InsaneJournal

                When, exactly, did Heaven see fit to change everything about his life? He would have appreciated an official notice. His world was upside-down and he was being shaken; familiarity and sense were both dropping from his pockets unbidden. He was not particularly amused.

"Used to be a prince?" he said aloud. He slid under the duvet after kicking his new nice boots off. It curled in around him like an embrace. The Beast had been a prince. Prince Remus. When he had told him to call him that earlier, why hadn't he made that connection himself?

"The farmer's odd son, the guest of a prince." He smirked at how magic really was different from reality. His calloused hands were already softening, and it felt as if he'd known the castle and the Beast—Remus—for much more than a few days. It both thrilled and scared him.

That night he went out to the gap in the wall and felt the rain with his fingers, caught it in his mouth, soaked up a few drops with his hair. But it was not enough. He tried to use what power he had gained over the castle's magic to lessen whatever had blocked the rain.

Getting to his feet carefully, Remus walked out to the front of the wall to see Snape reaching for the rain. There was an odd stirring in his heart as his apprehension about Severus messing with the magic and getting away turned to appreciation for the gentle side of Severus that loved rain so much.

Limping a bit, he moved a bit closer to peel back the magical weather shield and heard Severus's cry of delight. He leaned against the thick, stone wall and smiled as his guest ran a bit, even danced a bit, ignoring the gap for the time being. Severus looked to be enjoying himself immensely so, with a sigh Remus left him to it. But as he headed back to the castle, Severus spotted him.

Severus ran to Remus. "Come," he said, pulling him into the wet patch. Remus's breath caught. He watched Severus take off his boots and splash in the puddle, pulling wet strands of hair off of his face, smiling softly at Remus, enticing Remus's affection further without hardly any effort.

When he became rather water-logged, Severus ran hands through his wet fur, along his neck, his hands, his face. Remus gasped inaudibly as he realized that he wanted Severus as much more than a simple palace guest. He wanted as much as he could possibly get from him. He wanted someone to love in the most sinful of ways.

Startled by this revelation about himself, Remus smiled benignly, but backed up from the wet patch of sky and ground. "I'll see you tomorrow, Severus," he said, peeling back more of the weather shield.

"Thank you," Severus said quietly, amongst the roll of distant thunder, to the light of flashes of awesome lightning, "Thank you."

Remus nodded acknowledgment, then wisely ran inside before he had the urge to kiss his Severus.

"You were alone for thirty years?"

"A little over that, actually."

"And I'm supposed to believe you're Prince Remus?"

"Do you require proof?"

Severus gave a curt nod and they stood from their chairs to go to the Mirror Room where the Beast told the mirror to show him Prince Remus and it showed him his own reflection. He sighed and turned away from the image to look at Severus. "Satisfied?"

"What did you look like before?" said Severus, adding an "Off," to the mirror so that it became like a blank, silver screen. Normally, it did not even reflect. As far as he had seen, there were very few mirrors in the castle.

"I'll show you," said Remus. They made their way to one of the long corridors filled with portraits of the royal family, eventually coming upon the one of Remus in human form.

Severus stared at the portrait for a long moment, and Remus asked him if he thought it looked like him. "Yes," Severus said, "I can see the resemblance." After he said it, it became even more true. They looked remarkably alike, the human and the beast. Both were handsome, he had to admit. "You really are a prince."

Remus smiled softly and gave Severus a pat on the shoulder. "Yes, I am."

"What are your favorite sorts of books, Remus?" asked Severus, trying to find a new book to read.

"Tragedy, and romance. Romantic tragedy, too. Horror. Mystery. Most types, I guess." He smiled softly.

"Non-fiction?"

"No. Afraid not."

"Ah. I noticed you don't have much of it."

Remus snapped his fingers and a bookshelf rose up from the floor. "In the study I do. Choose what you like." He gently took the fictional book Severus had been considering reading from his grasp and reshelved it along the far wall.

Severus settled down for a good read and did not complain much when Remus leaned over the back of his chair and read over his shoulder, idly playing with the ends of his hair.

When he thought too hard on the fact he was enjoying himself, possibly even more than he had in the village, he almost felt like a traitor. Therefore he avoided comparing the two ways of life, when he could, but it was in him to be so damn analytical that it was hard.

He still practiced his magic. He still practiced being nice to the items in the house, and nice to the Beast—Remus. Though, it was becoming harder and harder to find fault with Remus.

Remus's obsession was turning into care. As it got chillier, he would make sure Severus didn't spend too much time outside, and would make sure that when he played in the rain he took a bath and got warm. Despite the precautions, Severus managed to catch ill sometime near the beginning of November, and Remus was at his side.

He fed him warm broths for the stomach, cool cloths for the forehead, and kept the fire going in the grate. He even procured self-cleaning handkerchiefs and helped him dry his rather large nose. He even gave the boy a gentle massage that had him relaxed and softly moaning. Then he tucked him back in and called his bed in from his own room to sit on the ground next to Severus's.

When Severus recovered, he felt even more affectionate toward his captor. Not even his own mother had paid him that sort of attention when ill. He began looking forward to bathing, to wearing the nice clothes, to eating rich meals. He looked forward, even, to Remus's company. He stopped seeing it as a prison, and as more of a . . . what had Remus called it once? A household. It was their household, and Severus was okay with that. He even liked it. He would admit it to himself, if not to Remus. Bloody beast had a big enough head already.