Harry laughed as Sirius told him a story about something he, Remus and James had gotten up to wen they were in the their last year, and Lily's reaction when she had found out, something which rivalled the wrath of McGonagall. He was in his usual place sitting on Sirius' bed with him, the older man was sitting up and gesturing excitedly in his storytelling, something that he would not have been able to do two months ago when Harry first met him. But he was getting better by the day, you could see it now, he was filling out and looking less drawn and tired.

He had much more energy and movement, he didn't tire as quickly and he was feeling much better by the day now. Healer Rottweiler was doing a good job, and Sirius was able to move around a lot more.

It was one of the few occasions that Remus was not with them, he had come to collect Harry and dropped him off at the hospital before leaving them while he went to do some errands. They were getting on better and better as the weekly visits passed and Harry loved being able to spend time with the two men. Having someone who was interested in him, having people who cared for him and enjoyed hearing about his day, who enjoyed his company and wanted to spend more time with him was absolutely amazing. He wrote to the two of them through the week, and got to visit Sirius on Saturdays.

He looked up with a smile when Remus walked in, titling his head confused when the other man looked a little nervous, his smile shaky as he closed and locked the door behind himself. At the same time Sirius tensed up as well and looked at Remus nervously.

"Did you get them?"

"Yes," Remus nodded.

"What's going on?" Harry asked confused.

"Harry, we need to talk to you about a few things, some serious matters. Is that ok?" Remus asked kicking off his shoes as was their habit and making their way over to sit on the bed as well.

"Ok," Harry said slowly looking between the two of them.

"If we discus anything that you are not comfortable with discussing then we will stop, but we do ask that you hear us out, and trust us," Sirius took his hand and squeezed it gently, comfortingly.

"Ok, what is going on?" Harry asked them confused.

"Ok. Harry we knew Petunia when she was younger, when we would visit Lily during the last two summers of Hogwarts, the few occasions they had interactions during the years after. We know that she was not very accepting of magic, and neither was her husband. From the things that you have said, and more importantly not said we have gathered enough to guess that you are not very...well treated at their house," Their mouths were in thin lines, and Remus' voce shook a little with anger, for him, as he spoke.

Harry looked between the two men in his life that he cared for so much, two men that he cared for, and that cared for him. And he knew this was the tipping moment he had sensed coming for a long time. This was the moment where he either admitted exactly how he was treated at the Dursleys, for the first time, and let the truth out. Or he kept quiet.

Remus reached out and placed his own hand around his and Sirius' his eyes warm and understanding as they looked at Harry, when he turned Sirius' expression was the same. More than that both of them were looking protective and worried for him. And that more than anything had him opening his mouth and telling them everything.

By the time he was done, he was more than a little emotionally drained. There were tear stains on all their faces and more than halfway through he had been squashed between Remus and Sirius as they hugged him tightly as though they could protect him from all the hurt and sorrow that he had experienced in his life. The grip the two of them had on him felt like it was keeping him together, keep him from falling apart, as for the fisrt time in his life he admitted that the people that should have cared for him and loved him hated him, had hurt him, humiliated and abused him, had treated him like he was less than human.

Remus and Sirius had been horrified and angry for him, they had been hurt and upset, they had cried for him. And finally when he had finished they had just sat like this hugging him as they all calmed down from the revelation of what had just been said.

"Harry, I want you to listen to me. Those...animals should never, ever have treated you like that, none of what happened was your fault sweetheart," Remus said gently, Harry turned and buried his face into Remus' shoulder, the smell of tweed, paper and sweet chocolate filled his senses. The two of them hugged him even tighter.

"We want to ask you something, I am getting out of the hospital next month. Remus and I are moving in together, and we want you to come and live with us. I am your legal guardian again now that I have been officially found innocent. The papers that Remus collected this afternoon were official documents to adopt you. Both of us,"

"You want...you want me to...really?" Hope filled him as he looked between the two of them excitedly.

"Really, we would love it. Harry both of us have dreamed about being a part of your life. We know that you are a teenager, but we would like to be there for you, whenever you need, however you need us. We would like for you to live with us," Remus nodded smiling.

"We can be a family, the three of us. We can find somewhere to live together, and have a life together," Sirius nodded.

"I would love to!" Harry agreed quickly.

"Before you agree completely, there is something that I need to tell you Harry," Remus said nervously, moving a little aside.

"Ok," Harry looked confused between the two of them when Sirius reached out and gripped Remus' shoulder clearly in support.

"This is about me, I was...when I was younger I was attacked by a werewolf, it bit me and turned me into one two. Once a month I turn into a werewolf, a dangerous beast that..."

"Remus enough!" Sirius frowned at his friend, taking Harry's chin and turning his wide eyed stare around onto him. "Harry once a month Remus turns into a werewolf. He does everything that he can to make sure that he never hurts anyone else, or infects them, and he goes through a lot of pain and suffering because of this curse. He takes a potion that lets him keep his own mind, but because of this he is treated badly by the wizarding world, a lot of people see someone with creature blood or a curse like Remi's as lesser," Sirius explained.

"People are cruel, but I am dangerous, and I am judged for what I am, anyone close to me gets judged as well," Remus said firmly.

Harry turned and faced Remus, looking into kind amber eyes that were filled with worry and pain, filled with so much hurt and surety that Harry would judge him for what he was.

Harry knelt up and wrapped his arms tightly around Remus, hugging him with everything that he had. Remus froze underneath his grip before he trembled and hugged him back fiercely.

"This doesn't change what I think about you Remi, or who you are. You are still the man that came to Hogwarts and explained everything to me, who took the time to be kind and gentle. You are the first person that gave me options and didn't just expect things of me. You are the man who has been helping me with my school works and writes to me and makes me feel like I have people who truly care for me, who are interested in my day and school work. You are the man that hugged me while I told you...about what happened, and just hugged me close," Harry said softly.

Remus pressed his face into Harry's shoulder and hugged him closer.

"And I would still love to come and live with you and Siri, I would love that more than anything," Harry looked at the both of them. "Can we...would we be able to do it soon, for you to adopt me?"

"We can do it straight away," Remus beamed handing Harry the papers he had brought.

"Why does this say that Remus is needed for you to adopt me?" Harry asked curiously.

"Honestly we are both needed for the other to adopt you. For me it is because I am a werewolf, I would not be allowed to adopt you normally but because of the situation with Sirius and because Dumbledore is backing us as long as Sirius adopts you as well, I will be allowed to. For Sirius, its because he was in prison, his mental health would be called into question, so he needs someone else to be there as well as his support if he is to adopt you now. Where he to wait another year h would be able to do it himself, but we don't want to wait,"

"And I want both of you to adopt me," Harry said firmly.

"So lets get signing!" Sirius said excitedly wiggling the pen in the air.

"So...you are going to get to live with them?" Ron grinned taking Harry's hands.

"Yup, the papers get filed tomorrow, once they are processed I am their charge. I will be interviewed by someone from the Ministry to make sure it is really what want, they will be interviewed and Siri's mediwizards, it will probably take a few weeks. But yes," Harry nodded a little stunned.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Mate, I am so happy for you," Ron squeezed his hands.

"I wont have to do back to the Dursleys," Harry closed his eyes.

"Do Sirius and Remus..."

"I told them...everything..." Harry licked his lips and looked at his friends. "We talked about it. Sirius is hiring lawyers with his family money, I agreed to pressing charges against them for what they did to me,"

"We will be with you as well Harry. Through it all,"

"Hermione is right, you have Sirius and Remus, you have us. You're doing the right thing," Ron nodded.

"Its a lot worse than you have ever told us, isn't it?" Hermione asked gently.

"Being here, being with you, it was an escape, I was away from them. I felt as though if I told you they would...infect my happiness here as well. It wasn't that I didn't trust you..."

"You don't need to explain Harry," Hermione shook her head.

"We're just glad you have people who are going to help you," Ron smiled.

"Thank you. And thank you for being there for me through all of this," Harry smiled at his friends who groaned and threw their arms around him.

"Harry?" The soft call of his name had him blinking and looking away from the fire to see Seamus standing on the steps leading to their dorm.

"Hey,"

"What's the matter? I went to the toilet and saw you weren't in bed. Everything ok? It was your visit with Sirius today wasn't it?" Seamus asked concerned as he made his way over to the sofa. He lifted the blanket Harry was covering himself with and shoved his feet underneath, blue eyes looking at Harry concerned.

"I did. I think I'm just overexcited, I can't sleep," Harry laughed shakily.

"Excited? What happened?" Seamus asked curiously.

"Sirius and Remus want to adopt me," Harry grinned. It felt amazing to say every time it was amazing!

"Really?!" Seamus smiled so brightly for him that Harry's own smile got even wider.

"Yup! We signed the papers today!" Harry squirmed a little in place.

"Harry, that is...congratulations!" Seamus caught his hand and squeezed.

"Thank you. They said we can find a house and move in together this summer," Harry breathed out.

"No wonder you can't sleep! Hang on!" Seamus jumped up from the sofa and raced up the stairs before hurrying back down a few moments later to a bemused Harry. Grinning with that bright boyish grin he took his hands from behind his back and held up a six pack of butterbeer and a large block of caramel chocolate. "We need to celebrate this in style!"

"Seamus you have been saving them!" Harry protested.

"For a good occasion, there is not going to be a better one than this," Seamus made himself comfortable on the sofa again, grinning when Harry squawked when he tucked his cold toes under his thigh, before he opened two of the bottles. "To freedom," he proposed the toast.

Harry looked at him shocked, and then embarrassed when he realised that Seamus knew about his family. Probably not half of it, but enough to understand and know. He drew in slightly embarrassed and humiliated. But then Sirius and Remus' words from earlier came back to him, their comfort. Seamus' blue eyes were warm and understanding, no judgement.

"Harry?" Seamus blinked when he found Harry wrapped around him.

"Sorry, seems to be the day for hugs," Harry started to pull back but then Seamus' arms wrapped around him and hugged him back. In the corner of his eyes Harry could see the bottles of butterbeer floating in the air waiting for them. Seamus held him tightly, just the right amount of pressure in his hug as Harry sank into his grip, he pressed his face into Seamus' shoulder and breathed in Seamus' scent.

"I'm happy for you Harry," Seamus said softly.

Harry laughed as Remus tried to look scolding over Harry's midnight celebration, but he was looking far too happy himself to really pull it off. He had a stack of papers of different houses for them to look over together. Harry was practically bouncing as they walked, they were going to pick out a house, a home, a real home, for the three of them. He would have a home to go to this summer!

Remus took his arm as they reached Sirius' room and heard raised voices from within, one of them clearly Sirius' but the others they didn't know. They shared a look and approached the door confused.

"...think a werewolf and a convicted felon can adopt the boy-who-lived!"

"I think that myself - a wrongly convicted victim who was locked away for 12 years, Remus - a respected academic, both of us best friends to Harry's parents. I am Harry's legal guardian, and he is not the boy-who-lived, he is Harry. My godson, my best friend's son," Sirius snapped.

Harry closed his eyes as he felt that glow in his chest growing even brighter. He stepped into the room with Remus close behind him, and Sirius' face went from furious to warm as he held his arms out. Harry moved quickly to him for their normal hug.

"Mr Potter...I am sure you understand that we can not allow you to be seen as living with..."

"I want to live with Sirius and Remus," Harry interrupted who he was fairly sure was Minister Fudge. The man went puce straight away,the winning smile sliding off of his face.

"No see here, there is a certain expectation and..."

"Say Remus? Are you hearing this? Minister Fudge is suggesting that Harry's wellbeing, happiness and choice, is less important than what someone may think of him," Sirius tilted his head slightly looking at the Minister with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"I think I did hear that. I also believe that I heard Minister Fudge stating that potential public opinion could be more important than Harry's legal rights," Remus hummed, smiling pleasantly.

"Speaking of legal rights, I am also sure that I heard Minister Fudge discriminating against me for being in prison. My lawsuit against the Ministry is definitely going to get a little more interesting when my solicitor hears about the fact that not only was I denied 12 years of my godson's life, but when I am released the Ministry try and keep us apart yet again, despite the fact that with all charges dropped I am not his legal guardian once again, and he has expressed his desire to live with us," Sirius tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I believe he did. It is also interesting that Minister Fudge finds time in his busy schedule of running our Country to...comment on a simple adoption process," Remus nodded.

"M...Mr Potter, please..." Fudge was looking as though he was about to have a heart attack. Harry tensed up, but Sirius and Remus both placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry is 13 years old, you do not have the right to speak to him without our, or Headmaster Dumbledore, or his...relatives permission, which you certainly do not have. Now we would appreciate it if you would leave," Sirius glared.

"I..."

Harry watched as one of the men with the Minister leant over and muttered something to him making the Minister flush even darker, something that Harry wasn't sure was possible. Then the man snarled, just snarled, and spun storming out the room. Harry stood there watching a little stunned for a moment as Remus and Sirius discussed the visit over his head.

"Harry?" Sirius asked confused when Harry turned around and wrapped an arm around each other them and hugged them as best he could.

"Thank you,"

"For what?" Remus asked confused. Harry shook his head but pressed his face to Sirius' shoulder.

The two men exchanged a look over Harry's head and just wrapped themselves around him. He couldn't tell them how much it meant to him that they had protected him like that, that they had stopped Fudge from talking to him, pressuring him and using him.

"Harry, you know we are not going to let them control your life right?" Remus said softly, pulling back and cupping his face, over Remus' shoulder Sirius grinned warmly at him nodding.

"They are never going to stop trying," Harry said quietly.

"And we will never stop protecting you, no matter how old you get. You can be 49 with a wife or husband and kids of your own and we will be camped out on your doorstep stopping them," Sirius laughed.

"Guys..." Harry laughed allowing them to pull him back into a hug.

"Geez Harry what the hell is Hedwig bringing you?" Seamus asked. Harry looked up from where he was sitting next to him at breakfast going over his divination homework with Ron. Sure enough Hedwig was flying towards them, with difficulty considering the thick envelope of paper that she was carrying with her.

Harry reached up for her to land and relieved her of the envelope, feeding her plenty of bacon to appease her before opening the envelope. Confused he pulled out the numerous sheaths of paper, flicking through it quicker and quicker as he realised what he was holding.

"Harry?" Hermione asked curiously. Looking up his friends all blinked when they saw his eyes glittering brightly.

"What is it?" Ron asked leaning over to try and see what was on the pages. "Houses?"

"Houses!" Harry beamed. "Its houses Sirius and Remus have looked out. They want me to go through them and pick which ones I want to visit. They have applied for a weekend permit so we can go out and view them once the adoption has gone through,"

"Wow, Harry!" Seamus clapped him on the back.

"Lets have a look," Hermione smiled picking up one of the papers.

"What type of place do you want?" Ron asked.

"I...don't know...I mean I thought about it, maybe a cottage?" Harry suggested softly.

"Ok, so lets separate these out, and you can look at the cottages, if there isn't something you like there, you can look at the others," Hermione suggested.

"Good idea," Harry shuffled through half the papers as Hermione did the same with the other half, sorting them into two piles.

He started going through them excitedly with the others, looking at all the different houses eagerly. He turned and met the blue eyes of his Irish friend, and found him looking not bored as he expected, but just as excited for him as Ron and Hermione were.

Seamus smiled brightly at him holding out one of the documents with pictures moving around the living room of a little cottage. Harry didn't quite hear what he said, something about being able to picture Harry living somewhere like that. All he could really focus on was how lucky he felt right now. He had Remus and Sirius, he had amazing friends, he was going to be adopted and never have to go back to Privet Drive, he was looking to chose a home.

He would have a real home and a real family. He couldn't wait.