Chapter 15: Standoff of the Snapes

Chapter 15

Stand-off of the Snapes

It was Monday morning again and after Transfiguration everyone went into the Great Hall at 10:45 to chat and do some work before lunch. Most of the tables were half full already and would become completely full around 11:30 when the other students for out of class. Professor McGonagall had been tormenting Sage in class for weeks now, or at least that's what he thought. She just was making sure that he was not skating by, since he was far ahead of most of the class in what they were studying. She seemed to like to give him a different task from everybody else when they started practicing. This also meant that whenever the class was assigned homework or an essay, he was given a different topic to write on.

He was working on one such essay in the Great Hall that morning with Ron sitting next to him, looking over at what he was writing, and Hermione across from him. Harry had gone to ask Professor Lupin about some homework. Seamus, Dean, and Neville were also browsing their books from not too far away.

"What's your essay about, mate?" asked Ron.

Sage looked at him quizzically, he wasn't sure how he felt about being called 'mate'. "Tenth degree transfiguration."

"What is that?"

Sage rolled his eyes. Ron was not what you would call an academic, and Sage was constantly surprised at the level of ignorance around him. Not that it was exactly their fault they didn't know, but it still surprised him. "Basically turning nothing into something, Ron. Like when Professor Snape conjures a stretcher to take Neville to the hospital wing."

"Wicked."

Unexpectedly the doors to the Great Hall flung open and slammed against the stone wall with a bang. Everyone turned to look at the gaping doors. Professor Snape strode in briskly with the glower of death on his face. Students jumped out of his way in fear for their life. Snape didn't even seem to notice them. Without a second thought or a look around the hall at all the students, he walked directly up to Sage, grabbed him by the arm and collar, and jerked him straight out of his seat.

"Out, now," he hissed, pushing the boy towards the door.

Obediently, Sage started to the doors without looking back. He did not want to see the look on Severus' face because he was sure it wasn't pleasant. Sage knew these kinds of tempers all too well and knew when it was best to just stay quiet and get yelled at.

Just as they exited the door, Professor Snape grabbed him by the upper arm tightly like he would try and make a run for it, and proceeded to drag him down to the dungeons. He marched him straight to his office and pushed him in.

"You are out of your senses!" he boomed "I cannot believe what I just heard!"

Sage stared down at the ground with a slight suspicion as to what this was about, but still utterly confused about why his uncle was so angry.

"Did you think you were going to hide it? Did you have any plan to ask my permission? Were you even going to tell me at least!" Severus was spraying him as he yelled straight down into his face.

Sage cast one eye up quickly to assess his situation. Ohh yes, he was in trouble, the vein was popping out on his forehead, he was clenching his fists, and his eyes looked ready to jump out at him.

"I had to overhear it in my own classroom from damned Oliver Wood! Not even from you! What were you thinking?"

Sage gave no response. It just made Severus even more angry, he was beginning to lose his restraint completely.

"Answer me! Don't just stand there like you're stupid!"

The boy shifted and again gave no response. He didn't know what to say and he didn't want to make it any worse. But, his lack of response had pushed Severus just a little too far. His cheek stung instantly, but it had been more of a warning than anything.

"Answer me or by Merlin I swear I'll send you home."

Sage finally looked up and swallowed. "I don't know what you want me to say, sir."

"Why didn't you tell me, Sage?" he asked lowering his voice slightly.

"I didn't think you would mind, sir."

Severus crossed his arms, "WELL I DO MIND!"

"I thought you'd be happy," he answered quietly.

"HAPPY!"

There was a knock on the door. Snape scowled, glared at Sage, and then went to open the door. Standing there looking concerned was none other than the headmaster looking most reproachfully at the exasperated potion's master.

"Severus, Severus you do really need to keep more mind about frightening the students like that. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger were quite concerned about their friend."

Snape huffed angrily, trying to compose himself a little more. "There is nothing to be concerned about headmaster. Those two should learn to mind their own business."

"Severus what could you possibly be angry about now, he's behaving himself and so far as I know he's making top marks in his classes. Giving Miss Granger quite a run for her money."

The growl that came from Severus was enough to make the headmaster take a step back from him. "I'm sorry you feel that way Severus. Now what is going on?"

"Quidditch, he's on the quidditch team. Taking over as keeper next year when Wood's gone." He stated angrily.

Dumbledore smiled and patted Sage on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Sage."

Sage nodded with a look of apprehension, eying his uncle warily.

Snape looked as if he wanted to pounce on Dumbledore and give him a good punch in the face. "He's not going to play!"

Dumbledore looked at him quite dumb-founded, "And why ever not?"

The man's lip curled before he answered. "I forbid it!"

"Come Severus, is this really fair. What are your reasons?"

He took a step towards the headmaster and hissed, "He has prescience, surely that advantage is best kept off the quidditch pitch."

Dumbledore laughed heartily, apparently unphased by the potion master's behavior. "Severus, he just started having it, that's ridiculous, it's not as if he really knows how to control it."

Severus was seething, his nostrils flared, his fists clenched so tight his arms were twitching. "It doesn't matter if it's conscious. He's got the reflexes."

Dumbledore continued as series of chortles as he said, "So, both you and your brother had it and that didn't keep either of you off the pitch. It's a wizarding game, not a muggle game, if you can't have wizard skills it would be no better than football. That's no reason for him not to play."

This made Snape open his mouth, and then pace a few steps, considering that he'd better say something a bit more appropriate. "I won't have it headmaster, I won't. What if he has a vision while he's 75 feet in the air."

"Your searching Severus, the game has risks for everyone. Anyone can fall of their broom, not just those with visions. Besides, when someone falls we slow them down before they hit the ground."

Sage took a few steps back and tried to take some deep breaths. It was kind of nice to have someone do his fighting for him.

"He already has problems managing his training and his studies, headmaster, there is no room for quidditch if he's expected to progress. He has problems focusing here now."

Severus had finally hit upon a valid reason. Dumbledore scratched his beard and then look at Sage.

"Well, I've heard what your uncle has to say about this, what do you have to say?"

Sage opened his mouth and then closed it. He looked at his uncle and wondered if he should even fight it, but he wanted to play so badly. It was one thing he could share with his father, one way of remembering him without thinking about his torturous death.

"Sir, I'm getting more adjusted all the time. You said yourself that I'm doing well in my classes, even though I am taking an extra one." He paused to see the headmaster's reaction.

"A good point, continue."

Severus snarled in the background. It was all to easy to hear his angry breaths.

"Well sir, I wouldn't even be playing this year, just practicing, and I wouldn't have to go to all the practices." He looked at his uncle. "I promise I'll study harder for our sessions and keep my focus better, sir, I really do."

Severus growled as a response.

"I said NO," his uncle finally said, as if daring the headmaster to contradict him.

Sage looked at the headmaster pleadingly, "Please sir, all my life I've done nothing but study. I've spent all my life with books. I've never had friends. I've never gone to school. And I've never even questioned it, I know I have to do all the studying, I know it was the way it had to be with not having friends, but now I'm here and it doesn't have to be that way anymore."

"I DON'T CARE!" Snape interrupted.

Dumbledore looked at him in complete reproach, "Severus, you had your turn let him speak."

But Sage had already been pushed a little too far and he felt safe from his uncle being that the headmaster was there and his temper began to flare. After all, he was as much a Snape as Severus was and bad tempers run in the family as much as prescience and whatever else.

"You don't care? I've done everything you have ever asked me to do, and now I want something for myself. Something you should be happy about, something my father would have been happy about. Do you think he wanted this for me? I don't even have my own life. Everybody expects me to just walk around like I'm an adult, but I never had a childhood, I could never be like Harry or Ron. Don't think I'm stupid." He looked pointedly at both the headmaster and at his uncle. "I know all this studying and training does not just have to do with my safety. He's coming back, we all know it, eventually He will. You both just want to use me because of what I am!" He made a move for the door like he was just going to walk out, but Severus grabbed him by his robes and shoved him back and straight into the wall.

"You are so ungrateful! I'm your uncle, I don't want to use you. I don't want anything to happen to you!" He stopped yelling for a second before he continued bitterly, "I want you out of here! Do you understand me? You're going home. I can't handle your mouth anymore. I didn't ask for this either. I didn't teach you to behave like this. Unappreciative little…" he scowled curling his fingers farther around Sage's robes.

Sage realized he had gone way too far. Way too far. Guilt came over him like a tidal wave crashing down upon his stomach. He looked into his uncle's angry eyes. The professor didn't deserve what he had said to him. Sage knew he wasn't using him. Suddenly two hands broke them apart.

"Enough of this, both of you," the headmaster said pulling Severus off Sage. "Both of you are saying things you don't mean."

Both of the Snape's backed off and crossed their arms. Severus was staring at him, his lip curling, and Sage was just staring at the ground.

"You shouldn't talk to your uncle that way. You know very well nobody is using you." Dumbledore shook his finger at the boy and then put his hand on his hip looking like an aggravated parent.

"Yes, sir." He looked at Severus and sighed, "I'm sorry sir, I don't know what came over me. It's just, I want a chance to play."

Snape just stood there staring, not moving an inch. He wasn't ready to budge an inch about his decision either, or at least it appeared that way. His plan was to continue being stubborn until he got his way. He wouldn't let the headmaster get his way; after all, it was because of the headmaster that Harry Potter ran around like a wild animal. Now the headmaster was going to encourage his own nephew in the same direction and at the same time undermine Severus' supreme authority as the boy's uncle. It was not going to happen this time.

Oh no, this was his territory, Sage was under his supervision and guidance. And after the boy yelled like that there was no way he was going to give in. If he did that, he'd be inviting Sage to give a temper tantrum every time he didn't get his way or if he didn't like his uncle's rules.

But then Dumbledore flung a reproachful finger at him, "And you, Severus, should know better than to bait him. He's just a child. You know very well there is no reason for him not to play quidditch other than you're afraid something will happen to him, plain and simple. You are behaving just as ridiculously and inappropriately."

But the potion's master still didn't move and was still staring daggers into his nephew. Severus was beginning to damn Albus in his mind for derogating him in front of Sage, the nerve. How could he expect the boy to respect him after Dumbledore censures him like he's a student too. The old wizard was making it all too easy for Sage to become as disrespectful as Potter and Weasel. He snarled.

"Severus, you can stop glaring at him, he's sorry. You were the same way when you were that old. Same temper."

Now Snape turned his glare onto the headmaster, although a glare much less potent. Severus couldn't believe his ears, was the headmaster insinuating that he, he Severus Snape, had been a wild, tempered, and disrespectful student. Ha! Dumbledore knew that wasn't true.

The old wizard ignored it. He was thinking that Severus had shown him, the headmaster, the same temper when he was at school. He remembered Severus being in his office all too much and the many, many talks they had. Not that Severus was ever bad or a trouble-maker, he just always ended up doing the most damage after James Potter had provoked him. How else had the headmaster perfected the art of breaking through to a Snape or even talking to one in general. The headmaster chuckled to himself thinking of Sirius Black and James covered in green goo that had exuded from their skin after they tried to attack Severus. Two against one and they dared to complain about Snape gooing them. Even after Remus Lupin had joined their ranks, they couldn't get the best of Severus even with a surprise attack, well not until fifth year with the whole whomping willow incident.

The old wizard continued softly to Severus so that Sage couldn't hear, "He is much like Jace, I know he reminds you of him, and seeing him play will bring up bad feelings. This on top of the fact that he's the only family you have left. I understand the way you feel, but you cannot proceed to be so possessive of him. He is right. He has been deprived out of necessity. You're his uncle and you can give him this, you know Jace would want him to play Severus. The only thing Jace loved more than quidditch was his family." He touched the other professor's shoulder and added, "despite their vices."

Sage stared at the two men. Maybe it wasn't worth upsetting his uncle so much. Severus looked ready to blow up at a moment's notice. He sighed deeply and withdrew into his own thoughts while Dumbledore whispered something to his uncle.

He really wanted to play keeper like his father did and like his uncle did, but there were certain risks for him that others didn't have. As much as he might be a little angry about what he thought his fate was to be, he couldn't ignore the fact that his powers could prove quite useful in getting rid of Voldemort if it came to that. His life wasn't something to be reckless or careless about just because he was a Magi, the only hand wizard to speak of.

He had heard his uncle say many times 'With great power comes great responsibility. You must not take anything lightly. You will be both of great power and of great service to others.' That meant something, to him. His uncle was just trying to protect that and he was beginning to understand Professor Snape's reservations about quidditch. He stared back up at the headmaster and at Severus. He took a few steps forward and broke himself into the conversation again.

"Sir?"

"What?" Snape barked impatiently. "Didn't anyone tell you not to interrupt. Oh, that's right, I did."

"I just wanted to say that I won't play if you don't want me to, sir. I mean, I won't be happy about it, but I'll do it. I trust your judgement. I've done what you've wanted me to do this far."

There was silence. Severus still looked cold and the headmaster was looking at him in a prodding way.

"You should have trusted it from the beginning. You should not have kept this a secret from me." He spat.

Sage looked down and away. What was he supposed to say to that. Perhaps if he had gone to Severus first and given him the benefit of the doubt, he would have been willing to let him play. He shook his head, but he hadn't mistrusted his uncle in the first place, he hadn't gone to tell him because he didn't think it required such attention.

"I was not keeping it a secret from you, I just made the improper assumption that it would be okay with you. I'm sorry, sir, I should have talked to you first."

Severus harumphed and crossed his arms, putting his hands into his long cuffs of his sleeves. He could feel the headmaster's eyes on him. He knew what Dumbledore was thinking. He is giving in to you Severus, now is the time to give in to him. He is doing the right thing. He will be fine.

Professor Snape stared at the older wizard and could see in his eyes that his assumption about the contents of the man's thoughts were fairly accurate. He was giving him the 'go on' look. Severus shook his head negatively at him.

The headmaster gave him the 'go on or I will go over your head' look.

The younger professor scowled and then stared at his nephew. Damn boy, damn quidditch, why couldn't he be happy just being at school. Letting him come here was a mistake. I should have expected as much. He'll just be distracted from his studies more. Especially being with the Gryffindors who, except for Granger, would much rather break rules, play quidditch, and play pranks than study. Not that I would want him in Slytherin, no, no, I have enough problems in Slytherin without worrying about them corrupting my nephew towards Voldemort. Gods that would be horrid, the Magi in Slytherin with all the Future Death Eaters Club. I should have just kept tutoring him at home, Hogwarts definitely will take its toll on his progress. Neither a focused nor controlled place. And now quidditch! So he can not study and break his neck in addition. He scowled again at the end of this thought. Why should I care if he breaks his neck! When did this happen to me, I can't even fool myself into believing that I don't care if he breaks his neck. Damn boy is ruining my evil, school demeanor. Gods, I already gave a few points to him, there is definitely something the matter with me.

Both Sage and Dumbledore could see the wheels turning in Severus' mind and weren't about to interrupt them. His facial expression would change with his thoughts, ranging from nods, to sneers, to lip curling, to huffing, and then to shaking his head in disbelief. The headmaster knew what was coming, but Sage was caught quite off guard.

"Fine, you can play. But… but if I see you digressing in any areas, in your training or studies, breaking any rules, or not behaving as you should, Merlin help me you will be so sorry I ever said yes."

Sage's eyes got really wide before they settled back down. Had he just heard what he thought he heard? His uncle had just said that he could play? His eyes flew to the headmaster who was smiling happily and patting Severus on the shoulder as if to tell him that he did the right thing. He settled his blue eyes then on his uncle who still had his arms crossed imperiously. His mouth dropped open momentarily as he realised that he hadn't just imagined what had just been said to him.

"I can play?" he asked, in shock.

"Yes, that is what I said."

Sage couldn't contain the smile that was pushing itself onto his face, but he tried, so it came out looking more like a half grin. In fact, he couldn't quite contain his happiness or surprise because he grabbed Dumbledore's hand and thanked him profusely. Then he turned toward his uncle, and before he had a conscious thought to stop him, he jumped forward, threw his arms around his uncle, said "thank you, sir!" and was already running out the door before Severus had a chance to figure out what had happened.

The headmaster chuckled at the younger professor who stood frozen, his eyes wide with disbelief and shock, his face paler than it normally was.

"Yes, Severus, I do belief your nephew just hugged you, much to all of our surprise," he chuckled more, "A whole 2 seconds of a hug. Actually, more just threw his arms around you, but for a Snape, I think that should count as a hug." He burst out into a more laughter. Severus still hadn't moved and didn't look like he was breathing. "Oh Severus, you can breathe, it wasn't that bad."

Professor Snape finally opened his mouth, "What is this school doing to him?"

Dumbledore chuckled again and put his arm around Severus, who eyed it suspiciously as if it might attack him. "I think it is you trying to be a better uncle that is doing something to him."

"Look," Professor Snape said gesturing out his open door, "He's already running wild around the school! I'm telling you, sir, I hope you pushed me toward the right decision, because if he turns into Potter, he's going home with you for the summer."