(Zander POV)

"Zander." I looked up from the work I'd been doing to see Sirius leaning against the doorframe, a worrisome expression on his face. Since he'd found out about the nightmares Harry had been having, he'd been acting so odd, it was weird to see him like this, but I was sure it would pass.

The look he was giving me now though said that it clearly hadn't passed and he wanted to talk about it. "What's up?" I guestured for him to sit down, which with a nod, he did.

The room we sat in was one I'd made a few years ago, when we'd been renovating a bit of the house and it was an office shared by all of us that worked from home, which was just Sirius, Xayla and I, who'd started a small business together that brought in most of the money, next to Remus, who we'd helped secure a job as a muggle, high school history teacher. It was a small room, but we'd managed to squeeze quite a bit in, including a desk and two chairs, one of which I sat in around the back of the desk and one that Sirius now sat in around the front.

He didn't waste any time to answer my question, getting straight to the point. "We can't send Harry to Hogwarts, it's too dangerous."

I leaned back in my chair, considering his words. It would be dangerous to send Harry, but he needed to go and learn the things that school had to offer him. If we thought we'd be better teachers, then we would homeschool him, but an education would be the best thing for him. Rose and I had decided that years ago and Sirius knew that. "Why?" It was an easy opening and would give my brother-in-law— or well, the father of my nieces, since he and Xayla weren't married, a chance to explain himself, which he did, quickly.

"Dumbledore and Snape know Legilimency and they will be looking for Harry, I just know it. They'll be able to see who they are immediately." He had a point and this made me lean forward now, placing my elbows on the table as I thought about what he'd said.

"You're absolutely right." I said, "I'm glad you brought this to me. Rose doesn't know much about Legilimency and Occlumency so the thought of mind reading might freak her out."

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, I figured as much. Wait— do you know Occlumency?"

"I do." I said, then. "Okay. I see what you mean by the danger, but rest assured that I plan on going to Hogwarts with the boys. I'll find a way to pick up a teaching position, but you're right in that the boys' minds would be dangerous to get into. We need to figure out a way to stop Dumbledore and Snape from getting into them.

"You can teach them Occlumency?" Sirius suggested and though that sounded like a good idea, the boys were still really young, and learning such advanced magic as that would be harder than anything we'd done with them before, so I decided to add to his idea.

"There are potions I can give the boys that would make learning Occlumency a lot easier. I know Aurors have to learn how to protect their minds, so there are other ways, but this will be hard on them and I don't look forward to teaching them, let alone bringing up the idea of it to Rose."

"She'll wanna know everything." Sirius said and I laughed.

"Yeah, but it's not her fault, she loves the magical world, just as much as I do the muggle one, so being curious is only natural." I loved that woman and her curiosity, it never ceased to amaze me.

"Oh, I figured that it was because of her overprotectiveness of the boys."

"That, too." I said and we both laughed.

That night, after all the kids were in bed, I sat down with Rose and we talked for a long time about what Sirius had said and what it would mean if Dumbledore found out who Harry was. It would mean losing him forever to whatever scheme the headmaster had cooked up, finding out that Rose was alive and probably some time for myself in Azkaban. No matter what, we couldn't let anyone know that Harry James Potter was alive and with us.

After we discussed it, and I explained to her what I wanted to do, she asked about a million questions, before finally agreeing to allow me to teach both the boys what I could. It wouldn't be easy and the boys would probably hate me some days, but by doing this, I hoped to not only keep them safe, but to give Harry the choice for himself to reveal one day who he was.

The Boy Who Lived was a wizard it celebrity and it should be his choice if he wanted everyone to ogle him, it wasn't my choice, or Dumbledore or anyone's else's but his own choice and I wanted to keep that for him, regardless of how hard it would be.

After we spoke, Rose and I headed for bed and as we did, I peaked for a moment into the boys room and watching them both sleep soundly, I couldn't help but smile. They were just kids, so innocent to the e it's of the world around them, but with the way the world was, their time to learn would come soon enough.

I just hoped they would survive learning.