Magnetism

RLRB Fan Fiction

Harry Potter

ObsessiveDevil23

Chapter 20

By the time Sirius had managed to rouse Remus from his dead-to-the-world state, encouraged him into covering his naked body with some clothes (a process which may have taken wholly longer than necessary due in an impromptu make-out session the mark had goaded them into), and the the two boys had made their way down the two flights of stairs to the Potter's living room, Severus was sitting on the edge of one of the sofas, leg jostling up and down excitedly. James was sat next to him on the sofa, his feet nestled underneath the Slytherin's thighs, and was looking at his boyfriend as if he had never seen the boy excited before.

Sirius had to wonder whether that was actually the case. Snape didn't exactly strike him as the fun-loving, adventure sort and Sirius could only imagine James would eventually find himself dreadfully bored with that kind of stiff, socially-awkward man as his lover. He reminded himself that Snape had promised he might have a way to remove the mark that was currently causing him to repeatedly cheat on his smoking hot girlfriend, and so wisely chose not to voice any concerns he might have over the Slytherin's ability to have fun. Instead he diligently sat down on the other sofa in the Potter's living space, levelling the man with a searching look.

He had said 'for a price' after all.

"Okay, we're all here." Sirius began. "Fill us in."

He'd had the undeniable urge to add a 'please' to the end of his sentence, but he'd never been quite that civil with Snape in the past, and he didn't really have the desire to start. Severus looked between the two boys on the other sofa, linked by a mating mark neither of them wanted, and his eyes came to rest on Remus, who had sat down next to Sirius in a half-asleep state and was currently staring off into space, not paying attention to the conversation.

Fleamont and Euphemia had woken early and gone for a walk, wisely choosing to give the four boys currently residing under their roof some time to be in each other's company without the prying eyes and ears of adults – but in lieu of their usual hospitality, Remus was without his morning coffee. He would need one if he wanted to be alert for the conversation to come – but Sirius didn't think he would be able to make it to the kitchen and make one for himself.

Feeling rather more domestic that he would care to admit, Sirius stood from his seat with a sigh.

"Sorry, just a minute." He mumbled towards Snape as he made his way from the living room.

He had to pass through the dining area, which adjoined to the living room by a wall that had obviously been taken out years prior, and turn to the right to get to the kitchen. Once there he grabbed the kettle off the stove and filled it from the tap. He turned the gas on the hob and watched the tiny flames burst into life on the ring, before placing the kettle on the heat. Then he found the largest mug he could find in the Potter's cupboards, and placed two spoonfuls of coffee and two spoonfuls of sugar in the cup. Strong and sweet, just how Remus liked it. He waited for a moment whilst the water boiled, and then, when the kettle was whistling nicely, and a steady stream of water-vapour was rising from the spout, he took the flowery oven glove Euphemia kept by the stove, and took the kettle off the heat – pouring the newly boiled water into Remus mug. He switched off the gas, stirred the coffee, and carefully carried it back through to the living room, placing it in Remus' hands.

"Here." He said as he did this, making sure the werewolf's hands were actually closed around the ceramic. He really was useless in the mornings, and Sirius wouldn't put it past the boy to drop it or something.

As it was, Remus looked between the mug and Sirius, smelling the sweet, strong scents, and smiled serenely.

"Thanks, Pup." He mumbled, although it was plenty loud enough for the couple on the other sofa to hear, and caused James to chuckle lightly. Sirius flushed at the nickname – the affection causing his stomach to start doing back-flips, and he suddenly felt the overwhelming need to do anything to please his friend – his alpha.

At the realisation of what he was thinking, he coughed awkwardly, sitting down heavily on the sofa next to his mate and turning his attention back to Snape – who had been watching their interaction with interest.

When Severus realised Sirius was looking at him, he cleared his throat and began to talk.

"I believe I have a way to remove the mark." He filled everyone in, as Remus took a few tentative sips of his boiling hot coffee. Severus frowned, obviously trying to find a way to word whatever the next thing was that he wanted to say. He sighed. "I will help you remove it, but I wish for something in return."

Sirius, who had already heard this upstairs, said nothing; although his mind did unhelpfully conjure up images of some of the embarrassing tasks James had been forced into the year before, and he couldn't help but wonder if Severus would use this opportunity to extract more revenge on the Marauders. He glanced sideways to Remus to see how he would take the news, but the werewolf was just looking at Snape cautiously over the rim of his mug. So far, so good – he and Remus seemed to be in agreement that almost anything would be a worthwhile price for the removable of a mark that was taking away their free-will. So he was shocked when James was the one to offer protests.

"What?"

All three boys turned to look at the Quidditch Captain, who had been contentedly curled up on the sofa with his feet squished under his boyfriend's thighs, but who now was closed in on himself and staring at Severus with an almost hurt look.

"You know I don't do anything for free." Severus told him. James crossed his arms over his chest in a pose Sirius remembered his mother adopting any time she was particularly pissed off at his dad, and he had to wonder if Snape knew he was about five seconds away from James blowing up in his face.

"Orders?" James questioned, glaring. Severus rose one eyebrow at him, and then took a deep breath.

"No James, I know they are special to you." He said. Sirius suddenly felt the urge to look away, as James blushed and bit his lip in embarrassment. He didn't know what the situation was between those two, and for the most part he didn't care, but Snape was treading a thin line if he thought it was okay to just throw out something like that into conversation for them all to hear. James was obviously embarrassed by it.

The Quidditch Captain huffed.

"Just do this as a favour to me." He cautioned. Snape narrowed his eyes.

"It isn't a favour to you." He replied. "Black and Lupin got themselves into this situation, and if they want my help getting out of it then they can make the choice on whether or not to accept my conditions." He explained, as if talking to a child. By the look on James face, Sirius figured the Slytherin was about two seconds away from getting slapped.

James opened his mouth to argue more, but Remus beat him to the punch, having downed half his coffee during the time the couple were having their little spat.

"Let's hear what this condition is, before we lose our shit over it." The Werewolf interrupted. His voice had come out calm and commanding in a way that made a pool of desire spring up at the bottom of Sirius' stomach. He decided at that moment he would pay pretty much anything if it meant he could look at his friend again and not feel the need to jump his bones.

James seemed to lose some of his anger at the werewolf's words as well, and settled for glaring at his boyfriend, arms still crossed defensively over his chest, whilst Severus named the price for his cooperation.

"As you are aware I have been working on a Potion that's main purpose would be to negate the dangerous affects of a werewolf's transformation – making them harmless, even on a full moon." He explained. Sirius and Remus nodded along at his words. This much they knew. Severus continued on. "I believe I have made a breakthrough and now I want to take the Potion into the next stages and start human trials."

He looked directly at Remus as he said this and it suddenly became very clear exactly what the boy was after. Remus was the only werewolf they knew – if Snape ever wanted to complete Wolfs-bane then he would need to trial it, and he would need a test subject. Sirius glanced across at his mate, who was currently engaged in a staring match with the Slytherin on the other sofa.

Then James stood from his spot beside Severus, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, and shaking slightly.

"Wolfs-Bane isn't anywhere near trial stage!" He protested. "Just thinking you've had a breakthrough isn't enough. You could be putting Remus' life in danger if you test too soon."

Severus looked up and surveyed his boyfriend with something akin to endearment.

"I'm confident in the theory." He responded. This only served to make James huff, crossing his arms again.

"Confidence isn't enough. Test for the correct properties first!" He demanded. Sirius watched as Severus stood as well, putting his hands out in front of him in what Sirius could only assume was meant to be a calming gesture.

"I understand your concerns James." The Slytherin soothed, and then he sighed. "I don't expect you to understand the ins and outs of crafting original potions, but-"

The boy was cut off when James let out an angry, sarcastic laugh and metaphorically hit the roof. Sirius could almost see the anger radiating off of his friend in waves. The comment Severus had made really had been stupid, and insensitive. It was almost as if the Slytherin wasn't aware of James' daddy-issues when it came to potion-making.

"How dare you!" James seethed, and there was a crack, followed by a tinkling sound which made Sirius look around into the adjoining dining space. The three large glass doors of Fleamont's potions display cabinet, which was in the dining area, seemed to have burst outwards and sprayed the table with tiny fragments of glass. James had to be really angry if he had lost control of his magic like that. Sirius wouldn't have wanted to be Snape at that moment – he was definitely in for a real tongue-lashing.

"James..." Severus tried to calm, but the Quidditch Captain was having none of it. He advanced on the Slytherin, making him back up a few steps.

"I don't understand the ins and outs of crafting original potions?" He asked, pointing at his own chest and voice rising dramatically. "Fuck you, you patronizing little shit! I've spent my whole life living in the ins and outs of potion crafting! Don't try and school me just because you had some fancy fucking apprenticeship with an old hack-job nobody even remembers the name of!"

Severus dropped his peace keeping gesture and frowned at the attack on his mentor.

"Now wait a minute, there's a difference. Kindhall created a medically advanced Elixir – one that saves your life weekly, might I add." He responded. "That can't be compared to Fleamont's… hair product!"

James stamped his foot.

"It's a hair product that sells world wide. It's damn well more practical than some frozen nightmare made to combat a disease that nobody fucking gets!" He attacked.

Severus snorted.

"You have it!" He shouted back, then threw up his arms in defeat. "This isn't even the point -"

James was quick to interrupt.

"You're right, it's not the point. The point is you spent a couple of summers learning how to make one potion, and think you're all that. I've spent my entire life trying to live up to my dad – so don't tell me I don't know how to properly trial a new creation!" He seethed. Severus looked like he was going to argue more, so James started listing off the steps on his fingers to prove how adept he was in theory. "You test for the correct properties first; colour, viscosity, temperature and taste. If, and only if, all of those match within a suitable margin of your thesis, then you can trial the creation in lab conditions. In this case you would take hair and skin samples from Remus on a full moon, and use those samples to see how the potion reacts on contact. I mean I'm sure I don't have to tell you how fucking dangerous it is to get within twenty feet of him when he's transformed, but hey, please go ahead and yank some fur out whilst your risking your god-damn neck! Then, and again this is only if lab work goes to plan, then you can pour it down his fucking throat!"

He stopped a seethed for a moment more. Severus made a sound in his throat like he was going to say something, but James held up a hand for silence, and the Slytherin instantly obeyed.

"Even if all your tests go to plan there is still going to be the possibility that you cocked something up somewhere along the line, and you're still putting Remus' life in danger." He said in a much smaller voice. "I know what I'm doing Severus, so don't fucking tell me I don't." He added, just because he was still angry.

Severus seemed to physically deflate, now that James had lost some of his anger and was talking at a normal volume again. He held up his hands once more, but this time it was more in a surrender gesture than anything else.

"Of course I was going to go through those steps James." He explained. "I still need Remus to agree to give me those samples – because your right, it is dangerous and hopefully we can put some measures in place to make the acquiring of samples less so." He added.

James opened his mouth with a frown, ready to retaliate angrily again, but then stopped and sighed.

"So why don't you just ask him?" He asked. "Why go through the trouble of trying to blackmail him into it?"

There was a very pregnant pause in which Severus stared off with James, not saying anything to his own defence. After a moment James frowned and looked away, holding a hand over his eyes and biting on his lower lip.

"As I thought." He said, voice coming out suspiciously shaky. "You didn't think to ask because you still can't accept that maybe we're better people than you think! You… you haven't changed at all."

He may have been going on to say more, but he was stopped by one of Remus' firm hands on his shoulder. He looked up at the werewolf, who gave him a half smile.

"I'm happy to do it James. It's not a big deal." Remus told the Quidditch Captain. James looked at his werewolf friend for a moment, his bottom lip beginning to wobbly dangerously in a way he wasn't proud of. He turned away and bit his lip to try and stop the shaking.

"It… it is a big deal." He protested weakly, before he promptly burst into tears.

The remaining Marauders and Severus watched, slack-jawed, as James went from shaky tears to great heaving sobs that raked his entire body. The boy bought up his hands to wipe at his cheeks and eyes, trying desperately to rid of the evidence of his tears, even as he cried noisily and urgently. He sniffled and sobbed and choked on the saliva he was gasping shaky breaths through, and then Fleamont and Euphemia arrived home, calling out from the hall, and James fled the room, running up the stairs and to his room before he could be spotted by his parents.

Two seconds later the adults entered the living room and surveyed the scene – three boys looking stunned, the broken glass in the adjoining dining area, and the sound of James' heart-wrenching sobs, which could be heard despite the distance the boy had tried to put between himself and them.

Euphemia took a look around, shrugged off her coat and sighed.

"I'll go check on Jamie." She announced, making her way back out of the room and up the stairs. Fleamont produced his wand and charmed the shattered glass back into the cabinet, fixing it in place as doors again.

"S-sorry, Mr Potter." Remus said, when the silence was stretching thin. He had been the last person to speak to James before the boy had burst into tears, and he wondered whether James' earth-shattering sobs were his fault. Fleamont turned to them all with a smile.

"There's no need to worry boys – it's not the first time James had broken that cabinet and burst into tears, and I doubt it will be the last." He explained. Over the last year or so of James having Cinis he had witnessed him lose control of his magic many a time, and it was always followed by a break-down.

"I've never seen him cry like that before." Sirius supplied. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. That wasn't the type of crying one did when they banged their head and their eyes couldn't help but water. It wasn't the type of crying one did when you were overtired and drunk. That was… heart-breaking, like a toddler who was in pain and just couldn't figure out why, and there was nothing you could do for them.

Fleamont frowned at the ceiling, where broken sobs were still coming from above.

"I'm sure this has been building up for a while, given the intensity of it. Well, I'm sure Euphemia will get to the bottom of it." He told the teens, and then tried to think of something to get their minds off his sons breakdown. "For now, lets see if we can figure out how I'm going to transport all four of you to Broadsands this year!" He suggested.

The three teens exchanged worried looks, glancing at the ceiling, but after a moment decided that James' parents probably knew best, and began helping Fleamont plan for the annual trip to Broadsands Bay.