Sirius was pacing, Remus was sitting on a chair he had enlarged so Harry could lie down and sleep with his head on his lap and was absent-mindedly running his fingers through Harry’s hair. Andromeda, in true Black fashion, almost bumped into Sirius about five times as she paced. Finally the door opened and first Ted came out alone and their hearts fell. Ted looked at them and grinned, right behind him Severus exited the courtroom looking dazed.

“The majority ruled he is not guilty and was acting on defense of others,” Ted said grinning. “A few hands went up at guilty, Umbridge and Fudge being two of them, but they weren’t enough.”

Sirius ran to Severus and pulled him into a fierce hug. The man looked shocked.

“Knew you’d be alright,” Sirius said and let Severus go. Andromeda followed Sirius’ example and, maneuvering around Harry’s head so as not wake him, Remus got up and was next in line. He commented:

“For someone who knew Severus would be fine you were doing an awful lot of pacing Padfoot.”

Sirius waved him off.

“I have to confess,” Ted said. “I was worried. Fudge kept alluding to Severus’ past and with the  testimonies about Severus’ character I thought the Wizengamot wouldn’t believe my defense that Severus had to keep up the act in order to spy. But when Harry came in and started calling him Uncle Sev, the same Harry who they had thought Severus hated, they were thrown. And him having come even though he is still bedridden made it more powerful. And we had them the second Sirius lifted Harry up. Even with Fudge trying to smudge Harry’s image.”

Severus seemed to come out of his daze and finally looked at the sleeping boy, “He shouldn’t have come.”

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Sirius said smiling lightly.

Severus walked to Harry slowly and asked, “How is he?”

“He is still taking energizing potions everyday. And the one to counter the effects of the Acromantula bite along with painkillers. His leg still isn’t a hundred percent better and it hurt’s often. Poppy expects him to be recovering all summer long but she thinks he might be ready when school starts,” Remus explained softly as Severus kneeled and ran a hand through Harry’s hair.

“Right now he takes two short naps a day and the rest of the day he stays on the couch. He was bored of the bed. We had to take him to the Dursley’s to renew the blood protection. Albus says that with Malfoy and Goyle still out he may need it. So I paid Vernon and Dudley a two-week Disney World vacation. Told them to go do a little father son bonding and you know Vernon, he wouldn’t say no to a luxury free trip. We only needed Petunia, and Harry was in bed the entire time. But we needed her to let us both be there, and Vernon would never have it. I think when she saw Harry’s state she mellowed. Not much mind you. She even consented to have Twinky there, can you believe it?” Sirius said. “We had to take turns sleeping because Harry was having a lot of nightmares. He would fall asleep and less then an hour later he would start thrashing. We found out soon that if we woke him as the nightmare started there was a better chance of him going back to sleep and therefore rest sooner and easier. Otherwise it took a while to get him calmed down. He would wake and think he was still in the nightmare.”

“About Voldemort?” Severus asked.

“About not reaching you in time. They’ll lessen now since you are here and can convince him better that you didn’t die. That was the hardest part of bringing him back to reality. Reminding him you were fine without proof,” Remus said.

“I know how that goes,” Severus said tightly and they all figured by the deep black bags under Severus’ eyes that he must have had the same dream with Harry, but unlike Harry, didn’t have anyone to calm him down.

“You’re going home with us Sev,” Sirius said squeezing his shoulder. “You are going home.”

Severus nodded and picked Harry up, careful not to wake him. They slowly walked to the Apparition point and as they entered the Ministry Atrium, a horde of reporters was waiting and flashes started going off. They did not stop for them except for Ted, who gave a quick statement. The next day the Quibbler had an enormous picture of Severus carrying Harry out and a huge article about how Severus had been done wrong by the Ministry. How he saved their savior and how the Ministry was putting both Severus and their Savior through extreme trials. There was also Ted’s statement printed; “My client should be hailed and given the Order of Merlin for his services, instead this is the thanks he gets,” and a piece about the  PWA’s work and Severus’ role in it.

The Daily Prophet on the other hand had a picture of Severus being escorted to the trial in handcuffs and a picture of Dumbledore with the heading: “Who is teaching our children?” They went on about how Severus got out on a technicality after a shady deposition by Harry Potter who was known to make tales and act against the law. Claiming Harry was a Parselmouth, an illegal Animagus who was too young to have mastered the transformation without aid from Dark Magic, and had been adopted into a Dark family, they raised doubt about his character and his allegiances. The fact that Severus was so interested in werewolves was also questioned: “Is he helping them or forming an army of dangerous creatures?” the article asked.

 They also raised doubt on Dumbledore’s choices for staff and how protected the children were, having been taught by Death Eaters, Dark Wizards (Sirius Black) and Half-giants. The Daily Prophet also had a statement from the Minister saying he would start taking a closer look at their children’s future and Dumbledore would not be able to keep running loose like he was. “Dumbledore’s free reign is about to end!” he was quoted.

Severus folded the paper grimly and dropped it on the table as he leaned back in his chair. He was staying at Grimmauld Place because Lucius Malfoy had been at Spinner’s End before and they were worried he and Goyle or one of the wives of the arrested would try something. Remus absentmindedly pushed the paper away from the books he was doing research in as he wrote a new article for the magazine “Magical Creatures: Do we understand them?”.

“Things are looking grim for Hogwarts’ future,” Severus said with a grimace. He looked at the couch where Harry was reading letters from his friends that Hedwig had just delivered. “Do you at least have good news?”

“Yeah, Hermione said she is enjoying her internship. She had to fight with her parents because she wanted to work and help out while Uncle Ted worked your case, but they wanted her to take a vacation first. So instead she is going with them to Bulgaria for a short while in August. Neville says he is fine and all is the same old same old, and Ron actually has exciting news. He says Percy had a fight with his dad about believing Dumbledore and moved out. That sucks. I never thought Percy would be such a git. But he has good news too. You’ll never guess! Charlie is getting married next summer,” Harry said waving the letter at them.

Remus head snapped up and he cried, “What?”

“Yeah,” Harry grinned. “Apparently Charlie has been dating in secret for years and now decided to tie the knot and Ron said that Bill will already have company for the wedding because Fleur Delacour got a job at Gringotts to ‘eemprove ‘er Eenglish’ and Bill is giving her private lessons. He applied for a transfer after all that has happened; I guess he got scared that Voldemort almost came back and he was far away from his family. Cool eh? Who would have thought Charlie Weasley would be getting married?”

“Great,” Remus said thorough gritted teeth sinking his quill in his parchment. “Perfect. Hope they live happily ever after.” The tip of the quill snapped and Remus irritably threw it away and stalked out of the room muttering about getting another quill.

“What got into him?” Severus asked bewildered.

“Beats me,” Harry shrugged.

---

“I don’t take treason lightly Severus. Why is it you betrayed me? Was it for the Mudblood? The one whose life you begged me for? The one you handed to me?”

Voldemort raised Harry’s wand and cried, “Avada Kedrava.”

The beam of green light hit Harry and his body sagged into Severus’ arms. His eyes were wide open and lifeless.

Severus woke up with a start sweating and breathing heavy. He groped around for his wand and uttered “Lumos.” The lights went on but they were not enough to calm his racing heart. He stumbled out of the bed, disentangling himself from his covers. He walked out into the dark hall. No matter how much Sirius decorated this house, by the light of the moon it still looked eerie. He walked decisively towards another door and entered. He went towards the bed and saw the figure in there thrashing in his sleep. He deposited his lit wand on the night table and, with trembling hands, reached out to wake Harry and he was grateful to be touching the flailing limbs.

“Harry, wake up. It’s just a nightmare,” he said as he shook the boy.

Harry bolted upright. With wide eyes he looked at Severus. “No,” he shook his head. “You’re dead.”

“No Harry. I’m here see?” he said taking Harry’s face into his hands and looking into his glazed eyes. Seeing Harry was not reacting to this he held Harry close to his chest and murmured into his hair. “We are both fine. We are both alive,” he repeated as a mantra both to him and to Harry until he felt the boy’s shaking and mumblings of “I’m sorry” and “All my fault” subside.

“None of what happened was your fault you know that right?” he asked softly. Harry just shrugged.

“Why would it be your fault?”

“’Cause you wouldn’t have gone there if I wasn’t there.”

“And why were you there?” Severus pressed.

“’Cause Voldemort wanted me.”

“Exactly, Voldemort is responsible for what happened. Not you. Voldemort, Barty Crouch Jr., Bellatrix Lestrange, Igor Karkaroff and Peter Pettigrew were the ones that created that situation. Voldemort sent that Killing Curse and the Memory Charm that hit Cedric. You and I were victims.”

“I missed you Uncle Sev,” Harry said quietly.

“I missed you too,” Severus smiled. “And your letters helped me a lot. Helped me remember I’d be okay in the end.”

Harry nodded into his chest.

“How have you been?” Severus asked trying to lighten the mood.

Harry shrugged not looking up, “Didn’t do much. Aunt Poppy  wouldn’t let me out of bed. I got letters from my friends and Susan.”

“Ah, Susan. How is Ms. Bones?”

“She’s fine,” Harry smiled, “She’s traveling with her parents. I won’t be able to see her before school starts because even after Aunt Poppy lets me out of bed she will still be traveling. And dad didn’t even let me get a goodbye kiss! Can you believe that? So unfair.”

“Ah! To be young again and in love.”

Harry looked at Severus, “You’re not that old Uncle Sev.”

“Thank you for the that.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone special in your life Uncle Sev. Dad’s had girlfriends; well, more like flings. Even Uncle Moony has an interesting love life. We’re trying to get him and Tonks together.”

“Yes, the whole Wizarding World has noticed Sirius’ not-so-covert attempts,” Severus snorted.

“What about you, don’t you fancy anyone?”

“I’m fine the way I am now,” Severus said a little flustered.

“I think you need a lady friend,” Harry nodded wisely.

“No I don’t.”

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“Of course I’ve had you know- relations- in the past. None important. And because I don’t flaunt my love life, or lack thereof like the mutt doesn’t mean I need you  to start some campaign.”

“Have you ever loved someone?” Harry asked curiously.

“Yes.”

“Do you still love her?”

“Yes.”

“I think she’d want to see you happy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Severus said, not quite meeting Harry’s eyes.

“I’m talking about my mom,” Harry said and Severus stared at him incredulously. “I’m not as thick as Hermione may think. And I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t mind if you found someone else to love again.”

“I’ll never find someone like her,” Severus said sadly.

“I hope not. Then you’d just be replacing her with a clone and it wouldn’t be fair to the poor woman. No, you’ll find someone that will occupy a different spot in your heart.”

Severus eyed Harry and then smacked his head lightly, “I am going to limit the time you spend with Albus.  You are sounding too much like him and one of him is more than enough.”

Harry chuckled, Severus scowled, and both of them failed to see the dark-haired figure at the door who smiled to himself and went back to his room, deactivating the alarms that would let him know if Harry’s sleep was agitated. Tonight he knew Severus had it all covered and he could sleep soundly without worrying, confident that the healing would start for all members of the family.

---

Remus was helping Tonks put away the provisions that had been bought for the next week when the PWA would be full again.

“I’m glad everything ended right. I couldn’t believe when Fudge has us arrest Severus. I mean, he is not my favorite person but I knew he was on our side!” Tonks said. “Dad was very happy with the result; apparently he had been worried because Snape wouldn’t let him say why he changed sides and people always react better to hearing a reason than just saying, ‘changed my mind.’”

“Hum,” Remus mumbled distractedly as he put things away.

 “I heard there were people wanting to make donations after they read about the association in the Quibbler,” Tonks tried to strike a conversation again. “Isn’t that great?”

“Great,” Remus murmured distractedly. He looked at her and commented nonchalantly, “I heard about the wedding.”

“Did you?” Tonks asked. “Oh, right. I bet Ron told Harry.’

“So,” he smiled tightly, “Getting ready?”

“Of course, I have to find a perfect dress,” she said happily. “It can take ages and I have to look my best don’t I?”

“Of course you have to,” Remus said in a false, cheery tone.

---

The front door banged. Sirius looked at Harry. Harry shrugged and turned back to his homework and Sirius went to look for the source of the noise. As he ventured downstairs he heard more banging and when he entered the kitchen he found Remus abusing the pots and pans.

“Looking for something?”

“Tea,” Remus hissed and Sirius looked puzzled. What brought this on?

“So, did you hear the news?” Sirius asked happily.

“No Sirius, I didn’t because I have better things to do than gossip around,” Remus growled and now Sirius was really curious. He thought his friend would be doing somersaults at hearing that Charlie and Natasha were tying the knot and thus leaving Tonks completely free for him.

“You know what?” Remus asked turning around and brandishing a spoon. “People shouldn’t lead others on. They shouldn’t bring them hot chocolate and be all cute and nice and laugh at their jokes if they are not interested. But people are just cruel, they enjoy seeing us suffer.”

“Because we are not people?” Sirius asked slowly.

“You know who I am talking about!”

“No,” Sirius shook his head.

“THEM SIRIUS! THEM!” Remus bellowed and left the kitchen, spoon in hand and leaving a very confused Sirius behind.