a/n: The story is still coming in spurts. I'm going to thumb through some old fanfiction and watch the movies again just for a little inspiration to keep it going. For all those interested, I am writing a whole SLEW of fluff for this story (finally hit that spot, thank heaven) so fear not those who want to read about some affection. And, for anyone who missed it, there is an OOS chapter called 'Interlude' that I had posted seperately on Christmas which is a small slice of slash set to this timeline.
Anywho, enjoy the new chapter! Nnif -.-
...oOo...
Sirius frowned at the sudden silence. He'd fucked up again, that was certain. He hadn't meant for Remus to stalk out angry and feeling worse than before. To tell the God's honest truth, he didn't know what he was doing.
He opened his door, wanting to follow and apologize, or let Remus beat the snot out of him, whatever would work. He wasn't used to being the one that needed to keep the peace, he was usually the one Remus had to calm down, not the other way around. He didn't know how to be needed. He was usually the needy one.
The sight that met him in the hall made him pause in surprise. Severus was staggering into his own room, robe cinched tight.
God, what did he make Remus do?
Shame bloomed through him. Sirius stalked down the hall and pushed Lupin's door open. The wolf was sitting on the floor, looking broken and tired.
"Remy?" He croaked. The wolf turned vacant eyes up, registering that it was Sirius but not bothering to stand or otherwise situate himself.
"I've done it now," He whispered.
Sirius sat down beside him, drawing his knees to his chest. "What happened?"
"I kissed him," Remus laughed outright, sour and cold. "And he left. I didn't even try to see if he was interested... or if he was even gay!"
"I'm sorry," Sirius sighed, "I didn't think about it either. We're both stupid."
"Yea," Remus chuffed, rubbing his face with both hands. "What's wrong with me? I've been alone longer than some people have been alive, why all of a sudden am I jumping for anything with warm flesh?"
"Why not?" Sirius grinned, Remus didn't. "Look Remy, it might have been impetuous but it is Snape we're talking about. I think you'd have to knock him out and pump him, and you, full of Veritaserum before he'd believe you, or himself for that matter."
Finally, Remus cracked a small smile. "Why do I listen to you?"
"Beats me," Sirius shrugged, "you never used to, knew I was full of shit."
"I'm out of practice," Remus sighed heavily. "With everything."
"Oh well," the animagus patted his friend's knee, "part of being old I imagine."
"We're cursed, Siri, to get old and crotchety alone... together," Remus laughed.
Sirius laughed with him, slinging an arm across Lupin's shoulders and hugged him. "We'll need to do something about the fleas..."
"Quite right," Remus grinned a bit before sighing deeply. "Do you think Severus will hex me?"
"Not today," Sirius smirked. "Maybe after the full moon when he's feeling better."
"Oh, well then that gives me a whole thirteen hours to get my affairs in order," Remus looked around his room and held his arms out, motioning about him, "Well, there it is... That was quick."
"I can buy you a hutch for it all," Sirius quipped. Remus indulged him with another small smile.
"Would you mind looking in on Severus for the night," Remus mumbled to the floor. "I'm too mortified to look at him, much less feel his cold, accusing eyes on me."
"Maybe you'll be lucky," Sirius shrugged, "maybe he'll forget by morning."
"I've never had luck, much less good luck." Remus stood with a grunt and sat down on the edge of his bed. "If you don't mind, Padfoot, I think I'll lay down a while. I'm feeling like a complete tit."
"Maybe if you'd prefer one we wouldn't be in this mess," Sirius mumbled with a smile. Remus gave him a dirty look and the animagus laughed. "Sorry, Moony, I couldn't resist. You take a rest, I'll see to the bastard."
"Don't call him that," Remus muttered, shaking out his linens and stripping down.
Sirius rolled his eyes and helped the wolf as much as he could before Remus slapped him away. The animagus stuck his tongue out and folded his arms over his chest like a petulant child. Remus stripped to his slacks, hand on his buckle before he realized Sirius hadn't left. "What?"
Sirius stood looking over his waif of a friend. The wolf was thin and pale, he could see the veins shot through the man's skin. Body hair smattered across him in a "T", amber as his eyes and void where scars had torn the flesh out. With even his shaggy, grey streaked head and five o'clock shadow Sirius found him handsome. Underfed, certainly, but a handsome man just the same.
"Nothing," Sirius croaked after a time. He bid Remus a good rest and left the room, shutting the door tight behind him.
He stood in the hall, rubbing his thumbs into the hollows of his eyes and shook his head. There he was, pushing Remus toward Snape and wanting the damned wolf himself. He didn't deserve Remy, of that he knew well enough. It didn't stop him from the want, or the vehement denial.
Instead of worrying about it, he crossed the hall and pushed open Snape's door. The potions master lay in a ball on top of his blankets, shivering in the cold of his rooms.
"Snape," Sirius sighed as he kicked the door shut. He crossed over to help Severus with blankets at least, but the potions master rolled over and glared at him.
"Come to accuse me of something when I was the one molested?"
"You weren't molested," Sirius growled, snapping the blankets back a bit roughly. "And don't give Remus a hard time about it. He's vulnerable right now."
Severus snorted and growled back when the animagus drew too close. "Get out," he snapped.
"Oh, shut up," Sirius demanded. He started the fire in Snape's fireplace with his wand. Snape was glaring at him when he turned around. "It was my fault."
"I know well enough," Severus told him with a mean smirk.
"Excuse me?" Sirius stilled.
"You're denying him," Snape glanced away before turning back with a heavy glare. "It's you he's wanting, and you won't do anything about it."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sirius stammered, face hot and scowling.
"You can smell it," Severus whispered, still creeping out Sirius with his heavy gaze and hollow smirk. "Don't pretend you haven't. You smile and he forgives you the worst transgression; you laugh and he sighs in content; you walk around without a shirt and the wolf goes to a lather."
Sirius gaped and sputtered, "Stop lying," he growled. "Don't speak about Remus that way!"
"Are you afraid I'm right? Or are you afraid of him?" Severus purred.
The animagus colored brightly and stalked forward, shaking Snape by his lapels. "Shut the fuck up!"
Severus levered himself up until he was inches away from Sirius' face and sneered, "Struck a nerve, have I?"
The animagus let him go, dropping him back to the mattress and stalking out. Sirius fumed, swore and kicked Snape's door twice for good measure. The bastard could ball up and die for all he cared.
…oOo…
Severus waited patiently, listening to Sirius disappear. He didn't care if the man went to his rooms or changed to a dog and went for a run-in with the Pound. Sirius' door slammed shut only seconds later and Snape curled his lip into a sneer. He'd have slammed the idiots head into it, however he was loathe to hurt the doorframes.
Sure that Lupin and Black would leave him be, he had alienated both of them—though Lupin had done well enough himself and would need to be dealt with later—Snape swung his feet to the floor and used his bed stand to support himself. His head was spinning and throbbing just behind his eyes. He had felt pain similar before after having his head driven repeatedly into a stone grotto and receiving one hell of a concussion.
He grit his teeth and walked to his bathroom. The image in the mirror was not a pleasant one. His face lax and ashen, his hair was greasier than normal. He growled and resisted the temptation to shatter the glass with his fist and decided it would be a waste of energy.
He retrieved a set of towels from his shelf and hugged them to his chest as he made his way back to his bedroom. A small bound book was added to his pile and he cracked the door open. The hall was empty, Lupin's door was shut tight and Black's was pushed to.
With a shiver, Severus hobbled into the hall and pulled his door shut quietly. The stairs loomed and looked four flights larger than it actually was. The second and eighth steps squealed, Snape paused both times, heart leaping into his throat. Neither time did Black or Lupin come running to his aid. He breathed a sigh of relief and made it to the bottom floor in less than five minutes.
It was hard to breathe normally after all the effort, but he grinned through the panting and struggled into the kitchen. The closest chair was fine enough, Snape spilled his things onto the tabletop and sat down with a groan. The being sick and being waited on shtick was wearing excruciatingly thin. If nothing else, at least the breaking of his fever brought him back around to his own frame of mind. While he was having a lucid moment, he wanted to document, and read and rethink.
He lit the kitchen fireplace with his wand, magicked a towel to stay warm and wrapped his neck with it. In a few moments he had a tray of tea, a warm hovel and decent lighting to read. His only true wish he had no control over was that Lupin and Black remained away for the duration of what was left of the day. A whole new hell was waiting once night fell.
He wrote until his eyelids felt heavy. He closed his eyes to rest them for a moment, just to ease the ache behind his eyes. When he opened them again, the light from the window was completely gone and the fire in the kitchen had died to a dull glow.
"Have you found him?" Echoed from upstairs, it was Remus and he sounded half panicked.
There was a thump and a bang and a muted answer from Sirius. A moment later Sirius' irritated voice boomed across the whole house, "SNAPE?!?"
Remus shushed him and they argued in the hallway. It was a moment later, when Severus was swearing colorfully to himself for sleeping his whole afternoon away at the kitchen table, that banging footsteps came down the stairs and then the sound of a body slipping and falling down the steps.
"Jesus! Sirius are you alright?!"
Snape couldn't help himself. He could envision Sirius Black slipping on the top step and spectacularly flailing before plummeting like a rock down the stairs. He barked out a laugh and continued to snort into his hand as he tried to calm himself before they found him.
Sirius groaned pitifully in the hallway and Severus lost his tenuous hold and dropped his head to the tabletop, snickering into the wood grain as quietly as possible. It wasn't much longer that there was an exclamation as Remus rounded the corner and saw him there.
Severus sat up, still snickering, and looked at the duo. Sirius was being supported by Remus, limping on one foot and a lovely bruising spot on his cheekbone.
To both Sirius' and Severus' surprise, Remus let out a half growl and let Sirius go abruptly, stalked across the short distance and hauled Snape from his chair. Severus was expecting to be torn limb from limb, but instead the wolf enfolded him in a tight hug.
Remus' stubbled chin burnt into the side of his face and neck as the wolf breathed into him and clutched at him. "Severus, thank Merlin…"
Sirius had caught himself on the doorjamb and was staring at them with wide blue eyes.
"It's not like I left to run a marathon," Severus grumbled into Lupin's shoulder.
"I thought I'd offended you so badly," Remus whimpered, fingers digging into Snape's spine. "I would never—"
"Lupin, stop," Severus wheezed, "I can't breathe."
Remus reluctantly let him go, cupping his face in both hands and staring so hard Severus thought he'd have bore holes in his forehead.
"Stop it," Severus growled, feeling an uncomfortable pile of worms squirming in his stomach.
"I'm sorry," Remus whispered, looking as though Severus had struck him.
Snape watched him walk back a step before the soft scent of Remus' concern swept over him, and beneath it a thin taint of need that struck him like rock to the temple. "How can you…" Severus started but stopped abruptly. It made no sense. He had smelled Remus' arousal when Sirius was fixing his sink. He knew without a doubt that Lupin wanted the animagus, wanted him bad enough to jump Sirius given the chance. But for Lupin to want him too? To need him?
Sirius grunted as he hobbled forward to fall into a kitchen chair. "How can who, what?"
Severus sat down into his vacated seat and stared at Lupin's back as the man went about, shakily making tea. "Nothing," Snape croaked. He turned to his journal and flipped through his writing, coming to a page of things about Lupin that confused the hell out of him. The page was getting longer. He dipped his quill and wrote the newest bit out in Latin, knowing that if Sirius got nosey, the idiotic Gryffindor wouldn't know what it meant.
"Here," Remus set the tray of tea shakily onto the tabletop. He poured out three cups and passed them around, giving a long, lingering look to Severus before sitting down across from him.
"When is moonrise?" Severus asked, ignoring the cup and holding his journal abnormally close as he scribbled.
Sirius squinted out the window and shrugged. "Maybe half an hour?"
"Closer to twenty minutes," Remus corrected, staring sullenly into his cup.
"Right." Severus frowned and set aside the journal. The knowledge of the impending moonrise was like ice water down his spine.
"Would you like to get ready?" Remus asked him softly. Severus wasn't sure what he wanted. He wanted not to have been bitten; he wanted to be back in his dungeons with nothing else to worry about in his life. Dealing with Voldemort's mood swings and the constant tugging between the two masters in his life looked like a comfortable Sunday morning.
Lupin set his cup down and stood. "Come on," he took Snape by the upper arm, tugging him upright. Severus snarled, but Remus ignored it entirely, leading them both toward the basement stairs.
"I'll set things to rights up here," Sirius called after them with a slight bitter tone.
Severus was dragged down the stairs and into the small wine closet from a month ago. He scowled the entire time, too out of breath to growl at Lupin.
Remus sat down on the floor in the corner he had been in before. He drew his knees to his chest and looked up at Severus through his hair with eyes far too emotional and open for Snape's liking. "Sit down, Severus," he murmured.
With little choice since the moon was going to rise whether he liked it or not, Severus slid down the wall to the floor with a grunt.
"I'm sorry that this happened. I hope to God that you aren't infected."
Severus chuffed. Lupin wasn't the only one hoping. "Is that why you dragged me down here early? To tell me that?"
"Yes," Remus choked out. "And… and that I hope you aren't angry with me about earlier."
The wolf didn't look at him and color flooded his face. Severus felt that mass of worms writhe a bit, aided as they were by the soft scent of Remus' need.
It was silent for a very long time, Remus deflated as the time went, taking the silence as Severus' angry rebuttal to his hopes. Severus was confused and a little irritated. He had hated Remus with a passion that could burn through time. But the hatred wasn't there anymore. There was nothing there. It was as though someone had wiped away the smear on the slate and left it empty to be filled again.
If he had his choice, he would ignore it until he could leave Remus' presence for another chunk of time and forget whatever had come up. Unfortunately, he still needed to assist Lupin until the wolf was better. He wouldn't have the opportunity to forget it.
Damn.
"Lupin, I don't understand—"
"Here we are," Sirius interrupted, stepping into the room with two robes. "Time to strip down."
Remus stared hard at Snape, willing him to finish his sentence. When it was apparent that Severus had clammed up he turned baleful eyes to Sirius and snatched the robe out of his friend's hands with a small snarl.
"What?" Sirius growled back, tossing the other robe at Snape.
"Never mind," Remus sighed. He turned his back to them and shrugged out of his shirt. Severus held his robe close and watched through his hair, trying to pretend to himself that he wasn't.
Lupin's boney back emerged first, a small litany of scars across his ribcage and chest, they wrapped about him in thin claw-marks. It was obvious they were self-inflicted, not one of them stretched farther than Lupin could reach.
The wolf needed to eat. A lot. And regularly.
Remus shrugged on the robe first before undoing his pants and pushing the clothing free from his lower extremities. When he turned both Sirius and Severus were looking at him with different degrees of interest. He flushed and stared at his feet. "Not much to look at, eh?" He laughed half-heartedly to kill the sound of self-pity from his voice.
"Moony," Sirius admonished with a soft sigh.
Severus was mildly intrigued. From Black's and Lupin's reaction, it hadn't been the first time Remus had said something self-derogatory. He catalogued the information, knowing that somehow when he was back to his own analytical mind—free of fever and fatigue—that it would be important.
"It's depressing," Severus told him. Remus' head jerked up in surprise and Snape could see the hurt etched on the wolf's scruffy face. Sirius turned an angry glare toward him but Severus didn't bother to amend it, they would understand in a moment.
Snape dropped the robe to the floor and unbuttoned his shirt painfully with his injured hand. He hadn't noticed how swollen it had gotten.
"What the hell would you know about it?" Sirius growled, clearly offended for Remus.
Snape still didn't answer, only unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and let the shirt fall to the floor. He turned and bent to retrieve his robe, finally looking at both of the others as he pulled it onto his shoulders. Remus' eyes were hooded, but there was still hurt in the set of his lips.
"I didn't realize anyone else could look as bad as this," he waved a shaking hand down himself in a flourish.
Sirius' angry mouth clamped shut and the hard set of his face softened. Remus gave him a small sad smile. "Severus…"
Snape held up a hand. He wasn't seeking assurances, he knew he had no true aesthetic appeal and he had made peace with that a very, very long time ago. He turned his back to them and pushed his pajama bottoms off. He neatly folded them and sat down carefully, making sure nothing private would be hanging out.
"How much longer?" He growled out.
"Soon," Remus shivered, sitting down across from Snape. He didn't appear to be as conscious of his clothing, or maybe didn't have enough strength left to care.
Sirius sat down on the wall adjacent to them both.
The air was tense and charged with electricity. Severus started when he realized he could feel the pull of the moon. He looked up at Remus with wide eyes. The wolf stared back at him, knowing what Snape had sensed. He gave the potions master a slight nod to tell him, yes, it was the moon, and yes, he felt it too.
It was perhaps thirty seconds later that Remus hissed slowly through his teeth and held his hands before his face. He stared at them and then between his fingers at Snape. "I'm so sorry," he sobbed out before he curled in on himself and bit his tongue.
Severus' heart hammered hard in his chest and his head swam. His time was up and the truth would soon show itself.
Sirius was kneeling by Remus, petting his friend's head and glancing over at Snape every few seconds.
"Well?"
Snape shook his head, "I… I don't know."
Remus shivered and let out a strangled half-howl. His eyes opened and glowed brilliant amber. He stared directly at Severus and struggled to crawl toward him. Severus was torn between horror and panic. The lycan was struggling through his change as he shuffled toward him. The bones of his face shifting and twisting under his flesh.
Sirius didn't try to stop Remus, and Severus wanted to shake the man by his shoulders or scream, possibly both. But it was too late for any of that. Remus' clawed hand reached out and pawed at him, drawing him forward by his thigh.
"Lupin!" He shrieked, clawing uselessly at the floor. He panicked and caught hold of Sirius' pant leg. "Black! Do something!"
Sirius was too dumbfounded to do anything but gape and reach out belatedly.
Remus curled around him, snugging him up tight to his chest. Severus shivered in revulsion. He could feel the bones of Lupin's chest shift and slide against his back. "Don' fight," Remus mushed out through his clicking jaw.
Severus went limp, curling his arms protectively around his head.
"Can smell it." Remus grunted. The wolf shuddered and buried his face into Snape's back.
Snape gasped. Heat rolled down his back and spread through his limbs. It centered on his hand and the heat condensed at the bite mark until he felt like it would combust. He held it out, trying to curl it into a fist but even the slightest twitch made the pain flare until his vision clouded at the edges.
He didn't even feel Remus transform, even pressed as tightly to him as he was, and if ever asked could say he had forgotten he was held by a monster entirely.
Sweat poured from his skin in rivulets, soaking into his robe. It seemed Sirius had disappeared. Snape didn't care.
Remus shifted from behind him, stretching with pops and snaps, and stood to shake his pelt. He stuck his nose on Severus' cheek and the dark wizard gasped. It was like a sheet of ice pressed to the sun. In that moment, his fever broke and gooseflesh rippled down his skin.
Sirius reappeared then with a towel in one hand and a jug of water in the other. "You alright?"
Severus shivered, curled in the fetal position, and finally croaked out the affirmative. The animagus dropped to his knees beside him and toweled off his face and neck. "Thank god," he murmured.
"What?" Severus asked, mind fuzzy and body exhausted.
"Look," Sirius smiled a little.
Severus glanced about, seeing Remus in the doorway gazing at him from the distance. The man was now a wolf, laying in the entry with his amber eyes aglow.
"I don't…" Severus frowned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"You don't seem to have a furry problem," Sirius muttered gently, wiping down Snape's hair with a damp cloth. He smirked at the darker man when his eyes widened in realization.
Severus looked down at his hand. The hole in his palm had scarred over, just like that. He touched it with a forefinger, only a dull, faint mark of pain. He gazed back up at Lupin, then down at himself again. He hadn't turned. Sweet Merlin, he wasn't infected.
Relief filled him so quickly he sagged against the wall, slumped against a very surprised Sirius Black. Snape nearly felt himself beginning to weep with relief. That was too much for Black to see and have as ammunition later. "Antidote," Severus croaked, pointing aimlessly toward the ceiling where the kitchen sat.
"Right," Sirius murmured, still a bit taken aback. He slid away from Severus, pausing to hold the man upright before he stepped over Remus and started for the stairwell.
Snape was alone with Moony, the wolf blinking lazily at him.
"Lupin," Severus croaked, staring down at his hand. It was still surprising. All that pain and blood, and it had healed over in seconds. The wolf picked his head up from the floor and twitched his ears forward. "Come here," he breathed.
Moony stood slowly, eyes sharp. He toed forward, stuttering ahead bit by bit, uncertain.
"It's… please," Severus motioned, swallowing down bile as the wolf complied carefully. He needed to do this, had to move past it.
The wolf finally crept close enough to lay his head at Severus' feet, no closer. Snape drew his feet up, hugging his knees to his chest, eyes wide and glassy. Lupin stayed still, barely breathing as though he knew what Severus was attempting to do.
Snape gathered his courage, pushing away the irrational fear the surged through his blood. He held out his hand, palm down and watched with dilated pupils as Moony stretched his neck and slowly stuck his nose into Severus' hand.
His hand shook as he flexed his fingers around the overgrown muzzle. Lupin shuffled forward on his stomach a full step, laying his head on the ground by Severus' hip and closed his eyes. After a moment, Snape closed his eyes too and rested his head back against the stone, running his fingertips across the wolf's muzzle and scratching lightly between its eyes.
Sirius came back at that point, pausing in the doorway with eyes wide in disbelief. He nearly dropped the bottle of Snape's Wolfsbane antidote. Either Snape's mind had broken or something cathartic had happened.
He stepped around Moony and uncorked Snape's vial. He crouched down by the man who actually looked to be sleeping and touched his shoulder. Severus' eyes snapped open and he had a moment of hyperventilation before he recognized Sirius.
"Here," Sirius handed his bottle over and watched as the wizard drank the entire contents. Snape dropped the vial from his nerveless fingers and Sirius winced as it struck the floor with a sharp ping, surprised that it didn't shatter. "Are you alright?"
"Tired," Severus whispered. He stood shakily, now oblivious of Lupin, and walked toward the door on very unsteady legs.
Sirius got a knowing look from the wolf, made foreign with the furry face. "I'm going," he pouted at Remus.
Snape jumped as Sirius took his arm and wrapped it over his shoulders. "Come on, Snape, I'll help you back upstairs."
Severus only grunted, too emotionally and physically exhausted to argue. By the time they made the kitchen he was sagging against Sirius. The animagus grunted with each larger step up with his exertion. As they rounded and started up the first flight of stairs, Snape was tripping over his own feet and Black had to haul him bodily up the remainder.
Sirius paused on the landing, breathing heavily and leaning against the wall pinning half of Snape to it. His panting breaths were blowing Severus' hair across his face.
The potions master rolled his head on his shoulders, looking over at Sirius through sleep laden eyes. "I'm okay," he croaked, his face was light, one of youth and innocence that made Sirius stop breathing for a moment. He wondered if maybe it was how Severus had looked as a child before life had sucked it out of him.
"Yea, you're okay," he muttered, still breathless. And Severus smiled, it even made his eyes glitter. Sirius felt himself leaning in, sliding along the drywall toward Snape, he'd even licked his lower lip quickly in brief anticipation. But Severus blinked, and the age and weight of his life crashed back down on his shoulders and the man literally sagged downward, slipping to the floor. It broke Sirius' daze and he quickly grasped hold of Snape's upper arms and hauled him back to his full height.
He walked Severus back to his room, shouldering open the door and dragging the half-asleep man toward his bed.
"Black," Snape murmured, turning onto his stomach as Sirius tugged his arm free of one side of his robe to unclothe him, "he wants you. But I don't get it."
Sirius stilled, eyes widening. "You mean Remus?"
"Yes," Severus shifted, apparently too tired to realize he was naked on top of his blankets.
The potions master rolled into his pillows, burrowing his head into his arms as he stuffed them beneath. Sirius flipped the blanket over him and leaned down so that he could see half of Snape's face. "What don't you get? How a man can feel for another?" A flash of bitterness and anger prickled up Sirius' spine and he quelled it.
"No," Severus mumbled, yawning wide, eyes already closed. "Why me too?"
The last bit was so softly spoken Sirius barely heard it, even straining as he was. He paused, still hovering uncomfortably bent across the bed as the words sank in. But what exactly had Severus meant? That Remus liked Snape? Or that Snape like him too…
He nearly shook Severus awake to demand the answer, but didn't. Sirius stood and stared down at Severus, eyes tracing the scars on his back as he thought. All the questions were only answered with more and his head began to hurt.
Sirius straightened the blanket and let his hand linger on Severus' back, feeling the man's solid heat beneath his palm. He ran his hand down from Snape's shoulder, lightly tracing down until he met the man's pointed hipbone. Severus shivered and his face formed a very careful pinched look that Sirius couldn't quite place.
"I'm going crazy," Sirius murmured to himself. He turned and left, making sure Snape's fire was lit and the door shut tight. He was just on the basement stairs on his way back to Moony when he finally placed Snape's upsetting face. It was the look most people got before they began to cry.