Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

*

Hurt and Comfort

*

"Now, can somebody explain me the three uses of Securing Charm?" asked Professor Flitwick, eyeing the class full of Gryffindors. Nobody volunteered at first, but then a hand was slowly raised. "Mister Snape?" the tiny professor asked after a moment of hesitation.

The darkhaired boy started to move his hands fast, everybody looking at him, trying to make some sense of it. "The Securing Charm can be used to close something, fasten something, or to make sure something says open," Peter translated happily.

"Excellent. Three points to Gryffindor." Professor Flitwick seemingly wanted to say something else, too, but did not. "Now, turn your books to page 457 and read the text there before trying to cast the charm. If you fail to do so, the outcome most probably won't be good."

They all did so. The Marauders grinned at each other, and even Severus's lips curled a bit. They were getting somewhere here. This was the first time a teacher had actually let Severus answer without at first gaping, staring, and swallowing for a couple of minutes. Sure, Professor Flitwick had still hesitated, but it was still most certainly an improvement.

"Good work, Snape," Sirius said cheerfully as they headed towards the Great Hall for lunch after the lesson. "The teachers are no more afraid of you! Well, not as much as before."

The former Slytherin rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Then he waved his hands after making sure Peter was looking at him. Peter in turn gladly interpreted, "He says that you are the only one who should be afraid of him if you insist on continuing with your stupid jokes."

"I actually understood most of that!" Remus said happily. "Woah, I'm getting better at this!"

"So you indeed are, I'd say." Peter grinned at his friend. "Sadly, I can't say the same about Sirius and James." At this, he glanced mischievously at their other two friends.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed in protest. "I do know a great deal of words already!"

"Oh, indeed," Remus said dryly. "Most of them just happen to be ones that you don't usually repeat in polite company. And before you can even say it, no, that's not why I love you."

"Darn," muttered the Grim Animagus in mock disappointment. Then, however, he flashed a grin at his boyfriend. "So why do you love me, then?" he asked teasingly.

Now, Remus blinked. "Whoever said I love you?" he asked in a genuinely confused voice -- or at least that's what it sounded like. When Sirius's face fell, Remus, like everybody else except for Sirius himself, bursted out in laughter. "Calm down, Padfoot," he said warmly. "Of course I love you. And as for the reasons, well, I will not start listing them all now."

"So you actually have reasons?" asked James, acting surprised. Then, a grin still on his face, he continued, "Alas, next lesson we'll be separated. I hope you've got your noisy quill ready, Snape, as ickle Petey-Wetey won't be there to interpret for you in the Arithmancy class."

"He does have his quill with him, thank you very much, Antler Boy," 'ickle Petey-Wetey' informed cheerfully as he watched Severus's waving hands. "Also, he is sure that Remus can help him out, should any problems arise." He smiled at the werewolf, who nodded happily.

Now, Sirius blinked, seemingly already out of the conversation. "You're still talking?" he asked in amazement. "What's wrong with you lot? Start to eat!"

Remus shook his head, exasperated, and gave his boyfriend a brief glare. The others, however, just laughed -- even Severus grinned, though no sound came out -- and indeed began to eat.

*

Remus sighed a bit, pulling his shirt over his head. "Merlin, I'm exhausted," he muttered.

"Hard day?" asked Sirius from behind his back where the other teen was sitting on his bed. "Mine was, that's for sure. Who'd've ever thought Divination could be so exhausting?"

Remus snorted. "Well, that must explain why James says you always sleep in Divination," he commented dryly. "Really, Sirius, you should get more serious with your studies. Honestly."

"Oh, don't worry about me," his boyfriend replied lightly. "I'll be fine, and so will be my studies, too. It's not like I have to pay attention in class to pass Divination."

"Well, at least there's one thing your twisted imagination is good for," muttered the werewolf. He sat down on his boyfriend's bed next to the said boyfriend and leaned his head against Sirius's shoulder. "You're warm," he then commented with a hint of sleepiness in his voice.

"No, you're cold," Sirius replied. Uncaring about the other boy's protests, he pushed Remus back to the bed, leaning over him. Shutting the curtains around his bed, he started to open the smaller boy's trousers, purring, "Fortunately, I know how to make you all warm and nice."

"Mmm... you're insatiable," murmured Remus. "Not that I protest, of course." He reached for his wand, casting a silencing charm around the best. "We don't want to disturb the others, now do we?" he then asked, setting his wand aside in favour of starting to fiddle with Sirius's hair.

"That's my Remus," Sirius said in the middle of pressing tiny kisses all over the werewolf's now exposed chest. "Ever so thoughtful and considerate."

"And that's my Sirius," the werewolf replied teasingly. "Always talking when he should be doing something entirely else." By now, his trousers were gone, and he lay on the bed in just his underwear. Sirius, however, was still clothed, and Remus immediately began to relieve him of his clothes. It just wouldn't do that his boyfriend had more clothes on than he did, after all.

For a moment Sirius couldn't help but compare this situation from the one that had started all this. This time, Remus was not only willing, but also active, impatiently tugging at his buttons to open his shirt. When Sirius now placed a kiss onto Remus's lips, the werewolf responded greedily, slipping out a tongue and asking for entrance, which was granted. Yes, this was definitely better, the Grim Animagus decided, much better than their Imperius-induced first time.

A moment later, though, he stopped thinking. It was simply not convenient at the moment.

*

Peter relaxed back against his pillow, but didn't feel any need to close his eyes. He wasn't tired at all; rather he felt even more awake than before. Something kept him from falling asleep.

Suddenly he heard a faint sound from the other side of the dormitory. Sitting up in his bed, he noticed that the sound had come from Severus's bed. Curious and a bit worried, he slid down from his bed and started to creep over the cold stone floor of the dormitory.

Once he reached the mute boy's bed, he didn't bother calling out for him, knowing that no response would be heard. Instead, he just drew aside the curtains surrounding the bed. Peering inside, was shocked to see Severus trashing to and fro in his bed, soundlessly screaming in the grip of an obviously awful nightmare. The sound he'd heard was the mute boy kicking the wall.

Without hesitating a moment he reached out, grasping the shoulder of the boy he nowadays dared to think of as his friend. Trying to make Severus stop throwing himself around, he shook him sharply at the same time in an attempt to wake him. As he did this, he was shocked at just how thin and light the former Slytherin was. Judging by the shoulder Peter was currently holding, he was even skinnier than Remus, and that was saying something.

Suddenly, the onyx eyes snapped open. For a moment Severus just lay there, breathing heavily, staring up at the ceiling. Then, to Peter's great shock, he curled up and started to cry silently.

Getting over his initial shock, Peter now sat down on the edge of his friend's bed. "Severus?" he asked quietly. "You were having a nightmare, weren't you?" There was no response of any kind, but none were needed. So, he continued by asking, "Was it about those Slytherins?"

This time, he received a tiny, shaky nod. It hurt him to see Severus like this, broken and afraid. He may have hated the boy in the past, even been afraid of him, but that was no more the case. He'd come to notice that Severus was an intelligent, witty, and most of all good person, definitely not deserving of all the hardships in his life.

However, as bad as he felt for even thinking that, he was kind of glad that he got to see Severus like this. The mute boy didn't trust anybody easily; the fact that he allowed himself to break down like this in front of Peter meant that he truly considered the rat Animagus his friend.

With these thoughts in mind, Peter again reached out hesitantly. As Severus did not flinch away from his touch, he drew the pale, skinny boy into his arms. Thankfully, this didn't freak the other boy out; Severus just clung to the front of Peter's pyjamas, continuing his crying. "Calm down, Severus," Peter murmured soothingly. "They can't get to you anymore. You're absolutely safe now. We won't allow anything bad to happen to you again. I promise."

After some time the trembling slowly ceased. Looking down, Peter saw that Severus had finally fallen asleep, traces of tears still on his cheeks. Carefully he settled the taller but frighteningly much lighter body onto the bed, pulling the covers over the frail form. He allowed himself a brief smile as he looked at Severus's pyjamas, which were pale blue with figures of small white cauldrons and potions bottles as decoration. Then he turned to leave.

Before he could leave, however, he once again hesitated. Then he quickly turned around and placed a light kiss on the clear forehead. After that he quickly departed to his bed, thankful that Severus was, for once, well and securely asleep.

He did not notice, however, the onyx eyes that watched him from under half-closed eyelids, neither did he look back to see the tiny smile that curled the thin lips.