Vanilla-Scented Smoke

Posted 10 July 2005

Vanilla-Scented Smoke

Chapter Eleven: Epilogue

In which things draw to a close.

The first thing Remus and Severus saw when they stepped out of the fireplace into New York was a scene very much like the one they had just left. It was full of loud noises and endless hordes of people. The layout of the building seemed, at first glance, to be slightly different, and the walls were a bright white instead of stony grey, but the general atmosphere was the same. It was filled with people, and behind them, more people, and interspersed between them, yet more. That was comforting, as was the light background music under the dull hum of hundreds of voices. It was a welcome sight, and a welcome sound, after the hostile environment they had just left.

A thin wizard in midnight blue robes and with a clipboard that levitated behind him scurried up to them. "Good morning, Sirs," he said routinely. "I see you are arriving from London, that's London, that's over between Lithuania and Los Angeles, that's very good," He muttered, biting his lip and making a note on the map on his clipboard. "Names?" Snape immediately replied, "Baruch and Balthamos Smith" at the same time his friend answered earnestly, "Remus Lupin and Severus Snape."

"Lupin and Snape?" The man with the clipboard looked up in surprise.

"Urp," said Lupin.

The man with the clipboard smiled enthusiastically. "We've been expecting you, gentlemen, if you'll come along this way, the Junior Undersecretary himself is here to greet you, gentlemen, just follow me."

They obeyed him, not having much of a choice, anyhow. "We're safe here," Lupin said under his breath.

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Dumbledore wouldn't have recommended us for jobs if he thought they were going to pass the law here."

"But you can't be sure. And you told him our names on a gamble."

"And it's a lucky thing, because otherwise we'd be wandering around unable to find anyone who knows what we should be doing."

They came to a stop, and the man with the clipboard knocked on a strong wooden door, which batted its oaken eyelashes at him and swung open.

"Mr. Secretary, Sir, the new teachers have arrived, Sir, they're right here to see you, Sir, they're right outside."

The undersecretary nodded at the three of them, and sent the man with the clipboard off to find their luggage. After he had left, the undersecretary, a tall man with light brown hair and dark brown eyes, stood up and shook each's hand. They exchanged niceties, Lupin with his natural calm, and Snape forcing himself to give answers long enough to be considered socially acceptable and noting with amusement that there was a smudge of ash on Lupin's forehead.

The man talked for a while about their new jobs at Merrmardikans, about how to get in contact with the school, about how Minister Cranwipplebury regretted missing their arrival, but some friends of his were getting married, about what an asset they would be to children's' educations simply by their presence, about how honored the Minister and Headmaster were to employ them, and about what it would be advisable to do as soon as they stepped outside. By the time he ended with an official welcome to the Wizarding community of the United States of America, the man with the clipboard had returned with the men's trunks and bags, floating lightly a few inches off the ground. Lupin and Snape thanked them, shook hands with the undersecretary again, relieved the gopher of their luggage, and made their way through the well-disguised front door into the dazzling sunshine and cool breeze that bode good luck in any literary situation.

---

The next few hours contained a few integral but boring occurrences; namely a ride on the subway to West Point station, that transported them by train to a city in Vermont. From the city, they walked the few miles to the small magical settlement where they planned to stay - all in all, the equivalent of about an hour and a half's non-magical transportation from the heart of New York City. Apparation would have been easier, admittedly, but Lupin had the ridiculous idea that they may actually want to become somewhat familiar with their new city of residence. Snape also pointed out to him that they didn't yet have American Apparation licenses, and breaking the law within their first hour on U.S. turf wouldn't be the best idea. Besides, they came to a consensus; it's hard to Apparate with luggage.

Once they arrived in the small town, they rented a small 2-bedroom apartment near the center of the town; it was a very businesslike district and modeled after Muggle developments in more ways than they were used to. But it was nice enough, and they were allowed to do whatever magic they wanted, which was the important thing.

The apartment had a balcony, and after they had put their things down and started unpacking, (They had separate bedrooms, of course. Of course.) they each pulled up a chair and sat outside. It was growing dark, and the sunsets here were much shorter than they had been across the pond, and the meals displayed in the non- and magical shops they had passed looked positively disgusting, and in all honesty, the people talked funny, Snape thought.

The blue of the sky was becoming richer with velvet black every minute on the night they arrived, and snow-colored stars were beginning to appear. They hadn't bothered to buy any groceries yet, and subsequently hadn't had lunch or dinner, but that didn't seem to matter, somehow. Someone a few houses away was doing something with candles in the backyard; they could see the strong flames and when Remus concentrated, he imagined he could just smell the vanilla-scented smoke that wafted away from them. He hoped it would seep into his clothes. It was a smell he wanted to hold onto - the smell of Severus's breath and the sky outside and the first evening in their new lives. Vanilla was the scent of intimidating newness - white, but yellow enough to cushion him - but it was soft, too. He inhaled deeply, digging through the air to find the telltale wisps of smoke.

The both of them stayed outside on two low deck chairs and looked at the sky for what could have been hours - it had been a tough day, after all, and there wasn't much more they could have been doing - and Remus had felt himself dozing off peacefully when Snape said gruffly, "We will apply for jobs tomorrow, Lupin."

"We have jobs, you moron."

"Those don't begin until September."

"But we have--"

"Money? No, we don't. We need something to live on until we start teaching."

"So why don't we get jobs?"

"An excellent idea, Remus," Snape said sarcastically. "Lucky you thought of it. I suppose we should."

"'Kay," Remus answered, and yawned.

"I didn't see any help wanted signs in the city."

"We haven't looked all over."

Snape said nothing.

"Or we could work in New York."

"Ridiculous. The commute there and back is three hours."

"Muggles do it all the time."

"That, my friend, is why their civilization is in decline."

"Or we could work in the city."

"I believe I just suggested that."

"The Muggle city. We could work with them."

"Impossible."

"Why's that?"

Snape didn't answer.

"We could be waiters for a few months, Severus. Or clerks in a store. There are always hundreds of openings like that in every Muggle city. Just for a few months. Just so we have enough to live on. Think about it."

"We don't have any money," Snape said blankly. Remus suspected the meals he had skipped were making him lightheaded.

"Exactly. And it wouldn't kill us."

"But they are Muggles."

"You're so Slytherin," he joked.

"Obviously."

"And closed-minded."

"We're better than them, Remus. We should not have to work among them."

Lupin turned to look at him. "It's interesting you should say that, Severus. Seeing as how you disagreed so violently when it was said that everyone else is better than werewolves. Perhaps you can work here, and I can get a job working in a Muggle town. So as not to rub off my ill fortune on any witches or wizards."

"Those are two very different things, Lupin," Snape said, his voice tight.

"I don't see how, Snape," Lupin said quietly, almost too quietly to be heard. "I don't see how."

They sat in silence for a few minutes more, Remus nearly dropping off again, before Snape said. "I'll do it."

"What?"

"We can go into that city tomorrow. Get jobs. Muggle jobs. Like you said."

"Really?"

"We passed a restaurant called Wendy's. I believe they were hiring."

"Great. I'll apply there, and you can work at Friendly's," Lupin said, biting back a laugh.

"Don't even joke about fates like that." Snape smiled as he replied.

"Okay, then. You can flip burgers, while I dish out mayonnaise."

"Acting like a Muggle sounds terribly degrading."

"Well, you've already agreed, so it looks like you're stuck."

"Wendy's it is," Snape submitted dryly.

The moon moved out from behind the apartment building next door. It was bright and white and fairly glowing on such a clear night, and half full on the right side. Waxing. Snape looked at it for a moment and stifled a sigh, knowing that Remus was looking at it, too, and with reverence where Snape had an aloof appreciation.

"Thank you," Lupin whispered quietly, eyes closed and already half asleep.

"What for?"

"For coming with me," he said. "For not," he breathed deeply "making me do this... alone." With the last syllable, his body relaxed even more. He was asleep before Snape could respond.

So Snape didn't. He only looked at his friend intently and with understanding for a few moments before he whispered, equally quietly, "Good night, Remus."

Within a few minutes, Snape fell asleep, too, the night breeze stirring his hair and the moon rising ever higher.

---

They met up the next evening as they walked up the street to the apartment building. Snape was carrying a six-pack of butterbeer, and Lupin had a paper bag full of groceries in his arms.

"How did it go?"

"Congratulate me," Snape smiled faintly. "I now work at Kinko's."

"And what do they do?"

"I have no idea. You?"

"Walgreen's."

"I suppose it's better than McDonalds."

"Not by much. I think I'm the only employee over the age of twenty."

"Now, now, Lupin, you're not old."

"I wonder why you would say that," Remus said jokingly.

"What do you have there?"

"An employee's discount."

Snape stuck his head into the bag and rummaged around. "Eggs."

"Careful with those."

"Ice cream."

"Very good."

"Why would you buy ice cream?"

"Because it's ten percent off, Severus."

"Disgusting."

"I can eat it all myself, if you want."

"See that you do."

"Fine."

They continued to talk as they approached the apartment and trudged up the stairs, Snape now carrying a carton of eggs in addition to the alcohol, and Lupin's load considerably lighter.

A few minutes later it was all friendly conversation; the last few weeks had to have brought them closer. Maybe Sirius was right about running off, or maybe it was True Love, or maybe it was just having friends. In any case, the age-old enmity between them had all but disappeared, and for the first time in years, if not their whole lives, they could walk and talk and joke and reminisce and just be together like any normal people. It was a liberating feeling, to turn an enemy into a friend, and somewhat fulfilling, too. Like maybe they had grown up, or picked up the pieces of their lives they had missed. It worked, now; there was some bond that was strengthening between Severus Snape and Remus Lupin. "If it hadn't been for that boggart, you never would have escaped from the North Tower--"

"But if Moody had gotten rid of it, then we wouldn't have found the toad!"

"It was only a toad."

"It was cute. And useful. We got Clarissa to hide it in Lily's sheets and then--"

"And then she wouldn't look at you without rolling her eyes for the next five years."

"Well, yeah." Lupin unlocked the door of their flat and reached for the lights, and at the same time Snape tried to push his way inside.

"Stop that."

"Don't you tell me to stop, you stepped right in front of me--"

"Watch the eggs."

They put their food down on the table and resumed where they had left off. Snape delivered Lupin a fake shove, and for a moment, each realized that they'd never been in a faux fight before. In a second, he shoved back, and then they were wrestling on the floor like children, and Lupin had wrapped his arms around Snape's feet and he was trying to scurry away, and then they rolled over and Remus was pinned under him, and then he had jumped up and was running into the living room, standing behind the couch. Severus chased after him and they squared off with the sofa between them, each holding back laughs and each with his hair messed up and hanging into his face.

Then, in an instant, Snape pounced, and he was standing on the couch, losing his balance, grabbing Remus's head and pulling him down on top of him as he fell, and Lupin put his arm around his stomach and then he was leaning in for a kiss.

And Severus gave it to him, pressed his face forward as their lips met, grabbed his waist as Lupin sank lower, bit his tongue and his lip and his nose and then his neck, closed his eyes against the onslaught of it, felt the tickles around his waist, felt Lupin remove his mouth and sit up and begin to take off his robes, helped him get them off faster, took off his own, pulled them back down, lost himself in the haze of kissing and massaging and kissing and laughing and kissing and sighing and kissing and feeling and kissing and smiling and kissing.

---

Remus sat up some minutes later. "Much better than Italy," he breathed.

"It doesn't matter where you are."

"Hhhhh."

"I know."

"I'm glad... you came with me... Severus."

"You know what?" Snape said slowly, his eyes still closed.

"What?"

It was a while before he answered quietly, "So am I, Remus. So am I."

-Finis-