a ficlet thought
Sep. 19th, 2004 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseThe idea for this scene won't leave me alone, and I figure if I just write it down maybe it'll move on. It spun off something ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theladyfeylene said a while ago in response to my comment that, canon-wise, Remus and Severus couldn't reasonably have been together during the first war.
Characters belong to JKR, I'm just playing with them for the moment and making no money at it, I assure you. Thanks go to Fey, for temporary use of 'her' Severus, as well as inspiration.
At three in the morning, the door to the little one-room flat creaked open, a bar of light illuminating the room and its single occupant for a moment before a second figure entered and shut the door quietly behind him, not turning on any lights. His eyes were used to the dark. So were those of young man laid out on the futon.
"Late work again?"
Severus rubbed his eyes and nodded. He'd hoped Remus would be asleep. "You shouldn't have waited. You know how my lab-hours have been lately."
"I couldn't sleep."
Severus sighed. The dull, numb tone of his lover's voice was all-too familiar by now. "They noticed."
"Fourth job in a year."
"You could write your parents."
"Mum's sick again, and Dad's already working himself to the bone. I can't add this to all they've got."
Severus hadn't really expected agreement. "You could offer yourself as a test subject to the ministry," he offered, settling on the futon beside his lover. Gallows humor had always been one of his favorite forms of expression.
Remus snorted. "Have you eaten? There's rice."
"I went out earlier. Curry," he added, when the dim lights of the street lamps outside showed Remus' dubious expression.
"No you didn't." It was impossible to lie to a werewolf about anything that had a scent. "Go eat the rice."
Severus didn't argue - he got up and scooped the remaining rice out of the pot on the wood-stove, and perched back on the futon to eat. There were worse things Remus could have noticed.
"What are you working on at the lab? You smell of ladies' shampoo."
Like that.
"I've had to take out some public requests, to make a bit extra. Personal products are one region of work that never dries up." It wasn't strictly a lie.
"From Bellatrix Black? It smells like her shampoo." Remus paused, picking at one of their worn blankets. "If you're having an affair, I'd prefer you just tell me."
"I'm not."
"Then what?"
"I told you, I'm doing consignment work on the side. Some of the products are horrible-smelling, so I've been using a scented soap at the lab. It must be the same as Bellatrix used to use. And you know she's married Lestrange, now." Severus made a mental note to ask for a less distinctive soap and shampoo the next time he stopped off at their manor on the way home from a mission. Not as though that was certain to cause less trouble.
"Yes, I know." Remus sighed. "I'm sorry, all the stress lately has me paranoid. Lily and James' baby is almost due, and James and Sirius have been tetchier than usual." He didn't mention the arguments he'd had with Sirius about his staying with 'that greasy git' - those didn't need to be discussed.
Instead, he just scooted over on the thin futon, fluffing and folding his worn old feather pillow and laying on his side to watch Severus. "Bed, now?"
"I thought you said you couldn't sleep."
"Before, I couldn't." Remus smiled, and Severus could have sworn his amber eyes almost glowed in the dark, although it might well have been those damned street lamps outside their ineffective blinds.
"Oh, very well." Severus set the bowl on the little coffee table and lay down, stretched out by Remus' side. The werewolf curled against him, and laid his head on his shoulder. "Goodnight, Remus."
"G'night, Severus."
As usual, Remus was asleep within a few moments, breathing softly and peacefully. Severus stroked his hair with a long-fingered hand, looking into the darkness and orange light from the street beyond their window, and thinking about the blindness the werewolf seemed to have intentionally adopted, ignoring his heightened senses in favour of that odd, sentimental optimism that Remus always displayed in the face of obviously hopeless situations. Or maybe he really didn't know, really had missed all the half-hearted excuses and pathetic cover-ups, the late nights and the unexplained injuries, and greater than usual displays of temper and depression.
Either way, there was more to the darkness than Severus wanted to think about, and, he suspected, more than Remus Lupin would ever willingly accept.
theladyfeylene said a while ago in response to my comment that, canon-wise, Remus and Severus couldn't reasonably have been together during the first war.Characters belong to JKR, I'm just playing with them for the moment and making no money at it, I assure you. Thanks go to Fey, for temporary use of 'her' Severus, as well as inspiration.
At three in the morning, the door to the little one-room flat creaked open, a bar of light illuminating the room and its single occupant for a moment before a second figure entered and shut the door quietly behind him, not turning on any lights. His eyes were used to the dark. So were those of young man laid out on the futon.
"Late work again?"
Severus rubbed his eyes and nodded. He'd hoped Remus would be asleep. "You shouldn't have waited. You know how my lab-hours have been lately."
"I couldn't sleep."
Severus sighed. The dull, numb tone of his lover's voice was all-too familiar by now. "They noticed."
"Fourth job in a year."
"You could write your parents."
"Mum's sick again, and Dad's already working himself to the bone. I can't add this to all they've got."
Severus hadn't really expected agreement. "You could offer yourself as a test subject to the ministry," he offered, settling on the futon beside his lover. Gallows humor had always been one of his favorite forms of expression.
Remus snorted. "Have you eaten? There's rice."
"I went out earlier. Curry," he added, when the dim lights of the street lamps outside showed Remus' dubious expression.
"No you didn't." It was impossible to lie to a werewolf about anything that had a scent. "Go eat the rice."
Severus didn't argue - he got up and scooped the remaining rice out of the pot on the wood-stove, and perched back on the futon to eat. There were worse things Remus could have noticed.
"What are you working on at the lab? You smell of ladies' shampoo."
Like that.
"I've had to take out some public requests, to make a bit extra. Personal products are one region of work that never dries up." It wasn't strictly a lie.
"From Bellatrix Black? It smells like her shampoo." Remus paused, picking at one of their worn blankets. "If you're having an affair, I'd prefer you just tell me."
"I'm not."
"Then what?"
"I told you, I'm doing consignment work on the side. Some of the products are horrible-smelling, so I've been using a scented soap at the lab. It must be the same as Bellatrix used to use. And you know she's married Lestrange, now." Severus made a mental note to ask for a less distinctive soap and shampoo the next time he stopped off at their manor on the way home from a mission. Not as though that was certain to cause less trouble.
"Yes, I know." Remus sighed. "I'm sorry, all the stress lately has me paranoid. Lily and James' baby is almost due, and James and Sirius have been tetchier than usual." He didn't mention the arguments he'd had with Sirius about his staying with 'that greasy git' - those didn't need to be discussed.
Instead, he just scooted over on the thin futon, fluffing and folding his worn old feather pillow and laying on his side to watch Severus. "Bed, now?"
"I thought you said you couldn't sleep."
"Before, I couldn't." Remus smiled, and Severus could have sworn his amber eyes almost glowed in the dark, although it might well have been those damned street lamps outside their ineffective blinds.
"Oh, very well." Severus set the bowl on the little coffee table and lay down, stretched out by Remus' side. The werewolf curled against him, and laid his head on his shoulder. "Goodnight, Remus."
"G'night, Severus."
As usual, Remus was asleep within a few moments, breathing softly and peacefully. Severus stroked his hair with a long-fingered hand, looking into the darkness and orange light from the street beyond their window, and thinking about the blindness the werewolf seemed to have intentionally adopted, ignoring his heightened senses in favour of that odd, sentimental optimism that Remus always displayed in the face of obviously hopeless situations. Or maybe he really didn't know, really had missed all the half-hearted excuses and pathetic cover-ups, the late nights and the unexplained injuries, and greater than usual displays of temper and depression.
Either way, there was more to the darkness than Severus wanted to think about, and, he suspected, more than Remus Lupin would ever willingly accept.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 10:34 am (UTC)I think that pretty much sums up the whole during-war relationship very nicely.
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Date: 2004-09-19 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 11:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 11:28 am (UTC)And your icon is so very wonderful.
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Date: 2004-09-19 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 09:26 pm (UTC)I could never imagine them being together during the first war, either, but this has me convinced.
;___; ::small sniffle:: I'm not sure why I find this so sad, but ...
::bows:: You totally owned this, though. Great job.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-19 09:30 pm (UTC)*hugs* Glad you liked it!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 05:57 pm (UTC)I absolutely love the way you've handled the Severus POV, as, for example, here:
Severus didn't argue - he got up and scooped the remaining rice out of the pot on the wood-stove, and perched back on the futon to eat. There were worse things Remus could have noticed.
"What are you working on at the lab? You smell of ladies' shampoo."
Like that.
That's clever, subtle and affecting all at once -- no easy task.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 06:34 pm (UTC)I'm glad the POV worked, also. I was a bit nervous of writing all of that in, and nervous that it wouldn't work very well, so I'm pleased that you liked it.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-20 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-10 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-10 04:44 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for commenting!