"What now?" Harry and Henry asked at the same time.

"Now," Snape told them, "you two will come with me."

"Where to?" Harry asked, suspiciously.

Snape rolled his eyes at the boys mistrustful tone. "To my secret laboratory where I intend to cut you both up into tiny little pieces and put you in the foulest substance I can devise," he said, sarcastically.

Harry scowled, crossing his arms. Henry scowled also. "He was only asking," he told the man, crossing his arms. "There was no need to be rude."

Snape raised an eyebrow at the blue-eyed boy. Yes, that one most definitely was James Potter reborn. Terrific! "We are going to my suite of rooms," he told them, frowning, "does that satisfy both of you?"

Harry and Henry looked at each other, and then nodded. They hopped off the beds and stood waiting to follow him.

Snape turned to Dumbledore. "Will you have Potter's things sent there?" he requested of the older wizard.

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course, Severus," he told him. "I'll go take care of that right now."

Snape nodded. "We'll probably be making a trip to Diagon Alley," he told him next.

Again, the older wizard nodded. "It may be best only to carry one of them," he advised. "Henry, perhaps."

"Why me?" Henry asked, puzzled.

"Because, child," Dumbledore said, "you will need to acquire a wand from Mr. Ollivander and Harry's scar-as you know-is far too recognizable."

"I'll put a glamour on him so that no one will recognize him," Snape said. "Even without the scar, I think people would be hard to miss a mini-James Potter walking about."

Dumbledore grinned. "Look at it this way, my boy," he said, teasing, "at least you wouldn't have to wait in line for anything."

"Why's that?" Snape asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Because," the older wizard said, winking at the boys, "people would take one look at him, think they've seen a ghost, and run for the hills!"

Snape rolled his eyes. He really rarely understood the Headmaster's sense of humor, although the two boys certainly thought it was funny enough. "Come along," he told the boys, and then turned to head toward the infirmary door. His black robes billowing out behind him.

"How does he do that?" Henry asked Harry.

Harry shrugged at his double. "Don't know," he said. "Maybe he does it on purpose to give him a more bat-like look." Henry grinned at that, and then they quickly hurried to follow their black robed-uncle/ guardian/professor.

Snape led them down into the dungeons, past his potions classroom, and stopped in front of a portrait of a tall, thin, black robed man with a two snakes wrapped around his arms. The heads of the snakes rest on his shoulder, as if they were pets of some kind.

"Good morning, Salazar," Snape greeted the portrait, the snakes raising their heads above his head.

"Good morning, Severus," the man in the painting greeted back. "The brats off again, are they?"

Snape smirked. "Yes, thank Merlin," he replied, and started to open his mouth when a hissing sound stopped him.

The two snakes were hissing in their master ear, and then Salazar hissed at him-no, not him-Harry! What was even more surprising to, to Henry as well as to him, was that the green-eyed boy hissed back. Salazar smiled brightly. "What a truly remarkable boy, Severus," he said. "Password, please?"

"Ambrosia," Snape replied, his eyes wide from what he had just learned. When the portrait swung open to reveal the doorway to his suite, he ushered both boys inside very quickly.

"What was that?" Henry asked Harry, looking very confused.

The Boy-Who-Lived looked confused. "What was what?" he asked.

"That out there," his blue-eyed "twin" said, "with the snakes and that painting."

"What?" Harry asked. "The snakes told that man to speak to me and he said hello. You heard him."

"All we heard," Snape explained, "was a lot of hissing. How long have you been a Parselmouth, Mr. Potter?"

"A what?" Harry asked, even more confused now.

"It means you can talk to snakes," Snape told him. "How long?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess I've always been able to," he told him, then looked at Henry. "Remember? One talked to me-uh, us-that time at the zoo."

Henry nodded. "I remember," he said, "but I don't remember it sounding like that!"

"Like what?" Harry asked. "All I said was 'hello, Sir'. You heard me."

Henry shook his head. "All I heard was that man hissing like a snake at you," he told him, "and then you hissed back at him."

"That is what the language of the snake sounds like," Snape explained, still rather rattled.

Harry was also feeling a bit rattled himself. "I-I spoke another language and didn't even realize it?" he asked. "How is that possible?"

Snape shook his head. "I am not sure," he said, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose where he was starting to get a tension headache. To think this morning he had thought today was going to be stress free. Ha!

"What I don't understand," Henry said, "is why I couldn't understand what the snakes were saying? I mean, I could before."

"Yes," Snape said, "but before you were one single individual-now you are two. The spell that hit you not only separated the two of you but also split your abilities, as well. From the moment you were split, you became two completely separate individuals-similar, yet different."

"So, we're just like Fred and George," Harry said, thinking it through. "We look a like, but we aren't the same anymore."

Snape nodded, grinning. What a Slytherin the boy would make! "Correct, Mr. Potter," Snape told him. "Now then, as I told Professor Dumbledore, we need to make a trip to Diagon Alley to buy you both some clothes and get Henry a wand. We'll worry about both your supplies when we get the list in the summer."

He unbuttoned his robe, took it off, and hung it up on the rack hanging on the wall beside the portrait doorway. Underneath it, he wore black trousers and a black button down shirt without a tie. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt up, and then reached into his pocket for his hair tie. After tying his hair into a tail at the base of his neck, he turned back around to find both boys staring at him with their mouths agape. "What is it?" he asked, puzzled by their shocked expressions.

"You wear clothes!" Henry exclaimed, turning bright red as he realized how that sounded.

Snape snorted. "Indeed," he said, sarcastically, "it is, I believe, against the law to walk about naked."

"No," Harry said, "it's just weird to see you in anything besides your robes-we all thought you wore it all the time."

"I like my students to think that," Snape told them. "It helps remind them who I am. When I am here, or at the cottage where we will be going tomorrow, I am not Professor Snape, the mean old bat of the dungeons, I am simply Severus, and so I wear what makes me the most comfortable."

Harry nearly burst out laughing as he tried to image Snape walking about in just a t-shirt and his underwear the way his Uncle Vernon sometimes did on Sundays when he didn't have to work. Somehow, the image didn't quite fit and he certainly didn't want to see his potions teacher in his underwear!

"Something amusing, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Harry shook his head. "Not really, Sir," he told him, "and don't you think you should start calling me Harry."

"Oh, why is that?" Snape asked him, curious.

"Because," Harry said, nodding at Henry, "there's now two Mr. Potters. Unless you're looking right at one of us when you're talking and we're in the same room, how are we going to know which one you are talking to?"

Snape again grinned at such a Slytherin deduction. "More than likely," he told him, "seeing as how the two of you are separate you are still molded from the same clay, to borrow a muggle expression, I will more than likely be getting onto you both at the same time so I'll be speaking both of you."

Harry crossed his arms. "And if you're not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in a very Snape-like manner.

Snape sighed. "I will endeavor to call you by your first names," he told him. "Will that do, Harry?"

The green eyed boy nodded. "Yes, sir," he said, smirking. "It will."

"Thank, Merlin," Snape said, sighing. "Now then..."

"Sir?" Henry asked, interrupting him. "What exactly should we call you?"

Snape turned to the blue-eyed boy. "What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Well," the boy went on, "if our dad was your brother, doesn't that make you our uncle?"

"Technically," Snape said, hesitantly, "why do you ask?"

"Well," Henry said, "when we leave Hogwarts you'll stop being our professor until September, so... what do we call if not Professor."

"Well," Snape said, "whenever you are told to do something or asked a question by me, I will expect you both to answer respectfully with either "Yes, sir" or "No, sir", but I suppose for anything else you may either call me "Uncle" Severus." My, how that sounded strange in his own ears.

"Uncle Severus," the two boys spoke at the same time, trying the name out for size.

"Boy," Harry said, "that does sound weird."

Henry shrugged. "No different then saying Uncle Vernon," he reminded him.

Harry shuttered at the thought of his muggle relative. "I guess," he said, quietly.

Snape eyed him, wondering why the green-eyed boy looked so forlorn. He'd have to ask him about it later, however, as the clock striking ten got his attention. "We need to hurry," he told Henry. "Ollivander closes his shop for lunch at noon and I would really like to be back here by then."

Henry nodded. "All right, Sir," he said.

Snape nodded, looking at Harry. "You are to remain in these rooms," he instructed the boy, "at least until someone brings your trunk. You may go flying on the Quidditch field after that if you like, but you are NOT to go into the Forbidden Forest for any reason? Do I make myself clear, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded, understanding. "Yes, sir," he said, remembering what the man expected from him when he asked him a question.

Snape nodded. "Believe me," he told him, sternly, "you will not like the consequences if I return and find that you have disobeyed me. If you need anything seek out either Professor McGonagall or Hagrid. Do not bother any of the other teachers as they are more than likely preparing to return to their homes for the summer."

Harry nodded, again. "I understand, sir," he said, "but what do I do until my trunk arrives?"

Snape took out is wand and flicked it at one of the bookcases that lined the back wall of the living room. A book floated off of it and into his hand. He handed it to Harry. "Here," he told the boy, "you might enjoy this."

Harry looked at the boy and smiled. It was called Quidditch: A Game Like No Other.

"Thank you, sir," he told the potions professor. He sat down on the sofa and started reading.

Snape just nodded. "Come along, Henry," he instructed the blue-eyed boy, walking over to the fireplace.

"How are we getting to Diagon Alley, Uncle Severus?" the boy asked him, curious.

"We will be traveling by the Floo system," he told him, taking out his wand and tapping the boy's head with it.

"What was that for?" Henry asked, reaching up to rub his head.

Snape smirked. "I was placing glamour upon you, silly child," he told him. "It requires me to touch you with my wand."

"You coulda told me," Henry grumbled, still rubbing his head.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Snape asked, smirking. He reached up and removed some green powder from a ceramic jar upon the mantle.

"I assume you have never traveled in this manner before, correct?" he asked him.

The blue-eyed boy shook his head. "No, sir," he answered.

Snape nodded. "Very well," he said, "we will do this together then." Taking a hold of the boy's hand, he then stepped into the fireplace-tugging Henry in after him.

"Now," he said, "pay attention. You must say the name of your designation very clearly otherwise you might end up who knows where. Diagon Alley!" He threw the powder down at their feet. They both disappeared in a burst of green flames.

Harry's eyes widened at that, but he then smiled.

"Wicked!"