Chapter 56: Dating, Priorities, and OWLs

Dating, Priorities, and OWLs

It took about a week for Severus to notice some normalcy returning to his nephew. For the first few days after catching him humming, he was sure that the boy had gotten hit by a very bad cheering charm. All he could do was sit back, scowl, and after a few minutes sigh deeply. As absolutely vexing as it was to have a nephew growing into sexual maturity, he could not be wholly unsympathetic. Apparently Miss Granger had succeeded in wheedling her way through Sage's defenses. Severus would not complain, however, as they both seemed to enjoy studying together for hours on end in the silence and privacy of his classroom.

In fact, Sage seemed to be gaining speed with his training and with his preparation for his OWLs. Perhaps Hermione Granger would not be such a bad influence in his nephew's life. He needed someone to talk to who was perhaps a bit more emotionally giving. Neither him nor Sage were particularly good at anything of the sort.

Of course, Severus had no intentions of being more than cordial to Sage's, shudder, girlfriend. The mere thought of the kiss he had witnessed a year before was enough to make him irked. He put a hand to his head as he thought of how many more kisses like that had probably occurred since their reconciliation. Hopefully, his nephew's testosterone would not run away with his brain as it had at the Yule Ball. He was dreading having any sort of conversation with Sage about more serious sexual endeavors, but he knew it was utterly and distressingly inevitable.

Sage was of an age now where things were surely to progress, especially since Sage had an experience with her in the mirror. He cringed as his thoughts dragged him to exactly what that might have been. It was blatantly obvious that Sage liked Miss Granger in a way that went above and beyond his feelings for Miss Macnair. If Sage had been willing to put himself in that compromising a situation with her, Severus could only imagine what he was going to have to deal with now that Sage was with Hermione. Surely, he would not be able to put off talking to the boy for too long, because that could prove to be incredibly imprudent of him if something happened that should not.

Severus stared at his watch, noting that it was quarter after the hour, and Sage was indubitably late. He scowled, wondering if he should go look in his classroom to see if his dear nephew had lost track of the time whilst studying with his new distraction. Instead, he took a deep breath, readying a proper admonishion for the boy when he finally deigned to show up. He was midway through thinking about what to say, making himself even more perturbed by the minute, when he heard a tapping on his slightly open door.

"Enter," he said gruffly, unable to keep his frustration under control. Was his nephew going to begin these idiotic antics again?

Sage walked into the office cautiously and slowly, knowing full well that he was going to get an earfull, at best, for being late for his training. Hermione had him teaching her some of the transfigurations he would have to do for his OWLs so that she could get a head start. Then she had looked so particularly alluring as she concentrated that he couldn't resist giving her a kiss before he had to go, not even realizing that he was already late. So the kiss had really only added another few minutes harm to an already bad situation.

"Sir," he said, completely throwing out the 'good evening,' knowing that his uncle would have some retort to that statement. Then, he cleared his throat nervously and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.

"..." Severus glared at him harshly, making Sage fidget in his seat a bit.

He was hoping that the man did not see the flush Sage undoubtedly knew was on his cheeks. His discomfort was greatly increasing by the minute.

The silence nearly choking him, he said, "Sir, I'm really sorry for being late, I lost track of the time-."

"Did I ask you a question or tell you to speak?"

"No, sir," he answered quietly. This was one of Severus's very bad scripts for when he was incredibly angry. It made Sage cringe before anything else was even said.

"Then I suggest you shut your mouth and not make the situation any worse for yourself."

Sage bit his lip, his Uncle had not been this angry with him in a very long time. It had seemed like months since Severus had yelled at him about anything.

"Over fifteen minutes late is inexcusable. Where were you and what was so important that you forget about your training?"

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Sage had to fight the desire to look down. He desperately did not want to answer, as he knew his answer would only make his Uncle angrier. He could not lie...

"Well, now you don't want to talk!" He yelled, standing up and putting his fingertips on his desk.

Sage sighed, "I was being irresponsible, Uncle Severus, and it won't happen again."

Within an instant, Sage knew that he had made a mistake is even giving that answer. It was an evasive answer, and Severus clearly knew that it was.

"Don't you 'Uncle Severus' me with that complete and utter DRIVEL! Do you think I missed the evidence all over your face? For Merlin's sake, boy, your lips are swollen! Perhaps I shall have to set your priorities straight for you! It rather seems that you have disregarded the importance of our meetings, on top of the fact that you are incomprehensibly wasting my time."

"It was not maliciously done, sir. It was an accident. We were working, and I kissed her before I left. I really had no idea until I looked at my watch in the hall. I didn't mean anything by it."

Severus sneered, "So forthcoming with the truth now. A bit too late for that."

"I'm getting grounded again, aren't I?" he asked quietly, this time looking down.

"To say the least! A few days away from Gryffindor will serve to remind you of your priorities. Until you remember how to conduct yourself properly, without getting distracted, you are restricted to my rooms and are not to set foot in Gryffindor until you have my permission."

"Yes, sir." He answered, sounding completely dejected, but it wasn't as if he thought Severus was just going to give him a lecture and leave it at that.

"While I have no qualms with your new... association, I will not have you shirking your other more important engagements and responsibilities."

"I wasn't shirking anything, Uncle, at least not purposely. I've still been working very hard. The majority of the time that I spend with her, we spend studying together, especially since me OWLs are next week."

Severus raised an eyebrow in a slightly malicious manner, "Well now it is ensured that you will spend the remainder of the time until the exams preparing for them without the possibility of distraction."

Sage stared crossly at his exam paper for Charms, not understanding why he should even bother to describe the specific wand movement associated with a banishing charm. He didn't even use a wand for Merlin's sake!

His frustration had been growing all day as he had opted to take so many of the exams that loads had ended up crammed in on the same day. His hand was incredibly cramped up. Then a brilliant idea struck him, and he put the quill down. He could not help himself from allowing a small, wicked grin to come over his face as he focused on the quill. As it began writing what he was thinking, he sat back in his chair thoroughly pleased with himself.

The quill wrote down on the paper, "As I am a Magi, and therefore do not use a wand, I begin to wonder the exact utility of this question. However, if I were somehow decapacitated and was forced to use a wand, the correct wand movement would be..." And it carried on from there.

"And what exactly do you think you are doing here," a particularly gnarly looking wizard asked him, grabbing Sage's quill when it was midsentence. "How did you smuggle this in?" The grey-haired man continued, accusingly.

Sage raised his eyebrow and scowled, "That is the quill I was provided, I charmed it to write what I dictate it to write in my head. I wasn't cheating."

"Oh really, and how did you charm it?"

Shaking his head, Sage answered, "If you would do a slight bit of research on the matter, you would find that I am a Magi. I don't use a wand, and I don't necessarily need to know an incantation to control objects."

The man looked at him, clearly not believing any of the story. His cratery face just glared back at Sage critically.

Sage was getting more and more flustered. This dolt was wasting his exam time asking him stupid questions.

"If you don't believe me, then ask Professor Flitwick. I am sure he is around somewhere, probably in the front of the room."

The man frowned at him, clearly not appreciating his cheek. "We'll see about that," he answered, stalking to the front of the room.

Severus stared at Sage appraisingly when the boy flung open the door and proceeded to flop down on the couch without so much as a greeting. He let the incordiality of the entrance go, as Sage's exam schedule was incredibly rigorous. Severus realized, too, that it was partly his fault as he had been rather adamant that Sage take every exam he was qualified to take.

"How did you perform," he asked.

Sage turned his blue eyes on him over the back of the couch scathingly.

"Testy," Severus stated.

"Sorry, Uncle, I am just very tired and very hungry."

Severus sat down in the chair to Sage's right and handed him a cup of tea.

"Considering that I took the initiative to order you some dinner from that errant house elf, Dobby, I believe I deserve a summary of the day's events."

His eyes wide with appreciation, he slouched down further and began, "Well, for my practicals I stunned the examiners, obviously. I do not know how it failed to be mentioned to any of them that I am a Magi. For Transfiguration and Defense, they kept asking me to do all these odd things not in the OWLs curricula, simply for their enjoyment. Then, the crowning glory was when I was briefly accused of cheating during my written for Charms because I charmed the quill to write what I wanted it to write, because I could no longer feel my hand."

Raising his eyebrow, Severus asked, "Should I be expecting anything less from your results than I had originally anticipated?"

"No, sir. There was not a single question I felt I could not answer up to standards."

Severus nodded with approval, "What is on the agenda for tomorrow?"

Sage's brow furrowed in concentration, "Potions, Astronomy, Runes, and Latin. After tommorrow sleep, sleep, sleep, and then the third task of the Tri-wizard."

"After tomorrow you can move your things back up to Gryffindor, but I do not want to have to remind you about your priorities again," The Professor stated, as Dobby showed up with a large plate of sandwiches.

Frowning, Severus rolled his eyes as his nephew nodded his response, his mouth already completely full of sandwich.

A/N

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