Chapter 4: Coming Back to Hogwarts

Disclaimer: Potter Etc Ain't Mine.

The sun was still high overhead when Sage apparated into Hogsmeade with his uncle. It was humid but not overly hot outside. He pulled his khaki pants up slightly and smoothed down his long-sleeved grey shirt. The heat of the banged down on him. His eyes locked with Severus's as the man righted his black robes. They were not the ones he normally stalked around the school in, but rather a light blended material that swooshed around in the wind.

"Well come on, don't just stand there stupidly," the tall man barked at him.

Obediently, Sage fell into step next to him as they walked through the town. It had been a long summer, indeed. The only high points had been the Quidditch World Cup and his mounting height. He had grown at least five inches and was now around 5 foot 10 inches. It gave him another four inches to catch up to his uncle's looming height, but made him very tall for his age.

His voice had changed too, although he always had a rather deep voice compared to the other boys his age; he still had some growing into it to do.

Sage thought about all that had happened to him that summer and with a somber sigh, remembered that his happiness was limited. No matter what happened around him, no matter what he took pleasure in, no matter what he wanted, he only had a few years to live. Those years did not look to be shaping out to be a good years either.

He pursed his lips. He tried to block those thoughts from his head, but found he could not banish then. As the wind blew his black hair into his face, he thought about the time ticking by. He breathed in, but it did not feel real. It did not feel like it gave him life. Even air was stale. Each second had become so poignant to him that it often made his stomach drop. He had no expectations for what was going to happen, just a knowledge of what was definitely to come, and the realization of his inability to deal with it. He could not even control his magic.

A hand knocked him hard in the shoulder.

"Where is your head, Sage? Did you not just hear a word I said?"

He blinked his eyes and then glanced up at Severus. "What sir? I got distracted."

"Do you require anything from the town before we leave? I don't have time for your day-dreaming."

If his uncle only knew that his thoughts were far from daydreams. "No sir, I'm all set."

The man stared at him harshly, as if he were estimating the truth of what Sage had said.

"Being morbid again then? We do not have time for that. You really do need to get passed dwelling on that. If you cannot, the very things you fear may very well come to be."

"Just a lot on my mind, sir."

Severus shook his head and pointed a finger at him. "You have more strength than this. If you cannot control your own thoughts so that you can focus, your powers are useless to you."

"I've noticed," he replied, sarcastically.

His uncle answered him with a swift slap. "Then do something about it. I cannot help you there. And what did we talk about? Something about your cheek and starting to act appropriately. How fast you disremember when you are brooding about death. Thinking about it doesn't make it go away."

"I've noticed that as well," he said bitterly, under his breath. It earned another slap.

"You know, one might think you were stupid with the rate at which you seem to enjoy getting slapped across your unceasing mouth."

Finally, Sage decided it was best not to answer. He had gotten one very 'swift and severe' punishment for his mouth already that summer and did not care to repeat the experience. Severus had to keep up appearances now and this one had occurred while a certain Mr. Macnair had been by. He shuddered.

The rate at which he had flown across the room and smacked the stone wall was enough to have made him nearly black out, and that had just been the beginning. Since then he had come to realize that it was most important for him to remember to be proper when certain company was around. He would almost prefer a good Cruciatus to having to hand over his own belt to his uncle so that he could get bent over a desk for insulting that cretin, Macnair. In front of the dim-wit as well.

Most of the time his uncle would let him pass fairly unscathed when they were alone. This was one of those instances, but he did not want to push it any farther, because he did not wish a repeat of that embarrassment. Witnesses or not.

The halls of Hogwarts were so quiet before term, it reminded Sage of the prior year after everyone had left. That thought made him uncomfortable as well. It seemed that Hogwarts reminded him of a lot of things, and most of them he'd rather not remember.

He spent the majority of the afternoon helping his uncle get ready for term by taking an inventory of what ingredients were on hand and what ingredients they needed to stock up on. Sage had also been responsible for finding out what potions Poppy needed restocked as well. It looked as if they would spend a lot of time in the two weeks before term making a lot of medical potions.

While Sage was brewing a simple healing draught, the headmaster popped his head through the open classroom door and walked in.

"Trusting you not to blow up his classroom, Sage?" he asked good-naturedly.

Sage could not hold back a slight smile. "Trusting would not be the word I would use, sir. He just left to get some ingredients out of his office."

Dumbledore smiled and walked up to him. "Ahhh, so like Severus." He looked into the cauldron. "I never was any good with potions. You seem to have a talent with it though."

"Don't flatter him sir, that potion would make any first year look good," Severus stately flatly. They had not even noticed his entrance.

The headmaster chuckled slightly, "He moves like you Severus. And what did you do to him over the summer, feed him Skele-Gro?"

Sage almost laughed, but not quite.

"Was there a reason to this visit headmaster?" The professor raised a brow as if to illustrate they clearly were busy.

Dumbledore shook his head in a chiding matter. "Just wanted to see how the two of you were getting on. And, I was wondering if you were joining us for dinner."

Severus moved over to the cauldron, looked at it, and said, "I have not killed him yet if that's what you mean by getting on."

The headmaster laughed as if Severus had been joking. He smoothed down his white beard.

"I will see you upstairs for dinner. Both of you." He looked over his spectacles at the younger pair.

He only smiled when the professor replied, "Of course, headmaster…" In a gritted way that made it seem as if it were the last thing he wished to do.

Sage stood nearby while Severus was brewing another potion. His uncle was quizzing him on ingredients typically used in potions associated with the Dark Arts. Many of the ingredients were dangerous to handle. He had to know which ones were dangerous, why they were dangerous, how they reacted with various other ingredients, and what they did to someone who was exposed. They did this every night, each night with a different subject matter.

"Boomslang skin?"

Sage smirked, he had heard all about Boomslang skin from Hermione, who had used it in the Polyjuice Potion.

"It's used for transformations. Unless diluted it reacts with the skin upon contact. It is not volatile with other ingredients."

"Unicorn blood?"

"Well, it is thought that it can be used to generate immortality, but with grave side effects. The taker becomes inhuman after prolonged exposure. It is safe to touch but not to ingest."

Sage continued to rattle off ingredients and such until Severus was assured that his nephew was not a dunderhead. He did not miss many of the ingredients he was asked about. One might say that Snape was pleased, but you could not read it on his face.

The night before the other students were to arrive, Professor Snape gave him another lecture about acting as befitted him and watching his mouth. They already had Sage's timetable and Severus knew when he would be teaching, so they had discussed what times they would be meeting and when Sage was to help scare the first years. That wasn't how Severus had put it, but that's what he meant and Sage knew it.

The morning of the welcoming feast Severus was in a particularly foul mood. He knew he would have to deal with a new crop of annoying first years who wouldn't know up from down. Sage spent the majority of the day trying not to make him any more aggravated. So, he engaged him in a conversation he knew his uncle always liked to have: how Dark Arts could be used for good purposes, how virtually any spell could be used for the Dark Arts, and how there really was no distinction between the magic, just those who used the magic.

Hermione giggled about how much Harry and Ron's voices had changed. Then she rolled her eyes at their boyish stupidity. Fred and George were looking absolutely mischievous, as if they could wait to start pulling pranks they'd planned all summer.

She looked away for a minute, at her surroundings. She was back in her element. She looked around at her competition and glared at the Slytherins. The head table was full of smiling professors talking animatedly with each other, probably because Snape was missing. She looked at the empty seat to her side and pursed her lips. Sage wasn't there yet. Not that she should care, but she was curious to see if he had changed as much as he sounded he had changed.

She looked towards the doors of the great hall just in time to see Snape come striding in with Sage next to him. They were talking about something, something very interesting. The professor finished talking, Sage nodded, and then he began to speak. Finally, the professor raised an eyebrow and smirked. Whatever Sage had said, it seemed as if Severus was impressed with it. He was taller, much taller. He was only a few inches shorter than Professor Snape and the potion's master was over 6 feet tall, she guessed. His skin was as pale as ever, and she guessed he had not seen a broom, or the sun, all summer.

The difference that may not have been obvious to others, but was obvious to her, was his face and his eyes. His eyes had no depth to them, they were just large icy blue orbs. And his face was stony, much like Snape's. Had he not been moving, he could have passed for a stone statue. The sounds of their voices came nearer, and Hermione looked back at Harry and Ron. She didn't want him to know that she had been looking at him.

Professor Snape stopped a few feet away from then and touched Sage lightly on the arm to stop him as well.

"When this pitiable event is all over," he said making a short gesture with his arm, "You will wait for me, and we will continue our discussion in my office."

Hermione swore that the only muscles that moved on Sage's face were the ones needed to move his mouth.

"Yes sir, I can only hope this doesn't last dreadfully long."

Hermione barely caught the smug look on Snape's face as he strode up the head table. She missed Sage looking at the table in front of him deciding where to sit. When she turned back around she caught him just sitting down between Ron and George. He had left the spot next to her empty even though it had been closer to him. She knew he didn't care for Ron either. Sage had always found the red-head to be a bit thick, save for at chess.

Ginny cast her a funny look. She knew that Sage had sat next to Hermione at meals for months, and also that he now seemed to be avoiding her. All of Gryffindor Tower had seen them snogging the face off each other, and a good portion has noticed his terrific hard-on before the floor had started shaking. Surely, it couldn't have gone wrong so quickly!

As soon as the two Snapes had sat down, McGonagall came in with the first years and she didn't have much chance to say hello to him. He seemed to be completely concentrating on glaring at the first years as they walked by.

Sage had worn a smug look all through Dumbledore's speech and the unveiling of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Not only did he know about it for most of the summer, but it also did not matter than he was suspended from Quidditch for the year as punishment fo the party. There was not Quidditch anyway.

The thought of the tournament made Sage wince: they were going to be playing some kind of challenge game while Voldemort was likely going to return that same year. The prophecy had said that the Dark Lord would rise again in his (Sage's) fourth year. They should not be playing games.

All summer he had listened to his uncle hiss about Igor Karakoff, a Death Eater. His uncle was not too fond of this Karakoff. The man was both a coward and an idiot: two things that Severus Snape hated the most all wrapped up in one person.

Sage sat at the end of the row next to Harry in Defense Against the Dark Arts later that week. Hermione stared down the row at him. He did not look at her. In fact, he had his blue eyes closed. They had not really talked since they had been back, he never seemed to be around. He was always in the one place Hermione cared to go and look for him. The way he was acting aggravated her. She didn't understand what was going on. He was acting like he had the first few weeks he had been at Hogwarts the year before, and that was not a good change.

She did not have much time to analyze what was happening to her friend, because Professor Moody began his lecture by telling them to put their books away. Soon, they were discussing the Unforgiveables and Moody was doing the curses on spiders, which was rather upsetting. It seemed to Hermione that Moody seemed to be staring at Sage an awful lot. He stuck out because of his looks and his height, but not enough to get stared at that much. Sage seemed to be staring back just as harshly. Hermione frowned.

The old Auror seemed a bit unhinged to her, at least to be teaching a class of 4th years.

Moody clunked around in front of the class. "Now, none of you has the ability to use any of these spells. I doubt you'd be able to do more than give me a headache, even if you tried the killing curse." He stopped in front of Sage, his fake eye going wild. "Except for you, you're a Snape. I expect you could do these curses couldn't you. Bet that uncle of yours has taught you all of them already. I'd wager you've used 'em before."

Sage stared at Moody like Severus had instructed him, appearances and all, and Moody certainly seemed to not like it. Sage's blood seemed to get warmer in his veins. He hated it when people judged his uncle and then judged him based upon his uncle. The Auror knew nothing about him. His breathing was slow and calculated to keep him from losing his familial temper. The room was filled with whispers, and he could feel eyes on him. He allowed a smug smirk to escape him as he stared piercingly at the former Auror. Finally, Sage decided to answer him.

"No, sir, my uncle has not taught me any of the Unforgiveables."

Moody's fake eye pegged him, Sage stared back.

"Of Course not," the Auror said sarcastically. "He's used them on you though, hasn't he? All Dark Wizards do." The man leaned down closer to his face.

Moody didn't scare him, and he certainly wasn't going to get the better of him.

"No, he has not. Not that it is any of your business anyway. Furthermore, sir, an interest in Dark Arts does not make a wizard Dark. You yourself have used so called 'Dark Arts', I could accuse you of the same. You've probably killed more people than most Death Eaters."

The classroom gasped in unison.

Before Sage knew it, Moody had flipped his wand out at him and launched a curse. Sage's hand went up in front of him, and it happened. A foot from his body, a small puff light appeared and then vanished. The curse was deflected. Moody's wand was in Sage's hand an instant later. He almost wasn't sure how it happened.

One millisecond he felt threatened and the next millisecond he reacted without any reflection. The Auror looked both petrified and as if steam could come flying out his ears at any minute. Only a sense of Hogwart's safety kept Moody from throwing himself onto the Magi's throat.

The class was eerily silent.

Then Sage spoke softly, "I would take care, sir, what you do around a Magi." A large black rat appeared on the desk in front of Sage. His eyes focused on it. Then he looked back up at Moody. He stood up and looked the man straight in the face. "Were I you, I would take care to remember next time you wish to play Auror around me that I could kill you with a simple look, exactly like that rat, without needing to have learned how first."

Moody stared at him sharply after eying the dead rat. Sage had cast an Unforgiveable without gesture or incantation.

He smirked, he had never even tried to cast an Unforgiveable before. His uncle really hadn't taught him. He mused, his anger and frustration had fueled his focus. He felt pleased with himself as he stared back at the man.

Moody's glare in return was nothing compared to Snape's. His uncle hated Moody and he had a feeling his uncle was be proud to hear about what his nephew did in class, although he knew he was going to get punished for it. Sage threw his bag over his shoulder as the class watched in shock. They were all scared of Moody, and now they seemed wary of him.

"Oh, and sir, don't worry about telling the headmaster, I'm going there to tell him what I've done myself, and about your trying to curse a student. I won't be coming back to your class either so you can stop deciding how best to fail me."

He turned on his heel and stalked out with a large measure of Snape flair. Hermione snapped her jaw shut as she watched him leave the classroom without a look behind him.

Read it, Review it! Thank you so much! 3/2020

Sibyl - I'll let Sage know about your offer to help him make Hermione jealous. Hee hee. You should read my I made the letter in such a way that we girls would be able to understand what was written between the lines just as Hermione does. So what's really going on?

CC- Glad you've joined up with my story! I can't believe you read all of my other fic in one night! Kudos to you! That's like 300 pages double spaced on Microsoft Word, yikes, sore eyes is right. (I'm like that too with some fics!). Let me know how you feel about the rest of the fic.

MCMish - It will be interesting to see if he can hold up to Snape's standards. Rules are one thing, but can he really concentrate and progress under all that? We'll see. We may see a little testing of the boundaries.

VD - this story will be darker than the last, but for more reasons than GoF. I hope this one will be better than the last. The first one was just a prep story for this one the more I think about it. I have lots planned for this, and there are plenty more surprises.

Jasmin Flower - It seems to be a concensus that this one is going to be better than the last one! Since you seem to like the characters who are bad and have attitude, you will like this story. Sage will fit that profile a lot, but he won't become an exact Severus twin.

Jewel Little Bird - I really liked your fic! Sequel? I have plenty of rug- pullings planned for you. Let me know if you saw any of it coming when it happens! In the next few chappies there will be a BIG one.