coriaria

Lupin pushes Snape too far and suffers the consequences. PG. Swearing.

This is a work of fan fiction. All recognisable characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit from it etc.

Bath
Once they arrived back at the farmhouse, Snape appeared to be following his cousin’s instruction, up to a point. He wasn’t actually cooperative, but complied slowly with firm orders. The drugs from the hospital appeared to have left him confused. His eyes wouldn’t focus and when he spoke his voice slurred.

Directed by Andromeda, he sat down at the kitchen table and drank a glass of water, spilling half down the front of his shirt, then ate pieces of banana and apple, occasionally offering some to Moros, who looked at the fruit with disgust. Snape alternated between glaring at everyone, and hanging his head to avoid all eye contact.

Lupin spoke gently to him as he became frustrated trying to butter a piece of toast, having refused to let Harry do it.

“It’s the drugs they have given you, Severus. I’m afraid we are going to have to wait for them to work their way out of your system. I no longer have access to the services of a master potion maker who can make me something to purge them from your body, yet won’t ask any awkward questions.”

Snape looked up at that. He wasn’t entirely sure what Lupin meant, but something told him it was important.

Lupin had sat beside Snape, ignoring the smell as if he didn’t have the nose of a werewolf. But he finally reached the end of his tolerance as Snape finished eating.

“Right, then,” said Lupin firmly, as if he was talking to Teddy when he wouldn’t put his toys down, “bath.”

Snape followed Lupin meekly to the bathroom, but baulked once he was there. At Lupin’s suggestion that he undress and get in the bath, he turned away and wrapped his arms around his body. Lupin pushed his glasses up onto his head and turned to Snape with a sigh.

“Severus, without my glasses I’m nearly blind. Unless you are about six inches from my face, all I can see are coloured moving blobs. You’re a black moving blob right now, naked you’ll merely be a pinkish blob. And I do have to stay with you, I’m afraid, as with all those drugs in your system, you could easily fall asleep and drown.”

“No.”

“You need a bath, Severus.”

Lupin was reluctant to press this particular issue with Snape, having surmised some years ago that the man seldom bathed with water, merely using cleaning spells, and even then much less frequently than most wizards thought necessary. They worked, up to a point, but soap and water was still better. Lupin wondered if it was worth the argument. On the other hand, he could barely cope with the smell four days out from the full moon. It would only get worse.

Snape turned back to Lupin and looked him angrily in the eye.

“Fuck off, you pathetic cunt,” he said, with careful deliberation.

Lupin remembered Snape’s ability to swear from the first year of Hogwarts. In Hufflepuff, muggle swearing was considered an essential skill, and the offspring of proud pureblood families learned to use “fuck” in all its grammatical forms from muggle-born classmates and the older students. But not the Slytherins. Swearing was a sign of muggle parentage or education, and regarded as a filthy mudblood habit.

At school, swearing had been a sign that Snape was losing control. It was one of the things that had encouraged the marauders to harass him so much – he had a short fuse and they always got a good reaction. After the swearing and yelling, he would leap at them, punching, kicking, scratching, biting, not particularly effective when he was one of the smallest children in his year. Sirius, one of the tallest before Lupin overtook him, thought it was hilarious. When he got older, it was curses and hexes, and Sirius found it less hilarious. Snape got the better of the marauders more than once.

Lupin was monitoring him carefully now. Snape was looking to provoke him, that much was obvious. But how much was deliberate, and how much was he out of control? That, he wasn’t sure of, and it made him cautious. Even without a wand, a wounded and trapped Snape could be dangerous, of that he was certain.

Lupin took a deep slow breath, and moved his chair beside Snape. He spoke gently, his face showing concern.

“Severus, I know that with what went on, you aren’t comfortable with getting undressed in front of me, even if I can’t actually see you. If it helps, I can keep my back turned. Or if you would feel better with Andromeda, I can ask her. If there’s anything I can do to help in this, I will. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

Snape’s face suddenly contorted in anger.

“You bastard, you fucking bastard. How dare you? How dare you say that you shit. You will not refer to that, you will never refer to that or I will fucking kill you, you hear me.”

His words slurred but they were quite distinct enough. Then he lifted his foot and kicked against Lupin’s chair, which flew backwards, crashing Lupin to the floor. Lupin gave a howl of pain, then began to shake as the pain sent his body into a post-crucio reaction.

“Oh shit, I didn’t… fuck, fuck."

Harry bounded in, responding to Lupin’s cry of pain.

“What have you done you bastard?” he yelled, seeing Lupin in agony on the floor, chair upturned beside him. He stepped towards Snape, his hand raised, but backed away as his former teacher cringed and whimpered in fear. Harry called to Andromeda and levitated Lupin through to his bedroom. Snape sank to the floor, his face blank.

Harry lay Lupin gently on the bed, and crouched beside him.

“Remus, can you hear me?”

He was rewarded with a faint moan.

“Andromeda is going to check you for injuries. She’ll do it through your eye, so she doesn’t touch you.”

Another moan, then “arm”.

“Your arm hurts?”

“Mmm. Hip.”

“And your hip. Ok, she can look at that.”

Andromeda stepped nearer and crouched close to Lupin. She held her wand close to his temple and looked him in the eye. Her lips moved, but she was silent. Then her face suddenly twisted in pain, she moaned, and began to breathe heavily.

Harry stood back, gritting his teeth. He always found it disturbing to watch, this technique so close to leglimency and yet so different.

An occasional cry escaped Andromeda’s lips as her mind connected with Lupin’s and felt the pain throughout his shaking body. Her wand moved from his head, down his body and legs to his feet, then back along both arms. Her wand hand began to tremble, and quickly she broke the connection. She remained crouching beside Lupin, composing herself slowly. Finally she turned back to Harry.

“His right arm’s broken, that I can fix in a while. His hip’s badly bruised, and the fall’s aggravated the old wounds. I can’t fix that, but maybe you could do an ice charm and reduce the damage a bit. There’s a knock on his head, but it’s minor, maybe a little bump but nothing too bad. The post-crucio’s building up, best not touch him at all until the worst has past.”

“You ok?”

“Will be. I hate doing this though. It reminds me just how much pain he’s in, so often. With all he goes though, he complains so little.”

“You take a break, check on Teddy, I’ll stay with him. I’ll let you know when the post-crucio abates and you can fix his arm.”

Harry cast the ice charm on Lupin’s hip, then sat on the floor beside the bed, his face close enough for Lupin to see him. He ached to comfort the man who had been there so often for him, but there was nothing he could do while Lupin’s nerves were in such a fragile state except stay close and let him know that he wasn’t alone.

“I’m here Remus, just let me know if I can do anything to help you.”

“Mmm. Sorry, Harry.”

“Don’t apologise Remus, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Just sick of this. All the time.”

His breathing became heavier and his body began to tremble more violently as the pain came over him. He clenched his teeth to suppress the sounds of his pain – he wouldn’t wake Teddy with screaming unless someone actually touched him but Harry could still hear his strangled moans. His face flushed and sweat beaded on his forehead. Wave after wave crashed over him, and Harry sat there, feeling completely useless – unable to help but unable to bring himself to leave.

It was half an hour before the pain abated, leaving Lupin utterly drained. He opened his eye to see Harry’s concerned face, traces of tears on his cheek.

“You shouldn’t have stayed, there’s nothing you can do.”

“I hate seeing you suffer, but it’s worse to know that I’ve left you to suffer alone.”

He leaned across Lupin and half-hugged him, avoiding the nearer arm.

“I’ll get Andromeda, she can fix that break.”

Harry returned carrying Teddy, with Andromeda following behind. Teddy was impatient, denied a cuddle with his father until after Andromeda had finished fixing his arm. But finally, the treatment was complete, and a still-sleepy Teddy snuggled up beside his father.

“Where’s Severus?” Lupin asked suddenly. “And how is he?”

“Still sulking in the bathroom,” Harry replied curtly.

“Is he okay?”

“He tells us to…go away if we knock on the door.” Harry was being polite in Teddy’s presence. “We’ve left him alone and just put a monitoring spell on the bathroom. I’m not quite sure what to do about him to be honest.”

“I don’t think he meant to hurt me, Harry, he’s a troubled and frightened man who lashed out. I said something that pushed him too far. I’ll try again with him when I’m a little more rested.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Any better suggestions?”

“Restraining him?”

“It may come to that, but I’d hope not.”

Harry and Andromeda both looked dubious, but they were happy to humour a sick man in the meantime.

“Would you like us to leave Teddy with you, and let you get some rest together?”

“Thanks.”