Out of all of the chapters so far I had the most fun writing this one.… and I wrote it in a physics lecture of all places, oops :3 It's the shortest so far, but I think the right length for this scene. Once again, as my first fic reviews are needed! :)

…

Severus shifted uncomfortably and cursed Lupin for causing him to show even a drop of vulnerability. I can't walk out now, I have to act as if I came here with a purpose. He scanned the room and quickly found a dark table in the back where hopefully no one would see him. He strode gracefully towards the table, his pompous air hiding his feelings of exposure. He slid into the booth and peered out to see if he had drawn the attention of any of the other patrons.

The bartender winked and flashed a smile at him, but other than that he had been completely ignored. He accepted the gesture with an awkward nod of the head before looking down at his hands. He was annoyed – Lupin is just like his friends, throwing a prank to lure me into humiliating myself. At least this time he was right side up and no one saw his underwear. The agitation radiated from Severus' body.

A moan close to his left ear shocked Severus out of his thoughts. He stumbled out of the booth – "I'm sorry, I hadn't noticed anyone in this booth, I.." before finishing his sentence Severus recognized the sleeping man. Remus Lupin was passed out on the table and drooling on the sleeve of his jacket.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the man. Maybe I won't be the only embarrassed one tonight, Severus mused as a mischievous grin spread over his face. Noticing the glass in Lupin's left hand, Severus formulated his plan. He adeptly removed the glass from Lupin's fist and eliminated the left over butterbeer with a quick spell. He reached into his pocket and searched through his assorted potions for a pepper-up potion. Yes, he always carried potions on him in case of emergencies. Finding the correct vial he emptied it into the glass. All that was left to do was wake the man up.

Never a fan of big displays Severus simply moved Remus' arm out from under his head with a flick of his wand.

…

Remus was startled awake as his head hit the wooden table. "wahhh" he whinged while clutching his forehead.

"Hello Lupin" Severus spoke in a deep sultry voice and with a curl of his lip. "So nice of you to fall asleep when we were supposed to meet" he snarled.

Remus quickly recovered from the shock of his rude awakening and retorted the best way he could think of – "well, in all politeness, I was awake and waiting at the agreed time…" he checked his watch "3 hours ago" his tone voicing his feelings of astonishment at the audacity of Severus chiding him of all people when Severus had been the one late!

"Some people have more pressing matters to attend to than meeting up for drinks, Lupin." Severus replied with an air of importance. He quickly devised a lie and added "If you would like to know, I was preparing the ingredients for your next wolfsbane potion."

His tone and the subject matter bit into Remus' chest. "Oh… thank you." Remus quietly replied, ashamed at his attitude with the man who had been working on something to help him. Severus reveled in watching Lupin squirm as he himself had done earlier in the evening. If I knew just the mention of working on wolfsbane would bend him to my will I would mention it a lot more frequently, he thought to himself.

Remus, not knowing what else to say reached for his mug. Severus' eyes glittered with amusement as Lupin brought the glass to his lips and took a large gulp of what he expected to be butterbeer. Remus' eyes grew wide and he spewed the bitter potion all over the table and himself.

Severus patted the coughing and sputtering man on the back. "I figured you might need a little help waking up and graciously gave you one of my personal pepper-up potions. No need to thank me." His smug smile betrayed his innocent facade.

Between coughs Remus glared up at Severus' pleased face. To anyone else this scene would look like something entirely different than what it meant to Remus. Surprisingly in this moment Remus knew that this could work. Severus could come around.