Chapter 30: Ships, Sails and Sealing Wax

For the next three days, the two men followed a similar pattern, except for the fact that after the first day he had come back, Snape had decided to get back to work.

The next two days were pleasant enough for Remus to let the problem of the Death Eaters slip his mind. He was simply content with having evening meals with the man and occasionally helping him with his potions.

There was also the satisfcation of having Severus open up to him the way he did. It was like the feeling that a gardener would have when a particularly spectacular bloom would appear on a prize rose buse. He felt proud that Severus had chosen to confide in him and was so much more at ease because of his own efforts. That and the fact that the attraction between them - or on Remus' side at any rate - had evidently grown.

On the fourth evening after Severus' return, they were looking through some new books that contained rather interesting research. The room was calm, the way it always was whenever it was this late and the two were alone, aware of the fact that no one would come here to disturb them.

"Severus?" Remus asked.

Snape didn't look up, but only raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement.

"I have a question to ask."

He looked up, hesitated, then turned his neck to face Lupin. "What is it?"

Remus paused.

"This is going to make me seem as if I'm obssessed..." he started.

"Go on..." Severus lay down his book and gave Remus a rather piercing gaze. Remus felt himself blush when put under Severus' rather harsh appraisal.

"I was just wondering... about... well..." Remus fiddled. "No... never mind..."

"Sex?" Snape suddenly said. At Remus' look, he shrugged. "I knew we'd get to this sooner or later. Why not make it sooner?" He cracked his knuckles and sighed. "This was one of the things that made me wonder about your apparent interest in me... sooner or later you'd realise that I'm not the most... suitable person that one should get involved in a relationship with."

"Sev--"

"Let me finish," Snape interjected smoothly. "At the moment, the prospect of having sex with you... it's none too *un*pleasant, but... I don't know..." He picked up the book again. "I think it would help if we didn't analyse it too much? It gets, to be honest with you, rather ridiculous."

This left Remus feeling rather awkward, a sensation that he actually loathed.

"You know what I despise about you, Severus," he began, his voice gentle. "The way you can be so calm and detatched... I prefer you when you lose your temper, which brings me another point." He leaned on Severus' shoulder and kissed his neck. "That thing that you did with the ceiling... I didn't think anyone could affect it..."

"They can't. I was just lucky; so was Jona. I had something truly awful for him planned, because he annoyed me so much."

Remus sniggered.

"No, seriously: he is so damned pompous with everyone else but his children and Miriam, which annoys me even more. I can't *stand* people like that," he muttered through gritted teeth, eyes hard and no longer scanning the book.

"Dumbledore?" Lupin asked in a whisper, kissing Snape's hair.

"Tch." Yes. "At least Eleni keeps him in his place at times, though not when it comes to me, which is fine: there are quite a number of curses that I haven't tried out since my days working for Voldemort... I must be getting out of practise, I'm sure."

"That's cruel."

"He's my baby brother. I'm allowed to be cruel." He and Remus rubbed noses. "Mm... "

"What?"

"I was wondering about Dumbledore."

"Oh?"

"He didn't tell me who he's asked to watch the Seeing Opal. He agreed with me when I pointed out that it would be best if we kept it on and showing images all the time." Severus looked thoughtful. Remus kissed his forehead. "So here we are, kept in limbo. It could come at any time... any place--" he gave another sigh.

Lifting a finger, Severus used it to stroke Remus' cheek, but his eyes seemed far away and contemplative.

"Love?" Remus asked softly. The exquisite sensation he felt whenever he called Severus by the endearment and whenever he was this close to him, returned. It was all he could do to try to control his heartbeat.

"Don't be afraid." He murmured, seemingly distant, his finger still tracing Remus' nose and lips. Lupin let a fingertip be only ever so slightly enveloped in his lips. Snape gave a small smile.

"What on earth of?" Was the reply. Remus had a mischevous smile on his face.

"Remus..." Snape almost sang the name, touchingly enough, as if it were some distant nursery song of a half-forgotten childhood. He leaned closer and slowly kissed him. At the same speed, the kiss grew a little more passionate as it progressed.

They pulled away.

"No," Lupin said and pulled Snape back. He could feel the man shift beneath him.

Rather suddenly, completely destroying the mood of calm, sending it scattering in all directions - no doubt to hide underneath the bed or cupboards - someone opened the door of the study, which would lead the intruder to the door of the bedroom, where Remus and Severus were now.

"Up," he muttered into Remus' ear.

They both got up, hands still locked. "Wait here," was all Snape said before striding off to the door. He opened it and closed it behind him. Remus walked closer to it, so that he could hear what was being said. He didn't recognise the other voice.

"What is it?" That was Severus.

A hasty reply.

"What!?"

Now *there* was a tone Remus hadn't heard in Snape's voice before. Even Rat stopped cleaning himself and looked up, black eyes shining and alert.

Another half mumbled reply, equally hasty.

"But--"

Mumble.

"No... it's not possib--wait... no...I'll... just that... Remus... hold on..." Remus felt the door knob turn and so walked back hastily to the bed. When Severus entered the room and again closed the door behind him, Remus got up and immediately wrapped his arms around the other man's waist. Never before had he seen Severus look so pale... well, maybe once before, but this time, he seemed so shaken.

"What was it?" He asked, anxious. "Love?"

Severus shook his head, eyes suddenly haunted. "The Death Eaters," he whispered. "Planning to surround Hogwarts... I don't understand... they've gained numbers so quickly..."

"Sev--"

"Of course," he muttered to himself. "Golems!" He began to laugh rather hysterically. "All you'd need was a few words... any old Torah would do..."

"Wha--?"

"Never mind," he said hastily. "Dumbledore wants us down there, of course. First, proper gathering of the Order, eh? Remember to bring your camera." He gazed directly into Remus' eyes. Then he kissed him. "Come on, then."

~

They filed into the room. This was where the whole Extensive Order was meeting, not just the smaller, Order of the Phoenix, in the office.

Remus saw quite a few of the older students as he had predicted. He saw three pairs of rather nervous looking couples - Sirius and Lira, Hiram and Eleni, Jona and Miriam - the entire staff faculty of Hogwarts. It was quite a gathering.

Finally, when everyone whom Dumbledore wanted to come in had entered the rom, the doors closed behind them.

There was no talking. It was an eerie blanket of silence that had fallen over the people. As if there had been some sort of tragedy and this was some sort of a funeral.

**Ah, but after, this there probably will be**

-Aye. It smells like a storm of fire is on it's way-

Used to Rat's little surprises, Remus remained calm.

"As you are all aware," Dumbledore started, voice grave and powerful - Remus felt Snape steel himself beside him and gently stroked his hand - "the war we are fighting has already began. It is now progressing at a rather astonishing rate, but, that has not been overlooked neither does it come to us as too much of a surprise.

"From careful observations of the enemy's tactics and plans, it has been decided that the best way to attack is from the outside. We have no longer much need for spies to be placed within to fight from there: that is simply too risky, too costly and entirely pointless: a waste.

"Guerilla tactics have been thought to be, therefore, to be more effective. I must add to you, however, guerilla tactics of a sort;

"We shall first aim to strike at the Death Eaters. The mystique and magic surrounding Voldemort is simply too great for us to directly attack him." Dumbledore projected a huge image onto the wall behind him. "The Death Eaters at the lowest level, those that do the most essential of his dirty work, should be attacked first. Then, we shall work our way up the system. We will only need spies for the more intricate details in the war, such as any information that we could not simply get through our surveillance.

"Our main tactic is isolation. That will be the key to our success."

The image on the wall showed projections of the ranks of Death Eaters in the arrangement of a circle around a taller figure that reprsented Voldemort.

"The latest news we have heard, is that the Death Eaters plan to surround Hogwarts, to 'infect' the magic of the school, therefore weakening it and letting them gain access to us. They are planning to move out within seven days.

"For now, we do not know who of the Death Eaters--"

"Actually," Snape said aloud and eveyone turned round or craned necks to look at him. He took in a breath. "We do. Well, the important things anyway." Looking Dumbledore straight in the eye and then the rest of the Extensive Prder. "Voldemort is using a very old type of magic to create a personal army that would be effective and yet are not costly to his cause: golems."

A gasp of realisation came from Jona. His older brother nodded. "Most of the 'Death Eaters' who will surround the school will be golems: he doesn't really need any more than that. However, it would be worth knowing who his chosen general, as such, would be.

"I came to two conclusion of a higher possibility," he went on. "Wormtail - who Voldemort has, in truth, not much of a need for - and possibly McNair. In any case, certainly *not* one of the innermost circle."

One of the seventh years stood up. "By Golems," she said, "do you mean life sized, clay models brought to life by a strip on paper with the Words of Life written on it and placed within a hollow cavity in the head?"

Severus nodded.

There were some worried murmurs throughout the room.

"So we will need to defend ourselves, obviously. But golems as such are easily thwarted," Dumbledore said, voice raised so that he could be heard. "A simple blast to the head, so long as the paper falls out or departs from the cavity in some other fashion, will destroy one."

"And they will be joined to each other and to Voldemort," Severus added. "They won't be too much of a trouble."

Dumbledore nodded with approval. "Yes. Although not to be overlooked, this is certainly not something we should be so worried about. We know of the locations of their main meeting places, we have further means of digging into the intricacies. Our spies are, as ever, numerable and of a high standard. Wittling away of the Death Eaters and destroying any attempts of them rooting in the rest of Europe, will be none too hard. However," he said, voice turning to a dangerous tone of warning. "What we must be careful of is how we protect each other. That is of key importance. We have reliable sources and spies throughout Europe, but even so, we do not have the resources that it is obvious Voldemort is developing."

Jona spoke up. "About these golems," he said. "Please. You can leave them to Miriam and I. We'll be able to deal with them, perhaps with a little help from some of your more able students."

"We tend to specialise in that area," Miriam added.

Remus couldn't help but look at them in surprise: he was aware that Jona was powerful, but Miriam had always seemed too flighty, too fussy, silly and spoilt to be of an even moderately able witch. But no, here she was, magically something of an equal to her husband.

"Our contacts in Europe are ready to receive our envoys and some of our own agents to train them and prepare them for the tactics planned for use in the continent," Dumbledore nodded. "The enemy has made their attack: there is nothing for us to do but to counter-attack."

*

I've split this chapter up. It would have gotten too damn long.