"Hi Harry."

"I'm not talking to you," Harry said quietly, still not looking up. He didn't have to look to know that Mark's shoulders had fallen.

"You're not?"

Harry looked up, eyes hurt and angry, and Mark took a step back. Harry looked away.

"Why are you-"

"You know why Mark. The cupboard? You had to tell him about the cupboard? I thought you were my friend. I thought I could trust you." Upset now, Harry closed his book, grabbed it and walked out of the library, unable to sit there any longer.

Suddenly stricken with grief as he watched his only friendship walk out the door, Mark sank into a chair and let his head fall to the table. He didn't care that people passed him by, or whispered, or even that a first year Hufflepuff girl asked him if he was all right, he just sat there with his head down ignoring everyone. He didn't want them to see his tears. He didn't want anybody to know how ashamed he was.

What had he done? He had lost his best friend.

* * *

"Not talking to your little Slytherin friend anymore?" Ron asked a couple of weeks after Harry had left Mark by himself in the library.

Harry shook his head, still hurt by what had happened. There was something else gnawing at him too, but he had been trying to ignore it.

"Well, it's about time," Ron said. "I mean, he was obviously put into Slytherin for a reason. Is he the reason you got in trouble with Snape? I'll bet he got you in trouble on purpose, didn't he?"

Suddenly Harry stood up from his chair in the common room and shoved Ron so hard that he and his wooden chair tipped over.

Ron shouted in shock as he went over backwards, and the whole house stopped what they were doing to see what the ruckus was about.

"Just shut up Ron!" Harry said angrily, throwing his hand down to cut off the conversation. "You don't know what you're talking about." Harry stalked off and Ginny and Hermione sat with their eyebrows raised in shock as well as Ron lifted his arms from where he lay on the floor and asked in confusion, "What did I do?"

That gnawing feeling came back to eat at him again, and Harry tried to push it away as he lay on his bed, but couldn't. He had lost his first friend, and it was his fault. Yeah, Mark had messed up, but Harry didn't have to be such a jerk about it. He just wanted to yank at his hair or yell or something. Anything. How was he going to make it in Little Whinging without Mark? How was Mark going to make it there without him?

Harry couldn't deny that he had seen his friend... his brother, moping around the school for the last two weeks. He looked sick, and Harry watched as the boy sat in the hall with food before him, but never ate much, if anything at all.

Why did you have to tell Mark? Harry asked himself. Nobody cares. Nobody. How many times had he dropped hints to McGonagall, to Flitwick, to Hooch even? How many times had he begged the Headmaster to let him leave that wretched place? It had always pained Harry to ask to leave Mark behind by leaving the Dursley's, but he had always planned on finding a way to take Mark with him, even if it meant dragging him into the wizarding world before he knew that Mark belonged there too.

He dropped his fists down onto the bed hard, and heard the door to the boy's dormitory creak open.

"Harry?" It was Ron.

"Yeah."

"You still mad at me?"

Harry looked over, feeling desolate. Are you going to lose your other best friend now too? The one that did keep your secret?

"You should be mad at me," Harry said sullenly.

Ron sighed and came and sat on the edge of his friend's bed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I say stupid things sometimes. Hermione tells me so all the time."

Harry gave a short laugh and so did Ron. "Don't worry about it," Harry said, staring at his ceiling canopy. "It wasn't your fault."

They were silent for a few moments as afternoon sun filtered into the room, and then Ron said, "What happened with you and Mark?"

"He told."

Ron licked his bottom lip. "About... you know?"

Harry nodded.

"Oh."

A sigh escaped Harry's lips, and he decided to tell Ron something he didn't know.

"You were my first friend in the wizarding world, you know? And you're my best mate... but he was my first friend ever, and he's my best friend too. Like my brother. His parents weren't great either, and when they kicked him out of the house, he would stay with me. And when my uncle... you know, got real mad and... well, I would go there and sleep in his room. Sometimes he would stay with me in the garage when his parents wouldn't let me inside. It was so stupid, but when he was willing to sleep on the cold hard garage floor next to me, without a blanket or pillow, that was like saying he was the only one who did care. We looked out for each other. Just like you and me, but, well, it's different."

Ron swallowed. "Did you ever tell his secret?"

Harry shook his head. "No."

"Would you?"

With a deep sigh and a frown, Harry was forced suddenly to put himself in Mark's shoes.

"I want to. I want him not to have to live like that." He looked at Ron now and realized what a burden it must have been on him.

"Fred and George wanted to tell," Ron said. "We fought over it and they didn't talk to me for a long time," he said, "even though I wanted to tell too."

Damn. Why did his life have to be like this, Harry wondered. On the one hand, nobody could ever know, and on the other hand, his friends were suffering either because they wanted to tell but hadn't, or because they had told, and had still lost the game. He ran his hands over his face and up through his hair.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, and Ron nodded.

"That's what friends do," Ron said. "That's what brothers do. They do what they think is right for their friend. I still think it's right to tell someone, but that's not what you want, so I don't. Mark thought it was right to tell someone, and he did because he thought that's what was best."

Harry looked over at Ron and threw a pillow at him, hitting him in the face. He grinned and said, "I don't know what Hermione was talking about. You're wiser than anyone I know."

Ron grinned then and threw the pillow back. "Go find your other brother then. That's all the wisdom you're getting from me for now." Ron got up and left Harry to his thoughts, but Harry was up and gone after only a few minutes more, needing to find Mark.

* * *

"What're you doing Slytherin? This is Ravenclaw territory, and you don't belong here." The seventh year boy smirked at the look of fear on Mark's face as he withdrew his wand and twirled it menacingly in front of him.

"I- I didn't. I was lost and I was-"

The seventh year boy laughed then and took a step towards Mark, wand aimed at him. "I don't think you were lost at all. I think you were trying to put a hex on the hall leading towards Ravenclaw common room, weren't you? That is what you Slytherins do, isn't it?"

"No we, I didn't, I mean no I wasn't." Mark stammered on and the older boy sneered at him.

"Go on then, make excuses, but you'll pay before you're done." He stomped his foot and laughed as Mark jumped, falling backwards and onto the hard stone floor, hind end and hands smarting from where they hit hard.

"Poor little Slytherin want his greasy head of house?" He laughed again, and Severus was just about to step out from around the corner, enough evidence to put the brat in detention until the end of the school year, but a voice stopped him, and he stilled, years of laying in wait as a spy bolstering his patience.

"Back off McGregor." It was Potter, and his voice was steadfast and angry.

"What's it to you Potter? It's just a Slytherin, and I was just having a little fun."

"You were just being a bully," Harry said, and Severus could feel the anger radiating out of the boy now.

"Oh, and his little friends, and head of house aren't bullies? Look at how they treat you!"

There was silence for a moment before Harry said, "And if you do this, you're just as bad. Picking on someone so much younger than you that they don't even have a chance. Did you even give him a chance to explain himself, or did you just assume he was up to no good?"

The Ravenclaw fumbled with his words for a few moments before he said, "I gotta go." Severus heard receding footsteps in the isolated hallway, and then there was silence.

There was a scuffling sound, and unable to listen any longer without seeing, Severus cast a silent disillusionment charm on himself and peered around the corner to see Harry helping Mark up off the floor where he had fallen.

"You have to be careful, remember? What did I say? Didn't I tell you there were bullies just like Dudley and his gang here too?"

Mark nodded then, and looked down at his shoes. "You said to watch out for Draco, but he's been real nice... sort of."

Harry nodded. "Well, you're in his house. I guess he would be." He looked down at the floor as well now, and said, "I guess I messed up. I told you we have to stick together to survive here, just like at home, and then I didn't hold up to my end of the bargain."

Mark looked up at him, tears in his eyes, and Harry put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "C'mon, don't cry. It's ok," but Mark was shaking his head now with earnest.

"No, I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I just wanted to help." He reached up to wipe tears from his eyes, but didn't seem to care that Harry saw him do it.

"I know. But remember what it's like in Little Whinging? Surviving together means keeping each other's secrets, because people will use information against you. It's like that here too. I don't go around telling people what your parents do to you. That's just information they can use to hurt you when the time is right."

Still hidden, Severus' chest tightened. Mark was being abused? Potter did not seem to be trying to be deceitful at the moment, and that could only mean that he had not deceived Mark into believing falsely that he also was being mistreated at home. To drive this point in further, Harry continued his lesson in life with Mark.

"I know it sucks, but we've got to face the hard facts. Nobody cares, not at home or here. I've tried telling professors too many times, and they never cared enough to take me seriously. You just have to keep acting like everything's ok, just like at home, and if you ever need me, just come get me. That's why I gave you the password to Gryffindor at the feast. I'm not going to let anybody hurt you."

Mark sniffed then, and looked up into Harry's eyes. "Even if I'm a Slytherin?"

Harry gently put his hands on Mark's shoulders, and said, "You're my brother. How could I ever do anything different than to protect you like my brother?" The two boys let their heads fall forward, foreheads resting together, and Severus took several steps back and around the corner.

No, no, this wasn't right. Potter was spoiled, he was a liar, he was the son of James Potter, arrogant and stuck up and privileged and everything that Severus was not. And yet, there were the two abused boys of Little Whinging, banded together as brothers of necessity, unable to stand alone lest they die.

How ironic, he thought, head resting on the stone wall behind him. Hadn't that been what he had preached to his house year after year? And yet here were a Slytherin and Gryffindor more able to stand together than he had seen most Slytherins do. Yes, it was a necessity, but there was something else there, and it was in their hearts. They might as well be brothers in blood for the loyalty they had. Hadn't that been what he and Lily were? Chosen family. ‘Blood is who you're stuck with, but friends are the family you choose,' Lily had told him.

"Lily," he breathed, gut aching with her absence and also with the guilt that he had been no better than his own father, and to Lily's son no less. Harry's words to the Ravenclaw had struck him particularly hard as well. ‘And if you do this, you're just as bad. Picking on someone so much younger than you that they don't even have a chance. Did you even give him a chance to explain himself, or did you just assume he was up to no good?'

I just assumed, Severus admitted to himself. When he next looked back around the corner, finally visible, the boys were gone, but Severus had made up his mind. He would protect these two boys as if they were his own. He would discover what they had been through, and vow that they would never have to go through it again. He was determined, and nothing would stop him. ‘I love how stubborn you are sometimes Severus,' Lily's words came back to him as he headed off to the Headmaster's office. ‘Someday our children will be as stubborn as you.'

* * *

Ten Months Later - Saturday July 2

Giggling and raucous thumping could be heard upstairs, and Severus equated it to a herd of drunken elephants as he set the dining room table.

"Boys! Try not to destroy the house before lunch!"

He heard more laughter, but the thumping died down momentarily before there was a crash, and then silence.

He sighed. There went the other lamp in the room, he thought, irritated. He just should have put an unbreakable charm on the whole room before turning it over to them. It was a few moments before the two boys appeared in the dining room doorway, looking contrite.

"Well?"

"I broke the other lamp," Harry said quietly, and Severus nodded.

"Then you can pay for it out of your allowance, and after lunch you can spend the afternoon childproofing the house with unbreakable charms."

"Yes sir."

Severus noted the glance that passed between the two boys as they sat down at the table, and said, "Is there something else you wish to tell me?" He had worked hard in the last ten months to set the two free from their families and to give the some semblance of a normal parent child relationship. It had involved a long court battle in Mark's case, as he had a grandmother who wanted him, but both Mark and Harry assured Severus that she was no better that Mark's parents, and Mark had a scar on his back to prove it.

After he had fought for them so long and so hard, Harry and Mark had decided to give him a second chance, and had reevaluated their opinions of him as he had done for them. They had remained in the custody of Hogwarts until the end of the school year, at which time they had requested to become wards of Severus. Even now, after all of that, they still held long standing and hard to break beliefs that all adults were inherently bad or easily upset. Severus couldn't blame them.

"It was me that broke the lamp," Mark said, staring down at his sandwich on the table.

Harry bit his lip, but Severus said calmly, "Then you will both pay for the lamp out of your allowance, and you will both charm the house."

Both boys looked relieved, and ate their sandwiches in silence. Severus showed them the charms they needed, and sent Mark upstairs to begin with his and Harry's bedrooms.

Severus noted that Harry had lingered behind, biting his lip and toeing the floor with his sneaker.

"Yes?"

Harry looked up. "I wanted to say thanks."

"For lunch?" He knew that's not what they boy had meant, but he didn't want to be thanked for what should have been done in the first place.

"No, I mean yes, but also, for being so good to us... sort of like... a dad."

Severus raised a brow. That was surprising. Not at all unpleasant, but definitely surprising. When he had taken custody of them a month ago, he did not expect that they should ever call him anything other than Severus.

"It is only what you deserve. You do not need to thank me."

Harry looked sheepish then, and grinned before running up the stairs after Mark.

Severus allowed a small smile to come over his face as he heard another thump and crash upstairs. There was a moment of silence before he heard Mark yell back downstairs, "Just testing! It works great!"

‘I love how stubborn you are sometimes Severus,' Lily's words came back to him yet again, ‘Someday our children will be as stubborn as you.' He smiled again. They were his children now, he thought, and with Lily inside his heart, they were hers too, or at least, that's what he liked to believe.