Title: Finding Severus

Authoress: Ladya C. Maxine

Rating: T

Summary: see chapter one

Warnings: see chapter one

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Any and all unrecognizable characters belong solely to me and are not to be touched. I am not making any money off of this and I write with the sole intention to entertain.

A/N: I had to watch the third Harry Potter movie a dozen or so times but I was finally inspired enough to make another attempt to continue this fic. Also, the movie really helped establish Remus Lupin's character for me. He's really such a sweet guy!

The three Gryffindors had excused themselves in order to get ready for dinner but he remained behind to finish his homework…for the upcoming three weeks. Anything to keep his mind off of Lucius.

Before he knew it Madam Novell was standing before him, informing him that she was closing up. Looking around, he was surprised to see that the entire place was empty, everyone having left a long time ago. Apologizing profusely, he quickly began to put away his things.

"You've got a real love for books, Snape. Nothing apologetic about that," the elderly woman complimented. "Will you be taking that with you?" She nodded at the book.

"Yes, please, ma'am."

"I'll register it and leave it on the counter so you can take it on your way out."

"Thank you."

"Such a nice young man," she muttered, more to herself as she walked away.

Somehow Severus firmly believed that it was his relationship with Madam Novell that had cemented him the title of Teacher's pet. Every student in Hogwarts had a teacher, or teachers, with whom they got along with better than others. Even Syntrad, notorious for his strict and somewhat vengeful attitude, was favored by a small handful of students. Madam Novell, however, was liked by no one. No one. School gossip had it that she wasn't even tolerated in the teacher's lounge, on her worst of days.

Severus could honestly not recall anything he could have done in his six years attending Hogwarts to earn the unattainable, if not non-existing, human-interaction from the librarian. Granted, he did spend all of his free time here and he always made sure to return the books he borrowed on time, with no marks or torn pages. And yes, he would sometimes re-organize any stray books in the seemingly endless bookcases when they had been carelessly misplaced by another student, but that was purely habitual.

Nonetheless, Madam Novell actually made conversations with him every time he came. It wasn't a strange event to have her warmly greet him good-afternoon while standing before her was a terrified first-grader who she was giving a tongue-lashing for folding donkey-ears in the books to help remember his place better.

If it was any consolation; at least Severus never had to worry about any teachers giving him a hard time. Though he was a below average student in Ancient Ruines, he excelled in his other classes and he did his best and that's what really counter. To the teachers, anyways.

Having returned the other books to their right shelves, quite an undertaking in itself, he carefully picked up his satchel (Pewter was fast asleep inside) and headed for the front of the library where his chosen book had indeed been left on the long counter. Madam Novell was no where in sight, most likely in the back room doing inventory, so he left a small note simply thanking her and wishing her a good evening. Which was being polite, not a suck-up.

The halls were quiet; dinner was still underway according to the large clock on the wall. Then again, Peeves the Pest had a fetish for resetting the school's time system. Most clock, those in more publicly used places, had been charmed with impenetrable spells but others in lesser visited halls and corridors were susceptible to the pesky poltergeist.

"What are you doing out here?" a gruff voice grumbled as a shadowy figure emerged from the doorway to his right. A grey-blue cat slinked to a sitting position beside the worn boots as Filch the caretaker stepped into the hall.

In his forties, Argus Filch wasn't exactly someone one would associate with anything remotely related to 'care'. But that he was and had been for twenty years, which lead to many rumors about his intelligence and education. A well-spread tale was that he was actually a squib, but since no proof was available and the teachers refused to talk about it, it all remained just rumors.

Squib or not, Filch's lot in life was destined to amount to nothing. He had been labeled as Mrs. Novell's male-counterpart; a title even more dubious than 'Madam Novell's favorite student', which Snape was the record holder of. Perpetually grumpy with a look on his face as if he was sucking lemons and smelling Hippogriff dung, Filch patrolled the school like a predator patrolled its domain while stalking unfortunate prey. A stickler for 'old school' punishment, he was always trying to convince Headmaster Dumbledore to bring back the earlier correction methods, particularly one which included hanging undisciplined students by their ankles in the dungeons.

Always wearing dirty and ragged clothes, his hair thin and graying, Filch's appearance was grubby and one wondered how he could possible look after an entire school when he couldn't even do a decent job on himself. Even his cat, Mrs. Twichit, rumored to have satanic powers, which wasn't too farfetched as the feline seemed to always know where trouble was and had a gaze that was near frightening, had a better upkeep.

Squinting from beneath sparse eyebrow, Filch snorted softly.

"Snape. This ain't the dining hall."

"I'm not hungry," he replied.

"Don't think you can get something from the kitchen at night."

"I know that."

"You're not supposed to be sneaking around the halls at this hour."

'Like what you're doing?'

Out loud he said,

"I'm just returning from the library, sir."

"Well keep walking. I ain't got time to be escorting strays."

"Yes, sir. Good night."

While the confrontation might have seemed 'harsh', by Filch-standards it was as close to a decent interaction then most people ever got out of him. Severus never caused the caretaker any headaches so the man was not as suspicious of him as he was towards the rest of the school student population.

"Ey, Snape!" Filch's voice grated from down the hall. "That new student was looking for you!" And with that he continued, fully disappearing.

Had he meant Lucius? Severus' brows furrowed. Deep in pensive thoughts, he almost walked into yet another person who was coming from the opposite direction. Both stopped just in time though the person was at first unrecognizable to Severus as he had a teetering stack of books in his hands, almost blocking his face completely.

"Oh, sorry about that," Lupin said first, juggling the pile. "Can't really see very well around these."

"It's okay," Severus replied, looking around and finding to his great relief that the Gryffindor was alone.

"Research for Astrology," the pale teen explained, indicating to the books. "I'm teamed up with Sirius, which means I'll basically be doing everything. Not that Sirius won't help, but…I'd like to pass this class."

Severus appreciated the jab at the teen's friend but only nodded.

Lupin hesitated, apparently wanting to continue the conversation but unable to come up with a topic. Here was another one of the precious few people who spoke to him. Ironic, however, since, when present, his friends spent their meeting ridiculing or beating the daylights out of Severus.

"Madam Novell was closing up," Severus offered. "But you can return them if you hurry."

"Oh, thanks," Lupin gratefully said. "I don't want to get too much on her bad side."

He nodded again, stepping aside to allow the Gryffindor to pass. Debating for a minute, he added.

"Filch's in the lower corridors."

"Guess that means I'll have to take the stairs," Lupin sighed, but then smiled. "Thanks for the warning. Good evening, Severus."

What freak spell could possibly be keeping someone of Lupin's intellect and discipline with those troublesome idiots? Severus always believed that, if Lupin had been assigned to Slytherin, or if Potter and Black's heads were to spontaneously combust (he personally wished for the latter), he and Lupin would have been something of companions. Lupin shared a passion for reading and was a serious student. And while he was better on a broomstick than Severus, he neither saw the great excitement in Quidditch.

Alas, this encounter with a lone Lupin was a 1 in a 100 chance event. He didn't know what mischief Potter and Black were up to but it was rare to see any member of the Marauders alone for more than an hour. It was like a herd of sheep: one could run through them countless of times but they always regroup quickly.

The image of Potter and Black covered in wool while chewing on grass in a field brought a small chuckle from him as he continued on to his room.

Stuck with the nursery rhyme of 'Bah-Bah Black sheep' in his head all the way, Severus had actually forgotten Filch's words until he opened the door that lead to his room only to find his room mate lying on his own bed, schoolwork spread out before him as he wrote. Vanima was happily sleeping on her master's back, head resting between the blonde's shoulder blades though the sound of the door opening got both their attention.

"Hey," Lucius greeted, about to rise but deciding against it when Vanima meowed in protest. Shooting the smug feline an exasperated glare, he settled back down, meeting Severus' semi-amused expression. "She's had me pinned here for the past hour."

Remembering why he hadn't seen the blond for the past hour, and the time before that, Severus looked away, walking over to his bed to put down his satchel. The front pocket flapped open and out tumbled Pewter, blinking disoriented before recognizing his surroundings. With a loud croak he began wobbling about, almost reaching the edge of the bed before Severus caught him and placed him back in the middle where he stayed, trying to eat the satchel's buckle-strap.

"He looks good," Lucius said, studying the toad he had last seen sporting broken bones.

"Mrs. Mink is a very good healer."

His obvious unease was quickly noticed by the blond who now studied him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Where were you?"

"In the library, though I went to pick up Pewter first."

"Why didn't you come with us? One moment you were on the bench and the next minute you were gone. We looked for you but you were no where so we had to go ahead without you." He rubbed his eyes. "Remind me to never go to Hogsmead with those guys ever again."

At this plea Severus looked up from where he had been collecting his sleeping clothes and towel.

"Why? I thought you liked your new team mates."

"I do," Lucius confirmed, stretching beneath Vanima though the cat still refused to budge. "It's Hogsmead I don't like. I'm not one who enjoys places like that. And the drinks they serve…I've drunken champagne and wine at parties before and occasionally a glass of whiskey. But ale is simply disgusting. It tastes like…"

"Opert fruit juice gone bad?" he couldn't help offering; he also held a strong dislike for ale.

"Exactly. Yet the team stayed on for a third round…or was it fourth? Anyways, I took my leave saying that I had homework to do. I came back to school to look for you and another student suggested your presence in the library but I sort of got lost underway."

"You were looking for me?" he asked, surprised, his early assumptions now starting to haze around the edges.

"You left so soon I figured you had something important to do, but I wanted to ask you if you wanted to study together," the blond shrugged, the action jarring Vanima who opened an annoyed eye. "I met up with a certain Mr. Filch while wandering about. He wouldn't show me to the library, he said it was too far out of his way, but he did point me back to the main hall. After that I decided to simply return to the dorm and wait for you."

"You did…"

"Yes. Tell me something, Severus; Mr. Filch, is he always like that?"

"Like what?"

"Well, when I approached him in the hall he looked at me as if I had insulted him. Whenever I tried to ask him something he snapped and he basically stalked off without a single word after showing me to the main hall. I honestly cannot recall having said or done anything to have offended him."

Perhaps it was wise to inform the blond that Filch's reaction was undoubtedly caused by Lucius' mere appearance. As aforementioned, Filch was about as attractive as an old dish cloth and smelled twice as bad. When in the presence of someone as stunning as Lucius only accentuated this to the caretaker. Simply put: Lucius' beauty brought out the beast in Filch.

"He's cranky with everyone," Severus finally replied when he realized the other was waiting for an explanation. "Though he gets kinda defensive when people with…physical advantages are around him."

"…Oh," Lucius said, catching on to his implication. For some reason those vibrant eyes turned to look at his perfect reflection in the floor mirror standing a few feet away against the wall and something passed in them, taking away their brightness. Looking away from the mirror, rather quickly in Severus' opinion, he returned to his homework though asked is a soft voice, "Were you able to find what you wanted in the library?"

"Yes…I was."

'Plus something I hadn't been searching for.'

Arthur's inside information had almost slipped completely from his mind until he had seen the shadow in the blonde's eyes in the mirror's reflection.

"Severus…why did you leave the field?"

He stopped half-way to the door to go take a shower. Turning around, he found the still dimmed eyes on him.

"I figured you'd want to spend some time with your friends."

Lucius looked even more puzzled.

"So why did you leave?"

"I just figured you'd want to hang out with another crowd," he replied, trying to hint towards the blond without saying it outright.

"I do indeed want to meet other people, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to be your friend anymore." He chuckled, though still a bit stiffly. "If you'd come with us then maybe you would have been able to point out a quieter place, like a coffee shop or something. Neither of us are--"

"Come on, Lucius!" he said, for the first time speaking with an exasperated tone towards the blond. "Look at me! I'm not the type of person who fits in with that crowd, no matter where they go! I have no talent on a broom! Hell, I can't even sit on one, while on the ground! I'm not good-looking or popular. I can't tell great jokes or…whatever! We're too different! You're one of them now; you've always been one of them. You belong with them!"

The room fell silent after his near-tirade. Even Vanima and Pewter stared at the pale teen with wide eyes as he composed himself, brushing his ever annoying bangs out of his eyes while taking deep breaths. Lucius said nothing, but those eyes had slowly taken on the icy chill which each word that had been unwisely spewed.

Realizing only too late what he had accused the blond of, Severus paled even more.

"Lucius…"

"I'll finish my homework in the common room," the blond replied frostily, closing his books and rising from his bed, leaving Vanima to fall with a harmless bounce on the mattress.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think--"

"No, you didn't," Lucius said, passing him without making any eye contact. "You don't know anything about me. "I am not like them, Severus. As my friend, I had hoped you had at least realized that. Thank you for proving me wrong."

And he was gone, walking out the door and closing it soundly shut behind him.

Standing alone, Severus finally moved, almost numbly, and sat down on his bed, replaying what had just happened. Pewter slowly crawled over, staring at his rejected owner with those bulbous eyes.

"I shouldn't have said that, should I?" he asked softly, wringing his towel in his lap. "Damn it! Why did I say that! I didn't mean it! I didn't!"

By now Vanima had crossed over onto his bed, sitting next to Pewter, also curios at the teen's behavior. Seeing the two creatures sitting so peacefully side-by-side, Severus blinked, rubbing the tears out of his eyes.

"Guess you two are friends, huh?" As if understanding him, both looked at each other for a moment before looking back. "You wouldn't be so stupid to say what I did…"

Two days. In just two days he'd managed to meet who would have been his only good friend. And as sudden as it had started, it had ended. And, worse of all, it had been him who had made that final call, intentionally or not.

Tbc...

A/N: No, I didn't make a mistake. Mrs. Twitchit (animal OC) is Filch's cat in this story. Think about it, a cat lives for an average of 12 to 15 years. Snape is in histhirties in the books (my estimation). There's no way Mrs. Norris could have been around when he attended Hogwarts. Unless she really is a satanic cat…hmmm.

Read & Review, please.