"Now that we're all here, I do believe it's time for us to solve this problem once and for all," Dumbledore said as he clasped his hands together and placed them underneath his chin. He stared at the boys who were currently involved in the latest "prank," as it was called, although he could hardly call what happened a prank. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, and Severus Snape all sat around his desk, with Horace Slughorn and Minerva McGonagall standing behind them. Every adult in the room was angry and absolutely horrified to find out what happened and what could have happened. When Dumbledore learned of the prank, he stood there in disbelief for a long moment, unable to connect the actions to the person he'd come to know as Sirius Black.
"He tried to kill me!!" Severus snapped, his face red and full of anger. Sirius only snorted in response, ignoring the affronted looks of everyone in the room.
"You knew what was down there in the shack before I told you," Sirius said with an eye-roll. "You wanted to either get Remus expelled or killed. I mean, who the hell goes somewhere they know a werewolf is if their goal isn't to kill, expose, or hurt them?"
At his words, Severus fell silent, a mulish expression on his face, and no one had an answer to that. Not that there was anything to say to that. Dumbledore sighed in disappointment and frustration at the fact that Severus did not deny Sirius's accusations. When he allowed Remus to attend Hogwarts, he never expected this to happen. He understood that Mr. Lupin was a good kid, shy and gentle, and terrified of hurting anyone. He didn't expect, however, that Remus would ever be taken advantage of.
Sirius, on the other hand, didn't understand what all the fuss was about. He wasn't expecting Snape to actually listen to him, especially since he already knew what Moony was. Sirius, James, and hell, even Peter knew when they were 11 that you shouldn't go near a werewolf as a human. The fact that Snivellus chose to ignore that fact in order to try and hurt Remus is not his fault. Maybe he shouldn't have told Snape, but in his mind, this was going to end up happening sooner or later with Snape continuously spying on them. There's no bloody way he would have let it go, but again, Snape was a bloody idiot for listening to him.
"Do you even feel guilty?" A small voice broke through the oppressive silence, and for a fleeting moment, Sirius allowed himself to feel the guilt and remorse that’d been building up inside himself over the pain he caused Remus and James.
Sirius tilted his head as he looked over at Remus before he nodded, keeping eye contact as he spoke. "I feel bad that you almost killed him. I would never have wanted you to become a killer, and maybe I shouldn't have told him, but that's only because it hurt you and James.” Sirius looked at James briefly, making eye contact with him as well. “I would never have wanted you two to get hurt, and I regret that my actions did exactly that."
Sirius grimaced as he looked at the haunted look in Moony's eyes and the sling holding James's arm due to the scratch Moony gave him. That was what Sirius regretted. Remus was one of his best friends and James was his brother, but they were both his chosen family. The fact that his actions caused them this much pain caused a well of guilt to build in the bottom of his stomach.
Behind him, Sirius heard Minerva sigh in disappointment, tearing his attention from James and Remus. He knew McGonagall was upset that he didn't bother to mention Snape but he couldn't find it in himself to feel too terribly about Snivellus. He brought it on himself.
"Severus could have been seriously harmed, Mr. Black."
Sirius shrugged; he didn’t really care about Snape if he was perfectly honest. He was a creep who hung out with future death eaters and was so deep into dark arts that Sirius could practically smell it on him. Not to mention, he was obsessed with and possessive of a girl while actively hating the very group of people that the girl belonged to. Imagine hating and wishing for the deaths of all muggleborns while being in love with one. Complete bonkers if you asked him. More than that, however, Snape’s obsession with Sirius and his friends was beginning to become dangerous, and he did what he had to in order to protect Remus. It wasn’t the best idea, in truth, but then again, Snape should’ve been more careful with what he wished for.
"It would have been his own fault."
"Mate..." James sighed, shaking his head.
Sirius frowned and took stock of the expressions around Dumbledore's office. He was confused by their reactions because it didn't make any bloody sense. Everyone here knew that Snape was a bonified asshole who liked to tag along with his little group of mini-death eaters while they liked to perfect their little cursing techniques.
"Wait a minute, are you all seriously treating Snape like a victim here?" He asked incredulously.
"I am!!"
"No matter your feelings about Mr. Snape, he did not deserve this," Slughorn said as he pushed Snape back down in his seat.
Sirius's eyes widened in shock before he began to giggle at the absurdity of it all, ignoring Remus and James gently calling his name and McGonagall asking what he found funny about the situation. To be completely honest, Sirius found everything funny. For all that Severus did and was complicit in with his friends, this was the thing that the adults found to be the bad thing.
"Snivellus has been cursing muggleborns left and right. Not the joking type of hexing that most students do. No," Sirius said with a sick smile on his face. "He full-on curses students for merely being muggleborn while looking down on them despite his own muggle blood. When Mucliber attacked Mary, he thought it was funny. She wouldn't speak for a week afterward, and she was so scared to leave her dorm that she missed two months of classes."
Sirius watched with a detached expression as they all grimaced at the reminder. When Mary was found, Mulciber's magical signature was all over her, and there was blood everywhere, yet he wasn't punished because she wouldn't speak. She wouldn't implicate him, and with the ministry firmly in the pockets of dark families, there wouldn't be any consequences even if she did. She could have died, and Mucliber was not only let go, but Snape found the entire situation funny.
"I distinctly remember Evans complaining about how Snape thought what happened to Mary was a prank. A laugh, I believe he said," Sirius said with a narrowed look in Snape's direction, and he was happy when the twat lowered his head. "Then he finds out about Remus, and I would like to reiterate that he already knew about the whole werewolf thing. Anyways, he tries to expose him by being a creepy stalker, and yet I'm blamed for his stupidity?"
Sirius took a deep breath after his rant, shaking his head at the turn of events. He briefly took another look around the room and was glad to see that at least Remus and James seemed to agree with his reasoning. The adults were still angry, which Sirius expected, and frankly, he still didn’t care.
"Once again, I'd like to say that Snivellus choosing to go to the Willow is not on me. He knew what he would find and willingly went there. Was it wrong of me to expose Remus? Of course, and I'll take responsibility for that, and I’ll take responsibility for the fact that James got hurt in the process, but I won't be blamed for Snape's stupidity as a result of his own bigotry."