"I don't know what that boy was thinking," Sirius said, staring at the fire.

"He was thinking evil was something that could be healed," Dumbledore said. "A laudable, if misguided effort."

"Can you imagine what would have happened if he'd succeeded?" Sirius shook his head. "Imagine a Vold...no...a Tom Riddle innocent of any sin. Nobody would have believed it. People would still be screaming for his head."

"They'd have him Kissed just on suspicion of what he might do," Remus said quietly.

"I still don't understand what happened," Harry said. He didn't really understand why the others wanted him here, although he suspected they wanted to discuss what was going to happen with the new toddler Voldemort.

"It rook us a little while to understand it too," Sirius said. "We've run every test we could think of, and even tried some that seemed unlikely, and to the best we can figure Steven tried to heal Voldemort of evil."

"I get that," Harry said. "But why did he turn into a toddler?"

"Even as a child young Tom Riddle had already turned his mind to evil." Dumbledore said quietly. "Apparently whatever power Steven used tried to find a time when he wasn't evil and it reverted him back to that age."

"He was evil by the age of three?" Harry asked incredulously. "How can you be evil at three?"

"Abuse and neglect," Dumbledore said. "Voldemort never knew love, and unlike most he soon discovered that he had the power to take vengeance on his tormentors."

Harry wondered for a moment how he might have turned out if he'd gained control of his magic before he'd had a chance to develop any sense of morality. Even now the temptation to take out his anger at the Dursleys for years of abuse sometimes hovered at the back of his mind.

It wasn't anything he ever planned to do, but the impulse was there.

Without the friends he'd made in Hogwarts...Steven, Hermione, Ron, even Neville and Luna and the others...without the guidance of Dumbledore and Sirius and the gems, would he have been tempted to return to the Dursleys on the day after his seventeenth birthday and turn Dudley into something worse than a pig?

"I know Steven feels bad about what he did," Harry said. "I think Voldemort would have rather died than have what happened to him."

"Still, he did it, and now we have to deal with it," Lupin said.

The others nodded and were silent for a moment.

"I'm not really sure why I'm here," Harry admitted.

Sirius looked at him grimly and said, "We have to decide what to do with our young viper to be. As the prophecy links your fate with his, we feel you have a right to be consulted."

That was a first. People had been making decisions for Harry his entire life and they had rarely asked his opinion until afterwards. Harry couldn't help but wonder why they were asking his opinion now.

"What are you thinking about doing?" Harry asked uneasily. He couldn't imagine that they would consult with him if it was an easy decision.

"A young viper is still deadly," Sirius said. He stared at the fire. "And he'll just get more deadly as he gets older."

Harry stared at his godfather, shocked. "You want to kill him?"

"Steven already effectively killed him when he stole every memory, every feeling...everything that made Tom Riddle himself," Dumbledore said, and for once his eyes weren't twinkling. "What he did was almost as bad as having him Kissed."

Sirius shuddered. "It would have been more merciful just to have killed him."

Remembering the twisted remains of Voldemort's soul, Harry shook his head. "No it wouldn't. I understand why Steven did what he did. He was trying to save him, to give him a chance to be something more than what we saw in that place between life and death."

"He made his choice when he decided to mutilate his soul," Remus said. He sighed and took a sip of something Harry suspected was a lot stronger than Butterbeer.

"The question is what we should do about him now," Sirius said. He scowled and looked away from Harry. "There's not a good option...either we do something safe but we stain our own souls forever, or we risk having a dark Lord rise again."

Remus pulled himself to his feet and headed for a decanter in the corner. He moved stiffly; he'd been injured in the battle and still hadn't healed, even after three days.

"We could find him a family," Harry said. "People who would care about him and love him, treat him like a human being. If everything evil has been pulled out of him, doesn't that make this boy an innocent?"

"He's only got an eighth of a soul," Sirius said. "And what's left is tattered and damaged. No matter how good a family he has, he'll never be the same."

"So that's it?" Harry asked. "We just kill a three year old kid for something he might do in the future?"

"I would have expected you of all people to want this to be over with," Sirius said. "You've spent your entire life since you were eleven trying not to be killed by him and his people."

"You didn't see what was left of his soul," Harry said. "I know he did it to himself, but I don't think he understood what it really meant. I can understand why Steven wanted to give him a chance to be something better than that."

Harry was silent for a moment, and then he looked up. "Is it impossible? With the little bit of soul he has left...is he doomed to end up as what we saw?"

"Souls can regenerate somewhat with time and love," Dumbledore said. He hesitated. "His soul will never be whole, but the best case might have his soul grow to as much as a third of a soul."

"Will that be enough for him to be...normal?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "There is no way to be sure. Despite coming from the best families in the world some people choose darkness, and some who come from the worst families choose the path of light."

"Will a third of a soul be enough to give him a chance at being good, or is he doomed to be evil?"

"That's a question I can't answer. No one before Tom has intentionally mutilated their souls to this degree before, and those who have done so in a lesser degree have all died."

"It would have been easier if Voldemort had simply been killed," Sirius said. He grimaced and looked down at his hands."If he had, we wouldn't be sitting here talking about killing children."

Harry looked around at the three men. "I'm surprised Moody isn't here, or Snape."

"Alastair and Severus have made their opinions quite clear," Dumbledore said. "And we all know which side Steven would be on, were he part of this discussion."

"And you weren't sure what side I would be on?" Harry asked.

Sirius shook his head. "You've got more to lose than anyone. If this child chooses to turn to evil again, the prophecy says you'll have to kill each other. He might even come after any children you have."

"Ultimately you will have to live with whatever decision we make today," Dumbledore said. Glancing at the other two men he said, "We all will."

"We're sure that whatever Steven did can't be reversed?" Harry asked.

"As sure as we can be, considering that the nature of his magic is a mystery to us. The gems seem to think this will be a lifetime condition."

"And what did Garnet say?" Harry asked.

"She said the future is unclear. There are branches where he becomes evil again and rises as a Dark Lord, and branches where he becomes a decent member of society."

"So there is a chance..." Harry said.

He thought for a moment. "If he goes Dark again, it'll take him at least fifteen to twenty years to become truly dangerous."

"Thirteen if he applies himself," Dumbledore murmured.

"Then I'll have a fifteen year lead on him. I'll just have to work at being good enough at magic that I stay ahead of him."

The other three men looked at him and after a moment they sighed. The look of relief on their faces made Harry feel a little better about them. He didn't want to think about his godfather, favorite teacher and Headmaster as being the kind of people who would plot the murder of a three year old child.

Apparently they hadn't liked thinking of themselves that way either.

"So if we are going to let him live," Sirius began. "We're going to have to figure out what to do with him."

"The official story is that Voldemort died in the final battle, killed by Harry and young Steven." Dumbledore said.

"In a way he did," Harry said soberly. "Everything that made Voldemort Voldemort is gone except for a tiny sliver of a soul, and there isn't much of that."

"I can think of a few promising families that might be willing to take in an orphan," Dumbledore began.

"No!" Harry said quickly. Dumbledore's idea of a good family wasn't to be trusted. He'd left Harry with the Dursleys for years after all, trusting to family love to ensure a happy childhood.

"You have another idea?" Dumbledore asked.

"Steven got us into this mess, he should get us out," Harry said. "I think we should let Steven and Garnet pick the new family."

"The boy has an uncanny sense for people," Remus said thoughtfully. "And he clearly knows what a loving family is like."

"I was going to suggest that we have Garnet check out any family we choose anyway," Sirius said. "It seems like the only prudent thing to do."

Dumbledore smiled slightly and said, "At last, a decision. We will leave the choice of family up to Steven and we will make sure that young Tom has every chance to become a better person."

There was doubt in the expressions of all three men, but also relief at having the decision made. Harry understood that it was a risky decision, but his time with Steven had taught him that mercy was just as important as protecting others.

Four years previously, the thought that he'd worry about saving Voldemort's soul would have been ridiculous, but now it seemed clear.

He would have killed Voldemort with a clear conscience, but now that Steven had forced the issue, he wasn't going to kill an innocent simply for what he might become. He wasn't as merciful as Steven, but he wasn't a monster either.

"So what do we do now?" he asked finally. It was going to be strange living without a death threat hovering over his head constantly. Maybe with Voldemort gone he'd stop being the boy-who-lived and go back to simply being Harry.

He frowned. Hermione had told him that he and Steven were going to be in the history books. His fame wasn't likely to fade away, not anytime soon.

"We get back to living," Dumbledore said. "Life is the next great adventure, after all."