There was an invitation to afternoon tea with Dumbledore hovering outside their door when they got back to their rooms and they just had time to tidy up before arriving at the round study. Harry rushed in to say hello but darted quickly back behind his father's legs when a stranger rose from the seat near the desk.

Rather wishing he had someone's legs to hide behind Snape took in this visitor with surprise. An elderly witch wearing a long green dress stared him up and down and he resisted the urge to make sure his hair was still slicked down. A huge red handbag sat on Dumbledore's desk, but it was the stuffed vulture that caught Snape's attention, attached as it appeared to be to a towering hat.

"Ah, Severus, Harry. Meet Emerine Longbottom and her grandson, Neville."

Snape looked around for the grandson, finally spotting him cowering behind the far side of the desk.

"Harry, meet Neville," Dumbledore, said, gently touching the other boy's back and urging him from his hiding place.

Harry looked up to his father for confirmation and took a small step forward. Dumbledore nodded towards the small round table, now laid out with a checkered board and small translucent stones.

"Neville's bought his favourite game to show you. Would you like to play?"

Harry nodded eagerly and with a gentle pat Neville stumbled forward nervously. His little face was round, his brown eyes wide and nervous.

"It's just Gobstones," he whispered.

"I don't know how to play," Harry returned.

Neville looked surprised. "I can show you," he volunteered and Harry nodded and trotted over to the table. Neville followed him, tripping a little on the corner of a rug and righting himself with a nervous glance over his shoulder.

His grandmother tutted. "Such a nervy boy," she said loudly. "Can't understand it, his father certainly wasn't. NEVILLE!" she boomed and everyone else in the room jumped. Neville almost slid out of the small chair he was sitting in. "Sit up straight, boy!"

"Y-yes, Gran,' he stuttered.

"Can't understand it," the old witch muttered and Snape rolled his eyes at Dumbledore. He straightened his face quickly as she turned her gimlet gaze on him. "Suppose you know the family history," she said brusquely.

Snape nodded, wondering how much she knew about his history.

She nodded back. "Just as glad not to have to explain it. Proud of it, of course. That Frank and Alice gave their lives for the cause. Well, might as well have been their lives. But it's not an easy tale to tell. My only child, dontcha know."

Snape was beginning to understand her abrupt short hand pattern of speech, but with his newfound experience of Harry he had to wonder how easy it was for the five year old Neville to cope with. No wonder he was a nervous wreck.

Emerine cleared her throat. "Suppose Albus has told you his suggestion? Must say it'd solve a few problems for me."

Dumbledore interrupted gently. "Actually, Emerine, I didn't like to mention it until I'd spoken with you." He waited for her curt nod before turning his attention to Snape. "Young Neville should have started school last year, Severus," he began quietly. "He's the same age as Harry. But Emerine has been worried about sending him to school."

"Suppose I'm smothering the boy a bit," she admitted with a harsh bark. "Been schooling him at home, but Albus thinks the boy could do with some company. Maybe rub some of the corners off him."

Snape glanced over at the boy, round little face bent over the table as he showed Harry the pieces. One of them spat in his face and he drew back, chuckling as he wiped the smelly liquid from his nose. Harry was giggling, wrinkling his own nose. There didn't seem to be any corners on the boy that Snape could see, he was soft and round and fragile looking.

"Every child should have a friend or two," Dumbledore said pointedly. "And young Harry is facing a lonely schooling here. So I thought, Severus, since I am employing a tutor for Harry anyway, and since they are the same age..."

Snape frowned. He had no objection to Harry being schooled with another child, in fact it sounded ideal as Harry himself had expressed the desire for company. He just wasn't sure Neville Longbottom would have been his first choice.

"Feel better in my mind if he was safe here at Hogwarts during the week," Mrs Longbottom was saying and Snape raised a brow as he tuned back into the conversation.

"During the week?"

"The boy's a bit young to floo back and forth every day," Dumbledore proclaimed. "So he'd board here during the week and visit his grandmother on weekends."

"Most weekends," Mrs Longbottom interjected.

Suspicion was raising its ugly head and Snape was learning to listen to it when he was dealing with Albus Dumbledore. "And where exactly would he be boarding, during the week?"

"Well, you have an extra room in your quarters," Dumbledore reminded him. "And after all, Severus, how much harder is it to take care of two boys than one?"

"Twice as hard?" Snape suggested bitingly. "Really, headmaster, this is a ludicrous idea." He turned his attention to Mrs Longbottom. "I don't mean to be rude," he said insincerely. "But I am still getting used to having one child on my hands, I doubt I can cope with another so soon."

"Oh," Mrs Longbottom said. "Shame." She glance over at the boys and Snape followed her gaze reluctantly. Harry now had an arm slung around Neville's neck and they were surveying the board with satisfaction, while the round faced boy smiled happily and pointed out another move.

"They seem to be getting on like a house on fire," Dumbledore said. "Think how nice it would be for Harry to have someone around who's the same age. Just the same age," he finished pointedly.

Mrs Longbottom nodded. "Same age," she finished disconsolately. "Even have the same birthday."

Snape met Dumbledore's blank gaze, sitting up straighter in his chair.

Two children the prophecy could have concerned.

Prophecy.

Destinies tied together.

He looked at Neville with new eyes, studying him side by side with his son. Same age, same date of birth. Both parents lost to the Dark Lord. For a wizard these were powerful omens. The headmaster's face was still suspiciously blank but Snape knew the battle was already won.

These two boys had a remarkably similar past, and now it seemed they had a shared future.

"Perhaps it's not such a bad idea," he said stiffly and Emerine blinked at him.

"I say. Awfully grateful, dontcha know. Getting a bit old to handle a growing boy."

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Excellent!" he beamed. "Tea?"

888

Harry and Neville sat side by side as they ate their cakes and drank chocolate milk. By the time tea was finished they were getting rather silly, laughing at each others milk moustaches and snitching bites from each others cakes. Snape could feel the beginnings of a headache as he contemplated sharing endless evenings with these two encouraging each other.

Still, Harry looked as happy as he had ever seen him and there was no doubt the other boy was already a good influence on him. Looking rather shocked at Harry's slurping his chocolate milk Neville patiently explained that it was better manners to sip quietly. Snape had lost count of the number of times he'd made that very suggestion in the last few days, but where he had been roundly ignored Harry listened closely to Neville and emulated his every move.

"Raised by Muggles," Snape said unapologetically to the disapproving old witch watching the scene. She sniffed.

"To think James and Lily's boy should be raised like that," she muttered, then caught Snape's eye. "Er, he was James' boy as far as I knew for a long time," she explained and Snape inclined his head.

"He was," he said politely. "But he's mine now."

Mrs Longbottom nodded firmly.

Harry was ecstatic to learn he was to be 'tootered' with his new best friend Neville and he talked about it all the way back to their rooms, ignoring the curious glances of the students they passed in the hallway enroute.

"He's going to sleep in the spare room, daddy," he told his father, reaching up to grasp his hand.

"Yes, Harry, I know," Snape said patiently. "I was there, remember?"

"But his home is still with his Gran and his Great Uncle, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And you're still just my daddy, aren't you?"

Snape squeezed his little hand gently. "No one else's," he promised.

Harry squeezed back.