Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Severus looked up at the full moon, at once disappointed that this was the first night he had not seen Luna since her arrival at Hogwarts, apart from the day she had gone home to collect her belongings, yet on the other hand trying to make excuses to himself that she would have found it difficult just to call for no apparent reason. He sighed; it was another three weeks before Lupin would need Wolfsbane again. He wondered if he had squandered the last week, contenting himself, as he had done, to just watching her as she took his classes, and only intervening if a disaster had been imminent, or if he felt the urge to terrify a student for the fun of it. He had even tolerated Minerva's occasional appearances in a way he would never have entertained them before; he hadn't even been annoyed that her visits were to check the foundations of the castle were not being further weakened, and that he was in fact supervising the class.

He wondered if he should have made some sort of move, yet he was quite unable to work how he could have done so. At first he had assumed Luna to be a child wrapped up in a woman's body, and it had taken him quite a few of the last days to realise that she, rather like himself, only showed the world what it suited her for them to see, and kept the rest a secret. He had wondered if he had been mistaken in thinking that she had seemed as rewarded by his company as he had been by hers, and now, now it appeared he was. The werewolf hadn't required Wolfsbane tonight, in fact, he had required nothing but the cold moon that shone down on Severus, and it seemed now too that Luna had no more need of Severus's company. He hoped he could think up some excuse to bring her to him for the next couple of evenings, especially in view of the fact that the damned Gryffindor thieves had stolen her for Friday. Just a small visit after dinner would do; he would even content himself that her early morning visits would probably cease... no more empty Wolfsbane beakers. He sighed again; the evenings were going to be long, and the weekends even longer, unless he could think of something.

It was a chilly night, but still, and the moon cast a path as straight as an arrow on the flat glistening top of the black lake. Something tugged at Severus's mind as he turned to go back into the castle, and he stopped for a moment. Ah, that was it, he smiled to himself: her ambitions, her Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and to dance by the light of the moon. He almost gave out a yelp of surprise as he realised he was no longer standing at the lakeside on his own.

'Oh,' Luna said from deep within a cloak that appeared to have been made from a lawn, with Hagrid in mind. 'Do you like the moon too, Severus?' she asked.

He wasn't quite sure what to say. "No", would be foolish, and "yes", was somehow inane. 'I like to think the moon is there, even if I am not looking at it,' he said, quoting Albert Einstein's words in a moment of welcome inspiration.

'Albert Einstein liked to think that too,' she replied, not surprising him a bit. 'It is there, it always is, even though wolves have howled at it since time immemorial,' she added a touch wistfully, and to Severus's mind, a touch out of character.

'It is cold, Miss Lovegood,' he said, wishing he could wrap his arms around her to ward off the chill. 'You should be inside.'

'I always wonder what it would be like to dance by the light of the moon,' she said, turning towards the castle, yet not moving away, and Severus wondered if her words were some sort of invitation.

Just as he plucked up the courage to move closer to her, the area around them was flooded with the harsh yellow light of a search lantern.

'Who's that?' Argus Filch's voice rasped.

*****

'They was out in the grounds last night,' Hagrid said. 'Filch caught them.'

'Caught them?' Flitwick asked. 'Were they making off with the Squid?'

'Yer know,' Hagrid replied, making his eyebrows wiggle.

'Wasn't it a bit cold to be caught flagrante delicto when both of them have perfectly adequate rooms here?' Binns asked, seeming to take an interest in Luna and Snape that he had never, to anyone's knowledge, taken in anyone else.

'Dunno that they was... yer know,' Hagrid replied.

'Well, what were they then?' Dean asked.

'Oh, give it a bloody rest, will you?' Lupin muttered, quite out of sorts, as he always was the day after the full moon.

*****

'Remus seemed a bit more out of sorts than usual today,' Aurora remarked.

'I said that to Irma too,' Poppy said, nodding to Pince as though for confirmation. 'He was a bit off when I checked him over this morning.'

'I rather like Remus,' Septima said. 'Perhaps I'll ask him to go to the ball.'

'Perhaps you should wait for someone to ask you,' Sybill said. 'The stars have told me to wait, and my reward will come.'

'Not in this life,' Minerva muttered somewhat unkindly under her breath to Aurora, wondering to herself just what was wrong with Lupin. Perhaps she would have a quiet word with him when no one else was around.

'I wonder whether Luna will continue calling on Severus at odd hours ... now there is no Wolfsbane to conveniently excuse her?' Septima said, changing direction slightly.

'Oh, do give it a rest,' Aurora replied. 'Just because two people have a walk under the moonlight doesn't mean anything.'

'What walk under the moonlight?' Septima asked.

'No one told me that,' Sybill said.

'Not even the stars?' Pomona asked, her pipe puffing a rather mischievous orange that smelled of melons.

*****

Severus looked back down as Luna looked up from the nesting box she had been peering into.

'There are three, Severus,' she said with an odd little catch to her voice. 'Would you like to see them?' she asked the top of his head.

He was bent again over a cauldron, pretending to be interested in its contents, in just that way he had of saying, without words, of course, that he was not entertaining conversation at that time.

He was in a mood, and he knew it was because it was Friday, and she was leaving. It was Friday already, Friday afternoon, and he knew she had only followed him along from the last class to check her blue and gold box full of pink straw. Another few minutes and she would be away, and he didn't know how to stop her. He was in thoroughly bad humour about the whole damn business, and had taken it out quite nicely on the Gryffindors fifth years who had come into Potions class expecting an easy ride, and had had a dose of Snape at his most vicious instead.

'Three too many,' he grunted in reply, as he raised his head. 'Really, Miss Lovegood,' he said, folding his arms across his chest, 'this is a Potions laboratory, not a crèche for imaginary Dimple-Crowned Snortbacks.'

'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.'

'The name does not really matter, Miss Lovegood, as they do not exist,' Snape replied, bending his head over his cauldron again to signify that the interchange was concluded to his satisfaction, with him having had the last word.

'One can prove the existence of a species, Professor Snape,' she replied. 'Proving otherwise, is altogether more difficult.'

Severus raised his head again. 'Do not ever speak to me like that again, Miss Lovegood,' he snapped, realising, as the girl drew back as though he had slapped her, that he had sounded as bitter and twisted as he had always done... before she had become his apprentice. He blamed the damned Gryffindor hour thieves for his sour disposition, as he watched her bite her bottom lip. 'You gave me quite a turn,' he added quickly. 'For a moment I thought you had been replaced by Granger.'

That ought to do, he thought, as he saw her nose wrinkle in mutual dislike, pretending that there weren't mutual other things between them too, like a propensity to think "bugger everyone else, this is who I am, and if you don't like it, bugger off, because I don't like you either"... that sort of stuff. So why, he wondered darkly, did she have to leave him early to meet such people?

He crossed the room to where she stood looking back into the nesting box. Feigning as much disinterest as he could muster, he glanced quickly into the box. Where he had expected to see nothing save the straw and a space that her altogether odd imagination had filled with some mysterious creatures, he found himself looking at three small, but undeniably real, furry balls. Each one had an uncomfortably crumpled-looking horn, growing from what he assumed was its nose; it was a bit hard to tell though, rolled up as they were, and the horns could have equally been growing from shoulders, or knees, for that matter. There was no getting away from it though: they were crumpled.

Snape found himself looking into Luna's blue eyes in what he pretended wasn't shock. 'What are these, Miss Lovegood?' he heard himself ask.

'They seem to be Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Severus,' she replied, and Snape noticed that he rather liked to hear her say his name, and wondered if that were why he had never corrected her.

'But they don't exist,' he argued.

'I know,' she whispered, and he thought there was something frightened in her voice, and he wasn't sure why that should be.

'What do you mean?' he asked. 'For the last ten years, you have been telling the wizarding world at large, through your ridiculous mouthpiece, that they do exist,' he said, glaring at where the "Quibbler", which he had told her on numerous occasions not to bring back to his rooms, sat on the workbench, before peering into the box again. 'They are there... before our very eyes.'

'I know,' she repeated, biting at her bottom lip again. 'But I only made them up.'

Severus drew back. 'Are you telling me, Miss Lovegood, that you are perfectly well aware that all of the imaginary creatures you try to convince us into believing in...' He trailed off, quite at a loss as to how to express himself. 'Are you saying that you know these figments of your imagination are... figments of your imagination?'

'Of course I do,' she replied. 'I'm not crazy.'

'Let us lay that particular observation to the side, Miss Lovegood, shall we,' Severus murmured. It was about then that he felt something odd creep through him, something that seemed to spread its warm fingers through his chest, but as he had never been quite so amused before, he didn't recognise it for what it was, until the laugh exploded from him without permission.

Luna laughed too, a delightful girlish laugh that belied her twenty-six years as easily as everything else about her did. 'That'll show them,' she said, and he was somewhat relieved that she was not laughing at his unaccustomed mirth, but at the fact that she had created... yes, there was no other word for it, she had created a species of her very own.

'It's a day for firsts,' she said, as he sobered slightly. She took his arm excitedly, in the way that made him wonder if he could lurk at her side in the hope that she might do it again. 'The first Dimple-Crowned Snortbacks...'

'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks,' he corrected her. 'But what is in a name, Miss Lovegood?' He noticed she was still clutching his arm, and rather hoped she hadn't noticed the physical contact, or if she had, that it was a conscious gesture.

'I'm just getting to names, Severus,' she said. 'The first Crumple-Horned Snorkacks ... the first time I've actually seen you laugh,' she went on. 'Although I know you do it inside all the time.'

'Quite, Miss Lovegood,' he replied, arching his eyebrow. 'How are we going to nurture these?' he asked, pretending that he hadn't noticed that he had just assumed joint ownership of the whatever-they-weres.

'These will be easy, Severus. The hard part is done,' she said with frightening faith. 'Now, back to firsts. And names,' she added. 'In fact, first names. We have the first Crumple-Horned Snorkacks... the first time I've seen you really laugh. Do you think there will ever come a time when you can call me Luna?' she asked, without looking at him. 'I promise that it would only embarrass you the first time, Severus. I know you would hate that... But the second time would be easier, and Luna is so much more economical than Miss Lovegood, don't you think?' She looked up at him at last, and Severus was sure that the increased pressure on his arm was deliberate.

'Well,' he said, wondering how not to feel foolish. 'In the interests of economy, Miss Lovegood, and the wear and tear on my larynx, not to mention the obvious offence to your ears, speaking of which, you are wearing potato peelings as earrings, Luna,' he said, hoping she had not noticed the address, as it fell much more effortlessly from his tongue than he had expected; then again, he had voiced it often enough when visiting his castles in the air.

'Oh. These aren't earrings,' she said, squeezing his arm again, and untwisting one of the peelings from where it had got caught in her hair, and holding it over the nesting box. 'They're dinner.'

He watched in fascination as one of the furry balls uncurled, and a tiny horn, indeed in the middle of the Snorkack's snout, reached up and speared the peeling.

Luna clapped her hands like an excited child as the other two balls uncurled, and the little creatures began to snuffle about the potato peeling. She squeezed Severus's arm again, quite painfully this time, but he manfully managed not to wince, as the Snorkacks began to eat.

'I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier,' Severus said somewhat rashly by his own standards, wondering if it were the first time he had uttered such an apology, and enjoying the way her warmth was spreading from his arm, in directions it had no business travelling in.

'Not as sorry as I am that I sounded like Hermione Granger,' she replied, pouting rather prettily in a way that Snape suspected was totally subconscious, as he resisted the urge to ask her why she was meeting with the same Mrs Granger-Weasley, or whatever other pretentious name she had cobbled up for herself. She was still clutching his arm. 'Oh, look,' she said, nodding to the box, 'they're all cuddled up again. Isn't that sweet?'

'Perhaps it would be wise for you not to leave early... Just in case they wake up again,' he suggested carefully, as his mind rolled out all sorts of possibilities for the care and nurture of the creatures he had suddenly become enormously fond of.

'I'm sure they'll sleep for hours,' she replied, letting go of his arm at last, so that it felt cold without hers wound around it. 'They're very small, and they ate the skin of a whole King Edward potato. That's a lot for very young Snorkacks.'

In view of the fact that she had no benchmark with which to measure that particular opinion, he wasn't quite sure of her reasoning, but he let it pass. 'Perhaps you should call in later though, Miss... Luna,' he said. 'I'm not sure I'm familiar enough with Snorkack husbandry to tend to them all weekend on my own.'

'There is no Snorkack husbandry, Severus,' she replied. 'Not until we make it.'

Severus liked the word "we"; it meant that there were two halves to some whole, and he was one of the halves. 'Quite,' he replied. 'I still think it would be wise if you checked back,' he said. 'Shall we say, after dinner... if you're back in time?'

'I'm not sure you should leave them alone, not for a while,' she said, a trace of anxiety creasing her forehead.

'Perhaps not,' he agreed, instead of responding as he would have done to anyone else, along the lines of not being a ruddy Snorkack babysitter. 'I shall dine here.'

'Oh, thank you,' she said, standing on the tiptoes of her odd shoes, and kissing his cheek, in a way that made him gasp, and want to pull her back from where she was already flouncing to the door, and make a decent job of returning the compliment.

Fool, he snapped to himself, she's twenty-six, and you're long past it. He peered into the nesting box, before he remembered that he had been so surly about her meeting her friends that he still hadn't actually asked who they were, only assumed that they would comprise of a handful of the most Gryffindor Gryffindors it had ever been his misfortune to encounter. They had stolen not only an hour from him, but her company at dinner, he snarled to himself, quite put out that they couldn't have met her on a Saturday, or better than that, not at all. At least he knew where she was going, he mused, pretending that he hadn't already decided to follow her, just to make she got there safely; the Snorkacks were asleep anyway.

*****

The Three Broomsticks was busy as Severus slipped in the doorway. He'd fed the Snorkacks again, and left them a small saucer of water in the corner of the nesting box, but they had fallen asleep, and hadn't seemed interested in drinking, or indeed eating much of the potato peel.

He dropped his hood, confident enough of his charms to know that no one would recognise him, easy work for a man who had spied on Voldemort for as long as he had. He didn't see her at first, not looking, as he had been, for a table of noisy Gryffindors. She was there though, but instead of multiple Gryffindors, there was only one, and not even one he expected. Severus felt his stomach clench in what he didn't even recognise as rage, as Remus Lupin reached across the table and put his hand on top of hers.

*****