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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
- 67
- 68
- 69
Chapter 68: The Prize

"Greyback," Snape whispered, as if the word had been punched out of him, fighting the urge to vomit as he managed to leave David's mind painlessly despite Snape's own distress.

"Shit!" exploded Black. "You walked straight into a trap!" he accused David. The others began to argue and witter as the David apologised convulsively and Tonks's voice rose in his defence.

"How long?" Snape said, his voice dangerous as he fought to restrain his fear and anger.

"Since what?" Tonks asked testily, her hair now red and her eyes a flaming orange in anger at the seeming antipathy towards David.

Snape turned on her. "Since Remus was taken down by Greyback, bloody obviously, Auror Tonks. How long?" he spat.

"Well, David got back to me a couple of hours ago," Tonks replied defensively.

Snape's eyes widened. "Why the delay?" he shouted. Did you feel the need to kiss it better? he thought viciously, but he did not break her cover, such as it was now, the way she was behaving.

Black suddenly stood in front of Snape and grabbed both of his upper arms hard, and walked forwards forcefully so that Snape, completely shocked by the sudden action, had to back out and Black slammed the kitchen door behind them.

"Think, Snape, think!" Black whispered hoarsely. "Your cover."

The sense of what Black said cut through Snape's fug of distress and he halted the imminent hex that had been forming on his lips to blast Black backwards into the kitchen. It had come to this: Black giving him advice to calm him down. Of course, he was right. Snape was just about keeping his temper under control, but seeing Lupin being struck by Greyback, that foul-smelling epitome of everything Lupin hated, that Dark creature that was responsible for the misery Lupin endured – it made his being flame with fury.

"Two hours already in the hands of Greyback, Black. Do you have any idea what could be happening to him?" Snape's voice cracked as freezing fear slowly seeped into his soul, dousing his anger. "And it's the full moon tonight. It isn't even up for question that Greyback will have taken him to the Dark Lord. Death Eaters don't believe in delayed gratification! They'll play with him before the moon's up and then when the moon's up ..." Snape could feel his own magic pulsing, desperate to be utilised – to be free – as his sentence caught in his throat and he stood there breathing erratically, his own terror rising, black eyes locked with slate.

"Snape. Severus. You're scaring me," Black said quietly.

"You should be. You should be scared." Snape exhaled hugely and then breathed deeply another three times to steady himself and then nodded. "Okay, I'm fine. Let me go now. I need to go in to get my cloak. I have to go."

"Not by yourself surely? You'll blow your cover. You haven't done a tremendous job of maintaining it just now. They'll kill you both! The Order – tell Mad-Eye and Kingsley where you think he'll be and they can mount a rescue mission!" Black said desperately.

"It was shock, that's all. We don't have time for all that." Snape stood ramrod straight once more, controlling himself fully now as he waved his hand at the kitchen dismissively. "Black – I am a spy. I know what I am doing. I have ways of getting to Remus that the Order simply doesn't, do you understand? There is no earthly way that the Order can infiltrate Malfoy Manor and we can't risk an all-out assault on the Dark Lord's headquarters – it would fail, I promise you."

Black held fast to Snape's arms as he searched his eyes, and then nodded and released his grip, and stepped back and opened the kitchen door.

"I know he's a vital asset, Snape, but some of us think of him as our friend ..." Black said loudly, improvising as he stalked through the door.

They were assailed with a barrage of questions but Snape took no notice, only vaguely hearing anything through his mounting deep Occlusion, but grabbed his cloak to leave.

Moody elbowed his way to stand in front of Snape, his magical eye swivelling to the bite then to the circlet. "If yer going to do this, Snape, I need to talk to you," he growled and stomped out into the hallway.

Before Snape could follow, Black grabbed his wrist, staring into Snape's eyes, ignoring the commotion behind them.

"You can find him, can't you, Snape? In time?" he said desperately, grey eyes dark with fear.

"Yes, I will."

"Good luck."

At that moment, Snape and Black understood each other perfectly. Just for that moment.

Snape shut the kitchen door and faced Moody.

"I don't think this is wise, Snape. Yer too close." It was the first time Moody had ever made reference to what he knew about their relationship to Snape.

"That may well be true, but you know why there is no time. They will make him fight Greyback as wolves. If I'm not with Remus when the moon rises, he'll be incapacitated. He'll have no chance at all. He'll be torn apart." Snape throat closed with that thought. "There is no choice. It can't wait. I must do this now."

Minutes passed as Moody stared, natural and magical eyes fixed on Snape's. Then he nodded and, turning abruptly, he lurched back to the kitchen.

Snape stepped out of the front door, breathing deeply and summoned Tippy to collect his robes and mask from his trunk at Hogwarts.

oooOOOooo

Snape Apparated just outside the grounds of Malfoy Manor and strode down the lengthy gravel pathway and through the wrought iron gates that admitted him by recognising his Dark Mark. In that time, he Occluded deeply and densely, emptying himself of as much emotion as he was able, knowing Black had spoken truthfully: he had lost his composure very badly indeed. It would have fatal consequences if that happened now. He mustered his plausible cover story for attending unsummoned.

As Snape entered the entrance hall, he saw Greyback was grumbling to other lesser followers of the Dark Lord. Snape was pleased to note large hex welts on his face but he knew Lupin would be worse off. He passed various others, nodding his usual curt greeting. He found the Dark Lord in the Malfoy's dining room in discussion with Malfoy and Yaxley. He stood and waited, out of earshot. Of course, the Dark Lord missed nothing. Like Albus Dumbledore, no person was ever in the Dark Lord's vicinity without his being aware of it. The Dark Lord turned his head in that reptilian fashion that made Snape feel vaguely nauseous.

"Severus!" the Dark Lord greeted, and left Malfoy and Yaxley in mid-sentence, gliding over to stand before Snape. "You have news for me?"

"My Lord," Snape inclined his head in greeting. "I have not had the chance to attend you with this news but there has been much uproar over the past two days. Perhaps Lucius has already told you; I'm sure that those in the know at the Ministry can talk of little else. The old man has been chased away from the school by Umbridge and Fudge."

The Dark Lord's serpentine face registered as much surprise as its stretched skin was able. "This is good news indeed, Severus. Unmask and tell me how this was accomplished."

Snape told the Dark Lord of the discovery of Potter's Defence group by Umbridge and how she, in her obsession with Fudge, had fed Fudge's own obsessive fear of a coup from Dumbledore, leading Fudge to turn up with two Aurors to arrest Dumbledore. He had fled with the phoenix, leaving the wards unguarded and now capable of further compromise and assault.

The Dark Lord smile was disconcertingly huge and unpleasant. "So, it becomes just a matter of time ." He paused, considering Snape's face. "Well done, Severus. This has not been reported to me. I shall have words with Lucius about this."

Snape commended himself on the job well done so far. Now, he needed to make the Dark Lord take him to the dungeons.

"I have also just left an Order meeting," he said, as almost a throwaway line.

"Ah yes?"

"There is further news that my Lord may find of interest. It appears the old man's pet werewolf has fallen foul of a pack of the beasts," Snape smirked unpleasantly. "As if there would be any honour amongst beasts such as those. I thought you would wish to know, my Lord, since he has been such an irritation to your plans." Snape inwardly prayed he had judged his tone right.

"Follow me, Severus. I did indeed know about the old man's pet beast." The Dark Lord sounded well pleased, in a way that chilled Snape's blood.

He followed as the Dark Lord led the way to the dungeons and pointed gracefully with his wand. There in one corner, slumped and manacled to the stone wall, bloody, battered but also twitching and convulsing from the application of the Cruciatus was Remus Lupin. Snape's heart jumped and he stifled a cry. As far as Snape could tell, he was barely conscious. Snape could tell from the occasional shimmer in the air that a shield charm separated Lupin from all else.

He only had a second to martial all his skill to keep his Occlusion intact or the Dark Lord would sense something wrong in Snape's demeanour. It was all to play for. He must dissemble. From the very far reaches of his memory, so discarded he barely remembered he had harboured these thoughts once, he pulled his old thoughts of hatred and revenge for the werewolf to the fore for the Dark Lord to read when he pounced on Snape's mind, as he so surely would.

"Ah, my Lord. I should have known it was done at your command." He made a small bow. A slow count of one – two - three. "My Lord?" Snape said, his tone light and enquiring.

The Dark Lord turned swiftly and gracefully to face Snape, the look on his face enquiring.

"The beast - may I take a closer look?"

"By all means, Severus." The Dark Lord lifted the magical barrier with a small flick of his wand. Snape moved slowly and deliberately as if he had all the time in the world, even though he wanted to run to Lupin, scoop him up in his arms and Disapparate with him to safety, he heard the Dark Lord say, "That particular beast is of great interest today." Snape hoped his freezing heart could not be discerned by the Dark Lord. "Do you know why?"

"I know not, my Lord. For my part, you know my reasons for being interested in Remus Lupin."

"Ah yes," the Dark Lord said, his tone philosophical. "One of your childhood tormentors. For my part, as you put it Severus, he has been proving quite a thorn in my side with Greyback's recruitment of the werewolves. The beast has indeed been busy interfering and he's set up some kind of system of working with Idris. I want to find out what it is. I very much want Idris and his pack. Idris has a special talent: one that occurs but once a century. I want it working for me!" the Dark Lord hissed venomously.

"So," Snape asked, his exterior calm, but cold panic washing over him, "you intend to kill this beast once you have the knowledge?"

"He's proved quite resistant to my extracting the information I want from him. It is often the case with beasts. The animal in them protects them. He has no value to me now other than sport, and I have tired of him. But he appears to be of interest to others." The Dark Lord moved away, and Snape stole a look at Lupin and then followed.

"If he is of no further use to you, my Lord, may I claim him as my prize," Snape ventured.

He felt the Dark Lord in his mind on the instant, not savagely this time; but stealthily. Snape freely allowed access to the memories he had selected: that night in the Shrieking Shack when he was a teenager, his artificial boggart, fantasies he'd had of torturing the beast slowly, or even using his hair, sweat and semen for potions and threatening to use his blood and bone for the darkest of potions and rituals. Yes, all of that is what he used to think of Lupin, now his husband. He added his memories of the Shrieking Shack where he had bound Lupin so cruelly and of revealing his secret to the Slytherins and of The Daily Prophet that followed. The Dark Lord saw it all in blisteringly fast sequence and looked satisfied.

"You have been patient Severus. Patience should be rewarded. But tell me, why does Malfoy want the beast?" Snape found he wasn't even shocked that Malfoy desired Lupin. The man really was sexually incontinent.

"I expect to satisfy his usual peccadilloes, my Lord." Snape managed to sound bored by the prospect, but then bowed his head again. "However, I understand that my blood is tainted and he is more entitled than I through his blood purity, if you so choose, but I had hoped I could enjoy my prize unsullied, my Lord, if it pleases you." Snape inclined his head in deference, showing, he judged, just the right amount of hesitation and humility that played to the Dark Lord's ego, but also to the Dark Lord's own distaste for Malfoy's overbearing sense of entitlement and rapacious sexual appetite, rivalled only by Greyback's.

The Dark Lord looked at Snape appraisingly. "You ask me for very little, Severus. Malfoy is a glutton, asking only when I catch him in the act of taking. Nor did he tell me that the old man had been unseated. For that alone, he deserves more than my scorn." Snape allowed himself a jot of satisfaction that Malfoy's promised reckoning for his gloating over Christmas was about to be delivered.

"You have only asked for a prize once before – the pretty, red haired witch, if I recall. Malfoy treats himself freely to males and females alike. He's isn't even discriminating. But a beast ... who would want to defile themselves with a beast?" The Dark Lord sneered, stretching his white scaled skin hideously. "Perhaps we should save him from himself." The Dark Lord chuckled and Snape smiled tightly in obliging appreciation of his master's humour.

"I sent Greyback to trap him, of course. He wasn't allowed to maim Lupin until I have finished with him. I've had to keep him away from Greyback and, of course, Macnair's usual interest in torturing anything that moves. We were going to keep him to fight Greyback when they transformed. Hmm, but if that happens, I doubt there'll be much left for you to have your vengeance. I see no reason to put a beast'srequest before yours." The Dark Lord made a dismissive shooing gesture in Lupin's direction. "Take the beast for your own, Severus, for your potions, or whatever you will. Ensure his collar is secure. He has had no Wolfsbane." The Dark Lord cast an incantation over the collar to bind it to Snape, whose face remained impassive at the news of what he had feared would have awaited Lupin had he not arrived when he had.

Malfoy, followed by Yaxley, now entered the dungeons and joined the Dark Lord and Snape, and gave a curt nod to Snape.

"I have awarded the beast to Severus, Lucius. You are aware this is the werewolf he has wanted for some time. I trust it will not cause you too much of a sense of loss," the Dark Lord sneered.

"As you will, my Lord," Malfoy murmured but his hard eyes flicking to Snape in irritation. The Dark Lord swept away.

"I asked for him first, Severus. I don't appreciate being usurped like this," Malfoy said, his tone clipped in annoyance.

"Yes, you've always had a particular interest in this werewolf," Snape noted softly. "Perhaps you should tell our Lord of your little jape with the headmaster and my old blood parchments two years ago. Perhaps, our Lord would appreciate the joke as much as he appreciated the loss of his diary." Snape tilted his head enquiringly as he watched Malfoy's face become almost transparent as it paled further doubtlessly in remembrance of the severe and bloody punishment he had suffered at the wand of the Dark Lord.

"Lucius." Malfoy's head snapped up to the Dark Lord, who was ascending the stairs. "I believe I have some business with you. Follow me."

Snape watched Malfoy's pale complexion tinge almost green, recognising, as did Snape, the tone implying that correction was due and payable. Snape had no time to feel satisfied.

He turned back to Lupin and approached him so Lupin was obscured from Macnair's view. "Lupin!" he sneered, crossing his arms. Lupin eyes fluttered open to meet Snape's.

Play along with me. Do you understand, my love? Just pretend.

I ... yes ...

Snape felt the weakness of Lupin's mind voice and knew Lupin's could barely think straight; he could see, even with Lupin clothed, the pulsing of the Cruciatus racing under his skin and who knew how badly the Dark Lord had hurt Lupin when he had Legilimised him.

"Get on your feet, you filthy beast!" Snape kicked Lupin's boot although the kick hit more of the ground than Lupin's foot, and then he charmed the manacles undone. Lupin's arms dropped and Snape cast Mobilicorpus to raise him up from the floor so that Lupin hung in the air, Snape hearing for the first time Lupin's laboured breathing.

"Now, I should take the beast now to my cellar before he changes. His cloak and wand?" Snape barked as he held out his hand to Macnair, who looked as if he was also nursing a sense of loss.

"How do you know this beast has a wand?" Macnair challenged.

"I went to school with him, did I not?" Snape drawled impatiently, covering the tug now pulling at his gut. "Now! Before moonrise." Macnair handed over Lupin's cloak and stave with bad grace. Snape hurriedly placed the wand in his cloak and then placed Lupin's cloak around his shoulders roughly, yanking the tie unkindly around his neck and then Snape led him pointing his wand imperiously at the enchanted collar out of the dungeons to the hall, as he heard Malfoy's cries of pain from the study, and then out into the grounds past the gate. As soon as he was beyond Malfoy's wards, he released the mobility charm as he pulled Lupin to him to Disapparate to Spinner's End.

They Apparated through Snape's wards and Snape supported Lupin to the settee, placing him there gently and then he strengthened his wards to none should follow. Then, as he murmured soft words of reassurance to Lupin, he quickly cast to remove the collar, throwing it to one side and healed the raw chafing around Lupin's neck and kissed his fevered forehead. He had no time to heal the rest of Lupin's wounds, but quickly Summoned his Cruciatus Potion and tipped several large measures down Lupin's throat, who drifted in and out of consciousness with rasping breaths only just managing to say Snape's name. He didn't need Lupin's wolf maddened when it became unbound shortly. He threw off his Death Eater robes, throwing his mask on top of them, and then supported Lupin down into the cellar, locking and warding the cellar door, in case he had badly miscalculated the strength of Lupin's Claim upon him.

Once in the cellar, he quickly Vanished his Potions equipment, relocating it upstairs so the cellar was bare. It was just him and Lupin now, and Snape's wildly pounding heart beat and tugging gut. He spelled away Lupin's clothes so they would not be torn any more than they already had been in his fight with Greyback, wincing as he saw the extent of wounds on Lupin's body – not magical wounds, but Greyback's fists, boots, and sharpened teeth and nails. Snape knew exactly how Greyback would be repaid – oh, he knew exactly - he had formulated the plan as he had brought Lupin home.

Quickly, he removed his own shirt and tied back his hair with a Conjured tie so the bite was visible and accessible. He had never spent the full moon with the proper wolf: Lupin had always had Wolfsbane. Snape couldn't deny it to himself: he was completely terrified.

He propped Lupin in a sitting position against the wall and then knelt by his side, feeling the familiar tugging that the moon was rising, watching the semi-conscious man whose breathing was so laboured, and who eyes fluttered with pain in time with each visible coruscation of the torture curse across his body. As Snape stroked Lupin's hair, it seemed to Snape that Lupin was trying to wake fully, but did not have the strength. Perhaps it was just as well. Snape's mouth was dry and his heart beat now so fast and hard it hurt to breathe. He closed his eyes to try to calm himself.

He suddenly felt two large, strong hands grip him harshly and push him to the cold stone floor: Lupin, just conscious, his eyes oddly glazed and the tremors of the Cruciatus still chasing across his body. Snape's own hands grasped at Lupin's wrists, uncomprehending, and struggled vainly in his fear as Lupin pinned him to the floor.

"Take them off and turn over," Lupin growled. "Now! While there is time."

Snape's hands began to tremble with adrenaline as he struggled out of his trousers, not excited at all, but quite afraid – it was so very near the moon. With no preparation at all, Lupin pushed himself into Snape, who felt nothing but burning pain as Snape's own fear tightened him further. He hissed in pain and clenched his fists hard, sure his nails broke his skin. Lupin embedded himself roughly, his fingers digging deeply into Snape's shoulders to hold in him place, and Snape heard Lupin's breathing was raw. He was near to turning. Snape's panic rose. Lupin found the bite on Snape's neck and bit down on it very hard, and Snape suddenly found his body release from the mind-numbing fear and relax to welcome the painful intrusion. He became hard on that instant and with the next two brutal thrusts, Lupin bit and sucked again, Snape came hard, followed by Lupin who cried out in an odd noise presaging the change. Lupin rolled off and crawled away and curled in on himself with a whimper.

Lupin's breathing changed to shallow panting and, even barely conscious, he began to keen as he changed. Snape, himself breathless and shaking from shock, crawled shakily over to him and held him, as they had always done, wondering what would happen when the wolf awoke in human arms.

The change happened much faster. Snape wondered wildly in his adrenaline-fuelled hyper-awareness if Lupin's semi-conscious state or the lack of Wolfsbane meant the process was unimpeded. The change was quick and, from what he could see, fluid.

The animal (for animal it certainly was) growled low in its throat. Slowly as slowly could be, Snape lowered his arms and his head, keeping his eyes on the floor as he moved carefully away from the wolf and equally slowly lay on the floor so his neck was exposed. The deep, resonant rumble in the creature's throat increased, becoming a snarl. Snape could feel the sound reverberate right through this body to his core. Snape's heart beat so wildly now, he thought it would shatter his rib cage. Snape could not look. He should not look – he knew he mustn't meet the wolf's eyes. If he could have whimpered his submission, he would have but he was beyond terror now. The wolf was snarling at him and Snape was sure the Cruciatus potion hadn't had time to take. The wolf would have the pain of the Cruciatus and Snape was trapped in a warded cellar with a wolf in pain.

Had he had a choice? Could he have stayed outside? No. He knew that now. He was mated to Lupin and prayed harder to all the earth's magic that Lupin's wolf would recognise him through the pain.

The snarling was louder and Snape heard it increase and his eyes snapped open just in time to see a viciously swift movement as the wolf's enormous paw swiped at his midriff and the wolf's claws tore stripes across his stomach as it sent him flying. Snape yelled in pain and curled up as the pain radiated from the gouges and in that instant the wolf dived at him. Snape's primeval fear overwhelmed him finally and he tried to scuttle away, holding his arms across his wounds, but the wolf pinned him, slavering on him, tasting his fear in the air.

Then Snape knew something had finally cut through the animal's haze of pain. As it had slavered on Snape's neck growling to hold its prey in a grasp of fear and submission, it caught his scent – their scent. The scenting of taste softened to one of enquiry, sniffing mightily to take the scent in through its mouth as well as nostrils. The wolf then nuzzled its snout over Snape's backside. Snape flinched with increased fear. Merlin and Nimue, no, please! Snape prayed to any force that might take pity on him. The wolf spent a long time taking in the scent of their recent sex and Snape then understood why Lupin had forced both himself and Snape to that brutal and swift rut – to mark Snape for the wolf. The wolf then went back to the renewed Claiming bite, and a small whining started at the back of the wolf's throat and the animal started licking the bite.

And so this is Moony, Snape thought madly, his own pain overtaking his fear now. Snape started to feel an insane urge to laugh as the animal's snout pushed at his neck, but the pain from the deep gouges to his rib cage was too great. I'm an inch away from disembowelment and Moony wants to play. Merlin help me, he thought as he inch by inch lost awareness and passed out.

oooOOOooo

He awoke. It was daylight. He was not dead. He was startled by his survival. Groggily, he looked around. He was in their bed, under crisp clean sheets and he felt appalling. Then he remembered what had happened and, gingerly, he picked up the bed covers with both hands to look at his midriff.

Four huge deep raked scars cut across his ribs. They were silver as if they were years old. Lupin – no, Moony – must have healed them – well, as well as cursed scars could ever be healed.

"I'm so sorry, Severus," Lupin said gently, standing at the doorway. He was ghostly pale, his body not as badly bruised or cut as yesterday, but he still looked battered. Interestingly, he seemed to have no after-effects of being Legilimised by the Dark Lord and all traces of the Cruciatus were gone. Snape could only assume, as he watched Lupin levitate a tray in with porridge and tea and placed it on the bedside cabinet, that these had been healed by the reversion. He made a mental note for his research.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Snape said with effort. "It should be me looking after you today," he said crossly as Lupin sat on the side of the bed and stroked his face as he passed him a large glass of water. Lupin shushed him like a child and kissed his lips lightly.

"Did the wolf heal me?"

"He must have done. When I came round, your wounds looked like this, but there was blood everywhere. I managed to find your Blood Replenishing Potion though and tipped that down your throat!" Lupin smiled a small sad smile. "And your internal injury potion." His eyes filled. "I'm so sorry I did that to you – took you like that. I had to ..."

Snape grasped Lupin's hands. "I understood," he said quickly. "You had to mark me for the wolf. I understood." Then a recollection crossed Snape's mind.

"The wolf didn't ... you know. Would it have ...?" He found he didn't want to articulate the thought in case it made it a reality.

"What? What are you ... oh." Lupin's eyes went wide and then he grimaced on understanding Snape's concern. "God, I hope not."

"You wouldn't know?" Snape asked, his throat dry.

"I remember nothing when I transform without Wolfsbane, Severus, I'm sorry." Lupin winced.

"Perhaps, it's just as well we don't know," Snape said, his hand stroking Lupin's still bruised face.

After they'd eaten breakfast, they had fallen asleep again, until Snape awoke with a start.

"Remus?" Snape said sharply.

Lupin made a soft, acknowledging noise as he nuzzled Snape's hair.

"We need to tell Albus you're okay."

"I sent my Patronus this morning," Lupin said lazily, pulling Snape to him gently. "Got a response with one of Fawkes's feathers," he mumbled.

"Don't you think you should tell me?" Snape chided, trying to turn to look at Lupin, who remained happily snuggled in the crook of Snape's neck and shoulder.

Lupin sighed dramatically and grabbed his wand: "Accio Dumbledore's letter!" he said. "It could've have waited, you know."

Snape carefully sat up as a tiny whooshing sound brought with it a parchment letter. Lupin cast a charm to make it legible.

This has been very irresponsible of you, Severus. You realise you could have failed and been taken ill in front of the Death Eaters? If Greyback had seen that as he transformed, he would have told them what that meant. You would have been killed. And I cannot bring myself to contemplate the manner in which Voldemort would have exacted his vengeance on both of you for your blood treachery, Severus. You must never be so unthinking again. For both your sakes.

Why didn't you contact me yourself? Are you hurt?

Albus.

"At least it's not a Howler," Lupin said.

"It didn't need to be, did it?" Snape said quietly, his neck and cheeks flushing with shame. Everything Dumbledore had said was right, and the tone! He'd never received such a harsh letter from Dumbledore. In the cold light of day, Snape could have brought about their downfall. He had been so wrapped up in saving Lupin, he had not actually stopped to look at it dispassionately. For the first time he realised, he wasn't capable of being dispassionate as far as Lupin was concerned. A worm of worry was working in his gut.

oooOOOooo

Sitting up in bed, Snape had told Lupin exactly what had happened at Malfoy Manor as he applied salves to the remaining bruises and cuts that the transformation and reversion had not healed as Lupin straddled his thighs. There were still many and he treated each and every one with reverence.

"So you are my knight in shining armour, Severus. My black knight, of course, as you want my body parts, and not in a good way," Lupin said, smiling as Snape smoothed the salve into a large bruise on Lupin's thigh.

"Knight in shining armour! What nonsense," Snape snorted with one eyebrow raised. "It's not as if I stormed the manor on my trusty steed and my large sword with a ridiculous name – oh I don't know – let's call it Godric ..."

"The horse or the sword?" Lupin quipped.

"Does it matter? Either would be ridiculous and something a hopeless Gryffindor would do," Snape griped. "I'm a Slytherin. I still achieve what I want, but indirectly. You're safe with me for now." Then he sighed. "But sooner or later we'll have to plan how you escape from my dastardly clutches."

"If I escape," Lupin said, holding Snape's hands still, "you'll be punished."

Snape looked up into Lupin's blue eyes. "Probably. We will try to plan it so my punishment won't be too severe." Snape's eyes darted away. He couldn't see how he would get away without being corrected but, as much as he would like to keep Lupin here, lie to the world that he'd died so the Dark Lord wouldn't look for him, Lupin would never accept that. He expected to do his share of work for the Order so somehow, they would have to find a way of freeing him.

Snape carefully put the Salve on the bedside cabinet and pulled Lupin down to kiss him, as gently as he could as his hands held Lupin's thighs and gently squeezed them.

Lupin returned the kiss, and their lips parted as their tongues met and curled around each. "Do you want me, Severus?" Lupin murmured. "Are you well enough?" Lupin had taken the weight of his body on his elbows, but Snape could feel Lupin's cock hard against his own. Snape raised his hands to hold Lupin's head firmly as he kissed him deeply and passionately. But of course he did and what did being well enough matter? He could have lost him and the thought cut through him. He had to have him. He must.

"Yes, yes, Remus," he said softly, lowering his hands to stroke down Lupin's back slowly with his fingernails so Lupin gasped and cupped his backside, gently squeezing it, and then very slowly he traced his fingers between the cheeks and stroked the soft skin so Lupin gasped harder as the kiss continued. Snape stroked as Lupin gently moved his hips against Snape's so their cocks rubbed together, and their kissing became a little erratic at the feel of the friction, energising Snape, igniting him. The first of Snape's fingers traced Lupin's opening and slipped in, making Lupin moan deliciously, arching up away from the kiss and closing his eyes against the feel. Snape inserted a second, watching Lupin's face now, feeling the heat accumulating fast at Lupin's unfocused expression. Merlin, he wanted him so badly.

As he worked the two fingers, Lupin pushed himself up and raised himself so that Snape moved his hand around to the front and found his opening again, now finding Lupin's prostate so Lupin's head rolled back with a loud groan, tightening around Snape's fingers, Lupin's own fingers digging into Snape's hips.

Snape's mouth dried out completely as he watched Lupin's moving himself onto Snape's fingers, his own cock desperately hard wanting to be inside the man writhing and groaning above him. My Remus, he thought as he watched him, his own desire filling his whole body and densely fogging his mind. "My Remus," he murmured, making Lupin's face drop down to look at him with heavy lidded, dusky eyes.

Snape gently removed his fingers and guided his painfully hard cock under Lupin, never taking his eyes from Lupin's flushed face and beautifully glazed eyes.

"Remus," he murmured, "my love." Lupin blinked so slowly and then, just as slowly pushed himself, groaning, onto Snape's cock, stopping every so often to adjust as a low moan escaped from Snape's throat at Lupin's hot tightness. The sheer burning heat drawing down his cock made him moan even louder, unable now to tear his eyes from Lupin's as he ground down on his cock so beautifully, whispering Snape's name, as Snape took Lupin's erection in his hand.

I nearly lost him! he suddenly thought. Remus could have died. He felt his stomach lurch. His unfocused mind rebelled at the thought of ever being without this feeling, physical and emotional, this love. He grasped Lupin's hips harder and pulled himself up, kissed him fiercely, and then pushed Lupin back onto the bed, drawing himself over Lupin's body until they were face to face.

He embedded himself into Lupin once more as Lupin gave a small cry into Snape's mouth and Snape snaked his arms under Lupin's shoulders and held them, holding him as close as he could as he murmured his name, never breaking eye contact as he began to roll his hips into his beloved slowly – oh so slowly - as Lupin locked his legs around Snape's waist.

Snape knew his ribs would hurt later. He felt an insistent nag in his side as he gently curled his pelvis to move into Lupin as deeply as he could. "My Remus," he kept chanting, holding him close. This wasn't just desire, or even love. It was everything – everything to Snape. He was totally enveloped in this mixture of fear, desire and love and he didn't want to ever let go. Their glazed gazes fixed, Lupin seeming to understand.

They paced themselves very slowly and deeply, speaking each other's name like a prayer and kissing, holding themselves back from anything too rough or too fast, but gasping at the pleasure of each deep thrust, becoming louder moans as they built the insistent rhythm between them, beginning to cry out as the heat built hotter and hotter, until Lupin cried loudly as he came fiercely against Snape's stomach, digging his fingers into Snape's clenched backside, as his own muscles clamped hard against Snape's cock pushing Snape over the edge, crying out Lupin's name, still holding him so tightly, orgasm pulsing hard out of him, as he tried to kiss Lupin once more though his lungs burned for breath.

"My Remus," he gasped, once more.

oooOOOooo

It was evening now, and still they lay together in bed, Snape holding Lupin close to his chest.

They heard someone calling Lupin through the Floo.

Snape went to jump up, and hissed in pain. Lupin pressed him down again as he got out of bed instead.

"Whoever it is, they can't get in unless I take down my wards," Snape whispered. "But be careful. It may be someone under Polyjuice or a Glamour. Remember, Pettigrew may have told them things from your school days to trap you. This may be a test."

Lupin nodded and grabbed his wand and silently crept down the stairs and waited for the person to speak again.

"Remus! Hoi Moony! I know you're there. Dumbledore told me. It's me," Black continued to shout. "Padfoot. Oh bugger – any of this Peter could have told Voldemort's lot, couldn't he? Okay, I'll think of something else. Last week, we played Whomping Poker with Kingsley and you beat us with a full house three times. Kingsley said you'd marked the pack with your scent glands, and you threatened to scent-mark him yourself."

"Hello, Pads." Snape heard Lupin say. Snape rolled his eyes at the thought that the conversation was a true account. He'd thought better than that of Kingsley Shacklebolt. That must have been the night Lupin had tried to call him but Snape was drunk. That was going to be an awkward conversation. He decided it didn't need to be brought up just yet, but he did need to speak to Dumbledore about the wards. He wondered when they were going to see him.

"Severus!" Lupin call broke Snape's reverie. "Albus said if you're not up and reporting to him soon, he's going to send Sirius through the Floo to look after us! But I said you're not to get up yet."

Snape's eyes became wide and he threw himself out of bed, landing awkwardly on the floor.

"I'm up!" he yelled down the stairs.

"Well, you shouldn't be!" Lupin yelled back.

"I don't want Black in this house!"

"Thanks a bunch, Snape!" he heard Black's amused voice call from the fireplace.

"Don't bloody mention it," Snape groused, staggering down the stairs in his bathrobe, holding his ribs with one arm, and as soon as he sat down, rubbing the knee he'd knocked as he'd thrown himself out of the bed.

"Snape!" Black said jovially. "You've got legs! I haven't seen those since ..."

Snape's eyes widened and flashed with anger, as Lupin cottoned on to what Black was about to say. "Right then, Sirius," he said, far too loudly. "So, you've seen us. We're both well." Lupin moved so Snape could not see Black's face. "Tell Dumbledore we're fine. Don't tell the others."

"But they'll worry," Black said. Snape could not see his face for his reaction to Lupin's protective manoeuvres.

"They'll just have to worry. Until we've worked out a way for me to escape that won't mean Severus gets his hide flayed, Severus and I are missing in action. Understood? Now where's Albus?" Lupin demanded.

oooOOOooo

Snape and Lupin had just had a very relaxing bath; the first for pure relaxation since Snape had brought Lupin home and Snape was just manoeuvring Lupin back to bed with kisses when they heard a fire call and Malfoy's voice calling for Snape.

"It's like Piccadilly Circus since you've been here," Snape grumbled as he grabbed a black robe and Lupin smoothed it down and buttoned it quickly by magic and Snape pulled on his boots and ran silently downstairs.

"Severus!" Lupin whispered loudly. Snape looked up and Lupin threw down a comb as Snape threw the slave collar up the stairs to Lupin. Snape combed his hair and then breathed deeply and pulled himself into his rigid stance, as he walked through the door that hid the staircase.

"Lucius," he said, his tone cold. "What do you want?"

"Severus, dear boy," Lucius smiled. "May I come through?"

Snape sighed dramatically, as if the very idea of company was too abhorrent to bear. "If you really must." Snape altered his wards and Malfoy stepped through with consummate grace, well tended hands lightly brushing the Floo powder off his handsomely brocaded robe.

"Good day, Severus," Malfoy said, as his silver eyes wandered around the small sitting room, his upper lip curling with barely disguised disgust. "The Dark Lord sent me to enquire after the beast."

"Really?" Snape asked brusquely, doubting this very much. Still, if anything was off here, Malfoy would rush to report it. Snape snorted with impatience.

"Lupin!" he shouted up the stairs.

Lupin, wearing the slave collar, an old pair of trousers and a tatty shirt, came running down the stairs, with an odd, cringing attitude.

"Yes, Master Snape," he said, bowing.

Master? Really? Snape thought to Lupin, somewhat unbalanced by it.

You've Imperiused me, Lupin explained in a flash of thought, to be Loopy the house wolf.

Snape felt his jaw almost drop and he tightened it in an exercise of iron will not to laugh out loud. Lupin was trying to kill him, he decided.

"Some elf-made wine? Or would you prefer some tea?" Snape asked carelessly.

"Some wine," Malfoy replied, his eyes curiously alight as he watched Lupin bow and move sinuously to the kitchen, returning with a tray with glasses and a bottle of good wine. Lupin served the wine and stood at the kitchen door as Malfoy made conversation that did little more than pass the time of day in what was clearly an excuse to pry into the Snape household.

Snape grunted and nodded in the appropriate places in the one-sided conversation, as he watched Lupin dance attendance on the odious man as Loopy the house-wolf, and Snape thought he might rupture his stomach looking at the ridiculously obsequious expression Lupin was wearing (which Snape was sure he never seen disgrace the face of Tippy when she spoke to him). Worse still, because Malfoy expected to be attended in this manner, he accepted every bit of it as if it were normal and his right.

"And have you - ah - sampled your creature at all?" Malfoy raised his primped eyebrows in enquiry.

Ah, the real reason for his visit, Snape thought catching Lupin's eyes as Malfoy stared unguardedly at Lupin's body.

"You have a one-track mind, Lucius," Snape sneered. Really, the man was deplorable. 'Sampled' for Merlin's sake.

Malfoy chuckled. "I don't deny that I am fascinated by this creature. It is a good looking beast, is it not? I see you have it well trained." Malfoy's silver eyes followed the lines of Lupin's body as he served the wine. Snape was completely convinced that Lupin had swayed his hips at one point. As Malfoy lifted his glass and as Lupin turned to leave, Malfoy stretched out at hand to cup Lupin's backside. Snape sent a fast stinging hex to the outstretched hand.

"Tsk, tsk, Lucius," Snape reprimanded. "One mustn't touch what isn't yours. I've told you this before." Malfoy glared then with a small shake of his head, his false smile returned and he sipped his wine.

"I think, if I were you, I would have to sample it. It looks delicious." Malfoy looked at Lupin, who was standing by the kitchen door awaiting orders with a suitably blank, Imperiused expression. Malfoy's look was predatory. Another time and another place, Snape was sure Lupin would repay the insult.

"I didn't request the beast for sex, Malfoy," Snape said, with a practised expression like granite. "I want him to serve me, to humiliate him, to use his blood and bones for potions. He's a beast: what use is he to me for sex?"

"Shame. Such a waste," Malfoy sighed. "I would imagine," Malfoy said confidentially, "you both together would make something of a treat." His smile crimped as his gaze wandered lazily from Lupin's body to Snape's.

"I think," said Snape, standing quickly, knowing this was a conversation Lupin would not find funny. Funny didn't appear to attach itself to other men finding Snape sexually attractive, especially Malfoy, and Snape could not afford their cover to slip. "If there's nothing else, I'll chivvy you along. You've seen the beast. Now, I have a number of potions on the go and I need to tend them," Snape said very definitely.

"Yes, must be off. Regrettably, no time off at the Ministry for the Easter hols." Malfoy stood, walked the few steps to the fireplace and cast another appalled look about himself and with a nod and "Snape," he Flooed away.

Snape re-warded the Floo and exhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry," he said to Lupin's seemingly cross face. Then it broke into a wide smile.

"Good grief, Severus! The man is completely appalling. He really is obsessed with sex, isn't he?" Lupin laughed as he took the glasses into the kitchen.

"And what was that house-elf nonsense, Remus. You nearly caused me an injury trying not to laugh."

"I couldn't resist, Severus. He's such a pompous idiot. I thought I'd play up to it. You know," Lupin called from the kitchen. "I should have Transfigured some clothes into a house-elf tunic, if I'd thought of it."

Snape snorted. "Malfoy's elves don't have anything so decent to wear. They have old tea towels and pillow cases." There was a silence that Snape found suspicious.

"If you come in here wearing a tea towel, Remus, I cannot be responsible for my actions."

"Is that a promise?" Lupin leant against the kitchen door holding a clean tea towel over his otherwise naked body.

"It was not a suggestion," Snape snorted. "However ..." he moved over to Lupin and took the material gently between his long fingers, then whipped the tea towel away as Lupin hummed deeply in his throat as Snape cupped Lupin's balls gently and kissed him deeply. Lupin pushed Snape back on his chair, and straddled his lap.

"Loopy lives to serve his noble master Snape," Lupin growled, in a fair approximation of the toad-like tones of Black's house-elf.

The joke took Snape's breath away and he laughed loudly, but then stopped with a look of distress.

"Severus, what's the matter?" Lupin asked with genuine concern. "Is it your wounds?"

"A vision of Kreacher just popped into my head in place of you. It won't go away! Merlin help me – Obliviate me!" Snape thought he had never laughed as hard as he did then, so hard that his sides hurt, not to mention his newest scars and the more he tried to stop the more helpless he became and nor had he ever seen Lupin so handsome as he laughed along with him until there were tears in his eyes.

oooOOOooo

Snape stood in the kitchen doorway, watching Lupin preparing ingredients for dinner.

"We need to make some memories because the Dark Lord will expect to rifle my memories and find something of you. All the things I said I wanted from you for potions. He will expect it to be done violently."

"I still can't believe you used to want to chop me up for potions, Severus. Bones and blood of the werewolf!" Lupin shook his head, but then smiled when he saw Snape colour rather violently. "I can act," Lupin smiled. "Ow! Eek! Unhand me, you bounder!" he declared in an overly histrionic voice, posing in a dramatic stance with a stubby vegetable knife.

"So I'll cast Crucio with my bonded wand which will mis-fire and you'll say 'eek'." Snape rolled his eyes but smiled warmly at Lupin's daftness. "Just the thing to fool the Dark Lord, Remus!" Then he pursed his lips. "I feel I'll be summoned soon and be expected to account for what I've done with you, not to mention we have to plan how you escape from me."

"The escape can wait for now, Severus," Lupin said, a certain hardness in his voice that reiterated what Lupin had already told Snape - he wanted more time for both of them to heal. Then Snape saw Lupin's spine relax slightly as he starting chopping vegetables at the kitchen countertop for their dinner. "You have the recollections of the Shrieking Shack already – you could modify some of those, and how you hurt my mind," Lupin suggested. "What about the Cruciatus by the statue of the one-eyed witch? That's a good one to use."

"Remus, don't," Snape said, his voice small and his flesh crawling. These were things he didn't want to remember, he was so shamed by them, although Lupin seemed to throw them out for consideration as if they were meaningless. Lupin stopped chopping at the sound of Snape's voice and went to him and placed a loving hand on his hip, as the other hand traced down his face.

"But Severus, it's our history. Use these memories to help yourself. We can make some others – appropriate for a Death Eater and a slave beast." And with that, he picked up the slave collar from the tabletop nearby and he winked at Snape.

"You need to collect semen and sweat, I believe." He leant on the door frame, smiling crookedly, and twirled the collar on one finger. "Might be fun ..."
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You Will Not Kiss Me