Summary: Madam Pince finds a mysterious ancient book, Remus reads some curious history, and Severus reflects on some confusing feelings.
Disclaimer: PLEASE READ! Nothing's mine but plot. HOWEVER, I reflect on the myth of Remus and Romulus, twin brothers raised by wolves, in this story. Some of the 'facts' I use in this chapter are actual 'facts' from the Roman Myth itself, (such as their names, their 'parentage', Remus' murder, and Rome being named after Romulus, it's supposed founder), whereas some of the 'facts' I have placed in of my own creation for purposes in the story, based around what is actually told in the true myth. None of which, made up or not, has been proven, and may not have ever actually happened.
A/N: Well, I was wrong. I got home earlier on Monday then expected, and had time to write this and put it up. Hope you all like it! I was kind of disappointed about the whole book part, but it'll have to do. Plus, I thought you might like to know, I have sprained three knuckles in my right hand and broke my pinky finger. Yay for me. I am now typing with only my left hand and wincing at shocks in my right, as well as being irritated by my typing slowness. Took me four and a half hours to right this stupid chapter and I lost my patience and cut it short. You see, I fell of my dirt bike, which isn't fun, and I whacked my hand really hard against some asshole pine tree. Hurt like a bitch. Sorry for the language, but my hand is crippled, I'm allowed. The plus side, however, is that everyone else is my personal slave, and the have to do everything for me. Which is very nice, as I'm lazy, LOL.
Thank you's!…
MajinSakuko, you're the best. You leave great reviews.
Albania thing number 2: Well, yeah, he would, but there aren't going to be many of those, as most Werewolves don't want to. And seeing as how he wants lots of them, that sort of poses a problem. So, the only alternative, is to convert the good ones. Get it?
My Nickname: Well, I chose that as my user name (and my e-mail address) basically because the movie Chicago is one of my favourites, well, sort of, and the musical number Mister Cellophane is my favourite. Plus, I really like it, and it's sort of an ironic name, considering I dress head to foot, in black, red, and charcoal, and my hair is blue, so I stand out like a sore thumb. It should be, by all rights, Mister You-Can't-Miss-Him, but that's just, well…dumb.
The link you gave me didn't show, (pouts) so I'm still slightly in the dark, but thanks.
And yup, I'm Canadian.
Lord Localfreak , Thanks again, but your link didn't show either. Sorry. (pouts more). Thanks for the review! It's well appreciated!
cdkobasiuk, Thanks for the review! It's always nice to have a new reviewer. Hope you'll continue to read Sherlock Snape!
NOTE TO ALL: My twentieth reviewer gets a cookie…and….uh….it'll be choco chunk? I don't know what to do for yah…you think of something. LOL.
Chapter Seven: Dark Dungeons, Dark Ages.
"Lycanthropy….Lycanthropy…"
Madam Pince was skirting along down the Restricted section of her pride and joy, the Library, looking for all the books she could find. She knew this Library and it's contents off the back of her hand, but the books she was looking for were not where they should be.
At the very end, of the very last aisle, after Zoology of Carnivorous Creatures, by Samuel Frankshe found a dusty book with red leather and gold trim. Pulling it out, ,she gathered the end the hem of her sleeve in her fist and rubbed at the book, getting rid of the layers of dust it had collected over the years. Blowing a bit on it, and shaking her sleeve to clear it off, she looked down at the title and frowned.
Lycanthropes of the Dark Ages and Their Ties to the Dark Arts, by Sir Lorenzo, Son of Verendz.
She stared at the volume and held it at arms length. This book was not in the archives. She hadn't even heard of it at all. Plus, there was the fact that this was very old. Son of Verendz? What was the author? An Italian Viking?
She shook her head in disbelief. All the original texts on Lycanthropy go missing, and a new one from the 1100's appears. The Dark Ages in Wizarding standards were still mostly a mystery. Rarely were any texts unearthed about them, as many magical folk had vouched to forget the time period all together, as well as it's casualties. Even though this was about Werewolves in the Dark Ages, this still might be highly informational towards the Dark Ages. This book shouldn't be in a Library, it should be stuck in some old Wizard's Museum inside a glass case on a pedestal behind scarlet velvet ropes.
Nevertheless, she decided she would let Remus see it, as she knew he would take great care of it and always prized his and others books. As soon as he was done of it, however, it would be given to Dumbledore to inspect, and Remus would tell of all his findings and give the book a fairly good sized briefing.
Tucking it under one arm, she set off out of the Library and towards the Hospital Wing.
Several popping and cracking sounds echoed throughout the Wing, ricocheting off the wall tiles and bed posts. Again, a series of cracks, followed by a few others, all different sounding then the rest in tone and precision. An irritated sound. Silence. A quick pop.
"All right!" A womanly voice snapped, obviously angry, "I get the point! You're tired, bored, sore, and stiff!" You don't have to crack every single bone in your body merely to irritate me!"
Remus grinned and lowered the other ankle he was about to pop. "Wrong again, Poppy. I wasn't merely trying to irritate you. I had a point to it."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really? What then?"
"To irritate you into giving me a muscle relaxant and pain killer potion."
"Fine!" She huffed and trudged into her office to grab what Remus needed.
Remus shifted and pushed his shoulder blades up against the headboard, wincing. He was still sore, but feeling a bit better. His joints were aching, and cracking his fingers, neck, elbows, wrists and back of one ankle didn't help. He cracked his jaw out of habit and heard an angry cry of frustration as Madam Pomfrey came running back out of her office and to his bed side with two vials; one contained a gurgling purple liquid, and the other a bright, sunshine yellow that looked relatively smooth.
She handed him the yellow liquid and he drank it down in one gulp, grimacing. It may have looked innocent enough, but his mouth now tasted as if he had just eaten a whole pot of uncooked dandelions. However, his muscle loosened and he found moving a bit easier and less painful.
She then took the empty vial and shoved the purple liquid into his hand unceremoniously. It burnt at the roof of his mouth but and he winced, swallowing quickly. It burnt his throat, but as it reached his stomach, all pain went away. In fact, all he felt mostly was numbness, except for in his face. The potion itself and tasted like burning rubber smells.
She looked at him and how he seemed incapable of movement. "Give it a while, Lupin. You'll get feeling back, just no pain. I'd say you should give it…ten minutes? You'll be moving in no time."
He nodded, or tried to, before he frowned. He looked up towards her and gave her a dirty look. "How come all the potions that make you feel better, look fair, but taste fowl?"
She laughed. "Because, Lupin, you wouldn't want to take it if it looked forbidding, and as for the taste, well, if it isn't the most wonderful thing to take down, then you won't get addicted and be constantly taking it to improve yourself." She smiled curtly and left to her office, mumbling something about paperwork.
He watched her go and sighed. That made sense. But he didn't have much time to think on it, as at that moment, an excited looking Madam Pince jogged into the room holding a book in the crook of her arm against her hip and panting. She skidded to a halt next to him and dropped the book on his lap. He stared down at the red leather volume and ran his fingers over the title and name of the author.
"This is old…" He mused.
She shook her head vigorously at him. "Yes, yes indeed. You see, all the other books, the ones that are always there, were gone, nowhere to be found. But I found this book at the very end of the Z's in the Restricted section. Never saw or heard of it in my life. Don't know where it came from. It's was the only book on Lycanthropy I could find, so I brought it to you, but you may only use it on one condition. As soon as your done with it, you must give a full report on all your findings and the basis of the book, then it must be given to Headmaster Dumbledore to examine. Books on the Dark Ages are very few and far between. Be careful with it, yes?"
He nodded, eyes wide and staring at the book. He didn't even know that Madam Pince had left until the sound of the door of the Wing being shut rung out against the walls and into his ears. He reached out and slowly opened the book, making the sort of sound you get when you are prying two pieces of very dry paper apart. Dust went flying everywhere and he coughed before moving it away with his hands. He made sure all the dust was gone from the pages before he examined it. The pages were very yellowed and stiff, with waves on it that gave the effect of it once being wet. Little spills of things that looked disturbingly like blood blotched the top right corner, and seemed to have seeped through till about a quarter of the great volume ended. It was all written in strange runes he didn't recognize. I don't think they covered this in Ancient Runes in my Six and Seventh years, He thought. Picking up his wand, he cast "Ostendo English." and the Runes changed languidly, with a slight golden shine, into printed English. Modern English. He began to read the Introduction.
Introduction: What is the Beast?
The Beast is what we term as the Lycanthrope. A wizard or Common-folk Heaven that changes on the end of every Lunar Month into a creature. This creature is that of the Canis Lupis, a Human-Wolf. The first record of any creature close to such was the founders of Human and Creature relationships on a magical basis.
Twin brothers Remus and Romulus. They were both wizard's whom had been abandoned by their mother and raised by wolves. It is unknown as to whether they actually were of the Canis Lupis or not. As each brother grew older, they both considered the other the Alpha male, and wanted claim to the ownership of new land.
Remus had wanted to rule a new country of their own together, but Romulus was overpowered by greed and conspired against his brother through power and hate. He killed Remus in his sleep and laid founding to the new land he and his brother had discovered. In tribute to himself, he named his Empire after him, and dubbed himself Romulus, Emperor of his new land, Roume.
New settlers moved to Roume and it started as a small country with quaint farm lands and houses. Romulus went out into one such village, and took a sixteen year-old maiden from a more respectable home and made her his wife, who bared him an heir to the throne.
Over the centuries, these villages turned into a thriving and revolutionary Empire, ruled by the Caesars and eventually into the Roman Empire. The name of the Royal city, Roume, had been changed to Rome to shy away from it's founder's in rebellion to the ruling.
Eventually, the magic of the city and it's founder passed into myth with the Common-folk, getting twisted into tales of magic Gods and mighty heavens. Only the Wizards of Noble Blood and Mind kept record and scrolls of it's foundations and it's crimes.
Romulus's bloodline was said to be lost by 824 BC, but the last of the line, Caeser Reynaldo Veritace was said to have never died. If he was deemed immortal, we do not know, or whether he had changed his name and left his home land and royal court, we do not know. The Romulus bloodline may still be in existence, but it is unknown to any of our Scribes and Quillmen.
The Canis Lupis itself, is a bloodthirsty beast of the shadows. During every other day and night of the Lunar Month, he is a normal human, but their blood is cold. They want nothing more then to taste the flesh of men, therefore are often deemed Dark Wizards and stay generally away from the public eye, as they are a cause of suspicion and hatred. Due to this, they hold many ties to the Dark Arts, many prophecies, loop-holes, and ancient magic of the Noblest Blood.
Many of these include potions to make any food taste like human flesh, as is a favourite treat of these Dark Creatures--
Remus shut the book in disgust. He didn't want to read about how truly awful Werewolves were. People could be so narrow-minded. What did intrigue him, however, was the story behind Remus and Romulus. What a strange coincidence that one of the original Werewolves(?) bore the same name as one now. He shook his head and turned the first chapter, hoping to find some info on some kind of ancient tie that had to do with why he was experiencing worse transformations.
Part One: Dark Potions.
Potions made from Canis Lupis Blood…
No good, thought Remus. He skimmed down through the section on Potions and found nothing, it being a very short part. He flipped to Part Two, and discovered that this might help him some.
Part Two: Ancient Bonds to Dark Wizards.
Bonds can be made between Dark Wizards and their companions. When Blood Bonds are made, they last only for each other the participants lifetime, making each others minds accessible to each other only during life and does not carry on throughout the bloodlines.
With Canis Lupis and a Human, it is different, as the Canis Lupis is not completely human and the same rules do not apply. When a Blood Bond is made between the two, it lasts for eternity and is passed on after death through bloodlines, but remains inactive until the Bond is recognized and used again. With a Canis Lupis, the Wizard does not need consent to initiate the Bond and distance does not break it. If the Canis Lupis bears and heir, and they themselves are not Canis Lupis, then the Bond is still intact, but unusable. The bond will not me rekindled until another Canis Lupis of that Bloodline is made. Another deciding factor is if the dark Wizard's heir is not one of the Dark Arts or a Squib, the Bloodline will remain dormant, even if the other is a Canis Lupis. The blood and mind must be exact or close to in order for the Bond to be rekindled.
It is rumored that and ancestor of one of the newest Magic School's (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) founders, Salazar Slytherin, was Blood bonded to the last heir of Emperor Romulus, who was also rumored to be a Canis Lupis, before his disappearance. But there is no fact to this and should not be used as a reliable source.
Remus stopped reading and smiled. So this book was written sometime around 900-1000 AD, shortly after Hogwarts opened and when all the founders were still alive. Amazing. Although, another thing he noticed bothered him a bit. Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin, and therefore could possibly be Blood Bonded to a wizard around today, if Romulus's bloodline still continued.
He ripped off a piece of linen from his bedspread and stuck it on the page, getting the feeling he may need that information later, before he read on.
By the time he had gotten to Part Four, about ancient remedies to effects on Werewolves, he was losing hope. There was absolutely nothing else in this book to help him. Plenty of it was interesting, and fin to learn, but none of it helped him with his question as to what caused his freak transformation.
He blinked blearily and resigned himself to a long day of reading.
Meanwhile, Severus lay on his bed, trying to nap, but becoming steadily unsuccessful as he became steadily more awake.
Dumbledore, as it turned out, had been bluffing about having him and Poppy help to find out the cause of Remus's reason of being in the Hospital Wing for so long. He himself, was doing it, yes, but he had wanted only himself doing it. Said he had a bad feeling that he knew what it was.
Which, of course, couldn't be good, as knowing it gave him a bad feeling.
But in ways, Severus was glad for the time alone, as he could use it as a time to reflect on a confusing subject. His feelings for Remus.
They had only served one day of Potions work together, but it had been one of the best days of Severus's life for a very long time. He had had fun, admitted to another gay that he was homosexual, told the story (albeit, in short form) of his father which he tried to forget, and held Remus in his arms, inhaling Remus' scent. Not to mention his feelings.
He didn't know if they were purely platonic, or what, but he did know there was something about the werewolf that intrigued him. Like, say, his face…or his scent…or his voice…his hands…his hair…his…
Oh dear.
Severus stared at the cracks in his dungeons' ceiling in disbelief. He sounded like a lovesick teenager and he didn't even know if he was attracted to Lupin yet.
However, he had a fairly good idea.
Which couldn't mean anything good for him, as the feelings didn't seem to be reciprocated and he couldn't get the picture of Lupin's face unglued from behind his eyelids, or the sound of his voice from his ears. Which made him want to scream.
In retrospect, he was doomed.
Dawn was peeking in through the curtains, and the Hospital Wing was decorated with intricate shadows and soft golden hues. But it's only occupant was to damned tired to care or even notice. He shut the book with a final 'thunk' and placed it on his bedside table, noticing on the metal clock that it was now five-thirty in the morning. Remus had been reading the ancient tome Madam Pince had given him since nine that morning. And had just finished reading--okay, skimming--all the parts that might have been helpful. Of course, not a single page in that godforsaken two thousand paged volume held a single tidbit of information as to what he had been looking for. Of course, it held a lot of interesting things and was definitely a good read (or skim) but he was now very tired, and irritated. He had made a copy of the page he had marked with a piece of his bed sheet earlier and it was folded on the table beside the book itself, written in his neat script and blue ink.
He rolled over onto his side and brought his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes, fishing around in his brain for something comforting to help in fall asleep. Out of nowhere, Severus Snape came into his mind and he smiled, choosing to think of the way his cloak swished and blended into the shadows, or how he always smelled of spice and soap…or his sharp features that seemed to enchant you. He wasn't ugly, not really, but he wasn't handsome. He had his own, unique angular look about him, dark and mysterious. Which in itself was alluring to the Werewolf.
Within minutes, he was sound asleep.
Severus was by now sitting at his table with a cup of coffee at seven-thirty in the morning and the chill from the grounds was seeping into his chambers and chilling him. He had wrapped himself tightly up in a black, fluffy bathrobe (with he despised, was a gift from Albus, and wore only when he positively had to and was to tired and lazy to cast a warming charm, or the fire was out and he didn't want to bother restarting it), but it wasn't providing him much heat. And the fire was in the living room, which was a dining room away.
After some heavy reflection, he discovered that he did in fact, feel some strange sort of abysmal attraction to the handsome gay werewolf, but he hoped to Merlin it was nothing more. He also found himself hoping (much to his chagrin) that the Werewolf felt the same. Which was ridiculous.
Why would someone like Lupin, loveable, kindhearted, smart, and good-looking, ever want someone like him, hated, mean spirited, and ugly.
Perhaps he was being too hard on himself, but perhaps not.
Yup, he was right, he was Doomed.
A/N: Thanks, and REVIEW! But NO FLAMES! (grins)
Latin Translations:
Ostendo: To make Plain.