Kenai occupied every spot Harry did as soon as he'd left it for another hiding spot. He couldn't afford to be seen. He could only imagine the trouble he could get Harry into by the end of tonight... with the secrecy the other fifth year was taking, this had to be something big. There had been rumors that some girl was pregnant... what if Harry were the father? What if he wasn't, but he could catch Harry shacked up with some girl? Yes, that had to be where he was sneaking off to so late after curfew.

Kicking at the mewling caretaker's cat that had always liked him, the cat hissed and took off and Kenai ran around a corner just in time to see Harry disappear through a door. Finally, he thought to himself. This is it. I'll bust in and catch him with that Weasley girl and then my father will remember just what kind of trouble his eldest son is.

Whatever Kenai had expected when he burst through the door, forty students dueling in a secret room to Harry's directions wasn't it. He stood still, hoping now that nobody spotted him as he realized that he was greatly outnumbered.

Eyes roaming the crowd he was shocked to find Draco dueling Ronald Weasley and laughing heartily as he was thrown onto his back by a bright blue spell. That's when Draco looked over and saw him, smile faltering, traitorous eyes leading Ron's eyes over as well. One by one the students quieted and stared at him, until finally Harry turned to stare at the intruder as well. When they looked to Harry for direction, Kenai's initial impression that Harry was the ringleader of this group was confirmed.

Harry seemed to be at a loss for what to do however, and someone shouted from the back, "You don't belong here Snape! Get out!"

"Yeah! We don't want you here!"

"Out!"

"Out!"

Most of the crowd were cheering him out, but Kenai was more curious about those that weren't, and instead had worried looks on their faces, such as Harry, Draco, and the rest of Harry's little group.

Harry held up his hand to silence the naysayers and they fell quiet.

"This is a secret defense association formed to teach us how to defend ourselves in case of attack. Umbridge isn't teaching us anything, and if she catches any of us, you know what the consequences will be." He held up the back of his scarred hand as a vivid reminder, and Kenai flinched.

"If she catches any of you, you mean," Kenai said, trying for a smirk as he crossed his arms, but failing miserably as he was too uncomfortable here with these people who all disliked him so much. Most of the group still looked like they were ready to hex him or toss him out on his arse.

"I mean us," Harry said, and he turned to Hermione who brought over a long parchment and a blue and gold quill.

"What's that?" It read Dumbledore's Army and there were too many names for him to count.

"It's the register of membership, and you're going to sign."

Kenai laughed nervously then. "Why would I do that?"

"Because it's the only way you're leaving without your memory modified. When you sign the register, you are swearing to secrecy of the group, the activities, and the members. If you break the oath, your face will break out in pimples that will never go away spelling you out as the traitor."

"Oh, just fantastic," Kenai breathed, taking the quill with a shaky hand, and cursing himself for being in such a situation. Everyone in the room was still quiet.

"Sign," Draco said from where he stood behind Harry now.

"Gee Potter," Kenai spat out as he quickly signed his name below Draco's under the word SLYTHERIN. "I see you've tried to fill your Slytherin friend quota." He hastily shoved the quill back at Hermione, and tried to ignore the glares he was still getting. He turned to leave but Harry cleared his throat and Kenai stopped to see Harry reaching out his hand and somebody placing into it a gold Galleon. He in turn handed it to Kenai.

"This shows the dates and times of the meetings, as well as any other important information. When it goes warm in your pocket, check it for news."

"Whatever." He took the coin and shoved it into his pocket before hurrying out the door. Finally able to catch his breath outside, he leaned against the wall as Filch's cat came up to him again and gave him a reproachful stare.

"C'mon," he said, picking it up. "I'll take you back to Filch's office." It bit at his fingers, but he huffed and said, "Yeah, well it hasn't been a peachy night for me either, all right?"

* * *

Kenai was sure that nobody wanted him to come back to their little club, but the golden coin burned in his pocket two days later regardless, and he pulled it out, glaring at it. Apparently there was a meeting today after lunch. He wondered why they would hold it in the middle of the day, but then remembered that the Hufflepuffs had Quidditch practice that afternoon and that Umbridge would be out on the pitch watching them to make sure there was no funny business going on.

If they thought he would go to their stupid little meeting, then they were daft, he told himself as he stuffed the coin back into his pocket. Just because he had signed the register didn't mean he was going to become one of Harry's little flunkies. His stomach squirmed despite what he'd just told himself, and he resigned himself to the fact that maybe he wanted to go, if for nothing else than to just show everybody up and make them uncomfortable.

After lunch he watched for Umbridge to leave the Great Hall, and then followed several people from other houses out, and up through the castle until he came to the secret door. He let them go into the secret room while he remained standing outside, just staring at the wall. If dad finds out that I'm hanging out with Harry then he'll.... what? He stopped himself. He would nothing now, because now he liked Harry again, Kenai reminded himself, and he gave himself a mental shake, wishing he had his father's ability to occlude his mind and stop himself from thinking... from feeling. He hated feeling like this.

With a deep breath to prepare himself for what lay on the other side of the door, Kenai turned the handle and went inside, mind still set on showing Harry up in their father's eyes.

* * *

"Are you just going to stand there and glare at us for the rest of the year Snape?" Ron spat out from the floor as Hermione gave him a hand up and fetched his wand for him. She had just tossed him on his arse for the sixth time in a row with a new spell she had found in the library. Harry had given everyone the assignment of coming to this meeting with two new spells that no one else knew about, so they could all have a secret weapon and practice wordless magic (which so far only Hermione and some of the seventh years were proficient at).

Kenai sneered at Ron and directed his gaze elsewhere, just as he always did. He'd been to six meetings now and had always stayed leaning against the wall, just observing, never participating. It made some of the other students feel uncomfortable, Harry included, because he wasn't sure why his brother kept coming if it wasn't to practice defense.

Ron switched partners and Kenai's eyes flitted back to Hermione, who was now disarming Fred Weasley with ease, sending him to the ground as she snatched his wand from the air as a Seeker would a Snitch. He narrowed his eyes and watched three more times as she did it, studying the wand movements and the effects of the spell. He was almost positive he knew what spell she was using, and if not, he knew how to counter it, albeit in a way she wouldn't like.

To much surprise, Kenai left his spot on the wall, wand out, and stood in front of Hermione. She gave a worried look to Ron, who returned it, and Kenai was sure they were uncertain of him and what types of spells he knew growing up with the feared Potions Master. They should be scared, he thought to himself, although he wished they weren't. He hated it when people were scared of him just because of his father. Harry was the only one who never was.

"Go ahead," Kenai said, "disarm me." He knew very little wordless magic, as that was something they didn't teach until the seventh year and his father had not had much time to teach it to him up to this point, but he did know one spell, and she would be surprised nonetheless. Harry didn't know it, but Kenai always took what he saw at the DA and practiced in private, and he always did the homework. Today he would finally get to show them something they didn't know. Something he had made up on his own.

At the first twitch of Hermione's wand, Kenai took a big breath and blew it out towards her. There was such a gust of wind that she and her wand went flying backwards, along with a few younger students that had surrounded them, and she landed on the floor, hair a mess and looking flustered.

"What? How? You didn't even use your wand?"

"I did," he defended. Mage magic was rare, and he didn't have any himself that he knew of, but it was nice to make it appear so.

"Show me then."

"The homework was to come with a secret spell that only you would know. I didn't see you enlightening Weasley over there about how you were knocking him on his arse, so you can just figure this one out for yourself."

Hermione stood and straightened herself, and went for another try, a different spell in mind. When Kenai saw her wand move however, he blew at her again, and the gust knocked her over. She huffed and stood again.

"I didn't see your wand moving."

"You were busy flying through the air." He had intentionally created a spell, which required very little wand movement, and no words at all, just the force of his breath. He could control the force of the wind if he let his breath out more slowly. It would have been great at Quidditch if he hadn't told his father about this new skill. He would never allow the cheating.

Intrigued now by the newcomer, some of the other students stood nearby to watch and see if they could figure out his spell in order to use it themselves. Finally Harry stepped up and faced off with Kenai.

"Think you've got it do you?" he smirked. He couldn't wait to toss Harry on his hind end in front of the fan club.

Harry only gave a mute nod, wand at the ready, and when Kenai opened his mouth, he found himself unable to let out any air. He couldn't breath at all in fact, and with a panicked look to Harry he fell to his knees. Harry waved his wand again, and Kenai sucked in a deep breath.

"What was that?"

"Your spell relied on breath, so I took yours away."

"Haudaer?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "The fire extinguisher."

"Damn," Hermione breathed, looking unhappy that she hadn't figured out a counter."

"What?" Kenai stood up, still trying to catch his breath.

"It's the fire extinguisher spell. Madam Hooch made us learn it after somebody set... your father's robes on fire. It sucks all the air out of whatever it's aimed at."

With a final deep breath, Kenai looked at Harry with awe, perhaps for the first time since he'd first learned he had a brother. Only Ginny and Draco noticed.

"All right everybody," Harry said loudly, turning from the uncomfortable situation and raising his hands. "Homework for next time. Bring two more spells nobody will know, and come prepared to teach everyone what you did this week so we can add today's spells to the list of ones everybody knows."

People began putting their things away and filtering out of the room a couple at a time so as not to arouse suspicion, and when Harry left with his group of friends, he turned and gave Kenai a wave that caught him off guard. Harry was being... nice to him? After all he'd done to torment him?

Sitting alone in the empty room for a long time, Kenai thought hard about what he wanted from life. He had nobody but his father, and even he was slipping away from him. He had few friends and fewer good ones. What do you want Kenai, he asked himself, and the answer came to him clearer than anything had ever come before. I want a brother.

* * *

‘Dear dad, I don't think you've been sending Kenai to spy on me anymore. Something changed, but I don't know what anymore. I admitted today that you're his father, not mine. It hurt to say that in front of people. It hurt to say it at all. Love, the son you could have had.'

* * *

"Mr. Potter." Umbridge was standing in front of his desk, staring down her nose at him, and Harry subconsciously leaned back in his chair to escape the nasty toad.

"It has come to my attention that you were nowhere to be found last night. I'm afraid I will have to give you detention." Most of the people in their class were DA now, with exception of the majority of the Slytherins, and everybody's face fell.

"Ma'am?" Harry asked.

"When I went to Gryffindor common room to find you so that I could discuss your next Quidditch practice, I could not find you. No one in the common room knew where you were, and none of the teachers did either. I am therefore lead to the conclusion that you must have been out on the grounds, wandering where you shouldn't be."

"He was with me Professor, helping me with my homework for your class."

The room froze. Kenai Snape was standing up. Literally, but also in the sense that he was finally taking a stand for his only brother. Jaws dropped further.

"Excuse me Mr. Snape?"

"In my room, helping with homework," he repeated, voice a little smaller as he faced off with the toad woman from hell.

"The first magical decree expressly forbids any clubs, even a study group from-"

"Excuse me professor," Kenai interrupted, being sure to raise his hand, "but it wasn't a club. He was in my room privately helping me with my homework." Somehow he felt emboldened, and he realized it was the look of relief on Harry's face that he had caught when Umbridge had stopped looming over his desk.

She stared at him. "In your room?" No, this wasn't good at all, the way her voice pitched ever so slightly higher. She didn't believe him. "Why was Mr. Potter in your room Mr. Snape?"

"Well, he's my brother ma'am, why wouldn't he be in my room?"

She sighed. "Detention for you as well Mr. Snape, for lying. Your father won't be pleased at all."

"Draco no!" Everyone looked to the Slytherins as Pansy tried to pull at Draco's sleeve, as he was standing now too.

"Professor," Draco said more boldly than Kenai had done. "It's true Professor. Harry was in Kenai's room in professor Snape's quarters helping him with homework."

"And you know this how Mr. Malfoy?"

"Because I was serving detention with Professor Snape ma'am. He had me and some of the Gryffindors scrubbing out his bathroom and kitchen floors because he caught us fighting in the hall."

"Fighting?"

Here Draco gave a surprisingly vicious sneer towards Hermione and Ron and said, "Yes ma'am."

Straightening, she strode to the front of the room. "Very well then. But I will not tolerate anymore standing in my classroom. Everyone sit before I keep you after class."

Draco and Kenai fell into their chairs with a shared look between them and then over to the Gryffindors, who were in disbelief.

Harry mouthed, ‘she'll check' to Kenai, and he nodded. Harry didn't know how, but knew he'd take care of it, and Severus would corroborate his son's lie. What had Kenai been thinking? Harry couldn't figure out what game he was playing now.

In the hall after class, Harry let his friends pass him by, and waited for Kenai to come out of the room. When he did, he saw Harry waiting for him and paused to let the rest of the Slytherins pass until they were alone.

"What are you aiming at Kenai?" Harry was feeling anxious all of a sudden. "Trying to be my friend all of a sudden? Thanks but Draco's already filled my Slytherin friend quota..." he felt snarky, remembering what Kenai had said earlier. His brother had just stood up for him in class, but he was so anxious over why that he felt it bubble under the surface and couldn't shake the feeling until he had answers.

Shifting from foot to foot for a second, Kenai looked contrite and said, "How about just a brother?" Damn, was this how Harry had felt for all of those years? To have such a longing for a brother, and yet to be denied at every turn? He hoped he could be forgiven, but felt the possibility was too far away to ever grasp.

Green eyes boring into deep brown ones, Harry studied the truth of the situation, and wondered how much longer he could deny his own brother what had been denied him for so long. "A brother then," Harry said uncertainly. Did this mean he had a father then too? He wasn't sure, but he thought he could handle having a brother, at least for a test flight, he told himself.

He pulled out the yellow makes you pee candy that had ridden around in his robe pocket for so long. "Think we can find some way to slip this to her during detention?"

Kenai grinned a wicked grin. "I think I have an idea."