Chapter 47: Suspicions and the Second Task

This chappie was very hard, especially the end. Let me know what you think about it.

Suspicions and the Second Task

Sage lay back down on his bed, glaring up at the ceiling. His arms were cramped, his eyes felt dry, and his back felt permanently hunched. Severus had wrote a new meaning under the word 'grounded' in the Snape dictionary. It now read 'torture' instead. At least it felt so to Sage. He was mentally going through everything Severus had made him do since the ill fated day his uncle found out about his smoking habits.

His uncle really seemed to have nothing more pressing to do than make Sage miserable. It was only a bonus that he could make Sage miserable while getting the more loathsome task of grading potion's papers done.

As if stacking supplies of potions ingredients had not been bad enough, which is what he did Friday night in order to make room for what he was doing Saturday... Saturday entire day of carting things back from Hogsmeade without magic. Followed by an entire night and some of the next day arranging them in the storeroom so that they all fit. That was a particularly difficult task, and when he was done, he felt as if he had lifted everything in the small room five times over.

I cannot believe I spent the majority of my day in a cramped, musty, foul smelling room moving things around! This is never going to end! I feel as if I never left Sarmach and all his menial work.

For a brief moment, Sage's mind stopped on one sudden, distressing thought.

No, no he wouldn't…Would he? Who am I kidding, of course he would. I never thought that when he said that since I had left Lyon Llyonyss, I would have to learn things here that I would have learned there easier…that we didn't have anymore time to waste. He IS doing this on purpose.

Sage's face compressed into disdain before he scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, while still lying on his bed.

He was right, it is harder here! But perhaps it is doing some good, perhaps it is working.

His mind shifted back to a memory of earlier that night when he had been working with his uncle.

His eyes were focused on the bottle across the classroom. He had successfully summoned it from ten feet away and fifteen with a gesture and then without. He did not feel any apprehension inside of himself or any uncertainties. His mind was focused on the bottle coming to him, so much so that he pushed everything that was not relevant to that task out of his mind, which wasn't difficult. His mind did not have the capacity to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. He was so damn tired.

He moved his hand slightly and the bottle flew to him much faster than he had anticipated. He nearly did not catch it before it fell to the floor and shattered.

"Now without the gesture," his uncle commanded from nearby.

Nodding, he placed the bottle in his hand down on the table. He again trained his eyes on the second bottle, the focused his mind on it coming to him and shutting everything else out. It too flew into his hand without trouble.

"An improvement, I am willing to admit. Well done, although this is far behind where you were at the beginning of last year, you are gaining your wandless magic back," Severus said bluntly, putting more emotion into the fact that he was far behind.

Sage knew that, to his uncle, being able to summon a bottle was far from acceptable. He was grateful that the man did make an effort to encourage him.

"I can do better, sir. Something harder," he said, hoping that he could do whatever the professor asked him to do.

The uncle raised an eyebrow at him, clearly doubting.

"If you wish…then disarm me without the gesture."

His uncle took out his long, ebony wand and waved it around in a baiting manner, raising an eyebrow and leering at him.

"What are you waiting for?"

Sage focused, sure that he could do it if he set himself to it. A few moments went by. He tried and nothing happened, his uncle's wand was still waving in the air ten feet from him. He growled, he could not look like an idiot now.

"By the grace of the Gods get this bloody wand away from me and not an hour from now!"

He pursed his lips and concentrated again. He felt the resistance to the spell heavily. His body started shaking slightly. The minutes that ticked by felt like hours.

"Merlin Sage! How is it that every time you face me and try to get my wand, you cannot do it, but you can do all manner of other things. Does my mere presence distract you that much? I assure you that the Dark Lord will be much more distracting and much more mobile."

"I'm trying!" he shouted.

Growling, he raising his hand and gestured anyway. His uncle's wand flew into his hand, but the man also flew five feet backwards, nailed his desk, and fell to the floor.

Sage jumped forward and put a hand down to help him up.

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I didn't mean… I just got angry."

Severus took his hand, but instead of allowing Sage to haul him up, he pulled Sage down to the ground, swung around, and put a hand on each side of Sage's collarbone.

"How many times do I have to tell you to control your emotions? That is something much easier than doing wandless magic, and you are horrible at it. You need to practice more. I will not accept any more of this impulsive behavior. This is what makes you dangerous. Now that you can use some wandless magic again, you need to be more controlled. You failed my test miserably, I'll have you know, I baited you on purpose."

Sage mentally kicked himself for not being wiser to his uncle's intentions.

"I do not want you rushing your abilities. You will only get sick. Let them come on naturally. You will know, absolutely, without question, when you are ready. These exercises are meant to make you become more aware of them and how to control them, not to pull them out of you by force if that's what you think.

"Now, until that, I was pleased with the improvements. You are physically and mentally stronger and more secure. It is awakening your powers again. Your behavior, however, is impulsive... There is a time and a place for emotions and some emotion is good, it is a fuel, but not with a lack of control. If you were more aware of how you were feeling, you could control it better. Control is most important, then confidence."

"Yes, sir."

"Now get up," he said, while getting up himself. "We need to talk about something else."

Sage stood and dusted himself off. His uncle eyed him.

"You know about the next task of the Triwizard?"

"Yes, sir, the headmaster told me after I told him about a dream I had, a prophetic one."

"Do you know how to complete the task?"

A perplexed look on his face, Sage wondered exactly what his uncle was getting at. The line of questioning was certainly strange.

"Well, uncle, I know a couple of ways. The simplest charm would be the bubblehead charm. I suppose it would be convenient if one of them were an Animagus with a form that could breathe underwater, but that is not likely. By far the most efficient way complete the task, the way I would chose, would be take some Gillyweed, but they would have to send out for it because none of them would have it. Or I suppose they could ask you or the headmaster for some, but I'm not sure what the rules would say about you giving it to them."

"At least your brain has not rotted away. You are wondering why I asked, are you not?"

"Honestly, yes, sir, I am."

"I believe that something happened during the first task, and I do not want it to happen during the second task."

Sage's stomach knotted up.

"I know it was wrong, Uncle, but I knew Potter could not do it, and I did not want him to get baked."

"You should be aware that we would not allow any of the contestants to come into any mortal peril. Therefore, I am warning you now that I will not, under any circumstance, tolerate you helping Potter with this task. I assure you that no one will drown."

"I won't help him again, sir."

"I fully expect that Potter does not know about Gillyweed, so if he miraculously finds out about it, I will know that someone told him."

"He will not hear it from me, sir. Even so, Potter would not have the guts to come here and ask you for it sir. I believe he would rather drown."

Sage came out of the memory of earlier that night and sighed. His powers were stronger, not back where they should be, but stronger none the less. He knew that he was better in all senses of the term. It was simply difficult to swallow everything that his uncle was dishing out to him.

Momentarily, his mind shifted to Malfoy. In a distinct way, his cousin was right, he had gotten off easy. He should be grateful that his Uncle Severus was not like his Uncle Lucius.

Sage walked into the library expecting no one to be there, however, Harry, Ron, and Hermione was sitting around a table with a load of books open all around them. Hermione's eyebrows were pushed together in concentration. Ron's eyes were closing, his lip turned up disdainfully, as if he knew he was not going to find what he was looking for. Harry's hair was more disheveled that usual, and he seemed to be rather frantic.

They must be looking for a way to breathe underwater for the task tomorrow.

"Find anything yet," he asked with a touch of sincerity. He would not wish Potter to fail, even if the two of them did not get along – at least, this year they didn't.

Harry glared at him, "What do you care?"

Sage raised an eyebrow, "There are very few people whom I would wish to get hurt, and you are not one of them, Harry, regardless of what you think."

"Right," Ron said sarcastically, trying to defend Harry and take his side. Sage could read in his eyes that he was not so sure of what he was saying.

Weasley is smarter than Potter and has a wee bit more maturity? Who would have thought. Too bad he follows blindly.

"Believe what you wish, it does not change anything."

Hermione broke the tension between them, "No, Sage, we haven't found anything. Do you know anything, or have any suggestions to where we should look?"

He regarded her closely, wanting terribly to tell her just to get her to have some positive emotion toward him. Even if it was for just helping Harry. She was not looking at him the same way, and he could feel it deeply. There was no manner of concern about him. He swallowed deeply, he could not tell her, no matter how much he wanted to just to make her happy.

"Sorry, but whatever I know I cannot share with you. It would not be worth it to share it, only to be in trouble again with Professor Snape, and not even get some expression of thanks from Prince Potter. My ungrateful cousin," he added.

"But you helped us before," she said with urgency not allowing Ron or Harry to say something back first.

"Yes and if someone found out that I had helped, you know what kind of trouble I would be in. Some persons in my family are closer than others and more deserving of my allegiance," he said, turning a glare onto Harry as he said the last sentence.

Hermione picked up on exactly what he was insinuating and paled, considerably.

"Honestly, I wish that I could help you, sorry," he said to Hermione and flitting a glance to Ron as well. Weasley had never done anything to him either. "You two should not be helping him either," he added.

"You aren't going to tell, are you," Ron asked.

"No, I am not going to tell, because I do not want anyone to get hurt, like I said. Three heads are better than one, and there is more than one solution to the problem. Hopefully you will find one."

"Thanks anyway, Snape, why don't you go busy yourself studying the Dark Arts," Harry said, with as much venom as he could muster.

Sage laughed slightly, "Right Potter. If you would take a look around you and see what is happening to everyone else and what everyone else goes through, perhaps you would have a clearer and more accurate picture of the larger would around you. Did you ever think that perhaps there is a reason why I might need to learn certain things about the Dark Arts, a reason that you might not be privy to? Or more simply, that I might need to study the Dark Arts for the same reasons that you should study the Dark Arts?"

Harry stared at him, not quite knowing what to say.

"I thought not," Sage said, shaking his head. "Open up your mind a little more and perhaps you will find a solution. Good luck, anyway, tomorrow."

As Sage walked away, Hermione glared at Harry, "Why do you constantly have to start something with him, Harry? If you were a bit nicer, perhaps he would have helped us. We wouldn't all have to sit here searching. He obviously already knows."

"You heard him, Hermione, he's too afraid that bastard Snape is going to beat him senseless again. He wouldn't have helped anyway."

"Harry!"

Ron looked at him as if he had just sprouted another head.

"What?" Harry asked angrily.

"That's not something to make light of, Harry," Hermione said quietly, "Besides you don't even know what really happened, none of us do."

Ron nodded slightly. The idea of Snape hitting him was not an idea he wanted to have at all.

Hermione gulped guiltily about what really happened. For a time now she had been wondering if what she had told Professor Snape was what had earned Sage those cuts and bruises the entire common room had seen. She had only be worried about him and his safety, as he had been in his rooms without coming out for at least two days that she knew of.

It was a difficult decision to tell Snape about what she had seen in Sage's bathroom that one day that the Professor had asked her to get a wet towel when Sage was unconscious on his bed. After she had seen what had happened, she was not sure that she made the correct decision.

During the morning of the second task, his uncle had given him some liberation: an entire day completely free. He was not quite sure what he should do with it, other than going to the second task, by himself. Surely he could not sit with Hermione, as he did before. She would no longer welcome his company. That was apparent. He also had no good idea how to win her over again.

As he walked down the steps to the dungeons to talk to his uncle, he wondered how Harry would do. The prospects weren't good, since he did not even have a plan at all the night before. Something would happen, he was sure. Potter would end up doing fine and no harm would come to him. He shouldn't even be thinking about it.

Rounding the corner, he sent someone flying onto the ground. Someone small. His blue eyes lighted on the Slytherin girl and all he could think was bloody hell.

He had been slightly grateful that his uncle had kept him pretty much under lock and key, because he had yet to see Amanda. Fate just had a way and he couldn't help but curse over and over again in his head.

He reached his hand down to help her up and her face bore a measure of shock as well.

"Sage?"

He raised an eyebrow and forced himself to smile slightly, "Forgotten what I look like already?"

She put her hand in his and he pulled her up. Her multicolored eyes took him in.

"You've grown taller again," she stated.

"That will happen," he answered, shifting his weight around. He knew his uncertainty was showing.

"Erm, well, you've been missed."

He shifted his weight again, "Thanks."

She swallowed, "I heard about what happened between you and the professor."

"As did everyone else in the school," he answered curtly.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too, but I'm fine."

She moved closer to him and enveloped him in a hug. He forced himself to reciprocate.

"I really missed you. It's been hard having you back here and not being able to see you. Especially after the Yule Ball."

She gave him a gentle kiss on the neck because she wasn't tall enough to reach his cheek.

It felt as if his skin was crawling. He wasn't sure what to do. He knew he had to do something.

"Do you have time to talk a bit," she asked him.

He knew that he had to say yes, so he conceded.

"We can go in the classroom, I know the password," he said.

He did not want to be alone with her in the Slytherin common room. That could prove a bit too comfortable, and he certainly did not want to encourage anything more than talking.

She sat down in one of the chairs, and he sat down on the tabletop next to her.

"How come you have not been in Muggle Studies class?"

He shrugged, "I dropped it, my uncle encouraged the decision. I do not have time to waste on eccentricities. I can barely handle what I've got."

Her disappointment that they would not share a class showed visibly on her face.

"Understandable, I suppose," she said, "I never pictured the Professor allowing you to take that class in the first place. The only reason my father allowed me was so that I could get out of Divination with that old hag. Besides, I am a girl. I do not believe that he really cares what I am taking."

"He should care."

She snorted. "I'd rather it be this way. He's not the sort of man whose care means 'support' or 'love'."

Sage shook his head negatively. He was not fond of Macnair to begin with, not that he knew the man well, but he had aimed a curse or two at Sage when he had visited the summer before. Severus had told Macnair to keep his bloody wand to himself and that he, Severus, would take care of it.

"You are probably right."

She laid her head down on his thigh.

He bit his lower lip. This was it. Now or never. He never imagined it being this difficult or feeling this guilty about it.

"Mandy?"

"Mmhmm."

"There's something we need to talk about."

She looked up at him and then put her arms on his knees.

"What is it?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it, closing his eyes slowly, pushing the lids together tightly.

"You and I, you have been very important to me. You've made me feel really good, alive even. You were the only person I did not mind being around for a while, because you expected nothing of me and did not pry. You have been a very good friend, a close friend."

Her mouth was gaping as she stared at him in surprise, anticipating what was coming.

He continued, "I cannot in good conscience carry on this way, Mandy. I would not be able to even see you for the next few months anyway."

She nodded quietly, blinking back tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

A brave little smile crossed her face, "I knew this would happen. You have feelings for someone else. I wouldn't want you to pretend to have them for me when you do not. You love her."

His head hung down as he sighed.

"It's all right, you do not need to explain. I'll still be here if you need a friend. I should have known better than to fool myself into something with you, Sage."

She stood up and touched his cheek. "By the way, my brother told me what you did in Potions. He really appreciated it."

He did not say anything as she walked back out of the classroom. He wondered if he would have felt better if she had slapped him across the face a few times. When he heard the door close again behind her, he stood up slowly and rubbed his temples.

His uncle looked surprised to see him standing by his door, but let him in.

"I allow you a day and all you do is come right back," he said sarcastically. "Glutton for punishment, or just masochistic?" He offered his nephew a tight-lipped smile.

Sage sighed, "I want to be constructive. Besides, I have no friends anymore."

"What about Miss Granger, I was under the impression that she was rather latched onto you."

"Not anymore, sir."

"Pity," he said, clearly being sarcastic yet again. "You look as if you could use a cup of tea."

Sage raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps a stiff drink," he muttered under his breath.

"Perhaps some tea," he said curtly, pouring Sage a cup. "You have proven that you and substances simply do not mix."

"Thank you, sir." He took the cup from his uncle.

"So are you just going to stay here and harass me?"

"No, I was just wondering if you would allow me to use your classroom to practice."

Severus eyes his skeptically, "You should not be doing wandless magic unsupervised, Sage, I told you that already. So, the answer is no."

"Would you watch me then, sir?"

The professor took a deep breath. He had wanted to spend an quiet morning by himself before he had to go outside to the lake to help 'supervise' the second task. Pursing his lips together, he pulled his watch out of his pocket and looked at it. He raised an eyebrow at Sage. There was only about forty-five minutes before the task, but he felt he should encourage Sage training more, even if it was a bit of an inconvenience.

"All right then, we only have about a half an hour."

As soon as Sage and Severus set foot on the grounds on the way to the lake, Malfoy trotted up to them. Grabbe and Goyle weren't even in sight.

"Good morning, Professor Snape," he said, nodding at his Head of House.

"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy. Come hoping to see Potter make a fool of himself?"

"You haven't heard, sir? Potter isn't even with the other champions yet. He should have been there nearly twenty minutes ago. The Slytherins all got there early to get a seat close to the entrance to the lake so that we could jeer at Potter. If he doesn't show up soon, he's disqualified."

"Really?" Sage asked, looking shocked. "I thought he believed himself invincible."

"Yes, that combined with the fact that he is arrogant, you would never think he would not even show up. Perhaps he does not want to look stupid, not knowing what to do." The Professor smiled maniacally as he said this.

"Anyway, Sage, you can sit with us if you like. I came back hoping to run into you. Most of the other professors are behind us too, sir. I think they saw us all there and figured that they ought to keep a close watch."

"It would not surprise me in the least, Mr. Malfoy."

"You're the only one who respects us at all, sir."

He shook his head, hatefully, "I know Draco, I know."

The Professor left them to head over to the other professors, glaring at the other professors all the while. Sage looked at Draco and raised an eyebrow.

"So Potter didn't show?"

"Imagine that. I bet Saint Potter is crying because his little friends couldn't figure it out for him."

Sage sat down next to Malfoy, completely ignoring Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy ignored them as well. They were not his friends. They were imbeciles, unworthy of a Malfoy's attention, definitely not his equal.

Eventually Draco swore as Potter went running up by the lake, panting, and holding something in his hand. Sage rolled his eyes. He would see if anyone had come through for Potter, because it was clear Potter wasn't smart enough to come through for himself.

As the champions all crashed into the water, Snape squinted at Potter. To confirm his suspicions, the boy thrusted something green into his mouth. Gillyweed! How in Merlin's name did Potter find out about Gillyweed. He glared down at Sage and Malfoy. He wouldn't have, he wouldn't dare! But how else would Potter have found out, how else would Potter have gotten it. That's in the storeroom under wards and the only person other than myself who knows how to get in is Sage. Severus balled up his fists and swore under his breath. How could he do this? I cannot fathom! He scowled and continued seething.

Before Sage knew it, the task was over and only a few feet away from him Krum was talking to Hermione. He felt himself growl deeply. The fact that Hermione was the one thing that Krum would miss the most made him sick. That stupid dolt had no business being with Hermione. They had nothing in common. Hearing him talk to Hermione, made his blood boil. She was accepting of Krum and she was angry with him. It was more than he could stand.

He stood up quickly, cast a glare in Krum's direction, and stalked back off towards the castle.

Hermione and Krum. Big, ugly, git! I wish I could just fix his face up for him. Anything would be an improvement. Maybe the jolt would wake up his brain. Been hit by a bludger a bit too much.

The castle was virtually empty when he went back in, but he took no notice. He stalked straight back down to the dungeons, more angry than he had been in a very long time. Without even knowing where he was going, he ended up back in the classroom he had been in earlier that day.

He kicked a chair and then the wall, shouting anything that came to his mind, mostly obscenities. He picked up a piece of parchment, raised his hand to it, and it turned into a wooden board. With his left hand he held it up in front of him. He concentrated on it hard, focusing all his anger on it. He took his hand away and it stayed suspended in the air as his mind narrowed in on it, pushing out everything else around him.

With a snarl, he punched his fist straight through it with satisfaction. Focusing on the broken board, it meshed back together again. Successively for nearly a half and hour he punched it and fixed it, then punched it again.

His hands were bloody, but he didn't care. How could he have been so stupid. He messed things up so badly. Now he had to worry about things getting back to normal with his uncle, and then with Hermione. In the immediate future, that was all he wanted.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He snapped out of it as his uncle yelled at him and grabbed him by his arm, flinging him around.

"What do you think you are doing?" He boomed, straight into Sage's face.

"Making myself feel better, sir."

"And you think this is an acceptable way to do that?"

Sage scowled.

"Well?"

"It seemed all right at the time."

Severus pushed him against the wall.

"Did stealing Gillyweed from me and giving it to Potter also seem like a good idea at the time?"

"What? What are you talking about, sir?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Sage. I warned you. I told you."

The anger boiling up inside of him, he tried to push his uncle away. "I didn't give Potter any Gillyweed, and I didn't tell him about it either."

"Do you think I'm stupid. How else would he have found out? Who else could have given it to him?"

"Perhaps he stole it himself?"

Severus snarled, his eyes narrowing dangerously, "Don't make it worse by lying. You track record doesn't speak well for you."

"Sir, I didn't steal anything from you. Why the hell would I give something to Potter to help him, only to make you angry with me again?"

Sage felt a tremendous amount of betrayal that his uncle wouldn't believe him, but an even greater amount when he slapped him.

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not fucking lying to you, Uncle. I swear. Use Veritaserum, I'm not lying."

The Professor backed off slightly, letting go of Sage's shirt.

"I'm not lying, sir," he said quietly, "Do you think I'm stupid enough not to learn from that?" The that he was referring to was quite obvious.

Severus took the Veritaserum out of his pocket and held it up to Sage's face. "You have one last chance, Sage. Is the truth that you had nothing to do with Potter getting the Gillyweed?"

"Yes, sir. I've never even touched Gillyweed. I didn't even know what it looked like until today."

As his uncle took a step back away from him, Sage slammed passed him, ramming into his shoulder, stalking to the door. The Veritaserum vial fell to the floor and shattered. His hands were still bleeding. When he got to the door, he turned around. His eyes were red, a few tears had obviously gotten passed his guard, and fallen down his cheeks.

"I'm sick of trying to be what you want me to be. I can't do it. I'm not you and I don't want to be. I've worked so hard to repair things and you are so ready to simply think the worst of me. I don't want to be like that, like you are. I want to have relationships with people, because I can't do this on my own. I've learned that much. I'm sorry that I am not good enough, sir, but I am trying my best."

Severus stood there in shock, watching his nephew fly out the door, slamming it angrily behind him. Half of him wanted to fly after him and give him a lecture about his cheek.

Another half of him wanted to fly after him, grab him, tell him that he did think he was good enough and that he was wrong to suspect him. Wrong to get so angry. He hadn't moved, however, because he had not yet decided which of the two options he wanted to go with.

AN

Xiomara - -yupo, you have seen some of that previous stuff before. I think I had mentioned in one of the earlier chapters that you had to forget about Sage telling Snape about the pot before, because I was deleting it and moving it. So, that included the quill stuff and karkaroff stuff. Sorry about that. It's great to hear that you love the story. I'm so glad. I was beginning to wonder for about a week or two if many people were still going to read it. Thanks!

Diaphanous – Thanks for the comments about my writing style. It is developing more and more veryday – as it has been for the last seven years! ;-) There is always room to grow. Thanks for saying that I have a well written story. Sometimes a review like that is more important than saying that you enjoy the story, because style and stuff is important. I still like some stories even if they aren't well written, so that's nice to hear. I can't wait to see what else you think, and what you think about the end of this chappie.

Rinkrat – let me know if you got my email because I did email you. I am so glad to hear that you love the story, thanks so much for reviewing. Given what you said in your last review about the females, I hope you like what happened here in this chapter. What do you think will happen in the future?

Carpathia – I am infinitely forgiving! I am just so glad that you are still reading. I thought I had lost half my peoples reading the story! Tell me what you think about the end of this chappie, since you love the Sev/ Sage interactions, what would you like to see happen next, what do you think will happen next? Thanks about the JKR stuff, but I'm afraid my ego might not be able to take it. My head might inflate and I might float away. Then I couldn't write! Ahhhh.

VD – The people came back! They came back! Wooohooo, after a week or two, they came back! * does a happy dance* you pulled me through. Hope you are happy the next chappie is up so soon. What do you think will happen next? How do you feel about Sev now, how about Sage? I loved your comment about Sage stopping moping around and doing naughty things, that was the best. I got such a laugh. And yet, Uncle Sev does tough love quite well. ;-)

Lady J – So glad that you are back. I missed your reviews so much because you always have such great things to say. I tried to email you when I started updating again, cuz you asked me to, but since you didn't get it I don't know if I am using the correct email addy. If you want me to email you when I update, leave me your addy in your review. ;-) Glad that you sided with Snape doing what he did and that you thought Sage was being more than just depressed. He was being a prat. Most everyone feels so sorry for him though, they never really noticed the things he was doing that he shouldn't be. Glad you thought it was intense too, I was aiming for that. What do you think of this ending? Who's the prat now?

Thanks everyone for reading. If this chappie pleased you, drop me a note and let me know. ;-)