tetsubinatu (tetsubinatu) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2010-04-12 00:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: pg, prompt: snupin showers |
The Firebird, Part II (of 2) - Snupin Showers Day 10
Title: The Firebird, Part II
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Severus/Remus
Disclaimer: The characters belong to JK Rowling and the basic storyline to the Russian folk ouvre.
Summary: A Snupin retelling of the fairytale
Author’s Notes: Inspired by the recent rash of fairytale fics in Merlin fandom I wondered about a Snupin fairytale and of course this one leaped to mind. I hope you will enjoy it!
The Czar and Czarina Tonks were charming, and politely welcomed Severus to their very traditional home. The czarina was, when Severus thought about it, already known to him as kin to his foster-brother Sirius. On the matter of the Weasleys, however, they were less than sympathetic.
"They are perfectly nice people," the czarina admitted, "Despite their appalling hair, but allow our only daughter to marry one we will not! Nymphadora is our only heir and we are looking in other directions for her.
Princess Nymphadora slumped ungracefully in her chair until her mother reminded her to sit up straight. Severus caught her eye and found it speculative in a way that made him rather nervous. "But mother," she protested, "I don't want to marry any of the stuffy Princes that you have been inviting to tea - and we really don't need me to marry the heir: wouldn't it be better for our people if I married a second - or third (Severus shivered) - son who would be free to come and live here?"
Her mother seemed thoughtful at this notion, but drew her shoulders up tightly. "You may have a point, Nymphadora, but not a Weasley. They are too boisterous (the princess smothered a grin) and there are far too many of them."
She turned her attention to Severus with a new and unsettling glint in her eye. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Prince Severus? I find that we really don't know you nearly as well as we ought."
With a sideways glance at the princess, who was nodding encouragingly, Severus agreed, but he was not entirely sure that he was comfortable in this well-tended household and insisted on keeping his wolf with him.
They dined well on steak au poivre and Severus was shown to his chambers by the princess herself. As soon as the door shut behind them she grinned, a wild grin that Severus felt her mother would strongly have disapproved of. "You'll have to kidnap me," she said. "Mother'll come around once Charlie and I have tied the knot but she's really got a bee in her bonnet about the Weasleys.
"I adore your wolf," she added. "Would you like to come with me, you handsome thing? I'm sure the Weasleys would welcome you into the family too."
The wolf slunk behind Severus and she laughed. "Looks like he prefers you," she said blithely. "What's his name?"
Severus looked at the wolf who looked back impassively. "Lupin," he improvised, wondering why the wolf never spoke in public. "I call him Lupin."
"Right," said Nymphadora. "Now I'm not taking that potholed pathway to the Weasleys' in the dark so we will have to set out at first light. Mother doesn't get up until several hours later and we can be at the Weasleys' by then. I hope they have a handy priest."
"If you're this pleased with the match why didn't you run away before?" Severus asked, inserting his question with difficulty into the eager flow of her words.
"Oh Charlie's never actually said anything to me," the princess responded. "I thought he was eyeing me up and down but if he's been sending me courting letters and gifts as you said then Mother has been keeping them from me. She's very oldfashioned you know."
When she finally left, promising to meet them in the stables at dawn, Severus was only too glad to lie down on his silken coverlet and try to sleep. The wolf stretched out beside him, its head on the pillow and its paws touching the foot of the bed.
"Don't get into the habit, Lupin," Severus muttered as the wolf sighed heavily, its breath ruffling Severus' lank hair. "By tomorrow evening this will all be over and you can go back to the cave or lair where you came from." He turned his back on the wolf's reproachful gaze.
"Goodnight, Severus," the wolf replied gently.
"What is your name, anyway?" Severus murmured, half asleep already, but if the wolf replied he didn't hear it.