Shadow gasped as though he’d been doused in ice water. Leaping to his feet and away from the fire, he glanced around wildly, almost expecting Harry to suddenly materialise out of the ground before him. For a moment, the world around him had gone dark and into the blackness had come Harry’s voice. Shadow hadn’t heard the words, almost as if they had been conveyed through several feet of water, but he could still tell it had been Harry...

“Shadow!”

Shadow spun around and came face to face with Kai, whose skin had gone even paler. A glint of panic was shining in his eyes and he was looking more serious than he had since Shadow had met him.

“Shadow, what happened? One minute you were fine... You just collapsed. What happened?” Kai’s hand closed around Shadow’s bicep, sending that strange cramp through his arm again and suddenly Shadow had had enough; he just wanted to find Harry.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t you realise it hurts when you do that? What do you want from me anyway? Steal my magic? Eat my soul? Well, you can’t have it!”

Kai jerked immediately his hand back, his eyes wide, a flicker of hurt passing through them before it was stamped out. “Shadow... I, well, I’m sorry.” He glanced down and away, after another moment his jaw tightened and he suddenly looked more like Severus Snape than ever before. “My apologies for bothering you,” he murmured, his voice detached and cold. “I will not trouble you any further. You may go on your way.” Saying nothing more, he turned away and sank down beside the flickering fire and stared into its hypnotic flames. Aki mewed pathetically and crawled into his master’s lap, purring quietly as his peculiar fur was petted.

Shadow stared in mild astonishment at the scene before bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose hard.

Well, this is just great; looks like he genuinely wanted to help me after all. My first attempt at conversation with someone else is going so well. Maybe this was why I always...

Shadow frowned and shook his head slightly as the rest of the thought floated just out of reach in his head. He sighed softly and looked back towards the fire.

Kai was still hadn’t looked up, almost as if the older boy had really expected him to just walk off into the mist and never come back... Shadow’s heart tugged a little at that thought.

“Kai?”

The other boy looked up in surprise.

Shadow closed his eyes against the last few doubts that kept desperately telling him to never trust anyone but Harry and walked towards the fire again. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Kai looked wary for another minute before offhandedly gesturing for Shadow to sit back down, though he still didn’t look as welcoming as before, appearing tense and keeping a good hold on Aki. Almost as if he was the one afraid of Shadow. “That’s OK.”

The emotionless voice shocked Shadow and he realised he must have hurt the other boy more than he realised; he hadn’t meant to, he just hadn’t expected Kai to have such a human reaction.

“I keep forgetting,” Kai continued, bringing Shadow back to the present. “You see, I spend most of my time around my family or my,” he forced a smile, “coven, so I forget that normal people don’t like Mages touching them. Our magic hurts them, you see? Well, of course you do. The pain is your instincts telling you that there’s a predator nearby and that you need to run.” Kai snorted humourlessly and stared into the fire once more.

Shadow couldn’t really say anything except, “I’m sorry,” again.

Kai shrugged. “Not your fault.” Making a visible effort to cheer himself up, he sat up straighter and forced a smile. “Now, I was about to tell you how to survive in this crazy place, wasn’t I? Or was it you about to tell me why you passed out and scared me half to death?”

“You were? Er, I was?” Shadow blinked as his mind did a quick three sixty. Well, there’s nothing I’ve got to lose; it’s not like I’ll be able to find Harry, or him me, without some kind of help. And besides, Harry’s voice is long gone now. “Oh yeah... Well... I don’t know why I passed out but I suppose I’d better start from the beginning if this is going to make any kind of sense.”

Kai’s black eyes seemed to warm slightly. “Go on.”

“That’s another thing – how did you know who Harry was?”

To Shadow’s surprise, Kai snorted and rolled his eyes to heaven. “Oh, everyone knows who famous Harry Potter is,” he drawled lazily, his earlier good humour slowly returning. “Not a day goes by when Father doesn’t start ranting about him for some reason or another. The Harry from our world is about,” Kai broke off and appeared to be counting in his head, “twenty eight and probably well used to being an Auror by now. Doesn’t time fly?” Kai gave a wry smile at Shadow’s shock and gestured in his direction. “Your turn.”

“I,” Shadow shook his head in an attempt to prevent his brain coming up with an image of what Harry would have looked like in his late twenties if James Potter really had been his father. “Well...” Where do I start? “In a way, I’ve always been Harry, experiencing his life like I was looking over his shoulder all the time, like, well, a part of him, I suppose.”

“Like a guardian?” Kai leant forward with interest. “Pardon me, but you don’t really seem like the type.”

“I’m not... I’m... like a part of Harry’s soul that’s broken off and become its own self, only I don’t think I’m even that anymore, ‘cos when Dumbledore cast the spell to send me back into Harry, I ended up here. And all the mirrors had gone,” Shadow added pointlessly. “And just now, when I blacked out, I heard Harry’s voice. I’ve no idea what’s happening to me,” Shadow finished miserably, wondering if it would be him, not Harry, who ended up going insane from their broken connection.

Kai regarded him with puzzlement for a minute longer before something seemed to shift in his expression. A slow smirk spread across his face. “Ah ha!”

“Ah ha?” Shadow echoed in bewilderment.

“Ah ha,” Kai agreed, the smirk almost insufferable now.

“You... Oh my God!” Shadow gaped as everything clicked. “You know what I am, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

Shadow frowned as a dawning suspicion surfaced in his mind. “You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

“Nope.” Kai leaned back and happily gazed up into the mist. “Why should I? You’re the one who’s determined to believe I’m going to do something horrible to you. Why should you believe anything I have to say?”

“Oh, come on!” Shadow scowled, he could feel his whole face twisting into it, but there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it. “I said I was sorry and I meant it. Can’t you at least give me a hint?”

“All right. One hint. Though, this is something you’re supposed to learn on your own, you know.” Kai looked over at Shadow, his eyes slightly shielded by his black hair. “You and Harry, you’re twins. Literally twins.”

“What? That’s the hint?” Shadow asked with disappointment. “Is that all you’re going to tell me?”

Kai nodded solemnly. “For now. You seem bright enough to figure it out on your own, mind. It’s very simple once you get your head around it.”

Simple? I mean, I know I called him my brother, but... what on Earth is he talking about?

“Fine,” Shadow sighed, well aware he wouldn’t get anything more even if he pushed. “You did say you’d help me with the Mirrorverse, though.”

“Of course.”

At the soft words, a worried tightness that Shadow hadn’t even know was in his chest loosened a little and he smiled back, a hope beginning to make itself known that he would, one day soon, find his way back home.

oooOOOooo

Severus entered his quarters and stopped in the middle, glancing around himself with a tired sigh. Having people whisper behind his back about his personal life was not his favourite way to spend a day, especially when some of those people were his colleagues. You couldn’t give them detention for a start! Add to this the fact that the Dark Lord had decided to up the ante on his side of war, it truly was just the cherry on the cake of awful days.

Looking longingly at the table next to his fireside chair, Severus reminded himself that there was a reason he didn’t drink during term time; there were too many possible disasters waiting to happen if he indulged, but oh, how tempting it was when the dunderheads – adults and children alike – attempted to try his patience.

“Severus?”

In a world where floating heads in your fireplace is a common occurrence, Severus really shouldn’t have been all that startled; however, this just goes to show that anyone can be distracted enough for an unexpected mundanity to make them feel like they’ve swallowed their tongue. Refusing to even give the impression of being shocked by Albus’ sudden appearance, Severus swept over and knelt down on the hearthrug.

“Yes, Headmaster?”

“Ah, good. You’re there.”

Severus fought the urge to mutter, ‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’

“I think it would be necessary for you to come up to my office for a quick chat.”

In other words, Albus had something he needed to discuss privately and attendance was compulsory. Severus half hoped it would be about what had happened at the Ministry the night before, at least that would give him the chance to rave about the incompetence of the personnel who had worked there... and distract him from the fact that war had blatantly and irrevocably been declared once again.

“I will be up shortly.” Severus pulled himself to his feet and started heading for the door.

“Severus?”

What now?

“Yes, Headmaster?”

“Aren’t you going to use the Floo? It really is much quicker.” The damnable old man’s eyes were twinkling with mischief after this statement and Severus had to resist the urge to bash his head against the wall. Or the Headmaster’s.

“No, Albus. As I am sure I have told many times before, I prefer walking. I will see you in five minutes time.”

With a last chuckle, Albus disappeared. Severus sighed quietly and looked around for parchment and quill to leave a note for Harry if the boy turned up for his lines while he was still gone. Only because in war, you needed to let your connections know where you were at all times of course. Not because of any sentimental need to prevent the boy from worrying... or because it was good to have someone to leave a note for, for once.

Harry, Severus penned tersely, I am currently in a meeting with the Headmaster and should be back presently. Your supplies are where you left them. I would advise you not to touch any of the items you may observe on the shelves. I keep them there for the sole purpose that they are out of the students reach; there are some of the more nasty variants of what you would commonly find in the student’s store and my personal supplies.

He paused, struck by the realisation that this was the point most fathers might something to praise in their offspring. Maybe. To be honest, this whole father thing was becoming more baffling with the more time that went on. He couldn’t treat Harry how he treated his Slytherins, could he? He mostly just left them to their own devices, and that was generally fine with them. And he couldn’t very well treat him like his own father had treated him – uncaring and sometimes a little fist-happy when drunk. They’d been fine over the summer, but Harry hadn’t really been his responsibility then.

He felt like he should be making more effort over something. But what? He’d made a mess of things so far.

Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts back to the parchment.

Finally he settled on: I was surprised by the quality of handwriting you have displayed so far. I expect you to keep to the same standard throughout. There, that seemed innocuous enough – no point in seeming mushy. Now for the hard part. How should he sign? Dad? Not bloody likely; at least not without sounding completely fake and pretentious...

Giving in, he signed his full name with a flourish and left the note on the table near the entrance to his quarters and, hopefully, in plain sight of Harry if he came in. Then, satisfied, he left his chambers and set a fast pace for the Headmaster’s office.

Twenty Ravenclaw House points down and a detention for the student in question later, he arrived, his temper not at its best ever since he had almost been ‘accidently’ tripped by the Ravenclaw Seventh Year. That particular Ravenclaw was probably still sniffling in a bathroom on the Third Floor. Severus smirked tightly. There were some things that really made his job worthwhile, and being Hogwarts’ resident bastard was just too an enjoyable position to give up. He’d probably tone it down around Harry and his friends, but he couldn’t see any real reason to do more.

“Spice Snakes,” he muttered tiredly to the gargoyle, too tired to really sneer at Dumbledore’s latest frivolous choice. Following a short ride on the revolving staircase, Severus found himself standing in front of the Headmaster’s office door. For some reason, it was currently sporting a new and rather vivid painting of a phoenix.

“What on Earth?” Severus muttered under his breath, wondering what had got into Albus and why it had him defacing the school with random scribblings of his familiar. The painted phoenix winked cheekily at him and flicked its tail feathers, causing the door to swing inward. Shrugging, Severus strode forward.

“Ah, thank you for being so prompt, Severus–”

Severus was about to snap a retort that he was always prompt when the man standing beside the Headmaster’s desk turned to face him.

“You!” the man roared, storming forward like a bull charging. “You bastard! How dare you!”

Before Severus had even a chance to blink, he was lying flat on his back – jaw throbbing painfully – and wondering if the Headmaster would keep him out of Azkaban if he used a particularly nasty Dark and painful hex on Sirius Dratted Black.