Disclaimer: No Harry Potter propia. En todo. Que sea.

Chapter 18-Really? Seriously? This Is Going to Happen?

"So," Draco said when they got there, "What are you going to do now?" Please say leave; please say leave. Let's just say that Draco had had enough Harry Potter for one day.

"What are you going to do now?" Harry shot back.

"I," Draco announced, "Have a DADA class to attend in ten minutes."

"Then," Harry said with a smirk, "I have a DADA class to attend in ten minutes."

"What? Why do you want to come to my class? Don't you have to go on doing whatever it is you're supposed to be doing that you won't tell me about in order to kill Voldemort? Or isn't there a puppy stuck in a tree somewhere that you need to go be a hero to?" (1)

"A Puppy in a…what?" Harry asked, confused. "Aren't cats usua–"

"Just. Answer. The. Question."

"Okay, okay," Harry nodded his head amiably. "I do, but I can't spend all my time trying to save the world; I need to have some fun sometimes too. Besides, if I left now, someone might notice the paintings acting weird. Plus, a good night's sleep would be nice. No offence, Draco, but you snore."

Draco ignored the bit about the paintings and skipped down to good nights sleep and you snore. "Malfoys don't snore! And does that mean you're planning on staying the night? In my room? In my bed? Again!"

Harry frowned a little. "Yes, but if sharing a bed bothers you that much, then you can take the floor. Might let me sleep a little better too…snorer."

"I am not taking the floor, and I DO NOT SNORE!" Draco exclaimed, outraged. It's my room!"

"I'm the guest," Harry replied. "And it's the host's job to make sure the guest is comfortable."

"Not this guest," Draco muttered, letting it go for now, before checking the clock. "Crap, I've got two minutes to get to my class. Who knows what the little brats could get into unsupervised in my classroom?" Draco dashed around the room, grabbing his cloak and checking his reflection in the mirror before heading to the door.

"You Know Who knows," Harry commented. "And you've been spending way too much time with Snape; he's rubbing off on you. Next thing you know, you'll want to dye your hair black and stop washing it for a month."

"Are you coming or not?" Draco called from the door, ignoring Harry with a well-practiced ease. "And please say not!"

"I'm coming," Harry called back and quickly followed Draco out the door, casting another invisibility charm on the way. He was getting to be a pro at casting those. Draco broke into a run, but they were still late by a good few minutes. Panting slightly, Draco opened the door and walked in. Harry followed, only to find himself looking at…Lupin.

Seriously, who was up there that had a grudge against him? No, not a grudge; whoever it was absolutely hated him. Harry hurried to follow Draco up to his desk, hoping that the many students' (were they third years) scents would mask his own.

Lupin paused in whatever it was he had been saying at the front of the class, turned and smiled warmly at Draco. "Hello, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sorry for commandeering your class, but Professor McGonagall just dragged me over here saying you were late and that I needed to entertain the class until you got here. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Draco replied, moving over to shake Lupin's hand and getting a surprised look from the werewolf. "I'm sorry I was late, and thank you for watching my class. If you don't mind me asking, though, what are you doing here? You don't work here." Ah, Harry recognized feigned politeness when he saw it. Draco was obviously (to Harry. Remember; he's been living with dementors) just fishing for information.

Lupin's smile grew tight and a little forced but remained. "Well, I'm here staying with Sirius for a little while. He's substituting in for Hagrid as the Care of Magical Creatures teacher for a few days."

"That still doesn't explain exactly why you're here. Don't you live at Black's house or something?" (2)

"I, er," Lupin looked over at the class, which was completely engrossed in the conversation they were having, and back at Draco. "You see; Sirius and I had a bit of a…falling out with some of the other people who live with us. So, when Sirius came here, I came with him."

Draco just nodded his head, but Harry looked at Lupin in shock. He had come to Hogwarts to avoid Dumbledore? Wait a minute; Harry had left them in Village #2, right? He had. Hmm, he'd call the Daily Prophet later. Hey, had Lupin and Black known that he would do something to keep the Order of Idiots…indisposed for a while? Is that why they'd thought it would be okay to come to Hogwarts even though Dumbledore was headmaster?

Harry broke out of his thoughts as Lupin turned to leave. But before he had gone far at all, Lupin brushed past Draco. He stopped for a second, nose twitching. Harry groaned silently. 'I hate that darned werewolf sense of smell!' Harry thought unhappily.

"Actually," Lupin said, looking like he was itching to give Draco a quick sniff over, earning an appalled look from Draco. "May I stay and watch you teach? I would love to see how you've grown and gotten better since I taught you."

Draco cast an unsure glance in Harry's direction but shrugged anyways. "Sure."

Harry pouted. (Though invisibly, of course; no one knew he was putting as he was invisible, but he knew he was pouting.) Now how would he be able to terrorize Draco's class invisibly? And all he'd wanted was a day of fun. Maybe Trelawney was right, but instead of a dark spirit following Draco, it was following Harry.

The class had actually gone rather well. Draco was quite the teacher, and Harry had kept his mischief in check because Lupin was there. He had spent most of the lesson following Draco around, miming his gestures. Even if no one could see his antics, he was still walking around with Draco; and, considering how Lupin's nose had crinkled every time Draco (and consequently, Harry) had come by, Harry was probably reinforcing the idea that he had visited Draco recently, not that Harry was there.

The only part that might have tipped Lupin off to the fact that someone might be there was when Harry "accidentally" tripped one of the students as he was leaving. Hey, Harry had been going to move out of the way; but the kid had just sped out towards the door before he had the chance to. The kid had face-planted on the ground, and his momentum had sped him forward a few feet.

The most curious thing of all, though, was that the kid just picked himself back up before anyone could do anything and sped out the door at top speed, not even seeming to notice the blood dripping out of his nose. Harry strained to catch another dull thud that came from farther down the hallway and just stared, unsure of how to react to something so…odd.

Draco just shook his head like this was a daily thing. Huh, so Draco scared his kids almost as much as Snape did. (Have you ever seen Neville run so fast as when leaving the potions dungeon? Before he had seen it, Harry would have sworn that no human could run that fast and that Neville was actually some sort of magical creature in disguise.) It seemed Draco really was spending way too much time with Snape.

As soon as the last student was out the door, Lupin shut it and turned towards Draco. "When's you're next class?"

Draco checked his watch and said, "Not for a half hour."

"Good," Lupin said before walking up towards Draco, a serious expression on his face. "You have been with Harry. Recently." Draco cast a hopeless look towards where Harry was.

'Very subtle, Draco, just look over right where I am.' He won't realize anything at all,' Harry thought wryly.

. "What makes you think that?"

"Don't crap with me," Lupin said, more harshly than Harry had ever heard him speak before. Honestly, he hadn't even thought crap was in Lupin's vocabulary.

'Oh,' Harry remembered, 'The full moon's tomorrow. No wonder he's acting like a hormonal teenage girl.'

"Please," his tone became softer, pleading. "How recently?"

Draco looked unsure of what to do, so Harry nudged him slightly and whispered in his ear. "Go on. You might as well." Lupin seemed to twitch a little at the sound, and he looked around confusedly but eventually gave up trying to find where the noise had come from.

Draco looked over at Lupin in defeat. "Just this morning."

Lupin's eyes lit up. "And he was okay? He's not hurt or anything? He's alright?"

"He seemed fine when I saw him." Draco looked rather besieged. "Seemed rather chipper, too, if that matters to you."

Lupin let out a sigh of relief. "Good, he's alright. And he really seemed happy?"

Draco nodded. "Way too happy, if you ask me," he muttered bitterly under his breath. "Ow!" Draco yelped as Harry slapped him across the back of the head and looked around, glaring. Lupin just looked confused before dismissing it as a Malfoy Thing and turning to a more important subject.

Lupin smiled full force. "I'm so glad he's doing well. You don't know how much that means to me. I would say that if you see him again to tell him that Sirius and I are sorry, but I know our apologies are useless. I wouldn't blame him if he never forgave us, and I will never ask him to.

"But still, if you see him, please tell him that we love him and that we're rooting for him, whatever it is he's doing; and that we won't interfere with his life anymore unless he wants us to. We no longer have the right. Sirius and I were so stupid before, but we realize that now, and we're no longer going to follow Dumbledore blindly and let him hurt Harry again."

Lupin smiled again, looking slightly more at peace, despite the full moon being so soon. He let out a short laugh. "Sorry, I'm just going on and on. I've overstepped myself. Just tell Harry the first part, please?" He turned to leave and was almost out the door when Draco called out in confusion.

"Wait, you aren't going to ask what we were doing or where he went or anything?"

Lupin shook his head, a kind smile on his face. "No, didn't you hear what I just said? Sirius and I are done trying to force him to do anything. He doesn't deserve that, and trying to force him only hurts all of us. Besides, he deserves his privacy after all that's happened to him…after everything we've done to him. We'll wait for him to come to us because we don't deserve to go to him. And if he never comes, well, that's life; and we'll deserve it. We can only hope that he's safe and happy, wherever he is. And here I'm talking too much again. Good bye, Mr. Malfoy."

And he left.

Harry stood still for a few minutes. He felt warmth rise up in him, and he found himself…smiling, if only a little, at where Lupin had been. Maybe, maybe he didn't have to hate everyone from his old life. It seemed that some of them (two of them) were, at least, beginning to learn.

He certainly couldn't trust them right now, but maybe, eventually, if he let them prove themselves… Luna's words echoed in Harry's mind. Maybe he should trust his feelings. But…not yet. He just couldn't yet.

"Harry, Harry, Harry!" Draco felt around numbly, trying to find the invisible boy, unaware of Harry's inner turmoil. "Harry, Har–!"

*Smack!*

Harry yelped in pain as Draco's blindly seeking hands smacked into his nose. Hard. "Ah! Draco! What are you doing?"

"Oops, sorry Harry," Draco stepped back a tad sheepishly but smirking a bit too. "It's what you get for getting lost in your own thoughts and forcing poor little me to try and snap invisible you out of it. We Malfoys are above that. Therefore, it's divine retribution."

"Gah," Harry said, taking off his invisibility charm, since the next class was still a good few minutes away, and kept his hand pressed up to his sore nose. "Draco, you're a pain."

"I'm a Malfoy."

"Malfoys are a pain. Ugh, my nose. It was like you were actually trying to smack me as hard as you could." Harry winced.

"…"

"You were; you were! You little–"

"Come one, you're the Boy-Who-Lived. Stop whining about a little smack on the nose," Draco taunted.

"My nose hurts! But not nearly as much as you're about to, "Harry said, outraged, stepping towards Draco threateningly.

"Are you bleeding, Harry?"

Harry tripped as he was moving forward to get in Draco's face at the sound of the soft, dreamy voice. He quickly tried to catch himself but only half succeeded and ended up landing with half of him on the floor and half of him clinging to a desk. Harry looked up at the young, bright-eyed woman, who gave him a hand up, and smiled weakly. "Hello, Luna."

"Are you alright?" Luna asked, inspecting Harry's slightly bruised nose curiously.

Harry laughed and gave her a one-armed hug. "I'm fine, not even bleeding or anything. I was just giving Draco a hard time."

Luna nodded her head sagely. "Yes, that's what it sounded like from the hallway; but I wanted to make sure."

"Wait," Harry said, "You could hear us form the hallway?"

Luna nodded again. "Oh, yes, you were quite loud. I hadn't even been planning on dropping by until I heard you. I thought you were having a contest to see who could be louder. Didn't you know how much noise you were making?"

"No, Luna, we didn't" Draco said tiredly, rubbing his forehead. "You had better hope not too many people heard us, Harry."

"Oh," Luna said helpfully, "Quite a lot of people have. There's a large crowd outside your classroom, Draco, and they all seemed rather enthralled with what you were saying when I walked up to them. None of them seemed too eager to come inside and hear your conversation better when I suggested it, though."

Harry groaned. There went his nice, relaxing day. "Thanks for telling us, Luna," he said with a small smile before turning to Draco. "I had better go," he sighed. "See you later, Draco; and remember about the lower level death eaters, kay?"

Draco nodded and began to shake Harry's hand formally before giving in and hugging Harry carefully. Harry laughed and hugged Draco back; it seems even Malfoys need hugs. He then turned to Luna, who gave him a quick peck on the lips and a hug. "Be careful, Harry, and don't let any more wrackspurts get in your head while I'm gone." Luna smiled benignly and stepped back.

Draco raised one eyebrow at Harry before shaking his head, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Crazy and crazier…makes sense."

Harry and Luna just laughed. Harry didn't even bother putting his invisibility charm back on as he pulled his cloak over his head and walked with Luna out of the room, turning and saluting Draco before he was out the door. "I'll be back."

Draco just shook his head at another idiotic muggle reference and loudly continued his "conversation" with "Harry." Luna was right; there was a pretty big crowd of around fifteen students standing outside the classroom, whispering and eavesdropping. They didn't even give Luan a second glance as she and Harry walked out, though Harry got a few suspicious looks that quickly disappeared as the students focused back on the classroom. After all, there was no way Draco and Harry could possibly know they were listening in.

Harry snickered as walked past, and Luna went the opposite way down the hallway, but not before leaning in to listen one last time, "Please do as I said before and be true to your feelings, Harry. It's important."

Harry looked at her confusedly, but Luna just skipped away down the hallway. Harry watched her retreating back for a while, subconsciously admiring the way her hair looked in the light coming from one of the windows as it swished back and force at the bouncy steps. Darn, now he was getting to be a sap. Draco must be rubbing off on him even more than he'd thought. (No matter what anyone said, Harry knew that Draco was a closet romantic.)

Harry shook his head and quickly walked farther away from the gaggle of students before turning around suddenly and pulling his cloak around himself tighter. He just couldn't help himself. Harry pointed a finger and shouted in a fake voice that sounded a lot like Goyle for some reason, "Look, it's Harry Potter!"

Immediately, all heads swiveled over to where he was pointing, and a laughing Harry slipped away without anyone noticing again. Wizards could just be so stupid. Harry even watched as that one kid from before went speeding down the hallway again. He tripped over his own feet, falling hard on face…again. The kid just flushed bright red and took off down the hallway again. None of the other students even looked up from where they were trying to find Harry. Apparently, that really was a normal thing for that kid…wait, did this mean he was afraid of Harry?

Harry hadn't even met the kid, why was he being lumped in with Draco in the "people to run away" from category? That was mildly insulting. Laughing, Harry turned down the hallway, completely visible but wearing a cloak that hid his face, and walked past several students and even a couple of TEACHERS, who didn't question his right to be there. He even got a few, "Good afternoon"s and "How are you?"s, like he was there every day.

You'd think that security would be a bit better considering that fact that old Morty (Voldemort) was out there wreaking havoc upon a very suspecting public. Harry walked, and he walked; and he walked, cursing whoever it was that had decided to make Hogwarts so large. He was just turning the corner in a secluded hallway, just a mere few feet from his desired exit, when he ran into somebody.

"Gah!" Harry let out a whoosh of air as he and whoever this was collided. Harry landed on his butt, as did the man he'd collided with; and the man dropped the papers he'd been carrying.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the man began before Harry cut him off, beginning to pick up the papers.

"Don't be. It's my fault. I should have been…" Harry looked up to hand the papers he'd been picking up to the man and stopped dead in his tracks. It was Sirius Black. Black froze too, face going pale; and Harry realized that his hood had fallen down in the collision.

They stared at each other, crouched on the ground, neither looking away, until Lupin's voice and the soft sound of shoes on stone caused Harry to jerk violently away. "Sirius did you run into another…H-Harry?" Lupin turned the corner and happened upon the scene.

This seemed to jerk Black out of his trance and caused him to jump back with a visible effort and take the papers hastily from Harry's hand, making sure not to touch him in the process. "Uh, er, sorry, H-Harry, we, we'll just leave you alone!" Black looked as if it was costing him a lot, but he waked quickly away from Harry, Lupin following.

Harry watched them leave in what was surely the wrong direction for where they were supposed to be going. They hadn't even asked him what he was doing in Hogwarts. "Please do as I said and be honest with your feelings, Harry…" Harry remembered what Luna had last said to him.

"Eeeugggghhhh!" Harry whined form between gritted teeth, pacing back and forth a bit, debating harshly with himself. "NNGGHH!" Harry let out a frustrated groan, rubbing his head with the palms of his hands, frustrated. "I can't believe I'm about to do this," he growled, rubbing his eyes angrily.

Harry dashed down the hallway in the same direction that Lupin and Black had gone. He found them just a few hallways down, talking (surprise, surprise,) about him. Black was sitting on the floor, back up against the wall, talking to Lupin. Neither of them noticed as Harry approached then.

"––looked alright, Remus."

Lupin nodded. "Yeah, I spoke with the Malfoy boy earlier because he had Harry's scent on him; and he said that Harry was okay, but still…"

"It's good to know for sure."

"Yes," Lupin agreed. Black knocked his head up against the wall, looking up.

"When he saw me, Remus, he…he didn't look as…mad as he has in the past. Like he didn't hate me quite as much as he did. He just seemed…surprised to see us. Do you think he can ever forgive us? I wouldn't, and I doubt he will; but do you think he could?"

Lupin opened his mouth to reply when Harry felt a breeze from a nearby window blow in, going in the direction of Lupin and Black. Lupin's head snapped up, and his eyes widened. "Harry," he breathed.

Black nodded his head. "Yes, we're talking about Harry."

"No," Lupin gripped Black's shoulder tightly, causing Black to look up at Lupin. "It's Harry."

Black followed Lupin's gaze, and his eyes came to rest on Harry. They both stared, and Harry shifted from one foot to the other uncertainly. Gathering his courage, Harry walked forward briskly until he was just a couple of feet from his two former mentors. "I, er…thank you." Harry finally said bluntly, eyes on his feet.

Lupin and Black started in surprise. "W-what?" Black stammered. "Why are you thanking us? You hate us! We betrayed you! We hurt you! We don't even have the right to call ourselves your family anymore! We–"

"Stood up to Dumbledore for me," Harry said quietly, looking up at last. "Tried your hardest to respect my boundaries? …After an initial bout of utter stupidity, tried to help me? Treated me like a rational adult who did nothing wrong, but is cleaning up everyone else's messes anyways instead of a child who threw a fit and now needs to apologize, forgive, and clean up a mess that's his?" Harry's voice steadily grew in volume until he was practically shouting.

He stood, breath coming in harsh pants, staring blackly at a very surprised looking Lupin and Black. Harry felt pent up anger and frustration boil in him. Tears of rage built up behind his eyes, but Harry pushed them down and instead gave a bitter chuckle. "...Look at me; this stupid place is just bringing all my emotions out. Gah, I feel like a wuss. I can't wait to get out of here." Harry groaned. Something about Hogwarts seemed to make him emotionally unstable, and he had no idea why.

Black rose carefully, looking at Harry cautiously. "Ha–" Lupin nudged Black forcefully and gave him a loaded look. Black hastily, but unhappily, amended himself. "Mr. Potter, what do you mean? Are you saying…?"

"I'll hear you out," Harry said, stiffly, still full of inner turmoil and unpleasant emotions to the point where he was no longer sure who he was mad at, who he hated, who he tolerated, and who he liked. Part of him wanted nothing more than to run headfirst into his once-godfather's tight embrace, to forget himself and just act like a kid, ignorant to all the pain and hurt he'd faced and would face, for once.

Another part of him wanted nothing more than to run away, to hide, to curl up into a ball and wait for the world to just leave him alone. But yet still another part of him wanted to stand up to the world, say screw you, you did this to yourself, and go do whatever the heck it was he wanted and never look back.

Instead, Harry steeled his nerves and followed a dazed looking Black and somewhat hopeful Lupin into an empty class room where no one could overhear them. Trapped in close proximity with two people he wanted nothing more than to get away from had Harry practically hyperventilating, his senses going haywire, making him feel like he'd jump at any sudden noise or movement. His breath came out in hurried gasps, and his eyes were wide and his face ashen.

Horrible memories flashed by in his mind: His first encounter with Voldemort; the basilisk; Cedric; Voldemort returning; the shapeless forms and masks of the death eaters surrounding him, jeering and mocking; the way every one he'd known or loved had flinched away from him, even before he was accused; the trial; being escorted to Azkaban; the countless murders and deaths caused by Voldemort that he had been forced to see in excruciating detail; his parents' deaths over and over and over again; Voldemort laughing loudly as he tortured innocent people; the feelings of helplessness, anger, betrayal, hurt, loneliness, doubt, shame, suspicion, of being misled, kept in the dark, and so many more.

He was only one human; how could he possibly deal with all of this rationally? That's the point; he couldn't. He couldn't handle all that pain, and back with the dementors, he didn't have to. Here, he did. At that moment, Harry longed only to be back at Azkaban and as far away from confronting his past as possible.

Lupin and Black looked at Harry, concerned, but sat down quietly in some empty seats while Harry began pacing around the room. Desperately, he tried to calm himself. He shouldn't be acting this way; he was more mature than this, old enough that he shouldn't let his emotions control him. 'You've been to Azkaban. You faced Voldemort more times than you care to remember. These are just two men. There's no reason to be–' Harry stopped suddenly.

Afraid

He was afraid. Harry realized this with sudden clarity. He was afraid of letting these two back in, afraid of getting hurt, betrayed again. Harry let out a bitter laugh, causing Lupin and Black to jump. Apparently, he was still just that lonely little kid under the stairs at heart. He wasn't afraid of what they could do to him physically, (yeah, right) but what they could do to him emotionally.

The very thought of letting them back in again terrified Harry to his very core. If he let them in, if he took off this carefully constructed mask of pain and hate and apathy, what was there to stop them from hurting him again? Besides, they didn't deserve to be let in, Harry suddenly remembered. He was still angry with them, still hated them, at least in part. Why should he let them in? Why should he trust them? Which conflicted part of himself should he listen to? He felt like he was at war within himself. Gah! He was only twenty years old; he shouldn't have to deal with this.

Finally, "Why should I trust you?" Harry looked up suddenly, staring at Lupin and Black intently.

Black and Lupin seemed completely taken aback. Black looked at Harry and said bluntly, "You shouldn't. There's no logical reason for why you should. We've already betrayed you once." Harry raised and eyebrow despite himself, and Lupin looked at Black incredulously.

"And that will make me trust you how?"

Black continued, undeterred. "We can't make you trust us. Harry, I know we've hurt you so much; and we've done it more than once, indirectly and directly. We've hurt you so badly, and I can't tell you how much I regret that. I will not stop being sorry, and I will never forgive myself. But if you're trying to find a logical reason to trust us…you won't. In fact, if you use logic, it'll tell you that you shouldn't trust anyone because everyone can and will hurt you sometime in your lifetime.

I can't promise you that neither Remus nor I will ever hurt you again; it's going to happen. But that's life. I can, however, promise you that I will try my very best not to hurt you and to keep you safe. Harry, I know that you hate me; and you have every right to. I know that I've tried to cut you out of my life, but Harry…despite everything I've said or done, I love you. I've always loved you, even from the first moment you were born.

Even when you were in Azkaban, and I thought you were the worst scum on the face of the earth, I loved you. No matter how many times I tried to stop, tried to say that you weren't my godson – I even told you that! – tried to tell myself that I hated you, but I couldn't. I just…couldn't. I love you, Harry James Potter, and even if you no longer consider me family, you're still my godson. …And that's why you should trust me."

Harry stared at Black, as did Lupin. Black had a haunted look in his eyes, and his face was all but pleading with Harry for understanding. Harry numbly walked towards the door, unable to process this information at the moment, and unsure of what to say or do. Black started to get up and keep him from just leaving, but Lupin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and a quick shake of the head.

They (well, mostly Black, but what more could Lupin have said after that monologue?) had tried their best to try and explain things, and now they needed to let Harry think things over. It was all up to him now. Just before Harry stepped through the door, he suddenly turned around to look at the two men who had once been the closest things to family that Harry had, had.

Harry sighed before giving the barest of smiles. "I…I understand." The two men looked up in surprise and hope. "I still don't forgive you, but…I don't hate you, at least not as much as did before. I still don't like you, though, and I can't trust you. Maybe later I could, when it's only my life that's in danger of getting hurt, but right now, a lot of people are depending on me and who I trust. I can't risk innocent lives like that."

Black and Lupin nodded their heads in mutual but disappointed understanding. Harry let a small smirk compromise his face. "But…" Harry wandlessly conjured up a piece of paper and a quill and quickly wrote something down on the paper. "This is where I'm staying. If you're ever going to get my trust or forgiveness, you're going to have to prove that I can trust you and that I should forgive you. But you can't do that unless I give you a chance. Here's your chance."

Harry tossed the note to Black, who hastily grabbed it, looking at Harry gratefully. "Thank you, Ha–" Lupin elbowed him again. "Mr. Potter." Determination shined in Black's eyes. "I will prove that you can trust me. You just wait and see; I'll be a better godfather this time than you could ever believe."

Lupin nodded. "Thank you for giving us a chance, H–Mr. Potter."

Harry gave a wan smile. "I'm not entirely sure you're welcome." He turned towards the door again and was about to leave when he looked back again. "Sirius, Remus," he nodded in the direction of each of them. "Drop by sometime. Oh…and you can call me Harry." And with this, Harry pulled the hood of his cloak back over his head and walked into the silent hallway.

Sirius and Remus just sat there for a few seconds before Sirius jumped up and shouted, "YES!" He let out a loud, whooping cheer before pulling Remus up into a wild hug. "We have a chance! We can fix this!" was his muffled shout into Remus' shoulder. Sirius began laughing hysterically, and slowly, his laughter turned to muffled sobs.

Remus smiled knowingly, tears in his own eyes, before wrapping his arms around his best friend. Maybe they could finally fix what they'd broken so badly so long ago. Remus carefully took the paper form his gently shaking friend and held it up. On it were three scribbled sentences.

The Order Headquarters. Come see me sometime, though I might not be there when you come. Just talk to Kreacher.

Remus blinked slowly before collapsing against Sirius in helpless laughter. He laughed until his ribs hurt and tears flowed down his face freely. Remus hadn't laughed this much in years.

Author's Note: (1) Muggle sayings confuse Draco.

(2) I think I forgot to mention this, but Sirius was cleared after the DoM fiasco.

Okay, okay, I know a lot of you are going to hate me for this chapter. Well, first of all, I just can't see Harry never forgiving them. It's just not in his personality.

Second, he hasn't actually forgiven them yet. He's given them the chance to prove that they deserve to be forgiven. Face it, if he didn't give them a chance, he would never have the opportunity to forgive them and have it not be completely sudden, random, or out of character.

Day 1: I hate you! Day 2: I still hate you. Day 3: I love you and forgive you! Hugs for everyone!

…Yeah, not gonna work for me. Plus, it's easier for Harry to torture them when they're near him. And there's still going to be revenge, just not as horrible revenge for Sirius and Remus as it would have been before. Besides, if Harry doesn't forgive anyone, Voldemort still wins. And don't worry; I don't think he'll forgive anyone else in this story.

And I hope it wasn't too long winded or corny, too. I was trying really hard, but I was having a hard time trying to communicate their feelings in the way that I felt was right without going on for page after page after page or sounding like a hallmark card. Plus I hope that I didn't make Harry too OOC, because I feel like even he has his breaking point; and this was it. I didn't want to make him sound like a wimp, though, either. Let me know what you thought of it, though, please, so I can make it better later on. (After I'm done with this story, I'm planning to go back over it and fix small grammar mistakes, plotholes, bad-ish scenes, etc.)

Okay, one more thing before this ridiculously long author's note is done. (I'm amazed you've stuck with me this far. I would have just clicked out by now.) If any of you have any good ideas for revenge for any character, (though no killing or anything) I would really appreciate it. But nothing too horrible for Sirius or Remus, though. I have some stuff planned for them already. But for everyone else, I need the help pretty badly; I have no idea what the rest of revenge is going to be, and I'm not good at all at being completely cold, cruel, and horrible to people.

Thanks for reading! (And suffering through the author's note of doom.)