A/N: Thanks reviewers!! Sorry that the last chapter was a bit short - here's a longer one!

Chapter Six

Dogged

"Now, is everything quite clear? Good!" Lily gave him one last glare before she closed the door.

"Why, yes, thank you Evans. It's simply lovely," was the muttered afterthought.

Snape stood alone in the dining room clutching the vacuum cleaner plug Lily had forced into his hand. He glowered at the twin electrical socket in a mixture of contempt and disgust, and then at the snowstorm of crisps all over the floor.

Vacuuming at a party? What had Potter done to that girl to make her so fussy about a damn floor rug?

He scowled. "More to the point," he thought, "what did that blasted girl just do to me to make me consider cleaning it?"

"Electer-re-is-ity!" he scoffed. That nasty brown contraption there, resembling some droopy cloth sack attached to a pole. It would be quicker to eat the crisps off the floor!

While on the subject of crisps; he hadn't eaten a thing since yesterday evening. His eyes roved around the room. A buffet table crammed with food stood in the corner. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

Of course, the two fat sweaty Gryffindors had been standing over there hogging it, blocking it from view.

Making sure no one was watching, Snape dropped the plug and slunk across to the party food. He cast a pair of narrow eyes over the spread, rubbing his hands together in a clichéd and gleefully evil way.

Immediately his eye was caught by something horribly bright and - familiar? Party Rings? Why were these vile things always at parties? Nobody liked them! Gaudy, disgusting monstrous little pink excuses for biscuits...Like Gryffindors, sickly, gaudy outers, and completely vacant in the middle.

He'd better move on before someone caught him analysing children's party food. He had a shadowy and mysterious reputation to uphold.

Ah, sandwiches, these were more like it. Snape scrutinised each tray of neat fluffy bread triangles in turn. What flavour were these? He picked one up and sniffed it.

Eugh - was that - corned beef? He dropped the sandwich and shuddered involuntarily. He worked with dismembered animal parts on a daily basis- he wasn't about to start eating them as well!

Likewise the piles of sausage rolls, the cocktail sausages, chicken drumsticks, prawn cocktail and crab sticks, and the bacon quiche. He sneered at the pathetic offering of carrot sticks and spring onions. Reluctantly Snape picked up a handful of cheese and pineapple cubes on cocktail sticks and began to distastefully pick off the cheese - he didn't like strong cheddar. Why were parties always woefully short of vegetarian foodstuffs? Did people think they lived on lettuce?

And then, his eye moved over the sweet section, and was drawn to one particular bowl. Could that possibly be...

Yes, it was!

Maybe it wasn't such a bad spread, after all. He swooped down on the dessert and scooped out a spoonful.

Pausing, he savoured the taste with a serious expression. As good as it ever was at Hogwarts – possibly even better. In this case, he was claiming the whole damn bowl as his! Let them all fight him for it!

Clutching the bowl possessively to his chest, he glanced around the room. Now - where to eat it where he would be left in complete peace-? No cowboys, no Potters, no - yeuch - blackcurrant shots...

He swept across to a pair of floor length curtains at the other end of the room. Drawing one back he uncovered some French Doors. He squinted through the glass into the darkness. He could faintly see a pair of wicker chairs and a table. A conservatory. He could shut the door after him, close the curtains. Perfect peace and quiet.

Crrreak!

The sound of a floorboard out in the hallway. Snape paled. What if that was Lily coming to check up on him? He didn't really want to jeopardise his deal. Lily was so much better at charms than any of his old Slytherin gang. Well, the ones he was on talking terms with anyway. He needed to try and keep on her good side.

Setting the bowl carefully on the table Snape shot across the room, picked up the plug and crammed it into the mains.

Click.

He then whirled around and pressed the button on the cleaner like Lily had told him-

Whooooo-oooooOOOOOOOEEEEEEEMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

Snape fell back in terror grabbing at his wand. Bloody freaking Merlin! Was it alive? Angry? In pain?! Dying?!

But after a few seconds it was clear the thing wasn't going anywhere. Just lie there and shriek in that horrible tone.

He clutched his chest, and breathed in several times trying to slow down his thudding heart. Fucking, frigging Muggle crap! Plugs, switches, sockets and elecker-tris-ty - were all tolerable for a short time, but why didn't she warn him it was going to make such a blasted noise?! The sound it made reminded him of when his uncle had taken him on a field trip, and tried egg-robbing a pair of very pissed off Wyverns.

And that hadn't been good.

In which case, he certainly wasn't going to trust any contraption that reminded him of it. Pocketing his wand, Snape grabbed up the bowl again and moved toward the French Doors.

Turning the key he pushed down the handle-

"SNAPE!" hollered a voice over the vacuum cleaner.

Bollocks.

Snape curled his mouth in the most disdainful sneer he could and turned around. "LUPIN?!" he bellowed back. Snape's sneer became more pronounced as an anxious looking Lupin came into view.

Lupin shook his head. "I don't think you want to be doing that!"

"I'm afraid I can't hear a damn word you're saying!" called back Snape, smirking. "But if you think I'm going to be doing someone elses housework at a party, you are much mistaken!" He pushed the handle further down.

Lupin paled. "NO, NO - YOU FOOL - THE DOG!" he mouthed, pointing at the doors behind Snape. "D--O--G - DOG!" Lupin let his tongue hang out of his mouth, mimicking panting.

"WOOF?"

Snape's expression turned murderous. What was the wolf thinking he was doing pointing and swearing at him? The sickeningly mild-tempered little mollycoddled schoolboy mocking him with childish gestures?! It looked as if the years of hanging around with Potter and Black had finally taken their toll.

"THAT'S A BIT BLOODY RICH, CALLING -ME- A DOG, MANGE BOY!!" he shrieked back over the noise.

Lupin scowled in frustration and dived to turn off the vacuum. As the noise wound down the two wizards stared at each other warily.

"I wouldn't open that door if I were you, Snape."

"Threatening me now are you?" came the angry sneer. "Do drop the aggression - it doesn't suit your spineless bystander image!"

"I'm not here to fight old battles Snape. And we don't have to worry about Lily - she's gone upstairs to check on James."

"And why should the whereabouts of Potter's wife concern me?" came the cool tone.

Lupin shrugged. "It shouldn't. But I want to talk about something."

"Well, I don't talk to animals," replied Snape coldly. "So, go and find a lamppost to piss up, there's a good doggy."

"I'm willing to strike a deal," muttered Lupin, looking around cautiously. "I'm more than willing to finish off the carpet, if you'll tell me what Nutty got up to in his final year at Hogwarts."

Snape's eyebrows rose above his greasy fringe line. "And why would you want to know something like that?" he hissed suspiciously. "Tell me, Lupin, what could be suddenly so interesting about a seventh year Slytherin? After all, a lot of far more - critical - things happened in our fifth year......"

Lupin ignored the Slytherin's Death Glare. "I have...er...just heard a confession of sorts, and I am perfectly willing-"

"As dogs are..." mused Snape.

"Please," growled Lupin. "You know I can't help it."

"Help what...?" came the impossible tone.

Lupin's face darkened still further. "You know very well, Snape. And if you don't mind, please try and keep it down - some of the partygoers don't know-"

"Ah, I suggest you remain civil to me then Lupin," whispered Snape nastily. "As Dumbledore isn't around to threaten a certain person into silence now. That certain person just might accidentally let it slip one day..." A horrible smile twisted his mouth. "And then where would you be- ?"

"Nutty was the Seeker for your House's Quidditch team for five years, am I correct?" urged Lupin, desperate to divert the conversation.

"That much is widely known. Oh, how perceptive Gryffindors can be when they put their mind to it!" came the mocking drawl.

"So he must have gained - a few, admirers in his time, then?" replied Lupin carefully.

"Naturally. Though as I found the sport of little interest, I can't say I paid too much attention to his screaming, adoring fans." His tone became snappish, "But if you want a Quidditch discussion, I suggest you go into the other room-"

"Don't worry, I don't," came the hurried reply. "I'm here to talk about admirers. In particular who he dated in his final year."

Snape fixed him with his unpleasantly glinting black eyes. "Oh yes? Then I think the nature of the deal has just changed..."

"In what way?" frowned Lupin.

He smirked. "Not too much to ask, I'm sure. If I give you details, you must promise to clean this room from top to bottom with that. (He shot a filthy look at the vacuum here) Muggle thing. Then the additions – first you must report to Lily that I did it."

Snape paused to glance at Lupin, who nodded. So far, so good. "And second - while you are doing the cleaning, you must agree to let me hide out in the conservatory and not tell anyone where I have gone." He scooped a long pale finger into the dessert and licked it, his eyes half closing in an eerie sort of ecstasy. "Because I believ I have some rather tasty reminiscing to do..."

Lupin stared at what Snape was clutching. It was a large bowl of Lily's special charmed Anyflavour ice cream. It automatically changed to whatever flavour you wanted. The curious thing was, he couldn't quite work out exactly what flavour Snape was eating. It looked a bit...interesting. Lupin shuddered. What, by Merlin were those other things mixed up in it?

"Well, wolf?" he snapped. "Don't just stand there staring gormlessly. Do you accept?"

"Ah, yes, alright," replied Lupin hurriedly, snapping out of the trance and dragging his eyes away from the bowl's contents. "I agree. But there's one...er...big problem... with the conservatory..."

"A deal's a deal Lupin," snarled Snape. "And as I'm the one with all the information, it'll be my terms or nothing."

Lupin sighed and bit his lip in frustration. "Okay. I accept."

"Fine. But I won't shake on it if you don't mind," drawled Snape. "I don't really fancy catching fleas."

"You can't get dog fleas, Snape. They don't like humans. And I don't get them either," said Lupin wearily. How many times had he explained this to people?

"How fascinating," was the hissed reply. Snape took another fingerful of ice cream. "But I'm still not going near you. You look as if you probably have the Mange. Tell me, did your parents take you to have your sh-"

"Lily near enough told me she dated Nutty in year five, and I want you to tell me how she did it with virtually no one knowing about it," cut in Lupin brusquely.

Snape's finger suddenly paused just outside his mouth, causing the ice cream to slide off the end and plop on the floor. "She told you that?"

Lupin nodded, his eyes bright with anticipation. He noticed that Snape had gone slightly paler than usual.

"Well, in that case, the deal is about to get even more complicated," was the guarded reply. "You do the floor, and then we talk."

"I'd rather you told me before I begin the floor," replied Lupin carefully.

"Ahh, no. My terms, Lupin. My terms. I'll leave you to mull it over. You know where to find me when you've done."

Lupin let his shoulders slump in resignation as Snape smirked at him, turned and began to push down the door handle once more.

He sometimes wondered why he bothered.

In one smoth move, Snape slipped out into the conservatory, drew the curtains, and locked the door behind him.

Was it because he was Good Boy Lupin? Ever the kind Samaritan?

He winced as he heard a muffled yell and then a dull whump.

Or was he just a sucker? Maybe he should get some backbone and stand up for himself. Make himself heard for once. Tell people what he wanted.

There was a sound of fingernails tapping frantically against glass. And the sound of a dog whining with excitement.

Maybe it was rather cruel to let him go out there unwarned. But Doobie wouldn't hurt anybody. True, she was huge and scary and slobbery. Most Dobermanns were. But she wouldn't hurt him.

Not intentionally, anyway.

"Lupin!" The tapping became a frenzied banging. "LUPI-AUU-GG-YEUCH! Ptui! You vile, vile beast! I'll hex you 'til you shit rocks - you see if I don't, you damn great disgustin-OOF! No, no, no - give that back! Bad dog! Grrrr! BAD DOG!"

Well, there was only one key to the doors, and Snape had it. So it was up to him to get himself out of the mess. Doobie would calm down in a minute anyway. She always did.

Unless, of course, the vacuum was switched on again...

Lupin felt a slight smile twitch at the corners of his mouth.

A/N: Chapter 7 is already in the works! Wouldn't want to leave Snape in the conservatory with a happy dog for too long, would we... ;o) smirk