CW: cold weather, confrontations, mentions of abuse, mentions of manipulation

:TWENTY-SIX:

Dumbledore had the good sense to not show up at the flat for the first several weeks. But McGonagall and Hagrid had finally managed to settle on a date with Remus, which is why the little family were all getting ready that afternoon to meet at a park.

"Must I wear this scarf?" Harry complained, pushing it down. "It's itchy!"

"Yes, you must." Remus stated. "I won't be responsible for your nose freezing right off otherwise."

"Here!" Sirius winked at Harry as he wrapped a scarf around his face. "We'll be itchy together!"

Harry burst into a fit of giggles, reaching up to fix Sirius' scarf.

Remus sighed in mock-exasperation. "Come on, you two! We're going to be late."

Sirius stood at attention and saluted at once. "Aye aye, Captain!"

"Aye aye Cap'n!" Harry attempted to stand at attention too, but he was laughing too hard to hold still.

"Alright," Remus pushed the pair of them forward. "That's enough of that."

The trio began the short walk to the park, Harry off in front and Remus and Sirius arm-in-arm behind him.

"I still can't believe Petunia." Remus said, looking reproachfully at Sirius as they walked. "It took me ages to get her to like me."

"No can resist my charms, you should know that by now." Sirius batted his eyelashes playfully.

Petunia had come over when the boys were at Natalie's house for tea. And after only half an hour, she was completely in love with Sirius. Of all the things Remus expected, the friendship that had so quickly developed was not one of them. It turned out that Petunia had a lot of rage stored up inside of her, and Sirius was the perfect person to vent with. Especially about Mr. Dursley - that had been an hour long conversation in itself.

"I mean, I'm glad she likes you." Remus pouted. "But honestly, you'd think after all the bonding experiences we'd had together -"

"You're just no good for venting, though." Sirius said matter-of-factly. "Oh look, Hagrid's here!"

Remus looked where Sirius was pointing, smiling when he caught sight of Hagrid in the distance. Harry had stopped and stood stock-still, so they were able to catch up to him.

"I know you said he was big," Harry murmured, looking up at them both. "But I thought you just meant big like most grown-ups."

Sirius laughed heartily, scooping Harry up and putting him on his shoulders. "There, now you'll be about the right height."

Harry whooped, spreading his arms wide and waving hello to Hagrid as they approached. He loved being up high more than anything else. Except for maybe his deer. He pretended to be an airplane until he caught sight of a rather strict-looking woman standing beside Hagrid. Bending forward to look at Sirius, he asked.

"Is that Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes," Sirius chuckled. "Now sit back up before you lose your glasses."

Harry complied, preferring to look around at the sky anyway. When Hagrid reached out for Harry, it only took a slight nod from Remus before he went flying from Sirius' shoulders and into Hagrid's surprised arms.

"Hullo!" Harry yelled joyfully, hugging Hagrid. "Papa Lupin told me all about you before we came. Will you lift me up high?"

So a very pleased and surprised Hagrid went off with little Harry, playing pretend and flying in the park. Professor McGonagall just stared after the two of them for a moment, but then looked back at Remus and Sirius.

"It's so good to see you both." She said, reaching out to shake their hands.

"Nonsense, Minerva!" Sirius closed the distance and hugged her.

"It's good to see you - I'm sorry it took so long." Remus replied, looking bemusedly at Sirius.

"Perfectly understandable." McGonagall waved it off. "We can't stay long anyway, we have to be back for dinner at Hogwarts."

They all walked over to a park bench to watch Hagrid and Harry, sharing small talk about things at Hogwarts. It made the two men nostalgic thinking about when they were students themselves. McGonagall told them about the Gryffindor quidditch team that year, along with how her classes were going.

"The students are nowhere near as difficult as you lot." She said fondly.

She looked at Harry as he pulled a leaf down from a tree to show Hagrid.

"How is he doing?" She asked, nodding to the boy. "He looks very well, considering what you wrote in your letter, Remus."

"Oh, right." Remus said apologetically. "I forgot to tell you, but Harry's no longer technically with the Dursleys."

And he explained everything to McGonagall, from Petunia's divorce to their new flat. By the time he'd finished, McGonagall was practically beaming at them both.

"Well," She clapped her hands together. "I'm just...that's really wonderful news."

"Don't go getting emotional on us now." Sirius laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She smiled, casually wiping at her eyes with her hand.

They continued their conversation, moving on to lighter topics and watching Hagrid and Harry together. They were a comical duo, with their vastly differing heights. But where Hagrid was all gentleness, moving slowly so as not to accidentally hurt Harry, Harry was like lightning coming alive. He darted and danced about, throwing snow up into the sky and racing to catch the drops as they fell back to earth. And he had to show Hagrid absolutely everything interesting he found on the ground, asking Hagrid to lift him up anytime he saw something to investigate that was too high for him to reach.

Eventually though, it was time to head home. Hagrid carried an exhausted-looking Harry in his arms, who was muttering petulantly that he wasn't tired at all. Harry rubbed at his eyes crossly as he walked back over to Sirius, lifting his arms up to be carried.

"I thought you weren't tired?" Sirius teased him, picking up the little boy and putting him back on his shoulders.

Harry muttered indistinctly, holding onto the pom pom on Sirius' hat like a pillow. McGonagall hugged them both, smiling fondly at Harry.

"Sorry you didn't get much time with him." Remus said. "We'll have to arrange another visit soon."

"Yes, well," McGonagall said, still smiling at Harry. "The holidays start this week, so maybe we'll be able to stop by."

"Righ'," Hagrid said, looking sheepish. "Sorry 'bou that Professor. He jus' was so excited I los' track o' the time."

"It's perfectly alright, Hagrid." She said, patting his arm.

Hagrid looked to Sirius awkwardly. "Remus here wrote us 'bou Harry and them muggles...well, 'm sorry, Sirius."

But Sirius waved him off, smiling up at Hagrid. "It wasn't your fault, Hagrid. Honestly, don't worry about it."

Hagrid nodded, still looking guilty. "Well, we'll see ya both later then."

They all left the park, Remus looking confused. He didn't say anything though until they'd tucked Harry in for a nap and were sitting together in the living room.

"What was Hagrid saying before?" He asked Sirius. "About being sorry?"

Sirius' lips pursed. He'd been avoiding this conversation because he knew how much Remus respected Dumbledore. But the time had come to explain what had happened.

"I was there, the night it happened." Sirius began. "And I tried to take Harry from the burning house."

Remus' eyes widened in surprise and confusion, but he didn't say anything.

"Hagrid was there too, and when I asked for Harry...he wouldn't give the boy to me. Said it was on Dumbledore's orders that he had to go to the Dursleys. He didn't explain anything else, wouldn't let me even hold Harry."

"I don't understand…" Remus murmured, shaking his head disbelieving.

"Harry was taken from me, without explanation, by Dumbledore." Sirius repeated, anger seeping into his voice. "The one thing I'd promised James was taken from me. I promised Harry would be safe if anything happened to him."

His hands clenched into fists, but he took several controlled breaths so he could continue.

"So I did the only other thing I could think of, to ensure Harry's safety. I went after Peter. And the rest, you already know. Dumbledore put Harry with the Dursleys, Remus. And it wasn't because Harry had nowhere else to go."

"You don't understand, Sirius." Remus stammered. "Lily's sacrifice protects Harry, but only if he's with Petunia. That's why Dumbledore took him there. It was to protect him."

"I could have protected him!" Sirius raised his voice, though he was trying not to wake Harry. "And I don't think a cupboard was what Lily had in mind when she thought about protecting her son!"

"We got him out of there." Remus said, trying to stay calm. "And maybe Dumbledore didn't know what they were like."

"He bloody well should have checked then!" Sirius was pacing now, carding his fingers through his hair. "But he didn't check, did he? No, he left Harry in the freezing October air, overnight, on the Dursleys' doorstep!"

Remus really wished Petunia hadn't told Sirius all of the details. He knew Sirius came from an abusive home himself, knew he wouldn't take any of this well. He stood up and walked over to Sirius, holding his hands.

"Sirius, it's really awful what happened," He looked into Sirius' angry face. "But what good will it do to be angry about it? Harry is here, now. Petunia is here too, with her son. We're here, together."

Sirius took a deep breath, trying to think rationally. "It matters, Remus. What Dumbledore did was wrong, no matter how much he meant well by it. And he knew I didn't betray Lily and James, but he let the whole world think I had."

Tears sprang in his eyes, which he tried valiantly to stop. He let go of Remus and covered his face with his hands.

"He let you think that, Remus."

Remus' world was spinning and he didn't know what to think, but he did know what to do. He reached back out for Sirius, who stepped into his arms.

"You know," He murmured into Sirius' ear. "I don't think I ever believed it, deep down. I could never stop loving you anyway, but something about the story never really made sense to me."

Sirius didn't respond, burying his head into Remus' shoulder instead. Reliving that story had taken all the fight out of him, but it felt good to be believed. He could take doubt from anyone else in the world, but not Remus.

"And we'll protect Harry, Sirius." Remus continued. "Nothing's going to happen to him now."

Notes:

Hmm, more dramatic irony. But we got some major confrontations out of the way, which is good. Hagrid's accent made me very nervous - I hope I did an okay job writing it. Next chapter will be all about Christmas, so advanced warning if you don't want to read about that. Thank you to the reviewer who caught my whoops about the twins - it's hard to keep track in my head how old they are. It's fixed now.

Happy Reading!