Chapter Eight: Lupin
After Severus came back from the Christmas holidays, he started reading the Starkey book and keeping track of the phases of the moon.
Regulus Black gave Severus his first direct exposure to the insane hatred the Orion Blacks had for Muggles, Muggle-borns and those with insufficiently pure blood.
Severus had insufficiently pure blood. He knew his ancestry would prevent him from reaching certain goals. He never expected to be Minister of Magic, or headmaster or deputy headmaster of Hogwarts, or head of almost any other public Wizarding institution. He would make his mark doing something based on his own talent and hard work; open his own apothecary, invent some new magical potion or device, do basic research; he didn't know what yet. He had no intention of rising "above" the Malfoys and the Blacks of the Wizarding world; he was going to use them to provide backing for whatever he ended up doing -- in return for a percentage or publicity or some other sort of payback.
But to Regulus Black, Mudbloods and others of insufficiently pure blood were not just supposed to be excluded from rule; they were to be enslaved or exterminated outright. Regulus Black and his parents didn't think Severus deserved to attend Hogwarts; they probably thought his Muggle father should be killed outright.
He was lucky to have Lucius Malfoy.
**************************
First year Regulus Black was sitting in the Slytherin common room, third year Goyle and sixth year Crabbe in attendance. Only pure-bloods were worthy to sit in his presence. Severus intended to pass through the common room to his dormitory and work on the first phase of a potion that had to be started during a full moon. Last year he had read or even played chess from time to time in the common room. This year Regulus made it almost impossible, seeming to consider it a game to pull Snape from whatever he was doing for the most inane reasons.
"Sevvie," drawled Regulus. "You're not going to shut yourself up in your dormitory again tonight, are you?"
"I have work to do on Sluggy's essay," Severus lied. He hated Regulus calling him "Sevvie" more than the Gryffindors and their idiotic "Snivellus." Come to think of it, he would probably hate anything Regulus chose to call him.
"Oh, I'm sure you have time to do something else first, don't you?" Regulus insisted.
Severus schooled his face to the usual accommodating expression he wore for those who outranked him, inclined his head, and said, "I am willing to endanger my essay mark, if I can be of service to you." There. He wasn't going to say it didn't matter. If the Slytherin Black knew anything about the way these things worked, he wouldn't want to endanger a potential follower's marks; at least not those of a follower who was much more useful because of them.
The Slytherin first year narrowed his eyes at Snape. That sounded suspiciously like conditions. "I'm sure I can count on you to do this little favor and still maintain your Potions marks," he said coolly.
"As you wish," answered Severus blandly.
He did not get a chance to start the potion.
******************
The next day, Severus checked in with Madam Pomfrey as usual to see if she had work for him to do. His classes were over for the day and Narcissa didn't have any "corrections" for him to do.
Poppy wasn't quite sure what to make of the boy. She was sure he was responsible for several Infirmary admittances to correct conditions that tended to be embarrassing but not dangerous, although no one ever accused him in front of staff. But since the Christmas holidays he had started to show an intense interest in healing. There were lung problems in his family, he told her.
They both recognized that part of the healing process was administering the various potions, spells and therapies to the patients, so the nurse had taken to asking the just turned thirteen-year-old to help her with whomever might happen to be there. It was necessary, but it made Severus uncomfortable. How long would it be before he was attending someone he had put there in the first place?
On the other hand, being a Healer was certainly an acceptable profession; better than cotton mill foreman or professional thug. For the first time, Severus began to think about what he might enjoy doing, instead of just what might increase his status.
Severus looked over to see who was in the Infirmary. It was Lupin. Again.
"Mr. Snape, would you fetch some murtlap essence for Mr. Lupin? Go ahead and start applying it where he needs it."
Remus remembered the first time Madam Pomfrey had brought Snape over to help, after the full moon in January. While he had never been the object of the Slytherin's "attentions," he knew the kinds of things he did for the likes of Lucius Malfoy or Narcissa Black, and his first thought was that he had somehow become a target. After a while, Remus realized that Snape actually wanted to learn about healing.
Severus got the salve and went over to sit by Lupin's bed. He noticed the usual selection of bites and slashes. "I see you got into another losing argument with a wild beast," he smirked.
Remus flinched, but played along. "One of these days I'll win," he answered with a weak smile.
Severus wondered what was really going on. At first, he thought maybe someone was beating the Gryffindor boy up. He knew kids back home who got beaten, and he'd even seen one or two students in the Infirmary who he was sure had been beaten as well. But those slashes didn't look like they'd been made by human fingernails or human weapons.
He was sure, though, that the nurse knew exactly what was going on. She never seemed surprised to see Lupin, and she always seemed to be certain just what he needed.
At first, Remus had refused to let Snape come near him unless Madam Pomfrey was right there. But he soon learned that the other boy was not only safe, but knew what he was doing. He would never call the Slytherin's ministrations "gentle" exactly, but they were effective and calculated to cause the least amount of pain. And there was something about the other boy's manner that inspired complete confidence.
Poppy looked over at Snape sitting next to Lupin. This was going to be a problem. The Slytherin was already trying to figure out what brought Lupin to the Infirmary so often. He knew that the standard story about "getting sick" was not true -- Snape was already connecting Lupin's injuries with animal attacks. Eventually the boy would figure it out. What she wondered was, would that be good or bad?
******************
There was noise in the corridor and then the door to the Infirmary burst open. James and Sirius spilled into the room followed by Peter. Remus broke into a wide grin. He was getting used to these visits after every full moon, although they also worried him. It amazed him that his friends could visit him every month and still not make the obvious connection. But until they did, he had to admit he loved the visits.
"Remus, what an ugly nurse you have," James greeted him, sitting down next to him on the opposite side from where Snape was making some notes, having finished with the salve.
"Hey Remus, how'd you rate Snivellus?" asked Sirius. "Have you been getting into trouble without us and got yourself put in detention?"
Peter grinned and rubbed his hands together, looking from James to Snape and then from Sirius to Snape. Oh, how he'd love to see Snape get his!
Snape ignored them both and handed Remus a glass with a potion. "Here Lupin, this will make it easier to sleep. It's not a sedative, it will just relieve the soreness."
Remus refrained from answering that he knew very well what it was and what it did, having taken it practically every month after returning back to normal for almost as long as he could remember. "Thank you Snape," was all he said and drank it.
Severus looked at his watch and checked Lupin's chart again. He addressed the three visiting Gryffindors. "You have half an hour." Then he moved over to another area of the Infirmary, sat down at a table, and began looking through books and occasionally making notes on a scroll. He kept an eye and an ear on what was going on across the room.
"Half an hour!" protested Sirius. "Why that greasy git! How does he get off telling us ... "
"Aww Sirius, I don't really want to waste my time on that," interrupted Remus. "Snape's just following Madam Pomfrey's orders. So what did you do while I was stuck here?"
James and Sirius gave Remus a play by play account of the brilliant Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw the afternoon before. Severus, across the room, wondered if they ever talked about anything else. The half hour was almost up, and he got ready to walk over and send the other boys out of the Infirmary. He fully expected to need Madam Pomfrey to back him up, so he glanced over to her office and verified that she was there.
Just before he got up, he heard James mention the full moon they'd had yesterday. Apparently they had used the bright light of the moon to get into mischief because their voices had dropped, and he could make out nothing else. Severus froze at the table. Of course yesterday was a full moon; he had hoped to start a potion that was sensitive to the lunar cycle, according to Starkey, but had been prevented by more nonsense from Regulus Black.
He recovered himself, but before he could make it over to the Gryffindors, Madam Pomfrey had come over and sent the three boys away.
Still, Severus went over to Lupin. He said nothing, just picked up Lupin's chart again. Lupin had been admitted two hours after the sunrise following the night of the full moon. Then Severus got out his own lunar journal. Somehow he was not surprised to find that he had attended Lupin in the infirmary right after last month's full moon too. And right after the full moon in January. He flipped back to Lupin's chart. The other charts he had seen included a page with a short summary of all admittances to the Infirmary. But that page was missing from Lupin's chart. Either this was Lupin's first admittance, which Severus knew to be false, or Madam Pomfrey had removed that page before giving him the chart. What did she not want him to know? That Lupin was admitted every month right after the full moon? Looking like he'd been attacked by a wild animal?
Remus watched his friends leave and sighed. Then he looked over at Snape. Let's see, he thought, Snape's done the gashes and bites and given me my pain potion. There isn't anything else, is there? He started to get suspicious as he watched Snape look from one scroll to another and then back again. Of all the people to find out ...
Severus thought he'd test the conclusion he was starting to draw. Gryffindors tended to wear their emotions on their sleeves. Maybe he could provoke a reaction.
"I was sorry to miss yesterday's full moon," he said. "There was a potion I wanted to try that has to be started under the full moon." His black eyes drilled into Lupin's amber ones and Lupin immediately shivered and looked away. Bingo!
All color drained from the young Gryffindor's face and he sank back into the pillow defeated, eyes closed.
"What I don't understand," said Severus, leaning forward, "is why you're the one with the scratches and bite marks, if you're the werewolf."
Remus opened his eyes and looked up at that hateful face; the pale, expressionless, cold-eyed, hateful face of the boy who was going to get him expelled from Hogwarts. "You don't know much about werewolves, do you?" The venom in Lupin's voice shocked Severus so much that he let it show on his face for a few seconds. Remus' mouth twisted in a lopsided, malicious grin at actually getting a reaction from the ice man of Slytherin. "What do you think happens when you confine a rabid wolf with no prey but itself?" he asked.
Severus leaned back and nodded slowly. Of course, that made sense. "You're right, Lupin, I don't know much about werewolves," he said.
Remus looked at Snape. The ice man was back. But he had actually admitted he didn't know something. That was something he had never heard from the Slytherin before. There was silence for several moments.
"Madam Pomfrey knows, of course," Snape said.
"Of course," said Lupin.
"Dumbledore knows too," Snape said.
"He set it up," said Lupin.
Severus nodded. "You don't mind if I verify that for myself, do you?" He lifted an eyebrow and looked straight into Lupin's eyes.
This time the effect was much different. Lupin had no trouble meeting the Slytherin's eyes. Severus decided not to test who would last longer and broke off the gaze first.
"Of course not," answered Remus with a bitter smile, ridiculously pleased that Snape had looked away first. "But I don't see why you'd bother. All you really need to do is tell your Slytherin boss and I'll be packing by tomorrow."
"I will talk to Dumbledore," said Snape coldly. "And then I will abide by whatever he tells me."
Remus stared at Snape in surprise. "But ... but he'll tell you to ... he won't let you tell anyone."
"If that is true," Severus answered coolly, "then it is likely you will not be packing tomorrow. But I will be keeping an eye on you. And no matter what the Headmaster says, I will not be pleased if you allow anyone to be harmed by your ... condition."
Then the Slytherin smiled dangerously, leaning closer, and added so softly that it was barely audible and yet Lupin could not help making out every word. "And yes, that is most definitely a threat."
Severus gathered up his notes, took his leave of Madam Pomfrey, and went back to his dorm. Strangely enough, Remus had no trouble falling asleep.
*******************
Peter Pettigrew was disgusted with their visit to Remus. No matter how James or Sirius provoked Snape, he never seemed to take the bait. Not that Remus usually gave them much of a chance to make a real effort. Sometimes Peter wondered if the fourth member of their quartet really disliked the Slytherin. He certainly didn't seem to hate him as much as he should. As much as any decent person would.
Sirius, who of the four was showing the earliest interest in girls, was the first to remark that the quiet boy seemed to end up in the Infirmary once a month, and joked behind Lupin's back with the other two that the boy must be suffering from PMS. Peter liked those jokes. He still regretted, on and off, his decision to invite Remus to their study group, which led to him being one of them. Peter still saw him as the "fourth" member of the group, but he was afraid James and Sirius were starting to relegate Peter to that position. That just wasn't fair.
It was cold standing right next to the window and Peter shivered. But he liked looking out at the night, while safe and cozy inside. The waning moon was nearly full, and almost as bright as it had been yesterday. This was the third time in a row the hated Slytherin had been hanging around when they visited Remus in the Infirmary. The third time in a row he had looked out on a nearly full, waning moon, after visiting him. Which meant that Remus was always in the Infirmary right after a full moon ...
********************
James was laying on his back in bed with the draperies closed, head on hands, elbows sticking out to either side. He stared blankly at the moonlight that snuck in through the cracks in the bed's curtains and worried about Remus.
He'd figured it out by the end of their first year himself. The light of the full moon was such a great time to do stuff, and Remus always seemed to miss those nighttime romps by being in the Infirmary. He was friends with a real live werewolf! It had both scared him and excited him at the same time. After he did a little reading up on the subject, he understood just why Remus was so sickly. Besides the pain of the actual transformations, the other boy literally tore into his own flesh every month when he became a trapped wolf. Sometimes James didn't think that he had ever met anyone so brave; to go through that month after month, and yet every month still make sure he was locked away so he didn't hurt anyone. He thought that he himself would probably have just run off one month and never let himself be locked up ever again.
Dear, idiotic Sirius, who would give his right hand for a friend and yet stab him in the back by accident the next minute, had blurted it out and totally missed the significance of what he had noticed. Yes indeed, Remus did disappear every month like clockwork to the Infirmary. There weren't a whole lot of maladies besides PMS that had that particular interval. Sirius might miss it, but Peter wouldn't. Still, Peter was one of them. What worried him was Snape.
What was that greasy Slytherin executioner doing in the Infirmary, of all places? Did he want to make sure he had a second chance at his victims? And what did Madam Pomfrey think she was doing, letting him near the sick and injured? It was crazy! And now the nasty little git had actually treated Remus three months in a row. Snape might be a lot of things, but one thing he wasn't was stupid. James usually controlled his hatred of the Slytherin hit man around other people, but he didn't hide it from his three best friends. People like Snape, willing to hurt innocent people on the command of those who owned them, for a galleon and a pat on the back, shouldn't exist.
*******************
Remus didn't have a chance to spend time alone with his friends until the hour before dinner the next day. After his encounter with Snape yesterday evening, it was almost anti-climactic to find out that James and Peter knew his secret too. Sirius seemed to be the only one who wasn't in the know, and he thought the whole thing was just so cool, you'd have thought he wanted to be a werewolf himself. From then on, Remus no longer worried about being found out at Hogwarts. The staff knew, his friends knew, even Severus Snape knew, and they were all pledged to keep his secret.
*******************
Author's note
I think the part in "Snape's Worst Memory" where James tells Lily he picks on Snape just because he exists is misleading. I don't think Snape was a random victim; they had good reason to target him.
You can also see that I think Snape knew about Lupin being a werewolf well before the Shrieking Shack incident. I think the story we're told about what actually happened is just that -- the official story.
Posted by Madmaxime at May 12, 2006 05:30 AM