Chapter Eleven: Regulus
Crabbe, the ranking Slytherin this year and a thoroughly mediocre pure-blood, was nothing more than Lucius Malfoy's mouthpiece at Hogwarts. If he had simply stuck to that role, things might have gone on very much as they had in Severus' first year, which would have been a definite improvement over Narcissa Black. However, Crabbe found himself caught between Regulus, a mere second year, and Lucius. So long as both agreed he was fine, but when they disagreed, Crabbe simply followed the lead of whomever he had spoken to last. Under the circumstances, that was more likely to be Regulus than Lucius.
Regulus did not like Severus Snape. His mother wasn't really even a half-blood -- the Princes had Muggles scattered all through their family tree like cockroaches. The Slytherin Black smiled at the aptness of his own analogy. Snape lived in a dirty Muggle factory town with his dirty Muggle father and his dirty-blooded mother. Cockroaches and dirt. No wonder his hair was greasy.
Regulus wasn't particularly happy with Lucius Malfoy, either. Sometimes he thought the pure-blood actually liked Snape. And much as his Gryffindor brother deserved the comeuppance he got in that first year duel, Regulus could not forgive Lucius for using Snape to do it. Lucius thought that people like the Snapes and the Princes were tools to be maintained and used according to their skills; Regulus knew that some tools were so filthy they could not even be used without sullying the hands that wielded them.
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Severus loved spending as much of the weekend as he could helping Madam Pomfrey in the Infirmary. Blessed privacy and plenty of room. The Slytherin had books and scrolls spread out over a table.
It was quiet today. Just Lupin, and Severus already had his post-transformation treatment down pat. Severus respected the werewolf. Since he had discovered Lupin's condition, he had done some research on it, and realized that the boy also dealt with bone and muscle pain from the transformations, as well as the cuts and bites he inflicted on himself while in his wolf form. And yet he never complained, and always made sure to present himself to Madam Pomfrey well before the full moon.
Remus felt almost like himself again. He'd slept most of the morning away and the transformation pain had faded back to a general soreness. James and Sirius and Peter had just been in to see him, but they couldn't be expected to spend the entire day with him in the Infirmary. Snape looked like he was going to, though. Well, not exactly "with" him, more like "in the same room."
Severus went over to check on Lupin. All of the wounds were completely gone except one on his left forearm and one on his chest, but those were healing cleanly as well.
"Two new scars this month," said Remus. Anything that hadn't disappeared by now usually added to his collection.
Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "I think not," he said coolly. "Those were deeper than the others so they will take a little longer, but they should be gone by ... hmmm ... tomorrow noon, I should say."
He saw the confusion on the other boy's face. "Scarring can usually be prevented by the timely application of dittany," lectured Severus patronizingly. "With a condition as predictable as yours, scarring is completely avoidable."
Remus had never heard of this. His arms, legs, and chest were criss-crossed with dozens of silver scar lines. One or two new scars a month for several years added up. "What is 'timely'?" he asked.
"It depends. I would say within half an hour is best, but I'd still make the attempt up to two hours afterwards."
"Then how can it work?" Remus asked. "Some of the cuts are several hours old before I get here."
"Well, I don't know whether there is scarring in your ... other form but I assure you, the dittany need only be applied within half an hour or so of regaining your human form."
Lupin still looked doubtful.
"Once I informed Madam Pomfrey that I was aware of your illness, we began to discuss treatment options. I convinced her to let me try the dittany in case the time sensitivity related only to human tissue. It worked."
"It was your idea?"
"I assure you, we were taking no risks," Severus said, misunderstanding the amazed expression on the other boy's face. "The worst that could have happened was that the treatment would not have prevented the scarring."
"But it was your idea," Remus stated. "I thought you hated me."
Severus arched an eyebrow. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
Remus looked at the impassive face and the cold eyes turned toward him and found he had no answer.
"In any case," continued Severus disdainfully, "I would hardly let my personal feelings prevent me from providing adequate care. Not to mention that you are not the only person with your condition, and others besides you could benefit from this treatment."
"Not many people seem to care about people with my condition," Remus said simply, in the closest thing to a complaint that Severus had ever heard him make.
"Yes, I noticed that in my research," Severus said with a slight frown.
Severus Snape had been researching lycanthropy and discussing treatment options to make things better for him and other werewolves. Remus was getting more and more contradictory images of the Slytherin.
"Are you thinking of becoming a Healer?" he asked, a question that just a few months ago would have been inconceivable.
"I think you've ruined me for that, Lupin," Snape smirked.
At the look on Lupin's face, he continued. "Most patients complain far too much. I have yet to see anyone who has as much to complain about as you do, and you don't complain at all. I find myself getting an almost uncontrollable urge to shake some sense into them. Something which Madam Pomfrey tends to disapprove."
Remus chuckled.
"Then are you going to stop coming here?"
"No."
Remus sensed that Snape was trying to determine how much to tell him, and had a sudden flash of insight. "You don't want to become a Healer. There's someone you want to heal."
"Yes." He paused. Well, it wasn't exactly a secret. "My father. He has brown lung."
"What is it? Is it fatal?"
"Not directly, no, not usually. It just makes it harder to breathe. Eventually, you die from something that wouldn't have been fatal otherwise."
"So you're looking for a cure?" Remus was impressed.
"I don't have to. The cure already exists. I'm trying to learn enough to be able to administer it."
Remus knew the Snapes didn't have much money. "Is it that expensive, then?" He was wondering if he could convince James or Sirius to come up with the money.
"It's not a matter of money," he said, dropping his eyes to one of his scrolls.
"What then?"
"My father is a Muggle," Severus said so softly it was almost a whisper. "And the Muggles don't have a cure. So he'd have to go to St. Mungo's for a Wizarding cure."
He raised his eyes to Remus. "St. Mungo's doesn't treat Muggles unless they're reversing a magical attack. It's against the law."
"To hell with the law!" burst out the Gryffindor. Then Remus blushed as he realized that he might be expected to say something like that, considering his own position.
"Some laws are a bit easier to ... ignore ... than others," Severus deadpanned.
"Not if you have someone like the Malfoys on your side," insisted Remus. "Lucius owes you. You've been a loyal ... umm ... whatever you call it. You can't tell me his father couldn't get an exception made."
"Remus, Remus," said Severus, "you're starting to sound like a Slytherin. Better not let your friends hear this."
Remus saw genuine amusement in the other boy's eyes. And was that the first time he'd called him Remus instead of Lupin?
"Well, Severus?" prodded Remus. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"Yes you are, as far it goes," he answered, also noting the change to first names. "But what you're talking about would be a major favor. I haven't earned anything like that yet. But I still have time. Dad's not in any immediate danger -- this stage could go on for years."
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They fell silent when they heard the door to the Infirmary open. Regulus Black sauntered in, accompanied by Barty Crouch and Goyle. Bartemius Crouch, Jr. had come to Hogwarts, sorted into Slytherin of course, and immediately taken up with Regulus Black, becoming his right hand man.
"Sevvie," oozed Black, "I heard you were playing nursemaid to some Gryffindor." Crouch muttered something to Black in a low voice and they both snickered.
Severus's face became expressionless, his eyes blank and slightly downcast. Damn you, Black, he thought, this was bad enough in the Slytherin common room, but we're in front of someone from another House here.
He rose and greeted the Slytherin Black. "Shall I tell Madam Pomfrey I'm through here, then? Did you have something you wanted me to do?"
At this, Black and Crouch met each other's eyes and snickered again. Crouch went over to the table with Snape's notes and began looking through them, messing up his carefully organized piles. "I was right, Reggie, he hasn't been working on Sluggy's stuff. This is all medical shite."
"Sevvie, really, I'm disappointed. I can't have you endangering your marks with Sluggy." Regulus nodded to Barty, who carefully set aside Snape's work from the other texts and scrolls and pointed his wand at it.
"Incendio."
Remus looked on, horrified, as Severus' research caught fire. Severus himself betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
"I'll see you in the common room," Regulus Black said, as he strolled off with Crouch and Goyle. "Goyle needs some help with his Potions essays."
After the door closed, Severus grabbed Remus by the shoulders and in a voice hoarse with emotion, growled at him. "If you tell anyone what you just saw here, I'll kill you!" For an instant he couldn't keep the tears from his eyes, and gave a quick, gasping sob. Then he mastered himself and looked defiantly at the other boy.
To his surprise, the Gryffindor's amber eyes were flashing with anger. "They had no right ... "
"No," Severus stated softly, black eyes glaring. "They had no right."
He left for the Slytherin common room by way of the Owlery.
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It was a Hogsmeade weekend and Lucius was holding court in a private room at the Three Broomsticks. He had a major problem and his name was Regulus Black. Snape was under his protection and damned useful he was, too: intelligent, discreet, and totally compliant. Yet Reggie seemed determined to ruin him.
Lucius knew Snape was going to bring it to a head today, and Lucius knew he had the right. He was going to have to back Snape up or lose him. It should never have come to this -- he'd had tea with Reggie a few weeks back, and asked him to kindly refrain from messing with his people. His continued provocation indicated a power play, which was ridiculous at his age. Merlin's beard, he was just a second year!
And yet, things were getting complicated. There was a faction now, which his father seemed to approve of, that followed someone who styled himself Lord Voldemort, and there had been killings. His followers held a different view of wizarding purity. There was to be some minimum required level of purity for a person to be acceptable as a witch or wizard at all, not just for positions of power.
This struck Lucius as bizarre. Pure-bloods were meant to rule, of course, but as long as they kept to their place, the Malfoys didn't much care about the purity of their followers' bloodlines. Oh, the lower classes always did jockey among themselves for position, but that was their business and something the Malfoys turned a blind eye to. To now require some minimum standard of purity would mean losing useful followers. Like Snape.
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Severus sat at a table by himself at the Three Broomsticks, waiting for Lucius Malfoy to call him. He thought he knew when he should be called, who should be ahead of him and whom he should be ahead of, but he wasn't sure anymore. Regulus Black treated him like a rankless first year; as if everything he'd done his first two years counted for nothing. Worse than that; he treated him as if he deserved punishment. Severus had to see if Lucius agreed with Black, and if not, whether he would be willing to call him off.
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Lucius had heard enough stories to know that Snape's pride had been wounded. So he decided to call him before he called Goyle, and to come out personally to greet him and bring him to the private room.
"Severus, old boy, so glad you could make it," he said loudly, making a production of shaking Snape's hand and clapping him on the back. Severus stood a little taller as he followed Lucius into the other room. Maybe Malfoy would be able to set it right after all.
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James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had a booth in the Three Broomsticks, and found their conversation interrupted by Malfoy's grandstanding with Snape. Remus knew what this meant to Severus and was pleased to see Malfoy giving him some public recognition.
James looked over at the greasy Slytherin with disgust. "Pathetic. What a brown noser."
"Lucius Malfoy's lapdog," agreed Sirius. "You can practically see him wag his tail when Malfoy pets him."
Peter grinned and rubbed his hands together.
Remus rubbed his left forearm, where there was not a new scar, and called himself a coward for keeping silent.
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Author's Note:
In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius calls Snape "Malfoy's lapdog."