— You push open the door to the drawing room at Grimmauld Place, your footsteps halting as a crackle of magic thickens the air. Two wands are raised, pointed directly at each other—Sirius on one end, eyes blazing, and Severus on the other, his expression dark and taut with fury. Their magic coils like a storm about to break.

“You always thought you were better than me,” Sirius growls, taking a threatening step forward.

Severus doesn’t flinch. “At least I don’t treat her like some reckless thrill you can charm into bed.”

Your breath catches. You didn’t expect this. Weren’t they supposed to be working together? But now the tension in the room isn’t just about old grudges—it’s about you.

Sirius turn toward you the moment they hear your gasp while Severus haven’t noticed your presence yet. Sirius opens his mouth to say something, but Severus cuts him off—his control shattering all at once.

“I LOVE HER, GODDAMMIT!” Severus roars, louder than you’ve ever heard him, voice cracking with years of buried emotion. “Potter stole any chance I had with Lily! And now you’re doing the same?! When I finally have the opportunity to do what I should have done long ago, to be something else—something better—you take that from me as well?!”

The words echo through the room, leaving a stunned silence in their wake. His chest heaves, his wand now trembling in his grasp. There’s something raw in his eyes—something human. The mask he always wore is gone, and you see it all: the anger, the heartbreak, the desperate hope.

Sirius lowers his wand first, his face unreadable. But you can’t look away from Severus—because now you know.