Unexpected

Unexpected

*

Turning Tables

*

The three Marauders that were already seated in the Great Hall froze as the large doors were flung open by Marcus Ront. "Snape is bedding Lupin!" the Slytherin roared as he ran through the whole Hall. "I saw them! Severus Snape and Remus Lupin! Snogging in a corridor, for the sake of all that's magical!"

At first, everyone fell deadly silent. Then, a huge wave of whispering, assumptions, and disbelieving sounds rose among the students.

"D'you know whether that's true?" asked Mickey White from the Marauders' side. "Snape and Lupin, I mean?"

"I wish we didn't know," muttered Sirius, his eyes locked firmly at his plate. Then he sighed and nodded in resignation. "Yes, it is indeed true. It's sickening, but it's true."

Many people heard hi words, which of course, resulted with an even louder roar of sounds.

"Silence!" Headmaster Dumbledore roared over the noise. "And twenty points from Slytherin for the inappropriate disturbance, Mister Ront!"

Oddly enough, nobody listened to him. Even the teacher's didn't seem to pay any attention to the Headmaster, continuing to talk excitedly with each other.

Then, the silence fell again just as quickly as it had disappeared. The cause of this was the fact that the large doors had been opened again, and two lithe forms stood in the middle of the doorway. Not only did they stand side by side, but also hand in hand.

Nobody said a single word as Remus and Snape slowly made their way through the Hall. Everyone kept their eyes fixed on them, waiting to see whether they'd part ways to go to their respective House tables. They didn't. Instead, they walked right towards the Ravenclaw Table. Once arriving there, Remus turned towards Lily Evans. "May we sit there?" he asked politely, motioning towards the two empty seats next to her.

"Of course," the witch replied immediately. She did give the Slytherin a wary glance, however.

So, the two boys got seated, purposefully ignoring all gazes still locked at them. Especially determinedly they ignored the Marauders' gazes.

The whispering and staring just continued. Remus was trying to create a conversation with Lily, who gave him nervous half-replies, all the time eyeing Snape like expecting him to attack someone or something like that. The Slytherin calmly went on eating, every now and then brushing Remus's hand lightly with his own, making it look so accidental and unplanned that he most certainly was doing it on purpose.

James, Sirius, and Peter kept their eyes firmly locked at the couple, all the time expecting to see something that would prove Snape's malicious intents. They didn't know exactly what that would be, but they were sure that something would come up, something that would make Remus realize just how wrong he'd been to trust Snape.

Whatever it was that they waited for, it never came. Instead, they saw the young werewolf smiling brightly at Snape every time their hands not-so-innocently met, and Snape touching Remus's hand just a second too long to be natural as he passed the rolls, and them both being absolutely comfortable with it all.

At first everybody just stared at the couple, forgetting to even eat. Then, little by little, the students returned to their usual manners, even though most still gave wary glances to Remus and Snape. Ravenclaws were the first, returning to their breakfast without much extra thought to the two intruders in their House table. Only Lily was still constantly wary; after all, Remus was her friend.

After Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs slowly relaxed. Other than the surprise factor, this incident hardly mattered to them, so they didn't have to worry about it.

Soon the Gryffindors and Slytherins were the only ones still staring at them. This was not surprising. Not only were Remus and Snape the first Gryffindor-Slytherin couple for a longer time than anybody could remember, and a gay couple on top of that, but also they both were very visible parts of the most popular groups in their Houses. It could have almost as well been Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin sitting there, so well they represented their Houses.

Despite his seemingly calm mood, Remus carefully avoided looking at the other Marauders. They noticed this and, with a slight shock, realized that their friend would indeed abandon them in favour of his lover if need be. They also realized that Remus wasn't sad because of Snape, but because of them.

Peter was the first one to act. This wasn't a surprise; after all, he and Remus had always been more attached to each other, just like Sirius and James had been inseparable ever since their first day at Hogwarts. Now that Peter's best friends' relationship with Remus was in danger, he showed some rare Gryffindor courage -- rare coming from him, at least -- rising from the table and, under the sharp eyes of half of Hogwarts, slowly making his way towards the Ravenclaw Table. From his eyes Lily saw that he was not seeking trouble, and moved one seat left, leaving the one next to Remus empty. Peter gave her a grateful, yet nervous glance as he approached the table.

"May I sit here?" asked Peter quietly. His eyes avoided looking at Snape, who was watching him with two piercing pools of obsidian, and instead concentrated on Remus, whose eyes had lit up even more as he'd seen Peter coming.

"Of course," replied Remus with a broad smile. Snape didn't say anything, merely glanced at him sideways, but he didn't look threatening, either. So, Peter dared to sit down next to his friend.

For some time they sat there in a pregnant silence. Then Peter cleared his throat and forced himself to say, "Er... Snape? I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you."

Snape merely raised an eyebrow. "Apology accepted, however clumsy it was," he said dryly. Then, as Remus shot him a sharp glance, he added, "I apologize for the way I have been treating you, too." Then, with just the same mildly conversational tone, he said, "You know, if you truly had been foolish enough to abandon Remus because of me, I would have skinned you alive, make no mistake." From the cold sparkle in his eyes Peter knew he was telling the simple truth.

"Don't worry," he replied, and by some unbelievable miracle his voice didn't waver. "I don't plan to lose my best friend over something like you." He closed his mouth in shock as he realized what he'd just said. Then he realized that the sparkle was no more threatening, instead, it was in fact amused.

"Wow, this is rare," commented Snape mildly. "And all this time I've been thinking that you were in Gryffindor only because the Sorting Hat had a bad day. But you do seem to be more a Gryffindor than the mouse you seem to be."

"Peter's not bad," commented Remus, who had been just listening to their interaction. "He just doesn't get to show too much, what with James and Sirius all the time shadowing him down." At this, he sent a sad glance towards the Gryffindor table, but lowered his eyes quickly. Snape saw this, and frowned in concern.

Peter, too, saw Remus's gesture. However, he also saw Snape's frown, and with a slight shock he realized something startling. "Snape?" he asked sharply. As the Slytherin's eyes returned to him, he said so quietly that only Snape, Remus, and Lily could hear him, "You really do love him, don't you?"

For a moment, Snape just sat there, blinking at the surprising question. Then he replied simply, "Yes, I do." Now Lily blinked in turn, while a warm smile spread on Remus's face.

And for some reason, after hearing that confession, Peter wasn't half as scared of him as before. Somehow, Snape who was in love with Remus just couldn't scare him.

*

In the Gryffindor Table, however, the moods were not so forgiving towards that particular Slytherin. Not only had he seduced the poor, innocent Remus, but he'd also torn the Marauders into two parts. At least that was the way James and Sirius saw it.

Now, as they were rapidly whispering to each other, their gazes locked at their three friends and one archenemy in the Ravenclaw Table, they only saw two possible ways of action. Either they could abandon both Peter and Remus, finishing the work that Snape had started... Or they could try to get along with Snape.

Neither of them knew which possibility was the more horrifying one. But they knew that they wouldn't like either.