They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
A couple of days after Scabior and Wong's duel and three before his own with Marlene McKinnon, Severus and Lily decide now is the time to tell Cresswell about their theory. It takes a bit of searching on their part, splitting up more than once to speed the process along, but they manage to find the Ravenclaw. Severus and Lily come across him in a lesser used corridor near the Gryffindor tower sitting on the sill of one of Hogwarts's large windows.
At first, he doesn't seem to notice them. Cresswell has his legs pulled close to his chest and every now and again the tip of a quill's feather pops up over his bony knees. Severus wonders what it is the Ravenclaw is writing and why he's doing it in this corridor rather than somewhere a little more typical like his dorm or the study hall. When they get closer, Lily purposefully clears her throat, (which earns her a glare from Severus, who had been all for getting near enough to hopefully catch a glimpse of the Ravenclaw's scribblings) and Cresswell's head jerks up. Without a moment of hesitation, he slaps his notebook close and Severus catches a glimpse of its cover. It's a simple black leatherbound diary.
Involuntarily, he cringes. The scene reminds him of Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts when the Weasley girl spent all her time writing in a similar black diary. He'd not thought too much of it as it was happening – especially with all else going on that year, but once he learned the truth of the matter…
Severus shakes his head. Now is not the time to be thinking about the Horcruxes (he's not even sure he knows where the diary is at this time). As he refocuses on Cresswell and Lily, he notices they are looking at him oddly.
"Alright there?" asks the Ravenclaw with a note of suspicion.
He nods. "Fine."
Next to him, Lily murmurs, "Sev…"
"Honestly," Severus hisses, "I'm fine."
She frowns, but lets it go.
Cresswell glances between them. "What made you decide to seek me out today? Not to call me a pedophile again, I hope."
Severus's muscles tighten in preparation to spring. Before he can so much as say a take a step forward, however, Lily has a death-grip on his arm to hold him in place as she answers firmly, "No."
The Ravenclaw raises an eyebrow. "Well then? Why are you bothering me now?"
Lily's brows furrow with disgruntlement. "We're not bothering you. You said we could speak to you if we needed your help."
Cresswell loses most of his attitude at that. Unfurling from the sill, he tucks his diary away and asks, "You two are quick, aren't you? What is it you need my help with?"
Severus takes over to explain. "Since we learned that you are like us, it has struck me that we are each of a different house, but the same age."
A contemplative look comes to the Ravenclaws gaze. "You think there's a Hufflepuff in our year who is a time traveler too?"
"It makes sense, wouldn't you agree?"
Cresswell's expression sours, as if he wants to disagree, yet can't say so because he doesn't. "Do you have any ideas on who the time traveler could be?"
He sighs. "No."
The Ravenclaw is quiet a moment. "You?" Creswell directs at Lily.
She blinks, seemingly surprised he's asking her after Severus answered for them. However, he isn't. Cresswell doesn't trust Severus and doesn't realize just how much of a team he and Lily are when it comes to matters like this. To soothe the offense he feels at his word not being enough for the other, Severus reminds himself Cresswell will figure it out soon enough.
In spite of everything, the Ravenclaw is an intelligent man.
"No," Lily answers.
Cresswell scratches his chin thoughtfully. "I can't think of anyone off of the top of my head who could be it, but I could talk to one of my housemates about introducing me to some of her Hufflepuff boyfriend's mates." He looks at them, assessing. "Unless you two have any better ideas?"
"No, your plan sounds brilliant," Lily assures Cresswell. "Just let us know if you need any help or a second opinion?"
He nods. "Alright." Then, warningly, he says, "My plan might end up being a bit slow-going."
"That's fine," Severus tells him. "We expected whatever course of action that we all agreed upon could be."
Cresswell frowns, as if he doesn't know whether he should feel insulted by Severus's words or be relieved he and Lily don't have unreasonable expectations for what's to come. It pleases Severus more than it probably should.
-o-O-o-
Standing on a dueling platform is not a new sensation to Severus, but it feels different today. Perhaps because he knows there are people hoping he'll win – and not just because they bet money on him. Casting his gaze out over the sea of teenagers, he looks for a few familiar faces in particular. Even though he is friends with both, and they have spent years in each other's company, it is still uncommon to find Sage and Lily together when he's not there to stand with them.
Today, however, the uncommon sight has occurred. Sage and Lily stand side by side, but not only that, they are talking to one another. When they notice he's staring at them, Lily grabs Sage's robe and points at him. She grins and waves. Sage smiles too, then, silently, mouths what may be 'good luck'. All the same, he nods at both, acknowledging their encouragement. Severus is surprised yet again when a few moments later he sees the Marauders take up space around Lily, and then Regulus appear from behind Sirius.
Someone must have made a joke of some kind, as a moment later, Sirius pulls out his wand and then all of their robes turn Slytherin green – much to the chagrin of the fellow Gryffindors in his company. It makes him raise an eyebrow at the boy, but Sirius only winks when he sees his inquisitive look. Severus can't deny he feels a bit fond of Sirius at that.
The Gryffindor is still the annoying, mischievous soul Severus knew him to be from his first life, but now it's manifested in a way that is light-hearted and truly all in good fun, rather than used as a veil for his bullying and mean-streak.
Gaze slowly meandering away from them, it doesn't take Severus long at all to spy Clara. She's standing hand in hand with Benjy, giggling now and then, when the boy tilts his head to whisper something in her ear. When she sees him looking, she blushes, before making a well-wishing gesture at him. He smiles at Clara before he returns to scanning the crowds once more.
He doesn't have to look long before he spots Cresswell. He's conversing with a few of his fellow Ravenclaws and there's a couple of Hufflepuffs mixed into his little group too. Severus is pleased to see he's taking the task of finding the other traveler seriously. When Cresswell picks up on Severus's stare, he sneers and turns his gaze pointedly to McKinnon, who stands on the other side of the platform, bouncing on her heels as she waits for the instructions from Demitri.
Severus rolls his eyes and moves on from the Ravenclaw. There's a couple of others he's curious to find in the crowd yet. It takes a little longer, but he has to do a double-take when he sees that Scabior and Wong are standing with each other just a couple of rows back from the platform. Scabior doesn't appear to be antagonizing the girl, in fact, he looks pleased with himself. And the girl almost looks happy.
He feels satisfied knowing she's recovered from her loss and is making friends of her opponent.
After a moment, Scabior locks eyes with him. A grin that means trouble on his face, he brings his fingers to his mouth and whistles loudly. A few students around him turn their heads and glare, but Wong laughs, hands over her ears. It's then she notices Severus. Instead of looking weary or upset, she waves. Face open and friendly.
Severus should feel grateful that Cresswell didn't poison her mind with fear or hate for him, but, really, he just feels uneasy. What could he have possibly done to earn such an amicable response from the girl? Had Scabior (Merlin forbid) enchanted her before the duel? He hopes not. That's a lecture Severus was looking to avoid giving the boy.
Just as he begins to contemplate a using legilimency on Scabior, and maybe Wong too, Demitri steps up on the platform and starts to call for the crowd's silence.
After some sparks from his wand and a couple of threats of lost house points, the students quiet down. When his grandfather recites the same rules he did for Scabior and Wong's duel just days before, Demitri gives him a particularly sharp look. Warning him, Severus thinks, against being too much of a show-off during his duel with McKinnon.
He wants to scoff. He already knows better than to put his all in this duel. Severus is going against a fifteen-year-old girl. It would be cruel to trump her so soundly. When he finishes rattling off the rules and encouragement, he steps off the platform and leaves Severus and McKinnon to their battle.
Severus focuses in on McKinnon. Her hair, which she usually wears down around her shoulders, is tied back today like it is on Quidditch game days. She wears a fierce expression for a teenager (though a fairly tame one for a Quidditch player), eyes assessing as she waits. It seems she's waiting for him to make the first move. Seeing no reason to deny McKinnon her wish, Severus does so.
Not so much as letting his features twitch, Severus waves his arms, casting a levicorpus at the girl.
McKinnon ducks and shoots off a jinx of her own. With ease born from war, he deflects the spell and tries to hit the teenager with yet another jinx. Like before, she dodges it. Severus may have been impressed by how quickly she moved if he did not already know it's born of reflexes from Quidditch training. He came into the duel expecting no less from McKinnon.
Even so, it's a reminder to him that just casting spells at the teenager is unlikely to lead to a victory. Considering his options as he deflects spells and narrowly side-steps a particularly nasty curse, an idea comes to Severus. He crouches low and hisses, "Aguamenti!" water pours from his wand at a rapid rate, leaving puddles all around McKinnon's feet.
For a moment, confusion furrows the girl's brows. However, by the time Severus cancels his spell, she's caught on. She knows Severus is attempting to make it harder for her to physically move out of the way of his enchantments. She steps gingerly through the puddles, deflecting the hexes and casts at her with admirable accuracy.
Severus moves back, further and further as McKinnon advances. It doesn't take long for him to realize he's only a handful of steps away from the edge the platform and McKinnon is a yard away at best. He's close to being cornered. Severus doesn't like it. Taking a chance, he leaves himself unguarded for a moment as he summons birds to attack McKinnon.
Just as he successfully completes the spell, Severus is hit with the full force of a knock-back jinx. Falling hard, he skids back so far the top half of him ends up hanging over the edge of the platform. A murmur rises over the crowd and Severus ignores the way his back aches as he quickly pulls himself away from the edge. If he goes over, he loses. Severus is not going to lose to a fifteen-year-old girl. Looking back at McKinnon, Severus is relieved to see she's too distracted trying to keep the birds he summoned from pecking out her eyes to notice he's getting back up.
Once he's standing again on shaking legs, Severus calls out, "Brachiabindo!"
McKinnon hears him and desperately tries to get out of the way of the ropes coming to bind her in place. Unluckily for her, as the birds were attacking her during the time Severus was down, she backed up into the mess of puddles Severus made minutes before. She steps too quickly and slips. As she's falling down, the ropes catch her and wrap around her.
The teenager cries out when her chin smashes into the platform. A few in the crowds decry McKinnon's downfall and jeer when Severus steps forward and disarms her – completely ignoring her bleeding chin and lips.
When her wand is in his hand, Demitri appears on the platform, declaring Severus victor. Most cheer, but there are a few upset faces among the crowds. His grandfather undoes the ropes on McKinnon and assists the girl to her feet. When she's standing, Severus hesitantly approaches and offers her one of the handkerchiefs he keeps in his pocket at Aunt Vesta's behest.
"Thank you," McKinnon mumbles as she takes it. First, she dabs at her teary eyes before she places it over the gaping wound on her chin. "You're really good, you know that?" asks the teenager after a moment.
Severus smiles slightly and says, "You are quite skilled as well. It was a pleasure to duel you."
A grin starts on the girl's lip, only to fall short at the pain it visibly causes her. "Back at you," she settles for, eyes bright.
How did you like this chapter?
As I mentioned last chapter, a collection of one-shots based off of ideas from TDKWWS reviewers is currently being posted. Some of those stories are set in the Rubble Flower 'verse. If you'd like more of TDKWWS and it's 'verse between this update and the next, I'd go take a look at Gratias Vobis Ago. All one-shots with spoilers are marked as such with an author's note at the top for those of you who'd rather avoid them.
Thanks for reading :)