A.N. : Hello there!
I am back again with another chapter. I apologize for the long waiting. Life has been very busy lately and I am doing my best to take the time to sit down and write.
Now, on with the story!
Chapter 30
Lupinaria
The professor and the young woman were muttering under their breath as they set up what appeared to be a makeshift alchemical laboratory with several glass jars that glinted in the dimness of the room and pewter cauldrons that made a hollow noise whenever an ingredient was added inside.
Harry had to lean closer to hear their conversation, huddled next to a dilapidated piano where he could see them clearly; their whispered voices arguing:
"What the hell was that all about?
"What was what about?"
"That ridiculous argument with Lupin".
"He wanted to hurt you…"
"He is ill!"
"So? Is that an excuse to behave like a twat?"
"Yes, it is. What excuse do you have?"
"I can't stand hearing him talking like that, or seeing the way he looks at you..."
The woman's face seemed to redden slightly, although her reproachful expression did not disappear. She continued speaking as she stirred the cauldron, her eyes riveted on Snape who, frowning, avoided looking at her, focusing more than he should on the flame he had lit under the cauldron.
"Yes, I was afraid of him, but you reacted very badly, you shouldn't..."
"Okay, do you want to hear it? Yeah, I am a twat, but it is Lupin's fault, he drives me mad".
Harry smiled inadvertently. Snape, the fearsome and bitter professor accepting that he was an arse?
"You should apologize".
"Apologize to Lupin? Not in this life".
"No, Sev. To Tonks, apologize to Tonks".
The frown between the man's brows seemed to lessen and his lips twisted into a subtle smirk.
"Nymphadora is not interested in my apologies, it is not kindness that she needs from me". - He said slowly as he waved her wand, bringing to life a quill that began to glide rapidly over a piece of parchment, crossing off the steps of a long list of instructions. - "She's always had a thick skin, enough to pass the NEWTs in my class, enough so that my words do not affect her".
"She loves Remus. In my opinion, your words against him do affect her."
"How touching, falling in love with a coward like Lupin... What a ludicrous feeling, love only makes people stupid". - Snape's whispery voice cut off abruptly and Harry could see the professor finally turning his face towards the woman, the dim light illuminating a mortified expression on his sallow face. A strangled squeal escaped from the depths of his throat that the man tried to hide with a fake coughing.
"Laurel…"
"I agree, love makes you stupid". - The woman, who had abruptly stopped her work on the cauldron, spoke in a hollow, cold voice; her grip on the glass stirrer so tight that Harry thought she was about to break it with her hand. - "At least Tonks had the fortune to fall in love with the coward and not with the twat".
"It was not my intention…"
"Please, I don't need to hear your words. I know you well enough to understand how cynical you can be". - She said while shaking her head and throwing a greenish powder into the cauldron. And then with a voice so low that it was almost inaudible, she repeated to herself: "Love only makes people stupid".
"When I said that, I didn't mean…"
"Could you pass me the mistletoe berries? This is about to boil." - She said, ignoring him.
"I wasn't thinking!"
"The berries, please".
"Listen to me, Laurel…"
"Will you say something worthwhile?"
Harry couldn't believe what was happening, he had never heard Snape's cold whispering voice turn into spluttered pleas and then he thought he must be dreaming when he heard Snape say:
"I'll apologize to Tonks".
That took her by surprise. Her bright eyes darted up to him, the attempt to hide her smile failing miserably as she saw Snape's wistful face, waiting for her approval.
"That...that would be great coming from you, Sev". - She murmured, as he moved closer, his hand reaching for her cheek.
"Oh, no!"
"Step back! Don't breathe the fumes".
The cauldron suddenly boiled over, the potion that had been brewing overflowed, and a bubbling liquid that smelled like rotten eggs spilled out uncontrollably.
Thick greenish gas spread across the room, obscuring the dim light from the oil lamps. Harry stood up quickly, holding his breath, his teary eyes preventing him from seeing the exit.
Laurel took a few steps back, feeling a little dazed as she couldn't help but inhale the thick smoke. She moved clumsily, trying to find the door in the midst of the chaos, and that was when she felt herself suddenly crash into the solid body of an unseen presence.
"Ouch!" —Harry blurted out as he felt the woman stomp on his feet and quickly slipped away before her outstretched arms could reach him.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed in shock. She felt goosebumps rise, and a shiver ran down her spine as she convinced herself The Shrieking Shack really was the most haunted building in all of Britain. She backed away slowly, feeling her head go cloudy, not quite sure if it was from the terror or the gas.
"¡Evanesco!"
Severus' voice snapped her out of her trance, and she turned her reddened eyes on him. The nauseating liquid had disappeared and now the wizard was busy getting rid of the smoke, absorbing it with his wand.
"This house is cursed, Severus." — She shrieked in a brittle voice. — "It's haunted, I... I've heard it... a ghost... it screamed..."
Severus looked at her with concern, thinking that the fumes had affected her, but before he could answer Tonks interrupted him from the doorway.
"There are no ghosts here, Laurel". — She said with a friendly smile. — "Just a werewolf who needs your help".
"But I've heard it... I've touched it..."
"Ghosts are not solid". — Severus said, approaching her. — "Most likely, the smoke left you a little dazed. Perhaps you should better return to the castle".
Laurel noticed that both were looking at her with a mix of pity and awkwardness on their faces and she was suddenly ashamed of herself for panicking. Maybe they were right, maybe she had imagined everything, maybe the gas had played a trick on her...
"No". — She muttered, embarrassed. — "It's over now... I just got dizzy... from the potion".
"Well, I would have even fainted from that stench. The smell carried into the other room". — Tonks stepped forward excitedly. — "Do you need help?"
"I forgot to add mistletoe berries to the antiemetic infusion." — Laurel said, trying to recover from the shock and approaching the alchemical instruments as well.
"I would rather you didn't touch anything, Nymphadora. I don't want to have to deal with the mess you're sure to cause".
Tonks didn't look at Snape, however, her friendly smile instantly dissolved.
"He's joking." — Laurel assured her, even though she knew herself that this was not the case.
"I don't fool around when it comes to ineptitude". — Snape continued with a slight sneer on his lips — "I still remember that incident in your fourth year, the sabotage in my class..."
"I didn't do it on purpose! I was planning to put the Venomous Tentacula in Filch's office, I just slipped in the hallway and the plant accidentally ended up in your classroom. Do you intend to continue to berate me for my student mischief, Professor Snape?"
"As long as I still have the marks left by the fangs of that hellish plant, I intend to keep reminding you of it". — The wizard answered ipso facto. — "You would be more useful staying with Lupin, he needs you much more.".
Tonks, who was about to protest, was speechless at Snape's last words. She nodded briefly and headed for the door. However, before she could get out, the voice of his former teacher froze her again.
"Tonks, I assure you Lupin is in good hands. I will not allow too much damage to be done during the trials. — He said with a firm and a serious face. — "I will try by all means to make the potion work, I promise you".
"Thank you". — The witch managed to mumble looking at him with bulging disbelieving eyes before closing the door behind her.
"What?" — Snape whispered as he turned around and realized that Laurel was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, her hands on her hips. — "It is better than an apology".
Laurel sighed and relaxed her posture.
"I suppose so". — She whispered back, refocusing on preparing the infusion to suppress Lupin's nausea and vomiting, and this time she was sure to have the mistletoe berries within her reach.
. . .
Harry tried to ignore the slight cramp that was beginning to creep up his legs. He had been static for more than half an hour, standing in the same spot next to the bed where Lupin lay. He hadn't even risked breathing normally, as his old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had his yellow eyes on him. His hostile face stalked with the same fierceness of a hungry wolf.
Harry didn't understand how Lupin could possibly have noticed his presence. He suspected it was due to the sound of his breathing in that quiet bedroom, or perhaps, as he had heard the others say, his sense of smell sharpened as the full moon approached. It didn't matter if he couldn't see it, the dangerousness of his bright gaze was enough to keep the teenager petrified with fear.
It was then that for the first time in his life he felt a tremendous sense of relief and gratitude at hearing Snape's cold drawl break the absolute silence of that room.
"Two doses. Fifty millilitres now, fifty millilitres an hour later, just before sunset". — Snape said as he carefully measured the glowing Lupinaria, while the self-writing quill quickly noted his words on a levitating parchment.
Harry let out an exhalation and let himself fall silently to the ground as Lupin had finally averted his gaze and now settled it on Laurel, who had come closer and offered him a spoonful of the antiemetic brew with a trembling hand.
"Are you sure that isn't too much?" — Tonks asked worried as she also approached Lupin and encouraged him to drink the greenish liquid.
"Calculating his body mass, I'd say that's the right amount, at least to start with. We'll see how he reacts to the first dose."
Those words didn't seem to bring much relief to Tonks. She leaned over Lupin, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly.
"It will be all right, Dora". — Lupin murmured, smiling weakly at the woman and then, turning to Snape, he nodded solemnly. — "Whenever you are ready, Severus".
The silver potion appeared to shine brighter than ever as it reached the werewolf's lips. Lupin sat up, drinking the potion as fast as he could without breathing. The disgusting taste of ammonia going down his throat caused an intense sting that reached his stomach and began to spread slowly to his chest.
He collapsed back on the bed. The ceiling spun at a seemingly death-defying speed. He closed his eyes. His hands gripped the sweat-soaked sheets in terror. His face had no colour. Despite the potion that had been administered, nausea found a way to take a painful hold on his stomach. Lupin begged, prayed, pleaded that he could throw up soon, but instead, a noticeable tremor took over his body.
He barely noticed Severus taking his pulse or Nymphadora trying to quell the fever that made his eyes turn a deep crimson. It didn't take long for his body to burn. The contact of the sheets, of the hands trying to help him, of the slightest current of air that brushed his skin made him scream in agony, but he couldn't even hear his own wail, the high-pitched buzzing that had gotten into his head didn't allow it.
"What is happening?!"
"I… I believe he is transforming!"
"But it is not even dusk yet, Snape!"
"The wolf is fighting… the curse is fighting the potion…" — Snape whispered to himself, as he waved his wand from which thick chains came out and bound Lupin's body. — "Laurel, listen to me carefully, take another dose of Lupinaria and add three more drops of blood. Only three. Do it downstairs, as far away from Lupin as possible, you hear me? I don't know if we will be able to control him if he gets to perceive it".
Laurel nodded, scrambling to grab two vials, one glinting silver sheen and the other containing a viscous red liquid, and bolted down the stairs.
Harry could hear her footsteps on the creaky wooden floor and the slam of a door downstairs before a completely inhuman roar pierced his ears. The howl that came from Lupin's throat was so savage that it made him regret leaving the comfort of his common room that rainy afternoon.
Like his eyes, all his skin reddened with a rash from which ragged fur grew. His mouth writhed, warping as his teeth grew larger, transforming into baring vicious fangs. Harry froze, terrified at the sight. It wasn't the first time he had seen Remus Lupin turn into a werewolf; he had already witnessed it some years ago. But this time it was different, this time it seemed to be a much slower process, much more painful as if that transformation was compelled, not by the nature of the moonlight, but by something much more sinister, by the innate perversion of a curse that forced to turn its victim into an uncontrollable killing machine.
He was so shocked that he hadn't realized Laurel had come back and stood next to him, clutching both vials between her trembling fingers. Her mouth and eyes were wide open, totally stunned by the state of Lupin who, despite the thick chains, was still capable of squirming on the bed.
"Stay away!" — Snape exclaimed as he walked over to her and took the silver vial. — "Go back to the castle this very moment".
The woman took a step back and that was when a guttural shriek, a voice that seemed to come from the throat of a monster stopped her.
"I need you, Akardos. I need your help. Only you can… only you…"
"Remus…"
"Do not listen to him! It's just a trick, leave now". — Snape insisted, pushing her to the door, but in that same instant they realized that the rattling noise of the chains intensified until the eerie, loud CLANK! of shattering metal made their blood run cold.
Lupine fell to the ground on all fours, his incomplete transformation making him look even more fearsome than a fully transformed werewolf. He flung back his sweat-soaked head and howled again, so loud that he obliterated any last-ditch instinct to flee. The chimera opened its eyes again. His yellow irises fluorescent among the crimson sclerae as he saw before him the creature that had given rise to both his pain and his pleasure. The woman who now distilled an exquisite perfume from each of her pores, the smell of intense fear. He had to annihilate her.
The beast leapt at her just as Snape covered her with his body.
"STUPEFY!"
A powerful jet of red light shot out of Tonks's wand, knocking Lupin aside, but to everyone's horror, the body missed to smash the old furniture. A skinny young man with messy black hair and glasses suddenly appeared in the room. The force with which the beast had been thrown against him did not leave him time to scream, nor to get up. Both his wand and his invisibility cloak had fallen to one side and now the boy was struggling to get from under a beast that kept writhing on itself.
"HARRY!"
"POTTER!"
Both wizards shouted in unison pointing their wands, casting spells against Lupin, trying to stop him from turning on his back and attacking the student. Harry managed to move quickly enough to avoid the sudden bite of the man, whose mouth was already beginning to lengthen into a dark muzzle. He crawled backward, away from the one who had been his favourite teacher until his back hit a wall. Harry was cornered. Lupin had his eyes on him, he flexed his legs, ready to jump. It was the end.
"CRACK!"
Harry couldn't hear the faint sound of a glass vial breaking against a wall. Neither Snape nor Tonks registered the sound of shattering glass as they chanted spell after spell in their vain attempt to stop the beast. Only Laurel and Remus stared at the remains of the broken glass, at the blood stain that was dripping over the wall opposite where Harry was.
Laurel didn't hesitate for a second. Seeing how the almost-werewolf took off in the direction of the remains of the vial that she had thrown, the woman ran to where the teenager was. Grabbing him by the shirt, she pulled him to his feet. It didn't take long for Tonks to reach them, picking up his wand and invisibility cloak from the floor as she went.
"GET OUT! I WILL LOCK HIM IN THE ROOM!" — Severus bellowed, his wand still aiming at Lupin who was still licking the blood from the grimy wall.
Seeing how the women fled taking Harry with them, Severus closed his eyes and summoned dark forces as he directed his wand towards the four corners of the room. The temperature dropped rapidly, and the walls screeched even louder. Severus walked backward, wand raised, the complex incantation leaking from his lips. He didn't stop until he was out and closed the door in front of him, sealing it with a final chant. Lupin's shrieks and scratching could barely be heard from the outside
Severus Snape let out a breath of exhaustion. That dark magic had drained him, but he ignored the weariness because the rage he felt was enough to make him turn, hissing like a poisonous viper.
"Potter…"
