Harry was thrilled when Saturday finally rolled around; not only was he no longer grounded, but he was going to an Order meeting with Severus and his dad. The hour he had to study passed by excruciatingly slow, especially without Severus sitting at the table working on whatever it is potions masters work on during the summer. The plan was that after Harry finished studying, they would leave, taking an untraceable portkey supplied by Dumbledore to headquarters so that Harry could spend some time with his friends.

Once at headquarters, Severus knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to open it. Harry was smiling ear to ear beside his brother and Severus got the distinct feeling that if the door didn't open soon Harry would break it down. It didn't take long for the door to open, revealing a smiling Molly Weasley on the other side.

"Severus, come..." Molly paused when she saw Harry. Yes, she knew his appearance had changed, but it still surprised her. "Oh, my...Harry, dear, is that you? My, my, you do look like Severus don't you? How are you dear?" Molly said all this while crushing Harry to her in a tight hug.

Harry's smile grew as he hugged Mrs. Weasley back. "I'm good."

"Molly," said Severus smoothly, "I think it would be a good idea if we could continue this inside."

"Oh, of course, come in, come in." Molly hurried them all inside, with an arm still wrapped around Harry's shoulders. Once inside, she turned to Tobias, "You must Tobias, I'm Molly Weasley." Molly looked Tobias over refusing to loosen her grip on Harry to offer her hand in a shake.

"Believe me, madam, I know who you are; Harry's told me a lot about you." Tobias bowed his head slightly to her, "Thank you for taking care of my boy for me."

Molly had not known what to expect when she found out that Severus's muggle father would be at the order meeting, but she hadn't expected the man standing in front of her. From looking at him, it was obvious that Severus and Harry had inherited many of their father's physical features. However, it was the way he held himself the surprised her the most. He commanded your attention the second you saw him, yet he had a sort of gentleness to him. Though he was a muggle, one could sense an aura of power around him, one that was very Dumbledore like.

"It was my pleasure," she said. "Harry's a great boy and my son's best friend. He's practically family."

Severus stopped himself from rolling his eyes as Harry blushed fiercely.

"Harry!" shouted Ron as he ran down the stairs with Hermione, Ginny, and the twins close behind him.

"Ron! Hermione!" Harry finally broke away from Mrs. Weasley just as Ron got to the end of the stairs. They stopped face to face, literally: Harry had grown enough that he and Ron were the same height.

"Wow, mate, you look...different,"

"RON!" shouted Hermione and Mrs. Weasley at the same time.

"What? He does," said Ron bewildered and confused at their reactions.

Hermione rolled her eyes before enveloping Harry in a hug. "I think you look great, Harry."

"Me too," added Ginny, stepping forward to give Harry a hug as well.

"I don't know. He looks too much like a Snape for my comfort," came Sirius' voice as he and Moody emerged from the kitchen. Before Harry knew it he had a twin on either side of him, resting their elbows on his shoulders.

"That's it!" exclaimed George, "I knew he looked awfully familiar."

"I quite agree," agreed Fred, "Looks a quite bit like, Snape, I'd say."

"Quite right, dear brother, quite right."

"Tell us, Harry, what's our beloved potions master like as a brother?"

Harry smirked and glanced at Severus, whose face showed no emotion even as he watched his younger brother converse with his friends. "Well, he's nothing like how he acts at Hogwarts. He even knows how to pull pranks that would make some of your wildest inventions look, well...tame."

Silence descended amongst the group as all the kids looked at Severus, thinking Harry must be joking. Severus gritted his teeth refusing to show emotion though promising himself that his brother would pay once they got home.

"Oh, yes," purred Harry in true Snape fashion, he knew that goading his brother was not the wisest move and that he would probably pay for it latter, but he didn't care at the moment. "I even helped him pull one on dad."

"He's not your dad!" shouted Sirius. He rushed over to Harry, who's eyes grew wide, then standing right in front of him and placing a hand on either shoulder Sirius began shaking him vehemently. "James was your dad, Harry, he loved you. Snape..."

Whatever else Sirius was going to say was drowned out as a strong hand grabbed his throat, and he was slammed against a wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, Sirius saw Tobias's face inches from his own.

Tobias's hand was wrapped securely around Black's throat and it took all of his restraint not to crush the man's windpipe. Sirius attempted to get free, but Tobias was stronger and much more motivated then him. "Touch my son again, and I swear, I will not hesitate to kill you," Tobias spoke in a whisper, but everyone heard it. Tobias held a gasping Sirius against the wall for a moment longer before letting him collapse in a heap on the floor. Though he wanted to go to his son immediately and make sure he was okay, Tobias knew better; through years of training he knew never to turn his back on an enemy no matter how incapacitated he may appear.

"Now," said Tobias, in his best patient-but-clearly-getting-agitated-overwrought-father voice, "let's try this again, shall we? I'm Tobias Snape, and you are?"

Sirius started up at the man before him; this guy was insane! He had just threatened to kill him, and now he was introducing himself!

"You do not want me to repeat myself, boy," said Tobias in a dangerous tone.

Sirius didn't know why he obeyed, but he couldn't help it. Something in the man's voice commanded him to listen... or else. "Sirius, Sirius Black,"

Something flashed in Tobias eyes for a second before he replied, reaching a hand down to help the poor bastard up. "Well, Sirius, the next time you feel a need to hurt my boy, in anyway, I suggest you reconsider."

Sirius nodded in understanding, as he raised a hand to message his abused throat.

Tobias waited a moment before turning and going over to Harry. He ran his hands from the boy's head down to his shoulders where Sirius had grabbed him. Then with one hand, he tilted the boy's head up to look him in the eyes, "You alright?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry, leaning in for a quick hug, before pulling away from his father.

Tobias nodded. "Why don't you and your friends go upstairs and play?"

Harry scowled at the word play, but turned and with his friends started up the stairs. They didn't play. They... entertained themselves.

Once the kids were out of sight, Tobias turned his attention back to Molly. "I must apologize, my dear, but you do understand the reasons behind my course of actions, don't you?"

Molly nodded her head; Sirius had deserved it. She waited until she heard the door upstairs close before walking up to Sirius and slapping him hard across the face. "How dare you do that to Harry! He did nothing to you and you treat him like a rag doll! I thought you cared about him. Wait until Dumbledore hears about this." Molly turned away from a shocked Sirius, who hand one hand on his cheek and the other on his throat, to a not so shocked Severus and Tobias. "Come with me, I'll get you something to drink and you can tell me all about how your summer has been going."

Upstairs everyone was gathered in Ron's room. Ron and Harry were sitting on the bed, Hermione got the only chair, and Fred, George, and Ginny were on the floor.

"So Harry, what you said down there about Professor Snape; were you serious?" asked Ginny, clearly not believing that her dour potions professor was capable of pulling any sort of prank.

"Yep," smirked Harry.

"Don't do that, mate, it makes you look like Snape," said Ron in all seriousness.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Of course, I look like him. Just like you and your brothers look a lot alike. And yeah, its all true. Severus has some brilliant ideas."

"Severus?" questioned Ron, awed. "You call him Severus?"

"Of course, he calls him Severus, Ron," Hermione sounded exasperated. "They're brothers."

"I have to say that what your...dad did to Sirius was wicked, mate," said Fred.

"Definitely. He just slammed him against the wall like it was nothing," said George.

"Did you see Professor Snape?" asked Ginny. "He didn't seem surprised at all, like it was nothing unusual for his father to threaten to kill someone."

"Can you blame him?" said George, "Some stranger just burst out of a room and starts shaking his son."

"Sirius is lucky he didn't get killed instantly," commented Fred. The room was silent for a moment before Fred spoke again. "So, Harry, tell us about all of our beloved potions master's tricks."

"Yes," agreed George, "leave nothing out."

..................................................................

That night, once everyone arrived and had eaten dinner, Harry and his friends were sent upstairs to pla...err...entertain themselves, while the order convened for their meeting.

"We'll now that we're all here," began Albus, "I believe it is time for us begin. Tobias, please tell us what brings you here today."

"Its really quite simple: I want the Dursleys to pay for how they treated my son."

"What do you mean?" questioned Remus, "How'd they treat him?"

Severus snorted disdainfully. "Well, from what he's told us so far, they've neglected and starved him, but...I have reason to believe that there was some physical abuse as well."

The room was silent for a few moments.

"That can't be possible," said Minerva McGonagall. "I realize they are the worst sort of muggles, but they would never physically harm him."

Tobias scoffed, "Really, then tell me why Harry wakes up in the middle of night from a nightmare about being locked in a cupboard, or held under scolding hot water till he blisters, or being hit with hot frying pans."

Once again silence descended upon the room; no one was willing to believe what they were hearing.

"I want the Dursleys to pay for what they did to my boy," Tobias said with conviction.

"I agree," said Remus. "They need to be brought up on charges."

Remus's sentiments were echoed by the majority of the Order.

"I'm afraid that it's simply not possible," stated Dumbledore calmly.

"It's possible," said Tobias determined.

"I'm afraid that it isn't," Albus said sternly, "the ministry would never allow it."

"I don't give a damn about the ministry!" Tobias nearly shouted. "Rest assured, Albus, that I don't need your permission; the Dursleys are muggles, and I can have a muggle court bring them up on charges quite easily. Rest assured that if you try to stop me...well, I hear there's a very good wizarding school in the America's."

The room was silent yet again; very few would ever speak to ‘The Albus Dumbledore' like that. Many of those present were wondering if Tobias was suicidal or just insane. Moody finally broke the silence.

"Where'd you train?" asked the gruff ex-auror, staring intently across the table at Tobias with his magical eye.

Tobias smirked. "Where'd you train?"

"I asked you first."

"Do I look like I give a damn?" asked Tobias quirking an eyebrow, he was obviously having fun.

Very suddenly, Moody jumped up and attempted to draw his wand at Tobias. Tobias was expecting something like this however, and with his fast reflexes, he had disarmed Moody and had him slammed down on the table.

"If you wanted to have a pissing contest all you had to do was ask," commented Tobias as he let retired auror up off the table. "As for where I trained; I was in the Royal Navy for several years." Both Tobias and Moody realized that most of the table was staring at them openly with mouths agape, except Severus who was trying not to smirk and making a show of removing a bit of dirt from under his fingernail.

Moody stood up and looked Tobias up and down once more, before reaching out to shake his hand, "Sorry ‘bout that, but after what you did to Sirius earlier, I wanted to see just how good you are."

"Did I pass?" asked Tobias sarcastically, with a smirk.

Moody smirked in return clearly enjoying the banter.

"What happened earlier?" asked Tonks.

"Why don't you ask Sirius?" suggested Moody. Surprisingly, his voice held quite a bit of anger. He at one time held some grudging respect for the idiot, but after the display earlier...well, he sure as hell wouldn't blame Tobias if he killed the mutt.

Most of those at the table looked questionably at Sirius, who remained quiet and refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"I'll tell you what happened," began Molly. "Sirius here got upset with Harry because he called Tobias ‘dad.' He shook the poor boy quite violently, as he yelled at him. Tobias then did what any parent who loved their child would do."

"Which is what exactly?" questioned Remus.

"Nothing," grumbled Sirius with arms crossed over his chest looking for all the world like a petulant child.

It was Moody who finally answered Remus's question. "Slammed the bloody idiot against a wall and threatened to kill him if he ever hurt the boy again."

Sirius glared at Moody but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Once more the room was silent for a moment, before Tobias, clearing his throat, brought up the original topic. "So what will it be Albus? Do I pull my boy out of Hogwarts or are you going to do something about the Dursleys?"

.............................................................

The last thing Harry noticed before the prank went to hell in a hand basket and he lost consciousness was that, coming out of the order meeting, Dumbledore didn't look thrilled and his father was wearing a pleased smirk.

Once the kids had been sent upstairs for the time during the meeting, they (meaning the twins) had come up with a brilliant idea. They had just invented a potion that was supposed to mentally reduce a person to a younger age for a brief period of time (no longer then twenty minutes), but they had yet to test it. Harry and Ron were more then thrilled when the twins asked them for help in testing the potion on a certain potions-master-turned-older-brother. Hermione and Ginny refused to have any part in it.

It was a very simple set up actually, especially since the twins could do magic. They simply levitated the potion up by the ceiling and charmed it to tip over once Severus was underneath it. The plan seemed to be going smoothly until Tonks tripped over the corner of the rug and went flying into Harry, causing him to stumble towards his brother just as the potion began to spill out. The potion covered Severus from head to toe, but Harry was only splashed minimally. The effect was the same in both cases, though. Severus barely had a chance to look furious before he started getting smaller.

Oddly enough, it didn't hurt, but it was kind of bizarre watching one's hands shrink as one got closer to the ground. Severus continued to shrink until he was about the size of a ten year old and then he collapsed in a heap on the floor. Harry, having been covered with far less of the potion also shrunk until he looked like his ten-year-old self, but he didn't have the charms to cover his true appearance. Once Harry stopped shrinking, he also collapsed on the floor beside Severus.

No one knew what to do for a moment; they all just stood staring at the prone figures of a deaged Severus and Harry. Finally, everyone seemed to snap out of their reprieve of action. Tobias went straight to his sons, as did Dumbledore, who began performing various spells on them. McGonagall went to the floo to call for Madam Pomfrey.

Once the mediwitch arrived, she went straight to Severus and after a couple of minutes turned her attention to Harry. Once done, she calmly got up off the floor to tell everyone what she found.

"Severus is a perfectly healthy ten year old, both physically and mentally from what I can tell. It appears that they were both dowsed with a deaging potion and it should wear off on its own in about two weeks."

"You said Severus was perfectly healthy. What about Harry?" asked Tobias, feeling a small portion of his panic subside. He was still kneeling on the floor beside his boys, one hand running through the matching hair of each head.

"His health problems are not caused by the potion and should not affect his recovery, but he is very malnourished and is covered in various minor wounds at different stages of healing."

Tobias's eyes widened and removing his hand from Severus's hair, removed Harry's now oversized shirt. He heard gasps from the others, but all he could do was continue to stare. Every one of Harry's ribs was visible and he had bruises of varying sizes and shapes all over chest and upper arms. On his left arm was a particularly nasty burn. Swallowing back his anger while drawing is son to his chest, Tobias looked up at Dumbledore, and said bitterly, "It's a good thing they weren't abusing him isn't it?"

Before Dumbledore could reply, a weak voice was heard. "Dad."

Tobias looked at Severus whose eyes were now open and he was surveying everything around him. Tobias could practically see the wheels turning in his son's head as the small boy tried to work out what was going on. "I'm here Severus," Tobias spoke gently and arranged himself so that while he was still holding Harry, one hand was free to push Severus's hair back.

"Where are we?" asked Severus, surveying each person in turn his eyes lingering on Dumbledore's for a moment longer than most.

Before Tobias could answer, he felt Harry move and he turned his attention to the small boy in his arms.

Harry's eyes fluttered open and the first thing he noticed was a strange man looking down at him. He did his best to try to get away, but he wasn't strong enough. After a several minutes, he calmed down enough to listen and understand what the man was saying.

"That's it Harry, calm down, no one's going to hurt you, I promise," Tobias spoke gently, trying to calm his son. "There's a good boy, take a deep breath. Very good, Harry, very good."

"Who are you?" asked Harry as he began to survey the room and its occupants in much the same way Severus had.

It took quite some time to explain the situation to Severus and Harry, especially with Severus's frequent questions. Tobias explained to Harry how his aunt and uncle had lied to him, that magic was real, and that he was in fact the boy's father. He then explained how they came to be ten years old and how they got to headquarters.

Severus became quite enthralled when he found out he was actually 35 years old, the youngest potions master in history, and a psychologist. When he found out that the twin's potion was responsible, he immediately began asking them questions such as ‘what base potion did you go off of?' and ‘what was the potions original intent?' The twins, as well as most of the other teenagers present, were astounded by Severus's already vast potions knowledge and obvious intelligence. Many of the adults present, who already knew Severus was to smart for his own good, were more astound by his friendly, talkative nature. The boy seemed to have a never-ending line of questions. He even asked things that hadn't though of, like, if the potions spilled out all over them, why did it only shrink their bodies and de-age their minds, but not their clothes.

Harry remained quiet throughout the explanation. It wasn't that he didn't have questions, but he had learned a long time ago not to ask them. He was rather excited that he had a family now, but he still didn't know how to act. He didn't know any of the people in the room, which caused him no small amount of stress. The man who he saw when he first woke up, his...father, could apparently sense his distress because he kept leaning over whispering comforting things to him whenever his...brother asked someone else yet another question.

He had been sitting in the man's lap when he woke up, but when he calmed he sat on the floor in what he felt was a relatively safe distance away from everyone. As Tobias's explanation progressed and his father kept talking soothingly to him, he found himself slowly inching his way towards the man. Maybe it was some sort of primal instinct for any child to be drawn to a parent or maybe it was Tobias's soothing voice and non-abusive actions, but Harry somehow knew this man was safe and would protective him. He could almost see his dreams coming true.

Eventually, after Tobias had finished his explanation and Severus curiosity temporarily sated, Dumbledore made a suggestion, "Well, it is rather late, so, perhaps it would be a good idea for you," Dumbledore looked intently at Tobias, "to say here for the night, just to make sure there are no ill effects with the potion."

Tobias was now standing along with both his boys, their clothes finally transfigured to fit them by McGonagall. Severus was standing close to him but not touching him, whereas Harry was as far away as he could possibly be and still hold his father's hand. Tobias glanced around the room quickly. Most of the order would be leaving in a bit, so the only people he would be staying with would be the Weasleys, the Granger girl, and...the bastard, Sirius. "I'm not sure that's a good idea," Tobias indicated inconspicuously, to Dumbledore alone, that he was referring to Sirius.

"Come on, dad, please," begged Severus, all he needed was a little more information and he would have the potion responsible for his present condition all figured out.

Tobias raised an eyebrow and looked down at his son. "Even if we do stay, you will not find out anything more about that potion."

Severus scowled, but a warning look from his father told him it would not be wise to argue. Oh, well, if he couldn't find out about that particular potion, he could find out about another one, and he was sure the two red-headed twins had more interesting ones somewhere.

"Well I insist that you stay," added Molly. "I won't be able to sleep unless I'm sure Harry's alright."

Tobias sighed. Sirius hadn't caused any more problems and as long as someone was with his boys at all times everything should be okay. "I suppose one night wouldn't hurt," he finally relented.