Harry was glad that Dudley was with him.  For his part, Harry wouldn't have known whether or not to knock on the door, but by the time that he got to the bottom step leading up to the front door, Dudley was already throwing the door wide and stepping in.  Harry hesitated half a breath before following suit.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but when he first stepped into the house his father had pointed out to him, Harry couldn't help but feel that it was strikingly similar to the house he and Dudley had so recently left behind—his aunt and uncle's house. This house was just as neat and tidy as the Dursley house had been, and Harry's skin crawled with the memory of it.

The entryway was empty, and after a moment Dudley turned and asked, "Where are we supposed to be going?"

Harry had barely enough time to shrug before a door to their left opened to reveal a woman.  Even if his father hadn't already revealed that their new guardian was going to be a man, Harry would have known that this woman was his biological mother.  He stared at those same eyes every single day in the mirror.

"Oh, good," Lily said, sparing a wane smile for the boys.  "You're here."

Harry's throat felt tight.  He gave a brief nod, and out of the corner of his eye saw Dudley nodding with similar uncertainty. 

"How was the trip?" Lily asked, and though her exhaustion was evident, Harry thought he heard a touch of concern in her voice nonetheless.

"It was fine," Harry said.

"It was long," Dudley corrected. 

"Well, hopefully it won't take long to get the rest of this settled," Lily said, "and then the two of you can rest."

So can you, Harry thought of adding, but he held his tongue. He was silent as Lily held open the door she'd just come through and motioned for him and Dudley to go through it.  He let Dudley go first and trailed in behind, finding himself in a sparsely furnished living room.  A man with lank black hair and a hooked nose was sitting on the couch, watching them as they came into the room.

"Harry, Dudley," Lily said, "I'd like to introduce you to your new guardian, Severus Snape."

Harry, who'd never had much opportunity to socialize with adults, expected Dudley to take the lead on this interaction. When he didn't, Harry swallowed and whispered, "Pleased to meet you, sir."

The man looked like he was sucking on a War Head, but he choked out, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Potter."  His eyes roved toward Dudley and he added, "Mr. Dursley."

Harry fidgeted uncertainly for a moment and then managed, "My f—er, James… he said that he didn't want to come in until after we'd had time to sort out a couple of things." It wasn't a question, and so it wasn't as hard to choke out as some things, but it had a leading element to it that would hopefully bring about some answers.

"Yes," Severus said.  He coughed lightly.  "Well.  Come take a seat, boys, and we'll discuss what's going to happen from here on out."

Dudley walked willingly over to the couch Severus was sitting at and dropped onto it.  Harry hesitated. He wasn't allowed to sit on the couch at the Dursley household, and while he was permitted to sit on the furniture at school and in public, this was a private home, and it seemed better not to push his luck.  He settled for sitting cross-legged on the floor near Dudley. 

"How much do you two know about what led you to come here?" Severus asked.

"Harry's dad led us here," Dudley said.  "I thought we already said that? He's just outside."

Harry bit back a smile.  As soon as he had his amusement under control, he said, "He told us a bit about the ma—er, about what brought him and Mom down.  He said how he was gonna lead us to our new guardian, and then as soon as he and Mom saw each other again, Dudley and I were gonna change DNA and have 3 part DNA and we were gonna get new names."

"Indeed," Severus replied.  "Your understanding of the magic involved seems…adequate."

Harry caught Dudley's uncertain look and whispered, "He means we know what's gonna happen, mostly."

Dudley nodded, and then turned to Severus and asked, "Do we get to pick our names?  'Cause Harry and I were talking earlier, and that would be totally awesome!"

Severus's eyes narrowed. "We can talk about it.  What were you thinking?"

"I wanna be Kal-El," Dudley said excitedly. "And Harry said 'Aladdin' would be cool."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose.  "Merlin preserve me."

Harry noticed that Lily, who was hovering near the door, looked amused.  He didn't know what the big deal was.  Dudley's idea for a name was a bit goofy, but at least there wouldn't be five of them in his class, right?  And Harry's new name was totally awesome.

"No," Severus said. "You can't pick out your own names."

"What?" Dudley asked.  "But they're our names. You have to let us have a say in them. What if you name us something we totally hate?"

"You biological parents could just as well have done that the first time around," Severus pointed out.

"Yeah," Dudley said, "Well, look what happened to them!"

Harry didn't know whether to laugh at Dudley's outburst or whether to take for the hills.  Had that seriously been a death threat over the name issue? They didn't even know this guy.  For all they knew, he'd take Dudley seriously. He certainly looked angry enough over the outburst.  Harry brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

Severus glared silently at Dudley for several minutes.  Dudley's face, which had shown self-righteous indignation at first, slowly lost its anger in light of Severus's refusal to give in to his rage.  Dudley bit his lower lip and shifted uncomfortably.

Only when Dudley's expression had completely lost its anger did Severus speak.  His voice was pitched low.  "Go stand in the corner."

"I—what?" Dudley asked.

"Go stand in the corner until I tell you to come out," Severus repeated.  "I will not stand to be threatened by a ten year old boy, and you will learn to hold your tongue even when you're not getting your way."

Harry watched the scene with quiet amazement.  He had lived with Dudley for as long as he could remember, and he had yet to see Dudley receive a scolding well or take an assigned punishment. Granted, he never had been scolded at home, but at school Dudley would mock teachers to their faces if they tried to punish him in any way. Harry waited with bated breath for Dudley to do the same thing here, but Dudley, somehow sensing that he didn't have the same number of people backing him here as he did at school, eventually stood up and walked to the corner.  When he got there, he shot an uncertain look over his shoulder at Severus, but Severus ignored him completely. 

"Alright, Harry," Severus said.  "Let's talk. What do you like about the name Aladdin?"

Harry shrugged.  He chewed on his lower lip and finally admitted, "He's, like, totally cool.  I mean, he's not rich or anything. He's an orphan like me. But he's got friends and he talks good and people like him, you know?  And he's, like, really fast and sneaky and he can climb things and he knows all the pathways to everywhere, but he's not mean and he doesn't hurt people and stuff. He just, like, makes sure he can eat and makes sure other people can eat and he's really nice. And he's got a monkey!"

"Hmm," Severus said.  "You know those reasons have to do with the character Aladdin, not with the name?"

Harry sucked in a breath.  "I—yeah. I guess, yeah." He looked away, feeling deflated.  He wasn't as dumb as Dudley, yelling and roaring and saying that Severus needed to let him pick out his own name, but there was part of him that shared Dudley's feelings.  It was one thing not to help pick your name out when you were a baby—how could you?—but Harry was almost ten.  He didn't want to be named something stupid when he was old enough to help.

"We can perhaps strike a compromise," Severus said.

Harry looked up in surprise.

"We can pick a name out together for you.  If you want, we can start by looking at names that represent things that are important to you."

Harry didn't know what Severus meant by that, and found himself frowning in confusion.

"For example," Severus said.  "One of the things that you said you liked about Aladdin was the fact that helped other people?  We could look up names that mean 'protector' and see if you like any of those."

Harry couldn't help it; he asked, "How do we do that?"

Severus pulled a stick out of his pocket and waved it.  Harry watched in surprise as a book appeared in Severus's hand—a book of baby names. Severus patted the seat cushion beside him and after a moment's hesitation, Harry stood up, crossed the floor, and tentatively seated himself on the couch.

Severus showed Harry how to look name meanings up in the index.  Harry flipped to the names that meant "protector," as Severus had suggested.  He read out, "There's Billy. And Edward. And William.  I kinda like William, actually."  Harry shot a nervous look at Severus.

"Much more appropriate than Aladdin," Severus said.  "You'll need a middle name as well. Might I suggest Sherwin?"

"Sherwin," Harry repeated. 

"It means 'quick'," Severus said, "which was one of the attributes you said you appreciated. It also happens to be my middle name."

"Oh," Harry said, an unfamiliar feeling settling into his stomach. "William Sherwin… I like it."

"Good," Severus said.  "Now, go out into the kitchen—it's back the way you came, through the door on the other side—and wait for me to call for you. There's some peach cobbler left over from last night that you can help yourself to."

"Okay," Harry said.  He shuffled out of the living room towards the kitchen, still trying to get used to the taste of his new name on his lips.