The Taming

Snape’s brow furrowed. “Are you okay?” 

That question brought Sirius back to reality, where he realised that he had been wordlessly staring open-mouthed at the Slytherin for quite some time. “Erm…yeah, I’m just—you came,” he said breathlessly. Sirius wanted to kick himself over how desperate he sounded at that moment. 

“Yes, well, I was forced to,” he said, crossing his arms and pointedly glaring at the person next to him. 

It was then that he remembered they weren’t alone. He followed Snape’s gaze to see Regulus standing there, giving the half-blood an innocent smile. 

It made Sirius’s stomach churn. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Regulus quipped. He then turned to Sirius, raising an eyebrow; it almost seemed as though he was challenging him. 

“I’m heading in,” he said to Snape, who began to look slightly nervous. Regulus gave the half-blood’s arm a squeeze. Sirius didn’t like how comfortable Snape seemed with his brother's hands on him. Regulus told him that there was nothing going on between them, but still, he couldn’t help but feel a sting of jealousy. 

Perhaps he was jealous because his brother made it look so easy while Sirius had struggled to get the half-blood’s attention. Yes, he was purely jealous for his ‘mission’s’ sake and nothing else. 

“Come get me when you’re ready to leave,” Regulus said. He then gave one final pointed glare at Sirius before making his way inside. 

The air between them was thick after Regulus left. 

Sirius was still staring at the Slytherin, who in turn was avoiding looking at him. In his head he was going to give the git an earful for embarrassing him and standing him up. However, now that he was in front of him, he was tongue-tied. 

“I…Do you want to go in?” Sirius asked, unable to think of anything else to break the silence. 

Snape finally met his eyes. “Fine, but don’t ask me to dance. I will turn around and leave.” 

“If you wish, but I’ll get you to say yes one day,” Sirius teased. 

Snape said nothing; instead, he rolled his eyes and made his way to the door. Sirius rushed in front of him so he could open the door for him like a gentleman. There was no other reason, and he definitely wasn’t checking out the Slytherin’s backside as he walked past him.

Who could blame him? The Slytherin was finally wearing clothing that fit him properly. Who knew he was hiding such a—

“Are you coming in or not?” Snape said, turning to look at Sirius, who was dumbly staring at him. 

“Oh… yeah,” he let the door shut behind him and quickly caught up with the Slytherin. “Do you need me to get you anything? Some food or maybe a drink?” 

“No,” Snape said shortly, his posture stiff. He scanned the room as if looking for potential danger. 

“Okay, well… You don’t want to dance, and you don’t want to drink. What do you want?” He asked, frustrated at how the Slytherin was freezing him out. He was lucky that Sirius was even giving him an ounce of attention. 

“I want to know why you invited me, Black. Why are you acting so strange,” He hissed, his dark eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

Sirius let out a frustrated huff, “Because I fancy you,” he said, low enough for only Snape to hear, “Is that too crazy of a concept for you?” 

Snape crossed his arms stubbornly. “Yes, yes, it is Black. I will find out what you’re up to whether you tell me or not.” 

Shit, he was growing suspicious; that wasn’t good. 

He swallowed. “Do you want to know the truth?” he asked, his voice low. 

The Slytherin’s face softened, though only slightly. He was clearly interested, “Yes.” 

Sirius stepped closer, and surprisingly Snape didn’t step back. “Well—” 

“Mr. Black! I’ve been looking for you!” Slughorn’s jovial voice cut through the tension like a knife, and the two quickly stepped away from one another.

Sirius tried not to glare at the potions professor, who gave him a bright smile. A man stood next to him; he must’ve been important if Slughorn’s mood was anything to go by. “This is Sirius Black. Mr. Black, this is Damocles Belby,” he gestured to the man beside him. “Mr. Black is one of my top students. He made the clearest truth serum I have ever seen in all my years at Hogwarts. Truly one of our brightest here.” 

He blinked, confused. Why was he ignoring Snape? He was his top student by a large margin, and the Slytherin was standing right next to him. Sirius spared a glance over to him. He had looked a little disappointed, the kind of disappointment where you had expected it, the kind where you’ve experienced it multiple times, a complete resignation.

Sirius quickly recovered, “Well, I barely did anything really; it was all Sn—Severus. I just followed his instructions,” he said, gesturing to Snape, who looked at him with wide eyes. 

The man’s eyebrows raised. “Really?” he said, finally speaking. He looked over to Slughorn, who suddenly looked abashed. 

“Yes! You should see his potions textbook; it’s full of improvements. He’s incredible!” Sirius exclaimed, If Slughorn wouldn’t sing his praises, then Sirius would. He hadn’t even thought twice about it. 

The man looked over at Snape, whose face was pink after all of Sirius’s compliments. He reached out his hand for Snape to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Severus.” 

The Slytherin stared at the man’s hand for a moment before quickly recovering. “No, the pleasure is mine. I’m a really big fan of your work,” Snape said as he grabbed Belby’s hand. Sirius didn’t know that the git was capable of saying nice things, and now he was a little peeved that he hadn't said any to him. 

The potion’s master seemed to brighten at that, “Are you now? Tell me, are there any suggestions you have to improve my work?” 

Snape’s eyes seemed to widen slightly at that. “I—er—well,” he then started to prattle on about potions. 

Sirius wasn’t processing any of it. He was entirely focused on the Slytherin’s expression. The way he lit up while talking, the slight upward tilt of the corner of his lip, the warmth in his eyes. He had never seen him so lively, so passionate. 

Sirius had always likened him to a shadow, hiding behind someone else's light, a presence that you hadn’t noticed. He had done it with Evans and with Malfoy, but now he had shone on his own.

It was nice. 

Until he remembered that he was giving another man that look. A familiar sting of jealousy began to appear again. He wished that one day the Slytherin would look at him like that and only him. 

He hadn’t even noticed that the two wizards left until Snape turned to him, his eyes still bright. “I can’t believe I met him. Did I look stupid? I feel like I did,” he said, straightening his robes until he finally sobered up from his high and gave Sirius a confused look. “Wait, why am I asking you this?” 

Before Sirius could even reply to Snape’s frantic rambling, the Slytherin had already begun to walk off. 

Sirius quickly grabbed onto his elbow, effectively stopping him in his tracks. 

With all the adults gone, the party had become more lively. The music grew louder, and students began to go onto the dance floor. Slughorn allowing this was precisely why he was a favourite among many students. 

Nevertheless, he tried to talk over the loud sounds of the party, “You looked radiant,” he says. 

Snape’s brows furrowed. “What?” he asked, unable to hear him. 

Just as Sirius yelled, “You looked sexy,” the music stopped, the elves turning the page for the next song. 

The entire mass of students who still remained stopped and stared at them. They then proceeded to burst out in laughter; Sirius felt a pit in his stomach when he saw the hurt expression on Snape’s face. The Slytherin, whose face was now red, ripped his arm out of Sirius’s grasp and quickly ran into the crowd, ignoring Sirius’s calls. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Severus’s face was burning red as he weaved through students, attempting to leave the party. Luckily, once the house elves began the next song, everyone turned their attention elsewhere, but that still hadn’t calmed the intense wave of humiliation.  

He was foolish; he knew he didn’t belong here. For a moment, while talking to Belby, he naively thought he could. Only for reality to swoop in and remind him that no matter how much effort he puts into his looks, he was still an ugly little half-blood. 

As he was walking, someone grabbed his wrist. He was ready to hex them until he was met with familiar blue-grey eyes. “We should leave,” Regulus said, his face pale. 

Severus frowned, worried about his friend's behaviour. “What’s the matter?” 

Regulus, who looked distracted, blinked at him. “Nothing, we just need to leave. ” 

“Severus,” a new voice cut in before he could reply to his friend. 

The two Slytherins turned to see Lily standing there. Severus stopped breathing. Why was she here? 

She looked nervous. “Can we talk?” she asked. 

He looked between the two of them for a moment. He was about to refuse her until he saw the absolute look of desperation on her face. “Erm…fine.” He turned to Regulus, “I’ll meet you in the dungeons,” he squeezed his hand, “you can tell me what happened then,” he said low enough for only him to hear. 

Regulus seemed apprehensive but nodded and left nonetheless. 

Lily grabbed hold of his hand and guided him to the balcony. The feeling of her hand in his felt so familiar, even though they hadn’t interacted much since fifth year. It was like two puzzle pieces fitting right back together. 

She let go of his hand and walked over to the railing, clutching onto the metal as if it was the only thing holding her up. She didn’t look at him, only at the sky. The moonlight shone onto her fiery red hair. 

The air around them was thick, and Lily made no move to speak. 

“What do you want to talk about, Evans?” He said finally, making his way to the railing. 

Lily winced and turned to him, “So I’m Evans now?” she said. 

“You became Evans once I became Snape. What do you want?” he asked sharply. He hardened his heart, he hadn’t wanted to get his hopes up. 

She pursed her lips, looking as though she wanted to say everything yet nothing at the same time. “I—I want to apologise,” she said. 

He was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected her to say that. “Why?” he asked.

“I…I was wrong about you. I thought that you were becoming one of them, but now that you and Black are dati–”

“I’m not dating Black,” Severus quickly interjected. 

“Still, he likes you, and he wouldn’t if you were one of them,” she pushed. 

He felt as though he had been slapped in the face. “Who’s ‘them,’ Lily? Blood purists? Dark arts lovers? Voldemort’s followers?” 

Lily winced. “Don’t say his—” 

“I’ll say whatever the bloody hell I want!” Severus snapped. 

“Why are you so upset? I’m apologising!” Lily argued back. 

“I don’t accept it,” He sneered. 

“Why not?! You were begging for me to forgive you, and now that I’m asking for it, you don’t want it?”

“It’s a shit apology,”  Severus said. 

“What? So you want me to wait outside your dorm and harass you for days on end until you’ll accept mine?” She said, her words cutting deep; he had to hold back a wince. She had been good at that, saying the most painful thing she could think of when they were arguing. To be fair, Severus was just as good, but he always held back his vitriol for the girl, not wanting to hurt her. He had only snapped once, and look where it had gotten them.

“No, I’ll wait until you don’t need a Gryffindor to tell you whether or not I’m a good person.” 

She scoffed, as if Severus were being completely unreasonable, “Come on, can you stop with your hatred for Gryffindors?”  

“I don’t hate them, Lily. I hate that you take their opinions over mine. We were friends before all this house bull shite; I considered you my sister,” he said the last part quietly. 

Her face softened, “We can go back to that!” Lily said, her voice sounding almost desperate. 

“No, we can’t. That was gone the moment you started excusing their behaviour, the moment that you stopped hanging out with me because your ‘friends’ thought I was weird, the moment that you smiled when they stripped me in front of the whole school!” 

“I didn’t—” 

“Yes, you did. I saw you! It was the most embarrassing moment of my goddamn life, and you thought it was funny. And now you’re dating him.” 

“He’s changed! And if you were so hurt by the prank, why are you entertaining Sirius?” 

Severus was quiet for a moment. He looked back at the party and spotted Black. He looked like a hit puppy; a pretty witch came to talk to him, and he immediately brushed her off and went back to his sulking. He was scanning the crowd. He was looking for something. His eyes landed on Severus’s. He gave him a small smile. It wasn’t one of the cocky ones that he gave to the witches he flirted with. No, it was softer, warmer. It was kind.

He turned back to Lily. 

“How has he changed Lily? How do you get to decide that? You know he hasn’t once tried to apologise to me? At least Black… At least Black is trying.” 

He couldn’t believe he was defending the prick, but after what he pulled tonight, he owed him one. Sure, he was annoying, but since the start of this year he hadn’t been cruel to Severus. 

Lily, who now had tears in her eyes, seemed at a loss for words. 

“Goodbye, Evans,” he said, and turned to leave.

It had hurt, he had wanted nothing more than to go back to what they were, to accept her apology and be friends once more. Still, he had forced himself to walk away. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As soon as he entered the room, Rosier was standing right in front of him, two drinks in hand. He shoved one into Severus’s and looked the half-blood up and down with his half-lidded eyes. “You clean up well,” he said. “Come, and don’t embarrass me.” He hissed, clutching onto Severus’s elbow and bringing him to a group of Slytherins. 

“What’s going on?” Severus asked, trying not to sound nervous. 

“We’re talking about you-know-who,” Rosier said casually. 

Severus blanched at that. “Well, I need to go to bed—” 

Rosier’s hand clutched harder around him. Severus had to hold back a wince. “You’re joining us. Don’t think I didn’t see you with her,” he sneered. “Don’t think about running off on us now after all Malfoy has done for you.”

 He swallowed thickly but said nothing. 

He pulled him into the circle, and Severus was forced to listen as they discussed meeting the Dark Lord and when they would be taking on the mark.

Severus drank from his cup. It helped ground him and proved to be a great tool to avoid adding to the conversation. Despite what the rest of the Slytherins had thought, he was not going to take the mark, not willingly at least. Once he finished his beverage, Rosier gave him his own cup to drink from, a smirk on his face that made Severus a little uneasy.

When they first talked of becoming Death Eaters many years ago, it almost seemed unattainable. The Dark Lord was a messiah in their eyes, a god to worship, a fairytale. But now, as they grew older, he became real, very real. 

They were meeting him at Hogsmeade. 

A shiver ran up Severus’s spine. 

He had heard of what the Dark Lord was capable of and had seen for himself in the prophet the atrocities he had committed. He didn’t want to be a part of it. 

Mulciber turned to Severus, “He’s interested in meeting you.” 

It felt as though all the blood drained from his body. “What?” Maybe he hadn’t heard him right. The music, while it quieted down a bit, was still fairly loud. 

“Lucius has been saying very favourable things about you,” Rosier supplied, his hand then snaked around Severus’s hip and pulled him close. “What did you do to get him to sing your praises? Mind doing it to me too?” His breath was hot on Severus’s ear. 

The group laughed at Rosier’s joke as Severus shoved him off. He burnt with embarrassment and indignation. 

“Probably the same thing he’s doing to Black!” Mulciber added, and the group laughed even harder. 

He left, using the fact that he needed another drink as an excuse to step away. Severus needed to get away from them. If he hadn’t, he would’ve snapped, hexing them all. He should’ve just gone with Regulus when he asked, and now he was paying the price. 

He had begun to feel strange, but he was too preoccupied to realise it. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sirius had been keeping an eye on Snape after he ran off. He didn’t want to push himself onto the bloke, but at the same time he had wanted to make sure the Slytherin was okay.

He was always able to find him, even in a crowd of students all wearing the same uniform; he stuck out to Sirius. He drank him up, like a man who had gone days without water. 

He kept having to remind himself that this was lust he was feeling and nothing else. 

But at least he could have some fun with the Slytherin before they had to break things off. Yes, what he was feeling for the dungeon bat was purely sexual. He didn’t care for him, not at all. He was sure if they had just one encounter, all these feelings would go away. 

Sirius was like that. He liked the hunt, the thrill of chasing and catching, but never keeping. Once he had gotten what he wanted, he grew bored. 

Perhaps Regulus was right about him. 

Though should he care? 

As he watched the git interact with the group of Slytherins, he didn’t think so. He was one of them, the enemy, the very house that bred nothing but evil. 

Still, he couldn’t help but notice things that were off about the situation. Severus was standing stiffly and hadn’t contributed anything to the conversation, a far cry from his previous interactions with Belby. 

He also took note of Rosier’s hand that was clutched onto half-blood’s elbow. It was firm, controlling, like a chain keeping Snape hostage. Sirius had tried to keep his cool but nearly lost it once he saw the pure-blood grab him by the hip and pull him close; he proceeded to say something that made the group laugh, well, all except Snape, who had looked slightly ill as he pushed away. 

Sirius finally intercepted when Snape went back over to the bowl of juice for the second time. “You should lay off the drinking,” he said, slightly worried for the bloke. Hadn’t he hated when people drank? Why was he doing it himself? What a bloody hypocrite. 

Snape looked up at him, his face flushed, and furrowed his brows. “Why?” he asked before stumbling over. 

Sirius was quick to catch him, saving the Slytherin and the table of drinks and snacks in the process. “Whoa! Are you okay?” He asked. 

He scowled at him, “Yes, I’m fine. Who decided to make the room start spinning?” 

Sirius blinked at him and then looked around the room that was perfectly still. “Uh… No one? How many drinks have you had?” He asked, suddenly very concerned for the Slytherin’s health. 

“Four. Why does it matter?” His eyes then narrowed. “Are you the drink police?” 

Sirius’s eyes widened. “Four?! Merlin Snape, you know they put a lot of alcohol in there, right?” No wonder he looked worse for wear. He also hadn’t had dinner. He had drunk all of that on an empty stomach. 

Suddenly all the colour drained from Snape's face. “What?” he asked. 

“Did you not know?” Sirius asked, confused over the half-blood’s reaction. Everyone knew that after the adults left, the juice bowls were filled with copious amounts of liquor.  

Judging by the Slytherin’s reaction, however, he didn’t know. He looked like he was going to either throw up or pass out. Sirius wasn’t too sure. He guided the Slytherin to sit down and poured him a glass of water. 

“Drink this, all of this,” he said, leaving no room for argument. “I’m going to get you something to eat. What would you like?”

Snape hadn’t answered. Instead, he clumsily put the drink on the table, the water sloshing a bit onto the tablecloth, and then put his head in his hands, groaning. Sirius put a hand to the half-blood’s back and stroked it in a soothing motion. Surprisingly, Snape hadn’t pushed his hand away. 

“I can’t be drunk,” Snape mumbled into his hands. 

“I’m afraid you are, I’ll help you sober up though. Believe it or not, I know a thing or two about accidentally drinking more than I should,” he quipped, trying to lighten the mood. 

“I can’t be drunk,” Snape repeated. “I don’t feel angry. Just... strange.” 

Sirius’s hand paused on his back; he frowned, “Drinking doesn’t affect everyone the same. It merely makes you lose your inhibitions. It’s like a truth serum, some say.” 

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as Snape looked up, a heartbreaking expression on his face. It had made Sirius’s heart pang. He hadn’t wanted the Slytherin to ever look at him like that again. “Really?” he asked, nearly falling off his chair. 

Sirius put his hand on Snape’s shoulder, pushing him back into an upright position. 

He was about to reply when suddenly a familiar voice cut through, “Pads.” 

Sirius turned his head and met with a pissed-off James. “We need to talk.” 

He looked back at Snape, who had closed his eyes, head resting on Sirius’s hand, seemingly about to go to sleep. 

“I’m in the middle of something,” he hissed out to James. He could not have the Slytherin fall asleep, not until he had something in his stomach. 

“It’s important; it’s about the deal,” he pushed, saying the last part quieter so only Sirius could hear. 

He let out a frustrated huff. “Fine! Just give me a second.” 

Sirius patted Snape’s cheek; the Slytherin opened his eyes slowly, giving Sirius a harsh glare for waking him up. 

“Don’t give me that look. I’m going to leave for a second. Whatever you do, don't go to sleep.” He then grabbed the water on the table and tried handing it to Snape. 

Snape made no move to grab it. Instead, he blinked absentmindedly at the Gryffindor. Not trusting the Slytherin’s coordination while under the influence, he guided the cup to his mouth, forcing Snape to drink, and surprisingly he had. Snape’s dark eyes met his as he drank, and a strange sensation pooled at the base of Sirius’s stomach. 

Once Sirius was satisfied with the amount, he put the glass back. “Good, now don’t move till I come back.” 

The Slytherin glared at him and mumbled a bit but let out a disgruntled ‘fine’ nonetheless. 

Sirius turned to James, who had watched the scene with an odd expression on his face. “What did you want to tell me?” he asked, accidentally sounding far harsher than he had wanted. 

James swallowed and guided Sirius to a quiet corner of the room. He had been too preoccupied with Snape to notice before, but James had looked very tense, his jaw clenched and his face slightly red. 

“I’m calling it off,” he said. 

“Calling what off?” Sirius asked, confused by his mate’s strange behaviour. 

“This deal, it’s done. I’m done!” James exclaimed. 

“What!? Why?!” Was he serious? 

James let out a frustrated huff, “Lily and I just had a fight. She doesn’t want to talk to me for a bit. I’ve tried Pads. I’ve tried for years to get her attention, and clearly she’s not into me.” He looked heartbroken. 

“If she wasn’t into you, why would she have agreed to go with you to this party? Why would she have flirted back with you? Why would she have told you how to win her over?” Sirius pointed out. He didn’t know why he was encouraging his friend. He had never really done it before. In fact, he’d typically groan loudly whenever James brought Evans up. 

James didn’t say anything, so Sirius continued. “You’re just having a lover’s quarrel. Give the girl some space and then talk it out later. I need to go now... Goodnight.”  

He didn’t wait to hear his reply. Instead, he went back to Snape. His heart hammered in his chest, and his head felt so full. 

When he had first agreed to this mess, he had wanted nothing more than for James to cut it off, to drop Evans, and go after some other girl so he wouldn’t have to talk to the Snake. Now it was different; everything was different, and he didn’t have the slightest clue why.