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You Will Not Kiss Me	By : Prosperosdaughter Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Remus Views: 22836 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling & her associates own the Harry Potter universe and I make no money from my stories.

Chapter List
- 60
- 61
- 62
Chapter 61: Dark Tidings

They left the pack the following evening, having successfully taught a good half of the pack how to send messages with a Patronus. Snape had also suggested that Lupin send a Patronus to Idris to introduce any new recruit or pack if he was successful in sending them to him. Snape had no doubt that it wouldn't be long before Greyback heard of Lupin's recruitment plans and would be sure to try to infiltrate the pack. This would be their security measure against any of Greyback's affiliates.

Ever the spy, Lupin thought to Snape admiringly as he caught his eye.

oooOOOooo

Snape had decided that they would spend Christmas at the flat. He knew it would disappoint Lupin, who had taken a shine to Spinner's End in his own sentimental fashion that Snape found both endearing and incomprehensible in equal measure. The flat was safest. It was under the Fidelius – none but Dumbledore could visit them – no Black, no Death Eaters – no-one. That's just how Snape wanted it. He had barely had Lupin to himself for weeks on end, Lupin being either with the pack or at Grimmauld Place.

They had arrived at the flat and Lupin decided he was more pungent than fragrant after so long with the pack, and ran them a bath. Snape found a half full bottle of Firewhiskey and two glasses and placed those by the bed, turning the bed clothes down, ready for them, then followed Lupin into the bathroom, in keen anticipation of bathing them both clean and making love in complete privacy. Just thinking of it made his pulse race.

Lupin was already immersed in the deep bath when Snape entered the steamy room. Lupin crossed his arms on the side of the bath and leant his chin on them. "Severus. Undress slowly for me." His smile could really be quite wolfish, Snape thought with excitement as he stood to face Lupin and Lupin ran his fingers down the air, unbuttoning Snape's robe slowly. Snape peeled the two sides from his shoulders to let the robe drop on the floor, watching Lupin's face - Lupin's eyes that watched Snape's body constantly – watching for what he hadn't seen properly for weeks, as Snape took his shirt over his head to Lupin's audible sigh and then pulled his own trousers off, as slowly as he could without feeling foolish. Somehow, the admiring way Lupin looked at him made him feel anything but foolish. Naked now, and very aroused, he stood before Lupin who held out both hands to him to help him into the large bath tub. As Snape stood in the bath, Lupin got to his knees, stroking his hands up the sides of Snape's legs to hold his hips until Lupin rested his head against Snape's stomach, making his flesh tingle gorgeously.

"Oh Severus," he sighed. "I'm so pleased to be home with you." Lupin looked up into Snape's face, looking down on him and stroking his hair, and then feathered his stomach with kisses and nips, licking around his navel, making Snape feel weak at the knees, as he pulled Snape onto his knees to face him as they kissed gently, their hands tracing the other's back as they kissed more passionately and their dominant hands each found the other man's cock and grasped it and stroked sensuously but not too roughly as they kissed harder, pressing their bodies together, Snape's groin now on fire as his mind unfocused in heady desire as he started to press Lupin back into the scented bath, impatient to touch Lupin as he had not touched him for so many weeks.

CRASH!

"Not possible!" Snape hissed, as both men immediately came to their senses and disengaged and leapt out of the bath, snatching their wands from their clothes and, heedless of their nakedness, crouched as they crept noiselessly into their sitting room together each scanning the room opposite to the other, casting revealing enchantments, until they heard further rustling from the kitchen and each threw Stunning spells in the direction of the noise. There was a small thud as someone hit the tiled floor.

The men ran in to discover the intruder, and Lupin groaned as he reached the kitchen first, Snape bumping into Lupin as he stopped so suddenly.

Rennervate, Snape cast.

"Master Lupin and Professor Snape!" Tippy squealed, throwing her long bony hands to cover her eyes. Both men realised why she hid and jumped back out of the kitchen, as Snape Summoned their trousers and they both hurriedly donned them.

Who knew house elves blushed? Lupin thought at Snape, both men flushing uncomfortably dark red tones themselves.

"Tippy," soothed Lupin as he entered the kitchen again with his hand outstretched, "Tippy, it's okay. It's all right. We didn't expect to see you here. We're sorry we Stunned you."

"Why would her masters not expect Tippy?" Tippy looked through her fingers to check the view was safe and then uncovered her face slowly. "Tippy is her masters' house elf, Tippy's masters are home for their holiday together. Of course, Tippy would be here." She was now beginning to look affronted as got to her feet ungracefully, straightened her Hogwarts tunic and her bow.

"Why that's wonderful, Tippy," Lupin said. "We'll be … just … I ... " Lupin floundered suddenly and Snape smirked realising that Lupin was trying to find a way for the both of them to get back to the bathroom.

"Master Lupin and Professor Snape were bathing, yes," Tippy nodded her head, somewhat impatiently. "Tippy was going to start her masters' dinner so take no notice of Tippy. Tippy is sorry she knocked the table and disturbed her masters. Back to the bath." She made a shooing motion at them with both her hands, leaving both men flummoxed. "Shall Tippy re-heat the bath for her gentlemen?" she said brightly, when she realised they were still staring at her.

"No, no!" Lupin said rapidly. "We'll be fine." The men wandered back to the bathroom and Lupin closed the door. Before he had the opportunity to do so, the door locked. "Did you do that?" Snape shook his head, still stunned, with the vestiges of the heavy flush in his cheeks.

"Tippy?" Lupin whispered, his eyebrows raised as he started to chuckle. Snape shrugged and then felt himself start to laugh, and they both started to laugh harder, Snape thinking of them both of them leaping naked on the poor little house elf and how she hid her eyes.

"She said dinner ..." Snape suddenly realised. "It's hours until dinner." Lupin laughed even harder now.

"House elves are trained to be discreet. We're just not trained in having one around. I don't think our house elf believes we are monks, Severus," Lupin managed to say through his laughter as he started to pull down Snape's trousers.

And just as Snape closed his eyes with pleasure at Lupin's gentle touch on his chest and stomach, his eyes sprang open and he grasped Lupin's shoulder. "She won't punish herself, will she? For making a noise?"

Lupin looked surprised, and then smiled. "No, I ordered her never to punish herself when I gave her that ribbon. And you know she can't disobey our direct orders." He pressed his lips to Snape's chest once more. "Now, please, Severus." Lupin waved his wand over the bath to re-heat it. "I want to be clean … so I can be utterly filthy with you!"

oooOOOooo

Amazingly, they managed to bathe but not have sex although they kept getting so close, touching each other in all the ways that had been denied to them over the weeks. But each time it was Lupin that stopped them, much to Snape's mounting frustration. As soon as they were dry, Lupin grasped Snape's hand and led him to the bedroom.

Lupin got to the bed and shuffled into the centre and pulled Snape on top of him.

"I believe," he said softly, "someone was complaining of bruised manhood." He pulled Snape's head down to him to kiss him as he opened his legs under Snape's body and wrapped his legs around Snape, now so on fire that every small movement of Lupin's made Snape ache more profoundly as he returned the kiss, savouring Lupin's soft lips and enticing tongue, leaning his weight on his elbows as he ground his hips into Lupin's, rubbing their cocks together, making himself gasp.

His mind was heavy with thick desire, already painfully on the verge of orgasm since Lupin had taken them back to the bath. Every nerve jarred, screeching to take the welcoming man under him as he ground against his skin.

No, he didn't think he could take it slowly, no matter how hard he tried to contain himself, as his hand snaked under his own body, stroking Lupin's skin on his soft inner thigh and then between Lupin's legs, which moved up to wrap loosely around his waist at his first touch, as Lupin whispered encouragement into Snape's mouth.

"I've missed this so," Lupin murmured, and then gasped and arched his back sharply when Snape's fingers entered him gently then more urgently as Snape fought himself not to push himself into Lupin even though his whole body burned to. Lupin's breathing became more rapid, in time with Snape's questing fingers, groaning loudly as Snape stroked his prostate, and kissed and sucked Lupin's stretched neck until Lupin begged for Snape to take him as he pushed onto Snape's fingers.

He only needed to beg the once and Snape guided his too hard cock to replace his fingers. Snape had waited so long, been Lupin's mate for the pack – now he wanted to take Lupin so desperately – to feel his tight arse grip his cock and feel him writhing under Snape. He thrust straight into Lupin, who arched violently and cried out "Yes!" as Snape drew a deep breath to stop himself coming too quickly as the hot friction drew on him sharply and his cock and groin burned ever brighter, making him groan.

He sighed Lupin's name as he started to roll steadily into Lupin, who tightened his hold around Snape's waist with his legs, bracing his arms above his head to push himself towards Snape as Snape pushed himself into Lupin, creating such delicious friction as made both men groan with pleasure. Lupin angled himself slightly so Snape hit his prostate hard. Lupin cried out again, clenching on Snape hard, repeating it until it made Snape's head buzz as his hips snapped forward harder and he increased the speed, his body demanding more as the heated pleasure starting building inside uncontrollably as they both bucked erratically until Lupin came fiercely in Snape's grip and then Snape's orgasm exploded from him, ripping a hoarse cry from his throat. He couldn't bring his thrusting under control just yet and pushed out until his body gradually slowed of its own accord, his ecstasy ebbing and fading as he kissed Lupin's face, who moaned beautifully with each intermittent draining thrust until Snape was utterly spent, and he lowered himself onto Lupin's chest, his hands slipping behind Lupin's head to cradle it as Lupin dropped his own legs, wrapping his arms around Snape's waist instead.

Snape seemed to be able to do no more than sigh Lupin's name over and over again as he kissed him softly, all his pent up frustration expunged and his wounded pride salved.

"I love you too," Lupin murmured, with a tender smile.

They went separately to the Order meeting at Grimmauld Place, Lupin arriving first, and Snape arriving with Dumbledore half an hour later, as they had arranged with Dumbledore when he called the meeting.

The main business of the meeting was the attack on Arthur, but Dumbledore would not be drawn on his thoughts about Potter's dream. Snape thought this was a mistake. Speculation would now be rife amongst the Order members. Molly reported that Arthur was doing fairly well, although there was difficulty healing Nagini's bite. The family and Potter would visit again on Christmas Day. Dumbledore asked Lupin to escort the family and asked for one other volunteer. Moody volunteered.

Snape seethed that Dumbledore had done this to him once again. Just arranged for Lupin to do things, never once - not once - consulting or asking him. And Christmas Day! He looked up to Lupin swiftly.

I didn't know!

Snape knew Lupin didn't, but he saw the smirk on Black's face and wanted to wipe it off himself, but bit his tongue instead. He always seemed to have to bite his tongue lately.

At the end of the meeting after the various other reports, Lupin reported to acclaim his success with Idris's pack and told the tale as it had been pieced together. The others had left or retired for the night, leaving only Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and Black. The three were about to leave when Black stopped them.

"You know, I've been thinking about this Idris…" Black raised his wand and cast, "Accio Alphard's mementoes." The men at the table waited and eventually a slight whooshing noise was heard and an old and tatty cardboard shoe box flew into the kitchen and into Black's waiting hands. He brushed the lid with his hands and muttered an incantation. "My dear old mother undertook one of her demented purges of my uncle's things, but I managed to hide this shoebox of some of his things and I kept it under enchantment in my room." His hands shuffled through the oddments in the box and pulled out a stack of wizarding photographs. "I remembered when he told me about his school days, he always used to talk about this best friend he lost, this special friend who was so 'gifted'. At least now I know what 'lost' meant. Here ... here..." He looked at the back of the photo and then passed it to Lupin. "Never married, Uncle Alphard," Black commented. "Always wondered ..." Black's voice trailed off as he investigated the contents of the box, lost in his own reminiscences of his favourite uncle.

There they were. Two teenage boys, Snape guessed at fourteen, but probably fifteen. One Slytherin and one Hufflepuff, by the Black Lake, standing together with their arms around each others' shoulders, laughing. The Slytherin is almost identical to Sirius Black at that age: tall, aristocratic and handsome with black hair a proper wizarding length past his shoulders; the Hufflepuff is not quite so tall but broader, but his shaggy hair is jet black and his eyes are dark and merry, ruggedly good looking to Alf's aquiline handsome features. Alf turns as they laugh and plants a kiss on Idris's cheek. Idris grins, pleased at the kiss.

Snape and Lupin shared a look of understanding. At that age, when sexuality was still being explored, doubtless these boys had loved each other: Snape could see it in their eyes. Whether that would have become something more as they got older, no-one could ever say, but, Snape thought, it explained Alf's years of searching and Idris's interest in Lupin and himself; his forgiveness of their difference that he didn't quite understand; perhaps even his look of sadness at the doe.

oooOOOooo

"But he loved each of his mates, that was obvious," Snape said, pulling off his boots as Lupin poured the tea Tippy had brought to them.

"Doesn't stop him loving his female mates, because he loved another man once. Perhaps he likes both." Lupin shrugged. "Perhaps, when he was taken into the pack, there were no other men like him, so he ... well ... fitted in. Doesn't mean he couldn't find a mate. I told you – our urges are very strong – I can't see a werewolf being solitary if he stayed with a pack. It's too sexually charged. Sooner or later he would Claim a mate."

Snape nodded. "Could you ... would you ... I mean, have you ever ...?"

"Severus Snape!" Lupin laughed. "The master of the spoken word! Always so tongue-tied when it comes to sex." He threw himself onto the settee next to Snape and pulled him into an embrace. "Yes, I have had sex with women. It was quite enjoyable. But I have always preferred men," he said emphatically. "It's irrelevant now – now we're bonded." He nuzzled into Snape's neck. "You surely must have at least experimented?"

"A couple of times when I was much younger," Snape said quietly. It wasn't really a conversation he wanted to have and was sorry he'd asked the question. His two times with women had been disastrous and he'd absolutely hated it. He couldn't understand how a man married women three times if he was like Snape. Perhaps, he had been more fluid - like Lupin. Perhaps, Snape thought, each of those mates was a true friend, like Lily. The thought pulled him up. Would he have been different with Lily? He'd always wondered – one of his liaisons with the fairer sex had only been made tenable by fantasising it was Lily – although he'd felt desperately guilty afterwards. He was sure one couldn't change one's nature that way, but he'd always wondered if he could have subdued his nature to love Lily.

So much nonsense to even think on it, he thought to himself as Lupin placed a cup of tea before him, as he sat back down again and then wrapped his arms around Snape's waist and nestled his face in Snape's neck and hummed his contentment. Nothing could compare to this, Snape thought as he stroked the side of his face against the side of Lupin's - even just this made his heart sing.

oooOOOooo

Christmas Eve, when Snape had awoken to Lupin's gentle attentions that made him stretch like a cat with pleasure, he thought briefly that he could smell pine needles, but as that made no sense, he ignored it as he wrapped himself around Lupin and fell into a deep and passionate kiss until he was oblivious to everything but his husband, including the rustling noises of the elf busying herself in the sitting room with an eight foot Norwegian fir tree, as she trimmed it with Conjured tinsel, baubles and bows that sparkled red, gold and green amongst the warm golden pixie lights.

She lit the fire in the sitting room hearth, placing elfish charms on it for the faint aromas of cinnamon, chocolate and tangerines. She admired her work with her bony hands on her hips and then snapped her fingers and all presents wrapped and labelled for this house were transported to sit under the tree. She nodded with satisfaction and made her way back to the kitchen to start her masters' breakfast. They would be ready to eat soon, she thought.

oooOOOooo

Snape had to admit that he felt a frisson of pleasure when he saw the tree in the corner of their sitting room and Lupin break into a broad smile and go to look at it, rather than the breakfast already laid out for them. Snape saw Tippy watching from the kitchen door, thinking she wasn't seen, hoping her tree was successful. He joined Lupin looking at the tree and they sat down and looked at the presents under them.

He had no idea how Tippy had found them. There were his for Lupin, Lupin's for him, theirs for Tippy. There were the usual seasonal tokens from Minerva and Dumbledore for both of them. There was also one large gift, wrapped in Gryffindor colours. He turned over the present, clearly a set of books, and read the tag.

Harry,

Merry Christmas!

Sirius & Remus

He flinched as he read it. Why should he care? It's not as if he wanted to give the brat a present. But neither did he want his husband's name with Black's as if they were the couple. His face must have been a picture, because Lupin squeezed his shoulder.

"We needed to pool our resources," Lupin said, smiling gently. "Sirius's galleons and my footwork and choice."

"What is your choice?" Snape asked, oddly embarrassed to have been found out in a fit of pique.

"Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts." Lupin butted his head gently against Snape's.

"An excellent choice," Snape said roughly, and coughed to clear his throat. "I would expect nothing less," as he caught Lupin's lips and put the boy's present back under the tree.

oooOOOooo

Every time Snape made love to Lupin, Snape felt they drove the wolf just that bit further back, each time exorcising the remaining bestial nuances from the gentle man under him. It was early Christmas morning, even though the new moon had now waxed for a couple of days, Lupin had not yet sought to re-take the reins of their love-making and Snape was sure Lupin wouldn't do so until he was certain Snape was confident, both in himself and in Lupin fully once more. Snape never failed to be amazed by Lupin's understanding of Snape's insecurities and that he indulged him so. He never failed to be amazed that Lupin loved him at all.

They lay together, Snape covering Lupin, as they both gasped to regulate their breathing as Snape stroked Lupin's smiling face. Nothing could make this Christmas better for him, even though Dumbledore had tried to ruin it by insisting that Lupin spend the day at Grimmauld Place, partly to show his presence, but also to guard the Weasleys when they visited Arthur at St. Mungo's.

Once they had both showered, Tippy had served them Lupinesque proportions of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with truffle shavings and Buck's Fizz, and Lupin had tucked in with relish.

"Remember, you're supposed to have breakfast at Grimmauld Place," Snape reminded him as he ate his own breakfast at a more sedate pace.

"I shall have a second breakfast, and first and second Christmas dinners. I think I'm quite lucky really," Lupin said happily.

"My husband, the hobbit," Snape jibed, but unbidden, he pictured Lupin having cold, hungry and lonely Christmases after the loss of his friends and before he'd come to Hogwarts and it brought a lump to his throat and he stroked a thumb gently across Lupin's cheekbone. He wished very much Lupin was not going out today but he supposed Dumbledore had been right: it would be expected and it would maintain his cover. But Lupin could've been under cover, couldn't he? He didn't have to be there - with Black – and Potter's brat. It wasn't fair. He took deep breaths. He was behaving like a child. If Lupin knew his thoughts, he would be so disappointed in him.

After breakfast, they had got their presents from the tree, calling Tippy to the tree first. Lupin gave her their present. The shriek she emitted on receiving a brightly coloured parcel Snape swore wouldn't need to be much higher to qualify as ultrasound.

"It's not clothes!" Lupin rushed to say, realising Tippy might misconstrue a parcel with material in it.

"Not ... not ... clothes ... Master Lupin has said," she reassured herself, and then her long fingers picked at the Spellotape and she opened the paper to find exquisitely embroidered bedding: a pillow and a quilted coverlet, house-elf sized. She gasped hugely.

"But these are so beautiful. Too beautiful for a house-elf," she whispered as her bony figures traced the embroidery in awe.

"But they are house-elf sized," Snape said. "They were designed for you."

"For Tippy! Designed for Tippy!" Tippy whispered. "Thank you, oh such kind magical gentlemen!" She hugged her gift to herself and twirled with it.

Snape noted with some discomfort that her large eyes were brimming with tears of gratitude, but, fortunately, Lupin recognised the imminent emotional display, and guided Tippy to the kitchen with her present, telling her how good house-elves always deserved tokens of gratitude. Once Lupin had settled Tippy, he returned to Snape and they swapped their own presents.

Lupin opened his first present containing a collection of twentieth century poets that Lupin had talked about often, although he only had a few of their works, ("Wonderful! You remembered!") and a fine, charcoal grey winter cloak. He held it up against himself, stroking the soft but heavy wool. "It's beautiful, Severus. I don't believe I've ever had something new of this quality. Certainly, I have never had a new cloak. It was always hand-me-downs."

"Second hand for me too when I was a child. How did you bear it? I never could." Snape said, remembering how the mis-matched Muggle clothes his mother put him in made him a target for practically every bully in Spinner's End including his own father.

Lupin smiled – that smile that Snape could barely look at without wanting to take the man in his arms. "I was a werewolf child. I had a far greater shame than the patched clothes I wore." Snape's face coloured brightly as he cursed himself for his own crass insensitivity but Lupin caught and squeezed his hands. "My parents spent all their money on scouring the world for a cure for me. Clothes had no value other than a covering." He pulled Snape to himself and kissed him hard. "Once Voldemort is defeated, you can dress me like a peacock. If it gives you pleasure, it will make me happy. The only thing I wear that matters to me is this" He grasped his own circlet on his upper arm. "Anything else is just trimmings."

Last year, Lupin had presented him with the bonding circlets they both now wore. Snape felt that was his continuing present – day in and day out for the rest of his days. He needed nothing else, but Lupin had bought Snape a pair of handsome dragonhide gloves to replace his that were almost threadbare, but so comfortable he had not thought to replace them, and an antique volume of William Blake's works that Snape swore he had never let on that he wanted, although he had often stopped at the antique Muggle bookshop that was around the corner from Diagon Alley, and had looked at it longingly. It appeared to Snape that he truly was not the only spy in this couple.

They kissed gently, but had no time for more. It was eight thirty now and Lupin was due at Grimmauld Place for breakfast by nine. Snape wrapped Lupin in his Christmas cloak and new woollen scarf from Minerva. I'm like a mother hen, Snape thought with mild disgust, but he couldn't help it. If only he could wrap Lupin up against everything, not just the bitter cold. He passed Lupin the present for Potter, and they kissed their farewells as Lupin Disapparated at the edge of the Fidelius for Grimmauld Place.

Snape shut the door against the cold and went back into the sitting room, which now seemed so large and empty save for the Christmas tree, twinkling in the corner. It's not as if Christmas meant anything to Snape. It didn't. Once he went to Hogwarts, he grasped at the opportunity to stay over the Christmas holidays with both hands, and never looked back, for there was nothing to look back upon. The poverty of his family life emotionally meant any presents, such as they might be, were given without care or attention. It all seemed rather pointless. There was certainly no good will to all men in Spinner's End.

He wanted to sneak to Lily's every year. Lily always invited him, but he always refused. He could not bear to admit just how bad his home was, even at Christmas when his father would rail at his mother because the pub was only open for two short hours at lunchtime and not in the evening. It meant that he would be at home getting drunk, rather than at least being out of the house for the evening. It was the worst of both worlds. Snape used to imagine what it would be like at Lily's. He suspected it would be like a story book: pine needles, cinnamon, chocolate, tangerines and a warm crackling fire. Just as Tippy had done here, he thought with a brief smile. But he knew even back then that Christmas was for family – not for interlopers, like Severus Snape.

So why wasn't Remus, his family, with him today? Damn Dumbledore.

He threw himself in his armchair, his brow dark and furrowed with temper. Tippy appeared with a mug of tea and then brought him the first volume of Blake. He stared after her as she walked in her ungainly fashion back to the kitchen. He put the book down and followed her into the kitchen out of curiosity. She had clearly pulled out some bedding from a small, unused cupboard.

"Is this where you sleep, Tippy?" he asked. "I thought you slept at Hogwarts."

The little elf jumped slightly and then gave him a look that he suspected was not unlike that which he cast upon errant first years. "When Tippy's masters are both home, Tippy sleeps here or in the small cupboard at Professor Snape's house in Spinner's End. When it was only Professor Snape, Headmaster Dumbledore said Tippy must sleep at Hogwarts."

"I suppose he thought I'd chop you up for potion parts," Snape said wryly.

Tippy sniggered. The house elf actually sniggered. "Headmaster Dumbledore said Professor Snape did not like to share his home, but if Master Lupin was with Professor Snape, he would be nicer."

He must ask Dumbledore how this house elf managed to be so cheeky.

Snape got on his hands and knees and looked inside the cupboard and frowned. "How do you sleep there? Don't you like to stretch out during the night?"

"If a house elf is not assigned a nest to sleep in, she must find herself the smallest place out of her masters' way to occupy," Tippy recited. Snape turned to look at her, she having appeared under his arm to look at the cupboard also. He wondered if there was a house elf manual, or if there were just rules, passed down from generation to generation. What a thing to ponder! he thought, but certainly this crampt cupboard would never do. He looked about him.

"Tippy," he said, crawling backwards out of the small space. "We would like you to use the double cupboard over there." He pointed to large airing cupboard that housed assorted linens, but had an inordinate amount of floor space compared with the little cupboard that Tippy had chosen.

"Oh, Professor Snape!" the elf gasped with something Snape suspected to be like elf rapture as she clasped her hands together. "But it is far more room than Tippy needs! It will be like having a palace!" She walked in, looking around in wonder. Well, hardly, Snape thought, but smiling at her happiness as she cast powerful cleaning charms on the space so that even the never-dusted floorboards in the cupboard shone as if waxed.

"It is such a kindness!" she trilled as Snape started to pass her scant belongings and bedding to her as she laid them out with care, and then took her Christmas bedding from him with something like reverence. He recalled how she had cleared and cleaned and decorated his parents' bedroom so he had somewhere decent to care for Lupin. This hardly repaid that he thought, but he didn't know what more to do, as Tippy crooned her pleasure with her new sleeping arrangements and then shooed him out of the kitchen so she could start her Christmas dinner preparations.

It was only noon, but his nest-building with Tippy had calmed him down and he returned to his armchair and book, feeling more relaxed and settled down to an afternoon with his preferred mystic poet in a volume with plates of Blake's own extraordinary illustrations. As Christmases went, it wasn't so bad. At least, there were no children or Dumbledore. He smirked.

The Dark Mark burned.

The book fell from his relaxed hold in shock as he swore and grasped his forearm. He blinked back tears of pain and then grabbed the book from the floor and threw it on the chair as he strode to the bedroom for his robe and mask.

"Tippy!" The house elf rushed to his side. "Tell Headmaster Dumbledore when he is alone that Profesor Snape has been summoned."

"And Master Lupin?" the little elf asked, her eyes wide with apprehension.

"No," Snape said quietly, his disquiet growing. Lupin would not be alone for a long time yet. "Tell him when he returns if I'm not back." Snape rushed out of the flat and Disapparated to the Dark Mark.

He Apparated to the Dark Mark, back to the musty old manor house. He was the first to arrive. Well he would be. He was surely the only Death Eater on his own on Christmas Day.

"Severus! The first to arrive. Well done," the Dark Lord leered as he whispered. He had forgotten that the Dark Lord always called his Death Eaters on Christmas Day. He had always done this before he fell, and Snape had always been the first to arrive, he remembered sourly.

He knelt as he waited for the others, reassuring himself that perhaps this meeting would see him escape without torture for being the first to arrive, as the Dark Lord paced impatiently in front of him.

"Severus, why have you not begun your lessons with Harry Potter?" the Dark Lord hissed.

Snape's glimmer of hope winked out.

"My Lord," Snape said, trying to keep his voice even, "the boy left the school on the night of the attack to be kept at the Order's headquarters. I have proposed myself to the old man and he has agreed, but not until the new terms starts ..."

"Crucio!"

Snape screamed as he was felled, his nerves caught alight with searing agony as the Dark Lord Levitated his convulsing body.

"Did you not impress the urgency upon the old man? Hm? Use all of your not inconsiderable powers of persuasion to keep the boy at the school?" the Dark Lord enquired, almost courteously as he cancelled the spell and Snape fell to the dusty parquet floor.

Through his haze of pulsating pain, he noticed the herringbone pattern of the flooring, seemingly pronounced in his vision. He knew that presaged his loss of consciousness. He could not afford to do that and he fought for consciousness as he dragged himself back to a kneeling position, his breathing noisy and rough. He just noticed that all the others had arrived now. This time the last to arrive would be reprieved. He would be the choice object of torture today.

"I have been pushing at the boy's mind since I discovered the connection. It was clear to me you have not set about the assignment I set you. I am ... very disappointed," the Dark Lord hissed malevolently.

"I am truly sorry, my Lord," Snape managed to gasp out as he trembled all over, knowing his fellow Death Eaters were relieved that they were not the object of their master's scorn this day and, no doubt, quite a few would be revelling in his fall from grace. "Once the boy is back, I will be able to commence as you require ..."

"You have failed me, Severus!" the Dark Lord spat. "Three weeks you expect me to wait before you even try! You expect me to wait!" His wand carved upwards sharply.

"CRUCIO!"

Snape's body twisted and turned in the air as his bones and joints were pressed and pushed and bent to the point of breaking, agonising him repeatedly as he screamed for mercy.

The Dark Lord circled Snape's rotating, agonised form, his jaw jutting and his eyes crimson with fury, holding the spell longer than he had ever done, as Snape's scream slid into silence as his voice died away.

With a violent slash of his wand, the Dark Lord threw Snape's body to the floor, and he felt some of his bones break, but there was not enough breath to cry out anymore. He lay, convulsing on the floor, alive, but wishing he were not, this time unable to summon any strength to try to kneel once more. The Dark Lord knelt next to Snape and bent into his ear.

"Never – delay – acting – on - my – orders – again – Severus," the Dark Lord hissed slowly. Then he stood quickly and lost interest in him and began to ask for reports from the others.

Snape desperately tried to take in what the others reported. He could not afford to miss any information, no matter how irrelevant it might seem. One never knew what could constitute the key to any one of the Death Eaters' plans. But his pain was too great. He could feel his consciousness slipping away from him, no matter how hard he tried. His body wanted release from the agony in his nerves and, this time, it would not be denied.

oooOOOooo

He was vaguely aware of someone lifting his upper body into slim arms. Subtle fragrance. Who? A female voice in a frantic whisper. "Hold on, Severus." Narcissa. He felt the squeeze of side-along Apparition then his body being laid gently on a settee. "I dare not stay. You understand. I'll come back tomorrow. I'm so sorry, Severus." Scared.

The noise of a Floo flaring. He forced himself to open his eyes, although it felt as if they had been stitched shut over shards of glass. He forced himself to blink over the pain to try to focus. Spinner's End. Narcissa had brought him to what she thought was his home. Kind. He closed his eyes again and just managed to rasp one dry word before he blacked out again.

"Tippy."

oooOOOooo

As he became conscious once more, he realised he was in bed. In their bed at the flat. Tippy had done it. She had found him and brought him home. He felt the curse chasing across his body leaving searing pain in its wake, and the pain and aches of broken bones.

"Professor Snape!" he heard her call. He managed to turn his head slowly and painfully towards her voice. She stood on a stool next to the bed.

"Tippy has Professor Snape's potions, but Tippy doesn't know the measures and can't mend broken bones, and Master Lupin is not yet home. Tippy can't bring Madame Pomfrey through the Charm! Oh, Tippy is so sorry!" the distressed elf cried.

"What ... potions?," Snape managed to croak.

"Post-Cruciatus Potion," she said. Clever girl, Snape thought disconnectedly, to recognise it.

"Four drams," he gasped, and then felt her spell the potion into him, just as she had done for Lupin once, and Lupin had done for him. He couldn't smile, but the memory warmed him and almost immediately the coursing pains dulled somewhat.

"Pain relief potion," the elf said.

If Snape had been able, he would have tipped the whole flask down his gullet. Perhaps he should be grateful for his elfin nurse. "Five drams." If he'd taken the lot, he'd be unconscious for days, but he wanted to see Lupin. This way, he'd only be out for a couple of hours.

"Your bones, Professor Snape?" the elf whimpered.

"Master Lupin will do it when he gets back," Snape just managed to say as potion-induced sleep took him away for a while.

oooOOOooo

He had lain awake, in pain, some dull and intermittent, but most sharp and lingering as the potions wore off, for an hour now, the occasional tear of pain running down the side of his face as the curse still coruscated across his skin as he trembled in the bed. Tippy had tried to convince him to let her give him more potions, but he ordered her not to until Lupin came home. She'd spelled drinks of water into him, but that was all he let her do. She sat on her stool next to the bed, intermittently wiping his brow with a cold flannel.

Then his heart skipped a beat as he heard the front door slam.

"Severus! Where are you? I'm so glad to be home. I've had a hell of a day ... wait 'til you hear what Arthur's been up to ..."

"Master Lupin!" the elf cried across Lupin as she jumped off the stool and scampered away from Snape. "Come quickly! Professor Snape has been hurt by You-Know-Who and won't take his potions until Master Lupin comes home and sets Professor Snape's broken bones! Oh help, Master Lupin!"
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You Will Not Kiss Me