Madness

This is an absolute nightmare.

"Mister Snape, what-" Albus was at a loss for words. His voice was soft as he spoke even as chaos reigned in his mind. This... this is not what he'd had planned. "How did this happen?"

Fawkes was not on his perch. The phoenix vanished mere moments after the boy in front of him settled into the seat infront of his desk. The creature had screeched loudly at the sight of him, eyes going impossibly wide as it's wings flapped and the feathers almost seemed to stand on end before it immediately tried to escape the room. Albus let him out, wishing that he could follow the phoenix out the door and make an escape of his own but-

No. There might still be time. He can still fix this. What he needs to do is first find out how this happened and then, find out how to rectify this-this absolute atrocity.

"I-" the boy cut himself off, looking away from the headmaster. He went quiet.

"Severus. Severus answer me!"

The boy looked up at him sharply before just looking away again. Down to his hands, those pale hands with long thin fingers. He started rubbing at one of those fingers, at the ring finger on his left hand, the one with the distinctive black markings tattooed into that pale skin. Those markings twisting and curving ever so delicately around the left ring finger, inked flawlessly into the crest of house Black.

"Do you have any idea what this means?!" Albus' voice was begining to rise, he barely noticed the way his hands clenched on the armrests of his chair, "Do you have any idea of exactly what you've done?!"

The boy looked up at him again, this time a frown pulling at his lips. At the calculating look in his eyes Albus decided to reign in his anger and took in a silent breath before he spoke.

"Mister Snape, what you've done is..." Another deep breath, "Is illegal to begin with but more than that it's completely idiotic! I can't even begin to understand why you would do something so foolish."

"Foolish?" The boy asked, his eyes narrowing ever so sligthly.

"Yes, foolish. S-... My dear boy, you turned sixteen less than a week ago and-"

"He said it's old enough." Severus said quietly as his eyes went back to that left hand again, "He's sixteen as well, he'll be legal this year. He said it's old enough."

"It most certainly is not." Albus said clearly before letting out an audible sigh, "This must have been done recently yes, then there must be a way to reverse it."

"Reverse it?"

"I know this sort of magic, ancient bonding magic. In order to cast the spell he would need to recite the counter spell in reverse in the final phrase. Now what was it?"

Severus seemed to tense, his right hand clenching over the left, "I don't remember."

"We both know that's not true. If any student in this school would remember a spell after hearing it only once it would be you, now what was it?"

The raven kept his lips shut and Albus felt whatever patience he had inside of him begin to run out. "I won't repeat myself again Mister Snape. Do not think I've forgotten your transgressions of the past few years. Attacking students without provocation-"

"Atta... without provocation?!"

"The possession and use of dark materials on school grounds and lest we forget, challenging and antagonising professors without due cause."

The raven's eyes went wide, "I never-"

"I'm sure professor Slughorn, your very own head of house would disagree. If you do not tell me the spell that was used, I will have you expelled from this school with immediate affect."

Severus was gaping, he was sitting at the edge of his seat staring at the head master in shock, skin absolutely pale.

"You can't." He whispered and the headmaster's eyes narrowed into a dark glare.

"I can and I absolutely will. The spell, how it was cast and when."

The teen continued to stare back at him in shock, until they heard the entrance to the door open and footsteps quickly rush down the steps behind the gargoyle.

"Sev!"

Damn it! Not now. Not yet!

"Severus! Remus told me you were-" and then Sirius Black, the very cause for all of this nonsense appeared in the entry way. He sighed when he saw Severus sitting in one of the seats in front of the desk and immediately rushed over, grabbing a hold of the chair to turn it around.

"Sev, I was so worri-" The teen paused at the sight of the other. The way his skin had paled so completely, the way he clutched his hand against his chest. The wide eyed shock in his eyes. "Sev? Sev what's wrong?"

Severus blinked up at him, "I-" He croaked out and Sirius moved instinctively pulling the Slytherin from the chair into his arms, he pressed a kiss against his temple, ran a hand through his hair.

"Sev, baby, tell me what's wrong." The animagus paused when he realised, "Godric you're shaking." His grip tightened around the raven. Then stormy grey eyes snapped up to lock onot the headmaster. "What did you do to him?!"

Shit-

No, wait. There's still time. He's still Albus Dumbledore. He's still headmaster of this school. They are just students. Practically his property.

He can still fix this.

"Sit down Mister Black."

"But-"

"I said, sit down now. The both of you."

He said sternly making sure to project that heir of authority as he put his hands together on the desk, the boy frowned at him before he looked back down to the raven in his grasp. He pressed one more kiss atop Severus' head and then urged the Slytherin back into his seat before grabbing a hold of the one beside it to pull it closer as he sat down. His right hand clutching Severus' left and Albus noticed with annoyance how the mark on the raven's finger seemed to glow a gold for a brief second. Sirius smiled at the sight, something intense and possessive... dangerous gleaming in his eyes while Severus seemed to avoid his gaze. A look that Albus has seen so many times and just kept ignoring because, because at the time it suited him just fine. At the time he thought he understood what that look meant.

He'd been so sure.

Albus resisted the urge to sneer.

"To answer your question, I'll ask you the same. What did you do to Mister Snape?"

Sirius finally looked away from the Slytherin, "What did I do to him?"

"The mark on his hand. You are the one that gave it him, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I love him." The Gryffindor answered without hesitation, "Because he loves me. We're meant to be together, forever."

Albus had to pause. That caught him off guard, the next words slipped from his mouth before he could fully process them.

"Since when?"

"Since the moment we met." Sirius then looked over to Severus, that look came over his eyes again. "Right Sev, you're mine. You've always been mine and now you understand that, right?"

In their first year Dumbledore remembers, how Sirius had ruined Severus' robes with some prank. Filius caught him, brought them both to the office. He remembers that look in the boy's eyes as he stared at Severus. Watching unblinking as the boy softly sniffled into his a tissue, face flushed and streaked with tears. One of the first times he'd ever see the Slytherin cry and also one of the last. By second year, Severus no longer shed a single tear in front of a student or professor. Albus had thought that to be a good sign. Vulnerability wasn't something the Snape boy could have. No, he needed the child to remain as unapproachable as humanly possible. No one could try and befriend the boy, no one was even allowed to try.

He noticed that the marauders pranks against the boy got worse in their second year. Albus took that as a good sign.

"Now that this is over, you can finally move into my dorm with me." Sirius hadn't moved his gaze away from the other for a second, "You know I've hated the fact that you sleep in the dungeons with those... bastards since fourth. But that doesn't matter anymore." His grip tightened on the raven's and that mark glowed even brighter, "We'll always be together. Nothing can change that now."

There was another incident in their fourth year, the marauders had managed to sneak into Slytherin house and set off dung bombs in the common rooms. It seemed like a harmless prank until it was discovered that one of the dorm rooms had been set alight. One of the beds in particular, was left in ashes. The bed belonging to Severus Snape.

Somehow, most of his belongings had been spared. The bed, mattress and bedding had needed to be replaced but those were things that the school regularly replaced anyway. James Potter admitted to setting off the bombs but denied having anything to do with the fire, as did the others. Albus remembers how Peter had looked over nervously to Sirius more than just a few times as they sat in the office while the animagus glared and hissed at him to keep quiet. He could've pressed the boys harder, gotten a confession, but soon Mister Snape discovered that one of his most precious posessions had been destroyed in the fire, a small gift that he received from his mother. The boy seemed to push himself further into isolation after that.

And didn't that just work in Albus' favor?

Albus could feel the sting of his finger nails biting into his own palms, "And exactly when did you decide to bind Mr Snape to you?"

Sirius blinked at him, almost like he'd forgotten the man was in the room before just looking back at the Slytherin, "Ages ago. That night we finally had our first kiss, do you remember that Sev?" At the animagus' words, Severus tensed tremendously though he didn't look up even for a second even as Sirius kept that ever darkening look on him, "I should've done it right then. Then I wouldn't have had to do anything else. But you know, I was just trying to protect you right? Like with Moony. You were getting too invested in Remus. I told you he was a werewolf but you-" The animagus reached out to cup the side of Severus' face to force him to look up at him, "I needed you to understand that he was dangerous and you understand that now, don't you Sev? It was for your own good."

Last year, Albus remembers how Sirius didn't seem all that bothered in the aftermath of what looked to be a very obvious murder attempt. He didn't seem all that bothered by how upset his friends became and well... they seemed to forgive him easily enough so maybe it didn't really matter.

Albus almost growled at the thought, he'd been so close. If only the idiot Potter boy hadn't suddenly decided to grow a conscience. It would have all worked out perfectly, everything would have gone exactly according to plan and if it came right down to it, he could have simply turned in Sirius and Remus if any authorities came asking about the dissappearance of the boy.

He'd been so close... but at least Severus was still where he wanted him to be for the time being. Human beings are such fragile creatures, ruled by their emotions no matter how hard they may try to fight against them. Albus could see it, the boy was on the brink; just one push away from doing exactly what Albus needed him to do.

He'd been so sure.

"It's alright though. We're together now. We'll always be together." Sirius said still staring right into Severus' eyes. The raven seemed to hesitate and then nodded.

"Yes." He said softly, eyes filled with heartache and despair... desperation somehow so clear in his form. "Yes."

"Say it again, Sev."

Albus frowned when Severus' reply seemed to come instinctively.

"I-I love you Sirius."

Sirius grinned, "Again."

"I love you."

Albus almost gaped, he had to take a moment to compose himself and spoke before the animagus could finally draw the raven in for a kiss.

"That is enough! You will stop this madness at once." He said clearly. Sirius finally looked away from Severus with a frown, "Mister Black, what you did to Mister Snape wasn't just immoral it's completely illegal."

"It's not illegal." Sirius said letting go of Severus' face but keeping the raven's hand clutched in his own, "He turned sixteen a week ago. That's old enough."

"According to the law that governs all wixen within the wizarding community, it is not. Neither of you is of legal age."

"That doesn't matter. It's part of my family magic. He's a half-blood. As long as he's sixteen and consents to it, I can bind us together. I'll be legal in a few months, then I'll be able to register us at the bloody ministry."

Albus blinked as he was interrupted, "Mister Black-"

"Severus is mine. No one is taking him away from me. He's sixteen, it's old enough." Sirius repeated and Albus finally lost it as he stood up from his seat and glared down at the boy.

"No he is not! Now, you will undo the spell you used and you will cease any and all communications with Mister Snape or so help me-"

"You'll what."

A voice said, instantly cutting through the air like a razor sharp knife. Albus looked up and felt himself pale at the sight of Walburga and Orion Black standing in his office, just a few feet behind their son and apparent son in-law. An ice-cold chill seemed to sweep through the room. Dressed in matching dark green robes the two glared at the man behind the desk

"M-Madame Black-"

"I believe you were in the middle of a threat headmaster." She said her eyes glinting and sharp as steel as she looked right into his eyes, "I simply can't wait to hear the rest of it."

"I-" Albus cleared his throat, taking in a deep silent breath but not daring to look away from either of the heads of house Black for even a moment, "I was simply informing the boys of their gross lack of foresight in the act that they've committed. I'm sure you would agree madame Black, for your son and heir to commit such a heinous act and with an individual of Mister Snape's pedigree. It's simply atrocious."

Severus seemed to tense at his words. Sirius glared at him.

Walburga scoffed, "Under normal circumstances you would be correct headmaster, but under these circumstances you're very wrong."

"I-"

"What're you doing here?" Sirius asked as he faced his parents and Orion's head gave a slight tilt.

"It seems for once in your life you've finally done something right, boy."

"What-"

"We'll be taking our son and son in-law with us, headmaster I'm sure you understand." Walburga cut in smoothly as her eyes fell on Severus' form, "We simply must have a proper ceremony if we're going to welcome the new mistress to house Black."

"What?" Sirius was shocked eyes darting between Severus and his parents, "You want to welcome him, as your mistress?!"

"Like your father said, Sirius." The woman said and Sirius blinked. That's the first time his mother has used his name in what feels like years, "It seems for once, you've done something right. It's quite the bride you've decided to bring us." And then her eyes snapped over to the headmaster, "Of course, you know all about that, don't you Master Dumbledore?"

Albus was frozen stiff, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried to think of what to do when Walburga spoke again.

"It's really quite unfair, that you've been keeping a secret like this all to yourself for so many years. It was quite a shock, when we received the letter from the ministry informing us of our son's binding spell with young mister Snape. Of course, we aren't complaining." Walburga said as she stepped forward and stopped right in front of Sirius. She looked from her son over to the raven in the chair who'd been watching the scene with wide eyes. "Get up boy, it's time for us to leave."

"I-"

"You're not taking him anywhere and I'm not going anywhere with you either."

Walburga only looked at her son coldly, "Thanks to your spell he's a Black now, we can take him wherever we want."

"No-"

Orion cut in, "The question here is whether or not you come with us. We have no intention of harming him. However if you're truly suspicious of our motives and insist on watching over him yourself you may. He's your bride, we certainly couldn't stop you. But you can't stop us from taking him. You may stay or you may go. Choose."

"He'll go." Severus said as he got up form his seat and Sirius looked over to him in shock.

"Sev-"

"As long as we're together, right?" Severus asked as he reached out to take Sirius' hand and the animagus seemed to immediately calm and beam at him.

"Yeah, right."

"He'll go."

Severus said resolutely and Walburga looked dangerously close to rolling her eyes, "At least you seem to have some level of control over him. We leave, now."

She turned around and headed for the exit, while her husband waited for her. Sirius pulled Severus into his side and-

"Severus!" Albus quickly called out, desperation clear in his tone and in his eyes as the teen turned back to look at him. "You don't want this, there's still time. The spell, what is it?!"

Severus stared back at him, his lips twisting and his eyebrows furrowing until he looked up at Sirius. That look was in his eyes, dangerous, obsessive, unhinged. That look as always fixed on Severus Snape and no one other than Severus Snape.

He'd read up on the Black family many years ago. When Bellatrix Black first enrolled in Hogwarts. Albus made sure to know as much as he could about all his students after all, an interesting thing he'd learned about, which was really public knowledge at this point was the Black curse of madness.

This unhinged insanity that seemed to weave its way in and out of the bloodline and show up at the most inconvenient of times. Bellatrix had shown a few signs of it while she was in school. Unusual cruelty towards certain students, a weaker sense of compassion just in general. But even with her those things didn't seem quite strong enough to signal that she had inherited the curse.

But with Sirius, oh with Sirius, Albus had seen the signs coming a mile away. He knew that the curse was alive and well and thriving within the boy. But no one else ever seemed to notice. That's because Sirius' madness had been contained, it was focused, it was reserved only for Severus Snape.

Severus Snape.

The dirty, ugly half-blood boy who everyone knew without a shadow of a doubt was dark. And so, what was so wrong with him getting a bit of punishment every now and then. What was so wrong with a bit of teasing, a bit of shoving, a harmless prank or two. Silly childrens games that just got a bit too rough every now and then. And everyone knows how boys will be boys.

Severus Snape was clearly dark, he was clearly evil; he deserved every terrible thing he got. So what's so wrong with a few pranks every now and then. So what if he ended up in the infirmary multiple times in a month? So what if his clothes and books were ruined every now and then? So what if he got a few scars and bruises. He deserved it, he's always deserved it. So why would anyone notice the cruelty worsen, the frequency of the pranks increase? Why would anyone notice that dangerous, obsessive, unhinged gleam in those blue grey eyes darken and build about every time they landed on the boy.

No one would notice. They never had a reason to. But Albus did. He noticed and he thought, that he'd be able to use that madness, to steer and shape it into the perfect tool to finally push Severus over the edge. He thought he could finally achieve his goal the way he'd always planned.

Merlin, he misunderstood. He saw that dark unhinged look and mistook it for hatred, bitter loathing and maybe it was at first. Maybe Sirius truly did hate Severus at first, but at some point the Black madness fully took hold. It twisted and corrupted that hatred until it changed and deformed into love. A love of violence and viscious cruelty, because those urges those dark dark desires that he knew were wrong and deviant and evil; were righteous and good only when they were focused on Snape. A love of the darkness that he tried so hard to deny and fight; he could now revel in as long as it was focused on that dark ugly evil boy. Love that intensified and focused and turned Severus Snape into the intense focus, the object of love that he wants and craves and desires with every fiber of his being, that he would do anything to keep. And really, isn't love just another form of insanity?

Dark and obsessive but still love nonetheless.

Love, something that Severus had always craved.

Something that he had always been denied.

Something that Albus had worked so hard to make sure he could never receive.

Love.

And there it is so clear in Sirius' eyes. Dark, obsessive, unhinged and dangerous but it was still love. Something Severus had never had and there it was, offered to him by the only person who ever had and as far as he knows; the only person who ever would.

"Severus! The spell!" Albus was almost pleading, but Severus didn't look away from Sirius' eyes. Madness swirled like a thunderous storm in those eyes, obsessive and dangerous and unhinged and devoted and all... his.

"I... I don't remember." Severus said and Sirius grinned, wrapping his arms around Severus to pull him in tightly and lock their lips in a searing kiss.

Albus' world shattered.

Walburge simply gave them a very bored look, "Save it for the honeymoon when you're actually of age. Having a half-blood for a mistress is hard enough. There will be no children born before you're registered at the ministry. We leave now."

Sirius finally let go of Severus and the other flushed as he was led out of the room. Orion paused to look back at Albus.

"A word of advice headmaster. I'd clear out this clutter if I were you." The man said just as he left the room as well, "We weren't the only ones that received notification from the ministry."

And with that Albus collapsed into his seat.

It's over.

His deception will be revealed. Soon everyone will know everything. Not just what he did to Severus, but they'll know about the Prewett's and Weasleys as well. His interference with James Potter and the Evans girl... the incident with Rabastan Lestrange. He'll lose everything...

Everything.

It became hard to breathe. He couldn't breathe, his head started to spin he felt hot and Merlin he can't think. His body became weak. The magic almost seemed to leave him as he slumped completely into his chair.

It's over.

It's over.

It's-

Albus woke with a gasp.

Blinking rapidly and breathing hard he realised that he was in his chambers at Hogwarts.

A dream.

He let out a heavy sigh and fell back on the bed to try and catch his breath.

Nothing more than a dream or rather... more like a nightmare really.

But it was a good reminder to stay focused and remember his goal.

That morning he entered the hall for breakfast. He greated the professors as he made his way to the head of the table, his usual spot between Minerva and of course Severus.

The potions master was already in his seat as usual, though unlike usual he already had four walls of protection up before Albus had even sat down. That almost caused him to frown, but he made sure to smile that usual smile as he sat down beside the potionsmaster.

"Good morning Severus." He said cheerfully, the raven haired man beside him seemed to pause from where he'd been stirring the sugar into his tea.

"Albus." He responded curtly and the headmaster arched a brow as he reached for the sausages and eggs.

"Something the matter?"

"No."

"Oh and your new Slytherins? I heard there was a bit of a commotion last night."

Albus said nodding towards the Slytherin table across the hall where the new Slytherins in question were settling into their own seats. Luna Lovegood was chatting along with Ron Weasley, while his supposed suitor Blaise Zabini walked along with them. About four months along now, the italian rarely ever seemed to let the redhead out of his sight. Neville Longbottom was whispering with Harry. Draco Malfoy sat glaring darkly at the boy who lived while Theo Nott seemed to roll his eyes in annoyance.

Albus kept his smile in place made sure it reached his eyes. Severus has been off lately, he's been off ever since the damn Weasley boy decided to throw everything upside down and get himself pregnant with the child of Blaise Zabini.

He still hasn't managed to figure out a way to deal with that problem yet. But a more pressing problem was Severus and his odd behaviour as of late. The potionsmaster seemed more distant than usual, occupied. Of course its more than likely that the new changes around the school are what have him busy but... Albus knew something else was wrong. He can't afford to let Severus slip away from him now, not when he's gotten so close.

"Everything's fine. There was a slight flare up but it's already been resolved." Severus answered as he reached for the toast and started to butter it. Albus nodded.

"That's good to know. I'd hate to find out that the new arrangement hasn't been going well... considering the circumstances especially. The children need some stability with everything that's been happening."

Severus didn't respond. Albus didn't really expect him to. He looked back over to the Slytherin table, yet again resisting the urge to frown when he noticed Harry now sitting at the table, but instead of focusing on breakfast the boy was staring right across the hall at the teachers table. He was staring at Severus. There was a lost look in his eyes, something distant and longing. A look he'd last seen on James Potter when he-

"And how is Harry doing? He's adjusting well I hope. Especially since you've been continuing with your extra lessons."

Severus glanced up at the Slytherin table just then. Harry flushed and quickly look away as he started filling his own plate. The potions master shook his head slightly, looking very close to rolling his eyes.

"As far as I know the boy is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"He's sitting across the hall right now, why not just call him up and ask him yourself?" Severus said, now clearly annoyed as he looked up at the headmaster and Albus shook his head.

"Now now, there's no need for that. I have complete faith in your abilities Severus. In fact now that he's in your house, I think it'll make things a bit easier won't it?"

Severus matched the man's gaze for a moment, a slight frown pulling at his lips before he simply looked away and picked up his cup to take a sip.

"Perhaps."

Albus looked back at the table again. Harry was staring again. That look was familiar. Far too familair for his liking. Of course Harry is nothing like his father. There's no way he could possibly be-

Then again he'd been wrong about James himself all those years ago hadn't he? He thought he'd at it all under control until-

Just to be safe. He'll need to make sure, put a few contingencies in place.

Just to be sure.