IV - Inner Beast
Clunk-Clunk. Clunk-Clunk-Clunk…
The tatter-robed wizard waited until he heard every last door bolt magically slam home and the chain rattle round the stays before he allowed himself to relax. It had been four days since his sudden transformation, and tonight was full moon; he was certainly not going to take any chances now.
Keeping his eyes averted from the steps that led down to the basement kitchen, and its reminder of the bloody scenes that had occurred a few days before, Remus Lupin aimed for the servants' stairwell instead. As he took hold of the handle he paused, turning his head slightly toward the tall, thin stained glass window by the front door.
Was it just his imagination, or had he just seen a shadow pass in front of it?
Remus pursed his lips as the hairs at the back of his neck prickled. He knew it was too close to the full moon to doubt what his heightened senses told him.
Only Dumbledore's trusted Order members knew where Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was.
Trusted...
Lupin's pulse quickened.
The front door bolts slid back one by one as the spell-caster broke their charms, their metallic noises echoing through the hallway. Swiftly and silently, Remus pulled open the servant's door and slipped through it just as the final bolt slid back. In the safety of the dark, cramped stairwell Remus drew his wand as he heard the front door slowly open.
Moody's defence system kicked in, dust-Dumbledore loomed up with a wail and was as swiftly banished…
Once again, the sound of the door bolts as they clunked securely back into place…
"I know you're still here, Lupin," came a sardonic voice. "I can smell that musty tweed jacket of yours…"
Lupin's breath hitched in his throat.
"...I can also smell your Murray Mints, your lavender handsoap, and even that bloody aloe vera aftershave that you wear…" droned the Slytherin resignedly. "I hardly wish to be party to all this information, but it seems - as of this morning - that my sense of smell is now set to be constantly assaulted everywhere I damn well go…"
The servant's door opened and the sheepish looking owner of the tweed jacket emerged.
"Ah… Not everyone develops the heightened sense of smell, I never have..." he said softly. "My eyes are better in the dark than most people's, however. I don't make that fact well known... Mentioned it to a girl at a party once and, eh, it didn't seem to go down well..."
Lupin's attempt at humour fell flat. He shuffled his feet awkwardly in the silence and gave a wan smile at his scowling visitor. "Can I erm….offer you some tea?"
Snape rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that you will be disappointed to hear that the Dark Lord has sent me back here to continue a mission, and not for a cosy canine soiree..."
Lupin stared wearily back at his dark ex-colleague. Yet again his head questioned why in Godric's name he was trusting the dark man who blasted Albus off the Astronomy Tower, and yet again his senses gave him no reply.
Oh Minerva, he thought desperately, I hope you are right…
In his anxiety, Remus imagined that he felt the cramp building at the tops of his calf muscles again and twitched, throwing a glance at the cellar door.
"Sunset is in fifteen minutes. Do you think your mission can possibly wait until after the full moon..?"
Snape scowled. "Do Centaurs fuck in the forest?"
x-X-x
Both wizards made a retreat into the cellar of Grimmauld Place. It was a long, gloomy, rectangular stone room off to the right of the basement kitchen, with a separate chamber at the rear end with a large lockable cell door. The door to the cellar was made of double-thickness heavy oak, and Lupin had taken care to further reinforce and ward it.
Snape cast a critical eye around the musty, dank surroundings, which mostly included damp stone walls and most macabre - a pair of rusty iron manacles attached to a long chain. He raised an eyebrow. "Yours, I presume?"
Remus gave a bemused smile. "No - they are relics of the Black family's, I'm afraid... I'm sure that you are aware that chaining a werewolf is not wise. It often comes about that the angrier the human, the more merciless their wolf; the most feral of wolves have been known to unintentionally strangle themselves with the chain in their frenzy, or even gnaw their own hind leg off. It's not Jekyll and Hyde as so often incorrectly presumed- more often it's Hyde and Hyde."
Snape curled his lip. "Alluding to yourself with your last comment, I'm sure…"
"No indeed. Rather Greyback...My wolf is a cultured gentleman in comparison...However, with it's shocking behaviour of late...Touche..." He trailed off quietly, and sighed.
"Quite…" Said the Slytherin darkly. "And not wishing for my unfortunate fate to also befall your associates, I have managed to procure enough ingredients to begin us both a new batch of Wolfsbane…For needs must when the devil vomits into your cauldron…"
Remus could see that the wizard's eyes were beginning to change colour now, from regular Snape black to a wolfish yellow.
He let out a weary sigh. "I don't expect you will ever thank me for this honesty, Severus, but I'll tell you some things for your own good. Newly bitten have a high mortality rate in this area. There are two sizeable packs in London, one to the North of the river, which I am infiltrating, and one pack to the South. Unfortunately, as you are my progeny, that will make you low down in the North pack's rankings, so I wouldn't advise roaming alone...and certainly not South of the river..."
If Snape was the least bit ruffled by this, he did not show it. His eyes scrutinised Lupin coolly. "So my choice tonight - facing one scraggly, lone wolf in a cellar, or several packs of Cockney werewolves out on the streets... Hardly a difficult decision for me to make, is it?"
Lupin shrugged, lay his folded robes into a reinforced chest and sat with his back to the cellar wall. "I'm just being honest," he replied mildly. "While many claim to know a lot of facts about werewolves, very few actually look beyond these facts for the reasons. Most wizards are solely interested in learning how to defend against, or kill werewolves. They are not so interested in their sociology."
There was an eerie pause; Snape's smirk had grown over the latter words of Lupin's last speech, and now Lupin was staring back at him uneasily.
"Do you have any questions for me?" enquired Lupin finally, desperate to break the silence.
Snape's eyes glittered. "Let me remind you again that my reason for being here has nothing whatsoever to do with seeking any sort of guidance from- "
Snape's breath hitched, and he stood ramrod straight, as if suddenly struck down with cramp.
Lupin watched as the man he had turned just a few nights ago began to suffer what he himself had suffered every moon since he was a small child. And as he watched, a torturous coiling of anger, of guilt and fear, began to twist in his stomach.
If Snape had wanted him dead, he could have killed him easily these past few encounters. If he had hated everyone in Hogwarts, was a ruthless murderer, why did he spare everyone else but Albus Dumbledore? Why only Albus? Minerva believed there must have been a conspiracy, and Minerva was hardly the kind of girl for wild flights of fancy.
And no other staff member in the school had known the late Headmaster for longer than Minerva McGonagall.
So whose side was Severus Snape really on?
x-X-x
Snape clamped his teeth together as tight as he could to try and ease the awful pulsing muscle cramps that had begun first in his face, then over his head, creeping down his neck, and were soon affecting every limb and tendon. Awful pains, as if all his muscles were being pulled too tight. The only other sensation he'd experienced as intense as this had been due the Cruciatus Curse, but this was not quite the same - like a thousand awful aches, like his body was being stretched over a torture rack, his joints and bones creaking with every wind of the wheel...
He would not scream…. Especially not in front of...
Snape wrenched his head downward and fell to his knees, where he caught sight of his pale fingers darkening with fine, black hairs, the nails turning black and curling round...
By Salazar...
He squeezed his eyes tight shut...and then there was dizziness, nausea, white hot rage...snarling growing distant...confusion...
Fear…
Whimpering...
x-X-x
Lupin's wolf was somewhat slower to turn this evening. Perhaps it was due to his premature transformation a few nights before, but of course the delay meant that his still-human form found himself observing his cellar companion's transformation to its completion.
Snape had borne it well, considering it was his first time, holding stoically silent only until the most painful part. He let out a sharp snarl as his body twisted into shape, snout lengthening, thick, jet black hair sprouting down his back, and spreading over his body. His long, thin fingers buckled and grew claws.
The beastly magical curse finally done with its work, SnapeWolf's snarls turned into whimpers, and with tail curled tightly between his legs, he collapsed exhaustedly onto his side.
Lupin had intended to lock himself in the end chamber to separate himself from the new wolf, but now hesitated as he looked over the exhausted creature's thin, bony form.
Hyde and Hyde? Well...here was clearly no 'Hyde Wolf...'