Lupis Domitus

Chapter 1

Aug. 23, 1992

Remus sat quietly at the table nearest to the window. He didn't really like the coffee there, but the building smelt nice, and wasn't always too overcrowded. He was in the Leaky Cauldron. Although generally, there weren't that many windows, over the summer they had many renovations. These included the addition of windows, as well as adding coffee to the menu.

"Missus," he called to a nearby waitress, "could I have a little cream please?"

"Sure," she said, "would you like a small pack?"

"Yes, thank you," he replied. As she walked away, he noticed in the corner of his eye a man by himself in the furthest corner of the shop. He also sipped a hot cup of coffee. It was Severus Snape.

Rather odd, Remus thought, seeing Snape in here. He shifted his eyes rapidly, and casually walked over to the table. "Fancy seeing you here," Remus said with a smile.

"Come off it," groaned Snape. "I came here to be alone. Not be pestered by wolves in sheeps clothing." Remus frowned sarcasticly.

"Now that's no way to talk to your future colleague," he said with a smile. Snape's mouth twitched slightly; Remus was sure his words had the desired effect, however resistant Snape was to show it.

"Colleague?"

"Yes, Dumbledore's gotten me a job teaching at Hogwarts."

"Good Lord, what is that man thinking," muttered Snape quietly, before saying more loudly, "by the way, what position is it?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Remus replied casually. Snape nearly choked on these words, and his coffee, but kept relatively calm.

"What the bloody fuck went through Dumbl--"

"Language," Remus teased. "Not around children." Snape flushed a bright red, and stormed off.

"Sir," the waitress from Remus' table called, "I have your cream."

"Thank you."

Aug 27, 1992

Dementors circled the halls. They were essentially faceless; whatever lied underneath that cloak is the most horrible thing imaginable, and yet you presume nothing is there. The cell-bars were very weak, with a bit of a rusty coating, but not many people could have cared about breaking out, not when they were stuck in their own minds.

Human gaurds walked slowly through the Azkaban cell halls, eyeing the prisoners one by one. One man, a rather thin man, sat inside his cell like it were his home. Sirius chuckled bitterly, knowing very well that's not what he truly thought. The guard glanced at Sirius out of the corner of his eye, and was beginning to look rather tense.

"Hey, come here!" he said, gesturing to another guard, a human like him.

"What's 'is name?" the other gaurd said, his voice somewhat gutteral.

"Is 'at him?" the first man asked, receiving a nod from the other.

"I believe he is."

"Nasty lookin' bloke, in'ee?" Both of them chuckled harshly, but Sirius just grinned.

"That's not really a good idea, talking to me like that. You're looking at a man who killed twelve people--at once." His grin disappeared. "So, I strongly suggest you shove it or--"

"--I'm sorry, were you mouthing off to me, Black?" one of the gaurds said, smirking. Sirius said nothing. "I'm pretty sure 'e was, wasn' he?" He backed away slowly, motioning for a dementor, which came in from the opposite direction. Sirius looked towards the dementor, which opened his unlocked door. As Sirius backed into a corner, his vision began to blur...

March 12, 1972

"Mum!" shouted twelve year old Sirius Black, "leave me alone!"

"Leave you alone?" she shrieked. "Who's the one bringing in filthy were-creatures home like little pets?!"

"Shut up!" he hollered. "Don't talk about Remus like that!" Remus Lupin sat in the corner, trying to avoid the fight, and hiding his disgust at Mrs. Black's behavior.

"Remus," Sirius called from the other room, "could you possibly go further away? This could take a little while."

"He's not going into the kitchen, if that's what you mean--"

"Mum, for once in your life would you just be quiet and--" however, Mrs. Black interupted his shouted as she slapped him across the cheek.

"I will not have this sort of behavior from you, and I will not have that filthy little half-breed of yours in this house, do you understand?" Her voice was not a shriek, as if it was anything else ever.

"Look," said Remus quietly, from the other room, "I'll just leave. I don't want to cause trouble."

"He's leaving," Sirius informed his mother, "I don't need you shrieking you're lungs off to him."

"Hmm?" Sirius' mother said. "What did you say?"

"I said--"

"I heard you!" Mrs. Black shouted. "Stupid little half-breed friends..."

************

Sept. 1, 1992

Remus sat on the Hogwarts Express non-chalantly, feeling uncharacteristicly unpleasant, dispite having slept extremely well. He sat alone, as he normally did, but this time he caught slight notice of the murmurs and talking going on in the background.

"Did ya hear 'bout him?"

"Yeah! A werewolf! A cannibal! Real vicious 'e is!"

"I heard he knows Sirius Black," muttered one of the men hoarsely, "was a friend of his back in '75."

"No joke!"

"Nope," the man replied, "and I figure he still is. Must be trying to get him out of prison!" The surrounding passengers all gasped, shocked.

"That's an abomination!" one of them said. "Not suprised at all--one of You-know-Who's supporters a dark creature."

As Remus heard all of this, his heart sank--the same wolf-haters, the same goddamn wolf-haters, he thought. Normally he was able to ignore the jeers and taunts, especially during his school days, but this was the first time it all really got to him. He couldn't pinpoint why now of all times--perhaps being accused of being the friend of a known murderer and Death Eater? Nonetheless, as he walked walked passed the men, he smiled as politely as he could. The people shifted their eyes slightly, as if accused of a horrible crime. As he left the train, he said to them with a wry smile:

"By the way, I don't eat my own kind, but other people, I have no scrupples with."

Aug. 28, 1992

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Sure of it!" one of the guards said. "He just--"

"I have repeatedly told you," said Fudge, "to keep the Dementor gaurds on this cell hall 24/7. This seems to imply, for me, that dementors are either not strong enough, or Sirius Black is not weak enough. I will not have it that the Dementors are not strong enough." Both gaurds muttered to themselves quietly.

"We--we're sorry--"

"It won't happen--"

"There is no, 'it won't happen'! It has happened! The fact is, Black out of Azkaban, and now--"

Sept. 2, 1992

"--he wants to kill Harry?" asked Remus.

"It seems so," said Dumbledore. "I never would have expected it to happen, I guess his mind wasn't as strong as we thought..."

"Tell me," said Remus, calmly, yet sharply, "when exactly did he escape?"

"Around four days ago, according to the Azkaban warden, at sometime between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM." Remus' face wrinkled, clearly with some sort of repressed emotion, although it you could not tell which emotion.

"And...where did you hear he wanted to kill Harry?"

"The Daily Prophet," said Dumbledore. "It was only mentioned in passing, though." Remus scowled, but only for a moment; his frown was replaced with a smirk, as he started to laugh.

"Do you know," he said, chuckling, "what a load of bullshit that is?" Dumbledore didn't appear to be shocked by Remus' language, which was normally fairly clean.

"I'm afraid you don't--"

"I do understand," replied Remus, his voice shaking. "I understand damn well. Some fuckoff at the Daily Prophet thought it might be a damn good laugh--"

"Remus, please, this is just word of mouth--"

"--to go ahead and say, 'hey! Let's make up a load of cock and bull stories about how Sirius Black is such a bloody shitbag who wants to kill his own godson'!"

"Remus Lupin! Calm Yourself!" Remus was about to speak again, but managed to swallow his words and calm down.

"I'm sorry, it's--it's just the shock, that's all."

"Now as I was saying, I can't verify the truth of this statement, but I can vouch that it's very, very likely. I'm sorry to have interrupted you. Good-day."

"Yes Proffessor."

As the sorting ceremony began, Remus felt uneasy at the idea of spending the next hour or so dodging stares and murmurs, as he did on the Hogwarts express. Students of all four houses congregated at their respective tables, mingling amongst themselves. Remus heard a voice from behind him.

"Evening, Lupin," Snape said, sneering. At this, a smile brightened across Remus' face.

"Well, fancy meeting you here, Severus," said Remus. Snape sat down, shaking slightly.

"I hope you're happy," he said, "taking my dream job away from me, the nerve..."

"Don't be bitter, please," Remus replied, both seriously and mocking, "no one like's a poor sport." Snape said nothing, a sign of defeat.

***********

Aug 21, 1992

The halls of Azkaban were filthy, even it's inmates could tell that. The floors had been in need of cleaning for weeks, and the whole castle smelt of feces, as there was only one or two washroom facilities in the entire prison.

The Azkaban warden, supposedly under an anti-dementor charm, had begun handing out newspapers to the inmates. Many prisoners reached out weakly for the Daily Prophet, almost as if to collapse on themselves.

Finally, Sirius thought, the Daily Prophet. If ever there is a sample of hope it's the fucking Daily Prophet. The fucking lie machine, spreading hate and vileness about me, Harry Potter's godfather. Finally, the warden came to Sirius' cell. Few actually read the paper; most of the time, they just held it, for the sake of holding anything that resembled a household object.

"Yes, yes thank you," wheezed Sirius, as he fumbled with the paper franticly. He rapidly flipped through it, desperate for anything pertaining to him; a legal notice perhaps? Wanted poster, even? As he flipped through the pages, however, something else caught his eye: a picture of the Hogwarts Express. The article didn't catch his eye, nor did the headline. What he noticed was a boy in the picture, a red-headed boy, holding a rat. Right beside him was Harry Potter. A flash of inspiration hit him instantly; is he at Hogwarts? thought Sirius. Yes, he's definately at Hogwarts...

Sept. 6, 1992

Remus stepped into Professor Snape's office. It was extremely dusty, and very disorganized. Worn-and-torn books were scattered across his desk and shelves; there was a rather outdated edition of The Standard Book of Potions: Teacher's Edition lying on top of another large stack of books.

The room was very big, it seemed to extend almost a whole extra room. There were dozens of strange, foreign chemicals and ingredients lined across the shelves on the walls.

"Proffessor?" Remus called out.

"You called?" said a silky voice. As it turned out, he had been hiding near the back of the room.

"I, er, came for the potion," said Remus. "Is it ready?"

"Yes," Snape drawled, eyeing him with contempt. "You know, it's rather rude of you to barge in uninvited."

"Oh, sorry," said Remus, scratching his head nervously. "I-I just didn't want to wait too long, might forget it later--"

"It's alright. Here, take it." Remus took the potion in his hands looked at it; it had a terribly foul, tingy odor to it, and from his experience, was not exactly pleasant tasting; either way, it was a small price to pay.

"Severus, I..." he said, stammering, "I can't really express my gratitude towards you."

"Think nothing of it, although I did go to alot of trouble to make it--"

"That's my point," said Remus. "You've done me a kindness. I have to repay you." Snape scoffed quietly, although it not a bitter scoff.

"I am simply following Dumbledore's orders, I do not--" said Snape, before pausing, "actually, there is one more thing you'll be needing."

"What?"

"Come here," he said, exiting the dungeon out into the lower hallway. Although the upper castle was immense, mainly the Great Hall and inner corridors, there were also a series of inter-connected tunnels and secret passageways scattered throughout the school. Most of these lead to normal storage and equiptment areas, which were restricted for access by Argus Filch.

However, some of these rooms served other purposes. In the old days, they tended to be very effective and comfortable areas for dualing practice. However, since both the sport and practical skill had become decreasingly popular, Snape had occupied a large amount of these dungeons.

Snape led Remus down the hallway; he was surprised to notice the walls were suprisingly well-worn, as there was barely a scratch on them. Then, they saw a door. Naturally, it was locked.

"Alohomora," muttered Snape, breaking the lock. Remus, however, cocked his head in wonder.

"What's the point of that?" Remus pointed out. "Why not just use a key?"

"I can't say I know," replied Snape dryly, "all I know is I'm so used to using the spell before." The inside of the dungeon was very dirty, dull, and grey. True, this was how dungeons usually were, but this was much worse. There were cracks in the walls, and the room smelt wretched.

"This place is disgusting," said Remus. Snape, however, simply smiled.

"Really?" he replied. "I find it very cozy." He showed to a large desk on the corner. They sat down.

"Well, I don't know why you'd take me here, when your dungeon would have done much better--"

"I prefer the ambiance of a dungeon, thank you," he interrupted. "But that's not what's important. Here--look at this." He handed him a large, rolled up piece of parchment, and Remus simply gasped.

"Is-is this--"

"--moon charts," he replied, "they should prove useful for you later on." Remus smiled.

"Thank you," he said, "I really can't thank you enough."

"Think nothing of it." Snape said. "Now, get out of my sight." He added, with a wry smile.

Sept. 8, 1992

Remus sat down at his desk as the rest of the students left the classroom. Normally, he would retreat to his office after a class and wait for the next, but this time he felt like staying. Why bother Leaving? It was nice in there. When he first arrived a couple months back, he'd redecorated both the office and the classroom to his tastes. Instead of the lavish, colourful blue and pink lilacs spread throughout the room, he adopted a simpler look, with dull brown clippings of wolfsbane set up on the desk.

Various magical artifacts were set up near the window; most were someone else's doing, but some were Remus' own addition. For example, he'd recently added a Grindylow fetus somewhere near the back of the classroom. Many of the students were slightly disturbed, but Remus thought nothing of it. It added a bit of interest to the room, it provided a story to be told.

So, he thought, is this what it is to be alone? Perhaps I should rethink my outlook on loneliness...

Sept 10, 1992

Snape looked outside of his office window, irritated at the rays of sunlight gleaming from outside of the stone, glassless walls. Groaning, he got up to find a means of blocking the light from outside, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said. It was Remus.

"Er, if it's not inconvenient--" he began.

"It is," said Snape sternly, "but if you must..."

"Well, I was wondering if you might have the Defense textbook? I couldn't find it, and you were subbing for me last time, so I assumed you had it."

"It's on the top shelf, the one to the right," replied Snape. "Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all." However, Snape glanced behind Remus, checking the hallways for passerbys. To Remus' confusion, he shut the door, as if to divulge a terrible secret.

"If you could wait a moment, there's something I should show you."

"What?" Snape handed him a letter, which was folded neatly, as opposed to rolled up like most letters sent by owl. It read:

Hello, Remus. I'm glad I was able to reach you. Initially, I wasn't sure where you'd be, so I just assumed you would be at the Auror headquarters. They must have forwarded it to the school. I apoligise if this letter is late. However, that's not the issue right now.You absolutely must believe me when I say this: I am not a murderer. I never touched Peter, he killed himself.

Sometimes in life, there are moments when unbelievable things happen. For muggles, magic is considered unbelievable. Also, though, certain things can seem unreal, even like they shouldn't be. All I can say is that this is unreal, and sometimes, I want it to stop.

There's nothing I can do to make you believe me, I know that. However, I want to ask you something:

In a world gone mad, where the sane are slaves to madness, will there ever be a sane voice to speak up?

-S.B

Remus stood there for a moment, flabbergasted. He was unsure as to how to react. He shook from head to toe, his nose wrinkled at the sight of a...watery substance sprinkled over his nose. He backed away, slowly, reaching behind himself for a place to sit, finding a chair. He coughed nervously, not wanting to be seen by his own colleague as he was.

As he did this, Snape turned away, looking down towards the ground. He seemed to be uncomfortable, although this situation was anything but comfortable.

"Erm, I..." Remus stuttered, "I'll...I'll leave." He crept out of the room.

Fuck you, Sirius, fuck you to hell.