They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
Finished with his breakfast, Severus does a quick scan of the morning's spread and grabs an apple. He pockets it for later. It will make for a good snack when he and Sage are working on their Transfiguration essays later. At the thought of his cousin, Severus scans the Slytherin tables for the boy's familiar dark head, but he doesn't see him. Severus shrugs his shoulders and grabs another apple. Sage often picks sleep over breakfast yet Severus knows Sage will have far better focus in class and while they work together if he's eaten something.
Just as he finishes weighing his pocket down with his spoils, some of his fellow Slytherins begin to whisper. He looks up, wondering what it could be that's gotten their attention when he sees Lily making her way toward him. Getting to his feet, Severus hurries to meet her. They had both agreed in the past to not go to one another when they were at their tables in the Great Hall. It is just another way of asking to be jinxed by one another's houses.
Meeting her quickly just past the Ravenclaw's table, he shoots several of his troublemaker housemates (Scabior included) glares before he growls, "Lily" and drags her away from the table and out of the hall altogether. Once they are away from the vultures that he's forced to call housemates, he hisses, "What were you thinking? I thought we agreed to leave one another be at their own tables! For their own safety at that!"
Lily has the sense to look ashamed of herself. "Sorry," she says. "I just… I've been waiting to talk to you."
Alarmed, Severus asks, "Why? Is everything alright with Sage?"
Her face darkens. Lily looks around and then pulls him away from the Great Hall's threshold and toward a window. Pulling out her wand, she casts his charm, Muffliato. Rigid with what Severus can only call fear (and he hates it), he waits for her to speak. Finally, Lily asks, "Did you know Sage watched his father kill himself?"
He blinks. His fear abruptly gone and leaving him momentarily empty of anything at all. "Yes," he answers.
"Did he tell you tomorrow is the anniversary of his death?"
Severus hesitates for a moment. Finally, he mumbles, "No."
Lily just nods, her face grim and eyes so very sad. "When did he tell you about his father?"
"He didn't."
She frowned at him, confusion knitting her brows together. "I'm sorry?"
"Boyd did. Over hols." Severus eyes her then, something a bit like suspicion filling that void inside of him. "Did Sage say you could tell me?"
His friend looks away as her lip finds its way between her teeth. After a moment, she lets go of her bottom lip and sighs. "He didn't tell me one way or another," she finally says. "I… I actually was wondering if you knew and why you wouldn't have told me."
Severus doesn't know if he should be furious that Lily would just tell him without having Sage's express permission or for the fact Sage would tell Lily at all. Before him too at that. "I didn't say anything because Boyd asked me not to." A bit of the tension in Lily's form lessens, his answer appearing to have mollified her some. Almost hesitantly, he asks, "How did you manage to get Sage to tell you?"
A self-loathing curl came to Lily's lips. "I reminded him I'm a Muggleborn Gryffindor girl. Even if I blabbed his secret to the whole school, the chances of anyone believing me are slim. They'll think I'm trying to get attention or I'm jealous of his friendship with you and trying to ruin his reputation."
Any anger Severus felt over the fact it's her and not him Sage first confided in about the circumstances of his father's death now gone, he reaches out and wraps a comforting hand around her arm. "Lily…"
She roughly swipes her free arm across her eyes. "No, it's fine," she insists. "I really don't care that I had to remind him that I'm a second-class citizen in this stupid world. He needed to tell someone. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he killed himself in our first lifetime because the guilt ate him up until he thought he deserved nothing but death."
"But you do care," whispers Severus. "You're just as good as any other witch, better even. Blood means nothing."
She scoffs. "We both know that's not true."
He gives her arm a squeeze. "Fine, it does matter," he acquiesces. "But when we're done here, dead in this lifetime, I promise it won't."
Lily's eyes shine, but with hope, not tears. A wobbly smile affixing itself on her lips, she says, "Thank you. That means a lot to me."
Severus brushes off her gratitude by saying, "What kind of better world would we be creating if we didn't make blood mean nothing?"
-O-
An hour later, Severus goes back to his dorms to find Sage. It doesn't take long at all. Sage is awake, but still in his bed and dressed in his pajamas. Gingerly he places himself by his cousin's legs.
Sage glances at him, but says nothing and returns to staring at the canopy of his bed.
After a moment, Severus says, "I heard from Lily tomorrow is the anniversary of your father's death."
The boy blinks rapidly. "It is," he croaks.
"Did… Did talking to Lily about it help you last night?"
His cousin turns his head, face inscrutable for a moment. Finally, the brooding set of his brow smoothes away and he whispers, "Yes." Pushing himself into a sitting position, he stares at Severus with a look of pure astonishment. "I'm still sad," he says, "but I feel like I'll make it."
Severus nearly asks what Sages means by "make it", but decides against it a moment later. Reaching into his pocket, Severus pulls out the apples he has been saving for him. "Do you want to work on our essays here today? I know we just have our textbooks for reference, but I'm sure we can figure out some way to pad our word count."
Taking one of the apples, Sage's eyes flash with amusement. "You mean you will figure out a way to make sure our essays are enough inches."
Slyly, he says, "I could make sure it's just my essay that meets Professor McGonagall's requirements."
"No, no," Sage replies. "I'll accept your help. I'm not half as haughty, or stupid, as Lilith Crabbe, to turn down your expertise."
He chuckles.
Plucking at his jimjams, Sage says, "Can you wait a minute for me? I want to change. It feels odd to be in my jimjams when you're fully dressed."
Severus nods and steps out of his cousin's way. Watching him walk out of the dorms with his clothes in hand, he breathes a sigh of relief. It seems like Sage will make it through this year.
-o-O-o-
A month post the anniversary of the death of Sage's father, his friend is finally himself again. Perhaps even better than himself. He smiles a little more and on occasion, he and Lily have gone off to do something together— Just the two of them. In fact, at this very moment, they are up in the Astronomy tower working on an assignment together. Severus is relieved to see that his cousin is finally seeking out the company of others, rather than being drawn in by someone else. It feels like a good sign. It doesn't mean what happened in their first lifetime can't happen again, but he's begun to get the feeling it's less and less likely Sage will die young.
Taking an off-beat path to his and Lily's classroom, he pauses when the sound of a girl's giggle drifts out of a classroom. He nearly turns back right then, the last thing he wants is to pass a classroom being used by a couple of lovestruck teenagers. However, a moment later a man's chortle bursts from a room a couple of meters down the corridor. Severus knows without any doubt that it's Professor Higgs with a girl. Disgusted, Severus draws his wand, prepared to make a commotion that will draw them out when the girl says something.
His mouth drops open. He knows that voice. Creeping toward the classroom Higgs and the teenager occupy, he pauses just inches away from the cracked open door. Squinting his eyes, he peers in to see that Higgs has Narcissa wrapped in an intimate embrace. What is Narcissa doing? She has only ever had eyes for Lucius. Higgs hands slowly slide down from the small of the teenager's back and settle on her backside. His hands move languidly over it, feeling it. Severus glances to Narcissa's face. For a second, it's besotted, then, enraged and Higgs is abruptly shoved back several inches.
Narcissa's wand now digging into the man's chest, Severus strains his ears to hear Narcissa's words when her lips part.
"I know what you are, Higgs," she hisses. "You are a pig." Pulling her wand away from his chest, she jabs it threateningly in the direction the professor's nads. "You will leave my housemates alone, do you understand me? They are fine ladies and deserve much better than a lecher like you."
Professor Higgs sneers at her. "They are the ones who want me."
"Is that so? What about Clara Parkinson?"
The man glares at her.
Jutting out her chin, Narcissa tells him, "You will not come back to teach at Hogwarts next year."
"You can't—"
Speaking over him, the teenager tells him, "I can. I am a Black who is engaged to marry Lucius Malfoy. I have more power than a man like you can even dream of. If you know what's good for you, you will not come back to teach at Hogwarts next year."
Higg's face is one of hate and disgust, but he doesn't fight Narcissa.
The teenager crosses her arms. "You can leave now."
Severus hurries to duck out of the way of the door as it swings open. Higgs stalks right past him— completely oblivious to the fact he is right there watching him go. Well, isn't that something? They are definitely better off with the man gone. It's one thing to have a professor who chases after teenage girls. It's another thing entirely to have one who gets off with a student and has no sense of discretion. That's a scandal in the making.
Narcissa trails out a moment later. Unlike Higgs, however, she notices him immediately. "Hello," she says.
"'Lo."
Standing tall with pride and satisfaction, she tells him, "He's not going to be a problem anymore. Especially not for girls like Clara."
Severus nods. "I'm glad."
"So am I," Narcissa says. Then, a little more critically, she says, "Curfew is coming up in an hour. Don't be late back to the dorms."
He nearly rolls his eyes. "Yes, Mum."
She barks a laugh. Reaching out, she ruffles his hair and says, "You're not half as witty as you think you are."
"That's your opinion," he sniffs back primly.
The teenager chuckles a little more before she lifts a hand in goodbye. "I'll be waiting for you back in the common room, Severus Snape."
"See you later."
He watches her leave. Severus always knew Narcissa was a woman to be reckoned with, but it's something else entirely to see that she's been such a powerful force before she even graduated from Hogwarts.
How did you enjoy the end of this chapter? It was definitely my favorite part to write. Of course, I enjoyed the Lily & Severus and Sage & Severus scenes too, but it was a lot of fun writing one where Narcissa was so powerful.
Next: The winner of the one-shot for being my 525th reviewer was Krysania. Congrats!
Thank you for reading everybody :)