Chapter 32 - Family, Friends, and Gryffindors, Part two

Family, Friends, and Girlfriends, Part Two: The Trees

They passed rosebush after rosebush, as a good majority of them were shaking in a way that begged them to not be disturbed. Sage looked around for somewhere a bit less juvenile, but Mandy was all too eager to lead him towards a nearby tree.

His stomach was beginning to get uneasy. Was she really adamant about kissing him? Just kissing him?

Mandy dropped his hand and then sunk to the ground under the tree. She patted the ground next to her, smiling slightly.

Sage looked around for a few moments and then reluctantly sat down beside her. He leaned his back against the tree. Finding himself a little light-headed, he took a deep breath. He was…apprehensive? He found that he was feeling rather odd. He hadn't felt that way the last time he kissed someone, but he also figured that the last time he had been rather stoned.

Mandy nudged up next to him, looking at him with expectant eyes. She curled her arm under his arm and put her hand on the inside of his knee. He put his arm around her and stared blankly up at the sky, hoping that she would possibly do the same.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "So, are you going to kiss me?"

He looked down at her, feeling his eyes grow wide, and that pit in his stomach turning more into a chasm. "Er-."

But there wasn't time for him to fully answer, because the moment he moved his lips, she closed in on him, catching him in a deep kiss. Within a matter of seconds her body was turned towards him, and he found himself slightly in shock. He kissed her back, of course, there wasn't time to think of anything else.

Her lips were smooth, warm, and profusely wet. She moved her hand to the side of his head, and he found himself returning the gesture. Oddly, the twisting in his stomach had not yet stopped.

Before he realised what was happening, Mandy had coaxed him down so that he was laying under the tree on his side, with her next to him. His mind was flying in all different directions, but it was soon quieted by her eager kissing and wandering hands. He put his arms around her, she was too close to him not to. Her body was so pressed against his that he was sure he could feel every bone in her body and then some.

He was strangely beginning to feel like he had when he smoked, and he was not quite sure what he was doing. She was just so persuasive and making the most delectable noises. Who was he to resist? He was male. His body certainly was not resisting at all.

Suddenly, and he wasn't sure how it happened, he was laying on his back and she was half on top of him, her hands on his chest.

He had a sudden, but very short-lived, thought that he was in over his head.

He didn't notice his head scraping against the dirt and grass, he was so caught up in what was going on. A brief thought flutter across his mind again: was she taking advantage of him, was she doing this for his attention? Did he care?

But it quickly faded as she put one of her legs between his, their kiss becoming more needy. He could not think about anything other than the sensations he was experiencing…her hand on the side of his hipbone, roaming closer to his belt, her rather supple breasts pushed desperately against his chest, and her thigh rubbing against...

He had no idea how he was managing to breath. They had not come up for air yet. He was feeling amazingly dizzy. He wasn't sure that it was from lack of air. Any apprehension about kissing her was gone, any question, any doubt had also faded into nothing.

His hand settled into the small of her back, then roamed lower, pulling her against him with a short groan of desire. His other hand tangled in her hair.

With a little tug, his belt was open and a soft hand reached in.

His hand traveled over the globes of her arse and then down between them as much as the fabric of her dress would allow.

He took a breath through his nose, a renewed greed to the kiss, but it was expelled in a low moan as her hand closed around him in the small space between their bodies. His hips bucked of their own accord, relishing in the squeeze of a tiny hand that was not his own.

They didn't even hear the slight sound of footsteps coming, or of hushed, aggravated voices in conversation.

They certainly did not notice the hushed voices stop, abruptly, right in front of them. Thankfully, their bodies blocked the hand that was down his trousers.

"What is going on here?" A rather deep, threatening voice asked, shocking them both out of their kiss.

Sage's heart began pounding through his chest before he even opened his eyes. He found himself repeating in his mind this is not happening, this is NOT happening. He opened his eyes. Gods! It is happening…

"What is the meaning of this?"

Mandy had pulled her hand out and thrust herself off of him onto the ground next to him faster than he had ever imagined someone could move. He twisted, trying to hide his open belt and gulped. Mandy was sitting open-mouthed next to him, staring up at her Head of House in absolute mortification.

"Miss Macnair, I am appalled at your behavior. You are a Prefect," he hissed. "You should know better. I suggest that you find your way back inside before I take points from my own house and your reputation suffers irreparable damages."

"Yes, sir," she squealed, jumping up.

"You've earned yourself a month's detention for the bad example you have set. Be glad that I do not owl your father about this."

She gave Sage a slight look before fleeing for the safety of the Great Hall.

Severus looked at Karkaroff disdainfully.

"If there is nothing else, Igor, you will kindly stop bothering me about your concerns."

Karkaroff looked so pleased that he gave a slight laugh of amusement before strutting away down the path. He had not even minded Severus's harsh words, he was so pleased at the little situation they interrupted.

The minute Karkaroff was out of sight, Severus took his eyes off him and glared down at Sage. He growled before reaching down and pulling Sage straight off the ground and to his feet. He had to grab his trousers to keep them up. Sage cringed because he knew what was coming, and he was all too right. His uncle could not resist the urge to give him a smack.

"This was completely deplorable. After what I said about this ball being an excuse for rule breaking and hormones, honestly! Do you have any idea the seriousness of what you have done?"

There absolutely no hiding it as he zipped his trousers and fumbled with the proper belt hole. "Sir, she- she just-."

Severus scowled loudly, "She. She. She. Perhaps you had better wait for the blood to return to where it belongs."

He finally found the hole, for his belt. "Erm…."

"You had better stop there," his uncle spat, disdainfully.

Sage put his head down, having a feeling that he might just end up having to take that belt back off later... and not for anything pleasurable.

"I can't believe this is happening," he muttered, more to himself.

The Professor took a step forward, his angry pale face standing out in the dark of the night. "It's happening all right. Did you even stop to think what this meant?"

Sage looked up without answering, feeling his stomach churn madly.

Severus continued, "You did not stop to think of what this might do to her reputation? Or do you not care?"

"Her reputation?" He parroted. This time, Sage's brow furrowed in absolute confusion. Nervously, he pushed his hair back from his face.

"Yes, if you cared for her, you would not have been doing what you were doing, let alone where everyone could see you. My own nephew doing what it is I am supposed to be stopping! I will not have great-nephews before you are of age!"

Sage opened his mouth to speak but was then too flabbergasted to put his mouth around the right words.

Finally, he sputtered out, "Sir, I haven't- I mean, no, I wouldn't- I wasn't even thinking about- Mandy? We were just- just- kissing." She had only just gotten her hand down his trousers…

Severus raised his eyebrows, it was not every day that you heard Sage flustered and sounding like your average teenage boy.

"Kissing? That was more than just kissing. That was a few steps away from being in dire need of a cold shower."

"A cold shower, Uncle?" He asked, his confusion and inexperience showing through like his skin was glass.

"Gods, boy, a cold shower," he said, his face screwing up in absolute disgust. Was Sage really that thick?

Suddenly, comprehension dawned on Sage's face, and if he had a more expressive face, he would have blushed brighter than Weasley.

"I will not have you behaving in such an improper fashion. Do you understand me?"

This was one conversation he had not wanted to have with Severus, "Yes, sir."

"Get up," he directed, grabbing Sage's collar.

Scowling, Sage said, "I'm not going to be seeing the light of day for a long while, am I."

"That, I believe, rather goes without saying."

Severus guided Sage back into the Great Hall, ignoring the remaining rustling rosebushes. Sage just walked in front of his uncle in complete silence. He could not believe what he had just been doing, let alone that he had gotten caught, red-lipped, by his uncle.

Hermione was dancing with Krum near the door, when Mandy came walking in with tears in her eyes, her hair flying along behind her. It was no longer half up, but rather completely down. She looked around the Great Hall for Sage but didn't see him. She wondered what could have happened.

Her question was shortly answered when Professor Snape came in holding Sage by the forearm. A knot formed in her stomach as she looked away from Viktor and at Sage. From the look on Sage's face, and the way Professor Snape was carting Sage around, the Professor had caught him doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Her stomach churned. He had been doing something that he shouldn't have been doing with Mandy!

She looked over Krum's shoulder, completely ignoring him. Sage's face looked rather dark, he was trying to hide his embarrassment, but it was also apparent that he was aggravated about being caught.

Professor Snape had an awfully twisted and disgusted look on his face. She wondered what exactly Sage had been doing outside. Had he kissed Mandy the way he had kissed her the year before?

Sighing, she watched Professor Snape let go of him in a corner and point one long finger in his face. His lip curled with loathing. He did kiss her, she thought, he probably did more than kiss her. Did he-? No, he wouldn't…would he?No, definitely not, he is too smart for that.

She stared at him, the music fading out of her mind. Viktor apparently did not notice that she was off in another world. Viktor was not a part of it, even though he was dancing with her.

Sage was crossing his arms now. He scowled. Hermione smiled. He was so cute when he scowled. She furrowed her brow, why am I staring at him? Why can't I stop thinking about him? This is infuriating!

The last thing that Sage wanted was to go back down to the dungeons with his uncle. That was exactly what Severus had insisted, and he had also insisted that Sage escort his date back to her dormitory, much to Sage's chagrin.

When they got to the entrance to the Slytherin common room, Sage glanced uneasily at Mandy. He gave Severus a sideways glance, before he walked her right up to the door but could not get out of his uncle's earshot. He cleared his throat slightly with unease.

"Sorry, Mandy, about all this. I'll talk to you…as soon as I can, all right?"

"Yes, all right," she said, the discomfort showing on her face and in her voice.

"Yes, well," he said. Then he leaned over slowly and kissed her cheek, pulling back so fast that one would have guessed her face was a burning coal. He forced a slight smile, before he turned away from her and hastily looked down as Professor Snape glowered at him.

She didn't bother to watch as he walked away with Professor Snape, she could not wait to get inside her common room and wallow in her sheer embarrassment and frustration.

Severus eyed Sage, wondering exactly what it was that he was going to say to the boy. He was sixteen years old now, almost of age. It was only natural for him to have certain…inclinations. As hard as it was for Severus to admit, Sage was growing into a good-looking young man, just like Jace, with the way girls looked at him.

What Severus did not want was for any of Sage's exploits to compromise anything that they had been working for. Sage needed his focus on his work and training, not on girls or what he was going to do with said girls. Nor did Severus need angry fathers breathing down his back, let alone angry, Death Eater fathers. Now that Sage was going to be…now that he was maturing, he was going to have to observe a certain degree of decorum.

Severus sat down on the couch next to Sage. His demeanor relaxed, but only slightly. Sage raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes swimming in absolute misery, but his face showing nothing.

Glaring at Sage, he said, "Keep your private affairs, private. You do not want the entire school knowing your business, and I certainly won't have. You will not damage that girl's reputation either, much less ours. Miss Macnair is an extraordinarily bright young woman, and I will not have her father knocking on my door, looking for your blood because you can't keep your belt closed in public."

"Yes, sir," he answered, rather monotonously.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him, "You can thank your indiscretion for this. Perhaps next time you have a desire to act on your lesser desires, you will remember your discomfort at this exact moment."

Sage grumbled. He would not forget this anytime soon, probably not until he was much older, married perhaps. His uncle had caught him with a girl on top of him, under a tree, embarrassingly involved. If he had been apprehensive and uncomfortable for the first minute or so of that kiss, or whatever it turned into, he had been absolutely mortified at the result of it. The idea of kissing her again made him feel dizzy, but not necessarily good dizzy. Perhaps that was just a result of what had happened. Anybody would feel dizzy at that thought if Professor Snape had caught them in the middle of a good snog.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT EMBARRASSING MOMENT?! Let me know in a review. Sage and I love hearing from you. Your reviews and words really spur his muse. There is a whole other installment of this story in progress after this monstrous fic!

VD- glad you think that this really captures teenage feelings and confusion! Hee hee. That's what I was hoping for. He does have a bit of a problem on his hands with Mandy and Hermione, so we';; just have to see what happens. He doesn't realize that he's a hottie yet, not that he would care one way or the other if he did know! ;-) (chappie 30) when Sage finally does end up with a girl it will be quite clear why. ;-)

Carpathia- Yeah, I guess that we all do get confused about romantic stuff. And I am glad that you think that I keep everyone in character so well. Let me know what you think about that after reading this chapter. Did everyone stay in character, are you surprised about anything.

Bookwitch- It isn't necessarily that Sage can't decide who to prefer, he doesn't really know what he wants at all. Well, what do you think of what Uncle Severus had to say? (chappie 30) I am glad that you enjoyed what Snape had to say, er think, about Sage and the Slytherins. I hope to include more stuff like that soon. ;-)

Sibyl – You'll just have to bear with me and see wehat happens. ;-) Hermione doesn't understand why he's with Mandy either. I don't think Sage really does understand why he's with her on top of that. ;-)

MCMish – Well, Snape did catch Sage. What do you think?

Elalien (from Chappie 30) – I'm so glad that this is your fav fic! I'm blushing right now.I love it when people tell me that Snape's character was good, as well. I always need to hear that, I'm always afraid I am going to change his character too much or something. Thanks!

FirePendant (Chappie 30) – IO'm glad you liked the Snape POV's, I am going to try and do more of them to come. ;-) Thanks for the review.

Shadowycat (chapie 30) – I always so worried about keeping Snape in character and you do him so well, I like to hear from you that you think I am keeping him in character. I think it is because I know that you know what you are talking about! ;-) What to you think about the latest developments between Sage and our two girls. And yes, Hermione is very perceptive about a lot of things, especially about Sage. And she is jealous and she is not going to admit it. ;-)