InsaneJournal

Severance Pay (Snape, Lupin, R)
Originally posted June 16, 2007; linked from here.

TITLE: Severance Pay
RATING: R
CHARACTERS: Snape, Lupin
CHALLENGE: lupin_snape's June '07 Dark Side of Snupin
PROMPT: Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed. - George Bernard Shaw
DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to the Harry Potter franchise.
NOTES: 620 words. Thanks to C for inspiration and J for beta help!
WARNINGS: Dark themes. Highlight here for more details (SPOILERS): [Character death, implied torture, possible homicide/suicide.]
SUMMARY: Severus takes Remus away from a dark place, but not all who are rescued are truly saved.



Silence. So much better than the screams.

It is dark; it is light; it is dark again and still Remus is left huddled in the corner of his cell, stone floor leeching his warmth. How long has it been? Will he die? Would death be worth an end to the visits from them?

Light and dark again. His belly gurgles, and that too is better than the screams.

Have they gone? The wild-eyed woman, the sneering blond... the wolf. Remus shudders. He would choose death before another visit from that one. Too vicious, too feral... and too much like himself.

-:-

It is light again. Footsteps, then the creak of the opening door. A man enters: an unfamiliar man... wait. That scent. Old familiar known.

"Lupin," a voice says, accusing him. He is guilty, he knows. He does not remember why, but they have made sure he knows.

A movement, and suddenly the man crouches, close enough to touch. Remus shrinks back.

"Lupin," the voice says again, and Remus does not understand.

A hand reaches out, grasps his chin, turns his face upward, but not cruelly as the woman would have done.

Remus meets the black-eyed gaze, stares... and recognizes.

"Severus?" he croaks.

-:-

He pulls the coat tighter around him, sinks deeper into its collar, reassuring himself of his existence.

No one is paying him any attention, though he feels exposed. "Stay here," Severus had said, and Remus intends to stay until Severus returns.

Someone touches his arm; he recoils. A woman with straight black hair, leaning close. "Excuse me, do you know where..."

Her eyes grow wild, and her mouth twists into a mocking grin, and he is caught, found, no!

"Get away from him!" Severus is there, grabbing him and leading him away from the bewildered Muggle.

He can't stop shivering.

-:-

Severus unlocks the door, and Remus follows him into the cottage, wonderingly.

"It's only temporary," Severus is saying. Remus sits down on an armchair, relaxes his grip on his coat. He leans back, closes his eyes.

A hand on his shoulder wakes him. "Lupin. It's nearly nightfall and tonight is the full moon. You haven't had your Wolfsbane potion, so I need to move you to another room."

Remus nods, groggy, but trusting. Severus has rescued him. Severus was on their side after all. Severus has rescued him.

He stands. "Severus... Thank you."

A dark look comes over Severus' face. "Don't thank me, Lupin."

-:-

The cottage is miles away from the nearest town, Severus explains as he locks Remus into the garden shed.

Remus undresses and piles his new clothes carefully, sits down to wait. He doesn't remember his last transformation.

Suddenly the door opens, revealing a black-robed figure. Severus.

"What are you doing?" Remus is embarrassed, naked, but there is a strange look in Severus' eyes. He steps into the shed, leaves the door open behind him.

"For God's sake, close the--" Remus moves to go around him, intent on the open door and the lingering rays of sunlight, but Severus brandishes his wand, and Remus freezes.

And then begins to transform.

The last thing he sees before the wolf, the hunger, takes him over, is the glittering darkness of Severus' eyes.

-:-


The housekeeper clucked her tongue as a long sheet was drawn over the body. "Poor soul. I've never seen such a thing in all my years."

The inspector nodded distractedly, looking at a pile of stiff clothes. "You say there were two of them?"

She nodded.

"Well." The inspector tucked his notebook into a pocket, and looked out into the forest behind the shed. "We can only hope the other one got away."