Chapter 13
James watched as Sirius paced the living room out of the corner of his eye as he cleaned and sharpened his favourite knives. He was careful not to look at Sirius directly, knowing the man was on edge and just raring for a fight, and he didn’t want to fight him.
Bicker, sure, and if it came down to it, he didn’t mind a good fight, but the odds here wouldn’t be fair.
Not when Sirius was just stir crazy, feeling the strain of a portent. James imagined that the animal part of Sirius was just dying to either flee or dig his teeth into something.
There was something like anticipation curling in his gut, but he pushed the feeling aside.
They heard the crack of apparition moments before the knock on the door, and James looked up when Sirius turned, nostrils flaring, grey eyes gone opaque.
A sneer curled his lips and James stood the moment he strode by, hearing Natalia at the door, and knowing this wasn’t going to go well.
>>>
Natasha opened the door to find Severus there and offered a smile as she opened it wide to invite him in.
He nodded as he stepped by, brushing invisible wrinkles from his robes.
“Tony’s been experimenting with some of your ward spells. Would you like to see?”
Snape’s eyebrows lifted towards his hairline but he still nodded, curious as he moves to follow her to the labs.
“Did he manage to merge the technology and magic without creating the imbalance?” He inquired, and she lifted a shoulder in a shrug.
“Not quite. Though to be frank, I don’t really understand half of what they’re doing.” She admitted, earning a roll of Severus’ eyes. She laughed, reaching out to hook her arm through his, ignoring how he stiffened before he crooked his arm to accommodate her.
That’s when Sirius stepped into the hall.
“Snape.” The tone was biting, cold, and though outwardly he didn’t react, Natasha felt him stiffen at her side.
“Black.” Severus’ own tone was void of emotion, but he didn’t move away from Natasha, didn’t slow their pace.
“I would’ve thought you were too busy to make house calls.” Came the sharp jab, a mirthless smirk twisting Sirius’ lips. The implication was clear to all of them - they all knew that Severus had played both sides. Natasha, however, also understood the necessity of such things to survive.
“He’s as welcome here as you are, Sirius.” Natasha responded firmly, pulling up short as Sirius moved into their way, and drawing Sirius’ gaze to her. There was no missing the surprise, or the anger that followed as his gaze flickered back to the man in question.
“Did you know he was there that night too?” Sirius asked, voice low and furious. “That he went for Lily and even with Harry alive and bleeding in the crib next to her corpse he did nothing?”
The fury in Sirius’ eyes was wild and dangerous, but Natasha met it head on as she stepped in front of Severus, defending him with her body language before she even spoke.
“Who are you to judge?” She asked just as softly. She knew how Sirius was feeling - knew the strain he was under as she could feel it too. They all could feel it - that tension of waiting for the other shoe to drop. But that didn’t excuse this.
When Sirius opened his mouth, she cut him off with a murmur.
“Where were you?”
He reared back, but she pressed forward.
“There’s no room for judgement in this house, Sirius.”
“You don’t understand-”
“Do you know how many people I’ve killed?”
The opaque quality left his eyes, the silver going to smoke. She didn’t let him speak.
“I’ve killed more people than you’ve probably met in your life.” She kept her voice low, soft, and all the sharper for it. “So if we’re going to throw around accusations, you better start with me.”
There was shock, an edge of horror in his gaze, and it was hard to tell where it was aimed. That’s when James stepped into the hall as well. There was a disappointment in his gaze that had Sirius’ hands shaking.
“You know better.”
Sirius looked between them, and took a step back. He stepped right back into Tony.
“Heard we were sharing our dirty deeds.” He said amiably, Clint at his side, Bruce close behind. When Sirius flinched, he gave him an amiable pat on the shoulder, but his expression was grim. “You know my dear old dad made his money war mongering, right? Us Stark’s were proud weapons manufacturers for a long time. Not only that, but we dealt with both sides, under the table of course.” He didn’t say that he hadn’t known, didn’t say that he’d stopped it as soon as he had, because it didn’t matter.
“I was also an assassin.” Clint added cheerfully, tossing an apple up in the air. “In fact, Nat, James, and I have all tried to kill each other a time or two.”
When Sirius looked to Bruce, the only one who hadn’t spoken, Bruce gave a commiserating smile.
“The Other Guy and I kind of broke Harlem.”
Sirius stepped back, visibly shaking now, shaking his head, but when he met Natasha’s gaze this time, the horror was aimed inwards. Then, he shoved his hands in his pockets, pushed his shoulders back, and turned to Severus.
There was a moment of tense silence before Natasha stepped aside, and Sirius stepped forward, defiant look on his face as he battled to keep his emotions in check.
“Looks like I owe you an apology.” He noted, jaw tight, and they all saw the moment of grief sweep through his gaze before his face was unreadable once more, an arrogant mask. “I’m sorry.”
There was a beat, and then Severus was nodding his head.
“As am I.”
Sirius gave a stiff nod, and with a quick look at everyone, moved past the man without so much as a brush of shoulders and walked out the front door.
There’s another moment of silence before Tony hums and turns to Bruce, smirk in place.
“I thought we didn’t talk about Harlem.”
Bruce chuckled.
“No, you aren’t allowed to talk about Harlem.”
When Tony made an offended noise and Clint started cackling, Natasha turned her gaze to Severus. He was staring at the floor, something close to heartbreak on his features as he visibly struggled to deal with the fact that he’d just been so fiercely defended.
Natasha put a hand on his arm and his eyes snapped to hers, as unreadable as Sirius’ had been moments before, and just as easy to understand.
She hooked her arm through his again, tugging him gently to follow after Tony back towards the stairs. He only hesitated a moment before he followed.
“I wanted to speak to you about the new professor.” Severus began, almost hesitantly. Natasha nodded for him to continue. “He’s an ex-auror, and a good one. Alastair Moody. But there’s something off about him. I’m not sure what, and I can admit that he makes me uncomfortable with that damned eye of his, but,” he shook his head, scowl back in place. “He’s been teaching the students the unforgivables.”
It had everyone’s attention, and they shared a look at what that might mean. What that said about the state of Hogwarts and the British Ministry, despite the change in leadership.
Natasha felt eyes on her and glanced over to see James watching her. She dipped her head, answering the unspoken question, and he nodded in return.
It was time to visit Hogwarts again. Despite the fact that Harry no longer attended, they had a vested interest in many of the other students, and wouldn’t sit by while even those unknown to them could be hurt.
What happened next was so quick that Natasha almost couldn’t follow it. Almost.
James’ eyes flashed to something behind her, expression going grim even as he drew his weapons, sending Natasha spinning into a defensive stance.
She saw the patronus and understood what it was even as she threw a hand up to stay James’ actions, but she couldn’t quite quell the rush of adrenaline following his lead had given her.
It was a cat, and the moment Severus turned, only a blink after Natasha, it began to speak in McGonagall’s voice.
“Severus, you must come back to the school, immediately. Harry’s name was spit from the cup. He’s been entered into the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the Ministry won’t accept a forfeit.” Then, as if knowing they were together, feline eyes turned to Natasha. “I fear the Ministry has forced the Tournament for this very purpose.”
The cat swirled into white energy, disappearing into the air.
Natasha vowed then and there that no matter what it took, she would tear the Ministry apart from the inside out to rid it off its corruption. But until then, she needed to find Harry.