Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
When the Weasleys, HermoineHermione and Harry returned came back to Grimmauld Place afterfrom visiting Arthur in the hospital and waiting for HermoineHermione to finish calleding her parents from a phone booth wishing them a Merry Christmas, which she had to do; , The four younger children were subdued after learning that one of their friends was hiding a very painful secret. Harry Harry, HermoineHermione, Ron and Ginny both were subdued after learning that one of their friends was hiding a very painful secret. Harry asked to speak privately in the library with Sirius, and with Remus, who was there spending Christmas with his friends, privately in the library. They went with him there, wondering what he wanted to ask them, ; meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley was wondering why Ron and Ginny were being nice and volunteering to help out around the house, since she normally had to pull teeth to get them to help out. Ron didn't even tease HermoineHermione about having to talk to her parents for thirty minutes on Christmas when she had wanted to get away from them earlier. She Mrs. Weasley was glad for their assistance and decided to confront them about it after Christmas, but she would enjoy it for now, hoping that as long as the twins didn't dare them to go to certain parts of the hospital while they were there earlier..
Meanwhile, back in the library, Harry had both Sirius's and Remus's undivided attention, with both of them wondering what he wanted to talk to them about.
"Were either one of you ever glad that my parents were killed, and I won't be mad if you say that you were?" Harry asked.
"Why would you ask a terrible thing like that?, Oof course not. Why would you think that?" Sirius asked, looking offended.
"Even after what happened to the Longbottoms?" Harry asked.
"How did you know about that?" Remus asked him after he got over the initial shock of the fact that Harry even knew about it, knowing that Neville really didn't want to talk about his parents very much.
"Well, last year, I saw the trial of their abductors in Dumbledore's pPensive, and he told me, but he promised me made me promise not to tell anyone. And today when we went to visit Mr.Weasley in hospital, HermoineHermione, Ginny, Ron and I happened to see him and his Gran visiting with his parents while we were visiting with Professor Lockhart, who's on the same ward with them."
"Did the twins dare the four of you to go visit that ward, since they thought that it might scare you?" Sirius asked, looking like he wanted to kill both Fred and George for setting up the four friends for the biggest shock of their lives.
"No, we accidentally got onto the wrong floor from the lift and we saw Professor Lockhart wondering the floor, looking like he was lost. Then we ran into a Healer from his ward who thought that we were there to visit him, and we did since she told us that he never gets any visitors. We felt sorry for him with no one to visit him,; even though he was a fraud and a coward, he didn't deserve to have no one to come and visit him;," Harry confessed, looking rather sheepish that he admitted to getting lost and that he actually felt sorry for Lockhart, even if he was a fraud.
"Well, you don't need to go snooping into other people's things, even though I don't know if you knew what a pPensive was at the time, . if If you didn't, then it was an honest mistake. Did Dumbledore show you that memory, Harry? It doesn't sound like Dumbledore to betray a student's confidence like that" Remus asked him.
"No, I accidentally was drawn into it, while I was waiting in his office for him. I didn't know what it was at the time or what it shows. I never even told anyone else what I saw in there, until today when we saw Neville visiting his parents, honest. You can even ask the others if you want to" Harry answered him.
"It sounds like you made an honest mistake in viewing that memory It sounds like you and when you and your friends got made an honest mistake in getting off the wrong floor and having it been incorrectly assumed that you were going to visit a patient on the ward;," Remus told him.
"Well, that doesn't answer my question if you ever were glad that my parents were dead,?" Harry reminded them.
"Well, I did at first but then I realized that theyy have something that you don't have, and that's hope;," Remus answered him.
"I would have to say the same thing;" ," Sirius replied.
"Well, who would take care of me if I ever wind up in that condition? Would I be able to say beforehand that I don't want to live like that, that I'll I'd rather be dead?" Harry asked.
"Unfortunately, by default the Dursleys will be the ones responsible for your care, since they are your legal guardians. Though when you come of age, you'll be able to change that by going to the lawyer's office and filing the appropriate paperwork to set who your guardian would be;" ," Remus answered him.
"Why can't I do it now?"
"Well, unfortunately you won't be seen to be competent to make those decisions for a couple of years, when you do come of age."
"I do know what I want and I don't want the Dursleys to be responsible for me for the rest of my life. What if I wind up like that before I come of age?"
"Well, if that does happen , then me or the Weasleys or I can petition the wizengamot Wizengamot for us to take over your care. You may want to choose a backup guardian in case the primary guardian can't take care of you.;"
"Well then, that answers my question about guardianship, but can I also state that I don't want to live like that?"
"Yes, but it may not be legally binding, because of what the law says about dying a dignified death plusand remember what I said earlier about hope. There are advances in the healing arts every day, to where either a cure or a better treatment could be found. For example, the Wolfsbane Potion that I take each month before the full moon was only discovered the year that you started Hogwarts. Though But there are some people who think that I shouldn't be able to live, and I thought that too once because of my condition and for losing all of my friends in the world. Before the potion was invented, my transformations were more painful, and I didn't have control over myself. If I had killed myself, then think of all of the things that I would of have missed, like the invention of the Wolfsbane Potion and being able to watch you grow up. So before you make a statement like that, I want you to think that if you do wind up like that, there could be a cure or a better treatment that you would miss out on, being dead."
"Did you try to kill yourself?" Sirius asked.
"I'm not going to discuss that here with you;" ," Remus answered him.
"Well your you're being a werewolf isn't the same thing, since you can be a normal human being for the rest of the month, other than the full moon,." Har It's not like you don't even know your own family members because you can't not because you don't want to," Harry replied.
"It may not be exactly the same, but I have the same hope that there will be a better treatment for my condition, or that I could can eventually live a normal life."
"Well, to answer your first question," said Sirius ????, "I never was glad to see your parents dead even after what happened to the Longbottoms, because I knew that if your parents were in that condition then I would be the one taking care of you and not staying in Azkaban. I'm sure that you would much rather live with me than with the Durselys, so you would much rather have them in that condition."
"Did that answer your questions, Harry?" Remus asked him.
"It did for right now, but how would I find a wizarding lawyer who would draw up those papers for me when I do come of age?"
"Well, you can either use the Potter family lawyer, whom you'll meet when you fully come into your inheritance when you come of age, or you can find one yourself in the wizarding directory," Remus told him.
The three of them came out of the library about an hour later with Remus and Sirius looking like they had've just been through a very tough interrogation. While Harry went upstairs to try and find his friends, Remus and Sirius went into the kitchen to find Molly, who was trying to restrain herself from asking the twins what they did had done to their younger siblings to make them extra nice.s.
"Don't worry,; Harry told me why Ron, Ginny and HermoineHermione were acting the way that they were, and it doesn't have anything to do with Fred and George. Though, they the four of them did go up to the locked ward and saw one of their classmates visiting his parents, but it was an honest mistake made by both a Healer from that ward and by the four of them. I may want to warn you that we just had to answer Harry's questions about guardianship and wanting to die a dignified death," Remus reassured her.
"I can't believe it, ; we wanted to wait until they were older to talk to them about it, but I knew that the time would eventually come for us to have that discussion. I wanted to have Arthur here with me when we talked to them about it, but if they want to know, then I'll have to tell them myself."
"Well you don't have to, unless they bring it up first, . wWe only told Harry because he brought it up first. They may be too embarrassed to admit it to you right now, but so for now, enjoy their willingness to help;" , Of course Harry is concerned that the Dursleys would have to still be responsible for him in case he does become like that," Sirius told her, reassuring her that she may not need to have that talk with her children right now.
Just then, HermoineHermione and Ginny came into the kitchen wanting to bake a chocolate cake for one of their school friends.
"Is this for the friend that Sirius and Remus were telling me about, the one that you ran into today in the hospital?" Molly asked the two girls.
Looking like they were caught misbehaving, "Yes;" ," they admitted.
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble for it this time, since they did explain to me that it was an honest mistake, but I think that he'll be embarrassed if you two show up with a cake on his doorstep. Don't worry, I have someone in mind who can take it over there for you, ; besides, I do think that it is sweet that you're thinking of someone else this season," Molly reassured them.
A few minutes later, Mad Mad-Eye came into the front door from where he was visiting with old friends, and Molly looked at him with interest.
"Alastor, the girls want to bake a cake for an old friend of yours, and I think that she'll appreciate it if you take it to her," Molly told him with a mischievous gleam in her eye.
"Which one?" Alastor asked.
"The Longbottoms," Molly whispered in his ear.
"Sure, I don't mind; it's been a long time since I've seen Augusta anyway," Moody told her.
"Good, I'm sure that she won't mind seeing you again, anyway," Molly told him.
During all of this, Sirius was making a hanging motion with his hands, after which Molly caught him and gave him a dirty look.
"Of course, I hate it that Harry has to spend part of the summer with them anyway, but if they had to care for him he'll probably be dead after a waiting period," Molly told them.
Sirius and Remus both looked upset at her last words.
"What's wrong?" Molly asked with concern in her voice.
"Harry just told us that he would rather be dead then live like that," Remus told her quietly.
"He wouldn't say anything like that would he?" Molly asked.
"Yes, but don't say anything to you about it, he'll probably ask you and Arthur about it later" Sirius answered her.
"I won't, but I can't believe that Harry would say something like that to you, especially after what he's been through" Molly replied.
Just then Hermione and Ginny came into the kitchen looking to see if Molly needed any help with preparing dinner and the three adults suddenly became quiet.
"Well, did you try to kill yourself?" Sirius whispered to Remus when they left the kitchen and were out of earshot of the girls.
"We'll talk about it later" Remus told him in a stern voice.
Author's Note: Please read and review.