The light within -Snupin-

Chapter 12

The pub was as busy as always when Remus, James, Lily, Peter and Sirius sat down at the table in the Three Broomsticks.

He did fancy a butterbeer after being in the cold all day. Lily and James seemed closer again and that indicated that they had a good day together. Remus unwrapped his scarf from his neck and pulled his gloves off his fingers which tingled when it came in contact with the warm air.

Lily and James were sitting next to each other while Sirius, Peter and Remus sat opposite them with Remus in the outer corner. There was nothing really special about the conversation that quickly started, not like the talks he had with Severus. Most of the time the hours were spent in silence with him but the times that they did speak to each other, were truly magnificent. They talked about their interest while looking at the stars from the Astronomy Tower which they had done a few times after curfew.

Severus never discussed something private such as his home life of childhood. He only stuck with the Hogwarts subject and his favorite Professors. Remus on the other hand, tried to change the subject sometimes and talk more about how they spent summer vacations and how their family was like but in those times, he was the only one talking while Severus nodded and hummed in response.

He had told him a bit about the situation with Lily and how she refused to even look at him now. Remus understood that what Severus did was unacceptable but not unforgivable. Every human makes mistakes and they only learn from them. Being in the Slytherin house meant constant use of that word and Severus never used it but it slipped out of his mouth, he explained that night.

It's a whole other story when Lily started dating the rival of Severus. He saw in his eyes how much it hurt when he saw them kiss in the Great Hall for the first time after they've already been together for a week or two. Lily and James didn't yell it through the school but keeping it a secret was definitely not what they did either. Remus took in his surroundings, eyeing on the people in the Three Broomsticks to maybe hope to see someone familiar to get out of this situation where Lily and James were practically making love.

'Get a room you two,' Sirius said, smirking. Lily blushed a deep red and James wiped his thumb over his lips.

'Sorry Pads.'

The waitress came and they ordered some butterbeer and Wormtail also ordered some food for himself as always. Sirius rolled his eyes and made a snarky comment about it before earning a hit against the back of his head from Peter.

'Well that was uncalled for,' he said while rubbing over the freshly hitted spot on his head. James laughed and Lily softly giggled with them. Remus noticed how much she changed these last couple of weeks, probably because of her new boyfriend because she was acting like a clingy fangirl. He liked the independent Lily more but couldn't complain.

The door opened and a black haired Slytherin stood in the doorway, directly making his way to the bar. Remus saw the bag hanging over his shoulder and against his hip which made him awfully masculine looking.

The boy mouthed something and received a firewhiskey not even moments later while Remus and his friends were still waiting. He was also surprised how easily the bartender gave Severus the alcohol with the fact he was still a minor which was clear to see.

What shocked him even more was that Severus drinked it with no trouble, no flinching as if he did this more often than he should.

'Prongs, there's Snivvy.' Sirius elbowed him which made James look up to the bar, seeing only the hanged backside.

'Not in the mood now,' James said and pulled his girlfriend closer to himself and gave an angry glare at Severus even though he couldn't even see it.

The conversation was nothing more than just discussing Christmas and the Yule Ball, literally just everything that had to do with Hogwarts.

The butterbeer warmed his inside which Remus was thankful for. From the corner of his eye, Severus was getting up and paid for the firewhiskey before walking out of the pub again. That certainly was a quick visit and Remus wanted to study him more because of the mission he had now.

He was truly happy to have an excuse to get near Severus but wouldn't admit that to himself.

'Uhm. I still have some things to do so I'm going. See you later.' With that, Remus got up and wrapped his scarf tight around his neck, pulling the cloak over his shoulders before exiting with big steps. He hadn't even stayed long enough to hear the shouting from his friends who wanted to know where he was going.

The outside air was hitting him and a shiver ran down his spine while searching for Severus who just walked out. Then he spotted him, sitting alone on a bench in the distance and enjoying the view. The dark dot became more clear with each step Remus made towards the boy. Severus eyed him suspiciously when he walked to his direction and was almost afraid of what might happen next, another prank. To his surprise, Remus sat down on the spot next to him on the bench with a loud sigh.

The brown, cashew nut hair sticking out in all sorts of directions while Severus' hair stayed neatly in place because of it's length he grew the last couple of months.

'Leave me alone.'

Remus didn't say anything and pulled something out of his own bag. Severus looked down at the hand that was being held out to him and saw a chocolate frog. He raised an eyebrow but took it anyway and Remus began eating his own in silence. Severus was hesitating to take the first bite because maybe it would be poisoned, or drugged to make him pass out but trusted his instincts and took a bite out of the chocolate frog. The chocolate melted in his mouth and he adored the sweet taste it gave. They finished eating and Remus carefully pushed a note in Severus' hand before standing up and walking back to the Three Broomsticks where his friends still were.

He unfolded the note to see what he had written on it and was shocked to see the words.

Meet me on the Astronomy Tower after curfew.

They already met a few times there after the....incident but he assumed Remus was done with him already because he hadn't heard anything from him the last couple of days. Yet, he decided to just go and see what Remus wanted to calm his curiosity.