Hey guys,

Sorry about that 1.5 year delay, it probably won't happen again. But on the flip side, this is THE LONGEST chapter to ever grace this fic soooo. :)

I updated chapters 9-12 but mostly just chapter 9 so if you could skim the first third of that chapter before coming here it'll probably make more sense (if not totally fine tho, I think it's still pretty understandable without skimming).

Finally, shout-out to my betaaa LUXIS! A.k.a. ava, for those of you who know her from the discord! Really, she just makes my chapters (and my life) so much better, y'all have her to thank for this and all my other fics.

Alright, hope you bothered to read these notes and enJOY!

"Harry… we think you may have been hallucinating."

Harry's eyes blazed.

"Hallucinating? Do you think I'm mad or something?"

Regulus shook his head quickly. "No. But we think you may have a form of PTSD."

He looked back at Snape before meeting Harry's eyes once more. "We've suspected it for a while: anxiety, heightened reactions… flinching when someone mentions your past. It all fits."

Flinching? Harry scoffed. That wasn't PTSD, alright. That was the fucking vow, punishing him every time Harry tested its bounds .

Harry's eyes closed in frustration as he let out a mirthless chuckle. Unbelievable. If he really had hallucinated everything, then… well, he didn't know what to do with himself. But the vividness of his memory: Snape's screams, the stomach-curdling crunch of bones, the mad glint in Sirius's eyes; he couldn't have just made all of that up.

"Right," Harry said slowly, blankly. "Okay, so say that I am. What really happened during the duel then?"

Snape's face twisted unpleasantly. "It was disastrous. After I…" his face grew shadowed, " helped Lily and disarmed you, they easily took advantage of us."

He looked away, clearing his throat as he continued to speak. "One wand against four, no matter how powerful the wizard, is never an ideal situation."

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, resisting the urge to snort at the way Snape was handling the loss. Honestly, he was glad Snape didn't remember Harry's more gruesome version of it.

"Honestly, Harry," Regulus turned around and began to put his freshly laundered clothes away, preparing to sleep. "They're the good guys. Since when have they ever been cruel enough to break the helpless enemy's bones?"

Harry's mind steered to a stop.

Wait, what?

Did Regulus not remember anything?

"But what about…" Harry squeezed his eyes shut, his jaw clenching at the memory, before he opened them. He held up his scarred wrists, the scars Lily had said would not go away when healing him. "Don't you remember how Sirius burned me, while trying to chain my wrists? Don't you remember how they kept us locked up for days, without food or water?" And as Harry recalled these cruel events, he couldn't help but think they sounded so much worse than they had as memories. Just how terrible the Order was capable of being… it hadn't hit him until now, and he'd been almost blind to it all—

Harry's voice began to sound desperate, panic bubbling in the pit of his stomach. "Don't you remember when Dumbledore removed Snape's mouth? Or when—"

A warm hand settled on his shoulder, and dark gray eyes stared straight into his own. "Harry!" Regulus raised his eyebrows. "Relax. I'm not sure how you got those scars, but you've had them since we met. And we were only locked up for a day or two."

"And I'm sure," Snape added sardonically, "that I would remember having my mouth hexed off of my face if it had ever happened."

Harry stayed silent, his face as blank as his mind, struggling to process everything.

He couldn't wrap his mind around it. The fact that his own reality was false? Why would his mind betray him like that?

"I see," Harry replied shortly, before grabbing the blankets and shoving them over his head. "Well, at any rate, I'm going to head back to bed and try to pretend our loss was just a bad dream. 'Night."

When the lights went off, Harry's eyes stayed open in the dark, wide and gleaming.

What the hell? He slowly traced the scars on his wrists, confirming their existence as panic churned his stomach and twisted his thoughts.

Was it really his mind that was making things up? Or was it… theirs?

. . .

Target practice continued, albeit a lot less violent.

Harry and Snape would get ready in the morning, train until lunchtime, eat lunch with the other Order members, train until dinner, and then be sent to bed. They'd be locked up until next morning, and the cycle would repeat. And many times Regulus would join in, when he wasn't having those mysterious "private lessons" of his.

It was strange. Perhaps Dumbledore had meant to make them spend more time with the others as a way of acceptance. It was as if the Order was their new home instead of their new prison.

But every shared meal and glance only made Harry feel more and more like an unwanted stranger. At least with the Death Eaters, everyone had been openly cruel, taunting and ridiculing each other but still respecting power when they saw it. To each their own. All they'd ever talked about was rankings, success, missions.

Strangely enough, earning the respect of the Death Eaters had been easier.

Here, it was different. There were a lot less Order members to begin with, so they were closer with one another. They exchanged warm glances and private jokes, asking how someone's mom was doing or whether some kid's Hogwarts letter had arrived yet or "Oh, is Molly pregnant with her sixth already?"

And then those warm glances would turn to the three of them, former Death Eaters, and they would freeze into something more… polite.

"Have you eaten yet?" Molly asked him during lunch one day, her eyes wary and her smile tight. Nothing like the Molly Weasley who had fed him throughout his childhood.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. "Er—yeah. Thanks for…" she'd turned around while he was talking, ignoring him completely.

"... asking," he finished quietly, biting his lip and forcing himself to take a deep breath. Stop it, Harry told himself, stop torturing yourself like this. They don't even know who you are.

But a part of him couldn't help but look over from his corner with Snape and Regulus, look over at the table where Sirius, James, and Lily sat, laughing and joking about something. Harry wanted to laugh hysterically at his own situation; all his life, he'd wanted to be with his parents and his godfather. And now he was here, so close to them, but unable to do anything except watch.

It was pathetic.

"Would you stop staring so blatantly?" Regulus hissed at him. "They're going to notice —"

Right on cue, Sirius paused mid-way throwing a piece of popcorn at James and locked eyes with Harry. His eyes darkened menacingly, a shark-like smile overtaking his looser, friendlier grin.

Uh oh.

The Harry from a few weeks ago would have looked away quickly, hurt by the way Sirius was looking at him, treating him. But now, all Harry could remember was the triumphant glint in Sirius's eyes when he'd discussed destroying the amulet… the cruel way he'd broken Snape's bones and burned Harry's wrists…

His guilt and sadness was reserved for another Sirius Black. His godfather. And this one was certainly no godfather of his.

Harry met Sirius's gaze head-on, clenching his jaw defiantly.

Sirius smirked.

"What are you looking at, firecracker?" The man widened his eyes in mock innocence. "Want food thrown at you too?"

Lily pursed her lips, softly smacking Sirius on the shoulder, and a few people murmured. But for the most part, nobody moved to defend Harry.

"Nah," Harry tilted his head sideways, smirking back. "I was just watching your childish behavior and realizing why your parents disowned you."

Everyone stilled.

Utter silence, save for some heavy coughing from Snape's direction.

Sirius stood up abruptly, his chair screeching across the floor. The smirk was gone. His black locks fell across his dark, narrowed eyes.

Harry stood up in turn, ignoring the way Regulus hissed at him to sit back down as Sirius stalked towards him.

"You've got a lot of nerve for a snake, bringing up the Black family in front of me," Sirius murmured softly, dangerously. His stormy gray eyes flickered once to where Regulus sat before coming back up to meet Harry's.

"Oh, my bad." Harry bit his lip to suppress a vindictive grin, unable to stop himself from further provoking Sirius. Something in him wanted to hurt this man. "Is it something you prefer to cry about alone at night?"

Sirius's eyes flashed, and that was all the warning he got before Sirius was stepping even closer to him, shoving him back roughly into the edge of the table.

"Control yourself!" Lily yelled, but the majority of the crowd was watching in a vindictive sort of excitement, their murmurs drowning out her protest.

Harry heard her though.

"Yes, control yourself," Harry repeated tauntingly. "Or is that something else you're incapable of?" He leaned in, his face mere inches from Sirius's. "After all, beating a man bloody seems to be of no issue to you."

Sirius's eyes widened, flickering indecipherably. For a moment, Harry wondered if he really had imagined the events of their first duel.

Then Sirius narrowed his eyes, his mouth curling downward.

"You know what, Gaunt? I think you're looking for a fight," Sirius tilted his head, wayward locks falling sideways.

"Clearly you are too." Harry returned lightly, nonchalantly observing his nails. " I'm not the one who stalked all the way across the room."

"And I came to tell you you're barking up the wrong tree," Sirius gritted out, straightening up to his full height to stand half a head taller than him. Broad shoulders and stubble were now eye-level, imposing and toxically masculine… as if demanding that Harry look up at him .

Harry did.

And he burst out laughing. Loud, unstoppable, a little hysterical — just like the laugh he'd heard back in his gray cell. And this time, Sirius was the one staring at him like he'd gone insane… along with everyone else.

"I'm sorry but — did you just call yourself a tree?" Harry snorted. "Pretty sure you were burnt off of that a while ago."

This time, he got no warning at all.

Pain exploded in the right side of Harry's jaw as he was swung backwards into the table, his head slamming down on the wooden surface.

Flat on his back upon the table, Harry raised a leg and kicked Sirius straight in the gut. While Sirius was bent over, he used that time to get back up and—

" Enough! Both of you!" Lily was standing between them, a shield charm braced over her. She was furious, her red locks glowing in the protective bubble she'd made.

She turned back around to face Moody, who'd been watching eagerly from the sidelines. " You should be the one stopping this, maintaining order!" Lily looked around at everyone with dismay. "You all should. Dumbledore accepted them, and despite all the bad blood, we should at least try to maintain peace."

"Let the boys fight it out," Moody replied, shrugging as he eyed both of them. "The sooner they let it out the better, eh?"

Lily glowered menacingly. "If Dumbledore were here, I'm sure he wouldn't agree with that…" She looked back at Sirius and Harry, her anger bleeding into disappointment. "Please, just stop."

Right then, a Patronus seemed to materialize out of nowhere — a horse — and communicated a silent message to Lily. She nodded slowly as she listened, dissolving the barrier she'd created before looking sternly back at them.

"I have an emergency healing to do. Head to training with everyone else and do not even think about breaking each other."

Without a second glance, she spun on her heel and fast-walked past everyone as they were filing out to target practice. Harry and Sirius watched her go, temporarily caught off-guard.

"I didn't know she was a Healer," Harry wondered aloud. "Didn't she duel with us on the first day?" Though now that he thought about it, she hadn't joined too many duels since then…

"Oh, she's a Healer alright," Sirius replied. "But she's a hell of a dueler too. Top three in N.E.W.T.-level Defense back when we were in Hogwarts. Dumbledore and Moody fought over how to delegate her duties when she first joined the Order." He gave a small, proud smile, as if recalling those very moments.

"So she does both?" Harry asked incredulously. How on earth did she manage?

"She's a one-of-a-kind woman," James pitched in, grinning from ear-to-ear as he slid an arm around Sirius's shoulder. "Say, we should head to training." He turned his head towards Harry and the other two Death Eaters, narrowing his eyes as he shot them a cold, polite smile. Pureblood training turned-on."Wouldn't do to be late."

Harry pursed his lips and nodded, nodding at Severus and Regulus. Then he braced himself as he magicked his food away, already feeling a new kind of tension fill his shoulders.

However painful interacting with Order members was during mealtimes, it had nothing on target practices.

They were overseen by Moody, who always managed to make the teams unfair: one or two Death Eaters against four Order members. And while he did occasionally mix up the two groups, Moody looked the other direction when Order members on Harry's own team turned against him, switching sides without a second thought.

The worst days were when he put Sirius and Harry in the same dueling room. Because no matter how much hatred Sirius held for Severus, it was always Harry he seemed to target, for no reason at all other than his Death Eater status.

And if Sirius's spells came out a little too Dark for comfort… well, Moody wasn't going to berate him. Even though Dumbledore and Sirius seemed to have tension, Moody absolutely loved Sirius.

With Dumbledore still out of the country and Lily usually away, there was no one left whom Harry could even imagine defending him.

Perhaps the only small mercy was that Sirius hadn't been as psychotic as he had the day of the first duel. No serious injuries had incurred in the arena since then.

Perhaps you really did hallucinate that duel, whispered the small voice in his head. But Harry shoved it away, not ready to think about the consequences of such an event happening.

"I'll duel Hadrian today," Sirius said as Moody was deciding on groups. "One-on-one." He grinned at Harry. "It'll be fun."

Harry stared at him blankly.

He hated when Sirius did this.

Moody looked once between Sirius and Harry, before grinning toothfully back. "Of course, my lad. I'll let you two deal with whatever unfinished business you had back in the lunchroom." He glanced back at his paper. "Hmm, and how about — Severus and James? That should give me a good opportunity to observe your skills more closely…"

Harry continued to stare at Sirius. His earlier anger from earlier had dissipated ever so slightly, and he really wasn't in the mood to deal with a child anymore. Really, had the man not heard Lily's words earlier?

He could already feel the anger coming back to him, filling his limbs with a light buzz.

"Be careful, " Regulus said, for what must have been the twelfth time. He'd been trying to get Harry's attention all day, and it just hadn't worked. Harry was too worked up by the other Black, and he'd make sure whatever was happening between them ended in his favor.

It wasn't long before he and Sirius were locked in the arena, circling each other.

"Ready, firecracker?" Sirius taunted.

"Whenever you are, asshole," Harry replied back. He wasn't going to hold back, of course. If Sirius was asking for a fight, then he'd give him one.

He was generous like that.

And then the countdown reached zero, and they were off.

Or… they should have been. Both of them remained frozen, waiting for the other to make a move and throw the first spell. How odd of Sirius, Harry thought with amusement.

"So now you decide to play the gentleman," Harry whispered, huffing disbelievingly. "Letting me go first, now?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Is that your way calling yourself a lady?"

Harry felt his temper flash.

"Don't forget, Sirius." Harry growled, "I'm the seasoned, twenty-one-year old Death Eater. You are merely a nineteen-year-old, fresh out of Hogwarts…"

Sirius began to shake with anger, bristling in the most lion-like manner—but Harry continued to poke at the hornet's nest.

"... with nothing but trouble on your resume…"

The crazed glint was finally back in Sirius's eyes, the very same glint Harry had seen his first in the Order prison cell. They were heavily-lidded, gazing predatorily in Harry's direction.

Harry bit his lip and suppressed a shiver.

"Come at me, Sirius. "

And then Sirius pounced.

Spells were flung at Harry, but he dodged with fast footwork and returned just as many. Petrificus Totalus. Locomotor Mortis. Expelliarmus. The usual Light spells were thrown around. But when Dark spells came out of Sirius's wand, nobody said a word.

Harry dodged a Diffindo headed straight for his neck, gritting his teeth as it missed him by a hair. One of them was getting injured tonight. Especially with how Sirius was fighting today — even more recklessly than usual, with a stronger-than-usual emphasis on offense over defense.

They continued dueling and dodging, until one of their spells caught each other for good.

" Incarcerous, " Harry hissed. Sirius wasn't fast enough to cast an Incendio at the ropes before they wrapped themselves around Sirius, trapping him to the wall behind him. Harry flicked his wand again, and a quick tightening of the rope around Sirius's wrists had his wand falling to the floor.

Nobody spoke. Even the outside of the arena was completely hushed.

Sirius continued to stare at the floor, where his wand had fallen. Black locks covered his eyes and Harry couldn't see what he was thinking.

Harry walked forward, leaning down to pick up Sirius's wand in his other hand. He observed it for a bit, feeling its weight in his hands, before looking back at his opponent and grinning.

"Well, that was fast."

Sirius glanced up through his wayward bangs as Harry stalked even closer, smirking viciously. He hadn't felt this glorious since dueling in Voldemort's arena, and this victory tasted far sweeter than any of those.

"Look at you," Harry whispered tauntingly. "Tied up and at my mercy like a… "

He paused, his forehead mere inches from Sirius's.

"... Bitch," Harry breathed, his tongue curling around the syllables with vehemence.

Female dog.

Harry hoped dearly that Sirius had caught his double meaning and taken it to heart. Judging by the dark glint that flickered through Sirius's eyes once more, he had.

Good, Harry thought with vicious satisfaction as Sirius's stormy gray eyes met his own, flashing unreadably.

And then faster than a blink of the eye, Sirius transformed. Ropes loosened as he became a black blur and launched himself at Harry, knocking them both over to the floor.

Agony exploded in the junction where Harry's neck and shoulder met as fangs sank in.

Harry screamed.

And then another bite dug into the previous one, somehow far worse than the first. Claws sunk into the soft flesh of Harry's shoulders and stomach, and the agony only dulled slightly before he sank into unconsciousness.

. . .

"—Can't believe you did that—!"

Harry blinked blearily, finding himself buried under unfamiliar, white sheets. He tried to move, only to find that his body was completely paralyzed.

"—Revealing Padfoot like that—!"

"You should have heard him," Sirius murmured darkly. "He literally was asking for it—"

In fact, Harry couldn't feel a thing.

"—Fucking idiot! You had one job—! "

Harry blinked.

"Shut up, James," Lily yelled. "Shut up all of you! "

Everyone shut up. Even Harry remained frozen.

Though annoyingly enough, his face was turned away from the commotion, forcing him to rely on his ears.

"Sirius," Lily said softly. "I hope you are aware that that the way you behaved at the last duel was completely unacceptable, and that if Dumbledore had witnessed it, your Order status would have been revoked instantly."

Sirius remained silent for a while.

"I'm more than aware, Lily."

The sound of a chair squealing across the floor pierced Harry's earbuds, as if someone was standing up.

"If Moody and Lily weren't constantly covering your tracks like this, you'd be done for," James bit out. "I don't know what to say to you."

"Then don't," Sirius said sullenly.

"Don't what? " James uttered dangerously.

"Don't say anything," Sirius muttered quietly, and the following commotion that occurred would have made Harry flinch if he weren't so paralyzed.

Merlin, what kind of action made that noise?

"James, leave," Lily said quickly. "I'll handle this." Then, softly, "I'm a Healer, after all."

A few moments later, Harry heard a door slam, followed by a sigh.

"Look, Sirius," Lily began, "You know we care for you. And we know… " her voice fell to a sorrowful whisper, "We understand the effect that Dark Magic has had on you, on your childhood and development—"

"You understand?" Sirius gave a barking laugh, bitter and twisted. "Sorry, Lily, but your childhood was sunshine and daisies compared to mine—"

"Anxiety. Depression." Lily bit her lip, "Bloodthirstiness. Borderline personality disorder, detachment… and unpredictable magic," she finished.

Silence.

"You're right," Lily said more firmly. "I don't understand, but I know that Walburga has been torturing you with the Cruciatus since you learned to walk. These are all traits that youth tortured by the Unforgivables tend to display."

Lily hesitated, closing her eyes briefly before facing him once again.

"And on top of that, I know that Black Madness runs in your genes, perhaps triggered by the Dark Magic of your youth. I don't know how far along you are, but… "

Someone stood up — most likely Lily — stood up, as feet began to patter across the wooden floors.

"I understand that you try so hard to hide it and act normal and it still plagues you every second of your existence," she ended, conviction in her words and hurt in her tone. "The madness. And for that, Sirius, I cover and defend you in every way I can."

Harry's thoughts were racing.

Sirius was clinically insane? Mentally unstable? And all of those other things?

Well, that made sense. Kind of. Fuck. Fuck. And the reasons were fucked up too, and… god, did his Sirius suffer the same?

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing dryly.

Holy shit.

"But you need to try too," Lily said, her voice breaking. "Sirius, James and I are tired of protecting you, we're helpless and we don't know what else to do."

"Already tired of me, eh?" Sirius said bitterly.

"We'll never stop being here for you , " she said, more firmly, "but — you need to heal yourself. You need to at least try. "

"How the fuck should I go about doing that, Lily?" Sirius asked, laughing a bit too harshly. "We're in the middle of war."

"Well," Lily said calmly, reasonably. "I have an idea. It involves reconnecting your past, somehow."

"... If you think I'd willingly go back to Grimmauld Place and—"

"No, not that! I was thinking," Lily began to rush her words, "Maybe you should start by repairing things with a man who has loved you despite the odds, despite the terrible way you've treated him throughout your childhood and adult years."

There was an odd silence in the room. Meanwhile, Harry had finally managed to flip himself over onto his other side, and was now able to watch the proceedings more carefully.

Sirius was giving Lily a look of utter incredulity.

"Who the hell… are you talking about?"

Lily sighed.

"Your brother. Regulus. You're a little broken, and so is he, even if you can't see it. But I'm a Healer, I've been trained to detect these things. And now that he's here, I think you could heal each other."

Sirius remained quiet for a while — a long while. Harry wondered if he'd gone deaf for a moment.

Then he heard a snort.

"Repairing ties, hmm? Well, I could say the same to you, Lily." Sirius said gleefully. "About Snivellus."

Lily flinched visibly. "Do not bring him up—"

"I mean…" Sirius continued onward, standing up and taking a step towards her. "It's obvious the man is infatuated with you. He even defended you during that very first duel, from the other guy's spell."

"From Gaunt, you mean?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, him," Sirius said dismissively, and Lily looked towards the bed on cue. Harry quickly closed his eyes, trying to act casual and completely asleep.

"Now he's a complete mystery." Lily's voice sounded. "Hadrian Gaunt. Not like Severus or Regulus. He has no background that we know of. But strangely enough, I do… like him."

Sirius's eyebrows raised. "Yeah, well, he's utterly irrelevant— "

"No, no, no. Don't dismiss him like that." Lily shook her head, crossing her arms. "You know very well why I'm bringing him up."

Sirius stared at Lily unreadably. Harry stilled, wondering what on earth he was being brought up for when he really was irrelevant to this conversation.

"It's worse around him, isn't it?"

Sirius's mouth opened wordlessly, then closed. Harry watched both of them silently, his mind buzzing. What was worse around him?

And then Sirius sighed.

The tension left his body completely, and Sirius let his head droop, his head hanging from his neck and as he let out a deep breath and then laughed helplessly.

"Oh, Lily…" his voice dropped to a low, husky whisper. "There's something about that boy… I can't tell. I can't tell why. But there's something about him that makes me go absolutely insane. "

Harry felt his jaw drop slightly, his eyes widening with disbelief. What? Why? Why him? What had he done? His mind was in complete chaos now, searching through every moment he'd shared with Sirius Black.

Sirius looked up, his gray eyes burning. And then words were tumbling out of Sirius's mouth.

"In his presence, I do things and then I regret them immediately. It's his fucking face , I can't pin down a reason why."

Harry blinked. What was wrong with his face?

"Lily, I burned his wrists the day I met him—"

It was real, Harry realized with terror and relief. It was all fucking real.

"Oh, I'm aware," Lily said dryly. "The poor boy. And if anyone else but me had walked in and found him in that state?"

"I know." Sirius said, clenching his jaw as he sat back down. " I fucking know I'd have been done for."

"Well, I'm sure you can…" Even Lily looked a bit disbelieving at the words coming out of her own mouth. "Er— mend things with him, eventually. Or reach a point of civility, if you ever desired so."

Sirius snorted. "I don't. He's still a former Death Eater and deserves to be treated like shit — " at Lily raised his eyebrows, Sirius corrected himself "—within certain bounds. Anyways, I doubt that I could ever," he made air quotations with his fingers, " mend anything with him since there's no way I'll be able to mend his stupid snake amulet."

Harry's eyes widened. He tried to sit up, tried to speak, but found himself bound a completely different way. It was as if it wasn't his own body fighting against him, but magic instead.

Lily blinked. "What?"

Sirius's face went blank. "Oh… yes, I forgot to tell you. So, I found a snake amulet on him the day we captured him—"

Lily stood up, fury etched across her features.

"Sirius! If you take or find something on a prisoner you need to inform us! Or show it to us first. You can't just do things like this."

Harry was trying to violently pitch himself off the bed at this point, but for some reason, he couldn't even move a finger.

Was the House magic… stopping him? Trying to protect him?

Anger coursed through his blood at the way the non-sentient being was controlling him, betraying him like this. Didn't it understand? Harry needed to tell Lily about it. He needed to—

"Well it was a portkey and don't worry, I took care of it!" Sirius stood up too, throwing his hands up in the air. "Apparently it was just a connection to someone important to him. Not a big deal."

Lily's eyes widened.

"Oh— oh my goodness. Sirius! I remember now. This was the first object Hadrian asked about upon his release from the cell!" Lily cried. " Shit. You've… you've…"

Harry blinked, recalling the very words he'd told her.

He looked up at Lily pleadingly. "Including a green-eyed, serpentine amulet?" He closed his eyes. "Please, I'm begging you. A child's life is on the line."

"YOU'VE ENDANGERED THE LIFE OF A CHILD!" Lily exploded, magic bursting from her form in a chaotic bubble.

Sirius's jaw dropped. Harry had never seen such a comical look on the other's face — not in this timeline, anyways.

"Well. I didn't know that—"

"Children do not take sides in war. We protect them at all costs." Lily ran a hand through her hair. "Gaunt must be so worried over the child right now—"

He was.

Again, Harry struggled against the bonds of the Potter Manor's magic, gritting his teeth and spitting some very violent-sounding expletives in his mind.

Sirius cleared his throat and shrugged.

"Well, you can just Obliviate him the way you've Obliviated my behavior these past few weeks from everyone else's minds. It shouldn't be a big deal. Just give his memory of the child back later—"

Lily let out a low growl, and Sirius walked back towards the doorway. "Right, I should probably—"

"LEAVE!" Lily bellowed, ears practically steaming from below her bright red hair.

Sirius walked away. Lily slumped down in a chair, facing away from him as she buried her head in her hands. Harry took a few moments to absorb what he'd just heard.

Obliviate?

Fury like he'd never known overcame him. It burst through his every limb, igniting his body on fire. And at last, the magic that had been pulling at his limbs seemed to give away, allowing him to move and stand up from the bed.

Lily looked up and turned around, having heard his footsteps. "Oh, good, you're awake—"

She stopped talking at the look on his face, blood seeming to drain from her own.

"Obliviate?" Harry said quietly, a quiet fury in his voice. "So you've been… Obliviating us?"

Lily froze.

. . .

Teddy stared at the other girl with surprise.

She was his age… okay, fine. She was a year older.

But she'd stolen his favorite hair color. His favorite hair color.

"I'm blue." Teddy said firmly, pointing at his hair. "It's my color."

The girl shot him a mean look. She rolled her eyes, growing a pig snout and oinking obnoxiously in his direction. "It's mine. You can be pink."

Teddy's face crumpled.

From ten feet away, Narcissa and Andromeda watched the interaction with fascination. One metamorphmagus was plenty of entertainment — but two, together? It was a sight they'd never seen before.

"Do you think they're getting along?" Narcissa whispered.

"Not one bit," Andromeda whispered back, then cleared her throat and spoke up a bit more. "To be expected, of course. Nymphadora's a bit of a brat. I'll have to start disciplining her once her eight birthday comes around."

"Oh," Narcissa gave a small laugh. "Teddy isn't much better. He hogs all the toys at the DE care."

Andromeda snorted, then covered her mouth with a hand, glancing at Narcissa as if waiting.

Narcissa did not disappoint.

" Tsk, tsk. Letting go of your manners already." Narcissa giggled. "All that Pureblood training for naught."

Andromeda gave an embarrassed huff, looking away. "Teddy doesn't mind. He loves me."

Narcissa raised eyebrows. "He had better love you, with all that you gave up for the Muggle."

They both looked away, silently observing the kids.

"So whose child is it?" Andromeda asked.

Narcissa pursed her lips. "Actually, he's the younger brother of one of the Death Eaters. But the Death Eater got captured recently, which made Teddy's placement at home… at the headquarters a bit unsafe." She looked up at her older sister. "I know we don't really talk but, would you mind watching over him? Taking care of him for a while?"

Andromeda looked at her incredulously. "Of course I wouldn't. You're sixteen, you have enough on your plate with Hogwarts and the DE Care and hell, marriage. " She patted her sister on the shoulder. "Go back before anyone finds you missing for too long."

Narcissa gave a small smile, feeling a little awkward but mostly relieved.

"Right," she said, drawing her hood. "I had better leave." She turned back to Andromeda one last time. "You'll Owl me about him, occasionally?"

Andromeda nodded, smirking. "It's like you really are the boy's mother. Yes, I'll Owl. Not often because I'd rather not be caught owling you when I'm supposed to be neutral — but I will."

Narcissa nodded. "Thanks," she said shortly.

And with one last, lingering glance towards the boy she'd grown to love, Narcissa turned around and disappeared into the flames.