Mate

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I make any profit from this piece of writing. Remus and co are all property of Ms Rowling.


A/N ~ Sorry guys! Uni got crazy busy again, but now it's summer! Yay! I'm hoping to finish this fic soon. Tanks for all your kind reviews and patience!

~Reise


James and Sirius were worried. Remus hadn’t eaten much in a week. They exchanged glances as the group sat around the table in the Great Hall.

“Come on, Remmy, it was only Snivellus,” James said, with an unsure chuckle. Remus looked up, anger in his eyes.

“Don’t call him that,” he growled dangerously. His friends tried to protest more, but Remus’s eyes subtly changed colour. It was too close to the full moon for him to lose his temper, his control. They shut up and looked at each other.

“Hey, Remmy, we’re sorry,” Sirius said slowly. Remus didn’t even acknowledge him. He was too busy watching the other side of the Great Hall, watching his obsidian eyed lover.

Severus, on the other hand, was astutely ignoring Remus. He felt the werewolf’s eyes bore into him, almost pleading with him to look up, to look towards him. He wouldn’t, his heart was too bruised. It was painful. He thought he had found someone, something that was real; that was meaningful. He had thought that Remus had loved him.

Now he knew better.

He leaned his head towards Lucius, trying to focus on what the blonde haired god of Slytherin was saying to him.

“—so then you take the vowels in a person’s name to calculate their Heart Number. This is used represent ones inner life and desires. I like Arithmancy, you should have taken it instead of Ancient Runes—” Lucius looked at Severus and changed his topic of conversation. “—and then I want the Giant Squid to shag me senseless.”

“That’s nice Lucius,” Severus replied automatically, frowning at Lucius’s smirk and then his full out laughter. “What?” He said cautiously.

“You weren’t listening were you?”

“Of course I was!”

“You were not. I said I want the Giant Squid to shag me senseless and you said ‘that’s nice.’” Lucius eyes danced in wicked laughter and Severus groaned and laid his head on his arms on the table.

“Sorry Luc. I’m tired. I’ve not slept in a week,” he yawned. Luc looked concerned.

“I know, I share a room with you, remember? So what’s bothering you? I am your friend, Severus. And I assume it is something to do with why Lupin looks like he has been dragged under a herd of stampeding hippogriffs.” Severus snapped his head up and narrowed glittering black eyes at Lucius.

“Pray tell, what makes you so sure that I care about Lupin’s appearance?”

Lucius smirked. “You did. Just now,” he commented dryly, sipping his tea elegantly. Severus wasn’t sure how such a thing could be said to be elegant, but Lucius made it thus. Severus made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and glared at Lucius, who remained unruffled. He was used to the acerbic youth by now.

“He looks dreadful. I wonder if he has had a falling out with his little boyfriends. Maybe they’re not fucking him anymore. Maybe they’ve discovered that they should mingle with people in their own blood.” Severus growled. “Maybe Muggles will fly,” Lucius added without missing a beat. He glanced at his friend; almost certain he knew what was upsetting the thin boy. The person who was the reason for Severus’s recent rejection of Lucius was Lupin; he knew and was sure of that. But was Severus shagging Lupin and something happened between the lovers, or was he in love with the Gryffindor, and Lupin having a lovers tiff with one of the other two main Marauders. Lucius didn’t know yet, but he would find out. Then he would set his plan in motion. Severus would be his again, and much more permanently.

~x~x~x~

There was another who was at this moment planning too. Sirius had spent every moment he could with Remus since he kissed the other boy in the hallway. However, Remus had been ignoring Sirius as far as humanly possible. Or had been raging at him. In fact, in this past week, the only emotion that Remus had been showing, aside from despair and depression, was anger directed at Sirius.

So Sirius's plans would need tweaking. First of all, he had to get Remus to speak a civil word with him, whilst at the same time convincing him that he didn’t want or need Snivellus. The latter would be the hardest part. Then after that it would be easy; or easyish. He’d plan a seduction worthy of the cunning of a Slytherin. After all, just because he was in Gryffindor, didn’t mean he didn’t possess any of the talents of the snake; his family were ancestrally a Slytherin family. He was just brave enough to stand up to his plans and see them through. Slytherin cunning and Gryffindor bravery; he’d need both to win Remus to him again.

He sat in the common room, musing somewhat on his chosen lover. James dropped down next to him, startling the blue eyed boy. He followed Sirius’s glance and smirked, making a gesture with his hand circling between Sirius and Remus. Sirius nodded, sighing longingly.

“Ahhh! Now I think I understand,” James said congenially. “Remus thinks you split ‘em up?” Sirius nodded. “Man, you have a lot of grovelling to do before he’ll be friends with you, let alone shag you.” Remus looked up sharply and James winced slightly; werewolf hearing. He’d forgotten about it. Remus’s eyes narrowed and he growled dangerously. James held his hands up in a gesture that proclaimed his innocence in anything that was pissing off the other boy. Remus snorted disbelievingly, ignoring Sirius’s attempt to join the signing conversation. He flinched when he was blanked, and sagged almost lifelessly. Yeah, his plans were ambitious, but what else set him apart from the Slytherins of his family was that he would still be hurt in the execution of those plans. He had not mastered the Slytherin ability to ignore all in the face of the culmination of one’s machinations.

Still, he wouldn’t give up. He was certain he would be a better partner for Remus. After all, he could transform into something that could help control the wolf during his time of the month. Speaking of which—

“Hey Remus, we still doing that thing tomorrow night?” He asked cagily. Remus stiffened and turned, angry brown eyes meeting his.

“No. We’re not. James and Peter and me are, but you’re not invited.” James winced for his friend and held his breath for the inevitable conflict that would happen. And when it didn’t, he was more worried than ever. But for who, he didn’t know. This submissive behaviour didn’t gel with Sirius’s normal behaviour. He hoped the problem between his friends got sort soon.

~x~x~x~

The night of the full moon came about slowly for Sirius. Remus had picked a fight with him at breakfast and dinner. He was starting to feel disheartened, and only the thoughts of that kiss, and what Remus would look like when he came was enough to keep him on the path of his plans. He just kept those images in his head as he made his way back to his dorm to get a book before he’d sneak out to join the others at the Whomping Willow.

An arm reached out and pulled him into an alcove. He turned, wand drawn and met the wary wand of Lucius Malfoy.

“Malfoy!” He hissed. “What do you want?”

“The same thing you want. Well not the exact same thing,” Lucius amended. “I want Severus and you want Lupin. We could work together for our mutual benefit.” The blonde fingered his hair and shrugged it over his shoulder.

“Oh?” Sirius said, full of suspicion. Lucius nodded.

“I believe that if we put our... differences... behind us, we can achieve what we both wish. Are you in?” He cocked his head to the side and Sirius lowered his wand and nodded curtly. “Good. I will contact you soon.” With that, the Slytherin moved away.

Sirius stood there a moment before shaking his head and continuing on his way. When he was ready, he snuck out and transformed into a dog, heading for the Forbidden Forest. Once he reached the edge, he put his nose down, following the trail he scented.

He reached a cross roads and sniffed in both directions and snuffling around for a few minutes, sorting between old trails and the newer ones. He was not expecting it when a huge wolf shape darted out of the bush and jumped on him angrily.

Pinned on the floor, Sirius the dog looked up into the hate filled, angry eyes of Moony, the werewolf. Not Remus.