Remus and Dragon strolled down Diagon Alley. They were making good time until Dragon suddenly stopped in front of the Quidditch Supply Store. Remus looked over at him, annoyed.
"Come on, Dragon. We don't have time for this." Remus complained. Dragon whined, but relented and began to walk again.
They came to Gringotts and Remus walked up to the head goblin.
"My name is Remus Lupin, and I am here to hear the reading of the wills of James and Lily Potter." Remus demanded. Dragon nodded his head in agreement. The goblin looked up.
"Finally. We were wondering when someone would come in demanding to read that will." The goblin grumbled. He looked from Remus to Dragon. "However, I only see two of the three parties needed to read the will."
Remus looked confused. "Who is the last party?" Maybe they had added Pettigrew or Harry in the will.
The goblin looked down at his notes. He had just happened to be working through unread wills that day to catalogue them, and the Potter's will was one of the few he had just read. He cleared his throat. "One Severus Snape." Remus' eyes widened. Dragon choked. "I'm afraid he must be here for the will to be read."
Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. "We'll be right back." Remus dragged Dragon to the floo. He called Severus Snape's office, Hogwarts. They arrived quickly, but did not see Snape. Dragon, knowing he was safe here, transformed back into Sirius.
"No." Sirius said forcefully. Remus rolled his eyes.
"You wanted the will read. To have the will read, he needs to be there. Hence, we need to bring him back with us." Remus argued. Before he could add anything else, Snape walked into his office. He saw the two intruders and glared.
"What are you two imbeciles doing in my office?" Snape barked, clearly annoyed. "I had hoped for a marauder free summer."
"I again offer my objection." Sirius said back to Remus. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Severus, now is not the time to rehash our past grievances. We realized that James and Lily's will was never read…" Remus started. Severus rolled his eyes.
"And that has what to do with me?" Severus interrupted.
"Well," Remus continued, "apparently, all parties must be in attendance for it to be read. You just happen to be the one party missing from our group."
"You're saying Potter added me in his will?" Severus asked incredulously.
"Apparently," Sirius spit.
"This is the Potter's will. Lily was a Potter. I would assume it was her influence in the writing of the will that had them include you." Remus argued logically. Snape sighed. He looked consideringly.
"No, you are obviously tricking me. Now that you two are back in action, I should expect this to occur more often." Snape drawled. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"As much as I would love to say this is a joke, it's not Snape." Sirius replied. The man in question glared and seemed unconvinced.
"The answer is still no." Snape decided.
"You're not even curious to see why Lily added you in their will?" Remus asked convincingly.
"I know I am." Sirius quipped. Snape looked down at his desk. Sirius huffed and his patience wore out. Sirius looked over at Remus. Remus caught the look in his eyes and agreed. They both descended on Snape and grabbed him by the arms, dragging him to the floo. Sirius grabbed some floo powder and called out "Gringotts".
The next thing they knew, they were in a cushy room with a conference table and soft chairs. Sirius and Remus forced the final man in their party into a chair and sat down themselves.
A goblin walked into the conference room, and Remus suddenly looked pensive.
"Wait, shouldn't Albus Dumbledore be here?" He asked the goblin. The goblin looked confused.
"Why should Albus Dumbledore be here?" The goblin asked.
"Well, was he not the executor of the will?" Snape asked, suddenly concerned.
"No." The goblin replied shortly. He then cleared his throat. "We are here today to read the will of one Lily Rose Potter nee Evans and one James Charlus Potter." He began reading the will. Then, he got to the part that everyone in the room was waiting for. "To Severus Snape, stop berating yourself for past mistakes. I always knew you were a good man at heart and knowing that you turned back to the light has made me once again remember why we were friends in the first place. I have something very important to tell you, but I cannot do it in this will. James and I have written a letter to you and Sirius, our two best friends…" Remus knew he should have felt left out, but he always knew Sirius and James were like brothers. "You two are to remain in the room alone and read this together. We ask this of you because what we are about to ask you to do you need to do together."
Sirius and Severus glared at one another. Remus held his head in his hands. This was not going to go well.
"Finally, Harry James Potter is in no way to go to Petunia Dursley nee Evans. That is our last request. We want Harry loved, and we know he will not be if he is to go to that household." The goblin finished. He took out an envelope and placed it on the table. He motioned for Remus to leave.
"Wait, I wasn't mentioned. Why am I here?" Remus asked quickly, not getting up.
"You were the executor." The goblin said offhandedly, motioning again for him to leave.
"Oh, I'm not leaving," Remus said stubbornly.
"They cannot open the letter until they are completely alone." The goblin explained.
"Without any supervision? Do you know what will happen when they are alone together?" Remus asked almost shrilly.
"Oh, come on, Moony. I can handle myself." Sirius promised. Remus looked wearily at his friend.
"That's what I'm afraid of." He moaned. Severus sighed.
"We aren't going to kill each other in two minutes. Besides, I think that Black has enough brain cells to realize that this is the last thing Potter ever said to him. I don't think he will give up the chance to know what Potter had to say over some petty feud." Severus drawled.
"Fine, but I will be waiting outside the door. If I do not hear any noise after thirty minutes, I am coming in and if I hear too much noise, I will call the aurors." Remus threatened. Sirius looked betrayed.
"Leave, Lupin." Severus urged. Remus walked out backwards, looking reluctant to turn around and shut the door. Once the door closed, the two men glared at each other.
"Snape." Sirius bit.
"Black." Severus returned.
"Open it up, Snivellus." Sirius demanded. Snape glared, but opened the letter and began to read aloud.
"Dearest Severus and Sirius, if you are reading this, James and I are dead. I know that both of you must be going through so much, and I hope this letter is superfluous…" Severus stopped here and added his own commentary. "That means unnecessary, Black."
"I know what it means, Snape. Just keep reading." Sirius commanded.
"But we fear that something will happen. We fear that the Ministry's laws on werewolves will not allow Remus to be the executor of the will. If that is the case, we don't know what might happen. Therefore, we implore you to please put your past behind you for the task we place before you. First of all, Severus, if you didn't catch it in the will, I completely forgive you. I ask that you forgive me for abandoning you over a word I know you didn't mean. I also forgive you for turning the prophecy over to Voldemort. You didn't know what it meant, nor did you know it was real and would put us in danger." Severus had to stop for a moment and swallow. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Will you just continue, Snape?" Black bit. Severus sighed and continued.
"Most importantly, James wants to apologize to you, Severus. He grew up, Sev. He realized how awful he was to you. You were just a kid. You both were. He hates the fact that he was a bully. He feels so guilty for the choices he made. You two are actually more similar than you want to believe. But that's beside the point. We fear that someone will not listen to us about our choice in guardian. We fear someone will still send Harry to Petunia. If that is the case, we want both of you to take him away from there immediately. We have named both of you godfathers to Harry. We know that while Sirius will love Harry more than anything and care for him more than himself, he is not the most responsible person we know (James wants me to add in here that he is sorry, Padfoot, but it's true). We also know Severus will discipline Harry and also care for him, but might not teach him how to have fun, and your position as a spy might cause a bit of an inconvenience." Sirius laughed at that.
"A bit of an inconvenience?" Sirius choked. Severus glared back at Sirius.
"Please, raise him together. We hope both of you will accept our offer to live in Potter Manor. We have set it up so that each of you can live in separate wings. We don't expect miracles, but you two are the people we trust most with our son. We know both of you will love him, because he is a part of both of us. Please, try and get along for Harry's sake. He will need both of you. We love you both, Lily and James Potter." Severus finished, his hands beginning to shake. Sirius got up and snatched the letter from Snape. He read it over several times.
"They can't be serious." Sirius said unbelievingly.
"No, you are." Severus quipped. Sirius looked up. He felt a burgeoning respect for the potions master in front of him. He smirked.
"Good one." Sirius sighed. "Maybe, maybe this can work out." He paused for a moment. "What happens now?"
"We could demand our rights. It is right here in black and white that he's ours." Severus suggested, his features softening a bit. Black was actually acting civil.
"Well, first, I think I need to take a page from James' book. If we are to raise Harry together, you should know that I am sorry for the way I treated you in school. I was a jerk, even worse than James. I hated you simply because of your house, and that wasn't right. Then, I put your life in danger. No one deserves that. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry and I think we should at least try to be civil for Harry." Sirius apologized. Severus sighed.
"I accept your apology. I also am sorry for the ways I retaliated at you. I might have been defending myself, but some were just cruel." Severus reminisced ruefully. Sirius stretched out a hand. Severus took it. They shook hands.
At this exact moment, Remus walked in. He looked astonished.
"I'm sorry, I seemed to have walked into a parallel universe. I'm going to close this door and I should walk in on my best friend pummeling a Hogwarts staff member. Goodbye." Remus shut the door and walked in again. He looked over at his best friend acting civilly with Severus Snape. "Did I hit my head on something?"
Sirius laughed and handed the letter to Remus. Remus read the letter. He read it again. He then read it one more time. Once he read the letter for a third time, he looked up at the men and promptly fainted. The two men looked to one another.
"Well, someone needs to wake up Sleeping Beauty here." Sirius suggested to Severus. The potions master rolled his eyes and stooped down to the werewolf's level. He shook the man several times until he woke up. "You okay, Moony?"
"Nothing will ever be the same again." Remus sighed.