Hiya peeps!

I know! What's going on? Three chapters just back to back like that?

-/+

"Do you smell that, Boris?" A Ravenclaw boy who looked much too old to be bullying a first year curled up his nose. He was standing like a proud rooster, chest pumped out and chin tilted up. Thin blond hair was slicked back in a style reminiscent of Malfoy but even that ferret didn't look this sleazy. Like a used car salesman. Perhaps it was because the girl was sitting on the cold grass that made it look like he was a literal giant above her.

"Smell what? The poor or crippling loneliness?" Boris, Harry guessed, cackled. Surprisingly he was a Hufflepuff. Perhaps this whole House thing was deceiving. Then again, Harry was supposed to be a Hufflepuff. He gagged at the thought of sharing a House with either of these boys. Or the small crowd that had gathered. Maybe ten in total, a mixture of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff with one Gryffindor.

No one even noticed his oncoming approach, too engrossed in causing misery.

"I thought it smelled more like buck tooth piggy," the Ravenclaw spat the insult so nastily that Harry wrinkled his nose. Who said those kinds of things to another person much less a little girl! And who stood there just to laugh at it? Has it been like this since day one? Well that ended today! Permanently.

Harry balled his hands into fists and his steps became hard stomps as he came closer and closer to the trio. Hermione had yet to stand, in fact it looked as though she had curled into her book as though getting closer might stop the taunts from coming. But she didn't have to worry about that anymore because Harry was there.

"Hello!" Harry waved, his teeth showing but he wasn't smiling. All the laughter stopped abruptly.

"What's the Chosen One doing here?" The Ravenclaw sneered, his eyes going behind and then around Harry. Harry's smile turned a bit more real, the bully was looking for and actively scared of Severus. See, Harry was actively working against most rumors and stories surrounding his twin but sometimes even Harry couldn't spin things. After all, Severus got into a secret duel with a seventh year and turned his hand into butterflies. How was Harry supposed to spin that? Just the horror of one's hand… Harry shuddered.

"You have a bald spot at sixteen!" Harry blurted and pointed at the Ravenclaw. The boy choked on his spit, face suddenly red and hand shooting to his head. Harry swallowed the nerves that suddenly appeared and, instead, nodded to his own words.

"Yeah, you should just shave it because that slick back isn't doing you any favors. You look like a rejected Malfoy clone. Like the kind of creature you hide in the attic and only let out so it can have some moonlight. I'm surprised they let their hunchback out. I'm more surprised they didn't teach you better manners or how to treat girls. Reject-Malfoy." An idea suddenly came to mind and he tilted his head up to really sneer down at the taller boy. "Do you have a crush on her?"

"What!?" The Ravenclaw squawked, arms flailing like a flightless bird. Oh a chicken, yes that would perfectly describe this coward. Harry pretended to nod thoughtfully and he took a glance at Hermione. Her brown cheeks were slightly red but her silent tears had dried and her eyes were sharp and stared at him with slight suspicion. He gave her a wink and turned his attention back to her (former) tormentors.

"I mean, she is really pretty. She has all that gorgeous hair, I bet you she spends hours just moisturizing it. Her kids will have pretty hair. Is that what you're after, kids with hair prettier than yours?" Harry frowned and made shooing motions like one would do with an under fed mongrel begging for food (in real life Harry knew he'd just feed the mongrel). "Well, you get out of here. She's too young for you and, frankly, too smart. She knows who is the ten and who is the two."

The Ravenclaw seemed to have broken, his mouth hanging open and his face an ugly, violent red. Good, Harry was done destroying him so he focused on the Hufflepuff.

"And Boris was it?" Harry hummed, putting on his best unsure voice. The boy sputtered, obviously trying to say something but unable to find anything. Harry turned to Hermione. "He forgot his name."

"It's Boris," Hermione confirmed. Harry pretended to wince and shook his head in pity.

"A name as ugly as his face. Did you fall out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down?" Harry wrinkled his nose. "If your face was a smell it'd be garbage. I bet the doctor slapped every person in the room when you were born. You're so ugly you make onions cry. How did it feel to crawl from Hell? I can't imagine even the devil wanting to see that mug. You're so ugly—." Harry cut himself off and looked at the girl. "I'm sorry, did you want to do one? I have like another ten and I'm sure I can squeeze five after that."

"He's also an idiot," Hermione offered almost shyly. She seemed almost stunned now like she just hadn't seen this coming and, really, this wasn't Harry's plan at first. After Severus brought it to his attention, Harry had opened his eyes and saw that Hermione really had no one. She sat alone at meals (sometimes trying to ingrate herself only to fail miserably), she read quietly in the library in her free time and she always lingered after class, probably wanting to avoid the worse of her taunters. Recently the girl had glued herself to Pansy's side but they were in different Houses and something weird was going on to make their friendship secret-ish.

Through all this Harry knew that Hermione Granger was a highly skilled witch. If she wanted to, Hermione could hex all her bullies to London and back. Harry was very sure of it. So the only reason she didn't was because she didn't want to, probably had qualms of using violence. She was a brave, chivalrous hero to not unleash her knowledge. He shivered at the thought, sure that it would be like having two Severuses. But it was this knowledge that stopped him from hexing anyone. His original plan was to wait for her to be alone and then just befriend her but noooo these guys had to be major jerks.

"Oh, I knew it!" Harry planted himself between the girl and two boys. "You both fancy her! You want her for her beauty and you want her for her brains. Well she can do better than baldie and ugly. You cradle robbers. Get back before you infect her. You both stink. You smell like desperation and lost hopes. Like failed studies. Like lack of employment. You both look like common colds. Didn't you hear me?" Harry put his hands on his hips and gave them a one eyed glare. "I said get and take your band of hyenas. Seriously, this has to be illegal, you guys. All this ugly gathered in one spot. You couldn't have one okay face in your group? I feel sorry for the next generation."

For a second they seemed to hesitate, all eyes going to the balding boss Ravenclaw. If Harry didn't know better, he was sure the boy's face was going to explode. Then there was a small sorta noise, a chittering that's had Harry dragging his eyes off his targets and the source of the noise. It was Hermione. Her shoulders shook with poorly suppressed giggles and soon turned to outright laughs.

"I was thinking…" Hermione climbed to her feet, almost gasping for breath through her laughter. "I was thinking that they looked closer to newborn guppies."

"I called them hyenas because of the laughter and the ugliness," Harry rubbed at the back of his head.

"A double insult? Impressive," Hermione smiled. Harry smiled back and grabbed her hand into his, his other snatching up her bag while she grabbed her book.

"It looks like being ugly and stupid makes people deaf too," Harry cast a pitying look at the upperclassmen as though he actually felt sorry for them. Yeah, that boy was practically bursting, it was probably best to not get in a duel with so many people against just the two of them. If they really wanted to fight, he was sure he could at least block and take out one or two before they drew attention. "Let's go where the view isn't so harsh."

"Poor things," Hermione nodded, her giggles still slipping despite her serious expression. They turned to leave and they even made it a few steps. But Harry knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"I'll teach that muggleborn."

Upon hearing that Harry could have grabbed his wand or pushed Hermione without also getting in the way or just let her get hit (it was unlikely that anyone would use deadly spells) but Harry didn't do any of those things. No, his body being faster than his brain, decided to throw itself in front of the girl, taking the spell to his back.

Harry blinked. He didn't feel any pain and he didn't think his body was doing anything he didn't want it to do. He straightened carefully and blinked at all the silk siding down his face and onto the ground. Harry reached up and gave a light, experimental pull. And out came a giant chunk of hair. Oooh he hit him with a balding spell. It was a fast working one, his hair falling out like a blown on dandelion. Harry frowned. What kind of guy tried to hit a girl with a spell like this?

"Shit, shit!" The Ravenclaw cursed and there were audible gasps followed by a group of feet beating a hasty retreat. Harry idly rubbed at his hand, shaking more and more hair out until he felt the first bald spot. Then he grinned at Hermione, ignoring her look of horror and guilt. He chose to stand in the way so he chose the consequences.

"Tell me a really sad story on our way back to the castle. I'm going to convince Severus that they made me cry by doing this," Harry thought better of getting the girl to punch or otherwise bruise him. He didn't want to get the bully murdered after all.

"Wait!" The boy practically threw himself to their feet. All his friends except Boris had run off although if Harry seriously wanted to sic his brother on them, leaving now was much too late. Harry always remembered faces.

"Wait for what? My hair is falling out. I'm going to be ugly like you," Harry folded his arms over his chest. He felt zero pity for the fear in the boy's eyes. Okay, maybe not zero. No one wanted to be attacked even if they did something deserving of it and it didn't help that Severus was especially vicious and much younger than this boy. The embarrassment would probably be worse than the pain.

"I'll apologize in front of everyone and I'll do your homework," the boy pleaded.

"Her homework? She's smarter than you, why would she need that?" Harry asked, genuinely confused. The boy paled then flushed all at once before muttering something. Harry leaned closer to hear him then abruptly straightened as he heard the words. The boy meant the homework that he had destroyed, homework that Hermione had put hard work into. Seriously? Wizards were just as childish as muggles. He turned to his new friend. "What do you think?"

"Insufficient," she determined immediately. The boy flinched. "He should also tutor in his best subject for the rest of the year in any free time he has. He should be able to handle it, he is a Ravenclaw."

"Okay, what about the uglier one? I can use the tears for him instead," Harry wiped his brow off quite by accident. Boris flinched, not expecting any attention to fall on him. The most cowardly ones never did.

"Pansy could use a personal slave for a week," Hermione shrugged, unable to think of anything else. It was actually kind of funny that the girl had mentioned that to her just a few days ago.

"We'll make it two weeks. Don't forget fellas, there are eyes all over this place. Wouldn't want to slack, now would we?"

-/+

Remus didn't want to say he was being watched, he truly trusted every student and faculty member with his well-being. He truly did but there was the thing with the stands just a couple days ago and then there was this itch at the back of his head, side of his face that irritated his wolf. Moony knew they were being observed and wanted Remus to tear apart the vicinity until he found the culprit and slurped their bone marrow. Remus shuddered at the blood thirsty thoughts. It was too close to the next full moon. Who was Remus kidding? Every day felt too close to the next full moon.

He took a deep breath, telling himself he was just trying to calm his nerves and not scent the air for his stalker. It was useless anyway, he was standing right outside the Great Hall so his nose was clogged with the smell of food. Remus froze as a horrible thought went through him. Was his stalker the same person who tried to hurt Harry? Were they targeting Order members? A growl burst out of him at that and a gasp had him whirling around, crouched low and teeth pulled back.

"Eep!" The Slytherin girl let out what she would consider an undignified yelp and fell backwards.

"I'm so, so, so sorry Miss Parkinson!" Remus rushed to help the girl, all thoughts of abandoning Slytherins to themselves flying from his head at seeing the girl sprawled. And the bruises. They were fresh and forming, not even hours old. He could only imagine who did that to her, could only imagine who she would or could confide in. Hopefully it was someone from her House, they could solve it quickly in-House.

"You very well should be. First, you stand here, blocking my way and then you attack me? Just wait until my father hears of this!" The pug nosed girl covered herself and jumped to her feet, blatantly ignoring his hand. She flipped her hair as though it were much longer then stomped around him, hissing about the effort. Remus wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. They already lost one generation to the Dark, why did they have to lose this one too? They were just kids after all, kids who didn't know any better than their parents told them and by the time they would realize the truth it's too late. Not every child was like Sirius—

Yeah, no. Remus was definitely not going down that road. The betrayal was still too great, still too soon. He didn't think he would ever get over that, at least without a head witch around. He wondered just how powerful those confidentiality pacts were. He had a vague idea that they didn't break under veritaserum but would the people who caught her know? Or would they just think she was a loyal Order member, prepared to die to protect their secrets.

"So are we to starve simply because of a shabbily dressed walking sweater turned statue?" Remus froze. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder at Pansy Parkinson. A few steps behind her was a skinny Hufflepuff with his hands absolutely laden with books. Boris Inkling if Remus's memory served him correctly. But in front of him stood the same girl who just went into the Great Hall. His stalker!

Remus burst through the heavy doors.

There the girl was, making her way to the Gryffindor table—making her way to Harry!

Remus wasn't sure how long he blinked, he was sure he was just doing a standard blink, but when he opened his eyes he was on the floor. One of his hands were tangled in silky soft, slightly greasy hair. His other hand dug his wand into a soft, squishy neck and he was growling in the soaked face of one Millicent Bulstrode. Tears and snot poured down her chubby face, her cheeks and nose red. Her body trembled under his grasp but she remained carefully still besides that, arms and legs practically trying to press through the floor.

"Get off of her!" Remus was going to, he swore once he realized he was atop a crying student and not a murderous stalker, he was going to get up. However, he didn't realize just how much he'd tangled her hair around his hand and he yanked. This caused the girl to let out a cry and then pain, not for her though. No, her savior made sure of that. They slammed something metal and circular directly into his face. And then atop his head. And anywhere it could reach. Then another weapon was smashed atop his head, he was sure that this one (he was sure) was a goblet. Then, another, smaller circle smashed and shattered across the back of his head. Was he being beat with plates!?

"Lemme go!" Millicent shrieked, her voice and courage returning as she saw she hadn't been abandoned. She started to struggle underneath him, kicking and punching anything she could reach. Which was basically everything. A well placed groin shot had him collapsing on the girl which… it just didn't make things better. If he could Remus would have started to cry. Millicent let out a shriek that was similar to a banshee and the attacks renewed with extra vigor. Still, Remus noted numbly, this wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to Peter.

"That is enough! What do you all think you're doing to a professor!" Oh sweet Merlin, thank muggle God it was Minerva. The attacks ceased and Remus immediately freed his hand from the girl and then scrambled towards his savior with as much grace as he could. It wasn't very graceful. In fact, he felt more like a dog who bit someone and was now hiding behind his master to avoid the dog catcher.

"He attacked her!" Little Daphne panted heavily. From what he understood, she was a delicate little thing exempt from most physical activities. And now he could see why. Her pale cheeks were red with exertion and sweat was already pouring down her forehead. She had a slight tremor, her little hand still having a firm grasp on her goblet weapon, and was being directed to sit at the closest table. But her fiery pale eyes never left him as though she thought he'd attack again. And he was sure she'd be there to smack him with that dish no matter how hard she was breathing.

"Did you not see him? He was like a beast," Blaise wrinkled his nose and leveled him with a suspicious glare, broken shards of his plate still in his grasp. The Italian boy's gaze made him shiver. It had the same spark of madness he saw in Bellatrix when they were young, still saw as she was just as mad as an adult.

"Yeah…" Neville let out an embarrassed cough, subtly sliding his plate to the floor. Remus's eyebrows flew to his hairline. What was the normally shy and definitely not violent Gryffindor doing there? "I… am so sorry professor. I don't know how… I sorta saw Sev and…" here Neville lost his words and just shrugged lamely. He glanced at the aforementioned boy. The redhead seemed the calmest, not having broken a sweat in the attack and definitely without guilt or fear. He was also the first one to hit him, serving plate still greasy with chicken in his grasp.

"You saw," Severus said simply. Minerva worked her mouth silently, words attempting and failing to leave her. Remus resisted the urge to pinch his nose. There wasn't anything to be said in his defense, he was a grown man who attacked a little girl. It wasn't even one of the older students! Just a little first year who was doing nothing but walking.

"Fifty points to each of you," Remus finally said, placing a hand on his fellow teacher's shoulder. He looked around the Great Hall, taking in each student. Of course he had all of their full attention, there was nothing but attention from the moment he attacked the girl. "This is not to say you were right in violence but you all showed remarkable and fierce loyalty and bravery. An extra ten for not using magic." He shuddered at the spells that one particular redhead could have unleashed. "For you, Millicent, I'll give you one hundred points." Noises of outrage from the other Houses sounded but he ignored them. "I scared you in such a horrible way but your survival skills were quite impressive even before your friends arrived. I am truly sorry."

"It's…" the girl looked positively confused, maybe no one had apologized to her before. Her face had been cleaned by a muttering Blaise with a moist handkerchief. She twitched nervously under his gaze and fiddled with her robes before she found her words again, "It's fine. I'm not hurt. Can I go back to dinner?"

"Yes, everyone, back to eating. This spectacle is over," Minerva ushered the snakes back to their table, leaning just him and Neville. The boy seemed unable to look directly at him and was trying to chew through his bottom lip.

"Erm, sorry again. I-I mean you were hurting her so, um. Oh! Sev left his book. I'll go give it to him," Neville announced with all the grace and casualty of a ballerina elephant. Then he was scrambling towards the Slytherins. Remus looked around and spotted Harry. Of course the boy was looking at him like he was some kind of violent pervert.

"I didn't join because Sev seemed to have it under control," Harry said more to his bushy haired friend than the professor himself. Remus very nearly wept. Harry was his pack and now the pup hated him. Child. Harry was a child. And still hated him. Remus trudged slowly and sadly to the head table, invisible tail between his legs.

"A student, really wolf?" Rolanda sneered though she kept her voice low. Not low enough to not hurt Remus's feelings though. He would bring up the stalker to Albus at some other time. Speaking of which, he looked to the old man. He didn't even seem surprised by the whole event and only gave him a small, reassuring smile when he noticed his gaze. Peter gave his arm a firm squeeze. Remus sighed gently, well at least he had a couple people on his side.

+/-

Severus nibbled idly at his dinner, parchment in his hand. It was old but not by decades and it was obviously well used. The ink was slightly smudged by someone's oily fingers touching it and there were liquids splattered on it. Luckily everything was still clearly seen and read. So Severus could tell that the potion besides it just couldn't be the same. The instructions were in great detail and specified that the potion would smell faintly like gasoline at this stage. This smelled like cold piss. He turned thoughtful. The instructions didn't tell him what the potion did but… was it a Death Eater concoction? Severus sipped at his pumpkin juice. That was unlikely. Whatever was in it, wasn't being made correctly. What sort of half cocked evil organization would use an incorrectly made potion?

"Sev? You in here?" Sweet Merlin! If Severus wasn't Severus he would have gracelessly fallen off the desk and spilled everything along the way. But he was Severus so he whirled with his wand pointed and already spitting out a hex. Obviously though Neville had become adjusted to such a reaction. He had already plastered himself to the floor, the spell flying harmlessly over his head. Good, he wasn't quite skilled enough to reverse turning someone's head into butterflies. The hand was surprisingly gruesome.

"Do you have a tracking spell on me?" Severus demanded, sliding from the desk and walking up to the boy. He towered over him, wand making him go crossed eye.

"No…" Neville whimpered then he muttered, "you'd find that."

"What did you say?" Severus hissed, pressing his wand into the boy's forehead. Did the Gryffindor not know what he was capable of? Did he not sense the very true danger he was in? Severus did not appreciate having a... a stalker! Especially not while he was stalking his own prey.

"Nothing! Nothing! You left your book in the Great Hall," Neville carefully lifted himself to reveal said book.

"You could've given it to Harry," Severus still eyed the boy suspiciously. He never felt any ill intent from Neville or got a sense that the boy had any sort of nefarious plans. From his brief observations, Neville was a kind hearted sorta coward with bad luck and a horrible case of clumsy and forgetfulness. He was as harmless as a puppy but puppies grew into dogs… Severus sighed and slipped his wand back up his sleeve. "You can't seem to locate your belongings but you seem to always be able to find me. Should I find any spyware on my person, I'll feed your corpse to the Forbidden Forest. I'm sure there is some creature there that's very hungry."

"Thanks for not letting them eat me alive," Neville scrambled to his feet and after the boy. He let out a quiet yelp and rushed back to shut and lock the door when Severus flashed teeth at him.

"It is the least I could do… you helped in the Great Hall," Severus pointed out. Guilt wasn't something he felt very often but this was an exception. After he'd made his way past Lupin, he threw a glamour over his Pansy disguise and closed his robes over his school uniform. He had already integrated himself with the Gryffindors by the time Lupin burst through the doors. But how was he to know that Millicent would be walking towards the table? She looked absolutely terrified and why wouldn't she be?

"Harry told me not to, that you had it but he sorta said it too late," Neville grinned sheepishly, pulling himself onto the tall chair. Severus was back with his dinner and the potion, quite close to making up his mind. To be honest, his attack of Lupin wasn't planned. After all, there were hundreds of people around—including highly capable adults. But then he heard Millicent's quiet whimper and realized that the girl wasn't going to even attempt to fight back. Severus barely recalled grabbing the serving plate. He just remembered repeating to himself to not pull out his wand, don't hex the man, don't murder him.

"You also gave me your cloak," Severus recalled, his voice sounding distracted. He banished the ruined potion and found that he didn't regret it.

"My Gran says small people get colder faster," Neville answered, eyes wide at his actions. It was quite obvious to the Gryffindor that they weren't supposed to be in the room—it was Professors Lupin's private lab after all so whatever potion Severus was touching wasn't his.

"Normally I would just brew a second batch alongside but this potion specifies all the tools used be made of solid silver. I have no need for those materials so I don't have any," Severus shrugged. It was true. In the future he'd have every variation of cauldron ever made and he'd have fun seeing the effects but for now his potions were content in his copper cauldrons.

"What is this potion?" Neville asked, nose curling in disgust. It started to stink as soon as Severus started to cut a wiggling worm. Something that looked a lot like pus oozed out of the creature and on Severus's hands.

"Cut the aconite into thin slivers," Severus instructed, tilting his chin at the flowers. If the boy was going to stay then he would make himself useful, "You follow me around."

"What?" Neville looked confused before he took in the words and blushed all the way to his ears. Suddenly he was incapable of looking Severus in the eyes. "I… I wouldn't call it following you."

"Have you seen anyone else stalking me as you do?" Severus ignored his denial as it was an obvious lie. Severus spent his time checking on several targets (though recently it was just Lupin) so he knew a stalker when he saw one. And Neville was definitely a stalker. A good one, though Severus held back the compliment. He'd be more impressed if the boy could do it while Severus was not preoccupied. Everyone knew that stalkers had nearly zero chances of noticing a stalker, too engrossed in their own subject but they did notice who was around.

"Ummm, well…" Neville fidgeted, his hands shaking as he slowly cut the flower. He was confident that, if he was doing it wrong that Severus would have snatched it away or informed him in a not so nice way. So he tried to steady his hands and his heart. It practically pounded in his chest and through his ears. "I don't think so?"

"Think harder!" Severus demanded, throwing in some silver flecks. Why would the pudgy boy answer him without even considering it, was he embarrassed at being caught? Neville flinched harshly and it was Severus's hand that stopped him from slicing his fingers. Luckily he had donned a silver netted glove and the blade slid harmlessly across. "I should have known not to startle you with a weapon in your hand." It was not an apology.

"No, I'm sorry. I just… I wasn't like stalking you like those bad guys you hear about. I just… I don't know how to make friends?" Neville screwed up his face as he tried to verbalize his thoughts.

"You want to be friends with me?" Now that was a new one. Most people were smart enough to avoid him, Slytherins and Harry not included for obvious reasons. He squinted at the boy with a new idea causing his suspicion to spark, "Did Harry tell you to pursue me?"

"What? No!" Neville denied immediately. Severus snorted. This boy would be a terrible accomplice. His face was too truthful. He looked absolutely scandalized at the idea, like Severus asked him if he diddled animals or something. They fell into a comfortable silence, Severus moving through the potion like he's been brewing it for years and Neville helping like an actually competent lab partner. He wasn't too surprised by this, the boy was adequate under his guidance in class. He was just terribly clumsy. And sweaty.

"Oh… how come you're wearing a girl's uniform? It's too big," Neville broke the silence first.

"None of your business," Severus answered, only half hearing the question.

"Oh. Umm, did you get into a fight? You got bruises," Neville pointed to where the skirt had risen and he could just make out purple. Severus followed his finger as though he didn't know what he was talking about. Yes, it was quite the unpleasant surprise to him as well. It turned out Pansy had a few enemies she wasn't telling anyone about.

"Also none of your business," Severus turned back to his potion.

"If you tell me I'll tell you who else, erm, stalks you," Neville carefully kept his eyes diverted. Severus did not stop stirring but his eyes did land on the other boy.

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" Severus rumbled quietly.

"No! I mean, sorta?" Neville gave him a sheepish grin, "I've never tried to get someone to tell me anything and I was thinking that you'd tell me if I could tell you something but I don't know anything but then I started to think about the, erm, my um following you sometimes."

"A Slytherin you are not. You are aware I could just go down the list of most likely suspects and use your face to see who it is," Severus rolled his eyes when the boy slapped his hands over his face. Well, it was too late for that and unnecessary. The information the boy wanted wasn't even half as valuable as the information Severus sought. "I used polyjuice to disguise myself as Pansy Parkinson just after Herbology."

"So that's why I lost track of you," Neville muttered to himself, perhaps he thought Severus was hard of hearing.

"It turns out that her friendship with Granger is not greatly appreciated among the older students. I managed to beat back her attackers inconspicuously enough but I couldn't manage without a few bruises." There was a twenty minute waiting period so he took this time to drop his robes and reveal the extent of damage. The bruises on his neck were the least noticeable as he had been taken by surprise but had recovered in enough fashion to dislodge that first hand. There were boot shaped marks on his thighs from being kicked and then stomped. They led up to his stomach. The hand marks on his arms seemed huge, like a giant had grabbed the small boy. "Do not look too concerned. I plan on cutting off their penises and combining them into one abomination."

"The penises or the people?" Neville didn't really want to know the answer but he also, sorta did want to know. Severus paused in sliding his robes back on. He hadn't thought of that.

"The penises of course but now that you mention it…" Perhaps he would do both. It wouldn't make up for the fear that had first coursed through his blood or the humiliation of having a boot grind into his face or, when his skirt flipped and those disgusting boys made notes on his panties. No, it wouldn't make up for it but it would be a great start.

"Maybe you should tell a professor instead?" Neville tried, looking pale as his imagination tried to catch up with Severus's. Neville looked away when he was leveled with a truly unimpressed look. Well, Severus had answered him so it was now his turn. Hopefully what he said made sense and wouldn't disappoint the boy.

"What're you doing!?" A voice growled. The two first years whipped around and their stomachs dropped. Standing in the doorway, practically foaming at the mouth was Professor Lupin. Neville was sure he's never seen any adult so angry and he could only gape as the man came at them like a whirlwind. He whimpered when the man grabbed him by the back of the neck but he didn't struggle. Professor Lupin was a teacher, he was just mad that they were messing with his potion. But when he went for Severus the boy actually hissed and pointed his wand at the man.

"Let him go," the boy commanded.

"You point your weapon at me, pup?" The words seemed pushed and forced out his throat, almost as though he didn't really know how to speak and was learning with each word. Neville tried to turn his head to look at the man but the hand just tightened until there were tiny pin pricks like claws trying not to pierce his flesh.

"Let. Him. Go. Or I will skin you and make you into a very handsome rug," Severus threatened. Neville gulped. Something was happening, something much more dangerous than he had first thought.

"A pup, no matter the talent, is still just a pup," Professor Lupin continued in the strange voice. Severus pressed his lips together, he could sense that Lupin was strong physically and magically. The wizard could best him in record time especially with Neville as a hostage. He cursed himself for even caring about hitting the boy with a hex. Harry was rubbing off on him.

"I started your potion over," Severus slowly directed his wand towards the potion so that the beast could see exactly where and what was his next target, "It's fresh and brewing correctly. I will blast it to kingdom come and you will really suffer come next moon."

"Umm?" Neville was sure that the man shouldn't be… laughing? Was he laughing? It sounded more like someone scratching nails on a chalkboard or an old, cobwebbed corpse taking its first breath again or maybe that was the sound of someone who never laughed like it was the voice of someone who never spoke.

"You are a stupid pup to think I want that poison," the man spat. Severus relaxed minutely and smirked as the man's hand jerked around Neville's neck.

"You may not want it but Lupin certain does." The man growled and attempted to tighten his hand but found it slowly loosening instead. He tried to grab the pup with his other hand but his first, disobedient hand grabbed that one. Neville scurried as fast as he could to Severus's side and took in the strange sight of their teacher attacking himself. It was like the man was two people, tearing and growling and biting at himself.

"W-what's wrong with him?" Neville stuttered, body wracked by terrified shivers. He grabbed the boy's hand and attempted to pull him to the door but Severus stood fast, eyes locked on the crazed man and wand back on him. With Neville out of the way, he'd eviscerate Lupin if he took even a single step this way.

"Leave us, Longbottom," Severus commanded, ignoring the pull at his arm. He needed to see who would be the victor then he was going to squeeze every single bit of information he could… if the man won over the beast. Besides him, Neville seemed to be at a loss for words but he made his point clear as his grip stopped pulling and turned into holding his hand in a disgustingly sweaty hand. Well, he supposed he'd be scared too if he wasn't who he was.

The door slammed shut with a stream of magic. Ah, it looked like the fight was over.

The man had won.

"He's a werewolf," Severus said loudly to the trembling boy but his eyes never left their teacher. Something like a smile curled his lips.

Ha.

Gotcha.

+/-

TBC

I hope it's been enjoyed, please let this one know. I feel like I'm posting these too fast as a side note but if the words came then why not post them? By the by I absolutely adore Neville. Can yall tell? Also that roast session Harry had was like my favorite to write.