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: 124547 Published: 09 Jul 2006 Updated: 26 Apr 2008
The School by breannatala

"Silas, we need to be going," Severus said. "We are going to be at the school for seven days. You do not need more than what you will use during that time."

"But how will I know what I am going to use? I’ve never been there!" Harry asked, and Severus sighed. Although he was glad that his brother wasn’t as soft spoken as he was three weeks ago, from the obvious mistreatment of the muggles, sometimes he was irritating. All ten-year-old children were, though. That boy was no exception.

"It is a school," Severus answered. "There is a great deal for someone your age to do, even with no other students around." There was a Hogwarts staff meeting, and Severus was using the few days around it to work on lessons and potions for the upcoming school year. He would have normally had it done by now, but having a child to look after, despite the fact that he could watch over himself to some extent, took up a lot of time. "Take the time to get acclimated to the castle."

"Okay," Harry said, looking into the small trunk of stuff he packed. "I think I’m ready." He closed the trunk and Severus shrunk it and put it in his pocket. Severus wasn’t one who liked to carry or levitate heavy luggage around. "How are we getting there?"

"It is tradition to go by the Hogwarts Express, which is why we need to leave now; the next train does not leave for another week."

"Oh! Sorry, Severus," Harry answered. "So, the Hogwarts Express is a train, right?"

"Yes," Severus said flatly. Harry debated whether or not to stop asking questions, because at the Dursley’s, he’d always get in trouble, but Severus has never punished him for asking questions; he would just tell him to stop. It took a little bit for Harry to get used to it, but Severus wasn’t as scary as he was when he first brought him home. Actually, Harry had a feeling that wasn’t as mean as he portrayed to other people, but he wasn’t sure. He was rarely mean to Harry, though, so even if he did hate other people as much as he seemed, Harry didn’t care.

Once the two got to the train station, though, Harry freaked. He was going to see Hogwarts! He wasn’t going to have to wait until September first! Thinking about September first, Harry thought about his Hogwarts letter.

"When am I going to get my Hogwarts acceptance letter?" Harry decided to ask, and Severus gave him a glare. It was then he realized that they were still in the muggle area of King’s Cross – not one person around here was wearing a robe. He decided to wait until they were on the train before he asked again. Severus said that the train was a magical train, but it was pretty much a plain steam engine that was charmed.

With everything that had been going on lately, like reading his school books and being with Draco, he never did get a chance to fully read Hogwarts: A History, so pretty much everything he knew about Hogwarts was from the questions Severus answered. He didn’t answer all of them, though, because most of the questions were in the book. The history book wasn’t in a very interesting format, though, so he usually avoided the book.

Eventually, they came to an area between platform nine and ten, and Harry wondered how they were going to get onto nine and three quarters. It was then that Severus pulled Harry quickly through the barrier between, startling Harry. Severus let go of his hand, and Harry stopped walking to look behind him. Shaking his head, he ran to catch up with his brother.

There weren’t many people on the train, and Severus didn’t stop to talk to any of them. After they got on the train, Severus opened the door to a compartment near the back of the train, and told Harry to stay there while he went to find someone.

With nothing to do, Harry just sat down and looked out the window. This was his first time on a train, but, although he was excited to be going to Hogwarts, he didn’t want to just sit there doing nothing. Harry was never good at sitting around doing nothing.

As it turned out, though, he wasn’t doing nothing for long. An old lady, dressed in robes and a witches’ hat, came into the compartment without knocking.

"Harry Potter?" she asked.

"Silas Prince," Harry corrected, and the old lady shook her head.

"Of course. Severus said you were here. I am Professor McGonagall," she replied. "I will be your transfiguration professor."

"Really?" Harry asked. "Transfiguration seems hard. I’ve been reading some books on the topic, but it seems more complicated than potions. With potions, there are certain things and ways to mix things, but in transfiguration, you have to remember things differently."

"So you do," McGonagall asked. "I have no doubt that you will do just fine in the class. Severus told me that you are a very smart boy . . ."

"He said that?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Of course. He said that when you weren’t flying with Mr. Malfoy, you were reading. I am sure you will do well in all your classes."

"Thank you!" Harry said. No one ever said anything like that, although with Severus, it was mostly known that he felt that way, since he was always saying he better do well in school. If felt good for someone to say it out loud, though. It made it more concrete. Professor McGonagall then looked at him oddly.

"Do you not have anything to do? You are the only one your age on the train, and it is a very long ride," she said, sounding concerned.

"Er . . . no," Harry said. "Severus has all my things shrunk."

"Well, I’ll find him for you. He must have not thought of that when he left you here," the old teacher said, and Harry shrugged. He knew Severus well enough that he didn’t think anything of it. McGonagall left, and Harry was about to look out the window again when someone else, nearly running and carrying a small boy, entered the compartment. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise. He never thought that he’d see the boy ever again!

"Har – well, Silas Prince, I suppose. I am told that it was you who found my son in the woods," the man said excitedly. "I can’t believe that woman would just abandon a child like that – I thought better of her. If I ever see her again . . . well, that is beside the point, now isn’t it? I suppose I should introduce myself, and my son. I am Matthias Trimdol, and my son is William. I would say to call me Matt, but as I am going to be your defense professor, call me Professor Trimdol."

"Hello, Professor," Harry said slowly, surprised at the man’s energy, then turned to William. "Can I play with him for a little while? I don’t really have anything else to do."

"Of course! But speak only English with him. He’s gotten to know some words, but it is still going to take some time. I will be back in a little bit. I really must go and find the Deputy Headmistress. I passed her by rather quickly on my way in here. Have fun now," the professor said, handing Harry the small boy. William looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello," the boy hissed.

"Hello," Harry answered. "Your dad wants us to speak English. Do you like it with him?"

"Yes," William answered. Harry looked around the compartment for something to play with the boy, but there was nothing in there, as he knew before. So, with nothing else to do, Harry started talking to the boy in English, telling him what it was like to live with Severus. William probably didn’t understand most of it, if any, but at least he would get used to listening to English.

About ten minutes without interruptions in the compartment, Severus came in, and stopped in the doorway.

"How did he get here?" Harry’s brother asked.

"His father is the defense professor! Didn’t you know?" Harry asked, surprised that Severus didn’t know the other teachers that he worked with.

"As there is a new defense professor every year, no, I did not," Severus answered, looking at the two boys in front of him. Holding the little boy didn’t make Harry look any bigger. In fact, with how difficult it appeared to be to hold the boy, it made Harry look even younger than he already looked. "I assume he now has a name?"

"William. Isn’t this great?! I thought that I’d never see him again!" Harry gave the boy in his arms a small hug, then looked back at Severus.

"Would you like for trunk unshrunk for now?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, earning a glare from his brother. "Yes, please," he corrected himself. Severus didn’t correct him every time . . . of course, he was usually careful to speak correctly around Severus. Not that Harry understood why his brother wanted him to speak so . . . carefully. No one else ever did. Okay, Draco did, but that was different. The Malfoys only made Draco speak correctly when with company.

As Severus unshrunk the trunk, the new professor reentered the compartment.

"How are you and William doing, Silas? Oh," he said, noticing Severus. Harry was sure he noticed before, though. How could you not? He was standing nearing right in front of the doorway. "Hello, there. I’m Matthias Trimdol. And you are?"

"Severus Snape, potions master and professor at Hogwarts," Severus replied, and Harry wanted to laugh. He could tell that his brother was annoyed by the amount of energy the new professor had. Harry stood up, and Trimdol took William from him.

"Oh! You’re the only professor I’ve had yet to meet! On the train, anyway. I’m the new defense professor . . ." Trimdol held out his hand, but Severus didn’t take it.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Severus greeted flatly. "If you are competent enough, hopefully you will stay for more than a year," he sneered. "There hasn’t been a decent DADA professor since . . . six years, if I remember correctly. Her departure from Hogwarts was rather . . . unconventional."

"Oh, I plan on staying for while," Trimdol said, appearing to not notice the tone in Severus’ voice. "It will be just wonderful, raising William at Hogwarts. This will be my first time there, of course, but I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the castle. I was mostly home schooled by my mother, so I don’t know much about private schools, but, of course, no matter! I’m here, now!"

"Wonderful," Severus said sarcastically.

"Yes, I quite agree. Well, I must be going. William here is probably getting tired, and I’m sure you two have much you want to do before arriving, so I’ll be on my way. You are welcome to visit William anytime, Silas, okay?" Harry nodded, excited that he’d get to see the boy whenever he wanted.

"Good bye," Harry replied. "And thank you," he added politely. Severus was here, so he wanted to make his brother proud at how polite he could be, especially to someone that Severus found annoying.

"Oh, such a polite child!" Trimdol said, and Harry glared off into space. He was not a child. "Good bye, Silas, Severus."

When the man was finally gone, Severus shut and locked the compartment before sitting down.

"He probably won’t last the entire three terms," Severus predicted. "The last defense teacher who had the same attitude barely made it through two terms."

"I hope he says," Harry said. "I don’t want William to go away," Harry nearly whined.

"Yes, perhaps the one good matter of him coming," Severus said, and Harry felt it was needed to defend the newest professor.

"He was really nice!"

"He had too much energy for someone his age," Severus replied offhandedly, as if it didn’t matter. "It’s not healthy."

"So says you," Harry said, wanting to stick out his tongue, but decided against it. "You never seem to have energy."

"I simply exert my energy in other, more productive ways, Silas, as you were learn to do, eventually."

This time, Harry did stick out his tongue at Severus, earning himself a glare from the man. Harry shrugged. It had to be done, despite what Severus thought. Some things are just necessary.

"Professor McGonagall seems nice," Harry said, changing topics. "Are the other professors on the train?"

"Those that did not come last week, which is most," Severus replied. "I suppose you would like to meet them?"

"Yeah! I’m mean, yes! What else would I do?" Harry said.

"You have plenty to do in that trunk of yours. I believe that is why I unshrunk it," Severus said.

"Well, I don’t want to sit reading the entire trip. I’ll probably be doing enough of that at Hogwarts. I want to check out the library. Who’s the librarian? Is she nice? Is she on the train?"

"Silas!" Severus sighed. "Calm down, child. The librarian is quite strict with her books, so you’ll have to be careful with them. I believe she is already at Hogwarts. She lives near, so she visits on a regular basis.

"Oh," Harry replied, and then stayed quiet for a grand total of eight seconds. "Can I go visit the other professors? Will you come with me? I don’t think I want to go alone. Does everyone live in the same area of the castle, or is all spread out? Because I don’t want to get lost when I go visit Will – hey! What are you doing?"

Near the end of Harry’s ramble, Severus had picked his brother up under the arms and stood him on the seat, so he could straighten the boy’s robes without having to bend down. The boy was no good at keeping his robes straight when he was sitting still, no matter when he was excited as he was now.

"Come along," Severus said, taking Harry by the hand to help him down. "We will go meet your professors. They have been asking to meet you. Of course, they have been asking for ‘Harry Potter’."

"Arg," Harry complained. "I’m glad that my name is Silas Prince now, not Harry Potter. Why do the teachers know my name, though?"

"All the professors know of your situation," Severus answered vaguely, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"No one else knows, right?"

"You are correct. The headmaster has kindly been able to keep it out of the papers for us. Which reminds me, he wishes to speak with you when we settle in."

"About what?" Harry asked, suspiciously.

"I do not know, but you have nothing to worry about. I have long concluded that he has no ill wish toward our . . . relationship. He has promised me that he will not try and persuade you to do something you wish not to do."

"Okay . . ." Harry answered regrettably.

"Silas, although the headmaster often has a . . . second agenda, he does not go against his promises," Severus reassured Harry.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Silas, I am sure."

"Okay," Harry answered, feeling a little better about talking to the old man. It would have to go better than last time they talked together, right? And he hired Trimdol, William’s father, so he couldn’t be too bad.

Severus led Harry to the other side of the car and entered one of the compartments. There were three people in it, one of them McGonagall, and they all looked up when Severus and Harry entered, and Harry looked down at his shoes, embarrassed. He hated attention.

"Silas, this is Professor Sprout, professor of herbology, and Professor Kettleburn, professor of Care of Magical Creatures. I believe you have already met Professor McGonagall," Severus introduced the members in the compartment and Harry nodded.

"Hi," Harry said quietly. "I’m Silas Prince."

"Hello, Silas," Professor Sprout said. "Excited to start Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Harry answered. "I didn’t get my letter yet, though."

"Oh, you should be getting it soon," said Kettleburn. "You’re birthday is coming in a little less than two weeks, correct? Yes, very soon," he said, giving a little smile at McGonagall. Harry’s eyes widened.

"How did you know my birthday?" he asked, a little wary.

"Most people know your birthday, Silas. In fact, I think they mention it in the Daily Prophet in the ‘important dates’ section," Kettleburn answered, and Harry face grew very confused.

"But . . . never mind," Harry replied, dropping it. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he was famous in the wizarding world. It was entirely different than he was used to.

Harry was about to ask questions about the professors’ classes (he didn’t know there was a care of magical creatures class, and he wanted to know if he would be able to take it. He always liked animals), when a few more people piled into the compartment. They started introducing themselves to Harry, and after a few more minutes of being in the small compartment with too many people, Harry’s breathing started to become heavy, becoming nervous with the closeness of all the people. Everything was too closed in. Nervous, he grabbed onto Severus’ robes and resisted the urge to bury his face in them.

He was usually used to small spaces. After all, his cupboard was very small, and he didn’t have a problem with that. It was actually, usually, very comforting, especially since Vernon was too big to get in.

Severus must have noticed Harry’s discomfort, because soon, the only people in the compartment were the three professors from before.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked, almost coldly, and Harry nodded. "What happened?"

"I . . . got nervous," Harry replied truthfully.

"It seemed as if you were having trouble breathing," Severus said, understanding dawning in his voice.

"There were too many people," Harry said, and Severus nodded. Harry looked up and saw that the other three professors was watching them closely, causing Harry to blush and look down at the floor.

"I believe Silas needs to rest for awhile. He will talk with you at a later time," Severus told the three, loud enough for those hanging around outside the compartment to hear. Severus gently lead Harry out of the compartment and into their own, making sure the door was closed and locked.

"Do you need a calming potion?"

Harry shook his head.

"I’m fine now. There were just too many people, and not enough room to move," Harry explained.

"I see. Has this ever happened before?"

"No," he replied, hoping that Severus would just drop it. E didn’t want to talk about it.

Thankfully, the man did, probably because he didn’t have any more questions to ask. He didn’t know Severus for stopping questions if he had them to ask.

"Perhaps you should read or take a nap," Severus suggested, and Harry agreed by lying down. He was rather tired. Probably because he didn’t sleep well last night.

The rest of the trip to Hogwarts was rather uneventful. Harry gasped loudly when he saw the castle from the carriage, though. It was huge and beautiful!

Following Severus to where ever room they were going to be in (it appeared to be in the dungeons, as they kept going down the stairs), Harry looked around to take everything in. There was so much detail and Harry didn’t want to leave. He briefly wondered if Draco had seen the castle before, but decided not. The boy wouldn’t stop bragging about it if he did.

Severus’ rooms were really nice. Unlike their house, it was decorated in green and silver (Slytherin colors, of course), and was rather spacious for one person. Of course, it was two now, but there was still more than enough room even then. Harry’s room looked similar to his one at the house, but it was, once again, in Slytherin colors.

"If I’m not in Slytherin, can I change the colors of my room to the house I’m in?" Harry asked, and Severus nodded.

"It is quite possible that you will be in Slytherin," Severus replied, thinking about the incident a few days ago where Harry was able to trick him into eating something . . . he still wasn’t entirely sure what it was. "But yes, you may have the colors changed. I don’t believe changing them yourself would be within your abilities, so you may call a house elf to do so."

"Okay," Harry said, inwardly rolling his eyes at the grammar check. "Can I go look around the castle?"

"After your talk with the headmaster, I will give you a quick tour, then you may look around the castle."

"Okay," Harry said, suddenly dreading the visit with the old man. "When is that?"

"Immediately," Severus said, and Harry sighed. Better sooner than later.

Harry liked the gargoyle outside the headmaster’s office. He couldn’t help but think of putting one of those as the door to Vernon and Petunia’s house. They would have freaked!

"I will be back here in an hour," Severus said, after giving the password to the office. "Behave, and if he makes you uncomfortable, tell him. He told me he does not wish for you to be uncomfortable around him, but don’t feel forced to tell him anything you don’t want him to know."

"Okay," Harry replied, putting his hands in the pockets of his robes. His hand touched a soft bag, and Harry figured his runes. He didn’t remember putting them in his pocket, but for some reason, them being there calmed him a bit. Severus left, and Harry took the odd, wizard escalator up.

"Silias! I wasn’t expecting you here so soon. Take a seat, take a seat! Would you like a lemon drop?"

"No, thank you," Harry replied. The man was just so cheerful, and Harry had yet to decide if it was genuine or not. He reminded himself to ask Severus about it later.

"Are you sure? Oh, well. How have you been Silas?"

"Good," Harry said honestly.

"Very good. Now, what I was wondering when I asked you up here is whether you would like to join the Ancient Runes class your first year. Your mother, as well as your grandmother, if I remember correctly, did their first year."

"Did Severus?" Harry asked, curious.

"No, I’m afraid not. He wasn’t very interested at that point.

"Why me?"

"It is custom, for about a hundred years now, that when a child is especially gifted in an area of practice, and that practice isn’t usually taught until later years, to allow the child to join the class. Just as if someone was very good with magical creatures, or had a natural talent for divination (although that is a relatively new class), they would be asked to join, also. There are usually two or three children per year who are allowed to do this."

"I’d like that," Harry answered after thinking about it. "It’s kind of hard learning them on my own, and, although Severus helps some . . ." Harry trailed off.

"Yes, yes, of course. Well, then, I have your Hogwarts letter here. Would you like it now, or would you like it in the owl post tomorrow?"

"Now, please!" Harry said, nearly bouncing in his chair, and Dumbledore handed over a letter that was sitting on the desk. Harry didn’t open it yet. He wanted to be alone when he read it.

"How do you like the defense professor, Silas?" Dumbledore asked, and for the next 50 minutes, they engaged in rather pleasant conversation. By the time Severus showed up, Harry was feeling a lot better about Dumbledore; he didn’t make him uncomfortable once, which was saying something.

"Where are we going first?" Harry asked, doing his best not to jump around. It wasn’t working very well, and Severus was getting quite annoyed.

"Could you please walk normal?" Severus asked flatly, which worked, for the time being. We are starting in the Great Hall."

Harry vowed that this week, he’d explore the castle so much that he would never get lost. It was huge, and the moving staircases didn’t help much, but the entire castle was great. He was glad that he was coming here in September, because he didn’t want to leave.

Before Harry was allowed to explore, Severus gave him a tracking pendent (because there were so few people in the castle, it would be extremely hard to find him, even with the portraits all around), and told him to be in the Great Hall in two hours (12:30).

Since their rooms were in the dungeons, Harry decided that was a great place to start. Taking a chance with getting lost, he headed left, since right would take him out of the dungeons. If he did get lost and wasn’t able to make it to lunch in time, Severus would be able to find him, so he wasn’t worried.

Harry was nearly to the end of the corridor when someone called him.

"Boy! Boy!" Harry looked around until he saw who it was; one of the portraits. Harry thought it weird that they were all silent until now. "Who are you, and what are you doing at Hogwarts during the summer?" the portrait asked. The man was dressed in old brown robes, and there was a horse pulling a rundown cart. The man looked like a peasant of some sort. "Are you the son of Severus Snape? I wasn’t aware he had any family alive."

"Severus is my brother," Harry answered. He hadn’t thought before about the fact that Severus was probably old enough to be his father . . . that was kind of weird. "I’m Silas Prince. I’m exploring right now."

"Brother? That is unexpected. Well, move along, and have fun," the portrait said, and Harry thought it sounded confused. Shrugging, Harry made his way along the corridor and turned left at the corridor ahead, only to run right into a ghost. Well, right through a ghost. A scary looking ghost.

This was the first ghost Harry had ever seen, and Harry couldn’t help backing up slowly, eyes wide.

"You must be Silias. I was coming to look for you," the ghost said, voice sounding almost raspy. "You may call me the Bloody Baron, as everyone else does. I hope you are not causing trouble?" Harry shook his head slowly. His eyes were still wide, but he had stop retreating. He remembered Severus saying something briefly about the ghosts, and that they would never hurt a student.

"How did you know my name?" Harry gathered his courage to ask.

"News travels quickly," the ghost said. "It is likely that most portraits and ghosts know of you by this time."

"Oh," Harry answered, not as scared as he was before. They ghost did seem scary . . . and threatening in a strict sort of way, but not dangerous.

"Do you expect to be in Slytherin? If I remember correctly, the Prince family, and those related, were almost all in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. A good mix, those."

"I . . . I don’t know," Harry replied. "Severus thinks one of those two."

"I see," the Bloody Baron said, like Harry said something utterly obvious. "Why don’t you go finish your exploring." Harry nodded and starting walking fast down the corridor, not wanting to spend much time with the ghost.

Although the tracking charm that Harry had also had the time, he miss judged the time, and was late getting to the Great Hall. He finally did make it, though (20 minutes late), and sat down, not looking up at Severus, or at anyone in the Great Hall. He had a feeling that his brother was angry, and although he never made Severus truly angry, he had seen what happened when he was. One time, Severus messed up a difficult, long-brewing potion (week long) twice in a row, and the man destroyed a bunch of stuff, then left the house, not coming back until nightfall.

It’s not like he was afraid Severus would hurt him; Severus told him a bunch of times that he would never do so, no matter how mad he got, but Severus could always send him away. Back to the Dursley’s, or to an orphanage. Harry never brought up the subject because he was afraid of what Severus would say.

"Where have you been?" Severus asked, flatly, though Harry didn’t quite understand why. After all, he was wearing the tracking necklace.

"I . . . got lost," Harry replied, still looking down. "I thought it wouldn’t take long to get back, but then I couldn’t find my way here." Severus didn’t say anything, so Harry looked up.

"Are you going to eat? Or must I force you?" Harry blushed, and started putting food on his plate. It smelled really good, but he wasn’t very hungry. He hated eating when he wasn’t hungry, but he ate as much as he could without throwing up.

Harry was the last to finish eating, and he and Severus were the last in the Great Hall. When Harry pushed his plate away, Severus stood up.

"Silas, I wish to talk to you about something. Let us go to our rooms," Severus said, and Harry got a terrible feeling in his stomach. He was in trouble, he just knew it. When they got to the rooms in the dungeons, Harry hovered near the door, wondering what Severus was going to do.

"Sit," Severus said, and Harry sat down in one of the dark green chairs. "What is the matter?" he asked.

"What?" Harry asked, giving his brother a confused look.

"Did something happen while you were looking around the castle? You have been avoiding looking at me since you entered the Great Hall. I only can think that you did something you weren’t supposed to, or something is wrong."

"I . . ." Harry started, not knowing how to say this. Would his brother understand? "I thought you were really mad at me for being late . . ." he decided to continue softly.

"Mad for being late . . . perhaps I would have been if you did not get lost, but it is very easy to get lost here, especially on your first day."

"So . . . you aren’t mad at me?" Harry asked tentatively.

"No, I am not. Were you afraid I was going to hurt you?" Severus asked, and Harry looked at him, wide-eyed.

"No! I mean, I know you won’t ever hit me, anyway. But . . . I thought . . . I guess I figured that . . . if I was bad, you would send me away. The Dursleys always . . ."

"I told you not to bring those damn muggles up," Severus said, irritated. "I will not be sending you away. Nor will I hit you or punish you for no reason nor excessively. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, brushing away the tears in his eyes that were threatening to fall. He wanted to believe his brother so much, and he decided that there was no reason not to.

"Thank you," Harry said quietly. He wanted to say he was sorry, but he knew that his brother didn’t like him to apologize when he didn’t do anything wrong.

"Your welcome," Severus sighed, giving his younger brother’s shoulders a small squeeze to reassure him. "Perhaps you would like to stay here for awhile? Have you ever played chess?"

"No . . ." Harry answered. "Is it hard?"

"It can be. It takes strategy and concentration. And a good eye."

"Will you teach me?" Harry asked, putting his hands in his pocket, only to brush up against some parchment. Pulling out the letter, Harry’s face spread out into a grin. "I forgot about this!" Harry said.

"You Hogwarts letter? Did the headmaster give it to you?" Severus asked, and Harry nodded, opening it. He read it through two times, then turned to Severus.

"When can we go shopping for this stuff?"

"After this week," he answered. "Perhaps after your birthday."

"Okay," Harry answered, a little disappointed, but brightened up again when Severus took out the chess board. Harry loved learning new games.

To be continued...


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