Chapter 46: Conversation With Dumbledore

Conversations

Dumbledore looked at Sage in a somewhat sympathetic manner, but his eyes still held his doubts about exactly what had happened. Dumbledore had learned to become distrusting of Sage's word after all that had been happening. The one thing that Dumbledore feared the most is that he would lose Sage the same way he had lost Severus in the beginning. All it could take was one thing, one thing, and the boy could completely change and shut down. After all, the headmaster had seen it happen before one too many times.

He sighed deeply. He had been so vigilant in the beginning, engineering the boy's sorting into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, taking Sage's side about Quidditch and other things, earning Sage's regard, keeping tabs on him. Somehow, such things were lost in the confusion of Harry's entrance into the tournament,

For once, in a long while, the headmaster found himself standing on the edge of a chasm without feeling he had sufficient ability to avoid falling into that chasm. He knew nothing of Sage's personality, of his character. He hoped to remedy that as best he could.

It was with this thought that Dumbledore expected not to interrogate Sage, but to assess him.

The professor looked at Sage just in time to see the boy finish wiping his face on his sleeve, licking his lips slightly to get rid of the blood. He was in pain, obviously, but he did not seem to be fazed by it.

"Mr. Snape, I believe you know the way?"

Sage looked at him for a brief moment, his blue eyes dilated considerably, before he said, "Yes, sir," and began walking.

Dumbledore noticed that Sage was walking gingerly and breathing raspy. He would need to make this fairly short, since it was obvious Severus would need to tend to some healing on him.

Sage muttered something incredibly quietly and waved his hand jerkily at the door. It unlocked. Turning back towards the headmaster, Sage inclined his head to the door.

Dumbledore walked in and paced a few steps before seating himself behind Severus's desk. Sage arched his brow ever so slightly at this, but it quickly eased back down. He crossed his arms slightly, as if already planning a need to be on the defense.

"Sit down."

This time Sage raised his eyebrow and stared unblinking for at least half a minute before responding.

"I'd rather not, sir."

The headmaster pursed his lips. To be sure, Sage was insulted, very insulted.

"That was not a request, Mr. Snape."

Glaring for another moment, Sage sighed and then sat down, letting a wet cough slip by his lips.

"Tell me why you have such animosity towards Professor Moody?"

Sage grunted and shook his head, "I would tell you and have you believe me, but you will not, so why should it matter?"

Dumbledore raised a finger at Sage, "It does matter, and I have done nothing to merit you acting so defensively. The harsher accusation was made towards you, which is why I am speaking to you first. Until I can believe that it is not true, I must bow to the possibility that it might be true. You understand that?"

"That is because I did not make my accusation, and mine would be accurate and not fancified."

"Well, I am giving you your opportunity to voice it. Please do so." Dumbledore smiled slightly, his eyes probing and serious.

Sage's eyes narrowed and a shadow seemed to pass over them, "Alastor Moody put Harry Potter's name in the goblet, either alone or teamed with Karkaroff. He or they are trying to do harm to Harry."

"Sage, Alastor Moody is an ex-Auror and a good friend-."

"Which is why you are blind to him."

"Do not interrupt me."

Sage sat back in his chair, re-crossing his arms.

"He is here to help Harry. He was a friend of Harry's parents. He has no reason to wish Harry any harm."

Sage nodded, "I know that, I understand that, but that does not mean that a man cannot change. You and I both know that is completely possible. As I said, because you believe all those things about him, you cannot see it."

The headmaster leaned forward, "Tell me then, give me your reasons, not just accusations."

Sage furrowed his brow, wondering where to start about his feelings, intuition, about "Mad-Eye" Moody. He bit his lip and reminded himself that he needed to be logical and controlled, as the headmaster would be more likely to believe him if he was so.

"First, I always feel ill around Moody and we know what that is associated with. Second, he does not behave like an Auror, and he has said things which make no sense for an Auror. He said that he was not afraid of me because I was trained by a Death Eater that did not even have the stomach to stick to his convictions, or the like. That was a strange thing to say. That curse he sent at me is nothing an Auror would use. And he had no business being in the dungeons and he happened to be down there during or shortly after my Uncle's office was broken into. A few weeks ago, I stopped Karkaroff from going down there in the middle of the night."

"But this is all circumstantial, Sage, certainly not anything that I can use, especially when he is helping Harry. It would seem strange to both help and hurt at the same time. You can hardly expect me to accuse him based upon this."

"Well, you have my reasons, sir, no matter what logic I have behind them. That's what you asked for."

"You know very well that I value your senses and your abilities, Sage, but this is not enough."

"No, you do not trust me, plain and simple. I do not know why you do not, but I can tell that you do not trust me anymore."

"And that is not true either, Mr. Snape."

"I'm not gullible like Harry, Headmaster. You cannot deny that you have doubts about what happened out there… That you would think that it was possible I would try and kill somebody. I could have died, and I did not use the killing curse. To tell you the truth, if I could not hold Moody's magic binded, I have no idea whether I would have even tried to use it to save myself."

"What I believe is that you are impulsive and hate Alastor Moody just like Severus does. I would hope, however, that you would not do anything so drastic and deplorable."

Sage stood up irately, his blue eyes flashing. "You know, for lack of something better to say, this entire situation is a crock! First, my Uncle is angry with me, rightfully so given the circumstances, I smoked when I said I wouldn't, I came back when I shouldn't have, and I didn't listen to him earlier tonight. He finally begins to calm a bit, and he takes my side.

"Then, what do I get? You think I'd just try and kill someone. Forgive me, sir, but I only have energy to put into getting back into my Uncle's good graces. Either believe me, or do not. Your opinion of me is not that important. My chest is a cesspool and my head feels as if it about to pop, so I have lost the desire to defend myself!"

The shock showed on the headmaster's face for a few seconds. He is not Harry, and I cannot coddle him, which is so much easier, and expect him to respond. He stood up angrily.

"Sit down now, Mr. Snape."

Sage's lips curled into a snarl. He took a deep breath and tried to push his anger down. He felt so ill, and he had done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve this. Perhaps this is how the Slytherins felt all the time. A jar of pickled newts' tails burst open and fell clattering to the floor.

"Unless you want to go home right now, SIT DOWN," he pointed to the chair.

Crossing his arms, Sage sat back down and allowed his black hair to fall into his eyes.

"You have a temper just like your uncle and just like your father. You will learn how to control it, or else you are dangerous, and I will send you packing. Your uncle would be perfectly capable of fully educating you at home. Do you understand?"

Glaring at the headmaster pointedly, he said, "Yes, I do."

"You do not have to defend yourself at all to me, but you will sit there and hear what I have to say, and you will not take that tone with me again."

Sage continued to glare, and Dumbledore could not help but notice the boy's neck tense up so much that the sinuey veins and muscles pushed right through his skin.

"You will not under any circumstances go near Professor Moody again, and he will be instructed the same. I do not think you are skilled enough at deception to use the killing curse and then make me feel that you did not use it, so I will believe you. I do not know what happened tonight, but it will not happen again. You will not use any wandless magic around any of the other students, other than for very basic needs or in class, and you certainly will not direct it at anyone. Until you have your wandless magic under control, you will keep it to yourself and it is between you and your Uncle to learn how to use it and contain it. If you find this incredibly objectionable, then use your wand."

"That's fine, sir," he said, trying his best to sound calmer, even though he felt incredibly betrayed.

"Now, do you have anything else you would like to say."

"No, sir," he answered quickly, then he raised an eyebrow, "Actually yes, sir, I do. I have never lied to you. I lied to my uncle, yes, and even though I lied to him, he stood up for me tonight, he believed me, and you did not. Not only did you not believe me or trust me, but you did not believe or trust him either. That's all I wanted to say."

Dumbledore stared at him, his face blank. He was thrown by the fact that Sage's statement was completely unexpected. He had expected Sage to behave like Severus and Jace had, to grumble no he did not have anything to say, and to leave in somewhat of a huff.

However, the boy's candid reply was not something Severus or Jace would ever have done. He was doing one thing that Severus was especially very bad at, opening up about the way that he felt and not screaming or yelling or walking off.

Why can I not seem to do anything right by this boy? He wondered, shaking his head slightly. Not something I would have expected from a Snape. Best not to say anything more until I think about this. He is looking rather sickly. Not something I would anticipate from Alastor either.

"You may leave now, Mr. Snape, and don't forget what I said about that temper."

Sage stood up, "I won't forget, sir."

The way he said that made the headmaster wonder what exactly he was referring to, because the tone of his voice suggested that it was not simply remembering his temper. He had said it in a way that made Dumbledore believe that he was referring to how he had been treated that evening.

"And, Headmaster, I need to re-ward my Uncle's office since we are done."

Sage walked back into his uncle's chambers, feeling utterly spent. The second he closed the door, his uncle walked into the living room to meet him. The man had discarded his robes and was carrying a glass of what Sage assumed to be Scotch.

"Sit down and drink that." Unfortunately, whatever he pointed to was not Scotch. "I am going to have to take a look at you again as well."

The soft leather felt good as his body relaxed into it. He took a deep breath through his nose, smelling an infusion of what he thought had to be rosewater, Saint John's Wart, and some kind of healing potion. Promptly, he coughed twice and then attempted to clear his throat which felt sticky.

"There is a hand towel next to you. I wouldn't have you hacking up blood on the rug or sofa," he added.

"Thanks, sir," he said, making use of it. When he felt cleared up, he folded it and put it down on the table, then lifted the mug.

"All right?" The man asked, walking to his side and putting a hand on Sage's cheek to feel his temperature.

"I would have been if it hadn't been for that," he replied scathingly.

Severus patted his shoulder and sat down on the chair nearest to Sage.

"I was referring to your physical condition."

"That wasn't excluded, sir. Dealing with that made everything feel worse."

"I see," he said, shining light from his wand into Sage's eyes as he checked his nephew's pupils.

Sage noted that his uncle seemed to be holding back some animosity towards the headmaster himself. His voice was tight and clipped.

"You are not expelled I take it?" The man continued.

"No, but he threatened me with it after I lost my temper over the entire situation."

"Surprising how history repeats itself, Sage. I was also threatened with expulsion if I did not learn how to keep my mouth shut and control my temper. Ironically, it was also after someone had tried to kill me."

"I don't understand it, sir." He said quietly, then he added, "At least you believe me."

Severus looked at him seriously, "What you need to understand is that I obviously know you better. You may be able to not listen to me or even to break your word to me, but you have never looked me in the eye and blatantly lied to me. That coupled with what you showed me and that you simply do not have the character to kill someone, made me believe you easily. The headmaster does not have the benefit of knowing you and what he does not understand, he cannot handle effectively because he cannot control it. Why do you think he likes Potter, even after everything he has pulled? Because Potter is easy to control, easy to, for a lack of a more neutral word, manipulate."

"Do you really think so, sir?"

"Yes." He put his hands on Sage's chest, "Breathe in… What the headmaster does not understand, and he underestimates it, is that a Slytherin never forgets."

"Draco said the same thing to me."

Severus nodded, "He would… Your lungs are a bit better."

"They feel like hell."

"Probably because you were yelling. That was a rather stupid decision, wasn't it?" His black eyes were accusing.

"Yes, sir. I know, the temper. I should have just sat there, it would have been over faster."

"Your temper is like a magnet for trouble, Sage. If you can get that under control, I believe you would be much better off."

"I know, sir."

"And, for that matter, you shouldn't have been yelling at the headmaster. I know he's infuriating sometimes, but you are sixteen. I can't have you going off on adults, even if you are right. That is something Potter would do, because he wasn't raised to know any better. You, however, were."

"Yes, sir, I'm trying to be more controlled. It is really hard sometimes."

"It will continue to be, Sage, but you have to practice staying in control of yourself all the time, no matter what you are doing. You are used to keeping your control around me, with some success, however you are not used to having this many people around you and keeping your control with them too. It does not matter if you agree with someone or disagree, if you hate them or like them, you must always be in. That is very important to your future."

Sage sighed deeply, then cringed when pain shot through his chest.

"You will rest tomorrow, as I cannot in good conscience have you physically working too hard after having that curse on you for a few minutes. I expect you to study for your OWLs in between classes, as I said before I want you to be prepared to take them at the end of the year with the fifth years. You can work hard mentally even if you cannot physically. I expect to see some detailed notes from the books I gave you, and I also expect for you to be down here where I can keep an eye on you. Perhaps if you are feeling better tomorrow night, we will do some practicals."

"Okay. I can do that." He slid down further in the sofa, his long legs bent at the knee, nearly touching the table.

"But don't forget, I have a list of work you will be doing for me and as soon as you are better, you will be getting to it. Like I said, a Slytherin never forgets."

Sage knew exactly what his uncle had not forgotten. He was taking the opportunity to remind Sage that even though he stuck up for him, he was still angry and disappointed about the smoking and a horde of other things. His uncle was not going to forget anytime soon, and he would make sure that Sage would never forget either. He'd be really thick to make the same mistake again.

Please find it in your hearts to drop me a note in a review! It's been eons since I've gotten one for this story, and I just put a bunch of work into redoing it 3