I sent this one early as an apology for being so late. Happy Reading!

"Or was, I suppose I should say," Mark looked down at his feet. Harry's head had snapped forward so fast he was certain it had given him no small amount of whiplash. His throat was working in shock or fury, Harry couldn't determine which.

"What?" He blinked widely. "What are you talking about?" Harry knew his voice was quavering, but he was amazed he could speak at all considering the blow that had just been knocked into his chest.

Mark however seemed insanely calm. "I recognized him in the photograph when your bag split. How did you know him?"

His mouth was gaping. "He was my godfather," Harry wasn't certain why he was revealing this, "but kid, you're, you're talking about someone else. Sirius," his throat caught; it was doing a lot of that lately. "Sirius didn't have a stepson." I would have known, I would have.

"Well I haven't seen him in about a year," the boy was still as composed as could be, "He was on the run you know."

Harry nearly snorted at the irony. "Yeah, I know." His mind was slowly starting to come into focus. More lies, more secrets. "We, uh, we need to see Professor Dumbledore."

The journey to the headmaster's office was one of the most exhausting walks of Harry's life. Images were running through his head at the same speed he and Mark were running to Dumbledore's office. Sirius wouldn't do this to him, he knew, he understood the pain of secrets.

When they arrived at the stone gargoyle it once again sprang to life and moved aside. As they ascended the winding stair Harry realized Dumbledore must have given him permission to enter at any time.

He stood facing the large doors which would grant him entrance to the office and pounded hard. Mark was beginning to lose some of his composure now. It was mere seconds before the wizened face of the headmaster pulled way on oak doors.

Dumbledore smiled benignly before his features began to recognize the unknown implications of both Harry and Mark at his door. The man's faquade returned and offered a welcoming hand into his office.

Harry wasted no time in crossing the path from the door to standing in front of the Professor's desk. Mark followed timidly; he obviously did not understand why he was here.

Dumbledore sat in his high chair and casually popped a lemon drop into his mouth. "Might I inquire as to why you both are gracing me with your company at such an unusual hour?"

Harry's face was already hot, he hated Dumbledore's serine attitude. "Mark, here, seems to think that Sirius, my Sirius, is his stepfather."

The Headmaster's eyes held no surprise but more a sort of grave disappointment. Merlin, not again. "I had hoped it would no come to this so soon." The old wizard rose from his chair and crossed to the hearth of his fireplace. He scooped what appeared to be floo powder from a silver dish and threw it into the fire. Dumbledore stuck his head in the green flames. "Severus, a word if you will?"

Harry's brow furrowed. What did Snape have to do with this? Mark was obviously wondering the same thing. They didn't have to wait long before the potions master entered, robes billowing ominously as usual. He stopped short at the sight of the two of them together, and for the first time in Harry's memory he seemed frightened.

"It's time the truth came out Severus," Dumbledore spoke softly. "The whole truth." The man seemed stunned for a moment before nodding his head regally. Harry had never seen the man so stiff.

"I think I will begin," The wizard sat down heavily; Snape had settled by leaning on a wall. "I suppose it would start with your great grandparents, Harry."

Harry raised his eyebrows. Damn, how far did this go?

"Annette Sandfield and Charles Evans married right out of school over a hundred years ago. They had two children, both boys, twins in fact, Dean and Devon Evans. This was a time in the Evans line when there had yet to be a witch born; the Evans line was solely muggles.

"Dean, you may already know this, Harry, from your aunt." Harry would have snorted at the irony, Aunt Petunia never so much as shown him a picture of his parents let alone explain his family tree.

"As I was saying, Dean, your grandfather married Margaret Malone. As you can inevitably imagine, Margaret gave birth to both Lily and Petunia. You obviously know the rest from there.

"On the other side of the family tree, there was Devon, quite the odd one out of the group." Harry was startled out of his fascination when Snape did snort ironically, curious. "It was sibling rivalry, quite similar to Lily and Petunia's feuds.

"It seemed to me that Devon was quite jealous of his brother. Dean was a very open-minded, imaginative child, and the apple of his parents' eye. Devon, on the other hand, was quite the opposite." The Professor glanced at Snape during that comment.

"When Devon married, he married a woman by the name of Carol Snape." Harry's eyes shot to the Potions' Professor. Mark was gaping now.

"And unbeknownst to Devon he had married a witch. I doubt Carol would ever had told her husband the truth of her heritage if it wasn't for the fact that their son, Perseus Evans, received a letter from Hogwarts.

"This, combined with Devon's narrow mindedness, ultimately ended in a separation of sorts. Devon wanted nothing to do with his son and Carol took Perseus with her. Ultimately she changed his name to be the same as her own. The boy would always be known as Perseus Evans in the muggle world, but if you'll notice conveniently enough that Perseus Evans is an acronym of Severus Snape."

Harry realized his jaw could drop no further. Mark was breathing raggedly next to him. Dumbledore was looking pointedly at Snape, obviously indicating he should pick up on the conversation.

The Professor straightened. "Needless to say I never saw my father again," he smirked sardonically. "I suppose it would do to jump a few years ahead. I doubt you'd want me to bore you with the rest of my childhood.

"This I suppose would begin to answer the question you originally came for. I was in fact on a date with Anise Sinistra" If the situation weren't so serious Harry would have laughed uproarisly. Snape was glaring at him furiously. There has to be a reason as to why Snape would ever say this in front of him.

"I was in fact stood up as one would say." Snape seemed to be spitting his words. "I left to console myself in a muggle bar and met Sara Baker." Mark let out a gasp and Harry was beginning to grasp the implications of what Snape was saying. Were they related, however distantly?

"We ended up in a drunken daze. I learned Sara had just been dumped from a three-year relationship, and we were both drowning sorrows in a seemingly never-ending bottle of ale. I suppose you can imagine where this might have led with two lonely people and a large amount of liqueur."

Mark was blushing furiously despite the paleness to the rest of his face. Harry just felt more nauseous. "A few months later Sara realized she was with child. She tracked me down. It was 1984 I believe. She had known me as Perseus, the name I always used in the muggle world.

"When she asked me what surname to give the child I told her Evans. Six months later I was sent a birth certificate and baby photo. The child's name was Mark. I never heard from Sara again," Snape fell silent.

Mark was gasping for air; it appeared thousands of questions were at the tip of his tongue, but it seemed the tale was not over.

Dumbledore was speaking again, "After this long dialogue, I will finally enlighten you as to the reason you came here in the first place. Mark," the old wizard peered down at the already shocked boy, "Sirius Black was a wizard."

"Sirius knew your mother from his many escapades as teenager during the summer. He often ran from his oppressive home and met your mother from his journeys into the muggle world. Sirius obviously never revealed his wizarding descent to her but he came to her when he broke free from Azkaban.

"Sara was aware he was on the run, from what she never knew, yet she still trusted him implicitly. After the Triwizard Tournament Sirius left to be with her; one can only assume this is when Sirius and Sara were wed. You'd have to ask Mark as to the details."

Mark was nodding dumbly, Harry felt as if someone were sitting heavily on his chest.

"This is also one of the reasons Sirius was so conveniently on Privet Drive when you Harry ran from home. This summer Remus came to Surrey and spoke with Sara and Mark. He told them Sirius had died in a car crash. He did this before he came and spoke to you about the will.

"The other half of the Black fortune went to Sara and Mark."

The silence in the office was deafening, Harry's breathing was ragged.

"But," Mark spoke up for the first time, "But how did he die?"

Harry felt Professor Dumbledore's eyes flick across to him. Harry let his eyes fall shut painfully. He couldn't listen anymore; he couldn't listen as Dumbledore described the death of his Godfather.

What did this mean? That he had family? No, Snape would never be his family, ever. Harry would never accept that. He knew now that family wasn't blood. Sirius had a stepson? Did that make him second?

Damn, I am so sick of being second. Second to Dudley and now second to Mark. If Mark was family how could Harry accept that? He didn't think he could. Sirius why would you do this to me?

And Snape was Mark's father? I have to get out of here. Harry stood abruptly and left the office without another word. Blocking out the world around him. He started when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Mark.

The boy looked at his feet. "I just wanted you to know. I didn't know him all that well, and he talked about you constantly." Harry looked into Mark's eyes now desperately. "I just didn't catch on that it was you. I didn't think it would be fair to take away the value of your relationship with him. You were with him first and you deserve that memory."

Harry tried to thank the boy but his voice was inconveniently not working, so he just nodded.

"I have to go back. I need to talk with Snape, work some things out." Mark shook his head disbelievingly and turned on his heel back towards the office.

Needless to say, Harry never went back to sleep that night. His mind was busy mulling it all over until the pink sky of dusk had reached him and he was forced to face the world again.

Okay, short I know, but I figure it gave you quite a lot to mull over. It's quite a twist and I hope you all can take it. Let me just assure you of something right now, I have NO intentions to make this a Snape/Harry bonding fic. I really prefer Snape as an antagonist and intend to keep him that way.

Also, I tried to make clear that Harry was truly number one for Sirius, and Mark did not change that. Sirius did not have the opportunity to get to know Mark. If you didn't quite understand all the family connections I will be posting a family tree on my yahoo group explaining this in a more organized fashion. You can get the link to the yahoo group in my profile.

As to the lateness of this chapter, well from Monday to Wednesday I had end of the year exams, and then a family friend came to town Thursday, and so on. I won't bore you with the details, but I apologize. Now let me apologize in advance. You won't have a chapter next week as I'm going to Mexico for a week but you'll get it two Thursday's from now.

I hope you caught some of the foreshadowing. I know one reviewer early on noticed that Snape had taken a particular interest in Mark at the sorting and they didn't understand why, well now you do.

Thanks to ChucklesDHobbit, Bujiana, littlemissperfect, Suicidal Bunnies (sorry about the lateness), supernova 8610,

Jenn the Freak- I really appreciate your comment, I tried very hard on how to reveal the prophecy and I'm happy you were pleased.

Gogglehead Lover- Hope you weren't disappointed with the Mark reveal

Melindaleo- I don't know how to thank you for your consistent reviewing considering you are such a gifted author yourself. I love reading your comments.

Mimbulus- you see I added the was up there just for you, lol

Now lets see if by some miracle we can get to 200 reviews. I will now respond to all

reviews, and to those of you who have asked me to look at your stories I promise I'm

getting to it!