CHAPTER TWO: SILVER

A few days later he ended up sitting next to Lupin during dinner. It seemed the man was still annoyed as conversation was sparse and mainly concerned the passing of food items.

Like before this troubled him somewhat to his own astonishment.

Perhaps Remus was right and maybe they did need to form some sort of truce. But then again why would he? There didn't seem to be any beneficial factors in it for him. His musings were disturbed when the mail arrived and to his surprise one of the school owls dropped a white envelope on his plate. A curly handwriting informing him that yes it was indeed addressed to him. In the corner of his eye he could see Lupin eyeing the envelope with curiosity.

He opened it carefully, making sure the wolf wasn't able to take a sneak peak. His eyes widened as he read its contents and a blush of a mix of anger and embarrassment rose to his cheeks. He crumbled the letter in his fist before shoving it into one of his pockets.

"If you think this is funny, then let me inform you that I am not amused!"

The werewolf's eyes widened in surprise: "What in the blazes have I done now?" he growled.

"Oh come on, don't act like an innocent maiden." Severus couldn't believe the man was stooping so low as to send him a weird love letter and than didn't have the balls to own up to it. How dense did he think Severus was?

Remus turned away from him and continued eating. If Severus was intend on picking a fight he'd simple have to try his luck elsewhere.

Severus bristled with anger at being ignored and poked around in his food with such a force that his plate cracked.

Elizabeth covered up her mouth to keep from laughing. "Please let me read it, Severus!" She begged him, putting her big 'Bambi' eyes to work. They were both relaxing in Elizabeth's living quarters after the small fight he and Lupin had gotten into during dinner.

Reluctantly he handed the crushed piece of parchment to her. After she unfolded it her eyes scanned the words with an incredible speed. "The swirling of your robes sets my soul on fire... destined for each other..." She chuckled. "Oh Severus, someone is indeed truly, madly, deeply in love with you."

"Yeah well or it was your type of a practical joke, hmm?" Severus asked a little annoyed, staring at her intently craving to use his occlumency skills.

"Oh, I wish I had. If I had known if would make you a Hannibal the Third. Gods, the possibilities..." She grinned, giving him a wink. "Just kidding my dearest potionsmaster, I would be too afraid of the consequences. Plus there's that thing that I'm too fond of you and all that." She gave him a warm smile, whilst patting his knee.

"Whatever!" Severus muttered slightly annoyed. Now he was sure that Lupin was sending the presents he was unsure of what to do. Especially as he was lying about it.

"Anyway, I came here to tell you that I'll be away with Christmas. Am going to Thailand, get some tan, you know?" She leaned back in her favourite overstuffed chair, taking a sip of her glass of white wine.

"You think I know about getting a tan?" Severus grinned. A pillow flew in his direction.

"You know what I mean, you twat!" Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes. "I hope you survive the holidays without me. If you're lucky I'll even bring you a 'Same Same, But Different' t-shirt. Apparently every 'serious' tourist buys one, so…"

It was now Severus' turn to roll his eyes.

It was during the first days of the Christmas holidays that Severus received another present. A nice bottle of white wine with a red ribbon tied around its neck. The small card dangling from it immediately drew his attention. He was sure now that Elizabeth was not the perpetrator as she had mysteriously disappeared last Friday. Probably she couldn't resist Thailand's lure any longer and wanted to escape from the students' clutches before they knew she was about to leave. Something always comes up just before you are about to go on holidays after all.

Eyeing the bottle with suspicion he carefully uncorked it. Instantly a waft of something Severus recognized all too well reached his nostrils. "Fuck!" he cursed and ran towards his desk, searching fervently through its drawers. "Where is it?" he muttered. His eyes never straying from the drawers for he knew that one glance at another person would constitute his demise. Finally his fingers grasped the bottle he had been looking for and with a sigh of relief he removed its seal, before drinking it quickly.

Safe, he was safe! Thank Merlin!

Lupin had gone too far this time! No one messed with his mind. Grabbing the bottle he stormed out of his workroom, accidentally knocking over one of his students.

"Professor Snape, I'm here for my appointment. I…" She started. Her bright green eyes widened as she took in his demeanor and she quickly took a step backwards.

"Not now, we'll make a new appointment tomorrow." He snapped, continuing on his way, leaving the girl looking forlorn in the hallway.

The few students that were left due to the holidays took one look at his face and dove for cover. The cloud of anger that covered his persona could almost be tasted in the air. Whoever had pissed him off was in a shitload of trouble.

"Lupin!" Severus yelled, throwing the man's door open with a bang.

Surprised the werewolf looked up from the homework he was grading to find Severus storming towards him. He lay down his quill and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Ready for the storm to come.

"Of all the things… I can't believe… How dare you?" His words forming various cries of outrage. He was beside himself with anger. His gestured widely with his arms, his pupils were dilated and he was breathing heavily.

'What Severus?" Remus asked, his calm exterior not revealing the turmoil he was feeling inside. Even though his rage was misdirected, Lupin couldn't help but feel a tat of concern. Someone had done something terrible to the man.

"A lust potion! That's what!" He cried, putting the bottle on Remus' just graded homework with such a forced that small cracks appeared in the glass. Before either of them could react a small pink cloud started to form above the desk.

Severus' eyes widened as he breathed in the familiar scent. "Fuck!" he muttered, before backing away quickly to the door.

But the damage had already been done.

Remus' eyes got a predatory glint about them, while Severus also began feeling the side effects of the potion as an unknown forced compelled him to stand his ground.

With an amazing speed Remus suddenly stood in front of him and pushed him against the doorpost. A soft growl erupting from his throat before he claimed Severus' lips with his. An explosion of feelings and sensations overwhelmed Severus as they thoroughly explored each others mouths. He wanted… needed more. Remus' body seemed to be made for his. His hands travelled along his back, his hand, his chest, his neck. He could hear Remus groaning from pleasure, pressing his body against his even harder.

"I've wanted this for so long." Remus whispered huskily, biting and sucking on his neck.

Yes, why hadn't they done this before? Severus suddenly thought. A soft moan escaping from his lips as Remus returned to the exploration of his mouth.

They had been fighting… His trail of thoughts momentarily interrupted by Remus, who started grinding his hips into his sensually. He could also hear vague noises in the background, but decided to ignore them for now.

Right, why had they been fighting…

As the fumes of the potion started leaving his system, it suddenly it dawned to him as clear as day: they had been poisoned!

He pushed Lupin away, hard, making him fall backwards on the floor. "If you ever touch me again I'll poison your Wolfsbane." He hissed. "Leave me the hell alone, or you'll regret it you freak!" Turning around he found himself face to face with several Ravenclaw girls, who gave him frightened looks. One of them was the one he had dismissed only minutes ago. He shot her a menacing glare, obliterating all the questions that were hovering in the air, before storming off towards the dungeons.

Remus, who still lying dazed on the floor got a hold of his emotions and picked himself off the stone tiles. Cold, just like he was feeling inside. The Ravenclaw girls remained rooted to the spot, eyes wide in shock. When Remus started moving some stared at him with pity, while others remained confused. One girl, however, gave him such a look of hatred that he wondered what in the hell she thought had happened. But then Severus' words rang in his man and he decided he couldn't blame her.

"I'm sorry, ladies. Someone poisoned us with a lust potion." He said softly: "I… we… please continue on your way." He closed the door and slumped against it. Touching his lips he thought wistfully back to the few minutes of absolute bliss he had just experienced. How could they ever overcome this obstacle?

Knowing Severus he would squelch every remotely positive feeling he was having towards him. The threshold they now needed to cross to become friends seemed miles high. Perhaps even a futile attempt to begin with? Why in the name of all things holy did he feel such an urge to become closer to the man? Elizabeth had managed it after all.

Maybe they were lovers…

Maybe she was all Severus needed?

Maybe she was sending him all those presents?

He let out a long suffering sigh. For the first time he wished he hadn't gone back to Hogwarts, or had simple ignored the man from the start. He had been too blinded by his own quest to finish all unresolved chapters from his past that he had not stopped to think and take Severus' feelings into account. And look what it had gotten him: a glimpse at a possible wonderful future and a broken heart.

Pulling himself together he let out a long sigh once more to shake off the dread he was feeling inside. It was almost dinner time and it would not do to just sit here moping around.

What's done is done!

Glancing towards Severus along the dinner table he seemed the same as always: cool and aloof. His lips, capable of such passion, formed a thin line and his intense black eyes stared pointedly at his hands, which were folded on the table. Just from the whitening of his knuckles Remus could discern that the man was feeling some kind discomfort.

As the food appeared he was momentarily distracted. Still, even though the food smelled incredible it couldn't even begin to match the wonderful smell being emitted from the man sitting next to him. He could feel the wolf rising as his nostrils took in the scent he had lapped off his neck only an hour before. It had been a blasted potion, nothing more.

Absentmindedly he grabbed his goblet and filled it with pumpkin juice, savoring the taste as slid down his throat. The first liquid to wash away Severus. The thought caused him more pain than he'd imagined possible. He clutched his chest as it felt like it was on fire. The juice seemed to burn its way through his body. Suddenly it struck him that wasn't simple imagining it, but that his feelings were accurate. He grabbed Severus' arm and curled his fingers around it forcefully. "Severus…" he managed to croak. His voice unfamiliar even to his own ears.

"I told you to… oh!" Severus stopped his outburst, when he realized that something was terrible wrong. "Remus, talk to me! What's wrong?" his eyes matching the urgent tone in his voice.

The werewolf was on the brink of losing consciousness. He would have slipped off his chair, if the Potionsmaster hadn't been holding onto him.

"It burns… juice." He gasped.

The rest of the Head Table and the small group of students realized that something was wrong as well. A bustling of voices and chairs could be heard as people tried to make room so Remus could lie down.

"Poppy!" Severus screeched, as he saw the life draining from Remus' eyes. "He's probably poisoned. We have to act now!" Laying the man down carefully he grabbed his wand: "Accio bezoar!" He yelled.

The seconds before the bezoar finally came hurling towards them seemed more like hours. Sweat started to form on Remus' brow as he slowly started to loose the battle raging inside his body. Tears streamed down his face as he bucked and gasped for air. A loud howl escaped his lips, clearly the wolf inside him shared his agony and seemed unable to stop it. Still, his grip on Severus' arm did not waver, reassuring Severus that the man was in some way hanging on.

"Seve…" he heaved, drawing the Potionsmaster's attention. "You… you didn't." It seemed to cost all of his energy to focus enough and get the right words to roll of his lips.

"Be silent, you oof!" Severus replied more harshly than he intended.

Remus started to buck wildly now. Blood began trickling from his nose.

"We have to move him to the Hospital Wing, Severus." Poppy said, diagnosing his body with her wand. "It's a manner of minutes before he'll start having internal bleedings."

"Right!"

Poppy drew her wand and with a simple levi corpus his body rose from the ground, just as the bezoar came soaring towards them. Severus plucked it out of the air and quickly put it in the man's mouth with his free hand. "Bite hard, Remus."

The request didn't seem to be difficult as he was grinding his teeth in pain. When the bezoar took effect his body went still, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

On the way to the Hospital Wing Remus' body seemed awfully still. Severus and McGonagall followed in Poppy's wake; their expressions grim.

Compared to the white sheets he was now lying on he looked alarmingly pale. Madam Pomfrey tapped a little of his blood, so Severus could research it. She let her wand sweep over his body once more. The spectacle of colours, which were streaming out of its tip, informing her of what was wrong.

"My first guess would be silver poisoning." She finally said: "Luckily I believe we were just in time. Although this particular ingredient directly attacked the wolf inside him he still seems to draw enough power of it to be able to survive.

If we hadn't acted so fast, or if it hadn't been so close to the moon, making the wolf stronger, I'm sure I would be now telling a different story."

She walked towards her office and returned with a small vial in her hand. "This should help his body recover from the silver and negate the poisonous effects, don't you think?" Severus gave her a solemn nod. "The rest is up to him. Unfortunately no one has developed a quick fix for these kinds of situations." Poppy finished explaining to them.

"In all my years of Hogwarts I've never encountered something like this. Who could have possibly wanted to poison Remus?" McGonagall asked, her voice filled with puzzlement and anger.

"This isn't the first poisoning of the day." Severus admitted softly. "I was so blinded by anger. I shouldn't have just accused him like that... I..."

"What by Merlin's beard has happened?" Minerva exclaimed. "Why wasn't I notified of this?" She demanded to know, staring imploringly at him.

"This afternoon there suddenly was a bottle of wine standing on my desk. There was a small card attached to it with my name on it. As I uncorked it I immediately realized that it was spiked with a potent lust potion. This wasn't the first 'gift' to appear and my suspicion had been growing that Lupin was behind it all. So I stormed into his office, but in my anger I managed to smash the bottle on his table... And well... the potion took effect. End of story!" He said the last bit with such a finality that he hoped Minerva question him any further.

"Then what?" She asked, her tone of voice informing him that she wouldn't be amused if would start beating about the bush.

"We snogged, I pushed him away and told him..." Suddenly Severus' eyes widened as realization struck him. "I told him I would poison his Wolfsbane if he ever touched me again." he ended in a whisper. "I didn't do it though!" he added as a fierce afterthought.

Minerva was momentarily at a loss of words as she progressed all the information. "This is a very serious matter. We're dealing with someone with access to potions ingredients and who was clever enough to spike Remus' drink without anyone noticing it.

Severus I want you to examine both the pumpkin juice as well as his goblet. Find out where it went wrong."

Severus nodded his eyes wandering towards the man lying in front of him.

"He will need rest. I'll hopefully be able to tell you more in the morning." Poppy told them, as if she was reading Severus' thoughts. "There's nothing we can do right now. Go and examine the blood, juice and goblet. It'll help us." Resting her hand briefly on his arm she gave him an encouraging smile.

"Right, inform me when anything changes." With that he walked out of the hospital wing. The vial containing Remus' blood clutched in his hand tightly.

I'll definitely try to update faster in the future... Sorry for the long wait and thanks for stalking me about it! ;)