"Madness is the emergency exit." -- Alan Moore

[m4moony]

Date: Sunday, 16 July, 2000
Time: After Moonrise and sunset
Location: Spinner's End
Character(s) Involved: Remus Lupin and any other residents of Spinner's End who wish
Status: Complete
Rating: Let's say PG-13 to start and see where it goes

Comments

[subtle_simmer]

It had been a gamble. Well, not really. He was relatively certain Lupin wouldn't bite him. Yet it was impossible not to see the lustful rage of the wolf gazing at him hungrily through those amber eyes.

He heard the whine, and still didn't move - couldn't have moved if he wanted to. Besides being utterly without mercy, it had taken all his courage to get where he was. Backing off was out of the question.

Then the wolf lunged, and Severus knew he was about to die. He raised his arm up defensively in front of his face, and fell backward, banging his head against the stone wall behind him in his haste to retreat. It was only as he saw the flash of tufted tail racing toward the stairs that he realised he'd not been attacked.

The sudden heart-stopping rush of adrenaline fell again just as quickly as it had risen, leaving him to feel clammy and weak-kneed - but Lupin was not going to get away that easily! His behaviour merely solidified, in Severus' perspective, that facing the beast was precisely what Lupin needed. If he was

[subtle_simmer]

He sat down on the chaise, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, once again almost eye-level with the werewolf. Now that fear was gone, he was struck again with the genuine awe of the magnificence of the wolf - he was unquestionably a beautiful creature. The tips of his fingers were almost close enough to touch the luxurious fur.

He didn't know how to get through to Lupin, and he was in no way deceived that it would be an easy or an instantaneous healing. Lupin had tried to hide himself from himself for too long. Not that Severus could blame him - if he could have separated the Death Eater part of himself away, it might have made portions of his life easier!

Then again, it had to be worth something, somewhere in that thick lycanthrope skull, that Severus had no difficulty accepting the wolf as part and parcel of the man. Of all of his housemates. He'd seen enough monstrous behaviour from 'normal humans' to be unable to cling to wizarding prejudice against lycanthropes, just because of lycanthropy.

"You don't have to

[m4moony]

Remus snarled with barely restrained frustration whenn Severus barged into the room. Couldn't the man just leave him in peace? How was Remus supposed t come to terms with the fact that on this night he was once again the monster which had destroyed his friend's life if he wasn't given a moment's solitude to simply think?

It had been so much easier with James and Sirius and Peter. There was something about the animal mind of the animagus that acted as a sort of bridge for communication between Moony and Padfoot and Prongs and Wormtail. That bridge didn't exist here. Otherwise he'd be able to explain to the towering man chasing after him that he was trying to face it. It wasn't the wolf he was running from

[subtle_simmer]

It was impossible for Severus to 'understand', regardless of the similarities of their situations, precisely because of the differences in their situations. Severus, for all the horrific things he had done in his life, could clearly and vividly recall each and every one of them, and had done it all of his own free will.

Not something he was proud of, exactly, but control was vital to him, and even while he railed against the manipulations of the two more powerful wizards who used him as their pawn between them, he did have a choice, of sorts. He could have chosen to remain loyal to the Dark Lord. He could have chosen to make his leaving obvious, as Regulus and Igor had done, and accept the consequences. He chose to switch his loyalties to Dumbledore and follow his orders (though not completely unquestioningly) after making that decision

[m4moony]

Remus huffed softly, tilting his head in a wolfish smirk at Severus' pronouncement and jumping up onto the bed. As 'sentimental fool' was quite possibly one of the least acerbic descriptions the man had ever called him, he found it slightly amusing. Circling a moment, he settled in to lie on the bed as Severus read

[subtle_simmer]

Now what? was the same thought which crossed Severus' mind as well. Reading the poem had given him something else to focus on, and he did like to read. Someone had once told him - a backhanded compliment in the most extreme - after extolling on all the many physical flaws which made him so unappealing to look at - that his 'saving grace' was his voice, and that, 'The blind would find you beautiful'.

Juneau Connors could undoubtedly set that person to rights!

It must have helped, somewhat, because the werewolf seemed more at-ease, lying on the bed. It was interesting how, in spite of the clearly animal form and behaviour, like circling the bed before lying down, Severus could still see Lupin's personality.

"Hell if I know," he said in exasperation, as though he could hear the werewolf echo his question, or perhaps hear himself echo the werewolf's question

[m4moony]

Large amber eyes blinked in surprise at the man's initial outburst. If he hadn't known better, Remus might have thought Severus had actually understood the question in Remus' head

[subtle_simmer]

The werewolf looked so positively canine rather than lupine in that moment, his head and ears up, mouth quirked in the animal twist of a grin, thick tufted tail thumping softly against the bedding.

It was in such opposition to the angry tension of earlier, Severus couldn't help it. He laughed aloud.

"I suppose it would be in bad taste to mention, now, that as a boy, I'd always wanted a dog," he said between dry chuckles.

A nice, big, fierce German Shepard, which he'd intended to train to be an 'attack dog'. He used to fantasise about goading the dream-dog into ripping out his father's worthless throat.

"Very well, reading it is, though now you will have to tolerate my taste in leisure reading