Senjy (senjy) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2008-08-16 17:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: r, prompt: fantasy fest 08 |
Fantasy Fest Fic: Sleeping With Ghosts - Part 2/2 (R)
Title: Sleeping With Ghosts - Part 2/2
Author: senjy
Character(s): Roman/Severo (reincarnations of Remus and Severus and therefore slightly OOC)
Rating(s): R overall
Warning(s): First time, Underage (17 year olds)
Word Count: 13,300 overall
Beta: Many thanks to my power triad: dungeons_master, inkgeist and ureima.
Disclaimer: All familiar characters and situations belong to JK Rowling. No profit is being made.
Summary: Long Fic Prompt 29 -- Reincarnation! The boys are given a second chance, they come back in better circumstances fifty years after their deaths. One of them remembers, one doesn't, and the one who remembers wants to act on impulses he couldn't in former life. Happy ending plz
Notes: The title and cut is nicked from a Placebo track I quite like.
Part 1
5. Longings
Severo pushed his trolley through the barrier and immediately began searching the platform for Roman. He couldn't wait to tell Roman about the Christmas invitation he had received, and also to show off how much taller he had got over the last four weeks of the summer holidays. There was no way that he was still the shorter of the two of them.
Spotting a crowd of tall people with long hair, Severo hurried forward, ignoring his mother's shouts behind him.
Roman spotted him at the same time as he was able to pick out his friend from the gathered family members.
"Severo! Merlin, what have you done to your face? Looks like a caterpillar died on your lip."
Severo smoothed his moustache and goatee with his fingers. "Don't you like it?"
Roman laughed. "I'm only teasing you. It looks better than I thought it would. Won't the teachers tell you to shave it off, though?"
"If they do, I'll suggest you should cut your hair, too."
Severo smiled as Roman swore at him in response, and then froze as Roman suddenly reached up and brushed his fingers along Severo's upper lip and chin. He studied Roman's face closely, looking for any sign that Roman knew what he was doing. As usual, there was only a peaceful smile from which Severo could tell nothing.
"You got taller again," Roman commented, shaking his head. "I think I'm going to have to concede defeat this time."
There was a laugh from behind Roman. "I wouldn't say six foot two was defeat," Roman's mother observed.
Severo smiled at Remei Lupin and accepted her hug. He had got used to her considering him a part of their family. She hooked her arm behind his neck and forced him to bend first for her kiss, and then for her own inspection his facial hair. She ended her scrutiny by pinching his chin between her thumb and forefinger. "Very manly, Severo, but I think you're going to be ordered to shave it off the moment you get to Hogwarts."
Roman shooed his mother away. "Then he can enjoy being all manly on the train. Oh! Madame Prince! It's lovely to see you again."
Severo rolled his eyes as his mother stepped forward and began to fuss over Roman. Just as he had been accepted into the Lupin-Malfoy fold, his mother had taken an insane interest in Roman from his very first visit to their home. Still, it was quite useful, as it was she who had pushed for Severo to be able to take a friend with him to the research station his uncle was currently working at.
He watched as his mother exclaimed over just how long Roman's hair had got. It amused Severo, as he could see that Roman had actually cut it shorter than it had been at the start of the holidays when they had visited Crete with Roman's family. Roman had probably gotten tired of pulling it when he sat down.
"How was the rest of your holiday, Severo?"
Severo turned to respond to Professor Malfoy's question. "Very good, thank you. I spent some time working with my uncle. He's invited me to visit him in Norway over the Christmas holiday. Er, I was hoping that..."
Professor Malfoy smiled. "Of course," he replied.
Severo nodded, trying not to let his embarrassment show. Professor Malfoy had been giving him some very knowing looks in Crete, so he was a little surprised that he had so easily agreed to Roman going to Norway with him. Maybe he didn't disapprove?
"Just let us know the details," Professor Malfoy added. "Have you told Roman, yet? No? Well, I doubt there's anything that would stop him from going with you."
Severo nodded again. "Thank you, sir."
"Look, I've told you before. If you're going to call my wife Remei, you should call me Scorpius."
Severo gave a quick smile at that. "Yes, sir," he quipped.
"Sev!"
A heavy body jumped up onto his back and Severo automatically hooked his arms under Roman's knees.
"Save me from your mother," Roman whispered urgently, his breath tickling Severo's ear. "She's trying to persuade me to plait my ponytail."
"You should wear it loose," Severo muttered. "Merlin, you're heavy."
Roman slid down again. "You're obviously not as strong and manly as the beard suggests. That's false advertising, you know."
Severo was about to retort when the warning claxon went off. There was a flurry of hugs, kisses and farewells, and then Severo was left with just Roman for company, watching as Roman waved until the platform disappeared from view.
*****
They made their way down the train to the front carriage, pleased to see that beyond the quiet and nervous first years, there was a free table. Dumping their satchels on the seats on one side of the table, they discarded their capes and jackets before sitting side by side, legs stretched out in front of them.
"Our last year." Roman sighed, leaning slightly over Severo so he could watch as London slid by.
Severo said nothing. He was distracted by some of Roman's hair, which had escaped the ribbon holding the blond strands together.
"How was your uncle's?" Roman asked, sitting back.
"Good. He's invited me to Norway during the Christmas holidays."
"Oh."
"He said that you could come too, if you wanted?"
"Oh! Yes, that would be brilliant."
There was more silence for a while and as each second passed the tension between them grew. For all the jollification on the platform, they hadn’t parted on the best of terms after their visit to Crete. Roman had been upset over having confessed to Severo, and Severo had been unable to reassure Roman because of his own feelings of humiliation.
He ignored the way Roman was fidgeting next to him, until Roman seemed to give in and heavily sighed again. "You're not upset about what I said, are you?"
Severo closed his eyes. "No," he said cautiously. "I, er, I thought about what you said, and, maybe you're right - as much as I don't want you to be."
"But why don't you?" Roman pushed, and Severo opened his eyes again to glare at his friend.
"Why do you think?" he hissed. "While your great-grandfather was a hero to the last, Snape was only a hero once he was dead. He was a bastard through and through. An obsessive, fucked up, bastard. Do you think I like the idea that I'm his reincarnation? Do you think that I even like the idea of you being Lupin's reincarnation? That if it wasn't for that you wouldn’t have – "
Severo cut himself off, clicking his tongue irritably when Roman cast a privacy charm around them.
"I'm still me," Roman said. "I wouldn't have stayed friends with you this long just because of Remus' memories. I wouldn't have told you in the first place if we weren't as close as we are."
"Still took you six years."
"You're such an arse sometimes. Don't you think I was scared about telling you? But I did. I didn't even say anything when you decided to run off like that."
Severo closed his eyes again, trying and failing not to remember how he had very nearly humiliated himself in Crete.
It had been late one evening when he and Roman had gone swimming, the lights from the boat they were staying on, and from the hotels above the beach being enough for them to safely splash about. Severo had been glad for the dim light, because he had taken an unhealthy interest in Roman's body ever since he had donned his swim shorts. Despite the long blond hair, Roman was by no means feminine, and for some reason, this summer, it had fascinated Severo.
They had swum to the beach, walking up it a way, then lying down on the still warm sand. While everything had been purple and grey with shadow, Severo had been able to imagine the beautiful contrast between Roman's tan and his blond hair. His stomach had begun to get that terrifying sinking feeling again, and when Roman had rolled onto his side, leaning slightly over Severo, he had held his breath.
A damp strand of Roman's hair had fallen onto Severo' chest, distracting him slightly as Roman quietly said, "It's been a nice day, hasn't it. I'm glad that you came. Severo... Severo, there's something that I need to tell you. About – about us..."
Severo had been frozen in place, eyes wide and staring up at Roman's profile as the other boy hesitated over what he was about to confess. A responding confession had tightened his throat, just waiting to break free, and then –
And then Roman had proceeded to tell him about them being the reincarnations of their dead relatives. Severo had been so angry, so disappointed, and so hurt that he had run away, unable to handle realising he loved Roman in one moment, and having his hopes dashed the next.
"Severo?"
"I'm not angry about it," Severo said, letting out a long breath. "I was just shocked. I thought about it while I was at home, read some of my mother's notes. I still can't remember being him, but there are some things that I know and that I can do that I was never taught. I used to think my instincts were good, but... well, it could easily have come from him instead."
"I knew you would understand," Roman said, sounding much happier than he had before.
"Why?" Severo asked, finally turning his head to look Roman square in the face. "He would never have understood."
Roman's smile faltered. "I think," he said carefully. "I think he would have understood, but he wouldn't have allowed himself the comfort of sharing it with somebody else. He would have tried to deal with it on his own. You're not that different from him in that, you know. You always try to go it alone. You would if I didn't nag at you."
Severo looked back out of the window, not trusting himself when that soft smile was turned upon him.
"You're annoying when you nag," he muttered to the glass.
He heard Roman chuckle, but he didn't look at his friend again. Not even when his arm was taken possession of and manipulated so that Roman could lean against him and sleep. He kept the hand that ended up resting on Roman's stomach curled into a fist, not allowing himself to spread his fingers and let his palm taste the warmth of Roman's body.
When they left the train in the early evening, his body ached from the awkward position he had sat in, but he was satisfied that nothing he had said or done could have betrayed him, because there was one thing that was for certain: if Roman could remember Severus Snape and thought Severo was his reincarnation, Severo could forget about his feelings. There was no way that anybody could love Snape. That was the one thing Severo had always known about his cousin.
*****
"Ah, Mister Malfoy, Mister Prince. I am glad I caught you two."
Severo recognised Headmaster Boot's voice and carried on walking. He was stilled by Roman's grip on his wrist. Turning impatiently, Severo glared at the Headmaster.
"Good to see you've gotten rid of that beard, Prince. No reason to make yourself look older."
"What did you want?" Severo asked curtly.
Roman's grip tightened slightly. "What can we do for you, Headmaster?"
Severo looked away as Headmaster Boot beamed at Roman and began explaining why he wanted the two of them to look after the library that evening. He'd had a trying morning, and the last thing he wanted to do that evening was supervise the students in the library: he and Roman weren't even prefects!
"If you're busy I'll ask the Head Girl to make arrangements, but I thought you two would be the best men for the job."
"We're glad to help, Headmaster," Roman said, and Severo clicked his tongue, not bothering to hide his impatience.
"Good, good. Thank you, boys. I'll let you get along to lunch."
Severo immediately began to walk on, shaking off Roman's hand. He was matched in pace, and soon felt Roman's hand clamp tightly onto his arm again, yanking him to the side of the corridor.
"Just because you mucked up your experiment doesn’t mean you can take it out on other people," Roman chastised him. "Do you really want to provoke a teacher into giving you detention?"
"The only reason why they don't is because you're with me," Severo responded.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Severo met Roman's gaze and wished that he hadn't. There was something wild about Roman on the occasions that he lost his temper. Last year it would have made his own temper ignite in response and they would have been cursing each other up and down the corridor (the reason they were not prefects) but now it only made his mouth go dry.
"What do you mean?" Roman repeated.
"Nothing," Severo muttered. "And I didn't ruin my experiment," he couldn't help adding. "It was your bloody aunt's fault, sticking her nose in and fucking it up."
Roman wrinkled his nose, which made Severo's lips twitch. It was no secret that Roman wasn't fond of his Great Aunt Daphne. Professor Greengrass had taken over Potions when they had been in fifth year, and normally Roman was quick to agree with Severo whenever he complained about her incompetence. Despite being his beloved Grandmother Astoria's sister, Professor Greengrass had earned an eight-year-old Roman's eternal dislike when she had forced him to drink a foul cure for hiccoughs which had brought about a violent allergic reaction.
"Either way, one ruined experiment doesn't mean you can take it out on the teachers. And it definitely doesn't mean that you can take it out on me."
Severo glared at Roman, trying to get him to back down, but one of the frustrating things about Roman was that while he often took the path of least resistance, whenever it came to Severo he was ridiculously stubborn.
"I wanted to go to Hogsmeade this evening," Severo muttered.
"We'll go tomorrow," Roman quickly replied. "Besides, breaking into the Restricted Section is easier when you've got all the passes."
Severo couldn't help smiling at that, and he loped an arm around Roman's shoulders. If he had given into all of his instincts he would have kissed Roman as well, but he kept his face turned away and closed his eyes briefly when Roman's arm curled around his waist in return.
*****
Severo looked up at the sound of running feet hitting the stone flags of the corridor, and was not too surprised when he saw Frank Longbottom running down the corridor. He was being hotly pursued by the rest of their unlikely group of friends, who had initially come together because Severo and Frank had got into a fight in the first week of third year.
Back then, Roman had shocked his Potter Housemate by backing Severo instead of him, and it had been Kassandra Titmus, a Ravenclaw member of their Arithmancy class, who had stepped forward to second Frank. Janus Clarke, the fifth of their group, had been the unfortunate bystander who had caught the brunt of Frank's misfired hex. Somehow, the incident had changed them from classmates to friends - even if Severo and Frank still had the occasional urge to knock one another's block off.
"Prince Severo! We're going swimming, come on!"
It was Frank, his dirty-blond hair a dandelion halo around his head, who called out, but the others yelled entreaties to him too, and Roman grabbed his hand and yanked him into a sprint.
They kept running until they had reached the lake, where Kassandra grabbed a hold of her best friend and barrelled Frank into the water. Severo laughed with the others, as both blonds came up spluttering but grinning. Kassandra came out first and she quickly waved her wand at herself, before shimmying out of her soaked trousers and shirt, revealing the bikini which had been Transfigured out of her underwear.
Severo smirked at the way Janus eyed both Kassandra and Frank, as he too undressed, and wondered how much longer it would take Janus to realise that he could have them both if he just got up the courage to grab what he wanted. Watching Kassandra and Frank impatiently dragging Janus into the water, he thought that perhaps the blonds would give up first and tell Janus exactly what he could have.
"You coming in?" Roman asked, and Severo forgot his caution and looked in his direction.
The image was stunning, and Severo's gaze slowly travelled over Roman's toned body, still very brown from the summer holidays. The contrast between tan skin and sun-bleached hair, both making Roman's ordinary blue eyes seem extraordinarily bright, caused Severo's breath to catch, and all the lust and longing he had felt in Crete came rushing back.
"Something wrong?" Roman asked, moving to stand in front of Severo, his kind face showing his concern.
Severo shook his head. "I think the heat has got to me a little today," he said.
"Best get in the water, then," Roman replied.
He reached up to undo Severo's shirt, and Severo watched dumbly as he did so. Again, he couldn't tell from Roman's face if he knew what he was doing, but then you normally couldn't tell when Roman was thinking up some plan to sneak into a secret part of the castle, or cursing the earth somebody trod on. His default expression was a placid smile, and Severo caught hold of Roman's hands in his frustration at it.
"Severo?"
"Go ahead," Severo made himself say. "I'll be in soon."
Roman paused for a moment, and then nodded. "Hurry it up," he said, and jogged down to the water.
Alone and safe again, Severo began to undress, casting sun screen charms as he did so. While his skin was not as pale as it had been when he had been a kid, he didn't tan, and his shoulders were still pink from where he had burned in Crete.
Thoughts dragged once more to their holiday, Severo glanced down at his body. He was strong and lean, but he had none of the definition on his stomach which Roman had got from Merlin knew where. He was hairier than Roman though, his chest already generously furred, with a treasure trail disappearing into the pants he was swiftly Transfiguring into shorts.
He wasn't sure how he felt about his body, and his opinion mostly depended on his guess of what Roman found attractive. He had to guess, because for the life of him Severo couldn't discern a single person who Roman definitely found attractive. He didn't even know if Roman was straight or gay.
"Severo! Get your pale arse in the water!"
Severo stuck his fingers up at Kassandra, but he obediently padded down to the lake to be immediately grabbed and dunked by Frank.