They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
For all her cleverness, Channing is no match for Albus. She's eleven and hardly knows what legilimency and occlumency are, let alone know how to do either. By the end of the day, she is expelled from Hogwarts. At dinnertime, it's all everyone's talking about. No one can quite believe such a sweet looking little girl is responsible for the murders of the familiars and a few even speculate she's been framed. When Regulus asks his opinion on the matter, Severus only has to glance to his side, where Sage sits, staring at his plate instead of eating, to know how he wants to answer.
"She did it," he says. Of course, Regulus attempts to press for more, as do several others, (his housemates are finally starting to see he knows a lot more than most of them combined) but he refuses to elaborate. The sooner they lose interest, the quicker Sage will return to himself. Severus pities the boy just enough to want exactly that.
-o-O-o-
After years of patrolling the halls, looking for students out past curfew, Severus knows exactly how to travel unseen through Hogwarts. When he arrives at his and Lily's classroom, he startles ever so slightly when he sees Lily is there. She sits on one of the desks, her knees drawn up against her chest, staring blankly out of one of the room's narrow windows. He eyes her warily. What has brought her here tonight? He wonders. Rarely does Lily come to their classroom after curfew. She's not nearly as good at sneaking through Hogwarts and rarely sees a point to. All of her hobbies and work she can do just as easily in her dorm as she can here.
Still watching her from the corner of his eye, Severus goes to the potion he has simmering on a desk a few down from the one Lily sits on. He turns up the heat on the potion. In a few minutes, he'll need to add thistle leaves and stir it anticlockwise six times. Until then…
"What are you doing up?" he asks.
Lily's head swivels around. Green eyes luminous in the dark, she whispers, "Sev?"
Severus rolls his eyes. Had she really not noticed him? "Yes."
"What–"
He gestures at the cauldron bubbling in front of him. Frowning at her, entirely unimpressed, he says, "The next step for my potion is coming up."
Lily chuckles. "Right," she mutters. "I forgot, 'potions wait for no man'."
"Damn right."
She says no more, only places her chin on her arms and watches Severus. Ignoring the itch her silence creates in him, Severus goes through the motions and completes the steps for his potion before once again lowering the temperature of it so it can simmer until the morning. When done, he crosses his arms and leans against another desk to face Lily.
Unable to hold it in anymore, he asks, "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep," his friend replies.
He cocks his head a little, curious. "Why not? Channing's been expelled. You don't have to worry about any more familiars dying."
"I know…" She bites her lip and looks away. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen to her now?"
Severus tenses. He doesn't want to answer. It will not bring her any peace.
When she notices his hesitancy, Lily looks back at him. His face must show his unease, because Lily's own expression pulls into one of worry. "Severus?" she whispers.
He drops his gaze to his feet. "Her family is both influential and rich," he says, "I have no doubts she will be a student of Beauxbatons or Durmstrang by this time next year."
"No!" Lily exclaims. "Her family should be getting her help!"
Severus frowns. "And risk it getting out to the public at large their daughter is a psychopath? I think not."
Her whole form slouches. It's as if he's just put a thousand pound burden on her back and Severus can't feel worse if he tried. Running her hands through her hair, Lily takes small, hiccuping breaths for a few minutes. When she finally seems to come back to herself a little, she asks, "What are we doing, Severus?"
He pushes away from the desk he's been leaning on. He starts to walk toward Lily, but stops about halfway and asks, "What do you mean?"
"We worked so hard to stop her from killing familiars, but now she's just going to go and do it to different children on the continent instead."
He sighs. "I know."
She buries her face in her arms and mumbles something. Severus can't make out much, though, he's quite sure she says "pointless" or "useless" at one point. Severus hurts for his friend. He wishes so badly he could make Lily feel better, but he doesn't think he can. All he can offer are platitudes at this point. Even so, he has to try.
Going over to Lily, he hops up on the desk beside her and says, "You have to focus on the big picture, Lily. Maybe we can't save all the familiars of children, but we can and are doing so many other good things. There are always going to be setbacks and losses, but no matter what, the future will be better." He lays a hand on her arm, causing her to peak out from the crook of her elbow. He studies her. "You get that we're not trying to create a Utopia, don't you? We're just trying to make something better than what we knew."
She lifts her head. Wiping at her eyes, she asks, "When did you become so good at pep talks?"
"I didn't know I was," he replies wryly.
Lily smiles at him. "You are, Severus." She leans over the desks and places a kiss on his cheek. "I'd be lost without you."
He flushes. "I wouldn't be much better off without you."
She smiles wider and then rests her head on his shoulder. After a moment, he puts his own head on top of Lily's. It's comfortable, being like this. He doesn't think he's felt this close to Lily since they were truly children. Feeling safer than he has in years, his eyes begin to droop and just as he thinks he's going to fall asleep, Lily whispers, "I'm glad it's you that came back in time with me."
"Me too," he mumbles, before finally dropping off to sleep.
-o-O-o-
"Severus?" he looks up from packing his trunk to see Sage staring down at him.
He scrutinizes the boy. His face is pinched and he keeps looking over his shoulder like he's afraid one of their dormmates will come in and catch them together. What exactly he's afraid their dormmates will see, he's not sure, but he's curious enough to play along for now. "Yes?"
"I was… I know we're not… Could I– we–"
"Spit it out, Sage," Severus says, cutting the boy's rambling off.
Sage winces. "Will you be upset if I write you over the summer? I was thinking, if you won't be, maybe you'd like to come stay at my family's home for a bit too?"
Severus considers this. He's actually a bit surprised the boy even wants to write him, let alone invite him over to his home. The Montague family may not be as prominent as the Black, Longbottom, or Crouch families, but they're standing is still quite good. If it got around the son of a disgraced line actually stayed over at their home, it's quite likely the Montague family would be regarded with suspicion for quite a while after. In the end, he decides the harm of writing is fairly minimal. He lived through Sirius's letters last year, and he's quite sure Sage's won't be half as much trouble to slog through.
"You can write me," he agrees, "only you'll have to send your letters to me to Lily's home. My father doesn't like seeing owls around the house."
The boy's brows pull together. "I thought it was a rumor you actually lived in the Muggle world."
He slams his trunk shut and turns around to face the boy. Wearing a face that just dares him to say something bigoted, he tells Sage, "It's not."
Sage starts to fiddle with his wand, looking between it and Severus. "Lily won't mind?"
"No. She received all my letters from Sirius last year." He smirks at the boy. "What's a dozen more?"
He smiles back shyly. "If you're certain."
"I am," Severus replies. Feeling slightly charitable (and maybe hopeful, if he's honest), he offers, "When I get home, I'll ask my mother if she is alright with me spending a weekend at your place."
The boy's whole body relaxes and a real smile lights up his face. "Yes, alright. Brilliant." He reaches for a quill and some parchment from his satchel. "What's Lily's address?"
We have reached the end of the school year. Thoughts? It doesn't feel too jumpy this chapter, does it?
Thank you for reading :)