Heart hammering, Harry considered his options. They knew where he was, and who he was. They were just figures in a mirror, he reasoned (carefully ignoring what the man in the mirror had said about possible 'ingress of matter'). They didn't seem like they wanted to hurt him. And he'd really like to ask some questions. Decision made, he slowly rose to a stand, allowing himself to be illuminated by the dim light that escaped into the room through the thin curtains on the far wall.

Alternate-Harry's eyes widened, but Snape simply nodded a greeting, maintaining an air of complete control over the situation, as if he regularly conversed with other versions of his students. "Thank you, Mr Potter," he said. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The cordiality was jarring. Harry slowly nodded in return, still working to process the surreal nature of the situation in which he found himself. He gathered himself a moment more and stepped towards the mirror, meeting first the eyes of Snape, then of his alternate self. As he had thought, he was a full head shorter than his Alium double.

The eyes of his other self roved over Harry, seeming to note the height difference. Harry felt rather self-conscious about the state of Dudley's hand me downs–he'd chosen some of his worst for the chores Mrs Weasley had planned for them that day– and he shifted slightly under the scrutiny. Alium-Harry's eyes found his again, and an expression of concern wound its way across his face. Harry felt a familiar flash of irritation-–why did everyone find it necessary to pity him?!– but the next words out of his alternate self's mouth shocked him out of his rising temper.

"You still live with the Dursley's, I take it?"

Stunned, Harry simply nodded. His alternate self grimaced, while Snape simply frowned at him, his expression grave. "I'm sorry to hear that," said Harry's alternate self, those green eyes unwavering. Harry actually found the intensity of their gaze slightly unnerving, and wondered if his friends ever felt similarly.

In response to the question, Harry shrugged, "They're not that bad really." Alium-Harry shot him a disbelieving look, with a significant glance at Dudley's hand-me-downs, but said nothing. Harry felt incredibly uncomfortable. There had been plenty of significant looks from his friends and the occasional muttered comment from Mrs Weasley over the years, but it felt different to have them coming from someone who undoubtedly knew everything, rather than suspected. Or, rather, from someone who knew everything and still thought it worthy of such attention— it really wasn't that bad.

"Well then," began Snape, in a slow drawl, drawing both Harrys' attention to him, "What purpose has summoned you to this," he regarded the room around him with a sneer, "...delightful compendium of clutter?"

Alium-Harry rolled his eyes at Snape. "You could just ask him why he's here."'

Snape sniffed, "Remind me to procure a better thesaurus for you. Precision is vital, in prose as in potions."

"No, you're completely right," conceded Alium-Harry, "I don't know what I was thinking. Why say something in four words when you can say it in a dozen?"

"I am pleased that you see it my way," replied Snape, dryly, for all the world as if he were serious, but Harry noted a slight curve to his lip.

His alternate self grinned at Snape in response before throwing an apologetic look Harry's way, "Sorry. You should probably just answer the question."

Harry had been completely thrown by the familiarity with which his alternate self teased the normally irascible potions master (in what reality or universe or whatever this was could that ever be a possibility?) and it took him a moment before he could formulate an answer to the question.

At length, he shrugged. "Just exploring."

Snape frowned at this, while Alium-Harry furrowed his brow, looking curious.

"Do you spend much time at Grimmauld?" Alium-Harry asked, brushing some dust off his robes. "It's just that if you don't, it's a bit of a coincidence that we're here at the same time, don't you think?"

"I'm staying here at the moment," Harry explained. "It's the headquarters of Ord.... the old crowd," he corrected, hastily.

Alium-Harry raised his eyebrows quizzically. "The old crowd?"

"The Order of the Phoenix," clarified Snape, quietly, "A group dedicated to resistance of the Dark Lord, headed by Albus Dumbledore. Currently disbanded, in our reality at least, since the Dark Lord's defeat fifteen years ago."

Alium-Harry looked horrified. "Wasn't he defeated in your world?"

Harry found a covered table to perch on. He sensed this would be a long conversation.

************************************************

He explained to the pair, as briefly as he could manage, the history of Voldemort in his timeline, from his defeat and the death of Harry's parents, leading through to the events of this summer and the death of Sirius. He did notice that his alternate self looked uncomfortable every time he used Voldemort's name, which surprised him— it had never bothered Harry at all. Snape and Alium-Harry let him finish before they all lapsed into silence, while Harry watched as some dust motes danced in a ray of sunlight from the gap in the curtains. After a moment, Harry's alternate self spoke, his voice soft and laced with a sympathy that, somehow, Harry didn't mind.

"So now, Sirius is gone, you've got to destroy all the horcruxes, sort out your scar and kill the resurrected Dark Lord?" He shook his head and looked at Harry sadly. "I'm really sorry, Harry, especially about your godfather."

Harry wanted to ask what his Alium-self meant by that- what were horcruxes? And that bit about his scar? However, suspicion had stolen into his heart and demanded to be addressed. "Why do you call him the Dark Lord?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he stared at his counterpart accusingly.

His alternate self looked at him in surprise. "What else should I call him? You-Know-Who? Or, the even longer and more unwieldy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Voldemort," replied Harry, shortly. "Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself," he finished, repeating what Dumbledore had told him back in his first year at Hogwarts.

Alium-Harry chuckled darkly. "Yeah, Dumbledore tried that one on me as well. He failed to mention that using the name causes pain to all those carrying the dark mark in the vicinity."

This stilled Harry and his sense of righteousness, and he quizzically glanced at Snape, who looked mildly irritated at the admission, but nodded in confirmation. Harry's brows knitted together in consternation.The reaction of the Snape he knew to Voldemort's name suddenly made rather a lot of sense. "I'm sorry," he said, seriously, "I had no idea."

His counterpart brushed it off. "You couldn't have known. I'd like it if you'd stop now though. It's safer that way, anyway; at the height of his power, the Dark Lord placed a taboo on his name- saying it aloud would cause the Death Eaters to apparate directly to you. It's not a helpful habit to get into, particularly given that he's back in your world."

Harry nodded, but felt a sense of bewilderment. "Why would Dumbledore encourage us to, then?"

The other Harry shrugged and Harry silently admired his alternate self's robes as they shifted around him in response. Mrs Weasley had been right; he did look good in green. "Dumbledore probably doesn't fear the Death Eaters. Then again, he's not a teenager prophesied to defeat the Dark Lord."

Harry frowned. "Why the Dark Lord though? Why not You-Know-Who?"

"Habit." His counterpart answered. "It's how I hear him referred to most often."

"To explain," continued Harry's alternate self, obviously noting Harry's confusion, "I'll need to let you know the difference between our worlds. It was obvious from quite early on in your story, actually." He paused, as if weighing up his next words. "Did the sorting hat, by any chance, want to put you in Slytherin?"

Harry felt his jaw slacken slightly. "It did," he admitted, "but I asked it not to. How did you know?" he asked, curiously.

"Well, it wanted to put me in Slytherin too," explained his alter-self. "The difference is that I let it."

Harry's mouth fell open. "You're in Slytherin?" He asked, horror evident in his tone.

"Yep."

"With Malfoy?"

Alium-Harry let out a snort of amusement. "Yes. He was a bit off-putting at first– well, an utter prat, actually– but he's improved now, right?" This last he directed at the man standing beside him.

Snape inclined his head in agreement. "I believe," he drawled, "That you have been a good influence on Mr Malfoy. In the main," he narrowed his eyes at the younger man, who beamed at the praise, "Though Merlin knows his father would not agree."

"So, what, Malfoy's nice in your world?" Harry queried, incredulity in his voice.

"Well," his other self amended, "to say nice would be pushing it a bit, but he's been alright. I actually feel quite sorry for him, you know," Alium-Harry, added, leaving Harry to stare at him sceptically. "No, really! He is a decent bloke once you get to know him, underneath it all. He's capable of pity and compassion and everything normal, but he's never been allowed to show it. He has to repress everything good about himself to please his father, has had to since he was small." Alium-Harry shrugged. "It's tough on him."

Harry contemplated this for a moment; it was not a thought that had occurred to him before, and he resolved to think it over later, but didn't add anything in response to his alternate-self.

"Anyway," continued Alium-Harry, with a wry smile, seeing that he was not going to get a response, "you spend five years living with people who call him the Dark Lord and try not to pick it up!"

Harry had lots of questions about this-–what was life like in Slytherin? Had anyone tried to kill him?– but one pushed all the others to one side as it fought its way to the front. "So, is that why you two get along? Because you," he gestured at his counterpart, "are in Slytherin?"

The pair in the Alium exchanged a significant look, and it seemed as though a silent conversation were being held.

Finally, alternate Harry began to answer the question. "I suppose," he began, somewhat hesitantly, "it does make a big difference that Severus is my head of house. We probably wouldn't have anything to do with each other if he weren't."

Harry didn't think that was the whole answer. "I get on well enough with McGonagall," he said sceptically, "but I'm not spending my free time with her. And we don't speak to each other like you do."

"Well," said Alium-Harry, slowly, "There's a reason for that." He lapsed into silence though, seemingly at a loss for how to explain further, looking at Harry cautiously, as if worried he'd say something to upset him.

"Allow me to explain," Snape began, casting a reassuring glance at the young man beside him. He spoke in a calm, measured voice, but his expression was grave, as if delivering news he knew may be unpleasant for Harry to hear. "When Harry was in first year, I noticed that all was not well for him, in terms of his home life. At length, I persuaded the headmaster that he should not be sent back there for the entirety of each summer, and I have been his de facto guardian since that time. Which is why our relationship is somewhat closer than that of a typical student and their head of house."

Harry stared for a long moment, temporarily robbed of the power of speech. "You're his guardian?" He began, eventually, his voice coloured by doubt and an undertone of anger. "You? But you hate me!"

When Snape's eyes met Harry's, they were so soft and compassionate that Harry couldn't see his potions professor in them at all. It unnerved him, and so he turned his attention to his own counterpart before Snape could respond. "What does that mean for you, then?" he asked, "that he's your," he paused before uttering the word, "guardian?"

"Essentially," said Alium-Harry, slowly and cautiously, in a low voice, as if Harry were a cornered animal he was trying not to frighten. "I have a bedroom in his quarters at Hogwarts and one at his home. I spend most of my breaks living with him. I do spend two weeks a year at the Dursley's though, for the wards. Severus keeps monitoring charms on me the entire time, and comes by every so often to check in."

Harry nodded his understanding, ignoring a flash of envy at the other boy's freedom from his aunt and uncle, but his alternate self continued. "He also takes me shopping for school supplies and stuff, talks to me about anything that bothers me. We meet every week during term just to have dinner, and talk or play chess." He shrugged. "Normal stuff people usually do with their parents, I guess."

Harry didn't know what to say to this. He couldn't comprehend the idea of Snape as anyone's parental figure, much less his own, so he simply stood there a moment, before turning back to look at Snape, who had thankfully regained his usual unreadable expression.

"Why would you be his guardian?" Harry asked again, quietly, ready this time to wait for an answer. "In my world, you hate me."

Snape regarded him carefully. "I can well imagine that," he said. "When Harry arrived at Hogwarts, I was fully prepared to act as if I hated him- when the Dark Lord rose again, I would not then be in a position which I could be expected to exploit in order to deliver Harry to his demise. I intended to ensure that Harry would not trust me, that any children asked by their parents would immediately reply that I clearly hated him, and him, me." Snape's eyes continued to assess Harry carefully throughout his speech, and Harry felt that Snape was concerned for him, though why this might be he didn't want to consider.

Snape continued, "However, he was sorted into Slytherin. I immediately perceived that my plan would no longer work. Peace in Slytherin house is predicated on presenting a united front and I could not justify treating a Slytherin Harry Potter as I would have treated a Gryffindor one. Besides which, as his head of house, I already held a great deal of influence over him, which no amount of animosity could do away with. As such, I elected to treat him as I would any other Slytherin."

"So how come you adopted him?" demanded Harry. "Or are you telling me you spend summers with all your Slytherins?"

"I did not adopt him," corrected Snape. "I became his guardian; there is a precedent for heads of houses to take on guardianship of members of their houses temporarily when there is a need, so I was the logical person for the headmaster to look to when the need arose. I would not, perhaps, have taken the role more permanently had he been someone else. However, the headmaster agreed that he is safest with me, for as long as the Dark Lord is unable to return— I am a member of the Order, an able duelist, was able to put my home under the strongest of protections due to not sharing it with anyone else, and of course, there is the vow."

"The vow?" queried Harry.

Snape nodded. "An unbreakable vow I made when Harry was still in nappies— I promised on my life and my magic to protect him to the best of my ability."

Harry's eyes went as round as saucers. "Why would you do that?" he breathed, incredulously.

"It is a rather long story," Snape hesitated. "However, I suppose if you wish to hear it…"

Harry nodded repeatedly. "Yes please, sir," he said, hoping that the honorific would help.

Snape raised an eyebrow slightly, but continued regardless. "If you insist," he said, and began.