Like Father, Like Son

Ninth Chapter

*

Love Interests

*

Time flew past after their trip to the Diagon Alley. Remy started coaching Samantha in flying, being indeed so successful that when he persuaded the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, Mirabella Shaw, into arranging a tryout for the tiny girl, she was immediately made their second Seeker. The boy who'd previously held that position did not approve, of course, but there was little he could do. With a Firebolt and Remy's training -- he maybe couldn't fly as well anymore, but he still remembered how to do it -- Samantha was undeniably a lot better than the boy. So, now they were all hoping that she might even get to play instead of Chang in the first Ravenclaw Quidditch match, which would be against Hufflepuffs, and only a week away.

On other areas Remy and Hermione had developed, too. They'd both read the books Sirius had told them to study for their Animagus project, and were mostly successful in the first-state practices Severus made them do. There was still a long way to go, however.

Most of the school had already got used to see Remy running around with Hermione and, usually, Samantha on his heels. Neither of the "fresh Ravenclaws" ever went anywhere without the other, and the tiny girl positively adored Remy, and had made some kind of friends with Hermione. But even though they were indeed used to him, most girls still stared after him as he swept past, his long ponytail flying behind him.

Right now, however, they were all three eating breakfast in the Great Hall. Hermione was picking at her toast, not really hungry.

"Have you noticed that the same owl keeps coming to Remus every other day?" asked Remy, leaning towards her. "That large barn owl? He was here the day before yesterday, and four days ago. Regularly every other day, and always with a letter attached to his leg."

"Now that you mention it, yes, I do think you are right," Hermione said, frowning slightly in concentration. "I don't know why it is so, however. Maybe he's playing chess by owl?"

"Or maybe," suggested Samantha from her other side, "maybe he has a lover somewhere and is keeping contact with him or her? It could be, you know. It's not like all teachers were forced to live the rest of their life in celibacy." Then she flushed under Remy's sharp glance.

"I do not need any more proofs than my own existence about the fact that my parents do in fact have sex, thank you very much," the boy muttered. "But now that you mention it... Has either of you noticed that he hasn't been anywhere to be seen during weekends for a few weeks? And he never gives homework that should be turned in at Friday, so he never has anything to mark at weekends. There must be something behind that..."

"You're insane," huffed Hermione. "I don't think he has any secret lover. I mean, he would have told somebody, wouldn't he? He's just writing to a friend or something."

"And I say he has a lover," said Remy calmly, his Snapish mask never faltering. Then his eyes lit up with the kind of mischief that his friends had already learnt to connect with the half of his character he'd inherited from Sirius. "Hey, care to bet?" he suggested lightly. "Those who are wrong pay a Galleon to the one who's right. I'm saying he has a girlfriend." After all, he recalled Sirius once mentioning that Remus wasn't in fact gay, he was bisexual. The mysterious lover, who surely existed, at least by his mind, could just as well be a woman as a man.

"I say it's a boyfriend," Samantha said, sending a studying glance at the werewolf professor. "He seems to be more into guys. Surely you've noticed that he's sometimes checking out Professor Lemons?"

"The Muggle Studies teacher?" asked Hermione. "Sam, half of the school is checking him out. I still can't believe how Dumbledore could hire two men like Professor Lemons and Sirius to teach in a castle full of hormonal teenagers. But I'd hardly say that Remus is checking him out, he's just, well, glancing at him, like a colleague ever looks at another. I'm still saying that he's not romantically involved."

"So it's a deal, then," said Remy calmly, extending his hands. Both of the girls grasped one hand each, even though Hermione rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.

*

"So, what was it you three were scheming at breakfast?" asked Sirius curiously from his son later that day. The two were all alone -- a rare occasion nowadays -- as Samantha was practising Quidditch, Hermione was tutoring a fourth-year Hufflepuff in Charms, and Severus was supervising a detention. Other than taking a closer look at some texts about Animagia, the two Snapes who were currently present were also talking.

"Scheming? Us? I'm insulted that you think so, Dad. We weren't scheming anything," the boy replied, pulling as innocent face as he could. All that he was lacking from the traditional "What? Me?" expression was fluttering his eyelids, as no Snape would ever sink that low. Not a Snape by blood, anyway.

"Don't try that at me, Son," the older wizard said amusedly. "I know when somebody's up to something, I've been that way often enough myself. So, what it was you were planning?"

"Oh, we were just betting on whether or not my dear namesake is involved with somebody," said Remy with a rare grin -- rare, and frighteningly similar to that of his carrier's. "Wrong one pays a Galleon to right one. I'm saying it's a woman, Samantha's saying it's a man, and Hermione's saying that he's not involved at all. Would you like to place a bet?"

"You can't be serious," said Sirius, laughing. "Pairing up your teachers, eh? Even we never sank that low! Well... Not too often, at least. Place a bet, you say? I'm also saying it's a woman. He seems to have been up to something -- or, rather, someone -- lately, I cannot deny that. But all this time he hasn't shown much interest on men, only on women."

"That was also my reasoning," replied Remy, his grin fading away and his usual calm mask appearing again. "Although maybe I don't even want to know. Knowing that you have a sex life is bad enough; I don't really need mental images about him to traumatize me even more!"

"Good reasoning there, Son," laughed his dad. "Now, however... Could you describe me the Taliesinal Theory of Transformation, and how it differs from the current views on the topic?"

"You've asked that three times already," complained Remy. "If I hadn't known it by heart before, now I certainly do!"

"My point exactly," the already-Animagus said with a broad grin. "This is one of the main points in the Animagus transformation, so you have to indeed know it by heart. Now, come on. I'm waiting."

Remy sighed, and then launched into an explanation of the theory in question, and what of it had been proved wrong by later researches. His Dad listened quietly, a slight smile typical to a proud father all the time adorning his lips.

*

"Where are we going to go next?" asked Remy, watching Samantha amusedly as the tiny girl got her pockets at last properly stuffed with candies from the Honeydukes. Having only started her third year, she hadn't yet got used to the excitement of being in Hogsmeade.

"Shall we go to the Three Broomsticks for some Butterbeer?" Hermione suggested as they stepped outside to the brisk air. "I could do with some warming up." While saying this, she wove her scarf even tighter around her neck. It was rather cold.

"Sounds like a good idea," agreed the tall young wizard. "Besides -- hey, look!" he then exclaimed, pointing at two figures further along the road. The girls both turned to look, and their mouths dropped open in surprise.

*

Further along the road, a certain werewolf glanced quickly over his shoulder. Seeing Hermione's well recognizable cloud of curls and Remy's even more noticeable form in the crowd, he cursed quietly and grasped his companion's arm.

"I knew we shouldn't have come here at a Hogsmeade weekend, Ley," hissed Remus. "Now they've seen us!"

"Aww, relax, Rem," chuckled the black wizard. "It's not like you weren't allowed to see your friends every now and then. What could they possibly think about us being together in Hogsmeade?"

"With Remy Snape and Hermione Granger, you never know," Remus muttered. He glanced quickly over his shoulder, but didn't see either of the mentioned students anymore. Some other students passed, greeting him happily, but they weren't what made them worried. Those students only saw their professor with a friend. With Remy and Hermione, however, they would surely figure out the truth.

"Who was the other girl?" asked his companion then curiously, having also seen Samantha's tiny form in the middle of the two older Ravenclaw students. "I don't think I've ever seen her before."

"The tiny one?" Remus asked. "Oh, she's Samantha Green, a third-year Ravenclaw. She easily became friends with Hermione as soon as she was re-Sorted to Ravenclaw, and thus goes like a tag-along everywhere where Remy goes, too. She's maybe not as bright as those two -- who could be? -- but they're quickly corrupting her."

"Now, calm down," instructed Kingsley then gently. "I'm sure they don't suspect anything else but us being just friends."

"Like I said, you never know with those two," the werewolf replied. "Or, rather, with those three. As I said, Samantha's quickly getting corrupted."

"Still, I don't think that even if they did suspect something they would gossip," said the other man soothingly. "Now, don't be so jumpy. Nobody's going to find out -- and besides, the world wouldn't end even if somebody did." And with that, he glanced around himself. Seeing no students around -- there were only boring, adult things like the tiny local museum and a shop for wizarding antique near them, and all students were in places like Honeydukes, or the Three Broomsticks -- he dared to lean forward and peck his lover quickly on the lips. Then pulling away, he flashed him a bright smile, and led them to the dusty museum to find some dark, unobserved place for them two only.

Neither of them noticed the slight shimmering of air near them. And even if they did, neither of them could even guess what it was -- namely the Invisibility Cloak of one Remy Snape. With the young wizard himself and two of his friends under it.

*

"Pay up," said Samantha with a broad grin as soon as the two wizards had disappeared into the museum and they had dropped Remy's cloak. "He's with a man. You both owe me a Galleon."

"That's not fair," argued Hermione. "We don't have any proofs yet that the man is his lover. Maybe he's just a really, really good friend?"

"Hermione, you do not kiss somebody who's just one of your friends," Remy said dryly. "At least not if you're both adult men. Here, Samantha, your Galleon," he said, digging a coin from his pocket. "We still have to inform Dad that he owes you one."

"And your father, too," added Hermione, searching for her own purse from the pocket of her robes. "He asked me to add him to the bet; he was also saying it's nobody."

"You got Father to bet?" asked Remy disbelievingly. "For Rowena's sake, Hermione, what on Earth did you do to him?"

"I did nothing," the young witch replied, looking as innocent as she could. "Of course, that doesn't mean that somebody else didn't do anything to him. When I went to ask him about my Potions project and then started to talk about Remus, he was coming from their quarters, a rather satisfied look on his face, if you get my drift."

At this, Remy put both his hands on his ears, groaning aloud. The two witches both laughed. Remy might be just like Severus, in good and bad, but there were still some occasions in which he was just like his carrier. And this was definitely one of those times.

*

"You both lost the bet, by the way," said Remy calmly that night. He was doing his homework in his parents' quarters. Hermione was again tutoring, and Samantha was being tutored on Arithmancy -- she wasn't thick by any means, she was a Ravenclaw after all, but with Quidditch going around in her head all the time, she rarely paid any attention to her schoolwork. Of course, Remy'd threatened to stop instructing her in flying if her grades dropped one bit, which was why she had begged her big brother to tutor her in Arithmancy. She maybe imagined that Remy didn't know, but Benjamin rarely kept quiet about anything.

"What bet?" asked Severus, frowning as he raised his eyes from his book. Sirius, however, caught on immediately.

"So Moony's with a man?" exclaimed the Grim Animagus. "Splendid! Are you sure about that?"

"Well, unless he's lately taken on a habit to kiss strange men whenever they think nobody from the school will see, then yes, he is with a man," replied the youngest Snape, smirking slightly. "They did seem quite close for complete strangers, though."

"So," said Severus, looking interested for once. "Now, tell us about this mysterious man. What did he look like?"

"Well, he was a tall, bald, black wizard," Remy described. "He looked rather self-confident, walked around like nothing would ever dare to challenge him. An Auror, I would say."

"Sounds rather much like Kingsley Shacklebolt," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes, obviously deep in thought. "Here, give these to your girlfriend, she's surely earned it. Just wait until I can question Moony about this!"

"She's just a friend, not my girlfriend," groaned Remy for the thousandth time, but put the three Galleons into his pocket anyway. He then turned towards Severus. "Father?" he asked challengingly.

"Here," replied his father, flipping a golden coin to him. "Get this to your friend, then." Then, with a raised eyebrow, he added, "Although you undeniably could do worse than her."

Now, Remy simply groaned aloud without words, collected hastily his books, and exited his parents' quarters. Merlin knew what they'd think of next.