_smoke_ (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} _smoke_) wrote,@ 2005-07-04 14:08:00 |
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Title: Power Play
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: D/s, BDSM, violence, bestiality, graphic sex.
Summary: Lupin was surprised to learn of Snape’s submissive side, and stunned when the Potions Master offered that submission up as a gift to him. He grabbed it without thinking, but did the werewolf bite off more than he could chew?
Notes: Two parts - complete. A little angst, but mostly an excuse to write smut. Set in the first half of the school year after OotP, but written before HBP.
Many thanks to Odd Doll and Snegurochka for their excellent work as betas.
Part 2
Chapter 2: The Plan
When Lupin awoke, he had a plan. Well, sort of a plan. Nothing was going to change if he didn’t take action of some kind. And he did want things to change. Exactly what he wanted to happen, he wasn’t sure, but he knew he couldn’t stand much more of this – much more of the stress between them, much more of the space between them.
The Order met that night. Lupin made sure he was sitting at the end of the table, in the corner. Snape arrived last, as usual. Lupin pulled out his wand, drew a chair out of the air, and pulled it up beside himself.
“Here you go, Severus.” He smiled benignly. “Have a seat.”
Snape stared. Then, apparently thinking a protest would draw too much attention, he made his way around the table and sat with folded arms, completely ignoring Lupin.
When the meeting ended, Snape fairly bolted out of his seat. He was almost to the stairs when Dumbledore held up his hand.
“Oh, Severus!”
Snape stopped, turning to face Dumbledore.
“I’d like you to run an errand for me before we go back to school, but I need to speak with Molly and Arthur first. Would you mind waiting in the drawing room for a few minutes?”
Snape looked as though he’d mind few things more, but he inclined his head respectfully. “As you wish, Headmaster.”
When he had disappeared up the stairs in a flare of temper and black wool, Dumbledore turned back to the table. As his gaze swept over Lupin, the werewolf was certain he saw the shadow of a wink.
“Right,” Lupin mumbled to no one in particular as he moved toward the stairs. “I think I’ll just go read for a bit.”
He took the stairs two at a time, then paused momentarily outside the drawing room door to steady his breathing. “Evening, Severus.” He was rather proud of his casual air as he wandered into the room.
Snape, standing by the bookcase, eyed him suspiciously. “Lupin.”
Lupin came to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, letting his eyes run over the spines of the books. “Not much here to read, is there?”
Snape snorted. “Really Lupin. What did you expect? I hardly think those of the noble and most ancient House of Black were into much except the Dark Arts. And all those books have managed to disappear.” He nodded toward the many gaps on the shelves.
“I suppose your library has a much wider range?” Lupin let a little doubt color his voice.
“You’ve seen it.”
“But not to read the titles. They could be anything...” Lupin let his voice trail off, just a hint of disappointment showing.
“I think you would find it quite impressive.” Snape’s tone was one of disdain.
“Oh, really?” Lupin was vague as he selected a book and opened the cover.
Snape looked slightly annoyed. “Come see for yourself sometime.” He bit the sentence off sharply as he heard his own words.
“Thursday? At eight?”
“What?” Snape snapped at him.
Lupin turned to him with a smile.
“Thank you, Severus. I’ll look forward to it.”
Snape opened his mouth to speak when Dumbledore entered the room.
“Thank you for waiting, Severus.” He smiled at the two men.
Lupin bowed slightly. “I’ll wish you a good evening then, Professors.”
He left the room smiling to himself at the flummoxed look on Snape’s face.
Lupin stepped out of the fireplace in Snape’s quarters at precisely eight that Thursday night.
Snape was sitting in a worn and comfy-looking armchair, his feet propped on an ottoman, his eyes on a book. He did not look up.
After studying him for a few seconds, Lupin smiled to himself and perused the room. It was a comfortable room, with mismatched, well-used furniture of a serviceable nature. Nothing very extraordinary except the books. The walls were covered in bookshelves which were crammed with far more than books. Stacks of parchment, old magazines, bits of crystal and feather, bone and shell. But mostly books. Hundreds of books. Lupin had no doubt that Snape knew exactly what was where, and could instantly lay his hand on anything he wanted.
Lupin strolled to the oversized, overcrowded desk. There were a couple of things he didn’t remember there – a large jar containing what appeared to be a fetal pig floating in some viscous, greenish liquid, and an equally large jar of rattlesnake heads in a jelly-like substance. Lupin looked away towards the books.
Finding a magazine with an interesting-looking article, he picked it up.
“You mind?”
Snape snorted, not bothering to look up.
Lupin took the magazine and hesitated a moment. There was a second armchair, much like Snape’s, that was also facing the fire. He looked at the room carefully. It seemed a bit crowded, as though a few things had been pushed aside. He dropped into the chair, propping his feet up.
“I don’t remember this chair being here.”
“It wasn’t.” Snape frowned at his book.
When nothing more was forthcoming, Lupin opened the magazine. The tall clock in the corner ticked slowly, the fire gave the occasional pop and crackle, but other than the rustle of turning pages, these were the only sounds.
After about twenty minutes, Snape looked up with a scowl. “Lupin, what the hell are you here for?”
Lupin looked slowly around the room. “For this.”
“This.” Snape’s voice dripped sarcasm. “A pickled pig, jellied snake heads, and dusty books.”
Lupin smiled gently. “That’s right. Add those to your affable disposition, and your scintillating conversation, and what more could a man ask for?”
“Prat,” Snape muttered as he went back to his book.
“Besides.” Lupin studied him. “I thought I was invited.”
Snape gave the smallest of shrugs, but didn’t look up.
For more than an hour they read in silence. When Lupin finished the magazine he had chosen, he replaced it and selected another. Snape never so much as changed position. After flipping through the articles for a while, Lupin laid the magazine in his lap and looked at Snape. The man read with total concentration, ignoring Lupin. Or so he thought.
“Lupin, why are you staring at me?” His voice was impatient.
Lupin smiled. “I was just trying to remember what it was like, having you kneeling between my thighs.”
Snape gave a small start, but kept his eyes down. “It wouldn’t take more than the crook of a finger to find out again.” Snape’s voice was soft.
All Lupin’s blood seemed to suddenly pool in his crotch, but he swallowed and ignored it. “It’s no good if it’s only on orders, you have to want to.” It was an effort to keep his voice steady.
Snape closed his eyes for a moment before continuing in a quarrelsome voice. “If I hadn’t wanted to, you couldn’t have forced me with a wand at my throat.”
Lupin waited several long seconds, but Snape never looked up.
“No, I suppose not.” Lupin continued watching him, but he kept reading.
“And as I recall, it was you who put an end to it.” Snape’s voice was toneless.
Lupin couldn’t think of a reply, so he chose to ignore the remark and continue with his train of thought. “Why did you?”
“Why did I what?" Snape slapped a hand down on the open page of his book.
“Why did you want to?” Lupin wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Snape stared at the book for a long while. Lupin had about given up on getting an answer when Snape gave a small shrug.
“I don’t know.” His voice was so soft Lupin barely heard it.
When Snape said nothing more, Lupin sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.
The clock was striking when he jerked awake. For a moment he was disoriented, then he saw Snape, still reading, and remembered where he was. Rubbing a hand over his face, he looked at the clock.
Midnight.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” He rose stiffly to his feet, heading for the fireplace.
“I didn’t see a need.” Snape read on.
Lupin watched him for a moment, then shook his head and picked up a handful of Floo powder. “Thank you, Severus.”
“For what?” Snape looked up with a frown.
“Believe it or not, I enjoyed the evening.” Lupin gave him a gentle smile. “Makes a nice change from the Black house.”
“Put that way, I can see your point.” Snape conceded.
Lupin threw the powder on the flames.
“Lupin!”
He hesitated, turning back.
“I’m not usually very busy on Thursday evenings.” This was said with a most unwelcoming scowl.
Lupin studied him until the flames started to lose their green color. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He stepped into the fire and was gone.
Eight o’clock the following Thursday saw Lupin once more stepping out of the fire in Snape’s study. Snape was at his desk, marking the last of a stack of papers. Lupin gave the room a glance. The chairs were arranged differently this time. They faced each other with a low table in between. A chess board was set up with an elaborate set of carved chessmen. Lupin walked around the table, studying the beautiful set from several angles.
“You play?” Lupin crouched down to study the board from eye-level.
“No.” Snape finished the paper and dragged a grade book towards himself. “I keep it around because I have a lot of extra space I don’t know what to do with.”
“Arsehole,” Lupin muttered under his breath as he picked up a piece to study it. It was a tall knight who brandished his sword at Lupin, shouting soundlessly. He put him gently back on the board. “It’s very nice. Where did you get it?”
“Minerva gave it to me a couple of Christmases ago.” Snape dropped the book in the top drawer and slid it shut, then stood to rearrange the papers covering most of the surface. “She was over after dinner for a game.”
Lupin raised an eyebrow. “That was certainly a nice gift.”
A smile flickered across Snape’s features and was gone almost before it could be seen. “She charmed it. Thought she’d win that way.”
“She cheated?” Lupin laughed aloud.
This time the smile lingered briefly. “She tried. I discovered the charm at once and removed it. Of course.”
“Of course.”
Snape looked at Lupin for the first time.
“Are you any good?”
Lupin grinned.
“At chess, you prat.” Snape scowled at him.
“Not too bad. Sirius and I used to play...” Lupin swallowed. “Well, we played a lot last year.”
Snape snorted. “I can’t imagine he’d be much good. Attention span of a gnat.”
Lupin took a deep breath. “I could beat him.”
“Buckbeak could probably have beaten him.”
Snape picked up two pawns, put them behind his back for a moment, then presented both fists to Lupin, fingers curled downward. Lupin reached out a finger and trailed it slowly over the back of Snape’s left hand.
Snape turned it palm up, exposing a pawn who angrily straightened his uniform and shook a fist at Snape.
“White to you.” He set the pawns on the board and dropped onto the edge of one chair.
Lupin sat across from him, thought a moment, then opened the game.
Six moves later, it was over.
“I thought you could play?” Snape’s tone was snide.
“Just lulling you into a false sense of security.” Lupin ran a hand through his hair.
Snape snorted. “Care for a wager?”
Lupin stiffened. “As if I have anything worth wagering.” His voice was low, with a bitter edge.
Snape looked up from his contemplation of the board and fixed the same scrutiny on Lupin’s face. Lupin was starting to feel uncomfortable when Snape finally spoke.
“Don’t underestimate yourself, Remus.” He dropped his eyes once more to the board.
The next three games were closely contested and fiercely competitive. Snape won the first, Lupin the second, and Snape the third.
They were into the fifth game. It was Lupin’s turn but his attention was wandering. Snape sat slouched in his chair, his knees inches from the board. He leaned to one side, his face in one hand. The long fingers of the other hand rested on his upper thigh, pointing toward the place where the thin material of his wool trousers was stretched over what Lupin couldn’t help but think of as a very alluring bulge. In fact, Lupin had spent the last ten minutes thinking about that bulge and not about his next move.
“Lupin, if you don’t stop staring at my crotch and make a move, we’re going to be here all night.”
Squashing the dozen things that came to mind, Lupin reached out and moved his knight.
“If you’re not going to pay attention, there’s no point in playing.” Snape waved at his castle which moved over, picked up the knight, and flung him off the board. “Check mate.”
Lupin rubbed his hands over his face and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes.
Snape got up, crossed to the window ledge, turned, and leaned against it. He gripped his upper arms with his opposite hands and crossed his ankles.
“Why are you here?” His voice was soft.
Lupin sat up and blinked.
“You throw me out of your bed, and then you come here and flirt with me. What do you want?”
Snape’s posture was pure defense. Lupin wanted to get this right. He decided truth was the best way to go. “I want to get to know you.”
Snape’s eyes narrowed. “I would have said you knew me rather well.”
Lupin wanted to stand, to pace, but forced himself to remain seated. “It’s true, I know every mole, every scar on your body.” He kept his voice gentle. “I know how to make you scream, how to make you beg. I know what you look like in the depths of a passion so strong you are lost.” He wasn’t sure Snape was breathing. “But I don’t know what you read for pleasure. What makes you laugh, what music you like, what you hate, what you love, what you fear.”
Snape was still as a statue. Lupin waited, barely breathing.
“Why do you wish to know?” His voice was curiously flat.
Lupin took a deep breath, then shook his head. “I don’t know, Severus. I’ve never wanted to know these things about anyone before.”
Snape dropped his eyes to the tips of his polished boots.
“I don’t even know if you snore.” Lupin gave a short, mirthless laugh. “You’ve never slept when you’ve been with me.” He shrugged. “Except for a few hours in a chair, which hardly count.”
Snape shifted uneasily. “You discarded me, Lupin. That doesn’t sound like the actions of an ‘interested’ man.”
“I did not discard you.” Lupin took a deep breath. “I couldn’t give you what you wanted.” He swallowed the sound of desperation that was trying to creep into his voice. “I wasn’t getting what I wanted.”
“Which is what, exactly. This?” Snape gestured around the room. “We’re back to the pickled pig and the dusty books?”
Lupin sighed. “No, Snape. You. I wanted... I still want, you. Not just your obedience, not just your body.” He gripped his hands between his knees. “I want the man who gets so engrossed in his reading that he starts talking to the author. I want the man with the quick wit and razor tongue.” He softened his voice. “I want the man who brought me healing potions and the offer of a massage, the man who held me, unbidden, while my transformation tore me apart. I want the man I see in the unguarded moments when you come, when your face forgets to scowl, and you cry my name.” Lupin shrugged. “I want it all.”
Snape shifted on the sill. “So, you gave up what you did have, for something you don’t even know you can have?”
“We weren’t going anywhere.” Lupin’s voice was soft.
“And you really think there is somewhere for us to go?” Snape’s voice was incredulous. “And that playing chess will get us there?”
Lupin studied Snape’s closed face. “I don’t know, but it was all I could think of. I wanted your company, but I couldn’t deceive you any longer, couldn’t take your gift of submission when I couldn’t repay it as you wished.”
That seemed to catch Snape by surprise. He walked forward, withdrew his wand and gave it a casual wave. The chess men flew to a box on one of the bookshelves, laid themselves neatly inside and pulled the lid shut. The board flew to a corner, coming to rest on its edge between a file cabinet and the wall.
“What do you want, Severus? Aside from being fucked boneless, that is.” Lupin gave a small smile. “What can I give you that will take the place of the pain? What is it your soul needs?”
Snape turned his back on Lupin. It was a long moment before he spoke. “I have to get some sleep.”
Lupin rose, sensing further attempts at discussion would be fruitless. “Of course.” He stretched, went to the fireplace and gathered a handful of Floo powder. He turned to Snape, who was now rearranging something on his desk. “Shall I come back?”
Snape gave a small shrug. “If you wish.”
Lupin waited until Snape turned toward him. “You know.” His voice was soft. “You won’t win so easily next time.”
One elegant eyebrow arched. “Is that a fact?”
Lupin let his face relax into a grin. “You can bet on it.”
“And you have something worthwhile to wager?”
The sarcasm stung for a split second until Lupin remembered Snape’s earlier remark. He smiled. “I might.”
He turned, tossed in the powder and stepped into the flames.
The following Thursday, around supper time, Arthur stopped by on his way home with a package from Molly. They visited over tea in the kitchen for a bit, enjoying some of the cake Molly had sent.
As soon as Arthur had gone, Lupin hurried upstairs to change. He didn’t want to be late to Snape’s. When he entered his room, he heard an impatient tapping at the window. A gray owl stood on the sill, ruffling her feathers and looking none too pleased. Lupin took the note she had brought, gave her a treat, and eagerly opened the scroll. He didn’t need the single ‘S’ at the bottom to tell him who it was from. The cramped writing was familiar.
Do not come. I am otherwise engaged.
Lupin turned it over. Nothing.
He ran a hand through his hair and sank into the chair by the desk. Until the full disappointment hit him, he had not realized how much he was looking forward to the weekly visit.
I am otherwise engaged.
What the hell did that mean? It better not mean...
Lupin got up and paced, then with a disgusted noise, threw the parchment into the fire. Arthur had invited him for a late supper. He grabbed some Floo powder and went. Severus Snape was not his only social option.
****************************************
to be continued in Part 2, Chapter 3