They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

Surprisingly, it's not Lily who picks up on the bad blood between Sage and Severus first. No, after two days of hardly exchanging a word and avoiding each other as much as possible, it's Sirius who says something.

"Are you in a spat with Sage? I thought you'd be spending all of your time with him now that Madam Pomfrey's finally released him."

Severus shrugs his shoulders.

Sirius frowns. "Come on, this is the easy part. It's a yes or no question."

"Let me take a look at your essay," Severus demands, ignoring his mate's scolding. He reaches over the table, fingers grasping for the edge of Sirius's parchment. "You know Professor Dwightson hates it when you start sentences with conjunctions."

"Only after you answer my question," Sirius replies, pulling his essay out of Severus's reach.

"Sirius…"

The boy lifts it above his head.

Silently, Severus curses him. He's not as tall as the Gryffindor and the last thing he's going to do is jump for it. Using a hex on him to make him drop it would be too extreme a reaction to something like this as well. Maybe he can punch him in the gut? No, that will draw Madam Pince's attention the moment Sirius cries out. Instead, he settles for clenching his teeth and through them, Severus hisses, "If you don't let me correct it now, I'm not going to correct it ever."

Sirius waivers for a moment. Severus begins to hope the issue he has with Sage will drop, but, then, Sirius squares his shoulders and says, "That's fine. One bad paper won't ruin my E in Astronomy."

Severus scowls and falls back in his chair. "That's what you think," he mutters.

"You get nasty when you're mad, don't you?" Sirius remarks with a small amount of amusement in the lilt of his voice.

He turns his head away. "Shut up."

"Soooo…"

Severus only fiercens the scowl he's directing at the back of some girl's head a few tables down. He wonders if she'll ever realize he's glaring at her. If she's even half as oblivious as most students in this school, he doubts it.

Sirius makes a loud noise of exasperation. Several students to their right look at them. A Ravenclaw prefect who's helping Madam Pince monitor the Study Hall raises an eyebrow at them. Severus knows he's been watching them since the start of their conversation. But it's only now that he's seriously starting to consider kicking them out.

Before he can, Severus gets up. "Let's go," he says to Sirius.

Startled, the boy asks, "Now?"

Severus just growls.

Jumping to his feet, Sirius gathers his things and babbles, "Okay! Okay! Keep your robe on."

Impatiently, he waits. The moment his mate has everything in his satchel, Severus starts for the door. He doesn't bother to slow down even when Sirius begins to cuss behind him. When they are out in Hogwarts corridors, he finally looks over his shoulder. He sees Sirius struggling to latch the top of his satchel. Sighing loudly, Severus crosses his arms and waits for the boy to catch up.

When he's finally at his side, Severus grumbles, "Took you long enough."

"Shut up, you git. You're the one who was rushing me!"

He snorts and says nothing more.

After a few minutes of silence, Sirius asks, "Are you going to start talking soon? Or am I just wasting my time here? I could be studying for that charms quiz we have tomorrow right now."

Severus is quiet for a moment more, then, softly, he asks, "Why's it you? Why are you asking me about Sage? Lily–"

"–Is hung up on James," Sirius cuts in.

He frowns at his mate.

The Gryffindor boy sighs and waves a hand. "I know, I know, we like to have a laugh now and again about how close you and Lily are. But she's been… Well, Remus is the one who asked. I really thought the two of you fancied each other. After Remus started pointing things out, like her getting upset whenever James smiled after getting a letter at breakfast, I kind of realized I was being pretty thick." He looked at Severus. "Or maybe only when it comes to her?"

Severus clears his throat. "I thought you wanted to talk about Sage."

"I do!" Sirius insists. "I just wanted you to know, it's not that Lily doesn't care, 'cause I'm sure if she wasn't so focused on James, she'd be all over you."

He nods.

Afer a beat of silence, Sirius adds, "Remus is talking to her about James, if that makes anything better."

"Is he now?"

Sirius shrugs. "Even before this thing with Sage, you didn't seem to be in a rush to." He side-eyes Severus. "I know you don't like him."

"That's not true. I don't mind James."

"You don't mind him, yeah. That doesn't mean you like him." After a pause, Sirius adds, "You don't really seem to like Peter or Remus too much either."

Severus sighs. Rubbing the bridge of his nose to hide his irritation, he insists, "They're fine."

Sirius shakes his head. "You don't have to," he tells Severus. "As long as you don't act like a wanker to them, I'm okay with all of us never being best friends." He stops and faces Severus. "I don't really like Sage, you know."

"What?" he demands. Severus had thought the two of them were finally becoming friendly with one another after the Hogsmeade incident during the summer.

Sirius winces a little. "He's uppity," says the boy. "I mean, he's not that uppity, I guess. He's friends with you–"

"–What is that supposed to mean?"

The boy winces. "Nothing. It's just… You're really good at hiding it, but sometimes you'll do or say stuff and it's really obvious your family's, um, ah…"

"Chavs?" Severus demands in little more than a hiss.

Sirius has the sense to look embarrassed as he nods. "Yes."

"I see," replies he, voice clipped from controlled anger.

The boy tries to put a hand on Severus's shoulder, but he expertly doubles the space between them, leaving Sirius to grasp air. Taking on a hang-dog expression, the Gryffindor says, "That's why I like you, you know. You're different. You're not like Sage or my family. It's also obvious that's why Scabior listens to you–"

"–He doesn't listen to me!" Severus shouts over Sirius. "If he did, he'd stop getting into bloody duels with others!"

Startled at his sudden change in volume, the other boy blinks. Then, almost like he thinks Severus is some kind of wild animal, he puts up his hands. "Okay. He's still getting in duels. But does he go around destroying people's stuff on purpose anymore? I haven't heard you complain about having to fix anyone's letters or repair their books since like the first week of term."

Reluctantly, after a moment of reflection, Severus answers, "No. He's been fairly good on that front as of late."

Sirius perks up at that. "See?" he says. "Progress!"

He relaxes a little. Severus has spent little time reflecting on Scabior's behavior; looking for signs that his help has actually did just that, helped Scabior. To have Sirius point it out is a relief. A sign that he's not been wasting his time. Finally, Severus says, "It's funny you mentioned Scabior. Sage and I are rowing about him."

"Oh? Why?"

Severus scrubs a weary hand through his hair. "He thinks the lad is a waste of my time. Scabior, in his oh so humble opinion, can't be relied on to help me if I should ever need it – even after all that I've done for him."

Sirius frowns. "Why's he think that?"

"Because the Scabior family is rubbish."

"I've heard that before," Sirius says. "But, you know, that doesn't mean he's rubbish. Look at my family! Everyone always says Blacks are the best of the best, but we've had our share of squibs."

"That's what I told Sage," Severus grumbles.

Sirius claps a hand on his shoulder. "And you're right."

"Thank you."

Sirius sucked in a breath. "But…"

"Of course there's a but," grumbles Severus.

"It's a good one, I promise."

He sighs. "Let's hear it."

"I'm sure Sage only meant the best. Even if he went about it in a prick-way. It doesn't take a genius to see he loves you," Sirius tells him, expression kind.

Reluctantly, Severus nods. "He did say he's just trying to protect me."

"I can see that," Sirius replies after a moment. "Not destroying people's stuff is a pretty small change. Scabior's still a prat in a lot of ways. I think it'd hurt Sage just as much as it does you if Scabior ends up proving to be rubbish in the end."

Severus eyes his friend for a moment. "…Do you think I should apologize to Sage?"

"If he apologizes too. I mean, he really shouldn't have told you you're wasting your time on Scabior. He doesn't know that." Sirius puts a hand to his chest. "I reckon you're not. I'm not going to lie, it's slow going with that lad. But he is changing."

Severus nods. "Thank you."

"What are mates for?" Sirius replies jovially, a wide grin splitting across his face.

-o-O-o-

The next time he sees Sage, it's when he's stepping out of the shower in their dorm's bathroom. Putting away his toothbrush, Severus turns to face his brother. "'Lo," he says.

Expression guarded, the boy returns, "Severus."

"It's been suggested that I might want to apologize," he tells the other.

Sage blinks. "Oh?"

"But only if you're going to apologize too."

Almost instantly, his brother's face turned mulish. "Whatever for?"

"For saying I'm wasting my time on Scabior."

He crosses his arms. "You are."

"He is changing, you know."

"Really?" Sage sneers.

Trying to keep the irritation off his face, Severus nods. "Yes," he replies. "I know you think the worst of him, but it was pointed out to me by someone who doesn't that he's not destroyed anyone's property since early this term."

Sage opens his mouth, brow furrowed. Finally, he closes it. For a moment, Sage just scowls. Finally, he spits, "That we know of."

"Oh, if he did, we'd know. He has a clear penchant for destroying our housemates' things."

Loudly, the boy sighs. "Alright. He's not destroying stuff! That's great."

"It is," Severus agrees earnestly. "It proves he is capable of change and not rubbish."

His brother is silent for a long moment, expression hard. Finally, he says, "I still don't trust him."

"Trust me, then. If I say he's improving, he's improving."

Sage sighs and looks away. "Don't expect anything from me but an 'I told you so' when he shows his true colors, alright?"

"And when rises above his circumstances and becomes a functioning member of society, you better expect an 'I told you so' from me," Severus returns in challenge.

For a time, they just stare at each other with sharp, glittering glares. Then, because he's truly just a boy, Sage loses the rigidity in his shoulders and asks, "Are we fine now?"

Severus nods. "As fine as the circumstances allow."

Sage offers a hesitant smile. "If you give me a moment to get dressed, we can probably play a round of Exploding Snaps before bed."

"I'd like that," Severus replies, just as eager to let things return to normal between them as Sage.

So… They're not fighting anymore. But it's not really over, either. What d'you all think of that? Like it? Dislike it?

Thanks a million for reading :)