Fourteen
Ink stained fingers caressed burning skin.
"I know that you can't save me, but I like that you would try." Remus rasped.
Severus sighed, "You aren't going to die, you idiotic man. You have the flu."
"Are you sure? I feel pretty close to death."
"Gryffindor dramatics." Severus brushed away his hair and placed his lips against Remus' forehead. "Your fever's gone down. Try and get some sleep. I'll be back after class." He rose and walked towards the door.
"You'll say kind things about me at the funeral, of course."
Severus froze on the threshold. The fallibility of man, fate's fickle hand, their grasp on life was never more tenuous.
"Severus—"
Severus turned on heel, "Get some sleep…and if you vomit in my bed? I can promise it won't be the flu that does you in."
Remus snuggled back into his pillow, "Uh huh. Have a good class."
Severus stalked down the hall his thoughts preoccupied with the man curled up in his bed. They read together last night. Remus curled against Severus' side as he read the widely inaccurate ramblings of one of his second years aloud. Remus provided increasingly colorful and fever dazed commentary until he dozed off mid thought. Severus almost smiled at the memory as he swept into his classroom. He settled into his teacher headspace and eased into his routine. Intimidate, collect assignment, revise, castigate, set assignment, loom, etc. He sat down at his desk and began to mark assignments periodically, glancing up (okay glaring) to assess their progress. They weren't working with any particularly volatile ingredients, but if years of teaching had taught him anything, it was that destruction and first years could always find one another.
He silenced an ensuing quarrel between lab partners with a scowl. He dipped his quill into the red ink. Twelve uses of dragon blood: oven cleaner, spot remover, fine ink, potion enhan—he wouldn't say nice things at his funeral. He clenched the quill between his fingers. He couldn't be sure there would even be a funeral or that he would be able to attend and maintain his cover. Their relationship only existed within the confines of Hogwarts and Remus' flat. Nice things, fond memories danced on the tip of his tongue, but he was almost certain he would never say them aloud.