Remus was downhearted and depressed as he made his way toward Malfoy Manor again that evening. In all his spare time he tried to think of what he could do to enhance the healing potion. Unfortunatly, he didn't have Severus' brain and he hadn't the time to bother the ill man. Between classes and running to the library to chase down his feeble ideas, he didn't find the opportunity.
The door on the attrium swung open easily as he stepped onto it. A house-elf met him, turned panicked wide eyes toward him, and quickly let him through. Remus felt bad for a brief moment, it was the same elf he had threatened the night before.
"Where is your master this evening?" He asked it in what he hoped was a gentle tone.
The elf flinched and hunched over onto itself. "Master is in the lab," it squeaked.
Remus was pleasantly surprised, but tried not to get his hopes up. As he neared the room, he could see the door was open and a shadow moved about within. He paused to gaze in the entry and thought surely that his mind was playing tricks on him.
Malfoy had his hair braided thickly down his back. Sweat was beaded across his forehead and temples, both sleeves of his hand-stitched cotten shirt were rolled past his elbows. Layers of jars lined the side tables and mortars set about with half-ground herbs.
"Malfoy?" Remus carefully skirted the tables and peeked into the cauldrons that lined the far wall. There were several there, all with cold potions of varying color and odor.
Lucius spun toward him, wand in one hand and pestel in the other, "You!" He spat, "It's about time you got here!"
"In case you've forgotten, some people need to work for a living..." Lupin frowned deeply as Lucius gave him a cold once-over.
"Spare me your poverty pity and start to work," Lucius snapped, spinning around again and getting busy over a simmering cauldron.
"Have you been working on this all day?" Remus asked, impressed despite himself.
"Yes," Lucius barked, clearly exhausted and annoyed to the point of snapping. "Damn Severus, I don't know how he can do this all day!"
Remus began to peek over Lucius' hasty notes and saw that the Malfoy master was not lying. It was apparent, in paper and in failed potions, that something had spurred Lucius into action. Personally, Remus didn't care what it was, only that it seemed Lucius understood the gravity of Severus' sickness.
"This is amazing," He praised carefully. "You've done days of work here."
"Yes, well..." Lucius waved an irritated hand, flicking droplets of boiled nettle broth across the work-table. "Stop gabbing and pick something up."
Remus rather liked the studious side of Malfoy and did as he was told.
---
Albus paced his office as the night hours grew thin into morning. Remus had not returned from his stint with Lucius Malfoy. He was torn between gratitude, knowing that part of it was the wolf's desire to find a cure for Severus, and guilt that it was possible Remus had suffered at Lucius' hands. Severus was adament that something was up between the two, and he was starting to regret not doing as Severus wanted.
The flames in his office hearth flared green and Madame Pomfrey stepped into the room, dusting ash from her skirts. "Albus?"
The Headmaster turned from the window, sighing very softly. "Yes, Poppy?"
"It's time," She told him, mouth a thin, pinched line.
"Very well," Dumbledore motioned the fireplace with one hand and watched the medi-witch disappear in the flames. He cast a last, lingering look out his window, hoping against hope that Remus would return soon.
---
It was five-thirty in the A.M. Remus was soaked in sweat, dusted in soot and reeking of hawthorn blossoms. A sizeable kettle of the hawthorn flower brew had been dropped by an exhausted Malfoy, missing Remus' legs by inches.
It didn't matter now, even with the squelching noise that came from his right shoe with every step. A tightly sealed vial was clutched in his hand and a set of instructions were carefully rolled and tucked in his pocket.
Hogwart's was still slumbering as he stumbled toward it from Hogsmede. He was absolutely exhausted and each step he took nearly made it seem he was taking two steps away from his bed.
There was a small group of unfamiliar wizards and witches taking the walkway toward the entrance doors. Remus frowned and squinted toward them. Who would be going to Hogwart's this early in the morning?
As he continued, he unconsiously increased his pace as his fatigue was replaced with suspicion. He gained on the calmly moving group--four people it appeared to be-- and realized with a start that they weren't just a group of random wizards and witches. It was a paramedic crew from Saint Mungo's.
Panic gripped his stomach with icy fingers and he wasn't tired any longer. He barely registered the surprised gasps from the four as he barrelled past them. He slipped on the stonework of the front hall and ran the two floors to the infirmary wing cursing his throbbing knee.
The doors burst open in front of him when he gave them an overenthusiastic push. They crashed into the walls, hinges squealing in prosest. Poppy and Albus stood in surprise at the noise. It appeared that it has shocked Severus and a male nurse--who was man-handling him--into stillness as well.
"Remus," Albus breathed out first, immense relief flooded the aged wizard's face. Remus didn't have time to wonder about it and pushed through the beds toward Severus.
It seemed once he made eye contact with the dark wizard, Snape finally remembered he was trying to be dragged off. He snarled up at the male nurse and curled his fist into the man's shirt collar. "Get off of me!"
"Mr. Snape, you are ill and need to come with us," The man spoke in a slow, calm tone that was engrained into all medical personnel. That tone that was infuriatingly calm and nearly emotionless.
Remus was fine watching Severus struggle while he walked his way through the beds until Severus let out a pained gasp and touched his chest while the nurse tugged on him. "No!" Remus snapped, running his leg into an infirmary bed that was shoved several feet out of place--the wolf didn't even notice. His eyes were blazing by the time the nurse realized Remus was talking to him.
"Please, I understand you are upset, but your friend needs medical attention," the nurse spoke in the same flat, inflectionless voice.
"You don't understand," Remus growled. Severus had ceased struggling, but a curious smirk was curling his lips so very slightly Lupin wasn't sure it was there and just a trick of his imagination. "I won't let you take him from this room."
By now the nurse was bent across the bed, still as Remus finally drew up to the opposite side. Sternly, Remus took hold of the man's hands and pried his fingers from the blankets and Severus' clothes. He placed a flat palm to the man's chest and pushed him slowly upright and back a step. The nurse moved, pliable, with him and stood straight and glaring when Remus pointed a finger at him with a warning snarl.
Severus watched with the same curious twitch of his lips as Remus fumbled in his pocket and withdrew a scroll. His other hand held a vial of swirling violet liquid.
"Severus," the wolf breathed, sinking to a seat on the side of the mattress. Snape shifted over with a grunt so that his leg wouldn't be pinned down. Remus' hands shook when he offered both items over. "I think we did it."
One elegant, sable brow raised followed closely by the other. Snape took the items from his hands and unfurled the scroll. All else in the room was ignored as he engrossed himself in what Malfoy and Lupin had done.
Albus seemed to materialize next to them. "Is it true?"
Remus nodded, eyes wide and hopeful, waiting for Severus to laugh and tell him it was completely wrong. "I believe this is it."
"How many trials had you done?" Severus asked, eyes still trailing the paper.
"Ten ruined, three passable; then this one." Remus reverently touched the cool glass with one finger.
Severus nodded and continued to ignore them.
"Headmaster, my collegues are prepared to remove the potions master," the nurse said crisply. Remus heard the footsteps and turned to see the four medical assistants he had passed were now entering the infirmary with Minerva McGonagal as escort.
"What is going on?" Minerva asked, a stern frown on her face.
The four assistants began to murmur as they drew further in, casting curious glances at Remus as the wolf growled at their commrade.
"What's happening Jason?" One of the bolder asked.
The male nurse--Jason--sniffed and waved an irritated hand. "This, civilian, is disrupting the process."
Remus stiffened and felt an urge to leap across the bed and physically remove the man from the room. Severus tossed the instruction sheet at him, as though he could read his mind. Remus obediently turned his attention back to the potions master. "Well?"
"I can find no fault in your logic," Severus said it as though it pained him. "The next phase of your testing is for a subject."
Jason seemed to jerk around at that and took a large step back to the bed, but Severus was faster even ill as he was. The cork was popped and he had swallowed precisely half of the vial before the nurse could even reach out for him.
"What have you done?" He scowled at Remus and Severus in turn, as though he wasn't sure which man to yell at first.
Albus stepped up then and rested a calm hand on the man's shoulder. "I believe your services are no longer needed. I would like to thank you for your prompt response, however." The man positively glittered.
"Madame Pomfrey?" The man huffed, turning toward the resident medi-witch.
"I must regretfully agree with the Headmaster," Poppy sighed and came to the foot of the bed. "The cause of Severus' illness will be treated here. I will be sure to complete the report for your superiors."
"Be sure that you do," Jason frowned. He jerked his head toward the door and the four others skittered out without a word. The medi-wizard paused at the doorway to sniff in disdain before stalking out.
"How do you feel?" Poppy took to her fluttering and probbing as Remus stood from the bed and had the urge to make sure the lot of medical personnel found their way directly out.
Before Severus could answer, he bowed off of the bed, clutching at his chest, and curiously at his left forearm. He did not make any noise but for a slow, consistant hiss through his clenched teeth.
Poppy scanned across him and glared over at Remus. "Fetch the medical staff, now!"
Severus sat up, clawing at the air and finally hooked his long fingers into her apron. "No!" He growled, panting and swallowing as best he could as foamed spittle gathered at the corners of his mouth. His other hand struck out and snatched hold of Remus' thin robe, holding the wolf in place. "Sit."
After an agonizing minute, the pain stopped as quickly as it had come on. Severus sagged against the mattress, sweat had beaded against his skin. His cramped hands finally released both Poppy and Remus.
The medi-witch flicked her wand again and poked at several runes, frowning in slight confusion and finally scowling. "It appears to be helping, very minutely, but helping."
Remus let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and nearly puddled to the floor as his tensed muscles let go. "Merlin, Severus, I thought I'd killed you," he breathed in a whisper.
There was panic and true fear on Lupin's face and Snape sneered weakly at him. "Stop being such a woman," he hissed, with no true venom. "It was a reaction to the yew and hawthorn as they reacted to the stomach acids. It speeds their absorption before the other ingredients."
"If it had been stronger, it might have killed you," Poppy scolded, sending a carefully muted glare at Remus so that Severus would not see.
"But it didn't," Severus snapped.
"Why did it hurt your heart and... humm... " Remus glanced about them but was still unwilling to say 'Dark Mark'.
Severus sneered at him for his idiocy. "They target the weakest points of the body."
"Your heart and your mark," Remus mumbled, more to himself than for anyone else's benefit.
"Correct," Severus rolled his eyes and heaved a deep sigh, resisting the urge to rub at his chest where his heart still ached dully.
"How are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey frowned, as though she could read her patient's mind.
Severus was quiet, doing a careful dexterity test by touching each finger to his thumb and back again with his left hand. "Tired," he answered belatedly, surprising Poppy slightly with his honesty.
"You heard him, move along," Madame Pomfrey shooed them away with a flapping hand. She did her rune tests and frowned at them. The runes were still the same but she hadn't expected there to be immediate results. "Albus, I would have a word with you." She walked quickly to her office without checking to see the Headmaster followed.
Remus was putting the dislodged bed back in place when Severus called to him. He walked back, casting a quick glance to Poppy's office door. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes," Severus waved an irritated hand at him. The potions master didn't speak for a long moment, only stared intently at Remus' face. "It's tonight." It wasn't a question, he already knew. Remus flushed and nodded once. "You still refuse to tell me the details?"
Again the wolf nodded and Severus grunted. Remus turned to leave and Snape jumped him by grabbing hold of his wrist with surprising strength. "Be careful," Severus frowned.
Remus ducked his head and nodded. "I'll try."
Snape let him go and watched the wolf make a quick retreat through the doors. He smirked silently and stared up at the cieling. A small prickle of thin magic was attached to his fingertips and with every step Remus took he could still feel it stretch and bend gently to keep up with the werewolf. He knew the moment Remus entered his rooms, knew when he made his slow way to the Great Hall for an extremely early breakfast, and when the man curiously went to Albus' office.
He didn't monitor much from then on. Instead he closed his eyes as he felt the potion cool and fluid in his blood. It was disconcerting but oddly relieving at the same time, much like a salve to a burn. He sighed slowly through his nose and relaxed into the bed. He would need much sleep this morning before he woke up again in the evening. He was going to need his strength.
---
Remus chose to ignore what he could as he sat down to pick at a bran muffin and luke-warm coffee. He could have heated it if he wanted, but he was too distracted and didn't really care when it came right down to it.
Severus was doing better. Of course, that fact alone wouldn't keep him from wondering through the day if they hadn't messed up badly and were actually poisoning Severus. Lupin had never counted himself a lucky man, and killing off the one person he could--finally--count as a friend would be just his unfortunate luck.
There were no students at this time of the morning. In fact, the few house elves that were cleaning up around the long tables were giving him odd looks. Therefore, when a golden plumed pheonix flew into the Great Hall with a note in its beak, no one was there to gape and whisper.
Fawkes swooped low by Remus' plate and dropped the note there, trilling pleasantly before spinning in the air and disappearing in a puff of brimstone smoke.
Shaking his head lightly with a smile, Remus popped the wax seal and skimmed the note. Albus would like to see him. As if that weren't apparent enough when he sent Fawkes with a note. All he needed to do was send the blasted bird. It was easy enough to know who it was from.
He turned his half-eaten muffin over and decided to leave it. He hadn't really wanted it anyway. What he really wanted was to fall into bed for half of the day. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Granted, Albus had given him time for the next two days to himself--as he always did on the days of the full moon--but he was too preoccupied to sleep. Or at least to sleep and gain anything from it.
The halls were still empty of students, though he met Argus Filch scowling at the floors in the hallway next to Albus' office. Filch glowered and Mrs. Norris yowled at him as they skulled to the side of the hall to let Remus pass. He made a half-hearted attempt at a cordial smile and nod, not that the keeper paid him any further attention.
After a mumbled password to the gargoyle, Remus climbed the spiraled stairs with a groan. He was bone weary.
"Remus, so good of you to come quickly," Albus smiled at him over his half-moon spectacles. The fine lines of fatigue that had been prevalent on the Headmaster's face were faded and smoothed over. Severus' sickness had been weighing heavily on the man's mind, that was apparent.
"I figured if I didn't come straight away, I would fall asleep and never make it." Lupin smiled sleepily, fighting off a yawn now that he'd finally spoken about how tired he was.
"Then I won't keep you," Albus stood and walked to a sidebar beneath his window. He pulled a cover from a small tray and took up a goblet. Remus cringed when the steam that curled off of the top met his nose. "Here you are, as promised."
Remus took the cup, frowning down at the contents. It didn't look like any Wolfsbane Severus had brewed. "Thank you."
A soft laugh made him look up. Albus was smiling a bit wider, "I know it is not what you are used to, but the notes are from Severus himself. You understand that he wouldn't allow just anyone to make this for you?"
"I don't--" Remus gave him a semi-gaping look, trying to think with his sleepy brain.
"After the discussion of several other potions masters, Severus finally agreed to allow one wizard to make it. He told me, if I remember correctly, that the man couldn't refine a potion if his life depended on it. However, Severus grudgingly admitted that he could brew a decent potion."
"High praise indeed," Remus chuffed, imaging Snape sniffing in derision and curling his lip as he spoke of his collegues.
He spaced out for several minutes, feeling a fog of sleep wrap him like a fuzzy blanket. When Albus cleared his throat, he jumped in his seat and nearly spilled his goblet. The stench of the brew waved over him and he felt a small burn of bile in his throat. It even smelled worse than the kind Severus made.
Sighing, Lupin set the rim to his lip and sucked it through his teeth in one large pull. It burned the entire way down and sizzled across his nerves. The cup actually plummeted from his fingers and hit the floor with a sharp crack.
Albus was holding him by the shoulders before his teary eyes had cleared. "Are you alright, my boy?"
Remus took a deep breath and coughed hard enough to be called a retch. He nodded and rubbed at the burn in his throat. His nerves had calmed to a tingle. "Fine," he croaked, "I'm fine."
Albus didn't look particularly convinced but did return back to his desk.
"I think I'll have a lay down, if you have nothing else for me," Remus stood, hoping he made it to his bed and didn't lay on his couch.
"Of course, of course," Albus held the door for him, telling him to sleep well.
The potion in his stomach bubbled and churned in his stomach. By the time he made it to his rooms, he didn't know if he'd even be able to sleep through it.
---
Lucius Malfoy was in a rare mood. The house-elves shivered under his gaze and scurried away as quickly as they could. Even Narcissa cast him a cool, confused glance when she passed him. Eventually it seemed to wear on the heiress' skin because by the third time she saw him, she frowned deeply and snapped, "Lucius, why are you smiling?"
That struck him as rather funny, and he laughed. Narcissa scowled and flipped her long blonde hair across her shoulders as she stalked out of the room with a huff.
Malfoy was wearing his favorite dress-shirt. An icy cyan-blue silk number with fine hand-stitched embroidery at the cuffs and collar. It fit like second skin and he knew with complete certainty that it accented his pale complexion, cool eyes and cold temperment. It was a bit overkill considering what he planned to do tonight, but it felt good. He felt good. And damn it all if he didn't intend on wearing it again at Andew Nabob's funeral.
It was beyond dusk, just into the darkness that stretched shadows thick that you could hide in without ducking. Unfortunately for anyone who wanted to hide--and Remus Lupin--the full moon hindered most of the darkness with chilly, white illumination.
The entryway to his dining room was filled with a half-hunched Lupin at a quarter past eight. The lycan was drawn, pinched and pale. He watched Lucius eat with a queasy weave and green tinge.
Lucius smirked and speared another piece of dripping steak. "Would you like something to eat Lupin? I'm sure the house-elves can make it bloodier than this for you, if you'd like."
The wolf blanched and turned away, one hand holding his stomach and the other supporting him on the doorframe.
The sight of the pathetic man put a damper on Malfoy's chipper mood. How was this sickly, weak, waif of a wolf supposed to kill anyone? How could the wizard be a werewolf and 'not' be slinking and dark? At least Greyback had the decency to look dangerous.
"Can we get to this already?" Remus huffed, swallowing twice when he looked over at Lucius.
Malfoy exaggeratedly licked a drip of blood from his fingertip and set his utensils in his plate. "We are supposed to meet, Mr. Nabob at the height of moonrise, Lupin, not a minute before."
"How am I supposed to get there if you wait that long?" The lycan growled. Remus reluctantly sat down at the far end of the grand table. He turned his chair partly away so he didn't have to look directly at Lucius.
"Apparation," Malfoy snorted, glaring over at Remus as though he were completely incompitent.
Lupin laughed once, bitterly, "I can't apparate you idiot. I barely have the strength to stand, and for some reason my higher magical functions cease when I'm looking for someone's throat to tear out."
Malfoy grinned evilly, "Funny, that's when mine peaks." Remus grunted, not amused in the least. Lucius frowned and mulled over the new information. "Very well... I suppose we'll have to leave sooner than expected. So long as you can keep yourself 'contained' until it is appropriate."
"If you wanted a damned attack dog, you could have trained one." Remus snarled.
"Like a muggle?!" Lucius was appalled. "A wizard does not train a lowly animal to do his dirty work."
"No, he blackmails it into working for him," Lupin muttered darkly, shooting Malfoy an irritated look when the man smirked and tipped his head in a superior fashion.
A stretch of time passed where Lucius picked at his dinner further--mostly to disgust Lupin than to eat any more--and finally he bade Remus to stand and they walked into the hall.
"Since you are too pathetic to travel later, we will leave now. Perhaps I could even persuade the young imbecile to arrive early and we could both be home before dawn." Lucius sniffed, carefully arranging his hair as he pulled on a set of heavy, black robes.
Remus curled his nose and nearly gagged. What could only be described as the scent of death clung to the garment: blood, bile, and vitrol, combined with the scents of earth, sweat, and charred skin. No doubt Fenrir Greyback enjoyed his stint as a Death Eater lapdog.
"Is there a problem, Lupin?" Malfoy scowled at the disgusted pinch of the wolf's face.
"No," Remus lied. A large bay window showed that the night had closed in rather nicely in the time he had arrived at Malfoy's Manor. There was a clench of his leg muscles and a resounding yip in his head that sounded remarkably like Padfoot. He didn't know what to make of the new quakes in his body. He blamed it on the new Wolfsbane. Not for the first time that night he almost wished that the treatment wouldn't work. At least then he wouldn't remember what he was about to do.
Malfoy shook his hair free of his collar and took a deep breath that he let out slowly with a large smile. It was the kind of thing someone does on a fresh day. "Ready?" Lucius stalked for the entrance, not bothering to wait and see if Lupin followed.
Remus trailed after him, head hung low and feet dragging. He was the abused dog following its cruel master because he was afraid of what the man would do if he didn't.
As they neared the door, Remus watched through tired eyes as a house-elf tugged on Lucius' robe hem and grimaced. The Malfoy lord sent it a dark look and quickly snatched a small dropper bottle from its hand as it held it up into the light. Lucius sneered, slapped the creature hard enough to send it skittering across the floor, and spun out of the door as though nothing happened.
Remus didn't care, he figured that was a good sign. Maybe if he kept a cold heart to whatever violence he saw, he might actually be able to keep his sanity after the night was over.