Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in the HP Universe. I simply wish to play in J.K. Rowling's playground for my own amusement (and hopefully yours too).

AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed, followed and favoured.

So, we are moving forward. The next three chapters are already written and are in editing process in the moment, the time between this update and the next shouldn't be too long.

This chapter is beta'ed by the brilliant a-bit-of-madness, many thanks and hugs to her.

Have fun reading.

On with the story.

Chapter 16: The next Morning

They had moved Severus to one of the guest rooms of Malfoy Manor. After making sure that their son was really well and in a healing sleep, Narcissa took over Severus' room and had banned Marvolo and her husband from it, that had been hours ago.

Marvolo wasn't sure where Lucius had gone, but he himself sat into the nearest tearoom and ordered the strongest coffee the house-elves could make, only to wander back to the hallway in front of Severus' room after the first cup, pacing in front of the door.

He knew what he had heard, Lucius had heard it too. It sounded like the Potter boy wanted…

Marvolo shook his head. He shouldn't jump to conclusions. He needed more information, information Severus had. They could wake him, but they shouldn't. The mind was a complex thing and after such an ordeal needed the time to heal, to wake up by itself.

There were no potions to help it along. As advanced as the magical world was in healing nearly everything that afflicted the body, they still didn't know enough about the mind and how it interacted or was influenced by magic.

If they woke Severus now, nobody knew what could happen.

Marvolo sighed and continued to pace.

He didn't want to risk Severus, especially his brilliant mind. They had given him a general healing potion and a potion Severus had invented himself, which helped to minimize the pain from agonizing Legilimence sessions. That Severus had found the need to even invent such a potion made Marvolo sigh again. He could imagine when and why Severus had invented the potion.

Merlin, he wanted to throttle his younger self.

The door opened and Narcissa stepped out and spoke softly. "He is awake my Lord."

Marvolo's head snapped to her. "He is lucid?"

She nodded and stepped aside to let Marvolo into the room.

Severus sat propped up in his bed. He was pale and his hands, which tried to reach the cup of tea Narcissa has left on the bedside table, were shaking. But he was awake, and his expression was grim and determined.

He looked up when he heard Marvolo stepping into the room.

"My Lord." He nodded and settled with the teacup in his hands back into the pillows.

Marvolo took the chair at the bedside and examined the Potions Master. "I'm honestly surprised that you are already awake Severus."

"I had reasons to wake up." His voice was hoarse and far too weak for Marvolo's liking, not even after rounds of the Cruciatus had the Potions Master sounded so weak.

"So, we heard right. The boy is a danger to himself."

The statement was met with silence. Severus briefly closed his eyes as in pain and took a sip from his tea, gripping the cup with white knuckles.

"Tell me Severus, what transpired in the library and what did you learn from young Mr Malfoy's mind?"

Severus looked at him, and Marvolo caught his breath for a moment at the amount of pain, remorse, horror and guilt swimming in his eyes. Despite having his emotions back, he was sure that he had never felt that many or that deeply - he couldn't even fathom what could evoke such emotions.

Then Severus spoke.

Late in the night a white snowy owl reached the castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry once more, three letters still attached to her leg.

Her first destination was a small hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Smoke was rising from the chimney and a large dog greeted her with a bark when she sailed through the open window and landed on the table. The resident wasn't present, but that didn't bother her.

Hedwig picked at the ribbon holding the letters to her leg, till it loosened, and the parchments slipped on the table. Examining them she grabbed two and hopped to the open window again.

Her next destination was the owlery, where in summer when no students were residing in the castle, the incoming post not directly delivered to the recipient was collected in a basket and later distributed by a house-elf.

Both letters went into said basket.

Hedwig allowed herself a sip of water and then went hunting in the Forest. She needed the energy. The flight home was long, and she wanted to be as fast as possible.

Remus arrived at the Burrow in the early morning, his mind still on the letter he hadn't had the energy to read again. It didn't matter though; the contents had been burned into his mind.

All I can say is, I am sorry.

The sun hadn't even climbed over the horizon. Not even the chickens were awake, and he only saw one or two gnomes waddling over the yard to find their way to the garden in the back. It looked so peaceful that Remus stood there for a moment to compose himself, the contrast to the chaos in his mind too great.

I am sorry, that the mistakes, actions and presumption of a lot of people, not least myself, led to the deaths of your best friends. My mistrust in specific people and my impulsiveness cost you dearly.

Since Sirius' death he had had the feeling that the world should stop, should acknowledge what was lost. He had felt disconnected from everything and everyone around him, his mind had played the moment in the Department of Mysteries over and over again.

I know, nothing I do will bring Sirius back, but I hope that Sirius would at least be proud I stopped my parents' murderer.

Every distraction had been welcome. He had been thankful that Albus had given him something to do, that someone had been telling him what to do. After James and Lily's deaths that hadn't been the case, and he had gone numb and fallen into a kind of rigour, increased through the sheer disbelief that Sirius had seemingly betrayed them. After weeks, the disbelief had replaced anger, anger which had woken him up, but had been as unhealthy as the numbness before. He didn't have the time to be numb for weeks this time, not now... Harry needed him.

I always thought of you as an honorary Godfather, as something like an Uncle. Or what I always imagined a real Uncle should be.

This wasn't the time to wallow in his grief and wait for someone else to handle things for him. Sirius would want him to be there for Harry, and Harry deserved so much better from him.

Even if I have known you only for a short time. I would have loved to have you in my life earlier, I could have used a werewolf Uncle in my childhood.

I think I am right if I assume that Dumbledore told you it would not be safe to see me? And now, in parts due to my own failures I lost you as I lost Sirius.

Harry, who was hurt, so hurt that Remus had felt it in every drop of ink on the parchment.

I will end this letter with a goodbye.

Goodbye Remus, I know you don't want to see me again and I understand, even if it hurts. But at least on this I can assure you, you never have to see me again.

Remus took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and crossed the yard of the Burrow, where to his surprise a rather new looking car was parked. Despite the early hour, the kitchen windows were alight. Carefully stepping over several wellington boots and old cauldrons laying around, Remus approached the door and knocked.

Footsteps were heard from within and a tired looking Molly opened the door with her wand pointing at him. "What shape did my boggart take?"

"That of your family and Harry, dead." Remus answered quietly.

I fulfilled my destiny, placed on me by the prophecy.

Molly lowered her wand and stepped aside to let him in. Nobody else was in the kitchen, but he was sure he heard someone walking around one of the upper floors.

"It's good to see you, Remus. But a bit early. Tea?" She busied herself on the kitchen counter.

"Yes, please." Remus took a seat at the table and took a sip of the cup of tea Molly was putting in front of him. It was perfect, hot, strong, with a drop of milk and enough sugar to rot your teeth, exactly like he liked it. "I couldn't wait. I received a letter -"

Molly sighed. "Of course."

Remus looked startled at her. "What?"

The red-headed witch prepared herself a cup of tea and sat opposite of him. "We all received letters from Harry." She said with a meaningful look at Remus.

"What do you mean all of you?"

"My whole family and Hermione. That's the ones we know of. But I'm sure that there are more. Albus didn't say it outright, but this emergency Order meeting isn't only because of the happenings in the ministry and the newfound Lord Slytherin." Molly took a sip of her tea. "The letters worry us. Harry is speaking of disappearing, Ron and Hermione are adamant that we go and get him, despite the possible danger. And I… first I wasn't so sure that it would be the best way to handle it, but after thinking it through I can only agree. They know him much better than Arthur or I and the way he wrote the letter, the tone he is using… it is disturbing."

I did what I had to do, even if I never had a choice in the matter.

Molly shook her head shortly.

"My children are not happy with me because I said that we would wait for Albus, they immediately wanted to go. Their concern and Harry's words kept me awake the whole night. And now… now I am not sure if waiting was right." She huffed and kept on talking.

Remus wasn't sure if Molly was actually speaking to him or just wanted to let it all out.

"I know he cares for Harry, but he has so many things he has to keep track of, that I am not sure he's forgetting that Harry is only a child. Does he really have Harry's best interest in mind, or does he more often than not only see the being meant to destroy one of the darkest wizards of magical Britain in history? I always believed in Albus Dumbledore… but now that I'm aware that the wellbeing of a child could be in jeopardy because of some of his decisions… I can't stop thinking about the last few years, and if we could have changed some things if we had questioned Albus' decisions, not only in regard to Harry."

She drained her cup in one big gulp.

"But then I think that these are not the times to question Albus Dumbledore, not with You-Know-Who walking among us as a normal citizen." Her voice shook and Remus was sure that the horrors of the first war against You-Know-Who briefly rose in her mind. Then she looked up at Remus, worry and unease in her eyes.

He took her hand and squeezed it.

"But you still do it, don't you, Molly? I also can't stop thinking if we should have asked more questions, should have done some things differently. Harry's letter actually frightened me. The things he wrote…" Remus took a staggering breath, the sentences from Harry's letter swirling behind his eyes.

All I can say is, I am sorry.

Now it was Molly who squeezed back.

"We will do right by him." The statement was said with determination and Remus agreed. Harry should be their first priority in the moment. Especially because they couldn't really do a thing in regard to the reborn and acquitted Lord Slytherin and even if not, why should they? Harry was his family, the last remains of the family he had found for himself.

"Mr and Mrs Granger decided to drive to Little Whinging in the morning. I will try to get everyone from the Order here as early as possible and then firecall Albus to come through. I actually wanted to wait for Arthur, so that he could send the messages via Patronus, but now that you are here and… you know my Patronus is not corporeal… would you?" She looked at him with a pained expression.

Molly was a very powerful witch and her Patronus was more than able to drive away several Dementors, but despite this she never had managed to produce a corporeal one, which made sending messages with it impossible.

Remus knew that she was embarrassed about it and simply send her a small smile and nodded.

"Of course." He emptied his cup and slit his wand out of his sleeve.

Molly squeezed his hand a second time and then stood up. "I will prepare breakfast and then wake everyone up."

I wish you a long and happy life. Find someone you can share it with, Sirius would have wanted that for you.

Goodbye Moony.

Love, Harry.

Albus Dumbledore had a rather tiring morning - or rather night, as he didn't go to bed at all. He went through his notes from the Wizengamot meeting and watched his memory of it in his Pensieve.

He wasn't sure what he was hoping to find. A sign that the Tom Riddle before them had been an imposter? That he was as lost in soul, mind and magic as before? That he was sane?

Everything pointed to the fact that Tom Riddle really was who he said he was and that he was sane again.

Albus wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

Then he had tried to figure out the method Harry had used to give Tom his soul pieces back. He had long ago removed all the books about the darkest arts of soul magic from the Hogwarts Library and he had acquired every book about this brand of magic he could find since he had the suspicion what Tom had done.

All the books agreed that a Horcrux could either be destroyed- and with it the soul piece stored in whatever was used as a container- or freed by the maker - by feeling true, soulful remorse, which would bring back the soul piece and merge it with the original soul.

He was sure that in the state Tom had been in he would never have had the capacity to feel remorse, and Harry had been at his family's place since the beginning of summer, therefore he couldn't have destroyed the Horcruxes. He hadn't left the house, Albus was sure of it.

So, how had he done it?

All in all, Harry was the main reason Albus Dumbledore was wide awake.

He had taken his time and looked at his own memories about Harry over the night, and the realization he had after reading the letter was only confirmed. He had failed the boy. Failed him like he never wanted to fail another human again. But he had done it.

You are a great wizard, but you are still human, and humans make mistakes.

How true those words were.

But he hadn't looked at his memories only to see where he had gone wrong. No, he had tried to find a hint of what Harry was planning.

He didn't want to come back to Hogwarts, so where would he go? He was sure he wouldn't simply stay at the Dursleys.

That was also a bitter potion to swallow. The signs had all been there, and if he was true to himself, he wasn't sure if he simply didn't see them or didn't want to see them. He had known that Harry wasn't happy with the Dursleys, but what was a cold and dismissive relationship with his relatives against being vulnerable to Tom and his Death Eaters?

But it seemed Harry's relationship with the Dursleys wasn't simply dismissive.

That was his failure, too. The fault rested solely on his shoulders and Albus knew it. Knew it and contributed to the mistreatment of an already hurt child. His keeping secrets hadn't made the situation easier.

How could he have wanted to spare him the pain and responsibility of the prophecy and everything related to it for as long as possible, while ignoring exactly what caused pain and mistrust?

How could he have expected him to behave like an adult while never treating him like one?

He knew how. He had cared too much for Harry, for his happiness and peace of mind. Had tried to orchestrate a plan in which Harry would survive. And because he had feared so much for Harry's life, he hadn't dared to seek help to find a solution to the Horcrux problem. He'd feared that all his carefully laid out plans to ensure that Harry would live, would crumble to dust if the wrong people got wind of something.

All this while completely losing sight of the actual person he did this for – Harry.

He had justified his actions with the reasoning that everything would have been too heavy a burden. He had wanted to shelter this incredible child, this brave young man.

But he had also disregarded the bright and independent mind and spirit of said young man.

Harry was right not to forgive him, to not trust him anymore.

Despite this, Albus would do anything to help Harry. He wouldn't like it, would perhaps resent him for it, but he would get the help and support he needed.

Therefore, Albus was contemplating if someone at the Burrow could be already awake. He wanted to speak with young Ronald. Or perhaps he should first apparate to Miss Granger. Or should he wait till the Order meeting later, where a lot of the Weasley family would be there?

He needed their input and the insight they had of Harry. There were a lot of things he didn't say in his letter. And perhaps, only perhaps, he had written to his friends, mentioned what he did and what he had planned to do next. As far as Albus knew Harry was sharing with them nearly everything.

Before he could come to a decision, the door to his office was torn open and a rather agitated looking Minerva was walking in – in her hand a piece of parchment.

Like always, she didn't waste time with courtesies. "Albus, I got a rather disturbing letter from Mr Potter. In what trouble did he manage to get now?"

Albus let out the breath he had been holding and sat down heavily in his chair. There it was, the confirmation that Harry had written more letters. But to Minerva? Why? To whom else had he written letters?

It dawned him that they should hold the Order meeting as early as possible. If Minerva got a letter from the young man, then he definitely had written to his friends, perhaps even Arthur, Molly and Remus.

Remus…

He should have talked with Remus immediately; he was the last connection to Harry's parents and his godfather, and Albus had the impression they had built an uncle-nephew relationship while residing at Grimmauld Place.

"What… what did he write?" His voice remained steady despite his increasing worry.

"He thanked me." Was the clipped answer.

Albus blinked. "He did what?"

"He thanked me, Albus. Are you going deaf?" Minerva scrutinised. "Harry Potter sent me a thank-you letter. He has never before sent me a letter, and now this?!" She waved it in front of him.

"And what did he thank you for?"

At least it didn't sound as if he had told Minerva about the soul pieces. Despite coming to the realization that his habit of keeping secrets had created some of the problems, he still didn't want it to be known by many people that Tom had created Horcruxes. It was dangerous knowledge.

"He thanked me for looking out for him, for being in his corner as he phrased it, for the Nimbus I bought him in his first year and the biscuits." Her eyes were on words written on the parchment in her hands.

"Biscuits?" Albus was confused. What had biscuits to do with everything?

Her gaze snapped to him and she looked even more flustered than before. "Nothing you have to know of. Why would Harry send me such a letter? And why is he saying that he wanted to say it while he has the chance?"

Albus sat up straighter. "That's what he said? What else?"

Minerva slammed her hands down on his desk in frustration. "That's not important! What is important is that Harry Potter had the need to write me a thank you letter, which sounds a lot like a Goodbye letter, telling me that if I wanted to know what it is all about, I should talk to you! And why did I get a Patronus message from Remus to come as early to the Burrow as possible?" She pointed accusingly at him and hissed, sounding frightening like her Animagus counterpart. "What did you do Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!"

He sighed and met her angry and accusing stare with as much calm as he could muster, which wasn't a lot, his Deputy Headmistress was a formidable and frightening witch - especially when she was angry. "Sit down and let me explain."

She huffed, crossed her arms in front of her chest but did take the seat. "I will not move until you tell me what is going on. All these secrets you are keeping –"

He didn't hear what Minerva thought about this particular habit of him as the floo flared and the head of Molly Weasley appeared in the green flames.

"Albus –" Molly began, only to stop when she saw Minerva. "Ah Minerva, good morning. Did you get Remus message?"

Minerva nodded. "I just confronted Albus on a letter I got from Mister Potter and then I wanted to floo to you."

The green flames made it hard to decipher Molly's expression, but he was sure he saw a glimmer of worry and then determination in her eyes.

"That's actually perfect Minerva. Harry's letters are the main reason we wanted to hold the meeting now. Everyone arrived already, I only wanted to inform Albus that he should come through now."

"Letters? What letters? More than one?" Minerva's voice rose.

Molly nodded before Albus could even open his mouth. "He wrote letters to all of us. They worry us immensely, but before we take action, we wanted to talk with everyone. See who else got one and what they contained to get a better picture."

Minerva stood up. "Perfect. Molly step aside, I will come through immediately."

Molly's head disappeared. Minerva took a pinch of floo powder, threw it into the fireplace and stepped into the flames. Before she shouted out her destination, she looked at him.

"Don't dawdle Albus, we will not wait for you. The Burrow!" Then she was gone in a swirl of green flames.

With an increasing feeling of dread, Albus followed.

The kitchen of the Burrow was crowded, not only with the Order, but also the whole Weasley clan and Hermione. Molly had prepared tea and huge amounts of toast, scrambled eggs and bacon and then went to call Albus.

Arthur was watching the people who had gathered in his kitchen despite the early hour. Tonks was talking with Alastor, Remus and Kingsley and trying not to spill her tea - without success - Moody's magical eye rolled in his socket in disapproval. Doge was talking animatedly with Diggle, who nodded along vigorously, sending his hat flying.

Several people were missing. Mundungus, of which Arthur was actually glad, he never liked having the man in his house; Severus, which wasn't anything unusual - due to his… activities, he only attended the meetings he could without jeopardizing his safety and position. The last one missing from the assembly was Hagrid, but that also wasn't usual. Everyone else was here.

Hestia had immediately upon arriving, sat down and put her head on the table, where she still was, snoring loudly, her black hair all over the place. The young witch had come straight from her night shift as a Hit Witch.

Arthur glanced at his children and Hermione, all huddled together, whispering. He somehow knew they were here to stand their ground. He knew that look on their faces and normally he would have been concerned that they were all pulling on one string as it seemed, but he had gotten a letter from Harry, too.

Dear Mr Weasley

I am sure that Mrs Weasley will share with you what I wrote in my letter to her. Nevertheless, I wanted to thank you personally.

Thank you for opening your home to me.

Molly had shared with him yesterday evening what was written in hers, would have even let him read it if he had wanted. He hadn't, didn't need to.

Thank you for including me in your family.

He knew what the boy had written, and his heart had grown heavy.

Thank you for treating me like I was one more Weasley child, but without the trademark red hair.

And the expression his wife had worn this morning told him everything he needed to know. They would go to Harry and get him today, whatever Albus Dumbledore would say against it. And he could only agree, after everything they went through, everything that had happened, Harry was part of the Weasley family, and it was time that they remembered and acted on it.

Thank you for being warm and welcome and showing me what a family should and could be.

He knew about the conflict in Molly. He had been with her when they found her brother's bodies. He knew her fear of losing someone else.

Nevertheless, Harry was in a similar situation. He had lost his godfather, and then he was left alone in that house. Arthur hadn't agreed with Albus on sending Harry to his Muggle relatives, but the old Headmaster hadn't been up for discussion, so he had acted in the only way he thought he could at that moment, and surprisingly Alastor had acted along with him.

He hoped that the brief talk they had with Harry's uncle had made the situation at least a little bit more bearable, but the tone of the letter suggested otherwise. Why, oh why, hadn't he acted against Albus' orders?

He knew why. He had believed in Albus Dumbledore, had believed that the man had Harry's best interest in mind, had only seen the danger to Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. At this moment he had been guilty of the fact so many other people were guilty of – not seeing the boy Harry. That made one sentence in Harry's letter especially bitter.

Thank you for only seeing a boy. It meant the world to me, that you were more interested in my knowledge of everything muggle, than in me being the boy who lived.

For the most part, it never had been a problem to just see the child in front of him, but now in these dark times he had fallen into the same trap it seemed Albus had fallen into. The boy who lived, the only hope they had to stop You-Know-Who had to be protected at every cost, seemingly at the cost of the wellbeing of the actual boy.

The guilt made him nauseous.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard voices coming from the living room and shortly after Molly entered the kitchen, Minerva behind her.

"Albus?" He enquired.

Minerva sat down and poured herself a cup of tea. "He should be directly behind us."

The moment she said it, he heard the floo flare in the living room and only seconds later, Albus Dumbledore stepped into the cramped kitchen, his gaze wandering over all the people present, who fell silent at his entry.

"I see that everyone is present. I understand that we have important things to discuss with everything that has happened, but why couldn't it wait till later, when we already had an Order meeting scheduled?" He looked rather disapprovingly at Molly, who only harrumphed.

"Albus, they had the feeling that we shouldn't wait longer and therefore contacted everyone to meet as early as possible. It doesn't matter who decided it, we have far more important matters to talk about." Minerva cut in.

Albus sighed. "You are right. So…"

But before he could say anything else, Molly put a cup of tea in front of him and said: "Sit down Albus and listen."

Startled, he just did it and looked expectantly at her. Nobody had taken that tone with him in a long time, besides Minerva.

Arthur discreetly nudged Hestia under the table to wake her up - which she did, startled and still half asleep - while all the others looked at Molly. Then he leaned back, content to let his wife take control. She was much better with confrontation.

"As I already said when I firecalled you, a lot of people in this room got a letter from Harry. And they all contain 'thank you' and 'goodbye'. We are worried, no… we are beyond worried, but we wanted at least talk with everyone before we all storm to Surrey to get him."

Albus took that in and then looked around and Arthur saw the normally present twinkle in his eyes disappear as the took in all the nods from the people who got letters.

Molly continued. "He talked about very serious matters in these letters and some of them need to be cleared, and perhaps this should wait till later. But still… how could you, Albus!"

As her voice grew in volume, Arthur saw his children all trying to hide a grin despite the heavy situation. Yes, Albus was in for one of Molly's scoldings. His wife didn't disappoint in that regard and continued without getting Albus the chance to answer.

"You left him there, not only as a baby, but right after he lost his godfather! And told him about a prophecy where he apparently was either to become a murderer or be murdered. Are you insane?"

"Molly, dear..." Albus tried to placate her.

"Don't Molly, dear me!" She screeched, having reached her maximum scolding volume. "He is a child, not a chess piece! Did you even consider for one moment what it would do to him? And then to send him back to his… relatives!" She spat out the last part.

"You, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, have a lot to answer for!" She pointed accusingly at him.

"I only did what I thought was best." Albus managed to put in, though he sounded subdued, nearly unsure.

Arthur saw the twins shudder and the rest of his children looking wide eyed at the old wizard, all of them with the same disbelieving expression, and not only because of what he said, but also that Albus dared to say it. He had to agree with them, that certainly was a mistake. If Molly had even an ounce of Dragon blood in her, she would have been spitting fire now.

"What was best?!" She screamed. "Did you even consider that it could break him?"

The room fell silent, which led to Ron's whisper being heard from all of them. "Apparently it did."

Albus looked stricken, and Molly just briefly looked at her son, her eyes growing soft, then she turned to Albus again. Standing there at their kitchen table, her red hair waving around her face like flames, her eyes ablaze while she loomed over one of the greatest wizards in Britain, Arthur was reminded of exactly why he had fallen in love with her, all those years ago.

"Harry is a teenager, a child like anyone else. You can't just play with his life, his wellbeing like that. You can't just withhold important information concerning him and then be surprised when he doesn't act as you want." Molly's voice rang through the kitchen, her tone harsh. Arthur could have stopped her before she exploded, but somehow, he thought certain things had to be said.

"Harry has always fared better when he had all the information." Hermione looked surprised at the people staring at her, as if she hadn't wanted to say that. Arthur had to agree with her.

And thank you for understanding that sometimes, even if others thought me too young, you just knew that I wasn't, and that it was better if I knew than keeping me in the dark. Even if, in the end, Sirius never really was a threat to me.

Molly looked guilty for a moment, as she herself had thought Harry too young to know certain information more than once. They all had made mistakes. But then she recovered her determined expression and stared accusingly at Albus again.

"This wonderful boy is blaming himself for his godfather's death, because he didn't know You-Know-Who could send him false visions. And who was responsible for keeping this information from him?" Her tone had reached a level her family had heard only a few times, once when the twins nearly tricked Ron into swearing an Unbreakable Vow as a child.

Arthur saw Kingsley discreetly cover his ears at Molly's bellowing and he was sure that the ears Tonks had grown in the last minute where muting the screaming. His children just watched stoically as their mother tore into the Headmaster.

"Molly, you must see…" Albus tried again. Everyone in the room winced.

"What?! What must I see?" The expression on her face was murderous and Arthur knew only the small speck of respect she had left for the man in front of her, prevented her hexing him into next week.

"That Harry is your little soldier? That his wellbeing and mental health is second to his role in the war? That he is nothing compared to the 'greater good'?"

Arthur had never seen the great Albus Dumbledore flinch, and before today he would have thought that nothing could shake their leader. Now, with a furious Molly Weasley hissing his favourite phrase in his face, he certainly did flinch.

And he never had thought to see Albus speechless.

He was fiercely proud of his wife and considered for a moment if the war would have ended earlier if they simply had set Molly on You-know-Who.

Minerva laid a hand on Molly's arm and spoke calmly, but briskly. "We can throw around accusations later. Let us talk briefly about these letters and then see what needs to be done."

Molly breathed heavily but nodded and sat down, cradling her own cup of tea.

"Perhaps everyone who got a letter, should summarise what it contains and the information you think is necessary." Arthur suggested. The rustling of parchment was heard as they all got their letters out and it didn't surprise anyone that Albus was holding one, too.

"I will start." Arthur took a deep breath and glanced at the sentences that had been haunting him since he first read them.

Just… thank you for being there when my own father couldn't.

I am eternally grateful that Ron decided to sit with me on the train all those years ago.

I will miss you all.

With love,

Harry Potter.

For the next hour they all revealed the most important information from their letters.

They hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, not even after Hestia, who had several cups of strong tea and a lot of sugar to be awake enough to listen, had pointed it out.

"For me, this sounds like he doesn't want to live anymore. And if he or his scar is really part of this safety net You-Know-Who built, I can only imagine that he wants to cut his connection off. He says it clearly that the snake needs to be killed to destroy the anchor, whatever it is." She looked around curiously, but none of the people who knew wanted to reveal that particular piece of information.

Arthur wasn't completely sure what it was but judging by the grim expression in Bill's face he knew it was nothing good. His son had seen all kinds of the darkest arts of magic in his function of a cursebreaker for Gringotts. Perhaps it was better that even in the Order only a few people really knew what You-Know-Who had done to prevent is ultimate death.

"And if the snake needs to be killed to achieve this, I don't see how Harry could be different." She sighed. "And his letters certainly give enough hints that he is saying goodbye to all the people who matter to him."

Nobody really wanted to believe it. Hestia didn't know Harry personally, had never spoken with the boy, but they couldn't deny what she had put together from all of the letters.

Arthur never would have considered that Harry would even think about doing something that drastic, but when he looked to Ron and Hermione, his best friends, the expression in their eyes told him everything. They had come to the same conclusion.

The horrible, horrible truth changed the atmosphere to something dark and oppressive.

Albus had been very quiet during the discussion, but he looked older and sadder and more heavily loaded with guilt as Arthur had never seen him.

"Then it is clear what we have to do now, isn't it?" It was Ron who broke the silence in the kitchen and every head turned to him.

"We apparate now to Privet Drive and hope that Harry didn't go through with it yet." His voice was steady, but he looked grim, and Arthur prayed to Merlin and all the gods he knew of, even to some muggle ones, that they wouldn't be too late. He wasn't sure if his youngest son would survive it.

Everyone nodded and Albus stood from his seat, every year of his one hundred and fifteen years were visible in the way he moved.

"Then let's proceed."

And they went, all of them. The younger ones who couldn't apparate on their own were taken by someone older. When they arrived at the edge of the ward down the street of Nr 4, they realized to their surprise that they weren't the only group of people there.

AN: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.

First published: 4th of September 2019