Slippage [sometime during the school year, 2009]
For lore, who thinks about these things, and Cat, for the badgers and the insta-beta. 685 words; PG because of the snake innards. Originally posted 30 September 2005.
Slippage "Oof!"
"Oh! Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Professor Sinistra!"
"Scourgify." Paola inspected her sleeve. "Well, Miss Freilich. You're lucky cleaning spells work even on peau de soie. Were you trying to escape from the twins again?"
"N-no, Professor. No, just careless—"
"Out with it, Freilich," Paola said, "or it's ten points from Ravenclaw. I know and you know you have at least four scrolls' worth of writing you ought to be working on. What's got you barrelling into harmless Astronomy professors instead?"
She inwardly smiled at the "you're not harmless!" look she invariably received during such exchanges, but the student remained obstinately silent. Paola sighed. "Twenty points, then. And another ten points for every ten seconds until—"
"It's – it's Professor Lupin," the girl stammered. "He's in his classroom stomping around and stabbing things and it's – it's not like him!" the student burst out.
Oh, Santa Lucia Filippini. Paola swore under her breath. Aloud, she said, "Oh, that. Nothing to worry about, Miss Freilich, he gets carried away with his research sometimes. I'll go have a word with him."
The student frowned, unconvinced, but brightened considerably when Paola added, "And twenty points back to Ravenclaw for appropriate sharing of data." The student also accepted Paola's offer of a Pocket Coffee, cheerfully popping it into her mouth as they took leave of each other in front of the library.
Really, thought Paola, it is all too useful, being friends with Severus. Not that I truly approve of short-term memory charms, but in this case...
She continued on to the Defence of the Dark Arts classroom, where – well. Yes. A whole succession of reptiles being sushified in mid-air --
"Remus, you moron. Silencing charms should be third, fourth, and fifth nature to you by now."
Remus automatically aimed a Smiley Face Hex in her direction. Paola neatly sidestepped the shower of squeaky yellow globes and kicked the door shut behind her, tossing a basic tandem of locking and silencing spells over her shoulder to seal it. "Spoiling for a fight, Lupin?" She advanced, eyes glittering.
Remus actually looked at her then, and immediately held up a hand. "No."
Paola stopped. "No?" she pouted.
Remus laughed. "No," he confirmed. "Those are lovely robes, and you'd kill me for getting blood on them."
Paola wrinkled her nose. "True." She let her gaze drift around the room, which was littered with snake guts and shredded serpent-skins in addition to the blood. "No wonder Freilich was frantic."
"What--? Oh. Oh, God," said Remus. "I am a moron."
Paola let him stew for a minute. Then she asked, mildly, "What did Severus do this time?"
"Oh, nothing. Which is the whole problem, of course." Remus kept his eyes fixed on the floor, misery etched all over his face. "Twelve years together and the man still doesn't trust me –"
"You're both morons," Paola said, "and you deserve each other. I've never met two people more inept at articulating what they want –"
"I do say what I want," Remus protested. "Didn't you hear me asking for thirds at the table tonight?"
"And how long did it take you to break up with pseudo-Tonks, mm?"
"Are you going to hold that against me for the rest of my life?"
"Of course I am, and if you're still an imbecile when you become a ghost, I'll remind you then, too."
Remus scrubbed at his forehead, tired. "Paola. It's just not that easy."
Paola gazed at him, the sympathy on her face genuine. "Of course it isn't. But worth it, no?"
Remus sighed. "Of course." His lips quirked. "Just as long as you promise to badger Severus's ghost as well."
"I'll do better than that," Paola murmured. She fastidiously Levitated the reptile corpse nearest to her up to a desk and Transfigured it into a stuffed badger. With a second flick of her wand, she dressed it in a flashy green tunic with silver pompoms.
"There," she said. "It's been a while since I've given Severus something to blow up."
"Yeah, last Tuesday was so long ago," Remus grinned.
"I'm slipping," Paola said.
"Just as long as it's not in blood," Remus answered, and offered her his arm.