geminia905 (geminia905) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2009-01-10 11:53:00 |
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Current mood: | accomplished |
Belated Bday fic for Severus - Word Prompt: Patronus
This was actually done on time, just didn't get a chance to post it last night.
Title: Expecto Patronum (until I think of something better.)
Author: Geminia
Rating: PG13
Pairings: none (Lupin/Snape & Lupin/Tonks implied)
Summary: Patronuses, like their conjurers, can be unpredictable.
Warnings: Tiny bit of profanity. Implied past sexual assault (blink and you'll probably miss it).
Notes: Jo said DE's can't produce patronuses. I say that's a crock (if Umbridge can produce a patronus, anyone can) and have therefore completely ignored it. Thanks and smooches to Lore for looking this over for me. Not Brit-picked, so I apologize in advance for any overt Americanisms.
DISCLAIMER: Don't own. No money made. Fair use/parody yada yada...
Severus was brooding – and it was really starting to piss him off. He'd been a spy long enough to know having your mind on anything not directly related to the situation at hand was the fastest way to an early grave. He just couldn't seem to make himself stop tonight.
Ever since he'd learned the news that Remus and that little bint Tonks had…
Stop dwelling on it! You're going to give yourself away mooning over that damn werewolf! Bloody unfaithful wolf…
He knew he should be pleased his ruse had worked so well. Wasn't the point of all the subterfuge last year to ensure everyone believed him a traitor? If the man he'd been involved with romantically (albeit in secret) for nearly 4 years could be so convinced that he'd leap headfirst into marriage with the first female to look his way within a fortnight, didn't that mean he'd played his part to perfection?
Or does it mean he never really trusted me in the first place?
He gave serious consideration to walking over to one of the nearby trees and slamming his head into it, but at that moment McNair and his crew came into view.
Severus sneered as he watched McNair strut back and forth behind the recruits who'd been charged to help him keep their so-called allies in line.
Each of the five younger Death Eaters was trying vainly to ignore their self-appointed general as they struggled to keep their wispy, non-corporeal patronuses focused on the ten dementors being temporarily housed on the Malfoy estate. Even McNair's patronus (a vulture, what else?) was doing little more than lazily circling outside the glowing ring of light.
Severus had just reached their improvised paddock when MacNair finally managed to distract one of his hapless workers enough that his pathetically dim patronus finally died leaving just enough room in the circle for one of the dementors to float through.
"You idiot!" McNair growled. "Wrangle that 'un back or I'll 'ave your 'ide!"
The dementor wasn't in a hurry to escape, however, as it had detected what it thought to be an easy meal standing just a few feet away. It swooped toward Severus, drawn by his discontent.
Severus instinctively drew his wand, preparing to drive the creature back, but as his mouth began to form the words, the memory which would've been so easy to conjure just weeks ago would not come. For the first time in nearly four years, he couldn't truly remember the marvelous feeling of Remus crushing him against the door of his quarters on the night they would first make love.
As the dementor grew ever closer, bringing with it an increasing sense of despair, he was forced to dig deeper – back to a memory he hadn't thought of in years, but which had been his light in the darkness for many years before Remus stepped into its place.
"Expecto Patronum!" As the words left his lips and the large, brilliant shape ghosted from his wand, he knew the form his patronus would take and it made his heart ache even as he fought to hold onto the memory until the gleaming doe could completely corporealize.
He watched the elegant deer as it moved gracefully toward the dementor, driving the creature back toward its brethren and allowed himself to feel the pain of loss for the brilliant beast that had so recently been his guardian – not a pitifully oversized canine like the one Tonks had manifested, but a truly magnificent wolf.
"A doe? Why am I not surprised you'd 'ave a weak, girly patronus, Sevvy dear?" Severus gritted his teeth as McNair's mocking voice suddenly drifted over his shoulder. How the hell had he missed the bastard making his way behind him? "But then you always was better in the bitch's role, weren't ya?"
Severus flinched slightly – that was one memory he was determined to leave buried. He'd never even shared it with Remus – a man he'd shared far too many of his worst nightmares with.
He was just about to whirl and hex the arrogant bastard when his patronus suddenly made a strange hissing sound. He looked up just in time to see the doe leap away from the re-caged dementor, her body contorting in mid-jump. The long graceful neck and legs shortened and thickened, the head grew larger and more blunt, and just as the wolf's shape fully emerged, the large jaws expanded to completely encompass McNair's shimmering vulture before closing with an almost audible snap.
Severus heard a strangled cry behind him and his nose wrinkled at the sudden acrid smell of urine. He turned to smirk at McNair, but then remembered the dementors and their inexperienced keepers.
Looking back, he found his concern to be justified. Sure enough, his patronus was the only one in the area. It was circling the dementors, keeping them grouped together as the young Death Eaters recovered from their shock. To their credit, they all raised their wands to reform their patronuses – this time several wispy, but defined animal forms moved out to join his wolf.
Severus nearly laughed. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who'd just found himself a new happy memory.
The significance wasn't lost on McNair, either. He muttered several curses under his breath, glared when Severus turned to smirk at him again, and stormed off toward the house.
Severus was trying to decide on an appropriate parting shot when a flash of light and a feeling of warmth drew his attention to the wolf now standing at his side. The patronus looked up at him, warm eyes very similar to Remus' shining up at him momentarily before it shifted back to its doe form and finally faded away.
As the patronus's light disappeared and the night became quiet once more, Severus waited for his melancholy mood to resurface, but found himself unable to return to his brooding.
For the first time since that night in the Astronomy Tower, he had hope.