Sinope's Fiction: Friends

Title: Friends
Author: Sinope at (no spam!) gmail dot com
Rating: PG
Pairing: None (gen; hints of Snape/Lupin)
Summary: Remus has a friend. His other friends don't approve. MWPP-era.
Author's notes: For Moony.
Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan work. No profit was made; no ownership is implied.

Remus

"Wolf."

Remus jerked. "What?"

"Or, more accurately, 'wolf suckled by a wolf.' Your name, Lupin - I suppose your parents thought it amusing?"

"I suppose so."

"Well, Master Lupin, do you have an evil twin that I've never heard of?"

"Had."

Snape paused in interested surprise. "What happened?"

"He was killed when we were very young, while our family was on holiday."

"Mauled by a wolf, I imagine?"

Remus fixed his eyes intently back on their Transfigurations homework.

"So the Fates do have a sense of humor," Snape quirked his lips into a wry smile.

"Look, could we please get back to the homework?"

"Of course." Though Snape turned his eyes back to the textbook, they rested on the same spot for a few moments, frozen in thought. Abruptly, he turned back to Remus. "Was it a wolf or a werewolf?"

"What does it matter?" Remus continued to stare at the same spot. "They found him in the woods, dead. It's not a night I want to relive."

"So you saw it?"

"Saw what?"

"The werewolf. Or wolf. Whichever. You said 'they' found him, which means you were already there."

"Merlin, I never thought I'd miss the usual grumpy, uncommunicative Slytherin we all love. Yes, all right? Yes, I watched my twin brother get killed. Happy?"

Snape fixed his eyes on Remus knowingly, and Remus felt a prickly shiver wash over his skin. "Yes, I am."

James

Ravenclaw had just scored another goal when Sirius nudged James and pointed back toward Remus. Power in Bondage: A Survey of House-Elf Magic lay open across Remus's lap, and James had begun to snicker at the title when he noticed that his friend was not reading. Remus was looking down and through the text, his lips moving quietly.

"Shhh," Sirius whispered, and the two bent closer; Peter's eyes darted to James, and he, too, leaned in.

The murmur was barely audible. ". . . but Tifty the Free actively chose to break his bond to his owner, so maybe that magical disruption was what weakened him - couldn't an elf who's set free retain full energy?"

James's and Sirius's eyes met. "He's doing it again," Sirius said flatly and loudly, with a mock-serious frown on his lips. "Moony - oi, Moony!"

The second shout finally caught Remus's attention, and he cast them a startled, guilty look. He tucked a few strands of brownish hair behind his ear nervously. "What is it - did Ravenclaw win?"

"Not yet," James glared. "Look, Moony, you were doing it again - wasting a Messaging Charm on that git Snape. How many times do I have to remind you what a greasy-haired sadistic little bastard he is? You'd think he was your study partner instead of us, the way that you're always passing notes and sending messages."

Lupin gave James a small, awkward smile, but didn't answer, casting his eyes back down on his book.

Sirius turned to James, and James could see something dark lurking in the tightness of his lips. "He is meeting with him."

James sighed melodramatically, shrugged, and turned his eyes back to the game. "Ruddy idiot, but what can you do?"

"I'll think of something." Sirius's voice was careful and heavy.

Sirius

Remus reached over and crossed out a word on Snape's parchment, flashing him an impish grin before he began to explain exactly why Alethar the Alliterative was referred to as a prince in the Book of the Swan. Sirius could see Snape focusing on Remus's words, nodding thoughtfully with his greasy face relaxed and almost - soft. His hands clenched into fists beneath his invisibility cloak. Sirius waited.

Before long at all, Remus began to gather up his homework. "I'm sorry I can't stay longer," he muttered, then bit his lip, the way Sirius knew he did whenever he was lying. "I've been feeling rather ill, and Madam Pomfrey said I shouldn't stay out late."

Snape gave Remus a small, tight smile with an imperceptible nod of the head, shaking his long hair over his eyes. "I understand."

In that moment, when Sirius saw Snape and knew that he knew - but, inexplicably, wasn't yet using it to hurt Remus - everything clicked. As Remus carried his books out of the room, heading back to Gryffindor, Snape watched him closely beneath pale, hooded brows, and something churned furiously in Sirius's stomach.

At last, Remus left the classroom and closed the door behind. Snape turned back to his parchment.

"Aren't you worried that your friend is sick, Snivellus?" Sirius sneered, pulling off his invisibility cloak and bundling it quickly behind his back.

Snape jerked around, wand whipping to point straight at Sirius. His lips twisted into a sallow sneer. "Perhaps you should be worrying more about your friends, Black. Then again, I don't doubt that Master Lupin will soon recover from his . . . lunacy."

"The only lunatic I know is you, you fucking tosser, for thinking you could play around with my friends and their secrets. Or -" Sirius pretended to pause in thought, then continued mockingly -"surely you're not jealous, Snivellus? Do you miss Remus when he's not around? Do you wish that you could be with him like we can?"

"I refuse to play this game, Black," Snape replied in a forced, quiet voice, hair clinging to his face raggedly. "If it wasn't for the books in the crossfire, I'd have hexed you already. Leave."

Sirius shrugged. "Whatever you want, Snivellus. I have a friend to meet, after all. Of course, if you're man enough to follow, I could tell you where to go, though I'm sure a bastard like you wouldn't know about real friendship." He leaned forward conspiratorially, daringly. "It's like this . . ."

Peter

"Please. I swear I didn't know - I would never have - please believe me, I'm sorry -"

Peter could hardly hear the urgent whispering over the lazy chatter of hundreds of students finishing their puddings on a fine Sunday afternoon. Remus was sitting away from Sirius and James, far enough that Peter could hope they didn't hear, but a glance at their set faces and white knuckles told differently. He shivered with the uneasy tingle that always raced through him when his best friends were angry at each other.

"So," James turned to Sirius, talking in loud, distinct words and casting glances over at Remus, "how's your Potions essay coming along?"

"Ah, it'll be fine, Prongs," Sirius replied in the same pointed tone. "I know that I have my best friends to help me out with it, right?"

"Yeah, Padfoot, it certainly is nice to have friends." Another cutting glance at Remus. Despite himself, Peter could hardly suppress a shaky giggle.

Sirius's tone dropped back down again, though his fists were tighter than ever, nails digging into palms. "Why won't he understand, James? He's abandoning his friends just to try and make up to an ugly wanker who hates him in the first place!"

James steepled his fingers, briefly looking away from Sirius. "You were a bit of a berk to him, you know. He'd have hated both of us if - well, you know."

Yes, all three of them knew, and Sirius didn't even answer that one.

Finally James looked Sirius straight in the eye, over the table. "He'll come back, Padfoot. Don't worry. Just give him time."

"Thanks, mate," Sirius smiled briefly, then returned to the business of not-watching Remus.

Peter couldn't help himself, though, and he turned to see Remus opening up his Herbology textbook, pale fingers shaking and lips trembling as he whispered, "Please, Snape. On - on page 235 - I mean, 253 - Phutanos says that hellebore should be regulated thanks to its toxic pollen, but I think . . ." Remus's voice broke, but he coughed and kept speaking, his gaze focused straight on Snape at the Slytherin table. "I think -"

finis.