Verus

1996, Diagon Alley, London

It was just as they were leaving Flourish and Blotts, with charmed bags slung over their shoulders and content smiles on their faces, that Harry spotted his godfather. Sirius was stood just across the cobbled street, hands hidden in the pockets of his long black trench, shoulders somewhat hunched in apparent tension, as he conversed with an unfamiliar woman.

The woman, in question, stood apart from the rest of the Alley’s crowd, though not in a way that claimed she was better than, she simply warranted attention, and Harry could only guess that it was the same case wherever else she went.

She was elegant, that much was obvious. Practically flawless, as though she had just stepped out from a vivid painting or a fanciful book. With her icy blonde hair, which hid under a curtain of black locks and peaked out here and there to frame her heart shaped face. She was beautiful and poised, like an apple in the Garden of Eden, perched perfectly in wait, both so unassuming and yet utterly tempting.

She wore her wealth well, Harry noted too, with tailored garments of fine linen and dainty accents of jewellery. It wasn’t shoved in your face, there was no flaunting with her, she hadn’t a need to, the way she held herself was tell enough. This woman was inciting, and she definitely knew it.

“Sirius?” Came Remus’ hesitant call, breaking Harry from his surveying. He blinked as his godfather turned slightly in his stance and caught the way Sirius’s eyes widened briefly in- was that relief? How odd.

“The pair of you! Was just beginning to wonder whether those books had pulled you into their pages.” Sirius joked halfheartedly. He smiled amicably between both them and the woman beside him before proceeding to gesture them over.

Harry slipped on his best impression of the young heir he was supposed to be as he strode on over towards the couple, silently grateful to all of the founders for their many earlier teachings. He bowed slightly as he inclined his head in polite greeting to the lady and the woman in turn watched him for a stagnant second with the most bluest eyes Harry had ever seen, before she gifted him a graceful smile.

Sirius on the other hand seemed to have forgotten his manners completely as he gaped at them both, looking rather shocked. Harry sighed internally. His godfather was supposed to be the next Lord to an Ancient and Noble house, how had he yet learnt to hide his emotions?

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady..” Harry fished.

“Malfoy.” The woman informed with the beginnings of a smirk, her sharp eyes drifting from Harry to his godfather and back, “And whom might you be?”

This was seemingly the moment Sirius chose to pull himself together and step in, he cleared his throat slightly to properly introduce them. “Uh, this, Cissy, would be my godson, Harry. And Harry, this is my cousin, Narcissa.”

Harry knew immediately that the woman had connected the dots on just who he was within a blink, her face brightened the tiniest bit as she dipped her chin in respectful regard.

“So you are,” Narcissa hummed, her voice like honey as she appraised Harry with those beryl blue eyes of hers. “I assure you, the pleasure is all mine, Heir Potter.”

“Harry, please.” Harry corrected, knowing the inclinations behind giving the woman permission to use his given name. This was not a lady he would want on any side other than his. And he deemed it was never too early to begin making preparations for later convenience, Sal had engrained that into him a little too well.

The woman must have seen something worthy in him because she gave him a rather genuine smile and offered out her hand. “Then you may also call me Narcissa, any kin of my cousin is family in my eyes.”

Harry’s chest warmed at the gentle gesture and was quick to thank the woman with a few pleasantries just before he heard his godfather’s untimely snort.

“Family? We’ve not spoken in nearly two decades, Cissy!”

“And yet, you still call me by that silly nickname.” Narcissa quipped back, gone now was her warm smile, only the remnants of it remained in the ever so faint lines that traced her intelligent eyes. “When you left the family fold, it was not me who shunned nor ignored you. I made an effort… and I continued to do so until after my wedding day. You chose your path, Sirius.”

Harry watched on as his godfather looked away, as though he was trying to carefully compose himself.

“I see you still have yet to learn any manners, cousin.” Narcissa spoke with a put upon sigh, breaking apart some of the tension which had settled when she held out a well-manicured hand towards Remus, whom Harry then noticed had come to a stand just behind him, keeping a small courteous distance. “Mr Lupin, is it not? I remember you from my days at Hogwarts- though, I was quite a few years ahead.”

Remus nodded only once and graciously clasped the woman’s fair hand, he showed none of his surprise as he bowed traditionally. “It is. Lovely to see you again, Lady Malfoy.”

“Narcissa.” The poised lady rectified, shocking Sirius it seemed, as well as Remus who swallowed noisily before he nodded once more. “If I recall correctly, you made quite the name for yourself during my last year of studying. Amongst the older Slytherins, at least.”

Harry turned towards the werewolf, an even mixture of curiosity and mirth etched into his every feature. Remus’ mouth twisted sheepishly as he exhaled out a light chuckle. “I hadn’t realised.”

“I’m sure.” Lady Malfoy hummed in quiet amusement, then she glanced back over towards Harry. “I have to mention I’m quite surprised to be meeting you, Harry. I think we all believed you to be attending Hogwarts alongside the rest of our children in first year, I was rather surprised when that turned out not to be the case.”

She was angling for more, Harry knew, looking for information he wasn’t quite ready to give yet, but he could appease her interest for a small while.

“I was rather disheartened not to be attending Hogwarts,” He divulged honestly, because it was mostly true. “But a lot happened that first year, most of which put me at a great disadvantage. My guardians deemed it safer for me to wait it out.”

Harry was casual in the way he watched Narcissa subtly observe him, though there was a current of understanding behind her eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher.

“I’m glad to see you here now though.” The woman assured him and smiled, not unkindly, “Tell me, will you be attending school this coming autumn?”

Harry returned the gesture easily, the tension he’d felt lessening somewhat. “It appears so, I’m much looking forward to it.”

She smiled again. Harry noted how much younger it made her look, the way it brightened her overall being, but still, it held a motherly regard.

“How wonderful. I have a son your age also,” Harry hid a devious smirk at having been on the mark. “I am sure he’d be happy to take you under his wing this September, if only to get you acquainted with all that you’ve missed.”

Harry was certain the boy would be and could already feel the oncoming dread. But having an in amongst the Hogwarts crowd, a pureblood too, could prove useful, knowing someone who understood the ins and outs of the Wizarding World and its current culture as well as the school itself… And if Narcissa was indeed Sirius’s cousin, then she had also been born a Black, and Harry could only guess- or hope rather- that she wasn’t yet in Dumbledore’s pocket.

He very much doubted so, sure that the man wouldn’t turn such intent towards such a dark inclined family, but then again, proof of that opinion being false stood right there beside him, in his godfather.

There was definitely a story here, Harry deemed, a lengthy history too perhaps. One he wanted to know more on, but speaking of Sirius, it appeared that the man had reinserted himself into the conversation once more whilst Harry had been busy pondering the thought. “And how is young Draco, Cissy? As well as the Devil himself, I ‘spose.”

Harry’s head had never snapped so fast in the direction of his godfather, who shrugged disingenuously at his cousin. It had been so quick in fact, he wasn’t sure that he’d been able to cover his blatant surprise.

Narcissa though, she merely chuckled in response, unrelenting in her public facade. “You’re still the same, cousin. It’s almost refreshing to know not everything in this world has changed. But thank you for asking, Draco is doing wonderfully, currently spending the early summer abroad in France. As for the so called Devil himself… well, Lucius has had a lot on his plate as of recent. With the upcoming elections, and what not.”

Sirius pursed his lips, “I’d assumed so.”

Lucius, Harry lingered on, not the same snotty-nosed pureblood he had met the day prior, was it?

Harry silently scolded himself for having been so oblivious and in failing to make that obvious connection, and moved to clasp his hands casually behind his back as he subtly cleared his throat.

“Lucius, that wouldn’t be the same Lucius Malfoy I met in passing here just yesterday?”

Narcissa seemed to blink at him and Harry could almost see the cogs turning in her pretty head. “Lucius never mentioned having met a Mr Potter, but he did relay having seen a young man conversing with the Nott family. Would that happen to align with your meeting?”

Harry tried to recall the entirety of the conversation Mr Malfoy had been apart of, as well as what he might have overheard beforehand. His encounter with the Nott’s had been brief, yes, but it had also apparently left an imprint on the Malfoy patriarch if he had chosen to tell his wife about it.

“I believe so, I struck up a small discussion with Lord Nott and his son after a slight mishap in the square.” Harry replied, but he wanted to regain control of the reigns after having been so perviously unaware, “Lord Malfoy, I presume, is your husband?”

The lady inclined her head ever so, “He is, and I’m rather certain that he’ll be glad to learn that he was one of the very first to have welcomed you into the Wizarding World, Harry.”

Ah, and then there was that little fact. Now that Narcissa knew, Harry guessed it was only a small amount of time before the rest of Wizarding Britain did too. He wondered what they’d all think of their supposed saviour.

“Cissy…” Sirius intoned, causing Harry’s attention to turn towards him, he kept his head high. “I was rather hoping that you might keep Harry’s return discreet?” At the woman’s raised brow, his godfather hurried to add explanation, “You know, it would just be a lot easier for him, for all of us really, if this was kept under wraps for a little while longer. What with the public and their lack of tact, as well as… certain figureheads.”

The woman’s brow then creased. “You can’t mean-” She begun to question but did not finish, her blue eyes hard.

“No, no.” Sirius hastened to assure her, all of them knowing just who her mind had ultimately wondered to, but it was Harry that stepped forward slightly, taking the brunt of the woman’s steely stare.

“What Sirius means to say, Narcissa, is that I don’t wish to entertain the meddlings of a certain old man who’s been rather inclined in controlling the way of the game for a little too long.”

Narcissa Malfoy seemed to regard him in a whole new light as she surveyed him once more, eyes lingering on Harry’s own reverent green gaze. “I understand,” The lady spoke, then shifted her attention back towards Sirius himself, who was now watching Harry a lot more closely. “When things finally come to a head, I would truly love to get reacquainted, Sirius. I fear it has been long enough, dear cousin. I don’t wish to be your enemy.” Her gaze also shifted to Harry briefly at that and the teen held her stare unflinchingly. Words transpired through the shortened contact, Harry figured the woman to be a person of their word, but he only hoped that she could do so whilst also evading any of her husband’s suspicion.

Sirius, now solely focused on his cousin, looked a little startled by the offer but swallowed thickly and dipped his chin. “I’d like that.” His voice was rougher than it had ever been and Harry sensed, more than felt, the moment Remus moved closer towards his godfather in a soundless gesture of support. “You can owl me, if you’d like. Though, it may take me a while to respond, my mail is still being forwarded to Black Manor.”

“You’re still in contact with grandfather?” Narcissa immediately retorted, the subtle emotion in her voice taking Harry by surprise.

Sirius’s eyes flickered to him and then away again far too quickly for Harry to work out its intent, but his godfather then nodded at the woman with a tiny quirk of a smile.

“Well, I’ll be sure to write then.” Reassured Narcissa, now looking at her estranged cousin in a different light. “As well as keep this encounter to myself.” She confirmed.

Harry only hoped her word would keep.

—

12 Grimmauld Place, Islington, London

The next few days were simply filled with a mountain of parcels, a variety of different foods, and a seemingly never-ending stream of visits from Harry’s incessant godfather.

It appeared that Sirius was rather fixated on spending as much time as he possibly could orbiting Harry, and if not him, then he had Remus be there in his stead. Not that the werewolf seemed to mind very much. Though, he appeared to watch Harry from a slight distance most of the time, as though he was almost afraid to come into contact too much- the polar opposite of Sirius.

Harry had grown somewhat fond of the pair and of the detailed retellings they often shared of his departed family, but he also felt as though he’d not had a single minute to himself since Merlin had vanished away. First with the inane purple bus, then that barkeep, the goblins, as well as Nott Sr and Jr, and with them both Lord and Lady Malfoy, even Kreacher! Though the latter, Harry could confidently say, was just as inclined to his time alone as he himself was.

Thankfully, it was only three days after their outing in Diagon, when Sirius mentioned that he’d be unable to visit Grimmauld due to a prior arrangement he couldn’t escape from, Remus too as it so happened. And so Harry took the opportunity to ask Kreacher about the Black Family Library and its extensive contents.

“Why’s the little master be wanting to know?” The House elf questioned under a narrow eyed stare where Harry had since summoned him to the kitchen.

Harry raised a brow in retort as he shrugged, relaxed in his chair as he picked lazily at his breakfast. Kreacher wouldn’t dare admit it- and at this stage neither would Harry- but the elf had apparently taken to fixing him three full meals a day after he had seen Harry’s halfhearted attempts at it during his first full day within Grimmauld’s walls.

And it was obvious that it was the elf doing it, in the same way that the sun would both rise and set, because there truly was no one else around to do so. But after the first bowl of oats had appeared, alongside a well proportioned bowl of fruit, Harry had been far too surprised (and rather relieved) to question the creature’s motive too much. A platter of sandwiches had popped into existence on the counter beside him some time after noon, meat filled and lined with margarine, and then dinner had followed later that same evening. The next few days followed much of the same way.

Commenting on it now would seemingly ruin whatever good thing he and Kreacher had going, Harry had ultimately decided, and the elf appeared content enough in being able to complete normal mundane tasks once again, so Harry was almost certain that Kreacher wasn’t trying to kill him off just yet. So that was how it would stay, even as Harry prodded the old elf for answers over his still steaming omelette.

“You know, just intrigued.” Harry summarised, but Kreacher merely blinked, undeterred.

“The Black Library is one of the world’s greatest. If the young master wishes to find it, he only has to ask.”

Harry’s brow furrowed. “But I just did.”

Kreacher scowled as though he was actively aiming to appear dimwitted. “Not me. Young master needs to be asking the house.”

“The house…” Harry parroted, gaze surveying. “Right, I guess that makes sense now that I think about it. The house’s loyalty may be similar to that of Hogwarts, its magic sentient in a way.”

When Harry stumbled out from his musings to glance back over at the elf, he found Kreacher watching him from under a scrutinising stare. He quirked a brow.

“What?”

But the elf did not grant him a reply, simply clicked his long spindly fingers and then he was gone.

Harry scoffed as he shook his head, only slightly amused. “Morgana help me.”

—

Turns out, the Black Family Library wasn’t all that hard to find once you knew what you were looking for. Up on the third floor, behind an indiscreet door at the end of a very long winding hallway was where it hid.

Harry had done as Kreacher suggested and asked the house for its assistance in his search just by reaching out towards its wards. The magic there had been quiet at first, dull and skittish, until he’d ebbed some of his own out in hopes to intertwine with it. It had been the right choice in the end, however dangerous- what with him not knowing what sort of enchantments were hiding away there in wait- but after having entered the library Harry couldn’t find it in himself to regret the decision and thanked the house silently as he’d roamed the contents of the first shelf.

There were so many books and scrolls to choose from within the room’s lengthy walls and Harry let himself leaf through their many pages at his own pace, intrigued by the enchantments that lined them and the security which protected them. A few even ordered that he offer up a drop or two of blood just to get them to open up, which was something he’d thought about doing and then opted out of. At least for now. And others which screamed and wailed until he placed them quickly back on their assigned shelf.

So by the time Sirius came knocking, it was safe to say that hours had flew by and Harry had lost the entirety of daylight to a dusty old room full of words.

It’d been difficult to unwind himself from out of the position he’d since relaxed into a long while earlier, but he’d escaped the sanctuary of the library before his godfather could come looking for him and see exactly what he’d been up to in his time spent alone, knowing that Sirius would soon come searching. He drifted down towards the lowest level of the house and was just nearing the kitchen when he heard a heated discussion being carried out in hissed whispers.

“We are not mentioning this to him, Remus! I mean it.” Sirius’s voice determined and Harry paused just short of the doorway to listen in a little closer, brow furrowed as his ears pricked up.

“Why not, Pads?” Remus sighed, sounding as though he was tired of the debate. Harry guessed that they’d probably been at this a while. “He deserves to know, doesn’t he? It affects him more than it does either of us.”

There was a tense pause, one which Harry believed was only warranted for the heated glare Sirius so often gifted in affairs such as these.

He must’ve been correct in his assumption because he heard Remus tut just before a chair scraped its way across the tiled floor, leaving Sirius’s voice to fill the aftermath. “He’s a child! One who’s been taught to question everything! Question what’s right, what’s wrong! What’s safe, what’s set to be a problem. It won’t do him any good knowing this!”

“Question us, is what you really mean.” Came Remus’s quick retort, which truthfully caught Harry off guard, he hadn’t realised that the man had actually had it in him to go against Sirius so boldly. “Admit it, Sirius, you hate the fact that he doesn’t need us, that he hasn’t jumped straight into your arms like you thought he would and asked you to take him in, protect him from whatever else could possibly harm him.”

“Stop.” Sirius answered sharply, “Just don’t, Remus. You have no idea.”

Remus’s quiet laugh filled the kitchen and drifted out in a puddle that stopped near Harry’s feet. “Sirius, he’s practically a man now. I mean, he’s the same age we were when we joined The Order- when we decided to fight in a war we had no business in!”

“Don’t pull that crap with me, Remus, we had every right. It was us or them.”

Harry forced back the urge to roll his eyes.

“Sirius, Harry needs to know what’s coming for him. He needs to be prepared!” Was what Remus ultimately decided to answer the man with, the stressed sigh he gave afterwards sounded exhausted. “That’s what truly matters here. Not this obsession you have with reliving all the years you’ve missed with him.”

It was just after having heard that in which Harry grew bored of listening in on their debate, or argument rather, and moved ever so expertly to stand in the kitchen’s threshold, only clearing his voice to garner the room’s attention when neither occupant surrendered their position in a stare off.

Remus blinked over at him from where he was hunched in a wooden chair whilst Sirius fish-mouthed slightly before his face finally settled in a steely fashion, seemingly not done with whatever tantrum he was close to throwing.

“Harry.” The greying were acknowledged, but Harry simply waved Remus off, not wanting to hear his attempts at an apology or excuse, or whatever it was that was going to come out of the man’s mouth.

“I want to know where you’ve been and what was said.” Harry practically demanded, though he still held his casual tone.

Sirius scoffed loudly at him, his hair and overall person in disarray, so Harry merely crossed his arms over his chest and settled in to stare the older man down.

“Did it sound like I was asking?” Harry questioned him, his voice echoing off the kitchen tiles. “I’ve been tolerant with you, Sirius, seeing as you are in fact my godfather, but I’m tired of babying a grown man. Life is not only suited to having it your way. I’m not the kid you knew, nor the person you dreamed of finally meeting. I’m not someone you diligently need to protect or shield, I know what I am here for, I know what I have to do. I’m not going to break or shatter if you give me a moment to myself, and I’m not going to run. Believe me, if I wanted to I never would’ve stepped foot back here in the first place.”

He wet his lower lip and only decided to continue on with everything he’d been holding back over the last few days due to the fact that it seemed as though he'd finally managed to capture all of Sirius’s attention.

“I’m not my father either, Sirius. I’m not James, I can’t and won’t treat you the same way he did. In all truth, I really wouldn’t know where to start. But I can understand that you’ve grieved and mourned, and that having me here, back with you, is bound to be a big change. Only, it’s a change I’m experiencing too. I’ve lived most of my life knowing what was headed for me. And yet, here I still am. I haven’t left yet and I won’t let anyone dictate things for me any longer. So I’m telling you now, not to.”

Harry’s godfather only stared unblinkingly back at him in reply, either unable to find a response or not wanting to. Harry wondered briefly if he’d gone too far, but it’d needed to be said. Having people hide things from him would only hinder his future plans and he couldn’t have that. Not this early on.

“Do we understand each other?”

Harry allowed his eyes to slip from the undeterred set on Sirius to where Remus sat observing him very closely. The man dipped his head as though he already knew that the question had been directed towards him also and Sirius swallowed noisily before he gave a curt nod too, working his jaw whilst his stare finally faltered and begun to jump about the room.

“Great. Now! What went on, and where were you?” Harry started, losing the tense set of his shoulders to drop further into the room and into a chair sat opposite the werewolf, he gave a toothy grin.

Remus coughed slightly, eyes darting to and from Harry and Sirius, seemingly bewildered by the jolting shift in atmosphere. He inhaled before he answered, leaning against the tabletop without trying to turn his back on the remaining man left standing.

“Dumbledore, he typically calls meetings when and where he pleases. Hasn’t for a good few years, or maybe he has but we’d been uninvited…” Remus’s gaze darted over towards Sirius far too quickly for it to have gone noticed by anyone else, but there was obviously a story there, Harry was sure of it. Still he let the were continue on. “Yesterday we got an owl asking us to attend.”

“I can only assume you went then?” Harry reasoned.

Remus nodded and toyed with the position of his clasped hands, he took them from the table, into his lap, and then back again. “We did.”

Sirius begun pacing, but neither Harry or Remus paid him any mind.

“And who else attended?” Harry asked him, face giving nothing away to whirlwind of thoughts he had going on. He fretted ever so briefly over whether the Headmaster knew of his arrival.

The werewolf scratched his jaw before he rattled off a list, “There aren’t many of the original order left, in truth. But those there are, were there. The Weasleys, both Molly and Arthur- as well as two of their sons now. Mad-eye too, he used to be an Auror.” Remus clarified just as Harry nodded.

“The best.” Sirius added gruffly, though he didn’t spare them a glance, too busy with his apparent huffing and puffing.

Remus took another breath but made to carry on, “Emmeline Vance attended, a good guard, as well as Dedalus Diggle too, though they mostly just sit back and watch, not much for talking, like to listen to orders. Then there’s Elphias Doge, who’s an old schoolmate of Dumbledore’s, incredibly loyal and overly opinionated.” Remus jaw ticked at the mention. “Arabella Figg joined too, which was surprising, and although she’s a known squib she helped us out with a lot spy work during the first war. She’d never attended a gathering before today though.” He paused to think for a short moment, tapping his fingertips on the wearing wood that sat between them. “Sturgis Podmore also came, didn’t stay much, but he’s a member of the Ministry, someone Dumbledore holds near and dear. He’s guarding something for him though I believe, or at least that’s what I gathered just as we were leaving. I overheard them for a very brief moment, but they shut right up when they noticed me lingering though.”

“And that’s it?”

Remus shook his head at Harry’s question, sniffing once. “No, then there’s Hagrid, Groundskeeper at Hogwarts. He stumbled in a little late but looks at Dumbledore as though the sun shines out of the man’s arse.”

Harry smirked around a hum at that and then jerked his chin, wanting Remus to continue.

“A few new people were in attendance too, alongside the Weasley boys. Nymphadora Tonks, she’s training under Mad-eye Moody to be an Auror for the past year, went to school with Charlie Weasley from what I can recall. A relative of Sirius’s, too.” Remus revealed but received nothing but a displeased grunt in return from the fore-mentioned man, to which he only sighed at before then glancing back towards Harry. “Hestia Jones has also joined the ranks it seems, working alongside Diggle. Kingsley Shacklebolt too, another Auror. Kingsley’s very much liked within the current ministry, but from what I could see he’s not too pleased with Dumbledore’s methods as of late, so I don’t know how long he’ll be sticking around for. In truth, I reckon he’s only there for Tonks, perhaps Moody too.”

“And Snape, don’t forget that snivelling turncoat.” Came the sudden input of Sirius who had since turned his narrowed eyes towards them. His upper lip was curled in disgust at just the very mention this man’s name.

“Snape?” Harry treaded cautiously, head tilted towards his godfather who stalked across the kitchen towards them to splay his palms along the table’s top.

“Severus Snape. One of their lot.” Sirius spat vehemently and, being so close, Harry could see the heated hatred that swam in the older man’s eyes as he stared down at him through an almost crazed haze. “Only got off a life sentence in Azkaban ‘cause of Dumbledore’s claims.”

Harry absorbed this information carefully but was jolted from his thoughts when Remus exhaled softly opposite him, then decided to speak up. “You would’ve been right there with him too, Sirius, if it hadn’t been for Snape.”

“And James, where would he be?”

Sirius’s quick quip cut through the room like a searing knife, Harry watched on as Remus dropped his chin down to his collar and glance away as though he’d just been cut, but Harry slitted his own stare back onto his godfather.

“What about my father?” Harry questioned him, undeterred by the manic glare he was met with.

“Snape! He was always a little too close to your mother. James knew it, I knew it! But nobody wanted to listen to reason! Lily claimed she’d distanced herself from him after school, but he still loved to sniff around. I know it was him that dobbed them in it. I know, somehow, that it he was involved too. It’s his fault that they died. Otherwise, why would he’ve been there?”

It was excruciating trying to withhold the sigh that Harry so desperately wanted to dispel, this sounded much more personal than what Sirius was trying to perceive it as and Remus’s reaction to the entire ordeal only furthered that notion.

“Okay.” Was what Harry settled on and then decided to ignore his godfather completely for the time being, actually shuffling in his seat to better direct his body towards the only man in the room that was giving him any real information. “Was there anyone else there, or anyone mentioned?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught the way Sirius blanched at being so blatantly cast aside but kept his sights trained on Remus, even whilst his godfather threw himself back from the table’s edge and laughed bitterly.

Remus swallowed thickly, eyes skittering back and forth between them both now, wary.

“I need to know, Remus.” Harry prodded, growing impatient with all the antics that were occurring, tired of the charade behind it all.

“Um,” The scarred man blinked a few times to collect his thoughts, shook his head, before he then backtracked, “Wait, there was no Aberforth this time.”

“Aberforth?”

Remus nodded rapidly, regaining some of his earlier focus again. “Yes, Aberforth. Dumbledore’s brother.”

Harry’s brows rose on their own accord, very much surprised. “Brother?”

The were nodded at him again, “He owns the Hog’s Head down in Hogsmead, the village just outside of the castle.”

“I know of it.” Harry replied whilst his mind tried to play catch up. Dumbledore had a brother, one Merlin had failed to mention. “Are they close?”

“No.” Remus divulged, fingers anxiously tapping away again, eyes so focused on Harry in a vain attempt to not spare a look over to where Sirius stood fuming by the kitchen sink. “No, from what I know they had a falling out as boys. But Dumbledore still tries with him, has shares in the tavern I believe, or something of the like.”

Harry hummed noncommittally.

“Are we really just sat here gossiping about a pair of old codgers?” Sirius suddenly hissed, garnering their attention, both Harry and Remus looked up at the sound of his voice to see the unsettled emotion the man was grasping on to. “Harry, are you not angered by what I just told you? Don’t you want some sort of retribution? Snape killed your-“

“Is there evidence? Proof?”

Sirius gaped at the interruption before his expression quickly moulded into one of utter shock. “Is there any evidence?” He repeated with apparent distress, “Any proof! How about the fact that Severus Snape was the only man to have revealed the prophecy, your prophecy I might add, to the Dark Lord himself?”

Harry stared up at his godfather, wondering just how the man had figured that one out, then utterly dismissed Sirius’s answer to ask another question of his own, “Remus said Snape saved you from Azkaban, how?”

The rune covered wizard pinched the bridge of his nose, dark hair hanging as he visibly fought down his reeling emotions. “He warned me, that’s all.”

Remus scoffed and Harry’s eyes darted towards where the greying were still sat, “If it hadn’t been for him, then you would’ve died amongst those muggles, Sirius!”

“At the very worse, Moony.” Sirius sarkily intoned, but locked his jaw when he saw the blazing glare he was met with.

“You apparated without a second thought once you learnt of- of Peter’s… involvement.”

That immediately caught Harry’s attention.

“Snape was the only one who caught on, who knew.” Remus defended.

“That was because he was one of them! He was in on it!” Sirius snarled back, hand flying out into the air which separated them violently, “They were all pitted together! He knew that conniving rat was crawling amongst their ranks and said not a word of it!”

“But he saved you, Sirius! I saw the memory in Dumbledore’s office! I saw what happened. Without him there- I dread to think what would have happened. Death, perhaps yes, but what if it’d been prison time? What if they’d taken you and carted you off to Azkaban for your involvement, Sirius? Have you ever stopped to think about that?” Remus pleaded with Sirius furiously, sighing as he looked up at the dark haired man who’s chest was still rising rapidly with each desperate breath. “Twelve muggles died on that street. And Peter got away. You would have been charged for every one of their lives. You would have been sentenced and locked away. What would I have done then? What then, Sirius?”

Sirius only blinked wetly at the were for a long moment before he turned his back on the kitchen to clutch heavily at the cold sink. Remus still sat there though, hunched like the creature he hid deep down inside, watching.

“Peter?” Harry heard himself ask aloud, breaking the silence.

Only Remus turned to look at him, albeit slowly, though Sirius’s head did drop a tad at the mention.

“Peter Pettigrew.” Remus revealed through a baited murmur, one that sounded painful even as it escaped into the room. “He was,” The man inhaled sharply, “He was one of your father’s closest friends. Close enough that Lily and James made him secret keeper for the fidelius charm placed on their house in Godric’s Hollow when you went into hiding.”

Harry knew bits and pieces of the story, that they’d been betrayed, that Voldemort had only known of their whereabouts because of that fact. But Peter, he hadn’t been mentioned in detail.

“He’s still alive then?”

The room seemed to both expand and close in as tendrils of his magic flared from his person, filling the cluttered space. Surprisingly it was Sirius who answered him, turning slowly to look at Harry with deep, sorrowful eyes, his voice strained and raw.

“He’s hiding. That much I know. From both us, and them.”

Well, Harry determined then, that was just another thing to add to his ever-growing list. Wasn’t it?