Angelinus

Chapter 7

Living in Dreamtime

Remus laid spread out on the gurney like a sacrificial offering staring up through his eyelashes at the remote aspect of his husband. Severus' expressions had never been easy to read but in this guise he was as blank as stone. Asking him to perform a Dark Rite was a hard and vicious thing to do to a man who had consciously given up so much to avoid being taken by the Dark. 'But it is necessary to save the children,' a small voice in the back of his head insisted, persisted in excusing the method. And what was the Muggle saying?

'The road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.'

'Forgive me Severus, for putting you into such a position but I can no more stop protecting my cubs, even so recently acquired cubs as ours, than stop living. It's a wolf thing.'

For a second, anguish and understanding flashed in those obsidian eyes and Remus wondered if Severus had heard the thought, then someone reached into his chest and tried to drag out his lungs.

~~<*>~~

The air was hot, the sun high and bright, the light holding a strangely metallic orange tint. The spring robes Remus wore were sticking to his back most uncomfortably. Lying still, he could hear strange sounds; foreign birds singing alien songs, insects were buzzing and whirring in the hot sun, sheep bleating in the distance. There was a tree trunk behind his shoulders, the bark papery and rustling. Under his slightly curled hand the grass was dry and brown, crumbling and dusty. Sniffing surreptitiously, Remus smelled dust; animals, probably the sheep and overwhelming them all were the scent of humans, very young humans the scent of children. He opened his eyes cautiously and almost flinched.

Two faces were merely inches away from his nose, two sets of brown eyes peering into his face, two tiny frowns wrinkling their brows as they stared. One, the honey blonde haired child, Angelina, poked his chin with a small, rather grubby forefinger and Remus twitched a small smile. This was what had woken him, he realised.

At the smile they both stepped back a little and he was allowed his first proper look at the twins. They were no more identical than any brother and sister despite being twins. Angelina was the shorter of the two, sturdy bodied and limbed with curls and a calmly commanding expression as she stared down at him. Linus was at least two inches taller but much thinner, his arms and legs longer and thinner, his torso shorter, his hair darker and straighter. In fact, he looked a lot like Remus imagined Severus looked as a small child, long and skinny. They both had very dark brown eyes, straight little noses and the chubby round faces of young children just coming out of babyhood. They were dressed identically in identical sized clothes, a yellow t-shirt with Winnie the Pooh on it, snug and long on Angelina, loose and short on Linus. Blue shorts fitted Angel well but were loose and droopy on Linus, held up by the identical belt his sister wore as decoration. Blue flip-flops, fitting on Linus, too big on Angelina, protected their feet from the dry, spiky grass. Both children were sun bronzed and slightly grubby, the dust clinging to their legs, the sun striking red highlights from their hair.

"Gudai," said Angelina, Linus nodding silently.

"Hello," Remus replied as he struggled to sit up and take in his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"This is home. Who're you?"

"Remus Lupin-Snape, your Uncle Severus' husband. Do you know about your uncle Severus?"

The boy nodded cautiously but the girl dug her fists into her hips, cocked her head on one side and glared at him belligerently. "You talk funny, like a Pommy. Why are you here and not Uncle Sev'rus? Where's Sandy? We don't want to go to Pommyland! We want our Mum and Dad!"

"I know, and I'm sorry that your parents had to leave you but even with a time turner, it's not wise to change what has been. Sandy brought you to England but you are sick at the moment so I have been sent into the dream to keep you company while Severus is looking for a cure for you. So this is your home, do you want to show it to me?"

Angelina chuffed out an impatient breath then glanced at her brother briefly before they both nodded. Remus smiled at the silent communication and stood up carefully, holding a hand out to each child. He let them tow him up what appeared to be an expanse of dry lawn toward an enormous house of white painted wooden boards. It had what appeared to be corrugated iron on the roof and a wide porch that circled right around the visible part of the building. As they stepped up onto the porch, the landscape that seemed to go on forever blurred a little and the yellow painted half door with mesh wire in the top half opened of its own accord. Inside was cool and dim, a patterned hall runner muffling their footsteps as they went toward the back of the house where another bright filled doorway waited. A huge woman was bustling around the kitchen, her skin a dark brown, and her hair black and plaited down her back. She shuffled around a large kitchen table, her hands darting much faster than the rest of her moved as she worked at making something. Remus couldn't tell what she was doing except that it involved flour. He had the impression that she was the station cook, something more than a servant, less than employee, a family retainer.

She smiled a huge, white smile when she saw the children and shuffled over to the white refrigerator near the back door, opening it to reach in and pull out two square colourful boxes. They took the boxes with polite thanks, poked white tubes into them and slurped thirstily. Remus wished he could have some of the juice too as he was somewhat thirsty but the woman didn't seem to see him. When they ate the biscuits she handed them, Remus felt a slight wash of dizziness flow over him and he frowned.

When the children were finished their drinks and snacks, they gave the containers back to the woman and went into the hallway, leading him to another room, obviously their bedroom. There was only one bed but neither seemed to find that strange, both sharing the edge where they perched comfortably. Remus pulled out the desk chair and sat down carefully. He was surprised when he felt the wood under his buttocks and allowed his full weight to sink onto the seat. They studied each other over the distance of the room width, curious in their own ways. Remus was slowly drawing conclusions from his experiences and had decided this was something like a Pensieve memory but not quite. He was in the children's minds using their memories as a framework they could understand while they were joined.

The boy, all but silent and still until then, rose and moved over to the bookshelf, pulling down a hard backed book and offering it to his sister. She nodded approval and passed it over to Remus with an order to 'read this to us.'

The book was about a small creature called a possum and it was in the house. At parts even Remus had to laugh, the children giggling wildly as the family tried to corner the terrified creature. They obviously knew the book by heart as they mouthed the words in time to Remus' reading. After the possum book came a book about an old lady who had lost her memories and another about a pokey puppy. Finally, just before Remus thought he would lose his voice completely, the children decided to go out and eat their tea.

Following the children into the dining room, he was surprised to see two adults already seated at the table. The man was a large sturdy specimen, blond curls cropped fairly short, eyes blue and sun crinkled. He was broad and solid, sun burned and cheerful as he reached out to ruffle the children's hair. Remus could see elements of his facial and body structure in both children when he studied the group. With an experienced hand, he helped Linus into his seat and poured a glass of water for him. The woman was undoubtedly Severus' cousin, the same body and face shape but her hair was dark brown rather than black, as were her eyes. She helped Angelina up into her chair, her eyebrow rising in the same interrogative way Sev's did when the girl pointed to Remus and remarked that he was Uncle Severus' husband. It was obvious the woman Lachrima could not see Remus but she didn't scoff, she merely nodded and poured her daughter a glass of water.

The family ate and drank what looked like a very good meal while Remus looked on and grew hungrier and hungrier as the meal progressed. Still, he'd been hungry before and was used to ignoring the pangs that came from his belly. The thirst was another thing entirely, a desiccating of his lips that made him desperate for pumpkin juice or spring water or even a couple of mouthfuls of lake.

After the meal the household's routine ground on, the table being cleared by the kitchen staff while the husband and children went into the sitting room and watched Muggle TV before the children were taken upstairs by their mother and bathed in a very shallow bath of mere inches. Remus noted that the water was carefully bailed out of the bath and into a big bucket rather than let away down the drain then he remembered how dry the place was and what Sandy had said about the drought. Lachrima put her children to bed, their father came in and kissed them goodnight then the light was turned out and silence reigned.

Not knowing what to do with himself while they slept, Remus found a spot on the rug and lay down with a book from the shelves but in seconds he was sound asleep.

~~<*>~~

"They're all asleep, including Remus," Madame Pomfrey said softly, checking her monitoring spell. "Everything seems to be fine at the moment, although there was a distinct drain on Remus' resources that peaked here and here," Poppy pointed out the places to Albus who combed his beard with a thoughtful hand.

"Er, excuse me," a small voice piped up and both older wizards turned to smile almost in bemusement at the woman who had sat so still and silent the whole afternoon. "I know it's rather presumptuous of me but, er, shouldn't you give the guy a drink or something? His lips look really dry and you know if you sleep with your mouth open.... Sorry, I am an enrolled nurse ... sorry, forget it," she stammered and bit her lip.

"No, no my dear, don't be sorry. It's a very good point actually. Never thought of that, as magic tends to take care of the less pleasant tasks through the bed. Poppy my dear, what do you think?"

"Seems a reasonable assumption as he is technically not ill and the spells on the gurney will not compensate for a well person. However, I think we will give him an ice cube rather than a drink."

Remus' tongue was much longer than the normal human's and dry. It snaked out to capture the ice straight out of Poppy's fingers, crunching it eagerly between his teeth. 'Well, that settles that question,' Poppy's eyebrow seemed to say as she offered another piece of ice which met the same fate as its fellow.

"I wonder if he would take some fortified soup," Albus mused as he watched the werewolf devour the ice. "After all, he is not sick, merely providing sustenance for three. The trouble with non-human magic is that they tend to shroud it in mystery and very few get to study it properly, its effects and affects."

"So does that mean that Severus Snape is not really human?" Sandy asked softly as the older woman bustled off to brew some soup.

Albus twinkled at her. "Oh no, Severus is almost entirely human. His family thought he might not be and were preparing him to become a vampire during pre-puberty in the old tradition. It would have meant they would be able to claim the rest of the Snape legacy. Unfortunately, the boy's recessive genes stayed recessive no matter how hard they tried to activate them. And believe me; they tried some very crude and cruel methods to activate them! His Hogwarts letter was the final nail in the coffin of that ambition, so to speak. They couldn't disinherit him from the human half of the entailed estate but he chose not to go back there once he realised he could stay here at Hogwarts for the holidays. There was an unfortunate brush with some bad influences when he was sixteen, no doubt inspired by his father's family but he survived that trail by fire. He has been teaching here nearly thirty of his fifty years and is an excellent Potions Master and a fairly successful teacher."

"What about this guy Remus, what's his story? He seems - sweet."

"Remus is a very good man, good family, not rich by any means but well bred. He was bitten as a small child and had to learn to live with lycanthropy during what was probably the harshest period of racial tension in wizarding history. I'm afraid Minister Fudge did everything in his power to drive the non-human sector of our population over to the Dark Side but they failed eventually. Remus almost single-handedly convinced the non-humans to take no sides or, if they felt they had to strike a blow, to strike it for the Light. Severus worked for the Order as a spy and our eyes in the Dark camp, which nearly killed him on so many occasions; I hesitate to confess that I lost count. They both worked tirelessly for our victory and in the last battle Severus was instrumental in getting Harry close enough to the Dark Lord to allow them to cast Avada Kedavra on each other. He was also instrumental in making sure Harry's Unforgivable was the only one to hit target. In the aftermath both Severus and Remus were arrested then exonerated and were duly decorated for their parts in winning the war. They will take very good care of the children; I do assure you of that."

"Yeah, I guess but, it's just...," the girl heaved a great sigh.

"It's hard to give up your little ones to an unknown and unrecognised force."

"Yeah, that's it exactly. Okay, you insist they are both war heroes and good men but come on! Would you trust the raising of two small kids to someone who was a 'war hero', who's only claim to fame is that one was good for persuading non-humans not to go Dark and the other to spy on Forces of Evil then allow two wizards to cast a nasty curse on each other?"

Dumbledore paused then smiled, his blue eyes twinkling brightly as he contemplated the Squib before him. "When you put it like that.... However, I was trying to assure you that my professors are both upstanding wizards with good morals and characters. While Severus is not the warmest of wizards, he is honest, morally sound and used to dealing with children. Remus is fiercely loyal as only a wolf can be, honest, kind, morally sound and very good at dealing with children. Both will make excellent surrogate parents for the children."

There was a flurry of activity at the entrance to the ward and a mixed group of students and adults came barrelling in floating a cloud of darkness between them. Dumbledore hurried forward as the pale blond man directed them to put their burden down on the nearest bed. Sandy edged closer as the brown haired woman herded the four students out of the way so that Madam Pomfrey could get near the patient, waving him into a private room.

"Oh bloody hell, he's gone off again!" she snapped exasperatedly but her actions were fast and decisive as small bottles and jars flew to her hands. "Well don't just stand there Sandy, help me get him out of these impossibly complicated robes he insists on wearing.

"Best offer I've had all week," Sandy mumbled under her breath and the brown haired woman giggled. "Sorry, making snippy comments under my breath is a bad habit of mine."

"That's alright, I do it too, especially when Poppy is being the hospital Nazi. I am Hermione Granger-Malfoy."

"I'm Sandy Solstein." The two women shook hands and both hurried to help Poppy tend to the fallen, the door closing behind them.

Dumbledore turned to the four students who were looking very tired and extremely curious as they clustered around Draco Malfoy, obviously awaiting further developments. Draco nodded politely as the headmaster came over, manners overriding his obvious concern for his Godfather. "Good evening Draco, I had not realised you and Hermione were at school this evening."

Draco smiled politely. "Family obligations, you know how it is," he offered airily. "Uncle calls, we come immediately."

"And how were our students involved?"

"As willing troops I think, into the breach and all that Shakespeare stuff. Severus had drafted them into making potions for him to blow up, tip out or boil away in various creative ways. He even said, and please don't faint Headmaster, that they had done very well," Draco whispered theatrically, making the students squirm and smile uncomfortably.

"Well done Gryffindor and Slytherin. However, I think it is time you were all in your beds; it is well past midnight after all. I will escort you." Having said that, the Headmaster made gathering motions and herded the four out of the infirmary leaving Draco to his own devices. With little else to do, Draco found a fairly comfortable chair, flopped into it and promptly went off to sleep.