After finishing up his
grindylow study, a sodden Lupin shuffled off to his private quarters for a hot shower and a change of clothes. He was starting to nurse a perverse fondness for
Stephen's hideous coat - it was comfortable and smelled rather nice, and certainly was no more appalling than some of the clothing he'd worn in the 1970's. (That
(
Read more... )
Reply
"You'll notice I've been making good use of your magnificent birthday present." He indicated the desk, which Stephen had given him to replace the one he had accidentally destroyed during their Transfiguration lessons. "And do help yourself to the rum... it's good stuff. A bit unusual, but good." He took an eye-watering swallow of his own rum, feeling the warmth penetrate into his still-chilly bones.
Reply
Stephen closed the door behind him and, sitting, poured himself a tot of pirate rum. He was not opposed to alcohol in general, really, only to the effects of overindulgence in it, particularly on hapless sailors. This rum was ... odd, especially strong. He decided it would be impolite to comment on his host's choice of liquor, and anyhow the stuff was not unpleasant. In fact, it had a certain je ne sais quoi.
"I am afraid my own notes may not be of much use," he admitted, giving Lupin the notebook to look over. Most of the notes had more to do with general observations of the lake's flora and fauna, not so much to do with the grindylow, and he was still unsatisfied with his preliminary sketch of the hatchlings.
Reply
He took another drink of rum and pushed The Origin of Species across the desk to Stephen. "This book explains how species become more suited to their habitats over time, and it explains why the grindylow lay so many eggs. It's so the babies can compete and pass their survival traits on to the next generation. I really recommend you read it. It's one of the most important scientific texts of all time. It changed everything. It was published in 1859, so I suppose it postdates you a bit... when were you born, anyway?"
Reply
He looked at the Darwin with interest. "Charles Darwin? I had thought for sure you meant Erasmus Darwin, fine man, wrote the Zoonomia. 1859 would put him rather out of my range, true. I was born in 1775; my contemporaries are all, at the moment, in the year of our Lord 1816, with the exception of myself and Jack."
The book was very, very interesting. Pirate rum was not conducive to understanding the finer points of evolutionary theory, to say nothing of reconciling said points with one's Catholic sensibilities. "I may need to find a copy of this in the library, I think. Forgive me." More rum!
((I've had to fudge Stephen's chronology a bit for the reason that Patrick O'Brian had more plot than he did time, and therefore set a whole slew of books in the year 1813 each of which probably ought to have taken a ( ... )
Reply
He looked at Stephen curiously as he poured himself another glass of rum. "You were born in 1775? I was born in 1960. I suppose that would make you my great-great-great-grandfather. Or something." Maths and geneology were not his specialities. "That must be very strange for you, being here. And being in a relationship with a woman from the distant future, no less. You must be having to learn a million new things."
Reply
Stephen thought the idea of himself being Lupin's many-times-great-grandfather was extremely amusing. "I do have a daughter. Rather not think about her becoming the ancestress of anyone at the moment, though. She is but fourteen. Well, she is fourteen in 1816." He laughed helplessly. "It is extremely strange, I'll grant you that."
Reply
Reply
Reply
"Yes, we're well rid of that bastard Voldemort. I'd warned Miss Tam to stay away from Snape, and then I found out she'd sought out Snape's master instead." He shook his head. "She told me she could take care of herself, and I certainly believe her, but I was very worried about her." He wondered why Stephen had gone a bit pink. Perhaps... never mind. He didn't want to know. "I think that learning discretion and learning to control her abilities are two separate issues. I should think you would be a very good teacher in the art of discretion."
Reply
Reply
... was sitting right in front of him. Keep your bloody mouth shut, Lupin, he told himself. But with a goodly amount of rum inside him, he couldn't help making one more confession. "That was you, wasn't it, that I was talking to on that board? You said that... love is different every time, but it's always painful. And the only thing more painful than love is its absence."
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
"Yes, I was rather relieved that nobody guessed my other one. It would've been quite embarassing... well, the incident that inspired it was equally embarassing, so no harm done, perhaps, but..."
Dammit, why couldn't he just spit it out? Both of them had danced around the subject ever since the incident occurred. He was right, they really WERE awfully alike. Too alike, perhaps. He took another swig of rum, sighed, and stepped off the cliff, so to speak. "The secret was about you. About April Fool's Day."
Reply
Leave a comment