A/N: Written for the Diversity Competition – Round Three, created by ToxicRainfall, TayaCurragh, and Shadowed93. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I'll never own Harry Potter, okay? I make no profit from this.
Late into the night, the snow fell. White ruled over the other colours struggling to shine through on the grounds; the frozen water crystals stuck to the grand windows in uncertain patterns; moonlight shined down, making it seem more mesmerizing with the bright beams reflecting off the sparkling snow. A cold wind also breezed across the pale night, causing him to pull his worn robes closer to him.
His footsteps made not a sound as he walked close to the simple framework – close enough for him to be blocked away from the gentle light pouring along the stone. It was well past the designated time of allowance to roam at will given to the students that inhabited the castle, so it would be quite dreadful to be found outside of his common room.
Luckily, he had much practice on the art of inconspicuousness. With having been a much feared creature for a good portion of his life and later acquiring three troublesome friends, it was a necessity.
The corridor he was in ended at a blank wall bare of portraits, contrasting with the majority of the castle. He swiftly pulled his wand from the hidden pocket in his robes that was created for him by the very person he was here to meet.
A quiet tapping noise echoed a bit and he winced, praying that Flinch and his annoyance of a cat were somewhere far away from him – unfortunately, he hadn't been able to retrieve the Marauders Map from James, the last of them to use it and therefore the one in possession of it, without sounding too suspicious.
He needn't have worried, though, as the bricks slid away in the next second, leaving a space that was more like a tunnel than a doorway. He lifted his upper-half into the opening and used the handholds they'd made (with no small amount of difficulty – carving stone wasn't a simple task) to pull the rest of his body up. From there, he wriggled along with the help of his elbows and knees until he reached a widening in the small passage (something they'd made for the purpose of being able to turn around) and slipped his feet in front of him, dropping into a room.
"That is possibly the most undignified entrance that I've ever had the misfortune to witness," came the immediate and expected sneer.
A smile was on his lips in the next instant and he chuckled while delivering his just as anticipated line, "You're the one who insists on being secretive to the upmost extreme. If we met in normal places like normal people, I'd be able to make much more graceful entrances, I'm sure."
Scoffing, the other man glared pointedly at the chair across from him, ending their familiar dance and opening the conversation to any topics that came to mind. Remus walked over to the chair that was between Mcgonagalls' straight backed ones and Dumbledores' plushy ones in the way of comfort, lowering himself over-exaggeratedly slowly. He received an eye roll for his efforts.
"You're spending too much time with Sirius Black," Severus said with a curl of his lip.
Remus could feel the exasperation rising in him at that, because it was said each time they met with the variation of Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, or, collectively, those imbeciles. "They're my friends, Severus. I know you don't like them and you have a right to that after the prank they pulled on you, but I'm not going to distance myself from them over a mistake they made."
Black eyes made glares look a thousand times scarier, he noted. "That so called 'mistake' nearly cost me my life. Also, think about how you would've felt if you managed to attack me before those idiots you call friends stopped you."
Remus sighed heavily. He had thought about that very thing many a times. It was, in fact, the reason why he had approached Severus in the first place – to apologize. He hadn't hurt the other man in any way, thankfully, and he also hadn't had any knowledge of the plan Sirius cooked up, but he still felt at fault for what had happened.
So, he'd tracked Severus down in the library one day and poured his sincerest words out to his widely dubbed enemy. Severus had sneered at him, something he did quite often, and told him that, "It was the extremely low intelligence of your blasted friends that caused what happened to occur. Don't let your foolish Gryffindor emotions convince you otherwise." And thus, a tentative friendship was born.
Having no desire to get into an argument that could perhaps ruin the fickle friendship shared between the lion and the snake, Remus raised from his seat and walked over to the small area arranged in the corner, "Would you like mint or honey in your tea?"
Review for the sake of extremely rushed stories?