Hope you all are enjoying the fic. Haven't heard much from you… but I know you're out there.
The work you're reading is based on a series of books by J. K. Rowling and I make no money from it.
Chapter Twenty-one:
"No," Snape looked at the proffered johnny top and bottom and stubbornly refused to take them.
Starch sighed. "I will be re-doing every test Merkowitz did and several that he failed to perform. This will take a few hours so I would like to start, now."
Snatching up the offensively pink clothes Snape muttered incoherently all the way to the screened off changing area.
When Snape came back into the central portion of the room, Starch had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He handed a small specimen jar to the surly professor and turned his attention toward the open file on his desk.
"And I'm supposed to fill this with, what exactly?"
He didn't need to look up to see the sneer on Snape's face. He had put up with it for years. "I didn't choose the color, Lenore did. So if you need to complain about it, go to her." He changed tone slightly to add emphasis, "And don't cry over spilt milk."
Snape paled. "I had to have misunderstood you just now." The plea in his voice brought the black-market doctor's eyes up from the report.
"I need to run an analysis of all of your, erm--" his eyes darted away.
Head down Snape left the main room again. With the jar.
(Many members of the 'Secrets Branch' were earnestly seeking the file Starch was studying. They would never find it.)
The information that Doctor Merkowitz had compiled on Severus was rather extensive, and totally useless. He flipped page after page of contradictory test results and notes that were indecipherably sloppy.
A familiar 'small jar' was thumped down in the middle of the page he was trying to read. It now contained a sticky, milky colored fluid.
"That was the last shred of dignity I had," Snape was clearly seething. "I think I hate you now."
All he saw when he looked into Snape's eyes though, was a sort of guilty self-loathing.
"Why do you put up with her?"
"Lenore?" Thankful for the change of subject, Starch closed Snape's patient record. Leading the way to one of the exam cubicles he shrugged, "Because I love her."
Intensely studying the flecks in the floor tiles Snape sat on the edge of the gurney-bed. "And that's enough?"
"Sometimes I have trouble telling which of us is the Vamp and which is the Human." It was an old joke, and it drew a slight sort-of-a-grin from Severus.
~
It was nearly four o'clock when Starch nodded to Snape's request. "Yes I'm done you can change back to that ridiculous outfit you seem so stuck on." He hooked a thumb at the neat pile of black clothes on a table.
Shedding the pink johnny and pants as though an expeliramus charm had been used on him, Snape grabbed up his own clothes and quickly put them on.
Starch shook his head as he checked the progress on a series of blood cultures. "Why do you insist on wearing a full set of Muggle clothes, Victorian no less! Only to cover it all with that robe. And do you own anything that isn't black?!"
Fully clothed Snape lay his hand upon the doorknob before answering, "I wear them because I need the long sleeves and high collar. The robe I wear because I need to hide." He glimpsed Starch's startled face from the corner of his eye, "You didn't expect that did you?"
"No I didn't." Honesty was always the best policy, when you were speaking with someone like Snape. "You don't talk much about yourself. Why do you hide?"
The invitation to open up more was strangely tempting, and the feeling that he could trust the Vampire was very strong. So strong that he turned from the door and really looked at the pale man.
He barely whispered but knew that Starch would hear. "Why didn't you hide?"
"I'm an Exotic. I would not have been able to hide that no mater what I used as a blind."
The terse reply prompted a counter statement, "Not with the pro-segregationists in power. But what happens when they are voted out?"
"Then they won't let me practice medicine because I'm a Vamp, it makes no difference to them." 'How did he get me worked up and talking about myself again?' Starch wondered, 'This is the way it always goes though. I ask a question, he bats the conversation back to my side of the net, and then he walks away.' He sighed silently as he was proved right. Again.
A question as to the time before the results would be ready was sent over Snape's shoulder as he walked into the brightly lit hall.
"It will take about three weeks to get them all in." A door to the outer world opened and shut silently. "Good night Snape."
Chapter Twenty-two:
Opening the door to his lab, Snape stepped in and shut it immediately. It would be a royal riot if Lupin got out. As he turned, a fifty-nine kilogram wolf slammed into his chest. He hit the floor hard, and his ears rang from the impact. Grabbing the paws that were tearing into him, he ignored the pain.
"Black, get the yellow topped bottle out of the third cabinet, on the left wall! Now!"
Keeping one eye on the struggling pair Sirius shifted form and quickly found the requested bottle. "Got it!"
He scowled when Black held it out. "As though I can do anything with it at the moment?! Get one of the empty syringes off the tray, there, and load it with five cc's of that stuff."
While Black fumbled with the safety cap on the needle, Snape continued to try and keep the amber-eyed bloodthirsty beast from clawing his throat out. Because of the cage on its snout, the Werewolf was forced to rely on its claws alone.
He hissed when its rear claws began to dig into his thighs, shredding his robe, pant legs, and flesh. "Are you fooling around or what?!" He vented frustration and pain with one shout. Then grit his teeth and focused on holding on.
Standing a full six meters away Black held up the loaded syringe, "What do you want me to do with it now?"
"Get over here and inject it into its shoulder, now." A soft growl had crept into his, voice. Severus was starting to loose the fight, and in the cold air of the lab the creature's hot breath created clouds of steam that misted on his face and neck.
A moment of hesitation, then Black leapt forward. Stabbing the needle into the thickly muscled shoulder he swiftly injected the yellowy liquid. Expecting an immediate 'Magical' reaction he stumbled back when nothing seemed to change, "Why didn't it work?" Black cried.
A few minutes later the Werewolf began to loose strength. It managed to rake open four parallel scratches on the cheek of its intended victim before sagging, then falling to the ground, asleep.
"It is called Phenobarbital, it's an animal tranquilizer." Snape told the stunned Black. Freeing himself of the weight of the unconscious Werewolf, he checked its pulse and removed the empty needle that Black had left behind, 'When he fled.' Taking a deep breath he briefly closed his eyes. Bending at the knees he scooped up the drugged animal. The pain that flared in his legs and head was ignored. He walked over and laid the creature on the slab.
"You're bleeding," Sirius stared at the trail of blood that led from the place Snape had lain pinned to the floor, to where he was now standing beside the central table.
"The drug will wear off faster than if it were a normal wolf, so I need to hurry." Snape again pulled on a pair of gloves and began to shave the fur from the side of the wolf's neck.
"Why do you keep referring to Remus as an it?" Sirius distantly noted that Snape was using electric shears.
"What?" he murmured, obviously more focused on his task than his unwelcome spectator.
"You keep referring to Remus as an it, like he's a dumb animal or something."
Spreading Iodine over the newly exposed skin, Snape spoke softly, "There's a smallish black box over there," he nodded to his left, "hit the play button."
"This looks like an MP3 player," Black examined it for a moment before pressing the tab inscribed with a triangle.
Instantly the speakers imbedded in the walls made themselves known. Jumping slightly at the sudden throb of some powerful woofers Black had to speak up to carry over the loud music, "Isn't this a bit too loud? I mean you are doing some rather delicate stuff. With his jugular and all."
Silently lip-synching the words, it did not seem like Snape had heard him.
Even more surprised when the music picked up Black stammered, "I-is this, uh- techno?!"
"Yah, Eighty's." came the distracted reply.
"Shouldn't I turn it down at least?!" Black shouted again.
After inserting a line into the left side of Lupin's neck and securing it in place, Snape skillfully flipped the large wolf onto its other side. Again, he shaved and sterilized the site. "I need to hurry, I have a window of only a few minutes where I can actually get the lines in." Somehow his voice easily carried over the synthetic-rock. "If I don't get them in fast enough I won't have time to get the samples I need and safely remove the arterial lines." Sliding another thin tube into Remus' neck, "It should take about five minutes for it to heal on each side. The tiny dose of tranquilizer you gave it should last just long enough." Snape promptly forgot about Black until he had carefully drawn the twenty cc's of blood, he thought would be enough, "It's starting to blink at a more normal rate – "
"You're talking about Remus for Merlin's sake!" Black shouted, "What is wrong with you? Do you really hate him that much?!"
"I don't hate him," Snape looked up into Black's fiery eyes. Confusion passed across his face. "Why would you think that?" When Black did not respond he set about removing the IVs. The right one first. "Hold pressure here," he ordered as he pressed a thick gauze pad to the site, while drawing out the IV needle, "You need to press hard enough that you think you're going to hurt it."
Reluctantly, Sirius came forward and took over holding down on Remus' neck. A new song started, and nothing seemed quite right, to him.
Placing the new samples into a transportation container, Snape started cleaning up the bloody mess on his floor.