undunoops (undunoops) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2011-01-10 02:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: r |
Fic: And Sometimes Darkness, part 5, SS/RL, R
Title: And Sometimes Darkness
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: A story that didn’t begin its life as an AU, but is now certainly in that category.
Words: 2,054
5. Distortion
“I have to work tonight, Severus,” he announced to the man opposite.
“You have a job?”
Remus smiled at the frank expression of surprise that accompanied this question. “Yes. I do security work for a muggle firm.”
“Security.”
Severus’ tone was uninflected but he could hear the question nonetheless. “Yes, I generally sit behind a desk all night, with occasional perambulations to alleviate the monotony,” he explained.
“I see.”
“It isn’t much but it pays the bills, and rather conveniently I can adjust my shifts to accommodate my absences on the full moon.”
“You have the Wolfsbane potion then?”
“Ah, no. This house has a rather stoutly built cellar that I make use of during that time,” he answered. Severus seemed almost chatty this morning and he took it as a positive sign – it would a good time to break another bit of news to the man. “Cho Chang is visiting today. I would like you to see her, Severus.”
“For what purpose?”
“She’s recently finished her studies and is about to be made a Healer,” he answered calmly, buttering his toast. If he kept the act up perhaps Severus would absorb his calm by osmosis. He took a bite of his toast and looked across the table to see black eyes glittering in his direction. Say what you would about the rest of him, Severus’ eyes were hypnotic. Almost too late he remembered the man’s Legilimency skills and dipped his gaze away; he wasn’t ready to have his thoughts rifled through yet, a task he was certain Severus could perform without a wand.
“You think she can give me back my legs?” Severus derided him.
“I’m sure that’s quite beyond her,” he answered evenly, “but she may be able offer a solution to your mobility problem. Anyway, no harm in seeing her, is there?”
He could practically feel the discomfort rolling off the man and clung to his own unflappable demeanour hoping he could outlast Severus’ disapproval.
“Hmf. I refuse to disrobe in front of a former student… a former female student. And you can stay to chaperone.”
It was a capitulation, and he was happy enough to indulge Severus’ conditions. “Very well.” He swigged down the last of his tea and rose from the table. “I’ll tidy up before our guest arrives.”
~~~^~~~
He’d retreated to the lounge room after breakfast and was shoving some fresh flowers in the chipped vase on the mantelpiece when he heard Severus speak from behind him.
“If I had a wand I could brew the potion for you.”
He fumbled and only just caught the vase before it hit the hearth; the man was getting so good at guiding Remus’ chair that there was no longer any sound of his approach. “Severus! I shall have to put a bell around your neck.”
“You would have to procure the ingredients of course, but that shouldn’t present too much difficulty for you. I can give you the name of a decent supplier,” Severus continued as if he hadn’t spoken.
Remus took a deep breath and caught up with what the man was saying; to have the Wolfsbane potion again would make such a difference to his life. Severus was trying to pay him back because he felt beholden to him. He would have to handle this carefully.
“Severus, that is an extraordinary offer. It really is. But I wouldn’t like you to over-exert yourself with such a project just yet.”
“I’m not a cripple, damn you! It was just my legs they took – my hands, my mind; everything else is still functioning!”
“I’m sorry, Severus. I didn’t mean to imply anything of the sort. I’m sure that you are fully capable of brewing any potion you’d care to! However, there is the small matter of a wand, isn’t there? I haven’t managed to obtain one for you– and I do apologise for that. As to you over-exerting yourself, I’m afraid that’s just me being too much the mother hen, not a reflection on you or your abilities,” he explained in a mollifying tone.
Severus sniffed mightily. “I could try using your wand.”
Remus blinked. He couldn’t remember anyone else ever using his wand in all the years he’d owned it. “Er, I suppose you could try.”
The man’s eyes seemed to lose some of their ire. “Give it here,” he commanded.
Wordlessly, Remus handed it over. A strange sensation crept up his neck as he watched Severus’ deft fingers flip the wand end over end, inspecting the wood. It was well worn, but the wood was a potent yew and had a core of unicorn hair; there’d been many jokes made in school about Remus’ virginal nature because of that. Severus made an experimental swish that released a silver glow and set the curtains fluttering.
“Well,” Remus said, then stumbled to a verbal halt. His face had flushed and he was warm all over. What the hell had his wand done?
Severus grunted in surprise; he stared down at the wand. “It likes me.”
Remus had an inappropriate urge to giggle and say ‘it’s not the only one’. The doorbell chimed.
Saved! He slipped out of the room to let their guest inside.
“Hello there, Cho. Is it cold out?”
“Not so bad really. Oh, but it’s lovely and warm in here,” she answered with the same smile that had Harry head over heels in love with her as a teenager.
An answering smile appeared on his face without conscious thought. She’d grown into a stunning woman and he’d been too preoccupied before to pause and appreciate the fact.
“Come into the lounge,” he directed her, “Will you have some tea?”
“That would be great, thank you, Remus.” She nodded. “Er, where is–”
“In here, Miss Chang,” Severus intoned from the sofa in the lounge room. “And you needn’t think yourself on first name terms with me.”
“Of course not,” Cho agreed, walking into the room. “To me you will always be Professor Snape.”
“Hmf. What am I to subject myself to then?”
Remus turned and headed towards the kitchen, leaving them to tussle it out between them. He huffed a small laugh when it was safe to do so without being heard. Cho was beautiful and charming; Severus couldn’t keep up the hostility for much longer.
He frowned in thought as he made a pot of tea and collected some cups for the tray. He wondered if Cho was going to mention her suspicions about what went on while Severus had been in prison. He hoped she wouldn’t – Remus felt that Severus might retreat behind his mental walls if they broached the subject too soon. He thought that Severus was making his own way to talking about it. Take as long as you like, my friend – I’m not going anywhere. His hands stopped for a few seconds while he examined the word ‘friend’. Was Severus his friend? Well, if he isn’t then this arrangement is pretty perverse.
He took the tray into the lounge room and found Cho and Severus facing each other tensely. The young Healer was kneeling in front of Severus where he sat on the sofa; she had her wand in her hand and was obviously in the process of casting diagnostic spells.
“Is everything alright?” he asked as he placed the tea tray on the coffee table.
“Professor Snape is…”
“Perfectly,” Severus replied.
“…choosing not to discuss his recent medical history, Remus,” Cho replied.
“I see,” he responded. Cho had some way to go yet with her bedside manner, at least as far as irascible amputees were concerned. “Perhaps a cup of tea will ease our nerves,” he added, pouring a cup first for Cho, then Severus. He handed them over and got a cup for himself before sitting in his armchair.
“I need to actually see the site of his injuries as well and he refuses to take off his trousers,” grumbled Cho before taking a sip of her tea.
“There’s nothing to see, you foolish wench! My so-called injuries are gone.” The man turned to Remus with a pained expression. “Is this really necessary?”
“I think it is, Severus,” he replied gently. “And the sooner we can help Cho to finish her examination the sooner we can all relax.”
Severus’ lips all but disappeared into a thin slit and he placed his cup on the floor beside the sofa. Next he undid the button and fly on Remus’ borrowed trousers and wriggled them down over his hips and what remained of his legs.
He revealed a pair of Remus’ under shorts as well.
Cho lost no time ditching her cup and taking up her wand once more. She waved it closely around the ends of Severus’ legs, her expression frowning and intent.
“There is a residual trace of magic here, on both legs. It feels wrong.” She looked up at Severus. “You’re still in pain, aren’t you?”
“I can assure you, dear girl, this is negligible compared to my ‘recent medical history’,” Severus answered in voice so dry it made Remus gulp down another mouthful of tea in sympathetic response.
He was battling a tendency to stare at Severus’ legs again. The skin was so pale and smooth; dark hairs stood out in contrast. He had no scarring from the hexing, his thighs ended smoothly at what Remus would guess to be two inches from where his knees used to be; it looked oddly natural.
Cho seemed unfazed now that she could carry out her work without hindrance. She moved her wand up to Severus’ torso and clicked her tongue in disapproval. “You’ve been teetering on the brink of malnutrition – at a guess I would say that you were starved and one of the guards was sneaking you some nutripotion when the Aurors weren’t looking.”
Severus’ eyebrows rose minutely but he offered no comment. He snapped a quick look at Remus, but dropped his gaze before their eyes could meet.
Remus sought to escape the awkwardness somehow. “Cho, that residual magic – is that why Severus can’t use the magical prosthetic limbs?” he enquired.
“Almost certainly, yes. Unless we can neutralise the residual field or adapt the limbs then we’ll have to investigate alternatives,” she confirmed, waving at the ends of Severus’ legs.
“Do you have any ideas, Severus? You still have my wand; can you think of something that would neutralise the field?”
The man frowned, staring down at his legs in thought, then made a complicated movement with Remus’ wand.
He held his breath. He had felt another reaction to Severus using his wand and hoped he wasn’t too pink in the face.
“No, no change.”
Remus let out his breath, “Oh well, perhaps we’ll think of something later. I have some reference books in the bedroom.”
Cho rummaged in her small satchel and pulled out a bottle. “I’d like you to take four drops of this today, Professor, and two drops every day for a week.”
She held the potion out for Severus who greeted it with a dismissive snort.
“Severus…” he warned in a low voice. Great Merlin – I’ve just treated Severus like an errant school child! He felt no remorse when the man glanced at him and took the bottle from Cho’s outstretched hand. Whatever works.
“I’ll come back next week and see how you’re progressing,” Cho said as she hefted her bag. “If you find a spell that can help with the magical residue, let me know and I’ll bring some limbs for him to try.”
She addressed this last comment to Remus who had stood up to bid her goodbye.
“Though I can’t stand, I am still here, Miss Chang,” the man drawled from the sofa.
Cho flushed a darker shade of her usual honeyed tan. “I’m sorry, Professor… I, well I’ve made arrangements with Remus up until today, so…”
“Oh, be off with you then, and if I were a nice man I am sure I would offer you my thanks for your time and expertise.”
Remus walked her to the door, pressing a small collection of galleons into her hand. “I’m sorry he’s so difficult, Cho,” he said quietly as she stepped out into the cold air.
“Oh, no – he’s mellowed quite a bit actually!” she said brightly, then whirled and Apparated away.
~~~^~~~