A Song for Severus ~ (Not Update, but Edit)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 74 ~ Another Plot ala Severus

Lupin was feeding Eloise a strip of steak, the muggle sucking the juices sexily off his fingertips when they heard the sound of apparition. Remus immediately stood up, sniffing, his brow furrowed. His sense of smell seemed increased, and his face relaxed. Rubin walked out of the house and looked toward the fence, a smile breaking out on his face as he saw Albus and Severus. Albus was examining the fence.

“Amazing. Werewolf-proof fencing,” he said to Severus, who studied the fence and the mesh top. Whoever Rubin Fezwig was, he knew how to protect himself.

Rubin hurried over to the fence.

“Albus! Good to see you old man,” he said, pulling out his wand, unwarding the fence and rolling it back so both wizards could enter. Albus embraced the farmer warmly as Severus stood by.

“Good to see you too, Rubin. This is Professor Severus Snape. He teaches at Hogwarts.

Rubin offered his hand to Severus, who took it shaking it firmly. The old man had quite a grip. The Potions Master imagined healthy living and hard work had a lot to do with it.

As Albus and Rubin chatted, Severus looked over at the table where Remus was sitting with a brown-haired, pretty and rather ruffled looking woman. She had to be the muggle Albus had told him about. The wizard walked over to them.

Suddenly, Severus stopped, his nose wrinkled. Good gods. Both of them stunk to high heaven. A mixture of old sex and what only could be described as wet dog permeated the air. The Potions Master pulled out his wand, muttered a freshening charm and waved it about liberally. He was tempted to scourgify the couple but knew that probably wouldn’t be met with their approval. They probably liked the stench.

Remus looked at the pale wizard with mirth in his eyes as Eloise looked at him with curiosity. He smelled of soap and sex.

“Who is that, Remus?” she asked the wizard.

“A very old acquaintance of mine. Professor Snape. Not the most pleasant chap, believe me. That big nose of his picked up our scent. I imagine he got quite a snootful with that honker,” Remus said as Severus walked up to them.

Eloise stifled a laugh as Severus looked down at the couple.

”Remus,” he said by way of greeting.

“Professor,” Remus replied, nodding his head, “This is Eloise Hedgeberry.”

Severus inclined his head to the muggle. By the way they were sitting, Remus facing sideways with both legs straddling the bench and Eloise between them, it was easy to see they were an item.

“Hello, Professor,” the woman said.

Severus stared at her for a moment, then he looked at Remus and frowned.

“You didn’t come pick up your wolfsbane potion, Remus,” Severus said to him.

“No, I didn’t,” Remus said.

Severus waited for him to explain himself, but Remus felt no need to do it. In the past, Remus always felt the need to unnecessarily explain himself to everyone, whether he needed to or not. But not now.

He didn’t need to explain his actions to anyone.

The wizards looked at each other for several moments, both sets of eyes rather hard.

Eloise could sense there was some bad blood between the two, but said nothing. Suddenly Albus walked up. If he smelled the pair, he didn’t show it.

”Ah Remus,” he said, extending his hand and shaking the werewolf’s hand warmly.

”Headmaster,” Remus said with a broad smile, “Allow me to introduce…”

”Eloise Hedgeberry. Greetings my dear. And welcome to the wizarding world,” Albus said, shaking her hand warmly as well.

“What brings you here, Headmaster?” Remus inquired.

Albus walked around the table and sat down across from the two, his face becoming sober. Eloise’s eyes washed over the tall, bearded wizard. He seemed kind, but underneath she could sense great strength.

“Last night, there was a brutal killing by a werewolf, Remus. A wizarding family was attacked. A mother, father and young son were killed. A little girl survived but she was bitten,” the Headmaster said.

Both Remus and Eloise looked at him with horror.

“Fenrir,” Remus growled.

”Yes. Fenrir. As you know, the entire werewolf population will take the brunt of the outrage as they always do. Those who live in the village will be sequestered there for the next few months. Those who live in towns and cities will either be relocated for the duration or have tracking charms placed on them at all times,” Albus said, “Rubin has informed me you two have not been visited. More than likely because the Ministry is aware of your current situation, Miss Hedgeberry being ‘in heat’ as it were. It is very unlikely the two of you left the farm. Particularly with the fencing. So no doubt you are both in the clear.”

Remus and Eloise looked at each other. Severus frowned a bit. In heat? No wonder they smelled as they did.

“The reason I am here is to ask for your help in capturing Fenrir,” Albus said, “No doubt he will come for Miss Hedgeberry at some time…”

”No! Fenrir is going to be killed, not captured! He deserves to die, not be locked up to be fed and cared for the rest of his life!” Eloise snarled at the wizard, her eyes becoming black-veined. No one, not even this old wizard was going to steal her revenge from her.

Remus placed a hand on her arm to calm her.

”I intended to deal with Fenrir on the night of the next full moon, Headmaster,” Remus said, a steely look in his eyes, “I intend to kill him…with Rubin’s help.”

Severus stared at the werewolf, unable to believe Remus Lupin was actually going to try to attempt to kill the strongest, fiercest werewolf in the wizarding world.

“You’re no match for Fenrir, Remus,” the Potions Master said.

Remus leapt up from the table with a snarl, his eyes wild, Eloise clinging to his arm as he faced Severus, looking ready to kill. Severus raised his wand defensively. He had never seen Remus lose his temper before. This wasn’t like him.

“Don’t tell me who I’m a match for, wizard!” he yelled, “I can face Fenrir! I must face him. You will not interfere!”

Albus looked at the werewolf calmly. It was as he thought. Remus had accepted his lot and was now showing the courage and strength the wizard always knew he had. Not that the wizard was a coward, but now he was showing his masculinity.

”Remus, we don’t want to interfere with your plans…” Albus said, “but perhaps…perhaps we could provide backup in case something should go wrong.”

”We?” Severus mouthed silently. Oh no. Not another crusade. Damn you, Albus.

Remus sat back down and looked at Eloise. He was her champion. If she wanted him to do it, he would.

Eloise looked back at Remus, torn. She wanted Fenrir dead, yes…but her feelings for the wizard had grown stronger in quite a short time. To be honest, she didn’t want him to lose his life. Perhaps it would be good if he had someone to back him up if it seemed he would fail. She would still respect him for trying.

“I think…I think that might be a good idea, Remus. If something went wrong, they could help you,” she said softly.

“They?” Severus mouthed again, groaning inwardly.

Remus’ eyes softened as he looked at Eloise, then turned hard as he turned his head toward Albus.

“Only if something goes so wrong I can’t recover from it,” the werewolf demanded, “I won’t have my glory taken from me! Fenrir has to die at my hand. Mine.”

Rubin let out a little sigh of relief. They could use all the help they could get. But one thing was good about this. Now when they placed Eloise’s scent all about, only Fenrir would come since the other werewolves were going to be locked down and unable to leave the village or towns. Unless there were other solitary werewolves. But they were rarely solitary by choice. Fenrir was on the run and Remus had been under the influence of wolfsbane potion.

“Yes, Remus. We will let you take your shot at glory,” Albus said. Magic swirled around him, sealing his oath. Remus calmed immediately.

“Severus, come sit,” Albus said, moving over and making room for the Potions Master on the bench.

Severus gave another little wave of his wand to freshen the air, then scowling, sat down next to Albus. Rubin sat on the other side.

Albus folded his hands together and looked around the table.

”Now, let us hear your plan,” he said, his eyes dark.

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When Severus returned to Hogwarts that evening, he went directly to Hermione’s lab, figuring it would be better to go to the witch then letting her find him. It was sort of like walking into the open jaws of a dragon, but what could he do?

He frowned as he made his way down the stairs into the subdungeons. Albus had done it to him again. How did he allow himself to get caught up in the old wizard’s plots? It was Albus’ damned enthusiasm for the most part. He immediately assumed Severus would want to be a part of bringing Fenrir down, not knowing it wasn’t the wizard’s natural inclination to put his ass on the line fighting evil. He did it, but it didn’t mean he liked it. He wasn’t a Gryffindor, all of whom seemed to become highly aroused at the idea of facing deadly situations.

Well, he was in for it. When they hashed out the final details and Albus asked were they all agreed, everyone said aye and looked at Severus expectantly. He wanted to tell them all to sod off and he wasn’t going to risk getting bit in the ass by either Fenrir or Remus, but it was Albus’ expectant look that made him sigh, “Aye.” Which got him a painful slap on the back from the Headmaster.

The big question was how the hell was he going to keep this hidden from Hermione? That witch seemed to always know when he was hiding something, even if he gave no visible sign. Good thing she hadn’t worked for Voldemort back when he was a spy.

Severus pushed open her lab door to find Hermione in a huge pair of magnified goggles tied around her head. Her eyes were twice the size of Sybil Trelawney’s as she looked up from her work. She was using tweezers to painstakingly pick up what looked like grains of sand from a small pile in front of her. She looked up at Severus, lifting the ridiculous glasses and scowling at him.

“So, where were you hiding all day?” she asked him, putting down her tweezers to put her hands on her hips.

”For your information, I wasn’t hiding. I had to accompany the Headmaster,” Severus replied.

Just as he thought, Hermione went from angry to curious in 0000.1 seconds.

”Where did you go?” she asked, taking off the goggles and shaking out her hair. She put them on the table, picked up a glass bowl and turned it over, covering the mound of powder she’d been working on.

”To visit an old friend of his,” Severus said, hoping he didn’t sound evasive.

Hermione’s eyes narrowed immediately.

Damn it!

“So why did he need you?” she questioned him, pulling off her latex gloves and tossing them into a small trash bin next to the counter.

“He didn’t need me exactly. He just asked me if I wanted to go. I knew you had work to do, so I said yes,” Severus said.

Hermione looked at him as if she could see right through him.

“You and Albus are up to something,” she said.

Severus blinked at her.

“Are you going to tell me what it is, or do I have to go to Albus?” Hermione asked him.

Shit. If she went to Albus, more than likely the old coot would tell her about his theory concerning reasonable werewolves. At least if he told her, then he could work around it. Severus sighed.

“All right, I’ll tell you…but over dinner. I’m famished,” the Potions Master said, trying to put it off as long as possible. Well, at least she wasn’t yelling at him about letting her oversleep.

He watched as Hermione hung up her lab coat and washed her hands.

”I thought we might have our supper in my rooms. I’ve had enough extraneous company for one day,” the wizard said, stepping aside and letting Hermione pass.

”That’s fine, Severus,” Hermione said, walking ahead of him.

Severus’ eyes fell to her hips as he followed her. He was feeling a bit stressed after being trapped by Albus. A little sexual release couldn’t hurt things a bit. The only problem was Hermione rarely let him have at her two days in a row. Sometimes he had to wait a week to get hold of her again. But he hadn’t been too bad last night. Hermione didn’t even need any purple potion for the aftermath. He had been rather gentle for the most part. She might be amicable for another tumble if he played his potions right.

“I’m sorry I let you oversleep, Hermione,” he said to the witch, “I didn’t wake up until Albus called me and didn’t think to look at the time. I didn’t realize it was so late until I actually was in the Headmaster’s office and about to leave.”

Hermione stopped and turned, again putting her hands on her hips.

”I saw the Headmaster this morning. You weren’t with him,” she said sharply.

Whoops. He'd forgotten he disappeared when he saw the witch looking for him in the Main Hall.

”I took a little detour. I needed to collect something from my stores before I left. I met him outside,” Severus lied.

“What?” she asked.

”Remus’ wolfsbane potion,” Severus said quickly. The lie would tie in nicely when he told Hermione where he was…then he cursed himself. He had spoken too quickly. Hermione would now know Remus wasn’t taking the potion any longer, and she’d want to know why he decided not to. Shit!

“Wolfsbane potion? Did you see Remus today? How is he?” Hermione asked him excitedly.

”I’ll tell you while we dine,” the wizard said sullenly, wondering how long it would take before Hermione started her crusade for Werewolf Rights. There was a small organization of werewolf supporters made up mostly of friends and family. It was called “FOW” or “The Friends of Werewolves.” No doubt Hermione would become a card carrying member within weeks.

Severus followed the witch up the stairs. Well, maybe when she found out he was going to actively help Remus face Fenrir, she’d give him a bit because of his Albus-inspired selflessness.

Maybe.

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A/N: Poor Severus. He can’t win for losing. :::shakes head::: Well, he plans to milk it for what it’s worth concerning Hermione. At least he might get a little nookie. Lol. Thanks for reading.