. Sirius' look is glued to the man.
"What? No elaborate thoughts?" James crosses his arms. "Just because..." A tease. "No masterful explanations that our minds can't comprehend."
"Yes, Potter. Just because." Snape turns around.
James continues to bother him, to mock that he's losing his edge, that he is cornered now, that he has no insight to provide. And Snape lets him. He lets him, while he could easily explain himself. He knows. He had implied as much, back at the cemetery and Sirius had tried to brush it off. But now, now he can't. The look he gave Sirius spoke of thousands explanations.
Snape knows that Sirius loves James. He knows what kind of love it is.
And because he never says it, Sirius agrees with the plan.
____
They should leave. Gather their things and go. There is no point in staying here now, not after the Vow, not after the Fidelius. This house, the house where James' son breathed and laughed for the first time it's nothing but a front, another layer for their protection. They have to lie to sweet, kind Peter who had so innocently asked Sirius at fourteen if he could explain the basics of kissing. They have to lie, because Snape said so. Because in the end Sirius will always choose James.
"Do you think he will ever forgive us?" James is sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand on Harry's cradle. He is exhausted. Guilt does that to him. "When he learns that we didn't trust him, do you think...?" His voice is small, defeated. Sirius' heart breaks.
"He will laugh in our faces." He says with a confidence he doesn't feel. "He will tease us forever for actually listening to Snivellus."
James is silent. He moves the cradle, his eyes on Harry.
"I was not ready to be a dad." He says. "I thought I was, but...no one prepares you. For this constant anxiety. Do I make him happy? Should I cuddle him more, less? Am I really enough to raise him, to keep him safe?" He caresses his child's cheek. "Am I a good person?"
"You should stop spending so much time with Sniv." Sirius laughs and James turns to him.
"He will do anything for Lily. He doesn't give a damn about me, sure, but he'll do anything for her. I just realised it today." He turns to Harry again. "I know how dangerous an Unbreakable is. My dad always said that there was a reason this practice isn't used anymore. Even amongst the most fanatic purebloods. One wrong move, one slip, and it's over." He smiles. Bitterly, unfathomably sad. "And he just...he just said it. Did it." He raises his glasses. His palms close his eyes. "Whenever Lily said how brilliant he was, how smart, how funny.." He groans. "I used to be so mad. So jealous. It feels stupid now."
"Hey, we can do this, we don't need him to tell us..."
"But we do, don't we? We just let him take the blame. He forced us to change our plan, he forced us not to tell Peter. He forced us to dismiss Remus. We can say all that, but it's not true." James gets up. "I was scared to choose Moony, my friend who is dealing with his worst fear right now, because as Snape said, deep down I think that he is a liability, that he might break under all that pressure. I think Peter is the kindest of us all and yet I don't want to bet Harry's life on that. And I'm a fucking coward and I let Snape come and scream it all out in the open."
James is crying. He's crying and Sirius has no words to comfort him.
"All while he casually gambles his life for us, for me, the person he hates the most."
"I think, I'm the person he hates the most." Sirius says, because he can't tell James that he's the most cowardice between them.
James stops, looks at him and then he lets out a reluctant laugh.
"Yeah, I agree." He says and he smiles at him. It's weak, but it's a smile. So Sirius puts his face inside his hands.
"You are a good person." He tells him. "The best. And Harry will be so proud of you being his father."
James is looking at him hopeful, expecting.
"You do what you have to do to ensure his safety. We all want that. For you to be safe. And when all of this is over, Peter and Remus will tell you that you did the right thing. That you kept yourself safe. You kept Lily safe. And Harry. You being here with us -that's what matters. Even if it means we tolerate Sniv some more." He grins. That how he wants to part ways with James. That is what he wants James to remember when he's hiding. A grin, a mischief, his best friend telling him that everything will be okay, even when they're not.
"Do you forgive me? For choosing them?"
"Are you nuts?" Sirius laughs. "I wouldn't forgive you otherwise." He wants to kiss him. To tell him that there's nothing that he would do that Sirius wouldn't forgive.
"You are my brother, you know that, right?" James hugs him.
"I think Sirius Potter has a nice ring to it. We would fight for the fortune though."
James laughs. He feels it in his hands, in his bones. This is better -goodbye and not a farewell.
"Don't kill him while I'm gone." James says. "Lily will be furious."
"I'll try. I can't promise anything."
____
Severus is standing in front of a perfectly trimmed garden, in a neighborhood of identical perfect little gardens, with perfect beige little houses. It's the kind of place where respected muggles live. With their jobs and their houses and their two children. Where people are saying good morning and good evening and they take their spawns in good enough schools and they think they made it.
It's the kind of neighbourhood that people like him should never set foot in.
And yet here he is, looking at the house in Privet Drive, number 4. Because Lily asked him to, just before they parted ways. She is cunning like that. A last minute request, so he couldn't argue.
To warn her sister. To guard her house.
"Are we going to go in?" Black asks. He is standing with his back on the fence, a cigarette in his mouth.
They are making quite a picture, he is sure. Even if neither of them wear their wizarding attire. Black rarely does, a defiance to his parents and his lineage, Severus' sure. He prefers torn jeans and t- shirts of muggle bands, his leather jacket on top. Heavy boots to leave an impression.
Severus tried to seem neutral, but a dark shirt and dark pants is in contrast with the whiteness of the street.
"So?" He asks again.
"In a minute." Severus answers. He really would like to never see Tuney again. She is a dreadful woman, always was. Pretending to be better than she is. To be someone else. A facade of a proper girl that had grown up in some suburban neighborhood. That her parents were rich and well educated in schools far away from Cokeworth.
"What's she like?" Black asks. Severus is stuck with him now. To protect him, so he can protect Lily and Potter's spawn.
"Your rival for the top of the list of people who loathe me."
"Oh, now I'm dying to meet her. I think we will be great together. Maybe she's my lost soulmate."
Severus spares him a glance. He is more compliant now. Severus suspects Potter has something to do with that. Or it's all just an act to throw Severus off.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Severus replies and he takes the first step.
They are standing at the door side by side, when Tuney opens.
She is surprised at first, scared then, a look behind their backs to check on the neighbours.
It's quiet, as Sundays should be in places like this. When she's sure that no-one is there she turns to him again.
Her mouth curls with distaste. A frequent movement, especially in his presence. She will turn ugly if she keeps doing it.
"What are you doing here?" She hisses, but her voice is low. A lie of properness.
"Lily sent me." He answers.
She tries to close the door to their faces, but Black holds it open. He is smiling at her, arrogant and dazzling, just as Severus had seen him do with many girls at school.
"Sirius Black." He says. "Charmed."
Severus nearly rolls his eyes.
"Are you one of them?" Tuney responds and then she eyes the cigarette between his fingers and she clicks her tongue.
"What do you want?" She looks Severus again, dismissing Black entirely, or she's trying to.
"Perhaps, you can invite us inside, I'm sure you're making excellent tea and we could talk." Black tries again. He isn't used to, to be ignored like this. He hasn't accounted that Tuney hating Severus doesn't mean she will like him. She doesn't like much of anything. Especially bad looking boys like Black at her door. It is a smudge at her perfect little picture of a life.
"Absolutely not." Tuney says. Severus wants to laugh.
"We can always discuss it here. It's a lovely neighbourhood." Black responds. There he is. Lethal under all that forced charm.
Petunia looks at them both, then her lips form a thin line.
"Fine." She says and she lets them inside.
She urges them with her hands, pointing the kitchen. She wears a dress with flowers all over, Severus wants to add a comment about her always been a thorn, where Lily is the flower.
"Be quick." She commands. "My husband will be up soon. I don't want him to find you here."
Black rests his back on the counter, but Tuney's stare is on Severus hands on the table. As if he's dirting it, just by touching.
"Lily went into hiding with her family." He starts. He wants to be quick. A simple warning and then out.
"What does that have to do with me?"
He takes a breath. This woman shares Lily's blood, she has the same parents, she grew in the same house as her. Everything that Severus would kill to have. And yet.
"There is a war." Severus says and Tuney doesn't even flinch. "Lily's life is in danger."
"Serves her right. Meddling with all you freaks."
Severus hits the table. That startles her, makes her uneasy.
"I know you are a jealous little worm, but try to focus for a single moment. I came here on her request to guard the house. In case someone comes for you."
"Guard my house?" Her eyes are wide, her mouth open, as if he had just thrown the greatest insult at her. "I'll have you know that this is a well respected neighborhood. Not for the likes of your kind." She raises a finger and she points at him. "Especially not for you."
She shakes her head. "I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you. Filthy, dirty." She spits her words. "You will do nothing to my house. You will go now, leave me alone, and never contact me again. I want your dirt out."
"I can tear your whole house down and you will just stand there watching. Tuney."
"Don't call me that." She looks briefly at Black and then at Severus again.
Ah, he likes to embarrass this woman. It's what she dreads most.
"And you can't do that. You have laws."
"Are you sure?" Severus smiles. "Test me."
"Let's do what we came to do and go at our separated ways." Black's fingers play a rhythm at the counter. "As much as I like seeing Sniv here uncomfortable, we have a busy schedule."
She scoffs.
"Great." Black says. "Also, it would be best if you lay low. Now, let us do our stuff and we will be out before your husband wakes up."
He is tearing her down little by little.
"And what your stuff actually are?"
"Nothing that your mind can comprehend." Severus tells her.
"Not that I want to." Tuney replies and they are nine again and they bicker with a cruelty only children possess.
"Don't lie. I still remember your ugly crying when Hogwarts responded that you couldn't attend."
Petunia goes red.
"Lily send that first letter. I didn't want to go, but she begged me to be there for her."
"As if she ever needed you." Severus tells her.
"I wasn't the one following her like a shadow. Creep."
"Because you couldn't do what we could. It's alright, some people are meant to be mediocre."
They are ten and Tuney tries to convince her parents to forbid Lily from spending time with Severus.
"Are you still living at your house?" She asks. "Or has it fallen down?"
There are thirteen and she says that nobody would want to kiss him ever. Because he was ugly and he smelled worse than the river.
"Does your husband know that there is a chance your son will have the same gift as his aunt?"
Her pale face is the same as the one she had when he told her that even if she was the last person on the planet he would prefer to die than kiss her.
"Do you know what the problem is?" Her eyes are focused on him, a target for her next strike. "Your father didn't beat you enough."
Severus should have known better. He has learnt over the years to keep his emotions in check, to avoid engaging. He isn't that boy who speaks without thinking -he hasn't been for many years. No matter what happens, he will always lose.
"Your nose, was it?" The unkindness fuels her. Of course she knows. Severus hadn't been so guarded back then, and Lily had been a child. "It should have been your tongue."
There's a blast. One of the drawers explodes. Another. Splinters fly all over them.
"Ah, cheap wood." Black knocks on the small spot where the counter hasn't spilt open. His wand is in his other hand. "You'd better be careful with the quality next time."
Petunia is frozen. She's seen magic before, but Lily's was always gentle, and Severus had always tried not to scare Tuney, at Lily's request.
She is scared now. Black's spell is destructive like his magic.
"Time to go." He starts walking. Stops on the doorframe. "This place is a mess. We will drink tea another time."
Tuney tries to speak, to respond. But Black's eyes are on her and she isn't used to this stare like Severus is. Icy blue, like a frozen ocean.
No one speaks.
Severus closes the door once they're out. He takes out his wand and he starts murmuring the incantations.
"Are you serious?" Black grabs him. Turns him around. "Are you going to put wards in that house? For that woman?" He is furious.
"For Lily." Severus tells him. Black opens his mouth, looks at him.
"You are..." A breath through his nose. A rapid exhale. And then Black's out of his space, a step to the side as his hands perform the proper movements to secure the house.