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Chapter 14 - The Greater Good (as Approved by Fawkes the Phoenix)

The teachers and students are very upset. Harry went away for a time. They say he's with his godfather and they think that's a bad thing.

They are being silly.

I know Sirius is innocent because of the article Father published in the beginning the school year.

I hope Harry feels better. I think he was falling so far and for so long that he was no longer afraid of the ground.

L.L.

oOo

Harry's heart was racing. His hands sweating on the bars holding him down. Sirius was equally restrained beside him. The roaring sounds around them were massive and Harry couldn't place their origin.

They were plunged into darkness. Harry screamed.

Sirius whooped.

A tub sized bucket of water was dropped over their heads.

Harry was spluttering and laughing as Sirius barked. They continued laughing as the waterpark rollercoaster cranked itself back to the start.

The moment they got off Sirius bent forward and shook out his mop of blonde hair at Harry.

"No!" Harry cried, laughing so hard he was on the brink of tears. He ran from his godfather strategically so when the man caught up to him Harry shoved him into a giant swimming pool.

Sirius emerged choking on his own laughter.

Harry knelt by the edge. "Can we get lunch now?"

Sirius grinned, "Asks the boy who never asks for food."

"The last restaurant you took me to had fifteen flavours of chocolate."

"Black-raspberry being the best," Sirius remarked.

"I liked the dark chocolate with cherry."

"Black cherries," Sirius enthused.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Are you ever going to get tired of name puns?"

In answer, Sirius pulled his godson into the pool.

Harry came up for air and immediately tried to drown Sirius.

They lost Harry's glasses and were forced to spend an hour taking turns diving to the bottom of the pool to find them. Sirius had -after apparating them to Italy and changing Harry's appearance to look like the blonde blue eyed son of Sirius's disguise, decreed it would be best not to use magic that week unless absolutely necessary.

They went out to eat after departing the waterpark and ate outside, out looking at the Mediterranean Sea. Harry, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt had angled his chair so he was facing the sun and out from under the shade of the umbrella. The sun felt blessedly warm on his skin, he felt as though the warmth was filling up his very bones.

Sirius watched Harry with a sad smile as his godson grinned carelessly, eyes closed up at the sun. This week had been one of the greatest in Sirius's entire existence and it broke his heart that he had missed fourteen years (or was it seventeen years?) with Harry. Had Lily and James lived, Sirius still would have been a part of Harry's life. They had always been meant to be family. Sirius couldn't help but mourn the time lost.

"Sirius?" Harry asked, not opening his eyes.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything. For this week. For listening to me, for being there, for being alive."

Sirius's heart ached, he should have done so much better, but self-deprecation was not what Harry needed from him in this moment. "It's my pleasure, Harry. This week has been the best."

Harry looked up with a grin, "This is the first vacation I've ever been on."

oOo

It took a lot for Sirius not to scowl at the thought, even the Blacks went on family trips to France.

The food came and Harry was able to thank the waiter in French. They had spent the majority of their time in Italy but muggle transport, excluding planes, was slow, and they were taking their time travelling back to the United Kingdoms.

Sirius sniggered.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Your accent is terrible."

"I'd like to see you do any better."

Sirius ordered their food in fluent French.

Harry pouted, "Why haven't you been doing that the whole time we've been here? I knew you could read but you argued with that one lady for nearly an hour about directions in English because you pretended not to understand by 'la gauche' she meant left."

"Don't be so gauche," Sirius teased, taking on an American Hollywood actress accent. They had been watching a lot movies in hotels at night when they were too tired to walk the streets any longer but not ready to give up the other's company for sleep.

"Sirius..." Harry chided.

"Because if you speak French in France people are going to talk to you in French, meaning ninety percent of everything anyone said to us was going to go over your head. I could teach you though. If you like?"

"Who taught you French?"

"My dad."

"Not your mum?"

Sirius snorted, "My mother wasn't a good teacher. She had no patience."

"Did you like your dad?"

Sirius shrugged. "He was a quiet man. When I was very young I wanted to be just like him."

"What changed your mind?"

"Politics, parties, anything in the outside world really. The Black family was always very close knit and even marrying into the family wasn't the same as those born with the name."

"Did you ever get along with Bellatrix?"

Sirius grinned, "Playing hide and go seek with the Black Sisters in Grimmauld Place…" He shook his head. "If we could have all stayed children, stayed in that world where the dark arts was a just cool pet beastie and nobody died and it never mattered how weird or mean we were because the outside world didn't exist. If we could have stayed in that bubble it would have been good, or at least, not an awful fate. But we grew up and I saw that the actions of my family, that the words we said and the steps we took caused damage wherever we went. It wasn't something I wanted any part of. Though as you know, I wasn't a saint in Gryffindor. Still, I didn't bow to a Dark Lord. That is one mistake I never made."

"Do you think they could have been better people if they… er... grew up with morals?"

Sirius grinned, "Anything's possible I suppose. Though Bella would have needed more help than the wizarding world could have ever provided. St. Mungo's doesn't really deal with mental health much."

"The Longbottoms are there."

"Yes, well, they don't have the means to take care of themselves and my dear cousin was more than capable of the basics."

Harry let the topic drop when their food arrived. He hummed with approval.

Sirius hid his grin as a look of pure euphoria took over his godson's face.

"How is this so much better than Hogwarts food?"

"It's French."

Harry grinned, "I think I could stay here forever, or Italy. I loved Italy a lot, we haven't been here long enough for me to decide which I like better though."

"We could if you truly wanted to. After hearing what you've been through, I seriously regret not kidnapping you in your third year," Sirius said without jest.

Harry bit his lip, "Do you think Dumbledore managed to cover up my absence or do you think everyone is panicking?"

"I take that as you don't want to run away," Sirius said.

Mores the pity, this last week had shown Sirius how easy it would be to hide so long as he had access to his money.

"I want to finish school. I didn't get to the first time around," Harry explained. "I've been having more fun this year than I have since first year. Somewhere along the line, magic stopped being important, but it is important to me. It's amazing and freeing, more so than just escaping the Dursleys."

Sirius nodded, "I can understand that, but we don't have to live in Northern Europe. I am obscenely rich and when you do come of age you'll be obscenely rich too. We can live anywhere we want."

Harry took off his glasses to wipe them on a napkin, keeping his gaze down, "Except you're still on the run."

"Aurors don't cross country borders," Sirius said. "It's why finding Voldemort has been such an issue, why it was such an issue last time he rose to power. Bad guys don't have to follow laws, international or otherwise. That's part of why the Order was formed."

"So why has running been so difficult for you?" Harry asked without looking up.

"Because I always stayed close enough to be there for you if there were an emergency. Taking you would have caused a bit more problems as kidnaping underaged wizards is something that would allow aurors to cross the borders, without a political nightmare."

"I thought I was the political nightmare," Harry quipped, putting his glasses back on.

Sirius grinned, "I bet they're panicking. Boy-Who-Lived Goes Missing Right Out From Dumbledore's Nose. That is a paper seller."

"Can I tell them you kidnapped me and took me on vacation to beaches, fancy restaurants, and amusement parks? I want to see their faces when I explain what snorkeling is."

Sirius barked his approval, "Sure at this point kidnapping is pretty low on my supposed crimes."

oOo

They went back to the inn they had been staying in Calais, packing up the souvenirs, and disapparated back to Grimmauld Place.

Harry said goodbye to Buckbeak before, rather unenthusiastically, following Sirius to the fireplace. They would be flooing back to Hogwarts.

"Sirius?" Harry said, stopping halfway to the fireplace. His godfather was already looking a bit depressed.

His godfather looked up, his grey already darkening with his approaching isolation.

"I love you," Harry said.

Sirius stopped in his tracks, turning to him fully before pulling Harry into a tight hug. "I love you too, Harry."

Harry made to pull back but Sirius held on a bit tighter and whispered, "Give me something that happened to you before your fifth year that I can be mad at Albus for. I don't think I can hide my emotions toward him for a future that hasn't happened yet."

Harry settled into Sirius's embrace, "The Dursleys kept me in a cupboard under the stairs until my Hogwarts letter came."

Sirius nearly crushed Harry in his arms which was fine for a minute.

"Sirius-need-air-" Harry said breathlessly.

Sirius let go.

"I can get there on my own," Harry offered.

But his godfather just shook his head, taking Harry's luggage and shrank it, before handing it back to Harry. "No, I think it's time I claim my parental rights."

oOo

The Heads of House were in Albus's office discussing the current drama that had thrown the entire school into a frenzy. Even a number of Slytherins were visibly disturbed by Harry's supposed kidnapping by a known Death Eater. Many were starting to think the Boy Who Lived was dead.

"Where would the mutt have taken him?" Severus asked, he sounded more exhausted than bitter.

"Harry's fine," Minerva said, although she didn't sound completely convinced.

Albus tapped his fingers on his desk, "He needs to be back here, it isn't safe for him-"

Filius interrupted, "Harry needed some time off. He should be back soon, I can't see him missing more than a week of school."

"And how can you be so sure?" Severus asked.

"Harry trusts Sirius, so I trust Sirius."

Pomona gave Filius a scandalized look.

She was the only one out of the five who didn't know Sirius was innocent. She was slowly spiralling into a rage as her co-workers calmly discussed Mr. Potter's whereabouts.

"This is madness!" Pomona exclaimed, the dam bursting, "He is a Death Eater!"

"It was Pettigrew, Pomona," Filius said gently, "It was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed the Potters, that murdered all those people, who cut off his own finger, and framed Mr. Black to take the fall."

"But- he was in prison-"

"Without a trial."

"Oh," she said softly, slumping into her seat when no one in the room refuted his statement.

"The boy is still in trouble," Severus said, "Black isn't safe to keep around children-"

Albus's fireplace flashed bright green and Harry stepped through first, followed closely by Mr. Trouble himself.

"Hello Professors," Sirius greeted warmly.

Harry smiled and waved.

Everyone noticed immediately how genuine that smile was, how it reached his eyes. Harry's emerald eyes were bright, his skin was tanned, and he seemed to be glowing with an inner contentment that they had only ever seen glimpses of.

Albus stood to walk around the table as he demanded, "Where have you been?"

Sirius's smile widened as he cheerfully greeted the Headmaster, "Albus!"

Albus hesitated.

Sirius continued to walk forward as if he would embrace the older man.

Filius saw the fighting stance two heartbeats before Sirius's fist met the side of Dumbledore's face.

The old man dropped to the floor with a surprised grunt. The wind was knocked out of him, his glasses shattering on the stones.

Harry was pulling Sirius back, trying to guard his godfather against the three wands trailed on him. Filius had his wand out but it was not pointed at Sirius.

Sirius began shouting, "You son of a bitch! You stay the hell away from godson! You understand me, old man? You stay the hell away from my son!"

"Sirius, calm down," Harry pleaded.

"Sirius, what's wrong with you?" Minerva asked.

"I thought you said he was safe?" Pomona questioned, voice unsteady, though her wand held steady.

None of them dared lose a spell when Harry was wrapped around the enraged man.

"Did you hear me, Albus!?" Sirius roared, "Stay away from Harry."

"He's the only thing keeping the idiot alive, you moron!" Severus raised his voice, his expression contorted into a snarl.

Sirius turned on his old-school rival. "Did you love her?"

Severus sneered, "What are you babbling about, mongrel?"

"Lily Evans," Sirius explained, pressing against Harry's grip but not breaking it, not striking out.

Which is when Filius made the leap that some of Sirius's anger was a front, something deliberately done.

"Did you love her?" Sirius asked

"What does Lily have to do with any of this?" Severus snarled.

"You were her neighbour, she told us that, you must have known her sister."

Severus scowled, "I knew Petunia, what of it?"

"She kept Lily's son in a cupboard for ten years. Ten years she tormented him and starved him."

Severus said nothing, though his onyx eyes were a bit wider as he gazed at Harry with an unreadable expression.

Sirius turned his attention back to Albus, who had gotten stiffly to his feet, his spectacles, fixed and resting properly on his nose. The corner of his mouth was leaking blood, the splash of red making a dramatic contrast on his beard.

"Harry will not be returning to the Dursleys. From this summer onwards, Harry will always have a home with me," Sirius informed them.

Filius was not in disagreement.

Albus's smile was gentle, but the usual sparkle in the man's eyes was gone. "Harry will retur-"

"He will not," Filius interrupted. "They are unfit guardians, keeping someone alive, barely, is not the same thing as care, as having a family. Harry will not return there. He was courageous enough to ask for help. What message does it send if those students who ask for help don't receive it? Do you know how many students I've had over the years who I could not help because I did not have enough information to act on?"

"Harry is a special case," Albus said.

It was a damning statement in Filius's assertation.

"He's my son," Sirius growled. "He isn't a case, he's a person and he will not return to people who would do him harm."

"I told you," Minerva said, lowering her wand, both Pomona and Severus following her lead. "Didn't I tell you, Albus? That they were the worst sort of muggles? That they would hate him for what he was? You told me you had checked up on him. You lied to me."

"I didn't lie. I stationed someone there permanently to keep an eye on him," Albus defended himself.

"Yeah," Harry said, taking part in the conversation for the first time. "The cat lady who happened to be squib who never told me a damned thing was really useful. Especially, as she was never allowed into the Dursleys's house. She didn't see anything because on the outside there was nothing to see."

The Four Heads of House and Sirius turned their rather unfriendly expressions to the Headmaster.

"The blood wards-"

"My house is safer than those wards, as the Dementors so kindly illustrated this summer," Sirius argued.

Albus smiled at Sirius, "And yet you are not a free man. What would happen if someone let it slip where you were-" his eyes flicked briefly to Harry with his summer tan at the end of a Scotland autumn, "-on vacation?"

The tension in the room seemed to drop as if they had all descended into a deep valley after living on top of a mountain for years. The air was harder to breathe, their muscles taking on the extra weight.

But the magical pressure wasn't coming from Sirius, no it was Harry Potter whose wand was pointed at Albus's heart. Harry stepped in font of Sirius as he warned the Headmaster, "Don't. You. Dare. Threaten. My family."

Each word he spoke was low and precise.

"You are a child," Albus snapped, "You don't understand-"

"You don't get to call me that," Harry told him evenly. "Not after what you've done. Not after what you planned to do to me. You don't get to treat me like I am some innocent child when your only reason for keeping me alive is so I can die when at the time you appoint."

Minerva jerked, whereas Filius found himself imagining the young man Harry would soon become.

oOo

"I don't want you to die, my boy," Dumbledore said serenely.

Harry's hand tightened on his wand, how he wanted to believe that. Even now, Harry still wanted to believe that he had meant more to Albus Dumbledore than an expendable piece in a master plan.

"Enough of this, Harry," Albus said soothingly, in that voice that could talk almost anyone into almost anything. "I never intended to cause you harm. I'm sorrier than I can say that the Dursleys didn't love you as they were meant to."

Harry shook his head, "You don't get to decide my future. You don't get to keep making choices for me."

"Your destiny is your own to decide," Dumbledore lied.

Harry felt his heart breaking. He had loved this man, watched him die, and died for him. But Harry wasn't going to waste his second chance. Voldemort was all but destroyed. A wasted husk with only Wormtail to aid him. There were no more Horcruxes, no more quests. Just the aftermath of too much grief and too much regret.

Yet Harry felt himself constantly balancing on a knife's edge of calling a truce and washing his hands of the old professor.

oOo

Filius watched the conflict on Harry's face and he stepped forward to spare Harry from this unnecessary conversation.

Which was when Dumbledore made his biggest mistake, the mistake that would break any bridge between the Greatest Wizard of the Age and the Greatest Wizard of the Age to Come.

The Four Heads of House and Sirius watched as the quickest, most vicious non-lethal duel was fought and won before they could even think to raise their own power.

Albus raised his wand at Harry to disarm the boy.

Harry, the eighteen-year-old war veteran who had been fighting for his life since he turned eleven, struck back with all the instinct and grace of a wildcat.

Harry's shield charm was followed by a hex, which Albus reflected only to have to step back as another brutal spell ripped through his desk. Little trinkets and glass instruments clattering to the floor. The desk was now a half-solid table and half half-splintered mass of oak and papers.

Albus's stunners were absorbed by Harry's shields as the younger man gained ground, Albus's wand torn from his grasp.

The Elder Wand landed in Harry's hand with a rush of power and gold and silver sparks. Death recognizing its own.

The room was plunged into a vat of pungent shock.

Filius felt his breath catch in his throat.

Only half the room understood the significance, frozen at seeing Albus disarmed by a student.

Filius was so proud of him.

oOo

Harry was stunned himself, staring down at the wand in his hand.

He had always known DADA was his best subject, but if he could take Dumbledore in a fight, even a non-lethal one, was it possible- was it even remotely possible that he could have faced Voldemort in a duel and come out on top?

Harry wasn't a genius like Dumbledore or Riddle, but he wasn't stupid either and even Hermione had once said he was better, or at least stronger, than her at casting spells. He didn't have her fine touch but-

"That's not possible," Dumbledore said into the silence of the room.

Harry refocused, the Death Stick in one hand, his Holly Wand in the other, both pointed at the man who had cut him off from all who would have helped him through the travesty that was his life.

Harry sheathed his Holly Wand in the arm sheath he had bought for himself. He ran a finger up to the tip of the Elder Wand. This wand that had been used to kill him the second time, in more ways than one.

He gripped the stick in both hands and snapped it. A burst of liquid gold seeped out before it exploded into a mist of golden sparkles that pushed everyone -but Harry, back a step.

"No!" the Headmaster cried, empty hand reaching out.

oOo

The Four Heads of House had no idea what the correct course of action was in this situation. For Minerva, Pomona, and Severus they knew that more had just happened here than what lay on the surface. Sure, Mr. Potter had just fought with the Headmaster and stolen and then broken his wand. But the wand had clearly chosen Harry, so in effect, Harry had broken his own wand. Nothing in wizarding customs prompted them to punish the young man for winning a duel. Perhaps fifty points from Gryffindor for destroying the Headmaster's desk?

Filius and Sirius were relieved to see Harry taking a stand for himself and not at all sad to see one of the Hallows destroyed.

Fawkes sang, reminding everyone of his presence. The firebird swooped down to scoop the two halves of the Elder wand in his talens, releasing a small burst of flame, trailing ash in his wake.

Fawkes landed on Harry's shoulder, rubbing his cheek against Harry's in a show of comfort.

Harry stroked those beautiful feathers, his fear of the Headmaster for acting so directly against him dwindling with the familiar's obvious approval.

"Why?" Dumbledore asked.

It should have been Harry's question.

'Why?'

What a potent little word.

Harry gave the answer he had been given, "For the Greater Good."

oOo

AN: Thoughts, firebirds, or reactions, pretty please?