Harry was excited, scared, and sad for the school year to start. Excited because he was going to Hogwarts, scared because he wanted to fit in and because he didn’t want anyone to know he was Harry Potter, and sad because he wouldn’t get to see his home for ten months.

Severus was already at Hogwarts, since he had to be there four days before term started, so Narcissa was bringing both Harry and Draco to the train station later that morning. Harry was all packed. He had been for the past week, which had annoyed Severus. Draco couldn’t decide what he wanted to bring until an hour ago when he finished packing, which annoyed Harry. He had argued with Draco, saying that there was no way he’d be needing all that stuff, but Draco wouldn’t relent.

Half an hour before they had to leave, both Harry and Draco were in the front foyer, sitting on their trunks and waiting for Narcissa. When she came, she gave them both a sad look

"I’m going to miss you two," she said, smiling sadly. "At least you will be at Hogwarts, which is a lot closer than Durmstrang."

"What’s Durmstrang?" Harry asked.

"It’s another wizarding school. Father wanted to send me there," Draco replied, and Harry shrugged. Harry didn’t think he would like Hogwarts as much without Draco, so he was happy that he wasn’t going to that other school. "Well? Let’s go!" Draco said, sounding like the spoiled brat he was, and Harry laughed. He honestly didn’t know if Draco just acted like that, or if he had no idea that he was acting spoiled, but either way, Harry always had fun laughing at him when he went into that mode.

They flooed to the train station, and Harry bounced up to the train, dragging his trunk behind him. Draco wasn’t far behind. Remembering his godmother, he ran back, gave her a quick hug goodbye, then boarded the train. He took a compartment near the entrance. He left his trunk on the seat next to him and waited for Draco.

"You’re so slow!" Harry said when Draco finally entered five minutes later.

"No, you are rushing. It isn’t proper to rush, if you didn’t know," Draco drawled, and Harry laughed again. "Anyway, I need to find Crabbe and Goyle. My father wants me to help them."

"Crabbe and Goyle?" Harry asked. "Why? Your father doesn’t even like their parents!"

"I didn’t ask," Draco answered. "I’ll be back in a little bit, though."

"Okay. I’m going to go look for some other people, then."

"If you see Blaise, tell him he owes me, still."

"Owes you what?" Harry asked, confused.

"Long story. Blaise probably won’t tell you, so I will later."

Harry rolled his eyes and went down the train corridor opposite of Draco to look for someone he met at his party. A lot of kids were still coming onto the train, most of them a lot bigger than Harry, so he avoided them and continued down the train.

"Hey, it’s Snape!" Harry heard from behind him, and he turned around to face the twins he met coming out of Knockturn Alley.

"My last name’s Prince," Harry answered, feeling brave enough to talk back to the two older boys.

"Yes, we know," said one.

"But you’re brother is Snape."

"That makes you a Snape, too."

"Not really," Harry answered flatly, and they laughed. One of them patted his head as the twins walked by.

"Ignore them," said a boy who looked like the twins, only he appeared to be Harry’s age. "They are always like that. I’m Ron."

"Silas. Are you a first year, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. I’m excited! What house do you expect to be in?" Ron asked.

"I’m hoping Ravenclaw. If not that, then Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" Ron asked, almost sneering. "Why Slytherin? That’s where all the dark wizards come from. They’re mean."

"That’s not true," Harry answered, angry that the boy would think that. "Most of the kids I know expect to be in Slytherin, and they’re all nice!"

"That’s what they want you to think," Ron said. "My parents always said Slytherins were a wrong sort of bunch to get involved with."

"Well, that’s not true," Harry said forcefully, and Ron stopped to think a little. "People just think that way, but it’s not true."

"Maybe," Ron relented, but he gave Harry a weird look, before heading off in the opposite direction. Harry shook his head. Severus had told him there were prejudices again Slytherin, but he didn’t think they were that strong. Deciding that he didn’t want to run into any other people like that, Harry went back to his compartment to find Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle there.

"I ran into this Ron kid," Harry said. "He obviously hates Slytherin."

"Ron? Did he have red hair and a lot of freckles?"

"Yeah," Harry answered slowly.

"That must be the Weasley that’s our age. They’re muggle lovers. Can’t trust them," Draco answered.

"What’s wrong with muggles?" Harry asked.

"Muggles ruin the pureblood line, Silas," Draco answered. "Muggleborns, too. They shouldn’t even be allowed at Hogwarts."

"Well, why not? They have magic, too," Harry wondered, confused. He never talked about muggles with Draco before, or with Severus, so he wasn’t aware of this.

"Muggles are bad," Draco answered. "That’s just the way it is."

"Have you even met a muggle, Draco?" Harry asked.

"Of course not," his friend answered. "And I don’t want to."

"They’re not all bad," Harry said, then shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He’d have to make sure to talk about this with Severus later. Did he and Harry’s godparents feel the same way? Harry was raised by muggles, and even though the muggles didn’t like him, it wasn’t bad. The television was one of the things Harry missed from the muggle world.

Harry sat down, avoiding Crabbe and Goyle. The other three in the room started talking about quidditch, and Harry took out his runes book. He would be the youngest in the class by two years, so he wanted to make sure he could prove he belonged there. He didn’t want the older kids to laugh at him because he didn’t know something he should.

The long train ride didn’t seem as long to Harry as the first time did, probably because he was with more people, and they soon were waiting outside the Great Hall to be sorted. No longer bored, Harry was nearly jumping out of his skin he was so excited. Severus wouldn’t tell him how students got sorted, but Harry figured it would have to be some magical way, so he was hoping for some sort of magical show.

Draco knew how they were getting sorted, but he also wouldn’t tell, so Harry glared at him, and listen in to Professor McGonagall talking. He’d already been in the Great Hall, and he mostly knew what the professor was talking about, so he wasn’t very much interested in listening. He just wanted to get sorted and to start eating! Hogwarts food was a lot better than what Severus made at home, and was even better than what the house elves at Draco’s house made, and he was getting hungry.

Finally, Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall and led the first years in. Harry smiled at the reactions of his fellow classmates; he had a similar reaction when he first came here. Finally, the sorting started, and Harry nearly started laughing when he learned that all he had to do was put on a hat.

Harry recognized those that had come to his party, but no one else. McGonagall finally got to the ‘P’s and "Prince, Silas," was called. When Harry heard his name, he froze. He was finally getting sorted! Remembering everyone was waiting for him, he hurried up to the stool before McGonagall called his name again.

"Very strong mind," Harry heard in his head after he put the hat on. "You would do well in any house. But you are afraid of the prejudices against Slytherin. You’ll get over those soon enough, but I believe you’ll do best in RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting Hat yelled the house, and the Ravenclaw table started clapping. Harry smiled up at his brother, who was sitting at the head table. Severus gave him a curt nod, and Harry sat down at his new table.

Harry sat down next to Stephan Cornfoot, who was sorted before him, and they watched the rest of the sorting. Before they could start talking, Dumbledore had stood up and set them to eating.

Glad to be back eating Hogwarts food, Harry dug in after giving a quick wave to Draco and he listened to the conversations around him while he eat. He noticed that Stephan didn’t do much talking, either, and he gave his friend a smile.

Once they finished eating, Dumbledore stood up again.

"Welcome back and welcome first years to another year at Hogwarts! As usual, a few announcements. The Forbidden Forest is, of course, forbidden. Mr. Filch would like me to announce that the list of banned items has grown to include a total of 29 more items, and if you wish to see the list in it’s entirety, it is posted on the door of his office. Also, no magic is to be used in the corridors between classes . . ." Harry listened as Dumbledore talked about quidditch tryouts and a few other rules before the school song was started. Harry and Stephan sang an upbeat tune, and were probably among the few who finished first.

"First year Ravenclaws!" Harry heard from down the table. A girl several years older than them was standing up next to the table. "I’ll be showing you to the common room," she said a little quieter once he was sure he got all the first year’s attention. Harry and Stephan stood up and went to the prefect.

"I’m one of the fifth year prefects, Penelope Clearwater. Welcome to Ravenclaw. There are a few rules we’ll go over once we get into the common room . . ." Harry stopped listening again. He heard all the rules before, and he knew his way around the castle, so there wasn’t anything important to listen to.

The common room was decorated in blue and bronze and had several fireplaces, several sofas and chairs, and a lot of tables. It looked very comfortable, and Harry spotted the perfect corner for reading. It was dark, but a well placed lumos spell would take care of that. That was one of the few spells that Severus taught him this summer, along with a bunch of spells that were compatible with runes.

After introductions, Harry and the rest of the first year boys went to the dorm room. Clearwater talked forever, so Harry was extremely tired – also, he and Draco were up early this morning. Trying to block out the other boys in the room talking about their families.

"My mom brings me to a different restaurant each year for my birthday. This year, she took me to this restaurant in Italy. It was wicked!"

"My family gets cousins and other relatives together for all me and my siblings’ birthdays. The parties are always big. It’s great!"

They continued that way for at least an hour with Harry trying to block them out. He didn’t want to hear how happy everyone’s family was; it just reminded him that he never knew his, besides from Severus. Growing up with the Dursey’s taught him not to wish for something he could never have.

But, he had magic, now, right? He could have those things, if he worked on it.

A spell. That’s what he needed. Listening to everyone in the room and hoping they were asleep, he got up and quietly dug through his trunk. Finding the two books he needed, he snuck down the to common room. Looking around, he saw no place where he could privately do a spell, so that meant he had to sneak out and find one of the abandoned classrooms.

The problem was sneaking out. He didn’t want to get caught, so that meant he would need a spell that would either make him invisible or make it so people didn’t pay attention to him. Only problem there was that he didn’t know any of those, so he opted for sneaking through the portrait very quietly, hoping that no one caught him.

Thankfully, he got down the stairs and through the corridor to the third floor and ran into one of the rooms a few doors down from the charms classroom.

"Lumos," he said pointing his wand at the darkness once he closed the door. Sitting down on the empty but slightly dusky floor, he opened the runes book to the spell casing. Next, he opened the book on spell writing. Carefully, he took the chalk he brought and drew the runes he needed in a circle around him.

Harry wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He knew the premise of the type of spell he was going to try, but he had no idea if it was going to work because the only spells he knew were from Severus. Severus, as much as he knew, wasn’t very fond of rune work, so he couldn’t teach him much about it. He said that was Camstar’s and Ramla’s job, not his.

When the runes were set up, Harry thought about what exactly it was that he wanted. It didn’t take much thinking. He wanted to know what it would have been like to live with his mother, to have known her. To have grown up with her. And Severus. As nice as it was living with Severus now, he missed out on years – his entire life – knowing his family. He wanted to change that.

Harry knew this was a long shot; there was very little chance that it would work, and that it wouldn’t bring his mother back to life, but whatever could happen, it was worth the chance.

With that in mind, he worked on the spell. It was all intention, so he wasn’t worried much about what it would say. When he finished, he read it over. It’s going to have to do, Harry thought. Quietly, he read it out loud and kept thinking about his mother, willing the spell to work.

SssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSss

Harry woke up wrapped tightly in warm blankets. His first thought was that he was happy. His second was that the spell didn’t work.

"Silas," Harry heard a soft voice from across the room. "Time to wake up." Harry was definitely awake now, but the blankets were too tight to move very far. That didn’t matter, because the owner of the voice picked him up and gave him a small hug.

"Mom!" Harry said, surprised.

"Shh, Silas, your father’s home. Remember, you promised to be quiet, right? I don’t want him hurting you."

Harry nodded slowly before realizing that he was being held, which didn’t seem right. He was eleven! Looking at his hands, though, he realized that they were not the hands of an eleven year old. They were much smaller. Realizing that his spell worked, he smiled and gave his mother another hug. He didn’t know how long this was going to last, so he was going to make the most of it.

"Are you hungry, baby?" she asked, and Harry couldn’t help but note the sadness in her voice. Trying to ignore that and cheer her up, he nodded and gave her yet another smile. "I’ll go get you some food. Stay in here and play until I get back, okay?"

"Okay," Harry answered as his mom put in down on a blanket on the floor. She gave him a toy car and left the room. When she left, Harry looked around for a mirror to see what he looked like but found none. Sighing, Harry played in the small red toy car. After what seemed like forever, Harry started getting worried and more hungry, and was tempted to go find out what was going on when the door banged opened, causing him to jump.

"Tobias, please, he’s just child. I need to get him food."

"He’s a magical child, I know it. He’ll end up just like Severus. Grown up doing those evil things!" the man said, and Harry sat there in shock. He assumed it was his father, but he looked nothing like Severus. "And it’s your fault," Tobias said angrily, turning to Eileen. "You raised him with that dark magic you are so fond of."

"You know there is nothing evil about the dark arts, Tobias. It’s only evil if you use it for evil," Eileen said back, just as angry as Tobias.

"Which is exactly what he is doing!"

"You don’t know that. And you don’t know that Silas is magical. And if he is, there are spells that I can perform to make him a muggle. You don’t know what you are talking about right now. You are drunk."

"Do not accuse me, you witch, and get away from the boy," growled Tobias, and Harry stood up as quickly as his small body would allow, sensing the danger. He knew there was a door to a bathroom behind him, but he didn’t know if there was another door inside it. He didn’t like how his father was acting toward him or his mother right now, and he was starting to get scared.

Just as Eileen went to grab Tobias’ hand, someone from behind picked in him. Startled, Harry tried to get away, but the arms held him tight.

"What are you doing here?" snapped Tobias, looking at the person who grabbed Harry. Harry tried to wiggle around to see who it was, but again, the hold was too tight. Too tight to be comfortable.

"I’ve come to pick up Silas. Apparently, you have no wish for him to be around today," sneered Severus, and Harry sighed. It was his brother. He was safe. Feeling better, he relaxed, and so did Severus’ grip enough for him to turn around and give him brother a hug.

"I have no wish for him to ever be around," growled Tobias. "And even less wish for him to be with you."

"I called Severus, Tobias," Eileen said. "He’s going to babysit Silas for awhile."

"I don’t want that sick son of yours taking care of the boy."

"Tobias, you were going to hurt him . . ."

"And when did you contact him?" snapped the father.

"About ten minutes before you came in here," Eileen spat back. "I know how you get when you are drunk, and I do not want Silas around when you are like this."

"I agree," Severus said with anger. "Now, Father, if you don’t want me to hurt you, you will leave so I can everything I am going to need for my brother." Harry choose then to look behind him, away from Severus’ shoulder. Severus was pointing his wand at Tobias. Looking at Severus, Harry could tell that he was angry. Harry choose to go back to hugging his brother; he felt better when he did.

Tobias must have left because Eileen took Harry from Severus arms and have him a hug.

"Someday, he’ll pay," Severus said angrily.

"Severus," Eileen sighed. "You know why he’s like this."

"He would have hurt Silas, Mother," Severus snapped. "You know you would not be able to stop him. You don’t even have your wand with you!"

"You know he doesn’t like magic."

"Then why do you stay with him?" snapped Severus, and Harry looked into his eyes. There was so much hatred there, it cause Harry’s eyes to start watering. He went back to hugging his mother, unable to stop the tears. "Silas," he heard his brother say softly, and Harry shook his head, refusing to look at his brother. "Silas, I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you, you know that. But that man makes me angry."

"Severus, just get his things together," Eileen said, comforting Harry. What Harry wanted now was for the spell to end. This was in no way what he was expecting, nor what he wanted. He wanted something happy, and this was definitely not happy. If Severus’ dangerous look wasn’t enough cause to cry, the situation was. His father wanted to hurt him.

"Silas, baby, you okay?" he heard his mom asked, and Harry didn’t answer. Spell end, spell end, he kept repeating to himself. No luck. "Take care of him, Severus."

"Take care of that man," Severus spat.

"That man is your father," Eileen said harshly.

"Why do you defend him?" The mother didn’t answer. She didn’t know why she defended Tobias. "I thought so. You know how to contact me if you need me. I won’t bring Silas back until you say it’s safe. And it better be safe."

"Okay," Eileen nodded. "You won’t be near the muggle world?"

"Of course not," sneered Severus.

"Baby?" Harry looked at his mother. "You’ll be safe with Severus. Behave now, okay?" Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak. "Bye, baby. Soon you soon." She kissed him on the forehead before handing him to Severus.

"Is he always this silent?" Severus asked.

"Yes," Eileen said. "He’ll talk when he feels safe."

"Which is how often here?"

"Whenever your father isn’t here," she answered, feeling slightly embarrassed as her oldest son glared at her.

"Say goodbye to Mother, Silas," Severus said, and Harry gave her a wave before they disapparated.

Where they apparated to was a place outside a house Harry had never been before, but it seemed familiar. He figured that if this spell really happened, he probably had been here before on similar occasions.

But right now, he didn’t care. He wanted this spell to end. It couldn’t last forever, could it? And in his current body and knowledge, he had no way of getting himself out of this situation. So he needed help, which would be Severus. But would his brother believe him? Harry decided to keep quiet about it for a little bit. Maybe the spell would just . . . stop.

Inside the building, Harry looked around at all the people walking through the corridors with interest. They all seemed to be walking around with intent, kind of like Unc–Vernon’s work. Harry wondered if this was where Severus worked. The spell probably changed stuff like that.

"The kid again, Severus?"

"Yes."

"What . . ."

"Don’t ask," Severus snapped, and the asker glared at Severus, making Harry nervous.

"Fine. But he better not interfere with tonight."

"You know I cannot be involved with tonight, anyway. If I’m caught, it would compromise my position."

"You just don’t like raids," sneered the other man.

"You’re right. I don’t. And the Dark Lord knows it. It doesn’t matter because I have important work to do. There is a reason I’m a higher rank than you." The man glared again, and Harry hugged Severus. Harry could tell they didn’t like each other and he hoped there wasn’t going to be a fight or anything. He was glad when Severus walked up a nearby staircase and into one of the rooms on the floor.

"Are you okay, Silas?" Severus asked, and Harry nodded, despite the fact that he wasn’t. He didn’t know where he was, but he didn’t like it. He wanted to get back to Hogwarts.

"Sev’us?" Harry asked, noting that he had trouble saying the name.

"Yes?"

"Dis is wong," he said.

"What is, Silas?"

"Da spell I cast isn’t stopping."

"What spell?" Severus asked suspiciously. "You’re four. You can’t do spells."

"I’m eyeven!"

SssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSss

"Albus, he’s not waking!" Severus said, angry that Dumbledore wasn’t doing more.

"Severus, Professor Camstar is working on a reversal."

"A reversal? And when were you going to tell me this?"

"As soon as you calmed down," Dumbledore said, smiling. "She figures that he successfully completed the spell, but was not far enough in his education to know that the spell required a time limit. A simple reversal will do."

"Then what is taking so long?" Severus snapped.

"He created a new spell, Severus, a reversal takes time to write."

"He’s eleven. He knows few charms besides lumos!"

"But he’s been studying runes for a couple months now, Severus. You learned much on your own before Hogwarts, did you not?" Dumbledore asked. Severus just glared at the headmaster before stalking out of the room to find Camstar.

SssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSss

"Eleven?" Severus asked glaring at his younger brother as nodded enthusiastically. "How is that possible?"

"I cast a spell!"

"What spell?" Severus asked. Harry could tell that his brother didn’t believe him yet. Telling him the points of the spell should convince him, Harry thought. So Harry told him about the night; why he wanted to do the spell and how he did it. Severus stared at him, calculating, but Harry wasn’t sure whether or not his brother believed him.

"You know me as your brother in this . . . world of yours?" Severus asked flatly, and Harry nodded. "And you are in a room that they will find you in?" Once again, Harry nodded. "Then, if you are telling the truth, they will be able to end the spell for you."

"Sev’us? Do you beyieve me?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Severus answered sadly. "I have to go report your presence to the Dark Lord," he continued, taking a few toys out of a bag for Harry to play with. "Can I trust you to behave yourself?"

"Yes," Harry said, blushing.

"Really? Because you didn’t seem to behave when you were eleven. If I were your brother in this other world, I would yell at you as soon as you got back. Behave," Severus said sternly, then left the room. Not so happy with this Severus anymore, Harry looked sadly at the toys placed on the bed in front of him.

SssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSss

Slowly, Harry woke up, but not as comfortable as last time he woke up. Harry opened his eyes to see white and stone all around him.

"Silas," Harry heard, and he turned his head to face his brother.

"Hi, Severus," Harry answered, then he looked at his hands, making sure he was the age he was supposed to be. "I’m eleven, right? We’re at Hogwarts?"

"Yes," his brother said flatly. "Why did you sneak out of your common room and perform an untested spell with no one around in an abandoned classroom?"

"I . . ." Harry looked around to make sure no one was around. "I wanted to know what it would have been like to grow up with mom," he whispered.

"What?" the potions master asked, bewildered.

"Everyone in my dorm was talking about how great it was growing up with their families. I just wanted to know what it would have been like." Severus closed his eyes, appearing to stifle his anger.

"Silas, that was a very stupid thing to do. Was it worth it?"

"No," Harry answered. "He . . . he wanted to hurt me."

"I’m supposing you are talking about Father?" Harry nodded. Severus didn’t answer for awhile.

"I am placing a restriction on your magic," Severus said quietly. "Until I’m sure you know the consequences of doing something like this."

"What?"

"You will be able to do magic in the presence of a professor only. I believed you learned your lesson, but I want make sure. It seems I’ve allowed you too much freedom in learning magic."

"That’s not fair!" Harry said, sitting up.

"I’ve let you learn enough magic on your own. I should have expected you to try something. I did worse at your age. Which is why I’m restricting you. I don’t want to you learn from the type of mistakes I made," Severus said gently, but straightened up as soon as he heard the infirmary door open.

"Did it work, Severus?" Pomfrey asked.

"Yes," he snapped. "He’s fine, and I don’t wish to stay here any longer." Severus indicated that Silas should get up.

"I need to check Mr. Prince over," the mediwitch huffed.

"I told he is fine. I need to go over the details of his punishment before classes start so he doesn’t miss his first day, and he has yet to get into his school robes." Pomfrey thought for a second, then nodded, obviously angry at the intrusion. As it was, Harry would rather stay in the hospital wing than face his brother’s anger.

Severus led him to the Ravenclaw tower and Harry flinched when his brother cast a charm on him.

"Go get dressed. Your classmates should be getting up about now."

"Wait!" Harry said as Severus turned to leave. "How did you know where I was if no one is awake yet?"

"There are wards around the castle that notify professors of situations like these. Now go. And behave." That brought back the memory of the other Severus, causing Harry to laugh. "Is that such a funny concept?"

"No!" Harry defended. "It’s just, that’s exactly how you said it . . . or the other you, anyway." Severus gave him a look, and Harry looked away. He knew he’d eventually mess up with Severus. Entering the common room, Harry headed up to get dressed.

Down in the Entrance Hall, Draco was waiting for him.

"I’ve been waiting forever," Draco said, nodding to Stephan. "Come sit with me."

"Is that allowed?" asked Stephan, and Draco shrugged.

"It wouldn’t make that much of a difference, even if it wasn’t. Silas is Uncle Severus’ brother."

"True," smiled Stephan.

"Severus isn’t that happy with me right now," Harry said. "So I don’t think I should chance anything."

"What did you do? Did you even see him yesterday?"

"This doesn’t have anything to do with you sneaking out last night, does it?" Stephan asked, and Harry glared at him.

"You what? Why would you do that?" Draco asked.

"I’ll tell you guys when we sit down," he answered, dragging his two friends into the Great Hall, avoiding looking at the head table. All three of them sat down at the end of the Slytherin table farthest away from the head table and Harry told them about last night.

"I’m sorry, Silas," Stephan said, and Harry gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were talking last night . . ." he trailed off.

"That doesn’t matter. It’s just . . . he’s really mad at me right now." Harry noticed Draco look at the head table.

"He’s not angry at you, Silas. Trust me, he got really mad at me once when I was younger and I was staying with him. I couldn’t sit for days."

"He spanked you?" Stephan laughed, and Harry had to smile at how red Draco got.

"I did not just say that."

"Yes, you did," Harry said, unable to stop laughing.

"Great," the Slytherin mumbled. "But look, he’s not angry, Silas. If he was, you’d know it. He has trouble holding back his temper when he gets really angry. You just haven’t known him long enough."

"I guess," Harry said, in a somber mood once again, deciding he wasn’t hungry. Once Flitwick came around with the timetables, Harry excused himself, got his stuff from the Ravenclaw tower, and went to his first class.

Classes that day went fine. Harry was glad that he didn’t have potions, though, because he didn’t think he could handle being in class with his brother today. He knew what Severus meant, kind of, about having too much freedom with magic, but he felt he disappointed him. That was why Harry was surprised when he ran into Severus after dinner.

"Stay in my rooms tonight," he said, and Harry followed him to the dungeons. "Silas . . ." Severus started when they got to the sitting room in his rooms, and Harry looked expectantly at him. "Never mind," he ended up saying. "Do you have homework?"

"Some reading, but I did them when I got the books, so that’s done."

"Good. A game of chess?"

"Sure," Harry said, brightening up.

SssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSssSss

Severus watched Silas as the boy contemplated where to move next. He wasn’t excellent at chess, but he’d get better with more practice.

He knew Silas thought he was angry at him, and to a point, he was. He was more scared than anything, though. Silas was brought up with less support than he was. Severus cared about his mother, but she was very lax when it came to raising children. It was why Severus knew so much about the Dark Arts; Eileen didn’t care what he learned. She always felt that knowledge about the darker side of magic was good, but she didn’t even think that Severus would join the side of the dark. Severus didn’t want Silas to make those mistakes.

As much as he wanted to tell Silas this, he couldn’t. It would bring up too many questions. And most of the questions, he didn’t want to answer to his younger brother. He didn’t want Silas to know most of his dark past.