Genetics • Sirius Black

Chapter Sixty Nine: Best Friends.

Best friends argued. Some even go as far as to say you are not truly best friends till you have. It's when the kindness drops, the veil of protection from the one you love, and your emotions are at their thinnest—one claw away from nothing at all but wet, hot anger.

Severus Snape and Lily Evans argued themselves red and blue. He was like rocks pelted at high castles; his words were uneven, and they hit hard and fast but never sharp. She was like fire. Her passion burned brighter than eyes, her voice quiet like a paper burning or loud like the roar of a forest fire.

But they never battled each other.

They loved one another too much for that.

"I thought we were supposed to be friends?" Severus's hush words were all that Lily could hear in the courtyard. "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging around with." It came out of her, forced out of her throat with her fire. "I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber. Mulciber." Her skin crawled at the thought of the smile, charming and pearly white. The sparkle of it over his shoulder as he left them the other night. His bright blue eyes tore the blanket off Freya Grey's body when he stared at her sleeping form. It sent a shutter in the body. Shaking her head, her brows pinched together. "What do you see in him, Sev? He's creepy. Do you know what he tried to do to Mary MacDonald the other day?" Her back pressed against a stone pillar, green eyes focused on him.

"That was nothing." He quickly dismissed it, just as Mulciber had done to him when asked about it. Sev's focused on his feat. "It was a laugh, that's all— "

A scoff came from Lily. "It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny— "

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" Jaw set, Sev remembers that time in the winter like it was yesterday. Yet, Remus and the others mingle like it never even happened. "They're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."

"They don't use Dark Magic, though." Her voice was hard. "And considering James saved your life, I think it's fair they get let slightly off the hook— "

It was a punch in the gut Sev could not recover from. His composure was lost, and his face turned red as a tomato. "Saved? Saved? Do you think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends too! You're not going to— I won't let you— "

"Let me? Let me?"

Instantly, Sev's wanted to pull his words back, but his tongue was still slipping over his new ones. "I didn't mean— I just don't want to see you made a fool of—" Sev was a brilliant man, but words were never his skill set. They tripped and trampled into each other, his thoughts never seeming to keep up with where his mind was. He detested— no, he despised James Potter with a burning passion, and him being subject to watching his best mates be swept up in brewing wolfsbane with the Marauders made his emotions peak.

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toe-rag. I don't need you to tell me that." Lily snapped, putting Sev out of his misery. And it was a shot of relief that bolted through him at her words. She hated James too. It soothed his wounds better than any salve or spell could. However, her bruises were still fresh. Her arms crossed her chest, and her attention was facing the fields. "But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them."

Sev watched for a moment, her face swimming with concern, conflicted. It melted him. "We won't go to the Slug Club thing with them. I'll keep my distance." He said softly. "I'll be cautious." It wasn't the quick remedy he hoped, and he knew he'd beg on his knees across glass if she asked. But Lily never would. "I don't play jokes like that, Lily."