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The Long Road	By : SinisterMe Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Remus Views: 63598 -:- 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
- 41
- 42
- 43
A while after Teddy had drifted off and the fire was dying low. Severus saw movement from the other side of the room, watching as Remus groaned, bringing both of his hands up to his face. Snape remained where he was, wanting to give the other man time to wake up without startling him out of his wits.
Lupin mapped his face carefully, tracing his own eyes, nose, mouth and ears with his hands. He stretched his arms, wiggling his fingers one at a time. Snape saw his legs move and assumed he was doing the same thing with them and probably with his toes. A heavy sigh was heard as Remus’ head slowly lifted from his pillow and looked around the room, stopping when he laid eyes on Snape and Teddy.
Upon waking, Remus did what he did after every transformation; he checked that everything had changed back properly, and it had. He was disoriented for a moment, trying to remember where he was, why he was so damned comfortable and what exactly had happened the night before.
He pulled his head up so that he could look around the room, hoping to fill in the blanks somehow. He scanned his surroundings, his eyes almost immediately being drawn to the fire, in his brief delirium he was sure he could smell his own flesh burning all around him, choking him. Then his eyes latched onto Severus, leaning back in a large armchair, Teddy asleep on his lap, his strong arms cradling the boy close; the sight of which sparked an immediately tender emotion inside of him, overtaking his panic.
Suddenly, he was aware of where he was and what had happened to him, scenes from the previous night’s transformation began to appear in his memory. He let his head flop back to the pillow with a watery sigh, trying to regain control of himself and his emotions.
Severus stood, readjusting Teddy in his arms. He walked to the bed and laid the child down on the side of the mattress that Remus wasn’t occupying before going to the other side of the bed so he could talk to Lupin and give him his potion. He also cast a temporary ward over Teddy that would prevent him from being disturbed by their conversation; the child needed a good, honest sleep almost more than he needed anything else at this point. He pulled the blanket over the boy’s slumbering form. Fishing through his pocket and extracting another dose of potion, he sat on the edge of the bed beside Remus.
“Everything appears to be in one piece?” he asked, trying and failing to keep the sarcastic lilt out of his voice.
Remus coloured, embarrassed at having been caught checking himself over. He knew that the odds of anything not changing back properly were ten thousand to one, but that didn’t stop him from having to make sure every morning after.
“Yes, thankfully,” he replied. There was still something he was missing, something he wasn’t remembering; it would come to him.
Snape merely nodded and uncorked the vial he was holding, extending it to Lupin.
Remus sat up a little, accepted the potion and downed it without question, letting himself fall back to the mattress.
“Your vitals appear normal, how are you feeling?”
“Well, the Wolfsbane was a real treat,” Remus answered, his voice raspy. “I feel much better than I normally do the morning after.”
Snape nodded again, taking the empty vial back from him and setting it aside on the nightstand.
“Everything went okay last night?” Remus asked, face twisted in concentration as he tried to think past the fog of emotions and sensations that were assaulting him.
Severus wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. “Everything is okay now,” he said. “Your memory is still returning?”
“Yes,” Remus replied, a hand fluttering to his temple, “it’s starting to, at least. It usually takes me a few minutes to… sort through everything.”
“Take your time, it’s probably for the best you remember this on your own,” Severus told him, standing.
He was still in his clothes from the previous morning and though he doubted that he’d have a chance to have a proper wash any time soon, he figured that the least he could do was to get into a fresh change of attire. Crossing the room, he gathered a complete set of clothing for himself and one for Remus as well. He returned to the bedside, setting the neat pile of Lupin’s apparel at the very foot of the bed, unsure if the prone man would feel up to rising or not.
Severus then went closer to the hamper and began to disrobe. Getting into a new pair of trousers and socks was a good start; he’d already decided to use a freshening charm on himself once he was out of his soiled things. He unbuttoned and removed his shirt, tossing it in the hamper with the rest of his clothes before shaking out his new shirt and going to slide into it.
As he did, he caught sight of a set of crescent shaped bruises on his arm for the first time. The bruising went all of the way around on the top and bottom of his forearm, a dark and most disturbing shade of purple at the points where Teddy’s teeth had applied the greatest pressure. On the underside was a similar set of marks, only accompanied by a longer one that seemed to indicate the bottom set of Teddy’s teeth had raked across his arm quite viciously.
He quickly slid his arm into the sleeve of his shirt. By the sound of Remus’ quick intake of breath, he’d either dallied too long with the injury out in the open and it had been seen, or the other man’s memories had come back enough for him to recall the catastrophe that last night had been. He put his shirt the rest of the way on and turned to face Lupin while doing up the buttons, not sure what to expect from the man.
Remus was looking at him with an expression that he couldn’t identify as anything other than stressed, blinking rapidly.
“Sweet Merlin,” he said at length.
Severus came and sat back on the side if the bed again. “Ah, I see last night is returning to you.”
“Severus, tell me I’m making all of this up,” Remus said, hastily sitting up in bed, face wrenching in pain as he moved. He seemed to ignore it though, leaning over to where Teddy was sleeping and pulling the blankets back to look at him more closely. Apparently not finding anything out of the ordinary, he pulled the covers back up and settled for stroking his son’s hair lightly, looking at Snape in sheer disbelief.
“What went wrong – he was sick, all of his fur fell out… Severus, the amount of blood I remember him vomiting… please tell me he’s going to be alright,” Remus heard himself rambling.
Severus hated himself for what he had to say next.
“I am not exactly certain what went wrong, though I was able to take samples and hope to determine what the problem was. I’ve run all of his vital signs and from what I can tell he was fine as soon as he transformed back to his human form. I’m sorry, Remus; you have to know that I wouldn’t have given him that potion if I didn’t honestly believe he was going to be alright, that it was going to help him.”
The thought that this was something Severus had intended hadn’t crossed his mind until just then; as soon as it arrived, he dismissed it. He recalled how frantic the brewer had been, he remembered the scent of fear rolling off of him in waves as he’d leant over his son; it was impossible to fake such things, as far as he knew. He remembered the creation of a protective circle, how Severus had tried to defend the samples he was just speaking of, heedless of the consequences…
“Severus, your arm!” Remus exclaimed, looking over at his master with wild eyes.
“Relax, Remus,” Severus said, extending a hand to still him.
He undid the buttons on his cuff and carefully pulled up his sleeve, holding out his arm for Remus’ inspection.
“My gear held, he didn’t puncture my skin. What you’re seeing here is just from the pressure of his jaws, nothing more.” He pulled back his arm and put his shirt back in place.
“But his potion worked. I saw it, he was just fine for most of the night, eating, drinking and even playing with you. If his potion hadn’t functioned, I would understand completely, but…”
“You know that something didn’t go as expected – he was frightened and sick and probably felt backed into a corner. In his agitated state, I cannot say that it comes as a surprise to me that he lashed out, even if his potion was still doing what it was supposed to at that point. I have spoken with him about last night and he says he has little recollection of it. I think that this part, at least, is best kept between us, I would rather Teddy not experience guilt over something that was out of his control. ”
Remus wasn’t sure what to say to that. Knowing his son, that was just how Teddy would feel, even knowing that he wasn’t at fault and that no one was blaming him.
“Thank you, I don’t think he would handle that knowledge very well.”
“Maybe better than we both think, however it is still information that would have no benefit for him. He’ll likely sleep through the day after the injection I gave him and the added stress of the transformation. I will wake him later to use the loo and have something to eat and drink, but for now I think we should just let him sleep.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Remus said, looking down at his worn out little boy.
“Are you feeling like sleep would do you well also?” Severus asked, unsure of Lupin’s energy levels.
“I know that it would,” Remus said, “but I might be too tired to sleep right now, if that makes sense.”
“Do you think you could handle something to eat?” Snape asked. Every lycanthrope was a little different post-transformation, and he wasn’t sure what Remus preferred to do.
“Oh yes,” Remus almost moaned, smiling tiredly at Severus, “I could definitely handle that.”
“Would you like to go downstairs? If not I’ll bring something up to you.”
This was damn congenial for Severus. Was he having feelings of culpability from the night before? “I’d not mind moving around. It’ll hurt like hell but will hopefully prevent me from stiffening up like an overly rusty hinge later.”
“I can accommodate that,” Severus said, helping him from the bed and into his chair before getting him into some casual attire that could double as sleepwear. Teddy would likely nap for a long while yet so he floated Lupin down and into the kitchen. The sun was now up and shining all too cheerfully through the open window. Setting Remus at the table he set about making a pot of coffee.
Without putting much thought into it, he also made a large pan of scrambled eggs and served up some toast and fruit as well. Severus didn’t eat much, choosing instead to look over the Prophet and drink as many cups of coffee as he could manage. He didn’t make it far before folding the paper closed with a scowl; complete drivel as always.
Remus, on the other hand, ate everything that was put in front of him and some things that weren’t. His appetite was always overactive before and after the moon, though he would likely regret having eaten so much later when the nausea set in. He leaned back in contentment, pushing his plate away slightly and towing his coffee closer now that it had cooled off.
“I’d like to go down to the lab as soon as possible to try and determine what happened to Teddy last night,” Severus said, standing up and clearing the table.
“I could come and keep you company,” Remus offered. For some reason he didn’t feel like being alone right now; he hoped that Severus wouldn’t mind him tagging along. Curiosity and concern also urged him to do anything possible to find out what had happened to his boy.
“That would be acceptable,” Severus said, going to levitate the chair.
Fred appeared out of nowhere at his side.
“Harry Potter is being here right away, sir,” the elf informed Snape, sounding quite put out about it. “Should Fred close the front drapes?”
Severus sighed. “No, let him in.”
Fred grumbled, but went to do as he was asked.
Remus ran his hands over his face. “I’m sorry, Severus, Harry never did have much in the way of patience.”
Severus remained silent, standing and refilling both of their cups with coffee and setting out a third mug as well. If he couldn’t get rid of the brat, at least he could arrange things so that he could sit and drink one last cup in as much peace as possible.
Moments later Fred reappeared, followed by a slightly disheveled Harry Potter.
“Good morning,” Remus said, giving him a tired smile.
Harry walked straight up to Remus and looked him over carefully.
“Remus, how are you doing?” he asked immediately.
“I’m fine, Harry; tired, but no worse for wear.”
Harry didn’t look all that convinced and Snape couldn’t say that he blamed him. To put it bluntly, Remus looked like shit and was probably too tired to try and act his way out of it. Knowing how that felt more acutely than he’d like to admit, he’d been giving Remus some space to just be – a luxury he doubted Potter would be extending. The potion he’d given Remus would work, but it would need time before the other man would begin to feel its effects.
“Uh-huh,” Harry deadpanned, disbelief clear in his tone. “What are you even doing up right now, shouldn’t you be resting? Your bags are so bad you almost look like you have two black eyes.”
“I was starving, Severus brought me down here and made me something to eat,” Remus informed him. If he was offended by Harry’s description of him, he gave no indication.
Harry’s head swiveled around to look at Snape as if he had only just discovered he was there.
Severus grunted a greeting, moving his foot under the table so that it would butt against the legs of the free chair, pushing it out and away from the table. He nodded to the third cup.
“You don’t look so hot yourself, Potter, have some coffee,” he said, sneering only mildly. “Though I think you’ll find it won’t replace the use of a comb.”
Harry ran his hand over his messy hair self-consciously before stopping and giving Snape a dirty look.
“You’re really one to talk about anyone’s hair, Snape,” he snapped, moving around the table and taking a seat despite his angry tone. He picked up his mug, sniffing it twice before taking a long drink.
Severus rolled his eyes. “Honestly Potter, you think there aren’t a hundred different ways I could poison you that you couldn’t even begin to imagine how to detect?”
Harry shrugged, opening his mouth to respond. He froze and looked around the room.
“Where’s Teddy?” he asked instead of whatever retort he’d been planning.
“Teddy’s still asleep,” Remus said, “he had a tough night.”
“I thought he was taking that potion?” Harry’s eyes widened. “Did something go wrong? What happened? You have to let me see him, Snape.” The plea, if that’s what it was, came out more like a command.
Snape had to keep his frustration in check. That was so like Potter, to keep asking questions without stopping to hear any of the answers.
“He’s upstairs, sleeping. There were some… complications, with last night’s transformation. However it was nothing we were unable to handle.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “I’m going to need for you to define ‘complications’ for me, Snape,” he said dangerously.
“I’m sorry Potter, was I using large words? A ‘complication’ makes something more difficult to understand, to explain or to deal with. For example, I was enjoying a simple cup of coffee this morning, before you came over to complicate things,” Severus sneered, actually quite enjoying himself.
The hand that wasn’t wrapped around the mug Harry was holding turned into a fist.
“Don’t give me that shite. Take me to see my godson,” Harry said in what he probably thought was a controlled voice.
“Why don’t you just blast a hole through my ceiling? I’m sure if you did that you could see him from here,” Snape quipped. He felt no inclination to parade harry Potter through his house – into his room, no less. Not bloody likely.
“Oh sod it all,” Harry said under his breath. “One thing I could never figure out about you: is it that pole up your arse that makes you so nasty or are you just trying to match your personality to your face? If you have nothing to hide, just take me to him so I can see for myself that he’s alright.” Harry put his cup to his lips, obviously satisfied with his jibe.
“Oh I don’t know,” Snape mused, his face taking on a thoughtful expression, “a pole up my arse once in a while just might make me more agreeable.”
Remus’ eyes bugged out of his head. Harry spluttered and nearly choked on the coffee he’d been drinking.
Severus reclined, feeling like he’d scored a definite point there. He was being belligerent just for the sake of it, and it felt good. Plus he liked to get a rise out of Potter, it was somewhat of a hobby of his.
Lupin recovered first, chuckling outright and shaking his head in disbelief.
“Merlin,” Harry exclaimed loudly, “that is not an image I need. Insult me, berate me, anything – but whatever that was… well, I can’t handle that.”
Stupid boy, Severus thought. As if he would stop now that he knew how much it got under the brat’s skin.
“It was a joke, Harry,” Remus offered, still smiling in disbelief.
“Oh is that what that was?” Harry asked sarcastically. “And here I thought it was just a diversion tactic so I would feel obligated to Obliviate myself and therefore stop trying to see my godson.”
“Foiled again,” Severus drawled, noting that Remus’ smile just broadened itself across his face. He continued more seriously, “I’ll not have you traipsing through my house and disturbing a tired child just to satisfy your insatiable sense of curiosity.”
Harry tried to collect himself, but it was obvious that Snape was getting to him.
“All I am asking is to peek in on him and see with my own eyes that he is on one piece. Please,” Harry said evenly, though the calm was obviously faked.
“Asking, are you? We’ll that’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Snape said in a light tone. It was his way of protesting Potter’s demanding attitude as peacefully as possible.
Harry’s clenched fist squeezed tighter. Snape speculated that it wouldn’t take much pressure to really showcase the blue vein pulsing along the back of his hand. Potter groaned and relaxed his grip, splaying his hand flat on the tabletop.
“Snape, I know that I keep leading with the wrong foot, or whatever, but all I want is for Remus and my godson to be safe, and to be able to see it with my own eyes. Is that so much to ask?”
“Potter you lead with the wrong leg, possibly the wrong side of your entire body…” Snape muttered, draining his cup.
“Please, Severus, what could the harm be? One quarter of his requests haven’t been confrontational and he’s almost apologized once for the other three – even I’d say that’s pretty good for a Potter.”
Severus looked up at Remus and saw first the honest grin that was on his face and second, but almost more importantly, the sincerity there. He wondered if Remus knew the difficulty he’d have refusing one of his requests, but greatly doubted it. He let out a sigh that felt like it came from the bottom of his soul, but he may have just been being melodramatic about the whole thing.
“If you promise not to disturb him,” Snape said slowly, “I suppose that you could be taken to see him.”
Harry perked up, his face hopelessly open. Severus wondered how his career was going, because if he were half so easy to read in an interrogation as he was now, even the most dunderheaded of suspects could play him like a fiddle. He assumed that some people might find such a trait to be endearing, but he was not to be counted among them.
“Of course I won’t disturb him,” Harry exclaimed.
What with the look on the young man’s face as he made his proclamation, Severus wondered if he were affronted, indignant, or possibly a combination of the two?
“Well, one never can know what any Gryffindor, let alone the Great Harry Potter will do,” Severus drawled. He stood, though he was reluctant to take the brat upstairs. “Follow me then, if you must.”
Remus made a movement that indicated he was about to speak, but before he could do so Severus levitated his chair, indicating that he would be coming as well. He gave Lupin a moment to say whatever it was he was that was on his mind, but when the legs of his chair left the floor, his mouth shut and Snape figured that the movement of his chair was answer enough of an answer.
“Coming, Potter?” he asked.
Harry stood, his chair scraping gracelessly away with the pressure of the back of his legs as he stood.
Severus didn’t wait for a verbal response, knowing that whatever came would be mostly sass, regardless. He levitated Remus between them so that Harry was forced to take up the rear, keeping up a slothful pace as he went up the stairs and down the short measure of hallway that would lead them to his rooms.
He pushed the door all the way open, walking soundlessly into the room. Remus was brought magically in behind him and he set his chair down by his side. Harry clomped in behind them, sounding to Snape like every last part of his body and clothing was clamoring with sound. Again, he wondered how Harry had ever gotten his Auror’s Certification if he was unable to sneak into a room by walking through an open doorway.
“There,” he indicated Teddy’s sleeping form, a small lump of blankets that rose and fell in time along with the boy’s breathing, “sleeping, as you were told.”
Harry walked around them and up to the side of the bed, taking in the room as he went. Something must have struck him as being wrong, because he looked down at his godson for only a moment before coming back over to stand near Snape.
“This is your room; does he usually sleep in here?” Harry’s face took on an expression of disgust. “Do you make both of them sleep in here?” His voice picked up volume on his last question, rising out of anger as well as outrage.
“Please keep your voice down, Harry, Teddy has a room across the hall; I sleep in here,” Remus explained, his tone placating, as if begging Harry not to pursue this point.
Harry’s face twitched. “Since I’m up here, I’d like to see it, Snape. Surely that isn’t too much of a problem for you.”
There was a definite movement from the bed. Teddy’s sandy head poked itself out distinctly from the depth of the blankets.
Everyone in the room stilled.
A deep breath somewhere between a yawn and a sniffle was heard.
“Sir?” Teddy’s shaky voice eventually came.
Snape mentally cursed, making hand signals to Potter that indicated he would be quiet or he would personally wring the young man’s neck. He knew that bringing Potter up here was a bad idea; Teddy needed all of the rest he was able to get. All the same, he was reluctant not to attend to the boy. Fear and disorientation couldn’t be far from Teddy’s mind, and he wouldn’t let anything get between himself and making those things disappear as quickly as possible, even if it was letting his old student see a side of him he could have died keeping private from the likes of James Potter’s spawn.
“I’m right here, Teddy,” his voice was heard saying with confidence to the otherwise quiet room.
He strode past the other two immobilized men and went to the far side of the bed, sitting on the small square of free space beside the boy.
“Sir!” Teddy said, his relief apparent. “I’m glad you’re here, I dreamt that people were yelling! I dreamt that…” Teddy’s face screwed itself up as he tried to remember his dreams. His whole body shuddered. “I dreamt that…” Teddy paused and took a series of deep, erratic breaths.
Severus put his hand on Teddy’s, the one that was on the outside of the blankets, and waited. When it became obvious that Teddy wouldn’t, or couldn’t continue, he said, “Breath evenly, nothing, either imagined or remembered can hurt you now.”
“You won’t let the wolf get me?” Teddy asked.
“What wolf, Teddy?” Severus inquired, his hand moving to the boy’s forearm.
“The one from my dream, the one that walked right out of my shadow! He circled me and nipped at my heels, snarling like he wanted to rip my throat out!” Teddy’s voice grew out of panic and fear. “He finally walked away, but I saw his yellow eyes looking at me in the dark as he went! I don’t want him to come back,” Teddy wept, his voice the epitome of grief and terror. “Please don’t let him come back for me, sir!”
Knowing that the boy was prone to nightmares, if not night terrors, Severus was not all too excited about the topic of Teddy’s dream. After the trauma of the full moon, the boy’s mind would have to find a way to cope with the actuality of the change and what was happening to him. Teddy’s mind provided these dreams instead of contemplating reality, another thing that he found to be surprisingly normal, circumstances considered. These fears, however, would not be taken lightly or dismissed, and he had no intention of doing either.
“Oh child,” Severus said, reaching in and smoothing the hair from Teddy’s forehead, wiping away his tears, “you are safe here. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and neither would your dragon. Where is he?” he asked, digging around in the blankets until he found the toy, which he tucked in at the boy’s side. “There he is; you keep him close, I read that Spinescales are fiercely protective of those who are dear to them.”
Teddy nodded seriously, putting an arm around his toy.
Snape conjured a glass of water and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, handing it to Teddy, who knew by now what to do with it. When the boy was done blowing his nose, he helped him to sit up and have a few sips of water, setting the glass aside on the nightstand.
“Do you want me to get up now, sir?” Teddy asked with a yawn.
“No,” Severus replied, “not unless you have to use the loo or would like something to eat.”
“No thank you, sir. I’m still tired and my tummy feels funny.”
Snape turned to look at the clock. “You need more rest for that potion to do its job. Do you think that you could sleep again?”
“Yes, sir,” Teddy’s tired reply was heard.
“I’ll come up and check on you in a bit to make sure you’re okay,” Severus offered. “How does that sound?”
“That sounds great, sir; I think I’ll go to sleep more easily knowing that. Thank you, for everything.” Teddy suddenly sat up, his arms wrapping themselves as far around Snape as they could reach.
“You’re welcome, child,” Snape said in return, an arm embracing Teddy’s shoulders briefly before pulling them apart. “Sleep now,” he said sternly.
Teddy lay back down, giggling at Snape’s tone of voice.
Severus stayed while he got comfortable again, straightening his blankets before standing and turning back to the door, almost surprised to find Remus and Potter still waiting there wordlessly. Harry had the oddest expression on his face and was strangely quiet, even when they were out in the hallway.
Instead of going back downstairs, Snape led them across the hall, opening the door to Teddy’s room and walking in. The last thing they needed around here was more commotion, and it seemed that was what Potter was determined to cause if he didn’t get his way.
Once he was far enough in that Remus’ chair and Potter would be able to enter as well, he turned back to face them, hands on his hips, waiting for whatever it was that Potter was going to have a problem with.
Harry looked around the bedroom like he’d never been in one before.
“This is Teddy’s room?” Harry asked.
Severus wasn’t positive how to read his tone of voice.
“It used to be a reading room; all of the bookshelves that are now in my chambers were once in here.”
“You cleaned it out for him?” Remus asked. “Perhaps it was silly of me, but I’d assumed that this room was always like this.”
Snape shrugged. “There were other rooms that I could have set him up in, but they are nowhere near as close to the stairs, the loo or my chambers. When I agreed to take you both in, I had no idea what state either of you would be in upon arrival…” here he was, going to explain himself in front of Potter. He looked at Harry with a scowl, “Are you satisfied?”
Harry looked around once more, taking everything in before turning back to Severus. “Yes,” was all he said.
Snape nodded once, feeling like throwing his hands up and rejoicing. It seemed that for the first time ever, Potter didn’t have something to say. If only he could figure out how he’d done it and transpose it into an equation to be applied to all circumstances!
He motioned for Potter to leave the room, since he was the one closest to the door. Harry turned and went down the hall. When they were back down in the kitchen they found Fred, looking none too impressed, standing by the table with one toe tapping and both his arms crossed over his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Snape asked, setting Remus back at the table and indicating that Potter should take his seat.
“Has Fred ever told sir that it was being much more peaceful around here before sir started having all of this company?” the elf asked irately.
“You haven’t mentioned it so far, no,” Snape said, preparing himself for some sort of lecture.
“Well then Fred is telling sir now. There is being another guest waiting to come onto the property,” Fred informed him, making no attempt to hide his lack of enthusiasm at the idea.
Snape glanced at Harry. “If Potter’s here, who’s out there?”
“Ministry, again.”
Snape swore softly to himself. “What could those bastards want now? No offence, Potter.”
“Fred is not knowing. Is sir wishing to speak to him or should Fred be telling him to bugger off?” Fred made it very clear which of these two options would be preferable to him.
“Let him in,” Snape said with a heavy sigh. “Potter, I think it is for the best that you and Remus continue whatever discussion you came to have in the other room.”
Harry glanced between Remus and Snape.
“Why? What’s this all about? Remus, you look positively grey,” Harry said, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Perhaps it is best if you fill him in on what happened last time we had a Ministry approved visit,” Severus sneered. “Besides, I’d rather keep you out of this if at all possible –whatever this is.”
“You want me to tell him… everything?” Remus asked. Harry was an Auror after all, and the way Snape had gotten rid of that Inspector definitely counted as breaking the law, never mind whatever agreement he had with the Ministry.
“I leave it up to your discretion, Remus. Tell him what you feel is relevant –I was going to do it myself but it seems I may be fighting round two with them, instead.”
Snape stood and levitated Remus’ chair into the living room. Harry followed, probably thinking that it was his best chance to figure out what was going on.
Remus’ eyebrows rose at Severus’ phrasing of his answer. He couldn’t help but worry – what if someone had discovered what Snape had done to Inspector Harforth? What if it was the man himself, back for what he had been promised?
Severus must have gleaned his thoughts from the expression on his face, because he paused and said, “I will take care of it.” And with that he exited back into the kitchen, not saying another word to Harry.

Back in the kitchen, Snape didn’t sit down. Instead, he paced idly, waiting for Fred to bring their ‘guest’ to meet him. He didn’t have to wait long.
The elf came in the back entrance, followed closely by a witch in her early thirties. She was gripping the same style of clipboard as the other Inspector had brought with him and her light brown hair was pulled back in a tight braid that ran down the middle of her back. If she had smiled, she may have been considered ‘pretty’, but Severus had never been a good judge of such things. As it was, her lips were curled in disapproval and her eyes contained little warmth as she stared levelly at him.
“Mister Snape,” she said in way of greeting, holding out her hand and stepping around Fred like he was no longer there now that she didn’t need him.
“Miss-?” he asked, accepting her handshake, which was unusually firm for a lady of her age.
“Inspector Bancroft,” she both informed and corrected him at the same time, releasing his hand after three confident shakes.
“And how can I help you today, Inspector Bancroft?” Snape asked casually. There didn’t seem to be another two to four Magical Law Enforcement Officers behind her, so Snape assumed his secret had so far remained secret.
“Well you can start by answering your mail, for one,” she said crossly. “The Ministry has sent you two letters and a warning over the last couple of days. You have replied to none of them.”
“I have received no post, Inspector. Surely your colleague, who was only here days ago himself, will inform you that I am compliant with regulation and eager to remain so.”
“Yes, yes, all your papers are in order, stop fishing,” she sneered, obviously unfamiliar with who she was dealing with if she thought that lukewarm downturn of her lip would have any impact. “One of your items has been randomly selected by the Ministry to participate in a sort of hands on survey, if you will. It requires that item to be present at the Ministry at the scheduled time. We like to do these things as close to the full moon as possible for many reasons, which is why we were trying so desperately to contact you."
Severus wondered if she could hear his teeth grinding.
“I find it very interesting, Inspector, that when the Ministry contacted me to inform me of this, as well as when they abruptly changed the time of my bonding, that the post was lost or delayed in both instances. However when you wanted to collect payment for my Owner’s License there was not a problem with the owl finding my property and doing so in a timely fashion.”
“Well if that is the sort of thing that interests you, Mister Snape, you would be riveted by my daily working life. I find this to be rather straightforward; the ministry has selected one of your animals to come down to submit their information and I now have the unhappy misfortune of having to come all the way down here to tell you that in person. Is there a reason you don’t have a floo hooked up like the rest of decent society?”
“You make the assumption I am to be counted among the ‘decent’ of society, Inspector, I’m thrilled,” Snape said mockingly. He cleared his throat. “Which of them have you ‘randomly selected’?”
“4629.”
Teddy. “What happens if I am unable or unwilling to comply with this survey?” He was having a definite sense of déjà vu, worry was beginning to catch up with him.
“Oh I’m sorry, did I imply that it was optional in any way?” she asked in a saccharine voice. “You will bring the selected item to the address on this card, at the time indicated,” she told him, unclipping a business card from her board and thrusting it out in his direction.
Snape accepted the card, scanning it quickly. “That is in two hours,” he said flatly. “It was impossible to send a representative out at an earlier time?”
“You weren’t my first appointment of the day and I arrived as punctually as I was able. We make it policy not to send Inspectors out on the day before the full moon, safety reasons, you understand,” she told him.
“I understand that for people who are allowed to regulate everything about how lycanthropes live, you seem surprisingly ignorant about them,” Severus snapped, his anger getting the best of him. Unless they were sending Inspectors out in the dead of night, he didn’t see how their safety would be compromised in the slightest. One deep breath and then another, begin the process of clearing your mind, you will not help anyone this way.
“Is there no way to postpone it, not even until tomorrow? My post never arrived after all, so I had no way of knowing anything about this. I was under the impression that twenty four hours is to be given before such visits can be demanded.”
The witch’s face became pinched and she glanced over her clipboard again.
“You ‘war heroes’,” she said, making a sour face and tapping the place on the paper that Snape assumed informed her of that fact, “you all think you’re above everyone else. Well I’m not buying into it. Only one person killed He Who Will Not Be Named, twice even, and the rest of you just waltz around like you had anything to do with it. I don’t care what you think you did during the war, your appointment is at the Ministry in two hours and nothing short of Harry Potter himself is going to get me to change my mind, so I suggest you get the little beast ready.” She handed him an envelope as well, which he took.
Severus couldn’t help it; a sly grin broke across his features.
“Nothing short of Harry Potter you say? My, my, how will I ever manage to facilitate that?” Severus pretended to muse, not even believing his luck. He knew that Potter and Remus could hear what was happening in here. He waited a moment and Potter didn’t disappoint.
“I could have sworn I heard my name in here,” Harry said innocently, poking his head through the door.
Inspector Bancroft’s face was the mirror of surprise. “Auror Potter!” she exclaimed, a hand quivering to her chest.
Harry’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Is everything alright in here?” he asked the room.
If Snape hadn’t already known Potter to be proficient in the art of deception (having been lied to by him for enough years himself) he would have believed his confusion.
“The Inspector and I were just discussing due process, weren’t we, Inspector?” Snape asked with blatantly feigned innocence.
“I-we…” Bancroft struggled with speech for a moment. “I had no idea that my visit was overlapping another Ministry appointment, Auror Potter. Please forgive me for my intrusion…”
Harry, looking completely relaxed, walked into the kitchen and leaned against one of the cupboards.
“Oh, I’m not here on Ministry business, Inspector,” Harry said pleasantly. “I’m here to visit my old friend and godson.”
Bancroft looked at Snape with an expression of disbelief.
“Mister Snape here is an old friend of yours?” she asked incredulously.
“Not exactly. Remus Lupin, however, is.” Harry’s smiling expression became a few degrees harder, his expression cooler.
“Remus Lup…” she began, looking down to her clipboard and then back up again. “Oh my.”
“I would be so horribly disappointed if my visit today was cut short. That wouldn’t be what all this is about is it?”
“Inspector Bancroft here was just explaining how inconvenient it would be to reschedule Teddy’s appointment,” Severus said with artificial sorrow, perking up as he added, “though she seemed to think that you would have more authority than her on the matter.”
“You didn’t mention he had an appointment, Snape,” Harry scolded, shaking his head at Severus. “And I don’t see how an Auror could have any real impact on WIBNA’s scheduling, our departments aren’t directly affiliated.”
Snape fought the urge to laugh in glee, making a big deal of shrugging his shoulders, palms to the sky. “I was just informed of it myself. I’m not trying to imply anything; I’m just repeating what our esteemed Inspector was telling me.”
“Oh good, you must have misunderstood then,” Harry sighed, “because that means he couldn’t possibly be required to go down to the Ministry until tomorrow – anything else would be quite illegal, unless he’s broken the law; if that is the kind of MLE recommendation you were looking for.” Harry turned to the Inspector. “My godson hasn’t broken any laws, has he Inspector?”
Bancroft looked decidedly nervous. “No, Auror Potter, no he has not; thank you for clearing this matter up for us.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Harry said. “So I fail to see what the problem is here,” he stated, looking levelly at the witch with an expression that dared her to say anything he didn’t want to hear.
“Who said there was a problem?” Bancroft laughed apprehensively. “I was just about to tell Mister Snape here that 4629 could come in tomorrow instead, because of the mix up with the post; same time that is on the card, Mister Snape. You’ve just confirmed what I already knew to be procedure, Auror Potter; thank you all for your time today!” she squeaked. “I’ll just be letting myself out now.”
She took a step backwards and almost tripped over Fred, who hadn’t moved the entire time they’d been speaking.
“Fred will be showing you out,” the elf said in a tone that brooked little argument.
“Thank you Fred,” Snape said.
“It is being Fred’s pleasure,” the elf said bitterly, leading the way out the back door.
“The Ministry really loves to mess with you, eh?” Harry asked.
“They always have,” Snape muttered.
“What was that all about, what appointment?”
“I wasn’t lying when I said that this was the first that I’d heard of it,” Severus snapped, irate with the entire situation. He tore the envelope open viciously, scanning the words there as he continued, “Something about a ‘survey’, though by the way she said it I imagine they will have Teddy doing more than filling out a questionnaire.“
“Teddy? What the hell do they want with-“
“Hello you two,” Remus called from the other room. “Someone want to come and tell me what is going on?”
Snape and Harry looked sheepishly at each other, dropping their present conversation and moving to continue it in the living room with Remus.
Remus was sitting there with his palms in the air in question.
“I think I heard all of that, but I’m afraid it doesn’t make much sense to me.” He smirked. “Though I shudder to think what would happen if you both teamed up and used your powers for good.”
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Severus asked peevishly.
“Yeah,” Harry agreed, crossing his arms.
“I just thinking that you two would make a very formidable team, if you put your minds to it,” Remus said, an affectionate look clear on his face. His expression hardened. “Now, what is this about my son?”
“Teddy has apparently been selected ‘at random’ to participate in a… survey, for lack of a better word, the details and parameters of which are vague at best. Mr. Potter has helped to buy us some time, but I am led to believe that participation in this is… less than voluntary.”
Harry shot Snape such a look that implied he would have elbowed him in the side if he were standing close enough.
“What Snape is trying to say is…” he said, attempting to soften the blow of the information they had.
“Severus is just telling me the facts as they are known to him, Harry. I’m old enough that I don’t need you to sugar coat this for me, though I do appreciate the effort.”
Harry’s face flushed. Snape just rolled his eyes; Gryffindors.
“You won’t let them keep him?” Remus asked, eyes boring right into Snape.
“Not for all the gold in Gringotts,” Severus answered fervently. Though it may well take a handsome sum from his vault to walk out of there with a werewolf without a bite mark, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. No manipulation was too great to bring Teddy home.
“There’s no way we could refuse?” Remus confirmed, though he had heard as much from the other room when Severus had asked the Inspector.
Severus shook his head. “We have no bargaining chips, not presently anyway. Right now they have the upper hand and it is all we can do to go along with their requests, within reason.”
“And when their requests become unreasonable?” Harry asked pointedly.
“Then we deal with them in kind,” Snape responded frostily.
“I figured as much,” Harry sighed. “What did you do to that Inspector?”
“You didn’t tell him?” Snape turned to Remus.
Remus looked briefly uncomfortable. “I told him some of it – that he tried to coerce you to do something you didn’t want to do and that you dealt with it in the only manner that you had available to you at the time.”
Snape raised an eyebrow. “That is rather vague, don’t you think?”
“That’s what I said,” Harry frowned, probably at the absurdity of having to agree with Snape.
Remus brow furrowed. “You told me to use my best judgment, and I didn’t think it was wise to tell any Auror, even if he is my very dear friend, information that may put what we have here at risk.”
Harry groaned. “Now you have to tell me.”
Severus thought through what Remus had just said, filing his choice of words away for careful consideration at another point in time. Lupin almost made it sound like he would wish to preserve their way of life, like he would be sorry if it were suddenly lost to him.
“Well, Potter, you can drag me away in irons if you have to, I’ll feel no remorse for what I’ve done,” Severus told him.
“Oh Merlin, my department isn’t going to get an urgent message from WIBNA saying that one of their Inspectors has been dead for days and his corpse has been Charmed to walk around and preform basic tasks or some other such rubbish am I?”
“Absolutely not. I would never bungle a Reanimation spell so badly,” Snape smiled thinly. “Anthony Harforth, and I think you may want to remember that name, thought it prudent to remove Teddy my care and deliver him to the tender mercies of the Ministry.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “What branch of the Ministry? Why?”
“They’ve been told to report anything strange, and apparently he thought a werewolf without an infection site counted as fairly unusual. We weren’t informed where they would be taking him, only that if he wasn’t returned ‘in one piece’ I would have my choice of comparable slaves at the next auction.”
Harry looked a little green. “He said that to you? I don’t know of any protocol that would allow for that. What happened then?”
“Then, when it became clear that I was very displeased with that option, he told me that he could make everything go away …for the right price, of course.”
“How much did he want?” Harry’s eyes narrowed.
“He wasn’t interested in gold, he wanted Remus,” Severus said bluntly.
“What do you mean ‘he wanted Remus’?” Harry blurted.
Snape just continued to give him a level stare and raised one eyebrow.
Harry spluttered, “What?” His arms crossed defensively over his chest. “You can’t be serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t. From how well he meandered through the entire proposition, I gather this wasn’t his first time doing it either.”
Harry ran a hand through his hair, which smoothed out for about the time it took for his fingers to leave his scalp before falling back to its normal state of chaos.
“Shite. Obviously you didn’t agree,” Harry said, the statement more a question than a declaration of faith.
“Obviously,” Severus sneered.
“Well come on then, how did you resolve the situation? For all your complaints of vagueness you certainly aren’t being very clear yourself,” Harry sniped.
“I took him to the basement under pretense of compliance with his terms, telling him I had something to sweeten the deal. When I had him alone down there, I entered his mind and altered his memories of the afternoon,” Severus said plainly.
Harry splayed one hand over as much of his face as he could and muttered, “Of course you did.”
“What would you rather I’d done?”
Harry peeked at Snape and Remus through his fingers. He let out a large exhale and brought his hand down.
“I don’t know,” Potter said honestly. “That’s all you did while you were in there, right?” he asked.
“In his mind? Unfortunately,” Snape sighed wistfully.
Remus was looking contritely at his hands as if he were somehow to blame for all of this. Harry and Severus were having what counted between the two of them as a polite conversation though, that had to count for something. He was silently praying that Harry wouldn’t say something about his vow to the Aurors and how he was now obligated to turn Snape over to the Ministry. He’d jump right out of his chair and beg at the boy’s feet before allowing that.
“So what’s your game, Potter? You have the information, the answer you asked for, now what are you going to do with it?” Snape asked.
“Nothing,” Harry said. “It’s more restraint than I think I would have shown myself.”
Snape nodded once, his only response.
“What I’m about to tell you is confidential, but I feel that I can trust two Order members,” Harry said suddenly.
“Oh, I’m trustworthy all of a sudden, am I?” Snape broke in sarcastically.
“You went out on a limb for Remus and my godson and then told me about it like some kind of a lunatic,” Harry started. “…Actually, don’t make me look at this too closely,” he ended, laughing nervously to himself. Then his demeanor became sterner.
“We’ve known that WIBNA has some major corruption for a while now, but to what extent, we’re not sure yet. Maybe the entire organization is rotten through; it wouldn’t surprise me, seeing what they’re capable of doing out in the open. It’s currently under investigation, but our hands are tied unless people start talking. They’re afraid; no one seems to speak out about them or their actions for long before clamming up. No one is saying anything to us or to any of the papers willing to write something real over the Ministry garbage the Prophet is spouting, as always.”
“You believe people are being threatened in some way?” Remus suggested.
“I know it,” Harry spat, emerald eyes blazing behind his glasses. “But surprise, surprise, no one wants to talk about that either. They have too much money for any one person to go up against them in court, not with the sheer number of bribes we’ve known them to have already distributed. We just can’t bloody prove anything, or not enough to actually accuse them with. There’s only a handful of us trustworthy enough to even pursue this, it could take years of investigation, time we just don’t have and-” Harry deflated. “And it feels futile.”
“Futile, Potter?” Snape asked, an interesting look on his face that Remus couldn’t quite place. “Isn’t futile sort of a specialty of yours?”
Harry didn’t look like he knew whether to be insulted or not. Lupin wondered which was more appropriate for a moment himself.
“What do you mean?” Potter asked suspiciously.
“I mean that if you can help expose these bastards, you’d be beating insurmountable odds, likely at great risk to yourself and everyone else involved, while bringing down a prejudiced and bigoted superpower in order to liberate an entire group of people. It almost sounds as if you’ve done this before,” Snape pretended to muse out loud, sarcasm dripping from his every syllable.
Harry’s eyes bulged out of his head briefly before he started laughing. He laughed like he might not ever stop, having to take his glasses off and wipe tears from his eyes while he doubled over.
Severus wondered if he’d just broken Harry Potter. But after a moment he got it together, straightening out and replacing his spectacles.
“I think you’ve just given me my first compliment, and you still managed to sound like an arsehole,” Harry finished, still chuckling.
Snape just rolled his eyes.
Remus wasn’t certain he believed what he was seeing. Severus and Harry appeared to be getting along. He was sure, somewhere in Hell Lucifer was putting on a woolen sweater to ward off the chill. He was also positive it was tentative at best, but even witnessing it for a second was like laying eyes on some rare and imaginary animal for the first time and being afraid to make any sudden movements, least it scurry away never to be seen again.
“Well, that last time there was an entire Order of people to help me, never mind a Prophesy,” Harry argued.
Snape made a scoffing noise. “You think that Order was always in place? It was forged out of necessity, Potter. You’ll have to make your own if you want one, because this time there’s no-” Albus, “there’s no one to do it for you.” He’d nearly choked on his words, and the fact that he’d almost said them aloud made him want to sit down suddenly. “You’re important enough on a political level that you should have people willing to back you, precluding the continued support of your many friends.”
Harry shook his head. “I’m doing what I can, I’m not the hero everyone makes me out to be, I never have been.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you for years, you foolish boy. Wars are rarely won by an individual soldier.”
“War, Snape?” Harry asked. “These are some strong words, words the entire Ministry, not just WIBNA would take offence to.”
“Let them be offended then. Lord knows I am, I didn’t endure what I did to achieve this kind of an end. What they’re doing isn’t any different than what Riddle was trying to achieve, only they’re being much more polite about it.”
Harry shrugged. “I’ll see what I can muster up at Auror HQ, but like I said, everyone is reluctant to speak out about WIBNA and the complete injustice of their laws and regulations. Someone is going to have to go first and let me tell you, there are no takers so far. Everyone has too much to lose, or else they’re being paid for their silence. I’ll see what I can do, the people I have on it will just have to redouble their efforts, and so will I. This can’t continue.”
Remus watched as Harry seemed to grow taller, his shoulders set squarely and resolutely. Was it possible that Severus had just mustered him for battle?
Snape nodded, folding his hands together and quirking his lips slightly. “For the first time in my life, I couldn’t agree with you more, Potter.”
Harry turned to Remus, reaching out to touch his shoulder, stopping mere inches away from it, seeing the other man stiffen up reflexively.
“Remus, I’m glad you’re okay. When Teddy wakes up, tell him I was here and that I love him, and give him this from me, would you?” Harry pulled out a rolled up book from a large pocket in his robe and handed it to Remus.
Lupin looked down at it, thumbing through the pages. It was a colouring book whose pictures were of all types of magical animals, with a special section just for dragons.
Remus looked up at Harry, and then questioningly over to Snape.
Severus endured the look for only a few seconds before asking irately, “What? After everything you think I would care about a colouring book?”
Remus just smiled at him and turned back to Potter. “Thank you, Harry, he’ll be ecstatic when he sees it, his other one is almost finished already.”
Harry had a perturbed look on his face at what he’d just witnessed, but he valiantly shook it off.
“I think I need to get going now, I was just heading back to work, and I think I now have several things more to do there than I had thought earlier.” There was a grim twist to his smile. He held his hand out to Severus again. “Snape,” he said formally.
“What is this continued Gryffindor need to touch all of the time?” he asked, taking Harry’s hand all the same.
“Would you rather I hugged you?” Harry asked, a look of revulsion on his face even as he suggested it.
“Absolutely not,” Snape spat, “my wards would refuse you reentry after such an assault.”
“I’ll take one,” Remus smiled.
Harry came closer and leaned in very gradually, putting first one and then the other arm around Remus and holding them there longer than perhaps necessary, laying his head on the lycanthrope’s shoulder.
Remus tried not to pull away from the contact, not to seem reluctant or afraid. This was Harry. Still, he found himself uncomfortable for the first few seconds, but when Harry didn’t retreat, he relaxed a little, extending both of his arms around the young man’s neck and holding on. They stayed like that for a while before Harry pulled back, sniffling a little. He looked over to where Severus had been, only to find the other man not in the room at all any longer.
“I love you, Harry,” he told him as freely as he would have told his own son. “You’ve grown up to be such a fine young man.”
Harry reddened and looked at his feet. “Thanks, Remus,” he said earnestly. “I’ll be back soon, and you can bet your arse I’m going to look into this Harforth character. If he’s as brazen as all that he shouldn’t be too hard to catch now that we know what we’re looking for.”
“Thank you Harry,” was all he said, with the most open smile he could gather.
“I’ll show myself out then. Tell Snape that I’ll be in my office all day tomorrow, so if they run into too much trouble I’ll see if there’s something I can do to help them. Tell him to floo me,” Harry said, waving and walking out of the house the way he’d come.
It took Severus mere moments before he was back in the living room.
“I went and washed up, you two looked like you could use a moment.”
He said it like it was nothing, turning to go back into the kitchen. Remus felt his chair rise off the floor. While Snape was still close enough, he reached out and grabbed part of his robes, tugging on them slightly.
Severus stopped and turned around, giving Remus his full attention.
“Thank you,” Remus said.
“For what?” Snape asked, annoyed.
“For encouraging Harry to try and stop this, if nothing else,” Remus said.
“Potter never did need encouragement to break the rules or go up against the odds, I’ve always thought,” Snape said wryly. “But I suppose everyone does need a little bit of motivation once in a while,” he added.
Remus wondered what the exact significance of those words were, what with the way Severus looked at him when they were spoken. They made him want to blush, and he immediately looked at his clasped hands to avoid having to continue meeting Snape’s glance.
He heard Severus make a slow exhale, not a sigh exactly, but more of an expression of letting something go.
“Remus,” he said seriously, moving one of the chairs closer and taking a seat next to the lycanthrope, looking at him intently. “I need to know something,” he informed him.
“Yes, sir?” Remus asked, responding merely to the firm tone. He stilled, tilting his head and reaching out to rest his hand lightly on Snape’s forearm. “What would you like to know, Severus?” he amended, throwing in a crooked smile for good measure and apology’s sake.
Snape touched the pads of his fingers briefly over Remus’ knuckles. For some reason the faint touch sent a small shiver through his entire body. His eyes came up to meet his master’s black orbs of their own volition.
“I need to know what you want to do,” Severus said, “if you want to stay here with me, or if you would like for me to arrange… other accommodations for you.”
He phrased it formally, because to say it any other way would have conveyed too much emotion. Too much emotion was involved as it was, in his opinion; it made things dangerous for everyone. But how to stop it? Would he, even had he the ability?
“I have not brought it up in some time, and I doubt that you are confident enough to breech the subject yourself. So I will do it for you. It was offered, and I have every intention of fulfilling my promise, whatever answer you give me.”
The thought of losing Teddy brought a vacuous hole to life right in the center of his heart. He barely dared to examine what losing Remus would mean for him. An emotion he found himself unable to clear from his mind overtook him and he was afraid to associate it with a name. Remus’ hand had been gripping his arm progressively tighter as he spoke, and now his grip was bordering on painful.
“You really have to ask me that, Severus?”
“I… Yes,” Snape replied lamely. “Yes, I do need to ask, and I would appreciate an answer.”
“Please, I’d like to stay with you Severus,” Remus said with all of his sincerity and almost no hesitation. He’d already decided some time ago. Severus’ face closed itself off, his shoulders squaring themselves as if he needed to brace himself for some impact.
Severus steeled himself. “We will find you another master that is able to be as good to, or better than I have been to you and your son, Remus. I guarantee that much, at least. Don’t deny this opportunity because you’re afraid you’ll go to another Walden Macnair.”
“I don’t doubt that whoever you chose to take charge of us would be more than a suitable master, but they wouldn’t be you, Severus,” Remus declared, finally loosening his grip on Snape’s arm.
“That would kind of be the point,” Snape said derisively.
“Then I want no part in it, sir, Severus, whatever you want me to call you to make you understand that I do, honestly, choose to stay here, with you.” Remus added that last part, just to reinforce it. It was reckless, but he needed Severus to understand, even just a little bit, what he was feeling.
“I think you need to rest,” Severus told him, seeming very weary. “And I believe we should go look in on your son, his dreams were disturbed earlier. We can speak of this again, another time.” It was an excuse to end this conversation before it became too real for him. He went to turn away.
“Really? I tell you I’d like to stay and you chalk it up to exhaustion and tell me we’ll talk about it later? Didn’t get the answer you wanted, or what?” Remus asked audaciously.
Severus stopped. That wasn’t it at all; he’d gotten exactly the answer he was looking for, that was why he was so untrusting of it.
Instead he said, “Your answer is too important, Remus, for me to suspect that it was not honestly given. Of course you can stay, if that is what you truly want.”
To make sure the conversation was done, he stood and levitated the chair again. He felt Remus tugging on his robes for a second time, asking that he turn around silently.
Severus stopped, letting the legs of the chair touch the floor gently one more time. He didn’t immediately turn back towards Lupin.
“Why can’t you accept what I’m saying?”
Severus was silent, debating his answer. Remus didn’t give him the chance to decide on one.
“Is it because you honestly don’t want us to stay?” he proposed. “Or because you do?”
Snape wasn’t facing him and Remus could only imagine the expression he wore. As it was all he could bear witness to was the slight slump of those angular shoulders, the way his master’s fists curled into loose fists at his sides.
He was insane for saying the things he was about to.
“I think that’s it, Severus. That you really, truly want us to stay, but I don’t think you’re very used to actually getting what you want out of life. And I think that is what makes you… reluctant to believe me when I say I would choose to stay with you, to keep my son here, with you.”
The words, ‘I didn’t think it was wise to tell any Auror, even if he is my very dear friend, information that may put what we have here at risk’, played themselves again inside Severus’ head. Could it be that Lupin meant what he said and wasn’t just trying to sooth or placate him, still thinking the offer a trap laid carefully for him?
“I think you’re mistaking lack of abuse for kindness, Remus. I don’t want you to make this decision out of haste, before your mind is completely healed. Having people around you like Potter and Granger, Minerva, if you’d wish to see her, will help put things into perspective for you over time.”
Remus was sure his jaw dropped open.
“There’s been a great deal more coming from you than ‘lack of abuse’, Severus. All I need to do is to watch my son play or work with you at that potions bench to know that. Me? I’m doing things that I never thought I would do again, like waking up and looking forward to my life, enjoying my body, letting someone get close to me. Please don’t make us leave!”
He didn’t care if it sounded like he was pleading. Severus’ face seemed to be made of stone the entire time he spoke. He wondered if this, this contradiction would cross some line for Severus. Remus was making some very emotional claims, trying to tell his master something about himself. Perhaps Snape would be right to be angry. He found himself eyeing Severus’ still clenched fists and wondered if they were tightened because of rage, or him trying to hold something else back from Remus, something he didn’t dare guess at right now.
Snape waved his hand, making the familiar motion of the levitation spell again.
Only his time Remus felt himself lifting off of the chair, which didn’t even budge as his body slowly straightened out of it. He found himself reminded of being brought out of the chair and across the floor similarly, with Inspector Harforth’s eyes on him as he went, and cringed. He continued to float in a standing position until he came to stand directly before Snape, still facing him, his toes just touching the ground. He thought briefly that he should be frightened, but found that he didn’t have it in him presently.
Severus looked at him for a moment as if trying to decide if he were really standing before him or if he was just an imagined image. He then closed the distance between them with a single step, so near and yet still not touching him one iota. Remus blinked back at him warily, unsure what to expect.
“Severus?” he asked, hoping Snape understood that his question intoned more than the few syllables sounded.
Snape moved one arm, placing it on Lupin’s hip, closing his fingers around it. He moved nearer yet, closing the gap that was between them, his arm sliding around the small of the lycanthrope’s back, looking down at Remus very gravely.
“I will never send you away,” he said, his voice soft but solemn, “not as long as you tell me that you wish to stay.”
Remus shivered in response to the intense glance and felt his knees weaken despite the fact that he wasn’t putting any weight on them. He looked up at Severus; it was almost as if they were standing before each other for the first time since his arrival here, though his levitation could hardly be considered standing.
He leant up and pressed a kiss to Severus’ lips.
Snape’s other arm instantly encircled him, the sweet pressure of his lips pressed back against Remus’ own. He didn’t care that it was all in his head, he knew that Snape was doing this out of some sense of obligation to Albus, the man had as much as said so himself. But what would it hurt if Remus just pretended, a little, that Severus did what he did because he cared for him? As long as he kept it to himself, nothing would change.
It was incredibly easy to do with Snape’s arms around him, their bodies pressed up against one another, their tongues tangled together. He moved one hand to Severus’ waist and the other to the back of his neck, arching into him as much as possible to let the other man know that he wanted this and wasn’t just taking it passively.
Remus wanted to stay. Severus would have devoured him right here on the living room floor if he hadn’t known that the other man was exhausted and needed to rest more than he needed to be shagged senseless. He allowed himself a few more moments of tasting that delicious mouth before he carefully broke them apart, stepping reluctantly back and moving Remus into his chair despite his sound of protest.
He levitated the chair and took both of them upstairs.
“Teddy’s in there, remember,” Remus said.
Severus smirked when he realized that Lupin thought he was taking him into his room to debauch him.
“I know, I wasn’t joking when I said you need to rest.”
He moved Remus over to the bed, looking down at a sleeping Teddy, who had sprawled out to cover almost the entire mattress despite his small size. He shuffled the boy over to one side of the bed and straightened the covers, pulling them back on the side of the bed that he usually slept on.
Remus raised an eyebrow. “You really expect me to sleep after that kiss?” he asked playfully.
“Yes,” Severus smiled despite himself.
“I am tired, though I feel less like less of a mess than I usually do the day after. That’s due to the potion you and Teddy brewed, isn’t it?”
“Mostly, yes; also, you’ve also slept and eaten properly for a while now. Your body is stronger than I believe it has been in some time.”
Severus transferred him to the bed, helping him to cover himself and get comfortable next to his son.
“The two of you should rest. I’ll wake you up near supper time.”
“Thank you, Severus, for everything.”
Snape nodded, looking down at the two of them for longer than was probably necessary before turning and striding purposefully from the room. He had some samples to begin analyzing.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, again! Hope this chapter didn’t disappoint. Harry and Snape interacting was crazy fun to write, as always; hope you enjoyed reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you thought, it makes all the time that goes into each chapter worthwhile! More to come, though I won’t say what, as I don’t want to ruin the surprise! Thank you so much for reading!
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The Long Road