They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

It takes all of a day before Severus is called out of class to see the Headmaster. Housemates and the curious Ravenclaws they take History of Magic with watch as he goes to Albus, who stands patiently in the threshold of the classroom. The man's expression is pleasant, but his eyes do not shine with any kind of amusement or joy. He's keeping up appearances for Severus's fellow students and is far from happy to be here.

"Hello, Mr. Snape. Would you care to come with me?"

Severus frowns. "Do I have a choice?"

Albus's lips twitch. Though, Severus is quite sure it's not because he finds his words funny.

"Come."

Reluctantly, Severus falls in step behind the man and follows him to his office.

-O-

On his side of the desk, the headmaster has his hands steepled in front of him. Albus's eyes are solemn as he stares into Severus's own. As for Severus, he keeps his hands tucked beneath his thighs and says nothing as he casually pushes forward thoughts, images, and memories that have nothing to do with what he knows Albus is looking for inside of his mind. Eventually, the old man sighs.

"Well, young man?" he asks. "Why do you think more familiars will die or disappear?"

Pleased at winning the battle of minds, Severus says, "It only makes sense, sir."

Albus raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

He nods. "Familiars die, that's normal. Them meeting untimely ends isn't too uncommon either. But for one to be killed in a school for children? That is quite odd. As I'm sure you've established, Montague gets on well enough with others. Thus his owl wasn't killed because of a grudge. If not because of a grudge, then why was it killed? I thought about it. I think it's because the person who murdered Montague's familiar likes killing."

The headmaster stares some more at Severus. He subtly brings up his occlumency shields in response. Frustration begins to pull at the corners of the headmaster's eyes. "That's quite a clever conclusion to come to," Albus says.

"Hmm," is all Severus says.

Albus asks, "And what makes you think it's a first year?"

Severus nearly smirks. "No familiars died last year, did they? And I haven't heard anything about murders happening before I came to Hogwarts. So, it's new. The only new people in the castle are the firsties." He cocks his head with fake thoughtfulness. "And the defense professor. But he's a mate of yours, isn't he sir? I think if you knew he liked killing familiars you wouldn't have asked him to be a professor here."

"Another astute observation," the old man murmurs. Leaning closer, he asks, "But surely, a clever boy like you, can see how unlikely it is an eleven-year-old broke an owl's neck? The familiar didn't look like it had been in a struggle before its death, which means its neck was broken with a spell. The likelihood of a first year knowing such a spell is quite slim."

He frowns at Albus in response. Is this some kind of trap? Has the old man heard about the "unknown" spells Severus used on his housemates last year? His arsehole dormmates probably did tell him (or Slughorn) about the spells while being interviewed earlier in the week.

"You would be surprised by what an eleven-year-old can know," Severus replies, making sure to be purposefully vague.

The headmaster is undeterred. "What do you mean?"

Severus shifts in his seat. "Not every student who comes to Hogwarts is innocent to the world's darkness." Realizing he does not like the turn of this conversation in the slightest, Severus asks, "Sir, please can I go? I told you what you wanted to know. I really need to get to my next class. It's only if I'm there I'll stay at the top of my year."

Albus does not appear happy with the idea of just letting their conversation drop, but he dips his head all the same. "Of course, Mister Snape."

Severus almost jumps up from his seat, he's so relieved that the old man has agreed to let him leave. "Thank you, Headmaster."

He doesn't look back as he all but runs from Albus's office.

-O-

"Some Slytherin girls were rabbiting about the Headmaster taking you out of history of magic," Lily says as he slips into his seat beside her in transfiguration.

He looks around the room quickly. While a few Slytherins look his way, they don't appear to be actively trying to listen in to his and Lily's conversation. As for the Gryffindors… They're all too busy watching the Marauders as they make fools of themselves near the front of the room. "He kept trying to use legilimency on me."

Lily's eyes go wide. "What? Why!"

He grabs her hand. "Shh!"

She has the decency to look embarrassed when a couple of Slytherins look their way. Severus leans in and says quietly, "He does it quite a bit when he's dealing with serious student matters. It's almost a fool-proof way to find out if a student is lying, after all." He can't help the bit of smugness that comes to his voice as he says, "Except it doesn't work on me. I'm a better legilimen and occlumen than he is."

"Oh," Lily says, sounding both sad and lost.

He gives her hand, which is still in his grasp, a squeeze. "It's okay, really. I know why he does it – I even used it a time or two during my stint as Headmaster. Albus is responsible and careful. He'd never use it if it weren't absolutely necessary." He gestures to himself. "And if we look at this from his perspective, he was right to use it on me. I'm not trustworthy."

"You are too!" Lily argues.

He shakes his head. "It's okay, Lily. I'm fine. I don't blame him. He did what he thought best. I'm not going to say his best is always right, but for this situation, I agree with what he was trying to do. The accusations I was throwing around with Slughorn… They would be very concerning to hear from what you think is a normal, clever, quiet student."

Lily still looks unsure, a little hurt, and unhappy. "McGonagall isn't here yet. Do you want to cut class? I don't think I can deal with all of this right now."

He shrugs. "Alright."

-o-O-o-

"Ah, Severus-darling!" Narcissa greets when he finally returns to Slytherin's dorms well past student curfew. A few of the older students who are still awake look their way at the teenager's affectionate greeting, but say nothing. They are becoming quite used to Narcissa's attention toward him. While he's sure their thoughts haven't much changed from the first time they saw Narcissa smile at him, they know better than to voice it. Narcissa is a Black and if she so wanted, she could make their lives Hell.

He follows her with his eyes as she almost waltzes toward him and goes tense when she embraces him. "Thank you," she murmurs into his ear. "Sirius listened and he talked back. It was wonderful. I finally feel as if I'm starting to understand him."

Severus raises one hand and pats the spot between Narcissa's shoulder blades. "It was no trouble."

She pulls back. "If you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask. What you've given me is invaluable."

He smiles. Can't help it, really. A favor from Narcissa Black soon-to-be Malfoy is a rare and precious thing. He knows when he needs it, it will be life-saver. "Thank you."

She takes him by the shoulder then, giving him a little push toward his dorm. "Now, off to bed with you! If you're out past curfew again, I'll have to take house points from you. And as we both know, your house points are my house points and I hate to lose them!"

"Yes, Madam," Severus calls back.

Narcissa makes a noise somewhere between a scoff and a chortle. "It's Miss you beastly little brat!"

That Dumbledore section took up most of this chapter, huh? I hope you all aren't disappointed with the Narcissa scene. I figured that talk the Blacks have would be done away in private – even from Severus.

Thank you a million for reading!