Sirius groaned as he fought his way up from the depths of pain once again. Something was prickling at the edge of his senses, something that was strong enough to stir him from the depths of blackness. As he waited for the source of the disturbance to show itself, he took stock of his situation and discovered that, while still chained to the wall, his head felt somewhat better and the dancing black spots had vanished, as long as he limited his movement. He closed his eyes and was going to try and reach Glynnis once more when the prickling returned, stronger now, closer. He strained his senses as far as he could in his weakened state and heard footsteps, and voices, coming nearer.
"Here we are!" he heard the man called Dakin announce outside his door. The lock creaked and the door squealed open again. Two cloaked figures entered the room.
Sirius squinted up into the light and groaned. "Harry! Oh, no. Oh, God, no. Harry."
Harry's eyes widened at the sight of his godfather chained to the wall. He knelt next to Sirius and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Sirius. It's going to be alright. He's going to let you go now."
Dakin's laugh pierced the room, making Sirius wince in pain at the sound. "You're amazing, Potter, really you are. I don't believe I've ever met anyone as naive as you. And after all you've been through. Really, you'd think he'd learn by now." This last bit was addressed to Sirius.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his face a mask of innocent betrayal. "You said you would let him go."
"Oh, really, Potter. Did you honestly think I'd let him go once I had you? I need you both, you see, to finish my plans. I need Black for his Animagi skills and you, I need you for bait."
"B... bait?" Harry's voice caught. Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance under the invisibility cloak and grinned. Harry was turning out to be quite the actor. Little did this strange wizard know that it would take more than threats to frighten their friend after what he'd been through.
"Yes, bait. You, my young friend, are going to be just the trick I need to get into Voldemort's camp. Then I will kill him and show the whole world who is the greatest wizard of all time."
"But, what about me?" Harry asked, his face pale in the stark light.
"You'll be dead, of course. I don't need you alive to get into Voldemort's good graces. You see, you have information I need, information that I believe is buried deep in your subconscious. Information that will provide the key to Voldemort's defeat. Unfortunately, to obtain this information, I have to probe very deeply into your brain. A very painful process, and quite fatal. Sorry to disappoint you, but surprise was of the essence here."
"That's okay," Harry replied, his voice going blank and even.
Dakin started at the change in the boy's tone. "It is?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.
"Yes," said Harry, a slight smile curving his mouth. "Because, you see, you're the one whose going to be disappointed."
"Oh," Dakin sneered, "and how is that?" He was becoming quite amused by this young man. It would be such a shame when the time came to kill him.
"You haven't been here long, have you?" Harry shrugged, not waiting for an answer. "You have decided that you can take me, get information about how to defeat Voldemort, and take his place. Do you really think that if I had that information, someone else wouldn't have tried to get it. You see, you're an outsider. You're not from here. You only know what you've been told. The truth is, I have no information. I have no knowledge of anything that could defeat Voldemort because if I did, if I even thought I did, I would've let Professor Dumbledore have it whether it meant my death or not."
"Do you really think your precious Dumbledore would take information from you if he thought it would hurt you?" Dakin asked, disbelieving the boy's naivete.
"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to this place unprepared?" Harry asked.
Dakin's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, boy?"
"I mean I have faced the most powerful dark wizard of our time and come away alive not once, not twice, but three times. I am not as naive as you think. I am not the untried fool you think I am and I am not here because my guardians are willing to sacrifice my life for Sirius. And I am not here alone."
The lanky wizard looked around the room frantically, his bravado suddenly quavering at the thought of being outnumbered. While Dakin's gaze was elsewhere, Harry closed his eyes and concentrated, sending Glynnis a clear picture of the room they were in. When he knew she'd gotten it, he opened his eyes again. Dakin, in the meantime, had convinced himself that there was no one else and turned back to Harry, his gaze mean and thoughtful. "I have, perhaps, underestimated you. You are clever, but not clever enough. I mean, really, nice try but I see no one else."
"I suggest you look again." Sirius croaked in amusement.
Dakin turned around slowly, aware of a tingling along his spine that told him he was, indeed, no longer alone. Dr. Attlewart and Mr. Weasley stood behind him, their wands poised and ready, and Ron and Hermione stood in the hallway, their wands also pointing at him.
"How. . ." Dakin screeched, his wand hand raising reflexively.
"They came in with me," Harry answered, pointing to Ron and Hermione. "You're force field was set for full wizards, not students. As for Mr. Weasley and Dr. Attivus, there's more to Glynnis than meets the eye."
"Drop the wand," Mr. Weasley ordered, his voice deep with authority.
Dakin stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. They could see his mind working frantically for a solution. Finally he smiled grimly. "It seems you've won this round," he said, his hand drooping. Then, in a movement quick as lightning, he turned and grabbed Harry around the neck, his wand aimed at Harry's head. "Now, I get to say 'drop your wands' or I will kill Potter. I know none of you want to see your golden boy die, so I suggest you do as I say." With sidelong glances all four of Sirius' rescuers dropped their wands. "Wizards!" Dakin laughed derisively. "Helpless as Muggles without wands."
So intent were they on watching Dakin that no one was really paying any attention to Harry. With a force seemingly too strong for a boy of his size, Harry stomped down on Dakin's foot. Surprised, Dakin released him and with a speed rivaling the dark wizard's, Harry grabbed Dakin's hair and brought his knee up into his face, then he fisted his right hand and swung, hitting the older man across the jaw with a solid roundhouse punch. Dakin tottered for a moment, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled to the floor with a thud.
"Helpless as a Muggle," Harry said with a nod, then he bent over and retrieved his wand from Dakin's robes.
Ron, Hermione, Mr. Weasley, and Attivus stood silently with their mouths open. Only Sirius showed any reaction and he laughed long and loud until the pain of it made him stop with a groan.
"Good show, Harry!" he moaned with a grin, his pride outweighing the agony in his head.
Harry grinned back at him. "Thanks. I learned that from Dudley."
"Dudley actually taught you that?" Ron wondered, knowing how little love loss there was between Harry and his cousin.
"Not exactly. It's just that, when you're on the receiving end of it often enough, you get the idea after a while."
**************************
"It's beautiful!" Sirius exclaimed when Harry and Glynnis had brought in the tree they'd cut down. He was still feeling a bit woozy from his concussion and had been ordered to rest while they went out and got it. The large evergreen filled one corner of the living room, it's tip just brushing the ceiling. Together they decorated it, stringing lights and ornaments until the branches groaned under the weight. At last they stood back and, in the twilight gloaming, beheld their work. If had been beautiful unadorned, it was magnificent decorated.
Harry stood back and admired the glistening beauty of his first real Christmas tree. "I've never done this before," he said, his voice catching slightly. "It's beautiful."
Glynnis left her perch on Sirius' lap and put her arms around him. "It's because we did it as a family," she told him, her own voice threatening tears. "Our love makes it shine so. Didn't you know that?"
Harry shook his head and leaned back against the only woman he'd ever came close to considering his mom. "Aunt Petunia's tree was always lopsided. Dudley would get bored and just toss things on, and he'd get the ornaments all sticky with candy. Uncle Vernon just cursed a lot and drank brandy by the bucketful. Sometimes, though, when I was little, I would sneak down at night and. . ." His voice did break then. "Never mind."
"Tell us, Harry."Sirius, too, had risen and embraced Harry.
"I would take off some of the ornaments and then put them back on. I would pretend my mom and dad were there with me." He wiped away the one tear that spilled down his cheek. "It's stupid, I know."
Glynnis held him even closer. "It's sweet. When Derek and Seamus died, I did the same thing. I talked to them the whole time, as if they were with me, that first year."
"I haven't had a Christmas tree since James and Lily died," Sirius offered quietly. "And even then, I never had one as lovely as this one."
"This one is particularly pretty, isn't it?" Glynnis remarked.
"I think I see something there," Sirius said, pointing. "Harry, what is that? I don't remember that being there before." A large white envelope was sticking out of the branches toward the bottom of the tree. Harry went over and pulled it off the bough. It was addressed to him.
"What's this?" he asked, turning the envelope over in his hands.
"Open it," Glynnis prompted, her voice tight with anticipation. She looked at Sirius. This was the moment they had been dreading and awaiting for two months.
Harry peeled open the seal and pulled out a sheaf of papers, all marked with official looking Ministry of Magic seals and covered with large words. "What's this?" he asked, trying to make out the swirly writing.
"Umm...."
"Well...."
Glynnis and Sirius looked at each other and laughed. "You." Glynnis said finally.
Sirius took a deep breath. "You know, Harry, that your parents named me your guardian." Harry nodded. "And, well, I, that is, Glynnie and I, were thinking that since we were more or less a family now. . ."
"More than less," Glynnis put in.
"We were thinking that we might... that you might... that we could..." Sirius faltered. The words he'd practiced refusing to flow from his mouth. He looked at Glynnis pleadingly.
"We want to adopt you, Harry,"she announced finally.
Harry stared at the documents in his hands. "Adopt me?"
"Yes. Um, you wouldn't have to change your name or anything like that, this would just make us officially your family."
"My family? Like, my parents?"
The couple looked at each other again. It seemed their hopes had been for naught.
"Not that it matters, really," Sirius put in hurriedly, "I mean, we are still a family and all that this would just make it more, you know, official and all that." His voice faded off. Harry continued to study the papers in his hands.
"You want to adopt me?" he asked again. "You want to be my parents."
"Yes, Harry. We want you to be our son. And we want our baby to have the best big brother in the world."
Harry looked at them dumbly. "Baby?"
Glynnis and Sirius both nodded. "We're going to have a baby, Harry. Sometime in the summer. And we want you to be a part of it. I mean, you already are a part of it, of us, but we want..." Glynnis stopped suddenly. "We're making rather a mess of this, aren't we?" She turned away and looked out the window, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach making her feel as if they'd made a terrible mistake.
The words were emblazoned in purple ink on the white paper. "They want me," was all Harry could think. "They really want me for their own." At the bottom was the place where Glynnis and Sirius had signed, where Mr. Weasley had witnessed, and a place for Harry to sign.
"We want you to be a part of this, Harry," Sirius said over his shoulder, his eyes drawn to the spot where Harry's gaze rested. "And we'll respect whatever decision you make, and we'll love you no matter what. Because, Harry, we do love you, Glynnie and I, very much."
The purple ink began to swim before Harry's eyes and he realized that tears were falling onto the page he held. "I... I want..." he tried to speak but the words caught in his throat.
"What is it, Harry?" Glynnis asked, her concern overwhelming as she knelt before him. "Whatever you want, we'll do it, gladly."
Harry raised his bright eyes to hers. "I want...." again the words stuck. He took a deep breath and wiped his sleeve across his eyes. Finally, he felt he could speak. He looked at the faces of the two people he loved most in the world. "I want a pen."