Yes! I managed to upload a chapter! (Author punches fist in the air.)

Disclaimer: See CH 1, 2, 3, 4...

A/N: Thank you to those of you who tried so hard to post reviews during all the ffnet trouble and those who ended up e-mailing me. I really appreciate the encouragement. Hope this chapter was worth the wait. The next one will be hot on its heels. Things start to liven up now that Sirius Black is in town.

A Close Call for Snuffles ~*~

Remus found Lorien walking outside the Three Broomsticks.

"Hi."

"Hi. Where'd you come from?"

"I need your help."

"What is it? "What's wrong?" Lorien became concerned.

"Nothing major. It's just that I found...an injured dog and wondered if you might look at him?"

"Of course, Remus. Where is it?"

"He's with some students. I think he stepped on something."

"Show me."

Lorien apparated on the path with Remus.

"This way," he indicated.

When they rounded the corner she saw the three students with one of the largest dogs she'd ever seen. A great black hairy beast.

She approached the dog slowly. " Hey there, boy." The giant tail wagged. She went up to the dog and patted his head. Turning to Remus while she rubbed the dog's ears, she spoke. "He seems friendly enough."

Remus watched as the large dog looked Lorien over in a very un-canine manner. His eyes narrowed a little.

She turned back to the dog and kneeled in front of him. "You're just a big teddy bear, aren't you?" Her hands were still on the great shaggy head. "My you're a handsome fellow."

The dog licked her face, causing her to laugh and look away slightly. It shot a meaningful look at Lupin, and then nuzzled into her. She hugged the great dog. "I think I need to take you home with me."

The tail wagged.

"You're so sweet," she cooed. "I could really spoil you."

The tail wagged harder as the brown eyes looked at Lupin over the witch's shoulder. The tongue lolled in a large canine grin. Lupin's eyes narrowed further.

"I'd give you all kinds of treats, and let you sleep on my bed. Would you like that, fella?"

"Woof." An affirmative. The dog winked at Remus.

Remus grabbed the dog by the scruff and pulled him away firmly. "It's that foot," he said, a little sharper than he intended.

"Sit!" he said to the dog.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had all they could do to contain themselves. Of course Lorien had no idea, but Sirius was obviously having a great deal of fun agitating Remus.

Lorien spoke to the dog. "Down."

The dog lay down.

"Over."

The dog rolled over on it's side, as Lorien did a cursory exam to make sure he had no other injuries.

Remus was not liking the way the dog looked at him while the blonde witch ran her hands over him.

Lorien spoke gently to the dog as she took the massive paw in her hands. "Let's just check this out, ok?"

She concentrated, magically probing the depths of the wound. Nothing stuck inside, it wasn't infected yet. She could repair this now. "Stay, boy."

The dog stayed quietly where he was until she was finished.

"Good dog! What a good boy! How about a tummy rub?" She nudged the dog over further to rub the great furry belly. "Is that a good spot?" she cooed to the dog.

Sirius was enjoying every minute of this. The look on Lupin's face!

'He's going to kill me later, but it's worth it.'

The tables suddenly turned.

Lorien patted the great black dog as he rolled in an undignified manner on his back. She suddenly peered a little closer at his underside.

"Huh! What's this? Tsk tsk. We can't have that."

'Have what?' Black was looking at Remus upside down from his back, not really paying attention.

"We don't need more little black doggies running all over, now do we?"

'I guess not.'

"It's a quick spell, you won't feel anything handsome fella."

'She thinks I'm good-looking now...just wait!'

"We'll just get rid of these, ok?"

'Ok...Wait! Get...rid...of...WHAT?!'

With a fearful yelp, the dog leapt to his feet.

Remus had to sit down beside Harry he was laughing so hard. Ron and Hermione were leaning on each other in tears. Lorien turned to them looking puzzled.

"Here, help me with him. It'll only take a min..."

"No....Lorien...stop..."Remus could hardly get his breath. "I'm....sorry..." he paused. "I...should've....told you....Snuffles?" He looked at the dog. The shaggy head nodded.

Remus stood and went to stand near Lorien. He looked at the woman.

"This is Lorien Desjardins, and this," he said, indicating the dog, "is Sirius Black."

The dog was gone.

'Animagus!' She hadn't seen it coming. Lorien looked at the man she had almost...well, altered. "Nice to meet you, Sirius." Lorien smiled politely.

"Same here." Black eyed her a little warily after her attempted surgical intervention.

"Sorry about...."

"It's ok, you didn't know. Hey, about this?" He held up his hand. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

Hermione spoke up. "Know what? We better think about getting back."

Harry and Ron nodded in reluctant agreement.

"I'll see you soon?" Harry asked as he hugged Sirius.

"You bet. Harry? Take good care of yourself. Make sure you let me or Remus know if your scar hurts, ok?"

"OK."

Remus spoke to Lorien. "Would you mind seeing them back to town? I'll catch up with you in a bit."

"Not at all. Nice to meet you, Sirius."

She gave Remus a 'we'll talk later' look and she walked with the three Gryffindors back up the path.

"So," began Black after the others had left, "what's new with you?"

"Nothing much. Same old stuff."

Black snorted. "That's not what I hear."

"What are you talking about?"

"I hear you have a thing for Missy there." He jerked his head in the direction the others had gone."

Remus laughed. "What would ever give you an idea like that?"

"Harry, Ron and Hermione told me," he grinned.

"What?"

"Yup. They say it looks like Missy has a thing for you too."

"Really? It's that obvious, huh?"

"Apparently so."

Lupin went slightly red.

"Does she know about....?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. She knows."

"And she still likes you, huh?" He was teasing his friend.

Black moved to put his arm around Lupin's shoulders and lowered his voice. "So tell me, old friend," he paused. "Are you and she..."

"What?"

"You know."

Lupin's eye went wide. "Sirius! Honestly!" Black had his answer when the werewolf turned a deeper shade of red.

"Ho! You are, aren't you? You sly wolf." He clapped his friend on the back.

Remus shrugged him off indignantly. "Really, Padfoot. That's all you ever think about. That and your stomach."

"Yeah, well how long was I in prison?"

"Oh right. Like you didn't constantly think about food and sex before!"

Black grinned and shrugged innocently.

Remus changed the subject, but was smiling to himself. "Where are you staying?"

"Oh, around."

"Why don't you come and stay with me for a bit?"

"I don't know, Moony. Do you think it'd be wise?"

"We could get you into the castle when it's dark, and you can stay in my rooms. It's probably the last place the Ministry would look. The weather's getting colder, and you'd have a roof over your head and plenty of food." He smacked Sirius in the gut. "I'll clear it with Dumbledore."

"It'd be nice to see you and Harry for a while."

"Good, it's settled. I'll be back for you tonight."

"Ok...Moony?"

"What?"

"Thanks."

Lupin smiled at his friend. "It'll be fine."

"Yeah." Black's face brightened. "Hey I can spend some time getting to know your lady friend better," he said with a sly grin before Remus left.

Remus looked over his shoulder. "I don't think so."

Sirius chuckled to himself long after his friend had gone.

Later that evening Remus left Lorien in the infirmary to go and meet Sirius.

"We won't be back until really late, but I thought I would bring him dinner and spend some time with him," he told her.

"Ok. It looks like I should be busy here for a while anyway." She indicated the fourth student that had arrived clutching his gut, after having overindulged in Hogsmeade.

"See you later," Remus said as he left.

Three of Lorien's patients with indigestion were doing much better half an hour or so after she had simply given them a potion that also contained ginger and spearmint. The fourth was still in a large amount of discomfort.

"You guys can go. It looks like your going to need something stronger, huh?" She decided to modify the formula, and went to the cabinet in the office. Just the tiniest bit of bloodroot was useful for this as well. She frowned when she realized she'd need the last of it.

'Darn it.' She had meant to get more in Hogsmeade, but had forgotten after getting distracted with the whole Sirius thing.

She brewed a new formula, this time adding the bloodroot. It worked like a charm. 'Better than a charm.' She thought to herself. The last student was thanking her and leaving in no time.

She tidied up and decided that she'd better have more ginger and bloodroot on hand. There could yet be some more ill students this weekend. The ginger she could get in the kitchen but the bloodroot she had to get in the dungeon. She smiled as she reminded herself that she'd better see Snape first.

The house elves had tried their best to send Lorien with a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies as well as the ginger root, but in the end they were happy when she at least took one to go with her.

She ate it as she made her way to the dungeon. It was wonderful, and Lorien found herself wondering if she should have taken a plate of them.

Snape was not in his office, nor was he in the classroom. Lorien realized her choices were to take the supplies she needed without asking again, or to disturb him in his quarters. Neither was appealing to her. She sighed and headed down the hallway to where she thought she knew his rooms to be.

She knocked tentatively on the door. No answer. She waited a moment and knocked again.

"Enter." The voice was obviously irritated.

Lorien rolled her eyes and then opened the door. "Severus, please excuse the interruption. I apologize for disturbing you this evening."

"What is it, Lorien?" He was sitting in a comfortable-looking chair by the fire and had a book in his hand.

She stepped closer to where he was seated, and told him what she wanted.

"Fine." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Take what you need."

"Thank you, Severus. I'll put some back later in the week." Her eyes went to the table beside the chair. A bottle and a glass of red wine sat upon it.

She smiled at him and indicated the bottle. "Italian?"

"Spanish."

She peered more closely at the label. "Oh. Rioja. It looks like you picked a good year too."

He raised an eyebrow. "You drink red? I thought white wine spritzers might be more up your alley." His voice had lost much of its edge, and Lorien thought that she heard an ounce of amusement creep in.

"Oh, please," she said with mock disdain. "I can't remember the last time I even bothered with white wine."

"Neither can I. So,you like Italian?"

She nodded.

"And Spanish? Do you like Rioja?"

"Yes."

"Would you care to join me?"

Lorien had all she could do to keep her mouth from falling open. She was unsure what she should do, but Snape made the decision for her. He snapped his fingers and conjured a second glass. He rose from the chair, filled the glass, and handed it to her, indicating the twin of the chair he sat in.

She sat down on the edge of her chair with the glass of wine.

"Well?" He nodded toward her glass.

She tried it, and found it was marvelous. He smiled slightly as he saw her reaction. "Acceptable?"

"It's wonderful." She was kept from saying more when she saw the way Snape was looking at her.

He was peering at her closely, and then he stood and moved nearer to her. He leaned over her slightly, his gaze on her lips. Lorien began to get a panicky feeling when he started to raise a hand .

He smiled and spoke softly. "You must have been by the kitchen." One finger tapped the corner of his own mouth as he smiled and sat back down.

She realized he was saying she had chocolate on her face.

Lorien laughed and wiped the corner of her mouth. "The house elves wouldn't let me go until I took something."

He nodded. "They can be like that."

Lorien regained her composure and tried more of the wine. "Severus, this is truly wonderful." She sat back in the chair.

"It's a favorite of mine. An old friend of mine introduced me to Spanish reds a long time ago."

"He certainly did you a favor, didn't he?" Lorien drank a little more.

He sipped some of his own wine. "She."

"Sorry?"

"She, Lorien. The friend I spoke of was a woman." He corrected her without animosity.

"Oh. Well, she has excellent taste."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, she did."

"She's dead?" Lorien ventured.

"Yes."

"Severus, I'm sorry. I..."

He waved at her dismissively. "It was a long time ago."

"What was her name?"

He looked at her for a long moment. "Ursa."

"What happened to her?"

"She was killed by a Death Eater."

Lorien gasped. "How terrible!"

"Yes. It was." He seemed a little distant for a moment and then a peculiar look crossed his face. He looked at Lorien again.

"Actually, she was killed by a Nemorosi Death Eater."

"Really?" Her eyes widened a little.

Snape spoke very slowly. "Yes, Sylvanesti, she was."

The look of surprise was evident on her face, and Snape was amused that he had caught her off guard.

"Where did you learn that?"

"I spent a good deal of time in the company of the man that killed Ursa before she died."

"I see. Before you found out he was a Death Eater and he killed her?"

"Something like that."

Someone he knew well had betrayed him and killed the woman he was close to. It was becoming clear that the black robed wizard had a complex past. She was uncertain what to say to him and was relieved when he changed the subject.

"So, tell me, Lorien, how do you know Perth Taber?"

She was surprised again.

"He was my mentor for a long time after I finished my medical training. Do you know him?"

"No, just of him. Where did you do your medical training?"

"Boston."

"America?" It was Snape's turn to be surprised.

"Yes. Some of the finest hospitals in the world are there, and not just the muggle ones." She smiled at him.

"You must have gone to Wizardry school at Oakwood there. They carried on the tradition of the same four houses as Hogwarts when it was founded in the 1700's, didn't they?"

"Yes. My parents moved to America when I was 10."

"I see." He stood again and refilled her glass, and then seated himself once more. "And why didn't you stay in America?"

"It never felt right. I always new I'd come back. You know how sometimes you just feel you belong someplace?"

He nodded, and then his expression changed again to slight amusement.

"What?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

"I was wondering how your sessions with Mr. Longbottom are going, Lorien."

She hated to tell him.

"They are, um. Well, we are, um...." She hesitated for a moment and then looked him in the eyes. "Severus?"

"Yes?"

"They are just plain awful. An absolute nightmare," she stated emphatically.

He threw his head back and actually laughed. "So you admit that I'm right? It's a waste of time?" he asked slyly.

"If you tell anyone I'll deny every word."

"Not a soul. I just want to hear you say the words."

She sighed. "You were right."

Lorien glanced at the time. "Well, it's getting late." She put her empty wine glass down as she stood. He rose with her.

"Thank you so much for the wine, Severus." She walked with him to the door. "I enjoyed talking to you tonight."

He spoke as he opened the door for her.

"And I enjoyed your company as well, Sylvanesti." He bowed his head ever so slightly.

She smiled at him and turned to leave the dungeon.