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FIC: A Full Moon Birthday
This is a bit late, but better late than never, right? ;) Since I wrote a birthday fic for Snape, I felt it was only fair to write one for Lupin, too!
Title: A Full Moon Birthday
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Word count: ~2080
Disclaimer: No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Author's Notes: Not canon-compliant; assumes that all the main characters survived the war, and the details aren't really necessary for this story. I threw in a wink-wink nudge-nudge reference to a character from my Always series, but the story can stand on its own.
Summary: Remus is depressed that his birthday happens to fall on the night of the full moon.
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Voldemort had been defeated and the war was over. Moreover, Remus had gotten back his old job at Hogwarts and had even reconciled with Severus. Therefore, he knew that he had no right to complain about something so trivial, but deep down, he was a little disappointed that his birthday had fallen on the night of the full moon this year.
It would be childish--not to mention useless--to whine about it, of course, so Remus smiled and feigned indifference when others said what an unfortunate coincidence it was. "It's fine," he told Harry. "I'm at the age where birthdays aren't a big deal anymore." He laughed self-deprecatingly. "Just a bit more gray in my hair, that's all." To Dumbledore, he said, "No need to make a fuss about my birthday, Albus."
So there was just a quiet celebration at the morning staff meeting with cake and coffee, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron owled him a gift (the special deluxe edition of the complete works of Ariel Zoltaire, the famous adventure/romance novelist and best-selling author in the wizarding world), along with a promise to take him out to dinner later that weekend.
Dumbledore had offered to give him the day off, but Remus had declined. Although he was always tired and sore on the day of the full moon, it was more bearable thanks to the improvements that Severus had made to the Wolfsbane Potion, and Remus stubbornly refused to make any unnecessary concessions to his illness. He had lost too many jobs in the past due to too many missed days of work, and although he knew that his job here at Hogwarts was secure, his pride would not allow his disease to rule his life any more than it already did.
He was relieved when the school day was over, though, and opted for an early meal with Severus in the privacy of their quarters over dinner in the Great Hall. They had a bland, simple meal of soup and bread, because the pending transformation always made him a little nauseous, although the herbal tea that Severus had specially prepared for him helped to ease his stomach.
"I'm sorry that you can't enjoy your birthday cake tonight," Severus said regretfully. Sugar rendered the Wolfsbane useless, and he couldn't ingest any within a few hours of taking his dose of potion.
"That's all right," Remus said reassuringly, not wanting to make his lover feel bad, although he was secretly feeling a little sorry for himself. "I had some cake this morning, and tomorrow we'll have a proper celebration, just the two of us." He gulped down his potion with a grimace, then drank some tea to wash the taste out of his mouth.
"Would you like to open your presents after dinner?" Severus asked, and Remus shook his head.
"No, I'm not really in the mood for celebrating tonight," Remus sighed, then smiled brightly when Severus frowned in concern. "I'll open them tomorrow," he said in a tone of forced cheer. "It would be a real shame to have a birthday cake with no presents, right? Actually, it will be more fun that way, like having two birthdays this year!"
Severus didn't look entirely convinced, but he just nodded and said, "As you wish." They finished their dinner, then sat together on the couch, reading quietly--Severus a Potions journal and Remus one of his new novels--as they waited for the moon to rise. The transformation was never pleasant, but at least he no longer dreaded it, thanks to the Wolfsbane, and the presence of his mate calmed Remus and gave him comfort.
When he felt the first pains beginning to wrack his body, he knelt down on the floor and let the transformation wash over him. Despite the pain, he tried not to fight it, since Severus's research proved that attempting to resist the change only made it more painful. Within a few minutes it was over, and Remus lay in his wolf form, panting quietly on the floor. Severus knelt down beside him, stroking his fur and scratching behind his ears, and Remus growled contentedly, his tail thumping softly against the floor.
One of the new improvements to the Wolfsbane was a mild sedative that made the transformation less painful, but one of its side effects was drowsiness, and after a few minutes of petting and ear-scratching, Remus began to doze off.
"Do you mind if I tend to something in my laboratory?" Severus asked, and Remus barked out a little "wuff" of assent and licked his mate's face. Severus wiped his face on his sleeve, gave Remus one last scratch, then rose to his feet and said, "Just call--or rather, bark--if you need anything."
Remus was snoozing peacefully on the rug in front of the fireplace, dreaming about chocolate cake and ice cream and birthday presents, and Severus's long, nimble fingers scratching behind his ears when a sharp knock at the door startled him out of his slumber.
"Professor Snape?" an anxious voice called out. Severus did not respond; he likely didn't hear the knock behind the closed door of his laboratory, which was located at the far end of the hallway.
Remus barked loudly, and that instantly summoned his mate. Remus felt rather gratified by Severus's obvious concern, and then his relief that there was nothing wrong with Remus, and it was only the door that required his attention.
Behind the door was a pale-faced Hufflepuff delivering a message from Madam Pomfrey; it turned out that there had been an accident with one of the venomous plants in the greenhouse.
"Sorry, Lupin," Severus apologized as he picked up the kit he had already prepared for emergencies such as these, packed with healing potions and anti-venom. "Pomfrey needs some help treating the brats. I shouldn't be long, and I will hand out detention if it turns out these students were playing some sort of idiotic prank."
"They had Professor Sprout's permission to be there," the Hufflepuff protested. "They had a special assignment to tend some night-blooming plants."
"Then I'll give them detention for their incompetency," Severus snapped as he hurried out the door, glancing back to flash an apologetic look at Remus.
Remus wagged his tail, trying to reassure his mate that he'd be all right, but Severus still looked rather cross. No doubt he was going to be especially hard on the injured students for interrupting him on the night of the full moon. Remus did feel sorry for those unfortunate students, but the wolf in him was smugly pleased by his mate's protectiveness.
Remus no longer felt sleepy, and he padded around the room restlessly, bored without Severus to keep him company. He hadn't eaten much at dinner, and he was beginning to get a little hungry. Severus had already sent the dishes and leftovers back to the kitchen, but Remus remembered that he had a few chocolate bars stashed away in his desk in the study, and his ears pricked up at the thought. The wolf might have some trouble getting into the desk drawer, but he thought he could probably manage to pull it open with his paw or his teeth.
So Remus trotted happily towards the study, his claws clicking against the stone floor when a whiff of something chocolatey caught his attention. It wasn't his candy bars; it was something much more rich and enticing. It smelled like fresh-baked chocolate cake.
Drooling in an automatic reaction that would have embarrassed the man but seemed natural to the wolf, Remus eagerly followed the scent to Severus's laboratory. Severus had forbidden him to step foot in the room without permission ever since he'd accidentally knocked over a few bottles whilst trying to get a little amorous, and in hindsight, Remus had to admit that a room filled with delicate breakable bottles and test tubes was probably not a good place for spontaneous throw-your-lover-across-the-table kind of sex.
However, in his haste to answer Remus's call, Severus had left the door slightly ajar, and that was practically an invitation to enter, wasn't it? Besides, Remus would be careful not to break anything this time. And he absolutely had to investigate that tantalizing scent...
So he shoved the door open with his shoulder and slipped into the room. Sitting on the worktable was not a potion, but a cake, chocolate by the scent of it, double-layered and covered with a thick fudge frosting. Written on the top of the cake with red icing were the words, "Happy Birthday, Rem..." A tube of icing, carelessly discarded on the table next to the cake indicated that Severus had been interrupted in the middle of preparing Remus's birthday cake.
Remus wagged his tail delightedly. Obviously Severus was planning to surprise him with this cake tomorrow, and he was touched by his mate's thoughtfulness. He really ought to leave the room now, with Severus none the wiser, and feign grateful surprise tomorrow morning when he was human once again.
But the cake smelled so good, and Remus was hungry, and at the moment, he was not a man, but a wolf. And quite frankly, the wolf did not give a damn about future consequences. All it cared about was satisfying its needs, now. On four legs, the table was out of the wolf's reach, but if he stood up on his hind legs, he ought to be able to reach the cake...
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Severus returned from tending the injured Hufflepuffs a little later, after deducting fifty points from their House and sentencing them to an afternoon of detention with Filch once they were fully recovered. He was a bit puzzled that Remus was nowhere in sight, but perhaps he had already gone to sleep in the bedroom, despite Severus's halfhearted complaints about sharing the bed with a smelly, overgrown dog.
(Actually, Remus didn't smell; he always bathed on the evening of the full moon, and that cleanliness carried over to his wolf form. And the warm, furry bulk of his body lying next to Severus's was rather comforting, although Severus would never verbally admit it. However, Remus probably already knew this, judging by the way he would always ignore Severus's grumbling and flop down next to him in bed, licking his face affectionately.)
But Remus was not in the bedroom, either, nor the bathroom, nor the study...which left only one room remaining in their dungeon apartment.
"Lupin!" Severus roared, stepping through the open laboratory door to confront a very contented-looking wolf lying on the floor next to a platter licked clean, its furry muzzle covered with chocolate frosting and crumbs.
The wolf jumped up with a start, then lowered its head, laying its ears back guiltily, whining contritely as it tucked its tail between its hind legs.
Severus was not impressed. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Remus, as sternly as he would confront a first-year who had just melted a cauldron in Potions class. "How many times have I told you that you are not to set one paw in my workroom without my permission?" he demanded.
The wolf whimpered and stared up at him piteously. "Do not try to give me that 'puppy dog eyes' look, Lupin!" Severus snapped. "It looks ridiculous on a werewolf!"
"Wuff?" Remus barked hopefully, wagging his tail and trying to look as innocent and appealing as possible. Severus scowled ferociously, trying to fight the impulse to smile, then finally gave up the battle and laughed.
"Oh, all right, you idiot wolf!" he told Remus. "The cake was meant for you, anyway, although I was intending to surprise you with it tomorrow morning. But I suppose there's no real harm done. Just don't come crying to me tomorrow if you get a bellyache, because I won't brew any tonics or healing potions for you."
Relieved to be forgiven, Remus jumped up to lick his mate's face, bracing his front paws against Severus's chest. "Lupin!" Severus cried, losing his balance as he toppled over, then found himself lying flat on his back with a very large and heavy werewolf sprawled across his chest.
Remus whined an apology and gave Severus a worried look. Severus just sighed resignedly and reached up to scratch behind the wolf's ears, saying, "Happy birthday, Remus."
"Wuff!" Remus barked happily, running his tongue across Severus's face and leaving behind a trail of chocolate crumbs and wolf slobber as Severus sighed again.
THE END.
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Oh, wait, I am a girl. Disregard.
That was too lovely, delicious and funny all at once! ;o)
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LMAO
Absolutely Lovely!!! Thanks for sharing!
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One question. Have you ever done any HP/PSoH crossovers?
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I do recall someone on the Petshop Yahoo Group joking that Alan Rickman's haircut in the movies kind of makes him look like he might be D's cousin. Maybe I'll work on a crossover someday, but right now I already have more plot bunnies than I know what to do with. ^_^