Chapter 3: Slaughtering Guinea Pigs in the Name of Research


Remus Lupin stared in frustration at Severus Snape. The man had just dangled everything he’d ever wanted in front of his nose, and now he was going to snatch it away and seal it up in a box forever. No way! This could not be allowed to occur without a fight. His life was at stake here, and Lupin could fight very hard indeed for his life, his freedom! No twisted nasty Slytherin was going to stop him from attaining his goal…no sir!

An irate Lupin, hackles raised, claws extended, strode across the room and grabbed Snape angrily by the arm, turning him roughly to face him. “Oh, no, Severus! You can’t get away with this. If this potion could stop the transformations then you have to let me try it! Do you hear me? You have to! Or I swear I’ll ki…”

Snape’s eyes narrowed, and he stiffened in Lupin’s grasp. “You’ll what? Kill me? That would be helpful wouldn’t it? No Potions Master…no potion. Yes…perhaps that’s the way out of this dilemma after all.” He grasped the collar of his shirt and pulled it away from his throat. “All right, Wolf…rip out my throat if it’ll make you feel better. It won’t be the first time you’ve tried after all.”

Confusion spread across Lupin’s features. * What am I doing? Is Severus right? Do I want to kill him…over a cure? Perhaps. Would it help? No.*

Releasing his tight grip on Snape’s arm, Lupin sighed as his anger melted away as fast as it had overtaken him. “I have no intention of killing you, Severus. There’s a part of me that would find pleasure in it at the moment, though, I admit.”

Stepping away from the werewolf, Snape rubbed his abused arm, turned, and regarded him thoughtfully. “Yes, no doubt there is. Can’t you see that that proves my point? Most of the time you fancy yourself as a decent person…noble, honest, ready to do the right thing on every occasion.” The sarcasm in Snape’s voice grated on Lupin’s rather frayed nerves.

“Yet none of that prevents you from getting murderously angry when crossed. Imagine what might happen if with just a thought, your anger could trigger your transformation. Suddenly your adversary lies dead at your feet…because you couldn’t restrain yourself in a moment of rage. Is that truly what you want, Lupin?”

Lupin frowned.

“You’re allowed to exist in proper wizard society because your danger can be contained. This potion would remove that containment. Can you imagine the reaction of the Ministry of Magic to the idea of allowing werewolves the free run of society if they have the ability to trigger transformations at will? Well, I have no trouble imagining it! Frankly I’ve spent enough time working to stay out of Azkaban. Allowing this potion to get out would be nothing short of a one-way ticket to hell…if they even allowed me to live. So kill me if you must, Lupin, but threats will have no effect…I assure you.”

Following this logic to its end forced Lupin to lose his last vestige of hope. Obviously Snape meant what he said. “I’m sorry, Severus. I suppose I can see your point. Would it truly be that easy to trigger a transformation? That’s not an agony that many would choose to go through on a whim.”

Snape sighed. “Theoretically…yes. All it should take is a mental trigger to activate the potion’s effects there by accessing or suppressing the wolf side of your personality.”

“You know, I can’t believe that most werewolves would be that eager to trigger transformations. It’s not like transfiguration, after all…it’s a long, drawn out, excruciatingly painful process.”

Snape looked uncomfortable at the thought. “I wouldn’t know, fortunately.”

Lupin’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t know? You mean you’ve never witnessed a transformation?”

“Good heavens, no! Why on earth would I want to?”

“I just assumed…I mean…for all the years you’ve supposedly studied Lycanthropy, you know remarkably little about what it’s actually like to be a werewolf.”

Snape frowned. “I had no desire to encourage closer contact. My motivation was to find a way to eliminate the threat posed by werewolves. Closer contact with your kind hardly seemed a practical way to remain safe. I’ve had one look down the long dark tunnel at impending death…that was quite enough, thank you.”

Lupin stared at Snape’s pale face curiously. “You’re afraid.”

Snape exploded. “Of course, I’m afraid, you idiot! Any person with an ounce of gray matter knows that being anywhere near a werewolf when it transforms is a quick route to the afterlife! That’s why I’ve devoted so much time and energy to trying to develop something that would eliminate the danger…something to tame the beast. This potion just isn’t the answer. I hoped it might be, but it isn’t.” Snape took a calming breath and walked away from Lupin again to once more look out at the soothing ocean.

Lupin walked softly up behind Snape. “You know, I don’t think it’s that simple, Severus. If fear was your only motivation, then you’d do what so many others do. You’d hunt us down, kill us…try to destroy any chance we have to live in society. You’d fight against us anyway you could. Instead you work hard to try to help…you get frustrated when it doesn’t work…you care, Severus…why can’t you just admit it?”

Snape closed his eyes and took a deep breath. *Damn! * “Because it’s not true. I do not care what happens to you, Lupin. I care very much what happens to me. I’m not about to go around and murder werewolves…murder is still a crime for which I don’t wish to pay the price. Nor do I wish to waste my time protesting to the idiots who run the wizarding community about werewolves. I am a Potions Master. Crafting potions is what I do. Usually, I’m very good at it. Also, I’ve always found it difficult to refuse a challenge…even when it would be in my best interest to do so. A character flaw, perhaps. Finding a cure or at least a foolproof treatment for Lycanthropy is a challenge…one no one else has succeeded at yet. I find I can’t turn that down.”

Lupin’s speculative look was practically boring a hole in the back of Snape’s head. *Right. Why don’t you look me in the eye when you tell me how little you care, Severus?* “Okay, whatever you say. Do you intend to continue your research on this potion?”

Snape’s shoulders relaxed a bit, and he turned around to face Lupin, his face a mask of expressionlessness. “Yes, certainly I expect to continue with it. I believe it’s possible to create a potion that would allow suppression of the wolf without allowing triggering of the transformation as well. I fully intend to continue to try to produce such a potion.”

Lupin nodded. “Okay, but I still say you’re going to have to test this potion first. You aren’t even sure if it’ll work or not. How can you move on to the next step if you aren’t sure exactly where this step took you?”

Snape hesitated. “It’s too dangerous.”

Lupin shrugged. “You just got done telling me that you don’t care what happens to me, so how can you object to my volunteering to test the potion? I promise, if it allows me to trigger a change, I’ll never ask about it again. I’ll give you an honest evaluation of the potions effects, and I won’t hold it against you if it has harmful side effects. What’s the worst that could happen? One less werewolf for you to worry about.”

“You’d truly be willing to take that chance, after everything I’ve told you about the potion?” Snape frowned thoughtfully at Lupin.

“Look, I practically stopped listening after you said it could permit me to suppress the transformation. That’s all I care about, Severus. Okay, it’s dangerous…it could hurt me…even kill me. But damn it, if it’ll help you perfect a potion that means I never have to transform into a wolf again…it’s worth any pain, any danger…even death. Trust me, Severus. I’ll take any chance to help you succeed. You have my word.”

Snape didn’t look too happy about this, but he obviously couldn’t turn Lupin down. How often do guinea pigs show up on your doorstep and offer to be slaughtered in the name of research anyway?

“Very well, Lupin. I’ll allow you to test the potion. Now is as good a time as any I suppose. The full moon is tomorrow night. If you take the potion today we can test out both your ability to trigger a change and your ability to suppress one in rapid succession to each other. I’ll need to prepare a place to confine you in the basement.”

Lupin frowned. “Confine me? You mean like a cage? I assumed that this potion would allow me to keep my mental faculties just like the Wolfsbane Potion does. How else could I trigger or suppress anything?”

Snape rolled his eyes. “Yes…theoretically it would. That’s one of the things we’re testing out. The exact effect of this potion is unknown, Lupin. That’s why we call it… a test! Do you really expect me to just give you the potion and hope for the best? Give me a little credit, please. You’ll be locked up or this test won’t happen. What’ll it be?”

“Just can’t stay out of the dungeon for long, huh, Severus?” Lupin said with a grin. “Okay, Dr. Frankenstein…lead me to my cell.”
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