Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, I'm simply borrowing her characters…

Drussila 2: Thank you… 'Tis my favourite pairing also…

A Person: Just curious, but how did you see them finding out? I had several ideas, but this was the one that got drawn out of the hat… Glad you like the story though…

Warnings: Violence, bullying, tortured!Severus, swearing, slash (boyxboy), etc…

Chapter 6

It was an early Saturday morning; around six thirty and the sun was still rising. As Severus searched the few dishes on the tables, he supposed it was far too early to be awake. But he hadn't been able to sleep well last night; he'd been up and down all night. There was no point in making himself sleep for another hour if he couldn't.

Something was bothering him. Specifically, something was bothering him about Lupin. He'd been tutoring him for a week and a bit now, sometimes without Lily present and Severus had to admit, though rather grudgingly, Lupin was a good student. He may not have improved much (Severus had the strange feeling that Lupin's nose was the cause of that; it scrunched at the weakest of smells) but he definitely had the concentration and the will to learn. If he weren't a Gryffindor, or a Marauder, Severus would have considered the idea of working with him during class.

But he still couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when alone with him. He felt as if he were being studied every time he let his eyes focus on whatever book he had open in front of him or when he was making notes or just… anything. He knew Lily was accustomed to watching him as he worked; something about him being fascinating to watch, graceful and whatnot, but Lupin… It felt as if he were being looked over for weaknesses.

Lupin hadn't even shown up for his classes at all yesterday! Had he thought of something and taken a say sick to plan it. The Marauders had done it before, though thankfully, not to him.

He poked a cream covered pancake noncommittally and quickly decided to never have it again. He really didn't know why he attempted to try new things, he usually didn't like it. Severus had never been one for changes. It was the reason he'd hated Hogwarts when he'd first arrived: nothing stayed the same for long!

He glared at his plate, pushing it away quickly before he grabbed a blueberry muffin and headed for the library. He might as well try and study for an hour or so before he wandered down to Hogsmeade to collect some very much needed stationary; He still hadn't replaced the shattered ink bottle from that afternoon.

Severus, so lost in his thoughts, didn't notice someone was walking towards him until they'd connected his nose to their chest and had bounced off each other. Severus was quick to mutter to himself, telling himself it was stupid and dangerous to have let his guard down.

He straightened and glared at the person he'd bumped into, "Are you bli - Lupin?"

Severus' eyes narrowed dangerously as Remus dusted himself off and smiled awkwardly, looking very tired and incredibly pale. He was wearing a very worn and loose looking long-sleeved shirt and pants that were a faded brown.

"Good morning Snape, how are you?" Severus noted how raspy Lupin's voice was, as if he'd been screaming constantly for a long time. The Slytherin couldn't see the forever calm Gryffindor being angry enough to yell at someone… What had happened?

"I'm fine you idiot. What are you doing up looking like that? You-" Lupin looked as though he were about to collapse, "Let's get you to the infirmary."

Lupin gained a look of tired surprise as Severus motioned him towards the door. After a moment he smiled kindly and limped forward.

Severus had to hide his look of surprise as he realized he was only in the entrance hall, believing his thoughts had been with him until at least the hallway before the staircase to the second floor.

They managed to make it a few hallways before Lupin legs gave out from under him and he crumpled to the ground. Severus surprised himself by trying to lessen the impact as Lupin fell. But he was standing too far away from Lupin to catch or grab him in any way.

He was quick to help the Gryffindor lean against the wall before he rushed off to get Madam Pomphrey.

o0o0o

Remus hadn't been surprised to wake up in the infirmary. Nor had he been surprised to have Madam Pomphrey lecturing him as soon as she had realized he was awake. He was, however, very surprised when he remembered and was told that it was Snape that had gotten the nurse to bring him here.

Remus sighed as the Hogwarts nurse's rant subsided, his head pounding. He should have waited as he usually did, but Remus had been feeling extremely restless and it wasn't as if he didn't know his way to the castle from the Shrieking Shack. He wasn't too badly injured either, just a gash or scratch here and there, it was his muscles that hurt. He'd thought he could make it to the infirmary easily.

Like usual he'd been advised to stay off his feet and rest all day. He'd slept for the first half of the day, but was quickly aroused from his sleep (accidentally, they claimed) by the Marauders. They had brought him his usual chocolate cakes and bars, joining him in eating them.

The sat down and ate and talked. The others had just caught up on their sleep also, though they'd gotten used to wandering around with their eyes either drooping shut or shut. Remus was pretty sure Peter could walk to the Greenhouses and back with his eyes closed.

But after an hour their conversation turned sour, "You should have seen the Greasy Git today, he wasn't acting like himself at all." Sirius commented off handedly.

Remus quickly swallowed the last bit of the rich chocolate cake he'd been savoring before he carefully lowered himself to lay down again, "Oh, really? How so?"

James tapped his chin thoughtfully, "He seemed really distracted. He was kind of staring off into the distance by the Shreiking Shack. We thought we'd bring him back to the real world." He grinned at the memory as Remus frowned disapprovingly, "Oh, don't worry Moony. We won't do too much to him until you're done, we've got to keep him healthy for this prank of yours. I can't wait to see it!" James and Sirius snickered.

However, Peter was quiet on the other side of his bed. Remus also thought it strange to find the boy not joining in with James and Sirius' antics and felt a huge ball of hope swell in his chest. Maybe he'd found someone who had also realized how stupid, unfair and cowardly their behaviour was. He didn't expect himself to be the one who always thought their behaviour was such, he knew they had to grow out of it sometime. Now he was hoping Peter saw it too, and then together they could persuade Sirius and James.

"But seriously, how have you managed to stand his presence?"

"Yes and you look mighty clean. Did Pomfrey wash you? I heard Snape had been near you before you were brought here."

Remus' frown deepened and he was quick to get rid of it as his head started to ache again, "He… He isn't that bad, or that greasy. And could you keep it down, please? My head's killing me."

They didn't seem to have heard him, "Not that bad? Moony you can not be -"

Remus' eyes darted to the door, as it was swung open slowly and carefully and Snape stuck his head in. His blank expression quickly turned to one of great dislike as his eyes came to rest on the Marauders. He looked as if he were about to pick up dragon dung.

"I brought you a book Lupin. I thought it would help improve your atrocious brewing." Remus blinked with surprise as Snape stepped into the room and walked to hid bed. His heart sank and his head pounded forever harder as he realised Snape was still limping and that he was just as twitchy as ever. Did they cause those twitches? He'd never seen Snape twitch around Lily.

"Shut up Snape, Remus has a headache. You're regal voice is making worse." Sirius combined his statement with a mock superior stare and look down his nose.

Snape was by the bed by now, standing next to Peter. He sent Sirius a level stare, "I'm sure your voice can do that much better than my own, Black."

A stab of pain shot through Remus' forehead as Sirius threw an angry glare and an insult at Snape to be calmly responded to. Remus watched in fascination as he realized Severus' usually harsh, demanding voice was soft and mellow, as if he were trying to soothe his aching head. Remus was even more surprised to find that it was helping, before Sirius undid all of Snape's work.

Snape eventually grew tired of Sirius and turned to Remus, completely ignoring the other three Marauders. "This should help with your problem."

Remus took the book tiredly and balanced it on his chest. It looked old and second hand. It had obviously been black at one stange, but had dulled down to a green. The title was written in neat gold writing and Remus read it slowly to himself. "Spells to Ward off the Senses. Erm…" He stared at the book. How was this supposed to help him brew a potion? "Uh…"

Snape rolled his eyes, folded his arms and looked incredibly bored as he explained, "Cast the charm on page 139 on yourself before every Potions lesson. It will feel strange at first but you will eventually get used to it."

"Oh…" Remus nodded and was quick to flip to the page, barely opening the book properly before it was ripped from his hands.

"Remus doesn't want your book Snape!" Sirius threw it at him, hitting the Slytherin in the chest and laughed when Snape fumbled to catch it. "It probably isn't even a charm, is it Snivellus? Trying to curse our dear friend?" James and Peter joined in as Sirius glared and smirked, leaving Remus feeling utterly useless as Severus' eyes took on a hurt look, before it was quickly covered up by a cold glare.

"Fine. Lupin's failure in his OWLs will lie on your hands." Remus immediately noticed Snape's harsh tone and how the ache in his head no longer diminished with its sound and felt cowardly sitting there, laying on his bed and pillows as he let Snape stalk out of the room.

"Slimy Slytherin. I told you he can't be trusted."

An idea struck Remus, "He won't ever trust me if you three keep hassling him the way you do." The Marauders looked surprised, "My plans will work out best if he trusts me, thanks to you it's now going to take me twice as long."

Sirius apologised quietly, the same as James and Peter, and Remus couldn't help but be thankful that what he'd said was only half untrue. He hated lying to his friends. He hated lying all together. He hadn't seen much of a point for it. Until now.

"So we're going to have to be nice to Snivellus."

Though very hard with his headache and sleepy eyes Remus put his mind to work. Would them being nice to Snape really help that much. Remus shook his head slightly, no, if anything he'd make it a lot worse. Snape would be suspicious as to why all of them were being nice to him.

"No. Just... Would you all lighten up? You're making my job harder than it should be." Oh dear, that came out far too easily. Remus breifly wondered if Snape was rubbing off on him.

James nodded, "Alright mate, but we're waiting to see results." With that and a few long goodbyes, they'd left a very guilty Remus with a pounding head ache and more worries on his mind. He sighed and got comfortable quickly falling asleep.

o0o0o

"Where have you been, Snape?"

Severus barely acknowledged Lucius' presence as he strode into the room and he carefully put the book in his trunk. He knew it would be a horrible, time wasting and money wasting idea! What Gryffindor would trust a snake to give him a gift of any sort? None!

Severus had picked up the equipment he'd needed from Hogsmeade that day. But it had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Lupin really was struggling with the smell of most of the ingrediants they used in class, it could have improved his brewing skills. Severus practically slammed his trunk closed, surprising Lucius.

"Snape, what's wrong?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

Severus glared at him, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong!"

Lucius sent a glare back, "Don't forget who exactly you are talking to Snape."

Severus shut his mouth and settled himself in his bed, under the covers. He should have expected those stupid Marauders to be there and it wasn't as if he really cared if Lupin improved in Potions. It just meant one less rival for the top spot. Most of their Potions mark came from the actual brewing and it was the thing he was best at. It was his theory work he lost marks for, if he did lose some.

He knew there was something off about Lupin; with him acting so nice, almost as if he'd wanted to make amends. He needed to find out what the Gryffindor was up to.

He frowned again, did Lupin really beleive he hadn't done anything to hurt him? If anything it probably hurt more when he was around! No one wanted a witness that would just sit and watch his torment, he'd prefer it if Lupin had hexed him. Severus rubbed his nose on the pillow, frowning darkly at the wall. Still... He had to tutor him, only Lupin could break that off. He'd said he'd help and he was and would.

Lucius had been quiet and Severus was surprised to find that he'd disappeared when he sat up and looked around the room. He returned to laying down and decided to catch up on his missed sleep from the night before, it wasn't as if dinner was that important anyway; he could always eat in the morning.

He enjoyed the quiet as he closed his eyes, flicking his hair away from his face. It wasn't often he got these conditions to fall asleep in. Usually he'd have Crabbe's snoring, Rosier's twoinging bed as he moved around and that horrible music Malfoy listened to when going to bed.

Severus was almost asleep. He could feel the warm blackness pulling him in. It was a stray thought that woke him up again.

What was Lupin doing out in the condition he was in? And why was he coming in from outside? He of course knew what their curfew was and they weren't allowed outside until at least seven, thirty in the morning. He was cut up too. Severus had seen the few patches of blood on his clothes. What had that stupid Gryffindor been doing? Even Severus thought he'd have more brains than to wander about with wounds like that.

But what had caused them? Severus suddenly remembered that Lucius hadn't bene in his bed when he'd awoken that morning. Oh god! Had they dueled? No wonder why Lucius was in a good mood if he'd done so much damage as to weild him unable to stand for long.

Was this becuase of him? Lupin had become very curious about his life with Lucius in it, and just the other day he'd commented on how Lucius was still in the school. Had he assumed that Lucius was the one to have hurt him that day Potions classroom? It had been, but had Lupin known it was him? Had he seen him?

Severus' head had started to hurt before he realised he'd been clenching his teeth. Lupin's behaviour made him so angry! Was he planning something or was he actually being nice? Why had he been hurt? Was he being like Black and Potter and trying to be heroic? That was it! He would ask during their next tutoring lesson. Lupin would not toy with his feelings.

Severus was surprised to realise that that was exactly what Lupin was doing. Either intentionally or unintentionally. He had managed to confuse him, make him care (though it was only the tiniest bit) and make him worry. He'd only ever done that with his family. His... Muggle family.

Severus was quick to clear his mind and get comfortable. He needed sleep. He sighed and snuggled his head into the pillow.Yes, he'd ask Lupin on Monday. And if he had to, he'd force a true answer from him.

Woffy: That was actually a really hard chapter to write... -shakes fist- Stupid writer's block... Thank you for the reveiws so far... Reveiw again please?