azure_rosa (azure_rosa) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2011-06-15 20:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | project: a decade of ssrl |
The Answer was Love
Title: The Answer Was Love
Summary: "This isn’t magic — it’s logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven’t got an ounce of logic; they’d be stuck in here forever." What if Remus, who has being trying and failing to befriend Severus for several years, learned of Severus’ affinity for logic puzzles? What if after befriending him, he fell in love and decided that maybe the only way to Severus’ heart was through his brain?
Timeline: Post war, both lived, the Tonks train wreak never happened and thus no Teddy.
Pairings: Friendship and eventual Snape/Lupin Pre-slash so far, but it might eventually become full blown slash. Background Harry/Hermione.
Disclaimer: If you think any of these characters are mine please tell me what world you live in so I can move there posthaste! Also all of the puzzles in this story are real and actual logic puzzles that I have solved in various computer games with the obvious exception of the Rubik’s cube which I played in reality. None of the puzzles mentioned hereafter are my intellectual property and at the end I will give credit where credit is due for each in order of appearance.
Rating: pg?
AN: Special thanks to countesszero, bonfoi and parseltonguepen for advice and beta work. As always all remaining mistakes are solely mine.
Warnings/kinks: none yet unless mind games, both literal and metaphorical, count. Sneaky Remus, sneaky Severus, courtship, drama. Also I switch POV between the boys; hopefully it will be simple to tell whose head you’re in. This is a WIP, but I have most of the beginning and about half of the end done, I just need to do the middle and the very end. I suspect I will post a section a month without any real breaks as I've quite the backlog. :)
Author: azure_rosa
To part one
Students, students and more students. For all that the names and faces change the same patterns arise almost as if people are only capable of a limited variety of social groupings. Why do I still teach now that I have the option to pursue a new career again? I am so incalculably bored with teaching so many students that view my subject as something they will never need to know. While there are rare exceptions to this, the majority of these students I would never deign to teach if given the choice.
If I am truly honest with myself it isn’t just my job. I feel trapped, stagnant at this point of my life in all aspects. I want to change things but I’ve grown accustomed to my life as it is, I’ve no idea how to go about making the sweeping changes of which I dream. I sometimes think I’ve always lived here, always done this job I despise and I always will. I never really broke ties with Hogwarts and, like a jealous lover, she keeps pulling me back regardless of my own desires.
Is it any surprise when I received an unexpected package from the outside world I grabbed it with suspicion but much more interest than I would be willing to admit? It was a break in my mind-numbingly monotonous routine and interesting besides. Of course my colleagues are all completely incapable of minding their own business and began to gawk and ask questions immediately.
As I read the note attached I grew more and more agitated. Remus bloody Lupin thought I couldn’t handle his little puzzle! I’d show him, I’d solve the odd cube before dinner easily; likely it would only take me moments to figure out and minutes to solve. The thought of showing up one of the Marauders put an added spring in my step as I hurried down to my classroom to prepare the day’s lesson, the oddly colorful cube grasped fiercely in my hand.
As usual I had everything set up a full half hour before even the earliest students would arrive and a full hour before class started, but today I had something more than just Potions Quarterly to entertain me as I waited for the brats to show. I settled into my desk chair and examined the odd cube. It had six colors thoroughly scrambled but I understood from the instructions that each side was to have its own solid color when it was properly solved.
It seemed so childishly simple, but I attempted to solve it anyway for a change of pace thinking it would be the work of a minute at most. The next thing I knew someone was knocking tentatively on the door to my classroom and if anything the cube was more scrambled than before. Mildly annoyed but intrigued by this deceptively simple puzzle I shoved the cube in my desk drawer and went to open the door. To my surprise my entire class was standing out there wondering what had become of their anally punctual teacher.
I was late!
I was more intrigue by the cube than annoyed by my failure to solve it in a matter of moments. Though it would have been satisfying to be able to claim I had solved Lupin’s little puzzle in mere minutes I relished being forced to use my mind again after the stupor of my daily routine. It was invigorating. Class seemed to take longer than usual as I waited impatiently for the students to finish and leave so I could try my hand at that perplexing colorful cube once again.
My sweep of the classroom was faster and more perfunctory than usual, as was my prep work for my next class in half an hour. Thinking of what had happened last time I set a timer for two minutes before class was due to start before eagerly pulling forth the cube again. This time I was more successful, lining up clusters of one color on each side, twisting, turning and manipulating the faces of the cube purposefully.
Strangely enough the closer I seemed to get to completing this extraordinary puzzle the harder it became to make a move that would not reverse my progress on another side. I felt like I was dead locked in a game of chess where there were only two moves available: suicide or counter-productive movement. Far too soon my timer went off and I reluctantly put my ingeniously frustrating new puzzle away again to teach the ungrateful brats lurking outside my door once again.
My day passed faster and more pleasantly than usual as the colorful cube consumed my free time without me realizing it. Finally, just before dinner I solved it for the first time. I’ve no idea how long it took me all told, but I enjoyed the mental exercise. I felt like someone had dusted my brain off. Intellectually satisfied for the first time in far too long I headed to dinner in the best mood I’d been in since the war ended. Imagine my surprise when I found a certain werewolf sitting next to my usual chair.
“Evening Severus! What did you make of my little puzzle?”
Suddenly quite glad I had solved the puzzle in question already I decided to rub my victory in my rival’s face.
“Simple enough,” I said in an off-hand tone, pulling the solved cube from my pocket with a smug smirk. I wouldn’t dare tell him it had taken me hours to solve, especially since I was sure my time was more a product of my brain’s lack of puzzle solving in recent years than an accurate reflection of the cube’s difficulty level. After all Lupin had managed as a teenager so it couldn’t have been exceptionally difficult.
“Good for you! It took me hours my first time, I couldn’t stand the thought of breaking up the groups of color I’d already made.”
“Yes, that seemed counter-intuitive.”
“Ah, well we both eventually solved it in the end.” He paused to eat for a few minutes before continuing, “Did you know there are children who can actually solve that puzzle in under a minute?”
I had to try much harder to keep a straight face than usual as disbelief filled me. “How?” I asked skeptically.
“Very quickly and carefully?” That earned him one of my medium grade glares. “Honestly I haven’t the foggiest how they do it. I take about ten minutes on a good day.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it!”
“That children can solve it so quickly or that I can?”
“Choose.”
“Very well, I’ll give you a demonstration.”
“My rooms after dinner.”
“Of course Severus.”