They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

Perhaps it had been unrealistic of him, but Severus hoped strongly his grandfather would find something he could use to destroy the Horcrux before he had to see Rookwood and tell her his decision. When the days pass and the hour draws closer, he realizes he really will have to make a choice. As he ponders whether getting the spell from the Hufflepuff in exchange for sharing his life story is worth it, Severus realizes this decision doesn't have to be up entirely to him – nor should it be.

Lily and Cresswell are going to want to know where he found the spell. He supposes he can say it's one sent to him by his grandfather, but then he'll have to write Demitri about it and ask he lie should Lily or Cresswell should they ever ask him about it. Which will no doubt prompt the man to ask why and… Severus has an annoying suspicion if he's not forthcoming enough he'll go over him to ask Lily to see if she knows. It has far too much potential to unravel and turn into a convoluted mess for Severus's tastes. With great reluctance, he decides to talk to Lily and Cresswell about it during their next session of testing counterspells on the faucet.

When they all arrive, he quickly has them go through their spells, each time holding his breath in anticipation of what might happen. Every time absolutely nothing changes, it's not only him who deflates and sighs, but Lily and Cresswell too. He thinks they might honestly be overjoyed when they hear the news. No more research, no more failures, no more feelings of defeat. As Lily completes the last counter to no change in the faucet, he says, "There's something I need to tell you two."

They look at him with curiosity and trepidation shining in their eyes.

"Last week, after one of our… sessions, I was approached by Rookwood. She said she knows what spell is on the faucet and the counter—"

"—Why didn't you say anything before!" Cresswell shouts.

Severus is about to say something nasty in return about the other needing to learn to hear a story through, when Lily lays a hand on the Ravenclaw's arm. "I'm sure Severus had a reason, Dirk," she chides. "Before you get in a strop, listen to everything first he has to say first like an adult, would you?"

He is actually surprised when an expression of shame overcame Cresswell's features. "Right," he says. Then even quieter, he tells him, "Sorry, Severus."

So shocked by his apology, he can only nod before continuing, "She knows the spell and counter, but she will only tell me if I agree to let her in on all of our meetings and tell her about the entirety of my as a Death Eater and spy."

Lily crinkles her nose. "Why does she want to know all of that?"

"I suspect there are a couple of reasons," he starts. Making a counting gesture with his hand he says, "To look for something to blackmail me with or a weakness, to have a better idea of what her family was doing in the name of the Lord, or, more specifically, what her uncle and father, were doing. Her husband too, I reckon."

Dirk crosses his arms, lip jutting out slightly. "But… you lot wore masks. How precisely can you know what her dad and uncle did as Death Eaters?"

He nearly rolls his eyes. "The masks were for you, not us."

"Oh," the Ravenclaw mumbles, embarrassed.

Lily frowns. "But you didn't know all of the Death Eaters. That's how Peter was able to betray us and why everyone thought it was Sirius who did everything."

"He was a spy," replies Severus. "That was different. Who he was the Lord purposefully hid and kept vague from the rest of the Death Eaters so his ear to the Order wouldn't be exposed."

Dirk shifts his feet and slouches against one of the lavatory's sinks. "There could have been more spies than him, couldn't there have been?"

"Yes, I even was able to connect some dots post-first war and let Albus know to be wary of a couple of witches and wizards in the future."

Looking at him and then at Lily, Dirk asks, "How likely do you think it is Pettigrew and those others will be spies again?"

"Peter won't," Lily declares. As she starts to tap her fingers along the porcelain of the sink beside Dirk, she says, "Severus pushing him into the gobstones club has made Peter a more confident person I believe. He's still as good a friend with the boys as I remember, but… He also has his own things going on, you know? His life is his own.

"He's stronger too. After the dueling competition last year, he and a number of the younger gobstones club members convinced one of the older members who's friends with Pandora Ollivander to bring her by to teach them some of the spells she used during her duel with Scabior. She showed them those spells and more. I've seen him practicing with the boys now and again; sometimes Peter even wins their skirmishes."

Expression fierce – nearly lethal – she meets both of their gazes and says, "And if somehow all the changes mean nothing in the end and Peter still becomes a spy I'll kill him myself. I won't let another Peter betray our friends if I can help it."

The remark gives Severus pause and he even finds himself sharing a slightly wide-eyed look with Dirk, who returns it. It seems neither quite knows what to make of such an openly hostile declaration from Lily. It's not as if either has ever thought her incapable of such things, but Lily usually wants solutions with the least amount of violence and hurt possible.

Severus clears his throat and checks the time. "As I said, if we want the spells from Rookwood, I will have to give her the story of my Death Eater and spy years and start to allow her into all of our meetings. If you two would rather I not agree to her demands, you need to tell me now. I am due to see her any minute."

"I think she should have been here right alongside us from the start, doing her fair share and all of that," Dirk says.

He pinches the bridge of his nose and reminds himself calling the Ravenclaw a dunderhead will not help anything. "I've told you, she's not interested in being a team player. She only wants to do things that will accomplish her goals. I've been doing her quite the favor by leaving her out of the majority of our meetings. It means I'm only bringing her in when it benefits her." He scowls at his feet. "Not that she or anyone else seems to understand or appreciate that," he mutters.

Either Lily or Dirk don't hear his last remark or decide not to prod him into elaboration so they can give him fake platitudes. Instead, Lily inquires, "Do you think we should come with you when you tell her?"

"She'll hate that," Severus says. But isn't it Rookwood who says she wants to be a part of every gathering? If that's true, surely she'll understand the addition of Lily and Dirk to their meeting tonight. Besides, Lily already knows all about his Death Eater and spy days and he's rather certain she's filled Dirk in on the important parts as well. He'll just be getting a more detailed account. Finally, he tells them, "But you should be there too." He smirks. "She's the one who wants to be a part of everything now, just not what will have an effect on her. You should be given the same opportunities."

-O-

When Severus, Lily, and Dirk find Rookwood skulking outside of the Slytherin dorms, she glowers at the sight of all of them. "Decided to bring them along, did you?" she sneers.

Lily smiles right at Rookwood. "We chose to be here, actually."

"Why? Surely you've already heard about his time as a Death Eater and spy. It's not as if this is going to be interesting," huffs the Hufflepuff.

Dirk grins at her with a slightly patronizing air. "I don't know everything. Just the bare bones," he says to Rookwood. "I'm actually quite interested to hear the story in full from the horse's own mouth."

The younger's lips twist with distaste, but she doesn't say anything to the Ravenclaw. She instead turns an intense glare on Severus and grits, "Well? Are you going to get on with it?"

He waves his wand, putting up privacy spells and another two to ward off any unwanted company and to alert them if anyone's approaching if the first doesn't do its job. Looking right at her, he warns, "This will take a few hours."

She pulls out a diary – the one from the wedding, he realizes. Before he can ask, Lily does for him. "What's that for?" she demands with bewilderment. "No one is going to quiz you later."

"It's for me and my personal uses," she snaps.

Severus crosses his arms. "That's not safe," he tells her. "You're not writing down my entire Death Eater and spy career. What happens if you lose it or someone steals it?"

Rookwood rolls her eyes and turns the diary around so they can see the scribbled on pages. Every time Severus tries to read it, the letters start to swirl and run off the page. "It's charmed," she tells them. "In more than one way," she adds. "I made sure to use obscure enchantments as well." She pulls a face and mumbles, "Mother has a habit of going through my things."

"What are you going to write down?" asks Dirk.

The Hufflepuff bares her teeth. "It's none of your concern!"

Severus sees an opening to find out and says, "Allowing you to write my history down was not a part of our agreement. I'm not risking my hide by allowing a written account of my time as Death Eater and spy to float around – even if they are charmed against prying eyes." He shares a meaningful look with Lily and Dirk. "Come along, the deal's off. We'll just have to continue our search for other avenues of destroying the Horcrux."

Thankfully both are clever enough to see what he's doing and nod their heads. As they start to turn away and Severus raises his wand to cancel the many spells on them, Rookwood yells, "I don't want to write everything down! Just any mentions of my family. Surely that's not enough of a threat to your person for you to really want to cancel this meeting?"

"Why just your family?" Dirk inquires as Severus halts in canceling the spells.

Rookwood snarls at the Ravenclaw. "Isn't it enough that I told you what I want to write?"

"I'm curious too," Severus breaks in. "What exactly do you plan to do with this information? Become a Death Eater yourself and help them? I don't think I want to encourage the possibility. Even if things are not the same, I suspect there will be overlaps between the Death Eater activity of our first life and this one. I don't want them to have an advantage through you."

"I just want a rough timeline so I know when I have to start putting together escape plans," she grinds out through her clenched teeth. "I want my family to be able to leave England before the war's end. I'm not letting my grandfather go to Azkaban and die there again. I'm not going to watch my grandmother wither away from grief and I'm not going to sit by and watch my father and uncle be killed for the second time."

Severus sees Lily stiffen out of the corner of her eyes. "That's not—"

He turns his head. "Lily, shut up," he orders. "If that's what Rookwood wants to do with the information, so be it. As Albus was fond of saying, sometimes, things must be done for the greater good. If we must let a few Death Eaters run away from the consequences of their actions in exchange for a spell that will help us to defeat the Dark Lord? So be it." He gestures for Dirk to step forward, who seems shocked by his request, but moves into the space next to Severus all the same. "And we're going to make sure she keeps that promise through a vow."

Rookwood starts, "That's not necces—"

"—Oh, but it is. I'd like the charm and its reversal, but I don't need it. You, on the other hand, I imagine does need my information if what you said is the truth."

Seeing she is at the disadvantage now that she's shown all her cards, Rookwood puts out her hand in a jerky movement. "Fine," she spits. "We'll make the blasted vow."

He grips her hand and squeezes it hard enough to hurt when her nails start to dig into his wrist. With Dirk's assistance, the vow is made and the minute the spell is completed, they let one another go. As he inspects his wrist for cuts, Rookwood uses her other hand to massage the one she used in the vow. When he's satisfied that the half-moons on his skin are only marks of irritation rather than wounds, he returns his attention to the Hufflepuff and says, "Shall we begin my tale?"

"Finally!" she mutters as she digs a quill out of her pocket.

Settling himself against the wall behind him, Severus takes a moment to decide the best starting point. He picks his induction into the Death Eaters as the best place to begin. His recruitment isn't going to hold anything of use to Rookwood. As he begins, he watches Lily, still frowning and unhappy, fall into a crouch not far from him and Dirk slide down the wall next to him into a sit with his long legs outstretched in front of him. The Ravenclaw then rolls his left foot onto its side so the tip of his foot can touch Lily's.

Rookwood notices as well and she raises an eyebrow at him, as if to say, 'See? I told you they're more than friends.'

Severus harshens his gaze into a glare and reminds himself that what he's seeing isn't what it Rookwood's trying to imply. Lily's upset about what Rookwood plans to do with the information he's giving her and Dirk is simply trying to comfort her in a small way without being too obtrusive about it. Unfortunately for him, Severus is very good at noticing small things and still quite raw about how everything ended between him and Lily.

Purposefully turning his gaze away from the Hufflepuff and Lily and Dirk, he tries to focus on just informing Rookwood of his time as a Death Eater and spy. It goes about as well as expected, meaning, not well at all.

-o-O-o-

The sound of the leather soles connecting with stone fills the air around them. Whenever Sage glances at Pucey walking beside him the anxious itch beneath his collar worsens when he sees her blasé expression. While he knows he's only half to blame for silence and tedium they're experiencing it does nothing to soothe Sage. He's sure if the redhead isn't already, she will soon enough be rabbiting to all her friends about how boring performing prefect duties with Sage is. He would really prefer the majority of Slytherin's upper-year witches not think he's some dull dimwit. As uninterested as Sage is in girls, someday he might have to marry one anyway to appease his mother and that ordeal will go much easier if everyone he remotely knows doesn't believe him to be a boring simpleton.

Desperately searching for a topic to discuss with her, Sage mentally sifts through different possibilities before settling on something he hopes will be open enough they can move onto other topics once she answers his question. He clears his throat and asks, "What do you want to do when you graduate?"

Pucey turns her head to look at Sage and answer, "Well, my older brother works as a curse-breaker for Gringotts. It's always a wicked time when he comes home because he'll take me to the pub and tell me all about his latest adventures. It sounds fascinating and I'd like to be one too, but I know if I tried to become a curse-breaker my mother would have a heart attack. She hates how often Morrissey is away from home and England and she wouldn't be able to handle both of us being gone." She looks forward and with a frown, continues, "So I reckon I'll end up working for the Ministry and I'll have to find prestige elsewhere." She glances at Sage, blue eyes gauging him for something. "My cousin Fergall should be able to help with that. He's mates with your brother and from what I've heard, you're brother is doing quite well in making a name for himself in the right circles." She grins then, leaning in, she bats her eyes and whispers, "Or, perhaps, I don't have to talk to Fergall at all. You could put in a kind word for me with your brother, couldn't you, Sage?"

Sage opens his mouth, but words don't come immediately. He had just been trying to be friendly. And, now, he is being reminded of his brother's activities (that someday Sage has a sinking feeling he will be expected to join in on) and Pucey's attempting to seduce him so he'll pass on compliments about her to the right people. Closing his mouth, he swallows. When he opens his mouth again, Sage manages to squeak, "There's no need for all of this, I've already written my brother good things about you seeing as you're my fellow Slytherin prefect."

Pucey backs up and laughs. "People have said it before and I've never quite believed them, but you really are soft, aren't you?"

"Nice," Sage says. "I try to be nice."

She stares at him with disbelief. Pucey starts to speak when, abruptly, she stops and her gaze snaps to something behind Sage. He looks over his shoulder yet sees nothing there.

"I saw someone," Pucey tells him.

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure? It could have been one of the ghosts."

Pucey shakes her head. "No, no, it was a living person," she insists. As she passes by him, she grabs his arm to tug him along. "Let's go find out who it is! This is wicked! Finally, something interesting is happening!"

Sage still thinks his fellow prefect is seeing things and tries to slow them down by digging his heels into the grooves between the stones, but Pucey is stronger than she looks and very determined. It's not long at all before they are turning the corner into another corridor. There, Pucey drops his arm and whispers, "You look on the right side of the hall, I'll check the left."

Reluctantly, he does so. As he searches the shadows and behind the corridor's columns Sages sighs and huffs a few times, making sure Pucey hears his displeasure. They are wasting time and he wants to finish their round of the dungeons so he can finally go to bed. Just as Sage finishes looking over his side of the corridor, from the other side, Pucey cries out in triumph.

Sage spins around to see Pucey with her hands on her hips and smirking at Severus and Priscilla Rookwood who are now standing half in the torchlight and half behind a column. Stomach rolling, Sage says, "Severus? Rookwood?" What are they doing together? He and she aren't… are they? He frowns and looks between the two. Mostly, they appear annoyed. Perhaps a little tense, but there's enough distance between the two of them that Sage doesn't think there's anything romantic going on with them.

"What are you doing out here?" Pucey demands. "Curfew was hours ago!"

The two stare at them, unanswering.

"Severus?" Sage prompts while giving his brother pleading eyes.

He just crosses his arms and looks away.

Pucey starts to tap her foot. "Well?" she persists

"Just take our bloody house points already," Rookwood spits.

Sage's fellow prefect sniffs with distaste. "Fine," she replies. "Ten points from Hufflepuff and five from Slytherin."

He cocks his head at Pucey's declaration. Sage is one for house pride and all of that, but they'd caught Rookwood and Severus doing the exact same thing. They should have an equal amount of house points deducted from them. Playing favorites will also decrease their chances of becoming Head Boy and Head Girl in a couple of years because, eventually, the professors will overhear other students griping about them or be outright complained to about him and Pucey. While Sage doesn't know if he wants to be Head Boy quite yet, he does know he wants to have the possibility open to him.

"Another five points from Slytherin," he says. Sage then bends in close to whisper into the redhead's ear, "If you catch students committing the exact same infraction at the exact same time the same exact amount of house points should be taken from them, Pucey."

His fellow prefect jerks away from him, nose scrunched with disgust. When Sage glances at Severus, he sees his brother's face is similarly set with his lips pulled into a sneer as well. It's only Rookwood who appears even the least bit pleased with what Sage has done and there's something smug about her smirk. He wonders for a moment if he'd missed something as Pucey was pulling them from the shadows.

"I'm going to make sure Rookwood gets back to the Hufflepuff dorms," Pucey says. "I hope I can trust you to do the same with Snape here?"

Sage nods. "Yes, of course."

A moment later the two of them split off. As Severus and he walk in the direction of their dorms, he looks at his brother out of the corner of his eye. Severus is staring staunchly ahead. He clears his throat in an attempt to draw the other's attention. "What were you and Rookwood doing?"

"None of your business."

Sage frowns, hurt. "Oh," he mumbles. While it's entirely possible Severus is just angry about being caught, he can't help but feel he's also upset with Sage too. "Are you cross with me?" asks Sage. "I was just trying to be a good prefect."

Severus scoffs. "A good prefect of Slytherin would show solidarity when another of our house makes a decision, not undermine them."

"Pucey was being unfair!" argues Sage, taken aback at Severus actually suggesting he allow favoritism to happen.

His brother whirls around, eyes flashing. "And?"

Sage gapes. "You really don't care, do you?"

"Nothing in life is fair," hisses Severus.

He doesn't know how to reply. Typically his brother is so… not this. He's a better person than nearly anyone else Sage has ever known and often inspirational to be around. Even when he insists on helping people, people who honestly don't deserve it, like Scabior. Yet when Sage attempts to do right by someone (and a Hufflepuff at that!), Severus acts as if he's aiding and abetting a criminal!

The entrance to their dorm in sight, Sage picks up his pace and heads over to it. He says the password and steps in. When Severus follows, Sage finally knows what he wants to say to Severus. "Maybe life isn't, but I can try to be," he tells him. After, Sage realizes he's shaking with indignation and fury. Severus is the one who broke curfew and got caught, yet his brother's behaving as if Sage's is the one who did something wrong.

Severus's eyes change; the hard edge to them is softer and the angry glint from earlier is missing entirely now. It seems he is finally realizing what a berk he's been to Sage the last ten minutes. However, it's too late. "Sage—"

He turns away from his brother and calls, "Goodnight, Severus."

Sage hears Severus swear behind him, but he doesn't attempt to catch up to him and apologize.

-o-O-o-

When Severus wakes up, he finds that his brother is long gone from their dorm.

"At least half an hour," Wilkes says when Severus asks how long Sage has been gone.

He can't say he's surprised. Severus hadn't been kind the night before after Sage and Pucey caught him and Rookwood coming back from their meeting with Lily and Dirk about how they are going to harvest poison from the Basilisk and if they should kill the snake too while they are at it (the answer is yes, they will. It's inevitable it will die when it sees the rooster they will bring). As he dresses for the day, Severus hopes to see Sage at breakfast. Perhaps there he'll be able to apologize for the untactful way he tried to impress upon his brother the need for all Slytherins to behave like a united front in front of those from other houses.

Grabbing his satchel, he leaves the Slytherin dorms for the Great Hall.

-O-

When Severus looks over the Slytherin table, he frowns when he doesn't see Sage. He does, however, spot Scabior. The boy's making faces at his cousin as she's trying to flirt with a couple of seventh-years seated on Scabior's side of the table. It's obvious she notices and is very close to lunging across the table to smack the boy if he doesn't knock it off.

Severus decides to sit next to the third year, distracting him from his activity. "Hello, Scabior," he greets.

"She's such a slag," he grumbles. "I keep thinkin' I should write Aunt Sally so she can send 'er a 'owler, but Posey will know it's me who told Aunt Sally an' I'm pretty sure she'll try an' get me expelled then."

Severus contemplates filling a plate with food, but decides against it and instead grabs a roll a couple of apples to put in his satchel for later. He doesn't plan to stick around for too long. Finding Sage is still his main priority. "She wouldn't succeed," he tells Scabior.

He furrows his brow. "Y'think?"

"I'd make sure of it." He pours himself a glass of pumpkin juice and takes a sip. "Writing a letter would be a waste of time, by the way. Most every student flirts now and then with someone. It's normal, not bad behavior."

Scabior stabs the ham on his plate rather viciously. "I've seen 'er do a lot more than chat up blokes. In fact, I saw 'er snoggin' one yesterday an' it wasn't either of them."

Done with his drink, Severus shrugs. "Even so," he says. Though, he supposes he can try and talk to Duffield later about being a little more discreet for Scabior's sake. It seems to truly upset him to see his cousin being coy with so many lads. He doubts she'll care or listen, but he really does want to try and get it into her head that her plan to get away from all her family by having the right boy put her up the duff is a terrible idea. "By the way, have you seen Sage this morning?"

"Left ten minutes ago," Scabior answers around the ham in his mouth.

Severus nods. "Any idea where he went to?"

The boy shrugs. "Owlery, maybe. I think I saw a letter in 'is 'and."

He gets to his feet. "Thank you," he tells Scabior. "I'll see you at lunch."

-O-

As Severus heads for the owlery, he passes Peter and Remus in the corridor. He nods at the two, but decides against taking a moment to speak with Peter about the gobstones club and defense class with Remus. He needs to find Sage and straighten things out now, rather than later. In spite of not wanting to talk with them, Remus appears to decide they should, as he calls after him, "Severus! Hey, Severus!"

He looks back at the reedy Gryffindor. Grudgingly, he stops a moment to let the other catch up to him. "Yes?" he asks.

"May we talk a moment?"

Severus frowns. "I need to get to the owlery, can we walk as we speak?"

Remus grimaces. "Um, I sort of want to do it in private."

In response, he casts his privacy charm over the both of them. "No one will understand a word we're saying now," he tells the other.

"Okay," the Gryffindor says, though, he appears a little doubtful.

He sighs and assures him, "It does work while you're moving, it's my very own spell and I've tested in almost every situation you'd think to use it in."

Remus nods and lets them begin to walk in the direction of the owlery. "Sirius told me you figured out I'm a werewolf," he says to Severus.

In return, he looks at the Gryffindor out of the corner of his eye. "I did."

"I wanted to thank you for not telling anyone."

Severus frowns. "It's not my place," he tells him. He's also fairly certain Albus would find a way to discredit him to protect Remus, but he's not going to tell the boy that. What Severus does feel safe jabing is the "protective measures" Albus and the professors in the know have put in place. "Even if I think it's a horrendous idea the Headmaster and professors are letting you transform on school grounds." Raising his voice, he complains, "Merlin, I don't know what any of them were thinking! It would only take one student becoming curious enough to go investigate your howling and Hogwarts will have a tragedy on its hands."

Remus hunches in on himself. "Oh."

He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "That's not a criticism of you, you know."

The Gryffindor looks up and blinks a few times realization dawning on him. "Ah," he murmurs.

"You could do something about it, though. Tell the Headmaster you're worried things aren't as secure as you would like. I'm sure he'll try and convince you it is, but obviously it's not. That's why Sirius and the rest can get to you during the full moon."

Remus dips his head, hand coming to rub thoughtfully at his chin. "I'll consider it," he replies. "Thank you, again, anyway."

Severus waves away the spell. "It's nothing," he replies. "When you have as many secrets as I, what's one more?" Severus says smirking, trying to play off the truth as a laugh.

The teenager chuckles. "I'll see you around, Severus."

He nods in agreement and then continues on his way. A few minutes later when Severus reaches the owlery he relaxes when he sees Sage coming down the steps. Picking up his pace to greet the other, he yells, "Sage!"

His brother looks at him, apprehension ghosting across his gaze. "'Lo," he says back.

"I just want to apologize," he tells the other. "I was… Unfairly short with you last night. It was my fault Pucey caught us and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"Thanks," Sage replies, though, he looks little appeased.

He frowns. "What?"

"Do you really think I shouldn't have taken the same amount of house points from you that Pucey took from Rookwood?"

Severus lifts his gaze to the ceiling. "It's not that I don't think I should have lost the same amount of house points, it's that I don't think you ought to have done it in front of Rookwood. Houses need to appear as a united front, especially Slytherin."

"Taking them away afterward would have still made us look like we were showing favoritism!"

He looks at his brother. Sage's hands are balled up and his brows are pulled together with anger. He doesn't understand why he's so upset about the idea of Rookwood being treated unfairly. She's one of the people least deserving of kindness that he knows. "Sage, what are you trying to do?"

"Trying to do?"

Severus nods. "Yes, why is it you're so against showing favoritism? What are you attempting to do that means you can't?"

Sage stares back at him. "I don't…" he shakes his head. "It's not right," he says. "You're not right. You care about what happens to Scabior and he's a couthless little berk, but you don't that Rookwood's being punished harder for the exact same infraction you committed!"

"Scabior has redeemability, unlike Rookwood! Losing extra points is just a small part of what she deserves," he yells back.

His brother scowls. "Rookwood hasn't done anything to anyone from what I've seen or heard, unlike Scabior."

Severus takes a deep breath. "Sage…"

"What were you doing with her?" his brother questions, "Are you two…?"

"Merlin, no!" he assures. "Sage, I promise my telling you about what the two of us are doing says nothing about how much I trust you. It's business between the two of us that I know she'd hate for me to share with anyone, even you," Severus fibs. Meeting his brother's gaze, he goes for a calm, intensity as he adds, "I haven't talked about what we're doing with Lily either."

The troubledness eases from Sage's countenance. "Okay." His eyebrows knit together once more. "That really doesn't make it better," he tells Severus.

"I know." He smiles slightly. "Someday I'll be able to tell you about it, I imagine."

Coming over to Severus's side, Sage smirks back. "I'll be waiting."

He snorts. "Sure, Sage." Reaching into his satchel he pulls out the apples he took from the Slytherin table and offers one to Sage to eat as well. His brother takes it and grins as he bites into it.

As he eats his own, Severus's thoughts wander. At some point in the future, a day will come where Severus has to tell Sage the truth about himself, about Lily, Dirk, and Rookwood. He's never given much thought to what this day would look like, as it always felt so far away, but that's not true any longer. To save Sage from the fate he faced in his first lifetime Severus might have to reveal all of himself to his brother. Soon, too, depending on how early he was persuaded into joining the Death Eaters by Boyd. He hopes when the time comes they'll be able to overcome the betrayal Sage will feel and come out of it with an even stronger sense of brotherhood than they share now.

What'd you think?

Also, heads up, I'm going on vacation for the next couple of weeks. So there will be no updates for a bit :( In the meantime, why not check out a couple of these awesome fics below?

The Ollivanders by FitzDizzyspells22 is a WIP OC-centric fanfiction set during the first war w/Voldemort and focuses on Garrick Ollivander's son, Todd, and a fellow wandsmith in training, Maggie Gibson. The story is a lot of fun, FitzDizzy writes dynamic characters, delves into wand-making and magic and really fleshes it out in a fascinating way, and mixes humor, action, and drama excellently.

Come Once Again And Love Me by Laventadorn is my favorite Severus and Lily time-travel. It's full of suspense and has one of my favorite characterizations of Severus and Lily. Also, unlike in TDKWWS, Lily and Severus end up with one another in the end ;)

It Falls to The Young by Viskii given its age, this fic is extremely AU. While it at times feels a bit like a Severus-whump story, it's just a fun, adventure/friendship fic between Severus and the Marauders.

Delight in Whatever Remains by Greenschist is a one-shot focusing on Hannah Longbottom post-war and her struggle with infertility issues and coming to terms with the twists life has given her and finding happiness in what she does have. An overall bittersweet story that does a lovely job of handling a sensitive issue many women in the world face.

Headmaster Snape by Bil is a Severus character study. It's brief, but compares and contrasts Voldemort and Severus in interesting ways and puts a neat spin on things.

Thank you all a million for reading, I appreciate it everyone :)

Edited: 1/13/20