Author's Note: An update! I amaze myself. I was having a lot of trouble with this but a little bit of brainstorming with my friend Gryff helped quite a bit, actually. So here we go!
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Severus and Remus
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"How bad is it?"
Word of the 'incident' had spread rapidly. Severus looked up, blank eyes warming only slightly in recognition.
"Quite bad." Word's clipped and brusque.
"How so?"
Damn the werewolf's persistence. Papers set aside, eyes narrowed in agitation. Severus was not enjoying the inquisition.
"His spine is broken. He will live, however."
"Good."
A moment of tense silence. Severus returned his attention to his papers, not one to fill the silence with needless chatter.
"What happened?"
"I imagine that much would be rather obvious, Lupin." He was not in the mood for this discussion, nor the current company. There was far too much to be done, and far to little time to do it in.
Lupin had gone soft in the years between wars, or so it seemed. He had grown nervous and complacent, a tired old man with no inclination to battle. He was near useless it appeared, fit for nothing more then to prattle on while others worked. But at least his prattle was relevant.
"Then why did it happen, Severus? The Malfoy's are loyal."
"The Dark Lord is a clever man, Lupin. Lucius is useful. He has served long and well. He has a history of trickery and power behind him. Draco is young, as yet untested. And Lucius loves him. Why break a perfectly good tool, when you can break a useless one with far more effect?"
"You mean to tell me that this happened to *punish* Lucius?"
"Yes." It had happened before. Severus had borne witness to many such occurrences in his time serving the Dark Lord. Though what Lucius had done to warrant such an extreme punishment was beyond him.
"That's abhorrent…"
"That is the Dark Lord. Why are you here?" Lupin could get this information from others.
"Things aren't going well, Severus."
"In what sense do you mean?"
"Sirius."
Severus did not respond. The brute refused to listen, refused to do as he was told. He was a wild card, and he made Severus nervous.
"What of him?"
"He's becoming difficult. You…you need to speak with him. You need to end this."
"Now is not the time." They were in the middle of war. There was no time to pause for personal battles or grudges. "It will be dealt with afterwards."
"It can't wait. You need make peace with him now." Lupin's voice was pleading and earnest.
"I haven't the time."
"He won't follow you. Not the way things are now."
"As it stands, I do not care. As long as he does not stand in my way, he may do as he will."
"You know him, Severus." Lupin took step forward, frowning. "He's going to cause trouble. You can't let this go."
"It will be dealt with." When the opportunity presented itself. He could not go out of his way to appease the man. There were things that demanded his attention. "Have you anything else you feel needs to take up my time?"
"Us."
"What of us?"
"Exactly."
Severus glanced up, eyes unreadable. Lupin. The emotional one. The needy one. It was evident in his eyes, even before they had made love. "We have discussed this."
"Not really."
"I told you when this began, I made no promises that I would feel anything for you."
"I know…"
"And yet you wish to argue your case." Black eyes glittering, lips set in a thin line.
"We're lovers, Severus. We're not enemies. You're distant, when we make love, and you…"
"I am in the middle of a war!" Was the man daft? "I have no time to warm my heart to you, Lupin, be content with what you have."
"You said yourself you doubt we're going to make it."
"And you said we were."
"I said *you* were."
Silence followed. Severus was never one for feelings or emotions. They confused the mind, they got in the way of what was right. They followed no rhyme or reason and therefore were dangerous. Feelings were to be dealt with when a man did not need his wits about him.
"Now is not the time."
"That's your answer for everything." Lupin's voice quiet. "When is it time?"
"When this is over."
"And if we're dead?"
"Then that is the way it goes Lupin." Eyes back to the assorted papers.
"I love you, Severus."
"I am well aware of that Lupin." And that would make a difference? Love was a foolish emotion that had to place in the scheme of things.
"You don't care."
"It affects nothing." Sighing, Severus met Lupin's eyes again. "Unlike you, I do not have the time for idle emotions. Leave me be."
"I'll see you tonight?"
"We share the same room, do we not?"
Lupin nodded, and left Severus in peace. There would be time to deal with it later…
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