Just Like You [New Severus :3]

[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 snape]

Severus had finished his potion already and was flicking through his mother's old sixth year textbook while alternately checking Slughorn didn't ask him to do anything, and smiling over at Lily. Lils had probably finished her potion too and was just helping the dense Hufflepuff next to her. Lily was like that, she helped anyone who needed it. That was why they had decided at the beginning of the term to split up for potions; so they could help other people. Of course, Lils found a partner straightaway, but one look at his class confirmed that he would be sat on his own.

He leant on one elbow and scooted forward slightly to read up on one of the theory notes. He noticed the wide margins where his mother had written conversions from drams and knuts to Imperial measurements. And they were such wide margins...handy to make notes in. Subtly, he glanced up to see Slughorn ripping it out (well as much as Slughorn could harshly criticise) of Remus Lupin's potion. And good thing too, it was an utterly useless soup of ingredients.

He smirked, glad that someone was giving the 'Marauders' hell. Which reminded him...he had to go through his belongings and check them for a tracking charm. The Marauding Arses had an uncanny ability to know where he was every second of the day. Leaning further forward, he picked up his quill and subtly added A Sprig of Mint to the ingredients list. When he looked up to check he had gotten away with it he found Slughorn approaching him. He slammed the book shut, the ink would probably transfer to the other page a bit.

For a moment Severus just watched in horror and quietly simmering anger as Remus Lupin got up and advanced towards him. Narrowing his eyes, he gave Lupin a fearsome glare. Almost before the other boy had sat down he hissed,"Are you incapable of reading the textbook, Lupin?"

When a smarmy little smirk came onto Lupin's face as Slughorn gave them both an unwelcome little pep talk, Severus' jaw tightened. "Yes, sir." he said, waiting for Slughorn to waddle off elsewhere with his cheeriness before adding,"If you think it's funny Lupin, I can leave you to fail your OWLs and we'll see how funny that is."

[Remus John Lupin]

Word count: 290

Remus avoided Severus' glare, but he could feel it all the same. "Are you incapable of reading the textbook, Lupin?" He sat down silently, still not meeting Severus' eyes. "Apparently, Severus," he answered softly as he could swear a headache was emerging at a record speed. He was aware Snape was addressing him by his last name, but he refused to just call him 'Snape' and whatever his friends called him was absolutely out of the question. Unless Severus said he wanted him to call him differently, he'd use the first name.
He glanced at Slughorn leaving before sighing softly. Rem had been planning to say something, but Severus beat him to it. "If you think it's funny Lupin, I can leave you to fail your OWLs and we'll see how funny that is." Remus looked at Severus shortly, though still avoided his gaze. "I don't believe this is funny at all, Severus." He drew a deep breath. "But I do believe I need your help, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Not waiting for Severus to answer him, he got out his book and ingredients and everything, putting them down in which order they needed to be put into the potion and making sure his knives were all clean. Come to think of it, perhaps it was because his knives were stainless steel rather than silver. Did that matter? Remus couldn't imagine, but then again.. he didn't get this potion making at all. (But he could just say it had been a matter of money, or maybe Snape wouldn't notice it.)
"You can either help me, or watch me muck it up again and laugh at me," he concluded, after cleaning out his cauldron and preparing to start again.

[severus snape]

"Apparently, Severus," This just irritated him further. Lupin wasnn't even repentant for his ignorance and he wouuldn't give over with using his christian name. They weren't friends, weren't even on neutral terms...
"I don't believe this is funny at all, Severus. But I do believe I need your help, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience." "good," He spat back, "because I think it's pathetic when a fifth year Potions student can't even brew a decent Perplexing Preparation." At least the ingrate was admiting his lack of expertise in the area. And apologising for the great inconvenience. Not that he believed a word of it.

He slid his book into hsi bag and watched Lupin critically, leaning back slightly on his chair. He leant forward as he saw the knives though. Stainless steel. Nice... Severus had a plain steel one that he had to sharpen and clean regularly to prevent rusting, but these wouldn't rust. He picked up one of them and ran his thumb across the blade to check it was sharp.
"You can either help me, or watch me muck it up again and laugh at me,"
"Don't give me ultimatums." Snapped the slytherin. "or maybe I will leave you to muck it up." He reached over and yanked Lupin's stool back slightly. "stand up properly, stool out of the way. Did you never pay attetnion in our Laboratory safety lessons?"

Severus stood with an exaggerated sigh and leant against the bench, watching Lupin. With a bored face and even more bored tone, he looked away, giving Lily a small smile and then gave a simple order. "Slice the Valerian root l e n g t h w i s e." He leant over to utter condescendingly. "that means along the root, Lupin." If he had to put up with Lupin, he was going to make sure the bastard felt guilty for what he and his friends had done over the years.

[Remus John Lupin]

Remus tensed in his seat. He'd known, the moment he'd been paired up with Severus, that it would not be pleasant, but apparently nothing he did made the Slytherin less hostile. Then again.. how could he expect Severus to be remotely civilised to him?
"I think it's pathetic when a fifth year Potions student can't even brew a decent Perplexing Preparation." Remus just nodded. Thing was, he agreed - he was pathetic at this.

"Don't give me ultimatums or maybe I will leave you to muck it up. Stand up properly, stool out of the way. Did you never pay attetnion in our Laboratory safety lessons?" Remus could feel his ears move almost instinctively and was glad he didn't have a tail or it might have moved between his legs. "You know I didn't mean it like that." He didn't comment on the Laboratory Safety thing - he was rather sure he'd been 'ill' then. He just got up and did what Snape wanted him to do. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could just move back into his comfort zone.
Swallowing a smart comment that came up, he just lowered his eyes and began slicing the Valerian root, slowly and precisely. The slicing, he guessed, was not his problem, it was the timing and judging the ingredients. Sometimes roots or herbs were weaker or stronger than the average, after all. Remus had a fine nose, but the fumes in potions class influenced him more than he'd like to admit. And he just had absolutely no feeling for the subject, this was not like charms at all.

[severus snape]

There was something to be said for the way Remus Lupin was acting. It was both welcome and unwelcome. Pleasing and irritating. It was good that Lupin seemed to respect him and was letting him take charge. But Severus couldn't help feeling disappointed that Lupin wouldn't be goaded into messing up again.

There didn't seem to be anything amiss with his cutting skills. He had obviously been present and awake in the technique lessons.Still. Best not let him get complacent.

"Lupin, make sure that you slice it evenly. " He crossed his arms and looked about the class. A few others were finishing with various stages of success. When the Gryffindor had finished, Severus handed him a new knife and pointed at the small mound of powdered squid with the knife he had been playing with.

"What does that colour suggest to you? Pure? Fresh? Useable?" the tone was still bored. To be honest, colour wouldn't tell you how fresh it was, but Squid powder rarely got too old to use.

[Remus John Lupin]

Honestly, Remus was trying to be as nice as he could to Severus without seeming too out of character. Sure, they weren't friends, but the werewolf felt for the Slytherin. He was too dependent of his friends to really speak up, but he'd occasionally reasoned them out of doing things to Severus and had more than once softly uttered his disagreement. He just.. didn't have the guts to actually put his friends in detention (but Lily made up for that, luckily). He felt terrible about it, but felt there was little more he could do.. He was a coward.

Severus obviously didn't feel the same way, and Remus could understand that. Snape had no reason to be pleasant to him.
"Lupin, make sure that you slice it evenly." He nodded, then blinked at Severus' question once he'd finished, thinking for a moment. "I don't.. believe the book says it's the colour that gives it away?" he admitted, after a bit of hesitation. He had always relied on his books and knew the theory all too well, but the practise.. that was giving him trouble. As Snape was contradicting what he'd read, he began to doubt his own knowledge. "But it's powder, and dried, so I'd say it can be preserved for a pretty long time without going bad?" It was a question - Remus was doubting himself.
He glanced at Severus to see how he would react, but Severus wasn't easy to read. Remus wasn't, usually, either, but he had to admit that Snape was a whole lot better at keeping emotions off his face when he chose to.

[severus snape]

"Hmf..you're right." He was a little sad that his trick question hadn't tripped the gyffindor up. still..."but Lupin....The colour will show you that it isn't as purple as one would expect which suggests...?" He said slowly, waiting for the gryffindor to fill in the end of the sentence. Not that he could reasonably be expected to have used squid powder enough to realise that it was paler than usual and therefore probably contained a lot of dust and would need to be used a little more liberally.

Playing with the knife from Remus's set, he reached into his bag and pulled out his own silver one, comparing the two. The knife in his left was new, or very well cared for or both. and the one in his right was old, his mother's when she had come to Hogwarts. It was a little tarnished, with a leather and wood handle to allow one to cut hot things without touching the metal that would heat up. He held them out in front of ihm slightly, comparing their weight before putting down remu's knife and playing with his mother's old one, throwing it with a faint thunk into the table, pulling it out, and throwing it agian.

[Remus John Lupin]

"Hmf..you're right." So it was going to be like that, was it? Severus was going to do anything in his power to make Remus either feel like even more of an imbecile or try and trick him into making a fool of himself. Well, he might just succeed. Remus knew all too well that he was little more than nothing without his friends to back him up.
"...but Lupin....The colour will show you that it isn't as purple as one would expect which suggests...?" Remus blinked and could swear his brain was just a flatline. "Wh-what? Isn't it?" he mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the fluid and trying to discern if the colour was off.

Snape was playing with one of his knives. Remus didn't know why, maybe he wanted him to feel like he was invading his things, or try to seem intimidating, but Remus wasn't usually intimidated by force. He usually was by words, more than force. People often made that mistake because he looked like he could break down any moment. At least - that's what Remus guessed they were thinking.
"I don't know," he eventually admitted, glancing at the Slytherin next to him.

[severus snape]

Severus could practically hear the cogs whirring in Remus Lupin's head. It was a very satisfying sound. As was the stammered response. "yes it is, you dolt.."

Again he unstuck the knife from the table's surface. THis time it had gone in rather far, and he gave it a good yank. Had he been used to the stainless steel knives that Lupin had, he would have tested how well weighted they were by the same method, but the handles didn't feel as comfoortable as his mother's did.
So..Lupin had admitted that he didn't know. Good. That was the first stage to admitting you were a lackadaisical delinquent with friends so moronic as to give Neanderthals a bad name.

"of course you don't know.." Said the potions prodigy with a put-upon sigh. "That's why you need my help." He tapped the brass scales with the knife in his hand, the silver meeting the brass with a pleasant ting sound. "Weigh out the amount you need. Then add about the same weight as a sickle extra." He sat, watching Lupin and resembling a slightly oversized hawk, particularly with his nose the size it was. "well hurry up! I don't want this to extend into my break."

Slughorn passed and immediately the knife stopped thunking into the wood, and pale, spidery hands helped the gryffindor prefect weigh out the correct amount, like the model student Severus was. The help stopped as soon as SLughorn's back was turned

[Remus John Lupin]

Remus could practically hear Snape's satisfaction as his answer faltered and Remus wasn't sure whether to be happy for the other student or blush in embarrassment. He ended up somewhere in between.
Eying Snape playing with the knife, he waited for further instructions. It wasn't that he felt threatened, but he knew the blade was silver, and as Severus pointed with it, Remus suppressed the instinctive need to get the hell out of his way. Not only would the knife leave a nasty burn and perhaps a cut, but he also knew Snape was no idiot and would knew what he was at once. That was something Remus wanted to avoid at all costs.

He was glad when Snape spoke again, even though it was insulting. He probably deserved it. Plus: the sooner they got this over with, the better. "Weigh out the amount you need. Then add about the same weight as a sickle extra." Nodding quietly, Remus did what was asked. Still, he did not understand why he had to add extra. Sure, Snape was helping him brew the potion correctly, but had not explained why they were doing things differently. Remus had the feeling he wasn't learning much, but who cared - as long as he could exit the classroom in one piece.

"Well hurry up! I don't want this to extend into my break." Remus sighed. "Don't worry, I don't want to trouble you any more than necessary," he mumbled, raising an eyebrow at how Severus put up a façade when Slughorn passed and sighed. He really had expected Snape to be less.. pretentious?

[severus snape]

Severus moved back at the soonest possible moment, as though Lupin was diseased with something infectious and life threatening and he wished to avoid the corruption. He picked up the knife he had left on the table, or rather, in it, and put it back into his bag, sheathing it in the leather protective case.

Severus remembered why he disliked Lupin. The boy was a quiet gryffindor, practically an oxymoron. And add to that his close association with Black and potter and it was a cleareer recipe for disaster than allowing Lupin to try and make the potion on his own.

"Don't worry, I don't want to trouble you any more than necessary," Severus didn't respond. He wasn't sure what exactly Lupin meant, but whatever it was it was sure to be pointed.

Once Lupin had carried out his instructions, he picked up a stirring rod and handed it brusquely to the shy, meek boy who stood by while his friends made Severus' life living hell in the one place where he seemed to fit in.

"Three times clockwise, three times anticlockwise." He quickly added, to explain. "the book is wrong. This is more efficient."

[Remus John Lupin]

To be honest? Remus was secretly a little glad Severus went back to a respectable distance. It wasn't that he didn't trust the boy- no, wait, that was definitely a lie: he did not trust the boy. But it wasn't that he hated him. James and Sirius did, but Remus wasn't so sure, really. Actually, to be honest (this time), he had to admit that Severus and he were alike in some ways, apart from the fact that Remus would crumble without his friends and that Severus was a whole lot more independent (not by choice, but he still was). To be honest again, Remus didn't know what he'd do, had he been the target of James and Sirius malpractices. He bit the inside of his cheek slightly at the memory of what they'd last done to the Slytherin next to him and he and he had to stop himself from looking guilty. It wasn't like James or Sirius would listen to him if he spoke up, anyway..

His thoughts were interrupted when a stirring rod was practically poked in his eye. "Three times clockwise, three times anticlockwise." Remus' was at a loss of words for a moment, eyes glancing at the book which clearly stated 'six times anticlockwise'. "The book is wrong," Severus stated. "This is more efficient."
A little dumbly, Remus nodded and did what Severus required from him. When having stirred the potion, he turned to Severus with both a slight air of suspicion (was Severus doing things wrong on purpose?) and with an air of curiosity. "How do you know when the book is wrong?"

[severus snape]

Likewise, Severus was remembering the last of many injustices he has had to deal with, and his memeories would never be fond ones. But nor would they be guiltridden as he hoped the gryffindor's were.

Why had Slughorn chosen him?! Didn't the walrus sized oaf not realise that they were mortal enemies and that Lily would have been much better suited to teaching The gryffindor prefect than he was.

Lupin was clearly not going to trust him, and after their little powdered squid debacle he was hardly surprised. He waited as Lupin stirred, an eye clearly on the book. Already the liquid was turning a faint pale yellow.

"How do you know when the book is wrong?"

"intuition." He replied sharply, watching carefully and sliping into the routine o just brewing, long fingered hands selecting the next ingredient and grinding it down to a powder with a pestle and mortar. He might not look like much but specialised areas of muscle, though they were lamentable invisible, meant that he could make short work of crushing the fine beetle's eyes and snakes' fangs.

It wasn't really fair to not explain a little. and it would give him the oppportunity to display his superior ability to the infuriating tawny haired boy.

"Have you read ahead? In Seventh year, there's an NEWT course module on stirring variations, anticlockwise encourages the magical elements of a potion to bond correctly, and clockwise encourages natural or plant based elements. By applying the Brettwicke Formula to this potion, the resulting quotient is three and the remainder squared is also three." Actually...Explaining probably wouldn't help unless Lupin had read ahead.

[Remus John Lupin]

Why Slughorn had chosen Snape? Exactly what Remus Lupin was wondering. Then again, most of the time had no idea what the huge man was thinking, anyway. Lily would, indeed, have been better - plus he was going to ask her for help anyway, as Severus didn't seem too willing (which was no surprise). Remus hadn't lied when he'd told the Slytherin that he planned on bothering him as little as possible.

"Intuition." Remus sighed; Snape's tone indicated it was better for him to stop asking and just do what he was told. Still, Remus couldn't fathom why a book would be wrong. Hadn't the writer checked? As the Slytherin's tone had indicated Remus was to shut up and stop asking stupid questions, Remus was (almost pleasantly) surprised as he heard Severus utter: "Have you read ahead? In Seventh year, there's an NEWT course module on stirring variations, anticlockwise encourages the magical elements of a potion to bond correctly, and clockwise encourages natural or plant based elements. By applying the Brettwicke Formula to this potion, the resulting quotient is three and the remainder squared is also three."
The corner of Remus' mouth twitched. No, no he had not read ahead. He read a lot, true, but he had enough on his hands simply trying to keep up with the homework they had now, especially as he missed a few days every month. "No, I haven't read ahead," he confessed. "But it sounds logical," Remus added and just fell back into doing what the book required of him, guessing Snape would interfere if the book was 'wrong' again. (Or if he was wrong, for that matter.)