Three O'clock in the Morning

Three O'clock in the Morning

In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Speaking Softly

Speak softly and carry a big stick. - Theodore Roosevelt

"Excuse me?" Sirius asked, honestly confused. He had never seen Snape act like this before.

"Just what do you think you are doing? What game are you playing?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about."

"I think you do," the professor hissed. "You've never acted this way before - not in school, not with your family, never. I want to know what's going on. Don't pretend that you actually care for James Potter's son."

"You. Arrogant. Bastard. I should curse you from here to the end of time." Sirius gripped his wand, intent on making Snape rue the day he was born.

Harry obviously thought that his stepfather was going to hit his professor because he latched onto Sirius' arm and begged him to stop. "No, Sirius, no! He doesn't understand! He doesn't know!"

Sirius stared at his godson in shock. "Did you hear what he just said, Harry? He said that I don't care."

"But he doesn't know. He thinks you're still Sirius. Even though I know you're not."

While this obviously made perfect sense to Sirius and Harry, Snape was quite plainly confused.

"Harry, do you care to explain that last statement?"

Harry stared at his professor innocently. Snape wondered, again, how Harry could be so naïve and trusting after all he had been through. "You see, Dr. Snape, Sirius really isn't Sirius. Well, he is Sirius, but he isn't."

Snape thought, how can Sirius not be Sirius but still be Sirius?

"He doesn't need to know all of this," Sirius growled.

"But he can help you!" Harry insisted. "He's really nice and -and you can keep an eye on him while he helps us. How about that?"

The convict eyed his old enemy warily. "Fine, but only if he agrees to it. It should be worth the sacrifice."

Snape stared at Harry and Sirius in surprise. Normally, if Harry tried to convince Sirius with anything remotely resembling an argument, Sirius would fly into a rage. Yet, here was Sirius Black agreeing to an argument presented by Harry Potter. The world had gone mad.

Sirius glanced out the window. "Well, it seems to be around noon. Is there anywhere around here we could have a luncheon and discuss this at the same time? I'm rather hungry."

"Its 11:30, Sirius," Harry responded, looking at his godfather's watch.

Snape froze. Harry should know better than to talk to his stepfather like that. Yet the expected retribution never came. "Is that what that thing is for, to tell time?" Sirius asked in amusement.

"Yeah, how else would you know the time?"

Sirius only shrugged. "There are many ways to do many things. And I usually choose a more unusual one."

Snape proceeded to lead the man who claimed to be Sirius Black and young Harry Potter out of the castle and into the village of Hogsmeade. The whole time Sirius muttered strange exclamations along the lines of: "So that's where Sir Cadogan went," and "I wonder what happened to the statue of the one-eyed witch - do they even have the statue of the one-eyed witch?"

"What's this place?"

"This must be some story to tell," Snape's voice dripped with pure, undiluted sarcasm, "if Sirius Black doesn't remember going to the Lion's Pride every Hogsmeade weekend from third year on."

Snape just growled at him and stalked into the restaurant. It comforted Sirius somewhat that certain things never changed, no matter what universe he was in. He would always hate Snape and Snape would always hate him. He paused to reflect on the pure pessimism of that thought, but Harry was all but dragging him into the restaurant.

Their delightful companion had reserved a private room in the back for them, so that Harry and Black could tell him their story uninterrupted. For the life of him, Snape could not figure out why Harry was so trusting of Black. He knew what their home life was like - only God knew how many times Harry had come into his office in tears because of something Black had said or done. Snape wondered what lies Black had told his stepson. He could not believe that a human being could torture a child like that. He doubted that Harry could weather the storm when he realized that his godfather had been lying - again.

After a quick luncheon, Snape ordered some tea for the three of them and told Black to tell his story.

For once the man had the decency to look sheepish. "I'm not quite sure where to begin, really."

"Why not the beginning? That's where stories usually start," Snape retorted bitterly.

If looks could kill, Snape would have been a pile of smoldering ash. "First and foremost, I am a wizard known as Sirius Orion Black."

Not quite what Snape had been expecting, but he kept his poker face. He shot a worried look to Harry who was staring at Sirius happily.

"For various reasons I really don't want to discuss, I was part of a major battle in my world and my cousin, Bellatrix, knocked me through an archway. The archway has mystical qualities. When I recovered from her stunning spell, Moony woke me on the sidewalk near the flat."

"Moony?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Odd name to call him, don't you think?"

"His nickname is none of your business."

"Let me get this straight," Snape replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You want me to believe that you are a wizard from another universe who happened to pop into this one during the middle of a battle? Delightful. I suppose you'll be turning me into a toad if I misbehave?"

Sirius took several deep breaths and tried to remember all the times Moony, and later Prongs, told him that violence and hexes were not the answers to life's problems. He tried to forget that Snape was unarmed and he could hex him into oblivion. "Yes."

Again, the conversation had taken a surprising turn. "I want more than that."

"He can turn into a dog."

Both men turned to stare at Harry. "Excuse me?" Snape queried, finding his tongue before Sirius did.

"He can turn into a dog. I saw him do it last night."

Snape glanced at Sirius with a raised eyebrow.

The blue-eyed wizard just shrugged. "I can do that, but I don't like to transfigure myself too often; it gets tiring. If we went somewhere where no one could see us, I might show you."

"Harry saw you last time," Snape pointed out.

"That - that was different. I had to do it," Sirius sputtered.

"You had to do it? Who forced you? It certainly wasn't Harry."

"No one forced me, you greasy git! I had to do it. If I couldn't."

"If you couldn't what?"

Trembling slightly, Sirius looked the counselor in the eye. "If I couldn't turn into a dog, if I wasn't an Animagus, I wouldn't be here today. If I were lucky, I would be a nutcase in prison, muttering to himself about his misdeeds. That's if I were lucky. If I wasn't lucky, I would have committed suicide some time ago or be an empty body without a soul. Harry and my Animagus skill are all that kept me alive."

Snape was shocked at Sirius' fearful passion. "That's still not good enough. Why would you be in a prison in the first place?"

Sirius was shocked at Snape's curiosity. Could he have another potential ally - this time in a sworn enemy? "I went to prison for murder."

"Really?" Snape replied easily. "You finally killed someone in a violent rage and then decided to face the consequences, did you?"

"No. I was sent to prison for murder in cold blood. I went to Azkaban for the murder of fifteen people, all of them innocents. I was also accused and sentenced for high treason. I had a life sentence."

Harry started to edge toward his teacher, grateful that Sirius sat across from him at the table, rather than next to him. Snape's expression did not change.

"I see. Who did you kill?"

"I never said I killed anyone," Sirius snapped. "I was wrongfully imprisoned, sent to jail without a trial - not even a mockery of one."

"Fine, who were you accused of murdering?"

Sirius sent a pitying glance to Harry and silently begged Snape to take back his last question. He had no such luck.

"Black, who were you accused of murdering?"

He could not believe he had allowed Snape to corner him like this. It was humiliating. Staring at the tablecloth, he replied, "They said I betrayed Lily and James Potter, leading them to their murder. As their murderer had been destroyed, they shifted the blame to me. Then I was found guilty of blowing up an entire street full of shoppers after killing Peter Pettrigrew. They claimed I was mad."

Snape took a moment to process this new information as well as the look of pure horror that was sweeping across Harry's face. "Why?"

"Pardon?"

"Why did they say you were mad?"

"I laughed when they arrested me. I laughed in my cell at the Ministry. I laughed all the way to Azkaban."

"I take it you laughed in prison as well?"

Sirius' face took on the cold, guarded expression Harry had been so frightened by the previous night. "No," he said coldly. "There is no laughter in Azkaban. In Azkaban, there is no love, no joy, no laughter, no hope, no happiness, no humor, no reminiscing about the good old days. In Azkaban, there is madness, despair, suicide, pain, and horror."

Recoiling from Sirius' sudden mood swing, Snape thought, My god! What did they do to him? This is not the Sirius Black I know! And then logic kicked in. "You said you had a life sentence. Yet, you sit in front of us and claim to have fought in a battle."

"I escaped."

Again, Snape raised his eyebrow.

"I had to get Peter away from Harry. It became an obsession."

"I thought Peter was dead."

"No, he faked his death and took on a life as Ron Weasley's pet rat."

Snape blinked. "Pet rat?"

Sirius rolled his eyes in frustration - Snape was usually annoying, but never stupid! "Peter can turn into a rat in the same way that I can turn into a dog. So he remained as a pet rat for twelve years."

"Uh-huh. And Harry was in danger because?"

Sirius felt like growling at the man, but refrained. He probably would have frightened Harry, anyway. "Peter was the traitor. Peter was the murderer. Peter framed me. If it hadn't been for that mangy little sewer rat."

"Delightful to know," Snape muttered. "Now, tell me again why I should believe you this time, Black? It isn't as if you haven't tried this sort of stunt before. I distinctly remember you trying to convince me that Remus Lupin was a werewolf while we were still in school. I have absolutely no reason to believe these ludicrous lies and every reason in the world to do everything in my power to keep Harry away from you. You obviously not in your right mind."

Harry, clearly trusting his teacher more than his stepfather, watched Sirius with fearful eyes and inched even closer to Snape.

"How dare you!" Sirius roared in anger, forgetting that they were in a restaurant, even if it was a private room. He whipped out his wand. "Silencio!"

Snape tried to retort, but no sound came out of his mouth. In fear, he clutched at his throat and stared at Sirius. Harry had tears sliding out of his eyes as he shook his professor's shoulder, vainly trying to make him speak. He turned to face his stepfather, looking pained and betrayed at the same time.

With his wand still held levelly at Snape's throat, Sirius calmly asked, "If I remove the spell, will you refrain from insulting me, my sanity, and my godson? So help me, if you say anything like that again - or try to take Harry away - I will not be responsible for my actions.

Snape nodded quickly, his face a lesson in fear.

"Sonorus," Sirius murmured.

"What in all hell was that that?" Snape spat.

"That was a first year charm. It is quite simple - but also useful if you can take your enemy by surprise. It is often the simple things that the enemy doesn't expect. Moody taught me when I apprenticed myself to him."

Snape snorted.

"Do you believe in magic now?" Sirius taunted.

"I am not stupid, Black."

"Could have fooled me."

"Stop it! Both of you!"

Again, Sirius and Snape stared at Harry in utter and complete shock: Snape because he was defending Sirius and Sirius because he was defending Snape. Would wonders never cease?

"Sir, do you believe us now?" Harry asked politely.

Snape glanced from Sirius to Harry. "I might."

"You might? You might?!" Sirius breathed. "I just removed your ability to talk, and you might think I'm a wizard?"

Unconsciously, Harry took a step closer to Snape, just as Snape moved to put himself between Sirius and Harry. "I might," he repeated. "I've seen enough that I'm curious, but not enough to trust you."

Still glaring at his rival, Sirius conceded, "Understandable."

"Show him how you can turn into a dog," Harry suggested.

"Not in a public place."

"Why doesn't he come back to the flat with us, then? Mum will be with the Headmistress all day, anyway. You can show us some magic at home."

As much as Sirius did not want to bring Snape into his home - whatever his home might be - Harry had a point. "Fine. Will you come?"

Snape merely raised an eyebrow sardonically and nodded.