"Snupin"

by Battlescar

A/N: I don't own Harry Potter blahblahblah. You know the deal.

Thanks for all the reviews you've sent... here we get to see Remus and Severus interacting some more... and yeah, Remus confronts him within the next few chapters, so if you want to see what happens, you should review (good or bad, s'all fine) and return. I'd appreciate it, and I LOVE YOU ALL.

Happy belated X-mas, to those who celebrate it.

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Chapter Three - Potions Class

(The next day...)

Severus Snape stood in the prefect's bathroom, under the showerhead, staring at his reflection in the crystal clean tile walls. It was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. He wondered what Lupin – Remus...? had ever seen in him. Snape frowned at his mirror image in front of him, his long black hair plastered to his face by the shower. He sneered at himself, hot water pounding on his back. He stood there, naked, yet with no respect at all for himself. Snape stood there thinking, and began to wonder just exactly why Lupin had come onto him the day before, and why the bloody hell he had let him. He had given in, but why? Was it lust, was it because he knew he didn't want to die a virgin? Was he curious about what it would be like? Was it because he had been so upset and the touch had seemed so comforting? He didn't know, but he was afraid to face the truth that he really might actually have feelings for Lupin he couldn't explain... or express. Or at least not fully...

And suddenly he was angry. Snape turned off the knobs on the walls, the fountains falling back, the water draining as they dried up, the last drops dripping to the floor, and grabbed his towel off of the wall beside him, wrapping it around his waist securely. He didn't feel like thinking about Lupin anymore.

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However, he wound up not having much of a choice. After all – they happened to have Potions together – it was unavoidable, and Severus Snape would have to face Remus Lupin eventually. It was like acid slowly burning at the lining of his stomach, it was painfully eating him apart, the dread and was it fear...? that kept him from wanting to see the sandy haired prefect. Snape slunk into the dark Potions classroom, walls flickering with the faint light of candles, room bare of windows, spider webs and dust gathering around the room quietly. A strange musky smell stung Snape's nose faintly... the smell of potions and damp walls.

Snape took his seat quietly, his hair still damp from the morning's shower. Looking around as naturally as he could, trying to mask the fact he was looking for Lupin, he realized that the image of perfection, er – stupid Gryffindor goody-two-shoes, was actually not in class! How unlike it was of him to miss any school at all, especially after he had seem so... well the day before. Is it because of me? Snape wondered, but then pushed the thought out of his mind immediately, noticing that bother Potter and Black were also noticing their friend was gone, and were confused that their beloved Remus was missing. Did they really not know where he was? He wondered as he watched James lose interest in searching the classroom, leaning forward on his desk to poke Lily Evans in the back with his quill, trying to get her attention. How strange it is, Snape thought, that these two, who are usually inseparable from each other, do not know where their third wheel is. Even the little git – Peter Pettigrew, who followed them around everywhere was leaning forward on his desk, talking to Sirius Black about where the hell the bloody werewolf could possibly be. The mousy boy leaned back in his seat, biting his nails nervously with a twitch of his eye. What a rat, thought Snape as he turned to face the front of the classroom.

It turned out that the Potions professor had been twenty minutes into his lesson when Remus scrambled in, late. The glaring Professor stopped to stare at him and frowned, stopping in the middle of his droning lecture on how and how not to create the perfect truth serum. "Thirty points from Gryffindor, Mr. Lupin," he snarled, "And lateness shall not be tolerated. Have a seat," he said sharply, a deep blush flushing through Remus' face and he nodded frantically. "Er, yes, sorry sir, it won't happen again," he muttered as he lowered his eyes, glancing around quietly for an empty seat. They were all occupied... except for one.

Snape groaned inwardly as Remus sat beside him.

Seeing that there were no more distractions, the Potions master turned, "Right... the trick is to always have the right amount. Now, so, you shall perform the task of readying and making the potion," he grinned wickedly, "and then, we will test the result."

Sirius raised his hand. He was ignored.

"You'll be off in pairs of two, and your partner will be assigned to you," he continued, Sirius' hand still waving in the air, "YES, Mr. Black?" the Professor snapped at him, making Sirius jump slightly.

"Well, um, sir, isn't it a bit... immoral to test it on us?" Sirius asked, folding his arms angrily, "You're just going to try to embarrass us on purpose, or use it to your own advan–,"

"Shut up, Mr. Black, if you don't mind," the vile Professor spat, "There will be no objections and I will not be insulted. Why, I would never do such a thing," he said, almost mock-innocently, making Sirius furrow his brow, and call out in anger.

"But–!" he began, anger boiling up as his face turned bright red.

"Temper, temper, Mr. Black. Five points from Gryffindor, and I'll make it fifty if you start again. Shut. Up."

Sirius leaned back in his seat, gritting his teeth as he fumed wordlessly.

"That's much better," grinned the Potions professor, "I will choose who the potion shall be tested on, as WELL," he added sharply, "So you had better make the potion right lest it be you and you wind up with a beehive for a nose or something else ridiculous. Now... pairs, pairs," he muttered, pulling a piece of parchment from his robes and letting his voice drone on as he read it. Remus watched him dully as he caught only the names he knew. The names he knew were always sharper.

"Potter and Evans," was heard as Lily cringed and James thrust his fist up in the air triumphantly.

"Oh no..." muttered Lily, biting her lip and glancing at a beaming James behind her. You'd better behave yourself, James, Remus thought with a slight amusement behind his eyes.

"Longbottom and Pettigrew," was heard, making the marauders, minus Peter, nearly fall into fits of laughter. The two were the worst in the class, and chances are, the evil Professor had put them together on purpose. Frank Longbottom glanced over at Peter, both of them looking like they were doomed for failure.

"Black and Caine," was muttered with slight malice as Sirius snapped his head up, sitting erect in his seat. The wicked professor had spite Sirius again, and had paired him up with Alison Caine.

Of all people, it had to be her, the girl who had a complete obsession with the dark haired Gryffindor, the girl who was constantly stalking him and following him around like a sick puppy. She hadn't the best face, or body, or even personality, to be fair, and she couldn't leave him alone. Alison was like a twelve-year-old teeny-bopper obsessed with a rock star. Sirius groaned as he slunk down in his seat, Alison letting out an excited fangirlish 'squee,' as she sat on the edge of her seat.

"...and Snape and Lupin," finished the Professor, discarding the long list of names onto his desk, "Now get busy!" he snapped, hands on his hips as he watched the rustling group of students.

Of course. Of course it had to be Snape and Lupin, because fate just had to be even more dreadful to Severus Snape than it had been over the past few days, because, of course, God wanted to smite him for something he had done in this life or a past one. Why me? Snape wondered to himself in annoyance and mock-drama at once, as Remus turned to face him, fidgeting slightly, nervous, Snape supposed, but why wouldn't he be? A voice at the back of his head bugged him, but it didn't bug him long as he chose to annoy it, trying his hardest to just forget he had never been so close to Lupin...

"Um, did you hear–," Remus began, twiddling his thumbs nervously, and blushing in surprise when Snape snapped back at him, cutting him off.

"The instructions?" Snape sneered, "Yes, because unlike you, I was here on time and am not a blundering fool."

Remus grinned weakly, "...Oh. Well, um, what were they, then...?" he asked, managing a weak smile. Snape shot him a glare, unfazed by Remus' sudden cute act of being so incredibly pathetic. "Just do what I say and don't get in my way," he snapped, eyes falling back onto his work.

Lupin nodded obediently, biting his lip nervously. The holidays were slowly approaching, but even that couldn't stop from being a complete grinch... apparently not even their kiss in the hallway. Remus frowned, looking slightly disappointed, but what had he expected? Had he thought that this would change everything, and Snape would be nice to him? He honestly couldn't have expected them to become friends suddenly... at least not in public. Things couldn't possibly be all hunky-dory. People would know there was something going on between them... people would know that they were – wait, what exactly WERE they?

Severus sat busying himself with the potion, a natural skill to him, as he worked in silence, asking Lupin to do little things now and then like to pass the herbs, or cut something into tiny pieces, or stir the cauldron three times. Remus complied, never saying a word and working in silent obedience. Inside, he yearned for the class to end, waiting anxiously to get out of there, waiting anxiously for Snape to finish with the potion.

Finally, it was done. Snape bottled the solution and set it down on the table with a small klink.

"Done already?" asked the Professor, approaching them with a small smile. Snape nodded. "Then I am sure you are confident in your work?" he asked, Snape nodding a second time. Remus watched impatiently.

"Let's test it," the Potions Master said sharply, clapping his hands closed and rubbing them together almost maniacally.

"Of course," muttered Snape without looking up, fingers closing around the potion. Lupin eyed him carefully. Since the Potions Master was head of Slytherin house, and Snape was a Slytherin... and the Professor was going to choose who to test the truth serum on, that meant that it was probably going to be Lupin. Remus frowned. This wasn't something that should be tested on students – what if someone spilt out some things that they didn't want to? He knew the professor was doing this on purpose.

"Lupin," the dreaded words finally came, falling from the Potions Master's lips and burning into his mind like poison, "Drink it," he ordered. Lupin paled, nodding, sputtering his reply quietly,

"Y-Yes sir." Remus bit his lip, taking the vile from Snape and opening it gingerly. After a short moment of hesitation, and staring at the bottle in fear and disgust, he downed the bottle, and dropped it onto the table gently.

"So tell me Lupin," grinned the Professor triumphantly, "What exactly do you think of me?" The class was silent, and now all heads were turned in their direction, the Gryffindors cringing and glaring, and the Slytherins sniggering, hiding their giggles and smirks behind their hands.

"I think..." Remus started to mutter, biting his lip for a moment, hesitating until he could no longer, when the forced words all spilled out.

"I think that you're an ugly, worthless, rotten, complete and total git," he spat out, cringing at his own words and squeezing his eyes shut tight in embarrassment and anger. The Professor looked seemingly surprised, his face turning red in anger, though Remus supposed that he had set him up in the first place.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor!" growled the Professor, an evil sneer upon his face. The Slytherins grinned and whispered amongst themselves, a few exchanging a couple of high fives under their desks, the rest simply grinning with glee.

"But that's not fair!" cried Sirius suddenly, springing up from his desk, his hands smacking down on the wood loudly, "He has to answer you with the truth and that IS the truth! You did that on pur–!"

"SHUT UP!" barked the Professor, cutting off Sirius mid-sentence, "That's another fifteen points from Gryffindor, and it'll be fifty and a detention if you speak up again, or anyone else for that matter!" Sirius bit his lip angrily, using all of his willpower not to spit on the Professor and assault him violently, glaring down into his cauldron. "Now..." began the Professor, mind set on destroying Lupin now that he was already angry, "I do believe that we were testing if the serum worked? Oh yes, Lupin, you wouldn't happen... to have a liking to anyone, now would you? Perhaps a little crush? Anyone out there that you... fancy?"

Remus paled, his throat dry as he shook his head slowly, gripping onto the edge of his seat nervously as his knuckles turned white. "Y-yes," he nodded again, biting his lip as the Professor grinned at the lovely reaction he was getting. He probably gets off on this kind of thing, thought Lupin, and dear god, someone please kill me. This can't be happening.

"Well then, Lupin, would you mind–" started the Professor, but he never got a chance to finish. Without a word he fell forward, hitting his face on the desk in front of him and falling onto the floor. He lay there, his eyes closed, snoring loudly, the whole class watching in quiet amazement and confusion. Remus let out an inward sigh of relief, however confused he was, glancing over at Snape momentarily to see something unexpected...

Meanwhile, a small group of Slytherins had begun to crowd around the sleeping body of their Potions Professor, and were attempting to wake him, but all to no avail. He would not rouse, and eventually they grew bored and a few left, some seeking help and others just to wander. The Gryffindors sat there quietly, whispering amongst themselves until Sirius got up with a grin and walked over to Remus.

"What the hell was that?" he asked puzzled, James standing behind him, beaming.

"He fell asleep," Remus said robotically, the truth serum still working it's magic on him.

"We know that, Rem!" Sirius chuckled, amused, "And well, the git deserved it, using you for his amusement like that. That wasn't fair at all, now was it?"

"So did you do it? Was it you?" James asked with a wide grin, looking at Sirius, "Cause it wasn't us."

"No... I didn't do it. It wasn't me," Remus said with a shrug, biting his lip as he thought to himself quietly, "But I'm glad it happened..."

"So any idea who it–" Sirius started, though he was interrupted quickly by the bell that signified classes were over, and he pouted as Remus spoke up quickly, wringing his hands as he stood up quickly, knocking over the empty vile that had contained the serum as it fell to the floor, shattering into tiny little pieces. Remus blushed, biting his lip.

"Uhh..that's the bell, I should go. See you!" he cried, shuffling out of the classroom, but not before the Professor could sit up groggily, calling out to him and to the rest.

"You all...we'll finish.... this... tomorrow!" he cried, and with that, fell back to the floor and continued to snore. James sniggered, but Sirius watched after the departing Remus in much confusion.

By now Remus was halfway down the hallway, sad, confused and completely angry. He needed to talk to Snape, but since he had run from the classroom so quickly there was no chance he would see him now, no way he could see him until the end of classes that day, much to Lupin's dismay. So sadly, he shuffled off to his next class, hoping that maybe he would see Snape later that day.

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Yeah...note: Snape and Lupin are prefects. I'm pretty sure Remus was, but not sure if Snape was. However, he is in this story. And yes, there are also showers in the prefects bathroom in my mind, not just a humongous tub, because showers can also be a LOT of fun... ;D

BTW. I changed 'Alan' Longbottom to 'Frank.' I can't believe I forgot that, and thanks to everyone for correcting me! I'm so stupid, haha! It wasn't really too signifigant for me, though, since he's only mentioned and probably won't play much of a part in the story, anyway. I just thought it was funny that Longbottom and Pettigrew were paired in a team. Bwaha.

And if you're wondering -- yeah, the evil Potions Proffessor will most likely make them complete their projects when they return from the weekend's break. Bwahaha...

So hang on!