Late One Night
Disclaimer: I do not own incredibly much, except for Maria and the rest of the Lupin clan.
Thank yous: Sarahamanda, honeyduck, im-a-daydream-believer, ThouandI, orlin, Goddess-Hope, Enchantress10, yoblossom, Athena Dumbledore, iamtherealmaverick, Hobey-ho, Goddess of Gorgeousness, im no muggle, Fallen Angel of Hell, lotrobsession, panterastar, Joji Sada, Sasami Tombo, 4¸236718423, Wilting Rose 08, hahaha-evil, and MajinSakuko.
Enchantress10: Check back to Chapter 14 where it tells you that Lucius and Narcissa are divorced (voiced by Draco). And there will be no threesome in this between Ron, Harry and Hermione. Ew.
Goddess-Hope: Well, obviously James will be distraught that his wife is dead, but he will be happy that Voldemort didn't kill his son.
Sarahamanda: James died when Hermione was nearly two years old, he would have known about Severus and Remus already.
Wilting Rose 08: I'm not sure I want to know what you found so funny… :-P
MajinSakuko: I am trying to put more Sev/Rem in, there's a little bit in this chapter.
Warning: Character death this chapter (no one too important, don't worry).
I am so sorry I haven't update for a while, but I seriously am having terrible writer's block at the moment. Knowing my luck, all the inspiration will hit just as school starts again when I am supposed to be focussing on my studies instead of writing.
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Chapter 17: Lupin Annoyance
It had been an entire week since Snape Manor had been swarmed with Lupins. Hermione had taken to spending copious amounts of time with her little sister, she read the little girl books and taught her things, which was much easier to do now that Hermione was able to do magic outside of school. And Severus and Remus, after nursing Maria back to better health after the full moon, had spent far more time alone together than they had in quite a while. They had managed to have long discussions without bickering for once, discussions about their relationship, their children, their future, Voldemort, and even Severus's dislike of Sirius and James.
Remus's mother, Grace, had been fussing over her youngest son a lot. Saying how skinny he was, and how antisocial he and Severus were when they had 'guests'. She was also quite adept at hinting that they were setting a bad example for their daughters because they seemed to be just as antisocial and cold.
Remus had then decided to remind his mother of what had happened to Maria, and that the young girl was still trying to recover from all her silver burns which was made harder by the monthly transformation. Also that Hermione had had a rough year as well (being attacked) and that she hadn't spent 'quality time' alone with her sister for a while. Needless to say, Grace had stopped insulting his and Severus's parenting skills…for now.
It was mid one morning and Remus and Severus were lying contentedly in each other's arms, savouring the fact that this was the first time in the last week that they had not been woken up at the crack of dawn by one thing or another.
Remus had his head on Severus's chest, the other man's fingers running through his hair, he was rather enjoying the peace and quiet until his pillow started talking.
"What do you think about marriage?"
Remus slowly lifted his head and raised his eyebrows at his lover, "…Well, I think that if a couple want to go through with it then they should, but its not necessary if you want to prove your love for someone… Why?"
"I was just wondering," replied Severus thoughtfully.
Remus frowned a little, he knew very well that Severus hadn't just been 'wondering' about his thoughts on marriage. He started lazily drawing patterns with a finger on the pale chest below him, "You weren't thinking of proposing again, were you?"
Severus arched an eyebrow, "Merlin, no, I've been turned down three times already."
Remus smirked, "That's because I don't think we need to be married. So what if we have two kids, it's only my family that seemed to be bothered by them being born out of wedlock. And anyway, you have to admit, you only proposed the first time because I was pregnant."
"I was led to believe that it was the right thing to do."
"Maybe so," Remus kissed him briefly on the lips. "But I think we're committed enough to be honest…and would you honestly want my family as in laws?"
"Good point."
They started kissing again and Severus tugged the smaller man on top of him. It was a blissful moment and Remus didn't think anything could spoil it. But as usual, when his family was around, he was quite wrong. The couple jumped apart upon hearing the loud cry of one of Remus's nephews or nieces, and then they heard their own daughter shrieking at whoever it was.
"Fuck off you little bastards!"
Severus and Remus both jumped when they heard a door at the far end of the hallway slam, and it was quite obvious to them that it was probably time to get up. It also seemed obvious that Hermione would not be surfacing from her room for quite a while.
…
That morning, Sirius was sitting beside James's bed in the Hogwarts Infirmary. Madame Pomfrey had told him when he had arrived that James had woken up briefly the previous night but he had been rather disoriented at the time so she had not called Sirius in to see him. But now, James had woken up again and after having a few of Poppy's recovery potions (recommended by Severus) forced down his throat he was a little more with it. Though Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore and Poppy had been told by Severus that James probably would not be completely with it for any length of time, mainly because he was not sure how his potion would affect the brain of a human.
"I was dead?" croaked James in disbelief. His voice was raspy and his throat was very sore, and Sirius had absentmindedly mentioned that it was probably because neither had been used in nearly sixteen years because of James's 'deceased' status.
Sirius hesitated for a moment, "Well…yeah, you were, but I think we should leave that discussion for when you're more up to it." James frowned at him, and Sirius was reminded of the looks Harry gave him when he wouldn't tell his Godson certain things. "I'm glad to have you back, mate, I've missed you."
…
"Was there any particular reason why Hermione was swearing at your kids?" asked Remus a little while later, after he and Severus had finally risen; though the dark haired man had already disappeared into his basement laboratory.
His oldest sister, Aurora or Rory as she preferred to be called, scowled at him; "Your daughter needs to have her mouth washed out. I have never heard such disgusting language, especially from a girl."
Remus raised his eyebrows, "You should visit Hogwarts one day, you'll hear most of the students swearing like that, a lot of the teachers as well. And why was she swearing, what happened?"
Grace sighed and shook her head, "She saw something in the Daily Prophet and then she stormed off when one of this lot," she nodded at the various children. "Made a joke about it."
Remus curiously picked up the Daily Prophet to flip through it and see what might have upset his daughter, but he only had to look at the front-page headline to know exactly what it was. "Oh no…"
BULGARIAN SEEKER, KRUM, DEAD
"What?"
Remus sighed, "Hermione and Viktor Krum were friends." He left it at that to stop them from questioning Hermione when she resurfaced, then he left the room pinching the bridge of his nose and then he headed upstairs to Hermione's room, and knocked on the door.
"Go away!"
"You know I won't go away, Hermione," replied Remus patiently. "Let me in." he heard his daughter mutter something (either a charm or something insulting) and then the door unlocked. He entered the bedroom and saw Hermione sitting on the window seat, her knees pulled up to her chest, and her wand in hand. "I just saw the paper."
Hermione sniffled and threw her wand onto the bed, "I wondered why he hadn't replied to my last letter, he usually did almost straight away…" Remus sat down next to her on the window seat. "Did you read the article?"
Remus shook his head, "No, I saw the headline and came after you."
Hermione wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "Viktor and his family were killed by Death Eaters, the Dark Mark was seen above their house… An eyewitness account said that one of them seemed to have very blond hair…"
"Oh god… Come here," Remus pulled Hermione into his arms and let her cry onto his shoulder, he stroked her hair as comfortingly as he could. He had never been that fond of Viktor Krum, mainly for the fact that the boy had been eighteen when he asked Hermione to the Yule Ball, and having been an eighteen year old boy himself, he knew what they were like. Though he hadn't been as opposed to it as Severus. He had snuck into Hogwarts to visit the potions master during the Triwizard Tournament, before the Yule Ball, and he had had to endure a two hour rant of why they should stop their daughter from going out with an 'eighteen year old, Durmstrang, big shot Quidditch player'. "Just let it all out…"
Hermione clutched at the front of Remus's shirt and continued crying onto his shoulder for what must have been at least twenty minutes. She finally lifted her head a little, her eyes red and sore from crying, and her hair covering half of her face. "Why did i-it have to happen? I mean…I thought Voldemort was still trying to get Britain before he started anywhere else…" her voice was shaky as she spoke.
Remus frowned slightly, she was right, the last information the Order had gotten off Lucius was that Voldemort was fairly content on working his power over Britain first before he sent his servants elsewhere to kill and terrorise. "…It seems we have been given false information, unless of course Lucius hasn't been given the full truth."
Hermione sniffled and hiccuped, "But what if it was Lucius that the eyewitness saw fleeing?"
Remus used his thumbs to wipe the tears away from under Hermione's eyes, "I honestly don't know, I guess we'll probably find out at the next meeting, though I may not be able to tell you, of course." Hermione nodded. "Were you really that close to him?"
Hermione leaned back against her dad's chest so that she could have another hug, "I got to know him really well through our letters…I probably know more about him than I do about Harry, Ron and Draco." She sniffled and snorted. "He was gay, by the way, just to stop you from thinking that he 'influenced' me in anyway during the Tournament, he figured it out last summer."
Remus smirked a little, "I didn't think anything of the sort, it's your father that you need to take that up with."
…
Later that day Remus was at Twelve Grimmauld Place where Sirius was now brooding after Poppy Pomfrey kicked him out of her infirmary to give James some rest.
Sirius glared at his cup of coffee, "Its so unfair, I wasn't even doing anything."
Remus raised an eyebrow in amusement, "I am sure Poppy had a very good reason for why she kicked you out, its rare when she lets anyone stay for hours on end, even if you're related to the patient."
Sirius sighed, "Maybe so, but still, I was happy just to sit there and let him sleep. I'll happily shut up when I want to… What are you smirking at?"
Remus snorted and shook his head, "Despite how much you and Severus despise each other, you'd be surprised how uncannily similar you both are." Sirius narrowed his eyes at the werewolf. "I'm sorry, but it's true. I like to think I know you both very well, and you are both very alike in certain personality traits."
Sirius snorted, "Oh yeah, like what?"
"You're both quick to anger," said Remus, giving a smile that he knew wound both Severus and Sirius up when they knew he was right, though they wouldn't admit it. "I infuriate you both when you know I am right, you both-"
"Ok! I get the point," grumbled Sirius. "You are so annoying."
Remus grinned, "I need somebody to irritate."
"Talking of irritation," started Sirius, "How is your family?"
Remus sighed, "Every bit as annoying as the last time you saw them, and considering that was nearly two decades ago, that's saying something. There are more children in tow as well, and they're doing quite well with upsetting Hermione."
Sirius frowned a little, "Yeah, we've all read what happened to Krum in the Daily Prophet. Is she ok?"
"I think so, yeah," replied Remus. "She's probably still shut in her room with all the books and junk food she could want. Anyway, if Harry and co. want to see her, I'm happy to have them around."
Sirius raised his eyebrows, "I only see two problems with that."
"Severus and my family, right?"
"Exactly."
…
Partly due to the fact that Remus was half muggle, and that Hermione had spent a lot of time in the muggle world while growing up, Snape Manor had quite a lot of muggle technology in it. Nearly all of it was in Hermione's room though, because she had been the one to beg her parents for all the stuff after hearing the muggleborn children at Hogwarts going on about computers and television and CD players and so on. She was currently sat in a pair of shorts and a singlet at her computer, feet on the desk and fan on full power.
It was one of the hottest days so far this summer, a couple of days after Viktor's death, and Hermione had given up on being outside as she had already sunburnt her back from lying on her stomach and reading a book. She wasn't too fond of venturing downstairs because knowing her cousins as she begrudgingly did; they would probably slap her on the back or something knowing full well that it would hurt. As far as she knew, neither of her parents were in the manor at the moment because there had been an Order meeting called (from what she had caught of their conspiratorial whispers), but that had been quite a few hours ago now.
"Hermione!"
Hermione jumped and looked to her fireplace and saw the pale, pointed face of Draco Malfoy gazing at her expectantly, "Oh, its you."
"No need to sound so glad to see me," replied Draco sarcastically, as Hermione knelt down in front of the fire grate. "How are you?"
Hermione smirked, "I find it hard to believe you just flooed for a friendly chat."
Draco frowned, "Fine, I flooed to beg you to change your mind and to come and keep me company tomorrow night. Please?"
"I have changed my mind," Hermione wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "I hate it when the floo network makes your fire light. Anyway, I'll come, I don't want to be stuck here with the family."
Draco grinned, "Great! I'll see you later."
Before Hermione could say anything more, Draco's head vanished from the fireplace so she got to her feet and extinguished the fire with her wand. She decided to go and see if her parents were back yet, to let them know that she was going to go to the Malfoys' with them after all (whether Lucius wanted her near him or not).
After exiting her room, Hermione nearly tripped over her little sister who was sitting on the floor just outside her bedroom. Crying. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Maria sniffled and held her right arm out to her big sister, "It hurts."
Hermione crouched down in front of her and took a look at the little girls arm, "Oh ow… This is a silver burn, Maria, what happened?"
"They're mean."
"Come on," Hermione straightened back up and hoisted Maria up into her arms. "God, you're getting heavy. Let's go find dad, ok?"
"Daddy."
"Or daddy," agreed Hermione. She carried Maria downstairs so that they could go in search of their parents. "Gran, have you seen our parents anywhere?"
"Your father came in a few minutes ago, I don't know where he went though."
"Ok, thanks."
Maria held onto Hermione tightly, her arms around her sister's neck, almost like she was afraid that she would be dropped while she was being taken down to the basement where Severus's lab was.
"Dad?" Hermione nudged the lab door open with her foot.
"Yes?"
Hermione shifted Maria's weight a little, "Maria's hurt, it looks like a silver burn."
Severus came out of his storeroom looking quite annoyed; not to mention unusually scruffy, "What happened?" he took Maria off Hermione and sat down with his youngest daughter on his lap so that he could see the injury.
"I don't know, she wouldn't say. All I got out of her was 'they're mean', whoever 'they' are."
Severus rubbed a hand down his face tiredly, he was starting to look quite exhausted again much to Hermione's worry. "There is a burn ointment in the cabinet in our bathroom, go and get it."
"Ok," Hermione left the dungeon lab frowning a little. Now she was really curious about what was said in the Order meeting. It usually took a lot to get Severus Snape looking so wary and worn out, she didn't think it was just because of James Potter being back or Maria being hurt again.
To Be Continued…
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A/N: I am so sorry for doing this to you lot again! I really am. Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, terrible case of writer's block but I have been trying.
Next Chapter: The dinner at the Malfoys (I promise!), and Remus is given an assignment for the Order. But will Severus let him go alone?
(…Gets down on hands and knees and awaits forgiveness for bad chapter and lack of updating…)