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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
- 60
- 61
Contrary to his previous belief, Severus slept like a stone for most of the evening.
Possibly it was knowing that there might be a solution in the information they now had about Teddy’s transformative abilities. Or knowing that Daniel wasn’t going to suddenly die on them in the night, his little body succumbing after much struggle to the poison Lanning had forced on him. Maybe it was that the stars aligned for once in his life and simply gifted him eight hours of uninterrupted, blessed down time. Or perhaps it was Remus curled around him like a bracket that had no concern for spacing, his arm slung over his waist and his hand held over his pathetic excuse of a heart. He couldn’t be sure; his brain was so groggy from actually sleeping.
He woke slowly. Really he woke quickly, but his mind took a long time to catch up to that fact. At the moment, he couldn’t be certain of much, as he was too busy trying to sort out opening both of his eyes and giving them a rub with his knuckles, attempting to bring himself to awareness.
What he became conscious of, almost immediately after, was a pair of champagne-coloured eyes sparkling at him in the morning sunlight that was streaming through a small crack in the curtains. Remus was propped up on one elbow, looking down at him like he was the cream and the sandy haired man was the cat. He blinked and fought back a yawn, wondering if he’d misunderstood and he was the mouse, instead. He bit back a laugh. Of course he was the mouse, and whether the other man knew it or not, Remus had caught him some time ago. Now, the only question remaining was how long until he was devoured completely.
Merlin, he was a mess first thing in the morning.
Remus just smiled down at him as if he was something wonderful he had only just discovered.
Fuck, he needed a drink. It might clear his head, as he was obviously delusional. Likely, sleep didn’t agree with him. That was fine, he didn’t plan on getting any in the next few days. He had calculations to do, so many calculations. His mind was swimming with them, the numbers and their meanings slowly coming into focus. He had to get up. He needed to be in the lab. Where was Draco? They had work to do.
“I can almost hear the gears turning from here,” Remus told him warmly.
A hand came up to his face, and the gentlest touch was felt along his forehead to his temple, as if Lupin was trying to discern his thoughts with the pads of his fingers. “Can I at least convince you to shower and eat first?” he asked around his own smile, as if he knew that Severus was moments away from Apparating himself into the basement lab without even a word.
Without his permission, Snape’s face turned itself into a scowl.
Remus laughed and leaned in to kiss him, once, quickly. “Please?”
Severus sighed heavily. “Fine.”
Remus grinned down at him as if he’d been promised the world. “Perfect.”
Severus could think of very few things that were perfect in either of their lives at the moment, but decided not to argue the point this early in the morning.
Remus leaned in and kissed him sweetly, surprised at his own nerve. Severus was so bleary eyed and off kilter, he couldn’t stop his heart from swelling with some beautiful emotion. “Did you sleep well?”
“I think I did, actually,” Severus answered honestly, stretching. He didn’t feel so bone weary, so weak and in pain. He flexed his cheek, feeling instantly that it wasn’t as tight, or as tender as yesterday. His eye seemed to be more focused as well, the agony of movement dulled to a pulsing ache. Overall, when weighed against the day before, he felt almost good. “I feel much improved,” he told Remus.
“Brilliant,” Remus said sincerely. “I’d hoped you would say that. Your colour is better and your skin doesn’t appear to be as taut, if that is the right word.” Remus stumbled, unsure of himself. Severus had looked like his skin had pulled awkwardly when he’d moved his face since coming back from the hospital, and he wasn’t sure if he should have said anything about it. “You’re looking wonderful, anyway,” he amended lamely. His hand reached out and touched Severus’ unscarred cheek with a tender gesture that he felt must almost give him away. He leaned in and tried to cover his actions with a kiss, finding that it only compounded them.
Severus experienced a very familiar sensation, one that he had felt countless times in his life. It was the feeling that came immediately before he opened his mouth and ruined absolutely everything.
“Don’t,” he said severely. Perhaps he was merely disoriented, but he felt instantly that this farce had gone on for too long, there was no reason for Remus to carry on with it. He’d sponged up Lupin’s puzzling affection and care, given only as windfall for the kindness he had bestowed to the man and his son, and nothing else. Affection given, not freely, but as payment from one who feels they are indebted. He couldn’t allow this charade to continue, not now that he was more himself, it was starting to get out of hand. He was aware that he was wretched, a creature brought to his lowest point so many times in his black hole of a fucking life that some important part of himself had just stayed down there, with its belly and its face in the dirt. This was all a lie, and he couldn’t continue to force the other man to tell it to him.
Remus’ face crumpled. “Don’t?” he asked, withdrawing so that he wasn’t hovering over Severus in any way. “Are you alright?” His face was the very picture of concern.
“I… don’t think so,” Severus told him. Momentarily, he doubted his doubt, what did any of it matter, anyway? “I…” he took a deep breath and girded his heart with strong and terrible armour. “I don’t want you to lie to me any longer, Remus.”
Remus’ expression became an odd mixture of confusion and disbelief. “Lie to you? Severus, what are you talking about?”
“This fabricated flattery and false encouragement aren’t an obligation here, and for both of our sakes, you may please desist at once.” He hated the note of desperation that came into his voice, but there it was.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Remus told him, brow wrinkled.
“You do,” Severus accused with confidence. “You don’t need to explain, and nothing here will change for us, for you or your son. This…” Severus didn’t know what to call it, so he spat, “caring and tenderness that you are manufacturing - I do not demand it of you,” he said unfeelingly, suddenly more awake than he had been in weeks. “Neither do I need you to lie to me about my appearance, either as it is now or as it was before. Nor are these extra gestures and touches, this fictitious affection compulsory, Remus.”
“Not compulsory?” Remus echoed, agog. Had Severus’ brain sprung a leak overnight?
“No, not at all,” Snape affirmed. His face twisted, and though Remus wanted to interrupt whatever he was going to say with a hundred arguments before it was even voiced, he allowed him to say it.
“The bond necessitates you to sleep near me, and it is true, we must share a level of closeness, but it does not demand… this from you. Neither do I.”
“This?” Remus asked simply, suddenly glad that he had heard Severus speaking to Teddy the other night, that he had heard his confession in that pit of a basement. If he hadn’t, this surely would have driven him off, caused him to back down and away and let Severus lead them in this. Now he wouldn’t let Severus drive himself into the ground and send Remus himself running to hide from the dust that went flying as he dug himself in. It was clear that he was retreating, second thinking and second-guessing Remus’ motivations and likely everything else leading up to this moment.
“This!” Severus repeated angrily. “You are not compelled to be intimate with me outside of the demands of the bond. You do not have to touch and kiss me, dishonour yourself with false attentions, in order to secure either my own tentative sanity or your security in this house. I… wish for these lies to stop, for your sake and for mine.”
Remus shook his head, almost past words. He tried not to be hurt, and he reminded himself that this wasn’t actually about him. This was about Severus and the seemingly infinite number of people in his life who hadn’t measured up, hadn’t given this man even close to anything near what he was worth. He wondered how many of them had lied to him in order to achieve on end or another, involved his heart and soul and then took what they needed and were off. How many people before him had ended up putting a hammer to his hands or his heart? Of course he wouldn’t want more of that deception in his life, and not from him, not from Remus, who perhaps he loved?
“There has not been one ounce of insincerity in my words or actions towards you, Severus,” he told him. He moved his hand over the potion master’s rapidly beating heart, resting it there. “When I feel like touching you, I touch you. When I want to kiss you,” he leaned in and touched their lips together, “I kiss you.” He kissed him again, just to prove his point. “I say to you what is on my mind and in my heart, there is no deceit here,” Remus told him, meeting his gaze unflinchingly.
Severus’ chest stung at Lupin’s words, and though he desperately wanted to believe them, he bullheadedly pushed onward because he felt there was no other choice. “I will always want you, Severus,” Snape parroted Remus’ words from in front of the ensuite mirror the other day viciously back at him. “With my scarred and ugly arse laid out in front of you, a Death Eater, a man you would never, in a thousand years have chosen for yourself had this not been forced on you? Not one single ounce of bullshit there, Remus, really?
“No, Severus, there wasn’t,” Remus replied, his voice breaking in a way he rather wished it hadn’t. Such a large part of him wanted to back down at his master’s raised voice and hard, mocking words, but the small part of him that refused was very stubborn and very sure that it was right. “I may not have chosen this, not to begin with, but now every part of you is lovely to me, Severus. If you have scars, they are just physical manifestations of your strength and what is ugly to me are the things that put them there. They don’t stop me from wanting to be close to you, neither does the fact that this was thrust on both of us. And I do, want to be close to you. Nothing is forcing that from me, I want to be there for you - for you to be able to turn to me like I know that I can turn to you. I won’t always know what to do, or to say, but I know that I’d like to be there, with you, in whatever way you’ll have me.”
Remus wondered why he couldn’t have the eloquence of the man before him. He was sure that all of the words were inside of him, but they never came out quite right. He held his breath and waited for a response. Severus’ anger seemed to disperse. So, Remus just pulled him closer. There was a moment of silence where Remus thought that the conversation just might be over, when a muted and wrecked, utterly incredulous and almost indignant, “But why?” filled the space between them.
“Why?” Remus asked. He’d had decided that it couldn’t go unsaid any longer, consequences be damned. He applied slight pressure to his palm where it still rested over Severus’ heart and said, “Why? Because I love you, Severus. Because you are so intelligent and strong beyond belief or comprehension. I enjoy your sense of humour, your conversation and your company. You’ve given me choice and freedom in almost everything that I do, and you take the most amazing care of my son, who loves and trusts you like he’s known you his entire life. You’re supposed to own every part of me, but you treat me with more tenderness and care than many of the people I’d chosen been intimate with in my life before becoming a slave. You are so comfortable with my disease that you can joke about it with me - you saw me as an animal and then were able to recognise me as a man the next day. You build me up, you don’t let anyone tear me down. When you were gone, all I wanted to do was to hold you, and now that I have you here, it’s a complete bloody struggle to let you go.”
Severus brain seemed to erase itself like a chalkboard at the end of class. There was an awful vulnerability to his expression as he looked up at Remus, struggling to find something to say in return.
So, Remus continued. “I was forced here to begin with, but now, if you wanted me gone, you’d have to force that too.” He swallowed, knowing that Severus could do just that. “I’m exactly where I want to be, doing what I wish to be doing. I love you. Please don’t ask me to stop, because I don’t know if I could, and I sure as Hell don’t want to.”
Severus closed his eyes. His heart was hammering in his chest. It was impossible. He tried to picture the last time anyone had said those three words to him and came up short. None of them would matter anyway, not after this, not if this were true. But there was no bloody way.
If there had been any question if Remus had been brainwashed somewhere in between himself and Walden, it was gone now. The other man was positively ‘round the bend. But who wasn’t, these days? Draco was going to become a handyman, Potter lived just down the hall and he was leading the campaign to free the werewolves with Lucius Malfoy’s help. The whole fucking world was past barmy. He just prayed, that delusional as Remus was, whatever the other man saw within him that had sparked this unbelievable warmth and affection, was against all reason, somehow, actually there. But, of course, that would be the most implausible thing of them all. He knew himself better than that.
“You don’t believe me,” Remus stated before Severus had the time to put his defences back up. Severus hadn’t said anything in return yet, but this wasn’t about that. It was about making Severus understand that his words and actions were real, that he would stay here forever if the bond dissolved right this second. He wanted Severus to know that he would be there, through anything. He would love him through anything. That was how Remus Lupin loved people.
However, the other man looked like he was having a rough time processing this, so he would try to take it slow. It was difficult, because now that the words were out there, between them, he found that he only wanted to say them again. He felt like laughing but decided he would save that until Severus’ brain caught up to the situation.
“I…” Severus said, wishing that perhaps he had woken up a little more before entangling himself in this conversation.
“Look into my mind then,” Remus proposed easily, as if it were nothing. “You’ll see.”
Severus was tempted for one tenth of a breath. “No,” he said firmly, “I told you we would never have to do that again, and I was telling you the truth.”
“Isn’t it different if I give you permission?” Remus asked. “It isn’t an intrusion then, I’d be inviting you in.”
“It is always an intrusion,” Severus corrected him. “There is little other powerlessness like having someone command you, own you, possibly down to your very soul – to the point where even the space inside of your thoughts is not permitted to be your own.”
Remus kept his mouth shut on that one and took Severus’ word for it. If anyone would know, it would be him. “Command me to tell you the truth, then,” he prompted.
Severus shook his head.
Remus smiled sadly. “How am I to convince you, then?” he asked.
Severus’ mind broke down slightly at the question. If Remus had been anyone else, and he were this off kilter and flayed open, he might tell them simply, not to leave. To be the first to see him and stay. But there wasn’t any other option for Lupin, was there? He glanced up to meet the other man’s eyes, and his breath was almost stolen. In the morning light, Remus’ eyes were full of compassion and sincerity, and they glowed like something not from this world, like something absolutely remarkable, that against all odds and predictive forces in the universe was directed only at him. He momentarily lost control of his brain, so he said with too much honestly, like an absolute fool, “Just… keep looking at me like that, I think.” He moved his hand to cover Remus’ where it lay over his heart and held it there.
Remus’ breath caught in his throat, and the smallest of facial expressions said, ‘like what?’, very clearly to Severus. Thankfully, he wasn’t forced to elaborate, as Remus leaned down and kissed him instead.
Their mouths met and melded carefully, as if the lycanthrope was testing his welcome. When he wasn’t rejected, his tongue began to brush carefully along Snape’s bottom lip, deepening the kiss without turning it into anything too salacious. He pulled back, eyes sweeping over Severus as if he were a miner and Snape was a nugget of gold. “I don’t know how I could ever look at you any differently, Severus,” meaning the words in every possible interpretation.
For some reason, Snape felt a wave of heartache at his words, alongside the joy that swept over him. His throat became tight and he had to blink against a stinging in his eyes. He was so fucking contemptible lately; he didn’t know how Remus could stand it. He hardly could, himself.
Remus just smiled that small, sad smile of his and kissed him again. “You don’t have to believe me all at once,” he said generously.
“But I do have to believe you, bit by bit, eventually,” Severus filled in the blanks in the sentence immediately, amused through his conflicted emotions.
“Ah, they told me you were clever,” Remus smiled, a full ray of sunlight this time. He kissed him again, moving his lips from Severus’ mouth to his jaw and then down his neck with more affection than ardour.
“What other lies have they been filling your head with, I wonder?” Severus asked, resorting to sarcasm as a defense mechanism. He felt Remus chuckle against him.
“You’ll never know, you won’t look,” Lupin grinned, bringing his head up from where he was now peppering Severus’ collar bones and the top of his pectorals with kisses.
“We have ways of getting these things out of you, you know,” Severus continued with the ruse for lack of anything else to do. Now he felt Remus shiver against him.
“You do, do you?” Remus asked, his voice descending slightly, to let Severus know that he was really listening.
Severus had been about to apologise, to say he had taken things a little too far, when he heard Remus’ tone of voice. Something in him quivered, not knowing if he was ready for this. Every other part of him said that Remus had had no choice on when he was ready. He’d done this before, with more concerning people than Remus Lupin, after other devastating events. He could do this. It was early, and who knew how long he would be in the lab once he was finally down there? They needed to move this forward. “Oh yes,” he agreed, “come just a little closer and I’ll show you.”
Remus did just that, kissing him again before pulling back a little. “Severus, I don’t know if this is a good idea,” he said, in spite of his actions.
“I’m not made of ceramics, Remus,” Snape told him.
“I agree,” Remus said easily, “but last night you told me that I could be in charge of this.” He knew that there was no way that Severus was going to take care of his own damn self, so he would make sure that the job was delegated to him.
“I meant… more in a general sense,” Severus tried to clarify awkwardly.
“Too bad,” Remus declared brazenly, “I think this will involve all of your general senses, so it should qualify.”
The hat had surely sorted this one incorrectly, Severus thought. But what had he to lose? He’d had to direct Remus when he was in a similar position, how was it fair to deny him this? And so, he wouldn’t. “Alright,” he granted softly, without putting too much thought into it.
“Alright,” Remus agreed, leaning in and pressing his lips against Severus’ temple.
Severus waited for Remus to make some sort of move. “Well?” he asked, impatiently.
“Now?” Remus inquired, amused and a little alarmed. “There is a long day ahead, Severus. Tonight,” he said definitively.
“I’ll be working in the lab,” Severus informed him.
Remus let out an amused snort. “Not all night, you bloody won’t. You need to sleep, you’re still building your strength.”
“You're a terrible slave,” Severus groused, “too bossy.”
“I’ve heard that some people are into that,” Remus smiled, running his fingers through his master’s hair. He began to wonder where he was getting this backbone from and why Severus was handling it so well, then stopped himself. It was working for the moment, so best not to question it.
“They really are,” Severus answered with more honesty than he would have liked.


On their way down to the kitchen, Severus silently opened the door to Draco’s room. They found Malfoy asleep on the bed, still in his robes, with a blanket haphazardly thrown across him and Harry asleep in one of the armchairs near the bed, his head bent back in the chair, glasses askew and mouth hanging open.
“He has his own place to sleep, no?” he asked Remus quietly, indicating Harry and receiving a nod of agreement. He closed the door without a sound and moved down the hallway, thinking that the laws of reality truly must not apply to his property, somehow.
Upon reaching the last bedrooms, Snape peeked in on David, finding him still asleep. He wasn’t snoring quite as loudly as before, and Severus hoped that this indicated that he would be awakening soon. His body required nutrition and hydration. His hopes were answered as the hinges of the door made a squealing sound that caused the healer to jolt awake.
“Good morning,” Severus greeted him.
David flailed in surprise, then groaned and clutched at his head. “How long have I been out?” he asked through a leathery mouth.
“Longer than I had originally anticipated,” Severus replied. “How do you feel?” he asked, pouring the other man a glass of water from the pitcher on the side table and setting it next to him.
“Like I’ve been trampled by a ten angry centaurs,” David answered, but took up the water and drank all of it immediately.
“That sounds fair,” Severus said, slightly amused. He removed a vial from his pocket and handed it to the other man. “I have and Invigoration Draught for you. When that is done and you’re up and about, there will be something for you to eat in the kitchen.”
“Thank you,” David stretched with a series of pops that made even Remus wince where he was standing in the doorway. “I won’t be able to stay long. Christ, I’ve probably got to go back into work tomorrow. I’ll want to look in on Daniel before I go – how is he doing?”
“He is greatly improved. I believe in the next couple of days he may be ready to get out of bed and try moving around for short periods.”
Relief washed over the healer’s face. “Good,” he said resolutely.
“There is a place for you to shower and refresh yourself just down the hall. When you’ve finished, you can come meet me in Daniel’s room.”
“That sounds like its worth a million Galleons right now, thank you.” David swung his feet over the edge of the bed and swayed there as if the effort may have been too much for him. “An Invigoration Draught, you say?”
“Here, drink it all,” Severus offered him the vial, which was taken and downed in seconds.
“That’s an improvement already,” David laughed, handing the vial back. “You go check in on Daniel, I’ll meet you in there right away.” He stood, took a moment to decide if he would stay upright, and then began to move towards the door. “Oh, hullo Remus!” he greeted, still rubbing his face, “I didn’t see you standing there.”
“I didn’t want to intrude before you were properly awake,” Remus said in way of explanation.
“I’m a Healer, we never properly sleep, so we’re never properly awake either,” David laughed. “And now I’ve gone and killed any faith you had in my profession.”
“Not at all,” Remus chuckled as the man walked past on his way to find the shower. “Everything you need will be in the cupboard in there,” he informed him.
“I’m sure I’ll manage, thank you,” David said, already having found the proper door.
Together Remus and Severus crossed the hall and entered the room where Daniel was recovering. They found Fred asleep in the chair and Daniel sitting up in bed, awake and looking like he had moved as little as possible since opening his eyes. He glanced at them in trepidation, shrinking into himself as if he’d done something wrong.
“Good morning, Daniel.” Severus said. His voice caused Fred’s head to jerk up, clearly startled out of slumber. “Good morning, Fred,” he greeted as well, with more humour in his tone.
The elf shook his head. “Fred was just being resting his eyes,” he said defensively.
“We all need to rest,” Severus said in way of forgiveness. “Would it be too much to ask you to prepare a simple breakfast for the house?” Severus asked. “Since you weren’t sleeping anyways?”
“Not at all! Fred is being doing that right away!” The elf perked up, vanishing from the chair without another word. Severus couldn’t blame him, he’d been sitting at the bedside of a sleeping child for quite some time, cumulatively, over the last couple of days.
Daniel continued to look at them with large eyes, seemingly afraid to move. Having witnessed how the room he was kept in at Lanning’s operated, Severus could understand. The pen of ill werewolves, the ones that had been ‘saved’ from incineration, only to end up in Lanning’s basement, had been selected that way. When Quinton needed a new test subject, he just stood outside the cage, with his back to the place Daniel was confined, waiting for one of them to twitch. That was considered as good as volunteering, and they would be taken from their confines and subjected to the knife or other horrors at the table adjacent to the pen.
It was a new day, and Daniel couldn’t trust them yet. That was fine and to be expected. He sat down on the chair near the bed and folded his hands in his lap as to not appear threatening. “Did you sleep well?” he asked softly.
Daniel appeared torn in his answer. “Yes, sir,” he decided on eventually.
“I’m glad,” Severus told him. “Breakfast will be brought to you shortly.”
The child couldn’t hide his surprise at this. “Really?” he asked.
“Really,” Severus affirmed.
“Sir …I need to use the loo,” Daniel said in a whisper.
With a swish of his wand, Severus relieved him of that need as he had done for Remus in the past.
The boy appeared surprised again, then blushed. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Severus replied wryly. This child’s informality, as well as the number of times he omitted the honorific ‘sir’, led him to believe that this boy had not been a slave for long. Darien was worth every single knut, and he hoped that the man would come through with information about this boy soon. More than two days worth of looking into it would be a record for his legal team, and was going to cost him a bloody fortune, regardless. He wondered if this was what Albus had envisioned when he left him his vault key - solicitor’s fees.
Severus was literally itching to get down in the lab. He wanted to spread out all of the test results, all of his notes and some fresh parchment and really dive in, so to speak. He would need to do some research into how Teddy’s morphing cells might have influenced things, as well as why Daniel’s blood was almost as odd as that of a born werewolf cub with the skills of a Metamorphmagus. It was past perplexing, beyond fascinating. If it didn’t affect his life so closely, it would be his dream puzzle come to actualization. He would happily spend the rest of his life unraveling it slowly. As it was, he was hoping to be able to power through it in a few sleepless nights. A near impossible goal, but then, his life had been full of those and he was still here, so perhaps it could be done after all?
“Sir?” A small voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes?”
“This bed is comfortable, thank you very much for it,” the child paused.
“You are more than welcome, it is to be yours while you remain with us,” he said, mentally admonishing himself. It was likely more than the child could fathom at this moment.
“Thank you,” the boy said again, this time with less certainty. “Does that mean… that you wish me to stay here?”
“You are to stay here for the foreseeable future,” Severus told him.
“Here, in this bed?” the child asked, looking like he expected to be hit for a further question.
“No, when I am satisfied that you are healthy enough to rise, you may get out of the bed.”
“That’s great, sir. This room is much bigger than my last cage.”
“You will be permitted to leave the room as well as the bed. Once you are up and about, the door to this room will only be closed if you wish it to be.” Christ, they were going to have to introduce this boy to Teddy.
“I… don’t understand, sir.”
And how could you? “We will show you, then,” Severus said, rather than trying to explain. “There is no reason to be concerned with it now,” he assured. “However, I am going to scan you,” he cautioned. The sight of his wand didn’t seem to frighten him the same way it did Teddy, which he supposed could be counted as a blessing.
As could the results of the child’s scan. Some food, a potion or two and a little more rest and he would be well enough to move about. In fact, it would be best for him if he did, rather than diminishing in bed when could be up and gaining his strength back. Lycanthropic regeneration truly was the one miracle that arose from the curse. He would have to ask Fred to bathe him tonight, using the solution he had made from Sebastian’s ash.
“Okay,” Daniel agreed with a large measure of uncertainty. “Hello, Remus,” he said after a moment of silence, seeming shy.
“Good morning, Daniel,” Remus grinned at the boy. He was surprised at being addressed in such an overt fashion by such a timid child, but there was no way he was going to discourage him. “I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better today.”
Daniel squirmed, pleased to hear that he had made anyone glad over anything.
Fred suddenly appeared in the room with a bowl of reheated oatmeal, a dish of yogurt and some sliced fruit. “Here is being the little one’s breakfast.”
“Is Teddy awake?” Severus asked.
“He is being eating in the kitchen,” Fred answered. “Breakfast is being ready for the rest of you in twenty minutes, if you is wanting to be eating it hot.”
“Thank you, Fred,” Remus and Severus said in unison. Fred was in the middle of shaking his head when he vanished from the room.
“Sit up a little.” Severus situated the tray so that it hovered over Daniel’s legs as he leaned against the headboard. “Do you need help eating any of that?” he inquired. It was all fairly basic, but he didn’t want the boy to feel anxiety over something as simple as breakfast.
“No, I can do it by myself,” he said. “I can eat all of this?” he asked, similar to last time.
“Every bite until you are full,” Severus told him. “There will be more meals after this, it is not all you will be fed today.”
Daniel was looking at the food like it was more than he’d seen in weeks, though Remus had just watched him eat last night. When Severus gave him an impatient wave of his hand, the boy began to dig in. He chewed, Remus was sure of it, but all the same the food disappeared faster than he could account for.
“I’m going to sit here and talk to Daniel about the need to drink a couple of potions,” Severus told Remus, totally transparent in front of the child, letting him know that a difficult conversation was coming. He would not spell the potions into the boy as the Healer had done, and as had been done to him at the hospital. He was not treating a medical emergency any longer, he was trying to make the child well while gaining his trust. Though he was desperate to get to the lab, he knew that he would sit here all day convincing the boy if he needed to. “Would you go and inform Draco and Potter that breakfast will be served shortly?”
“What time do you think Draco was finished that potion at? Should he be allowed to sleep?” Remus asked, feeling like he was a whole new person with all of these questions and contradictions. Either wholly brave or entirely stupid, he hadn’t decided yet.
“No, wake him up.” Severus smirked, “Him and Potter have a date in town anyway. Tell him Fred has coffee on and I’ve got one of the finest Invigoration Draughts on the continent with his name on it. One for Potter too, if he’s moving slower than usual.”
“Should I meet you downstairs, or back in here?” Remus asked.
“Send Fred back up,” Severus said. “Potter and Draco have volunteered to clean up the kitchen for him.”
“They have?” Remus asked, amused.
“Potter wants in the elf’s good graces. He’s going to have to scrub a few hundred pans in order to get there.”
“So, similar with you, students and cauldrons, then?” Remus asked innocently.
“Impudent werewolf,” Severus laughed.
“That’s the only kind you like,” Remus smiled back. Severus hadn’t said that he loved him too, not really, but somehow this kind of teasing still felt fine, felt safe.
“As if there is any other kind,” Severus sighed. “Now go, we wouldn’t want them to get too much sleep.”
Remus chuckled on his way out the door, nodding to David, who was looking much more refreshed than a few minutes ago.
“He’s your werewolf?” Daniel asked.
“He is,” Severus said.
“He seems very happy,” Daniel pointed out despondently, almost finished the last of his fruit.
“I should hope so,” Severus agreed.
“Would you please be my master?” the child asked.
God, it was too early in the morning to be explaining the nature of unregistered werewolves to a child. Before his morning cuppa, too.
“Hi little buddy,” David greeted cheerfully, appearing in the doorway looking freshly showered. “Looks like you’re feeling better today. Let’s do a couple of scans and see how much better, hmm?”

Remus knocked lightly on the door to Draco’s room, unlike Severus who had poked his head in without announcement not very long ago. There was no answer. So, he rapped a little louder. Still nothing.
He wanted to make his presence known, but banging away at a door that two war veterans slept behind seemed like a shoddy idea to him. So, he copied Severus’ actions and turned the doorknob and let the door swing open a crack on its own momentum.
The first thing that he saw was that Draco was largely unmoved, still snoring softly on the bed. The next thing that reached his awareness was that Harry was awake and had moved his armchair nearer the bed than it had been previously. He was sitting, looking down at Draco like he couldn’t decide what to make of him. His head swivelled over to see Remus when he registered motion at the door. He appeared as if he were caught doing something untoward, looking embarrassed. He seemed to shake it off and came to meet Remus at the door.
“Breakfast in twenty,” Remus told him.
Harry groaned. “Alright, I’ll wake him,” he whispered to Remus. “He’s already been sleeping an hour longer than I said I’d let him.”
Remus didn’t question why Draco was using Harry as his personal alarm clock, or what Harry was doing in here while Draco slept at all, for that matter. “Sounds good,” was all he said. He let the door swing partially shut, and walked from the room, keeping the bit of it that let him peer into the room in view. His improved hearing wouldn’t hurt his investigation either.
He watched Harry go over to the side of the bed and sit down carefully, rubbing Draco’s shoulder. “Hey, mate,” he said, “time for breakfast.”
“Bloody Hell, what was I thinking setting myself up to deal with you first thing upon waking?” Draco cursed, barely opening his eyes to look at Harry.
Harry smiled down at him. “I know, you must be mental.”
“Must be,” Draco said, closing his eyes again.
“None of that, now,” Potter laughed, shaking him this time.
“Ha-rry,” Draco complained in two very separate syllables.
“You’ve already slept an hour longer than you wanted,” Harry told him, as if he knew that would spur him into action. It was what would have worked for Hermione, anyway.
“I’ve what?” Draco said, pushing himself off the bed in alarm. “You idiot, we have to get to town!”
“Pretty sure you’re the idiot,” Harry teased back in answer to the raised voice, “we have to eat breakfast first.”
Draco relaxed marginally. “All of this slothfulness and procrastination - how the fuck did you ever win the war, Potter?” he asked without heat.
“Breakfast was involved, I can tell you that much,” Harry answered with a genuine laugh.
“My arse it was,” Draco yawned, getting out of bed and stretching.
Remus made his way down the hall back to Daniel’s room, no more enlightened than he had been five minutes ago. He was halfway down the hall when he saw Snape slipping from Daniel’s room. “How’d it go?” he asked.
“I managed to get him to drink the required potions, David gave him a clean bill of health under the circumstances and he is now asleep after finishing his breakfast. The Healer has already left but has said he will return upon a summons from Fred, should we need his services further. Daniel may feel more active tonight, maybe tomorrow. It is difficult to say for certain. Fred will be taking care of his detoxifying bath tonight. We will see how he does after that. The only definite thing is that he will recover, and after that, he will need to be allowed to move about the house.”
“We’ll have to make sure Teddy knows about him, then.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“We’ll discuss it with him together soon,” Remus suggested.
“Agreed,” Severus answered. “He has expressed interest in spending time with people his own age in the past, so I am hoping that this is a development that will be taken smoothly.”
“He has?” Remus asked, not recalling hearing anything like that from Teddy in previous conversations.
“Yes, when were initially discussing the bond between him and myself. I used some analogy comparing his learning here with school, and he immediately latched onto the concept of other children. I told him that I would try to arrange something, but this was hardly what I had in mind.”
Remus smiled weakly. “I don’t know if anyone had this in mind.”
Severus shrugged. “I was always shite at Divination.”
“Outstanding in smart arse-ery, though.”
“Exactly.” Severus started down towards the main floor of the house. Once they were in the kitchen, he was drawn to the laboratory door, his hand resting on the knob for only a moment before he heard Remus clearing his throat pointedly behind him. He froze.
“Remember how we were going to eat before going to work?” Remus reminded him. They had forgone the shower, but the meal couldn’t be left to slide.
“Yes,” Severus sighed dramatically, “it must have slipped my mind.” He moved from the door and went to make himself a large mug of coffee, sitting at the table next to Teddy with reluctance. “Good morning, Teddy.” The child replied in kind, but he was having trouble focusing on the thought of anything but finding the answer down in the lab. He knew that he had a hard time refusing Remus anything, but this was starting to get ridiculous.
Numbers swam around in his mind, things filing themselves into the correct columns without the use of ink and parchment. He was certain that this new information would illuminate things for him, show him the long and meandering trail to success, if only he could begin. His body was healing and his hands shook, but there was nothing wrong with his mind, not the part of it that was used for problem solving, anyway. It would be the most productive escape from himself that he could imagine, and if all he had to do was choke down some food to get started, then he supposed it was a small price to pay.
As if reading his mind, Remus plunked down a plate of toast, fried eggs, fruit and tomato before him, as if he thought that by giving him some of everything, that he would eat more.
“How are you feeling this morning, Teddy?” Severus asked, pushing food around his plate in favour of actually eating it.
“Better, sir,” Teddy smiled at him. He was already finished eating and there was a book open in front of him. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Better, Teddy,” Severus replied in the same tone Teddy had answered him in.
The boy laughed.
He began to mechanically work through his plate. Everything tasted like wet ash in his mouth, so he chewed methodically and washed it down bite by bite with large swallows of coffee. Teddy was chatting away beside him, and he made answering sounds when he felt it was appropriate. His mind was elsewhere. He made it about two thirds of the way through his food before he began to feel nauseous, pushing it away slightly and bringing his mug more directly in front of him. He hoped it was sufficient to be allowed down to the lab. His knee was bouncing and he couldn’t seem to sit still.
Potter and Draco appeared in the kitchen at the same time. He was distracted from his line of thinking as he watched them serve themselves the breakfast Fred had made. They appeared to move around one another with a grater deal of confidence and familiarity than he had noticed before. He watched Potter push his godson out of the way playfully with his hip, Draco flinging a spoon full of fruit at him in retaliation. It briefly knocked him out of his reverie. He had rarely witnessed this type of easy, playful camaraderie from his godson with anyone, even when he was in the younger years at school, or even before.
They came to sit at the table, Potter waiting so Draco could move past him to sit at Snape’s side before taking his own seat.
“’Morning, Teddy,” Potter said, fork already halfway to his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. “What are you going to do today?”
“I’m going to eat, and then Fred is going to take me into town again!” The boy said with excitement.
“That sounds great!” Harry praised. “Maybe you’ll run into me and Draco there, we’ve got some business in Lastanchor as well.”
“That would be neat!” Teddy agreed happily.
“The two of you are going to see what support you can gather there?” Remus asked, politely, in between bites.
“Yes,” Draco chimed in. “The public has been backing us much more than we thought originally. If we had more manpower, more bodies working for our cause, we thought that we could help inform people of what was actually happening, what we are trying to do, much more efficiently.”
“Yeah,” Harry agreed, swallowing a mouthful of tomato. “If they’re with our cause and they turn out not to be crackpots, we were hoping to use them to set up a booth in Diagon Alley.”
“A booth?” Severus asked, trying not to sound disdainful.
“Yes,” Draco said, seeing that he needed to take over the conversation. “Not a protest, but a booth where we provided information to people. Sort of a permanent presence there, reminding people what is happening and what we want to do about it. What they can help us to do about it.”
“Yeah, George has already said that we can use the space out front of his shop. He wants to make a donation also, says that it’s what Fred would have wanted.”
“Weasley wants to make a donation?” Draco asked, apparently not having been informed of this.
“He does,” Harry said. “Well, kind of.”
“What does that mean, Potter?” Severus asked, sipping at his coffee, unsure if this conversation was giving him more gastrointestinal upset or not.
“It means that… Don’t tell anyone, alright?” he asked of the table, embarrassed. “Years ago, I gave Fred and George the start-up capital for their shop. I never allowed them to pay me back, even though they pestered me about it continuously. I wrote George recently, about the stall, and when he said we could use the front of the store, he offered again, and this time I didn’t refuse. I’m being paid back, with interest. Apparently, they’d made me a shareholder as well? I’ve got several years of dividends that they… that he’s been saving for me. I told him to send it all to your solicitor, along with whatever sum he wanted to donate in excess.”
“Potter…” Severus said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “How many Galleons are we talking about here?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know exactly,” Harry said, scratching the back of his neck. “George said he didn’t want to give me precise figures until he’d talked with his accountant. But from what he hinted at, I don’t suspect that it will be long before we’re hearing from Darien again.”
“Thank you,” Severus said quietly, wondering how he would ever live with being indebted to a Weasley, even if it was second or third hand down the line.
“Hey, I want this to work out as much as you.”
“Besides, with the combined Black and Potter fortunes, you mustn’t need for much,” Draco pointed out.
Harry turned quite red. “I’ve got some money left over, but with everyone rebuilding their lives and everything - I couldn’t just do nothing…”
“You gave most of it away,” Draco filled in, dumbfounded. It was unclear to the room if he was impressed or disgusted.
“People who I loved, who fought alongside me, were struggling to pull their lives out of the rubble after the war, so yeah, I eased their way with Galleons, until Hermione got involved…”
“And you realised that your vaults weren’t actually infinite,” Snape finished. He was dumbfounded himself. How many people needed to be ‘helped’ in order to decimate both the Potter and Black vaults, he couldn’t possibly even estimate.
“I mean, there is enough in there to get me through, and let’s say that I was counting on my job to be there…” Harry was obviously becoming uncomfortable. “Now that I’ve talked to George, the dividends will be more regular. I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t worry,” Draco said, patting Harry’s shoulder, “if I can find gainful employment, so can you. Isn’t saving the world getting a little stale at this point, anyway?”
Harry snorted, almost spitting milk out of his nose. “That’s right, you’re going to be a repairman! You’re right, Draco, in that case I’m positive I can support myself.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you anymore,” Draco said huffily, laughing anyway.
Severus, though smiling, rose from his seat. “Let me know how things go in town today,” he said. “I will be downstairs until late.”
“We will,” Draco told him. “Let me know if you need a second set of eyes. Potter can always get Granger to help, if we’re really screwed.”
“Weasley,” Severus corrected at the same time as Harry protested, “Hey!”
Teddy was quiet, taking his plate to the sink. On his way from the room, Snape caught his shirtsleeve, halting his exit. “You and I are still due some time to spend together,” he informed him, privately lamenting the time he would lose to solve his problem.
                “Yeah?” Teddy asked, his entire self seeming to perk up.
                “Of course,” Severus said, “yesterday – got away from us, and we were unable to do so. Tonight, after supper?” He mentally groaned. In the lab until late indeed. However, it would all be worth it to put a smile on the boy’s face.
“Okay, sir, that sounds great!” Teddy beamed, seeming to fall out of the quiet funk he’d been in all morning.
“I think so as well,” Severus smiled, his face not feeling as stiff as the day before. He turned the knob to the basement door. “Until then,” he tipped an invisible hat to the room. If Teddy was they only one to laugh, he still counted it as a victory as he descended the stairs.

Severus remained fully engrossed in his work until Remus came halfway down the stairs and told him that supper was nearly ready and that the ‘boys’ were back from town. He checked his timepiece, almost unable to believe that so many hours had passed.
He had done a satisfactory job. With the task at hand, he supposed that that was to be considered good work, though he didn’t really feel it. The knowledge that Teddy was a Metamorphmagus had been enlightening, though not in the way he had hoped. There was little to no information available about people with this ability. He had been able to fill in some of the variables, one at a time, with agonizing slowness, but something was still unclear. He felt as if he were on the cusp of it, that what he was looking into now somehow tied into the research he had done with the cubs in that basement, but a vital piece of the puzzle was still missing.
Everything seemed to make sense, the numbers balancing perfectly, until he cross referenced Teddy’s and Remus’ samples. There, everything fell apart, and he couldn’t say why. He accounted for Teddy’s transformative abilities, transposed the numbers for the markers in his blood sample to make them balance, in spite of the difference, but nothing was working.
Just for shits, he’d tried the calculations against Daniel’s blood instead. It had all been staggeringly straightforward, once he’d accounted for Teddy’s abilities as a Metamorphmagus. All of the strange abnormalities he had encountered previously aligned themselves with startling ease, and there was no doubt in his mind that the potion Teddy had consumed at the last full moon would do the same for Daniel. It was remarkable. It was beyond remarkable. There should be no way it would work, their samples were too different from one another, but there it was in ink in front of his face. No matter how many times he checked and double checked, the answer remained the same. Daniel would be free from his curse, he only needed to transform one more time.
Remus, on the other hand (and therefore every other lycanthrope that wasn’t anomalous, which was, well, nearly all of them), was posing more of a challenge. He was narrowing the field, as he had already determined twenty or so things that wouldn’t work, but there wasn’t time for that. There were countless calculations to work through until he found something that would even work as a prototype.
Merlin, maybe it was time to choke his pride down and recruit actual help. There wasn’t time for him to slog through on his own, hoping to find the right combination before he grew old. It was infuriating, he knew that with the correct assumptions and a little intuition, he could have the answer in ten minutes – or he could chase the answer for ten months or ten years, or ten lifetimes… He decided that it was worth the risk. Any risk, as long as they could find the solution. He put together a small package, tucking it away into his pocket. It contained written instructions, a bottle of Polyjuice and half a dozen hairs tied together with a fine string. He’d get Granger here safely, and one way or another, they’d smash their heads together until they found something to go on.
After that, he went back to work.
Remus called him up for supper just as he was finishing the last calculation for the set of trials he was currently working on. Still nothing. He felt like ripping out his hair.
He ignored his ‘summons’ until he heard Remus at the top of the stairs directing Teddy to go down and make sure he came up. Manipulative bastard. Of course, he set down his quill and followed the boy upstairs.

Everyone was at the table for supper except for Daniel. With a bit of private discussion, Snape found out from Fred that Daniel had been fed and bathed and was asleep again. So, nothing unexpected on that front, at least.
“How was your trip into town?” Snape asked Teddy, sitting at the table and beginning to dish himself up a modest plate.
“Awesome!” Teddy exclaimed. “Fred took me to the shops, but after, we went to the park again. Those same kids were there, and we played on the slide! They had a kite last time, sir. It flew without magic, just like the paper planes.”
Severus smiled in spite of himself at the mental image that conjured. “Wonderful,” he agreed. “I have a jar of marbles in the attic, maybe later tonight I’ll teach you how to play. The next time you go into town, you can bring them and teach the other children, if they don’t already know how. You may recall them from your childhood, Draco.”
“Marbles?” Teddy asked, amazed even though he clearly didn’t know what they were.
“Oh Merlin,” Draco laughed, setting his fork on the edge of his plate. “I’d forgotten about those. We used to play for hours!”
“You were insufferable if we didn’t play for hours,” Severus corrected. “My back is still recovering from kneeling over like that.”
“How do you play marbles?” Remus asked.
“They’re a Muggle game, the items themselves are smooth spheres of glass,” Severus explained. “You draw a circle on the ground, each player places their marbles inside of it, and then everyone takes turns trying to hit their opponents marbles out of the circle.” He did not mention that when he had played as a child, he had been all of the opposing players himself.
“Cool,” Teddy said. “You’ll show me how after supper?”
“I will,” he agreed. He was itching to get back into the lab, but he supposed that if Remus was going to make him go to sleep, then there was little point. He would be back at it tomorrow, both before and after his wretched conversation with the two reporters.
“You played Muggle games as a kid?” Harry asked Draco.
“Severus always did have the most unconventional activities planned for me,” Draco said. “Told my father that it would help increase my hand-eye coordination.”
“Convince me it didn’t,” Severus challenged with a quirk of his lips.
Draco shrugged. “It didn’t hurt, I’m certain.”
“High praise,” Severus said with disdain.
“Was your trip into town successful?” Remus asked the boys. He was sure they’d all be arguing over the game soon as they started to play, and he may as well try to keep the dinner conversation civil.
“Sure was,” Harry said enthusiastically. “There were at least twenty names on the petition slip Sebastian had put up in his storefront and we spoke to another half a dozen that said they would like to be part of things but want to keep their name of any paperwork that the Ministry might see.”
“Paranoid lot,” Severus chimed in approvingly.
“Many of them have friends and family in other communities, or even other nations, that would be willing to help as well,” Draco added. “It seems that as if we have gained a bit of a following, from everything that’s been put in the papers. We can use them to help us put up posters and fliers in all of the Magical communities, as well as get them to show up to protests and be of assistance at any other functions we may throw to try and get the rest of society on our side. Even though they are seeming to sway already.”
“Excellent!” Remus praised. “It sounds like it was well worth your while.”
“More than,” Harry agreed. “We are going to need to get a subscription to a few international papers, as well. Word is that we are gaining traction abroad even more swiftly than we are at home.”
“That is excellent news,” Severus agreed. “I will have Fred look into it.”
“We also stopped in to see Sebastian, obviously, as the sign-up sheet was in his storefront,” Draco mentioned.
“How did that go?” Snape asked dryly.
“Wonderfully,” Draco answered. “He took us on a tour of his workshop as well as the blacksmith’s forge in the back. It was very enlightening.”
“Wasn’t it,” Remus thought he heard Harry mutter under his breath, the darker haired youth looking much more unimpressed than his blond counterpart.
“You got to see his shop? That’s so cool!” Teddy chimed in. “Were there neat tools?”
“There were,” Draco smiled, “I’m sure he’d show you sometime when you're in town with Fred or Severus.”
“Awesome!” Teddy exclaimed, returning to his breakfast but obviously lost in his own imagination of what that would be like.
“How did your research go?” Draco asked once he had finished chewing and set his fork down.
Snape shrugged. “Better than it could have gone, worse than I had hoped that it would.”
“What does that mean?” Harry inquired.
“It means that I have figured out only a section of the quandary. The problem, as a whole, is still a problem.”
“Any chance you could clarify the solved bit for us, at the moment?” Draco asked, eyes flickering to Teddy before returning to his godfather’s.
“I have found a way to apply the solution to our new ‘friend’,” Severus replied tactfully, “but not to the dilemma in its entirety.”
“Not the desired results, but surely it is still progress?” Draco needled.
“Surely,” Snape said sarcastically.
“Are you planning on applying the solution to the applicable parties at the next… event?” Draco pressed, inquiring if he would use it on Daniel upon the next full.
“One or two calculations remain to be done, and then I will expect you to check my work, but yes. I believe it would be for the best.” It would put a buffer between Daniel and WIBNA, at any rate.
Draco seemed unsure how to take this, attempting to accept it easily, but failing. “Of course, I would – thank you – I mean, of course I will.”
“Potter,” Severus said, “I have an invitation for you to deliver.”
“I’m done, can I go to my room?” Teddy asked suddenly, finally past the point of boredom he could tolerate in any one conversation.
“Of course,” Remus replied.
“Come and get me when you want to play marbles,” Teddy called, already hurrying from the room.
“So, where can postman Potter deliver said mail?” Harry asked.
“To your friend, Miss Weasley – nee Granger, not Ginevra, in case that needed clarification.”
“The scar didn’t cause brain damage, but thanks,” Harry replied with a roll of his eyes.
“Arguable,” Severus said under his breath.
“I’ll take it, quit with the sweet talk,” Harry agreed, rolling his eyes. “What is it?”
“A bottle of Polyjuice and the hair of a muggle woman of no consequence to anyone. It will allow her to arrive here without scrutiny. Draco can look over all of the work I have done now, and when she arrives, we will have her review them as well. Hopefully, the three of us can work together to come up with the end solution.”
“You want her to come here, now that WIBNA is looking right at us?” Harry asked, obviously wary. “What happened to delivering her the information and having her look at it away from here?”
Snape pinched the bridge of his nose tightly in his fingers. “As long as it doesn’t compromise the safety of her or her family,” he agreed slowly, “then yes, I think that would be best.”
“Why doesn’t she use my Portkey?” Remus offered. “She could Apparate out, but Portkey in. Would the wards allow that? It would keep the Apparition Shields in place for arrivals, at least.”
“I could make them,” Severus said. “It is good for more than one use? It would be the best option, by far.”
“I was told that it was,” Remus answered. “I used it once as a test, and then Daniel used it again after that.”
“I will include it in the package, with instructions,” Severus said.
Remus took out his wand, gathered all of his strength, and then cast an Accio. To his surprise and everyone else’s, the envelope containing the ‘ticket’ came flying into his hand.
“Great work,” Severus praised, one slender eyebrow raised.
Lupin blushed like an embarrassed teenager, the heat making it as obvious to him as the reddening of his face was to the rest of the room. “I’m not quite back to full strength yet, but I’m getting there.” He handed the envelope to Severus.
Snape took it and placed it into the envelope with everything else and gave it to Harry. “If she’s to come tomorrow, tell her it had best be earlier in the day, as I have an interview with the press tomorrow evening. The day after is so far free of engagements.”
“Alright,” Harry nodded and agreed.
“If you leave now, you can return in time for marbles,” Severus added wryly.
“I’d better hurry then,” Potter said, heading for the door and smacking Draco on the shoulder with the envelope as he passed. “Better hope those hands and eyes are all coordinated by the time I get back,” he grinned.
“I’ll be waiting, Potter.”
“You’d better get some practise shots in while I’m gone. Otherwise, well, you’re so pale that you’ll show all the dirt when I clean the floor with you,” there was definite mischief sparkling behind Harry’s lenses as he waited for the rebuttal.
“Is there a guaranteed delivery date on that envelope? Get out of here, already!” Draco laughed and waved him off.
Harry was off out the back door.
“You seem to be on friendlier terms with Potter, as of late,” Severus pointed out, thinking that perhaps he could startle some of the truth from his godson with a more direct approach than usual.
Draco simply shrugged. “Shared causes, and all that,” he said. “Besides, I’m not the one who invited him to live with me, no matter how temporarily. Now, there was recently some very serious talk about me getting my hands on the work you’ve done so far. I’m in a hurry to squint at it all night trying to decipher its genius,” he stood up.
“My penmanship is not that bad.” Severus defended without any heat.
“It isn’t that good either. Mostly, its just tiny and crammed in there at a forty-five-degree angle like space is at a bloody premium,” Draco smiled politely, in contrast to his words.
“Get into the basement, you wretched boy,” Severus told him. “I’ll give you everything up to this point, other than the bit I am directly working on.” He opened the door to the basement and waved Draco through. He looked enquiringly at Lupin. “Remus?”
“I’ll sit this one out and meet you upstairs,” he said, “I’ll get the full run down when Hermione is here, anyway, not that I’ll comprehend most of it. You won’t be long?”
“I shouldn’t be.”
“You know where to find me when you’re done.” Remus smiled and headed for the stairs, wondering if he wouldn’t have to go and retrieve them from the lab when Harry was back.

A/N: So, its really been a while, hey? Hope you're still out there reading this! Life, has been terribly chaotic for the last year, so I really have to apologize for the wait. I have the next chapter about half written, so here is hoping that I find more time to work on it and can get it up in better thim than this one. Please let me know if you are still reading, and what your thoughts are! Stay safe out there!
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The Long Road