Silas was glad for the summer, even if Aunt Cissy was taking him to St. Mungos in an hour because he kept on getting hurt throughout the day. At first, he thought he was just getting clumsy, but after three months of what could only be described as constant bad luck and he hadn’t seemed to be hexed (Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick and Severus checked over him), Severus told him he was going to a specialist at St. Mungos. As Severus had to spend the day at Hogwarts because of some teacher emergency, Aunt Cissy offered to take him. Silas would have chosen Severus if he had a choice – going to the doctor with his Aunt felt strange – but Severus didn’t give him a choice.

Bored because Draco decided to take a nap (Silas made sure to stress that he was being a baby, as it was one in the afternoon), Silas decided to take out the mysterious journal and look over the few entries in there again. Only two additional entries had showed up over the past few months, and neither of them said anything more than, "I got another book," and "Stop asking so many questions." After the last one, Silas didn’t write back, finding it pointless.

Still, after he thought about it for awhile, Silas did bring the journal to Severus so he could check it for curses and other things. He told Severus that he was writing back and forth to someone in the school and he wanted to make sure there weren’t any curses on it. The only sort of magic that was on the journal was a charm to prevent anyone but Silas – or someone blood related to Silas – from reading it. Severus tried to get him to say who he was writing to, but Silas honestly told him he didn’t know. Probably someone older, but they had to have been in Ravenclaw because the journal showed up out of nowhere. After promising his brother that he’d tell him if anything strange showed up in the journal, Severus dropped the subject.

Still confused as to who the person was, after 45 minutes, he threw the journal back into his trunk and went looking for his godmother.

After what felt like a long wait in the waiting room – Silas amused himself by looking at all the backfired spells that happened to people – they were called into a separate room where a mediwitch that Silas didn’t recognize was waiting, reading.

"Hello, Silas," the mediwitch said after greeting Aunt Cissy. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"Bad luck," Silas said, sitting down in the chair that the healer indicated.

"Several people have tested him for curses, but none were found."

"I get hurt everyday," Silas continued. The healer nodded and then scanned him for several minutes, and seemed to get confused at each spell she did.

"There seems to be nothing wrong, but . . ." she did one more spell. "There is an energy that is familiar around him. I believe that you have a case of a Bad Day." Silas looked at her with confusion before looking at his godmother.

"It’s been a very long day, then," Silas commented. "I’ve had bad luck for months, now."

"It is rare, but it’s a simple correction. Have you heard the phrase, ‘I should have stayed in bed?’" Silas nodded. "Well, that’s the solution, in this case. You need to stay in bed for twenty four hours; no potions, no contact with anyone . . . and especially not getting out of bed. Getting up to go to the bathroom is the only thing that would be allowed. You may keep food and water next to your bed, but sleeping for most the time is necessary."

"Sleep for 24 hours?"

"Yes, without any sleep aid."

After writing down what Silas was supposed to do, Narcissa and Silas were rushed out of the room. When they got back to Malfoy Manor, Draco was waiting for them in the front hall.

"What’s wrong?" he asked.

"I have to take a 24 hour nap," Silas answered.

"And you called me a baby," Draco said, smiling, then stopped. "Why?" Silas shrugged.

"Something about a bad day."

"Right," Draco said sarcastically. "That makes sense."

"Let’s get you to bed, Silas," Aunt Cissy said. "The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can get up."

"Okay," Silas said. He knew he needed to, but he really didn’t want to spend so long in bed.

– — - - - -

Harry woke in a dimly lit room. Remembering he was supposed to stay in bed for 24 hours, he put his head back down, slowly falling back to sleep.

– – – –

He woke to the smell of food next to him. It took him a few minutes to realize he was at Draco’s house. He had been asleep, so of course he wasn’t aware of this new situation immediately. Sitting up, he ignored the food to pull open the curtains on the far side of the room. Immediately, he closed his eyes against the bright sun.

"What am I doing in bed in the middle of the day?" he asked, drawing the curtains. Now too dark to see properly, he stumbled to his bedside table for a match and the candlestick, nearly knocking over the pitcher of water in the process, but he managed to light the single candle. He would have just used his wand to light the entire room like normal, but he thought it might not be best to let his godparents and Severus – if the was there – know he was awake. Instead, he opened the trunk and took out the journal, which was lying on top. Passively, he opened it to see if there was any new message. It had been awhile since he heard anything.

Seeing no new message, he threw the journal aside and continued to look through the trunk for anything new. Not seeing anything, he closed the trunk. Realizing what had happened – he had awoken in the middle of the day for once, in control instead of just riding as the passenger, his eyes widened with possibility. He hadn’t actually met his godparents himself, and now he had the chance! Not even realizing he was in pajamas, he got up and opened the door to his room.

It was dim in the corridor, but he knew where he was. Not bothering to close his door, he took a left and made his way past Draco’s room and to the room that Aunt Cissy usually read in; a room off the library. A library he really wanted to go through, nearly more than talking with his aunt. She would know stuff about Severus that Silas never asked him.

What actually really wanted was to talk to his mother. He had no idea why Silas was so angry at her. She did what she had to do; better to be alive than not. He was so . . . emotional. Emotion . . . that wasn’t something he was particularly familiar with, nor fond of. He knew what it was from reading psychology books from the library back in the muggle world, but he couldn’t understand it. It was just so . . . odd.

Back then, he was the one who spent most of the time awake. He’d let Silas know what was happening, but in a way that he didn’t know there was more than just him. The one time he tried to let him in on the secret, he got too emotional again. Sure, it wasn’t normal that there were two of them, but it wasn’t anything to get frightened about.

Harry thought of it in this way since he learned of magic: there were two of them at one point, but an accident happened and they became one, the other one forgotten about. At first, he thought it was some psychology disorder, but there never was really any proof to that being possible. A magical accident seemed much more logical than a brain problem. Their brains seemed to be working fine . . . Silas was, after all, in the top of his class.

"He’d be even better if he would stop it with the emotion," he muttered, not realizing he was talking out loud immediately. He scrunched his nose, remembering that people don’t normally think aloud, but in their heads. He was used to just talking without making real sound.

Before knocking on Aunt Narcissa’s door, Harry made the decision to keep Silas where he was at the moment. Maybe make him less emotional . . . or at least less . . . scared of everything.

– - - - - - -

Silas woke up again, feeling strange. The room wasn’t dimly lit anymore, like it was before. He sat up, thinking maybe the twenty four hours were over, but he found he didn’t recognize the room. It wasn’t his, that was for sure. In fact, there were lots of beds, all bunks, all in several rows. Like . . . an army room, he thought, though he wasn’t entirely sure. He had only once seen this fake war film from the states that Dudley wanted to see a long time ago.

Maybe I’m dreaming, he thought, jumping at a sudden bark through an open door to his left. Standing up, he crept over to the door and looked outside it. The door swung out, so he looked past the door to see at least ten dogs, most of them laying down. Ten large dogs. Quickly, Silas grabbed for the door and slammed it shut so they couldn’t come into the room.

He didn’t like dogs much.

– - - - – –

Harry knocked on the partially opened door and pushed it all the way open when he heard his godmother tell him to come in.

"Hi, Aunt Cissy," he said, and he watched as she set down the book she was looking through and turn to face him.

"Silas, you should be in bed. You’ll have to start over, now."

"Start what over?" he asked, finding it a little inconvenient that she saw him as Silas, not Harry. He decided he would wait for a bit before he explained things to anybody. He had a feeling they were emotional as Silas was, and that wouldn’t bode well when it came to telling them that Silas was going to be sleeping for awhile.

He suppose he didn’t have to, but it would be nice to be called Harry . . . that was his name, after all.

"Silas, are you sleepwalking again?" his godmother asked, and Harry gave her a confused look as he sat down across from her, looking at what she was reading.

"Why would I be sleep walking?" he asked, looking back up at her. She stood up.

"Perhaps we should wait until Severus is back before you spend an entire twenty four hours in bed," she answered, not really answering the question. "You should go back to sleep. Come on." Aunt Cissy reached out her hand to help Harry up, but Silas shook his head.

"I’m not tired," he said as if it was obvious. And it should have been; it was in the middle of the day.

"You’re probably asleep, Silas," Narcissa started, but Harry interrupted her.

"I’m not asleep, Silas is asleep."

Narcissa looked at Harry for a moment, as if trying to gather what to say.

"And then who are you?" she finally asked, no longer holding out her hand for the boy.

"Harry," he said. "I’m Harry."

"Harry," she said, with slight sound of disbelief in her voice. Harry could tell she didn’t know what was going on, so he knew he would have to explain now. "Do you know why you have to stay in bed for 24 hours?" Harry shook his head. "Because of a bout of bad luck for the past few months. You need to sleep it off."

"Oh. I didn’t know. I was asleep," Harry answered. No wonder Silas was in bed in the middle of the day.

"And Silas was awake?" Narcissa asked, and Harry nodded.

"I usually woke up at night. We share a body," he said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, I think. I don’t know how it happened."

"I think I might," Aunt Cissy said, "but I want to check with Severus, first. Maybe it would be best to go back to bed. Get rid of that bad luck. You have had awful things happen to you, you don’t want them to continue."

"But I haven’t been awake when everyone else is in a long time. I want to talk to you. And Uncle Lucius. And Severus. And everyone! I have questions for you . . ."

"Alright," she consented after a moment. "I suppose sleep could be put off for awhile if you don’t do anything that could harm you." It seemed almost reluctant, but Aunt Cissy finally sat back down. "What are your questions?"

Harry smiled and decided he would deal with Silas later . . . he let go of the test and let him go back to sleep.

– - - - - - — – - - - -

Silas had laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes so he could better decide what he could do, and when he opened them, he was no longer in the room. He was no longer inside. The ground was covered in dirty white, untouched snow and there were shadows everywhere. He couldn’t see the sun, so he assumed it was just below the horizon.

Despite not being in anything but his thin pajamas, he didn’t feel cold, so he stood up and walked out from under the dead tree he was below. The air was sort of dead – the wind wasn’t blowing, yet it wasn’t still. It felt as if the air was slowly surrounding him – whether it was to help him or to choke him, he couldn’t tell. Barefooted, he continued to walk with no direction in mind.

_–_-_-_-_-_--_--

"When is my brother coming back?"

"Tonight," Narcissa said, giving her godson an uneasy look, although Harry didn’t notice. He was thinking of what questions he should ask first.

"How did you and Severus meet?" Harry asked, shifting in his chair so he was more comfortable.

"Through Lucius," she answered with a smile.

"How did you meet Uncle Lucius?" Harry asked immediately. He had so much he needed to learn and he was afraid he would run out of time.

"My sister, actually. She introduced me to him a year after I graduated from Hogwarts."

"You didn’t go to school together?"

"We did, but a couple year apart. We didn’t know each other very well; there were more students then." Harry stored that information along with the other questions that were quickly arising while he continued along his original strain of questions.

"And Severus and Uncle Lucius?"

"They worked together," she said, her smile fading a bit. Narcissa looked down and closed the book she was reading after inserting a marker.

"At Hogwarts?"

"No," she answered, looking up. "Severus wasn’t yet working at the school."

"Where –." Harry was cut off when he heard talking from the corridor. He could hear Uncle Lucius, Draco and Severus talking. Well, mostly Draco, who was explaining what had happened to Silas. Looking from the door to his godmother, he wondered if she was going to tell. He didn’t want them to know just yet. She took the news well enough – she even thought she might know what had happened! – but there was no guarantee that they would, too.

Looking at the door once more just they came to the doorway, he saw Draco stopped short.

"I thought you were in bed, Silas," he said, and Harry shrugged.

"You really should try one more time," Aunt Cissy said to him. "I know it’s hard to stay in bed for so long, but the sooner you do, the sooner your bad luck will be gone. Did you want to eat first?"

Harry looked from the trio in the doorway to his godmother once more, guessing that she wasn’t going to tell them, and shook his head. He supposed he could stay in bed for a day. If Silas was having bad luck, chances were that he would, too. Harry stood up and walked past everyone and left for his room.

- - - - - - - - - – – - - - –

Severus looked at Narcissa expectantly, wondering what was happening. She had sent Draco to find something to do on his own and she had closed the door after he left. Something was happening, and it seemed to be something more than the bad luck Lucius explained to him when he arrived at the manor.

"Something happened and I’m not quite sure how to explain it . . ." she finally said, sighing and combing her fingers through her long, blonde hair once. Severus listened as she explained the events of the past half an hour and the three of them sat in silence for awhile. "I don’t . . . I told him I think I might know what happened, but I really don’t . . . he seems willing to trust me at least. Do you think . . ."

"It would explain the sleepwalking, and why potions have not been working. And his odd behavior during the night."

"Perhaps a medical wizard," Lucius suggested, and Severus nodded slowly. "I would go to St. Mungos and talk to them first before bringing Silas to see them. In case he’s . . . possessed."

Severus stood, not knowing how exactly he was feeling. He felt as if he was dreaming himself . . . and he felt ill. He knew Lucius’ suggestion was sound, but he couldn’t bring himself to floo to St. Mungos without speaking with his little brother himself. Silas had been through so much and now this added to it? Instead of heading downstairs to the floo, Severus let himself into his brother’s bedroom.

"Silas?" he asked. A single candle was lit next to the bed and several items from his trunk were on the floor. He faintly remembered the black book that he spotted and he picked it up, remembering it as the journal Silas asked him to check for curses one day. He didn’t open it, but he held onto it as he sat down on the bed, the occupant watching him with a blank face. Severus couldn’t believe that it was a matter of possession or that the boy was making this up; he had never heard of any case where a spirt possessing a person believed what the child appeared to believe and he knew Silas would never pull a stunt such as this.

Silas – or Harry, as the twelve year old wanted to be called – was still looking at him and Severus decided he would take this slowly. That he wouldn’t bring in some person from St. Mungos like his brother was insane. They tried that before, and they assumed he was sleep walking!

"Why do you call yourself Harry?" he asked and the boy’s face switched to one of blankness to confusion.

"You believe me?" he asked.

"I can’t believe you if you don’t tell me your story," Severus answered. His brother looked down at the journal he was holding and shrugged.

"I am Harry. I was awake most of the time before you came. When Silas decided he wanted the name Silas, it worked because he’s awake most of the time now."

"And who was awake when I took you home?"

"He was," Harry answered, still not looking up. "He got to spend all the time with everyone. I never got to spend time with anyone, even with the Dursleys. It was him who ran away with Mikey, too. I know because I was only sorta asleep, then. I never really got to meet him. I wanted to get to know all of you."

"So you’re sad you never got to meet us and you decided to wake up?"

"Sad?" Harry looked confused again and he actually looked up.

"What you are feeling," Severus elaborated, feeling just as confused. The boy acted like he didn’t know what sad was.

"I . . . don’t know. I wanted to meet you and I woke up during the day so I went to find Aunt Cissy to talk. I have lots of questions . . ."

"And did you talk to Silas with this?" Severus asked, thinking he was beginning to understand. He knew what he was thinking could be possible, as unlikely as it might sound. With magic, nearly anything is possible.

"Yeah. I wanted to him to know the stuff I know, so I told him to read some books. He didn’t write back a lot, though."

Feeling horrible for his little brother – he did believe this was still his brother, just a different part of him – he brushed the boy’s fringe away to see the charm was still covering the lightning shaped scar.

"Harry, how did you feel when you found you were awake during the day?"

"Excited," he said immediately. "Happy, like I almost always am."

"Are you ever sad?" Severus asked? "Are you ever not happy?"

Harry thought about that for a minute.

"I think so. Like when you came in, I wasn’t sure if you would be happy with me, so I wasn’t feeling all happy."

"I see."

"Do you know why we are like this?" Harry asked, looking and sounding like he was so small. Severus sat further on the bed and pulled the boy closer to him in a hug. With just that one action, Severus felt a burst of happiness from the boy as if someone had cast a happiness charm on him. It was something he never felt around Silas.

"I think . . ." Severus started, then wondered if it was a good thing if he were to tell him. He decided yes. He had to. "I think you both might be the same person, just with different feelings. I never remember Silas feeling as happy as you, and you said you’ve never felt sad. I’m not sure how it is possible, but . . . perhaps someone at St. Mungos would know and they could help."

"So . . . you think we’re both the same person?"

"Yes, with different memories and emotions."

"So . . . I don’t understand," Harry said, no longer smiling.

"That’s alright, neither do I, Harry. Let’s go, then, while you’re awake."

"I’m supposed to stay in bed, though."

"We’ll worry about that, later," Severus said. "I think this is more important." Slowly, he helped his brother out of bed, opened the door and put out the candle. Taking his brother’s hand, he led him out of the room and down stairs to the floo carefully, the boy still in his pajamas, as if he was a glass doll. They passed the Malfoys on the way, and Severus heard Draco asked his mother what was wrong. Severus didn’t bother to tell them yet, hoping they would understand why he didn’t follow Lucius’ suggestions. He was going to work through this with his brother, not try to fix him up without telling him what was going on.

He just hoped that whatever was wrong was fixable.