It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 8

"How dare you," Sirius growled.

"Dare? DARE?"  Dan ran his hand through his hair.  "We're Muggles who are risking our lives to try and save some people who, although we didn't know they really existed, have been part of our lives for the last ten plus years.  WE'VE ALREADY GONE THROUGH ALL THIS AND WE'RE TRYING TO HELP!  WE'RE SAVING YOU FROM YOUR OWN STUPIDITY, YOU BERK!"

"Jeez, Dan, don't sugar coat it," Tom mumbled.  "Just give him the facts and let him make up his own mind!"

Dan looked over at Tom, who winked, which had the effect he'd hoped for; Dan nodded, smiled a bit and took a deep breath.

Sirius sat, brows furrowed, then he looked up at Dan.

"Right.  Well, go on then; tell me where I mess up,"  Sirius grumped, sitting back, arms crossed, slouching down and frowning.

"Body language," sighed Emma, who reached over to Sirius.  "You're closing down and you won't hear what we're saying if you don't uncross your arms and relax.  Don't be so defensive and you might absorb this better.  And sit up, please."  She patted his arm and gave him a smile.

Sirius looked at her, uncrossed his arms, sat up straighter, sighed and nodded his head.

"How does she do that?"  Rupert whispered to Tom, who shrugged.

"Okay, first you need to know that Harry really was pitch forked into this whole 'boy-who-lived' . . . didn't even know he was a Wizard . . . bull's eye painted on his heart . . . 'only hope for the Wizarding World' . . . existence, without a clue about his parents, the Marauders, Severus' connection to his mother . . . none of that.  The poor kid is learning on the fly and people really need to tell him a lot more than they are.  Remus did a good job, albeit those memories were slanted toward the 'rose colored glasses' side, telling him about all of your years at Hogwarts.  But even he didn't tell all of it."

"We had no secrets from each other."  Sirius grumbled.

"Did you know Severus' background; about his family life, his friendship with Lily before Hogwarts?"  Dan asked, listing a few examples.

"Well . . . no I guess I didn't," admitted Sirius.  "But we were just kids; we didn't care about life before Hogwarts, just what was going on then."

"Which is typical of most of the students, unless you're talking about family and things with a close friend," Emma agreed.

"Girls talk about that stuff; guys just boast about things they have done, and what mischief they have planned," suggested Rupert.

"Anyway," said Dan, continuing with his thought.  "Harry has, if not a guilt complex, then a defense mechanism, learned from living at the Dursleys; that he has to keep things to himself, not draw attention and just muddle through on his own.  He doesn't want to 'bother' people with his problems, then he should be asking for their help."

"I had no idea . . . was it that bad at his aunt's house." Sirius asked, suddenly concerned.

"Bad enough, but he's resilient and is doing just fine, basically.  But not having all the facts is not fair to him, and is putting his whole life in constant peril.  Albus is the worst, but doesn't realize it until after you're killed, when he tries to explain to Harry why he's done what he has all these years.  He still doesn't tell him some things he will need to defeat Voldemort . . . we'll deal with that, too."

"Albus?  What's he doing wrong?"

"He's not telling him the whole story, trying to 'protect' him, instead of letting Harry get all the facts into his brain so he can start understanding what is coming, what he's required to do about Voldemort."