Author's Note: As I am incredibly lazy, I haven't yet got my site up and running. That is why I'm posting the background to Remus on ff.net. Yay. You have to read my completed story "When the Past Needs You" to get the full story. You can read it without it, I guess. I don't know if it will work, having read and written the stuff before it. That can kinda screw up a person's ability to read something for the first time. I am such a prat. Anyway, this is the first chapter, and I've got it all planned out. Enjoy!
The one where Severus is the Poster boy for evil
Remus fiddled with the cigarette he held in his fingers, watching the glowing end in an almost hypnotic state. He brought it to his lips and inhaled the toxic fumes, feeling the rush of nicotine spread through his body. Around him, people were drowning their sorrows with the disgusting amber liquid the owners called ale. At least it was better than the last stuff he drank, and with such comforting thoughts, he drained the rest of his beer, grimacing as he noticed the dregs at the bottom of the mug.
From beneath his cloak, he noticed someone sit down at his table. He had purposely chosen an inconspicuous spot to the side, so that he could look around for his quarry. Since the demise of Voldemort, the Ministry was offering rewards for the capture of former Death Eaters, even if all the ones out to save their skins were confessing all the names of their friends. Remus didn't want the rewards as much as he wanted the experience to gain from capturing a Death Eater. The person sitting opposite him cleared their throat and Remus looked up.
A man with several days' growth on his chin and badly creased clothes was sitting in front of him. His hair was cut in uneven clumps, as if a boot knife had been used. 'Why are you here?' Remus knew that voice, but the appearance was completely different.
'Quite the question.' His voice was heavy with an Irish accent he had spent weeks perfecting. Remus also used some of Sirius' (the bastard) personality in his new persona. 'Why am I here? What is my purpose on earth? What is my inner calling?' He rubbed his face, cigarette still in hand.
'Stop acting the fool, Lupin.' The man sneered, and Remus started.
'Severus,' he greeted warmly, loosing the accent instantly. He poured the man a drink from the pitcher of beer and sat back, a grin on his face. 'I'm surprised you haven't been caught yet. You were one of the best known of the Death Eaters, after all. You were like...the poster boy for evil.'
'Ha bloody ha, werewolf.' Snape huddled over the drink. Remus stopped grinning as Severus said that, knowing that such a backwater country town would burn them both at the stake if any of the local oafs heard their conversation. 'If it hadn't been for me, countless more would have died.'
'So,' Remus tapped the smoke against the table, letting the ash fall to the floor. 'Countless died anyway.' By this, he truly meant that James and Lily died. He closed his eyes briefly, the pain still fresh and deep. All of his friends were gone. Sirius was in prison, where he belonged to rot and die. James and Lily were dead, he would never be able to joke with Prongs, or stroke Lily's fiery feathers again. Even Peter was gone, killed by Sirius in a stroke of honor. He wished he was gone, but no one would have wanted it that way.
Severus looked even paler as he said that. 'I'm sorry for your loss Remus. I lost all my friends and family too, you know. It's not as if you are the only one to be all alone.'
'What do you want, Snape? I don't think you came here to sympathize with me.'
'I have information that you may want. I hear you are quite the detective these days.' A trace of his old sarcastic smile and voice came back as he said that.
'Just trying to get experience for when I become a teacher.' Remus said hoarsely before coughing so his voice was clearer.
'I see,' Severus said, raising an eyebrow. Thinking that it wasn't the time to tease the werewolf about his chosen profession, he continued in the same vein he had begun with. 'That wimp who died in that massacre...what was his name?'
'Peter Pettigrew, and he wasn't a wimp.'
'You remember that day on the Hogwarts Express? When I came in with my cronies and said that I would see him that summer?'
'Vaguely,' Remus paused Severus for a moment so he could ask the waitress if they served whiskey sours. The blank look she gave him was answer enough. Turning back to his companion, he asked: 'What are you getting at?'
'I was saying,' Severus' voice was in clipped tones. 'That Peter did come and visit me and showed interest in becoming a Death Eater.'
'You're mad, Snape.' Remus announced. 'Peter wouldn't do that.'
'Oh no, he didn't become one. I spent all summer convincing him to join and he was for it a hundred percent all year. He chickened out at the last moment and went and got married.' Severus snorted and lit his own cigarette.
'Yeah, Alexia.' He found some coins in his pocket and threw them on the table for the beer. Remus stood and looked down at the man. 'Was there anything else, Snape?'
He nodded, putting down the glass and standing so he could be eye to eye with Remus. He hated people looking down on him. 'I can help you find Death Eaters.'
'Why do you think I need your help, Snape? Death Eaters are just flocking to me.' He rolled his eyes, taking one last drag from the smoke before putting it out in the mug. 'You did, didn't you?'
'Trust me, you need help.' His dark eyes burned into Remus.
The werewolf groaned. 'Fine!' He snapped. 'But if I wake up and find a knife in me, I will skin you alive, alright?'
'Understood.' A malicious smile formed on his face. 'And if you wake up dead...?'
'Go to hell, Snape, and remember to say hello to your grandma for me.' He walked out the door into the pouring rain, a former Death Eater and spy behind him.