title: lykanthrophobia
by: earthenkynder
rating: pg-13, for some really light swearing in the first chapter, i just want to be safe.
disclaimer: all these characters belong to the goddess j.k. rowling. if they were mine, i wouldn't be sharing them with you ;)
a/n: i know that this will be a snape/lupin fic eventually (sorry if that squicks you, but consider yourself warned) but i'm not exactly sure where it's going. i couldn't find an actual phobia of werewolves, but the original phobias came from greek, so i just made one up using a greek-english dictionary. anyway, enjoy, and please r&r.
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ch. 3
Severus lay in his bed in the dungeons, curled into a ball and facing away from the door. He clutched the covers around him as a tremor shook his slim frame. After he had had sufficient time to recover from the shock, he had been moved down to his room in the dungeons. His tears had long since dried on his face, but harsh sobs and whimpers still racked his body, tearing themselves from his raw throat.
"I know you must be devastated Severus, but there is nothing we can do. Right now you just need rest." Madam Pomfrey had told him as she conjured a stretcher to take him to his rooms.
Rest. Of course. That will make it all better. Make everything better… Snape's thoughts were drifting a bit into delirium. They were brought back to reality by a soft rapping on the door.
"Who is it?" Snape croaked.
"It's Albus, may I come in?" Dumbledore called through the door.
Snape fumbled around the bedside table for his wand, and after three bad aims and twice not having enough voice to recite the charm properly, he managed to unlock the door to let Dumbledore in.
As Snape lay his wand back on he table, Dumbledore walked into the room and somehow managed to make himself comfortable in a very uncomfortable chair in the corner. "How are feeling?" he asked kindly.
"I was just attacked and bitten by a werewolf. How would you feel?" Snape rasped out.
"Understandable," was Dumbledore's only response. There was a heavy pause, until Dumbledore spoke again. "Severus, I know that you don't want to hear this," he paused as Snape eyed him wearily, his hair and eyes the only parts of him visible from under the covers he was wrapped in so tightly. "I know you don't want to hear this, but Remu--"
"What about the bastard?" Snape cut him off.
Dumbledore continued as if there had been no interruption. "Remus is awake now, he realised what he did last night, and is frantic." He paused again, but the two eyes glaring at him didn't protest any further. "He's been going out of his mind all day. Howling and crying and ripping apart the room. We had to give him a pretty heavy dose of sedatives just to keep him from ripping himself apart."
"Let him," the eyes from under the covers growled.
Nothing is ever that easy, is it? Dumbledore thought to himself. "Severus, please talk to him. Please. I'm not even saying that you have to be civil, because I know you won't be. Just talk to him."
The eyes simply glared at him.
"Can I assume that is the closest thing to a yes that I will get?" Dumbledore questioned.
Glare.
*Sigh* "I'll leave so you can get dressed." Dumbledore got up and walked to the door, pausing as he turned the handle. He turned back and asked "Can you get dressed?"
This time Snape poked his whole head out from under the covers and replied indignantly "Albus, I have been dressing myself since I was four years old, I don't see why I should be having any problems now."
Dumbledore just sighed again and exited the room, leaving Severus to get tangled in the covers, fall out of the bed, and stumble clumsily around the room until he was dressed in his usual black robes.
~*~
The walk up to Lupin's chambers, which was situated near Gryffindor tower, was a tense one. Albus had to make sure that he was walking slowly, as Severus had a limp from the attack. Pain was reflected in Severus's face, his teeth tightly clenched and his the muscle in his cheek twitching occasionally, his eyes slitted against the light. As they climbed the stairs, nearing their destination, Albus glanced over at Severus. Taking in the younger man's appearance, he held out his hand to stop him as they reached the door to Lupin's chambers.
"Severus," Albus said lightly, "I am not going to ask you to be gentle. But please, try not to hurt him too badly."
"You mean like he was gentle with me?" Snape snarled back, having no patience for the older man's pity.
With that, Albus simply walked up to the door and rapped on it twice. "Remus," he called through the door, "I'm here with company."
"Come in," called back a tired and rather edgy sounding voice.
Albus unlocked the door and held it open for Severus. Once Snape had walked inside, he closed it and locked it once more, and slowly headed back to his office.
~*~
a/n: sorry, i know these chapters are really short. hopefully my muse will start giving me bigger chunks of idea to work with.
