Universe: Harry Potter, any time after Sirius's death
Rating: K+
Doing what Is Right
"Your parents would have wanted you to do what's right."
"I'm sure that, when all is said and done, you will do what is right."
"I understand that you feel that you have been wronged, but you must set aside petty difficulties and keep your focus on doing the right thing."
Harry had been hearing that for years, since the very first day he'd been introduced to the magical world. He couldn't go a week without someone bringing up "do what's right". It was so steady, so persistent, that he wondered if someone was organizing it.
The thing was, no one ever said what was right. Was he supposed to just figure it out? From what, the people he grew up with, the Dursleys? They never cared about right. All they cared about was getting as much as they could. Was he supposed to learn from school? What he'd learned from an early age there was that adults didn't care about children. No matter what words they said, they didn't care about a starving, ragged, bruised little boy, so long as he didn't cause a fuss that resulted in loud parents or guardians coming to the school. And Hogwarts was worse, with teachers joining in the abuse, not just turning a blind eye.
"Doing what is right" seemed to mean "doing what I want you to do" or "giving me what I want". There had to be more to it than that. The blood purists wanted all muggleborn to serve them, or to die. Dumbledore seemed to think that the right thing was for Harry to "vanquish" Voldemort but leave everyone else the way they were. The ministry man who just finished talking to Harry had outright said that the right thing was for Harry to support the minister, never mind that the minister was doing nothing to stop Voldemort or even to protect the people being attacked. Muggleborn wanted him to protect them. That last one wasn't so bad. It wasn't fair, maybe it wasn't right, that he, almost all by himself, had to save them, but at least it wasn't selfish of them. Giving them what they wanted didn't hurt anyone else, didn't expect him to tell lies.
Maybe the right thing was giving people what they needed, not what they wanted. The blood purists didn't need to dominate the muggleborn, but maybe they needed to be left to themselves, to keep their culture intact. The muggleborn needed some contact with the magical world so they could learn to control their abilities, but they didn't need to be killed or enslaved as part of the bargain.
That was closer, but Harry didn't think it was quite it. The muggleborn needed to be left somewhat alone, but they didn't do anything to get what they needed, didn't do anything to make it happen. They came to Hogwarts and they paid their tuition, but all they did about the prejudice was complain to each other and all they did about the killings was hide. They didn't do much of anything to protect themselves, and not a thing to take the fight to the people who wanted to kill them.
No, doing what was right had to mean giving people what they deserved. Giving them what they had earned.
Not only other people, right? Why did Harry always have to be the one "doing the right thing" for others to benefit? Didn't he deserve what was right, too? He'd been working very hard, been attacked, had to defend himself because no one else would stand up for him, had to defend others because no one else would.
What was right? What had Harry earned? What did he deserve for everything he'd done, the people he'd saved, everything he'd gone through?
What about the magical world, the whole lot of them? What did they deserve? What had they earned, purebloods and muggleborn and everyone in between? And who would give it to them?
Put like that, it didn't take Harry long to figure out how to do what was right.
Dear Lord Voldemort,
I propose a truce giving you full control over Great Britain…
