The Taming

Sirius would be lying if he said he wasn’t still miffed about Snape’s rejection. The git was lucky that someone as good-looking as himself had the humility to ask someone as slimy as him out! Though what had pissed him off more than the initial rejection was the post-rejection avoidance Snape was giving him for the rest of the week. 

If there was one thing Sirius hated more than anything, it was being ignored. He would rather Snape yell at him, throw hexes, Merlin even just look in his general direction. But the bastard had done none of that. Instead, he'd go in the opposite direction, somehow disappearing before Sirius could catch him. Well it wasn’t impossible to execute with Snape’s thin frame and dark clothing, it made it easy for him to be swallowed up in the crowd.

Fortunately for Sirius, he had an advantage, the marauders' map. He would just catch him at a time he wouldn’t expect, when his guard was down enough to not be ready to run.

He was lying on the carpeted floor of their dorm, map sprawled out in front of him attempting to find the git’s name in the mass of other ones. Finding individual names on the map was as difficult as searching for bowtruckles in a pile of twigs, but somehow Sirius could always easily spot Snape’s. It was as if his name was in a bolder font, or a richer colour.  

Just like they always had, his eyes had landed right on the git’s name. He was in the library…how shocking. From years of messing with him, he learned that Snape never ventured much out of his precious dungeon. Before it had only been to hang out with Lily but that had recently changed. Now he only leaves once in a blue moon to go down and grab some books before slinking off to his dingy dorm. 

Sirius shot up and ran out of his room, ignoring the concerned inquiries from his mates as he dashed out. The bat was most likely only going to be in the library for a quick visit. He’ll check out a tome and go back to his dungeon just like he always does. Sirius had to act quickly, catch him right as he came out, and ask him again. 

Perhaps he is just nervous? He didn’t mean to say no to Sirius, he had just let it out by accident and is now beating himself up over it. Yes! That’s it, Snape was just so embarrassed about saying no that he couldn’t bear looking him in the face. 

Sirius couldn’t blame him really, Snape was most likely not used to confessions, let alone ones from someone as handsome as the Gryffindor. Surely, when he asks him this time he will say yes and even thank Sirius for giving him another opportunity. 

He came to a screeching stop right in front of the library. He tried to catch his breath and fix his hair with his hands. The last thing Sirius wanted Snape to realise is that he ran here for him. While Quidditch had conditioned Sirius to have peak endurance, nothing would make him immune to the fatigue one feels at running down multiple flights of stairs. 

Luckily, Snape had come out right when Sirius’s breathing became even. Like Sirius had predicted, he was checking out a book. He was holding the tome close to his body, it was from that Sirius could see that the book itself was as big as Snape’s torso.

He hadn’t seemed to notice Sirius, the Gryffindor used that to his advantage, sneaking up behind him. “Merlin, that’s a huge book! Need help carrying it?” he asked. 

Snape had practically jumped out of his skin, his tome nearly fell but Sirius’s arms wrapped around the Slytherin, grabbing onto the bottom of the book as it started to slip from his arms. Snape's initially startled expression turned sour as he looked over his shoulder at Sirius, “Are you stalking me now?” he asked, the Gryffindor tried to ignore how close they were, how he had just now, at that moment, noticed how long Snape’s eyelashes were.  

Sirius had to hold back a disbelieving laugh, him? Stalking Snape? The git was hardly worth his attention. Instead, he gave Snape a relaxed smile, “No! I was just on my way to the infirmary when you walked out.” he lied. 

Snape removed himself from Sirius and looked him up and down, he had felt strangely naked at that moment. Snape then raised a brow, “You don’t look injured.” He pointed out. 

He tried to come up with something romantic to say, “I hurt myself falling for you.” He cringed at his own words. If Sirius was being truthful he didn’t really know how to flirt. He never had to win someone over before, they had all just wanted him. All he had to do was give them a smile, ask them and they’d say yes. 

The Slytherin gave him a blank look before walking away. Sirius quickly followed him, he wouldn’t let Snape get away that easily. He was merely lucky before, they were in class, Sirius wasn’t able to run after him like he could now. 

“Right, that was corny. I just wanted to say hi!” he said, matching the git's pace. Due to their height difference, what seemed to be a fast walk for Snape looked to be a leisurely stroll for Sirius. 

“Hello, now sod off,” Snape bit out, not even looking in the Gryffindor’s general direction as he continued to walk. 

He ignored the git’s request, still following him. “Come on Sniv, you can’t say that you’re not charmed.” he reasoned. 

“Something about being called a horrible nickname doesn’t seem quite charming to me,” he argued. That was what James had told him last time, if he were being honest, he hadn’t even realised that he had said it at that moment. 

“Okay, I might not be charming but you can at least admit that I’m handsome right?” He flashed the git a smile as they came to a halt. 

They had made it to the dungeons and were currently standing right next to a bare wall. Sirius was about to ask Snape why he stopped moving but just then the git whispered something too low for Sirius to hear. All of a sudden, the stones started to move, revealing the Slytherin's common room. Unfortunately, it was too dark for him to get a proper look inside. 

Snape stepped into the threshold of the entrance before finally turning and looking at Sirius, his eyes widened slightly, a faint gasp escaping his lips, “How did you know? I fantasise about you every night.” his expression then deadpanned, losing the act before stepping further into the dungeon and murmuring something under his breath. The stone wall then resealed itself right before Sirius’s own eyes. 

He stood there mouth agape, stunned for a moment before snapping back into reality.  “Wait really?!” He yelled, hoping he could hear him through the thick stone. 

A muffled “No.” Came from behind the wall. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

“Following him while bickering doesn’t count as a date Pads!” James sighed as he paced around the room. 

“I know! He’s just so bloody difficult, you don’t even know Prongs!” Sirius argued back. He didn’t know what to do, clearly the git was stubborn and unwilling to agree off looks alone. That didn’t bode well for Sirius who leveraged his fit appearance to obtain whatever he pleased. 

“Hm, it’s almost like you bullied him for years,” Moony murmured to himself as he read, half-listening to their conversation as usual. 

Peter, who was sitting on his bed, finally spoke up, “Why don’t you try to not be yourself?” He suggested. 

All three pairs of eyes turned to him and a faint blush bloomed on his cheeks. He was unused to the attention.

“What do you mean Wormtail?” asked James. 

“Hey! What’s wrong with being me?” Sirius asked at the same time. 

The rat animagus wrung his hands together, looking anywhere but at Sirius. “Er n-nothing!” he said nervously. “It’s just that- Sniv doesn’t particularly like you. Maybe he’d say yes if you made him think that you were someone different. Someone more… his type?” His voice went up in pitch a bit at the end, turning the suggestion into a question. 

Sirius was about to argue that he was everyone’s type before James interrupted him, “Wormtail, you’re a bloody genius!” James said, “I’ll ask Lily if she knows what the git is into when I run into her again.” 

Remus frowned, “You think she’d be willing to talk about her ex-friend’s preferences with you?” He questioned. 

James turned to him, a cocky smile on his face, “I’ll have you know, I’m quite convincing,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Oh like how it took you nearly six years to get Evans to be interested in you?” Peter quipped before shrieking and ducking to avoid the pillow being thrown at him. 

James grabbed another pillow from his bed, this time deciding to try and beat Peter with it which led to an hour-long war using pillows as ammunition between the four marauders.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next time James had run into Lily was during their meeting with the professors. As Head Boy and Girl, they met with the staff of Hogwarts each month and discussed student needs. It was something that Dumbledore told them about on the train ride to Hogwarts. This was their first time attending one as it was still the beginning of the school year. 

It was rather boring. However, for Lily’s sake, he tried to stay as focused as possible. He knew that the witch fancied responsible individuals. He suppressed his fidgeting, forcing down the urge to bounce his leg and look around the room as Professor Binns droned on about students falling asleep in his class. 

They dismissed them quickly afterward, the rest of their meeting only having to do with the responsibilities of the professors. James walked beside Lily, giving the redhead a few hesitant glances. He wanted to ask her but he was oddly nervous. 

Lily side-eyed him, giving a slight smirk when their eyes met and he quickly looked away. “What is it?” She said, mirth in her tone. 

The Potter heir swallowed before just finally spitting it out without thinking, “What kind of blokes is Snape into?” 

She stopped dead in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at him, “I didn’t know you were interested,” She quipped. 

James had nearly choked, he felt the blood rush to his cheeks. Merlin, he didn’t mean for it to sound like that! “N-not for me! For Sirius!” he tried to clarify. 

Oddly enough her expression became more questioning, “Sirius fancies Severus?” she asked.

“Yes! Why else do you think he has been harassing him all this time!” he argued, hoping for the “pulling pigtails” excuse to work on her as it had partially worked on Snape. 

She gave him a scrutinising look before letting out a defeated sigh, “You know I always had my suspicions…” she said. 

His eyes widened, “You did?” he asked, he knew that they were trying to convince her of it but he hadn’t thought that she already had some past speculations. 

“I mean, he always seemed a little obsessed,” She shrugged. “I always caught him staring at the Slytherin table during meals. I thought he was wanting to kill him but after what you mentioned…” 

James had to hold back an exhale of relief, thank Merlin! It was just that! Pads was most likely giving him looks of contempt, conjuring up new pranks, or trying to send unsavoury words to the git telepathically. 

Lily spoke up again, knocking James out of his thoughts, “Though, it’s still odd that he likes him after what he did.”

Oh, the incident by the lake, where Snape had called her that word. “Well, Pads is a dunderhead who thinks that he can get Snape out of that mess. He is convinced that he can change him.” 

“Do you think?” She sounded hopeful, James tried to tame the jealousy rising within him. He had to remind himself that he had no grounds to be jealous of them anymore. 

They started to walk to their dorms again. James brought a hand to his head, running his fingers through his wild curls. “I think so yeah, and even if they don’t work out, or Snape is unable to stop believing in that rubbish we could still theoretically start dating yeah?” he tried. 

Her eyebrows furrowed, “Wait, you’re not trying to get them to date so we can date right?” she asked. 

James had wanted to kick himself for saying too much. “No! Of course not! Sirius had always liked Snape, it’s just that– He didn’t know that he liked blokes so he backed off! The part about us dating is just a bonus!” He rushed out, hoping that it would work. 

She was quiet for a moment, “Well… He never really spoke much about his preferences, just that he didn’t like guys who drank too much.”

James winced, he knew why she brought that up. Sirius was a notorious drinker, at their celebrations for games they won he always got hammered and danced on tables in the common room. “Okay, no alcohol, got it. Anything else?” James asked, hoping she’d give him more to work with. 

“I would rather not think too deeply about an ex-friend like that,” she quickly replied, an unpleasant look flashing on her face. 

“Come on! If Sirius gets Snape to say yes then we can date!” He argued. 

Lily played with the bottom of her tie, “I suppose so…Once we get into the tower I’ll write up what I can think of that might help Sirius out.” She offered. 

James gave her a bright smile, “You’re the best!” 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sirius walked over to their usual spot in the Great Hall. His suspicions began to rise when he saw both Prongs and Wormtail huddling over something on the table, their lunches forgotten beside them. The two of them looked up in sync, giving Sirius smiles that made him slightly nervous. 

“Pads! We’ve got the precious information!” James said, gesturing for the ex-heir to come closer. 

He apprehensively made his way over, as he neared he saw that the two were pouring over a piece of parchment. “What is it?” Sirius asked, looking over to see a list of seemingly random things. 

“You know Peter’s idea from a few days ago?” He asked, Sirius nodded. “Well, I got Lily to write up a list of things he likes!” He whispered conspiratorially to him. 

Sirius knew James was avoiding saying Snape’s name in case someone was listening in. “What’s the verdict?” He asked. 

Peter gave out a sigh, “Let’s just say you’re going to be the type of bloke whose arse you’d usually kick.” 

He winced, "That bad?" 

Prongs swallowed, sharing a glance with Wormtail, “Well, he hates alcohol and blokes that drink it.” 

Sirius baulked, standing up from his seat, “No drinking?! How else am I going to put up with his bloody arse?!” He quickly sat down when he noticed many students staring at him in concern. This was total bullshite, he knew Snape was a hard arse but this was extreme. 

“It also says that he likes blokes that are intelligent!” Peter added helpfully. 

There was a full minute of silence as Sirius stared blankly at his short friend, “Are you saying I’m not smart?” he asked. 

Again, Peter and James shared a look, this one more nervous. 

“Erm yes! O-of course you are! I was just erm…pointing it out!” Peter said, practically sweating bullets. 

Sirius looked back at the paper and scrunched his nose, “Merlin, is he attracted to old men? What even are these interests?!” Who at their age enjoyed classical music and literature? Reading was boring and rock was the infinitely better musical genre. Though Sirius already knew that they were not compatible, this list proved that they were like oil and water to one another. 

“Looks like you’re going to act like a wanker for the rest of the school year Pads,” James teased. 

He put his head in his hands, letting out a miserable groan. This was going to be a long school year.