Author's Note:
It goes without saying that there will be swearing. You have been warned.
-o0o-
"Howdy, folks! Time to wake up!" chimed the cheerful sounding fake voice of the wind-up alarm clock next to Potion Master Severus Snape's head.
Groan. He cracked his right eye and looked at the clock. Its illuminated numbers indicated it was 5:02 am. Just great, he thought. Time to start the next useless day in his otherwise useless life.
He rose, his feet touching the cold cement of the apartment he was in. He turned on the desk light and resisted smashing the alarm clock with either a backhand to the wall, a slamming of it on the floor, or anything else. He had already done that multiple times when he first arrived in his new digs. The clock was indestructible. And if he irritated it, the voice it used to wake him would change pitch and grate more on his nerves.
Severus Snape, or Snape as he was known to his friends, colleagues, benefactors, co-workers, students, masters… basically, everyone in the world except one person, and she was dead. Snape walked to the bathroom, took care of business, stripped, and shaved with a plastic razor that would do nothing more than cut beard stubble (he had tested it out on other parts of his body). Finished, he got in the shower for his usual morning routine: cleaning the body while reflecting on his soul.
The water, at first ice cold, then blazing hot. He thought of all that he had had.
He had a good friend in Lily. He wasted it.
He had a good working relationship with his fellow teachers. He wasted it.
He had a good rapport with Lucius, for what that was worth. He wasted it.
He had the opportunity to be a good influence with Draco. He wasted it.
"Hurry the fuck up in the shower!" yelled an irate Fenrir Grayback.
It took a few seconds to return to his reflection, especially since the soap wasn't coarse enough.
He had a good rapport with his students. He wasted it and their future by not being fair.
He had a good rapport with Narcissa to the point maybe he could have better influenced her decisions. He wasted it.
"Snape! Get out or I'll rip your eyes out!"
"Shut it, you bitch!" But Snape exited the shower and left the bathroom, dripping water everywhere. He could only hope that Greyback would slip on the tile, crack his head on the floor and die.
"Thanks for saving me some fucking hot water, you fucker!" Greyback snarled, his beard especially twitching as he eyed the potions master for some glorious violence.
Snape dried himself with a towel (no wand to do that these days), and then dressed for work. He would eat in the lab, not bothering to spend any more time than he had to near Greyback.
-o0o-
Snape and Greyback shared a 2-bedroom apartment in the basement of Tri-S Potions Corporation. Like all the other Death Eaters and their families, he had been shackled like a common animal and taken to a pen. There, he was interrogated and branded. Well, not so much branded as made to wear an awful shirt for a little while.
He had been expecting to have been put down. That is what he would have done had been the person who had acquired all the Death Eaters as chattel. But no. He was going to be spared. He was going to have to work for the rest of his life he was told. He expected no less than that as well. Was he going to shovel shit? Or be dragon bait? No. If only he were so lucky.
Instead, he had been told he was to work in a potions lab. And specifically, he was going to work on a werewolf cure. Oh sure, there were a lot of options out in the world for werewolves, but Potter wanted Lupin to be cured. He could understand it. And so, he agreed. What a fool he had been. He should have just ended his life there.
By mid-September he was in the zone. Potions boiling around him. Optional potion A on the left, Optional potion B on the right. Try this, then try that. No problem. Setbacks. No problem. Meditate on what wolfsbane was. No problem. After two months, he was still nowhere near having a solution. He admitted that to his Potions manager. He in turn reported it to his director and so on up the chain until it obviously got to Potter.
A new directive was then made. He was to work on a better way to control werewolves. Again, he dove into the project. He would work 12 to 16 hours a day on it. He enjoyed every part of it. Until December 7th. That was the night of a full moon. The next day he heard that a werewolf had mauled a young woman and infected her. She had no chance of leading a normal life until a cure was made.
She was also the daughter of Claire Woolford, the Tri-S Potions Corporation managing director. Once he absorbed the information, Claire looked him in the eye and gave him new orders. He was to meet with a magical veterinarian that she managed to get on loan from France. They would come up with a solution within days to ensure her daughter did not have to suffer being a werewolf.
Nearing lunchtime on December 8th, Snape was summoned to meet the magical vet. He went outside the building to the parking lot. After a few minutes of waiting (impatiently one might add), he heard a loud sound. Varoom. The sound got louder. Varoom-varoom! What was that veterinarian doing? Riding a dragon to meet him? Moments later he saw a convoy of motorcycle-riding hooligans riding their loud, smelly motorcycles into the corporation's parking lot.
The lead cycle stopped near Snape and the other Tri-S executives. The rest of the cycles stopped behind the first bike. The second bike held two people, with the rider of that bike getting off by the simple movement of sliding her blue-jeans covered leg off and then sliding her other leg over the seat, barely getting her foot caught on the behind of the person she had been sitting behind. "Ooof," she ooofed.
What sort of foolishness was this, Snape thought. The woman, who was wearing mirrored shade, a kerchief over her black hair, and sporting a black leather jacket over her t-shirt, stopped in front of Snape. "Hello, Severus," she said.
He looked at her again. Blinked. Then, "Poppy?!"
"In the flesh, buddy. Hey, anyone got some beers for my crew?" They all yelled in appreciation of her thinking of them.
Drinks obtained and distributed, Poppy's convoy rode off, saying they would wait for her down at the local biker bar until she called for them. Poppy met with the officials, got a better idea of what they were up against, and went with Snape to his lab.
Snape didn't even want to know how a children's nurse had become a leading veterinarian expert. It was probably related to Potter, no doubt. But she did provide many insights as to what they were combating. She talked about magical creatures for the next several days and what nearly all had one thing in common: when an alpha male was mated with an alpha female then the alpha pair was in charge. However, once the alpha male was removed from that equation, then the alpha female was no longer in charge and the rest of the beasts enjoyed a short amount of time in which to partake in, of all things, playful activities.
Poppy explained it as a power vacuum. That for magical creatures, since no one was in charge, then to simply enjoy the free time until the next alpha showed up. And in the absence of an alpha-male, then the alpha-female was up for grabs by all the other males. It was a rough time for the alpha-female, but the other females were left alone and for some reason took to sunning themselves, eating what they wanted, and enjoyed being around the rest of the girls as it were. And in two separate occasions, the females managed to order take-out while the males were all chasing the alpha-female. And even then, the other males seemed to enjoy the chase. It was only the alpha-female that seemed to have the worst of it.
This information also got to Director Woolford who had additional questions for Snape. She predicated her questions with a scenario that male and female werewolves would be in an enclosed environment.
Question 1: If an alpha-male werewolf was present during a full-moon change, and then immediately removed prior to the change completing, how quickly would it take the other males to search for the alpha-female? Answer: All research indicated almost immediately.
Question 2: If the alpha-male werewolf were removed prior to the chance completing, would the remaining non-alpha werewolf females enjoy the rest of their time during that night as long as an existing alpha-female was there? Answer: Based on all research over previous months, yes, they would.
Question 3: If an alpha-male werewolf was present during a full-moon change, and he were removed during that change, and there was no alpha-female present, what would happen? Answer: Without an alpha-female present during the change, the remaining males would just pounce on the other female werewolves.
Question 4: If an alpha-male werewolf and alpha-female were not present during a full-moon change at all, what would happen to the other werewolves? Answer: Without an alpha-male or alpha-female present, the werewolves would begin fighting among themselves until a victor emerged. This would happen for both males and females. There is something that triggers the werewolf hierarchy during the change when multiple werewolves are in the same space.
December 10th had new mandates from Claire Woolford. It was hideous in its design, but like the screwed individual he was, he proceeded with creating the potions. Creating them was far easier than he had originally feared. They were ready 10 days before January 5th, the date of the next full moon.
He met with Director Woolford and informed her of what each potion would do. Potion #1 would change a male werewolf's scent and aura to that of a female werewolf. Potion #2 would delay a werewolf's normal healing properties for at least 12 hours. And Potion #3 would heal all damage to a werewolf caused by a werewolf, including their own self-induced injuries during their transformations.
The difficulty, Snape explained, was getting Potion #1 into the male werewolf without being bitten. It needed to be ingested by a werewolf during their transformation. It would not last long once exposed to air. Seconds at best. Too much and it was no good. Not enough and it was no good.
This is when Snape found out how ruthless Director Woolford actually was. She had anticipated that issue while reading his daily briefs, and had outsourced the delivery method to another potions master, Carlos Ezquerra (no relation). He had run into the same delivery time that Snape did. If someone were near the male werewolf during a change, then it was high-risk they might become infected, or die in the attempt to get the potion into the male's mouth prior to the transformation completing.
Ironically, it was Poppy that had given Carlos a solution to this as well as another un-said issue. During the transformation, a werewolf was experiencing both pleasure and pain. The pain won out as the transformation was very painful. But if Potion #1 were ingested by the werewolf 15-20 minutes before transformation started, then it would make that transformation very pleasurable instead of doing a scent and aura swap. This would be beneficial for all werewolves transforming, including Director Woolford's daughter.
However, once they became a werewolf, they were then back into the typical werewolf mindset and the same problems persisted. Carlos also figured out that if the potion were put into an atomizer and sprayed into a mouth of a person prior to transformation, then that person became sexually desirable to others, both male and female. But more importantly, he figured out that if a non-infected person were to spritz a spray of potion in their mouth, and immediately close their mouth until they were ready to use it, then that potion would remain active and transferrable to an infected werewolf. Further, Carlos was pretty certain… well, almost certain (80%... 70% at the outside…maybe) that the attraction pheromone in Potion #1 would keep the person with the spritzed mouth safe from any werewolf until the potion wore off.
Snape realized what Director Woolford was saying immediately. She intended for someone to put the potion in his or her mouth and then French-kiss a werewolf during transformation. Admittedly the risk of infection was amazingly low at that point, but still it was there. He hoped that the fool crazy enough to orally potion the alpha-male, of which he only knew of one alpha-male in captivity: Greyback.
He knew what was coming a few minutes before moonrise on Friday, 5-January, 1996. He was in a large containment room, warded to keep werewolves inside. There were ten individuals for this experiment. All volunteers, except one. He had no say in it. The nine werewolves to get the pleasure-potion for the transformation were broken out as six males and three females, one of which was Director Woolford's daughter. The 10th and final werewolf was Greyback who was strapped to a bed with said restraints to automatically release once his transformation was underway.
Snape looked around the observation room. There were several others present, including Director Woolford and Potions Master Carlos Ezquerra. He moved to stand near the other potions master.
"That was quite a potion's find, Mr. Ezquerra," Snape said. "To find that the potion retains its potency and transference capabilities while inside another's mouth. Well done."
"Thank you," Carlos replied with a nod. "Although there was a slight problem with the formula. You see, it could become addictive to the wrong sort."
"Is there a counter agent for the addictiveness?"
"Not without losing its effectiveness."
"Then the person to kiss the alpha must be change out regularly," Snape stated with conviction.
"Perhaps," Director Woolford moved to include herself in the conversation. "But the addictiveness is only noticeable if a person is weak-willed and has no occulmancy skills. If that person has those, then there will be no addictiveness."
"Where did you find the person to meet this criteria?" Snape asked with a massive feeling of dread.
"I am looking at him right now," Directory Woolford stated coldly.
"I won't," Snape instantly declared.
"You will."
"I want to speak with my caseworker."
"Of course. Edward?" she motioned behind Snape.
Another man approached that he hadn't met before, but it became clear very quick that he was one of the caseworkers assigned to the Death Eaters.
"Snape," Ed said. "I'm going to save us some time because we don't have it to waste. Here's your situation: you are a mass-murderer. That is how you got your little tattoo. You live at Mr. Potter's behest. You will do as Director Woolford asks or you will become infected by a werewolf tonight. Then, next month, you will be the alpha, taking Greyback's place. Do you want to know what is going to happen to him?"
"He is going to be dosed with Potion #1. I created it. It will make the others think he is the alpha-female."
"Almost correct. With his bits dangling, this may confuse the other werewolf males. Greyback will now be castrated once the transformation is complete. Then he will be released to the other males. And once the transformation starts to revert in the morning, he will be healed to where he is again the alpha-male. You do want him to be the alpha-male for the month, right? To ensure the other males respond during the next full moon when the alpha-male suddenly is gone, leaving only the alpha-female?"
"You plan to castrate him every month? And heal him the next morning?"
"You catch on quick, Snape. Now the question I want an answer to is: do you want to take his place?"
"Hell no," Snape's eyes opened at the horrible option.
"Then are you gonna French-kiss that alpha-male when he is in mid-transformation or not? Gimme an answer as we only have a few minutes to decide." Edward's eyes narrowed and Snape knew he would keep his threat to make him the next alpha if he didn't do what needed to be done. He nodded in acceptance of his fate.
-o0o-
"Ugh!" Snape sneered to himself. "He tasted like cigarettes and pork rinds." Snape stumbled backwards, out of the containment area. Once there, he consumed a liter of mouthwash. Rinse and spit, rinse and spit. Over and over. He couldn't get that taste out of his mouth.
-o0o-
"Explosivo-castrado!" intoned Director Woolford to Greyback's nether regions.
"Aaaarroooooooooo-whine-whine!" the neutered alpha-male, now reeking of alpha-female pheromones groaned in pain. The wizard bodyguard by the new 'alpha-her' shot a partial-skin repair spell at Greyback to stop the man-region bleeding, and followed it up with a decent spray of potion #2 again to his bleeding region. The two of them left while the other werewolves were starting to wake up from their pleasure-induced transformation.
-o0o-
Greyback, the alpha-bitch now, ran around the room to keep the other playful males away. He never knew that Director Woolford was not concerned about him, but instead was watching her daughter relax near a pool of water (really, a kid's pool filled with water the werewolf could lay in), grab a burger from a plate of burgers near the pool, and enjoy listening to Ol' Blue Eyes sing song after song. Her daughter enjoyed a restful night with the other two female non-alpha werewolves. All three of them ignored the excited yips of the other boys chasing that awful alpha-bitch who did nothing but snarl back.
-o0o-
"Snape?"
"What do you want, Greyback?"
"Why am I on this bed?"
"Your manhood is repairing itself as we speak. You will be able to get up in another couple days."
"I'm going to kill you for trying to kiss me while I was transforming, you bastard," he tried to snarl. It was more of a weak barb than a true snarl.
"Not if you want me to keep brewing potions to regenerate your wedding tackle you won't," Snape shot back. He then went on to explain what had happened last night. And what was going to happen every full moon going forward.
Greyback was unsure if to rage or to cry. His inner-wolf was whining in his head and his spirit.
-o0o-
"So your transformation didn't hurt? Really?" Claire asked her daughter.
"No pain at all. I feel great! Like I bench press Jonathan in Sales. He's a cutie."
"Okay, that's good to know. But just so you are aware: Jonathan quit. Last night. Something about wanting to spend time with his wife and their 10 kids."
"Ten kids, mom? Really? He's only 22 years old."
"Uh, yeah. Sure. Why don't you tell me more of what you experienced during your transformation and your night's activities?"
"You know, for some reason, I really want to hear more Frank Sinatra. Which is weird since he is your favorite singer, not mine."
"Uh, yeah. Sure. Okay," Claire hedged, glad that she was speaking normally with her daughter while having breakfast at a table instead of sitting by her bedside while she recovered from a massively painful transformation like most werewolves go through.
-o0o-
Author's comment:
This was a much more fun chapter to write than I thought it would be. I thought in every book that Snape got away with too much, even with Dumbledore's casual look-the-other-way attitude. He should have gotten shafted six ways to Sunday if I'd had my way with that character. I thought: what would be the appropriate way to shaft him? Then it came to me: use a werewolf. Of course, I meant to shaft Greyback as well, so this just added to the fun.
Coming up with the appropriate incentive for the research was easy as Greyback had somewhere boasted that he liked to convert kids to being werewolves somewhere in some story I read at some time in the past. He found some sort of sick pleasure in it. He needed a way to be shafted a lot as well. This then led to the formation of the alternative cure for those werewolves having to change on the full moon. They could get some decent rest I thought. But Greyback still needed some shafting.
At the end, coming up with the idea of one shafting the other was not that far-fetched and was relatively easy to plan, especially since Snape hated werewolves. Please keep that in mind as Snape is not kissing Greyback the man, he is instead French-kissing Greyback the werewolf, his worst nightmare.
Thank you all for reading and leaving comments!