Holiday: Thank you, here's the update…

Fire – Thank you for the reviews so far…

Disclaimer: Read the Prologue…

Chapter 1

It was his second last class for the day and Remus had to catch himself, his eyes opening wide in the effort to not fall asleep, like the many students around him. It was a hard task no matter what he did Ancient Runes just wasn't fun.

His eyes drifted over to the scrawny boy sitting in the back corner of the class room, hunched over a piece of parchment as his quill rushed across it.

Remus didn't know how Severus did it.

It had been a week since their meeting in the infirmary and since then, Remus had kept to his word as much as he could. So much so he'd been the receiving end of a few of James and Sirius' pranks.

He sighed, he'd had green gump poured over him and found that it made you come out in itchy, red blotches that grew brighter when you scratched them. Another had his robes died a bright yellow, while the latest one had him hanging from the ceiling by his toes. It had been painful, but the potion Madam Pomfrey had given him had fixed that.

He'd felt miserable after each and every one of them, even when his friends had apologized non-stop for the rest of the day. But the laughing students had damaged his pride with every new prank.

How did Severus do it? How did he get teased and picked on so mercilessly and manage to do well in class and manage to face the students and teachers? He sighed, no wonder he knew his way around the infirmary so well.

So far Severus hadn't commented on how he'd 'conveniently' let him go through the door before him and how he'd 'accidentally' tripped and pushed Severus out of the way for a few others. But Remus was more relieved because of it than worried; he was scared of what to say if Severus did ask.

"Eh… Moony?" He jerked and looked up at Peter with surprise, "Class has ended." The plump boy snickered at the look of surprise on Remus' face, as he grabbed at his equipment and stuffed it in his bag, making sure the lid on the bottle of ink was on properly.

He scanned what he could see of the corridor, "Where are Sirius and James?"

"They wanted to get to the Great Hall before Snivellus, they're planning to hex him to a chair." Peter snickered again, unaware of the look of horror on Remus' face as he jogged out of the room.

o0o0o

By the time Remus had made it down to the Great Hall, his bag thrown over his shoulder and his face pink from the run, gails of laughter and snickering were filling his ears. He pushed passed a group of students, peering over the shorter first years as he neared the centre of the circle. He noticed a few students standing back, whispering worriedly to each other, making Lupin remember how he'd acted.

He gasped and resumed his pushing rudely when he noticed Snape in the middle, on his hands and knees, a chair stuck to his bottom. He was clutching as his lip.

Remus rushed to his side, quickly charming the chair back to where it was supposed to be. He glared angrily at his friends, all three of which were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes. He quickly strode after Snape, who had rushed away.

It wasn't until they were near the infirmary that he caught up, his eyes worriedly seeking out Severus' face from behind his curtain-like, black hair.

"Are you alright?" He managed, knowing it sounded lame and more than a bit stupid after what had happened.

"What do you think Lupin?" He spat, entering the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey was sitting on a bed, a piece of parchment and a quill in hand. She nearly jumped when she saw Severus, immediately motioning for him to sit on the bed.

Remus watched with worry as Severus removed his hand, a bloodied lip showing itself. He could hear the nurse muttering, swearing to hex Dumbledore if he didn't put a stop to these 'harmless, schoolboy pranks'. It shocked him to hear the nurse say such things.

On her way back from rummaging in the cupboards, she finally noticed him.

"Yes Mr. Lupin? Is there anything I can do for you?" She pulled a stool up next to the bed quickly opening the small vial in her hand.

"I was just – uh – waiting for Severus."

Both Severus and Madam Pomfrey's heads snapped up, the nurses voice seemingly softening when she turned her attention back to Snape. "It's good to see at least one of you 'Marauders' have enough brains to stop this nonsense." She glared at Snape, when he snorted. "You can leave in an hour or two Mr. Snape."

Remus stepped out of the way as she strode past him. He turned to find Snape staring at him. "You are alright aren't you?"

Severus remained still, his eyes trained on Lupin. He seemed to be analyzing him, though Remus didn't know whether that was a bad or good thing.

The room was silent, Lupin standing rigid at the door, Snape sitting still on the bed, staring at him. It was a few minutes before Severus spoke, "Why are you protecting me?"

"I'm not." Lupin stuttered.

"I don't need protecting. I can take care for myself."

Remus chewed on his lip, "I – I know you can. I just think that the way they treat you is unfair and cruel."

"What changed to make you think like that?" Severus' eyebrow rose as he gingerly fingered his still slightly bleeding, bottom lip. "You never seemed to be bothered by it before. Or does it surprise you to find out that people of the same house can turn on their own?"

Severus' venomous tone, hit Remus hard. He was only trying to help. He was already feeling very guilty about not doing anything sooner. But did Severus have to throw it back in his face?

"I don't need your help Lupin." The dark haired boy said finally, folding his arms.

Remus stuck his nose up in the air, looking a lot like many of the Slytherin pure bloods, "Fine. Don't blame me when you're hanging from the roof." He then turned and strode out of the room, leaving a scowling Severus sitting on the bed.

o0o0o

Black, it seemed, was making up for lost time and soon Severus was the main source of everyone's amusement, much to Remus' annoyance. The next day everything went back to the way it was: Severus was picked on and Remus was ignorant of his humiliation.

He wasn't happy about it, and made sure to be out of the room whenever James, Peter or Sirius mentioned Snape, even though it did nothing to ease his guilt.

The only thing that did was the fact that sometimes… Severus really did deserve it. That morning he'd hexed Sirius' robes, so they'd tie themselves around him, making it near impossible for him to move. It had taken Professor McGonagall an hour to untie him.

And so… It went on like this for the next month, before Remus was alone with Snape again. This time they'd met in the Owlery, unintentionally of course.

Remus smiled shyly, carefully making his way over to his tawny, attaching the letter to the owl's leg. It was to his mother, asking if his friends could come over if they wished. He snuck a glance at Severus, who was standing in front of one of the school's owls. It was grey and speckled.

Remus watched with fascination as the dark haired boy whispered to the owl, stroking its feathers lightly, before it flew off. Lupin would have sworn he'd seen a slight smile on the youth's face, but as Severus turned to him, there was nothing but his scowl showing.

"What are you staring at?" He asked mildly, turning back to the stair well.

"Nothing."

There was a silence as Severus began walking down the stairs. Remus turned back to another owl, ready to tie his second letter to its leg. "Lupin…" He was glanced back over at Severus, "I was planning on going to a book store this weekend, down at Hogsmeade, you're welcome to join me."

Lupin, numbly nodded, his brain unable to register that Snape had in fact asked him to go somewhere with him. Willingly! "Sure… I'll meet you at the Great Hall's doors at nine o'clock?"

Severus nodded and walked off, his footsteps fading into silence.

o0o0o

He'd noticed Lupin's looks the day after their meeting in the Hospital Wing. He himself was looking to see if Remus acted any different, and he did. He'd found himself being pushed out of the way, not being the last into the classroom and being protected.

In a way he felt grateful, in another he felt insulted. He could care for himself! He had been for the last five years.

After he'd confronted Lupin on it to both his relief and his horror he was the subject of humiliation again. Not that that made him want to dance around the room. Not that he'd dance anyway… But Lucius had noticed Lupin's behavior as well. And he'd prefer being bullied by the Marauders, over the other Slytherins.

It wasn't really bullying either. At least then you had a chance, you could tell a teacher, avoid them, hex them back. He couldn't do that with the Slytherins. His father was friends with many of the others' and there was no way he'd get away with telling a teacher.

Lupin's looks didn't subside though. He still caught him, almost felt him watching him when ever he was sure Severus was working. It always happened in Ancient Runes, Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. He'd also come across him staring from the Gryffindor table during meals.

They were alone together in the Owlery a month or so after that. He'd had the inkling that Lupin felt that he needed to do something and Severus, feeling the need to have someone who was willingly around him who would not hex him, had decided a different approach to the situation.

"Lupin… I was planning on going to a book store this weekend, down at Hogsmeade, you're welcome to join me."

He expected Lupin to say yes, but felt surprise bubble in his stomach when Lupin nodded.

"Sure… I'll meet you at the Great Hall's doors at nine o'clock?" He'd nodded back, walking off a second later. Lucius was waiting down the bottom of the steps.

"You took an awful long time Severus."

Snape nodded, "The letter wouldn't stay on the owl's leg."

"Really?" Lucius raised an elegant brow, his stone grey eyes, focused on Snape's smaller form. "Lupin didn't cause any trouble did he?"

Severus cringed slightly. He'd hoped that Malfoy wouldn't bring that up. "He's incapable of causing trouble, Lucius. He's the one the Marauders use to get out of trouble."

"Yes… You'd know about that wouldn't you."

Severus knew better than to comment. It usually lead to a long lecture and a couple of hexes, or punches, depending on who was there, but he didn't mind staying silent. He needed to think.

They strolled down to the dungeons.

It was a Thursday afternoon and their classes had finished early, after a student had affectively flooded the transfiguration classroom. No one knew how they'd done it, but if it got them out of their last two classes, who was complaining?

Severus made himself sit down and complete the homework from that day, and made sure it took up the rest of the afternoon before he made his way to the Great Hall for dinner.

He really should have been on the look out for stray, floating buckets.

Fire: Well… There's the next chapter… Sorry for taking a while… Mum's been unbearable for the last few days…

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