"Ow, wait, it's scratchy."

"Shh." Harry held a hand over the younger boy's mouth to keep him quiet as hurried footsteps sloshed through the puddles in front of the large rose bush.

"Where'd they go?"

Harry held his breath as Dudley and his gang surveyed the darkened neighborhood through the rain and mist, trying to discern where Harry and Mark had run to.

"Filthy, disgusting prick," Dudley spat. "Come on, maybe he's rummaging through a trash bin at the park where there's cover." He beckoned to his thugs and they ran off through the downpour towards the park.

Next to him Harry could feel Mark relax as their pursuers left, and Harry wiped some of the water off of his face and glasses.

"Too bad you can't put electronic windshield wipers on those," Mark said quietly, wishing he had a hood to shield his head from the summer rain.

"Yeah, too bad," Harry said quietly, wishing he could tell Mark that it was possible, and that Hermione frequently spelled his glasses to repel water during Quidditch games.

"Here," Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out the bag of chips and soda he'd snitched from the cupboard at home and gave them to Mark. A thorn from the bush they were inside caught his wrist and ripped it, but he ignored it.

"Thanks," Mark said, taking them and storing them away in his own pockets. "I'm so hungry, but I don't want it to get soggy." He hesitated, and then asked, "Do you think it's ok to go out yet?"

Harry looked up at the unrelenting sky and shook his head. "Better wait here until dark. At least the bush gives us some cover."

"Not much," Mark grumbled.

Harry wanted to snap at him because so far he'd been having a lousy day... a lousy summer actually, but that was nothing new. Instead he just nodded and said, "Don't move so much and you won't get scratched. Just sit still." Mark stopped fidgeting and Harry sat back on his bum and hunched over. That morning he'd been denied food again and been kicked out of the house and told not to come back until after dinner. He'd taken what he could from the cupboard while aunt Petunia was in the bathroom however, but had saved it for Mark, who was younger and smaller and who didn't have friends who sent him food by owl in the summer when his parents denied him food. Instead Dudley had seen Harry digging through a rubbish bin just before it started to rain and had taken chase. Mark had distracted him but Harry had only needed to rescue him from a pummeling that was a guarantee if caught. So here they sat in a rose bush in a downpour with no place to go.

"I wish I could go away with you to school," Mark said quietly, pulling Harry from his thoughts.

"What, to St. Brutus' Secure Home For Incurably Criminal Boys?" Harry laughed. "I can guarantee you're better off here than at a school for thugs like Dudley."

"But how come you're there?" the younger boy asked, wiping rain from his eyes again. "You're so nice and I never see you breaking in like Dudley."

"Because that's where the Dursleys like to tell people I go. Makes them feel good to seem in control to everybody. Makes it seem like Dudley is a saint because if they sent me ‘a real criminal'," he rolled his eyes, "then surely precious little Didykins can't be bad or else they'd send him too."

Mark shook his head, trying to make sense of it. "But we'd be together."

Harry sighed and looked up to the sky as the rain started to let up a little. "I'd protect you all year if I could. I do write though." It was true, Harry wrote every week so that Mark wouldn't feel so completely alone. Harry knew Dudley singled Mark out since Harry was gone every year for school, and Mark had no friends. Teachers took pity on him because they knew what his parents were like, but that didn't make things any better, and Harry worried yearlong about his friend, home and at the mercy of his parents and Dudley's gang.

They sat quietly for a while and the rain finally stopped, leaving Harry and Mark cold and soaked.

"It's getting dark," Mark said. "Can I stay with you tonight? My parents won't let me have a towel to dry off with because it's not my bath day and they won't want the extra laundry.

"I can't sneak you in unless you want to sleep in the shed. But I'll drop a towel to you out my bedroom window."

"Ok. Thanks." A shed, shared food and clothing and other shared necessities were a common occurrence for the two boys, especially before Harry had gotten his Hogwarts letter four years ago and gotten away from the neglect. Oftentimes one or both boys spent the night at the park, or at the other's house in the back yard.

There was no sign of Dudley's gang as they climbed out from under the bush, somehow getting more scratched up going out than they had gotten going in.

Harry sent a clean towel down from his bedroom window into Mark's waiting hands below, as promised, and then Mark went on his way home and Harry lay back on his bed, stomach growling as he hadn't been able to find anything edible in the bins on the way home, or been able to sneak anything else from the cupboard behind the Dursley's back. He thought briefly about emptying his Gringotts Vault to send Mark away to some private school far away, but drifted off to sleep unsatisfied with the idea because he knew a guardian had to enroll a student in school. If only he could go to Hogwarts, Harry thought sadly as he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

"Harry! Harry! Harry!"

Harry turned, expecting to see Mark tearing down the street in fear from Dudley in the heat, but instead saw his friend with a grin bigger than he had ever seen before.

"Harry!" He came to an abrupt halt, on the playground pavement and took in deep gasping breaths from having run so hard.

"I've been looking everywhere!"

"What is it?" Harry raised a brow. Had he won the lottery or something?

"I'm going away! Just like you, to a private school!"

"How? Your parent's don't have the money to-"

"No, I don't know how but it's like a dream come true! They say if I can come up with the money then good riddance to me because they'd rather I be gone all the time than take care of me!" He grinned again. "Isn't that great?"

"Where is it?"

Mark bit his lip and looked around. "The letter said I couldn't tell anybody but my family. But it came tied to a bird Harry! A bird! Like in those novels we used to get at the library before Dudley tore them all apart and they banned us!"

Harry's eyes lit up now too. "Hogwarts? Is that the name of it?"

Mark pulled back, eyes wide. "How do you know?"

"Because that's where I go. I was never allowed to tell."

"But St. Brutus's-," Harry cut him off by shaking his head.

"No, remember, I told you, that's just where they say I go to look in control."

Mark plopped down on the bench they'd been standing next to.

"I can't believe it. We get to go to school together. Is it amazing? I bet it's amazing!" And then his face fell a little and he wrung his hands together.

"What, what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't have the money to go."

"Don't be silly. They have a fund for supplies for kids who haven't got any money. Besides that I've got some money so that you don't have to get second hand stuff."

"Really? Can you take me to get it all? My parents said they wouldn't."

Harry grinned. "Got your list? Come on then."

It was Saturday morning and they knew they wouldn't be missed. Harry pulled out some change and they took a bus to a stop near the entrance to Diagonalley in the center of London.

Mark's mouth was a non-stop machine throughout the day as Harry took him here and there, paying for his wand and books and even a pet, which it turned out Mark did not want an owl, but got a small magical snake instead who was trained to understand what humans said to it.

"Do you think I'll end up in Gryffindor?" Mark asked.

"Not with that you won't," Harry laughed and nodded at the snake.

"What? Oh, yeah, you said that's the, the..."

"Slytherin."

"Yeah, that one's symbol."

Harry shrugged. "I haven't met anybody in that house yet that likes me or that I get along with, and the head of Slytherin hates me, but there's a first time for everything if you end up there."

Mark wrinkled his nose. "I'll go wherever you are, I'm sure of it."

"Maybe," Harry said, "but that hat has a mind of it's own... literally. No use trying to convince it otherwise."

Harry used the money he'd pulled from his vault and exchanged for Muggle currency to buy Mark dinner before sending him home, telling him not to use his wand until he got on the train, and to read as much of his books as he could in the remaining weeks until school started.

Lying in bed that night, Harry mused at how very different things could turn out in the space of a week. Just a week ago he'd lay in bed wishing for the millionth time that Mark could go with him to Hogwarts, and today it was a reality. He was excited... almost as excited as he had been when he'd met Hagrid on the rock in the sea and finally been given his own letter.

* * *

Severus Snape was in a sour mood. Not only had Dumbledore sent him to do orientations with several Muggle first years, but one of the little sods had already gone and gotten his own supplies, some of them non-standard, all on his own. Scratch that, not on his own, but with Harry Potter, the boy who was ever insistent on being the bane of his very existence.

He shook his head and glared at a ghost he passed in the hallway as he remembered the whiny little voice telling him, "A boy down the street took me when he got his supplies sir. I didn't know somebody was coming to take me so I went with Harry."

A headache starting in, Severus settled down into the comfortable chair he'd just bought to replace the old one behind the desk in his office. Try as he might to put the Potter brat out of his mind, he could not, and cursed under his breath as he set down the lesson plan that he could not seem to finish. Where did Potter get off thinking he had the authority to take other people's children on a harebrained journey through Muggle London and then into Diagonalley by himself? He was only 14 himself and still just a child. What had his relatives been thinking letting him go off alone like that? They probably trusted the little whelp, and now that he thought about it, Severus was quite sure that Potter probably had those poor Muggles he lived with wrapped around his little finger, letting him do whatever he pleased, running amok all summer, neglecting chores and homework, lounging around all day... yes, that was what Potter had done.

A long sigh escaping his lips Severus knew that this year he would once again be forced to try and work some sense of responsibility into the child, as he was the only one who saw him for what he was: arrogant, stuck up, spoiled, and self-conceited, breaking rules without any regard for the importance others placed on his unworthy little life. He was just like James Potter, and Severus would not stand for it. He detested seeing the boy's little fan club following him around and falling all over themselves all year, and he would not let it go on again this year.

Determined that he would not suffer the Potter headache all year again, Severus was finally able to find some peace as he pulled the lesson plan back over to him and set to finishing it.

With another nervous glance at his watch, Harry heard squealing tires and looked up to see the Evans family car peeling around the corner. It came to an abrupt halt just a few feet from where Harry was standing out in front of King's Cross, and the back front door opened long enough for Mark's father to push him out of the car and onto the pavement. Harry hurried forward to pick up his friend, and Mr. Evans pointed at Harry through the open window. "Does that school of yours let you stay over holidays?"

Harry nodded mutely, trying to hold his tongue and not bite out an insult at the scrawny man. Harry wasn't as afraid of him as he was uncle Vernon, but nonetheless, Mark was, and whatever Harry said might have an impact on the way Mark was treated in the future.

Mr. Evans narrowed his eyes at Harry and said, "You take him and you take his trunk, and don't think that he'll be returning for the holidays or any of that nonsense, understand? If I see him before next summer, it's you that's going to get the beating, understand?"

Harry nodded, and bit down on his tongue hard. He desperately wanted to pull out his wand and hex the man senseless, perhaps to say only kind words. He knew how it felt to be so unwanted, and hated to see the pain on his friend's face as his father sped off, leaving Mark and his trunk of new things on the sidewalk.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked.

Mark held up his elbow to show a long, bleeding scrape down part of his arm, but he nodded, and hearing a whistle of a Muggle train, Harry looked down at his watch again and panicked.

"Come on!"

Mark's trunk on top of Harry's along with Hedwig's cage, Harry and Mark ran through the busy Muggle station, and Harry didn't even give his friend a chance to flinch as they ran right through the solid barrier and onto platform nine and three quarters. Sure enough, the scarlet steam engine was blowing steam, and groaning as it promised to leave them behind if they didn't hurry.

"Hurry Harry dear! It's pulling out!" Shouted Mrs. Weasley as they ran past, and Harry shouted a hurried thanks. Somebody's father that they didn't know hurried to help Harry haul the two heavy trunks onto the train just as it gave a menacing lurch and began to pull forward, Harry and Mark just barely inside.

The train door closed, Harry leaned against the wall in the narrow short stairwell leading up into the train, and he and Mark looked at each other before laughing out loud together.

"Are we really going Harry? Is it real?"

Harry grinned, and placed a hand on his younger friend's shoulder. "We're going. You're going. C'mon."

Harry used his wand to make the two trunks feather light, and then levitated them ahead of them as they looked for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

"You haven't told me much about your friends," Mark said nervously as they searched and Mark became worried that Harry might reject him now that they were in the magical world.

"Sorry," Harry commented quietly, peering into yet another compartment, only to find it full of Slytherins. It was true. Harry had tried hard to separate his school and home life, the only connection being his letters to Mark. He didn't usually let Ron and Hermione in on his life, but especially not Hermione. Ron had seen the bars on his window, and it was a secret between Harry, Ron, Fred, and George.

"They're nice," he said. "You'll like them. Promise."

Mark tried to let himself feel reassured, but there was nothing for it. He was still nervous, and he wiped his sweaty palms on the sides of his best pair of pants as Harry said, "Here they are," and pulled open a compartment door.

"Harry, mum was worried sick about you," Ron said, standing up to help Harry heave the two trunks in and up onto a rack above their heads.

"Yeah, she shouted at me as we ran past."

Hermione stood to give Harry a tight squeeze, and so did Ginny before any of them noticed Mark standing there nervously in the doorway, wringing his hands.

"Who's the first year?" Ron asked, plopping back down onto the blue train seat and picking up a comic book titled, Sly The Seeker.

The girls turned to see Mark, and Harry, suddenly nervous himself said, "This is Mark Evans. He lives a street over from me, and we sort of grew up together."

"Wow," said Ginny, "that doesn't happen very often where kids in a Muggle neighborhood end up going to Hogwarts together.

"Hi Mark," Hermione said, moving forward to shake his hand. Mark took it nervously, and Harry made introductions all around before they sat down.

"Are you going to be in Gryffindor then?" Ron asked, thumbing through the comic to find where he'd left off, and Mark shrugged. "I hope so."

"Me too," said Ron. "You seem nice. Wouldn't want to spoil it by ending up in Slytherin now, would we?"

Hermione nudged him painfully in the ribs and Ron swore before saying, "What?"

"Not every person in Slytherin is the same Ronald," she scolded him.

Ron snorted and dared her, "Name one."

She held up a finger and said, "Terrance Higgs is very studious. He's very well rounded and I've yet to hear an unkind word from him in study group in the Library."

"Ha," Ron said, "one case, and he was nasty to Harry when he was a Seeker Harry's first year."

Hermione held up another finger and said, "Theodore Nott is quiet and he doesn't make jokes or pull faces like the others." She had a smug look on his face and Ron sputtered.

"I'll bet he's the one who hexes people's shoes to tie themselves together in the halls."

"You know that's Fred and George," she challenged and held up yet another finger and began to list off others who had not been cruel to them, starting an argument between the two of them.

"Don't mind them," Ginny said to Mark as he listened intently to the fight. "They're in love."

Suddenly Ron and Hermione got very quiet and both went red before Ron scolded Ginny, and picked up his comic book, acting like he was ignoring everybody.

"Is the fighting between houses that bad?" Mark asked Harry quietly, and he shrugged.

"Sometimes. It depends on the people. Mostly our lot gets into it with Malfoy and his lot, the others in our year. Malfoy and his cronies are the wizarding equivalent to Dudley, Piers, and the others."

"Oh," Mark said. Well, there had gone all his hopes of living a bully free existence in the magical world.

"No worries," Ron said over the top of his comic book. "Just about everybody will stick up for you if Malfoy gets on your case. No one really likes him. Thinks he's God's gift to the world because he's so rich."

Hermione cleared her throat, and struck up a conversation with Ginny about charms, and Harry engaged Mark and Ron in a conversation about Quidditch, and who Ron thought would go to National's this year.

When the trolley came by, Harry bought lunch for himself and Mark, and a bag of every flavor beans for Ron. Hermione had taken care of hers and Ginny's lunch, and Mark watched curiously, wondering why the red headed brother and sister didn't buy their own food. Their clothes were nicer than his and Harry's and he made a mental note to ask Harry about it later when they were alone.

Several other people from Gryffindor popped in to say hello to them and were introduced to Mark before the train ride was over, and as it grew dark, Mark grew more and more nervous.

Used to seeing the slight differences between Mark's moods, Harry felt his eleven year old friend tense beside him, and as Ginny and Hermione went to another compartment to change into their robes, and Ron disappeared to find a bathroom, Harry said quietly, "You'll be fine. Promise."

"What if I'm picked on here?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm picked on too. But I have friends. And so do you."

With a deep breath, Mark thought to himself about the deep dislike these people had shown for people in Slytherin house. He supposed they got on well enough with kids from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but what if he got put into Slytherin?

When the train finally came to a stop in the dark, Harry was forced to separate from Mark, and gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before telling him to follow Hagrid, and disappearing into the darkness with his friends. Feeling uncertain about separating from the friend he'd clung to for dear life for the last fourteen years, Harry reassured himself that he'd see him in the Great Hall after the sorting, and save him a seat at Gryffindor table.

"Your friend is quiet," Hermione observed as they rode the horseless carriage up to the castle in the chill night.

Ron and Ginny pretended not to be listening, and Harry said quietly, "He's been picked on a lot."

"Like you?"

Hermione's question was anything but innocent. She was prying. Harry glanced at Ron nervously, but Ron gave a very tiny shake of his head to tell him silently that he had not told about the bars on Harry's window or the cat flap in the door the previous summer. Hermione was smart though, and had picked up on things over the years.

"Forget it Hermione," Harry said quietly, and stared off into the darkness as they rode on up the bumpy drive.

With Ron and Hermione sitting across from him at Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, he made Ginny scoot over and make a space for Mark for after he was sorted, and they waited quietly as the long line of first years was lead into the hall and up to the platform where the staff waited. They were arranged alphabetically, and Mark was the tenth person back.

Several people were separated off into Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, with two into Ravenclaw before it became Mark's turn. He sat down on the stool, and even from this distance Harry could feel the boy's apprehension from the way he sat rigid and unflinching.

The hat deliberated for a few minutes, as it did with most students, and when the wide rip opened up, Harry's heart sank as it shouted gleefully, "Slytherin!"

Slytherin table cheered loudly at their first new first year that year, and Mark looked stricken as he hurried of the platform with a panicked glance at Harry. Harry tried to give him a reassuring look, but he didn't feel reassured himself, especially not with the way Ron was looking at him, as if he had already befriended an enemy.

"You met him," Harry said with a challenge to his friend. "He's not like that."

Hermione kicked Ron under the table hard to be sure he would not be rude, and Ron grunted. "Well, he will be after being with that lot for the year."

Harry shook his head. He didn't want to believe it was true, but for all of Hermione's insistences that there were decent people in Slytherin, he looked over at Draco across the hall, who gave him a sneer, and he was not reassured.

* * *

Severus eyed the hall of joyful students with an eagle eye, already sure that he had picked out the new troublemakers. There was a small girl with mousy brown hair at Hufflepuff that was using her fork as a catapult for carrots, a boy with flaming red hair at Ravenclaw who was overly loud and receiving unhappy looks from his new peers, a blond girl at Gryffindor table who had just set her plate on fire, and then there was his own house. Most of the new Slytherins seemed acceptable, but there was the scrawny blond whelp with messy hair from Little Winging that had gone to Diagonalley with Potter over the summer, ignoring the letter's instructions to wait for a professor from Hogwarts to chaperone him. Mark Evans was his name, and he was sitting at the very end of the table, staring down at his plate of food and not eating, ignoring the other first years around him who seemed properly excited to be accepted into Slytherin. It was of course a possibility that he was already homesick, as first years often became, especially Muggle-borns, but as dinner ended, he had the feeling that this was not the case.

Students began to rise, and Prefects beckoned for the first years to follow them from the hall and warned them not to get separated. Malcolm Greengrass, the sixth year Slytherin Prefect was giving instructions, but Evans wasn't listening. Severus was appalled to follow the boy's gaze and realize that the brat was trying to get Harry Potter's attention as the boy rose from Gryffindor table. Brilliant, he thought, suddenly angry. Another member of Potter's fan club, and in his own house.

McGonagall said something to Severus as she returned from putting out the fire at Gryffindor table, but he only half listened as she ranted about students using magic at the dinner table, and without any instruction. Instead he watched as the first year Slytherins were lead towards the Entrance Hall, and Evans lagged behind when he neared Potter, saying something frantically to the Gryffindor golden boy. Potter said something before quickly scribbling something down on a piece of paper and then handing it to him and then shoving him in the direction of the other Slytherins. Of all the gall, giving autographs to a Slytherin! He was outraged, and rubbed his eyes hard with one hand.

"Why Severus, what on earth is wrong? You can't be this stressed on the first night?" Minerva seemed genuinely concerned.

"This is going to be a long year," he muttered. "Potter is already giving out autographs to my Slytherins."

She raised her eyebrows and followed his gaze to where Harry hurried along behind his friends, head low as he tried to avoid stares. She had never known him to give an autograph, and knew from three years of watching him hurry between classes that he did not like attention as Severus thought he did.

"I'm sure that wasn't the case," she said, but Severus wasn't convinced, and stalked off towards Slytherin through the throng of students, set on grounding house unity into the firstlings before the night was done. United we stand, divided you die. Yes, that was what he would tell them.

As he tried to brew his first ever potion, a simple bruise salve with only four ingredients, he thought back to the long speech Professor Snape had given in the common room the night before about standing united and not letting their guard down around people from other houses. How silly, he thought, because Harry was in another house and he was the only person on earth he had ever let his guard down around. He couldn't even think of letting his true thoughts or feelings show to another person... except maybe Professor Snape.

How odd, he thought, wondering where that stray thought had come from. Why would I trust Professor Snape? He doesn't seem to like anyone very much, especially not from other houses, but he did check on us last night before bed, and when he handed out schedules this morning, he told me to eat my oatmeal so I would get sick, and take an apple in my bag in case I got hungry later.

He bit his lip in a similar fashion that Harry always did, a bad habit that they shared, and stirred his potion counter clockwise fifteen times, trying not to lose count. The Professor hadn't actually tucked them in, but he had talked gently to the first year boys in their dorm for a few minutes before lights out, letting them know that if they needed anything they could come to him, even in the middle of the night. His parents had not even treated him so kindly since he was a small child. Something had changed when his father had lost his job and his mother had started drinking, and he had always longed for the sense that he was cared for since that day. He felt a small flicker of that feeling when his new Head of House spoke. He was rough in class for sure, but in private he spoke in a way that put Mark and the other Slytherins at ease, as if everything would be ok.

At the end of Potions Mark went to Herbology with the other first years and tried to make friends with a few Gryffindors he ended up working next to, but was upset when they ignored him and talked only amongst themselves. The other Slytherins in his class didn't seem to pleased about his attempt at befriending Gryffindors either, and a boy named Peter nudged him in the ribs and whispered, "Stand united or fall dead, remember?"

Shoulders hunched, Mark felt in his pocked for the piece of paper Harry had given him with the Gryffindor password and location, his only reassurance that when he needed help Harry would be there for him as he always had been. He felt disappointed in himself for not making into Gryffindor as Harry had, and even more so that Harry seemed downtrodden and disappointed in him as well. What could he have done though? Harry had said there was no use in fighting the hat, so when it said he would fit better in Slytherin, he didn't put up an argument.

He sighed as he tried to repot the squirming Aspaga root, and when he finally succeeded and earned two points for his effort, it somehow felt undeserved, and he took no delight in it as his new housemates did.

At lunch he tried to catch Harry's attention again, and succeeded, only to be nudged hard by an older blond boy sitting next to him.

"Better not stare Evans," he said, and Mark looked up to see that it was Draco Malfoy, the bully Harry had warned him about.

"Huh?" he asked, rattled and unsure what to do. Did they allow people to beat kids up here like they did in primary school? He was unsure what protocol for dealing with bullies was here. At home, you ran and hid. But he had a wand now. Was he allowed to use that to defend himself?

"You're staring at Gryffindor," Malfoy said. "Best to knock it off before people get the idea that you wanted to be sorted there."

"Oh," Mark said, "ok," and he broke eye contact with Harry to stare down at his plate again, once again not feeling hungry, despite all of the warm, delicious, plentiful food laid out before him. Best to skip the meal anyhow, he told himself, because his stomach had hurt after what he had eaten last night, and too much food today would do the same to him.

"Cheer up," Malfoy suddenly said, nudging him more gently this time, thinking that perhaps he had made Mark feel bad. "Are you homesick? Professor Snape always listens when we're homesick. Once he even game me a candy when I was a first year and I went to talk to him about missing my family."

Frowning slightly in confusion, Mark looked up. "You're being really nice to me," he said, wary of the possibility of being lured into a trap, or perhaps having to dodge a punch for figuring out the ruse.

Malfoy smirked. "What did you expect? You won't find any friends out there," he motioned to the rest of the student body beyond Slytherin. "Stand united, remember?"

He sighed quietly. "Yeah," he said, getting the feeling that this was the way it was, and that he would have a very hard time getting to spend time with Harry. Or maybe he doesn't even want to be my friend anymore, he thought, remembering again the conversation on the train, and that perhaps all houses were told to stand united or fall apart. He was beginning to think that he didn't like this place very much. But what else was there to go back to?

* * *

Mark was delighted to spot Harry in the dungeons on Tuesday evening as he left Slytherin common room to explore the castle.

"Harry!" he said excitedly, hurrying over to him and not noticing the mop in his hands.

"Hey Mark," he said, standing straight and leaning on the mop handle.

"What're you doing down here? Did you come to see me?" His voice was too hopeful, and Harry didn't fail to notice.

He motioned to the mop and said, "Snape gave me detention."

Mark frowned. "For what?"

Harry shrugged. "Said my tie wasn't done right and my hair was too messy to grace his classroom. Told me if I was going to have a fan club then I might as well look good."

Biting his lip again, Mark remembered what Harry had told him about being famous in the wizarding world in the last week before the summer had ended.

"No worries though," Harry said. "Most everybody gets detention a couple times a year for something or other. Just not usually on the second day back." He mopped for a moment and then stood straight again, "Except maybe Ron's brothers Fred and George. They got detention last night for setting off fireworks in the girls loo after the feast."

Mark sniggered and Harry laughed too, glad to see his young friend happy.

"Are you mad that I got in Slytherin?"

Harry sighed. "Nope. You're still Mark Evans aren't you?"

He grinned and nodded, some of his messy hair falling down into his eyes. "Better comb it," Harry said, "or Snape will make you get a hair cut so short you're head will freeze all winter."

He ran a hand through his own hair then and continued, "Told me he would shave it if I didn't start to comb it down, but you know what it's like. Yours never lays flat either."

"Potter!"

Both boys looked up, startled to see Snape standing there looking angry. "I did not give you permission to talk to other students! I gave you permission to shine this corridor floor until I can see my reflection in it!"

Mark looked stricken, unsure what to do, but Harry mumbled, "Yes sir," and set back to work again, and Snape disappeared back into his office again and shut the door hard.

"You'd better go before he takes points from you," Harry said, and then waved goodbye as Mark hurried off, sad that he had gotten his friend in trouble, and had not gotten to spend any more time with him.

* * *

"I'm going to tell professor Flitwick that you were doing magic in the hallway," a Ravenclaw first year girl with short brown hair said haughtily to Mark after classes on Wednesday afternoon.

Mark looked up from where he had been kneeling, practicing tying his shoes with the charm they had learned earlier that day. "What?"

"You Slytherins are always breaking the rules, my older sister told me so, and I'm going to make sure you get into trouble for it." She stuck her chin up in the air as she clutched her books to her chest, and Mark was unsure what to say. He didn't want to get detention and scrub floors, and he didn't want to disappoint professor Snape, who had informed them that any time they got into trouble, he would know.

"But I-"

"But nothing. I saw you doing magic and you're going to lose a lot of points."

A throat cleared then and the girl looked up to see Harry standing there, only a few years older but already much taller than she was. Her eyes glazed over at the sight of him and her cheeks tinged red.

"Oh, hello Harry," she said in a dazed voice that made Mark want to gag and giggle at the same time.

"What's going on?" Harry asked having seen the panicked look on Mark's face, and also having been secretly listening to the conversation from around the corner.

"He was doing magic in the halls!" she said, snooty attitude renewed with vigor as she pointed at Mark accusingly. "I'm going to tell my head of house to make sure that he gets into trouble for it!"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Is that so?"

She smiled, thinking that he would approve, but found herself sorely mistaken.

"Well why don't you go be a little tattle tale like a five year old then, and when Professor Flitwick gets back, he'll find me and Mark gone and think you're a liar. How does that sound?"

Her face fell as Harry leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"But he's Slytherin! You have to hate him!"

"He's my brother and you're a tattle tale. Who do I have to hate?"

She glared at him then and said, "You're not brothers! You're parents are dead and your last names are different! My sister told me all about you!" The dazed, dreamy quality of her voice was gone as she faltered for words, trying to make sense of this strange Harry Potter character who was not turning out to be all that she had heard.

"Yeah, well your sister was wrong. He was born before our parents died and then he got adopted by the people down the street from where I got adopted. So go on, go do your telling and I'll tell Professor Flitwick what I saw, while you tell him what you saw, and we'll see who loses the points."

She gave a loud hmpf, turned on her heel in a very Hermione like fashion, and strode away in the opposite direction of Flitwick's office.

Harry reached down to give Mark a hand up and Mark looked up at him in awe.

"You lied to her," he said quietly. He had never known Harry to be a liar, and had always respected him for that. It had emboldened Mark to tell the truth to his parents, even when it did mean a whooping or days without food in the end.

"No I didn't," Harry said. "It's true. You are my brother, even if the details are a little fuzzy."

Mark looked up at Harry's face and saw that he was very serious. "You mean that?"

Harry nodded.

This was how Severus found the first and fourth year Slytherin and Gryffindor in the hallway as he rounded the corner a moment later. There was Mark Evans, gazing up at the famous Harry bloody Potter, with a dreamy fan struck gaze, and Potter smiling down at him with a fake smile, undoubtedly trying to convince him of some untruth or get him into some sort of trouble.

"Mr. Evans," Severus said in a stern, quiet voice.

The boys looked over, and Mark sensed the nervousness in Harry. He could tell that Harry wasn't fond of the Slytherin head of house, although he wasn't sure why yet. It could be just because of the detention, or because he was not very kind in class.

"Yes Professor?" he asked quietly. Somehow he couldn't muster the heart to be afraid of this man who had continued to tell him to eat well and check on him and the other first years before bed each night and every morning before breakfast.

"I wish a word with you in my office."

"Ok."

Severus watched with disgust as Evans turned and gave a wave with a bashful, "Bye," before following him down through the castle and into the dungeons.

In his office, Severus offered the boy a seat in one of the visitor's chairs, and then pulled out a tin of hard candy and held it out to him.

"I- I can have one?" Mark asked, uncertain. The only person who had ever given him any candy was Harry. Piers Polkiss had offered him a chocolate bar once, but it had turned out to be a trap, and when he had taken it, Piers and Dudley had pounced on him.

Severus nodded, and Mark reached forward tentatively and selected a red strawberry one and popped it into his mouth, clearly enjoying the treat.

Waiting a few moments for the boy to get comfortable, and to gather his own thoughts, Severus finally said, "I wished to speak to you about other students."

Mark looked up and Severus was pleased to see he had the boy's undivided attention.

"Being from a Muggle home, you may not realize some of the... history, and politics of the wizarding world. I realize as much and do not blame you. However, it would be wise to avoid believing everything that other students, especially older ones, say to you."

"Sir?" He had a confused look on his face, and Severus clasped his hand together in front of him on the desk.

"I've noticed you've been speaking to Mr. Potter lately, and I would like to advise you against believing everything that he has to say. I do not want to see you lead into trouble. There is a long history of rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and it would be wise to be cautious. Also, your Slytherin peers may not appreciate any... notions you have about Mr. Potters fandom."

Notions about Harry's fandom? What did that mean? Harry was just... Harry. The boy on the next street who always protected him and fed him, and who once got beaten by his uncle so badly for getting caught letting Mark stay the night in his cupboard with him, that he missed school for weeks. If anything at all, Mark owed him for being such a good friend to him.

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Mark bit his lip and thought about how much worse Harry had it at home than he did. His parents withheld food sometimes, but not all the time, and they had never made him sleep in a cupboard. They even bought him clothes sometimes, even if they were second hand, and last year his mother had given him a storybook for his birthday. But not Harry. Harry was guaranteed a beating a week, and even now Mark knew that there were large mottled bruises on Harry's back and shoulders.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Mark asked suddenly, unsure if he could really trust this man before him. Part of him was screaming no no no, he's an adult and he'll only hurt you, but part of him was saying yes yes yes, it's worth it if I can pay Harry what I owe him for taking such good care of me.

"Of course," Severus said. He had been watching the boy work something out in his mind silently for the last few minutes.

"Promise you won't... well, never mind. It's a secret but you have to do something about it." He was going to ask him not to tell anybody, but that might be necessary to get Harry out of the Dursley home. Mark had not yet thought about the possibility of Harry being put someplace far away from Little Whinging and not having his protection next summer.

"I am listening," Severus assured him. Mark nodded, and then dove in, knowing he could not go back once he started.

"Harry doesn't have a real good home life sir. His relatives are mean to him and make him scrub floors a lot and do a lot of other chores. They don't feed him much and his cousin beats him up a lot. They even used to make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs and-" Mark stopped speaking when his professor held up a hand to stall him.

Snape was quiet. "Sir?"

His eyes rose to meet Mark's, and Mark could tell that the man was angry.

"You did not listen to a word that I told you, did you Mr. Evans? I brought you here specifically to warn you about believing things that come so glibly from Potter's lips, and here you sit spouting his lies to me. I assure you Mr. Evans, that Mr. Potter's relatives feed him properly, pamper him, and have never made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. And in the future you would do well to spend more time listening to your head of house instead of to the Gryffindor golden boy who apparently thinks it's funny to send his fans down here in order to garner respect!" By the end of the tirade the man had worked himself up, and when Mark was dismissed he made haste exiting the office, not wanting to catch any of the brunt of the man's anger.

Back on his bed in his dormitory by himself, Mark sat quietly and felt dispirited. He didn't understand what had gone wrong. Professor Snape had seemed so kind to him, and now he was angry because he had told the truth? Perhaps Harry disliked Professor Snape for other reasons that Mark wasn't aware of, and now he felt even worse because he had just spilled a precious secret to somebody who was unsympathetic.

He put his head in his hands. What have I done?

* * *

"Ugh!" Harry grunted in surprise as Snape grabbed his collar after Potions the next day and dragged him down the hall and into his office, depositing him unceremoniously into a chair. He expected to see defiance in the boy's features, but instead was pleased to find fearful, uncertain eyes.

"I don't know what you're playing at Potter," Snape spat out at him with so much contempt Harry thought it was too thick to cut with a knife, "but misleading innocent first years into having sympathy for poor little abused Harry Potter, is not acceptable!" He slammed his hand down hard onto the desk, and Harry jumped, wondering how the man could put anger, mocking, and scary all into one sentence.

"Really Potter, a cupboard under the stairs?" He laughed then and as Harry looked horror stricken and turned pale, Severus finished, "I underestimated your ability for asinine lies. Did you think I would give you sympathy if you sent one of my own little Slytherins down to tell me how poorly you've been treated?" He noted with vague satisfaction that the boy was gripping the arms of the chair he occupied so hard that his knuckles were white and his hands were shaking. Whether it was out of fear or anger, he did not know, but also didn't care.

"I suggest you stay away from my students Potter. The next time I see you speaking to one of them, you can count on detention. As for now, you can go out into the hall with a toothbrush and start scrubbing." Severus pulled open a drawer and withdrew the famous red toothbrush he usually reserved for Fred and George and handed it to Harry, who took it and stalked out without a word.

The gall, Severus thought angrily as another Potter induced headache set in once again. He could hardly stand even the thought of the brat.

"Hi Harry."

"I'm not talking to you," Harry said quietly, still not looking up. He didn't have to look to know that Mark's shoulders had fallen.

"You're not?"

Harry looked up, eyes hurt and angry, and Mark took a step back. Harry looked away.

"Why are you-"

"You know why Mark. The cupboard? You had to tell him about the cupboard? I thought you were my friend. I thought I could trust you." Upset now, Harry closed his book, grabbed it and walked out of the library, unable to sit there any longer.

Suddenly stricken with grief as he watched his only friendship walk out the door, Mark sank into a chair and let his head fall to the table. He didn't care that people passed him by, or whispered, or even that a first year Hufflepuff girl asked him if he was all right, he just sat there with his head down ignoring everyone. He didn't want them to see his tears. He didn't want anybody to know how ashamed he was.

What had he done? He had lost his best friend.

* * *

"Not talking to your little Slytherin friend anymore?" Ron asked a couple of weeks after Harry had left Mark by himself in the library.

Harry shook his head, still hurt by what had happened. There was something else gnawing at him too, but he had been trying to ignore it.

"Well, it's about time," Ron said. "I mean, he was obviously put into Slytherin for a reason. Is he the reason you got in trouble with Snape? I'll bet he got you in trouble on purpose, didn't he?"

Suddenly Harry stood up from his chair in the common room and shoved Ron so hard that he and his wooden chair tipped over.

Ron shouted in shock as he went over backwards, and the whole house stopped what they were doing to see what the ruckus was about.

"Just shut up Ron!" Harry said angrily, throwing his hand down to cut off the conversation. "You don't know what you're talking about." Harry stalked off and Ginny and Hermione sat with their eyebrows raised in shock as well as Ron lifted his arms from where he lay on the floor and asked in confusion, "What did I do?"

That gnawing feeling came back to eat at him again, and Harry tried to push it away as he lay on his bed, but couldn't. He had lost his first friend, and it was his fault. Yeah, Mark had messed up, but Harry didn't have to be such a jerk about it. He just wanted to yank at his hair or yell or something. Anything. How was he going to make it in Little Whinging without Mark? How was Mark going to make it there without him?

Harry couldn't deny that he had seen his friend... his brother, moping around the school for the last two weeks. He looked sick, and Harry watched as the boy sat in the hall with food before him, but never ate much, if anything at all.

Why did you have to tell Mark? Harry asked himself. Nobody cares. Nobody. How many times had he dropped hints to McGonagall, to Flitwick, to Hooch even? How many times had he begged the Headmaster to let him leave that wretched place? It had always pained Harry to ask to leave Mark behind by leaving the Dursley's, but he had always planned on finding a way to take Mark with him, even if it meant dragging him into the wizarding world before he knew that Mark belonged there too.

He dropped his fists down onto the bed hard, and heard the door to the boy's dormitory creak open.

"Harry?" It was Ron.

"Yeah."

"You still mad at me?"

Harry looked over, feeling desolate. Are you going to lose your other best friend now too? The one that did keep your secret?

"You should be mad at me," Harry said sullenly.

Ron sighed and came and sat on the edge of his friend's bed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I say stupid things sometimes. Hermione tells me so all the time."

Harry gave a short laugh and so did Ron. "Don't worry about it," Harry said, staring at his ceiling canopy. "It wasn't your fault."

They were silent for a few moments as afternoon sun filtered into the room, and then Ron said, "What happened with you and Mark?"

"He told."

Ron licked his bottom lip. "About... you know?"

Harry nodded.

"Oh."

A sigh escaped Harry's lips, and he decided to tell Ron something he didn't know.

"You were my first friend in the wizarding world, you know? And you're my best mate... but he was my first friend ever, and he's my best friend too. Like my brother. His parents weren't great either, and when they kicked him out of the house, he would stay with me. And when my uncle... you know, got real mad and... well, I would go there and sleep in his room. Sometimes he would stay with me in the garage when his parents wouldn't let me inside. It was so stupid, but when he was willing to sleep on the cold hard garage floor next to me, without a blanket or pillow, that was like saying he was the only one who did care. We looked out for each other. Just like you and me, but, well, it's different."

Ron swallowed. "Did you ever tell his secret?"

Harry shook his head. "No."

"Would you?"

With a deep sigh and a frown, Harry was forced suddenly to put himself in Mark's shoes.

"I want to. I want him not to have to live like that." He looked at Ron now and realized what a burden it must have been on him.

"Fred and George wanted to tell," Ron said. "We fought over it and they didn't talk to me for a long time," he said, "even though I wanted to tell too."

Damn. Why did his life have to be like this, Harry wondered. On the one hand, nobody could ever know, and on the other hand, his friends were suffering either because they wanted to tell but hadn't, or because they had told, and had still lost the game. He ran his hands over his face and up through his hair.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, and Ron nodded.

"That's what friends do," Ron said. "That's what brothers do. They do what they think is right for their friend. I still think it's right to tell someone, but that's not what you want, so I don't. Mark thought it was right to tell someone, and he did because he thought that's what was best."

Harry looked over at Ron and threw a pillow at him, hitting him in the face. He grinned and said, "I don't know what Hermione was talking about. You're wiser than anyone I know."

Ron grinned then and threw the pillow back. "Go find your other brother then. That's all the wisdom you're getting from me for now." Ron got up and left Harry to his thoughts, but Harry was up and gone after only a few minutes more, needing to find Mark.

* * *

"What're you doing Slytherin? This is Ravenclaw territory, and you don't belong here." The seventh year boy smirked at the look of fear on Mark's face as he withdrew his wand and twirled it menacingly in front of him.

"I- I didn't. I was lost and I was-"

The seventh year boy laughed then and took a step towards Mark, wand aimed at him. "I don't think you were lost at all. I think you were trying to put a hex on the hall leading towards Ravenclaw common room, weren't you? That is what you Slytherins do, isn't it?"

"No we, I didn't, I mean no I wasn't." Mark stammered on and the older boy sneered at him.

"Go on then, make excuses, but you'll pay before you're done." He stomped his foot and laughed as Mark jumped, falling backwards and onto the hard stone floor, hind end and hands smarting from where they hit hard.

"Poor little Slytherin want his greasy head of house?" He laughed again, and Severus was just about to step out from around the corner, enough evidence to put the brat in detention until the end of the school year, but a voice stopped him, and he stilled, years of laying in wait as a spy bolstering his patience.

"Back off McGregor." It was Potter, and his voice was steadfast and angry.

"What's it to you Potter? It's just a Slytherin, and I was just having a little fun."

"You were just being a bully," Harry said, and Severus could feel the anger radiating out of the boy now.

"Oh, and his little friends, and head of house aren't bullies? Look at how they treat you!"

There was silence for a moment before Harry said, "And if you do this, you're just as bad. Picking on someone so much younger than you that they don't even have a chance. Did you even give him a chance to explain himself, or did you just assume he was up to no good?"

The Ravenclaw fumbled with his words for a few moments before he said, "I gotta go." Severus heard receding footsteps in the isolated hallway, and then there was silence.

There was a scuffling sound, and unable to listen any longer without seeing, Severus cast a silent disillusionment charm on himself and peered around the corner to see Harry helping Mark up off the floor where he had fallen.

"You have to be careful, remember? What did I say? Didn't I tell you there were bullies just like Dudley and his gang here too?"

Mark nodded then, and looked down at his shoes. "You said to watch out for Draco, but he's been real nice... sort of."

Harry nodded. "Well, you're in his house. I guess he would be." He looked down at the floor as well now, and said, "I guess I messed up. I told you we have to stick together to survive here, just like at home, and then I didn't hold up to my end of the bargain."

Mark looked up at him, tears in his eyes, and Harry put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "C'mon, don't cry. It's ok," but Mark was shaking his head now with earnest.

"No, I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I just wanted to help." He reached up to wipe tears from his eyes, but didn't seem to care that Harry saw him do it.

"I know. But remember what it's like in Little Whinging? Surviving together means keeping each other's secrets, because people will use information against you. It's like that here too. I don't go around telling people what your parents do to you. That's just information they can use to hurt you when the time is right."

Still hidden, Severus' chest tightened. Mark was being abused? Potter did not seem to be trying to be deceitful at the moment, and that could only mean that he had not deceived Mark into believing falsely that he also was being mistreated at home. To drive this point in further, Harry continued his lesson in life with Mark.

"I know it sucks, but we've got to face the hard facts. Nobody cares, not at home or here. I've tried telling professors too many times, and they never cared enough to take me seriously. You just have to keep acting like everything's ok, just like at home, and if you ever need me, just come get me. That's why I gave you the password to Gryffindor at the feast. I'm not going to let anybody hurt you."

Mark sniffed then, and looked up into Harry's eyes. "Even if I'm a Slytherin?"

Harry gently put his hands on Mark's shoulders, and said, "You're my brother. How could I ever do anything different than to protect you like my brother?" The two boys let their heads fall forward, foreheads resting together, and Severus took several steps back and around the corner.

No, no, this wasn't right. Potter was spoiled, he was a liar, he was the son of James Potter, arrogant and stuck up and privileged and everything that Severus was not. And yet, there were the two abused boys of Little Whinging, banded together as brothers of necessity, unable to stand alone lest they die.

How ironic, he thought, head resting on the stone wall behind him. Hadn't that been what he had preached to his house year after year? And yet here were a Slytherin and Gryffindor more able to stand together than he had seen most Slytherins do. Yes, it was a necessity, but there was something else there, and it was in their hearts. They might as well be brothers in blood for the loyalty they had. Hadn't that been what he and Lily were? Chosen family. ‘Blood is who you're stuck with, but friends are the family you choose,' Lily had told him.

"Lily," he breathed, gut aching with her absence and also with the guilt that he had been no better than his own father, and to Lily's son no less. Harry's words to the Ravenclaw had struck him particularly hard as well. ‘And if you do this, you're just as bad. Picking on someone so much younger than you that they don't even have a chance. Did you even give him a chance to explain himself, or did you just assume he was up to no good?'

I just assumed, Severus admitted to himself. When he next looked back around the corner, finally visible, the boys were gone, but Severus had made up his mind. He would protect these two boys as if they were his own. He would discover what they had been through, and vow that they would never have to go through it again. He was determined, and nothing would stop him. ‘I love how stubborn you are sometimes Severus,' Lily's words came back to him as he headed off to the Headmaster's office. ‘Someday our children will be as stubborn as you.'

* * *

Ten Months Later - Saturday July 2

Giggling and raucous thumping could be heard upstairs, and Severus equated it to a herd of drunken elephants as he set the dining room table.

"Boys! Try not to destroy the house before lunch!"

He heard more laughter, but the thumping died down momentarily before there was a crash, and then silence.

He sighed. There went the other lamp in the room, he thought, irritated. He just should have put an unbreakable charm on the whole room before turning it over to them. It was a few moments before the two boys appeared in the dining room doorway, looking contrite.

"Well?"

"I broke the other lamp," Harry said quietly, and Severus nodded.

"Then you can pay for it out of your allowance, and after lunch you can spend the afternoon childproofing the house with unbreakable charms."

"Yes sir."

Severus noted the glance that passed between the two boys as they sat down at the table, and said, "Is there something else you wish to tell me?" He had worked hard in the last ten months to set the two free from their families and to give the some semblance of a normal parent child relationship. It had involved a long court battle in Mark's case, as he had a grandmother who wanted him, but both Mark and Harry assured Severus that she was no better that Mark's parents, and Mark had a scar on his back to prove it.

After he had fought for them so long and so hard, Harry and Mark had decided to give him a second chance, and had reevaluated their opinions of him as he had done for them. They had remained in the custody of Hogwarts until the end of the school year, at which time they had requested to become wards of Severus. Even now, after all of that, they still held long standing and hard to break beliefs that all adults were inherently bad or easily upset. Severus couldn't blame them.

"It was me that broke the lamp," Mark said, staring down at his sandwich on the table.

Harry bit his lip, but Severus said calmly, "Then you will both pay for the lamp out of your allowance, and you will both charm the house."

Both boys looked relieved, and ate their sandwiches in silence. Severus showed them the charms they needed, and sent Mark upstairs to begin with his and Harry's bedrooms.

Severus noted that Harry had lingered behind, biting his lip and toeing the floor with his sneaker.

"Yes?"

Harry looked up. "I wanted to say thanks."

"For lunch?" He knew that's not what they boy had meant, but he didn't want to be thanked for what should have been done in the first place.

"No, I mean yes, but also, for being so good to us... sort of like... a dad."

Severus raised a brow. That was surprising. Not at all unpleasant, but definitely surprising. When he had taken custody of them a month ago, he did not expect that they should ever call him anything other than Severus.

"It is only what you deserve. You do not need to thank me."

Harry looked sheepish then, and grinned before running up the stairs after Mark.

Severus allowed a small smile to come over his face as he heard another thump and crash upstairs. There was a moment of silence before he heard Mark yell back downstairs, "Just testing! It works great!"

‘I love how stubborn you are sometimes Severus,' Lily's words came back to him yet again, ‘Someday our children will be as stubborn as you.' He smiled again. They were his children now, he thought, and with Lily inside his heart, they were hers too, or at least, that's what he liked to believe.