Chapter Text
1979
YOU-KNOW-WHO'S REIGN OF TERROR CONTINUES; Azkaban breached, four inmates escape including notorious killer Bellatrix Black
In the early morning hours of August 12, unidentified masked members of the notorious cult known as the Death Eaters launched an attack on Azkaban. Reports state that You-Know-Who was–
Severus folded The Daily Prophet and placed it face down on the table when he heard Sirius stumble down the steps of their flat. Sirius had been there last night; still only a trainee and he had to fight next to seasoned Aurors, desperately trying to keep his cool while being swarmed by both Death Eaters and prisoners, with Dementors flying above their heads, picking off the ones who wandered too far from a Patronus, like vultures.
From what Severus had gathered from his drunken sobs when he came home, two Aurors had been lost. It must have been terrible. Sirius never drank that much, unless it was bad. He didn't need to see the article, didn't need to be reminded of it this early in the morning.
“Morning,” Sirius grunted and leaned over to kiss him. Severus pulled back a little at the stench of alcohol on his breath.
“What? No kisses?” Sirius asked.
Severus snorted. “Gay.”
“Nonsense, we're just two straight men sharing a couple of straight kisses, now come here.”
“Ack, Sirius–!” Before Severus was able to squirm away, Sirius managed to plant a kiss right on his lips. The bastard even slipped his tongue in. Severus pushed his face away. “Brush your teeth!”
Sirius snickered and went to grab what was left of Severus's breakfast that he had abandoned on the table.
“Tea's gone cold,” Sirius complained as he slipped into the chair opposite of Severus.
“You are fully capable of making yourself a new cup.”
“I like to drink yours.”
“I've noticed.”
Severus ran his foot up Sirius's calf.
“You know what it's missing? A little hair of the dog.”
Severus took his foot away and gave Sirius a stern look. “Absolutely not. It's not even the afternoon yet. You are not having another drink.”
Sirius chased after his foot and gave him his most charming smile. “Brew me a hangover potion then.”
“Why should I? You drank more than you could handle, now you have to deal with the consequences.”
“You are the meanest person I know.”
Severus smiled sweetly at him. “Thank you.”
“That wasn't a compliment, you git. If you don't act nicer to me, I'm going to pull you over my knee and spank you.”
Severus raised his brows, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. “You wouldn't dare.”
Sirius was quicker than he imagined he would be this early in the morning and hungover. The man crowded him against the table, kissing him fiercely. Severus no longer cared about his breath, meeting him eagerly. He snaked his hand into his curls, pulling him down and taking control.
It took Severus a moment to notice the tap, tap, tap against his window. Severus pulled away to find an owl sitting on the ledge. He ignored Sirius's whining to let the little beast inside. There were a stack of letters tied to its leg.
Severus untied the bundle and began to sift through them while Sirius directed his attention to his boyfriend's leavings.
“Hey, that's mine,” Sirius tried to shoo the owl away from Severus's plate as it went for the toast.
“Actually it's mine. I didn't tell you you could have it.” Severus quickly pocketed the letter from Lucius before Sirius could see it. He was in no mood for an argument; Sirius would no doubt bring up Mulciber, but aside from that one misstep Lucius had always been so good to him. And, anyway, Lucius had only put Mulciber up to it because he was desperate for Severus to join the Death Eaters. Severus had no plans on joining – not now, not knowing what he knows – but he couldn't help but feel warmth at being so wanted.
“Anything good?” Sirius asked, followed by an “Ouch!” when the owl nipped his fingers and flew off with the toast.
“Bills mostly, but here's a letter from your uncle.”
Sirius took the letter from his hand and broke the seal. Severus watched his brow furrow as he scanned the lines, once, twice–
“Is something wrong?” Severus asked.
“Father's dead,” Sirius announced, as if he was commenting on the weather. “Dragonpox. I didn't even know he was sick.”
Severus sank back into his chair. “What does this mean?”
Sirius looked up at him. “It means I'm the new Lord Black.”
Sirius felt as if he was crawling out of his skin as he stared up at Grimmauld Place. It had been years since he was last here. Merlin, he needed a drink.
Severus stood on one side of him, Regulus on the other. “I didn't think it would fall apart this quickly,” Reg commented, shielding his eyes as he stared up at the brick facade. “You sure you don't want to keep it?”
“Fuck no,” Sirius quickly answered. “Where's Prongs?”
There was a popping sound, followed by a shout of, “Here!” James and Lily apparated together, their arms linked, and quickly climbed the front steps to the house.
Sev narrowed his eyes at their arms, or rather at Lily's hand. “What is that?”
Lily slipped her arm out of James's grip and hid her hand behind her back. “Nothing!”
“Was that an engagement ring?” Sev threw up his hands. “I can't believe this! You're actually going to marry that toe-rag!?”
“Hello to you too, Snape,” James said.
Lily and Sev ignored him, too caught up in their own argument. Lily jabbed a finger into Sev's face. “Who was it that broke our promise? Oh right, it was you! You only have yourself to blame! I never would have even gone on a date with James if you hadn't fucked Black!”
“You should be thankful I did! I didn't turn Sirius full-gay, you know. He still likes women. If it wasn't for me he would be out there reproducing and making little mini-Blacks! I'm a hero!”
“You know, I thought I would come around and start to like Snape more when I found out he wasn't after Lily, but no, he's still a git,” James told Sirius in a half-whisper, rolling his eyes. “I can't believe you're still dating him.”
“What can I say, Prongs? The sex is amazing.” Sirius grinned and unlocked the door to Grimmauld Place. Sev and Lily marched across the threshold, side-by-side, without pausing their argument for even a second. “Okay, here's the plan: most of the furniture should be safe to send to Gringotts. Just tag it with one of these tags, tap it with your wand, and say Transportari Gringotts. The goblins will know what to do with it. Don't touch the paintings or statues; most of them are cursed. Leave them to our cursebreaker here–” Sirius clapped James on the shoulder. “Same goes with anything in the library, including the books. Sev, I am talking about you here. Do not go poking around without James present.”
Severus attempted to look innocent, and failed miserably.
“I want to make sure we get the elf heads,” Regulus piped up.
“Merlin's balls, Reg. We are not taking those things! Why do you even want them!?”
“They're not for me, they're for Kreacher! He's been lonely without his mother around to talk to.”
Merlin save him. “You're not taking them, Reg. We'll give them a burial or something.”
Regulus folded his arms and grumbled a little, but didn't kick up any more fuss.
“Let's start with the ground floor and work our way up. We'll break for lunch,” Sirius said and the others started to scatter. Before Sev could get too far, Sirius reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his robe. He was the only one of them wearing robes: long robes, high-necked, with trailing sleeves. Sirius still preferred him in jeans and a leather jacket, but the robes were nice too. Especially when he didn't wear anything under them.
“Do you think I'm doing the right thing?” Sirius whispered.
Severus hummed. “You know, they turned the lot where my old house used to be into a Tesco.” He smiled a little. “It's the most beautiful Tesco I've ever seen.”
Sirius laughed, leaned in, and kissed him before sending him off with a slap on his backside.
Grimmauld was full of dust and cobwebs. It now looked as rotten as it truly was on the inside. They sent the items they wanted to Gringotts – either for Sirius and Reg to keep for themselves, or else to auction off – and left all the rest. As they made their way up each floor, one room was left untouched: his mother's bedroom, still cordoned off by tape.
It was late in the evening. James and Lily had gone home, and Sirius had even managed to convince Reg to pack it in. It was just him and Sev, standing in front of her door, clutching at each other's hands.
He felt like a little kid again: weak and helpless and afraid.
Sirius noticed that Sev was trembling. He had never asked him about that night. He didn't want to know any details. He told himself that it didn't matter, that Walburga was a monster.
He tried not to wonder if he was just too afraid to ask, too afraid to know what his boyfriend was truly capable of.
“Hey, why don't you wait for me downstairs?” Sirius asked.
Sev stubbornly shook his head. “We're in this together.”
“Yeah, but there's something I want in there. Something that I want to be a surprise.”
Sev looked dubious at that. “If you're sure…”
“I am. Go on, it'll only be a minute.”
Severus went downstairs with one last, lingering look. Sirius watched him go, took a deep breath, and pulled the tape away from the door.
It was exactly the same as Sirius remembered it. The soft, evening light danced through the window, illuminating the dust motes floating through the air. There was the bed, left unmade, the velvet curtains, his mother's wedding portrait hanging above the fireplace.
And there, seated at her vanity, was his mother.
“Is that you, Son-of-Mine?”
Walburga stood up and floated toward him, her translucent body shimmering. She still wore her dressing gown, and there, tucked under arm, was her head.
“Yes, it's me.”
Sirius was unsure of where to direct his gaze. His eyes naturally drifted to the empty spot above her neck – so cleanly sliced – before being pulled down to where she clutched her head.
“You've finally come back to me.”
“No, I've just come to get something.”
He crossed the room, passing through her, to reach the jewelry box she kept beside her bed. He opened it and found his family's heirloom wedding room. It dated at least to the 1500s and was made of gold with a large emerald cabochon.
“My wedding ring? Are you to marry then? Is it the Yaxley girl? I had such high hopes for the two of you.”
Sirius chuckled as he headed back to the door. “No, no, I'm marrying a man, and he's a mudblood. Which do you hate worse, I wonder?” He laughed, madly, badly. “Sorry, Mother, but this is the end of the House of Black. I don't have much hope for Reggie settling down. Cissy's a Malfoy, Andy is a Tonks, and Bella… well, I don't expect any children from her either.” He waved from the door. “Goodbye, Mother.”
“Sirius, wait–”
He closed the door and left her to her howling. Sev was waiting for him outside by the front steps. He looked him over, trying to see what it was that Sirius had wanted so badly. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I did. Give me your hand.”
Sev glared suspiciously at him for a moment, but eventually gave him his hand, palm up. Sirius turned it over, slipped the ring on his finger and said, “Good. It still has a Resizing Charm on it.”
Severus stared dumbly down at the ring. “Black, what is this?”
“It's a wedding ring, obviously. Come on, I thought you were smarter than that.”
“What do you mean a wedding ring? We can't get married!” Sev protested.
“Maybe not in the Muggle world, but there's no law against it in the Wizarding world,” Sirius said. He was starting to get a little nervous the longer Sev just stared at him, goggle-eyed. “You do want to get married, don't you?”
“I don't know,” Sev confessed. He reached out and took Sirius's hand, clutching at it. “Sirius… what if we end up like our parents?”
“Never going to happen,” Sirius insisted. “We're our own people. We make our own choices. We'll choose to have a better marriage than our parents.”
Severus didn't look completely convinced, but he nodded his head. Sirius grinned and swept him into a kiss.
“Now to finish it,” he said and pointed his wand at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
The magic that had kept it hidden between Number 11 and Number 13 slowly collapsed and folded in on itself. As the magical space his ancestors created over a century ago faded, the two Muggle houses rushed to fill the empty space. Number 12 – invisible, spaceless – was crushed between them. It's bricks and marble and wood disappearing into the same place that Vanished objects were sent to. Number 12 Grimmauld Place was gone, and so were its ghosts.
Sirius took Sev's hand. “Come on, let's go home. We can get a drink to celebrate."
"Yes..." Sev looked back down at their joined hands, at the ring on his finger, and sighed happily, "My dear husband."