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"No, I'm not dating your brother."
Sirius couldn't help but flinch. His nerve-wracking but solidly mid-level romantic plan to stop by Severus' lab and invite him out to The Thyme-Turner for supper was turning out to not be a good idea. He had fully expected grimacing about the spontaneity, worrying about whether they had nice enough clothes, or even a moonrise ingredient gathering excursion that Severus hadn't told him about.
"I told you he's my assignment, Reg."
It felt wrong to listen to Severus' voice go soft and reassuring like that for someone else. Sirius could almost feel fingertips tracing along his chin, but he definitely did not want to think about the last time Severus had used that voice with him. Circe, it was embarrassing to think that his sorta-lover, maybe-partner had to reassure him that it was alright if he couldn't keep it up after an Auror interrogation and being paraded around dementors in the holding cells. But, now, that – possibly – was all an act -
"I know, I know." Regulus cleared his throat and sniffed loudly, like he may or may not have been crying just a few moments ago. "It's... It's just harder than I thought it would be."
In hindsight, that was the perfect moment for Sirius to throw open the cracked door and barge in to yell at them. He was the only one of the three who didn't know that Severus was only showing interest and being kind – and all that – as an assignment. How hard was it for Severus to get sucked off by not one but probably two blokes across the summer? How hard was it for Regulus to not have to see them out, anywhere, because it wasn't like Severus was openly dating a witch to get Mum's approval? Granted, this probably was the reason why Severus hadn't wanted to be seen with Sirius in public -
"Just another week or two."
A muffled noise that was oddly wet sounding made it out to the corridor. Sirius felt like he was frozen. Yeah, it probably was just snogging, but there was no way he could bring himself to actually open the door and confront the sight of the two of them together. Assuming that Severus didn't put on too much of an act with his assignments, he'd probably wound his fingers into Regulus' hair in a way that hinted at controlling the kiss without being too forceful. Unless that was just something he had to make himself do to keep Sirius around...
"You'll have a free seat on the Hogwarts Express?"
Sirius could barely hear Regulus' whisper, but the hope was apparent. One did not have to be a mind-reader to guess at what one hoped for in an otherwise empty carriage on the train – at the very least, there'd be more snogging. He tried to walk away as quietly as he could, and he couldn't remember if he said anything to the secretary on his way out. The interns and apprentice brewers were on lunch, so it didn't really matter. The thought stuck and slowly turned in his mind like a record on a turn-table: It didn't really matter.
It's not like Sirius didn't know that they were in the midst of a war or anything. It was a bit of an open secret that the Death Eaters were recruiting Slytherins – and the occasional Ravenclaw. One of his Prewett cousins had reached out with an offer to join The Order of the Phoenix in exchange for no one finding out about an unregistered dog Animagus. Moony was suspicious that The Order wanted to pull him away from any more knowledge and experience that their N.E.W.T.s could offer before facing poisons and curses out in 'real world duelling conditions'. Wormtail thought he'd be better off taking Fleamont's offer to scrub cauldrons for a pay-cheque, since neither studying nor running about for The Order paid very well. Prongs had been too preoccupied with waiting for the results for their O.W.L.s to worry about their vaguely tumultuous future.
Honestly, fooling around with Severus had been the perfect way to not think about any of this for whole stretches of time over the summer, but now, Sirius didn't know what to do. Other than some embarrassing admissions about – erm, intimacy – and sexual limits, he had no clue what Severus had been trying to get from him as The Assignment. Was it even worth it to tell someone that Severus was probably a Death Eater already? Was Regulus being recruited? Would Sirius be expected to do assignments like this if he joined The Order?
The thought stopped him in his tracks, and Sirius wound up tripping over his own boots. Thankfully, the witches and wizards around him on the kerb thought he'd been the recipient of a simple Tripping Jinx, or he was reasonably certain they wouldn't have been so polite. Like a crystal clear path before him, Sirius knew he couldn't do that: scheduling out drinks and convenient alone time in alleys until the lad let him in close, and he would have to report on his timetable, where he lived, where he worked, maybe even where he cruised. Could he turn down what someone wanted on this type of assignment? The uncertainty shimmered like snitch wings and broke up the clear path into a future of Order assignments for his type of people. What if Severus hadn't actually wanted to -?
Sirius recoiled from the thought. He didn't need to go borrowing trouble, right now. There were only about two weeks of the summer holiday left, and then, he would have to face Severus and Regulus at Hogwarts. It's not like they'd be snogging in the middle of the Great Hall like some couples, but Sirius felt uncharacteristically un-brave about this. Dare he turn in his Gryffindor kit, but he felt like he was going to be sick if he had to sit in class next to Severus and pretend nothing had happened. All term. And yet, not going back to school featured The Order and an unknown amount of blackmail over being an unregistered Animagus. He wandered to the queue for one of the public Floo grates. This was, like, a lot to think about.
In the end, he couldn't risk being forced into The Order. Sixteen was cutting it close on avoiding a whole life order in Azkaban, but there was a slight chance that he could one day get parole if he turned himself in before he was of-age. Sirius stood in the grate and clearly – dear old Mum wasn't wrong about the importance of enunciation – stated his destination as he dropped a pinch of grey powder, "Improper Use of Magic Office, Animagus Registry Services."