Moonlit Horizons

Moonlit Horizons

Chapter Nine – In which Snape goes up in a cloud of smoke… purely accidentally I assure you…

By Dizmius.

A Remus Fic for a friend of mine

***

There's a certain slant of light…. That is telling me you don't want to hear my usual "grr italics" any longer, so I wont.

~*~

"And of course, you've got the whole 'I'm-a-Slytherin-therefore-I'm-perfect' attitude down here." Sirius explained as the three walked past the dimly lit dungeons.

He's enjoying every minute of this, you can see he'd make such a good tour guide. Remus was the last in line of the three and preferred to let Sirius do the talking, as was the gift of his friend.

Anna jumped as a loud explosion shook the hallway, making a coat of armour fall to the floor.

"Wait for it…!" Sirius held up a hand to obtain silence.

The door at the end of the hallway slammed open against the stone wall, and Severus Snape came storming out, covered in what both looked, and smelled like treacle. He stormed past them without a single glance and could be heard cursing to himself as he disappeared round a corner, dripping with the thick paste.

"It just isn't his day today." Sirius said with a mocking voice. "Ah well… I always knew that treacle fetish of his would end up being his undoing…"

"He has a treacle fetish?" Anna asked, confused.

"No, Sirius is just being er… himself and exaggerating the situation." Remus shook his head as Sirius strode up the dungeon stairs. "Ignore him."

"Hagrid!" They heard Sirius's voice from above the stairwell.

"Well, if it ain't Sirius Black! Yeh musta known Dumbledore'd tol' me alla bou' yerself. An' I want yer to know that yeh're welcome back at mah house if yer wanting someone to talk abou' dragons and bikes an' stuff with. I bet yeh'd not say no to a drop o' whiskey either!" Hagrid had grabbed Sirius into a bear hug and Siruis' feet were dangling a few inches off the ground.

"This is Hagrid, He's a good friend of ours, and teaches at Hogwarts." Remus introduced Anna. "Hagrid, this is Anna. Eh… do you think Sirius can breathe?"

"Oh!" Hagrid suddenly released his grip on Sirius, who fell unceremoniously to the floor in a crumpled heap of robes.

"An' you an' all!" Hagrid gave Remus a friendly slap in the back, causing Remus to lurch forwards, winded.

Anna looked between Sirius and Remus with slight trepidation, and therefore was pleasantly surprised to see Hagrid stick out his hand to her. "Nice to meet yeh." Hagrid shook her hand warmly.

Sirius moaned and rolled over onto his back in the corridor. "Hi, Hagrid." He muttered grinning.

Remus was rubbing his back, trying to feel his ribs for any damage. He always does that when I meet him. I wonder if he's got some affinity for slapping werewolves on the back. Poor Sirius, he looks like a puddle.

"We were showing Anna around." Remus explained for them, as Sirius didn't seem fit for any complex sentences right now.

"That's dead nice of yeh." Hagrid beamed, "I got the go, got some jobs need doing fer Dumbledore… But I'll see yeh all at dinner no doubt…" He grinned widely and went on his way towards the kitchens.

"Is he…"

"Yes." Sirius said from his position on the floor. "Whatever you're about to say, yes I agree with you."

"Can you stand up?" Anna asked,

"I need a drink." Sirius muttered to himself.

"You know." Remus smiled, holding out a hand for Sirius to pull himself up on. "Twenty years ago, if any girl had seen you spread eagled like that on the floor, they'd have been over here quicker than Hagrid seeing a dragon."

"I know." Sirius winked conspiratorially. "Ah… what I would do for that kind of following again."

Anna simply raised an eyebrow.

"Alas!" Sirius sighed melodramatically. "My charm and charisma falls flat once more!"

"Shut up poodle." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Excuse you?" Sirius asked, confused. "Poodle?"

"Yes." Remus nodded. "Poodle."

"Er…" Anna felt like arising her hand to say something.

"Onwards!" Sirius suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her along the corridor, despite her protests and her futile attempts at getting him to let go.

Remus shook his head and ran to catch up with them. I wonder why he does that. He's always done that actually. Hmm… I have to admit though, she does look pretty when she's arguing with Padfoot. Padfoot the Poodle. Now that's a weird concept.

~*~

"But I don't want to stay at Hogwarts…" A little boy's voice was whining. "Mother says that I can't go home… I don't understand."

Anna listened carefully as another voice interrupted, a familiar silky voice that was often associated with Sirius grimacing and making offhand comments.

"Your mother and I are taking you here for your own safety, as I doubt you would like to become annihilated along with the rest of our home."

"It's gone?" The little boy asked incredulously.

"Not all of it, but it would be very unwise to return."

"Mother returned."

"Your Mother has an affinity for doing dangerous stunts without a regard for anybody else." The silky voice sounded slightly worried. "Mother is in danger, but doesn't seem to want to understand it."

"You're not going to try to save her, are you?" The boy asked quietly

"Pytheus… She doesn't need saving. As she has proved time and time over." The silky voice was starting to sound exasperated. "You should be in bed, I have business to attend to. Go, the house elf will take you."

Anna slipped quietly through her door, and sat down on the armchair in front of the fire. Why does life have to be so complicated?

Remus saw the troubled expression and Anna's stealthy entrance over the top of the day's edition of the Daily Prophet he was pretending to read. "Anna?"

"Why does suddenly, everything just explode around me?"

"Literally, or figuratively?" Remus asked, pushing the paper aside.

"Figuratively." Anna said, with a frown. "I don't tend to spontaneously combust."

"Glad to hear it." Remus looked across to the fire and let his thoughts wander for a second. "Because you've just learnt something that means you'll never lead the same life again. You can't go back to what you were, yet you dream about it every day. You feel like you're trapped. You can't escape and it's taking over you, without your permission. You're powerless to fight it, and resent that it can take you so easily when you've never thought about it for a single second before now."

Anna looked curiously at Remus. "You understand it better than I would have thought."

Remus just smiled sadly. "Yes. I can understand your feelings on such a matter."

"How?"

Anna regretted the question the moment it had left her mouth. Remus's face assumed a sudden pained expression, before closing, as if a door had closed in her face.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked…" Anna tried to apologise, but Remus had already stood up and was pacing in front of the fire.

"People form their ideas on you because of what they believe the associations of what you are suddenly become everything about you. They judge you unfairly because of this, and you end up being ostracised by both sides as you fit in neither. It's the untrue connotations with the condition that precede any other reputation you may have, and there's nothing you can do about it to change it otherwise because people are brought up to believe in strict codes on these principles… it made me question everything I believed. It probably changed me into an entirely different person, nobody will ever know what the alternate Remus Lupin could have grown up to be. Because it sure as hell wouldn't be anything like what I am now. I often wonder what I'd be like. I long to find out, but I'll never know. All because… all because…" Remus flumped down into one of the high backed chairs. "Nobody would ever know."

Such an outburst was totally unlike Remus, and he was both proud and astounded at himself. I never knew I could do that. Look at her, I've probably confused her even more now, she won't know what I'm getting at. I can't tell her I'm a werewolf, they have just as bad connotations in Muggle folklore as in Wizarding myths.

"Heartrending." A sarcastic tinge made Remus turn round furiously to see Snape leaning on the doorframe smirking wickedly. "A true performance worth many rounds of applauses no doubt. The unloved Werewolf sonata… How fitting…"

Anna stared between the two wizards, the words of what Snape had just said sunk in slowly. Remus could almost see Anna processing what he'd said, and adding it to Snape's little speech.

"You've done it again." Remus snarled, "Can't you keep your mouth SHUT?"

"Temper, temper." Snape smirked again, a look of triumph across his features. "Wouldn't want to sudden…."

Snape stopped mid-sentence as he realised his hair was on fire… he let out a very unmasculine shriek and bolted out of the door, trying to put out the flames.

Remus looked down at the table where his wand lay untouched and looked at Anna, confused.

"Did I… do that?" Anna asked in a tiny voice.

"I wouldn't have thought so." Remus replied, studying her carefully. "What were you thinking at the time?"

"I was thinking about how evil he was… And wishing that I could do something to make him stop, I was feeling so angry, you looked livid and it worried me." Anna put a hand to her left palm. "My hand hurt, and then his hair caught fire."

"Extraodinary… I didn't think Phaerrens could perform normal magic... and without a wand… truly spectacular." Remus had adopted his thoughtful look again. "Thank you."

"He's really not a pleasant person, is he."

"That's on way of putting it." I wonder when she'll question me on my lycanthropy… Maybe she doesn't want to bring it up... perhaps I should explain myself. "Er… Anna… About what he said… oh so accidentally."

"About you being… a… a… werewolf." Anna nodded slowly, noticing how Remus looked sadly up at the ceiling when she said that.

"Yes." He muttered. "I want to know… what you think about it… if you're scared… I'll understand… If you don't want to talk to me… I get it a lot."

Anna frowned, and crouched down next to Remus' chair, putting a re-assuring hand on his arm. "Why would I think that?"

"Stereotypes." Remus shrugged. "Past experiences, I don't know."

"I think that I've learnt quite a lot about stereotypes lately… and I don't think you're evil… Before Snape told me, I knew you as a person, not as a werewolf. And if the person I know is the same person who is the werewolf, then I don't think that suddenly finding out you're a dark creature two or three nights a month has to change my outlook of you. Which, I might add, is a very high opinion." Anna collected her thoughts before continuing… "Plus, I'm not exactly god's gift for the same amount of time each month either, so in many respects, we're equal."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "That, I didn't need to know."

"You're still Remus who lives in the oddly shaped barn-house at the end of the village. And you're still the Remus that got me out of that hellhole."

"With help." Remus added.

"I'm sure you would have managed without…"

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF?" A female voice pieced the air outside the door.

Remus grinned, putting a finger to his lips. "Listen to this…"

"Draezyc!" Snape's voice didn't sound quite so self satisfactory now. "The wolf…. He…"

"You've RUINED your hair! Couldn't you have waited 'til I came back to put it right?" From the tone of Draezyc's voice, Remus thought that it sounded like she was holding back laughter. "You complete and utter Kneazle… Going and letting your hair catch fire like that… Come here, let me put it right…"

"NO!" Snape sounded slightly put out by this. "Don't come anywhere near my hair, you'll ruin it even more… I still haven't forgotten your experiment with blonding charms..."

"Severus, you can't go round like that, it's ridiculous."

Remus wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "This is worth remembering, if it couldn't be me… At least it's his wife."

Anna groaned loudly as a full scale shouting match erupted outside, destroying whetever peace there may have been before then.

Remus tuned out the noise. She didn't freak. Maybe it's because she understands what it's like… I've never met anyone who really understood before…Maybe this could work after all. Maybe, just maybe.