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Damp warmth and the rich scent of baking curled out of the kitchen to greet them. Inside Mrs Weasley bustled around surrounded by piles of washing up and cooling racks heaped with cakes and biscuits.

She looked up from her mixing bowl as they trudged into the kitchen and beamed.

"Harry! I'm glad to see you're looking better. Would you like a cookie? Or a slice of cake?"

"Uh, no thank you Mrs Weasley, I'm not that hungry."

Mrs Weasley's face twitched and she started to say something. Lupin coughed loudly. Mrs Weasley glared at him and then smiled down at Harry.

"Would you like some tea, Harry dear?"

"No thank you Mrs Weasley."

Lupin stepped further into the room. "How about we all take a seat and I'll make us some hot chocolate." He pulled out a chair and gestured for Mrs Weasley to sit down.

"Oh very well," she said. Tucking her skirts under her she sat down. Sirius took the seat opposite her and pulled Harry in close to his side. Harry fidgeted nervously and looked hopefully at his godfather. Sirius sighed and turned to address Mrs Weasley,

"So Molly, Remus said you wanted to explain to Harry how this all came about."

"Oh yes. He needs to understand that we did it all for the best."

Sirius' arm clamped tightly around Harry and prevented his instinctive rush from the room.

"It was all so difficult. Everything happened in such a rush. I don't really know where to start."

"The beginning is always a good place," said Sirius.

Mrs Weasley glared at him.

"What? It is." He would have said more but Lupin bumped him with his hip as he walked past and Sirius fell silent.

Mrs Weasley pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and rubbed it nervously between her fingers.

"It's all so hard to explain. We'd spent so long being frightened, it was such an enormous relief when Voldemort was killed. And then when Dumbledore told us about the orphaned Harry Potter, it seemed like it was our duty to take him in."

"Yes, yes," said Sirius, "I can see that. But what I don't understand is why our Harry had to be sent away."

"So he'd be safe of course."

Harry heard the click of Sirius' teeth as his mouth snapped shut.

"Molly," said Lupin, turning away from orchestrating the mugs with his wand, "You do realise that there is no blood connection between our Harry and the Dursleys?"

"Yes but Dumbledore explained that we had to act as if Ron was Harry to keep both boys safe. The Dursleys would keep him safe and then when he was eleven he would rejoin the Wizarding Word."

"If Dursleys were so safe," Harry burst out, "Why didn't Dumbledore send Ron, I mean the actual Harry Potter, to them instead."

"He explained all of that. He needed Harry Potter to grow up in the Wizarding World so he wouldn't reject it and choose to live as a Muggle."

"And what if I'd done that?"

"Of course you wouldn't Harry dear," she said complacently, "You're my son."

"You gave me away!"

"I didn't want to, but it was all for the best. You have to understand that."

"Best," said Harry scornfully. He wanted to say more but Lupin thrust a mug of hot chocolate right in front of his mouth. He reached up to shove it away but Lupin smiled at him. It was an annoyingly reasonable smile that seemed to invite a reasonable response. Harry found himself grinding his teeth and reluctantly accepting the mug.

"The best," said Mrs Weasley, "Being Harry Potter offered you so many opportunities. Far more than being the sixth Weasley. We couldn't even have afforded to send you to Hogwarts."

Lupin repeated his manoeuvre with the hot chocolate on Sirius. When Sirius finally took the mug, Lupin turned to Mrs Weasley.

"Molly you know that's not true. There are several institutions that offer tuition grants, I received one myself."

"Weasleys don't accept charity. We're better than that."

Sirius lent over and very carefully put his mug down by the foot of his chair. When he lifted his head he was smiling fixedly.

"Padfoot, if you say one word," warned Lupin.

Sirius kept smiling and remained silent but his arm around Harry was bunched and hard with tension. Harry glared at Mrs Weasley.

"What do you mean better? You gave me away!"

"It was for the best. Harry Potter got to grow up in the Wizarding World and our son received all the advantages of being Harry Potter."

"And you got your other children's school fees paid for you," snapped Sirius.

"Well yes, but as Dumbledore said, it wouldn't do for the Boy-Who-Lived's siblings to be uneducated. And if they hadn't gone to Hogwarts, it would have attracted attention when Ron did. But that's really all irrelevant. What you have to understand Harry is that we did for you. As Harry Potter you're wealthy and respected and important. How could I turn down such a chance for my son?"

"Easily," said Sirius, "How can you believe this stuff? Moony do us a favour and check Dumbledore didn't Confound them."

Lupin looked rather embarrassed.

"Already thought of it huh? That's my Moony always one step ahead."

"I try. And as far as I can tell there was no magical manipulation going on."

"Of course not," fussed Mrs Weasley, "The Headmaster explained everything to us. We were honoured he chose to entrust us with Harry Potter's safety."

"Moving on," said Lupin, coming to stand beside Harry and resting one hand on his shoulder, "What I want to know, and what I never got a straight answer for earlier, is how you could leave our Harry with the Dursleys? You knew the blood wards business was hokum, how could you let us keep sending him back there?"

Mrs Weasley looked down at her handkerchief. "It was hard but Dumbledore said that the Wizarding World was so stressful for him that he needed to spend time with the Muggles to recuperate and relax. He needed to get away from the pressures of being the Boy Who Lived and enjoy himself."

Harry's hands started to shake and he dropped his mug, spilling hot chocolate across the floor. Sirius shifted, pulling him tight against his chest so that he half sat on his lap and he curled gratefully into his godfather's protective arms.

"You talk to her Moony, I can't." Sirius sounded nearly desperate.

"Mrs Weasley," said Lupin in a calm, controlled voice that, if they were at Hogwarts, would have meant multiple detentions, "It is perfectly obvious that Harry dislikes, and is disliked by, his relatives. And you attempt to justify sending him there on the basis of 'enjoyment'?"

"You've been listening to the children. You were a Professor, you know how they exaggerate."

"Mrs Weasley, anybody with an ounce of empathy can see Harry is unhappy at the Dursleys."

"Nonsense," but she was looking down at her handkerchief and Harry couldn't quite interpret the expression on her face.

"She's lying," whispered Sirius, so softly that Harry wasn't sure anybody heard but him. "She knew, so why?" His voice trailed off and then he was cursing viciously.

"Pads, what's the matter?"

Sirius ignored Lupin. Tilting his head Harry could see his godfather's whole attention was fixed on Mrs Weasley.

"You knew," he accused, "You knew and you were pleased."

"Sirius that's a dreadful thing to say, of course she wasn't…" Lupin trailed off. Mrs Weasley's face was flushed and she was focused on twisting her handkerchief around her fingers.

"Molly?" Lupin sounded shocked. "Is it true? Were you pleased?"

"Of course not," she denied. "It was only natural that he couldn't bond properly with the Dursleys. Because he's my son not theirs," she finished smugly.

Sirius growled. "You let our Harry…"

"Stop calling him that. He is not your Harry, he's mine. My son. Finally my family is going to be complete. Harry and Ron will be another set of twins just like Fred and George."

Harry choked on a completely inappropriate giggle.

"Pup?" asked Sirius.

"It's not funny. It's just, none of us know who's Fred and who's George but at least they know which of them is which. But even I don't know if I'm Ron or Harry."

Sirius sniggered and then tried to pretend he hadn't. "Sorry Pup, you're right it's not funny."

Harry turned his head and attempted to glare at his godfather, but the grey eyes watching him were full of such devilry that he couldn't repress another giggle. Sirius snorted as he tried to swallow his own amusement. He sounded so like an insulted horse that Harry gurgled with delight, which made Sirius laugh, and then they were both away.

"It's not funny," sputtered Sirius.

"No," gasped Harry, "It's hilarious."

"Okay," said Lupin, "I think hysteria is setting in again. Maybe we should go to bed and try again tomorrow."

"No," said Mrs Weasley, "He has to…"

"Padfoot, why don't you take Harry up to bed while I talk to Mrs Weasley."

"No," she protested, "I don't understand what the fuss is about. Harry is already Ron's best friend. He already thinks of us as family. This just makes it official."

Harry abruptly stopped laughing. Clutching his aching stomach, he leaned weakly against his godfather.

"Mrs Weasley," said Lupin, "I really don't think things are going to be that simple."

"James Potter was my best friend," said Sirius fiercely, "And I adored his Mum and Dad. But if they were really my parents and they'd abandoned me to the Blacks, I'd never have spoken to them again."

Harry beamed at his godfather's support.

Lupin coughed, "Which is not necessarily the lesson we want Harry to learn, is it Padfoot?"

"Moony, I'm all for being reasonable and not making irrevocable decisions but there is a limit."

"This is all irrelevant," complained Mrs Weasley, "The Potters weren't your parents Sirius, so I don't see what that's got to do with anything. The fact is that he is my son and nothing will ever change that."

Harry stared the woman in front of him, she seemed like a caricature of the mother he'd always dreamed of.

"You gave me away," he protested quietly, "You left me with the Dursleys."

"I've explained all that, you had to stay with them. It was all for the best. Now, stop being difficult. Remember, I am your mother."

"Right," said Sirius, "This interview is over." Shoving his chair sharply backwards, he stood up. "Come on Harry."

"Stop right there. Harry, I forbid you from leaving with that man."

"He's my godfather."

"Mrs Weasley," said Lupin.

"I am his mother and he has to do as I say. Come here!" She held out her hand imperatively.

Harry bared his teeth.

Sirius straightened up, jerking his robes into place. He tilted his chin up and looked down his nose with eyes that had gone ice hard. Harry suddenly remembered that Sirius was pure-blooded.

"Mrs Weasley," Sirius' voice had slipped into a slow, arrogant drawl, "You are labouring under a misapprehension. No matter what you or Headmaster Dumbledore may claim, you have not established your veracity. No proof has been offered and, until such a time as you have demonstrated compelling evidence of your allegation to our lawyers, you have no right to make demands of our godson."

He cast a quick sideways glance at Lupin who nodded his head, folded his arms and came to stand half a step behind him. Sirius smiled grimly.

"Indeed," he continued, "Given the matter pertains to the inheritance of the Potter name and fortune, I believe it is only proper to seek a ruling from the Wizengamot."

"You can't," gasped Mrs Weasley, "The Headmaster said…"

"Headmaster Dumbledore appears to have said a great deal, however I am hard put to see why I should consider anything he says in the nature of Holy Writ. His execrable care of my godson alone casts his character in an extremely dubious light and lays him open to a suit for damages."

"He is not your godson."

"Should that prove to be the case, I can only express my astonishment that his proper guardians condoned his treatment instead of seeking recompense."

"We couldn't do anything. Dumbledore said we'd lose them both. At least this way we still had Ron. And Harry was starting to love us like a family, until you came along. Everything would be alright if you'd just stayed rotting in Azkaban like you were supposed to."

The air fractured around them as every dish in the room shattered.