Starts With A Spin, Staff Edition

He found the young man in question three floors up by the ugliest statue in the castle (which held more than a passing resemblance to Great Grandmother Snape). Short of holding a blinking guilty sign, Potter\'s involvement was obvious.



He was sweaty and out of breath, and the mud on his hands and shoes practically screamed EXPELL ME!



"Come with me, Potter." He turned and led the boy to his dungeon (lair) office.



Of course, Potter denied being in Hogsmeade that day just as he denied any involvement in the vilifying of Malfoy\'s robes, and when he had the boy turn out his pockets, he was carrying some Zonko\'s tricks, an old bit of parchment and a fresh bag of sweets from Honeydukes.



He surreptitiously checked the boy\'s clothing to make sure he hadn\'t bought an "I Just Spent the Day in Hogsmeade" T-shirt.



"Ron gave them to me. H-He brought them back from Hogsmeade last time-"



Well, now I know why they don\'t call him \'The Boy Who Lied\' or \'The Boy Who Bothered to Think Up a Suitable Alibi.\' Come to think of it, "living\' is about the only thing he actually managed to accomplish in the past thirteen years, and all that really requires is remembering to BREATHE!



The boy was strikingly similar to his arrogant, egotistical father and Snape endeavored to tell him so. Nicely, of course. Oddly enough, the boy did not take it well, and as Snape watched him grow red with anger and clench his fists as if he meant to use them, he had an uncanny feeling…as if he had traveled back in time, and was standing in front of James himself. The same hair, same lips, same jaunty way of standing with one hip out.



He was smaller, of course (or was Snape just bigger?), but he had the same look of danger in his eyes, and when Snape pushed at the cracks in his veneer and the boy lashed out with an enraged "SHUT UP!" Snape felt the same trickle of fear and dread and trepidation that few people other than James Potter had been able to produce in him.



He gripped his wand tightly and did a mental rundown of the lethal curses with which he was most familiar, but since murdering students was frowned upon at Hogwarts, Snape instead turned his attention to the curious bit of parchment that Potter had placed upon his desk.



It was obviously something important, because God knows the boy was not saving it for extra credit assignments. He smoothed out the paper on his desk and took out his wand.



"Reveal your secret!"



Nothing.



"Show yourself!" he said, tapping the parchment sharply.



"Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!"



As though an invisible hand was writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the parchment.



"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people\'s business."



Snape self-consciously put a hand up to his beak.



What? I don\'t have a big nose!...Do I??



Then more writing appeared.



"Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git."



Snape sucked in a shocked breath.



Ugly git? N-Now that\'s just uncalled for!



And still, it continued.



"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor."



Snape could feel the sting of tears welling up in his eyes and he almost dared not look at that horrible, nasty piece of parchment again. But he did.



"Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball."



Snape\'s hands flew up to his dark locks.



Now that is unfair! I washed it just last week!



"So…" he said softly to Potter. "We\'ll see about this."



There was one person in the world who didn\'t think he had a big nose, was an ugly git, an idiot or a slimeball. Snape grabbed a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the crackling fireplace.



"Lupin! I want a word!"



Snape watched with great satisfaction as Lupin emerged.



"You called, Severus?" asked Lupin mildly.



"I certainly did," said Snape, "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets. He was carrying this." He pointed triumphantly at the parchment.



Now we\'ll show this little brat who is in charge!



But to his surprise, he saw a look pass between Lupin and the boy. An unspoken warning. His gut clenched with an overwhelming disappointment.



"Well?" he asked, the taste of bile in his throat. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic."



Another look passed between the pair, this one unmistakable. Severus fought to keep his breathing even. Another battle against that horrid little arrogant brat, lost. Caught red-handed and again and he would walk away scot-free.



"Full of Dark Magic?" Lupin repeated mildly. "Do you really think so, Severus? It looks to me as though it is merely a piece of parchment that insults anybody who tries to read it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop-"



"Indeed!" Snape desperately tried to unclench his jaw…and fists…and stomach. "You don\'t think it more likely that he got it directly from the manufacturers?"



He raised an eyebrow at Remus, mentally willing him to understand. To take his side. To unite.



"It looks like a Zonko\'s product to me."



Then that horrid little ginger-haired boy burst in. One of the many, many Weasley children. My god, did they have an entire factory churning these freckled, little freaks out? And how many of them were there? Thirteen? Fourteen?



He blathered some such lie about giving Potter the Hogsmeade treats. Utter bollocks.



"Well" said Lupin, clapping his hands together and looking around cheerfully. "That seems to clear that up, Severus! I\'ll take this back, shall I?" He tucked the parchment into his robes and steered the boys out of Snape\'s office, mumbling some drivel about Vampire essays.



Snape stood in the doorway for a full twenty minutes after they had left, afraid that if he moved, the first student to get in his way would suffer the heat of his wrath. When he felt it safe to do so, he retired to his quarters.









He searched his liquor cabinet and was pleased to find that his supply of single malt Scotch was still mercifully abundant. Two hours later, it was significantly less so. Four hours later, it was all but depleted. He was about to contemplate heading off to bed when there was a knock on the door.



Please don\'t be Filch. Please don\'t be Filch. Please don\'t be Filch.



Worse. It was Lupin.



"Remus Lupin. To what do I owe this honour?" He made every effort to stand up straight and not slur his words but suspected that he failed miserably at it anyway.



"Severus," he said, pushing open the door and entering the room, "I was worried when you didn\'t--" He stopped short, eyeing the deliberately not-swaying Snape. "Are you all right?"



"All right?" Snape asked, "Allllright?? Of course I\'m alllllright!"



Alllllllllright…heh, that\'s a funny word. How come I never noticed it before? Aaaaalllllllright!!



"Good. I was concerned when you didn\'t show up for the staff meeting."



"Well, I can assure you, Lupin, that you needn\'t concern yourself with me. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself."



"I don\'t doubt that you are, Severus. More than capable I\'d say." He looked to the mostly empty Scotch bottle and back to the bleary-eyed Potions master. "It\'s just uncharacteristic of you to not show up without so much as a word to anyone."



"Yes, well, there\'s a lot about my \'character\' of which you are apparently unaware. Now, if there\'s nothing else, I was about to turn in."



Remus looked at Snape then sat defiantly on the couch.



"I\'m not leaving until you tell me what\'s up."



Severus sighed dramatically and crossed his arms over his chest.



"Fine! You are welcome to spend the night on the couch, if you so desire. I am going to bed."



He turned to stalk from the room, giving a silent prayer to the Gods of sobriety.



Please don\'t let me stagger, please don\'t let me stagger!



Lupin grabbed him firmly by the back of his robes and yanked him down onto the chesterfield.



"You\'re drunk," he whispered hotly in Snape\'s ear.



"I am not, now unhand me!" he cried, struggling on Lupin\'s lap.



"Not until you tell me why you\'re upset."



Snape struggled some more and was suddenly aware of the man\'s hardness beneath him. His own mutinous prick began to fill at the very thought of it.



Shit! Alcohol is supposed to quell that, is it not?



"I\'m not upset."



"And you\'re not drunk?" He pushed Snape\'s hair aside and began to mouth the back of his neck.



"Yes," he sighed, "No! I\'m not. Well, I am a bit, but that has nothing to do with anything….I think." In reality, all he could actually think about was Lupin\'s mouth, and the wonderful things it was capable of performing.



"Have it your way, Severus. Let\'s go through our day and see what might have put your knickers in a bunch. Let\'s see…this morning before breakfast, we had a little \'breakfast\' of our own." He let one of his hands gripping Snape\'s shoulder slide down to the flat expanse of his stomach and lower. "Something that I might be inclined to do again tonight, if we can get to the bottom of things first." At the word \'bottom\' he ground his noticeably hard groin into Snape\'s buttocks.



"Highly unlikely," grumbled Snape, slipping his own hand between them to massage Lupin\'s bulge. "You practically ripped my arse in two, with that bludger you call a cock."



Lupin chuckled into Snape\'s neck and released the grip on his other shoulder, letting this hand slide down to where it could make itself more useful.



"After we ate in the Great Hall, we parted ways, but you looked pretty happy at lunch. Well…as happy as you ever look, I suppose."



"That\'s not true," gasped Snape as Lupin slurped merrily on his ear, "I think you\'ve seen me looking exceptionally happy."



Lupin\' hand began to unbutton Snape\'s trousers.



"Really?" he asked, with mock confusion, "I must have missed that. Let\'s see if we can achieve that look again." With the trousers unbuttoned, he began to rub Snape\'s cock in earnest. "Where was I? Oh yes, lunch. Then we parted again. Oh, you flooed me, of course! The incident with Potter."



At the sound of the boy\'s name, Snape noticeably stiffened.



"Potter?" asked Lupin, amused. "Is that what\'s bugging you, Severus? You shouldn\'t let him get to you; he\'s just a child."



Snape wrested himself from Lupin\'s lap and turned to face him.



"Just a child? A CHILD? The \'chosen\' one? The \'Boy Who Lived?\' The insufferable bane of my existence?" Snape\'s eyes went even blacker and his features hardened. "He is every bit the impertinent, cocky little bastard that his father was, strutting around the castle like he owns the place! Too arrogant and self-important to follow the rules. And YOU!" he said, one long finger leveled at Lupin\'s head. "You\'re as bad as the rest of them! I caught him in a lie, he\'d gone to Hogsmeade without permission, and you came along to sweep it all under the carpet."



Snape tucked himself back into his trousers and stood, arms crossed over his chest.



Lupin straightened himself on the couch and looked up at Severus. "Are you mad at him, or at James?"



"Both of them!" Snape said, without hesitation.



"I suppose," said Remus, softly, "that I feel obligated to the boy. He\'s had a horrible life and I feel somewhat responsible for that. I should have been there and I wasn\'t. Perhaps you could cut him some slack as well."



"SLACK?" he shouted, fists clenched, "The boy is overflowing with slack! It oozes from his pores! My only obligation to him is to insure that he doesn\'t grow into the mean-spirited little prick that his father was before him!"



Remus rubbed his eyes and endeavoured to keep his voice even. "That was a long time ago, Severus. Perhaps it\'s time to forgive and forget. To move on."



"Easy for you to say, Wolf. Hanger-on to the bigger, more popular kids. It wasn\'t YOU they tormented. It wasn\'t YOU they cornered and publicly humiliated and teased. YOU didn\'t shrink into the shadows in fear every time they sauntered past, praying that they didn\'t see you. YOU didn\'t have to hide behind your books when they walked in the room!



"You\'re right," said Remus, barely above a whisper, "I\'m sorry."



"Seven years!" he continued, "Seven years they made my life a living hell. As if the only reason for my being on this planet was to make them feel superior. Stronger. Better than me." He paused, lips pursed and jaw squared. "Is it any wonder, that when people more powerful than they were offered to take me under their wing that I didn\'t jump at the chance?"



Lupin\'s eyes widened at this, and his mouth opened, as if to speak, but Severus cut him off.



"I\'m not blaming Potter for my taking the Dark mark. I made my own decisions, and it is my cross to bear. I am telling you this so that you understand my dislike for the boy, and my concerns that he will end up like his father."



The room seemed unseasonably warm, and Severus put one hand to the wall to stop the nauseating spinning that had suddenly begun.



"Oh dear, all this talk of James Potter seems not to have agreed with me. It seems now that I\'ve spilled my guts, I\'m about to spill my guts!" A look of surprise and concern crossed his face, and he quickly lurched toward the washroom.



He was still on his knees in front of the toilet when Lupin came in a few minutes later. The worst had passed, but the world still had quite an uncomfortable tilt to it. Remus wet a cloth and Snape pressed it gratefully to his still green face.



"Seems like a terrible waste of very expensive Scotch," he said, taking the cloth back and wringing it out.



"Yes," said Snape, bracing for the next onslaught, "dropping liquid memories in the Porcelain Pensive is never fun." He leaned over for another go, and Lupin knelt behind him, pulling his dark hair back from his face.



"I\'m sorry," he whispered. "I…I don\'t know what to say. I should have been stronger. I shouldn\'t have let them…"



Snape waved him off. "I wouldn\'t have done any different if I had been you."



Lupin let that statement sink in, then hugged Severus tightly.



"Thank you."



"That doesn\'t mean I won\'t still punish you." His stomach clenched again, but seemed to be empty. "When I\'m feeling better, that is. Lupin, be a dear and fetch me some Pepper-Up Potion from the cupboard?"



"Yes sir, right away, sir."



Snape gave a weak smile to his reflection. That gave him an idea…a wicked one.