Chapter 17: A Chess Game and a Gorilla

Severus Snape

December 31, 1995

New Year's Eve. Snape couldn't say that this was his favourite holiday. But he didn't have many favourite holidays. Too much noise and mess and the inevitable social invitations. Like this one. Lucius had insisted, despite Snape's repugnance making him repeatedly send the invitation letter back to the Malfoy Manor, usually covered with some foully behaved spell. Lucius was particularly unhappy with the one that sprayed liquid faeces upon delivery, but after five repeat invitations, Snape had to give in. Lucius knew he hated parties- one on one socialisation was hard enough, although it certainly had its benefits, but there was little purpose in resisting further. After all, despite Lucius's seemingly never-ending wardrobe, Snape wasn't quite sure if he would have enough clothing left to survive another onslaught of return letters.

At least it gave him an opportunity to retrieve the set of dress robes that he had thrown, unwashed, into the dark depths of his wardrobe after the horror that was last year's Yule Ball. They weren't so different from his normal clothes. A little more flow, a little more shine, some unobtrusive Slytherin green and silver embroidery coiling down the front. There also used to be this rather nice tall collar, but he had quickly transfigured away after too many brats started mouthing Dracula. He cast a thorough Scourgify over his robes, and even brutally attacked his hair with product- not that it would help. For as much as he used to wash his hair, it would always fall back to into its lank, greasy state within a few hours. Quite inexplicable. After a while, he stopped bothering so much.

And then at eleven o'clock, Snape girded himself to head into the mouth of the beast. This time it was bound to be significantly worse than any normal situation where he was forced to be around a group of inebriated fools, since most of these fools were likely to be advocates or followers of the Dark Lord. But sacrifices must be made. Snape told himself that it was for the war effort, but he knew that he was really doing it for Lucius.

Lucius, ridiculous Lucius. He thought himself so utterly fine, white blond hair shining like the moon and bedecked in a brilliant midnight blue dress robe. "Severus!" he beamed, tipping his left hand in Snape's direction, while his right hand tipped wine onto his well-polished boots.

Snape raised an eyebrow. Lucius was obviously well oiled already. "Am I late?" he inquired mildly.

"Horridly, inconsiderately late, you frightful bat, you!" Lucius grabbed his arm and led him inside, disregarding Snape's attempt to remove him. "Why, it will be next year in an hour."

"Technically in an hour, next year will be a year hence." Snape pointed out, but Lucius was too grog-smattered to return his wordplay.

"Cissy my love, I've found him!" Lucius called out brightly. Snape grimaced. Whenever the man was drunk, his voice became even more high-pitched and poncy.

Snape was glad to see that Narcissa, and gladder to see that her demeaner was much more collected than that of her husbands'.

"So glad you could come." She greeted him cordially. "I rather thought Lucius would fail to persuade you, especially after that last letter you returned."

Lucius sent Snape a sour look, to which he could only grin in return. "I do hope that it didn't cause any permeant damage to your home, Narcissa." He said.

"Of course not. There's nothing I can't clean. Anyway, your little trick sent Draco into hysterics, and he doesn't laugh so much these days." At those last words, a shadow flicked across her face, and Snape could see that she too was worried about her son. Lucius's fuzzy good mood also seemed to have plummeted.

Snape looked away, and across the room. The usual Death Eater crowd, but significantly more people than he had expected. Members of the Ministry, renowned journalists, researchers. Snape caught sight of one rather famous local Potioneer, and was about to go and engage the woman in conversation, but before being able to do so, he realized that she was far so drunk to be of any intellectual value. The dancing on table part gave it away.

Fabulous. All the interesting people had been reduced to gibbering baboons, and his friends were stuck in a swamp of gloom that Snape knew he could do nothing to save them from. As if there was anything to stop the Dark Lord from getting what he wanted. Speaking of which…

"And where is Draco?" he asked, scanning the room.

"Oh…" Narcissa warbled in a would be casual tone. "He's in the gardens with his friends, Vincent and Gregory, you know?"

"It's snowing." Snape pointed out flatly. Something wasn't right.

Lucius tried to distract him by indicating a house elf to proffer him wine, but Snape waved the elf off. "Narcissa, why have you sent Draco away?"

Lucius sighed, and stepped in. "The Dark Lord may be paying us a visit in about half an hour or so." He admitted in an undertone.

Snape stilled at once, and fought to keep alarm from creeping into his expression. He had not prepared himself enough that night. Quickly he began to work on strengthening his shields; he knew he should have sent that fifth invitation letter back- maybe with maggots. "How can the Dark Lord be coming here? Your manor is rife with the uninitiated, and our Lord isn't exactly the kind of man to go unnoticed."

"He… will be using a Polyjuice potion."

Ohhh. So that was why the Dark Lord had asked him to brew so much of it. "He should have consulted me." Snape pretended to look worried. "I cannot be sure the potion will work with his body chemistry!" As if he cared what his potion did. With any luck it would send the Dark Lord twitching into a giant caterpillar.

"I'm sure our Lord knows what he is doing. He has no small knowledge of Potions himself." Narcissa said.

But Snape had other concerns forefront in his mind. Carefully drawing the two Malfoys off into a corner, he whispered, "I would caution you both not to take the Dark Lord for a fool. Even I can see that you are attempting to hide Draco."

He cut his hand sharply in the air, stopping whatever protestations rose to their lips. "Don't bother denying it, I'm not even half as intelligent as our Lord, and it's obvious to me. No fifteen-year-old plays out in the dead of winter at this time of the night, especially not someone who hates the cold as much as I know Draco to."

"Severus, we aren't trying to hide him from the Dark Lord…" Narcissa broke in urgently, her lips white. "Just to keep him… out of the way."

"Out of the way, or out of the war?" Snape scoffed. "You know how the Dark Lord is- how he was. It is the young that he looks for, especially when renewing a power base. The young are malleable. He won't miss the opportunity to scoop up a wizard like Draco. Pureblood, talented, and with something to prove. I told you, Lucius, this won't work."

"What would you have me do?" Lucius demanded, his fear and anger seeming to have drained the grog from his system.

"Make your mind up about your loyalties." Snape tensed inside, but his speech flowed smoothly. Lucius had already made his choice, and Snape knew that it was with the Dark Lord. All Snape knew he could do now was try and make sure the wizard didn't stab himself with his own decisions.

"My- loyalties?"

"Yes. To be loyal to the Dark Lord, you know you must give him anything and everything. And to do it willingly, or he will destroy you and yours. Do not grudge him anything, least of all your own son. For Draco's own sake, you must not keep him from our Lord."

Lucius gulped, pale eyes very still. Snape hoped dearly that the man would recognize the hard words for what they were- not the directive of an evil master's right hand, but the warning of a friend.

"I'll bring Draco inside." Narcissa said suddenly, and left the room.

"I'm sorry." Snape muttered to Lucius. "But I told you, you can't keep children out of this. Dumbledore has his Potter, and our Lord is going to have his own child soldiers too."

The aristocrat seemed to brush it off, and went back to the party and the wine as if the little interlude hadn't happened at all. Snape stared after him, something prickling inside him. He didn't have overly soft feelings for Draco, if he was honest, but he knew how much Lucius loved his son. But it was too late. Lucius had already condemned the boy, from the moment he was born. He had raised him with the Dark Lord's philosophy, he had fed him on bigotry and unmerited pride. And now it was inevitable. Unless Lucius decided to switch sides… but Snape, as much as he wished it, knew that Lucius was still a fanatic to the cause, despite his misgivings. Anyway, Dumbledore would never sanction Snape risking his position in order to recruit the aristocratic Death Eater.

So, these musings in mind, Snape was left to wander aimlessly about, ducking out of a dry conversation with a handful of Ministry suits that recognized him as Hogwarts' Potions Master. Then he traded several poisonous glares with Avery and Hobbes and a few of the other Death Eaters who he recalled had quite audibly enjoyed the last month's instalment of 'How Loud Can Snape Scream?'. When that got boring, he happened upon a lovely Wizard chess set that Lucius had set up in a corner, and began to play against himself, whom he was more than a match for. He soon got quite involved in smashing himself up that he lost track of time and of location. Until-

"Mind if I play?"

Snape looked up in displeasure.

It was Goyle. Goyle the elder.

"Don't you think that is a little dangerous?" Snape drawled, leaning back in his chair. "You might strain a braincell, and as you have so few, that's really quite an unmitigable risk."

Goyle laughed. "Yes, you are quite right, Severus, Goyle really wouldn't do well at chess."

Snape gawked at him. "The Dark Lord must have cursed away your remaining sense. Exactly why are you referring to yourself in this holy third personage way?"

"Because it is I." and Goyle's eyes suddenly flashed red. Then Snape knew who the Dark Lord had chosen to Polyjuice as.

Almost hysterical with panic, Snape forced up scores of reinforced Occlumenic walls, scrambling internally while trying so very hard to keep his expression muted. Where were the surface memories? He couldn't be sure if he'd had any laid overtop before, he'd been too entranced in his game to be careful. Then he had them, brutish, badly laid memories, but maybe enough, at least for short notice. All this Snape did within barely a millisecond of recognizing his Lord, but he couldn't know if he'd been already too late…

Finally ready to speak, clearing away the fear that clutched his throat, Snape bowed his head carefully, so as not to attract notice, but with deep respect. "My Lord." He murmured. "Lucius said that you may come. Forgive me, I didn't realize, I spoke with such disrespect…"

Goyle- no, the Dark Lord sat down across from Snape and laughed- not the chilling high-pitched laugh that his rotten body would produce, but Goyle's heavy and sleepy laugh.

"You spoke to Goyle just as he deserved- after all, you have a great reason not to like him."

"Disliking him for being an uncurable blockhead is probably reason enough." Snape said silkily. "Although I didn't exactly appreciate his behaviour last time I saw him."

Again with that dull laugh. "Oh, I doubt he appreciated it either, seeing that he is bedridden even still. Quite useful though, as it gave me a skin to assume."

Snape froze. Did the Dark Lord mean he was physically wearing Goyle's body, or just assuming the form? Ever since Snape had learnt about Voldemort possessing Nagini, he had spent his spare moments musing over how his Lord had done it. Possession while in incorporeal form was one thing- incredible, but something Snape understood. But for all the books on the Dark Arts that he'd ever come across, Snape couldn't fathom how his Lord had managed to possess another entity while possessing a human body. The idea of the Dark Lord ever possessing him…

"My Lord… this is a Polyjuice potion, is it not?" he asked slowly.

"Of course. What else would it be?"

And another mystery- how could the Dark Lord have managed to Polyjuice with a body that was such a mess? It seemed almost terrible that so much greatness would have to be destroyed. It was very easy to remember why he had once worshipped that man so.

"My compliments- queen to B4."

And like that, Snape was playing chess. Against the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord was good. For a brief moment, Snape considered letting his Lord win easily, but his chess ethics rebelled, so the battle began to rage in earnest. The Dark Lord's strategy was difficult to read, for he kept shifting from attack to defence, and moving his reliance from one piece to the next, giving Snape little time to focus on just one. The game went on, twenty minutes, half an hour. The year slid into 1996 without either of their noticing it, despite all the cheering and snogging that went on around them. Snape soon realized that for all the Dark Lord's gains, he actually wasn't planning out his steps in advance- maybe three or four moves he was theorizing about later on down the track, but unlike Snape, he saw the board as fluid. Once Snape comprehended this, his path to victory became clear. Instead of anticipating and thinking ten steps ahead, Snape focused on brutally taking advantage of an unexpected move and crushing pieces on the fringes. Soon he had chipped away all of the Dark Lord's supporting pieces, and he was left only with the queen, a castle, and the quivering King. Snape hid his triumph- with so few pieces, there was no way the Dark Lord would be able to play anything with an element of surprise… except that he did.

Moments later, Snape was left staring at confusion as his king was pummelled to death by the Dark Lord's raving queen.

"How?"

"Because you assumed I was only playing with one strategy, Severus." The Dark Lord purred as much as he could from Goyle's voicebox. "You underestimated me."

"I am a great fool." Snape muttered, not having been as heartily honest to his Lord since 1980. Yes, he had certainly underestimated him. But that single game of chess had left him with more insight into the Dark Lord's tactics than he had collated in months' worth of spying.

"Yes. But I enjoyed the game. We should have a rematch sometime- if you learn your lesson, you may even win." The Dark Lord got up. "Come, Severus."

Snape rose quickly and followed him. "My Lord-" he broke off when he saw the Dark Lord's expression snap out from the Goylish visage.

"You may call me Goyle, Severus, since I have gone to the trouble of assuming anonymity- I have come to speak to the guests and find out their allegiances. Leaving that task solely up to Lucius doesn't sit well for me."

"Of course." Snape nodded. Anyway, he didn't really want to be seen kow-towing to Goyle, of all people. "I was going to ask why, if you are able to assume Polyjuice form, why you did not choose such a method to enter the Department of Mysteries?"

"Because I'm not going to risk my discovery on the off chance that there is something like the Thief's Downfall down there. Polyjuice detectors are rare but not unknown. Now enough questions. You can follow me if you like, while I speak with dear Lucius's guests."

Snape followed, flanking the Dark Lord's Polyjuiced form, looking like a doleful bodyguard. For over two hours, the Dark Lord jumped from person to person, picking their brains quite literally without their realizing it. Those that knew Goyle would that night have been shocked to hear him so very erudite, but as each conversation would inevitably turn from the nonessential to the political, Snape could soon tell who would have a place in the Dark Lord's circle, and who would end up at the bottom of a lake.

"Ah, Severus… now that would be Lucius's son, would it not?" Snape jerked alert as the Dark Lord addressed him, and a thrill of dismay shot through him when he saw the direction of his Lord's gaze.

"Yes… Draco." Snape cast a careful look over at his friend's son, who was sneaking glasses of wine off the house elf's tray.

"You are his teacher, no? Tell me about him."

So this would be it then- it was to be his fault that the boy would be taken over to the Dark Lord's side- although he was as much there as it was possible to be in any case. Snape supposed the best thing to do would be to tell the truth.

"Draco is… well, he is a very good student. One of the best in my class- he's always had an understanding of Potions, even as a child, which is quite rare. His temper gets the best of him, at times, I think, but that is something that he will control with age. He is a passionate Slytherin, and hates Potter, especially as quite often the teachers will bestow their Gryffindor favouritism on Potter and leave Draco with the short end of the stick."

"Quite useful…" the Dark Lord eyed the boy in a hungry manner that quite bothered Snape.

"Do you want me to introduce you to him?" he hid the reluctance from his voice.

"Oh no, no. He will be presented to me when I am not in this form. But come, Severus, I want you to tell me about the other students- which of them will be loyal and of value to our cause?"

So this was to be it then? He was to be what Lucius had been when he was in school- it was to be his fault that students he had watched grow would be ushered into the Dark forces. Not that most wouldn't end up there without his held anyway… Snape crumbled the ball of self-hatred that was unfolding in his chest, and began to tell the Dark Lord exactly what he wanted to hear. Snape omitted a precious few that he hoped would be able to avoid the Dark Lord's influence, but the entire House were isolated from the rest of the Wizarding school, and full of so much resentment… if only Dumbledore had paid attention to the Sorting Hat's words…

And that was how he spent the first few hours of the year's birth, betraying children into the arms of a demon.

The 31st of December, 1995

Remus Lupin

Lupin hadn't expected New Years Eve to be anything other than dismal. What with Arthur Weasley in the hospital, Harry in the dumps, and Sirius in his cups, Lupin expected to spend the evening with a book and a firm resolution to ignore those around him for once. Until Tonks turned up.

"Tonks!" he couldn't help congratulating himself internally for being the one to greet her at the door. "Shouldn't you be spending New Years with your parents?"

"Oh, that was the plan, but then I knocked over mother's side board and smashed all her crockery, so we had a bit of a tiff." She said brightly. "I thought I'd come and knock over Sirius's furniture instead, since he doesn't seem quite as attached to his."

"I guess I will be brushing up on my Reparo then." Lupin laughed.

"Yes, well I don't think you'd find a witch with a better Reparo than my mother's, but she says her china never looks quite the same after…"

Figuring that Tonks was probably quite a bit more bothered by her family spat than she led on- as the faded blue shade to her hair suggested- Lupin said no more, and simply brought her into the warmly lit kitchen.

There Molly was bustling around, cleaning up after the hearty meal she had served some hours ago. She was looking extremely cheerful, likely due to Healer Smythwyke's news about her husband's continuing recovery. "Hello there, dear." she patted the girl's arm. "There's still some left-over dinner if you'd like."

"Ooohh- I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley." Despite Tonk's polite words, Lupin barely restrained a snort as he saw the hungry look in her eyes.

"Well never mind that then- but we have plenty of pudding, and Remus here said he was going to have his later- his digestion is a little bit slow, you see."

Lupin flushed at Molly's insensitive words. His digestion was perfectly fine most of the time, except when the week was gearing up to end in the full moon! But Tonks passed him a knowing, sympathetic look, as if to say that she understood.

"Pudding, yes please!" she gave in, and Molly, who seemed always at her most happy when she was feeding people, landed two huge bowls of chocolate cake on the heavy wooden table.

Chocolate was never something that Lupin could turn away, poor digestion or otherwise, so Tonks and Lupin dug in without another word. New Year's Eve seemed to have perked up. He just wished he could think of something to say.

However, he didn't need to, because once Tonks mouth wasn't full of cake, it was jabbering at a hundred miles an hour- he liked to listen to her jabber.

"- and then on Tuesday, Mad-Eye goes and blows his top at me just because I have a cat-flap on the backdoor of my house- as if I don't have protective wards or anything! Said an Animagus could get through and then I told that was a load of tosh, because that there were only a handful of Animagus in Britain. He then starts grumbling about Shrinking Charms! As if I'm not a match for some pint-sized wizard!" and she looked so indignant that Lupin didn't bother reminding her that pint sized wizards may be capable of producing the Engorgio charm.

"Sounds like Moody's in your hair at the moment." He directed the subject elsewhere.

"Gods, yes! He's been absolutely intolerable. If you ask me, it's this new invention of Snape's that's got up his craw."

Lupin's attention immediantly focused. He hadn't seen Snape since that rather horrible evening where he had to watch the man reveal his worst fear to people that would doubtless use it against him.

"How can Mad-eye still not get it? Snape showed him irrefutable proof of his trust worthiness, and Kingsley is for him, and he's no fool."

"Proof? What proof?" Thankfully Mad-eye hadn't mentioned it to his protegee- Lupin had had a devil of a time trying to convince Sirius to keep his mouth shut.

"Um, probably best not to say. It was revealed in confidence."

"Oh, so Snape is taking you into your confidence then?" Tonks leaned forward, lacing her fingers together with interest. Lupin tried not to dwell on how only a month or so ago those lovely delicate hands had wrapped around his own. "I take it your apology went over well?"

"Uhh, we didn't quite reach that stage." Lupin said vaguely. Stop looking at her hands. "He fainted before I could-"

Oh. Shit.

Reading Lupin's expression, Tonks pursed her lips. "I… take it that that was also something in confidence, eh?"

"Probably." Lupin admitted weakly. He definitely knew that revealing the things that were spoken off only moments before Snape's faint were even more private.

"Uhh, basically three weeks ago I spent a couple of days taking care of Severus after Voldemort cursed him rather savagely. Just, don't tell anyone I said so, least of all him, poor fellow."

Tonks looked extremely interested, and he could see she would have asked more, but he adjusted his expression to assume a stern look, making it clear that even for her he could say nothing more.

"So you definitely reckon he's on our side then?"

"Definitely." Lupin said firmly. "He hates Voldemort." Did he though? Or was he just extremely, extremely afraid of him? If he was afraid of him, and still going up against him, how intensely brave was that?

His train of thought was broken by the sound of a loud thump, and they both leapt up from their seats in alarm.

It was only Molly, although her stream of curse words indicated her to be in a state of high dudgeon.

"Are you alright, Molly?" Lupin inquired, stepping over the toppled stool and helping her to her feet.

"Yes, damn it." She puffed. "Just trying to get at that that top cupboard, but it's locked with something that neither my spells or arms can open."

"Oh, let me!" said Tonks, springing out her wand. "Vythistei!"

And whether or not that had been what the erstwhile Auror had intended to do, both cupboard doors exploded in a deluge of splintered wood and yellow light.

"Oh… well, it's open?" Tonks grinned weakly.

The very next instant, something large and black leapt out of the cupboard with such speed that Lupin hadn't time to even shout. It landed on the kitchen table, and skidded across its length and knocking a large jug of flowers to the floor.

"WHAT the bloody hell is that?" screamed Tonks, aiming her wand at… whatever it was.

It was about the size of a Kneazle, with long black legs and a long trashing tail, and as it turned its furry head towards Lupin, he got the impression of a particularly human intelligence. Until it bared its teeth and launched itself at him.

"Stupify!" he yelped, but the red flash of light, while catching itself in the creatures' chest and making it stagger back, didn't knock it out. Instead it shot a resentful glare at Lupin and then turned tail and raced off out of the room.

All three stared at each other in perplexity and then with one accord-

"AFTER IT!" they raced down the corridor, just catching the end of a dark tail flicking out of sight and into the dungeons- the door to which had been left open.

The dungeons, while significantly smaller than those at Hogwarts, did consist of three or four different rooms, the armoury, the potions lab, the torture chamber, ect., so Molly took off into one of the rooms to explore, and the other two also split up, Lupin taking the lab.

But he immediately came bolting back out when he heard Tonks shout his name from the armoury. "Great Merlin!" he gasped when he saw what she was looking at.

The creature, whatever it was, had suddenly trebled in size, and had also put on a fair amount of hard muscle. It looked rather like a gorilla now, whereas before it more resembled a capuchin. Of course, the huge horns rising from its head and the scaled ridges along its back didn't quite fit in with the otherwise monkey look. But Lupin really didn't have time to contemplate primate breeds, because he was too busy casting a shield charm to protect him and Tonks from the creature as it abruptly roared and charged at them, clenching its meaty fists and smashing them against the shield like a hammer.

"Close the door!" Lupin shouted at Tonks, straining to maintain his shield charm. "We can't risk this thing getting out and hurting the children!"

Although Tonks had to have known it would mean locking them in with the beast, there really wasn't time for either of them to get out without risking the creature escaping along with them. She quickly spelled it shut, and then aimed another stupefy at the creature, which had even less effect than last time. It merely swatted at its chest in bemusement, and then bellowed again, showing a huge row of sharp snarled teeth.

"Ohhh…" groaned Tonks, trying again with a different spell. She slammed it with the knockback, with a flame hex, with stings, with a Bodybinding curse- nothing seemed to affect it.

The whole time they'd been running around the room, Lupin still maintaining his shield, but sweating with the effort. He didn't usually use Protego in such a continuous manner. "Tonks, you do the shield!" Lupin said, while the beast was momentarily distracted by all the bats flying out of his nose. He kept eating the poor things.

Then once Tonks took over the shield, Lupin aimed a Confundus at the creature. He hadn't really expected it to work, since usually magical creatures didn't have the same kind of brain chemistry, but to his surprise, the gorilla-like animal stumbled, and then looked about, scratching its head in bewilderment.

And then Tonks, breaking off the Shield charm shouted, "Ebublio!" and a huge faintly pink bubble swallowed the creature up, which only seemed to confuse it even more, until it began to try and force its way out. However, as much as it pounded and raged, the bubble held. Finally, in a dejected kind of way, it morphed down back into its smaller form.

Seizing the moment, Lupin knocked it, bubble and all, into a wardrobe and then cast every Containment Spell he knew at the piece of furniture.

"YES!" Tonks crowed. "We frickin' did it! We beat that damn- whatever it was!"

His adrenaline only now beginning to slow, Lupin wiped his brow. "I think now I remember reading about a very rare creature called a Mutasimia, said to have incredibly long-life spans. Monkeys that bred with some extinct kind of demon harpy. But believe it or not, Wizards use to keep them as pets."

Tonks gave a shaky laugh. "I reckon I wouldn't mind trying to making a pet out of- as long as it stays inside its bubble!"

They both laughed, and turned to look at each other just as Grimmauld Place's magical clock struck twelve, sending pealing chimes into every room of the house. Lupin didn't even realize the significance of that sound, so struck was he by the elation sparkling in Tonks' huge dark eyes.

Then what happened next shocked him more than the Mutasimia jumping out of the cupboard ever did.

Tonks placed her hand on the front of Lupin's tattered, worn robe, and kissed him full on the mouth. "Happy New Year." She grinned, and thrusting her wand into her coat pocket, sauntered out of the room, leaving Lupin's brain to quietly explode in tandem with all the fireworks that were going off upstairs...

And so directly after stating in the proceeding chapter that this fic will not be a romance, we then see Lupin and Tonks getting it on with the mouth on mouth action. "Crimson!" you say. "Traitor, liar, what are you doing?" But let me assure you again, this is not a romantic fic. It occurs to me that in developing Lupin's character, which is required to in turn develop Snape's own, that not dwelling on the ground-shaking romance that was (as far as we know) Lupin's first relationship- well, that is just criminally amiss, don't you agree? I don't give a tuppence about romance for the purpose of this fic, that's not it's goal, but invariably in human existence we will come upon this ritual, so in an effort to realistically portray natural life, I am forced to include some mention of these kinds of relationships. But don't worry, we won't be devoting too much of the word count to this little wolf/metamorphmagus shin-dig.