AN: This was originally an RPG. One is Snape and the other Lupin.

Disclaimer: Actually everything is ours; JK Rowling just stole it from us and claimed it as her own so we're taking it back. (note the sarcasm)

Oh! That Was a Burn

"Don't throw your junk in my backyard, my backyard, my backyard; don't throw your junk in my backyard, my backyard's full."

"Fish and chips and vinegar, vinegar, vinegar, fish and chips and vinegar, pepper, pepper, pepper, salt."

Snape was alone in the Black's living room mentally going over the last meeting, searching to see if he had forgotten or more importantly missed anything. No one else was around having chosen to go to dinner. Snape had decided not to join them, as usual. He had more reason not to than ever now that the damn Potter kid had arrived still he liked these few moments to brood. It was at that moment that his keen ears picked up a soft noise behind him. Only the light from the window fell into the room but he could clearly make out the form of Remus Lupin.

Lupin had seen a head of shining black hair, and knew instantly this was the person he had been looking for, once Snape turned around to meet his gaze, Lupin smiled charmingly, to emphasize his entrance as being a welcome one.

"Hello Severus," he said right away. Snape gave an over-dramatic sigh. "Goodbye Lupin."

"Leave if you want," Lupin replied curtly. "I'm only in here because there is basically no where else to go. I'm not hungry." He said, "And apparently neither are you." He muttered.

"Apparently," Snape retorted under his breath as he made for the door. In truth he wasn't quite ready to leave as he had some of the meeting left to review and he was comfortable standing in the dark but he could continue in his own chambers. Lupin raised an eyebrow; his expression was a forced casual one.

"Albus' assignment got you down, Severus?" He asked. Snape stopped.

"No, I love nothing better than to spend my nights mingling among those I can't stand. Obviously so do you." Lupin started laughing.

"Go and eat something, you vampire." He muttered.

            "I'm not hungry, thank you," Snape snapped shortly.

"Well, I think you're just afraid of being in a cheerful atmosphere. It would scare you, wouldn't it?" Lupin asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"If you're referring to the atmosphere in the kitchen then yes it would disturb me on more than one level." Lupin held back a snigger.

"Why are you here? What's Albus sent you to do this time?"

"That's none of your business."

            "Spy work?" Lupin replied abruptly.

            "If you want it to be."

Lupin raised an eyebrow, "I heard that Fudge got a look at your arm. How did that end up?"

"As expected unfortunately," Snape put his hand on the door-handle.

"Aww, what's wrong, Severus. Are you afraid to finish this conversation?" He asked, grinning tauntingly. Snape pulled the door open, "Again on more than one level."

Lupin paused for a moment. "How do you find working with Sirius, Severus? I bet it burns you up that you were completely wrong about his conviction. Best of buddies now, aren't you? I mean, look at where you are now? Slumber parties at Sirius' house." Lupin laughed shortly.

Snape halted again. "I wasn't wrong. He's still a murder."

Lupin gave him a strange look. "Oh really? I wasn't aware." He replied a hint of boredom in his tone.

"That's understandable; you weren't exactly in a human state of mind at the time."

"Enlighten me." Lupin said, automatically. Snape slammed the door shut almost catching Lupin in the process. He spun around to face him, "Why do you insist on playing this game! You know perfectly well what insident I'm referring to and its outcome." Lupin shut his eyes for a moment, breathing out through his nose heavily. "Sirius is not a murderer."

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you prefer slayer of humanity?"

"How many grudges can you hold? Severus, that happened years ago! You're teaching at that school now. And clearly, you're not dead. Sirius was imprisoned for years for a crime that he did not commit. I think you should be able to agree with me when I say that you're well over the point of "fair" by now." Lupin said steadily, in one breath.

"You know, you're right, as always. Now that I think on it I recall Avery attempted to murder me years ago as well. Perhaps I should go pay him a visit in Azkaban; kiss and make up. He's probably served his time as well; maybe I should assist in helping him to get his life back together. My Lupin you're remarkable, you have completely changed my attitude towards not just Black but all my enemies. Why are you unemployed again?"

Lupin gave Snape a look of pure hate. "I was right about you..." he muttered, more to himself than to Snape, in the coldest voice he could make. Snape turned back toward the door fully meaning to leave this time. "And I care why?"

"Did you ever, for even one second, think about why I never contributed to what Sirius and James did to you? On several occasions, I told them the wrong hexes, just so that they wouldn't hurt you as much as they planned to. I felt sorry for you, and now, I don't know why." Said Lupin quite steadily, and completely serious.

Snape sneered. "Your unselfishness continues to impress me. You were so brave to do that for me of all people. I'll bet you felt you had done your good deed for the day when you went to bed. I'll tell you exactly why you felt sorry for me, because it was all you ever had the guts to do."

"Oh really? That's news to me, because all you ever had the guts to do was shove people around so you'd feel tough, and then pretend not to expect the consequences. You brought it entirely upon yourself." Lupin said, with loathing eyes.

"You attacked me long before then and you know it. Besides, at least if I went after someone it was one on one. Not the four, excuse me, three on one your gang preferred."

Lupin couldn't take it. He grabbed Snape's shirt collar and pressed him against the shut door. "Don't you dare joke about that." He said, fury rippling through him. Snape glared back at him with equal loathing in his eyes. "I assure you, it was no joke."

"Keep talking, Snivellus. I can assure you that I'm just waiting for the best time to bring up your worst memories." Lupin snapped, in a voice that was just above a whisper, full of venom.

"And you were the compassionate one if I remember correctly. Gryffindor boy, warrior of the light, wants to hide from the truth. Typical." Snape pushed the werewolf away from him.

"Tell me, Severus, how is your good friend Lucius these days? Is he enjoying his time being one of Voldemort's many lapdogs? But wait, why am I doing talking about Lucius? Silly me, I forgot that you were still over there, too, licking the dark lords' feet." Lupin growled.

"Only for The Order, trust me." The two men began to circle each other as though they were throwing punches instead of verbal insults.

"I'm sure I would, if I had any reason to trust you." Lupin hissed

"Dumbledore happens to be one."

"Dumbledore is a very trusting man, isn't he? But could you give me a reason as to why I should trust you?" Lupin asked, hesitantly.

"Dumbledore is a very trusting man, "Snape mimicked,"Borrowing a page from Crouch I see," Snape stopped circling opposite the door. He started to walk across the room towards it, "I could, but I really don't see a reason to." Lupin walked out and stood in front of him. "Try me." He said, in his most convincing and interested voice. "Don't turn this into a pointless conversation. Let me hear it." He said.

"If I do will you get peacefully out of the way so I won't be forced to make you?"

"Maybe," Lupin replied curtly. "It depends." Snape glanced quickly at the ceiling above his head once and crossed his arms, "On what?"

            "Whether it means something to me or not."

"Does the Potter boy mean something to you?"

"Perhaps." said Lupin, slowly, and looking a little confused. Snape thought about it for a moment. He didn't want to tell Lupin but at the same time he did. He wanted him to know that he had been right once and had saved the pitful little brat from death because of his knowledge of the Dark Arts. Ah to hell with it.

"I saved his life in his first year. Long before he confronted the Dark Lord at the bottom of the school; I didn't have to, there was no one to tell me to but I did. Does this suffice?"

Lupin raised his eyebrows. "You saved Harry's life? Still couldn't forgive James, could you?" Snape narrowed his eyes, "What does he have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Lupin replied, looking curious. "Were you not listening? He saved your life, and so you wanted to get rid of that harassing thought by saving Harry, didn't you? Thought it would even out the score?"

Snape's face formed a false smile, "I thought evil Slytherins didn't have such troubled things as a conscience and a need to repay doubts. I thought we took what we could get and to hell with the score."

"You were disgusted more with yourself than him." Lupin said, smirking again. "And knowing that it was you- you were probably haunted day and night by the mere thought."

"Actually I was more disgusted with Black and you of course."

"Speaking of Black... have you seen him around? I think I need to congratulate him again." Lupin said venomously, his eyes locked aggressively with Snape. They must have been talking for about an hour now.

"I believe he's enjoying the happy atmosphere in the kitchen why don't you go join him. Either way this conversation is over, I've proved my point and I've had enough."

            "Proved what point? That you're incapable of a single forgiving thought, let alone a spoken apology? Don't you get it, Severus? We're going to be at each others throats until our dying day. It was my full effort earlier to try and come to terms with you, because it was Albus' wish, but in the circumstances..." Lupin trailed off, narrowing his eyes and arched a brow.

Snape's voice became heated and he waved an arm for emphasis as he spoke. "I have proved that I can be trusted. Whether it repays a debt or not wouldn't I have let the Dark Lord kill the boy if I was on their side?! There is more than one way to repay a debt after all."

"How touching," Lupin said. "Some might mistake you for a creature with a heart."

Snape continued as though Lupin had never interrupted. "And as for forgiving people, I only forgive those who deserve it and since Black has been so kind to me in the last year or so I see every reason to get down on my hands and knees and lick his boots."

"And of course, I would never be worthy of your forgiveness now would I, Severus? Because being a werewolf is so unforgiving. Oh yeah, did I get around to thanking you for telling the whole school that I was one?" Lupin replied, waiting for an answer that he knew would never come. Snape stopped waving his hand and looked at the self admitted werewolf by the door. "There is nothing to forgive you for Lupin. I just don't like you."

"Yes, you have proven that, time and time again. But you miss the point, yet again. I'm supposed to come to an agreement with you and there are only two ways out of this. You ignore Albus' wishes for his staff to work together harmoniously, or you give up your stubbornness and accept my offer." Lupin said, cocking his head a bit as he spoke. Snape crossed his arms feeling Lupin was the one who had missed the point that being mainly to leave him the hell alone. "And your offer would be?"

            Lupin smiled a bit. At least he was getting a little bit of cooperation, which was huge, in the fact that this was Snape he was dealing with. "For you and I to put aside our differences... and certain," he paused for a moment, "memories," he said with a lot of effort. "And not have to have conversation like this every time we come into contact with each other," said Lupin, swiftly. "Unless you're keen on starting up another hour of this the next time I run into you."

Snape made a great show of thinking for a moment. "We don't have to have conversation at all; you sought me out and we certainly won't be having another like this. So I think I'll choose to ignore the Headmaster's wishes for his staff to work together harmoniously." With that he made for the door again and made another drama of saying a very courteous, "Good night Lupin."

"For Merlin's sake, Severus! What is your bother? Do you think that I wanted to come in here, begging for your cooperation? Why must you always be so difficult? I'm trying my best. I thought that after… after... how long has it been? 20 years? I thought that you would have been mature enough to work with a situation like this, by now!" Lupin said red in the face. He'd had enough, his patience running quite low. This was the last straw. He decided he was going to give up if Snape retorted stubbornly to this, too. Snape stopped just in front of Lupin, close enough to be considered an invasion of personal space.

"Very well Mr. Lupin. We shall be civil to each other. You have a lovely night." The smirk did not go well with the sugar sweet words. He brushed past the other man gently bumping his shoulder and made his way toward the door for the millionth time that night.

IMPORTANT: The next chapters are going to be slash so if this is not your thing you can call this the end of our little fic, if not, continue on at your own peril.