Harry had always believed he'd had a brother, ever since the second grade when he'd seen a boy that looked just like him out on the playground. The boy, Calen Keagen, had been in a different second grade class than he had been so the only time of day Harry got to see him was at lunch recess. Harry knew better than to approach him though. Everybody knew that Dudley and his friends would give them a beating if they were seen speaking to Harry, and Harry hated to inflict that kind of pain on anybody, so he had settled on watching Calen at a distance. Calen had a few friends and Harry had always pretended to have conversations with the boy in his head, pretended that he was a part of the group of friends, playing ball in the schoolyard or laughing at some joke. He had been disappointed when Calen had moved away in the middle of third grade, and when he hadn't come back in fourth grade, Harry had given up all hope of seeing his make believe brother again; that was until he stood on a darkened stairwell at Hogwarts at eleven years old with a gaggle of other unsorted students, waiting for the stern looking Professor McGonagall to come back. Draco Malfoy had just gotten angry at Harry for refusing to shake his hand, and Harry had fully planned on turning around and ignoring him until the professor came back, but Malfoy began laughing and said, "Look everybody, there's a second Potter here. Maybe I was mistaken and this wasn't the real one!"

Harry turned with the other curious students and found himself staring at a boy at the back of the group. It was Calen, and Harry's heart skipped a beat. Dudley wasn't here now to make his life hell, Harry thought. There was nothing stopping him from going to the back of the line to talk with Calen.

"Shut up," Calen said from the back, face turning red. Harry tried to push his way to the back of the group as gently as possible, used to people laughing at him or putting him down and so not bothering to get angry just yet.

The group quieted a few moments later at a sound in the distance, but the door didn't open, and Harry was content to have some time alone with Calen.

"Lo," Harry said quietly. He held out his hand to Calen, who took it uncertainly for a brief moment in a shake. "My name's Harry."

Calen gave him a sideways glance. "I know," he said.

Harry bit his lip. He'd had so many conversations with this boy in his head, and now he could barely think of what to say. "He's a git then," Harry said. He wasn't used to talking to anybody but Dudley, aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon and their conversations were never very civil. A boy on the train, what was his name, Ron or something, had tried to talk to him, but he'd felt awkward and after a lot of silence, the boy had left to go to another compartment.

"Guess so," Calen said.

After a long pause, Harry hedged, "We do sorta look alike."

"Don't neither," came Calen's reply, and Harry looked Calen up and down in the cramped space. It was true, Harry thought, even if Calen did look a lot nicer than he did. His clothes had nicely sewn patches on the elbows and knees, unlike the ratty old jeans and shirt Harry was wearing under his robe, and while Calen's hair was wild like Harry's he still thought it looked more handsome. Harry would never look handsome, that much he knew.

"Well, we sorta have the same hair," Harry said.

Calen looked around, as if he expected others to be listening, but the other students were too anxious to be paying attention, and Draco was hassling another student up at the front of the line.

"No we don't, leave me alone."

Harry frowned. "I didn't mean anything by it," he said quietly. Feeling he'd pushed his luck so far, he took a small step sideways to give Calen some room just as the door at the top of the stairs had opened, revealing Professor McGonagall.

That night, Harry had been sorted into Gryffindor, who cheered loudly even though no one bothered to talk to Harry too much at the table that night, and Calen had been sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry watched him from across the hall and was surprised to find that the other boy spent the meal glaring up at the head table. When Harry followed his gaze, they fell on a stern looking man with long black hair who was glaring at Harry. Harry had worked on keeping his eyes on his too large meal after that.

While Dudley wasn't there to pick on him anymore, Harry didn't realize he'd be under the same sort of torture from Draco Malfoy. Perhaps he'd made a mistake in not befriending him on the first night, Harry often thought back on the event later. While Dudley wasn't there to stop him from talking to Calen, Malfoy was there to make fun of them any time Harry tried to talk to him between classes, or in Herbology, the one class that all four houses shared during first year.

"Bugger off," Calen told Harry on their third day after Harry had gone to stand at the same table in Herbology, and Draco had made fun of them, telling the whole class that they were brothers.

"Sorry," Harry said quietly. He almost never spoke up in class, and even when there were no professors around, he was still very soft spoken. Harry had tried to go to another table, but they were all full now, and he ended up right back across the table from Calen with his tray of pots and plants.

Calen gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry," Harry said again, trying to keep his eyes down on his tray. "It's full everywhere else."

Calen didn't say anything and they set to work repotting the little Cacti Ferungi. "Don't come around me anymore," Calen said a few minutes into it from another laugh and loud proclamation from a table full of Slytherins.

Harry frowned. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to be made fun of," Calen said.

"Ok."

Harry understood, but he really wasn't happy about it. "We do look alike," Harry said again. "Maybe we are brothers," he joked.

Calen glared daggers at him. "Aint got no brothers. Only got one family member alive."

"Oh," Harry said. "I just have my aunt and uncle and cousin. You live with your mum or dad?"

"I live in an orphanage. But not after this year."

"Why's that?" Harry was surprised at the ease he felt now talking to this boy. Maybe all of those fake conversations in his head had paid off.

"Going to live with my dad after this. I just have to convince him to take me."

"He doesn't want you?" Harry felt in awe. Calen was everything Harry wasn't. He'd had friends in primary, his clothes were nice, his hair laid a little flatter, and he didn't wear glasses or have a scar. Even his eyes were a nice shade of blue, where Harry's were green. He couldn't imagine that if Calen had a father that he wouldn't want him.

"Doesn't know I'm his yet," Calen said. Determination seemed to have set into his eyes.

"But, he will?"

"He's a teacher here." Calen looked up when Harry hadn't said anything and found him staring at him. "It's Professor Snape," Calen finished.

Harry straightened up. Professor Snape definitely didn't like him. He'd made that clear on the first day of class, and in the hallway on the second day of school. This morning Harry had even found Snape glaring down at him from the head table again.

"How do you know?"

"My mum told me before she died."

"Oh." Silence hung between them for a few minutes as they continued planting.

"Think maybe he's my dad then too?" Harry asked, and Calen suddenly slammed down his trowel on the table, making people at other tables stare.

"No!"

Being used to angry outbursts from others, Harry didn't startle, but he did tense up.

"Just thought, since we looked alike and all..." Harry trailed off.

"What, you think Malfoy is right and you're my brother?" Calen sneered at him, as if the very idea was repulsive.

Harry shrugged.

"Well forget it. He's my dad, not yours. You just stay away from me." He gathered up his supplies and went to a table packed to the brim with Ravenclaws and squeezed in. He shot Harry several angry glances throughout the remainder of class, but after that, seemed intent to ignore him.

Harry once again took up a place of watching from a distance. With Draco Malfoy waiting to make fun of them, and Calen angry, Harry felt upset over the next few weeks that he couldn't talk to the other boy. It seemed to be a while before Calen made any friends, and Harry didn't know why, but it made him feel marginally better. He hadn't made any friends yet either. He sat next to Neville Longbottom in classes, but the other boys had already found a group and didn't seem to want much to do with him, even if he did hear them talking about how he had defeated the most dark and evil wizard of all time when he was only a year old. As far as Harry could tell, he was a disappointment to them. He was far too quiet to have defeated any wizard, especially a dark and powerful one.

* * *

Harry had tried to approach Calen several more times during their first year, and each time he was rebuffed with distaste. As the year wore on Calen seemed more and more determined to prove himself to Professor Snape in class, and Harry tried to keep pace, even to the point that he started to fall behind in Transfiguration because he was spending so much time studying for Potions. Every time Calen's grade went up in Potions, so did Harry's, much to the displeasure of Professor Snape. At first he had treated Harry like he was stupid, but now that Harry was one of the top three students in first year Potions, Snape was content to ignore him in class and pick on him in the halls when he found him. Harry was certain that Calen was his brother, it was almost like they were twins, and if Calen was sure that Snape was his father, then he must be Harry's father too, Harry reasoned, so he should work hard in Potions, even if his potential father didn't like him.

Things came to a head at the end of the year when Harry had Herbology one morning and noticed a change in the routine. Typically Professor Sprout called out roll, and Harry always listened for Calen's name to be called. On this particular day however, instead of calling out Calen Keagen, she called out, Calen Snape. Harry looked up along with some of his other classmates, while others seemed as if they'd already heard this change. Calen looked smug and slightly happier than he had all year. Harry tried to go to the same table Calen was at, but there was no room. After class he'd hurried to catch up with him, but Calen's Ravenclaw friends were surrounding him talking to him about class. In fact, it was a long few days before Harry was able to get to Calen at all. It was just before curfew and Harry had spotted Calen coming out of the library, and hurried once again to catch up to him.

"Hey," Harry said, "your last name is different now."

"I told you," Calen said. The first words he'd said to Harry since nearly the start of the year. "Professor Snape is my father. It's all official now. We went to the ministry last weekend to have my name changed and the paperwork drawn up." Harry sized him up briefly and noticed that Calen was wearing new clothes now instead of the gently cared for patched ones he'd had before and suddenly he felt inferior in his holey shoes and clothes.

"Did-" Harry paused, and Calen stopped walking to look at him. "Did you tell him about me?"

Harry supposed it had been because he'd been away from the Dursleys for so long now that he'd forgotten to be on guard, but suddenly Calen had pushed him up against the corridor wall and taken him by surprise.

"We're NOT brothers!" Calen said angrily. "I don't look like you, Snape isn't your father, he's MINE! So stay the HELL away from me!" He punched Harry in the stomach for good measure then and stalked away angrily, leaving Harry there on his hands and knees holding his stomach. It was the first time all year that Harry cried. It wasn't the pain of the punch even. The summer was ending and he really didn't want to go back to the Dursleys. Even if Professor Snape didn't like him, Harry thought he might be an ok father. He'd accepted Calen after all hadn't he? He and Harry looked so much alike, how could Harry not be Snape's son? Harry hadn't been having fake conversations in his head with Calen anymore, not since that first night at Hogwarts, but he had been imagining himself having a brother and father all year, living someplace safe and warm, and being a part of a real family. Calen was just like Dudley though, just like Draco. Maybe he didn't want a brother anymore.

Things didn't get any better for Harry when Professor August, one of the seventh year Professors rounded the corner a few minutes later and found Harry there on the floor holding his stomach. He took Harry to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey gave him bruise balm and a pain reliever, and proceeded to interrogate Harry about who had hit him. When Harry's mouth stayed shut, Professor August tried to get him to say, but Harry only crossed his arms and looked down at his lap. After Professor McGonagall had been called in, followed by Professor Snape who had happened to come in at that moment to speak with Madam Pomfrey about something, Harry knew he really couldn't say now. If he told, they'd just ask questions, like why he'd been hit in the first place, and with Snape there now, he couldn't say it was the man's newfound son. That would really drive a wedge between he and Harry and put any chances Harry had at eventually being accepted like Calen to a halt. Seeing Snape there staring at him Harry's stomach squirmed. He felt it in his bones that this man was his father, even if others said he looked just like James and Lily. He didn't know how that sort of thing worked, but he was sure it was true.

"C'mon Harry," Professor August tried again, sitting next to Harry on the bed. "Who did this?"

He shrugged. At least Professor August was nice. He was sort of like Dumbledore, but much younger. He was kind and friendly, and he didn't scare Harry all that much. Not like Uncle Vernon, or Filch or Snape, or even McGonagall if she was angry.

"If you don't tell us, we'll have to write home to your family."

Harry looked up at that, resolve not to tell faltering. No, that wouldn't be good. If they wrote home saying they'd found bruises, the Dursleys would be angry and think he'd told on them, and he would be seeing them in just two weeks.

"Calen," Harry said quietly, looking down.

"Which Calen?"

Harry shrugged again.

"Come on. You know as well as I do that there's more than one Calen in this school. We can't do anything about it until you tell us."

Harry gave a very brief glance up at a very irritated Professor Snape then, and then back down to his shoes. They weren't going to drop this. "Snape," he almost whispered. He heard a noise and looked up just in time to see Snape sweeping out of the Hospital Wing, letting the Hospital Wing doors bang closed.

August patted Harry's shoulder then and said, "Harry, why did he hit you?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't like me I guess."

"Because?"

"Said to leave him alone. Not to follow him."

"Harry?" Professor McGonagall sat down on the bed across from him now. "Don't take this the wrong way," she said it so gently that Harry almost forgot how stern she could be. "I've noticed you watching him throughout the year. Are you- attracted to him?"

Harry made a horrified face then and shouted, "No!" startling McGonagall and August. Madam Pomfrey had already left the room and it was just the three of them now. After seeing quiet, withdrawn, lonely Harry all year, hearing him shout was something else.

August gave McGonagall a look and she didn't press him further on the issue, but August did.

"Why do you follow him then?"

"I don't follow him really," Harry said. "I only have two classes with him and we eat at the same time."

He looked up to see if this would satisfy August, but the man was still waiting patiently.

Harry's shoulders slumped. "We sort of look alike." He looked up and saw that the two professors did not disagree. "And I don't have any friends here. He's the only person I know from before Hogwarts. I just wanted to be friends." The last came out almost a whisper.

"You knew him before Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagall asked.

He nodded. "We went to the same school for a couple of years."

August sighed and reached across the aisle from where he sat on the opposing bed next to McGonagall, and put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Maybe it's best if you just stay away from him. He seems like a loner Harry and it's obvious from this incident that he's got a temper. Maybe Professor Snape can tame that a little," he said to McGonagall more than to Harry.

Madam Pomfrey came back then to give Harry another nasty potion to drink and the two Professors stood up and moved what they thought was an appropriate enough distance to talk without Harry hearing. Years of listening for any sound that might mean danger however meant that Harry had trained himself to hear a good way off, so he sat and pretended he wasn't listening.

"I don't envy Severus his task," August said. "Finding out you have a son and that he comes from an orphanage with a lot of baggage... that will be a long journey."

"Well, at least there's only two weeks until he'll get to take him home to Prince Manor and get him settled. Have you ever seen it? The grounds are nearly as big as the Hogwarts grounds."

They opened the door to leave the Hospital Wing but Harry was still listening.

"No. That will be a big change though, getting his own room and everything. I noticed Severus bought him new clothes already, they looked expensive too..."

The door banged shut and Harry could hear no more. This was awful Harry thought and he felt every bit of it. Harry would have given anything to go to an orphanage over the Dursleys, and now Calen, who already had it considerably better than he thought he had it, was getting to go live in their father's mansion? No, Harry didn't like that at all. He didn't want to return to four Privet Drive and the cupboard under the stairs and his little rag blanket and 2 inch thick mattress on the floor. He looked down at his faded t-shirt with holes along the bottom hem and frowned. How had Calen done it? He must have built himself up so much that when he told Professor Snape that he was his son, Snape just automatically wanted him.

A few moments later Madam Pomfrey came back and told Harry he was free to go. As Harry left, he wracked his brain for anything he could do in these last two weeks to prove himself to his father, anything at all. It was three days before he found an opportunity. One night in the common room as Harry sat at a table by himself studying for their final Potion's exam, he overheard Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger whispering furiously about a trap door, some sort of beast, and Professor Quirril going to steal a stone of some value. They were fighting because Ron wanted to go and stop Quirril (who consequently had given Harry the creeps all year), and Hermione didn't want to break the rules. This was it, Harry thought, and with wand in hand he left the second they spoke about the location of the door in the forbidden corridor. After a race upstairs to get his only Christmas present, an invisibility cloak the anonymous gift giver claimed had belonged to his father ‘James', Harry headed up to the third floor, and was sure that the hour and a half adventure and encounter with Voldemort that followed would change his father's mind for sure. Harry was to be sorely disappointed.

¬It was several days before he woke up after being found with the Sorcerer's stone in front of the mirror of Erised, and he hadn't been allowed to leave the Hospital Wing until the night before they were to return to London on the train. Harry never had the chance to approach Professor Snape to show off his bravado for saving the stone and facing Voldemort, and never had the chance to tell him he was positive that he Harry, was his son. In a bitter twist of fate, Harry's adventure accomplished nothing, and Calen went home with his father to be treated with love and dignity, while Harry returned to spend a less than pleasant summer at four Privet Drive.