Chapter 3

The next morning, McDougal and the other three left the table again when Lupin appeared. Snape saw it and rose, too. Lupin winced, but his eyes widened in suprise when Snape walked over to him with his plate and sat down next to him. He shot McDougal a sneering smile, and grabbed a roll and a slice of cheese from the baskets nearby. Then he turned to Lupin. "I saw you wince. Did you really think that I would do that to you? That I would go with *them*?" He nodded toward the now agitatedly whispering wizards. 

"No, not really. You simply suprised me, Severus!" Snape chuckled as he replied. "You don't know me as well as you think you do, my friend."  "But I hope to get to know you a *lot* better," Lupin said quietly. Lupin looked Snape right in the eyes and saw something flicker there at his words, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. 

Snape looked at him, then turned his attention back to his breakfast. "What do we do today?" "Dumbledore has given me a task to find some spells for him in the library. He said that I will most likely have to translate them into English. He didn't remember what language they were written in, but I think that it will take up my whole day" Lupin answered.  "Want me to help you?' "Sure!" came Lupin's eager reply.

Lupin smiled at him. Smiled *that* smile at him. Snape quickly looked away. This could be a very difficult day. But, what the hell, it would be another day near him. A precious day. 

They finished breakfast in a comfortable silence and then left the Hall, ignoring the stares of the four wizards. By midday, they had finally found the spells that Dumbledore was looking for, and carried the piles of books along with some heavy leather-bound dictionaries over to Lupin's office. 

"Why not my office?" Snape wanted to know. Lupin grinned. "First, it smells. Of pickled frogs and other things I don't even want to think about. Second, it's in the dungeons. They're too far away from the library to carry all of those books down there. Not to mention, back up again later. Third, I doubt that you have hot chocolate down there, and fourth, it's in the dungeons. Nothing personal, but I don't like dungeons. They remind me of the cage my parents..." He stopped and his face became emotionless. He turned his back to his companion. 

Snape looked sharply at him. "Your parents locked you up in a cage?" "Only the days around the full moon." Snape shifted the books and rested the pile on his hip, then carefully touched Lupin's back. "I'm sorry." Lupin didn't answer, but his body tensed as if he were holding back a sob. "Your office it is. Let's go. Anyway, you fix wonderful hot chocolate." Snape said, smiling.

This time Lupin turned around. "You didn't even touch it yesterday!" "True, but it smelled wonderful!" Snape grinned and shifted the books back to their former position.  Lupin stared at him. "You're..." He shook his head and smiled again. That smile. Snape turned and walked down the corridor in the direction of Lupin's office. "I'm thirsty! Come on!"

Four hours, two enormous piles of parchment and many cups of hot chocolate later, the two men were totally lost in the world of translating Pixie spells and Trollish mythology into halfway intelligible English. Snape stretched and leaned back into his chair. Lupin took a sip of his chocolate, as always dipping his nose into the cream, but this time forgetting to wipe it off again. Without thinking, Snape reached out his hand and gently wiped it away.  The touch sent a shock through his body.

Lupin froze, then slowly raised his head to look at Snape's fingers, still smeared with the cream and hanging motionless in midair. With a mischievous gleam in his eyes, he grabbed Snape's hand and slowly licked the cream off his fingers. Snape's eyes widened.

"Severus?"

"Y..yes, Remus?"

"Would you be so kind as to start breathing again?"

"Wha...? Oh, yes, of course" Snape cursed inwardly. Why had he been so stupid to do that? Touch Remus? Touch his face? And why had Remus acted like that?

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you give me my hand back?"

"No."

"Huh?" came Snape's startled reply.

Lupin still watched him with that strange gleam in his eyes. "Why not Remus?"

"I want you to answer a question first." came the quiet reply. Oh-oh. Snape cringed. "What question?"

"Severus, did...did you fancy me? Then?" Shit. Deny it, deny it!

"Yes." No!! Damn! Did I really say that?

"Thought so."

"Could you give me my hand back now?"

"No."

"Oh. Ask." Sigh.

"Severus, do you fancy me still?" Deny it!

"Yes." Hey! You are *my* mouth! Do what I tell you!

"Thought so."

Lupin let go of his hand and returned to his work. Snape sat there for a few minutes, not believing what had happened. He had told Remus! After one day of friendship. One single day. He got angry. "Was that all?" Snape's voice was cold as ice. "No." "What else?" Lupin stopped working, but did not turn. "Kiss me Severus."

Snape's anger vanished and made way for a mixture of suprise, relief, and sadness. He closed his eyes. Those were the exact words he had dreamt Remus would say to him. It was a dream. Nothing but a dream. 

"Earth to Severus! Hey man! Are you inside there, somewhere?" Lupin's insistent voice penetrated Snape's thoughts. Snape opened his eyes again and looked directly into Lupin's worried silver ones. Lupin knocked a few times against Snape's forehead. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Snape caught Lupin's fist before he could start knocking again. "I'm here, silly. I must have fallen asleep. Thanks for waking me." "Oh. And I thought my words had knocked you out." Snape's head jerked up. "What words?" "I quote: 'Kiss me, Severus', end quote."

Snape paled. "I didn't dream that?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Pause. "Severus?"

"Hmmm?" "Do I have to say it again? I feel rejected!"

Very carefully, still not believing his senses, Snape leaned forward and pressed his lips against Lupin's. He let go again almost instantly. This couldn't be what Remus wanted.

"Severus?"

"Yes?"

"I'm disappointed."

"Disappointed?"

"Is that what you call a kiss? If it is, then I have to teach you what *I* would call one."

With that, he leaned forward and kissed Snape on the mouth. Hard. Tongue-action included. Without thinking, Snape opened his mouth and answered. Hungrily, he grabbed Lupin's head and held him in place with one hand, using the other hand to pull him closer to his body.

Lupin fought against Snape's death grip -- this was definitely not what he had expected. He had thought to tease the man a bit, make him confess his feelings, but this.... This was so intense, so hungry, almost desperate. And it turned him on. He stopped fighting and pulled Snape up from his chair to stop him from breaking his back in his grip, in his urge to feel the other's body. He froze again when he felt Snape's erection against his hip and his body's answer to it. This went much to fast. It was too hungry, too desperate, too out of control. He managed to get his hands between himself and Snape, and pushed him away. "Stop!"

Snape stood there, panting, and slowly a look of horror crossed his features. "Oh, my, God! Remus!" "Shhh. It's okay, Severus. I provoked that. It was just...too fast. I didn't expect you to be like that." "Desperate? Hungry? Why did you do it, Remus? Did you want to break up our friendship?" Severus snapped. "No! I'm sorry, Severus! I didn't think."

Snape sneered. "You never think!"

Lupin sighed. "Stop that. Let me say this. I thought it was all over, yesterday evening. I came to the conclusion that I wanted...wanted to be with you, if my suspicions turned out to be true. But your reaction! I have never been with a man, Severus! I never even thought about it! You have to...teach me slowly."

Snape looked at him. "What did you say?"

"I want you Severus, but you have to be patient with me."

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Can you forgive me? I didn't want to scare you."

Lupin simply closed the distance between them and kissed Snape again, trusting him to control himself. Minutes later they came back up for breath. Feeling Snape's erection against his body still unnerved Lupin, but he tried to ignore it, especially since his own body made no attempt to hide the aroused state he was in.

"Remus?"

"Yes, Severus?"

"Can I touch you? Your skin?"

Lupin gulped. "Yes."

His gaze never leaving Lupin's eyes, Snape slowly opened the fastenings of the other man's robes, gradually sliding them down his shoulders. With a rustling sound, the fabric slid down Lupin's body and pooled around his feet. The rush of cold air that hit his body made him gasp. Snape's eyes left Lupin's face and trailed down the other's body, drinking in the creamy colour of his skin, the erect nipples, the gooseflesh that made the hairs on Lupin's arms stand up, the scars, the trail of sandy hair that lead down and vanished into black boxers printed with...

"Wolves?!?"

Lupin grinned. "Everybody knows what I am, why not stand by it? No pun intended." Snape let out a barking laugh. "You're impossible!" He sobered and looked into Lupin's eyes again. "And you're beautiful." Carefully, to not scare the other, Snape touched Lupin's chest. He followed the path of a long scar up to his collarbone and from there, up and behind his head to catch him in another longing kiss. 

Shaking, Lupin needed all of his courage to undress Snape. With a gasp, the Potions Master felt the cloth of his robe sliding down his aching body.  "Do you know how long I have dreamt of this, Remus?" "No, but I can guess." Both men gasped for air when their bodies met skin to skin for the first time. Snape slowly moved his kisses away from Lupin's mouth, along his chin, down his neck and to his shoulders. His hands had begun to explore Lupin's back, pressing his body firmly to his mouth and at the same time steadying the other man.

"You'd better sit down, Remus, you're shaking." Lupin nodded and slowly moved backwards. When he started to sit down, Snape quickly hooked his hands into the waistband of the boxers and slid them down. He muffled Lupin's protests with a kiss and continued to stroke his back and shoulders. Again he trailed butterfly kisses down Lupin's neck, but this time he didn't stop there. Slowly, he moved further down the trembling body, licking the nipples. First the left one, then the right, and went back into the middle, going further down.

Lupin's eyes were wide open. He watched Snape taking his time on his way down his body, parting his legs to kneel between them. He didn't really understand what was going on until Snape reached his destination. The kiss, placed softly on the tip of his erect cock, sent a bolt of fire through Lupin's body. His eyes closed and his head fell back. Fists clenched around the arms of the chair as Lupin tried to digest the assault of his senses. 

Just when he thought he was able to think relatively straight again, Snape took him into his mouth. Biting down a scream, Lupin bucked into the other man's mouth, rational thoughts forgotten. The only thing that counted now was to feel. 

Snape had used his hands to try to sense Lupin's reaction to his ministrations; now he needed them to keep the man sitting still on his chair and not hitting him in the face with his hips. He grinned around the hot flesh in his mouth. Who would have thought that Lupin would be this responsive? This needy? This wonderful? And this tasty! He used every trick he knew to tease and bring Lupin closer to the edge. And, as he expected, it didn't take long before the man came in his mouth. He drank him, enjoying every drop of that precious liquid, before licking him clean and holding him tight.

Lupin had slumped down in his chair. He was still trembling, not able to really comprehend what had just happened. Snape sat down on the floor and leaned against Lupin's knees, trying to calm down enough to get Lupin ready for what he wanted to teach him next.

"S...Severus?"

"Yes?" "Did we...? Did you just...?" Lupin opened his eyes and looked at his friend, lost for words. Then he noticed something. "What about you? I..." He blushed. "I don't think I can do..." "Shhh, Remus, you don't have to go down on me. You would hate it. It's not easy and I don't want you to gag or feel uncomfortable. But..." "Yes?" Lupin asked softly. "Touch me?"

Lupin slid down from the chair and sat down next to Snape on the floor. "Lay back," he ordered and grabbed his robe to roll into a cushion for Snape's head. Then he carefully pulled the other's boxers down, gulping at the sight that greeted him. Snape's member was swollen and red from the denied release. Drops of pre-cum wetted the tip. The rest of his skin was pale, so that the dark hair on his chest and around his cock stood out in sharp contrast to it. Hesitantly, Lupin reached out and touched the other man's chest, feeling hard muscle instead of the softness of a woman's breasts. Slowly, he let his hand wander down, still hesitating to touch another man that intimately. 

"Remus, please," Snape begged. Pushing his doubts aside, Lupin took Snape's member in his hand. It felt heavy, strange but at the same time familiar. And burningly hot. Curiosity got the better of him and he leaned closer, examining the other with almost scientific interest.

Snape lifted his hips off the ground, begging Lupin to grab him harder, to start fisting him, to give him release. But, Lupin was too nervous about hurting him to do that. Grabbing his shoulders and dragging him down onto his body, Snape hissed "Remus! Please! I need you! Now!"

Lupin looked at him, not exactly knowing what his friend wanted him to do. "Inside me!" Snape instructed. Lupin paled. "You mean..." "Yes!" Snape opened his legs. "Wet your fingers and stretch me. First one, then two, then three fingers. Then fuck me." Lupin hesitated. "Do it! Please! You will not hurt me if you do, only if you don't!"

Carefully, Lupin did as he had been told. He gasped when he slid his finger into Snape's anus. So hot! So tight! He felt his cock twitch in anticipation. "Are you sure that I won't hurt you?" "Yes!" Snape sounded almost angry by now.

Lupin continued with his task and had lost every hesitation, every doubt, by the time he readied himself for the last step. All he wanted now was to be buried deep inside that hot tightness. Slowly, he pushed his way home. The sensation was incredible, almost too hot, almost too tight. Underneath him, Snape was panting and whimpering and writhing. Lupin gave an experimental thrust and was rewarded with more gasps, more whimpering and a friction that made his mind short-circuit. He began to thrust in an urgent, uncontrollable rhythm, hitting some mysterious sweet spot inside Snape's body that made the other man lift his hips off the ground and counter-thrust against his lover. Timeless seconds, minutes later, Snape exploded and his body clenched violently around Lupin, making him come as well. They slumped down, lying in each other's arms, sticky and out of breath, but at the same time happy and satiated.

Lupin spoke first. "Severus?"

"Mmhmm."

"It felt good."

Snape smiled. "Yes, it did."

"Want to teach me more?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, too weary to turn and look at his lover. "Now?"

"Whenever you want."

"Yes, but not now."

"Oh."

"We should clean up this mess and go down to dinner."

"Why?" Lupin asked, almost shyly.

"Do you want Dumbledore to find us like this?"

"Ummm. No."

"See."

"Severus?"

"Hmm?"

"After dinner?"

"My, my we are curious, aren't we?" Snape grinned.

"I think 'hungry' is the better word for it."

Both turned to look at each other and shared a grin. Snape's stomach grumbled.

"Hungry?" Lupin teased.

"One could say so. Remus?"

"Hmmm?"

"Does this mean we'll stay...friends?"

"No." Snape's face fell. Hastily, Lupin added "I would like to call this 'lovers'."

"Lovers."