The Son of Lord Voldemort

Chapter 120

Remus' eyes had turned amber, and Dumbledore would swear to his last breath he saw the reflection of a wolf in their center. He too appeared frozen.

"Are you telling me," Sirius said quietly, his tone venomous, "that Harry…that my godson is alive? That he's alive and you've known for more than a year? And do not start with the riddles, old man, I want the simple truth."

"Yes," Dumbledore said.

A sound like a bomb exploding burst throughout the room as vases shattered, the marble surrounding the fireplace went flying in every direction like shrapnel, and the chandelier hanging above their heads rained diamonds down on their heads.

Dumbledore didn't cast a spell to shield himself, and he felt his skin cut open. He could feel blood trickle down his cheek, and could see blood blooming from his knuckles like a demented sort of flower.

Dumbledore looked at Remus who appeared to be frozen in shock. He too failed to place a protective charm, and blood was gently flowing down from his forehead and into his eye. Remus didn't seem to notice and his breathing came out in shallow bursts.

"Harry is alive," Sirius growled. His eyes boring into Dumbledore's. "Tell me right now why I shouldn't kill you."

"You couldn't kill me," Dumbledore said. Another vase shattered. "You wanted the truth." Sirius' breathing was coming out ragged and a twitch danced in his cheek. "You're angry, Sirius, you're both angry. Believe me, I understand, I do. But what you don't understand is why I didn't tell you." Dumbledore waved his hand and the room began repairing itself. Bits of broken vase glued themselves back together, diamonds flew up into the air, linking together to form a glittering chandelier.

"You weren't ready," Dumbledore said. "When I found out about Harry you were still an escaped convict, and when you were discovered to be innocent, you were in a fragile state of mind. Do you see how you reacted now? Imagine how you would've reacted a year ago. And Remus? He blamed himself for everything, finding out Harry was alive, that he could've cared for him for all those years, that would've killed him. You both deserved to know, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I would have, had I found Harry, but I've yet to locate him. I have yet to even decipher what happened that night. Who took him."

Sirius let out a choked sob as he fell back onto a chair. He buried his face in his hands. Dumbledore didn't say a word as Sirius attempted to reign in his emotions.

"You ran out of options," Remus said quietly.

Dumbledore hadn't expected the man to talk. He looked at Remus, whose eyes were still amber, and his hands were still gripping his arm rests.

"You ran out of options," Remus repeated, "and you thought that by telling us we would help you. Am I right?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

"You want him because of that stupid prophecy," Remus accused. His voice void of all emotion.

Sirius' head snapped up. "Like hell!" he snarled.

"Harry can defeat Voldemort," Dumbledore said.

"Harry is a fourteen year old boy," Remus said. "A fourteen year old boy none of us have seen for thirteen years. When we find him, the last thing he will need is to be put out in the vanguard. Who knows what he has endured all this time?" A low growl escaped his throat. "You've done enough, keeping this from us."

"We haven't found Harry, I cannot make him do anything he doesn't want to do," Dumbledore admitted. "However, Voldemort aside, James and Lily were my friends too."

Remus and Sirius deflated a little. Dumbledore knew that reminding them that James and Lily had been on his side would tug at them.

"I would do anything to find Harry," Sirius said. "But know this," Sirius said lowly, "I will never forgive you for this."

"I only hope that in time you can understand," Dumbledore said.

Sirius merely glared at Dumbledore, a tear falling down his cheek. Dumbledore looked at Remus, whose nostrils were flaring. Without another word, Dumbledore stood up, grabbed a pinch of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace.

xxXXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Remus watched as Dumbledore disappeared in a flash of green. Harry was alive. James and Lily's son was alive. After all these years of crying and screaming and wishing for a miracle, one had finally come. His cub was alive.

Remus was furious at the situation. Thirteen years had passed since James and Lily had been murdered. Thirteen years since Harry had been taken Merlin knows where. He wanted to kill Dumbledore for keeping the fact that Harry was alive from him. The rational part of his mind knew that Dumbledore had only known for a year, but that part also knew that Dumbledore could've told him immediately after finding out. He understood why Dumbledore hadn't, Remus knows he wouldn't have reacted well, especially because last June he had thought Sirius was a murdering escaped convict. His mind would've led him down the road of thinking Sirius hidden Harry away, and his precious cub was being raised by Death Eaters.

But he was still furious with Dumbledore. Once Sirius had been cleared of all charges he should've waited until Sirius was of sound mind then told them both. That was months ago, many months ago. They could have spent the past several months searching for Harry.

"I want to kill him," Sirius growled.

Remus pulled himself from his thoughts and looked at his best friend. Sirius looked almost as bad as he had immediately after Azkaban. His face looked aged, his cheek was twitching, and his eyes shone with a crazed madness.

"Sirius," Remus forced himself to sound calm. He was furious, and he wanted to cry with both anger and joy, but he knew he needed to be the calm and rational one. "We can't change the past. Albus didn't tell us, and I can understand—"

Sirius rounded on him. "Don't you dare defend him!" Sirius roared.

Remus raised up his hands like he was in front of an animal about to charge.

"I'm not defending him Sirius," Remus said calmly. "What Albus did was unforgivable, but we're in the middle of a war. We can't turn on Albus now. No matter how much you hate him right now, what will happen when we find Harry? No matter how hard we try to hide him, Voldemort will find out Harry is alive. If he doesn't know already. Whether you want to admit it or not, Albus is the only one who will be able to protect Harry."

"We can protect him!" Sirius said fiercely. His face was contorted with a pain Remus had never seen before. It was as if Sirius was under the cruciatus curse and having his heart broken at the same time. The look twisted Remus' stomach.

"You know I would die for Harry," Remus said, "even after all this time. He's my cub. But Voldemort isn't considered the most powerful Dark Lord of all time because he's a big softie. Voldemort will come after Harry. Albus will be our best bet at protecting him. And we are still a part of the Order. So please, Sirius, curse Albus all you want in your head, shout out your hatred for him from the rooftops even." Remus looked at him imploringly. "But we cannot turn our backs on him. We promised James and Lily we would do anything to look out for Harry. Anything. And right now, working with Albus falls under the category of anything, as unpleasant as that thought right now is."

Sirius flinched, but Remus' words had the desired effect. Sirius deflated, he fell back into his chair and let tears flow down his cheeks. Remus' hand twitched as he watched his best friend cry. He wanted to strangle Dumbledore, or turn into his werwolf form on the full moon and rip his face off. But he couldn't. He needed to be rational if they were going to find Harry.