"Minerva was James's, wasn't she?"
"Yep." Sirius yawned.
There was a brief lull and Harry was considering informing the pair of them that he was awake when Remus cleared his throat.
"I assume you spoke with Albus after?"
"Oh, yes." Sirius said dryly. "We talked."
"And?"
"And I was only tempted to use the house magic to incinerate him once." Sirius said in the same dry tone.
"I take it he wanted Harry to go back to the Dursleys?"
"Wouldn't take no for an answer until I pointed out the blood protection is now anchored by Black blood." Sirius said.
Harry was disappointed. He'd expected the Headmaster to bring up the Dursleys but he'd hoped deep down that Sirius and Remus would be proven wrong about him insisting on it.
"He did say steps would be taken, that Harry would have minimal contact with them, and I could even go along too to make sure they treated him right but…" Sirius sighed. "He cares for Harry, I can see that, it's just his focus isn't in the right place."
Well, that was slightly better.
"Maybe some of it is his age." Remus offered.
"You think he's going senile?"
Harry almost snorted a laugh.
"I mean his generation has a very different take on what is acceptable in raising a child." Remus said, taking on the tone that Harry knew meant Padfoot was going to get lectured. "Historically, children, especially in the working classes, were expected to earn their keep, to contribute with difficult chores from a young age, to be grateful and respectful to their parents for food, clothing of any kind, and shelter. If they received praise and love beyond that…they were lucky but it wasn't a big thing. Really it's only this century that mind healers have emphasised that love and reward is an important component in raising a child to be a happy contributing member of society."
"I'm not sure I agree with you, Remus," Sirius said firmly, "I think Albus knows full well to raise a child in an unloving environment is not good for the child. He admitted he'd sacrificed Harry's happiness on the altar of the blood protection, although he didn't know quite how bad it was for Harry there."
It was Remus's turn to sigh. "You know a part of me misses the days when I used to blindly accept Albus as the greatest wizard of our time, all knowing and all powerful."
"Well, there's nothing worse than finding your idol has feet of clay." Sirius commented. "It's only natural even when you realise the truth that they're human to search for reasons and excuses for why they've done certain things that maintain the image of a hero."
"You never did recover from finding out Elton John wasn't a wizard."
"Funny."
"I'm right that Albus wasn't your hero though, aren't I?" Remus asked idly.
Harry listened with interest wondering who Sirius had looked up to as an idol.
"You are," Sirius said, "I was raised a Black, remember? We weren't brought up to worship at the altar of the Great Albus Dumbledore, Defeater of Grindelwald. No, Uncle Alphard was my hero; he thumbed his nose at the whole pureblood thing, looked in on all the unwanted relatives, he was the epitome of cool, and he didn't abandon me after I ran off. Then he went and got himself killed."
"That wasn't exactly his fault." Remus pointed out.
"Of course it was." Sirius said. "Idiot walked straight into an ambush with a pack of Death Eaters."
"I take it they were trying to recruit him."
"Voldemort wanted every Black for his collection." Sirius murmured. "I think my grandfather made some kind of deal that he'd join Voldie if he managed to convince everyone in the family to be Marked."
"But he had to know you would never…" Remus stopped abruptly in realisation. "Oh. Well, if he did that was kind of devious of him, wasn't it?"
It was very clever of Sirius's grandfather, Harry mused silently. Because he'd known Sirius would never be Marked, he'd be safe from having to submit to the deal.
"Yes, the rest of us had to deal with the bloody plonker while he got to stay safe behind the walls of the Black country estate."
"Yes, the defences there are rather lethal."
Sirius coughed. "I did apologise for not warning you."
"You're bloody lucky I wasn't incinerated." Remus said.
"I did give you the password to shut the wards down." Sirius said defensively.
"After I called you on the communication mirror and demanded it," Remus pointed out, "while dodging a barrage of silver javelin curses, I might add."
"I apologised!" Sirius retorted.
Harry wanted badly to smile at their banter but he shifted instead, drawing their attention to him and they both muttered admonishments for the other to lower their voice so they wouldn't wake him.
"So what was the outcome with Albus in the end?" Remus asked.
"We agreed that he'd help; he's going to be part of the War Council and he had some thoughts about the treasure hunt. You should have seen him when I faced him with that." Sirius said. "He wants to apologise to Harry about everything so that's something."
That made Harry feel better about his Headmaster and the whole thing with the Dursleys. He was right; Professor Dumbledore did care about him.
"Are you going to let him?" asked Remus dryly.
"Of course," Sirius replied, "if Harry decides that he wants to receive an apology."
Emotions bombarded Harry. There was a strong wave of affection and love, maybe, for Padfoot for being so willing to do something because he loved Harry. But that was followed by a curious mix of annoyance at his Headmaster that he'd been human and made mistakes at all, and a shameful need to move past the revelations of how Dumbledore had placed him with the Dursleys and hadn't checked on him, and confirm that the Headmaster truly cared about him – that it hadn't been an act.
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