Chapter Fifty: But Like a Drunkard Must I
Remus: Then
Who do you think you are to command me?
The words echoed through Remus' memory again and again.
Halt my step one more time, Remus, and I swear to all the gods…
Half a bottle of Firewhisky hadn't managed to dislodge Harry's fierce glare from his mind's eye. The command had been unintentional, and the venom in Harry's expression had been unexpected. The force of it had knocked all the air from Remus' chest. Even remembering it, he found it hard to breathe.
This wasn't the first time the young man had wounded him lately, but it was the deepest cut. They'd seemed to be doing so well. Where had Remus gone wrong? What had he done? He kept trying to put his finger on it.
"This looks familiar."
Remus raised a bleary-eyed look to the kitchen doorway and smirked. "It feels familiar," he told Rainey, chagrined.
"Boy troubles?" she asked, turning the closest chair and straddling it.
"You could say that."
"What did he say?" She looked genuinely interested, for a change. "Where did he say he'd been?"
"He didn't," Remus informed her, tipping back his bottle before remembering it was empty. He gave it a dirty look and tossed it in the direction of the trash bin, missing by quite a bit. He couldn't be arsed to care when it rolled back across the floor and hit the toe of his boot.
"Pity that."
"Yes. Well, I assume Severus was able to wring something out of him," he said with a curl of his lip. "And hopefully some answers, as well."
Rainey scowled. "Oh? Though, I was referring to the empty bottle. I'll bring you a fresh one, shall I?"
"I wouldn't refuse it."
"Perhaps after I've been up to see Harry," she ventured.
"I wouldn't recommend it," Remus warned. "I suspect they're both still recovering. They've just had a rather...enthusiastic reconciliation," he sneered. It was an inadequate description, but how else could he phrase it? Hermione had been half a moment from calling the paramedics. Remus had had to catch her by the arm to stop her rushing upstairs.
"Trust me. You do not want to interrupt what's going on behind that door," he'd told her. She'd seemed appalled at Remus' lack of concern until she'd worked out what was actually happening.
"But it sounds as if he's being murdered," she'd argued, thoroughly scandalised. "You don't mean those are...good screams."
"I do," Remus had sighed. "Harry has some...peculiar predilections in the bedroom, with which Severus is extensively familiar."
On cue, the noises overhead increased in volume and suggested violence, and Hermione had blushed to the roots of her hair. "I think I'll just wait for Severus in his lab," she had mumbled, scurrying off to collect an armful of books from the library before disappearing through the floo. Remus could hardly blame her. Her room was next door to Harry's.
In his reverie, Remus had almost forgotten Rainey was still there and wasn't entirely pleased to find her so. She didn't seem particularly enthused herself, tossing disgruntled looks up the stairwell. "Give it up, Rainey. They'll never quit one another. Not for good. Harry practically tore out Severus' heart and ate it in front of him," he scowled, angry over the slight all over again. "And all Severus did was drift around the lab like a ghost for three days, absolutely refusing to be comforted. Now where are they?" Remus muttered drunkenly, laying his head in the nest of his arms on the table. "They'll literally be up each other's arse until the day they die. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how one of them goes, actually." This voice was too loud in the tiny echo chamber he'd created. He had no idea if the woman could even understand him. "They'll never be ours," he said, sitting up again to be plainly understood. "For a moment I thought I might manage the both of them. But we might as well face it. Maybe it's time we stopped holding our breath."
She didn't answer except to glare at him. He wasn't especially surprised when she stood in a huff and stormed from the room. He was surprised, however, to wake from a short, whisky-induced nap to find an unopened bottle of brown liquor on the table by his head. He smiled at it, thinking that maybe Rainey wasn't a complete bitch after all as he pulled the top and filled his tumbler to the brim.
