Harry knew he was in trouble when he woke up coughing. That's how pneumonia always started. The cough wasn't bad yet, but he knew he was feverish and after being exposed to such cold and then being slowly dragged up through the snow in wet clothes to the house, he had a feeling this wasn't a regular cough. He felt hot and sticky in his robe from where he'd woken on the couch, so he peeled the robe off of himself and rolled up his sleeves. Well this sucked, he thought to himself. Calen had already said he wasn't going to take care of him, and his father was too sick to care for him either. By the clock on the mantle Harry knew it was only nine at night. Maybe if he could hold out long enough for his father to get better... Tomorrow would be the third day of him really being in the midst of the flu, and he'd start to feel better after day four, right? But he knew he'd still be fairly sick after that and probably not in the best shape to take care of Harry.

Ok, so what were his other options? The last two times he'd had pneumonia the school had forced the Dursleys to take him to the hospital, because the school knew he was sick and they couldn't get away with not taking care of him if other people knew. He would go to Hogwarts or Mungo's if he knew how to use the floo, but he didn't and he didn't know if either were on the floo network. That also nixed August and the Weasley's, not that he'd been to their house before or would know the address.

What about an owl? He could send an owl couldn't he? Wait, he didn't think his father or brother had an owl, and it would still take a long time for an owl to get anywhere.

Harry sat down again, feeling dizzy on his feet. The room was still spinning and he lay back down and closed his eyes, trying to suppress his coughing.

When he next awoke he hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. Light was streaming in and he felt horrible. His limbs ached and he was overcome with a wracking cough that made his lungs hurt. If this was pneumonia, he was worried. It had never come up on him this fast before. Both times before it had taken days, a week even to get this bad.

Harry stumbled off the couch and made his way to the bathroom, where he had to stop and cough again, and felt exhausted by the time he finally got back to the couch. The thought of trying to make it all the way up to his room up two flights of stairs seemed like an impossibly daunting task.

"Calen?" He called, but there was no answer. He'd just lay there on the couch then and keep an eye out for his brother to pass by on his way to the kitchen. He'd have to get something to eat sometime. Unless he knew of some other secret passageway that would allow him to bypass the main downstairs hall altogether.

After waiting all day and the sky had grown dark, Harry decided to try to make his way up the stairs instead of waiting, else he lay there and starve or die without medicine. He coughed all the way up through the house and took two breaks on the stairs before continuing on.

"Calen?" he tried again. There was no answer. At the door to his father's room, he called for Calen again and his brother came out.

"You're sick, don't go in there," Calen said. "The last thing I need is for him to get whatever you have too."

"I think I've got pneumonia."

"And you know this because?"

"Because I've had it before."

Calen sighed. "I told you, I can't take care of you and him."

Harry shivered and swayed then.

"Can you owl August?"

"We don't have an owl. Our last owl got attacked by a bigger owl on its way over Dundee Wood."

"Can you use floo?"

"No, father hasn't taught me yet."

Harry coughed hard then and both boys looked at the door as an equally frightening cough came from the other side. "Fine, I'll take care of myself. You take care of him. I'll find my own way to get to August. He doesn't live that far away."

Calen glared at him and disappeared into his room. Harry made towards his own bedroom door at the end of the hall, but Calen had come back before he reached it. "Here's August's address. The floo powder is above the mantle but good luck figuring out how to get it to work. I tried last night to fire call Mungo's and couldn't make it work."

Harry took the slip of paper and nodded once in thanks, wishing he hadn't then because the hall began to spin faster.

Inside he started putting on layer after layer of shirts followed by his heavy coat and his new shoes, not the boots that had been soaked and were probably still sitting wet somewhere. He also put on another hat and another pair of gloves, and grabbed his broom. He had no intention of trying the floo and waiting for himself to get sicker. He could fly to August's house faster than he could get the floo to work.

Calen wasn't in the hall when he came back out ten minutes later and he didn't want to knock on his father's door and disturb him when he was sick. Forgetting what time it was Harry looked out the windows to be sure it was still dark and then carefully, dizzily made his way down to the front door. Outside he was happy to find that the wind wasn't blowing very hard and the sky was clear. It was still bitterly cold and Harry gave a terrible cough, but he thought that in his layers and on his new fast broom, he just might make it. He closed the door, mounted his broom, and set off into the night.

* * *

August was just getting ready to settle into bed with a good book when he heard a strange thump downstairs followed by what he thought was frantic knocking on the front door. That was strange, he thought. People usually didn't come to visit him and if they did it was by floo. Maybe the neighbor's house was on fire or something. One house had already caught fire last week. With such cold everyone had a fire going in the grate.

Hurrying downstairs, August opened the front door and Harry stumbled inside, broom falling to the floor as Harry was overcome with a terrible coughing fit. He could barely seem to catch his breath after.

"Harry! What's wrong? What's going on? Where's your father and Calen?"

"Sick," Harry said, and August held him up long enough to get him inside, pick up his broom, and shut the door against the cold. It had just begun to snow again.

"You flew all the way here by yourself?"

"It was farther than I thought." Harry coughed hard again.

"Why didn't you use the floo?"

"We didn't know how."

August helped Harry to the couch in the next room and began pulling his many layers off and feeling his forehead. He was running a high fever and his face was flushed.

"I don't understand. Severus didn't help you use the floo?"

"He's sick. He's got the wizarding flu. Calen was taking care of him, but he couldn't take care of me and him. I think I've got-" he coughed violently and after he'd finally caught his breath again he finished, "I think I've got pneumonia. I've had it before a couple of times."

"How did you get sick Harry?"

"I got mad at Calen. I stormed out of the house and didn't- didn't-" August could tell Harry was frustrated at not being able to finish speaking as he coughed again. "Didn't see where I was going. I fell through the frozen lake. Calen saw from the house and came out and saved me."

"When was this?" August was surprised. He'd only seen them a week ago. He didn't think so much chaos could happen in less than a week.

"Couple days ago. Not sure. Think my father- think he got sick- few days ago."

"All right, all right, that's enough." August helped Harry lay back on the couch and took his shoes off before getting a blanket from a nearby chair and putting it over Harry.

"Harry, stay here." He locked eyes to be sure the Gryffindor was listening to him. "I mean it. No flying off. I'm going to check on Calen and Severus, and then I'll be back to take care of you. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "Gonna sleep."

"Good." He went to the fireplace and then turned back to the couch and pointed at Harry. "Stay." But Harry's eyes were already closed so he only nodded.

* * *

"What do you mean he's at your house?"

"He flew there."

"I thought he was going to try to make the floo work again. I didn't know he was going to fly. You can't be mad at me for that."

August held up his hand. "I'm not angry. Please take me to your father so I can see him."

Calen led him upstairs and watched anxiously as August looked over his father and tried to rouse him.

"Well, his fever isn't so bad. Looks like you've done a pretty decent job of taking care of him."

"It was high yesterday."

"Well hopefully he's on the downswing of it. He should be coherent enough tomorrow to talk to. When he starts talking again you need to tell him where Harry is and that he's sick."

"No," Calen said adamantly and August stared down at him. "I'm not going to send him off out into the cold again just to bring back Harry. It's not my fault he's sick or too stupid to stay put."

"Did you tell him you couldn't take care of him?"

Calen crossed his arms.

"And is pneumonia dangerous enough that it could lead to death?"

Calen looked away. "That's what I thought and I know you know it as well. I would have thought with how your mother died you would have put more effort into helping Harry."

"I didn't think he actually had pneumonia."

"But he could have, and he does, and as the only fit person left in this house it was your job to take care of them both as best as you could."

"Look! What do you want from me? I risked my life to get him out of the lake! I dragged him back up here, stripped the wet clothes off, warmed him up and gave him potions so he didn't stay hypothermic! Then I brought him warm dry clothes!"

"And that was good, but you did the bare minimum for him and you know it." Feeling heated now because he cared about Harry very much, August stepped back and took a breath and ran his hand through his hair. He shouldn't be arguing with a twelve year old.

"Look Calen, you've done good, ok, just, keep taking care of your father, and tell him about Harry when he wakes up and starts talking sense, ok? I'll send an owl to you tonight and you can keep it here and send it back to me if you need any help. You were very brave to help Harry and you're being very responsible taking care of your father now."

Calen uncrossed his arms and August realized how tired and worried he looked. "You're dad's going to be fine and I'll make sure Harry's fine."

"Thanks," Calen said, and he watched August go back down the hall before going back into his father's dark room, and sitting back in the chair he'd been occupying for days now.

* * *

Harry only got worse over the next two days and the coughing grew to a point where the Potions the healer had given August weren't helping and Harry was having real difficulty breathing between coughing spells.

"Thanks," Harry said weakly, sitting on the couch by the fire on his third day there.

"For?"

"Taking care of me. I think Calen would have done a good job too... I think he'll be a healer."

"If he can get over his fear of others taking things from him first," August said. He looked weary and Harry felt bad for keeping him up so late at night with his coughing. Harry couldn't sleep either, even when he wasn't coughing, because if he lay down at all he would cough so hard he'd lose his breath.

"I'll be all right if you want to go to sleep," Harry said, and August gave a small smile.

"I was just thinking of going back to check on Severus and Calen. They haven't sent the owl back and I had expected to hear from them by now."

Harry didn't say that he didn't think they'd come to check on him any time soon.

"If I don't go tonight I'll need to go tomorrow morning. School starts again the day after tomorrow and if you and Severus are still sick I'll need to contact the Headmaster to let him know we won't be returning for another week."

"It's ok Professor," Harry said, head against the back of the couch and eyes closed. "You don't have to stay just to take care of me. You can take me back and I can go to the Hospital Wing."

"I know I don't have to," August said. "I want to. Besides, I can't force your father to go back and once we're at the castle it will be more difficult for me to leave to check on him and Calen."

Harry sighed and started coughing again, gasping for breath when he was done.

August was about to tell Harry to try to get some sleep, but the floo flared at that moment and Calen and Severus stepped through, Severus still looking worn down and unwell and Calen looking guilty.

"There you are," August said with relief. "I was about to come through and check on you again."

"My apologies," Severus said. "I was delayed." Here he gave a pointed look to Calen but Calen was looking at the floor.

"Didn't he tell you about Harry?" August asked seriously as Severus moved to the couch to feel Harry's forehead and Harry went into another coughing fit.

"I did I swear!" Calen said. "But I waited until he was well enough to stand up first or else it wouldn't have done any good!"

Severus gave Calen a serious look and he quieted down.

"Thank you for your assistance," Severus said to August and he waved him away. "I will be taking Harry back to the manor to take care of him. I wondered if you would be willing to take Calen to Hogwarts tomorrow afternoon so he can arrive with the rest of the students."

"Of course," August said. "What should I tell the Headmaster about you and Harry?"

"You may tell him what you like. I will contact him tomorrow evening."

"Ok." He turned to Calen. "Calen, I'll take you back through the floo now to get your things and then you can stay the night here in the guest room."

"Yes sir." Calen said. Harry thought he sounded a little cowed and wondered if their father had yelled at him or hit him, and then wondered what he'd done to deserve it after he'd nursed their father back to health and saved Harry's life.

August took Calen through the floo and in the five minutes it took them to come back with Calen's things, Harry had dozed off, though he woke when they returned because he heard August and his father talking.

"Has he seen a healer yet?"

"There was one in town. He made a house call and gave us these." Harry assumed he had motioned to the potions on the mantelpiece. "They don't seem to be doing much good though, he's worse off than when he arrived."

"No doubt the cold flight did not help."

"Definitely not. He can't lay down or he starts coughing right away, and he hasn't gotten much sleep sitting up. I was considering taking him to St Mungo's."

"I will contact Madam Pomfrey tomorrow and have her come through to the manor. If she thinks its necessary I'll take him to the Hospital Wing. Otherwise we'll return to the school when he's able to return."

"Will you go to the Ministry first?"

"Yes."

Harry must have dozed off again, because the next time he woke he'd lost the thread of conversation and his father was trying to wake him and get him to stand up. August and Calen were gone.

"Time to go home," his father said, and Harry stood up. He could stand just fine, but changing positions always made him cough. Even having pneumonia before, this was sicker than he could ever remember being, maybe because the teachers in primary had always forced the Dursleys to take him to the doctor before it got too bad.

In just a few minutes they were back at the manor and Harry was up in his warm bed. He didn't mind August's couch, and it was very kind of him to let him stay there and take care of him, but he much preferred his own bed, in his own room, in his own home. Even as Harry allowed his father to prop him up with pillows so he could sit and try to sleep, he smiled inside knowing that he had a bed, a room, and a home now, and that his father had come for him.

Severus coughed then and Harry opened his eyes and looked up at his father. "You're still sick," he said, and was waved away.

"Do not worry yourself over it. I will be fine by tomorrow or the next day. Try to get some sleep."

Harry snuggled under the covers and against the pillows, and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

Harry wondered if his father had given him a potion to sleep because he couldn't remember taking anything, but when he next awoke, Madam Pomfrey was by his bed and there was light coming in through his windows.

"Hello Harry dear, how are you feeling?"

"Ugh," Harry said and began coughing, trying to cover his cough before he spread his germs all over the place.

"I heard you had a fall through the ice. You're very lucky to be here."

"Yeah," he agreed. He was very lucky to be here at all, even before the ice.

"You've definitely got pneumonia, but I'm not sure why the other healer didn't give you something to stop the coughing along with something to get rid of the pneumonia."

Harry looked around for his father but couldn't spot him.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Almost five in the evening, you slept for quite a while. Your father just called through to the school and I came through about ten minutes ago. He's still downstairs talking to the Headmaster."

"Oh. Did August and Calen go back to school?"

"I would assume so but I haven't seen them. If you stay in bed and take the healing Potions you'll probably be back at school before the end of the week, but you might not be ready for classes until next week."

"Ron and Hermione will wonder where I am."

"Don't worry, I'll tell them you're fine."

"Er... Madam Pomfrey?"

"Yes Harry?"

"My friends don't know anything about my father or brother."

"And you want to tell them yourself?"

"Sort of."

"I'll just tell them you're sick at home and will come back when you're well then. You are as private a person as your father and Calen are, but I suspect you already know that given your fighting at school with Calen."

"I never start those."

She gave him a close looking over. "I might be more inclined to believe that if I hadn't seen you after fighting Professor Quirril."

Harry turned red and then was luckily saved by another coughing spell.

Madam Pomfrey continued to check him over until his father came in, and then the conversed about which potions Harry should have and when. When she left, Harry thanked her and immediately took three potions his father had mixed together in a cup for him.

"This should help the coughing."

"Thanks."

"Do you want any of your books? You should stay in bed until you're breathing better. It will give the potions you're taking more time to work.

"Maybe that stack on the desk," Harry said, pleased that he no longer felt such a strong urge to cough whenever he spoke.

With a wave of his wand an end table appeared next to his bed and his father brought the stack of books over. Some of them were his new books from Christmas, and some were from the Children's den.

"You like Muggle books?"

"Some of them," Harry agreed.

"Hm." He picked up Hatchet and then set it back down on the stack. "Would you like to tell me your version of events after I got sick?"

Harry bit his lip. Was he in trouble? He really hadn't known where the edge of the lake was under all that snow. "Will you be mad if I don't?"

"I will not be angry either way. I do appreciate knowing the truth however, as Calen already knows. I appreciate that while I was incapacitated you both did your best, and I already have Calen's side of the story, but I would like yours as well. I am unclear why you chose to fly to August's house in ten degree weather."

"You got sick," Harry started. "And Calen blamed me. He didn't want my help taking care of you. I went downstairs to find him one day, and he was brewing potion. He got angry at me and I got angry at him. I wanted to cool off so I put my warm clothes on and went outside. I wasn't going to go into the forest," Harry said then looking up at his father to gauge his reaction to this. "I just wanted to walk around for a bit." He stopped and coughed hard, and then continued. Looking at the red bedspread. "Everything was all covered in snow and I guess I walked out onto the lake. By the time I realized I was on cracking ice, I fell through. I don't know how long I was in but I guess Calen saw me from the kitchen and he ran down and pulled me out. Then he got me back to the house somehow, got the cold clothes off me and put me in the bathtub. He spent probably an hour warming me up."

"And then?"

"Uh... well I got dressed and laid down on the couch."

"What did Calen do after that?"

"He went back upstairs to take care of you I guess. I went to sleep and didn't see him again until the next night when I went upstairs. I was sick. He said he couldn't take care of me and you. He gave me August's address and said he didn't know how to use the floo, then he went back to take care of you."

"And you decided to fly to August's house?"

"Yes. I didn't know it was so far."

"And you knew you had pneumonia?"

"Yes."

"How did you know? Did Calen tell you?"

"No, I've had it before."

"You've had pneumonia before?"

"Twice in primary."

"Hm."

They were silent for a moment and Harry chose to observe the stack of books next to him on the nightstand. He had three new potion's texts waiting for him to dig into in the middle of the stack, and he supposed Calen had already gone through his own new books and he had some catching up to do if he was going to get on top in Potions when he got back.

"You had pneumonia before Hogwarts, from being on the street?"

Harry looked up. "No." His father wanted to know about the Dursley's again. Harry didn't want to tell. He hadn't even told August a fraction of what there was to tell.

He thought his father would keep pressing him on the subject, but was surprised when he told him to get some rest and that he would be back to check on him later, and then left, leaving Harry's door open, presumably so he could call if he needed something. How odd, Harry thought as he had another coughing fit. He didn't even seem irritated that Harry hadn't given him any more information. He rearranged his stack of books and put Hatchet on the bottom, and the Potions texts on top, and then started reading. He couldn't concentrate though. His thoughts kept going back to Calen. He remembered seeing some of the books Calen had gotten for Christmas, they were books about healing. Calen wanted to be a Healer and Harry could see why, he was pretty good at it. Harry had no idea what he wanted to be when he got older though. He was only twelve and he couldn't see how Calen knew already what he wanted to do. Maybe he'd have to ask his father when he came back to check on him. Harry thought being a Healer might be ok, but it didn't seem all that exciting to him and he wanted adventure in his life, yet somehow Quidditch didn't seem like a worthy thing to do as an adult either. Hm... a few weeks ago he couldn't even figure out where his next meal was going to come from or how to stay warm at night, and now he was laying in a warm bed with a full stomach, and trying to figure out what to do with his life. He thought Hermione might be proud of him at least.

* * *

"Why does Calen want to be a Healer?"

Severus gave Harry a curious look as he wrung out the wet cloth over the bucket and went back to mopping the sweat off of his son's face. Harry's fever was back in full force and though the coughing had slowed, he still wasn't breathing well. It was nearly three in the morning

"Have you asked him?" He was surprised that Harry knew his brother wanted to be a Healer at all.

"No."

"But you know he wants to be a Healer?"

"I saw some of the books he got for Christmas, and he knew what to do to warm me up and take care of you."

"You are aware that his mother died before Hogwarts."

"Yeah."

"Do you know how?"

"No."

"She died of pneumonia. She did not want to go to the doctor early on and he did not know how to take care of her. By the time he convinced her to go to the doctor, she was very sick. She died in the hospital a few days later."

"And he went to the orphanage," Harry said.

"Yes."

He understood now why Calen had been so cautious when their father had gotten sick with the wizarding flu, and also why he was so angry at Harry for causing it. And suddenly what August had said the other day made sense too... Calen could be a good healer if he stopped being afraid of people taking things from him. He wondered who Calen thought had taken his mother from him.

"Do you think Calen blames himself for his mum dying?"

"No."

"The doctors then?"

"He blames me."

"What?" Harry tried to sit up but his father gently held him down and Harry stopped struggling after only a moment, not having much energy anyway. "He likes you so much though! He gets upset just because I'm here because he thinks I'm here to steal you from him!"

"That is... interesting. When you are not here, he is often difficult because he is still angry with me."

"I don't understand. He's the one who had the great plan to get you first year."

"As good as fighting Voldemort for a stone?"

Harry grumbled something and Severus caught the name August but nothing else.

"He did not want to stay in the orphanage, and he wants to be part of a family, that does not mean he is finished being angry with me for not being there for him and his mother. He believes if I was there with them, I could have prevented her from dying."

"Calen is so weird," Harry said, and wondered at the soft chuckle that escaped his father's lips at that.

"What?"

Severus shook his head and took the cloth back to dip it in the water and ring it out again.

"He often insists that you are strange to him. The two of you have grown up in very different ways, but are very much alike."

Harry grew silent and looked like he was deep in thought and Severus allowed it for several minutes before he said, "You look as though you have something you want to say."

"You were very mean to me at school."

"Yes."

Harry locked eyes with him. Here he was: hot, sweaty, sick, and feeling terrible, and there his father was taking care of him and acknowledging him, something he never thought would happen. He certainly didn't expect him to admit to treating him poorly at school though. But he had.

"In primary, I did want to be like Calen, because he had friends and I pretended he was my brother because we looked alike. But at Hogwarts when I got to know him I didn't want to be like him, I just wanted what he had. And then you came and slashed my hair off after I worked on growing it out for two months and accused me without even asking me. You wanted to know why I talked to August but not you... Calen made it bad enough, but you made it impossible to talk to you."

Severus sighed and sat back on the three legged stool he had occupied for the last hour and a half. He ran his sweaty palm down the side of his pants and wondered if his own fever were returning as he still wasn't feeling up to par himself.

"I am sorry for the way I treated you. Perhaps I should re-think the way I deal with students."

Harry turned away. No, he wasn't supposed to apologize. Harry was confused because knowing that Calen was mad at him still, Harry felt like it was ok for him to still be a little angry too at the way he'd been treated. His father apologizing was making it very hard for him to be angry.

"My promise to you and to Calen is to take care of the two of you to the best of my ability. I am, still growing accustomed to what that means, to be a father. I may still make mistakes, but I am trying. I will not ever violate your personal space or hair again in the way I did at Hogwarts. I am sorry for that act. And I will try to be approachable to the both of you."

"You're not so bad here," Harry repeated his earlier sentiment from weeks ago.

"That is, a relief." Harry couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"I think I'll cut my hair short again anyway. I didn't like it long. I just wanted you to see that I could be yours too."

"Calen will be relieved."

"I don't want to be him. I'm good with being me."

Severus nodded. "Are there any other attempts you made to get me to notice you that I should be aware of?"

Harry thought. "Only I want to be top in Potions."

"Yes, I had gathered as much," Severus said. He had been as irritated as Calen had that he and Calen frequently switched places by a single point into the 2 and 3 positions, and Granger only held onto the number 1 position by a thread. The other staff thought it was cute and amusing that three students wanted the number 1 spot so badly, but he had found it everything but amusing.

It was almost five in the morning before Harry was able to get back to sleep, though his fever still hadn't broken yet. Severus took the opportunity to sleep as well, leaving his and Harry's bedroom doors open in case Harry called for him, but he didn't.

* * *

School had been back in for four days by the time Harry was well enough to move around the house. He was still coughing, but it no longer caused him trouble breathing, and his fever was long gone. Severus thought that Harry deserved an extra few days of vacation after having been out on the streets for the first part of the holiday though, and was in no rush to take him back to Hogwarts.

"We will return to Hogwarts tomorrow morning if you are amenable," he said. "We will need to go to the Ministry today to fill out the papers giving me full custody of you, if you feel well enough."

"I feel great!" Harry said trying to hide his cough.

"Go dress warmly then. Do not worry about packing your things, we will do that when we return."

Harry hurried up the stairs and put on the red shirt August had given him and then some other nice clothes he'd gotten for Christmas, and went back down to the family room.

"What will we have to do at the Ministry?" Harry asked eagerly as they went to the fireplace to take the floo. His father hadn't said it but Harry thought he still might not be feeling the best and he wasn't willing to use a lot of energy to apparate just yet.

"They will do the same test you preformed in the alley, with slightly less dramatic nature," he gave Harry a serious look and Harry blushed. "Then we will both sign papers saying you are my legal son and I am your legal guardian. It will make you a co-inheritor of the Prince family land and assets with Calen.

Harry asked his father to tell him exactly how the floo network worked (just in case he'd ever need to use it in an emergency again) and then they went through to the Ministry. Harry had never been here before, though he'd heard Ron talk about it, and took everything in as best as he could while his father lead him to a lift and pushed a button to take them down several levels.

Almost as soon as they stepped off, someone called, "Harry Potter! Bless my stars!" Harry and Severus looked up to find a man with a round face and bright orange hair.

"Sir?" Harry asked, looking up at him.

"Oh, sorry Harry, Severus." He held out his hand to Harry to shake, and judging by the look on his father's face he already knew who this was, so he took it.

"I'm Arthur Weasley, Ronald's father. He's told us all about you of course. I thought you would have been at school."

"We're here to fill out some paperwork," Severus said, and at Arthur's curious look he said, "I am Harry's legal guardian. We are just making it official."

"Is that so?"

Harry tilted his head a little as he looked at Ron's dad. If aunt Petunia had said ‘is that so' about a neighbor, it would have sent chills up and down Harry's spine because he knew she'd use it against them, but the way Mr. Weasley said it, it was only a curious tone. Harry thought he rather liked Mr. Weasley, even if he'd only met him on this one brief encounter.

"Harry is my son," Severus said, and he put a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry was surprised. Granted he'd only known his father for a short time, but he, like Madam Pomfrey, knew he was a private man. He never thought he'd just come out and proclaim him to be his son like that.

"Well, bless me," Ron's dad said. "Two sons in such a short time Severus! You're a lucky man! And you're a lucky young man too Harry."

"Yeah," Harry said, and Severus reached up and put his hand on Harry's newly cut and very short hair.

"If you'll excuse us Arthur," Severus said and Mr. Weasley moved aside.

"Oh yes, of course of course. I'm on my way to a meeting myself. Good to meet you Harry! Ron's been asking if you can come stay for a while in the summer. We'll have to set something up."

Severus nodded and Arthur moved onto the lift as they continued down the hall, though Harry heard Mr. Weasley faintly say, ‘my stars,' again as the lift rose out of sight.

Harry was feeling in a very chipper mood until they actually sat down at the desk across from the woman in the legal affairs office. She'd preformed the test with a pinprick of blood from each of them, asked Severus several questions, and had him sign four pieces of parchment before she turned to Harry and asked, "You live with your Muggle relatives who currently have legal custody over you. We will have to file for a separation of their rights in the Muggle courts and we must have a reason that will satisfy the Muggles. Is their care of you unsatisfactory?"

Harry froze. Of course their care of him was unsatisfactory, but he didn't want to say anything to her about it, or to his father. That would be too revealing. Why couldn't they just sign the papers and be done with it?

When Harry failed to answer, Severus said, "When I encountered him over the holiday, he was living on the streets in London and missing a shoe. He had no warm clothing and no money."

Harry supposed that was ok, he could make something up to go with that, and was thankful his father hadn't mentioned the bruises.

"Harry, how did you come to be on the streets?"

"Don't want to talk about it," Harry said. He felt his father tense beside him, and he tensed too, knowing he would be angry that they'd come all this way but Harry didn't want to talk about it still.

"We will need something to tell the courts. You will not have to be present. We will have a ministry member who has taken Polyjuice present to answer for you, but we must have an answer."

Harry looked up at his father who he could tell was trying to look encouraging, but Harry said, "I don't want to answer."

Severus leaned in and said, "I cannot force you to answer, but they cannot finish the paperwork until you do."

"Can I just make something up?" Harry asked, turning to the woman.

"It needs to be the truth."

"What if I just make something up anyway? You'll never know if it's the truth or not."

She gave Severus a look and he gave a silent nod, so she said, "No, I suppose we'll never know if it's the truth or not."

Harry took a breath. Ok, he could just tell them a few things, this would work. He didn't want to have to go back to school without being officially part of his family. Calen would hold it over him if he didn't come back a Snape.

"They don't like magic, so they didn't like it when I came home for Christmas. They hit me and drove me back to London and dumped me on the street."

"You'll have to... make up, more than that," the woman said gently. Harry was aware of how stiffly his father was sitting next to him, and also that he wasn't looking at him.

"Ok," Harry pretended to be thinking. "They don't feed me or anything, and my room is a cupboard under the stairs with a little mat to sleep on."

"Can you think of more? The Muggle courts can be very strict about taking a child from the custody of a family member."

"Uh-" Harry wiped his hands down the side of his pants, and hoped they wouldn't start shaking. "I don't know," he said, his voice faltered.

"Do they take care of you when you're sick or injured?"

"No-" he felt like they weren't buying that it was all lies and was feeling nervous.

"Did they let you go to school?"

"Yes."

"What were their punishments like?"

Damn, his hands were really shaking now, and he startled when he felt a warm hand suddenly take hold of his shaking one. He looked down and then followed the arm of the owner up to his face. It was his father. He turned red and looked down at his lap, but didn't pull his hand away. No one had ever held his hand before.

"Harry?"

The woman was prompting him again but his insides were butterflies now and he didn't want to go on.

"Do you have enough to go on?" Severus asked, and there was silence for a moment aside from a shuffling of papers and the sound of a child crying somewhere down the hall about a lost stuffed animal.

"It would help if we could tell them what the punishments were. If the court doesn't accept the story we give them, his relatives could demand we return Harry from school to them."

Harry was trying hard to shut out the sounds around him. Maybe he shouldn't say anything else, and just be content to go back to Hogwarts as Harry Potter. His father had claimed him hadn't he? Did a last name and inheritance really matter?

His father squeezed his hand and he came back to reality.

"I- I guess I could make up some more," he said quietly, but he didn't lift his eyes from his lap.

"No food if all the chores weren't done, and I didn't eat at the table with them, I only ate after they were done eating. And I didn't have any toys or new clothes, I just wore my cousin's old things that were too big and full of holes. And they wouldn't take me to get school supplies when I came back to school, and sometimes I got locked out of the house at night and slept in the shed."

"His cousin prevented him from making friends at school," Severus supplied. "Harry and Calen went to school together for a few years before Hogwarts and he told me Harry's cousin often isolated him and prevented him from speaking to others."

"Is this true Harry?"

"I guess."

"Ok Harry, I think this will be enough. Thank you."

She pushed some papers forward to Harry and he had to sign them, and then they left the office.

Instead of taking the floo back to the Manor Severus lead him up a lift that took them up to Muggle London and said they would get lunch before returning. They walked to the entrance of Diagonalley and went in.

"You're very quiet," Severus observed. Harry had his hands in his pockets and kept his eyes glued to the street just in front of his feet. He shrugged.

"What kind of food would you like for lunch?"

Another shrug.

"Is there anything you would like to talk about while we look for a place to eat?"

Shrug.

Severus steered him into a warm restaurant Harry hadn't seen before that served wizarding Chinese food and Harry got a hot bun with some sort of meat and an egg inside, and though he enjoyed it, he ate in silence. When they were done, Severus apparated them home and Harry went up to his room.

It was hours later before Severus trekked upstairs to find his son packing his things into a new sleek black trunk he'd received for Christmas.

"I can't fit it all," Harry said, motioning to his school supplies, clothes, and new books and other gifts.

Severus moved forward and helped to weed out some of the unnecessary items and showed Harry how to pack everything in tightly so the lid would close, and watched Harry put the rest of the things away in his desk drawers and on his shelves.

"There, ready to go back tomorrow," Harry said. Severus noted that Harry had already used a quill to scratch out ‘Potter' on the name tag of the trunk and write in ‘Snape.'

"Harry."

Harry turned and saw that his father was looking at him with a look that looked too much like pity.

"It's not true, any of it, I made it up," he said, and Severus gave a nod before going to sit down on Harry's desk chair.

"I know," Severus said. "But when you are ready to tell me the truth, I'll be ready to listen."

Harry bit his lip. Maybe his father was more like August than he thought. He certainly seemed like a far cry from the icy, unbending Potion's Master he last saw at Hogwarts cutting off his hair.

"I know," Harry said. I know.

* * *

While Harry was sad to leave his new home, he knew it was only temporary, and he was fairly excited to return to Hogwarts, his friends, and Potion's class. He had left for Christmas Harry Potter, uncertain of if he had a family, and come back Harry Snape, a boy with a father, and a brother, even if he and his brother might not ever come to a truce.

It was before breakfast when they appeared outside the main gates and began their walk up the snowy lawns to the castle, and Harry allowed his father to take his trunk as he said goodbye and made his way into the Great Hall, hoping to get some breakfast while he waited for his friends to come down. There were already a few students studying at other tables, the older ones drinking coffee to wake up, and Calen was amongst them. When he spied Harry he came over from Ravenclaw, which was just the next table over from Gryffindor.

"You look better," Calen said quietly.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"So you're all... a Snape now?"

Harry nodded. "Guess I am."

Hands in his pockets, Calen looked around at the other students for a few moments, and then shrugged. "I guess if I have to have a brother, you're not the worst one I could have."

"No, you could have Draco," Harry said as the blond Slytherin strutted into the Great Hall at that moment and sent Harry a sneer.

"Or I could have me."

Harry looked up at him. "Don't worry, you're not so bad."

"I sent you away by broom in winter with pneumonia."

Harry laughed. "Yeah but you saved me from drowning and freezing to death first."

"I guess."

Harry pulled a stack of cards from his jeans pocket and spread them out on the table. "Have you any idea how we're supposed to play this game?"

Calen sat down beside him. "It came with a rule book."

"Yeah but I got to where it said Mana and stopped reading."

"Idiot."

Harry laughed. "See, I'm in good company. You didn't read it either."

Calen nudged him with his elbow and allowed a small smile despite his always sullen former appearance. They talked about the cards for ten more minutes before Ron and Hermione came in and Calen went back to his own table.

"What, you're friends with him now?" Ron asked motioning to Calen.

"Of course," Harry said. "We've teamed up to knock Hermione out of the number one spot in Potions."

"Oh no!" Hermione almost wailed, looking stricken, and Harry and Ron laughed, and from the next table Harry heard his brother laugh too.

"You're all better now?" Ron asked. "Madam Pomfrey said you were home sick."

"Yeah. I'm better."

"Lucky you. You got five extra days to spend at home with all those Christmas presents and no homework. What did you get anyway?"

"I got the best Christmas gift of all."

"What's that Harry?" Hermione asked.

He turned to his friends and smiled. "A father." I got a father for Christmas, he thought to himself, a father for Christmas and a brother too. No, it hadn't been a bad Christmas at all.