When morning came, Severus Snape was not surprised when Silk came to him, and informed him that the two girls had ended up sharing a bed. 'They must have talked until they fell asleep.' He thought to himself, his lips curling upwards into a smile, 'but what to do about Albus Dumbledore?' Thinking of the man who had woken him up at sunrise, a bitter taste entered his mouth.

'I can't wait until my nieces are old enough to do something about this war,' sighing Severus realised he was ready for the day, and called silk to him, "Silk wake the girls, and have them come down for breakfast."

Bowing low, Silk replied, "Of course master, Silk shall see to it," and disappeared with a pop.

Walking to the smaller private dining room, Severus sat down and started to read the paper, while waiting for the girls' arrival.

Up on the twin's bedroom, Silk was opening the curtains, and waking up her charges, "Wake up young misses, master waits for you at the breakfast table." Noticing the girls where awake, she hurried them to quickly bath, and changed their clothes for the day. This time instead of rags, and muggle clothes, they wore traditional wizarding robes.

Following Silk down the stairs, the girls looked in awe at their surroundings. They clearly were in an extremely large house. It was at this moment a portrait chose to speak, "I say are you Sebastian's daughters?"

Selma's mouth just stayed open, while Sophia asked, "You can talk?"

At this question all the portraits in the hallway seemed to look startled, one in particular, a Septimus Snape, "I say, you look like Snapes, so why are you acting like muggles?"

Selma by this time had found her senses, "What is a muggle?" she asked, remembering that her mother had also used that word in her letter.

This seemed to really aggravate the man in the portrait, to the point where he stormed off, out of the portrait, huffing something about the ignorance of children today.

Silk seeing that her charges were becoming distressed, took the girls hands, and dragged them to the dining room where their uncle waited for them.

Severus looked up with a small smile when he heard the girls enter the room, but quickly realised something was wrong. Looking at Silk he demanded, "What has happened?"

Silk, quickly squeaked, "It was the paintings master, they upset the young misses."

Nodding in understanding, Severus went to the girls, and knelt down looking into their eyes, "I think it is time I told you about who we are, and what the wizarding world is."

The three of them sat down, ate breakfast, and talked about the wizarding world in general.

Severus paused to ask, "So do you have any questions?"

Selma thought to herself, she had only three questions, "I have three questions. Firstly why did you not come and get me from the Dursley's before now?"

Severus knew then that Selma had been not treated well. Tucking that thought into the back of his mind, he answered as best he could, "Unfortunately the night you were killed, you were taken by Hagrid, the keeper of keys at Hogwarts, by Dumbledore's orders before I could get to you. After you were placed with your relatives, Dumbledore informed me that know one would be able to take you from that place that had magic in their bodies," pausing for a drink he continued, "On arriving back home in grief, my brother had the foresight that this might happen, and wrote me a letter explaining what he and Lily had done in order to bring you back to me. They explained that they couldn't take you from your respective places before you received your Hogwarts letters, since the spells cast on you would not begin to weaken until you turned ten. It also helped that once you did get your Hogwarts letter that you would begin your exposure to the wizarding world."

Selma nodded, not exactly happy with the answer. Albus Dumbledore had placed her with those nasty people. Looking up form her lap, she saw Sophia smile weakly at her, and she continued with her second question, "Why was I a boy, and my last name Potter?"

This was going to be hard to explain, Severus thought, "The war was at it height when you were born. All the death eaters knew of the prophecy, so when you were born, it was decided that we had to hide who you really were. Your father, Sebastian Snape was fairly high up in the Unspeakable Department, at the Ministry of Magic, and had access to poly juice potion," seeing their questioning looks, "Poly juice potion allows you to adapt the looks of another person for an hour at a time, and it is highly regulated potion. Continuing on, James Potter was an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, and a good friend of your mothers. Not many people knew that Sebastian and Lily had married, so James agreed to let Sebastian pose as him self with Lily after you were born, on a few occasions. It worked, and the media thought that you were James Potter's children. It was your mother that placed the glamour charm on you. Only a select few knew that you were a girl Selma. I know this is a shock to you, but if you ever have anything you want to talk about feel free to ask."

Selma thought about what her uncle had said, "Would it be possible to change back to a boy… I'm not sure I am comfortable with all this," she asked hesitantly.

Snape sighed; dread filling him as he spoke, "Lily designed the spell so that it would wear off. Even if you had chosen to stay at the Dursley's, the spell would have worn off by the time you were thirteen."

Selma nodded her head in understanding. That part hurt, having to be a girl, but at the same time, relief. When she was a boy, she lived with the Dursley's, now she was a Snape, and a girl.

Sophia took this moment to ask a question, "Who are the lords, and why are they important. Selma told me the prophecy last night, and I don't understand who the lords are…."

Severus tried to explain, "The Lords are the heads of all the old houses in Wizarding Europe. Many years ago there was a great war against a Dark Lord called Grindelwald. After the war had been won by Albus Dumbledore, he initiated the separation of the Wizarding governments. The Lords originally made up the governments of all of Wizarding Europe, each heading up in their particular province, and when things went to vote, each house had one vote. There was no supreme Lord, and all of Europe was united as equals. Now England only falls under the British Ministry of Magic. Many of the older houses feel that they would prefer the old system. This is one of the things that the current Dark Lord fights for."

Silence could be heard. Feeling that the conversation had begun to turn too dark Severus decided to lighten the mood, "Well have you replied to your Hogwarts letters?"

Selma gasped, "My uncle took my letter from me… how can I still reply?"

Severus was really starting to develop an idea about these muggles, "Don't worry I can send a response for you, but before that I will need to adopt you… if that is okay with you?"

Selma smiled, "Anything to take me away from my relatives is fine by me!"

Sophia was quieter though, "Does this mean I will never see my other family again?"

Severus paused, "No you could still see them, if you wanted to… they knew before they adopted you that you would return to this world."

Sophia looked at Selma who smiled back at her, "Okay."

It was done. Severus had decided on an old ritual which although subtle, was still considered legal in the courts of the wizarding world today. The child simply had to agree to become part of the family, and the old magic was sealed. The bonus was it automatically updated the register at the Ministry of Magic Adoption Centre, and there was nothing you could do about it.

Smiling Severus rose and said, "Shall we depart then for Diagon Alley?" seeing their questioning looks, he continued, "We need to by you some clothes, and also your school equipment. I am sure you also want to see what your parents left you in your vault."

After experiencing the drama of travelling by floo for the first time, Severus and the girls set off to Gringott's Bank. Sophia pointed out to Selma the warning at the entrance, but neither realised what it meant until they meet the goblins inside for the first time.

Severus ushered the girls to a vacant counter. The goblin at the desk smiled, revealing many sharp pointy teeth. Severus spoke up, "We would like to make a withdrawal from the misses Snapes' vault."

The goblin, leaning forward asked, "Key please."

Nudging Selma and Sophia forward, each girl bought their perspective keys out for the horrible looking goblin to look at.

"Everything seems to be in order. Griphook, come take these girls to their vault." The goblin said.

Scurrying from some undisclosed entrance, another goblin came out, bowed to the goblin at the desk, and then said in a superior tone, "I am Griphook, and I shall take you now down to your vault. Follow me please."

Leading the girls and Severus through a maze of corridors, they finally came to a cart, which proceeded to take them on a rollercoaster ride deep into the earth. On reaching vault 512, Griphook asked, "Key please."

Handing the key over, the girls watched the Griphook open the vault, and reveal its contents.

'I don't think that I have ever seen so much money,' was the first thought running through Selma's mind.

Sophia, being practical, walked past the money and picked up a pile on neat leather bound books, and asked, "What are these books Uncle Severus?"

Looking at the books Severus realised what they were, "they are your mother's diaries. She started writing them when she was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, and continued writing in them until she died two years later."

Clutching the books, and a sackful of gold sickles, they headed to the surface. Unfortunately someone was waiting for them. Albus Dumbledore.