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Orion's Pointer by Faraday [Reviews - 1]

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AN:Thank you, JKR, for not suing us.



Lupin was starting to panic. He’d been standing by the wall for just over twenty minutes, and there was still no sign of them. It was difficult for him to appear inconspicuous because he wanted to pace back and forth as an outlet for his anxiety. He stuck his hands in his pockets to stop himself from chewing his nails. It certainly wasn’t for warmth; his pockets had so many holes in them that they let in the chilly air like a welcome guest, and the worn material was soaked from the rain.

Lupin had questioned Dumbledore’s decision to let this meeting go ahead in his absence. Surely it could be left for another time, Lupin had asked, but Dumbledore assured him that there would be no problem and that Parr would be at the pre-arranged meeting place at the allotted time. When Lupin found out who was bringing Parr instead of Dumbledore, his sense of foreboding only strengthened.

Snape. Why did it have to be Snape? Lupin had asked as much.

“I don’t have any other option, Remus,” the Headmaster had replied from the fireplace, more than a little exasperated. “I need Minerva here to help me with this latest development with the Tournament, Alastor has to keep an eye on Harry, and no one else here is strong enough to keep Chara in check. Severus is the only one from the Order here who can do it.”

“But what about Kingsley or Tonks?” Lupin countered. “They know as much about Chara as–”

“Remus, stop fretting,” Dumbledore had interrupted. “It’ll be fine. Chara will be fine.”

“It’s not Chara I’m worried about,” Lupin had muttered after Dumbledore’s head had disappeared from the fire.

He snatched his hand away from his mouth, realising that he had been chewing at one of his nails unconsciously, and stuck his hand back in his pocket.

Snape. Damn it, he’d turn up late just to annoy the spit out of Lupin. And then there would be the inevitable smirks and snide comments when he did turn up, and Lupin’s patience was running short with only a week left until the full moon. He checked himself as he started to pace back and forth. At least the laneway was empty, thanks to the rain. He pulled his ratty coat a little tighter around him in a futile effort to stay dry.

Where the hell were they?

A thought occurred to him. Maybe Chara had lost her temper and given Snape a new scar to add to his collection? Lupin’s mood brightened noticeably at that possibility. She knew that Snape had deliberately let slip about Lupin’s lycanthropy so that he would have to leave Hogwarts, and it had taken Lupin some hours to convince Chara not to snap Snape’s fingers backwards in retribution.

The Potions master could never resist a vicious dig at someone if the opportunity arose—perhaps he’d made that mistake with Chara.

There was a movement off down the dark end of the laneway that caught Lupin’s eye, and he turned towards it hopefully. Sure enough, there was Snape striding along looking like he’d mow anyone down who had the misfortune to get in his way. Lupin saw Parr trotting easily behind him and immediately relaxed. In the back of his mind, he’d had the unsettling thought that she might’ve gone AWOL, leaving Snape with no idea why or what he should do.

“Where have you been?” Lupin said through clenched teeth. “I’ve been waiting twenty minutes!”

Snape stared at him sourly. “You’re one to talk about punctuality. You’re half an hour late, and now I’m soaked!”

“I got held up,” Lupin stressed back.

“Lamp-posts to sniff?” Snape sneered at him, flicking his head to get his damp hair out of his eyes.

Lupin stared at him stonily. “Don’t be fatuous, Severus.” The man was looking even paler than usual, which usually meant he was especially angry about something or ill. Lupin honestly believed Snape ironed those lines into his face deliberately. Being out in the rain had no doubt soured his mood beyond the usual rebarbative manner. “You look unwell. Not had any trouble with your fingers, have you?”

Chara laughed quietly behind Snape.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Lupin replied with a tight smile. He turned to Parr. “Chara, are you all right?”

Parr brought her gloved right hand up to her opposing shoulder, first two fingers extended.

“Yes, Remus, I’m fine.”

Lupin mirrored her gesture to his right shoulder, bringing a suspicious look from Snape. Lupin held out his hand to him.

“What do you want, a tip?” Snape challenged.

Lupin exhaled heavily. "Dumbledore gave you something to give to me,” he stated in as calm a voice as he could.

Snape’s eyes glittered at him as he brought the pouch out of his pocket slowly and held it out just short of Lupin’s outstretched hand. Lupin’s temper broke, and he snatched the pouch off Snape.

“I’m sorry, Chara, I know that was rude, but the playground antics will go on all evening otherwise,” he apologised quietly.

“It’s all right, Remus, I quite understand,” she replied, drifting over to him smoothly. She turned back towards Snape and crossed index and middle fingers of each hand over each other, fingertips pointed to the ground. Lupin wiped away a flash of surprise across his face while Snape just looked at Parr with an unreadable expression.

“Thank you, Professor. The inconvenience to you has not gone unnoticed.” She bowed slightly in his direction before moving to stand behind Lupin on his right side. “Come on, Remus. Let’s go and get drunk.”

“Maybe after the lesson, Chara,” he suggested with a smile and a sidelong glance at her. He nodded once at Snape. “Severus.”

Snape narrowed his black eyes at him and said nothing. Lupin and Parr walked away from him, leaving him standing in the rain that had just begun to lessen to a Scotch mist.



A/N: Froggie-becky continues to be a wonderful beta. My thanks to those still on the journey through this story, and to lunafish for patiently correcting my rubbish punctuation!

Orion's Pointer by Faraday [Reviews - 1]

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