Brothers by Blood by breannatala
Summary: Harry Potter, 10 years old, finds out that he isn't a Potter, and that he has a brother still living! And his brother happens to be Severus Snape. After the reading of Eileen Prince's will, Severus takes Harry in. And after spending the summer living with his newly-found brother, being educated in the wizarding ways, and meeting new people, Harry slowly starts fitting in and having a normal life.

How long will it stay normal, though? After all, despite him being known to Hogwarts and the rest of the world as Silas Prince, he still is Harry Potter, and it is only so long that he is able to stay out of trouble.
Categories: Big Brother Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco, Dumbledore, James, Lucius, Other, Sirius
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: General
Media Type: None
Tags: Alternate Universe
Takes Place: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 22 Completed: No Word count: 102508 Read: 124313 Published: 09 Jul 2006 Updated: 26 Apr 2008
The Ideas by breannatala

The train ride to Sibiu was amicable, but nonetheless boring. Silas had woken up early and in a very good mood thanks to two happy events yesterday (playing with Severus and meeting Sirius!) and he had woken Severus up when he felt he could not wait any longer. After dressing, eating, and making sure everything they would need for two weeks was packed, they flooed to Kings Cross to catch a train at station Platform 1/4 – an inconveniently placed platform that one would normally assume would be right before Platform 1 but was, in fact, neatly hidden in a darkened corner near the bathrooms.

It made sense, Silas reasoned, to have the main wizarding platform hidden from the main area of traffic, but he didn’t quite understand why they would have the Hogwarts Express platform right in the middle of two much-used muggle platforms. He was beginning to think that wizards didn’t often think logically about some matters.

Silas was expecting to have to run through the wall to get onto the platform, as he did for platform 9 and 3/4, but to his surprise, once they arrived in that dark corner, Severus pulled out his wand and tapped two bricks near the bottom of the wall. Silently, and not at all fancy like the Diagon Alley entrance, the fake wall suddenly disappeared and Severus pulled him through quickly as several witches and wizards poured out the opposite way. As soon as the group was through, the illusion seemed to put itself back up, but unlike the muggle side, there was a clear cut, arched stone doorway clearly marking the exit.

Amazed, Silas watched as a wizard walked up to the exit, tapped a crystal ball-type object setting on a post next to the archway and walked through the now-clear path.

"Come along, Silas," Severus said, pulling slightly at his sleeve. They walked along the long platform, Silas expecting to enter the train which was waiting on their right, but instead, they went inside a small building and sat down on the seats inside.

"When does the train get here?" Silas asked, looking around the room for a clock. He found a large one near the door they entered, but instead numbers and the usual amount of hands, there were phrases that said "At Station", "Traveling", "Stopped" . . . and other situations like "Off Track" or "In Trouble". There were twelve hands, label with odd symbols, that Silas assumed were for each of the trains. He had asked Severus before about the station, and Severus had said there were twelve magical trains, including the Hogwarts Express, that traveled only in the wizarding world.

As much as the clock kept Silas interested for a minutes, it did not help him at all as he had no idea what train they were taking, so Silas looked at his brother. Severus was looking at some wizard in the corner of the room and did not hear him, so he tapped his brother on the arm.

"Severus," Silas said, but he still didn’t get a response. "Severus!"

"What?" the professor asked, turning to face the little annoyance.

"What time does the train get here?" he asked, impatient as Severus was annoyed.

"Fifteen minutes," he snapped. "Sit down and behave. I will be back here in a few minutes."

Wondering what that man did to be able to upset Severus just by being in the same room, Silas sat down on the most comfortable-looking waiting chair and watched as his brother stalked across the room and greeted the man. The man was a few inches taller than Severus, and had sandy colored hair and blue eyes. He looked nervous as well as pleased to see the potions master, and they both appeared to talk jubilantly for a few minutes before shaking hands and parting; the strange man toward the door and Severus toward Silas.

"Who was that?" Silas asked as his brother sat down.

"Someone I knew when I was in Hogwarts," Severus answered sharply, and Silas knew from the tone that he was not to press the subject.

Fifteen minutes later, Silas jumped as a ‘dong’ ran through the platform and a cheerful voice announced that "Train Number Seven has now arrive!" Severus stood up, and Silas just now realized they didn’t have their trunks.

"Severus, our things!" he exclaimed, and he realized that they didn’t have them since they arrive on the platform.

"They are on the train," Severus answered.

"Already?"

"Yes, already," he said with a sigh. On the train, now," Severus said, pushing Silas forward a bit, and he made his way to the train after a brief look back at his brother, excited.

Silas’ excitement quickly wore off, though, half an hour into the train ride. He asked Severus how much longer it would be, and Severus’ answer was simply, "About seven hours."

"Seven hours?" Silas asked. "That long? Isn’t there a faster way to get there . . . like floo or something?"

"It is proper to take the train, Silas. And it might be shorter, depending on certain factors. Watch out the window, if you wish . . . if I am correct, we shall be traveling under water soon."

"Under water?" Silas asked. Severus nodded.

"How else would you expect us to take a train to Sibiu?" Severus asked, and his brother merely shrugged and took Severus’ suggestion of looking out the window. He was, before, but he really wasn’t paying much attention to the scenery. Now, though, he realized they were going quite fast – much faster, in fact, than the Hogwarts Express – although it felt as if they weren’t moving at all. It wasn’t long before the tracks led them to the water’s edge and then into the water. Instinctively, Silas held his breath before he realized there was no need to do so.

Embarrassed, he looked at Severus and saw that the man was smiling slightly – he noticed!! – and Silas blushed. Looking out the window, Silas decided that being underwater was amazing.

Six hours later – the trip took shorter than Severus estimated, thankfully – the magic-modified steam engine pulled into the station, Silas half asleep in his chair. A small nudge woke him, though, and he groggily followed his brother onto the platform.

Suddenly, their trunks popped up next to them, startling Silas, which caused Severus to smirk. Levitating the trunks with one hand and making sure that Silas had his carry-on, Severus used one hand to gently push him forward and out of the way of the crowd.

Not that there was much of a crowd, though. The platform was small, and Silas just realized there were only two cars on the train. It felt maybe twenty people were on the train, and as Silas watched, only four got on to leave Sibiu. For some reason, he just felt like there would be . . . more wizards.

"Severus, Silas!" Trimdol said as he – for the lack of a better word – bounced over to his two visitors. "Welcome to Sibiu!"

"Thank you," Severus most grunted, and Trimdol gave him a small smile.

"I have my carriage waiting," Trimdol said, giving Silas a pat on the head (to which he received an annoyed glare), and the two halfbloods followed the defense professor off the platform and to a carriage-waiting area. They stopped in front of two white horses, which Silas found he could not stop staring at. They weren’t as brilliant as the Thestrals, but they were rather beautiful.

"I thought an open carriage would be best for the occasion, so I could show you around as he traveled to my home," Trimdol said. "I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of inviting a family over for dinner. Maurice and Kendra Prince and their son . . . would they be any relation to you? They are rather good friends of mind. I grew up with Kendra; her parents took care and taught me for half of my childhood."

"Maybe third or fourth cousin," Severus answered flatly.

"How old’s their son?" Silas asked, curious. "And why did they take care of you? Where are your parents?"

"Silas," Severus bent down to whisper in his younger brother’s ear. "It’s rude to ask personal questions of your host."

"Their son is fifteen," Trimdol answered, not taking any offense to the personal question. In fact, he seemed rather excited to answer. "And my parents died when I was young. My mother when I was about one year old, and my father . . . was killed when I was eleven."

"Do you miss them?" Silas asked quietly, and Trimdol gave him a sad smile and answered after a small pause.

"Of course I do." He became animated again as helped Silas into the carriage ushered Severus up before taking a seat at the head.

Silas had to admit – only to himself – that the short tour from the train station to Trimdol’s home was boring. The buildings were different than he was used to – all of them connected on a street in an inconsistent manner that was somewhat puzzling to Silas – but they all looked the same. Same color, same style . . . the only difference between them was the size or door and window style.

He was happy when Trimdol lead the horses into a drive way and under the house to the backyard where a small stable was. Getting out of the carriage, Silas looked at his professor’s house and examined it. It was three floors high, the third floor the largest because it connected with the house on the left (or, on the right from the front of the house), while the first and second floors left a hole between the two homes to allow for them take a carriage back to the stables easily.

Still architecture wasn’t something that Silas was extremely interested in, so he was glad when Trimdol announced that they were going inside. There was enough time for both brothers to clean up for dinner, so Trimdol led them to their rooms first so they could do so. The defense professor quickly showed Severus to a room on the second floor before leading Harry to a room on the third floor.

"This is my favorite guest room in the house," Trimdol said. "It was my room for years . . . I had it made up especially for you."

"Wow," Silas said, looking around. It wasn’t extremely big, but one of the walls was slanted and met with a low ceiling near the window. The ceiling, too, slanted up. It was more of an attic room, Silas realized.

"The window shows the street," Trimdol said, bringing Silas from his thoughts. "If you are up early enough, you can watch everyone on their way to work. Around seven is the busiest. I believe you can also see the bakery from here, across the street and a few numbers down . . ."

"Thank you!" Silas said, and Trimdol gave a small bow with his head before showing him where the bathroom was (on the second floor) and leaving him to his own devices.

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Silas sat uncomfortably at the dining room table. It was set up a bit more informal than the Leaving Dinner at the Malfoy’s, but it still felt rather fancy. Normally, such a setting wouldn’t bother him, but today, with Trimdol and three people he didn’t know at the table, he felt as if he was doing everything wrong. The boy, who had brown eyes and dark eyes that he swore were tinted purple when he spoke, kept staring at him. Thankfully, the adults did most of the talking, and Silas was more than happy to let them ignore him.

"It has been, of course, tradition for all the Prince lines to attend Hogwarts, yes," Maurice Prince said, answering Trimdol’s question of why Bernard, their son, wasn’t attending Hogwarts, "but Kendra," he continued, indicating his wife, "suggested we teach Bernard ourselves. Her family has always taught at home, only bringing in tutors when necessary. With the state of the schools now days, you can’t be too careful what a child will learn."

"Yes, yes, of course," Kendra said. "Hogwarts and their Muggle Studies," she hissed. "And bringing mudbloods into the school."

"They do have potential, magically," Trimdol said with a half-shrug. "Wouldn’t you say so, Severus?"

"Matthias, you are too kind," Kendra interrupted before Severus could answer. "You always have been. You father would disapprove, I’m sure."

"I’m sure he would," Trimdol said with a nod. "But they are of some use."

"A majority of the students have no talent," Severus answered. "Blood isn’t an indication there. Most of them are lazy and lacking drive, preferring games to study."

"Another issue brought in by mudbloods," Maurice agreed. "I have heard muggles are extremely lax with their children. It really is more of an issue of how the wizard is raised, more than blood, although blood is a large portion of it . . ."

"My father had aways said there are certain ways of integrating muggleborns. It’s a long, complicated process, but it preserves both the bloodlines and traditions. It was almost passed at the Ministry about ten years ago, but then certain issues arose," Trimdol responded, giving a pointed look at Severus.

"Really? I did not know it was that close," Severus said.

"Oh, it was," Trimdol said. "You know of it in detail, then?"

"Yes, of course. I heard the Dark Lord was pushing for the matter. He thought it a wonderful idea."

"Yes, I suppose he would, wouldn’t he?" Trimdol mumbled, his eyebrows scrunching together for a split second before his face turned happy again.

"Of course he would," Kendra said. "But there was never much said about testing them, was there?"

The adults in the room shook their heads in an indication that they didn’t know, and Silas shot a look at Bernard, who was eating and nodding a bit; it was obvious he agreed with his parents and the other adults. One glance and Severus did nothing to help Silas understand what exactly was going on. He knew that muggleborns weren’t liked much by purebloods – he heard some about it from Draco, actually – but he never thought it a big deal, or that the Ministry agreed.

And, he realized he didn’t really know Severus’ exact thoughts on the matter. He made a mental note to himself to ask Severus later.

After dinner, Silas and Bernard were more or less pushed up the stairs to ‘play’ while the adults adjourned to a room to talk. Silas, glad to be free of the talk for now, went to ‘his’ room. This trip didn’t seem to be as he expected it, so far. Nothing fun happened yet, that’s for sure.

He wasn’t even sure where William was! He was supposed to be there, that was for sure, but there had been no sign nor talk of him since they arrived.

Sitting on the bed, Silas realized that Bernard had followed him into the room. He watched the older boy from the corner of his eye as he sat down.

"What’s it like at Hogwarts?" Bernard asked.

"It’s . . ." Silas started, but he stopped immediately. This boy was home schooled, so Silas didn’t want to make it seem like it was so great. "It’s school," he shrugged. "Lots of classes and work, but I love the castle. It’s so big!"

"Do you know many mudbloods?"

"I . . . er . . ." Silas started at the word ‘mudblood’. He didn’t like it, not really, even if Draco says it’s a more accurate description of what muggleborns are. Silas, though, didn’t know if he believed that. Blood hadn’t done that well for him so far, except for Severus. The entire blood-issues . . . Silas really didn’t understand or care about them. "I don’t know, really. I never ask. I know a few halfbloods, though."

"Half bloods aren’t that bad," Bernard shrugged. "A friend of mine’s cousin is half blood and she visits sometimes. She’s smart and really nice. So most of Hogwarts is pureblood?"

"I don’t know . . ." Silas said again. "My best friend is pureblood, I know. He would probably know who is muggle born and not. He normally keeps track of those sorts of things."

"Who?" Bernard asked.

"What?"

"Who is your friend? Would I know their family?"

"Draco Malfoy. I don’t know if you would know them. They don’t come here very often. I don’t even know where their house is."

"The Malfoys? I heard a lot about them, most of it good, too. They’re very bit on pure-blood supremacy, aren’t they?"

"Yes, they are. They don’t mind half bloods, though; not much."

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"How do you like Sibiu, Severus?" Maurice asked once the four adults settled. "As you expected? You haven’t been here before, have you?"

"I have," Severus answered. "I have a few friends who own land here and have visited several times during the war. Time were hard, then, having to keep away from the aurors."

"That must have been horrible. I would have bet a hundred galleons that most of those aurors were on the side of purebloods but were afraid to lose their job," Kendra said. "If only everyone who believed in Pure Blood Supremacy stood up for what was right, it would have been over. Now, Sibiu’s ministry got it right."

"They did," Trimdol agreed. "When did you acquire a position at Hogwarts, Severus?"

"In 1981," Severus answered. "A few months before the war ended."

"You must have gained the trust of the Ministry sometime, then," Kendra said.

"Dumbledore’s trust, actually," Severus nodded. "It was a good position. I could keep an eye on the headmaster, get paid for teaching insufferable brats, and pass information on to the Dark Lord."

"I wish we knew what happened, exactly. Honestly, a baby defeating the Dark Lord! A child who isn’t even going to Hogwarts! What a load of dragon dung!" Kendra said. "Still, I’d teach that child a lesson, anyway. Probably in some hidden country, getting praised for such a horrible act."

"Now, now," Trimdol interrupted. "No need to be so harsh. What would a child remember, anyway? He was how old? A year? Two at most. Children don’t have good memories at that age. Most likely, something happened with the wards, and it had nothing to do with the Potter boy, and even if it did, he can’t be held responsible. If he was raised by proper people, perhaps he’s done well and realizes what he should stand for."

For the first time ever, and probably the last, Severus gave Trimdol a look of appreciation.

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"So . . . I mean, I know muggleborns aren’t good, but do you know why?" Silas asked after a bit of silence between him and Bernard.

"You don’t know? Have you ever met any muggles?"

"Well, yes," Silas answered.

"You have?" Bernard sounded flabbergasted. "Where?"

"I grew up with muggles," Silas said with a small, uncomfortable shrug. "Until Severus came a got me."

"You’re muggleborn?" Bernard asked, contempt in his voice.

"No! I was adopted you see, by a halfblood family. My parents died, then and I was sent to live with muggle relatives. Then my real brother found out he was my brother and came and got me and I’ve been living with him since," Silas answered quickly.

"Oh." Bernard looked confused. Silas realized he never met anyone who knew a real muggle before. He only knew what he heard. "Well, they must have been horrible, right?"

"Yes," Silas said. "They were. They hated me. Hated magic, I suppose, but they never even told me I was a wizard! I was so happy when Severus took me away."

"See, that’s why muggleborns are bad," the fourteen year old said, catching hold of a point that finally helped him. "It’s not just the dirty, impure blood, but how they act. Muggles don’t care for their children like wizards do, nor do they raise them with respect. Then they find out they have magic and they come live in the wizarding world, bringing their horrible behavior with them."

Silas didn’t want to point out that not every muggle was bad, but even if he did – for some reason – he couldn’t think of a time where muggle adults were ever nice to him. Maybe a teacher, back when he was very young and the Dursleys weren’t spreading lies about him, but . . .

Now that he thought about it, Bernard did have a point. Look at Dudley, after all. Extremely spoiled. And if that was considered normal by Petunia and Vernon, it must have been the common thing to do, even if most kids weren’t fat like Dudley – it must have been what everyone did. For once, Silas was glad that he wasn’t given everything.

Then again, it felt wrong. After all, you couldn’t tell a muggleborn from a pureblood wizard child just by how they acted. Mostly, everyone acted the same. Maybe it was different as they got older.

Silas now wished that Bernard would just go away so he could find Severus and ask him about this stuff.

Still, Silas and Bernard continued talking, Bernard mostly asking questions about Hogwarts: what they learned, what his favorite part of the castle was, quidditch . . .

About an hour later, the pure blood visitors finally left, and Silas was downstairs, standing extremely close to Severus and kind of holding his hand; an obvious hint that Silas wanted to talk to his brother.

"Now, Silas, Severus, I really should be picking up William. He’ll be excited to see you, Silas. He hasn’t been able to talk about any else but your visit for the past two days. Would you two like to come?"

"Yes!" Silas answered, his eyes lighting up. Severus was about to answer yes, too, not wanting to leave his younger brother with Trimdol in a strange village, but he felt slightly better about Trimdol since he diverted the talk from Harry Potter earlier. And, Silas had been alone with him dozens of times before . . . really, there was nothing to worry about. Except, really, that he didn’t know the extent of Trimdol’s views against muggleborns. He would have to make sure to talk to Silas later to explain a few things. Not to mention Silas seemed to want to talk about something, and with as much as the boy talked, he might have mentioned a few things to the Bernard child that the Prince might have strongly disputed.

Yes, a talk would be necessary later.

"I would rather rest for a bit, if you don’t mind," Severus said. "I’m sure I’ll see enough of the village and it’s inhabitants during the next week."

"Yes, of course you will," Trimdol answered. "Well, come along, Silas. We’ll be walking – it’s only two streets over."

"Bye Severus!" Silas said and followed he followed Trimdol eagerly out of the house. Severus would have thought that the child forgot about his need to talk, but one glance back at him, their eyes connected, and Severus knew that, although it could wait, Silas had questions. Severus gave a short nod.

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"Severus?" Silas asked as soon as his brother had opened the bedroom door. It was eleven o’clock at night, and Silas should have been in been already.

"What are you doing up?" Severus asked, but let his young brother in the room anyway. As soon as Silas, Trimdol, and William arrived back at the house that evening, Silas spent the rest of the evening playing with the four year old until it was time for bed, so he didn’t have time to discuss the blood concerns.

"I couldn’t sleep," Silas replied, although he looked half asleep as he sat down on the bed.

"What’s the matter?"

"Well, you know all the talking about blood?" Silas asked. "About how muggleborns are bad?"

"Yes?"

"Well, are they?"

Severus didn’t answer for a moment.

"Silas, no, they aren’t. But you have to realize something – most of the wizards I associate with dislike muggles, so I must not appear to having any good regards of them. Understand?"

"I think so," Silas answered. "But why?"

"You’ll learn someday, I’m sure," Severus answered. "It’s complicated . . ."

"Can I stay here for the night?" Silas asked, changing the subject and, thankfully for Severus, accepting the poor explanation.

"I suppose," Severus sighed. "The bed is big enough. You will sleep in your own bed for the rest of the week, understand?"

"Okay," was Silas’s answer as he tucked himself under the covers and rolling over to his side, appearing instantly comfortable.

"And Silas?"

"Yeah?" he asked groggily.

"I do not want to hear the word ‘mudblood’ from your mouth . . . ever, neither as an insult nor a description."

"Okay," Silas answered, and Severus wasn’t entire sure that the boy actually understood what he said. A few minutes later, Silas’ breathing was even and Severus went back to reading.

To be continued...


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