Just Like You [Severus]

[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 324
Tag: Severus!
Lyrics: I could be mean | I could be angry | You know I could be just like you | I could be cold | I could be ruthless | You know I could be just like you

Remus frowned deeply. Bugger. Damns potions. Really. He had followed the instructions to the very letter, and still.. what was in front of him wasn't quite what it was supposed to be. This wasn't his fault, it was the book's fault - he had done everything the book said.
"Mr. Lupin!" Remus looked up at the potion's master with a sigh. "I followed it to the letter, professor, there is nothing I did out of the ordinary," he blurted out. It was his frustration talking, and he knew it. Remus usually never was this open towards teachers and would just accepted the criticism with a sigh and a nod before frowning and trying again. Slughorn sighed, frowning and looking at Remus' sad excuse for a potion with raised eyebrows. "It's not about the books, Mr. Lupin. Those are just guidelines. Say, well, if the marigold you used was of lesser quality than needed, you should use more, yes? You have to have a feel for it, boy." Defeated, Remus sighed and shook his head. He got up to empty his cauldron and was about to start again when Slughorn stopped him from sitting down. "No, no. We're going to do this differently," he almost said it as though he was announcing Christmas dinner would be served - factual, but with a hint of jovialness.

"Pack up your things," he continued as Remus just looked at the rather large man, awestruck. "Excuse me, professor..?" Slughorn walked over to another table and waved Lupin over. "Sit down here." Remus' eyes glanced over to where Slughorn was urging him to go. Snape's desk - oh, could this day get any better? Inhaling deeply to calm himself, he nodded and got his things together, moving to the Slytherin boy's table, sitting down a little hesitantly.
"I'm sure Severus here-" the corner of Remus' mouth twitched at the use of Snape's first name "-can show you how it's done."

[severus]

Severus couldn’t be more proud of this day, looking at the cauldron before him with a big grin on his face. The potion itself was almost completed and he was proud to admit that it looked even better than he had even expected. Of course he had changed a few of the instructions, adding a few of his own. Working differently with the ingredients, it wasn’t an easy job since accidents could end up happening. But Severus hopefully had a lot of faith on his abilities in potions and until this day he couldn’t remember been wrong that many times. Then the ones that hadn’t gone smooth like he would have liked, had not ended up that badly. Maybe a few burns and a strong nauseating smell, but other than that everything was good.

Severus finally stood, looking proudly at the potion right in front of him, taking out a smaller object and purring some of it inside. He walked toward the front, the first one to get done, soon after Lily would probably join him. Lily was also excellent in this class, be it because the help he gave her or just a natural talent she had inherited. He would have wanted to go and seat with her, but Lily could do better with helping those that needed, he wouldn’t need a hand with his potion after all. It hurt, they hardly spoke much anymore, but this was different and it was very like Lily to help others, she hadn‘t changed much since they had met.

Severus walked back to his chair almost in the front, cleaning of the reminder of the potion and crossing his arms over the table. He didn’t had a partner like a few of the others in the class, he was happy about that. Other than with Lily, he liked to sit alone. It gave him more space and the silence helped him concentrate on his potion better. Yet it would appear that he wouldn’t be having this space for long, the sight of Professor Slughorn right before him could only mean, bad news for him. Severus turned around, trying to see who he was calling to sit with him, when his mouth opened and closed, forming a thin line.

Of course it had to be one of Potter’s friends, the Lupin guy. Not as annoying as Black, but still not someone that he could trust. The boy was supposed to be Prefect, yet he hardly ever did anything to stop Potter and his other two followers. He couldn’t understand why anyone would have bothered to give him that power, well better him that Pettigrew. Severus looked back up, waiting for Remus to join him. This wasn’t going to be a Potions class that he would like to remember, he doubted it would be enjoyable anyway. His face hardened, he wasn’t going to act like he liked the situation, knowing that Remus probably knew he didn’t.

[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 294

Well.. there was no arguing with Slughorn, was there? Besides, Remus wanted to pass this class. Just like Severus, he liked his personal space, but he would set that aside if that meant he would do better in this class. He didn't have to look at Severus to guess his expression and shot him a glance that clearly said 'I'm sorry, I don't like this either, but we have to?'

Meekly, the lycanthrope gathered his things and started carrying them to Severus' table. He had to walk two times, his second-hand, still-hot and fluid-filled cauldron was something he wanted to carry over there carefully. Spilling potions was never a good thing.
When he had transferred all his things, he sat down quietly, opened his book and was silent for about a minute, pretending to read and waiting until Slughorn had stopped watching how they were going on. Then, with half a glance at Snape but still facing his book (maybe because he wasn't fond of eyecontact, maybe he wanted to pretend the conversation wasn't taking place), he said: "I'm really sorry about this. I can.. I could just ask Lily after class? We can just pretend?" He felt a little cowardly when he said it, but it was probably true that Snape liked this as much as he did.
"I don't expect you to be willing to help me." Remus had no grudge against Snape. Sure, the Slytherin could be pretty mean from time to time, but Remus had to admit that wasn't very strange if you considered the things Sirius and James often did to him.
He turned slightly and looked at Snape briefly before his eyes wandered off to his book again. "Let's just get started? There's only twenty minutes left, anyway.."