(no subject)

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

Date: July 15th, 2000 (night)
Status: Mostly private - Snape, Remus
Setting: Manor Kitchens
Summary: Remus wants help.



It was the last night before the full moon of that month, and Remus was desperate. He'd paced holes in the floor of the shared bedroom, watching Sirius sleep peacefully. It felt as if his skin were on fire.

He paced in the dark, so quiet, and clutched an old blanket to himself, shivering from nerves. The summer heat barely factored in, was not responsible for the sweat on his temples.

The werewolf - and that's what he felt like, with uncharacteristic fire in his blood and scents so strong - paced, ten paces, up and down. Up ten, down ten. Up ten, down ten. He sat, he stood, he tried to lie down.

He stood again, stared at the sleeping Sirius. Leaned over, pulled the blankets up over his still-skeletal frame. Remus tucked him in gently, and left, swift and silent.

Down in the kitchens before he knew it, standing outside quiet doors. There was no motion, but Remus could tell, Moony could smell it. There was someone in there - the one he was looking for - Severus Snape.

Silence, as he stared at the door, thin mouth working, thin fingers brushing his scars quietly. They'd be livid when he felt like this, already not fitting inside his own skin. Noticeable. Itchy in the heat he could feel.

"Severus," he said hoarsely, rapping on the kitchen door. "I know you're in there. Let me in. I need-"

Comments

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

"Blast this stupid..." Severus cursed for the Nth time. When they said 'barbecue' he hadn't enough information to know if they meant barbecue (which was a specific cooking style) or simply a cookout. Being anal retentive detail oriented as he was, and paranoid also, he was preparing against both eventualities.

Cookbooks were helpful. As were people who, as their signs proclaimed, 'Will work for food'. Real barbecue took time and effort that he simply didn't have on his own. What he wouldn't give for a crew of house elves right now!

So he was not happy, poring over cookbooks filled with recipes for strange foods that they ate in the United States (Southern region) and...

It wasn't really paranoia if people actually were after you. This one wasn't exactly after him. He got up and strode swiftly to the door, unlocking it and flinging it open in one economical movement.

"What?" he asked. Not overly hostile, but certainly not friendly. Why make it easy for the man?

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

"I-I was just-" The truth was, he hadn't expected Snape to come to the door so quickly, and it had thrown him off course. "I wanted to know if you would-"

There was a peculiar scent in the air. "If you would- are you making potato salad?" he asked, frankly astonished.

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

Frankly astonished? Severus was completely knocked for six.

"Potato salad?" Ominous words, indeed.

He turned and went back to the pile of books on the counter, neither inviting Remus in nor waiting to see if he followed.

"I am guessing that this is a request for this particular item and not some sort of warning against it?" he asked. He opened Tea-Time at the Masters and went to check the index. No potato salad, and he didn't suppose the tomato aspic would substitute.

"You look in that one," he ordered, pointing to The Complete Backyard Barbecue Cookbook. "There will have to be a recipe for it somewhere in here."

If there wasn't, he wasn't making it. Potato salad?

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

Remus blinked. "No, no, sorry, I saw the barbecue books and jumped to conclusions. I actually wanted to ask you if you'd prepare - I mean, I have money, not much, but perhaps I could help financially..." He took a deep breath. "Would you make me Wolfsbane? I'll help, of course, anything you need, but it's- the full moon - please."

He stood, still in the doorway, sashamed of asking. There was no Dumbledore ensuring Snape would make it anymore. There hadn't been for a long time. And Remus was suffering. He had no control around the full moon, and he didn't want Sirius, Dog - anyone - to be hurt.

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

From potato salad to Wolfsbane? And why did he ask for the potato salad in the first place?

"Lupin, I can not brew the potion for you now. It would be completely ineffective for only one dose and I've no aconite at any rate. By the time I acquired some tomorrow I would have to rush..." Severus shook his head.

He could finish the potion by sundown but why? Three doses were needed to achieve any result at all.

"No, I won't make you Wolfsbane tomorrow. It would do no good. You'll have to ask me sooner next month."

Wait, did he just offer to help next month?

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

"I know that," Remus said mildly. "I even thought that it would take longer to make, actually. But perhaps you remember my skill, and therefore knowledge, of Potions?" He smiled self-deprecatingly.

"But you will," and here his hazel eyes were hopeful, even if his voice was steady and gentle, "make it for me again? My god, Severus, I half-expected you to make me do something awful for it. Muggle money is all I have, and not much at that, but could I contribute some?" He had pride, and then he had Sirius to pay for.

"Is there also any chance of you being able to make sleeping potions? Muggle medicines works horribly on werewolf metabolisms, as you know."

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

His skill and knowledge in potions? Oh, that was supposed to be a joke. Ha ha.

"Abysmal would be a kind word to describe your performance in Potions class," he said dryly. And then there was a smile.

It was the sort of smile that most people really wished they hadn't seen. The 'you should smile more often' and then they realise what idiocy that statement was.

"I don't need your money, Lupin," he said. "But you could work for me in other ways."

He needed 'slave labour' for this barbecue. The cooking style had developed when people had actual slaves to do the work and now he had one.

"Sleeping potions? I shall have to check and see what ingredients are available." Sleeping potions were something he could do in his sleep.

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

Remus quietly laughed. "Indeed, you remember.

"Actually, I've heard that we have two new gardeners, and if you're interested in growing any ingredients there's a possibility of that. I'm sure they wouldn't mind you using the greenhouse; it hasn't been used for quite some time."

He grew solemn at Snape's other comment. "Work for you how, Severus?"

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Cleaning the dining area isn't Wensley's favorite task, but it has to be done eventually. It was late night by the time he finished chasing runaway glasses and silverware and placing them on a tray. Heaving a sigh of relief at having finished, he walked towards the ktichen, stopping in the doorway when he sees the light is on.

"Hello?" he calls warily, peeking around the doorframe.

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

"Ah, Wensleydale, finished already?"

Severus was in a good mood now.

"We were just speaking about a trade--one that would benefit you regarding the upcoming barbecue. That is, I might have found someone else to assist in preparations. That is, if you agree." He turned to Lupin, wondering what it was the idiot thought he was talking about.

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

Remus nodded, pale-faced. "I work nights."

He'd seen Wensleydale around before, often enough, and offered him an exhausted smile. "I'm happy to help, of course. Just tell me what to do, and when."

[dearwensleydale.livejournal.com]

Wensley nodded and smiled, shaking Remus' hand.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Lupin. It's rather hard to prepare so much food at once with only two people. However, I wasn't going to start preparing anything until tomorrow morning. Ypu can come join me then, if you'd like."

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

"Yes, Lupin, will you be joining him?" Snape asked. "Sleeping draught in exchange for your assistance for the barbecue?"

That nasty little smile made its appearance again.

"Before, during, and after it? That is, preparation and cooking--minimal cooking, I assure you." He didn't want to kill anyone (by accident) after all. "Serving and washing up?"

All that help just for making a sleeping draught or two... But Lupin needed his assistance with this. He was prepared to consider making next month's Wolfsbane if Lupin looked to not agree but what else did the man have to do with his time?

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

"Yes, Severus," the werewolf agreed tiredly, nodding at the details. "I'll do-" anything, his mind supplied, "-it."

This was in exchange for the sleeping draught, not the Wolfsbane, Remus realized, and then the second realization that followed was that Snape had just agreed to make the Wolfsbane for... nothing, actually. Peace of mind, perhaps, but nothing tangible, nothing from Remus' end.

The werewolf looked gratefully at Snape. "When would you like me to start?"

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

"I'll let you know as soon as I require your assistance, likely in a week or so."

Three days to prepare the ingredients and food sounded reasonable. Lupin could wash and chop and things that required little skill--or pick things up at those places that wouldn't deliver them.

"I'll send you a note so that you need not keep checking in with me about it." He did not care if Lupin wasted his time, he just didn't want to be nagged.

"As soon as the sleeping draughts are ready I will also send you a note." So don't bother me about those, either.

[-moonylupin-.livejournal.com]

"Thank you terribly much, Severus," Remus said, again, and with a farewell wave to Wensleydale and Severus himself, he disappeared back into the dark hallway, closing the door he'd come through with no fuss.