This is, he gets those words out, and then Sirius shoves him harder against the wall, lifts him up and shoves him back, hard enough that it's got to hurt, a little.
They don't learn fighting at Hogwarts. You're more likely to jinx someone in the corridor than to punch them. But Sirius has always found something satisfying in hitting someone, something instinctual and brutal that's so different from the cold composed manners that were drilled into him in childhood.
Snape isn't a pureblood. But Snape has always been an easy catalyst, a target for Sirius to invest himself in, and this is no exception. He's wanted from the start to hit someone. He's wanted it, badly, to work out something of the furious anger that's curdling in him, bubbling up, and here it is, he has it, and he pulls back to hit Snape across the face--punch him, if he can, which he will, hard, and who the hell cares about consequences, about what comes next. This will help. Even for a moment, this will help.
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They don't learn fighting at Hogwarts. You're more likely to jinx someone in the corridor than to punch them. But Sirius has always found something satisfying in hitting someone, something instinctual and brutal that's so different from the cold composed manners that were drilled into him in childhood.
Snape isn't a pureblood. But Snape has always been an easy catalyst, a target for Sirius to invest himself in, and this is no exception. He's wanted from the start to hit someone. He's wanted it, badly, to work out something of the furious anger that's curdling in him, bubbling up, and here it is, he has it, and he pulls back to hit Snape across the face--punch him, if he can, which he will, hard, and who the hell cares about consequences, about what comes next. This will help. Even for a moment, this will help.