Hermione stared at Harry without knowing what to say. How to begin apologizing for all she had done.  From the corner of her eye she could see Mr. Black at the counter talking to the owner of the bar and another man around his age. He had gone to fetch Hermione and Ron and had brought them here to the Three Broomsticks where Harry had been waiting with the other man. Then both men had left them alone. They had been in an uncomfortable silence ever since.

“Who’s that bloke?” Ron finally broke the silence.

“That’s Remus. He’s my tutor,” Harry said, then he bit his lip and twitched it as if afraid to continue. “He’s Sirius’s boyfriend. And Sirius adopted me, he’s my dad now.”

She could feel that was a test, he was testing their prejudices again by wanting to see how they would react to his new family. She inhaled and smiled.

“That’s great Harry. Mr. Black seems to be good for you.”

“He is,” Harry nodded.

“I think I heard of him,” Ron said. “On Christmas break I asked my dad about Mr. Black, he said they were in some kind of organization against You-Know-Who together. And he mentioned your dad had three friends with him all the time.”

“Yeah, er- that’d be Remus and Pettigrew.”

“Oh, we read about him in the paper,” Hermione said and bit her lip. She took a deep breath and blurted, “I’m sorry!” at the exact same moment Ron did. The three stared at each other again in an awkward moment and then Harry burst out laughing.

“Couldn’t have been better if you’d timed it,” Harry sniggered at the blushing faces of his friends.

“Shud’up,” Ron mumbled but then looked seriously at Harry, “We are Harry. We should have stood by your side but we panicked and by the time we un-panicked we couldn’t find you.”

“I don’t think that’s a word,” Harry responded.

“You got what I meant,” Ron said exasperated and Harry nodded.

“I thought you hated me like everyone else,” he whispered into his butterbeer.

“No,” both Ron and Hermione said quickly.

“We just went about the whole thing the wrong way,” Hermione tried saying. “And then you were gone and we didn’t think this was something that could be resolved with letters.”

Harry nodded.

“We missed you,” Ron said. “S’not the same thing without you. There’s a lot more hanging around the library and a lot less talking about Quidditch for starters,” Ron finished in a suffering tone as Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron and Harry sniggered.

“You’re still my friends?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“Always Harry, if you’ll have us,” Hermione said honestly.

“I guess we can start again. Maybe Sirius will bring me to visit more,” Harry said stealing a glance at the adults at the bar.

“Won’t you come back?” Ron asked.

“Dunno,” Harry shrugged.

“Well,” Ron said. “Let us know, ‘cause, if you want to change schools I’ll pester my parents till they let me change too.”

“Me too,” Hermione nodded firmly and Harry smiled.

“So,” Harry started slowly. “How are things going at Hogwarts? I heard you have new teachers.”

“Yeah, they’re great. Really know their stuff. And there’s been all kinds of changes too. McGonagall does bed-checks now and we have meetings with her,” Hermione started telling Harry animatedly.

From the bar bench Remus nodded at the trio, “I guess they are working things out.”

“Yeah, well. Friends will do that,” Sirius said taking a sip of his drink.

“You know, I’ve seen Andy lately. She’s a bit crossed you haven’t been by to see your favorite cousin yet.”

“She has? Hey, when did you see her?”

“The other day in Diagon Alley. Anyway. I’m sure letting her babysit Harry for a night, let’s say, tomorrow night, would do wonders to get her forgiveness.”

“Uhu,” Sirius said skeptically. “I’m sure. What would I do all alone then?”

“We could go on that date. I’ve got a job now, getting paid and all. I could treat you.”

“Yeah, really? Must have a very generous employer then.”

“Nah, he’s stingy, but then again I’ve never spent too much on myself so it’s easy to save up. Ow, what was that for,” Remus said rubbing his head.

“Calling me stingy.”

---

Things seemed to be looking better over the next few weeks. Remus and Sirius had gone on a few dates, Andromeda had accepted to babysit after putting Sirius through a long lecture about proper family behavior and then she proceeding to pamper Harry all she could. Sirius was a firm believer that that was payback for Sirius spoiling Tonks when she was little and was supposed to be grounded.

Harry had met with Ron and Hermione every Saturdays since and their friendship seemed to be slowly on the mend. Sirius had talked to the healers and he had good news to share when Dumbledore called him and Remus for a meeting.

“I called you gentlemen here today because I have good news,” Dumbledore said.

“Really?” Sirius asked taking a seat in front of Dumbledore’s desk as Remus took the other.

“Yes, really,” Dumbledore said and from his desk drawer he produced what looked like a tiara and dropped it on the desk.

“Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem and I believe, the last Horcrux,” Dumbledore said simply.

“How?” Sirius asked dumbfounded.

“You’re not the only one who has been lucky lately. I addressed the school a while back to announce the changes we were implanting and the fact that security would keep tight until we found the culprit for the attacks even though the attacks had stopped.”

“Yes,” Remus prompted the older man as he seemed to feel that was enough of an explanation.

“Ms. Ginny Weasley came looking for me earlier this week. She confessed she realized she had been the culprit. She had found the diary among her things, thought it was a present from her parents and had been corresponding with Tom. She noticed she had black outs that coincided with the times of the attacks. She tried to dispose of the diary and was afraid to come forward. But apparently her talks with Minerva made her want to come forward.”

“She told McGonagall?” Sirius asked.

“No, but Minerva did ask her how she was adjusting and commented on the fact that her grades had vastly improved this last term. Apparently Minerva was praising the girl’s academics and she felt guilty. After all, her grades improved because she wasn’t being possessed anymore.”

Sirius and Remus nodded. This just proved Sirius had been right. These kids needed guidance. Without the talks the girl might have never felt like coming forward.

“I’ve talked to her parents since and she’s been through a full examination. She seems to bear no aftereffects but I encouraged them to let her see a mind healer for a while. I also talked to Arthur. He never bought that book but he did say he had an altercation with Lucius Malfoy at Flourish and Blotts.”

“And Malfoy slipped the Horcrux into the girl’s books,” Sirius snorted. “How does that lead to this?” he pointed at the diadem.

“Ms. Weasley had very little recollection of her time being possessed but that she wasn’t conscious doesn’t mean the memory isn’t there. I asked if I could see her memories and she consented. Apparently the Horcrux was a little more attuned with the other pieces then we might have thought. Despite, I believe, being the first, the piece of Voldemort in there made Ginny go check if the other one in the school was protected. It was hidden in the Room of Requirement. Shall we dispose of it?”

“Do you think Voldemort knows what we’re doing then?” Remus asked worried.

“If he does there is little he can do as a disembodied spirit. It may be that the diary Horcrux was in Voldemort’s possession when he made the others and that is why it was aware of the others or that the Horcruxes are aware of each other. I do not know. Whatever the case is I believe it wise to move fast after this one,  as I believe that with the destruction of the Diadem the only Horcrux left is the one in Harry,” Albus told Remus and Sirius satisfied.

“Are you sure?” Sirius asked warily.

“Quite, I was finally able to convince Horace to share his real memory of his conversation about Horcruxes with Tom. Horace is a good man and was ashamed of having shared such information with Tom. He couldn’t have possibly known the outcome. But I managed to convince him that he could help stop Tom if he gave us the information. And it seems that Tom thought that dividing his soul in seven pieces would make the protection stronger.”

“So that is six plus the piece left in him,” Sirius said pensively. “We have only destroyed five.”

“Yes, but he wasn’t able to make the sixth he intended to make that night, and without a body he couldn’t make another. I did the research, even with his possession of Quirrel, to create a Horcrux one needs to have a body of our own. So, he is still without the sixth he thinks he should have had, but that is in fact Harry.”

Sirius nodded. “The books you provided were quite useful and the healers are confident. We can schedule the procedure for tomorrow, we just need a favor.”

“And that is?”

Sirius looked at Fawkes, “For Fawkes to cry. Will you Fawkes? For Harry?”

The bird gave a soft thrill and Sirius thanked him. The three men stood up and proceeded to destroy yet another Horcrux.

---

The healer inserted the needle right on the skin of the famous scar. Sirius had been biting his nails convulsively as he watched. He wanted to be holding Harry’s hand but the healers said they needed space in case anything happen. The other needle was ready at the other healer’s hand. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Remus. He inhaled deeply and tried to calm down as he saw the monitors start beeping and racing.

“We need to inject the Phoenix Tears,” one of the healers said.

“Not yet,” the other said. “We’re still good and the Basilisk venom hasn’t yet reached the “Hor-“

He was interrupted by a long wail coming from Harry despite the fact that his mouth was closed. He started convulsing and the healers held him down. His scar broke open again but instead of blood the same vapor that had left every other Horcrux came out of it and dissipated into nothing.

The Healers promptly injected the Phoenix’s tears and Harry’s monitors started stabilizing. One of the healers cast a diagnostics charm and smiled nodding at Remus and Sirius.

“He’ll be fine.”

It had worked. They had been right, injecting the Basilisk venom right on the area where the Horcrux was located did destroy it and still gave them time to heal Harry. They had taken a long time to reach that conclusion. Basilisk venom destroyed Horcruxes but the trick was destroying the Horcrux before killing Harry. The venom had to reach the Horcrux before destroying Harry’s organs and Basilisk venom killed quickly. One of the healers had suggested locating the exact point of the Horcrux and injecting it directly there. They had established the Horcrux was encased in his scar. Then they had injected the venom directly into the location of the Horcrux and been ready to heal Harry with Phoenix Tears, which were much more rare than basilisk venom, which was why they had to ask for the Headmaster’s familiar’s help. The bird had not just cried for the healers to collect the tears on the syringe but had surveyed the entire procedure perched on top of the Hospital bed.

The healers gave the two men space to verify how the boy was for themselves. He was still unconscious. They hadn’t known if the procedure would hurt so they had sedated him before hand.

At Hogwarts the second-year potions class of Gryffindor and Slytherins were watching their teacher startled. He had stopped dead in the middle of one of his sneering comments and grabbed his arm. He had pulled his sleeve down and looked at his arm for a good five minutes as the class waited with baited breath for what he’d do. Without a word to them he turned around and left the room. His dark presence stalking through the halls of Hogwarts. He snapped the password to the gargoyle and strode up banging the door open interrupting the conversation Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were having. Both looked up startled.

“I quit,” he said firmly.

“Severus, we’re a week away from finals!” McGonagall cried

“Couldn’t care less,” he said simply. “You wanted my answer. There you have my answer. I don’t need this job anymore,” he said simply showing his left forearm to the two elder members of the staff.

Dumbledore looked at it pleased. More at what wasn’t there. The faded Dark Mark that had been there ever since Lord Voldemort lost his powers. The patch of skin that was just a tad darker than the rest and let them know Voldemort was not as gone as they thought.

“When?”

“A few minutes ago.”

A silver wolf came rushing through the  window and the joyous voice of Sirius Black announced.

“The procedure worked. He’s free. Check with your pet Death Eater. This should have been the last and Voldemort’s spirit shouldn’t have anything else anchoring him. He should have passed.”

“He has,” Dumbledore said as he sent his own Patronus back.

“Have a nice life,” Snape said with a smirk but without his usual venom. “I know I will. Far away from the brats.” And with that he stalked out to pack his belongings. He was leaving Hogwarts. Once and for all. He had no idea what he’d do but he really didn’t care. He wanted to leave everything behind. Only the memory of Lily was holding him here. He didn’t care for any of these people. Dumbledore had extracted a vow to protect the brat from him out of his grief but he had never cared for the brat. He had wanted Lily to live, not the brat nor his father. He couldn’t have cared less if they had died, he probably would have preferred if they had and Lily had lived, that way the path would have been clear for him. It was his guilt over her death that made him promise to protect the brat. Now the Dark Lord was gone and his vow was fulfilled. He could do with his life whatever he wanted and Wizarding Britain held nothing for him.

---

“So I’m free and Voldemort will never come back?” Harry asked as he sat up on his Hospital bed.

“Yup,” Sirius said ruffling the boy’s hair.

Harry nodded satisfied.

“And now you can take the adoption potion,” Sirius said happily. “If you want, that is,” he finished  seriously.

“Of course I do!” Harry cried motioning with his hands for the potion.

Sirius was about to produce it, he had it prepared before hand and had all the authorizations to give it to Harry when Remus cleared his throat.

“Moony?’” Sirius asked.

“Hem, er- I- that is,” Remus said fishing some papers from his pocket. “I know Sirius and I are still working things out but even if we weren’t together I’d like to, well. I want to do this with Sirius Harry. I want you both in my life, forever. I should have done this twelve years ago. Taken you. Adopted you and- well, I hope I’m not too late. I have the paperwork here. I asked Ted Tonks to help me, he is a lawyer, and well- this adds me, I’d be adopting you together with Sirius. That is if you want, and if you don’t want I understand. And if you want but don’t want to add me in the potion-“ his rambling was cut short when Harry leaned forward and pulled the paperwork from his hand and signed it with the quill Sirius gave him. He had already signed these for Sirius so he knew what to do. He handed them to Sirius who had to accept too since he was his adoptive father.

“Do we have to wait for another potion to be brewed?” Harry asked.

Remus shook his head, “No. Er- I asked the healers, when they were brewing Sirius’s to brew one with my blood too. I asked them because I wanted to make sure there were no risks and they guaranteed there weren’t. Lycanthropy can only be passed when I’m transformed,” he said fumbling with a vial he took from his pocket, “If you need more time to think-“

He was interrupted again as Sirius summoned the vial rolling his eyes, “What do you say pup? Ready to be a Potter-Evans-Black-Lupin. This will add parents but will not take away yours. You might change a bit but you shouldn’t change that much. You already have a bit of Black blood due to your grandma anyway.”

“Ready,” Harry nodded taking the vial, “ Bottoms up,” he said downing the contents in one go, “Blargh, why do they have to taste this awf-“ he didn’t finish the sentence as his eyes dropped and he slumped back on bed.

“That’s normal, I asked the healer,” Remus said coming forward and checking Harry.

“I know, I did too.” Sirius smiled at Remus’s preparedness. Guess they were a family now.

“We should get a bigger place though.”

Remus smiled.

“Thought we were taking things slowly.”

“You know me, I never did slow.”

“No, you haven’t,” Remus smiled kissing Sirius and running a hand on Harry’s hair that was looking a tad more tame. They watched as Harry’s features changed slightly. Only the most observant of person’s would notice, and they’d probably attribute it to puberty. His hair was a bit tamer, his hand became just a little bit longer rather than the roundish way it had been before. “I love you both. Very much.”