Here In The Dark

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Here In The Dark

The Velvet Ghost

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Author\'s Notes

Pairing : SS/RL (Severus Snape/Remus Lupin)

Genre : Romance (Yep, pure slashiness and a teensy bit of deep conversation but it\'s all light-hearted)

Language : English (Duh)

Title : Here In The Dark

Rating : R (Slash! You have been warned)

Summary : Peeves has tricked Snape and Lupin into accidentally locking themselves in one of the broom cupboards, even though in later years, Snape will swear to God that he was forced in by no fault of his own. But some nicer, life-changing events are set to take place here in the dark... Slash and Yaoi - you\'ve been warned.

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An average-sized Hogwarts broom cupboard, for those who do not know, is about a two metres square. Pack it with Filch\'s customary junk, buckets, mops and brooms, and there isn\'t a lot of floorspace at all, let alone somewhere to stretch your feet or curl up to sleep. Unfortunately Remus Lupin and Severus Snape found themselves in just this situation one dark night, sometime early in the morning, when they were supposed to be out patrolling the castle. The moment they had realised they were locked in, Snape had dived for the only available seating place, an upturned bucket, and claimed it as his territory. He hadn\'t moved a muscle since, just in case of the unlikely event that Lupin would try to steal it from him, though the Defence Against The Dark Arts professor (incidentally, the only one to leave the job and then come back at a later date) was perfectly happy leant against the door as he was.

\"Perhaps we should try calling for help,\" Lupin suggested, calmly, surveying Snape huddled on his precious bucket.

\"And admit this?\" Snape scoffed. \"I think not, Lupin. You might be ready to skip out of this cupboard and laugh off the whole thing, but I am not.\"

Lupin smiled. He quite liked seeing Snape this irritated and... what was the word? Helpless? In a way, but there was also such bitterness in his face it was funny. Lupin got the impression that Snape had never, ever been humiliated in such a way before and he hated it.

\"I\'m sure this has happened before. We could explain it.\"

Snape\'s dark eyes shot to him, glaring at him from the shadows at the other end of the cupboard. \"How shall we word it, hmm? \"Well, Albus, we were just patrolling the corridors when we saw a completely suspicious figure walking along near one of the cupboards. It was so blatantly obvious that it was Peeves. However, idiots as we are, we went to investigate when the figure dashed into the cupboard. We opened the door, the poltergeist shot out, we both screamed like Hufflepuffs faced with a potions exam, Peeves shot past, stole our wands, pushed us in and locked the door\".\"

\"Mmm, that might work,\" said Lupin, pleasantly.

Snape rolled his eyes. \"You\'ve never heard of sarcasm before, have you, Lupin?\"

His cupboard partner smiled. \"You\'ve never heard of being positive before, have you, Severus?\"

\"Do not call me Severus,\" he snapped. \"The only person I willingly allow to call me Severus is Dumbledore, and I\'m not going to add your name to the list.\"

Lupin decided it was best not to provoke Snape any further, and looked away, crossing his arms, shifting his body weight from one foot to the other. He was getting quite uncomfortable now. He had been standing for nearly an hour, after all, while selfish Snape had the bucket and, Lupin noted, quite a bit of room for his legs. Then again, he didn\'t expect anything less from the Potions master. Snape always had hated him, for being friends with James and Sirius. Severus Snape wasn\'t one to let go of a grudge, no matter how many years had passed since the feud begun. Lupin had the feeling that Snape would hate him and everything to do with him until the sun collapsed in on itself.

\"Comfy?\" Lupin asked a moment later, with a raised eyebrow, just something to break the dusky silence that was almost driving him mad.

Snape interpreted the small-talk in his own special way. \"No, you\'re not having the bucket.\" He added, \"I got here first.\"

Lupin chuckled. \"How spectacularly childish. I was merely making conversation"
"

\"There\'s no need to,\" Snape snapped. \"We are not friends, we do not have to pretend this isn\'t as bad as it is, and I\'m damned if I\'m going to sit here and exchange meaningless banter with YOUThe The infliction he gave to \'you\' would have suited a word such as \'slime\' or \'filth\' much better.

\"Have it your way,\" Lupin mused, with one raised eyebrow, his hazlenut-coloured eyes leaving Snape\'s face again to rest on the floor. Merlin, this was boring. Getting locked in a cupboard wasn\'t exactly meant to be fun, but with any other member of staff, it would have at least been tolerable, though it looked as though Snape was fully intending for them to sit in silence for how many hours it took for them to be found.

Snape let out a slow breath after a moment, stretching out, trying to get comfortable again. In normal circumstances, Lupin would have expressed concern, but decided not to, seeing as though Snape was being so unbearably cold. The Potions master flexed his fingers slightly, rearranging his shoulders, and to Lupin\urprurprise, shrugged off his heavy robes.

\"In answer to your question,\" he said, \"no, I am not comfy. I have never been less comfy in my entire life.\"

Lupin shrugged. \"I offered you the standing up position. And I daresay I\'m more comfy than you. However, you sit there on your bucket... don\'t start complaining when you can\'t get up in the morning.\"

Snape glared at him. \"Fine,\" he spat. \"Can we swap?\"

\"I\'m quite comfy here, actually.\"

\"Lupin,\" he growled. \"I\'m in pain.\"

\"Poor thing,\" said Lupin, unconvincingly.

Snape frowned, stretched out his arms and managed to lever himself up, rather clumsily, taking care not to knock anything over or start a chain reaction of cascading buckets and mops. \"There,\" he said. \"Sit.\"

\"No,\" said Lupin.

\"SIT,\" Snape said.

Lupin looked at the bucket for a moment, and then at Snape, and decided that there was no point in arguing much more. He was tired and Lupin knew that refusing a cure just to be stubborn was stupid. He nodded, and took a step forward, turning his body to make it through the narrow gap of brooms. His chest brushed against Snape\'s for a moment, and Lupin found himself surprised at how warm the Potions master was, despite the chill in the cupboard. He glanced at Snape\'s face and saw there was an expression of equal curiosity in hies -es - though it was gone the next second. Telling himself he must have imagined it, hoping for things to numb the boredom in his mind, Lupin sat down gingerly on the bucket and Snape stretched out against the door.

\"Thankyou,\" said Lupin.

\"My pleasure,\" Snape said, through gritted teeth, and the way he flexed his arms told Lupin that maybe there was something more wrong with Snape that the other professor was willin adm admit.

Lupin paused, then asked, \"Something wrong?\"

\"No,\" said Snape, rather quickly. \"Nothing\'s wrong. Why?\"

\"No reason,\" said Lupin, deciding not to press the matter. Snape struck him as one who didn\'t like to be fussed over.

Though when Snape turned around to try and lay flat against the door, a twitch of unmistakable pain passed his face with a sharp groan, and Lupin couldn\'t resist.

\"Severus.\"

\"What?\" said Snape, frog, bg, biting his lip, not even noticing that Lupin had called him Severus.

\"What is it? There\'s something wrong with your back, isn\'t there?\"

\"Nothing that concerns you,\" Snape said, weakly, shifting again to lay his forearms against the door. As vicious as the words were meant to be, they came out quiet and pained, not at all the Snape that Lupin was used to.

Lupin leant forward, elbows resting on his knees, watching Snape closely, unable to hide the concern in his voice. \"Severus, there\'s only me here and I\'m hardly going to run blabbing to the rest of the school. Tell me. I might be able to help.\"

Snape paused for a moment, and then said, \"Ever heard of a Castus potion?\"

\"Yes,\" said Lupin, nodding, remembering the lesson from their Potions classes at school.

\"Madam Sprout needed some to help clear out one of the disused greenhouses,\" Snape said, seething as another flicker of pain passed his face. \"It\'s a very delicate draft. A gram of an ingredient too much and it reacts very violently... it aspires that my scales are slightly out and I added more Boomslang skin than was needed... my back was turned to the cauldron at the time and the potion spreads upwards when it reacts badly to a faulty ingredient.\"

Lupin winced. \"It caught your back?\"

Snape nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

Lupin said, softly, \"Anything I can do to help?\"

\"No,\" said Snape, in a heavy tone. \"Not unless you\'re hiding a pillow or something else soft under your robes.\"

Lupin smiled slightly. \"I may have put on a little weight, Severus, but there\'s no need to suggest things like that.\"

To his mild surprise, a hint of a smile curled the Potions master\'s lips. \"No offence meant, Lupin.\"

\"None taken,\" came the quiet reply.

Snape took a deep breath, about to turn round again and change his position when he felt a sudden warmth behind him. He turned, alarmed, but Lupin just said, \"Shhh...\" and placed his gentle hands on Snape\'s back. The Potions master was going to tell him to leave him alone and sit back down, but the slow, soft sweeps of Lupin\'s hands brought more relief to his back than any of the greases Madam Pomfrey had given him to soothe the burnt skin. He bit his lip. His first thought was to stick loyally to his hatred of Potter and anything even vaguely connected with his sworn enemy, but the relief and satisfaction that Lupin\'s hands brought to his aching body was so great that he couldn\'t ignore the fact he was desperate to just accept what he wanted. If anybody found out about this... but it felt so good...

After a moment or so of silent contemplation, he gave in, closed his eyes and leant against the cupboard door submissively.

Lupin smiled ever so slightly, taking a step closer at the almost-invitation, running his hands gently up and down around Snape\'s shoulder blades. \"Better?\"

Snape couldn\'t help but nod numbly. It did feel better. So much better. Lying against a pillow was nothing compared to this, and not just the relief from the sting of his wounds, but the calm that blessed him as well. \"Where did you learn this?\" he asked, quietly, in a tone that suggested whoever had taught Lupin deserved the Order of Merlin, first class.

\"I suppose it just comes naturally,\" Lupin replied. As his hands traced down, they passed just between Snape\'s shoulder blades and he twitched. \"Sorry,\" said Lupin, \"didn\'t hurt you, did I?\"

Snape shook his head. \"Not much...\" He hesitated for a moment, then murmured, \"Lupin?\"

\"Mmm?\"

\"You couldn\'t do that a little lower, could you?\"

Lupin smiled, and obeyed the soft request, letting his hands glide a little lower down Snape\'s back. He felt a rush of something sugary deep in his stomach as his fingers were rewarded with a quiet, pleasured groan from the Potions master.

\"Just there?\" he asked, just for something to say, even though he knew that he\'d found the right spot.

\"Perfect,\" Snape murmured. Lupin felt another twinge of a funny feeling as Snape\'s fingers flexed gently against the door, like a cat pawing the place it was planning to sleep.

Lupin could practically taste the intimacy of the situation. A few minutes before, he\'d been bursting with things to say but now he couldn\'t think of a single thing, too absorbed in the expression on Snape\'s face and the occasional sigh from his pale lips. He could feel the heat radiating from the burnt skin under the Potions master\'s robes, and one desire more than any other was just overwhelming him so much that he couldn\'t help but voice it.

\"Severus?\"

\"Mmhmm?\" said Snape, opening one eye to look over his shoulder at Lupin, a very glazed, calm expression in his face.

\"Take your shirt off... I want to see how much damage has been done...\" Seeing the flicker of worry and doubt that sprang up in Snape\'s eyes, Lupin added, \"It\'s just us...\"

Snape considered him for a moment more, gazing into the soft hazel eyes of the man who had brt hit him more relief than anybody else had in a long time. Then he lifted one hand to his shirt buttons, slipping them apart slowly. Lupin felt his mouth starting to water as Snape undid the last button and ran his hands up his own chest, shedding the garment.

The potion had done him a lot of damage. His skin was red, blistered in places, hot and burnt and painful to even look at. Lupin wondered for a moment how on earth Snape had managed to live with such an injury and not show pain until now.

He traced his cool fingers gently over the burn, in almost a sympathetic way. \"It must hurt...\"

\"It does,\" Snape admitted, leaning against the cupboard door again, still watching Lupin over one muscled shoulder.

Lupin swallowed the mouthful of water that had welled up, and took a tentative step closer, laying his hands back on the tender skin and rubbing slowly up and down. Sending a shiver of excitement up the Dark Arts teacher\'s spine, Snape groaned softly.

\"Is that okay?\" Lupin asked, hopefully.

\"Lower,\" came the slightly hoarse reply.

Lupin swallowed again and let his fingertips glide a little lower, just to the edge of the burn, rubbing and stroking rhythmically. Another almost inaudible groan left Snape\'s lips, but in the quiet and the soft silence, Lupin heard it and had to swallow again. He was practically drooling by now - Snape was bloody gorgeous. Muscled, pale flesh, only spoilt by the burn, and even then, he was still a sight to behold.

\"Just there,\" Snape said, with another soft groan. Lupin concentrated on the spot he\'d indicated, tickling his fingers in small circles, and Snape\'s reaction made the other professor shiver slightly. His fingers flexed once more, and the Potions master then started to purr softly. Gods, thersn\'sn\'t a person alive or dead who could resist such a soft, suggestive noise. Lupin was practically quivering, but somehow managed to control himself, despite the delicious little noises coming from Snape\'s slightly-open, inviting lips.

The most delicious fantasies were filling Lupin\'s mind as he continued to massage and coax increasingly more pleasured noises from Severus. Thoughts of doing just this, but having Severus lying facedown on a bed, naked and helpless and purring for him, purring for more, his fingers flexing on the pillow as Lupin himself leant down...

Remus couldn\'t help himself. The thought was too inviting for him to resist. He closed his eyes, took another step closer so that he was barely inches from Severus\'s body, leant down and placed a trail of slow, very gentle kisses down the other man\'s back. Severus shivered, and purred all the more insistantly, his eyes fluttering shut.

He felt Remus\'s soft lips kissing gently at his injured skin, as though healing it completely, bringing new life into his skin and body, and then the other man\'s hands placed either side of his ribcage against the door, their bodies pressing closer together, the kisses becoming slower and less faint. Severus closed his eyes and tried to keep his breathing at a normal pace, but it was hard to control himself. After a few more kisses, he couldn\'t. He turned around slowly, wincing at the fresh pain flushing over his back, laying his hands on the door to keep the two surfaces apart. Remus gazed up into his eyes, hazel meeting onyx for a moment, then the Dark Arts professor\'s arms looped gently around his neck and their faces were very close together.

\"Does your back feel okay?\" Remus whispered, finding that they were so close that his lips brushed shyly over Severus\'s as he spoke.

\"I don\'t care,\" the other man replied, arms wrapping around his waist, leaning down so that their lips met in mid-air. Both men sighed in contentment and pleasure, their eyes slipping shut, lips sealing gently together as though they were created to fit each other like this. Remus quivered again as Severus\'s arms snook around his waist to bring him closer, feeling nervous about hurting his injured back, and the other man seemed to sense his worry.

He pulled back, barely a centimetre, gazing into Remus\'s soft hazel eyes. \"What\'s wrong?\" he murmured.

\"I don\'t want to hurt your back,\" Remus replied, softly.

Severus shook his head, \"Don\'t worry... you won\'t...\". He held Remus that little bit tighter, closed his eyes again, leant down and their kiss continued where it had left off.

Severus was the taller, by barely an inch, though Remus found it awkward to lean up at such an angle and inwards to Severus\'s body. The very last thing he wanted would be to fall forward and smack the other man back against the hard surface of the door. To comfort himself more than Severus, he let his fingers drift down to the harsh burn on his skin, stroking slowly and gently. The Potions master started to purr again, and Remus felt his worries soothed by the soft noise of unmistakable pleasure coming from Severus\'s lips onto his own.

Then Severus\'s tongue was stroking slowly at the seam of his lips, and Remus couldn\'t resist their plea, his lips parting slowly but willingly. Severus\'s tongue slipped inside the liquid heat of his mouth. They both sighed again, and Remus caught himself whimpering faintly at the possession of his lips and tongue and mouth. Severus was such a good kisser... slow and deep, soothing and exciting at the same time, showing Remus\'s lips with the occasional gentle suck, nibbling tenderly at the sensitive skin, his tongue continuing to explore the warm cavern leisurely. Remus was struck dumb by how much he was enjoying this. He suddenly wanted more of Severus like this, more of his kissing, more of his body, more of him full-stop.

Severus was clearly thinking the same things. Their kiss parted, though they kept their faces close together, kissing occasionally at each other\'s lips and gazing into each other\'s eyes as Severus managed to manouevre himself down onto the bucket and pull Remus gently onto his lap. Once they were settled, their lips met again, Remus\'s arms draped around Severus\'s neck, Severus\'s arms slipped around Remus\'s waist and they started to kiss with even more passion and pleasure than before. Remus sighed as he imagined just spending hours and hours in this cupboard with Severus, kissing and stroking, enjoying, exploring...

He was so blinded by the fantastic goings-on at his lips that he hardly noticed the rest of his body at all, but a couple of moments later, he felt Severus\'s cool fingers slipping up inside the warmth of his shirt and stroking his back. The contrast of hot and cold was electrifyingly arousing, making him shiver and sigh at the same time. Severus smiled into his kiss and let his fingers dance in gentle patterns all over Remus\'s warm back.

\"Mmff,\" Remus mumbled past Severus\'s lips, trying to say something, though it was about half a minute before Severus would let him pull back and gasp, \"Off, take it off...\" against his lips.

Severus couldn\'t help but comply, his long fingers tugging at the clasp of Remus\'s robes and then throwing the soft material to the only patch of available floor. Remus wrapped his arms closer around Severus\'s neck as he was lowered down onto it, then Severus was on top of him, kissing him with even more passion and hunger, his fingers teasing his body through his clothes with dizzying patterns, undoing his shirt, then the shirt came off and Remus gasped as Severus was kissing his bare chest, lavishing his peaky nipples with attention and tickling his ribs slowly. Remus hated to be tickled, but it felt so good all of a sudden, and he found himself whimpering again as Severus continued to tickle him and latched his lips around one of his nipples, purring around the mouthful, closing his eyes and starting to suck. Another gasp left Remus\'s lips. His fingers worked into Severus\'s hair, massaging and stroking slowly, carding against his scalp and urging him on. Severus was only to happy to comply and started to suck even slower and harder, as though trying to make Remus climax just from that one simple motion.

Remus was whimpering again, eyes closed, begging, \"Oh, please, harder... please...\", over and over, gasping with each successive level of pleasure that Severus blessed him with.
eruserus growled softly, hungry and needy, starting to nibble on the pebbled nub in his mouth and relishing the reaction it wrung from Remus. He gasped and shivered and started to beg with even more desperation. The Potions master murmured, \"shoulders,\" just around his mouthful. Remus got the message. His fingers slipped down onto Severus\'s shoulders and massaged slowly, working the tense muscles under the burn, rejuvenating his skin and releasing all his pain and problems.

Severus closed his eyes, leaving the abused nipple with a last lingering kiss, nuzzled his way up Remus\'s chest and nudged gently under his chin. \"Do you want to go further, Remus?\"

Remus sighed. His name had never sounded so beautiful before. He opened his eyes to gaze blearily into Snape\'s face, and with held breath, he nodded, slowly. \"Do you...?\"

Severus nodded too. He purred as he leant down to capture Remus\'s lips in a slow, very deep, very tender kiss, just one kiss of many that night, as both Severus and Remus submitted completely to the person they were supposed to despise through loyalty and hatred to James Potter. The minutes before had seemed like hours, but now the hours were minutes, and all too quickly it seemed both of them were exhausted and satiated with pleasure and satisfaction.

They lay together on Remus\'s patched robe, the Dark Arts teacher\'s head just resting on Severus\'s chest as the Potions master ran his fingers through the soft brown hair there. Remus closed his eyes and whispered, \"Severus?\"

\"Mmm?\" Severus murmured.

\"Is your back okay?\"

Severus nodded, leaning down to place a single kiss on Remus\'s temple. \"Perfect...\" He then sighed, heavily, and said, \"Look, Lupin - \"

\"Remus,\" came the soft reply. \"Call me Remus.\"

\"Remus... we need to talk...\"

Remus closed his eyes again, nuzzling closer against his enemy turned lover. \"I know... it\'s just... don\'t write me out of your life quite yet. You\'re special, Severus... very special...\"

\"I feel the same,\" said Snape. He tightened his arms around Remus to hold him as close as possible. \"The students will talk if they see us together. Both of our reputations...\"

\"Then we\'ll be a secret,\" Remus whispered. He placed his hand over Severus\'s heart, feeling it beat and call out to him from deep inside. \"Just between you and me. Nobody will ever need to know.\" He looked up into Severus\'s soft, haunting black eyes and murmured, \"I you you.\"

He saw a soft flash deep in those dark depths, and Severus whispered, \"I love you too...\" into his longing ear. They both sighed quietly and closed their eyes, wrapped up in the warmth and intimacy of the situation.

\"Remus?\" Severus murmured after a moment of soft silence.

Remus nuzzled against the side of his face, \"Yes, Severus?\"

With a smile, Severus replied, \"I never thought that having Castus potion explode all up my back would be so enjoyable...\"

Remus chuckled softly, his eyes still closed. \"I never thought that being locked in a broom cupboard by Peeves would be so enjoyable... then again... you never really know how things are going to turn out, do you?\"

No, you never really do.

*~* The End *~*

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Author\'s Notes

Ahh... bless. Hope you liked that. It was just a one-off slashy thingy, unless somebody convinces me to write a sequel... HINT HINT... reviews, comments, questions, suggestions, blah-de-blah, always welcome. I\'d love to know whether this was any good or a load of rubbish (^_^) You know where to click, people.

As always, biiiiiiiig hug for my loyal and faithful beta-reader Ymmo (tankyu Ymmy) for reading and advising me on whether to continue the slash, bla bla bla... so tankyu to her (^_^)

Thanks for reading!

*~*~*~*~* Velvet *~*~*~*~*

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