WARNING! Very angsty chapter ahead!
The Trouble with Love
by: Serenthia
Severus had never been that big of a problem before, the usually scuffles and the strange love triangle aside, but now even Remus wanted to beat him to a pulp. The boy would not leave them alone. Constantly around them, trying to see if they were doing anything wrong, trying to find a way to expel them. They knew that was what Severus was up to too, because he had told them.
Lily would hide behind James every time Severus came near, her cheeks blushing at her remembered crush on him.
Sirius came hobbling into their dorm room, his eye black and his lip swollen. "He's dead! I'm going to kill him! So help me!"
And that was the other problem. Sirius's hate for Severus had grown tremendously in the past two weeks. Sirius, at times, wasn't even coherent anymore. He just babbled about Severus.
Remus just shook his head, going back to reading, not noticing the look Sirius was giving him, the light in his eyes, or the way he was rubbing his hands together. Remus had other things to worry about than his best friend's hatred over Severus, the full moon was tomorrow.
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Peter, in his rat form, busily gnawed on one of the thick books that they had to use for their homework. He was hoping to make it unusable. Peter should have thought of this before. His rat form was the best of all the forms because he was the smallest and could eat things like books and his friend's homework. James's homework had been his first victim and Peter had watched, amused, as James had searched for it all morning. James had gotten in trouble too.
"I'm telling you," Sirius said from below.
Peter looked down to see Sirius and Snape talking. Odd. They were usually fighting.
"Remus is doing something so very bad tonight that if you were to tell on him all of us would be expelled," Sirius said, his head jerking to the side, his hands making a washing motion, and his cheek twitching. He was also slightly hunched over.
Peter didn't eat Sirius's homework. Sirius was fast becoming deranged and Peter decided it would be best to keep Sirius on his good side, at least for awhile.
Snape, The Slimly and Oily One, looked interested. "What?"
"I can't tell you that!" Sirius laughed, it was high and cold, very un-Siriusish. "He's in the Shrieking Shack! Just get a stick and prod at a knob at the base of the Whomping Willow and it will stop moving. There's a way into a passageway there that will lead you to the Shack. Go, hurry! Remus might be leaving!" Sirius said, giggling.
Severus hurried and left, his robe and cloak billowing out behind him.
Sirius giggled. "He's dead. He's dead. He's dead!"
Peter wondered about this. Should he be a good boy and tell James or should he continue eating this book? Peter's eyes widened. He might get expelled along with Sirius if Snape did die since he, Peter, knew about Remus being a werewolf. Or he might not. But Peter couldn't take that chance.
He moved to a spot hidden away, changed back into a boy, and ran to tell James. Peter wasn't about to rescue Snape himself, he, Peter, might get hurt.
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James cursed as he raced to save Severus. He should have known Sirius was going to try something like that. The poor boy was hardly able to see straight anymore he was twitching so badly. Not that James blamed him. Severus was getting on all their last nerves.
Remus, even, had wondered what it would take to knock out all of Severus's yellow and crooked teeth.
Slipping under the Willow, it was still immobile, James grabbed Severus, barely inside, and tried to haul him out.
"No!" Severus screamed. "I have to expel you dunderheads!"
"Remus is in here!"
"I know that!" Severus shrieked. "That's way I'm here!"
"You don't understand!" James yelled back, trying to haul him up and away.
It was too late. A growling sound at the end of the tunnel and they both looked to see a werewolf, staring at them.
"Aha!" Severus said. "He's a werewolf! That'll get him expelled and the rest of you for knowing about it!"
"Dumbledore knows," James screamed, trying to get Severus to move.
"Then I'll get myself killed!" Severus decided, digging his fingers into the soft soil of the tunnel. "That'll really get you all expelled!"
James seeing the werewolf moving toward them, yanked Severus away.
"You won't be able to gloat if you're dead!"
Severus let go and the two of them scrambled out. A growling was heard but the werewolf couldn't come after them.
"How dare you save my life," Severus spat. "Now I owe you Wizard's life-debt."
James hit Severus on the back, hard, and dragged him to his feet. "I didn't save you! I saved Remus!"
Severus snorted. "I didn't save you," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You git! You insufferable git!"
James had had enough. Severus went spinning around to land on the ground with a thud, his cheek, hopefully, sporting a fast coming bruise.
"Trying to get on my good side, are you!" Severus spat. "It won't work. I hate you! I HATE YOU! You've caused me nothing but pain and misery! I'm going to get you expelled if it kills me!"
Stepping back, James put a hand to his forehead. Severus was crazy! Remus hadn't been kidding. The boy's brain was gone.
"I'm sorry, Severus," James said, forcing himself to frown. "It will be okay. Let's go talk with Dumbledore."
"No! He might threaten me with a lemon drop! He's out to get me," Severus said, sitting up and staring at James with frightened eyes. "He wants to destroy me."
James realized he was serious. Severus honestly believed that Dumbledore want to destroy him. Obviously Severus was mentally unhinged.
"No," James said, shaking his head. "He only wants to help you."
"HA!!!" Severus spat, getting to his feet. "I don't believe that. You're going to pay for this, Potter. Mark my words! You and Dumbledore will both pay for the horror you've caused me while I've been a student! I did nothing to either of you!" he burst into tears and crumbled to the ground. "You hate me!"
McGonagall came rushing towards them, gasping. "Oh, thank goodness! Sirius was trying to dig a hole in the hallway to bury Severus in. After some coaxing he told me what had happened. He's with Dumbledore right now and Dumbledore wants to see both of you."
Severus got to his feet. "They tried to murder me," Severus declared. "They will be expelled," he spat and turned on his heel, sweeping his way to Dumbledore's office.
James followed, looking at McGonagall helplessly. "He's lost it."
McGonagall pursed her lips. "His father hasn't raised Severus well."
"That's obvious," James muttered as they headed to Dumbledore's office.
It was chaos. Both Severus and Sirius were trying to kill each other. Dumbledore was holding them apart, his hand on their throats, but they were kicking, hitting, and spitting and since Dumbledore was in the middle he was getting most of the damage.
"Stop it!" McGonagall screamed as Severus's fist collided with Dumbledore's mouth. James wasn't sure that had been accident.
Running to Sirius, James wrapped his arms around his friend and jerked him back. Sirius was foaming at the mouth, literally.
"Die! Die! Die!" Sirius screamed.
Dumbledore held Severus back. "You see he meant to kill me!" Severus screamed. "How dare he! Expel them! Expel them!"
McGonagall blasted both Severus and Sirius with a binding charm and they fell over, trying to get to each other, though they could barely move.
"Take Sirius to your rooms," Dumbledore told James. "And help him," he said softly. "We can't have two insane students here at the same time. That's just too much."
James nodded his head and dragged a limp Sirius out of the room.
Once he was safely in their dorm room, James wrapped his arms around Sirius and rocked him. Sirius kept making the motions of washing his hands, twitching, and giggling.
"Is he dead? Maybe Dumbledore killed him for us? Maybe? Hee, hee. Remus should have eaten him all up by now. But is S... Sn... Sna.... Snape alive? No, he can't be, can he?" and Sirius turned to James, giving James such a funny look that James gulped.
Never tell Sirius that he had saved Severus's life, James noted in his brain.
"I don't know," James said. Rocking him some more. "Let's call your mom and dad tomorrow so they can talk to you."
Sirius giggled. "Snape calls my mom ugly. Did you know that?"
Peter walked into the room and clucked his tongue. "Can I have his stuff when he gets sent to Saint Mungo's?"
James glared at him. "No. Sirius will fine. Dumbledore's going to have a long talk with Severus, I hope, and make him leave us alone."
Peter looked unhappy. "Oh, well. I'm going to go back and finish gnawing on that book."
James didn't bother to ask him why he was doing that as he held his best friend.
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McGonagall left the room and Dumbledore watched Severus, who was gnawing on Dumbledore's chair leg.
"Severus, you need help," Dumbledore began. "I know your father..."
"Me?" Severus asked, flipping around and sitting up, glaring at Dumbledore. "I'm not the one trying to shove Lemon drops down defenseless children's throats! Or giggling! Or laughing!" Severus burst into tears. "I didn't want to come! My father made me! I wanted to stay home and eat juicy worms and fight with father but he made me come! I knew there would be laughing here but father didn't care!"
And Severus went into convulsions. Dumbledore wearily sat down on the floor. Okay. How was he going to handle this?
"I'm sorry about the lemon drops," Dumbledore said. "What is your favorite food?"
"Worms," Severus sniffed.
Dumbledore transfigured a pillow into a plate of worms and handed it to Severus. The boy quickly started to slurp them down, his eyes wet as he looked at Dumbledore reproachfully.
"Father also puts me under the Cruciatus Curse," Severus said longingly.
"I will not torture you," Dumbledore said, shocked.
Severus sniffed. "It feels so good! Like someone is giving me a massage," he said, trying to coax Dumbledore into it.
Wondering, and hoping this would help him figure out the strange child that was Severus, Dumbledore put Severus under the Cruciatus Curse. The boy's body turned to mush, he fell over and continued to eat the worms, happily mumbling to himself.
Was he hurting? Dumbledore gently ran a hand over Severus's face, trying to figure it out. His body seemed to like it. Severus cuddled into Dumbledore's lap.
"Father doesn't do this very often," Severus lamented. "He thinks I'm too bad to deserve it."
Severus couldn't just be insane, Dumbledore realized. His body liked the Cruciatus Curse. Which meant he probably wasn't fully human. Oh well. There were some half-half kids at Hogwarts and Dumbledore was actually relieved to find it out. He could help Severus out more if he knew what he was half of.
"Severus, who is your mother and father?"
Severus slurped a fat worm and yawned. "Father is Voldemort and I don't..."
"Voldemort?!" Dumbledore said, shocked.
"Yes," Severus nodded. "I don't know who my mother is. Father won't tell."
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes. Voldemort wouldn't have had a child. Would he? Dumbledore wasn't sure the evil man even knew how to create one. He had never looked twice at a girl while a student, unless it was because her mind was evil. But he would have kidnapped a child if it suited his purposes. Well, there was no way to tell what Severus was half of since the boy didn't know. And Dumbledore was going to have do figure out if Severus was indeed Voldemort's son.
"I'm sorry, Severus," Dumbledore said. "I didn't realize you were so... sensitive."
"Yes," Severus said sadly. "I'm very sensitive."
"I see," Dumbledore nodded wisely. "Listen, I'll make you a deal. If you leave Potter and his friends alone, especially Sirius Black, I'll put you under the Cruciatus Curse every Saturday."
"And feed me worms?" Severus asked hopefully. "And slugs, and maybe even maggots."
"We'll stick with the worms," Dumbledore negated.
Severus shrugged, looking content. "Very well. I'll leave them alone," he murmured, falling asleep on Dumbledore's lap.
Dumbledore rubbed his temple. The Son of the Dark Lord was on his lap, sleeping, while his lunch worms crawled over his hand. Dumbledore would never have imagined this would happen as the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
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Remus felt used. He felt disgusting. And it had nothing to do with Sirius using him to try to kill Severus either. Severus was ignoring them now. And Remus didn't like it. After six long years of having to put up with that insane git to have Severus suddenly ignore him was too much. Even Peter was upset about it.
"He should have died," Sirius said flatly, annoyed with Remus.
But Severus ignoring them did have one good point. Sirius was no longer twitching or shaking. He hated Severus, hated him with a fire-hot passion, but it was no longer unbalancing him like it had before.
"I miss him," Peter said. "I like evil people."
"They why don't you date him?" Sirius growled.
Peter sniffed. "Very funny. They're some mystic aura evil people have surrounding them. The allure is powerful," he declared, fell back on his bed, and slid out of sight, snuffling.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "What a freak. At least Snape isn't bothering us anymore."
Remus nodded. Sirius could even say his name now but still. Remus missed him. Missed the glare's Severus would give them. Miss the fights he and Sirius had. Missed the way Severus would walk away from them.
"I'll get over it," Remus decided, his voice cracking. "I feel like I've lost a good friend."
Sirius threw a pillow at his head. James waved for silence.
"Lily and I are getting marrying right after seventh year," James said. "And you are all invited to the wedding! What colors should we pick for the robes we men have to wear?"
Remus blinked. "Uh, James. That's a long time from now."
James snorted. "It's called preparing! Red? Yellow? Black? Purple?"
Remus laid back down while he and Sirius talked about it, too depressed to join in on the conversation. How was he going to make it through the rest of the school year and next year without Severus bothering them? Without Severus around, life at Hogwarts was, well, boring!
Remus rolled over and sobbed.
The End!