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The Long Road	By : SinisterMe Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Remus Views: 63607 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 18
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling. This story is purely for entertainment purposes, no money is being made from it.

Chapter List
- 37
- 38
- 39
From a tall cupboard on the far side of the lab, Severus took out what appeared to be a simple-four posted cane. It would be slightly more bulky than its more traditional single-prong candy cane like companion, but it would offer Remus much more support and stability while he was first walking again.
Now that Lupin was beginning the process of his actual recovery, this cane would be extremely beneficial to him. He’d been layering it with Charms; specifically a set of Charms that he had been working on since his Hogwarts days. The cane would be Charmed with a version of a weight altering spell. Once spelled specifically to them, a person who was in physical contact with the cane would be as light as the cane was set for them to be. Basically, if the spell was on maximum strength, a person would be moving with complete weightlessness, where as if it was spelled to its lowest setting, their weight would only be slightly reduced from what it was normally.
Lily had been helping him make a cane almost identical to this one for his mother, but in the end there had been no need for them to complete it. His mother, whose ankle had been brutally shattered the year before, had very limited movement as a result. The use of her magic was limited and monitored by his father, who found his entire existence distasteful because of his marriage to Eileen and especially because of the existence of their son.
Lily and he had spent weeks working on it so that it would be completed for the Summer Holidays, the one break from school that his father couldn’t refuse to allow him home for. Three weeks before the end of term she had suddenly died; a ‘slip’ down the stairs had given her such a severe head trauma that the healers hadn’t been able to do anything to save her. The cane remained unfinished and Severus went home to spend the summer with the man he knew in his heart had killed his mother. A closed coffin funeral for a slip down the stairs had never seemed right to him, but he’d had little opportunity to protest it.
His grandparents had said very little on the matter, to him at least. He always suspected they kept the authorities from investigating his mother’s death. Too many questions would have been asked, the answers to which would destroy their reputations, which were to be protected at all costs.
When his mother had first returned home to them, fresh out of school, pregnant and married to a Muggle – it had more than likely almost killed both of them. However, they were too spiteful to die, and so told Eileen that she would be disinherited if she chose to live in the Muggle world. She had refused to leave Tobias, who he was told was a different person at this point in their lives than he had been by the time he himself had been born. Feeling generous, her parents allowed Eileen to move herself, her husband and their son to this house, provided they would remain there and stay out of the sight of decent pureblood society. They told anyone who asked that their daughter was in Greece, just to keep up appearances.
Eileen remained there until her death, which was, Severus suspected, rather a relief to his grandmother and grandfather. That meant they could get that filthy Muggle off of their property (if they didn’t just put him down like the dog they believed him to be), and that they could begin the proper training of their woefully inept, inadequate and unfortunately second or possibly third class grandson.
Halfway through the ‘holiday’ they had come to collect him from this very house and taken him to Prince Manor as if he was somehow now considered family since his mother was deceased. What happened to Tobias, he never knew, and he had never really cared. His own existence had been almost more pathetic and unbearable under the thumb of his grandfather than it had been under Tobias’.
After his mother’s death he hadn’t really cared about anything at all until he had met Tom Riddle shortly after graduation. The rest was history, probably quite literally.
So now, here he was in the basement of the house his mother had died in, holding a similar item to the one he had hoped at one time would be able to bring her just a little bit of freedom. He sighed. One more layer and it would be done. He would tell Remus about Lily’s part in the design of these Charms, knowing the other man would find meaning in that. What, he couldn’t say. For him, it was the sheer amazement that even decades after her death she managed to help those who had been closest to her.
Getting frustrated and stamping violently down on the emotional vortex his thoughts were beginning to take on, he pulled out his wand and set out to finally complete this task. Focusing his mind and his energy he went through the painstaking process of embedding the spells right into the very fiber of the cane. When he was finished, he would be able to fine tune it to Remus’ body and magic so that it would work solely and perfectly for him.
The lycanthrope would be able to adjust the weight that the cane allowed to him with a very simple spell that Severus was almost positive he would be able to cast, at least eventually. People who had been magically inhibited for long enough sometimes took a while to regain any control of their magical abilities, let alone enough focused energy to cast the most basic of spells. If needed, he would adjust it for Remus until he was able to do it for himself.
He felt the Charm taking hold, working to the end of the spell so as to bind it swiftly and completely to the cane. He sat back, feeling slightly drained. Each layer of spells had progressively taken more and more out of him; this last bout had required more energy than he would have expected.
Severus set the cane aside, at the very end of the work station. Later he would key it to Remus and get him to test it out to see how he liked it. He imagined that the freedom of moving around would restore a lot of confidence in Lupin and was eager to precipitate that.
Heading upstairs, he realized he’d spent longer in the basement then he had thought. He got Teddy to put away his writing supplies and assist him in making lunch; using some of the produce and home canned goods from the cold room and pantry, as well as a bit of ground beef from the ice box, they whipped up a quick cook batch of chili. A small salad accompanied it, a buttered bun on the side.
He made up a plate for Remus as well, planning to wake him up after they were done eating. Teddy, as usual, ate with gusto and enthusiasm, asking questions about the contents of his meal and what the different beans and vegetables were called. He answered contentedly, eating his own portion.
After the table had been cleared, he went upstairs and into the room to wake Lupin.
Remus was sprawled out across the bed in a position that appeared all together uncomfortable to Snape, but he seemed to be sleeping soundly. Severus came round the bed and sat next to Remus’ prone form; the werewolf barely stirred. He called his name softly, watching as Lupin jumped awake, looking around in confusion.
“Severus?” Remus asked fuzzily.
“No, it’s the Minister of Magic,” Snape responded with mild sarcasm. “How was your sleep?”
“Is that what I was doing?” Remus looked around. “The last thing I remember I was getting out of the bath.”
“Your body needed to rest, and so it did,” Severus said. “I’d let you sleep longer, but it may make you unable to nod off tonight.”
“I shouldn’t be lying about anyway,” Remus said, sounding angry with himself.
“Don’t fret about it,” Severus told him, “I’m not.”
Remus sighed and struggled to sit up, wincing and chuckling to himself. “I feel like I’ve been mauled by something ten times my size.”
Severus helped him to sit up the rest of the way. “I didn’t say it was going to be easy, did I?”
“No, that you didn’t.” Remus stretched, wishing he hadn’t. His entire body ached. It was nowhere close to the level of pain and discomfort he’d experienced before Snape had healed him, and it was a pain that marked progress, he tried to tell himself that.
“Feel brave enough to walk to your chair?” Severus asked, wishing he’d brought the cane along up. He’d surprise Lupin with it later tonight, after supper when he’d had a chance to move about and limber himself up.
“Not particularly,” Remus laughed. “Although I suppose you could make me do it if you really thought I should.”
The amused look melted off Snape’s face. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t plan on abiding by your answer.” He cast the spell that would lift Remus to his chair.
“Sorry, sir,” Remus said quickly, “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Snape nodded once sharply. “Let’s go save your son from printing until his hand falls off, shall we?”
“Of course,” Remus agreed. He’d not meant to offend Severus with his previous comment, but it had apparently happened all the same.
Snape moved Remus and his chair out of the room and down into the kitchen, where Teddy was predictably still working away. The boy looked up at them as they entered the room, smiling at his father.
“Do you want to see my letters?” he asked excitedly. He jumped off his chair and brought his stack of papers over to his father.
“Of course I do!” Remus replied. Snape set him by the table and Teddy scampered over to show him the pages of carefully printed letters he’d been working on all morning.
Remus face clearly showed his thoughts on his son’s work. “You made all of these?”
Teddy nodded, lips upturned and face averted a bit.
“These are fantastic, Teddy!” Remus flipped through to the last page where the child had spelled his name over and over again in capital letters. “You’ve even spelled your name!”
Severus snuck a look over Remus’ shoulder. True enough, there was Teddy’s name no less than ten times written fairly neatly across the page. He nodded his approval. Teddy must be improving at quite the rate for the book to be helping him with something like that so soon. With the amount the child had been practicing, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He could see the boy getting tense with the excitement of both his father and his master thinking he had done something spectacular.
“Thanks, dad,” Teddy blushed.
Severus went to heat up Remus’ portion of lunch, bringing it, the salad and a bun over to the table for him to eat.
Lupin looked down at the food, hardly able to keep himself from forgetting what few table manners he had left and just sticking his face into the aromatic bowl Snape put before him. As Severus removed the stasis spell, tendrils of steam began to rise from the bowl. He couldn’t stop himself from digging in with enthusiasm. His body must have needed nourishment after that workout and then the sleep he had taken, because he could barely slow himself down as he worked his way through all of the food put before him.
He leant back in his chair when he was done. Severus wordlessly cleared and rinsed his dishes, stacking them neatly beside the sink.
“I was thinking you might like to get some time in the lab,” Severus suggested to Teddy, his back to the table, hands still in the sink. He didn’t need to turn around to know the delighted expression that likely overtook the boy’s face.
“Oh yes, very much, sir!” Teddy exclaimed.
“I wonder if your father would care to come along,” Severus continued to pretend to muse.
“Would you, dad?” Teddy asked hopefully. “It’s so neat down there! We might even make a potion!”
Remus bit his lip to keep from smiling stupidly at his son’s joy. “Well, you’ve already convinced me. You’re sure I won’t be in the way, sir?” he asked, feeling reluctant to intrude on any work Severus needed to get done or anything he would want to teach Teddy.
“I’m sure,” Severus said, rolling his eyes and turning back to the other two. Remus perhaps wasn’t thinking about the fact that were he in the way, he could just be moved out of it with a simple spell. He Summoned the book that Remus had been reading and handed it to him. “In case you prefer a different activity,” he said in way of explanation.
“Thank you,” he said. He kept to himself that though potions had never been his strong suit, he would very much like the opportunity to watch the two of them at work, to see how they interacted together. So far Severus had been nothing but accommodating and helpful to Teddy, he was interested to find if that extended to the lab, though it must or Teddy wouldn’t be so thrilled about it. He accepted the book though he had no intentions of reading it, not now at least.
“Let’s descend then,” Severus said. He levitated Lupin’s chair and started down the stairway, Teddy close on his heels.
He set the chair down on the outside of the far workbench. The cane would be out of Remus’ line of sight that way; he would show it to him later and allow him to try it without Teddy watching. That way, if the first or second attempts weren’t successful, Remus would not have to have his son watch him struggle.
“What are we going to make, sir?” Teddy asked, right at Snape’s side.
“That depends,” Severus said, “on whether you would like to brew something practical or something fun.”
“Prac-tic-al,” Teddy tested the word out in his mouth. “That means – we can use it for something?”
“Yes it does,” Snape answered, turning one of the burners on and opening the vent above it part of the way. The Wolfsbane potions were a safe distance away, but Snape set a basic ward around them anyway that would prevent anything or anyone from interfering with them for the next while.
“The bubble potion was pretty awesome,” Teddy thought out loud. “But it would be nice to make something that someone could use. I don’t know what that would be, though.”
“Your father and you both could make use of some of this potion,” Severus said, going to the storage closet around the corner and at the end of the hall. He returned immediately with a clear jar that was almost completely empty. He brought it over and set it beside Teddy.
The boy peered into the container, trying to see what it was.
“It is a potion that I would want to give to you and your father the two mornings after the full moon. It is not very difficult to brew and I believe it will be very beneficial for both of you.”
“Okay,” Teddy said, enthusiasm only slightly muted at the mention of the transformation that was fast approaching.
“I’ve never taken a potion the next day,” Remus said. “Is this another one of your creations?” It was fascinating to him how Severus had always spoken out so loudly against werewolves and yet had devoted so much of his time to creating potions to help those very individuals.
“Partly; the base potion is used to create many of the more powerful restorative draughts already in circulation. Instead of brewing one of those traditional potions, we will be making one that is tailored to your more unique physiologies. Sound good?”
“Sounds great, sir,” Teddy chimed.
“Alright, let’s get started then, shall we?” Severus said, moving the stool closer to the prep counter.
Teddy climbed up onto the stool, holding on to the table for support. Seeing his gloves already there off to the side, he put them on immediately and looked to Snape for instruction. Remus felt his heart warm at the sight for some reason. If was pressed to say why, he would have said that it was because his son was obviously comfortable here, with Severus. He could hardly wait to see what the rest of the project brought.
“First, we’ll gather the ingredients,” Severus told him. He pulled a rolled up parchment from one of the shelves and untied the twine. Rolling it out on the counter, he felt Teddy lean in to take a closer look.
“We didn’t use a recipe last time,” Teddy pointed out.
“I figured that since you’re getting so good with your letters, you might want to see what one looks like in its basic form. We’ll sound out the ingredients as we go along.”
Teddy smiled, tracing his gloved finger under the title line, whispering the letters to himself as he did. Remus noticed that Severus paused mid turn, tilting his head to look and listen to what Teddy was doing. It lasted only a moment; Teddy seemed to notice his scrutiny and looked up questioningly.
Severus just turned back to what he was doing, pretending not to notice the inquiring look from Teddy. He bustled about the lab, gathering ingredients and tools from memory and bringing them back to the work station. He also selected a smaller cauldron composed of high purity tungsten. He brought the cauldron over and set it off to the side of the work table.
“The cauldron is different than last time,” Teddy pointed out. “Is there a reason for that?”
“There most definitely is,” Severus replied, sounding pleased. “This cauldron is made from tungsten, which is refined from a substance called ‘wolframite’. I have used this cauldron for many different potions in the years I’ve had it, but nowhere has it been more useful than in working on lycanthrope safe potions. It also happens to have a very high melting temperature, which makes it good to use in many applications where more intense heat is required.”
“Cool,” Teddy said, his elbows on the table. “Why aren’t we putting it on the fire?”
This kid didn’t miss anything. “Because this potion requires that the first three ingredients of the base are brought to temperature at the same time.”
“So we’re going to mix them in there and then put it on the fire?”
“Precisely,” Severus concluded, sliding a cutting board over to Teddy, who lined it up perfectly with the edge of the table.
Snape raised his eyebrows and placed beside Teddy’s station a glass stirring rod, a short and long handled knife, two spoons with long handles and a set of tongs.
Teddy immediately took these items and lined them up beside his board, looking again to Snape for what to do next.
Severus was impressed; he wanted to see if Teddy kept his station this tidy as the project went on, he was already doing so without instruction. He’d noted that the boy was wearing his gloves as well, which was a definite bonus. Teddy was sneaking shy little smiles at his father, who so far seemed inclined to allow them to work uninterrupted.
“So the first ingredient we want to prepare is the Schisandra fruit.” He pointed to the recipe where the words were written, running his finger in a line under the word as he slowly pronounced the name. “A tough one to spell, but it will among other things help restore energy, improve mental clarity and increase circulation, being especially good for the heart. They are one of the adaptogens we will be using in this brew.”
“What is an ad-ap-to-gen?” Teddy asked.
“An adaptogen is a part of a group of ingredients that, when prepared and brewed correctly, will have a remarkably positive effect on the end drinker’s adrenal glands, among other things. The human adrenal glands are located right here,” Severus said, touching the tips of his fingers to the place on his torso that would best represent their location in the body.
Teddy made a bit of a face. “What do they do?”
“They have quite a few functions; simply put, they produce things in our bodies that we need to live, as well as producing things that help us manage stress. These ingredients, these adaptogens we are going to prepare, are going to… convince your adrenal glands to work a little harder to produce these things.” Severus wondered how he was doing in this very basic explanation of a complicated system and how it would be affected by the ingredients.
“And what do these things do?” Teddy asked.
He really should have seen that one coming. “Mainly they will do things like help your circulation, which is the blood flow through your body; they will keep your immune system in check, which is what fights off things the body finds foreign; also they will manage your body’s production of adrenaline, which your body puts out to help you get through intense situations and is what makes you jittery and restless after you transform, even though you’re actually quite tired.”
“All of this stuff needs to be helped because of the full moon?”
“No, it is not necessary. However, the transformation is so incredibly stressful to your body that any help we can give it to recover and stabilize will be a great improvement. When you transform, your body changes very quickly and then later, reverts just as quickly back. Even though you are more equipped to handle it than I would be because of improved stamina, healing and metabolism – it is still very, very hard on you. This potion will help your body cope with those swift changes and to normalize at a more accelerated pace.”
Remus watched his son nod slowly. He’d never heard of such a thing, though he supposed it could be possible. He remembered the ‘adaptogen’ class of ingredient to be mostly included in potions used after major procedures or for the treatment of trauma victims. He had no idea how they would affect a lycanthrope post-transformation. Severus would know what he was talking about, though.
“That is awesome,” Teddy said.
“What is?” Severus asked, almost startled out of his lecture.
“That I could help you brew something that would make things easier for us like that. We should get started, sir. What should we do with the fruit?”
Severus smirked to himself at the child’s eagerness as he unscrewed the lid on the jar of bright red fruit that had the same consistency as a very lumpy jam. He tipped the open mouth downward a bit so Teddy could see into the jar.
“Remember that scale you used the other day?” Severus asked.
“Yes sir,” Teddy replied, peering closely at the ingredient.
Snape set the jar aside and opened a small hard shell case on the counter from which he handed Teddy a small cube of metal and two equal sized plates.
“I need you to place these plates on either side of the scale and then weigh out the amount of fruit that will be equal to this piece of metal.” Severus paused. “Do you understand?”
Teddy replied ‘yes sir’ happily, but Remus was skeptical about the truth of his statement. He recalled vaguely his first year of potions. The weigh scales had been a difficult thing to master; it was a measure in the brewer’s exactness. Severus didn’t seem concerned with his son’s abilities, so he tried not to worry what would happen if Teddy disappointed him. He folded his hands on his lap so that he wouldn’t be tempted to interfere.
While Teddy set up the scale, Severus lined up the ingredients in the order they would be added to the cauldron. He figured that having Teddy watch him do things like that would help encourage what Severus suspected was a natural predisposition for organization; or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.
“Like this, sir?” Teddy asked, moving back so Snape could see.
Severus stepped nearer, seeing how Teddy had aligned the plates on either side of the scale. They were level and centered, the boy must have remembered that from the last time he’d used them.
“Exactly like that,” Severus agreed. “Now that you have it set up, I’ll give you these,” he handed Teddy two small spoons. “This fruit is much thicker than a lot of ingredients out there, you may need to use one spoon to scrape off the other so the ingredient will drop onto the scale. Remember, you want the fruit to be equal to the metallic weight I just gave you.”
“Okay sir,” Teddy replied, his confidence visibly deflating as he accepted the spoons.
Remus watched his son move the jar so that it was beside the scale. Teddy leaned up against the counter, tipping the jar and taking a thick spoonful out of it. He brought it over to the plate of the scale slowly, appearing nervous to tip the spoon on an angle lest some would fall to the counter. He got it over the plate, tipping it little; nothing happened. He continued on until the spoon was completely upside down, shaking it a little; still nothing.
Remus watched in interest as Teddy seemed to remember the other spoon and instructions Snape had just given him. Tongue poking out of his mouth just a little, he took the other spoon in his free hand and started scraping the berries onto the scale’s surface. The scale barely moved, so he repeated the process again, and again until the arms of the scale began to wobble back and forth.
Sneaking a peek at Severus, Remus found the other man already done whatever it was he had been doing when Teddy had started. He was also leaning against the counter, quietly watching Teddy try to get the scale to even out. He was glad that Snape seemed to have no inclination to pressure Teddy to go faster; Remus would go so far as to say the other man looked relaxed. He supposed instructing one novice brewer would be less stressful than attempting to supervise an entire class.
“Remember what I showed you with the sap?” Severus asked after a length of time.
Teddy nodded.
“Try using a similar technique, only this time use one spoon against the other.”
Teddy did just that once, twice, each time the scales teetered, but the second time they balanced out. Teddy squinted at the numbers. “It’s at zero!” he proclaimed.
“Good job,” Severus said, pushing himself off of the counter and coming over to Teddy’s side. He looked at the indicator to see if the boy was correct, which he was. The pointer was directly in the center of the zero. “Perfect,” he acknowledged, nodding. Teddy squirmed happily under his praise, no matter how he tried to ignore it.
“What next?” the boy asked.
“Next we will scrape the fruit into the cauldron,” Severus said, sliding the heavy cauldron over so that Teddy could reach it from his stool. He handed him a spatula. “Scrape everything into the basin; make sure to get it all.”
Teddy did as he was asked, scraping the plate to the point of overkill to make sure he had gotten every speck of the fruit he’d just measured.
“Now we will add a liquid; this part can be kind of tricky so I will do it,” Severus said.
He unscrewed the lid on a very large jar and carefully poured in into a glass measure.
“This is amla infused spring water; most of the liquid will boil away in the brewing process. It is the most effective way to use amla in such a potion as this. Amla is more commonly called gooseberry. It will stave off anxiety as well as enliven the body. It will help you digest whatever nutrition you take in with minimal nausea and help to purify your blood, improving circulation.”
He poured the infused water into the cauldron’s basin.
“One more ingredient to go, and then we can get this on the fire for a while. Sound good?”
“Oh yes, sir,” Teddy agreed.
Remus had to say he was reveling in this. His son was doing an excellent job, in his mind as well as in Severus’ apparently. Severus seemed more than capable of keeping his temper, and he answered Teddy’s questions endlessly and without hesitation. He wished he’d taken the time to sit in on one of Severus’ classes while they had both taught at Hogwarts, though there would have been no way the brewer would have tolerated it.
“This is the last of the adaptogens we will be adding – Rhodiola Rosea, more commonly called kings’ crown. We need the root of the plant as well as the liquid from the stem. This ingredient will help fight fatigue, enhance circulation and will have a relaxing effect on your muscles.”
Snape set two preserved flowers on Teddy’s work station and one on his own.
“Would you like me to demonstrate?”
Teddy smiled and nodded, looking his flowers over carefully, sniffing the bright yellow blossom.
Snape paused, allowing him time to explore the ingredient. It was in no way harmful or toxic to the boy and since there was time, he figured he’d let him get his curiosity out a bit now. When Teddy directed his attention back to him, Snape took a small bladed knife and sliced the flower from the stem, next paring off all of the small leaves from its length. He sliced the roots off as well, pushing everything off to the side and looking over at Teddy.
Remus watched his son take the nonverbal cue, his smaller hands selecting the same knife Snape had used and turning the flower so he could make the cut to remove the blossom. He did, setting the bud immediately off to the side. Taking the stem in his hands he trimmed the leaves carefully. Though he was going at a much slower pace than Severus, he appeared to be doing everything exactly like he had been shown. Teddy took the leaves and set them in a pile beside the head of his flower, repositioned the plant and cleanly cut the roots from the stalk.
“What now, sir?” Teddy asked, placing his knife back in its spot.
”Now we will get the roots ready. For this item, dried roots are acceptable as well, though they are not nearly as potent as if they are fresh like the ones we are using.” Snape took the long stream of roofs from his cutting board and began to twist the thick strands so they made one long cylinder. Holding them there with one hand he took up a knife with a broader blade, chopping them rather finely and then breaking the pieces up with his hands. He dumped them into the cauldron and looked over at Teddy.
The boy snapped to life, obviously eager to try the step for himself. He had some trouble getting the roots to cooperate at first, finding that one or two would always escape, not matter what he seemed to do. After a few unsuccessful attempts he looked up at Snape.
Severus wondered if this was to see if he was getting angry with the time this was taking or to silently ask for assistance. Either way, he decided to take it as the latter, moving nearer to see what the boy was doing that was hindering his success.
“Try twisting nearer to the end where the roots collect and move your other hand a little more slowly; if you’re going too fast the little ones might slip out,” he suggested.
Teddy tried again, getting all of them but one to spiral together. He sighed in frustration.
The corner of Snape’s lips gave an entertained twitch. “One more time,” he said.
Teddy peered more closely at what he was doing, taking his time and spinning the roots again, this time making the same tight twist he’d watched Severus make.
“There!” the boy exclaimed.
“Good; now take the knife and try to make your cuts close together, we want the pieces to be fairly small, no wider than your little finger,” Severus instructed. “Careful not to let go of the roots, I recommend holding them against the cutting board so they don’t lose their shape on you.”
Teddy did just that, his slices very hesitant but in the end, acceptable.
“Is that good, sir?” he asked hopefully.
“Most definitely. Let’s add them to the cauldron and then you can do the last one.”
Remus wondered amusedly if either Severus or Teddy remembered he was there. He watched them work, Teddy having a single mindedness that he found himself impressed with. It seemed to suit their master just fine as well.
Teddy prepared the last flower, having less difficulty with the roots than with his first try. He scraped them into the cauldron.
“This step is very simple; I’ll show you with my stem and then you can do it with both of yours. Since the stem has been cut on either end but otherwise is essentially intact, we are going to squeeze the liquid out of it and into the cauldron; it will only amount to a couple of drops per stem, but that is all we will need.”
He took the stem and put the end of it over the cauldron, squeezing it firmly between his thumb and forefinger, pulling them down the stem until they reached the bottom and three small drops in total fell into the basin.
Teddy set about copying his actions. Snape glanced over at Remus to see him absolutely engrossed by what his son was doing. If only he had paid this much attention when they had gone to school together, he thought to himself wryly. He moved the jar of ingredients they would need next nearer, a jar of spines from the Acanthaster Planci, or the crown-of-thorns starfish.
“I’m done sir,” Teddy informed him.
“Alright,” Snape said, going to turn up the flame he’d started earlier. His back was turned only for a second when the startling sound of glass shattering behind him. He heard Teddy’s shocked squeak as well, but in the mere time it took for him to turn around the boy had already began a desperate dash through the lab and up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time.
“Teddy, wait!” he called out as the child reached the top of the stairs, but the sound of his voice only sped the boy on faster, if the sound running feet above his head was any indication. He swore softly to himself and extinguished the flame; the ingredients they had in the cauldron would be fine the way they were for the moment. He turned to look briefly at Remus, who wore an expression that conveyed uncertainty at best.
“Wait here,” he said quickly, as if Lupin had any other choice. He stepped over the mess of spines and broken glass that had once been a half full container of ingredients and hurried after Teddy.
“Sir-” he heard Remus choke behind him, but he didn’t stop, he couldn’t. He had to find Teddy; the boy was probably scared out of his wits.
Remus was helpless to do anything but sit in his chair and watch Severus rush from the room, his long legs taking the stairs in determined strides. Again, he cursed his almost continuous inability to read his master. Was Severus furious, frustrated or merely perturbed?
The longer he sat there, listening for footsteps or any sound to indicate what might be happening upstairs, the more he felt that something terrible must be going on.
Perhaps Snape was angry that the ingredient was damaged. If there was one thing he took seriously it would be his brewing. If he had no more of it, he would be unable to brew the potion. Having known Severus for as long as he had, he knew that that was just the sort of thing that usually got under his skin.
It didn’t take him long to work his anxiety up to the point where he couldn’t just sit there any longer, no matter what his lame and uncooperative body might allow him to do.
Remus took the edge of the potions counter and used it to haul himself to his feet, supporting himself mostly on his arms as he swayed there. His muscles were still tight and sore from his bout of exercise earlier, but for a moment he thought he might just stay upright.
A cramp in his bicep decided that that was not to be. Almost before he knew what was happening, the world was spinning on its side; he was falling and there was no way he could stop himself. He felt a shock go through his head as his chin connected with the countertop, teeth clicking together in a loud and painful way as his jaw was forced shut by the impact. Unable to even slow his descent and reeling from the collision he’d already had, his body hit the stone floor, his head connecting sharply with it as well a mere second later.
He lay there, dumbfounded and dazed, barely feeling the rough stone beneath his cheek. Feebly he brought his hand up to his aching head, curling his body in slightly on itself with a groan. He should have known better, really. That’s when he remembered that he did know better, but that didn’t matter where Teddy was concerned.
Looking back he saw that his chair was farther away then he would like. Going to sit back there wasn’t really an option anyway. He turned his pulsing head over to look down the space between the work stations and the burners, trying to gauge the distance he would have to travel. His perception was off, his vision blurred a little.
As he was surveying, his eyes locked onto something he found to be both interesting and quite out of place. There, on the opposite side of the work station that he had previously been sitting on, the side were Severus and Teddy had been working, stood a four footed cane just under the countertop. It was a stretch to think that he could somehow use it, but not as far of a stretch as him getting all of the way upstairs in time to stop… whatever was going on up there.
He’d seen Severus’ rages before, though he doubted that he’d ever witnessed the other man in full fury, since he was still alive to contemplate it now. He did not want for his son to experience that or anything even close to it, not if he could help it. Not to say that he expected Snape to react like that as a default, not anymore, but that didn’t mean he was fool enough to believe that it was never going to happen. The fact that they had gone this long without any real anger, outbursts or even discipline had him almost on edge. Surely that meant that soon something would be coming, and in his experience when something like that came about it tended to more than make up for the peace beforehand.
Summoning his courage and what was left of his optimism, he told himself that he could make this happen. He reached his hand out and grasped his fingers around the stem of the cane, near the bottom plate where the four feet were firmly attached. Much to his surprise, as soon as his skin came in contact with the carefully carved wood, his entire body felt like it had lightened. More to say, he felt like he weighed almost nothing.
Remus thought that it was possible he had hit his head a little harder than he’d previously suspected, because it felt as if his body was barely touching the ground. He pulled his hand away from the walking stick and found that gravity overtook him completely again. He felt his stomach and thighs pressing more firmly to the floor as his own body weight reasserted itself instantly.
Could it really be the cane? What purpose could Snape have for such a thing? Maybe his knee was worse off than it appeared to be and he used this on his bad days? It would definitely allow a person to move around without putting any unwanted stress on their body. He hoped Severus wouldn’t be angry if he borrowed it, figuring that the other man would likely be more pissed about him knowing about it than anything else.
He took the walking stick in hand again, this time he tried pulling his body across the floor while holding onto it. It was difficult because the stones were rough and not quite level, though it was much easier now that his body had what felt like almost no weight, but the going was still slow since he dragged on the ground a little as he inched himself forward. He also had to hold the cane, which meant he was essentially down a hand.
If felt like forever, but eventually he made it past the work benches and to the foot of the stairs. His rational mind told him that it was only one flight of stairs and that their pitch wasn’t even all that steep. At the same time he knew that it may as well have been a mountain before him because his body was so weak and incredibly stiff.
Taking a minute to collect himself, he leaned up against the first couple of steps, breathing hard. He laid his head down on the nearest stair, feeling the room spiraling as he did. He had to get it together; falling down those stairs was not an option, not unless he didn’t want to get out of that chair for a long time after.
He forced himself to move, hauling himself up one excruciating step at a time. Even at the unbelievably slow pace he was making and despite the fact that his weight was reduced by the cane, he still had to stop every few stairs to rest for a few seconds.
Remus was getting discouraged. It was bloody hard to focus, and that was what he needed more than anything if this was going to succeed, whatever this was. Maybe he should have stayed seated and just let whatever was going to happen play itself out. As it sat right now, he was taking so long that Severus was going to finish dealing with Teddy and come storming down the stairs to find him laying exhausted three quarters of the way up them. Who knew what would happen then.
With Macnair he would have known what to expect. Walden would have just kicked him down to the bottom and things would have gone on as normal. With Severus there was the expectation that he would do something like that, but the probability that he would just scoop him off the ground and levitate him back to his chair. Either way, he was committed to this now. He had the feeling it would be better for him in the long run if he could just make it up the stairs and to the kitchen.
Then he heard something fall to the floor upstairs, the sound carrying through the basement. He prayed that it wasn’t Teddy’s little body slamming into the floor but was at a loss for what else it could be. The thought spurred him onward. There were only a few more steps left to go now. This was a very good thing because he felt even more drained now than he’d been all day. His hands and arms were shaking with exertion, his legs were cramping; there wasn’t any way he could go much further.
He moved himself slowly and painfully up the last four or five steps, pushing the door open and collapsing on the kitchen floor, his calves and thighs still on the stairs. Holding his breath he tried to strain his ears to catch even a shred of what was happening up here. He heard the sound of voices, but only barely and he couldn’t make out a word they were saying. Gathering the remaining tatters of his strength, he began to maneuver himself closer to the sounds.
It was slow going, though much faster than it had been dragging his body across the basement floor; this surface was at least level and almost perfectly smooth. Cane still clutched in his hand he finally crossed the threshold into the living room. The voices were louder in here, he was starting to be able to make out snatches of words. He hurried more, avoiding the carpet in the middle of the room and sliding himself across the polished hardwood on the side.
Having crossed the room, he hauled himself upright and leant against the edge of the doorway leading into the sitting room, a place he had yet to visit so far.
The room was large, most of the furniture in it was covered in long white sheets to prevent the collection of dust. There were boxes piled everywhere, though Remus couldn’t even begin to fathom what might be in them.
He slowed his rapid breathing, trying to hear over the thundering of blood throbbing through his brain. Severus could now be heard saying, “Come along then.” There was the sound of footsteps coming towards him. Suddenly, this seemed like an even worse idea than it had previously. There was no turning back now; even if he could get back to the basement and into his chair in time, there would be no way his body would make the journey, he was just too exhausted.
He would have to face Severus in mere moments, and he would need to try and explain himself when he did. What he would say, he wasn’t sure. All he could do was hope that the other man understood, finding himself less afraid at that thought than perhaps he should have been.
Severus knew from the sound of Teddy’s pattering feet that he wasn’t in the kitchen more likely he was in the living room or upstairs. Leaving the basement door swinging open behind him, he cast a basic location spell with the boy in mind. A thin glowing thread emitted itself from the tip of his extended wand, going through the living room and on into the sitting room.
Severus hurried on, following the thread with no delays. There were lots of places in the sitting room that someone Teddy’s size could hide in; these days it acted as storage as much as anything else. He walked through the room, feeling a sense of unease as the magical thread led him past everything else and to the side of the house. He almost faltered, seeing that the thread led him all of the way over to the large bay window, pointing him to the enclosed seat built into it.
How the hell had the boy gotten in there? He had magically sealed it himself some years ago, but not so long ago that the spell should have worn off. Either way, he felt trepidation as he walked up to the window. He could hear Teddy’s stifled sobs long before he was in arms reach of the large cushioned lid that went over the top of the bench.
He took a deep breath and slowly lifted the lid, wishing the spell way lying to him but knowing that it wasn’t.
Teddy was crouched down, as low in the space as he could fit himself, arms folded above his head tightly, face tucked into his knees. The boy’s thin shoulders were shaking.
Severus wondered how his father had felt, looking down at his son after four days of leaving him locked in that tiny space. He was certain that whatever Tobias had experienced, it was nothing like the ache that had just settled over his heart now. For Tobias, this had placed him in a position of dominance and authority; he felt totally in control when towering over his boy like this. Severus felt the opposite; he had to go far back in his memory to liken this powerless, out of control emotion to anything.
He dropped the lid off to the side, ignoring the shaking of his hands and the large clatter it made as it fell.
“Teddy,” he said, hearing his voice crack. He cleared his throat. “Please, come out of there.” It was feeble, desperate almost, but it was the best he could muster.
“I’m sorry, master!” The boy huddled further down. “I didn’t mean to break it!”
Severus found himself not even thinking about the ingredient, or the potion at all for that matter. All he could think about was getting Teddy out of there.
“If you’re not going to come out, I’m going to have to bring you out,” he said, wondering if the slight panic he was feeling was apparent in his voice. By Teddy’s reaction, which was to duck lower, he had to assume that his words had come out in more of a bark than anything else.
“Please!” Teddy said in his loudest, most tear filled voice yet. “You have to believe me!”
“I’m sorry Teddy, but I really need to get you out of there,” Severus said. He’d already decided that he was going to reach in there and extract the boy. There was just no way he would be able to stand there and look at him, not in there, not like this. “Here I come,” he warned.
He carefully placed his hands under Teddy’s armpits and lifted him out, cautious not to bump his head or catch him on any of the sharp nail ends that he knew poked into the space from all kinds of angles. He set the boy gently on the ground just outside of the bench, where he sat down beside him.
The child had first tensed up when he’d touched him, but now that he was back on the ground he seemed to get his bearings. Still, he cowered back and away from Snape as if he expected him to explode at any moment, which maybe in a way he did.
“I’m sorry I broke your jar, sir,” Teddy said, scuttling out of reach as soon as Snape’s hands withdrew from him. He looked up at Severus with eyes that were remarkably like his father’s, only at this point in time they were wide with fear and overflowing with tears. “I didn’t mean to!”
Severus looked serenely back at him. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”
Teddy sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “You do?”
Snape nodded. “I’m not angry, it was only an accident.”
“You’re not mad at me?” Teddy asked skeptically, shuddering as he tried to get control of himself. “You aren’t going to… hit me?”
“Absolutely not,” Severus replied firmly.
“But – why? I broke your ingredient and then I ran away and hid! It was just like my dream!”
Ah, the dream. “Why won’t I hit you?” he restated the question to make sure he’d understood it. “For so many reasons; one of those being that you didn’t do anything wrong, the-”
“But I smashed it!” Teddy interrupted.
“Accidents happen, remember?” Snape put his arm around Teddy’s shoulders, glad to see that he barely flinched away when he saw he wasn’t going to strike him.
This seemed to make him suddenly more upset and he put his face into his hands. “But now we can’t make the potion!
“Oh yes we can. That container had already been half emptied, I have another one on hand; we will open and use that one. Even if I hadn’t had one, most ingredients are possible to come by in a day or so, I would have made sure to have gotten them in time.”
“Were they expensive?” Teddy asked with a grimace. He then lamented, “I’m so clumsy and stupid, maybe you shouldn’t have made me your apprentice.”
“You are anything but stupid, Teddy,” Severus said, giving his arm a squeeze to briefly pull the child closer, “and we all have our moments of clumsiness. When I was taking my Mastery course, during my first round of tests I knocked over a partially closed bottle of prepared Amorphophallus titanium, or the corpse flower, all over myself and part of my work station. It smelled like everything rotten you could think of all at once, and I brewed in the middle of all of that stench for almost two hours. Even my instructor stood back to try and avoid it. Needless to say I felt very silly, but because I didn’t allow myself to panic, I did fine even though I was very nervous.”
“Really?” Teddy asked, dabbing at his eyes, “I thought flowers are supposed to smell nice.”
“Most of them do; though this specific flower smells more like rotting flesh than anything else. This will probably not be the last time something like this ever happens to you. That was neither the first nor the last mistake I made. Like me, you will just have to try and accept them when they happen, clean up and move on.”
“Okay,” Teddy said, perking up. “I’ll clean it up.”
Severus sighed; that was not what he hoped Teddy would take away from that story. “I will clean this one up, the spines are very sharp as is the broken glass. I don’t want you hurting yourself unnecessarily.”
“Oh, okay,” Teddy said despondently. “If you’re not going to let me clean it up, maybe you should beat me, sir. I have to pay for my mistake somehow.”
“I’m not going to punish you for something you did unintentionally, Teddy. And I am not ever going to beat you, because doing such a thing is wrong and never solved anything for anyone. If you won’t accept that for an answer, then perhaps you will understand that I will never do that to you because I love you. We should always try to be kind to those we love. It is not something I have always done in my life, but I will tell you now that when I neglected to do it, I regretted it every time.” Why it was always so easy to find the words to tell this boy what was in his heart, he couldn’t begin to guess.
Teddy made a face that indicated he might start to cry again. “I love you too, sir.” The boy leaned into Severus, sneaking his arms around his middle. Not knowing what else to do, Severus tightened his arm around him and held it there. Teddy continued, “I just wish there was something I could do to make it up to you.”
“Oh but there is,” Severus replied. “Though I suspect at this moment you would rather not do it and may find it challenging.”
“What is it, sir?” Teddy asked, equal parts hopeful and nervous.
Severus paused. “Oh, I don’t know if you can handle it, it might be too much for you.”
“I’m sure I could, sir,” Teddy persisted, a look of urgency on his face.
“Okay, then,” he said skeptically, “If you think you’re up to it.”
“Please, sir, what is it?” Teddy implored.
Severus turned to look more directly at the boy encircled by his arm. “I want you to – smile,” he said, just about smiling himself when he saw Teddy’s expression. Teddy looked shocked at first, that expression melting into a rather large grin, probably without him even meaning it to.
“There! That was worth a hundred jars of starfish thorns!” Severus told him.
Teddy sniffled one last time. “You think so?”
“Yes, I do,” Snape affirmed. “Would you like to do something else for the afternoon or would you prefer to return to the lab to complete the potion?”
“If you’d let me, I’d like to finish the potion, sir.”
“You would, would you? Well then I think that’s what we’ll do. We should go see how your father is doing, I’m sure he’s more than curious to find out what has been going on up here.” He blindly hoped that Remus could have a bit more faith in him than he’d shown previously, but they’d hurry down to ease his mind regardless.
“Okay sir,” Teddy said, moving to stand up.
Severus let him go, standing more slowly than the boy had, leaning his hand on the frame of the bench and hoisting himself up. He wasted no time in placing the seat back on the bench frame, trying to erase the image of Teddy cowering in its recesses from his mind as he magically refastened it to the frame. He wondered how much Sebastian would charge to have this window properly closed up into one of a more reasonable size, minus the bench. Next time he saw the man he’d have to inquire.
“Come along then,” he said, placing his hand on Teddy’s shoulder. As they headed into the living room, he left his hand where it was, though whether it was more for Teddy’s sake or his he couldn’t say.

A/N: I got this one out as fast as I could! Hope you enjoyed it. More to come soon.

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The Long Road