I'd like to thank everybody for their reviews. Yes Ginny did have a crush on her brother and she isn't happy with the idea. Harry hasn't had time to think about it yet. I think he was only just starting to develop feelings for Ginny at this point in the books. Ginny will not be getting together with either Harry Potter in this story. Although Ron is not technically her brother it would still be far too like incest for my (and Ginny's) comfort.

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Harry enjoyed the walk back. Sirius had started to describe the first exercise necessary to become an animagi, which Lupin had declared to be hopeless advanced and broken in to give Harry some easier preparatory work. Sirius had nodded amiably but he squeezed Harry's hand and winked. Harry had a feeling he'd be an animagus in record time. He bounced excitedly as he wondered what sort of animal he would become.

Then they turned into Grimmauld Place and immediately he felt his good spirits drop away. The dilapidated houses loomed threateningly over him and even the sky seemed blacker.

"Here we are," said Sirius stopping outside no. 12, "Home sweet home."

"Merlin and Morgana," swore Lupin quietly, "I hate this house."

"Me too," said Harry.

"Really?" said Sirius turning quickly to look at him.

"Absolutely. I mean it's more home than the Dursleys ever was and I love seeing you but..." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well you have great taste. Come on, let's get inside."

Lupin muttered something under his breath.

As soon as the front door was open, they heard Mrs Weasley shouting.

"Ah," said Sirius, "Doesn't sound like we've missed too much. I think the record is stuck."

Reluctantly Harry followed the two men inside. He felt an almost physical revulsion at the idea of confronting Mrs Weasley.

"She is my -" he murmured to himself. The words stuck to his tongue and he suddenly felt very cold. Tugging his hand away from Sirius' hold, he wrapped both arms around himself.

Sirius looked back at him, his face anxious.

He bared his teeth as he forced his mouth into grin. Sirius hunched his shoulders and resumed trudging towards the kitchen. Setting his jaw, Harry forced himself to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

As he appeared in the doorway, Mrs Weasley abruptly stopped shouting.

"Now everybody quiet. Here's Harry." She advanced towards him. "Harry darling, how are you?" she cooed.

He shied away.

"You can come here sweetheart. It's okay now, everybody knows the truth."

Harry backed up until he hit the wall. His breath was coming in quick gasps and his pulse rocketed. He didn't understand why, but he was more terrified than he had ever been before in his life.

Mrs Weasley scowled. "What did they say to you Harry? Don't you understand? I'm your mother."

Harry giggled nervously.

"Harry?"

"No. No you're not."

"Oh my darling son."

"No, no it's not true. I'm not, you're not. Do you hear me?" Harry shouted. "It's not true!"

"Pup?" called Sirius quietly. Harry almost sobbed with relief and reached desperately for his godfather.

Mrs Weasley turned on Sirius, "You stay away from him. He's not your godson anymore."

Harry moaned softly. He watched as Sirius backed away under the harsh words of the red-haired woman and whimpered when she turned her angry eyes on him.

"Harry stop this nonsense at once and come here. I am your mother."

"No you're not." Harry almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the suggestion. "My mum loved me."

"Harry I do love you. I've waited so many years to tell you."

"No, no, no. You can't be my mother. My mum loved me, she died saving me. She wouldn't have left me. You can't be my mum. You understand? She loved me."

"Oh Harry. I'd never have let you go if I'd had the choice."

Harry stared at the red-haired woman. "You can't be my mother," he begged, "You just can't be." He shook his head in denial as one of the certainties his life was based on crumbled away in his hands.

"I am. And I love you oh so much."

Thick, strong arms swept him up into a suffocating embrace and Harry began to hyperventilate.

"Let him go you witless woman, he's about to faint," snapped a male voice Harry vaguely recognised as being safe. He tried to claw his way towards it. "Padfoot help me," it continued, "Get his head between his knees."

Suddenly hands were pulling him free and a soft voice was whispering,

"It's okay Pup. It's okay. I've got you now. Sssh, it will all be okay." In the distance Harry could hear shouting but he ignored it in favour of the gentle hand rubbing soothingly over his hair. He curled into the comforting embrace.

"My mum loved me," he confided, "She'd never have left me if she had any choice. Uncle Hugh and Uncle Jack said my mum loved me. They wouldn't have lied."

There was a low rumbling growl but it sounded more protective than threatening and Harry recognised it now.

"Snuffles," he said pleased.

"Uh huh, it's me Pup. And you're coming with me and I'm getting you to bed. You need a snooze. Too many things have hit you too fast."

"Don't want to think about it," pleaded Harry.

"Well you don't have to. Plenty of time for that later. Don't you worry about anything, Snuffles will take of care of you."

He smiled softly. "I know."

"Good. Love you kiddo."

Harry relaxed and let the darkness take him.

-

When Harry woke up, he found he was tucked safely into Sirius' bed with Snuffles asleep at his feet. He was surprised to see it was dark out and he rolled over to check the time. It was two o'clock in the morning. For an instant he wondered what had happened and then it was came rushing back.

He shot up in bed, kicking at the blankets to get free. Snuffles lifted his head and whined before jumping to the floor.

Harry looked at the apologetic dog.

"So it's true then?"

Snuffles nodded his head sombrely, his grey eyes wide and miserable.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I reacted so badly. It's not I like didn't already know. I guess, I just, Uncle Hugh and Uncle Jack never met my fa- I mean James Potter but they saw Lily Potter several times. And they told me how she'd always talk about me and how proud she was of me and how she loved me. But I guess, as it turns out, it was never me she talked about."

Snuffles howled softly. Harry felt like howling too.

"I always knew my mum never wanted to leave me at the Dursleys. I always knew she wouldn't have left me if she'd had the choice. But it turns out I was wrong."

Snuffles put his paws on the bed and licked Harry's face. Harry wrapped his arms around the

dog's big neck and hid his face in it's shaggy fur.

"It wasn't until I saw her that it hit me, not only was I not Harry Potter, but I was also Ronald Weasley. That Mrs Weasley is actually my m-mother. It wasn't that my mum died, but that my m-mother didn't want me. Why didn't my mum want me?"

The fur clutched in Harry's hands slowly transformed into a dark robe and then Sirius was holding him securely.

"She wants you now," he said, though he didn't loosen his grip on Harry.

"She just left me with the Dursleys. She knew there was no reason for me to stay there and she just left me. She left me there, Sirius," Harry said quietly.

For some reason he didn't feel angry about Mrs Weasley abandoning him to the Dursleys. He wished he did, it would be better than the awful emptiness. He felt hollow and sick like when the Dursleys didn't feed him for a day or two.

"I'm sorry Harry. I'd have got you out of there sooner if I could. Please believe me."

Harry pulled back so he could see Sirius' face.

"Of course I believe you. You offered to let me live with you ten minutes after you met me. Why didn't she do that? What did I do wrong?"

Sirius didn't say anything, just hung his head and looked at Harry with large, sad eyes. Harry scrunched down so he could rest his head against Sirius' chest.

"Why didn't she want me? Why'd she let Dumbledore take me away?"

Sirius sighed, his breath ruffling across Harry's hair.

"You need to talk it over with Molly but Remus spoke to her after you passed out and I can give you a summary if you like?"

"Yes please."

"Okay then. The Weasleys were struggling financially when Prongs and Lily were murdered and Voldemort fell. Bill just starting Hogwarts and they were facing years of multiple school fees. The fight against Voldemort had stalled Arthur's career and they knew he'd have a long wait for promotion."

"She sold me." He felt almost dizzy with disbelief.

"Well Molly didn't put it that way, but fundamentally, yes. Things were just getting awkward when Dumbledore showed up on their doorstep with his devil's bargain. I don't mean to excuse them Harry, but you have to remember Dumbledore is dangerously persuasive."

"Would you have agreed?"

"Fuck no." Sirius tightened his grip on Harry, as if someone were about to drag him away by main force. "But the Weasley's have always been respectable. It would probably have killed them to request help from the Public Assistance Bureau or go to the Goblins.

"So when Dumbledore promised a golden future for their youngest son as the fabled Harry Potter and offered to pay them to look after the actual Harry Potter, as well as paying the school fees of their other children from the Potter vaults. Well I'm not saying they jumped at the chance, but apparently the whole deal was sown up in less than twenty-four hours."

Harry wanted to shout and scream and generally act like Dudley deprived of dessert but he didn't seem to have the energy.

"How could she do that?"

"I don't know Harry. You need to ask her. You'll spend the rest of your life wondering why she did it, might as well get your answers direct from the horse's mouth. You don't want to end up staring at her portrait, wondering if your mind is playing tricks or if that really is what she looked like."

Sirius' voice sounded strange and distant. Harry twisted his head so he could see his godfather's face. He was staring at the floor, grey eyes remote. Tentatively Harry reached out towards him. Sirius flinched as Harry's hand brushed against his cheek and then he smiled.

"Hey, it's okay kiddo. I haven't quite worked out how yet, but I will make it okay. I promise."

Harry smiled up at him. He didn't set much store by the promise. The last adult to promise that everything would be okay was Uncle Jack and he had been lying too. But Harry loved that Sirius thought he was worth the effort of making up reassuring lies.

-

There was a sharp triple rap on the door.

"Come in Moony," called Sirius.

Lupin opened the door but didn't actually enter the room.

"Are you all right?"

"I think so, Harry?"

"I'm fine." He pulled away from Sirius and got to his feet. "What's going on? Where is everybody? What happened?"

Lupin sighed and stepped through the doorway. "Dumbledore's gone back to Hogwarts. Bill's gone to Gringotts to use their international floo to speak to Charlie. We had to give Ron and Ginny Calming Solutions, they're in bed asleep now. Hermione's in bed too but I think she's still up reading. Fred and George have disappeared somewhere. Molly's in the kitchen cooking. She wants to see Harry as soon as he recovered."

Harry took a nervous step backwards.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I really think you should speak to her. Don't worry, I had a word with her…"

"A word?" said Sirius. "Moony you had a great many words with Mrs Weasley. I know because I could hear you from up here."

Lupin glared. "I simply explained matters to her in an exceptionally through manner."

"If you say so. But it sure sounded like someone loosing their temper to me."

Lupin blushed. "Maybe," he conceded, "But honestly, I don't know what the woman was thinking. She was acting as if everything could be fixed in an instant. She needed to understand that it will take time. She can't just expect our Harry to welcome her with open arms."

Harry stared as he realised Professor Lupin, who never shouted, had shouted at Mrs Weasley for him.

"So," Lupin continued, "I think we can risk going downstairs. And it might be better to have this conversation when we're not surrounded by Weasleys. I never realised how many of them there were until they all spoke at once."

"I'm a Weasley now," said Harry although the words felt as strange and sour as off milk to his tongue.

"Oh I'm sorry," Lupin apologised, "I forgot. Or not exactly forgot, but hadn't made the connection."

Harry bit his lip to stop himself saying that he didn't want to be a Weasley. It was stupid to complain about something that couldn't be changed and nobody ever listened to him anyway.

Sirius hugged him. "It's okay Pup. You'll always have us."

"Some people, Padfoot, would consider that a threat."

"Our Harry is not some people. Are you Harry?"

"Guess not."

"Of course not. Now let's go beard the dragon in her den."

"Sirius, that's Harry's mother you're talking about."

"No it's not," said Harry before he could stop himself.

"Kiddo?" asked Sirius anxiously.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I know it's true and everything, but it doesn't feel true."

"It will take time," said Lupin. "They rearranged your whole life, naturally it will take time to adjust."

Harry didn't say anything but he didn't see how he could ever adjust.

Sirius sighed, "It will be okay, Harry. Now let's go before we start getting maudlin."

Obediently Harry followed his godfather out the room and down the stairs.