"I swear on Merlin's left testicle I'm going to murder Peter Pettigrew myself." Alice growled darkly, and Frank put a hand on her arm as she continued. "That little bastard doesn't deserve to be alive anymore."
"Alice, dear, we'll get that part sorted out soon enough." Augusta assured her. "We just need to make sure we keep Neville and Harry safe until we know for sure what happened to You-Know-Who and his followers. I don't doubt they'd come here looking for answers at some point."
Frank nodded solemnly. "Not to mention Dumbledore. He's going to be furious when he finds out you've taken Harry, Sirius."
Sirius looked up and made eye contact for the first time since he began recounting the story, still clutching onto the once again sleeping Harry like a lifeline as Neville now slept on his father's lap. "I can't let him bring Harry to Lily's sister. You have to understand, Frank, they're monsters. They'd hurt Harry."
"I don't doubt it." Alice said, her anger still very clear on her face. "Lily has told me stories about her childhood with her sister after they found out she could do magic. The things that girl did to Lily… I can't imagine how they would treat Harry, especially since they also hated James."
"I won't allow it." Augusta shook her head, staring directly at Harry. "Dumbledore will take that boy away from us over my dead body."
"James always said that if something happened to him and Sirius, that he wanted us to look after Lily and Harry." Frank agreed, stroking his son's hair absentmindedly.
"James and Lily were family." Augusta continued. "And Merlin knows what happens when you try to split a Longbottom from their family."
Sirius and Frank both let out a laugh at that, and even Alice, who was still fuming, managed a chuckle.
"I remember Grandad telling me what happened when old Grindelwald supporters cornered him in London and tried to prevent him from getting home for the birth of his first grandchild." Frank grinned. "I almost felt bad for them hearing that story. Almost."
"And the same blood flows in me, and in you, and in Neville." Augusta smiled proudly. "I'd like to see anybody, even the great Albus Dumbledore, try to take our family away from us."
"Speaking of which…" Frank murmured as he felt a breach in his wards, handing Neville to Alice and standing up. "I think he's here. Sirius, Mum, care to join me outside?"
Sirius laid Harry down on the couch next to Alice, and gave him a kiss on the forehead, right on his new scar, before following Frank and Augusta outside.
Wherever that scar came from, and how Harry was still alive, they could only guess so far. Perhaps Dumbledore would know. But it didn't matter how much Dumbledore knew, only Sirius and the Longbottoms knew what was truly best for Harry. Sirius had to admit to himself, he trusted Augusta and her experience far more than Dumbledore. Dumbledore, especially lately, had become far too passive. A stun-only order against the Death Eaters was leading to deaths, most notably of Gideon and Fabian Prewett just a few years ago. Sirius had hoped that would change his mind, but Dumbledore kept insisting on the need to give the Death Eaters 'second chances'.
Well, thought Sirius as he laid eyes on the Hogwarts Headmaster and the uncharacteristically angry look on his face, screw second chances. And, right now, screw Dumbledore too.