After the Moon

After the Moon

*

Severus

***

"Here. Drink this." A goblet was placed on his lips. "It will help."

Remus obediently drank the thick, foul-tasting liquid. The taste was nothing compared to that of the Wolfsbane Potion, but it was bad enough to make him grimace despite his exhaustion.

He heard a dry chuckle. "Doesn’t taste very good, does it?" the other wizard asked. "But it will help. I promise."

Remus raised his eyebrows tiredly. "But why does every potion that is even the slightest bit useful taste like a rotten rat?"

Severus smiled a bit. "Because most of them can also be poisonous if used wrong," he explained. "If they taste awful, you won’t drink them by accident."

"Like I’d ever drink a potion you haven’t told me to drink."

"In that you’re obedient, yes," Severus said, and smiled at him again. "But not everyone is like you. You are unique."

"So are you." Remus let out a happy sigh as his lover pulled the covers over his freezing body. Severus sat down on the edge of the bed, taking Remus’s hand in his own.

"I like you like this," Remus said softly. "When you’re nice and warm. You should let your mask down more often."

"And scare the Hell out of my students by being nice?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." Remus chuckled, then yawned. "Maybe you’re right."

"Believe me, I am." Severus rested his other hand on Remus’s sweaty forehead. "You don’t have fever anymore," he observed. "The potion is already working."

"So it is," Remus said, and yawned again. He was becoming more and more tired. "Thank you," he smiled then. "For helping me."

"Of course," Severus said with a smirk. "The sooner you recover, the sooner I’ll get back into your pants."

If Remus hadn’t been so tired, he’d slapped Severus. Because he was, however, he merely snorted. "Watch out, or you won’t," he said playfully. "If you keep thinking about me as a sure case, I’ll be forced to keep you out of my bed just to tach you a lesson."

"Like you’d ever manage," Severus said, then leaned down to place a kiss on the werewolf’s forehead. "You just can’t resist me."

"Care to bet?" Remus smiled. "Hey, Severus, you do realize that you’re being completely out of character, right?"

"Maybe." Severus petted gently his hair. "I blame it on you."

"Feel free to do that," Remus replied with yet another yawn. "Like I said, I like you more like this."

Remus curled on a ball beneath the covers. Then he closed his out, letting out a happy sigh as Severus scratched him behind his ears.

Severus smiled. A dog or a wolf, canines were all the same. And this near the full moon Remus was halfly a canine.

He couldn’t tell exactly what in Remus called for his softer side. Maybe it was the helplessness in the werewolf after the full moon, or maybe it was the trust that Remus showed him despite all his nasty words before anyone other but the few Order members closest to them.

Maybe it was just those amber eyes and the warm smile. He couldn’t really tell.

Remus was now wholly asleep. His quiet breath sounded restful enough to tell Severus that the potion he’d given his lover had been able to provide Remus with a painless rest.

The Slytherin continued petting the soft hair until he was sure that Remus wouldn’t wake up, then got on his feet. He walked across the room to the armchair next to the window. Once reaching it, he sat down on it, taking his book from the nearby table. He began reading, glancing at Remus every time the werewolf made a sound.

He couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty for not being with Remus during the transformation. Remus understood his fear and wouldn’t even think about blaming him for it, and he always made up for it by taking excellent care of Remus afterwards. Still, he knew very well what the others were saying about him behind his back - and sometimes, at least when Tonks was concerned, straight on his face. They said that he was unloyal and didn’t love Remus like he said. It wasn’t true, of course; Severus loved Remus and Remus knew it. He just couldn’t overcome his fear.

It seemed almost mindless when observed sensibly, like many phobias did. He knew that Remus wouldn’t hurt him even as a wolf. He brewed the Wolfsbane himself, and what kind of Potions Master he’d been if he didn’t trust his own brewery?

He also knew that Remus wouldn’t hurt him even without the potion. They were most certainly mates, and werewolves never attacked their mates. Therefore, he was just as safe with the wolf as he was with the man.

Still, he was scared.

He blamed it on Black. The malicious, immature prank the Animagus had pulled on their fifth year, almost getting both Severus and Remus killed, had most probably caused Severus’s lycanthrophobia.

Now Black had left, died because of his own careless attitude, and there was no one other to keep company to Remus during the full moon.

Remus whimpered, and his eyes flew at the werewolf again. The other wizard, however, calmed down almost immediately, continuing his sleep.

Severus sighed in relief. The potion seemed to be successful, even though he’d never tried mixing those various healing potions with the Sleeping Draught before. Of course he’d known that it wouldn’t harm Remus in any way, with all the testing he’d done, but he hadn’t known for sure if it would work until now.

He felt tired. Even if he hadn’t been with Moony, he’d stayed awake the whole night, preparing potions for Remus. But he couldn’t fall asleep now, not when Remus needed him. Remus had always been with him as he’d been recovering from yet another Death Eater meeting, healed him, talked to him, kept him sane as the painkiller potions had hit in drugging his mind. He couldn’t, and he wouldn’t, leave Remus now when the werewolf needed him.

But, eventually, he drifted into sleep.

Severus woke up at the feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes, being met by an amber gaze. "You should have waked me," he said, getting up and crossing the room to the bed.

"You looked too tired," Remus said quietly. "Didn’t want to disturb you."

"You wouldn’t have disturbed," Severus said, searching the bedside table for the vial he’d left there earlier. "You shouldn’t be awake. You’d better just sleep."

"Stop babying me," Remus said with a slight chuckle. "I know what I can and cannot do, Severus. You don’t have to worry about me."

"Yeah, I don’t have to," Severus replied. "And I won’t if you drink this." He handed Remus the vial he’d just found.

"I don’t seem to have very much options," the werewolf smiled. "If I don’t drink it voluntarily, you’ll probably forcefeed it to me."

"Right at once." Severus watched attentively as his lover emptied the vial. Then he took the empty vial from Remus’s hands and asked, "Do you need anything?"

"You seem to know that better than I," Remus teased.

"What you physically require for your recovery, maybe," the Potions Master replied. "Other than that, I’ve no idea."

"Well..." Remus looked thoughtful. Then he asked, almost shyly, "Stay with me?"

"You know you don’t have to ask that," Severus smiled, settling once again on the edge of the bed. He took Remus’s hand in his own and squeezed it slightly.

"I know," Remus said, returning the gesture. "But I asked anyway."

"I noticed." He pulled the covers better over Remus’s fragile body. "Sleep now, okay? I bet you’re tired already."

"Of course I am," Remus said, yawning. "With all the sleeping potions you’ve spiked the healing potions with, it’s a miracle that I’m awake at all."

Severus smirked, not the slightest bit embarrassed at being caught. He hadn’t seriously thought that he could cheat Remus, not with the werewolf’s oversensitive sense of smell. "Just sleep," he said with a low, almost purring voice. "I’ll stay."

"I know," Remus said, and closed his eyes. In a minute, he was asleep again.

Severus sighed. With the stronger potion he’d put in the vial, Remus would sleep to the morning. He could easily leave right away, and Remus wouldn’t know a thing. He could, if he hadn’t promised to stay.

So, he stayed.

He kept his mask low, watching Remus until the morning. As the dawn lit up the room, he smirked coolly, adjusting himself to his usual self. Then he left Remus’s room, slipping from Severus to Snape with the experience of decades.

In the room, Remus slept on, dreaming of a gentle hand petting his hair.