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3,778Chapter 11: The Lie is Easier to Believe

Chapter 11: The Lie is Easier to Believe

"Sevvv,"Lily whined. "What were you two doing last night?

"Learning to fly," he said with a sniff.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't even have a broom of your own. What were you doing?"

"Keeping company with a werewolf,"Severus answered deadpan.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Really, what were you doing?

Severus slid his eyes over his book and stared at her. "Crawling down a chimney to visit someone."

Lily sighed and flopped backwards onto the moss to stare up at the trees above her. "I don't know why I even bother to ask. You lie so well, it sounds like the truth."

Severus lifted an eyebrow, but stuffed his face back into the book he was reading.

"And you!" Lily pointed an accusatory finger at Hermione, who was also face first into a book. "I suppose you were also learning to fly, keeping company with a werewolf, and crawling down a chimney to visit someone?"

Hermione lowered her book to stare at Lily. "I already knew how to fly,"she answered, deadpan.

"Oooooooo! The both of you!" Lily said, exasperated. "Why don't you just tell me you were sneaking off to read the restricted section while I was off making shampoo and conditioner? Why such elaborate lies?"

"You wouldn't believe the truth,"Hermione answered, shrugging.

Lily sighed. "If anyone could sneak into the restricted section and have the audacity to fall asleep here and get away with it, it would be you two, I swear to Merlin," she huffed. "And for the record, I would believe you, you know. I'm your friend. You don't have to lie."

Hermione pulled out the wrapped bundle of bar cookies her father had sent, derailing Lily's train of thought with the ease of a Master.

Lily squealed happily, tearing into the cookies.

Hermione snatched two of them before Lily took off her arm, and passed one to Severus before biting into her own.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What in bloody hell were you thinking, James?" Sirius practically screamed down his throat. The pair of them where about the same height for their age, so Sirius had to bounce onto his tippy toes to make the act seems appropriately wrathful.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know you were going to help her carry her damn books!" he yelled back. "I just wanted to get back at her for being such a bleeding know-it-all. She just thumbs her nose at you. Bosses you around. Tells you how to do things!"

"Do you hear yourself?" Sirius snarled. "You might as well just table the all of us… well except Remus. Remus is too damn polite to boss anyone around. But LOOK at us, you insufferable git? We look down our noses just as well at anyone who doesn't think like us. We bloody boss people around. Look what we did the other day to get that pile of cookies out from under Frank and his friend Alice. We are NO better. No better at all."

"We're not SLYTHERIN!" James yelled back.

"What does that…."Sirius twitched. "What the fuck does that have to do with it?" Rage was leaking out his ears and his mouth at this point. The litmus test was always the profanity. The more enraged he got, the worse his command of the Queen's English became. "My bloody sister is the probably the most compassionate person on the planet when it comes to giving people chances. She forgives my mother for being… my mother, and she forgives me for being a blind bleeding idiot more often than I'm a good brother. She makes me ashamed of myself. Yes, she's bloody Slytherin. All of my bleeding family were Slytherin cept for my dysfunctional ass!"

"What are you trying to say, Sirius?" Peter pipped up. "You going to side with Slytherin because your baby sister looks up to your Slytherin parents?"

Remus, who was looking more and more pale and the yelling was getting louder, trailed behind them. "Guys, please. People are looking…"

Sirius gritted his teeth. "Look, what is your problem, mate? She has done nothing to you. Slytherin hasn't done nothing to us. NOTHING. They have dodged our pranks, ignored our taunts, and done nothing but take it to the face and walk away. Could we say the same if one of them decided to prank us back? Don't get me wrong. I love pranks. I live for pranks. I pranked my baby brother and my twin every day I could, but never, ever, did I think they wouldn't get me back at some point. I have the scars from when Regulus trapped me in a wardrobe with a bag of gnomes to prove it."

"Come on, Remus," Peter nudged him. "Let them work it out."

Remus threw up his hands and stormed off, tired of the ringing in his ears. It wasn't like he felt truly a part of the group, and most of the time he felt like an old dilapidated broom sitting with the latest racing brooms used by a professional team.

Lupin scratched his head and walked along the path down and around Black Lake. The trails around the lake were long and numerous, giving people so many places to walk and not meet anyone. Most people stuck to the main paths, however, and ended up running into lots of people. Unfortunately, that was the trail Sirius and James chose to have their row out in front of a group of bug-eyed Ravenclaw.

Remus went down one the less frequent trails indicated by heavy coat of leaves coating the hidden trail beneath. His nostrils flared slightly as he realised that there was a familiar scent in the air. Familiar. Comforting.

"Ahhhgh," a female voice scoffed. "I'm going to go meet with Professor Slughorn. You two are impossible!" The fiery red-head laughed, green eyes sparkling. "His party is coming up this weekend. I neeeeeeed a date, Sev. You will come with me, won't you?"

The black eyed wizard looked at her with what could only be described as panic. Social obligation and date came together in his eyes in a rush of adrenaline.

"Come on, Sev!"Lily pleaded. "You're a part of the club too, yea? So we can be each other's dates!"

The black-haired wizard turned his head away, breathing a little hard.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Severus Snape, you will attend the Slug Club with me this Friday, or so help me, I will charm your beloved dragonhide boots to dance you to class!"

Severus muttered something noncommittal.

Lily took that as a positive, twirled on her heels, and stalked up the bath to Hogwarts, blowing by Remus with a flutter of wind.

Remus looked at the black-haired witch as she flung herself back into the moss, giggling hysterically. Severus stared down at her with disdain written all over his face.

"She herded you right into that Severus," the witch chuckled at him.

"You know as well as anyone how much I loathe social occasions, Hermione," Severus scowled down at her.

The grey eyed witch grinned at him unabashed as he continued to scowl. Her shoulder were quaking silently, and Remus could smell her amusement and his disgruntled resignation. He could smell them, however, strongly. It was familiar.

"Um… hi," Remus said. "Not sure if you remember me from class. I'm Remus. Remus Lupin."

Hermione turned her head to look at him, rolling her head on the moss. "Hello, Remus."

"H…Hermione, right?" Remus asked shyly.

Hermione's eyes were warm. "That's me," she answered.

"May I join you two?" Remus asked.

Hermione gestured to the ground. "Lots of room."

Remus flopped to the ground, sitting cross legged. "Um… I…" Remus stared at his knees.

Hermione and Severus exchanged looks.

"Very articulate," Severus mouthed.

"Severus!" Hermione mouthed back silently.

Severus rolled his eyes.

Remus took in a breath, squared his shoulders, and looked up. "Iknowwehaven'ttalkedatall, butI'dreallyliketobeyourfriend." The words gushed out in a flood of nervousness.

Severus looked at him with a tightly controlled face. "One condition."

Remus wrung his hands nervously, biting his lip. "Anything." His eyes were haunted, nervous, desperate, and so much more more. At that moment, he would have done anything they required of him for the chance of having friends… real friends. Friends that could keep him company on the moon nights. Friends who could not only know his secret, but guard it. The green of his eyes flickered with a tinge of yellow. If he had been sporting a tail at that given moment, it would be beating against the ground madly. His inner wolf smelled his friends in this witch and wizard. It didn't matter that they were Slytherin. It didn't matter that he had hardly had more than two words spoken between them before this day, save what he confessed to mysterious phoenix and and equally enigmatic eagle. His wolf didn't care. For the first time in all the years he had endured the change, his wolf had friends, and would fight tooth and claw to keep them.

Hermione's grey eyes were warm. "We get to call you Tuft."

Remus was crying, he couldn't help it. Casting aside any preconceived notion of manliness, he had tears running down his nose. "Done."

Hermione had her hand out. A lone chocolate bar cookie was clenched between her delicate fingers.

Remus took it as though it were the only food he had been given all year, savouring it bite by bite to extend the happiness he felt as he devoured it.

Severus and Hermione watched him devour the cookie with amusement. They watched the disappointment cross his face as he realised the cookie was gone. His face was so forlorn that it was like looking at a kicked puppy.

Severus smirked, extending his hand.

Another cookie.

Remus looked ready to burst into tears again, took it with babbled thanks, and both cradled and nibbled on it little by little.

"Lily is going to have competition for the cookies, I fear," Hermione said dryly.

"What's life without a little competition?" Severus answered.

"How did you know? Remus whispered as he made the last of the second cookie disappear. "Does Dumbledore know? Did he send you?"

Hermione shook her head. "Dumbledore… doesn't really make nice with Slytherins, to be honest."

"But… how then?"

Severus snorted. "Ever tried to tell a phoenix where not to go? They are more curious than cats."

Hermione turned a disturbing shade or crimson. "Leave me alone," she hissed.

Severus shook his head, black eyes sparkling with mischief. "Giant, winged, flaming cats."

"Shut it!"Hermione laughed, whapping Severus with her hands.

Severus smirked, allowing her to rage all over his school robes.

After she was done, she leaned against him. "Prat."

Remus tilted his head, already feeling a sort of warmth he had so longed to feel in a group. "Does your friend… Does Lily know?"

Severus looked up at him, brows furrowing. "No."

"Does she… change as well?" Remus asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"How did you both learn…" Remus' curiosity bubbled forth like a hidden spring.

Severus' corner of the mouth quirked upward. "I'm still learning."

"I'm technically still learning,"Hermione said with a tilt of her chin. "My Master is teaching me properly."

"It must be wonderful," Remus boggled. "To have control over a change… to not feel pain?"

"Maybe you could study to become an animagus," Severus said speculatively. "Nothing seems to say that your… moonlight condition restricts you from that during your human times."

Remus looked at him as if he'd just announced that all the oranges of the world were now purple. "Do you think I could… would it… that be so…" Remus's face filled with wonder and possibility.

Hermione had a very Slytherin look upon her face, and Severus looked at her as if he were reading her thoughts.

"Imagine, hypothetically," Hermione said. "Provided your parents haven't blabbed to the universe that you are a werewolf…"

Lupin shook his head in negative. "They didn't even tell my grandmother. They just locked me away three nights of the month, then nursed me back to health after saying I had a weak immune system…"

Hermione raised a brow, but continued. "What if, instead, you became an animagus. Say your form really is a wolf, much like your name seems to imply. Say you were registered as wolf animagus. If you were careful, certain people would never know the wiser, and I am betting you, most people from a distance couldn't tell the difference between a wolf and a werewolf until they were up close… and who really wants to be up close to a potential werewolf?"

"What if the pain and the rage a werewolf has is because they cannot transform any other time but during the full moon…" Severus speculated. "They only have three nights while forced to be in the background all the others."

"Do all Slytherin speculate like you do?" Remus asked. "You're kind of scary brilliant together."

Hermione laughed. Once upon a time, a friend had called her much the same. Brilliant, but scary.

"Professor Slughorn posted that extra credit project on the bulletin board outside of the Potions Lab," Hermione said.

"The winner has to make a potion that hasn't been made yet and present it to the Potion Mastery Board," Severus said.

"If the Board approves of it for mass production, the winner would have an all expense paid Mastership on or before graduation," Remus said. "I saw people looking at the announcement."

Hermione had a glint in her eyes. She placed her hand on Severus' arm. "Severus… how do you feel about being a Potion Master?"

Severus looked at her with wide eyes. "A Potions Master? Me? I always thought myself more… Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"I've been secretly teaching myself how to do a Patronus," Remus confessed suddenly. "I found a book on the shelf in the shack."

Severus and Hermione stared at him.

"I can only make vapour so far though," Remus said sadly, taking out his wand. He waved his wand and said, "Expecto Patronum." White and blue wisps of eldritch vapour shot out of his wand. "I guess my happy memory isn't happy enough."

Hermione looked at Remus. "One, you need to teach us that. Two," she stared at Severus, "I think you'd make an excellent Potions Master if you put your mind to it."

"But… what potion would we make?" Severus asked. "What could possibly impress the Potion Mastery Board?"

Hermione closed her eyes, remembering.

"Pay attention, Ms. Granger," Snape said curtly, his black robes hung about his shoulders as his portrait self waved his wand and a complex formula wrote itself across a chalkboard in the back of his portrait. Hundreds of complex arithmancy equations connected to each point of the potion with complex instructions. "I was the only one in Hogwarts with the memory of this potion… and with my death… I was the last with this particular formula. Commit it to memory, Professor Granger. You are the only one… who I can trust with this formula. I had started to tweak the original formula and just managed to get it stable, but by the time I had it made… neither I nor Lupin were on speaking terms. Everyone else… would not have the patience to see it through. I know… I know that you will."

Hermione had looked into the face of the ex-Headmaster, Snape's impassive expression looked at her without emotion, but she could almost see a flicker of something hidden in his painted eyes. Respect.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Hermione said softly, staring at the complex formula and all the equations, burning them into her grey matter.

"Severus," the the portrait Snape said softly.

Hermione met the portrait's eyes, unsure.

The portrait Snape stared into her, impassive as ever, but he repeated, "Call me, Severus."

"Thank you, Severus,"she whispered softly, her fingers ever so lightly touching the frame of his portrait.

Severus tilted his chin up, narrowing his eyes, and turned to leave his frame, but as he turned, she heard him reply, ever so softly, "You are welcome… Hermione."

Hermione opened her eyes, a tear running down the side of her nose with the bittersweet memory. "Wolfsbane Potion," she whispered. "If we balance the proportions of aconite with the properties of the calming draught, it could calm the mind of the werewolf before they turn… they could keep their mind after the change. If we further add some of the properties of the Draught of Peace… it could add the balancing effect with the wolf, and calm them too. The duality must be balanced or the potion won't work. That has to be why all the previous attempts at it have failed or required odd dosing instructions. All the potions that people have tried, try to cure the man. They forget a werewolf is not just a man. It might take a week to brew each state but… the result…"

Remus exhaled heavily. "I wouldn't hurt anyone anymore. I'd be me. A wolf… but me."

"No, Remus," Hermione said. "Don't you see? You'd be at peace. You'd be you. Both the wolf and the human in harmony."

"Peace," Remus said wistfully.

"Peace,"Hermione and Severus said together.

"I'm in," Severus said extending his hand.

"You know I'm in," Hermione said, placing her hand on top of his.

"Whatever you need that I can provide, is yours," Remus said, placing his hand on theirs.

Hermione grinned. "Let's prove to them that a bunch of first years are more than just our allotted year. We should tell my Master and ask her for her blessing. I have a feeling she will approve and give us some wiggle room."

"Oh?" Severus asked. "How so?"

"She can write passes to the restricted section," Hermione said, wiggling her brows.

"Excellent," Severus purred.

"We should talk to Lily to get her in on it, but she'll want to know why," Hermione made a face as she said it. It was all about "I love her, but…"

"Tell her it's a welfare project," Severus said. "You're unhappy with how there hasn't been any advancement in the treatment of lycanthropy and Slughorn's project gave you a reason."

"Smooth, Severus," Hermione snerked.

"Years of justification practice," he replied, staring upward as if for guidance.

Hermione squared her shoulders. "Well, now that our term project is settled, I will ask my Master for her blessing so she can sent official word to Professor Slughorn. Now we can go back to the matter of Tuft here summoning a Patronus in front of us without sharing the knowledge!"

Hermione and Severus stared at Remus intently.

Remus' eyes went wide and he gulped. "I'll show you what I know!" he promised, pulling out his wand.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

My Dear Daughter,

I have been informed by your father that you wish to bring home company over the holiday. Seeing as how your progress reports from your Master have been exemplary, I and your father will allow it. You may tell your friend they are welcome to visit during the Christmas holiday.

Seeing as we must play the proper host, I request that you send a list of interests that we may be better prepared for proper the giving of gifts during the holiday. Our family shall not be accused of being ill prepared for our guests, daughter, and I will not start now.

I feel you should know, your little brother is currently infatuated with the idea that you will bringing a guest home, so you should prepare your friend for being assaulted by your younger brothers ceaseless enthusiasm. I can only hope that he does not shame us with his antics.

There is quite a bit of time before the holiday, so we have time to prepare. At least, thanks to your father's new friend, we have less gnome holes in the garden to shame the house of my fathers.

Please give your Master our regards.

Sincerely,

Walburga (seal of the House of Black)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Who's a werewolf's best friend? SLYTHERIN friends! Personally, I think Remus is truly in need some friends. True friends. It's not to say that eventually (canon wise anyway) that Remus wouldn't have friends in James and Sirius and (gag… Peter) but more if he had become friends with Hermione and Severus early on… who better to guard his secrets, but let's be honest, Slytherin protects what is "theirs" just as well. Using the contest to get Severus a Mastership sponsor? Very clever. Teaching Lupin how to be an animagus to deflect accusations that he could be a werewolf? Muahahaaa.

Yes, James is still a prat, but I don't see that improving for quite a few years, because even canonically, he was pretty much a self-righteous spoilt jerk until his seventh year. (Maybe I will speed that up because I don't know if I can write six years of that kind of horribleness…) Who knows?

As for me, I'm going to bed after I take my horrible quiz I've been avoiding all day.