"Yes, dark enough then." He still didn't want anyone getting the wrong opinion about him and Remus. They were not friends. Severus paused. He really wasn't so sure anymore about the logistics of it. They worked together. And did so rather brilliantly, but otherwise they were seperate. Remus had his friends, his life, and Severus had his books and his dreams of being important.

They parted ways with little pomp and circumstance. Severus kept his head down at dinner, finished his reports, and went out to the lake in a dark sweater, threadbare trousers and his robes. If it wasn't for his face and his hands on that particularly dark night, he might have been invisible.

He stood on the banks of the river, grinning at the fox as it flitted about, dashing out onto the water, sneaking through the grass.

Severus was enamored.