Summary: A fertility potion affects Severus Snape and Rubeus Hagrid. Both become pregnant by the other, resulting in fraternal not-exactly-twins conceived on the same day, with different mothers but the same parents. For fear of Voldemort discovering he has children, Snape hides his part in the events leading to Hagrid's strange impregnation, and allows no one to find out about his own.
Challenge: Not quite in response to Challenge 48 of the mpreg site, www blooddance com / mpreg /, but inspired by it.
Disclaimer: Obviously, Harry Potter and anything else you recognize is not mine. This is fanfiction.
Warnings: Slash, mpreg

King's Cross station was crowded with muggles. It was the first time Severin had ever seen a muggle, even through his father's eyes. They dressed funny, but they seemed human enough. Still, Severin kept close to his father. He wore his Hogwarts uniform, minus the robe, already, and his trunk had been shrunken to a managable size that he carried in a loose fist. His robe was folded several times over and lay draped over his arm.

As yet, he had no familiar. Toads were boring, he had no one to send an owl to, and cats were overdone. Older students were given more leeway in their choice of animal companion, so Severin had chosen to wait and hold out for a snake or weasel.

His father, also dressed normally, but for his robe being folded and carried, came to a stop in front of a pillar with the number 9 sticking out one side of it, and the number 10 sticking out of the other. Between them, father and son probably looked a bit displaced in time, but they didn't draw too many odd looks. Not like the few kids they'd seen pushing around large carts filled with such things as large trunks, owl cages, telescopes, and potions scales.

"Just walk straight at the column," his father instructed. Here, his mental voice added, and Severin was treated to a memory of a far younger Severus Snape crossing the barrier into Platform nine and three quarters.

Severin nodded, drawing together all his courage. "Got it. See you in a few hours, Dad."

His father favoured him with a smile. "You'll do fine. I will see you again at Hogwarts."

They had argued a bit about the neccessity of him taking the train. He had been, after all, already at Hogwarts. What was the point of leaving it to take a train just to come back? But his father had insisted, and since Severin wasn't about to verbally admit (though Father surely knew through their link) that his main objection was that he was experiencing an acute fear of leaving his father's side, he had eventually agreed.

He drew in another breath, preparatory to actually moving toward the pillar, when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder. "I'm only a thought away, Severin. Now go meet some people your own age."

Severin smiled up at him, feeling a little better with that reminder. "Bye, Dad," he said and marched through the barrier before he could work himself up again.

The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes on the other side (instinct had made him squeeze them closed when logic told him he was about to smack into a solid wall) was the bright red engine of the Hogwarts Express. The second thing he noticed was that the crowd here was much younger, sprinkled with the occassional adult witch or wizard.

He weaved his way directly toward the train, making no effort to seek out or talk to anybody. There was nobody here that knew him, though there were quite a few he could recognize by name and potions talent. He was about to climb aboard when he noticed someone out of the corner of his vision. "Charlie!" he called before he could still his first impulse.

Charlie turned, dark eyes searching the crowd for whomever had called his name. Severin was torn between fleeing and approaching his brother. Indecision froze him in place. Finally, curiosity won over panic, and he took a tentative step toward the shorter boy, waving a little to catch his attention. Charlie's brow crinkled, obviously not recognizing him, but he put on a smile and joined him. "I'm sorry, but, should I know you?" Charlie asked, sounding a bit embarassed.

Severin shook his head with quick sharp movements. "No. I'm a first year, too."

Charlie looked surprised. "But you're so tall!" he blurted, then blushed deeply.

Severin shifted from one foot to the other. May as well get this over with quickly. It was pretty obvious anyway. He was, after all, almost five inches taller than Charlie who everyone knew was Hagrid's son. "I'm a quarter giant, too."

His brother looked delighted. "Really? I'm part giant myself."

Severin managed not to sigh and roll his eyes. "I know. You're Rubeus Hagrid's son."

Charlie looked a bit taken aback by Severin's knowledge of someone he had theoretically never met, but then he evidently came to an explanation, "Oh. Do you have a brother or something who goes to Hogwarts, then?"

The irony appealed to Severin and he couldn't resist an honest answer. "Yeah. A brother."

Sounding interested, Charlie asked, "Oh? Who? Do I know him? What house?"

Severin fought with himself, over telling truth or lie. "He's just a first year, too. He hasn't been Sorted yet."

Charlie looked around the platform, probably looking for a third quarter-giant. "You have a twin?" he asked, sounding jealous. "I've always wanted a brother."

Severin blinked, surprised. Intellectually, he had know Charlie didn't know about him. But he had always imagined his brother didn't want him. "We should get on the train."

Charlie looked around and noticed the thinning crowd now, though he hadn't when he'd been looking for Severin's 'twin'. "Yeah, probably. Are you going to sit with your brother?"

Severin shrugged, "If he sits with me. Do you have a trunk and stuff?"

Charlie shook his head. "Nah, left it at Hogwarts. The house elves can move it from my room as easily as from the train. Where's yours?"

He opened his hand and showed his brother his shrunken trunk. "Easier to carry around like this." House elves had gotten out of the habit of entering his father's room, so it was best to bring it with him, though the wards on his father's rooms had been significantly reduced this morning.

Together, they climbed onto the train and found an empty compartment. "Don't you have other friends to sit with?" Severin asked curiously, then belatedly realized that might sound like a dismissal, he hastened to add, "Not that I want you to leave. I just wondered. Because you've lived at Hogwarts all your life and know some older kids."

Charlie shrugged, "Yeah, I know some, but you're in my year, and I've never met another part-giant before. Besides dad. Did you know your giant grandparent?"

"No, I don't even know for sure which grandparent was the giant. My dad never met him or her." A thought occured to him, and he asked, "Have you met your giant grandparent?"

Charlie grimaced and shook his head. "Nope. Dad apparently met up with her again a few years back, before I was born, but she's not much for family."

A grandmother, then. He had a giant grandmother. Wow. That was pretty cool. "Never met any of my human grandparents either," Severin admitted, shrugging. "So she's not so much worse."

"That stinks. Never met mine either. Dad's father died way back."

Severin looked out the window as the whistle blew and the train began to move. "Five more hours and we'll officially be Hogwarts students," he said, more to himself than to his companion. "I've been waiting for and dreading that for as long as I can remember."

"Dreading it? Why?"

Severin looked at his brother. He opened his mouth to list the many and varied reasons - fears about getting or not getting in Slytherin (he wasn't sure which would be worse), worry about how people would treat him (both because of his unpopular father and his giant blood), fear that his public debut may poorly affect his father (there were reasons that dad didn't want people to know about him and not all of them had died with Voldemort). But he ended up only shrugging and looking out the window again. Platform nine and three quarters slowly fell behind. "Because I left my rooms."

Charlie smiled sympathetically. "Home schooled then?"

Severin nodded. "My dad taught me. What about you? Did the Hogwarts professors teach you?"

"Some. Mostly Poppy - er, Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. She's my godmother - and Professor Sprout who teaches Herbology. Dad helped where he could, but he's not so good with book-learning." Charlie grinned, "Bet I know more about raising and caring for Magical Creatures than anybody else at the school though. I shared a room with a hippogriff for a year while she recovered from a really bad fight with a Common Welch Green."

Severin laughed. "And I thought being practically raised in a cauldron was bad. Swear to Merlin, my nursery was decorated with potions bottles," he confided solemnly, holding his left hand over his heart and his right palm out beside his ear in the standard oath-taking pose.

Charlie's laugh joined his. "Mine was dragons."

They fell into a companionable silence as the conversation lulled. Severin watched the green open fields with interest as London disappeared into the horizon behind them. But grass and sheep could only hold his interest for so long. "You think you'll get Gryffindor?"

Charlie shrugged. "Probably. Maybe Hufflepuff. I'd like Professor Sprout to be my Head of House. What about you?"

"My dad was Slytherin. He hopes I will be, too. So do I, really."

Severin shifted under Charlie's incredulous stare. "No way. A Slytherin married a half-giant?"

Biting his lip, he looked out towards the sheep again. "I never said my parents were married."

"Sorry," Charlie mumbled, blushing.

Severin shrugged, still not looking at him. "Not your fault. Usually, it's the mother left with an unwanted kid, not the father." Of course, in his case, his father was the mother, but Charlie didn't need to know that. He felt a touch on his knee, and his gaze jumped to Charlie, who looked about ready to cry. Severin blinked back his surprise. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I . . . I'm sure your dad loves you," but by the pity and sorrow on his face, Severin doubted he told the truth.

Severin was only partially successful holding back a smirk and a dark twinkle in his obsidian eyes. "I'm certain of it, Charlie. But I do know I was as unplanned as you were."

"Unplanned's not the same as unwanted," Charlie countered, looking suddenly much more cheerful.

Severin sighed and made an exaggerated show of rolling his eyes. "You are such an optimist."

"I get it from my father," Charlie countered immediately, grinning.

Severin almost choked on his laugh. Charlie's biological father was a lot of things, but optimistic was not one of them.

"I never caught your name," Charlie said suddenly.

"Uh, Verin. My name's Verin," Severin answered, leaving off the first two letter of his name for fear that Charlie would figure out who his dad was just by his first name. He loved and cherished his father, but the elder Snape's reputation around Hogwarts would not lead to many friendships outside of Slytherin.

"Nice ta meetcha, Verin."

Severin gave him an odd look, raising a black eyebrow. "Charmed."

Charlie laughed. "You'll get into Slytherin with no problems."

Giving his brother a suspicious look, he said, "Thank you, I think." Though being called a Slytherin by a quarter-giant raised by Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs wasn't neccessarily a compliment.

"You look a bit like Professor Snape when you do that with your eyes," Charlie observed. The other boy startled, "Actually, you look quite a lot like Professor Snape period."

Severin sighed. Caught. He extended his hand, "Severin Snape."

Charlie looked at it uncomprehendingly for a moment before he shook it. "Charles Hagrid."

"I do prefer Severin over Verin. I just thought you'd figure it out if I used my full name. Forgot my nose does that without my name's help," he grinned sheepishly.

Charlied grinned back tentatively. "You're Professor's Snape's son?"

Severin nodded. "He's my dad."

"Did you live at Hogwarts then? I never saw you."

"You wouldn't have. I never left the dungeons. Only my dad knew I was there."

Charlie frowned a little, and his eyes darkened in something that Severin tentatively identified as fear. Why was Charlie afraid? He was Snape's son, yes, but that hardly made him dangerous. Especially to someone who shared a room with a hippogriff. "Did you find your wand on the second try?"

Utterly confused by the non-siguetor, Severin drew his wand as if it could clarify things. His gaze moved from the black ebony wood to his brother's face. "Yes, actually. I did." Did this have something to do with borrowing Charlie's name?

Charlie closed his eyes and made obvious attempts to breath deeply.

"What? Charlie?" Severin asked, starting to worry.

"You knew," he accused, opening his eyes and looking at him with an expression of both hurt and anger. "You knew we were brothers and you didn't say anything! You just hid in your dungeon and didn't ever come see us. You didn't even tell me now!"

"I gave you plenty of hints! I may as well have!"

Charlie froze, then looked at him in astonishment. "We're brothers? We're really brothers?"

Severin stared at him. Hadn't the other boy already worked that out for himself? "Yes. We're brothers. My father is your mother, my mother is your father. We were conceived on the same night. Professor McGonagall called us twins."

"Professor McGonagall knew, too?" He sounded betrayed.

Severin smirked, "Well, she did for about two hours when I was born, but then dad obliviated her. She and Headmaster Dumbledore found out again at the beginning of the summer. Dad made them promise not to tell anyone else."

"Why? Why the secrecy?"

Severin shrugged and looked out the window at the boring sheep. "I was scared. Dad was scared. So we waited until we didn't have a choice anymore."

"Scared of what?"

He shrugged again. "Don't know. People, I guess."

Severin felt more than saw Charlie rise from the seat across from him and take the one beside him. "Why?" Charlie asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He shook his head, and let his chin length hair fall down around his face, hiding it. "I don't know." He gave a humourless laugh. "Snapes don't mix well with others."

"Snapes and Hagrids seemed to mix well enough," Charlie said simply.

Severin turned to stare at his brother incredulously.

"What? We turned out pretty good, I think."

It took several tries of opening and closing his mouth before words came out. "You're nutters, Charlie."

Charlie grinned. "Well, of course you'd think so. You're my brother and jealous of my charm." The other boy beamed happily. "I have a brother!" Severin supposed that this exclamation should have warned him. But Charlie's bear hug still took him by surprise.

When he fought his way free, he retreated to near the door of their compartment, holding his wand defensively, and watching Charlie warily. Charlie was grinning broadly, and his black eyes danced with laughter. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Especially when Dad finds out you're his, too!"

Severin's eyes widened. This had obviously been a tactical mistake. Just by looking at his brother's gleeful look, he knew there wasn't any chance that Charlie would keep this to himself. He should have gone with his first instinct and fled when he saw the other boy earlier. He opened his mouth to deny any familial connection with the Hagrids, to declare that the potions master was his and his alone, and vice versa. But the only voice that spoke was his mental one.

Dad!

His father responded immediately, Severin, what's wrong?

Can I oblivate Charlie?

He felt startlement trickle back towards him along the link. I don't think that would be wise. You've never cast that before. . . Why do you want to?

I, uh, sort of, let slip that, um, we're brothers.

There was a long silence from his father's side. And how did he take that?

Severin shot another wary look at his brother. The shorter boy was still smiling at him. He's deliriously happy. Quite. Deliriously. He hesitated a moment, then added in shocked outrage, He hugged me!

What drifted back from the link reminded him of nothing so much as the time his father had found him turned bright blue and green from a misbrewed potion with bluebells sprouting out of his ears. In other words, the man was trying desperately not to let his son know he was being laughed at. But unlike with the potion, his father sobered quickly, Has Charlie indicated what he intends to do with the information?

Tell Hagrid.

This time the surpressed emotion he could almost make out was a burst of panic.

What should I do? Dad?

There was another long pause during which Severin could make out nothing of his father's thoughts. He considered probing and eavesdropping on the elder Snape's deliberations, but decided to wait for the final decree. What do you want from the Hagrids, Severin? his father's question came back cautiously.

I . . . I like Charlie. I'd like to have a brother. But I don't want him to have you. You're mine.

His father's chuckle went a long way towards calming him. Severin, you can't have it both ways. If you claim him as brother, he has every right to claim me as father.

But I don't want his father! I just want a brother.

I doubt Hagrid will see it that way.

Severin hesitated, bit his lip, and thought nervously, Would you be mad if I wanted to have a brother?

No. I can't swear I won't be jealous of Hagrid if you start liking him, but Charlie *is* your brother. I can admit it if you can.

He pinched his lips together and nodded. Alright, and I won't swear that I won't be jealous of Charlie if you start liking him, but let's give it a try.

Severin, whatever happens, we have a bond unlike anybody else's. We will always have that. Don't worry so much.

Severin smiled. Thanks, Dad.

Now stop making faces at your brother and talk to him.

Talk to him. Right. Well, the first step was probably to lower his wand. He slipped that back into his sleeve, and cautiously sat diagonally from his brother. "So, Ollivander told you about my wand?" he asked, deciding a neutral topic would be safest to begin with.

Charlie's father met the first years at the station. Fortunately, Charlie didn't make any revelations to him yet. The other boy did seem to have that much tact. Despite this, Hagrid did keep shooting indecipherable looks his way. No doubt he was confused that his own son wasn't the tallest in the class. The lake crossing went without incident, and if he hadn't seen the castle from the outside through his father's eyes so many times, he would probably have been impressed. The other first years, with the exception of Charlie, seemed to be.

They were shortly turned over to Professor McGonagall, who immediately picked him out and offered him a small, tight smile. He smiled back, and decided that she was in need of revenge for her disapproval of his father these last few months. "Hello, godmother."

She blinked, and he felt the stares of the other first years on him. He shifted marginally, uncomfortable with being the center of attention, but knowing he had little chance of avoiding it, his father being who he was. He ignorned the audience, and his gaze never left his godmother's until she returned a smile and publicly acknowledged him. "Hello, Severin."

Severin gave back a small smile, and inclined his head. There. The Head of Gryffindor's godson. The Head of Slytherin's son. He was golden. And people didn't even know who his godfather was, yet.

She left them in an empty room beside the Great Hall and returned a few minutes later to lead them into the Hall. Amid the first years, he felt tall and conspicous, but at least Charlie was also significantly larger than most of them as well. The Hat sang, as it normally did, he'd seen this ceremony year after year through his father's eyes, nothing came as a surprise.

Charlie, evidently, had never snuck in for the Welcoming Feast. He stared as wide eyed as anybody else at the Hat. Severin supposed that was one advantage he had over his brother.

McGonagall began calling names, begining, predicatibly, with names beginning with 'A'. Eventually, she called out the only other name besides his own that he was interested in. "Hagrid, Charlie!"

Severin shifted to get a good view of the stool and boy as the hat fell down over Charlie's eyes. Not Gryffindor, Severin thought at him, knowing a freindship with a Gryffindor would be difficult for him, seeing as how his father was Head of Slytherin.

Charlie and the Hat apparently didn't hear him. "GRYFFINDOR!" the tear along the brim cried out, and the table to his immediate right broke out in cheers. Severin did not applaud, though he did give his brother a twisted smile and helpless shrug when their eyes met.

The sortings until his own seemed to pass interminably slow, but finally, McGonagall called out, "Snape, Severin!"

When the other students had walked to the stool, there had been some background chatter. For Charlie, there had been some cheers and urgings to join either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Now, it was completely silent. Older students watched warily. His father smiled encouragingly. The other teachers, outside of his father, Dumbledore, and McGonagall, stared at him in shock.

Fortunately, the hat was big enough to fall down over his eyes as well. Though he knew the I-can't-see-you-so-you-can't-see-me fallacy was false, it made him feel better anyway.

Hmm, what have we here? For a second, Severin thought the voice belonged to his father. It didn't feel right though. He felt pretty stupid when he realized it was the Hat. Obviously. His father knew perfectly well what he had here. I see a thirst to prove yourself, but also a quick mind and an eagerness to learn. You would do well in Ravenclaw.

No! Slytherin! I need to be Slytherin! He hoped he sent that to the hat and not to his father.

And why is that, do you think?

Severin gave the question the serious thought it deserved. Because I grew up in the mind of a Slytherin. It's how I think, too. I learn because I'm bored, but that's not what I live for.

What do you live for?

He thought about that, and answered honestly, I don't know yet. But when I do, you can be sure I'll get it. He smirked mentally at the hat, and thought imperiously, blending truth with exaggeration and masking them in mockery, I get everything I want and I want Slytherin. Give it to me.

Either the hat laughed at him or his father was listening in. Very well, then. "SLYTHERIN!"

He grinned smugly as he took off the hat, and nodded politely towards his father before he joined his rightful House. Surprisingly, he saw Charlie cheering as loudly as any Slytherin.