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

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Snape descended the stairs, finding Fred and Teddy sitting on the living room floor. There was an empty cardboard box and an array of shabby toys all around them. He remembered most of the items from his childhood and was surprised that his father hadn’t thrown them away in the years he’d lived here alone after his mother had passed.
He came closer and sat on one of the chairs nearest to them.
“Anything salvageable in there?”
“Oh there is being a few things, sir. A checker board that is still having most of its pieces, some wooden blocks, a kaleidoscope… most things we are going to be getting rid of if sir is not minding.”
“That is fine with me.” Up until five minutes ago he thought all of this was gone years ago. He hadn’t missed it before and wasn’t about to start now.
“May I please keep the dragon, sir?” Teddy burst out.
“What dragon?” Snape asked.
Teddy reluctantly held it out for examination.
Severus took it carefully in his hands, turning it over to see every side. This of all things he was not expecting to see. It had been his closest and only companion for many years, going everywhere with him. It had been a gift from his mother when he was so young he had no memory of receiving it. His father had tolerated it until the first signs of his magic began to appear. He had taken it away one night while he was punishing Severus - no toys were allowed in the cubby under the bay window. The next evening when he was allowed out, his father told him that he had burnt it in the fireplace.
Snape remembered being inconsolable, the quiet outrage his mother had exuded. He shook his head as if that would clear his thoughts. So the old bastard hadn’t incinerated it after all. He took in the patched wings, the faded button that had replaced a missing eye, and was glad that it still existed, even if the knowledge came forty years too late.
“I would like that very much.” He handed the dragon back to Teddy. “He’ll take good care of you.”
“Oh thank you, sir!” Teddy clutched the stuffed toy to himself.
Fred was smiling sappily beside them. “Fred will be cleaning all this up if you is wanting to head out to the garden while it is still early.”
“That would be appreciated; I think we’ll do just that. Keep an ear open for Lupin; don’t hesitate to come get me if the need arises.”
Fred gave a nod. “Of course, sir.”
“Thank you, Fred. Come on Teddy, let’s go outside; you can bring your dragon.”
Teddy jumped up and followed him through the kitchen and to the door. Snape got a pair of shoes on both of them and they were out in the sunshine.
Teddy stayed close to him as they walked down the path to the garden, clutching the dragon tightly at his side. “It’s very big out here, sir,” he said in a small voice.
“I suppose it is,” Severus agreed. “However, no one is around us for some miles in any direction; there is no reason to be afraid.”
Teddy didn’t look so sure about that.
They rounded a corner and were met by the massive garden. Out behind it was a large greenhouse that seemed to be brimming with vegetation.
“Wow,” Teddy said. “Did you plant all this stuff, sir?”
“A large portion of it. Fred has been very helpful out here as well as inside the house. Most of the work comes from maintaining it all, planting, pruning and harvesting the plants at the right times and in the proper ways. I actually quite enjoy it.” That was an admission he could never have made in the past. Letting anyone know something like that about himself would have been giving up power. He imagined Albus tugging at the end of his beard, eyes twinkling merrily at his admission to the boy.
“Can I help?” Teddy asked, looking up at him.
“You don’t want to go explore the yard, or play over there in the grass?” Severus asked.
Teddy looked over to where Snape was indicating. He shook his head quickly. The space of grass was large, the sky above it open and clear. He couldn’t imagine being in the middle of all that space, alone. His breath sped up a little.
“Alright,” Snape said quickly, sensing his panic. “There’s no reason you have to, if you don’t want to.” He picked up a metal watering can and filled it at the spigot at the edge of the garden. This he handed to Teddy. “If you want to help you can water the last two rows lightly. Just enough to darken the soil, you don’t want the water to pool, that means there is too much of it.”
Teddy tucked the dragon under one arm and took the watering can with the other. He looked over to the rows Snape was talking about. They weren’t all that far away. He walked over to the start of one row, feeling the soft dirt beneath his feet. He watered them, careful to heed Severus’ caution about the amounts he was doling out.
When he was done, he brought the empty watering can back over to where Severus was kneeling in one of the rows, cutting the heads off some flowers that had gone to seed and placing them into a paper bag he had produced from his pocket.
“All finished?” he asked, folding the top of the bag and setting it aside.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be done collecting these right away. You and your dragon go get the spade from over there and we’ll dig up some potatoes for supper.”
He pulled out another bag and moved to the next fennel plant. It took up more room in the garden that way but space wasn’t an issue out here. They grew best when you gave them some space and potions that were brewed with all the seeds from the same plant had a much higher potency.
Teddy bustled off to grab the spade as he was told, returning more quickly than Snape had anticipated. The boy stood patiently, waiting for him to complete his task before saying, “Those sure are pretty, sir; they make me think of fire, or the sun. But what can you do with flower seeds?”
“This is fennel; all parts of the plant are edible. I use the seeds, roots and flowers in different potions. The seeds are also used to make a tea.” It occurred to him that Lupin had ordered fennel tea near every morning in the great hall for the short time they had worked together. It was hard not to notice, having sat next to him for nearly a year. There was more than enough for the potions he’d planned to brew; maybe he’d make some of the seeds into tea for the both of them.
“Neat. Is everything in here used for potions?” Teddy asked.
“No, not everything. That section of the garden over there is mostly for us to eat. We’re going to dig up some potatoes like I’d said earlier. Come with me, I’ll show you how.”
They went over to the rows of potato plants; they looked healthy this year. He’d been sprinkling the tops of the leaves with wheat bran and had planted rows of garlic and horseradish on either side of the rows. It had seemed to help keep the insects at bay.
Severus went up to a plant and set the tip of the spade in the dirt a safe distance from it. He placed his foot on the shovel and used his weight to sink it deep into the soil, holding the handle and pulling it back sharply, revealing loose soil and the eyes of new potatoes peeking out of the dirt.
“Neat! They really do grow underground.”
“Yes they do,” Snape pulled the shovel back, repeating the same process on the other side of the plant, loosening the dirt more and more. “Go ahead and gather all you can see. Put them in a pile, I’ll go get a pail to carry them.”
He left Teddy happily rooting through the earth and headed over to the garden shed. It lay on the edge of the plot of land closest to the greenhouse. It held numerous gardening tools, scissors, twine, baskets, buckets and any number of odds and ends that were needed to harvest and maintain an array of herbal materials. He selected a medium sized bucket for the potatoes and a smaller one that would be easy for Teddy to carry.
He wasted no time in getting back to the boy. Teddy had piled as many potatoes as he could find on the grass near the plowed earth of the garden.
“Do you think this is all of them, sir?” Teddy asked, wrist deep in the loosely clumping ground..
“I trust you’ve checked thoroughly enough.” Severus stooped to transfer the vegetables from the grass into the bucket. Teddy came closer to help him, wiping his dirty hands on his trousers.
“I’ve got a job for you, if I’m not mistaken you’ll enjoy it very much.” Snape held out the small pail to the boy; Teddy accepted without hesitation. “Follow me.”
They walked to the side of the garden closest to the house; there stood two tall rows of raspberry bushes.
Snape walked up to one. “These are raspberries; they are used in jams, pies as well as many other forms of food. Here, try one.” He plucked a ripe berry from the bush and held it out to the boy.
Teddy took it from his open palm and popped it into his mouth without question, smiling around the flavor.
“If they are white, they are not quite ready to be picked yet; the dark purple ones may be a little over ripe. Use your own discretion in which ones you pick, just put them in your bucket. Fred will know what to do with them.”
Teddy looked perplexed. “My dis-creation?”
“Use your best judgment, if they are not ripe enough, leave them until later, if they are too ripe, leave them for the birds. Just be cautious of the thorns.”
“The birds, sir?”
“Oh yes, we are not the only ones who enjoy raspberries,” Snape said with a thin smile.
Teddy proceeded to work his way slowly up and down the rows until his bucket was full. It didn’t feel so open between the tight lines of tall plants; he could breathe easy for the first time since they came outside. The sun was warm on his skin; he had to squint into its wonderful brightness.
While he was doing this, Snape turned the valve that controlled the gravity flow sprinklers in the greenhouse; it was all accomplished with rain water. This was best done in the morning, when the moisture would turn to humidity soon after in the heat of the day. When it had ran for a sufficient length of time he closed the valve and headed back to where Teddy was carefully deciding which berries to put in his pail.
“How’s it coming?”
“I’ve got almost a whole bucket!” Teddy proclaimed.
“I’m sure that’s more than enough. Let’s go back inside to see what is for lunch and visit your father.” Snape picked up the bucket of potatoes and his brown bags of seeds.
“Okay sir,” Teddy beamed, following him back up the path to the house a little more freely than before, dragon still tucked under his arm.
Back in the kitchen, Snape set the potatoes down near the sink. “Head upstairs and wash up; I think you’re wearing half the garden.”
Teddy nodded and headed up the stairs. Snape transferred the potatoes into the sink and moved the bucket to the back entrance. He or Fred would scrub them before supper. The elf was nowhere to be seen, but couldn’t be too far as he was keeping an eye on Lupin.
Snape opened the cold box and found a large plate of sandwiches waiting for lunch. These he put on a tray with a couple of tall glasses of water and headed upstairs.
The bathroom door was open but the light was off and when he looked inside, Teddy was not to be found. He went across the hall to see him sitting on Lupin’s bed. They both looked up guiltily when he strode into the room.
He didn’t say anything about it, just went and set the tray beside Lupin’s bed.
“Let’s see your hands, Teddy.”
The boy held them out for inspection.
Snape nodded. “Clean enough; dig in.” He indicated the tower of sandwiches.
Teddy took one and went to sit in one of the chairs across the room. Snape set the water on the table beside him, not really trusting the child to make it across the room with the full glass and not spill.
“Make sure you drink it all, you were in the sun most of the morning.”
“How did it go?” Remus asked.
“It was fun,” Teddy hastily swallowed his mouthful of sandwich before answering. “We dug potatoes! And I picked raspberries.” He giggled. “They taste so good even birds like them, daddy.”
“That does sound like fun,” Remus agreed with a smile of his own. He shot a sideways glance at Snape, still directing his conversation to Teddy. “So you didn’t play in the yard at all?”
Teddy shifted in his chair. “No; I decided to help instead.” He looked down and fiddled with a wing on his stuffed toy, which Remus took note of for the first time.
“How come? Surely your friend there would have played with you?” he tried to ask lightly.
“I don’t know.” It took Teddy a moment to think about what to say. “There was so much room out there. It was too big, daddy.” He sounded rather upset.
“That’s okay, Teddy.” Remus said, his brow wrinkling. “I know you haven’t been outside very often, and this is the most space you’ve had to move around in. I’m still glad you got to go out; I bet the sun felt nice.”
“It did daddy, it was so warm! Master’s garden has so many plants too.” Teddy seemed to have moved on and was chewing happily again.
Snape indicated the plate of sandwiches. “Would you like to try eating on your own? These are less treacherous than soup at least.”
Remus nodded. “I think I could manage that, sir.”
Snape came closer and assisted him into a sitting position, leaning against the headboard. He handed him a sandwich.
Remus’ hand shook, but the food made it to his mouth without incident. When Severus was sure he would be able to do it, he took a seat and bit into his own lunch.
“I didn’t know you took interest in Herbology, sir,” Remus said conversationally.
“I find it is easier to control the consistency and quality of my ingredients if I grow and harvest them myself. Improper harvesting and storage can have disastrous results. Say if someone had taken cuttings with a silver blade. One could brew an entire potion properly and still have contamination. This was just one of a myriad of things that could go wrong and the brewer would be completely unaware.” He realized he sounded a little like a text book.
“I suppose so. That’s why I was pants at potions, too many variables for me to remember.” Remus had managed to eat everything Snape had given him, albeit slowly.
Severus helped him with a long drink of water, knowing the man’s hands were too unsteady. He gave him another sandwich.
“Come get another one if you’re still hungry, Teddy.” The boy did just that, walking over and picking another one off the plate, dragon still smashed against his side.
“Where did you get him?” Remus inquired, indicating the stuffed toy.
“Master gave him to me, isn’t he great?” Teddy beamed, holding the toy out for Remus to see.
Lupin’s eyebrows rose. “He’s wonderful. Did you say thank you?”
“Yes dad.” Teddy rolled his eyes and marched back to his chair, taking a seat and continuing his lunch.
“Alright,” Lupin chuckled. He turned towards Severus, giving him a long, puzzled look. “Even if he did say it; thank you, sir. It’s more than appreciated.”
Snape shrugged. “”It’s nothing.” He hated this feeling of scrutiny every time.
“Not to Teddy, it isn’t,” Remus said quietly. He looked over at his son, who was pretending the dragon’s tail was thrashing about wildly.
Snape presumed that Lupin may be correct. That didn’t mean that he felt like discussing it.
“How is your pain at present?” he asked.
“It’s definitely manageable, sir,” Remus responded.
“Good; your energy level?” Severus inquired neutrally.
“I feel fairly alert,” Remus answered suspiciously. “It’s that potion that makes me tired, I think.”
“It is a major factor, yes; but it is not completely responsible. If you do not feel in immediate need of another dose for the pain, perhaps you would accompany Teddy and me back down to the garden for a short time.”
“You want me to go outside?” Remus face was skeptical, but Snape heard hope in his voice. “How would I get down the stairs, never mind out to the garden, however far that is, sir?”
“I think we can figure it out; I wasn’t all that terrible at charms,” Snape said wryly.
He stood and pulled the quilt from Lupin’s bed, leaving him covered in the sheet. He proceeded to fold the plush blanket neatly and hand it over to Teddy. “Think you could carry this for me?”
“Of course, sir,” Teddy smiled.
“Good.” He moved the chair he had been sitting in closer to the bed. It was the smaller of the two, so it would be easier to maneuver down the narrow hallway.
“You ready, Lupin?”
“I guess so, sir.” Remus still seemed hesitant.
Snape pulled back the sheet and took his wand from his robes, levitating Lupin into the chair.
Remus couldn’t deny that it felt good to be doing something other than lying on his back.
“Teddy, you follow behind us.” The boy nodded.
Snape levitated both the chair and Remus with it easily, directing them out the door ahead of himself. When they came to the stairwell, Snape paused and went to stand in front of the floating chair; the results would be more than disastrous if Remus were to take a tumble. His hand on the side of the chair and the spell still working its magic, he guided them down the stairs warily. They continued on through the living room and the kitchen. Severus finally set the chair gently down so he could get his shoes on. He passed Teddy his shoes.
Teddy sat on the floor near the door, his left foot across his right leg. He looked at the trainers for a moment before slowly reaching to select one. He looked at Snape out of the corner of his eye; Severus shook his head slightly. Teddy went for the other shoe, putting it on his foot and finding that it fit perfectly. He put the other one on as well, looking over at Snape again.
Wordlessly, Severus went and knelt beside him, pulling the laces tight and tying each set of laces into a bow.
“Thank you, sir,” Teddy smiled shyly.
Snape made a noncommittal sound and stood. He cast the spell again, noting that Remus was giving him that odd look again. He levitated the chair again and they went through the door and down the few stairs leading up to the house. Teddy closed the door behind them.
Snape began the short trek down the garden path, sneaking a look back at Remus as they went. The other man had his head tilted back to meet the sun, eyes closed and a look of peace on his face. It seemed he trusted Snape’s charm casting more than Severus thought that perhaps he should.
Severus led them onto the field of grass, setting the chair down so Remus could see them whole garden. They were in a lightly shaded area, tall trees cutting the heat of the sun with their branches. He tried not to think what his grandmother would have thought about one of her prized Parisian chairs propping up a healing werewolf in the garden, or he might start laughing and never stop.
Remus looked around in amazement. He saw that the house was rather large, but as far as he could tell, Severus only used a portion of it in his daily life. He wondered what the story was behind it all; he remembered Severus had been just as poor as him in their school days. But how would that have been if this place was in his family? It was clearly an estate that belonged to an old family name, and it seemed well enough maintained as far as Remus could tell.
The garden really was something to marvel at, though. Remus wondered if Severus would allow him to do some of his work out here in the summer, one he was in a more improved condition. The garden alone must be time consuming; Remus also noted the massive greenhouse standing off to the side. He could only imagine what was all growing in there.
“This really is impressive, sir. It means more than I could even begin to say that you went through the trouble of bringing me out here. I don’t remember the last time I was allowed outside.” Honesty seemed to be the best policy with Severus; not that it surprised Remus when he stopped to think about it.
“Macnair didn’t allow you to leave the house?” Snape inquired, seemingly bored.
“No, sir. For the most part, he kept Teddy in the basement.”
“And you?” Snape asked quietly.
“I stayed where I was told to stay. Let’s just say that he didn’t feel inclined to let me lie about in the sunshine,” Remus said with a twisted smile.
“Well I don’t expect you to do anything but that for a while. I have about an hour’s work to do out here still,” He told both of them. “For some of it I will need to be in the greenhouse, it’s not safe for you in there, Teddy. Do you think it will seem less big out here if your father remains with you?”
“Yes, sir, I believe so,” Teddy answered sheepishly.
“Alright then” Severus took the blanket from the boy’s hands and spread it over Lupin’s legs. He turned to leave. “If you need anything I will be nearby.”
“Sir?” Remus asked suddenly.
“Yes?” Snape paused.
“Please, would you preform the charm again?” Remus didn’t meet his eyes but the need was apparent in his voice.
Snape immediately turned his wand to Lupin and preformed the spell to clear his bladder and bowls again.
“Oh, thank you, sir,” Remus said in a relieved voice.
“Anytime you need that done, you should tell me at once. There is no need to wait, I am not about to refuse you.” He wondered how long it had taken Lupin to gather enough courage to ask that of him, probably afraid he would be denied.
“Yes, sir.”
“I will be back shortly.” He left father and son on the grass and went to the greenhouse to gather what he needed.
He would begin the wolfsbane potion the night after next, at the latest. There was still the trouble of what to do with Teddy. Even a half dose of the regular potion would be too dangerous for the small boy. He would need to brew a second batch before the first. The second one would have less monkshood by far. Only half of the nightshade. He would add extra chamomile to help keep him calm. It had been a pet project of his for the last couple of years; he knew it was basically perfect at this point. It would basically be the same potion as the one he would brew for Remus, with a few minor changes to procedure and ingredients.
He would also add a tincture of White Mountain Cap mushroom. That was not in the original recipe at all, but he knew it would compensate for the lowered amount of monkshood. He had done reaction calculations for weeks, working it against each and every ingredient and the materials they were prepared with. There would be no contamination. Whether or not it would be enough to keep Teddy it his right mind completely was a whole other question. It was better than giving him a lethal dose of the original recipe or doing nothing altogether. The potion was structurally sound, but its full effect on a transformed lycanthrope had not been fully tested.
There was no doubt that the potion would still ease the transformation. Pain would be decreased during and after. It would still aid his recovery. But if he would be able to control his wolfish urges, Severus couldn’t say for sure. He had decided somewhere along the way that he would be present for Teddy’s transformation. Even though he was positive that there would be no adverse effect from the changes he would make to the potion, it was not out of the realm of possibility that something would go wrong. He would rather be present; if anything went haywire, the child would need his immediate attention.
He had done it numerous times with the werewolf children that had been in his charge. Teddy was much smaller than most of them had been; he would have little trouble keeping the boy under control even if the potion had no effect at all.
Also, to his findings there were no records of a born wolf taking the potion. Births among the lycanthrope population were very rare; little to no research had ever been done on the differences between them and werewolves infected later in life. So all in all there was nothing for him to go on that would indicate how Teddy would take to the potion.
He still had the dragonhide gloves, apron and headgear stored somewhere in the lab; it had still come in handy when brewing some of the more caustic potions people ordered. Those would be necessary in order for him to be in the same room as the boy when he was transformed.
For right now, he would be harvesting all of the herbal ingredients fresh and then preparing them as needed over the next day or so. Then the really tedious part would begin. The potion would need a large portion of his attention for days, maybe longer if he hoped to get the potion for Teddy perfect, which of course he did.
It was just over an hour and a half before he returned to where Remus and Teddy were on the grass. He had kept an eye on them from the greenhouse, they seemed content to sit and talk. Teddy did end up running around a little, holding his dragon high, making him soar through the air.
Having finished with the collection of materials, Severus left the greenhouse and crossing the yard to where the Lupins were. Remus seemed to be holding himself more stiffly than before. Teddy was sitting on the grass near his feet, resting his head against his father’s thigh.
He set the basket of herbs down a safe distance away. He had a containment spell on them already but no chances should be taken. Some of these herbs even in their raw state could be harmful to either Lupin, especially the boy.
“You are in pain.” It wasn’t a question this time.
“It’s nothing, sir,” Remus ground out.
Snape snorted. “I’m sure.” He reached into one of the pockets of his robes and pulled out a vial. “Four swallows,” he said, tipping it back for Remus to drink.
“You took it along?” Remus said, swallowing against the taste of the potion.
“I wouldn’t have brought you all the way down here without it. How bad is it?”
“I don’t know, easily a seven. I’ll manage, sir.” Remus continued to try and downplay the situation. He was actually in a remarkable amount of discomfort, though he wouldn’t have said anything if Snape hadn’t brought it up. One thing he had learned was that one didn’t complain.
“I should have taken closer account of the time.” Snape’s brow creased. “I apologize; your next dose should never have been left this long. I was not being mindful.”
Remus couldn’t believe his ears. He had never known Severus Snape to be the type of person to admit he was wrong under any circumstances. He didn’t know how to respond; but Severus didn’t seem to be waiting for a reply. He levitated the chair and with basket in hand began walking back to the house, careful to keep Remus’ chair level and free of jostles or bumps.
Inside, they met Fred, who was at the sink washing the potatoes they’d dug up earlier.
Snape wordlessly disappeared, leaving Lupin and Teddy in the kitchen.
There was the sound of a door banging shut, a few moments of silence, the sound of the door again and he was back.
“Fred, would you mind keeping Teddy company for a while? Lupin needs to go back upstairs. His trip outside may have been a bit premature.”
Remus didn’t much like the sound of that.
“Of course, sir!” Fred trilled. “Fred always enjoys spending time with the little one!”
“Excellent,” Snape deadpanned. He levitated the chair and led Remus up the stairs.
Back in Remus’ room, Snape wasted no time in assisting Lupin back into bed. He covered him with the sheet and then the quilt.
“Has that potion begun to take effect yet?” he asked.
“I believe so, sir.”
Severus wasn’t at all convinced. “I want you to take one very small sip of this; stop as soon as you taste it on your tongue.” He tipped it briefly to Remus’ lips, pulling it away almost immediately.
Remus certainly tasted it. Whatever that potion was, it was extremely concentrated. He coughed a couple of times, smacking his lips together.
“That’s bloody awful, sir,” Remus said. Then his face took on a look of surprise. “My pain’s entirely gone. What was that?”
“My own creation. It is a dangerous substance in the wrong hands, but I’ve yet to encounter a pain that it won’t at least lessen. However it is extremely addictive. I only administered it to you so we could get ahead of your pain, catching up with it can be difficult. This will go back to my lab as soon as I return downstairs. It’s a temptation none of us need lying about.”
“I understand, sir.” Remus wasn’t sure that he did, but it felt like the right thing to say.
Snape gave a curt nod.
“Even if I did experience some discomfort, it was worth it just to be able to go outside.” Remus felt that it was crucial Snape understand that. The freedom to be allowed out of the house for any length of time was worth almost anything to him.
“Teddy isn’t the only one who could benefit from some fresh air. Though we may wait a while until we try taking you out again, at least that far away. At least we know that it is easy enough to move you around the house if we use a chair for support.”
“It was nice to sit up for a while,” Remus agreed.
Snape was silent for a moment. “I have something to discuss with you; I need you to know that I would put this off longer if I were able, Lupin,” he said. “As it stands I believe it is in our best interest if I complete Teddy’s binding tomorrow evening.”
Remus gave him a dumbfounded look. He’d known it was coming, of course. Still, the thought of his son being a slave to anyone was something he would never, in all his years, grow accustomed to. “Whatever you say, sir.” Nothing he could say would make one whit of difference.
“That statement is both correct and incorrect at the same time. As it stands, the enslavement spell I have chosen cannot be cast upon your son and me without your blessing, or at the very least your consent.”
“I don’t know what that is supposed to mean, sir.” Remus was starting to get very uneasy. This didn’t sound good.
“I have chosen ‘Sclavus Teneo’ as the bond. Are you in any way familiar with it? It’s not very prevalent in this day and age.”
Remus cursed the fact that it was nearly impossible to read Snape. “No, sir, I can’t say that I am.”
“Well I know that you were fairly well versed in binding and enslavement spells even long before you had one invoked upon you.” Remus was almost positive that was a compliment, not a dig. “This is, as we discussed earlier, an apprenticeship spell. It was cast many years ago upon the children of parents who did not have the means to pay for a formal education or an apprenticeship. I will not lie to you about this. According to the laws of such things, nothing I could do to him would be out of the range of my power. The only thing that I am required to do is to meet his basic needs: food, shelter, water; and to teach him what he needs to know to be considered educated on the subject of study.”
“So basically, you can do what you like to him and with him and all you have to do is to teach him the basics of your craft so that he can find a low level employment and earn you extra money.” Remus hung his head. He couldn’t have contained that sarcastic response if he had used every ounce of strength in his body.
“I think you’re misunderstanding me,” Snape said with all his patience. “What I am attempting to do is select a bond that will permit me to instruct him in the use of his magic when the time comes. There are limited spells that will allow such things. He would need a full basic education to even be able to assist me in the lab as an actual apprentice, let alone work on his own or for some nitwit who couldn’t string together a satisfactory Polyjuice potion.” Snape sneered; there really were some unqualified brewers out there; he didn’t care what papers they had or where they had gone to school.
“He will need to be able to read, write and do arithmetic, eventually on an advanced level, just to be able to understand the basics of how to properly brew and measure the ingredients.” He really wasn’t going to say this next part without proof, but he felt it was important for Remus to know everything. “I also hope to be able to find a way to give him at least the majority of his freedom back when he comes of age. All of my research leads me to believe this is possible, although to my findings it has never been done for an inherited slave.”
“Then what makes you believe you can do it with Teddy, sir?” Remus didn’t even want to allow himself to consider Snape might not be lying to get him to agree to this whole thing.
“Although I was supposed to inherit him, it did not work out like that, as I told you. I paid sixteen thousand galleons to ensure he did not go home as someone else’s slave. My papers may not have held weight against the official who believed he had purchased him.”
“You paid Sixteen thousand galleons for my son?” Remus was blown away. The enormity of that sum of money made his head spin. He knew the salary of a Hogwarts instructor, it would be impossible for Snape to have that kind of cash. Even if he had saved most of his earnings over his employ it would be unlikely he would have that much free income for a single purchase.
“I did. There was no way he was leaving that auction house with anyone but me. We could have disputed it in court, as both of us had papers saying he belonged to us; but that could have taken weeks, and I may not have come out victorious. All the while Teddy would have stayed in the auction pens. It seemed to me that it was the only logical course of action at the time. The possibilities only became evident to me after the fact.”
Remus shook his head in disbelief. “Why would you care so much if you had him or not, sir?”
“I have my reasons.” Albus would never have forgiven him. “Either way; I hope that if you, as his father, give me permission to indenture him in with the use of that particular binding spell, I can free him when he comes of age. Keep in mind that there is no assurance it will work.”
“But it might,” Remus said.
“Yes.”
“Sir, may I have permission to speak freely?”
Snape made a face. “You already do, Lupin.”
“What guarantee do I have that you aren’t trying to get me to agree to this for some ulterior motive?” Remus was sure he was treading on thin ice with that question, permission to speak or not.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t one,” he said simply. “Part of the power of this bond is that you trust me with the care of your son.”
“But you said that you could do anything to him without consequence.”
“That is true. As I said, I would not lie to you about something like that.”
“And am I not mistaken that he is already primarily your slave and only secondarily is he my son? If you could still call him my son at all. I am your slave; I can own nothing.”
“All very valid points, but they are somewhat misguided. No spell that I know of has the power to remove you as his father, or he as your son. That is blood, and it is a very powerful force in the magical world, as you well know. Whatever the spell enslaving either of you to me, the magic will still recognize that bond between the two of you.”
Remus found that oddly assuring. That no matter what, on some basic level, Teddy would always belong to him first, in a special way no one could remove from them.
“You need me to agree to this, for it to work,” Remus restated.
“Very much so.” Snape stood suddenly and exited the room. He returned shortly, a handful of parchments brought back with him.
“These are all of my notes and research on the subject. You will have time to look them over later tonight; I will be able to answer any of your questions then. I will not allow you to go into this uninformed; and intention means everything in this sort of spell. If I am not completely honest with you, the spell may interpret that in a negative way.”
He set the notes on the nightstand. “You should sleep now, I’m sure you’re exhausted. Teddy and I will be up for supper. It won’t be long, but that last potion should help you get a better rest than you would without it. We can discuss this later, once you’ve digested the information I’ve given you.”
“Alright, sir.” Remus said. He was really very tired; he would read those notes immediately upon waking. He was feeling a little lightheaded anyway; maybe he should just close his eyes.
Snape waited until he was sure Remus was asleep. He set his wrist against the other man’s forehead, finding his temperature to be normal.
Absently he tightened the lid on the hyper concentrated potion he had just dosed Remus with.
Maybe it was a bad idea to bring this potion back into the light of day, even for such a short time. He had not even bothered to name it, as it would be a recipe he would share with no one. It was among one of the papers that were spelled to self-destruct upon the moment of his death.
He had thought it a miracle when he had first brewed it. It had possibly saved his life during the war, allowing him to get up every morning to do the bidding of whichever of his masters decided to jerk harder on his chain that day. He could teach an entire day of classes after a night of beatings and Cruciatus. It had kept him alert when he needed to answer Riddle precisely and with zero room for error or interpretation when he would otherwise have been a dribbling mess of vomit that was unable to sort out the truth from the information he was supposed to give.
But it had been a grueling road back once he realized what it was doing to him. The mere thought of repeating the detoxification process from this particular potion prevented him from even considering taking another dose for any reason. Until now he had kept a small bottle as a reminder, although he wasn’t exactly positive what it was supposed to remind him of.
Snape stood and went straight back into the lab, tucking the bottle away on the back of the highest shelf, away from prying eyes and out of his thoughts. He ran back upstairs and grabbed the basket of herbs, deciding to take it down to the lab as well. He set it on the prep table and headed back up to the kitchen. He would start getting the ingredients ready after Teddy was in bed.
Lupin would hopefully feel up to reading those papers sometime before tomorrow evening. The sooner he could bind Teddy and get the final paperwork out to the Ministry, the less chance they would try to interfere; claiming that such a bond was not appropriate for someone with Teddy’s condition or something equally worthless.
His notes were very detailed; they would allow Remus to know as much as he did on the subject of Teddy’s bond. Severus felt that this was crucial to achieving the desired results. He was not trying to hide anything from Lupin; his trust was imperative to this working. He could recognize the other man’s hesitance, understanding that anyone would be reluctant to hand over complete control of their offspring to him for any reason, knowing only the person he had been. Or even knowing the person he currently was.
A/N
Sorry it's taken me so long to update! Again, thank you to anyone who has taken the time to leave a review, they are worth more than gold!

The next update will be along much more quickly; hope you enjoyed this one!
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The Long Road