Growing Up

Part 86.

"You must have it wrong. How did that even come up?"

"Narcissa said it as an insult. A fucking insult! Can you believe that?"  Sirius paced the room like a frightened child, his hands fumbling over each other as a way to disengage with the conversation, or maybe to distract him. Remus watched this and turned his head.

"Sort of," He shrugged. "Anyway, what else did she say?"

Sirius finally stopped, his quiet mumbling approaching an immediate halt.
"I don't know. I think I blanked."

"Right when we've resolved everything." Remus acknowledged Sirius' exaggerated sigh and continued.

"Do you think it's fair to be mad at him? It's far past a decade."

Sirius finally turned to look at him, his stance tense and almost weary.
"It is!" He became defensive. "And that's exactly why it's fair. A decade goes past, and he thinks we're just friends? that he never have an obligation to tell me?"

"Oi," Cutting him off, Remus shook his head and brought his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. The pressure between his closed eyes deflected any snarky expressions Sirius would plaster across his drained face.

"Look, I'll be as far in this as you prefer, but Harry goes nowhere near it. Do you understand?"

"That's fine." He nodded, looking down.

"And try to keep Albus out of it, he routinely makes things worse for sport."

Sirius turned around, determined to hike through the door and cause trouble as he normally did. He got halfway out the door before instinctually cocking his head to the side as if he was waiting for permission.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Remus responded to his hesitation. "Salt looks like sugar."

Sirius smiled and nodded. "J'ai goûte sucré, je le saurai."

Remus grinned in return and waved him off.
"Whatever that means"

***

Sirius opened the door to Snape's classroom only to see the still scene of an empty hall. Knowing Snape, he would get awfully tired of being around people that he would come back to his room and do whatever it was Snape did in his free time. That, Sirius didn't know much about, Severus was a quiet person. He took a seat in the leather upholstered chair and got comfortable, he could be there for a while. The silence of the room gave him no choice but to rehearse what he would ask Snape. The waiting was significant to whether the conversation would be a friendly dispute or a flaming circus show of rage. After fantasizing of how both would go start to finish, distracted from his initial thoughts; the door unlatched as the grumbling, pristine-robed man barged in. He didn't notice Sirius' presence for a few moments, but jumped at the voice behind him.

"What'll it be?" Sirius' voice did not crack but carried evenly across the room as he grinned.

"What are you doing?" His expression wavered between confusion and a blushing fright. He breathed deeply through his flaring nostrils before continuing to sort through a lousy and bent cardboard box.

"Gotta question for you."

"I could have an answer."

"Oh, you do."

Snape turned, now frustrated. His dark eyes were piercing, and the way his gaze landed on Sirius would scare anyone who wasn't familiar with his protective mechanism.

"You were there. You got there before I did."

Severus stood silently with smooth confusion, this was also something Sirius was particularly familiar with.
"What?"