Mother reached out and pulled him into a hug. Harry startled, and then relaxed a little. This was something he really liked, but he was still bad at showing he liked it sometimes.
"I promise," Mother whispered, "we will help you get through this. Draco already regrets saying what he said, and I hope I have explained a little of the context to you. We'll continue to set wards against my cousin, and research the connection between the Mark and your scar. And your father had already made one move to set himself against the Dark Lord. This is the continuation of that, not something you uniquely caused."
"What did he do about You-Know-Who?" Harry hated using the name "Dark Lord," but everyone reacted so badly about him saying Voldemort, he would use the compromise. He didn't want Mother to jump and disrupt the warm hug she had him in.
Mother hesitated, and then drew back. "I think I should let your father explain that, when he feels better," she said.
"Okay," Harry said, and leaned towards her. He was glad that she understood what he was asking for without words, and hugged him again, lowering her head so that her hair spilled over his.
Harry really liked this. It felt like he was floating in a sea of warmth that nothing could ever pull him out of.
It wasn't true, of course. But it was nice.
...
"No. Of course not."
Harry scowled a little. He had suspected this would be the result of showing Father the letter, but he didn't like the way that Father said it, the kind of tone Uncle Vernon had always used to say, "Because I say so."
"Okay. But could we meet him in Diagon Alley or something like that? It sounds like he has important news about Black."
Father and Mother exchanged dark looks. Father was finally well enough, a fortnight after the ritual, to come down and have meals with them. Draco, who was talking to Harry again although they avoided the topic of Defense, looked back and forth between their parents.
"Why could he not put it in a letter?" Mother asked at last, turning to face Harry again. "That would have been the easiest thing to do, especially if he was short on time. Why does Dumbledore insist on meeting our son in our house?"
Harry just shook his head. He didn't know. But he thought he might have an idea. He'd asked Dumbledore to work on a trial for Black, after all. And maybe Dumbledore thought if he said that in a letter, then there was no way Mother and Father would let him meet Harry.
But it seemed they wouldn't let him meet Harry anyway. Draco was talking about how Dumbledore had been part of the plot with Lupin to try and make Harry keep secrets from his family, and Mother and Father were both scowling.
"We will write back to him and tell him to meet us in Diagon Alley," Father said at last, his eyes harsh. "You may come, Henry. But we will both be with you, and we will remove you from the situation the moment Dumbledore makes a hostile move."
Harry blinked, not having expected them to agree at all. But he nodded hastily. He definitely wasn't going to get a better deal than this.
And if there was going to be a trial for Black, he wanted to know about it. Black might think he could get custody of Harry because he was his godfather—well, the godfather of the baby everyone had thought was Harry Potter—but Harry didn't want to live with him. He did think that Black deserved to be declared innocent of the murders of Peter Pettigrew and the Muggles, though.
"I want to come, too! I want to come!"
"We want you to stay at the Manor, Draco. Let us have the assurance that one of our sons is safe from kidnapping."
Draco blinked and shut up. Harry leaned down the table to look at Mother and Father. "You think Dumbledore might kidnap me again?" And you're letting me meet with him anyway? But he didn't want to say that aloud, just in case they hadn't thought about it clearly and ended up leaving him home instead.
"Not seriously," Father said, at the same moment Mother said, "Yes." They stared at each other for a moment, and then Father turned to Harry with a small smile. "Not seriously," he repeated. "But there is the chance that this meeting could be a front for Black or Lupin to do so. We will allow you to attend because it seems important to you, but we will spirit you away at the first sign of danger. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded, hopeful. Maybe this could be worked out all right. Maybe Mother and Father could even see that Harry was more capable of keeping himself safe than they thought.
....
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