Sirius opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the hospital wing. James was in the next bed over, Lily sitting on the edge.

"Sirius!" Peter shouted. Sirius craned his neck around to see Peter hovering around by the edge of his bed. That's when he caught sight of Anna, who was looking at Sirius anxiously.

"Alright, Lee?" He said, his voice a little hoarse. She glared at him. "'Alright'?" She asked, startling Sirius with her tone. "I've been here for three day helping watch over you-"

"Three days!?" Sirius yelped, making Anna tumble off the side of the bed and Peter jump a foot into the air.

"Yeah, three days." Anna growling, heaving herself to her feet as gracefully and with as much dignity as she could muster.

"And you've been here the whole time?" Sirius added with a sly grin. Anna's cheeks turned red. "Only because Lily insisted-I mean not that-you are one thick git, you are!" Anna snapped.

Sirius was still grinning. He propped himself up onto his elbows and looked over at James.

That's when he noticed Remus, nestled between the two beds with a book propped up on one arm of the chair; the arm that happened to be facing Sirius. "Oi! Moony!" Sirius shouted, knocking on the book like it was a door.

Remus glanced up. A wide grin broke his face and he marked his page quickly and closed his book. "Alright, Padfoot?" He said.

"You really brought a book to read when you came to see us, you bloke?" Sirius couldn't keep the comment to himself, seeing as it, like him, was bloody brilliant.

Remus shook his head. "Well, seeing as you still weren't awake, I figured today wouldn't be very eventful." He said firmly.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Are you saying you had no hope for us, mate?"

"Merely stating that Madam Pomfrey said you weren't likely to wake up for another week...considering you'd lost so much blood you should have been dead by the time some one came to help and Snape stopped firing jinxes at the two of you."

Sirius wasn't sure which part made his blood run cold, the fact that he had woken so early and would have to go quite some time before his best mate woke, or the fact that Snape had continued to fire jinxes at them so that they were barely alive.

"Old Snivellus get in trouble, then?" Sirius asked casually.

Remus grinned fervently. "'Course he did, he almost killed two students, after all."
"What did they make him do?"

Remus paused. "He went on a trip to the dark forest with Dumbledore-"

"WHAT KIND OF PUNISHMENT IS THAT!?" Sirius roared, making Anna, Peter, Remus, and Lily jump.

Remus winced as if he had been struck. "That's what I was wondering, but seeing as it wasn't really my place to ask..." His voice trailed away uncertainly.

"NOT YOUR PLACE!?" Sirius roared. "I THINK THE BEST MATE OF THE TWO VICTIMS SHOULD HAVE HAD SOME SAY IN THE PUNISHMENT. I MEAN, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE-"

"Sirius..." Remus said sternly as Madam Pomfrey stepped out of her office, roused by all of the shouting.

"How many times have we walked into the Dark Forest without and assistance whatsoever and come out alive?" Sirius added quietly as Madam Pomfrey began bustling around and gathering remedies for her patients' current conditions.

"Well seeing as Snape has no experience-"
"Rubbish!" Sirius yelled, cutting Remus off. "If that slimeball isn't considered a Dark Arts-obsessed little oddball, then I'm not in Gryffindor."

"He's not that bad once you get to know him." Lily said defensively, speaking for the first time.

Sirius sneered. "Oh, of course you would stand up for old Snivellus." He drawled.

Lily's cheeks flushed. "His name is Severus." She hissed.

Sirius actually let out one of his bark-laughs. "After everything he did to us, firing jinxed at us while we were down, nearly killing us-"
"He was afraid-"
"YOU'RE STILL GOING TO DEFEND HIM!?" Sirius continued, raising his voice so it covered up Lily's protests.

"He was afraid!" Lily repeated, a bit more shrilly this time.

"Evans, I've got a lot of respect for you, but really, I can't see how you can have any feelings of sympathy for that complete arse after-"

"WILL YOU CAN'T BLAME HIM, CAN YOU?" Lily roared, stopping Sirius and stunning him into silence. "All you do is torture him, after all, so I'm sure after he saw you draw your wands at point them at him for no reason-"

"NO REASON!?" Sirius yelled, firing up at once. "HE WAS HOVERING AROUND OUTSIDE, THE LITTLE CREEP, AND HE INSULTED ME-"

"WHAT, BY SAYING YOUR BROTHER IS BETTER THAN YOU!?"
"YES!"
"WELL MAYBE HE IS, DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT?"

The room fell completely silent. Even Madam Pomfrey had frozen, she had been walking over to Sirius's bed and hadn't bothered to intervene when the argument had been happening.

Lily slapped her hands over her mouth, apparently horrified by what she had said. "Sirius-oh God-I am so sorry-I don't know what-"

Sirius held out his hand to cut her off. "It's alright, Evans," he said quietly. "I'm used to it by now."

Lily buried her face in her hands. "God-I don't know what got into me. It's just..." Lily stuttered.

"No, everyone says it's true." Sirius said as nonchalantly as he could manage while white hot fury licked at the inside of his stomach.

Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat and worked her way timidly over to Sirius, as if she was afraid he would start yelling again. Remus, who had been staring at Lily, was now looking back at Sirius, as if he was evaluating him. Peter was still hovering around Sirius's bed, apparently at a loss for words.

Lily looked down at her hands, her cheeks pink. Anna walked over to her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Sirius sighed and allowed Madam Pomfrey to continue with his work. For some reason, Lily's comment didn't bother him as much as it should have...he supposed he was just used to it by now.