Harry Potter and The Protectors of Hogwarts

by LadyLuciusAsh87

Harry goes into his sixth year with a new attitude and a plan. Will he succeed? HBP and DH spoilers. Story has been edited to correct mistakes. Sequel soon to be posted. Disclaimer: nothing is mine. Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling.

16. Of Tantrums Overdue

Chapter 16- Of Tantrums Overdue

"To err is human to forgive divine. Well I'm not forgiving and the error aint mine" Deadshot Daiquiri

Harry sat back and let the argument happening before him roll over his head. Instead he turned his attention out the window. After they had all been healed and fed yesterday, most had fallen into bed exhausted. Harry managed a few hours sleep before his mind turned back to memories. There was so much going on. So many memories going around in his head. He needed to talk to his friends about it, needed their help before his head exploded.

He continued to stare out the window, watching the scenery fly by without really taking it in. They were all on the way back to Grimmauld Place for Christmas break. He felt a head rest on his shoulder and knew it was Luna, felt her hand slip into his. Harry wondered when his feelings for Luna had crept up on him. Last year, Luna was just an odd friend of Ginny's who had unwaveringly supported him. Harry hadn't known how to take in this girl who didn't seem to care about what others thought of her, and steadfastly clung to the truth whatever it wrought.

He was glad to have her by his side. He felt like she was the perfect balance his own temper. Where he was hot-headed- she was cool. She was the ice to his fire. Around her he felt calm. Things felt in perspective. He had only broken up with Katie only a week ago; a relationship both he and Katie agreed wasn't going anywhere. When Luna had been hurt yesterday; when he heard her scream in pain, something in him had snapped. He was ready to acknowledge that he needed Luna.

Harry didn't like the way they had all been tricked into thinking that they were being attacked by Death Eaters in the Chamber. And thinking back on it he knew he should have felt suspicious at how seemingly half the students were down there for no reason, with only two professors supervising them. Or how the Chamber door seemed to have 'closed' by itself.

Another part of him was impressed by the planning and the magic and sheer numbers and the effort of all who had been involved. They had all been extremely and thoroughly tricked.

Most of their questions had been answered that morning at breakfast before the train journey. Moody had told them that they would be discussing the results and the strategies used after break so that they could further improve. Harry hoped there wasn't going to be another test like that.

The professors had wholeheartedly congratulated them all on their efforts to defend the Chamber, and also the students who had remained in the Great Hall to make sure no one got hurt.

That seemed to be the main topic of discussion between the others. Harry tuned back in to distract himself, smiling at Luna.

"… So you really had no idea?" Ron asked for the umpteenth time to Hermione and Ginny.

"No Ron, we didn't. Professor McGonagall asked me to stay behind. No one was told anything until Professors Lupin, Flitwick and Tonks cam back with the students. By that time the Great Hall was filled with all the other Professors. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape came in with a few students; they were all carrying cauldrons and cauldrons full of different healing potions. Professors McGonagall, the Flamels and Killian had to constantly maintain the shield to stop anyone from getting seriously hurt. It's true," she insisted at Ron's disbelieving snort. "The 'Death Eaters'" she said using air quotes, "were more in danger from you lot than you were in danger of them."

"Fred and George have been working with Professors Lupin and Gallagher to especially adapt some wands to only shoot certain spells," Ginny piped up. "Like the Killing Curse. The Death Eaters would say the spell and the green light would shoot out, instead it would just knock out the person it was aimed at. The Death Eaters had to be seen to use serious curses otherwise no one fight properly, but of course they couldn't really hurt anyone."

"They hurt Luna. Didn't you hear her screaming from the safety of the Great Hall?" Harry asked angrily, tightening his grip on Luna's hand.

"That's not what I meant Harry," Ginny said softly.

"Of course it wasn't Ginny," Hermione said quickly as she saw Harry open his mouth to argue his point. "I know what you mean Harry, but Luna wasn't really being tortured. The curse was actually just a mild stinging curse. Tell him Luna, please. She might have been screaming, but her voice was amplified, along with anyone else hit to make everyone down there to think people around you were being tortured."

"She is right Harry." Luna told him. "It wasn't a pleasant experience and it was quite a shock initially. But I wasn't hurting really. Which really should have been another clue that something with going on." Luna told him.

"I didn't like hearing you scream like that," Harry said.

"I like that you care Harry. But perhaps shooting with Fiendfyre was a little overboard. "

"That was by the far the scariest and the coolest thing I ever saw," Neville said.

"I told you it was a very dangerous spell, Harry," Hermione said disapprovingly. "The fake Death Eaters themselves were using restricted wands and only a certain selection of spells. But all the students had no such constraints, as you so powerfully demonstrated. You could shoot any spell that you thought would be best in that situation and the professors who were shielding everyone had to be extremely vigilant that no one was hurt. It took them a lot of power keep them shields up. Their cloaks could only protect them so much."

"What cloaks?" Ron asked, mouth full of cauldron cake.

"The fake Death Eaters were wearing cloaks made by Fred and George. Shield cloaks," Ginny explained, shooting Ron a dirty look as he'd sprayed crumbs all over her when he'd asked his question.

"I can't believe Fred and George have been sneaking into Hogwarts all this time and we didn't know," Harry said.

"We weren't supposed to know. They've been planning all this since before Halloween," Hermione said.

"Fred and George had also been working with Snape to develop the Polyjuice potion to only last a half hour or so the Death Eaters go down in waves," Ginny explained further, once she was certain that Harry wasn't going to bite her head off further.

Ron snorted. "Bet that worked well. Imagine the Greasy Git working side by side with the twins. Nightmare all around."

Harry almost flinched as he thought about Snape and nightmares together. The memories he'd experienced in his dreams certainly gave him nightmares and a lot to think about. He wondered how these memories came to him and why. What was the point?

"It was amazing to watch. The professors worked brilliantly together. Everyone's timing had to be exact. The way Moody fell to that Killing Curse into the pond. He had to activate his portkey at the right time. And Shacklebolt being hit barely a minute later," Hermione said, almost excited.

"I don't see what the point of it was though," Neville said.

"I don't exactly know," Hermione admitted reluctantly. "The professors said it was to see everyone put their lessons to the test but I think there was more to it that."

"Speaking of there being more to it," Ron interjected, looking towards Harry, Neville and Luna, "where on earth did you learn how to do all that stuff?"

The three looked at each other uncertainly and shrugged.

"Seriously," Ron demanded, "we've never practiced anything like that in the DA and I know you guys have been going to that Mixed Martial Arts classes more than anyone else, but there's no way you guys learned all that in the last few weeks and to be able work together so seamlessly."

"Ron makes a good point," Hermione added, much to Ron's amazement. "You guys fought like that you'd been doing it for years, not weeks. The mix of magic and muggle fighting techniques. How did you do it?"

Harry floundered. The truth was that he couldn't explain.

"I don't know Hermione. It felt like … I don't know… natural to work together. It's like I knew I could depend of Harry and Luna to watch my back and to be able to look out for them as well. It's like I was there and not there. It doesn't make sense, I know," Neville said, shaking his head, trying to articulate what Harry could not. "A part of me felt like we'd been there before, like we'd fought together before like we'd done in the Chamber. I didn't even know I could anything like that."

"I agree with Neville. It felt like we were in battle mode. I also felt like there was someone missing," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Yeh, us." Ron snorted. "Maybe if I'd been there I might have been in battle mode with you, flipping to over Death Eaters and hitting them with a stick, poking out their eyes."

They all had a good laugh at that.

"It was a good training exercise," Neville declared. "But I do wish they hadn't tricked us like that."

"It was awful of them," Hermione agreed.

"Perhaps they thought we'd wouldn't do as well."

"Bet Malfoy and the other Slytherins were shocked. When they thought they were getting attacked by Death Eaters as well," Ron added at their confused looks.

Harry nodded. He slipped an arm around Luna's shoulders as she rested her head against him again, not noticing Ginny's eyes on them. He still found it a little surprising that Luna accepted him so quickly. They hadn't really talked about it. It was only yesterday he was telling Tonks about breaking up with Katie. He had no intentions of starting anything with Luna at that point. But when he heard her scream he felt like he'd been smacked in the face with his feelings. Luna seemed to be so in sync with him. When he'd cautiously taken her hand earlier that morning he'd expected to be rebuffed. Instead she'd linked her finger with his and kissed him on the cheek and said, "I've been waiting for you to wake up, Harry."

It made him feel guilty. Luna must have had feelings for him for a while and he'd just been too blind to notice it. He knew he could be daft like that sometimes. In the space of one morning Harry felt like he'd been together with Luna for a lifetime. He wondered at that feeling.

No one mentioned anything about his and Luna's relationship. Hermione just smiled at him and Ron just shrugged and Harry felt like laughing a little. He couldn't wait to start the holidays. They had to be better than last years. Luna and Neville would be joining them at Grimmauld Place. Neville had gained permission from his Gran, who had let Neville spend the holidays with them, knowing he'd be safe with the Order, yet declined the protection herself. Luna, likewise had got permission from her dad who would be flitting in and out as he still had to get his Quibbler published even during the Christmas holidays.

They continued with their discussion about the Chamber until Hermione looked at the time and told them they'd be arriving at Kings Cross soon. This prompted them to put away all their food and sweet into their trunks. It was twenty minutes later that Harry felt the train come to a stop. The professors who had accompanied them on the train earlier on in the year had been patrolling up and down the train the whole time, conspicuous by their absence.

Harry knew they probably kept close to his compartment, but no one disturbed them. Most likely as they didn't want to get drawn into any arguments regarding the Chamber exercise. All students had been told that apart from the answers they'd been provided with that morning, they wouldn't be told anymore until after break when everyone had time to calm down a little.

Harry did have to wonder what the parents would say about this. If they'd had to gain permission. He knew the Weasleys had most likely known, as most of the siblings had been involved with the test. But what about the other parents?

Harry and his friends got the trunks down and were ready to leave but were instructed to stay in their compartments until they were told. It was another ten minutes later when Tonks knocked on their door, and they all got up and grabbed their trunks. Harry helped Luna with hers first, receiving a smile from her which he returned.

"Come on, you lot. Moody's got a couple of cars waiting got us."

They quickly made their way off from Platform Nine and Three Quarters and through the barrier to the muggle part of the station. Tonks lead the way whilst they were flanked by Lupin and Gallagher from behind. Harry thought he saw Tonks stand little taller when she became aware that Lupin was close, but otherwise didn't seem to show any other reaction.

Moody and Killian were already waiting for them at the cars, where their trunks were quickly stowed away. Harry slipped straight into the car that Moody pointed him to and Luna quickly joined him followed by Neville. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were ushered to the other car; they were going to be driven by Lupin and Gallagher. Moody slipped into the front with Tonks in the driver's seat. Killian was left outside, keeping a lookout. They didn't move off straight away. Instead Moody and Killian seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe it was a signal, like when they had come to pick him up from Privet Drive last year. Moody seemed to have his magical eye trained upwards.

"Engines on," Killian said. "He's here."

Harry tried to look out the window and up to see who they were staring at, but was unable to when Tonks moved off with the car. He thought as the car moved it seemed to be similar to the ones the Ministry had provided for him when they thought Sirius Black was after him. He cut off that thought before he it went any further.

"Invisibility booster on," Moody growled.

Harry saw the car Lupin was driving had turned invisible in from of them.

"Let's get it in the air now," Moody instructed, and Tonks pressed her wand against the dashboard and tapped it three times and they were slowly ascending.

They were about 100 feet in the air when Harry looked to his left to the beating wings. Killian was following them on a thestral instead of using her own powers. But then perhaps this was a way to conserve her own energy. Harry knew from what Hermione told them that the Professors had put a lot of power into shielding them all in the Chamber yesterday.

"Look! Who is that?"

Harry looked to his right to see what Neville was pointing at and saw another set of wings beating through the air. This beast wasn't a thestral. It was an Abraxan if Harry wasn't wrong.

"That's Killian's friend, here to help us protect you lot. Another set of eyes in the sky," Tonks told them.

"He was in the Daily Prophet," Luna said as she peered at him through the window.

"Yeah, he was. He saved Ron's dad from them Death Eaters," Neville exclaimed.

"I remember. But that's not why he seems familiar," Harry said as he tried make out the features of the man with long golden hair.

"Doesn't matter Potter. He's here in case anything goes wrong. Arthur Weasley enchanted these cars for us, but we needed someone on the outside in case something untoward happened," Moody growled at him.

They made do with small talk, Moody and Tonks outright refusing to answer anymore questions about the Chamber, no matter how much they were badgered by Harry, Luna and Neville.

He wondered how if Hermione was doing any better with Lupin and Gallagher. He was sure Hermione had a whole slew of still unanswered questions.

It didn't take them long to reach Headquarters, even with the long convoluted route Moody had them take. The mysterious wizard flying the Abraxan had veered away and Moody confirmed that the man didn't know where the place was located and so had to leave as he was not a part of the Order. He was there at Killian's favour who trusted him, but as he had so far refused to be inducted into the Order they couldn't let him know the location.

The cars made a slow descent, touching down a few roads down from number 12, eventually stopping just outside HQ. Tonks turned off the Invisibility Booster and they swiftly got out of the cars and were told to make their way inside.

"We'll bring your trunks in, lad, don't worry," Moody told them as Neville made to grab his from the boot.

Joined by Hermione, Ron and Ginny they walked into Grimmauld Place heading straight for kitchen, quietly bypassing Mrs Black's portrait, where Mrs Weasley and the Flamels were already waiting with a table full of food.

"Come in, dears," Mrs Weasley beckoned them. "You must be starving."

That was all it took for Ron to fall in his food as if he hadn't eaten for a week, much to Hermione's disgust. The rest of them followed at a more sedate pace, laughing and joking. They were soon joined by their protectors, who walked in (or limped as in Moody's case) and took their seats, Moody placing two toy cars on the mantle piece of the fireplace.

Harry looked at the toy cars and realised that the cars must be the ones they had driven in.

"Everything went fine, Molly. There was no need to worry," Lupin was reassuring Mrs Weasley, before turning his attention to his food and then Gallagher.

Tonks went to sit down next to Ginny and Hermione. Lupin seemed intent on ignoring Tonks, which Harry could see was affecting Tonks, not that she let on. The table was full of its usual laughter and boisterous talk but maybe it was just because of what he knew that Harry felt it was forced. He caught Moody's eye who gave him a subtle shake of head as if he thought that Harry was going to do something that would greatly upset the proceedings of the table.

Harry turned his attention back to his plate. He knew it wasn't his place to interfere as much as he wanted to. He was grateful that Tonks trusted him enough to tell him in the first place. Harry knew he should just be supportive of whatever Tonks wanted. He just admitted to himself that he didn't like Lupin's attitude of ignoring the issue.

It wasn't long before they'd all finished eating and made their way to their rooms where their trunks had already been placed. Harry and Ron took their usual beds, leaving Neville to the last that was placed there just for him.

He was unable to sleep, wondering as he listened to Ron's snoring and Neville's quieter breathing, if he would be plagued by anymore memories. His eyes eventually drifted to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

It was two days later that the students of Hogwarts were called down by Mrs Weasley for an important announcement. The two days previous had passed quickly and very normal as they could be considering they were in the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order members flitted in and out as and when they pleased. Lupin, Gallagher and the Flamels seemed perennially in each others company, whispering away, quite heatedly at times, and stopping whenever there seemed to be hint of someone eavesdropping.

Harry made his way down the kitchen with his friends, wondering if they were going to be bombarded with another test. Harry sincerely hoped not. Madam Pomfrey and her helpers had done a really good job in healing away all their cuts, scrapes and bruises. But Harry still had very sore muscles.

Ron and Neville speculated all the way down the stairs, Ron hoped that they were going to be getting a chance to hex their professors for giving them such a big heart attack. Hermione told him not to be ridiculous.

They opened to the door to the kitchen and were immediately assailed by the noise. The room seemed to be packed with what seemed to be most of the Order. At the head of the table standing behind Dumbledore were the Flamels, Lupin and Gallagher.

Harry spotted Tonks in the far corner standing next to Moody. There were still a few members missing Harry though as he made his way to Tonks. Not that he knew who all of them were, he thought as he battled his way through the throng with Luna by his side. Killian was missing, as was Mr Weasley and the eldest Bill. Fred and George were both missing as well, he noted quickly as he peeked around the heads. Snape, but that was no big loss. He spotted McGonagall in the other corner near Dumbledore. A few faces were unfamiliar to him, but the room seemed to be at its fullest. At the front Gallagher seemed to be nervous.

"Do you know what's going on?" Harry asked Moody.

Harry wondered maybe they were called because Harry and his friends might finally be inducted if they were called in this meeting. With so many Order members who were usually so quick to kick out the 'children' maybe they finally realised it was better for them close rather than excluded.

Ten minutes later when there didn't seem to be anymore members coming through, Dumbledore cleared his throat and stood from his seat, to get everyone's attention and the noise slowly died down.

"You are all perhaps wondering why you have all been summoned. At the behest of my good friend Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel I have asked you all to gather here today as they have an important piece of news to disclose. It is also at their request that we have allowed our young students to be present here," he said, gesturing towards Harry and his friends. "Nicolas, you would kindly sate our curiosity."

Nicolas Flamel stepped in where Dumbledore stepped aside.

"This is a long and odd tale that you may find difficulty believing. And I will try to tell it as accurately as possible. The best way to do that is from the beginning…"

Harry saw Hermione eagerly lean forward, so as not to miss a word that male Flamel would impart on them.

"The tale begins, curiously, with the Mirror of Erised."

Harry felt Ron start next to him. He ignored his friend's frantic whisper and found himself simultaneously wanting to know more about the Mirror and also to stop Nicolas from speaking about it. The Mirror was not something he associated fond memories with and to be quite true to himself he never gave it much thought since his first year anyway.

"The Mirror of Erised was entrusted to us by someone of great power. The creator told myself and Perenelle what the true nature of the Mirror entailed. Albus had led me to believe that a few of our students here have previously encountered the Mirror."

"Forgive us for being slow, Nicolas," Hestia Jones interrupted, "but what is the Mirror of Erised?"

"Quite right, Hestia. Apologies, I assumed that you would all know. The Mirror of Erised is an old piece of magic and not your ordinary everyday mirror. The Mirror of Erised, or the Mirror of Desire as it sometimes call shows nothing but your hearts deepest and most desperate desire. Many witches and wizards unfortunate to come across the Mirror have wasted their lives trying to divine the Mirror's secrets. The Mirror itself came into being perhaps a hundred or years before we created our Stone. The creator judging our hearts to be pure enough and our magic powerful enough to have created such a powerful object, thought Perenelle and I worthy enough to be the Guardians of the Mirror, which had a deeper meaning than just showing you your heart's desire. The Mirror had changed hands many times over the years, and eventually, as its Guardians it always end back with us."

They all took this in silence.

"So what is the true of purpose of the Mirror?" Moody asked.

"The Mirror itself is a gateway to another world. It can only be accessed by one person and one person alone; the Gatekeeper. I know who the Gatekeeper is, but I am afraid that is not my secret to tell and therefore I cannot divulge it to you. So please, do not ask," he said as several people opened their mouths to do just that. Hermione looked extremely disappointed.

"The Mirror is steeped in its own legend, as I said it has exchanged many hands, so many that its knowledge has even bled into the Muggle world. I am sure the muggleborn or raised in this room have heard to some extent of what the muggles like to call the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Hermione gasped in recognition, and she was not the only one.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Hermione quoted, almost dreamily.

"That's right Hermione. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were both sons born to a dying Pureblood family in Germany. They were both squibs, and therefore despite their full knowledge of the world of the wizards they were never fully able to integrate. As such they decided they would not let that their lack of magic, or at least the ability to perform it interfere with their desire to have their own adventures and wrote stories for the muggle world. They knew enough to be in and out of the wizarding world, and so they used elements of our world to fashion themselves stories for the muggle world. They came across the story of the Mirror and thereby created their own version of what the mirror does, which I imagine has been skewed several times in telling over the centuries. Much like the legends in our world."

"So you said the Mirror is a gateway to another world." McGonagall said, bringing them back on track. "What world?"

"The creator simply called it Otherworld. The Gatekeeper also like to call it the Beyond. It has also been occasionally been called Limbo," Nicolas said this last part rather reluctantly.

There were many gasps as they heard the last name, this mostly came from the older Order members who had more than likely heard of the world due to their long lives. You couldn't to live to a certain age and not pick up a few bits of knowledge, without either living under a mountain or said knowledge being extremely obscure.

Many older members had paled and looked at each other uncertainly. Dumbledore peered at his older fried with a keen interest. Harry wondered if Dumbledore had known if the Mirror held so much power.

Hermione looked like she was itching to take down notes.

"Is the Mirror dangerous? Is it in danger? Will You-Know-Who be trying to go after it?" Mrs Weasley asked these questions rapidly.

"The Mirror is completely safe. The Gatekeeper has it right now and Voldemort," he said ignoring the flinches from the majority of the room, "has not a chance in hell of getting his hands in it. That is not the reason for this meeting."

"Then what is?" McGonagall demanded.

"The Mirror when it is not needed shows only your hearts desire. When it is needed, it reverts to its natural state to open a portal. As I said only the Gatekeeper can access it and in the beginning of last Spring the Gatekeeper came to us and told us that the Mirror would open its portal and the person who came out would be in dire need of our help. And indeed in July just gone, that is exactly what happened. On the 10th July the portal opened and in our home deposited a person in dire need of our help. And we did as we were commanded."

"Who came out of the portal?" Mrs Weasley asked, her voice a hush.

"That, perhaps, is better demonstrated," Nicolas said, stepping aside and beckoning Gallagher forward.

Gallagher who looked impatient previously through out Nicolas Flamel's tale, now looked thoroughly anxious as so many eyes were on him.

"I-" he began voice croaking, so he cleared it and tried again. "I need to begin with saying I am sorry to keep you in the dark for so long. But it was important. Kevin Gallagher is not the man I am. You might better recognise me as someone else," he said, and with that he removed a slim, unobtrusive ring from the middle finger of his left hand.

They were many intakes of breath as his features melted like candle wax. Harry felt his own heart stop as he saw familiar blue eyes seeking his own.

"Sirius!" Harry said, who hadn't even realised he'd started walking made his way towards the front, and came to a stop in front of his godfather. "Is this is really happening?"

"Harry," Sirius started saying, his voice coming out strangled as Harry had already through his arms around his godfather.

Harry blinked away the tears. Sirius seemed to have the same problem. There was an uproar around them. But Harry didn't care at the moment. He had his godfather back. Something he never thought would happen again.

After all the questions had been answered the majority of the Order members had departed. Harry and his friends had been left behind in the kitchen with Mrs Weasley, Tonks, Lupin and Moody. Even the awkwardness of Lupin and Tonks was temporarily forgotten in the revelation of Sirius Black.

They all sat around the kitchen table, Mrs Weasley bustling around them, preparing the evening meal. Hermione still seemed to be bursting with questions. Luna had just accepted everything with her usual aplomb; asked her own clarifying questions and then asked Mrs Weasley what they'd have for pudding.

The others just let Harry bask in his godfather's presence, knowing how much Harry had missed him.

"I told you Hermione, I don't really remember," Sirius explained patiently to the inquisitive witch. "The last thing I clearly remember is being hit by Bellatrix's curse and falling back. I don't even remember falling out of the Mirror. I just remember waking up all of sudden. The Flamel's explained to me that nearly a month had passed since my demise," he said grimacing. "I was still recovering and they told me that even though the Ministry had finally clocked on that Voldemort was indeed back, I was still wanted as an escaped convict and until the right time presented itself I was better off still hiding. I didn't want to hide. I'd felt like I'd done enough of that and so they came up with a disguise."

"I can't believe you fooled Dumbledore," Ron exclaimed, amazed. "How did you get it past him?"

"It was something I was worried about even if the Flamels were quite confident that their magic would trump Dumbledore's. It took a month before I actually relaxed. After that I just saw it was a nice prank against the Headmaster," Sirius smiled.

Harry's heart gave a pang at the word prank. He swallowed, telling himself he was being stupid.

"So what about when we get back to school? Are you going to continue as Gallagher?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not quite sure." Sirius said slowly. "We didn't really think that far ahead. I was actually think-"

Harry looked up from rubbing his eyes as, Sirius, who seemed to have paused mid sentence, was actually staring at him.

"What?" he said.

There was sad sort of smile on his face.

"You look different without your glasses."

"I don't miss them. But I had them for so long I keep forgetting I don't have them anymore," Harry smiled. His potions regime had finally finished around Halloween when he had been able to shed his glasses. Now he had to take his potions every six months.

"James used to reach for his glasses first thing every morning. I used to hide them from him as joke. He used to literally tear the dorms apart looking for them. He loved his glasses. Thought they made him look distinguished," Sirius laughed.

Harry didn't know to how take this, and wondered to move onto the next topic. Hermione, who seemed to have picked up on his ambivalent feelings, asked the next question, directing it Lupin. "Did you know Professor Lupin?"

Lupin looking nonplussed at the sudden question and took a moment to answer.

"Not all along. I found out quite by accident. It was after the Dementor attack on Hogsmeade at Halloween."

Harry saw Tonks sit up straight and pay more attention to his words.

"Oh?" he prompted.

"Well, it was the day we found out Killian woke up from her Dementor induced sleep. I was on my way to go see her when I heard the arguing-"

"It was whilst she was asleep," Sirius interrupted eagerly, "that all them articles came out. You know the one where Peter had been spotted and I was finally proven innocent. I was trying to persuade the Flamels and Killian that we could tell everyone the truth now. It was really careless of me to have such a discussion where anyone could walk in, especially without taking precautions. But Remus walked in and found me out."

"We wanted to tell you, Harry. We really did. You have no idea how hard it was not to say anything and not to fall back into former habits. But it's a relief now to get it off my chest." Lupin told, looking very sincere.

Harry wanted to believe they really did want to tell him the truth. But a part of him felt indignant that they didn't trust him enough to tell him something. He had felt so guilty, had blamed himself so much for the fate that befallen Sirius.

They must have sensed that Harry didn't quite believe them and just as Sirius was about to open his mouth to no doubt reassure him further Harry injected with "And then what?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked bewildered.

"Well, Lupin walked in found out you were still alive and disguised as Gallagher and then what?" Harry clarified.

"After I got over the shock of seeing him; they told me whole story which took almost as long as it did today. We were persuaded to keep his secret for just a little longer until the right time came along and then we made our way back to our rooms. I was still in shock I think. I'd seen it with my own eyes and I still didn't believe it," Lupin explained.

Harry nodded, making sure not to glance in Tonks' direction. He didn't how significant it was that Lupin found out about Sirius and then went back to his room where he found Tonks waiting for him. He must have obviously have been happy with that his school friend was still alive. Happy enough to let his guard down and sleep with Tonks, but then come to regret in the next morning? Harry really didn't want to think badly of his professor and he really didn't want to think badly of Sirius, but some of what they were telling him, and the direction of the talk didn't sit well him at times.

Oddly, Harry felt more and more distant as the conversation went on. He didn't know why he had a bad feeling. He tried to push away his anger at being kept in the dark and tried to concentrate on the fact Sirius was alive and in front of him.

"It feels like a dream, doesn't it Harry?" Ron was saying to him.

Harry paled at his words.

"I mean we thought you were, you know, but you're not. It's sort of weird, innit?" Ron went on, directing this at Sirius.

"I feel a little tired," Harry said, standing up abruptly. "I think I'll have an early night. I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley. I'm not really feeling hungry right now."

Sirius looked a little disappointed that Harry was leaving for his room. As did Mrs Weasley that Harry was not going to stay to eat.

He felt a little guilty for that but he needed some time to think. He felt glad that no one followed. His friends knew what he was like. They knew he probably wanted a little time alone.

He was sitting on his bed, absently twirling his wand between his fingers, when there was a knock on the door.

"Yaeh?" he called.

"Wotcher Harry," Tonks said softly, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Are you okay, Tonks?" Said Harry, still twirling his wand.

"No, Harry. I can't say I am."

"What do you think it means, Tonks that he slept with you the same night he found out about Sirius?" Harry whispered softly.

"I don't know, Harry" she sighed.

"Do you think Sirius knows about you and Lupin?"

"I don't know that either. Did you talk to your friends about it?"

"Not a word, Tonks. I wouldn't betray you like that."

"I know Harry. I trust you. I just don't what to think. I'm finding it so hard not to talk about."

"I guess some people are better at keeping secrets," Harry said bitterly.

Tonks kept quiet about that.

"Do you think I'm being stupid?" he asked suddenly after a moment of silence.

"That's up to you to decide."

Harry nodded.

"So what now?"

"Now I'm going home to sleep Harry. We have another Order meeting tomorrow. I don't think you lot with be invited to this one though," she said, deliberately misinterpreting his question, but giving him a smirk at the end of her sentence.

Reluctantly, he grinned back. He continued twirling his wand as she left. Half an hour later he was joined by his friends, and they all clamoured around him. Luna joined him on the bed, leaning against the headboard with him and he put his arm around her shoulders, letting her lean on him. Ron and Ginny sat the foot of the bed, whilst Hermione and Neville sat on the edge of the bed on either side of him

"Are you okay, mate?" Ron asked.

"I think Harry's just a little upset that Stubby Boardman didn't show his true self," Luna said, dreamily, startling a laugh out of Harry.

"Am I being stupid?" he asked them the same question he'd asked Tonks earlier.

"I think you have right to be upset Harry," Ginny told him, keeping her eyes just on Harry. "I mean, we know how upset you were when we thought Sirius was gone. But he's back now. And things can be normal now, you know, go back to how they were, can't they?"

Harry nodded, a little reluctantly. Would they? Did he want that? What was normal?

"As Gallagher Sirius had to keep his distance or people would have suspicious. And I mean, he's been with us since the end of July and he didn't let on anything," Hermione said, looking intently at him.

"They never said how Killian was involved though," Neville added thoughtfully.

Hermione nodded.

Harry sighed.

"I am happy he's back. It just feels weird. After I'd already accepted he was gone to not only find out he was alive, but under our noses the entire time. It just grates a little you know. It's not a good feeling. I feel like I've been tricked."

They nodded at his words.

"I'll get over it. I just hope I don't wake up tomorrow and it's all just a nightmare."

They sat up for a little longer, Hermione wanting to talk about the 'fascinating' history of the Mirror and its mention in Muggle literature. Ron just wanted to forget all that and play Exploding Snap. Harry joined in with them, and they all had good time, moving onto the floor quickly as the deck blew up when Ginny placed a card on her turn and singed Harry's bedspread.

Mrs Weasley came in soon to shoo them all to bed, asking Harry a final time if he was sure he didn't want something to eat.

"I'm fine, Mrs Weasley," he reassured her. "I'm still not very hungry."

She smiled at him and patted him the cheek.

"Come on girls," she said, ushering out Hermione, Ginny and Luna. "Goodnight, boys." was echoed by the girls and Mrs Weasley turned off the light with a wave of her wand and shut the door behind her.

Harry found it a little easier to sleep that night, and when he woke up the next morning he was thankful there were no dreams.

He woke up the next morning when there was knock at the door and Ginny poked her head in to tell them it was time for breakfast. Harry lazily rolled out of bed, feeling rather starved and managed to shut the bathroom door in Ron's face with a smirk, ignoring his irate, "Oi!"

He was in and out in ten minutes, Ron and Neville waiting their turns. It was another thirty minutes before they made it down to the kitchen, able to smell the bacon and sausages from the stairwell.

"Morning, boys," Mrs Weasley greeted them.

"Morning," they chorused back, taking their seats, plates already waiting, which Mrs Weasley immediately loaded with fried eggs and sausages.

Mr Weasley was already there, dressed and ready for work. As were the girls. Luna was sitting opposite him and Harry gave her a shy smile, which she returned.

No one else seemed to have joined them and Mr Weasley catching Harry looking around informed him that Sirius was still asleep.

"He was up rather late with Lupin. He'll wake up soon enough I expect."

Harry nodded, a little disappointed, but he supposed that Sirius must have needed the lie in if he'd stayed up so late.

They heard a door slam from upstairs, making them jump. The noise disturbed Mrs Black's portrait who immediately started he litany of insults.

"NO GOOD WIZARD. A BLIGHT ON THE FAMILY. BRINGING MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS INTO THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK-"

"FOR MERLIN'S SAKE MOTHER SHUT UP!" They heard Sirius yell.

"I can't say I missed that," Ron snorted, and then looked back down at his plate at his mother's admonishing look.

Harry carried on eating as he heard the footsteps coming towards the kitchen and the door swung open to reveal a fully dressed Sirius.

"I can't say I missed any of that whilst I was dead," Sirius said ruefully, unknowingly echoing Ron's words.

Ron and Ginny choked on their drinks, and Harry saw Mr Weasley hide his smile behind his goblet of pumpkin juice.

Mrs Weasley just rolled her eyes and turned back to her pan of sizzling bacon.

"Good sleep, Harry?"

Harry nodded, not able to answer as he'd just stuffed a forkful of egg in his mouth.

The conversation seemed to turn awkward around them. No one seemed to know what to say. And so they all ate in a tense silence.

Harry just finished the last of the food on his plate when Moody stomped in, trailed by Lupin.

Mrs Weasley immediately set a plate with food in front of both of them. Moody stabbed at his sausage, bringing his fork to his mangled nose and sniffed suspiciously before taking a bite.

"I don't we'd be allowed out for run would we Professor Moody?" Neville asked hopefully.

"What do you think, lad?" Moody growled at him, reaching for his goblet, which he also inspected minutely.

Neville sighed.

"There's no place a run here. The back garden is too much of a mess. You won't be able go for your usual run, for the remainder of the break, but it doesn't mean you can't keep up with your other exercises. You can still work out. Try bench pressing your trunks," Sirius suggested with a laugh.

"You can also work on your homework?" Mrs Weasley told them.

"We didn't get assigned any," Hermione said, disappoint evident in her voice.

"There's isn't much cleaning to do either," Mrs Weasley fretted. "We'll have to occupy you children somehow."

"We could assign you some," Lupin proposed mildly.

Sirius smirked at the look of panic on Ron's face.

"Can't we practice some spells?" Ron moaned.

"Absolutely not," Mrs Weasley said adamantly. "I don't want you children using your wands at all."

Clack! Clack! Thunk!

"Ow," Ron complained from his position on the floor.

With no homework to, to Hermione's dismay, and no cleaning to do, to Mrs Weasley's dismay, the six friends were left to entertain themselves. They were currently in one of the drawing rooms on the first floor that Sirius and Moody had emptied out for them. After transfiguring a few unused items into muggle Bo staffs and batons for them, Ron's insistence who wanted to learn the tricks that Harry, Neville and Luna had performed down in the Chamber, Moody had acquiesced, despite Mrs Weasley's stern disapproval.

Hermione, as the only person who wasn't particularly fond of physical activity that she didn't think was important to her to her grades, brought a book with her, plonking herself down as far away from the errant sticks as possible. She only occasionally glanced up when she heard a particularly violent swear word that the boys would let out, but otherwise preoccupied herself with a Transfiguration textbook.

Ginny would occasionally join in with Luna, who was moving slowly as if she trying to repeat the moves in slow motion.

The boys on the other hand jumped all in, laughing and ribbing each other, poking and prodding. Harry winced as he received a sharp thwack on the back if his thigh from Ron who was simultaneously trying to get up off the floor and swing out his staff to inflict as much damage he himself was feeling.

Harry backed up a few steps and gave himself a chance to get his breath back. Possibly because they weren't in the mindset of actually needing to defend themselves, but they couldn't seem to emulate their moves from the Chamber.

They had been going on for the better part of the morning and a fair chunk of the afternoon as well and hadn't done much other than gather bruises and scrapes.

Sirius had left soon after with Lupin and Moody, to apparently run an errand. Harry reckoned Sirius just wanted to get away from the house now that he had revealed his true self and had to hear constant abuse from his mother, not mention Kreacher, who stayed out of the way for great lengths of the time and appeared randomly muttering under his breath pretending they weren't in the room.

They had stopped briefly for light lunch of sandwiches at Mrs Weasley's insistence.

It was after Neville who got hit three times in the same place above left elbow and Harry who narrowly avoided getting wacked on the face twice they decided to take a break and practice some of the moves from the Mix Martial Arts classes.

It was when the front door opened and closed for the fifth time when they realised what time it was.

"It must be time for the Order meeting," Hermione said, getting up from her seat, placing her book behind her.

They all knew they wouldn't be allowed to join in, but it didn't stop them from leaning over the banister and spying on the group entering.

"Most of them are the same as what came yesterday. I haven't seen the twins and Bill yet. I wonder if they know about Sirius." Ron whispered.

Harry started, realising that was true. Not all the members from Order had been there last night for Sirius' revealing, despite the massive turnout.

"Surely your mum and dad would have told them already," Hermione said to him.

"No one's mentioned anything," Ginny said.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Luna asked him.

He gave her a smile. It was rare for Luna to entirely give her focus on anyone or thing, but at that moment he had hers.

"I don't know yet," he said. "I thought Sirius would spend some time with me today, but he barely even talked to me before he went out."

"The house is very oppressive for him, Harry," Hermione, who'd been listening, told him. "As Gallagher he wasn't recognised and he could come and go as he pleased. But now that's he shown himself he has to listen to all the angry things his mother's portrait shouts at him. Of course he's going to be using any opportunity to leave the house to get away from it, especially that he's got a disguise."

Harry nodded, not entirely satisfied. He found it a little unfair that Sirius could escape yet he couldn't.

"Come on, Harry, admit it. It's still shaping up to be a better Christmas than last year," Ron cajoled. "No one's in the hospital. No Umbridge waiting back for us at school, even though we do seem to have six sadistic defence professors all at once."

They all snorted at his words.

"Harry," Hermione began hesitantly, "have you thought about what Professor Snape reaction will be about Sirius still being alive?"

Harry had thought about it actually.

"Snape was probably laughing when he'd heard Sirius snuffed it," Ron said, viciously. "I'd love to be the beetle on the wall to see them two meet. Hope Sirius hexes the nose off that greasy git."

"Ron!"

Harry didn't answer for a moment.

"That'll be the test won't it?" Harry finally said, as they all looked at him anxiously. "Snape's a git. Nothing short of a memory charm will change his attitude. But Sirius does need show he's better than that. I couldn't take them constantly sniping at each other. If it's going to be a good Christmas at all, they'll learn to stay out of each others ways."

"Even as Gallagher, you could tell he never really liked Snape," Neville said. "But they always stayed away from the other."

"Let's hope the same hold true now," Harry said grimly.

Hermione looked anxiously back down the banister, looking like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.

"How long do you think the meeting's going to last? I'm starving."

Ginny rolled her eyes ah her brother's predictability.

"You ate a whole platter of sandwiches to yourself" Hermione said incredulously. "How could you still be hungry?"

"I'm a growing wizard," Ron defended.

"Keep eating like that and you'll be growing outwards," Hermione informed him tartly, walking away in the direction of their rooms.

"Oi. Are you saying I'm fat?"

"Not yet," Ginny muttered under breath, causing Harry to laugh.

They moved away from the banister and split up. The boys went to their room to clean up and shower, hoping the meeting wouldn't take too long. Harry was quite hungry himself. He hadn't eaten as many sandwiches as Ron after all.

Harry had just slipped on his jeans and zipped up when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ron yelled from under the t-shirt he was trying to wrestle on. Harry scouted around for a t-shirt for himself. Neville was still in the shower.

Mrs Weasley popped her head around the door.

"Dinner will be half an hour boys, the meeting's almost over."

"Cheers mum," Ron grinned.

"You're filling out nicely, Harry dear. You could still do with eating a little more though."

"Thanks Mrs Weasley." Harry said, feeling himself going a little pink.

They occupied themselves with another game of Exploding Snap, knowing the girls, who always take longer to shower probably wouldn't show their faces until dinner time anyway.

In less than no time at all the boys eagerly made their way downstairs to the kitchen, hearing loud voices coming from the room.

"Who's shouting?" Ginny asked, appearing suddenly behind them with Hermione and Luna in tow, hair still wet from the shower.

Luna had plaited her long wet hair, instead of leaving it open as she usually did. Harry could see her wand still weaved into the strands and wondered show she did that.

Ron shrugged at Ginny's question and pushed open the kitchen door.

Instantly the voice intensified and he recognised the silky tone of their Potions Master and of course Sirius.

With an inward groan Harry followed Ron and Neville into the kitchen with the girls following behind. Most of the Order had already gone. Most of the Weasley's were there; Mrs Weasley standing anxiously at the kitchen, Mr Weasley trying to intervene between the arguing wizards. The twins and Bill sat the far side whispering between themselves, frowning eyes flickering between Sirius and Snape.

Lupin watched impassively from behind Sirius, with an uneasy settled in his features, and seemed to have decided against interfering. Dumbledore, it seemed, had already taken his leave.

No one seemed to have noticed them enter; too engrossed at watching the grown wizards arguing like schoolboys.

Harry didn't pay too much attention to the words, he didn't especially care what they were arguing about. He just wished Sirius would stop. His friends looked at him uncertainly but he shook his head, not wanting to get involved himself. The last time he had tried he had been soundly ignored. Clearly fighting with Snape was more important to Sirius.

Mrs Weasley was the first to spot them, looking startled as if they had popped in out of thin air.

"Sirius, please do clam down," she interrupted. "At least think of impression you're leaving on the children."

"Yes, do think of the children, Black," Snape said viciously. "Precious Potter has only just got you back from the dead."

"You leave Harry out of this Snivellus, I can take care of my godson. And what's more he can certainly take care of himself."

"Indeed, you had been doing a very good job from Azkaban, Black."

Sirius swore at him viciously, scandalising Mrs Weasley with his language, as he lurched towards Snape, pulling on his robes.

"Come welcome your dogfather, Potter. How long before he leaves this time?" Snape crowed as he spotted Harry and his friends the door, lips twisting derisively.

"Harry," Sirius said, twisting around to face him, loosening and eventually letting go of Snape's robes.

Snape dusted off his robes ostentatiously, gave them a grim smirk.

"I'm so happy you're alive, Sirius," Harry smiled, and everyone in the room could see that it wasn't the kind of smile that sat well on his face. There was no humour or happiness there at all. "It's like nothing's changed at all."

Sirius looked troubled. He walked in the direction of Harry, starting to say something but Harry walked straight out of the kitchen, not giving him the chance. Sirius grimaced, looking like he wanted to go after Harry but didn't seem to know if he should.

An embarrassed silence settled around them, broken eventually by Luna,

"I expect Harry's a little upset to see his godfather arguing with Professor Snape like he knew would happen," she said absently, addressing the room in general. "It's most likely he won't come down for dinner, as he's probably lost his appetite. It happens from time to time when Harry gets distressed. He's only been my boyfriend for a couple of days but I do imagine it would be better if I showed some solidarity and refused to eat as well. He did defend me in the Chamber after all, and I don't have much experience being a girlfriend but I should stick by Harry. I will miss your lovely meal though, Mrs Weasley. Especially your puddings." This she aimed directly at the Weasley matriarch, and turned around, skipping out of the kitchen, leaving a silence that was even more awkward.

Ron struggled with himself, then finally gave a disgusted sigh.

"You were right, Hermione. I ate too many sandwiches for lunch. I don't really have room for dinner to be honest." And he too turned around and followed Luna, deciding he'd walk instead of skip.

Mrs Weasley looked especially flabbergasted at this announcement, as she knew Ron never ever turned down food.

Before the others could make their excuses and leave as well, Mrs Weasley came to her senses and ordered the remaining teen wizards to sit down.

"Don't you dare leave this kitchen. And you two. You should be ashamed of yourselves," and looked like she would have proceeded to dress down the two adult wizards.

Snape left her to it before she could really get going, striding rapidly out of the kitchen.

The atmosphere around 12 Grimmauld Place remained tense over the next few days. Harry had tried to spend more time with Sirius to make up for his skit the other day, but even when Sirius decided to stick around Headquarters, Harry felt he was fast getting tired of Sirius' attitude. Harry wanted to understand, he really did. Except he found it odd after living as Gallagher for nearly five months Sirius could regress so much. It was as if he'd picked up where he left off from June. As if the last five months hadn't happened.

The Order still popped in and out at random times. Sirius going out as often as possible under his Gallagher guise. Harry didn't know how to connect with his godfather, and he blamed his dreams. In his dreams, the memories, he saw the Marauders at their worst. He had never imagined he could hate anyone more than he'd hated Dudley during primary school. Yet, as he saw how the Marauders acted, he realised he hated them. His own father and godfather. Snape had been right all along.

Harry had taken to sneaking out of his bedroom at night, unable to sleep, or even think above Ron's snoring. He slipped into Regulus Black's room, where it was quiet. During day light hours he spent as much time with his friends, especially Luna. He felt so confused.

He spent ages in Regulus' room, sitting quietly on the bed, squinting at the posters on the wall, the newspaper clipping of Voldemort's first rise and what Regulus must have thought pride in Slytherin as the banners attested to.

Last year Sirius told him that his brother had been a Death Eater, who had got in too far and had been killed for his defection. He wondered how the two brothers raised the same way could possibly be so different, yet so alike. Sirius always made out that he hated his family, yet he embraced the viciousness. Even now, Sirius seemed to relish in regaling his former years at Hogwarts, in the short amount of time they'd spent together. The house seemed to be dragging Sirius back with its bitterness and bad memories. He thought perhaps Sirius regretted revealing himself, seeing as he was forced to spend more time here.

Harry sat on Regulus' bed for another hour or so, before looking at the time and deciding it was time to go back to his own bed. He eventually fell asleep, and didn't even wake up for breakfast when Ron tried to shake him awake. He slept on, only vaguely drifting awake when he felt a cool hand on his forehead.

Mrs Weasley who'd come to check why Harry had not come down to eat had reluctantly let Harry sleep on.

"His head does feel a little warm," she spoke to someone just outside the door. "He's probably run down, the poor dear. All that fighting they did in the Chamber of Secrets, not to mention the play fighting they've being on the first floor. I'll see if I can get him a Pepper-Up, and wake him up for lunch. He just needs to rest for now."

So he slept on for a few more hours, occasionally feeling the mattress depress as another person joined him, and from the scent that tickled his nose, even in slumber knew it was Luna.

It wasn't to last long, as he was eventually shaken awake by Neville who informed him Mrs Weasley wanted him downstairs for lunch. A little reluctantly he got out of bed, assuring Neville he'd be straight down after quick shower.

By the time he dragged himself out of bed and took a leisurely shower, only feeling marginally better, he made his way downstairs where it seemed lunch had already started, and he was the last one in. He walked into the kitchen and straight Mrs Weasley had her hand against his forehead.

"You still feel a little warm, Harry dear," she said, a little concerned before giving him a bright smile. "Sit, sit, dear. I'll fix you a plate. You've not been eating properly since the holidays started. We don't want you to feeling worse."

She led him to the only empty seat, which happened to be next to Sirius, with Lupin on his other side.

Sirius greeted him with a smile and a slap on the back, whilst Lupin passed him an empty plate and glass goblet. Harry looked around the table as Sirius turned back to his conversation with Lupin. Tonks, who seemed even more subdued than usual was sitting at the opposite end of the table between Luna and Ginny.

Luna looked up and flashed him a gentle smile, which he returned softly.

"Oh, Ron, do leave some food for Harry," Mrs Weasley admonished his son. "I'll get your food in moment, Harry. I'll make you some fresh sandwiches."

Harry nodded, and turned his attention to Sirius, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"… The Flamels took a few pieces of it. Had to almost fight Snivellus for it. You'd think he was the one who killed the beast…"

Perhaps it was because he still felt groggy and tired but Harry felt he had enough. Hearing Sirius who insisted on calling Snape that horrible name so casually, felt like too much to Harry, who had repeatedly tried to stop Sirius from carrying on this grudge. Angry at Lupin who'd refused to stop his friend. Nothing was going to change if he didn't try harder, and he needed Sirius to drop his grudge.

He rubbed his head, trying to stave off a headache before taking a deep breath and silently sending apology to the heavens.

"Actually, Mrs Weasley," he said loudly, his voice carrying across the kitchen, "I still don't think I've much of an appetite."

He flipped over his plate and turned his goblet upside down, stem sticking in the air.

"Must be the smell of werewolf," he said, getting up from his seat, chair screeching across the wooden floor.

He caught the flash of hurt across Lupin's face he was too slow to hide and steeled himself not too feel guilty.

"Harry?" Sirius asked, confused, also rising from his seat.

The room had fallen silent. Mrs Weasley froze from her position at the kitchen counter, the sandwich she'd been making for Harry falling apart as it slipped from her hand.

The majority of the occupants had stunned looks on their faces.

Harry; who always got on with Lupin, who had always claimed Lupin was his favourite Defence teacher, had never once even inferred that he had a problem with his lycanthropy.

He caught Luna's eye, who gave him a questioning look. He didn't know how this evening was going to end, but he knew it wasn't going to end well.

"Yes, Sirius?" Harry said in the blandest tone he could muster.

"Harry- why- what- why-" he stuttered, trying to voice his bewilderment. "What's got into you, Harry?"

Harry fully turned to face Sirius, thereby turning his back on the rest of the room.

"The smell of werewolf," he enunciated carefully, as if he were speaking to a child, "is knocking me sick."

Lupin also slowly rose from his chair, bemused.

"Have I done something to make you angry, Harry?" Lupin asked, swallowing hard.

"Yes. Yes you have. You are a coward. You make me sick," Harry said, deliberately rude.

Harry heard several other chairs scrape across the floor but didn't turn around to see which of the occupants had risen from their seats. He hoped Tonks stayed quiet. Whatever else he said today, he wouldn't betray Tonks' trust.

"Harry, come on. Don't be - don't be so-" Sirius didn't seem to have the words express himself.

"Don't be what Sirius?"

"You're acting like a - you're not yourself," Sirius said, reaching out to Harry.

"Don't touch me, you filthy mongrel," Harry snarled, batting his hand away before he could place his hand on Harry's shoulder.

He heard a shocked gasp behind him, which he ignored in favour of glaring at his godfather. Sirius backed up a step, a wounded look adorning his face.

"Harry, dear. What's happened?" Mrs Weasley spoke hesitantly.

"What's happened, Mrs Weasley, is that my dear godfather and his pet wolf are a couple of gutless wizards, so far from being worthy of being a Gryffindor."

"This isn't like you, Harry." Sirius insisted. "You'd never say hurtful things like that."

"I haven't even started saying hurtful things, Sirius. Don't tell me you're so sensitive that your pride is pricked so quickly."

"That's enough, Harry."

"Harry, please tell us. Why are you acting like this?" Hermione pleaded from behind him. "This is between me and the dogs, Hermione. Maybe you should leave, take your lunch upstairs. In fact, maybe all of you should take your food upstairs. There's no sense in all of us losing our appetites."

"Harry, mate. Stop joking around," Ron cut in. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

"I am in perfectly sound mind, Ron. And I'm telling you to leave," Harry insisted.

"We're not going anywhere, Harry." Ron told him.

"Fine. I'll go then." And he turned as if walk out of the door.

"Oh no you don't, Harry. You're going to stay right here and telling me what's wrong," Sirius asserted, reaching out for his godson again.

"I told you not to touch me. Are you deaf as well as stupid?" Harry snarled at him again, pushing Sirius away.

"Harry, please. Tell me what's wrong? This isn't you. This isn't how you were raised." Sirius begged.

"What you do know about how I was raised? What makes you think you know me at all?"

"Are you angry because I couldn't tell you about me still being alive in summer?" Sirius said suddenly as if having an epiphany. "Because you have to believe me. I really did want to tell you. The Flamels, and- and - Killian. They wouldn't let me. They told me to wait." He tried to explain.

"I saw you die, Sirius. I thought it was all my fault. Everything changed for me. And then I find out that you've been alive and hiding all along."

"Believe me, I was desperate to come back to you," Sirius told him earnestly.

Harry shook his head.

"I don't believe you, Sirius. You wore Gallagher like a disguise, you still do when you need to leave the house. The minute the disguise comes off, you pick where you left off, as if nothing's changed."

"What do you mean?"

"You should have stayed dead, Sirius." Harry said coldly.

Sirius staggered backwards, paling at his words.

"You don't mean that, Harry."

Harry shrugged, looking carefully at Sirius.

"This isn't you," Sirius repeated, through bloodless lips.

"You really don't know me. You don't even see me."

Everyone in the room, still confused as to where this was going, decided to stay silent, concern and worry etched into their faces.

Harry sighed wearily, and took a step back. He looked at Mrs Weasley, her face extremely anxious.

"Please Mrs Weasley. I need to speak to them alone."

Mrs Weasley hesitated, and then must have seen his desperation, as she nodded, resigned and herded everyone out of the kitchen to leave him alone with Sirius and Lupin.

Tonks, who hadn't yet spoken, who'd been watching the exchange carefully, was the last the leave and said before she stepped out the door, "I'll be right outside, Harry. If you need me."

Harry nodded. He waited until then kitchen door closed behind Tonks, watched as the door swung shut, before he turned to face his anxious godfather.

"Who I am, Sirius?"

Sirius was taken aback at the abrupt question.

"What am I to you?"

"I don't understand what you mean, Harry. You're my godson. You mean everything to me."

"If I really meant everything you, Sirius, then you would have been the one raising me after my parents died." Harry said sadly. "You thought revenge was more important you than I was."

"That's not true, Harry."

"You don't really care about me. You're just stuck with a shadow of James Potter."

"That's not true, Harry!" Lupin said, speaking for the first time in a while.

"I didn't invite you this particular conversation, werewolf. Keep your snout out of it," Harry warned.

"Don't call him werewolf."

"Why not? That's what he is. You are nothing more than a mindless, heartless beast," Harry addressed Lupin, who took a step back with every word Harry spoke.

"That's enough. Have some respect. The man looks upon you like a son and this is how you treat him," Sirius said, getting slowly angry himself.

"That animal," Harry emphasised, "wouldn't know the concept of family if it shot him the arse. But you already know this Sirius. You know you can't trust a beast like him. They only betray you in the end."

"Remus is one of the most trustworthy people I know," Sirius insisted.

Harry actually gave a bitter laugh at this.

"Of course," he said sarcastically, "absolutely. But then why did you pick Wormtail over Moony to be my parents Secret Keeper?"

The two wizards didn't have an answer to his question.

"I'll tell you why. You didn't trust him because he is a werewolf," Harry said slowly, driving his point home.

"There were circumstances, Harry. Those were bad days. No one knew who could be trusted and who couldn't," Sirius defended.

"Don't feel so bad, Sirius. It's not like Lupin trusted you, either. After all, he was quite quick to believe you killed my parents, along with the rest of the wizarding world," the teen mocked.

Lupin opened his mouth, most likely to defend himself.

"Don't you find it odd, Sirius, that the boy you helped throughout his school years; the boy you supported where all others might have shunned him because of his 'furry little problem', so easily believed you could have anything to do with the death of a man you treated like a brother? Hell, you treated him better than you did your own brother."

"Harry, I wasn't thinking straight that time," Lupin said desperately. "All I knew was that your parents were dead and that Sirius had betrayed them. All the evidence pointed in that direction, what else were we supposed to think?"

"You could have thought of that poor orphan boy. The boy who lived on whilst his parents were slaughtered by a mad wizard drunk on power. Both of you were so wrapped up in your grief; did you even think that boy who had no clue what happened?"

"Of course. Of course, we thought about you, Harry. We - we - knew Dumbledore would make arrangements for you. He said he'd place you with your family."

"Of course, Dumbledore had to make arrangements for me. Neither of you two seemed to have given a second me a second thought after my parents were killed."

"That's not true, Harry."

"THEN WHERE WERE YOU?" Harry all but roared.

"Where were you that night when James and Lily were killed and your godson was placed on the doorstep of Petunia Dursley, barely a day later, with nothing more than a note to explain to her what happened to her sister?

"Where were you when the orphaned son of your best friend woke up the next morning, looking around to see all that was familiar was gone?" Harry accused Lupin.

Lupin looked ashamed.

"I know - I know how it looks Harry. But you have to understand. Our best friend had died. Voldemort was gone. The world was in uproar. No one knew what had happened. Dumbledore had already placed you with Lily's family before the dust had even settled, there wasn't time-"

"There wasn't time for you to think about me?" Harry cut in.

Lupin looked horrified that that was how Harry had interpreted his words.

"No no no no, that's not what I meant."

"Sirius had already proved by that point that he cared more about James Potter than he did about his godson. But you Lupin? Voldemort had gone. My parents were dead. You thought Pettigrew was dead as well at that point. Sirius landed himself in Azkaban. You were the only Marauder left. I might have been left with the Dursleys, but didn't you ever think about me? Even once?"

"I did, Harry," Lupin breathed.

But Harry went on as if he hadn't spoken.

"Why would you care about me though? I was just one years old then. I might have been the Boy- Who- Lived but it's not like I was actually any use to you. It's not like I was an animagus like my dad who could keep you company when your true nature came out. That night you lost your only friends. They stood by your side when you didn't even deserve it. Tell me, Lupin. Did you ever think about visiting? Did you ever think about coming to me? Did you even try to find out where I was?"

"Dumbledore told me you were safe, Harry. He told me you were placed with Lily's sister, and that she would look after you," Lupin tried to assure him.

"Petunia Dursley? Look after me? She accepted me into her house, Lupin, but she never gave me a place in her heart, her home. I dare you to walk into that damn house right now and point out one thing to show me; to prove that I was welcomed into that house in any way. Walk into the living room and you won't see a single picture to show that I ever existed in that house.

"That house has four bedrooms, Sirius. Four. One for Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. One guest room, empty for the most part; except when Uncle Vernon's sister Marge comes around to visit. One bedroom for Dudley to sleep in. One bedroom for all of Dudley's toys that were old, or broken, or just plain useless to him," Harry counted down.

"Do you want to know where I slept? Do you?"

He strode over to Kreachers cupboard in the corner of the kitchen, and banged on the door with his fist, wondering belatedly where the dark elf was right now.

"Here. In a cupboard. Just like this. Except mine was under the stairs. Every time Vernon and Dudley thundered down the stairs dust would rain down on me and the spiders who shared the cupboard with me, dust and spiders would fall on me. My very first Hogwarts letter was addressed Cupboard under the Stairs. They didn't want me attending a school of magic. They saw how the letter was addressed and that was when they let me have Dudley's second bedroom. They thought they were being watched, you see? But they weren't. Because no one cared enough to." He finished bitterly.

Both Sirius and Lupin looked aghast through out Harry's tale. Harry thought he heard a sob beyond the kitchen door, and realized belatedly that the others must have staying just on the other side and no one had put up any sort of silencing charm. But I don't care, he thought wildly. He only wanted to make his godfather see sense.

"Harry, I swear you. If I'd had known anything about that I would have-" Lupin tried to say, but Harry interrupted.

"You didn't ask, werewolf. That's the point. My parents were dead. Voldemort was gone and the wizards and witches were free from his tyranny. It was a matter of out of sight, out of mind wasn't it? The biggest threat since Grindelwald was gone and the world was happy place. Besides, I wasn't the only orphan after that was I? Who cared about one little boy when there were probably hundreds and hundreds more left to the tender care of the orphanages. Life carried on under the stairs. The Dursleys took me out when I was needed to clean the house, or to do the cooking in the kitchen and pull out all the weeds in the garden. When I done I was expected to obediently climb back into the cupboard under the stairs and keep quiet and pretend I didn't exist."

"How dare they?" Sirius growled. "How dare they treat my godson like a lowly house-elf? I'm going to kill them bastards."

Harry looked back him, unimpressed with his anger.

"It's a bit late to show the loving godfather act isn't it? You couldn't be bothered about me when you went haring off after Wormtail. All you cared about was avenging the death of your best friend. You spent twelve years in Azkaban, quite contently. Did it even cross your mind then who would be looking after me?"

"I came to you, Harry. After I escaped Azkaban I came to you," Sirius protested loudly.

"You escaped from prison because you found out Wormtail was alive. That's what woke you up wasn't it? You didn't care two shits about me," Harry yelled, his voice raising to match his godfather's. "You said so in the Shrieking Shack that night. Revenge drove you into Azkaban and it was the same revenge that drove you out. You managed to get into Gryffindor Tower one night. Everyone, thought you were there coming to kill me. Only they thought you picked the wrong bed. I was so close to you. Just one bed over. Even then did you pause to think where you were and who was with you? How dare you stand there and pretend you give a damn."

"Pretend? Pretend? Harry, there's no one in the world who means me more to me than you do," Sirius shouted.

"There isn't now is there? The only person you cared about is dead. James Potter died, and now fifteen years later you realized he'd left his shadow behind and now you like to think that maybe things can stay the same. You don't think of me as just Harry. You treat me like Snape does. Just another James Potter."

"Snape. You're comparing me to that greasy bastard?" Sirius objected.

"Right now I think more highly of Snape than I do of you."

"Snivellus," Sirius grated, "has made your life miserable since you stepped in Hogwarts. You really think he's better than I am."

"Snape is as arrogant as he accuses me of being; he's a miserable, malicious bullying git. But he's, at least, always been honest with me. He doesn't put on any airs. With him I know where I stand. His opinion doesn't matter to me and I know for certain that I mean absolutely nothing to him. His hatred is the most consistent thing in my life since Hogwarts. And I respect him for that at least."

Sirius looked flabbergasted at Harry defending the man who hated all things Potter.

"Harry, you have to trust us-" Lupin started to say.

"You expect me to trust you when you can't even trust yourselves?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Do you even know the meaning of the word?"

"All we've ever wanted to do is protect you," Lupin stated.

"Job well done," Harry ground out sarcastically. "You're incapable of protecting anyone. You can't even stand up for yourself, werewolf. How you are going to stand up to protect anyone else?"

"I've always done what I thought it was right," Lupin argued hotly.

"Bollocks," Harry scoffed. "I saw Snape's memory, remember? I risked getting caught by Umbridge to talk to you about it. If doing the right thing means sitting back whilst letting your friends hex another student simply because they were bored, then yes Lupin I agree, that was absolutely the right thing."

Lupin flushed under Hurry's accusation.

"Harry, we told you we regret that. We were young and foolish. We did a lot of things that were - that were wrong, but we're different now," Sirius assured him.

"You regret it? Truly regret?"

"Absolutely, Harry."

"Did you regret it when you sent Snape to get killed by a werewolf? Were you sorry?"

"Yes."

"If Snape had died, or got bitten by Lupin, would you have really cared?"

Sirius hesitated a little before he answered, but Harry caught it.

"You know why no one thought twice before throwing you in prison for betraying my parents and killing Pettigrew and twelve muggles Sirius?" Harry said quietly.

"Because they saw how you acted at school. They knew what your family was like. They knew that Black reputation. You were so desperate to get away from your family because of their dark nature that you didn't seem to realise you'd already inherited their vicious streak. No one had trouble believing you were a Death Eater, not even so your so called best friend," he sneered, jerking his chin in Lupin's direction, "because you had no scruples when it came to hexing anyone you thought even smacked of the same darkness of your family. You were so proud to be different from your Slytherin family that you failed to realise that you weren't so different after all. You just became a Snake in a Lion's robes.

"What did Snape do to you really? In that memory I saw he was minding his own business. He was alone; there was four of you. Two of you were useless. Wormtail was pathetic, he just wanted to join you so badly he didn't care how he had to prove himself. Bet he never felt accepted though, did he? If you showed him you truly thought he was worth do you think he would have betrayed you? You and James just used Lupin for your own means. His lycanthropy just gave you an excuse you do what you wanted wasn't it? Oh, I bet you justified it. You probably thought you were being really good friends, helping him out during the full moon, making him feel less helpless. But you were really in it for yourselves weren't you?

"Lupin never stopped you and James from bullying, others, especially Snape because he didn't want you to stop liking him. To stop helping him. Nothing's changed. Lupin was a coward then. He's hasn't evolved now. Neither have you."

"That's not true, Harry."

"Don't lie to me Sirius. You can't stop picking a fight with him when he's in the room. No wonder he hates me so much. He only sees James Potter. Just like you. No one sees Harry."

"Snape can't be trusted Harry. He was dark from the beginning. He proved us right, getting that Dark Mark branded on his arm."

"You hexed him first, I know it. You hated him from the beginning, Sirius. You met him for the first time on the train didn't you? Dad said he was going to be in Gryffindor like his family, and Snape wanted to be Slytherin like his. You hated him for that didn't you? You hated being the heir of Black and wanted to show unlike your family you were and you and dad started on him right there," Harry yelled.

"Snivellus deserved everything we did to him. And he gave as good as he got with the help of his Slytherin friends," Sirius roared back at Harry.

"Dudley Dursley; you recognise the name don't you?" Harry yelled back again, abruptly changing track. "My cousin? Piers Polkiss. Malcolm Davies. Dennis Shepherd. Gordon Mitchell." He counted off the names. "They treated me like shit. All through out school, I was less than nothing to them. I had no friends because they made sure that everyone knew what the consequences would be to try and come near me. Anytime anyone came even close to helping, to offer me a hand to shake in friendship, Dudley and his gang were there to make sure everyone knew their place. They had no magic, no wands to hex unsuspecting kids with. So of course he they did it the muggle way, with their fists.

"I was their special target. Same as Snape was yours. They called it Harry Hunting. And the Dursleys? They encouraged it. Thought it was funny, and thought their precious Duddykins could do no wrong. I crawled into my cupboard nearly everyday with bruises, cuts, scrapes they were kind enough to bestow on me. They thought they were honouring me with their attention. Does that sound familiar Sirius?"

Harry was close to tears, but refused to let them fall.

"Snape deserved it Harry."

"Did I deserve it Sirius? What was my crime? That I existed. What was Snape's crime? That he was in Slytherin? The Sorting Hat almost put me Slytherin. It told me that Slytherin would help me on the way to greatness. I let someone else's prejudice sway me. I didn't have that same first hand knowledge that you had. All I knew was that Draco Malfoy was an arrogant, spoiled brat, who badmouthed everyone who I was becoming friends with and I knew that I didn't want to be anywhere near someone close minded like that. But I could have been a Slytherin, Sirius. Would you have hated me?"

"I'd never hate you, Harry," Sirius declared passionately. "No matter what."

"All my life with the Dursley they treated me like I was their dirty little secret. I was nothing more than a burden. Then when I got my letter from Hogwarts and learned everything the Dursley's told me a lie. That mirror that the Flamels were talking about? The first time I knew what my parents looked like was because the first time I saw them was in the mirror. The Dursley's never treated me as a part of their family, never. Hogwarts was supposed to be a new start for me. A place where I could prove myself. But you ruined it for me. You and James Potter. I am still living the consequences to this day, because you two couldn't stand anyone who thought differently to you."

"We made mistakes," Lupin said carefully, "I won't deny that. But it's all in the past. We need to move forwards, Harry. You need to forgive us, Harry. We need to stay strong together."

"You're telling me we need to stay strong together? You?" Harry laughed derisively. "Lupin, you have a history of abandoning people the same as Wormtail."

"Harry-"

Harry cut him off before Lupin could go any further.

"I'm not just talking about after my parents died. The first time you saw me, in third year. You never once mentioned how close you were to my parents. Brought back bad memories did it? Or was it guilt that you had see the only living reminder of happier times. I spent most of that year with you Lupin, in your office. How many times did you offer to me tea after our lessons with the boggarts? How many opportunities did you have to tell me about my parents? You're telling me you didn't know about how my life with the Dursleys. How could you know when you didn't even bother to ask? You claim to be good friend. You want to stick together to stay strong? You have no strength. The only person you've ever been loyal to is yourself."

"Harry, please don't think like that- that's a lie. You have to believe-" Sirius begged.

"Don't me what's a lie and what isn't, Sirius. I've learned, quite painfully, how much telling the truth hurts," Harry said, holding up his right fist, showing them the words that he'd carved into his own hand after doing so many lies in Umbridges detention.

Lupin and Sirius gasped as they saw clearly for the first time the scars on his hand.

"Who did that?" Sirius demanded, angrily.

"Don't touch me werewolf!" Harry yelled as Lupin reached out dazedly to try and inspect his hand.

Lupin backed off, swallowing hard.

Harry refused to get distracted.

"You spent all year helping me defend myself against the Dementors. You must have known how much your kindness, your guidance meant to me. I thought you were the best teacher we ever had. But even after all those years, I meant nothing to you. You came waltzing back in to Hogwarts, thinking about old memories. Acting the martyr. You did it quite well, played me that is."

"Play you? Harry-" Lupin looked too confused for words.

"You all thought Sirius was after me. No one thought to tell me why. You didn't think I'd want to know about the man who supposedly betrayed my parents. I had to overhear from someone else he was my godfather. Anytime I brought up the subject of my parents or Sirius, you shooed me out of your office, because you didn't think it worth telling me. When Snape caught me with the Marauders Map, you recognised it straight away and knew I'd used it to sneak into Hogsmeade. Remember your words when you confiscated it from me? You told me I was doing a poor job in paying my parents for their sacrifice for a few jokes.

"You know how shit I felt about that? Especially after you knew what I heard every time the Dementors were around me. The only time I heard my parent's voice was when the Dementors were near. That was why I struggled with the Patronus, because a part of me always wanted to me hear my mum's voice, begging Voldemort to spare me, begging him to show mercy. You think I didn't what my parents sacrificed, when I heard every last one of their dying words. Even after all we learned about each other, you still left at the end of that year. And you didn't look back. Not once. You left again, not even bothering to write. And you didn't see me again until you came to collect me from the Privet Drive."

Lupin had tears gathered in his eyes, ashamed. He looked away, unable to meet Harry's eyes.

"I have no reason to trust either of you. You've not done anything to earn it. The werewolf isn't the monster everyone needs to be afraid of Lupin. Remus Lupin is the monster," Harry cried at him, devastating the man.

"I should have listened to Snape when he told us neither of you could be trusted," Harry said. "I should have realised that he was only trying to protect us, to protect me from making a very bad mistake."

"Harry, how can you say that? How can you trust Snape over me?" Sirius protested strongly. "Snape is nothing but a slimy Death Eater. Only thing he ever wanted was power and he thought he got it when he had that- that Dark Mark branded into his arm. It wasn't enough for him though was it? Now he's trying to take you from me as well."

"VOLDEMORT DIDN'T PUT THE DARK MARK ON SNAPE'S ARM, SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, voice almost giving out. "The Marauders did. By taking away the only person who could have saved him." His hoarse voice finished quietly.

"Who's been telling you all this? Was it Snape? Harry, whatever he's told it's all a lie."

Harry snapped.

"IT'S NOT A LIE!"

Harry hadn't felt this angry since Dumbledore's office. He felt the same now as he did then. He could feel his anger boiling and tried to calm down, knowing if he didn't he'd truly do something he'd regret. He had wanted to confront Sirius and Lupin about so many things he'd about his parents, and Snape and himself. He hadn't quite realised how much he'd been holding in. He hadn't expected things to escalate this far.

Tonk's swallowed as she listened to the arguments between Harry and the two men he'd considered to be his father figures. She wanted more than anything to go in there and help them. But Harry had so much anger and bitterness, and she thought it was best that they air their differences in private now, rather than let things stew and have everything boil over at school, where things could only get worse.

Harry had been through so much already. He was strong wizard in every way; magically, mentally, emotionally. But everyone had their limits, and Harry, it seemed, had reached his. She didn't know what exactly had set Harry off on this occasion to have him react so strongly. But he was stubborn and she knew he would see this argument through to the end.

Every time she heard the accusations hurled at Remus, she tensed expecting her name to come up. But Harry it seemed was determined to keep his promise to her and hadn't mentioned her situation at all. She had quickly realised at the beginning of the holidays that he hadn't told any of his friends, and she knew there was very little he kept from them. She was in awe of the young teen who had so quickly given her his loyalty and as she heard every bit of blame levelled at the two wizards inside she was determined to justify Harry's loyalty by protecting him by her level best.

The corridor outside the kitchen was crowded as none of Harry's friends wanted to stray too far from Harry. They were all shocked to hear how badly he'd been treated by his so called family, and Mrs Weasley especially she was moved to tears.

"We tried to tell you, mum," Ron was telling his mother accusingly. "You thought we were lying."

"What do you mean?" Mrs Weasley sniffled.

"Remember, after our first year at Hogwarts, we all waited and waited for Harry to write to us? We came to you and told you Harry wasn't answering my letters. You just told us to wait, that he was probably busy or couldn't be bothered or something. We took dad's car to rescue him."

Molly Weasley looked like she was trying to remember that day all those years ago.

"What happened? What did they do him?" Mrs Weasley demanded.

"What we told you. They had bars on his window. We had to tie a rope from the bars to the car and pull them off. Fred and George had to pick the locks on his door so they could fetch his trunk from the cupboard under the stairs where they locked it."

Mrs Weasley flushed at her son's words.

"The bars are probably in the shed somewhere, where we stashed them." Ron finished. "Harry only told us why he was being punished. He never gave us the full details to how. Fred and George told me they saw a cat flap at the bottom of the door. The Dursleys don't have any pets, apart from Hedwig for Harry, and she wouldn't be using that. They were using it to pass him food because he wasn't allowed out."

Tonks could only imagine what the cat flap was for.

None of Harry's friends looked happy. Luna was absently staring at the door separating them from the kitchen, but Tonks knew the sharp girl was paying minute attention to everything going on. Neville, Tonks could see had his fists clenched, his entire frame tense.

Hermione and Ginny looked like they were fight back tears. They couldn't hear everything that was said, but Harry was shouting quite loudly and Tonks had purposely neglected to put up a silencing charm in case she had to intervene. She was quite glad that neither of the two wizards had done so either. She was only surprised that the noise hadn't disturbed Sirius' mother's portrait.

"Shouldn't we go in?" Ron asked hesitantly.

"Not yet," Tonks said firmly.

"Harry's obviously got a few things he needs to get off his chest and this is probably for the best."

"How does Harry know all those things?" Hermione asked.

They looked at her blankly.

"You know about Professor Snape and his parents and everything else?" she clarified. "He's never told us about it."

Tonks shrugged. She didn't think it mattered how Harry knew. The fact was that he did and he was angry about how no one seemed to keep him in the loop. They had kept him in the dark all of last year and he had decided to take matters into his own hands. The only good that had come out of that was that Fudge had finally admitted that Voldemort was indeed back.

"What's that?" Mrs Weasley asked suddenly.

"What?" Tonks said startled.

"Something about not telling lies. What's he showing them?"

Tonks caught the looks between Hermione and Ron.

"What is it?" She demanded.

"Last year when Harry kept trying to tell everyone Voldemort was back, Umbridge was assigning him detention. He wasn't the only one. Lots of students were forced to do them. She made them write with a Blood Quill." Neville told them when no else spoke up.

Mrs Weasley gasped and Tonks saw red. A Blood Quill? Distantly Tonks heard Harry shouting some more, and she tried to pay attention but all she could think about was how she could make that evil toad pay.

"He's got the words 'I must not tell lies' carved on the back of his hand. It doesn't look very pretty and looks like the scars will never fade away. She did have him in detention more than anyone else." Luna said in her airy voice.

"Why didn't you children every say anything? To Headmaster? To Professor McGonagall? To us?" Mrs Weasley demanded shrilly.

The students were spared to the task of answering by an almighty crash against the kitchen door.

They heard the two wizards yell in panic; Remus and Sirius trying to calm Harry down, rather unsuccessfully.

"MY NAME IS HARRY!" They heard the Chosen One roar.

More crashing noises, like glass breaking.

"We need to go inside, Tonks," Hermione urged.

Tonks nodded and they scrambled for the door, each trying to get in first, only to find the door wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," Ron panted, pushing against it.

"It's not locked. It's blocked. There's something jamming in on the side," Tonks insisted.

"THIS IS MY BLOOD!"

They jumped at his words.

Blood?

Tonks, with the help of Ron and Neville, pushed frantically at the door. It refused to budge.

"Move back," she commanded.

The boys obliging moved away as Tonks levelled her wand at the door, casting a strong blasting curse, blowing the door off its hinges and whatever was blocking it and effectively demolishing it as splinters flew every which way.

Inside was chaos. None of the three wizards looked in any decent shape, covered in cuts on their faces, necks and arms. Sirius and Remus looked like they were trying to restrain Harry, but the young wizard screamed and lashed out at them. Neville and Ron quickly made their way to their friends, practically shoving the elder wizards away.

"Don't touch me! Werewolf! Monster! Let go!" Harry was bellowing, fighting the two men. The elder wizards relinquished their hold on Harry to be taken over by Ron and Neville. Both wizards had tears in their eyes, standing helplessly as his friends dragged him out of the chaos of the kitchen.

"I'M JUST HARRY. YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!"

Mrs Weasley who stayed outside who keep their girls from following gasped as she saw the state of the boy she considered one of her own. Neville and Ron had to work hard to keep Harry from leaping back into the kitchen. It was as he saw Mrs Weasley coming close to him that he finally started to come down in the cramped corridor.

"I'm just Harry," the boy whispered brokenly, his struggles dying, his body giving in.

"I'm just Harry," he repeated, as he sank to the floor, Ron and Neville still supporting him.

"Just Harry," Luna agreed, kneeling on the floor with him, her arms wrapped awkwardly around his neck.

"Just Harry," he said a final time, eyes closing, heading resting against Luna's shoulder.

The boys gently heaved their friend off Luna, laying him on the floor.

"What happened here?" Mrs Weasley heard two familiar voices demand.

Fred and George came bounding down together, concerned as they saw the turmoil around them.

Mrs Weasley had to hold back a sob and gathered herself together.

"Never mind that right now," she told, ready to flick her wand to float Harry up to his room. "We need to look to his injuries first. Let's take him up."

Neville, correctly deducing her actions, quickly told her that they would carry their friend up. Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to as if to argue but saw the determined expression on the boys face and acquiesced. Luna rose swiftly and moved out of the way as the Weasley sons and Neville lifted Harry together and solemnly carried him up the two flights of stairs to his room.

Looking at Harry's limp body being carried by the boys, Mrs Weasley thought uncomfortably had they lifted Harry over their shoulders it would have appeared as if they were carry corpse to its grave.

She shook off her chilling thoughts and saw a flash of something on Harry's arms and realised quickly that there was still some glass embedded in his wounds. She trailed after the boys, instructing Ginny to fetch the healing kit she kept in the downstairs bathroom.

Ginny nodded and raced off in the direction of the bathroom. The boys quickly made their way upstairs despite their burden and laid Harry down on his bed. Working rapidly she waved her wand and silently incanted the spell to vanish the glass from his wounds. Using another spell to heal the boy's wounds she glad to see the small nicks and cuts vanish from his arms and face, leaving flecks of drying blood still left to clean. The deepest cuts were on Harry's palms, which she didn't know didn't know a strong enough healing spell for.

"Ron, grab a clean towel and bowl from the bathroom and fill it with water. Come on, quickly," she snapped as the boy dithered. The rest of stood anxiously on the sidelines, waiting for Mrs Weasley to finish her administrations, Luna moving to the other side of the bed and taking seat on the edge.

Ginny came racing in with the kit which contains the most basic healing potions kept on hand and used by the Order members. Opening it she noticed with dismay that there was only a few drops of the Essence of Dittany. Not nearly enough to heal his hands.

She used what was left, watching as the as the skin reluctantly knitted together. His hands looking marginally better than before, though by no means healed, she made quick work of cleaning the blood from his hands with the bowl of water and clean towel Ron brought back, and expertly bandaged both of Harry's hands.

She could have used her hand to do it all, but she felt the need to physically touch the boy who had grown to mean as much to her as her own children.

"There," she sighed, finally sitting back and looking down at her work. "I'll need more Dittany for his hands. We've no more of it otherwise I could have healed his hands properly. But the bandages should do for now until we can restock."

"Dittany? We have loads in the greenhouse at home," Neville lamented.

"Not to worry, dear," Mrs Weasley consoled him. With a flick of her wand she vanished the bloodied water from the bowl and the soiled towel, instructing Ron to fill it up again and to grab another towel.

Her boy did as asked silently, bringing back the bowl and setting it down on the bedside table. Before she could touch the towel to Harry's forehead her hand way stayed by a smaller, paler hand.

She looked questioningly into Luna's blue eyes.

"Please, Mrs Weasley. Let me," the girl pleaded.

Mrs Weasley hesitated, wanting to go this herself.

"We'll look after Harry, Mrs Weasley," Hermione spoke up for the first time. "You should go back downstairs and see if Professor Lupin and Sirius need any help." Mrs Weasley gave in after a quick thought. The elder wizards probably needed so healing as well. She only hoped their injuries weren't severe enough to warrant any Dittany as they had none left.

She let Luna take the damp towel from her hands and watched as she delicately cleaned Harry's face with it. Harry didn't stir at all at the touch. She stayed for perhaps another minute before dragging herself reluctantly from the bed where her place was promptly claimed by Ron and Hermione.

She tried to say something several times but each time words defeated her and she decided to head back downstairs to see to the other two. She cast a final glance back to see that Hermione had taken one bandaged hand and Luna still lovingly moved the damp towel to Harry's neck.

As she finally stepped out the bedroom door she heard Fred and George furiously demand what had happened. It was as she was halfway down the stairs that she thought to herself that she hadn't seen the scar from the Blood Quill for herself.

In the kitchen she saw properly the extent of the damage. The dining room table, regularly utilised since the Order used Grimmauld Place as base was broken. Several chairs had also lost their legs, some completely beyond repair. Shards of glass sprayed across the kitchen floor and Mrs Weasley saw the knife she had used to slice the bread for sandwiches covered in blood across the blade and handle and quickly deduced that Harry must have got the wounds in his hands from that knife.

"He sliced his own palms," Lupin told her. He'd been watching her study the knife.

Mrs Weasley felt herself go pale at the news. She had suspected it from the shape and depth of the gash on Harry's hand, but to have it confirmed was something else.

"Why? Why did he do it?" She croaked.

"Excellent question," came a growl from behind.

She whirled around to see Moody had arrived without her being aware of it and was helping Tonks clean the kitchen by vanishing the glasses that were beyond repair. Sirius, who claimed the last remaining chair, even if did it look like it could collapse from under him at any moment, sat silently, elbows resting on knees, head held dejectedly in his hands. He ignored the exchanges going on around him.

Lupin kept casting worried glances at his friend between cleaning and repairing spells, whose shoulder shook every so often.

Both wizards looked worse for the wear. They looked infinitely better than Harry, but perhaps that was because they already cast some healing spells on themselves.

"How is he?" Tonks asked her.

"Unconscious," Mrs Weasley informed her succinctly. "I've healed most of the cuts. I didn't know a strong enough spell for his hands, and we've run out of Dittany," this she directed at Moody, who acknowledge her words with a nod, "So I've healed his hands as best as I could and put a bandage on them."

"I'll make sure we're stocked when I take Longbottom and Lovegood out," Moody told her.

Mrs Weasley gave him a questioning look.

"Luna's dad always take Luna to visit her mother's grave around Christmas. And Neville's gran always taken to him see his parents at St Mungo's before Christmas Eve," she was told by Tonks.

Mrs Weasley's heart went out to the two children who had to think about such things at this time of the year. This Christmas had quickly become as bad as the one they had experienced last year.

She brought herself back to the present and helped her fellow Order members get the kitchen back into shape. Between them they repaired what they could and vanished the useless rubbish. Sirius didn't look up from his position at all through out.

"Good lord!" came a voice behind them and they turned to see Arthur Weasley and Minerva McGonagall standing where the kitchen door once was.

"What on earth happened here?" Professor McGonagall spluttered as she took on the ruins that was once the kitchen.

"Oh, Arthur!" Mrs Weasley cried as she strode to her husband, breaking down completely as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Were we attacked? Are the children okay? Where are they? Molly tell me what happened?" Arthur Weasley demanded.

Mrs Weasley couldn't stop crying long enough to get her words out, so Tonks quickly filled them in on the bare minimum of what happened, which didn't go very far in alleviating the newcomers concerns.

"Is that - Who's blood is that? Is that Potter's?" McGonagall said in a strangled voice.

Mrs Weasley looked up from her husband's shoulder, expecting them to be looking down at the floor where the kitchen knife still lay. They, however, were looking at something behind her. She slowly turned, confused as to what she had missed.

She let out a horrified gasp as she looked at the wall. How had she not seen that?

For written on the wall, in what must have been Harry's blood were the words Harry repeated into unconsciousness.

JUST HARRY

With splatters and half formed palm prints and finger prints that decorated the letters randomly.

Oh, Harry, Mrs Weasley thought despairingly. What happened to you, my child?

None of Harry's friends left his room that night. Luna lay on the bed with him, much to Mrs Weasley's disapproval, but there was nothing she could do, nothing she could threaten the girl with that could remove her. Oblivious, Harry slept on in his healing sleep.

Mrs and Mrs Weasley, Moody and Tonks took shifts in keeping an eye on them all evening and even during the night. Luna refused to leave the room even during dinner time, wanting to be at her boyfriend's side when he eventually woke up. It wasn't until just after breakfast the next day that Harry actually woke up.

Harry came to he felt a warm body lying besides him. Despite sleeping for so long he felt exhausted. It took him a few minutes to remember the events from the previous day. He knew he'd lost control and he could only imagine what the kitchen looked like and Mrs Weasley, Tonks and his friends must have thought of him. He wasn't proud of everything he said and did but he knew what'd he'd said was right. He loved his godfather, but he felt like he'd needed to get a few things off his chest, and things had escalated from there. He did admit though he had gone about it the wrong way with the way he had spoken to Lupin.

He felt Luna stir a little besides him and wondered his girlfriend had managed to convince Mrs Weasley to let her sleep in the same bed as him, even if he was out cold due to magical exhaustion.

He tried to sit up but stopped when he felt the room spin, deciding it would be best to stay laying down. Besides, he enjoyed the feeling of Luna next to him.

It took him a couple of seconds to realise that he was hearing Ron's loud snoring, and cautiously he lifted his head and looked around to see that Luna wasn't the only one on his bed. Neville was sprawled on his stomach at the foot of his bed. Hermione and Ginny had taken Neville's bed and Ron and Mr Weasley were both on Ron's bed.

He felt his eyes drift down again and dropped back off to sleep. He woke up an hour or so later to movements on the bed and opened his to see Luna was sitting up instead of lying down.

He groggily looked around and saw that everyone else had already woken up and the room was empty save for Luna and himself.

"Harry," she exclaimed happily, as she saw he'd finally woken. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his hands in surprise as he realised they were both bandaged. It took a minute for him to realise why.

"Luna, I'm sorry about yesterday. Was anyone hurt?" he asked quickly.

"No, Harry," she told him. "Professor Lupin and Sirius had a few scratches, but you were the one who was hurt the most. How are you feeling?"

Harry was about to answer with his standard 'I'm fine' but was given a stern look from the normally placid Luna and admitted to a soft "I'm just feeling a little sore and tired."

He tried to sit up but was kept down with a firm hand from Luna.

"You had us worried, Harry. You should stay in bed for a little longer. I need to go take a shower, but I'll be back soon. Hermione and Ginny went down to help Mrs Weasley, but they should be back up to see you soon."

She gave him a light kiss on his cheek and walked out, leaving him alone in the room with a slight smile on his face. He wondered if it was bad form to imagine Luna in the shower despite the seriousness of his behaviour from yesterday. Then again, he was a normal red-blooded teenage boy. He knew he'd shed plenty of blood yesterday, he thought with a slight wince as he remembered the knife.

He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of footsteps outside his door. More than one set of footsteps. Ron and Neville walked in carrying plates of food and a pitcher of juice and a goblet between them. They looked happy to see him awake and set the food down on the bedside table beside him.

"Harry," Ron exclaimed. "Are you okay?" he asked more hesitantly.

Harry took his time answering as he levered himself into a sitting position with the help of his two friends.

"Mostly," he answered thoughtfully. "Listen, about yesterday-"

He was cut off by Ron who, with the most serious expression he had seen on his said, "Don't, Harry. We heard most of it yesterday. We don't know exactly what's going on. But if you're not ready to talk about it, then you don't have to."

"Yeah, Harry. We're still here for you."

Harry felt grateful for their support as he didn't even know where to start.

"There's just one thing, Harry. I know you're upset at Lupin and Sirius, and I don't know where it all started or when. But give them a chance. They're pretty upset right now, and Sirius is- well he's pretty shaken up. Just give them a chance."

"Ron," Harry sighed, "I can't make any promises. The things I said yesterday, I hadn't meant to say them, but it doesn't mean I didn't mean them."

Ron didn't know what to say to that and decided to offer the best distraction he knew: food.

"Mum sent this lot up for you. You've not woken up since - you know and we know you've not been eating properly either," Ron said, handing him a plate of sausages, eggs and a stack of buttered toast.

Harry ate what he could under the scrutiny of Ron and Neville, which wasn't all that much.

"Mum's not going to be happy," Ron predicted.

Harry knew that would be true but he didn't seem to have an appetite. Ron grabbed the goblet from Harry, and Harry fell back to bed exhausted.

"I don't understand. I didn't feel this bad after I cast Fiendfyre." Harry said, disgusted with himself.

"You've not seen the state of the kitchen, mate. You've completely demolished it," Ron told him ruefully.

Harry felt guilty.

"They've vanished all the glass and rubbish, repair what they could. They had to get rid of most of the chairs. Moody tried to sit on one and it collapsed under him," Neville laughed.

Harry laughed despite himself.

"Mum is going to try and find some more. Sirius said there's some in storage on the third floor," Ron said.

Harry sat up once more, determined to stay awake.

"Harry, there something we need to tell you," Neville started hesitantly.

Before he could say anything further there was knock on the door and Mrs Weasley bound into the room without waiting for a reply.

"Oh, Harry. So glad to see you up. How are you feeling, dear?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"I'm better now, Mrs Weasley," Harry assured her.

She didn't look like she believed him.

"I'm sorry about the mess I made," he apologised, having just been told by his friends that the elder witch was still trying to clean up. It made Harry feel guilty knowing it was all his fault.

"Don't bother yourself about that, Harry," she waved it off before her eyes landed on the still mostly full plate.

She gave him a censorious look and proclaimed, "You really should be eating more!"

Harry told her that he couldn't eat anymore. Mrs Weasley refrained from telling him that it barely looked like he'd touched any of the food she'd sent it.

She cast a preserving charm on it, hoping he would peck away at it later. After making sure he didn't need anything further she left the room, informing Neville he would be leaving soon and to make sure he was ready.

Harry gave Neville a questioning look.

Neville opened his mouth to explain, but they were interrupted once again by the arrival of the girls.

"Harry," Hermione shrieked happily, and bound over to give him a hug, followed by an equally happy Ginny.

Luna didn't just give him a hug, but just sat by his side on the bed, leaning against him. A smile came automatically to his lips as he wrapped his left arm around her.

He looked back up at Neville and gestured for him to carry on.

"I was about to tell Harry about how we're leaving for the day," Neville told them all. "I- Moody's coming to get me so I can go see my parents with Gran." Neville said quietly.

Harry remembered then how they had met Neville last Christmas at St Mungo's ward where his parents were permanent residents. He nodded, showing his understanding.

"Daddy's taking me to visit Mum's grave, so I will be gone as well," Luna informed him.

Harry nodded, a little disappointed.

"Oh that's nice," Neville grumbled aside to Ron. "I tell Harry I'll be gone for the day and all I get is a nod. Luna tells Harry she'll be gone and he looks like he's going to cry."

Ron smirked and pointed out, "You're not as pretty as Luna, and Harry doesn't get any extra benefits for being friends with you."

Harry blushed as they laughed at him, knowing they were just trying to lighten the moment.

"You could be pretty if you had long, blond hair," Harry teased back.

"I'll let Malfoy know then, shall I?" Ron said dryly. Causing them all to gales of laughter.

Harry repressed a groan.

"Cheers for that," Harry grumbled.

Luna and Neville told him they'd only be going for the day. They were waiting to collect by Moody and Kingsley. Neville would meet his Gran at St Mungo's and Luna would be collected from Diagon Alley by her father. They would be taking the modified cars. Luna and Neville assured Harry that they'd be back before the evening meal.

Harry couldn't begrudge them their traditions. He wished he had one of his own. He knew his parents were buried at Godric's Hollow, having been told by Sirius last year. But he'd not had an opportunity to visit them yet. He thought maybe when they war was over he'd go, because he felt if he'd go now he wouldn't ever want to leave their side. And what did that say about him?

The six friends carried on laughing and joking, Hermione trying to feed him more. Scolding Ron for his bad habits as he nicked a sausage from Harry's plate and badgering Harry to at least try for another piece of toast.

To distract them he pitched his idea of making things up to Mrs Weasley by cooking the evening meal for her.

"It's my fault she's got more work to do," he was saying. "And you know she's going to make more of an effort with it being Christmas Eve tomorrow."

Hermione and Ginny nodded thoughtfully, knowing his words were true. Mrs Weasley always all out on special occasions.

"Ron and Ginny can distract her whilst she's looking for new chairs. Insist on cleaning them properly or something, make sure you take your time. Hermione and I can get things sorted in the kitchen. Give her a day off from cooking."

"That's a good idea. She's only going to be making sandwiches again for lunch. We can't use magic like she does to speed things along so you'll need to keep her distracted long enough," Hermione enthused.

"Keep who distracted from what?" Tonks, who snuck in unnoticed, asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

They rushed in at once with an explanation, which went a long way in relieving Tonks who had thought they were stupidly planning on leaving Headquarters or something to that effect.

Tonks was in all agreement with that plan but voiced her concern that maybe Harry should rest up a little more.

"I'll be okay. I'm feeling loads better," Harry promised, which was true. He did feel loads better now that he was up a little more. Maybe he only felt tired because he'd been lying down in bed?

Tonks nodded grudgingly and told him she'd be in the house all day with him to help if needed. Which Harry took to mean keep an eye on him?

Plans laid Tonks told them the real reason she'd come up.

"Your escorts are ready," she said to Luna and Neville.

They both got up and waved goodbye, Luna giving him a kiss, her lips lingering over his, and then reluctantly drew backwards.

"I'll be back soon, Harry," Luna promised.

Harry couldn't wait and grinned at her.

"I'll make your favourite pudding," he promised back.

"Never make me pudding."

"That's because you're already a pudding," Ginny said, poking her brother.

They laughed at Ron who grumbled good-naturedly.

Harry made to move out of bed but was stopped by Hermione's dirty look.

"I need to use the loo," he protested.

He got up on wobbly legs and made his way to the bathroom. He came out five minutes later, having relieved himself and brushing teeth, feeling a little better but not much.

Hermione who was watching for him especially said as he practically called back into bed, "Maybe it's more than magical exhaustion."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe you're actually coming down with something. You know a virus or something."

"Yeah, you have been sleeping badly. Well more badly than normal," he added at his look.

"More badly than normal? Ron, I don't know where to start correcting that sentence," Hermione said tartly.

"Then don't."

Harry ignored their banter, wanting to bring them back on track on how to distract Mrs Weasley long enough to sneak into the kitchen and make the evening meal. Harry knew without the aid of magic it would take him longer to make it than it would Mrs Weasley, so he and Hermione had to work as fast and efficiently as possible. They decided they would keep the meal simple, but first Hermione would need to make a list of all the things the kitchen was stocked with, which they would all do at lunch time, under the guise of helping Mrs Weasley.

Then they would come back up and quickly plan what they would make for the evening meal. Harry would feign tiredness from yesterday still in order to stay in bed, but sneak down to the kitchen to help Hermione who would meet him there after making excuses from furniture gathering, whilst Mrs Weasley would be distracted by Ron and Ginny, much to the former dismay who would most likely have to sacrifice himself to cleaning duty in order give his friends more time.

"That better be the best damn meal I'll ever taste," Ron mock griped.

"Hey, our food will be so good you'll be licking your fingers clean," Harry vowed.

"Harry, Ron doesn't need an excuse to lick his fingers clean. You can make him any old thing and he'll fall on it like mum's been starving him for years," Ginny laughed.

"I'll have to you know that I am an excellent judge of fine cuisine," Ron defended, amidst their giggles.

Harry felt his eyes eventually drift close after a few minutes, and heard his friend's voice drop low accordingly.

"Don't let me sleep too long," he warned them, giving in to slumber rather fighting it. He would rather sleep now and get some rest than risk falling asleep through lunch later and not being able to do something thoughtful for Mrs Weasley.

Harry's friends assured him they wouldn't and moved away from his bed, continuing their planning away from him.

He was lying on his side facing the door when he drifted awake some hours later. He kept his eyes closed, feeling a headache at his left temple, but listened hard. There was no sound so he surmised that he was alone; his friends having left him alone. He slowly opened his eyes and confirmed after measured movements that he was indeed alone in his room.

He looked at the time as saw it was almost lunch time. The others were probably downstairs information gathering as to what was in the pantry. He wished he had the energy to grab that goblet of pumpkin juice to slate his thirst and tried to get up to grab it but only managed to knock it off the stand. He cursed and fell back. He'd get up in a minute, he promised himself. He had to, otherwise he wouldn't be able to help Hermione in the kitchen. He throat felt dry but couldn't seem to do anything about it.

He hoped he wasn't actually coming down with something. He really wanted to something nice for Mrs Weasley. She definitely deserved for having to put up with him all these years. He closed his eyes again, not really sleeping but not quite awake yet either. He expected the others would be up soon and they could begin planning the menu for tonight. He waited contentedly for them to come rouse him.

He didn't know how much time had passed; it must not have been long he thought. Suddenly, he felt a cool hand on his forehead, brushing back his bangs gently. He was still lying on his side, and the hand felt so good against his skin that he leaned into it. He felt the hand still for a moment and then felt a thumb slowly, trace small soothing circles at his brow.

He let out a sigh and felt his headache ease a little. The hand left his face and a moment later he felt two pick up his left hand, slowly unwrapping the bandage. It must be Mrs Weasley, he thought. She must have come to change his bandages. He'd let her do that and then wait for her to leave. Hopefully it wouldn't be long before he could head down to kitchen and maybe get to show off his cooking skills he'd picked up the Dursley's. Aunt Petunia had made him to most of the cooking, even though she was quite good at it herself. When Harry started staying with the Weasleys around summer times and recently winter times, he had enjoyed the reprieve of someone cooking for him. The Hogwarts food didn't count, as they made food for everyone. But Mrs Weasley made good hearty meals for her family and he wanted to repay her in some way. Show his gratitude. Show her how much he appreciated her.

His first bandage finally came off and he felt his hand being lift slightly and examined, gently being twisted this way and that. He felt the tip of a wand rest slowly at the edge of the wound and heard the barest whisper of a spell and he felt his skin tighten together as it healed. This was repeated on his right as well just as efficiently, and Harry stayed still through out, continuing to feign sleep.

This time he heard the door opening and heard Hermione's tentative tones, "Mrs Weasley sent these sandwiches up for Harry."

Harry should have realised that it wasn't Mrs Weasley tending to him. This person's hand felt different; their fingers longer and slender. Besides, Mrs Weasley would have healed his hands already instead of bandaging them, if she's known the right spell. Lupin perhaps? He hadn't seen either Sirius or Lupin since the day before; and they hadn't come visit him for fear of upsetting him further, according to Harry's friends who had stayed with all throughout the night and most of the morning.

Maybe Lupin had come in because he thought Harry was asleep. He felt the plate clink as Hermione placed it on the bedside table.

"Was there anything else, Miss Granger?" he heard the person's smooth voice, and realised it was Snape.

"No, sir," he heard his friend answer.

"Then you may leave. I have almost finished healing Mr Potter's hands and I do not care be observed."

There was a pause, and then a sigh, and then some shuffling of feet and the closing of the door.

Harry, who felt Snape tense and on his bed, felt him relax slightly and continue with his hands; which Harry realised Snape was still holding in his own. He felt something cold and thick sludge like consistency against the wound on his left hand and Snape's fingers and thumbs rubbing what must have been a salve on his hand. This was again repeated on his right.

He stayed quiet because he didn't know what Snape was playing at. He continued feigning sleep as he knew Snape would not appreciate knowing Harry was aware of his gentle ministrations. And truth be told Harry felt very confused. He was not and most likely never would be a fan of Snape, and Harry felt very sure that the feeling was entirely mutual. He stayed as he was, wanting to avoid another confrontation.

He felt his right being lifted a little higher and turned slightly so the back of the hand was facing upwards. He felt another dab of cold sludge and Snape's thumb rubbing lightly over the scars cursed by the Blood Quill.

He felt salve applied to the back of his hand three more times; which more attention the palms of hands had received. He heard Snape give what Harry thought was a grunt of frustration before gently placing his hand back on the bed. Harry started counting and it wasn't until he got to two hundred and fifty seven that he felt it was wise to open his eyes after Snape left.

He looked around. He was alone again and he sat up quickly and inspected his hand. His palms were completely healed, only thin scars remaining and only if you looked extremely close, looking like the wound was years old rather than just one day.

His 'I must not tell lies' scar however was still there, not looking any different despite Snape's efforts.

Most likely the scars were too old, maybe the salve only worked on fresh wounds. He was thankfully distracted from his thought by the arrival of his friends and Tonks who came to tell him what the pantry was stocked with.

The four teens and the Auror quickly planned a basic meal they could make and Harry felt satisfied that this was feasible.

Harry pretended exhaustion when Mrs Weasley came to check on him. Leaving him alone in Tonks' capable hand she took Ron, Ginny and Hermione to the third floor to search for the extra chairs they could replace for the ones Harry had destroyed, instead of having to conjure some every time.

Severus was standing in Black's kitchen, after having come down from healing Potter to inspect the damage. He was glad the boy had slept as he'd tended to his hands. He did not want to add to the headache he already had by getting into the confrontation that always happened when he and Potter spoke. He had already seen the memories provided by Lupin and Black. He was not the intended recipient but the Headmaster had wanted his second opinion and Severus, wanting to see what Potter could possible have done to upset the mongrels so had forgone his usual protests of had joined Dumbledore in the pensieve. He had been unable to believe it even after he'd seen the memories, and now standing the aftermath of the damage was still unable to comprehend all of it.

Potter had been defending him. How had the blasted boy known so much? Who had told him?

Black seemed to have got the idea that Potter was possessed by the Dark Lord, or that the Dark Lord may have been involved in some way, hence the reason for Severus' presence, instead of Dumbledore's. He stared at the devastation left behind by Potter, the kitchen looking bare. There was not much remaining. The kitchen cupboards were mostly gone, having been hanging on the wall precariously they had been completely removed, rather than risk them falling. The chairs were completely gone, and the dining table didn't even look worth repairing. The door had been blasted off completely by Tonks in her haste to get inside and the large china cabinet that had been near the door was also gone.

It had also been blasted to splinters, the dishes inside completely smashed beyond recognition. He had yet been unable to ascertain if it had been Tonk's spell or Potter's magic that wrought that damage. He suspected a mixture of both.

He faced the wall where Potter's message still proclaimed JUST HARRY written in the boy's hand, not to mention his blood.

Even after viewing the memory Severus was hard pressed to understand what driven the boy to do such a thing. The boy had clearly snapped. Why else would be cut his own palms and write those word using his own blood?

In the memory Potter didn't seem to notice he'd been slicing his own palms. From the depth of the wound Severus was a surprised that his hands hadn't been severed. The boy had hit bone, yet Potter didn't register the fact.

"What do you think you're doing here, Snape?"

He recognised Black's voice behind and silently cursed himself letting his guard down. Nothing good ever came of exposing his back to the likes of Black.

He slowly turned around and saw Black was alone, looking as if he hadn't slept all night. He looked terrible, almost as deranged as the night he'd seen him the Shrieking Shack nearly three years ago.

Severus felt his lips twist into his trademark sneer.

"The Headmaster sent me to heal your precious godson, Black," he said.

"We can't have the Golden Boy bleeding to death after your dubious care now can we?"

"I can look after my own godson, Snivellus," Black snarled.

Severus didn't let his hatred for that wretched name bestowed by the Marauders show.

"Indeed," he smirked, making a show of looking at the bloodied wall and the missive it held behind him.

He was rewarded with a flinch and felt his smirk grow.

"Your precious godson pulling on his leash?" he taunted.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Black demanded. "He's supposed to check Harry to see if there's any traces of Voldemort in Harry's mind."

Severus suppressed a flinch at the cursed name.

"The Headmaster has more important things to tend to than Potter," Severus said in a bored tone.

"That's why he sent his lapdog?" Black smirked at him.

"It is not I who is the dog, Black. However, I also have more important errands awaiting so if you would kindly fetch your puppy so that I can get on with it and then get out of this godforsaken dump it would be greatly appreciated," Severus said, despite the fact he knew Potter was already sleeping upstairs.

He, personally, did not think it was the Dark Lord saying those things to Potter. He had observed Potter's every gesture and expression, having spent more than enough time in the Dark Lord's presence he had picked up enough to know the insane wizards mannerisms. No, in his own opinion, the words, the cruel barbs, the use of memories were all Potter. The way he'd spoken, the jabs he'd aimed, were quite Slytherin of the boy. He knew which weaknesses to go for, where to exploit the emotion. None of it was delivered in the way the Dark Lord would have. The delivery was pure Potter, with his theatrics.

"What makes you think I'm letting Harry anywhere near you?"

"You do not seem to realise, Black, that you have no say in the matter. The Headmaster has sent me to inspect the tedium that is Potter's mind. Bring him down to me and so that I can inspect him and we can move onto more significant endeavours," Severus said, getting bored.

He really did not want to have any contact with an awake Potter, and even if he did not believe that Potters mind was in anyway invaded by the Dark Lord, having been assured by Killian that Potter was quite capable in defending his mind, he still had to go through motions.

It was for that reason he had come here. Healing Potter had been the last thing on his mind, but he wanted to see the boy for himself and had been unable to stop himself. Getting caught by Granger was also unexpected. Perhaps, playing with basilisk skin was getting to him. Hmm, he must research the effects. Why else would he have been caught unaware by Granger and Black within the space of half an hour?

"What have you done to my godson, Snivellus?" the dog snarled at him.

"Excuse me," Severus said mildly, again quelling his rage at the god awful name.

"Harry kept defending you Snape. Harry hates you, and you hate Harry. Why would he suddenly start acting as if he's your new best friend?" Black said stepping closer.

Severus stood his ground, refusing to give the mongrel the satisfaction of watching him step back. He didn't like Black's dark tone. Nothing good ever came of it.

"Do not expect me to fathom the goings on behind in Potter's empty head."

"Don't you dare speak of Harry like that. He's worth ten of you," Black growled, holding his wand under Severus' chin.

Severus cursed himself yet again. He hadn't even seen Black bring out his wand. Severus flicked his wrist discreetly, calling forth his own wand and pushed Black backwards.

"Potter is worth nothing. He is most assuredly not worth the efforts spent protecting him," Severus intoned, deliberately not thinking of the time he'd protected Potter since the blasted boy had stepped foot into Hogwarts.

"You've done something to my godson, Snape," Black said grimly.

"You've lost what's left of your mind, Black. Perhaps Potter is not the schizophrenic, dog."

"Shut up, Snivelly."

"It didn't take you long to revert back your long ways, Black. You take off your disguise and the true Black comes out-"

"I said shut up, Snape."

Snape ignored him and carried on, "Perhaps Potter was glad you were dead. Maybe his tantrum was that he lost his freedom and now has to look after his flea-bitten dogfather to look after. Merlin knows you were not there for him. Enjoying vengeance in prison whilst your precious Potter was stuffed in a cupboard out of the way."

"SHUT UP!"

"You certainly didn't want to look after him and you were hand picked for the role. Why should his muggles guardians?"

Severus was extremely proud of the colour he'd managed to infuse to Black's face.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY GODSON?"

"Even Potter has finally come to his senses and realised what a pathetic excuse for a guardian you are. At least he is different from his father in that regard. He has seen you for what you –"

"What have you been saying to Harry? Have you been filling his head to rubbish?"

"Potter's head is already full of rubbish, Black. There's no need to overstuff it."

"You've done something to Harry."

"What are you rambling about, Black?" Severus snapped, genuinely confused.

"You. You've done something to Harry. Why else would suddenly think I'm - I'm not- that I'm" Black couldn't seem to finish his sentence so Severus finished it for him.

"Worthless?" he added maliciously.

His glee was short-lived as Black snapped and it was out of reflex, he managed to block the curse sent his way.

He shot back with one of his own, which Black swept aside with a gesture of his wand and continued hurling Severus with more curses and hexes forcing him go on the defensive.

Distantly he heard the thundering of footsteps and Blacks' curses grew nastier. One of them slipped through his defences and he felt a frisson of heat across his right cheek and a trickle of blood and angry he sent back vicious cutting curse.

"Sirius, stop it," he heard a voice from the kitchen threshold and in came the clumsy Auror attempting the impossible which was to reason with Black. She might well get more response reasoning with the portrait of Black's harpy mother.

Severus blocked another curse and used his shield to deflect another, causing it to ricochet and hit one of the remaining cupboards instead. He dodged another and sent back a blasting curse. He deflected once and the curse ricocheted away from and hit the kitchen sink cause a blast of water to spray everywhere.

"Sirius, you need to stop," Tonks pleaded with Black, physically putting herself in the way, but Back just snarled another spell, made a sweeping gesture with his wand causing her to fly off the side, hit the wall and land painfully on heap of already broken chairs. She lay still from the force of the impact, knocked out cold on her front, but Black didn't notice and Severus ignored her as well, intent on damaging Black as he was Severus.

"Tonks!"

Potter stumbled in, looking pale and ill, green eyes glittering, falling at the Auror's side. The boy shouldn't have been out of bed, blasted idiot, and Severus angry at seeing him shot out another curse, taking a step forward.

"Sirius, no!" The boy yelled, getting clumsily to his feet and stepping towards them.

Black didn't respond, so focused was he on hurting his foe. Black made another vicious jab with his wand and Severus' eye widened as he recognised the wand movement prepared to duck as he knew this particular curse could not be blocked. And to rub it in even more this curse was verbalised.

Potter's "Sirius, stop!" was disregarded.

"Sectumsempra!" Black hissed fiercely, intent on putting as much power.

Severus felt himself lifted and propelled backwards at the same time as he moved to dodge the curse. The battered dining table which had also inexplicably risen, shielded him, but he tripped over bits of debris and fell as if banished, the table falling on top him, heading hit the ground hard.

Enraged, he threw off the table and climbed rapidly to his feet.

How dare that mangy mongrel use his own curse against him?

Looking up he blinked, expecting Black to be on his feet ready to his wand and curse on his lips, but there was no one there. He looked around and then down. Black was on his knees looking shocked and appalled. Severus followed his eye line and froze, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Lying five feet in front him was Potter, arms and legs akimbo, the muggle t- shirt rapidly stained in blood and seeping on the cold kitchen tiles, looking as if he been shredded by a vicious hippogriff and face sliced.

"Harry," Black whispered brokenly, as he crawled on his hands and knees closer to his godson.

He heard another thundering and the kitchen frame, door still missing, was filled instantly the other occupants the house. He looked at them blankly, still not quite comprehending what had happened. His head was throbbing, he thought absently.

He heard a shrill shriek as he looked back to Potter on the ground.

"Harry," Mrs Weasley screeched.

They all stood frozen in shock.

He looked back down that the bleeding Potter at his feet and a strange gurgling sound came from the boy's chest and blood trickled from his mouth that Severus' brain finally caught up.

Black, who was tentatively reaching out to Potter, was roughly shoved to one side by Severus who dropped to his knees besides Potter and forcefully ripped off the blood soaked t-shirt; chanting the Vulnera Sanentu to stop flow of the bleeding.

He saw from his peripheral vision that several feet had come close to him, but kept their distance. Severus, accordingly, ignored them; concentrating on Potter instead. He ripped of piece of his own robes and patted down the boy's chest gently and repeated the incantation a second time. More blood disappeared and the long gashes across reluctantly moved together, squeezing out more blood to replace what he'd wiped.

He cleared the red smears away with his robes again and repeated the incantation a third time. This time the wounds moved even more sluggishly but they knitted together, leaving behind raised, angry scars. He wiped more blood away from the boy's face and chest, frowning. Repeating the Vulnera Sanentu thrice usually gave him better results than this. Black must have put a lot more power behind that spell than normal.

He looked up to see who dropped besides them and found it was Potter's girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Never had she looked more focused than she did now.

"Is he all right? Is he healed?"

Potter opened his eyes slightly and he saw a sliver of green before they closed again. He silently beseeched the boy to open those eyes again.

As if he'd heard his silent call, Potter did indeed open his eyes, and painstakingly raised them to Lovegood, silently mouthing words to her. Severus tried to understand but couldn't quite make it out. Lovegood it seemed didn't comprehend either.

"There is nothing more I can do," Severus told the kitchen in general. "He shall need several applications of Essence of Dittany."

"Dittany? You have Dittany right?" the Weasley boy demanded.

Severus turned to snarl at the boy that he was not a walking apothecary, but found that instead Weasley was looking at Longbottom.

There was a silent communication between the two, and more of Potter's friends moved closer, he noticed belatedly that they all their wands out. Taking in the state of the kitchen he understood why, the kitchen was in even worse shape than before.

"Boy's, we need to move Harry. And Tonks," Mrs Weasley commanded, finally to coming to her senses.

"Yeah, we do," Weasley agreed. "You said you had Dittany at your house, right?"

Longbottom nodded and Severus felt he must have hit his head very hard as he felt very slow right now. That was why he had not been able to defend himself, he told himself later. The head injury had wreaked havoc with his usual sense of preservation which was how he was bested by one spell from Longbottom.

Simultaneously he was banished backwards, along with Black, together they landed in a heap blasted several feet away from Potter and his wretched friends.

Dazed, he saw Weasley cast a "Protego Maximus" joined quickly by a chorus of more and the Lovegood girl who called out a name, and he winced at the resultant crack; a house -elf - not Black's usual house-elf, appeared in front him.

"Harry needs your help, Dobby," Potter's girlfriend cried.

"Take them to Longbottom Manor and send Nonny," Longbottom commanded.

The house-elf nodded importantly and grabbed both Potter and Lovegood and disappeared, leaving behind the rest of the impudent children, shields still raised.

"Ron, what on earth do you think you're doing?!" The boy's mothers screeched at him. "Harry needs help."

"And he'll get it, mum. Just not here," Weasley said, not the least bit cowed.

"Weasley," Severus growled, as he staggered to his feet, Black still in heap, staring dazedly where Potter's body had been only moments before. "You bring Potter back right now."

"Let them be," growled Moody.

Moody was currently kneeling awkwardly next to a still unconscious Tonks. With the help of Shacklebolt and Lupin, he rose to his feet.

"Go, lad," he said quietly as Longbottom's elf apparated in. "Look after him."

"Alastor," Mrs Weasley cried. "You can't let them leave. It's not safe."

She made a move towards the children, as did Severus, but determined the children quickly grabbed the elf and with another crack disapparated.

Severus and Molly Weasley were left grasping at thin air.

"How can you let them go? Harry's hurt!" The Weasley Matriarch turned on the retired Auror.

Moody ignored her for Tonks, who still hadn't moved.

"Don't touch her, Lupin. Step away from her," Moody barked.

Lupin froze in the act of picking up Tonks. Confused, he backed away.

"Moody, she needs seeing to," the werewolf protested.

"Aye, she will be seen to, but not by you. Kingsley, pick her up. She needs more help than we can give her here. Take her to St Mungo's. I'll let her parents know. Stay with her until they arrive."

The other Auror obeyed without question, careful not to jostle the woman too much he turned her onto her back and picked her up without magic.

"Careful apparating. She's pregnant," Moody warned.

Shackelebolt's eye widened and then nodded, weaving around them to back up to the ground floor to apparate out.

Severus blinked. Pregnant?

"The children, Alastor. How could you let them leave like that?"

"Potter's needs more care than his friends," Severus spat out, "are capable of providing him."

Moody ignored them both.

"Inform Dumbledore what's happened here," he instructed Lupin. "I'm going to see Andromeda and Ted about their daughter. And you," he snarled at Black, brushing past Snape. "You. Go to your room. Don't you dare step out until someone comes to fetch you."

Black, still in his stupor, continued to stare at the spot where Potter's blood still lay in a puddle.

The boy had lost a lot of blood. He needed to be taken the Hospital Wing where he could be monitored. Not wherever his insolent friends had absconded to.

Moody gave a growl of frustration.

"Lupin," he snapped. "Take Black up before you go. I've got his wand. Make sure he's locked in. You can leave, Snape. We'll call you back for the meeting tonight. Both of you two have done enough damage for now."

With that the retired Aurors stormed out of the kitchen, leaving behind an indignant Molly Weasley, a livid Severus Snape, a confused Remus Lupin and a traumatized Sirius Black.

All this fuss for one Harry Potter. The idiot who stepped in front a curse for him.