Severus... Reformed / SNILY (COMPLETE)

Chapter Eight

It was before breakfast on the day of the full moon when Severus decided to slip Lupin the Wolfsbane. He'd spent the past two nights brewing non-stop, and had finished. He'd also added a pain-reliever along with it. But now to get it to Lupin. In the dormitory, as Lupin made to follow the other three, Severus stopped him.

"Remus, I must speak to you. Privately," he added, for their fellow housemates were staring at them, bewildered.

Stricken by Severus' serious tone, and noting the use of his Christian name, Lupin hung back.

"What did you want to say?" He said nervously, once the door had closed on them and Severus had waved his hand for Muffliato. Not many would want to be standing in the same room as a known murderer, and practitioner of dark magic; a Death Eater. But Remus didn't know that. Either way, he looked terrified to be anywhere alone with the pale boy.

"To put it simply, Lupin, I know your secret," Severus replied calmly. Remus' jaw dropped and he looked as though to make a run for the door. Severus grabbed his wrist. "I know, Lupin. But I won't tell. It's an affliction, an illness." His tone got softer. "And I have something which will make it easier." He revealed the smoking goblet. "This is a prototype, but it works. It's been tested." On you, the creepier side of him felt like saying. But that would get him locked up, and the key thrown clear away.

"How can I trust you? I barely know you!" Lupin's voice was getting higher and higher as he panicked.

Severus conjured a chair and pushed Remus gently down onto it. "Please don't go into shock," he pleaded. "I'm trying to help you, because believe it or not, I could not live with my classmate suffering every month at full moon."

Lupin took the goblet gingerly, sniffed it and made a face. "How do I know that this isn't poison?" He asked, a perfectly normal question for a child. "You haven't given me the impression that you even like me, let alone that I can trust you. I know you're capable of brewing a poison, it just depends on the administering of it. You told me of your insomnia, something I think you wouldn't have told me if you didn't know that I would never get to tell it to anyone else. You look like you've been up all night making this. Who knows what the purpose?"

Severus was stunned. Lupin already believed he was capable of murder, and he was remarkable smarter than Severus had previously thought. He ought to be more careful in future. Then the corners of Lupin's mouth twitched up.

"Strangely though, I believe you. I don't think insanity has claimed you yet. Yet." Lupin smiled sadly. "I am choosing to trust you, Severus. Remember that, if you are attempting to kill me." And he downed the goblet, wincing at the taste.

Severus simply stood there, pensively, as Lupin lowered the cup.

"You didn't poison me," Lupin spoke, and there was surprise evident in his voice.

"No, I did not," Severus replied, feeling oddly content. "But if you are worried about that in future, I always carry an antidote." He produced a bezoar from his pocket. Lupin had an enquiring look. "A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat." Lupin made a face. Severus eyed him. "You'll have to deal with far worse in Potions, believe me." Now he was receiving an odd look. Damn. He said 'you'll', not 'we'll'. "Anyway," he said hastily, "it will save you from most common poisons. Bezoar, in Persian, basically means 'protection from poison'." Why did he know that? Stupid, useless facts. And, more to the point, he shouldn't know that.