The Taming

It took all of Sirius’s willpower to not rip the paper apart. Anger and confusion coursed through him, leaving him unsure of who he was more upset at. Snape, for obvious reasons, or Regulus, who would never shag a half-blood as he was way too loyal to his family. Did his brother find out about his ‘crush’ on Snape and decide to seduce him out of some sort of sick revenge? 

No, if he decided to do that he would surely flaunt the relationship in his face instead of hiding it behind closed doors. And what about Snape? Why did he agree to go with Sirius to Slughorn’s party if he was already seeing someone and his own brother no less? Did the bastard plan some sort of scheme to have both brothers and somehow take their inheritance? No, that didn’t make sense either as Snape was adamant about constantly rejecting him.

None of this made sense. He had to confront one of them about it, and as he couldn’t decide who, he settled on the first one he saw.

“Hey, let’s look on the bright side. You don’t have to date Snape anymore, and James can stop being an annoying prat,” Remus said, attempting to lighten the tense atmosphere.  

“We’re not telling him about this,” Sirius asserted, his tone leaving little room for debate.

“But–” Sirius’s eyes met his, and a cold shiver ran down the lycanthrope’s body. “O-okay,” he stammered out. 

While he didn’t know what the bloody hell was going on, he was sure of one thing; the two of them were not dating. Their mother would never allow it, and Reggie never went against their mother’s wishes. No, the heir was just using Snape until he married someone that his family approved of. He knew plenty of pure-bloods who did the same, but he never thought his brother would be one to stoop so low.

The two weren’t good for each other anyway; it was evident in the fact that Regulus allowed the rest of his house to mistreat Snape.

Sirius needed to break them up and have Snape for himself. Wait, what? He meant to make sure the snake stopped dating his brother! Yes, that!  

He went to bed that night with a plan. He'd find out what was happening with Snape and the Slytherins, and then he’d put an end to it. The half-blood would find that so charming that he’d break up with Regulus and date him instead! Then he could break his heart as punishment for fooling around with Reggie.

Yes, the plan could work. 

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Sirius ended up sleeping very poorly that night. He was unable to stop thinking about Snape; the thought of him with someone else made him sick to his stomach, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.  

He decided to go to breakfast early, letting the rest of the marauders sleep in on the weekend.

The Great Hall was relatively empty this early in the morning, most students utilising their break to get some much-needed rest. The only exception being the Ravenclaws, who already had half their house sitting at the table hunched over their books and schoolwork. 

Across the hall, he saw Regulus already at the Slytherin’s table; he was sitting with his fellow housemates, but more importantly, he noticed that Snape wasn’t there. 

That helped aid in his assumption that the two of them weren’t together, not in the important sense at least. No, maybe they were just having fun. Well, Sirius could show that he was more fun than Reggie. He went deeper into thought at that, unaware of the fact that he was giving his brother an ice cold glare the entire time.

It took ages for Regulus to leave the Great Hall, most likely due to the fact that he ate everything with a bloody knife and fork and always took great care to wipe the sides of his mouth with a handkerchief practically after every bite. It seemed he took their mother’s etiquette lessons to heart, unlike Sirius, who didn’t give a Doxy’s nip about manners. 

Nevertheless, he quickly followed after him, trailing the Slytherin as subtly as he could. Regulus ended up walking to one of the many dead ends in Hogwarts. He was a sixth-year for Merlin’s sake! How did he still manage to get lost? 

Regulus turned around sharply, and Sirius quickly hid behind one of the statues. “Sirius, I know you’ve been following me, and I can clearly see you behind that sculpture,” his brother stated, unamused. 

Sirius stepped away from his secret spot. “I’m not following you,” Sirius huffed out. “I just happened to be going in the same direction!” 

Regulus raised a brow at him, clearly not believing Sirius’s fabricated excuse. “I saw you glaring at me during the entirety of breakfast. What do you want?” he asked harshly. 

“Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that our parents would be pissed if they found out you were shagging someone with tainted blood. So it’d be best if you end your little fling now,” Sirius warned. If he had any suspicion that his brother had truly fancied Snape he wouldn't be threatening him. At least, that's what he told himself.

The Slytherin looked at him with an utterly confused expression that couldn’t be faked even if one tried hard enough. “What in Merlin’s name are you talking about?” he asked. 

Sirius’s confidence wavered slightly at that. "Erm, you and Snape, I know that the two of you are together!” He bit out. 

Regulus’s eyes widened before he began laughing. He doubled over, clutching his sides, while Sirius stood dumbfounded in the middle of the hallway. He had never seen his brother laugh so hard at something. 

“So… I take it you’re not together," Sirius said awkwardly. Did the map malfunction? It wouldn’t be too out of left field to consider that, as they had been using it for a couple of years now, so it was bound to start experiencing some hiccups. 

Regulus straightened himself out, wiping a stray tear from his eye before quickly taking out his wand and placing a silencing charm. “No, but you should back off,” he said, suddenly serious.

“Why? You’re clearly not interested,” Sirius pointed out. 

His brother cleared his throat. “I may not be romantically involved with Severus, but I care for him. He deserves to have someone who actually likes him,” Regulus said.

“What makes you think that I don’t?” Sirius asked, affronted. He was obviously faking offence, though a part of him worried that Regulus knew about the deal. 

Regulus stepped forward; it was then that Sirius took note of how much the Slytherin had grown. “I know you, Sirius. You’re just looking for a fun time, some new person to satiate your lust. Once you’re bored, you’ll throw him to the wayside and look for some other cheap thrill.” 

Sirius’s mouth twisted at that. Sure, he had a reputation, and sure, the reputation was substantiated many, many times, but he surely wasn’t that much of a dog, was he? “It’s not lus–” 

"Oh, please,” he interrupted. “We both know you’re incapable of loving anyone but yourself,” Regulus said coldly, his words piercing straight through Sirius’s chest.

The younger Black quickly retreated afterward, leaving a speechless Sirius to stand alone in the now busy hallway. 

What Regulus said was utter bollocks! Sirius didn’t just love himself, he loved his friends, and he loved Regulus. Besides, what was so bad about loving yourself? 

He decided then and there to execute his plan just so he could prove his brother wrong. 

Slinking into an alcove, he pulled out the parchment, searching for the one snake he knew would be easy to fold. The corner of his mouth involuntarily quirked up once he realised that he was alone, and Sirius quickly made his way over to the Slytherin. 

Avery was the perfect Slytherin to coerce; he knew just as much as any of the others in their little circle but lacked the proper skills to defend himself and the proper spine to withhold information. Sirius had to barely spook the bloke, and he’d be squealing like the swine he was.

It was almost too easy; all Sirius did was slam the pure-blood against the wall and point his wand at the Slytherin’s throat. “What are you doing to him?” Sirius practically demanded.

The weasel tried to weakly resist at first. “I-I don’t even know what you’re talking about, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell a filthy blood traitor like you,” Avery spat. Though he tried to sound confident, his words were shaking just as badly as he was.  

Sirius pressed the tip of his wand deeper into the Slytherin’s neck. He wasn’t going to use it; he wasn’t mad, but Avery didn’t know that, and Sirius didn’t find it pertinent to tell him such. 

Avery winced, sweat starting to collect on his brow. “Fine! Fine! Just- let up on the wand, will you?” He said breathily, trying his best not to move his neck while he talked, as it only made the sharp pain worse. 

He let up, though he still kept the wand pointed at the pure-blood, not trusting him enough to not run off. 

Avery let out a wheeze, bringing up his hand to rub at his neck. 

"Well, go on then, quickly before I change my mind,” Sirius ordered.

Avery straightened himself, brushing off his robes. “We just revoked some of his privileges,” said the pure-blood casually, “and we may have punished him a few times here or there,” he added flippantly. 

Sirius stiffened. He knew how pure-bloods were and the lengths that they’d go to punish those they deemed fit. “What privileges? What punishments?” He asked. He felt sick, a mixture of guilt and injustice coursing through him. Guilt over the fact that he added to the torment that the half-blood experienced. He thought that he was like them, that they had his back like how the Gryffindors had his.

“Allowance into the dorms, into the private washrooms. We couldn’t have his kind mucking up the place. As for punishments, it was just a few hexes here and there, nothing to sweat over,” Avery shrugged.

“And Slughorn allowed this?” He asked, astonished that their Head of House would permit something so callous between housemates. McGonagall had made it abundantly clear that there would be no harassment of fellow housemates and that no matter what, Gryffindors had each other’s back. Were the Slytherins not taught the same? 

A huff escaped Avery’s lips. “Slughorn? He doesn’t even check the common rooms. He just lets the headboy and girl take over all his responsibilities.” 

“Well, that stops now.” 

Avery, suddenly emboldened, raised a brow, “Yeah? And how're you going to make that happen?”

To be quite honest, Sirius had no clue what exactly he was going to do, but he wouldn’t let the bastard know that. “I’ll make whoever hurts a hair on his head wind up in the infirmary,” he replied darkly. 

Both of Avery’s brows raised at that, “Merlin, he must be one good fuck.” 

Sirius’s jaw slightly dropped. “I-what-” he sputtered out.  

"Oh, come on, that has to be the only reason you’re doing all this? The mudblo-” 

Without even thinking, Sirius punched the bastard square in the face. Avery clutched at his nose, blood seeping through his fingers. “What the fuck!” he exclaimed. Sirius was equally shocked; he looked down at his red knuckles. 

“Wait till my father hears about-” 

“About what? If you tell them anything, I’ll tell Dumbledore about what you and your little friends have been doing. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” he said. 

Avery shook his head quickly. 

“Good, now go to Pomfrey and tell her your dumbass tripped on the stairs,” Sirius ordered. 

The Slytherin didn’t need to be told twice as he quickly scattered away. 

Sirius stayed where he was, looking back at his hand. His knuckles were becoming redder by the second; he clenched his fist and winced at the screaming pain that followed. It wasn’t excruciating enough to be broken bones, but it was going to leave a nasty bruise. 

He didn’t know what came over him, not only with the punch he landed just now but with how he had been acting all day. That happened to Sirius, the ‘Black Madness’ taking over his senses and making him act irrationally. Though it was only ever triggered through possessiveness, and Sirius didn’t think he was possessive of Snape. Was he? 

He shook his head; there was no time to dwell on that. He had to help a distressed Prongs get ready for Slughorn’s party despite the fact that it was still hours away.

However, the throbbing of his hand served as a reminder of feelings he wished to keep buried. 

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Helping James get ready had been an absolute nightmare. The bloke changed his outfit nearly twenty times before deciding on wearing the first bloody option. He then spent another three hours on his hair, attempting to tame the wild curls with no avail before giving up. Sirius felt as though he went through a whole quidditch drill just for his best mate to look just like he normally did. 

That left Sirius with only thirty minutes to get ready. Luckily he was already naturally good-looking, so all he had to do was put on some nice robes, run a comb through his hair, and spray on some cologne that made plenty of birds mad for him.

If tonight didn’t change Snape’s mind, Sirius had no clue what else to do. 

He sat on the common room couch, his legs bouncing relentlessly as he waited for Evans to finally come down so they could leave. He tried not to let his irritation show, as he could see that Prongs was very excited to see how the witch looked. He knew that his best mate had wanted this since first year, so he kept his qualms decidedly to himself.

However, he didn’t need to complain much longer as Evans made her way down the stairs. James stopped in his tracks, a stupid dopey look crossed his face. He gazed upon her like she hung the stars herself, and it made Sirius slightly sick over how sweet the whole thing was. He had to be playing it up as Sirius was unable to comprehend how anyone could look at someone with such admiration. 

The witch looked nice, but not that nice. Her hair was in some fancy braid, and she was wearing a tea-green robe with floral embroidery on it. It was something Sirius saw in a catalogue a few years ago. 

James stumbled over himself to offer his arm to the witch, and her mouth quirked up in amusement. They exchanged pleasantries and giggled amongst each other like schoolgirls, though Sirius opted to drown it out, deciding that it was much more entertaining to look at his fingernails instead. 

“You ready to go, Pads?” James asked, breaking Sirius from his thoughts. 

“Huh? Oh- yeah,” Sirius said dumbly, quickly getting off the couch and joining the two of them as they left the common room. 

Lily prattled on during their walk to the dungeons about all the potions master's Slughorn invited and which ones she was most interested in conversing with. James stared at her the entire time as if she were talking about the most interesting thing in the world and not about a bunch of old blokes who stayed hunched over cauldrons all day.  

Sirius was not looking forward to the party itself; he only went and invited Snape because he knew it was something that the Slytherin was interested in. He usually skipped these events after the first time he went, being tricked by the ‘party’ in the name he thought it was going to be a fun time with drinks and dancing; and while it turned into that by the end, he had to sit through over two hours of Slughorn boasting and parading his successful former students around. It just wasn’t worth it in the end; however, he’d bear it if it made Snape like him. 

When they made it, Sirius scanned the room to try and find a familiar set of tattered black robes. However, he was unable to find the Slytherin anywhere. He brushed it off at first, thinking that perhaps he was running late. But once it came time to sit down and eat, Snape was still nowhere to be found. 

Sirius began to worry, and that worry deepened once they made it half-way through dinner and he still hadn’t shown up. Was he hurt? Did Avery actually have the nerve to mess with him? Or was he perfectly fine and just decided to stand Sirius up?

Somehow, the third thought hurt Sirius the most.