Patience is a Virtue
A tall boy walked through the doorway and into a large foyer. He sported shoulder length dark hair to match his onyx colored eyes. He strode to the end of the foyer and took a right. He proceeded down the hall until he heard muffled sounds coming from the door on his left; Sawyer's door. Severus sighed and knocked before walking in. He found the boy curled up on his bed, sobbing.
"What's wrong with you?" the fifteen-year-old questioned, coming to stand a couple of feet from his younger brother.
"I hate him," the younger boy sniffed.
"What'd he do now?" Severus asked, coming to sit down on the edge of Sawyer's bed.
"I…I was organizing…I couldn't help it…I just had to and he came in and started messing it all up. I told him to stop but he wouldn't," the thirteen-year-old bawled.
"Lousy bastard," Severus snarled.
"Well stop crying it's not going to do anything," he remarked.
"Can you talk to him for me Sev?" Sawyer asked, looking dismal.
"Yeah alright," his older brother answered and got up.
Severus left the room and went in search of his father. He found him in the sitting room, drinking a cup of coffee. Severus advanced on the older man with a determined air about him.
"What do you want?" Tobias questioned as he saw his oldest son come to stand in front of him.
"Why can't you just leave the kid alone? He wasn't hurting anything. It's just what he does," Severus snapped angrily.
"He thinks he's got some blasted mental problem and he's just looking for attention. That's all. So why should I let him play his damned games?" his father spat back.
"He really is sick you arse! But you don't give a damn about anyone but yourself! You can't see two inches past your fucking nose!" Severus hissed, his fists balling up.
"How dare you take that tone with me boy?" Tobias roared, sending his coffee mug flying towards his son.
"Protego!" Severus growled with an almost imperceptive flick of his wrist, sending the mug to the floor.
"Clean that up!" the older man demanded of the stain that was now seeping into the rug.
"Do it yourself old man," Severus seethed as he stormed back down the hall to his own room, slamming the door so it reverberated throughout the entire first floor.
Two weeks later, Severus and Sawyer found themselves back at Hogwarts for another year. The train ride there was fairly uneventful, other than a brief interruption by Potter and Black. Severus had nearly hexed them into the coming week for bothering them.
"They're prats," Sawyer commented after they'd left.
"Really? I didn't know that," Severus drawled in a mocking tone.
Sawyer let out a half-hearted laugh but it sounded more like an asthma attack. He drummed his fingers on the window sill,, his eyes fixated on the rain droplets rolling down the glass.
"One, two, three, four, five, six," he counted in rapid succession.
Severus cleared his throat loudly which tore his younger brother's gaze from the window. He hung his head and blushed.
"I'm sorry. I just…they made me anxious. I…god I hate this!" he exploded.
"I understand," Severus said in an uncustomary gentle tone, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Sometimes it feels like you're the only one who accepts it and tries to help me," Sawyer murmured sadly.
"Well we better get changed, we're almost there," Severus commented, changing the subject.
Soon, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station and the students departed. Severus, Sawyer and a couple other Slytherins grabbed a carriage and rode up in silence to the castle. They suffered through the sorting ceremony and opening feast. Surprisingly it only took Sawyer about twenty minutes to get to the Slytherin Common Room. He received odd looks from some of the first years and whispers behind hands from older students but with Severus with him, it didn't seem to bother him.
Several weeks later, Sawyer was sitting in Transfiguration when the bell rang. He pushed his chair back and stood up, his left leg grazing the leg of the table. He picked up his bag and began to walk away but stopped, turned around and touched the table leg with his right. Several of his classmates who remained laughed at him. Professor McGonagall shooed them away with a glare.
"Sawyer, are you alright?" she asked gently.
"I…yes," he answered, taking a deep breath.
"It just didn't feel right so I had to go back and do it again," he muttered.
"I see. Well come on, I don't want you to be late for your next class," she said and guided him past the other desks so that he wouldn't touch them.
That afternoon he was walking down the hall when he noticed the stones on the ground and began counting them. Preoccupied with his current impulse, he didn't watch where he was going, walking straight into Sirius Black.
"Watch where you're walking," Sirius spat.
"Seven, eight. No. Now I have to start again," he mumbled and turned around only to be met by James.
"Aw is the ickle baby upset," he snickered, giving Sawyer a shove, sending his bag and books flying. They scattered throughout the hallway, rolls of parchment going everything.
Wordlessly, Sawyer bent down and began to gather his fallen school things, trying desperately to organize them. He found himself shoving a potions assignment in his History of Magic book and nearly broke into tears. Everything was wrong. He couldn't take it. His head was pounding and he could hear James and Sirius laughing. Suddenly he felt himself being pulled up.
"The ickle Slytherin is going to cry Padfoot," James sniggered as he shoved Sawyer towards Sirius.
"Does he need his Mummy?" Sirius mocked as Sawyer was sent stumbling towards James.
"Leave me alone," Sawyer protested only to find himself upside down.
"Put him down Potter, now," came the familiar drawl of Severus Snape.
"Why don't you make me Snivellus," James snapped as Sirius rounded on their usual prey.
Severus pointed his wand at his brother and muttered the counter curse, setting him on his feet before he charged James, knocking him to ground. His fists flew, connecting with James' face.
"Get off him you grease ball," Sirius spat, pulling Severus off of his friend.
Severus spun about and landed a fist in Sirius' gut. Black stumbled backwards, giving Severus enough time to immobilize James.
"You leave him the hell alone Black. You don't know what life is like for him," Severus seethed, his wand mere centimeters from the Gryffindor's throat.
"Although I'm sure there's a spell that could solve that," he added with a snarl.
"Get out of my sight," he concluded shoving Sirius down the hall.
James had finally gained use of his limbs and stumbled after his friend. The crowd that had gathered soon dispersed, leaving only Severus and Sawyer and the mess of school things.
"Do you want me to help you or do you want to do it?" Severus asked, bending down next to his brother.
"Did you mean all of that?" Sawyer questioned, trying to hold back tears.
"Sawyer, you're my brother. They have no right to treat you like rubbish because of something they don't understand. To be honest, I don't understand it but it's who you are. Maybe someday they can help you get rid of it but for now you do what you have to do," Severus remarked and stood up, stowing his wand in his pocket.
"I want you to help me," Sawyer stated softly.
"I'll do my best to not mess things up," Severus replied as he bent down and began handing parchment to his younger sibling.
"Can you get me that one right there?" Sawyer asked, pointing to a book.
"This one?" Severus asked, picking up the boy's Charms book.
"No, the one next to it…that one," he indicated.
Severus placed the Charms book down and picked up the Defense against the Dark Arts book. Sawyer nodded and Severus handed it over. Half an hour later everything was finally back in place and the two had only gotten into a minor spat over some rolls of parchment.
"Thanks," Sawyer said as they headed towards the Common Room.
"You're welcome," Severus responded.
"You're the greatest older brother anyone could have," Sawyer murmured, throwing his arms around his older sibling.
"Yeah uh thanks now get off," Severus muttered, shrugging the younger boy off.
"Sorry," Sawyer said as he paused to touch a stone with his right foot, for he had stepped on it originally with his left.
"You're something else," Severus remarked as they walked through the entrance and into the Common Room.