Chapter 20: More Test Subjects

The next thing to do was analyze the data collected during Nagini's somewhat lengthy cleansing session, and work out how (and if) it could possibly apply to a werewolf. Hermione and Snape spent hours discussing the possibilities, while Lupin applied himself to writing up the detailed notes of their experiment to submit to Shacklebolt.

He was strangely reticent to get involved in their discussions, and in fact started to be less than eager about the werewolf experiment in general. It took another two weeks, during which time Snape nearly ran himself ragged by brewing Lupin's Wolfsbane potion in addition to all of his other responsibilities (including a Voldemort summons). He finished the Wolfsbane the morning of the full moon and asked Hermione to clear up and bottle it while he tried to grab a few minutes of sleep before his first class. He'd been up all night.

Lupin popped into the office a couple of hours later. "Do you have it, Severus?" he asked, sounding a little desperate.

Snape, exhausted from his sleepless night and out of sorts because of his morning classes, just nodded. On the last nod, his head went all the way down onto his desk and stayed there.

"Thanks, old man," Lupin said, wiping a bit of nervous perspiration from his brow. "Don't know what I'd do without you."

Snape turned his bent head just enough to send Lupin a burning, black sidelong glare. "Probably try to kill me again."

Lupin gulped. "I deserved that. Severus, I am sorry that you have to go to all this trouble for me, and I really do appreciate all the work you put into it. Honestly."

"Mmmph." Snape turned his head back down; apparently sustaining the glare required a little too much energy from him at the moment.

Lupin sidled into the room and sat down opposite the other man. "With that said, I wanted to talk to you about this anti-lycanthropy potion variant you and Hermione are so eager to try."

"Mmmph?"

"I … uh … I don't really want to be your alpha-test-subject for it." Lupin thought it best to just come right out with it.

Snape lifted his head just far enough to scowl at Lupin. "It worked with getting the Dark Lord out of the snake. Nothing in the potion is toxic to werewolves in general. I'm not eager to begin by testing on a human, but we don't really have another werewolf to hand, Lupin."

"I know… and I do trust you both, but I'd be more comfortable testing it on another living creature first. Maybe one that isn't a Horcrux—see what happens and how it goes for them, before I take it myself."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Snape snarled, having reached the end of his admittedly limited patience for the day. "Care to go out into the forest and find us some animals to shove splinters into? Care to spell some marsh gas into some of Aragog's children?"

Lupin hunched his shoulders, unhappy. If he went through with the experiment, he didn't know how the potion might work. It might even make him worse! But if he didn't go through with it, then Snape would have to go on making the Wolfsbane for him every month.

He could see that Snape was clearly at the end of his rope. He worried for his friend, but he still didn't want to be the first test subject!

"I don't know, Severus. Let me try and think of something. But in the meantime, I'm going to go see Dumbledore and see if he'll let me sub for you today. You can't teach classes in the shape you're in, man. You need sleep."

It was a mark of just how utterly knackered Snape was, that he only put up a token protest before nodding. "Fine."

Dumbledore didn't object; in fact, he even said he wished he had thought of that earlier. Lupin was a perfectly capable Defense teacher, and it had been foolish not to use him in that capacity before when Snape was too tired and overworked to teach.

So Lupin guest-taught the remaining three Defense classes; Snape went to bed; and Hermione stayed after class to talk to Lupin. Defense was her last class of the day, so the two of them fell into step as they walked down to Snape's office together.

Lupin explained his reasoning, but Hermione couldn't help but feel a little hurt. She knew he had a valid point—that anything could go wrong—but she still got a lump in her throat and had a hard time speaking for a few minutes. When she finally got herself under control, she manufactured an errand for him and sent him to Hogsmeade. She wanted some time to herself for a while.

She hated getting so emotional when she got her period. It put her at odds with her normal thought processes, and she used Lupin's absence to do some meditative exercises her mother had taught her, and get her emotions under control again.

Snape wandered in yawning around mid-afternoon and demanded to know what she was doing and why, where Lupin was, and what he had done during his Defense classes.

Hermione smiled. "Meditating, because Remus annoyed me and I'm feeling a bit off-balance; getting ready to start the next experimental batch of the anti-lycanthropy potion; Hogsmeade, where I sent him for some Eastern rue and to get him out of my hair for a while; and Algerian boggarts."

Snape frowned while he processed all her answers, and then snorted. "Meditating, eh? Does it work? Maybe I should try it the next time someone annoys me."

"Oh, I doubt it would be a good choice for you, sir," Hermione teased. "You get annoyed so often you'd never have time to do anything else."

Snape shrugged, conceding the truth of her observation. He inspected her preparations for the next batch and read her notes from Lupin's Defense class that afternoon. He nodded and gestured for her to continue.

They shared some desultory conversation about Lupin and his refusal to be their test subject for the anti-lycanthropy potion, but since neither one had any suggestions, they both fell into silence. Snape sat down at his desk to do some marking.

In the late afternoon, Lupin burst into Snape's office, with what can only be described as a wolfish grin. "Hey," he greeted them, panting

Snape looked up. "You look happy. Did your Quidditch team manage to not lose quite so badly then?"

Lupin shook his head, still grinning. "Guess again."

"Uh," Hermione said. "You just killed the Dark Lord on your way up through Hogsmeade?"

Lupin shook his head. "Closer, but no."

Snape dropped his quill. "Closer?"

Lupin nodded. "I've found us a test subject for the anti-lycanthropy version of the Horcrux potion. Come with me and I'll show you," Lupin said. He bounced on his toes a little, still grinning.

Snape and Hermione glanced at each other, her with a tiny smirk and him with a longsuffering expression.

"He's as bad as you were," Snape griped.

"It is fairly exciting to finally find an appropriate test subject," she offered.

He gave an exasperated sigh and cast his gaze heavenward. "Heaven save me from over-enthusiastic Gryffindors," he grumbled. "All right, Lupin, where is the subject?"

"Follow me."

Lupin led them down the hall, down another set of stairs into the deepest dungeons. He muttered the light spell, and bracketed torches on the walls suddenly flared into flame. Hermione could see the walls nearly dripping with moisture, and there was actual moss growing in the corners.

Lupin used his wand to unlock a thick oaken door, which screeched its way open with a strong pull. Then he led them down another corridor to an iron door with a small window in the top. He lifted up the heavy oak plank that barred the door.

"Better let me go in first," he whispered, opening the door just enough to squeeze through it and then slamming it behind him. The oak plank fell back into place.

"Cor, he's locked himself in!" Hermione said. "I hope whatever it is isn't dangerous!"

Snape peered in through the small window, but apparently couldn't see anything right away.

Suddenly he took a step back away from the door, eyes wide. "Dear God!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?"

Snape glanced at her with a hint of a disbelieving smile. "I think Lupin brought us the perfect test subject.