He stared down at his three-week-old son in shock. The only child his wife had been able to conceive…the only child they would ever have…was dead. His son had been born premature three weeks before and the healers at St. Mungo’s had warned him that his son might not survive. He hadn’t wanted to believe them, but now his only child was dead.

Twin boys lay in the crib next to his son’s crib. They both looked strong and healthy and about the same size as the lifeless child in his arms. Why did that family get two children while the only child his wife could have died?

The parents on those twins would get over the loss of one child when they had another that lived, but it would kill his wife to lose this child and he didn’t want to lose her too. Glancing around, he realized that no one knew that the small baby in his arms was not breathing. That was it! Making sure that no one was watching, he switched the child in his arms with one of the sleeping twins. With some quick wand work, the appearances of the switched children changed. There! It was done!

He placed the newborn that had replaced his son in the crib and covered him lightly with the blanket that his wife had made. “Sleep well, little dragon,” he whispered before slipping from the St. Mungo’s nursery, having never once glanced at the name on the other crib: Potter.

--

Nearly twelve years later...

The headmaster sighed deeply and looked across his desk at the Potions Master. “You are positive the results are accurate, Severus?” He trusted the younger man, but this news was very hard to believe.

Snape nodded, slouching in his chair. “It was the simplest of that type of potion. I tested it myself later. They brewed it properly.”

“And they know nothing?”

“Nothing,” the younger man sighed. “I used some slight of hand and switched the vials when I saw what was happening. What are you going to do about this, Albus?”

Dumbledore got up and walked over to where his phoenix rested on its perch, gently stroking the bird’s feathers. He was silent for several minutes before answering. “I need you to go to Lucius, my boy, and find out what he knows. He and his wife are the only ones who can answer our questions. But you’ll need to make sure he remembers nothing after you question him. If that information falls into the wrong hands it could be dangerous.”

“I’ll go talk to him as soon as we finish here. But what of the boys? Do you plan to tell them?” He caught the older man’s eye and shook his head. “Of course you don’t. Those two boys have every right to know, old man.”

He turned to face the younger man. “I don’t see any need to tell them right now, Severus.”

“You don’t see any need? Last night while Potter was fighting Quirrell, Crabbe and Goyle brought Draco to my quarters. The boy had a blinding headache. I convinced those two idiots to leave him with me and shortly after they left, he passed out in my arms. Best I can figure that was at the same time you found Potter in the same condition. You can’t keep this from them!”

The headmaster sat back down and considered it for several minutes. “Young Malfoy is your godson, is he not?” Snape merely nodded. “And he spends some weeks with you every summer?”

Again the younger man nodded, exhausted after sitting up all night with his young godson trying to calm the boy down and convince him that he wasn’t dying and needed to go back to sleep. The boy had a flair for the dramatic. He looked up at his mentor. “Are you suggesting that I bring Potter to my house while Draco is there and tell them then?”

“If you think they should know, then I leave it to you to tell them how you will. But Severus…the charade must continue, no matter what.”

The Potions Master stood and left the room, slamming the door as he went.

Severus Snape lowered himself into his favorite chair in the living room of his home at Spinner’s End. He had spent most of the day cleaning the house and getting it ready for his two young guests. Needing to work out some of his anger, he had used Muggle methods of cleaning the old house rather than using magic.

Snape had gone to visit Lucius Malfoy the night before and had been appalled at the story he heard from his old friend and fellow Death Eater. Malfoy’s true son had died on the same night that Lily had given birth to her son…sons. His precious Lily had given James twin sons. Lucius had switched his dead son for one of Lily’s, only he hadn’t known who the twins had belonged to. If he had, things would have vastly different. He had no doubt that had Lucius realized that his son was actually the child of James and Lily Potter, he would have handed the baby over to the Dark Lord himself in order to fulfill the prophecy. Snape didn’t want to think about how powerful the Dark Lord would be now if that had happened. The thought had him shudder.

He had been the one to give the piece of the prophecy to the Dark Lord and as soon as he realized who the prophecy was about, he had gone to the tavern his father had frequented and gotten drunk. It had been Lily and Albus who found him three days later, sitting in this very chair and still drinking. After sobering him up, Lily had told him that she forgave him…for everything. That very night he had sworn to protect Lily’s son should anything happen to her or James. James’ old school friend, Sirius Black, had been named the boy’s godfather, but Lily had wanted someone who would do a better job of protecting Harry. So he had sworn an Unbreakable Vow, becoming Harry’s protector. Because of the way Lily had worded the vow, Draco was also included under that protection now that the truth had been discovered. That night was also the night he had begun to spy for the Order of the Phoenix .

The Floo flared green and his young godson stepped out, dropping the knapsack he used for his visits to Spinner’s End at his feet before launching himself at his godfather, who grunted when the bony child landed on him. “No one can accuse you of being a Malfoy around here,” he muttered. “That was funny when you were five…”

“Aww…come on, Sev,” the preteen pleaded, giving him that look that always won him over. “You know this is the only place I can act like a kid.”

“That’s why you aren’t on the floor, dragon,” the man said, ruffling the boy’s hair. The young boy leaned his head back against one of the chair’s armrests and draped his feet over the other, making himself comfortable on his godfather’s lap. Snape managed a chuckle, using his wand to move the footstool over so that he could prop up his feet. “You’re getting too old for this.”

The boy merely gave him a look. “You let me do it at school that night right before we left.”

The Potions Master shook his head and allowed himself to relax, something he was only able to do in this company of the preteen on his lap and in the privacy of his own quarters or this house. “I’ll let you stay for now…but only because we have something to talk about.” Draco gave him a smug grin and nodded, waiting for his godfather to speak again. “Do you remember when I had you and Potter brew that potion together about two weeks before the end of classes?”

Draco nodded. “Sure. That’s the one that with a drop of blood for two people will tell you how closely related they are by the color it turns. But I saw you swap it with a vial of something else. How bad could it have been?” he boy laughed. “It’s not like it was going to say that we are brothers or even cousins…”

“How did you know I switched it?” he asked the boy.

He laughed again. “I’ve been watching your slight of hand since I was little. And you didn’t answer my question.” Sighing, the man pulled a corked vial from the pocket of his robe and held it out to the boy. The once clear liquid was now a pale green color. Draco stared at the vial for a moment before looking back up at his godfather. “I don’t have my book with me…what does it mean?”

Snape took a moment before answering. “Closer than brothers…twins.”

“TWINS?!” the boy exclaimed, sitting up so quickly, he nearly fell to the floor. “You’ve got to be joking!”

He pulled two more vials from another pocket, these vials were the same color as the first. “I had the Weasley twins and the Patil twins test your brew for me. As you can see, they turned out the same color.”

“Sev…” the boy pleaded. “Please tell me that you are joking…please…” He went willingly into Snape’s arms when the man pulled him into a comforting embrace. How many times growing up had he wished that he had been this man’s son instead of a Malfoy? This man was both gentle and firm and had shown him more love than his own father had. “Please…”

“I wish I could tell you that, dragon. But I talked to your father and he confirmed it,” he said softly, wishing he could take the pain from this boy. He could feel Draco shaking in his arms and the vials on the table next to them began to rattle. “Calm yourself, little one. Clear your mind. Don’t forget our lessons…”

After a moment the vials stopped rattling, but it was half an hour later before the boy spoke again, his face still nearly buried in the black robes of his godfather. “So…is he a Malfoy or am I a…a P-Potter?”

He rubbed the boy’s back, knowing this was hard on him. “You are a Potter, Draco. We have a lot to talk about, but first we need to go get Potter.”

“Why?” came the reply, muffled by the robes the boy had his face buried in. His whole world had been turned upside down in the last hour and it was almost more than he could handle.

Snape snapped his fingers and a moment later a vial floated into the room from his lab. “Here, dragon. Drink this.” The boy took the vial from him and drained the Calming Draft without a word. Severus closed his eyes and silently cursed Lucius for his stupidity. “The headmaster wants you and Potter to spend three weeks with me so that we can try and figure this whole thing out.”

Draco gave a heavy sigh and slowly stood, straightening his expensive robes. “You better take a couple vials of that stuff. Potter will need it,” he said, using the cold tone that he normally used around his own home.

Severus stood and ran his hand over the boy’s hair. Draco leaned into his godfather’s hand. “We’ll talk more later, alright?” The boy nodded. “Take your bag to your room and leave your robe there.”

After a moment, the boy moved to obey, picking up his knapsack and heading up the stairs to the room that he used when he stayed with his godfather. The house on Spinner’s End was an old house that had been in the Snape family for many years. It was very small compared to Malfoy Manor, but it suited the man who only stayed there during the summer break. There were two bedrooms on the first floor, one which Severus’ mother Eileen had converted to a small potions lab. Upstairs, two bedrooms with sloping ceilings and a bathroom were tucked beneath the eaves. The room that Draco used had once belonged to Severus and sometimes his godfather allowed him to climb through the window and they would lay on the roof and watch the stars.

Draco put his knapsack on the bed and with a quiet word and a quick flick of his wand his clothes were hung in the closet or neatly folded in the dresser. With a satisfied nod, he hung his robe in the closet and tucked his wand up his sleeve before making his way back down the steep stairs.

Severus stood near the front door, his hand held out. “Wand…”

“What? But Sev…” the boy protested.

“You are not allowed to use magic outside of school, so hand it over.”

“Mother and Father let me use it…”

Severus gave the boy a look. “One.” He hated having to discipline his godson, but had discovered long ago that the boy was allowed to run wild at home. The only times his father attempted to discipline him was when he did something that Lucius considered tarnishing the Malfoy name and punishment was meted out by the use of the elder Malfoy’s cane. By the end of the first week that Draco had spent with him many years ago it was obvious that the boy needed consistent and loving discipline and so it had fallen to him as the boy’s godfather to raise him properly.

Draco looked up at his godfather defiantly, though his defiance wavered when the man started counting. He had learned from experience that the man expected immediate obedience and if he had to start counting he had earned himself a swat, but if his godfather got to three he would be getting a trip over the man’s knee.

“Two.”

With a deep sigh, Draco pulled his wand from his sleeve and handed it over to the man. Snape held the door open for the boy and gave him a firm swat as he walked past. “Are you gonna do that while Potter’s here?” Draco asked as Snape locked the door.

“If you would obey the first time, I wouldn’t have to do it at all, dragon.” The boy nodded and looked at the ground. Severus reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “You know what I expect of you. If you follow my rules then you won’t have a problem. The rules don’t change just because Potter is coming to stay with us and neither do the consequences.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said softly. He took a deep breath and looked up at his godfather. “So what are you going to tell Potter?”

He looked down at the boy. “I’m not going to tell him anything. I need you to convince him to come with us while I deal with his relatives.”

“Are you gonna Obliviate them?” he asked with a sly grin.

“Come here, you,” he said, pulling the boy close so that he could Apparate them to Surrey . Draco wrapped his arms around the man’s waist and buried his face in his shirt, letting Snape take the brunt of the effect of apparating because he didn’t handle it very well.

--

A moment later they appeared in Surrey just a few blocks from the Dursley house. Severus had come by earlier and scouted out a good place for them to Apparate. Once he was sure that Draco had his bearings, Snape turned and started walking toward Privet Drive .

“You never answered my question,” Draco said, running to catch up with his godfather. “Are you going to Obliviate them?”

He looked down at his godson. “You know I won’t answer that, dragon. And while we are here please refer to me as Professor, just as you do at school.”

The preteen nodded. “Yes, sir. What am I supposed to tell Potter?”

“Tell him whatever you need to tell him to get him to come with us.” Draco made a face as they walked up to number 4 Privet Drive and his godfather knocked on the door.

A thin woman opened the door and scowled at Snape. “Figures you would show up. What do you want?”

“Hello to you too, Petunia. May we step in?” Severus asked in the same tone he often used to convince students to do as he wanted. Without waiting for an answer, he stepped inside. “Draco, please go find Harry.”

Harry? Draco stared at his godfather for a moment before nodding. “Yes, Professor.” He hesitated briefly before walking up the stairs. The first door had several padlocks on the door so he skipped it and continued searching the other rooms, only to find them empty. He headed back toward the stairs, stopping when he heard a soft whimpering. It was then that he noticed the cat flap in the door with the padlocks. “Potter?” he called.

Inside the room, Harry lifted his head, searching his memory for the name that went along with that voice. “Malfoy?” He eased off the bed and moved toward the door.

“Are you alright, Potter?” Draco asked, kneeling down in front of the cat flap in the door.

“I’m fine,” Harry lied, dropping down to his knees as well. “What are you doing here?”

If anyone had told Draco that morning that he would be kneeling on the floor of a Muggle house talking through a cat flap in a door to his twin brother that he had never known existed…a twin brother who had been his enemy during the last school year, he would have hexed them with one of the curses that he wasn’t supposed to know yet. But now he found himself slightly worried about the boy on the other side of the door and he couldn’t begin to explain why he was feeling that way. “We’re here to break you out, of course,” he said lightly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“We?” Harry asked. “Who is here with you?”

“Sev…Professor Snape is here too. He’s down there Obliiviating your relatives. Hand me your wand so I can unlock this door. Merlin, did you not think of doing that yourself?”

Harry sighed and leaned his head against the door. “I don’t have my wand. Where is yours?”

Draco chuckled softly. “Sev takes that whole underage restriction a little too seriously. Where the hell is your wand, Potter?”

“Uncle Vernon locked all my stuff in the cupboard under the stairs. He’s not a big fan of magic,” he said wryly.

“Alright. Stand back from the door,” he told the other boy before standing and walking halfway down the stairs. He called to his godfather who had gone into another room. “Professor? I need my wand back to unlock a door up here.” A moment later his wand floated into the hall and over to him. “Thanks!” He snatched up his wand and hurried back up the stairs and opened the door with a quick spell and flick of his wand.

He stepped into the room to find Harry curled up on the bed once more, his eyes closed. A quick glance told him that Harry’s beautiful snow owl was padlocked in her cage. “You too, huh?” he asked her, unlocking her cage. When he saw the bars on Harry’s window, he coaxed the owl out of the cage and onto his wrist, stepping into one of the other rooms and letting her go out the window with a soft word. He and Harry may not have gotten along this last year, but he couldn’t help but admire the owl. It was quite a magnificent creature.

Turning he went back to Harry…his brother. “Come on, Potter…time to fly.” He levitated Hedwig’s cage and sent it on downstairs while he tried to rouse Harry. “Don’t make me levitate you downstairs. Believe me, I’d take great pleasure in knocking your head against the wall a few times.”

Harry slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself off the bed again, unable to keep from wincing. “Just give me a minute.”

“Bloody hell, Potter, what have they done to you?” Draco nearly hissed.

“Language, Mr. Malfoy,” Severus called from downstairs.

Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m warning you now…that man sees and hears everything,” he told Harry, draping the other boy’s arm around his shoulder and putting an arm around his waist. “Let’s get out of here.” Harry made no protest as his nemesis slowly helped him down the stairs.

Snape was just stepping back into the hall as they came down the stairs. He glanced at his godson and nodded, holding his hand out for the boy’s wand.

Draco gave a dramatic sigh, but gave it to the man. “Harry’s things are locked in that cupboard under the stairs.”

“Where’s Hedwig?” Harry asked, letting Draco practically hold him up. Severus went to get Harry’s trunk and broom from under the stairs. He tapped the trunk once with his wand and it disappeared. He did the same with Harry’s broom and Hedwig’s cage, sending them to Spinner’s End as well before turning back to the two boys.

“She’s safe,” Draco answered. “I sent her to Hogwarts.”

“Good thinking, Draco,” Severus said, his face grim as he ran a quick diagnostic spell on Harry. Draco beamed under his godfather’s praise. Severus gave Harry another look before putting one arm behind the boy and another under his knees, lifting him easily into his arms. “Hush, child,” he told the boy when he started to protest. Harry’s head dropped onto the man’s shoulder and he closed his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer.

“How are we going to Apparate?” Draco asked as they left the house. He knew it would be hard for his godfather to side-along both of them with Potter unconscious…could he even side-along two people when one was the unconscious Potter?

“There is a squib that lives on the next street over. We can use her Floo,” he answered his godson. Arabella Figg was a member of the Order of the Phoenix and had been keeping an eye on Harry since he had been placed with the Dursleys. How she had missed this, he wasn’t sure. Or maybe she hadn’t missed it, but Dumbledore had chosen to ignore it as he had chosen to ignore the truth about his godson and the boy in his arms. “You can not tell your father about any of this Draco,” he told the boy firmly, giving him a look.

He nodded. “I know, sir. I never tell him anything unless it’s something that has to do with the Death Eaters. I’m not stupid, Sev.”

His eyes darkened. “I think we are going to have to have another talk about your eavesdropping.”

Ten minutes later they stepped out of the fireplace and into Snape’s living room at Spinner’s End. “Draco, run upstairs and turn down Harry’s bed.” When the boy ran to comply, Severus eased Harry onto the couch and rolled him onto his stomach. With a wave of his hand, the sleeping boy’s clothes disappeared and he summoned some quick healing salve from his lab. Cursing Lily’s sister, he gently applied the salve to the boy’s welts and bruises. Lily would have pitched a fit to see her son in such a condition.

After doing what he could to heal the boy, he spelled him into a healing sleep and with another wave of his hand soft pajamas appeared on the boy. He sat back on his heels. “I haven’t done a very good job of protecting your son, Lily,” he whispered. He glanced through the kitchen and into the dark dining room. “Didn’t I just say something about your eavesdropping, Draco?”

The blond sheepishly slide around the corner and into the room. “I wasn’t sure if I could come back…”

Severus gave his godson a look. “Don’t try that innocent act with me, mister. Did you do as I asked?” The boy nodded. “Thank you. It’s late. Go get ready for bed and I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he said, carefully lifting the sleeping boy into his strong arms.

“But Sev…”

“That’s Uncle Sev to you, Draco. And I know that you don’t have rules at Malfoy Manor, but you do here. When you break my rules there are consequences. If you don’t want to face those consequences, then I suggest you obey.” With a dramatic sigh, the boy turned and ran back toward the stairs. Shaking his head, Severus carried Harry upstairs and into the room at the top of the stairs. He put Harry down and tucked him in, gently running his hand over the boy’s hair. Contrary to popular belief, he really didn’t hate kids. Well, not all kids. There were some he could do without. However the only woman he had ever considered having children with had married another man. Now her two precious sons were in his house…together as brothers for the first time since the day they were born. “Rest well, Harry.”

Across the hall, Draco finished getting ready for bed and sat on the edge of the bed to wait for his godfather. It had been a long time since the man had corrected him so many times on his first evening there and he did feel bad about it. Even though he pretended he didn’t, he did have a conscience. He adored his godfather and hated to disappoint the man. He looked up when Severus walked into the room and pulled the desk chair over to sit in front of him. This couldn’t be good. “Are you really mad at me?” he asked, sounding much younger than his barely twelve years.

“I’m not mad, Draco, but I am disappointed.” The boy sighed, looking down. “Eavesdropping is a very bad habit and we need to break you of that.” Eavesdropping was what had gotten Lily killed. His eavesdropping. “Thirteen years ago I was eavesdropping on a conversation and reported it to the Dark Lord, not knowing the whole conversation. Because of what I told him, a very old and dear friend and her husband were killed. I am responsible for their deaths, Draco.” The boy stared at his godfather in shock. “Not a day has gone by that I haven’t regretted what I did. It took me a long time to forgive myself. Do you understand now why I don’t want you eavesdropping?” The boy nodded, still staring at the man. "Don’t let me catch you doing it again,” he told the boy firmly and giving him a very pointed look.

“Yes, sir,” he whispered, knowing full well what would happen if he got caught doing something his godfather had expressly forbidden. He had done that last summer and that was an experience that he didn’t want to repeat…ever, if he could help it.

Severus reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Now, Harry is still sleeping and should sleep through the night. I haven’t had a chance to tell him anything. When I do, I want the three of us to view your father’s memories together.”

“Does Father know that I’m really a Potter?”

“Will you just trust me for now, dragon?” he asked the boy, motioning for him to get under the blanket. Once Draco had done so, he tucked the boy in. “It will be easier for me to explain the rest of it to both of you at the same time. But I will tell you this right now, your father doesn’t remember what happened. And he won’t until I decide to return the memories to him.”

Draco smirked up at his godfather. “You really do like to Obliviate people, don’t you?”

“Hush,” he said, giving the boy a light swat that he barely felt because of the blankets. With a wave of his hand, the lights in the room dimmed. “Go to sleep, little dragon.”

The boy yawned. “Uncle Sev?”

“Yes, Draco?” he asked, pausing as he walked to the door.

“What are we going to do about school?”

He sighed. “I don’t know yet. I just don’t know.”

Once he had seen what had happened with the potion in class, he had spent the last few weeks of school watching the two boys from a distance. Harry looked just like James, but the more he watched the more he realized that Harry was more like his beloved Lily. Not only did he have Lily’s eyes, but he had Lily’s heart and charm. People just couldn’t help but be drawn to the boy. Draco had gotten Lily’s gift with potions and James’ (and somehow Lucius’) devil-may-care attitude.

James Potter had been born on a broom and both boys had inherited that gift from him. It would be interesting to see the two Seekers battle it out on the pitch this coming year, for Lucius had already bought Draco’s way on the team by purchasing top-of-the-line racing brooms for the Slytherin team. Unlike some of the other Houses, Severus allowed his captains to make all decisions concerning the Quidditch team. His previous captains had never allowed anyone below fifth year to be on the team (and never had a girl been allowed on the team), but he had seen the boy fly and knew that he could handle it. Flint must have wanted those brooms badly enough to allow Draco on the team.

He was pulled from his musings when Draco came into Harry’s room and made his way over to the large armchair in the corner where Severus was sitting. Draco sat on the arm of the chair and leaned against his godfather’s shoulder. Severus couldn’t help but smile, as he put his arm around the boy. This one was definitely not a morning person. “You’re up early.”

“That bloody rooster next door woke me up. You forgot to put the damn silencing charm on my room,” he replied around a yawn.

“Language, little one.” The boy slid off the arm of the chair and into his godfather’s lap, resting his head on the man’s chest as he had done when he was little. “Comfortable?” Draco nodded, closing his eyes. Severus chuckled. “Such a spoiled little dragon.” He made face at his godfather, but was content to just sit and rest in the man’s arms.

Severus looked over at Harry and wondered if he would be able to look past all he had said during the last school year and see the man behind the mask. It had been hard to be so cruel to the boy, but he knew it had to be done. Imagining the boy to be James had made it a little easier, but not much. If Harry really did have Lily’s heart, he knew the boy would forgive him.

When Harry began to stir, Severus stood and put Draco back in the chair, covering him with a light blanket before moving over to sit on the edge of Harry’s bed. He held the boy’s glasses out to him and allowed him to put them on himself.

Harry looked up at him, momentarily confused. He vaguely remembered Malfoy and the professor coming to the Dursley’s house and getting him, but everything was still unclear. “Sir? I thought maybe I was dreaming…”

Severus shook his head with a smile. “Who is that sleeping over there in the corner?”

“Is that Malfoy, sir?” he asked, looking up at the man.

“Yes, Harry, that is Draco,” Severus answered. “How are you feeling?”

Harry thought about it for a moment before answering. “A little sore, but not too bad. Did you get Madam Pomfrey to come heal me last night?”

He pulled out his wand and ran a quick diagnostic on the boy. “No. I’ve had some training in the healing arts myself, so I took care of you.”

“Oh…thank you, sir. Where am I?” he asked, looking around the room. It was a very simple room with a sloping ceiling. Two windows graced the outside wall with his twin bed under one and a desk under the other. The chair Malfoy was sleeping in was on one side of the door and a closet on the other.

“You are in my home, Harry,” Severus answered. He glanced over at Draco and sighed softly. “I need to ask your forgiveness, Harry. Your mother and I were friends a very long time ago and I promised her that I would look out for you and protect you. I haven’t done a very good job of that. Will you please forgive me?”

The boy looked up at his potions professor in shock. Was Snape really apologizing to him? “You knew my Mum?”

“Yes, I did. We knew each other before we went to Hogwarts.”

Harry continued to stare up at the man before him, cocking his head to the side in a gesture that reminded Severus so much of Lily. This man had known his mum! He had promised to protect him, and even though he had been rude and nasty to him the year before, he had also been trying to save him when Quirrell had tried to hex him off his broom during that Quidditch game. And now he had even rescued him from the Dursleys! “I forgive you, Professor.”

“Thank you, Harry. Now I need to tell you something very important, alright?” When the boy nodded he continued, snapping his fingers to summon the vials he had shown Draco the night before. “Do you remember the potion that I had you brew just before the end of term? The one that showed if there was any family relationship between two people.”

“Yes, sir. You had Draco and I test it in front of the class and it showed that we were distant cousins. Hermione told me that all wizarding families are distantly related.”

Severus took the three vials that floated into the room and showed two of them to Harry. “I want you to get a good look at these.”

Harry took the two vials that the Potions Master handed him and read the labels. One read ‘Padma and Parvati Patel’ and the other read ‘Fred and George Weasley’. He looked up at his professor. “So this color means that the two people tested are twins?”

“Yes, Harry. The vial that you saw in class was not the correct vial. I switched you while you and Draco were arguing and had the class distracted. This is the correct vial,” he said, handing the boy the third vial, this one containing his name and Draco’s.

Harry stared down at the vial and then looked at the other two. “This one is the same as the other two. But that’s impossible, sir. Malfoy and I aren’t…we can’t be. We can’t stand each other…and we don’t even look anything alike. He looks like his father and I look like mine. Sir?”

Severus reached out and ran his hand over Harry’s mop of dark hair, a gesture he often used to calm Draco. He was pleasantly surprised when Harry leaned into the touch. “It is true, Harry. I tested the potion that you and Draco brewed. It was perfect. Then I went and talked to Lucius and he confirmed my theory. Draco is the son of James and Lily Potter.” Harry took a deep, shuddering breath. “You and Draco will stay here for three weeks and we’ll figure things out. Then I’ll send you to the Weasleys and Draco back to Malfoy Manor for the last week before school.”

The boy slowly nodded. “What are we supposed to tell everyone?”

“That’s what we need to figure out. After breakfast the three of us will look at Lucius’ memories and decide what to do. For now, why don’t you get up and get ready for the day while I go start on breakfast, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, getting out of the bed and moving toward his trunk.

Severus stood and went over to Draco, tossing the boy over his shoulder. “You were eavesdropping again, mister.”

“Honest, Uncle Sev! I wasn’t!” he protested.

He closed the door on Harry and carried his godson across the hall into his room, putting the boy on his feet. “So you weren’t listening in on our conversation while pretending to be asleep?”

Draco opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally speaking. “Well…maybe a little. Don’t wallop me, Uncle Sev! Please!”

“I’ll consider your request, Draco, but right now I want you to get dressed and come help me with breakfast.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, moving to get dressed.

--

After they had eaten breakfast and worked together to clean the kitchen, Severus led the two boys into his study. He removed a stone basin from the cabinet and set it on the desk. “This is a penseive,” he told the boys. “You can store memories in here so that you can look at them into more detail later. It also allows other people to view your memories. These are Lucius’ memories of the day the two of you were born. Shall we?” he asked, holding out both hands. Draco put his hand into his godfather’s and after a brief hesitation Harry did as well. He led them over to the penseive and before either boy realized what was happening, all three of them were inside the memory.

The two boys, unused to stepping in and out of penseives, fell to the floor and Severus helped them up as a young Lucius Malfoy entered the nursery, moving over to a small, sickly looking baby. He lifted the baby into his arms carefully. They watched as the man’s face fell and he brought out his wand for what Draco recognized as a silent diagnostic spell that Severus had often used. He stared at the baby for several minutes before his head turned toward the twins sleeping peacefully in the next crib.

Severus stepped closer to the crib, wanting to catch a glimpse of what Draco really looked like. He smiled when he noticed that his hair was the same shade as his darling Lily. He looked up when Lucius stepped over to the crib and placed the baby in his arms in the crib beside the other two. Then the man picked up the tiny “Draco”. With a few quick waves of his wand the baby he had just lifted into his arms and the baby he had set down changed appearances. Severus wasn’t sure what charm Lucius had used, but he would find out. Hopefully it was one that he could reverse. Lucius had always excelled in Charms.

Together the three watched as Lucius placed the baby in his arms into the other crib and covered him with the blanket that a few moments before was covering his true son. “Sleep well, little dragon,” the man whispered before leaving them alone in the room. Severus took Harry and Draco by the arm and pulled them from the memory.

Both boys ended up on the floor again, Draco looking even paler than normal. “Are you alright, dragon?” he asked his godson, kneeling beside the boy. When Draco shook his head, Severus lifted the boy into his arms and carried him to the couch, sitting down with his godson on his lap. He motioned for Harry to join him.

Harry stared at them for a moment before moving to sit beside the man. This Snape was different from the Snape he had met at school. This man had laughed and smiled and even apologized! And he knew his mum! He had even saved his life and taken him away from his aunt and uncle. This Snape was a good man.

Severus held Draco for a moment before speaking. “You have both asked me what we were going to do about school. The headmaster thinks it wise that no one knows the truth. I think it best we wait to decide what to do. How about we agree to discuss this matter again before we go our separate ways in three weeks?” The two boys exchanged a quick glance before they both nodded.

“Now, Harry,” he said, looking down at the boy. “Most people think I am a pureblood wizard. I am in fact a half-blood. My mother was a witch and my father a muggle. I grew up in this house and we are in a muggle neighborhood, so while we are here we do things as muggle as possible. Since you grew up with muggles, I know that won’t be too hard for you.

“As the two of you are not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, I’d like you to bring me your wand as soon as we finish. I think it will be easier for the two of you to resist the temptation to use magic if you don’t have your wands. Draco has already given me his.”

“Under protest,” the blond muttered, crossing his arms, and Harry couldn’t help but crack a smile. It seemed the boy wasn’t as spoiled as everyone thought.

Severus patted Draco’s back before giving both boys a serious look. “I know the two of you didn’t get along very well this past year, but I will not have my house turned into a war zone. So you two better learn to get along or I know two boys that will be very sorry.”

Draco looked over at Harry. “That means he’ll wallop us.”

When Harry’s eyes grew wide, Severus sighed and shook his head. “Harry, look at me please.” When the boy looked up at him, he continued. “I will never hurt you the way your uncle did. No one should ever be treated that way. For minor misbehavior, I usually assign extra chores or you will lose some privileges or I will wash your mouth out. However, there are a few things that will earn you a spanking. My spankings will never leave you in need of healing.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” Draco said with a smirk. “He used to play Beater on a professional Quidditch team.”

“Might I remind you, Draco, that you are already on thin ice,” Severus told him in the cold tone that he used in the classroom. “I suggest you tell Harry the truth.”

Draco sighed, but did as he was told. “He never played Quidditch. And spankings don’t really hurt that much…or at least not for long. He uses them to make an impression,” he said, doing a fairly good imitation of his godfather, who just gave him a look. “But then he’ll hold you after it’s over for as long as you want and tell you that you’re forgiven and stuff.”

“That’s right,” Severus told him, a little proud of the boy for helping him explain things to Harry. “Do you want to tell him what earns a spanking?”

“I guess. When he tells you to do something, you have to do it right away. If he starts counting, you know you’re in trouble and you better do what he said before he gets to three, ‘cause that’s when you get a spanking, but just a little one. If you do something he’s forbidden you to do, like…going into his lab without permission, then you get a real walloping.” When he got another look from his godfather, he added, “Well…only like ten smacks, sometimes a few more if he’s spanked you for that before.”

“Do you understand, Harry?” Severus asked, knowing this might be hard for the boy.

Harry had to admit that he liked the idea of having clear rules and consequences laid out for him. Sometimes at the Dursleys their rules for him changed day to day and the consequences were really bad, as he’d just experienced the day before. He looked over at his newfound brother and wondered what it would be like to be held the way the Potions professor was holding the other boy. It was clear the two cared for each other very much and for a very brief moment, Harry envied his twin. “Yes, sir, I understand.”

“Hopefully I won’t have to punish you like that at all.” He was silent for a moment before continuing. “Draco is my godson and since you don’t have a godfather of your own, you can consider me your godfather if you wish.” Idiot Black had to go and kill Pettigrew and all those muggles and end up in Azkaban, he thought. Surely he knew that this boy would need him.

“I think I’d like that, sir,” Harry said, hesitating a moment before moving closer and leaning against the man’s side. Something about this man made him feel safe and warm, even though he was a completely different man at Hogwarts. In the last few hours he had come to see that the man did wear a mask at school.

Severus was surprised by the action, but pleased and put his arm around the boy, pulling him closer. “While we are here you may call me Uncle Sev, just as Draco does. And when we get back to Hogwarts I will give you the password for my quarters so that you may come any time you need me. No more of this foolishly rushing off into danger like last year."

“Yeah,” Draco piped up. “Don’t do something like that again. It really hurt.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry whispered before his eyes widened in surprise at Draco’s comment. “How? What? Huh?”

“Perhaps I can explain,” Severus told Harry. “While you were fighting with Quirrell, Draco was brought to me with a severe headache. He’s never had one before. About the same time that you passed out in that chamber, Draco passed out in my quarters.”

“So he felt the pain that I was in?” Harry asked. Both Draco and Severus nodded. “Wow…Sorry, Malfoy.”

“Do it again, Potter, and I’ll hurt you,” Draco told the other boy.

“That’s enough, boys,” Severus said, giving both of them a stern look. “I will not have my home turned into a war zone, so I suggest that you two learn to get along. And while we are here, I want you to address each other by your first names. You are brothers, after all.” After they both nodded, he continued. “Harry, why don’t you go upstairs and unpack, then please bring me your wand.”

“Yes, sir,” the dark headed boy replied, before scampering through the open French doors, across the sitting room and up the stairs.

Severus looked down at his godson. “Now…I think you and I have some things to discuss.”

--

That night Severus sent the two boys upstairs at quarter to eight to straighten their rooms and get ready for bed. Normally he wouldn't send them to bed quite so early, but it had been a long couple of days for all of them. At eight-thirty he went upstairs, stopping first in Harry’s room. The boy was stretched out on his stomach on his bed looking through a photo album. “All settled?” he asked the boy, sitting beside him. Harry nodded. “What do you have there?”

“Pictures of my Mum and Dad. Hagrid gave it to me before I left.”

“May I?” he asked. Harry nodded and sat up, placing the album in the man’s hand. Severus flipped through the book, looking for the photo that he had given Hagrid. He turned the book and showed the picture to Harry. “I took this picture of Lily during our seventh year. She didn’t know I took it.”

Harry peered down at the photograph. Lily walked from one side of the photograph to the other, turning sharply and messing with her robes. “What’s she doing, sir?”

Severus chuckled before answering. “I have been called ‘The Bat of the Dungeons’ since long before I started teaching at Hogwarts. It started when I was a student.”

“’Cause of that thing you do with your robes, sir?”

“So you’ve seen that, huh?” Severus asked. Harry nodded and leaned against the man’s side without really noticing that he was doing so. Severus wrapped his arm around the boy, drawing him closer as they gazed at the photograph. “She was trying to teach herself how to do that. She didn’t even know that I took the picture.”

“Did you give it to Hagrid?”

“I made a copy and gave it to him," he answered.

Harry smiled up at him. “Thank you, sir!”

He smiled in return. “You’re welcome, Harry.” He ruffled the boy’s hair. “Bedtime, kiddo.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy chirped before putting the album on the table beside the bed and climbing under the blanket. Severus stood and tucked the boy in. “No one has ever done that before…”

“Then I shall have to make sure that I do it every night while you are here,” he said, reaching out and running his hand over the boy’s hair as he had done that morning. Once again Harry leaned into the gentle touch. “Good night, Harry.”

“Good night, sir,” the boy replied, snuggling down under the blanket.

Out in the study, Draco got bored with his reading and dropped onto the sofa, staring at the desk where Harry was working on an essay. “Are those rags the only clothes that you have? They look like that whale of a cousin of yours could have worn them.”

Harry sighed deeply, but didn’t turn to look at the other boy. “They belonged to my cousin. I get his old clothes when he outgrows them or doesn’t want them anymore.”

“Haven’t you ever had new clothes?” he asked, propping his head up on his hands. “Mother and Father let me buy anything I want. Not just clothes.”

“Only when I bought my school uniforms last year,” Harry whispered, keeping his head down. The hand holding his quill began to shake.

“Why? I saw that house; surely they can afford new clothes for you.”

Harry stood swiftly, tossing his quill onto the desk and knocking the jar of ink over onto his essay. “You saw what they did to me! I wasn’t worthy of new clothes! I wasn’t worthy of eating anything but their leftovers, if they managed to leave something! The only time I got any toys was when my cousin broke his. I did chores around the house from sunrise to sundown while Dudley sat and watched the telly. I got beat for things that I didn’t do! That room you found me in has only been my room since I got my Hogwarts letter. Before that I slept in that cupboard under the stairs where Uncle Vernon locked my trunk,” he yelled, before running out of the study and up the stairs, slamming the door to his room.

Severus had set an alarm to let him know when either of the boys left the study and he had just finished bottling a simple potion that was needed for the infirmary at Hogwarts when it went off. Wiping his hands on a towel, he moved to the door in time to hear Harry slam the door upstairs. He went to the study. “What happened, Draco?” he asked his godson.

Draco shrugged. “All I did was ask him about his clothes.”

“Have you finished your Charms assignments yet?” he asked. Knowing Draco there was more to the story than that, but he would need to talk to Harry to get the truth. He gave the boy a stern look when he shook his head. “Sit down and finish it.”

He turned and went up the stairs to Harry’s room, knocking on the door. When he didn’t get an answer, he let himself into the room. Harry was busy throwing his things into his trunk. “What are you doing, Harry?” he asked, putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

Harry pulled away from him and kept gathering his meager belongings. “I'm leaving."

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here.”

“What happened?” When the boy ignored him, he grabbed him by the shoulders once more and sat him down in the chair in the corner, standing in front of him so that he couldn’t get up. He had been expecting some sort of blow up, but he had assumed that it would be Draco throwing the tantrum and not Harry. “Talk to me, Harry. Don’t leave without giving me a chance…”

“I hate him,” Harry spat, crossing his arms.

He crouched down in front of the boy. “Who?”

“Malfoy,” he muttered.

“I can’t fix this if you don’t tell me what happened…”

Harry glared up at the man. “Stop pretending to like me and go ahead and yell. I know you want to. Just get on with it so that I can finish packing my stuff and get out of here.”

“I’m not going to yell,” the man sighed.

“Yes you will. You always yell at me and side with him,” he snapped.

“Harry…” Severus said, reaching out to rest his hands on the boy’s arms, stopping when Harry flinched. “Harry.” The boy just pulled his legs up into the chair and hugged his knees, his eyes glassy. “Look at me…Harry…” Sighing, he stood. He had been expecting this sooner or later. “Come here, little one,” he said in his softest tone as he gently lifted the boy into his arms. He felt Harry stiffen in his arms and sat down in the chair, settling the boy on his lap.

Oh, Lily…what have I done? How do I fix this? He brought one hand up to rest on the back of Harry’s neck and began to gently massage the boy’s tight muscles. “Come on, Harry. Relax. I’m not going to hurt you or yell at you. That’s it,” he said as Harry finally began to relax in his arms. “I’m sorry you thought that I wouldn’t side with you, Harry. I know you think that I always favor my Snakes, but it’s not really true. In public I appear to favor them, but if you were to ask them you’ll find that once I have them alone in my office, I do take points and assign detentions. And believe me, my detentions are never easy, especially not for my house. However, they learn which behaviors that I do not find acceptable and rarely are those behaviors repeated…though some do take longer to learn those lessons than others. And they all know that if they get into trouble with another professor, I consider it an embarrassment and they are also in trouble with me. You will find that I am much harder on my house than any other Head, but my students know that they can come to me for anything. I think you ran into this problem with your own head of house?” Harry nodded. As Severus had been talking, the boy had curled up against his chest, one small hand lightly gripping the man’s robes. “Much of how I treated you last year was an act, Harry. You look very much like your father and some times you remind me of him as well. Your father and I did not get along at school and I admit that sometimes instead of seeing you in front of me I saw your father. And for that I must apologize. It was very wrong of me, Harry. As you found out this past year, there are many people who want to see you dead. People who would see it as a betrayal if I were to publicly protect you and would try to kill me. If you had been sorted into my house it would have been different. In fact, I was hoping that you would be sorted into my house.”

“You were?” Harry asked softly, looking up at the man.

“Yes, I was. It would have been much easier for me to protect you. I wouldn’t have to pretend to hate you while secretly protecting you.”

“The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin.”

He looked down at Harry. “It did? What made it change its mind?”

“Hagrid told me that Voldemort killed my parents and that he was a Slytherin. Then I met Malfoy and we didn’t really hit it off and I didn’t want to be in his house. So I asked the Hat not to put me in Slytherin.”

He rubbed the boy’s back. “That’s the first I’ve heard of the Sorting Hat allowing anyone to influence where they are sorted.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked.

Severus smiled down at the boy. “I just think that you were to first to try it. Now…would you like to tell me what happened downstairs?”

Harry sighed. “Malfoy…Draco started saying things about my clothes and how his parents always let him get whatever he wanted and I just lost it, sir,” he said, before relating the whole conversation to the man. He was unconsciously playing with the edge of the man’s robes. No one had ever held him like this before and just talked to him. It felt…nice.

“I will have a talk with Draco,” Severus replied with a sigh. “I will send for some catalogues from some of the stores at Diagon Alley and we will owl order you some clothes of your own. How does that sound?”

“But won’t that cost a lot of money, sir?” he asked, looking up at him.

He shook his head. “Don't worry, Harry.  I can afford it.”

“I have money in my vault.  I can buy my own clothes. What about Draco, sir?  Should I split the money in the vault with him?”

“Right now Draco has more than enough clothing and the Malfoy’s will continue to provide him with clothing and anything else he desires until the truth become known.  However, if you would like, I will help you keep track of how much you spend so that when the time comes, you can give Draco half of what was in the vault when your parents died.” He would get stuck with a boy with a sense of fairness. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t been sorted into Slytherin.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome. Now…why don’t you hand me my wand instead of playing with my robes,” he said with a smile. Harry blushed, but reached into the pocket near his hand and gave the man his wand. “Have you ever seen a wizard do magic without a wand?”

Harry shook his head. “I didn’t know we could.”

“We can. But it takes a powerful witch or wizard to do it. When you are older I will try to teach you a few spells that you can do wandless.” He was rewarded with a grin and he set his wand on the table beside them. “Wizards can also do spells without speaking, but that’s not something you’ll learn until sixth year. Now, watch this.” With a wave of his hand, Harry’s clothes shrunk to fit him perfectly and then with another gesture the stains that had been in them when he got them from Dudley disappeared and the clothes looked brand new.

“Brilliant!” Harry exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. “Thank you, sir!”

“You’re welcome. I will continue to transfigure your clothes until we can get you some of your own. Do you still want to leave, Harry?”

Harry settled back into the man’s arms again. He really did like it here. It was a lot better than the Dursleys, even if he did have to put up with Draco Malfoy. “I’d like to stay, sir. If you’ll let me.”

“Of course, I’ll let you stay. Why don’t you stay up here and unpack again while I go have a talk with Draco?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, getting up and moving back over to his trunk.

Severus ruffled his hair before going downstairs to have a talk with his godson. That boy had been more trouble than usual the last few days. “Draco…come with me please,” he said, opening the door to the small hallway that led to his bedroom and lab.

Draco looked up from where he was reading and paled slightly when he saw his godfather opening the door to his rooms. This couldn’t be good. He got up and moved over to the man, looking up at him.

“Did you just ask Harry about his clothes?” Severus asked the boy, giving him a stern look.

The boy looked down. He hated when his godfather gave him that look. “I may have teased him a little.”

Severus crossed his arms. “So you picked a fight with Harry after I told you not to and then you lied to me about it. Does that sound about right?”

Draco slowly nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Severus sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself. “Why do you do this to me, Draco? I was planning to take you and Harry somewhere this afternoon so that you could go flying, but we’ll just have to stay here because right now I’m not so sure about leaving you alone in my house. If you can’t obey my little rules, how can I trust you to obey the big ones?”

“No! Uncle Sev! Please…take us flying! I’ll do anything!” He threw himself at the man, wrapping his arms around his waist. He wanted to go flying more than anything. When he was at Malfoy Manor he went flying every day, but he hadn’t been flying once since he had been here and he missed it. “I’ll even…I’ll even let you w-wallop me!”

He kept his arms crossed as he looked down at the boy attached to his waist. “And what if I was planning to wallop you anyway?”

Draco looked up at his godfather. “But you don’t wallop for lying. You wash my mouth out for that.”

“So I do,” he said, taking Draco’s arm and leading him down the hall.

When Harry came downstairs a few minutes later he found them both in the kitchen preparing lunch. He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the plates to set the table. It had become habit that whoever was not helping Severus cook would set the table as well as wash the dishes after the meal. He noticed that Draco’s eyes were red and puffy and that he kept making faces, like he had eaten a nasty Every Flavor Bean. Harry walked over to Severus. “Uncle Sev?”

“Yes, Harry?” he answered, his heart soaring. It was the first time Harry had used the name even though he had been told several days before that he could.

“Is Draco alright?” Harry asked softly, looking over his shoulder at the other boy, concern in his eyes.

Severus looked over at Draco as well. “You should go ask him, Harry.”

Harry nodded and moved over to his brother. “What’s wrong?”

“I just…” Draco sighed deeply, glancing over at his godfather before answering. “I got it trouble for teasing you and lying to Uncle Sev.”

“What did he do?” Harry asked, still a little worried about what his new guardian would do if he got into trouble.

Draco sighed again. “He washed my mouth out with soap and gave me a couple smacks cause I fought him.”

“Did it hurt really bad?”

“Not too bad,” Draco told him. “But the soap was really nasty…don’t ever let him hear you swear and don’t lie to him.”

“Oh…I won’t!”

Severus chuckled and called the two boys to come eat. After they had all sat down, he snapped his fingers and two small boxes appeared beside the plates of the two boys. “Harry, I realized this morning that I had missed your birthday.”

“It’s alright, Uncle Sev,” Harry told him. “It’s not that important.”

“Yes, it is. I have already told Draco that I would have a present for him later, that I needed a little more time to find exactly what I was looking for. I will have one for you too, in the next day or so.”

“But sir…”

Draco interrupted him. “Don’t argue with him, Harry. He always gives great presents!”

“Just open those boxes, scamps,” Severus told them.

The boys grabbed the boxes and tore them open. Each box held a golden snitch with their names engraved into them. “Oh, wow!” Draco exclaimed. “It’s a practice snitch! Thanks, Uncle Sev!” He got up and hurried around the table to give his godfather a hug.

“I thought you might like to practice this afternoon,” Severus told him. Even though Lucius had bought Draco a spot on the team, the boy didn’t know it yet.

“We’re still going flying?” he asked.

When Severus nodded, Harry jumped up and threw his arms around the man’s neck. “Thank you, sir!”

“You are both welcome,” he told them. “We’ll go as soon as you finish eating.”

After lunch, Severus apparated the three of them to a quiet meadow, far from prying muggle eyes. “You two listen carefully. No stunts. Stay within this clearing and don’t go higher than the trees.”

“Yes, sir,” they both said, mounting their brooms, grinning.

“Behave,” he told them, watching them fly for a few minutes before walking into the trees to look for potions ingredients. He had often brought Draco here to let the boy fly, while he worked on filling his stores at school.

They flew around the clearing for a few minutes before Draco pulled his practice snitch from his pocket. “Are you going to try out for your House team?” Harry asked his brother.

“Yeah,” Draco answered. “But in Slytherin you have to be fifth year to be on the team. They might make me the reserve seeker, but they won’t let me play until then.”

“Come on, we can practice together,” he said, taking the snitch from his brother and tossing it into the air.

They played well together for a couple hours, chasing the snitch and Draco even taught his brother some moves that he had seen in professional Quidditch games that Lucius had taken him to. When Severus returned to the clearing, the two boys were flying at breakneck speeds about four feet off the ground, Draco flying slightly higher than Harry. Draco fell from his broom, taking Harry with him and they both rolled to a stop a few feet from where they had fallen. Severus dropped the ingredients that he had gathered and raced toward them. When he was halfway across the clearing, both boys stood up laughing.

Those little idiots! He fumed. I ought to wring their little necks! Severus stormed toward them, roughly grabbing their arms and without any warning, apparating them back to the upstairs hallway of his house. “Get in your rooms,” he said, giving them each a firm swat. “You’ve both lost your brooms for a week!”

Harry headed the few feet to his room with a surprised yelp, but Draco turned to look at his godfather. “A week?! Uncle Sev, that’s not fair!”

Severus grabbed the boy by the arm and gave him another swat. “I will not count this time. If you do not obey me, I will spank you,” he told the boy sternly. Draco looked like he was going to protest again, but he turned and walked into his room, his head down. Severus went back to the meadow to get the boys’ brooms and the plants he had gathered. He put their brooms in the closet in his hallway and went into his lab to work while he calmed down.

Upstairs, Harry lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t believe he had let Draco talk him into trying those stunts, especially after Uncle Sev had told them not to. His broom had been locked away all summer and the first day that he had gotten it back, he lost it again. Only this time it was different. This time he had lost his broom because of something he had done wrong. ‘That’s the last time I listen to you, Draco,’ he thought.

Across the hall, Draco had been moping the loss of his broom as well. He sat up suddenly when he heard Harry’s voice in his head. What in the hell was that? Could they hear each other’s thoughts? He smirked. This could be a good thing! Especially when Uncle Sev sent the two of them to their rooms. Draco closed his eyes. ‘You could have told me no.’

Harry fell off his bed when he heard Draco’s comment, looking toward the door only to find it still closed.

Draco snorted when he heard the thud. ‘Did you fall off your bed?’

‘No.’ Harry lied, picking himself up off the floor and rubbing his elbow.

‘We are so not telling Uncle Sev about this,’ Draco told him.

‘Why not?’

‘Are you crazy? Now we can talk about things without him finding out…like during potions class.’

Harry curled up in the arm chair in the corner. Maybe with Draco’s help he could do better during class. ‘We could help each other during all our classes together…’

‘I didn’t say anything about helping…this is better than trying to pass notes.’

Harry couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. ‘Do you think he went back and got our brooms?’

‘Yeah,’ Draco told him. ‘And I know where he put them too.’

‘You do? Where? Will he really keep them a whole week?’

Draco put his hands under his head. ‘He put them in the same place he also puts my broom when he takes it from me…in the closet next to his room. And yes, he will keep them all week. Uncle Sev always keeps his word.’

‘Great,’ Harry sighed.

‘Don’t worry, little brother.’

‘Who said I was the younger one? I could be the older one!’

‘You’re the shorter one,’ Draco teased. ‘Uncle Sev has to go to Hogwarts in a couple days for a staff meeting. He can’t very well show up there with the two of us, so he’ll leave us here. We can sneak out and go flying then. He’ll never know, Harry.’

‘I’ll think about it.’

¹“I have to go to Hogwarts for the day,” Severus told them two days later. “Normally I would take Draco with me, but since we don’t want the truth known right now, I’ll have to leave the two of you here. Do you think the two of you can get along and behave while I’m gone?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said quickly as his brother nodded. “We’ll behave.”

“See that you do,” he replied, giving his godson a pointed look. “I’ve got a list of chores for the two of you to do and I want you to make sure that your rooms are clean. After that, I want the two of you to work on your summer assignments. You both should be close to finishing them.” Both boys nodded. Severus snapped his fingers before summoning his cloak and putting it on. Two pieces of parchment appeared on the table in front of the boys. “Draco, you know how to contact me in case of an emergency,” he said, before disappearing into the living room. A moment later they heard the Floo activate.

“Come on,” Draco said, leading his brother through the kitchen entry to the hallway with Severus’ rooms. He tried the closet door. “Damn! He locked it!”

“With magic?” Harry asked, moving closer. He knew that they would get into big trouble if they were caught, but right now all he could think about was flying.

Draco crouched in front of the door. “No…looks like he actually used the key for the door. Damn!”

Harry slipped back into the kitchen and returned with a knife. “Move over,” he said, using the knife to release the lock. “There.”

“Brilliant! You need to teach me how to do that!” Draco stepped into the closet and grabbed their brooms. “Let’s get out of here.”

The two boys ran outside and mounted their brooms, before taking off. They flew around the whole neighborhood at breakneck speeds, performing stunts that they knew and even making up a few as they flew. Neither one remembered that they were in a muggle neighborhood. They returned when they were both hungry and exhausted, only to find an irate Potions Master standing in the backyard.

“Have the two of you lost your minds?!” he yelled as they dismounted in front of him. “Did you forget that this was a muggle neighborhood? You two violated the Secrecy Statute! And even if we weren’t in a muggle neighborhood, you both lost your flying privileges and had your brooms taken away from you! Give me those brooms!” The two boys handed them over, knowing they had no other choice. They were already in deep enough trouble. “Get inside!” After watching the two boys scurry into the house, he went inside as well. He left them in the living room and took the brooms into his bedroom, using both muggle locks and magic to lock them away.

He took a moment to calm himself before going back to the living room and sitting on the couch. “Let’s see if I’ve got this all straight: You left the kitchen a mess, you didn’t do the chores I assigned you, you didn’t clean your rooms, you didn’t work on your school assignments, you broke your brooms out of my locked closet and you went flying in a muggle neighborhood. Did I miss anything, gentlemen?”

Harry had flinched with each thing he listed, unable to look the man in the eye. “No, sir,” he whispered.

"What you two did was not only deliberately disobedient, it was foolhardy and reckless. Draco, Harry wouldn’t have known how to contact me if you had gotten hurt. What if both of you had been hurt?” Severus paused and took a deep breath. “I am going to keep your brooms for the remainder of your stay here. You will finish the list of chores that I gave you this morning and you will have a new list to do every day. I will also give you extra essays and readings that must be completed before you leave. The first one is a three foot essay on why the Secrecy Statute is so important. Maybe that will keep the two of you out of trouble. You will also get ten swats each.” Draco started to protest, but Severus shut him up with a look. “Who had the bright idea to steal your brooms and go flying?”

“It was mine, sir,” Draco whispered, not looking at his godfather.

Severus nodded. “Come here, Draco.” The boy moved over to his side and Severus turned the boy over his knee, giving him the promised ten swats. Once allowed to stand, Draco threw his arms around his godfather, crying softly into the man’s robes.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Sev,” Draco told him as Severus rubbed his back gently.

“I know you are, dragon, and you are forgiven but this can’t happen again, understood?”

“Yes, sir. I won’t do it again.” The boy said, stepping away from his godfather.

Harry bit his lip as he watched the exchange. That hadn’t seemed too bad, especially after what he had endured with Uncle Vernon a week ago. And Draco had told him that Uncle Sev would hold him as long as he wanted after it was over. He remembered when the Potions Master had held him a few days before and how he had felt safe and…wanted. He couldn’t remember ever feeling that way before.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over and bent over the man’s knee, taking the swats without a sound. The swats didn’t hurt near as bad as what Uncle Vernon would have given him for a lesser offense, but shame at what he had done brought tears to his eyes. Once Severus let him up, he sat on the man’s lap even though he knew he was probably too old to be doing so. His fingers wrapped into Severus’ robes as they had a few days before. The move seemed to come to him naturally. Uncle Sev had been so good to him the last week: rescuing him from the Dursleys, healing him, giving him the practice snitch and even his own bedroom…but seeing the hurt and disappointment in the man’s eyes as he had fussed at them only a few minutes before made his heart ache. He buried his face in the soft, black robes as the tears spilled down his cheeks.

“It’s alright, Harry,” Severus told him softly. “It’s all over now and you’re forgiven.”

--

Later that night, after being sent to get ready for bed, Harry grabbed the photo album Hagrid had given him and walked across the hall, knocking on the door to Draco’s room. He had been trying for a couple of days to convince himself to show the pictures to his twin. Part of him hadn’t wanted to show the other boy, telling himself that the pictures had been given to him and not the other boy. But then he remembered that no one else knew that Draco was his brother. He also remembered that he had spent nearly eleven years wondering what his parents looked like and how he had spent the entire trip back from Hogwarts gazing at the pictures in the album. After the events of the morning, Harry knew that he couldn’t keep them to himself any longer.

“Come in,” Draco called, putting his book aside.

Harry walked into the room. “I umm…I thought you might want to look at these. Its pictures of…Mum and Dad. Hagrid gave them to me, but I think he got them from friends of our parents. There’s one that Uncle Sev took of Mum,” he said, handing the photo album over to the other boy.

“Thanks,” Draco whispered, taking the book and opening it gently. The first was a picture of James and Lily on their wedding day. He reached out and gently touched the picture. “She was really pretty.”

Harry sat beside his brother. “She was. I wish I could remember them.”

“I wish Father hadn’t been so stupid.” Ever since his godfather had told him the truth, he had found himself wondering about James and Lily Potter, but Lily especially. Would she have been like his mother, Narcissa, or more like Molly Weasley? Father would have his hide if he knew that he had been watching the Weasley family for years and envied their closeness.

There was a knock on the open door and Severus entered, carrying a large wooden box. “I’ve got something for the two of you.” He set the box down on the bed. “There are the presents that I mentioned a few days ago.

At that, Draco looked up from the photo album. “Our birthday presents?”

“Yes. Lily made these for the two of you before you were born, to be given to you after your sorting last year. I wasn’t sure what happened to them when Lily and James died, but I was finally able to track them down.” He took off the top of the crate, revealing two crocheted blankets: one in Gryffindor colors and the other in Slytherin.

Harry looked up at him. “How did she know?”

“Lily was a bit of a Seer. She often had dreams that would come true. She dreamed that she would have twin sons and one would be sorted into Gryffindor and one would be sorted into Slytherin. I’m not sure she ever told James about that dream.”

Dracoo reached out to touch the green and silver blanket. It was very soft and he knew it would keep him warm in the dungeons.

“I took me longer than I thought it would to find them,” Severus said, pulling the blankets from the box and handing them to the boys, before vanishing the box. “And since you don’t have mutual friends, you won’t have to worry about anyone finding out that you have similar blankets.”

Harry took his blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. It made him feel almost as safe and warm as he had felt the two times Severus had held him. “So I guess we aren’t going to tell anyone then…”

Severus pulled the desk chair over and sat facing the two boys. “This once I have to agree with the headmaster. For the safety of both of you, I think it wise that we not say anything just yet. Have either of you ever heard of the Fidelius Charm?” Both boys shook their heads. “Most of the time it is used in order to keep people from finding buildings, but it some cases it is used to guard other secrets as well. When the Fidelius Charm is used, someone becomes the Secret-Keeper. In the case of a building, only the Secret-Keeper may reveal the location of the building.”

“Are we going to use the Fidelius Charm?” Draco asked, his hand still stroking the soft yarn blanket.

“Yes. In fact, it’s already been done. It was taken care of before either of you came here,” Severus told them.

Harry looked at him for a moment before asking. “Since you told us, does that mean that you are the Secret-Keeper?”

“Very good, Harry. I am the Secret-Keeper. And right now, only four people besides myself know: the two of you, the headmaster and Professor McGonagall. I figured that as your head of house, she should know.”

“If she knows, then you can come to Uncle Sev’s quarters at school and spend the night like I do sometimes,” Draco told Harry.

Severus nodded. “That was part of my reasoning for telling her. Now, it’s time for the two of you to head to bed.”

“Good night, sir,” Harry said, getting up and heading toward the door.

“Harry, your book,” Draco whispered, holding out the photo album.

Harry turned to look at him. “You can keep it for a couple days.”

Draco hugged the album to his chest. “Thanks.”

--

Harry walked into the study where Draco was working on one of his punishment assignments. He greeted his brother and went over to the bookshelves lining one wall, trying to find one that would help him with his next assignment. Since he had been raised by muggles, Uncle Sev had been assigning him short essays on topics that those students at Hogwarts who had been raised with magic would already know. Today’s assignment: the Ashwinder.

After a few minutes, Draco looked up. “Need some help?”

“Yeah…Uncle Sev wants me to write an essay on Ashwinders, but I don’t even know where to start.”

“Try your school books from last year,” Draco told him, going back to the essay he was writing on Salazar Slyhterin. “It’s in Fantastic Beasts.”

Harry turned to look at his brother. “Do you memorize your textbooks?”

Draco shook his head. “Photographic memory.”

Harry rolled his eyes as he continued searching the shelves for the text.

“Why don’t you just go get yours out of your trunk?”

“It’s not there,” Harry sighed. “I figured I might not get to do my homework this summer, so I loaned it to Ron for the summer. His fell apart.”

Draco got up and walked over to the shelf, taking a book and handing it to him. “Weasley should get his own books.”

“It used to belong to his brother Charlie,” Harry told him, moving over to curl up in one of the chairs by the window. “It was in pretty bad shape when Ron got it and you could barely read the part on dragons for all the notes Charlie scribbled there. Did you know that he works with dragons in Romania?”

“Harry…I really don’t care about the Weasleys.”

Rolling his eyes again, Harry flipped through the book “Hey, listen to this…” he said before reading. “The Basilisk is a brilliant green serpent that may reach up to fifty feet in length. The male has a scarlet plume upon its head. It has exceptionally venomous fangs but its most dangerous means of attack is the gaze of its large yellow eyes. Anyone looking directly into these will suffer instant death.”

“It would make a great watchdog,” Draco replied sardonically. “Of course, you’d have to be able to talk to one…and there hasn’t been one seen in Britain in several hundred years.”

“You really do have a photographic memory,” Harry told him. “That’s almost exactly what the book says.”

It was Draco’s turn to roll his eyes. “Just turn back a page and you’ll find the information you need on the Ashwinder. Your essay might only be a foot, but mine is two rolls of parchment and I’m just getting started. So if you don’t mind…”

“Sure,” Harry said, getting up and heading toward the door. ‘You’re as bad as Hermione,’ he thought.

“I heard that!”

--

Draco stared at the green and silver blanket draped across the foot of his bed. He had placed it there the night that Severus had given them the blankets and it hadn’t been moved since. On occasion he had stopped to run his fingers over the blanket, but for some reason he hadn’t been able to do more than that. Somehow it had seemed like he was being disrespectful to Narcissa to even consider using the blanket, but he wasn’t sure why he felt that way.

Narcissa was always off to some society event and had never really spent much time with her son. Oh, she was affectionate enough when she remembered him, but he had often found himself longing for more.

After another moment of hesitation he lifted the blanket to his face, brushing it against his cheek. Inhaling, he smelled something…flowery. He knew a lot about flowers because Narcissa loved them and had been teaching him about them for years. It was just about the only time she actually spent with him. He took the blanket and carried it downstairs to where his godfather was sitting in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace. “Uncle Sev?”

Severus looked up at the boy. “I figured you would be asleep. What’s wrong, dragon?”

“My…my blanket smells like a flower, but I can’t figure out which one. Can you help me?”

“Of course,” he said, reaching for the blanket. He knew that Narcissa had been almost relentless in teaching the boy about the language of flowers as well as their scents and various uses. He lifted the blanket to his nose. “I don’t smell anything.”

Draco sighed deeply and settled on the armrest of the man’s chair. “I know I smell something.”

He looked at the boy. “Well…knowing Lily, she probably charmed the blankets with her scent so that her boys wouldn’t miss her too badly.”

“What scent?”

“Magnolias,” Severus said with a small sigh. “She visited America with her parents and fell in love with the flower. Its scent is very distinct and one I will never forget.” He wrapped his arm around the boy, holding him close. “Lily loved both of you very much, dragon. It nearly killed her when the child she thought was her son died. She was a good mother.”

“Thank you, sir,” Draco said, taking the blanket and headed back upstairs, all the emotions in his head confusing him.

Severus watched the boy leave with a frown. He knew something was bothering the boy, but he wasn’t sure if Draco wanted to share with him right now and he didn’t want to push the boy. Sometimes Draco had to work things out on his own.

Upstairs, Draco wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and he crawled into bed, propping himself up against the headboard. He buried his face in the blanket once more. There was something almost comforting about the scent. After a moment, he picked up the photo album and rested it on his knees, slowly flipping through the pages, tears slipping unnoticed down his cheeks after the first few.

Harry had been reading Quidditch Through the Ages when he suddenly felt an overwhelming sadness wash over him. He wasn’t sure what was causing these sudden feelings. Wondering if maybe this was like being able to talk to Draco in his mind, Harry got up and walked across the hall, entering his brother’s room without bothering to knock. Draco didn’t even notice him open the door and Harry was surprised to see the other boy in tears.

He walked over and sat beside his brother, looking over his shoulder at the photo album. After a moment, Draco leaned his head against his brother’s shoulder, needing the silent comfort he somehow knew that his twin would offer.

Severus found them in much the same position when he came to check on them half an hour later. Draco’s head was resting on Harry’s shoulder and Harry had leaned his head against his brother’s. Both were sleeping, the photo album open between them open to a picture of Lily that had been taken a few days before their birth, her love for her unborn children evident on her face.

Draco stood on the second floor of Flourish and Blotts watching the crowd of women below. They were all making fools of themselves while waiting for Gilderoy Lockhart to show up. He didn’t really understand what the big deal was with the man, but he knew that the Weasleys were around here somewhere and had to come into the bookstore to get school books for the next year. And where the Weasleys were his brother wasn’t too far away.

While it had been easy to accept the truth at Spinner’s End, once he had returned to Malfoy Manor, he had found himself plagued with doubts. It didn’t help that Lucius had been on his case ever since he had gotten home…correcting him for every little thing. He had gotten a taste of his father’s cane once already and had been threatened with it again this morning. Tomorrow he could get some potions from his godfather once they were at Hogwarts. And maybe next summer he could convince his father to let him stay at Spinner’s End the whole summer.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a commotion downstairs and saw that Gilderoy Lockhart had pulled Harry from the line and a photographer was taking pictures of the two of them as Lockhart went on about something. ‘Enjoying yourself?’ he asked his brother with a smirk.

Harry stopped trying to pull away from the man and looked around. ’Loads. Can’t you tell?’ he told his brother as a stack of books was shoved into his arms.

‘Did I hear that idiot correctly? Is he going to be the new Defense professor?’

‘I sure hope not!’ he said, finally walking away from Lockhart and moving over to the Weasleys. He handed the books to Mrs. Weasley and headed toward the door, needing some air. He could hear the younger Weasleys following him.

‘Remember, it’s just an act’ Draco told him before coming down the stairs and bumping into Harry, hard. “Watch where you’re going, Potter!” he spat.

Young Ginny Weasley stomped her foot. “You bumped into us!”

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. “Got yourself a girlfriend, Potter?”

But Harry wasn’t listening; his eyes were on a tall man with long white-blond hair. He had seen this man before…in the memories they had watched with Severus. Before he could warn his brother, the man’s cane came down on Draco’s shoulder and the boy tried not to show any reaction. But Harry saw it. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Don’t worry about it, Harry,´ Draco responded, as his father pushed him aside, moving closer to the Weasleys.

Harry tuned out the conversation between the two adults. ‘He hurt you!’

‘That was nothing, little brother.’

‘Don’t call me that! And you need to tell Uncle Sev!’ Harry told him, somehow managing to glare in his brother’s direction.

‘Uncle Sev knows…and he’ll take care of me tomorrow. Oops! Got to go!” he said, turning to hurry after his father.

--

Harry sat at the breakfast table his first morning at Hogwarts, trying not to glance up at the table that lined the front of the room. He knew Snape was furious with him, especially after he had broken the Secrecy Statute when he and Draco had gone flying this summer. It had been quite hard not to throw himself at the man last night and beg forgiveness. He had to settle for keeping his eyes glued to the floor and enduring the blistering lecture the man had given to himself and Ron Weasley for flying Mr. Weasley’s enchanted car to school yesterday. It really had been rather stupid of them, but they had felt they had no other choice.

Dumbledore had told them last night that he would inform their parents and only moments before Ron had gotten a Howler from Mrs. Weasley. Harry wondered if the Headmaster had informed his Aunt and Uncle and he knew what would be waiting for him when he returned to Privet Drive next summer.

‘He’s pretty pissed, you know.’ A soft voice whispered in his head.

Harry glanced over Ron’s shoulder toward the Slytherin table and saw the back of his brother’s head. ‘I know…and I know I’m in deep trouble. Did you talk to him?’

‘Yes, little brother. I talked to him and I’m fine now.’

A school owl landing in front of him pulled Harry from their conversation. He took the slip of parchment and read the unsigned note. It didn’t need to be signed, he knew that handwriting. Sighing, he stood and making up some excuse, headed for the door. ‘He’s going to kill me!’

Draco turned and glanced after the boy. ‘Nah. He won’t kill you, but he might wallop you.’

‘What?! Here at school too?’

‘Yep.’ Draco couldn’t help but smirk. ‘I got it good after our little detention last year.’

‘Great…I’ll see you in class later.’

--

Ten minutes later, Harry found himself sitting on the Potions Master’s lap in his private quarters, sniffling softly into the man’s robes as the man rubbed his back and whispered softly to him. “I’m really sorry, Uncle Sev. I didn’t think…”

“That’s right, Harry. You didn’t think,” Severus told him. “You need to start thinking and stop rushing headlong into things. Quirrell last year, the brooms this summer, now the car…”

“We didn’t know what else to do? How were we supposed to get to school?”

Severus sighed. “The Weasleys would have found you if you had waited a few minutes and would have made sure that you got to school and neither of you would be in trouble right now.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, looking down at his hands.

“Draco said that he saw you at Diagon Alley.”

Harry nodded. “Don’t worry. No one knows. He was nasty to me and everything before Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley started arguing and then they forgot about us.” He looked up at the man. “Mr. Malfoy hit him in the shoulder with his cane…and it looked like it hurt.”

Severus held him closer, tucking Harry’s head under his chin. “He came to see me after the feast last night and I healed him. But it’s not the first time that Lucius has used his cane on Draco.”

“You mean that Mr. Malfoy uses his cane on Draco like Uncle Vernon uses his belt on me?”

“Yes, Harry. But it’s still not right,” he said, allowing his mind to wander for a moment back to the abuse he had suffered at his father’s hand before shoving those thoughts away. “It’s never right to do that to a child.”

Harry closed his eyes and leaned against the man’s chest. If Ron or Hermione asked, he would never admit to enjoying being held. Would his own father have held him like this? Or would he have been more like Uncle Vernon and Mr. Malfoy? He guessed it didn’t really matter, but he was going to take advantage of it while he could. Besides, he figured he had some making up to do for all those years as a kid that he’d had to sit by and watch as his aunt and uncle had held and cuddled Dudley. “Uncle Sev?” he asked after a while.

“Yes, Harry?” Severus answered. He had been lost in his own thoughts…thoughts about Lily and what might have been if only things had happened differently at the end of their fifth year.

“You said this summer that Draco knows how to contact you in case of an emergency. How does he contact you?”

Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mirror. “This is a two-way mirror. He has one and I have one. He’s supposed to keep his on him at all times.”

“How does it work?” Harry asked, taking the mirror into his own hand.

“It’s quite simple. You look into the mirror and say the other person’s name. When they hear you, they look into their mirror and you talk. It’s the wizarding version of a telephone.”

“It’s brilliant!”

“Draco is the only one who can contact me on this mirror and I am the only one who can contact him on his. Would you like me to see if Professor Flitwick can charm us a third mirror so that you can have one?”

Harry looked up at the man. “Really? You mean it?”

“Yes, Harry. I’ll get you one too. But the mirrors are for emergency use only. If I find that you and Draco are playing with them, I will get them charmed so that you can only contact me.”

“Oh, we won’t play with them!” Harry assured him. Besides, we can talk to each other without the mirrors.

“You better not,” he told Harry, putting him on his feet and giving him a light swat. “Go on, scamp. You don’t want to be late for classes on your first day.”

Harry wrapped his arms around the man’s waist and gave him a hug, slipping the mirror back into the pocket of the man’s robes.

He tilted the boy’s face up. “Just remember that how I treat you outside of these rooms is just an act.”

“I will, Uncle Sev,” Harry told him, before heading toward the door.

--

After the slug incident, Harry stayed with Hermione and Ron in Hagrid’s hut while Ron continued to spit up slugs, but he kept his eye on the window and the Quidditch pitch beyond. When he noticed that the Slytherin practice seemed to be ending, he slipped away and hurried over to the pitch, hiding himself near the changing rooms. ‘Find a reason to stay behind,’ he told his brother as the team finally headed back up to the castle.

He saw Draco look around and then say something to Flint, the Slytherin captain, before turning around. Harry nodded toward the changing rooms and they both slipped inside.

Once they were both inside, Harry moved to punch his brother, but Draco lowered his shoulder and tackled the other boy. They rolled around on the floor for several minutes, each trying to get the better of the other before Draco managed to pin his brother to the floor.

Harry knew that it was his brother that had him pinned to the floor, but his mind flashed back to the times his cousin and his friends had done the very same thing and suddenly he found it hard to breathe.

Draco didn’t notice the trouble his brother was having. “Look, I know you’re mad at me for calling her that, but you have to understand. I had no choice! Every player on the team is the son of Death Eaters! I know she’s your friend, Harry, but if I hadn’t called her that one of them would have reported it back to Father and then what do you think would happen? You know what Uncle Sev said. We have to keep pretending.” It was then that he saw his brother struggling to breathe. Getting off his brother, he fumbled in the pockets of his robes for the mirror that he always carried with him. He finally pulled it free. “Uncle Sev!”

A moment later the man’s face appeared in the mirror. “What’s wrong, dragon?”

He glanced at his brother, trying to keep from panicking himself. “Harry can’t breathe!”

“Where are you?” he asked. He could Harry’s wheezing through the mirror and see the panic is his godson’s eyes.

“At the Quidditch pitch! Hurry!”

“I’m on my way. Try to get him to calm down and breathe.” With that the man was gone.

Draco dropped the mirror and moved closer to his brother. “Uncle Sev’s on his way…you got to breathe, Harry.”

“Can’t…” Harry gasped.

He remembered something his godfather had done one day when one of the little neighborhood boys at Spinner’s End had an asthma attack and panicked. Hoping that it would work, he pulled his brother into a sitting position and moved behind him, letting Harry lean against him. “Come on, Harry…match your breaths to mine…” When Harry didn’t seem to hear him, he tried again, this time using their mental connection. ‘That’s it…’ he said when Harry’s breathing started to become more regular.

Draco inched backward to lean against one of the lockers, dragging his brother with him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again…” he said as Severus and Madame Pomfrey hurried into the tent. He looked up when the two adults knelt in front of them. “Took you long enough.”

“Just tell me what happened,” Severus told him as the medi-witch pulled out her wand and began to run a diagnostic.

“We were just wrestling,” Harry whispered. “He sat on me and I panicked. Sorry.”

“Just wrestling?” he asked, looking at the two boys.

Draco nodded. “I told Flint that I wanted to stay after practice to get some extra flying in on the new broom…and Harry snuck down here after. No one saw us. We were careful. I started teasing him and then next thing I knew we were wrestling…we were just playing,” He told the man. ‘Thanks, little brother.’

‘Don’t call me that!’

Madame Pomfrey stood. “They are both fine, Severus. I’ll leave them with you.”

“Thank you, Poppy.” When she left, he turned back to the two boys. “What were you teasing him about?” Severus asked them.

“He keeps calling me ‘little brother’ just because he’s a little taller than I am. I told him that just because he’s taller, doesn’t make him older,” Harry told him quickly. “Which one of us is older?”

Severus sat back on his heels and crossed his arms, looking down at the two boys. They were still sitting exactly where he had found them: Draco leaning against one of the wooden lockers and Harry leaning against Draco. “You two did this because you had a disagreement on who was older?” Both boys nodded sheepishly. He shook his head. “Harry is the older one.”

“How do you know?” Draco asked him.

“Surely you know this already. In the old wizarding families, the first born son is always given his father’s first name as a middle name. Even though my mother married a muggle, the Prince family is one of the old wizarding families, so my mother named me Severus Tobias, after my father. Not all families have continued that old tradition, but Lily loved learning about the old traditions and followed as many as she could. The two of you are the last of the Potters, another old wizarding family. As the oldest, Harry was given the middle name James.”

Draco made a face. “Harry’s still shorter, so I can still call him little brother.”

Severus looked at Harry. “When he does that, just call him ‘baby brother’.” He was rewarded with a smile from Harry.

“Hey!” Draco protested, giving Harry a gentle shove away from him.

“Now, are you sure that the two of you don’t want to tell me what you were really fighting about?”

“Do we have to?” Harry asked him, looking up at him.

Severus made the mistake of looking at Harry’s eyes…those green eyes the boy had inherited from Lily. He sighed. “No. You don’t. But ten points each for fighting.”

“Uncle Sev! You can’t!” Draco exclaimed.

“I just did, dragon,” he told the boy. “And the next time I catch the two of you ‘wrestling’ it will be fifty points a piece.”

Draco threw himself at his godfather. “Please don’t take points…anything but take points.”

“It’s only ten points, Draco,” Harry told him. “We lost fifty each last year for being out after curfew.”

“You don’t understand,” the blond wailed, burying his face in Severus’ robes.

Harry looked up at Severus. “Uncle Sev?” he asked, confused.

“Slytherin punishes its own when points are lost,” Severus told him. “It has been that way since the days when Abraxus Malfoy was a student.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that there is a list of ‘approved’ hexes and charms that Slytherin house is allowed to use on another Slytherin who has lost points,” Severus explained.

“Can’t you do anything?”

The man sighed. “I could, but I’ve found that it is a good deterrent. Most of my house will do whatever it takes to avoid getting points taken away simply because they know that they will be fair game in the common room.”

Draco pushed away from his godfather, his face resigned. “Most teachers don’t give us points, so it’s a big deal when we lose points.”

“That’s not really fair…” Harry told him.

“That’s just the way it is, Harry,” Severus replied. “Don’t worry, my prefects never let things get out of hand.” The man consulted his pocket watch. “It’s nearing time for dinner. Harry, you should run on ahead. Draco and I will follow in a few minutes.”

Harry nodded and scampered from the room.

Once Harry was gone, Severus looked down at his godson. “Draco, you know how I feel about the use of the ‘mudblood’. Yes, I know about what happened in the courtyard, so don’t attempt to lie to me about it.”

“I had to, Uncle Sev,” Draco sighed. “You know they are all sons of Death Eaters.”

“I was there, Draco. You were not following the others, you were the ringleader. I have told you that you may use that term only if you must.”

The boy sighed again. “Yes, sir. Are you going to punish me?”

Severus nodded and pulled his wand from his pocket. “You know the consequences.”

“Not the mouth washing charm, Uncle Sev! That’s ten times worse than an actual bar of soap!”

The man stood and helped the boy to his feet. “Lily is the one who taught me that charm, so you can blame her for it.” He led Draco from the tent. “I owe you two mouth washings.”

“Two?!” Draco exclaimed, looking up at him.

“Yes. Two. One for the use of that offensive term and one for lying to me,” Severus told him as they walked back to the castle.

He stopped and looked up at his godfather. “Lying? How did…”

“I always know, Draco. Your shields were down while you and Harry were trying to convince me that it was just a friendly little argument.”

“You used legimency on me?”

He gave his godson a look. “You know better than that, Draco. But when your shields are lowered, you show everything on your face. Harry does it all the time.”

“Fine…are you gonna do it to Harry too?”

“I most certainly will,” he told the boy. “Now run clean up and don’t be late for dinner.”

--

That night at dinner, Draco sat where he could watch his brother’s reactions just in case Uncle Sev decided to use the mouth washing charm on Harry as soon as he had finished his dinner. He hadn’t gotten either one of the two that the man had promised him, but he knew that he would get both before he went to bed tonight. The man often used the charm on his Slytherins for foul language or lying and he usually hit them with the charm when they were least expecting it.

As dinner started to wind down, Draco decided to give his brother a little warning. ‘He knows.’

Harry and the Weasley twins were telling Percy and Ginny about what happened to Ron that afternoon when Harry heard his brother’s voice. ‘Knows what?’ he asked, leaving the twins to finish telling the story. Neither of them had yet learned to carry on the conversation in their heads while continuing to do something else.

‘That we were lying this afternoon. But I don’t think he knows the truth…just that we were lying to him.’ He looked across the tables and into his brother’s eyes.

‘Damn!’ Harry thought with a wince. ‘What is he gonna do?’

Draco made a face. ‘Wash our mouths out…with a charm…’

‘There’s a charm for that?!”

‘Yeah, and it’s worse than actual soap.’

Harry shuddered.

Up at the teacher’s table, Severus watched the two boys in amusement. They were staring at each other across the crowded room and if he didn’t know better, he would say that they were communicating with each other. Perhaps they had found some way of communicating between themselves. He would have to do some research into that…and observe the two a little closer. With a smirk, he pulled his wand from his pocket and, holding it under the table, gave the silent command, ‘Tersus os, Potter’. Before he could repeat the command for Draco, he noticed the boy’s grimace and had to bite back a laugh. Apparently using ‘Potter’ in the command now worked for both boys. This could be fun. If he had said ‘Weasley’ would all five Weasleys be affected by the charm? He just had to do some researching and experimenting with this.

At the Gryffindor table, Harry started coughing and gagging as soon as he was hit with the charm.

“All right, Harry?” one of the twins asked him.

He shook his head, still coughing and gagging.

Percy looked over at the boy. “He got hit with a mouth washing charm. I saw Snape hit Flint with one in class yesterday.”

“Think it was Snape who got Harry?” George asked, patting the poor boy on the back.

“It could have been anyone. Flitwick taught that charm to us last year,” Percy replied.

Fred patted Harry on the back as well. “It will pass in a minute, Harry.”

None of them noticed that Draco had been hit with the same charm at the same time over at the Slytherin table. Only the poor Slytherin wasn’t getting comfort from those seated on either side of him. The Slytherins were all still pretty upset about the boy’s loss of points earlier in the day and were all quietly smirking and wondering what the boy had done to piss off their head of house.

He flew to his favorite spot high above the pitch, where he could look for the snitch yet stay out of the way of play. Spotting a bludger headed his way out of the corner of his eye, he dropped a few feet.

“Studying for the ballet,” a familiar voice laughed nearby.

Harry turned to see his brother hovering beside him. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the golden snitch fluttered between them and took off. Harry dove after it, knowing his brother was right behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a bludger headed right for them. ‘Bludger behind you!’ he shouted through their connection.

Draco turned to look at the bludger and then sped up so that he was even with Harry. For the next half hour they both flew around the pitch, both chasing the snitch and being chased by the bludger.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the bludger catch the tip of his brother’s broom and send the blond flying over Harry’s head and tumbling onto the pitch. Distracted, he didn’t see the bludger coming back at him until he heard a sickening crunch and felt an very sudden, intense pain in his right arm. Cradling his injured arm against his chest, he gripped his broom with his knees and took his left arm off the broom. This was the move that Draco had been attempting when they had lost their brooms the first time this summer. Urging his broom forward, he caught the snitch but lost his balance and rolled onto the pitch. He had to roll a couple times to get out of the way of the bludger that was still intent on killing him, but then Hermione caused it to explode and he breathed a sigh of relief as his two friends and the rest of his team surrounded him.

Professor Lockhart knelt in front of him. “I can fix that arm right up, Harry.”

“No, Professor…not you,” Harry protested. Uncle Sev! Help, he screamed inwardly, wishing that he really could call out for the man. Lockhart spouted an incantation that caused the bones in his arm to disappear and Harry thought he was going to be sick.

An hour later, Harry and his brother were alone in the infirmary, Madame Pomfrey having shooed all of their friends from the room with a wink at Harry. Harry looked over at his twin. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked, not wanting to speak out loud in case someone came into the room.

Draco rolled over and looked at him. ‘Yeah. Just a little sore and bruised. Nothing too bad. She said I could go back to the common room after dinner.’

‘She’s giving us some time together.’ Harry told him with a chuckle.

‘She knows?!’

‘Yes, baby brother,’ he said. He had wanted to call Draco that ever since Severus had told them that Harry was the older one. Harry was rewarded with a scowl from across the room, to which he just laughed. ‘Uncle Sev told her the day we were fighting in the changing room. It’s a good thing he did, considering you were holding me hen they got there.’

‘I guess it’s a good thing she’s under the Fidelius Charm…’

‘Don’t worry so much, Uncle Sev knows that he’s doing.’

They stopped talking when the door to the infirmary and Lucius Malfoy walked in. Harry had forgotten that he had been at the game and quickly turned on his side away from the door.

Draco looked up at his father. “Hello, Father.”

“Draco,” the man said stiffly.

“I’m sorry I lost, sir,” he replied, looking down at his hands.

Lucius used the cane to lift his son’s face. “I have arranged for you to come home next weekend. Your mother wants to see you.”

The boy nodded, knowing that the trip home had nothing to do with his mother. He was to be punished for losing the match, especially to Harry Potter. “Yes, sir.”

“I will see you on Friday,” the man said before leaving the two boys alone.

As soon as the door closed, Harry could feel waves of despair coming from his brother. ‘Draco…’

The blonde didn’t respond.

Harry sat up. “Draco…Damn it, Draco. Don’t make me call Uncle Sev.”

“Just leave it alone, Harry,” the other boy finally spoke. “There is nothing you can do.”

Nothing he could do? Hadn’t Uncle Sev come and rescued him from the Dursleys this summer? And if Draco was his godson, then surely he could do something…anything to help the boy. “Nothing? Surely there is something…”

“He tried once, but Father threatened to have someone else named my godfather. Just drop it, Harry,” he told his brother before adding ‘Please.’

Harry sighed and nodded. He would drop it for now, but he would take it up with Uncle Sev later.

--

The next Friday as his potions class was ending, Snape snapped at Harry to stay behind and snarled at Ron and Hermione to leave the room. “In my office,” Snape ordered Harry and the boy quickly hurried into the man’s office. Once the door was closed, Snape looked down at the boy. “Draco told me what happened last Saturday in the infirmary.”

Harry sank into the sofa. “He’s going home today and Mr. Malfoy is mad at him because I won the game. It’s not his fault that that bloody bludger hit him first.”

“Language, Harry,” he said, kneeling in front of the boy.

“Sorry, sir…but can’t you do something to stop him?”

Severus sighed and moved to sit beside the boy, putting his arm around Harry, who snuggled into his side. “In the wizarding world there is no such thing as Family Services. Parents can treat their children however they want, right or wrong. As his godfather, the only time I could take custody of Draco is if something were to happen to Lucius and Narcissa before Draco’s seventeenth birthday. Right now all I can do is heal him when Lucius sends him to me. My hands are tied, Harry, but know this…I hate it. That is why I try to convince Lucius to allow Draco to spend as much of his holidays with me as possible.”

Harry was silent for several minutes before speaking quietly. “What about me, Uncle Sev? Do I have to go back to the Dursleys next summer?”

“Unfortunately, you’ll have to go back for a short time each summer. I’m afraid that I can’t tell you why right now. You’ll just have to trust me.” He looked down at the boy sitting next to him. “Would you like to stay down here with me tonight?”

“Could I, sir? Maybe I won’t worry so much if I’m with you.”

“Of course, Harry.” Severus snapped his fingers and a quill and parchment appeared before him. He scratched out a quick note before calling for a house elf to take the note away. “There…I have informed your head of house and she will give some excuse to your friends and they won’t be looking for you until tomorrow.”

“Thank you, sir!” Harry said, snuggling closer to the man’s side. Severus reached out and ran his fingers through the unruly mop of hair, making Harry close his eyes and sigh contentedly. Oh, that felt nice!

Unable to keep from smiling at Harry’s reaction, Severus ran his fingers through the boy’s hair again. It had become obvious to him that the poor boy was starved for affection, much the same way that Draco was. I’ll do my best by them, Lily. I already love Draco as my own and Harry is quickly finding a place in my heart…Yes, dear Lily, I do still have a heart.

--

Harry was alone in his dorm room Sunday night studying when he heard the soft sound that told him Severus was trying to reach him using the mirror. He fumbled for his robes and pulled out his mirror. “Is he back?” Harry asked as soon as he saw the man’s face.

“Not yet,” Severus replied. “But he should be coming through soon. Use your invisibility cloak and come to my rooms.”

The boy nodded. “Yes, sir. How did you…”

“The headmaster told me after he gave it to you. Come, Harry. He’ll be back soon.”

Harry put the mirror in his pocket and set his school books on the table beside his bed and closing the drapes, making it look like he had already gone to sleep. He pulled his invisibility cloak from his trunk and wrapped it around himself. A few minutes later, he slipped from the tower and raced unseen down the stairs toward the dungeon rooms of the Potions Master. He took off the cloak once in was in the man’s private rooms.

Severus took the cloak and hung it up near the door. “I informed your head of house that you were with me so that she wouldn’t worry.”

“I pulled the drapes on my bed. Hopefully no one will look to see if I’m actually sleeping.” Just then the Floo flared and Harry ran over to catch his brother before he fell, easing to the ground and cradling his brother in his arms. “Uncle Sev…”

Severus dropped to his knees beside the two boys, his wand out as he cast the diagnostic spell. Rather than move Draco to the couch and have to deal with Harry hovering nearby, Severus left the two boys where they were as he summoned potions and chanted healing charms.

‘Hold still, baby brother,’ Harry whispered through their connection when Draco started to stir. ‘Uncle Sev is trying to heal you.’

‘It hurts, Harry,’ Draco whimpered. ‘So bad…make it stop…’

Without even realizing what he was doing, Harry started stroking his brother’s hair in the same way that Severus had done for him only two nights before when he had sat in this very room worried about his brother. He knew that it had comforted him that night and hoped that it would comfort his brother now while they waited for the spells and potions to take effect. ‘Uncle Sev is working on it, Draco. Just be patient.’ Draco turned his face into his brother’s shoulder, his free hand gripping Harry’s robes in an effort to fight the pain.

Severus watched in fascination as Harry continued to hold his brother, reaching up to stroke the blonde locks much like Severus did we he comforted the two boys. The young Slytherin settled against the Gryffindor’s shoulder, his eyes still closed and one hand gripping Harry’s robe. Severus was almost certain that they were somehow communicating between the two of them and made a mental note to ask them about it later. He had read that there were sometimes very strong bonds between twins, even twins separated at birth. If his suspicions were correct, these two shared the strongest of bonds. That could come in handy later on once the Dark Lord returned to power and it came time to vanquish him once and for all.

He let them stay where they were for several minutes before standing and gently lifting the blond into his arms with practiced ease. “Harry, get your cloak. I’ll let you stay with me while I take him to his room, but you must stay very close.”

The Gryffindor nodded and disappeared under his cloak once more. He followed Severus out the door and down the hall to the Slytherin dorm. Harry was surprised when the Slytherins looked up when Snape walked into the common room with Draco in his arms, but then they went back to what they were doing as if there was nothing unusual about seeing their head of house carry one of their housemates into the dorms barely conscious. Then again, if their fathers were anything like Lucius Malfoy, it might not be such a rare occurrence.

Harry followed him through the large common room and down a hallway to the dorm room shared by the second years. Unlike his own dorm, the Slytherin room was long and thin with the beds in a single row instead of circled around a stove like his Gryffindor dorm.

Severus carried Draco to one of the beds and tucked the boy in. He pulled a small vial from his pocket and lifted the boy’s head. “Drink this, dragon.” The boy made a small noise of protest. “It’s Dreamless Sleep,” he told his godson, who then drank the potion. He waited a few moments to make sure the boy was sleeping, before leading Harry from the room and toward the Gryffindor tower.

“Uncle Sev?” Harry spoke softly as they stood outside the entrance to his common room.

“Yes, Harry?” he replied.

Harry pushed the hood off the cloak so that he could look up at the man. “If you showed someone the memories, could you take Draco from Mr. Malfoy?”

Severus sighed. “I’ve considered it, but there is more to think about than just taking Draco away from his father. Many of the students in my house have parents that were followers of the Dark Lord. It would not be wise to take him away from one threat and put him under another one.” When Harry’s face fell, he continued. “But I am considering the option, Harry, and am trying to come up with a way to get him away from Malfoy.”

Harry nodded and gave the man a hug. “Good night, Uncle Sev,” he whispered, before putting the hood over his head again and disappearing into his common room.

--

He told Albus that putting Lockhart in charge of a dueling club was a bad idea! Severus muttered the curse to destroy the snake that his godson had created and then grabbed the boy by the ear and drug him from the room, noticing that Granger and the youngest Mr. Weasley were pulling Harry out another door. He had to speak to Harry about the Parseltongue, but first he had to deal with Draco.

“Ow! Uncle Sev! You’re hurting me!” the boy protested, trying to pull free.

Severus gave his ear another tug for good measure. “I told you not to use anything that your father had taught you. I told you only to use things that had been taught here at school!” he snapped at the boy, opening the door to his rooms and leading him inside.

“Those are boring,” Draco said, pulling away from his godfather and dropping into his favorite chair. “Did you know that Harry was a Parselmouth?”

“You deliberately disobeyed me, Draco! And don’t change the subject!”

“Uncle Sev…”

“I know and I’m going to talk to him. But you are not going to talk your way out of this one, young man.”

Draco sighed deeply. Sometimes he hated the fact that his godfather knew him so well. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Are you?” Severus demanded. “Are you really sorry for what you did? Or because you got caught? Because what I’m looking at is not a boy who is truly sorry for being disobedience, but merely sorry that he got caught…a boy who is about to be spanked.”

“No!”

“Oh yes, young man. As your godfather, I’m going to turn you over my knee…but as your head of house, you have a detention with me tomorrow night. Is that clear?” he said, giving the boy a look that stated plainly that he was supposed to stop arguing.

“Yes sir,” the boy whispered, looking down.

Severus pulled the boy up from the chair, sat down and turned him over his knee, giving him a few sharp swats. He then lifted the boy into his arms and hugging him. “You know how much I hate to do that, dragon, but you must learn to obey me…in the little things and the big things. I only have your best interests at heart, little one, and I love you very much. That’s why I work so hard to teach you right from wrong.”

“I love you too, Uncle Sev,” Draco whispered, curling up in the man’s arms. He was silent for several minutes before asking, “Did you know about Harry?”

“No, I didn’t. And I think you owe him an apology. Parseltongue is considered one of the dark arts, Draco. Because Harry used it to stop that snake from attacking the other students, many will now consider him to be a dark wizard…and possibly the heir of Slytherin.”

Draco looked up at him. “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. I was just trying to have a little fun.”

“But you hurt your brother and you need to apologize. And you need to learn to use that head of yours,” he told the boy, making a fist and lighting knocking on the boy’s head. “Is there anything up there?”

“Look and see,” he replied, tilting his face up to his godfather. This was a game that they had often played to see how if Draco had been practicing Occlumency like his godfather had been teaching him. Only during a true lesson did Severus try to break through the boy’s shields.

With a silent command, he entered the boy’s mind, sifting through harmless memories of Quidditch and brewing potions, classes and homework. He retreated from Draco’s mind. “Very good, dragon. It’s not very often that you find one so young so skilled in such a discipline.”

“Thank you, Uncle Sev,” he replied with a smile. “I practice every night like you told me.”

“Good. Keep doing it.” He put the boy on his feet and gave him a light swat. “Go on back to your dorm so that I can talk to Harry. You can find a way to apologize to him tomorrow.” Draco gave him another hug and hurried from the room.

--

Harry was huddled in one corner of the common room with Ron and Hermione, trying to hide from the rest of his housemates. When the rest of the Gryffindors had returned from the disaster that had been the first meeting of the dueling club, no one had approached him, but they were looking at him and talking in hushed whispers. Just as he was about to get up and go to his room, the portrait hole opened and Professor Snape stepped inside. Instantly, the room grew silent.

“Where is Potter?” the Potions Master demanded.

Biting his lip, Harry stood from where he was hidden behind one of the couches. “Here, sir.”

Snape nodded. “The Headmaster wishes to speak with you,” he said, turning and heading toward the door without waiting to see if Harry followed.

“Don’t wait up,” the boy told his two friends before hurrying to catch up with the man. “Am I in trouble?”

Severus looked down at him. “No. And the Headmaster does not wish to see you.” He didn’t say anything more until they were in his warded quarters. He sat down and pulled the boy to stand in front of him. “Have you ever spoken to snakes before?”

Harry bit his lip again. “Once…I accidentally set a snake loose at the zoo.”

“I’m sure that Granger and Weasley have explained to you that you are a Parselmouth.” Harry merely nodded. As if sensing the boy’s unease, Severus reached up and ran his fingers through the boy’s messy hair. He knew the gesture calmed and comforted the boy. “What you have is a rare gift, Harry…and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Just because the greatest dark wizard of our time has the same gift does not make you a dark wizard. Your heart is too pure to allow you to become dark.” Harry smiled at that compliment and moved closer to the older man, who put his arms around the boy and pulled him close, allowing Harry to lean against his side. “I just ask that you not use your gift unless you absolutely have to.”

Harry nodded against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth, comfort and feelings of safety the man’s arms offered. “I won’t use it. I don’t like everyone looking at me like that.”

“Thank you.” Severus continued to hold Harry close, tucking the boy’s head under his chin. Would this child have been his if he had not allowed his temper to get the better of him during fifth year? If he had tried harder to win Lily’s heart? He could no longer deny that he was beginning to think of Lily’s son as his own.

Harry looked over at Hermione and nodded. They had decided a few days ago to use Polyjuice Potion to sneak into the Slytherin common room and see if Draco and his buddies knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets or the Heir of Slytherin or what had petrified two students now. He really didn’t want to trick his brother, but he was also tired of everyone at school thinking that he was the Heir of Slytherin.

Polyjuice Potion was an advanced potion, but Hermione said that she could do it. However, they didn’t have access to two of the ingredients that they needed and they weren’t in the student stores in the potion lab either. They knew that Snape, as a Potions Master, would have the ingredients in his private stores…they just needed a distraction so that Hermione could sneak into the room and steal what they needed.

Harry was going to provide that distraction. He was going to try and sneak into the man’s private stores and then while Snape was distracted yelling at him, Hermione would steal what they actually needed. Seventh years had the class just before this and Harry was hoping that Severus hadn’t locked the door to his private stores back after that class, as he sometimes allowed the seventh years to use his private stores.

Taking a deep breath, he slipped across the room and opened the door that connected the student lab to Snape’s personal lab. The knob turned easily under his hand and he slipped inside, darting across the room and grabbing a vial off the shelf at random. He dropped the vial in his pocket and hurried back into the classroom.

“POTTER!” Snape yelled as he came back through the door.

Harry gulped. He knew the man would be mad at him, but he hadn’t counted on that tone of voice. He was going to get walloped for sure! “Yes, sir?”

“My office! Now!”

Harry cast a glance at Hermione before nodding and heading into the man’s office, his head down.

Severus followed him into the office and closed the door, casting a silencing charm over the door. Grabbing Harry around the waist, he brushed aside the boy’s heavy robes and gave him a swat on the trousers. It was the hardest swat he had ever given the boy and Harry let out a startled yelp. He let the boy go and glared down at him. “Give me whatever it was that you took!”

Rubbing his sore backside with one hand, Harry took the vial from his pocket and handed it over to the man.

“You better have a good explanation for stealing from me, young man.” When Harry started to speak, Severus held up his hand. “You can tell me tonight in detention. Be here at seven and be prepared to work very hard.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, Uncle Sev.”

“Just get back to work,” he told the boy, pointing toward the door.

Head down, Harry went back into the classroom and back to work on his potion. He looked at Hermione hopefully and she nodded, smiling at him.

--

“I’ve got to go,” Harry told his two friends at dinner.

“Where?” Ron asked him.

He sighed. “I got detention with Snape.”

Hermione’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, Harry…I’m so sorry.”

“We got what we needed, didn’t we?” he asked. “Don’t wait up for me.” Sighing deeply, he turned and left the Great Hall, heading down for the dungeons and the potions classroom.

Severus was sitting at his desk grading papers when he came in. “Get started scrubbing,” he said, nodding toward a pile of dirty cauldrons at the sink in the back of the room.

Harry started to go to the sink as directed, but stopped and turned back to the man. “Uncle Sev…are you really mad at me?”

“Do as you are told, Harry,” the man directed, not even looking up from his work.

Sighing deeply and struggling to keep from giving in to the tears that threatened, Harry went over to the sink and began scrubbing the cauldrons. He’d really done it now. Uncle Sev was furious with him and had probably changed his mind about letting him spend his summers with him and his brother. Not that Harry blamed him. He had really messed up this time, and Uncle Sev…no, Professor Snape, he wouldn’t want Harry to call him Uncle Sev now…didn’t even know the whole truth. He had spent enough hours at the Dursleys washing dishes that the chore wasn’t too hard for him, but it did take a lot of elbow grease to get rid of some of the more stubborn stains and some of the cauldrons were quite heavy.

Once finished Harry walked back over to the man, his head still down. “I’m done sir.”

Severus looked up at the boy. “Come into my office.” Harry nodded and followed the man into the next room. Severus sat down on his sofa and Harry moved to stand in front of him. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m very sorry for stealing from you, Professor Snape.”

“Profess…Harry, look at me,” he told the boy. After the boy looked up at him, he continued. “I told you that you may call me Uncle Sev when we are alone.”

“But you’re mad at me and don’t want me anymore,” he said, unable to hold back the tears any longer. He put his face in his hands to keep the man from seeing.

He pulled Harry into his arms, letting the boy sit on his lap. “What makes you think that I don’t want you anymore?”

“Because I stole from you…”

“Silly child. I am very disappointed in you, Harry, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you. Yes, you will have to go back to the Dursleys ever summer, but never for more than a week. You will still be coming to my house. Nothing you do could make me change my mind.”

Harry looked up at him, drying his eyes with the back of his hands. “Really? You really mean it?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, you fool boy. I really mean it.”

“Oh, thank you, Uncle Sev!” Harry exclaimed, throwing his arms around the man’s neck and hugging him.

“You’re welcome, Harry.” He snapped his fingers and a vial appeared. “Take this in the morning. It will help with your sore muscles.”

Harry took the vial and put it in his pocket. “Thank you, sir.”

The man nodded. “Come, I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

--

Severus looked around his classroom as his fourth year Gryffindor/Slytherin class packed up their things to leave. “Weasleys. Stay behind please.”

The two red heads nodded. “Yes sir.” Though they didn’t let on to anyone, they didn’t think that the Potions Master was as bad as everyone in school made him out to be. In fact, he had helped the two boys out a few times by giving them tips for some of their inventions and he was always willing to answer their questions, even if they owled him during the summer.

After the rest of the class had left, he ushered the two boys into his office, closing and warding the door. He took a seat behind his desk. “I need your assistance.”

Fred and George grinned at each other and then sat down across from him. “Does this have anything to do with the potion that we tested for you at the end of last year?” Fred asked him.

“As a matter of fact, it does,” he told them. Though they didn’t act like it most times, these two had two of the most brilliant minds he had ever seen during his years as a teacher. And he would never admit to playing favorites, but these two were, in fact, his favorite students. He often found ways to give them points when no one else was around. Severus had found them to be sneaky, resourceful and very Slytherin. Any detentions they served with him were far from unpleasant for he allowed them to brew with him, the three of them working together, making quite a team. “But before I get into what I need, I have a question for you. Do you have a way to communicate with each other without actually speaking?”

“We can read –“

“-each others minds.”

“That’s how we can-“

“-finish each others sentences.” They grinned at him, knowing how much it drove teachers crazy when they did that. Usually, they refrained from finishing each others sentences around him out of respect.

He gave them a mild scowl. “Is there any other type of bond that you share? Such as feeling each others pain?”

“No, sir,” George answered. “But I know that some twins can.”

Fred nodded. “And the Patil twins can feel each others emotions”

“Do you know of any twins that can do all three?” he asked them.

“I’ve never heard of any. But if they did, that would be quite a bond, sir,” Fred replied.

“Did you have a set of firsties that tested as twins using the Frater potion that they brewed at the end of last year?” George questioned. “That’s why you had us test it, correct?”

“Yes, to both of your questions,” Severus told him. “I had them working in teams, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, to brew the potion. Then I had them test the potion.”

The two looked at each other. “Harry,” they said together.

“And may I ask how you came to that conclusion?” he asked them.

“It’s really quite simple, sir,” George replied. “When you brought Harry to the Burrow this summer, all his clothes were new and they fit.”

“Last year only his school clothes fit him. Every thing else he owned was at least three sizes too big for him,” Fred continued.

“He didn’t say why, but I do know that he asked the headmaster to allow him to stay here over the summer, but the headmaster told him that he had to go back. I don’t think he would have looked that healthy if he had stayed with his relatives all summer.”

Severus nodded. “He did spend some time with me this summer. Along with his twin. I can’t go into any details now, but they do know and for the time being they must act like nothing has changed. For the safety of both of them.”

“What did you need our assistance with, sir?” Fred asked him.

“I would like the two of you to watch Harry and do two things for me. First, I want you to see if you can figure out who his twin is. I mostly want to see if it is obvious to anyone else. The second thing I want you to do is see if you can figure out the bond between them. I know that one can feel the pain of the other, but I don’t know if they both can. I would also like to know if they can communicate between themselves. Can you handle this for me, gentlemen?”

The two teens grinned. “We sure can, sir.”

“It would be an honor.”

“Thank you,” Severus told them. “If you succeed, I will allow you one afternoon in my private lab.”

“Your private lab, sir?”

“Oh…we won’t fail you!”

Severus nodded. “Very good. Remember, this stays between the three of us. You are dismissed.”

--

On Christmas Eve, Harry told Ron and Hermione that he was really tired and pretended to go to bed early. Once there, he changed into his pajamas and closed the curtains on his bed, before slipping under his invisibility cloak. He and Draco were going to spend the night in the Potions Master’s quarters and then Uncle Sev would wake him up early in the morning to come back before any of the others woke up. Harry hated to keep this a secret from Ron and Hermione, but only Uncle Sev could tell them. Maybe he should talk to the man and ask about letting them in on the secret. It was easier for Draco, because he at least had an excuse for spending time with his godfather. Harry didn’t have that excuse…or any excuse really, because as far as every one in school knew the Potions Master hated him.

Severus greeted the boy with a smile when he opened the door to his quarters. “Good evening, Harry. Did you have any trouble slipping away?”

“No, sir,” he replied, hanging the cloak on a hook by the door. “I just told them that I was tired and wanted to go to bed early.

“Hurry up, you two,” Draco called from where he sat on the floor near the tree that Hagrid had brought in. “I want to open the presents!”

“Hold your horses, boy,” Severus told him as he and Harry moved over to where he was sitting. He took a seat in his favorite chair while Harry settled on the couch. “Alright…now you may hand out the presents.”

Harry grinned. “Open mine first, baby brother.”

Draco wrinkled his nose at the nickname, but grabbed the package from under the tree and ripped off the paper. In his lap lay a photo album. “You gave me your photo album?” he asked, looking up at his brother.

“No. I got another one and copied the pictures for you. That one is yours,” Harry explained.

“Thanks, Harry,” he said, running his finger over the blank name plate on the front of the album.

“I didn’t know if you would want to put Draco on there or your real name…so I left it blank.”

Draco nodded and pulled out his wand, thinking for a moment before turning to Severus. “What is my real name, Uncle Sev?” he asked. He had never stopped to consider what his birth name was, but now he really wanted to know even if he couldn’t ever go by that name.

“I was wondering when you might ask about that,” Severus answered. He gestured and a name appeared on the photo album.

Orion John Potter

Draco stared down at the name, whispering it softly. “Orion…you’d think I was a Black and not a Potter…”

Severus chuckled. “I think you were named after Potter’s two closest friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.”

“Oh…well, I guess that makes sense then,” he replied with a shrug. “Thanks again, little brother.” He handed him a small envelope. “I couldn’t figure out what to get you, but Uncle Sev helped me find that. It’s for your photo album.”

Harry took the envelope and carefully opened it, removing a single photograph. It was a picture of James and Lily smiling at each other, each with a tiny baby in their arms. They were having a silent conversation and then James leaned in and kissed his wife. He looked up at the Potions Master.

“To my knowledge it is the only photograph of the four of you,” he told the boys. “Lily told me later that it was a very long, hard labor and she only got to hold the two of you for a few minutes before they took you away so that she could rest. When she woke up they told her that Orion had died.”

Harry nodded. “Thank you, Draco,” he said, before pulling out his wand and uttering the copying spell that Professor McGonagall had taught him. He handed the copy to his brother, who opened his own photo album and placed it inside.

Draco turned and grabbed the last box from under the tree. “Here you go, Uncle Sev. This is from the two of us.”

Severus took the box and opened it. Inside was a very old and very rare, handwritten book. “How did you two…” There had only been a handful of copies made of the book and only two said to still be in existence.

Draco grinned at him. “I told Father that you wanted it and he got it. We both chipped in and helped pay for it though. But I didn’t tell him that half of the money was from Harry.”

“Thank you, boys. Very much.” He waved his hand and two envelopes appeared in front of the boys. “Happy Christmas.”

The two boys looked at each other for a moment before opening their envelopes at the same time. “Quidditch tickets!” Harry exclaimed.

“Not just any tickets, little brother,” Draco told him. “Season tickets for Puddlemere United!”

“Puddlemere United? Wood says they are the best!

Severus suddenly found himself nearly tackled by the two preteens as they both tried to hug him at the same time. “You’re welcome, scamps,” he said with a laugh.

--

After the presents had been opened, Severus sent the two boys to bed in his spare room, which he had had the house elves redecorate for him a few days before. There had been one bed in there already for the rare times that Draco had come to stay with him while at school. Now there were two beds so that he could allow both boys to spend the night at the same time without forcing one of them to sleep on the couch.

The two boys changed into their new pajamas, courtesy of their Uncle Sev, and climbed into their beds, settling down to sleep. Severus came and tucked them both in, promising to wake Harry early enough so that he could return to his dorm before anyone realized that he was missing. The Potions Master turned off the light and went to his own room for the night.

“Draco?” Harry asked a few minutes later.

“Hmm?” the other boy answered softly, very close to falling asleep.

“You know I’m not the Heir of Slytherin, right?” It was important to him that his brother knew that he wasn’t.

“That’s a stupid question, little brother,” the blond said. “Because if you are, then so am I. And I know that I’m not the one doing it.”

Harry sighed. “I know. It’s just that…well…everyone else thinks it’s me.”

“I don’t, Harry.”

“Some of the Gryffindors think that it’s you.”

Draco rolled onto his side, facing his brother. “What did you tell them?”

“I have to play along with them, but I know you aren’t.” Harry was quiet for several minutes before speaking again. “Do you know who it might be?”

“No. I think Father knows something, but he won’t tell me. I’ve asked him several times.”

“Have you asked Uncle Sev about it?”

“Yeah…he won’t tell me anything either.”

The door to their room opened and Severus stepped inside. “Go to sleep, boys.”

“Yes sir,” they both murmured, closing their eyes and trying to sleep.

--

“It’s finished!” Hermione chirped the next morning after she, Ron and Harry had opened their presents.

“I don’t think we should do it,” Harry told them, settling in his favorite chair near the fire. It wasn’t often that he was able to curl up in this chair, because the older students usually claimed it first.

The other two looked at him in shock. “Why not? Harry, we’ve been brewing this potion for a month…and we stole from Snape to do it!” Ron said.

He sighed. “Well…you saw what the book said could happen if we got it wrong…I don’t want to end up like that.”

“But I brewed it right, Harry,” Hermione told him. “I followed the directions exactly and it looks just like the book said it should.”

“Look, that’s not the only reason. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went for a walk using my dad’s cloak. I overheard Snape and Malfoy talking. Malfoy doesn’t know anything and was trying to get Snape to tell him what was going on. Snape told him that it wasn’t any of his business.”

“So what am I supposed to do with my Polyjuice Potion?”

“We’ll just save it for later. We may need it for something else.”

Hermione sighed deeply. “Oh, alright. But you owe me, Harry.”

“I know, ‘Mione,” he told her, tossing her chocolate frog.

Harry wiggled his foot nervously as he waited in Potions for Professor Snape to hand back their homework assignment from the last class period. He hadn’t really put his best effort into the assignment, because he had been playing Exploding Snap with Ron and trying to decide who the Heir of Slytherin was with Ron and Hermione. And then there was the diary that he had found.

The diary had belonged to a former student of Hogwarts named Tom Riddle. The diary told him that Riddle had been a student at the school the Chamber of Secrets had been opened the last time: fifty years ago. Riddle claimed that Hagrid was the Heir, because of a large spider that he had kept as a pet, and the big man had been expelled from Hogwarts.

“Stay after class, Potter!”

The professor’s voice snapping in his ear, brought Harry’s attention back to the classroom and the boy nodded. “Yes sir.” Great…he was in trouble again. And his homework hadn’t been returned.

After class, Harry made his way up to the Potions Master’s desk. “Am I in trouble, sir?” he asked quietly.

The man handed him the homework assignment. It was covered in the professor’s favorite color of ink: red. “Harry, your homework usually isn’t the best, but this is even worse than normal. Would you care to explain to me why you didn’t put any effort at all into the assignment?”

“I was distracted,” the boy answered, looking down at his shoes. Uncle Sev had used that disappointed tone of voice that Harry hated so much.

“Distracted? Distracted by what?”

“Exploding Snap,” he admitted softly.

“You were playing before you had finished your homework?” Harry slowly nodded. “It will not happen again, young man. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

Severus sighed. “I can not in good conscience give you a grade on that assignment that you turned in. However, if you redo the assignment, properly this time, I will give you half credit.”

“Thank you, Uncle Sev,” Harry replied, finally looking up at the man.

“Don’t thank me yet, Harry. It must be turned in by Friday or there will be no Quidditch game on Saturday.”

Harry’s face paled. “Oh, I’ll finish it!”

“See that you do. We’ll work on your study habits this summer. And tell your friends that you have detention with me on Saturday for the incomplete assignment. That will be our cover for the game.”

“Yes sir,” he said, giving the man a quick hug before scampering from the room and hurrying to his next class.

--

Saturday morning, Harry hurried down the stairs and let himself into Snape’s quarters. “Morning,” he chirped, heading over and settling down at the table where the professor and his brother were already eating breakfast.

“Good morning, Harry,” Severus told him. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes sir. Umm…Uncle Sev?”

“What is it, Harry?”

“What are we going to do about the game? I mean…I can’t really go to a Quidditch game with you and Draco, can I?”

Severus smiled at him. “I was wondering when one of you would ask that. We will all be using glamour charms…charms that will change our appearances. If anyone asks you two are James and John Evans at the game with your Uncle Toby. By using our middle names, we aren’t really lying…”

“Just misleading them,” Draco finished with a sly smile. “Very Slytherin, Uncle Toby…”

Severus reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I will remove the charm that Draco has been under the last twelve years and then we will decide where to go from there.”

Once they were finished eating, Draco stood. “I’m ready.” Even though he hid it, he was actually a little nervous about seeing his true appearance.

The man nodded and led the two boys into the bathroom so that they could watch the transformations in the mirror. “Are you sure you’re ready, dragon?”

The boy took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Severus gestured with his wand and spoke softly in Latin. The three watched as Draco’s sharp aristocratic features softened. The white-blond hair became a dark red and grey eyes darkened to green.

Harry smiled. “You look like Mum.”

“It’s so different,” he said, running his fingers through the unruly mop that, except for the color, looked so much like his brother’s.

“Your turn, Harry,” Severus told him, waving his wand over Harry as well.

Harry’s black hair turned the exact shade as Draco’s and grew long enough to cover his scar completely. His eyes grew wide as his glasses disappeared, but his vision didn’t become blurry.

“No one can see your glasses, but they are still there,” Severus explained.

“That’s brilliant!”

Severus turned his wand on himself and uttered the incantation. As the two boys watched, his appearance changed to match that of Draco and Harry. A moment later he changed it back. “I will replace the charm once we are off the school grounds. You two will need to leave the castle under Harry’s cloak,” he told them, holding out his hand and summoning the invisibility cloak.

Draco hesitantly reached out and fingered the fabric. It was surprising soft and cool and silky. He had heard about Harry’s cloak before, but this was the first time he had been this close to it. “I’m ready,” he said, looking back up at his godfather.

Severus covered the two boys with the cloak and the three of them left the school grounds. Once outside the wards, Severus took the cloak from the boys, placing it in his pocket. He reapplied the glamour charm and with an arm around each boy, Apperated them to the site of the Quidditch game.

--

The next morning at breakfast, Fred and George sat where they could watch Harry as well as the second year Slytherins. The identical red heads were close together, something everyone at Hogwarts had quickly come to learn meant that two were plotting something. “What do you think Fred?” George asked his twin as they watched Harry stare at nothing in particular.

They both chuckled when Harry smiled. “He’s definitely communicating with someone, because watching Ron eat is nothing to smile at…now to figure out which of the little snakes he’s talking to…” Fred replied.

“It would help if we knew more about Harry’s family.”

They looked up when the owls flew into the hall to deliver the mail. “Hopefully Charlie got our letter and replied.” Sure enough an owl landed on the table in front of them. Fred took the letter while George gave the owl a bit of food. “What does it say?”

Greetings Rascal Weasleys,

“Remind me to hurt Charlie next time I see him,” George told his twin.

“Do you want to know what he says or not?” Fred asked.

“Oh…right. Go ahead.”

“Thank you,” Fred replied before continuing to read the letter.

I hope the two of you are staying out of trouble, but knowing you two I know that is a little too much to ask. Try not to give Snape and McGonagall too hard a time. And keep that runt Wood on his toes.

I’m really not sure how the two of you found out that Harry had a twin, as it wasn’t really talked about. I barely remember it myself, except that I do remember Lily coming over to talk to Mum while she was expecting. The fact was pretty much forgotten after James and Lily were killed.

Harry’s twin still alive and at Hogwarts? And a Slytherin no less? I don’t know where the two of you come up with your ideas sometimes, but I think this is the worst yet. If you two insist on following through with this crazy scheme here’s a few things to think about:

1 – Harry’s twin was a boy, so that rules out half of the Slytherins in his class.

2 – Look at who has birthdays around the same time as Harry. They would have had to have been born around the same time, because if a switch was made, it was made at St. Mungo’s. Orion Potter (gosh, I had to stop and really think about the name, it’s been so long) died the same day he was born.

3 – The person in question is probably an only child, or at least the only son. I would think only a really desperate wizard would stoop to switching babies like that.

4 – Would a Death Eater take one of the sons of the Potters when You-Know-Who was after the Potters? Or if he did take the baby like you two insist, did he even realize that the baby he took was a Potter?

If the last is true, be very careful boys. That information could be deadly for that unsuspecting kid. I suggest that you drop the subject, but I know that won’t stop you.

Tell Ron that Norbert is doing well. Did he tell you about Norbert? Aren’t you two supposed to be keeping the kid out of trouble? Well, I just hope that you do are doing a better job with Ginny. Give the princess a hug and kiss for me.

Charlie

“Well, George,” Fred said, folding the letter and sticking it into his pocket. “Do we give it up like Charlie suggests?”

George laughed. “And miss a whole afternoon in Snape’s private lab? Never!” George turned his gaze over to the Slytherins. “It’s not Crabbe or Goyle. Those two are just too dumb.”

“Zabini’s got an older sister at Beauxbatons, I think.”

“That just leaves Nott and Malfoy.”

“Malfoy! It’s got to be Malfoy.”

“Are you sure, Fred?”

“Just look at him.”

George looked over at the Slytherin table and sure enough Draco Malfoy was staring at nothing, though it wasn’t quite as obvious as Harry’s stare. Draco smirked and a moment later so did Harry. George looked at his twin and grinned. “Fred, I think I know where we are going to be this afternoon…”

An hour later they knocked on the door to Snape’s office, entering when he called. “Gentlemen…do you have some information for me?”

“Yes sir, we do,” George said, taking a seat.

He set aside his work. “Very well. Let’s have it.”

“Harry’s twin is Draco Malfoy,” Fred told him.

“Very good, gentlemen. How did you come to that conclusion?” Severus sat back in his chair and folded his hands, ready to listen to their reasoning.

Fred started first. “You told us that it was a Slytherin, so that eliminated the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.”

“Then we owled our brother Charlie,” George continued. “We asked him if he remembered anything about Harry being a twin, since we were too young to remember it ourselves. Charlie told us that he remembered there being a twin brother, but that the twin died. That eliminated the Slytherin girls.”

“From there it was easy,” Fred added. “Crabbe and Goyle are too dumb to be able to attempt it…after that Malfoy just made the most sense.”

Severus nodded, unable to find fault with their logic. “What about the rest of the assignment?”

“They are communicating. Spent all of breakfast doing so.”

“Harry had a hard time keeping his emotions off his face. He was excited about something.”

Severus shook his head. “I knew taking them to that Quidditch game was a mistake.”

“You should take them more often, sir,” Fred told him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Harry that happy.”

“I will keep that in mind, Mr. Weasley. Very well, you two may come back after lunch and use my lab.”

--

It had been a bad week!

First Quidditch had been cancelled for the rest of the school year when Hermione and a sixth year prefect had been found petrified near the library. Hermione! His best friend had been found with a mirror in her hand and neither he nor Ron could figure out what she had been doing with it.

That night the two of them had snuck out to Hagrid’s to ask the big man about what the diary had shown him. While down there the Minister of Magic came with some Aurors to take Hagrid to Azkaban. Lucius Malfoy had shown up as well to inform the Headmaster that the Board of Governors had decided to suspend him pending an investigation into the petrified students. He and Ron had been hidden under his invisibility cloak and as Hagrid was being taken away he had given them a cryptic message, telling them to follow the spiders.

So Ron and Harry had followed the spiders into the Forbidden Forest . Only the little spiders they had followed, led them to a colony of HUGE, man-eating spiders. Aragog, the patriarch of the colony had told them that Hagrid was not to blame for opening the Chamber and that Slytherin’s monster was something that spiders feared. They had gotten the information that they were after, but had barely escaped with their lives. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Weasley’s Ford Anglia coming to their rescue, then the two boys would have been spider food.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, they had been caught by Professor Snape while trying to sneak back into the castle. They had been subjected to a blistering lecture from the Potions Master and had been sentenced to a week’s worth of detentions with Filch!

Harry had tried to talk to his Uncle Sev several times during the last week, only for the man to tell him that he was too busy to talk to Harry. If ignoring him was his way of punishing Harry for his “Gryffindor stupidity”, then Harry would much rather the man turn him over his knee! Because as embarrassing as it was, and it was more embarrassing than painful, at least as soon as the spanking was over the man would hug him and let him know that he was forgiven. Being ignored was ten times worse than anything Uncle Vernon had ever done to him!

“I’m glad this was our last night of detention,” Ron said, pulling Harry from his thoughts on how bad the week had been.

Harry nodded. “Me too. Let’s go see ‘Mione before curfew.” He led his friend up to the Infirmary, where he perched on the edge of Hermione’s bed. “Hey, ‘Mione,” he said after a few minutes. “Professor Sprout says that the mandrakes will be old enough soon…and then Professor Snape can make the potion that will get you better.”

“What’s that in her hand, Harry?” Ron asked from the other side of the bed.

He looked down at the hand that he had been stroking. Tucked inside her fist was a piece of paper. Working slowly and carefully, he managed to pull the paper free. It was a page that she had torn from a book and he straightened out the page. His eyes quickly scanned the page. That’s it! “Come on, Ron! We’ve got to find one of the professors!” He jumped up and raced from the room.

Ron ran after him. “Harry! Stop and tell me what’s going on!”

Harry skidded to a stop and turned to his friend, showing him the page that Hermione had torn from the book. “I know what Slytherin’s monster is, Ron…and I don’t know why I didn’t think about it before! I read about it just before school started.”

“What are you talking about?” the red head asked, confused.

“It’s a basilisk! That’s why I’m the only one who can hear it. It’s a snake!”

Ron looked at the page. “It says that the basilisk’s stare is deadly. No one has died, Harry.”

Harry considered this for a moment. “It’s only deadly if you look it in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera…Justin through Nearly Headless Nick.”

“And Hermione and Penelope saw it through the mirror. They were using the mirror to look around corners! But how is something as big as a basilisk getting around the castle with no one seeing it?”

“Hermione answered that for us,” he replied, pointing to a word that their friend had scribbled on the bottom of the page. “It’s in the pipes.”

“That’s…that’s bloody brilliant.”

“I know,” Harry told him, turning to race down the hall again. “We need to find a professor.”

They ran down the halls, skidding to a stop a few corridors later as they noticed the professors that they sought stood with their backs turned at the other end of the hall. The two boys pressed their backs against the walls and slid closer to the group, hiding themselves in the shadows.

“A student has been taken,” Professor McGonagall was saying.

“Who?” asked one of the professors.

“Miss Ginny Weasley.”

“Ginny?!” Ron yelped, but Harry covered his friend’s mouth with his hand.

It was Snape who spoke next. “Well, Gilderoy…here’s the chance you’ve been waiting for all year.”

They couldn’t hear the Defense professor’s mumbling reply.

“We’ll leave you to it,” McGonagall told the man, as one by one the professors turned to leave.

As soon as they were gone, Harry moved his hand. Ron pointed to the wall, whimpering. Harry turned to look. Written in blood was another message.

Her body will lie in the Chamber forever.

“Harry…we gotta do something,” Ron told him.

“Lockhart’s going after her. We’ll go talk to him,” Harry said, grabbing Ron’s sleeve and pulling him toward Lockhart’s office.

--

Draco had been lying in his bed, preparing to go to sleep when he heard his brother’s voice through their bond. Startled, he sat up quickly. ‘Harry? What’s wrong?’

“Alright, Malfoy?” Nott asked, confused as to why the boy sat up so suddenly.

“Shut up,” Draco hissed, listening for Harry’s answer. ‘Harry?’

‘I think I really messed up this time…’

‘What have you done?’ he asked, ignoring the confused looks from his roommates.

‘Ron and I have Lockhart at wand point and we are going into the Chamber of Secrets…’

‘You what?!’

“Malfoy…” Blaise Zabini started.

“I said, shut up! I can’t hear!” Draco snapped at him.

The other occupants of the room stared at Draco in shock. Had the boy lost his mind?

‘Damn it, Harry! What are you going on about?’

‘Slytherin’s monster is a basilisk. It’s got Ginny. Lockhart was sent into the Chamber to get her, but the guy is a fraud!’

‘I could have told you that!’

‘DRACO!’

The blond winced at the volume of his twin’s voice through there bond. It had never been that loud before. ‘Not so loud…continue…’

‘Ron and I found out the truth and Lockhart threatened to erase our memories. So we had to disarm him. And we’re taking him into the Chamber with us.’

‘You have lost your mind!’

‘Just get Uncle Sev and tell him to find Moaning Myrtle.’

‘Who the hell is Moaning Myrtle?’

‘Damn it, Orion! Just do it!’

‘Right. Sorry.’ Draco jumped from his bed and raced out of the room, hoping none of the prefects were up in the common room to stop him.

“I think Malfoy has finally lost it,” Nott told the other three.

Draco raced down the dungeon hallway toward his godfather’s quarters and burst through the door. “Uncle Sev!” When he got no answer he searched through the rooms, calling for the man. Finding the quarters empty, he cursed loudly, stepping back into the hall.

“Problems, young snake?” the Bloody Baron, Slytherin ghost, asked as Draco stepped back into the hall.

The boy looked up at him startled, before remembering his mission. “Who is Moaning Myrtle?”

“Ah, yes. Miss Myrtle was a student here fifty years ago when Slytherin’s Chamber was last opened. She died in the bathroom that she now haunts on the first floor.”

“Thanks!” Draco exclaimed, taking off down the hall. He skidded to a stop a few feet later. “Could you find Professor Snape and tell him that he’s needed in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom? It’s an emergency.”

The Baron bowed. “It is always a pleasure to serve the house of Slytherin.”

Draco expressed his thanks once more, before running as fast as he could toward the first floor. As he ran, he remembered Pansy saying something about a bathroom that none of the girls would use. That must the one that the Baron was talking about.

He threw open the door and looked around, noticing that the sinks had moved aside, exposing a large hole in the floor. “Where are they?!” he demanded of the wailing ghost.

She merely pointed to the hole in the floor.

Taking a deep breath, he jumped into the hole. He fell for what seemed like forever, and then suddenly he was sliding along the large pipes, knocking into his brother right as Lockhart shouted the incantation for the memory charm.

There was a large explosion and the two boys found themselves separated from Ron and Lockhart by a large pile of rocks.

Harry turned on his brother. “What are you doing down here?!”

Draco merely smirked at him. “I couldn’t let you go on an adventure without me.”

“Harry…” Ron called from the other side of the rocks.

‘Keep quiet!’ Harry hissed to his brother through their bond. With luck, Ron hadn’t noticed that someone had joined them just before Lockhart had tried to wipe his memories. “I’m fine, Ron. You?”

“I’m alright. Don’t think Lockhart is though. I think that memory charm backfired on him,” Ron answered.

Draco snickered as Harry replied. “Try to clear an opening in the rocks. I’ll go find Ginny.” He grabbed his brother’s sleeve and drug him down the pipes. “I told you to get Uncle Sev!”

“I couldn’t find him, so I sent the Bloody Baron after him and came to help you out myself.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “And they say that Gryffindors are the dumb ones.”

“Very funny,” Draco sneered.

“Just come on…”

They made their way through the pipes in silence until they came to a large round door covered with etchings of snakes.

“Think you can open it?” Draco asked his brother.

Sighing, Harry stared at the door for a moment before hissing the command to open the door. The door swung open and the two climbed carefully through the opening. Once inside they realized that they had entered a large chamber that was lined with statues of snakes. At the end of the chamber was a massive statue of a man.

“Hey…that’s Slytherin,” Draco informed Harry. Then he noticed the small body lying at the base of the statue. “Who is that?”

“Ginny,” Harry whispered, racing over to the girl. “Wake up, Ginny.”

Neither boy saw a fourth person approaching. “She’s not dead yet, but she soon will be.”

Harry turned quickly and found himself looking into a familiar face. “Tom Riddle…”

“I’ve been waiting for you Harry…”

Draco stood. “Who are you?” he demanded.

The teen laughed, twirling Draco’s wand in one hand and Harry’s in the other. Neither had realized that they had dropped their wands while checking on Ginny. He traced three words in the air with Draco’s wand: Tom Marvolo Riddle. “But I think you know me as…” He used Harry’s wand to trace four words into the air: I Am Lord Voldemort.

Harry got to his feet as well. “Give us our wands back!”

The teen laughed again. “Dumbledore couldn’t stop me…do you really think two little boys without wands are going to be able to stop me?”

--

Snape stalked through the halls of the dark castle, heading back to his quarters after a meeting of the house heads in McGonagall’s office to discuss what was to be done about Miss Weasley as well as the safety of the other students. It had been decided that they would send the students home the next morning.

“There you are,” the Baron said, floating alongside the man.

Severus sighed. “What is it, Baron? Have any of our little snakes been causing trouble?”

“No trouble, good Professor. However your young godson was looking for you. I believe he said that it was an emergency.”

The man stopped. “An emergency? Did he say what was wrong?”

“He inquired about Miss Myrtle and then said that your presence was required in her bathroom.”

Cursing, Severus turned and ran down the hall toward the first floor girl’s bathroom.

--

The teen laughed again. “Dumbledore couldn’t stop me…do you really think two little boys without wands are going to be able to stop me?”

“Dumbledore’s the greatest wizard alive!” Harry yelled.

Tom laughed once more, this time it sounded almost evil. “Your precious Dumbledore couldn’t stop me fifty years ago. Oh, he was suspicious, but never had any proof.”

“Even when you were in power you never tried to take over the school,” Draco told the older teen. “You must be scared of him.”

“He’s gone now isn’t he?” Tom asked, giving a slight mocking bow.

There was a small explosion nearby and a large crimson bird appeared, clutching a ragged bundle in his talons. The bird dropped the bundle at Harry’s feet and disappeared. Harry bent down and picked the bundle up: The Sorting Hat. Why had the bird brought him the Sorting Hat?

“Dumbledore sent his warriors the Sorting Hat?” Tom asked. He put both wands in one hand and with a wave of his empty hand, the diary flew to him. “There is nothing you two can do to stop me.”

Harry tuned everything out as he realized that they had yet to see the basilisk and he listened carefully hoping that he could hear the large snake.

‘Master…’ he heard in an almost sleepy hiss.

Using Draco and Tom’s arguing as a cover, Harry spoke to the snake. ‘Sleep, my pet…’

He gave a slight giggle when he finally heard the snake’s soft snoring. Harry turned his attention back to Draco and Tom as his brother yelled, “Harry beat you as a baby without a wand and he can beat you again!”

Tom swung the hand holding their wands and the back of his hand connected with Draco’s cheek, knocking the small boy to the ground.

Without even realizing what he was doing, or that he had a sword in his hand, Harry lunged at the older teen, sword out. The sword went into the diary and ink began spilling out like blood as Tom let out a painful scream that had Draco covering his ears. “Don’t hurt my brother!” Harry hissed at the teen.

A bright light filled the room and when it was gone, so was Tom. Their wands and the slain diary fell to the floor.

“He…he’s gone,” Draco said, scrambling to his feet. “You did it…”

“If he wasn’t real, what was he?” Harry asked.

Draco moved back over to Ginny. “Tom was a memory. He told me about it while you were listening for the basilisk.”

Harry started to question how his brother had known what he had been doing, but decided not to. It must be part of the twin bond they shared. He followed Draco over to Ginny as the girl started to stir. ‘You better go on back and see if Ron has a hole cleared. She doesn’t know about us…’

Draco nodded, snatching up his wand and hurried out of the chamber. As he rounded the corner to where Lockhart’s curse had backfired and collapsed part of the tunnel, Severus climbed through a hole in the rocks. Draco found himself pulled into a tight hug. After a moment he relaxed into the embrace.

Severus pulled away and landed a sharp swat on the boy’s pajama clad backside before pulling him into another hug. “Where’s Harry?”

“Ow!” the boy yelped, before answering. “He’s with Ginny. This way.” He grabbed his godfather’s hand and drug him down the tunnel, telling him everything that had happened as they went.

Harry and Ginny were just climbing out of the chamber when they returned.

“Are you alright, Miss Weasley?” Severus asked.

“I feel better now, Professor,” she replied.

He nodded and looked down at Harry, who had put his hands behind him to protect himself from the swat he knew was coming. Severus chuckled. “Don’t worry, Mr. Potter. You’re been granted a brief reprieve, but we will deal with this. You too, Mr. Malfoy.” Both boys made faces as Severus reached into his robes and pulled out an empty vial. He took his wand and touched the vial, muttering in Latin. “This is a portkey. Everyone take hold.”

“What about Ron?” Harry asked.

“Mr. Weasley and Professor Lockhart have already been taken care of,” Severus replied. “Now Potter.”

Harry grabbed a hold of the portkey and then felt a strong jerk behind his navel. Moments later they landed in the infirmary.

After allowing Madame Pomfrey to look over all three students, Severus ordered the boys to follow him to his office.

He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms, looking down at the two miscreants. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves?” Both boys were looking down at the rug with their hands tucked behind them; Draco in his pajamas and Harry in his school uniform. If he wasn’t so furious with them, he might have found it amusing. “Holding a teacher hostage at wand point is never acceptable, even if it is Lockhart. I still don’t understand why you went to Lockhart in the first place, Potter. You should have gone to another professor…both of you. And don’t tell me that you couldn’t find one. You both have means to contact me in case of an emergency and I think this qualified as one! Where are your mirrors?”

“Under my pillow,” Draco whispered, not looking up at his godfather.

Harry pulled his from his pocket.

“Why didn’t you use it?” Severus demanded.

“I didn’t think ab…”

Severus cut him off. “That’s right. You didn’t think. You once again went rushing right into danger instead of going to an adult.” He grabbed the boy and turned him around giving the boy a firm swat.

“Ow!” Harry yipped in surprise.

“It will not happen again, is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” they both whispered.

“Neither one of you knows enough defensive spells to dual a third year, much less a wizard with the knowledge the dark lord had during his sixth year. And then you let him get not one, but both of your wands. What do you think would have happened if that phoenix hadn’t brought you the Sorting Hat and you found Gryffindor’s sword inside? Oh yes, Mr. Potter, the sword you pulled from the Sorting Hat belonged to none other than Godric Gryffindor himself. Professor McGonagall might call this a case of ‘pure dumb luck’, but I call it pure stupidity and if it happens again I know two boys who will not only lose their brooms for a very long time, but they will also have trouble sitting for several days.” The two boys flinched, but neither looked up from the rug they were still staring at.

--

A short time later the two boys lay in their beds in their room in the Potion Master’s quarters. Severus leaned against the doorframe, watching them and making sure that they went to sleep. He was exhausted and wanted to sleep himself, but after the trouble these two had caused, he was not about to go to sleep with them still awake.

Harry lay on his bed facing the wall and absently rubbing his backside, which was still stinging slightly. ‘Has he ever walloped you this bad before?’ he asked his brother through their bond. He wasn’t about to speak out loud with Uncle Sev standing right there watching them.

‘Once, I think,’ Draco replied with a sniffle. ‘I stole his wand one day when I was about eight. That was probably about this bad.’

‘I guess I should be glad it’s not this bad normally…’

‘I get worse from Father, but I actually feel bad when Uncle Sev spanks me.’

‘Yeah. It makes…it makes my heart hurt when he talks to me like that or gives me that look. It’s never like that with Uncle Vernon. What do you think it is that makes it different?’

‘I don’t know. Guilt maybe? At least with Uncle Sev we know we deserve it.’

‘We really did it big this time…grounded for the whole six weeks we’re at Spinner’s End before we even get there…’

‘No brooms, extra chores, extra assignments and early bedtimes…’

‘On top of the spanking he just gave us. This really sucks!’

Severus cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, you have five minutes to go to sleep before I dose you both with a sleeping potion…”

Draco propped up on his elbow and looked at his godfather. “How did you know we weren’t sleeping?”

“You two are still wiggling too much to be sleeping. Now stop talking and sleep.” He moved into the room and pulled out the desk, setting it between the beds and sitting down.

“We weren’t talking,” Harry said, poking his head out from under his blanket.

“Maybe not out loud, but you were talking.” He chuckled when he saw the shocked looks on the faces of the two boys. “Oh, yes. I know all about your little bond. You both seem to have forgotten that nothing goes on in this castle without me knowing about it. I have eyes and ears everywhere…yes, Harry, even in Gryffindor.”

Harry sighed and settled back down again. At least he was ‘Harry’ again and not ‘Mr. Potter’. Being called ‘Mr. Potter’ made him remember his first year when he thought that the professor, who was now his Uncle Sev, hated him. And he didn’t like that one bit!

Severus stood and tucked them both back in as he had done every night at Spinner’s End. He took a moment to run a gentle hand over each of their heads in the comforting manner he knew they loved so much. “You made mistakes. You’ve been punished. And you are both forgiven,” he said softly. “Now settle down and go to sleep, my little scamps. You both have double potions with me after breakfast and I don’t want either of you blowing up any cauldrons in my classroom.”

“Harry’s done better this year, Uncle Sev,” Draco told him. “You might still have to worry about Longbottom though.”

“Sleep,” Severus told him firmly, giving the back of his head a light swat before sitting in the chair once more. Ten minutes later they were both sleeping soundly and he wearily made his way to his own room.

Draco was alone in his dorm room, packing his belongings in preparation for the trip home tomorrow for summer holidays. He and his brother would spend two weeks in their own homes before going to spend six weeks with Uncle Sev at Spinner’s End. The week before school started again Harry would go to the Burrow and Draco would return to Malfoy Manor. Even though they would both be grounded for the duration of their stay at Spinner’s End, they were both looking forward to their time there…time where they could be themselves, without worrying about their parents in his case or guardians in Harry’s and they wouldn’t have to pretend to hate each other like they did at school.

In his own dorm room Harry was having similar thoughts. ‘Two weeks is a long time,’ Harry said through their bond.

Draco smirked. ‘I was just thinking the same thing.’

‘Think we’ll be able to talk like this?’

‘Don’t know. We’ve never tried it while we are in different buildings.’

‘We always have our mirrors. Maybe we can use those.’

‘Sure. Just make sure to keep it in your pocket so that your Uncle doesn’t lock it up.’ Draco didn’t even want to think about what would happen if his father found the mirror. Severus may have been Draco’s godfather, but that didn’t mean Lucius was exactly thrilled that the Potions Master healed his son whenever he could and had done other things to circumvent his authority.

Draco really didn’t want to go home. He knew that his father had heard about the events that had happened in the Chamber of Secrets. Lucius had as much as told him that he was displeased with his son for his actions. He hadn’t sent his son a Howler, for according to Lucius that just wasn’t done. He had however sent his son a cursed parchment that had burned the poor boy’s hands. Sev had healed his hands, but Draco knew he was in trouble when he got home.

‘You alright, Ri?’ Harry asked, using a shortened version of his brother’s true name.

Draco shook his head and went back to his packing. ‘Yeah. Why?’

‘I just felt…fear, I guess. Are you scared of something?’

‘No,’ He answered shortly.

‘Liar. I can sense your emotions sometimes…like that night with the photo album last summer. Not all the time, just sometimes.’

Draco sighed deeply. ‘Probably just when I let my shields down…’

‘Shields?’

‘Occlumency shields.’

‘What’s Occlumency?’

‘It’s one of the mental disciplines. One of the things that Occlumency does is block a Legilimens from entering their mind. Uncle Sev says that I’m a natural Occlumens. I’ve got a book about it at Uncle Sev’s. I’ll let you read it.’

‘Thanks!’

--

The next morning Harry left Ron doing his packing at the last minute and went down to breakfast alone. The four petrified students had been returned to health the week before and Hermione seemed to spend every free minute in the library, even though exams had been cancelled. Harry took a seat at the Gryffindor table, facing the Slytherin table as he usually did. He noticed his brother come in flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. ‘Morning, Ri,’ he said, greeting his brother as he did every morning.

‘What’s with calling me ‘Ri’? You did that last night too?’

Harry grinned. ‘Your name is Orion, right? I think Ri fits you better.’

‘Whatever you say…Weasley alert.’

‘Huh?’ Harry was startled when the Weasley twins sat on either side of him. “Morning, Fred. George.”

“Good morning, Harry,” they said, helping themselves to the food.

“Did you two need something?”

Fred shook his head. “We just thought we would keep you company.”

Harry nodded and went back to his own food as the owls came in with the morning mail.

‘A letter from home,’ Draco told him as he took the letter from his father’s owl. ‘From Father.’

‘What does he want?’ Harry asked. Draco quickly scanned the letter and then purposefully lowered his shields, allowing waves of relief to wash over them both. ‘What? Good news?’

‘Father will be gone for about ten days…he’ll be back a few days before he and Mother take their scheduled trip abroad and I go to Uncle Sev’s.’

‘Maybe he’ll forget…’

‘Maybe. The Weasleys are talking to you…’

Harry glanced around him and then blushed. Sure enough the Weasley twins were grinning down at him.

“We know about your little Slytherin double,” George whispered, putting his arm around the younger boy. “As well as your Slytherin protector.”

“He told you?” Harry asked, glancing at the staff table. He caught Snape’s eye and the man nodded.

“He told us some,” Fred explained. “And some we figured out for ourselves.”

“We know that you and your Slytherin double are able to talk to each other without anyone hearing,” George continued. “Fred and I have a similar bond ourselves.”

“Are you going to tell anyone?” he asked, forgetting for a moment about the Fidelus Charm.

“No,” Fred answered. “We’ll keep your secret until your protector decides to make the secret known.”

George nodded. “And if you ever need anything, you can come to us, Harry. That goes for your double as well.”

“Thanks,” Harry told them.

“You’re welcome,” they replied, getting up and leaving him alone.

‘What did they want, Jamie?’

‘Jamie?’

‘If you can call me ‘Ri’, then I can call you Jamie.’

‘Fine!’

‘What did they want?’

‘To tell me that they know we are twins…and about the bond…and we can talk to them if we need to, or something.’

Draco turned and glanced over his shoulder at his brother, then he turned his gaze up to his godfather at the staff table. ‘Does Uncle Sev know?’

‘Fred said that he told them some and the rest the figured out on their own.’

Draco sighed. ‘You know them…can we trust them?’

‘Uncle Sev obviously does, since he told them. And I do too.’

‘If you are sure…’

‘I am. Don’t worry.’

--

Harry was lugging his trunk and Hedwig’s cage off the train when Draco brushed past him.

‘Uncle Sev wants you to contact him every night on the mirror.’

‘Why?’ Harry asked his brother.

‘Just to check in and make sure that you are alright. I’ll be doing the same thing.’

Harry nodded. ‘Alright. Stay safe, Ri.’

‘You too, Jamie.’ And with that Draco was gone.

Sighing, Harry loaded his trunk and the cage onto a trolley and slipped through the barrier. He looked around, but the Durselys were no where in sight. Had they forgotten about him? He went to the station entrance to see if maybe they were waiting for him outside. When they weren’t there either, he found a place where he could watch the door and sat on a bench, talking softly to Hedwig.

After a while he curled up in the bench and fell asleep, waking only several hours later when he felt the mirror in his pocket warm slightly and heard the soft alarm. Stretching, he sat up and pulled the mirror from his pocket. “Hey Uncle Sev.”

“Harry,” the man replied. “Did Draco give you my message?”

Harry yawned and nodded.

“Good. I want you to check in with me every night so that I can make sure that you are alright. If they treat you the way they did last summer, even once, then I will come get you. I don’t care what the Headmaster says. I won’t leave you there to be mistreated. Your mother wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Harry smiled at the man, still trying to wake up. “Thanks, Uncle Sev.”

“You are welcome, Harry. Where are you? Was that a train whistle I just heard?”

“I’m still at King’s Cross,” he told the man. “I think they forgot about me.”

“I’ll be right there,” Severus told him and then the mirror went blank. Five minutes later he walked up to Harry, pulling the boy into a tight hug.

Harry returned the hug. “I’m fine, Uncle Sev,” he said, his tone light and teasing.

“Hush, scamp,” he replied half-sternly. He took Harry’s trunk. “Let’s find an out of the way place so that we can Apperate.”

“That sounds good.”

Severus led Harry out of the train station and found a quiet alley.

Hedwig chirped softly and Harry looked down at her, sighing softly. “Uncle Sev…can I send Hedwig to Spinner’s End? If she goes with me she’ll be locked in her cage until you come get me.”

The man nodded. “That’s fine, Harry.” Harry released the majestic bird and Severus shrunk the cage, sticking it in his pocket. He looked down at the boy. “You know I would take you straight to Spinner’s End if I could, right?”

Harry nodded. “I know, sir.”

“It’s only for two weeks.”

Harry nodded once more, wrapping his arm around the man’s waist so that they could Apperate to Privet Drive . Moments later they were walking up the street to the Dursely’s house. Harry looked over at the Potions Master. “You look different without the robes.”

Severus eyed the boy beside him. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s a good thing, Uncle Sev. You don’t look as fearsome or bat-like.”

“Bat-like?”

Harry grinned up at the man impishly.

Severus gave him a playful smack on the back of his head and led him up the walk to Number Four. Setting the trunk aside, he knocked on the door.

A moment later Petunia opened the door. Upon seeing who was standing on her doorstep, she glared at them. “You come and take him from here by force last summer and now you want to bring him back? It’s not going to work, Severus Snape. Vernon refuses to allow him into the house. And I don’t want him either.” Before either of them could respond she slammed the door.

Harry felt a heavy weight settle on his shoulders and tears prick the back of his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry! His aunt and uncle had never wanted him and he had known that as long as he could remember, so why was it bothering him now? He was not going to cry over them, damn it!

As Petunia had said her last words before slamming the door, Severus had felt a crackle of magic. He pulled out his wand and under the cover of darkness stepped out onto the lawn and ran through a string of charms to test the wards around the house. Just as he had suspected, there was nothing there. Nothing!

He pulled Hedwig’s cage from his pocket and restored it to its proper size before tapping it with his wand and sending it on to Spinner’s End. He did the same with Harry’s trunk before turning back to the boy. The boy’s emotions were playing on his face as they usually did and Severus could tell he was struggling not to cry. “Come here, Harry,” he said, pulling the boy into another hug.

Harry went willingly, burying his face in the Potions Master’s shirt. A small part of him wished that the man was wearing the soft robes that he normally did. They were much better for hiding his face when he wanted to cry. After a few minutes Harry pulled away from the man. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I need to go to Hogwarts and let the headmaster know what happened and then I’ll take you to Spinner’s End, alright?” Severus asked, running his fingers through Harry’s hair in the now familiar comforting gesture.

Harry nodded. “Are we going to Apperate?”

“No. I can’t Apperate onto the school grounds, so we’ll go over to Mrs. Figg’s and use her Floo.”

Harry looked up at him. “Mrs. Figg is a witch?”

He chuckled. “She’s a Squib, Harry,” he said, leading the boy down the street.

--

Once at Hogwarts, Severus sent Harry down to visit Hagrid and then went to collect McGonagall before going to the headmaster’s office. “We need to talk, Albus,” he informed the older man.

“Come in,” he told them, waving them toward the two chairs in front of his desk. “I thought you went to Spinner’s End, Severus.”

The Potions Master ignored the comment. “I want guardianship of Harry.”

“We went through this at the end of last summer, Severus,” Albus replied. “He must stay with his relatives because of the blood wards.”

“Blood wards that fell about fifteen minutes ago. They did not come to retrieve him from King’s Cross and when I took him to their house, Petunia refused him. As I was the one who constructed most of the wards, I felt them fall. I tested them. They no longer exist.”

“How did you know they left him at King’s Cross?” Minerva asked him, looking concerned.

Severus sighed. “For many years Draco has had a two way mirror. I had its match. I got Filius to help me add another mirror to the set for Harry. Before they left school I told both boys to check in with me every night. When I did not hear from Harry tonight, I contacted him myself. That’s when he told me that he was still at King’s Cross.”

Albus folded his hands. “And you are sure she refused him?”

Lifting his head, he met the older man’s eyes with a silent invitation. A brief second later he felt the presence in his mind and he called forth the memory of what had happened with Petunia. Finally, the presence left his mind. “She refused him. The wards fell. And I want guardianship. Tomorrow, Albus!”

“I will see what I can do, my boy.”

Severus stood. “I know that you have the power in the ministry to get it done. Make sure that it happens, or I will let everyone know what you’ve let the Boy-Who-Lived go through these last twelve years.”

“He’ll do it,” Minerva said firmly, giving the older man a steely look.

Without another word, Severus turned and left the office, heading down to Hagrid’s hut to collect Harry.

--

After arriving at Spinner’s End, Severus sent Harry to shower and get ready for bed, while he hauled the boy’s trunk up to Harry’s room and started unpacking for the boy. Harry’s photo album and the blanket Lily had made for him were on the top. Smiling, he placed the album on the small table beside the bed where he knew Harry had kept it the summer before. Then he draped the blanket on the foot of the bed. He probably wouldn’t need it this summer, but since it was on the top, Severus figured that the boy liked to keep it close. That done, he used his wand to put away the rest of Harry’s things: the school books on the shelves above the desk, the robes in the closet and the clothes in the dresser.

“Thanks, Uncle Sev,” Harry said as he came into the room after his shower.

Severus turned down the sheets and light blanket on the bed before moving aside and allowing Harry to climb in. He sat beside the boy. “I want you to take a mild Calming Draft. You’ve been through a lot tonight and it will help you relax so that you can sleep again.”

Harry started to protest, but then just nodded, holding his hand out. Maybe the potion would help him forget too. When the potion was handed to him, he tossed it back easily before handing the vial back to Severus. Harry curled up on his side and closed his eyes. A moment later he felt long fingers stroking his hair gently as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

--

Harry sat up in the bed about a week and a half after coming to Spinner’s End, gasping for breath. It hadn’t been a dream that woke him, but something had indeed caused him to wake from a rather deep sleep. After a few minutes he realized what it was…terror. He was terrified. No…it wasn’t him. It was Draco!

Without a second thought, he slipped his school robe around his shoulders and raced down the stairs to the Floo. Tossing the powder down, he yelled, “Malfoy Manor!” and was gone in a flash of green.

--

Severus woke up when the alarm on the Floo went off. He had set it years ago to let him know if someone came in or out after a five-year-old Draco had come through and then sat on the floor all night because he hadn’t known where to find his godfather. That had been the first summer that Draco had ever stayed with him.

He rushed into the living room only to find it empty. A quick spell told him that Harry wasn’t in the house and had used to Floo to go to Malfoy Manor. He hurried back to his room to get dressed and grab his emergency kit. Lily, if Lucius doesn’t kill Harry first, I just might strangle your son!

--

Harry stumbled as he exited the Floo and the first thing that caught his eye was his brother lying, unmoving, on the floor across the room, his back and legs bloody. ‘Orion!’ he screamed silently.

He scrambled across the floor and carefully lifted his brother’s head onto his lap. His brother was alive, but barely conscious. “Hold on, dragon,” he whispered. “I’ll get Uncle Sev…”

Before he even had a chance to look for his mirror, he realized the presence of a third person in the room. “Well, well, well…if it isn’t Harry Potter.”

Harry looked up to see Lucius Malfoy staring down at him. “What have you done to him?!” he demanded.

“I’m teaching my son his place,” the man sneered.

“You nearly killed him! I won’t let you hurt him anymore!” Harry yelled, pulling out his wand.

Lucius laughed; the sound cold and harsh. “I should have gotten rid of you last year when I had the chance.” He pulled his wand and pointed it at Harry.

“Expelliarmus!”

“Avada Kedavra!”

The red and green sparks met in mid air and the two curses deflected back at their caster’s. Lucius managed to dodge the killing curse as it came back at him, but Harry was unable to move in time and the red light hit him square in the chest. He was thrown a few feet away from his brother, his wand tossed across the room.

Before Harry could even recover from the hit, Lucius threw another curse at him. “Crucio!”

Unearthly screams filled the air as Harry began to writhe on the floor in pain.

Severus heard the screams as he came through the Floo and with two quick curses; Lucius hit the floor and was bound with ropes. He hurried over to his boys, swearing colorfully. Both boys were unconscious from the pain, which at the moment was a blessing. Pausing long enough to conjure three Patronuses and send them to deliver messages, he turned back to Harry and Draco, uttering every healing spell he knew.

Moments later loud pops could be heard in the other room and three people entered the room. Severus looked up. “Poppy…help…”

Poppy Pomfrey’s heart broke at the look of distress on the normally stern man’s face and she quickly knelt beside him, pulling out her wand and running diagnostic scans on both boys.

Severus turned to the two men who had come with her. “Kingsley, Lucius used Cruciatus on Harry and who knows what else before I got here. I’m not sure what all he’s done to Draco. But I want to add kidnapping charges as well.”

“Kidnapping, Severus?” Arthur Weasley asked. “He kidnapped Harry?”

“No. He kidnapped Orion Potter nearly twelve years ago,” Severus told them.

“Orion…Harry’s twin? But I thought he died.”

“It was Lucius’ son that died. He switched the babies. I have everything you need to prove it in my vault at Gringotts.”

Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded. “I’ll take care of it, Severus.” He pulled a portkey from his robes and he and the bound Lucius disappeared.

Arthur moved closer to Severus, Poppy and the two boys. “What do you need me to do, Severus?”

“I thought your team might like to go through the manor, but first I need your help getting them to Hogwarts,” Severus told him, turning to Poppy. “Is it safe to move them?”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ve done what I can for them. The rest will just take time.”

The two men each carefully lifted a boy into his arms and headed toward the Floo.

When Draco woke he found himself in a room that looked surprisingly like his room at his godfather’s house. The blanket that Lily had made was covering his bed and he ran his fingers over the soft yarn as he sat up slowly, wondering exactly where he was.

The door opened and Lily Evans Potter walked into the room, smiling when she noticed that he was awake. He decided that she was even more beautiful than her pictures. “Mum…” he whispered softly. Narcissa had never allowed him such a familiar term, preferring the more formal ‘Mother’.

“Hello, my darling,” Lily said, moving to sit on the edge of his bed. She reached out and brushed the hair from his brow, before placing a gentle kiss there.

Draco bit back a sob, closing his eyes and hanging his head. He had spent much of the last year wondering what Lily would have been like if Lucius hadn’t taken him and Voldemort hadn’t killed her. Many nights had been spent curled up under the blanket that she had made for him, dreaming of what might have been.

Lily took him in her arms, holding him like one would hold a child half his age. But he couldn’t bring himself to care, he merely clung to her, wrapping his arms around her neck and burying his face against her shoulder. “It’s alright, sweetheart,” she whispered, rubbing his back and rocking him gently.

“Am I dead?” he asked after several minutes.

“No, ‘Rion,” she told him softly. “It’s not your time yet.”

“Where am I then?”

She kissed the top of his head. “You went to the only safe place you could think of…your bedroom at Sev’s house.”

“He’s always taken good care of me. Better than Fath…Lucius and Narcissa,” he told her, making no move to leave the comfort of her arms. “Do you think he’s doing a good job raising us?”

Lily nodded. “Yes, sweetheart. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have take care of my two boys.”

“Do I have to go back?” he asked her.

“Let me show you something, darling,” she said. She waved her hand and a small mist appeared, circling tightly. Then in the middle of the mist an image appeared. It was an image of the Infirmary at Hogwarts. Severus sat between two beds, each bed holding the still form of a boy: one with hair so light it almost disappeared against the sheets and the other an unruly mop of dark hair. “He hasn’t left your sides, little dragon. He loves you both very much. It would hurt him very badly if he lost either one or both of you.”

He sighed and nodded. “Can I just stay a little longer? I want to spend some more time with you…”

“You can stay a little longer, but then you must go back, my darling.”

--

Severus sat in a chair between the beds where Harry and Draco lay. Poppy had told him that they were both just sleeping, and that they would both probably sleep for quite some time as their bodies needed the rest that a healing sleep provided. He knew that they would sleep for another several hours, but he just couldn’t bring himself to leave them. Not after what they had been through at the hands of Lucius Malfoy.

A hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up to see McGonagall standing behind him. In an uncharacteristic gesture, he reached up and covered her hand with his own. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“How are they, Severus?” she asked him.

He sighed. “Sleeping now. Draco wasn’t cursed, but he did suffer a cruel beating. The worst I’ve ever seen Lucius give him. Harry only got hit with the Cruciatus, but he’s so little…”

“You care for them.”

“I love them, Minerva. Not just because they are Lily’s sons, but like they were my own. I…I don’t know what I would do if I lose them.”

She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Albus is at the Ministry making sure that Lucius gets prosecuted and that you are named temporary guardian of Draco. You already have guardianship of Harry.”

“I don’t want guardianship. I want to adopt them.”

Minerva smiled softly. “You’ll get to adopt them, but a guardian needs to be named while the paperwork is processed. And you know how the Ministry likes to drag its feet with things like this.”

He nodded. “Albus better not mess this up for me, or I’ll take the boys and go to Beauxbatons or Drumstrang or even Salem, if I have to.”

“You wouldn’t leave Hogwarts, Severus. It’s your home.”

“Minerva, nothing matters anymore except these two boys. I tried telling him something like this would happen, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t even want me to tell them that they were twins.”

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll make sure that he doesn’t mess this up.”

--

Harry sat up and stretched, wondering what he was doing in the Gryffindor changing room at the Quidditch pitch.

“It’s about time you woke up, sleepyhead.”

Harry whipped around to see his father standing in the entrance. “Dad!” He flew off the bench and threw himself at his father. “What are you doing here?”

James held his son close for a moment. “I came to talk to you, son.” He led the boy back to the bench and they both sat down.

“I…I’m not dead am I? I mean, that was a pretty nasty curse that Mr. Malfoy threw at me…and it really hurt.”

He ran his hand over his son’s messy hair. “No, Harry, you aren’t dead. Just sleeping, but you need to wake up.”

“Why?”

“It’s not your time. And Severus needs you.”

Harry leaned his head against his father’s side. “I don’t think he liked you very much, Dad.”

James chuckled. “No. Severus and I didn’t get along very well.”

“He’s my guardian now. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn’t want me anymore.”

He put his arm around his son. “Lily and I never wanted you to go to them. But Severus will be a good guardian for you.”

“I think he wants to adopt me, but he wants to wait until he can adopt Dra…Orion too.”

“I’m glad you two finally found each other.”

Harry sighed. “When do I have to wake up?”

“Soon, Harry,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of his son’s head. “Very soon.”

“Can…can we go flying first?” Harry asked, looking up at his dad, hope shining in his eyes.

James laughed. “Sure. Come on.”

--

Harry was the first to stir and Severus was sitting on the edge of his bed a moment later. “That’s it, phoenix…come on. Wake up.”

“Uncle Sev?” the boy whispered, opening his eyes. He attempted to move, but even the slightest movement was painful.

“I’m here, scamp,” Severus replied, gently taking Harry’s hand in his.

“It hurts…”

Severus summoned a pain killing potion and gently lifted Harry’s head so that he could drink the potion. Within moments the boy’s features seemed to relax. “Better?”

Harry nodded. “Draco?”

“He’s still sleeping, phoenix.”

“Phoenix?”

“I’m sure you are aware of what I call Draco.”

“You call him dragon. I think I’ve done it once or twice,” Harry answered.

Severus nodded. “Not only does his name mean dragon, but he also reminds me of one. You remind me of a phoenix. Do you know what a phoenix is?” Harry shook his head. “A phoenix is a very rare, magical bird. When it reaches a certain time, a phoenix will burst into flames and then will rise again from the ashes.” He ran his fingers through Harry’s unruly mop of hair. Harry leaned into the touch. “No matter what life throws at you, Harry, you always rise from the ashes: the death of your parents and the dark lord’s attack on you as a baby, the attack when you saved the Stone, the Chamber of Secrets this year…and now this.”

“I guess that name does fit, doesn’t it?”

“It does, Harry. But that doesn’t mean you can go rushing off into danger all the time. That will stop.”

He looked up at the man sheepishly. “I guess I’m in big trouble, huh?”

“Yes. You are. But I think they pain you will be in for the next couple days from the Cruciatus Curse that Lucius threw at you will be punishment enough.”

“That was a really nasty curse, Uncle Sev,” Harry said, making a face. “It still hurts even with the potion you gave me.”

Severus sighed. “I’m afraid that because of your age I can’t give you anything stronger. The potion that I use is much too strong for you.”

“You’ve had someone use that curse on you?”

“It is a favorite of the Dark Lord. It was not unusual for him to have used it more than once in the same evening to show his displeasure.”

Harry nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. “Uncle Sev?”

“Yes Harry?”

He opened his eyes and looked up at the man again. “I saw my dad…before I woke up.”

“And what did he say?” Severus asked, careful to keep all emotion from his voice. Surely James Potter had nothing good to say about him to Harry and Harry would now probably regret allowing Severus to take him in and become his guardian.

“Well…he said that he thought that you would make a good guardian for us.”

Alright, so he hadn’t been expecting that! James Potter actually thought he would be a good guardian to his son…his sons. This was one of the rare occasions that Severus Snape was left speechless.

Harry glanced up at the man briefly before continuing. “He also told me that I had to come back because it wasn’t my time yet…and because you needed me.” The last part was whispered just loud enough for the man to hear. Harry rolled onto his stomach to get more comfortable as he began to grow drowsy. It was a move he had seen his brother make the few nights they had spent together in their room in the Potions Master’s quarters at Hogwarts and it never failed to get the man to rub his brother’s back until he feel asleep. Well, Harry had decided it was time to find out it if was as wonderful as his brother made it out to be.

“He was right, Harry,” Severus replied almost as softly, as he began gently rubbing the boy’s back as he had done with Draco since Draco was little. Draco, who could act like a spoiled puppy at times, was definitely rubbing off on his brother. “At first I took you in simply because you were Lily’s son and I knew that she wouldn’t want you to have been raised by her sister. But over this last year you’ve become just as special to me as Draco is. I can’t imagine going back to a life without my two scamps…” He continued the gentle massage until he was sure that Harry was sleeping. Sleep was the best medicine that he could offer the boy right now. “I would be proud to one day call you my sons,” he whispered. He brushed the hair from the boy’s brow and pressed a gentle kiss on the lightening bolt scar, before standing and tucking the boy in.

He turned to the next bed to check on Draco, pulling out his wand and running a quick diagnostic scan. Draco was still sleeping deeply. Lucius had somehow charmed his cane and the wounds left by it were resisting all their efforts to heal them. Thankfully they had been able to stop the internal bleeding and it was just the bruises and open wounds on his back that they had to worry about.

Severus sat on the edge of the bed and pulled back the light sheet covering his godson to make sure infection wasn’t setting into the boy’s back. He cast a glance at the boy’s face and relaxed slightly at the peaceful look on the boy’s face. He hadn’t seen that look since Draco had been a toddler. “What are you dreaming about, little dragon?” he asked softly, knowing that he wouldn’t get an answer. “If you are with Lily, tell her that I…I miss her.”

--

“Why did all this have to happen?” Draco asked Lily. He still sat on her lap, unwilling to leave the safety and comfort of her arms until he had to.

Lily kissed his brow. “I wish I knew, my darling.”

Draco sighed softly. “I don’t think Moth…Narcissa ever really wanted me. She would teach me things she thought were important, but she never held me…I was raised by house elves. All he did was teach me what purebloods should and shouldn’t do. The only time he touched me was to try to hold me still so that he could cane me.”

“My poor baby,” Lily whispered, holding him even closer. “No one deserves to live like that and you did nothing wrong, my son. Lucius is the one that is wrong. It’s not your fault.”

“Uncle Sev has tried to help me…when he was allowed to, but sometimes he wasn’t allowed anywhere near me. I wish he could have been my father instead of Lucius.” He looked up at her. “I’m sorry…I just…” He hadn’t really meant for it to come out like that.

She gently placed a finger on his lips. “You don’t have to explain. I do understand, Orion.” He rested his head against her shoulder again. “Go back and let him be more than just your father…let him be your dad. Let him love you and care for you as he would his own child. I used to tell him all the time that he would make a good daddy.”

Draco chuckled. “He might hurt me if I called him ‘daddy’.”

“He might, but I think deep down he’d be honored,” she told him with a smile. “It’s time for you to go back now.”

“Alright,” he sighed deeply.

“Will you give Sev a message for me?” He nodded against her shoulder. “Tell him that the things that happened in the hours after my death were not as they appeared.”

Draco looked up at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I can not explain or say anything more than that. But if I know Sev, what little I can say will intrigue him enough to look into those events.”

He nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

Lily pressed another kiss to his brow. “Close your eyes now, my darling. It’s time for you to go back.”

--

‘It’s about time you woke up,’ Harry said through their bond when he noticed his brother starting to stir.

Draco cracked open an eye and gave his brother a dirty look. ‘Shut up. I was having a good dream.’

‘You’ve been sleeping for two days.’

‘With the way I hurt right now, I’m glad I’ve been asleep.’

‘I’ll get Uncle Sev,´ Harry told him, carefully standing up and taking two steps toward where Severus was sleeping in the chair where he had stayed since they had brought the boys to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had come in nearly an hour before and discovered Severus asleep in the wooden, straight-backed chair and had transfigured it into something more comfortable. The man hadn’t even stirred. Harry placed his hand on his guardian’s shoulder. “Uncle Sev…Draco’s awake.”

The Potions Master woke up, instantly moving to the blond boy’s bedside. “How are you feeling?”

Draco looked up at his godfather. “My back hurts…”

Severus brushed the hair from the boy’s face. “I’ll spell some pain reliever into you in just a minute,” he said, pulling out his wand and running a diagnostic spell. Draco nodded and then winced. When he finished, he spoke to the boy again. “The potion should kick in soon, dragon.”

“Thanks, Uncle Sev. I’m really sorry about this…”

He gave the boy a stern look. “It is not your fault, Draco. You have done nothing wrong.”

“That’s what Lily…what Mum told me.”

Severus face softened and he returned his chair back to its original state and moved it closer to the bed so that he could sit where Draco could see him better. “You spoke to Lily?”

“Yeah,” Draco answered. “She stayed with me. Mum seemed happy that you were taking care of us.” All Severus could do was nod; he was lost in thoughts of his Lily. “Uncle Sev?”

“Hmm?” the man asked, being pulled from his thoughts.

“She asked me to give you a message…said that you will figure out what it means.”

He looked back down at his godson. “What’s the message?”

Draco was quiet for a moment, trying to make sure that he had the message right. “She said to tell you that ‘the things that happened in the hours after my death were not as they appeared’. She couldn’t say anything else about it, but she said that you wouldn’t stop until you found the answers.”

Severus quietly repeated the message and then nodded. “Now that I know that something needs to be looked at a little more closely, I will look at the other events of that night again.”

--

“Is it really true?” Hermione asked the next day as she and Ron sat on Harry’s bed in the infirmary. Dumbledore had agreed to allow them to come and speak to Harry personally. The day before the Daily Prophet had reported that Lucius had been arrested for using an Unforgivable curse on Harry and had nearly beaten his son to death. The rest of the charges against Lucius were being kept quiet while Severus and the Aurors decided how to handle releasing the news to the public.

Harry nodded. “He used the Cruciatus on me.”

Ron looked over at his friend. “What were you doing at Malfoy Manor anyway? The paper didn’t say.”

“That’s because Uncle Sev wouldn’t let them,” Harry answered.

“Uncle Sev?! You call him ‘Uncle Sev’?”

Harry winced. “He’s my guardian and he told me that I could call him that if I wanted to.”

“He’s your guardian?” Hermione questioned. “When did that happen?”

“Officially or unofficially?”

“Both!” Ron responded.

He sighed. “Officially about two weeks…since school let out. My aunt wouldn’t take me back.”

“And unofficially?” Hermione asked.

“Since my birthday last year,” he answered.

“And you didn’t tell us?!” Ron snapped. “Why?”

“He did not tell you, Mr. Weasley, because he could not say anything for his own safety as well as Mr. Malfoy’s,” Severus said, walking up behind them with his pensieve in his hands. He set the basin on the table beside Harry’s bed.

“What does Malfoy have to do with…”

Severus cut him off. “This is a pensieve, Mr. Weasley. If you and Miss Granger will join me, I will show you why he could not say anything.”

Ron started to protest, but Hermione rolled her eyes. “Come on, Ron,” she said, moving closer to Severus. After a moment of hesitation, Ron followed her and the three disappeared into the pensieve.

They returned a few minutes later and Ron sat on the edge of the bed with his mouth hanging open. Hermione moved over to give Harry a hug. “Are you happy?” she asked him.

“My baby brother’s not that bad,” he replied with a slight smirk, knowing that Draco wasn’t sleeping as he pretended.

‘Watch it…’ the blond growled through their bond and Harry laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Draco took offense to being called my baby brother…”

“They even twin-talk,” Ron grumbled. “That’s just great.”

Severus crossed his arms and looked down at the red head. “Mr. Weasley, perhaps it would be best for you to return home so that you can prepare for your trip tomorrow.”

Ron nodded and stalked out of the room.

Harry frowned at his friend’s retreating back. Hermione gave him another hug. “He’ll come around, Harry.”

Harry sighed and nodded. “I hope so. Where’s he going tomorrow?”

“His father won some kind of prize at work,” Hermione answered, sitting beside him. “So they are all going to see his oldest brother in Egypt. Don’t worry about him, he’s being a prat.”

‘She’s right, you know,’ Draco said.

Harry turned to his brother. “Stop pretending to sleep, Draco.”

“I’m not pretending,” Draco replied without opening his eyes. “I’m attempting. There is a big difference, thank you very much.”

Hermione giggled. “Hello Malfoy.”

He cracked an eye and looked over at her before closing his eyes again. “Good night, Granger.”

Harry threw a pillow at his brother. “Go to sleep.”

Severus rolled his eyes and left the three teenagers alone.

Bright and early on the morning of July thirty-first, Severus stood at the bottom of the stairs in his house at Spinner’s End and whistled loudly. “Time to get up, boys!” he yelled up the stairs as he had done every morning since he had brought them home when Madame Pomfrey had released them two weeks before. “If I don’t hear you moving in five minutes I’m coming up there…”

Five minutes later Severus made his way up the stairs. He was well aware of the fact that the two boys had stayed up past midnight the night before, even though they were both grounded for their stunt with the Chamber of Secrets. He planned to give them a hard time about it this morning before releasing them from their punishment, much earlier than he had intended.

He went first to Harry’s room. “Up, Harry. We’re leaving in an hour.”

“The game isn’t until later,” Harry grumbled. “I want to sleep…”

“We have an appointment before the game,” he said, pulling back the blankets covering the boy and giving him a firm swat.

Harry yelped in surprise and looked up at the man. “What was that for?”

He moved over to the dresser and began pulling out clothes for the boy. “For staying up so late last night. You are still grounded, mister.”

“But I always stay up…”

Severus turned back to Harry, who was finally sitting up on the edge of his bed. “I’m leaving in one hour. If you aren’t ready, there will be no Quidditch game for you today.” He turned and left the room, walking across the small hall to Draco’s room, where he flipped on the overhead light. He had learned last summer that each boy needed to be woken up differently.

Draco swore softly and covered his head with his pillow.

Severus walked over and lifted one corner of the pillow. “I really don’t want to have to wash your mouth out on your birthday. And I know that you were both up far later than you were supposed to be while grounded. We have an appointment before the game this morning and I’m leaving in an hour…with or without you.” He dropped the pillow back in place and walked over to the dresser, pulling clothes out for him as well. Normally he would let them do this, but he figured they could use a hand this morning since he woke them earlier than normal.

After a moment Draco scrambled from his bed, losing his balance. Severus caught him before he could fall and gave him a firm swat. “Ow!”

“For staying up late last night,” he told his godson. “Breakfast will be ready soon.” Severus left the boy to get ready for the day and headed back downstairs. His two boys were in for a big surprise today.

He was just accepting a large envelope from a Ministry owl when the boys ran down the stairs and slid into their seats half an hour later. Severus used his wand to apply the glamours that the two boys wore when they went out in public with him. In another day or so it would be safe for them to go out without them.

“What are we going to do after the game, Uncle Sev?” Draco asked as he ate.

“I have a surprise for the two of you, but I will tell you after the game.”

Both boys made faces, but neither one commented. Once breakfast was finished and the dishes washed, dried and put away, Severus Appearted the three of them to the pitch were the Puddlemere United played Quidditch. The season tickets he had gotten for the two boys for Christmas had turned out to be a good investment.

“I thought you said that we had an appointment,” Harry said, looking around.

Severus checked his watch. “We do. In about five minutes. But first I wanted to tell you both something. As part of your birthday present I have decided that you two are no longer grounded…” Both boys gave excited shouts. “However, your brooms are still mine for two more weeks.”

Draco threw his arms around his godfather. “That’s alright, Uncle Sev. Just as long as we aren’t grounded anymore.”

He chuckled and returned the boy’s hug. “Look,” he said, turning Draco around to see the entire United team coming toward them.

The captain shook the Potions Master’s hand. “Are these the two boys, Professor Snape?”

“They are indeed, Mr. Smith,” Severus replied as the two boys stood, staring aghast at their favorite Quidditch team. “My nephews: James and John Evans.”

Smith turned and looked at the two boys. “I understand that you both play Quidditch,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” came the replies.

“Would you like to meet the team?” he asked them. When both boys nodded eagerly, he laughed and turned to introduce them to the first string as well as the reserve members.

Severus smiled as he watched the delight on the boys’ faces as they were introduced to the players and spent a few minutes talking to each one. Yes, this had been a good idea. He would have to remember to thank Minerva for the idea later.

After Smith finished introducing the boys to the team, he looked down at them. “How would you two like to warm up with us?”

“We’d love to!” Draco exclaimed enthusiastically.

Harry turned to Severus. “Can we, Uncle Sev?”

He nodded and pulled two shrunken brooms from the pocket of his robes. With a gesture, they were both returned to their normal size. Draco and Harry took their brooms and followed the team into the stadium. Shaking his head, Severus made his way to their seats and pulled a book from his pocket.

--

Severus took something for his headache as he made lunch at Spinner’s End, listening to Harry and Draco go over the game they had just witnessed in minute detail. Normally he would have asked them to settle down, but it was their birthday and he had never heard so much excitement in their voices.

“I can’t believe that the Beaters let us ride with them for the victory lap,” Harry said

“Look at the robes,” Draco replied. “These are the real thing!”

Severus shook his head. He had asked the team to do something special for the boys, not spoil them. Not only had they warmed up with the team and been allowed to take the victory lap with the team, but after the game they had been taken into the United changing room and each given a set of robes. But not the replicas of the team’s robes that were sold in the Quidditch stores. No, Harry and Draco had been given actual team robes, shrunk to size and had insisted on wearing them home.

“Uncle Sev,” Harry said, breaking into the man’s thoughts. “Can we look at our brooms again?”

“Absolutely not,” he replied firmly. “They will still look the same in two weeks when you get them back.” The brooms were another thing! They had gotten the United team to sign their brooms. How was he going to manage to survive raising two Quidditch obsessed teenagers?

“But Uncle Sev…” Draco started.

Severus cut him off. “I said no. Go upstairs and change while I finish lunch. And no robes; we’re going into a muggle area this afternoon.”

“Where are we going?” Harry asked.

“It would ruin the surprise if I tell you. Now go before I start counting…” At that both boys scampered from the room and Severus was given a few moments of peace.

--

As soon as he remembered whose brilliant idea this was, Severus was going to use an Unforgivable. Or maybe two. Yes, the Cruciatus followed by the Killing curse. That would make up for this nightmare.

A muggle amusement park was not exactly the way he would have chosen to spend the afternoon, but it was making his boys happy. For the first time in their lives they could have fun and enjoy themselves without worrying about the consequences.

As a young teenager he had gone to a place similar to this with Lily and her parents and had thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was something that he would never forget. Their laughter and shouts of delight as he followed them around the park told him that this was something that they wouldn’t soon forget. Yes, Lily’s boys deserved to experience this as well.

Against his better judgment he was allowing the two boys to fill up on candy, sweets, sodas and all manner of unhealthy food. Harry had had some of these foods on rare occasions while living with Lily’s sister, but Draco’s faces as he experienced muggle foods for the first time were priceless. They both wanted to try everything and he was letting them. Besides, there was a simple solution for dealing with two sugar high teenagers. It was called a sleeping potion. He wouldn’t really give them a sleeping potion, but he did have something that would counteract all the sugar in their systems.

It was well after dark when he Apparated home with two tired, but very happy boys. And the day wasn’t over yet. He had one more surprise left for them…one he hoped that they would enjoy.

--

Once home, he sent them both to get ready for bed and waited for them in his favorite chair. When they were both seated on the sofa he began. “I’m sure that you are both aware that I was only granted temporary custody of you both until other arrangements could be made.”

Both faces fell. “Does this have anything to do with the envelope that you got from the Ministry at breakfast this morning?” Harry asked.

“Yes, it does,” he answered.

Draco looked close to tears. “Mother wants to keep me, doesn’t she? And she doesn’t want Harry…”

“No, dragon. You will not be going back to Narcissa. She has no right to you. And you will also not be split up. You will be staying together.” The two boys brightened a little at that. “You have both been adopted.”

“Is it to be a blood adoption?” Draco asked, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.

Harry looked back and forth between the two. “What is a blood adoption?”

“You will both be given a potion that contains three drops of blood from the man that wishes to adopt you. It will make you his true son, not just his adopted son. This is done sometimes in pureblood families when there is no blood heir in order to continue the family line. Normally the adopted child takes the name of the family that is adopting them. In this case, the man who has adopted you both is going to let you two decide whether or not to make this a blood adoption and to take his name,” he explained to them, pulling the envelope from the Ministry from his pocket and setting it on the coffee table. He then pulled two vials from another pocket and set them next to the envelope. With a wave of his wand, a quill and small bottle of ink appeared on the table. “I will leave you two alone while you make your decision about the blood adoption. When you are ready, you both need to sign the adoption papers. You can find me in my study.” He stood and left the room before either of them could respond.

The two boys sat in silence for several minutes, both staring at the items on the table. Harry looked at his brother. “Who do you think it is?”

Draco pulled his knees up and hugged them. “I had hoped it would be Uncle Sev. Usually they let the kids go with the godparents, but I guess since he isn’t my real godfather…”

“I wonder if we had godparents. Why couldn’t Uncle Sev adopt us?”

“Maybe they wanted us to go to a real family…and Uncle Sev isn’t married.”

Harry sighed deeply. “So…do we look and then decide about the blood adoption? Or decide first and then look?”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Draco said despondently. “The adoption has been approved. We may as well just drink the potion and then look.”

“I guess you’re right. At least we’ll be together.” Harry reached out and took the two vials. He uncorked them both and handed one to Draco.

“Here goes nothing,” Draco sighed, before draining the vial in his hand. Harry followed suit as Draco reached for the envelope. He carefully opened it and pulled out the adoption papers. “He didn’t…”

“Who? What?” Harry asked, pulling the documents from his brother’s hand. “He did. He really did…”

“Happy birthday scamps,” Severus said from the doorway, smiling at them. He walked over and sat between them on the couch.

“Why didn’t you tell us that it was you?” Draco asked, looking up at his godfather…no, not his godfather any longer. Uncle Sev had adopted them!

He put his arm around the boy, pulling him close. “And miss the chance to pull one over on the two of you?”

“It was a pretty good trick, ‘Ri,” Harry said, leaning against the man’s other side.

“Oh, alright…” Draco sighed dramatically. “It was a good trick…and very Slytherin of you.”

“Thank you, dragon,” Severus replied with a chuckle. “You really thought I would let someone else take you?”

He looked up at the man. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“So what do we call you now?” Harry asked.

Severus ruffled Draco’s hair. “Uncle Sev will work until you are ready to call me ‘Dad’ or something similar. Now…how about signing those papers?”

Draco nodded and leaned forward to pick up the quill. ‘So, do we take it?’

‘Let’s do it.’

With a slight smirk, Draco signed his new name: Orion John Snape.