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Sirius couldn’t believe that Snape had somehow gotten worse than he’d been with Harry in previous years (including the fact that he nearly failed Harry in his third year and read out ‘Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache’ out loud to the entire class) but deliberating getting rid of his work – giving him constantly failing marks for no reason and attempting to get him in detentions, too.
It makes Sirius furious.
It makes Harry furious.
“I hate him – why is he giving me such hell?” Harry questions. “Sure, I shouldn’t have spied on his memories, but I was more hurt about it than he was, and he’s been he’s been using my memories against me for months. Plus, he threw me out of the room – I had a bruise!”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Sirius growls. He’s eager to get his hands on Snape for touching his kid.
“That’s because I didn’t want you to storm the castle,” Harry pauses and gives him a look. “You won’t, will you?”
Sirius doesn’t answer right away, but Remus, who’s beside him, says, “Of course he won’t.”
Remus nudges Sirius and he nods. “I promise that I won’t storm the castle.” Then he looks at Remus, “But you’re not stopping me from having words with him the next time he shows up.”
“You can’t do that either,” Harry states.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s just going to take it out on me,” Harry retorts. “I mean, don’t you get it? That’s what he’s been doing for years. The moment I stepped into Hogwarts, his petty revenge against you and dad was centered on me. Or did you forget everything I’ve told you about my years at Hogwarts with him as my professor?”
Sirius frowns. He hadn’t forgotten and he’s still furious about that. Harry didn’t deserve this behavior from Snape. His only crime was being born to be James and Sirius’ son and their legacy. It’s not fair at all for Harry to suffer because he’s their kid.
“I can’t just let him get away with this. It’s not fair for you to suffer this nonsense just for being my kid,” Sirius states, fiercely.
“As much as I love that you want to beat him to a pulp for the way he treats me – he’s just going to make it worse if you do.”
Sirius frowns. He knows that Harry’s right and it’s not like either of them have any power right now to do anything about it. “I’d tell you skip class, but then you’d end up in detention and we don’t want that.”
“Not even to beat your record?” Harry teases.
“No one could beat his record,” Remus offers.
Sirius gives him a look as Harry laughs. “That’s okay, we’re better off with you not trying to beat my record.”
“Yeah, probably for the best. Still sucks that I’m stuck with scars on my hand that I’ll never get rid of,” Harry frowns. “I just – I keep thinking about how I tried to not be in her way and get attention, but it didn’t matter.” He sighs. “I guess it’s the same thing with Snape. Didn’t have to do anything wrong to end up as a target.”
Sirius frowns. “I’m really sorry, kid. And I’m sure if James were here, he’d tell you the same thing. You don’t deserve to be punished for something that we did. The fighting back and forth between peers is different to the situation now. He’s your professor, he shouldn’t be doing these things to you.”
“I don’t blame you, Pads.”
“I know you don’t,” Sirius assures him. “But you just deserve better.”
“I think I believe you,” Harry smiles. “But I don’t think there’s anything we can really do about it.”
Sirius frowns. He hates that he can’t do anything for his kid. That he’s stuck in hiding and unable to do anything other than offer words of comfort. It’s just not fair.
Remus nudges him again. “Maybe it’s better not to talk about it?”
“Er, right,” Sirius nods. “Er, maybe we can talk about something else?”
“Like what?”
“Well, how are your other classes?”
“Awful. Every professor is giving a ridiculous amount of essays and work and I don’t even have any distractions anymore. No quidditch, no DA, and no girl.”
Sirius is disappointed that Harry’s life which hadn’t been terribly great, but had been relatively good considering the situation, had taken a dive down the toilet in very little time.
“It’s only a for a couple of more months and…”
“And you’ve got O.W.L.s to focus on,” Remus finishes.
Harry frowns. “Are you trying to suggest that I should be focused on O.W.L.s with no distractions at all?”
Sirius shrugs. “Well, it’s not like there’s a lot of options and I just want you to make it through this year and hopefully figure something out this summer.”
“Can’t I just come home now?” Harry asks, a whine to his voice.
“I would love nothing more, but if that was an option… I never would’ve let you suffer for this long,” Sirius states. “All you must do is finish your O.W.L.s before you can leave Hogwarts. So, it’s best to ignore the Snape of it all and focus on studying for your exams.”
“What about – how am I supposed to deal with classes where the professor is against me?”
The idea that Snape is so dead set against Harry that he is literally ruining his work that he’s forced to do in class is something that Sirius can’t comprehend…
“Well, the good news is that Snape’s marks for you won’t matter,” Remus states, plainly. “Just like Umbridge’s won’t matter. The only marks that matter are the official testers’ marks. So, whatever he does, just ignore it the best you can.”
“How am I meant to know how I’m doing, then? I mean with DADA I’ve pretty much led the class for ages – hell, I was like the professor this year. So, I’m not really worried, honestly, but with Potions I’ve had Snape for five years and barely scraped by. I know it’s pretty important for a lot of careers – Hermione’s always going on about it when I complain and Cho did, too. So, I mean – I need to have some idea of how I am doing.”
“You make a good point,” Sirius states. “Why don’t you give samples of your potions to Dobby, and we could mark them here? I wasn’t the best at potions, but I can test them well enough.”
“We could always ask Bill or Kingsley to help as well,” Remus states. “They both know how unfair Snape’s been to Harry.”
“Great idea.”
“Really? That would probably help.”
“I’m sure it will.”
Before anything more could be said, they hear Ron’s voice, and Harry signs off with a quick, “Talk later.”
Well, at least Sirius can do something to help him, but he’s definitely not letting Snape off the hook for this. He’ll figure out a way to get Snape to leave Harry alone. Somehow.
***
“Snape, a word?” Sirius asks, as he goes to leave.
“I am not here to entertain you, Black. I have places to be.”
“It’ll only take a moment.”
“Fine.”
Sirius gestures for them to go to the drawing room. He knows that he may infuriate Snape further, but he has to do something. He won’t apologize for the shithead he was, largely because he didn’t feel Snape was all that innocent, but he will lay down the law.
Snape crosses the room to the far side, admiring the family tree that Sirius detests so much. Sirius closes the door and leans against it.
“Look, I know about what happened at your last occlumency lesson or lack thereof –”
“And how could you possibly know that?”
“I have my ways,” Sirius states, not willing to give up the mirror. He’s not about to lose his only connection to Harry in this moment. “The point is – I know. And while Harry shouldn’t have gone into the pensieve, you should understand that he might’ve been … curious. He wasn’t respecting your privacy, but you haven’t exactly been respecting his.”
“It’s my job to test his abysmal shields at every lesson, if I happen to find some rather amusing memories, well, he should have better shields and he’d get the privacy he seeks.”
Sirius grinds his teeth. He knows that Snape’s been terrible at teaching Harry to protect those memories and mocking him using them.
“We’re not going to get into your terrible teaching skills or whether or not you should at least be respecting him by not mocking him with the information you learn. That’s not why we’re here.”
“Then get to the point, Black. The moment has passed, and I have things to do unlike you.”
“The point, Snape, is that I know what he saw and while I understand that he shouldn’t have seen it – I’d rather he hadn’t either – it doesn’t give you free reign to purposely destroy his work. You are his professor whether you like or not and you are responsible for one part of his education, which you are throwing down the drain because you hate me and James. Hate us all you want, fight me if you want, I don’t give a damn, but don’t take it out on my son.”
“He’s not your son.”
“Actually, he is,” Sirius says, tossing a copy of Harry’s birth certificate at him.
He had been looking for it so that he could finally take Harry away. He could petition for asylum in several countries and with being listed on Harry’s birth certificate and Harry having his O.W.L.s, he could take him away a lot easier than if he just said, ‘I am his godfather’.
“But that isn’t the point. Your fight, your hatred isn’t with Harry. He’s done nothing to you. He’s just a child. You wanna hate us – hate us, but don’t hate him.”
“It’s his fault she’s gone,” Snape says, so quietly that Sirius is sure that he wasn’t meant to hear it.
It infuriates him. They had always assumed, always wondered, but the idea that he blamed Harry for Lily’s death when he was just a baby…
“You have to be kidding me! You blame Harry because Lily was killed after some dumbarse death eater gave Voldemort half a prophecy that condemned them?”
“You don’t understand!” Snape says, losing his temper and any semblance of that calm, cruel, calculated demeaner. “I loved her, and I lost her because of him!”
Sirius scoffs. “I – I don’t understand? Me? The man that lost his husband, best friend, and son in one night? I went insane and decided that just because I couldn’t kill Voldemort that I would kill that rat and in turn, I ruined my life and my kid’s life! You think I don’t understand? I am probably the only person that does understand!”
Snape is panting heavily, but silent as if he just gave a confession that he never meant to give.
“I loved her, too. Maybe I didn’t love her like you did, and I definitely don’t love her like I love James, but I love her, too. We were best friends since we were eleven. I know her heart, and I know she’d be furious that you’re blaming her son for her death as if there wasn’t a death eater out there that put the target on her kid, a rat that gave up their location, and a madman that did the actual killing.”
No response.
“You disgust me,” Sirius spits. “I thought I couldn’t hate you any more but this just proves how deep I could hate someone. And the point stands, leave her son alone and stop sabotaging him. Do your damn job or face me and the wrath of Lily in the afterlife because you know she’s watching and is as disgusted as I am about the way you treat her son.”
He moves and opens the door.
Without a word Snape sweeps out.
***
The following Monday, Harry calls him on the mirror as always.
“Did you say something to Snape?”
Not knowing if he should admit it or not, since it depends on whether or not it yielded positive results, Sirius asks, “Why?”
“Because he actually gave me a fair grade. He didn’t vanish my potion, my recent paper had a decent grade, no mark downs for stupid things, and he actually noted something I could learn – it was still said rudely, but it’s progress. I didn’t have him breathing down my neck for once!”
Sirius smiles. Maybe his little confrontation yielded the desired result. “Well, then, yes, I did, but before you get mad, I just sat him down and said he could hate me or James, but it’s not fair to hate you and I think he really took my words to heart.”
“Clearly,” Harry retorts. “I know you technically broke your promise, but thanks, Pads. It means a lot to finally have someone step in.”
“Happy to be of service.”
“Good.”