undunoops (undunoops) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2011-01-08 01:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: r |
Fic: And Sometimes Darkness, part 2, SS/RL, R
Title: And Sometimes Darkness, part 2
Author/Artist: undun
Rating: mature/adult content, R
Pairing(s)/character(s): Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Harry et al.
Summary: After the War against the Dark Lord, some are left behind. Not forgotten by everyone, as Severus Snape finds out.
Disclaimer: Not-for-profit fan creation.
Warnings: I hate warnings. There may be unpleasant stuff in here. There, that’s it. Anything else would be a spoiler.
Notes: I forgot to mention, I have dedicated this story to the the very wonderful musigneus.
Words: this part 1,607
2. Form and Function
Remus pondered idly what he would say to Tonks when he next talked to her. Though she’d been reasonably accepting of his need to attend Snape’s hearing, she’d no doubt be altogether less reasonable about his giving house space to the man. It was likely to be a common reaction among his acquaintances and he would have to find a way to deal with it.
Tonks still felt it her duty to make sure he ate regularly and contributed a takeaway curry every Friday to that purpose. He could expect her to be on the doorstep bearing a vicious vindaloo no later than four days from now. She would certainly floo him first if she intended to visit sooner; an ill-timed appearance when Remus had been entertaining a casual acquaintance had been a lesson for both of them on the importance of establishing boundaries now that they were no longer intimate.
He’d been transfiguring the bed, or beds as they now were, while trying to decide how to handle Tonks. While the beds were coming along nicely, and even in their divided state still retained some of the original’s sinful opulence, ideas were not forthcoming for arguing Snape’s case to Tonks, or anyone else who might choose to object to his finding temporary sanctuary with Remus.
He sighed, and cursed the need he felt to justify his actions to all and sundry. Surely he could make his own decisions and have them respected like anybody else? Yes, but he would run the risk of alienating the people he cared about – something he was always at pains to avoid. He inevitably called himself a coward afterwards, but he was never able to overcome the urge to please others at the expense of his own needs.
This time was different, however; Snape’s fate was quite literally in his hands. He flexed those hands, lifting them to his face as he remembered the weight and solid feel of the man when he’d lifted him to Apparate. He’d felt the prominent ridges of his ribs through the layers of threadbare wool. Snape must have been on a restricted diet for some time. Perhaps he’d been medicated. He had to contact someone at St Mungo’s and find out how to help him rehabilitate.
He ran his gaze once more over the bedroom. He’d had to move two bookshelves to make room for the divided bed, but the result was spacious enough for two grown men to share. He would make adjustments to the wardrobe later if he needed to, but at the moment Snape had nothing with him but the clothes he was wearing. With that in mind, Remus pulled out an old pair of pyjamas and left them on top of the bed nearest the door.
He left the room thinking over another problem – that of Snape’s mobility. Remus had hated the wheeled chair and he had to find another way for Severus to move about. Why hadn’t St Mungo’s given him some prosthetic legs? It was certainly a puzzle.
He stood in the doorway of the lounge room, halted in his tracks by the sight of Snape slumped and sleeping, or so he hoped, cradling his empty beer glass loosely in his hands. The poor sod was done in, obviously. The hearing would have been an emotional strain, not to mention the effort required in his newly disabled state just to sit through the farce – and with no guarantee that he’d be freed at the end of it. And he’d had no reason to expect someone there to help him afterwards.
Suddenly, helping Snape made the best kind of sense to Remus. He smiled to himself and moved to raise the sleeping wizard gently into his arms.
Snape roused briefly to object: “I hate this,” he slurred in a fragrant wash of butter beer breath.
“I know,” Remus responded with a sigh, navigating the hallway carefully and bending to lower the man onto his bed. He conjured a candle and lit it with his wand, leaving it to hover beside the bed. He’d need another small table in here. “Sleep, Severus.”
Back in the lounge room he found a piece of parchment and began to make a list of what he would need to do tomorrow, beginning with a visit to St Mungo’s to find the healer that had treated Snape’s injuries. After that he needed to do some grocery shopping, and maybe he could fit in a quick visit to pick up some of Snape’s belongings from his house. He realised that he could not count on anyone to help him and that meant leaving Snape unattended. Something that had niggled in his brain briefly now fairly shouted at him; Snape had no wand. He dropped his head into his hands. Without a wand, left alone in the house, Severus would be helpless as a baby!
He scratched around for another scrap of parchment, this time to write up spells to cast before he left in the morning, the most important being something to levitate one of the dining chairs when signalled. It wouldn’t be ideal, but at least it would be better than that wheeled contraption. “Bloody rubbish,” he muttered darkly to himself, understanding his hatred for the device no better than before but fully able to express it nonetheless.
He rubbed his forehead wearily and rose to fix some dinner, though his appetite was somewhat diminished by dwelling so much on Snape’s condition. He sighed and reached for the bread packet; toast would tide him over until morning, and then he would get some answers and hopefully solve some problems too.
~~~^~~~
Sometime in the dark hours before dawn there was a rustling in the bed next to his and Remus swung himself upright, blinking and alarmed before he remembered that he had a guest in his room.
“Severus?” he rasped out in the general direction of the other bed. He’d snuffed the candle out when going to bed and could barely see the Snape’s dark form.
“Ah, I need to…”
“Toilet. Yes, no problem. Hold on.”
He was tempted to slap himself across the head for not thinking of this before he went to sleep. The spelled chair couldn’t wait until daylight.
He staggered through the darkened flat using his wand for light. Locating a kitchen chair he fought to clear his head enough to cast the complicated charm needed to activate the chair for Snape in his wandless state. When he was satisfied that he had the result he wanted he levitated the chair into the bedroom. He really needed to apply to the Ministry for the return of Snape’s wand. He expected that they would try and deny him access to it, but they had no legal right to do so in light of the man’s full pardon.
Belatedly he re-lit the candle hovering near Snape’s bed.
“Here you are, a chair charmed just for you, Severus. Sorry I couldn’t arrange a flying carpet instead – budget considerations, you know,” he quipped weakly.
He watched as Snape eyed first him, and then the rather ordinary looking wooden chair he had placed beside the bed.
“It will levitate for you, just steer it with your weight. Let me help you,” he urged, bending to get his arm around the man.
“I think I… can manage… myself,” Snape ground out, levering himself to the edge of the bed.
He stepped back instantly, aware that Snape needed to assert some independence and reassured to see some of the famed temper in evidence at last.
“Thank you.” The man glanced up at him as he struggled to perch on the chair.
Then again, Snape’s observance of social niceties was really starting to worry him. He watched nervously as Snape got the chair moving, bumping gently against the wall as he guided it along the hallway.
“First door on the left,” he called after the floating wizard. He paced the room slowly, ears pricked for the sound of Snape falling. Instead his ears picked up the sound of a rather protracted piss. He brought his hand up to smother a smile – the poor bloke must have been busting. Predictably, listening to all that running water made his own bladder ache in sympathy and he paced faster waiting for Snape to emerge from the bathroom.
The flush sounded and Snape reappeared in the doorway of the bedroom, frowning with concentration as he manhandled the chair to his bed. He looked at Remus as he lifted himself back onto the bed.
“You needn’t stay up waiting for me,” he commented, just a hint of waspishness in his voice.
“Oh, no – I’m off for a go myself,” he said, and slipped out of the room. He stopped and turned back to the doorway. “Um, if you would be more comfortable, I left you some pyjamas to wear. You’d already fallen asleep before I could offer them to you earlier.”
He headed into the bathroom, taking his time and even brushing his teeth again to give Snape some privacy to change. When he finally returned to the bedroom Snape was once again asleep, or doing a very good imitation of it. He smiled and picked up the puddle of clothes on the floor, shaking them out and leaving them draped over the chair. He caught himself before he followed the impulse to stroke the pale cheek resting on the pillow.
He blew out the candle.
Heart thudding for no reason that came to mind, he fell back onto his bed and lay gazing at the darkness above for a very long time.
~~~^~~~