Senjy (senjy) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2008-05-31 18:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: r, prompt: darkfic fest '08 |
Dark Side Fic: The Time and the Place [R]
Title: The Time and the Place
Author: senjy
Character(s): Severus, Remus
Rating(s): R
Warning(s): dark, character death, obsession, vore
Word Count: 1,200
Beta: Apologies that this was hurriedly written today, and is therefore not beta read. Corrections and con-crit are welcome.
Disclaimer: All familiar characters and situations belong to JK Rowling. No profit is being made.
Summary: Severus hated Lupin for being a failure.
Notes: snegurochka_lee is the star running the challenge, and who also gave me the prompts Time Turner and Shrieking Shack.
I
Severus had always hated James Potter for saving him that night.
At first his anger had been at his saviour being one of his bullies, and particularly the one who was trying to take Lily away. As time passed and twisted him, his outlook became darker and he hated Potter for simply having saved him. He wished that he had died that night. He stopped hating Lupin for being the tool of his friends, and instead hated him for not having done what Black had intended him to do.
When Lupin failed a second time, it only made him angrier.
II
When Lily died all he was left with was his obsession. It made him follow another master's orders. It made him debase himself, continuing to teach at a school that had broken all its promise. It made him save a boy he wished would just die. When Lupin came back it made him try to get along.
It was satisfying laying down the clues, scattering the crumbs that would lead to Lupin's destruction. Lupin should have been his end, so it was only right that in the face of Lupin's failure he should show the fool how it was done.
III
The desk was almost bare, the majority of what had taken up the space having been swept onto the floor during Severus' fit. The little left on the polished mahogany were the torn scraps of the Daily Prophet.
He had known before seeing the small announcement - the Dark Lord had delighted in torturing Lestrange about her niece - but realising that the fools had even been stupid enough to put a piece in the paper had pushed his anger beyond his ability to control.
After being revealed as a werewolf, after losing Dumbledore, how dare Lupin grasp at happiness?
IV
He found it in one of the bureau drawers. It shouldn't have been so easy to find, but then Dumbledore's wards had held till his death, and McGonagall had probably not had the stomach for riffling through the Headmaster's possessions. The glint of gold and the whisper of powerful magic beneath Severus' stained fingertips brought an end to the desperate search.
Sitting down heavily in what had once been Dumbledore's chair, Time Turner cradled in his palm, Severus laughed until he had to wipe the tears away. He had been searching for a way out, but where would he run?
V
His patience and spying had born fruit and Severus spun the Time Turner yet again, eager for another look at the misery of Lupin's expression. He had quarrelled with the stupid woman again, and Severus relished the defeat, the regret, the despair that revealed itself in Lupin's movements as he paced the ground in front of the small house. Lupin had very definitely not found happiness with Lestrange's niece, and Severus was glad of it.
There! In that last moment before Apparating away, the sadness turned to such beautiful anger.
Severus' shaking fingers reached for the chain about his neck.
VI
As his Patronus returned to him, Severus studied it, searching for what was left of his feelings for Lily. They felt so distant now, cold, shielded from his heart by the decades of darkness. When he looked at the doe now, he no longer saw the beauty he once had, but his eyes focused instead on the creature's fragility. How easily that pale grace could be snuffed out... In illustration of his thoughts he waved his wand and the ghostly Patronus dispersed.
He had saved the boy again, or at least he had give Potter the tools to save himself.
VII
The doe was running. Fleeing as fast as it could from the monster pursuing it. Severus' heart thudded heavily in his chest and he could feel the desperate stretch of the doe's limbs as they ran, the heat and the pain as lactic acid built up in their muscles, slowing them down as their breath shortened to panicked gasps.
The howl made them stop completely, terror freezing them in place, bodies trembling in anticipation.
As reality began to intrude on his dreams, and Lupin's jaws closed with a crunch about his neck, Severus' thoughts were euphoric: At last! At last...
VIII
Since discovering the Time Turner he had frequently considered going back in time and changing the past. However, he knew his own cursed luck and could not see how he would be able to change anything for the better. Severus had his own thoughts on fate, and suspected that defying it would either not work, or make things infinitely worse.
So he used it to watch Lupin, not wanting to examine his reasons for doing so, nor the dreams that he had whenever he caught a glimpse of the anger Lupin normally kept bottled away inside.
The wolf was there...
IX
In the end, Severus realised that there was only one thing that he wanted to change about the past, and he knew that he could not do so until he had done everything he needed to in this miserable life.
He calculated, and then recalculated each day just how many turns it would take for him to reach the destined point. By now he didn't fear his own universe collapsing because of his actions, and he didn't care. He would go back in time only at the end. Only once he knew that there was nothing more he could do.
X
The pain from his wounds was excruciating, but nothing compared to what he felt when he looked into Potter's eyes. He wasn't sure what he had been looking for, but knowing that it wasn't there took his breath away. He had protected those green eyes, but as he gave up his memories he realised that he wouldn't miss them, he didn't need them any more. What he needed was...
When he regained consciousness he knew that his time had finally come. Able only to raise himself on one elbow, Severus dug in his robes for the Time Turner.
This time...
XI
"Who are you!?"
The panic in Lupin's tone made Severus blow out a long breath of relief: at last he would be able to right the mistakes of the past.
The touch of shaking hands on his shoulders encouraged him to open his eyes, and for the first time in too long a genuine smile curved his lips.
"S-Severus? Is it you? What happened? All this blood... You have to get out of here!"
Lupin had not been a stunning youth, and terror did nothing to improve his mediocre looks. However, in Severus' eyes he was a beloved angel.
Now...
XII
It used the last of his magic to yank his teenaged self into the room and seal Potter back in the tunnel. He sank back on the floor ignoring the banging and shouts from Potter, the panicked pleading of Lupin that both his selves leave, the rattling of the rotted door and window frame as the two teenagers in the room discovered that all exits were blocked.
The screaming brought him back to himself for a moment, and a cracked laugh escaped his lips in place of a last breath. Finally Lupin had destroyed him. He hoped it was mutual.