A/N: So I definitely edited this chapter. Only one real change has been made here, but I did it to fill in a minor plot hole.
Betrayed With a Kiss
Chapter Four: Calling 'Wolf'
"Well it takes all of my strength to be stable.
And I force your insults under the table.
And if you were wise you would compromise
And allow me to live my way.
'Cause I am not a force to be reckoned with,
And you don't have a clue who you're messing with."
-Anna Nalick "Bleed"
It was nearly three in the morning when Remus decided that he was probably alone again. Voldemort wouldn't waste so much time and effort on one werewolf when he had hundreds more to contact. And there was something he had to know. Instead of seeing the Headmaster as he'd initially planned, he turned his footsteps towards the dungeon, where the school's designated 'greasy git' lived.
Upon reaching the other man's private rooms, Remus pounded on the door (which couldn't be seen by any who did not know where it was). It was several minutes before the door flew open to reveal one very angry Potions Master. Severus Snape looked just as immaculate as ever, wearing a silk black robe tied at his waist and black slipper. It seemed like he hadn't just woken up, but the glare on his face indicated that he, in fact, had. "Lupin!" he hissed. "There better be a very good reason for this!"
Remus bit his lip. "I'm sorry if I w-" The glare intensified, telling him that he had better get on with it or run the risk of having the door slammed in his face. "Can I come in? I really need to ask you something." he asked instead.
"Lupin, it is three in the bloody morning! This is not the time for social visits!"
"This is important, Severus," he replied patiently. Snape stepped back, probably to slam the door in Remus's face, and he took his chance. Stepping around the irate professor he entered the room. The door was promptly closed behind him and he could feel the other man whirl around to glare at him once more.
"I don't believe I gave you permission to enter." The voice's implied threat would have at one point sent Remus running back to higher ground, but tonight was different. He hadn't slept.
He simply shrugged in reply, surveying the room around him. The elegant room consisted of silvers, blacks and greens. Expensive paintings and swords lined the walls. The shelves were chock full of books and the black chairs and sofa in front of the fireplace (which was without a flame) looked soft and inviting.
"What do you want, Lupin?" Snape snapped sitting in one of the chairs.
Knowing that he would not be offered an invitation to sit himself, he plopped down onto the seat nearest to Severus. "I received a letter."
"Good for you," the dark haired man sneered. "I'm glad you joined us thousands that receive letters every day."
"It was from Voldemort," the werewolf replied.
"So he's begun."
"Did you know? Was it you, Severus?" He stared at his childhood enemy suspiciously.
"No and No. Voldemort knows better than to have me act as his delivery boy in this instance." Snape did not even glance his way as he spoke, instead his gaze lingered on a particularly strange painting on the wall. It was muggle and did not move. Thirteen men sat at a table, twelve of whom seemed to be gathered around the dark haired man in the center. That man had his arms spread across the table as if inviting his talking friends to eat. It was an odd choice of decoration for a wizard.
"What do you mean?"
"He knows I don't like werewolves."
Remus felt a stab of anger. When would the git just finally get over it? "I didn't know that the Dark Lord particularly cared what you thought," he snapped.
Snape smirked. "Generally he doesn't. But he wants the werewolves alive. They wouldn't serve his purpose otherwise."
"You wouldn't-" He really knew he shouldn't let Snape get to him, but somehow the man always managed to get under his skin.
"Perhaps not." Snape seemed to be amused by his anger. "Have you spoken to the Headmaster yet? Or did you just decide to force your presence upon me first?" And so Snape had the upper hand again.
"No. I thought-"
The dark wizard turned and leered at him. "I know what you thought. What all of you thought." That I'm a traitor. The unspoken words crashed between them.
"That's not fair, Severus!" he defended himself. "I had just received a letter from the most feared wizard in the entire world! What do you think I'd be thinking?"
"That Voldemort wanted to invite you for tea?"
The mental image of Voldemort serving tea from a pink tea set surfaced unbidden from Remus's mind. He started to snicker, and to his great surprise, Severus joined him. It was then when Remus realized that beneath the snark, beneath the rocky exterior, Severus Snape wasn't really all that bad.
-.-
Remus didn't get back to bed until nearly four that morning and his alarm woke him up all too soon. He could feel the onslaught of a headache coming on as he dressed and left his rooms. The Great Hall was just as noisy as ever he noted heading for the staff table with hopes that none would attempt a conversation with him at the moment. Passing by the Headmaster he dropped a red glass feather into the older man's lap, and then took his seat beside Severus. Albus acted as if nothing had happened, eating his breakfast as normal.
"You wouldn't happen to have a headache drought on you, would you, Severus?" He asked politely, filling his plate with eggs and bacon.
The wizard sighed, seeming to have expected that question. He pulled a vial from the insides of his robes and thrust it at Remus. "Ah, thank you." Glad that this potion did not taste like road kill, Remus gulped it down greedily and turned to his eggs.
"Remus," called the light voice of the Headmaster.
With a glance towards Dumbledore, he saw that the man's eyes were twinkling brighter than ever. Probably happy to see Severus and I getting along. "Yes, Headmaster?"
"I was wondering if you would accompany me to my office after breakfast?" the man asked politely, as if Remus hadn't been the one to indicate that the two needed to speak.
"Sure, Albus," Remus replied with a smile. He could feel the headache dissipating away already.
The glass feather had one purposes: a communication device. If the feather began to glow red, then Dumbledore was calling an Order meeting. Of course the feather could work in the opposite way, if a member wanted to call a meeting it'd glow white. If someone not a member of the Order had gotten their hands on one, they'd all glow black. Remus wanted to talk to Albus before anyone else, well anyone other than Severus, whom he'd already spoken with. Albus would probably call the meeting himself after he learned what Remus had to say.
After breakfast was over, Remus found himself sitting in a red plush chair in the Headmaster's office. "He's contacted me."
"Voldemort?"
"Yes, through a self-destructing letter I received late last night," he explained.
"And you waited so long to tell me, why?" Albus spoke sternly, but his eyes were as bright as ever.
Remus flushed red. "Well I er- felt I needed to ask Severus about it first..."
"Oh?" Dumbledore was unruffled, but Remus could have sworn a flash of shock passed across his face.
The light haired wizard watched Fawks fluttering his plumage majestically on his perch as he spoke again. "I thought he was the deliverer."
"And I take it he wasn't?" Remus shook his head. "What did the letter say?"
"Voldemort wants me to join him. He says he can help me get revenge for... though I don't know how he'd get me my revenge against himself. He said that we need each other and that I could go far in his ranks. He told me that he'd send a messenger for my answer." He sighed. "I suppose now I know what it's like to be a pureblood. Having the Dark Lord ask for your service would be flattering... If I didn't hate the man."
The older wizard chuckled. "So it would. We will have to call a meeting soon. There is much that need be discussed with this new revelation."
-.-
So it was that weekend that Severus found himself in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, listening to Lupin prattle on about the letter. The Headmaster had placed Flitwick in charge of the castle for the duration of the meeting, as Minerva and Severus were both Order members.
"What about him?" Moody asked when the werewolf had finished.
Severus blinked, realizing that the mad Auror was talking about him. "What about me?"
"Couldn't You-Know-Who just use you as the messenger? You're a Death Eater after all."
Severus glared at the man. "He wouldn't be so stupid, Moody. He knows that Lupin and I work together. Lupin would recognize my voice even if I did wear Death Eater robes. On the off chance that he should not be captured, the Dark Lord would be losing another wizard from his inner circle."
"What are we going to do?" Tonks spoke up to avoid a fight between the two.
"We'll need to up the wards on the Hogwarts grounds and Remus's quarters. No one shall be able to enter the grounds but for the students, teachers and us. How ever someone would be able to get in your quarters though, is beyond me, Remus." Dumbledore said.
"My wards are based on intention," the werewolf replied. "Any who are desperate to see me and do not wish me harm are allowed inside. As any who are below the age of majority are disillusioned from even finding my quarters… It always went to stand that only Order members or other teachers could get through them."
"Ah," the old man said. "I suppose we'll have to do something about that then. Severus, I want you to keep your eyes and ears out for word of what is happening with the werewolves. It is likely Voldemort will call you before the next stage in his plans."
He nodded politely, while his mind drifted to the potions waiting in his private lab. He'd been working on a couple of healing draughts before Albus had called them. He was eager to get out of this stuffy house and finish them.
The dark haired wizard almost sighed in relief when the meeting was called to an end after a bit more discussion. Preparing to sweep out of the room he suddenly found himself stumbling against a wall. He'd collided into Molly. The others in the room quieted to see how he'd react, he noticed with a grimace.
The smaller woman was knocked to the ground by his heavier bulk. He felt a pang of guilt for not watching where he was going. "Are you alright Molly?"
"Yes, thank you Severus," she replied as he helped her to her feet. "You know, you should really stay for dinner sometime," she told him sternly.
"Perhaps I shall." If he'd been looking he would have seen the shocked faces of those around him. But he wasn't.
TBC
A/N: Geesh. I think Remie just might want to be Sev's friend. Poor guy. Haha. Just kidding! And look! Severus and Molly action!
The painting they were looking at was Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. It just really fit in with the story line and shows Severus's feelings of his place in the Order. Cookies to anyone who guesses why.
Oh and Remus does not know the story behind the painting, but Severus does. I don't really think that wizards are all too well versed in the Christian beliefs, or any religion for that matter. The muggleborns probably are though.
How the feather recognizes Order members will be explained later.
Don't forget to review.
