Hovering near the door, Severus contemplated if this was the right thing to do. Actually, no, he knew it was the right thing, but he wondered if he should be here. He had other things he could have been doing. Marking more abysmal essays, scrubbing some cauldrons, there was a list. Somewhere. All right. Probably not. Sighing, he hung his head before he knocked against the heavy oak door.

A moment later, Remus Lupin opened the door to his office.

"Severus?" the man said with narrowed eyes, clearly puzzled by his presence.

"I wonder if I might have a word with you?"

"Certainly." Lupin stepped aside, allowing him inside. "Do you want a cup of tea or something else to drink?"

Severus shook his head, though. "I won't be long." He watched Lupin take a seat across from him at his desk and decided to get on with the reason he was there. "When I'm near you, I recall the day I came face-to-face with you in your . . . other form in the Shrieking Shack. I can try to ignore it as much as I can, but deep down I am" he winced before he saying " . . . concerned with my safety."

"Severus, you don't need to—"

He held up a hand. "I do need to explain, though. I've been unfair to you over the years."

"We all made mistakes back then," Lupin replied kindly. "Mine being that I didn't stand up to James and Sirius whenever they went after you. I should have."

"You were wanting to be accepted, something of which I can understand entirely."

"It doesn't excuse my behavior, though."

"No, but you learned from your mistakes," Severus pointed out quietly. "You've shown that this year with how you've handled your classroom. I, however, became a bitter bully."

"And yet you still get the girl, Snape," a familiar voice drawled from behind Severus. "How about that, huh?" The man then chuckled quietly. "Sorry to barge in, Remus, but your door was open."

Black. Everywhere he turned now there was Black. "I should go," Severus stated, moving to rise.

"Don't leave on my account," Sirius said. "After all, it's not like I don't owe you an apology, right?" Wearing his usual aristocratic attire, he shrugged. "I mean, let's be honest. I was a git to you. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the reason, or one of the reasons, that you went to the dark side."

Severus's eyes narrowed on him. "How typical of you, Black. To think that everything that happens in the universe is solely because of you."

"That's not . . ." Sirius scoffed. "That's not what I was saying, and you know it."

Turning away from him, Severus said to Remus, "We'll finish this conversation later."

"You can finish it now, Snape," Black argued. "You don't have to run with your tail between your legs just because I'm here."

"Sirius," Remus scolded, giving his friend a pointed look.

"What? He doesn't have to leave. We can be cordial with one another."

Cordial? Now there was something he didn't ever think he'd hear from Black's mouth.

"So, just sit down again, Snape. It's all good."

Severus bit his tongue to keep from snapping back at the other wizard. As if he needed to be ordered about by Black of all people.

"How is Borealis doing anyway?"

Forcing himself not to react to Sirius negatively, namely punch him in the face, Severus replied, "She's as to be expected."

"Meaning?" the other man replied expectantly.

"She's alive, Black. That's all you need to know." Honestly, what did it matter to Black anyway? Aurora was his fiancée, not Black's.

"You know, I get you're annoyed by my asking, but I'm only asking because I care about her."

Severus's eyes darted to him instantly. That was it! "I would kindly appreciate it if you didn't act as if she's your girlfriend, Black, considering that I am the one engaged to her after all."

"There's no need to be jealous, Snape. I was just asking—"

"There's all the reason to be jealous, Black!" he spat back. "You and James always tried to take anything I enjoyed and destroy it."

"That's not what I'm—"

"I don't care what you're doing, Black, or why. I love her, and I will be damned if you—"

"You think I don't know that you love her? That she loves you?" Black scoffed. "I could be at my most charming, and she still wouldn't even look my way. She's all about you. Always has been."

Well, now he felt foolish. "Good." Severus truly didn't know what else to say than that.

"You know what?" Black said aloud. "I've been quiet for too long."

"Sirius," Remus warned, shaking his head sharply at him.

"No, Remus. He needs to understand just how much she loves him."

"He knows."

Black seemed to blow off his friend, though, and pushed on.

"She cried herself to sleep after she lost her baby," declared Black. "I had thought then that she'd be okay for a bit sleeping it off, but she cried your name, Severus. Not once, not twice, but repeatedly. Do you know how heartbreaking that is to hear? Someone cry out another person's name when you're holding them, because they want that person and not you?"

"Once again, Black, you make it all about—"

"She wanted you, Snape, not me," Sirius interrupted. "She's always wanted you. She used to defend you to us sometimes. More so before you became a full-blown Death Eater but even after. I could never understand how she could still care for you after you joined them. The bastards that hurt her, not once but twice. I had always wondered if it was a pissing contest between her and Lily, who could forgive your sins more. It was always her, though."

"What's your point, Black?" He was growing tired of this conversation.

"My little brother used to fancy her. Did you know?" He scoffed. "Of course you didn't. Reg always thought I didn't know, but I did. He'd leave her flowers sometimes, which she once thought you had done. Only once did she think it, because you promptly shut her down and made her feel like an idiot when she went to thank you. To thank you."

Severus frowned. How did Black know that? He hadn't even recalled that until Black had mentioned it and even then it was only a fuzzy recollection.

"I thought after you joined them that she'd definitely choose Reg instead, but she didn't. She kept after you and just stayed friends with him. He never told her, I think, when he joined." Sirius shook his head. "All this time I thought that maybe somehow she had finally woken up to see what a good man my brother was, but she knew that he was good, didn't she? Just as she knew deep down you were."

"What are you going on about, Black?"

"Reg, my smart little brother," Sirius said with a proud smile. "He figured out what old Smelly was up to with the Horcruxes and switched one in order to destroy it. Dumbledore left me a letter telling me all about it. I knew Reg had gotten himself in deep, and that he knew it too. But I didn't know that he was, you know, brave and shit. My little brother."

In the past, Severus would have replied that it was a little too late for Black to be going on about Regulus now as Regulus was dead, but Severus wasn't that man anymore. Or at least he wasn't trying to be that man. He'd let that sleeping dragon rest and allow Black his moment.

"Sirius, I think we should let Severus go now. I'm certain he has many things to do," Remus said gently giving a nervous smile.

"My little brother . . . he sacrificed himself for all of us. And we didn't even know it."

Inclining his head, Severus nodded hesitantly. Without the anger now, he could see the heartbreak in the other man's face and felt uncomfortable in front of Black. How did one heal such tremendous wounds?

Black had finally learned what had happened to his brother, but it didn't seem to give him any sort of solace or peace with it. Why should it, though? Everyone had believed for years that Regulus was a coward (Severus included) when he was so far from it.

"Your brother, Black, was a hero."

"Damn straight he was," Sirius replied, nodding jerkily.

Sighing inwardly, Severus quietly said, "He'd be glad to know that you were proud of him."

"You think?" Sirius seemed to be holding on desperately to those words, as if he thought it would bring Regulus back. Which it wouldn't.

"He always wanted you to be proud of him." Severus then paused before he added, "You and your parents." He watched Black nod. "Everything he did, he did to continue the Black legacy. He just never was certain if that meant your version of the legacy or your parents' version." Severus turned to Lupin then and inclined his head politely to the other man. "If you'll forgive me?"

"Of course, Severus. Thank you." Remus glanced to Sirius then. "Come on, Sirius. I'll get you some of that whiskey you enjoy."

Without another words, Severus turned away and left.

He soon found himself wondering the corridor aimlessly. He considered heading back to his dungeons and retreating there, but decided against it. He needed to be around others in order to forget the look of sheer devastation on Black's face. No one should feel that much heartbreak in one's life. He then frowned. Never in a million years would he have believed that he'd feel sorry for Black, but he did.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Luna Lovegood approaching from down one of the long windy corridors and winced inwardly. No doubt, she'd say something to him. Though, she was always good for a distraction, and he did need one.

"Time, it's a funny thing, isn't it, sir?" Luna asked with a bright smile as soon as she neared him.

So was her uncanny ability to read him, he though silently. "So it is, Miss Lovegood." His eyes scanned behind her to see if anyone else was around, but saw no one. "Curfew will start soon. You best be on your way back to the tower." Actually, curfew wasn't for another twenty minutes.

She nodded and laughed softly. "That's precisely what the Portanox said, sir."

"The what?" He then kicked himself for indulging her.

"The Portanox." She glanced around for a moment before she leaned in and lowered her voice so only he would hear her. "They don't seem to like rule breaking for some reason."

Severus forced a polite smile and nodded at her. Of course they didn't. He didn't like it either for that matter, but of course he wasn't some fictional character in her mind either.

"Good night, Professor." She then happily skipped away, leaving him in peace.