dungeons_master (dungeons_master) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2010-09-02 21:16:00 |
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Current mood: | cranky |
Current music: | Shinedown - Breaking Inside |
Fantasy Fest Fic: A fresh start, by dungeons_master
I hope it's okay to post this now... I'm really sorry for being so late, RL really got in the way, this time. And I mean Real Life, not Remus Lupin :P
Title: A fresh start
Rating: R/NC17
Word count: ~5000
Prompts: 32. Two weeks before POA start of term; staff is at school. It's hot, really, really hot. So hot, magic is static-y/unreliable. Staff is using any way they can think of to cool off. R catches S at his - be creative! Any rating, smut always welcome
48. Summer Heatwave in Hogwarts. It's getting really hot under those robes. Severus (or Remus) has found an unusual way to cool down. The other discovers it. Perhaps some teasing about this unusual way - or... blackmailing.
Warnings: Fluffy, clicheé and boring. Probably not what one would expect, looking at the prompts.
It was a big stroke of luck that the letter from Dumbledore arrived when it did. The money from his last job had ended the week before, and Remus didn’t have enough to buy a fulfilling meal a day, let alone pay the whole month’s rent.
The offer to stay at Hogwarts for the rest of the summer, plus one month of salary in advance, had been a blessing; a large bed, plenty of food, and money to spend on books and clothes for at least a year. Remus wasn’t so full of himself to think he could break the curse on the position, but a whole year of employment was good enough for a man like him.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath at the front gate, the warm, humid air not dampening his mood, and looked around to see what had changed. Nothing seemed to be different from the last time he’d be there. He was different, but life had a way of doing that.
He could still see the ghosts of his friends, laughing and chatting under the big tree near the well, and that did dampen his mood considerably. All of them were gone now, some of them dead, some of them... No, he wouldn’t think about Sirius. He knew the man was probably the reason Dumbledore had called him here to teach, but he had decided not to let himself be coerced into anything dangerous or stupid.
Remus shook his head and strode purposefully towards the castle, pushing back all the memories of his youth.
A flicker from one of the second floor windows caught his attention.
Well well well... It seemed some things had remained unchanged. Always skulking in dark corners, are you, Snivellus? Remus snorted to himself. He had just caught a glimpse of lanky black hair, but he would have been able to recognize the man anywhere.
Remus knew Snape was at Hogwarts. Had been for thirteen years now, actually, after his trial and Dumbledore’s shocking admission that the man was a spy working for the Order. Remus still wasn’t sure he believed that.
The last time they’d seen each other had been on the train back home in their last year at Hogwarts. They didn’t consort with the same circle of people, and both of them probably thought that it would have been a blessing never to see each other again.
And here he was,now, a colleague to the sour, vengeful man, just about to spend a whole new year seeing more of Snape that he would have dreamed about. Not that he dreamt about it, of course. Adolescent dreams not withstanding.
Hagrid greeted him at the front door, and Remus shook his head, smiling at the giant man, storing away in his head desires long forgotten.
The next day, when he woke up, Remus wasn’t sure of his so-called luck anymore.
The sun was barely up, but here he was, completely awake, the sheets twisted all around him and completely drenched in sweat. What the heck?!
He got up, tried to get a cold shower but the water remained lukewarm no matter how he cursed at the tap. He groggily dressed, to go see if he could discover what had happened to his rooms. He knew there was something amiss the moment he opened the door: the temperature in the rest of the castle was somewhat higher and the air was thick with humidity.
Not even the dungeons, usually the coldest place in the castle, offered much respite. If anything, the lack of windows, and consequentially of fresh air, made the place even more intolerable. Remus was about to go and throw himself into the lake when he heard a noise from one of the many rooms.
It had to be a potions lab, Remus guessed, based on its lone occupant.
Severus Snape was brewing three different potions, or the same one in three different cauldrons, but who cared. The man wasn’t even the smallest bit sweaty, and just the heat coming from the ajar door was stifling.
How could he stand so close to three fires and not die?
Remus cursed himself for his own stupidity. It was the most obvious thing in the world and he hadn’t thought about it. The hot weather was probably melting his brain. He turned away from the door and went back to his rooms, closed the door and cast the most powerful cooling charm he knew.
And immediately wished he hadn’t.
A small tornado erupted from his wand, and sent all his carefully packed possessions in flying into a heap on the floor. He winced when he heard a ‘crack’ from his Dark Arts artifacts case, but there was no stopping the disaster currently messing up his room, but there was no stopping the disaster making his rooms a mess until the magic played itself out.
And the worst of it was, the small tornado was made of hot air.
Remus sighed, and, with much effort and sweat and swearing, began rearranging his possessions and searching for damage. When he’d finished, his shirt was completely wet and his hair pasted to his face.
After a short shower he dressed in his lightest clothes and went to the Great Hall, hoping to find the Headmaster already there. He was, as was all the staff that had remained at the castle for the summer. And all of them were apparently eating what looked to be like ice cream, or snow cones, or frappe.
All except for Severus who was, between the annoyed glances of the rest of the staff, enjoying a nice, warm cup of tea.
“Remus, my boy!” Dumbledore announced his presence to the other members, and Remus was welcomed with embraces, pats on the shoulder and a ton of questions. A cup filled with chocolate gelato with raspberry topping appeared, and he started eating between answers without even realizing, and was so caught up in a discussion about his curriculum with McG- Minerva (“Oh, I insist, Remus, we are colleagues now!”) that he didn’t even notice when Snape had disappeared from the table without even saying a word.
He didn’t forget to ask the Headmaster about the heat wave, though.
“Hogwarts has always been a bit peculiar, dear boy,” the Headmaster explained. “In the summer it gets especially so. From July to August, every year since I can remember, the magic becomes erratic, and if by chance, like this year, the weather is warmer than usual, the castle becomes unbearable.”
Dumbledore shook his head. “For decades I’ve tried to look for a solution to this problem, but it seems like the castle uses this period to recuperate from all the wild magic it has to absorb through the school year to protect the students, and nothing can be done. We all cope as we can, with cold food, light robes, fans and drinking as much as we can. But don’t try to use magic, or the problem will get worse.”
“I already noticed, thank you,” Remus said sheepishly. The Headmaster laughed then Hagrid, dressed in a ghastly pair of boxer shorts, approached Dumbledore to discuss gardening matters, and Remus found himself back to square one.
He spent the day wandering around the castle with his books and scrolls, trying to find a place where he could work without gasping for breath every two minutes, but no place seemed to be immune to the heat wave. Outside it was even worse: the sun hit harder, and not even the few trees with their shadow offered a respite.
Werewolves’ body temperatures runs higher than humans’ and, while in cold winters when Remus couldn’t afford to pay for wood for the fireplace this was a blessing, in moments like this it was just the curse it was supposed to be.
He could feel little droplets of sweat run down his spine. The hot breeze did nothing to help, just made breathing more difficult. He didn’t get much work done, and the school year was about to start. He needed to find a solution.
Suddenly Remus’ mind went to the only person in the school who didn’t seem to suffer from the heat wave. Snape! He must have found some sort of escape route to the unstable magic, maybe using Dark Arts, knowing the man; but desperate times call for desperate measures, so Remus set up to discover Snape’s method and use it for himself.
He found the man exactly where he was the day before, brewing in the stifling heat of the Potions classroom, the absence of his outer robe the only thing apparent sign of his suffering for the heat, but the long-sleeved shirt and the long trousers that covered infuriatingly long and lean legs were still firmly buttoned in place.
Nothing seemed to faze the man. He was even murmuring to himself as he brewed, but the cauldrons’ boiling made it harder for Remus to decipher what the man was saying. That was a bit weird, though, Remus had never seen Severus talk to himself before, and he’d sure made his fair share of looking back in their school days.
But really, it was impossible for the man not to even perspire a little. A normal person would surely have, even in winter, standing so close to a cauldron. There was something going on for sure, and Remus had to know what it was.
And what better way to find out than to stalk the man?
Remus wished he still had the Marauder’s map with him, at this moment, but old plain stalking would do. He could be deadly silent when needed, a necessary feat for a werewolf’s survival. It seemed not even suspicious, paranoid Snape could notice him, because the man was oblivious the whole time he went back from the lab to his quarters still muttering under his breath here and there.
He reached a big oak door and stopped, looking at thin air. “You can go for today.”
Had the man become mad for the heat? Who was he talking to? Had Snape suddenly got an imaginary friend? Remus remembered himself not to snicker just in time, or he’d be discovered, while Severus continued his monologue.
“It is not necessary. And don’t even think about going to speak with the Headmaster.” What? What was that? Severus kept secrets from Dumbledore? Well, that was an interesting bit of information.
Or the man was just mad and suffering for delusions. After all, he just kept talking with ghosts-
And suddenly, it was like a light bulb had turned on inside Remus’ head.
Sure enough, a translucent form began to appear next to Snape, and the Bloody Baron, his face contrite, but visibly restraining himself from talking back to the feared professor, appeared in the corridor.
That bastard!
“You will respect our… ‘arrangement’, and that’s final.” Snape ordered.
“Yes sir”, the subdued ghost said.
So, that was Snape’s brilliant idea to fight the heat! He had just coerced his house’s ghost to stay with him at all times. It was common knowledge that the temperature dropped, when a ghost was near you, but Remus had never really thought someone could take advantage of something like that.
Apparently, Snape had no qualms about it.
Well, Remus wouldn’t stand for it. First of all, Snape had no right to force the castle’s ghosts to do his bidding, and second, it wasn’t fair that Snape was the only one not sweating in the whole castle.
As soon as the ghost had totally disappeared again, he approached the man.
“Snape! Who do you think you are to take advantage of others like that?’
The man turned to him so fast that Remus wondered how he hadn’t gotten dizzy.
“Lupin! Eavesdropping on others on your first day back... what a perfect example for the students you will set.” Snape replied, snarling.
“Do not try to turn the tables on me, Snape. You are coercing an Hogwarts ghost for your purposes! You should be ashamed of yourself to resort to such lowly methods just to spare yourself from suffering the heat. I don’t know what you have on the Bloody Baron, but you will stop blackmailing him this instant.”
Snape regarded him with a superior look and scoffed. “Think what you want, Lupin, I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“No, you don’t, but wait until I tell the Headmaster.” Oh, that did get the man’s attention.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Snape hissed.
“No? Try and stop me.” Remus smirked smugly and turned to go.
“Wait! Damn you, Lupin. Baron, you are free to go. And don’t come near me again.” The Bloody Baron, who Remus thought was gone, appeared suddenly in the corridor, looking startled.
“But, Sir....”
“I said go away. Go. Do whatever it is you do in the summer when you not ‘forced’ to stay by my
side.”
The Baron pursued his lips, threw a nasty look at Lupin and disappeared, this time probably for good.
“Happy now? I’ll suffer like you do. Misery loves company, doesn’t it? And you sure are a miserable piece of shit.” Snape said, and strode off without leaving Remus the time to form a coherent reply.
He shook his head and turned away, only to find the cold, murdering eyes of the Bloody Baron fixing him with the deadliest glare Remus had ever seen.
“You,” the Baron said, and Remus for a moment feared for his life, “are every bit the moron that Severus told me you were when you were students.”
Remus blinked his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Did you really think I could be coerced into doing anything, by anyone?”
Remus was a bit taken aback by this. “Well, I don’t... but-”
“Then why did you suppose Severus was forcing me to do anything?”
“Because... Because he... You can’t mean to say you stay by him of your own will!”
“And why not? Do I have to ask for permission to anyone, perhaps?”
Remus was getting more and more confused, “But...”
“No buts, you fool! Severus and I have an arrangement, or at least I did before you decided to put your nose into matters that don’t concern you. If Severus gets sick because of your stupidity, I’m going to make sure your career as a professor here is the shortest ever seen.”
“What? Why would Severus get sick?”
The Baron looked at Remus with narrowed eyes. “Did you think I was just keeping him company, all this time? He’s anaemic, and heat waves debilitate him so much that he can faint. He did, once, and he didn’t die only because fortunately the stair he was walking on were already arrived at the ground floor. I woke him up and he made me promise not to tell the Headmaster because he was terrified that they’d make him go home. Since then, when it’s to hot for him, I keep him company so he can keep going with his usual tasks. And before you ask, of course Dumbledore knows. Severus likes to think he’s fooling the Headmaster, but he knows better. But now, thanks to you, he won’t want to have me around anymore, just to prove you have nothing on him. And if he gets sick, Dumbledore will have to send him away, and Severus will finally have a good reason to hate you.”
Remus shrugged. “He’s already got one. Or two. Or two hundred. He’s Snape, he hates everyone.”
The ghost snorted derisively. “You are even dumber than I thought possible.”
And with this, the Bloody Baron left.
Remus stood still in the middle of the corridor, thinking about everything he had just discovered.
So, Severus was anaemic, suffered from the heat and had been terrified to go back home as a student. Remus had never thought Severus could be brought down by something as simple as physical weakness, let alone be terrified of his own home.
Now that he thought about it, Severus was unusually pale, never seemed to enjoy sports and never received letters or presents. Remus had assumed it was just because Severus was an antisocial, lazy bastard, but he probably had very different reasons.
Maybe Remus should apologize, or just tell the man he wouldn’t tell anything to the Headmaster... But when he looked at the door that lead to the Potions Master’s quarters, he couldn’t find the courage to knock. Severus would probably kill him on sight, too. He sighed and retired to his own quarters, wondering how to approach the subject the next day.
Sleep eluded him. It was hotter than the night before, and breathing was becoming more and more difficult. After realizing that his sheets were soaked through, Remus decided it was a good time to pay the Giant Squid a visit. Not that he would go that deep, but the water in the lake was at least ten degrees lower than the temperature he was currently living in, and no one would be there to see him swim in the dark.
He even knew the perfect place: a small cove not very far from Greenhouse 7, hidden from the top by a cop of trees and a huge bush of wild roses. A small cave with chest high water had formed inside the rock, but outside it the water was about three meters deep. Lily had told them about this place, and they’d often gone there to have a swim when they were students, in late June, and relax or hide in the cave when they’d done something they shouldn’t have.
Making sure no one was around, Remus escaped the confining heat of the castle and almost ran the distance that separated him from the inviting water. He reached the rose bushes and took off his pants and shirt (he hadn’t bothered to put much on, knowing he was about to go skinny dipping, since he didn’t have a costume) and with childish glee took three long steps and threw himself in the water. Just as he was about to be submerged completely, he heard a shrill shriek.
Alarmed, he emerged a second later. Brushing his hair aside he looked around frantically, only to find, a couple of feet away from him inside the cave, a petrified and very naked Snape.
“Snape? What are you doing here?” Remus inquired, his heart still beating faster than usual for the scare.
“Me? What are YOU doing here, Lupin!” Snape spat, pointing an accusing finger.
“This is our- my place. I used to come here all the time, as a student! I was here first!”
Severus snorted. “Yes, you were everywhere first. I suppose Lily was the one to tell you all about this place. Who did you think suggested it to her in the first place?”
“What?”
“And from then on, I couldn’t come here anymore. You were here every day. But now, if you’ll excuse me, *I* was here first, so you will. Go. Away.”
Remus scowled and crossed his arms. “There’s space enough for us both, don’t you think?”
Severus face became completely red, up to the points of his ears. He moved as if to get out of the water, but he realized that he too was naked, and sat back down. “I hate you, Lupin.”
There, the Baron was right.
Remus sighed and swam nearer, much to Snape’s alarm. Better stay away then. But there were things he needed to say.
“I’m sorry for before, Severus.” The darker man’s eyebrows furrowed in an expression of confusion. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. It was wrong of me to think you were forcing the Bloody Baron-”
“Who told you I wasn’t?” Now Severus’ face was definitely outraged. Remus instinctively retreated a few inches away.
“The Baron did, and he was right to do so. Don’t be mad at him, he gave me a well deserved scolding. I swear I won’t tell a thing to the Headmaster, and you can keep working on your potions in peace.”
“Yeah, like I believe you. Are you trying to make sure Dumbledore catches me on the act?”
Remus was starting to lose his patience, like often happened when he was near the other man. “You always were a paranoid man. I told you I won’t tell!”
“And I didn’t have any good reasons, did I? You and your friends-“
“You WON’T talk about them like that! THEY ARE DEAD!” Remus thundered, and for once Snape shut up, grimacing and looking away.
Remus deflated suddenly, and went to lean with his back on the rocks too, which brought him closer to Severus.
“I said I won’t tell, and I won’t.”
“All right,” was all Severus said, and the eerie silence crept up again. After a couple of minutes of not moving, not speaking and not looking at each other, Remus decided to breach the quiet.
“So… how is teaching at Hogwarts?”
Snape turned to him, his expression still troubled. “What, you want to make small talk now?”
Remus shrugged, sending droplets of water everywhere. “I’ve always found silence uncomfortable.”
Snape tsked, but he did answer moments later. “A waste of time, if you ask me. Dunderheads don’t listen, mess up your classroom and spend half or their time making calf eyes at each other instead of paying attention.”
Remus laughed and relaxed a bit. “They’re young and free. I forgot what it means to feel like that.”
“Have you ever?” Severus inquired, for once sounding curious and not mocking.
Remus thought about it. “That is the reason that I stayed with James and the others.” Damn, it still hurt to say the name, “and the others. They didn’t care about my secret, and behaved around me like I really was one of them. I felt normal, when I was with them.”
Severus scowled at him. “I thought it was just to make my life impossible,” he said, but before Remus could answer, the darker man waved his hand to stop him. “Yes, I know, they are dead. Lily also is, and she was my friend until she met the lot of you. She was my chance to feel normal.”
Remus didn’t know what to say to that, so he staid silent for a minute or two. “We sure make a depressing pair,” he mused.
Severus raised his eyebrows and didn’t answer, deciding instead to close his eyes and relax against the rocks. Remus took this as an invitation to go for a dive, and he swam around for several minutes.
Snape hadn’t moved, surprisingly, and was still half floating in the dark water, the moon making his pale skin almost translucent.
Remus had never seen the man so relaxed before. He seemed almost… approachable.
He went to lay back on the rock too, this time a lot closer than before. Snape didn’t move, didn’t open his eyes, just flinched briefly.
“So, anaemic, uh? I would never have guessed.” Remus didn’t know why he was keeping his voice so low, but it seemed the right thing to do. The night was quiet, the sky clear, and the atmosphere almost romantic. Remus didn’t want to disrupt this feeling.
“I kept it well hidden. Imagine the fun my dear schoolmates might have had at poor, weak Snivellus’ expenses if they had known.”
“An illness isn’t a joking matter.”
“Depends on how well liked the person who suffers said illness is. You know as well as I do that Potter and Black would have had a field day. Pettigrew too. You, on the other hand, have suffered too much physical pain to make fun of others’, not that this means you didn’t find a hundred other ways to be a prick.”
“Gee, thanks.” Remus answered, mockingly. “Well, I’m going to take another swim. Want to join me?”
“No, I think I’ll pass,” Severus said, without even opening his eyes.
“Come on, I swear I’m not going to drown you!”
“I would like to see you try. But I’m not interested in your silly games.”
“This is not a ploy to end your life, and the water out there is actually more fresh than lukewarm. Tell you what, I’ll race you there.”
Severus opened just one eye. “You’ll race me there.”
“Yes.”
“There where? There is nothing in the water to use as a possible goal to reach.”
Remus rolled his eyes. “Spoilsport. So, try and catch me, if you can.” And with a daring smirk, Remus was off, diving and swimming as fast he could towards the center of the lake.
He loved swimming and he was very good at it. James and Sirius had never been able to keep up to him, probably because of his superior body strength.
But it seemed Severus was unfazed by his prowess, because not even two minutes later he felt a hand grip his ankle hard and he drank a fair amount of water before Severus let him go.
Severus was laughing like the bastard he was, when Remus emerged. Remus scowled at the man, before noting how carefree he looked in the light of the moonlight, and swam closer.
Severus didn’t notice at first, because he was still laughing, but when he calmed down, and looked at Remus, and did nothing (not retreat back, nor shove Remus away) and just stood there, licking his lips, Remus took that as an invitation, and leaned in to kiss Severus fully on the mouth.
Somehow Remus thought that Severus’ lips would be salty, but they were in the lake, not the sea, after all, and Severus just tasted of still water and, surprisingly, mint chocolate.
Remus liked mint chocolate very much.
When they parted, both were panting, only in part from the swimming. Severus was looking away and, Remus couldn’t believe his eyes, blushing. He said nothing, just took Severus’ arm, swam towards the small cave, and proceeded to kiss the man breathless again.
Severus for once wasn’t complaining or arguing, probably because his tongue was busy doing things that Remus had merely dreamed about.
Ok, ok, Remus had lied before. He’d dreamt of Severus a lot, in school, and quite a lot of other times in the following years. Severus was one of his favourite wanking fantasies.
Here in the water, completely naked, there was no mistaking both their arousal. Skin slid easily over skin, and soon his hands slithered down to grip Severus’ buttocks and bring their groins together. The friction was delicious.
Mindless of their moans echoing in the small cave, they fought for dominance against the rock walls, earning a scrape here and there and not minding at all.
“S- slow down,” Severus suddenly said, and Remus thought the man had had second thoughts about this very welcome but so sudden encounter. “I don’t want… so soon. Like this.”
Remus took that as an invitation to kiss Severus some more, and deciding they’d fooled around enough, wrapped his legs around the other’s man’s waist.
“Allright?” he said, and the darker man nodded, took a hold of Remus’ hips and guided himself inside.
There was no stopping the loud cry from echoing in the air when Severus entered fully with a single stroke. It had been a while, but the water and their foreplay had helped reduce the pain to a slowly fading burn.
Remus could have cared less. Being here, in Severus’ arms, with Severus inside him, looking at him with such a focused gaze made every kind of pain worthwhile.
He closed his eyes and let the soothing water and Severus’ slow, calculated thrusts lull him into one of the most powerful orgasms of his life.
He regained his wits just enough to open his eyes and see Severus come undone, too, and it was an amazing sight, framed by the moonlight.
They stood like that for a while, after, regaining their breath and just relaxing. Severus was surprisingly cuddly and Remus was content to bask in the feeling of satisfaction for a little while more.
Severus was the first to breach the quiet. “Lupin, you’re hot.”
Remus felt himself blush. “Thanks.” Snape raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you meant… Well, people… like me tend to have a higher body temperature.”
“Then let’s cool it down and go back to the castle.”
They swam together where the water was deliciously chilly, enjoying the respite it offered until their skin turned pruney.
When it was time to get out, neither one of them wanted to go first, partly because they’d enjoyed themselves so much, partly because the first to go would offer the other one a full body show.
Remus decided to hell with modesty, and he was the first to climb the vine that allowed them to get back to the top of the cave. His performance was rewarded by a sharp intake of breath. Severus had obviously liked what he’d seen.
But the man didn’t seem to want to get out of the lake yet, so Remus went to look for his clothes. When he came back Severus already had his long sleeved shirt on.
Remus stole a last, mournful glance at the long legs before they were encased in black fabric.
“The Headmaster said the heat wave will probably last until the end of the month,” Remus threw in the air.
“Seems so,” Severus replied, buttoning his fly.
“It’s going to be very hot every day.”
“Mmh,” Severus commented, tying up one shoe.
“I could use a good, refreshing swim every night.”
Severus finished tying up the second shoe and stood. “Lupin, are you asking me for an encore?”
Remus laughed. “You could say so.”
Severus regarded him skeptically for a moment, then nodded. “Tomorrow night. I will be here. And no word about this to the Headmaster.”
“I swear on my Gryffindor honour, Severus,” Remus promised, knowing fully well that the old man probably already knew all about it and more.
They left together, splitting up only when they were inside the castle, with a last glance full of promise.
Remus went back to his room feeling refreshed and sated; the hot damp air enveloped him again immediately but he barely noticed.
Just like the day before, he sent his silent thanks to the Headmaster, only this time for a different reason.
He’d gotten very lucky, indeed.