Chapter 3

While Severus remained in the Library, Remus descended the spiraling staircases and made his way to the Great Hall.

"Oi, Moony!" Sirius shouted through a mouthful of bacon. "Where've you been? In the Library again?"

Remus nodded and sat down next to James, who was currently staring fixedly down the table and hoping to catch sight of Lily Evans' bright red hair. Without another word he started eating, piling toast and eggs onto his plate. But in the back of his mind, he was really repeating over and over,

Impervious. Emphasis on second syllable, flick wand sharply to the left after saying the incantation. While saying, point wand at intended object.

Now he just hoped to god it worked.

Tuesday came much too quickly for Remus. The more and more he hoped the spell would work, the less he was actually convinced it would, until he was sick with worrying and had to bury his nose in a book to shut it off.

The morning routine in Gryffindor tower had a rather rigid schedule, and everyone in Remus's dorm was expected to adhere to it. James, Sirius, Peter, and the only non-Marauder (Frank Longbottom) insisted on it.

At exactly six o' clock Remus's alarm went off; this was the cue to start the day. Sirius complained loudly that he was going to fall asleep in Transfiguration if Moony didn't shut it the hell up, James woke up and started shouting at Sirius, which woke the other two up. Sirius usually muttered some morose comment along the lines of, 'Now that I'm up I might as well dressed, thanks to Moony' and would proceed to lounge about on his bed for thirty minutes watching the others dress and daydreaming about whatever girl had his fancy at the moment. James would throw a pillow at Sirius and call him lazy, Remus would try to intervene and be cut off, and Sirius, half in his pajamas and half in… well… half naked really… would jump on James and get into a major catfight. Peter would nearly wet himself with excitement, and Frank and Remus would stand in the corner and shake their heads. Finally everyone would calm down enough to go to breakfast and manage to choke down some toast before James spotted Lily Evans and spent the entire rest of the meal trying to get her to look at him, to which Sirius protested quite loudly, which of course stopped him eating the rest of his own meal and put Remus completely off his. Peter simply did whatever the other three were doing at the time.

"But not today," Remus thought, stifling his alarm clock with his pillow before it could wake the still comatose Sirius. Today, Remus was going to slip out of the dorm and get to the Potions classroom early so that he'd be first in. He dressed quickly and silently, gathered up his things, and left, setting his alarm to go off in a few minutes: it wouldn't do for Sirius and James to miss their morning classes because of him.

He slipped quickly out of the Common Room and made his solitary way down to the Great Hall. He wouldn't get any mail today, being too early, but he figured he could still get a few pieces of toast and maybe a croissant (Remus had always loved croissants).

The Great Hall was still filled with newly-minted looking sunlight when he walked in, and was completely deserted as far as he could tell. The tables, however, were already laden with food for the early risers, and Remus walked leisurely over to the Gryffindor table to have some breakfast.

He was disappointed to find that there weren't any croissants today, but cheered up a bit when he managed to get his hands on the strawberry jam (his favorite and apparently everyone else's, as it was usually gone by the time he had managed to get the other three Marauders downstairs to the breakfast tables). He had just sat down to his breakfast and ever gotten out one of his books when he heard footsteps. He turned to the door and was surprised to see Severus Snape hurrying quickly through them, glancing back over his shoulder as though afraid of being followed. When he turned around and saw Remus he stopped short, cursed, and then kept walking, though now it was obvious he was heading toward the Gryffindor table.

"Snape?" Remus said, a little worried at this odd behavior from the usually unruffled Slytherin. "What –"

"I'm not here," the Slytherin hissed at him, and proceeded the duck under the table in a most un-Slytherin manner, leaving Remus completely and utterly confused. A moment later there were more footsteps, and a cool voice said,

"Snape?… oh, Lupin." It was Lucius Malfoy, the tall blonde seventh year who was the current leader of a gang of particularly violent Slytherin miscreants. "Have you seen Snape? I need to give him this." He held out a scroll tied with black ribbon. "It's from his father."

"I –" Remus broke off as he heard a low hiss of "You tell him I'm here or allow him to give me that letter and I will jinx you so effectively that you will spend the rest of your life thinking that you're a teakettle."Luckily Malfoy didn't hear it and Remus, getting the message, said quickly, "No, Malfoy, I haven't. Not since Potions class last Friday." Remus's keen ears picked up a sigh of relief.

Malfoy looked put out. "I wish he'd stop doing this..." He turned on his heel and left, probably intending to keep on looking and not noticing that Remus was thoroughly confused.

Remus ducked his head and looked under the table. "You're lucky he didn't think to check down here. Why was he after you with that letter?"

Snape gave him a scorching look and re-emerged on the other side of the table, looking pointedly away.

Remus stared at him. Before he had been moving too quickly for Remus to notice, but now the werewolf could see that his normally ramrod straight, if greasy, hair was disheveled. There was something blackish-purple that rose just above the collar of his robes that looked suspiciously like a bruise to Remus, and there was also something a little odd about his scent; it was overshadowed by something else, something foreign, something painful…

"Why –"

"You're wasting your time asking," Snape hissed at him, still looking at a point somewhere along the table. "The subject is not open for discussion, Lupin. Now or ever."

Remus took a bite of toast, chewing pensively. "But we have a truce…"

"A truce does not give you the right to pry into my personal affairs," the other said very quietly.

They were quiet for a few minutes, Snape sitting stock still looking away and Remus finishing his toast and jam and trying to work out what that foreign scent was. It was hot, painful, fearful, unbearable…

"My god," Remus breathed, suddenly recognizing the scent: it was a much more forceful version of the one that was always strong in the air after James and Sirius got through harassing the very boy who now sat across from him. "You've been–"

Snape stood abruptly and, grabbing his bag, stalked off before Remus could finish, leaving the Gryffindor to thoughts he'd rather not be thinking.

Severus' face was burning. Not with anger, as one would have expected, but from the tears that were currently blinding him.

"Stupid fucking Lucius Malfoy," he growled moodily, though the effect was a little less frightening that it normally would have been had he not being crying. He couldn't risk Lupin finding out; the werewolf's senses were too keen, his mind too sharp, not to. And so he'd had no choice but to leave.

Lupin must have noticed the distinctive scent of magic on him, and pain, Severus thought bitterly. Must have recognized that the letter had had a curse placed on it.

Severus's father had been sending him cursed letters ever since Severus had refused to submit to his father's new mania and join the Death Eaters. At first they started out as simply jinxes; Leg-Locker, Full-Body-Bind, the like. But for the past few weeks they had been getting progressively more violent. The bruise Lupin had noticed was only a few days old, the product of a curse that had nearly ripped Severus's chest open and only failed because he managed to realize what it was and perform a quick shield charm that blocked the worst of it.

Finding out that his wife and son were a witch and junior wizard had driven Tobias Snape insane. There was no other way to look at it. Now half the time he was forgetful, seemingly having in his mind reverted back to the point before he found out… but whenever he caught sight of anything magical, whenever Severus or Eileen messed up and let the careful façade of Muggle life slip in front of him, he became downright violent.

He had, in his insanity, managed to convince himself that he was a prominent pureblood wizard during these transformations. Somehow he met up with Abraxas Malfoy and Malfoy, knowing full well that Tobias was a Muggle but that his genius son wasn't, had decided to use Tobias to get Severus into the Death Eaters. It was, of course, Abraxas who had cast the curse on the letter, and Lucius, being in on it and already a Death Eater himself, was fully prepared to deliver it.

Severus, for his part, was not at all eager to receive it.

Remus anxiously watched his ersatz friend outside of Potions Class, fidgeting slightly. He knew Snape had said that the discussion was closed, but Remus simply couldn't get it off his mind. Just as he had made up his mind that he was going to broach it anyway, whether Snape liked it or not, the door to the classroom opened and Slughorn beckoned them inside.

"Oho! Come in, come in! We'll be continuing our Amortentia today!"

Mentally cursing his over-exuberant Potions teacher (and then taking it back when he remembered that Slughorn was a teacher), Remus entered the classroom.

Suddenly a horrible though struck him: after what had happened that morning between them, would Snape still sit with him, still give him his usual dose of the white potion? He knew that his friend was prone to mood swings; would he finally be the brunt of one of them?

And so he was surprised but pleased when Snape beckoned to him from the back table, on which the small beaker of white potion already sat waiting.

"Look, Snape, about this morning," Remus started determinedly, "I really –"

"Lupin, I am only going to say this once, so I suggest you listen," Snape cut him off icily. "What happens between me and my father is none of your business. You are coming dangerously close to breaking this truce. I'd rather you not, if it's not too bold to say so."

Remus deflated slightly as he uncorked the small beaker and downed the tasteless, odorless potion. Instantly it was as though a switch had been turned off inside of his head, shutting down all of his senses.

"So," Snape said conversationally as though nothing had happened, moving slightly so that Slughorn could pour his Amortentia from the Friday before last into his already heated cauldron, "are you going to try that spell? We've already proven that it won't hurt you, so there's no risk."

Remus bit his lip, raising his wand, though he had to wait until Slughorn had given him his potion as well and returned to his desk. "Impervious," he said quietly, flicking his wand.

They both waited for a moment.

Nothing was happening.

They waited for another moment.

Nothing was still happening.

Remus looked at Snape, who didn't meet his eyes but was instead chewing his lip pensively, as though trying to figure something out. Then, without warning, he laughed, though the moment he realized that he was doing it he stopped himself.

"It's too early for it to have any effect; there aren't any chemicals in the air yet!" He bent over to take out his book, muttering, "Merlin, I am so stupid sometimes…"

"I don't think I can take more waiting," Remus grumbled, taking out his copy of Advanced Potion Making.

Severus was still chuckling sporadically to himself ten minutes later as he read a book, lazily stirring his simmering potion with a wooden spoon. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a movement from Lupin and looked up inquiringly at the other boy.

Lupin had ladled some of his potion into a spoon and was currently holding it exceptionally close to his eyes, back and forth from the left to the right.

"Lupin, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Severus asked. Then, without waiting for Lupin's answer, it hit him. "You're testing the spell, aren't you?" he asked now genuinely excited. "Does it –?"

"Work?" Lupin said, a (yes, wolfish) grin spreading across his soft face. "You bet your knickers it does."

Choosing to ignore Lupin's rather undignified way of expressing the extent to which the spell performed, Severus asked, "Completely? There's no after effects, nothing?"

Lupin shook his head, at the same time adding the smallest drop of extract of rue to his potion. "Nothing at all. Once again, you've outperformed yourself."

Severus smiled, and this time he didn't try to hide it behind his hair.

Over the next three days Remus saw nothing whatsoever of his new Slytherin acquaintance, save for at mealtimes (there were only so many Snape could miss on account of studying) and the occasional one-second glance as they passed in the corridors. This secretive approach to their friendship – truce, Remus, truce – suited Remus just fine; James and Sirius had been hinting that if they saw Snape anywhere near Remus they'd kill the Slytherin as a personal favor to their 'poor, poor little Moony'. They still seemed adamant that Snape was in some way going to use his knowledge of Remus' condition as blackmail or some other horrible thing, and Remus, knowing that arguing was futile, just buried himself in whatever book he had with him at the time and nodded vaguely. That was the best way to deal with James and Sirius when they were being stupid.

But on that unusually cold, blustery Friday, Remus knew that he could no longer deny the inevitable. This would be his first Charms lesson with both the Marauders and Snape together in one room, and he knew that if past experience was any example it was bound to be quite painful for all parties concerned.

He immediately noticed Snape, the only one with a silver and green tie, leaning against the wall as usual and quite removed from the group of Gryffindors, two Hufflepuffs and several Ravenclaws that were chatting animatedly near the door as they waited for Flitwick. He looked oddly shy to Remus, like the new kid in school who has no idea who anyone is and as yet has no friends.

Well, sort of, Remus thought with a small internal chuckle. We're not what you'd call friends.

At that moment Snape's eyes flicked up for a just a moment and met Remus'. He gave the smallest of nods and the shadow of a half-smile, the closest thing to acknowledgement one could hope to get out of the Half Blood Prince, and then went back to staring moodily at the portrait of an old and at the moment rather comatose looking wizard across the hallway from him.

Remus was just about to say something when he saw Snape's eyes narrow at something behind him. The Slytherin's hand slid into the inside of his robes, balling around what Remus knew was his wand. The werewolf winced as he heard James shout out in the scathing voice he reserved just for Snape,

"Oi, Snivellus! Switched into Charms, have you?"

"He's probably hoping for some coolness lessons," Sirius sneered from behind his casually elegant black fringe as the two of them came up, walking past Remus to stand in front of Snape, flanking him. Though he was rather taller than both of them he still gave the impression of being very vulnerable; perhaps it was the way that the hand that wasn't around his wand handle in his pocket was shaking or the way his eyes darted uncertainly from side to side as though scouting out possible exits.

"Here's a newsflash, Snivvy, they're not going to do any good," Sirius continued. "You've got about as much coolness-potential as a three-legged donkey."

"Hey, wait a second," said James, turning to his friend with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. "I thought we'd decided that three-legged donkeys were cool!"

Sirius looked thoughtful, pushing his dark brown hair out of his handsome face as he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Yeah, you're right, mate… how about… you've got as much coolness-potential as a… um…"

"Oh, honestly," Lily Evans said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "You two self-obsessed morons are so wrapped up in figuring out how to insult him that you didn't even notice he's already in the classroom, and you're about to be late."

"Right you are, my dear sweet Lillykins," James grinned at her, which earned him a disapproving glare and a soft 'humph' of disdain before his frosty love object turned and stalked into the classroom.

Remus entered after his friends, cursing himself yet again. He had never had enough courage to stand up to James and Sirius, to tell them exactly what he thought of their bullying. That was the only thing about them he really couldn't stand, because he knew exactly what their victims felt, knew what it was like to be in the middle of a circle of people laughing at you while you're being physically and mentally abused nearly past your breaking point. And yet, he could never bring himself to tell them.

He noticed resignedly that James and Sirius pointedly picked a table near Snape, which meant they weren't done tormenting their favorite target just yet.

This was going to be a very interesting Charms lesson.

Twenty minutes later had found the room in a state of chaos hitherto unmatched by any previous Charms lesson in the history of the school. Of course. Fate in all of its vindictive wisdom had decreed that day to the be the day when the sixth-years started advanced incendiary charms, and Sirius had wasted no time in commenting loudly that Snape should probably leave the room, as he would probably 'go up in flames the moment anything gets into that oily mass he calls his hair'. This had earned him a disapproving glance from Professor Flitwick, but Remus couldn't help but notice as he glanced at Snape that the Slytherin seemed not to have noticed at all, save for the slight trembling of his hands and the unmistakable scent of rage coming from his direction. Remus had to admire that sort of control.

Once the class got into the actual hands-on practice, however, things had really started going downhill. James and Sirius, whistling and looking pointedly in the other direction, had sent a discreet Incendi in Snape's direction, which said boy had blocked, causing it to hit Professor Flitwick's hat. Snape had, in retaliation, Trip-Jinxed the two Marauders just at the right time so that they fell face forward into the hard stone wall. James, jumping to his feet and forgetting all pretense, had used the Levicorpus spell on Snape (who thankfully had been wearing his school uniform underneath his robes this time), and Snape had responded with a rather well-pulled off Langlock, considering he was doing it upside-down and with his sight seriously impaired by his robes. By the time it was over the three boys (and Remus who, being a Marauder, was obligated to go with them) had an appointment with Professor McGonagall.

That was where they were now, earlier than they would have liked as Professor Flitwick had sent them there near the last twenty minutes of Charms. He had probably known McGonagall would want to chew them out thoroughly, Remus thought with an internal sigh.

"I am disgusted with you three," McGonagall said sternly to James, Sirius and Snape, knowing obviously that Remus hadn't had anything to do with it simply because he was Remus. She was so irate that she had even forgone her usual tradition of forcing the troublemakers to partake in a ginger-newt whether they wanted to or not. "Explain yourselves! Potter can go first."

"Mmmmph nguhh mugghhhhh! Mmguh hgggghh… mummmmph!" James said angrily, gesticulating towards his face and looking extremely furious: his tongue was still glued to the roof of his mouth.

Snape smirked. "Sorry about that, Professor," he said, though Remus had the distinct impression that he didn't mean it and had indeed left James like that just for the fun of watching him under McGonagall's stare and unable to do anything about it. "Excuse me." He pointed his wand casually at James and muttered the counter-curse. Said boy gasped, put a hand over his mouth, and then shook his head as though getting rid of a moment of dizziness.

"He attacked us, Professor," James nearly whined the moment he was sure he could speak clearly again, indicating Snape. "We were just sitting there in charms, getting perfect grades like we always do, and he –"

"Lupin, you tell me," said Professor McGonagall in a tired voice, taking off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Remus related to her everything he had seen and added at the end, "So in way… they provoked each other. It wasn't the fault of either of them individually."

"Yes, I find that's how it most often is," McGonagall said with a sigh, regarding the boys in front of her with an appraising stare. "You will each do detention tomorrow together – yes, together," she added as all three boys made noises of indignation and disgust. "Lupin, will you supervise them along with Mr. Filch? I have a feeling they'll need someone magical to keep them in line."

Remus nodded and got up to leave; he needed to get to Potions class.