azure_rosa (azure_rosa) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2012-01-04 23:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | fic: pg, zmember: azure_rosa |
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.
Puzzle: The Bishop Swap originally came to my attention in the computer game "The Seventh Guest" though I suspect they didn't invent it. Should you wish to play the puzzle yourself you can find it here: (http://www.pothoven.net/bishopPuzzle.h
Rating: pg?
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
AN: A double post to make up for skipping December, I hope everyone had pleasant holidays!
To part seven
I freely admit Remus’ most recent challenge threw me for quite a while. What runs, but never walks, has a mouth, but doesn’t talk, has a bed but never sleeps and has a head, but never weeps? I pulled up answer after answer, but none seemed to fit perfectly. Finally I stumbled upon the solution, but as I turned my gaze on my companion I realized he was a million miles away, lost in his own head.
“Lupin?”
I realized he had that look again, the one I couldn’t quite seem to place. Where had I seen it before? Almost as if on cue, though I knew better as his focus was distant as if he was walking among dusty memories, his expression changed. The perplexing look was still present, but muted now as doubt, sorrow and guilt clouded his eyes.
“Lupin,” I said louder and more insistently, but to no avail.
There was a time I wanted nothing more than for Lupin to always wear that look in my presence and for years he did. Every single time he saw me, even when I did not turn to glare or snarl at him. Now I found that look made me wonder what thought troubled him so much. Usually I would have taken advantage of his inattention to work out why he kept looking at me like that and what it reminded me of, but I found I no longer enjoyed seeing sorrow and guilt in Lupin’s expression.
“REMUS!”
The shock of me using his given name finally broke through to him and he jumped as if he’d been dozing when I hollered for him from only a few feet away. The dumbfounded expression on his face was rather entertaining and I found it difficult not to smile. Apparently I had found a simple way to render Lupin speechless. I made note of it with the intent to use this new weapon sparingly so its effectiveness would not wane.
Finally my guest stopped gaping like a landed fish and spoke. “I’m sorry Severus; my mind seems to have wandered off for a minute there.”
“Clearly, do you want to hear my solution to your riddle or do you intend to stroll down memory lane for the rest of the evening?”
“By all means continue, I don’t doubt you’ve solved it and I’d much rather not dwell on the past if I can avoid it.”
I nodded; I understood that sentiment all too well. “A river, of course.” It was odd, I let such an excellent gambit pass unthinkingly without a sharp comment about Remus’ tendency to take the ‘ignore it and it will go away’ route without even considering making it. Was I so desperate for cordial company these days that I was curbing my infamous tongue without thinking?
“Of course.” Remus echoed, smiling at me, seemingly pleased by my success. He probably believed all those things people said about good-sportsmanship. Gryffindors are very odd at times.
“Shall we continue, or was your mind’s wandering a less than subtle hint that you are done for the evening?”
“Subtle? Me?” Remus asked, his eyes reflecting the fire as he gently teased me. The fire light really did remarkable things to his eyes…
“Hardly, that was my point.” Surprise at the direction of my own thoughts made my tone snap more than I intended, but it didn’t seem to discourage Remus any.
“Please continue Severus, it isn’t too unbearably late yet,” Remus smiled in a way I hadn’t seen for years but still remembered clearly, it was what I had privately dubbed his plotting smile. I used to only see it when he was coming up with a particularly inspired plan during the Order brainstorming meetings when we were discussing tactics. I wondered what he thought he was up to now.
“Hmph, well if you think you can manage to pay attention… ‘The life I lead is mere hours or less, I serve all my time by being consumed. I am quickest when thin, slowest when fat, and wind is the bane of the gift that I bring.’ What am I?”
Remus settled in to puzzle out my riddle and I mentally pated myself on the back for so handily distracting him. Not only was he no longer fretting over – well, whatever he had been, but he also didn’t notice my unexpected concern. What had come over me?
We had gotten on before when we had a common goal of course, I can play nice when I feel it to be in my best interests, but deliberately snapping Lupin out of dark thoughts for no reason other than him looking distressed bothered me was new. What did I care if Remus was feeling guilty? It had never bothered me before unless I thought his guilt was directly related to me.
I could have just as easily grabbed my book and read until he either snapped out of it himself or I decided to stop humoring his mind’s wanderings and kicked him out. Why didn’t I? My circling thoughts were interrupted by my companion’s exclamation of success. I put my troubling thoughts away, eager for an excuse to ignore them for the moment.
“Ah ha!” Remus said, grinning triumphantly at me, “A candle! It must be!”
“Indeed it is.”
The clock on my mantle chimed the hour. Nine chimes, ten, eleven, twelve. Where did the time go?
“It is getting late, I should take my leave.”
“You still owe me a challenge, Lupin,” I was apparently more tired than I had previously thought, because I know I did not mean to say that aloud.
“You are right, Severus, I do.”
“Well?”
“Would you prefer a physical puzzle or another riddle?”
“Do you have one to hand?”
“A physical puzzle? I do actually. I am quite fond of it; I still play it every so often.”
It was past midnight and while I did not have classes or an early morning patrol tomorrow I did want to turn in for the night sooner rather than later. Noticing my hesitation and my glance at the clock on my mantle Remus continued.
“I can leave it with you until next week if you want, there is no rush. Besides, I’m tired enough that I doubt I’d come up with much of a challenge for you as far as riddles go.”
“Very well then. Explain your challenge and we will call it a night.” Once again Lupin had slipped in an aside about returning and I permitted it without challenging the assumption. Curious, I usually automatically objected to people imposing themselves into my rare and thus valuable free time.
“It is quite simple,” Remus said, pulling a folded, four by five square chess board from a pocket in his robe, distracting me from my thoughts once again, “All you have to do is get the black and white bishops to swap places.” He said placing the four white bishops on one side, and the four black on the other. “However,” Lupin continued with a trace of a smile lurking in his eyes, “they cannot be moved in such a manner as to allow one side to attack the other.”
“And this puzzle,” I drawled, showing precisely how unimpressed I was with his challenge, “is difficult enough that you find yourself engaged with it even after having solved it several times before?”
“Oh yes, it gave me quite the headache the first time I encountered it, still does on occasion actually.” Lupin paused to smile almost shyly before continuing, “I’m told it is possible to solve it in approximately forty moves, but I’ve never managed myself. I think my personal record was sixty-eight, usually I’m pleased if I solve it in eighty on my first run through in a while.”
“Hmm,” I didn’t see how such a simple puzzle could possibly be so challenging. It had significantly fewer variables than the colorful cube from before, so it stands to reason that it would be significantly simpler to solve.
“It is more complicated than you might think Severus. I underestimated it my first time through and wound up undoing all my progress by getting all of the pieces back to their original positions.” Lupin smiled self-deprecatingly and continued, “I thought I’d finally figured out the trick and even began congratulating myself on another solved puzzle before I realized what I’d actually done.”
I could all too easily picture Remus’ face in such a scenario. I remembered a potions class when we were fifth years. For once his friends had chosen to prank him instead of me. They had swapped his pure water infused with moonlight for pure water infused with sunlight. An easy enough prank as they were, for all intents and purposes, identical. All they had to do was swap the labels.
Remus had never been an especially noteworthy potioneer, but he almost never failed to produce an adequate potion. Thus when he completed that day’s assignment and it looked exactly as it should according to the book Lupin had cheerfully prepared to bottle it only to have the potion react to the oaken ladle and release an impressive, though luckily harmless, cloud of purple smoke into his face. His expression of utter dismay and confusion as the smoke cleared had been riotously funny to his classmates at the time, but now I found the recalled expression drew forth an oddly protective and fond feeling in addition to the remembered amusement.
Realizing I’d been staring at him as I wandered through the dusty library of my memories I looked away, hoping I hadn’t stared like an idiot long enough for Lupin to notice. Had my inexplicable bout of nostalgia resulted in an unguarded moment? Usually I was far too cautious to let anything show that I did not intend to, but I could feel myself relaxing around Lupin despite all logic. Reckless behavior on my part, especially since he had flat-out admitted to having an agenda of his own that he refused to expound upon.
“In that case I shall be wary of your puzzle, Lupin.”
My guest sat there looking at me. I clearly saw signs he was gathering his courage to say something. Maybe he would admit his agenda tonight after all and the puzzle of his behavior would be solved. I found my feelings oddly mixed when I considered that scenario. Did I really want to know what had driven him to seek me out? I was no longer sure.
“Would it really kill you to use my name?” Remus rushed to say as if afraid his courage would fail him if he spoke at a normal speed.
“Obviously not,” I replied with a smirk to hide my surprise at the question turned challenge. After all, I had used his name, rather loudly even, once tonight already. He couldn’t have possibly missed my doing so considering how high he’d jumped in response.
“Not just to startle me out of my thoughts if you please Severus.” Remus smiled back at me, almost playfully. Precisely what he was playing at I’ve no idea, there were too many options rushing through my mind.
“Why?”
“Do I have to have a reason?”
“It would certainly help your case.”
“If you insist.” Remus nodded obligingly and presented his answer. It was not what I expected. “You know, of course, that names have power according to various cultures including our own when it comes to the particularly nasty creatures we sometimes find ourselves faced with. My reason springs from that. The name ‘Lupin’ dredges up memories for you that I would like us to be able to move passed, eventually.”
“To what end?”
“As incomprehensible as you seem to find the idea, Severus, I really would like to be counted amongst your friends.”
To part nine