by SnapeRulez
Chapter Three: "Talking to Snape"
Remus Lupin was sitting at his desk, the fourth-years´ essays on werewolves (he liked the irony about it, somehow) lying in front of him.
Lines over lines of neat hand-writing. Hands.
It made Lupin think of paws. The thought irritated him. He pushed the small pile of papers away and rubbed his forehead with both hands. He gave a deep sigh.
Two weeks had come and went since the last full moon.
Two weeks he would rather have skipped. He hadn´t been himself ever since...ever since Snape had tested that potion on him.
They hadn´t spoken to each other during the whole two weeks. Lupin didn´t consider that to be a great loss. Well, they hadn´t talked much before, had they?
It wasn´t that Lupin wasn´t thankful. He was of course delighted about the fact he´d never have to transform again if he didn´t want to.
It was just that his anger was stronger than his gratitude.
No, he had never liked being a werewolf. But now....everything was different. Lupin was different.
He had noticed quite a serious change in his behaviour, snapping at people, raising his voice almost to a yell when poor Neville Longbottom had kept dropping his wand in class. Lupin had blamed his strange behaviour on whatever Snape had thrown into that potion, but at heart he knew there was more to it.
It was as if something was missing. But just when Lupin thought he had figured out what exactly it was, it had slipped from his mind again.
Well, the potion´ll wear off soon, anyway, no point in worrying too much, he thought.
But still...now that the day he had finally been freed from a life-long burden was here, why didn´t he feel like celebrating?
You just don´t like feeling grateful towards Snape.
That was true...
It´s so stupid, Lupin thought, getting to his feet. Not talking to each other like sore little schoolboys!
He walked towards the door.
I will go now and ask him when he thinks the potion should wear off. No use in holding on to my foolish pride... He HAS to tell me what exactly he made me drink! And most of all...why he developed the potion in the first place....
The only probable reason Lupin could think of was fame. Glory.
But somehow, he had a feeling Snape´s intention had neither been fame, nor glory. He couldn´t quite explain it.
Having reached the door, Lupin opened it and hurried down into the dungeons, determined to get a few answers out of Snape.
A minute later he had reached the door to Snape´s office, and entered it without knocking.
Snape spun around. When he recognized Lupin, the surprise in his eyes was replaced by anger.
"There´s something the people in the civilized world do, before entering another person´s room. It´s called knocking. Oh, I forgot, you don´t have that sort of thing in a pack of wolves, do you?" he sneered.
Lupin didn´t say anything, although he heard the blood pounding in his ears. He looked around Snape´s office.
His gaze lingered on the glass jars standing on shelves behind Snape´s desk. Lupin grimaced as he tried to figure out what sort of animals were floating inside of the jars. One of those slimy things looked horribly like a rat´s insides.
Lupin looked back at Snape and realized that Snape had followed his gaze.
Lupin smiled softly and gestured quickly at the jars.
"I see you are among your own kind?" he said, his smile widening as Snape´s hands balled into fists.
"I´d rather have rat guts for company than you, thank you very much."
Lupin´s smile faded. Stupid thing to do, getting into a quarell with Snape just now...
"What do you want anyway?" Snape spat.
Lupin thought it best to get to the point directly.
"What kind of potion was that?"
Snape smiled a twisted smile.
"I thought you´d never ask."
His eyes gleamed excitedly as he went on:
"Well, look, I just added a little..."
Thirty seconds later, Lupin interrupted him. Hearing what exactly was used to brew the potion didn´t help to change his mind concerning his dislike of it at all...quite the opposite.
"When does it wear off?"
Snape shrugged slightly. "Should´ve done so by now."
Then, dawning comprehension on his face, he eyed Lupin suspiciously and asked: "Why? Is something wrong?"
Lupin wondered what to tell him. "Er, I didn´t feel very well during the last two weeks..."
"But it´s always been that way, hasn´t it?" Snape said, sounding hopeful.
Lupin sighed and ran one hand through his hair, feeling uncomfortable.
"Sure, but that´s not the point. Seriously, I fear something went wrong..."
"It did NOT!" Snape´s black eyes were flashing angrily.
"I knew perfectly well what I was doing, as I´ve already told you."
Lupin closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths. It was no use to bring it all up again.
Suddenly, as though having made his decision, Lupin took a few steps forwards and looked directly into Snape´s eyes.
"Why did you develop such a potion?" he asked, in a low but neutral voice.
There was a long pause. Lupin held Snape´s gaze, waiting patiently. Finally, Snape said:
"Because I knew how to."
Lupin raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "That´s your explanation?"
"I don´t think I need to explain myself to you, but nevermind... Well, it´s quite a step forward, the potion", Snape smirked.
"Making the lives of hundreds of poor, miserable half-human beings so much easier.... "In my opinion, it´s worth the Order of Merlin, third class -at least, I´d say..."
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave an arrogant, triumphant smile.
Lupin nodded slowly. "If you say so." He hesitated. Then, seeing the reserved look on Snape´s face, Lupin turned to leave.
Back in the corridor, he still wasn´t sure whether he bought that story -Snape had sounded convincing, but on the other hand, he´d always been a great actor- but Lupin was sure of what he was going to do next: The thing he should have done two weeks ago.