When Harry woke up the next day, his first thought was that it was rather late. Glancing at the clock as he got out of bed, Harry realized it was after ten in the morning. Slowly, memory caught up with him and he groaned as he remembered what he had done the night before. In meaning to keep himself awake, he had drifted asleep with his head on the kitchen table. When he had a nightmare about the third task he woke up screaming and consequently toppled out of the chair and onto the ground. He had panicked for some reason and thought he was at the Dursley's, so he crawled into the pantry to hide from his uncle and knocked something off a shelf in the process. He remembered telling Severus he wanted his dad, and Severus hugging him, and Severus tucking him in as well.

After getting dressed, Harry slowly made his way towards the kitchen where he found Severus doing some sort of paperwork. Seeing Harry enter the kitchen, Severus began to put his things away before getting up from the table just as Harry sat down.

"I see you're awake," stated Severus. "I'll make you a small breakfast since it will be time for lunch soon."

Harry just nodded, not knowing what to say or how to act around his brother after the events of last night. Severus kept his back to Harry as he moved between the refrigerator and stove, just as unsure of how to act as his brother was.

"We're going to Hogwarts today," said Severus suddenly.

Harry's head snapped up, "Why?"

"I need to use magic and Hogwarts is a safe place for me to do so because it won't be anything out of the ordinary, and if someone does trace me, no one will try to break into the castle."

"But, what sort of magic do you need to do?"

"You experienced a very traumatic event, child," Severus spoke softly. "The best way to get over it is for you to relive the experience and realize that there was nothing you could have done. At Hogwarts we'll remove the memory from your head and together we'll enter a pensieve so you can relive the experience." Severus paused for just amount lost in thought, "You do know what a pensieve is, don't you?"

"Of course, I know what a pensieve is," said Harry rolling his eyes. Not mentioning that was a relatively recent discovery.

Severus through a piece of toast at him which hit him on the side of the head.

It was quiet for a moment, as Harry, the implications of Severus's plans hitting him like a ton of rocks, began slowly shaking his head back and forth, "No...please...I can't, Severus, please, I can't."

Severus turned sharply to look at his brother, and although not yelling, his tone left no room for argument. "Would you rather spend the rest of your life trying to avoid going to sleep, or having flashbacks when ever somebody mentions the Tri-Wizard Tournament? It will not be a pleasant experience, boy, but it is one that you need. I can stand here and tell you it's not your fault that Diggory died until I'm blue, and you may never believe it. Once you can see everything from another perspective, you'll realize that it isn't your fault." Severus turned back around and continued to make Harry a small breakfast.

Harry slumped back in his chair, suddenly losing his appetite.

..............................................................

Once Harry had finished eating, he put his plate in the sink and went to his room to get his books so he could study.

"Where are you going?" asked Severus, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at his younger brother.

Harry paused for a moment, before answering, appreciating the fact that this gesture once would have intimidated him, but no longer bothered him in the least. "To get my things so I can study," Harry replied as though talking to a toddler.

Severus glared a bit, but said nothing regarding Harry's tone. "You don't need to study today; we need to go to Hogwarts. Get your invisibility cloak."

"Dad said..."

"As you pointed out last night, ‘what dad doesn't know won't hurt us.' Now get your invisibility cloak."

"Why do I need my cloak?" Harry asked, confused.

Severus sighed, growing impatient. "We're in hiding, boy, and in order to get up to Hogwarts I have to apparate us outside the gates. We will be vulnerable until we are within the castle, and the cloak is an added precaution. Now, get your cloak!"

Harry didn't need to be told again.

..........................................................

Once they arrived at Hogwarts, Severus had taken Harry directly to his personal chambers. Severus then had Harry sit down on the couch while he retrieved his pensieve. After removing and bottling his own memories from the stone basin Severus placed his wand to Harry's temple instructing him to think about the night of the Third Task. Once the memory was in the pensieve Severus sat next to Harry on the couch.

"Do you understand why you have to do this, Harry?"

"I think so," mumbled Harry unable to take his eyes off the swirling silvery liquid.

"Tell me why you believe you have to do this," requested Severus in a soothing voice.

"If I see it again from another point of view, it's supposed to make me realize that..." Harry trailed off, unable to complete his sentence.

"Realize, what?" prompted Severus.

Harry took a deep breath, and softly said, "That it's not my fault."

"Very good. Are you ready?" asked Severus taking Harry's hand in his own.

"Not really," said Harry. Severus chuckled a bit giving Harry's hand a firm squeeze.

"Don't worry; I'll be with you the entire time."

Harry nodded, feeling his palms sweating and heart rate increase.

Severus leaned forward and together the brothers fell into Harry's memory.

Inside the pensive, Severus found Harry still clutching his hand tightly. Severus knew where they were, but also knew it was important for Harry to see everything. "Harry, tell me where we are. What do you see?" he asked just as the pensieve Harry came tearing out of the maze with Cedric close behind.

"I had just helped Cedric..." Harry's voice was trembling.

"You saved his life, correct?" Severus pointed out calmly.

Harry shrugged. "I guess, not that it did any good."

Severus and Harry listened to the exchanged between the pensive Harry and Cedric before they took the cup, which turned out to be a port-key.

"I shouldn't have made him take the cup," whispered Harry.

"You didn't make him do anything, Harry." With a wave of his wand and a murmured incantation the memory paused with Harry and Cedric's hands on the cup. Severus, without releasing his brother's hand turned to face Harry. "What exactly did you see, Harry, just now?"

"I...I told Cedric to take the cup...so that we would both win the competition." Harry's voice was trembling slightly, his hand was clutching his brother's so tightly he was surprised that it wasn't cutting off his circulation.

"Did you force him, in anyway, to take the cup with you? Did you put him under Imperious or feed him a mind-controlling potion or drag him towards the cup in any way?"

"No, NO! I never would have done that!" Harry screamed. "I didn't even know the cup was a port-key." Harry suddenly stopped, and breathing heavily he continued in a soft voice, "I didn't know, I didn't. I swear I didn't know."

"That's right Harry, you didn't know. How could you have known? Crouch is the only one to blame, not you. Do you hear me? Not you. You can see that for yourself can't you?" Severus tone held a slightly desperate note to it, he had to make his little brother understand.

Reluctantly, Harry nodded yes, and quietly whispered, "It wasn't my fault."

With another wave of Severus's wand the memory resumed, and soon they were in the graveyard. They watched as Pettigrew killed Cedric. Severus saw the anguish in Harry's eyes as Cedric's lifeless body fell to the ground, it almost made him want to put an end the whole thing. To pull Harry out of the pensive and tell him not to worry about it every again, but Severus knew it wouldn't do any good. Harry needed to heal, he needed to see that it wasn't his fault.

"Did you throw the killing curse at him?" Severus asked.

Harry stared at Cedric's crumpled form before speaking. "No, Wormtail did, not me."

"Who killed Cedric then, Harry?"

"Wormtail," whispered Harry with undisguised hatred in his voice.

"Did you force Pettigrew to do it?"

Harry shook his head. "No."

"What part of this is your fault, Harry?" Severus asked, moving so he was standing in front of his brother looking into matching black eyes.

Harry looked back into his older brother's eyes, and stepped closer to him so that he was leaning against his chest before whispering, "You'll see."

Severus wrapped his arms around his brother allowing him to press the side of his head into his chest, but turned slightly to make sure the boy could still see what was going on around them. They watched, as Voldemort was resurrected using Harry's blood.

"If it hadn't been for me, he would still be dead," commented Harry as Voldemort summoned the Death Eaters.

"Were you not listening boy?" demanded Severus. "Did you not hear what he said? He could have used anyone's blood. He chose yours because he's a lunatic who saw an infant as a threat. In case no one has ever told you, Harry, you were not the one to bring down Voldemort, Lily was. Her sacrifice saved you. It's not your fault. Say it, Harry: It's not your fault."

"It's not my fault," Harry whispered and tried to hide his face in Severus chest, but Severus pushed him away so he was looking him in the eyes.

"Again," demanded Severus, "louder."

"It's not my fault," said Harry with a bit more conviction.

"Again."

"It's not my fault!" Harry almost shouted.

"Again!" shouted Severus.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Harry screamed.

"Now tell them that!" Severus shouted, gesturing to the pensive figures playing out the memory.

Harry turned away from his brother, filled with a sort of blind fury, and took a couple steps closer toward Voldemort. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Harry went to each Death Eater in turn; "It's not my fault!" he yelled at each of them, releasing his anger and freeing himself of his self-imposed guilt. Finally, Harry and Severus felt themselves falling out of the memory and back on the couch in Severus's chambers.

"It's not my fault," whispered Harry, and though it was just a whisper, he said it with conviction. Looking at Severus he said, "It wasn't my fault." Harry felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Yes he still regretted the whole incident, but he wasn't as disturbed by it. He felt bad about Cedric, but not responsible for his death. He hated Wormtail and Voldemort with a passion. It wasn't his fault. Harry's bottom lip trembled as he leaned over towards his brother wrapping his arms around him and crying into his shoulder. It felt good to be free.

"Very good, Harry, very good," soothed Severus as he held his brother.

............................................................

When Severus and Harry arrived back home it was about mid-afternoon. Harry looked exhausted, and Severus knew he was emotionally drained. Seconds after walking through the door, the phone rang.

"Don't just stand, there answer it," Severus told Harry, who was standing closest to the phone.

"Hello," said Harry, slightly nervous.

"Where have you been?" was the angry shout that answered him on the other end of the line, so loud Severus could plainly hear him on the other side of the room. Tobias seemed upset. "I've been trying to reach you all morning."

Harry was holding the phone away from his head slightly, with his mouth open unsure as to what he should say. "I'm sorry, we..."

"I don't care how sorry you are; answer the question! You should be doing your chores, not out wondering around. I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours. What..."

Harry heard his father angry voice trail off as Severus walked over and took the phone out of the boy's hand. Holding the phone so that he could hear his father, but could talk to Harry without his father hearing him clearly, Severus gently suggested, "Why don't you go lay down for a few minutes, Harry?" The poor boy was already tired and he didn't need his father's scolding to go along with all the emotional drama from the already-long day.

"Okay," mumbled Harry as he stumbled toward his room. For some reason, he trusted Severus to deal with it and take care of things with his father.

Severus watched Harry go to his room and sat down on the sofa, listening patiently to his father rant. Tobias was a good father; he was strict, but Severus never once doubted that his dad loved him. However, Tobias was also human and every so often lost his temper. Severus had learned that if Tobias was allowed just to rant uninterrupted for a while, his anger would dissipate and he would be ready to talk calmly and rationally once again. Regardless of how angry Tobias got, Severus knew that he would never hurt his sons. Severus also knew that Harry didn't know their father as he did and that he would misinterpret Tobias's anger. In order to avoid making Harry feel bad about their father's shouting, Severus figured it was best if the boy just went to bed to take a nap. Eventually, Tobias stopped ranting.

"Well what do you have to say for yourself?" asked Tobias sternly, but no longer as angry.

"Hmm...I'm sorry I wasn't listening," replied Severus dryly.

"Where's Harry?" Tobias said softly. He had begun to feel a bit guilty about yelling at the boy, but he had been scared when he couldn't get in touch with them over the phone. He knew his boys were in hiding and his mind had jumped to the worse possible conclusion after not being able to reach them.

"Taking a nap," said Severus as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"I hope he's taking a nap because all the chores I gave him are done and he passed out from utter exhaustion."

"Well, he is exhausted," he agreed, and before Tobias could start scolding his son for not making Harry do his chores, Severus continued, "Why didn't you tell me about his nightmares?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "He made me promise not to tell, and I didn't think it was anything to extraordinary. He went through a lot of horrible things; he's allowed a few nightmares."

"True," agreed Severus, "but not to the extent that he has them. I took him to Hogwarts today for a little impromptu therapy session. I think he'll be alright now, but it took a lot out of him, so, if it's alright with you, I think he should be excused from his chores for today."

"Have him call me when he wakes up. I gave you the number, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"He doesn't have to do chores today, but still no TV, or..."

"Or anything remotely fun, I know, dad," Severus said impatiently.

"Well that's not exactly what I was going to say, but you get the point."

"I'll have Harry call when he wakes up, talk to you later."

"Bye, son, love you,"

"Love you, too." With that, Severus hung up the phone and stretching out on the couch decided he could use a nap himself.

....................................................

Harry stood back and smirked, admiring his handy work. His brother would kill him, but it would be worth it. Upon waking from his nap, Harry had found Severus still asleep on the couch. Harry considered waking him at first, but then came up with an idea. He honestly had no idea why exactly he was inclined to do this to his brother; it was something Fred and George would be proud of though. Nor did he have any idea as how Severus had stayed asleep while he was executing his plan, but was glad he had. Harry sat down in a chair turned to face the couch slightly, with a book, so he would be ready when his brother woke up. Harry smiled as he thought about telling his friends what he had done to their potions master.

Lying on the couch, Severus was quite a sight to see. His hair, at the least parts Harry could get to without moving his head, was sticky with honey. Harry had also found several different shades glitter in a kitchen cabinet, the kind used for art projects and such and from the looks of it had been sitting in the back of the cabinet for a while, as well as some glue. Deftly, Harry had applied the glue all over Severus' face before sprinkling liberal amounts of red and gold glitter all over his head. He then moved on to Severus's chest and legs coating them with the remaining glue and most of the honey before using the rest of the glitter. It was rather interesting, really, seeing one of Severus's legs was green the other purple, while his chest had every color imaginable on it. Harry then moved to Severus's hands; using the last of the honey, Harry smeared it over Severus's hands, but instead of glitter, he used dirt afterwards. After putting the dirt in Severus's hands, he put a large amount of shaving cream in both of them. Now, all he had to do was wait for his brother to wake up.

Severus's nose twitched. He really should scratch it, but that would require moving and he was just too comfortable. The itch in Severus's nose then became intense, so with a sigh he raised his hand to scratch it only to jerk upright when something smooth and creamy, but slightly gritty touched his face instead of his hand. Sitting up he looked at his hands and saw the shaving cream and some dirt. He instinctively tried to wipe it off on his pants until he noticed the glitter. Looking down, he realized he was covered with it. Then he noticed the laughing. Harry had fallen out of his chair he was laughing so hard at his multicolored brother.

"YOU'RE DEAD," roared Severus as he got up and advanced around the table towards Harry. Harry managed to get up and began to run, surprising Severus slightly.

Harry managed to make it out the back door and about ten meters away from the house before Severus pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. After a bit of struggling and because of much laughter on both their parts, Harry managed to get away and started running towards the stream. Granted, Harry didn't know what he was going to do when he got there; he was just trying to escape his brother. As before, it didn't take Severus long to catch up only this time he managed to pick his brother up and carry him the short distance to the stream where Severus dropped the protesting Harry into the cold water. Severus had dropped him in the shallow part where the water only came to mid-calf, but Harry still came up sputtering and laughing.

Severus had stopped laughing though and crossing his arms over his chest, was glaring down at his brother, who thanks to their slight wrestling match earlier and despite the water, was coved with a fair amount of glitter as well. "Is there a particular reason why, you chose to cover me with glitter, shaving cream and..." Severus stopped to smell his hand, "honey?"

"And glue and dirt," Harry added, no longer laughing, but still with a huge smile.

"Well?"

Harry shrugged. "Because it's funny." Harry then splashed his brother.

Severus took a small step back once splashed, but quickly tackled his brother again, getting soaked in the process. The two continued to roll around a bit, wrestling playfully in the now glittery water, covering themselves in mud.

Just like brothers.

...................................................................

Eventually, Severus and Harry returned home, only to stop short when they saw the mess they had left behind. Trailing from the living room to the kitchen, there was glitter everywhere.

"We have to get this cleaned up," stated Severus.

"Nice to know you can state the obvious," commented Harry sarcastically.

"Careful, boy, you're becoming more and more...Snapeish everyday. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing."

Harry glared at Severus.

Severus raised an eyebrow in return. "You need to call dad."

"Why?" asked Harry, not at all fazed by the change of topic, then in a quieter insecure voice, "Is he still mad at me?"

"Call him; the number is on the fridge. I'm going to get cleaned up a bit myself before we try to clean up this mess."

Severus left the kitchen and made his way to the bathroom trailing mud and more glitter through the house.

Harry sighed as he picked up the phone and dialed the number, listening to it ring on the other end. He almost didn't want to talk to his dad. Tobias had been mad earlier; Harry didn't know how upset he'd be now.

"Hello," answered Tobias on the other end.

"Hi dad," said Harry quietly, waiting for his dad to start yelling again.

"Hey, kiddo, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

Harry almost dropped the phone he was so shocked. His dad apologizing to him was the last thing he expected. "It's, okay," was all Harry said for a reply.

"Severus said you had a nightmare last night." Tobias's tone was soft and encouraging. In truth he felt rather guilty that he hadn't been there to help his son.

Harry nodded his head before realizing his dad couldn't see him. "Yes, sir."

"And that you went to Hogwarts today." Prompted Tobias in an attempt to get his son to elaborate.

"It wasn't my fault," was the first thing that popped into his mind and consequently out of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" asked Tobias perplexed.

"It wasn't my fault," Harry repeated. "What happened at the tournament...none of it was my fault."

"No, it wasn't," agreed Tobias, wishing he were there to give his son a hug, not realizing Harry was wishing the same thing.

"When are you coming back?"

"In a couple of days, Harry, I promise. And I expect that list of chores I gave you to be completed by the time I get back," said Tobias changing the subject, his tone becoming a bit stern, but not harsh.

The corners of Harry's mouth tugged up slightly. "Yes, sir."

"Alright, son, have a good night, love you."

"Love you too, dad." Harry hung up the phone. He then went to stand outside the bathroom so he could tell Severus to hurry up in order to annoy his brother until he got out of the shower. Honestly, how could someone with such oily hair spend so much time washing it?

................................................................................

"Why glitter? Of all the things you could have done why did you use glitter?" asked a frustrated Severus as he and his brother were attempting to clean up the mess inside the house. Despite being dunked in the stream and showering, both Severus and Harry still had bits of glitter all over them, and regardless of what they did they couldn't seem to clean it up. Currently they were down on there hands and knees scrubbing the hard wood floor. "Come to think of it, why am I helping you clean this up? It's your fault."

"Glitter was the first thing I came up with, and you're helping me because I'm your little brother," stated Harry matter-of-factly.

Severus stopped what he was doing looked at said ‘little brother' with a glare that clearly said that that was a bad reason.

Harry thought now would be a good time to change the subject. "Dad said I have to have everything done on the list by the time he gets back."

"You better work hard tomorrow then. You only have a day and a half before he gets back."

"Well it wouldn't take me as long if I had a bit of help and you're not doing anything..." whatever Harry was going to say was cut off by Severus's rather evil sounding, laughter.

"Nice try, but if I didn't get help when I was grounded, then you sure as hell aren't," said Severus when he stopped laughing.

Harry glared.

"Be glad I'm helping you with this."

Harry rolled his eyes dramatically, ignoring Severus glare, and went back to trying to get the bits of glitter off the wood floors.