Like Father, Like Son

Twenty-first Chapter

*

Full Moon Fleeing

*

Remy was deep in thought as he walked through the corridors of Hogwarts. He had been the whole day mostly alone. Of course Hermione was with him on all lessons, but on mealtimes and after the lessons, he was alone. Hermione had started to divide her free time between Remy and Samantha, and today it was Samantha's turn. It wasn't the loneliness that bothered Remy, he could very well do by himself. No, what disturbed him most was the fact that while Hermione was with Samantha, he couldn't be. He could not be with Samantha.

That hurt, in more than just one way. Remy would have never thought of himself as the type to pine after any girl, yet here he was, whining like a kicked puppy because a thirteen-year-old girl had left him. It was enraging.

Of course he wasn't mad at Samantha -- well, maybe just a tiny bit, but not much, really --, instead, he was mad at himself. This was not the way a Snape by blood should behave. This was definitely not the way he should behave.

Remy knew that he would have to apologize if he wanted Samantha back; everybody was always telling him that. That, however, was as good as impossible to him. It wasn't that he couldn't apologize; he just didn't want to risk the possible rejection and public humiliation.

Just as impossible it was for him to try to approach some other girl. If he paid even a second thought at the question of whom he was going to ask out, he would not have any fear of rejection. But, like he'd already told all the adults who had tried to talk to him, he didn't want some random girl. He wanted only Samantha.

Merlin, now he sounded really like a lovesick schoolboy. Well, that might be because he was a lovesick schoolboy, as much as he hated to admit that. What thousand times damned love potion had Samantha made him drink to make him behave in such a silly way? Something there must have been, nothing else could explain it. Maybe he should ask his father about that.

It wasn't like he could have really fallen in love, no. There was absolutely nothing he could have fallen for in the girl. Definitely it could not be her warm brown eyes that occasionally twinkled with warm light, or the slight smile that curled her lips that was so adorable. And least of all it could be the way she often sat doing her homework, her head bent over a text book, one strand from the honey curtain that was framing her face being stuck into her mouth as she chewed it, her brows furrowed in deep concentration.

Remy groaned inwardly. This was getting more than a bit too far. It was not right. No Snape should be like this, it was just unnatural.

That was where he caught himself. His "dear" grandfather was exactly the way a Snape "should" be. And Remy did not want to be like that. Like his Dad had once said when he'd been even more annoyed at his husband's attitude than usually, everything human was un-Snapish. Although Remy suspected that he'd been mostly complaining because Severus hadn't been eager enough for sex, that didn't make the complaint any less true. All characteristics people usually connected to the Snape name -- like nastiness, an unwavering mask of coolness, absolute lack of visible emotions -- were nasty, or not human. He should not be worried about being un-Snapish.

...Of course, that didn't mean that he should be some weeping wreck. Only that it wasn't necessarily wrong to miss Samantha's presence. Well, not very wrong, anyway. Really, it wasn't. Honestly.

Samantha, on the other hand, astonished him. Usually she was such an opposite of a Snape -- always smiling, blushing, laughing, or just waving her hands as she talked. Nowadays she was like an epitome of absolute indifference whenever he came near. When he watched her from afar, watched her talking with Hermione or her classmates, she was her usual self. But if he tried to approach... Nothing. Not a sign or recognizing or even noticing him. It was clear that she didn't care about him.

Of course, Hermione was telling him the exact opposite. She told that Samantha was always talking about him, and that she missed him, too. But if it was so, then why wouldn't she show the simplest signs of even recognizing him? Remy simply couldn't understand. Maybe it was some girl thing?

A part of him -- the part he'd inherited from Sirius -- wanted to just go and act like nothing had happened. Another part of him -- the Severus part -- told him that it was the absolutely last thing he should do. Samantha would probably just say that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore, and that was something he could not take. Not from her, anyway.

Merlin, now he sounded even more like the lovesick puppy he really was. He needed somebody to talk to, and soon. Of course he could have gone to Remus, but then he remembered that it was the day of full moon. As it was so, there would only be a furry wolf in the DADA Professor's quarters. Of course, he would still be ready to listen, and he'd often told Remy that even as a wolf, he preferred company that would not reply. Therefore, even at the risk of being scolded at for being out of his dormitory after curfew, he headed towards the dungeons and his parents there.

For a long time Harry had thought that the Slytherin dungeons, Potions classroom, and his Father's office were the lowest -- err, deepest part of the school. However, the dungeons continued even below those -- and that was the place of his parent's quarters. Apparently, there'd been practically nothing before, just a lot of darkness, labyrinth-like corridors, and sudden dead ends. Then, however, Severus had wanted to have his personal quarters there, far away from the noise and life of the school. Nowadays, those quarters, his personal laboratory, and his knowledge of every shadowy corner and hidden passageway made the deepest dungeons his personal territory -- well, his and Sirius's.

So, Remy now continued his way past the Potions classroom and further into the dungeons. At last he reached a statue in the end of what seemed to be a corridor leading nowhere. The engraving on the foot of statue read, "Artemis Snape, 1347-1468." Remy smirked at the thought of the dungeons being his family's territory even such a long time ago. Giving the statue the password -- "Venderroot" -- and receiving a sullen nod in return, he watched as the statue moved aside, revealing a shadowy stairway. Then, he stepped into the stairs, the statue closing after him.

It was eerily quiet in the stairway as Remy walked down the stairs, one of his hands on the wall beside him. Unlike his Animagi parents, he only had usual human senses -- he didn't have his Dad's dog hearing, nor his Father's catlike ability to see in darkness. Therefore, he had to trust the wall to guide him in the darkness.

At last, the stairs ended, and he stepped into a dimly lit corridor. From experience he knew that it would take exactly three corridors to reach his Dad and Father's quarters. Both turns would be to left from a red torch -- there were mostly oranges and yellows there, but two of them indeed were red.

However, he hadn't got further than just turning into the second corridor as he already ran into something -- or, rather, something ran into him, making him fall down. Startled, he looked up, seeing a big, black lion staring at him. In an instant, his Father stood in its place, looking almost fearful -- something unthinkable.

"Get out of here," his Father said, sounding horrified. "Get out of here, and tell Artemis not to let anybody in here. It is not safe! Leave now, or you'll die!"

"What?" asked Remy, confused, as he stood up. "What do you mean?"

Before Severus could speak, however, the teen's question was answered. They both heard a loud bark, then a horrifying growl. And then, they saw Padfoot coming from the next turn, in vain trying to slow down the big, golden wolf that was advancing towards him. Then, the wolf set its eyes on Severus and Remy, and it howled out in triumph and blood thirst. Padfoot glanced at them, and yelped in fear.

In an instant, Severus transformed back into a lion, although not without yelling for the last time, "Get out of here, now!" Then, he went to join his husband in their fight to slow the wolf down. Remy recognized the wolf as the transformed form of his namesake -- and from the glint in the animal's eyes he knew that it was not Remus in charge in the beast's mind. No, the wolf was controlling him now.

In general, humans, like all animals, have three ways of acting when they're under a threat: Flee, freeze, or fight. Usually, there's one characteristic that's most natural to every person or animal, although some may behave in two different ways. Only very heavy reasons can make them differ from their natural reaction.

Sirius was naturally a fighter, there was no problem with that. Severus, however, was a freezer; it must have taken a lot from him to run to warn the statue guarding the deeper dungeons, and even more to now turn around and fight the wolf. It was the reason because of which he hadn't been able to escape Moony all those years ago in the Shrieking Shack, and why James'd had to save his twin. Why he'd been there at the first place was beyond Remy -- he'd never heard the story behind that. Anyway, while Harry had been a fighter, Remy was a freezer like his Father. True, he had been able to go against the Monster, but that'd only been because he'd had heavy reasons -- at the first time, his need to get Samantha safe, and at the second one, the rage for seeing his Father being flung against the wall. Now, however, it was just him in danger -- and all he could do was to just stand there.

Padfoot gave a loud bark, clearly telling him to leave, but Remy couldn't. He simply couldn't tear his feet from the floor. His brain was yelling at him, telling him to run and get away, but the message didn't seem to reach his feet. So, all he could do was to watch in fear as his parents fought with the wolf to give him time to escape. Sooner or later, one of them would get bitten -- and the curse could infect them just as well in animal form as in the human one. It was actually a miracle that hadn't happened already, with all the snapping and clawing they were doing.

Remy wanted to escape, he had to do that, to save both him and his parents from danger -- without him, they wouldn't have had to fight with Moony. However, he could not do that. And, as he saw Padfoot being flung against the wall with a pained yelp and then lion Severus being won as well, he still couldn't just turn away and run.

The wolf was advancing slowly now, enjoying making him fear. Remy tried to force himself to move, but couldn't. Then his desperately seeking mind found something he might be able to use to save himself. Maybe, just maybe...

He concentrated. All he'd ever managed to do was just some fur, not even as much as Samantha had accomplished -- no, not thinking about Samantha. Not now.

Actually, yes, he should be thinking about Samantha. Samantha was in danger, she and Hermione. Remy had to save them, and he could only do that by --

At first, it was just a tiny spot of fur on the back of his hand. Then, it started to spread, at first over his hand, then his arm, then his chest, and further. His clothes seemed to somehow join the fur as a part of his body. The wolf slowed down a bit, looking confused for a moment. Then, however, it continued advancing on him, and Remy forced himself to concentrate even more. He tried to recall everything he'd felt that one time, tried to remember exactly what it had felt like, what had happened.

After a second, he started to shrink. His arms, however, lengthened a bit at the same time, soon matching his legs in length -- a good thing, as at about the size of an average dog, he was dropped to four feet. His jaw was stretched and formed again, as was his nose, and his ears changed their place. Then, a tail popped out of his butt.

And then, the skunk's instincts flowed into his mind. And instead of being scared, he simply turned around, looked back over his shoulder, and raised his fluffy tail in warning. The wolf took one look at him, then yelped and retreated. Seemingly it had just as much bravery to approach a skunk as wild wolves.

By now, Severus had got back to his four feet, concernedly licking the unconscious dog that was his husband. Moony, not bloodthirsty anymore as there were no humans nearby and the pain of the transformation had mostly faded, looked almost miserable as it approached them. It maybe wasn't Remus in control, but Moony considered Severus and Padfoot his pack members all the same. And hurting one's pack member was bad. Bad, bad Moony.

Remy, not fearful anymore as he allowed that part of the skunk's mind overrule his own, calmly leapt past the wolf and to his parents. He got a long look from Severus, then a gentle swipe of tongue over his furry cheek. Seemingly his Father was not angry at him, just relieved about the fact that he hadn't got injured.

Moony sniffed at Padfoot, then whined. It gave Severus an apologetical look -- or, if one was to claim that wolves were incapable of such a thing, then something damn near to that. With another whine, it licked the lion's cheek to gain forgiveness.

Then Remy, to his great surprise, heard something weird in his mind. <Padfoot pack member,> said a mental voice that sounded very much like his Father. <Little one Padfoot Severus cub. Little one pack member too. Moony do bad.>

The wolf whined again, then turned to look at Remy, who was startled. <Moony bad,> said a voice that resembled very much that of Remus's. <Little one no mad Moony?> It was very hard to believe that such a voice could come from the beast.

<Father?> Remy tried to say, startled to find his words coming out in another odd mental voice. <Father, what exactly is this -- talking?>

<It's Animagi talk,> came Severus's calming voice. <Animals can hear it too, although you have to talk very simply to them, and their talk is very simple, too. You can only get the full message through if you're the same or almost same species as the animal, as only a very small part of communication can be done through this. For example, your Dad can very well communicate with Moony, but we others had to resort to baby talk back then. Of course, when Remus is in control, we can all talk just normally.> Sensing his son's distress, he then said with an even more soothing voice, <Your Dad will be fine. Neither of us were bitten. However, explanations will have to wait until the morning.>

*

"So," said Remy, sipping at his cup of tea. He took a quick glance at Remus, who was now sound asleep on the couch, several blankets covering the shivering body. Then he turned back towards his parents, who were both sitting opposite to him on the other side of the table. "What happened? And why did Remus lose control?"

"It was all my fault," Severus said quietly. "To make sure that Remus wouldn't do anything stupid again, I added some ingredients to his Wolfsbane Potion that should have taken away the depressing effect the full moon always has on him. I'm sure that worked; he won't be as depressed as usually. However, what I didn't think was that when I made him be more in control in one thing, it would make his control lessen in something other. Therefore, the wolf managed to win him."

"It was not your fault, Severus," Sirius said firmly. His other arm was bandaged, and he had several deep scratches all over his bare chest, as well as a deep gash down his face. Severus didn't look much better. "You couldn't have known," the Grim Animagus continued then. "Let's just be grateful that nobody was really hurt."

"Exactly." Severus sighed. "It was only by Merlin's grace that he agreed to spend this full moon down here instead of his own quarters. Merlin knows what would have happened otherwise." With a sip at his own tea, he added, "I'm truly glad he couldn't hurt you, Remy. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if he had."

"Hey, no problem, Father," Remy said, forcing himself to smile. Inside, he was still shivering in fear at the fright he'd got the night before. "I came out of it untouched. In fact, I only benefitted from it -- after all, I completed my Animagus transformation!"

"And that's a good thing?" asked Severus dryly, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius laughed at his husband's comment. "Of course it's a good thing," he then said. "Congratulations on that, Son. It wasn't a moment too late."

"You could say that," Remy said with a dry smirk. Then he sighed. "You know," he said, "I always thought that when I finally accomplished the transformation, there would be more people I could share it with."

"Ah, there it comes again," Sirius chuckled, then winced as a wound on his side stung. "I really ought to show these to Poppy... But anyway, what's it with the endless talk about girls? I thought you would have got enough of that already!"

"I didn't say anything about girls," Remy said, throwing him a dirty glare. Then he sighed. "True, I would want Samantha to be with me," he admitted. "However, she seemingly doesn't want to be with me."

"And that," Severus said calmly, "is a thing we cannot change, unfortunately." With a smirk, he added, "Of course, there are some love potions, but..."

Remy groaned. "Faa-ther..."

*

"Oh, my God," gasped Remus as soon as he got his eyes open. "Those -- those aren't my doing, are they?" He stared at his friends' wounds with wide eyes.

"Of course not," Severus said firmly. "They are the wolf's." Naturally, he made no mention about the particularly deep gash on his thigh. He'd healed it to his best ability while Sirius had been seeing Remy off, and was determined to keep everybody from knowing about it. If anybody found out, they'd force him to see Poppy, and he'd die rather than let that happen. Just as well, neither he nor Sirius now would say a word about Remy having been at danger during the wolf's attack.

"So it was my fault, then," Remus said, his expression darkening. "I'm sorry, I really am. I have no idea why I lost control -- suddenly the wolf just was in charge of me again, like before the Wolfsbane Potion. It was -- it was horrible."

"It was my fault," Severus said determinedly. "I made a mistake with the potion. You must not blame yourself for it, since it most certainly wasn't your fault."

"I smell Remy," Remus said then, sniffing the air. "What's he been doing here?"

Severus's expression betrayed absolutely nothing as he leant forward to give Remus a goblet of potion. "Drink this. Oh, and Remy came to tell us the wonderful news," he said. "It appears he's finally completed his Animagus transformation. And, of course, he wanted to complain about his little girl problem."

"Merlin," muttered the werewolf, downing the potion and grimacing. "Ever so foul, your potions," he muttered. "Anyway, I don't understand what's the matter with those two. Samantha's glancing at him whenever he turns his back, and he's staring at her even more openly. All it would take from them to get back together is Remy just asking. But no, a Snape's too proud to apologize. He can't do it."

For some odd reason, Severus even ignored this comment. Sirius, however, spoke up. "Well, if he's not going to apologize on his own," he said, "then we have to give him a little push, right?" A Marauder glint was well visible in his eyes.

And, as pained as they were from their injuries from the night before, the two other men had to grin and nod.

*