"Where the hell is Moody?" the young woman nearly screamed upon bursting through the door with an explosive spell.

"Tonks! What - " Arthur began.

"NO! You lot never get anything done! At least Mad-Eye can bloody look intimidating towards people! Where is he?"

"He's out," Kingsley sighed. "Now what exactly is it that you need? We've already got enough chaos going on in here. Oh, and if this is another message from Scrimgeour, you can tell him he can shove it - "

"Kingsley!" Arthur silenced him with a look. "What's the matter, Tonks?"

"Remus is gone."

-

"And I suppose there's no way in hell you are going to tell me, or anyone else, about this supposed information you have, Severus?" Lupin asked with an unnerving calm.

"You fool. Do you think I want to be the only one that knows? Can you comprehend what such information could do to me? How valuable I now am? There's a price on my head, Lupin. Congratulations. You've caught yourself a wanted man," Snape sneered, although a little more desperately than usual.

"If you would tell the Ministry, they'd know you're innocent and - "

Snape laughed, or rather hissed. "The Ministry? They might as well work in the Muggle world, they are so detached from what truly goes on. You know that as well as I. Why do you think Dumbledore started your precious Order?"

At the name 'Dumbledore' Lupin tensed, giving Snape a look that clearly said he had no right to speak of him. The werewolf was sitting on his haunches in a chair after he had quickly dressed himself, and his wand was still aimed directly at the chest of the other man. When they'd arrived, he hadn't bothered to explain this house, that it wasn't his usual one, that it was…the werewolf's house, but somehow he thought Snape knew. So the position looked odd, but it was distinctly canine. Distinctly a position of power, of someone ready to strike. Lupin's problem was that he didn't know who to strike. Only a few moments ago he had seriously considered using an Unforgivable, but now he found himself genuinely confused by the man, the enigma before him. Confused and a little anxious.

"You're afraid of me," Snape said, the corners of his thin lips twisting upwards in the closest thing he'd ever displayed to a smile.

Lupin started and quickly broke eye contact. Snape had been in his mind. The feeling disturbed him to no end. For such a private man, an invasion like that was shocking, shattering at times. Snape had done it to him before. But in an odd way, he expected it. Sometimes he felt that his mind wasn't his in the first place, that he shared it with some monster that came from somewhere else entirely. Still, when it was a person there, that was terrifying.

"I should check on your bite," Lupin finally said after a long pause, lowering his wand and sighing with resignation. He approached Snape slowly, not out of fear, but sheer wonder. "Who are you?" he muttered under his breath.

Snape heard.

"I'm who I've always been. Don't touch me," he replied, but there was no snarl. It was simply a statement. Controlled.

"I have to. This could become infected. He bit your neck, it's very dangerous. I'm just going to have a look," Lupin tried to say evenly.

He pulled back the rough robe material, thinking it odd to see Snape in this color of tan for once. This was the robe he had conjured, not the man's usual apparel of black and nothing but. Upon the first skin-on-skin contact, Snape visibly tensed, so hard that the sofa rocked forward a bit. He found himself wanting to calm the man down, to say 'This is me, I'm not the wolf, I'm real, I'm human, I promise.' But he bit his tongue. Lupin had said that exact statement in dreams, in nightmares even, to countless people.

He looked at the pierce marks where Greyback's teeth had sunk in. It wasn't entirely the neck – it was more like shoulder and neck and chest. A werewolf had a big bite. He touched softly and pulled back at the hiss he heard. But he noticed something strange at the juncture of neck and shoulder. The bite marks covered a vein. Like a vampire's, only less precise, and much more brutal. And they sunk in far deeper, as if searching for something.

"Severus – something's….this isn't how these usually look…" Lupin trailed off, unsure of what to say as he was unsure of what he was seeing.

"What are you blathering about?"

"No…it's, this isn't right. It looks like he bit to draw blood. Not in exactly the right spot to make you bleed to death, but there was something else going on here…"

Snape said nothing. He was sitting completely still, staring ahead at the wall, and breathing. Lupin had never heard the man breathe like that before. Well, he was fairly sure he had never really had a reason to pay attention to Snape's breathing or any other vital signs, but this was the breathing of a man afraid.

"What?" Lupin began, tentatively. "What's…"

"It would seem I've just become more valuable."

Snape looked down at himself, hiding his face from Lupin's view, but giving the werewolf a much clearer view of his neck. As Snape hid, Lupin observed. How ironic. How like our childhood, Lupin thought. But that was pointless, he had to come back to the here-and-now. And right now, he was noticing something else to alarm him. "Severus, there's blood all over this wound. I need to clean it off."

"It's not mine."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Clean it. Do…whatever it is you do, I suppose you would know. You don't look exactly sparkling clean yourself Lupin. Why so worried over me?"

"I'm just trying to understand this. You. I don't know if I wish you were dead or if I wish you'd…I don't know what I wish. I never have," the werewolf said softly, mostly to himself.

Snape craned his head around as far as it would go while he was still tied in this awkward position. He caught Lupin's eyes, forcing the other man to hold his stare. And Lupin allowed it. For this one moment, or few moments, as he lost track of time, he wasn't afraid. And he stared right back, all the while gently moving a cloth over Snape's shoulder. He stared right back and hid nothing. He figured Snape had done a good deal of opening up for the day. And he was always one to give as good as he got.

Snape broke the silence but not the look in an oddly calming way. "Would you mind untying me, Lupin?"