Chapter 7
Voldy Quietly Kicks It

Still Saturday, 21 April, still morning
Meanwhile in Saint Mungo's

Andromeda and Harry had been visiting Sirius Black for five minutes when Andromeda decided to take Sirius out of his room. Sirius could not walk far, so Andromeda called for a Saint Mungo's house-elf to bring a wheelchair. Seconds later, the house-elf reappeared with the wheelchair. Andromeda helped Sirius move from the bed to the wheelchair.

Andromeda and Harry took turns pushing Sirius. The three of them went to every floor of the hospital, by using an elevator (which Harry never had ridden in before, except for his two previous visits to Saint Mungo's).

Sirius did something odd during his wheelchair-ride—

Whenever he saw a child—who was always under eleven; for some reason that Harry could not guess, there were no children aged eleven to eighteen in Saint Mungo's—Sirius said cheerfully, "Hello, child, have a good day today." The bedridden child always smiled when Sirius said this. When Sirius saw a man wearing green Healer robes, Sirius said, again with the cheerful voice, "Hello, Healer, have a good day today." The Healer man, just like each bedridden child, smiled at Sirius after Sirius's greeting.

But when the person in green Healer robes was a woman, Sirius's "Hello, Healer, have a good day today" was spoken an octave lower. Harry did not know why. The woman Healer's smile at Sirius was different too, but Harry could not say how.

The second time Sirius had spoken to a woman Healer this way, Andromeda slapped Sirius's shoulder. "What are you doing? I know her, stop that!"

Sirius replied, "I'm just practising to get back in the game, Drommy."

Harry asked, "What game? Football? Cricket?"

Eventually the three of them returned to Sirius's hospital room. Harry helped Sirius climb back on his bed (though truthfully, Sirius did not need much help). Meanwhile, an house-elf had reclaimed the wheelchair.

Once Sirius was back on the bed, he resumed telling Harry stories about Lily, James and the Marauders (who had been Sirius, James and two other boys).

By the time visiting hours were over, and Harry and Andromeda were made to leave Sirius's room, Harry had realised something awful—

When Harry's mum Lily first had come to Hogwarts, she already had made a friend, Severus. Both Mum and Severus had come from the same town, Coke-something. Severus had been as smart as Mum had been, and he actually had been better than her at Potions. The Potions professor had loved to put Mum and Severus together to "brew" (make) potions, even though Mum and Severus had been from different Houses. Severus had had only two friends at Hogwarts: Harry's mum Lily and a boy named Regulus.

Then there was Snivellus. Snivellus had said rude things to Harry's father, but with a uni professor's vocabulary. Snivellus had worn old clothes when he had not been wearing his Hogwarts robes, and Snivellus's Hogwarts robes had been the cheapest that it had been possible to buy. The Marauders often had pranked Snivellus viciously, because James had hated Snivellus.

Now Harry felt horror: Severus, Mum's friend, and Snivellus, the misfit boy who had been repeatedly and viciously bullied by Harry's father, had been the same boy. Harry was caught in a dilemma.

Harry and Andromeda flooed back to the Tonks house, then Andromeda changed into her own green Healer robes and flooed back to Saint Mungo's—but this time to work.

In the Tonks house, Harry hunted down paper and a ballpoint pen, then wrote a letter to a man whom Harry never had met—and until last night, never had heard of.

An hour later
In Severus Snape's private brewing lab, Hogwarts

Pop. An house-elf appeared in front of Severus, holding up folded sheets of paper (not parchment). Severus's eyes nearly fell out of his head when he saw that the messenger-elf was not an Hogwarts house-elf, but was an house-elf who was wearing a grey tuxedo that displayed the Potter crest.

The sheets of paper turned out to be a four-page letter that had been written with a ballpoint pen in a child's handwriting.

.

Saturday, 21 April

Dear Mr Snaip (my apologies if I misspelled your name),

My name is Harry Potter. Until three days ago, I was living with my Aunt Petunia (Mum's sister), her husband Vernon and her son Dudley. They treated me bad.

.

The letter then described what Petunia and her ilk had done to Harry since November 1981. Harry casually had written that the Dursleys never had told him he was magical, but often had called him a "freak"; Petunia had told Harry he was magical only shortly before she had died, and she had revealed this secret unintentionally.

The starvations, the imprisonment in a tiny room under the stairs, the overwork and the insults were bad enough to read about, but Severus was sure that even worse things had been left unwritten. Either Harry never had received beatings from Petunia or Vernon, or Harry had decided that those beatings were too horrid to describe. The only beatings that Harry had written about were beatings from Harry's cousin Dudley, with Dudley's gang helping. Because of Dudley and his gang, Harry's glasses often had been broken.

.

So I've also been beaten up, four against one. I also have had to wear clothes that made me look like a clown, then kids at school have called me names for dressing like a clown.

Yesterday and today, I heard Sirius Black tell me stories about my father pranking "Snivellus." I heard those stories and I thought, "It's like if Piers Polkiss told stories about Dudley." If Dudley and his gang could have done magic on me, I'm sure their "pranks" would have been just as nasty as what the Marauders did to you.

I want to think that if my father were alive today in 1990, he would have realised that he had acted like a blighter rotter to you and would have apologised by now. But we'll never know, will we? After all, my father died when he was barely older than a kid.

I have my mum's eyes and my dad's hair, and Sirius already has told me that sometimes I think like my dad and sometimes I think like my mum. I can't tell you which one I'm thinking like, right now, but I apologise to you in place of my dad, James Potter, who now can't apologise to anybody for anything.

You're probably wondering why I'm no longer with Aunt Petunia and her family. Three days ago, an evil wizard named Looshus Malfoy broke into the Dursley house, killed all three Dursleys and tried to kill me. I killed him instead. As for Vernon, Dudley and Petunia Dursley, I know I'm supposed to feel sad that they're dead, but truthfully I don't, not at all.

Harry J Potter

P.S Dumbildoor (who you work for?) knew about all the awful things I went through. Ms Bones arrested him three days ago, because he was supposed to be something like a father to me (if I understand "magical guardian" right), but he never visited me until after Looshus Malfoy came. Yesterday Dumbildoor got sent to the nasty prison, so it seems other people think that what he did to me was bad.

.

Severus read the letter and he felt stunned. Then Severus thought, Albus has lied to Minerva and me, and he's played us for fools.

Severus put his in-progress potion under a stasis charm, then went to talk to Minerva. Harry Potter's letter was in Severus's hand.

Acting Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was weeping by the time she finished reading Harry Potter's letter.

Hagrid wept, then got drunk, when he read Harry's letter.

Nobody at Hogwarts suggested that Severus write back and ask Harry exactly how he had killed "Looshus."

Nor did anyone write back to defend how "Dumbildoor" had treated Harry.

That evening, in Black Castle

Arcturus Black, whom Harry needed to remember to address as Lord Black, hosted all three Tonkses and Harry for dinner.

Edward Tonks, Andromeda's husband, was a magical man in his forties, with a potbelly—and with nonmagical parents, just like Harry's mum. Mr Tonks was a "law-wizard"—he practiced law in magical Britain (and in nonmagical Britain).

The Tonkses' daughter Nymphadora, whose name she hated, was in her second-to-last year at Hogwarts. She could change her face and body, which Harry thought was wicked. Her hair normally was pink, but it changed colour depending on her emotions. Anyone except Lord Black addressing the girl as Nymphadora made her hair instantly turn bright red.

"Tonks" or "Dora" was clumsy—she managed to stumble whilst walking across a wooden floor—but she was cheerful and funny, and Harry liked her. For one thing, she was miles ahead of everyone else at making funny faces. Apparently the pink-haired girl liked Harry too—Dora told her parents, "I've always wanted a little brother, and now I have one!"

Sitting at a table in Black Castle, Harry felt happy. It was a new but nice feeling. He had as much food to eat as he wanted, during this meal, and now he had family—Lord Black, who was Harry's distant cousin; Sirius Black, who was Harry's godfather; and the Tonkses.

Bringing Andromeda, her husband and her daughter (back) into the Black family apparently was not hard for Lord Black. Lord Black now saw no reason to keep Andromeda Black Tonks disowned, and none of the Tonkses wanted to be outside the protection of the Black family.

The actual "dis-disownment" was simple and brief. Harry saw the old man in the wheelchair draw his wand, point his wand at the ceiling and speak words, then light flashed.

Then Lord Black announced that Andromeda's husband would belatedly be paid a dowry—an hundred thousand galleons, or half a million quid, to be paid into the couple's joint vault. Dora's eyes got big (literally!) when she heard this number. Harry was a bit amazed himself.

It seemed that in the magical world, it was customary for a new husband to be bribed to marry his wife. To Harry, this sounded sexist.

Most of the rest of the evening at Black Castle was spent by Lord Black giving Harry his first lesson on how to eventually be Head of House Potter and Head of House Malfoy—

"Imagine a Muggle grandfather. He has a wife and adult children; who in turn have young children of their own. These young children can be commanded by their parents, but the grandfather cannot command these children. This Muggle grandfather in fact cannot command anyone—not his wife, not his adult children, not his grandchildren. The other members of the family will respect the grandfather, and will take his advice sometimes; but nobody, including the grandfather, expects the other members of the grandfather's family to obey him.

"But you, as Head of a magical House, can command all the members of your House, and you may punish anyone in your House who is disobedient. In a real sense, you own the people in your House. The day you take the Malfoy Head of House ring, you may command Narcissa and Draco, even though they each are older than you.

"What are your responsibilities towards the people you own? To feed them, to clothe them, to house them, to remove their sorrows if you can, to protect them and, when required, to avenge them.

"You also have the unpleasant responsibility to your people to punish every disobedient member. Our imaginary Muggle grandfather cannot punish someone in his family who does something of which the grandfather strongly disapproves, except that the grandfather can write this person out of the grandfather's will when he dies. This isn't much of a punishment, is it? But I as Head of a magical House can disown someone, and this punishment has magical effects. When I disowned Andromeda, she no longer could say I am Andromeda Black, she no longer could write I am Andromeda Black, and instantly she forgot all the Black family magic."

Andromeda nodded. "It was awful. This is why I advised Narcissa to honour her marriage contract with Lucius, even though he still was an horrid git. I had available a great alternative to Lucius"—Andromeda smiled at her husband—"but Narcissa absolutely did not, so it would have been a disaster for Narcissa to refuse to marry Lucius."

Lord Black gave Andromeda a brief, sympathetic smile, then resumed speaking to Harry: "What is your main responsibility as an Head of House? To preserve your House, to uphold your House's honour and to make your House prosper. This responsibility controls how you deal with other Houses and how you marry off your people. If I am alive when Nymphadora wants to marry, I won't approach the marriage negotiations with the idea of What does Nymphadora want? or What is good for Nymphadora? but rather, What is good for House Black? My answer to the third question might lead me to negotiate a marriage contract between Nymphadora and someone whom Nymphadora hates."

"Please, not a Malfoy," Andromeda muttered.

Meanwhile, Dora was speaking no words, but her hair flashed white, then red.

Lord Black said more to Harry, but what he had already said was the essence of today's lecture.

Harry was floored when Lord Black casually mentioned, "Divorce in the magical world comes with nasty magical penalties, and normally is stupid to do. It would be like cutting off your hand—do it only if the alternatives are worse."

Harry resolved that when he married, he would marry right.

The next morning (Sunday, 22 April)
Hogwarts

Filius Flitwick was frustrated. He had spent all day yesterday hunting for that bloody horcrux that was-but-wasn't within Hogwarts. The best that Filius had managed to achieve yesterday had been to narrow down where the horcrux was to maybe/maybe-not on the seventh floor.

Then Filius got an idea. He called for Wrinkly, the Hogwarts head house-elf, and Filius explained his problem. Wrinkly elf-popped Filius to the seventh-floor corridor that was next to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls how to dance the ballet.

Three minutes later, Filius was in an enormous room that was bigger than the Great Hall, and the big room was filed with a thousand years' worth of junk. At the moment, Filius was watching an house-elf levitate the horcrux-corrupted Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw into an house-elf-transfigured lead box.

Meanwhile, at the Tonks house

Andromeda was not scheduled to go to work at Saint Mungo's till that afternoon. So Harry and Andromeda had made an appointment with Narcissa and Draco Malfoy for Harry and his Acting Guardian to visit Malfoy Manor.

Just before the two of them were about to step through the Floo at the Tonks house, Harry asked, "Do you see any problems for me this morning? From your sister or her son?"

Andromeda shook her head. "Right now, my sister has many good reasons to stay on your good side. In the next seven years, you'll learn what those reasons are. Narcissa won't be the problem."

"You mean Draco?"

"I knew Lucius when he was nine years old. Lucius then and Draco now are disgustingly similar."

"So Draco will try to bully me."

"Yes, and if you don't know how to threaten him as the future Lord Malfoy, your only other choices are to accept the bullying or to punch him. But as underfed as you are, I don't recommend you getting into a punch-up with anyone older than six."

Harry laughed, then the two of them stepped through the Floo.

Sure enough, Narcissa Malfoy was well behaved—she even curtsied to Harry. Narcissa spoke warmly to Andromeda, her sister, who clearly was surprised by this.

Harry, at Andromeda's coaching, kissed the back of Narcissa's hand. Harry felt foolish, but neither Narcissa nor Andromeda acted like Harry was playing the fool.

Draco again was a right berk. He sneered at Harry the future Lord Malfoy for again dressing like a nonmagical boy. Even more annoying, Draco again demanded the return of "his" silver snake-head cane.

Harry decided not to disown Draco, at least for a while, assuming Magic would let him do it before he were seventeen. Harry decided not to punch Draco either, because this would ruin Draco's and Harry's relationship forever. Even worse for Harry, what if he got into a punch-up with Draco and lost? Andromeda was right, Harry was not in condition to fight a boy his age.

Instead, Harry did something that he had seen once on television. He bent his left leg, turned his left leg sideways, then spun a quarter-turn on his right foot—what the television had called a "leg sweep." Draco was put down on the carpet, unhurt but stripped of his dignity.

Harry glared down at Draco. "You're just begging for me to disown you the first day I can, aren't you? Son of Lucius, have your mother explain to you, whilst using small words because it seems you're stupid, how you should act if you don't want to bugger up your life after I turn seventeen."

Once Draco was humbled into silence, the actual tour of Malfoy Manor began.

Harry rolled his eyes that the master bedroom where the Head of House and his wife slept, had a gold-painted door. The main dining room had an oval table that not only was big enough to seat many people at once, the big table was made of stone. Pretentious much?

Lucius Malfoy had been raising white peacocks. So yes, Lucius Malfoy definitely was pretentious.

Harry was revolted at being told the manor house had torture dungeons. Harry did not ask to see them.

All of the men in the portrait room were blond. Some of the portrait-men insulted Harry; he insulted them back.

Harry and Andromeda told Regent Malfoy (Narcissa) that it was Narcissa's choice whether to forgive Garston Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, Sr their debts against House Malfoy; but if those two wizards still owed money to House Malfoy on Harry's seventeenth birthday, Harry immediately would forgive both debts.

Narcissa gently reminded Harry that Garston Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, Sr, along with twenty-four other Death Eaters, had been Kissed two days ago.

Narcissa told Harry that she would owl the Crabbe Regent and the Goyle Regent today, and would tell them that their respective debts against House Malfoy were forgiven. Harry smiled at the blond woman.

Draco, meanwhile, muttered, "If you're kind to people who haven't earnt it, this makes you look weak." Then Draco glared at both his mother and Harry.

After Harry and Andromeda return to the Tonks house

Annoyed Harry wrote a letter to Ms Bones, then called for Greyclay (the head Potter house-elf) to deliver both the letter and Lucius Malfoy's silver snake-head cane to Ms Bones.

The letter read—

.

Sunday, 22 April

To Ms Amelia Bones,

I'm giving this snake-head cane to you because you've done what is right for me, even though you don't know me.

This cane was in Looshus Malfoy's other hand when he tried to kill me. I think the cane looks evil. Besides, it makes me remember a night I don't want to remember.

Looshus Malfoy's son Draco is demanding the cane back, but however it is that I now own Malfoy Manor after killing Looshus Malfoy, I now own Looshus Malfoy's cane, but no way is Draco getting it! (Draco acts like my dead cousin Dudley, except for the dead part.)

Now the cane is yours. Throw it in the rubbish bin, mount it on your wall, cut off the silver snake head and melt it down for the silver or give the cane to Looshus's widow (I like Narcissa)—it's your choice what to do.

Again, thank you. You're the first adult whose job it is to help me, who actually did what they're supposed to.

Harry Potter

P.S I'm keeping Looshus's wand, even though it feels wrong in my hand if I try to use it.

Amelia promptly and proudly mounted the snake-head cane on her wall. If any Aurors or any members of Dark families asked about the cane, Amelia showed Harry's letter to the person asking.

That evening

Gringotts goblins at last had found each of Tom Riddle's horcruxes (except for the Diary). The goblins had transferred each horcrux from its valuable vessel to a pig, then had slaughtered and had roasted the pig.

The Diary had been found and had been destroyed by the Department of Mysteries, four days earlier.

At the moment when Gringotts destroyed the last of Tom Riddle's horcruxes, Wraith-Riddle was in Albania, possessing a rabbit.

26 hours later (Monday night, 23 April)

In Albania, a wolf caught Rabbitmort. Annoyed Tom Riddle expected to turn into a wraith again, then shortly afterwards he planned to possess the wolf. Instead, when the rabbit died, Tom Riddle ended.

Right then in London, England, in the Ministry's Hall of Prophecies, the prophecy-sphere turned black.

When Voldemort died, all Marked Death Eaters died screaming, including Potions Master Severus Snape and the ten Death Eaters who had been sentenced to Azkaban since the early Eighties. The headmaster of Durmstrang also died.

In Crouch Manor, Barty Crouch, Jr died screaming. His father, Barty, Sr, was in an holding cell at the time, so Barty, Jr died alone except for a panicked house-elf.

An hour later, in Azkaban

An Auror prison guard casually mentioned to prisoner Albus Dumbledore that the ten Death Eaters in Azkaban, "the worst of the worst," each had died screaming in his prison cell.

Albus mourned the deaths of nine wizards and a witch before they could be redeemed. But Albus was puzzled by the news. What had caused ten deaths of Death Eaters at the same time?

Then Albus figured it out. Albus had told nobody that Tom had used horcruxes, which meant that it was certain that all however-many of Tom's horcruxes were intact now, which meant it was certain that Tom was alive now. Albus could not guess why Tom had sent a Die! order to kill off his ten most loyal followers, but surely this was what had happened.

Tom was alive, he maybe had a body back by now, and now was amassing a new group of followers—and only Albus realised this. But here Albus was, stuck in Azkaban!

But beginning in October, when Albus would be released from Azkaban, then Tom would be dealt with. And Harry would be shepherded to play his ultimate sacrificial role, as required by the Prophecy.

A day and an half later (Wednesday morning, 25 April)

Gringotts and the Ministry's Department of Mysteries issued a joint statement in the Daily Prophet. The joint statement did "confirm" that Lord Voldemort, whom toddler Harry Potter had killed in 1981, was indeed dead.

The surprise deaths of all the Death Eaters, including "Imperiused" Death Eaters, was explained away as a "delayed reaction" to Lord Voldemort's 1981 death.

Later that morning, in Azkaban

The same chatty Auror prison guard as on Monday night, showed prisoner Albus Dumbledore the news story about the supposed confirmation of the death of You Know Who in 1981; and showed Dumbledore a second, supposedly unrelated, news story about the mysterious deaths of all Death Eaters, two days ago.

If the story was true about all Death Eaters dying, this implied that Tom had died when the Death Eaters had died. Impossible, Albus thought.

Why was Tom's unreported death two days ago impossible? Because by the Prophecy, only Harry would kill Tom, in a deadly duel during which Harry himself would be killed; and all this could happen only after all of Tom's horcruxes, except for the horcrux in Harry's scar, had been destroyed.

Yet it was safe to assume that nine-year-old Harry, who had been Muggle-raised until a week ago, had destroyed no horcruxes. Nobody else except Albus was aware of the horcrux problem, so nobody else would destroy the horcruxes. Albus knew that he had not destroyed any horcruxes.

As for the epic battle that the Prophecy predicted, it was safe to assume that if Harry Potter had been killed by any Dark wizard, yesterday or the day before, the Prophet would have mentioned this sad fact.

Albus's conclusion: Tom was alive, but had fooled the Unspeakables and the goblins into believing otherwise, by Tom killing off his own followers. But Albus, more clever than the Unspeakables and the goblins, refused to be fooled. Albus could not visit the Hall of Prophecies now, yet he knew with certainty: The Prophecy remained unfulfilled, and Harry still had a sacrificial duty to perform.

What Dumbledore never would know was that Harry had indeed fulfilled the Prophecy, but not at the end of an epic magical duel with Lord Voldemort. Instead in 1981, Toddler-Harry had reflected Voldy's Killing Curse, which, if not for the horcruxes, would have killed Voldy then and there. Later in 1990, Harry had set up fulfilling the Prophecy during a conversation with a goblin ritualist, within a ritual room in Gringotts Hospital, three days before Wraith-Riddle's death. Harry had asked the Gringotts goblins to hunt down whatever horcruxes were out there, "for me."

Voilà, the Gringotts goblins had become Harry's "Hand," and so the goblins completed vanquishing the Dark Lord by the Prophecy—even though Harry never had heard the Prophecy.

Two days later: Friday, 27 April
The regular weekly meeting of the Wizengamot

By use of some creativity involving parliamentary procedure and Wizengamot rules, the Wizengamot managed to have a legal quorum with only twenty-four seat-holders present.

Alecto Carrow and Peter Pettigrew, along with twenty-one other Death Eaters who had been outed by last week's Veritaserum testimony, would have been put on trial today. But all twenty-three Death Eaters had died screaming in their holding cells, four days ago.

Barty Crouch, Senior was put on trial. Back when he had been Director of the DMLE, he had sent five arrestees (Sirius Black and four others) to Azkaban without trials. Since no trial meant no sentence, and no sentence meant no end of sentence, the effect of Crouch's misdeeds had been that five magicals would have been sent to Azkaban for life, regardless of their actual crimes and regardless of their guilt. So, Chief Warlock Ogden argued, it seemed only fair that Crouch be sentenced to life in Azkaban. The twenty-three other Wizengamot seat-holders agreed.

Crouch had been arrested in his Ministry office; and all the evidence against Crouch at his trial had been found by searching various file cabinets within the Ministry. Crouch's house was not searched.

The next morning (Saturday, 28 April)
At Gringotts

The wills of James and Lily Potter officially were read in Gringotts. Since the wills had been read aloud in Wizengamot session eight days earlier, there were no surprises by the wills themselves.

Of course Sirius Black, who had been discharged from Saint Mungo's only an hour earlier, had been invited to the wills-readings. Andromeda had been invited to the readings, just as Sirius had been, because she had been one of James' and Lily's choices as Harry's guardian. Sirius had been first choice for guardian; Andromeda had been fourth choice.

Yesterday Sirius and Andromeda, between them, had decided that Sirius would assume Harry's guardianship after the reading of the wills and after Andromeda had given Sirius a status report about Harry.

So at the reading of the wills, Harry, Sirius and Andromeda all were there. Also there: Remus Lupin, who had been bequeathed coinage from James.

After the readings, Andromeda coldly asked Remus why he never had visited Harry during Harry's years with the Dursleys.

Remus replied, "For what it's worth, I almost visited Harry. Then Dumbledore explained to me why I shouldn't."

It turned out that Remus, alone of all the magicals in Britain, had tracked down Petunia Dursley through old newspaper stories and telephone directories. When Remus had discovered blood wards on the Dursleys' property, he had been sure that he had found the home of Harry Potter.

Remus had walked up to the front door. But rather than ring the doorbell, Remus had turned round and had left, not sure that Harry would want a werewolf in his life.

But Dumbledore had known that Remus had been on the property. Dumbledore had summoned Remus to the headmaster's office, then had played on Remus's werewolf-shame. Dumbledore had convinced Remus that "for Harry's own good," Remus never should try to contact Harry.

"For Harry's own good"? This was the wrong thing for Remus to say now!

Andromeda yelled at cringing Remus, "The Dursleys beat Harry, werewolf! They beat him, they starved him, they locked him away and they overworked him! When I took him to Saint Mungo's, dragonpox was about the only medical problem that Harry didn't have! The day I met him, Harry had poorly healed bones, scars, partially healed wounds and bruises, and he was a skeleton!"

Remus looked horrified.

Andromeda continued her rant: "Dumbledore was lying to the rest of Wizarding Britain, and was blocking me who wanted to give Harry an happy home, but you? If you had met with Harry just once, anytime, then had told Amelia what you knew, Dumbledore's entire house of cards would have collapsed and Harry finally would have received care! Merlin, even if you hadn't talked to Amelia but the Dursleys had known that you could, they would've stopped the abuse, and Harry's life would have been so much better."

Remus hung his head in shame.

"But the Dursleys knew that they could abuse Harry and never suffer for it; meanwhile, here's you saying, 'Woe is me, I'm a werewolf!' Well, little catamite wolf, I hereby inform you that your Alpha is in prison for the next six months, so why don't you run off to the Azkaban boat dock and spend the next six months submissively waiting for him?"

Remus looked at Sirius. Sirius said sadly, "You dropped the Quaffle, Moony. The Dursleys treated Harry like shit. What you did, it wasn't Gryffindor at all, and you've disappointed James and Lily."

"But Dumbledore said—"

"Dumbledore is Harry's enemy, and mine. When the whiskered fool gets out of prison in October, you'll need to make a choice, Remus."