Better Than You

[spinnersending]

"Better Than You"
Who:  Severus Snape & Remus Lupin
When: 6th Year
Chapter One:  Here


A pass to the Restricted Section was even easier than Severus thought it might be.  Dumbledore gave it to him without even glancing up, saying that he was looking forward to the results.  Severus could only imagine that he meant the Wolfsbane Draught paper he was going to submit, but who knew with the old wizard?  Dumbledore was not a man anyone ever underestimated.

When Remus did not show, Severus noticed and wrote it off.  That brief connection and near friendship had been enough to make him even more bitter about the whole idea of friendship and turned him off on it entirely.  Stupid git.  As if he might have actually found things in common with a creature like that!  Good riddance!

Too bad his breakthrough potion was going to help the mangy sod!  Severus groused as he found the book he was looking for and brought it back to the table.  This was not a potions book at all, but one on the animagi.

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That look that Severus had been studying before was gone. That smugness. Now he just looked -- He hated to admit it, but it was true. Remus looked how Severus so often felt. The slytherin sighed, inhaling for a long moment before he started to bottle the draught. He gave one to Remus, tucking it into his bag for him. The rest he kept for himself.

"I want to practice," Severus blurted out. "Patronus and..." Well, he couldn't just say it out loud here. Slughorn might have had little devices lurking around trying to catch intrigue or bits of genius. "Can you come tonight? My place. The one I showed you."

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Remus noticed that he put the bottle in his bag. "Thanks." He muttered quietly.

Tonight? Well he was supposed to plan some prank for the boys lav with the Marauders, but it was likely he had nothing to say except trying to dissuade them. For two hours straight.

"Yeah. I'll be there. Say eight? I have to finish six more inches on the Giant Troll War of 1233." He said with a sigh.

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"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.

[hurleralalune.livejournal.com]

The rest of the evening was filled with dinner, homework, and a lot of taunting about working with Snape. Even through dinner. Remus just shook his head and smiled through it all. He didn't care what they thought. Remus was the type of person that really didn't care what others thought of what he did, it was who he was that mattered (and what he was worried about).

He was a few minutes late. He had on a pair of wrinkled, old khakis, a worn sweater and his Gryffindor robes. He saw the Patronus and cast his when he was still at the top of the hill. His wolf ran down to greet the other Patronus and soon enough Remus was standing opposite of Snape, the two of their Patronuses (Patroni?) darting around each other.

"Evening, Severus. Well don't they seem friendly enough?" He said with a slight laugh, gesturing to the two light animals.

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