"Where’s Silas?" Trimdol asked the next morning at breakfast, and Severus glowered at the annoying Defense professor.

"Sleeping," he sneered. "He will be eating on the train, later." Trimdol gave a small chuckle at the Potions Master’s attitude. Severus sat down in his usual place and began to serve himself.

"He really is a sweet child, although he does act younger than a boy his age should," Trimdol commented, looking sideways at the said boy’s brother, as if he had been meaning to bring up the subject several times before. "He’s smart, but he seems a little standoffish, don’t you think?"

"I’ve been meaning to speak with you about that, Severus," Filius Flitwick replied. "Perhaps after breakfast and before you leave for the train, we could retreat to my office for a talk?"

"I suppose," Severus replied in an unreadable tone, closing himself off suddenly, and the table fell into an awkward silence, no one willing to broach any subject that would set off Severus’ temper. Everyone at the table continued eating in the uncomfortable atmosphere for a few minutes before the headmaster entered the Great Hall in a very a amicable mood.

"Good morning! I trust . . ." the old man trailed off the second he felt the mood of the table. "What is the matter here?" he asked, concerned. Everyone was quiet until Trimdol finally spoke up.

"Just discussing a few things," he said offhandedly. "Nothing serious, but a little unsettling. The summer here is going to be quiet, isn’t it?" No one paid much attention as the headmaster sat down and began eating as the man was once again looking amused.

"Are you staying here for the summer, Matthias?" McGonagall asked, curious.

"For a bit, before I take William to the wizarding Sibiu in Romania," he replied, receiving looks from everyone, including Severus.

"Wizarding Sibiu?" Filius asked, echoing the majority of the table’s question.

"I have a rather large home there, and I thought . . . oh!" Trimdol said, realizing what the rest of the staff wanted to know. "I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it, really," he explained. "It’s a traditional wizarding village . . . well, more of a city, really, about 100,000 wizards, all purebloods. It’s a very controlled community, and you have to have special identification to own any land. Most old families own a home there, even if they do not live there. It’s quite different from the muggle Sibiu . . ."

"Are you from an old family?" Severus asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"I am, I suppose, but my family hasn’t owned a home there for generations. I’m the first since my great-great-grandfather left," he answered casually. "You should bring Silas to visit, Severus. I’m sure he would love it there; a lot of history to learn, and you have a few distant cousins living there, I’m sure. I know there is a Prince a few houses down, at number 8 . . ."

"I do have a few very distant cousins there," Severus snapped. "None I’ve kept in contact with."

"Well, I’m finished with my breakfast," Flitwick interrupted. "My office, Severus?" he asked, standing up.

"Yes," Severus answered, following suit and giving Trimdol a suspicious glance, unnoticed by the rest of the staff, who were continuing to talk about Sibiu. Walking at what was a brisk pace for the smallest professor, Severus had mostly calmed by the time they reached the third floor, his anger at matters of his family being brought up like small talk changing to worry for his young brother.

"He has done nothing wrong?" Severus asked once they arrived and the door was closed. He sat down across the desk from Flitwick, settling into a comfortable position.

"No, no, not at all. He’s very polite and well behaved . . . except for the few mishaps that you’ve taken care of this year, of course."

"Does he not interact well with his classmates? From what I have seen, they seem to be on good terms."

"Well, that’s sort of where we have the problem," Filius said slowly. "He is not as . . . sociable as I originally thought he would be, and no," he said, raising a hand to stop what he knew would be a tirade from the potions professor, "it’s not because he’s Harry Potter. Talking with him, he is very energetic, and he always seems eager to please and can be very talkative, but he’s not that way with most of the children his age."

"He has his friends. I still don’t see what the problem is," Severus answered flatly, not understanding where this was going.

"I had a student who acted the exact same way as him . . ."

"Would you get to the point, Filius?" he snapped.

"Of course . . . Severus, do you know what his home life was like before you claimed guardianship over Mr. Prince? I believe he is socially, and perhaps emotionally, behind of others his age, which is common effect of neglect . . ."

"I know of Silas’ life with the muggles." Severus’ voice was quiet, and almost regretful.

"And you’ve noticed?"

"Yes."

"Well, I just wanted to make sure . . ." he said awkwardly.

"Thank you."

They both sat in silence for a bit before Severus bid the Charms professor goodbye. They had to leave for Hogsmede in half an hour, so he had to make sure that Silas was awake and ready. He had let the boy go back to bed after their small talk earlier that morning because he was still tired.

Twenty-five minutes later, they were both walking toward the Entrance Hall, their luggage already transported to the train by a house elf, and they ran into Trimdol and William.

"Silas, Severus!" Trimdol exclaimed. "We were just going down to the dungeons to say goodbye. I’m glad we didn’t miss you!"

"Goo’bye!" William said. "Goo’bye!"

"Bye, William. I’ll see you in September, okay?"

"No. Visit," the small boy emphasized, and Trimdol laughed.

"Yes, you really must visit," Trimdol said, smiling at Silas as his eyes lit up. "We would love for you to stay at our home, both of you," he continued, giving a pointed look at Severus. "Perhaps you could convince this old man here to bring you," he said quietly, but still loud enough for Severus to hear, while leaning down to Silas’ ear. Silas laughed.

"Severus isn’t old!" he proclaimed! "He’s only . . ." Silas looked at his brother, suddenly realizing he didn’t know how old the man was.

"We must be going. We do not want to miss the train," Severus said, latching a hand onto Silas’ right shoulder and pushing him gently down the corridor.

"Can we go, Severus? Please?" he asked, but Severus didn’t answer.

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Silas was nearly falling asleep, his head resting in his hand and his elbow leaning on the window of the train compartment. Severus was sitting across from him, reading and looking up from his book every once in awhile to look at his small brother.

"Did you not get enough sleep last night?" Severus asked. "You slept longer than usual, so that should have made up for last night."

"I thought I did. I didn’t wake up at all except for when I came to your room and this morning," Silas answered. "But I’m still really tired. Maybe it’s the train?"

"Maybe," Severus said, not looking convinced. "If you are that tired, just sleep. I will not leave you." Silas smiled thankfully. He was glad that his brother remembered. Even though he really knew Severus wouldn’t leave him, he always got nervous whenever there was an opportunity for something of the sort to happen, like now. It was very possible that the train could stop and Severus could just leave. Sure, he wouldn’t do it on purpose, but that didn’t say he wouldn’t forget about him if he were to go to the bathroom or something. Silas knew he was being irrational, but still.

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The small house was exactly how Silas remembered it. Well, mostly. Actually, he almost remembered it being smaller than it was . . . but nope, everything was how they left it. And now that he had been up and walking for a bit, he was feeling much more awake. Dropping the trunk he was dragging, he immediately walked past his brother and through the back door to the garden. Yup, everything the same back there, too, except the garden needed to be weeded. He closed one eye and scrunched up his mouth, head tilted in an odd cringe, realizing that Severus was probably going to make him do that.

Satisfied, Silas ran back inside and up the stairs, peaking into the library on the way before entering his room. Smiling, he laid on his bed and curled up.

"What were you doing?" Severus asked, entering the room a few moments later.

"Just making sure everything was still the same," he sighed.

"No one has been here since . . . second term," Severus answered, remembering the incident with Mikey, but he didn’t want to bring it up, especially since it would probably lead to talk about Potter . . . "Why would anything be different?"

"Well, you know . . ." Silas started lamely.

"No, I don’t."

"Someone could have broken in and stolen something!" the eleven year old argued.

"No. I have wards on the house to prevent something like that," Severus replied.

"Oh. Well . . . ghosts?"

"No!" answered the professor, trying to hold back a laugh. He wasn’t going to give up, was he?

"Oh."

Rolling his eyes, Severus turned to leave when he heard a laugh and a pillow hit his back. Slowly, he turned around.

"Silas," he warned, walking to the bed to put the pillow back. "Perhaps you need more sleep. I will wake you for dinner."

Sighing, Silas slid under his covers without a fight and watched his brother retreat from the room. He was asleep within five minutes.

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Silas couldn’t remember much, waking up, but he had an extremely vague memory of falling. In an attempt to find a more comfortable position, preferably under his warm duvet, he moved only to find that it hurt. Groaning, he curled up, waiting for the sharp pain in his head to go away, but it only subsided a little bit. Feeling the sun entering his room through the partially opened curtain, he decided he should find Severus. Maybe there was a potion he could take . . .

Slowly he rolled out of bed and managed to stand up. He felt . . . odd. Like he was dreaming or something. He just stood there for a bit, not remembering what he was going to do . . .

Suddenly remembering, Silas made his way out of his room and across the hall and into his brother’s room, not bothering to knock.

"Se–Severus?" Silas whispered, but he didn’t get any response. Standing there for a bit more, he tried again, a little louder. "Severus?" He waited again, and when he didn’t get a response yet again, he slowly walked up to the bed through the darkness, trying his best not to move to fast and cause his head to start pounding worse than it currently was. Slowly, he climbed onto the bed and was disappointed to find that his brother wasn’t in it. Feeling nauseated, he curled up once again.

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"Silas?" he thought he heard from . . . somewhere. "Silas, where are you? Boy!"

Suddenly, the door was opened and light flooded into the room, making Silas scrunch his already-closed eyes even tighter.

"Silas, what are you doing in here?" his brother asked, sounding worried, but Silas refused to move. Silas, what . . ." Severus moved his younger brother a bit, rolling him so he could see his face. He gasped. "What happened?"

"I dunno," he answered. "Hurt."

"You don’t remember anything? Nothing?"

"I . . . I think I fell," he replied. "But . . . I don’t . . ." he trailed off, wanting to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes.

"Silas," Severus said sternly. "Look at me. There you go; open your eyes . . ." Standing up to open the curtains to let some light in, Severus sat down on the bed and examined his brother’s face carefully. Sometime during the night, he acquired a bruise on his forehead and there was a scrape that ran from his temple to the bottom of his cheek, and then from the middle of his neck, disappearing under his nightshirt.

"Maybe a concussion," he said quietly, confused as to how this happened. It didn’t make any sense. "We haven’t even been back two weeks, and you are already getting hurt," he scoffed in a way that could be considered playful if it wasn’t for the situation. "I am going to firecall St. Mungos. Hopefully they’ll be able to send someone over so I won’t have to bring you through the floo. I don’t’ know how safe that will be. Silas?"

"Hmm?"

"Don’t go to sleep. Stay awake, alright?"

"Mmm," was the boy’s only answer. Quickly, Severus walked out of the room and down to fireplace which was connected to the floo and was relieved when they answered immediately.

"What’s the problem?"

"I’m not sure, exactly," Severus answered, impatient. "I think my brother has a concussion, but how he got it, I’m not sure."

"Someone will be right through," the woman said. "You’re lucky, we’ve had a slow night tonight so we have someone to send over. When we’re busy, we usually can’t spare any mediwizards for home calls, unless it’s extremely important."

Severus ignored her and moved away from the fireplace to allow room for the mediwizards. Impatient still, he paced the room. A minute later, a man walked through.

"What seems to be the matter?" the mediwizard asked.

"Follow me," Severus replied and led the man to his room, where Silas had once again curled up. "Silas," he said before addressing the wizard. "I found him like this about five minutes ago. I don’t know when it happened, but he’s slow to respond and he’s physically injured." The man walked to the bed and turned Silas to his back.

"Is there any possibility of someone entering the house unknowingly?"

"No. The wards have been checked several times. No one has been here but him and myself."

After a few spells, and two potions, the mediwizard turned back to Severus.

"You were right, it was a concussion. Good thing you didn’t bring him through the floo." They both watched as Silas slowly sat up. "Silas?" the man asked, and the boy looked at the newcomer curiously. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Um . . . I think I dreamed. About . . . climbing out my window, or something. Or up to it. I don’t remember . . ."

Eyes wide, Severus quickly left the room and entered his brother’s. As he remembered from the brief glance in while looking for the boy minutes earlier, the window was open and the curtains partially drawn. Other than that, the room looked to be in perfect order. Of course, the open window was normal, too, so it didn’t say much. Shaking his head, he went back to his room to find the mediwizard sitting on the bed, talking to his brother. Now that he thought of it, the young man did look rather familiar.

"The window is open, but he’s been keeping it open, lately . . ."

"I think I know, Professor Snape," he responded, and Severus remembered: a Gryffindor that graduated five years ago. "It would appear that Silas has been sleep walking."

"Sleep walking," Severus said flatly, and he saw Silas blush.

"Not much of a problem, usually, and it’s not hard to fix, although the cure is different with each wizard, as different things can be the cause. Just firecall St. Mungos and ask for an appointment with Mediwitch Keilly. She specializes in ailments in children. Until then, just watched him. If you see him walking around in the middle of the night, don’t wake him; just make sure he goes back to bed," he said, and Silas scowled. Again, they were talking about him when he was right there! It’s not like he was sick . . . anymore. But then he remembered something.

"I used to sleep walk, I think. When I was younger. They’d used to lock me in some night before . . . er . . . when they think I’d sleep walk."

"Really?" the mediwizard asked. "Odd."

"What is?"

"Well, if he hasn’t slept walked in a while, it is possible he out grew it. Usually, when children sleep walk for a few years and then stop, it doesn’t start up again. Oh, well, I don’t know much about it. Like I said, you best talk to Keilly."

"We will do that," Severus said.

"Good. Well, you will be billed soon, or you can go to St. Mungos to pay. I should be getting back . . . goodbye. Hope you feel better, Silas," he said, then left.

"Silas?" Severus asked again once the man left, and he sat on the bed. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes," he answered, and Severus nodded.

"Okay, then. Get dressed. Breakfast is ready."

Later that day, Severus made an appointment with the suggested mediwitch for the next day for the ‘sleepwalking’ issue and for a full checkup. Aside from the quick check over from the previous year, Silas hadn’t been looked over, and Severus wanted to make sure nothing of this sort could happen again. A thorough examination by a medical witch specialize in treating children, as much as Silas objected, was necessary.

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Silas sat in the small room nervously. He’d heard horror stories from the kids at his primary school about having to go to the doctor – shots, weird instruments that were poked into your ears and nose and mouth, flashlight being shined into your eyes . . . his only hope was that, as this was a magical examination, most of those things would be by-passed. What made him even more nervous was the fact that this doctor was going to be a girl. A girl! It wasn’t long before she walked in, a blue folder in her hand.

"There’s not much record of Silas," she said to Severus. "Has he ever had a full exam?" Severus looked to his younger brother, and Silas shrugged, shaking his head.

"I’m assuming not. And, if he did, it was a muggle one."

"Not as accurate, those," she said, setting down the folder and walking over to Silas. The boy sighed in relief as the mediwitch explained every charm she cast and every other thing she was doing. When he had to take off his shirt and dress pants, blushing, she explained how she needed to check if he had any internal injuries, and that spells weren’t always accurate.

Finally, Silas was allowed to put his clothes back on, and he sat in a chair next to his brother, still nervous, but now because the mediwitch had a worried look on her face.

"Well, I don’t see any reason why he should be sleepwalking, but sometimes that is the case," she told them both. "As much as we know, there are still things we don’t know about the body. Walkless Sleep Tonic should work," she said writing something down and handing it to Severus. "You can find it at the apothecary in Hogsmede."

"I will make it myself," said Severus flatly.

"I don’t think that . . ."

"I am a Potions Master. I believe I can handle brewing a simple potion such as that."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Alright. Well, other than that, he seems in good health. No longer malnourished, but he is still slightly small for his age. Nothing unexpected, though. Any questions?"

"No," Severus replied, and the witch looked at Silas, who shook his head.

"Well, that’s it, then. Have a good day! If the tonic does work, make another appointment and we’ll work it out . . ."

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Later that day, Silas was sitting outside, reading. It was getting dark, and Severus called the boy in, handing him a potion.

"You are to sleep in my bed tonight," Severus said. "I need to keep an eye on you, which means you are going to sleep now, so I am able to sleep a bit. I am meeting with Lucius early tomorrow morning."

"Can I come?" Silas asked, excited. He hadn’t seen Draco in a week, and he was getting bored around the small house and yard, even with the swing.

"I’m not going to leave you here alone," he answered. Now, put on your pajamas, go to my room, and take the potion. There is a sleeping draught that is laced in the potion, so you will fall asleep rather quickly."

"Okay," Silas answered. "I . . ." he trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I’m just not really tired . . ."

"You will be once you take the potion. Now, go," he ordered, and watched with a worried smile as his brother left the kitchen.