Chapter one

Just before leaving Hogwarts for the final time, Harry Potter and his friends went round and hugged all the staff, surprising the staff and the other students, but it was a pleasant surprise. Even though a lot of the students and staff ended up crying, they all knew that it was the start of a new life that was safe. The staff were happy that the students who helped save their world was about to go out as fully trained adults to begin a new life, something a lot of people didn't believe would ever happen, live in a world without Voldemort.

Tobias did move in with Harry, they knew the next year was going to be hard. Tobias still had one year to go and Harry would be training to be an auror. But that was one thing Harry said, he wasn't going to start his training until Tobias went back to Hogwarts.

'Harry, I wanted to ask you something.'

'Anything babe, what's up?'

'Well, you have your office, once I'm a healer I'll probably need one as well. So would it be okay to turn one of the spare rooms into an office I can use?'

'Yeah, that's a great idea and you're right, you will need your own office healer Princeten,' Harry grinned making Tobias laugh.

'Thanks love, so the small one near our room.'

'If that's the one you want, they're both just spare rooms. When Hermione and Ron stay it's usually in the one furthest from ours. So we'll keep that as it is and go shopping for stuff you need. A desk, chair, bookshelf, cabinets, everything you need.'

'I can do that slowly after I start working.'

'Tobias, you know I've got money, we're together so what's mine is yours.'

'I'm not comfortable with that Harry.'

Harry sighed, 'Even though I don't like to bring this up, some of that money is yours anyway. I'm sure our mother would have worked something out for you to get your share. I'm having your name added to the vaults anyway, so how about it?'

'I hate it when that gets mentioned.'

'I do as well and I try not to. But you can see I'm right can't you? It would be partially yours. You know, I never asked McGonagall about Snape, maybe he had stuff, a vault or something that would have gone to you if they knew you were his son.'

'Do you think he would have had anything, he lived at Hogwarts?'

'He got paid, so he had to have a vault. I think I remember Dumbledore saying something about a house that Snape lived in,' Harry concentrated for a minute, 'He did, it was his parent's home, he lived there when he wasn't at Hogwarts. Why don't we write to McGonagall and ask her?'

'But Harry, I have no proof that he was my father, so even if there is something out there they won't just give it to me.'

'What if we can find proof for everyone, only about your father, not mother. That way you could claim what is rightfully yours and no one finds out about us?'

'Do you want to risk that?'

'It's not really a risk babe, our mother was married to my father at the time, so I don't think anyone would pick up on the truth. I only did because of your letter, my letter and the diary.'

'That's true, but what if someone finds out?'

'No one will, all we're doing is proving Snape had a son and you were taken to Australia to keep you safe while the war was going on. You could make up a story, like the mother didn't want a death eater near you. She didn't know his true identity until after she fell pregnant and thought taking you away was safer for you.'

'Have you thought about this before because you came up with a believable story pretty fast.'

'I did mull it over a bit, but never really went into detail, just some ideas. Most orphans usually try to find out something about their parents, so it would be natural for you to do the same.'

'What about a mother? Sure we could work on Snape, but what if Hermione wants to know about my mother?'

'Just say we never found out who she was. Tobias, you don't resemble her in anyway, you're Snape and your grandmother, McGonagall said that, you have a lot of features that were your grandmothers.'

Tobias sighed, 'Okay, we can see about it and go with that story.'

'Good, we'll send McGonagall an owl, ask her if she knew of anything that Snape owned and maybe she might have an idea on how we can prove you were his son?'

'Alright, let's write her a letter,' Tobias said nervously but followed Harry into his office where they both sat at the desk and comprised a letter to Professor McGonagall. When they were just finishing up, they heard Hermione's voice calling, so they both hurried out into the living room and saw her head in the fireplace.

'Hermione, what's up?'

'Can I come through, I need to talk to both of you about something?'

'Sure, see you in a bit,' Harry said then stood up moving back away from the fireplace. Hermione stepped out a few seconds later, brushing ash off her clothes then she hugged Harry then Tobias.

'So what's up?' Harry gestures for her to follow him into the kitchen.

'Something kept nagging at me so I did a bit of research,' Hermione said.

Harry could see Hermione was nervous, 'Is something wrong?'

'No, but I found something, I'm just not sure how Tobias will take it or you Harry.'

Harry and Tobias looked at each other then tried to make sure their fear never showed. Did Hermione find out the truth about them? If she did would she say anything or would she want them to separate.

'I'm not sure what you mean Hermione, so just tell us.'

'Okay,' Hermione put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a couple of newspaper clippings, 'Remember when I was researching the halfblood prince?'

'Yeah,' Harry sighed, 'It's fine, we already know about Snape.'

'You know Snape is Tobias' father?'

'Yes, we did a bit of research ourselves. It started because of your research Hermione. Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape, Tobias had a letter saying his last name wasn't exactly his last name and he was named after his father's father who he's father hated and I know Snape hated his father. Remember when I went into his memory that day, I heard my mother asking Snape about how his home situation was?'

'Yes, I remember. So if Severus Snape is Tobias' father, who is your mother? That is something I couldn't find. As far as my research went Snape never got involved with anyone.'

Harry looked at Tobias and gave him a small nod to let him know to go with that story they had made up. Now they both hoped Hermione believed it and never worked out the truth. That had been Harry's biggest fear, Hermione and how smart she was and how she got when she wanted to find out something, she never let it go. She was very tenacious, stubborn in a lot of ways.

So all Harry and Tobias could hope for was that she would be satisfied with knowing Snape was Tobias' father and forget about his mother. Because Harry knew that if she found out that Lily Potter was actually Tobias' mother, making Harry and Tobias half-brothers, then she might just want them to finish their relationship. Harry never believed Hermione would tell anyone, but he knew it would put a strain on his friendship with her and if that happened everyone would ask why.