Most of the Order, as well as Ron, Hermione, and Harry, were gathered around the kitchen table at Grimmauld Place. Albus Dumbledore had received a letter the night before school was to end and upon reading it, he immediately called for an emergency meeting of the Order for the following night once all the students had left. Harry had been told not to worry about the Dursleys - a fact for which he was grateful. After the events of this past year, he wanted to put off seeing his uncle for as long as possible. Cedric's death was enough to deal with at the moment.

At the meeting, Dumbledore read the letter he had received and authenticated aloud to those present. The contents of the letter were shocking to say the least.

Albus Dumbledore or Minerva McGonagall,

As I write this letter, the subject of discussion is nestled in his crib down the hall Harry, my son in all but blood. I hesitated to write this for so long out of fear that it would fall into the wrong hands, but I suppose I should cease with pleasantries and pointless babbling and get to the point. Harry is not my biological son, nor James's. Many generations ago a vow was made between the Potters and the Princes, two very old families. Though the origins of the vow and its purpose have been lost a debt still remains. Did remain. This debt has now been repaid.

It has been over a year now since that fateful night that the last of the Princes knocked on the door of the last of the Potters Eileen Prince. She did not tell us much, but reminded James of the family debt, which he is bound to honor. The request was simple enough. She was with child, but did not want it, nor did she wish to terminate the pregnancy. She asked us to take the child in and raise it as our own. For reasons she would not divulge we were not suppose to tell anyone of the deception. Charms were cast on me to make me appear pregnant.

When Harry was born Eileen feed him a potion that has been used for centuries by pure-blood families to conceal a child's parentage. The potion, called dator hereditas, only last for a period of fifteen years. Not even that long, really Harry's true appearance will begin to show through when he turns fourteen. His black eyes, as an example, which for the brief time I saw them reminded me of someone, although I'm not sure who. The first few changes will hardly be noticeable for a teenage boy. He may grow quickly in height or his hair may begin to change texture or even color. It's within the month or two before his birthday that the most drastic changes will take place such as bone structure and eye color. This is why you are receiving this letter now.

As you probably noticed, I included Harry's birth certificate with this letter. His real birth certificate, with his biological mother's name on it. I wish I could tell you the name of his father, but Eileen refused to tell us. She said it was of no consequence. I don't even know her reasons for not wanting the precious baby boy safely asleep in his room. How could anyone not want their child? I suppose we will never know the answer. As soon as she had given birth and administered the potion to my sweat little boy she swallowed a few potions herself and took off, without so much as glancing back or a good-bye to her son.

Please take care of my son. For that is what he is and always shall be. James and I couldn't love him more if he were our own. If you are receiving this letter then James and I are dead and unable to tell Harry ourselves. Please let him know that we loved him and that he is very lucky to have two sets of parents instead of just one. If all is well Harry is now in Sirius's care, but regardless of who is caring for him, please find his biological father for him. I doubt that the man even knows he is a father, and please let Harry know that looking for his biological mother is pointless. She didn't want him. I've never seen anyone as cold hearted as the woman who gave us this child. As for Eileen, she doesn't deserve to know him or even to call him her son.

Lily Potter

No one knew what to say. It was so silent the ticking of the clock in the other room could be heard. Finally, Harry ventured to speak. "What does this mean?"

Dumbledore sighed before answering in a sad voice that betrayed his age. "I'm not sure, Harry. First we need to find who your real parents are."

As everyone sat in stunned silence, each lost in his or her own thoughts, the opening and closing of a door was heard. Within seconds, Severus was in the kitchen doorway smelling of smoke and covered with dirt, soot, and ash.

"Severus! What happened?" Albus stood and hurried around the table to meet the younger wizard.

"I apologize for being late, but I returned to my home to find it occupied with Death Eaters. After... pleasantries and curses were exchanged, they set my house on fire. I got out what I could...but... I believe I will need to stay at Hogwarts for the time being." Severus's voice had lost some of its silky quality and it sounded as though he had inhaled quite a bit of smoke.

Albus was silent for a moment while he simply stared into the young wizard's eyes. To those who knew what was going on, it was obvious that one of them was performing Legilimency. Even to those who did know what was going on it was shocking. It took a very powerful wizard and a powerful mind to be able to show another person specific memories. After a couple of minutes both blinked, and Albus nodded slightly.

"We will deal with the consequences of your discovery in a few minutes. First, Severus, sit down, and read this," said Albus handing Severus the letter from Lily. Severus was slightly startled to see Albus's hands tremble just the slightest bit as he took the letter from the headmaster.

As he read the letter those watching carefully would have seen the brief flash of emotion pass over Severus's face before once again becoming impartial. After finishing the letter, he handed it back to Albus. "I suppose this is why you asked me to bring the relationship potion?"

"Yes, I know the letter to be authentic, but as you've noticed, the place for the father's name is empty. By determining your exact relationship to Harry we can at least eliminate one person from the list."

Severus nodded and stood up, extracting a large vial from a pocket in his dark robes. Opening it, he placed one of his own hairs in it, watching it dissolve and turn the originally clear potion blue. He then reached across the table and yanked a hair out of Harry's head, who gave a slight yelp. Adding the hair, he once again waited for the potion to change colors, expecting it to change to green. Once the hair was fully dissolved, the potion only turned a slightly darker shade of blue and Severus nearly collapsed back into his chair. Nevertheless, he managed to save some of his dignity and instead sat down slowly, his eyes slightly wide as he continued to stare at the vial.

"What does that mean?" demanded Harry, startled; not only about the reaction of his potion's master but also by the gasp heard from the headmaster. Turning his head to look at Dumbledore Harry near panic asked. "What does he have to do with any of this? He is not... No... he can't be. Please tell me he isn't my father."

Harry and everyone one else was startled as Severus let out a laugh. Not the kind of laugh you hear once you've heard a joke, but the kind that conveys disgust and disbelief; definitely not humor. "No you daft, child. I'm not your father. The relationship potion determines what relationship two individuals have. Eileen Prince is my mother. I have not seen her since I was nine. Had the potion turned green, it would have meant you were my half brother and more searching would have to be done to find your father. The headmaster wished to eliminate my father from the list of possible sperm donors responsible for your conception while confirming once more that the letter was authentic..."

"But it didn't turn green - it didn't change at all! It stayed blue. What does blue mean?" asked Harry interrupting Severus.

"If you would stop interrupting I could tell you, you dim-witted brat," snapped Severus, visibly out of patience.

"Sorry," mumbled Harry not sorry at all, but wanting answers.

Severus glared, obviously not believing the boy's apology, but continued with his explanation. "Blue means that we are not half-brothers but brothers. Not only do we share the same mother, but the same father at well."

While Severus's focus was on the young boy sitting across the table from him he plainly heard the gasps of disbelief form the rest of the Order as well. Harry's face and eyes were filled with emotion. Although disbelief and fear were prominent, Severus could feel more than see the boy's anger rising - a fact that startled him slightly. Not that he showed it.

Eventually, the room settled down again and Dumbledore spoke. "Children, why don't you go into the living room to discuss this development while we carry on with the rest of the meeting." Reluctantly, amongst grumbles and muttering, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the Twins got up from the table and made their way to the living room. They could sense the adults putting up various silencing and repelling charms as they left and knew there was no point in trying to eavesdrop. Sitting down in the living room, they remained silent for several minutes.

It was Ron who finally broke the silence. "So are you going to live with Snape now, Harry?"

"NO! I'm not going to live with that greasy, oily bat."

"Well I don't think you're going back to the Dursley's," commented Hermione. "Maybe you'll go live with your real mum or dad."

Harry shrugged and once again the room lapsed into silence. After a few minutes the twins started discussing one of their new inventions and explaining its effects to everyone else. This lightened the mood slightly and soon small conversations broke out.

About an hour or so after the teenagers were asked to leave the kitchen, the door opened and the adults began filing out of the room. Sirius and Severus had looks of pure fury on their faces. Albus approached the children and explained what was going to happen now.

"Since, you are safest with a blood relative, Harry, you're going to go with Severus for the summer. He has agreed to take you to meet your father; hopefully, you will use the opportunity to get to know your new family. Once you're back at Hogwarts, we'll discuss who your permanent guardian will be. Also, since both you and Severus are in danger you will not be allowed to contact your friends or do any sort of magic."

"What? You can't..." began Harry.

"He can," spoke Severus in a voice that demanded obedience. "This is not your decision to make, boy. You know nothing of the current situation and therefore cannot make informed decisions. As a result, you will do as you're told."

Harry glared at the potions master and swore he heard Sirius growl in the background. Stubbornly blinking back tears of frustration, Harry once again turned his attention back to the headmaster.

"I realize, Harry, that the circumstances are not ideal and you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, but for the time being you must believe it is for the best." The headmaster peered at him from over the rim of his glasses, his tone was firm, but not harsh, and there was a bit of sympathy laced in for good measure.

Harry didn't reply; instead, he just stood glaring at the ground. Sighing, the headmaster left and most of the Order members followed.

"Don't just stand there, boy, get your things and say goodbye," commanded Severus.

Harry didn't bother replying. He just made his way upstairs to where his trunk was, followed closely by his friends and after retrieving his things and saying goodbye to his friends, the Weasley's, and Sirius he silently followed Severus out of the house and into an ally. Once in the ally, Severus placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and apperated them both to a small town in the West County.

It was almost seven ‘o' clock and getting dark when Harry landed on the ground with a thud. Severus somehow had landed far more gracefully and didn't bother casting Harry a second glance as he turned and began walking away from the boy on the ground. Harry grumbled something unflattering under his breath but quickly got up, lugging his huge trunk behind him in an attempt to catch up with the potions master.

Harry continued to follow Severus through a small town feeling rather anxious about the upcoming meeting. Though it was dark Harry could make out several small shops lining both sides of an old road that was in desperate need of being repaved. Despite the condition of the road the buildings surrounding it, though old, were in good condition. Several cars were parked along the sidewalk, but only one other person walked down the street opposite the unlikely brothers.

Once they reached what appeared to be the edge of the town, Severus led him to a small, almost unnoticeable dirt road that led over a hill; the trip up the hill was no picnic for Harry as his trunk was large and weighed almost as much as him. By the time they reached the top, Harry was out of breath and could see a house visible from the town yet it was only about a ten minute walk from the center of the small fishing village. Harry assumed the trip down the hill would be easier than the walk up, but his trunk kept trying to outrun him, causing him to trip several times. He became so preoccupied with controlling his trunk, he didn't notice the potions master had stopped walking until he ran into him.

"Watch where you're going," snapped Severus before taking the trunk out of Harry's hands and preceding the rest of the way down the hill towards the house. Shocked - and wishing the man had done that before - Harry could only stand staring after his newly discovered brother before coming to his senses and hurrying to catch up.

Once at the house, Harry noticed quite a large amount of noise coming from inside. Severus muttered something under his breath that Harry was sure would earn him a week of detention if he said it himself. Severus knocked, but as though not expecting to be heard over the shouts coming from inside, before immediately reaching up above the doorframe and removing a key which he used to unlock the door.

Stepping inside, Harry's nose crinkled as it was immediately assaulted by a number of smells ranging from tobacco to alcohol. The smoke in the room was so thick Harry could almost see it. Severus dropped Harry's trunk beside the door and walked through the dining room and kitchen then through an archway that led to the living room. Once in the living room Harry could see the smoke in the room as well as the half-dozen or so men smoking gathered around a telly watching a football match.

Severus was looking thoughtfully around the room when a man came through a side hallway stepping out of a bathroom. Severus didn't notice him until he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Severus," the man said with a smile as he pulled his son into a hug that Severus stiffly returned, as though he were not used to such a gesture. "What are you doing here? And who's this?" asked Tobias gesturing towards Harry.

"It's a long story," Severus practically had to shout to be heard.

Taking the hint, Tobias moved away from his son and made his way to the telly, which he unplugged. The action elicited shouts of protest from those present. "All right, all right, I know everyone wants to see the game, so I suggest you hurry home so you don't miss any."

Gradually, everyone started getting up and Tobias said bye to each of them in turn as they made their way out the door. Once everyone was out, Tobias started picking up the beer bottles and other garbage. "So to what do I owe to this unexpected yet welcome visit?" asked Tobias making his way to the kitchen. "Oh, and please feel free help," remarked Tobias gesturing to the empty bottles he was holding.

Rolling his eyes Severus opened the windows before grabbing some of the garbage, indicating Harry should do the same and followed his father into the kitchen.

Not knowing what else to do Harry cautiously picked up the bottles and a few discarded paper plates before proceeding into the kichen after his professor. If it were not for the fact that he had just found out he had a brother, and was now in his father's house he might have objected to having to clean up someone else's mess. After all he wasn't at the Dursley's anymore. However, the shock and frustration at the situation had yet to wear off leaving Harry to simply pick up the trash and head to the kitchen after his professor.

"Well?" asked Tobias as soon as Severus and Harry were in the kitchen.

"Pott...Harry meet Tobias Snape. Dad, meet Harry Potter. Your son."

Tobias stopped and dropped everything he was carrying, the glass bottles shattering as they hit the tiled kitchen floor. Tobias spun around coming face to face with Severus. "What?"

"I believe you heard correctly," stated Severus no emotion on his face.

Tobias glanced at Harry then back at Severus before taking a deep breath and addressing his... son. "Harry, why don't you go watch TV. in the living room for a few minutes."

Harry felt anger bubble up inside of him, but at the same time tears of frustration welled in his eyes for the second time in one night. Here he was in a strange house with a professor who despised him and said professor's father who didn't seem thrilled to have him in his home. With the feelings of anger growing stronger Harry began shouting. "No! I'm tired of being sent to another room whenever something that involves me is being discussed. I will not..."

Whatever Harry was going to say was cut off as Tobias, with a glare fiercer than his son's, reached out and grabbed Harry's left ear.

Harry gasped and tried to wiggle away but found it only made things worse.

"I don't care as to whether or not you're my son," Tobias spoke in a harsh whisper, "but as long as you are under my roof you will follow my rules and never ever raise your voice to me, boy. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes...yes sir."

"Good," said Tobias releasing Harry's ear. His glare disappeared and his original disposition returned before he continued. "Now, go into the living room and watch TV."

"Yes, sir," said Harry.

Severus knew the boy wanted to rub his stinging ear, but refused to do so in the presence of others. Harry set the stuff he was carrying down on the counter, harder than was necessary, before leaving the kitchen.

Tobias watched the boy go, strongly reminded of another boy who frequently tested his limits and seemingly went out of his way to annoy him. Once Harry was out of sight, Tobias turned towards Severus. "Well?"

Severus merely reached inside his robe and pulled out the letter Lily had sent and handed it to his father.

After Tobias read the letter, he handed it back to his son. "My name isn't mentioned anywhere in that letter, and I hope your not naïve enough to think I was your mother's only...partner, especially since we haven't seen each other in years."

"We did a relationship test between me and the boy. He is without a doubt my full brother - meaning we share the same mother and father. So unless there's something you'd like to tell me..." Severus paused looking at his father with a raised eyebrow before continue in a rather bitter tone, almost spitting the last of the sentence out. "He's your son. But if you still don't believe me, we can do another relationship test between you and him."

"It's not that I don't believe you, Severus, but for something this big I would like to see it for myself." Tobias spoke quietly but with a hard edge to his voice.

Severus nodded and after helping his dad clean up the glass on the floor, they went back into the living room where Harry was sulking on the couch angrily flipping through channels.

"Po...Harry," said Severus, "we need to do another relationship test to prove conclusively that you are his son."

"Doesn't matter what I say about it; you'll just do it anyway." Harry spat out angrily, finding a suitable channel on the telly he threw the remote down on the couch and barely caught himself before crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

Severus's eyes narrowed and he was about to comment when his father did it for him.

"You're pushing it, boy. I know you don't want to be here and that you were probably perfectly happy with whoever you thought your parents were, but that does not excuse your attitude. Now, I suggest you straighten up your attitude or you won't like the consequences."

"Yes, sir," mumbled Harry who then pulled out a hair and handed it to the potions master. Severus took it as he searched for the other vial of the relationship potion in his robe.

"Do you always carry a spare?" asked Tobias clearly amused.

Severus glared.

"I always thought you'd grow out of that O.C.D. thing."

Severus began adding the hairs to the potion, glaring at Harry when he chuckled at his father's comment.

Once the test was complete, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Tobias was indeed Harry's father, the three occupants of the house remained quite. Even for Harry and Severus, this test seemed to write in stone that they were, without a doubt, brothers.

"Well," Tobias broke the deafening silence, "have either of you had dinner yet?"

"No," Severus and Harry answered in unison, though both seemed distracted.

"Well, let's clean this mess up and I'll make something to eat."

Severus nodded and began picking up more garbage, as did Tobias. Harry was the last to join in not understanding why he had to clean when he didn't make any of the mess, but knowing better than to argue.

After cleaning up and eating a light dinner which consisted of soup and sandwiches, Harry, who was still sulking slightly, was led to his room. The house was about average in size. It had only one floor, three bedrooms and two baths. Apparently, he and Severus had entered through the back door because opposite of the side hallway in the living room was a door leading to a small porch. The hallway had five doors: three which lead to bedrooms, one that held a bathroom, and the last was a small linen closet. Harry's room was next to the professor's. After Severus showed him to his room, he told him to get ready for bed and that lights-out would be at ten, no arguments.

Not that Harry would have gotten much of a chance to argue, considering that as soon as the words had left the professor's mouth the door had slammed shut and he was left glaring at a closed door. After doing this for a couple of moments, Harry decided that it had, in fact, been a long day. He was rather tired right now, anyway, so he would go ahead and get in bed, deciding to discuss his bedtime tomorrow.

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

Severus didn't want to deal with anything else tonight. Not only had he been in a long drawn out fight with three Death Eaters that led to his house burning down, but then he discovered he had a brother. And not just a half brother, either, which meant his father had lied when he said he hadn't seen his mother since she walked out on them when he was nine. He supposed his father had his reasons - after all, Severus would have been about twenty at the time and working on not only his potions mastery but his muggle degree in psychology as well. Severus sighed, determined not to think about it any more till tomorrow. He still smelt like smoke and a cleaning charm never made him feel overly clean. Grabbing a pair of sweatpants, he went to the bathroom for a quick shower before he went to bed.

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

Tobias was pacing his room when he heard the shower turn on down the hall, and figured Severus was in the shower. He honestly didn't know what to do. Raising one boy twenty years ago had been hard enough and it was arguable as to whether or not he had succeeded then. If he were truly honest with himself, he didn't particularly want to go through it again. But the boy obviously needed someone, and Tobias was his father. Sighing, Tobias decided he needed some time to think as well as a good night's rest. It was almost ten ‘o' clock and the boy had been told to be in bed by ten so he might as well go check up on him before turning in himself.

Walking down the hall Tobias could still hear the water running in the bathroom as he made his way to Harry's room. Knocking and waiting for an invitation in first, Tobias entered the room to see that the boy had in fact followed at least one direction without complaint since he walked through the door. Harry was in his nightclothes ready for bed.

"I just came to see if you needed anything and to say goodnight."

Harry shrugged, "I don't think I need anything."

Tobias nodded and walked up to Harry's bed pulling the covers back. "Then what are you waiting for? Get in," Tobias said gesturing to the bed.

Harry looked uncertain for a moment, but slowly walked over and crawled into the inviting bed.

With well-practiced movements, Tobias tucked Harry in, ignoring the surprised look on the boy's face. "I trust you will remain in bed until tomorrow. No late night escapades. You know where the bathroom is if you need it." Walking back to the door Tobias turned off the late, "Goodnight Harry, pleasant dreams." And with that, Tobias gently closed the door and, no longer hearing the shower running, decided to stop in and say goodnight to his older son, not realizing that his simple action of tucking Harry in had shocked the young boy beyond belief.

Entering Severus's room, Tobias realized that his son was still in the bathroom and hadn't made it back to his room yet. Taking a seat in a chair he decided to wait for him.

Severus got out of the shower, dried off and brushed his hair before putting on his sweatpants, leaving his dirty cloths in the hamper. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror without a shirt he looked down at his left arm and rubbed a hand over it in disbelief. Since Voldemort had found out he had betrayed him the Dark Lord had removed the Dark Mark from his arm because he was not "worthy" of wearing it. It had been painful, possibly the worst thing he had experienced, but being able to look at his arm without shame was worth any amount of pain. Once finished admiring his now-bare forearm, he walked back to his room, not really surprised to see his father there waiting for him.

"I didn't think you wanted to talk about Harry until tomorrow," commented Severus as he, not bothering with a shirt, sat down on his bed.

"Who said that's why I was here? After all, it's been . . . how long since you came to visit, boy?"

Severus merely raised an eyebrow. "Yes, well...I suppose I should go make sure he is in bed, seeing as it's after ten." Severus began to get up, but was stopped by his father.

"No need, I just came from his room; he's in bed, tucked in, and hopefully will soon be asleep."

The two remained silent for a moment, before Severus asked the question that had truly been bothering him in a small quiet voice that his students wouldn't have recognized. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"In case you hadn't noticed I just found out about his existence myself."

"I meant, why didn't you tell me you had been seeing my mother after she left?" Severus looked pleadingly into his father's eyes. He needed an answer.

Tobias sighed leaning his head back against the chair, staring at the ceiling while he replied. "You were away at college when she just showed up one day, still as spontaneous, reckless, and...irresponsible as ever. Not long after her arrival, the boy sleeping next door was conceived and...then she was gone again."

"Do you know where she is now?"

"No, that really was the last I've seen or heard of her." The sadness in Tobias's tone would have broken anyone's heart.

Severus nodded seemingly satisfied with this answer.

Tobias got up out of the chair and walked the short distance to his son. Placing his hand on his son's shoulder covering up the small Celtic symbol tattooed on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're here, Severus. I'm sorry you lost your home, but I'm glad you're here. I've missed you." With that Tobias removed the hand he had placed on his son's shoulder and went back to his room.

Several hours after everyone had gone to sleep, Harry bolted upright in bed, searching around frantically for an imaginary enemy. Realizing it was only a dream, he laid back down in bed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. His heart was hammering wildly in his chest and it took all his effort just to take a few deep breaths. Now that he was awake, he couldn’t really remember what the dream was about – just that it was frightening. He curled into a ball for a few minutes before deciding he needed to use the bathroom.

When he got back, he stared at his bed for a long moment, wishing for something but not knowing what exactly, then crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over himself. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep again. After what seem like seconds later, he was awakened by a hand shaking his shoulder.

“Go ‘way,” mumbled Harry, his voice further muffled by the pillow.

He heard a sigh before the covers were yanked off of him, “Hey!”

“Hay is for horses, boy, grass tastes better,” said Tobias, obviously amused and once again reminded of the many times he went through this ritual with Severus.

Harry rolled over on his back and opened one eye. “What?”

Tobias chuckled a bit, “Come on, get up. Up! It’s time for breakfast.”

“It’s too early to get up,” complained Harry, but even as he said this, he was crawling out of bed.

“It’s just after seven thirty, now, I expect you in the kitchen for breakfast by eight.”

“Fine,” mumbled Harry rubbing his eyes.

“What was that?” asked Tobias sternly.

“Yes, sir,” he corrected immediately.

“Very, good, now hurry up and get dressed.” With that, Tobias left the boy to go finish making breakfast.

Harry opted for showering later that night and went over to his trunk, removing some of his nicer clothes. Well, as nice as overly large, beat-up hand-me-downs could be, anyway. Once dressed, he combed his hair, which seemed to be lying flatter lately. A trait Harry had originally chalked up to puberty, but now figured it was because the potion wearing off. He had gotten slightly taller in the last few months as well – and clumsier. Eventually, Harry made his way to the kitchen, where Severus and Tobias were waiting on him.

Once Harry took a seat at the round table between Severus and Tobias, Tobias started placing plates and bowls of food on the table. After Tobias sat down, he pick up the plate of eggs and after serving himself he passed it to Severus, who glared at the offending plate since he was forced to set his cup of tea down in order to fill his own plate. Once Severus finished, he passed the plate to Harry who, after so many years of getting whatever the Dursley's had left over, was surprised to see there was still plenty of eggs. Once everyone had a helping of eggs, toast, bacon, and orange juice, Harry, drawing on his Gryffindor courage, decided to get some answers.

“So, when will my appearance start to change?”

Severus, looking annoyed that anyone would dare breathe this early in the morning, replied, “The potion started to wear off on your fourteenth birthday, I dare say some changes have already taken place. However, within the next two months, you should start changing drastically.”

“So we have to wait two months before finding out what he really looks like?” Tobias asked casually, yet slightly disappointed as well.

“I do believe that’s what I just said, but there is a counter-potion I can brew that will make the changes occur almost instantly.” Severus’s tone wanted to be sarcastic, but it was had to produce the affect at such an early hour.

“But Dumbledore said we can’t do magic.” Harry pointed out in an almost haughty fashion.

“We can’t do magic that can be traced, you daft boy. If you ever bothered to listen in class, you would know that potion making draws on a different kind of magic that can not be traced.” Severus snapped in teachers mode, while glaring at the boy across the table from him.

“In that case, Severus,” commented Tobias, glaring at Severus slightly for his attitude, to prevent Harry from saying something stupid, “if Harry likes, will you make the potion?”

“I’d like to see what I really look like. Waiting will drive me insane.” Harry was glaring at Severus, but some excitement crept into his voice.

“You don’t have that far to go,” mumbled Severus and continued to ignore his father’s glare, which was continuing to intensify, before speaking again impartially. “I’ll start on it after breakfast. It’s really a rather simply potion and I should have all the ingredients with me.”

“How long will it take to complete?” asked Harry, some nervousness could now be heard along with his excitement.

“Six hours. You’ll be able to take it after lunch.” Severus continued on still detached.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes all that could be heard was the click of the silverware on the plates.

Tobias was the one to break the silence. “So, Harry, how have you been doing at Hogwarts? I assume you have friends? And you have good grades, right? Anything exciting happen?”

Harry noticed Severus roll his eyes, an action that went unnoticed by Tobias. He shrugged before answering, “Hogwarts is good. My best friends are Ron and Hermione they’re both in Gryffindor with me and my grades are pretty good…”

Severus scoffed at this, “Except in potions, correct?”

Harry felt his anger rising and narrowed his eyes before replying, “Only because the instructor is an ar…”

“Enough both of you,” commanded Tobias in a tone that clearly said it would be unwise to disobey. “The two of you are acting like ten year olds. Honestly, Severus, let the boy talk with out your commentary and Harry, be polite and don’t let him get to you.”

Harry continued to glare, unaware as to how childish he looked. “Yeah…well, nothing exciting really happens…”

Severus was shocked for a moment when he realized the boy wasn’t going to expound his adventures and brag about being a ‘hero, not only to Hogwarts but the world’; therefore, he decided to see what would happen if he were to ‘reminded’ him. “Nothing exciting? Really?” purred Severus. “Because I would think your asinine attempt to go after the philosopher’s stone your first year would be considered exciting. Foolish and dangerous, yes, but exciting. Then again, maybe that experience pales in contrast to the events of your second year. You remember your second year, don’t you? When you went after the basilisk? Or what about what happened recently with the Tri-…”

“Shut up!” shouted Harry, clearly angry, his breaths coming in labored gasp as his arms shook. He didn’t want to think about those things, especially not the tournament. “Just shut-up! You don’t know anything about it. You…”

“Harry! Stop it, now! Calm down, boy.” Tobias placed a hand on Harry’s arm but he jerked it away still glaring at Severus. He suddenly got up and ran to his room. Tobias watched him go before turning to face his older son who was also staring after the departing boy.

“Severus…”

“I had no idea he’d react that way,” defended Severus. He wasn’t sure why the boy had reacted that way, but was determined to find out. His newly found younger brother was turning out to be quite the puzzle – one he was determined to solve.

Tobias sighed, “Just finish your breakfast and start on that potion. I’ll talk to him.” Tobias got up and walked toward Harry’s room.

Severus raised an eyebrow as his father left surprised that he wasn’t on the receiving end of a lecture before realizing he would have to clean up the kitchen on his own.

Tobias knocked on Harry’s door, but not receiving a reply let himself in. “Harry,”

“Go. Away,” came Harry’s muffled reply, since his head was buried in a pillow.

“Want to tell me what that was about out there?” asked Tobias neutrally, coming to stand beside the boy’s bed. He could tell that Harry’s breathing was irregular, but couldn’t tell if it was because he was angry or crying or both.

“NO!”

So he was angry. “Harry, I know Severus can be… difficult at the best of times, but you can tell me...” Tobias’s placating tone was interrupted by Harry’s broken staggered voice.

“No… I don’t want to… please… just leave me alone.”

Tobias watched the boy for a few more minutes before turning around and leaving, closing the door behind him.

Going back to the kitchen, Tobias noticed that Severus had finished cleaning up and was currently setting everything up to make the potion.

“He won’t tell me anything.” Tobias stated indifferently even as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

Severus looked up from what he was doing. Though his father’s tone seemed harmless enough, Severus could tell, if only because the man had raised him that his father was angry. That didn’t stop him from making a mockingly casual reply “And you want me to do what about that?”

“I want to know why he didn’t want me to know about whatever it was you were talking about. What you were talking about and moreover why did it upset him?” Tobias’s tone betrayed his waning patience.

“I can tell you what I was talking about, but as for why it upset him, or why he didn’t want you to know about it, you’ll have to ask him.”

“Yes, well after you do that, you can tell me why you pushed him. It was obvious he was getting upset. Why didn’t you back off?” Tobias was usually a very calm person, but his son knew exactly how to push all his buttons and his anger was slowly making its way to the surface.

“I didn’t know he’d react that way. Besides, he’s probably just doing it for attention anyway.” It was a lame defense and Severus knew it. Nevertheless, the boy shouldn’t have reacted like that. He should have been boasting about his adventures and scheming new ways of getting into trouble. Perhaps the boy wasn’t quite as arrogant as his fath…well his adopted father. With that one thought, it became painfully clear to Severus that he had disliked the boy merely because of whom he thought his father was. He still thought Harry was spoiled and his attitude could use some adjusting, but he could no longer blame those traits on James Potter. With those thoughts in mind, Severus went ahead and told his father about the messes the boy had gotten into since he had started Hogwarts, including the happenings of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

When Severus was finished, he stepped away from the potion – it needed to sit for two hours before it was time for the next ingredient – and sat at the table next to his father.

“He’s a child,” stated Tobias.

“Yes, and one who causes more trouble then he’s worth,” commented Severus cynically.

That was the last straw for Tobias. He had tried to be patient with his son; after all, Severus was an adult now, but now his patience had just worn out. Severus was obviously too blind to see what was in front of him. “That’s enough, Severus!” shouted Tobias, slamming a hand down on the table. “You haven’t said one good thing to or about the boy since he walked through the door. I don’t know why you’re such an arse to him, but it ends now. For god’s sake, he saw a boy die Severus, one who wasn’t much older than him. How would you feel if you were in his place?” Tobias could tell Severus was getting angry but didn’t give him a chance to answer before he continued with his triad. “I shouldn’t need to tell you how you would react, because you already know. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, it’s a large part of the reason why you took the Dark Mark to begin with.” Tobias knew he struck a nerve when Severus looked down at the floor, but he wasn’t done yet. Severus was an adult and shouldn’t be acting like a spoiled brat. Tobias paused for a moment letting what he said sink in. “I’m going to go try to talk to him again. It would probably be a good idea if you apologized to him. Whether you like it or not, Severus, he is your brother.” With that, Tobias stood up and went back to try to talk to Harry again.

Severus hadn’t felt so utterly humiliated in years. His father had just chewed him out as though he were a bratty defiant teenager again. Then again, if he had to be honest, his actions hadn’t been much better then that of a teenager’s. He would never admit it, but a part of him knew his father was right. As for the apology, he’d have to think about that.

Harry had finally managed to get his breathing under control and a pretty good handle on his emotions, but wasn’t quite prepared to talk to anyone yet. Therefore, when he heard the knock on the door again, he ignored it, hoping that it would just go away. It didn’t go away though and after a minute or two, Tobias entered the room and left the door open behind him.

“So,” began Tobias, “Severus filled me in on what you’ve been doing the last few years at Hogwarts. Now, would you care to tell me as to why you didn’t want me to know?”

Harry shrugged, wanting to be anywhere but there at the moment.

Tobias sighed and looked up, praying for patience. “Harry, I just want to help, but you have to talk to me. Now, why didn’t you want me to know about your little escapades?”

Figuring that Tobias wouldn’t leave him alone until he got an answer, Harry sighed before he answered. “It’s just that everyone expects me to do those kinds of things or that I go looking for them, but I don’t. I hate when people think about me as the boy-who-lived. I just want to be Harry.” Not to mention I’d rather forget about it myself, Harry added to himself.

“Harry look at me,” commanded Tobias his tone leaving no room for argument. Once Harry made eye contact, Tobias continued. “I realize that you want people to like because you’re Harry not the boy-who-lived or whatever other garbage they call you, but if don’t want to be treated that way you shouldn’t act that way. And letting some greasy dungeon-dwelling git bother you is childish. Throwing a temper tantrum and sulking because you got upset is also childish, and while you are hardly an adult, you are too old for such foolish displays. Now, you can either stay in your room and sulk all day or you can get up and show Severus that he can’t bother you so easily. It’s your choice.” With that, Tobias left the room, leaving the door open.

Harry stared after Tobias as he left and realized he was right. He shouldn’t let the potions master get to him. Getting up, he walked out the door and towards the bathroom. As he was leaving, he ran right into Severus who opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again in order to step around Harry and enter the bathroom. When Severus emerged, Harry was sitting on the couch in the living room skimming through a book he found on the small stand by the couch.

Severus took a deep breath and sat down on the opposite end of the couch. “I…that is to say, I didn’t expect you to react so severely to what I said. I assumed you sought out the attention, but your reaction leads me to believe otherwise.” Severus took another deep breath and glanced at the boy sitting on the other end of the couch…his brother…, whose mouth was hanging open slightly and his eyes wide with surprise. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that…I’m sorry.”

“You’re…what?”

“Do not expect me to repeat myself, boy,” Severus said, his formally neutral tone hardening a bit.

Harry could only gape like a fish out of water for a few more minutes. Eventually, he managed to find his voice. “It’s okay, I guess… it’s just I hate being the boy-who-lived and I didn’t want my…your…our…whatever he is to know about it, because I thought he’d just start thinking of me as the boy-who-lived and not as…well, it wouldn’t help him to think of me as his…son.”

Severus could only stare at the child for a moment unsure as to what to say. Why would this child want someone he just met to like him so much? Let alone be so readily accepting of a practical stranger as his father. The boy had lived the past thirteen years with his Aunt and Uncle – surely, he wasn’t ready to just abandon his life with them? Suddenly, his muggle training as a psychologist kicked in and he knew something was off. “What about your Aunt and Uncle?”

“What about them?” Harry couldn’t keep the anger from his voice as he said this.

“You’ve lived with them for most of your life; surely you’re at least appreciative that they took you in,” Severus was becoming increasingly disturbed by Harry’s tone and body language.

“They only took me in because they were afraid of what would happen if they didn’t. They never loved me. I was nothing more then a servant to them.” Harry finished, blinking his eyes rapidly to prevent the tears that wanted so desperately to form, amazed at what he had just revealed, and to his hated professor no less.

“What do you mean?” asked Tobias from the doorway. He had come in during Severus’s apology and been listening to them talk for a few minutes.

Harry shrugged, regretting that he had said anything and certainly not wanting to discuss his life at the Dursley’s with two people that were virtually strangers. “I don’t really want to talk about it,” mumbled Harry drawing his knees up to his chest.

“You’re the one who brought it up,” Severus pointed out in a surprisingly gentle tone. He had worked with many abused children in both college and while at Hogwarts. Harry’s behavior, which he had apparently been ignoring for the past four years was setting off warning bells left and right. But the boy couldn’t have been abused. The schema he had built up around what he had thought to be James Potter’s son was beginning to shatter. “Harry, by not talking about it you’re practically confirming to us that our theories are right and that you were abused.” Severus noticed Harry flinch slightly at the word ‘abused’. “We will not let it drop. If someone hurt you, especially your guardians, we need to know.”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone,” Harry glanced from Severus to Tobias then back to Severus, “and that you won’t use it against me.”

“No,” said Tobias firmly. “We promise it won’t be used against you. Right Severus?”

“Correct,”

“But,” continued Tobias, “I refuse to say I won’t tell anyone, because if they did something they shouldn’t have, something abusive, they will pay.”

“We promise not to tell anyone who would use it against you,” said Severus looking at his father for confirmation.

“That I can promise, as well.”

“They never really abused me,” explained Harry, “they were just never overly nice to me. I was a burden and they let me know it. They would make me cook all their meals, but most of the time wouldn’t let me eat. Before I came to Hogwarts, my room was a cupboard under the stairs. And the only clothes I ever had, except my school uniform, where hand-me-downs that never fit.”

Severus could only stare at the child curled up on the couch. He knew they weren’t getting the full story, but also knew it was all they could hope for, for now.

“That is abuse, Harry,” commented Tobias. “Abuse doesn’t necessarily mean being beat; neglect and verbal abuse can be just as damaging.”

Harry shrugged.

“I have to finish the potion,” said Severus quietly. All his assumptions and opinions about Harry had been shattered and he needed to think, an action he found much easier when standing over a softly brewing caldron. He slowly got up and walked into the kitchen to tend to the potion.

After a couple minutes of silence, Harry spoke, “Can I go outside for a walk?”

“Sure,” replied Tobias, needing time to digest this new bit of information himself. “Just don’t go over the hill, into the forest, or beyond the stream. We’ll be eating lunch soon, so make sure you’re back by one o’clock. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tobias nodded and watched as the boy…his son… got up and walked out the front door. Once Harry had left, he went into the kitchen to talk to Severus.

……………….

About two hours after they had eaten lunch, the potion was complete and they were gathered in Harry’s room.

“So, let me get this straight,” said Tobias, “Eileen gave him a potion at birth that covered up his true appearance and it will wear off on its own in about two months, but you made a counter-potion that will do just that: counter the potion. Revealing his true appearance within minutes of him taking it.”

“Yes,” agreed Severus. Turning to Harry he asked, “Are you ready?”

Harry nodded unable to take his eyes off the hot pink potion Severus held in his hand.

“Get in bed and lie down. Since we have no idea what the actual changes will be, it’s probably best if you’re lying down and unable to fall and crack your skull open.”

Once again, Harry nodded and crawled into bed, sitting up against his pillows. Severus handed him the potion and he plugged his nose as he downed it all as quickly as possible. At first, nothing happened and Harry began to wonder if something had gone wrong. Then he felt it. It started out as a tingling in his scalp, but soon magnified to an itch that traveled down his entire body. Just when he thought he couldn’t stand it anymore, it stopped, and from the looks on Tobias and Severus’s faces he knew the potion was finished. He quickly got out of bed… and tripped. Flying head first towards Severus, who managed to catch him and stand him upright again. It was then he noticed he couldn’t see. The world was one big blur. He was about to panic until felt he glasses being lifted off his face and his vision suddenly became clear.

Harry blushed furiously with a mumbled, “thank you.”

Severus raised an eyebrow and put the glasses on the bedside table.

It was then Harry realized he wasn’t as short anymore. True, he hadn’t grown a lot, but he was at least two inches taller, the top of his head only an inch shorter than the professor’s shoulder. Not only that, but he practically had to hold Dudley’s pants up, despite the fact they were already held up by a belt, because he somehow seemed to have gotten thinner too. Walking over to the mirror on the closet door, Harry got a good look at his new appearance.

His hair was still black, but was slightly longer, coming down to the bottom of his ears and it was straight. It looked greasy as well but when he touched it he noticed it just felt silky. His eyes were no longer green but black as well. His nose, thankfully, hadn’t changed that much, but was hooked and not that much larger than it had been before. His cheekbones were higher, making his face look less round, but what was really surprising was his body as a whole. His legs seemed awkwardly longer then the rest of him making him look like…well…an awkward teenage boy.

Tobias came up behind him and, although he was looking at Harry, addressed Severus. “Remind you of anyone?”

Severus nodded. Harry did share a remarkable resemblance with himself at that age, but, then again, they were brothers.

The week following the end of school went in pretty much in same pattern. Harry would be woken up at seven-thirty for breakfast, which was cooked by either Tobias or Severus, usually after a night filled with nightmares. They never made him help cook, but all three took turns cleaning up after every meal. Harry was surprised yet grateful that he wasn't required to do massive amounts of chores like he was at the Dursley's. In fact the few chores he did do were usually done with help from either Tobias or Severus.  After breakfast, Tobias insisted that he study for at least an hour before he was allowed to do anything else. Harry had fought fervently against being forced to study, but after Tobias made him stand in a corner for twenty minutes, like a toddler, he realized that one way or another he would be studying.

He also found that studying wasn't too bad, especially when one has a potions master at their disposal. Severus had plenty of paperwork to do over the summer and after breakfast would usually go into the kitchen, where he could spread it out over the large table, and work on it. One day Tobias had caught Harry, who had foolishly left his door open, in his room playing a game instead of doing his schoolwork. Tobias had not been happy. After informing Harry that he would be spending three more hours doing his schoolwork he led him by the arm into the kitchen and sat him down at the table across from Severus. Severus had glanced up briefly at the disturbance before once again looking down at his papers and hiding a small smile as his father lit into the disobedient boy, glad that it wasn't him for once. During this time Harry began working on his potions essay. Coming across a particularly confusing part he ventured to ask Severus about it. Severus had refused to give him answers, but had given him some clues as to where to find the answers, amidst a few scathing remarks (old habits die-hard). After that day Harry made it a point to do his schoolwork at the kitchen table with Severus.

Since the day Harry had taken the counter potion to reveal his true appearance Severus had been unusually nicer to him. Granted the potions master still snapped at him from time to time, but it seem as though he were truly making an effort to be kinder to him. About two day's after taking the potion Severus had come to his room before bed one night and explained to Harry that he was a psychologist and that over the years at Hogwarts had helped many students from different houses. Much to Harry's surprise the potion master offered to listen to him if he ever felt as though he needed to talk about the Dursley's. Severus had surprised himself with the offer and could only justify it as a professional hazard. It was apparent, however, to Tobias, Harry, and even himself that he was beginning to like the boy.

After he was done studying, Harry would normally go find his father, and help him with whatever he was doing at the moment until it was time for lunch. It didn't take Harry long to find out that Tobias was a retired Naval Officer, but since Severus was about seven he had retired from the Navy and worked part time as an accountant for a local company. Two years ago he had retired completely. Harry was not entirely ready to just abandon James and Lily Potter as his parents, but more then anything wanted a parent and a real family. Harry took the time spent with Tobias to learn more about the man and his brother, but never really talked about his mother. After lunch Harry would usually go outside and explore a bit. Tobias had assured him that before the summer was over he would take him fishing and possibly camping. Except for when they arrived Harry hadn't gone into the village yet, but when Tobias noticed that his wardrobe was practically empty and that the cloths he did have didn't fit properly he told him he would take him that upcoming weekend to buy some clothing, which meant that Harry was going with his...father shopping the next day.

Tobias had planned to take Harry to buy new cloths Saturday, but Severus insisted they go Sunday instead, mainly because he had to attend an order meeting that Saturday. Since most of his clothing was destroyed in the fire, he needed new clothing himself, so Severus figured he would go with them shopping.

After Tobias woke him up on Saturday, Harry went to the bathroom first before going back to his room to change. Finding a suitable outfit, he began to undress, once he was down to his shorts he caught a glance of himself in the mirror and quickly looked away. It wasn't that he didn't like his new appearance, in fact, in a strange way, it sort of suited him better, but after spending so many years looking like a carbon copy of James Potter it was strange to look in the mirror and see someone else completely. Not only that but even to himself he looked...sick. Like a malnourished corpse. According to Severus it was because he was malnourished, his added height just made it more obvious. Almost every one of his ribs was visible and his skin was a sickly pale yellow in color. He dressed as quickly as possible avoiding the mirror. He then proceeded to the kitchen for breakfast.

After breakfast on Saturday, Severus and Harry were sitting at the dining room table working.

They had only been doing their perspective work for about ten minutes when Harry looked up from his work at Severus, "Professor?"

"Severus,"

"Sir?" questioned Harry slightly confused.

"As it has been pointed out to me on several occasions, we are brothers; therefore, as long as we are not in class you may call me Severus, Harry."

"Okay...Severus."

Surprised by this development Harry remained quite for a moment and went back to his work, but only for a moment. "I'm bored," stated Harry dropping his quill and looking expectantly at Severus.

Severus to his credit didn't even glance up. "I suggest you work on your school work and stop dawdling."

"I don't want to," Harry practically whined.

Normally, Severus didn't have any patience for whining brats, but had to admit he didn't really feel like editing potion articles today either. With a rather sly smile he got up from the table and went over to a cabinet draw looking for something. Finding the object of his search he proceeded back to the table armed with a deck of muggle playing cards. "Care to play?"

Harry smiled, a week ago he never would have expected his professor to be the sort of person willing to break rules in order to have fun, but his older brother continued to surprise him.

Harry and Severus had been deeply involved in their game for about fifteen minutes, before they heard someone clearing their throat. Looking over they saw Tobias standing in the archway watching them. Harry's eyes widened slightly as he realized he had just been caught playing instead of studying, again, and he didn't think his father would be as forgiving the second time.

Tobias walked over to the table, observing his two sons. Harry looked rather nervous while Severus appeared to be trying not to laugh. Glaring at both of them he leaned over Severus's shoulder to see what his hand looked like. Straitening back up, he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out some pretzel sticks, several pieces of hard butterscotch candy, pieces of small individually wrapped chocolates, crackers, and some bite-sized cookies. Walking back over to the table he divided some of it up so they all had the same amount of everything: 2 cookies, 5 butterscotch candies, 10 chocolates, 11 pretzels, and 20 crackers. He put the leftovers back in the cabinet before sitting down at the table.

Gathering up all the cards and shuffling them he began to talk, "The name of the game is Texas Hold ‘em: winner doesn't have to wash dishes tomorrow. Cookies are worth..."

Harry's mouth had dropped open and was dangling somewhere around his knees as his father said this, he had expected to be in trouble, but instead Tobias had not only started playing with them but also made the game more interesting.

"What's Texas Hold ‘em?" asked Harry.

Tobias and Severus explained the game to him and the three played for about an hour before Harry, Tobias blamed it on beginners luck while Severus suspected him of cheating, won the game. Harry was about to get up and put his books away, but was stopped by Tobias.

"Just where do you think your going?"

"To put my things away," said Harry as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Did you finish studying?"

"No, but..."

"No ‘buts', Harry, the rule is you study for one hour everyday, you had a bit of a break, but now I expect you to finish studying."

"But all I ever do is study," complained Harry resisting the urge to kick the table.

"An hour is not that long you have plenty of time to other things," Tobias's managed to keep his tone calm but was beginning to become annoyed.

Severus, who had started to gather his things up stopped what he was doing and was candidly listening to Harry argue with his father.

"Come, on, please. Its just one day. I have all summer. Not studying for one day won't hurt."

"No, Harry, you will study for one hour today. You can either do it now for an hour or if you continue to argue then do it for two hours."

"No, I..."

"Two hours it is then."

"That's not fair you..."

"Two hours today and two tomorrow."

Harry opened his mouth about to argue once more, but Severus spoke first. "Harry, just stop arguing before you get into real trouble."

Harry closed his mouth and just stared at Severus for a moment then Tobias. "Why should I? I shouldn't have to study if I don't want to. No one stands over me at Hogwarts and makes me study and my grades are still good." Okay, so maybe that wasn't completely true if Hermione didn't bug him so much his work probable wouldn't be done as often and his grades could be a bit better, but that was beside the point.

No one said anything for a moment. Tobias was glaring at Harry contemplating his next move, and Harry was glaring back.

Severus shook his head began to rise from the table, "You should have listened." As he said this Severus left the kitchen having a good idea as to what was in store for his young brother.

As Severus left, Harry was beginning to feel nervous. Maybe he had gone too far with his arguing, but there was no backing down now.

Part of Tobias knew that some of this was his fault. By not stopping the card game his sons had been playing he was just reinforcing the behavior of not studying. But it was the first time he had seen them truly get along. Yes over the past week they had begun to tolerate one another and maybe had even started to accept one another, but that simple card game was the first thing they had done together simply because they wanted to. Now he had to deal with the aftereffects of reinforcing negative behaviors. "You're grounded for a week. There will be no going outside, no TV, no games, just eating, sleeping, doing chores and studying. If you argue it'll be two weeks."

Harry didn't say anything just glared.

After a moment Tobias stood up and began to leave the kitchen, "I suggest you start studying now."

Harry was angry. Now he couldn't do anything for a week. It just wasn't fair. He did just fine without someone looking over his shoulder all the time making sure he was doing what he was supposed to. No one had ever done so before and he didn't need someone to do it now. With that thought Harry got up from the table and leaving his things where they were walked out the back door to go for a walk.

Fifteen minutes after he had left Harry in the kitchen Tobias stuck his head back in just to check up on him. Harry wasn't there though. He then went to check the boy's room thinking that maybe he hadn't seen him walk by, but he wasn't there either. Severus was reading a book in the living room, the bathroom door was open and empty, and a quick check confirmed that Harry wasn't in any of the bedrooms. That only left one option. He had gone outside.

Walking back to the living room Tobias asked Severus, "Do you know where Harry is?"

"I haven't seen him since I left the kitchen," replied Severus. "Why?"

"Because he's not in the house,"

Severus's eyes widened slightly before he mumbled, "...stupid boy."

Tobias began moving towards the front door. "I'm going to see if I can find him. If he comes back before I do don't let him out of your sight."

"Yes, sir," replied Severus. He knew his father was angry, but couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for Harry.

It took Tobias about twenty minutes to locate his son. Harry was in what used to be Severus's favorite spot by the stream. The best part about his particular area was that there were several large rocks to sit on while looking over the stream. Walking up slowly behind the boy Tobias cleared his throat alerting him to his presence.

Harry's head snapped around, and seeing whom it was his shoulders slumped slightly as he once again turned back to look at the stream.

Most of Tobias's anger had dissipated by now, but that didn't stop him from reaching out, grabbing Harry's overly thin left arm, pulling him up from the rock, and then landing one hard smack on the boy's backside.

"Oww!" Harry jumped more surprised than hurt. He had expected a lecture maybe even some yelling, but not that. Once his arm was released he turned back around to face his father stopping himself from reaching back and rubbing his backside. Before he could say or do anything else Tobias was speaking to him in a raised voice that was almost yelling.

"What were you thinking? Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice if you just got up and left? I have half a mind to turn you over my knee right now and give you a real smacking! You were already in trouble for arguing about not studying, but then you go and disobey me again by coming out here. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Harry shrugged. Now that he had calmed down he began realize that he had behaved stupidly, but he still didn't think it was fair.

"Answer me, boy!"

"It just isn't fair. Because I said I didn't want to study for one day I'm ground for a week."

"Life isn't fair, get used to it, but I don't think it happened quite like that, anyway. I gave you several opportunities, but you refused to stop arguing. When you first said you didn't want to study what did I say?"

"You should know, you said it," remarked Harry and almost instantly regretted it.

Tobias's eyes narrowed, and Harry came to the conclusion that Severus still had quite a bit to learn if he ever intended to match his father's glare. When Tobias spoke in was in a harsh whisper that was a thousand times worse then any amount of yelling. "This is your last chance, boy. Now, try again,"

"You said that the rule was that I had to study for one hour everyday," sulked Harry.

"Exactly and how many chances did I give you to stop arguing before I increased the time to two hours?"

Harry shrugged, looking down at the ground.

"A couple times, at least, right?"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Harry.

"When you wouldn't stop arguing what was the first thing I did?"

"Say that I had to study for two hours instead of one." Harry's voice was barely above a whisper and he stared down at the ground.

"And when you still continued to argue?"

"Two hours for two days," his voice still a whisper Harry shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"After that?"

"That I was grounded." For reason's Harry didn't quite understand he felt his face flame as he said this. Granted it wasn't as embarrassing as being stood in a corner or smacked on the backside, but the way Tobias said it made him feel like a small child.

"So how many chances did you have before you got grounded? At least four, correct?"

"I guess," Harry didn't like this. Having to go over all his decisions again made them all look so stupid. It was easier to say that Tobias just wasn't being fair then to admit he was wrong.

"Everything you do or don't do has consequences. You've made several bad decisions today and you will face the consequences. Come." Tobias turned around and began walking back towards the house Harry following not too far behind.

Once they arrived at the house Tobias placed a hand on the back of Harry's neck and led him through the house all the way to the very end of the hall where he positioned Harry so that his nose was only a couple inches away from the wall.

Removing his hand from the boy's neck he gave a single command before turning around and going back to the living room, "Don't move."

Once Harry realized he was, once again, in time-out like a toddler he blushed fiercely, but remained where he was.

Severus watched his father leave Harry in time-out and walk back through the house and into the kitchen. After a couple of minutes Severus got up and followed his father into the kitchen.

In the kitchen Tobias was making lunch and didn't notice Severus until he was standing next to him.

"I'm too old for this,"

"Yes, well, if you don't want to be his father than stop acting like it. It only builds his hopes up," responded Severus as he started helping prepare lunch.

"What would happen to him if I didn't take him in?"

"I don't know," Severus, answered honestly. "Truthfully, though, he's been more well behaved in this past week then he has been all year."

It was nine ‘o' clock at night and Harry was in bed trying to go to sleep. Part of being grounded according to Tobias was being sent to bed early. As further punishment, for leaving the house, his restriction was increased to two weeks with a further warning that he would be on a very tight leash. Harry had remained in time-out until lunch, which was eaten in almost complete silence, after lunch he was told to study and did so without complaint until it was time for Severus to go to the order meeting. He had begged to go, but, not only would Tobias not have let him since he was grounded, but, Severus had ardently refused to take him. The whole ordeal had almost turned out like earlier, but Severus kept jumping in before Harry could argue and get into even more trouble. This did not go unnoticed by Tobias.

At headquarters Severus delivered Harry's letters to his friends and answered everyone's questions as to how the boy was. Severus told them about making the counter-potion and gave them a general idea as to what Harry looked like now. Eventually, the meeting ended and Severus returned home. As he apperated into the ally once more and began walking through the darkened streets it began to rain...hard. Severus tilted his head down in keep the rain out of his eyes and in doing so ran right into something which gave a slight yelp followed by a thud. Severus couldn't really tell what it was he ran into immediately, because he was laying on the sidewalk having slipped when he had collided with whatever it was he had smashed into.

Getting up off the ground Severus noticed books lying all around him and a half-empty box that had tipped over. Next to the box was a woman, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties, with long brown hair coming to about mid-back. As she stood up noticing the array her books where in her bright blue eyes flashed dangerously and, though she were about five inches shorter them him, got right up in his face.

"Why don't you watch where you're going you imbecile! Look what you did to my books!" she immediately began picking them up hoping they weren't to water damaged. "How could you not have seen me I wasn't exactly hiding...oh, my books."

"You're the one that ran into to me you clumsy, hag." Severus through back, not used to anyone treating him like a first year.

With her books back in the box and the box held in front of her, she turned back to Severus, so they were standing face to face. Severus prepared himself for what he was sure would be a yelling match, but the woman surprised him.

"What is the point in losing my temper? What could I possibly gain from doing so?"

Severus raised an eyebrow, realizing she was talking to herself not to him.

The woman, now completely soaked through, took several deep breaths before speaking once again. "I'm sorry about that, I just have a tendency to get overly protective of my books and..." whatever else she was going to say was cut off as the soaking wet cardboard box filled books gave way and all her books where once again on the ground. She immediately tried to pick them all up again, but couldn't possible carry all at once.

Noticing her dilemma Severus, without conscious thought, bent down to help her, once they had all the books up he followed her into what appeared to be a small store, but was empty except for some boxes. Once inside he sat the books down on the floor seeing no other place to put them. She did the same, and then once again turned around to face him. Inside with the lights on Severus got a much better look at her. As he noticed before she had brown hair and blue eyes, but was nothing out of the ordinary beauty wise. In fact her nose was a little large for her face, but not overly so, and it was practically ignorable once she smiled.

"Hello," she said, smile firmly in place, though she had water dripping off her in buckets, "my name's Serenity. I really am sorry for snapping at you out there, and thank you for helping be with my books."

"Yes, well," Severus cleared his throat, "next time watch where you're going." With that Severus was out the door and once again on his way home.

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

Once home Severus immediately went to change cloths. He emerged minutes latter in sweatpants and a slightly oversized T-shirt. His father was sitting in the armchair reading as Severus sat down close to him on the couch.

"How'd the meeting go?" questioned Tobias marking the page of his book and sitting it down on the coffee table.

"Good. Harry in bed?"

"He's in bed, tucked in, and hopefully will soon be asleep."

"You say that every night, you know," Severus smirked obviously amused.

"Rest assured that by the time you were two I would say it every night to your mother after you were in bed, and after she left it took me over a year to stop saying it out loud. I thought it, though, every time I left your room after tucking you in. With you here, now, I can say it out loud again."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You're still coming into the village with us tomorrow right?"

"You're still going to take him shopping even though he's grounded?"

Tobias shrugged, "Normally I wouldn't, but incase you haven't noticed the boy doesn't have a single article of clothing fit for a cat to sleep on. Besides were only getting clothing nothing else."

"In that case I suppose I'm still coming with you." Severus paused for a moment not sure how to continue. "Dad, please, I know he's a handful and that you thought you were done dealing with teenage boys and all the drama that comes with them, but, please, take Harry in. He needs someone like you."

"Like me?" questioned Tobias, curious as to what his son meant and not bothering to assuage his son's concerns.

"Someone who has rules for him then makes sure he abides by those rules and that his actions have consequences." Severus paused again before continuing in almost a whisper. "He really is a lot like me, Dad, and I don't want to see him make the kind of decisions I made."

"In case you've forgotten, you did have me, from the moment you were born, and you still made bad decisions."

Severus nodded his head, "Yes, but it was because of you that I regretted them and turned against the Dark Lord. If it hadn't been for you, I would still be a death eater. Do you remember what you told me when you found out I had taken the Mark?"

Tobias raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Among other things, you said sometimes it isn't about the consequences, but what you do after you realize you screwed up."

It was silent for a couple more minutes the only sounds were the thunder that seemed much closer then it had been twenty minutes ago.

"I'm going to take him in, Sev," Tobias finally replied reverting back to Severus's childhood nickname. "I don't think there was every a doubt really. I know, I said that I didn't really want to go through raising a kid again, but I doubt any parent ever does. The only difference now is that I didn't have nine months to prepare myself for it."

Suddenly it thundered ferociously followed almost immediately by a huge clap of lightening causing the lights to flicker on and off. Before either man could say anything else the pattering of feet was heard on the hardwood floor and very soon Harry appeared at the end of the hall rubbing his eyes in a very child like manner.

"You're supposed to be in bed," said Tobias somewhat firmly, but not harshly.

"The storm woke me up," and a nightmare Harry said the last part to himself. He was not yet ready to admit that waking up from a nightmare and hearing a thunderstorm had scared him. Once again, it thundered loudly, followed by more lightening causing the lights to go out and not come back on.

"Oh, well," said Tobias, "I suppose we all need to go to bed anyway. Come on, Harry, let's get you back to bed." Tobias got up out of the chair. "Severus, next to you, in the draw on the end table is a flashlight, could you get it please."

Ruffling and rummaging could be heard as Severus searched for the flashlight. Eventually he found it and turned it on illuminating some of the room. Getting up Severus and Tobias began making their way towards the hallway where Harry was still standing.

"Do we have to?" asked Harry a certain amount of nervousness in his voice. "Can't we wait until the lights come back on?"

"No," answered Tobias, "Now, what's wrong? You're not afraid of the dark are you?" Tobias asked this teasingly, but noticing his son's bowed head and posture he began to regret it. "Harry?"

"It's not the dark. I don't mind it being dark, but I don't like thunderstorms." Harry's voice had begun to crack slightly and he felt like finding a hole to crawl into. He wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt attain some comfort.

Tobias sighed and closed the distance between himself and the suddenly very young child, his very young child, wrapping his arms around him and drawing him close. Harry stiffened at first, but soon relaxed and wrapped his arms around his father burying his face in the man's chest. It was then Harry felt it. He couldn't really describe the feeling. It was similar to when he first held his wand, a sort of warmth that traveled through his body then faded slightly, but its echo remained. I was like magic. Was this what it felt like to be held by a parent? Harry suddenly felt tears coming to his eyes, the ones that escaped were soaked up by Tobias's shirt.

Harry wasn't the only one to feel it. Tobias also felt it. The same feeling as when he held a newborn Severus for the first time. The almost overwhelming idea that the child he was holding depended on him for so much and that he wasn't sure he could provide. A knowledge that he would do anything to protect the boy in his arms. Any doubts he had formerly had about taking care of Harry disappeared. Then he heard it.

In a cracking voice giving away the tears he was trying so hard to fight back, Harry whispered, "Dad."

Tobias just held him tighter, and after swallowing soothed, "I'm here, son, there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here."

After a couple of minutes, Severus ran out of patience. "Harry," questioned Severus gently, "Why don't you like storms?"

Harry's breathing quickened slightly at this question and he stayed silent for a long time before answering, "Promise you won't tell?"

"We promise won't tell anyone that you're afraid of storms. Right, Severus?"

"Promise,"

Harry stayed silent for a moment longer before answering. "When I was little, like five or six I think, Aunt Petunia sent me outside to work on the garden and it started to rain and storm, but she wouldn't let me inside because I was covered in mud, so I had to stay out in the shed all night and the storm was really bad. And I was so scared." By the end Harry's voice was cracking again and Tobias could feel his shirt getting wet from tears. He vowed that the Dursley's would pay, but for now he had to take care of his boy.

Placing a kiss on Harry's head Tobias rubbed circles on his back with one hand and merely held him close with the other. Tobias held him for several minutes before pushing him back slightly. "Harry, stay here with Severus for a second while I grab a couple things, alright?"

Harry nodded, keeping his head down.

Severus reached out a hand and placed it on the back of Harry's neck messaging gently and pulling Harry towards him slightly. Harry leaned into the hand glad for any kind of physical contact as the thunderstorm raged outside. Tobias went to his room first to get another flashlight then to the linen closet where he grabbed three pillows and a couple of blankets. Going back to his sons, he led them over to the couch then taking a seat at the end placed a pillow on his lap and had Harry lie down. The couch was long enough that Severus could take a seat on the other end after covering Harry with a blanket and handing a pillow to his father.

Tobias talked soothingly about nothing in particular until Harry fell asleep. Surprisingly, enough, though it was Severus's light snoring he heard first before Harry followed him into Morpheus's realm. Soon after Harry fell asleep, his hand clasping the leg of Tobias's sweatpants, Tobias leaned his head back and allowed himself to drift off as well.

When Tobias woke up the morning after the storm Harry was still asleep, but Severus was no longer on the couch. Tobias assumed that his oldest son was making breakfast when he got a whiff something that smelled suspiciously like pancakes. Looking down at his youngest son he swore to deal with the Dursley's soon. Running his hand through the dark silky mess of hair on his lap Tobias began to wake Harry up.

"Harry, Harry, come on, lad, its time to wakeup. Harry..."

Eventually Harry's eyes fluttered open. He didn't really want to get up; it had been the first night in a long time he had gotten anything resembling a goodnight's sleep. Usually after a nightmare he couldn't get back to sleep and if he did he usually had more nightmares. It took him a moment to remember the events from last night. Once memory returned he blushed and sat up on the couch avoiding his father's eyes.

"That's never happened before," Harry felt inclined to say. "Normally, storms bother me, but never like that. I don't know why I reacted that way."

Tobias opened his mouth to say something, but was beat to it by Severus, who had appeared in the archway between the kitchen and living room. "Before, you didn't have anyone who, you felt, cared enough to take care of you. Now, that you have that, emotions and reactions that you felt you couldn't afford to express are coming out. Think of it as a defense mechanism. Before this summer if you had every felt truly scared, like last night, of a storm what would you have done? Who would you have gone to for comfort?"

Harry thought about the question for a moment. He defiantly wouldn't have gone to Ron or Hermione, they were his best friends and all, but he couldn't imagine either of them truly comforting him. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were Ron's parents and had seven kids of their own to deal with. He wouldn't tell Sirius, because his godfather would probably tell him he was being childish and start comparing him to his fa...James Potter. As Harry went through the list of everyone he knew he couldn't think of a single person he would trust with this information. Looking back at Severus he finally gave an answer, "I don't know. I guess, that's why it's good that it never bothered me before."

"Having a parent, Harry, means you have someone to watch over you, protect you, and punish you if necessary. Sometimes, especially as a teenager, it can get annoying, for you, even more so because you've never had anyone to take care of you before. However, though it seems bothersome at times it's that unconditional love and caring that you'll seek out when you can't handle something by yourself." Severus hadn't moved from the archway as he said this, but then began to slowly move away from the archway back to the kitchen. "Since you two finally decided to wake up I suggest you come eat breakfast before it gets cold."

Tobias rolled his eyes, but got up off the couch stretching a bit as he did so followed by Harry. Once in the kitchen Tobias and Harry took a seat at the table as Severus placed two plates of pancakes and one of sausage on the table.

"What's that?" asked Harry gesturing to the plate of pancakes with small brown chunks in them.

"Honestly, boy," replied Severus with a hint of a smile, "haven't you ever seen chocolate chip pancakes before?"

"You made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?" Tobias looked at his son disapprovingly. "So, any nutrition those pancakes may have had just got canceled out by chocolate, as though the syrup wasn't bad enough."

Severus shrugged and quickly put a bit of food in his mouth to keep himself from smiling.

Harry wasn't even trying not to smile.

Tobias rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and looked down at his plate determined not to smile.

Once breakfast was finished and Harry was done studying, Tobias, Severus, and Harry left the house and walked into the village. Tobias was sure to tell Harry that they were only going into town for cloths, that he would remain with him at all times and, overall, made it clear this was not intended to be a fun trip.

Once in town they went to several different shops and Tobias bought Harry a wide assortment of clothing, mostly for the summer assuring him that before he went back to school they would find some winter cloths for him. Not only did he get new shirts and trousers and shoes, but, to his slight embarrassment, shorts as well. Harry had the privilege of carrying most of it.

It was about an hour after lunch, at which time they hadn't eaten, when as they came out of a shop, Tobias stopped them. "Well, Harry, you've been extremely well behaved today, so while your still grounded, I don't see why we can't eat a late lunch in town. After one quick stop to get you a couple other things we'll grab lunch."

"If you don't mind," said Severus, "there are a couple of things I need to pick up as well, so why don't we meet back at the pub in an hour?"

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Tobias, "let's go, Harry." Tobias led Harry down the street toward another shop.

Severus released a sigh. He loved his father, but spending so much time with him and his new brother had taken their toll. Today had been especially taxing. He really just needed some time alone. Severus turned around to head in the opposite direction of his father and ran smack into something with enough force to send him stumbling backwards and the something tumbling to the ground.

Once Severus regained his bearings he realized he ran into the same woman from last night in almost that same place as last night. And like last night she had been carrying a box of books that were now on the ground. Severus rolled his eyes and helped the woman to her feet then helped her pick up her books.

"We really must stop running into each other like this," she commented as they collected the books.

"Why? Afraid of what people might say?" Severus asked his voice fill with sarcasm.

"No, I'm afraid for the welfare of my books," she stated as though surprised anyone could think otherwise. "And my arse," she said in a whisper that Severus was sure he wasn't supposed to hear.

Maybe it was the fact they were both kneeling on the ground and she had her before mentioned arse pointed in his direction, but he couldn't help he next comment. "It looks fine from here," Severus honestly couldn't believe he said that out loud, but once said could not be taken back.

"Excuse me?" she said, it was obvious she had heard him just didn't believe what she had heard, as she rose to her feet.

Severus also stood up both arms filled with books. The box holding them had not survived this time either. "I believe you heard correctly. Now if I recall your shop is this way, correct?" Severus gestured to door not to far away.

She merely nodded, her eyes slightly wide, a mischievous smile playing at her lips.

Once inside the shop, Serenity placed herself between Severus and the door blocking his only escape route. "I don't believe we were properly introduced last night, I don't recall catching your name."

"That's because I didn't give it," said Severus coming to stand directly in front of her, an act that would make most people feel, at the very least, intimidated.

Serenity, however, didn't seem the least bit bothered by this, "Well then what is your name?"

Severus resisted the urge to smile. "Severus, Severus Snape."

"Well, Severus," Serenity reached out her hand, "as you recall, I'm Serenity, Serenity Hood."

It was silent for a moment as Serenity stood there hand outstretched waiting on Severus to shake it, while Severus remained still making no move to take her hand. If Serenity felt nervous about this, she didn't show it and merely left her hand outstretched silently waiting on Severus. After a minute or two Severus slowly reached out and clasped her hand. This action elicited a huge smile from Serenity and Severus found he had difficultly not smiling himself.

"If I may ask," said Severus once they had released hands, "what are you doing with so many books?"

"Oh," Serenity moved from in front of the door once again allowing Severus access to the exit. "I'm opening a book shop. Apparently, there hasn't been one in this town for about five years."

Severus nodded his head but glanced around the shop disbelievingly. Sure there were several boxes of books piled in a corner, but not nearly enough to fill a shop. Not only that, but there were no shelves to speak of anywhere in sight.

"I know what your thinking," said Serenity turning away from Severus, "I'll admit it doesn't look like much but once I get the rest of the books unloaded and build the shelves it will be perfect."

"You plan to build your own shelves?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, bookshelves are probably the easiest things ever to build." Serenity once again turned to face Severus. "I've already ordered the wood, it should be here the day after tomorrow. I just hope that I have all the books unloaded by then."

Severus knew he would regret it, but before he could stop himself the words had already left his mouth. "Maybe, I could assist you with that."

"No, I'm sure I'll manage, there's no need for you waste anymore of your time helping me." Serenity smiled sweetly.

Severus gave a slight shrug, "I don't really have anything else to do today."

"Well, in that case what are we waiting for." Serenity quickly led him outside and down the sidewalk a little ways where a moving van was parked filled to capacity with boxes.

As he looked at the work he had cut out for himself Severus couldn't help feeling that he had been manipulated and looked appraisingly at the woman responsible.

Two hours later Severus dropped one of the few remaining boxes in the corner with the others. Serenity wasn't far behind and dropped another box next to him.

"Well," she sighed drenched in sweat, not that Severus was much better. He had shed his outer coat earlier and his white shirt was almost transparent with perspiration. "that's the last of it. Thank you again for your help."

"There were still a few boxes left out there," commented Severus using his shirt to wipe the sweat out of his eyes.

Serenity waved her hand dismissively, "those are just some personal things that need to be taken upstairs."

"You live upstairs then?"

"Yes, I just said that didn't I?" Serenity pointed out as though talking to a small child.

Ignoring her Severus continued, "we may as well get them now then."

She shrugged but followed him outside where each grabbed a box and took them upstairs; Severus then went out and retrieved the finial box. Once back upstairs he noticed the time.

"Damn," cursed Severus.

"What?" asked Serenity concerned.

"I forgot. I was supposed to meet someone over an hour ago. I have to go."

"Oh," disappointment showed through in her voice.

Severus hesitated for a moment before speaking. "If you'd like, I'll come back Tuesday to help you build the shelves."

Serenity smiled again and nodding replied, "sounds like a plan, come by at about one and I'll have lunch ready."

Severus nodded and bidding her good day took off running towards the pub where he was supposed to meet his father and Harry.

Entering the door of the pub, Severus figured he was probably one hell of a sight to see. Drenched in sweat and breathing heavily he quickly scanned the pub for his father and brother. Seeing them at a table in a corner he made his way over to them.

"Nice of you to join us," remarked Tobias, sarcastically, taking a sip of his beer.

"I lost track of time, I apologize," said Severus sitting down heavily at the table.

"What happened to you?" asked Harry as he finished off his lunch, noticing Severus's sweaty cloths and heavy breathing that was just beginning to slow.

"There's a new book store moving into town and I accidentally ran into the proprietor, so I decided to help her unload her books and lost track of time."

"I see," said Tobias, with a raised eyebrow.

Severus raised his eyebrow in return. Then the waiter came over to take Severus's order. Severus merely asked for water that he quickly finished once it arrived then they left the pub.

Once home Harry put all his cloths away before finding his dad in the living room as he had been instructed. Severus was there as well still wearing the sweat covered shirt.

Tobias had explained to Harry that part of being grounded was doing extra chores some of which he was going to do that evening before dinner. "Well, Harry, this evening you get to clean the outside of the storage shed."

"Why does the outside need to be cleaned, it'll just get dirty again?" asked Harry not really complaining just curious.

"Because you're grounded and you need meaningless chores to do."

"Oh," said Harry unable to keep the slight scowl off his face.

"Severus, is going to help you a bit this afternoon, but you are to do most of the work. Understand?"

"Yes, sir,"

Tobias gestured to the door, "Well then I suggest you get started. Its four thirty now and dinner is in two and a half hours."

Severus led Harry outside to the shed. The shed was actually fairly large, it was more like a garage then a shed. Inside Severus led Harry to a large bottle of cleaning liquid and a smaller, strange looking bottle. The strange looking bottle was about the size of your average squirt bottle but the top had two sides. One side appeared to be able to screw into something while the other resembled a high-powered water hose nozzle. Severus instructed Harry to pour the cleaner into this bottle, until it was half-full, and to bring both with him back outside being sure to close the door behind them.

Outside, Severus showed Harry were the water hose was and how to connect it to the, now partially filled, bottle of cleaning liquid. That done Severus demonstrated how to use the device to clean the outside walls. Severus then let Harry take over and merely supervised.

After a few minutes Harry ventured to begin a conversation, "So was she pretty?"

"Excuse me?" asked Severus raising an eyebrow.

"The bookstore lady that you helped. Was she pretty?" repeated Harry turning a bit to look at Severus and consequently missing the building and watering the grass.

"Watch what you're doing," Severus snapped gesturing towards the building and Harry turned back around.

"Well, was she?" Harry was clearly determined not to let this drop.

"That's hardly any of your concern, boy."

"She must have been," said Harry conclusively, "otherwise you wouldn't have helped her for so long and missed lunch."

"Suit yourself," Severus shrugged, determined not to get into this conversation.

After about twenty minutes Harry finished one side of the shed.

"I trust you no longer need my supervision?" asked Severus raising an eyebrow, but not waiting long enough for an answer. "therefore, I'll be leaving you to finish your task." With that Severus walked away heading towards the house.

Inside the kitchen Severus found his dad going over some papers. Getting a drink out of the fridge he sat down at the table across from Tobias.

"Harry, cleaning the shed?" asked Tobias looking up from the papers.

"Yes, sir," said Severus.

"I want the Dursley's brought up on child abuse charges," Tobias said with conviction.

"I'll talk to Dumbledore about it. There might be a problem with the ministry. If custody is taken away from the Dursley's the ministry will try to get custody of him. Dumbledore doesn't believe that they'll let the boy savior live with a muggle if they can help it. The only reason they had to with the Dursleys is the blood wards, but since it was Lily Potter's blood it doesn't really affect him staying with you. Dumbledore tried to use the wards this summer, but without a blood relative of Lily's the protections that she gave him are failing."

"There must be a way, Severus."

"I can bring it up at the next order meeting, but I can't make any promises."

"Then I'm coming with you." Tobias sat back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest.

"Excuse, me?" asked Severus with disbelief as he looked at his father.

"I believe you heard correctly," Tobias didn't change his tone which would have made any Hogwarts student, who had sat in a potions class with the infamous Professor Snape, shudder.

"Dad," began Severus, shaking his head, "you can't the..."

"At least, part of the meeting will be concerning Harry, correct?"

"Yes, sir, but..."

"As his father, I deserve to know what's going on concerning him. I will not sit back and let a bunch of people, most of which I haven't even met, make decisions regarding my son. I will be at that order meeting Severus or, as his father, I can and will pull that boy out of Hogwarts so fast Dumbledore's head will spin."

Severus closed his mouth once he realized it was hanging open. He knew his father was serious. Sighing deeply and leaning back in his chair he responded, "yes, sir."

Tuesday morning arrived like every morning with Tobias waking Harry for breakfast. After breakfast Harry studied for a while in the kitchen with Severus. After he was done studying Tobias handed him a list of chores to be done for the day. Harry didn't complain, but didn't look thrilled either, and Tobias was rather impressed that he didn't have to threaten Harry with more punishment in order to get him to do his chores.

As twelve thirty rolled around Severus began putting away his papers before he went to meet Serenity.

"Done for today?" questioned Tobias as he entered the kitchen and began making lunch.

"Yes, and don't worry about setting a place for me, I'm having lunch in town," responded Severus.

"Really," purred Tobias, "with the bookstore woman I presume?"

"Not that it's really any of your business, but yes." Severus made his way out of the kitchen to put his things away before leaving.

Severus made it to the bookstore about five till one and rang the doorbell outside the shop. Knowing that he'd be working after lunch he wore a pair of old blue jeans and a blue short-sleeved collard shirt that already had some paint stains on it.

Severus could see Serenity as she came through the door leading to her apartment. She didn't appear to be too dressed up either. She was wearing a pair of old jeans also, with several holes, and a red T-shirt that was about two sizes to big and fell off her shoulders slightly.

"Severus," said Serenity opening the door and ushering him inside, "come on up, I have some sandwiches upstairs."

Severus followed her upstairs noticing the wood piled in a corner along with some paint buckets and ½ the floor was covered by plastic. Once upstairs they sat down at a small table already laden with food.

"So," began Serenity, "any place you have to be today?"

"No, madam," Severus mock bowed, "I am here to obey your every whim."

Serenity laughed, "Ah...a slave to use and abuse as I see fit. What more could a girl ask for?"

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

By eight thirty that night the two managed to build about half the shelves, but hadn't even begun to paint. Severus even found himself wondering where the day had gone. It seemed as though he had arrived only moments ago. At first he had been nervous about today, he really had no idea how to act, but soon found he didn't have to act. With Serenity he didn't have to worry about keeping up his persona just being himself. He even found himself smiling more then once.

"Well," sighed Serenity, "I, for one, am done for the day."

"We can probably have the rest done in a couple of days," replied Severus sitting down next to Serenity who had collapsed against a wall.

"Can I expect to see you tomorrow, then?"

"Same time, same place?"

Serenity beamed at him and nodded yes, leaning over to kiss his cheek lightly. Before Severus could do anything else she was up and rambling on about what they would do tomorrow.

Severus slowly stood up and looked at the clock realizing they had missed dinner. "If you'd like...we could...since we missed dinner...go out to eat?"

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to ask," teased Serenity her smile, if possible, growing even more.

Severus smiled in return something that most would consider unusual to say the least, but Serenity had begun to consider it the norm.

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

"What's the point of going to bed this early if I'm not going to be able to sleep?" asked Harry not at all tired as he crawled in bed.

"You're grounded, remember? It wouldn't be a very good punishment if you got to stay up later. Now, stop trying to stall," said Tobias as he tucked his son in with a smile.

Harry turned on his side facing away from his dad and quietly said, "yes, sir." Harry knew nothing he could say could get him out of going to bed early, but he had to try. His nightmares seemed to get worse every night.

Every, once in a while, Harry would say or do something that didn't seem quite right for a fifteen year old boy. Over the past week and a half Tobias had learned that it usually had something to do with the Dursleys. At times he would get the boy to talk about it, other times, however, nothing he did could get the boy to talk. Not wanting to bring too many bad memories up for his son before he went to sleep Tobias wished Harry goodnight, turned the light off, and left the room planning on talking to his son more about it the next day.

Once Harry was alone in his dark room, he curled up even further and in a hushed  whisper said, "Dad...please, don't go."

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

Neither of them being properly dressed to go to a nice restaurant, Severus and Serenity settled for a small all night diner on the edge of town. Severus actually held some fond memories of the place, he and some of his friends used to go there on weekends. Granted, Severus had never been overly popular, but had managed to make the occasional friend while growing up. On some weekends, after he had gotten his allowance, Severus would meet up with a friend or two and get lunch at the diner before seeing whatever movie looked good that week.

"So," began Serenity after the waitress had taken their order, "what brings you to this little town? Do you work here?"

"Actually, I'm a teacher at a boarding school in Scotland. My house burned down recently, so I came back here to stay with my father until I can make other arrangements."

"Oh, that's horrible!"

Severus shrugged, "I stay at a boarding school nine months out of the year, so there wasn't a lot inside at the time. It's more of an inconvenience then a tragedy. Besides, my father has wanted me to come visit for I couldn't tell you how long. Hopefully, after putting up with me for a few months he'll remember why he wanted me gone in the first place."

Serenity laughed, "I doubt it."

"Ah, but a man can dream can't he?"

Serenity laughed harder and Severus found himself laughing along with her before long.

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

Lazily, Harry opened his eyes, it was early, to early to get up and make breakfast, so he settled for sitting in the corner of his cupboard. Suddenly he heard footsteps pounding down the stairs. His uncle's footsteps. Harry cringed. He hadn't done anything wrong, but that never stopped his uncle from ‘disciplining' him before. The door was thrown open and he was forcefully pulled out of the cupboard by his hair.

"You pathetic, worthless, freak, we should have drowned you the moment we found you on the doorstep." Vernon screamed in Harry's face before he slammed him against the wall and started yelling at him.

Vernon's voice faded out, so Harry couldn't hear him just see him as he screamed. Then out of nowhere, Cedric appeared beside his uncle and started yelling at him to. Harry couldn't actually hear Cedric but he sunk to the floor anyway and covered his ears. Even though he couldn't understand what they were saying, he kept hearing voices echoing in his head telling him he was worthless and that it was his fault that Cedric died.

When he couldn't take it anymore with tears streaming down his face Harry did the only thing he could. He screamed.

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

"Why a bookstore?" asked Severus before putting a bit of food in his mouth.

Serenity finished chewing her food before replying, "Well, in college I majored in business, but after I finished had no idea what I wanted to do, so after several jobs,  I decided to open my own business. I've always loved to read, so I figured, why not sell books. They never go out of style, you don't have to worry about expiration dates, and it's rather peaceful to sit in a room filled with books."

Severus nodded, defiantly seeing the appeal. "What's your favorite book?"

"Oh, that's a tough one. Let's see," Serenity leaned back in her seat staring off into space before she answered, "I'd have to say...I don't know...its so hard to choose just one, but probably, as far as fiction books go, Les Miserables."

"Really," Severus raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't have thought of you as the type who enjoys reading about the most depressing, pathetic, victims of circumstance whose only aspiration is to die."

Serenity shrugged, "It is sad and all, but his characterizations are excellent. Not to mention every character in that book is connected. I don't know how Victor Hugo kept them all straight. I almost went mad the first time I read it. What about you? What's you favorite book?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Severus with a small smile.

"Try me," said Serenity confidently.

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Serenity's eyes narrowed and she studied Severus carefully, "You majored in psychology didn't you?"

Severus laughed at that, the deep sort of laugh that caused everyone nearby to laugh with you. Once he stopped laughing a smile lingered on his lips, "How ever did you guess?"

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

Tobias was reading in the living room when he heard an ear-splitting scream coming from down the hall. Jumping up, his book hitting the floor with a thud, he raced to Harry's room. Throwing the door open he went straight to his son, not bothering with the lights.

"Harry! What is it?" Tobias scanned the room for the source of his son's fear, but finding nothing he turned back to his son.

Harry was sitting upright in bed drenched in sweet and breathing heavily.

"Harry," Tobias's voice was calm and soothing as he laid a hand on top of Harry's head. Harry still not entirely aware of his surroundings saw only a hand coming towards his face and instinctively flinched, an act that did not unnoticed by Tobias. "Harry, what's wrong?"

His father's hand and voice seemed to bring Harry around a bit, but as his breathing slowed he still couldn't seem to calm down completely.

"Nothing," answered Harry, looking down at the blanket, "I just had a bad dream, but I'm good now."

Tobias knew that Harry was far from ‘good.' If the tremor in his son's voice hadn't been a dead give away then his shaking hands would have been.

"That must have been some nightmare," commented Tobias, "care to tell me about it?"

Harry shook his head, and remained silent.

Tobias sighed and pushed his son back down in bed once more tucking him in, grabbing the desk chair he pulled it over to his son's bedside and sitting down took his son's hand in his own, "Tell me."

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

"It's a beautiful night," Serenity commented looking up at the night sky. They had left the restruant and Severus was walking Serenity back to her store.

Severus looked up at the sky as well, "It does look unusually clear, in fact..." Severus trailed off and a slight smirk crossed his face.

"In fact, what?" asked Serenity, charily looking at Severus.

"Care to go for a stroll?" asked Severus with a suspiciously innocent smile on his face.

Serenity studied him for a moment, biting her bottom lip slightly and narrowing her eyes, "Sure, why not."

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

By the time Harry finished telling his father about the nightmare he was lying down in bed facing away from his dad with the covers pulled up to cover everything except his head.

Sighing Tobias walked around the bed and knelt down so he was eye level with his son.

Harry, if it were possible, pulled the covers closer around him and avoided looking his father in the eyes.

Tobias ran a hand through his son's dark hair, knowing from experience that there was no point in forcing the boy to talk. "Harry, I'm glad you told me." Tobias continued to card his hand through his son's hair concerned about the far away look in the boy's dark fathomless eyes. "But you and I both know that's not the entire story."

Harry's eyes widened and he briefly looked up to meet his father's intense gaze before once more lowering his eyes.

"Harry," Tobias spoke gently, "please, tell me what else is wrong."

Eventually, after several minutes of silence, Tobias sighed, removing his hand from Harry's hair, and stood up. He began walking around the bed, not intending to leave his son, but planning to move the chair to the other side of the bed so he could sit down and still see his son's face.

"Dad," whispered Harry thinking his father was leaving him. He wanted his dad to stay with him, but was afraid to ask. He didn't want his ‘new' father to think of him as some stupid little kid that was afraid of a few bad dreams. Harry's fear and exhaustion outweighed his embarrassment though.

Moving the chair first Tobias sat back down and began rubbing the boy's arm. "Yes, Harry?"

Harry pulled the blanket up even further, practically covering his head before whispering, "Please, don't leave me."

A part of Tobias wanted to go find the sons of bitches responsible for his son's actions and slaughter them in the most painful ways possible; however, Tobias pushed his anger aside in favor of caring for his son. "I'm not going to leave you Harry. I'm right here. I promise I won't leave you."

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

"Amazing isn't it?" asked Severus standing behind Serenity one hand on either of her shoulders.

Severus had led her through the town past the docks to a cliff that looked out over the ocean. The cliff was steep but only about twenty feet high. The dark sky seemed to stretch out forever and it was almost impossible to tell were sky ended and ocean began.

"Gorgeous," whispered Serenity as she felt Severus's hands trail down her arms then come to rest on her waist. She leaned back into him enjoying the scene, a smile coming to her lips.

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

"Are you afraid to go back to sleep?" asked Tobias in a moment of inspiration. Tobias stopped rubbing his son's arm, but left his hand lying on the bed directly in his line of sight.

Harry uncurled slightly and reached out taking Tobias's hand in his own. He began studying it, like a small child would, comparing it to his own and rubbing his fingers across the calluses and scars.

After a few more minutes Harry spoke, "I haven't been able to sleep since the third task. Every night, I have nightmares usually about Cedric, sometimes Voldemort's there and then like tonight my uncle's there. I usually wake up before I scream, but I couldn't tonight and I can't go back to sleep after a nightmare, except..."

"Except what?" asked Tobias, extracting his hand from his son's grasp and pushing Harry's hair out of his face.

Harry blushed but continued, "Except that night it stormed. I woke up from a nightmare and heard the storm so I went into the living room where you were. After I went to sleep on the couch next to you I didn't have any nightmares."

Both were silent for a moment before Tobias got up out of the chair and pushing Harry over slightly, got into the bed leaning back against the headboard. He pulled Harry close so the boy's head rested on his chest. "It's all right, Harry, I'm hear, go to sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow."

Harry closed eyes, fisted his hand in his father's shirt, and buried his head in the man's chest. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep feeling safe and... loved.

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

"How'd you find this place?" asked Serenity.

They were sitting on the edge of the cliff Severus had his arms wrapped around Serenity who was leaning into him.

Severus shrugged, "I used to come here as a kid to play. During the summer we would jump off and swim."

Serenity twisted around to face him, "Isn't that dangerous?"

Severus smiled, "My father thought so which is probably why he forbid from playing here."

"I see," said Serenity turning back around, "so what did your father do to you when he found out."

"What makes you think he found out?" replied Severus.

Serenity once more twisted to face him with an eyebrow cocked, "He didn't?" Severity's tone held disbelief.

"Yes, of course, he found out," Severus laughed slightly, "I couldn't get away with anything, with that man as my father. I was coming up the path (I was about twelve), so I could jump off again, when my arm was suddenly grabbed and my father's hand landed, hard, on my backside. I still have no idea how he found out I was playing there. After he ordered my friends out of the water and home, in a true Naval Officer fashion, mind you, he marched me home and put me in time-out until I thought my knees would buckle. I was also grounded for two weeks."

"Nice," Serenity nodded her head, "you deserved it."

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

Once Tobias was sure Harry was asleep he slowly got up tucking his son in securely. He pushed the boy's hair away from his face praying that his son wouldn't have any more nightmares. Leaving the room, he noticed how late it was and entered his own room to go to bed.

Not long after Tobias had turned in, the back door opened and Severus quietly made his way to his room. He had walked Serenity home before coming home himself and it was quite late. With a small smile, he went to bed looking forward to the following day.

As the days past by, Severus was a frequent visitor to Serenity's store. As he predicted it had only taken them two days to finish building the shelves and painting them. After working for a day, Severus and Serenity would, usually, go out to eat or just go out to the cliff where they talked. Before arranging the shelves though, Serenity decided that she wanted to paint the room as well. Severus, of course, had volunteered to help.

Tobias hadn't told anyone about Harry's nightmares, per Harry's request, but he planned to mention it when he went to the order meeting a week from Saturday. He honestly thought his son had been exaggerating when he said he had nightmares every night, but soon found that that wasn't the case. The day after Tobias had discovered Harry's nightmares he pulled his son aside for a talk. During this talk, he made Harry promise that whenever he had a nightmare he would come find him. Sure enough, that night, Harry had a nightmare, but had tried to go back to sleep instead of finding his dad. When he woke up again from another nightmare he woke his dad up. After Harry woke him up, Tobias took the boy back to his room where he stayed with him until he was sure the boy was asleep and wouldn't have any more nightmares.

During breakfast on Saturday morning, the phone rang.

"Hello," Severus answered since he was closest to the phone, "yes, here he is." Severus handed the phone to his father.

"Hello" said Tobias, getting up from the table and taking the phone into the living room.

Severus and Harry continued to eat breakfast in a companionable silence, until Tobias came back into the kitchen several minutes later.

"That was Timothy Hurst," said Tobias sitting down at the table once more, "the son of a friend of mine from the Navy, his father just died, and I need to be there."

Severus looked at his father, concerned. "When are you leaving?"

Tobias smirked a bit, Severus always did cut right point, "This afternoon, I'll be gone till Tuesday. I trust you'll look after your brother?"

Harry's head snapped up at this and his eyes widened as he look from Tobias to Severus. Yes, he and the potions master had been getting along better, but they were hardly best mates. He didn't know what would happen if Tobias left them alone together for an extended amount of time.

Severus's thoughts hadn't been too different from those of Harry's, which was obvious from his wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"What?" asked Tobias, looking from one son to the other. "He isn't coming with me," Tobias remarked to Severus, gesturing to Harry, "and you're a teacher, you're more then capable of looking after your little brother for a couple of days, so what's the problem?"

Severus and Harry exchanged a look, before Severus swallowed hard and looked back at his father opening his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He quickly glanced at Harry, before answering his father, "No problem, I'll keep an eye on him."

Harry's eyes widened even more hearing Severus's response.

Tobias raised an eyebrow at Severus not expecting him to acquiesce so easily.

"Are you sure you don't want any company, though? We could come with you and..." Harry suggested.

"I'm sure, Harry, I'll be fine. Severus, just remember he's still grounded, so..."

"I remember quite well, all the regulations for being grounded," interrupted Severus raising an eyebrow at his father.

Tobias chuckled, "You should, considering how often you managed to get yourself in trouble."

Severus rolled his eyes.

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

After Harry finished studying, he went to find his father, who was in his room packing for his trip. Harry came in and sat down on the bed watching as his father filled the suitcase.

"Don't you have some chores to do?" asked Tobias not stopping what he was doing.

Harry shrugged, "Are you sure I can't come with you?"

Tobias stopped packing and went to stand in front of Harry. "Yes, I'm sure,"

Harry nodded his head looking down at the floor, "Do I have to stay with Severus?"

Tobias rolled his eyes, "who else would you stay with?"

Harry shrugged.

"It'll be alright Harry," Tobias paused for a moment. "Severus is very stubborn, an obviously genetic trait that I passed down to both my sons."

Harry blushed slightly, but didn't say anything.

"Once Severus has formed an opinion about something or someone, it takes a lot to change his mind. He's already started to change some of his opinions about you, hopefully, during the next few days he'll change more. Besides, if he does get to out of hand just let me know and I'll straighten him out for you."

Harry smiled a bit, but still didn't look thrilled, "Yes, sir,"

Tobias sighed, "Good, now get to work, you have a lot to do today."

"Yes, sir," said Harry getting up off the bed and making his way outside to mow the lawn.

Tobias messaged his temples, before shaking his head and resuming his packing. Then Severus came in the room and sat down on the bed in the same place Harry had been moments before. Tobias nearly laughed, but settled for a smirk when his back was towards his son. "Something I can do for you?"

Severus shrugged. "Just came to see if you needed a hand or anything."

"No, I think I'm all right." Tobias continued to pack waiting, just as he had with Harry, for his son to voice what was really on his mind.

"What exactly am I supposed to do with him? I don't know anything about taking care of children."

Tobias stopped packing and came to stand in front of his son. "Severus you're a teacher, at a boarding school, you take care of children all the time."

"Yes, but this is different."

Tobias rolled his eyes, "Feed him three times a day, make sure he finishes the list of chores I gave him, don't let him do anything dangerous, which won't be to hard since he's grounded, and put him to bed on time. It's only for a few days I'm sure you can handle it."

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you, I can watch him while you're with..."

"No, Severus. He's staying here and you're taking care of him." Tobias got up off the bed and began packing once more.

Severus scowled, but didn't comment.

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

Right after lunch Tobias was standing outside the driver's side door of his car, saying bye to Harry while Severus put his things in the backseat.

"Do what your brother says. No mouthing off and remember that just because I'm not here, it doesn't mean you're not grounded. Behave. I promise, I'll be back soon." Tobias pulled his son into a hug, just as Severus came over to where they were standing. After Harry pulled away, Tobias turned his attention to his oldest son, with a mischievous smile. "Don't kill your brother. No calling him names and remember that just because I'm not here; it doesn't mean you can make him too miserable. Behave. I promise, I'll be back soon." Though Tobias had managed to keep a straight face as he said this to his son, Harry was unable to do so and was chuckling madly beside his father. Severus merely raised an eyebrow. Tobias pulled him into a brief hug before getting into the car and pulling away.

Severus and Harry were left standing next to each other watching as their father drove out of sight.

"So," began Harry still watching his father's car, "now what?"

Just as Tobias's car disappeared over the hill Severus turned his head to look at his little brother, "Now... we pray." Severus walked back to the house leaving a bemused Harry behind.

After a few minutes Harry went inside as well where he heard his older brother on the phone.

"...I can't..."

"...I'm babysitting..."

"...my little brother..."

"...he's fourteen..."

"...I can't..."

"...he's grounded..."

"...my father would slaughter me if I left him to his own devices..."

Severus hadn't noticed Harry presences in the house yet as he talked on the phone. Harry stood close to the door listening to his brother talk, to whom he assumed to be Serenity, on the other end.

"...I suppose..."

"...are you sure..."

"...I don't think that's a good idea..."

Severus noticed Harry's presence and was looking at him as talked on the phone.

"...If you're sure?..."

"...alright, we're on our way." Severus hung up the phone and began walking towards the door. "Come," was all he said to Harry as he walked by.

"Where are we going," asked Harry, hurrying to keep up with his brother.

"To help Serenity paint the bookstore,"

"Okay, not that I'm complaining, but dad said..."

"I know very well what he said, but you have several day's to do the chores he gave and the list isn't that long, so one day doing something else won't hurt. Besides I double he really cares about what chores you're doing as long as you're being worked to the brink of exhaustion. After all, you're grounded, as long as you don't enjoy...pretty much anything, then where you do chores doesn't really matter. "

Harry was silent for a few minutes, "this sucks."

"Now, you're starting to understand," Severus gave his brother a small smile.

Harry scowled.

When they arrived at the bookstore, the door was open and Serenity was setting everything up to paint. When she saw Severus and Harry she smiled, and Harry was rather surprised to see Severus smile back.

"Severus," Serenity's smile seemed to grow as she acknowledged his presents before turning her attention to Harry. "You must be Harry," Serenity reached out to shake his hand, "I've heard a lot about you, its nice to finally put a face with a name."

Harry released Serenity's hand, "Its nice to meet you, as well." Harry then turned to look at Severus with a small scowl, "What exactly did you tell her about me?"

Serenity answered for Severus, "Mostly good things, with the occasional brotherly comment regarding your intelligence level."

Harry glared at Severus who had to admit that the boy was catching on fast. "If you're not careful, with that look, people are going to start getting us confused."

Serenity laughed as Harry's glare intensified and Severus raised an eyebrow the corners of his mouth rising slightly.

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

Several hours later, Harry was beginning to understand why Severus had been spending so much time with Serenity. She managed to make what should have been a chore seem...well...not chore like. Painting the entire room was hardly easy, but with all three of them working on it, it hadn't taken to long. By six that afternoon the painting was done and Severus and Harry were getting ready to leave.

"Start walking home I'll catch up," Severus told Harry.

Harry raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit sending his brother a knowing look, then dodged as his older brother made a grab for him.

"Brat!" yelled Severus after Harry, who was running home.

Serenity laughed, "You two are so alike it's scary."

Severus scowled.

Serenity chuckled, and moved closer him wrapping her arms around his waist. Severus put his arms around her as well before leaning forward and kissing her lightly.

"I have to go take care of some legal paperwork and everything tomorrow and I plan on visiting my sister and her family while I'm away."

"How long will you be gone," Severus still had his arms around Serenity.

"Till Thursday,"

"When you come back, I'll take you to dinner."

"and a movie?" asked Serenity with a teasing smile.

"If you wish,"

Serenity smiled again before pulling Severus's head down to hers and kissing him passionately.

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

Harry was sitting on the couch when Severus returned home.

"And where have you been?" asked Harry just as Severus walked through the door. Truthfully, Severus had arrived home just twenty minutes after Harry, but he felt it was his duty to give his big brother a hard time.

"None, of your business, brat," replied Severus almost playfully as he passed by Harry towards the kitchen to start on dinner. "You could help, you know."

Harry got up off the couch and followed Severus into the kitchen where the two brothers started making dinner.

After they finished eating and the kitchen was cleaned up, they both went into the living room to read for a while before Harry had to go to bed.

"What dad doesn't know won't hurt us," Harry pointed out when Severus reminded him that he was in fact still grounded and had to go to bed early.

"Harry, please, just go to bed. Regardless of how much you argue you'll still whined-up in bed, it's just a matter of you going to bed now and not getting into more trouble or you putting up a fight and getting into more trouble."

"Fine," said Harry getting up and practically stomping all the way to his room.

Severus just rolled his eyes before opening his book again.

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

A couple hours after Severus had gone to bed the door of Harry's room opened slowly and Harry silently made his way to the kitchen in the dark. It amazed him that although it had only been a few days since his dad had found out about his nightmares, now that his dad was gone, he couldn't sleep knowing that if he had a nightmare no one would be there when he woke up. Getting a glass of water Harry sat down at the table intending to keep himself awake for the whole night regardless of how tired he was.

Harry almost felt like crying. It didn't make any sense he just meet his dad he shouldn't feel like this; like some baby going through separation anxiety. Harry put his head down on the table, so he was more comfortable. He was fourteen years old, almost fifteen he shouldn't need his dad to tuck him in and keep the nightmares at bay. Harry's eyes felt so heavy. What would his friends say if they saw how he was acting? He would never be able to face them if they found out. It wouldn't hurt to rest his eyes for a second. What about Sirius? Maybe, he should...

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

Severus sat bolt upright in his bed, instinctively drawing his wand. For a second he remained motionless trying to figure out what had woken him up. Then he remembered; he had heard a scream. Quickly getting out of bed he ran to Harry's room, but didn't see him there. He quickly but quietly made his way into the living room, wand at ready, pushing his panic at not finding his brother aside. His mind raced with possibilities as to what could have happened. Suddenly, in the deafening silence a crash was heard. Severus turned towards the kitchen straining his ears in an attempt to hear any voices. Hearing nothing, Severus eased his way into the kitchen and saw nothing. It was empty, except for a chair that had been knocked over nothing was out of place. Deeming it safe Severus turned on the lights planning to quickly search for any trace of his brother before contacting Dumbledore. When the lights came on Severus heard it, a whimper coming from the large walk-in pantry. Wand still in hand he slowly opened the door only to find Harry, curled into a ball in the corner, a broken jar not to far away.

Still not putting his wand away Severus spoke to the trembling boy, "Harry, are you alright? What happened?"

Harry didn't say anything, just sat and continued to tremble a far away look in his eyes.

"Harry?" Severus cautiously crept closer until he was beside his brother. Placing a hand on his brother's shoulder seemed to bring him around a bit so Severus tried again. "Harry, what happened?"

Harry turned his head to look at Severus who for the first time noticed that Harry's face was streaked with tears, "I want dad."

Suddenly Severus realized that they weren't in danger and that his heart rate could return to normal. Whatever had caused Harry to scream wasn't an external danger, but an internal one. "He's not here, Harry, remember? He had to go visit a friend."

Harry's face scrunched up, but he fought back the fresh wave of tears that threatened to fall. "I need him though."

"Harry, what happened? Why are you in the pantry?" asked Severus sitting down on the floor.

Harry was silent for several minutes. Did he really want to tell his brother? Yes, of course he did. The real question was did he really want to tell his potions master, who had made his life at Hogwarts miserable. Part of him knew they were the same person, but Harry couldn't help but to see them as almost two separate people; similar but different. "Will you be nicer, this year?"

If Severus was surprised at this change in the subject, he didn't show it. "What do you mean?"

"At Hogwarts, will you be nicer to me and my friends now that you're not a Death Eater anymore and that we're brothers?" Harry looked up at Severus, his dark eyes acting as windows to his soul. Severus could see that Harry needed the answer to be yes. He, suddenly, regretted every harsh word he had ever spoken to he boy.

Severus slowly moved his hand from the boy's upper arm, where he had been rubbing it in an attempt to comfort the distraught child, to his head where he pushed the dark locks out of the boy's face, unconsciously copying his father's movements. "There will be several changes this coming school year, that I promise, and while I will not show outright favoritism to any student, I will not be as harsh to you and your friends as I have been in the past."

Harry slowly nodded his head before breaking eye contact with his brother.

"Harry, why are you in the pantry? What happened?" Severus repeated his question, not sounding impatient in the least.

"I have nightmares. When dad found out, he started staying with me until I was asleep. He made me promise I would wake him whenever I had a nightmare so he could stay with me. I tried to stay wake tonight so I wouldn't have to worry about the nightmares, but I accidentally drifted off. I...it was an awful dream...I want my dad" Some of the tears Harry had been trying to keep back leaked out as he whispered the last part and buried his head his knees.

Severus ran a hand down over his face. This was just perfect. He knew that the happenings of the third task were traumatic at the very least for his little brother, but he had forgotten to add in the abuse he suffered at the hands of his relatives to the equation. Now he had an adolescent with possible Acute Stress Disorder. "Harry...come here." Severus slowly drew the boy into an awkward hug, before Severus helped the boy to his feet pushing Harry back slightly. Sighing deeply Severus said, "Lets get you back to bed."

"No! Severus...I can't." Harry's eyes were huge and he began searching for an escape route.

"Harry, listen to me," demanded Severus in a tone that immediately captured Harry's attention. "Avoiding sleep is not going to help. You witnessed a very traumatic event recently and while you want to forget about it, you can't. You have to face it. Even your nightmares will help to some extent.  I promise, nothing will hurt you anymore, but you have to go to sleep, we'll talk more tomorrow."

Harry slowly nodded his head, not really wanting to go back to bed, but unable to argue. "Can I call dad?"

"He's probably asleep, Harry, you can talk to him tomorrow,"

Harry nodded, once again, finding himself complying with his brother's voice.

Severus led Harry to his room where, after giving his brother a calming draught, tucked him into bed. While the calming draught would not prevent Harry from having nightmares, it would calm him down enough to go to sleep. "This is all I can give you to help you sleep. Everything will be all right, Harry, I promise, just close your eyes, take deep breaths, and relax. That's it, very good, deep breaths, now. Relax your muscles, start at your toes, and one by one just relax, that's it, very good."

As Harry was relaxing and breathing deeply, Severus quietly left his brother's room to go to his own. He hardly wanted to leave his brother by himself, but knew it was for the best. If the boy became dependent on anything to get to sleep or avoid his nightmares then it would be even harder for him to recover. Time does not heal all wounds.

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.

In his defense, Harry did try to work on his chores Monday; however, he kept finding more important things to do such as, while scrubbing the porch he found a garden snake. After a brief conversation, he snuck said snake into the house and left him on the sofa where Severus was sure to find him. He had expected his brother to be at least shocked, but what he didn't know was that Severus was a parsalmouth as well. After a slight argument about Severus not telling Harry about his ability, Harry started working on another chore, despite the fact that the porch was not entirely clean. Later that day, Harry decided to take a break, so he went down to his favorite part of the stream (Severus thought he was cleaning out the shed) and promptly fell asleep on the large rock. When he woke, an hour later, he returned to the house proclaiming to Severus that the shed was clean and began on the next chore, circumstances preventing him from completing that one as well.

As the day ended and the night rolled in, Severus and Harry were fixing dinner when they heard the door open and saw Tobias enter the kitchen.

"Dad!" Harry smiled and ran to his father wrapping his arms around the man in a tight hug that Tobias gladly returned.

"Harry," said to Tobias with a chuckle, "I see you survived a couple of days alone with your brother."

Harry scowled slightly at his father as he pulled away from him.

Tobias chuckled again, "Go get the rest of my things out of the car, please."

"Yes, sir," said Harry before running out the door.

Tobias turned to Severus, who was leaning up against the counter. "He behave?"

"Yes," Severus nodded.

"Did you behave?" Tobias was unable to hide the smile from his face as he asked this.

Without a smile or the slightest hesitation, Severus replied, "Define behave."

Tobias rolled his eyes, shaking his head, but laughed.

"How did it go?" asked Severus quietly.

Tobias gave a sort of half smile, "The memorial service went well. The cremation and will reading was a bit rushed, though. He wanted his ashes scattered out at sea from the ship we used to serve on, which will be leaving harbor in," Tobias checked his watch, "about four hours."

Severus nodded. "I'm sorry."

A confused look passed over Tobias's features for a moment. "For what?"

"That your friend died," Severus answered.

"Why?" asked Tobias with a snort. "He lived a full life, Severus. He did everything he wanted, had a beautiful family . . . Besides, considering the sort of thrill junkie he was, this will be nothing more then..." Tobias looked thoughtful for a moment.

"The next great adventure," Severus suggested wearily.

Tobias cocked an eyebrow at his son. "Yes, the next great adventure." Tobias's smile broadened.

It was Severus's turn to roll his eyes and shake his head. "You and Albus...I swear, the two of you will be the death of me."

Tobias laughed just as Harry returned with Tobias's overnight case in hand. "Thank you, lad," Tobias said to Harry, relieving him of it and ruffling the boy's hair a bit. "So, what's for dinner?"

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

"I didn't think you were coming back till tomorrow," said Harry. He was playing with the food on his play rather nervously refusing to meet his father's eyes. They were sitting around the table eating dinner after Tobias had put his things away.

"Well, I had planned on staying another night and coming back early Tuesday morning, but I wanted to make sure you two hadn't killed each other yet," responded Tobias in all seriousness. Tobias's comment was met with matching glares from both his dark-eyed boys. Tobias didn't bother to cover up his amusement.

"So, Harry," continued Tobias, "you finished all your chores, right?"

"Umm...sort of," Harry offered nervously.

"Sort of," repeated Tobias suspiciously, as Severus suddenly took more interest in the conversation. "What do you mean sort of? You've had since Saturday to complete them and the list wasn't that long."

"Well after you left Saturday, we went to help Serenity at the bookstore, then Sunday we were at Hogwarts."

"That still left you all of today. How much did you get done?" Tobias was becoming agitated to say the least. Yes, he said that his son didn't have to do chores on Sunday, but he should have accomplished something today, at least.

"He cleaned the porch as well as the shed and a couple other things too, right Harry?" said Severus when Harry didn't appear as if he was going to answer.

Harry kept his eyes focused on his plate, once again playing with his food. By the way he was acting, both Severus and Tobias knew none of Harry's chores had been completed.

Severus leaned back in his chair glaring at his younger brother. "Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant."

Tobias glared at Severus for a moment before turning his attention back to Harry. "Just what did you do today, that kept you from doing your chores?"

"I tried to do them!" exclaimed Harry, finally looking up from his plate and meeting his dad's eyes. "I started on the porch and the shed and..."

"Then why aren't they done?" demanded Tobias.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think up a good excuse for not doing what he should have. He looked at Severus for help, but found none. "I...I don't know," said Harry finally in a whisper. He began bracing himself for the yelling and maybe even the slaps he was sure he had coming, but they never came. Slowly, Harry raised his eyes from his plate to look at his father. Once their eyes locked, Harry couldn't look away.

In a very quiet voice, which was a million times worse then any amount of yelling, Tobias said, "I'm very disappointed in you, Harry. I had planned to let you off restriction early had you done what you were supposed to while I was gone, but that is no longer an option. Tomorrow, you will finish the list."

"Yes, sir," he answered grimly lowering his eyes to his plate. After a moment, Harry chanced a glance up at his father who was sullenly eating, disappointment still plainly etched on his features. Severus didn't look much happier; he was openly staring at Harry, making him feel even worse if it were at all possible. Harry looked back down at his plate and, no longer feeling hungry, merely played with his food.

Several minutes after Harry had been told to go to bed, Tobias entered his son's room to find the boy lying in bed.

"Nice to see you can follow some instructions," commented Tobias, smoothing out the covers and tucking his son in.

"I'm sorry, dad, really!"

"I'm sure you are, now," said Tobias sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Hindsight is 20/20. Had you only completed two or three chores on the list today, I would have understood and you wouldn't be grounded anymore, but instead you kept getting distracted and didn't complete anything."

Harry felt worse then ever. Today could have been the last day he was grounded, but because he was stupid, he still had five days left of his restriction. "Dad, please, I know I was stupid, but please, if I finish the list tomorrow, can I be ungrounded? You weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow anyway, so today shouldn't count." Harry's voice a desperate tone to it as though the world would end if he remained grounded.

"First off, you're not stupid. You made stupid decisions, but you are not stupid. I don't ever want to hear you say that again, understand me?" Tobias's voice was stern and left no room for argument.

"Yes, sir,"

"Second, even if I had come back tomorrow, like I had planned, can you honestly tell me that the list would have been completed? That in half a day, you could have done more than what you might have accomplished today, had you tried?"

Harry was looking at his dad and knew that if he lied his dad would know. Maybe it was just something in the man's eyes, but Harry knew, that like Severus, Tobias would be able to smell a lie from a mile away. He briefly wondered if the ability was inherited or learned. "No, sir,"

Tobias pushed back his son's hair. "Didn't think so." Tobias got up off the bed and slowly made his way to the door, "Goodnight, son, love you."

"Night, love you too, dad."

Tobias turned off the lights and closed the door behind him. In the living room, Severus was waiting for him.

"I thought he was working today. I know I should have check up on what he was doing, but...I didn't...I'm sorry." Severus wasn't one to apologize unless he knew he was wrong and had no way of explaining his actions. Usually, instead of an apology, he found other ways to make up for what he did, frequently by doing small favors of some sort.

"It amazes me, Severus, that when you do something you should apologize for, you don't, and when something happens that's not your fault, you're the first to feel guilty and apologize for it."

Severus raised an eyebrow and looked at his dad questionably.

"You trusted him to do what he was supposed to. It's not your fault he made bad decisions."

Severus nodded his head, not entirely believing his father; after all, had he check up on his brother's progress at least a couple of things could have been completed.

Tobias rolled his eyes. "In retrospect it's always easy to see what we could have done differently, but there is no point in dwelling on the ‘what ifs.' What's done is done. There's no way to change it."

Severus looked at his father for a moment, knowing that, as usual, he was right. "Are you sure you're not related to Dumbledore?"

Tobias laughed.

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

Tuesday afternoon, found Harry outside scrubbing the porch. His dad had insisted he start over, regardless that some of it had been cleaned the day before. He was scrubbing off the railing when he noticed another hand appear on the opposite end, scrubbing as well. Looking up to the hand's owner, Severus met his look with a raised eyebrow as he continued to scrub. Harry was shocked, to say the least.

Severus noticed Harry's shocked expression and smirked. "I came to help. That doesn't mean I'm going to do all the work for you, brat, now keep scrubbing."

"Why?" was the only thing Harry could think to say as he resumed cleaning.

"Well," purred Severus, as though proud of his actions, "it took quite a bit of convincing, but I managed to get dad to let me help you."

"How?" smiled Harry, a distinctly Slytherin gleam in his eye.

Severus shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips, "It wasn't too difficult. I merely pointed out that his plan to let you off being grounded was based on whether or not you behaved, and you did behave most of the time. After all, during the time he was gone you had plenty of opportunities to misbehave and you didn't; therefore, your good behavior needed to be rewarded in some way..." Severus trailed off and stopped what he was doing for a moment, a look of realization came over him, "That bastard!"

"Who?" Harry was confused by his brother's sudden change in attitude.

"Our father," said Severus darkly. "He manipulated me. I was trying to get you off restriction early, and he convinced me that a better way to reward your efforts was for me to help you. He's a sly, manipulating..."

"Slytherin?" suggested Harry wearily, a smile playing at he lips.

Severus glared at Harry. "I was going to say, muggle."

"Well at least you know where you got it from," remarked Harry trying not to laugh. The Head of the House of Slytherin, being manipulated by his muggle father: that was just classic.

"Hmph...Actually, the real question is where did you get your little Gryffindor traits from?"

"What makes you so sure I'm a Gryffindor?"

Severus looked at him as though he were stupid. "I don't know, boy, maybe because you were sorted into that house?"

Harry shrugged. "Or maybe, I'm such a good Slytherin, that I managed to manipulate the Sorting Hat."

Severus looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Explain."

"The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I asked it not to."

"You asked it not to put you in Slytherin and just like that, it didn't."

Harry shrugged. "Basicially"

"Why?" It was Severus turn to ask the one-syllable questions now. Harry raise an eyebrow at, but bit back the comment about Severus's vocabulary.

"Well, I was eleven, and I didn't know much about magic or the wizarding world yet, and everyone told me that all Slytherins were evil, and that the man who killed my parents was in Slytherin. Not to mention I had met Malfoy and he made a bad first impression."

"I see," said Severus contemplatively.

The two worked in silence for a couple of minutes before Severus, in a conspiratorial whisper said, "You know we have to get him back for this right?"

Harry grinned and looked at his brother. "Have anything in particular in mind?"

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

"I don't think this is going to work," said Harry quietly, standing next to his brother and surveying their work.

"Did you finish the chores that I told you to?" asked Severus.

"Yes, but--"

"Then you can't get in trouble for not doing what you're supposed to, now can you?"

"It's not that I'm worried about," said Harry nervously. "I'm more worried about what he's going to do to us after this," Harry gestured to their set up. After a minute of silence, Harry asked, "Where did you come up with this anyway?"

"Do you think the Weasley twins were the first pranksters ever to grace Hogwarts grounds? I was just good enough that I rarely got caught."

"Wait till my friends hear about this. They'll never believe me!" Harry was grinning though he kept his voice low as though he might be overheard.

After Tobias had left to go grocery shopping, Severus and Harry had set their plan in action. Gathering all the necessary ingredients, Severus quickly mixed a few potions that the Weasley twins would kill for. He then made sure his father saw him helping Harry when he returned from the grocer. With the help of Harry's invisibility cloak, Severus was able to sneak in and out of the house at will to set up the prank, and it was Harry's job to not only make Tobias think that Severus was helping him with chores, but also to keep him distracted enough that he didn't notice anything suspicious. And now that everything was set-up, they just had to wait.

Tobias was checking to make sure everything that Harry said he had done was in fact done and would soon be back inside where he would go into the kitchen to make dinner. Severus could see it now: Tobias would come through the door, say something to Harry about ‘doing a good job today'... etcetera, and then he would ask what they wanted for dinner before he entered the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen, he would trip a string connected to a cauldron filled with water, drenching him from head to toe. As the cauldron emptied, it would trip another wire that would knock over several different colored vials. As the vials shattered, the fumes from the combined potions would create some...amusing results that would last only a few minutes, but give himself and Harry plenty of time to run for cover.

Severus was not disappointed. Everything thing went just as he had predicted, and Tobias came stumbling out of the kitchen with elephant ears and trunk, his skin purple and massive amounts of hair sprouting out from all over his body, making him look like a cross between a purple elephant and a gorilla.

Harry fell to the floor, he was laughing so hard.

Severus smiled but otherwise showed no outward emotion, even though he was laughing hysterically in his head. "Something the matter?"

"SEVERUS!" bellowed Tobias, followed immediately by a snort from his trunk.

"Yes?" was Severus calm reply, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep from laughing much longer.

Before Tobias could say anything else, the effects of the potion fumes faded he was back to his normal self, physically at least, and he was sending Severus a glare that would have made the Dark Lord fall to his knees and beg for mercy. That look was all Severus could take, and no longer able to hold it back, he started laughing along with his brother.

Eventually, Harry picked himself up off the floor and sat down next to Severus. Both had stopped laughing by now and were sitting next to one another on the couch, looking at their father with identical expressions of smug innocents on their faces.

Tobias's eye twitched. NO! He wouldn't do it! He wouldn't! He. Would. Not. Laugh. But Tobias knew the battle was lost, and he began laughing as well; not so much at the prank, but at his sons. He was almost glad the two hadn't grown up together.

Harry was thrilled when Saturday finally rolled around; not only was he no longer grounded, but he was going to an Order meeting with Severus and his dad. The hour he had to study passed by excruciatingly slow, especially without Severus sitting at the table working on whatever it is potions masters work on during the summer. The plan was that after Harry finished studying, they would leave, taking an untraceable portkey supplied by Dumbledore to headquarters so that Harry could spend some time with his friends.

Once at headquarters, Severus knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to open it. Harry was smiling ear to ear beside his brother and Severus got the distinct feeling that if the door didn't open soon Harry would break it down. It didn't take long for the door to open, revealing a smiling Molly Weasley on the other side.

"Severus, come..." Molly paused when she saw Harry. Yes, she knew his appearance had changed, but it still surprised her. "Oh, my...Harry, dear, is that you? My, my, you do look like Severus don't you? How are you dear?" Molly said all this while crushing Harry to her in a tight hug.

Harry's smile grew as he hugged Mrs. Weasley back. "I'm good."

"Molly," said Severus smoothly, "I think it would be a good idea if we could continue this inside."

"Oh, of course, come in, come in." Molly hurried them all inside, with an arm still wrapped around Harry's shoulders. Once inside, she turned to Tobias, "You must Tobias, I'm Molly Weasley." Molly looked Tobias over refusing to loosen her grip on Harry to offer her hand in a shake.

"Believe me, madam, I know who you are; Harry's told me a lot about you." Tobias bowed his head slightly to her, "Thank you for taking care of my boy for me."

Molly had not known what to expect when she found out that Severus's muggle father would be at the order meeting, but she hadn't expected the man standing in front of her. From looking at him, it was obvious that Severus and Harry had inherited many of their father's physical features. However, it was the way he held himself the surprised her the most. He commanded your attention the second you saw him, yet he had a sort of gentleness to him. Though he was a muggle, one could sense an aura of power around him, one that was very Dumbledore like.

"It was my pleasure," she said. "Harry's a great boy and my son's best friend. He's practically family."

Severus stopped himself from rolling his eyes as Harry blushed fiercely.

"Harry!" shouted Ron as he ran down the stairs with Hermione, Ginny, and the twins close behind him.

"Ron! Hermione!" Harry finally broke away from Mrs. Weasley just as Ron got to the end of the stairs. They stopped face to face, literally: Harry had grown enough that he and Ron were the same height.

"Wow, mate, you look...different,"

"RON!" shouted Hermione and Mrs. Weasley at the same time.

"What? He does," said Ron bewildered and confused at their reactions.

Hermione rolled her eyes before enveloping Harry in a hug. "I think you look great, Harry."

"Me too," added Ginny, stepping forward to give Harry a hug as well.

"I don't know. He looks too much like a Snape for my comfort," came Sirius' voice as he and Moody emerged from the kitchen. Before Harry knew it he had a twin on either side of him, resting their elbows on his shoulders.

"That's it!" exclaimed George, "I knew he looked awfully familiar."

"I quite agree," agreed Fred, "Looks a quite bit like, Snape, I'd say."

"Quite right, dear brother, quite right."

"Tell us, Harry, what's our beloved potions master like as a brother?"

Harry smirked and glanced at Severus, whose face showed no emotion even as he watched his younger brother converse with his friends. "Well, he's nothing like how he acts at Hogwarts. He even knows how to pull pranks that would make some of your wildest inventions look, well...tame."

Silence descended amongst the group as all the kids looked at Severus, thinking Harry must be joking. Severus gritted his teeth refusing to show emotion though promising himself that his brother would pay once they got home.

"Oh, yes," purred Harry in true Snape fashion, he knew that goading his brother was not the wisest move and that he would probably pay for it latter, but he didn't care at the moment. "I even helped him pull one on dad."

"He's not your dad!" shouted Sirius. He rushed over to Harry, who's eyes grew wide, then standing right in front of him and placing a hand on either shoulder Sirius began shaking him vehemently. "James was your dad, Harry, he loved you. Snape..."

Whatever else Sirius was going to say was drowned out as a strong hand grabbed his throat, and he was slammed against a wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, Sirius saw Tobias's face inches from his own.

Tobias's hand was wrapped securely around Black's throat and it took all of his restraint not to crush the man's windpipe. Sirius attempted to get free, but Tobias was stronger and much more motivated then him. "Touch my son again, and I swear, I will not hesitate to kill you," Tobias spoke in a whisper, but everyone heard it. Tobias held a gasping Sirius against the wall for a moment longer before letting him collapse in a heap on the floor. Though he wanted to go to his son immediately and make sure he was okay, Tobias knew better; through years of training he knew never to turn his back on an enemy no matter how incapacitated he may appear.

"Now," said Tobias, in his best patient-but-clearly-getting-agitated-overwrought-father voice, "let's try this again, shall we? I'm Tobias Snape, and you are?"

Sirius started up at the man before him; this guy was insane! He had just threatened to kill him, and now he was introducing himself!

"You do not want me to repeat myself, boy," said Tobias in a dangerous tone.

Sirius didn't know why he obeyed, but he couldn't help it. Something in the man's voice commanded him to listen... or else. "Sirius, Sirius Black,"

Something flashed in Tobias eyes for a second before he replied, reaching a hand down to help the poor bastard up. "Well, Sirius, the next time you feel a need to hurt my boy, in anyway, I suggest you reconsider."

Sirius nodded in understanding, as he raised a hand to message his abused throat.

Tobias waited a moment before turning and going over to Harry. He ran his hands from the boy's head down to his shoulders where Sirius had grabbed him. Then with one hand, he tilted the boy's head up to look him in the eyes, "You alright?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry, leaning in for a quick hug, before pulling away from his father.

Tobias nodded. "Why don't you and your friends go upstairs and play?"

Harry scowled at the word play, but turned and with his friends started up the stairs. They didn't play. They... entertained themselves.

Once the kids were out of sight, Tobias turned his attention back to Molly. "I must apologize, my dear, but you do understand the reasons behind my course of actions, don't you?"

Molly nodded her head; Sirius had deserved it. She waited until she heard the door upstairs close before walking up to Sirius and slapping him hard across the face. "How dare you do that to Harry! He did nothing to you and you treat him like a rag doll! I thought you cared about him. Wait until Dumbledore hears about this." Molly turned away from a shocked Sirius, who hand one hand on his cheek and the other on his throat, to a not so shocked Severus and Tobias. "Come with me, I'll get you something to drink and you can tell me all about how your summer has been going."

Upstairs everyone was gathered in Ron's room. Ron and Harry were sitting on the bed, Hermione got the only chair, and Fred, George, and Ginny were on the floor.

"So Harry, what you said down there about Professor Snape; were you serious?" asked Ginny, clearly not believing that her dour potions professor was capable of pulling any sort of prank.

"Yep," smirked Harry.

"Don't do that, mate, it makes you look like Snape," said Ron in all seriousness.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Of course, I look like him. Just like you and your brothers look a lot alike. And yeah, its all true. Severus has some brilliant ideas."

"Severus?" questioned Ron, awed. "You call him Severus?"

"Of course, he calls him Severus, Ron," Hermione sounded exasperated. "They're brothers."

"I have to say that what your...dad did to Sirius was wicked, mate," said Fred.

"Definitely. He just slammed him against the wall like it was nothing," said George.

"Did you see Professor Snape?" asked Ginny. "He didn't seem surprised at all, like it was nothing unusual for his father to threaten to kill someone."

"Can you blame him?" said George, "Some stranger just burst out of a room and starts shaking his son."

"Sirius is lucky he didn't get killed instantly," commented Fred. The room was silent for a moment before Fred spoke again. "So, Harry, tell us about all of our beloved potions master's tricks."

"Yes," agreed George, "leave nothing out."

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

That night, once everyone arrived and had eaten dinner, Harry and his friends were sent upstairs to pla...err...entertain themselves, while the order convened for their meeting.

"We'll now that we're all here," began Albus, "I believe it is time for us begin. Tobias, please tell us what brings you here today."

"Its really quite simple: I want the Dursleys to pay for how they treated my son."

"What do you mean?" questioned Remus, "How'd they treat him?"

Severus snorted disdainfully. "Well, from what he's told us so far, they've neglected and starved him, but...I have reason to believe that there was some physical abuse as well."

The room was silent for a few moments.

"That can't be possible," said Minerva McGonagall. "I realize they are the worst sort of muggles, but they would never physically harm him."

Tobias scoffed, "Really, then tell me why Harry wakes up in the middle of night from a nightmare about being locked in a cupboard, or held under scolding hot water till he blisters, or being hit with hot frying pans."

Once again silence descended upon the room; no one was willing to believe what they were hearing.

"I want the Dursleys to pay for what they did to my boy," Tobias said with conviction.

"I agree," said Remus. "They need to be brought up on charges."

Remus's sentiments were echoed by the majority of the Order.

"I'm afraid that it's simply not possible," stated Dumbledore calmly.

"It's possible," said Tobias determined.

"I'm afraid that it isn't," Albus said sternly, "the ministry would never allow it."

"I don't give a damn about the ministry!" Tobias nearly shouted. "Rest assured, Albus, that I don't need your permission; the Dursleys are muggles, and I can have a muggle court bring them up on charges quite easily. Rest assured that if you try to stop me...well, I hear there's a very good wizarding school in the America's."

The room was silent yet again; very few would ever speak to ‘The Albus Dumbledore' like that. Many of those present were wondering if Tobias was suicidal or just insane. Moody finally broke the silence.

"Where'd you train?" asked the gruff ex-auror, staring intently across the table at Tobias with his magical eye.

Tobias smirked. "Where'd you train?"

"I asked you first."

"Do I look like I give a damn?" asked Tobias quirking an eyebrow, he was obviously having fun.

Very suddenly, Moody jumped up and attempted to draw his wand at Tobias. Tobias was expecting something like this however, and with his fast reflexes, he had disarmed Moody and had him slammed down on the table.

"If you wanted to have a pissing contest all you had to do was ask," commented Tobias as he let retired auror up off the table. "As for where I trained; I was in the Royal Navy for several years." Both Tobias and Moody realized that most of the table was staring at them openly with mouths agape, except Severus who was trying not to smirk and making a show of removing a bit of dirt from under his fingernail.

Moody stood up and looked Tobias up and down once more, before reaching out to shake his hand, "Sorry ‘bout that, but after what you did to Sirius earlier, I wanted to see just how good you are."

"Did I pass?" asked Tobias sarcastically, with a smirk.

Moody smirked in return clearly enjoying the banter.

"What happened earlier?" asked Tonks.

"Why don't you ask Sirius?" suggested Moody. Surprisingly, his voice held quite a bit of anger. He at one time held some grudging respect for the idiot, but after the display earlier...well, he sure as hell wouldn't blame Tobias if he killed the mutt.

Most of those at the table looked questionably at Sirius, who remained quiet and refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"I'll tell you what happened," began Molly. "Sirius here got upset with Harry because he called Tobias ‘dad.' He shook the poor boy quite violently, as he yelled at him. Tobias then did what any parent who loved their child would do."

"Which is what exactly?" questioned Remus.

"Nothing," grumbled Sirius with arms crossed over his chest looking for all the world like a petulant child.

It was Moody who finally answered Remus's question. "Slammed the bloody idiot against a wall and threatened to kill him if he ever hurt the boy again."

Sirius glared at Moody but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Once more the room was silent for a moment, before Tobias, clearing his throat, brought up the original topic. "So what will it be Albus? Do I pull my boy out of Hogwarts or are you going to do something about the Dursleys?"

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

The last thing Harry noticed before the prank went to hell in a hand basket and he lost consciousness was that, coming out of the order meeting, Dumbledore didn't look thrilled and his father was wearing a pleased smirk.

Once the kids had been sent upstairs for the time during the meeting, they (meaning the twins) had come up with a brilliant idea. They had just invented a potion that was supposed to mentally reduce a person to a younger age for a brief period of time (no longer then twenty minutes), but they had yet to test it. Harry and Ron were more then thrilled when the twins asked them for help in testing the potion on a certain potions-master-turned-older-brother. Hermione and Ginny refused to have any part in it.

It was a very simple set up actually, especially since the twins could do magic. They simply levitated the potion up by the ceiling and charmed it to tip over once Severus was underneath it. The plan seemed to be going smoothly until Tonks tripped over the corner of the rug and went flying into Harry, causing him to stumble towards his brother just as the potion began to spill out. The potion covered Severus from head to toe, but Harry was only splashed minimally. The effect was the same in both cases, though. Severus barely had a chance to look furious before he started getting smaller.

Oddly enough, it didn't hurt, but it was kind of bizarre watching one's hands shrink as one got closer to the ground. Severus continued to shrink until he was about the size of a ten year old and then he collapsed in a heap on the floor. Harry, having been covered with far less of the potion also shrunk until he looked like his ten-year-old self, but he didn't have the charms to cover his true appearance. Once Harry stopped shrinking, he also collapsed on the floor beside Severus.

No one knew what to do for a moment; they all just stood staring at the prone figures of a deaged Severus and Harry. Finally, everyone seemed to snap out of their reprieve of action. Tobias went straight to his sons, as did Dumbledore, who began performing various spells on them. McGonagall went to the floo to call for Madam Pomfrey.

Once the mediwitch arrived, she went straight to Severus and after a couple of minutes turned her attention to Harry. Once done, she calmly got up off the floor to tell everyone what she found.

"Severus is a perfectly healthy ten year old, both physically and mentally from what I can tell. It appears that they were both dowsed with a deaging potion and it should wear off on its own in about two weeks."

"You said Severus was perfectly healthy. What about Harry?" asked Tobias, feeling a small portion of his panic subside. He was still kneeling on the floor beside his boys, one hand running through the matching hair of each head.

"His health problems are not caused by the potion and should not affect his recovery, but he is very malnourished and is covered in various minor wounds at different stages of healing."

Tobias's eyes widened and removing his hand from Severus's hair, removed Harry's now oversized shirt. He heard gasps from the others, but all he could do was continue to stare. Every one of Harry's ribs was visible and he had bruises of varying sizes and shapes all over chest and upper arms. On his left arm was a particularly nasty burn. Swallowing back his anger while drawing is son to his chest, Tobias looked up at Dumbledore, and said bitterly, "It's a good thing they weren't abusing him isn't it?"

Before Dumbledore could reply, a weak voice was heard. "Dad."

Tobias looked at Severus whose eyes were now open and he was surveying everything around him. Tobias could practically see the wheels turning in his son's head as the small boy tried to work out what was going on. "I'm here Severus," Tobias spoke gently and arranged himself so that while he was still holding Harry, one hand was free to push Severus's hair back.

"Where are we?" asked Severus, surveying each person in turn his eyes lingering on Dumbledore's for a moment longer than most.

Before Tobias could answer, he felt Harry move and he turned his attention to the small boy in his arms.

Harry's eyes fluttered open and the first thing he noticed was a strange man looking down at him. He did his best to try to get away, but he wasn't strong enough. After a several minutes, he calmed down enough to listen and understand what the man was saying.

"That's it Harry, calm down, no one's going to hurt you, I promise," Tobias spoke gently, trying to calm his son. "There's a good boy, take a deep breath. Very good, Harry, very good."

"Who are you?" asked Harry as he began to survey the room and its occupants in much the same way Severus had.

It took quite some time to explain the situation to Severus and Harry, especially with Severus's frequent questions. Tobias explained to Harry how his aunt and uncle had lied to him, that magic was real, and that he was in fact the boy's father. He then explained how they came to be ten years old and how they got to headquarters.

Severus became quite enthralled when he found out he was actually 35 years old, the youngest potions master in history, and a psychologist. When he found out that the twin's potion was responsible, he immediately began asking them questions such as ‘what base potion did you go off of?' and ‘what was the potions original intent?' The twins, as well as most of the other teenagers present, were astounded by Severus's already vast potions knowledge and obvious intelligence. Many of the adults present, who already knew Severus was to smart for his own good, were more astound by his friendly, talkative nature. The boy seemed to have a never-ending line of questions. He even asked things that hadn't though of, like, if the potions spilled out all over them, why did it only shrink their bodies and de-age their minds, but not their clothes.

Harry remained quiet throughout the explanation. It wasn't that he didn't have questions, but he had learned a long time ago not to ask them. He was rather excited that he had a family now, but he still didn't know how to act. He didn't know any of the people in the room, which caused him no small amount of stress. The man who he saw when he first woke up, his...father, could apparently sense his distress because he kept leaning over whispering comforting things to him whenever his...brother asked someone else yet another question.

He had been sitting in the man's lap when he woke up, but when he calmed he sat on the floor in what he felt was a relatively safe distance away from everyone. As Tobias's explanation progressed and his father kept talking soothingly to him, he found himself slowly inching his way towards the man. Maybe it was some sort of primal instinct for any child to be drawn to a parent or maybe it was Tobias's soothing voice and non-abusive actions, but Harry somehow knew this man was safe and would protective him. He could almost see his dreams coming true.

Eventually, after Tobias had finished his explanation and Severus curiosity temporarily sated, Dumbledore made a suggestion, "Well, it is rather late, so, perhaps it would be a good idea for you," Dumbledore looked intently at Tobias, "to say here for the night, just to make sure there are no ill effects with the potion."

Tobias was now standing along with both his boys, their clothes finally transfigured to fit them by McGonagall. Severus was standing close to him but not touching him, whereas Harry was as far away as he could possibly be and still hold his father's hand. Tobias glanced around the room quickly. Most of the order would be leaving in a bit, so the only people he would be staying with would be the Weasleys, the Granger girl, and...the bastard, Sirius. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," Tobias indicated inconspicuously, to Dumbledore alone, that he was referring to Sirius.

"Come on, dad, please," begged Severus, all he needed was a little more information and he would have the potion responsible for his present condition all figured out.

Tobias raised an eyebrow and looked down at his son. "Even if we do stay, you will not find out anything more about that potion."

Severus scowled, but a warning look from his father told him it would not be wise to argue. Oh, well, if he couldn't find out about that particular potion, he could find out about another one, and he was sure the two red-headed twins had more interesting ones somewhere.

"Well I insist that you stay," added Molly. "I won't be able to sleep unless I'm sure Harry's alright."

Tobias sighed. Sirius hadn't caused any more problems and as long as someone was with his boys at all times everything should be okay. "I suppose one night wouldn't hurt," he finally relented.

It had been approximately two hours since Tobias had tucked Severus and Harry into bed. From the absence of light and noise, Severus knew that everyone had now turned in. Quietly getting up out of bed, he began making his way to the door; before opening it, however, he turned and went to the bed on the opposite side of the room of the one he had just crawled out of. He wasn't sure if his brother was sleeping or not; although Harry's breathing appeared regular, Severus couldn't see his face. Making a decision, he shook his brother's shoulder to wake him.

"What is it?" asked Harry grumpily.

"Come on, get up," urged Severus excitedly.

"Why?" asked Harry, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You'll see," he replied his tone held a impish quality and even though Harry couldn't actually see his brother, he was sure that if he could, he would see a mischievous smile on his face.

"Won't we get in trouble?" asked Harry, even as he followed his brother out of their shared bedroom at Order headquarters and down the hall until they came to the twins' room.

"Only if we get caught," answered Severus, pushing open the door to see the twins sprawled out on their respective beds, asleep. Severus quietly closed the door behind them. "You wake him up," Severus said to Harry, gesturing towards Fred, "and I'll wake him."

"Whatisit?" said George as Severus tried to wake him.

"Get up, I have a...business proposition for you," said Severus, shaking the older and much larger boy's shoulder.

At the words ‘business proposition', George sat upright in bed, wide awake. Grabbing a pillow, he threw it at his brother, barely missing Harry's head. "Come on Fred, we have some business to do."

Fred sat up as well and looked at Harry and Severus curiously. "What sort of business?" Very soon Fred and George were seated on the same bed with a calculating look awaiting their 10 year old potions masters ‘proposition.'

"Well," began Severus now that both twins were awake, "I have a plan, but I need your help. In exchange for your assistance, I have a potion you might be interested in."

Harry watched silently as the twins got matching grins on their faces and his brother smirked. Harry began to get the same uneasy feeling in his stomach as he did when Dudley was about to do something he would be blamed for.

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

The following morning after Tobias woke up and showered, he went to wake up his sons. He was eager to eat breakfast and take his currently deaged sons home. He hoped that the medi-witches' diagnosis had been wrong and he would walk into a room with his son's back to normal, but another part of him wanted her to be right. This experience would be priceless. Severus and Harry would get a brief time to grow-up together and both could benifite from the experience. Not to mention the time he would get to spend with them. Tobias smiled at the thought. He would be able to take them fishing or possible camping. At age ten both his boys would be more inclined to spend time with their dad then they would be as teenagers.

"Rise and shine, boys, its time to get up," he announced walking in the boy's room and after several minutes of talking and gently shaking his now ten-year-old sons, Tobias was convinced they wouldn't go back to sleep. Satisfied, he left their room to finish getting ready himself.

Once Severus was sure that Tobias was a safe distance away, he asked Harry, "Do you remember the plan?"

"Are you sure about this Sev?" Harry wanted to fit in with his brother; he wanted to be loved and have someone to play with, but he wanted a dad too. He knew that if he ever did something like what they were planning at the Dursley's, he wouldn't eat for a week, at the least. He didn't want to get caught, because then Tobias would realize how much trouble he really was and send him back to the his awful relatives and the cupboard under the stairs.

"Of course, I'm sure." Severus rolled his eyes, plopping down on the bed next to his brother. "No one will suspect you at all; it's a perfect plan."

Harry hesitated, still unsure, before biting his bottom lip and nodding. "Okay."

"Great!" Severus jumped up from the bed, ready for the day to begin.

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

Everyone, excluding Sirius who was hiding his room, was down in the kitchen eating breakfast and once they finished, Tobias planned on taking his deaged sons home. Something was going on though; he didn't know what, but he was sure Severus was responsible for it. Since they came down stairs to the kitchen, Harry was looking decidedly nervous. At first, he though he could chalk it up to being in a strange place without his ‘relatives,' but Severus's actions convinced him otherwise. Those who didn't know the adult potions master well might find it hard to believe that, as a child, Severus was nothing more than a ball of energy. An extremely hyperactive, can't stay out of trouble, or stay still ball of energy. So, seeing Severus coming down the stairs and sitting patiently at the table was unusual to say the least. If he had to guess, Tobias would say that Severus had formulated some sort of practical joke for someone and had convinced Harry to help him.

As Tobias was eating and trying to figure out what his son had planned, he heard various popping sounds all around the table. Looking around, he noticed that everyone except his sons, the Weasley twins, and himself had been changed into some sort of animal. Before he could fully comprehend what had happened, another pop was heard before he was changed into a bear.

Harry was sitting at the table with his mouth dangling open. He had been told about magic last night and seen some examples of it, but this was just unbelievable. Sitting next to him, Severus was beside himself with laughter, and Harry was worried he may fall out of his chair. The Weasley twins weren't doing much better; in fact, Fred had already fallen on the floor. Laughter, being the contagious thing that it is, caught up with Harry and he suddenly couldn't help laughing as well.

Similar to Fred and George's Canary Creams, the substance lasted only a minute before, with a pop, everyone was changed back into their normal selves.

Molly stood up from the table, determined to give her sons a proper chewing out for using their pranks at the dinner table, especially after last nights mishap, but she didn't get a chance before Tobias was speaking.

"What did I tell you last night?" Tobias wasn't yelling, but he was speaking louder then normal as he glared at Severus with a look that immediately silenced his laughter.

"Goodnight?" answered Severus with an exaggerated smile of innocence on his face.

"SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE!" bellowed Tobias, obviously not pleased with his son's answer.

"You said that I couldn't mess around with the potion that deaged me and Harry," Severus said, relatively unaffected by his father's yelling. Unlike Harry, who, even though Tobias wasn't yelling at him, was hiding his shaking hands under the table. "And I didn't find out anything about that potion. You can ask Fred and George if you don't believe me. In fact, I didn't touch any potions at all last night."

Tobias stared at Severus for a moment before turning his attention to Harry. "What part did you have in this?"

Harry simply stared at Tobias for a moment, unsure as to what to say. He couldn't tell him the truth, because he would just get into more trouble.

"He didn't make any potions or anything either," Severus answered for him.

Tobias turned his attention back to Severus, aware that everyone in the room had their attention focused on them. Molly had stopped mid-stride when he yelled at Severus and she hadn't moved from that position. Tobias realized that if he was going to find out what happened, he was going to have to talk to Harry without Severus influencing him. "Go stand in the corner, now." Tobias gestured to the empty corner to his right were he could still plainly see Severus, but Harry wouldn't be able to without turning around.

"But..." began Severus, but he was interrupted by his father.

"That was not a request, go now," warned Tobias.

Severus rolled his eyes but got up from the table and slowly made his way to the corner.

Tobias watched as his son before turning his attention, once again, to Harry. "Tell me exactly what happened, Harry." Tobias made sure to take some, but not all, of the edge out of his voice when talking to his youngest son. While he wanted to communicate that what he did was wrong, he didn't want to send the boy into a panic attack either.

Harry opened his mouth and after a few tries managed to formulate some words that came out in a low whisper. "He didn't touch any potions."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Did he tell you how to make them?"

Harry shook his head looking down at his hands. "No, sir,"

Tobias opened his mouth then closed it again looking at the twins who were watching their mother carefully. It seemed Molly had come to the same conclusion as him. "He told you two how to make it, didn't he? Then he had Harry come down and help set the table this morning, at which time," Tobias looked at Harry once more, "you managed to put something, which no one saw, on our plates."

Harry still refused to look up and meet his father's eyes. He was in so much trouble. He didn't want to be sent back to the Dursleys. Granted he didn't know his father and brother very well yet, but anything was better then his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Harry was so lost in thought he didn't realize that Tobias had gotten up and walked over to him until his father knelt down so he was able to look his boy in the eyes.

"Harry," whispered Tobias, "calm down. You're in a bit of trouble, yes, but no one's going to hurt you or send you back to the Dursley's, I promise." Tobias gave what he said enough time to sink in before continuing in a slightly harsher tone. "Now, go stand in the corner until I give you permission to leave."

"Yes sir," was all Harry could murmur as he slowly got up and made his way to the corner.

Tobias watched Harry as well, before, while forcing down a smile, he stood up and went back to his seat. Once sitting down he spoke to Molly with a nod of his head, "Your turn."

Though Molly's style was different from his own, Tobias had to say it was effective. He had to restrain himself from cringing away once or twice during her triad. Once Molly was done scolding her prankster sons, Tobias figured his boys had been standing in their respective corners long enough.

He called Severus over first. "Sev, come here."

Severus walked over to his father looking slightly more sedated then he had when he was first sent there. "Yes, sir?"

"No more experimental pranks. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Severus with a slight scowl.

"And no more manipulating your brother into helping you."

"I didn't manipulate him!" Severus stated in such a dejected tone that Tobias almost believed him.

As it was though, Tobias merely raised an eyebrow and glared at his son.

Severus's shoulders slumped slightly as he replied, "Yes, sir."

"I have a couple chores for you to do today when we get home."

Severus scowled and glared down at the floor, but he knew better then to argue. "Yes, sir."

"Good, now sit down." As Severus took his seat Tobias called Harry over. Once Harry was standing in front of him, Tobias took the boy's trembling hand in his own, hoping to convey that though he was getting scolded everything would be okay. "You shouldn't have let your brother manipulate you like that. Believe me, if you had told him no, after a couple of minutes of sulking he would have gotten over it. Understand?"

Harry nodded, looking at the two large hands that were holding his own.

"Verbal answer, please," requested Tobias, giving his son's hands a slight squeeze.

"Yes," whispered Harry, not at all used to this sort of light scolding.

"Yes what?" Tobias allowed his tone to convey some of his impatience.

Harry finally met his father's eyes, "Yes, sir."

Tobias smiled a little, "Very good, you can help Severus with a couple of chores when we get home, as well. Now sit down." After Harry sat down, Tobias turned his attention back to Severus, with a dramatic sigh said, "Alright, boy, tell us how you did it."

Severus smiled and his whole face seemed to light up. "It was actually pretty simple..." began Severus, but was interrupted by Fred.

"Simple!" exclaimed Fred disbelievingly. "It took us three tries to get that potion just right."

"It may be simple for a child prodigy, but that's about it," grumbled George.

Severus rolled his eyes, "The actual brewing is difficult because the timing has to be perfect, but the concept and theory are really easy."

"He's got a point there, George," Fred said to his brother.

"I suppose, after all, it didn't take him long to explain the mechanics to us," replied George contemplatively.

"Anyway," continued Severus, "it was made based loosely off the potion used for a person to see what their animagus form is. The hard part was making it into a tablet that was tasteless and would camouflage itself."

"Camouflage itself?" asked Tobias taking a sip of water.

Severus nodded his head enthusiastically, "Yeah, it's a small tablet that when you sit it down takes on not only the color but texture of whatever its touching."

"I see," Tobias glanced around at the people at the table seeing the surprise that a ten year old would be able to make something so sophisticated. Tobias smirked; he might as well show them what his boy was capable of. "How'd you make it camouflage itself?"

"Salt."

"Salt?" repeated Tobias encouraging Severus to continue.

"And calcium."

"How does that make a camouflaging tablet?"

"Well," began Severus, gesturing wildly. He was thoroughly enjoying explaining one of his greatest accomplishments. Since his dad was a muggle, most of his potion knowledge was self-taught. His mom had shown him a few things before she left, but the majority of his knowledge came from books and the occasional experiment. "When you burn salt and calcium, you create a mirage of colors. The thing is, the calcium masks the true colors of the salt and whatever else it's mixed with, creating some wicked sights, and if you add pixie dust at just the right time, you can freeze the properties of the salt and calcium mixture, thereby allowing it to mask its true appearance."

"And he called you an insufferable little know-it-all," Ron said to Hermione. Though he tried to keep his voice in a whisper the shocked silence that descended upon the table after Severus's explanation made it possible for most of the table to hear him.

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

"Dad, do we have to? Harry and I just met last night; we should be getting to know each other, not doing chores." Severus had started pleading to get out of the chores almost the second they portkeyed home.

"You can get to know each other while you're sorting the laundry and sweeping. Now, I don't want to hear another word about it. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Severus before he turned and started walking to the laundry room only to stop, turn around, and march over to Harry. Grabbing his arm he pulled his brother after him. "Come on, you have to help, too."

About an hour later, Severus found his dad in his room, going through all the cloths Molly Weasley had shrunk or transfigured for Harry and himself. Severus and Harry had finished their chores and were reporting back to their dad.

Severus suddenly stood up very straight and stiff with his feet together and brought his right hand up to his forehead in a salute. "All done, Captain. Permission to go outside and play?"

Tobias turned around to face his sons and striking the classic military pose he had taught his son at a very young age, he saluted back before answering. "Permission will be granted after I have affirmed the completion of your chores, Cadet."

"Aye, Aye, Captain," Severus was smiling broadly, finally bringing his hand down from his salute and clasping them behind his back.

Chuckling, Tobias left the room with Severus and Harry close behind, to make sure the living room and kitchen had been swept to his satisfaction and the laundry sorted, ready to be washed. Once he was sure everything was done, he turned back to his sons. "Okay, boys, you can go outside to play, but no..."

"We know dad," Severus rolled his eyes dramatically, "no going over the hill, into the forest, or beyond the stream."

"Watch your tone, boy, before you find yourself in trouble." Tobias's tone was firm and commanding, sending off a clear warning that he was to be obeyed, or else.

Severus sobered up a bit. "Yes, sir."

Tobias nodded, "Then what are you waiting for? Go! Make sure you're back for lunch!"

Harry followed as Severus ran out the door, deep in thought. They had hardly done any work. At the Dursley's, he did more chores than that on a daily basis, and much, much, more when he was in trouble. But if his new found father was going to send them outside to play after just an hour, he wasn't going to complain. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Severus had stopped running until he ran into him, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Hey!" Severus shouted indignantly as he pick himself up off the ground. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry," said Harry quietly, picking himself up off the ground as well.

Severus brushed off the apology, and began walking away from the house. "What do you want to do?"

Harry stared at Severus for a moment; no one had ever asked him that. "I don't know, what is there to do?"

Severus shrugged. "We could go play on the tire swing?"

Harry shrugged, too, trying to appear like it didn't matter much even though he had never played on a tire swing before and the thought excited him. "Okay."

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

They were late. Tobias told them to be back in time for lunch and his sons were now fifteen minutes late. Just then, the kitchen door swung open to reveal two out of breath ten year olds.

"Where have been?" asked Tobias sternly, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at his two boys.

"We lost track of time, dad, we're sorry." Severus's voice was quiet and he kept his head down, he looked for all the world like a thoroughly scolded and now repentant little boy.

Tobias didn't buy it for a second. "You know the rule Sev, if you're late for a meal, you stand for it."

Severus scowled, but said nothing.

Harry's eyes got wide and a look of absolute terror crossed his features. The last time someone told him he would have to stand for a meal it was because he had been beat with his uncle's belt. He shivered at the memory. He couldn't even remember what he had done ‘wrong' to warrant the ‘smacking' his uncle had given him, but he did remember not being able to sit down for several days. In a way, though, he was almost relieved. Since he had woken up as a recently deaged ten year old, he had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It had all seemed just too perfect, so he shouldn't be surprised about something like this.

"Places," commanded Tobias pointing at the table before he started setting plates of food on it.

Harry's stomach grumbled as he followed Severus over to the table. Not knowing exactly what was expected, he simply copied his brother's actions. He thought it rather odd that their father was putting food on the table before having them lean over it for their smacking, but knew better then to voice this thought.

Once there was a plate of food in front of everyone, Tobias sat down at the table and started eating. Severus then picked his plate up off the table and expertly positioned it so that he could eat while still standing. Harry was confused. Weren't they going to be smacked? Not that he wanted a smacking, but his dad had said...

Harry's confusion must have shown on his face, because Tobias asked, "Something wrong, Harry?"

"I...it's just...I thought...you said we were going to stand for lunch because we were late."

A look of amusement past over Tobias's face, "You are standing, aren't you?" Tobias saw Harry's confusion grow and he realized what his son was asking. His amusement faded and was replaced with empathy and concern. "What did you think I meant, Harry?"

Harry couldn't answer; he seemed to have lost his voice. He simply looked at his dad, not knowing what to say or do.

Tobias noticed his son was beginning to tremble. "Come here Harry," said Tobias softly as he pushed away from the table, so he could turn to face Harry once the small boy had walked around the table to stand beside his father. Tobias took the child's hands in his own, a gesture that seemed to comfort him slightly. "Did you think I was going to give you a smacking?"

Harry started down at his father's hands and nodded slightly.

Tobias released one of Harry's hands in order to tilt the boy's chin up, so he could look at him while he spoke. "I'm not going to give you a smacking Harry. While I can't say I won't ever give you one, I guarantee you that you won't get one for being late. When I said that you had to stand for the meal because you were late, I meant just that. You have to eat standing up."

Harry still didn't seem relieved, so Tobias pulled him into a hug. At first Harry stiffened, but soon Tobias felt two thin arms wrap themselves around his neck and Harry seemed to melt into him though his body was suddenly wrack with silent sobs. Tobias just held his little boy, whispering soothingly in his ear and gently rocking him. Tobias caught a glimpse of Severus out of the corner of his eye. Severus was standing still, his plate of food forgotten, watching his father hold his brother, a look of horror on the boy's face. Tobias sent him a sad, but reassuring smile. "It's okay, Sev, finish your lunch."

Severus nodded and resumed eating at a sedated pace.

After a couple minutes, Harry calmed down enough for Tobias to push him away slightly. Reaching across the table he picked up Harry's plate of food and handed it to the small boy standing close to him. "Eat your lunch." Harry sniffed slightly, and with much steadier hands took the plate from his dad.

After about a minute, Tobias could no longer stand the silence that had descended upon the table, so he decided to bring up a topic he'd been thinking about since that morning. "So, would the two of you like to go camping tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Severus said excitedly.

Tobias smiled at his son's enthusiasm, before turning to Harry. "How about you?"

Harry shrugged, still feeling uneasy do to the ordeal from minutes before. "I've never been camping before."

"Well, then it's time you to went, now isn't it?" smiled Tobias, glad to see the mood lighting up a bit.

After lunch Tobias had to go into the village to buy camping supplies, including a sleeping bag for Harry. He gave the boys clear instructions to remain in the house while he was gone.

Once their dad left, Severus collapsed on the couch, hanging his head off the edge studying his brother carefully. Harry was aware of his bother's observations and was slightly unnerved by it. He slowly made his way to the chair and sat down.

"Why did you think you were going to get a smacking?" asked Severus curiously, never taking his eyes off his brother. Harry shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it as he squirmed under Severus piercing gaze. He briefly wondered if his brother did that on purpose or if the ability to see through people was just a natural talent.

"There has to be a reason," stated Severus with conviction as he turned so he was lying sideways on the couch, his head propped up by his elbow.

"It's something my Uncle would have done," said Harry quietly.

"Oh," was the simple reply. "Dad won't give you a smacking. He might threaten occasionally, but I've only gotten one, ever."

"What did you get it for?" Harry was curious, after all if he knew what his brother got smacked for then all he had to do was not do whatever it was he did.

Severus blushed scarlet, and studied the couch in an attempt to appear nonchalant about what he was about to reveal. He picked off a piece of glitter, wondering how it got there before answering. "When I was eight, I found out where dad kept his gun, and even though I knew I'd get in trouble if he found out, I found the key to the desk draw he kept it in and took it out to look at. I had just gotten the draw open when dad caught me. He didn't yell or give me a chance to explain or anything, just picked me and turned me over his knee. It wasn't too bad though; it stopped hurting like ten minutes later. What about you? What did your uncle give you a smacking for?"

Harry scoffed, feeling more relaxed with his brother. "More like what didn't he give me a smacking for? I was always doing something wrong. A lot of the time I didn't even know the reason. He would just grab me, pull my trousers and shorts down and start wailing away on my backside. If I was lucky, he wouldn't use a belt." The bitterness in Harry's voice surprised even himself. He didn't know why he revealed all that to his brother, but for some reason he knew he could trust him.

"Dad would never do that," Severus stated firmly, surprised and disgusted that one person would treat another that way. "Wanna play a card game?" asked Severus changing the subject.

"Sure," said Harry, glad for the reprieve from memories better left buried. "I've never really played before, though."

Severus shrugged as he got up off the couch to go find the cards. "I'll teach you."

Tobias walked through the back door, setting all the camping supplies down on the kitchen table. Entering the living room, he was pleased to see both of his sons playing a calm game of cards on the living room floor in front of the TV, that was turned on mute as various cartoon characters ran across the screen. Clearing his throat, Tobias got their attention. "Severus, go get the gear out of the linen closet. We'll go ahead and pack up tonight so we'll be ready to head out first thing tomorrow."

"Yes, sir!" Severus ran out of the living room, obviously excited.

"Come on Harry, you can take a look at your sleeping bag and backpack." Tobias gestured for Harry to follow him back into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Harry cautiously approached the table laden with supplies.

"Severus and I already have sleeping bags and backpacks, so these are all yours," said Tobias, handing a rolled up Navy Blue sleeping bag to his son as well as a backpack that was almost as large as him. Tobias didn't see the point in buying a child size backpack for the boy since he would soon be fifteen.

Harry held the items cautiously, as though afraid he'd break them if he held to tight. "They're mine . . . all mine? You bought them for me?"

"Yes, I just said that, didn't I?" Tobias said with an amused smile. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Tobias wanted more then anything to watch as the Dursley's were slaughtered mercilessly or better yet: to slaughter them mercilessly with his own two hands.

"Thank you," whispered Harry in awe as he ran a hand over the soft material.

"It's okay. I don't need any help or anything just because the backpacks are bigger than I am, but that's alright," Severus complained as he dragged two big backpacks with sleeping bags attached into the kitchen. Tobias couldn't help but chuckle as he walked over to Severus to help him with the backpacks.

"Alright, boys," began Tobias, "let's get started." Tobias patiently, with much ‘help' from Severus, showed Harry what they would need to bring and how to pack it properly.

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

The next morning, Tobias woke Severus and Harry early and they ate breakfast before setting out, locking the doors securely behind them. It quickly became clear to Harry that Severus was not a morning person. Any attempt to speak to him was met with incommunicable grunts as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

There was a small place just over half a mile into the woods that Tobias had been taking Severus to camp since the boy could walk, and it was there that the father-sons trio was headed. The stream that flowed not too far from their house flowed through the woods and ended in a small lake. It was the perfect spot for camping.

Once they reached the clearing just off the lake's shore, they set up camp. Tobias showed Harry how to set up the tent, then had the boys put their stuff inside and roll the sleeping bags out. That done, Tobias showed them (mostly Harry since Severus had done it before) how to build a fire. Though it was mid-day by the time everything was set up for their three day camping excursion, Severus still looked as though he just woke up, whereas Harry was nearly bouncing off the trees.

After a quick lunch consisting of the few items of fruit they brought, Tobias took them to the lake and after fashioning some fishing poles out of strings and sticks (the old fashion way was the best according to Tobias) they went about catching their supper. By the time they had caught their dinner and cleaned the fish, it was time to cook and eat their catch.

That night, after making s'mores, they crawled into the tent where Tobias entertained them with stories. He didn't get very far though before Severus's light snoring was heard. Once Harry was asleep, Tobias made sure both his boys were tucked in well before lying down himself. All in all it had been a rather typical first camping day. Going over the day's events in his mind Tobias was slightly concerned about Severus's lethargy, but chalked it up to being unable to sleep the previous night due to excitement. Harry had been much more outgoing today then he had been since they returned from headquarters, something for which Tobias was grateful; not that the boy was completely over his fears and anxieties, but it was a definite improvement. Tobias eventually drifted off, just happy to be able to spend time with his sons.

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

The next day found Harry and Severus swimming, while Tobias looked on from the shoreline. He had gotten into the water with his sons at first, but after a while had gotten out in favor of just laying out in the warm summer sun. When he first heard the shouts he had ignored them, assuming his sons, like most boys, were just fooling around a bit and after they had sufficiently dunked and splashed one another the shouts would stop. Tobias was right; after a moment the shouts and splashing stopped and everything seemed to be okay again between the two brothers until he heard Harry's voice laced with pain and fear.

"Severus, stop! That hurts!"

That immediately caught Tobias's attention and he sat up searching out his boys. They were out pretty far in the water, definitely over their heads anyway, and Severus had his hand in Harry's hair pulling hard. Tobias stood up and walked to the water's edge. "Severus! That's enough, come here! Now!"

Severus removed his hand from his brother's hair and Tobias was almost sure he took some hair with him. Angrily, Severus swam toward his father and slowly made his way out of the water. Harry was watching from the water.

Once within reach Tobias grabbed his son's arm and pulled Severus toward him, then drapped a towel around his shoulders. He then pulled the boy toward the dullest tree there ever was; it was so dull it wasn't even unusual in its dullness. Positioning Severus so his nose was inches from the tree he started lecturing and scolding his boy for a good five minutes about not fighting. With a final warning to remain in timeout until he was told to move, Tobias was about to walk away from his son when he noticed Severus shivering. Now, the water was cold, and Severus had just gotten out, but with sun shining brightly, it was hardly cold out. Reaching out a hand, Tobias felt his son's forehead and immediately noticed a fever.

"Great, just perfect," mumbled Tobias looking up at the sky. Severus was leaning his warm head into what felt like a cool hand, closing his eyes. "How long have you been feeling bad, Sev?"

Severus pulled the towel around him tighter and shrugged.

Tobias knelt down so he had to look up slightly to look his boy in the eyes. "When did it start?"

"Yesterday," was Severus's mumbled reply. He really wished his dad would put his hand back on his forehead.

Tobias sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause you wouldn't have taken us camping," Severus whined, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're right, I wouldn't have, because you don't need to be out here while sick." Tobias's tone was the just the slightest bit harsh with a twinge of disappointment in it.

"Not that sick," mumbled Severus indignantly, not meeting his father's eyes.

"You have a fever, Sev," Tobias ran his hand along his child's face, his voice was now soft and silky, "that's sick enough."

Severus shrugged, once again pulling the towel tighter around him.

Tobias took the towel and stared drying Severus off briskly, before wrapping the towel around the boy's shoulders once again, then wrapping his arms securely around the small ten year old, he picked him up off the ground.

Instinctively, Severus wrapped his arms and legs around his dad and buried his head in his father's neck, before mumbling, "Daddy... I don't feel good."

"I know, son, I know," soothed Tobias, rubbing Severus's back comfortingly. Going back to the edge of the lake, Tobias called Harry out of the water.

Once Harry was close enough to hear him without shouting Tobias said, "First, Harry, Severus has something he'd like to say to you. Don't you?"

Severus turned his head enough to look at his brother before saying, "I'm sorry I pulled your hair."

Harry shrugged, noticing immediately something was wrong with his brother, "It's okay. What's wrong? Did I hurt you when we were playing?" Harry didn't really think that was possible, but decided to ask anyway. After all what else could it be?

"Sev, is sick Harry," Tobias answered, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to cut our trip a bit short this time."

"Oh," was all Harry said looking at the ground. He didn't want to leave. They were having fun and Harry really liked camping. It just wasn't fair. But his brother was sick and if his dad said they had to go home then he didn't have much of a choice.

"We'll go camping again soon, I promise." Tobias reached out with one hand to ruffle Harry's hair and give him a gentle push towards their campsite.

At the campsite, while Harry was getting dressed, Tobias first went to the tent and, after putting Severus down, pulled the boy's sleeping bag from the tent, placing it out of the way. Going back to Severus, Tobias placed a hand on the back of his head, and gently guided the small boy over to his sleeping bag. "Lay down, Sev. Try to go to sleep."

Severus clumsily crawled into the sleeping bag, too tired to complain about having to take a nap. "Do we have to go? I'm not that sick."

Tobias sat down next to his son and ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, we have to go. End of discussion. Now, close your eyes and rest for a bit." Tobias stayed next to Severus until he was asleep. It worried him that it didn't take long for the boy to drift off. Severus must be very sick to just go to sleep so easily after a full night's sleep.

Sighing heavily, Tobias got up and turned to find Harry watching him intently. Offering the boy a small smile he walked over to him and knelt down in front of him and keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Severus. "I promise we'll go camping again soon, Harry, but Sev's sick so we need to get him home, okay?"

Harry nodded, not breaking eye contact with his dad.

Tobias sighed; he would get verbal answers from this child. "Verbal answer, Harry," and even though his voice was soft, it was firm and commanding, also.

"Yes, sir," said Harry. "Is he going to be okay?" Harry nodded towards the sleeping form of Severus.

Tobias gave a sort of half smile, "He'll be fine, now go roll up our sleeping bags, while I start packing up the other things."

Harry then stood up straight and raised his right hand to his forehead attempting to imitate Severus in a salute. "Aye, aye, captain." As Harry was about to bring his hand down from the salute and go do what he was told, Tobias stopped him.

Tobias stopped his son's arm as it was coming down from the ‘salute' and shook his head, "Not like that." Tobias stood up and demonstrated the correct way to stand, "put your feet closer together." Harry imitated his father's moves, "raise your right hand up like this...very good. Now you never lower your hand until the ranking officer has saluted you, so after you raise your hand you wait until I raise and lower mine before you lower yours, okay?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, sir." This was amazing! No one had ever shown him how to do something like this. Harry had always wanted a dad to show him how to do things, and now he had it. He couldn't help but smile as his dad showed him the proper way to salute.

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

Once everything was packed up, with the exception of Severus's sleeping bag, Tobias woke the sick child up.

"Come on Severus, it's time to go." Tobias gently shook the boy's shoulder and eventually Severus eyes opened.

His head hurt, was Severus first thought and he didn't want to move. He pushed his father's hand away and curled up as much as possible.

"Come on little one," Tobias willed himself to have patience. "You can go back to bed when we get home."

"Dad," Severus sat up stretching his arms toward his father. Tobias immediately pulled his boy to him in a hug. "My head hurts."

Tobias held his son for a moment, soothing him, "It'll be okay soon, I promise." Pushing his son away, Tobias rolled up the last sleeping bag and attached it to Severus's backpack, which he slung over his shoulder. With two backpacks Tobias took Severus's hand and they began making their way out of the woods, with Harry staying close to Severus.

About a quarter of the way home, Severus was too tired to go any further. "Dad, can we stop and rest for a while, please?" His voice was cracking slightly, with a tired note to it.

Tobias stopped and looked down at Severus who was rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand looking like a very small child. They hadn't been walking long and if they had to keep stopping to rest they would never make it home. Sighing, Tobias set both backpacks on the ground; Severus and Harry were looking on curiously. "Put this on," said Tobias handing Severus his backpack.

"But, dad, I'm tired," complained Severus as he put the backpack on.

"I know," was all Tobias said as he positioned his own backpack so it hung in the front instead of the back. He then knelt down with his back towards Severus.

Though this action confused Harry slightly, Severus immediately wrapped his arms around Tobias's neck. Tobias reached back and grabbed Severus's legs before standing up. Once Tobias was standing Severus wrapped his legs securely around his dad.

"All set?" Tobias asked wondering if they would be moving any faster with him carrying a ten year old boy and two backpacks. Feeling Severus nod he started walking again.

It was late evening by the time they reached the edge of the woods and minutes from the back door of the house. Tobias knelt down allowing Severus to get off his back then rearranged the backpack he was carrying while mumbling about being ‘too old for this sort of thing.'

As the three made their way to the house, Harry was looking almost as tired as Severus. Unlocking the door, Severus and Tobias immediately discarded their backpacks against the wall, the three walked in on an unexpected sight. Sitting at the kitchen table was a woman with long black hair with a few grey highlights that were so perfectly positioned one would think they were placed there on purpose, and brown eyes. Seeing the three enter the kitchen she put down the cup of tea she was holding and stood up, advancing towards the three shocked occupants of the kitchen. She was tall, almost the same height as Tobias, and she wore tight black pants with a green button up shirt that was too big. Not surprising, since it came from Tobias's closet. A slightly confused look crossed her features when her eyes rested on Severus.

"Hello, Toby, surprised?" asked the woman; her voice held a distinct, velvety quality.

Tobias couldn't say anything as he stared at her and Harry looked back and forth between the two adults in confusion before looking questioningly at his brother.

Severus was standing still, barely across the house's threshold, with his mouth hanging open slightly and his eyes wide with shock. He whispered a single word, but it reverberated around Harry's mind like an explosion: "Mum."

Everyone was silent as the surreal setting began to become fogged. It was like waking from a dream to find that the annoying siren you heard was actually your alarm clock. While asleep we see things so clearly they can be mistaken for reality only while we sleep, but reality is blurred with emotions and differing perspectives.

"Eileen," whispered Tobias, with what could be described as longing in his voice, but as suddenly as it came it was replaced with a cold look that made Voldemort's personal torture chamber seem warmer. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Eileen raised an eyebrow in much the same way an adult Severus did. "Well it's good to see you again too, darling."

Tobias remained silent, merely glaring as Eileen walked closer to him and stopping inches away causing Tobias to stiffen almost unnoticeably.

After a moment of simply staring at each other, Eileen spoke with an almost imperceptibly small tremor in her voice, though she still sounded only mildly curious. "So are these my grandsons? I must say they look a lot like Severus."

"Actually," Tobias said as he crossed his arms over his chest and continued in a condescending tone, "our sons were involved in a little potions accident that deaged them to the age of ten. I would tell you not to worry, and that they'll be fine in less then two weeks, but you don't care."

With almost no emotion Eileen simply stated, "you found out about Harry."

"No thanks to you," said Tobias bitterly. "Why didn't..." Tobias stopped abruptly, remembering that Severus and Harry were in the room with them. Without taking his eyes off Eileen, he spoke to his sons in a soft tone. "Severus, Harry, put your things on the table and go clean up." Severus had discarded his backpack almost the second he entered the house, before noticing Eileen, so his backpack was left discarded against the wall next to his father's.

Without saying anything, Harry, while watching Eileen closely, began moving towards the table, but stopped after sitting his backpack down when he noticed that Severus wasn't with him.

Severus didn't move; he scarcely heard his father and all he could do was stare at his mother with a mixture of emotions fluttering in his dark eyes.

Eileen noticed this and smiled sweetly, the way someone does when they see a puppy, but not in the way a mother does when she sees her child. She stepped away from Tobias and moved gracefully towards her son. "Hello, Severus."

Severus took a step back as she approached him pressing his back against the door. He didn't want her near him. She had left him. As she started coming closer, seemingly oblivious to his distress, he uttered a single word before she was blocked from his view: "Dad."

Tobias noticed his son's anguish, and before the word was completely out of Severus's mouth, he was standing between his son and Eileen.

Severus couldn't take it any more. He was sick and didn't feel good. His stomach was clenching making him nauseous and his head felt like it might explode. Then his mother had shown up after abandoning him. He wanted his dad. He reached his hand out to grab onto his dad's shirt, but that seemed to cause his eyes to sting and he blinked the tears back furiously; after all, boys shouldn't cry. Finally, his faced scrunched up and he leaned forward to hide his face in his dad's back as he cried. He didn't even hear what his dad said or his mother's reply.

Tobias felt Severus grab the back of his shirt and burry his head in his back as he trembled. Tobias's paternal instinct went into high gear as he growled at his wife. "Get away from him."

Anger flashed in Eileen's eyes. "He's my son, I have every right to..."

Tobias's cut her off abruptly with a shout, "You gave up all your rights the second you walked out on him!"

Eileen's mouth snapped shut and she stood glaring daggers at the man she had left years before.

Tobias was breathing heavily, but he calmed down as he turned away from the spit-fire demon in front of him to look at Severus.

Severus was trembling, his face flushed with tears. As his dad turned to face him, their eyes met and Severus did the only thing he could at the moment: he raised his arms up to his dad and let out a sob.

Tobias immediately picked his boy up, his eyes flashing dangerously at Eileen as he turned back around. Harry hadn't moved from beside the table, so Tobias walked over to him and with one hand, guided the boy out of the kitchen.

Tobias first led Harry to the bathroom and gently pushed him through the door. "Go ahead and wash up, I'll make us dinner in a bit. Okay?"

Harry nodded his head, looking between his brother and father feeling confused and slightly scared. "What's going to happen?"

Tobias sighed, trying to comfort both his sons. Severus was still sobbing and clinging to his neck. "I don't know, Harry, but everything will be alright, I promise."

Harry nodded and even though he still looked unsure, he closed the bathroom door and started washing up. For some reason, which he didn't know or understand, he trusted his dad to take care of everything. It was a new feeling for Harry and he rather enjoyed it.

Tobias went to his room trying to sooth his distraught son. In his room was a rocking chair that, although it had been rarely used in the past several years, he had never had the heart to part with. It had been in his grandparents house when he was a child and he remembered his grandmother rocking him in it and telling him stories while sitting on her lap. It had come into his possession upon her passing before Severus was born. When Severus had come along, Tobias spent many nights in it holding his son. Now, with a ten year old Severus in his arms, Tobias sat down in the old rocking chair and comforted his son once again.

Eventually Severus calmed down, his face flushed and streaked with tears, as he was gently rocked by his dad. Suddenly it didn't matter that he was ten years old, and far to old to be rocked like a baby. All that mattered was that he didn't feel good and his dad was there.

"Better now?" asked Tobias softly as he continued to rock and run a hand through his son's hair.

Severus nodded, but snuggled into his father indicating he didn't want to get down yet.

Tobias held and rocked his son for a few more minutes before getting up and taking his son to the bathroom attached to his room. Setting his son down in front of the tub he said, "You can get cleaned up in here since Harry's using the other bathroom." Severus was holding on to his father's shirt still, and refused to let go when Tobias tried to leave to give his son some privacy.

Sighing, Tobias sat down on the toilet seat so he was eye level with Severus. "Do you want me to stay in here with you?"

Severus nodded, yes, afraid for some reason that if his dad left he wouldn't come back.

"Okay, but you know I'll never leave you right? I'll always be wherever you need me," said Tobias and he continued to sit on the toilet seat.

Severus nodded and leaned into his dad for another hug before he quickly but quietly got in the shower washed off and got out again.

Tobias continued to talk comfortingly, as he stared at the wall opposite the shower until Severus had a towel wrapped around himself. Taking Severus's hand, Tobias led his son to his room. "Put your night clothes on and get in bed. I need to check on Harry, but I'll be back soon, I promise."

Severus merely nodded again and went to find his nightclothes.

Tobias went to Harry's room and knocked before entering to find his youngest son sitting on his bed. Tobias offered Harry a small reassuring smile and crossed the room to sit next to his son. "Want to go play with Severus while I make dinner?"

Harry nodded happy for the opportunity not to be alone. "Yes, sir."

"Okay, but remember he's sick so he has to stay in bed. You two can play a card game or something, but no roughhousing . . . and don't get to close, I don't want you sick too."

"Yes, sir," replied Harry a small bit of impatience coloring his voice.

"Get the cards and whatever else you want to play with," said Tobias standing up from the bed and watching as his son dash around the room looking for things bring with him.

Harry opened the closet door to look for the chess set his dad had let him and Severus play with; he couldn't remember if they had put it in his closet of Severus's. Seeing it sitting on the floor in the corner, Harry went to reach for it but he stopped when he touch something unusual. Running his hand over the shimmering cloak, he knew there was something special about it. As he was studying it, it fell off the rack and over his arm, which disappeared. Removing the cloak from his arm then covering it again, he knew he was right; this cloak was very special. Pushing it aside for later use, he grabbed the chess set and got out of the closet.

Once Harry had found everything, Tobias went with him to his brother's room. Severus was in bed sitting up against several pillows looking like...well...looking like a sick child. Tobias went over what they were and were not allowed to do one more time before going back into the kitchen where Eileen was waiting at the table.

Glancing around the kitchen, Tobias noticed that their camping gear was nowhere to be seen. Seeing his confused look, Eileen, in a now calm voice, answered his unasked question. "I put them away. Believe it or not, I do remember going camping with you from time to time."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Thank you. That was quick."

"Magic. Remember?" said Eileen flatly.

Tobias nodded. Both were quiet for a moment before Tobias asked the question which had been bothering him since the beginning of the summer. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" asked Eileen with no emotion in her voice.

Tobias sat down across from her at the table. "About Harry." Tobias's voice was thick with emotion as he looked into the deep brown eyes that he had become lost in on so many occasions.

Eileen leaned back in her chair, her nails clinking against the now empty mug which once held tea. "Because if I had come back with a child, our child, you would have done what you did with Severus and I would have been stuck here until I couldn't take it any longer and ran out on you again."

Tobias felt his anger flare up again and in a harsher voice replied. "You left our son with two people that were practically strangers because you thought that if I found out I would have convinced you to stay with me."

Eileen shrugged carelessly, "That's what happened with Severus. We had such grand plans...then he came along and you gave up. Just so you could take care of a child and for a while I gave up to." Eileen looked intently at Tobias, tilting her head slightly. "I do love them Tobias, but they aren't what I wanted out of life. I tried, for almost ten years, but I couldn't, I had to get out. But I never stopped loving you, Toby, you must believe that."

For some reason Tobias couldn't stay angry at her, he never could, and he gave her a small smile. He would never forgive her, but he would always love her.

After a couple of minutes of staring at one another, each lost in his or her own thoughts, Tobias cleared his throat and stood up from the table. "I need to make dinner."

Eileen nodded, her eyes still focused on the place were Tobias's head had once been.

Tobias moved around the kitchen hardly pausing in his movements.

Suddenly, with only mild curiosity showing through in her voice, Eileen asked, "Why didn't Severus want me near him?"

Tobias didn't stop in his graceful cooking act, not even to glance in her general direction. "You abandoned him. You walked out one day without even saying goodbye. Did you expect him to be ecstatic to see you again?"

Eileen shrugged, despite the fact that Tobias couldn't see the action with his back to her. "How'd you find out about Harry?"

Tobias sighed, his tone betraying his exhaustion. "His adopted parents died when he was a year old. Killed by Voldemort. Knowing that something like that was possible, Lily wrote a note to Albus Dumbledore informing him of the truth of Harry parentage, to be delivered two months before his fifteenth birthday, when the charms would fully degenerate. Though the letter didn't mention me at all, it mentioned you. A simple blood test between Severus and the boy proved the rest."

Eileen nodded and she continued to stare straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but a voice from the archway between the living room and kitchen stopped her.

"Dad?" said Harry in a soft unsure voice.

Tobias stopped and turned his head to his son. "Yes, Harry?"

"Severus is throwing up," Harry's voice remained calm as though it were nothing out of the ordinary for his brother just to start vomiting all over the place.

Tobias began rushing out of the kitchen, but stopped beside Harry for a moment to speak to Eileen. "Eileen...don't let the house burn down," Tobias's tone conveyed doubt that she could accomplish even this, but he hurried out of the kitchen before he could see her roll her eyes.

Harry remained in the archway, looking at Eileen intently.

Eileen tilted her head and watched Harry intently in return before drawing her wand. With a few simple flicks of the wrist, dinner began cooking itself, even though she didn't break eye contact with Harry.

"Are you really our mother?" asked Harry softly, but bravely. If he had learned nothing else since he was deaged, Harry found that it was okay to ask questions. If it wasn't, then he doubted Severus could survive. His brother couldn't seem to go five minutes without wondering how something worked or what it could be used for.

"Yes," answered Eileen flatly.

They stared at each other for a silent moment.

"Are you going to stay here?" asked Harry like the innocently curious child he was at the moment.

"For the time being," replied Eileen, still no emotion in her voice.

"But not forever?" Harry's tone held a sadness and . . . something else, desperation perhaps, that would have broken any mother's heart.

Eileen, however, was not a typical mother, so even if this statement evoked any emotion at all deep within her, she didn't show it. "No, not forever."

"Why did you leave?" asked Harry softly, sadly.

"I can not possibly explain it in a way you would understand," replied Eileen in a condescending tone, her irritation showing through her cool façade.

"Oh," said Harry quietly, then shrugged. "Severus is smart enough to understand and explain it. Just tell him, then he can explain it to me." After he said this, Harry realized it was a jab at his mother's intelligence level, causing his eyes to widen. He quickly fled the room to find his brother and father, leaving a shocked Eileen in the kitchen with her mouth hanging open slightly.

In Severus's room, the vomit covered blanket had been stripped from the bed and Severus was sitting at the desk chair with his head lying on it. Harry was standing in the doorway watching his brother when he felt something soft, but sort of heavy, hit the back of his head. Turning around, he saw his dad standing just outside the door carrying a thick blanket.

"Well don't just stand there boy, move," said Tobias, but not harshly. He had a small smile playing on his lips as he playfully hit Harry with the corner of the blanket again. Harry giggled and batted at the blanket, but moved out of his father's way.

Once Tobias remade the now-clean bed, he called a now-clean Severus over and tucked him in securely before sitting down on the edge of the bed and motioning Harry over. Harry sat next to his dad, who had one leg on the bed and the other on the floor. He was turned so that his back was towards the head board so he could run a comforting hand through Severus's hair and allow Harry to lean against his chest.

Finally, in a very small, broken, voice Severus asked, "Is she gone?"

Harry replied looking at his brother but didn't move his head from its place on his father's chest. "She was in the kitchen a minute ago."

Severus nodded and rolled over on his side closer to his father and burying his head under the man's arm. The three remained silently curled up together for several minutes before Tobias kissed them both on the tops of their matching black heads and got up from the bed.

"I have to go finish with dinner. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," said both boys together in matching tones, then playfully scowled at each other.

Tobias chuckled and left the room, going back into the kitchen once more. He wasn't too surprised to see dinner making itself. He was more surprised at the look on Eileen's face. She was staring at a spot somewhere beyond the archway, with a shock expression on her face. Tobias came up beside her, leaning over so his head was next to hers and he could see what she was staring at.

After a moment, in a serious tone said, "Yes, yes, it's definitely a wall."

This drew Eileen out of her musings and she playfully hit Tobias in the chest, a smile on her face. Tobias pretended to be hurt, placing a hand over the spot were she hit him, but also smiling. "Oww..."

Eileen rolled her eyes, but was stopped mid roll as expert fingers began dancing around her ticklish spot. She laughed and tried to move away from the tickling fingers, but only managed to slide out of the chair. Before she could hit the ground, however, she was caught by the same hands that had been tickling her. Tobias helped her to her feet, both of them still smiling as Eileen turned around and passionately kissed Tobias.

Tobias knew he shouldn't be doing this as he returned the kiss with equal passion. It's what landed them in trouble last time, but as all the blood began to rush from his brain to lower, currently more important, parts of his anatomy, he couldn't seem to think about anything other then the beautiful woman in his arms.

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

Over an hour after Tobias had left his son's in Severus's room he came in carrying a tray with two bowls of soup, a sandwich, and two glasses of juice. Truthfully, dinner had been done for a while, but had been...preoccupied with Eileen; a fact that caused him to feel a bit guilty. Setting the tray down on the nightstand, Tobias had Harry sit at the desk to eat his soup and sandwich while Severus ate his soup in bed. Tobias hadn't made Severus a sandwich, because he didn't think the boy would be able to stomach it.

Tobias couldn't figure out why he kept doing this. He should hate Eileen for leaving time and time again, but he couldn't. For some reason, every time she showed up he went right back to her. He was beginning to feel like the dog that gets kicked whenever its owner comes home for work, yet the dog continues to meet its owner at the door everyday, tail wagging in delight. Sighing, Tobias silently watched his sons eat, wondering when he was going to get kicked.

On the night of Eileen's arrival, Tobias stepped out of Harry's room, having just tucked the boy in, and headed to his own room. Severus was already tucked in and fast asleep as Eileen had a few potions on her which were completely non-reactive so they wouldn't interfere with the potion that deaged him, that helped with his fever and upset stomach. The poor boy refused to speak to her when she came in with the potions and nearly fell off the bed trying to stay away from her. Tobias had to convince her to leave the room before Severus would take the potions and once he had downed the potions, Tobias stayed with him until he was asleep, which didn't take long.

Opening the door to his room, Tobias entered and was surprised at what he saw. Eileen was putting her things away. In his closet. Though she noticed him enter the room, she chose to ignore him.

"What are you doing?" asked Tobias in a neutral tone. He crossed his arms over his chest and simply watched as she continued to unpack.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Eileen responded in a slightly condescending tone.

"Just how long to do plan on staying this time?" Tobias almost rolled his eyes, his tone held only the slightest bitterness.

Eileen put the last of her things away and pushed her trunk against the wall, so that it was out of the way. She then turned her attention back to Tobias.

Tobias couldn't decide what she looked like more: a hungry tigress or a tempting serpent ready to lead him straight to hell. Either way, he was sure to enjoy the ride.

Once Eileen was close enough, she snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. In a low, seductive voice she purred, "How long do you want me to stay?"

"I never wanted you to leave, love." For the second time that day Tobias's brain was deprived of much needed blood as he leaned forward to kiss the woman before him. He hands trailed down her body coming to rest on her nicely formed backside, which wasn't quite as firm as he remembered, but that hardly stopped him.

Several hours later Tobias bolted upright in bed and it only took him a moment to crawl out of bed and throw on his discarded sweat pants before rushing to Harry's room, where he was sure the scream had come from. Eileen only moaned and rolled over in bed slightly.

Looking around his son's bedroom, Tobias began to panic. He wasn't in bed . . . Harry was no where to be seen. Before he could form another thought he heard a whimper. "Harry, where are you lad? Harry." Another whimper had Tobias on his hands and knees looking underneath the bed.

Harry had woken up from a nightmare about his uncle. He hadn't meant to scream really, but he couldn't help it. Waking up he found he was not in his cupboard, but out in the open and had panicked. After so many years of staying in small spaces his room seemed to big, so he crawled under the bed and curled into to a ball. Part of him was afraid of what his father would do if he had woken up because of the scream and another, bigger, part of him knew that his dad wouldn't hurt him and wanted to be found. When he saw Tobias's head from underneath the bed he began to tremble and felt involuntary tears come to his eyes. Harry's voice shook with fear as he whispered, "Dad"

Tobias sighed and his heart went out to the boy, but there was no way he would fit underneath the bed. Reaching out a hand, he talked softly to his son. "Harry, give me your hand. It's all right, come on now, Harry."

Harry gathered up his courage and tentatively reached out a hand towards his dad, releasing a sob.

Tobias grasped the small hand as soon as it was within reach. Harry let out another sob as soon as his dad pulled him out from under the bed and to his chest. Tobias rocked his son, but he couldn't seem to calm the boy. Standing up, Harry securely in his arms, Tobias made his way to his room and the rocking chair. Sitting in the same way he had with Severus hours before, Tobias tried to comfort his son.

"It's okay, Harry, it was just a nightmare, it's all over now. Sshhhh...that's it, calm down." Tobias continued to comfort his son in a deep, soothing voice.

Eileen stirred in the bed, opening her eyes to briefly look over at her husband and son. "For Merlin's sake, Tobias, put the boy to bed."

Tobias ignored her in favor of calming his son. Eventually, Harry's sobs lessened and some of his fear returned, so in a scared voice he began apologizing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Tobias stood up from the rocking chair and made his way back to Harry's room and put the scrawny boy in bed. Harry continued to apologize.

"Harry, stop," commanded Tobias. His tone was firm, but not unkind as he sat down on the bed next to his son pushing the soft black hair away from the boy's face. "There's no need for you to apologize. You had a nightmare, which is perfectly normal and unremarkable. Next time, just come get me and don't hide underneath the bed. I promise I won't be upset."

Harry snuggled into his bed the best he could; the blanket all the way to his chin. "Dad?" Harry's voice was small and unsure; it took all of his courage just to utter that single word and his voice caught in his throat preventing him from saying anything more.

"Yes, Harry?" Tobias's voice was filled with patience and understanding.

Gathering his courage about him Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes tight before continuing in a whisper. "Please don't leave me."

Tobias laid down on the bed, on top of the covers, and pulled Harry close to him, so that his son's head was resting on his chest. "I won't leave you, Harry. I promise."

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

"I had presumed," Tobias heard Eileen purr while standing next to Harry's bed which he had fallen asleep on. "That you preferred my company in bed over that of a ten year old boy's."

Tobias gently maneuvered off the bed cautiously, so as not to wake Harry, and glared at Eileen to let her know he didn't find her amusing.

Eileen shrugged and wrapped her arms around his neck and giving him a good morning kiss.

This was the scene Harry awoke to. At first it caused him a bit of confusion. If this lady, his mother, had left his father, Severus, and himself, wouldn't Tobias be upset with her? It was obvious to Harry that Eileen didn't like him or his brother that much, but his father still seemed to be in love with her. As he tried to work this puzzle out in his head he watched his parents kiss and pull away from each other. As his dad turned around their eyes met and Tobias could only sigh at his son's questioning gaze.

Tobias suddenly smirked a bit and placing both of his hands on the bed he leaned over Harry and started bouncing the bed. "What are you looking at? Huh?" Tobias asked in a mockingly stern as Harry laughed. After a few moments Tobias stopped shaking the bed, and with a smile said, "Go change and wash-up for breakfast."

Harry crawled out of bed a smile still on his lips. "Yes sir." Harry dashed out of the room to the bathroom.

Tobias also exited his son's room with Eileen close behind, but went to Severus's room next. Severus was still asleep curled up under the blankets and still slightly pale. Tobias debated whether or not to wake him. The boy needed rest, but also needed some food and plenty of fluids in him also. Sighing and forgetting about Eileen who was waiting at the door, Tobias moved to his sick child's bedside. "Severus, Sev...come on Severus, wake up," Tobias's tone was quiet and low as he ran a hand through the boy's silky hair, noticing his fever was slightly lower.

Severus groaned and snuggled into the hand slightly, reluctant to leave his dreams and the comforting darkness of sleep.

"There's a good boy," prompted Tobias, with what seem like an infinite amount of patience. "Come on, now, open your eyes."

Eventually, Severus's eyes opened and locked with his father's. Slowly Severus reached both arms out to his dad. He still didn't feel good. His stomach was clenching painfully, his headache hadn't subsided at all, and now his throat was scratchy. "Dad," Severus's voice was small, and like all sick children when ill, he acted half his age.

Tobias immediately complied with his child's request and gathered him in his arms, comforting him.

Severus was content to just rest his head on his dad's shoulder forever, until he saw who was standing in the doorway. His mother was watching the scene with at most detached curiosity. Hiding his face in his dad's neck he held on tighter, hoping to convey the message that he didn't want to be anywhere near her.

After a moment or two Tobias pushed Severus away enough to look at him while speaking. "Go to the bathroom and wash up a bit, but go ahead and leave your pajamas on. After you eat a little breakfast, you can lay on the couch and watch TV, okay?"

Severus nodded rubbing his eye with a fist.

"Alright, let's go," said Tobias gently as he got up off the bed sitting Severus down on the floor in the process. He gently nudged Severus towards the door, but the boy refused to go further after about two small steps and stared at Eileen with an expression of rage mixed with anguish.

Eileen merely raised eyebrow and stared emotionlessly back.

Tobias cleared his throat, "Eileen," he suggested gently, "why don't you go into the kitchen and start breakfast?"

Eileen looked at Tobias, eyebrow still raised, with a look of slight surprise, but turned after a quick glance down at Severus and left the doorway.

After Severus had washed his face, brushed his teeth and hair, he went into the living room and sat down lazily on the couch shivering slightly until his dad came to get him. Tobias brought him into the kitchen and sat him down in front of a small plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of milk. Looking at the food made Severus's stomach roll.

Noticing Severus's dilemma Tobias said empathetically, "Just a couple bits of eggs, Sev, and drink a bit of milk. You need something in your system."

Severus nodded resolutely, ignoring his mother's gaze and picked up his fork.

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

After breakfast, Severus was curled up on the couch swathed in his blanket watching cartoons and dozing on and off. Harry had been sent outside to play for a while, albeit reluctantly since he didn't have his brother to play with. Tobias cleaned up the kitchen while Eileen watched from her place at the table.

"Do you think," began Tobias casually as he washed dishes, "that you could make a potion or something for Severus?"

"I could," stated Eileen with no detectable emotion. "But I won't."

"Why not?" Tobias's tone held a bit of resentment, but part of him also knew that if Eileen wouldn't make a potion then there had to be a reason.

"I don't know anything about the potion that deaged them," replied Eileen in a bored sort of way. "If I made him a potion, it might react with whatever deaged him and the results could be disastrous. The only thing you could give him is muggle medicine. What I gave him last night was basically just deluded muggle medicine, which in case you didn't notice, only helped marginally."

Tobias sighed. He couldn't take Severus with him to get the medicine because he was sick and he couldn't leave him with Eileen because...well the boy hated her. Not that he blamed him. Now the only question was how to acquire the medicine to make his boy well.

Outside, Harry was wandering around aimlessly just exploring a bit and being bored beyond belief. He had never had someone to play with before, so he didn't understand why, after only knowing his brother for a few days, he felt so alone without him. Kicking a rock out of his way, he followed it with his eyes, curious as to how far it would go; it was then he caught sight of the woman with long brown hair coming up over the hill towards the house. He tilted his head curiously and watched as she came closer to him.

Serenity smiled at the little boy who was watching her as she walked towards Severus's house. At least she thought it was his house. She had never actually been there, but he told her it was over the hill and this was the only house on the other side of the hill, so this had to be it. She was getting worried, she had tried calling yesterday morning, but no one pick up the phone. She knew he was supposed to be out of town Saturday and was concerned that something had happened while he was away. Taking a walk to Severus house, she hoped to find a clue as to where he had gone or something.

She stopped walking when she reached the little boy, who could easily be related to Severus, to talk to him. "Hello, my name's Serenity I was wondering if you could help me?"

Harry just watched her without saying a word. Serenity got the strange feeling he was reading her mind.

Shaking the thought away, she continued. "I was wondering if you knew anyone named Severus who lives here?"

Harry was silent and didn't make any movements for a moment as he studied her. She didn't seem mean or anything and she knew Severus, so she couldn't be evil or anything.

Harry's gaze reminded her of Severus and made her slightly uncomfortable. It was as though this small child could see straight through her.

Harry silently turned away and made his way towards the house. Serenity took this as that she should follow. Harry led her to a back door, which he pushed open to reveal two adults deep in conversation. The man, who must have been Severus's father, was washing dishes. He was wearing an old pair of jeans that were worn and fading with many stains and a red collard short sleeved shirt displaying muscular arms. His hair was cut so that it didn't go down past the tops of his ears and appeared to have the same silky quality as Severus's did. A small fringe on the left side was the only gray spot betraying his age. His nose was not large, but slightly more hooked then Severus's. When Serenity saw his eyes she realized it was genetic trait. They were a deep black and pierced right through to your soul. No wonder Severus had said it was impossible to hide anything from his father.

"Can I help you?" asked Tobias in a not-unfriendly voice, but one that said she had best tread carefully as he motioned Harry to his side.

Serenity swallowed suddenly nervous, but she smile before responding. "Yes, my name's Serenity and I'm assuming you're Tobias?"

"That my dear, depends entirely on why you're here?" Tobias's tone was still guarded. He didn't care if Severus was dating this woman. After all just because you sleep with someone doesn't mean they're trustworthy.

"Well, Severus said that he had to go out of town on Saturday, but promised to call when he got back that night. I tried calling yesterday, but no one picked so I came to see if everything was alright."

Fate is a fickle thing. Everyone in the kitchen would one day look back at this moment in there lives and wonder how things would have been had Severus come in the kitchen mere seconds later or if Serenity not had to stop on her way up the hill to tie her shoe causing her to arrive seconds earlier. However, as Tobias was assuring her everything was alright, that there had been a slight emergency Severus had to take care of before returning, and was about to usher her out the door Severus walked into the kitchen.

"Dad, I'm thirsty," said Severus entering the kitchen before noticing the women about to walk out the door.

Everything stopped for a moment. Maybe if Serenity hadn't know Severus had only one younger brother that was almost fifteen years old and she had met before, things would have gone differently. Maybe if Serenity hadn't know Severus fairly well from spending so much time with him things would have gone differently. And maybe, just maybe, if Harry hadn't remembered that he needed to tell his brother some trivial fact that seems so important to ten year old boys and consequently saying his brother's name, things would have gone differently.

As it were however, Harry did say Severus's name, Serenity had met Harry and knew Severus relatively well, so when she saw the young boy in the archway between the kitchen and living room she knew something was off. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

Tobias sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Why don't you have a seat and I'll explain everything." Tobias said this in a tired tone before turning his attention to Severus. Getting him a glass of water and filling it half way, he handed it to his son. "Alright Severus, drink it slowly and go watch cartoons. Harry, go with him."

Obediently Severus and Harry went into the living room to watch cartoons not caring about the adults in the kitchen and the situation they caused.

Tobias watched them go before sitting down at the kitchen table, forming a steeple with his hands in front of his face so that only the tips of his fingers touched and leaned on his elbows. It took nearly two hours, with only a few minor interruptions from the boys in the living room, for Tobias and Eileen to explain everything to Serenity. How magic was real - Eileen gave a couple demonstrations - how Severus and Harry were deaged, and the other basics. Tobias left out that Severus was a Death Eater and only briefly discussed Voldemort leaving Harry's involvement out completely as well as other more personal things. He was sure that Serenity knew he was leaving pieces out, but she seemed to understand.

Once Tobias finished and most of Serenity's questions answered he asked her for a favor. "As you probably noticed, Severus is sick and because of the deageing potion he can't be given wizard medicine, so if you don't mind, I would greatly appreciate it if you could run into town and grab some medicine for him."

Serenity no longer seemed shell-shocked and was looking intently at Eileen across the table from her. Eileen, expressionless as usual, merely looked back. Tobias raised an eyebrow questioningly, but said nothing.

Ignoring Tobias's question, Serenity, in a voice harsher then anyone thought her capable of, spoke directly to Eileen. "Severus said that you left when he was young and hadn't seen you since. Why are you here? Why did you come back?"

Tobias opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get the opportunity before Eileen responded in a cold voice. She didn't like to be accused of anything, even if the accusation was correct. "That is hardly any of your business."

"Like hell it isn't. What's happening to him now is more my concern then yours, and if you cared at all then you wouldn't have left...or at the very least you would have come back much sooner. You gave up everything when you walked out on him." By the end Serenity was shouting. She stood up from her chair and was leaning over the table towards Eileen, her eyes flashing wildly. Eileen remained calm, but her anger was quickly rising. Tobias leaned back in his chair, not willing to interrupt the two women and lose his head, or any other part of his anatomy. "What kind of mother does that?" This last question was asked quietly and hung heavily in the air.

It was quiet for several minutes as Eileen allowed herself to display a sufficient amount of anger. She stood up slowly, unused to having to look up at someone, and leaned in towards Serenity, who didn't cower away as Eileen expected her to. When Eileen spoke her voice was filled a quietly seething rage. "How dare you. You have no idea why I made the decisions I made. And even if I wanted to explain them to you I doubt that such a pathetic excuse of a Barbie doll such as yourself would understand."

"I don't want to hear your excuses and platitudes," Serenity was disgusted and her voice conveyed her revulsion. "Severus, however deserves a reason."

"You think you know him?" Asked Eileen a cruel smirk appeared on her face and her voice became a deadly whisper. "You know nothing about my son. You don't know what he is capable of, and you should pray that you never find out. You don't know what he has done."

Serenity leaned closer to Eileen and in a whisper just as deadly replied, "Neither do you."

Eileen leaned back slightly, aghast that anyone would speak to her in such a way. She opened her mouth to say another biting remark but instead found her head twisted sideways as a hand landed hard on her face. She went for her wand and had it trained on Serenity, a curse on the tip of her tongue, but her hand was lowered as she found Tobias standing in her way both her arms held by her sides. She didn't bother to fight and quickly replaced her mask of indifference.

After several moments of tense silence, Serenity spoke to Tobias, "What exactly is it that Severus needs? I'll be more then happy to get it."

Tobias cleared his throat and once satisfied that Eileen wouldn't attack made a list of children's medicine that would help Severus. Giving the list and some money to Serenity, he thanked her before she left for the village. Tobias knew that Eileen was still silently fuming and honestly didn't know what to do except to give her space. He watched silently as she stomped out the door.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Harry said in a whisper to his brother as they cautiously peeked around the rock to see if anyone was coming. Tobias was outside working in the front yard, well away from the stream, on some chore and Eileen had decided to take a walk into town and would most likely be gone for quite some time.

Ignoring his brother's comment, Severus said in a whisper, "Why are we sneaking around like this? We're wearing an invisibility cloak, and no one is nearby." In just three more days Severus and Harry would be restored to their correct ages again. Severus had been ill for several days following their camping trip almost a week ago, but he had been well for sometime now and it was time to exact some revenge.

"We're sneaking because don't want to take any chances. Not that it matters because dad's going to know it was us anyway and we're going to get into trouble." Harry's voice was a harsh whisper as he spoke to his brother under the invisibility cloak. They cautiously walked around the rock to put a few more touches on there prank.

Severus waved off his brother's concerns. "What's the worst that could happen?" Seeing the quirked eyebrow his brother gave him Severus realized that probably wasn't the wisest question to ask his formally abused brother. "The most dad will do is ground us, and in a few days we'll be our proper ages again and he won't be able to ground us for something we did when we were ten."

Harry didn't look convinced, but continued to help his brother.

Severus hadn't said a word to his mother since her arrival. He tried to avoid her all together and wouldn't be in the same room with her without his dad. Severus couldn't bring himself to forgive her for leaving him. He had been good - sure he had misbehaved sometimes, but his dad had stayed with him. Why couldn't his mother? It didn't make sense. Mothers were supposed to love their children and stay with them. He'd be perfectly happy if his mother just left and he could forget all about her, but that wasn't a possibility; therefore, since he had gotten well he had spent every waking moment trying to find way's to make her life hell.

He had put earthworms and shaving cream in her shoes, he had replaced her toothpaste with glue, and injected blue dye into her shampoo. Yet through all of this and more, she had remained unmoved, completely neutral, and impassive. She hadn't even seemed angry! But he would succeed this time, he was sure. He had formed a plan that, if it worked, would make her upset enough to leave. With luck once she left, she'd never come back.

Harry could understand how Severus felt about their mother, and he knew that her presence was hurting Severus. As a result, he didn't mind pulling a couple harmless pranks on her, but unlike Severus, he doubted she'd leave because of them. Yes, he knew that Eileen wouldn't stay, but he sort of hoped that she would change her mind. Then they could all live together and be happy. He could only imagine what it would be like to have a mum and dad and brother. But Harry wasn't sure about the prank they were setting up now. Sure it might be funny to see the look on Eileen's face, but would it be worth the consequences?

Everyday at the same time, Eileen would go for a walk. She usually took the same path down to the stream then made a small loop and came back to the house. Occasionally she would go into the village, but not often enough for it to affect Severus and Harry's plan. It would begin tomorrow morning after Eileen left the house for her walk. They were putting the finishing touches on their rig now, so it would be ready for Eileen the next day. Tomorrow when Eileen left, Severus and Harry would use the invisibility cloak to follow her and watch the prank unfold.

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

Eileen's eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling for a moment. This was getting boring. Granted, here she had her husband and he was without a doubt the best lover she had ever had, but going through the same routine day after day... well, it got tiresome. When she had popped in she was expecting to find just Tobias; she would have spent a few days in his bed, asked him to come with her when she left then leave with or without him. Now that she was here however, for some reason she was compelled to stay and see her sons once they were their proper ages again. She wasn't staying out of some long forgotten sense of maternal instinct or anything, just a sort of clinical curiosity. She felt a strong arm wrap itself around her waist and pull her close.

"I see you're awake, love." Eileen's voice was sensual and made the hairs on the back of Tobias's neck stand up in anticipation as she wrapped a hand around his upper arm and began moving it along his nude body.

Tobias's brain was muddled with sleep and thoughts of the naked woman beside him as his hand, of its own accord, moved up to explore her anatomy, so his response was a jumbled, "Love...morning, love."

Eileen smiled. This was a wonderful way to wake up in the morning.

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

In retrospect, Tobias would realize that two extremely calm, well mannered, and bright ten year olds spelt trouble. As it was however, Tobias was impressed with his sons and oblivious that morning at breakfast before he left to go into the village on a couple of errands.

Eileen, in her defense, did notice that Severus and Harry's behavior was slightly different than what she had previously witnessed, but not understanding children in the least she assumed it was normal and ignored it. Later she would realize this was a mistake.

Eileen slowly left the house and walked to the stream and unknown to her, Severus and Harry were following at a safe distance under an invisibility cloak. As Eileen continued on, she attempted to memorize every feature of the surrounding scenery. Other than Tobias, the thing she missed the most about this place was its beauty. It was so picturesque she sometimes doubted that wasn't all just a dream. After Severus was born and she had attempted to settle down they would go camping together. Even though she wasn't much for roughing it, the sheer unadulterated beauty of the place had made every rough moment worth it.

Approaching the large rocks on the bank of the stream, she had every intention of sitting down and watching the world go by, but as she stepped down about two meter's away from the rock her brain had enough time to realize something was wrong before she slipped and went sliding into the water.

Severus and Harry made sure to stay far enough away from Eileen as not to be detected, but close enough to trip the mechanism they had rigged the previous day. It wasn't very complicated in all honesty, merely a couple of makeshift pulleys and good camouflaging. Using an old rug from the shed, they placed it about half way between the rock and stream, connecting a piece of rope to both sides of the rug. Each rope lead from the sides of the rug down to the water where each piece looped around a rock. The rope then lead back to the shore, away from the large rock, where two makeshift stakes were planted in the ground.

The ropes where then brought together behind the large rock at a single stake and tied off. They had camouflaged the whole setup by covering the ropes and rug with dirt and leaves so that it didn't look different then any of the ground surrounding it. Once Eileen was standing in the right place, all Severus and Harry had to do was pull the ropes tied to the single stake and watch as the rug, with Eileen as a passenger, went sailing down into the water. Granted it wouldn't take her very deep, not even knee deep, but she would definitely get wet.

As Eileen hit the cold water she let out a shriek. Once she had regained her bearings, she was able to stand up with cold fury burning in her eyes and see the rig responsible for her impromptu bath. The rug was now floating beside her in the water, the ropes plainly visible now that they had been moved form their hiding places, and laughter was clearly audible from about three meters behind the large rock were the ropes seemed to end.

Worms, shaving cream, glue, and dye had been one thing. This however was inexcusable. Trudging out of the water and toward the point where the laughter was coming from, Eileen drew her wand and summoned what she assumed the two boys had to be using to stay invisible. "Accio Invisibility Cloak."

With a swish, the cloak was ripped off the two laughing boys and went sailing into Eileen's outstretched hand. Without the cover of invisibility and suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable to Eileen's frighteningly angry glare, both boys stopped laughing. Harry swallowed hard and visibly cringed away from Eileen while Severus smirked, but was obviously nervous.

Eileen's eyes narrowed and she silently glared at both boys until the smirk melted off Severus's face and was replaced with a slightly fearful one. Eileen stomped over to the boys and leaned over to stare menacingly at them. With her glare firmly in place she whispered, in a deadly calm voice between clenched teeth, a single word: "Run."

Harry and Severus didn't need to be told twice as they both jumped up and ran as fast as possible. Eileen gave them a small head start before taking off after them. She caught up with Severus first, managing to grab the boy around the waist, pull his back towards her and began tickling him.

After a minute she stopped but kept him pinned against her. She sounded slightly out of breath as she spoke semi-sternly, while giving Severus a small shake. "Stay right here, while I get your brother."

Severus had a huge smile on his face. This was the first time that he could remember, that his mum had ever played with him. "Yes, Ma'am."

With a final tickle of Severus's stomach, she left to catch Harry, who had stopped several feet away from Eileen and Severus to watch what she was doing to his brother. Seeing Eileen once again in pursuit of him, he took off running, slower this time. Once Eileen caught up with him she repeated her earlier actions with Harry. Once done she place a hand on the back of his neck and steered him towards his brother. Severus still had a huge grin on his face as she approached and she just barely kept herself from smiling as well. Placing her free hand on the back of Severus's neck, she steered both of them home.

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

When Tobias came home, a large paper bag filled with groceries in each arm, he was met with a very particular sight. In one corner of the kitchen was Severus standing up straight with his arms behind his back and nose in the corner. Harry was in a similar position in another corner of the kitchen while Eileen was sitting at the table reading a book.

Quirking an eyebrow, Tobias sat the groceries down on the table and directed his question at Eileen. "What's going on?"

Eileen didn't look up from her book, her cool impassive façade back on. "Your sons tried to drown me."

An almost inaudible, strangled whine escaped Severus's throat. It wasn't fair. After she had chased them and tickled them, and everything, she had ordered them home where she told them to wait in the corner until their father got home. Severus had stared at her in disbelief for a moment before a smack on his backside had propelled him into movement. He didn't understand how she could be playing and almost... loving to them in one moment and then want to punish them. Then what she had just said: ‘Your sons' - it was as though with that single comment she had disowned him. He blinked back his tears. How could she say that? She was his mother. After hearing that, Severus felt truly sorry for pranking her. Before he said he wanted her gone, but now that she had completely written him out of her life...he wanted her more then anything. In order to keep from crying Severus forced his sadness to be replaced by anger at her for leaving in the first place and what he felt was betrayal for her telling his father.

"Excuse me?" Tobias's voice was low and held a note to it that his sons immediately recognized as meaning nothing good.

Eileen shrugged as though it were nothing, face unreadable as ever. "Why don't you ask the mastermind behind the plot," she suggested and gestured towards Severus.

"Severus. Tobias. Snape." Tobias's tone was low, but deadly and Severus instantly knew he was in for it.

"Yes sir." Ground out Severus between clenched teeth, not moving from his place in the corner. Though he was nervous about his father's reaction he was angry and hurt by Eileen. It was a joke. Just like all the others. This just wasn't fair.

"Come here," commanded Tobias pointing to the spot directly in front of him. He waited until Severus was standing there before issuing his next order. "Explain."

Severus crossed his arms over his chest defiantly and stared resolutely at the ground. "It was just a joke."

Eileen scoffed but said nothing.

Tobias's glared. "Drop the attitude, now." Tobias didn't add the overused ‘or else' to the command. He didn't want his sons to listen to him because he threatened them. Threatening gave them an excuse for later on. He could just see Severus telling Harry that he only listened because if he didn't such and such would happen. Without the threat, the only reason Severus would have for listening is respect.

Severus stubbornly glared back at his father for a few moments, but eventually released a dramatic sigh and explained the rig and how he and Harry had set it up.

When Severus was done with his explanation, Tobias couldn't decide rather to laugh at the mental image of Eileen sliding down the bank and hitting the water or pulling his son over his knee for a sorely deserved smacking. He settled for what he hoped was a stern look as the corners of his mouth twitched upwards and pointed towards the archway leading into the living room. "Go to your room now, and when I come in there you had best be sitting on your bed looking as though you're about to die of boredom. That goes for you too, Harry."

Harry released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and without looking at his father he said a quiet, "yes sir," and followed his brother out of the kitchen and into their separate rooms, leaving Tobias and Eileen alone in the kitchen.

Once Tobias was sure Severus and Harry couldn't hear him he collapsed into a chair laughing.

Eileen shot daggers at him with her eyes. "It isn't funny."

Tobias nodded, still laughing, but managed to calm down before speaking. "Actually, darling, it is quite funny. Granted they never should have done it...but I can just imagine the look on your face as the ground started moving beneath you and you went sliding towards the water." Tobias couldn't help but to start laughing again.

Eileen waited until he was finished before redirecting the conversation. "How did they get an invisibility cloak?"

Tobias sobered up immediately. "I remember Severus mentioning something about it. It was Harry's adopted father's, I believe. Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought."

"Hmm..." said Eileen, almost condescendingly. "Yes, well it is now folded neatly and resting in the lockbox in the top of your closet."

Tobias nodded gazing off to the side slightly lost in thought. "Yes, that's a good place for it. I should have confiscated it from him sooner. God only knows the kind of trouble he could and probably has gotten into with it."

"Hmm..." was Eileen's reply. It was silent for a couple of moments before she spoke again in the same uninterested tone she always used. "What do you plan on doing to them?"

Tobias sighed running his hand from his forehead down his face letting it rest over his mouth, moving it only after he began speaking in a contemplative tone. "I'll give them a few chores to do today and tomorrow."

"That's it?" Eileen's voice had a slight edge to it.

Tobias shrugged and replied in a neutral tone. "They'll be back to normal soon. There's no point in grounding them or giving them loads of stuff to do."

Eileen huffed indignantly.

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

That night, Severus couldn't sleep. Even after his dad had tucked him in, he continued to toss and turn in his bed. He just didn't understand his mother's reactions; one minute she was playing with them and the next she was marching them off to the gallows. With a frustrated sigh he quietly got up and walked to his brother's room. Opening the door silently, he stepped inside and softly closed the door behind him before walking over to his brother's bed and waking him up.

"Harry, come on...wake up. Harry!" Severus kept his voice down to a whisper, not wanting to wake his dad, as he shook his brother's shoulder.

"Whatisit?" mumbled Harry, pushing Severus away. He had just dozed off.

"I'm running away," stated Severus in a quiet voice just above a whisper as he climbed up onto Harry's bed and sat cross legged, staring at Harry.

"What!" Harry nearly shouted as he sat up straight in bed staring at his brother.

"Shhh!" Severus went back to whispering urgently. "Be quite or dad will hear us!"

"You're not serious?" asked Harry in an unbelieving whisper.

"Yes, I'm serious," Severus said, his black eyes wide. "She...I don't know...she acted like it wasn't a big deal or anything then the next thing we know we were left standing in a corner waiting for dad to get home and whatever punishment he would hand out. It doesn't make sense. She left, so why'd she come back if she doesn't love us?" Severus's thoughts were jumbled and bouncing around his head and the more he tried to make sense of the whole situation the more it made his head hurt. Placing the palm of his hands on his temples he rubbed trying to stop the all the thoughts and emotions clashing around.

Ever since he could remember he had always been able to control his mind. For him it was easy, natural instinct, and he couldn't understand why others couldn't do it as well. Concentrating he forced all the thoughts away leaving his mind clear, but he still found himself confused about Eileen's actions.

Harry just sat on the bed watching his brother. He didn't know what to say. "Dad loves us." Even to Harry, his voice sounded unsure, and startled, he realized he'd never had to reassure anyone of anything like that before. "Besides, you can't runaway now and leave me with all the chores we have to do thanks to your brilliant idea." Harry tried to joke, but the only acknowledgement he got from Severus was a forced half smile as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"I hate her, but...I don't know...for some reason...I want her to stay here. I want her to love me." Severus drew his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth staring at the wall behind Harry's head. "Daddy loves her... But she doesn't love us. So how can he love us if she doesn't?" a little voice in the back of Severus's head said that there was something wrong with his logic, but he was to upset to figure out what at the moment. "It just isn't fair. He's my dad. My daddy." Severus's breaths became shorter and Harry was startled to realize his brother was fighting back tears. "He's our dad." Severus buried his head in his knees. "I want a Mum and Dad that love me. That's all. It's not fair. Everybody else has a family. Why can't I? Why can't my Mum love me?" Severus looked at his brother imploringly, pleading for answers, tears glistening in his large black eyes.

"I don't know." Harry whispered; he didn't know what else to say.

Severus focused his eyes back on the wall for a moment while taking several deep breaths. "I'm going to go pack some of my things. Do you want to come with me?" Severus looked back at his brother hopefully. He didn't want to runaway by himself after all.

Before Harry could answer a voice was heard from the doorway.

"Can I come?" asked the voice quietly, sadly even. Both boys turned to face Tobias who had been outside the door listening for quite some time, unknown to both boys. Walking further into the room Tobias stood beside the bed waiting for a reply.

"No." Severus said forcefully with a pout, not meeting his father's eyes.

Tobias had heard Severus get up and after a moment, when the boy didn't return to his bed, he got up to find out where the boy had gone. It wasn't hard to figure out when he heard the voices from Harry's room. He stayed outside the door for a few minutes listening to Severus bare his soul to his brother. Tobias crawled up onto Harry's bed with a groan and sat cross legged on the edge so he could see both his sons. "Why do you want to runaway?" Tobias had heard Severus' reason already, but was curious as to what the boy would tell him.

Severus shrugged, not wanting, or knowing how for that matter, to explain it to his dad.

Tobias reached out with one hand and gently tucked his son's hair behind his ear. "Please tell me Sev, I can't make it better if you don't talk to me."

"You can't make it better!" snapped Severus. He quickly brushed away the few tears that had leaked out. "No matter what you do she won't love me. You might convince her to stay here, but she won't like it and she'll want nothing to do with us. I was good, daddy," Severus finally broke and couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why doesn't she want me?"

Tobias didn't move for a minute as he absorbed what Severus was saying. How had he been so blind? How could he not have seen the effect Eileen was having on his son? Sighing he scooted closer to Severus before pulling the boy into his lap. His guilt at not seeing what was now plainly obvious grew when he felt two small arms wrap themselves around his neck and heard the chocked sob coming from his shoulder. "Shhh...its okay, Sev, its okay. I've got you. I love you."

"Don't leave me, please daddy, don't leave. I'll be good, I promise. Please..." Severus had buried his face in his dad's shoulder and was no longer holding back his tears.

Tobias just held his boy tighter talking comfortingly, and trying to ease the boy's fears. He couldn't help but wonder if Severus was acting this way because Eileen came back or if these feelings had existed over twenty years ago when Eileen first left. Either way, he was a fool for not seeing the effects this was having on his son.

Tobias didn't even flinch as the book came sailing inches away from his head. He continued to stand in his bedroom, arms crossed, and glaring at his wife.

"...how dare you presume to tell me what to do!" Eileen screeched furious at Tobias. Her hands were balled into fist by her sides, her knuckles void of color. She was breathing heavily and her mouth formed into a sneer. "They are my sons, you can't tell..."

"I just did." Tobias interrupted his voice taking on a defensive quality as he stepped closer to his wife, so that they were standing at the foot of the bed hardly a foot between them. "You've had your fun. Now get out. You and I both know that I won't leave them, especially Harry, since he can hardly care for himself. Now leave."

"Do you really believe that will make it all better?" Eileen asked quietly her voice much softer and silky. "Do you really think its fair? Do you think Severus and Harry will be any happier with me gone?" Eileen closed the small distance between them by half so they were mere inches apart. "Do you really believe that they'll forgive you if you send me away before their reaged and have gotten the chance to speak to me themselves?"

Tobias leaned towards her until they were so close he could feel her breath before whispering in a deadly quite voice. "Do I really give a damn?"

Eileen couldn't repress the shiver of excitement that passed over her with him in such close proximity, but pushed the feelings away before she responded. "Yes. Of course you care. They are your boys, after all. You know that Severus wants answers and you would never deprive him of that. You know that both of them at their proper ages want to at least speak to me and though they may forgive you for sending me away...you could never forgive yourself."

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

Friday evening, the day before Severus and Harry were supposed to return to their normal ages, found Tobias, Eileen, Severus, and Harry in the living room. Severus and Harry were sitting at opposite ends of the couch heads propped up on their elbows looking as though they may perish from sheer boredom. Tobias was standing looking furious his arms crossed and glaring at Eileen, who was standing near the door, from across the room.

Eileen was glaring at Tobias as they argued. "Why can't I come? They are my sons."

Matching looks of anger appeared on both Severus's and Harry's faces, but Harry's look soon faded and was replaced by one of concern as he glanced at Severus. Severus continued to look angry, but he ducked his head for a moment to regain control of his emotions.

Tobias sighed wearily; he was tired of this argument and just wanted to get his boys to Headquarters were the medi-witch could look them over before they could return to normal the next day and return home. "Because you're not an Order member..."

"Neither are you!" Eileen interrupted him anger coloring her voice.

"True, but unlike you I have Dumbledore's permission. Now, if you would be so kind as to let us leave, we'll be back sometime tomorrow." Tobias's voice betrayed his impatience as he ground out the last between clenched teeth.

"Fine!" said Eileen throwing her hands up in the air and stalking off down the hall. She rarely showed so much emotion at one time.

Tobias shook his head after her and turned his attention to his sons. In a brighter tone than he had a few minutes before, he asked, "Ready to go?"

"Aye, aye, Captain," both boys replied simultaneously with a salute.

Tobias chuckled and saluted back before pulling out the portkey Dumbledore had given him, which would take them to an alley just outside of Headquarters.

Once they were safely inside Grimmauld Place, Tobias watched with no small amount of amusement as his sons were first squeezed within inches of their lives by Molly Weasley then handed over to Pomfrey for their exam. By the time the two women were done, the rest of the houses occupants, minus Sirius, were downstairs. Getting the okay from the mediwitch and being followed by warnings from Mrs. Weasley, Severus was swept upstairs by the twins leaving, Harry alone with the adults as well as Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

Harry took a hesitant step back towards his father. He was just beginning to feel comfortable around his father and brother and though he had met these people before, he didn't completely trust them. He felt a hand being placed in the center of his back and his father gave him a small push away. Turning his head, he looked up questioningly at his dad, a small bit of fear in his eyes.

Tobias smiled reassuringly at Harry before looking up and addressing Ron. "I assume you have a chess set?"

Ron nodded, not really sure what that had to do with anything.

Tobias nearly cringed; what was so difficult about getting verbal answers from these kids? In a neutral tone that displayed none of his annoyance, he spoke to Ron once again. "I would greatly appreciate a verbal answer."

Ron swallowed; this man reminded him far too much of his potions master. "Yes, sir."

Tobias smiled slightly, though his tone remained the same. "Thank you. Now, perhaps if you were to retrieve this chess set, Harry would like to play a game or two with you."

Both Tobias and Ron looked expectantly at Harry. Though he was nervous, a game of chess did sound fun. Before consenting however he had to be sure of something. He turned around entirely to face his dad and gestured for him come closer so he could whisper in his ear.

Tobias looked amused as he leaned over to hear what his son had to say. As he listened to his son, his amusement quickly died and was replaced by anger and sadness. Sighing, he turned his head so he could whisper into his son's ear. "Of course, Harry, I promise I'll be right here if you need me. I won't leave you, son."

Their private conversation finished and Tobias stood up straight once again to watch as Harry left with Ron to find the chess set, Hermione and Ginny not far behind.

Up in the twins room/personal laboratory, they were drilling Severus with everything they could think of. They had known for quite some time that their potions master was brilliant and held quit a bit of respect for him. In fact, they were almost positive that he knew they had developed and experimented with many potions while in his class, yet he allowed them to get away with it. It was almost an unspoken bargain really; they do their assigned work well, and don't make any disturbances in his class and he would allow them some research and extermination. Now that they had full access to Professor Snape, albeit in child form, they were determined to wring every piece of information out of him that they could. Especially considering that once he was the correct age again, their beloved potions master would most likely kill them. But they would deal with that when the time came.

Severus was greatly enjoying the time he was spending with the two older boys. Most of the time when he talked potions to people he would have to stop frequently to explain some of the simplest things to them - and even then most people seemed lost and hardly cared at all about what he was telling them. Fred and George, however, seemed genuinely interested and knew a great deal about potions themselves. They even let him demonstrate a few things with their equipment. It was nice to know that some people appreciated the subtle science and exact art that was potions making.

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

That night at dinner, it happened. It was strange for Severus and Harry - it was like waking up to a nightmare. One minute their ten-year-old selves were sitting at the table, poking at their broccoli, and then suddenly they get horrible, head splitting headaches. Then their ten-year-old bodies are sitting at the table with their correct minds with memories of the past two weeks intact and fresh in their heads.

"Severus, Harry?" Tobias called out to his son's, his concern tangible. They had each let out a loud groan and put their hands on their heads, causing Pomfrey to jump up and start scanning them but now were looking around wide eyed there hands had been removed from their heads and they were staring at each other, mouths open.

Before Severus or Harry could respond, Madam Pomfrey was speaking in a calm tone. "I suggest that the two of you get upstairs to a room unless you want to be sitting at the kitchen table entirely nude when you grow too large for your clothes."

Severus and Harry briefly exchanged looks before bolting up the stairs.

Tobias looked questioningly at the medi-witch as he got up to follow his sons.

Reading his inquiring expression, Pomfrey answered his and everyone else's unasked question. "They'll be fine. The potion is just wearing off a bit faster then expected. Apparently, however, it's ageing their minds back first, but their bodies will soon follow.

Nodding with a mumbled ‘thank you' to the medi-witch Tobias preceded out of the kitchen and up the stairs after his sons, Madam Pomfrey not far behind.

It was a very interesting twenty minute wait while the four occupants of the room waited for Severus and Harry's bodies to catch up with their minds. Tobias paced nervously, Madam Pomfrey continued to scan Severus and Harry, Severus kept his eyes focused on a point on the rug in deep contemplation, while Harry cast worried glances around the room at the other occupants of the room. Finally, Severus and Harry began to grow, as when they were deaged it didn't hurt, but was very odd to watch. Harry stopped growing before Severus, but before he could even reach for his clothes, Pomfrey was scanning him, make tsk'ing sounds under her breath. As soon as she finished with Harry, she started on Severus. Once she was sure they were both healthy and suffered no ill effects from the potion, she left. Tobias, looking relieved, followed the medi-witch out with nothing more than a smile to both his son, relieved beyond words that they were all right.

Severus and Harry quickly got dressed, not saying a word to one another. Harry realized now that he had revealed more to Severus as a ten year then he ever had to anybody. He knew that Severus wouldn't ridicule him for it, but he didn't know how to act around his brother now. Not only that, but he was about to explode with questions. Severus's child self was far different from the adult Harry had come to know, and he didn't understand what could cause Severus to change so drastically. Then there was the fact that waiting for him at home was his mother. A mother who could barely stand him. He had never been so confused in his life.

Severus had so many differing thoughts zooming around his mind he really didn't know where to begin. He had learned so much about his younger brother while they were small that he didn't know what to do with the new connection he now felt. He supposed that it was some sort of brotherly bond. Before being deaged, if he were to be honest, he didn't really feel a ‘brotherly' connection with the boy. They had a connection yes, but it was more of that between an uncle and nephew or cousins perhaps. Now that he was adult again, though, he could not deny that he felt a true bond with his brother. Casting a quick glance at Harry, he realized that they had much to discuss. They both had questions that only the other could answer. That particular conversation would have to wait until they got home; first, however, there was a certain pair of twins he needed to speak to.

Harry headed for the bedroom door intending to flee the room before his brother decided that they needed to talk. His hand was one the doorknob, when a hand pushed the door closed again. With dread, Harry looked up into the matching black eyes of his older brother.

Severus knew Harry wanted to forget about everything he had revealed to him, but he couldn't and Severus was determined to help his baby brother through everything he had been through. "We need to talk." Severus voice was soft but commanding, "but not today."

Harry nodded, feeling relieved but apprehensive at the same time. Severus removed his hand from the door, allowing his younger brother to open it.

Severus followed Harry out of the open door and back down to the kitchen where they could finish their dinner, excluding the broccoli.

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

It was late when the twins decided to go to bed. They had been doing their best to avoid their potions master since he returned to his normal self, but they couldn't help notice the looks he kept sending their way over dinner. They made sure to stay close to Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny after dinner as well, so that they would be less likely to bump into him. They weren't sure exactly what he would do when he did finally catch up with them, but they were sure it wouldn't be anything good. Removing all the wards and pranks from there door to keep intruders out they opened the door to their room and entered swiftly before putting up all wards and pranks back up. They weren't going to take any chances. Once done, they both breathed a sigh of relief, but the relief was short lived as they heard someone clear their throat. From a darkened corner of the room Severus stepped out looking scarier then Fred and George remembered.

Severus smirked, his arms crossed across his chest. When his spoke it wasn't with malice, but almost neutral with a mischievous undertone; as though he were trying to hide his excitement. "Hello, gentlemen, I have a business proposition for you."

It took a second for what their professor had said to kick in, at which time mischievous smiles crossed both their faces and they shared a look that apparently allowed them to silently communicate with each other.

"What sort of business proposition, sir?" asked George in the most politely business tone he could muster.

"Have a seat, gentlemen, and allow me to explain." Severus conjured two chairs for the boys and waited until they sat down, with serious looks plastered on their faces, before continuing. "You plan on opening a joke shop once you finish school. Do you not?"

"Yes, sir." Both answered at the same time calculating looks still on their faces.

"I have the means...the ability, to make the two of you the proprietors of the best joke shop ever if you're willing." Severus turned on every bit of cunning he possessed. He would need all of it with these two.

"Hypothetically speaking sir, if we accept how would you go about this?" asked Fred. He and George knew they had to handle their professor carefully.

Severus remained silent for a moment carefully studying both boys. He realized that he would have to do a bit of salesmanship if he wanted them to accept his offer. He was surprised actually that he was even making them this offer, but they had proven themselves worthy of it time and time again without even trying. "I am one of the best potion masters in the world..."

"He doesn't have much as far as modesty goes, though, now does he, George?" ask Fred in a whisper, but purposefully loud enough for their professor to hear.

"No, no, he doesn't dear brother, but..." George didn't get to finish his statement as he was interrupted by said professor.

"If you don't mind," Severus voice took on a familiar cold quality, "I would like to continue without interruptions." He was silent for a moment before he continued his business tone. "As I was saying I'm one of the best potions masters in the world. If you want proof look it up or ask Miss. Granger. I was the youngest person to receive a potions master in over two centuries. Not only that, but I have studied muggle chemistry as well. Every year, I receive hundreds of request from the best and brightest potions students from around the globe asking for an apprenticeship. I turn each and every one of them down."

"That's very interesting professor," said George beginning to sound bored, "but what does that have to do with us?"

"Everything, Mr. Weasley. You see, if I do, for some unknown reason, decided to take an apprentice, that person would have automatic recognition, before they even complete their mastery. They would become famous almost instantly. I could teach them more then anyone else and their skills, whatever they may be, would be valued beyond imagination."

The room was silent for a moment as Severus allowed what he was saying to sink in. Severus watched in amusement as both Fred and George's eyes widened at the same time and their eyebrows rose.

"Sir," began George tentively. "Are you offering us an apprenticeship?"

Severus watched them carefully for a moment before replying. "Yes. If you accept, I will teach you everything that I know about potions and chemistry; what you choose to do with that knowledge is up to you. If you accept, you'll spend the next school year as my apprentices, you'll assist in teaching classes, research, plus private classes with me, your course schedule will be cut so that you will only be taking a few core classes such as, herbology, charms, and transfiguration. I do not want an answer now. The both of you should take your time in deciding, talk it over with your parents, and do a bit of research. Let me have your answer though no later than Harry's birthday, so I have time to work out the details should you accept."

Fred and George nodded in understanding, still a little thunderstruck at the whole situation.

"Well, have a goodnight, and think about what I said." With those departing words, Severus swept out of the twins room, the wards on the door barely slowing him down.

As the door closed behind the potions master, the twins tried to get up out of their chairs, but couldn't - not even with magical help. They were stuck.

"Fred?" George's voice was contemplative as he finally gave up struggling to get out of his chair.

"Yes, George." Fred's voice took on the same contemplative quality as his brother's as he too gave up on his struggle.

"I believe we've just been pranked." George stated in a matter-of-fact, crossing his arms over his chest.

"How long before it wears off, I wonder." Fred asked curiously.

George shrugged, "We'll find out soon enough."

"What do you think of his offer?"

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

Serenity checked the door in the bookshop one last time before she began heading upstairs to get ready for bed. It was a habit she had developed for whatever reason and she didn't bother to analyze it. She knew that she locked the door as soon as it was time to close in the late evening, so why she was drawn to check it again she didn't know.

Looking around at the now-finished store with floor to ceiling shelves filled with books, she couldn't help but smile. She would have to hire some help soon though. Someone to watch the shop while she went on lunch and help her make sure everything was in order by close. She could probably get a teenager looking for a summer job. Perhaps, Harry would like a little extra money for the summer. She'd have to ask him, when he was back to his fifteen year old self again.

She shook her head a bit as she reached the front door of her shop. It was locked securely, just as she had left it earlier that day. Just like she knew it would be. Turning around she headed back towards the stairs leading back to her apartment. She never made it, however.

Unknown to Serenity, someone had been watching her very closely for about a week now, receiving the signal to act only hours ago. Drawing her wand, Narcissa Malfoy cast a simple stupify at the muggle girl she had been assigned to watch. She would have rather just killed her and been done with it, but she had her orders to take the girl back alive.

The last thing Serenity saw before she lost consciousness was a bright jet of red light.

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

Eileen had calmed down considerably since her husband and sons left earlier that evening. She hated being left out of anything exciting, and although the logical part of her mind understood why she couldn't go, she just didn't really care. She had thought of following, but had decided against it. They would be back tomorrow and she would see her sons at the proper ages, be able to inquire about the potion that deaged them, then that night she would ask Tobias to leave with her. He would say no, this time, because of Harry, then she would spend one last night in his bed and be gone before anyone awoke the next morning. Smirking, Eileen crawled into bed, her life sounded like some sort of trashy romance novel.

Closing her eyes, Eileen was about to drift off to sleep when she heard the sound of the creaking floorboard in the hallway. Eileen's eyes snapped open and she immediately went for her wand just in time as the door flew open. Eileen fired the first spell that came to mind and the intruder fell over unconscious, but the next spell fired did not come from her wand. She quickly rolled out of the way and onto the floor as a curse raced towards her. Getting up off the floor she fired another curse at her attacker, which was blocked. The dual went on for several more minutes, before Eileen was hit with a well-aimed stupify from the now-conscious first attacker, still on the floor.

Peter Pettigrew picked himself up off the floor, annoyed; the blasted woman had put them behind schedule. Their Lord would not be pleased.

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

Voldemort, along with his followers, made their way inconspicuously down the deserted London street. He wished they had time for some muggle killing, but they had a more important mission to accomplish; namely getting into Grimmauld Place.

From his inside source, he had discovered the potions accident that lead to the traitor being turned into a small child. He had also found that said traitor and newly discovered younger brother, also know as the-brat-that-just-wouldn't-die, were living with his muggle father for the summer. Until quite recently, however, he hadn't know where that was, and without Severus or the Potter brat using magic there was no way he could find them. Luckily, he had connections.

One such connection was a follower that had once, long ago, slept with Severus's mother, Eileen Prince - so he had said follower follow Eileen. By sheer luck, she decided to visit her husband and sons. Even though he had entertained the notion that capturing the traitor, Potter, and their family would be easier in the muggle village, it denied him the chance to take the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. To bad he wouldn't get to see the look on Dumbledore's face when he realized all hope was lost.

With a smile of victory already in place, Voldemort quietly opened the door to the Order Headquarters and walked inside. It was good to have spies.

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

Tobias slowly walked down the stairs wanting a glass of water before turning in. He was both glad and a little disappointed that his sons were their proper ages again. On one hand, they, especially Severus, had already been through a lot and learned much from their experiences; it wasn't fair to take that away from them. On the other hand, they had both been through more then any person should at their respective ages and it wasn't fair that they had to experience that. If they had stayed young, they would have had a second chance. He would have a second chance.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs and heading into the kitchen, Tobias sighed. He could never take away the lives Harry and Severus had made for themselves, regardless of how much better their lives might be the second time around. Personalities are shaped by experiences, as are our views, and morals. Despite that both his sons had hard lives, it made them who they were and he couldn't deny them that, ever. Who knows, perhaps this experience had changed them.

Tobias sat down at the table, closing his eyes and rubbing them with his fingertips. He never heard the door open, or the single masked figure, followed closely by others, come into the room, or the bright jet of light coming at him before he fell unmoving to the ground.

Voldemort smiled with a look reminiscent of a Cheshire Cat as he surveyed the single cell of the dungeon. It had been easier then he thought to capture Grimmauld Place, and he could just imagine the look on Dumbledore's face when the old fool realized what he had lost. In a way he was almost disappointed though, it had been far too easy.

Aside from capturing the muggle woman the traitor seemed infatuated with - the thought causing Voldemort to sneer in disgust - his servants had managed to capture Eileen Prince as well. She must be getting old; he had half expected her to dispose of the two Death Eaters he had sent after her and send their mangled corpses back to him with a bow around them.

From the capture of Order Headquarters, they had taken several prisoners. It had been surprising to find an adult Severus Snape, and teenage Potter, but he supposed that the potion that deaged them had simply worn off early.

Voldemort had his Death Eaters throw vials of a special potion, developed by Severus himself, in strategic places as they moved throughout the house. When the vials shattered, the fumes would spread and anyone who breathed them in would instantly lose consciousness for a few hours. Using containment and bubble charms, he and his followers had been able to keep themselves from breathing in the fumes. The unsuspecting, and mostly asleep occupants of the house, had not been able to do so.

Acting quickly before any alarms could be set off or reinforcements could arrive, the Death Eaters, and their leader had captured most the occupants of the house including two Weasleys (he wouldn't have been able to handle more of the redheads than that at one time), the mudblood girl, the traitor Severus Snape, Potter, the muggle father of Potter and Snape, Sirius Black, and Alastor Moody; quite an interesting combination, really.

By means of side-along apparation, the prisoners had been transported to the old Riddle House and were currently being held in the basement-turned-prison. Life just couldn't get any better. With a smirk, Voldemort gave a command to the annoying, yet useful, Pettigrew and left to tend to other business, waiting patiently for his latest houseguests to awaken from their naps.

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

Severus slowly opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. It only took him a moment to piece together what had happened and where they were. Their present condition appeared bleak from an optimistic point of view. He was chained to a wall by both hands and everyone in the cell with him appeared to be in a similar condition.

Basement turned dungeon was divided into two sections, a room with a room sort of set-up. The cell, which held the prisoner when they weren't being totured was in the far corner. Two of its four walls were solid brick, where the prisoners were chained and the other two walls were made of iron bars. One of the Iron barred walls had a door which of course was locked. Directly across from the cell was a door which lead out of the dungeon and upstairs to the Dark Lords throne room.

Surveying them he took stock of their injuries. Next to him, Serenity seemed contemplative and slightly shocked, but aside from a small bruise forming on the side of her face she appeared fine.

Beside Serenity, his...mother...Eileen, looked the worst of all of them. Her left arm was severely cut, probably from a slicing hex, her lip was spilt, and she had a severe burn on her upper right arm, as though she was caught diving out of the way of some sort of burning curse. His father appeared deep in thought and he was scanning his surroundings thoroughly, in a very calculating manner. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny appeared a bit shaken, but no worse for wear as did Sirius, unfortunately. Moody was mumbling to himself and casting glances around as though formulating some sort of plan himself.

"Nice of you to join us, Severus, I was beginning to think you were going to miss all the fun," Tobias said sarcastically, but with a lopsided sort of smile on his face.

Severus smirked, but didn't get a chance to reply before a cold, familiar voice, one that that sent chills up his spine, spoke from outside the cell walls.

"The fun has not yet to begin, my dear muggle friend." Though there was a sarcastic note to his voice Voldemort tried to make himself sound like a good host, intent on...welcoming...his guest to the best of his ability. Having been called when all the prisoners awoke Voldemort now spoke to them from behind the locked door leading to their cell.

"You pathetic, piece of Hippogriff dung! Why don't you let us have our wands and fight like a man instead of the slimy Slytherin coward you are!" Sirius shouted as he pulled fruitlessly on his restraints.

Voldemort laughed as he opened the door to their cell with a wave of his hand, entering with a masked Death Eater flanking both of his sides. Approaching Sirius, he knelt down so he was out of reach but eye level with the struggling man. "Fight like a man you say?" Voldemort's voice held a high level of amusement causing Severus to inwardly cringed at the thought of what this might bring. Voldemort stood and turned away from Sirius focusing his attention on Eileen, speaking as he crossed the cell to kneel in front of her. "It should amuse you no end that of all of you, only this...woman...put up any sort of fight."

Eileen looked straight into the glowing red eyes of Voldemort with her usual expressionless face.

Voldemort chuckled, reaching out a skeletal hand to caress her cheek. "A shame, that such a marvelous specimen such as you gave it all up for a pathetic muggle." Voldemort paused briefly removing his hand from her cheek, and tilting his head sideways as though formulating an idea. "It's not too late, though. I will free you, if you join my ranks."

As Eileen looked into the red eyes of the...creature...in front of her she knew, beyond doubt, that even if she were to save her own skin and join him, he would still torture her, just not kill her. Eileen was silent for a moment before leaning forward as much as possible, in an almost seductive manner. "Never would I join anyone so... small, who felt so threatened, that he would need something as pointless as world domination. Besides... I serve no one."

Fury burned in the Dark Lords eyes even as he calmly stood up and took a step back from her, drawing his wand in the process. "I'll give you one last chance to reconsider, Princess." Voldemort purred in a voice far to calm to mean anything good.

Eileen said nothing just stared defiantly at him for a moment... before spitting in his face.

Taken back the Dark Lord raised his wand a curse on the tip of his tongue, while Eileen, with a satisfied smirk, leaned back against the wall. Tobias looked amused as he gazed fondly at his wife.

Noticing Tobias's look and mad at Eileen Voldemort turned on Tobias, lowering his wand. "Find something amusing, muggle?"

Tobias showed no fear as he turned his head to look up at the dark wizard in front of him. Instead he nearly laughed. "Yes, actually. I find it quite amusing that you think this cell will hold her." Tobias used his head to gesture to Eileen, who still wore a satisfied smirk. "I leaned very early on that no one can hold her if she doesn't wish it."

Voldemort laughed darkly. "Yes, well, I would very much like to see her try to escape." Voldemort turned to face Eileen as he elaborated. "There are four separate locking and monitoring spells on the door. Not to mention, you're chain by unbreakable chains to the walls. I have three death eaters monitoring you at all times. Please, please, just try to escape, my lady." Voldemort bowed mockingly.

With that Voldemort swept out of the cell the door slamming behind him, but before exiting the door that lead up the stairs, he turned back to face the occupants of the cell. "Oh, and don't make yourselves too comfortable. You wouldn't want to miss all the fun I've planned especially for you."

As soon as Voldemort was up the stairs, the three death eaters exited the basement to stand guard at the base of the stairs, so they were outside the dungeon and hearing range.

Alastor was the first to speak up. "I have to give you credit, Tobias, that was bloody brilliant."

Tobias bowed his head slightly in Moody's direction, but before he could speak, Sirius practically shouted obviously angry. "What was brilliant? He didn't do anything except irritate the man holding us captive. He smiled for Merlin's sake! How does that help us? He's lucky he didn't get killed."

Mood rolled his magical eye toward Sirius, and replied gruffly without patience. "He manipulated the Dark Lord into revealing to us how to escape you twit."

Sirius looked taken aback for a moment before studying Tobias carefully.

Tobias rolled his eyes and glared at the ex-auror. "Not that it will do any good, you moron. Now that you've revealed that, we know he'll change things and be more cautious about what he reveals."

Moody scoffed angrily. "How will he find out? Our guards are on the other side of the door and he isn't anywhere nearby."

Tobias glared furious at Moody's incompetence and Harry nearly shuttered. His dad was scary when pissed. "He'll find out because he probably has some sort of observation spell cast and even if he doesn't have some way of hearing or seeing us..." Tobias paused suddenly as though listening for something. "...you should always watch out around you..." Tobias paused once more his dark eyes coming to rest on a darkened corner away from the entrance to the cell. "...for some sort of... rat."

As Tobias said this last part he swiftly moved his leg to kick the large ugly rat that was trying to sneak out of the cell. As the rat hit the wall hard it let out a terrified squeak before transforming into Peter Pettigrew who quickly scampered out of the cell, yelling for his master the entire way. Tobias looked at Moody with a raised eyebrow and an expression that clearly said ‘see what I mean.'

Moody had the decency to look ashamed.

"Wicked!" said Ron obviously impressed despite their dire situation. "How'd you know?" Harry smirked at the awe he heard in his friend's voice.

A darker look crossed over Tobias's face, "I've been in enough cells to know how normal rats behave."

Harry's curiosity piped at that and he made a mental note to ask his dad what he meant when they got out of this mess.

Sirius, however, did not have the same reserves. His tone had lost the fight it had a moment ago and now held only curiosity . . . or perhaps suspicion. "What do you mean? When were you in prison? What for?"

Tobias his eyes hard and foreboding, smirked. "I'd tell you boy, but then I'd have to kill you."

Severus and Eileen snorted with half smiles on their faces, while Sirius looked confused.

Tobias's small bit of amusement faded as he became serious once again the calculating look returning to his eyes and a commanding tone in his voice. "Severus, report. I need intelligence on our current situation."

Severus briefly wondered if his father saw this as some sort of game. Looking at his father the best he could from their positions, the first words he spoke where quiet and held nothing but respect with a remote twinge of amusement. "Aye, aye, captain." Severus's continued in a louder, neutral tone. "The only way out is through that door." Severus gestured to the door on the other side of which stood three guards. "Going up those stairs will take us directly to the living room, more a throne room really. After that, it's a clear shot down the hall and out the back door. However, the Dark Lord rarely leaves his throne room, and it's more than likely he's planning - with several other Death Eaters - the best ways to torture and kill us."

"What spells and such would he use on the cell?" Tobias seemed indifferent to the information he was receiving, but Severus could tell his father was filing it away for later use.

"I doubt he put any spells on them at all. He said there for four different spells, therefore, he probably had four different people cast varying locking charms on them. All I can tell you for sure is that ‘Alahomora' isn't going to work."

Tobias almost smiled at the challenge, "He's smart. I'll give him that."

Silence descended among the group of prisoners, each lost in his or her own thoughts until the door opened and one lone figure entered the dungeon.

"You bastard," spat Eileen, her voice filled with pure venom as the figure made his way towards the cell door where he was clearly visible.

"Now, now, darling," said the man dressed in death eater robes, minus the mask, in a voice filled with so much slippery slime it seemed to ooze off him in vats. "Is that any way to talk to a former love?"

Eileen seemed to find this last statement humorous, because she chuckled while Tobias let out a bemused snort.

"Ahh..." purred Eileen with a smile, her eyes shining with humor. "Don't flatter yourself, Nick. It was just sex after all."

Harry caught himself before he could cringe. His mother having sex was the last thing he wanted a mental image of, especially the image of her and the short dirty-blond haired man that seemed to bathe in oil. Catching a glance of Severus he was unable to tell if this statement affected his brother in the same way, as his brother's expression was unreadable as usual.

Nick had opened the door of the cell and was now approaching Eileen, anger radiating off of him. "You sorry excuse for a whore!" His voice seemed to loss some of its greasy quality as he yelled standing over her, bent slightly and glaring down. "I'm glad I turned you in to the Dark Lord and I hope he tortures you into insanity before he kills you!" Nick screamed his voice cracking slightly, as though unused to yelling, while spit came flying out of his mouth, reminding Eileen of a panting dog shaking its head.

After a moments pause, Nick straightened, realizing he had lost his temper, and though he stood tall he relaxed his shoulders looking less tense as he stared down at an expressionless Eileen for a moment panting before smiling darkly. "No matter," he said in an off handed voice, "Our most kind and merciful Lord has given me the honor of... having you...as reward of giving him the necessary information that lead him to the traitor and his baby brother." Nick paused for a second and looked deep in thought for asking in a mockingly curious voice, "Tell me, how does it feel to know that you will be responsible for the deaths of both of your sons?"

Eileen didn't answer for a moment her face unreadable as though etched in stone, before she, looking Nick straight in the eyes, answered in an detached voice. "What sons?"

Nick looked startled and Eileen heard several gasps from around the cell, but didn't bother to look around the cell at everyone's reactions. She feared, most of all, to see the look on Tobias face. She knew he wouldn't be able to forgive her if she truly hurt Severus or Harry, and she was afraid that she had, with a single two syllable sentence, lost him forever.

Nick quickly overcame his surprise and confusion and with a flick of his wand, Eileen's chains unlocked and her arms were bound together in front of her with unbreakable rope. Nick then grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to her feet jabbing his wand hard into her lower back. "If you try to run, Princess, or escape in anyway you will die. And if somehow you do manage to escape, I will torture and kill your beloved muggle after forcing him to watch his sons die slow and agonizing deaths."

Eileen said nothing, but allowed herself to be lead out of the cell and the door to the dungeons leaving behind several shocked, and a couple of hurt, people behind.

Tobias sighed then leaned back against the wall chuckling softly. "I do love that woman."

Severus snorted, but didn't meet his father's eyes even though he could feel the man's calculating gaze on him.

"How can you love that...that...wench?" exclaimed Serenity, seemingly coming out of the daze she had been in since Severus awoke. "She abandoned her children! Your children! She didn't even tell you that you had a son. She has done absolutely nothing to earn you love. How can you give her your heart so readily?"

Tobias smiled gently with a slightly pained expression, yet he had a mischievous look in his eye. "You'll see, my dear, you'll see." With that cryptic sentence Tobias leaned completely back against the wall and struggled to find a comfortable position before speaking again in a much lighter tone. "I suggest you get as much rest as you can, I'm sure you'll need it."

"How can you sleep?" Sirius's tone was much like Serenity's. He just didn't understand this muggle, his wife whom he was so obviously madly in love with, was just dragged off to be raped and he was taking a nap. "Aren't you the least bit concerned for your wife?"

Without moving from what Tobias deemed as the most comfortable position under the circumstances Tobias answered in an excited voice - sounding every bit the teacher, who is truly fond of his subject. " Have you ever heard of the Shuar?" Tobias didn't pause for an answer. "They were a tribe in South America a very long time ago and they've all but died out now. The women, to protect themselves against rape - as was a common practice between warring tribes - would hide a sheathed knife in their vagina..."

"Are you saying that...that...woman is keeping a knife shoved up her..." Serenity seemed shocked and equally intrigued as she interrupted Tobias.

Tobias did not let her finish her sentence, though, and he interrupted her in much the same tone a teacher took when impatiently scolding a student. "No, you daft girl, now let me finish."

Serenity, whose mouth had been hanging open, closed it with a snap and waited patiently for Tobias to continue.

Tobias cleared his throat before resuming his original tone and continuing his lesson. "In Indian mythology, there is a creature or group of mythical woman rather, whose vaginal entrance is lined with hundreds of small but sharp teeth each tipped with poison. These women are rumored to seduce men then in the moment of passion, swallow them whole."

"What does this have to do with her?" asked Hermione, curiously. Though this information intrigued her, she didn't quite appreciate the mental picture she could not help but to draw of her best friend's mother.

Tobias chuckled lightly, before once again leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "Let me assure all of you of one thing: Eileen is far more dangerous then all the dagger-hiding-teeth-wielding-vulva in all of mythology."

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

Eileen wiped the bloody knife off on the bed sheets before kicking the body off of her bare legs where he collapsed when she had driven the dagger through the side of his neck. Sighing as she got up in search of something to wear, she thought, ‘Men could be so stupid when about to get laid.'

Nick, a former play toy, had brought her upstairs at wand point. As she had passed the two guards watching the door to the makeshift dungeon they had laughed and along with Nick made several sick we're-attempting-to-be-macho type comments before going up the stairs leading to the ‘thrown room.' It was surprisingly deserted. Crossing the thrown room, she was then prodded up another flight of stairs and into a room which looked as though it was made for the sole purpose of some rather kinky sex.

In the room, there was a bed in the center with black silk sheets (making bloodstains invisible) and on the walls were several instruments she recognized - and a few she didn't, but was willing to give them a try. Thoughts of what she could do in a room like this sent shivers through her.

After warding the door, Nick had pushed her roughly onto the bed, leaving her hands bound, and began to pull her cloths off. The saying ‘God gave man a brain and a penis, but not enough blood to run both at the same time' rang true. Before all her cloths were completely off, Nick had lost most of his cognitive functioning making it easy for her to retrieve the dagger he kept sheathed under his robes, then to drive his own dagger through his throat hitting a vital artery and his voice box, preventing him from screaming.

Now all she had to do is make it all the way back to the basement, silently take out two guards and free her husband, as well as those with him. She couldn't stop the satisfied cat like smile from coming to her lips. Finally - some excitement.

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

The sound of something hitting the door to the dungeon was enough to bring Severus out of his musings. Glancing around he realized he was not the only on to hear it. Tobias smirked and watched the door closely as it opened to reveal Eileen, dressed in Death Eater robes that were far too short and hung loosely off of her frame.

"Hello, dear." Tobias spoke casually as Eileen approached the cell and started performing various unlocking charms. "Did you have fun?"

The cell door swung open and Eileen entered, ready to perform the necessary charms to free the cells occupants. Eileen voice was quite casual as well as she replied to her husband's inquire. "Yes actually, and its pity you and I can't spend more time here, love. There's a room upstairs with all sorts of..."

"Can the two of you go ten minutes without acting out or making up some new sexual fantasy?" Severus asked sounding indifferent yet aggravated at the same time. He noticed Harry cringe slightly at the mental image his question had evoked. He knew the room his mother was referring to, having spent a fair amount of time in it himself many years ago, and had no desire of hearing his mother's thoughts about what she and his father could do in it.

Eileen cocked an eyebrow at her oldest son. "It depends. Can you go ten minutes without a sarcastic comment?"

Severus narrowed his eyes and glared, but before he could reply Tobias interrupted him.

"Not to break up this touching moment, but I for one would like to get out of her before I die of old age." Though Tobias's tone was mockingly indifferent his face showed amusement at the mother-son bantering.

Severus turned his glare on his father, but said nothing.

Once everyone was free of their chains Severus quietly began leading them out of the dungeon. Eileen had left the door leading to the stairs open, but they were forced to carefully step over the guards. About half way up the stairs, Severus heard voices. He stopped cold, listening carefully. His father came to stand beside him listening as well and the two exchanged glances in the dark stairwell lit only by a sprinkling of everlasting candles. Silently, Severus turned around and encouraging those, now in front of him to do the same they made their way back to the dungeon. Once there, Severus closed the door behind him.

"What's going on?" asked Sirius. "Why did we turn around?" Despite his confusion and anger Sirius still seemed to realize they had come back for a reason and kept his voice at a whisper.

Severus answered in a quite, distracted voice as though he were trying to remember something. "The Dark Lord is in his thrown room along with several Death Eaters. It didn't seem like a good idea to continue with our original plan."

Everyone was silent for a moment as each tried to come up with a new way to escape.

"I know another way out." Severus said in an elated whisper. It was as though a light bulb had just been turned on in his head.

Walking across the dungeon, to a darkened far corner away from the cell Severus stared hard at the wall for a moment face expressionless.

The others had followed him over, curious if nothing else, and had gathered behind him. Tobias saw Severus' actions for what they were. He was remembering. Severus slowly moved closer to the wall and gently placed his hand on the third brick from the bottom and spoke in a language only Harry could understand.

"I command thee to open, and give safe passage." Hissed Severus in parseltongue, startling many of those present with the exception of Tobias and Harry.

As Severus said this, the wall shuttered slightly then silently opened to reveal a very dark, unlit and small passageway. In order to fit through it, they would have to stand in single line, and even then it would be a tight fit. Turning around to face everyone, he started talking in a whisper. "Not even the Dark Lord knows about this tunnel. It's really nothing more then a rumor, but none of that matters at the moment. If the rumor is correct, this will take us up to a small cottage with in the woods just outside this area from there we should be able to make it on foot, without magic to the nearest town and apparate from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Said Moody as he moved towards the opening.

"Wait!" said Tobias in an urgent whisper. "Severus needs to go first. We have no idea if this tunnel opens up or not and if it doesn't, we most likely won't be able to open the door at the other end, since it most likely requires someone who speaks parsalmouth as well."

"But," began Eileen also in a whisper, "someone needs to be able to close the door."

"Harry can do it," said Severus. "Dad, you and Harry can go last, Harry speaks parseltongue as well. He can close the door."

As Severus said this, everyone turned their attention towards Harry, who had gone deathly pale and was staring the tunnel in fear.

"Harry?" questioned Tobias softly as he moved a hand to the boys shoulder. Harry flinched violently as his father's hand neared his shoulder and Tobias stopped his movement briefly, waiting for Harry to meet his eyes. Once Harry's dark eyes met his, he asked again in a softly concerned voice. "Harry?"

Once Tobias's hand touched Harry's shoulder, the boy's bottom lip began to tremble just the slightest bit. "I can't. Please don't make me go in there. I can't. Dad, please." Harry's voice was breaking and held a terrified note.

"Why, Harry, what's wrong?" asked Tobias softly as he turned to completely face his son and block out everyone else from view.

Harry stared up at his dad for a moment, but something in his dad's eyes willed him to tell the man in front of him. "M...my room at the Dursley's...before Hogwarts....it used to be...th...the cupboard under the stairs."

At Harry's words Tobias felt his anger rise again, but quickly pushed it aside.

Harry leaned towards his dad and rested his head on the man's chest, not crying - just sad and a bit scared. "It was so dark, dad... and small...sometimes they would forget about me...Please dad, don't make me go in there."

"We don't have time for this" said Eileen in harsh whisper. Pulling out Nick's wand she aimed it at Harry. "Imperio."

During fourth year Harry had been able to resist the effects of the Imperius curse, however Eileen Prince's mind was much stronger and more disciplined then most, making the curse stronger. Also, Harry hadn't been quite so emotionally vulnerable making it easier to fight off the effects of the curse. Now though Harry's mind became blissfully blank and he willingly did everything Eileen commanded.

Tobias was shocked at Eileen actions, but a part of him saw the necessity of them. In order to fight tomorrow, they would have to live today. They truly did not have time deal with Harry's fears right now. "Silence!" he hissed in a deadly whisper to those around him who were expressing their combined outrage none to quietly. This had the desired effect and soon all eyes were turned to him. "She's right. This isn't the time or place to deal with this, once we get to the cottage we'll take the spell off, but if we want to survive now..."

Tobias allowed his voice to trail off and though no one was particularly happy they began to move through the tunnel, Severus in the lead. Once everyone was in the tunnel Severus told Eileen what to have Harry say in parsalmouth.

Once the door closed they silently began making their way through the dark tunnel, unsure of what may lie ahead.

The small amount of light emitted by the lumus spell did little to illuminate the dark, narrow tunnel. Severus slowly led the way, using one of the wands Eileen had confiscated from their guards. Though their situation had improved, it still appeared bleak. The were heading down a tunnel no one had used in fifty years without proper lighting and only three wands. Most of them were injured even if it was only minor, and they had only a general idea as to where they were headed.

Severus clutched Serenity's hand behind his back; it seemed to calm him slightly. Severus also felt like turning around and blasting his mother off her feet then handing her over to the Dark Lord himself. Of all the things she had ever done to him, his father, and Harry, putting ‘Imperio' on his little brother had by far been the worst. At the same time however, he realized the reasoning behind her actions. He was feeling a little claustrophobic inside the narrow passageway himself and he could only imagine what his brother would feel. Perhaps an Imperio was necessary, but why did his mother have to be the one to cast it?

-----

Serenity held on to Severus's hand with her own and ran her fingers along the surprisingly smooth walls of the cave with the other. From what she could see, the rock surrounding them seemed smoothed, almost polished, and if she had to guess from touch only, she would swear they were professionally done. Parts of the wall where coated with a slimly texture, probably a mold of some sort and possibly a result of the distant but steady dripping sound she heard.

She was suddenly reminded of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum." She squeezed Severus's hand in attempt to make this situation feel more real and was relieved when he squeezed back. Regardless of the severity of their situation, she couldn't help but to feel just the slightest bit excited. She was a part of a real adventure. The only thought that kept her from feeling truly excited was that Eileen was probably thinking the same thing she was. The others with her, excluding Severus and his family, were still a bit of mystery to her. The man standing behind her scared her a little. She had a feeling that he wasn't entirely sane, yet at the same time he seemed coherent enough. The other man, Moody, if she remembered correctly, made her want to laugh. He was paranoid, and Tobias held a bit of respect for him she could tell, but he seemed like a character straight out of a book.

Then again, she probably shouldn't be so harsh on him, after all - it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

-----

She had a nice ass. Aside from that one redeeming quality, however, Sirius couldn't decide what to think about the muggle woman standing in front of him. A better question, though, was what did she see in Severus Snape, of all people? The though made him want to cringe, so Sirius turned his mind to other things. Like how he was going to gouge Mad Eye's eye out with a blunt spoon if he turned his magical eye on him again. Then again the man was standing right behind him, so it was probably difficult not to look at him, but the feeling of being watched was creeping him out.

He was also having a difficult time with Eileen's use of ‘Imperio' on his godson. His godson. Sirius wanted to release a deep sigh when he thought about Harry. He wondered if his recent actions had harmed the relationship he had with the boy. It's just when he heard Harry call Tobias ‘dad' he couldn't help it. He couldn't describe what came over him, but without conscious thought, he had grabbed the boy and shaken him. He felt bad about it, but didn't know how to fix the situation. Especially, since he doubted Tobias would ever leave him alone in the same room as the boy again.

Tobias was another mystery. The man was just filled with surprises. With Tobias as a father, the question was how Snape turn into the hate-filled, filthy, double crossing Death Eater that he was?

-----

Alastor Moody didn't like standing in straight lines. Especially in a narrow tunnel where the could only move forward or go back. It made him feel like a sitting duck, knowing there was danger, but not moving out of the way. While he was paying as close attention as possible to his surroundings, it wasn't doing much good, so he occupied himself with trying to figure out who betrayed them to the Dark Lord. His first thought would have been Severus, but now that conclusion seemed unlikely. Eileen of course had unknowingly led the Dark Lord to her sons and husbands but she didn't know the location of the Order let alone how to get in. As Alastor continued to run the names of the Order members through his mind and the reasons why they could or could not betray the Order, he continued down the dark tunnel.

-----

It was odd, really, how the algae seemed to be concentrated on the upper portion of the wall and not the lower, but without proper lighting, Hermione was having a difficult time analyzing her surroundings. The silence that had descended among the group was deafening so in order to keep herself from growing mad, she was attempting to determine their location by the type of rocks that were all around them. It kept her mind occupied and away from the enraged and depressing thoughts that entered her mind when she thought of Harry.

While she understood the logic behind Mrs. Snape's, or whoever she was, actions she was having a difficult time condoning them. More then anything she wanted to run to Harry and throw her arms around him in an overly tight, but comforting hug. Hermione's foot made a small splash as his fell into a small puddle of water. As soon as they were out of here she was corning Harry and demanding answers . . . actually, she knew that what she and Ron really would do is wait patiently and gently encourage Harry to tell them what was going on between him, his mother, father, and Professor Snape.

-----

Ron followed sedately behind Hermione. He was lost in thought over their current situation. While he was shocked, he did see the reasoning behind Eileen casting an unforgivable on Harry...but that didn't mean he had to like it. He hoped his friend wouldn't be to upset over the situation, either. He prayed to whoever was listening that they would be out of this tunnel soon or he would scream. Between the silence and the distant dripping sound he felt like his head was going to explode. He wished someone would say something; even Hermione's constant dribble about educational crap was preferable to the deathly silence. However, like him, Ron figured that everyone was too busy thinking about their current situation to form sentences. He wished Fred and George were here; they could always break up the tension in a room.

-----

Ginny followed behind her older brother, grateful for his presence. Though she often found it annoying and rebelled against them as much as possible, Ginny had to admit that it was nice to have six overprotective older brothers. No matter what she did she would always be the baby girl and therefore perfect in everyway, at least to brothers and parents. She desperately wanted to be with them right now.

In a way, she almost envied Harry. At least he had his entire family here with him through this mess. Granted, his mother didn't seem to be the maternal type, but his dad seemed to love him. Even Professor Snape, as uncharacteristic as it may seem, was incredibly...brotherly around Harry, though he tried not to make it to obvious. Ginny could see it though; her potions professor had the same look in his eyes when Mrs. Snape had cast ‘Imperio' as her brothers got in theirs whenever they thought she needed ‘protecting.' As though she couldn't take care of herself; however, it was nice at a time like this to know that her brother was with her and would do anything in his power to protect her.

-----

If it wasn't for the fact that she was sure their conversation would be heard all the way back to Voldemort, Eileen would have attempted to talk and smooth things over with Tobias, but the lack of privacy stopped her. While she was sure Tobias understood her actions, she was equally sure he would not appreciate the method in which she had executed her plan. At the time, she had had little choice . . . if she had merely suggested the idea, they would have been to busy arguing about it to escape and simply forcing the boy down the tunnel would have resulted in screams she was sure would have attracted the attention of the Death Eaters waiting upstairs.

Hopefully, Tobias would come around. Also, for some unfathomable reason she found herself partially concerned with Severus's reaction. She knew he hated her, and for some reason, that bothered her just the slightest bit. She wouldn't go as far as to call it maternal instinct, but more a curiosity. She found herself wanting to know what he had been doing for the last twenty years and though she had heard about his many advances in potions, she was curious to know what he would say about them.

-----

Tobias had to do something and he had to do it soon or jinxes were going to start flying and it wouldn't surprise him if Severus would be the first to fire one. He could feel the tension mounting in the air second by second and knew it was only a matter of time before someone snapped. Sure, he was as upset with Eileen's actions as the next person, but he also saw the necessity of them.

Tobias clutched Harry's hand behind his back, leading the emotionless boy along the tunnel behind him. His years spent in military service had taught him a thing or two and he remembered quite well the strange effects small spaces and silence could have on a person. Throughout the history of the Navy, songs had been passed down from generation to generation that seemed to be written for the sole purpose of starving off insanity. Had he been with other sailors, it would be quite easy to start up a pointless nonsense jaunty, but with the group he was with...Well for starters they didn't know any jaunties and secondly he would have to explain the reasons behind wanting to start up the song, which would ultimately defeat the purpose. Talking was his only hope, but he didn't know what to say.

-----

Silence reigned among the tired group for a while longer until a whistle was heard. Severus almost stopped dead in his tracks until he recognized the tune that was being whistled. He gave a sort of half-smirk to the dark tunnel ahead as he listened to old sailors' tune his dad was whistling out. Only his father would find such a way to distract them.

Unable to resist as they continued on there way, Severus began whistling the tune as well; he remembered it well enough from his childhood. When he was very young, his father would often entertain him with such melodies and he soon learned the songs by heart. Severus didn't know about the others, but the ancient melody seemed to calm him and the though the whistling echoed oddly it seem to lift the tension which had descended amongst them.

All too soon the melody ended and, just as Tobias had planned, it sparked Ron's curiosity.

"What was that about?" asked the teenage boy, curious yet relieved.

"It's an old tune that a hundred years ago would have been quite common to be heard on ships," explained Tobias, he voice seemed relaxed and had a calming quality to it. "They're hardly ever sung on ships anymore, but they've survived due to many old sailors passing the songs down generation by generation. This seemed like as good as time as any to refresh my own memory."

"So it's a folk song." Hermione spoke up he own curiosity piqued. Her voice took on a tone that made Ron roll his eyes, as her thirst for knowledge began to override her own fear of the situation.

"Precisely." Silence almost descended amongst the group again, but Tobias was prepared this time. "Does anybody know who the first person to sail around the world was?"

"Magellan," answered Hermione immediately not even hesitating.

"Very, good," Tobias replied and nodded his head even though the girl could not see him. "Now, what's the difference between a pirate and a buccaneer?"

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but was beat to it by Ginny, who replied matter-of-factly. "Pirates are English. Buccaneers are French."

"Exactly," Tobias was smiling his plan was working nicely. Even if only the kids were talking at the moment it was at least providing some noise and a welcome distraction to everyone. "Well, it appears as though the two young ladies are tied one-to-one, so far. Let's see who gets this next one. What was the name of Sir Francis Drake's ship?"

"The Golden Hind," answered Hermione immediately without hesitation and a satisfied air about her answer.

"I'm sorry my dear, but that is incorrect." Tobias had figured this question would stump the girl. "Anyone else like to have a try at it?"

"Tobias," spoke up Serenity calmly, but assuredly. "I believe you may be mistaken. I'm sure the Drake's ship was the Golden Hind."

"The Pelican," Severus answered from up front before his father could start lecturing Serenity about not arguing with your elders and such. "Queen Elizabeth named it the Pelican. Drake rechristened it as the Golden Hind before he crossed the Straight of Magellan on his trip around the world several years after Magellan had made his legendary journey." Severus's voice was quiet but could be heard all the way to the end of the line where his father was.

"And the point goes to Severus," said Tobias with pride in his voice. "Okay this next one is going to be easy..."

Very soon everyone became involved in the trivia game, and after a few more questions Moody turned the tides by asking Wizarding History questions, many of which Tobias was able to answer, much to everyone's surprise, with the exception of Severus and Eileen who knew that Tobias was unable to resist gaining any sort of knowledge even if it meant reading his son's school books.

As the group overcame their tensions and small discussions broke out amongst everyone, the journey seemed to go faster and before long the dripping sound which had been almost drowned out by their talking became louder and louder. Eventually, the narrow tunnel opened up into a large underground cavern. As soon as Severus stepped out of the tunnel and into the open space he stopped short.

Even with only the small Lumus spell the cavern seem to light up magnificently. Various colored crystalline structures reflect the light around the cavern making the whole area light up. On the far side of the cavern was a lake that seemed to be kept full from the small amount of running water pouring out from the large hole in the stone wall above it, creating an underground waterfall. The sight was breathtaking.

Upon exiting the tunnel, everyone stood in awe of the sight until Moody broke the silence. "This seems like a good place to rest." He stated commandingly, already scoping out the area for a place to sit down.

"No," said Severus firmly as he turned to face everyone, but looked pointedly at his father. "The puddles of water in the tunnel, the weathered wall, the algae, it all had to come from somewhere right? We were lucky enough to come through when the tide was out, but we can't be here if it comes in."

Tobias suddenly felt everyone's eyes on him seeking confirmation. He stared at the waterfall and the floor already knowing his son was correct but seeking a solution. He could not deny the feeling of pride he felt either knowing he had taught his son at least a few things about sailing. "He's right, but I doubt it floods the entire tunnel every tide. I'm sure most of it stays below knee deep unless the water levels go up. Luckily for us it's been an unusually dry summer; however, we do need to get to higher ground before decideing to stop and rest. How far is the cottage from here Severus?"

"About eight miles from the manner and we've traveled at least five so far, sir." Severus answered respectfully, fully trusting his father's expertise in this area.

Tobias nodded in acknowledgement to his son, but said nothing, immediately scanning the cavern one more. The tunnel they had just come out of seemed to be the only way in or out of the cavern. "We need to find the other way out of here. There should be another tunnel or opening somewhere other than where the water's coming from." Tobias seemed to take command in that instant. His voice became slightly louder, but not harsher, and he began issuing orders. "Severus, Alastor, and Serenity take the left side of the cavern, look for any sort of opening and stay together. Sirius and Eileen will come with me to look over the right side. And you..." Tobias rounded on the kids his voice becoming sterner as he glared at them sending an unspoken message that he was meant to be obeyed. "You will stay right here. You may sit down if you like, but you are not to move from this area. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes, sir," replied Hermione and Ginny immediately, but Ron hesitated.

"I asked you a question, boy, and I expect an answer." Tobias focused his attention on the tall red-headed boy causing him to fidget.

"Well...yes, sir...but...um..." Ron refused to meet anybody's eyes as he shuffled his feet nervously.

"But what, boy?" Demanded Tobias, his tone growing harsher by the second.

"I have to use the loo...sir." Ron's ears turned red, especially when he heard the chuckling coming from his sister and Hermione.

Tobias fought back his own amused smile as he pointed towards the tunnel they had just come out of. "Do not go more then four feet in and be quick about it."

Ron didn't need to be told twice as he quickly turned back around and headed for the tunnel. When he emerged Tobias still wore the same stern look as before.

"Now I will ask again," Tobias's voice of deadly quite. "You are to remain right here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," came three very respectful replies.

Tobias watched them for a moment longer before satisfied that they would not move before guiding a still nonresponsive Harry to sit down for a moment and leaving in search for a way out of the cavern.

Several minutes after leaving the kids, Tobias found himself turning around in small circles, getting agitated over their situation. He was standing on the edge of the lake and could plainly see Severus, Alastor, and Serenity on the other side of it as well as the children near the entrance to the tunnel. They had searched the cavern from top to bottom and had not found a way out, which gave them only two options: go back the way they came (which wasn't really an option) or wait for the tide to come in and out again before finding a way to climb up to the hole where the water was coming from and attempt (4) to get out that way. Tobias stood staring at the waterfall for a few moments trying to come up with a plan.

Suddenly he noticed something odd. As the water fell down the stone wall, the colors changed. It would be difficult to notice the change from a distance, but he was sure that it got much darker towards the bottom of the falls than at the top. Not seeing any alternative, Tobias sighed and began making his way through the freezing cold, clear water towards the water fall. When the water reached his knee, he stopped cold and stared down at the water. Here the color of the water changed again, but it was obvious why. The lake was not so much of a lake as it was a deep hole in the ground which had then filled with water and flooded over. Where Tobias was standing, the ground dropped off, seemingly straight down for at least twenty feet.

Glancing back up at the waterfall, and ignoring the questions being shouted out to him from broth shorelines, he realized he would have to cross this in order to figure out what caused the darker-colored stones at the bottom of the falls. Taking a deep breath, Tobias dived in, resurfacing a moment later and began swimming with strong, expert strokes towards the waterfall. As he got closer, he realized his suspicions were correct and he smiled as he reached the wall behind the waterfall and was able to pull himself up out of the water and into another tunnel that was much larger then the last.

On the shore of the lake, Severus watched as his father disappeared behind the falls and almost sighed in relief at having found a way out. Across the shore, he saw Sirius and his mother watching as well. Serenity and Alastor stood by his side, also watching as his father emerged, diving out from behind the waterfall and straight into the lake below. Once the man (4) reached the shore, a large smile on his face, both groups began making their way back around the lake to where they had left the children.

Once they had reached the kids, who had been able to watch everything from their position near the mouth of the tunnel, Tobias turned to Eileen speaking in even but commanding tones. "Take the spell off of him now. The next tunnel is much bigger and he shouldn't have a problem with it."

Eileen nodded, but before taking the spell off she warned in an emotionless tone: "I will take the spell off, but at the first sign of a problem I will recast it."

Tobias nodded in understanding, sitting down next to his youngest son.

As the spell was released, Harry slumped backwards slightly before sitting up straight with wide black eyes searching around frantically, as though startled. He felt a large heavy hand being placed on his should and instinctively flinched away. Looking over at his father, he saw a look of sadness on his face, but noticed something more in the man's dark eyes. If one were to look closely they would see the anger floating just below the surface. The anger startled Harry and although part of him knew it wasn't directed at him he couldn't help the fear that rose when the ‘Imperio' was removed.

Tobias noticed his son's growing distress and immediately began speaking in soft, deep, soothing tones. "Harry, it's okay, everything's all right now. Do you know where we are?"

Harry tried to remember and as he thought about it, memories came rushing back to him. His fear of the tunnel. The blissful willingness to follow through the tunnel.

His mother had cast the ‘Imperio' on him.

A type of rage he didn't even realize he possessed welled up within him at the thought. Turning hate filled eyes at the women responsible, he glared at her emotionless face before speaking in a quite whisper filled with anger. "I. Hate. You."

Eileen remained emotionless and simply raised an eyebrow at the boy still sitting on the floor of the cavern.

"Harry," Tobias spoke up from beside his son. "Harry, listen, please, we had to get out of there before we were caught. It was the only possible solution at the time...In order to fight tomorrow we have to live today." Tobias repeated the words that had run through his mind after Eileen had cast the Unforgivable on their son. On his son.

Harry looked at his dad, the rage and anger gone from his eyes. Instead, residing deep within the dark onyx depths was hurt and a bit of betrayal.

Tobias felt his chest clench painfully and he wanted nothing more than to gather his boy up in his arms and never let go again. He didn't though. Instead, he waited silently as Harry stared at him, looking for something. Though he continued to look straight into his son's eyes, Tobias's peripheral vision allowed him to see Severus come up beside Harry and crouching down to whisper something in his ear.

Harry broke eye contact with his father in favor of looking at his brother and after a moment nodded his head. He briefly glanced over at his father before standing up, and staying closer to Severus then he normally would, but avoided actually touching him.

Tobias closed his eyes briefly and swallowed hard before opening them and standing up to walk quietly towards the shore of the lake explaining the plan along the way. "We have to swim across the lake to get to the cave behind the waterfall. It drops off after about thirty feet in, however, and the water is at least twenty feet deep. Does everyone know how to swim?"

Seeing everyone nod their heads, Tobias, still dripping wet from his last dip in the cold water began making his way across the lake. When he came to the point where the lake dropped off he dived in and made his way towards the falls, which were beginning to fall more rapidly than before. Tobias waited until everyone had climbed into the cave, offering assistance when necessary, before climbing in himself.

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

Severus was quickly becoming annoyed. Harry had not left his side since the curse had been taken off of him. It wasn't so much that he minded the boy's presence, but that he was standing too close to him. They were walking through the large cave and though there was enough room for four people to walk beside one another comfortably, Harry insisted on staying mere inches away from Severus. They would occasionally even bump into each other, a fact that was grating on Severus's nerves. The cave was well hidden behind the waterfall especially since its mouth was rather small - only one person could fit through at a time - but it immediately opened up in to a very high and wide cave that got dryer as they ascended.

Not that anyone could truly enjoy the dryness of the cave since they were all soaking wet. They would be lucky if no one got sick.

As they walked, Severus tried to distance himself from his brother slightly, but the boy just seemed to close the distance again within seconds. He understood that Harry was upset, but he was not the sort of person used to or even comfortable with extended amounts of close contact. He wished he were more like his father. His father would know exactly what to do in his place. Right now, Tobias was hanging back away from his son knowing that he was not one of the people Harry wanted to be near right now.

Severus was actually rather surprised that his brother wanted to be near him instead of his friends, who were walking ahead of them but continued to send worried glances back to him upon occasion. Small conversations would occasionally break out amongst the group, but they never lasted long and the silence, though not as oppressive as before, was tangible.

Severus tried to think of what how his father would handle the situation, but failed when he realized that his father would have handled the situation differently with him than he would with Harry. Severus would have wanted more space. He would have distanced himself as far away as possible until he could sort it all out in his mind. Harry wasn't like that though. Harry was so starved for love and comfort that the mere thought of being alone was probably enough to send him into a full fledged panic attack.

Harry accidentally bumped into him once again knocking him off balance slightly. Then it was as if Severus ran into a brick wall. The proverbial light bulb came on over his head and he stopped dead in his tracks and turned before placing his hands on his brother's shoulders and turning Harry toward him so that they were facing each other. Then with an exclamation of "For heaven's sake, boy!", Severus pulled the boy towards him for a hug.

Severus was well aware that everyone was watching him now, and began to reconsider his actions. However, as Harry's arms circled around him and the boy's head came to rest on his shoulder, Severus could only hug the boy close to him before bending his head down to whisper softly in the child's ear the only words he could think of. "You're not alone Harry. I won't leave you. Neither will Dad. You're. Not. Alone. You're friends are here, too. We won't leave you, Harry. You're not alone, anymore. You never will be again. I promise. You're not alone. I'm here, little brother, and you're not alone."

After a couple of moments, Harry pulled away feeling better but keeping his head down, not wanting to meet any of the eyes he could feel on him. Severus refocused all his earlier irritation on those watching them, and sending them the scariest glare he knew, he urged them to continue moving. The group continued to move at a steady pace until the cave, which had began ascending at a steep incline, turned sharply and dead-ended into a small, circular cavern. Though it was smaller then the one before, it could still comfortable hold at least twenty people.

It didn't take long for Severus, speaking in parsaltongue, to find the exit of the cavern. The small entrance was hardly big enough for a full grown man and was located at the top of the cavern. Severus had to have his father give him a boost up in order to reach the exit. With a few words, that didn't sound very magical when translated, the ‘door' slid open, allowing Severus to pull himself the rest of the way up. He quickly looked around, determining that they were in the garden - the unattended garden - of the cottage deep within the woods surrounding the Riddle Mansion. Scouting the general area and determining it was safe, Severus returned to the secret entrance and helped pull everyone out of cavern and was forced to lie down on the ground and stretch his arms down as far as possible in order to reach his father's outstretch hands.

--------

Tobias had not had a work out like this in years. Boosting everyone else up through the carven exit had been the easy part, but using only his son's arms to climb up was not easy. He felt his muscles throb and burn as he heaved himself up. He was incredibly relieved when he felt another set of arms grab a hold of him to help pull him out. As soon as he was seated on the ground he clenched and unclenched his hands in an attempt to ward away the stinging numbness. He nodded his thanks to Sirius who had been the one to help him up. It was times like this that he felt extremely old.

Grunting a bit as he stood up, Tobias dusted off his hands and surveyed everyone around him in the noon day sun. They were filthy, and he was sure he didn't look much better. Everyone was coated in a couple layers of dirt from the cave. Many had dried blood caked on to various parts of their body. Eileen's legs, which were bare from the knee down, were almost black from silt.

Severus cleared his throat before speaking. He felt as relieved as the next person, but he knew they were not out of the woods yet. The Dark Lord must have realized their absence by now and was most definitely looking for them. "We can probably stay here for the night, but we should leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning. The Dark Lord probably set up some sort of tracking device around this area as well to alert him to the use of magic, so we should probably avoid using it as much as possible."

"Does he know about this cottage?" asked Moody gruffly as his magical eye scanned the area.

Severus nodded. "In a way. He knows it exists, but has never had a use for it. As far as I know he's never even been here."

"Personally," Eileen spoke up in a light casual tone, "I would like a nice place to rest for the night. Not to mention a place to clean up."

"I doubt this place has running water, darling." Tobias said slightly amused as he watched his wife attempt to brush off her ‘borrowed' clothing.

"Let's see if we can even get inside this place first," Serenity spoke up as she gestured to the back door of the run down cottage.

Careful to avoid the overgrowth that surrounded the small house, the tired group made their way to the door. The cottage didn't look unusual as far as cottages go. It was small, made of wood, probably had a leaky roof, and, due to disuse had various vines and plants growing along its outer walls. Sirius made it to the door first and tried to open it, but it was securely locked.

"Great," sighed Sirius, sounding annoyed. "Now what?"

"Its probably just some silly muggle lock." Eileen spoke with annoyance, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just cast Ala..."

"No magic, remember," Severus interrupted his mother with far more then annoyance in his voice as he glared at her.

Eileen glared back at her son, arms still crossed.

"Umm...I think I can open it," Ron spoke up from behind the group of adults that had crowded around the locked door. His ears burned red as everyone swiveled around to stare at him.

"Well then don't just stand there boy! Get to it!" Moody practically shouted, but it was obvious from the way his mouth turned up at the corners that he didn't believe Ron could open the door.

Ron approached the door, and knelt down in front of the lock and with drew a paperclip and a few other pieces of garbage from with his pants pocket. Though it took him longer than it would Fred and George, Ron soon had picked the lock and the door swung open with a loud creek. Turning back around to face his attentive audience, Ron smiled from ear to ear.

"Finally got Fred and George to teach you how to pick a lock, I see," said Harry, who was still standing next to Severus, in an amused tone with a large smile on his face as well.

Ron shrugged, still smiling.

Hermione shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, but couldn't contain her smile. "Boys," was all she said, sounding exasperated.

This caused Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to explode in laughter. The adults just looked on, some in amusement, others in confusion, and one with indifference.

The inside of the cottage didn't look much better then the outside. Layers of dust coated everything, causing Sirius to sneeze when he entered. Cobwebs were in the corners and the curtains had been eaten away by moths. Despite the lack of cleanliness, however, it was a fairly nice looking sitting room they entered. It was equipped with a large couch, three comfy-looking armchairs, and a small coffee table all situated around the fireplace. From their position they could see a small hallway with two doors and the small kitchen, which in place of a sink had a pump and bucket.

"I think I'll sleep outside," said Ron in a squeaky voice as he watched a spider crawl across the large round table which served to separate the kitchen from the sitting room.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother, but no one else seemed to pay any attention to him.

"I'll go take a look at the bedrooms," began Severus making his way towards the hall.

"Wait!" commanded Tobias in a firm tone that stopped Severus in his tracks. Tobias waited until his son had turned back around to face him before continuing. "We need to find food and gather some wood to start a fire." Turning his attention to Harry, Tobias softened his tone marginally. "Do you remember how to collect firewood?"

Harry thought back to their camping trip for a moment, before smiling a little bit. "Yes, sir."

Tobias allowed the corners of his mouth in lift up in a small smile with pride. "Very good, boy. Take your friends, make sure you stay close to the cottage and keep a look out. Anything suspicious and you come back here immediately. Check in back here in fifteen minutes even if you haven't gathered much wood. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," replied Harry. He was still a bit upset at his father, but knowing that Tobias trusted him still made him feel good. With his friends close behind him, he headed out the door in search of firewood.

Tobias watched his youngest son and his friends go before turning to face everyone else once again. Surveying the group he mentally ran through the list of what needed to be done and who was best suited for the job. When he spoke, his tone was just as firm and commanding as had been before he spoken to Harry. "Serenity, Sirius, start looking over the cottage. Find something to get rid of some of the dust. See if you can't find some blankets and such for us to use to sleep on."

Serenity half glanced at Severus and raised an eyebrow briefly before turning her attention back to Tobias and answering in a quietly respectful tone. "Yes, sir."

Tobias nodded to Serenity and turned a piercing gaze to Sirius obviously awaiting his reply as well.

Sirius refused to meet Tobias's eyes and instead gazed angrily at a point on the wall, but mumbled an agreement as he followed behind Serenity and disappeared down the hall into one of the rooms. He was not some bloody house-elf!

Tobias nearly cringed. He was not used to being treated with such disrespect. If his sons ever acted that way... Tobias let the thought trail off. His sons would never behave that way. Severus had learned at a very young age that he didn't tolerate disrespect and Harry was a fast learner as well. Finally tearing his eyes from the door Sirius had disappeared behind, Tobias turned his attention back to those left in the sitting room with him. Though they all tried to hide it, he could clearly see the looks of amusement on all their faces.

Resisting the urge to clear his throat, Tobias spoke to Eileen and Moody next. "I don't want to know how or what exactly you do, but set up a few surprises in case any uninvited guests may arrive." Tobias had to repress a shiver at the feral looks that came over both Moody's and Eileen's faces. They looked like two kids who had been given free reign of a candy store - one that held a side collection of sharp and pointy objects.

Both nodded and headed outside, already in deep conversation about what sort of surprises their friends may enjoy.

"Does that disturb you as much as it does me?" asked Severus after watching his mother and Mad-Eye leave.

Tobias turned to face his son with a half smirk on his face. "Probably. Come on, we need to see if we can find something to eat." Tobias headed towards the door Severus following behind him.

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

Severus could not believe their luck. He and his father were on their way back to the cottage after less then two hours of looking for food. They had discovered a small pond overpopulated with fish. The fish practically jumped out of the water and onto the shore for them. He and his father both carried enough fish for everyone and though Severus was sure he would never get the smell out of his cloths he was more relaxed now then he had been since they were captured. He and Tobias were discussing the best way to prepare the fish when they walked through the front door of their temporary abode, but their conversation died off when they heard shouts and saw the scene before them.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny where slouched back against the couch being yelled at, alternately, by Serenity and Eileen. Sirius and Moody were sitting at the large table watching the scene with no small amount of amusement. Severus raised an eyebrow and looked at his father with a questioning, yet amused, look. Tobias shrugged and turned back to listen to Eileen and Serenity.

"Two hours!" Serenity shrieked, with her arms gesturing widely. "Twenty minutes I could understand, but two hours! What were we supposed to think? You could have been hurt or captured or..." Serenity didn't get to finish before being interrupted by Eileen.

"Don't even think about opening your mouth, young lady." In stark contrast to Serenity, Eileen voice was low and dangerous as she stood relatively motionless with her arms crossed, her long fingers tapping against her arm. Her eyes held anger, but otherwise she seemed emotionless. Ginny, who was about to attempt to defend herself and her friends from the tongue lashing they were receiving, closed her mouth with a snap at Eileen's command and crossed her own arms over her chest with a glare. "You wandered too far away, getting yourself caught in a trap we were setting up incase of attack. It's a wonder you didn't get hurt. Not to mention..."

This time it was Eileen who was interrupted by a now very upset Tobias. He handed the line of fish to his son and was now standing between Serenity and Eileen clearly angry. "What happened?" Tobias asked between gritted teeth as he stared down and the four teens on the couch.

Harry was seated on the edge staring angrily off to the side, avoiding everyone's eyes and seemingly oblivious to what was going on. Ron was seated next to him slouched with his head down and arms crossed in the stereotypical teenage style, clearly thinking about how unfair this was. Ginny was seated next to him arms also crossed but instead of looking down was glaring angrily at all of them. Hermione was seated on the other end of the couch with her head propped up on her hand, looking as though she was seething, yet bored, and at any moment was going to stand up and bring the house down with her shouting.

None of the teens seemed to take notice of his question and hardly even blinked. Tobias almost growled. He had a pretty good idea of what happened from what he heard Eileen and Serenity yelling about, but wanted to hear the whole story from the kids. Tobias's voice took on a hard commanding quality, "Stand up! Now!"

This got their attention and with the exception of Harry, the teens began shifting in their seats obviously debating whether or not they wanted to obey his command. Harry remained unmoved, ignoring his father completely.

Tobias's teeth were set on edge and he was sorely tempted just to grab each of them and take them over his knees for a sound spanking. He stepped forward to Ron first and pulled him up off the couch, so he was standing in front of him. He then pulled Ginny up though she tried to yank her arm out of his grasp. Hermione was next, and if she had known how close Tobias was to tanning her backside, she probably wouldn't have sat back down after he pulled her up. However, Tobias merely pulled her up again, with a small shake, and whispered something in her ear that made her stay standing though she glared furiously at him. Walking to the other end of the couch Tobias pulled Harry up and gave him a warning look before releasing his arm and stepping back to observe the kids again.

"Now," Tobias's voice was low and dangerous as he looked at the now standing teens in front of him. "Look at me."

Very slowly, each of the kids looked up at him, still looking angry and defiant.

"Harry, tell me exactly what happened after I sent you to collect firewood."

Harry, was finding it more and more difficult to remain angry under his father's glare. He swallowed hard, but remained quiet. He didn't know how to explain to his dad that he and his friends had carelessly forgot about checking back in. How they had been so distracted by talking and what recently happened that they had accidentally strayed too far away from the cottage and consequently right into the trap Eileen and Moody had set up. No matter how he might try to explain it, his dad would just jump to the same conclusion as Serenity and his mother. It wasn't fair! They were just trying to help! Before he realized that his dad had moved, Tobias was standing inches away glaring down at him.

"When I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen." Tobias's voice was quite, barely a whisper, but was deadly. "Don't make me tell you again."

"We were late coming back from collecting firewood and we accidentally walked into one of the traps they were setting up." Harry whispered and nodded his head towards Eileen as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Tobias stepped back so he could survey the teens once more. His next question was directed at Serenity, who along with Eileen had retreated back a few steps watching Tobias deal with the four children.

"How late were they?" Tobias asked turning his head slightly in Serenity's direction waiting her reply.

"About two hours. They just walked through the door a few minutes before you did." Serenity answered in a neutral tone still glaring at the four teenagers. She had started questioning and yelling at them the second Eileen and Moody had escorted them through the door. She had been surprised when Eileen moved to her side and began giving them a piece of her mind as well. Sirius had tried to defend them but a couple of glares had sent him scurrying back.

"Two hours." Repeated Tobias in a low, angry voice, when he spoke next in was in a yell that caused all four teens to jump slightly. "Two bloody hours! What were you thinking? How could you be so foolish? I gave you one simple task with explicate directions and yet you can't seem to do as you are told. What do I have to do to make you see the gravity of our situation?" Though the question was rhetorical Tobias paused to calm himself and glare at the children for a moment.

Severus, who had silently moved over to the table were Sirius and Moody were sitting, had to repress a shudder. The last time his father had used that tone on him, he was grounded for a month and forbidden from...well from just about everything really. Before sitting down he had grabbed a now clean knife from the kitchen counter and was now preparing the fish they would be eating for supper, while listening to his father chew out the teens.

"So how many times were you on the receiving end of that?" Sirius asked Severus quietly, yet with a conspicuous air about him. He seemed highly amused as he, too, picked up a knife and began copying Severus's movements with another fish.

"Too many to count," was Severus's equally quite reply. He heard Moody snort as he said this and half smirked.

"Go! Go now!" shouted Tobias as he pointed in the general direction of the hall.

All at once the four teens began to protest. Tobias could only hear bit and pieces of what they were saying, but got the general idea of their complaints. Feeling his anger rise, Tobias bellowed, "SILENCE!"

The effect was immediate. All four teens stopped talking and their eyes grew wide. Silence engulfed the cottage, making the sounds of a distant bird appallingly clear. After a couple of minutes of tense silence Tobias spoke breathing heavily, his voice was steady and quite, but with harsh undertones. "You will each find a corner and remain there until I say otherwise. You will do so quietly and without complaint. Once you are in a corner you will remain standing there quietly. Now, go!"

For a moment it appeared as though none of them would heed Tobias's orders, but very slowly, with bowed heads and angry glares at the floor, the four teenagers slowly made their way to separate corners of the living room. Once the four teenagers were standing quietly with their noses in corners, Tobias closed his eyes and took a tired deep breath while messaging his forehead with one hand. After a moment he lowered his hand and opened his eyes before turning around to face the rest of the adults in the room.

As he assumed, they were all watching him with various looks on their faces. Moody looked highly amused as did Sirius, though Tobias wasn't exactly sure what they found so funny about his son putting himself and his friends in danger. Serenity looked angry still but he was sure the anger was directed more at the children she kept shouting glares at. Eileen looked indifferent, as usual. Only Severus wasn't watching him. Tobias was sure his son wasn't ignoring what was going on, but he was pretending to. He continued to clean the fish, just as his father had taught him many years before, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him. Helping to ease the embarrassment and humiliation his brother and friends were most likely experiencing from being made to stand in a corner.

Tobias walked over to the table and took the forgotten knife out of Sirius's hand before sitting down at the table and picking up the fish Sirius had been mutilating and began cleaning it. Slowly, everyone began moving around again and talking.

Harry stood in his corner fuming silently. How could his dad treat him like this in front of his friends! He shifted his wait from one foot to another. There was nothing that could make this day worse than it already was. First his...mother -he now understood why Severus hated referring to her as such- had placed him under ‘Imperio.' Now he was in trouble with his dad, who he was still mad at for letting his mother place him under the unforgivable curse. It just wasn't fair.

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

About an hour later, dinner was almost done and the four teenagers were still standing in their corners. Tobias almost felt bad for leaving them there for so long, but he felt it was a good punishment and standing for an hour would hardly kill them. Standing in the kitchen, he called the four children over to him. Severus was behind him cooking, and Serenity, Sirius, Moody, and Eileen were in the living room discussing... something or another. As the now calm, though slightly embarrassed children entered the kitchen, they sat down at the table.

"Did I tell you that you could sit down?" Tobias questioned with only the slightest hint of a warning in his voice.

Tobias received four tired ‘no sir's in response as each of them stood up from the table refusing to look anywhere except the floor.

"I'm very disappointed in all of you," Tobias spoke calmly and quietly. "I gave you the task of collecting firewood because I thought you were all old enough and mature enough to follow my directions." Tobias paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in before continuing. "Apparently I was wrong." Tobias paused again; he could see the guilt beginning to eat away at his son as well as the boy's friends. "Today you proved - not only to me, but everyone else as well- that you cannot be trusted to follow directions even for your own safety. I want each of you to give me a reason as to why you should have followed my directions."

The entire house seemed to be eerily silent as Tobias awaited an answer from one of the teens. When none was forth coming, he addressed the youngest of the group. "Miss Weasley, please tell me why you should have followed directions."

Ginny took a deep breath and swallowed before answering in a soft voice. "Because you didn't know where we were and we could have gotten hurt, sir."

Tobias nodded, his voice remaining calm and soft yet slightly stern. "Very good. Miss Granger?"

"We don't even have our wands, so if we had been attacked we wouldn't have been able to defend ourselves, sir." Hermione raised her head to look at Tobias as she spoke in a small voice.

Tobias nodded at Hermione, "Very good." Then he turned his attention to Ron. "Mr. Weasley?"

Ron shrugged and kept his eyes on the floor. "I don't know. Ginny and Hermione pretty much covered it."

"I'm sure you can think of one more reason, Mr. Weasley." Tobias allowed some annoyance to color his voice, but still remained calm. "Why wasn't it a good idea on your part to wander around in an unknown forest?"

Ron shrugged again before answering; finally bringing his eyes up off the floor. "We may have gotten lost, sir?"

"Is that a question or an answer, Mr. Weasley?" The annoyance was gone from his voice, making it once again quiet and stern.

"An answer sir," said Ron with a bit more confidence.

"Very good," nodded Tobias. "Harry?"

Harry looked up at his dad. He was still a little upset over the whole ‘Imperio' thing, but realized also that this was not about that. This was about him disobeying his dad and putting himself and his friends in danger. Harry began hesitantly, afraid of what his dad and friends would say at what he felt was a good, honest, answer. "Because, sir, you gave us those directions for our own safety and you have more experience in these types of situations; therefore, we should have trusted your judgment and done as you said."

Tobias tried not to smile at his son's answer, but could feel the corners of his mouth curl up slightly with pride. "Very good, son." Tobias's voice was soft, but held a proud note to it.

Turning to all of the teens, Tobias spoke steadily and calmly after studying them for a moment. "This is about the time I would ground each of you for the rest of the summer." Tobias watched amused as all four heads snapped up to gape at him. "However, our current situation is hardly suitable for that, so the four of you will clean the kitchen tonight, after dinner, and go to bed immediately after, without complaint. Understand?"

Tobias studied each teen carefully as they all said a quiet, ‘yes, sir.'

In a much lighter, more casual tone that made the corners of Harry's mouth lift slightly, Tobias ended his scolding. "Good, now sit down, it's time to eat."

Within minutes, all the occupants of the cottage were sitting around the table eating dinner and talking, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

When Tobias woke the next morning, he was startled to see that he wasn't the first one up; Moody was already seated at the kitchen table with a glass of water in hand. Tobias slowly got up from his place on the couch, stretching as he did so and, careful not to step on any of the kids who were still asleep on the floor, made his way over to the table.

After dinner last night, they had decided where everyone was to sleep. There were two small bedrooms in the cabin and only one was equipped with a single small bed that was hardly big enough for one grown man. Eileen had somehow claimed that bedroom for herself and immediately after dinner pulled Tobias in with her, slamming the door shut behind them. It lasted for about twenty minutes before the dust they stirred up under the bed had them both sneezing insanely. He had left the bedroom with a runny nose and a bruise forming on his thigh, only to walk into the living room where he had a captive audience that had yet to go to bed. After kicking Severus and Serenity off the couch, reminding the children that they should have already been in bed, and glaring at everyone for good measure, he had laid down on the couch and went to sleep.

Tobias sat down heavily at the table and look around the living room. The four teens were still sleeping soundly on the hard wood floors. They had been unable to locate any pillows whatsoever so they had all the blankets available piled both on top of and underneath them. Sirius was in his dog form sleeping on top of Harry's feet. Serenity and Severus had made a makeshift bed by pulling two of the large armchairs together to face each other. It was kind of amusing really; you couldn't see their heads over the arms of the chairs, but their legs were intertwined and sticking out over the sides every which way. He and Eileen should have tried that last night. Moody had slept in the other armchair.

"I'm surprised; I'm usually the first one up in the morning." Tobias spoke to Moody softly as not to disturb anyone else.

Moody gave a smirk, but said nothing in return. He needed coffee.

The two sat in companionable silence for a few more minutes, before Moody spoke in a gruff whisper. "What's your plan?"

Now it was Tobias's turn to smirk. "To make it to the closest town and get the hell away from here."

"The Dark Lord probably has Death Eaters stationed around every village near here." Moody's voice became slightly louder, causing Sirius to stir.

Sirius stood up on all fours and stretched, before padding softy over to the table and transfigured back into human form before sitting down. When he spoke, he sounded wide awake, as though he were one of those detestable morning people. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, yet." Tobias replied as he watched Harry roll over, his sleep having been disturbed by the lack of weight on top of his feet. Then turning his attention back to Sirius he gave him a small glare. He realized that the wrongly convicted convict did indeed care for his son, but...the man had been in prison for a long time. That sort of confinement, with dementors no less, could change a man. "We need to wait until everyone is up before discussing any plans."

The three men sat in silence for several more minutes before movement from the floor caught their attention. Tobias watched, amused, as his son, still half asleep, pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked around before standing up and making his way over to the table, stumbling over his own two feet along the way. Once the boy was seated next to his dad at the table he put his head down on top of his folded arms and closed his eyes.

"Good morning," said Tobias unable to keep the smile from his face.

Harry grunted in response.

Tobias sighed and spoke quietly, but mockingly: "Good morning dad. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes, son, considering I had to sleep on a couch. How about you? Was the floor comfortable?" he answered himself.

"Well, dad..."

"Dad," Harry spoke up, in a tired voice, interrupting his dad's single-person dialog. "Stuff it."

Tobias chuckled, and landed a playful slap on his son's hip. "Don't talk to your father that way."

Harry sneered.

Once again a comfortable silence fell over the only awake occupants of the cottage. After a couple of minutes, however, Harry's insecure voice broke the silence. Had he been fully awake Harry never would have asked his father this question in front of Mad-Eye and Sirius, but in his drowsy state he didn't even think about their presence. "Dad?"

"Yes, Harry?" Tobias's voice was low and soothing.

"Are you still mad at me?" Harry's voice was small and laced with sleep and his eyes were still closed.

"Harry look at me." Tobias commanded, his tone become just the slightest bit harder. Once Harry open sleepy, fearful eyes, Tobias continued. "I'm still upset with you, yes. But it doesn't matter anymore. You know what you did was wrong and you know all the reasons it was wrong, and while it is going to take you a while to build my trust up in you again...you are still my son, and I still love you. Understand?"

Harry nodded his head, which was still resting on the table.

Tobias wanted to ask his son if he were still mad at him for allowing Eileen to use an Unforgivable on him, but knew now that this was not the time or place to discuss that. He was sure the boy was still upset with him and he didn't blame him at all. All he could hope for is that once everything was over and done with his son would forgive him. He prayed that both his sons would forgive him.

Before anything more could be said, a thud and very colorful cursing could be heard from the direction of the two armchairs. Severus stood up from where he had landed on the floor and walked over to the table to sit down next to Harry. "Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up hearing your father saying the same speech you've heard a dozen times as you lay there listening feeling ashamed - even though you're not sure why because you can't remember what you did wrong - only to realize he isn't talking to you?"

Tobias raised an eyebrow, "No, Severus, I can't say I do."

Severus was obviously still partially asleep. "It's very disconcerting."

"I can imagine," replied Tobias amused. Suddenly a confused look came over Tobias's face. "Severus, where's your shirt?"

Severus looked confused for a moment before looking down and noticing his bare chest. He looked back up before replying in a confused tone. "I have no idea."

Everyone at the table slowly looked over to the chairs Severus had occupied the night before but couldn't see anything. Severus stood up and walked over to the chairs to peer down at Serenity before walking back over to the table and sitting down. His reply was casual. "It's indisposed at the moment."

"How so?" asked Tobias smiling broadly.

"It's being used as a pillow." Severus said matter-of-factly, yet he still seemed slightly confused.

Tobias couldn't help it. He stared laughing. When his laughter started to die down he heard Severus.

"Dad." Severus began, speaking in the same tone as before, though slightly harsher. "Stuff it."

Tobias cocked an eyebrow and almost started laughing again but instead spoke to Harry in a calm but amused voice. "Harry, if you would please."

Harry slowly removed one arm out from under his head and used it to slap Severus on the arm. "Don't talk to your father that way." Harry then placed his arm back under his head not seeing the look on Severus's face.

Severus looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow before looking up at his dad with the same expression.

Tobias started chuckling.

Severus shook his head and mumbled something under his breath.

Harry yawned.

Sirius and Moody watched the entire scene with amusement doing their best not to laugh hysterically.

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

Half an hour after Severus had woken up, Tobias decided it was time to wake everyone else, including Harry, who had fallen back asleep on the table. Once everyone was awake, they sat around the table making plans while eating some wild berries the kids had found growing near the cottage the day before.

"So you have no idea which way to go?" Tobias asked, while gritting his teeth, his anger clearly etched on his features.

Severus tried not to squirm or give any outward appearances that his father was making him feel like a ten year at the moment. When he answered his voice was surprisingly steady and emotionless. "Not exactly, sir. I know which direction the Manor is located and that we shouldn't go that way, but I don't know where the closest town is located."

Tobias glared, but said nothing as he simultaneously tried to find a solution to their current problem while making his son feel as uncomfortable as possible.

"Why can't you just make a portkey or apparate us out of here?" Ginny asked, curiously.

"Making a portkey requires knowing our exact location." Sirius answered with patience. "As does apparating."

"Unless, of course someone here already has a portkey, then we can adjust it a bit," Eileen stated casually while drumming her fingers against the table.

"You can't adjust a portkey." Stated Severus with the same impatient yet angry tone he seemed to always speak to his mother with.

"Maybe you can't," began Eileen with badly concealed annoyance while glaring at Severus, "but I can."

"Really..." drawled Severus, his voice was a soft purr, but he was obviously angry. Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small potions vial stopper slamming it down in front of his mother. "Albus, gave me that emergency portkey in case I was discovered as a spy. It's designed to take one person directly to the Hogwarts infirmary."

Eileen looked up and glared furiously at her son, who was glaring back with equal force. "If I had had this before it would have saved us all some trouble." Though her voice was quiet, it made many of those around shiver. Pulling out the borrowed wand, Eileen began waving it above the portkey and saying a series of spells in Latin. While it was in fact possible to modify a portkey, it was very difficult. Usually it was easier just to make a new one, but the present situation called for the use of this very difficult form of magic.

As Eileen spoke in a steady, almost musical voice the stopper began to glow. The light seemed to intensify for a second before it suddenly stopped and Eileen lowered her wand. Her hand trembled slightly from the effort. The amount of energy required for that spell was tremendous, causing her to feel dizzy and disoriented for a moment.

Almost the moment she was done with a spell, shouting and cursing was heard in the distance as one of Moody and Eileen traps were set off. The massive amount of magic had attracted Death Eaters.

"Everyone form a circle and hold hands!" Severus shouted. They needed to activate the portkey and get out of there immediately.

Quickly, everyone did as instructed as Sirius and Eileen held the portkey between them and with another whispered word from Eileen, everyone felt a familiar pull behind their naval and the room around them began to swirl as they were transported away from the small cottage.

Lucius Malfoy blasted the door to the cottage down just in time to see the escaped prisoners portkey away to safety. He let out a howl of frustration and blew away the wall opposite to the door before turning around swiftly to first free his fellow deatheaters from the traps they had stumbled into before reporting back to the Dark Lord.

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

The group landed in the hospital wing with a thud and Eileen immediately fainted. The spell to modify the portkey had taken a lot out of her and the bumpy ride that followed was just too much, causing her to collapse in a heap on the infirmary floor.

Madam Pomfrey was immediately alerted to the impromptu visit and was pointing her wand and medically assessing each person in the room before she was entirely out of her office. In what seemed like seconds, everyone was to be found on a bed waiting for the mediwitch to heal them.

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

Albus Dumbledore smiled serenely as he looked around the hospital wing. It had been two days since the surprising yet welcome arrival of the kidnapped Order members. Severus and Eileen were the only two still left in beds as Madam Pomfrey had allowed the others to get up and move around.

Eileen had used a very old, almost dark form of magic to alter the portkey which brought them safely to Hogwarts. The effort had drained the magic from her and she didn't wake up for well over twenty-four hours after she passed out. Now, however, she was back to her old self and was currently arguing with the medi-witch.

Severus had received more injuries than was originally suspected and he had hid them very well. Apparently, Voldemort had been slightly impatient when it came to dealing with the traitor and cursed him with a few nasty hexes. One such hex was very difficult to remove. It caused a person's lungs to very slowly deteriorate. It usually would take days after being hit with that curse for the person to even notice the difference in breathing, but once it was noticed the damage was to sever to heal. Luckily, they had caught Severus's before it got that far.

Everyone else had received only minor scraps, cuts, and bruises which took only a matter of seconds to heal. Of course they had all stayed overnight in the hospital wing anyway.

After they had arrived in the hospital wing and Poppy had taken care of all their serious injuries she had alerted Albus to their arrival. When he came to see them he had brought the Weasley's with him. Now, most of the Order was in the infirmary making sure everything was alright and trying to find out what had happened. He had, of course, already received a full report from Severus, Sirius, and Alastor but there was one other person he wished to speak to.

Approaching the bed Severus was laying on, who had already giving up on trying to leave the infirmary, Albus greeted those gathered around his bed.

"Hello, I trust your stay last night wasn't to horrible, Tobias," Dumbledore asked serenely.

"Not at all," Tobias answered, leaving his hand on his son's shoulder. It was almost impossible to keep Severus in the bed, but when he had pointed out how his son was arguing in the same way as his mother, Severus had immediately shut up.

"And I trust you both remained in bed last night?" Dumbledore asked looking over his half mooned glasses at Severus and Harry, who was sitting on the foot of his brother's bed.

Harry blushed and began studying the blanket while mumbling a quite ‘yes, sir.'

Severus refused to let himself blush though he was feeling much the same way Harry was, and merely inclined his head yes.

"Good, Good," said Albus cheerily. "Now, I was wondering if I could speak to you alone for a moment, Tobias."

Tobias, Severus, and Harry all raised a suspicious eyebrow, but Dumbledore ignored them in favor or smiling serenely.

Tobias eventually smiled as well. "Of course, Headmaster."

Without looking back at his sons, Tobias followed Dumbledore out of the hospital wing and to the Headmaster's office.

Once both men were seated and tea and lemon drops were passed around, Dumbledore broached the reason why he wanted to speak to Tobias.

"I didn't bring you here to discuss your recent adventure," confessed Dumbledore with a small sigh.

"I figured as much," replied Tobias carefully. He wasn't about to allow himself to be manipulated unless it worked to his benefit.

"Yes," smiled Dumbledore "I thought you might."

It was silent for a moment as the two seemed to size each other up, trying to figure out what the other wanted.

"I suppose I should get right to the point," Dumbledore said after a moment. "I would like to make a bargain with you. As you know, Death Eaters are aware as to where you live and your home is no longer safe. I have already made arrangements for Serenity regarding her safety but yours is bit more complicated." Dumbledore paused for a moment before continuing. His voice was light but serious at the same time. "I, of course, would be able to offer you much more protection if you remain at Hogwarts, but...I've had to deal with the ministry far to much lately regarding the Dursley's so that may be difficult."

Tobias stopped himself from raising an eyebrow. He had a feeling he knew where this conversation was headed, and he felt anger rise inside of him but remained silent waiting on the Headmaster to continue.

"Therefore, I'm willing to make you a deal. Forget about the Dursley's and I will ensure your safety within these walls."

Tobias remained neutral the cup of tea in his hand forgotten. "And if I refuse?"

"Ahh...well, you see, outside of these wall it is much more difficult for me to protect you; consequently, you would be vulnerable to attack."

Tobias, though outwardly calm, was fuming inside. His tone did not betray his anger however. "So unless I drop the charges against the ‘people' who abused my son, I don't receive any sort of protection."

Dumbledore said nothing, confirming Tobias's thoughts. Tobias leaned back in his chair thinking while watching the man in front of him.

"Would it not be possible to hide out with another Order member? Like Moody or even Black?" Tobias had to restrain himself from cringing as he suggested hiding out with the mutt but figured it was worth suggesting it.

Dumbledore sighed deeply, as though he were truly regretful for denying a child a piece of candy before dinner. "Alas, no, I'm afraid not. Since Headquarters have been compromised we must go to extreme measures to not only find the spy amongst us, but secure a safe, permanent, residence. Alastor and Sirius, as well as many other Order members will be on various assignments in regards to this.

"I see," commented Tobias dryly. He didn't entirely believe this reasoning. He knew what the headmaster was doing, but..."You're leaving something out," Tobias said after a moment. Something was missing from this, but he didn't know what.

Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled. "Well, I thought, that if you needed further persuasion then I might mention that Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher, had conveniently decided that it was time to cross over and that his position has yet to be filled."

"How convenient," purred Tobias. "Tell me, did he decided this before or after you heard the reports from my son, Sirius, and Alastor?"

"He made the decision just last night, as a matter of fact," Dumbledore said still smiling.

"I see," Tobias cocked an eyebrow. "I seriously doubt that the ministry will permit a muggle to teach History of Magic."

"It can be done," stated Dumbledore firmly, "if I don't push other matters."

Tobias knew then that if this man wanted it to happen it could.

"What would happen to the Dursley's?" asked Tobias not yet giving in.

"We will quietly have them surrender guardianship to you. If done quietly with only a few select people it shouldn't be too difficult; though, you may have to face a small inquiry with the Department of Magical Children and Families."

"But they would get off without punishment. They wouldn't have to pay for the abuse they dealt out to my son." Tobias's tone was hard and his dark eyes cold and dangerous.

"Yes, but Harry would never have to see them again."

Tobias sat back and studied the man on the other side of the desk, before making a decision.

Harry remained sitting on the foot of Severus's bed after their father left the infirmary. After a couple of minutes of talking to his brother Harry fell silent as Sirius approached the bed.

"Hey, kiddo, how are feeling?" Sirius asked Harry sounding a bit nervous.

Harry didn't answer just shrugged his shoulders wondering what was making Sirius so nervous.

"Something particular you needed, Black?" Severus asked without emotion, his face even lacking his trademark sneer.

"I was just wondering if I could speak to Harry for a moment." Sirius spoke directly to Severus in the most neutral tone he could manage.

Severus looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow indicating that it was his decision.

Harry looked at his brother and shrugged one shoulder before sliding off the bed indicating to Sirius that he would talk to him privately.

Sirius led Harry to Madam Pomfrey's office, the medi-witch was busy with patients and not present, closing the door behind them. Turning to look at his godson Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Harry was looking at him expectantly arms crossed and to Sirius it was like looking at a younger Severus Snape. But this wasn't Severus, this was Harry.

"Dumbledore is sending me on a mission and I have to leave soon, but I wanted to talk to you before I left." Sirius began in a hesitant voice as though he were trying to skirt the issue that he had wanted to discuss. Closing his eyes he took and deep breathe before opening them and looking at Harry. In a tone that betrayed his tired sadness he attempted to convey his thoughts since the day Harry had been deaged. "I'm sorry, Harry. I overreacted, that day at Grimmauld Place. Its just that I...James was..." Sirius stumbled for a moment as he began pacing a little. "I always thought you'd call James dad, and after so many years..." Sirius swallowed thinking of his days in Azkaban. "Its very strange hearing you call someone else dad."

Harry waited for a moment before answering in an understanding tone. "But he is my dad, Sirius. He...he's not the way I imagined a dad to be, but he's my dad."

"I know that now," answered Sirius. He continued in a quiet almost contrite tone. "Seeing him with you over the past couple of days...I know that he's your dad."

Harry smiled at his godfather and Sirius felt like a huge weight of lifted off his shoulders. Moving forward he enveloped Harry into a big hug. He hadn't lost his godson.

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

Tobias left the Headmaster's office morosely. He allowed himself to slouch (something he rarely ever did) with his hands in his pockets, feeling as though he had betrayed his son now more than ever. At the same time, however, he felt like shooting something, preferably Albus Dumbledore.

As he slowly walked down the corridor, away from Dumbledore and the Infirmary, he couldn't help but wondering if Harry (and Severus for that matter) wouldn't be better off without him. Perhaps he should turn around go back to Dumbledore, demand he have charges brought up against the Dursley's and leave once he knew his son would be safe, even if it wasn't with him. As his thoughts drifted through the conversation with Dumbledore and his decision to drop charges against the Dursley's for his, and his sons' safety, Tobias slowly made his way to the Entrance Hall of the castle. He stood there for a moment and looked around in wonder. He could only imagine what his sons must have felt when they saw this place for the first time as small eleven year olds.

With a sigh and a last glance around the grand Entrance Hall, Tobias opened the doors and walked out of the castle.

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

A couple of hours after lunch, Harry went to the Hospital wing. Not long after he and Sirius had a talk earlier, he and his friends and gone for a walk around the castle. They had eaten lunch in the kitchens then gone to see Hagrid for a while. Now his friends were in the headmaster's office being sent to their new home. For their safely, the Headmaster had set up a new safe house in London for the Weasley's and the Grangers to reside in. This new house, which Harry knew nothing about, would also be the new temporary Order Headquarters. The Grangers would be accompanied with at least one Order member whenever they left the house (for work and such), but Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were forbidden to leave the premises for their own safety. Also, for everyone's safety, Harry was under no circumstances allowed to contact his friends.

Before this summer, Harry would have felt extremely alone under these circumstances, but he didn't this time. Now, he had a brother and father to spend time with and keep him company. Now, he wasn't alone. He would miss his friends, but he would not be as desperate for their companionship.

After saying bye to his friends, he had looked for his dad but couldn't find him anywhere. A couple portraits said they saw him walk outside, but a quick but through glance around the grounds and a trip to Hagrid failed to produce his father. Feeling a bit disappointed, Harry went to the hospital wing. He had hopped to find his father alone so they could talk, but apparently that wouldn't be the case. Walking into the Infirmary, Harry saw Severus pulling a shirt over his head, but no sign of his father or his...mother...for that matter.

"Hey, Sev?" Harry began amazed at the casual tone he could now speak to his once-feared potions master with. "Where's dad?"

Severus turned to look at his little brother and began walking towards him as he answered casually. "I don't know. The last I saw of him was with Dumbledore."

Harry's face crinkled a little bit in confusion. "I can't find him anywhere. Some of the portraits said they saw him leave the castle, but other than that no one knows where he is."

"I'm sure he's around somewhere," Severus tried to sooth his younger brother, but was equally confused about his father's disappearance. It just wasn't like him. "Come. Maybe he went to my quarters and is hiding out there."

The trip to the dungeons was quiet but not at all uncomfortable for the two brothers. Upon reaching his chambers Severus gave the portrait the password and it swung open to reveal an average-sized living room. Sitting on the sofa in front of the fire was not Tobias, as Severus and Harry had been expecting, but Eileen.

Eileen turned her head when she heard the door to her son's chambers swing open, expecting to see Tobias. If she was surprised to see her sons enter instead she didn't show it.

It was silent as mother and sons stared at each other, the tension in the room palpable. Eileen could plainly see the anger growing in both her sons' eyes and slowly stood up from the couch crossing her arms over her chest. Her face remained emotionless. Impassively she questioned her sons. "Where's Tobias?"

"We don't know." Severus ground out through clenched teeth, his dark eyes boring into his mothers.

"Why?" asked Harry in a small but angry voice.

Eileen raised an eyebrow but otherwise remained emotionless. "Why what?"

"What do you think?" Harry shouted the thin amount of control he had on his emotions shattering. "Why did you cast Imperio? Why?"

"I didn't have much choice." Eileen remained impassive.

"Like hell you didn't!" It was Severus who shouted this time, cutting off anything his brother might have been about to say. "You could have cast a dozen different spells on him to make him more complaint. You didn't have to use an Unforgivable. Not to mention you could have told him first."

"And if I had told you first?" Eileen's indifferent facade was quickly being replaced by anger. "Had I told you, you would have wasted precious time trying to decide what to do instead of escaping. We needed a quick solution. It was the only option."

"Yes. Of course, it was." Severus said in a mockingly sarcastic tone that betrayed his rage. "After all, it was easier and you can't be troubled with something that requires patience. Even if it means abandoning your sons!"

"Don't change the sub..." Eileen began with a raised voice but was interrupted by Severus.

"Why? Why the hell not, mother?" Severus spat this last word out with contempt as he advanced on Eileen until he stood directly in front of her. He towered over her in what all his students would have considered an intimidating manner, but Eileen seemed unfazed.

It was silent for several tense minutes before Eileen spoke in a quite voice. "What do you want me to say, Severus?" Eileen paused staring up into her son's dark ebony eyes. His father's eyes. She had never really noticed before, but Severus had his father's eyes. She had noticed they were the same in color, yes, but she had never realized they held the same depth, the same knowing as Tobias' until now. When she spoke her tone became harsher until she spit the last sentence out with more sarcasm then any seventh year potions student would know what to do with. "Do you want me to apologize? Do you want me to stay with you? Do you want us to be one big happy family?"

Eileen watched as her son took a small step back and shook his head, not in answer to her question, but in despondency. Soon her youngest child was by his side. The boy looked ready to cry and yet she could feel no pity for him.

"Get. Out." Severus said quietly, not meeting his mother's eyes. He looked down at his brother, meeting tear-filled, matching black eyes. He suddenly felt angrier than ever. He had given up on having a mother years ago... but Harry. Harry still held on to that hope. A hope that was being crushed at this very moment. "Get! Out!" Severus repeated turning his gaze, filled with hate, to his mother.

Eileen seemed unfazed by any of this. Without a word she, still using Nick's wand, gathered up all her things, which Dumbledore had arranged to have brought to the castle. Once done, she turned back to her sons, both looking at her with unadulterated loathing. She began moving towards the door before asking a question. "Where's your father?"

"We don't know." Harry answered with a wavering, but irritated voice.

"Well," began Eileen, and though her tone remained even she was shaking with rage inside. "I do hope you said your goodbyes then, because he's probably waiting for me so we can both leave."

Eileen knew it was petty, but they had infuriated her to no end. This was why she couldn't be a mother. She exited her son's chambers quickly and soon disappeared around a corner. She knew Tobias wouldn't leave Harry, but she also knew that Harry didn't believe that entirely and that Severus wouldn't be able to convince his brother otherwise. She knew she had hurt the boy and yet all she could feel was anger. All she wanted to do was turn back around, march back to her son's private chambers, and hurt both of them. Clenching her fist she reached the main doors of Hogwarts and was soon out the main gates and apparating away.

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

It took a couple of minutes after the door slammed ominously behind Eileen for her parting word to sink in. When it did, however, Harry swore his heart stopped. It couldn't be. His father wouldn't leave him. He had promised. Harry vaguely heard his brother talking to him, but couldn't make out the words Severus was whispering to him over the rushing sound that had come to his ears. It was as if the whole world was caving in on him. He couldn't seem to take a proper breath. He had to find his dad. He had to find him now.

Ignoring everything else, Harry took off at a run he was vaguely aware of someone chasing after him and calling his name, but that only made him run faster. He had to find his dad. Running around a corner and ducking into a secret passage that the twins had shown him, he managed to lose the person chasing him. He rubbed at his stinging eyes, refusing to cry. He had lost everyone else; he couldn't lose his dad even if it meant searching the entire castle top to bottom. Even if he had to pull it apart stone by stone. He had to find his dad.

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

Tobias wasn't sure how he had ended up in the run-down looking wizarding tavern in Hogsmead, but he had. He sat at the deserted bar staring into his third glass of something called fire whiskey. All he could do was run through his conversation with Dumbledore over and over again. Occasionally breaking away from that to think of how his sons would react. He closed his eyes and took another sip of the strong amber liquid in the glass before him.

He could tell his mind was beginning to become muddled and fogged from the alcohol (apparently wizarding drinks contained more alcohol then their muggle counterparts) and sighed when he realized he would have to go back once he finished the glass. He sat there for several minutes in the blissful silence of the tavern trying his best not to feel. For some reason when Eileen walked through the door, he wasn't surprised.

Eileen glanced around the tavern before spotting Tobias and made her way over to him. She sat down on the bar stool next to him. When the bartender came over she ordered a glass of something called a ‘Twisted Manicore Tail.' Tobias raised an eyebrow when the drink came in a large goblet with smoke rising from its contents. Eileen bent over and seductively blew the smoke away revealing a dark blue liquid. Tobias continued to watch as she raised the goblet and her perfectly shaped lips pressed against the rim of the cup as he took a sip of the interesting drink.

Eileen sat the goblet back down well aware that Tobias was watching her. For a moment she reconsidered what she was about to do. It would be so easy right now to convince him to leave with her, but...he would never forgive her... or himself, for that matter. Though she had gone searching for him with the intention of leaving with him, she had reconsidered on the walk here. Whatever sort of relationship they had only survived with long absences and sudden reappearances. She was not so naïve as to think that mere love would now or ever could hold their relationship together. Of course, they did love one another, but it wasn't enough. They were just too different. Perhaps in another ten years or so things would be different.

Eileen opened her mouth to give voice to her thoughts but before she could make a single sound, Tobias's angry voice reached her ears.

"Leave. Now."

Eileen cocked an eyebrow her tone betraying her surprise. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," said Tobias harshly. He had finally had enough. He refused to let her kick him around any longer. She had done more than her share of damage and he was through picking up the pieces every time she got bored and decided to leave.

Eileen stared at Tobias shocked for a moment. She had never expected that from him. Then as quickly as the shock came, it was replaced by anger, narrowing her brown eyes they turned dark and when she spoke it came out as a hiss between clenched teeth. "How dare you...How dare you tell me to leave!"

Tobias, who at some point turned his attention back to his nearly empty glass, turned to face her, a flame in his dark eyes not unlike the one she had just seen in Severus's. His face was suddenly centimeters away from her own and her breath caught with him in such close proximity.

"I'm tired." Tobias began, not sounding the least bit tired - more provoked and livid, actually. "I am tired of you waltzing back into my life whenever you feel like it and expecting me to welcome you with open arms...Well it ends now. Leave, now, and don't expect a warm welcome the next time you come knocking at the door. You've already hurt Severus more than once and now you're hurting Harry, too. It ends now, Eileen. All of it." Tobias paused for a moment taking in Eileen shocked and angry face before turning his attention back to his glass. "Leave, Eileen, and don't come back this time."

With that final comment, Tobias stood up from the bar and, dropping some money on the counter, left Eileen and his half empty drink at the bar, ready to go back to the castle and face his sons.

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

Did the blasted boy honestly think he wouldn't be able to catch up with him? Severus thought angrily as he pulled an unresponsive, yet obviously distressed Harry back to his private chambers. Though the short-cut his brother took had taken him for a bit of a surprise, he did have other means to find a wayward student. Even if in this case, the boy was not a student but his distressed baby brother. Of course, if he had a wand it would have been much easier. He would have to talk to Dumbledore and arrange for Harry and himself to take a trip to Olivander's...soon.

Unable to talk sense into his young brother in the middle of a rarely-traveled corridor, he merely took hold of the boy's arm and began pulling him back to the dungeons. Yes, he knew Harry was upset, and he wasn't angry with him, but he was angry and he needed to calm down before trying to talk to his brother.

The walk back to his chambers was uneventful as Harry remained silent, no longer panicking, but deeply depressed. Severus was still angry as he pulled his brother back through the door and his angry only increased as he saw who was pacing his living room.

Severus slammed the door behind his brother and turned to face his father. The fury burning in his eyes was matched only by the volume of his voice. "Where the bloody hell have you been?! Do you have any idea what..."

Severus was cut off as he stood face to face with his father. Tobias spoke quietly, but with such a tone as to make Severus's yelling seem like a kittens meow. "Do. Not. Speak to me like that."

Severus's mouth snapped shut and he lowered his head looking for all the world like a contrite child. It wasn't that he was afraid of some sort of punishment his father would deal out to him, but because he respected his father enough to demonstrate his respect. After a moment he met his dad's eyes again and in the most respectful tone he could muster replied. "I apologize. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

Tobias nodded, knowing that his son really did have every right to lose his temper; he just didn't know it yet.

"Do you know where..." Severus seemed to search for the right term for a moment before settling on an appropriate one. "Do you know where your wife is?"

This had not been the question Tobias was expecting. Slightly confused, but more angry he replied. "No and I don't care. With luck she's on the other side of the planet already."

Severus seemed shocked by this answer, but before he could form a proper sentence Tobias sighed and spoke again in a quite, resolved voice.

"Perhaps we should all sit down to finish this conversation."

Some time after they had relayed their conversations to each other and Tobias had settled down on the large armchair while Severus and Harry sat on the sofa, they sat in silence contemplating their actions. It was Harry who finally, in a small voice, broke the silence.

"So, she's gone...forever." Harry looked up from where he had been studying his hands and glanced at Tobias and Severus seeking confirmation.

"Yes," answered Tobias with a long suffering sigh. He couldn't really believe it himself.

"Good riddance," said Severus firmly angry laced in his voice. A look at his brother and father showed that they were unable to share his sentiments regarding the conclusion of the subject. "She hasn't exactly done anything extraordinary that would keep us longing for her continued company, now has she? She admitted from the moment we saw her that she wasn't planning on staying. Why should we be sad that she's gone?"

"Because she was my wife, Severus, and, though not a very good one, the mother of my children," Tobias said with more emotion then either of his sons usually heard. "I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and... we had such magnificent, if rather naïve plans for our future. Then...I grew up... and she didn't. Or maybe she did and in doing so we both grew apart and suddenly our future plans separated into two completely different aspirations. But I still loved her. I think I always will."

"Do you regret it?" Harry asked. He was amazed at the feelings his father held for the woman who had walked out on them.

Tobias gave a sort of half smile before replying. "Everyone has regrets Harry. The older you become the more you have, but at some point you realize how total useless those regrets are. All that regrets and, ‘what ifs' do is make us wish for the impossible. What's done is done and even if we were able to change it at a moments notice, we shouldn't because its what we learn from our mistakes, especially those we regret, that make us into the people we are." Tobias sighed and leaned forward in his chair resting his elbow on his knees and his head down on his hands. When he lifted his head he looked directly into Harry's eyes and spoke softly but steadily.

"I am, however, sorry Harry about what happened before we entered the tunnel. At the time it seemed like an acceptable solution. You were near panic and at any moment Death Eaters and Voldemort could have come down the stairs and who know what would have happened then. Though Eileen's solution may not have been the best, it was the first conceivable idea anyone had. I am sorry Harry, but I don't regret it."

Harry was unable to look anywhere except his dad's eyes. He had to ask himself if he really understood. In a bizarre way, he thought he did. How many times had he done something that seemed like the only option at the time and later looked back to see how dumb it was? Without consciously realizing it he nodded his head. "I understand, but...it sucked."

Tobias half smiled at the very teenagerish reply.

"Eloquent as ever," Severus said, equally as amused as his father, but he sneered the answer instead.

Harry couldn't help it. He smiled.

"Well," began Tobias a moment latter slightly more elevated then before. "Now, that we've lightened the mood a bit, I feel I must break some bad news to you." Immediately the lightened mood disappeared and the room felt a bit colder. Severus looked expressionless, always a bad sign in Tobias's book, and Harry was frowning again with arms crossed looking at though he were about to pout. "Earlier, Dumbledore and I had a talk. During our conversation he pointed out that Hogwarts was the safest place for any of us to be at the moment and consequently offered me a position as the new History of Magic teacher." Tobias raised a hand effectively silencing the questions that arose on both his sons' lips. "However, in order to take the position I would have to drop the charges against the Dursley's. I agreed."

The room was deathly silent for a moment. No one knew how to respond.

Harry was the first to find his voice and after clearing it questioned in a slightly confused tone. "So, I won't have to testify in court?"

Tobias looked sad as he answered softly. "No Harry, the Dursley's will get off free of any charges, but you will never have to see them again."

"Oh...well," Harry began. He tried not to look to happy, but he really didn't want to take the Dursley's to court he would be happy never having to see them again. "I don't mind really, as long as I don't have to go back...I don't mind."

It was Severus who sighed this time. "Harry, the Dursley's deserved to be punished for what they did to you. Do you understand that? Do you understand that what they did was wrong?"

Harry shrugged, "I guess. It's just that...if it did to go to court, then everyone would know about it...and I don't want the attention...or the pity."

Chancing a glance at his father and brother, Harry saw the sad looks they held and quickly averted his eyes back to studying the knees of his pants. He was grateful when Severus changed the subject.

"Well, now what's this about you replacing Binns?" Severus changed the subject for his brother's benefit. He wasn't about to let it drop, but he still had other things to discuss with his younger brother, too.

Tobias smirked; he knew what he was doing and was willing to let him for the moment. "Binns decided to cross over. Apparently, you, Moody, or Sirius informed him of my knowledge of history and he offered me the job."

"So you'll be here all year?" Harry's mood suddenly brightened again. He had been worried about what would happen when school started, but now...his dad and brother would be with him.

"You know what this means, of course?" Severus asked with a smirk at his brother in an almost teasing tone. "Now you'll have two people here watching you like a hawk, and you'll no longer be able to hide any misdeed. Aww... yes," continued Severus as his brother happy look faded into one of sudden realization. "And just think, unlike most students who misbehave and have to wait until the holidays to face their parents, you'll have one right here."

Harry was staring at his brother, wide-eyed. He hadn't thought of that before. He briefly wondered if this was how his friends felt.

Tobias tried to hold in his laughter as his son's horror stricken expression, but when Harry turned his gaze to him he couldn't help it any longer and burst out laughing.

Harry turned his gaze away from his laughing and, in his opinion, insane father and back to his smirking brother. "You're joking right?"

Severus's smirk got bigger, "Hardly."

Tobias laughed a bit harder.

Severus continued to smirk.

Harry didn't think he would be able to survive them both. He just hoped he would be able to avoid trouble until the end of the summer.