A/N: Thanks for the follows so far! It would be really great if you could drop me a review to let me know what you think. Reviews feed the muse …


Chapter 4

Lupin came down to the dungeons at precisely eight o'clock on Thursday, and Severus made sure this time to have any incriminating pieces of parchment securely locked in his office well in advance. He was ready with his ledger open, waiting to take notes on how Lupin reacted to the new potion.

He had not made many changes at this stage; after all, it was the first time someone was going to drink his version of the Wolfsbane and he did not wish to be over-ambitious. He thought he had sorted out the problem of combining the woody nightshade with the poppyseed, but this was a temporary measure. His hypothesis had been correct: the brewers had based the potion on glacial water, which was understandable, given its calming qualities; but Severus hoped that, with the rosewater, he would be able to achieve the same effect with a different base, perhaps an oil of some kind. For now, though, he had decanted a dose of the smoking potion into a flask, added a single acorn, and watched it begin to glow.

Lupin nodded at the flask when he came in. 'That looks right to me,' he said grimly. 'Smells right, too, or at least, it smells familiarly revolting. But I understand adding any kind of sweetener will disrupt its effect.'

'At the moment, yes,' Severus said. 'As I said, if I can find a different base, then all things become possible.' He removed the acorn with his silver tongs, and poured the potion into a goblet for Lupin to drink. 'I shall need to record how it sits in your stomach, and your physical reactions, if you will allow me.'

'Certainly.' Lupin sat down on a stool opposite Severus and took the goblet from him. 'Now?'

'Now,' Severus said, taking up his ledger. 'You will need to drink it all at once.'

Lupin drained the potion and shuddered; a momentary horror passed through his face, which looked more like the nervous teenager Severus remembered. 'Disgusting,' he said. 'But it feels much smoother than my own efforts. Mine was a little grainy.'

Severus made a note of this. 'Anything else? Any heat in the stomach?'

'Yes.' Lupin's eyes lost focus as he concentrated. 'It's spreading outwards through my body – and here is the cold which follows it. This feels entirely normal. And I don't feel sick yet, which is rather a bonus. Normally I have to force myself to keep it down just long enough for it to take effect.'

Severus raised an eyebrow. He hadn't realised the prospect of Lupin throwing up in his classroom was so real. But he merely said, 'The hot and cold waves are a sign of a poorly-designed potion. Monkshood is an extremely volatile substance and glacial water is too harsh for it. An oil will be better.'

'Splendid,' Lupin said. His eyes were still looked slightly vague. 'Any idea which oil?'

'I have one or two candidates in mind,' Severus said. 'Are you well enough to get to your office?'

'Oh, am I dismissed?' Lupin said. He looked at Severus with those golden eyes, and suddenly Severus got the impression the werewolf's mind was somewhere other than where he had imagined.

He made sure not to return the gaze for too long, and busied himself with listing the effects Lupin had described, with their probable explanations.

He heard Lupin laugh softly. When he next looked up, the werewolf was gone.


Things fell quickly into a routine, and Severus's life became split into three parts: teaching, Wolfsbane, and thinking about Lucius, mostly in the small hours of the night. They still exchanged regular letters by owl, though Scotland to London was a long trip and he had to force himself to be content with only hearing from Lucius every few days. Nor was Lucius one for writing long letters full of anecdotes and gossip. They were mostly brief notes, demanding that Severus extricate himself from the grasp of Hogwarts for just one evening. By October, Lucius was clearly getting more desperate, and started to suggest that he could meet Severus in Hogsmeade, or even come to Hogwarts to visit Draco, as he had done before. But Severus refused him. It was too risky for them to be seen associating by hundreds of children, many of whom had parents at the Ministry, and there was no way Severus wished Dumbledore to get wind of what he was doing, or no doubt he would be given regular, unwanted advice in the guise of philosophical statements about the human condition.

The second full moon of the term passed much like the first. Lupin came down on time, drank the Wolfsbane without fuss, noted that Severus's version of the potion was slightly less unpleasant than his own, and went away – but not before Severus noticed, once again, Lupin's expression becoming more amused, his manner more playful. This effect was not listed in the book. He noted this in his ledger – slightly disinhibited immediately after drinking? – but said nothing.

Finally, in late October, he found himself able to leave Hogwarts for a weekend. It was just after the full moon, and although he still had not found a better base for the potion and should really be working, Dumbledore fully agreed that he needed some time off and granted him two whole days of leave. He owled Lucius this time with real pleasure.


When he arrived in Lucius's apartment, in the early morning of Saturday, Lucius greeted him in a silk robe, pale silver, with his blond hair loose down his back. They exchanged no physical greeting, only standing for a few seconds in anticipation, before going to bed.

Some hours later, they rose and bathed, before taking a late lunch in the autumn sunlight which slanted into Lucius's large sitting room. 'So, how are the Dementors?' Lucius said, his dressing gown loosely around him, peeling an apple with a thin silver knife. 'Draco said the Potter boy was unusually affected by them.'

Severus smiled slightly. 'Well, they're a constant joy and delight. But no sign of Sirius Black yet. In fact, I hear there have been no sightings at all.'

'None whatsoever,' Lucius said. He hesitated, then said, 'I find this whole thing very strange. I had no idea he was one of us until he was captured.'

'Nor did I,' Severus said. 'But Dumbledore is pretty certain. Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper, and I doubt very much he would have been very susceptible to torture. He must have given up the secret by choice.'

'Oh? I thought he was an arrogant weakling.'

'I thought so too, until the massacre in the streets. Now I think he had more backbone than I imagined. Who knows what his loyalties might have been.'

'Indeed,' Lucius said.

'And the Dark Lord has had others in the past we knew nothing about. Sirius did not have the Mark, that much we know. It's a shame – if he had, I might have liked him a little more. He was certainly an interesting physical specimen.'

Lucius laughed and traced a finger gently over Severus's wrist, but withdrew it when Severus made a low noise of pleasure in his throat. 'And what about Black's little lapdog, how is he handling the Defence post?'

'Lupin?' Severus tried to suppress his raging lust enough to formulate an answer. 'Well, I haven't seen him teach, but Dumbledore seems pleased with him. What does Draco say?'

'Not much, actually. I interpret this to mean he finds him unobjectionable.'

'That is a good word for him,' Severus said dryly. 'He knows his subject, he never brings up the past, he always seems cheerful, he offends no one.'

'He knows he is tainted by association.'

'I suppose. But he seems more –' He stopped as he saw Lucius's expression beginning to change, tightening into a sneer. It was getting to be that time again.

But Lucius was waiting for the answer to the question, even as his fingertips began to move up Severus's wrist and arm. 'More …?'

'I don't know …' He cast about quickly for an adjective, as a warm desire spread through his stomach and down into his stiffening cock. 'Self-assured, or something –' He watched Lucius, letting his eyes fall half-shut, beginning to breathe heavily. Fuck, the man was dazzling. He was so dazzling he seemed to dissolve any interest in thinking, or questioning, or reasoning. 'But I don't particularly care just at this moment, do you?'

Lucius's sneer grew more pronounced. 'You do have a low tolerance for being teased, don't you?' He took a deep breath, then rose from his chair and came to stand over Severus, looking down at him with grey eyes, his hair falling loose over his shoulders. 'On the other hand,' he murmured, taking Severus's chin in his fingers and gently pushing his thumb into his mouth, 'I did promise revenge for the time you've kept me waiting.' He lowered himself to kneel between Severus's legs, and ran his hands lightly up his thighs. 'So I think I'll take my time a little.'


A/N: Thanks for reading – please do review if you have time! University term starts again next week, so my time for writing will be a bit more limited, but I'll try and stay focused … –SS–