The Death Debt

Chapter 7

Sirius didn't quite know how he made it back to Snape's house. It felt like he apparated; he took off running, away from the church, blinked his eyes and suddenly found himself leaping up the front steps, his calves burning, his breath coming in pants. He was still tangled up beneath the invisibility cloak when he threw himself against the front door, wrenching it open.

Snape was hunched over on the worn couch, his hands twisted into a knot and shoved between his shaking knees. He jerked his head up when the door opened, his eyes darting around, trying to find Sirius. He looked deathly white.

"So– so it's done, yeah?" Snape stuttered. "They'll probably telephone. Or, or no, they might send someone around to tell us."

Sirius was only half-listening as he yanked the invisibility cloak off of his head and stuffed it back into his coat. He must have looked like a crazed, wild man– hair disheveled, his eyes ringed with white. He felt like he was crazy. "I couldn't do it!" He blurted out, tugging on his curls.

Snape froze. "What do you–"

"I couldn't do it!" He shouted, cutting him off. "I can't kill someone! He's a whole human being! I can't do it! I won't!"

Snape was in his face, his twitchy hands flying everywhere, flapping in front of his face, pulling on his own hair. "Shut up! My mum's asleep! Do you want her to hear you!" He grabbed the ends of his greasy locks and pulled; Snape looked as crazy as Sirius felt. They must have some shared insanity. A folie à deux. "What do you mean you can't do it!? Black, you have to do it! You'll die if you don't!"

The reminder made something inside Sirius snap. A sudden, swift anger – fuelled by that all-encompassing fear – overwhelmed him. He pushed Snape, forcing him to stumble back.

"Why did you even drag me into your sick games, huh!?" he demanded, reaching out to push him again. Snape knocked his hands away. "You should have just killed him yourself instead of trying to force me to do it!"

Snape pushed him back. "I can't! I don't have an invisibility cloak! I can't poison him! I can't curse him! The aurors would know it was me! They would cart me off to Azkaban! I can't leave Ma, she can't take care of herself! She's like a child, she's never adapted to the Muggle world!"

Sirius swung out with his fist, aiming for the bruise that he had gotten last night. Snape managed to dodge, ducking quick enough so that his knuckles only grazed against his ear. Snape darted forward, like a viper striking, keeping his body low as he wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist and let their momentum propel them to the ground. Sirius's back hit against the couch arm before landing on the floor, Snape's weight forcing the air from his lungs.

"Fuck you!" Sirius spat at him. "You're sick! Disgusting! Freak!"

For all that Sirius was bigger and heavier than Snape, the Slytherin was a squirmy bastard. He managed to straddle his waist, crooked teeth bared in a hateful expression. "You tried to kill me!" He shouted back. He pulled back his fist and slugged him across the face.

His nose was still tender from when he had gotten punched and robbed by those thugs yesterday, and this second blow made him see stars. The world flashed bright and hot for a second, and then some base, primal instinct had him rolling, shoving Snape off of him. They knocked into the bookcase, showering them in a rain of paperback novels. Sirius ignored it and made a grab for Snape's wrists, their feet and elbows making the bookcase rattle with each strike.

Sirius had only just managed to pin Snape to the floor and leaned in to hiss, "You're going to find a way to free me from this Debt, or I'll–"

"Look out!"