Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns everyone in this story 
except of Morrigan Snape and Cassiopeia Black.

Pairing: SS/SB
 
Rating: PG-13. Warning: implied incest

Summary: When Dumbledore asked Black and Snape to 
shake hands in GoF, I thought, they are behaving like two 
little boys, and Dumbledore like their impatient father. 
Plotbunnies sprang out of the wilderness...


Family Ties, Chapter Two: Gryffindor and Slytherin
By Ratwoman
ratwoman02@yahoo.de

Albus Dumbledore watched as Minerva lead the first-
years into the Great Hall. As expected Sirius had 
already found friends; he was talking agitatedly to three 
other boys. Albus hoped he would not out of excitement 
forget that he had promised never to tell anyone that 
Dumbledore was his father.

Severus was standing slightly isolated from the other 
children, but at least his expression was not as sullen 
as usually, but rather interested in his surroundings. 

Minerva placed the Sorting Hat on the three-legged 
stool and, to the surprise of the first-years, it started 
singing its song. The Sorting Hat had been wisely 
chosen by the founders of Hogwarts; children liked things like that, and its cheerful oddity would help them 
get over their nervousness at being at a new place. 

During the Hat's song, Albus wondered where his boys 
would be sorted in. He was sure that Sirius was to be a 
Gryffindor; he had so much of his mother's impulsive 
manners and bravery. Severus on the other hand - 
would his thirst for knowledge make him a Ravenclaw 
like his mother, or would his ambition make him a 
Slytherin like his father? 

Albus was trying hard not to favour the Slytherins 
because he had been one of them; maybe he tried too 
hard, because most people simply assumed that he had 
been a Gryffindor. He liked the Gryffindors, they were 
most easily to be spurred on to follow the path of light 
he had designated for his students. Maybe no one ever 
got the idea that Albus was a Slytherin, because his 
ways of taking influence were just too subtle for most 
people to notice.

The Song stopped and the Sorting began. 

"Black, Sirius!" was called out as one of the first in the 
alphabet. 

Sirius seemed to have trouble not to run to the stool in 
excitement. He quickly reached the stool and put on the 
hat. "GRYFFINDOR!" it called only after the flicker of a 
second. 

Cassie would be proud.

The ceremony went on. Albus noticed that all three of 
the boys Sirius had befriended with were sorted into 
Gryffindor. Remus Lupin, the werewolf for whom Albus 
had made special arrangements, James Potter, who, 
Albus knew, came from a rather old family, and one 
Peter Pettigrew. 

"Snape, Severus!" was called out. 

Albus slightly leaned forward. This promised to be 
interesting. Severus was even paler than usually when 
he sat down onto the stool and put on the Hat. The  Hat 
was still for several minutes, then called out: 
"SLYTHERIN!"

Severus strode to the Slytherin table and was greeted 
eagerly by the Slytherin students. Maybe under like-
minded people he would more easily make friends. 

After the ceremony was closed, Albus held his short 
welcoming speech and opened the feast. 

When the plates filled and everyone started eating, 
Minerva said under her breath to Albus: "On the train 
ride here, Severus already hexed another boy."

"Oh really?" Albus replied in a voice as if she had just 
told him she had just found a boggart in the cupboard. 
Boggarts were funny creatures, in his opinion. "Who 
was it?" Albus asked.

"James Potter." she said, "The boy who's now sitting 
next to Sirius. By the way, Sirius hit his brother for 
hexing Mr Potter."

"Why did he do that? I mean, why did Severus hex 
James Potter?" 

Minerva smiled rather amused. "He said James Potter 
had been bragging with already being able to fly a 
broom. This had annoyed him." 

Albus smirked. It was good luck that his sons were in 
different houses; that way they wouldn't have so many 
fights anymore.

*

Albus soon realised that his assumption had been 
wrong; within weeks, Severus Snape, Sirius Black and 
James Potter had become known as mortal enemies. 
There was hardly a week one or all of them were not 
given detention or lost housepoints for starting fights 
without a clear reason. 

Albus could trust his boys to bring life and excitement 
into the school.

*

As the years went by, the developments outside the 
school got more and more worryingly. Lord Voldemort 
raised an army of Dark Wizards called the Death 
Eaters, and soon no one, whether pure-blood, mud-
blood or Muggle was save from them. More and more 
witches and wizards disappeared or died. It grieved 
Albus especially that Minerva's husband Richard was 
one day found dead after he had been missing for a 
couple of days. Brave old Minerva, he really had been 
forced to order her to take a week off after the funeral.

The dangers of the war in the wizarding world were 
another reason Albus was glad about having his sons 
here; Hogwarts was the only safe place at the time. Of 
course he was worried for Cassie's and Morrigan's 
safety, but they had made their decision to take up their 
jobs as Aurors again, and Albus respected that, though 
it meant that he was glad for every day that passed 
without receiving the feared message of one or both of 
them having died on the field. 

During that time Sirius and his friends formed a gang of 
practical jokers called the Marauders. On the one hand, 
Albus was anything but glad about their habit of breaking 
every single house rule and seeking for adventures 
wherever they could find one, especially at those dangerous 
times. On the other hand, he could understand them - he 
had been no different at that age.

What worried him more was his other son's 
development into a shrewd, Dark Arts obsessed genius 
who was feared and avoided by almost everyone 
except of the Marauders. 

And the enmity between the brothers did not die down.

TBC