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

Never Had a Foe

He makes no friends who never had a foe. - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Sirius Black opened the door to his apartment and ushered in his stepson, Harry Potter, and his unlikely and unwilling ally, Severus Snape. The flat did not feel like it belonged to him, no surprise there, as he'd only lived in it for a day. Yet, the oddest part was welcoming Snape. Never would have believed that this would happen. If someone had told him two days before that he would welcome Snape into his home with open arms, Sirius would have sent them straight to St. Mungo's. Perhaps 'open arms' is a bit extreme, he thought quietly. But they could not expect him to be friends with the prat - could they?

"Well," Snape said, impatiently.

Sirius jerked his head up. "What?"

Snape stared at him as if he were an idiot of the lowest caliber, not an unusual thing. "Are you going to show us some more magic?"

With a glare, Sirius replied, "What do you want to see?" Then he wickedly grinned and offered, "I can show you Capelli Dentellare. James and I created it ourselves, while we were still at school."

Snape did not like the look in the other man's eye - nor did Harry for that matter - but nodded his agreement anyway. Foolish man.

Sirius, still grinning ferally, brandished his wand and pointed his wand square between Snape's eyes. Snape began to blink nervously. "Capelli Dentellare!"

A pale rose light shot out of Sirius' wand and encompassed Snape for an instant before disappearing. Harry began to snigger. Snape's hair was an interesting shade of pink. Actually, it was interesting shades of pink. It was mostly a rich magenta, with highlights of rose, blush, and coral. His eyebrows, eyelashes, and five-o'clock shadow were a delicate shade of fuchsia. The visible hair on his arms was a rich salmon.

"Well, aren't you going to do something? That light was pretty, but not magic."

"That cardigan contrasts nicely with your hair," Sirius snorted.

Snape noticed that Harry was trying not to double over with laughter.

"What did you do?" Snape snarled, with a note of panic in his voice.

"Look in the mirror." He pointed the way to the bathroom.

Snape ran to the bathroom and let out a screech. "What did you do!"

"Do you normally have pink hair?" Sirius catcalled. "I must admit, it looks lovely on you, warms up your pale skin. That black hair does nothing for you."

Running back to the living room/dining room, Snape demanded, "Turn it back this instant! I look absurd!"

"Do you believe me yet, or should I put you in a tutu?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Ballo Viola!"

With another flash of light, Snape stood before them wearing a beautiful purple ball gown, complete with styled hair, jewelry, make-up and high heels. The gown was in the style of the 18th century, complete with corset and parasol. Snape was livid. So livid, in fact, that his face nearly matched his hair.

"Nice legs."

Harry was a very pale white. "Change him back, Sirius. That wasn't very nice."

Sirius laughed. "Hold on. I'm enjoying myself here. I haven't been able to do that in fourteen years."

Snape looked as if he were about to explode, or at least leap at the man and snap his neck.

"Sirius, please change him back," Harry quietly begged. "I don't think he likes looking like that."

Sirius looked at his godson, who seemed to be very upset. "Finite Incantum."

When Snape realized that he was back in his own clothing - a sea foam cardigan, black slacks, and black, greasy hair - he looked back at Sirius with mistrust in his eyes. "I believe that you are a wizard now, Mr. Black. Yet, I have no reason to believe that you can take care of Harry. In fact, you seem to have the maturity level of an eight-year-old."

"I ended the spell, didn't I?" Sirius retorted. "You agreed to the pink hair - and you were just asking for the purple dress. When Harry asked that I remove the spell, I did."

"You gave me pink hair and a purple dress!"

"It took Prongs and me six months to perfect that spell! Do you know how hard it is to give a person highlights when they aren't there to begin with? Given, the purple dress is an old stand-by for girls who can't find formal robes."

"People use those things?"

Sirius gave Snape a withering look. "Of course, people use spells. What else do they exist for? James and I taught the girls in our year that hair spell. It isn't that hard to change the color." He pointed the wand at his own head. "Capelli Di Rame."

A soft copper light encased Sirius and, when it was gone, Sirius stood in front of them with rich, red hair. In fact, it looked a lot like Lily's. Then he murmured, "Finite Incantum."

Snape glared at Sirius, but he could not deny that his school day rival had destroyed his argument in an instant - with a few garbled words Snape did not even pretend to understand. That was more embarrassing than the purple dress. He looked to Harry, to see what his favorite pupil had to say on the subject.

"Sirius?" Harry implored softly, sensing that the argument between his guardian and his teacher had died, for the moment at least. "Would you turn into a dog again? I really liked it when you did last night."

Sirius smiled at Harry and nodded. Snape was shocked to see genuine joy light up Sirius' face when his godson asked him to perform some more magic. He grabbed Sirius by the shoulder before he could transform.

"What kind of dog do you turn into, Mr. Black?"

"A black shepherd," Harry answered at the same time Sirius responded, "A Grim."

"What's a Grim?"

Sirius looked at Harry, obviously startled by the question. "You don't know what a Grim is?" He glanced at Snape. "Do you?"

Snape shook his head. "A wizard dog of some kind, I suppose? Did you keep one as pet or something?"

Sirius snorted, but his face remained sober. "No, it isn't really a dog at all. A Grim - it looks like a dog, something like a cross between a domesticated dog and a wolf, but - well, no one knows what it really is. I suppose I could be some kind of canine, but everyone assumes I'm a Grim, so I do think I am one."

"Why don't people know what Grims are?" Harry's green eyes were innocent, belying his hard fifteen years. "Are they hard to catch?"

"No. Well, yes, I suppose they are hard to catch. No one has actually caught a Grim before. The Grim foretells death - seeing a Grim lets you know that you'll die soon. It's really rare for more than one person to see a Grim at the same time."

"Then why on Earth do you choose to turn into one? Do you like frightening people?" Snape snapped.

Another cold look was shot in Snape's direction. "I don't choose. Every Animagi has but one animal form. Mine is the Grim. Prongs - James and Remus always claimed it was because I was one of the best Aurors." Sirius shrugged. "I don't know."

"What's an Auror?"

Sirius furrowed his brow. "Oh, what did Arthur call them? Please men?"

"Policemen?"

"That's it! I was something like a policeman."

"But you killed people?"

"Death Eaters," Sirius clarified. "We were having a war and everyone had to fight. If you didn't join either side, you could be almost sure that one would kill you. In those days, you didn't set your foot near the Dark unless you wanted to be sentenced to Azkaban."

Harry shivered. He did not like it when Sirius used that cold voice, the one that Sirius always used when he talked about that prison, Azkaban. Azkaban must be a terrible place to make Sirius act like that. His Sirius - his stepfather - never closed himself off to the world the way this man did, no matter how upset or angry he became. And Harry would know; he made his stepfather angry quite often.

Snape, unnerved again by Sirius' comments on his own universe, stepped back and let the man perform his magic. With a slight popping noise, Sirius transformed into a dog. Harry was right in saying that the Grim looked like a black lab. He had short, soft-looking black fur and the long ears of a hound, but Sirius was too large to be a commonly domesticated dog and his eyes remained a haunted blue. Snape could understand why people would be afraid of the Grim.

Yet, Sirius, who could never remain serious for long (unless he was in or discussing Azkaban), had no intention of playing any more tricks on either Snape or Harry that day. It had been nice to humiliate Snape again, but when he was a dog, very little mattered. Harry always mattered, of course, but in a more distant way. He quietly sniffed at Snape and Harry before settling down in the corner, still as a dog.

Snape and Harry sat on the couch and began to discuss the new possibilities opened by magic - and alternate dimensions. Harry was a bit nervous to let his new stepfather go, even if it was to return him to his rightful universe. He known Sirius for less than a day now, but preferred him over the old Sirius Black more by the minute. This man, if distant and immature and slightly disturbed, obviously cared a great deal for him and Harry reveled in the new found attention. Sirius told him he could make new friends - not that he did not deserve them. Sirius took him out to lunch and tried to understand his problems. Yes, Sirius had yelled at him, but Harry was used to that by now and Sirius had not used cutting, hard words. All in all, Harry voted that they forget about magic, alternate dimensions, mystical arches, and pink hair.

Snape could understand his pupil's feelings - God knew he would feel the same way if he were in Harry's situation. As much as Snape wanted to forget pink hair and purple corsets, magic seemed to come as second nature to this new Sirius Black; the man appeared to take comfort in his abilities. The last time he had seen Black laugh like that was while they were in school, before James and Lily started dating. If magic could bring a man happiness, far be it from Dr. Severus Snape to deny him. Sirius Black seemed to have enough trouble in his life - fighting a war, suffering a life term in prison, enduring betrayal, and watching the death of his closet friends. Snape had thought his life had been hard, but perhaps it was easier to have few friends to begin with rather than being torn from lifelong bonds.

For a long time, Harry and his teacher sat in the living room in silence. Not realizing that he had been dozing slightly, Snape woke with a start.

"Harry, did you see your stepfather spend a great deal of time in his dog form last night?"

Harry jerked his head out of the mythology book he had been reading. "I'm not sure. I only saw him like that for maybe ten minutes. He could have slept most of the night as a dog, I wouldn't know."

Snape thought for a moment. "But he wouldn't do that. Lily would know what was going on and he didn't say anything about her," Snape mused aloud.

"No," Harry shook his head, "Sirius slept out here last night. Mum said he over-punished me."

Snape immediately rounded on Harry, fear and concern evident in his eyes. "He over-punished you? What did he do? Are you okay?"

Harry smiled quietly, something that happened less and less frequently over the years. "He didn't do anything bad. He just told me about Mum and James' death - back in his world. Mum just overheard us talking and thought Sirius was trying to scare me. That's all."

Snape visibly relaxed. He cared more for Harry than he was willing to admit. "I think we should wake Mr. Black, in any case. Your mother should be coming home any minute now."

Agreeing, Harry swiftly woke his godfather, who popped back into his human form.

"Is something wrong?" Sirius asked immediately, his body tense for flight. "What happened?"

Shocked, Snape motioned for the wizard to sit down. "Nothing is wrong and nothing happened, nothing cataclysmic anyway. Lily should be coming home soon and probably would be less than pleased to see her husband as a Labrador hiding in the corner."

"I'm not a Labrador; I'm a Grim."

"We covered that after the dress incident. I thought over your situation and am willing to help you find a way back home," Snape replied in a business-like manner.

Sirius eyed his old rival suspiciously, but offered his hand. "Peace?"

"Peace," said Snape as he shook Sirius' hand.

At that moment, Lily, Remus, and Peter decided to walk into the flat. Lily did not really look at the two men in the living room, only counted heads to see how many people for whom to cook. Peter and Remus, however, stopped dead in the doorway to stare at Sirius Black and Severus Snape sitting on a sofa together, shaking hands.

"Sirius?" Remus asked nervously, remembering the previous night.

Sirius grinned brightly at his lover's counterpart. "Hello, Remus. I trust you remember Severus Snape?"

Snape tapped Sirius lightly on the shoulder. "Remus and I work together, remember?"

Sirius blinked. "Oh yeah. Totally slipped my mind."

Remus noticed that neither Harry nor Snape seemed to care that Sirius had forgotten where Remus, his best friend, had worked for the past 13 years. Harry had his nose in a book. Sirius was brooding. Snape was staring at the potted fern as if it might be planning an impromptu attack. Something was not right with this picture.

Peter leaned over Remus' shoulder and whispered in his ear, "What's going on? Since when does Sirius spend any time with Snape? And I thought he hated it when Harry read so much. Am I losing my mind?"

Remus turned around and looked Peter in the eye. "I have no idea," he responded softy. "But if you're going mad, so am I."