A/N: Hello again. Here's the next instalment. I'd like to answer a few questions from the lovely Mandarrin (thanks for your and "Guest's" comments and reviews: they mean a lot to me!). Severus isn't an obscurus. I wasn't aware of what those were when I started writing and now that I know, I still don't think so: he hasn't had to stifle his magic, only keep it discreet. He just didn't receive any particular guidance until he met Prunella. Also: the marauders are muggles. There's no big plot twist behind that, just random AU. I'm not that smart *scratches head and looks apologetic*. On with the show!

Part VI

London, 1985-

It was several days after his visit to his parents' that Remus and Sirius made their way to Chen's. After ringing up Sirius, Peter and James, the three friends had tried to find a date that would suit them all, a task made immensely difficult by Sirius' career as a pilot. In the end they had agreed to have a reunion between Christmas and New Year's, during the so called "Dead Days". In the meantime, Sirius had suggested that he and Remus meet during his next rest in London, just the two of them, for old time's sake. Remus had then decided that instead of waiting for the four of them to be together to ask questions about the mysterious bleeding Snape. They, apparently unbeknownst to him, had been bitter enemies with during their schooldays. Remus decided to invite Sirius to lunch at Chen's, without informing him of the reason behind his sudden enthusiasm for oriental cuisine. He had two theories: Sirius would either see Snape and recognise him as his past victim or nemesis, Remus couldn't tell, or not recognise him, indicating that his memory had been affected similarly to his own.

The two men stepped through the door and were met by the same waiter who had been present on Remus' last visit. He greeted them with a courteous half-bow and when he straightened up Remus noticed an amused glint in his eye.

"Table for two? Follow me Sirs."

Remus and Sirius, who was clearly impressed by the waiter's good form, were led to the same table at the back of the restaurant where Remus had been seated the last time. He was certain that the glint in the waiter's eyes had been one of recognition and, he supposed, the memory of Remus' made-up excuse for leaving so quickly. The waiter, Wesley Lai of course, beckoned to a young waitress and murmured something in her ear. She shuffled off hurriedly and Wesley disappeared only to come back with three glasses of Cinzano over ice.

"Some refreshments, courtesy of the Third Party who will be joining you presently." Wesley Lai said, handing them the drinks and the menus. Sirius looked at Remus who nodded uncomfortably.

"Thank you." he said hurriedly and a little too loudly, hoping the waiter would leave before Sirius could correct him. Sirius was about to open his mouth when, much to Wesley Lai's pleasure, nodding at his menu Remus added:

"What would you recommend?"

Wesley Lai proceeded to describe various dim sum, dishes and side dishes. With relief Remus saw that Sirius was now completely absorbed in figuring out how to politely express that the idea of eating chicken feet affected his stomach in a way that not even the worst turbulences on a plane could. Undeterred, Wesley Lai went on to gleefully urge them to sample the pig's ears, waxing lyrical about the wonderful aroma that was the result of years of cooking expertise and the finest blend of spices, seemingly delighted by Sirius' ever more concerned expression. Remus' attention was caught by the re-entry of the waitress from behind the heavy brocade curtain at the back of the hallway, followed by Severs Snape. As he emerged, Remus watched his face carefully, looking for the smallest reaction on his part at seeing Sirius sitting at the table. He also noticed that Snape looked a little rough, as though he just been woken and had possibly been wearing the same change of clothes for several days. His lank hair had the distinctive lack of motion towards the roots that signalled that is hadn't been washed recently and his sallow face sported a three-day shadow, instantly ageing him by a few years.

As he came up to them, Snape extended his hand towards Sirius without making eye-contact with Remus, who was rather astonished. The man wore an expression which was probably meant to express confidence but, unfortunately, gave the impression of a smug bitterness instead.

"Hello Black. It's been a long time." Snape said, clearly wanting to make a good impression.

Sirius gave a little jump in his chair and stood up, glad for an excuse to stop having to convince Wesley Lai that he really wasn't interested in sampling soybean curd in any form.

"My word! Snape! er... Hello." Sirius finished lamely, turning to Remus.

"Hello Lupin. You didn't tell me that you were planning a reunion." Snape said, grasping Remus' hand as if they were good friends who met frequently.

Remus, utterly dumbfounded by Snape's tone of voice and demeanour which suggested amusement at a good joke, noticed that the hand momentarily gripping his was clammy. Not trusting himself to say anything he merely shrugged and smiled at Snape and Sirius. Snape motioned for Sirius to sit back down, pulled up a chair from a neighbouring table, drained his glass of Cinzano and asked Wesley to bring an assortment of dim sum to share before turning back to the other two who had been silently trying to communicate their bewilderment to each other without attracting his attention. For lack of anything better to do, Remus reached for his Cinzano and took a sip. The artichoke flavour was rather revolting and out of the corner of his eye he saw Sirius forcefully gulp down his own. Having swallowed, he said:

"So, Snape, how are you?" Sirius asked for lack of anything better to say.

"Well, thank you. Yourself?" Snape answered, visibly wanting to appear courteous while it was obvious that Sirius was the last person whose health and doings he cared about.

"Fine, thanks." Sirius answered, a similar expression of badly hidden dislike coming over his handsome features.

"Sirius is a pilot with British Airways" Remus said, desperate to avoid an awkward silence which threatened to leave room for even more awkward questions which he most dearly wished to avoid. He was, however reassured: Sirius would, after a thorough cross-examination of his reasons for bringing him to meet someone he obviously did not want to see, be able to tell him more about Snape's and their time at school together.

"Congratulations. How very elite." Snape said, his mouth curling slightly at the corners as he said the last word.

"What about you then?" Sirius asked, his voice a little louder than necessary, which suggested a hint of anger at some jibe Remus didn't quite understand.

"Oh, this and that. Among other things I have had the good fortune of becoming co-proprietor of this establishment." Snape said, nodding at the restaurant.

Despite himself, Sirius looked impressed. Remus now noticed that the restaurant was decorated lavishly and very tastefully with dark silks and silk brocades, sculpted wood and lacquered furniture. With the exception of a few oddly dressed diners, the clientele seemed to be made up largely of connoisseurs and business people. The sizeable oriental rug underfoot alone must have been worth a fortune.

"Are you now?" Sirius said. "You must have good connections then." he added.

"I've found that good work ethics and excellence in my field have served me well enough without the kind of connections others might find necessary." Snape answered.

Remus was growing more and more concerned that bringing Sirius here had, after all, not been such a good idea. The conversation, though polite on the surface, was beginning to feel more like a power struggle. Thankfully it was interrupted by the arrival of the dim sum. An array of fragrant and beautifully shaped small delicacies was laid out in front of them. Without batting an eyelash, Snape picked up his chopsticks and began fishing out his favourites from the assortment. He ate silently and with relish. After a few seconds, noticing Remus' embarrassment at his failed attempts to seize a shumai with his chopsticks, Snape motioned to the waitress, who brought a thankful Remus a fork, Sirius having decided to use his hands and a serving spoon from one of the platters.

"And how are you, Lupin?" Snape began "Have you recovered?" he added.

"You didn't tell me you'd been ill." Sirius said.

"Ah, yes, when Snape and I last met I... had one of my headaches." Remus finished.

"Oh, right. I thought you had stopped having them." Sirius answered.

Remus shrugged. He did not much like the heavy atmosphere nor the fact that he was being made into an accomplice of sorts. He had just lied to Sirius on behalf of this almost stranger and he couldn't think of a way to ask any further questions without letting on that he didn't know exactly what Sirius and Sanpe's relationship had been at school. It obviously hadn't been good, but he had no idea why, other than Miss McGonagall's mentioning fights.

"I know a good acupuncturist. I'll give you his address." Snape said matter-of-factly.

"Acu... sorry?" Remus asked.

"A man who'll stick needles in you" Sirius said, scowling.

"Oh." Remus answered.

After a while, when the plates were almost empty, Sirius, who had grudgingly had to admit to Wesley Lai that all the food, steamed bean-curd, batter-fried chicken feet and pig's ear dumplings included was delicious, couldn't help but say:

"If you don't mind my asking, Remus, how did you two meet again? You've both said nothing and frankly I don't know what I'm doing here."

"Well, Black. It's quite simple. I ran into Lupin at a pub and we met again shortly thereafter when he came to this restaurant. As to why you're here, I'll admit it's a mystery to me too. No doubt Lupin thought you would enjoy seeing that I've made something of myself, despite your efforts in school." Snape said coolly answering for Remus.

Sirius stood up, angry.

"Listen, Snape, you may have a good bank balance now, but as far as I can see you're still the same arrogant git you always were. I don't know why Remus has an interest in prolonging your acquaintance but I've had enough."

Fishing out his wallet, he slammed a handful of notes on the table and spat:

"Keep the change."

"Suit yourself, Black." Snape said with a grin, trying not to look too pleased at having succeeded in making Sirius lose his temper.

Feeling mortified, Remus stood up, added a few (unnecessary) banknotes to the ones on the table.

"I apologise." he said, more to Wesley Lai who had come over to enquire if everything was in order, and shot a confused look at Snape.

"See you soon, Lupin." Snape answered, reaching across the table to pick up the last dumpling.

As Remus rushed out after Sirius he couldn't help but wonder why Snape's last comment had made Sirius lose his composure. The only explanation he could think of was that Sirius had done something to Snape that he was ashamed of. Sirius had many qualities and talents. Apologising, however, did not come to him easily.

Out on the street Remus had to jog to catch up with Sirius who rounded on him:

"Honestly Remus, I know you've always been a pacifist but was that necessary?" he finished, almost pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd take it that way." Remus said, wondering how he would get Sirius to give him more details about whatever he was talking about.

"I did write him a letter you know. After his dad beat him. I thought I'd told you." Sirius said.

"Oh" Remus said. Then glimpsing his chance at an explanation. "What did you say? In the letter I mean?"

"I said I apologised for telling his father that James had punched him because he caught him looking through the window of the girls' changing rooms. I don't know why I made that up. I suppose I was just glad that old Snapey had got the punch that he had had coming at him for so long and I didn't want James to get in trouble for it when the headmaster called us in. How was I to know that his Neanderthal of a father would beat him within an inch of his life?" Sirius said.

Dimly, as if in a dream, Remus now remembered about the incident. Ever since his first epiphany of Snape's existence, snippets would come back to him. Memories that had been there all along of incidents that had happened without him being there and that had always involved some person or other he didn't know. Now he had a face to fill in the gaps. The student who had missed a month of school because he had been in hospital was Snape. The person who had the unfortunate habit of always coming up for a nasty remark about Sirius' family of toffs, whose eyes burned with glaring envy whenever James, Sirius or Peter talked about holidays their family had been on or earned admiration from girls for a witty remark that went unpunished by a disliked teacher, was Snape.

"You know, I never understood how you managed it. The way he would follow you around when you were alone must have been unbearable. He knew exactly which buttons to push with James and me and I suppose he didn't envy Peter. But you managed to make it seem as if he wasn't there. And he never changed his tactic... " Sirius said.

"Maybe he was intimidated by the pacifist in me." Remus joked, trying to deflect having to answer that question. "I'm sorry Sirius. So much time has gone by that I didn't remember how much you disliked each other. In fact I didn't remember much about the fellow at all..."

"So you didn't arrange for me to be there to apologise?" Sirius asked.

"No, not really." Remus answered.

"Oh bugger. I've made a fool of myself, haven't I?" Sirius said.

"Make a fool of yourself? You? Never!" Remus grinned.

As their conversation went on they strolled through the streets, finally arriving at the Thames. The clear view of the river seemed to also clear the mood between them and they agreed to meet again during Sirius' next home break in November. As they parted, Sirius glanced at Remus before saying:

"Look, mind yourself around Snape, yeah? His account of meeting you twice 'by chance' seems a bit off, especially considering that he used to follow you around though you never paid him any attention."

"I'll bear that in mind" Remus said, inwardly cringing at the thought of how much more worried Sirius would be if he knew about the strange illusionist's tricks or whatever it was Snape had performed. Grinning, he raised a hand and waved Sirius off. Only to retrace their steps right back to Chen's.