A/N: Just a short piece based on and in PoA after the boggart incident. The idea just wouldn't leave me alone X_x
Warning: Slashy overtones, mainly of the RL/JP kind. People who don't like that sort of thing have now officially been warned and read at their own peril.
Vulture topped hats…boggart…Snape…green dress…funny…Lupin…
Severus Snape strode down the cluttered, disused hallways, fire and fury in his eyes. He hadn't heard it all, he hadn't bothered to ask for the full story off of anyone; he'd heard enough of the latest gossip to have the pupils in fits of giggles to get the idea of it. He hadn't liked what he'd heard. Not one bit. It had all boiled down to one thing, one miserable person, or indeed creature, finally showing his true colours.
Lupin.
He'd been waiting for this moment, knowing that sooner or later Lupin wouldn't be able to stop himself. He'd never had much control in his youth; he was the sort of boy who interrupted class with smart Alec comments, or pointed out mistakes that the teacher had made. He was a know it all; insufferable and big headed. It wasn't the same Remus Lupin that had walked into Hogwarts little more than a week ago, smiling benignly and trying to make falsely polite conversation with him, whilst calling him Severus. Who'd given him the permission to use that name anyway? Since when had he been anything but 'Snape' to everyone except the headmaster?
To be honest, Lupin's behavior had briefly thrown him. It was unexpected. But he'd figured it out now, he knew the man was just putting on a show. He gave him credit that this persona had fooled the headmaster into giving him the job and the pupils into thinking he was a good guy. Well he'd see about that. Yes…he knew it wouldn't be long before Lupin cracked and took a dig at him.
So Snape had waited, until he finally got the chance to tell the man exactly what he thought of him. To put Lupin in his place, and to make him realize that he was by no means was he off the hook and that there was at least one person in the school who had their eye on him – who suspected and believed that it was only a matter of time before the truth came out. Lupin had always been in cohorts with Sirius Black; he was merely lucky to escape being found out. Snape didn't mind being the person who suspected dark activities from him. He'd prefer it if he wasn't the only one, but it seemed - as was the case two years ago with Quirrel - that everyone else was too blind sided by a false Gryffindor charm, one too much like Black's in his opinion. More proof that they were working together and coming up with plans to kill the Potter boy, bring Voldemort back to power…it seemed they would be giving with one hand and taking with the other.
He did have another reason for bursting into Lupin's room, other than the rage that currently filled him. It was a legitimate one, but it was further down on his agenda. Other things were more important, like his pride for example.
"Lupin!"
His eyes glimmered maliciously as he took in the name of the book that the other man had his head poked in. Lupin had the nerve to be sitting reading a book on 'Various Complicated Potions and Their Uses'. Lupin couldn't make a potion to save his life; it was an insult to the book that he was even attempting to understand such a fine art. It was also another insult to Snape.
"Oh, Severus, I was wondering if I'd see you tonight. Cup of tea?" He waved his hand over to box of leaves and a kettle and plastered the familiar cheery smile on his face.
"How dare you…"
The words didn't quite come out as planned; 'how dare you offer me tea when you've been dragging my reputation through the mud' was planned. It was just that anger obviously got in the way sometimes.
"I'll take that as a no then. Do sit down." Snape didn't bother.
"Have you heard what those pupils are saying about me? Or is that a stupid question?"
"I'm not sure, is it? You just asked it."
That was much more like the old Lupin, Snape smirked…the above everyone else attitude. Only one person had a bigger head than Lupin and that was Potter. Little wonder they both liked one another so much.
"Don't act smart with me – suggesting that I cross dressed! To a class of Gryffindors no less! As a member of staff you owe me and everyone else in this school more respect! I suspect you found it very amusing didn't you…you've been waiting for your chance to batter my reputation…"
"Severus – if you'd let me explain…" He snorted. "Fine, explain away, but don't expect me to accept whatever foolish reasoning you dream up." He'd listen to what he had to say, but knew that even if it had been a matter of life or death for suggesting such things, that he wouldn't forgive him. Snape hadn't forgiven Lupin for offences far less grievous than having his class disrupted with tittering students or indeed for offences that were worse. He didn't intend to either. A werewolf - that particular werewolf, deserved everything he got.
"As you are aware, my third years have been studying boggarts – creatures that turn into whatever the person –"
"I know what a boggart is you fool!"
"Right, of course. Anyway, it just so happened that the one thing that Neville Longbottom is afraid of in this world, more than anything, is yourself – which meant he had to make the boggart version of yourself amusing. I'm sorry if it has offended you in some way, but frankly if your reputation is one in which pupils become more afraid of you than Voldemort himself, I can hardly see how this is my fault."
He could blame Longbottom for not having enough backbone. He would do that; the boy needed to toughen up and if scraping the contents of a pig's stomach with his hands was going to work, then so be it. That little joy may have normally been enough to satisfy Snape, but this time Lupin was involved and he knew – he just knew that he was the one more responsible for this incident than some feeble third year.
"So, Longbottom came up with the idea then did he?" He felt quite smug. Because Longbottom wouldn't have the balls to do it and this stunt had the trademark of Lupin. Everything seemed well above board and had a reason that the headmaster would accept, but every bit of malicious intent behind it all was still intact.
He had Lupin cornered. Lupin may be many things, but Snape decided that it wasn't in the man's nature to get Longbottom into trouble when it wasn't really his idea. Had the pupil been a Slytherin it would have been different…but no, Lupin always favoured the losers of the pack. The Longbottom boy was friends with Potter as well, and Lupin had already shown signs of favoritism towards Potter...after all, he did look extraordinarily like his father…Lupin was bound to notice the multitude of similarities given his past.
"Er – no, that was mine. I needed something that the whole class would find amusing, not just Neville himself. I'm afraid it was the first thing that called to mind. I apologize for that."
"What makes you think that I would accept an apology from a beast that once tried to kill me?"
"I wouldn't expect anyone to. However, that was nineteen years ago – nineteen years for you to see reason and accept that I had nothing to do with it."
"So you just happened to be in the shack then, Potter just happened to know where I was?"
Lupin was bound to deny everything now, Snape's mind supplied to him. Now all of his friends are gone and he had no allies, he would place all the blame on them. Black was the only one of his gang remaining, but he didn't put it past Lupin to accuse Black of every single stunt he and his friends pulled. Lupin was a master liar.
There was a brief silence as the two surveyed one another, sizing up the opponent. Old nerves had been hit on both sides, and as Snape suspected, so had the temper of Lupin. The man had no control at all, he was right. He also seemed to hate Snape just as much as the Potions master hated him; with all his might.
"You could never let it go, could you? That James was the one to save you? Most people would have been grateful you know…"
"He was saving his own skin as well as mine – I don't make a habit of being grateful to people who set me up in the first place."
"Even now he's dead you still refuse accept it and move on. Minerva has told me how you pick on Harry every chance you get – shifting your spite onto him just because he looks like James; it's ridiculous and petty!"
'Severus, you are being ridiculous – my decision still stands…'
"The boy gets what he deserves; whether he looks like his father or not, how I treat him is based entirely on his behaviour – I don't take kindly to pupils who make a habit of breaking as many school rules as possible each year! Perhaps Lupin, it isn't my attitude towards him that needs worrying about – you said it yourself, the boy does look exactly like Potter…"
Fury was flashing dangerously in Lupin's eyes.
"What are you trying to say, Severus?"
"I'm saying that it must be hard to look at him and see the face of someone you were so very close to. It's inevitable that you would find yourself turning your affections to him."
It was a low blow, even for Snape. He had no proof nor reason to base his allegation on. He had very little idea of what had happened all those years ago between Potter and Lupin, but he knew just enough to strike a nerve. He knew that Pettigrew had misunderstood when he sulkily told a group of Slytherins that Potter and his little puppy dog were probably off fucking one another all those years ago. The Slytherins had meant Lily Evans.
'Poor little Pettigrew, been left out again?'
'Fuck you.'
'Oh, that's harsh. Friends abandoned you for something better have they?'
'Finally found better losers to hang round with?'
'Oi, Pettigrew – where is Potter and his little puppy dog anyway?'
'Let me through!'
'Awww. Poor Peter – it must be hard having competition – you can't blame Potter though, after all, who'd want you sniffing around them all the time? You were dropped so quick you don't even know where or what he's –'
'If you must know, they're probably fucking one another into oblivion! Now piss off!'
Pettigrew had meant Lupin.
To Snape, the more he had thought about it, the more it become obvious who he had meant – a dog would automatically refer to a werewolf and at the time, Potter and Lupin were rarely seen without the other – unless Evans had been around in which case Lupin would scuttle off quietly. Then there were little gestures that were only there if you had been looking for them...and Snape had been.
He hadn't had his suspicions confirmed until now though, as Lupin finally rose to the challenge more outraged than before. And maybe Snape liked it that way. Maybe he liked the unfairness of his comments and the situation.
"How. Dare. You… How dare you come into my quarters and suggest that I'm…I'm – what, some kind of pervert?!"
"I wouldn't put anything past you."
"He's James's son for god's sake!" Lupin was practically snarling. "I knew you were against my appointment here, but I never knew you were delusional. You have no right to accuse me of anything! Anything at all!"
This was it. This was why he damn well wasn't going to feel bad about even suggesting such a thing. It was alright for Lupin to humiliate him in front of a class full of gossips. It was alright for other people to suggest that he treated Harry Potter based on his father's looks. It was fine for everyone in the world to accuse him of whatever they wanted, but not the other way round. Everyone was judgmental to him, why shouldn't he be judgmental back.
"I'm sure Potter will see it that way when he finds out your past with his father, not to mention when he finds out what his new favorite professor is."
"My past has nothing to do with you or Harry!"
"And what about your present?" He was met with a look that would make all the pupils think twice about shabby, kindly professor Lupin. "Bringing you here is like setting a welcome mat out for Black – just like your friends did all those years ago. You may have everyone else fooled –"
"Albus trusts me, doesn't that tell you something?"
"Indeed it does. It tells me too much. I'm keeping my eye on you Lupin, try anything like today's stunt again and I won't be responsible for my actions."
It wasn't a defeat, nor was it a win. It wasn't even a battle in the first place, just an excuse; an excuse to let Lupin know that he wasn't going to be attempting to murder anyone whilst Snape was still there – especially when Snape knew he'd be near the top of that list. His legitimate reason for visiting Lupin was still rolled up in his pocket, finding itself un-used and un-needed. He would send it to Lupin by owl if necessary; it was a bill for the ingredients of the wolfsbane potion. He'd told the headmaster he'd brew the potion for free, as it was necessary to keep the students safe, but he never said that he would foot the cost of all the ingredients.
It was yet another way of showing his dislike for Lupin. A werewolf that tried to kill him, a man who publicly humiliated him, the person who couldn't be tracked down until two years beforehand…'Albus trusts me, doesn't that tell you something?' Maybe it was petty and jealous of him to hate the man, but it was justifiable to him in that one question.
He had been working at the school now for twelve years and had been assisting Albus for well over that. He constantly put his life on the line in return for the man's forgiveness and the protection that Hogwarts provided. Then Black escapes from Azkaban and the next thing he knew Remus J Lupin was put forward as the best candidate for the new defense against the dark arts professor, especially now Dumbledore knew his location. And somehow, somewhere between his protests against having the one person who was a close ally of Black's, as well as being a dangerous creature at the school something became clear. His hard work against Lupin was being ignored and waved aside by the headmaster. Severus Snape came to realize something.
He was being stabbed in the back.