The Project

There was pink icing on his cheek, flour on his shirt and more icing stained his fingertips.

Severus couldn’t help but grin as he took away the first tray of cookies. Alex tried to spread the icing on the heart shaped cookie as evenly as he could, before setting the butter knife aside and reaching for the sparkling green sprinkles.

“Green sprinkles?” He asked just as he looked over the boy’s shoulder and Alex seemed to shrug.

“They’re Abbey’s favourite.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.” The boy hummed as he reached for a few more, “Cissy’s too Papa. Do you remember, the cupcakes Cissy gave me? They had pink icing and sprinkles too.”

Severus smiled, “I remember.”

“There. Don’t they look nice Papa?” Alex asked, those stormy grey eyes looking up at Severus and Severus couldn’t help but lean in and kiss the boy on his forehead.

“They’re absolutely perfect.’

Alex beamed and Severus reached for the tray to set aside, “Do you still want to make some for Remmy?”

“Yeah!” Alex said just as Severus set a new batch of cookies in front of him, “What colour do you think Remmy will like?”

“How about red? You can use the gold sprinkles Tippin got for you yesterday.” Severus said already tapping the bowl of icing in front of the boy and reaching for the sprinkles in question.

“O.K.” The boy chirped and Severus stood leaning over his shoulder to watch as the six-year-old worked, spreading the icing as evenly as he could, which wasn’t very even at all but Severus couldn’t help but smile all the same. Only to jump when he felt a hand go around his waist.

“What-“

A kiss was pressed quickly against his cheek and Severus blinked when he found a different pair of stormy grey eyes beaming at him and just filled with mischief.

“Stop that.” Severus hissed as he tried to pull free from the Animagus’ grip only for the hold to tighten just as Sirius drew their son’s attention towards them.

“Well, these look fantastic. I don’t suppose any of them are for me?”

Alex looked up and smiled, “These are for Remmy.”

“Remmy?”

“Uhuh.” Alex said as he put on just a bit more icing. “Papa and I were making cookies for Abbey and Cissy for tonight and Papa said I could make some for Remmy too.”

“But none for me?” Sirius said with a dramatic pout and Alex’ paused, his eyes widening for a brief moment, “I see how it is.”

“Wait! Daddy, I can make some for you too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, right Papa. I can make some for Daddy too right?” Alex said now looking right at Severus who paused at the look on the boy’s face, only to fight off the urge to growl in frustration when he found a disturbingly similar look on the Animagus’ face as well.

“Well, love. Don’t I deserve a treat as well?” Sirius asked and Severus was using all the composure he could muster to resist the urge to glare.

“Sure, provided that Daddy can learn to behave himself.” Severus said as he finally pulled free of the Animagus’ grasp and walked around the table to stand on the other side. Sirius only smirked at him as he leaned down to press a kiss on the side of Alex’s head.

“I like blue icing, with pink sprinkles.” He said and Alex nodded.

“O.K, Daddy.” He chirped as he quickly moved to finish the last few that he was making for Remus and Sirius ruffled his hair before moving around the table to stand next to Severus. The Slytherin immediately made to move away, only for that arm to wrap right around his waist all over again.

The Slytherin hissed, “Black-“

“I think you mean Daddy.” Sirius said with a smirk. Severus looked up at him with a glare.

“Get your paws off of me.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

Sirius leaned in towards the raven’s ear to whisper. “You didn’t mind my paws being all over you last night.”

Severus flushed, “If you don’t release me this instant-“

“Last night was fun, wasn’t it love. Till we had to stop of course.” The stupid mutt had the nerve to growl in annoyance, “Bloody chastity charms-“

“You-“

“Papa, will you please change the icing for me.” Alex suddenly asked and Severus gave the boy a soft smile as he quickly reached for his wand.

“Of course.” He changed the icing from red to blue.

“Thank you, Papa.” The boy said as he got started on the next row of cookies and Severus smiled.

“You’re welcome, Ale-“ Severus cut himself off with a sharp gasp when he felt a broom calloused hand run up under his shirt and he struggled to pull out of the Animagus’ grasp in a way that wouldn’t draw Alex’ attention. He glared up at Sirius.

“Stop that.” Severus hissed, “You’ll set off the charms again.”

Sirius rolled his eyes hard, “This is so stupid. I wasn’t even really trying to fuck you last night. It was just a bit of fooling around and we can’t even do that?! OW!” The Animagus hissed when Severus elbowed him hard in his side with a glare, “What was that for-“

“Language.” Severus said finally giving up since the Gryffindor still hadn’t let go and he gave a heavy sigh. “Alex is sitting right there.”

“He’s fine.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready to meet with your little friends.”

“It’s just hanging out at Remus’, not like we really plan on doing anything anyway.” Sirius sighed as he let his chin rest on Severus’ shoulder. “And anyway, I’d rather be here.”

“What… why?”

“There’s just a few days left.” Sirius muttered quietly and Severus blinked in surprise just as the Animagus continued, “And I…” Then he huffed out a breath, “You know, Waltz said the headmaster’s going to let us go to Hogsmeade this weekend. I thought it could be nice to take Alex to the village for a bit. I bet Remus and Narcissa would come along.”

Severus paused, looking back at the Gryffindor only to find Sirius staring at Alex. Severus looked at the boy as well, “I’m not sure if I could really afford to-“

“It’s fine. It’ll be my treat. So we’ll go out this weekend.” Sirius said pressing a kiss against the Slytherin’s neck and Severus’ flush burned a bit warmer just as the Animagus pulled away, “I should finish getting ready.”

He said before walking around the table to ruffle Alex’ hair and press another kiss on his cheek. “Don’t skimp on the sprinkles.”

“Okay Daddy!”

Alex called back just as he reached for the sprinkles and started to pour them out. Severus watched the Animagus disappear into the bathroom before letting out a heavy sigh. He tucked a lock of hair that had fallen out of his bun behind his ear just as there was a knock at the door.

“That might be Cissy and Abbey.”

“I’m almost done, Papa.” Alex called back and Severus scoffed as he walked over to open the door.

“Lily.” Severus tensed tremendously.

The redhead standing on the other side of the threshold seemed to pause as well. Eyes almost seeming to dart around the Slytherin before they finally settled on him and she took a deep breath.

“Evening Snape.”

Severus’ lips pulled into a slight frown.

They haven’t spoken in ages, ignoring the incident a few weeks ago of course. For a moment he felt stuck, he couldn’t imagine what she’d want to see him for unless-

“If you’re looking for Black-”

“No, I… actually I came to see you.”

“Me?”

“It’s… it’s about my assig – Rose.” The girl said and Severus blinked when he saw movement and looked down to see a redheaded child peering up at him from behind the witch in front of him. She looked rather small, bright red hair down to her shoulders and an unfortunately familiar pair of hazel eyes. The girl’s expression was somewhere between curiosity and something rather sour and unpleasant on her pretty face.

Severus’ lips twitched down further into a frown.

“Is something wrong?”

“She’s been a bit sick. Sniffles and a bit of a fever. I remembered the flu potion you gave us and I was wondering if you had anything that I could give her.”

Severus looked at the girl.

Indeed, her nose looked a bit red and her skin a little flushed. She’d sniff every few seconds with one hand clutching tightly at the end of Lily’s blue dress while the other kept her thumb firmly in her mouth. She looked a little ill but-

Severus looked up at Lily.

He still felt stuck. It felt odd and for a moment he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Papa!”

“One second, Alex.” His lips pursed into a line before he stepped back to let them in, “I have a few potions I could give you.” Lily nodded and stepped inside with Rose following close behind as he shut the door, “Just wait here.”

He went over to Alex, looked over the table “What is it?”

“Do these look like enough sprinkles for Daddy?” Alex asked sweetly with his lips twisting a little in thought, Severus couldn’t help but smile even as he spoke.

“I think you’ll need much more than that.”

Alex nodded, “O.K.” but then he looked up at the two standing in the area between the kitchen and the designated living room area. His nose gave a twitch and the boy’s lips immediately pulled into a frown. “Papa, who’s that?”

Severus looked back to find Lily standing a bit awkwardly now with Rose’s hand in her own. The girl’s hazel eyes seemed to practically light up at the sight of them even as she moved in a bit further behind Lily. Severus mentally shook his head and smiled at the boy.

“That’s Miss Evans and Rose, they just came to ask for a few potions, that’s all.”

Alex’s expression twisted further into annoyance as he glared at the little girl, Severus frowned even as he spoke, “Maybe Rose could help you with the rest of the cookie-“

“No.” Alex suddenly said. His tone was resolute. Something oddly tense as he kept glaring at the girl before looking up at the older man, his eyes almost immediately softening. “I-I’m almost done Papa, I promise. See, it’s just a few more sprinkles for Daddy.”

“I just need to get a few potions quickly. I’ll be right back, alright?”

“O.K.” Alex said and Severus couldn’t resist the urge to lean in and press a kiss at the top of his head again. Alex beamed at him and suddenly Rosalie let out a cough. Severus pulled back to look at the girl, refusing to meet Lily’s eyes which he could feel boring into him as he headed for the bedroom.

He started keeping the potions he brewed in the chest at the foot of his bed after catching Alex in the cupboards once. Week four, Severus walked out of the shower to find the boy balanced on a chair with three heavy library books, trying to reach the biscuits that they’d made the day before. That’s when he decided that his chest was a better option since he kept it locked with at least three different protection charms on it.

The raven let out a heavy sigh as he stepped into the bedroom and crouched down in front of the chest, disarming the protection charms before he got to work on figuring out which potions could help Lily’s daughter.

Lily.

He still doesn’t quite understand.

It’s completely understandable though. The last time the baby was sick Severus had given her potions to help her deal with it, going back to Severus for help didn’t seem like it was that big a deal but somehow it was. Severus just…

It’s been ages since they’ve spoken. It seemed to Severus that the redheaded girl wanted nothing to do with him and Severus was… trying to make peace with that. He was trying to make peace with the fact that his best friend was no longer his best friend. He didn’t want to hold onto her when she had clearly already moved on herself. After what happened at the lake, he was just trying so hard. Narcissa started spending more time around him and so did Regulus. Severus was grateful. He was grateful that even after losing his best friend, his only friend at the time that he wasn’t entirely alone. He was grateful for their affections, grateful that neither one of the Black cousins seemed to particularly care about his blood-status or disgraceful upbringing.

Losing Lily hurt, but he was trying to move on and now she’s here, asking him for potions for her daughter. A daughter she had with Potter.

It’s not real.

No they’re not real but, despite everything Severus still felt betrayed. Some spiteful all too familiar voice in his head had him briefly contemplating the urge to go back in there and tell her to ask her boyfriend to help with her sick child but-

Severus stopped, took in a deep breath and let it back out again before he started checking the vials again.

“Something wrong with Alex?”

Severus looked back to find Black walking into the room from the bathroom, straightening out his shirt with a frown on his face. “Should we take him to Pomfrey or something?”

“No, I-“ Severus looked away from the Gryffindor to look through the vials again. “Li-Evans is here.”

Black blinked, “Lily Evans?”

“Apparently her child is sick, she wanted to know if I had any potions that could help.”

Black was frowning, “And she came to you for that?”

His tone was incredulous, Severus was feeling somewhat the same so he didn’t even bother giving any sort of scathing comment.

“Apparently.”

Flu potion, fever, pain. He still has a bit of that potion that he was taking for nausea last week, he can give her that one as well, just in case.

He heard Black walk over and settle onto his bed as he pulled on his shoes. Severus could feel his frown even if he couldn’t see it. And then another pause.

“Cissa’s going to be here soon, right? I don’t suppose those two are somewhat civil towards each other.”

Severus couldn’t help but scoff.

“She just came to get a few potions, I doubt she’ll be around long enough for it to matter.”

“Maybe I should stick around for a bit.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“But-“

“Black, while your oh so chivalrous concern over a Gryffindor girl being trapped with two snakes is as comforting to see as always. I assure you you have nothing to worry about. I don’t plan on sacrificing your best mate’s girlfriend to any dark spirits regardless of whatever it is that you and Potter seem to think of me.”

“That’s not what I meant you stupid fucking git.”

“Really, how surprising.”

“I just… I don’t want Alex seeing you fight, alright? You’ve seen how-“ Black cut himself off and Severus paused to look up at the other, “He doesn’t like seeing you upset… It makes him upset so just… I’m just trying to make sure he’s O.K.”

Severus looked up at the Animagus for a moment in silence before just looking away again.

“Black-“

“I’ll just, I’ll stay till she leaves. Once she’s gone, I’ll go and you and Cissa can do whatever dark rituals you want to do once she’s gone. Just don’t slaughter anything in front of Alex.”

Severus scoffed as he shut the trunk with his selection of potions in hand and recast the protection charms.

“Well, I couldn’t do that Black, I already promised Alex that he could hold the sacrificial dagger.”

Black let out a bark of laughter as he got up from the bed and walked over to the other.

“You know, you should really learn to stop calling me that.”

“What on earth for?”

“Well, for Alex of course. The kid’ll start getting confused with you calling me Black so often.”

Severus rolled his eyes, “He already knows that you’re supposed to be his sire.”

Black rolled his eyes right back, “I’m just saying; Daddy’s just so much more efficient, don’t you think?”

Severus’ eyes narrowed into a glare, “Drop dead.”

He turned to leave the room only for the Animagus to grab hold of his waist and drag him back.

“Black-“

And kissed him, Severus quickly reached out to push him back.

“Stop you idiot!” He hissed even as his skin flushed with a blush, “You’ll set off the charms.”

Black glared, “Stupid charms.”

“I need to give these to Evans.” He pulled free from the Animagus’ grip and started making his way back to the kitchen. Black groaned entirely too dramatically and Severus rolled his eyes. When he walked back into the kitchen, he looked over to find Alex carefully placing the newly iced cookies on a plate. When he looked over to Lily he saw her watching the boy, the oddest look on her face while Rose stared at the boy as well, bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she sniffed every few seconds. Severus cleared his throat and walked over to Alex.

“Done?”

Alex smiled, “Uhuh.”

He looked over the boy’s shoulder to get a look at the cookies with entirely too many sprinkles and scoffed before leaning over to press a kiss on the top of his head.

“Good job. Now, run along and go get cleaned up. Cissy and Abbey should be here soon.”

“O.K Papa.” The boy chirped as he got off his chair and headed for the bathroom, he giggled when Sirius ruffled his hair just as he walked into the living room area as well.

“Evans, it’s good to see you.”

Lily seemed to blink at the sight of him, “Black? What’re…” Her lips seemed to purse for a brief moment, eyebrows furrowing before her eyes flickered over to Severus and then back. “It’s… good to see you too.”

“Something wrong with Rose?” He asked as he walked over to the kitchen table where Severus was setting the plates with cookies and setting the dirty dishes in the sink with one hand.

“She’s a bit sick.” Lily said clearing her throat, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

The Animagus seemed to pause, “I could say the same about you.”

A glare.

Severus paused when he noticed the odd tension in the air between the two. Over the years, he’d been made abundantly aware of Potter’s affections for Lily. Never once did he ever think to question how she got along with the other members of Potter’s gang.

The Animagus had stepped closer and picked up the bowl that Severus was reaching for.

“I’ll finish up, you should…” He trailed off, nodding in Lily’s direction. Severus frowned at him but… honestly, he feels strange having her here anyway so-

He walked over to the girl.

“This one’s general flu, that’s fever and pain. I adjusted them for Alex’s age so they should work well for Rose. How old is she now?”

Even with the… delay in the second and third week. As long as things were going well since then she should’ve been able to catch up by now. The girl looked a little small for a six-year-old but, no two children are the same. He’s a perfect example of that.

Lily hesitated, “Four.”

Severus blinked, “Oh.” But he still pushed on, “Still, it should be fine. One teaspoon of each after meals and, if she develops any nausea you can give her this one, half a teaspoon before meals.”

“Thank you.” Lily said as she took the potions, “I really appreciate it Snape.”

“It’s… not a problem.” Severus said with a nod when he suddenly heard a throat clear. He looked back, Black had taken a cookie off one of the plates and was chomping on the thing like it had done him personal harm.

“Surprised you didn’t just go to Pomfrey with James, Evans. I’m sure she could’ve given you the right potions.”

Green eyes narrowed into a glare, “I remembered Snape’s potions from before. They worked well for Rose so I figured why not.”

“Uhuh.”

Severus was frowning at the Animagus, now genuinely intrigued as to what was going on between the two. But, he can ask later.

“Is there anything else or?”

“No. Actually…” Lily looked away for a brief moment and took a deep breath, “ I wanted to say thank you, for before. When Rose was sick before. She was in such a state we didn’t really know what to do so… Thank you, Snape.”

Gratitude, she was saying thank you.

But Severus still felt so odd-

“You’re welcome. If there’s anything else, feel free to ask.”

Lily smiled, “I will.”

“Where’s James?”

Black suddenly called out and the redhead seemed to tense just a bit, Rose sniffed as she moved in closer to Lily’s side.

“What?”

“I’m asking where your boyfriend is, since you’re not here with him?” His tone was oddly accusatory and Lily was back to glaring.

“From what I understand he’s spending the night with his mates. I’m surprised you’re here and not with them.” She said coolly and Black gave her a mocking smile.

“Just making sure everything’s settled in with Sev for the night, before I go.”

“Sev?” Lily asked incredulously and Severus resisted the urge to sigh in frustration.

“Since Sev and I are paired up and all, I’m trying to make an effort.”

“Funny.” Lily said folding her arms over her chest, “James told me you didn’t want anything to do with this assignment. Heard you were making Severus do it alone.”

And suddenly she’s using his first name again-

“I changed my mind.” He said with a shrug. Black was smirking. Lily was glaring and Severus was oddly confused.

“I’m done!”

Alex called out as he ran into the room already with his arms raised for Severus to pick him up. Bright stormy grey eyes beaming with a smudge of icing still on his face. Severus felt his heart melt a little and he crouched down to pick the boy up.

“You missed a spot.”

The boy blinked, adorably looking down at his shirt. “Where?”

Severus scoffed, looking back over his shoulder to reach for a dishcloth only to stop when Black suddenly appeared at their side. “Right there.”

He leaned in to kiss the icing away and Alex let out a squeal.

“No, Daddy! Stop that’s gross!”

“You know your Papa said almost the exact same thing to me last night. Only he didn’t tell me to stop.”

Severus flushed, glaring hard at the Animagus before he mouthed, “I’m going to slaughter you.”

Black just smirked.

“What do you mean, Daddy?” Alex asked curiously and Severus quickly interrupted when the Gryffindor opened his mouth to speak.

“Nothing.”

And then a knock at the door. Just before it opened.

“Severus, we’re here-“

Narcissa stood in the doorway, holding a basket in one hand and Abbey’s hand in the other. The blonde blinked in surprise staring at the redheaded girl that Severus had almost forgotten about before her head gave a slight tilt and those blue eyes narrowed minutely.

“Evans.”

Lily cleared her throat, “Black.”

“What on earth are you doing here?”

Severus rolled his eyes at the blonde’s tone. Lily shook her head.

“I was just leaving.” She looked back at Severus, there was something odd in her eyes. Something awkward and uncomfortable and she seemed to be trying very hard to avoid looking directly at the child in his arms. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome.”

He said.

“Let’s go, Rose.” She said taking a hold of the girl’s hand with the hand that wasn’t holding the vials of potion before she headed for the door. Hazel eyes went back to stare at Alex who oddly seemed to glare at the girl before wrapping his arms tightly around Severus’ neck and leaning into him. As they left the room, Abbey however, smiled at the girl.

“Bye.” She called out and Rose blinked before smiling back at her.

“Bye.” She replied in a soft almost timid voice. The first word that Severus had heard her speak the whole time. They left the rooms with Narcissa not so subtly glaring at Lily as she went before shutting the door behind her.

“What did she want?”

Severus rolled his eyes, “She wanted to ask for some potions that’s all.”

“She could’ve gone to the hospital wing for that.” Narcissa said as she walked over to the kitchen table and set her basket down. Abbey had already bounced over to Black to be picked up and the Animagus seemed more than happy to oblige.

“That’s what I said.” He said Severus just shook his head before looking at the child in his arms.

“Now, what’s wrong with you? You don’t seem to like Rose.”

Alex glared at the door.

“She’s ugly.”

Severus blinked and then frowned at the boy, “Alex that’s not a very nice thing to say. Especially when it’s not true either.”

Alex looked up at Severus and started to pout, “But Papa, she…. She’s-“ He looked like he was struggling with his words, lips pursing together tightly and eyes filling with frustration. Severus set the boy down.

“What? What on earth could she have done? You’ve never even spoken to her.” He asked sternly and Alex’s hands clenched tightly into fists and he stomped his foot.

“She’s-She’s awful! She’s not nice!”

“Alex-“

“She’s a stupid vindictive cunt!”

Narcissa gasped. Severus tensed up tremendously.

“Whoa.” Black said looking at the boy in shock. Severus’ eyes snapped up to meet his and the Gryffindor put down the girl to lift his hands in surrender, “I swear to Merlin, I didn’t teach him that.”

“Alex!” Abbey suddenly hissed as she glared at the boy and Alex blinked, his eyes went wide and he looked up at Severus.

“Papa, I-“

“Alexander, go to your room.”

“But I-“

“Now.” Severus said firmly and the boy opened his mouth to protest only to close it again, tears brimming in his eyes before turning around to run to his room. The door shut. Severus took in a deep breath and let it back out.

“Abbey, go wash your hands for dinner. Don’t argue with me.”

It didn’t seem like the blonde was going to as she quickly turned around and headed for the bathroom. Narcissa looked up at Sirius and glared.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“What’s wrong with me?!”

“Well where else would he have learned that from?”

“I didn’t do it, I swear.” Black said in frustration, “Look, I slip up in front of Alex sometimes, but I’ve never used the word cunt. I haven’t even had a reason to.”

One more deep breath in and out.

Narcissa was about to start ranting. Severus decided that he didn’t need to hear it.

“I’ll go deal with him.”

He walked past Black, headed towards the boy’s bedroom only to pause when he felt a presence behind him just as he was opening the door.

“Black-“

The Animagus shrugged.

“Just trying to make sure the kid gets a fair trial.”

Severus resisted the intense urge to roll his eyes for the hundredth time that day.

He opened the door and looked around, pausing when he noticed Alex curled up on his bed. Muffled sniffles coming from his form.

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Severus said as he walked over to sit on the bed beside the boy and reached over to comb his fingers through those pitch-black locks. Alex tensed very briefly before he seemed to relax but didn’t uncurl from the ball he’d put himself in.

“Alex, what you said was wrong. It wasn’t just a mean thing to say it was downright vile.” He sighed, “Normally, you’d be punished. But I know you’re normally not like this so, I’m going to let you explain.”

A few more sniffs but the boy didn’t look up. Severus wrapped his arms around the tiny ball and pulled him into his lap before he started patting his head again. The boy let out a soft sigh.

“Alex.” Black said as he stood beside the bed, “You don’t like Rosalie very much do you?”

Alex shook his head with a muffled, “No.”

“Why not?”

The boy didn’t answer.

“As far as I know, you’ve never spoken to her.” Severus paused when a thought came to mind, “Alex, have you spoken to her before? Do you know Rosalie?”

Another pause, “Yes.”

“From where?”

“From… from before. Before I came to you Papa.”

Severus blinked, Black frowned as he looked down at the boy. He looked over to the Slytherin who just kept his eyes on Alex.

“And where were you before?”

Alex shook his head, uncurling from his ball to grab the end of Severus’ shirt and pressed his face into his stomach.

“Alright, you don’t want to talk about that.”

He nodded.

Black walked over to sit on the bed as well. Severus let out a soft sigh.

“Where you were before, you knew Rosalie and you didn’t like her?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“She’s-“ Alex cut himself off, trying to press in closer to Severus. “Not nice.”

Black’s head fell to the side, “That doesn’t really explain why you called her a cu-… that very very bad word.” Sirius stopped himself when a pair of onyx black eyes snapped up to fix on him.

“Because it’s true.”

“Alexander.”

Sirius let out a snort only to sober up again when Severus glared at him. The Slytherin gently pulled Alex back to make the boy look up at him. He almost hesitated at the sight of the boy’s flushed skin and teary eyes.

“That’s a terrible thing to say about someone.”

“He’s right, you know.” Black cut in as he moved in bit closer to the two, “Even if you don’t like her you shouldn’t say things like that. It’s bad manners.”

“Exactly.” Severus said as he urged Alex to sit up on the bed. “Alex, you’re a wonderful young man. You’re sweet and kind and it’s terrible to hear you say something like that about someone else, even if you don’t like them.”

Alex paused and let out a deep breath, “I’m sorry Papa.” He looked back at Black, “I’m sorry Daddy, I won’t… I won’t do it again.”

“Good.” Severus said before he reached out to wipe the boy’s tears away before pressing a kiss on his temple. Alex’s nose wrinkled and he started to smile a bit. But Severus couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Alex, you’re sure you don’t want to talk about where you came from?”

The boy stopped to stare at him, “No.”

“But-“

He shook his head, “No, Papa, I’m happy here. With you and Daddy.” He moved forward to wrap his arms around Severus’ neck again, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Al-“

“I love you. Both of you.” His arms tightened, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then you don’t have to.” Black quickly said, putting a hand on the back of the boy’s head, “Right Sev?”

Severus frowned at the Animagus who gave him a pointed look and he just wrapped his arms around the boy, “Right.”

Alex’s arms tightened for one more second before he let go and turned to Black to hug him as well.

“Thanks Papa, Thanks Daddy.” And then he pulled back with a smile. Blinked and then scrambled off the bed. “Daddy, you’re still going to see Remmy, right?”

“Right.”

“I’ll go get his cookies.”

He hopped off the bed and ran from the room. Severus watched him go, still frowning.

“That was weird.” The Animagus said.

“It was.”

They know each other, from before. But where were they before?

It made Severus wonder what would happen when the assignment ended in a few days. Where would Alex go then? Would he go back? Back to the place that he didn’t even want to talk about?

Severus jumped when an arm suddenly wrapped around his shoulders and looked up to find the Animagus staring at the wall, “I think he’ll be alright though, long as we keep him away from Rose and Evans.”

Severus’ frown grew, “And exactly what’s your problem with Evans?”

Black paused to stare at him, the look in those stormy grey eyes eerily similar to how Alex looked at him a few moments before.

“She’s an irritating cunt.”

Severus immediately shoved the Animagus away and glared hard.

“Black, you-”

“It’s true! We both know it’s true! What you and James see in that harpy is beyond me!”

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Week Five

There’s an odd sort of dissonance between the way you feel about someone and the things that they can make you feel. It’s this weird place that only seems to exist in the spaces of the in between. It’s moments. These short bursts of time in which you see things about the ones you love and hate, the ones you envy and the ones you pity. Moments that you may wish you never had, things that you wish you didn’t see because now that you’ve seen it, it makes you doubt things about yourself and those around you. That split second when you see a monster cry. That moment when you catch an angel sneer. A moment that shakes your resolve just long enough to put you off balance. A moment that makes you doubt everything that you’d once believed.

This is not one of those moments.

Severus’ head was throbbing.

Not surprising since he’s been arguing with Black for only Merlin knows how long by now.

It was an absolute nightmare.

It’s Tuesday. Black has been here for one whole day and Severus is more than ready to slaughter the mutt.

The day before had been a disaster.

Narcissa came over with Abbey and Remus as promised, with the werewolf looking particularly surprised when he saw his best mate there. Narcissa looked ready to throw her cousin out on his arse on Severus’ behalf. Severus managed to calm her down enough to at least not do that.

Though thinking about it now, maybe he should have let her.

The tension was thick in the air when Remus suggested that they just all go outside for some fresh air. Alex who wanted to go out to begin with immediately screeched with excitement and Severus simply didn’t have the heart to tell him no. Besides, he could use with a little fresh air himself.

“I can’t believe that he had the nerve to actually come back.” Narcissa hissed as she and Severus laid out the blanket while Abbey and Alex chased each other around nearby.

“Neither can I.” Severus almost huffed out the blonde paused to look at him.

“Why did he come back?”

“I…” Severus took a deep breath and then let it back out, “Apparently, the utter twat’s been sneaking into the quarters spying on me.”

“He did what-“

“During his little spying sessions, he saw the Alex sleeping with the blanket Walburga sent and of course-“

Narcissa sighed shutting her eyes for a moment, “He decided to pitch a fit.”

“Yes.”

“Why does he even care about what Alex sleeps with? I thought he didn’t want anything to do with this whole thing.”

“You and I both,” Severus let out one last final sigh as he settled onto the blanket, “At this point there isn’t much I could do about it. We’re supposed to be doing this together so even if I went to Waltz or the headmaster, technically he isn’t doing anything wrong.”

“And it’s not like Dumbledore would ever do anything against his little pets would he?” Narcissa said as she sat beside him and Severus sighed.

“Precisely.”

Narcissa shook her head as she looked over to the children playing a few feet away, “How’s Alex dealing with all of this?”

“I’m not sure if he’s noticed that anything’s wrong. If anything, he seems excited that ‘Daddy’s finally staying with us.”

Narcissa frowned, “I suppose, as long as he doesn’t hurt either of you then it’s alright for now.”

Severus shook his head, “We’ll see how long that lasts.”

Narcissa scoffed only for them to be interrupted when Alex came running over towards them and practically threw himself onto the raven’s lap.

“Papa!”

Severus let out a grunt as he fell back, his arms instinctively going around the boy only to pause at the beaming smile on the boy’s face and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“You’re entirely too excited.”

“Daddy and Remmy said they’re going to get their brooms.” The boy said now sitting on Severus’ lap, there were blades of grass and leaves from the tree they sat beneath in his hair. Severus almost forgot to be annoyed at Alex’s words, “Are you going to fly too Papa?”

Severus internally cringed, he looked over to Narcissa only to find the blonde busy tying up Abbey’s hair. “I don’t think so and I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to fly either.”

Alex started to pout, “But-but Daddy said-“

“Daddy is…” There’s so much he wants to say but he can’t say it to the being that is technically supposed to be their son. He sat up with a sigh, “I just want you to be safe Alex.” He said picking the leaves and grass from the boy’s hair before brushing the locks behind his ear. “Flying can be dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But we’ll be safe, I promise we’ll be safe. I’ll tell Daddy and he’ll be safe, please Papa! Please please please!” Alex’s eyes suddenly somehow became impossibly big and his lips pulled into a pout. For a moment Severus almost felt trapped in those eyes of cerulean blue swirling with steel grey and he could feel himself giving in-

“Alright, who’s ready to fly!”

And that immediately brought him right back to reality.

He looked back and couldn’t help but glare as the Gryffindor’s approached. Black as always looking smug and full of himself while Remus only sighed as he followed behind his friend, each of them carrying a broom.

“Daddy!” Alex squealed as he tried to scramble away from Severus only for the Slytherin to hold him tight and keep him still.

“Papa-“

Onyx black locked onto stormy grey, “You are not getting on that broom.”

Alex’s lips pulled fully into a pout when-

“C’mon Snape, just because you’re rubbish on a broom doesn’t mean he can’t give it a try.”

Severus glared, Alex seemed to blink at the look on his father’s face just as Severus turned that glare fully onto the Animagus who now stood beside them.

“Under no circumstances am I allowing Alex to get on a broom with you.”

Black returned that glare, “Since I am his sire, I’m saying that it’s perfectly fine for Alex to get on a broom.”

Severus’ glare turned deadly. Alex frowned.

“Papa?” and then the boy looked up at the Gryffindor, “What’s wrong?”

“I…” Severus took a deep breath, “Nothing’s wrong Alex. I just want to keep you safe.”

“He’s perfectly safe with me.” Black said with a roll of his eyes and Severus scoffed.

“That remains to be seen.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Now now, I think its best of we all settled down.” Remus suddenly said drawing their attention.

The werewolf said even as he frowned at them while Alex gave them a similar look of concern.

“I’m not all that good on a broom either, I just borrowed James’ broom for Cissa.” Remus said thumbing back towards the blonde who was already a few feet off the ground. She was lazily moving around in a circle with Abbey riding in front of her, her tiny hands holding onto the staff and letting out a shriek when Narcissa suddenly made a turn.

“Mum!”

“You’re too nervous, little Bee. It’s alright.”

Sirius blinked, “Since when does Narcissa fly?”

“Narcissa is the best flier in Slytherin house, probably the entire school.” Severus couldn’t help but cut in with a smirk, while Black glared at him. “The only reasons she isn’t on the quidditch team is simply because she doesn’t want to be.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes it is-“

“Severus.” Remus gave him a slight smile, ignoring the Animagus’ look of incredulity at using the Slytherin’s first name, “Cissa was actually thinking they could have a little race. Her and Abbey against Sirius and Alex?”

“Remus-“

“I’m sure the kids will love it and I’m sure Sirius won’t do anything stupid and he’ll keep Alex absolutely safe because he won’t do anything stupid, right mate?” the werewolf said giving his friend a very pointed look, to which Black’s jaw clenched.

“Moony, you know I wouldn-“

“Right mate?”

Black huffed out a sigh before looking down at the Slytherin still sitting on the blanket.

“If something happened to him, it wouldn’t help me at all now would it?” Then the Gryffindor let out a heavy sigh, “I swear on my magic, I’ll keep him safe.”

“So mote it be.” Remus said quickly.

Severus’ lips pursed when-

“Please Papa.” Alex begged, now holding onto the Slytherin’s shirt and Severus shut his eyes taking one deep breath in before letting it out.

“Fine.”

Alex gasped and beamed and the Animagus smiled-

“But,” Severus glared, “You stay close to the ground. And if anything happens to Alex-“

“Nothing will happen to Alex.” Sirius said dismissively as he reached out to the boy, “C’mon, let’s show the girls how it’s done.”

“Thank you, Papa!” Alex said wrapping his arms around Severus’ neck in a tight hug before pressing a kiss on his cheek as he pulled away, “You’ll watch right, Papa? You’ll watch me fly?”

“Every second.”

Severus whispered pressing a kiss on the boy’s temple and Alex’ smile grew brighter as he pulled away and grabbed a hold of the Gryffindor’s hand. The Animagus looked odd for a moment, almost frozen as he stared at them before he felt Alex pulling at his hand.

“C’mon Daddy!”

“Ughm,” He cleared his throat, “Right.”

He watched them go, hands clenching on his lap as he resisted the urge to call Alex back and force him to sit down, flat on the ground where he couldn’t fall even if he wanted to.

“Sirius is really good on a broom too, you know.” Remus said as he settled down beside the raven, “I’m sure Alex will be fine.”

“Forgive me if I don’t seem very convinced.” Severus said, keeping his eyes on Black as he picked the boy up and kicked off on his broom, about a foot off the ground before getting Alexander settled. Those stormy grey eyes were beaming as his hands wrapped around the hilt of the broom and he looked over to find Severus’ gaze.

“Papa!”

“Be careful, Alex.” He called back.

“Thanks by the way.”

Severus didn’t even glance at the werewolf, too busy cringing as he watched Black move forward on the broom a bit before going back.

“For what?”

“Letting Sirius come back.” Remus said a bit sheepishly, “I know you two didn’t have the best start with all this but-“

“As touching as all of this is Lupin, I’m not allowing Black to stay with us. It’s simply a case of the fact that he refuses to leave.”

He wasn’t looking but he could feel the werewolf cringe, “I figured as much. But… But I’m still glad, you know.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“Well, because,” The werewolf went quiet for a moment, Severus finally looked away from his son to see Remus struggle with his words. He seemed to be struggling with something before he finally let out a sigh and blurted out, “It’s just that… I know that he wanted to be here with you but he wasn’t sure how to go about it.”

Severus gave him a very dull look, “Excuse me?”

Remus gave a sheepish smile, “Things have never really been civil between us, have they? And Sirius wasn’t sure how to come down to the quarters, he wasn’t sure how he’d even try to start talking to you.”

“He wanted to be there?”

Remus shrugged, “Well, after seeing Alex the first time, he said he felt odd about not being there and then James says they saw you in the hospital wing, that week when all the babies were teething?” The werewolf scoffed, “I caught them arguing about it, Sirius was pissed about the prank James pulled on you, he says James almost got you both hurt and-“

“He couldn’t bear the thought of failing muggle studies?” Severus said dryly as he looked back at Alex who was fully giggling now as Black flew around in a circle.

“That and I think he was really worried about you, about both of you and I know he’s too stubborn to just say it out loud but he really wanted to be here. So thank you Severus, for at least tolerating this.”

Severus looked at the werewolf before looking back at the two on the broom, this time his eyes moved away from Alex and onto the Gryffindor riding with him and he frowned at the look he found there. It was oddly soft, a smile pulled at the Animagus’ lips and his eyes seemed to almost melt into molten steel as he gave a sudden turn and Alex gave a squeal of delight.

He wanted to be there so badly apparently that he’s been breaking in and watching them sleep. The Slytherin wanted to scream in frustration and annoyance but-

Severus let out a sigh, “Tolerate is a strong word. However… he is technically Alexander’s sire, I can’t stop him from being here so… it’s fine. As long as he doesn’t hurt Alex, it’s alright.”

“Thanks and sorry for-“

“Don’t make his apologies for him, Lupin.” Severus said clearly giving the werewolf a dark look out of the corner of his eye, “If he truly wants any sort of forgiveness or even cares about my feelings for whatever baffling reason then he’ll need to earn it himself.”

“Right.” Remus cleared his throat, “Then, is it alright if I apologise for myself? For everything that happened. Not just what happened in the shack but, everything. It really is just the most stupid thing and I don’t know why I let them carry on the way they did, the way they keep doing. I don’t even know why they’re always doing it, but I’m sorry. I know this doesn’t make us friends but I wanted to apologise; for myself.”

Severus took in a deep breath as he looked at the werewolf, eyes narrowing down in careful scrutiny before he spoke, “You fancy Narcissa, don’t you?”

Remus blinked and then immediately flushed, “What… I mean, no of-of course not I-“

“You know she’s engaged, Lupin. She’s set to marry Lucius Malfoy after graduation.”

“I know that but I don’t-“

“Please, your affections are so painfully obvious even Alex noticed this nonsense weeks ago.” Severus said with a scoff as he brought his gaze back to his son. He could almost hear the werewolf deflate beside him.

“It’s not like I think anything would ever come from it. I just-“

“Even if she returned your affections, nothing could come from it.” And then Severus sighed, “I’m not… trying to be cruel. But you need to face the reality of the situation you’re in.”

“But… But do you know, if Cissa-“

“You met Walburga Black. You know what that family is like.” He said clearly and Remus seemed to cringe just as Severus finished, “You and I aren’t friends Lupin, however, you’re at least marginally less annoying than your little mates… we both know that it would be in your best interest, if you just let it go.”

He heard the werewolf let out an audible sigh, “I know.”

Severus kept watching Alex and felt his lips pull into a smile at the boy’s beaming face.

“But it’s nice to pretend for a bit, isn’t it?” Remus suddenly said, “Pretend like this is all real for just a moment.”

Severus’ hands clenched, he swallowed hard.

“I know nothing good could come from it, but I think it’s alright to just pretend for a little bit.”

Severus looked at the werewolf and found him staring at Abbey and Narcissa just as they seemed to come around to stop beside Black and Alex. There was a soft smile on his lips as Narcissa tied up her hair before pressing a kiss at the top of Abbey’s head. Severus shook his head.

“Sweet Salazar, you’re completely doomed.”

“What?”

“Tulips.”

Remus stared at him incredulously, “What?”

“Narcissa’s favourite flowers are tulips. Purple tulips in particular, however she also likes the yellow and pink ones.” Severus sighed, “A little tip, if you insist on living in this little fantasy world of yours any longer. She likes tulips. She also quite partial to fudge.”

It was quiet between them for a moment and then-

Remus smiled, “Chocolate or caramel?”

Severus scoffed, “Caramel.”

“Noted.”

“Papa!” Alex called out and Severus looked up in time to see the boy waving excitedly, “We’re gonna start!”

“Good luck!” He called back with a smile only to almost falter when he saw Black staring at him. Alex laughed, Narcissa scoffed with a shake of her head while Abbey seemed to be trying to hold onto the broom as tightly as she could while pressing back against the blonde behind her as far as she could.

“I should probably…” Lupin trailed off as he got up to stand in front of the two teams . Severus took a deep breath to steady his nerves.

Severus isn’t sure if he’s ever seen Alex look so excited before, that only made the knots in his stomach twist a little less violently.

A quick countdown and then they were off.

It seemed that they were going to fly around the castle and then back to where they started. Severus got up to stand beside Lupin as they watched them go.

To his credit, Black didn’t go shooting off into the sky. But he was still up higher than Severus was strictly comfortable with. They were also going incredibly fast as well. Black got a new broom last year, didn’t he? He’d been crowing about it so loudly that even Severus knew about his supposed birthday gift. The newer models are supposed to be faster, aren’t they? That thought had the raven’s hands twisting nervously and his jaw clenching with tension.

They didn’t have to wait too long before they came back, with Narcissa leading and Black obviously trying to catch up as they came speeding towards the raven and werewolf waiting – apparently they were the finish line.

Severus had flinched back and almost stumbled back when the two brooms came speeding past them. Narcissa and Abbey first before Black and Alex. They stopped just in front of the goal posts on the far end of the field with Abbey cheering and Narcissa smirking as they did a few victory laps around Alex and Black.

Alex whined loudly, “Daad!”

“Oi, now calm down. They just got lucky.” Black said before looking up at the blondes, “Best two out of three!”

Narcissa scoffed, “You disappoint me dear cousin. You can’t even take defeat gracefully. Utterly shameful, isn’t that right Abigail?”

As a response, the girl stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at them, Alex started to pout.

“We could beat you if we tried again. Right Daddy?”

“Absolutely! C’mon Ciss, one more race.”

“One victory is enough.” She said with a smirk as she touched down, helping Abbey steady herself as well. Severus blinked and felt a distinct feeling of horror wash right over him when both Black and Alex whined in almost the exact same way. Alex whined like that a week ago when Severus said that he couldn’t have any extra cake that night. The raven had thought it to be terribly cute back then.

Now he’s not so sure.

“That’s enough for one day Alex.” Severus called out as he and Remus came closer.

“But Papa-“

“No buts. Come, it’s time to eat.”

The boy whined again just as Black touched down on the ground, he almost wobbled for a brief moment before going over to Severus. The raven picked him up and rolled his eyes at the pout on the boy’s lips, quickly pressing a kiss on his nose.

“You did very well.”

Alex blinked, “You think so?”

“Yes. I’m very impressed.”

Alex smiled, “You should try flying too Papa!”

“I don’t-“

“I think that’s a great idea.” Black suddenly said, a smirk quickly creeping onto his lips, “C’mon Snape, how about it? One trip around the school.”

Severus glared, “No.”

“Why not?” Alex asked with a pout, “Please Papa! Please please please! I wanna see you and Daddy fly-“

“Alex-“

“And Daddy will keep you safe like he kept me safe, right Daddy?” The boy said looking over to Black whose smirk grew.

“Sure, what do you say love?”

Severus glared hard at the Gryffindor, “No.”

He stepped closer, “C’mon, let’s just give the kid a show.” He held up his free hand while the other held his broom at his side, “I swear I won’t hurt you or try to drop you or anything like that. Safely on, safely off you have my word.”

“Papa please!” Those enormous eyes somehow became even bigger than ever before.

“I-“

“Pleeeaaase!”

Severus shut his eyes and took in one very deep breath before letting it out.

“Fine.”

The squeal that Alex let out was near ear bursting as he beamed and Severus just knew he was doomed as he looked over to Black who was wearing the world’s most smug smirk.

“Severus, are you sure?” He heard Narcissa say, blue eyes scrutinising her cousin, Remus was already back on the blanket with Abbey right beside him giggling madly about something and he just sighed.

“You’ll watch Alex for me?”

Narcissa let out a sigh of her own, “Come Alexander, we can watch from over here.”

“Okay!” He then pressed a kiss on Severus’ cheek and immediately squirmed out of his arms. “I’ll be watching Papa, I’ll watch every second.”

Severus saw the look on his son’s face and realised-

Shit.

There’s no backing out now.

“Let’s get this over with Black.”

Black grinned as he held his arm out to gesture to the place where he and Alex took off before and he followed behind the Gryffindor, already regretting his decision before the other stopped and suddenly grabbed hold of his arm to drag him forward.

“What-“

“I promised Alex I’ll keep you safe.” Black said, “Best way to do that is if you ride on the front. I’ll steer from behind, even if you somehow lose your grip you’ll be fine.”

“Absolutely not-“

“It’ll be better than holding on from behind.” He rolled his eyes at the look on the Slytherin’s face, “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you it’ll be perfectly fine.”

One very very deep breath. He looked over to Alex, and the boy’s beaming look of excitement made him feel just a little bit braver.

He let Black turn him around and bring the broom in underneath them before he came up close right at the raven’s back. Severus tensed when he realised he could feel the Gryffindor’s breath against the top of his head and almost backed out only to gasp when Black suddenly kicked off the ground and they were hovering in the air about two feet off of the ground.

Severus’ hands instinctively wrapped around the staff of the broom and he was instantly breathing hard, his eyes had widened a bit before he forced himself to just take in a deep breath to calm himself.

“See, not bad is it?”

“Just, make sure you stay close to the ground like you promised.” He hoped that his voice didn’t waver too much but Merlin, he hates heights. Even when he steels off to the astronomy tower to get some time alone to brew or just read he always makes sure he stays away from the windows and archways.

“Sirius!” Remus suddenly called out in alarm, “Don’t!”

Severus frowned when-

“Stay close to the ground? I never promised Alex that, Snape.”

Black said right up against his ear and before Severus could even try to react the broom suddenly went shooting up into the air, higher than the quidditch goal posts or even the tallest tower of the castle.

You know that feeling of danger? That feeling where you’re sure that you’re absolutely about to die. They say that in that moment, your life flashes before your eyes. You see all of your greatest highs and worst lows, the faces of all the people that you’ve loved and the ones you hated.

Severus didn’t see any of that.

As Black took them up into the sky, he didn’t see anything in his head or feel much of anything at all.

He knows that he screamed, he knows that he told Black to stop and put him down. He remembers Black’s laughter as he didn’t listen and just went higher and higher and faster and faster. He remembers hearing it through the blood roaring in his ears and the way his heart thumped in his chest.

Severus wanted to close his eyes, just not see any of it all, but somehow the fear of not seeing his death coming frightened him. As if there would somehow be a way to save him if he went plummeting to the ground at the speed they were moving.

Over and around the castle, before looping around and going over the forest. The wind whipped around them at an alarming speed. He could barely even feel Black behind him on the broom even as the taller wizard’s chest was pressed against his back. Severus screamed again, he knows he did, but somehow it didn’t come out as a scream. It came out in this strangled wheeze. Which is the point when he realised that he was having trouble breathing.

“Sirius… please stop.”

It was barely above a whisper. There’s no way that Black heard him and Severus was so completely petrified by fear and the adrenaline surging through his veins that he didn’t even care that he somehow ended up saying the Gryffindor’s first name.

Suddenly they were moving back down, down to the ground and somehow that was more terrifying than anything else that had happened since he got on that broom. Instinctively he pressed back against the Gryffindor.

“Snape?” Black slowed his approach they touched down and Severus immediately collapsed on his knees when the broom was removed from underneath him.

That’s when he actually heard his own voice. Heard the frantic wheezing breaths escaping his lips, felt the shaking on every single inch of his body but he still stared wide eyed in horrible shock as he sat on his knees completely petrified on the quidditch pitch.

“Snape… Snape are you, look I didn’t-“

“Papa!” A voice screeched and Severus finally blinked. He looked up and saw Alexander running towards him and somehow managed to find the strength to get up on shaky legs to hurry over towards the boy before just collapsing again, just as Alex slammed right into him and wrapped his tiny arms around the Slytherin’s neck.

“Papa! Papa are you O.K?”

Severus wrapped his arms around the boy, feeling himself start to calm even as his breaths stuttered and he tried to take in as much of the boy’s scent as he possibly could. Blueberry shampoo. Alex loved blueberries and seemed to adore the idea of always smelling like them. He took in one more deep breath and then another.

“It’s O.K, I’m fine.”

He pulled back to try and give the boy a reassuring smile only for Alex to frown.

“Papa, no it’s O.K.” the boy reached out to start wiping Severus’ face, which is when he belatedly realised that tears had started falling from his eyes at some point, “Please don’t cry. I-I promise we won’t fly again. No more flying.” He reached back out to wrap his arms around the Slytherin’s neck and started patting his head in very much the same way that Severus did whenever the boy started crying and he tried to comfort him. He couldn’t help but scoff at the thought.

“I’m fine, Alex. I promise.” One more deep breath, “How about we go inside now? Get something to eat.”

Alex nodded his head but didn’t let go. “O.K.”

Meanwhile…

“Snape…” Sirius watched as Alex came running towards them before Snape just collapsed all over again and the boy wrapped his arms around his bearer, holding on tight before pulling back to wipe away the tears on his face and then hugging him again.

Stormy grey eyes that echoed his own then snapped up to glare at him over Snape’s shoulder and Sirius froze, as the most unfamiliar feeling of guilt just washed over him only for the moment to be short lived when-

“URGH!”

He didn’t see the small blonde five-year-old coming, not until she’d suddenly pulled her fist back and punched him right in the groin. Sirius went down as pain exploded from his genitals and coursed right through his body.

“What the hell-“

“You meanie!” Abbey screeched as she glared down at the Gryffindor, those huge blue eyes seeming to pulse with a kind of fury that he’d only ever seen in her supposed mother’s eyes as her hands clenched into fists, her chest heaving. “You’re awful! You made Sev cry!”

“I-“

“Say sorry!”

“I’m not-“

Before he could get anything else out though she suddenly kicked him in the side, though not quite as strong as an adult the kick still got its point across, since he was already dealing from the pain of getting punched in the dick.

“Say sorry!” She screamed before Narcissa suddenly spoke.

“Abigail, that’s enough. He’s not worth it.” His cousin was glaring daggers at him even as she held out her hand towards the child, “Come, we’re going inside.”

One more kick, this one to the head causing Sirius to flinch in pain before she turned around and stomped her way back to Narcissa. In the distance as he lay in the grass, he saw Snape stand up with Alexander still in his grasp and walk back to the castle. The boy still glaring at Sirius before he just buried his face in Snape’s neck.

He huffed out a sigh before groaning as his body continued to throb.

“You realise that you totally deserve that right?”

Sirius looked up to find Moony standing beside him, with a slightly less intense glare in his eyes though even then the Animagus knew that he’d fucked up.

Another wave of pain went right through him just as he tried to sit up and he fell back down on the grass again.

“Fucking hell, that girl has the arm of a beater.”

“Sirius, can you just for once take this seriously?!” Remus said with a sigh of exasperation, “You’re the one that said you wanted to be here. You wanted to be around Alex.”

“I do-“

“Then what the hell was that? What were you thinking doing that to Snape?”

“I wasn’t-“ He groaned again as he turned onto his other side, “I didn’t think he-“

“No, clearly you weren’t thinking. Just…” Remus took in a deep breath and let it back out, “If you haven’t noticed, Severus is really good with Alex and Alex absolutely adores him. If you keep this up, real or not, your son will hate you for it.”

Sirius didn’t say anything to that as his jaw clenched, Remus let out a sigh before he reached down to help up his friend who was groaning and yelping the whole way.

“Now you’re going to get up-“

“Ow! Damn it Moony-“

“You’re going to go to Severus and you’re going to fix this. I don’t care how you do it, just make sure this gets fixed.” Remus growled out impatiently and Sirius took a moment from complaining to look at his friend before he spoke.

“Since when do you call him Severus?”

Remus rolled his eyes, “Really, Sirius? You know if you just took one moment to actually try to get to know him you probably wouldn’t be doing all of this. I don’t even understand why you and James were always setting after Snape to begin with. He’s never done anything to either of you.”

Sirius opened his mouth but the werewolf spoke before he could, “Nothing that wasn’t provoked.”

And then his mouth snapped shut, “I can’t believe you’re defending him.”

“Clearly someone needs to otherwise who knows what would become of him.” Remus said as he started walking forward and Sirius sort of hobbled along beside him, “I’ve been spending a lot of time around him you know, because of Cissa and Abbey and the assignment. And last full moon, remember I was up much earlier than normal, I didn’t even have to go to Pomfrey after.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Snape made me a potion, to help with the pain for transformation you know.” Sirius blinked at his friend.

“He made you a potion to try and help you.”

“Yes and I’m grateful for it and you-“ Remus cut himself off to glare at his friend. “Severus, is… he’s decent to you as long as you’re decent to him as well. What you need to do is stop it with these stupid stunts and actually try to get along with him.”

“Moony-“

“You want to be around Alex, don’t you?”

Sirius looked away, “… yeah.”

“Then stop trying to hurt his bearer or he will hate you for it.”

With that last word they continued on in silence.

They got back to the quarters, Remus walked him all the way back to door number eight and inside again. When they walked in Alex was clinging to Severus’ side while the raven seemingly occupied himself at the stove.

Dark dark eyes went up to fix on him before narrowing into a glare. Then he simply looked back at whatever it was that he was cooking on the stove. Alexander was pouting, his eyes narrowed into a glare just as Remus left Sirius on the couch.

“Uh Severus,” The werewolf started with a strained smile, “If you need anything, you know we’re just down the hall.”

“I’m well aware Lupin.” Snape said without looking back and the werewolf took in a deep breath before he looked at his friend to mouth “fix this” before he turned and left the quarters. “Right, see you later then.”

Alex was still glaring at Sirius, even if he wasn’t looking, he’d be able to feel the intensity of that glare regardless. Merlin, he has Sirius’ eyes but somehow it feels like Snape’s hateful glare is searing right into him. He looked up at the boy who then immediately looked away, hands tightening on Snape’s trousers before he sighed.

“I’m sorry Snape, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just having a bit of fun.”

Suddenly Snape stopped it was quiet and tense for five whole seconds with Alex looking up at his bearer in concern before he started stirring whatever it was that he was stirring.

It actually smelled really really good.

Sirius’ stomach growled.

Snape reached for his wand and cast a stasis spell on the pot before turning off the stove. He then turned to the boy, dragging a hand through his hair as he gave a soft smile.

“Cissy and Remmy planned on having lunch in the Great hall today. How about we join them?”

“O.K Papa.” Alex said with his hands stretched out for Snape to take him and the raven leaned down to pick him up and they left the quarters without another word. Alex didn’t even look at him as they walked out and shut the door behind them.

Sirius slumped down further into the couch.

“Shit.”

That was Monday. Now it’s Tuesday and things have unfortunately only got from bad to worse.

Severus and Alex spent the rest of Monday with Abbey, Lupin and Narcissa. Alex seemed to brighten up as he and the girl got up to all sorts of games and mischief with Remus supervising while Narcissa kept Severus occupied by raving and ranting about Black the whole time.

At lunch they went to the hall and Severus was struck by how he hadn’t really seen any of the other groups in a while. There were about five other groups there with them. Three who had children that looked to be around the same age as Alex and Abbey while the other seemed maybe just one year younger. It was something truly odd and almost hilarious to see Lockheart seemingly struggling with a one year old while he and his partner bickered back and forth.

Potter and Lily were nowhere to be seen but honestly, Severus was somewhat grateful that he wouldn’t have to see them that day.

By the time dinner came along he was honestly tired and didn’t want to be around any company. Unfortunately, the alternative to that predicament entailed going back to their quarters… where Black was.

Severus decided to just bite the bullet and go back. Yes the Gryffindor humiliated him yet again by pulling yet another prank on the Slytherin, completely exposing his fear of heights but he unfortunately can’t avoid him forever.

They went back to their quarters, with Narcissa making sure that Severus knew they could come over whenever they want. Severus just thanked her before going into the rooms.

When they stepped inside Black was nowhere in sight, there were no sounds coming from any of the other rooms so he assumed that the Gryffindor had left. He saw Alex’ eyes wandering over the room, clearly looking for his sire before the raven took one more deep breath to relax before he headed towards the kitchen.

“Go play with your toys while I get dinner ready.”

“Is Daddy gone, Papa?”

Severus gave a slight shrug, “I don’t know, but that’s alright. We’ve been fine on our own, haven’t we?”

Alex nodded, “Yeah.”

“It’ll be fine. Go play.”

The next hour or so he could pretend like everything was blissfully peaceful and completely forget about Black for a while. It wasn’t until bedtime that it all seemed to come to an end.

Black walked in, Severus had just gotten into bed after tucking Alex in as well. His first instinct was to grab his wand and curse the mutt into oblivion but he couldn’t do that. Not only because he didn’t want to wake and potentially frighten Alex with the noise but also because Black could just as easily go to the headmaster or professor and claim that Severus is the one that’s causing trouble and he’d be in a mess. So instead he turned the light out and just pulled the covers over his head, keeping his wand under his pillow just in case as he turned to face away from the door and the other bed in the room.

When Black stepped into the bedroom it was quiet, he heard an exasperated sigh before he just seemed to finish getting ready for bed. Black left to go to the bathroom. Severus just lay in bed with his eyes shut only to almost freeze when he heard Alex’s bedroom door open.

Severus sat up immediately pulling his wand out and jumped from the bed, heading towards the boy’s bedroom only to pause just beside the door, by the wall where he couldn’t be seen.

“You scared Papa.”

“I-I know.”

“You hurt him! You made Papa cry!”

“I know and… I’m sorry.”

“Why did you do that? Remmy said no. Remmy told you to stop. Papa said not to go high but you went anyway.”

Black seemed to sigh. Severus leaned forward a bit so he was looking into the room and he saw the Gryffindor drag a hand through his hair as he sat beside the boy on the bed.

“Do you hate Papa, Daddy?” Alex asked with a frown on his lips, clutching the horntail plushie against his chest and Black blinked.

“I… No, of course not.”

“Then why did you do that?”

“It was just a little prank, just a harmless joke Alex-“

“It wasn’t funny.”

Black stared at the boy before he spoke, “I know, and I’m sorry. I promise. I’ll make it up to you. To both of you.”

“You’ll say sorry to Papa?”

“Yes.”

“And… you’ll make it better?”

“… Yes.”

The boy’s lips twisted a little before he gave a nod. “O.K.”

“O.K? You’re not angry anymore?”

“No.” He said quietly, “Because you’re going to make it better, right?”

Black nodded, “Right.” He hesitated and then reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair, “Goodnight, Alex.”

The boy smiled, “Papa, always kisses me goodnight.”

Black scoffed as he leaned in to press a kiss on the boy’s temple, “How’s that?”

“Good.” He beamed and then, “You’ll kiss Papa goodnight too right, after you make it better? Papa always kisses me better when I get hurt.”

The Gryffindor just stared at the boy and Severus decided that it would probably be alright to head back to bed. But he still listened to make sure that Black didn’t screw up and hurt the boy in some way as he lay down in bed. Still with his back turned towards the room, only to think better of it since he was not comfortable with his back towards Sirius Black of all people and turned back. He kept his hand under his pillow, clutching his wand tight.

The door opened and then closed again. He could feel eyes on him, searing into the Slytherin’s form before the Gryffindor walked over to the vacant bed in the room and sat down.

“I know you’re awake Snape.”

Severus didn’t move and he didn’t respond.

“Look, I’m sorry alright. I shouldn’t have done what I did, I’m sorry.” Still no response, why would he even dream of responding to that? The Gryffindor huffed, “Fine.”

He got on the bed and turned his back on Severus as he settled in for sleep. The Slytherin felt distinctly offended by that.

The rest of the night Severus got no sleep, how could he when Black was sleeping right there. What made matters worse is the fact that the stupid mutt snores. How he managed to sleep through that last time is something that Severus would never understand.

He woke the next morning feeling particularly miserable, but chalked it up to the fact that he didn’t get much sleep. His head was throbbing and he had a serious case of dry throat. He felt nauseous as well. He got some pepper up from his trunk and then got up to start the day.

Alex was up already, though he seemed to be occupied with his toys in his room. Severus got the boy cleaned up and dressed and started fixing breakfast. Black seemed to have opted to sleep in, Severus could have cared less.

He spent the morning with Alex, playing in the living room with the boy’s toys before they got started on a puzzle box that Tippin got for them a few days ago. It was around ten when he suddenly heard the shower running and he knew that the Gryffindor was up. He ignored that though and just tried to focus on Alex instead.

About thirty minutes later Lupin showed up to come and collect Alex. They had a playdate scheduled with Abbey. The whole reason for this was that he had planned on working on a few of his potions projects and some of these projects unfortunately created fumes that were dangerous for young children. Narcissa and Remus volunteered to watch Alex for him while he worked on that.

Perfect opportunity, Severus thought. He’d be busy, Alex would be with Remus and Narcissa and Black can crawl off and do whatever the hell he wants.

Alex had just left, Severus was in the kitchen putting some of his ingredients into a small satchel on the table while checking everything as he made notes when-

“Where’s Alex?”

Severus glanced up at the Gryffindor and barely resisted the urge to glare as he just kept going back to what he was doing. Black rolled his eyes.

“What the fuck is its name… Elf!” He called out and with a pop, Tippin popped into the room.

“Yes master Black sir, how may Tippin be helping you sir.”

“Where’s Alexander?”

The elf paused with a frown as he looked back at Severus. “Master Severus is busy brewing today sir. Mistress Narcissa and Master Remus will be watching Master Alex for the day.”

Severus could feel the glare on him, he ignored it as he just looked at the elf.

“Tippin, you’ll get all the cleaning done while I’m gone right?”

The elf turned and smiled, “Yes, sir Master Severus sir.”

“Good, we should be back around four.”

“Yes sir.”

The Gryffindor growled, “Yeah, thanks you can go.”

The elf popped out of the room and Severus yet again felt that glare on him. He didn’t care, that throbbing in his head was still right there. Maybe he needs another Pepperup.

“You’re busy today.”

Severus didn’t respond.

“I could have watched Alex.”

The Slytherin scoffed, “I’m sure.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Severus finally raised his gaze to glare at the other, “It means, that I wouldn’t trust you with Alex if you were the last person left on the face of this earth.”

The Gryffindor’s glare intensified, “I wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Well, forgive me Black if I don’t have any faith in your apparent conviction.”

Stormy grey eyes rolled hard, “For fuck’s sakes Snape, I already said that I was sorry about yesterday. How many times to I have to keep saying it?”

Severus stopped to fully turn his glare on the other, “Black, you could apologise to me a million times over and I still wouldn’t be stupid enough to trust you with my child’s wellbeing.”

“He’s mine too.”

“Unfortunately.” Severus hissed quietly, looking away from the other to shut his eyes for a brief moment. He really needs some more potion.

“Merlin, you’re such a miserable bastard.” The Gryffindor came closer and Severus’ eyes immediately snapped open to glare at him, though even that seemed to cause him some pain.

“Alexander and I have been perfectly fine without you so far. Your presence here is nothing more than a hinderance and a pointless distraction-“

“I don’t care if you think that I’m the devil himself, he’s mine too. You don’t have the right to try and keep him away from me. I deserve-”

“You deserve what?!” Severus hissed as he glared darkly, “If I remember correctly, you’re the one that said that you didn’t want anything to do with any of this. Anything I breed would be an abomination right? Better off aborted!”

Black flinched back, “I-“

“Well the abortion and I have been perfectly fine without you. I’m the one that’s been taking care of him. I was the one staying up by his side when he got sick. I have done everything in my power to make sure that he’s safe and healthy but now... what? You think that just because you’ve been sneaking in here whenever I wasn’t looking, that gives you the right to suddenly waltz back in here and pretend like you give any kind of toss about him now?” Severus shoved the other back but only managed a slight stumble, he didn’t stop glaring though, “No, you don’t get to do that. The only thing you deserve is to piss off and never set foot in here again.”

Alright, he definitely has a migraine now. Severus moved passed the other and headed towards the bedroom. He quickly cast the spells to get rid of the wards around his trunk so he could get the potion he needed only to start when his arm was grabbed and he was dragged up to his feet, spun around and forced to face a furious looking Sirius Black.

What happened after that?

Honestly it was all a blur. An angry frustrating blur where he spent what felt like hours not brewing but instead arguing with the Gryffindor in the middle of the quarters. There was screaming and cursing, really, it’s a miracle that neither one of them reached for their wand to turn it into a duel at some point. Then again, Severus wasn’t exactly himself.

He didn’t feel like himself.

His head was throbbing, he kept going to the kitchen to get more water but none of it seemed to help and his stomach turned making him feel nauseous as well. But the arguing continued regardless. They started fighting over Alex, only for the argument to spiral and suddenly they were screaming over things that had nothing to do with the muggle studies assignment.

It was the pranks the marauders played on him, the fact that Severus was a Slytherin and apparently a Death Eater in the making. If Severus was his right mind, he’d remember that his life outside of the assignment had nothing to do with Black and he had no right having any sort of opinion on it. But he wasn’t in his right mind.

Severus felt… off.

“You and Mulciber-“

“You have a lot of nerve, talking about Mulciber and his opinions when you spend just as much time bullying half-bloods and muggleborns as he does.”

“I have never-“

“Charleston Brown. Victor Higgins. Sylvester Crow. Each and every single one of them and who knows how many more have ended up in the infirmary because of you and your friends!”

“That…” Black swallowed hard, “That’s different.”

“Different how Black? You called Higgins half-breed filth after he fired a curse back at you in the courtyard, but somehow you have the gall to speak about Mulciber and Avery?” Severus hissed, his teeth clenching briefly under the pain. Why does it hurt so much- “Oh you’re so proud of yourself aren’t you? The oh so self-righteous Sirius Black. The only Black who’s supposedly different from all the others but really you’re no different from any one in your rotting bloodline. You’re just as evil and corrupt as they are and no façade you try and put up will ever change that.”

Black flinched back hard, “Shut up.”

“Or what? You’ll try to kill me again? My my, if only your mother knew all that you’ve been up to, how proud she’d be. Just the perfect little dark lord aren’t you, master Black.”

“Fuck off!” Black screamed as he got right into the raven’s face, “If anything you went out there trying to get yourself killed! You knew Moony was a werewolf but you went anyway!”

“Because for one sliver of a moment, I was stupid enough to believe that you weren’t a complete monster! That you were telling me the truth when you said he wasn’t dangerous.” Severus’ heard swirled, for a brief moment his mind swam and his vision blurred he quickly grabbed hold of the kitchen chair beside them but still managed to glare up at the other as he spoke in a much softer tone than he intended, “But never again. I’ve learned my lesson, I’ve seen just how much of a heartless bastard you can be.”

“You-“ Black faltered for a moment, “I’m heartless? I’m not the one that called my friend a mudblood when she was trying to help me.”

Severus would have flinched at that one, “And who’s fault is it that I called her that, who humiliated and hurt me so much that I became desperate enough to hurt even her? My one and only friend.”

Black’s jaw clenched, “I-“

“But that won’t happen again. Alex is… he’s the one good thing I have right now… the only-the only thing that makes me truly happy. I won’t let you take ruin him like you’ve ruined everything else.” And the raven stumbled, “You’re poison Black… you and all of your friends, I wish I’d never-” And with that Severus’ world tilted he felt himself drop and then suddenly it all went dark.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sirius moved before he could even really think about it.

When the Slytherin dropped he moved forward and quickly caught him.

“What the-“ He stumbled to try and get a better grip on the raven in his arms, “Snape? Snape what’s wrong? Snape?!”

The raven didn’t respond.

Holding him that close though Sirius could feel the heat almost radiating off of the Slytherin’s form. He went down to crouch on the floor, holding Snape in one arm to touch the side of his face.

Bloody hell, he feels like he’s on fire.

“Snape! Severus?! Fucking hell.” Sirius’ eyes darted around the living room space in a panic and they immediately fell on the kitchen. He set the raven down and quickly rushed over to the kitchen sink, grabbing a dishtowel to get it wet with cold water before he went back to the figure on the floor on the other side of the room. He knelt down and started patting the Slytherin’s face down with the cloth.

“Snape! Snape wake up! Shit.” He cursed, completely unsure of what to do when the door suddenly opened.

“”Papa!”

“Severus, Cissa isn’t feeling well so-“ Remus stepped inside only to blink when he saw Sirius with Severus on the floor in the quarter. “Sirius, what-“

Alex had already rushed inside, “Papa? Papa what’s wrong?” Tiny hands went up to touch the sides of the raven’s face. “Papa wake up. I’m home… Daddy,” Alex asked looking up at the Animagus those large eyes already filling with fear. “Daddy what’s wrong? Is Papa sleeping? Why won’t he wake up?”

Sirius felt frozen in the child’s gaze, Alex’s lips pursed and his expression twisted as he started patting the raven’s face more vigorously. “Papa wake up!”

Remus came closer, “Sirius, what on earth happened?”

“I don’t know, he just suddenly passed out.”

“He passed out, what do you mean he just passed out.” The werewolf went to crouch down beside them, “You didn’t… Sirius please tell me this wasn’t some stupid prank-“

“No! I didn’t touch him, I swear.”

“Papa? Papa wake up.”

“Alex, let me have a look.” The werewolf said gently nudging the child aside as he brough his hands up to the sides of the raven’s face, “Merlin he’s burning up.” He looked up at the Animagus, “You need to take him to Pomfrey.”

“I- Right.” He slipped his arms underneath the raven and lifted him up, he quickly moved over to the kitchen table to grab his wand.

“I’ll watch Alex till you get back.”

“Thanks.”

He turned and started heading for the door only for Alex to suddenly grab a hold of his arm.

“No! No I wanna come too.”

Sirius looked at the boy, “No, you’re staying here.”

“Alex, it’s O.K. Sirius is just taking Severus to the infirmary to get a check-up.” Remus said reassuringly but the boy’s lips pulled into a pout.

“No, I wanna go too.” Alex said his grip tightening on the Animagus’ arm, “Papa always stays with me when I get sick. I wanna stay with him too.”

“Alex, I’m sure they won’t be long.”

“No! I’m going.”

Sirius stopped to look at the boy and looked him right in the eyes, “You’re staying here.”

“No!”

“Alex, its fine, I’ll – I’ll keep him safe I promise.”

“You said you’d make it better yesterday and now Papa won’t wake up!” The boy almost screeched those stormy grey eyes brimming with tears.

Sirius swallowed hard, “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

“But-“

Remus put both hands on the boy’s shoulders before looking up at his friend. “Just go, before he gets any worse.”

Sirius took a deep breath before he turned around and headed for the door.

“No!”

He opened the door and quickly slipped out as best as he could with the raven in his grasp when-

“No! I wanna go! I wanna go with Papa!”

The child screeched and Sirius glanced back to see the tears now fully falling down the boy’s face while Remus held him back. He quickly shut the door, trying his best to ignore the cries coming through the wood panel as he just turned around and quickly made his way down the hall.

It took him about five minutes to get up to the Hospital wing, almost running the whole way there. He pushed the hospital wing doors open and walked inside still with the raven in his grasp.

“Madame Pomfrey!” He called out, almost pausing when he noticed that three of the beds in the infirmary were occupied with the curtains drawn, but didn’t think about that for too long as he quickly made his way down the centre of the room. The medi-witch appeared from her office, blinked at the sight of him and then seemed to pause at the figure in his arms.

“Mr Black, what on earth-“

“He just suddenly passed out!” Sirius said as he went over to the woman, feeling a lot more panicked than he sounded, “I don’t know what happened. I swear I didn’t do anything we were arguing and he just-“

“Alright, alright.” She said as she pulled him towards one of the cots, “Set him down.”

Sirius did as he was told, setting the Slytherin down on the bed. His skin was flushed quite a bit by then, flushed and sweating and he let out a soft groan every now and then. The Animagus watched on anxiously as he watched the older woman cast one diagnostic spell after the other before she let out a deep breath and the seemed to nod at herself.

“He’s sick.”

“Sick with what?”

“Flu, nothing that won’t be gone in a few days so, don’t worry about that. Although,” a frown pulled at her lips, “He does seem to be suffering under quite a bit of stress, fatigue and that’s exasperating the situation.” She took in another deep breath before she looked at the Animagus. “It’s nothing to worry about. Severus is the fourth patient I’ve received today. There seems to be some sort of bug going around.” She gestured towards the beds with drawn curtains and Sirius let out a heavy sigh, “He just needs some rest, food and plenty of fluids.”

The woman then summoned a clipboard and started making notes with a charmed quill. Sirius took a step closer, “So he’s… he’s fine, then?”

“He has a bad cold. So no, he’s not fine but it isn’t life threatening. At least not for the moment.” She said giving the Animagus a look over her clipboard, “He can stay here until he feels better.”

Sirius frowned, “I can’t just take him back with me right now?”

Her lips pursed, “You can take him with you and I’ll give you a few potions to help him along. However, I think it would be best if he stayed here.”

Sirius paused, he remembers Alex’ screech as he carried the raven out of the quarters, the tears in those large eyes.

“I… I’ll take the potions.”

The mediwitch blinked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure.”

“Mr Black, even though this isn’t a life-threatening situation Severus is in fact very sick. You will need to put in actual effort to help him get better.”

He heard her tone, understood the implication and almost bristled.

“I know that… we’ll be fine. I’ll take care of it.”

Her eyes narrowed down at him, her lips pursed into a tight line and he swallowed back a sigh of frustration resisting the urge to glare at the woman.

“I’m supposed to be looking out for him anyway. Snape’s the bearer for our… for the assignment and I’m the sire. I’ll take care of him.”

“Sirius-“

“He’s my responsibility. I’ll take care of him, I’ll take care of both of them.” He took in an audible breath, “May I please get those potions now? We need to get back to Alexander.”

She was still frowning even as she turned back. “Very well.”

She turned around and headed back to her office. Sirius was still resisting the urge to glare as he folded his arms over his chest as he watched her go. When she disappeared into her office; he brought his gaze down to Snape who was squirming on the bed a bit, turning onto his side, as the sweat continued to collect along his forehead. He started to frown a bit before he leaned in and took a deep breath at the top of the raven’s head.

That smell is still there and Sirius had to quickly pull back, fighting against the urge to drag the raven into his arms and just sit with his nose buried in the Slytherin’s neck. The smell is still there. Somehow he knew that meant that Snape really was fine.

Madame Pomfrey came back quickly. Carrying a few bottles in hand.

“This one is for pain, that’s general flu and fevers.” She said showing each one to the raven as she put them in a brown pouch, “One teaspoon of each after meals. “This one is for nausea. You should only give it to him if he complains about feeling nauseous.”

Sirius nodded, “O.K.”

Her lips were pursed again, “If there are any problems come straight back.”

Sirius couldn’t help but glare a little, “We’ll be fine.”

“I should hope so.” And then she lifted her wand to draw the curtains around the bed and cast a privacy charm, “When Professor Waltz told me of this assignment and the fact that you had been paired with Severus I hadn’t been pleased. I’m not sure why the headmaster has allowed you and your friends to carry on with Severus the way you have been and I certainly don’t approve of it. He has done nothing to earn he treatment that you’ve been giving him and for the life of me, I don’t understand why you think it’s even the slightest bit acceptable-“

“I wasn’t-“

“When I found out that Debora planned on throwing a child into the equation as well I was horrified and I will admit, that when Severus came in here a few weeks ago without you I was relieved.”

Sirius almost felt speechless, “I wouldn’t hurt a child, even if it was Snape’s. Besides, Alex is mine too.”

“And I hope that you’ll remember that. Severus has been doing his absolute best to take care of him and keep him safe. I’d hate to think that all of that effort was ruined because you insist on carrying on with this ridiculous school yard rivalry. I’ll remind you that this feud almost led to Severus’ death last year. If I had it my way, I would have had you expelled for not only endangering another student’s life but exposing Remus’ secret as well.” He opened his mouth only for her to silence him, “I do not care why you decided to do it. It was wrong, you know that. I’ll give you the potions, I’ll allow you to take care of Severus, but if any harm comes to him or Alexander-“

“I’m not going to hurt them! The whole reason I came back is because…”

She frowned, “Because what?”

“I-“ Sirius’ hands clenched, “Because I… I want to be there. I want to make sure they’re O.K and safe and I…” He could feel his nails almost biting into his palms, “I’m sorry, about everything. I know that they’ve been fine without me, but I saw them together and Snape is-“ He cut himself off looking up at the woman before he spoke. “I’m not going to hurt them. They’re my responsibility, I promise I’ll keep them safe.”

The older woman watched him for a moment before simply looking away with a shake of her head, “Unfortunately I have no right to try and stop you from taking him away from here. Professor Waltz insists on giving you all a realistic experience and the headmaster has decided to allow this madness. If one partner in a bonded pair insist on removing the other from a medical facility in order to care for them themselves then there’s nothing the facility can do about it.”

Sirius just watched as she finished making her notes before handing him the bag full of potions. “He should be better in a day or two. Make sure he gets plenty of rest and fluids and you don’t have to worry about Alexander getting sick. This shouldn’t affect him.”

“Thank you.” He said as he slipped the string with the potions around his wrist and reached out to pick Snape up again, taking a moment to adjust the Slytherin in his arms before he turned around and left.

He could feel Pomfrey’s eyes on him as he left the hospital wing. Feel the concern and distrust practically vibrating right off of her and he felt offended. Like he’d hurt the Slytherin when he was this vulnerable and exposed. Yes, they’ve had their differences and yes, normally Sirius would consider pulling some sort of trick against the raven but Snape’s clearly sick. He’s not stupid, he can understand that much.

Snape couldn’t fight back even if he wanted to and regardless of what the potions prodigy thought of him, he wouldn’t go after someone who couldn’t at the very least try to defend themselves. Although…

There were instances, very specific moments when he did in fact go after the Slytherin when he was vulnerable and maybe just a little bit exposed but-

Sirius shook his head.

None of that really matters for the moment though. He’s not going to hurt Snape. Not now, not when Alex’s screech of terror is still ringing in his ears. He wouldn’t hurt the bearer of his child – the sort of bearer of his not real child…

Merlin.

Sirius paused just as he reached the door to open it. Keeping the raven in one arm as he opened the door with the other. Sirius didn’t really notice as he carried the Slytherin down the halls but, Snape is entirely too light for a bloke. And with the Animagus holding the other up to his chest so closely he noticed how long his eye lashes were. That nose of his was still quite large but, it had an almost regal shape to it he realised. The fever had his skin flushed and sweaty in a way that you could tell that he was very much sick but the extra colour didn’t look too bad on Snape.

The door shut behind them and he moved Snape in his arms again. Honestly, Snape doesn’t look too bad does he-

“Pads?”

He looked up and almost froze when he saw James walking towards them with Lily. The redhead was clearly out of it, hanging loosely off of his friend’s shoulder while James kept one arm around her waist and the other kept her arm around his neck. Her skin was flushed and sweaty and she was groaning softly as she leaned into the chaser a bit more. James looked over to her briefly in concern before bringing his gaze back to his best friend. For his part James looked exhausted, his clothes a bit dishevelled and his hair a bigger mess than normal.

“What’re you doing… is that Snape?!”

Sirius resisted the urge to freeze up as he looked down nervously at the raven in his arms.

There’s nothing weird about what he’s doing. He just changed his mind that’s all.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, “I uhm, he’s sick so I brought him to Pomfrey for a check-up. Apparently there’s a bug going around.” He said nodding towards the redhead, “Lily’s sick too?”

“Yeah…” James frowned as he walked closer, “I thought you weren’t going to-“

“I changed my mind. Been bored out of my mind sitting in the tower all day.” He said with a brief laugh, “I figured why not, you know.”

“Oh…” James scoffed, “How are you dealing with the git?”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Fine for now. He’s not too much of a problem as long as Alex is around. But you know what Snape is like, I’m just barely staying sane.” And then the Animagus laughed as he nodded to the redhead still hanging off of James’ shoulder as he teased, “Hey, wanna switch?”

Sirius figured that he’d get a piss off for that one. Instead…

Tired hazel eyes blinked at him. He looked at Snape and then he looked at Lily and then he looked back at Snape again.

And he stared.

Sirius frowned, his arms tightening around the Slytherin in his grasp for some reason.

“James, that was a joke mate.”

James blinked again, “Oh, right yeah.” He let out a soft chuckle, “Funny.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just have my hands full with Lily and Rose that’s all.” He cleared his throat, “I should get her checked in with Pomfrey.”

“Alright, I’ll see you around.”

James nodded as he headed for the infirmary doors and pushed them open to haul the redhead with him inside.

That was weird.

Sirius tried to shake his head free of the thought as he kept walking, taking a deep breath to try and steady his nerves on the way back to the quarters. He ended up taking in a lungful of that scent and again and the Animagus’ step almost faltered.

There was this smell.

It was all over Snape and Alex, the first time he caught it was the first time he snuck in through door number eight in the Hufflepuff family quarters. The second he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, there was that smell and Merlin…

Something inside of him just went completely lax. He doesn’t even know how to describe it other than saying that it felt like coming home. And wasn’t that just the oddest home? His home, or rather the home he had in Grimmauld place smelled nothing like this. It was warm and comforting and Sirius felt his nerves relax as he kept breathing it in. He looked around the quarters wondering what that smell was.

The reason he even went there is because James stopped by earlier. It was the first week of the assignment and the hazel eyed wizard said he wanted to come check with him and see how he was doing. Though Sirius could tell that wasn’t it, he didn’t comment on it either. He’d been going stir crazy all alone in Gryffindor Tower so he was happy just having some company for once.

They talked about some stuff, the next season of Quidditch, the letter from James’ parents asking about how his assignment was going and then they talked about Snape. Sirius didn’t want to talk about Snape but James clearly did.

Apparently, he ended up knocking at the raven’s door that evening and found Snivellus Snape of all people barefoot, pregnant and cooking.

Sirius scoffed, “Snape cooking? No way.”

“I swear to Godric.” James said as he lay back on his bed, staring up at the canopy above it. “It was so weird I didn’t know what to do with myself and Merlin it smelled good. Like it actually smelled amazing and Snape looked-“

“Like a freak?” Sirius asked with a scoff only to pause when James stayed quiet his eyes still on the canopy, “Don’t tell me he actually looked human while pregnant.”

James blinked and frowned at his friend, “I dunno, he looked… different. Have you ever seen Snape with his hair up?”

Sirius blinked, “No.”

“He had his hair up.” James said plainly, “He wasn’t wearing robes and he just looked… different like that. It was – It was just weird I guess.”

Sirius scoffed, “Don’t tell me you fancy the git or something.”

James looked over to his friend sharply before looking away, “No. of course not. Don’t be stupid Padfoot. He just looks a little different that’s all.”

“Well, Lily looks different too doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.” James’ lips pursed, “Lily’s been different.”

“Everyone is.” Sirius huffed, “You know I haven’t seen Moony in days. He’s been busy with Narcissa the whole time. I thought for sure she would have tried to kick him out by now-“

“His skin looked different too.”

“What?”

“Snape, he usually looks a little sick but he looked… different today.”

Sirius frowned, “Yeah, you already said that Prongs.”

“It’s just.” James shook his head, “It was just weird is all.”

“Right.”

James was acting… weird.

Sirius decided that he needed to see Snape for himself to see exactly what his friend was talking about. It’s not really like he had anything better to do anyway. James left about an hour after that to go home to Lily and Sirius was yet again left to his own devices.

He borrowed James’ cloak and headed down to the Hufflepuff family quarters. The day he left Snape alone in the quarters, there were two keys attached to the ring that McGonagall handed to them. He slipped one off and put it in his pocket. The thought came to just take both so he could mess with the raven a little but he thought better of it and just took the one he had.

He cast a silence spell around himself and then unlocked the door, carefully easing it open in case Snape was up, and in the kitchen, or something. He glanced around and noticed a head of raven hair on the couch, seeming to sit absolutely still. Sirius looked around to make sure Snape was alone before he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the couch. A little surprised that Snape hadn’t caught him yet only to stop when he saw that the raven was fast asleep.

His neck was at an awkward angle on the couch. Sirius was surprised when he realised that that ridiculous nose didn’t have the git snoring when he slept, but other than the soft breathing and odd sigh here or there Snape was almost silent.

He really did look different. Prongs was right.

His hair was still tied up, though the pony seemed messy and loose as locks of raven hair fell over his face and down to his neck. His skin was flushed from sleep, this oddly endearing soft pink that flushed his cheeks and forehead, while his lips parted slightly, oddly long eyelashes fanned over the apples of his cheek. But of course the biggest thing was the baby bump.

Merlin.

Waltz really outdid herself, didn’t she? The Slytherin looked like he was actually pregnant, that round bulge under his oversized white shirt made that clear enough. Sirius just froze for a moment as he took in the raven on the couch, his lips pursed only to pause when he took in a deep breath when he realised that smell that he caught when he walked into the room was coming from Snape.

He moved around the couch to stand before him and leaned in just a bit to take a brief sniff, before opening up the invisibility cloak as he moved in even closer to the wizard on the couch.

It was an odd discovery they made after they managed to get their Animagus forms. The fact that a few of their animal traits seemed to transfer over to their human selves. Not in a way that was too obvious but just enough for them to notice a difference. They all realised that their sense of smell had changed. It was nowhere near as strong as Remus’ in the days leading up to the full moon of course but still strong enough to note changes in someone’s scent.

One of the reasons why they teased Snivellus more in the days after the summer hols. In the days after the summer holidays Snape smelled vile, unwashed and simply reeking of poverty. The smell would always dissipate in the next few days but for the marauders it was enough to use as material against the big nosed git.

James brought this up in front of Lily once, a few months after he and the redhead started dating. Mocking the greasy git over that awful rancid smell.

“You’d think that he can’t even afford a bar of soap or something, isn’t that just pathetic.”

Lily stopped talking to him for a week. Something that surprised them all since they weren’t friends anymore and she agreed to go out with James in the first place. James learned not to say anything about Snape in front of her from that point forward.

But now there’s a different smell on Snape.

Something earthy and spicy and at the same time almost smelled like a woodfire, warm and crackling and spitting in a hearth. It smelled really really good and Sirius found himself leaning in a bit more to get more of that scent when something seemed to startle Snape awake. Sirius had to pull back just as the raven sat up and drew the invisibility cloak closed around him. He watched as Snape blinked at his surroundings before letting out a sigh and a wide yawn before he heaved himself up off the couch.

He carefully moved around the seat and practically waddled over to the bathroom. He was in there for twenty minutes before emerging in a large nightgown and then retiring to bed. Sirius just stood there in the hallway watching him. He should have left when Snape was in the bathroom but for some reason his feet wouldn’t let him. He ended up watching the Slytherin climb into bed before he slowly fell asleep. It would be ten minutes after that where he would finally be able to convince himself to leave even though he didn’t want to leave.

It felt weird.

It felt wrong leaving Snape there like that.

This whole entire thing is fake. None of it is real. He doesn’t like Snape and Snape doesn’t like him either so it should have been easy but it wasn’t.

Sirius has never wanted children… or at least, he’s never thought of it. He wasn’t like James who would ramble on for hours about his future and all the babies he and Lily would have. James wanted at least five children. His own lonely childhood seeming to be his motivation, he seemed to envy the Weasleys and the Prewetts. You see the Potter bloodline was somewhat fickle and so when a Potter heir managed to create an heir for themselves they were grateful for that much, trying for more children was deemed more of a want rather than a need as long as there was someone there to carry on the family name. Though of course father Charlus had a different opinion on all that.

James liked to talk about his grandfather, who was an advocate for wixen-muggle relations. How he encouraged James not to look down on muggleborn students.

How he encouraged James to bring home a muggleborn bride so he could have the big happy family that he’d always wanted. James had a happy childhood, but he wasn’t blind to his parents struggles. He wasn’t blind to the fact that they had managed to have only him and at such a late age as well. There are quite a few occasions where Sirius was visiting – or more recently living – with the Potters and the older man would call them into the study to enquire about school and how things were going. Sirius could admit that he liked father Charlus quite a bit himself. He was different from the people in his own family, dark twisted individuals who believed in blood purity way past the point of concern.

But Charlus wasn’t like that and Sirius liked him for it… although, he was a bit odd sometimes. He was a man of strong opinions, liberal opinions and being quite the rulebreaker himself of course Sirius got along great with him despite his… oddities.

Sirius isn’t all that surprised that James managed to fall for Lily and fall for her so quickly. She was pretty, smart and she was a muggleborn, that alone would have been enough to get James attention so he’s not all that surprised by how James had started planning out his whole family life since third year already.

But for Sirius himself?

Children is something that he’d never really considered for himself. It was something that was expected of him and something he knew he’d have to do as heir Black but after he was disowned, he knew that those expectations have now fallen onto Regulus. Though he wasn’t all that thrilled about that he was at least somewhat relieved to have some of that pressure off. To know that he was no longer expected to do anything more than live his life, however he wanted to live it.

It was great in some ways, not so great in others. He enjoyed his freedom but he did miss his brother and cousins, he missed his father and sometimes even his mother. They were all awful but they were still his family, that much would never change. Sirius missed having somewhere he could actually call home, even if it was only in name.

And now…

Now Snape is seemingly pregnant with his kid.

Not really of course, no of course not but, honestly Waltz outdid herself. It all seemed so real.

That’s why it felt wrong leaving.

His parents while not the greatest parents he could have asked for made sure he was taken care of. They provided for him, made sure he was protected. There were instances, instances in which he was punished for his behaviour of course. He lost privileges, he’d be locked in his room, in moments of severe punishment he’d be beaten or denied food. All of these things were awful, but they were still there. And if Sirius was honest with himself, the bigger thing that bothered him about the disownment wasn’t losing his position as heir. It’s how easily they seemed to just cut him off, like he truly was dead to them. There was zero acknowledgement, it was like he never even existed and he hated them all the more for it.

So there he was. In the Hufflepuff quarters watching Snape sleep because he couldn’t find it in himself to leave. The raven had a hand curled around his stomach in an almost protective gesture as he breathed deeply in his sleep. Protecting their supposed child. His child…

But not really of course.

Still, Sirius didn’t want to leave. He felt like he needed to be there but…

But he already made a deal with Snape, didn’t he?

He made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with Snape or the assignment. And Sirius simply refused to crawl back here and ask for the Slytherin to let him stay. He refused to let the raven glimpse even a sliver of the turmoil that was brewing inside of him. If Snape wanted him there then he’d need to bloody well ask for it because Sirius sure as hell won’t.

So he left. Forced himself to leave the quarters and head back to the tower in some vain attempt at getting some sleep. It didn’t help at all.

The next morning at breakfast, Snape was nowhere to be found as he usually was since the assignment started. Sirius had only vaguely been wondering what the raven was getting up to before, but now he knows that Snape cooks for himself. Why would he come to the hall if he didn’t need to?

James came in along with Lily a few minutes later, Remus a few minutes after that.

Narcissa was having breakfast with Snape and banished the werewolf so they could spend the time together. Remus was very clearly fighting off the urge to pout as he said this. Sirius scoffed before he looked over to James and Lily. Things seemed to be tense around them for the past few days but clearly they got better. They chatted as they ate.

The rest of the day Sirius would be driving himself crazy as he tried to distract himself and failed miserably. Moony said he’d be over later since Narcissa was spending the evening with Snape again. Some celebratory thing before the end of their fake pregnancies. But he was busy with her for the day. So what did Sirius do?

He went over to see James of course. He had to resist the urge to stop at door numbed eight, forced his feet to keep moving until he reached the door at the end of the hall and knocked.

Lily opened the door and huffed at him, Sirius just rolled his eyes as he called out to James and slipped inside completely ignoring the girl while she glared at his back.

For the life of him, he can’t understand what Prongs sees on the redhead.

Sure she’s pretty and smart and muggleborn. Yes, he can understand why she’d catch James’ attention but honestly…

Remus laughed about it once, when they were talking about it and James was off yet again trying to get Lily’s attention.

“Prongs wants things he can’t have.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes perfect sense.” The werewolf said, before shaking his head. “Mary McDonald.”

“What about her?”

“She’s pretty, smart, a muggleborn. What’s the difference between her and Lily?”

Sirius frowned for a brief moment, “She’s blonde?”

Remus rolled his eyes, “The difference is that she actually likes James. She’s always trying to talk to him, always shows up to every quidditch game, tries to sit with him in every class. Meanwhile Lily Evans won’t even give James the time of day.”

“What’s your point?”

“The point is, James likes to chase. And that’s what makes perfect sense.” Remus said with a smirk, “His Animagus is a stag. Do you know how deer mate?”

Sirius cringed, “Do I want to know?”

Remus laughed, “The stag finds a doe they like and the doe runs away from them. It’s the stag’s job to chase after the doe until he catches her. If the doe wants to be caught she stops and lets him, they mate, some deer end up mating for life. But that’s only after she gives him a decent hunt. If the doe gives up too quickly the stag loses interest and moves on to a different target.”

“Ohkay…”

“Prongs likes to chase, he wants someone that won’t make it easy. Someone who’ll make him work for it. That’s why he keeps chasing after her, because she won’t let him catch her. It’s why he doesn’t really pay attention to any of the other girls here.” The werewolf finished simply as he leaned back on the bed, “The only other person who seems to dislike him more than Lily is Snape.” And then he scoffed, “If Snape was a girl, I bet James wouldn’t even blink in Lily’s direction.”

Sirius pulled a face, “Don’t be gross Moony.”

“Well, think about it. Who hates James more than anyone in this school? Who would probably agree to eat a crow before they went anywhere near him? It’s Snape.” Remus’ head gave a tilt as he picked up his runes book, “In that way it almost makes him the ultimate prize doesn’t it? The one person he could never have.” He scoffed again, “No wonder you’re both so obsessed with him.”

Sirius sat up at that, “Excuse me? I am not obsessed with Snivellus.”

“Sure you’re not.”

“Isn’t this supposed to be about James anyway?”

“It is. Prongs likes to chase, you like being fawned over. He likes being ignored and you hate being ignored.” Remus’ head tilted to the side, “Which is basically the same when you think about it.”

“What?”

The werewolf smiled, “Every time you lot decide to prank Snape, it’s usually when he isn’t even glancing in our direction.”

“Because-“

“Because he’s not paying attention sure. But it’s a little odd isn’t it, how every single time he’s not paying attention that’s when you decide you need to trip him or hex him or insult him or-“

Sirius growled, “What does that have to do with-“

“Dogs love attention and when they don’t get it, they do whatever it is that they need to do in order to get it.” Remus said pointedly looking at Sirius who just stare back at him.

“So?”

Remus huffed out a sigh, “They love playing games, they love chasing sticks, they like getting treats and being cuddled and scratched.”

“So?”

“So, what does the dog do when it’s owner doesn’t pay attention to it? When it feels lonely? It tears up furniture, digs through the trash, breaks things basically everything that it normally wouldn’t do if its owner was paying attention to it… Just like how when Snape isn’t paying attention you decide you need to trip him or hex him or insult him or-“

“That is not the same thing.”

“If you say so.”

Sirius thought his friend was being ridiculous, but as time went by he realised that maybe Remus was right. About Prongs and his obsession with Evans, not about Sirius of course.

Lily Evans was an absolute harpy and Sirius made it no secret that he didn’t share his best friend’s sentiments on the redhead. Lily in turn made it no secret that she didn’t like him either, though her opinion of him seemed to revolve around the fact that he was an insensitive twat or whatever it is that she called him last time. Insensitive twat, just because he doesn’t cave in and roll over every time she throws a fit like James does. Lily Evans might be very pretty, but Sirius certainly didn’t find her pretty enough for that.

That day, in order to distract himself from Snape, he spent the afternoon with James. Much to Lily’s apparent annoyance. They talked about quidditch and school and James’ parents, their conversation notably not carrying even the slightest mention of Snape, the way they usually did whenever the redhead was around. Sirius was a bit annoyed at that. For once he wanted to talk about Snape. He needed to talk to someone about seeing Snape and seeing Snape look so weird, and since James is the one that started the stupid mess in the first place Sirius wanted to talk about it with him.

Compare notes on how weird it was seeing Snape of all people look so… pregnant. Pregnant with Sirius’ child…

Supposedly. Not really of course but still.

But he couldn’t do that with Evans around.

Later on he left and spent some time with Remus, with the werewolf mostly preoccupied with talking about his cousin. Something that had Sirius feeling more than just a little disturbed.

And then came Sunday morning. Sunday morning, everything became so much worse.

He hadn’t planned on showing up. After all, Snape had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want Sirius anywhere near him for the assignment and Sirius didn’t want to be around him either. Originally, he’d planned on staying in the tower and just getting one of the elves to bring him breakfast but then-

But then he saw Snape looking all weird. Sirius became curious. Curious to see what their supposed child would look like and exactly what the project would entail once the pregnancy portion was completed. He figured that whatever their not-children were they probably wouldn’t actually look like children. Sirius imagined that it would probably be like an enchanted doll. His cousins had enchanted dolls. Sirius remembers breaking quite a few of them growing up. He remembers Bellatrix specifically giving him hers since she wanted to dispose of it and didn’t want the destruction of the toy being linked back to her.

They all looked the same. Plastic or porcelain figures with moving eyes enchanted to make hyper realistic sounds. Though in Sirius’ opinion, those things were entirely too creepy to be used for anything other than target practice. It’s one of the few times he and Bellatrix have ever agreed on anything.

They’d probably just look like enchanted dolls. But Sirius was curious. Curious enough to show up Sunday morning to see what happened next.

That morning he got to breakfast early. It was strange seeing students that had looked very very pregnant the week before suddenly all back to normal. Sirius had been having the best time making fun of Lockheart and his enormous belly in the days before the spells wore off.

He took his usual seat at the table in the Great Hall. James and Lily came in a few minutes later, with the redhead’s mood seeming to have improved since she no longer had to deal with all the side effects that pregnancy entailed. Honestly, that morning is the happiest he’d seen her since all of this nonsense started.

Moony came in a bit earlier only giving his friends a wave as he sat down with Narcissa in their usual spot. And then not too long after that, Snape finally showed up.

He was clearly no longer pregnant, but he still looked different.

Snape’s hair was down and covering his face again, only this time those greasy strands looked clean and soft and honestly, almost pretty from what Sirius could see from his spot. His skin looked much healthier and somehow, he didn’t look as terrifyingly skinny as he usually was during the school year.

Really, Snape looked-

The Animagus frowned at his own thoughts but quickly shoved them away to the deepest darkest recesses of his mind where they hopefully wouldn’t bother him.

It’s one thing thinking that Snape looked a little different. But finding Snivellus of all people attractive was a thought that Sirius couldn’t entertain for even a sliver of a moment.

Besides, this is all probably just a side effect of those pregnancy charms. James was cooing for days about how Lily was seemingly glowing from her pregnancy at the beginning of the week. And yeah, she did look nice even Sirius could admit to that much.

The rest of breakfast, Sirius tried to focus on his food and not on the raven haired Slytherin sitting across the table in the hall right at that moment.

Once breakfast was finished and the table was cleared Waltz finally stood up and made her announcement.

Sirius and just about every other student in the hall was shocked to learn that their pretend children would apparently look like perfect combinations of all of them. When the professor made the announcement, Sirius’ eyes instinctively snapped over to Snape and he swallowed hard, wondering exactly what a child that looked like him and Snape would actually look like. For a moment, he didn’t even care that it was Snivellus, he was still too busy trying to wrap his mind around it.

And then the children were handed out. The whole entire time Sirius’ stomach kept twisting into every knot humanly possible and he almost felt like throwing up a few times. The reactions of the other students as they went up to collect their assignments wasn’t really helping him feel any better. It got worse when he saw James’ reaction to whatever it is that he saw in the stroller. The way his eyes all but bulged out of his head and his skin paled. He thought that Prongs off all people would be ecstatic to see what his and Lily’s hypothetical children would look like, but if anything Prongs looked shocked half to death.

They couldn’t look that bad, could they?

Eventually his name was called along with Snape’s. For a brief moment Sirius froze, he swallowed hard as his hands clenched against the tabletop. Snape got up from his seat, paused for a brief moment and then determinedly marched his way to the front of the hall.

Sirius finally made a decision and quickly got up to catch up with the raven.

Once they made it to the front, Waltz gave him a very pointed look. He noticed Snape jump slightly when he finally noticed his presence but otherwise made no other move as Waltz turned back to grab hold of one of the black strollers and set it in front of them.

Sirius couldn’t move. Snape seemed to take a breath before he moved forward and reached out to lift the blanket covering the things face and-

Sirius’ eyes went impossibly wide.

Whatever he was expecting to see, it wasn’t what he actually saw.

Godric… it looked so real.

Waltz truly has outdone herself.

Pitch black curls and pale skin, the tiniest nose on the smallest little thing and-

It’s supposed to look like both of them. It didn’t really look all that similar to Snape. The baby’s nose seems like it’s pretty normal. And then there was this… smell.

When they were standing at the front of the hall, Sirius caught that same smell that he got from Snape the first time. He tried to ignore it and not lean in to take a breath of the raven in front of him the way some clearly demented voice in the back of his head was begging him to do. But then the stroller was set before them and Snape lifted the blanket and a whole new smell assaulted Sirius’ senses. It had him tensed up and locked in place. It was that smell that was on Snape, a crackling fire and then this other scent.

Sugar and cinnamon, not burnt but almost toasted, rich and warm and Sirius could stand there all day just surrounded by the scent of Snape and their son-

Their son.

What did Snape name it again?

A week ago Sirius wanted nothing to do with any of this. He didn’t care what Snape planned on calling the freakshow but knowing that Snape had seen it fit to give their experiment his last name made him pause. It made something very uncomfortable settle in his chest. It’s one of the reasons why he just tried to avoid being around Snape rather than try to mess with him the way he usually would.

What did Snape call him?

Alexander. Alexander Black.

Thinking about it, and now actually thinking about it; Sirius decided that he liked the name. What does it mean though? Sirius decided to take a trip to the library to try and find out. But it sounded good. It sounded right.

Sirius was still processing the image of the child in the stroller when the blanket suddenly went back over the baby’s face and Snape turned and marched right out with the stroller in hand.

He blinked and for a moment it almost felt like he’d forgotten how to use his legs as he just stood there and watched them go. Once his mind finally caught up with what was happening, he quickly followed, but by then Snape was already out the door. It took him a moment to catch up.

Sirius didn’t just head straight to the Hufflepuff dorms even though that logically would be where Snape would go. Instead he instinctively followed that scent. The scent of fire crackling in a hearth with toasted sugar and cinnamon. That odd smell of comfort and just home and he found Snape and Alexander quickly enough.

When he did, Sirius froze.

When the baby was in the stroller, he didn’t look very similar to Snape. But seeing the raven haired Slytherin actually holding the child, Sirius realised that they looked so similar it was honestly a little scary.

They had the same pale skin. Seeing the baby’s head against Snape’s shoulder he realised that those pitch-black curls were actually closer to Snape’s than they were his own. And that tiny nose. Briefly Sirius wondered if Snape’s nose had always looked the way it did. He searched his memories of first year and realised that the answer to that was yes and no. Yes, Snape’s nose has always looked a little large for his face. But it didn’t have that odd bump to it back then. How did that happe-

The Gryffindor froze when he remembered a particular fight he got into with Snape in fourth year. He remembers hearing bones crunch underneath his knuckles as his fist connected with Snape’s face. Did he do that? Pomfrey should have been able to fix something like that right? Surely she wouldn’t have difficulty fixing a broken nose and-

Merlin. The oddest most disgusting feeling of guilt washed over Sirius right then.

He swallowed hard.

Snape was hushing the child against his shoulder, gently patting his back and swaying a bit as he did and then Sirius saw it; the tears in Snape’s eyes. The way his skin flushed as he gave a soft sniff but didn’t stop the gentle hushing.

He took a step closer, some unknown force compelling him to do so only to freeze all over again when Snape’s gaze snapped up to lock onto him and the Slytherin froze as well.

They just stared at each other. Sirius flinched back when he saw a single tear roll down Snape’s cheek and he had absolutely no idea what to do. For once he felt completely speechless. For once he didn’t know what to do with himself.

What did he want to do?

He wanted to get closer. Get a closer look at Alexander, get a better sniff of that scent and maybe hold him. But Sirius couldn’t move.

Snape was holding Alexander. Holding the boy softly in his arms and at that very moment Sirius suddenly remembered every awful terrible thing that he’d ever done to the raven. Every prank, every taunt and jeer, every time he hit the Slytherin and shoved him to the ground and every time after wards when those dark dark eyes looked at him with burning hatred and disgust.

Those dark eyes weren’t filled with hatred this time. This time, Sirius saw something uncomfortably close to fear. Something so vulnerable and exposed that he felt frozen in his spot. Somehow, it felt worse than that time with Moony and-

Shit.

Moony.

The werewolf incident suddenly came back to him in startling clarity and Sirius asked himself exactly what he’d been thinking when he told Snape about the shack.

Nothing really.

But that’s always been the problem with Sirius when it comes to Snape hasn’t it? When Snape is there, Sirius doesn’t really think. It’s like his brain shuts down completely and all he can think about is getting some sort of reaction out of the raven.

Why?

Sirius doesn’t know why.

He never had to ask himself that question though. Prongs made it easy since he also seemed to hate Snape so much. The school made it easy since most of the student body didn’t seem all that fond of the raven haired Slytherin and getting away with it was always so easy to do since none of the prefects or professors ever really did anything in the raven’s defence.

He never had to ask himself why. No one asked him and so he never really thought about it.

The only people that asked, well, that was Moony and Reg.

Sirius suddenly realised that he never really cared about who Regulus was spending time with until he found out that his brother was spending time with Snape.

Regulus was always talking about Snape. How smart he was, how interesting, how absolutely brilliant. He even had the nerve to bring the half-blood up in front of their parents during the holidays though that mostly happened when Lucius visited along with Narcissa.

His mother seemed to get annoyed with it, though his father didn’t really seem to care much either way. It shouldn’t really be all that surprising that Snape became a point of contention whenever he spoke with his brother.

Actually, they argued about Snape quite a lot now that he really thinks about it. Last time it’s because Snape taught Regulus some potions trick to help him improve his Polyjuice potion. Sirius shouldn’t have cared but he did. He was suddenly struck by the fact that Snivellus was spending so much time around Regulus that he would have time to teach him something like that.

It irked him. Irked him in the worst way and Sirius had no idea why.

And then of course Reg had to make things worse by questioning him on why he hated Snape. Why he was always pranking the other Slytherin and he never ever accepted any answer that his older brother gave him.

It wasn’t enough that Snape was dirty and ugly and clearly evil and obsessed with dark magic. No, Regulus kept pushing and pushing and Sirius became even more annoyed. And all these questions would intensify just about every time he caught his little brother spending time around Snape and so it had to be his fault, right?

Sirius thought so and so it became just one more reason to hate the greasy haired bat.

And then, it was Moony.

Moony typically stayed out of it whenever Snape came up in conversations. He didn’t take part in their pranks against the raven and mostly just kept his distance when they were teasing him. He never really said much about Snape but when he did, his questions always stung in just the oddest way.

Remus called it an obsession. He called it stupid. He didn’t get it. James and Sirius just decided that he didn’t need to get it. Remus has always been entirely too nice for his own good anyway. He clearly just, didn’t know any better.

Remus’ questions were easy enough to ignore since he mostly kept quiet.

But then Snape started asking about Remus.

Sirius caught him looking up books on werewolves and watching them or – more specifically – watching Remus. He ignored it at first. At the time they were all aware of the fact that the Slytherin was following them around and trying to get them in trouble. Which is why the pranks started getting a little more… intense from fourth year but it was never anything too bad.

But then Snape’s focused sharpened from the Marauders in general to Remus in specific and Sirius felt… uncomfortable with that. Why? Sirius didn’t know why and no one ever questioned him on why so he never really had to consider it.

The last draw came when Snape was partnered up with Remus for double potions. At first, the raven haired Slytherin didn’t seem particularly pleased with the development and Remus just looked generally uncomfortable with the set up as well. But as the period went on none of that seemed to matter. Sirius would look up every few minutes. He noticed Remus babbling on the way he usually did whenever he was uncomfortable while Snape hissed orders on how to prepare what ingredients.

And then the strangest thing happened.

Snape laughed.

Moony said something, well mumbled is actually more accurate as he glowered at the valerian root that he was trying to slice as thinly as he could. Snape chocked and his lips curved up into a smile before he quickly covered his mouth and looked away. He blinked like he was caught off guard before clearing his throat and hissed for the werewolf to prepare the next ingredient.

Remus just followed his orders, seemingly oblivious to what happened or the fact that anything happened at all.

It was a non-event.

No one that saw the scene would have thought anything of it or even cared really. But Sirius did. It bothered him and when Snape actually had the nerve to come asking questions about Moony later, it had him feeling distinctly agitated.

He told Snape about the shack.

Why?

Sirius doesn’t know why.

In hindsight, it was an incredibly stupid idea. Even if he didn’t put Snape’s life in danger, he was putting Moony’s life in danger. If Snape had managed to tell anyone outside of school about the incident Remus would have been executed. Dumbledore would have lost his position for keeping a werewolf on premises and since Sirius had already been disowned at that point, no one would have stopped him from being expelled or worse, being sent to Azkaban for what he did.

It was a terribly thought out plan. It wasn’t even really a plan anyway it was just Sirius trying to somehow get Snape back for-

For what?

Talking to Remus? Asking about Remus?

Sirius didn’t even know. He wasn’t surprised when Remus refused to speak to him for the next few months after the incident. He’d always been so terrified of anyone discovering his secret and his supposed best friend just went ahead and blabbed to the one person that very clearly disliked them. The one person who would absolutely use this information against them.

So why?

Once Remus was back to talking to Sirius, that’s the first question he asked but Sirius couldn’t answer him.

But… right at that moment. As Snape stared back at Sirius, holding their child in the middle of the vacant hallway, with flushed cheeks and teary eyes the question came flooding back to him.

Why?

For the first time he actually felt something inside scream at attention, demanding that he finally ask that question.

Alexander made this noise. This soft, oddly fussy noise and Sirius swallowed hard.

Why?

Fuck. He doesn’t fucking know why. He doesn’t know why he does half of the things he does on a day to day basis, let alone why he’s always picking on Snape of all people.

They aren’t friends, they aren’t in the same house, and outside of class, he doesn’t have a reason to even glance in the Slytherin’s direction. Snape is a poor, effectively nameless half-blood. For all intents and purposes, he shouldn’t even be aware of Snape’s existence. It’s different from how it is with James.

James hates Snape because of Lily. Because Lily seemed to be using Snape as an excuse to reject James over and over and over again. Thinking about it, it’s kind of a ridiculous reason to hate anyone but at least James had a reason. What was Sirius’ reason?

He honestly didn’t know.

Snape’s just always bothered him. Sirius was never able to really think straight whenever he was around Snape. It didn’t help that Snape always reacted the way he did. It was anything from vindictive malice to ruthless indifference. Though thinking about it, Sirius preferred the former to the latter. Snape’s indifference was something that couldn’t be explained, it could only be experienced. This cruel and razor sharp cut of what felt like absolute nothingness. Snape could look at you once with those endless pits of darkness and make you feel like the world’s most insignificant specimen.

It’s something that he could liken to feeling only when he was around his mother. The feeling of having someone look at him and see nothing but an empty void. Someone that looked at you but you might as well be invisible as far as they’re concerned. It’s odd, but Snape actually reminded him a lot of Walburga.

Snape seemed just as cruel as his mother, just as cold and aloof. So consumed with the pureblood aesthetic that most of the school thought Snape to be a pureblood despite his obviously impoverished state. And then came the raven’s very obvious fascination with all things connected to dark magic and just like his mother, Snape seemed to look right through him and see nothing.

But these were uncomfortable thoughts. Thoughts that Sirius didn’t even know existed until that very moment when he saw Snape standing all alone in the vacant hallway holding their child.

Walburga Black was a terrible human being. His father, while terrible in his own ways, never seemed quite as bad as his wife and Sirius had always secretly wondered how the man managed to end up married to that woman.

Right then Sirius wondered if this is what his father saw when he looked at his mother. Is this why he married her? Did he also get this brief moment of vulnerability? Did he see that slight crack of humanity in the battle-ax that he called a wife? He never saw his mother cry, briefly Sirius wondered if Orion is the only person that ever has.

That… was a strangely enticing thought.

It was this idea of finding a monster. A terrible, vicious, bloodthirsty beast that would bow just for you. A terrifying creature that would rather die than submit to anyone but would willingly show its belly only to you.

Such a tempting thought.

He thought of Regulus and how it annoyed him to know that Snape was spending so much time alone with his younger brother. At school, most of the student body loved Sirius and though Regulus had his charms if given a choice between the two brothers; Sirius knew for a fact that he’d win that contest by a mile and yet Snape detested him. For Snape, very much like Walburga, Regulus was very clearly the favourite in that equation.

He thought of Remus. About that moment in class when the werewolf actually managed to get Snape to crack. It wasn’t a hateful sneer or cruel smirk no; an actual laugh that even seemed to surprise the raven himself. And then Snape started asking about Moony. Making an effort to know things about him and that bothered Sirius. And then of course there’s Lily-

Lily?

Was Sirius bothered by Lily?

No of course not. He didn’t understand what Prongs found so enthralling about the girl. She was pretty and smart and muggleborn and Prongs was completely taken by her. For James at least, it’s a good enough reason to like anyone. Why did Snape like her so much? The obvious reason here would be the fact that they’ve been friends since even before they got to Hogwarts, though that was a bit odd, wasn’t it?

Slytherin, pureblood-esque, dark magic loving Snivellus and his apparent obsession with a muggleborn girl. That didn’t make any sense and so in that way he could agree with James that they shouldn’t have been around each other. It didn’t make sense for Snape to have any sort of feelings towards the girl let alone make such an effort to be around her. But he did. Snape was Lily’s friend and he tried very hard to be her friend. They sat together in every class that they could and sometimes spent time together outside of class as well.

That’s the one difference between Snape and his mother. Walburga wouldn’t be caught dead in the company of a muggleborn. Though eventually, their friendship did end, didn’t it?

Snape called Lily a mudblood and from that point forward they had no friendship.

Good.

Good?

Why was that good?

Because…

Because what?

Sirius didn’t know.

James seemed pretty happy though. After it became clear that Lily no longer wanted anything to do with the Slytherin, James seemed very pleased with himself and so Sirius didn’t have to ask himself why this was a good thing. James, Gryffindor house and most of Slytherin thought it was and that seemed to be enough. Even Professor McGonagall seemed more comfortable once Lily stopped spending so much time around the Slytherin. Sirius didn’t have to ask himself why Snape being so close to Lily bothered him so much but-

Godric, why did it bother him so much?

Sirius watched that tear as it rolled down the Slytherin’s cheek and the next thought that came to mind?

The distinct urge to lick the trail away.

That’s a weird thought.

But there were tears rolling down Snape’s face as the raven cradled their child in his arms.

No, not-child. The… thing isn’t real. It isn’t their child.

But it looked so real and there was that smell.

Sirius swallowed hard and forced himself to look away. He opened his mouth and much to his own surprise the question that left his lips were-

“You said you’d do it alone.”

Why did he ask that?

Because somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted Snape’s answer to be no. He wanted Snape to ask for his help, to want him there so Sirius wouldn’t have to ask himself. Because Sirius didn’t know how to ask and he wanted to be there, he wanted to be closer so badly that every nerve in his body was screaming at him to just take a few more steps. But he saw the child in Snape’s arms and everything he’d ever done to the raven came rushing back to him.

He wants to be closer. But how does he ask that after… everything?

Sirius isn’t stupid. Impulsive and reckless, yes; but he isn’t stupid. He knew that Snape didn’t like him let alone trust him enough to be O.K with Sirius being close to him for any reason. Even if he did ask, he knew that Snape would immediately refuse.

So he didn’t ask, instead he decided to put the ball in Snape’s court. Snape looked so vulnerable, so absolutely terrified that Sirius thought for a moment that he might be terrified enough to accept help even from him but-

Snape shrugged the tears off of his face, his arms tightened protectively around the baby in his arms and he said-

“Yes.”

Sirius reacted about as well as he could at the rejection. He threw up as convincing a wall of indifference as possible and told Snape not to screw up before turning around and forcing himself to walk away.

He heard Alexander whine, that almost made him stop right in his tracks. But then he heard Snape shush the child again.

“We’ll be fine on our own.”

He said and Sirius wanted so badly for the Slytherin to be wrong.

He was able to hold out for one whole day before he decided to sneak down to the quarters. In that time Sirius had been driving himself crazy just pacing around Gryffindor tower. Both Moony and Prongs were occupied with their respective projects and partners and so Sirius couldn’t even rely on them for a decent distraction.

He went down to the Hufflepuff quarters. Cast a silencing spell on him just like before and kept the invisibility cloak around himself as he slipped inside.

This time Snape wasn’t on the couch. Sirius checked the bedroom and found it vacant. With a frown he went over to the nursery and paused when he noticed Snape, fast asleep in the rocking chair beside the crib with a heavy book in his lap. His hair was up and his head looked like it was at an awkward angle on the back rest of the chair, while the soft glow of the nightlight cast soft shadows across the Slytherin’s face.

That smell that seemed to radiate from both Snape and the baby wafted throughout the whole house. So much so that Sirius actually felt his lips pull into a smile when he saw Snape lying so peacefully in the rocking chair. He quickly squashed out the urge however before turning to the crib instead.

There he is.

Alexander Black.

He managed to find out what it meant.

Its Greek. Defender of men.

Apparently there are many of muggle kings, emperors and warriors that had that name. It’s a very strong name, for such a tiny little thing.

Snape has unfairly good taste.

Sirius couldn’t help but think as he leaned over the crib and watched the boy sleep. He was on his back, soft breath’s in and out as his chest rose and fell. This time Sirius allowed himself a smile as he leaned in and caught that same smell of toasted sugar and cinnamon drift softly from the boy.

It looks so real. Sirius looked over to Snape and then back to Alexander and again, he could see the resemblance. He still didn’t know how he felt about that. His lips pursed for a brief moment and he reached into the crib towards the boy, he just wanted to touch him. See exactly how real all of this was when-

Alexander started crying.

It started as this soft fussy whine that slowly rose until the boy was suddenly screaming. Sirius’ eyes went wide and he flinched back wondering what on earth he could have done wrong when he hadn’t even made contact yet.

Snape woke with a start, dropping his book on the floor and blinking wildly at his surroundings before he quickly got up and rushed to the crib. Sirius stepped out of the way and watched as Snape reached in to pick up the boy.

“Shh, it’s alright Alex, I’m right here.” He lifted the boy up against his shoulder and started petting him softly as he rocked from side to side.

Sirius watched as Snape checked the boy’s diaper before checking his temperature and then finally reaching for a bottle he had next to the rocking chair. Alexander whined a few times before Snape got the bottle in the baby’s mouth and he finally quieted down. He went to sit down in the rocking chair.

Snape smiled as he slowly rocked back and forth in the chair while the baby continued to feed. Snape’s expression was so… soft, dark dark eye were filled with warmth and he was so gentle as he let his finger brush against the baby’s cheek. Sirius leaned back against the wall and just watched them. After feeding the baby quickly fell asleep. Snape set him down again before he picked up his fallen book and seemed to start reading all over again.

He fell asleep less than two minutes later. Sirius couldn’t help but scoff at the thought.

He walked over to the crib and gave one more glance to the raven in the chair to make sure he didn’t wake. Sirius pulled the invisibility cloak down and peered over into the crib. He reached in and carefully as he could touched the boy’s cheek the same way that Snape did.

Alexander felt warm and when Sirius brought his hand to the baby’s chest he felt that fast steady heartbeat.

It’s so real.

Sirius leaned into the crib a little more. First it was just a brief sniff and then he allowed himself one deep inhale of the boy’s scent and Merlin he could honestly just drown himself in that scent and he would die happy.

It’s just then that Alexander’s eyes slowly opened. Sirius froze thinking that the boy was going to start screaming any second only for eyes just like his own to blink tiredly up at him once, then twice before the boy let out a soft sigh and those eyes slipped shut all over again.

This impossibly warm feeling washed right through him and his lips split into a grin. He probably looked like an absolute maniac right at that moment but Sirius didn’t care. Alex was sleeping so soundly and Snape-

Sirius looked away from the boy over to the teen in the chair.

He frowned.

Sirius pulled away from the crib, giving the boy one more look before he walked over to Snape and stared at him for a moment. Without thinking about it Sirius reached out, his head was lying at such an awkward angle that Sirius just wanted to turn it a little-

Thankfully he stopped himself before he could make contact. Snape would wake up and absolutely lose his shit and Sirius didn’t want to wake up Alexander. But his hands were itching with the oddly familiar urge to touch so he quickly stuffed his hands in his pockets instead.

He did however lean in closer to take in Snape’s scent as well.

Sirius felt horrified when that same impulse to just drown himself in that scent from before came back to him and he had to consciously take a step back.

After that, sneaking into the quarters to just watch Snape and the baby became a routine. It was easy enough whenever Prongs and Moony were occupied. Sirius would sneak in at night or even during the day. Alex had Snape completely distracted so as long as he was careful about it, he could get away with being around them for hours at a time.

Remus would check in on him sometimes. He seemed worried about his best friend being alone while they were occupied with their assignments. Sirius tried to make it seem like he was perfectly fine and not constantly sneaking into room number eight to creepily watch Snape and their child – their assignment every chance he got. But since Remus was spending time around Snape anyway because of Narcissa then Sirius didn’t see the harm in asking the werewolf about Snape and Alexander every now and then.

It seemed that werewolves can smell bullshit coming a mile away, much to Sirius’ annoyance.

“Sirius, if you’re worried about them you could just go down and-”

“I’m not worried about Snivellus, Moony.” Sirius rolled his eyes, “I just want to make sure the git hasn’t screwed up yet that’s all.”

Remus gave him a dull look, “For your information, Snape is doing perfectly fine.”

Like he doesn’t already know.

“Really?”

“Yes really.” The werewolf huffed, “If you just went down there, you’d be able to see that for yourself.”

“And end up stuck with Snape for the rest of the summer, I don’t think so.”

“Of course, because you clearly have better things to do.”

Sirius glared at his friend, “For your information, I’m having a brilliant time.”

Merlin, he’s miserable.

“Sure Padfoot.” It was Remus’ turn to roll his eyes, “I’m just saying, you could be helping Snape with the baby instead of being so difficult about it.”

The Animagus paused, “Did Snape say he needed help?”

“Of course not, in what world has Snape ever asked anyone for anything?”

Sirius couldn’t help but internally groan at the very very accurate statement.

“I’m just saying, it’s been kind of nice.” The werewolf said with a small smile, before he shook his head. “You might enjoy it too if you stopped being so stubborn and just asked to help.”

Sirius shifted uncomfortably on his bed as he glared up at the ceiling, “The git made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want me there. If he wants my help then he bloody well ask for it.”

Remus only huffed in frustration.

Later on, Sirius would sneak into the quarters and proceed with his usual routine of watching Snape take care of Alex. Everything from diaper changes to bath time to meals and bloody hell, sometimes Snape would actually sing to Alex to get him to sleep. He didn’t recognise any of the songs, Sirius figured that they were probably muggle lullabies. Snape’s voice had always been an odd fascination for most of the boys in their grade.

In fourth year, at the beginning of the new year Snape came back to school with the most ridiculous voice that Sirius had ever heard in his entire life. Fourteen years old, like the rest of them and that prat had the nerve to walk back into school sounding like a grown man. Bad enough that Snape was smart enough to retort with witty scathing remarks that could cut through you like broken glass, but that low smooth timber that skinny git used to drawl those remarks out with somehow made it all so much worse.

It was almost emasculating.

Merlin, Sirius hated him so much that year. James hated Snape that year. Most of the boys in Gryffindor despised Snape that year.

It was truly, a terrible year.

And now that low smooth voice was softly singing lullabies. Sirius actually fell asleep once when Snape was putting Alex to bed. It’s a miracle that he managed to keep the invisibility cloak wrapped around himself as he sat in his usual spot in the corner of the room.

That’s around the time that Sirius realised that he had a problem. A problem that got worse after the hospital wing incident.

James was having issues with Lily. As to exactly what those issues were, Prongs wouldn’t say. Just that he needed a little space and Rosalie wasn’t feeling too well anyway. Apparently Lily sent James to the infirmary to get some medicine for the girl and Prongs decided to go get Sirius for the errand.

They ran into Snape, who had Alex with him.

Sirius immediately worried that something was wrong. Alex was whining softly in distress, he wanted to go closer and ask but stopped himself. He could always just check in on them later anyway and-

And then he saw Prongs slip his wand from his pocket to cast a tripping hex. Sirius moved without even thinking about it. He rushed forward to grab hold of Snape and stop the stroller from tipping over. Once both stopped their descent, he let out a heavy sigh, an immense feeling of relief washing over him as he set the stroller right only to almost freeze when dark dark eyes met his own.

Sirius swallowed hard and stood up with Snape still in his grasp, the Slytherin did in fact freeze at the sight of him and there was this moment where they just stared at each other for a moment until Alex started crying and Snape quickly pulled from his grasp. He picked up Alex and started checking him over. Madame Pomfrey rushed over to check him as well, before she and James started arguing.

But those were distant things.

Sirius’ attention was on Snape and Alex. The Slytherin was as gentle and careful as he always was with their son – the baby, making sure he was alright before setting him down in the stroller. He left a few moments later, for once Sirius had an interaction with Snape that didn’t entail hexes and insults and it felt good until-

“Unbelievable! A hundred points off and the year hasn’t even started yet.” James complained with a growl of frustration, “Pomfrey must be losing it, right Padfoot?”

Sirius looked back at his best friend and felt the oddest surge of anger.

Sirius doesn’t even know how long they were arguing for. He just knows that it only ended because Remus came walking into their dorm room and tried to get them both as calm as he could.

Sirius couldn’t get calm. He ended up storming out of the dorm and leaving them there. Where did he go?

To room number eight of course.

Snape was asleep, with Alex lying on his chest.

Sirius finally felt himself relax.

And so the routine continued.

He made up with James eventually. The chaser kept showing up in the Gryffindor dorms, Alex and Snape were O.K and Sirius didn’t want to be angry with his best mate. It became clear to him that it was taking James some time to really get used to the assignments. Plus, Rosalie seemed to be acting up a bit more than the others. That’s according the Remus of course. Whenever they got together and James started venting about his assignment with Lily, Remus commented on how they hadn’t been experiencing the same problems with Abbey. From what Sirius saw with Snape, Snape wasn’t having that kind of trouble either. Rosalie was putting a lot of strain on Lily. She was putting strain on James. They didn’t seem to be dealing well with the girl though James never went into any detail as to why.

James and Lily were arguing… a lot, that much was clear. What the arguing was about was something that James never explained though. His usual response was-

“Things are just different from how I thought they’d be.”

Remus and Sirius would share a look but otherwise they wouldn’t push.

The days went by.

Sirius kept sneaking into the quarters, it would be near the end of week two that he’d slip up and Alex would see him.

Snape had just set the boy down and crawled into bed himself. Sirius just wanted to check in on the boy. He lowered the cloak to look down at Alex and take in his scent the way he usually did only to freeze when the boy’s eyes suddenly snapped open and his head gave a tilt.

Sirius felt trapped in those stormy grey eyes that blinked up owlishly at him, at a complete loss for what to do when-

“Daddy?”

The Animagus’ heart melted. He had no idea why, but right at that moment Sirius decided that he wanted to stay in the quarters and stay there forever. It got hard trying to cover his tracks. Despite the cloak and silencing charms Alex seemed to always know when he was there. He’d smile and sometimes wave at the Gryffindor and Sirius had to work incredibly hard to make sure that Snape didn’t notice him as well.

Thankfully he managed to get Alex to agree to keep him a secret but there were definitely a few close calls that had the Animagus heart hammering in his chest long after Snape looked away or fell asleep.

It all came to an end the night he found Alex sleeping with that blanket.

A blanket identical to the one he and Regulus had when they were little. A blanket that could only have come from one place.

Sirius had been enraged. He couldn’t understand where Snape would have met with Walburga let alone have gotten such a treasured family heirloom out of the woman. And why would Walburga give Snape that blanket for Alex anyway? Snape’s a half-blood. His mother detested anything that she didn’t consider as being absolutely pure so why on earth would she give Snape the blanket?!

When Sirius found Alex wrapped in the soft material he realised that he didn’t even care why. The only thought in his head was keeping Walburga Black as far away from Snape and Alex as humanly possible.

He stormed into the bedroom and woke Snape. They argued, Sirius didn’t even care. He just wanted Snape to keep Alex away from Walburga. The whole thing went about as well as could be expected. Snape basically told him to go to hell, put the blanket back on Alex and then kicked him out.

Sirius felt that same cocktail of turbulent emotion wash over him that always came over him whenever he was around Snape. It was such an odd feeling, it almost caught him off guard since he hasn’t argued with Snape in such a long time. It occurred to Sirius that Snape hasn’t been aware of his presence around him for the last few weeks, which is probably why they’ve been able to ‘get along’ so well.

He doesn’t want Alex around Walburga.

Though their interactions have been limited Alexander, was sweet and kind and just so wonderfully lovely that Sirius was genuinely terrified of what might happen if his mother manged to gain even a sliver of influence over him. The boy reminded him so much of Regulus. Despite their differences, he still loves his brother. Reg was sweet and kind as well, but his mother was very clearly trying to change that. And Regulus was letting her.

He didn’t want that for Alex. He didn’t want his son corrupted by the evil that ran through the Black line. He needed Snape to keep Alexander away from her. Despite Snape’s supposed love for dark magic, he never pushed any of that on Alex and so Sirius had hoped that he wouldn’t have to work that hard to get the Slytherin to agree to keep his mother away.

But Snape is Snape and Snape hates him. Hates him so much that he’d rather argue with Sirius than agree to any of his terms.

Difficult prat.

It was like dealing with two different versions of Snape. The one that existed when Sirius was there and the one that existed when he wasn’t, or at least not aware of his presence.

The good Snape and the bad Snape. There was absolutely no way he could deal with the bad Snape. Bad Snape despised him and he unfortunately only exists when Sirius is there and past experience had proven that he had no idea how to deal with that Snape.

Things went from bad to worse. That wasn’t the plan, not that he really had a plan to begin with. He was just trying to make sure that his mother stayed away. Things spiralled and his brain switched off the way it normally did around Snape. They argued and fought, Sirius pulled a stupid prank on the Slytherin and then Alex was angry with him too.

They kept arguing and now…

Now Snape is sick and Sirius is going to take care of him.

It’s not the taking care of another human being part that has him worried. It’s the Snape part. It’s the part where Snape is pissed at him and Sirius is pretty sure that Alex is also probably pretty pissed at him because he keeps screwing up.

The Animagus paused just as he stopped in front of door number eight. Snape still in his arms, squirming under the discomfort of his fever every few seconds, that scent still radiating off of him.

The door suddenly swung open. Large stormy grey eyes still red with tears went wide and then immediately beamed at the both of them.

“Daddy! You brought Papa back! Is he O.K? Is Papa going to be alright-“

“He’s fine, it’s just a cold.” Sirius walked into the quarters, Alex’s tiny hands had already latched onto Snape’s arm as he stuck as close as possible. He caught Remus’ gaze just as the werewolf got off the couch in the living room, “Madame Pomfrey said he’ll be fine in a few days.”

“Papa?” Alex asked with a frown and Sirius brought his gaze back down to the boy.

“He’s just asleep, Alex. He needs to rest.”

“O-Okay.”

Sirius looked back to his friend again, “You can go, I’ve got this from here.”

Remus frowned, his lips pursing in a tight line, “Sirius-“

“Madame Pomfrey gave me a few potions to help him get better so we should be fine.”

“But-“

“You should get back to Narcissa.” Sirius said as he headed towards the bedroom with Alex following close behind, “Pomfrey said there’s a bug going around. I ran into James on the way here, Lily’s sick too. You should check on Cissa.”

Remus huffed out a sigh, “You’re sure you’ll be fine?”

“I have the potions he needs, it’ll be fine.”

“Sirius, you know what I’m asking you.”

Sirius stopped, his eyes going from Snape to the five-year-old right beside them and he took a deep breath.

“We’ll be fine, so just go.”

The werewolf shook his head, “Fine, I’ll go check on Cissa and I’ll be back to check on you later.”

“We’re fine.”

A moment of silence, “I really hope so, Sirius.”

The door opened and then shut, Sirius made his way to the bedroom and set Snape down on the bed, pulling a blanket up over the raven’s chest and setting his head correctly on the pillow. His fever is still burning hot. Pomfrey said to make sure that Snape eats before taking the potions.

“Daddy.” He looked up, Alex was holding Snape’s hand tightly in his own, biting his bottom lip with worry. “Is Papa, really O.K?”

Sirius nodded and swallowed hard before he spoke, “He’s going to be fine.” The Gryffindor then reached over to drag a hand through the boy’s hair and gave a small smile, “I promise, things will be better. I’ll take care of it.”

The boy stared back at him before nodding, “O.K.”