![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
FIC: Fleabane
Title: Fleabane
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Word count: ~7,100
Disclaimer: No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Sequel to: Snupin Meme
Prompt: "The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too." - Samuel Butler
Summary: Lupin wants to adopt a stray dog, but Snape has other plans.
Author's note: Inspired by a prompt from
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
lupin_snape's April Fools Challenge, but I missed the deadline, so I'm posting it as a regular story. Also, thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
slashpine for suggesting the name "Fleabane" and urging me to write a sequel to "Snupin Meme."***
Snape arrived home from the annual Potions Masters' Conference, breathing a sigh of relief as he stepped into the little cottage that he shared with Lupin. What a bunch of dunderheads--they wouldn't know an original idea if it came up and bit them on the arse! All they had wanted to do was brag about past glories and denigrate any new and innovative ideas that deviated from "tradition"--such as Snape's new and improved Wolfsbane Potion, or the American Muggle-born Potions Mistress who had given a presentation on using potions to enhance and supplement Muggle medicine. As far as Snape could tell, her research was solid, but she was jeered at by the crowd, who deemed her ideas "ridiculous" or "too controversial."
There were a few of Snape's colleagues who were more intelligent and open-minded, but they had wisely chosen to avoid the conference. Maybe next year they could organize their own small conference and leave out all the dunderheads.
Snape and the American Potions Mistress had left the conference early, commiserated briefly over a Firewhiskey at the Hog's Head, and then headed to their respective homes. Snape was looking forward to a quiet evening at home, perhaps sharing another Firewhiskey with his lover over dinner. Lupin had his annoying habits--cheery Gryffindor optimism, for example--but one of the things Snape liked best about him was that he was a good listener. He would sit and listen, quietly and patiently, through all of Snape's many rants about dunderheaded students or Potions Masters or whatever else had bothered him without interrupting to offer unasked-for advice. (Unlike, say, Miss Granger, who would be full of earnest, well-meant advice about what he should have said or done, and what he ought to say or do the next time the situation arose. Which would only result in another rant to Lupin about insufferable little know-it-all Gryffindor wenches.)
And when Snape was finally done ranting, Lupin would make a sympathetic comment that would indicate he'd been paying attention to what Snape had been saying. And then he'd do what he could to soothe Snape's irritation, whether that was giving him a neck rub or offering him a cup of hot tea. Usually, just listening and allowing Snape to vent was enough to make him feel better.
He expected to find Lupin working in the study (he was earning a surprisingly good living as a romance novelist under a pseudonym), or perhaps preparing dinner in the kitchen. However, Lupin was nowhere in sight, but Snape could hear splashing noises coming from the direction of the bathroom. Snape grinned; joining Lupin in the bath could be relaxing, too. Well, it was likely to be strenuous first, but that was all right, because it made the post-coital relaxation all the more satisfying.
Snape started to unfasten his robes as headed to the bathroom when he heard barking noises along with the splashing. The full moon had passed a couple of days ago, so it couldn't be Lupin in wolf form, and even if Lupin was in wolf form, he wouldn't have been able to draw a bath for himself. A suspicion suddenly dawned on Snape, and he flung the bathroom door open, bellowing, "LUPIN!"
A startled Lupin looked up from where he was kneeling beside the tub, scrubbing a very mangy-looking dog, who was wriggling and struggling uncooperatively, splashing soapy water all over the floor, not to mention Lupin.
A rather soggy-looking Lupin smiled weakly at Snape and said, "Oh, hello, Severus. You're home early."
"Don't 'hello, Severus' me, Lupin," Snape retorted. "What is this...creature...doing in our tub?"
"This is the dog that I was playing with during the full moon," Lupin explained with a bright smile.
"The one who gave you fleas?" Snape asked, unimpressed.
"Er...yes," Lupin admitted. "But it's hardly his fault! He was living out there in the woods all alone, poor fellow, with no one to feed him or bathe him or brush him."
"So you thought you'd bring him and his fleas into our house?" Snape asked sarcastically.
"Not the fleas!" Lupin said indignantly. "That's why I'm giving him a bath with your Fleabane soap!"
"Fleas or not, isn't one mangy mutt enough for this household?" Snape grumbled.
"He's not mangy!" Lupin protested indignantly. "He just needs a little sprucing up, that's all! He'll look much better after the bath, you'll see."
Snape was still irritated that Lupin had brought a stray home, but he couldn't help noting with amusement that Lupin only objected to Snape calling the dog mangy, not himself.
Lupin finished scrubbing the dog, then gave it one final rinse and lifted it out of the tub. And before Lupin could manage to throw a towel over the mutt, it shook itself vigorously, spraying water all over Snape and soaking his robes. (Lupin also got soaked, but he was already soaked from bathing the dog, so it made little difference.) The dog barked and wagged its tail, looking quite pleased with itself.
Snape glowered at both Lupin and the dog, and Lupin laughed nervously, "Sorry about that, Severus, but there's no harm done." He took out his wand and cast a quick spell on all three of them, and Snape's robes dried out a moment later, along with Lupin's robes and the dog's fur.
"It still looks mangy," Snape said, looking over the dog with a critical eye. It was a mid-sized dog with wiry, black and tan fur--it looked to have some Airedale terrier blood--that was now clean but shaggy and matted in places. It also appeared to have several sores--flea-bites that it had gnawed at until the skin was raw, and small cuts and scratches that were probably the result of running through the underbrush, or perhaps a scuffle with another feral dog. And the animal was so thin that even the shaggy fur couldn't hide the outline of its ribs against its sides.
"Well, he's been living in the woods for a long time," Lupin said defensively. "Once we tend to his wounds, feed him up a bit, and give him a good grooming, he'll be as handsome as any of the Malfoys' inbred pureblood lapdogs--handsomer, in fact!"
"'We'?" Snape asked sarcastically. "I do not recall having volunteered to join your little crusade to rehabilitate underprivileged mongrels."
"But you're an expert at brewing healing potions, Severus," Lupin wheedled.
"True," Snape conceded, "but flattery will get you nowhere, wolf."
"And he is going to be sharing our house, so you're involved by default," Lupin continued.
Snape scowled and said firmly, "I do not want a pet, Lupin! The last thing I need is some mutt getting underfoot while I'm trying to brew my potions. No doubt it will cause no end of trouble, getting into my supplies and knocking over my cauldrons..."
"I'll be sure to keep him out of your workshop, and I'll train him to be a very well-behaved dog," Lupin promised. "Besides, we can't turn him out, poor thing--look at him, he's half-starved!" He gave Snape a pleading, wide-eyed puppy dog look--he did it better than the real dog, actually.
"You look pathetic, Lupin," Snape sighed wearily, with the feeling that he was fighting a losing battle. "Have you no pride?"
"No," Lupin replied cheerfully, and the dog wagged its tail.
"Why don't you give it to Hagrid?" Snape suggested, making a last-ditch effort to get rid of the dog. "He loves animals."
"Fang could make a mouthful of the poor thing," Lupin protested.
Snape snorted in derision. "In spite of his size, Fang is about as fierce as a lapdog--unless you're worried about him slobbering 'the poor thing' to death."
"In any case, he's injured and underfed," Lupin persisted stubbornly. "I'd like to feed him up and get him healthy before I consider finding another home for him."
"Oh, all right," Snape sighed irritably, giving in with ill grace. "It can stay until it's healthy, but after that, you'll have to find a home for it."
"Well, let's just see how it goes, shall we?" Lupin asked cheerily, the wheedling tone creeping back into his voice. "Who knows, you might like having a dog around?"
"Let me make myself clear--I do not, repeat, do not want a pet dog," Snape said, in the same menacing tone that he had always used on each new class of first-year Gryffindors. Unfortunately, it seemed to have little effect on a certain Gryffindor werewolf.
"Yes, Severus," Lupin said sweetly, with a much-too-innocent smile.
Snape knew better than to believe that Lupin would give in that easily, but he let it go for now. There would be time enough to argue about it later when the damned dog had recovered, and hopefully by then Snape could find another home for the mutt.
So he reluctantly helped Lupin tend the dog's wounds with some of the healing salve that he always kept on hand. They had to shave away clumps of fur to reach some of the wounds, and the bald patches made the dog look even more mangy than before, if that was possible. After they were done, Lupin fed the dog a bowl of stew left over from last night's dinner. The stew was cold, of course, but Lupin warmed it up with a quick spell.
"You needn't spoil the mutt, Lupin," Snape said with a scowl.
"Cold stew doesn't taste good, and it only takes a moment and hardly any extra effort to warm the food," Lupin replied mildly.
That might be true, but Snape still thought he needn't have bothered, since the dog inhaled the food so fast that it could barely have tasted anything. The mutt licked the bowl clean, and Lupin would have fed it more, but Snape stopped him.
"In its half-starved state, it will become ill if it eats too much at once," Snape cautioned. "Let it rest for now, and you can feed it a little more later tonight."
"Aren't you lucky to have Severus looking after you, boy?" Lupin told the dog with a grin, scratching it behind the ears, and the dog wagged its tail in response.
"I am not looking after that mutt!" Snape retorted. "It's your responsibility, and just remember--we're not keeping it!"
Lupin gave him a meek and placating smile, but somehow Snape didn't feel reassured at all.
***
As Snape had predicted, the dog was a nuisance. For starters, it peed on the floor several times during the first few days of its stay. Lupin, of course, defended the mutt, saying, "Well, he's been running wild in the woods all this time, so of course he's going to have a few accidents until I get him properly trained. But he's a clever fellow, and I'm sure he'll learn quickly. In the meantime, a cleaning spell gets rid of the mess with no fuss."
Even with the cleaning spells, they couldn't quite get the smell of urine out of the rug that rested in front of the fireplace, so they ended up throwing it away. It was actually Lupin's rug, an old and ratty thing that had been braided together from scraps of old robes, so Snape didn't really have the right to complain about it--although he didn't let that stop him, of course.
"How much of our house is that animal going to destroy?" Snape demanded.
"It's just one rug, Severus," Lupin said mildly. "You've been saying for months that we ought to replace it, so in a way, he's done us a favor."
"Gryffindor optimism," Snape sighed disgustedly. Lupin ignored him and frowned slightly as he looked down at the dog, but not because he was angry with it.
"We can't keep calling him 'boy' or 'it,'" Lupin pointed out. "Do you think that he looks like a Rover, or maybe a Fido?"
"No names!" Snape said hastily. If he allowed Lupin to name the dog, he knew they'd never be able to get rid of the damned thing. "I mean, no doubt his owner will want to give him a name, once we find him a permanent home."
"I suppose you're right," Lupin sighed regretfully. He scratched the dog behind the ears and said, "I guess we'll just have to call you 'boy' for now." The dog wagged its tail, not seeming to mind one bit.
Lupin had the dog housebroken by the end of the week, and there were no more "accidents" after that. "I suppose that it's easy for you to communicate with the mutt, being half canine yourself," Snape said disdainfully.
"Exactly!" Lupin agreed cheerfully, taking no offense, and Snape sighed and shook his head.
***
Lupin attempted to endear the mutt to Snape by trying to make it useful, teaching it to fetch Snape's slippers and the newspaper. The dog fetched the items obediently enough, trotting up to Snape and dropping a copy of the Daily Prophet in his lap, wagging its tail proudly. However, the paper was was covered with dog slobber and was punctured with several tooth-marks, rendering it unreadable. Needless to say, Snape's slippers also suffered the same treatment.
"I'm so sorry, Severus!" Lupin exclaimed guiltily, when presented with a pair of soggy, slobbered-on, slightly chewed pair of green velvet bedroom slippers embroidered with little silver snakes. "And they were your favorite pair, too!"
Snape wasn't sure where Lupin had gotten the impression that they were his favorite pair--the slippers had been a Christmas present from Lucius Malfoy, who favored ostentatious gifts in Slytherin House colors. Snape used the slippers mainly because he didn't see the point of wasting money to buy another pair for himself when Lucius's gift was perfectly functionable and comfortable, if slightly gaudy. It wasn't as if anyone but Lupin and himself--and now the mutt--ever saw them, after all. His only other pair of slippers was a pair of fuzzy pink bunny slippers that had been a gift from Dumbledore, and while he kept them (hidden away out of sight in the back of his closet) out of sentimental feelings for his late mentor, he would rather be subjected to multiple Crucio spells than actually wear the hideous things.
However, with typical Slytherin practicality and cunning, Snape saw no reason why he ought to correct Lupin's misapprehension. "My favorite slippers," he said mournfully. "And that beast has completely ruined them!"
"I'm so sorry," Lupin repeated. "I'll buy you another pair, I promise."
"They were custom-made, one of a kind," Snape replied. "You won't be able to find another pair like it."
"Maybe I can try to have another pair made up?" Lupin suggested hopefully. "Madam Malkin's does custom orders..."
"Don't bother wasting your money," Snape replied in a martyred tone. "A normal pair will suffice--just get something in plain black or green, no Gryffindor colors and nothing 'cute.'" He shuddered at the thought of another pair of bunny slippers, pink or otherwise.
"Very well," Lupin agreed. "But I still feel as though I should make it up to you somehow..." He smiled suggestively and trailed his hand down Snape's chest.
"Oh, I can think of a few other ways you could make it up to me, wolf," Snape purred.
So in addition to another black mark against the mutt, Snape received a night of amazing sex as an added bonus. Not that sex with Lupin wasn't amazing on a regular basis, but somehow Snape savored it all the more, knowing that he was pulling one over his Gryffindor lover.
***
So Lupin gave up on the newspaper and slipper fetching, and settled for keeping the dog out from underfoot. He took it for long walks and runs, and taught it to play fetch (with sticks, not slippers). He also bought it several squeaky rubber toys from a Muggle petshop, in spite of Snape's cautions not to grow too attached to the animal.
Snape grudgingly had to admit that the beast wasn't too much trouble. It was reasonably quiet and well-behaved in the house, perhaps because its outdoor playtime with Lupin allowed it to expend any excess energy, and it didn't yip annoyingly at the slightest provocation, as Narcissa's pampered little lapdog (fluffy and white, to match the albino peacocks) did. But Snape was still stubbornly resolved to rid himself of the dog.
Hagrid would probably be happy to take the mutt, but he already had plenty of other pets, including Fang, and Lupin wouldn't part with his four-legged friend so easily, no matter what he had said to pacify Snape. So Snape thought he would have to find a better home for the dog--perhaps a family with young children who would love to have a pet. Lupin was a soft touch, and if Snape could get these hypothetical children to bond with the dog, Lupin wouldn't have the heart to deprive them of their new friend.
Of course, Lupin would be sad to lose the dog, and he would probably mope around the house without voicing any verbal complaints, which would make Snape feel slightly guilty. But Snape would do his best to comfort Lupin--perhaps with some amazing sex--and eventually things would return back to normal.
After years of living as a spy and knowing that he could be killed at any moment, Snape valued the normal everyday routine he had established with Lupin. Some might call it boring, but Snape found it comforting. While the dog was a relatively minor nuisance, it threw off his routine, and Snape preferred to be rid of it.
And if Snape was going to be perfectly honest with himself, he didn't really like sharing Lupin with anyone, even though it was ridiculous to be jealous of a dog, for Merlin's sake! Not that he would ever confess such a thing out loud to anyone, not even Lupin.
Tonks and Shacklebolt had married, and now had a son named Teddy, although Snape wasn't sure that he wanted to entrust Lupin's little friend into the care of someone as clumsy as the former Miss Tonks. Bill Weasley and Fleur had recently had a child, but little Victoire was a little too young for a pet dog just yet. On the other hand, maybe he could convince Bill that it would be good for his daughter to grow up having a faithful companion who could function as both a friend and a guard dog. However, Fleur might turn her pretty nose up at a mixed-breed stray, and would probably insist that any pet of her daughter's be an expensive purebred.
Then again, she had accepted Bill, scars and all, so maybe she wasn't as stuck-up as she seemed, and would welcome a mixed-breed mutt.
***
So in order to set his plan in motion, Snape said, "Yes," when Lupin politely asked if Snape wanted to accompany him to the Burrows for Sunday brunch, fully expecting to be turned down as usual.
"Oh!" Lupin exclaimed, looking startled, but made a quick recovery. "How wonderful," he said cheerily. "I'm sure that Molly and the others will be happy to see you."
Snape rather doubted that, but nodded agreeably and said casually, "Perhaps we should take the mutt with us, too. I don't trust it not to wreck the place if we leave it here alone."
"Well, there's not really much to wreck," Lupin chuckled as he glanced around the sparsely furnished cottage. "But I suppose we can take him with us if it will make you feel better, Severus."
When they arrived at the Burrows, Molly greeted him with a pleasant, "I'm so glad that you could join us, Professor Snape," in a remarkably sincere voice. (Snape had left Hogwarts after the war to run a mail-order potions business from home, but most of his former colleagues still called him "Professor," which felt more comfortable than "Severus" or "Mr. Snape" for both himself and them.) Molly smiled down at the dog and added, "And who is your furry friend?"
"You ought to ask Lupin, since it's his furry friend," Snape replied dryly.
"He's a stray that I found in the woods," Lupin explained. "The poor thing was injured and half-starved--"
"Not to mention flea-ridden," Snape interjected.
"--and I could hardly ignore a fellow canine in distress," Lupin finished. "So I brought him home, and we've been looking after him."
"Until we can find it a good home," Snape hastily added.
"Yes, until then," Lupin said quietly. He patted the dog on the head and smiled a little sadly. Snape felt a pang of guilt, but tried to tell himself that they hadn't had the dog long enough for Lupin to really get attached to it, and he'd get over the loss quickly.
"I hope you don't mind that we brought him," Lupin said to Molly. "Severus thought he might be lonesome at home without us."
"That is not what I said!" Snape protested indignantly. "I said that I didn't want it to wreck the place while we were gone."
"He seems like a very well-behaved dog," Molly said with a smile. "Of course he's welcome, Remus. In fact, I have a nice soup bone that he could chew on. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you, boy?"
She reached down to pet the dog, and it gave her hand an affectionate lick and wagged its tail enthusiastically. Snape reluctantly revised his opinion of the mutt upwards slightly; it was clearly intelligent enough to know which humans it ought to suck up to. In fact, it was a rather Slytherin-ish trait, if one could Sort animals into Houses.
A blue-haired toddler suddenly ran up to them, excitedly shouting, "Doggie!"
"Be gentle with the doggie, Teddy," Tonks called after him. (Technically, she was Nymphadora Shacklebolt now, but Snape would always think of her as the clumsy Miss Tonks who had knocked over her cauldron on the first day of Potions class.)
Teddy patted the "doggie" with more enthusiasm than gentleness, but the dog didn't seem to mind the roughness, and licked Teddy's face happily. Teddy giggled and Snape began to hope that he might actually be able to get rid of the dog today.
"What a surprise to see you here, Professor," Tonks said bluntly but cheerfully, without any noticeable hostility. "Who's your friend? He seems to have made quite an impression on Teddy!"
"He is not my friend," Snape said with a long-suffering sigh, and Lupin repeated the story about finding the dog in the woods.
"Teddy really seems to like the dog, honey," Tonks said to her husband hopefully, affecting a wide-eyed puppy dog look that was almost as good as Lupin's. "It needs a home, so maybe we could..."
"We're both at work all day, Dora," Shacklebolt replied patiently. "It wouldn't be fair to the dog to leave him at home by himself."
Snape sighed again--there went his chances of getting rid of the dog. "Just out of curiosity, what do you do with your son all day while you're at work?" he asked.
"Mum watches him, of course," Tonks replied.
"By any chance, does Andromeda like dogs?" Snape asked.
"She doesn't dislike them, but unfortunately, she has a cat who does," Tonks said regretfully. "Don't worry, Severus--I'm sure you'll be able to find your friend a good home."
"I keep telling everyone, he's not my friend!" Snape said rather testily.
Tonks smiled at him, unoffended. "Forgive me, Professor," she said politely. "It's just that you seem so concerned about finding him a good home that I thought you must be fond of him. Say, why don't you and Remus keep him? You both work from home, so he'll have companionship, and there's plenty of room in the woods for him to run and play."
Fortunately, the arrival of unholy trinity (Potter, Granger, and Weasley), along with Ginny Weasley, spared Snape from having to reply--it was one of the few times that Snape had ever felt grateful for Potter's presence.
"Meet the newest Seeker for the Chudley Canons!" Ron Weasley exclaimed proudly, although the announcement was hardly necessary, since Potter was wearing a bright orange robe printed with the Canons' black cannon ball and double "C" logo.
"You don't need to make such a big deal about it, Ron," Potter protested, blushing slightly.
"Why not?" Ginny asked with a grin. "It is a big deal, and you should be proud!" She kissed him and cooed, "Besides, you look very handsome in your new uniform."
Potter's blush deepened, but he grinned in an idiotically lovesick manner and looked quite pleased with the Weasley girl's praise.
Pleased, that is, until he spotted Snape, and his expression changed to one of dismay. "What are you doing here?!" he blurted out, then lamely added, "Uh, I mean, we weren't expecting to see you today, Professor."
Snape shrugged and said casually, "I just thought that I'd take advantage of Mrs. Weasley's standing invitation to sample some of her good cooking--which is much better than mine or Lupin's, I have to admit."
Molly beamed at him, while the others gave him bemused looks. "Of course you're always welcome here, Professor," she said sincerely--anyone who praised her cooking instantly won her goodwill.
The rest of the Weasley brood arrived with their various significant others, except for Charlie, who was still single and working in Romania. Sometimes Snape thought that he was the smartest one of the lot, to have escaped both the British wizarding world and his well-meaning but overbearing mother.
Once again, Snape was greeted with incredulous looks, and once again, Lupin had to explain how they--he--had rescued the mutt. Most of the Weasleys and their extended family and friends seemed a bit nervous and disconcerted by his presence, which wasn't surprising. They were still adjusting to his shift in status from murderer and traitor to war hero, not to mention the fact that most of them were his former students, and would always regard him as the ogre-ish Professor Snape, bane of every student in Hogwarts except the Slytherins.
Fleur, who didn't know him as well as the others, seemed less intimidated, and cooed over the dog, saying how cute and precious it was, which revived Snape's hope of finding the mutt a new home. The number of guests had filled the Weasley house to nearly bursting, so Arthur conjured up a long table and some chairs in the backyard, and they ate outdoors instead. It made for a festive atmosphere, almost like a picnic--not that Snape had been on many picnics, but he found that he was almost enjoying this one.
The food was good, and the others gradually seemed to relax and accept Snape's presence. He was even able to have a decent conversation with Percy Weasley about the improvements he was making to the Wolfsbane Potion. Percy had been a good Potions student back in school, and had recently been put in charge of the Ministry's new program to distribute the Wolfsbane free of charge to all the werewolves in Britain.
Molly set out bowls of food and water for the dog, but it quickly polished off its meal and began cadging tidbits from the table until Molly firmly--though not unkindly--shooed it away. The dog retreated and flopped down on the grass, eyeing the feast spread out on the table wistfully. Molly had fed it generously, so it couldn't really be hungry, but Snape supposed that as a former stray who had never known where its next meal was coming from, it felt the need to eat as much as it could whenever it could. Snape felt a brief, unexpected moment of sympathy for the animal, which he firmly squelched. He already had one canine in his life, and that was more than enough for him, thank you very much.
Potter had taken off his gaudy Quidditch robe--he was wearing Muggle clothing, a t-shirt and jeans, beneath it--and draped it over the back of his chair. A breeze caused the hem to flutter in the wind, and the motion caught the dog's attention. It raised its head and pricked up its ears, then slowly began stalking towards Potter's chair. Since Potter's back was facing the dog, he didn't notice, although Snape did, and he watched the dog's progress out of the corner of his eye as he calmly continued his conversation with Percy.
The dog made a sudden dash for the robe, grabbed the hem with its teeth, and ran off with it before Potter knew what had happened. Potter gawked after the mutt with his mouth hanging open, then belatedly jumped up and shouted, "Hey, come back here with that!"
He took off running after the dog, who seemed to regard this all as a grand game as it dashed around the backyard with the robe trailing behind it. Percy frowned slightly and wondered out loud, "Why doesn't he just use an Accio spell?"
"Well, Harry was raised among Muggles," Lupin replied with a smile. "Even now, I suppose that magic isn't necessarily the first response that he thinks of."
"It might be more accurate to say that Mr. Potter just doesn't think, period," Snape said dryly, earning glares from Ron and Ginny, although Granger looked as though she thought he might have a point but was too loyal to say so.
Potter managed to grab hold of a sleeve and pulled hard on it, trying to get the dog to release the robe. The mutt wagged its tail, obviously thinking that this was a new game, and growled playfully as it gripped the robe more firmly with its teeth and tugged back.
"Give it here!" Potter shouted, as they both dug in their heels and pulled harder, refusing to let go.
"Harry!" Granger called out. "Be careful, it might--"
A loud ripping noise interrupted her as the robe began tear.
"Oh no!" Potter cried, and hastily let go of the robe, although the damage was already done. The sudden lack of tension caused the dog to tumble back head over heels. It bounced back to its feet and barked eagerly, as if to say, "That was fun! Can we do it again?"
"Accio robe!" Granger said, flicking her wand, and the garment flew into her hand. The dog's ears drooped slightly with disappointment.
"Why didn't I think of that to begin with?" a chagrined Potter muttered to himself. He went over to examine the torn robe and groaned, "It's ruined! How can I tell the manager that I've ruined my uniform before I've even played in a single game?"
"There's no need to be so melodramatic, Harry," Granger said calmly. "I'm sure that a simple mending spell will fix it."
"I've never been much good at those," Potter confessed sheepishly.
"Me either," Lupin consoled him. "Why else do you think my robes used to have so many patches? Different people are talented at different types of magic."
Potter gave him a grateful smile, and Granger said with a grin, "Well, I happen to be talented at mending spells," and a quick charm soon had the torn ends of the cloth sealed back together without any sign of damage.
"You're a lifesaver, Hermione," Potter sighed, then glared down at the dog. "No thanks to you!"
"Oh, don't be so hard on the poor thing," Ginny said. "He didn't know any better."
"Bad dog," Lupin scolded the mutt sternly, and its head and tail drooped as it gazed at Lupin with a sad, soulful look. "Oh, please don't look at me like that!" Lupin said helplessly.
"You're such a softie, Remus!" Tonks chuckled.
"He didn't mean any harm," Lupin said sheepishly. Then he turned to Potter and said, "I'm sorry, Harry. It's really my fault, for not training him better."
"Oh, it's okay, Remus," Potter reassured him. "No real harm was done...although I'm going to be careful to keep my uniform out of his reach from now on!"
"I can recommend some excellent books on dog training," Granger offered helpfully. "It's very important to do things right from the start, such as establishing yourself as the alpha so that the dog will obey you."
Lupin smiled affectionately at Snape and joked, "I think that Severus is the alpha in our little pack!"
"That is maybe a little more than I really wanted to know about your relationship," Bill teased, while Lupin blushed and spluttered out a flustered denial.
"I told you that dog would be trouble, Lupin," Snape said sternly.
"Yes, you did," Lupin sighed. "But as I said, the fault is mine, not his. I think I will take advantage of your kind offer, Hermione, and look into those dog training books you mentioned."
"I'll make you a list," Granger said, sounding quite pleased with herself.
Brunch continued, with Potter keeping a careful eye on his uniform. The dog eyed the robe wistfully, as if wishing for another round of chase and tug-of-war, and Snape slipped it a piece of bacon when no one was looking. Not that he was growing fond of the mutt or anything like that, but he felt it deserved a small reward for taking down the Boy Who Lived a peg or two.
***
Lupin began studying Granger's dog training manuals in earnest, and the dog learned how to heel, sit, and shake hands, not to mention fetch Snape's slippers without chewing and slobbering them into submission. Sometimes the dog would want to play instead of following Lupin's instructions, but would instantly obey a sharply voiced command from Snape, so Lupin joked that he was right about Snape being the alpha in their household.
"Pity I can't get you to obey my commands," Snape said dryly.
"That depends on what you're commanding me to do," Lupin purred suggestively.
Snape grinned and pulled Lupin into his arms, saying, "Thank you for reminding me why I keep you around, wolf."
"Anytime, Severus," Lupin laughed, and then kissed him.
***
Snape still grumbled about having "that mangy mutt underfoot," but he found that he didn't really mind having it around. With the new training, the dog was reasonably well-behaved--much more well-behaved than Lupin, actually. He also found that the dog didn't disrupt his and Lupin's daily routine as much as he had feared. Lupin would take the dog out to go for a walk or play fetch while Snape was busy working on his potions, so the dog didn't really take away any of his personal time with Lupin. And in the evenings, it would flop down on the rug in front of the fireplace and doze contentedly or chew on one of its rubber toys while he and Lupin read books, or got into a friendly debate over the Ministry's latest new policy, or even made out on the couch.
One change Snape did make in his routine was continuing to accompany Lupin and the mutt to Sunday brunch at the Weasleys'. Percy was actually a good conversationalist--he had always been an intelligent boy, and he had matured out of his priggishness into a more open-minded young man. And Bill and Fleur had turned out to be surprisingly good company as well, as were Shacklebolt and Tonks, if one was able to ignore the latter's penchant for changing her features and hair color in the middle of a conversation.
As for Potter and his friends, they remained impulsive Gryffindors, but Snape found that they didn't annoy him as much as they used to--or rather, their annoyance fell within tolerable levels. Perhaps it was because he no longer had to deal with the stress of trying to drill Potions and Occlumency lessons through Potter's thick skull, not to mention trying to prevent him from getting killed by his own recklessness.
In turn, they no longer seemed to despise him now that he was no longer giving them detention and making their lives miserable. They didn't converse much with him, but bore with his presence cheerfully enough, although Snape got the impression that it was more for Lupin's sake than his own. Which was fine, since Snape tolerated their presence mainly for his lover's sake as well.
One Sunday, Potter was trying to be modest about his first victory as a professional Quidditch player, while Weasley was more than happy to brag about his friend's accomplishments.
"You should have seen him!" Weasley exclaimed, as proudly as if he'd been the one to win the game. "He swooped down and snatched it from practically right under the other Seeker's nose!"
"Oh, it wasn't quite that dramatic," Potter protested halfheartedly, blushing slightly.
"No need to be so modest, Harry!" Weasley laughed, slapping his friend on the back. "It was one of the most exciting matches I've ever seen!" He announced proudly to the entire table, "They gave Harry the Snitch as a souvenir of his victory."
"Let's see it then, Harry," Tonks said good-naturedly.
Potter grinned, a little less humbly, and pulled a Snitch out of his pocket. The wings buzzed slightly as they fluttered rapidly, and Teddy pointed at it and exclaimed, "Pretty birdie!"
"It's not a birdie, but it is pretty," Tonks told her son with an indulgent smile.
The movement also caught the dog's eye, and its head jerked up with interest. It barked excitedly and ran over to get a better look. "Hey, watch it!" Potter protested as the dog jumped up and jostled his arm in an attempt to reach the Snitch.
"Sit, boy!" Lupin ordered, but it was too late. Potter had lost his grip on the Snitch and it flew off into the air.
"Birdie fly!" Teddy announced happily.
"Oh no, my Snitch!" Potter groaned.
"Well, it shouldn't be hard for such a brilliant Seeker to catch it," Snape said sarcastically, rather enjoying the boy's plight. It was a bit petty of him, Snape supposed, but on the other hand, Potter and company expected him to be petty and disagreeable, so why shouldn't he fulfill their expectations?
"For that I need a broom!" Potter snapped.
"My old broom is in the storage shed," Ginny offered, but the mutt was already tearing after the Snitch, while Teddy gleefully cheered it on. The dog leapt into the air and its jaws snapped shut around the Snitch with an audible crunch.
"Doggie catch birdie!"
The dog trotted over to Snape and dropped the mangled Snitch into his lap, and the Snitch flapped its wings weakly one last time before going still. Then the dog sat back on its haunches and wagged its tail, its mouth dropping open in an expression that distinctly looked like the canine version of a grin.
"My Snitch!" Potter groaned again.
"Bad dog!" Lupin scolded, and Snape suddenly burst into a fit of uproarious laughter. Everyone was staring at him as if they were wondering if he had inhaled too many potion fumes, and the sight of their slack-jawed incredulity only made him laugh even harder.
Everyone that is, except for Teddy who was laughing along with him, and the dog, who laid its head down on Snape's lap beside the Snitch, looking extremely proud of itself.
Snape patted the mutt on the head and said, "Good dog," and his companions' jaws dropped even further, if that was possible; Lupin looked like he was about to faint, and that set Snape off on another round of laughter.
"Good doggie!" Teddy declared.
"Indeed," Snape managed between fits of laughter, patting the dog again.
***
When they returned home, Lupin asked hesitantly, "So...does this mean that we can keep the dog?"
"Oh, I suppose so," Snape sighed with false reluctance. "I know that you've become attached to it, and you'll just be moping and sulking all the time if I make you give it away."
"Thank you, Severus," Lupin said meekly, although his eyes were twinkling with laughter. "It's very kind of you to indulge me."
"I suppose I'm going soft in my old age," Snape grumbled.
"No, you're a very practical Slytherin," Lupin said with a grin, wrapping his arms around Snape and giving him a kiss. "Because you know that I'll show you just how grateful I am in bed tonight."
"I knew there was a reason why I kept you around, wolf," Snape replied, grinning back at him. They kissed again, more deeply this time, and Snape nearly forgot about the dog's presence until it barked cheerfully, startling both him and Lupin.
Lupin laughed as he looked down at the mutt, who was wagging its tail happily. "Now that he's part of the family, shouldn't we give him a name?" Lupin asked.
"I suppose so," Snape conceded. "What would you suggest?"
"Well..." Lupin replied, thinking it over. "How about naming him after a famous dog from history or mythology, like Cabal, King Arthur's dog, or Argos, who faithfully waited for his master, Odysseus, for twenty years, and still recognized him even when he was disguised as a beggar?"
The dog cocked its head to one side, and Snape snorted disdainfully. "The mutt doesn't seem impressed, and I can't blame him. For one thing, a real dog would have died of old age after twenty years!"
"It's a myth, Severus," Lupin replied patiently. "And anyway, the story says that Argos was very old, and died after seeing his master return home. I'm sure that he was clinging to life just so that he could see Odysseus one last time."
"You always were the sentimental sort, Lupin," Snape said, rolling his eyes.
"Well then, what would you suggest?" Lupin retorted, a bit defensively.
"How about 'Fleabane'?" Snape asked whimsically, and the dog immediately barked and wagged its tail.
"He seems to like it," a bemused Lupin observed. "Even though it isn't a noble name at all! Are you sure you wouldn't rather be 'Argos'?"
The dog just stared back at him silently, until Snape grinned slyly and said, "Fleabane," to which the dog barked emphatically.
"Fleabane it is, then," Lupin laughed, throwing up his hands in defeat. "I suppose it's only appropriate, considering how we met!"
"I think that you and I are going to get along fine, Fleabane," Snape said, reaching down to scratch behind the mutt's--Fleabane's--ears. Fleabane barked again, his tail thumping happily against the floor, and Lupin laughed and smiled tenderly at them both.
THE END
no subject
no subject
And much as I adore Shuichi, I can't help but think that Snape would hex him into oblivion if he had to live with Shuichi!
no subject
I can see Tohma going toe to toe with Snape, or even Voldemort, and Eiri could be the light-haired twin of the Sirius of Book 5.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
love, lore
no subject