neutral_omens | (no subject)

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-"

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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."

"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?

"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?"

"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.

"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.