Aftermaths, Part 25

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part. Lupin's bedtime story is based on two Japanese folktales that I combined and embellished a bit: ("The Wolf's Reward" from the book "Folktales of Japan," edited by Keigo Seki, and "The Blacksmith's Wife" from the book "Folk Legends of Japan" by Richard M. Dorson).
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Theodore felt well-rested and refreshed when he woke up in the morning, thanks to the several hours of peaceful slumber the Draught had given him, but he immediately felt embarrassed when he recalled how he had woken everyone last night with his screams.

Dylan had just woken up as well. He yawned, stretched, and said, "Good morning, Theo. Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks, Theodore mumbled, wondering how he was going to face the Gryffindors this morning. Then he noticed that there was a bruise on Dylan's cheek that hadn't been there yesterday. "Um...did I do that?" he asked, tapping his cheek.

"Yeah, kind of," Dylan said apologetically, although Theodore didn't quite understand why; after all, he ought to be the one apologizing for hitting Dylan.

"I'm sorry," Theodore said.

"It's no big deal," Dylan said lightly. "I've been hurt worse in Quidditch practice! Sorry I startled you last night."

"Sorry," Theodore repeated, flushing. "I almost hexed Blaise once before I realized it was him when he tried to wake me too suddenly. I should've warned you about my nightmares, but I thought they had stopped."

"Don't feel bad, Theo," Dylan said, trying to comfort his foster brother. "We all have nightmares sometimes. Surely we're entitled to, after fighting the Death Eaters!"

"Yeah, but none of you woke everyone up with your screaming," Theodore said sullenly. "I suppose the Gryffindors thought it was funny, a Death Eater having bad dreams..."

"No, they didn't," Dylan said, shaking his head. "For one thing, you were never a Death Eater, and for another, they were more shaken up than anything else. Potter said he used to wake up screaming after dreaming about the Dark Lord--"

"I don't need a Gryffindor to feel sorry for me!" Theodore snapped.

Before Dylan could reply, there was a knock at the door. "Can we come in?" Lupin's voice called out.

Dylan glanced at Theodore, who shrugged. He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, but what was he supposed to do, say no? He didn't want to be rude to Lupin, and besides, it would probably only make the werewolf more worried. When Theo didn't raise any objections, Dylan said, "Sure, come on in."

Lupin and Snape walked in, and Lupin came over and sat at the foot of Theodore's bed. "How are you feeling, Theo?" he asked kindly.

"Much better, thank you," Theodore replied, flushing. "The Draught of Peace really helped. Um...I'm sorry about disturbing everyone last night."

"I told you not to worry about it, Theo," Lupin said firmly, placing his hand over Theodore's for a moment. "As I said, we've all had our share of nightmares. I'm sorry that the house brought back some unpleasant memories for you."

"It's not your fault, Professor," Theodore said, looking even more embarrassed.

"You don't have to stay here if it bothers you that much," Lupin continued. "Would you like to return home to the cottage?"

Theodore's first impulse was to shout, "Yes!" There was nothing he wanted more than to return to the cottage and to not have to share his family with the Gryffindors. But he sensed that Lupin didn't really want to leave, although he showed no sign of it; there was no reluctance or resentment on his face, only love and concern. And Dylan probably didn't want to leave either. "But what about the Gryffindors?" he asked hesitantly. "Aren't you supposed to be looking after them?"

"Ginny, Ron, and Hermione will be disappointed if they have to go home early," Lupin replied, "but it won't harm them, and I'm sure they'll understand. We can't leave Harry here alone, though. He would either have to come with us to the cottage or stay with the Weasleys. We need to decide what to do; that's why I wanted the four of us to discuss this together before I go talk to Harry and the others."

"What about you, Dylan?" Theodore asked. "You were looking forward to spending time with Granger, weren't you?"

"Yes, but I can see Hermione in school," he replied immediately. "We can go home if you want; I really don't mind. You're my brother, and family comes before anything else."

Theodore blinked back tears at the sincerity in Dylan's voice. They meant it, both Dylan and Lupin; they were willing to put him before Potter and Granger. He felt almost dizzy with happiness and relief, but one last thing stopped him from saying that he wanted to go home: he couldn't stand to appear as a coward in front of the Gryffindors. "They'll think I'm a coward," he said, flushing again. "They'll think I'm running away. How will it look to the Gryffindors--a Slytherin running away because of a bad dream?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't think that, Theo," Lupin said gently.

"They promised not to tell anyone," Dylan reminded him.

"Even if they keep their mouths shut, they'll still know what a coward I am," Theodore said, beginning to sound distressed, the peace the Draught had given him rapidly slipping away.

"You're not a coward, Theo," Lupin said quietly. "No one will think badly of you if you want to go home."

Theodore wrestled with his fear and his pride for several long moments; eventually pride won out. "I'll stay. I'll be all right."

"Are you sure?" Lupin asked, looking concerned.

"Yes," Theodore said, trying to sound more certain than he felt. "I promise I won't disturb anyone again; I'll put a silence spell up on my room, and Dylan can move into another room if he wants--"

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Lupin interrupted, looking very upset. "I'm not worried about losing a little sleep, I'm worried about you!" He reached out and cradled Theodore's face between his hands. "I love you, Theo, and I don't want you to stay in a place where you'll be unhappy or frightened. If we do stay, you must promise me that you won't block us out with a silence spell. A family is supposed to support one another, remember? You're not alone anymore, Theo; we want to be there for you when you need us."

"I promise, Remus," Theodore said in a shaky voice, and Lupin hugged him tightly. When Lupin released him, Theodore looked up and was surprised to see Snape nod at him approvingly. He knew that the Potions Master had not wanted to come to the Black mansion and baby-sit Potter in the first place, so he would have thought that Snape would prefer that they return to the cottage.

"It takes courage to face your fears rather than run from them," Snape said gruffly, and patted Theodore on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Nott."

Theodore was filled with shock and pride and joy at that rare bit of praise from his foster father, and although he was apprehensive about remaining in the mansion, he was suddenly very glad that he had decided to stay. Lupin grinned and hugged him again, then got up and hugged Dylan and then Snape.

"Enough, Lupin!" Snape snapped. "You don't have to go all maudlin on me!"

"You don't fool me, you old softie," Lupin laughed, refusing to release his hold on the Potions Master, and fondly kissed him on the cheek.

"LUPIN!" Snape bellowed.

Theodore and Dylan couldn't help but laugh as they watched Snape struggle with the werewolf. Finally Snape managed to disentangle himself, then straightened his robes and said to the boys curtly, "Get dressed and join us in the kitchen for breakfast."

"Yes, sir," they said obediently, and Snape stomped out of the room, with Lupin happily tagging along behind. A few seconds later they heard Snape yell, "Damn it, Lupin, cut that out!" The boys grinned at each other, then got out of bed to get dressed.

Downstairs in the kitchen, they found that Hob had laid out a veritable feast on the table: eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, and pancakes, not to mention an assortment of jam, marmalade, butter, and syrup for the toast and pancakes, as well as pitchers of orange juice and milk and a heated kettle of tea on the stove.

"This looks like enough to feed an army," Dylan said, looking a little stunned.

Lupin smiled and whispered to his sons, "A hob's idea of comfort usually involves food."

Theodore flushed, but picked up a plate and joined the others at the table; the Gryffindors were already heaping their own plates with food. They all muttered polite good-mornings, then made slightly stilted small talk with each other; they were all obviously trying--a little too hard--to pretend that everything was normal and that nothing had happened last night.

All except for Hermione, who smiled at Theodore and said, "Good morning; I hope you slept well last night." Ron kicked her under the table and she exclaimed, "Ow! What was that for?"

"We aren't supposed to talk about it, remember?" Ron hissed.

"We said we wouldn't talk about it with anyone else and I'm not," Hermione said impatiently. "There are no outsiders here and besides, I'm just asking him how he slept."

Ron didn't much like Nott, but he knew how uncomfortable he would be in the other boy's shoes and said in a hushed tone, "Can't you see he doesn't want to talk about it?"

Unfortunately, it was still loud enough for everyone else to overhear. "Would you two stop talking about me as if I weren't here?" Theodore snapped, his face turning red again.

"I'm sorry, Theodore," Hermione immediately apologized. "I just wanted to know if you were feeling better."

"I'm fine," he snapped. "And what do you care, anyway? Ow!" Theodore glared at Dylan, who had just kicked him in the shin beneath the table.

"Of course I care," Hermione said, looking puzzled and a little hurt. "You're my classmate and Dylan's friend, and the Professors' foster son."

"The Gryffindors and Slytherins don't have to be enemies anymore, Theo," Lupin added gently.

"I know," Theodore mumbled, staring down at his plate. "Sorry."

"And anyway, having a nightmare is nothing to be ashamed of," Hermione continued earnestly.

"Hermione, can't you leave well enough alone?" Ron whispered to his friend, even as he wondered why he was bothering to defend the Slytherin boy. But he couldn't stop thinking about how mortified he'd be if he were in Nott's place and the object of Hermione's well-meaning sympathy.

"I'm sure we've all had nightmares about Voldemort and the Death Eaters," Hermione continued, ignoring him. "Harry has and I have and--"

"You've had nightmares about the Death Eaters?" Ron interrupted, his eyes going wide.

"Of course," she said, giving him an impatient look, as if he had just asked if the sky was blue or the earth was round. "Haven't you?"

"Well...um..." Ron mumbled. He did occasionally see Voldemort's glowing red eyes and skeletal face in his dreams; sometimes in his dreams he would see Voldemort kill Harry, and he would wake up in a cold sweat, although he had not yet woken up screaming as Nott had. But he was a little loathe to admit it.

"Sometimes I dream about You-Know...about Voldemort," Ginny whispered. "About when he controlled me through Tom Riddle's diary." Her brother and friends stared at her in surprise and concern; of course she had been shaken up after being rescued from the Chamber of Secrets by Harry, but she had seemed to have recovered completely since then. In fact, it had often seemed to Ron that her ordeal had made her stronger, or maybe it was just the normal process of growing up, but somehow she had changed from his timid and shy little sister into an independent, outspoken, and sometimes stubborn young woman. "I don't remember much about that time," she continued. "It's all a bit hazy, like a dream. Maybe that's why it seems clearer to me in my dreams. I can feel him in my mind, telling me to open the Chamber. After I wake up, it takes me a minute or two to realize that he isn't really in my head."

"I didn't know, Gin," Ron said, sounding shaken. "I never heard you scream or cry out in your sleep."

"It's not for lack of trying," Ginny said in a light, joking tone although her eyes were still solemn. "In my dreams I try to scream for help, but I can't, because Voldemort is controlling my body." She turned to Theodore. "That's why I would never make fun of you for having a nightmare. None of us would."

Theodore was struck speechless. He hadn't known the full story behind the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, although he knew from listening in on his father's conversations that Lucius Malfoy had been furious that Potter had defeated the Basilisk, and even more furious that Potter had freed the house-elf Dobby from the Malfoys' service. He knew that Potter had rescued Ginny Weasley from the Chamber, but he hadn't known that she had been the one to open it, and he couldn't imagine how horrible it must have been to have had Voldemort inside her head. Just viewing him from a distance had been enough to fill Theodore with terror--and that was before his father had attempted to hand him over to the Dark Lord as a sacrifice.

"Well, your nightmare trumps mine," he finally said, although his attempt at humor fell flat.

"No one survives a war without picking up a few scars along the way," Lupin said quietly. Harry unconsciously reached up to touch the scar on his forehead, and Lupin smiled a little. "Some visible, some not. But we have survived, which is a victory in itself, and scars are a sign of healing."

The children finished their breakfast in silence, but Theodore seemed less self-conscious, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin boys regarded each other with more curiosity and less hostility, which made Lupin smile. They were all subdued for the rest of the day, and were content to study, read, and play quiet chess or card games for the rest of the day. Even Ron paid attention during Lupin's Japanese lesson, and didn't utter any complaints when Snape gave them some practice exam sheets to work on. And Snape didn't make any cutting remarks to the Gryffindors or hover over them menacingly the way he usually did in class, but simply left them alone to work in peace.

When the children were ready to go to bed, Lupin went to Dylan's and Theodore's room to say goodnight, with Snape trailing after him.

"You don't have to," Theodore protested, blushing a little as Lupin tucked him into bed. Surely at seventeen he was too old to be tucked into bed, although secretly he enjoyed it. "I mean, I'm okay now, really."

"I know I don't have to," Lupin said cheerfully, "but I want to." Dylan let Lupin tuck him in without protest, although he grinned a bit sheepishly.

"Oh, indulge the werewolf in his little eccentricities, Theodore," Snape said in his usual sarcastic voice. "You know how sentimental Gryffindors can get."

Snape gave Lupin a look of contempt that didn't seem quite genuine, and there was a small smile playing around the corners of his lips. Theodore suddenly understood that the Potions Master was giving him an out, a way to save face. Of course Snape would understand that very Slytherin need to salvage one's pride, even if all the participants involved knew it was a charade. Slytherins had no problem with ignoring reality in favor of their own mutually-agreed upon version of it.

"Oh well," Theodore said casually, "if that's what the Professor wants..."

Lupin grinned and winked at him. "It's Remus, remember?" he said, ruffling Theo's hair fondly. "I never dreamed I'd have a family to lavish my Gryffindor sentimentality upon, so forgive me if I get a little carried away at times."

Theodore found it difficult to speak around the lump that seemed to have formed in his throat. "Of course, Prof...Remus," he said hoarsely. "Be as sentimental as you like."

Lupin smiled down at him tenderly, and Dylan said, "Hey, you never finished that story last night!"

"You fell asleep halfway through it!" Lupin laughed. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Um..." Dylan thought for a moment. "The blacksmith was reaching into the wolf's throat to pull out the bone. He did pull it out, right, and the wolf must have rewarded him for his kindness? That's the way these fairy tales usually work."

"If it were a Slytherin fairy tale," Theodore said, with a hint of dry humor, "the wolf would bite off the blacksmith's hand, and the moral of the story would be not to stick your hand down a wolf's throat."

Lupin chuckled. "Well, fortunately for the blacksmith, this story wasn't written by a Slytherin. And he was rewarded, in a manner of speaking. Would you like to hear the rest of the story?"

"Yes!" the boys chorused, and Lupin finished the story, recounting how the wolf became the blacksmith's bride. They stayed awake this time, although they were starting to yawn by the time it was over.

Lupin turned out the lights and said, "Goodnight boys; sleep well." Before leaving, he placed his hand on Theodore's shoulder and bent down to whisper, "Do you want us to stay with you till you fall asleep?"

He did, but he was too embarrassed to admit it. "No, it's okay," Theo said, and comforted himself with the fact that they would be nearby and had responded to his screams last night with considerable promptness.

"Goodnight, then," Lupin said. "We'll be right down the hall if you need anything, and don't worry about waking us, okay?"

"Okay."

Alone in their own room, Lupin kissed Snape as they began to undress for bed. Snape started to kiss him back, but then suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong, Severus?" Lupin smiled and batted his eyelashes at Snape playfully. "Don't you find me attractive anymore?"

"You know I do," said Snape, running his fingers through Lupin's long hair. "But if Theodore wakes up in the middle of the night needing comforting, it might be better if we aren't, ah, caught in flagrante delicto, so to speak."

Lupin said with a rueful grin, "When we adopted two teenagers, I thought we'd be spared all the late night interruptions of 'I had a bad dream' or 'I want a glass of water, Daddy'."

Snape just stared at him blankly. "Is that what Gryffindor children do?" he asked.

"I thought that was what all young children did," Lupin replied, although on second thought, he couldn't really picture Selima Snape comforting her son after a bad dream.

"I would never have woken up my parents for something as trivial as a bad dream or a glass of water," Snape told him. "That would be like asking to be hit with a Cruciatus Curse."

Lupin shuddered, remembering how Severus had said that his father had punished him with a Cruciatus Curse for such childish offenses as crying over a broken toy or spilling a potion in his father's workshop. "I'm sorry, Severus," Lupin said softly. "Sometimes I forget how different your childhood was from mine."

"It's all right, Remus," Snape said, kissing him lightly. "It's just as well that one of us had something resembling a normal childhood."

Lupin smiled sadly. "Your childhood must have been pretty bad, if you can say that mine was more normal, considering that I'm a werewolf."

Snape shrugged, feeling uncomfortable; he didn't like being pitied, not even by Lupin. He attempted to make light of it, saying in his usual sarcastic tone of voice, "You've already met my mother, Lupin. The other pureblood women used to call her the Ice Queen behind her back, but compared to my father, she's as congenial as Molly Weasley." Lupin was still giving him that concerned look, so Snape laughed, but it came out sounding rather harsh and bitter. "What's sad is that a werewolf and a former Death Eater--who just happens to be the most-hated teacher at Hogwarts--have proven to be better parents to Theodore than his biological parents were."

"Labels are misleading, Severus," Lupin said, clasping Snape's hands between his own. "As you should know." He smiled again, more sincerely this time. "I'm glad that we have a chance to do right by Theodore, and heal some of the damage his parents did to him."

Snape just grunted, which meant that he agreed but wouldn't say so out loud for fear of appearing too sentimental, and Lupin grinned. They finished undressing, but instead of climbing into bed nude as they usually did (because most of their time in bed was NOT spent sleeping), Snape donned a long, gray nightshirt, and Lupin a set of pajamas that caused Snape to stare at him in disbelief.

"What's the matter, Sev, don't you like my jammies?" Lupin laughed. He was wearing red flannel pajamas decorated with a design of cuddly, cartoonish yellow lions.

Snape curled his lip in distaste. "Where on earth did you get those, Lupin?"

"They were a birthday present from Albus," Lupin said cheerfully.

"It figures," Snape muttered to himself in disgust. He supposed he should just be glad that the old man had not given him green pajamas with a cartoonish snake design. Then again, maybe Dumbledore had been unable to find any--it was difficult to make a snake look cuddly, for which Snape was profoundly grateful.

"Oh, like this is the height of fashion!" Lupin retorted, plucking at Snape's nightshirt. "This looks like something my grandmother would wear!"

"Excuse me?" Snape said indignantly.

"We've got to get you something sexier," Lupin continued, running his hands across Snape's chest. "Black silk pajamas, perhaps."

"They're only going to come right off again," Snape objected.

"But it would help to put me in the mood," Lupin said, still running his hands up and down Snape's chest.

He had a point, Snape had to admit. "Well, as long as they're black," he said grudgingly. "Although you hardly seem to need any help getting in the mood." Their lips met in a long and deep kiss, tongues entwining, until Snape reluctantly pulled away. "We did just agree that it would be better not to start something that might be interrupted," he said, a little breathlessly.

"You're right," Lupin sighed. "Although you were the one who was horrified at the prospect of not having sex until Theodore overcomes his nightmares."

"I'm not talking about an extended period of celibacy, Lupin," Snape said with a wry little smile. "Theodore will likely have nightmares off and on for the rest of his life, but hopefully they'll become less frequent and less intense. I just want to see whether he'll sleep through the night tonight or not. It'll help us judge what to expect in the future and whether we should go back to the cottage or not." He was pleased that Theodore had decided to stay rather than run from his fears, but he was still willing to overrule the boy's decision if it proved too traumatic. "I have some more Draught of Peace on hand in case he should need it, although I don't want him to become dependent on it."

Lupin smiled warmly at his lover, thinking to himself with amusement that Severus needed no help from a softhearted Gryffindor werewolf in ruining his image as the heartless, cold-blooded Potions Master. As much as he tried to hide it, his concern and compassion kept showing through that mask.

"And what are you smirking at, Lupin?" Snape snapped.

"Nothing, Sev," Lupin replied sweetly.

So they lay in bed in each other's arms, simply holding each other, although Lupin would have liked to have done more. He suspected Severus felt the same way, although the Potions Master proclaimed, "All I have to do to kill my libido is look at those ridiculous 'jammies' of yours."

Lupin snickered, "Like that grandma gown of yours is any sexier!"

"I wasn't trying to be sexy," Snape retorted. "That would defeat the whole point, remember? And it's a nightshirt, not a 'grandma gown'!"

Lupin just laughed and snuggled a little closer, laying his head on Snape's chest. Snape growled irritably, but stroked Lupin's hair in a slow, rhythmic fashion that the wolf found extremely soothing--rather liked being scratched behind the ears. The wolf also liked the way that Snape growled, sounding almost like a wolf himself at times; maybe that was why Lupin enjoyed teasing him so much. Lupin sighed happily and let out a contented little growl of his own.

Meanwhile, Theodore lay awake listening enviously to Dylan's slow, even breathing as he slept peacefully. Theodore was tired, and the house was not quite as intimidating as it had been last night, so he eventually fell asleep. But although he was not tormented by nightmares this time, he slept lightly and restlessly, subconsciously remaining on guard even in his sleep, not quite able to relax.

So when Lupin quietly crept into the room to check on him in the middle of the night, Theo stirred and said sleepily, "Remus?"

"Sorry, Theo," Lupin whispered apologetically. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were okay."

Theodore looked up into Lupin's concerned eyes, and then over at Snape, who was leaning in the doorway, and smiled. "I am now," he said, and meant it.

"Good," Lupin said, sounding reassured. He gently stroked Theodore's cheek and said, "Try and get some sleep, now."

"Yessir," Theo said, slurring the words together as he yawned. His eyelids closed, suddenly too heavy for him to keep open. He heard soft footsteps as Lupin left the room, and then the sound of the door closing, and then nothing more, because he was deeply and soundly asleep.
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Lupin continued to check in on Theodore over the next few nights, but simply knowing that his foster parents were watching over him seemed to give Theo enough confidence to sleep through night without interruption. One night, he did start to dream about his father and the final battle again, but this time when Thaddeus tried to drag Theodore over to Voldemort, a large brown wolf appeared and drove him away. So when Lupin looked in on him a little later, he found his foster son smiling in his sleep.

Life returned more-or-less to normal, and Lupin and Snape resumed their bedroom activities, although Snape continued to work on the silence spell until he successfully modified it to allow them to hear outside noises while still keeping sound from escaping the room. There was less arguing between the boys, although Theo and Ron continued to snipe at each other in a halfhearted manner, more for the sake of appearances than anything else.

Although things were going well, Lupin still thought it might be good for Theodore--and the rest of the kids, for that matter--to get out of the house more often. Harry no longer had to hide from Voldemort, so there was no reason for them to be cooped up all day. So he took them on excursions to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and one afternoon they returned to the cottage for some Quidditch practice.

Since there were three Gryffindor players (Ron, Ginny, and Harry) and only two Slytherins, Theo and Dylan invited Draco over to even the odds. Hermione didn't play Quidditch herself, so Ginny declared that she should referee. No one, not even the Slytherins, objected, although Draco looked a bit grumpy; they all knew that she would be fair and impartial--she never hesitated to berate her own housemates and best friends when they did something stupid--and no one could deny that she had pretty much memorized every book she had ever read, including the Quidditch rules manual. Meanwhile, Lupin declared that he and Snape needed to "catch up on a few things around the house" and promptly locked themselves up in their bedroom.

The branches of two of the tallest trees in the woods were designated as the goals, and they used a borrowed Snitch and Theodore's secondhand Quaffle from the junk shop (which he had successfully re-enchanted). The impromptu game was declared a draw by Hermione; both sides scored an equal amount of goals, and no one caught the Snitch: Harry and Draco both crashed into a tree when the Snitch dived into its branches. Ginny, Dylan, and Theo laughed when they saw their team captains dangling from the tree branches, which their robes had gotten snagged on, while the Snitch sat on a branch right above them, fluttering its wings in an almost mocking fashion. Ron valiantly tried to look sympathetic for Harry's sake, but he was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Hermione was the only one who looked genuinely concerned as she called out, "Are you two all right?"

Harry was less worried about himself than he was about his broom. "Is my Firebolt okay?" he shouted anxiously.

Ron retrieved the broomstick from the lower branches where it had gotten stuck and examined it. "It's fine, Harry," he called out reassuringly. "A few twigs broken, no big deal."

"It's not funny!" Draco yelled at his teammates, who were still laughing. "Get me down from here!" He impatiently jerked at his robe, trying to rip it free from the branch it was caught on.

Dylan suddenly stopped laughing and shouted, "No, Draco, don't do that!"

He was too late; Draco's robe--which was the only thing securing him to the branch--tore free and he shrieked as he plummeted towards the ground. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at him, and Draco stopped in mid-air, then slowly floated down to earth.

The other children clustered around him, looking concerned, even the Gryffindors. "Are you okay, Draco?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, fine," Draco replied, his pale face flushing as he brushed some leaves off his robe. How humiliating, to have to be rescued by a Mudblood girl, and a Gryffindor at that! Dylan pointedly cleared his throat, and Draco scowled but muttered a grudging, "Thanks."

To his surprise, Granger didn't look smug, just relieved. "You're welcome, Draco. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Um...hello?" Harry called down to his friends. "It's nice that you're all so concerned about Malfoy, but don't forget that I'm still stuck up here!"

Draco laughed, in a surprisingly good-natured fashion. "Well, Potter, we figured the wizard who defeated the Dark Lord could manage to get himself out of a tree without any help!"

Theodore grinned wickedly. "We could always call Professor Snape for help."

"No, no!" Harry shouted in alarm. "Don't call Snape!" He could just picture the look on the Potions Master's face--he would never be able to live it down! He could almost hear Snape's scornfully amused voice saying, "You seem to have an affinity for crashing into trees, Potter."

Dylan laughed, "I don't think it would be a good idea to bother Professor Snape right now! He and Remus are probably...um...a little busy right now, and I don't think they'd want to be interrupted."

Harry's face turned bright red and the girls giggled and blushed. Even Malfoy and Nott blushed a little, and Ron groaned, "Please, I'd rather not think about that!"

"Don't interrupt Snape, but get me down from here!"

So the others flew up to help him; Dylan and Ginny managed to get Harry untangled and ease him onto Ron's broomstick, and Theo retrieved Draco's broomstick, which hadn't suffered any damage.

"Don't forget the Snitch," Hermione reminded them. "Professor Lupin has to return it to Hogwarts." Dylan grinned and retrieved the Snitch, which meekly allowed him to pick it up and stow it back in its case.

Harry flopped down on the grass and said, "I'm so glad there aren't any trees on the real Quidditch Pitch! A real game will seem like child's play next to this so-called practice match!"

"Nobody told you to fly into a tree," Hermione said dryly. "Why didn't you pull up when you saw the Snitch was heading towards the tree?"

"And let the Slytherins win?" Harry exclaimed indignantly.

"And you, Draco," Hermione continued. "I thought you might have had more common sense!"

Draco had been examining his torn robe with a disgruntled look on his face, but looked up and smiled sheepishly. "But I couldn't let Potter catch the Snitch!" he protested. "He has unholy good luck; if I'd backed off, he would have caught it for sure!"

"The only thing either of you caught were some leaves and splinters!" Hermione pointed out, getting a little angry now that she realized they could have been seriously hurt. "You're lucky you didn't crack your skulls open--although I suppose both of your heads are so thick that it would be almost impossible!"

From behind them they heard the sound of someone bursting into laughter, and the children turned around to see Lupin walking up to them. "I'm afraid that Gryffindors and Slytherins have no common sense when it comes to Quidditch, Hermione," he said. "Or rather, they have no common sense when they're competing against each other." He turned to Harry and asked, "Did I ever tell you about the time that your father and Severus once insisted on completing a practice match in the middle of a rainstorm when everyone else had left the Pitch?"

Harry started to shake his head, then remembered that Sirius had mentioned something about it once, when he had told his godfather about the glimpse he seen in Snape's memories during his Occlumency lessons, of a young Snape lying in the mud and a young Lupin offering him a hand up. "Er...no, but I think Sirius told me a little about that," he said.

"I haven't heard that story!" Dylan said eagerly. "Will you tell us about it?" The other children looked equally curious.

"Well, it was the spring of second year," Lupin said. "A particularly wet and rainy spring. There was some sort of mix-up with the practice schedule, and both Gryffindor and Slytherin were signed up to use the Pitch at the same time. Neither team was willing to concede the field to the other, so they decided to have an impromptu match to determine who would leave. But it started raining, and pretty soon it was pouring so hard that the field turned to mud and you could barely see your hand in front of your face. All the players came down and took cover--all except for James and Severus." He sighed and shook his head at the memory. "Those two idiots could have easily fallen off their brooms and broken their necks, but they were determined to risk life and limb for the honor of their Houses." He sighed again. "Or more likely, they knew that if one of them backed down, the other would hold it over him until graduation day; they couldn't stand each other, even back then." Lupin smiled wryly. "They were much like Harry and Draco used to be, actually."

The two boys flushed. "Used to be?" Draco muttered.

Lupin grinned at him. "Forgive me, Draco. I didn't mean to imply that you regarded the Gryffindors with anything less than complete and utter loathing."

Draco stared at him, not sure whether to be annoyed, embarrassed, or amused. How on earth did the werewolf manage to say something so sarcastic in such a cheerful, chipper tone?

"Can we get on with the story, please, Professor?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"Let's see, where was I? Oh yes, those two idiots refused to come out of the rain. Then the Snitch appeared and they both went after it--which by the way, is totally against the rules, since they were both Chasers, not Seekers, but at that point it didn't really have anything to do with the game, I suppose. Severus bumped into James--on purpose, James and Sirius claimed, although Severus of course denied it--but in any case, James's broom spun out of control and knocked Severus off his broom. Fortunately for him, he landed in a nice soft puddle of mud--which was a great blow to his ego, I'm sure, but at least he didn't break any bones."

"But who caught the Snitch?" Ron wanted to know, practically bouncing up and down with anticipation. "It was Harry's dad, right?"

"You're missing the point," Lupin chided gently, but all the other children, except for Hermione, looked just as eager to hear the end of the story. He laughed and said, "Ah well, you can't change human nature, I suppose! Yes, James caught the Snitch."

Ron said, "I knew it!" and the Slytherins looked disappointed.

"But Severus did find a way to save face," Lupin continued. "I went over to offer him a hand up, and he pulled me down into the mud with him. His teammates all thought it was quite funny."

"What?!" Ron cried out indignantly. "That slimy git!"

"But Ron," Lupin laughed, not looking at all angry, "it was the start of a beautiful friendship!" The girls giggled, Dylan grinned, Theo looked nonplussed, and Draco, Harry, and Ron stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"But...but...I don't get it," Ron said, looking bewildered. "How could you like him if he was mean to you?" The girls giggled again, looking very smug and superior, and he glared at them.

"Well, after getting soaked in that downpour I had to go take a bath anyway," Lupin replied cheerfully. "Besides, I didn't mind, because I knew that Severus's teammates would have given him a hard time if he accepted help from a Gryffindor. And for just a moment, just before he took my hand and pulled me down in the mud, he looked grateful."

Lupin smiled nostalgically, and the girls sighed. "Oh, that's so romantic, Professor!" Ginny said, and now Ron, Harry, and Draco were regarding the girls as if they were crazy. Theo just muttered, "Women!" under his breath in a disgusted tone.

"Shall we go in and have some butterbeer?" Lupin suggested. "I'm sure you must be tired after that strenuous workout," he added, winking at the boys.

So they trooped into the house, and Snape looked at Harry's and Draco's torn robes with first alarm, and then suspicion. "Have you two been fighting?" he asked in his menacing Potions Master voice.

"No, Severus," Lupin answered for them. "At least, not with each other. They seem to have had a run-in with a tree, and I'm afraid that the tree won." Harry and Draco flushed with embarrassment as their companions choked back laughter; privately, they both thought that they would much rather be punished for fighting.

"I...see," Snape said slowly. His lips twitched slightly, and he seemed to be fighting back a smile himself. "Perhaps next term you can teach your students how to defend themselves against a tree, Lupin." The other children burst into outright laughter, unable to suppress it any longer. Snape just raised an eyebrow and regarded them coolly. "And also a mending spell," he added, glancing back at Harry's and Draco's torn robes. Hermione opened her mouth, and Snape said sarcastically, "Never mind; I'm sure Miss Granger already knows one, as she seems to know everything else."

"Not everything, Professor," Hermione said, smiling at him, not seeming to be offended or intimidated at all; Snape scowled at her. "But I'm learning more all the time," she continued, glancing at Lupin, and she and Ginny giggled.

Snape narrowed his eyes and gave Lupin a suspicious look; the werewolf just smiled back at him innocently. That look might fool many people, but it didn't fool Snape; the werewolf had been up to mischief, and he wondered what Lupin had told the children--something to further ruin his reputation, no doubt. Then Snape looked at the giggling girls and decided that he would probably rather not know; it was less humiliating that way.

Lupin headed to the kitchen, saying, "Come on, Severus, let's fix the children a snack," and Snape heaved a sigh of resignation and followed.

 

Part 26