Summer passed in a flurry of time spent with all of his friends. The only problem was he was never allowed to go over to Draco's. When they had made plans to see him Susan's aunt informed him that it was forbidden by Dumbledore who was still his magical guardian. The righteous fury that sprung up in him scared him until Susan stood at his side and said she would be angry too. It was odd that it was so easy to validate his own feelings off hers. Harry had always been scared of his anger yet this small blonde girl never once made him feel unreasonable for being angry.

Second-year came before they knew it and against all odds it was quiet. Draco had finally gotten past his fear that he wasn't truly part of the group when Susan extended an olive branch. She was still angry on Harry's behalf of being denied the opportunity to spend time with him during the summer. Ron and Draco still went for the throat the second they were around each other, but Neville had started to mediate a bit, taking points from Susan. Harry refused to allow Draco to talk down to Hermione no matter how much he didn't like the witch. They found a semblance of normalcy.

Third-year started with a bang of Sirius black breaking out of Azkaban. Harry had been in the middle of a stay at Susan's house when it happened. Susan's aunt Amelia had told Harry the story of Sirius Black and how he betrayed Harry's parents and rage started to bubble inside him. He couldn't keep himself from hoping that the man did find him so he could enact some form of revenge. However, their meeting had turned out to be anticlimactic. Susan, Neville, Ron, and Draco had been out by the lake reviewing for their exams when a great big grim had latched onto Ron. Susan had convinced Harry to hear the man out and let the law deal with him even if Harry had been furious.

"Why did you do it? How could you possibly betray your friends? I would die for each and every one of mine!" Harry had demanded answers from Sirius while Draco seemed to look at him like he had never seen him before. Ron was still trembling in pain at his leg. Neville looked a bit green but was helping Susan stabilize Ron's leg.

"I didn't betray James and Lily! We switched the secret keeper last minute. I would rather die than let anything happen to them." Sirius looked unafraid despite the wand jabbed into his neck. Harry pressed the wand deeper into his skin.

"Yet here you are harming my friends. You should know then what I would do to someone who did that." Harry could barely recognize his own voice. Draco grabbed Harry's free hand.

"Harry… That's your godfather."

"No one hurts my friends! I don't care what relationship they have with me!"

"Harry, hear him out."

"I was aiming for the rat. He's an animagus. It's him, Harry. It's Pettigrew. He betrayed them." Sirius sounded half desperate. Harry turned to Ron who was clutching Scabbers tightly. Harry grabbed the rat away despite the cry of protest from Ron.

"Susan, your aunt taught you the spell to reveal an animagus, didn't she?" Harry demanded. Susan startled at the intensity of his voice. Harry was never this sharp with them. He got testy with them every once in a while, but his voice was like ice. She picked up her wand casting the spell at Scabbers watching in horror as he transformed into a man.

Harry's eyes were cold and emotionless as he mumbled a quiet spell under his breath watching as the man was tied up on his knees in front of him. He took one steady step forward grabbing the man by his hair, yanking his head back, and pressing his wand into the man's throat.

"Transform back and I kill you without hesitation. I am studying law. I am sure that I can get Heir Black free another way. Trust me, little rat. No one will question the boy who lived and I do not allow traitors. Beg. Convince me why you deserve to live." he whispered out his voice taking a tone that his friends had never heard. His eyes seemed to flash crimson if anyone was close enough to see it.

"Harry, please. You're scaring us." Susan's voice reminded Harry that this was exactly what had driven away people at the orphanage. Harry looked over at her removing his hand from the man's hair and just leaving the wand pointed at the man's neck.

"What would you have me do?" He asked slowly, his temper still obviously raging under the surface. Neville was pale as a ghost. Ron looked a bit green at the idea that a man had been sleeping in his bed for half his life. Draco was looking at the ground not wanting to see the barely concealed rage in his best friend.

"Let me call my aunt. She can get a trial for your godfather. She can deal with this much better than we can." Susan said quietly. Harry let out a soft sigh but stunned the man on his knees in front of him.

"Can you get her here without alerting the professors? I don't want Dumbledore getting his crooked nose into this." He said honestly. Dumbledore had not gotten close to Harry in the time he had been at Hogwarts, but Harry still didn't trust him. Not after what he had to endure.

"Of course I can. Don't you dare harm him while I am gone, Harry Potter!" Susan said with a glare. Neville moved to start bandaging up Ron's leg. He was good at healing spells with how clumsy he was. Harry snarled out a binding charm that Pettigrew wouldn't be able to shift with.

"Hufflepuff? I always kind of imagined you a Gryffindor or a Slytherin." Sirius finally spoke. Harry glanced over at him.

"Like my dad?" Harry asked sharply. He was running high on his anger. This man was supposed to protect him and instead he had left him to the Dursleys for revenge that he couldn't even achieve.

"Like your mum." He said softly. Harry softened at that. He very rarely got compared to his mum. Everyone talked about how like his father he was. He started to believe people didn't see him just his father.

"That one's new. Everyone only ever sees my father when they look at me." He mumbled his wand twitching at Pettigrew every so often just to frighten the trembling man.

"I was there when you were born. I know that everyone sees James, but you look like both of them. Lily's nose. Euphemia's smile. Fleamont's glare. James made a crack that it was like looking at his parents when you made faces at him." Sirius whispered. Ron and Neville looked uncomfortable with the conversation, but Draco just tilted his head a half step behind Harry.

"You do look like your grandparents. Aunt Dorea married a Potter so I studied your family tree before you even asked for it." Draco confirmed Sirius' words. Harry glanced back at him with a small smile.

"Well you are all Abraxus, Draco, but the Black genes are still there when you look close enough. We have the same eyes." He said with a small grin. Draco seemed to like this as he grinned back. Both grins looked similar and Harry realized how closely they were all related. The Black family used to be huge.

"Well, you know Draco. I am sure you recognize Ron and Neville. Susan Bones is the girl that just left. She's the niece of Amelia Bones."

"Good old, Amy Bones. I used to be sweet on her in Hogwarts before I got with your other Godfather." Sirius reminisced quietly.

"You and Remus were made for each other, Black. It never would have worked." Susan's aunt's voice floated in from behind them making Sirius smile as he turned to face her.

"Just like you and that flower of yours. Jasmine is still my favorite Bones." Sirius teased at seeing Madam Bones standing there in the doorway of the shack, her face twisted into a mock disapproving look.

"That just means you have good taste." Madam Bones replies. Sirius put his hands up, letting her point her wand at him. He told his story clearly and concisely. He agreed to a trial under the condition that he would be dosed with a truth serum. He did everything that was asked of him flirting with everyone the entire way. When Harry saw him again he looked like a new man. He was clean and trimmed and happy. He still looked gaunt and sickly, but the difference was obvious.

"So what now?" Sirius had come to pick him up from the train station so that Harry didn't have to take the tube home. Harry wondered why he even had to go back to the orphanage. Dumbledore had insisted.

"Well, screw what Dumbledore said. I can just adopt you in the muggle world and register it with the ministry." Sirius said easily as he carried Harry's trunk to a secluded place so he could shrink it. Harry looked up at him in shock.

"You are willing to go against Dumbledore?" He asked. Sirius gave him a knowing look and Harry felt his cheeks redden. He hadn't been quiet about his disdain for the man around Sirius. It was obvious that Sirius had chosen family over power.

"You're not an orphan, Harry. You were supposed to be mine the second that James put me down as your godfather. I was supposed to be your second father, your favorite uncle. I was supposed to be in your life from the start. I'm not about to lose that due to loyalty to a man who doesn't seem to have your best interests at heart." Sirius said honestly. He led Harry home easily. Harry didn't know how to feel. He had never had a family before. He didn't know how to act.

After that Harry lived with Sirius. He still spent most of the time that Sirius was busy with Susan and Neville in the summers, but one thing was different. Draco was allowed to invite him over now. They lounged around Malloy Manor and Grimmauld place whenever the fancy struck them. Draco became less of a fifth wheel. He became part of the group even if he and Ron still fought like kneazles and crups. They all became closer.

The fourth year it started to fall apart. Harry started losing time again. People noticed him missing and he couldn't tell them where he had been because he himself didn't know. He kept disappearing from Hogwarts with no explanation. Sirius was worried sick. Ron thought he was keeping secrets. Neville took Ron's side. Draco took Harry's out of principle. Susan just didn't know what to think. Then the end of the Triwizard Tournament happened and Harry was taken to the graveyard. There he bartered for his life the only way he knew how. By offering himself up to being a spy for Voldemort.

"Harry Potter, my prophesied enemy, but also so much more." Voldemort purred as he looked at Harry dragging his finger over Harry's scar.

"I am not your enemy. Despite what Dumbledore might think, I am not the savior they want." Harry said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He didn't want to die. He had just gotten a family. He had friends. He didn't want his life to end now that it had just started.

"Oh? Does the Hufflepuff golden boy have secrets?" Voldemort cooed out at him with a laugh. Harry swallowed and glanced over at Barry Crouch Jr.

"I knew you were there in the Quidditch World Cup. I could hear your magic in the air. So could Sirius. He said it was none of our business. Had I known it was you I would have asked questions. You are supposed to be dead." Harry said before glancing at Voldemort again keeping his head low and submissive. He knew how to act around a bully.

"I don't belong on the light side. I am not light. I don't believe in their conservative progress." Harry declared easily.

"What do you believe in?"

"Does what I believe in matter? I don't agree with the light side. I believe that magical culture needs to be preserved. I am a half-blood, yes, but I am still the heir to two houses. I want to go into politics when I finish Hogwarts." Harry was pointedly bouncing around saying that he supported Voldemort's side. He didn't. He thought they were both wrong. Voldemort didn't word his question well enough. Harry had a lot of practice avoiding agreeing with people at the orphanage. He knew what he was doing.

"The Savior of the Wizarding World is a radical dark supporter." Voldemort laughed at the news, letting Harry down by dropping him to the ground. Harry stayed down kneeling in front of Voldemort. Voldemort grabbed him by his wrist going to mark him.

"Wait! Wouldn't I be better as a spy to you? You already marked me as yours so long ago." Harry said not wanting the gaudy tattoo on his arm. He moved Voldemort's wand to his scar knowing he was laying it on thick.

"They will be suspicious if you go back unharmed," Voldemort said with a wicked smirk.

"What is pain in the scope of things?" Harry responded easily. Voldemort smirked and muttered the torture curse. Harry stayed kneeling in front of him through it all. He knew he was proving himself. When he was portkeyed back to Hogwarts he collapsed in front of the entire stadium. He hated being used as a message, but he had resigned to his fate. He kept meeting Voldemort throughout the summer at Draco's place. He never said what he truly believed no matter how many times Voldemort asked. He never told Dumbledore or Sirius what he was doing. He started to actually keep secrets. Ron and Neville had been so relieved that he had survived that they didn't question where he disappeared to. They didn't ask why he had drawn back from them. Everyone thought it was trauma.

The fifth year started with a bang. Susan asked Harry out and Harry said yes. Draco threw a fit before settling down. Ron and Neville were delighted. Life felt a bit more normal. Then the end of the year happened and Harry was tasked with helping break into Azkaban. Harry agreed politely, never once questioning Voldemort despite having other ideas. Harry was good at that. He was good at playing a role never letting anyone know his true feelings. He was good at secrets.

Harry was breaking out the Lestrange brothers with Voldemort working on Bellatrix. Rodolphus ran to his wife immediately, becoming a unit once again while Harry got shoved into a wall by Rabastan. Harry looked up at him, his eyes fearless and his pulse steady.

"I would know the stench of a Potter anywhere. What are you doing so far from your cradle?" The man stunk. He looked just as bad as Sirius did when he first got out of prison. Harry didn't even flinch.

"About to put you back in yours if you do not unhand me." Harry snarled back. It was a power struggle. It was secretly exhilarating.

"Rabastan! If he is harmed I skin you." The Dark Lord snapped as he unlocked more cells. Harry raised an eyebrow at Rabastan until he was released.

"This was fun. We should do it again sometime without daddy watching." Harry said, wiping off his robes before joining Voldemort in freeing the rest of his men. The Order showed up at the tail end and he thought that it was all over when he saw Sirius. Sirius was the one person who knew his dueling style by heart. He refused to duel him running after Rabastan as they fled to the apparition point. When they got there Harry grabbed tightly onto the man and in a tight feeling of pressure, they were back at Malfoy manor.

"Keep this up and I'm going to think you're sweet on me." He teased Rabastan before he used the floo back to Sirius' place where he pretended that he had snuck out of Hogwarts to see him. The innocent mask didn't last long.

"Why, Harry?" Sirius asked the second that Harry saw him walk into the room. They were alone thankfully. Harry immediately started scoping out possible exits.

"Because it was my life or my freedom." He answered honestly. It was a half-lie. He couldn't tell Sirius that he was too curious for his own good. He couldn't tell Sirius that he didn't want to fight for parents he didn't remember. He didn't want to tell Sirius that he thought neither side was right.

"So you are being forced? I don't believe that. I saw you protecting Rabastan Lestrange when you left. I had a clear shot, but you bodily protected him." Sirius said pointedly. It was all over. It kept pounding in his head that his life was over. If Ron or Neville knew what he was doing they would turn him over to the authorities. If Susan knew she would never talk to him again. Draco already treated him differently. He would lose all of his friends. He would go to prison.

"Maybe I'm tired of people dying for a war that they were all kids in?" Harry hissed out. He was just a child. He knew that. Both sides were breeding him to be a child soldier. He didn't think it was fair, but it was the hand he was dealt. Voldemort was a psychotic bastard, but he had some good points. Dumbledore was a manipulative bastard with a god complex. Neither side was right, but Harry didn't think either side was completely wrong.

"He killed your parents," Sirius whispered out.

"And I hate him for it. But we both know that half the magic that comes easiest to us is dark. We both know that he would have more equal rights for Remus. We both know that the light will never trust us. It's siding with a psychopath or siding with a puppet master who wants me dead." Harry snarled out. "Did he tell you? Did he tell you I have to die to kill Voldemort? Did he tell you that I am the reason my parents are dead? Voldemort told me. He took sick glee out of the fact that I didn't react to it. He's a monster, but Dumbledore made him that way. I have had him in my head since I was a child! I know more about him than anyone in the world could ever hope to! I know his faults, his strengths, his trauma. The only way to make peace is to take both of them out."

"So that's it? You're playing both sides? What are you going to do when it is over? What are you going to do when you have won?" Sirius demanded.

"I am going to make peace. No one else needs to live their lives as lesser than society. I'm fighting for us! I'm fighting for Remus! I'm fighting for the right to live life the way we want with fair laws! I don't care about light or dark! I care about equality! That war was brutal and people on both sides were wiped out. Look at the Black family! Every one of them is dead except you! Look at the Bones' every one of them is dead except Susan and her Aunts! Both sides committed murder. I just want peace." Harry yelled.

"Okay… but Remus can never know. He would never understand. What are you going to do with the criminals in your new empire Harry? You know what the Lestranges have done." Sirius reminded Harry. Harry winced. He didn't need to be reminded about Neville at a time like this.

"I think twelve years in the worst hell a human can imagine is enough. Bellatrix can never be free, but she was crazy going in there. You told me the stories. You told me how she was. Mum and Dad were twenty-one when they died. You were twenty-one when you were sent to Azkaban without a trial. Rabastan was twenty-two when he was tried not alone but with your crazy cousin speaking for all of them. Do you remember how Barry begged when his father put him away? Do you know what that man did to him when he got him out? He put him under the Imperius curse and slowly sucked all the free will out of him until the night of the World Cup my fourth year. Both sides have criminals, but it was war. I think it's time to let people have a second chance." Harry said passionately.

"How are you going to end the war?" Sirius questioned.

"Dumbledore will be taken out next year. The Dark Lord demands it. The Dark Lord can be taken down after that. We can start fresh. We can be better." Harry said with a soft voice.

"How will you take him down? You said you had to die to kill him?" Sirius asked hoping that Harry wasn't planning suicide.

"I don't know yet, but I will figure it out," Harry said decisively. Sirius nodded slowly.

"I had guessed already. I guess I wasn't ready to have it confirmed. I've known since you were born that I would have to follow you to whatever side you chose." Sirius whispered looking broken at the idea of following Voldemort. Harry moved and put his hands over Sirius'.

"Don't follow him. Follow me. I will take him out before long. You never need to interact with him. I could never ask that of you." Harry whispered. "I get along quite well with Barty and Rabastan so far. They can watch my back. Lord Malfoy adores me since I am Draco's friend. I need you to watch my back here. Can you do that?"

"You're my godson. I'll follow you to the end of the earth." Sirius said, hugging Harry tightly. Harry was shocked by the unconditional acceptance. He never knew that anyone would willingly go against their morals for him, but Sirius almost did. It brought tears to his eyes.

"Thanks, Sirius. You're the best father a kid could ask for." Harry whispered back trying to hide his tears.