CW: mentions of manipulation, conflict, accidental triggers, discussion of medical procedures, confrontation
:FIFTY-FOUR:
Sirius was the one who intercepted the letter from Hedwig, as Remus was busy cooking breakfast in the kitchen. He was thrilled to hear from Harry, as they hadn't for the last few weeks. They knew he was probably busy with classes and quidditch, but they missed him when he didn't write.
"Remus!" Sirius yelled, opening the letter as he entered the kitchen. "Harry wrote to us!"
"Oh, wonderful!" Remus replied, not turning around as he was busy cooking eggs. "Read it aloud, would you?"
Sirius nodded, sharing the letter as Harry wrote about the things going on in his life. Most of the letter was about Luna, which made Remus raise his eyebrows. Maybe Harry had taken Sirius' advice about branching out to heart. But he turned around when Sirius trailed off and began to read quickly through the end of the letter.
"What is it, Sirius?" He asked, removing the pan from the heat and setting out portions on their plates.
"He's found it." Sirius whispered. "He's found the diadem."
Breakfast entirely forgotten, Remus raced around the counter to read over Sirius' shoulder. They had continued researching on their own since they returned from Hogwarts, but hadn't found any new information. And here Harry was, just casually writing that he'd found it after only a couple months.
"I can't believe it!" Sirius said, laughing semi-hysterically as he took a seat. "Harry found the bloody thing while we've been sitting here rifling through musty old books for months."
Remus sat down next to him, his mind whirling with possibilities. What on earth should they write back to Harry? He'd asked them what to do with the diadem now that he'd found it and why the diadem was so important in the first place.
"We can't let Dumbledore find out." Sirius said abruptly, cutting off Remus' train of thought.
"What do you mean?" Remus asked, looking startled. "He's right there and can take care of the horcrux immediately. We'd have to wait until Harry came home to get rid of it."
Sirius looked stonily at Remus.
"But we haven't told Harry about the horcruxes yet, Remus. And you know how Dumbledore is - he'll twist Harry's mind and manipulate him against the both of us. Dumbledore thinks Harry has to die, Remus! If Dumbledore knows where the ring horcrux is and knows that all the other horcruxes are gone, what's to say he doesn't take out Harry before we can find another solution?"
Remus looked aghast as Sirius spoke. "Sirius, you can't seriously believe -"
"Remus!" Sirius slammed his fist on the counter. "Dumbledore is more dangerous than you think he is!"
He faltered when Remus involuntarily flinched. Sirius forcefully relaxed his hands, taking a deep breath and then looking apologetically at Remus.
"I'm sorry, Remus. I just...I have to protect him. And us. And my gut is telling me, screaming really, that we cannot trust Dumbledore to have Harry's best interest."
Remus nodded his head, looking down at his hands. "No, you're right. We'll wait until Harry comes home and explain everything to him."
He looked back up at Sirius. "It's just...I don't want you around that dark magic anymore."
Sirius looked like he was about to say something, but Remus held up a hand.
"No," He said firmly. "Sirius, I'm serious about this. I'll take care of this horcrux - I don't even want you in the same area. You might try to deny it, but I saw first hand what the last horcrux did to you."
He reached out and touched Sirius' cheek, smiling as Sirius leaned into the touch.
"Is this what being married is about?" Sirius smirked. "Compromising about life and death situations?"
Remus chuckled. "Something like that."
He sighed, turning back to their breakfasts. "Let's eat now though. You can write to Harry while I clean up."
Sirius nodded, holding Remus' free hand while he ate.
"Oh," Remus said after he'd eaten a few bites. "I also wanted to show you what I've been working on after breakfast."
"I was wondering when you were going to." Sirius smiled. "All of those new books you've been reading made me curious."
Remus smirked, finishing his plate. "I'll go get it."
And he left the kitchen, returning with a long roll of parchment and looking excited.
"I've been thinking," Remus started, setting the parchment by Sirius and taking the dishes to the sink. "About what we're going to do about the horcrux in Harry's head. There's only a few ways to destroy a horcrux, and obviously we can't do any of them to Harry."
He was scrubbing the dishes now, his back turned to Sirius as he explained.
"So, we need to somehow get the horcrux out of Harry first. I've been studying a mixture of topics to get an idea for how to do it. There's no record of a horcrux inside of a human before, so there's no research on it. But there is research on magical extractions done on the human body."
"You've been studying healing magic?" Sirius asked, skimming over the very extensive amount of research Remus had been doing. "Remus, this is amazing! Do you think it'll work?"
"Well," Remus said hesitantly. "I can't be sure because, like I said, there's no precedent for it. But I've been studying and I even watched Healers take out other magical objects from humans and, technically, it should work."
"You," Sirius stood up and kissed Remus. "Are a genius! This is really brilliant, Remus."
Remus blushed under the praise. "Thank you, Sirius. Now, let's write that letter to Harry."
They wrote back, vaguely explaining the situation and telling Harry to just keep the diadem in his school trunk until they got home. Harry would need to be told now, but they knew that this was an in person conversation. They didn't know how Harry would react, and they didn't want it to interfere with his end of term exams and final quidditch match.
So they just waited on pins and needles for the next few months, hoping that Dumbledore wouldn't say anything or suspect anything until they got Harry away from the school again. Finally, they caved and went up to the school under the pretense of Harry's quidditch final.
"We won't mention a thing." Sirius went over the plan for the hundredth time.
"Nope," Remus nodded. "Not a thing until we're alone with Harry in Hogsmeade after the game. And that's only if Harry asks us anything - he might very well not be bothered at all about it."
This was plain old denial talking though, as Harry's letters always contained some mention of their upcoming explanation. They loved Harry to pieces, but at the moment they were very much wishing he wasn't so smart, stubborn, and curious. Apparently Luna had made some comments, and Harry had been holding the diadem every so often instead of leaving it in his trunk. He said it always felt warm and comforting, like the diary, but he didn't understand why.
"Sure." Sirius humored him anyway. "Maybe after Harry wins the match he'll be too focused on celebrating!"
They walked around outside to the quidditch pitch, where Harry had agreed to meet them before the game. Their denial ended the moment they saw Harry's serious face, his jaw set and his eyes ablaze with questions.
Sirius smiled weakly. "Hello, Harry."
"We need to talk." Harry said, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Well," Remus sighed. "So much for our plan to wait. But Harry...are you sure you want to have this conversation now? You've got your final quidditch match in half an hour."
Harry nodded firmly. "Let's go into the Forbidden Forest - no one will bother us there."
And he marched off, leaving Remus and Sirius with no choice but to follow him.
"Remember when he used to run to us for a hug?" Sirius joked half-heartedly.
They stopped at a seemingly random clearing, where Harry turned back to face them both. For just a moment, Remus saw the insecurity and hurt underneath Harry's fierce expression. It broke his heart.
"What are the two of you not telling me?" Harry asked bluntly. "I know something is going on - I've known it since first year."
He clenched his hands into fists, looking down at the ground for a moment.
"Luna says…" He clenched his jaw, then looked back up bravely. "She says there's, well, she calls them 'wrackspurts', but something in my head and all over the diadem. And it feels the same as the diary used to. Please, I need to know why."
"Oh, Harry," Remus walked up to Harry, reaching out for him. "We're so sorry. We didn't tell you because we didn't want to burden you with it. We didn't know you'd been carrying this for so long or we would've told you then."
"Harry," Sirius said from behind Remus. "We'll explain everything to you, but we need you to know that it changes absolutely nothing about you or how we feel about you."
Harry nodded, allowing Remus to hold him while Sirius explained everything. Eventually he had to sit down, carrying Remus down with him as he processed the horrible truth. Sirius was crying by the time he'd finished explaining everything, crouching down beside Harry.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry whispered brokenly. "All this time...I'm part of the reason Voldemort is still alive."
"No," Sirius said vehemently. "None of this has anything to do with you, Harry! This is the work of a very broken madman. And we are fixing it, Harry. It's almost over, and Remus has a plan that will get the horcrux out of you without it even hurting."
He looked to Remus, who nodded as he held Harry closer. "Yes, Harry. I've done a lot of research and I think it's very possible that we can fix all of this before you start your fourth year."
Remus pulled away slightly, brushing Harry's bangs out of his face. "That's why we didn't want to worry you with all of this, Harry. We wanted you to be a kid, to have as normal a childhood as you could given the circumstances."
Harry chuckled weakly. "Nothing about our family is normal, Remus."
Both men laughed along with him, the sound fading into the quiet of the forest.
"...Sirius?" Harry held out his arm for Sirius, who immediately came over and hugged Harry close with Remus.
"It'll be okay, kiddo." Sirius murmured. "I promise. We won't let anything hurt you."
And Harry finally nodded, embracing the truth behind what the two men had been saying all along. They hadn't been hiding things to hurt him or because they didn't think he could handle it, but because they wanted to protect him from the things he shouldn't have to deal with at his age.
"I have more questions." He muttered. "But I suppose they can wait until after the final."
Sirius laughed, pulling away from the hug. "Of course! Quidditch waits for no one, after all."
He stood back up, brushing away the dirt and pulling Harry and Remus so they were all standing. Sirius threw his arms around them both, leading them back out of the forest.
Notes:
Alright, well, now everyone's somewhat on the same page. They're going to explain more to Harry after the game, but now he knows the biggest bits. Like Remus said, I'm hoping to have the horcruxes dealt with by fourth year.
Happy Reading!