Sirius did not know what Hermione had told the others, but no one came to call or question him about his staying in his room for the next two days. On Sunday evening, however, Hermione had come to his door and told him that she and everyone else would go out to celebrate Mr. Weasley's promotion. Sirius was glad that he would be able to leave his room and be alone in his house for a while and he knew that Hermione understood this.
He went down and hour after he had heard them leave and sat by the kitchen window for a while. His temper had calmed thanks to Hermione's influence and his mind had started to adjust to the knowledge about his past. It was still painful to think about his waisted youth, but somehow he could handle it better than he had hoped. He went outside for a bit, watching the sun set behind the surrounding houses and feeling better than he had in days. When the first stars began to shine, he went into the house once more. As soon as he had entered the kitchen, he heard the door open and close again.
"Hello? I came to bring the papers Dumbledore asked for." An unpleasant voice said. Sirius knew it sounded familiar and the moment its owner enterd the kitchen, he knew who this must be: Snape. Sirius' stomach gave an unpleasant lurch as he simply stood there, staring at his old enemy. Hermione had of course told him about his "special relationship" to Snape, but nothing could have prepared him for the wave of hatred that swept over him when he saw Snape in person.
The potions master gave Sirius a cold, calculating look. "Well, you seemed to have forgotten your manners, Black. One usually greets guests. But no, my mistake, you never even had manners."
"What are you doing here?" Sirius found it extremely difficult not to run forward and throw the smaller man from his house.
"I came on Order business, Black, work, if you can remember that." Snape sneered.
"Than leave whatever you brought here and get out!"
"Oh, I am unsure whether I can trust you with business that important, Black, you are quite oblivious sometimes, I shall say."
Sirius felt the anger boil up inside him. "Get yourself out here. You are not welcome. Everyone is out, Dumbledore won't be here 'till tomorrow."
"Everyone is out, how peculiar. You don't seem to have forgotten everything, Black, old habits die hard and it seems that not even your precious godson can keep you away from your tendency to get yourself locked up." Snape waited for the impact of these words, but it did not turn out the way he had expected. Sirius did not seem confused by this statement.
Instead, he growled: "Save your rubbish for someone who will listen, Snivellus." Sirius could not restrain himself of throwing the old insult at Snape, but at once he knew it had been a mistake.
Snape stared at him when he had heard his old nickname. "What did you say to me, Black? I thought…" His black eyes bored unblinkingly into Sirius' grey ones. "I see… so, someone filled you in. I wonder who might have overruled your clever godson's decision to so nicely spare you the nastier parts of your story." Snape had a hungry look on his face as he searched for answeres in Sirius' mind.
"Will you shut the fuck up! You will not do your legilimens-crap to me, you idiot!" It took Sirius two steps to reach Snape, who retreated, but Sirius was too quick for him. With one hand, he grabbed the front of Snape's robes and pinned him to a cupboard, with the other, he pointed his wand at Snape's face. He still stared into Snape's eyes, unable to follow his logic that told him to look away in order to shut his mind from Snape's gaze. "Will you now leave my house!" Sirius' voice resembled the great black dog's growl more than ever.
But it was too late. Snape's face broke into a cruel smirk as he whispered: "Ah, I should have thought so from the beginning. Ms. Granger is not blessed with the ability to respect other people's judging, she will alwyas know it better, won't she? But you surely already know that Black, because as I see, you have become quite, ah, close."
Sirius' insides contracted with shock. Snape knew. He had seen those things that were burned into Sirius' mind forever.
Snape went on: "I can imagine that you could not resist to turn on your cheap Casanova thing on her. However, it must have been quite easy to persuade her, she must crave for some male interest, plain and attention-seeking as she is."
"What is going on?" Came a voice from the door. But too late. Sirius did not care about jinxes or curses or voices any more. He punched Snape hard in the face, making Snape's head hit the cupboard door, just after his nose broke.
"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT HER!" He roared, completely beside himself.
Snape's unconscious form hit the floor as Sirius let go of his robes to get a better aim for his next punch.
"Sirius, what are you doing?" Harry was standing in the door, Remus, Tonks, Hermione and the Weasleys right behind him.
Sirius still had not realized that a bunch of people had just entered his kitchen. "You don't have any idea of her you scumbag! How can you talk of her like that? She saved me, she gave me back my memories, my self, she gave me everything she has, I would be nothing without her." He started to raise Snape from the floor to get a clear shot at him as he heard a terrified scream: "NO!" It was Hermione. She had rushed past Harry into the kitchen, facing Sirius. What she saw scared her. Snape must have said something terrible to Sirius, because he was in a rage that Hermione had never seen before. Now she understood that Remus sometimes spoke fearfully of the combination of Sirius' white hot rage and his animalistic strenght. Sirius stood over Snape, at his full, impressive height, fist raised, eyes blazing, his black hair hanging dangerously into his eyes. At the sound of Hermione's voice, he turned his head and looked at her. Then, slowly, he turned his head to Harry, who was still standing in the door, rooted to the spot, disbelieving about what Sirius had just revealed.
"You know? You know everything?" Harry's voice was dangerously low, trembling with fury. "And you" he turned to Hermione. "You told him? Against my will? I never thought you would betray me like this!"
For a split second, Hermione looked like she would burst into tears. Sirius knew she must be devastated about Harry finding out what they had done. But he was wrong.
Hermione straightened herself up, looked Harry right in the eyes and said: "Yes. It was me who told him. And Harry, I am sorry that you have found out like this, but I could not watch it any longer. Sirius was not himself, he was lost in dreadful visions he could not deal with, because he did not know where they came from. I made a decision and I will stand up for it."
Harry looked like he had been hit with something heavy. Clearly, he too, had expected Hermione to cry and plead for forgiveness for her wrongdoing.
"But why did you not tell me? I am the one responsible for Sirius! I am the one who decided from the start!" Harry retreated as he saw Hermione's eyes narrow dangerously at these words.
"You decided? The only one responsible for Sirius is Sirius himself! All you did was take that from him! You made him into some happy-looking shadow of himself. You took his life from him by lying about his past. Oh, yes Harry, don't deny it, you LIED!"
As Harry opened his mouth to respond, Sirius cut across him: "I do not blame you Harry. For nothing. I know I often said I wished I could get rid of all my memories. And you were right, this was the chance. No one could have thought this would go so wrong and it's my fault I did not tell you. Hermione only found out by accident." He stepped over the still unconcious Snape towards his godson: "Hermione did only what she thought was right and you should not blame her. I will not allow it." He added forcefully when Harry shot Hermione an angry look. But Harry's temper, though no real match for Sirius', was raising too.
"And what's that you said about Hermione to Snape? I sounded like my godfather is lusting after a sixteen year old! You are disgusting, both of – "
At this moment Remus entered the room, passing a horrified looking Tonks and interrupted Harry: "I think it is time we all calm down and get some fresh air. Molly, will you take care of Harry? Hermione, you look like you need a rest. Sirius will you come with me, I want a word." As he shunted Sirius out of the kitchen, he added over his shoulder to Tonks: "And, Tonks, would you please be so kind to help mop up this" he indicated Snape's limp form "I heard you are rather good at that?"
As Remus paused to say this, Sirius could look at Hermione for a moment, who had made to walk out of the other door, in order to get to her room. When their eyes met, he was surprised again to see a warm glow in hers that he had never hoped to find there.