Parched Part 2

After a week passed, Remus reluctantly developed a certain degree of respect for the twins. The charms they placed around the house were nothing short of perfect. He didn't know whether to congratulate them or curse them. Severus had dripped a few drops of blood in the kitchen; Remus continually refrained from thinking about where those few drops had come from. He hoped that Severus simply had cut his fingers on some of the glass. Regardless, the introduction of Severus' blood to any piece of china or glass in the house rendered the substance within, unpalatable. Remus tried any number of counter-curses and none of them worked. The charms remained in place.

He was walking down the street one evening, the weather cooperating and the evening was unusually balmy for September in London. He walked past the shops and the cafes looking at the people eating and drinking on the sidewalks, when he pulled up short. There were bottles of water on the table. Not carafes, not glasses, but bottles of water with labels on them. Remus turned and went into the neighborhood grocer for a look-see. He laughed loud enough to draw the attentions of a few nearby shoppers. There, in their own aisle, were bottles and bottles of water, all with different labels on them, but they were there for the buying. So he did.

All he had to do now was get Severus to actually drink from them.

Not the easiest of tasks.

Severus came to the house only when circumstances demanded, not staying any longer than necessary. The first three or five times Remus tried to stop him on his way out, Severus simply brushed past him without a word. Towards the end of Christmas term, Severus had spent a weekend in the company of Voldemort and by the time he made his report, was obviously worse for wear. He looked as though he hadn't slept the entire time, the stubble on his face doing nothing to enhance his appearance, bags under his eyes and a voice that was three steps from gone. Remus simply saw it as his chance, and he took it.

Once more he waylaid Severus in the kitchen.

"Severus-" he began.

Severus simply looked at him as though there was nothing else he could do. All the fight seemed to have gone out of the man, and he gave the air of a man who had given up the ghost. Here was the Order's spy, on the verge of being drained of all resources. Yet he hadn't left.

"I did some research on the problems with the china and other objects in the house." Remus began. "Because of the abundance of Dark Magic that still resides here, and the nature of the charms, we simply have to wait them out, I can't remove them. But I did, well, I think this might work." With that Remus reached inside the cooler and removed one of the bottles.

Severus looked at the bottle in confusion.

"Its water. In a bottle. Muggles drink it all the time. I thought that a substance that was brought into the house, contained within a Muggle container and well, hasn't been allowed to come into contact with anything else. Well, I think it just might be free of the curse." With that he held the bottle out to Snape, who stared at Remus as though he'd grown a fifth limb or something thereabouts.

Remus felt a bit of the prat holding the bottle out to Severus, but he was determined not to force it on the man, but just as focused on getting Severus to drink something.

"I just wanted you to be able to get a drink of water."

Severus looked Remus in the eyes, Remus, tense with anticipation and Snape, well Remus thought he just might have relaxed his guard when his hand came down from his sleeve. With a not quite steady hand, and careful not to touch Remus in anyway, Snape took the bottle from him, spent a moment figuring out how to un-cork the thing and suddenly and swiftly drank the water down.

Without another glance in Remus' direction Severus put the empty bottle on the table and left Grimmauld place. Remus looked from the still swinging door to the empty bottle on the table and sighed, the tension leaving his body. He sank down in a chair and started to laugh, never before and hopefully never again would he spend an indeterminable amount of time worrying if his fingers would be hexed off for offering a simple drink of water.

But he knew, you see, he knew. With Severus Snape, nothing was ever easy.

---End two