A/N: I don't own anything you recognize. I'm just a broke high school
student so don't sue me ::O)
True Colors
Chapter 5
Severus turned up his nose at the dark gray town that lay in front of him. The humidity was high, casting a thick, swirling blanket of fog across the rolling hills. The buildings left much to desire and he vaguely wondered what the broken down old shack Lupin lived in looked like. He pulled his bag closer to him and scowled as some small voice in the back of his head told him that part of the reason Lupin lived in poverty was because of his loose tongue. He promptly pushed it aside and continued walking.
His feet kicked up the loose dirt, as he traveled the path through Timber End. Above him the sun was setting, the waxing moon just barely visible in the sky. He wondered if Dumbledore would carry out this unwarranted torture during the full moon. All he needed was to have another run in with an angry werewolf for his life to be complete. He flipped his hair out of his face and pursed his lips, concentrating on house numbers. His bag was becoming heavier and heavier and he was getting more and more agitated with the whole situation.
And then the rain came.
It seemed as if the overcast clouds that had been hanging overhead all day had finally the heavens had burst in a downpour of cold, stinging droplets. Severus nodded to himself, as if he saw it coming all along and dropped his bag into the mud. "Of course." he muttered and placed his hand over his eyes to see through the rain. He spotted the last house on the path-a two story wooden cottage with a sagging roof and tilting framework.
He pulled a piece of parchment and fumbled around for his wand. "Lumos." he incanted and held the tip of the wand to the paper and skimmed through the directions before folding it back up and placing it back into his robes. That was the house. He picked up his bag again and continued on the path that diverged into a smaller, barely visible line of cracked dirt leading up to the front door.
He glanced in the window and through the onslaught of water he saw the distorted image of Sirius Black, sitting in an armchair with a stack of papers before him. Severus scowled but decided that at this point, confronting Black would be preferable to being soaked through worse than he already was. Without hesitance, he banged his fist on the door, loud and clear. Sirius looked up from his papers and peered out the window into the rain.
Snape could have sworn he saw him smile before he lowered his head back down, making no move to get up. Fighting a growing feeling of burning anger, he banged on the door again, knowing quite well that Sirius had heard the first time. This time however, he didn't even look up. He was about to blow the doorframe down until he heard the soft slide of a lock and the door opened widely.
Remus Lupin smiled at him and took his bag as Snape wiped his feet and stepped inside. "Hello Severus, I'm sorry about keeping you in the rain I was in another room." He said cordially. Snape nodded and remembered Dumbledore's warning. "That's fine Remus." was all he could manage in response. Remus nodded and held out his hand. "Let me take your cloak." he said. Severus quickly unclasped the black cloak, made heavy with the water it had absorbed and handed it over to the werewolf who promptly walked off, probably to hang it somewhere to dry.
Severus glanced around the room and noted that even though the outside was an eyesore the inside seemed to ooze with warmth and comfort. The wood on the inside was a bright brown that glowed a honey color from the reflection of the many candles. There was a stone fireplace on the floor with a small pile of wood next to it. A large table sat in between two couches and beside an overstuffed armchair in which Sirius Black occupied.
As his eyes landed on Sirius he clenched his fists as a last effort to control his hated and glared. Sirius smirked and leaned back, placing his hands behind his head and looking him over from head to toe. "You might want to go wring your robes out somewhere, I do believe you're dripping. I would have answered the door but I was so engrossed in all this work and I just couldn't tear myself away, you understand."
"Or I could just cast a drying spell, because unlike yourself I possess the simple pleasure of having a wand at my disposal. It's true what they say about the little things in life, is it not?" The corners of Severus' mouth turned up as he watched the egotistical smirk disappear from Sirius' face to be replaced with a look of cold hatred. Their eyes bore into each other for a moment, each refusing to back down before Remus' light footsteps sounded down the hallway, breaking the tension that was filling the room. Sirius muttered under his breath and picked up his quill, attempting to look busy.
Remus had noticed his mistake of leaving the two alone a bit too late, from the looks on their faces his hopes that a somewhat friendly reunion would take place were dashed. The group hug would have to be saved for a later date when Sirius didn't look so murderous and Snape's barriers weren't up so high. He looked from Sirius tensed muscles to Severus' clenched jaw and decided that it was a good time for a cleverly placed distraction. He turned to Snape and gestured down the hallway. "Do you want to put your things away?" he asked. Severus nodded and picked up his bag, following Remus into a cramped room with only a bed, a dresser, and a small desk.
"Well, you can unpack and change in here. Let me know if you need anything." Remus offered as he shut the door quietly. He listened to the footsteps quickly move down the hallway and then came the barely audible hiss of , "Sirius Black you purposely left him out there!" He tilted his head to catch more of the conversation but the two had apparently lowered their voices. He gave up and took in his surroundings and couldn't help but feel distaste for the lack of finery. His room at Hogwarts was neatly furnished with dark, heavy green curtains and polished wooden furniture. This window was bare, as was the dresser. The wallpaper was cracked and faded with dark stains running down from the ceiling. The only clue that the room was occupied was the ornate set of quills and ink set upon the desk. Severus sighed and dropped his bag on the bed, dumping out the contents and sorted them.
The longer he spent getting settled in, the longer it would be before he had to deal with the two Marauders again. He examined himself in the side mirror and saw that he was still soaking wet, his lank hair clinging to his face and matted down. He cast a drying charm to his robes and dried his hair with a towel, not bothering to brush it. He placed his clothes neatly in the dresser and shut it, looking around for something else to delay him but found nothing.
~*~
Sirius flinched at Remus' condescending tone and lowered his eyes to the floor. It took a lot to get Remus frustrated and he felt bad that he just couldn't swallow his pride and at least pretend that all those years of hate didn't matter to him. "Look, I'm sorry Remus, but he didn't exactly barge in with a smile and a fruit basket either." Sirius pointed out, quick to shift the blame. Remus sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, his expression softening. "I know," he said, voice and mannerisms absent of any anger, "But can you at least try? It will be so much easier if both of you just try. It was so long ago Sirius..."
"It wasn't long ago that he betrayed your trust in him! It's because of him that you can't get a job anywhere." Sirius snapped bitterly. Remus frowned and he suddenly felt guilty for bringing that up, it had always been a sore subject for his friend who tried to hard to earn respect even when he was treated like an animal. "It's indirectly his fault Sirius, the fault is laid on centuries of prejudice and misunderstandings that people can't push aside." Remus said softly. When no answer came Remus dropped into the couch and muttered, "Besides, that's my battle not yours."
Sirius smiled and tossed a newspaper at him playfully, "It was never your battle to fight alone, Moony." Remus smirked at the old nickname, which he hadn't heard often but his expression showed that his mind was elsewhere. His long fingers idly picked at some loose stuffing on the arm of the couch. "Did you read the letters?" Sirius asked. "The one from the Ministry." was the rapid response.
"And...?" Remus sighed and shifted his weight uncomfortably in the seat. "I have to make a trip up there tomorrow." he said, turning to Sirius to determine his reaction. Sirius nodded and sat back in the chair, glancing down the hallway to the room Severus was staying in. "I don't suppose you can bring your innocent little puppy with you?" he asked. Remus shook his head and Sirius sighed. "Why do you need to go there anyway?" he asked.
"I'm not the only one, from what I gather from the letter quite a few of us will be heading up there. It probably has something to do with our files or some new protocol, something along those lines. It probably shouldn't last more than a day." Remus answered, knowing all too well that the situation was explosive enough with him there and would become more so in his absence.
He opened his mouth to warn Sirius that he expected to come home to a harmonious working relationship involving no dead bodies or broken objects when Severus emerged from the room and stood behind the couch. Remus could sense he was uncomfortable and smiled warmly. "If you're hungry the pantry is in there, help yourself." he said, motioning over to the kitchen. Severus followed the wave of his hand with his head but looked back over at the two. "No thank you," he said, a bit less cold then usual. An uncomfortable silence perused before Severus cleared his throat. "I think I'm going to get to work on some files for Dumbledore." he said gruffly, turning on his heel and heading back to the room.
Remus sighed and turned back to Sirius who held up his hands, as if to fend off any words he might say. "That one wasn't my fault." he said with just a hint of a smile.
~*~
Arabella glanced out the small window in her office. It was early morning and the steadily waxing moon was still visible in the sky, a faint outline against the dawn.
She dipped her quill in the ink well, tapping it against the side before running it across the parchment. The light from the single candle beside her illuminated her tidy scrawl and sent a flickering orange color across the page. She stretched, feeling her back crack in protest and she sighed. The hard wooden chair was getting more and more uncomfortable, she had been sitting in it for most of the night and was still only done with half of the work she had to do.
As the quill scratched across the parchment and the words blurred together on the paper the first morning rays of sun shone, making their way across the floor and landed in her red rimmed eyes, twinkling in the blond of her hair. She turned her head towards it, rotating her stiff neck and sighed. Her body was not taking the 42-hour workday very well. Her head rested on her arm as she tried to focus on the pages before her. Her hand brushed against wax she she picked up the letter from Dumbledore in her hand. With all the commotion and meetings and conferences of the day she had forgotten about it.
She slipped the parchment out again and unfolded it, feeling it crinkle under her fingers and began to read.
A/N: Ah yes I'm evil haha. Well there's chapter five. I'm gonna try really hard to get 6 out before Friday but I have midterms all this week and that might be a little hard haha Please R/R and make me happy :O)
True Colors
Chapter 5
Severus turned up his nose at the dark gray town that lay in front of him. The humidity was high, casting a thick, swirling blanket of fog across the rolling hills. The buildings left much to desire and he vaguely wondered what the broken down old shack Lupin lived in looked like. He pulled his bag closer to him and scowled as some small voice in the back of his head told him that part of the reason Lupin lived in poverty was because of his loose tongue. He promptly pushed it aside and continued walking.
His feet kicked up the loose dirt, as he traveled the path through Timber End. Above him the sun was setting, the waxing moon just barely visible in the sky. He wondered if Dumbledore would carry out this unwarranted torture during the full moon. All he needed was to have another run in with an angry werewolf for his life to be complete. He flipped his hair out of his face and pursed his lips, concentrating on house numbers. His bag was becoming heavier and heavier and he was getting more and more agitated with the whole situation.
And then the rain came.
It seemed as if the overcast clouds that had been hanging overhead all day had finally the heavens had burst in a downpour of cold, stinging droplets. Severus nodded to himself, as if he saw it coming all along and dropped his bag into the mud. "Of course." he muttered and placed his hand over his eyes to see through the rain. He spotted the last house on the path-a two story wooden cottage with a sagging roof and tilting framework.
He pulled a piece of parchment and fumbled around for his wand. "Lumos." he incanted and held the tip of the wand to the paper and skimmed through the directions before folding it back up and placing it back into his robes. That was the house. He picked up his bag again and continued on the path that diverged into a smaller, barely visible line of cracked dirt leading up to the front door.
He glanced in the window and through the onslaught of water he saw the distorted image of Sirius Black, sitting in an armchair with a stack of papers before him. Severus scowled but decided that at this point, confronting Black would be preferable to being soaked through worse than he already was. Without hesitance, he banged his fist on the door, loud and clear. Sirius looked up from his papers and peered out the window into the rain.
Snape could have sworn he saw him smile before he lowered his head back down, making no move to get up. Fighting a growing feeling of burning anger, he banged on the door again, knowing quite well that Sirius had heard the first time. This time however, he didn't even look up. He was about to blow the doorframe down until he heard the soft slide of a lock and the door opened widely.
Remus Lupin smiled at him and took his bag as Snape wiped his feet and stepped inside. "Hello Severus, I'm sorry about keeping you in the rain I was in another room." He said cordially. Snape nodded and remembered Dumbledore's warning. "That's fine Remus." was all he could manage in response. Remus nodded and held out his hand. "Let me take your cloak." he said. Severus quickly unclasped the black cloak, made heavy with the water it had absorbed and handed it over to the werewolf who promptly walked off, probably to hang it somewhere to dry.
Severus glanced around the room and noted that even though the outside was an eyesore the inside seemed to ooze with warmth and comfort. The wood on the inside was a bright brown that glowed a honey color from the reflection of the many candles. There was a stone fireplace on the floor with a small pile of wood next to it. A large table sat in between two couches and beside an overstuffed armchair in which Sirius Black occupied.
As his eyes landed on Sirius he clenched his fists as a last effort to control his hated and glared. Sirius smirked and leaned back, placing his hands behind his head and looking him over from head to toe. "You might want to go wring your robes out somewhere, I do believe you're dripping. I would have answered the door but I was so engrossed in all this work and I just couldn't tear myself away, you understand."
"Or I could just cast a drying spell, because unlike yourself I possess the simple pleasure of having a wand at my disposal. It's true what they say about the little things in life, is it not?" The corners of Severus' mouth turned up as he watched the egotistical smirk disappear from Sirius' face to be replaced with a look of cold hatred. Their eyes bore into each other for a moment, each refusing to back down before Remus' light footsteps sounded down the hallway, breaking the tension that was filling the room. Sirius muttered under his breath and picked up his quill, attempting to look busy.
Remus had noticed his mistake of leaving the two alone a bit too late, from the looks on their faces his hopes that a somewhat friendly reunion would take place were dashed. The group hug would have to be saved for a later date when Sirius didn't look so murderous and Snape's barriers weren't up so high. He looked from Sirius tensed muscles to Severus' clenched jaw and decided that it was a good time for a cleverly placed distraction. He turned to Snape and gestured down the hallway. "Do you want to put your things away?" he asked. Severus nodded and picked up his bag, following Remus into a cramped room with only a bed, a dresser, and a small desk.
"Well, you can unpack and change in here. Let me know if you need anything." Remus offered as he shut the door quietly. He listened to the footsteps quickly move down the hallway and then came the barely audible hiss of , "Sirius Black you purposely left him out there!" He tilted his head to catch more of the conversation but the two had apparently lowered their voices. He gave up and took in his surroundings and couldn't help but feel distaste for the lack of finery. His room at Hogwarts was neatly furnished with dark, heavy green curtains and polished wooden furniture. This window was bare, as was the dresser. The wallpaper was cracked and faded with dark stains running down from the ceiling. The only clue that the room was occupied was the ornate set of quills and ink set upon the desk. Severus sighed and dropped his bag on the bed, dumping out the contents and sorted them.
The longer he spent getting settled in, the longer it would be before he had to deal with the two Marauders again. He examined himself in the side mirror and saw that he was still soaking wet, his lank hair clinging to his face and matted down. He cast a drying charm to his robes and dried his hair with a towel, not bothering to brush it. He placed his clothes neatly in the dresser and shut it, looking around for something else to delay him but found nothing.
~*~
Sirius flinched at Remus' condescending tone and lowered his eyes to the floor. It took a lot to get Remus frustrated and he felt bad that he just couldn't swallow his pride and at least pretend that all those years of hate didn't matter to him. "Look, I'm sorry Remus, but he didn't exactly barge in with a smile and a fruit basket either." Sirius pointed out, quick to shift the blame. Remus sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, his expression softening. "I know," he said, voice and mannerisms absent of any anger, "But can you at least try? It will be so much easier if both of you just try. It was so long ago Sirius..."
"It wasn't long ago that he betrayed your trust in him! It's because of him that you can't get a job anywhere." Sirius snapped bitterly. Remus frowned and he suddenly felt guilty for bringing that up, it had always been a sore subject for his friend who tried to hard to earn respect even when he was treated like an animal. "It's indirectly his fault Sirius, the fault is laid on centuries of prejudice and misunderstandings that people can't push aside." Remus said softly. When no answer came Remus dropped into the couch and muttered, "Besides, that's my battle not yours."
Sirius smiled and tossed a newspaper at him playfully, "It was never your battle to fight alone, Moony." Remus smirked at the old nickname, which he hadn't heard often but his expression showed that his mind was elsewhere. His long fingers idly picked at some loose stuffing on the arm of the couch. "Did you read the letters?" Sirius asked. "The one from the Ministry." was the rapid response.
"And...?" Remus sighed and shifted his weight uncomfortably in the seat. "I have to make a trip up there tomorrow." he said, turning to Sirius to determine his reaction. Sirius nodded and sat back in the chair, glancing down the hallway to the room Severus was staying in. "I don't suppose you can bring your innocent little puppy with you?" he asked. Remus shook his head and Sirius sighed. "Why do you need to go there anyway?" he asked.
"I'm not the only one, from what I gather from the letter quite a few of us will be heading up there. It probably has something to do with our files or some new protocol, something along those lines. It probably shouldn't last more than a day." Remus answered, knowing all too well that the situation was explosive enough with him there and would become more so in his absence.
He opened his mouth to warn Sirius that he expected to come home to a harmonious working relationship involving no dead bodies or broken objects when Severus emerged from the room and stood behind the couch. Remus could sense he was uncomfortable and smiled warmly. "If you're hungry the pantry is in there, help yourself." he said, motioning over to the kitchen. Severus followed the wave of his hand with his head but looked back over at the two. "No thank you," he said, a bit less cold then usual. An uncomfortable silence perused before Severus cleared his throat. "I think I'm going to get to work on some files for Dumbledore." he said gruffly, turning on his heel and heading back to the room.
Remus sighed and turned back to Sirius who held up his hands, as if to fend off any words he might say. "That one wasn't my fault." he said with just a hint of a smile.
~*~
Arabella glanced out the small window in her office. It was early morning and the steadily waxing moon was still visible in the sky, a faint outline against the dawn.
She dipped her quill in the ink well, tapping it against the side before running it across the parchment. The light from the single candle beside her illuminated her tidy scrawl and sent a flickering orange color across the page. She stretched, feeling her back crack in protest and she sighed. The hard wooden chair was getting more and more uncomfortable, she had been sitting in it for most of the night and was still only done with half of the work she had to do.
As the quill scratched across the parchment and the words blurred together on the paper the first morning rays of sun shone, making their way across the floor and landed in her red rimmed eyes, twinkling in the blond of her hair. She turned her head towards it, rotating her stiff neck and sighed. Her body was not taking the 42-hour workday very well. Her head rested on her arm as she tried to focus on the pages before her. Her hand brushed against wax she she picked up the letter from Dumbledore in her hand. With all the commotion and meetings and conferences of the day she had forgotten about it.
She slipped the parchment out again and unfolded it, feeling it crinkle under her fingers and began to read.
A/N: Ah yes I'm evil haha. Well there's chapter five. I'm gonna try really hard to get 6 out before Friday but I have midterms all this week and that might be a little hard haha Please R/R and make me happy :O)