They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
His mum doesn't improve after the news of Boyd and Violet's engagement. If anything, she withdraws even more. She rarely leaves her rooms. When she does, it's often when they are all away running errands or visiting mates or late in the night when they are sleeping. No one knows where she goes, nor does she say. Severus spends more time than he'll ever admit to just sitting in front of the doors to her room hoping that she'll come out or let him in.
On the rare occasion she does come out or allow him in, it's to tell him some scrap of information she's found about his father's murder or to test out a new theory on a captive audience. She stares at him when she explains her conspiracies, fevered eyes searching, begging him to have some kind of reaction. Give her something that tells her someone other than she thinks she's found something important or thought of a plausible idea. Severus refuses. Some of the theories have more merit than others and the bits of clues she's tied together definitely say something, but he doesn't care.
Tobias is dead and Severus is glad he's dead. Glad.
What he isn't happy about is the state of his mum. He wishes she'd be the woman he once thought her to be. A brave one. One who bore undeserved suffering with silent strength and knew how to raise his spirits with a few words alone ("You, my half-Prince, are meant for so much more than a life in Cokeworth."). But she's not that woman anymore. Perhaps she never was. Severus is starting to doubt she ever will be (again).
Unfortunately for her, the amount of time he cares to spend waiting outside her rooms lessens as the summer draws on and Sirius's visit grows closer. Aunt Vesta often calls him away from her his self-imposed watch to help her prepare for the Black heir's extended stay. The guest room he'll be sleeping in is spruced up with new duvets and drapes, the hallways of their home are repainted, and the gardens made more lush and colorful than even the Malfoy's grounds. His cousin meticulously plans their meals, pestering Severus about Sirius's preferences and dislikes during the process.
While he is able to convince her that setting up a daily itinerary is unnecessary, he isn't able to stop her from planning a couple of trips away from the manor. On their fifth day in, she insists they will all go to Hogsmeade for ice cream and on their last, with Regulus in tow, visit a private art collection that belongs to an old friend of hers.
While Hogsmeade is certain to be a hit with Sirius, Severus fears for the last day with Regulus. Sirius has little class and is highly unlikely to enjoy or respect the art collection. He just hopes the boy doesn't manage to offend Aunt Vesta or her mate.
Severus sighs. Only time will tell what his week and a half holds with Sirius.
-o-O-o-
It's Sage that spies the trouble first. They, Severus, Sirius, and Sage, are leaning against the front of Fortescue's, licking their ice cream as Aunt Vesta pays inside. While Severus and Sirius are making dull and tired conversation (this year he should really work on expanding the boy's interests beyond Quidditch and Muggle rock bands) about the same topics they have for the past four days, Sage tenses on Severus's left.
He looks to his cousin, then to where he is staring. His eyes are following a few darkly clad wizards and a witch who are briskly moving in the direction of a gaggle of young men and women coming out of one of the nearby pubs. Severus counts one of the Prewett twins among the group and immediately understands.
"Damn it!" he hisses. Grabbing Sirius's and Sage's arms, he drags them down into a crouch near the ground just as curses and hexes begin to streak through the air. People around them scream in fear and start to run in all directions.
Sirius, trying valiantly to pull out of Severus's hold to get a look at the commotion, demands, "What's happening!"
Severus says nothing as he continues to tug both boys to the entrance of the Fortescue's. The three of them inch towards the door little by little, only to find when they reach it that it's locked with some combination of spells that Severus can't undo despite his wealth of knowledge.
"Fuck this shite!" he shouts.
Sage gasps. Springing to his feet, his cousin throws himself over the top of him and Sirius before Severus can so much as react. The next few moments are a jumble as they go airborne, only to land in another heap a few meters away from the door of the ice cream parlor. His ears ringing, Severus struggles to get out of the pile and check over Sage and Sirius. He shakes his cousin by the shoulders, but the boy is out cold. As for Sirius, he's awake. Though he has a bone sticking out of his right arm and appears close to passing out from pain and shock. "It's okay, you're okay," he tells his friend. While Sirius does his best to keep calm, Severus uses a couple of spells he's learned during the wars he's lived through to immobilize Sirius's arm and stem the bleeding.
"Stay with Sage," he orders when finished.
Sirius tries to grab his robes with his good hand, but Severus brushes him off. "I have to check on those kids over there," he tells Sirius, pointing a short distance away from them where two little kids huddle in the mouth of an alleyway. They had been the first thing he saw when he extracted himself the pile the three of them made. However, since neither child looked like they were going to do something daft, like run into the battle, he'd chosen to check over Sirius and Sage first. Now that he knows they were more or less safe, Severus feels it is time to bring those kids to them so he can protect them along with Sage and Sirius if things get worse, rather than better.
"But you're bleeding!" Sirius cries, pointing at Severus's head.
He runs his hand over the general area which Sirius is pointing. He winces at not only the gaping wound he feels, but the knot around it. It's pretty bad, he thinks, but those kids there look hardly old enough to be walking around Hogsmeade without holding one their parents' hands, let alone be on their own.
"'M fine," he insists, before lumbering off.
As he cautiously makes his way toward the children, he notices that the worst of the battle appears to be over. One of the darkly clad wizards is laid out in the street, and another, with the witch, are leaning heavily on each other as they fight with two men from the earlier group. Severus thinks one of the men fighting might be a Prewett, but he's bloody and dirty and he never really knew him all that well to begin with in either of his lifetimes so he isn't entirely sure.
Finally reaching the children, he falls to his knees in front of them and asks, "Are you two okay?"
The pair stares up at him under their mops of dark, curly hair. "Are you?" the larger of the two asks.
"Just peachy," he snarks.
The duo falls silent.
"Did you two get separated from your Mum or Dad?"
Hugging their sibling even tighter, the older whispers, "Uh-huh."
He offers them a scraped-up, dusty hand. "Come with me. I'll make sure you get back to them."
The younger begins to reach out, only for the older to slap their hand. The older of the pair then stares at Severus; big, brown eyes searing him with a hard intensity as they look for whatever it is they need to accept his help. Finally, the older nods. The little one takes his hand, and as he pulls them apart, Severus finally knows what they are. They are two little girls. 'Merlin,' he thinks, 'let's hope their mother or father didn't fall victim to an errant hex.'
He has them crouch low and get behind him. He links them all together by holding hands and creeps their group back to Sirius and Sage. Those fighting are slowing down and the hexes and curses flying through the air are much more controlled than before. Even so, one flies over their heads and in the direction they came from.
Finally reaching the boys, Severus lets go of the girls and says, "Sirius, watch them." He settles down next to Sage then, who, much to Severus's relief, appears to be stirring. Giving the boy's face a few gentle slaps, he calls, "Sage! Sage."
The boy blinks blearily up at him. "Sev?" he mumbles.
"Yeah," he replies in a gush of air.
Sage tries to sit up, but Severus pushes him back down. "You really should stay there," he advises. "They're still throwing some spells around."
He tries to nod, only to wince. Severus squeezes Sage's shoulder in sympathy.
"Aurors!" one of the little girls cries.
Severus looks toward where the battle occurred. There are now aurors swarming the area, assisting the few who were hurt in the initial attack, as others surround the one darkly dressed wizard who went down near the start of the fight. A couple more are interrogating the last of the group that one of the Prewett brothers is a part of. Only four of the gaggle remain.
Some more are spreading out, surveying the damage done to shops and eateries and talking with the bystanders that linger. One must have spotted them, as she's all but running to the five of them.
"Merlin!" she breathes as she comes to halt in front of Severus. It takes him a moment, but he recognizes her. She's Amelia Bones. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in his first lifetime. Right now, though, Bones is just an auror and has one brother recently graduated from Hogwarts and another who's still in school.
Severus says nothing as he feels the little girls place themselves on either side of him. "My cousin and friend need help," he tells her. "These girls too. They were separated from their parent during the mess."
Falling to her knees in front of them, Auror Bones starts to take stalk and asks, "What about you three? Were you here today with a parent or older sibling?"
"My mother…" Sage whispers. His eyes roll in Severus's direction. "D'you think she's okay?"
Severus agrees confidently, "Of course. Your mum is highly capable."
This draws a grin from Sage. "She is, isn't she?"
Auror Bones, who Severus can now see is quite young, probably a trainee, too, seems at a loss how to proceed. Severus internally sighs. This is likely her first time encountering something like this, something like them. A bit impatiently, he asks, "Don't you think you should be taking our names, or at least the girls'? Our families have to be looking for us."
This seems to snap the young woman out of her stupor. "Right!" she agrees. Drawing out a pad of paper and a self-inking quill, she begins to ask them for their names, their parents' names, and descriptions of their parents as well.
As they talk with her, waiting for healers to arrive and whisk them away, Severus learns the little girls he rescued are named Gwendolyn and Hestia Jones. Ages seven and three. They, like Severus, Sage, and Sirius, were in Hogsmeade to do a bit of shopping and get some ice cream. Unfortunately, the attack happened before they reached the parlor.
The last they saw their father, he was being swept away in the fleeing masses. The two of them barely made it to the alleyway without being trampled on and it was there they stayed until Severus retrieved them.
As they begin to give a description of Sage's mother, a healer comes up behind Auror Bones. He hisses loudly. Then, seeming to realize what a poor reaction that is to have in front of children, he says, "You lot are going to be just fine."
"We know that," Sirius snaps peevishly. "Severus stopped my arm's bleeding."
Auror Bones looks at Sirius, then at Severus. "I'll make a note of that," she promises him. "It's very good you had the quick thinking to do that, Mr. Snape. I'll talk to my superiors and make sure you don't receive a letter about your use of magic while underage."
Severus nods. "Thank you, Auror Bones."
While they continue to answer the woman's question, the healer checks them all over and then waves over several of his colleagues. Severus mentally steals himself for what's to come. St. Mungo's is going to be a zoo, but there's no way they aren't going. Sirius needs help for his arm, Sage needs someone to check not only his head, but the rest of him too. And Severus hates to admit it, but his cut is going to need tending to as well.
Little Hestia attaches herself to Severus's arm when the healers that come over begin to levitate Sage and help Sirius to his feet. "Go with Sev," she pleads.
Auror Bones says, "Hestia…"
The girl begins to shriek. After a moment, Gwendolyn joins in.
Severus glares at the young woman. She relents. "Okay!" she shouts over the top of them. "Okay! We'll all go with the boys to St. Mungo's! We'll have your dad pick you up from there!"
Both girls stop their crying and while she looks a little flustered, Auror Bones does an admirable job of calmly explaining, "We can all go, but when the healers are tending to Mr. Snape and the other boys, we will be waiting in the lobby."
The children are all too happy to agree.
One of the healers, who looks mildly irritated, says, "If this is settled, we really must be going now. They need to be looked at as soon as possible."
"Of course," Auror Bones agrees.
Not even a moment later, Severus feels the familiar pull at his navel when the healer at his side whisks them off to St. Mungo's.
Lots of action this chapter, yeah? What'd you think?
Thanks a million for reading everyone!