Summary: Remus journeys in Rome and becomes introduced to his host's past lover, Harry drags him to a secret gully behind Hogwarts where they encounter Severus, and strange things happen with an Hour Glass.

Disclaimer: I have chained J.K Rowling to one of my various dungeon walls in my Medieval Torture Room in the basement, and have tortured her by feeding her 'Fly Pie' (recipe courtesy of Franklin the Turtle™) until she has given me the instructions and whereabouts to the ingredients and the making of Polyjuice Potion. I have made it, taken it, and I now appear to be J.K Rowling. However, the fact remains that even though I live her life, gain her credit, and get her money, I am, in fact, not the real J.K Rowling, and, furthermore, I regret to announce that she is still in ownership of the rights. My pardons to her. Don't worry though, I do own the plot, and I have upgraded to feeding her chicken bones. Cheers.

A/N: Again, I am sorry about the even longer wait for updates. Again, life has been hectic, what with Christmas and New Years and the like. And, it's kind of a crappy result to have so little writing down within the period of almost a month. Shame on me! However, it is up now, and I am not making any promises to have the next one up any sooner. You may as well get used to it. Sorry!

Also, I would like to note that this is in fact the chapter when Remus and Severus get together, so to speak, but the actual writing that depicts it, is really shitty. I have no excuse for the bad writing, other then simply, today, when I wrote it, was definitely not my most ingenious day. (rolls eyes). Oh well, better luck next time.

Thanks to:

Everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry, but there wont be any personal thank you's, as Fanfiction is being a dick and won't let me reread all the reviews for my last chap. Thanks Everyone!

Chapter Fourteen: Little Kiddies Rumble.

In a split second, he knew where he was looking out to, what sort of twisted past it really held.

Rome.

----

Ancient Rome.

As in, so far before the Birth of Christ it wasn't funny.

Not in least.

Which fails to explain why Remus felt like laughing hysterically, even though he knew he couldn't.

He let the eyes look where they wanted, drinking in the sights he presumed no one short of real Seers in his own time could have ever before witnessed. The sharp, angled street on which they were standing was made of strictly designed cobble stones, looking as though they were constantly spit shined by some kind of unidentifiable 'street butler'. In fact, everything around here seemed to be in top condition for it's time, shiny and electrifying. It screamed of power. Somebody important must be within nearby residence, Remus though with sick satisfaction. Now he was left wondering who his host was, and to what business he was doing in this part of the Empire. If it was an Empire yet…Remus wasn't so sure it had developed to that yet…

The feet turned and began walking north along the street, and as the day rose, Remus saw more and more people emerge from strange buildings, all elegant and manifested by the obvious signs of wealth. The city was coming alive. His host quickened his pace as more people emerged and began casting him strange looks. Then, it seemed, people began to really recognize him, as the either exaggeratedly nodded their heads, or bowed. Remus never saw any women on the streets, and the only children he saw appeared to be prim and proper, wearing straight, clean and tidy tunics of either soft brown or tan.

He felt himself tilt his chin up, and he realized that his host was barely paying any regards at all to the people around him, merely held himself up with pride. Okay…so maybe he was important himself… The feet reached a set of steps, a huge set of steps, and slowly looked up onto some sort of Roman architecture style castle or temple that had been obscured before by a huge lining of tress, thick and pressed tight together.

They began to climb, and Remus saw guards in clinking clothing, obviously hiding some sort of armor, and holding short, broad swords at the ready. Beady little eyes looked at him sideways in all directions from under gold plated helmets that reached an arch at the top. Their feet were donned in sandals, and seemed entirely uncomfortable, but they definitely weren't about to complain, it seemed.

Soon, they reached the top, and the two guards standing watch over the broad oak doors nodded their heads respectably, and pulled them open buy the large, scarlet handles. They walked inside, and several more guards nodded at them as they wound their way through several corridors and halls, rooms and passages, until the came to dark wooden doors at the end of a broad hall covered of paintings of things Remus didn't care much to look at. The carpet that adorned the stretch of corridor was of a colour that sickeningly reminded Remus of blood, trimmed with gold thread.

They knocked on this door, unlike the others, and there was a sound of heavy footsteps, a clanking of chains, and then the loud creaking of the door as it opened to allow them entry. What Remus saw before him shocked him more then anything else he had seen so far.

Before them was a tall, thin man with curly golden hair and amber eyes. He looked tired, but full of some sort of darkness, some kind of sick and twisted glee that rested behind the caring façade and blue flecks around the pupil in his right eye. The scary part was how he looked a bit like Remus. No, scratch that, exactly like Remus, only less woebegone, and much more hateful. The appearance, however, was an exact copy, except how this man's ears were slightly pointed, and his lips thinner and whiter, hands longer and thinner. Other then that, he was the spitting image. Right down to the blue flecks.

His host moved forward into the room past the man, and turned to him, taking a step further, and began to smile, until his eyes shifted and Remus caught a glimpse of a fragile looking woman, no older then twenty, holding a baby boy wrapped in a tan blanket on her lap. His host's expression immediately changed, and he pressed his fingers together at chest level, gave a short bow, and spoke in a rich baritone,

"Emperor Lupis."

Remus 2, who was supposedly Emperor Lupis, smiled. "Senator Slytherin, how nice it is to see you today. Is there something you wanted to discuss?"

Remus' heart stopped. Not only did this Emperor, or Remus 2, or whoever he was have a name that was only ONE letter away from his, but he was inside the body of an obvious ancestor of Salazar Slytherin, and therefore….therefore Voldemort. Remus suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and disgusted.

The Host's eyes cast a quick glance to the woman who was looking at the floor, and bouncing the baby. "Yes…but not here, or at least not around Isabella and Ulfræ."

Lupis, who was not within the line of vision of his wife and child, grinned sadistically. "Very well then." He turned to his wife. "Isabella, take Ulfræ down to the nursery for a bit and play with him." It was not a request, it was an order.

The wife didn't dare look up, but appeared slightly scared of her husband as she got up and walked to the door, pushing it open and leaving. As she shut the door, Slytherin's eyes cast a sidelong glance at it, and Remus saw long, engraved marks like that of claws. He could relate to that, having spent many long nights of the full moon scratching and clawing at anything within his range of vision. But wait a minute…did that mean that this Lupis character was a….?

Lupis instantly reached for Slytherin and dragged him close, pressing him up tight against his body. Oh god, oh god oh god oh god…Thought Remus, wanting desperately to leave.

"I find it odd," Lupis whispered, breath hot against his Host's ear, "That no matter how many people call me by my first name, you still call me by my last."

Slytherin chuckled. "It is hard to get over some habits of my home land, love."

"To live is to learn, Françoise."

Françoise? As in, Françoise Slytherin? As in, FS? And Lupis…..RL&FS….that would make Lupis' first name start with an R…but what could it be?

His attention was reverted back to the man before him as he licked a trail down Françoise's neck. Remus shuddered, or, more like, his Host shuddered. A bite was supplied, then a sucking kiss to sooth the sharp sting of teeth on his neck. Lupis' breath was hot against his neck. "Missed you." He pushed him backwards to another door, turned the knob, and fell into a vast bedroom. "Missed our trysts."

Françoise chuckled, but simply kissed the other's Adams apple. It was obvious the Emperor was just as in control in bed, as he was in politics. He pushed Françoise down on the bed and climbed on top of him, breathing starting to come in ragged gasps. "Say it, or I won't continue."

"Say what?" Remus's Host breathed out between pursed lips.

"My name, Françoise, my name."

His Host leaned up, and licked a languid stroke of his tongue along Lupis' outer ear, then sucked gently on the earlobe, before saying in a breathy whisper, "Romulus"

Then all was dark for Remus, and the bedroom, the people, even Rome, or Roume, as it would have been then, went spiraling out of control, and he felt himself collapse on his living room floor in a daze. Blackness took over him, and before he finished his descent, a flashbulb picture fleeted across his vision. It was an Hour Glass, or an egg timer, stone grey, with gold sparkles spiraling like a snow storm inside. Just as soon as it had appeared, it vanished, and he fell into the dark as he heard a series of high, cold belts of laughter.

Voldemort…what…what have you done to me?

Remus was awoken by hard pounding on his chamber door, and someone yelling, "Remus!" He groaned, attempting to get up, but falling back down in the process. His head felt like it was doing summersaults around his body, and he was beginning to feel nauseas. He tried getting up again, and this time was more successful, propping himself up on the end table by the couch, and holding his head on his shoulders with one hand.

He blinked a few times, until he guessed he could handle walking, and headed to get the door. Why was I on the floor? He thought. He had a faint remembrance of hands gliding along his body and somebody whispering a name…or was that someone else's body? He shook his head, trying to knock out the confused thoughts. The last thing he could remember properly was spilling the tea somehow….Didn't he get a letter? No….no, probably not…..he never got letters….

Shaking his head again, he opened the door.

Before him, stood a very anxious Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Remus!" Harry breathed out in relief. "Where were you? What took so long to answer the door?"

Remus just shook his head, not sure how to answer. "Uhh…..I just….." He looked at their expectant faces, then sighed. "I just had a rough night, boys." Feeling better, but tired, he rubbed his hand over his face. "What time is it?"

Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Ron quickly checked his wrist watch, "About one o'clock in the afternoon. On Sunday."

Remus' eyes widened. Wow. Last he remembered, it was about One o'clock in the morning. He'd slept that long on his living room floor? Wow. He shook his head one more time, and caught a concerned look from both teenagers. "Well, is there a reason for being here Harry, Ron?"

They both grinned. "As a matter of fact…" Ron said.

"…There is." Harry finished. "Would you please come with us? We've got something to tell you…"

#######Two Hours Earlier#######

Harry Potter and CO. were walking briskly down the corridor that lead to the Entrance Hall steps, and out the Front Doors. Harry was grinning, the others looking confused. Hermione frowned deeper as he lead them outside and along a jutting stretch of wall off to the side of the castle, and near the end of the grounds.

"Harry, where are we going?"

He grinned devilishly. "You'll see." As they passed the stretch of wall, and came to a dip in the land around the other side, he halted them. They were facing some kind of grove, without trees, that was dipped near the edge of the Forbidden Forest where it bordered the edge of Hogwarts at the cliff it rested upon. It wasn't very deep, barely a dip at all, but a few sparse birch trees sprinkled it's edges, and it had a gathering of little rocks in the middle, plus one very large, flat and smooth boulder, perfect for sitting on. The floor, as it may, was made of lush green grass, and a few summer flowers still stood valiantly beginning to droop from the foreshadow of the coming winter months.

This little nook was right next to the edge of the cliff, on a low slope, so every once in a while, some splashes of a wave rolling on the rocks below littered it's ground. It was hidden by the stretch of wall and trees, plus there were no windows or markings of any sort on this side of the castle, so they knew they must be just outside the farthest reaches of the unused and forgotten dungeons. As this thought hit Hermione, she shuddered. They weren't used for a reason. She didn't want to think about what kind of things took place in there while Salazar Slytherin was still alive.

She turned to face Harry, whose eyes were glazed over and looking up at a turned on light in a high tower up above. 'That's the North Tower, were Professor Trelawney is…' thought Hermione with dislike. Harry frowned and shook his head, looking back at the group. "This is where I come to think when I need it. Remember when I kept disappearing all those times last year after….after Sirius…." Harry coughed, smiled slightly bitterly, and continued, "Well, I was just walking around, and I came upon this place. It was a great help to me in hard times." He grinned. "Thing is, I'm not the only one who thinks so."

He grinned wider. "Snape comes here too. And, he'll be here in about…roughly two hours. He always does."

A slow grin worked it's way onto Ginny's face. "So what we're going to do is bring Remus here too?" The others grinned.

"Precisely."

#####Five Minutes Earlier#####

Severus sat on the curved rock in the middle of the small treeless grove behind the long stretch of wall at the back of Hogwarts. He often came there to think, and work out his own, personal business away from school and his teaching career.

Today, he sat, lonely and confused, with his mind reeling back and forth between Remus and his own, botched detective work.

He had been thinking about Remus a lot since school started--far too much, in his opinion--and by his reckoning, his head should explode within a month more of thoughts, splaying images of the Werewolf straight across the Ocean.

Either that or a severe nervous breakdown. Which was definitely more likely.

He sighed and leaned back as far as he could without straining or tipping over, and stretched his neck to look up at the clouded sky. How long had it been since he had seen the sun? It felt like eons, even though he assumed it had only been a day or two since the clouds had gained dominance over the skies. His sense of time was now constantly veering off track, and he found himself frequently bringing out his pocket watch and blinking a few times before processing the time. It was turning into a habit.

He yawned, not caring about a sign of weakness, knowing there was no one there to regard what actions he was performing, and settled down again. He was absentmindedly drumming his fingers against his black-clad thigh, and biting softly down on his lip.

What he need was a hot cup of coffee.

Black Coffee.

#####Ten Minutes After Harry and Ron's Appearance#####

Remus was in the act of being dragged around the back of the Castle, wondering what the heck was going on, and how he got the painful lump he could feel throbbing on the back of his head. He turned to Harry.

"What's the hurry?"

Harry seemed to almost grin, but quickly recovered and turned to look at Remus, frowning in a way that suggested looking into the sun, regardless of the cloud cover. "We need to talk about something, is all, and I know the perfect place to do it."

Ron nodded. "You'll find out when we get there."

Harry had to refrain from giggling.

Severus lifted his head out of thought and turned towards the sound he had picked up.

Approaching feet.

Who would be coming here, towards his secret hideout? Dumbledore seemed the most plausible answer, but he could make out three blurred figures coming closer every minute in the distance. He watched until they disappeared behind the stretch of wall. They would reappear, approximately five meters away from him around the edge of the wall, on the lip of the gully, looking down at his quaint figure resting uneasily against the hard, jagged surface of the rock beneath him.

He started counting the seconds in time with the tapping of his thumb against his thigh again, until he lost track of the actual hour. It couldn't have been more then 200 thumb beats, could it? Where was his pocket watch? As he reached into his waistcoat pocket beneath his robes, he let his hands close around a foreign object. What he pulled out was not his pocket watch.

In the palm of his hand rested an Hour Glass, an 'egg timer', if you will. He had no recollection of placing that in his breast pocket, and patted at his clothing to find his pocket watch. When the search ended empty handed, he held out his hand and let the glass rest precariously in the middle. It was wood, besides the glass, but painted stone grey, and the grains of sand inside were a sharp gold. He turned it upside down and watched as the sand began to fall through the thin crevice like tiny stars falling from heaven at the end of the world.

He became enchanted, unable to look away. It was only when the last star fell, and a sound of footsteps near at hand woke him from his state of mind and caused him to look up, startled. He then remembered the approaching figures, but currently forgot the glass still held in his outstretched palm. He braced himself, sitting up a little straighter, and watched as the three figures appeared around the wall corner, and stood, staring at him on the edge of the gully. He looked the three figures over.

"Nothing's sacred." He said in dismay.

Ron began to uncharacteristically laugh at the look on his face and Harry glared at him, silencing him to naught more but restrained chuckles. Snape shot metaphorical daggers at him. Harry turned to Snape after shooting a quick glance to Remus, whose eyes were wide and staring at the Hour Glass in Severus' hand. "Are we interrupting something?" He asked innocently, waving a hand carelessly at the Glass.

Severus looked down at the glass in his hand, then back up to Harry and glared, opening his mouth in a cruel shape to snap back at him, but Remus bet him to it.

He walked quickly forward, taking all three off guard, and pointed, with a wild glint in his eye, at the glass. "Where did you get that?" He whispered, his voice hoarse. Before Severus could answer, he turned to the boys and gave them a stern look. "Please leave us."

They nodded. This wasn't exactly how they had planned on it happening, but with those two alone together, something was bound to happen, so they left well enough alone, and turned and began running back to the castle to report on what happened to Hermione and Ginny, as soon as they had rounded the wall.

Remus turned back to Severus expectantly. Severus mouthed soundlessly, but managed to choke out. "I….I don't know…."

Something flashed in Remus' eyes. He reached his hand out, enthralled by the tiny flecks of gold. "Let me see it…"

Severus quickly snatched it back and shoved it in his breast pocket once more, not liking the look in Remus' eyes when he had beheld the Hour Glass. Remus blinked, once, twice, three times, then shook his head and stared at Severus' face, his eyes seemingly clear, shining and golden. "I'm sorry." He whispered to him, cheeks tinting a slight pink. "I didn't mean to…." He sighed. "It just reminded me of something."

Severus' eyes where hooded. "Like what?"

Remus frowned and pursed his lips. "I don't remember."

A small smile graced Severus' lips and he crooked an eyebrow at the Tawny Man. "Per usual." he teased.

Remus laughed, then grew silent, and looked away from Severus, to a small weed struggling to stay upright and alive at the edge of the rock which bore his counterpart. They fell into uncomfortable silence, and Severus shifted before casting a fleeting glance at the Wolf, then back down to there original pointed direction--his feet. He was the first to break the silence.

"Remus, we need to talk. Right now."

Remus' breath hitched but he nodded sullenly. "I know." What followed after was a very pregnant pause. Then, "Look, I'm sorry about happened in the Library, I didn't-"

"Don't." Severus said, barely above a whisper.

Remus stopped and looked up at the man before him, surprised to find that he had stood up and was standing naught more then two feet away. "Don't what?"

Severus' eyes clenched shut, and when he reopened them, Remus caught a flash of pain behind the thick walls of obsidian. "Don't say you didn't mean to. Don't say it was nothing. Don't say that we should forget it, and, for the love of God, please don't say that you don't want to know what it would have been like if you hadn't of stopped, or if I kept my fat mouth shut." He sucked in a long, rattling breath between his teeth and closed his eyes again, not caring that he was showing exuding amounts of weakness, not caring that this Werewolf had broken down his calm, collected barrier and touched his heart, and not caring that he had forgotten all he was ever taught by his father and himself in a matter of seconds. "Just don't."

Remus' eyes were wide with shock, his throat was clogged and his eyes stung. He felt a pressure inside his chest spread to his stomach and to his toes. He felt lightheaded, and bewildered, but at the same time, he had never felt more sure about anything in his life. Here, standing before him, was Severus Snape, weak and vulnerable, and opening his heart up, in the way of a Werewolf's claws. Freely.

He couldn't breath, he couldn't think, he couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet. All he knew was Severus Snape, and what he was feeling in that one, composed, designed, and signified moment of time. It was as if one grain of sand inside the Hour Glass that had rested in the other man's age-weathered palm had exploded, causing the glass to break, and each new, smaller grain to scatter themselves around them, leaving time standing still, and only in motion between the two.

If he had blinked, he wouldn't have known, and each and every shadow and crevice, and sharp, defined angle that made up the one and only Severus Snape seemed to become himself, and an eternity stood inside the dark pools of obsidian that he couldn't look away from.

Save me, Orpheus, Save me from the Dark.

His breath whistled out in one, long, slow motion of warm air passing through his parched lips. He was a Werewolf, no one loved a werewolf. No one was supposed to at any right. He then felt a surge of dignity that sent him spiraling back to the present and to the reality of the dark man before him. Everyone needs love, and everyone is deserving of it.

Especially him, and Severus. Together. No one could say anything about it, and Remus wasn't about to let the probably only chance slip by. He finally relented to his own ice wall he had been carving around his feelings, and came to terms with one fact: He was falling hard for the dark, mysterious, Severus Snape.

And, being the level headed Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, and Courageous Gryffindor, he did the only logical thing one could do in such a situation.

He closed the remaining gap between them, and grabbed Severus roughly (but not painfully) by the jaw and lifted his face to his, the obsidian pools leaving the ground to stare in shock and wonder up at the amber eyes of the Werewolf, now appearing more like pools of liquid fire. Before he had a chance to say, or do anything, Remus descended quickly and pressed his lips roughly against the Dark Haired Man's.

Severus' eyes shot open in the same instance that Remus' closed, but they soon relaxed into a contented half-mast position when Remus slipped his arms around Severus' waist and pulled him close against his frame. Severus licked along the other's bottom lip, and nipped a little before Remus opened his mouth and both tongues jotted out in a shock of energy that had both pairs of hips clashing together.

Severus moaned, but broke the kiss and pulled back slightly. Remus knew both of them had wanted that for a long time, but Severus blushed and looked a way. He spoke softly. "A picture is worth a thousand words, but an action is worth more. Do you mean this?" he waved his hand vaguely between the two of them.

Remus' eyes closed, but he tightened his hold on the man in his arms. "Yes. I wouldn't of said any of those things you asked me not to. I couldn't of. I just…." He sighed, opened his eyes and broke away from Severus, still standing close, but running a golden hand through his tawny hair and pursing his lips in contemplation. "Ever since we started working on The Potion, I've learned more about you as a person, then I have within the last twenty-some years." He looked up at the quiet form of Severus, whose eyes were glinting. "I kinda like what I found out."

Severus grinned uncharacteristically and his dark eyes glittered more. "It seems, Wolf, that we have more in common then at first perceived." He waved a hand to the rock behind him. "Come and sit, and we shall talk. It appears that there is much yet that each of us needs to understand."

And so they did.

As their conversations drew to a close, and what little sunshine could be seen through the dark shrouded cape of the overcast sky, was fading to a desolate blue. The world was darkening ever the more quickly, and the air was growing to new heights around the chill factor. An owl hooted far off in the Forbidden Forest, and Remus sighed, sagging against the chest of his new found partner, and squeezing lightly on their clasped hands around his stomach.

He tilted his head back and looked up into the shadowed face of Severus who looked down at him with one eyebrow cocked, but not cruelly. "Severus, we should head back…but…"

Severus' eyebrow shot higher in silent question, but his lips traveled down to Remus' ear and placed a soft kiss against the earlobe, before he turned his head and kissed the high point of the Werewolf's cheekbone. "But what?"

Remus eyes closed and he leaned farther into Severus' heat. "Could I please see that Hour Glass? I remember it from somewhere, but I don't remember where, exactly. It's an odd feeling. I know I know the answer, but I'm not sure what that answer is. It's like a dream that I can't quite remember, but still stays with me, fuzzy and forgotten."

Severus studied him, then nodded, and removed his hand from Remus' to reach into his breast pocket once again, and retrieved the Hour Glass. He was in the process of handing it to the Werewolf when he stopped suddenly. He frowned at the bottom of the Glass, chanced a quick look at Remus' puzzled expression, then held the bottom close to his face for inspection.

"There's an inscription written here." He said slowly, casting a wary eye to Remus. "It says,

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And Heaven in a Flower,
Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand,
And Eternity in an Hour.

…and then there is a small etching of an hour glass beneath it. Here, have a look."

He held it back out to Remus. Remus lifted his arm, feeling almost like it was made of lead, and gripped one end of the hour glass, while Severus still held the other. Automatically, Remus' head slashed back and Severus let out a cry of surprise as images began to flash past their fields of vision in erratic motion. A hand holding a quill, a crimson eye, tall, Roman buildings, guards, a woman and a baby, a man that looked remarkably like Remus, and even faster flashes of two men moving together. Then, just as quick as it had come, the visions dissipated and both released the hour glass.

But, instead of it falling to the ground and shattering, it remained suspended in the air between them, and as Remus' stared, shaking, eyes wide and filled with unseen pain, the grains seemed to almost explode, and whirled around inside like a snow storm.

Severus, still quite shaken, but internally called to the aid of Remus, grabbed the Wolf's shoulders and shook him, eyes wild with concern. "Remus….? REMUS?!"

Remus' eyes locked onto Severus' and he opened his mouth, but all that came out was a strange gurgling sound. Severus, by now thoroughly perturbed, shook him again. Remus' eyes rolled back into his head, then returned to normal, before he sunk, quivering against Severus, breathing heavily, and seeming scared.

Things seemed to have quieted down suddenly, in retrospect, casting an eerie peace into the gully after what had just happened.

Remus whispered hoarsely into Severus' chest. "I know…I know what V-Voldemort wants." He looked up again. " 'The New Year is approaching, and with it comes new blood.'" He inhaled sharply. "I know who the heir of Romulus Lupis is."

Severus' eyes widened beyond normal human capability, and his jaw dropped down.

The strange Peace would be Short Lived.

They had entered the Calm Before the Storm.

A/N: The Inscription on the bottom of the Hour Glass is a sample of works by William Blake, and belongs to him. It is also one of my favoutite quotes. (grins). REVIEW but NO FLAMES!