They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

Severus did not like Mrs. Montague's plan. He voices this, "This is a bad idea."

"Hush, child," she replies. Checking her makeup one last time in a hallway mirror, she tells him, "Everything will be fine."

He frowns. Severus has been talked down to a great deal over the past few years, but there's something about how Sage's mother speaks to him that rubs him wrong especially. Perhaps it's because she talks to her own children the same way – one of whom is technically a man. She's too cocky by half, no matter how one looks at it, however. Her certainty that her plan will work makes him want to scoff aloud every time she says it.

When Severus was old enough to finally see avenues and prospects previously unknown to him, he often attempted to talk her into leaving father during her last couple of years on earth during his first lifetime. He even offered to quit his schooling and support her (that suggestion had gone over as well as expected, she screamed at him, and slapped him, and told him to never dare mention quitting Hogwarts again). Severus just doesn't see how Mrs. Montague's plan is going to be any more effective.

"She loves him, you know," he reminds her.

The woman scowls. "He's sucking the life out of your mother, making her pretend to be something she's not!"

Severus shrugs his shoulders tersely. "I'm just warning you."

"Hmph," is all she has to offer in reply. Reaching out for his hand next, she says to Severus, "Now, come here, pet. It's high time we leave to talk some sense into your mother."

Silently, he sighs. Then, with great reluctance, he puts his hand in his distant cousin's grasp and waits for the familiar pull of disapparition at his navel to begin.

-O-

When he walks into his home on Spinner's End, his mother is nowhere to be found. Taking the Montague woman into his family's kitchen, he says, "Sit."

Mrs. Montague's lips curl at the sight of the mismatched chairs at their kitchen table. But she sits nonetheless. As her eyes rove around the room, she says, "This place is very… quaint."

"It's a hole," Severus counters. Finished with filling the kettle with water, he sets it on the stove to heat up. Turning back around to face Sage's mother he says, "Tea should be ready in a few minutes."

She nods. Then, after a few moments of silence, she asks, "Where is your mother, do you think?"

"Doing a bit of shopping, I suspect."

"Ah."

Silence reigns until the kettle whistles a few minutes later. Hopping up from his seat at the table, Severus pours them each a cup and just as he's setting it down on the table, he hears the front door open. Before Mrs. Montague can say anything, he puts a finger to his mouth in a sign for her to keep quiet. He next hurries to the kitchen's doorway to peek into the hall. He relaxes slightly when he sees it is, in fact, his mother.

Dad rarely comes home early from work, but it is not entirely unheard of for him to pop by for lunch on occasion. Usually, when Severus was very small, it was in an attempt to catch his mother teaching Severus "witchy" things.

"Hello, Mum," Severus calls.

Her lips quirk. A sign of a good mood. Shame that it's not to last. "You're back," she says. "How was your visit with your mate?"

Coming out of the kitchen, he goes and takes the small bundle of groceries from her. "Good," he answers. Then, softer, in hardly a whisper, he informs her, "Mrs. Montague is here to see you."

Mum's eyes widen with horror. "No," she gasps.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes. He means it too. He never meant for things to go like this. "She was talking about an Uncle Demitri and Aunt Etta and I had to know. I asked if their last name was Prince." He steps out of her reach and says once more, "I'm sorry."

She looks at him. Her expression is an amalgamation of so many negative emotions Severus can't even begin to pick one out among the dozens pinching her face. "It's fine," she mumbles. "I should have warned you ahead of time that we are related." Walking in his direction, she takes the groceries back from him. "Why don't you go see Lily, hm? I'm sure she's dying to hear about your time with the Montagues."

"Mum–"

"Now," she orders.

Severus glowers. Whatever's to come, it's not something he should be shut out of. He just knows he's going to be a topic of contention between the women and he'd rather be there to offer his input on his fate. For now, as much as he hates it, he'll be better off if he pretends to agree. If he does, he can sneak around the street and crawl over the garden wall and listen in from underneath the open kitchen window.

"Fine!" he spits. Feigning more anger than he really feels, he stomps out the front door. But as soon as he's outside, he's sprinting in the direction of the street behind the houses on Spinner's end. He's not going to miss more of what's to come than he absolutely has to.

-O-

"Vesta."

"You could look a little happier to see me, Eileen! It has been nearly fourteen years since I last saw you."

"I didn't invite you here."

"Since when did it become a crime for family to pop by to see how one of their own is doing?"

"I'm not family. I was disowned."

"Your grandfather's dead now. If you came home, I'm sure your father would reinstate you into the family. He never wanted you cut from the tree in the first place."

"If that was true, you think he would have fought Grandfather harder about my disownment."

"And bring even more shame to the Prince name? It would have never recovered its reputation!"

"How terrible. A ruined reputation! Do you even realize how contradictory that is to everything we were taught growing up? It was nearly family motto, 'It's not what people think, but what you do, that matters'. And you know what? I've done something that matters. I have a son. A clever, clever son. He's going to do something great."

"You always were trouble. Always stepping over boundaries the rest of us knew never to cross."

"Once, you said you envied that about me."

"I did."

"Do you hate me?"

"Never for long. Certainly not after fourteen years."

"I… I have missed you. I've missed you more than everyone else."

"I've missed you as well. You were like a little sister to me, I loved you like one. Love you like one even now."

"Vesta."

"Come here, shh…"

The soft sound of muffled sobs filters out to Severus. It scares him. His mother rarely ever cried when he was growing up the first time, and when she did, it meant something was very, very wrong. Like father took all the money for food or heating and spent it on a night at the pub instead.

"What?" Mrs. Montague said after a time.

Voice thick, but firm, his mum says, "I'm not leaving with you."

"What!"

"I know why you're here. I'm not a dunderhead. I'm telling you right now I am not leaving. Tobias is imperfect, but I love him."

"Your son says you row almost daily with him! And I know that is not the worst of it, even if it is all he would admit to being wrong here!"

"I'm not leaving my husband. I said until death do us part and I will stand by my promise!"

"What about your son? This house is not safe for him!"

"I can protect my own just fine!"

"I'm not leaving him here."

"He's not your child, you have no control over him!"

"He is a little boy and I will not leave a child here to suffer. You have two choices right now. You and your son can come home with me, or you can stay here and let me take him home with me. If you refuse to pick one I will inform your father of the circumstances and he will use his connections in the Ministry to have the Aurors remove Severus."

"You bitch!"

"What will it be, Eileen?"

"Take him. I'm going to love it when you have to return here for him in a week after he runs away. Severus knows who his family is."

At his mother's declaration, Severus realizes he can't listen anymore. Won't. This is something he could have never predicted would happen in a million lifetimes. Getting to his feet, Severus doesn't even bother to try and be sneaky as he clambers over the garden wall and races in the direction of Lily's home. He needs to see her now.

-O-

"Lily!" he yells at the sight of his friend.

The girl looks up from the book she's reading on her house's front step. When she first meets his gaze, her expression is joyful. It quickly changes to one of worry, however, when she sees his own face.

Getting up, she asks, "What's happened? What's wrong?"

Breathing hard, Severus wheezes, "Mum– Mrs. Montague– they–" He can't get it out. In his frustration, his eyes start to tear up as he continues to sputter over his words, gasping and fighting for air.

Lily, looking more scared by the moment, begins to pat his back and whisper a litany of, "Calm down, calm down, calm down…"

Severus stops trying to talk and focuses instead on being able to breathe. A few minutes later, he no longer feels like he's drowning and thinks maybe, just maybe, he can tell Lily what's happened. In a hoarse voice, he says, "Mum has given me to Mrs. Montague."

"What!" she exclaims.

He buries his head in his shaking hands. Lily places a warm hand on the back of his neck. It's nice. Grounding. "I… We're related. The Montagues, my mother, and I. We're distant cousins, but their families were close when they were young. Mrs. Montague has made Mum choose between letting her take me or having Aurors remove me."

"What about your mum? Surely if they were so close she wouldn't want to leave her here all alone…"

Severus looks up at Lily. "She wanted Mum to come. But Mum won't. She loves my dad too much."

Biting her lip, Lily says, "I'm sorry. Severus, I don't know what to say." She sighs. Sitting down beside him, she puts an arm around his shoulders and murmurs, "Maybe this could be a good thing?" Severus tries to pull away a that, ready to yell at her, ready to call her a dunderhead, a know-nothing Mudblood, but Lily holds fast. With finality, she tells him, "Your mum will miss you. You're her son. She'll come to visit you at Sage's and then eventually just decides to stay because she can't bear to be away from you anymore."

He sags into her side, hiding his face in her hair. It's a pretty dream, she's concocted. But Severus is far too versed in reality to just believe. "You don't know that. You can't," Severus mumbles. "She could refuse to see me to spite Mrs. Montauge. She could stay in Spinner's End all alone with Dad and die the exact same way she did last time. Only this time I won't be there to make sure she has a proper funeral."

"Trust me, Severus," Lily whispers. "I'm a mum. If I had to choose between James and Harry, I would always pick Harry."

As she begins to pet his hair, he says nothing. He wants to trust Lily, wants to believe, but he knows better. Lily may be a mum, but not all mums are Lily. Not all mums are so selfless, so strong, so ready to sacrifice all they know for their child.

Thoughts this chapter? How did you like the further developments with Severus, his mother, and the Montagues?

A one-shot given to xxxLeanniexxx for being my 155th reviewer, is now posted. The fic is called Nostalgia.

Thank you very much for reading!