Author's note: The title for this chapter was inspired by the tagline for the last movie, and Remus's quote about courage is by Ambrose Redmoon.

Stolen: Greyback's Revenge
Chapter 7 - It All Ends Here

A while later, Sirius entered the lounge, using his wand to direct a large tray suspended in the air before him. As Sirius guided it into the room and brought it to rest on the coffee table in front of Remus and Harry, Remus's stomach began to grumble hungrily at the scents that it brought with it. Remus ran his eyes over the tray, ogling the massive stack of French toast, the large plate with dozens sausage links, and a giant bottle of maple syrup. Remus was hesitant to move for fear of waking Harry, but then he noticed something that didn't quite fit.

"You made treacle tart?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "For breakfast?" He made a face; Remus was one of those people who found it hard eating anything too sweet before a certain hour of the day.

"I didn't make it," Sirius said, "I bought it. A couple days ago." He paused before continuing. "It was supposed to be a surprise for both of you. I was planning on picking Harry up at Hogwarts after classes yesterday and bringing him home for dinner. I know we've all been missing each other since he went back, but that obviously didn't happen. Since he's here, I figured we might as well have it now." Sirius moved further into the room and sat down on the coffee table next to the tray, facing Remus and Harry on the sofa. Sirius took one look at his godson and frowned. "Should we wake him up to eat or not?"

"He's had a rough day, Padfoot," Remus whispered, glancing down at the sleeping lump curled up against him. "I think we should let him sleep for a while. He's at peace right now."

Sirius bit his lip, seeming to scrutinize every inch of Harry, "How is he?"

Remus nodded encouragingly. "I think he's good. I told you a bath does a world of good after an encounter with Greyback, and I think he just needed to talk about some things."

Giving Remus a look that was somewhere between gratefulness and helplessness, Sirius bowed his head. He began focusing on his hands which were clasped between his legs.

"What?" Remus asked, not quite sure why his friend seemed so uncomfortable.

"I just…I'm thankful he has you. I'm thankful I have you, too, because both Harry and I would be lost without you. You're the one that helps keeps us sane, I think. And I'm glad Harry has someone to relate to him in all of this, because Merlin knows I can't."

"Padfoot-"

"And I didn't mean that to sound bitter if it did," Sirius said quickly, grimacing. "He's just going to have so many things to come to you with now instead of me. And I don't mean to make light of your time with Greyback. Not at all. But you share something with him now that I can't possibly understand." He flushed and diverted his gaze again. "That's sounds so petty and selfish of me."

"Padfoot," Remus repeated, stopping his best friend's rant. If he hadn't been afraid of disturbing Harry's sleep, he would have reached out a hand to grab one of Sirius's. "He's going to need you, too. I think I'd still be an absolute mess right now if not for you, if you hadn't been here for me every single second since I got back. Now, you might not be able to understand, be able to relate to certain things, but I don't think it matters. All that does is that you're here and that you want to help. Sometimes just knowing that much makes all the difference in the world.

Remus paused and glanced down at Harry before continuing. "Harry's helped me, too, in that respect. Just knowing that you're both here for me, that I can count on you both, that I have people who love me despite all the thoughts Greyback tried to put in my head - it helps. He's going to need both of us for that."

"I know," Sirius replied, nodding, "but this all makes me feel so helpless!"

"Me, too, believe me, but…at least this is better than when he was gone. Than when I was gone." Remus gave him a pointed look. "At least he's here, and he's safe. I don't think anything can match that feeling of absolute helplessness when we had no idea what was going to happen to him. That uncertainty is maddening. And right now…just listen to him when he needs it. That's about the best we can do right now."

"I can do that," Sirius said quietly, but then he tilted his head to the side. He smiled and said, "Someone's awake." Remus looked down and indeed, saw bright green eyes shining up at him.

Harry smiled a bit and stretched against Remus. "Your talking woke me up," Harry told them. When both Sirius and Remus began to apologize, Harry spoke over them. "I like hearing you two talk. It makes me feel better." Harry pulled away from Remus a bit, sitting up straighter. He looked back and forth between both his godfathers before he said, "Remus is right. I need both of you."

Sirius reached out a hand, laying it on Harry's cheek. "You've got both of us, Harry," he said. "Promise. If there's anything you need, just say the word."

Harry's eyes went to the still steaming plates of food next to his godfather. Without needing to be told, Sirius quickly began to divide the food up. Sirius passed heaping plates of everything to both Remus and Harry before helping himself to some as well. The three of them placed the plates in their laps and began eating. It was only then that they seemed to realize just how hungry they were. None of them had had sufficient sustenance since this ordeal had started, so they didn't even bother stopping to talk while they were eating. The only noise in the room for the next several minutes was the soft clanking of silverware on their plates.

Finally, when they began to feel full and their eating slowed, Sirius broke the silence that had settled. "We do need to have a talk about what happened," he said to Harry.

Harry stared down at his plate, pushing the remains of his French toast around in the sticky puddle of syrup. "I knew this was coming," he muttered miserably.

"I'm beginning to think you have a death wish," Sirius commented.

Letting his fork drop to his plate with a loud clang, Harry exclaimed, "It has nothing to do with that!" Sirius flinched away, and almost immediately, Harry began to regret his tone. For some reason unbeknownst to him, yelling at his godfather suddenly made Harry feel like bursting into tears. Before he even had time to register what was happening, he felt his eyes welling up with tears.

Remus placed a gentle hand on the back of Harry's neck, first giving it a soft squeeze and then rubbing his palm against it soothingly. This seemed to calm Harry significantly, and he took a deep breath, reaching under his glasses to wipe away his tears.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, "but I wasn't looking for trouble. I don't know why everyone assumes I am. It's always trouble that seems to find me."

"Wandering onto the grounds alone is hardly the safest place to be," Sirius pointed out.

"I know," Harry answered. He began to say more, but then he seemed to think better of it and changed gears. "It sounds so stupid now. Actually, it sounded stupid at the time, too, but…" He trailed off, shaking his head.

"What sounded stupid?" Sirius spurred when Harry didn't go on.

"The reason why I wandered out of school."

"Try us."

Harry heaved a heavy sigh, then he leaned forward and set his almost empty plate on the table. When he leaned back against the sofa, he looked back and forth between his godfathers again. Finally, he spoke. "Ever since the Death Eaters got into Hogwarts, it hasn't felt the least bit safe to me. All I keep thinking about is one of them coming around the corner, one of them coming into my dorm in the middle of the night. I can't sleep when I'm there. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep since I've gone back. It scares me so much, I lay awake all night thinking about it. Waiting for them to come and find me. I'm so tired, I feel like I'm going crazy." A sob suddenly escaped Harry. He was never one to cry, so what on earth was the matter with him?

"Oh, Harry," Sirius breathed. He promptly got up from the table and took a seat on the other side of Harry on the sofa. He wrapped an arm around his godson and said, "Why didn't you say something?"

Remus, who had been silent for the last few minutes, added, "Yeah, come to us before you try and run away from it. Is that what you were trying to do?"

Harry nodded, rubbing at his eyes again. "The castle was making me feel so…strangled. If I'm not even safe inside those walls, with Dumbledore, where am I safe at?! I thought the grounds might bring some relief from that, and at the time, they didn't seem anymore dangerous than Hogwarts already was. And I didn't say anything, because I was…embarrassed, I guess. How on earth can I be the savior of the wizarding world, this great brave Gryffindor, when I can't even get to sleep I'm so scared?"

Remus had begun running his hands through Harry's hair in a calming manner. "People always seem to equate bravery with a lack of fear," Remus said, "and I don't think that's the case. Or at least, it shouldn't be. Look, all three of us are Gryffindors, but does that mean we're never supposed to be scared of anything? No, because that's nonsense. Everyone is afraid of something at some point. It's what makes us human. Even Voldemort and Greyback are afraid of some things. Voldemort of dying, and Greyback of being abandoned, as crazy as that sounds. I think it's the only sign that they were ever even human at all - that they're still capable of feeling those things. I read this quote once," Remus went on, sounding wistful. "'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.' Wouldn't you say that's fair?"

Harry considered this, tilting his head back and forth in thought, but then he nodded a bit.

Turning toward Harry a bit, Remus hunched over a little to try and get closer to Harry's eye level. "You were very scared when the Death Eaters did get into Hogwarts. So was I, but I told you to run, to leave me and save yourself. But you didn't. You didn't leave until you were sure I was coming with you. In that instance, you placed my safety above your own fear. That's what bravery is all about, Harry. Not about not being scared, because everyone is sometime, even the bravest man in the world."

"And don't you think Moony's brave?" Sirius asked. "He just admitted he was afraid, but does that make him any less brave in your eyes?"

"Of course not," Harry promptly replied, glancing between them again. "You're the two bravest people I know."

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, I am pretty brave," he agreed, which made Remus snort. Sirius playfully narrowed his eyes at Remus over Harry's head before he said, "And I've been scared to death of some things in my life, make no mistake. Azkaban mostly. Dementors." He paused, pressing the knuckle of one finger against Harry's cheek. "Of not finding you."

When Harry faced his godfather again, his eyes were shimmering with unshed tears once more. "I was, too," Harry whispered, his voice cracking. Then he growled in frustration, swiping his eyes dry.

"You may be a little overemotional the next few days or weeks," Remus explained. "I've found Greyback has that effect on me too for some reason."

"A deranged homicidal raging maniac kidnapped him and tied him to a bed!" Sirius cried. "Of course he's going to be emotional!"

"That, too."

Harry let out a very soft breath of laughter, which the other two men were relieved to hear.

"I do understand why you needed to get out of Hogwarts that night," Sirius said, "and why you didn't feel like you could come to us with it. I probably would have done the same thing had I been in your position. But you do have to be punished for it."

Harry nodded, ducking his head in embarrassment. "I know."

"I'll speak to Minerva about it, but I imagine fifty points from Gryffindor and detention with your favorite teacher would do it," Remus said.

Harry groaned, letting his head flop against the back of the couch. He started up at the ceiling blankly.

"Even I have to agree that Snivellus is the best solution in this case," Sirius chimed in. Harry frowned in indignation, then Sirius placed a finger on his godson's chin, directing Harry's gaze towards him. "It's only because we love you, and we don't want to see anything happen to you."

"I know," Harry mumbled again. He seemed to be saying that a lot.

"Harry…" Sirius began after a moment of silence. "Would it help if we went to Dumbledore?"

Harry gave his godfather a questioning glance. "About what?"

Sirius gazed at Remus over the top of Harry's head, as if asking his friend's unspoken permission to carry on. When Remus didn't object - and Sirius was absolutely sure Remus knew what he was thinking - Sirius continued. "About staying here at night for the rest of the term. I think the castle is safe enough to attend classes when everyone is up and about, but if you're feeling so unsafe there at night that you can't sleep, perhaps it would be better if you slept here."

"I thought about that," Harry replied in exasperation. "I even thought about going to Dumbledore myself, but let's face it. He likes to keep an eye on me himself, likes to keep me under his thumb."

"I think this might be less about your physical safety now," Remus pointed out, "and more about your emotional safety. It's just not healthy for you to be missing so much sleep. You said so yourself you feel like you're going crazy."

"If Dumbledore cared all that much about my emotional safety," Harry bit out, "he wouldn't have made me live with the Dursleys all those years. He would have let me live with you instead," he added to Remus.

"I wish you could have," Remus said breathlessly. "I would have loved nothing more than to have you with me, to be able to raise you myself. But you know why I couldn't."

"If you say it's because you're a werewolf," Sirius interjected, "I'm going to curse you."

"It's not about what I think," Remus argued, "it's about what the Ministry thinks! A werewolf gaining full custody of the Boy Who Lived, especially back then? Fat chance. It would be hard enough now, but back then, it would have been damned near impossible."

"So they let me live with a bunch of nutcases," Harry said. "That's much better."

Remus considered this before he spoke again. "Well, I don't know if I would have been the best parent either."

"Remus," Harry said, giving Remus a stern look. "You and Sirius are the best parents I've ever had!" He paused for a moment before he conceded, "Course, that's not saying a lot, considering the only parental figures I remember are the Dursleys, but you're loads better than they could ever hope to be."

His cheeks turning a bit red, Remus said, "I appreciate it, and perhaps now, yeah, I do an okay job, but I doubt I could have back then. I was a bit of a mess myself. I'd just lost the only friends I'd ever had. I thought my best mate had betrayed me in the worst possible way-" he broke off and threw Sirius an apologetic expression. "I don't reckon I was exactly in the best shape to be raising a child."

"We could have helped each other through it," Harry suggested.

"Perhaps," Remus agreed, "but there's also the little matter of your mother's protection. You know you were better off in that regard if you lived with the Dursleys. And Dumbledore just wanted you to have a few normal years before you found out that everyone in our world knew your name. Given, they may not have been normal with the Dursleys, but at least your fame was one thing you didn't have to worry about back then. You know it gets to you sometimes, even now."

Harry hated to admit it, but Remus did have a point. "Yeah," he sighed, albeit grudgingly.

"But I do agree with Padfoot," Remus went on. "I think we do need to talk to Dumbledore and see if we can't somehow convince him that you'd be better off here now. After all, this lack of sleep is eventually going to catch up to you and your academics will begin to suffer. You need to learn these things, and it's important that you're at your best when you're in class. If you're not, that will ultimately affect your physical safety as well. You're obviously feeling much more relaxed here if you fell asleep almost as soon as you sat down."

"I am!" Harry agreed, sitting up a little bit straighter. "I feel safer here than I do anywhere."

"In that case, perhaps Dumbledore could be persuaded to let you stay here," Sirius said. "We'll both go and talk to him."

Harry settled comfortably in between his two godfathers, sighing contentedly. "I hope I can. Stay here, I mean. That's all I've ever wanted since I met you."

Silence fell among them, and Harry even became precariously close to drifting off again. But he fought to cling to consciousness, because he knew this conversation wasn't quite over. He still had something that needed to be said; he had just been putting it off until he could build up enough courage to do so. Harry reminded himself, however, that courage was the realization that something else was more important than fear, and that pushed him on to say his piece.

"Remus?"

"Hm?" Remus sounded drowsy himself, like he had probably been quite close to falling asleep as well.

"I'm sorry."

That got Remus's attention and also seemed to wake him up. He sat up a bit straighter and asked in confusion, "What on earth for?"

Harry fidgeted with his hands for a moment. "Well…you said Dumbledore told you that the entire point of going to live with the werewolves was so you could eventually be in a position to keep an eye on me."

When Harry didn't offer anymore, Remus replied, "That's right," still sounding puzzled.

"Well…" Harry kept playing with his hands, now smoothing them over the blanket he had curled around him. "You did all that for me, so you could save me from the Death Eaters, and now I feel like I just gambled away all that. By going out and getting myself caught by Greyback all over again."

It was Remus's turn to place a finger under Harry's chin, forcing the younger man to turn and face him. "Harry, it doesn't matter to me how many times I've saved your life or for what reasons. I'll continue to do so whenever you need it for as long as I'm able. You don't owe me anything for it. I do so because I love you, and love asks for nothing in return." Remus frowned and added, "Except in this case, it does."

"What do you mean?"

Remus smiled a bit, the very corner of his lips twitching. "I just want you to stop needlessly putting yourself in danger. If you feel uncomfortable about something, if there's anything we could possibly help you with, you need to come and tell us."

"Yeah, we're not mind-readers, kid," Sirius mumbled sleepily.

"Or Dumbledore, or even McGonagall, or Mr. or Mrs. Weasley, or Ron and Hermione," Remus went on. "Someone. That's much preferable to wandering off on your own when you have no idea what's out there. Even asking for someone to take you for a walk would have been preferable to doing what you did. Even if you don't think you'll get anywhere, even if you're embarrassed to do so, we're here to help you, and I promise you that we will try our hardest to do just that. But you have to ask for it, okay?"

Harry nodded.

"That's all I ask."

"I love you, too," Harry said.

Remus smiled, one of the first true smiles since this ordeal had started. He'd almost forgotten what he'd said in the midst of his speech, and he couldn't quite find his voice at the moment. In reply, Remus simply reached an arm around Harry's shoulders, pulling the boy against his chest. After a few moments, Remus said, "I know your godfather feels the same way, even when he falls asleep on us."

Harry pulled away from Remus, twisting around in his seat so he could see his godfather. Indeed, Sirius was slouched against the back of the sofa, his breathing quite slow. He wasn't completely asleep yet, however, because he managed to crack an eye open at the other two. "'M not asleep. I'm resting. It's been a hell of a long day. Or couple days, or however the hell long it's been. Godfathers do a lot of worrying in these kinds of situations, you know. I deserve my rest." He closed his eye again and paused for effect. "But just for the record, I love you, too. Both of you. Even if you are going to give me a heart attack someday."

Harry grinned, leaning against his godfather this time. Sirius reached up an arm, draping it over Harry's shoulders and pulling his godson tightly against him. Harry burrowed against Sirius's chest, and Remus tucked in the blanket around Harry. Remus pulled off Harry's glasses, setting them on the coffee table. Then Remus scooted a little closer to Harry, sandwiching up against him, trying to make Harry feel as safe and secure as possible.

"I love you, too," Harry murmured once more to both of them, just before sleep came to claim him. His very last thought before he drifted off was that he would be okay. He would.

The end