They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

Cresswell stands, arms wrapped around himself in a tight hug. As for Lily and himself, they sit at adjoining desks. Her in one of the desks' chairs, Severus on a desk's tabletop. Something not far from disgust curls at the corners of Cresswell's lips. Severus can't say he's surprised. Cresswell is a Ravenclaw, and they often do hold a certain amount of reverence for Hogwarts' property – even the desks. He likely thinks Severus is being disrespectful, maybe that he's even a git of ginormous proportions.

Severus tries not to be bothered. Cresswell was an all but a stranger in his first lifetime and he's little better in this one. But if they are to work together… He sighs. This is not going to be easy. Cresswell already disapproves of him. Abliet, for a valid reason. He was once a Death Eater, one who stood for a cause that wanted his (and Lily's) kind eradicated. On the other hand, he wasn't anymore. Surely Lily's trust in him should have inspired Cresswell by now to give him a benefit of a doubt? He minutely shakes his head to rid himself of his inner debate.

Uncrossing his legs and letting his feet slip over the desk's edge to scrape the floor, he asks, "When did you…" he trails off, considering how best to describe their beginning in this universe. "Arrive here?"

Cresswell blinks. "The summer before we started Hogwarts. Late June, I think."

"That's when we woke up in Cokeworth too, isn't it, Sev?" says Lily, looking at him.

This makes the Ravenclaw across from them raise an eyebrow. "Both of you woke up in a Muggle town?"

"Yes," Severus answers curtly. He's not interested in getting into the mess that is his family.

Lily, however, has no issues sharing for him. "His dad was a Muggle."

"…And you became a Death Eater?"

He can't stop himself from brandishing his teeth like a werewolf. The derision in Cresswell's tone is palpable and Severus isn't so sure he cares if they have the other's help anymore. He could just obliviate him instead and he and Lily could go back to it being just them against the world.

"Gentlemen," rebukes Lily, rising to a stand. "This posturing is going to get us no anywhere."

Cresswell looks surprisingly chastised at Lily's words. As for Severus, he reluctantly settles back down because Lily is right and even if he and Lily do decide in the end to obliviate this prick, he'd rather they do it after they know everything Cresswell does. Taking control of the situation, Lily smiles. "Now, Dirk, I'm sure you have some questions for us too?"

He nods. "Do you know why we're here?"

Lily wilts as Severus thins his lips. She evidently hoped he would know more than either of them about this time traveling than they do (Severus had as well). Quietly, he answers for both of them, "No. All we know is that we're here to do better."

The Ravenclaw appears shocked at their words. "You felt that too?" questions Cresswell. "When I woke up I just… I just knew instantly that I was here for a reason. I guess it's why I've managed to stay sane. As odd as this has all been, painful, and embarrassing, I've been able to get by because of that feeling."

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Lily tilting her head. "Is that why you've taken to tutoring Mei Wong?"

He blushes. "Ah, a bit," he answers. "Before she was my wife."

Lily smiles. "She already seems to fancy you."

He grins back. "You think so?"

"Are we really wasting our time talking about a little girl's crush?" He turns a sneer on Cresswell. "I'd stop looking so pleased if I were you. Lusting after a child is hardly anything to be proud of."

"Severus!" Lily decries as Cresswell's expression turns to one of outrage.

Unfortunately for Cresswell, Severus is far better at thinking ahead. He has his wand drawn before it even crosses Cresswell's mind to reach for his own. A moment later, he has the Ravenclaw disarmed. Realizing he's been magically outmaneuvered, Cresswell's expression becomes one of fury before he leaps at Severus. Not nearly as prepared for a physical altercation as he was for a magical one, Severus does not manage to get out of the way in time. Cresswell's lanky body slamming into him, they send the desk Severus is sitting on crashing to the ground with them.

Lily is yelling at both him and Cresswell. But they ignore her in favor of trying to murder one another. Cresswell attempts to choke Severus, but he keeps him at bay for the moment by trying to gouge the Ravenclaw's eyes out in return. After a moment, Severus manages to flip them over, so he is the one on top. Once there, he punches Cresswell right in the nose.

He feels and hears the Ravenclaw's nose crack. Cresswell cries out. His broken nose doesn't stop him, however, if anything, it only eggs him on. With renewed strength and anger, he grabs hold of Severus's shoulders and knocks their heads together. Severus vision doubles and he can no longer tell where Cresswell's jabs are coming from. Throwing up his arms to protect his face from further attacks, he pulls back and curls inward to protect his stomach and chest too. As the Ravenclaw knocks him back and continues to beat on him, Lily screams at the top of her lungs:

"STUPEFY!"

Cresswell slumps forward, now dead, bloody weight on top of Severus. A moment later, the other is being pulled off of him. When Cresswell's weight is gone, Lily's red, teary, incensed face fills his vision. "I'm going to fix you up the best I can," she promises. "When Dirk wakes, you are going to do the same for him." Pulling him up into a sitting position none-too-gently, Lily growls, "And you are going to apologize for being an absolute bastard to him."

"Shouldn't he have to apologize too?" Severus mutters as Lily cleans the blood from his face and robes.

She glares at him. "Yes, but for a Hell of lot less, I'd say. You deserved most of what you got. Honestly, what were you thinking? Calling the poor man a pedophile of all things?"

Severus licks his swollen lips. His stomach is sloshing like a stormy sea and he's rather certain he's concussed. Has to be. Otherwise, why would he feel the start of a confession on the tip of his tongue? "He already loathed me," he tells his friend. "I reckoned I may as well make him hate me for a proper reason rather than because of who I used to be."

Lily voice is tremulous as she pushes snarled hair out of his face. "Oh, Sev…"

Clumsily, he pushes her away. "Stop."

Her hands fall to her lap. They just stare at each other for a moment. Finally, she says, "You still need to apologize."

He sighs. "Very well."

-O-

Shortly after Cresswell wakes with a groan, Lily helps him sit up and then assists Severus with gathering the necessary supplies for righting the Ravenclaw. For a few minutes, she hovers close by as Severus takes stock of Cresswell's injuries. After Severus helps clean the blood from Cresswell's face, Lily tells them she's going to step out to visit the loo.

Cresswell expression turns to one of shock. "You're going to leave me alone with him?"

"Severus and I had a little chat while you were out." She levels him with a stern glare. "He'll behave himself."

He can't help himself. "As long as you behave yourself as well," warns Severus.

The Ravenclaw starts to sneer, only to wince when his hostile expression causes his broken nose to move.

Lily points at Severus. "Fix it," she orders before turning heel and leaving them alone.

Severus picks up his wand and waves it over the other's broken nose. "Episkey."

Cresswell hisses out a breath of pain as his nose rights itself.

Putting his wand away, Severus relents to the knowledge he can't put off an apology any longer. Meeting the other's guarded gaze he says, "I feel I should apologize."

The Ravenclaw scoffs. "Oh? Do you now?"

Severus ignores his tone and picks up the bruise slave Lily brought to him only fifteen minutes before and applies it to Cresswell's mottled face. Watching the bruises rapidly age he says, "I shouldn't have implied you wanted to have sex with a child. I'm sorry."

"I probably shouldn't have attacked you," grudgingly replies Cresswell. "Sorry."

Feeling there is no more he can do for the other, Severus packs away the last of his supplies. "You still look a bit rough, but you should be as good as new in a couple of days."

Eyes mulish and reluctant, he says from behind clenched teeth, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." For a moment, Severus stares back at him. "I'm not what you think I am."

Cresswell frowns. "You're not what you think you are either," he replies.

Severus can't entirely keep the amusement out of his voice. "I don't think much about myself at all."

The Ravenclaw shoves himself up into a stand. "Maybe that's your problem. You don't try and be what you think you should be, but what you think others want you to be – or to what their purposes need you to be." Brushing a hand down his robes to smooth out the creases, he says to Severus, "Look, if you and Lily need me for something important that will make sure what happened to us the first time won't again, I'll help. Otherwise, just leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with either of you outside of making a better world."

He nods, doing everything he can to ensure that Cresswell can't see his words have rattled him. "Understood. I'll let Lily know."

Cresswell starts to leave. However, just before he goes, he turns his head and looks at him. "I'll be cheering for your opponents in the dueling competition, just so you know."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

For a minute or so, Severus stays sitting. When he hears Lily return, Severus twists around to look at her. Lily's face is one of worry. He gets up to meet her where she hovers just past the classroom's threshold. "Where's Dirk?" she demands.

"He left."

She begins to drum her fingers along her middle at a rapid tempo. "What did he say before he went?"

"He'll help us if we need him for anything truly important to creating a better future."

"I'm sensing there's a condition here."

Reluctantly, he mutters, "Cresswell wants us to otherwise leave him alone."

Lily sighs. "Just you, or both of us?"

"You and me," he answers with a bit of a bite. He's annoyed that she thinks he'd rather have any more to do with her than him. She did bring him to Severus, after all. He's rather certain Cresswell has put Lily on his list of those to avoid now too.

She growls low in the back of her throat. Running her hands through her hair roughly, she snaps, "That's just great!" Eyes flashing, she yells, "He could be the only other one of us!"

Severus does his best not to flinch. Lily may have a point. Yet… since she confirmed Cresswell is a time-traveler like them, a new speculation has begun to burgeon in the forethoughts of his mind. Perhaps now is the time to share it. "…No," he replies. "I don't think so."

Lily opens her mouth, then closes it. After a pause, she asks, "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "It's curious, wouldn't you agree?"

"What?" demands Lily, exasperation on the edge of tone. "What's curious?"

Severus rattled off for her, "I'm Slytherin, you're a Gryffindor, and Cresswell is a Ravenclaw."

"Okay…?"

"Something tells me we're missing a Hufflepuff from our little time-traveling club," he replies.

Lily's eyes go wide. Then, nodding eagerly, she questions, "Do you reckon it's a Hufflepuff in our year?"

He nods. "That would make sense, wouldn't it?"

Lily's lips pucker thoughtfully. "How are we going to figure out who it is?"

"Carefully," answers Severus.

She glowers, making her displeasure with his vague answer clear. "Do you think they'll know why we are here?"

Severus ponders his friend's question. They very well could, he thinks. Cresswell didn't know, they didn't know, so who else will if not this Hufflepuff? Is there potentially a fifth traveler out there? Severus simply doesn't have enough information to say. Finally, he settles on an answer. "Perhaps." He tries not to, but he finds himself chuckling in a way that sounds just shy of hysterical to his ears. Severus can already picture the ugly, outraged face Cresswell will make when he and Lily approach him for assistance with finding the time traveler among the Hufflepuffs so soon after their disastrous meeting today. Maybe it's best until they wait until after Wong and Scabior's duel to broach the subject with him.

While Severus would prefer to find them this year, he's not particularly worried if they stay an unknown a while longer. Like them, like Cresswell, they appear to have the sense and skill to keep their foreknowledge (or is it prior knowledge?) to their own self.

-o-O-o-

He uses his elbow to break through the walls of students and make it to the front of the crowd. Once there, he weaves and ducks between a few more people until he's at an angle that will give him the best view of Scabior as he's dueling. Catching the second-year's gaze, he gives him a smirk. The boy grins back with a confident smile of his own.

Severus has high hopes for Scabior. As long as the brat remembers not to let his hubris get the better of him, he shall win this duel against Mei Wong with little trouble. She may be trained by Cresswell, but Severus beat the Ravenclaw in his own duel against him. Severus rips his gaze away from the boy when a hand grips his right arm.

He yanks it away – expecting that it is an upper-year who might be upset he took their "spot" – and turns his head to see, to his surprise, Sirius smirking at him. When did he learn how to be quiet? "I managed to sneak up on you, did I?"

Severus rolls his eyes, but otherwise does not deign to answer.

"Hey, is there a reason Cresswell over there is trying to murder you with his glare?" asks Sirius after a moment.

Following his mate's gaze across the dueling platform, he sees the Ravenclaw staring at him with a sharp frown on his face. "He tutored Wong in preparation for the duel," Severus answers.

"And…?"

Severus looks up at Scabior who's fidgeting in his spot while he waits for Demitri to introduce them to the crowd and start the duel. "I trained Scabior."

Sirius gapes. "What? Why did I never hear about this!"

"I told Scabior to keep his mouth shut about it," Severus answers.

The other boy whistles low. "And he listened? Wow!"

Severus is about to chide Sirius about how Scabior is perfectly capable of using sense when it suits him and how he has no room to talk, really, when Demitiri steps into the center of the platform. Slowly, the buzz of the students around them turns into only the occasional whisper. The old man keeps up a stern expression as he outlines the rules for the duel and introduces their contenders. First-years and Gryffindors alike clap, cheer, and whistle after Demitri says Wong's name. The same, perhaps even a little louder, occurs with the second-years and Slytherins when his grandfather finishes introducing Scabior.

Once Demitri settles the students back down with the help of Professor McGonagall and steps off the platform, he indicates for Scabior and Wong to begin. Unsurprisingly, Scabior casts the first spell. Wong ducks and sends off a hex of her own. Scabior throws up a shielding charm, which causes the spell to bounce off toward the Great Hall's ceiling.

Sirius grabs his arm and says, "You and Cresswell did great with them! I was sure this duel would be over by now."

Severus, who isn't sure if he should be offended on Wong and Scabior's behalf, or pleased by the compliment, just nods and doesn't for a moment look away from the dueling pair. Scabior's face is determined as he slowly inches to the right, shielding charm still activated, as Wong sends off a rapid-fire combination of what Severus can now see are knockback jinxes and jelly-finger curses.

He can't be sure, but Severus thinks Wong is trying to crack Scabior's shield with her barrage. Unfortunately, she is so focused on this course of action, she fails to see what Scabior is doing. When Scabior reaches the spot he'd carefully made his way towards, he lets his charm drop and ducks as another curse comes his way and shoots off a toenail-growing hex at Wong.

Caught off guard by Scabior's strategy, the girl doesn't have time to dodge it. After being hit, her toenails burst out of the toes of her mary-janes. Interestingly, she doesn't fall to pieces. Instead, she narrows her eyes at Scabior and ignores her rapidly growing toenails in favor of casting yet another enchantment at him. Thankfully, Scabior notices and gets out of the way.

Wong tries several more times to take out Scabior where she's rooted to her spot, but Scabior can not only shield against them, but dodge and duck too. Finally, after a few more failed attempts on Scabior's part to disarm the girl, he succeeds.

Slytherin and the second-years of Hogwarts explode from delight. The Great Hall fills with their triumphant shouts and applause. Beside Severus, Sirius pats his back. "He won! He won!" Laughing, he says, "That little git won because of you!"

Severus flashes his friend with a brief grin before returning his attention to Scabior. The boy's staring at him, eyes bright and hopeful. Severus cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "Well done!"

Scabior smiles proudly. His chest puffing out, he turns his attention to the rest of the crowd and pumps his wand into the air in victory. Students cheer louder. Eyes moving away from the scene, Severus looks to Wong. She's been detached from the platform by Demitri and her toes cut back so she can walk. He watches her hobble off the platform and into the waiting arms of Cresswell.

He's certain Wong is crying. Part of Severus wants to roll his eyes. What a childish, spoiled response to a fair loss. But he also knows she put in just as much – if not more – work into preparing for this duel as Scabior did. This might be her first true disappointment in life. The first time she's had to face that sometimes, putting all the effort in the world into something does not mean you will get what you want.

After a few moments, Cresswell lifts his gaze from Wong and meets Severus's across the platform. There's nothing he can do so far away. Say. So Severus looks back at the Ravenclaw. Gaze steady and neutral. Finally, he nods. Severus hopes Cresswell understands it is both a gesture of condolence and one of respect.

After what feels like an age, Cresswell nods back.

Your thoughts on this chapter? The way things have gone down between Severus, Lily, and Dirk? The speculation there's yet another time-traveler hiding among the Hufflepuffs? Scabior's duel with Wong?

Also there's some other exciting stuff to talk about! Not only is this chapter 60 of TDKWWS, we've surpassed 1000 reviews! Wow! To celebrate that milestone, I have posted a one-shot collection! It's called Gratias Vobis Ago. All of the stories are written from ideas given to me by reviewers of TDKWWS. Currently, there are three one-shots posted. You all can expect seven more to go up over the course of the month.

In addition to Gratias Vobis Ago, I've posted a 5 + 1 Anthony Goldstein/Parvati Patil drabble collection called Sometimes You Learn you guys can check out if any of you are into rare pairs.

Thank you all for reading :)

P.S. The wonderful Kiger-Neko has made some more fanart for TDKWWS. All you have to do is turn the "DOT"s into actual dots and remove the spaces and you can check it out :) The link is also on my profile and it's posted on my Tumblr page too (in case you've forgotten, my username there is itslucyluna)

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