A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters. I hope you enjoy as well. Also, there are two chapters remaining after this.

Chapter Ten

Severus was shocked when Harry didn't immediately turn up on his doorstep. He had gradually started going back to meals, feigning illness when someone inquired about his absence. Those who were the wiser kept mum. The boy would just glance at him from across the table, a second too long perhaps, but that was all, and nod, resuming his meal as though nothing had happened. Severus was starting to get to the point where he wished to be confronted just to get it over with.

After four or five days of waiting, coupled with the stress of the time before, he decided to take a day of sabbatical. There was someplace he hadn't been in a while that he figured he should go.

~~HGSS~~

The last bit of snow clung stubbornly to the sides of the lane, leaving white where the dark of shadows should have been. His boots crunched in the stillness as he passed underneath a tree into a more secluded area of the cemetery. The grounds were kept to a certain standard due to the honored status of two of its inhabitants, but on a breezy, not-quite spring day like today, only a few other visitors mingled in other sections of the sacred grounds.

He followed the path without thinking. He would have even without the little plaques along the walk that described significant events of the first war and snippets of history about the couple laid to rest at the end. Would he be given a new plaque in the future? "James Potter had an unknown half-brother in Severus Snape, Death Eater-turned-War Hero."

He hoped he would get a chance to tell them where to shove their sign.

The bench was empty as it usually was. Severus found that the days he stopped by to visit his former friend and her husband were days that were important to him and him alone. Not the day of their deaths or Harry's birthday. Usually the day he truly had lost her forever, when he insulted her in front of the Marauders. Or the day he told Voldemort the prophecy, the day he signed their death warrants. Those days weren't important to anyone else.

The headstone seemed to glare at him, as usual, with its large and mocking double arches, all but screaming LILY POTTER to the world. He didn't love her as he once had—the love of teenagers, unrequited, forlorn, and overly dramatic—but it still stung.

But now, for the first time, it was the other side of the stone that held his attention.

JAMES SEPTIMIUS POTTER.

Well, that was interesting.

Septimius Severus was a Roman Emperor. His first name was Lucius, but Severus tried not to think about that. It wasn't terribly surprising to find that a pure-blood philanderer had named both of his sons something ridiculous and "regal." He wondered how much his real father knew about him after he had been born.

James Potter, his brother. How much of his life would have changed had he been raised as privileged and spoiled as James? Would he have been Slytherin still? He probably wouldn't have joined the Death Eaters. He wouldn't be teaching at Hogwarts. He wouldn't have snogged Hermione Granger.

Everything would be different. But different wasn't always better. Only one of them was currently alive and sitting on the lightly frosted bench.

As much as he hated to admit it, he should probably consider talking to Potter Junior and making amends of some sort. If nothing else, the revelations made by Dumbledore and the experiments run by Hermione had taught him that you never know when you might need your family. And perhaps the boy had really grown up after all. He wouldn't know if he didn't give him a chance. Something he had never really given him in the first place.

"Oy, Professor," said a voice from behind him.

"Potter," he answered, aiming for civil but not sure if he achieved it.

Harry came around the other side of the bench and took a seat, tucking his robe underneath him. "I think Harry would be appropriate at this point, sir."

"Harry, then. What brings you here? Searching for me, no doubt?"

"Actually, I thought you were waiting for me. This is one of the days I always stop by."

"Today?"

Harry nodded toward his dad's side of the stone. "My dad's birthday."

"And so it is."

Severus pulled a small flask from one of his many pockets and held it aloft. "To James," he said, taking a swig and handing it to the boy…the man beside him.

"To my dad," said Harry, choking a bit on the Firewhiskey before handing back the flask and watching as the professor sprinkled a little on the grave.

"Every bloke deserves a decent drink on his birthday," he said by way of explanation. "I have it under good authority that you've grown up a bit…Harry."

Harry shrugged. "I hope so. I have it under good authority that you've mellowed out a bit too, sir."

"Severus."

Harry gave him a lopsided grin. "Severus, then."

When he looked at the younger man this way, so carefree and easy to please, he looked nothing like either of his parents. If he looked hard, he could find echoes of them both, but, like the snow, those bits were hiding in the dark corners.

"I've never liked you, Harry."

"I know that, sir. Severus. I'm fairly certain that sentiment is returned. Well, I liked you when I didn't know it was you. Saving my arse from my cursed broom, the Half-Blood Prince's textbook, and the like. I'm sorry for not trusting you. Hermione always said we should, and she's always right, you know."

"That I do know. Not that I'll ever tell her so," Severus told him with a smile in his voice.

They were both quiet for a while, listening to the melting snow. Any Muggle would assume it was father and son mourning a loss, so close was their appearance in their black cloak jackets and with their messy black hair.

"I'm sorry as well, Harry," said Severus so quietly at first that Harry had to strain to hear him. He'd never ask him to repeat himself. "I never would have left you that night with your aunt. I knew her growing up. I knew her feelings towards our kind. That was no place for a boy to grow up. Not that I would have offered a better alternative, but I would have found something."

"Do you wish you had known?"

"Yes. No. Every action has its consequences. Everything would be different, which is not necessarily a good thing. Just that knowledge could have changed the outcome of the war. We can only deal with the hand we've been dealt. As I said, I've never liked you. I never liked your father, and your mother and I parted ways under less than friendly circumstances. I was there the night she passed, but…she was gone before I could make amends."

"I'm sure she knows."

Snape huffed. "Oh, she knew. She knew long before then. She just didn't forgive. And don't interrupt. It's possible I placed some of that hatred onto you unfairly. I've been told that perhaps I didn't give you a fair chance. Personally, I don't think it would have mattered, but under the circumstances, I think it would be best if we get to know each other. Outside of house politics, personal prejudices, and past history. Merlin, Potter, we really do have a lot stacked against us." He took another sip from the flask and offered it to his companion, purely for warmth.

"There will be a few people that will help bridge the gap," said Harry. "I hear Hermione has a vested interest."

Severus twitched at the sound of Hermione's name but said nothing for a moment. "I spoke to someone else in your little family who suggested we make an attempt at reconciliation."

"Ron?"

"Mr. Weasley."

"Oh, that makes more sense. They've always liked you."

Severus made a noncommittal noise, and the two fell back into silence.

In a way, he felt that the responsibility of watching over Harry had fallen to him now. Arthur would protest, of course, but not only was Severus blood, he had been doing it since the night the boy's parents died. It was his spells keeping Harry safe, the ones he cast knowingly and unknowingly. He owed it to his…brother to keep his nephew safe.

"Would you and my dad haveever been friends?"

"Not bloody likely," Severus answered. "Relation or no, we were too different. We didn't understand each other on a very basic level. It was hatred at first sight. Perhaps that was our magic recognizing something we couldn't have known, who knows?"

"Can you and I ever be friends?"

"That is yet to be seen," he answered gravely. "But you're currently tolerable, and that's a fair bit better than you've ever been."

"Thanks, Severus. You're not too bad yourself. Maybe you can be Uncle Sev," he added cheekily.

"Don't make me kill you in front of your parents," Severus deadpanned.

Harry burst out laughing as though he had just heard the punch line to a joke. "Oh, I can see why Hermione likes you."

"Shut it, Potter."

"Yeah, that's basically what she said too. So, forgiven?" asked Harry, rising from the bench with his hand extended.

"Indeed. And the same?"

"Of course," said Harry with that same bright smile, and they shook.