Chapter 3 :)

The next few days went by uneasily, what with Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban trying to get into the school and murder a student. Everyone was in a rush wherever they went and Lupin seemed very jumpy. Severus could tell he had a secret he was keeping for Black and although the Headmaster refused to accept the truth, he knew that Lupin was up to something sinister. Harry Potter and his friends Weasley and Granger seemed frightened also, most likely because they knew Harry was the target of an escaped murderous convict. But more importantly, Snape's rabbit had escaped again.

This was starting to become a habit with Sirius, whenever Snape would enter his back chambers after class or dinner, the box upon his polished mahogany coffee table would be empty. Not to mention all the 'accidents' that seemed to happen when the rabbit did get out of its home. Things would get moved around his chambers and placed into precarious spots. Doors would suddenly lock while Severus was in another room, and carrots kept turning up in very dangerous places!

He must get rid of it. What could he do with it? He knew of only a few potions that called for rabbit feet. And none were needed right now. He didn't really have time for a pet, he once had a fish that died after only a few days. He didn't know what happened though, after all, he fed it regularly and it had a nice seaweed for company. He was only a child then, and assumed it had killed itself because it didn't like him.

Nonetheless, he knew Albus would be upset if he tossed it. You can't just throw away a rabbit, it has to go somewhere. And everyone would notice it was missing, Lupin checked up on her often; it couldn't be done. At least not yet. Severus tried unsuccessfully to push the thought from his mind as he prepared this week's Wolfsbane potion for Lupin. His two thoughts accidentally crossed, and he considered if it was possible that this pet was some sort of strange were-rabbit. He shook the image from his mind quickly. He didn't even mean to think of that, it just happened.

It was nighttime at Hogwarts, and the three crept silently down the dark, damp halls. They knew the route fairly well and everything was going according to plan for once.

"Oh Harry, I really don't want to do this! What if something goes wrong?" Hermione asked in a frightened voice.

Ron rolled his eyes and some of his hair fell into his face. "Hermione." he said. "We'll be fine. We are always fine! Whenever we go anywhere we're fine. And this is no different, it's just a little bit farther than usual."

Harry adjusted the Invisibility cloak around himself and his two friends, the only thing he could do right now to try and comfort Hermione.

The three were currently on their way through the maze that was the dungeons of Hogwarts. They were looking for the wall across from the Slytherin common room to write bad things on.

Ron's claims of "They did it to us first so this is the only choice we have." did not convince Hermione but she knew if she did not go with them they would be discovered and put in detention.

"These dungeons are so dark and gross." Harry whispered down the long hallway hopefully leading to the common room. They were already too deep into the many winding hallways to turn back now.

"I'm so glad I wasn't put in Slytherin just for that reason!"

The three made it to a fork in the hallways and since they had not yet attained James' map, they were unsure of which way to go. Although last year they had found their way, it was with the help of Percy Weasley. And even then they were not paying much attention to where they were going, as their minds had been focused on bigger plans. This time, they were on their own.

Ron pointed down the corridor on the right and they followed his lead, since no one knew better than to guess. As they approached the end of the torch lit hall, they all instantly held their breath as they heard a door open around the corner. They all suddenly recognized where they were, that they must have traveled in circles. They recognized the door to be from none other than Professor Snape's office and chambers, and knew that he would soon be stepping around the bend and right into them. They all hid against the wall opposite them as quietly as they could.

But he did not. No one came around the corner. He must have been standing outside his door, and was talking to someone who was exiting as well.

"-now leave." came Snape's voice from around the corner.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the potion, Severus. I know you don't enjoy making it but it really means a lot."

Professor Lupin was there. Getting that same potion, no doubt, that Harry had seen him drink in his office during the night everyone was at away at Hogsmeade. The three glanced at each other and could tell they were all thinking the same thing, and understood what was going on. None of them trusted Snape to begin with, but when he started making strange potions for their favorite professor, something made them trust him even less. The word 'poison' jumped to the forefront of all three young minds.

"Of course I don't enjoy making it for you, Lupin. Why would I enjoy it? It takes money, it takes time, and it takes effort; none of which I want to waste on you. "

Snape was horrible, Harry thought, not even being nice to his fellow co-workers. What a jerk.

"I know that, Severus and I'm sorry-"

"It's obviously not your fault. It's the Headmaster's. He's forcing me to make this potion. I could just lock you up in the Shrieking Shack, you know. Easier for me."

The three were puzzled to this, and would later talk about it and come to the conclusion that it was just a regular insult, with no meaning behind it.

They heard Lupin shuffle his feet.

"-and from now on, you are to come down here to retrieve it. I will not have you dancing around in front of students with it. This is a very unique potion and Potter seeing it up close is not dangerous, but if his friend Granger were to see it she would no doubt recognize it immediately. Then try explaining that, Lupin!"

They could hear the smile in Lupin's voice.

"Oh I'll tell them I'm just holding it for a friend." He joked.

A moment of silence, and then the creaking of the door.

"Good night, Lupin"

"-night."

And the three again heard him shuffle his feet to walk away, and the door shut. Although they were curious about the potion and why it must be kept secret, they had different problems to deal with currently.

The three wanted to continue on to find the common room and get back at Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin friends, but just as they began to walk forward, Remus Lupin stepped around the bend with a goblet full of the same substance he had been drinking when Harry visited him in his office. It was smoking, purple, and looked rather dangerous.

Lupin continued walking down the hallway away from the disguised children, and they saw him take a long drink from the goblet.

Harry was just giving Ron a look of relief when they heard strange noises coming from the direction Lupin had gone in. They could only see him at the far end of the corridor now, but they distinctly saw him stop in his tracks, and go very still. They wondered if he had heard them move.

They saw him drop his goblet, which was empty because nothing spilled from it. This scared all three of the students, and before they could react or even gasp in surprise, their Professor had collapsed onto his knees, clutching his throat, and then onto the floor. He was still.

Everyone knew what had happened, it was so obvious. But why would Snape poison him so close to his own office? Wouldn't he at least let him continue up to his rooms first to make it look like an accident?

Harry was frozen to where he stood, he knew they should run and help their favorite professor but risk being seen? It was worth it, Harry decided as he darted out from under the cloak. Ron and Hermione followed him, not thinking of the probability of detention.

They ran up and knelt beside their teacher, his eyes closed and his goblet lying beside him, empty. Hermione had immediately remembered what she heard the two talking of, and involuntarily glanced toward the inside, wondering if she could indeed tell what he had been drinking. But there was nothing.

Harry tried to wake him up by hitting his face a bit, but it was no use. They could at least tell he wasn't dead, because he still had a pulse and was breathing.

"Oh, what do we do? He's probably dead!" Ron asked, apparently he hadn't figured out what Harry had.

"Well obviously Snape tried to kill him!" Harry jumped to conclusions very quickly, it seemed carrying a grudge against a person for years can cause an outburst such as this.

Hermione tried to calm him down. "Professor Snape wouldn't do that! He just couldn't. Even if he wanted to I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do it right here! Or at least I'd hope not."

"Well what do we do now? We can't drag him up to the hospital wing, he's too heavy and we'd get him all dirty." said Harry.

"Well, he kind of already is dirty." Ron said bluntly.

"We'll talk to Snape, he can fix it. Hermione, can you go get him?"

Harry watched as Hermione left in the opposite direction without any words.

She returned moments later with the potion's master, who looked more confused than angry. He strode down the hallway quickly, following his student.

"Professor," Harry started, "We just found him…he just collapsed after drinking that potion, and-"

"Enough." Snape commanded. "Detention and fifty points each from Gryffindor for being out after curfew."

Harry was not surprised at all that he chose to dock points from Gryffindor before saving Lupin's life.

"Will he be okay?" Hermione asked, close to tears.

"Just help me take him to my office, I can find out what's wrong and administer an antidote."

Snape realized that the three looked very relieved, so he added, "If it's not too late…." with a smirk.

Now they were panicking again.

With a mix of levitation charms and Lupin's left arm draped over Snape's shoulders, they were all able to make it comfortably back to the office, where they were taken into the back rooms of Snape's living area. Remus was pushed down none to gently onto a sofa and Snape walked away quickly into his private brewing room. Ron, who had picked up the goblet, set it down on the table beside Lupin.

Snape came back soon with a small green vial of some gold liquid and fed it to the man lying unconscious on the puffy red couch. The students had stepped back from the sofa so as not to get in the way. As this was happening, Harry noticed he had never been here before. A quick glance around told him these were Snape's private chambers, where he lived and made potions. There was a small cluttered desk in front of a stone fireplace where a fire was raging currently. The room was well lit and surprisingly cozy. Two red armchairs and a matching sofa with a coffee table were there, and two doors leading off into other areas from the main room.

His attention was immediately brought back to the scene playing out before him, to his professor lying on the couch, catching his breath and waking up. Also what caught his eye was a small green and silver box sitting on the table adjacent from the sofa. It was full of carrots. Snape was a strange man.

Remus opened his eyes slowly, only to smile up at everyone around him. Normally people didn't smile when they saw Snape staring at them. However, Lupin did, and then glanced toward the students.

"Oh we're so glad you're okay Professor! " Hermione called.

"You just collapsed in the corridor and we found you and-"

Ron was cut off by Hermione again. "Oh we're so sorry we were sneaking around after curfew it's just, it's good that we were or else no one would have found you and you might have died-"

"Oh, Hermione, it's quite alright, I'm glad as well that you were indeed out after hours. I feel confident in believing Professor Snape already took care of some sort of punishment." He stated.

"I certainly did."

"Of course."

Remus made to stand up from his sitting position on the sofa, but Snape harshly pushed him back down onto the chair.

"What did you do wrong this time Lupin? I'm not going to have you keep this up and eventually kill yourself-"

"I'm so glad you care-"

"-because everyone would blame me."

"Oh."

Severus looked slightly irritated at the interruption but continued. Harry Ron and Hermione waited patiently in the background, not wanting to bother their teachers but not wanting to leave their favorite professor with Snape.

"Did your potion taste any different than usual?" Severus asked, trying to find what could have gone wrong. He was sure he made the Wolfsbane exactly as he always had. Maybe Lupin just didn't know how to drink correctly.

"I don't know, it tasted as horrible as it always tastes! Except for a bit of added mint flavor. And once my throat started burning I could only feel it for a few seconds before everything went dark. What did you put in it?" Remus answered.

"Obviously I didn't add anything different on purpose! I'll be in my back laboratory. Do not touch anything." Snape responded, adding much emphasis on the last word.

"Oh I hope you don't die, Professor." Hermione said quietly.

"Thank you Hermione, I hope I don't die either."

"Maybe they'll fire Snape…" Ron said. Harry just gave a look of exasperation and didn't answer.

"Not likely, Mr. Weasley." Snape barked as he brushed past the students and took a seat on an armchair next to Lupin.

Snape glanced down at the bottle he had brought with him, thought for a second, and then lifted up one of Lupin's eyelids and checked his pulse.

"Possibly." he said more to himself than anyone else.

"So will I live?" Lupin asked sadly.

"Yes, you're fine now, but more importantly…" Snape continued, although Remus felt there were very few things more important than his chances of surviving.

"More importantly, did you drink the entire potion? You didn't spill any?"

"Well, I think-"

"He did drink it, professor, we saw the empty goblet and nothing spilled when it fell to the ground." said Ron.

"Very well, you may go."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Remus all made to leave, but Snape pulled Lupin back by the sleeve of his shirt.

"Not you, you stay. I need to talk to you." he said icily. Remus was seriously frightened.

He sat down on the sofa again, finding a nice silver pillow to lean against since he was still feeling a bit dizzy.

As the three Gryffindors exited the room, Snape waited till they had turned the corner to slam the door and start yelling.

"What is wrong with you Lupin? You're going to kill yourself because you're so stupid."

Remus was confused to say the least. How was it his fault this time? Snape held up the small bottle he had brought with him from his store room. He held it up so that Lupin could see it clearly and shook it slightly when he spoke.

"This is a rare sleeping serum. It does not belong in Wolfsbane and it also does not belong uncovered lying open on my desk next to my mixing supplies, but for some reason both of those things happened!"

"Oh so you did poison me then? I'm just glad we know now." Remus said sarcastically.

Snape looked furious; Remus was now hugging the silver throw pillow because if things got violent he may have to defend himself.

"I did not poison you Lupin! I don't know how this came to be opened on my desk and halfway drained but I know that it must have found its way into your goblet tonight. I did not put it there. All the signs point to this. It makes sense, you drank your potion slowly tonight since we were talking, whereas you normally finish it in one drink. It's a good thing you did because this serum is meant to act fast. You would've been dead if you hadn't paced yourself."

Remus just wanted to cuddle up on the sofa and go to sleep. It was late and someone was trying to murder him. For a moment he realized how Harry must feel every second of his life.

Instead he quietly got up and started pacing the small room. There was a sharp beam of moonlight that filtered in through the small stained-glass window in the corner. It fell on a coffee table and Remus' eyes involuntarily followed it. It ended upon a small green box.

"How's Sirius doing?" Remus asked, motioning toward the small animal. It was chewing a carrot and for some reason was literally glowing in the moonlight. Strange, most rabbits didn't glow. He then realized it was simply a trick of the light and the rabbit was actually wet, not sparkly.

"Severus? Why is this rabbit damp?"

"What?" came from the corner of the room where the potions master was sitting at a small dining table. "I'm trying to find who's broken into my laboratory I don't have time for rabbits!"

"But Severus, I think it has something on it. Some sort of potion! Maybe she found her way into your potions set!"

"It's not a 'potion's set' it's my career." Snape said, a bit annoyed with the way Remus Lupin seemed to diminish the importance of his job.

Severus inspected the rabbit and it did turn out to have remnants of potions ingredients on it, mostly what was used in Wolfsbane, but also the rare sleep serum that had caused so much trouble. They had found their culprit.

Remus was glad no one was trying to kill him. Severus was glad no one had broken into his chambers. All was well, until later that night. Lupin had left cheerfully and Severus had gone to bed. Severus was contemplating the situation and came to the conclusion that it was no accident. It was far from coincidence that a wandering rabbit climbed to the highest shelf in his office, found the most volatile ingredient, and added just the right amount to his potion.

He told this to Remus. However, it was three in the morning and Remus was not happy to be called down to the cold dungeons to discuss the motives of a rabbit. He grabbed one of Snape's headache-curing potions from a shelf and left in a huff.