Opium.

A pungent haze filled the domed chamber. Sticky. Hot.

Black soiled robes lay in a heap on the white marble floor. A bloody mask was discarded on the top of the pile. The opium clouds dominated most of the room and made it difficult to see details.

Severus settled himself into the hot pool at the center of the floor. His arms were caked with blood, and the water line lapped against his chest, turning maroon blotches into violent red swirls on the surface.

He was still drunk, and high from the opium. A black cigarette was threaded through the fingers of his right hand, and as he took a puff, a whirl of smoke lifted into the fog, smelling of cloves and incense. His eyes were vacant as he gazed out into the night. The misty panes of the window were his only source of entertainment—that, and his memories of the revel. The clock on his mantle echoed the chime of four in the morning from the parlor. The fire in the hearth was dying down.

The click of his bathroom door could be heard. The draft from the bedroom and the squeak of hinges invaded his space. He was too far gone to care.

Unshed tears glistened in his eyes, and the sweat that had yet to be cleansed from his upper body tingled and itched under dried dirt and blood. Heels clapped quietly on the floor.

"Remus." He spoke the name as if to nothing. Rolling his head back against his shoulders, he sunk farther into the water, letting out a hiss at the contact between the wet heat and his skin.

"Severus," Lupin whispered. The opium was rapidly affecting his mind. And Remus was getting high as well. He inhaled slowly. "How did you know it was me?"

"T—the only one who knows the password to my rooms." His words were hushed and slurred. "What do you want?"

The ounce of reason left in Lupin's head allowed him to lift his wand. The window blasted open, and the hallucinogenic clouds wafted away. Severus involuntarily shivered at the contact, taking another long drag from the clove cigarette in his hand.

Lupin walked around to the window and sat on the ledge, looking down at Severus with calculating eyes. He hated what he saw.

Yes, it was true that the man before him had caused him pain in his childhood. Yes, it was true that he hated Severus then. Their years as students at Hogwarts had composed tensions between them that would leave lasting marks. But that did not change the fact that Severus had turned away from Lucius and Voldemort long ago. Severus had returned to the light and given himself entirely to the war. He had eagerly brewed potion after potion to save Remus' poor battered soul—to release him from the beast within. He didn't have to. Lupin turned his head to look beyond the window.

He couldn't bear to see a man so broken. Severus deserved to live after all these years. But what he saw was only surviving. Lying there, limply in the water, bloody and cold. His eyes clearly dilated, even though they were as black as the night. His Dark Mark, violent and bruised, indelible and mocking his existence.

Weakly, Severus shifted to a sitting position; taking a last puff from his cigarette, he crushed it against the marble edge of the bath. His eyes were empty. He tried in vain to lift an eyebrow, his signature motion, yet it only came across as injured.

"Well?… What the fuck do you want, Lupin?" His voice was hoarse, strained. "I didn't ask you to come and mock me in such a s...state." His voice faltered and he brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"I was coming to thank you, Severus. But now, after seeing you like this, I want to help you." Lupin looked again to the man in the bath.

"Whatever the hell for?" Severus spoke into his wrist as he continued to massage his forehead.

"Because, this isn't healthy. All of these violent revels and constant work, it's… it's too much for you." Lupin stood and walked to the supply closet to the right of the toilet. Removing a vial of Sober-up Potion, he carried the bottle toward the bath again, uncorking it for him.

Severus glared at it with distaste, but, knowing that he was defeated, gulped down the contents of the vial. As his head cleared he spoke. "You have no idea, Lupin, no fucking idea!" He threw the bottle against the wall, shattering it to pieces.

Lupin was unaffected by the outburst. Calmly, he stooped by the edge of the pool and removed a cigarette from the box. Lifting it to his mouth, it automatically lit. He took a long drag. "You always did have good taste in cigarettes."

When the darker man did not answer him, Lupin looked down to find Severus' head in his arms—his black hair hiding his pale hands. Just before Lupin began to speak again, Severus mumbled softly. "I'd beg you to kill me if it wasn't for the Order."

"No." He chuckled. "No, you wouldn't. You would have already done it yourself by now." Lupin moved again to sit by the window, taking another long drag from the cigarette.

He sighed. "That's what worries me the most. It's really time you lived your life, Severus… We'll win this war someday. Then what will you do?"

Snape lifted his head to glare at Remus again. "Then… I'll die, Remus. I'll die. If I'm not dead already by that time."

"And how exactly will you die?" Lupin narrowed his eyes challenging him. "You'll be a hero."

Snape snorted. "Oh I can picture it. Let me see… I'll bet I'll have my picture taken too, front page of the Daily Prophet, right next to Potter—"

"Harry would be glad to share the spotlight for once and you know it. It was apparent he wasn't his father the middle of his fifth year. Back when we lost Sirius. Sirius, remember him? If you were half the man he was you'd give Harry a break for once. "

"Go to hell."

"Not that easy, I'm afraid." Lupin tossed the butt of his smoke out the open window. The draft reminded him again of Severus' state. "Really Severus, opium?"

"It was my father's."

"Who is now dead."

"Exactly. Nothing gets by you," he sneered.

"Not when I'm forced to watch an old schoolmate destroy himself." Lupin smoothed the corner of his mustache.

"Oh please, Remus, quit the pity party," he scoffed. "You don't care."

"I do."

"It's the opium."

"It's not, Severus." He allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. "Don't you even realize why I came here in the first place?"

"To make my life even more of a living hell apparently." He then immersed his entire body into the water, the clear herby scent of the liquid rising with the steam, cleansing him of the remains of death that clung to his form. When he reached the surface and pushed the hair out of his face, Remus was laughing.

"What the bloody fuck is funny about any of this?"

"Haven't you realized?"

"No…" Severus processed the events of the evening, the welcome feast, and the full moon. "Wait… Oh my… gods!" It was so out of character for him, but Severus possessed, at that moment, what could easily be called a grin.

"It worked." Remus was beaming.

"So it did." He paused. "Congratulations, Lupin. Never again will you howl at the moon."

Remus moved to sit on the chaise a few feet away from the edge of the pool and Severus. He took a moment to formulate the words through his apparent glee. "You do realize that you've cured lycanthropy."

"Of course I do!" Snape's head jerked towards Lupin, water droplets splashing from his wet tendrils of hair. "But I also realize that it won't matter, for anyone other than you anyway… because of the war."

"Yes, Severus. But when we win—"

"If we win." The darker wizard turned his face towards the surface of the water again.

"When we win, Severus. Then you will go down in history."

"I'll be dead, remember?" He cocked his head and smiled in what Lupin believed to be obnoxious satisfaction.

"Well there, Severus. There… There's your reason." Remus's face came closer to the other man.

"It's not enough… not after all that I've done." Severus' eyes were fire. He gave a glare that would have even the strongest Gryffindors running.

Something in the mind of Remus Lupin accepted the challenge in Severus' eyes. What he wouldn't do to save the soul of this complicated ex-Death Eater. Why the happiness of Snape meant so much to him, he didn't know.
"It's over, Severus. And it's about time you left this whole miserable act behind you!"

That was it. Something inside the dark man's head snapped and he flung his hand across Remus' face, the sharp slapping sound of his wet hand echoing throughout the chamber. "There is no act!" Immediately Severus recoiled and touched his hand as if it were involuntary.

"You see? It's not over. It's never over! I'm a violent man, Remus, and I will always be. Nothing inside me is good. Nothing can be saved. I'm evil, heartless, and as cold as the night I was born. You'd be better off plotting my death with the rest of them."

Remus had clutched his face where it stung. The sight of Severus in violent rage was terrifying, even for him. He rose and moved towards the door. "You are not evil, Severus." He lifted the latch and pushed open the creaky door. "You're lonely."

Slam! The door shut.

Few minutes passed. The mantle clock could be heard. Five chimes. The last few candles in the dark room played against the Potions Master's body. The deep peach and rosy cuts of his skin, and the glistening of the water's surface the only visible details in the dark room. The body raised an arm… cigarette to lips. Another day began.