Kicked Puppy (Sirius Black)

Chapter 5

It took Sirius two days to find Snape alone so he could hex him.

He found the little bastard in the bathroom, washing his hands carefully. "Hey, Snivellus," he shouted, raising his wand. He waited for the git to turn around before hitting him with a stunning spell, which Snape deflected.

"What the hell!" Snape yelled. He shot a blue spell at Sirius, who leapt out of the way. "You asshole!" Another spell flew past Sirius's head; just bad aim, that time.

"What gave you the terrible idea of following Joby up to Gryffindor tower?" Sirius growled. He tossed a paralyzing spell at his opponent.

Snape deflected it and whipped it back at him. "And why should I have to tell you this?"

Sirius charged at him and launched him into the wall with so much force, he broke a mirror with Snape's spine. "You have no right to follow people around like a bloody creep! No doubt you've joined You-Know-Who and his band of racist lunatics." Sirius pushed himself away from Snape, who had readied another spell on his wand.

"Shut up, you rich little twerp! You have no idea what I've had to do to get there!" Snape flicked a white spell at Sirius, which almost hit him--but someone else interfered before it got to Sirius.

He whirled around to see his little brother standing dominantly in the doorway of the washrooms. "Reggie! What have you been up to, as of late?" A crazy grin spread across his lips.

"Shut your mouth, Sirius," said Regulus, making a face. "I'm taking you both to see Slughorn and McGonagall." He dropped his wand into his robes and seized them both by their ties, causing them to walk backwards. "This is the last time I'm going to stop you from killing each other, I swear," he murmured angrily. "Could you not leave each other alone for at least a week? That would be monumental." Regulus veered up two flights of stairs and shouldered through a door at the end of a bright hallway lit by blue flames on the walls. "Professors," he announced. Sirius couldn't see anyone he was talking to. "They were going to kill each other in the bathrooms."

"Oh, not again." It was McGonagall. "Why is it always you, Snape? With either Potter or Black. Dear, dear. Sit them down, Mister Black."

The two were tossed into seats behind them and were turned around to face the professor. She looked astonishingly annoyed, with proper reason.

"Sorry, Professor," Sirius began. "It--"

"It most certainly will happen again, Black. You full-well know it," she scolded. "Don't try to tell me it won't." She was stood straight up, and her fingertips lay powerfully on the desk in front of her. Her tall, green witches' hat sat next to her arms, as if she had just smacked it down onto the table. Her eyes bore into the boys', terrifying as always.

"Actually, ma'am," Sirius said carefully, raising his finger to make a point, "I was going to tell you that the reason I ever came up to him was to ask him why he had followed Joby around the school like the slimy creep he is." His head turned to glare at Snape, who hissed in return.

"You attacked me without warning, you ass!" Snape jumped to his feet, but before he could do anything, Regulus shoved him back down to his chair.

"God, you idiot," the younger boy grumbled. Without hesitation, he raised his head and addressed Slughorn, who had been cautiously waiting at the other end of the Head-Of-House's room with none other than Joby herself, who had her arms behind her back. "May I request that these insufferable potatoes be separated at all possible times?"

Slughorn shuffled forward and nodded. "I believe you have a good idea, Mister Black. Do you believe it could be possible to keep these boys apart?" He turned sheepishly to McGonagall as the two other Heads tuned into the conversation. Slughorn's hands clenched together around his wand.