Chapter Two

The next morning, at the breakfast table, Sirius and James did not speak one word to each other. Remus and Peter sat between them, both feeling very awkward. James had Lily on one side of him, so he spent the meal talking with her instead of his friends. Following James' example, Sirius had started conversing with a very pretty 6th year. The girl giggled a lot and twirled her hair. She looked like she was in heaven, talking with possibly the most popular guy in the whole of Hogwarts.

And she had a good reason to be happy, Remus thought to himself. Sirius was an exceptionally good-looking person. He had long, sleek hair, ravishing azure eyes and a delicately chiseled face. His laugh was charming and infectious, but in an almost twisted, seducing way. Despite his advantageous looks, Sirius rarely ever talked to girls, proclaiming that they were "too much of a hassle to deal with". But everyone in Hogwarts knew that whether he wanted it or not, gorgeous, popular Sirius Black was a magnet to the majority of the female population.

Remus sat in silence throughout all of breakfast. He didn't even look up during the arrival of mail, when a couple hundred owls all burst in the Great Hall with packages and letters tightly clamped in their beaks. Nobody ever sent him anything.

It wasn't until their final class of the day that Remus actually became active. And that occurred when Professor Perby, their strict and thin-lipped Potions teacher, announced the partners for the upcoming huge project.

"Your task, students, is to come up with a new type of complex potion. I will be instructing each pair on what is required, and no two groups will have the same objective. Therefore, there will be no copying," he added sternly.

Remus heard Sirius mutter a very foul word under his breath.

"The project will not be a small one. I advise each and every one of you to work hard on your potion, as it will be tested carefully toward the end. Also, you and your partner will be handing in an essay at the end describing your specified potion, its uses, what it's made of and things of that nature."

"Here are the groups. Merlyn, you shall be working with Sue. Lily, you're with Vicky. James, you'll be working with Frank. Christoph and Muriella. Sirius and Peter, I expect no slacking off from you two. Jack, your partner is Pricilla..."

The list went on and on. Remus closed his eyes and yawned drowsily. The lack of sleep from last night had finally caught up with him.

"...and finally, Severus and Remus shall be working together. There is no written homework, but I do expect you all to be ready to work with your partner next time we meet. Remember, this counts as more than 80% of your semester grade. Class dismissed."

The silence in the dungeons erupted into chatter as 50 students rushed out to enjoy their 45-minute break before dinner. Only Remus remained in his seat - temporarily shocked for the moment - until he realized he was the last student in the room. Snapping to reality, he hurriedly stuffed his quill and ink in his bag and walked out of the cold dungeon. He did not see Snape anywhere.

Remus couldn't believe his horrible luck. Over the next three months or so, he'd be spending every waking moment with Severus Snape! He groaned outloud. He did not hate Snape with a passion like Sirius did, but this wasn't exactly his idea of fun, either. Snape had accused Remus of trying to kill him that night exactly one year ago when Sirius told him to go to the Shrieking Shack while Remus was in werewolf form. From that horrible evening on, the Slytherin always had a nasty sneer on whenever he passed Remus and probably still hated him as much ever.

"And I thought my partner was bad," Sirius said to Remus, who had held back to wait for him at the end of the hall.

Remus sighed. "This is going to be one heck of a semester. Snape hates me, you hate Snape, and I'm stuck with both of you."

"Well, I wouldn't hate him if he weren't such a nosy dunce," Sirius said angrily.

"And he wouldn't hate me if you hadn't sent him to me," Remus added under his breath.

"That was a freaking year ago, Moony. Does he still think you're going to bite him any chance you get?" Sirius snorted.

"I don't know, he ignores me most of the time."

"Ah, well, if you ever need someone to set him on fire or something, you know who to talk to. I'm going back to the common, barely got any sleep last night. See ya at dinner," Sirius parted with Remus at the entrance of the Great Hall. As usual, Remus turned to go outside where he'd meet James and Peter, perhaps play some Quidditch. But today, he really didn't feel like it. It was too chilly outside, too social. He wanted to be alone. Instinctively, he turned on his heel and found himself at the library.

"Good evening, Madam Pince," he said politely to the librarian as he entered. She smiled at him, her face shining with approval as Remus set his books down and took out a long roll of parchment to complete the rest of his Charms paper. He worked hard for the better half an hour, then sighed, satisfied, as he placed the finishing period and dropped his quill, massaging his tired fingers.

At the same instance, Remus looked up just in time to see Snape walk through the doors of the library. With his long cloak, white skin and midnight hair, Snape looked like some sort of bat on legs. His dark, glaring eyes scanned the place, looking for a table to work at. His eyes stopped at where Remus was sitting. Remus was suddenly aware that he was sitting alone, and that there was more than enough room for another person...

Remus smiled weakly at Snape, hoping that the moment would be over with soon and that Snape would sit beside him, thus saving a lot of awkwardness the next Potions class. Yet another side inside him screamed for Snape to leave as soon as possible.

Fortunately for Remus, the moment did end soon. Snape looked at him with pure and utter contempt for one moment, then turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the library with a swish of his black cloak. Madam Pince glanced, puzzled, at Remus, but he only shrugged back.

Remus sighed and started to reread his essay, yet he could not shake off the small waves of pain and humiliation that washed over him. He wasn't even good enough to share a table with Snape.

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"Hey, Moony," Peter Pettigrew said as he slipped beside Remus at dinner.

"Hi," the young man replied rather unenthusiastically.

"I'm really sorry you're going to be working with Snape," Peter said, truly sounding sympathetic.

Remus grimaced. "It's not so bad. We'll just finish it quickly and get it over with."

"But then there's the final essay you two will have to write together. And the presentation, that's gonna be a big deal..." James pointed out. Sirius, whom was to the right of Remus, pretended not to have heard James, but Remus knew he was interested in their conversation by the sly glances he kept shooting in their direction.

"Well, you won't have any trouble, Moony," Peter tried his best to make Remus feel better. "You and Snape are probably the best students anyway, together your potion will be done in a few weeks."

James nodded thoughtfully as he chewed slowly on a piece of breadstick.

"Peter's right," he said simply after swallowing. "You'll be fine."

:::

Later that night, when Remus lay in bed, he repeated to himself the encouraging words of support that all his friends had offered him. But for some blasted reason, all he could recall was the look of hatred on Snape's face when he'd seen Remus in the library. Finally, after an hour or so of tossing and turning, Remus Lupin settled into an uncomfortable, troubled sleep. He dreamt of dark rooms and blood that night.

:::

The weekend passed quietly and rapidly. Remus spent most of his time between helping Peter with his multiple essays and finishing his own. Sirius and James had started to speak again, though rather stiffly. But Remus needn't worry about that - James and Sirius had been best friends since First Year, and they would continue to be friends until the end of time.

When Remus awoke on Monday morning, a horrible feeling rolled around in his stomach. He would be having Potions that evening, whether he liked it or not.

Remus walked about dreading Potions the entire day. It was just this annoying and nagging feeling in the back of his mind that never let him alone. During breakfast and lunch, he carefully shielded his eyes from the Slytherin table. He looked down whenever he saw Severus Snape in the halls. He knew it was stupid to act so cowardly, but he couldn't help it.

At last, when the time came, he walked into Professor Perby's classroom with a tight grimace on his face. Severus Snape was already there, glowering from beneath his long black hair. Seeing as everybody sat by their assigned partner, Remus slid into the desk beside Snape's. His partner did not say anything to him.

"Class, settle down," Perby's voice echoed in the stone walls. Immediately, the sparse chatter died down. Everyone's attention turned to Perby. Glancing around the room, Remus noticed that most everybody's expression showed anxiety or anticipation. Severus was probably the only person in the room that looked completely disgusted. Remus bit his lip.

"I will hand out the assignment parchment along with expectations for every group. Do not even contemplate asking another student for help - the ink only shows to the assigned students' eyes and mine. What can be read from the parchment will not reach the hearer's ears. There will be no communication with anybody save your partner and me."

Remus' spirits sank lower, if that was even possible. So he wouldn't even be able to talk to anybody about it?

"Furthermore," Professor Perby continued, "If I hear any word of cheating on this project, immediate points will be deducted, if not all of them. The level of difficulty ranges in this class, from the most complex of potions (his eyes flickered over where Remus and Snape were sitting) to the simplest. I expect for each and every one of you to walk away with at least an Acceptable, understand?"

The class nodded monotonously. "Yes, Professor."

"Get to work, then." He flicked his wand.

At Perby's command, twenty-five rolled parchments rose from his desk and shot through the air, narrowly avoiding each other as they zoomed around and landed on the pupils' desks. Remus' zigzagged across the room and landed with a thump. He picked it up and unrolled the paper. It read:

Students: Remus Lupin and Severus Snape

Potion: Invisible Potion. One must drink its contents and remain completely invisible for at least thirty minutes without suffering any damaging side effects. Maximum limit will be two days.

Essay Requirements: At least six feet parchment's worth of abstract, hypothesis, step-by-step procedures, materials list, results, conclusions and use properties.

Under that, in Professor Perby's own neat handwriting:

This is, by far, the most difficult of the class' assignments. However, I expect you two to work well, as usual. You may, if you succeed, ask for permission from the Ministry of Magic to have your spell patented at the end of this year. Good luck.

After reading the scroll, Remus nervously stole a glance at Severus. The dark haired boy was staring at his own parchment with a frown and was chewing his lower lip. He felt Remus' eyes on him and immediately scowled.

"I'll make the potion; you write the essay," was the only thing he said. He did not try to hide the contempt he felt for the werewolf in his expression and tone of voice.

"No," Remus replied, already frustrated. "I'm not going to let you do all the work. We're making the potion together."

Snape's scowl deepened. "It'd be faster the other way," he said sourly.

"Is that all you care about? How quickly it'd be over?" Remus asked. "Don't you want a good grade? An essay with effort?"

Snape said nothing.

Looking at his partner, Remus wondered why Severus always frowned and sneered. The boy's face was practically carved in a scowl. Remus realized that he'd never seen Snape smile. He tried to imagine what Snape would look like with a normal expression, but couldn't picture it.

"Listen, Severus-" Remus began.

"Oh, so it's not Snivellus anymore?" Snape retorted.

Sirius, who was only a few seats away, turned around to see what was happening. Remus felt himself become hot.

'Cool down,' he told himself. 'This is not the time to go stark raving mad. You can't change Snape, you just have to cope with him...just be patient...'

"No, it was never Snivellus," Remus replied evenly, ignoring the desire to rip Snape's head off. Sirius snorted, disbelieving, and turned away.

"Well, tell that to your little biker friend," he muttered under his breath, punctuating every syllable with his black hatred.

"Don't insult Sirius," Remus said quietly, dangerously.

Once again, Snape said nothing. Instead, he exhaled impatiently and picked up his bag, disposing at least half a dozen large Potions books onto his desk. He handed some to Remus, who, surprised, almost dropped them.

"You came prepared," he said stupidly.

"Why do you think I was in the library?" Snape retorted sarcastically. "Now start looking up Invisibility Cloak's components and take good notes. I want this to start quickly and end quickly," he said at last in a threatening tone.

"Suit yourself," Remus remarked as he started flicking through the pages.

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