Father

Year Three

DURMSTRANG!! Lucius declares.

NEVER! Narcissa protests.

The argument rages, while Draco and Harry huddle together upstairs. They've never heard them argue before. Disagree on occasion, but never with raised voices and threats and accusations. Never with so much anger and shouting.

"This is all your fault," they accuse one another.

"My fault?"

"If you hadn't started dating the mudblood--!"

"If you hadn't told--!"

"They would have found out anyway."

WE'LL SEND HIM TO DURMSTRANG!

Never Durmstrang! Draco can't speak Bulgarian or Russian or whatever they speak in that frozen hell hole...

Narcissa is steadfast. Lucius reconsiders. Beaubatons, then? His French is beautiful.

NO!

But back to those Gryffindors?

Why not? We went to Hogwarts. Harry comes from Gryffindors. Would you send Harry away?

I couldn't!

Then you can't send my Draco!

He's my son too!

And so it rolls back and forth. Draco tries to send Hermione letters, but the house-elves have been told to stop the owls. Hermione writes letters to Draco, but Lucius makes sure they're into the fire. Lucius writes back once, forging Draco's hand.

Dear Hermione,

You're ugly. I hate you. Go away, and such...

Between the arguments, they try another grand birthday party for Draco. Ginny's invited, a little taller, a little prettier. Narcissa so wants Draco to notice her or Pansy or any of the other girls. But Draco's all sighs for Hermione. Why hasn't she written? Why won't she write?

Harry and Narcissa plot together. Perhaps the crowd is too distracting. Invite Ginny and Ron over between the parties, just like Pansy and Gregory and Vincent are often over. And Draco and Ginny, being very similar creatures, do become fast friends. But unknown to Harry and Narcissa, Ginny is Draco's secret ally. Hermione is her friend too. Too many boys are after Ginny for her to consider stealing a friend's. Even Harry Potter seems to be after Ginny.

Pansy is after Harry Potter. She's thirteen now, and hormones have turned girlish hopes to rage and jealousies. Why Ginny? Why not me? I was your friend first! To keep the peace, Harry lets her in on the plot. Oh, a plot? A plan! Ginny is intended for Draco. Pansy likes this. She'll help most willingly, anything to help Harry Potter.

But before she can help, Ron and Ginny's parents win a prize and off to Egypt they go, names in the paper, picture on the front page! Even Ron's rat Scabbers gets to go.

But happy news is soon over shadowed. Sirius Black the mass murderer has escaped Azkaban and all reports say he has vowed to kill Harry. Lucius remembers young, hot-headed Sirius, the black sheep of the Blacks. Snape has told all about him, clever and cruel, even as a youth. This is the man who betrayed Harry's parents, who killed his friend Peter Pettigrew, all for Lord Voldemort. And this mad man is after Harry. Lucius fears for his ward. The grand party is cancelled. No more visitors. Harry MUST be protected.

Dumbledore protests, but the dementors are sent to guard Hogwarts.

Lucius's worry is infectious. The danger is real. Draco almost forgets Hermione. Narcissa fusses over Harry like she's his mother too. They're allies now, and Harry knows he should be worried but secretly basking in the affection. How long he's wanted Mother to love him too.

The train again. The tightest hugs are given before the boys can be let go. "Draco, watch out for Harry. Stay safe, both of you." No trips to Hogsmeade, not until Black is captured.

Draco won't leave Harry's side, not even to look for Hermione. Pansy clings to them. They find a car with a sleeping man, certainly a professor, certainly for Defense Against the Dark Arts. This will be the safest place. Are you sure he's a professor? Look at his robes. Maybe he's just gotten back from a real adventure unlike that froufy fraud from last year.

The train rumbles on. Crabbe and Goyle stop by but only long enough to say hello, the sleeping professor has stretched across the seats and left no room for them. Draco wonders about Hermione, but Harry needs him now. They're nearly to Hogwarts before she passes in the hall. She stares through the glass at Draco with a sniff and a sad eye.

Harry's forgotten. Draco's out in the hall. What's wrong?

That awful letter!

Which letter? How was it awful? Before the confusion can be sorted, the train jerks, the lights are out, and they're clinging to each other. Back in the car, wake the professor! What's going on? Everything is so dark. A feeling of cold is creeping in. There are sounds, like people are boarding. Could it be Black? Is he after Harry?

"Quiet!" the professor silences them. Fire in his hand lights the compartment. A dark creature cloaked in black opens the door. It draws a breath and with it all happiness seems to leave them.

Harry falls to the floor. Pansy screams. The professor fires a spell and the dark creature is chased away.

"Harry?! Harry?! What did it do him? Are you all right?"

Harry comes round to the image of Draco hovering over him clutching his mudblood girlfriend. Pansy is on the floor too, holding Harry and shivering. They settle back onto seats and the professor gives them chocolate. "I heard someone scream," says Harry.

"That was just Pansy," Draco assures him.

The professor insists they eat the chocolate, identifies the creature as a dementor, and leaves to have a word with the driver. Pansy continues to cling to Harry, and he's too rattled to push her off. He watches in morbid fascination, as Draco uses the adventure to smooth things over with Hermione and procure a first kiss.

He's relieved to arrive at Hogwarts but frightened too. Sirius Black seems far away, but these dementors that are supposed to be guarding him are circling the school. Still a good feast and a kind word from Snape help calm him. Back in Slytherin House, he's surrounded by friends all eager to hear about his adventure, all vowing to protect him.

No silly divination classes for Harry. Lucius insists on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Pansy convinces Harry to take Care of Magical creatures too. She's very interested in unicorns. Draco's trying to juggle twelve classes like Hermione, swots. Watching them whisper and conspire together across the Great Hall reminds Harry of his mission for Narcissa, but it seems hopeless.

Gryffindors and Slytherins have potions together. To Harry's delight Draco settles into a seat beside him instead of Neville or Ron like he has the last two years. To his dismay Granger sits on Draco's other side. He resents sharing a table with a Muggle-born, but at least it's easy to copy her and Draco on tricky assignments, get a little whispered advice when needed.

There's no brother beside him in Defense class when Lupin introduces the boggart. Harry is nervous, but Lupin doesn't even let him face it. Harry's worried Lupin thinks he's a coward, so Harry makes jokes about the state of Lupin's robes. Draco laughs, but Granger scowls.

Lucius's ban from Hogsmeade doesn't seem unfair until Harry watches the other students leave. He hopes Draco will spend the day with him, but no, Draco has too much homework from all those classes. He's having trouble keeping up with Hermione and needs the time to study.

So drop Muggle Studies, Harry advises. Father doesn't like you taking it anyway.

Father will like it if I get twelve Os, Draco insists, and off he goes to the library.

Harry sulks and skulks about the school. Lupin finds him and offers to show him some new creature. Harry's not used to being alone and accepts. The talk turns to boggarts and Voldemort. No, Harry's not afraid of him. "Father assured me the Dark Lord's long gone."

Lupin looks upset. "Your father?"

Harry flushes. He knows Lucius isn't really his father, but he's good as, isn't he? Lupin sighs and settles into a history lesson. "What have you been told about your real parents?"

James and Lily Potter. Voldemort killed them. James was wealthy, and Lily was talented. They had left Harry a vault, though Lucius hadn't let him touch it. "He says I can have the key when I come of age, until then it's his job to provide for me."

Inside Lupin is all splutters and rages, but outside he is all thoughtful consideration. He must admit Lucius has not lied to Harry, but the gaps in the narrative are wide and demand filling. It pains him to hear James and Lily reduced to a bank vault. "They were my friends," he tells Harry. "James was my best friend." Harry is listening.

And Lupin weaves a tail of school chums and midnight mischief, dancing a careful waltz around the names of Lucius Malfoy and Sirius Black. Harry doesn't need tails of death and betrayal. He needs to know that he has Lily's eyes and James' nose. He needs to know that they were brave and good. He needs to know...

Snape interrupts with a knock and a potion. You had best drink it soon, Lupin. Please come with me, Harry. A whispered warning: Lupin is not to be trusted, please Harry, go back to your dorm.

And Harry goes, but there's a stirring in him now. He wants to speak to Lupin again, warning or no. He wants to hear more stories.

So Harry goes back again and again to Lupin's office. Each time a new story, a new memory. Propelled not so much by longing but curiosity. And Snape sees this and worries.

Draco and Hermione worry about Lupin as well. He falls ill so often. They've played with charts and time tables and noted the phases of the moon. And no, could it be? Lupin a werewolf?

The portrait of the fat lady is torn to shreds, and Peeves says Sirius Black. But what could Black want in Gryffindor tower? Harry is down in Slytherin. They suspect other claws. But who to tell? Professor Snape of course. What do you think, sir?

A smile, a laugh. Clever children, but yes, we know. Dumbledore knows. But the fat lady says Black as well, a potion keeps Lupin in check. I have promised silence, but we must be watchful. Be safe. So Draco and Hermione keep silent too, but Harry, so close and unsuspecting. Oh, they must warn Harry.

Harry is warned (again), but rather than worry, he's intrigued. A werewolf? Really? How interesting. Is it true, Lupin?

And Lupin can not lie, so the truth is out. And Harry promises to keep the secret and is rewarded with a new and more exciting set of stories about Animagus and moonlight transformations.

Draco worries for his brother. So much time alone with a werewolf can't be healthy. It can't be safe. But there seems no dissuading him. Harry has a hunger now, a hunger for the past.

Pansy is now all smiles and friendliness for Ginny. Harry has gotten distracted by stories, but she has not forgotten the plot. She watches the mudblood and plans a plan.

Lupin has his own plan. Harry must be told, must be broken from Malfoy's influence, but when? How?

An opportunity. Harry comes to him all trembling after the Quidditch match. Dementors again. Draco forgoes the snitch to catch Harry this time, so there are no broken bones or bungled healing spells. But still in Harry's head, a woman screaming, a nightmare or a memory? He must know.

A memory, I'm afraid. And I'm afraid for you, Harry. Lord Voldemort had no mercy for Muggle-borns, and Lucius Malfoy...

Harry recoils. His mother? A Muggle-born? Impossible. Lucius would have told him! It can't be true. Out he runs, away from Lupin, back to his brother. You were right about Lupin! I was wrong. What he said about my mother! It must be a lie! He's a monster! A half-breed!

But Draco sees an opportunity. Would it be so awful? he asks Harry. Would it really be so bad?

And now, Harry backs away from Draco too. Feeling betrayed and belittled. He cast an angry glare at the Granger girl who he's sure has poisoned his brother against him. Back to Pansy, who tries to console him. Back to plots and plans and Slytherins. Whispers of poisons and curses but knowing his brother would never forgive him, and angry as he is, Harry can't risk that.

Draco and Hermione take a break from homework to study genealogy charts, to find Harry's answers. It's true, but they need proof. They copy articles and school records, search the archives for photographs, and compile a scrapbook. They are done. They present to Harry, all their evidence bound up in it's own book, official, undeniable, in black and white.

This book is not the kind stories told by Lupin. This is a record of war, murder, and betrayal by close friends. This is Harry's true history, and it bites and stings Harry like only the truth can do. And Harry feels ashamed and angry and confused.

And Draco! Draco won't even come home for Christmas. He cares more for his classes than for Harry! Harry's sure now that Draco isn't really his brother and understands why Narcissa couldn't love him. And his heart breaks when he thinks of Lucius. He doesn't know how he will face him.

But he knows he must. So he rides the train, surrounded by others but totally alone. And when Lucius comes to greet him at the station, Harry shies away from his touch. How can he trust it? How can he trust anything?

They go home in silence. They eat dinner in silence. The manor is so quiet without Draco.

And Lucius knows something with wrong, but no inkling of what. So he waits for Harry to speak.

And after dinner, Narcissa goes to bed, and the silence is too much for Harry. He confronts Lucius with the evidence of his history. Why didn't you tell me? How could you not tell me? I don't understand!

And Lucius looks at Harry's trembling lips and sees the sadness in his green eyes, and Lucius's heart breaks for him. It doesn't matter, Harry. None of this matters. Come sit by me. Understand. You are like a son to me. I love you just as much as Draco.

And Harry is crying now from anger and relief, and Lucius puts an arm around him. Forgive me? I was trying to protect you, but it doesn't matter now. None of this matters. I'm so proud of you, Harry.

But how can you? I'm not a pureblood.

It doesn't matter, Lucius says, and is a little surprised to look in his own heart and know something has changed, and it really doesn't matter. Nothing matters, except that Harry is crying and needs comfort. You can't choose your parents, but we chose you. I knew all this, and I still chose you. You are a wizard, and you are remarkable. So you see, it never mattered.

Harry sniffs and tears are wiped away, and green eyes are shining with relief and gratitude. Fears are put away, hopes are reborn, and he would do anything for Lucius now, anything.

Draco remembers to get his head out of his books and into the fireplace long enough to floo a Merry Christmas. But for once, Harry gets more for Christmas than Draco. For once Lucius allows favoritism to show. And Draco doesn't care, swot, but Harry is full to bursting of family and belonging. And Narcissa is quiet thoughts, but doesn't seem to blame him.

Harry is determined to win her affection too, so he heads back to Hogwarts, determined to rescue his brother from the mudblood's spell.

I have the perfect plan, Pansy tells him. And no one will get hurt. All we need is to sew a seed of doubt and watch it grow. A love potion. A love potion? For Draco? No, for Granger. But just a little, just a pinch, the lowest dose. They're too clever. Anything stronger would be too easily spotted. But who to use? Who best to make the divide deep and lasting?

A close friend, says Pansy. The closer the better. But neither wants Granger after Harry, no it must be a Gryffindor. Ron or Neville? Ron's taller. Ron's the athlete. Ron who's been over to the house a hundred time. Oh yes, that would sting the most. We need hairs but how to get them? Easily, Pansy plays her part. She flirts with the confused Weasley, gets close enough to pluck a few hairs and returns to Harry with her prize.

Chocolates are made. The potion is brewed. Once again Draco's hand is forged. A little magic to place them at Granger's bedside. Then Harry and Pansy sit back to watch and wait.

At first, nothing seems to happen, but it's Valentine's Day, so Hermione is not surprised by the chocolates. Draco sent flowers too. She takes a bite, and even though Draco sent her flowers and chocolates, she finds her eyes keep turning to Ron. She finds herself preferring red hair to blonde. She finds herself with a wistful smile, and she can't help it and doesn't know where it's coming from.

And Draco asks her what's wrong, and she can't tell him. He's loyal and good and sent her flowers, and she can't break his heart. So she sits beside Draco and watches Ron, and Draco can't help but notice. But the next day, the feeling is gone, and she dismisses it. She holds hands and kisses his forehead and thanks him for the flowers. And Draco tries to be reassured.

But a few days later, she eats another chocolate. And oh, there it is again. This quiet longing for longer arms and an easy smile. Ron's jokes are funnier. An accidental brush of hands during a study session sends a thrill down her, but she can't act on it. She's Draco's girl, and Ron's his true friend. And the next day, she's glad she didn't, because the feeling is gone again.

And Draco know her too well. He sees hands brush and dread grows in his heart. He wants to trust Ron. He wants to trust Hermione, but how can he ignore her wistful smile? How can ignore her evasiveness when he asks if something is wrong? His heart is sick with it, but what can he do when he only has suspicions?

And a third time, a third chocolate, and Hermione can't take it anymore. And Draco can't take it anymore. There's an accusation and a tear and a confession. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I don't know why I feel this way. But please believe me, I haven't done anything. Ron hasn't encouraged it. I don't know maybe it's hormones. Hormones? My parents say that's normal for our age, but it comes and goes. And I don't want to break up, because tomorrow it may be gone again. And you're so sweet. Ron never sends me flowers or chocolates.

I never sent you chocolates.

A realization. For a moment Ron is accused, but he's more surprised than they are and soon past suspicion. Who? Who? Who would want to cause trouble between them?

Isn't it obvious? says Ginny.

Oh, and it is. And oh, Draco has never been this angry. Never so betrayed. And Hermione has never been so angry. She'd been helping Harry in potions and thought they were past this. Ron feels used. Ginny and Neville are indignant on principle. Should they tell Snape? There's no proof Harry and Pansy were behind it. No a lesson. They will teach them a sound lesson, but how?

And now the Gryffindors make their own plots and plans. Let them think it worked, Ginny suggests. Yes, let's give them exactly what they think they wanted. And it's agreed. But there must be a punch line. Remember the boggart? Oh, yes, the boggart. But how to find a boggart?

Lupin has done that part for them, though they don't know yet. Harry has decided to give the werewolf another chance. He knows Lupin only meant to be kind to him. Lupin is happy to have him back, eager to teach him to ward off dementors. He wants to protect Harry just as much as Lucius does. And Harry tries and tries until he conjures a Patronus. And when he does, he can't help but brag to Draco. And Draco listens as Harry tell him about the stag that leapt from his wand and the boggart in the trunk in Lupin's office, and Draco smiles.

They stage an argument. Hermione clings to Ron's arm and sets her cauldron up beside the Weasley. Draco pretends to cry and rage. You were right, Harry. You can't trust a mudblood. You can't trust a Weasley! I hate them both. I want you to help me now. Help me get revenge!

Revenge? Harry hadn't planned on revenge. He expects some tears and sighs but not this rage. Pansy's game. She and Draco talk poisons and curses and dark magic, and Harry feels a growing dread. He had wanted to please Narcissa, but he had never wanted to hurt anyone. He tries to cool Draco's rage. Just forget about it. She's not worth it.

No, if you're really my best friend, you'll help me teach her lesson. I'm a Malfoy. No one treats a Malfoy this way. And Harry's stomach twists in knots. This change in Draco frightens him. He wanted his brother back and now he's afraid of losing him again. This time to darkness.

He doesn't know the Gryffindors have stolen the trunk from Lupin's office. He doesn't know his brother is springing the trap on him rather than Hermione.

Neville told me they're going to the down to the Forbidden Forest, Draco whispers to them at dinner. Now, we must go now and take our revenge on them! Harry doesn't know that Neville is waiting for them in the forest with a trunk and boggart and a good scare. He doesn't know Ron and Hermione are in on the plot. All he knows is that his brother is planning to curse the girl he used to love, and he knows this won't go well for anyone.

Ginny! Help me, Ginny! Distract Draco and Pansy for a few minutes. He doesn't know Ginny is in on the plot, and Ginny doesn't tell him. But she does stop Draco and Pansy for a few minutes. Harry runs ahead, out to the grounds. He sees Ron and Hermione walking hand in hand, he thinks innocently, towards the dark Forest. Scabbers is in Ron's free hand, recently returned to him by Hagrid. Crookshanks prowling behind. A black dog watches from the forest.

But Harry doesn't notice the animals. His only thought is warning Ron and Hermione before Draco and Pansy see them.

Wait! Granger! Weasley! Stop!

Ron and Hermione exchange disappointed looks, they haven't made it to the forest and Neville and the trunk yet. But Harry doesn't notice. He grabs their shoulders and whispers an urgent warning. "You need to get out of here. Draco's gone a little mad, and Pansy's helping him. But it'll go too far if he catches you here. Please, please, just go back in the castle where it's safe. He won't act where the teachers can see."

And Ron and Hermione are grins and giggles. Harry Potter is warning them. They're not cruel. If the lesson can be learned without the boggart, all the better. Harry has little time to ponder their laughter. A low growl is coming from the forest. Scabbers bites, Crookshanks chases, Ron runs and Hermione after him. Harry hears a growl and see a shadow, and he runs too. The rat is caught, but now the shadow has teeth, the shadow has legs! The shadow has Ron!

It takes him, grabs him, drags him. Ron is crying out in pain and fear. Hermione is desperately trying to give chase and find the right spell. Harry runs to help them. They may not be friends, but he's not thinking about that. He's not even thinking of Sirius Black. He's thinking of werewolves and full moons and fearing for Ron's fate and Lupin's.

Harry's faster than Hermione. He over takes her as Ron is pulled down to the roots of a great tree. "Look out!" Hermione shouts. She grabs his robes from behind and pulls him clear of a heavy bough that pommels the ground where he would have stood. They roll away from the deadly branches. She tackles him to the ground to avoid the murderous tree's swing at his head. For a second she's on top of him, heavy, soft, and panting. She scrambles up, and he too. Quick! Get out of reach! Trembling, both of them, with relief for their narrow escape, with fear for Ron. Crookshanks presses a knot and the tree is frozen. Granger cries, "Come on! Quickly!"

Her order is not just for him. Draco and Pansy have caught up now. They saw the scene from afar as they left the castle. Pranks and curses forgotten in the face of real danger, they give chase. Down through the roots, down through the tunnel.

Meanwhile Neville has been waiting in the forest. He doesn't know what's taking so long, but his friends are late. He's alone and the sky is growing darker. He hears a cry and abandons the trunk. He runs towards the castle, but he can see no one. Something is wrong.

Meanwhile Ginny can't hold in the joke any longer. She tell her brothers Fred and George. Hurry, come see, we're teaching Harry Potter a lesson. They're in the entry hall when Neville runs in to meet them. Something's wrong! They didn't come to the forest! I don't know where they are! I thought I heard a scream.

No worries, say the twins. Out comes the map. There, there, dots disappearing through the Whomping Willow passage. Why would they leave the school? It's dark, dementors, Sirius Black still on the loose, and Harry ran out alone!

Lupin is attracted to the noise and worried faces. "Sirius Black?"

Neville and the Weasleys are running out the door, down to the Whomping Willow. They're blocked by the tree, but Lupin has followed and knows the secret knot. He warns the children back, but they won't go back. There's no time to argue. Harry may be in danger. So down the passage they go.

Harry, Hermione, Draco and Pansy emerge into a dusty shack. Drops of blood on the floor and trails in the dust. Follow it, wands out, up the stairs, into a room, quiet now, hearts racing. Harry motions for Pansy to wait in the hall, and she's happy to do it.

Ron on the bed. Alive but leg mangled. Hermione runs to him. Harry looks for Lupin, but it's another man he spots with a murderous gleam in his eye. "Expelliarmus!"

And two wands fly, Harry's Draco's, but Hermione has hers and around she snaps "Expelliarmus!" And Black's trying to catch the boys wands and loses his own. And Draco throws himself at the mad man's feet, and Harry scrambles to pick up the wands, and Black is knocked to the ground. He reaches for Draco, but Harry and Hermione have wands on him now.

"Draco, get back!"

"Wait!" Black cries. "The story! The whole story! Harry, you must hear!"

The four young wizards have their wands now, and Black none, so cautious, they listen. "Hold the rat!" he warns, and begins to weave a tale of secret keepers swapped, friends betrayed, and a traitor, Peter Pettigrew who fakes his death and hides as a rat. "Scabbers?!" Yes, Scabbers. And as he speaks the rat is struggling harder, but the children are skeptical.

Out in the hall, Pansy hears a noise and creeps back down the stairs to see. She find Professor Lupin and the Weasleys, waves them upstairs with Neville trailing behind. "In there!" she points. And Lupin enters with a small army behind him to find Harry all right and Black subdued.

"Good work, children!"

"Wait! Remus, the rat! The rat! It's Peter!"

"Hand him over, Ron. A quick test. Let us see."

And soon, not a rat but a man before them. And no escape for him. Both are bound, Sirius and Peter. Let's take them back. Let the ministry sort this out. But Remus is already looking at Sirius Black with new eyes. Down the stairs, back to the tunnel, and who is coming through it now but Snape wand out and aimed at the werewolf.

"Wait, sir! Wait!" Draco and Harry both before him, urging caution, urging calm. Snape sees Black bound and Pettigrew too. His blood is hot, but Lily's eyes and Pettigrew back from the dead gives him pause.

"Lupin, you forgot your potion. Perhaps you had best stay behind."

"Ah, yes, right you are, Severus." So Lupin stays in the shack and back they march to the castle with their prisoners. Too many wands on Pettigrew for him to escape now, and Sirius happy as dog to be caught, long as Peter's caught too. Back to the castle. Dumbledore to greet them. The ministry summoned. The truth sorted out.

Ron to the hospital wing for a mending. Peter Pettigrew off to Azkaban. And Sirius Black, an innocent man and free!

Not only free, but Harry's godfather. Free now to embrace the boy and embrace his old friend Lupin. And Harry seems happy to know him.

Yet Sirius, he worries. He knows Lucius Malfoy. He knows Lucius Malfoy never needed an Imperius Curse to follow Lord Voldemort. He remembers a Lucius that was cold and cruel. Sirius has no doubts that Lucius was capable of kidnap and murder. He's been fearing for Harry since he heard the Malfoys had taken him in.

But here's Harry healthy and whole, and he won't hear a word against his 'Father'. "You're wrong about him, Sirius."

"Please, Harry. Have you been mistreated in any way?"

"No, I haven't."

But Sirius isn't sure he believes him. He knows how Lucius Malfoy can threaten. "Harry, I'm your godfather. If you'd like, you can come live with me. Lily and James would have wanted it that way. I can keep you safe."

Harry is once again intimidated. The thought of being taken away from hearth and home frightens him. "Seriously, Sirius, I'm fine. I like living with the Malfoys. Lucius is kind to me."

And what can Sirius say to this? "Harry, I am your godfather. It's my responsibility--" but how can he go on now that Harry's eyes, so like Lily's, are looking at him with fear? How can he press with Harry, his face so like James, as he pulls away from him?

Sirius would fight Lucius Malfoy for Harry. He would fight the Ministry, fight the legal system, fight Voldemort himself....but he can't fight Harry for Harry. There's no winning that battle. So down he backs. There'll be no custody war. But Harry is welcome at his house at any time, any time. If Harry needs anything at all, he can always come to him.

So Harry has finally had an adventure, but all is right, all is well. And he no longer minds Hermione, she saved his life, and that'll win anyone over. No more plots and plans, no more threat of death. Harry can finish out the year in peace. Everything back to normal.