Disclaimer: This is my first fanfiction and thus will probably need a lot of work. I'm not sure how many chapters this fic will be, i'll just have to see as i go along! I do not own any of these characters/ settings – they belong to J.K. Rowling. All reviews are welcome and needed! :)

EDIT: I now have a lovely Beta Branden. He has helped fix up the first 3 chapters and will be contributing along the way through the rest of the fic :)

…

Severus sat in his study, he was grading the 6th years' essays on the effectiveness of calming draughts by candlelight. His worn mahogany desk was strewn with parchments and the occasional empty ink bottle. Oh, how he resented himself for requiring 3 feet of parchment. Rays of moonlight streamed onto the heavily red marked paper that was the unlucky victim of his full attention. His eyes followed the rays outwards to their origin - a quickly rising full moon. A thought crept into the back of Severus's mind: I wonder how Lupin is doing tonight. Although Severus would never admit aloud, he worried about the man during his transformations… the way he limped for a few days and suffered in silence… never wanting to draw attention to himself. It was a small comfort that Lupin seemed less rundown the past few months after a few modifications to his potion.

Ink dripped out of Severus' quill and splattered onto the parchment in front of him. He groaned at his absentmindedness and vowed to stop all of these silly, unnecessary thoughts about Lupin. I mean, when had the man ever worried about him? His thoughts trailed away.

Before he knew it, Severus was awakened by an alarm – he glanced around his room with blurry eyes. What time was it? What was stuck to his face? The sunlight was pouring into the room and temporarily blinded him. He squinted around, trying to re-orient himself with his surroundings. Reaching up to his face Severus unstuck his wand from his cheek and blindly reached to his left. Upon feeling the heavy green velvet cloth in his hand, he pulled the curtain closed. He must have fallen asleep grading again. Severus dropped his head into his hands and sighed. He would just have to skip breakfast to finish grading in time.

Severus re-lit the now long burned out candle with a flick of his wand. He searched for the parchment he had graded half way before sleep overtook him. Somehow the essay had managed to fall under his desk. The universe is really trying my nerves Severus thought as he reached down to feel about the dusty floor. Long fingers met dry parchment as Severus lifted the assignment back up onto his desk. He skimmed the paper and haphazardly made comments to feign effort. Severus blew through the rest of the essays this way. He would barely have enough time to grab a biscuit and some tea before his first lesson.

After quickly throwing on his robes Severus stormed through the hallways, ignoring the courteous greetings from passing students. Oh, how he hated their cheery smiles and dispositions in the morning! It seemed it was only a few years before when he had been a student in these halls, but he never strolled around like these hooligans. Although, he hadn't had friends to do such things with… Severus was scowling when he reached the Great Hall, much faster than he had anticipated. However, he was relieved to see most students were already finished with breakfast and on their way to class. Before reaching the head table Severus made a quick glance to Lupin's empty seat. No, not now, he squashed any thought of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He grabbed the closest things to him - a biscuit and goblet of pumpkin juice before dashing back into the hallway towards his familiar dungeons.

Severus was in a particularly bad mood as he started his first lesson of the day. He paced back and forth at the front of his classroom reciting the necessary cautions of the day's task, sneering at any student that even contemplated raising their hand in question. The students were very well accustomed to their potion's professor being gloomy, but they sensed his extra irritability and made sure not to step on his toes as they prepared their potions in silence. After only a few mishaps by some Hufflepuff third years (who in their clumsiness spilled toad's eyes all over the floor and dropped the wrong ammout of dragon scales into their cauldron), Severus surprised the students by assigning a foot of parchment on the properties of monkswood. Their hopeless groaning made him smirk.

He then slipped out of the room to the quiet of his quarters before anything could be asked of him. He needed some time to think. Why was he feeling so irritable? Sure, students normally made him irritable, but this was not the same, this was a deep nagging inside of him. Maybe I just need some rest, as I only had a few hours on a wooden desk last night, he rationalized. Whatever the reason, he needed to stop this before it disturbed his entire day.

The rest of the day went by quickly and without incident. Of course, the Slytherin and Ravenclaw 6th years would make no mistakes as they prepared a demanding upper level potion – the draught of living death. After his last class, Severus headed back down to the Great Hall to have dinner. He ate hastily half out of hunger and half the need to avoid socializing. He left the head table and was making his way towards the large entrance doors, when he suddenly felt the urge to look back at where he had come from. Should I just take a quick glance and note if Lupin is there now? No, why would I ever do such a silly thing? With that wavering thought in his mind, Severus continued on his way.

As soon as he reached his private chambers, Severus dropped himself onto his bed. He had to make up for some much needed yet bitterly lost sleep. Unfortunately, once he did fall asleep, Severus tossed and turned, fitfully dreaming about a beast at the end of a dark tunnel and himself trying his hardest to get as far away as possible. The fear grew in him as he tried unsuccessfully to run away. He could feel his feet hitting the hard ground over and over but all he could hear was the beast getting closer and closer, large paws pounding the earth louder and louder.

…

Across the castle, Remus Lupin himself was wrought with a nightmare. He was restlessly thrashing about, deeply swathed in a dream of being in small dark room. He was full of an uncontrollable rage and lashing out – tearing at the wooden walls. The pain in his hands, his body, was unbearable. Until suddenly, he heard it – a single sharp scream in the dark. Before he could stop himself he was hurdling towards the sound with only slaughter on his mind. Everything around him was red. Suddenly a bright white light flashed and Remus woke up.

He whimpered as he awoke from this dreadfully familiar nightmare to his battered and bruised body. For a split second, he worried about Severus. Was he alright? Did I get to him? His mind was racing until reality settled on him. For a few moments Remus just laid unmoving on the ground, listening to his loud breathing slow to a normal pace. He felt pensive. That was many years ago, I am sure Severus is perfectly fine.

With an ungodly amount of effort, Remus pushed himself off the sooty floor in front of his fireplace and dropped into his favorite brown leather chair. This was as far as he was going to get for now as he didn't have enough energy to even face Poppy. At least Severus newest potion had stopped the colossal pounding in his head that usually accompanied the morning after his transformation. It would be a few days, though, before his body shook off its stiffness and general ache. It was then that Remus thought, I wonder if Severus is thinking about me. Er well, about his potion… he would never be wondering about my wellbeing. Although, secretly, sometimes Remus would hope so.

His mind wandered back to when they were just children at Hogwarts. Remembering with a bitter fondness how they used to be. Severus had never been carefree, but he certainly used to be at least a little less reserved. Remus remembered the small smile gracing Severus thin, young lips after finishing a particularly difficult potion in Slughorn's class. That must have been their fourth year at Hogwarts. Even then, Remus was drawn to the mysteriously quiet Slytherin. Of course, he could never admit that to his friends.

Any chance of friendship or more was shattered however by Sirius and his thick-headedness. Although, it seemed fate had given Remus a second chance when Dumbledore asked him to teach at Hogwarts this year alongside Severus. His thoughts soon drifted to dreams once more as the man's tired body gave in to the sleep it so desperately needed.