Aftermaths, Part 96

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.
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Things seemed to go smoothly for the first week of school, at least on the surface. Snape was still brooding about the confrontation with his mother, but he dealt with it in the same way that he usually dealt with emotions that made him uncomfortable: he ignored it and pretended that it didn't exist. Back at school, where he didn't have to see Selima every day, it was almost easy to pretend that nothing had happened. It also helped that it was the week of the full moon, and he was preoccupied with brewing the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin and Bleddri. Although he was busy with his classes, he offered to brew some potion for the clinic as well, just to give himself some extra work to keep his mind off things. Dylan and Theodore offered to help, and Snape welcomed the chance to spend some time with his sons, although Theodore's presence sparked a twinge of guilt in Snape every now and then, when he recalled how he had been jealous of the boy, and quarreled with his mother because of it. Theodore seemed happy to be working with Snape, although he had been a little subdued ever since school had started. Snape wondered if he should be concerned, then decided that it was probably due to being separated from Blaise. He would give them a few weeks to get adjusted to their new living arrangements, and ask Remus to talk to Theodore if he still seemed troubled after that. Actually, knowing the werewolf, he would probably pick up on the boy's mood and have a talk with him before Snape even had to ask. Which made Snape a little uneasy, because Lupin was also very good at picking up on Snape's moods. He had caught Lupin giving him thoughtful and concerned looks more than once, but so far Lupin had not spoken to him about it, only given him patient, loving smiles that seemed to say, "I'm here when you're ready to talk about it." Snape found it both touching and irritating at the same time, but he was grateful that Lupin was not pressing the issue--yet.

"It's very nice of you to brew a batch for the clinic," Lupin said one evening, as he sipped a smoking goblet of Wolfsbane Potion. "But Takeshi said he was able to brew enough to cover this month's supply." Lupin grinned. "He was able to brew more than usual, thanks to Aric's somewhat unwilling help over the holidays."

"That may be true, Lupin, but it's always better to have more than you need on hand than not enough," Snape said, in a slightly superior tone of voice that most people would have found offensive, but Lupin just smiled at him fondly. "The potion will keep for several months once it's bottled and sealed, and you never know when you might have a shortage in the future. And while the supply is sufficient for the current population of werewolves in London, you never know when a new werewolf might turn up."

"I suppose you're right, Severus," Lupin conceded. "Although I haven't heard of any werewolf attacks since the Distribution Program started."

"Besides," Snape added, "it's not that much extra work with Theodore and Dylan helping me." The boys smiled at him proudly, and he gave them each a brief pat on the shoulder, and Lupin smiled at all of them lovingly. And for the moment, his worries and resentment vanished, and it felt like they were a family again, as they had been during the summer, when it had been just the four of them living together in Lupin's little cottage in the woods.
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Blaise was also concerned about Theodore, who had seemed a little distant ever since he had returned from Christmas vacation. They did their homework together with Dylan and Damien as usual, laughing and joking with each other, and stole a few kisses when they could contrive to be alone for a few minutes, but Blaise felt like there was something Theodore was not telling him, and it reminded him uncomfortably of how things had been before the war ended, when there had been shadows and secrets behind Theodore's gray-green eyes. It was even more difficult than usual to talk to him, since they had little privacy now that they no longer shared a room together.

One night when the four friends were studying in Theodore's room, Damien said casually, "Hey, Dylan, did you see the latest issue of Quidditch Monthly? They did a cover story on the Caerphilly Catapults."

"Really?" Dylan asked. "That's my favorite team."

"I know," Damien replied. "I have a copy in my room, if you wanna take a look at it."

"Sure," Dylan said, rising to his feet.

"We'll be back later," Damien said, grinning and winking at Blaise and Theo on his way out.

Blaise laughed, "Not very subtle, but it's nice of them to give us some time alone." Theodore smiled, but still looked a little distant and distracted. Blaise was grateful to Damien and Dylan, but not for the reasons they might have expected; the first thing on his mind was not sex, but relief that he finally had a chance to talk to Theo alone.

"Theo?" Blaise asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Theodore said, a little too quickly. "Except for trying to memorize those dates for our History of Magic quiz. Can't Dumbledore at least hire a teacher who's still alive? Although I heard that Binns was just as boring when he was alive, so maybe it wouldn't make that much of a difference."

"It's just that it seems like something's been bothering you ever since you got back from vacation," Blaise persisted.

"I said it was nothing!" Theodore snapped.

Blaise looked his lover directly in the eyes and said quietly, "If you don't want to talk about it, Theo, just say so, but please don't lie to me. I thought we were going to be honest with each other from now on."

Theodore flushed, looking guilty. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's just...habit."

"I know," Blaise said, wrapping his arms around Theo. "It's okay. It's just that when I see you looking unhappy, I want to help if I can, even if I all can do is lend a sympathetic ear." So Theo told him, in a halting voice, about the fight that Snape had had with Selima.

"I'm sure that he's not mad at you, Theo," Blaise said gently. "The Professor was estranged from his parents for...what? Fifteen, sixteen years? Things aren't always going to go smoothly between him and his mother."

"I guess," Theodore said unhappily. "But it seemed like they were fighting over me..."

"Well, maybe you should talk to the Professor about it," Blaise suggested.

"No!" Theodore said vehemently, pulling away from Blaise. "What if he gets mad at me for eavesdropping? He's already angry with Lady Selima because of me. What if...?" His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, and he finally voiced his worst fear. "What if he doesn't want me to be his son anymore?"

"The Professor loves you," Blaise tried to reassure him. "That would never happen!"

"How do you know?" Theodore retorted. "Snape's parents disowned him, and he was of their blood; I'm not even his real son!"

"Theo," Blaise said, trying to calm his lover down, "you know that the Professor thinks of you as his real son. He would never disown you. Look, everyone knows Snape has a bad temper; I'm sure that this fight, whatever it was about, will blow over after he's had a little time to cool off."

"That's easy for you to say!" Theodore snapped. "You've still got your original parents--parents who love you and would never disown you, let alone use you as a guinea pig to try out new curses on! How can a Slytherin be so damn naive?!" Blaise was stunned into silence, and Theo immediately looked guilty.

"I'm sorry," Theodore said softly. "But you don't know what it's like to be alone--truly alone, with no family to depend on. You don't know what it's like to have parents who don't love you. I finally have a family that loves me, Blaise, and I can't do anything to risk losing them, I just can't!"

"I'm sorry, Theo," Blaise said, and tentatively slipped an arm around his lover. He felt relieved when Theo leaned into embrace, resting his head on Blaise's shoulder. "You're right, I can't really know how you feel."

"Well, it's not your fault that you have a nice family," Theodore said apologetically. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Blaise kissed him lightly and said, "That's okay. But I still think you're underestimating Snape. I honestly don't believe that he'd disown you, no matter how mad he is. And I think that whatever he's angry about probably has more to do with his mother than with you."

"I can't take the risk," Theodore repeated stubbornly.

He was still looking a little frantic, and Blaise sensed that he would only start another argument if he kept pushing. So he kissed Theo again and said, "Okay," and felt him relax a little. "If you don't want to talk to Snape, maybe you could talk to Lupin about it," Blaise suggested. "He might know what's bothering the Professor, and he's really good at calming Snape down."

Theodore was silent for a long time, then he finally said, "I'll think about it." He didn't sound very confident, but there didn't seem to be anything more that Blaise could do. If he went behind Theo's back to talk to Lupin or Snape himself, Theo would probably regard that as a betrayal of his trust, and he would never forgive Blaise. So he simply held Theo and kissed him, and hoped that Snape's argument with his mother really would blow over. Nothing could really cure Theo's fears but time, Blaise decided. It was only natural that Theo was insecure; he had only been Snape's son for a few months, while he had been the son and victim of the sadistic Thaddeus Nott for almost seventeen years. Eventually he'd see that Snape and Lupin really loved him, and wouldn't abandon him. Until then, Blaise would do his best to comfort and reassure him.

"I love you, Theo," Blaise whispered. "No matter what happens, I'll always be here for you."

"I love you, too," Theodore whispered back. They simply held each other for a few more minutes, until Dylan and Damien returned, talking loudly and making a great deal of noise to announce their presence. Theodore and Blaise hastily disentangled themselves, grinning at each other, and everything seemed to be all right again, at least for the moment.
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Most of the school was still gossiping about what had happened at the Yule Ball--about Theodore and Blaise in particular. They tried to follow Lady Selima's advice and ignore it for the most part, but finally Theodore got fed up one day when Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke were being particularly obnoxious.

"I'm not surprised that they turned out to be queer," Jack said, loud enough for his voice to carry over to the Slytherin table. "Especially Snape."

"Yeah, like father, like son, right?" Andrew snickered.

"I wonder what he had to do to convince Professor Snape to make him his heir?" Jack said in an insinuating tone.

"Knock it off!" Harry said sharply, and Hermione threatened them with detention, reminding them, "I'm a prefect!"

"Oh, go ahead and give me detention, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes," Jack sneered. "You're only sticking up for them because your boyfriend's a Slytherin."

"Maybe you'd better a keep an eye on your boyfriend," Andrew suggested knowingly. "After all, isn't he...close...to Snape and Zabini?"

Hermione's face turned red with anger, and she opened her mouth to shout at them at the exact moment Theodore turned around to face the Gryffindors, his gray-green eyes glittering with anger. Blaise laid a hand on his arm, pleading, "Don't do anything stupid, Theo."

"Don't worry," Theodore whispered, then turned back to the Gryffindors with an amused smile on his face. "You Gryffindors are so provincial," he said in a condescending voice. "One would think you'd never heard of homosexuality before." Jack and Andrew looked confused but angry, knowing they were being insulted even if they didn't exactly understand how.

"Gryffindor isn't full of queers like Slytherin!" Andrew snapped.

Theodore laughed, still with that look of amused condescension on his face. "Oh, come now! Surely you don't think that Slytherins are the only ones who have...ah...shall we say, played for the other team?" He smirked. "Quite an apt analogy, considering how...close...Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell were."

"You're a liar, Snape!" Jack snarled.

"Angelina used to date my brother Fred," Ron protested. He didn't approve of the way that Sloper and Kirke were taunting Theodore, but neither did he like the way that Theodore was slandering his former teammates.

Theodore rolled his eyes. "How naive can you be? Sure, she went to the Ball with Fred, but it was probably just a cover so that no one would suspect the truth. If you ask your brother, I'll bet he'll tell you that they never went at it hot and heavy."

As Ron spluttered, Lavender said to Parvati hesitantly, "Didn't Angelina and Katie move into a flat together after they graduated? I thought they were just roommates, but maybe..."

"Don't listen to that liar!" Andrew shouted.

"Yes, there must have been quite a lot of action going on in the Gryffindor locker room," Theodore said, thoroughly enjoying himself. "I hear that Oliver Wood did half of the Gryffindor team--and I don't mean just the female half."

Theodore calmly turned back to his breakfast as an uproar arose at the Gryffindor table, with the students shouting so loudly that Professor McGonagall came down from the head table to take twenty points off her own House.

"But it's Snape's fault!" Jack protested. "He was telling lies about the Gryffindor team!"

"Oh?" McGonagall asked, raising her eyebrows. "What sort of lies?"

Jack flushed, unwilling to answer, and Theodore smiled innocently. "I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to upset them. I just passed on a little harmless gossip, since they seem to enjoy that kind of thing so much."

McGonagall gave both boys a hard look. "No more gossip from now on," she said sternly. "Perhaps I'll assign some extra homework in my classes, since you seem to have so much free time." She went back to the head table, and the Gryffindors subsided, Jack and Andrew grumbling sullenly but quietly.

"You went too far, Snape," Harry said accusingly. "I don't blame you for being mad at those two gits, but Katie and Angelina and Oliver never did anything to you."

Theodore shrugged. "I don't care if they call me names, but I won't let them insult my family that way."

"Then deal with Sloper and Kirke directly!" Harry said.

"I'm a Slytherin, Potter," Theodore said with a smile. "We don't do anything directly. If I get into a fist fight with those two idiots, I'll be the one who gets in trouble, and what's the point of that? This way they get detention, but I don't." Harry just stared at him, still looking angry, but a little confused, and a little respectful as well. "But if it makes you feel better, I apologize for saying those things about Bell, Johnson, and Wood," Theodore said placatingly. He supposed that he shouldn't offend the Boy Who Lived too much, since Lupin was fond of him.

As breakfast resumed, Goyle leaned over and whispered, "I didn't know Wood was gay!"

Theodore rolled his eyes. "He isn't, as far as I know. I only said that to piss off the Gryffindors. But I really did see Bell and Johnson in The Hog's Head once, in a table in the corner, holding hands."

"Two girls together," Crabbe mused. "Wow, that's kind of hot!"

"Don't let Luna hear you say that!" Goyle laughed.

Pansy sniffed disdainfully. "Don't be a Neanderthal, Crabbe."

Everyone laughed, and Slytherins enjoyed their little victory over Gryffindor, although as Draco put it, "In a battle of wits, Gryffindor is obviously handicapped," and everyone laughed even harder.
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Things began to get worse in the next week, though. First, during the usually flurry of morning mail delivery, an owl dropped a bag of sugar skulls in front of Harry as he was eating breakfast.

"Hey, cool!" Ron said. "I thought Honeydukes stopped carrying those after Halloween. Mind if I have some?"

Harry, looking bemused, held the bag out to him. "I don't know who they're from," he said. "There's no note attached."

As Ron popped a skull into his mouth, Jack Sloper said, "Weasley, you idiot! What if those are poisoned?"

But Ron had already chewed and swallowed the piece of candy. "It tastes fine," Ron said. "And where do you get off calling me an idiot? Who'd want to poison Harry?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Skulls...Death Eaters; get it?" he said in an exaggeratedly slow and patient voice.

"That's a bit far-fetched, isn't it?" Ron asked uneasily. "There are no more Death Eaters, right?"

"Are there?" Jack asked, his gaze shifting towards the Slytherin table.

"You're so stupid, Jack Sloper!" Allegra said angrily.

Jack sneered at her. "How do we know you didn't send them? Your brother's a Slytherin."

"For one thing," Allegra said, giving him a disdainful look, "my brother is not a Death Eater. My family lost our fortune because my Grandpa wouldn't support them, but I guess you're too ignorant to know that." As Jack spluttered in anger, she continued calmly, "For another thing, I'm a first-year, so I can't go to Hogsmeade. Therefore, I couldn't have bought the candy. And finally, I don't have an owl, so I couldn't have sent the candy to Harry even if I did have some."

"Did anyone recognize that owl?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"I...I'm not sure," Neville stuttered hesitantly, "but I think it might be one of the school owls. I use them to send letters home sometimes, since I don't have an owl of my own, only Trevor." He patted his pet toad, who was resting in the pocket of Neville's robes.

"So she could have sent the skulls to Potter, after all!" Jack said triumphantly.

"She didn't go to the Owlery this morning," Portia said, glaring at Jack. "Allegra was with me and Chloe and Emma all morning before we came to breakfast." The other two girls nodded emphatically.

"Then it could have been one of the Slytherins," Jack argued.

"It does seem strange, Harry, that someone would be sending you Halloween candy in January," Dean pointed out, looking over at the Slytherin table suspiciously.

"Well, Ron seems okay," Ginny said, after looking her brother over carefully, "so I think it's all right. Maybe it's just somebody's idea of a dumb joke."

"Ha ha," said Harry grimly. "I don't find it very funny."

"Me neither," said Ginny. "Maybe you'd better have Professor Snape test the candy, just in case. Or you could just wait and see if Ron gets sick."

"Hey!" Ron said indignantly.

Although Ron said he felt fine, Ginny and Hermione both insisted that Harry see Professor Snape, just to be on the safe side. So although he didn't relish the idea of asking the Potions Master for a favor, he hurried over to the head table to catch Snape before he left after breakfast ended. He made Ron come along with him for moral support. "Besides," Harry pointed out, as Ron protested, "if the candy really is poisoned, Snape will have to give you an antidote." Ron groaned, but followed Harry to the head table.

Snape frowned and Lupin looked worried as Harry explained his request. He expected Snape to scold him for wasting his time, maybe even accuse Harry of being swell-headed and arrogant, to imagine that he was so important that someone would want to poison him. But Snape just said, "Very well, Potter; come with me," and led Harry and Ron down to his office in the dungeon. Lupin tagged along, still looking worried.

Snape cast some spells on the candy, and dissolved a few of the skulls in test tubes of unidentifiable liquids, then finally declared, "The candy is not poisoned, nor do I detect any sort of enchantment or curse on it."

Harry sighed in relief. "Thanks, Professor. Sorry for wasting your time."

"I knew we shouldn't have listened to that paranoid git Sloper," Ron muttered under his breath.

But Snape was still frowning. "Honeydukes only sells this type of candy in October, for Halloween. Is it a particular favorite of yours, Potter?"

"No, not really, Professor," Harry replied. "My favorites are Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Beans."

"So the question is," Lupin said softly, "why would someone be sending you stale Halloween candy in January? It seems like a rather odd gift."

"It's not stale," Ron pointed out. "It still tastes pretty good."

"Seeing as how it's made of pure sugar, I'm sure that it keeps well," Snape said sarcastically. "But that doesn't answer Lupin's question."

"Ginny thought it might be a joke--a not very funny one," Harry said.

"No doubt," Snape said sourly as he scowled at the bag of skulls. "Hogwarts seems to be full of pranksters of late." He handed the bag of candy back to Harry and said, "Well, the two of you had better get to class now; I'm not going to write you an excuse slip if you're late."

"And let us know if anyone plays any more 'jokes' on you," Lupin said gravely.

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, and hurried off to class. "Do you want these?" he asked, offering the bag of candy to Ron. "I've lost my appetite, somehow."

Ron looked at the bag of sugar skulls and sighed. "Me too, I guess." They went to class and tossed the bag in the wastebasket.
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Back in his office, Snape made no move to leave, although he had a class to get to as well. Then again, nobody would give him detention if he was late. He stood there staring at the doorway through which the boys had just exited, a brooding look on his face, until Lupin finally said, "Severus? Do you really think it's a prank?"

"Yes," Snape replied. "A nasty-minded but fairly harmless one this time. The question is, who was the real target of the prank--Potter or my Slytherins?" It was a rhetorical question, and Snape answered it himself before Lupin could reply. "I would say the latter, judging from the previous pranks, in which the victims were Slytherins. Well, I suppose we can't be sure that Theodore and Blaise were the actual target of the Yule Ball prankster, but it seems that whoever was behind it wanted someone to spill their secrets, and the Slytherins tend to have more secrets to keep than the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, or Ravenclaws."

"You think that someone sent the candy skulls to Harry to draw suspicion onto the Slytherins?" Lupin asked. "I suppose it's possible, although it's a roundabout sort of way to do it." Lupin began to look even more concerned. "Then maybe Aric wasn't the real target of the Porvora attack, after all. Maybe Aric was only attacked in order to implicate Theo. Because he's a Death Eater's son?"

"Twice over," Snape said, smiling humorlessly. "Both his natural and adoptive fathers were Death Eaters."

"And Dylan was the victim of the first so-called 'prank,'" Lupin said, turning a little pale. "Severus, maybe whoever is behind this is actually targeting YOU!"

"It's possible," Snape admitted, not looking very happy about it.

Snape was calm, despite his distress, while Lupin grew increasingly agitated. "But who could do such a thing?" he cried.

"Presumably someone with a grudge against the Death Eaters," Snape said. "While many of the students despise me, I don't think that someone would try to hurt or kill my sons just to get back at me for a bad grade or failed exam. Unfortunately, there are any number of students who have lost relatives to the Death Eaters: Mr. Ackerley, Miss Laroque, Miss Bones, even Mr. Potter himself--"

"Surely you don't think Harry is behind this!" Lupin exclaimed.

"Of course not, Lupin," Snape said impatiently. "I was just pointing out that there are many students whose relatives were killed during the war--that even includes two of my Slytherins, Mr. Dietrich and Miss Greengrass, although I don't think that they're behind this, either. And those are just the students who lost immediate family members. If we include distant relations and family friends, the list goes even higher. And there are of course students who were affected adversely by the war even if their relatives weren't killed, exactly--like Longbottom, whose parents spent the last sixteen years in St. Mungo's, or Zabini, whose family was ruined financially. And no, Lupin, I don't think that they have anything to do with it, either, but I am sure there are many other students with similar stories who might be less forgiving."

"Who can it be?" Lupin asked in frustration. "And how can you be so calm about it?"

"Panicking won't help anything," Snape replied coolly. "For the sake of self-preservation, I learned how to contain my fear and impatience while serving Voldemort many years ago."

"Of course," Lupin said contritely, slipping his arms around Snape and leaning against him. "I know how hard it must have been for you, and I didn't mean to imply that you weren't worried. It's just that I'm scared, Severus. I'm scared that someone wants to hurt my family. Today's prank was harmless, but what about the next one? And Theodore and Dylan have another Quidditch match coming up next week..."

"We'll check the players and their equipment thoroughly for hexes before the game starts," Snape said reassuringly, but he looked troubled, too. "You know, if this is an attack on me personally, it's an indirect one, which implies a certain amount of deviousness and cunning. Which points back towards Slytherin, except that this is too subtle for Aric, the only likely suspect. And I think a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff would make a more straightforward attack. A Ravenclaw might be capable of it, but the only suspect who immediately comes to mind is Ackerley. And while he's an obnoxious little brat, I don't picture him being this subtle, either. We'll have to watch all of the students very carefully, Lupin."

"I thought we were done with searching for spies, with expecting betrayal in our midst," Lupin said unhappily. "The war is supposed to be over!"

"Sometimes I think it will never be over," Snape sighed wearily. Then, seeing Lupin looking so miserable, he kissed the werewolf and said in an almost gentle voice, "Go on to class, Lupin; we're both late. Don't worry, we're just dealing with some spiteful brats, not actual Death Eaters. And when I finally get my hands on those brats, I'm going to make them wish they'd never been born." He gave Lupin his most wicked and sadistic smile, which had the desired effect and made Lupin laugh.

But when Lupin was out of Snape's sight, his face slipped back into an expression of fear and worry as he left the dungeon and headed upstairs to the DADA classroom.

Part 97