Mommy Dearest

Mommy Dearest
Chapter 2

obDisclaimer: Still not mine. Still not paid.

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\"How long has this being going on?\" Serena demanded, staring across the desk into the twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore. \"And why in the world did you not tell me, Albus? I thought you were my friend!\"

The Headmaster inclined his head at his unexpected - but not unwelcome - visitor. \"Serena, please sit down,\" he said mildly, gesturing her into a chair. \"And if you can be just a tad bit more specific on what, precisely, you would like to know the duration of, I will do my best to give you that information. If I have it, that is.\"

Scowling, Serena sat down, and Albus didn\'t even try to suppress the amused smile that curved his mouth. He had known the woman for many, many years, and had, in fact, been her professor once upon a time. One reason why he was so capable of dealing with Severus was that the younger wizard was entirely too much like his mother, and Albus had been handling her for a very long time.

\"How long has Severus been... I mean, when did he start...\" she paused, frowning in vexation at her apparent inability to get the words out of her mouth. \"Damnation, Albus... when did Severus decide he was interested in men?\"

Dumbledore blinked, looking nonplussed for the first time in ages. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, before inclining his head to one side. \"As far as I am aware, Serena, your son is not unduly, er... interested in men,\" he replied, before pausing. \"Of course, he has never seemed unduly interested in women, either, to be honest. He\'s not exactly the Hogwarts social butterfly.\"

He watched as she frowningly digested this information, almost able to see the wheels turning in her mind. She was quite as Slytherin as her son, and he sensed with a bit of alarm that she had something in mind for his Potions Master. As a fellow male, he pitied Severus - interfering mothers had not changed from the time of his own. And as Severus was his friend - and had gone to great personal risk to aid the Order and Harry Potter in the defeat of Voldemort - he felt it necessary to do something to aid the younger man. \"Why do you want to know, Serena? Surely at his age Severus is more than capable of making up his own mind where his...er... interests lie.\"

Black eyes snapped back to him, and her brows went up in a haughty gesture of offended motherhood. \"No, he apparently is not. Especially not if he has taken up with that brown haired wizard in tatty robes who came by his classroom! I want grandchildren, Albus! I deserve it! I stood by while Severus went through that deplorable adolescent rebellion thing with those abominable Death Eaters, and I held my tongue while he went off playing spy. Boys will be boys, after all. But enough is enough. I spent too many years sacrificing my happiness for that child, and it\'s time he paid me back... in the form of grandchildren to comfort me in my old age!\"

Looking into the smooth skinned face of the witch before him, eyes twinkling as he contemplated the beneficial effects of Cosmetic Wizardry, he decided to use an old but effective tactic. \"Serena, really... you hardly look older than Severus. Definitely not old enough to be a grandmother!\" Then his mind fully took in her description of the person who Serena had reviled as being \"involved\" with her son. \"Er... the wizard you were describing as being Severus\', um... interest. Did he by chance have amber colored eyes?\"

Recalling with a sneer the laughing face of the wizard who had corrupted her son, Serena nodded cautiously. \"Yes, he did. Don\'t tell me he\'s one of yours, Albus! A... Gryffindor.\"

\"As a matter of fact, yes he is. And a Professor here, one of your son\'s colleagues. Also known for being a bit of a... well, a prankster, I suppose, with a positively lethal sense of humor,\" the Headmaster replied, easing back in his chair with a smile. \"Tell me, you didn\'t actually witness anything between the two of them, did you? Or did Professor Lupin say something that just made you think there was something going on?\"

The scowl came back, as she contemplated the question. \"No, I didn\'t interrupt a tryst, if that\'s what you mean. I was questioning Severus as to whether or not he was still a virgin at his age, and this.... man suddenly began laughing and stated that he knew for a fact that Severus was not. What other conclusion was I supposed to draw, especially given that Severus didn\'t immediately kill him on the spot? You know his temper, Albus! If it weren\'t the truth, Severus would have let loose with the hexes without pausing for breath!\"

Albus actually felt himself flush with sympathetic embarrassment for his Potions Master. To be questioned about ones experience - or lack there of - by ones mother was a horror beyond almost all imagining. \"Sweet Merlin,\" he said, shaking his head. He wasn\'t sure which would have embarrassed Severus more - his mother questioning him, or Remus overhearing it.

\"Serena, I would be willing to bet you a bottle of Odgen\'s that you either misunderstood, or were perhaps mislead,\" he said carefully. \"Remus and Severus have known each other since they were children. They hated each other for years, but now they are friends - and nothing more,\" he added sternly, when he saw she was about to interject. \"While Severus might be able to hide such a... er... relationship from me, I assure you, Remus could not. He spends much of his time in the company of myself and Minerva, and the rest surrounded by the students. He\'s one of our more popular teachers, actually,\" he admitted with a smile.

Black eyes bored into the Headmaster, as Serena weighed this information. Finally she sighed with an air of long-suffering patience. \"Boys. They never seem to outgrow the need for adolescent jokes,\" she said darkly. Sweeping to her feet, she nodded. \"Thank you, Albus. I must say talking to you has eased my mind on the subject. Now, if you will excuse me, I will get back to Severus. I want to discuss that enchanting Sybill Trelawney with him again. Don\'t you agree that they would be perfect for each other?\"

Albus barely managed to choke back a gasp of horror at the thought of anyone - but most particularly Severus - having to deal with Sybill Trelawney as a spouse. Given the choice between Sybill and Remus, the Headmaster would say that Remus was a far better potential mate for her son than the woman. In fact, he thought with a bit of surprise, Remus and Severus were pretty much exactly right for each other, especially now that they had worked out the issues of the things that had occurred in their adolescence.

A chuckle of amusement broke past his lips, and he didn\'t try to hide it this time, merely letting her think that it was her comment which had amused him rather than his own thoughts. \"I\'m certain Severus will make his own choice in the matter, Serena,\" he said, before fixing her with a stern look. \"You know him. The more you push Severus in one direction, the more he will dig in his heels and fight you. I suggest you drop the subject for now.\" He paused, a plan forming behind his twinkling blue eyes. \"I\'ll tell you what... why don\'t you let me see what I can do to assist with your problem? Severus does listen to my advice from time to time, and I will try to guide him in the suitable direction. And I know that you only want what is best for your son, don\'t you?\"

A small, conspiratorial smile graced Serena\'s lips, before she nodded once. \"Of course I only want what is best for him! It\'s just that I know what is best for him better than he does himself. Very well, Albus. Thank you for your assistance. If you manage to pull this off, I guarantee my first grandson will be named for you!\" And with that, she swept from the room regally.

The Headmaster watched her depart, shaking his head and chuckling ruefully. Poor Severus, he thought with a sigh. Well, he could spare his friend at least some of the pains of an interfering mother who believed she knew what was best for her son. Of course, that meant subjecting the Potions Master the the pains of an interfering Headmaster. But there was a rather large difference... after all, Serena only thought she knew who was her son\'s ideal partner... but Albus Dumbledore actually did know.

And that person was Remus Lupin.

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Departing the dungeons with rather more haste than he had entered them, Remus drew a breath of relief at having escaped the wrath of his colleague with no more than having his hair turned a rather virulent shade of purple. Thank Merlin for werewolf reflexes!

Absently pulling his wand, he returned his hair to its normal shade of sandy-brown, before replacing it in his sleeve and sighing. Poor Severus, he thought, not holding the barrage of hexes against his friend. He had deserved it, after all. Damn my mouth, he thought darkly, before an irrepressible smile curved same. Chuckling, he shook his head at the absurdity of the situation.

Poor Severus, he thought again, still chuckling slightly, as he made his way towards his own quarters. Imagine your own mother questioning you about something like... that! Not to mention trying to set Severus up with Sybill! I simply cannot imagine Severus with that... female.

I can\'t imagine Severus with any female, actually, his thoughts continued as he entered his quarters, closing the door behind him. He tried conjuring up a picture in his mind of the dour Potions Master actually kissing Sybill Trelawney, and he couldn\'t do it.

Dropping down on his bed, he lay down and folded his arms behind his head, amused. He tried to force his mind to pull up a picture of Severus kissing Minerva, but that didn\'t work either, and set him to chuckling again at the look of horror he imagined on the pale man\'s face. So he tried picturing Severus with Hooch, and his mental Severus actually shuddered in revulsion. He amused himself for several more minutes with the game. Irma Pince earned a scowl, and Pomona Sprout a roll of dark eyes. Professor Vector was greeted with a sneer, and Nymphadora Tonks with a raised brow and a glare.

Too funny, the werewolf thought, having run out of possible partners for the Potions Master. His thoughts drifted then to trying to picture who Severus would kiss. An image began to form in his mind, and he raised a mental brow in curiosity as he pictured the tall, black clad wizard, one arm wrapped around a slightly shorter body that was pressing against him with arms wrapped fiercely around his waist. The pale, slender fingers of Severus\' other hand were buried in locks golden-brown hair, cradling his lover\'s head with tender passion. No longer scowling, his mental Severus instead was apparently quite enjoying himself, agile lips caressing those of the person he held, his black eyes closed in abandonment to the pleasure of the embrace. After a moment (in which Remus wondered why his mental Severus seemed to be so skilled in kissing, a past time with which he no doubt had little practice), the Potions Master drew back, smiling with sensual promise down into his lover\'s eyes. Curious, Remus shifted his mental focus from the pale face of the Potions Master, and looked instead into the daydream face of who it was that he had been so thoroughly snogging. Then he sat up abruptly, eyes wide, the mental image burned into his brain as he blinked in utter shock...

The person he had imagined Severus kissing was none other than he, himself. Remus Lupin. Werewolf, former enemy, and now colleague... and from the look of satisfaction in his daydream-self\'s half-closed eyes, he had quite liked the experience.

\"Bloody hell,\" he muttered in shock.

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This is quite intolerable, Severus thought, scowling darkly down at the excellent roast beef which sat untouched on his plate. Mother was bad enough, but this... this is entirely too much.

Risking a cautious glance around the Head Table from the corners of his eyes, Severus wanted to groan in frustration. Sybill Trelawney, who sat just on the other side of Flitwick from himself, kept making doe eyes at him every time he looked at her. And on her face, doe eyes were in no way, shape, or form anything that could approach a concept such as attractive. In fact the expression on her face made him simultaneously want to wince and pull his wand to hex her away. Matricide is considered one of the most abominable crimes in the world... but Azkaban is starting to look rather peacefully attractive at the moment. Mother must be absolutely insane to even think I could ever be attracted to... that.

Almost as bad was the look on Albus\' face, a speculative twinkle that made Severus want to bury his face in his hands. No doubt his mother had gone to the Headmaster at once, demanding an explanation of what was going on in Severus\' life. He sighed, knowing that she would have repeated the entire incident verbatim to the older wizard, and he could only imagine - with some amount of horror - exactly what Albus must have said in return. He was at least partially grateful that whatever it had been, it had caused his mother to leave the school without even coming to see him again. But what price he would be paying for that brief respite he could only imagine with some dread.

The worst, however, was Remus Lupin. The werewolf refused to meet his eyes at all, and seemed to be inordinately flushed. Strangely, Severus was over his fit of pique at the werewolf\'s cheeky question, and, even odder, didn\'t even feel particularly embarrassed anymore than Lupin had witnessed the incident with his mother. They had faced down Death Eaters and worse together, after all, and had seen the absolute most horrible sides of each other. In fact, in a way it was ironically amusing that Lupin of all people would happen by, and that his irrepressible, totally irreverant humor had managed to fluster his mother. Serena Snape was never flustered. She stood firm in the face of the worst of his own temper tantrums, barely batted an eye at his snarls, and Merlin knew not a single one of his threats had ever earned him anything other than a raised brow. He was felt a bit of admiration that Lupin had accomplished so easily something that he had been trying to do for years... but now Lupin wouldn\'t even look at him, and Severus wanted to pull out his wand and start hurling hexes again.

He is no doubt worried that I am contemplating doing precisely that, he thought morosely, scowling at the inoffensive slices of beef again. Either that, or he is embarrassed himself by the whole situation and will now avoid me completely again.

That thought made him sigh and want to roll his eyes in vexation. He actually enjoyed the werewolf\'s company, truth be told. They had gotten through the sticky parts of the damage done to each other in past events, and apologies had been offered and accepted on both sides at Dumbledore\'s insistence when Lupin had returned to teach this year. Gradually the truce had turned to friendship, as Severus realized that the calm humor of the Gryffindor, which had always irked him so in an enemy, was actually something rather pleasant when encountered in someone he no longer hated. And it was quite refreshing that their common experiences and backgrounds meant that he did not have to constantly explain himself when talking to the man. Lupin was, for all his poverty, very well educated, widely travelled, and, truth be told, as intelligent as Severus himself. He had actually come to enjoy talking to him on some evenings, and the occassional game of chess. They still had spirited debates - Lupin just could not seem to cope with the \"hurt feelings\" of students who were far too sensitive for their own good, and would come running to the mild-mannered DADA instructor to complain about the slights of the Potions Master. But Severus knew that he, himself, had mellowed since the weight of his former sins had been allowed to slip from him, and while still snarky, he knew that he was no longer nearly as cruel to the students as he had been in times past. And Remus knew it,too.

He frowned. More often these days he had found himself thinking of the werewolf as \"Remus\" instead of \"Lupin\", a sure sign that the sandy-haired wizard had changed status in his mind. Of course, Remus himself had steadfastly refused to ever address Severus by his surname. The undo familiarity of it had once bothered him, but when he had gotten over his former anger at the Gryffindor, he realized that it was merely Remus\' way. The werewolf was a very personal person, related to people as individuals rather than seeing them as groups, and the use of one\'s given name was his way of relating that he was focussing on someone has an individual, rather than as a member of his or her family. It was not Severus\' way at all, but if one accepted Remus, one had to accept that, as well.

Tonight was Saturday, and it had become somewhat of a habit of theirs in the last few months to play chess together in his quarters. Given the way that the werewolf was acting, however, he doubted that tonight would find the sandy-haired wizard turning up at his door, with his irrepressible grin and a bottle of something strange and alcoholic - obtained from some \"secret source\" which lwaylways refused to name, but who Severus highly suspected might be the Weasley twins. And Severus was surprised to find that the scowl which crept over his features was one brought on by a feeling of disappointment at the loss of something which he didn\'t even realize that he had begun to look forward to with anticipation.

Blessedly the meal ended, and Severus stood, nimbly avoiding Trelawney. Why do these things always happen to me? he thought morosely, as he carefully placed as many of his colleagues between himself and the woman as possible. Damn my mother, anyway, for bringing all these complications! I like my life, finally. I am at peace with it, and I have finally begun to actually rather enjoy it, to be honest. And she walks in and now this... fluttering moth of a woman is going to tag along after me like a lovesick puppy, and the one person I truly enjoy being around is going to start avoiding me...

Scowling darkly, he made his way to his quarters, refusing to acknowledge the part of him that was hopeful that Remus would show up for their chess game anyway.