Milo couldn't convince Remus to stay and teach at Hogwarts, the man's stubbornness and fears won out that battle, but he did convince the man to remain close for the sake of his family. Remus agreed not to run off and disappear, that he would stay where he could be found. He still left on the carriage but with the promise that he was going to St. Mungo's shortly after to see how Elspeth and Sirius were fairing. That was a good enough answer for Milo as he was left with a bright smile on his face returning inside the castle. He could hear students, older and younger than himself giggling as he walked through the corridors barefoot and in his pyjamas, but he didn't care.
After the pure hell that the family members of their newly formed family had been put through, they needed some things to go right. With the darkness approaching that the Fates had offered the warning about, it was clear that they needed to produce their own light and the only way they were going to do that was by sticking together. Milo had managed to get Remus to stay and that was what really mattered to the boy.
There was truth to his words when he told Remus that he had picked the man as his godfather for a reason. Of course, Milo didn't know his reasoning back when he was a baby, he didn't understand why he attached himself to Remus, but it honestly didn't matter because he had made the right decision. Remus had become the father figure in his life that Milo needed and now that Sirius had returned, Harry was gaining one more fatherly figure in his that the boy desperately needed. He already had Hagrid and Arthur Weasley, but now he was going to gain a family of sorts if Dumbledore permitted it.
"Milo! Milo!"
By now the entire school was more than likely aware of what had taken place the night before or at least, they knew the details outside of the alliance with the gods, but that was more than enough for an outsider to handle. The Daily Prophet had the word about Sirius Black actually proven to be innocent as Peter Pettigrew had been taken into custody and it was all published on the front page.
With the map rolled up and in hand, Milo turned around to see Silas racing towards him and for a second, Milo's heart skipped a beat. Several times during the previous night, Milo's mind had wandered to the younger boy, wondering how Silas was going to react to all the news. After all, the boy still wasn't aware that it was his father's photos that had graced the front pages of the Daily Prophet for months. All of the headlines painting Sirius as the villain and now they had taken a drastic turn, Milo was sure the boy was going to be left with conflicting feelings about the entire matter once he learned the truth.
"I heard you were in the hospital wing and Merlin!" The boy's eyes widened and he let out a gasp as his hand clapped over the front of his chest. For a second, it was like having a tiny Sirius standing before Milo that brought Milo to suppress a giggle. He had a feeling that once Silas received the truth and got over the shock of the situation, that he and Sirius were going to get along just fine.
"I'm fine, Silas," Milo reassured him, "it's healing up nicely."
Actually, Milo had no idea if his scarring looked better, mainly because as soon as he had woken up in the Hospital Wing, he booked it in order to find Remus.
"They're amazing though," Silas said reaching his hand out before Milo could react the boy's fingers tickled over the fresh scarring. "My mum says that scars are incredibly attractive, so prepare yourself, Milo, you might become extremely desirable...actually, I should probably warn Cedric. Between you and me, Milo, he comes across as the jealous type, so if anyone's looking your way, you bet Cedric's probably going to knock some teeth in."
Milo snorted before nodding his head. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind."
He could see that Silas was using his humour to cover up the fact that he was more than likely upset. It was safe to say that he probably knew his mother was currently at St. Mungo's being treated and that was nerve-wracking enough for the second year. Unfortunately, as Elspeth explained, Remus may not have been able to see her, but he could definitely see Sirius and during the night just as Milo pissed off the werewolf, Sirius had done his fair share. She had to intervene several times, earning herself from injuries as the werewolf went on his rampage.
Reaching his hand across, Milo placed his hand on Silas' shoulder, keeping a smile on his face as the boy's grey eyes peered up at him.
"Your mum is going to be fine," Milo told him, "she was incredible last night, you have a lot to be proud of."
Silas was able to force a smile back on his face before they heard someone approaching from behind. They turned around to see Minerva and behind her, were Elspeth's parents and Silas' grandparents. While Sorcha and Caelan wore kind smiles in greeting, they appeared tired as if they had been up the entire night and it was more than likely that they had been up the entire night learning what had unfolded.
Now the process was going to be explaining everything to Silas and hoping that the boy's mind didn't explode as he attempted to process everything. Silas seemed relieved and thrilled to see his grandparents as he left Milo's side and raced over to them. Immediately, he began asking them all sorts of questions, mainly pertaining to his mother's health and if she was alright, or at least awake.
They informed him that they were going to St. Mungo's shortly and they were taking him with them. There was plenty that needed to be discussed along the way.
Minerva noted her son's attire and gave him a look as she was to escort the three out and told her son to put some real clothes on if he was going to roam the corridors.
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Perhaps life was not destined to be cruel at all times and even though things were going so well, maybe they weren't always meant to end with something going wrong. Milo had been paranoid that something was going to come crashing down within the days of the incident, but it seemed that things continued to go well. Cedric had down amazingly well on his O.W.L.s getting high marks in nearly all of his classes, with the exception of Potions, but he wasn't really all that concerned about that. Milo was thrilled for him as the boy received his results and congratulated him with a strong kiss.
Every morning since the night of chaos, Cedric was making absolutely sure that Milo was okay in every possible way. He woke up first and checked Milo's scarring. It wasn't something that was ever going to go away in Milo's lifetime, but Cedric wanted to make sure there wasn't any sort of inflammation or infection coming the boy's way. But Milo seemed fine, in fact, Milo was allowing himself to relax in the final days of the term. Something he should have been doing since the beginning if Cedric had any say in it.
But when Milo began explaining everything that happened that night when Cedric wasn't present among the gods, Cedric thought he had learned enough. It seemed with his relationship with Milo, he was never going to stop learning something new and at that point, Cedric didn't see it as a bad thing.
None of them had heard a word about how Silas reacted to the news of meeting his father and they were all curious as to what happened. But Milo was certain that once the term was officially over that he would learn what had happened. After all, before his internship with Newt Scamander was set to begin, he was going to be spending time in Hogsmeade. He wanted to help Cedric get adjusted to living in the Three Broomsticks with Rosmerta, although he was sure that the two were going to get along just fine.
In fact, Cedric seemed quite excited about working and being on his own a bit, he just didn't like the idea that Milo was going to be gone for so long. However, he knew it was the opportunity of a lifetime for Milo, spending time with the man that he considered to be his hero and Cedric didn't want anything to ruin that for him.
But before the summer holiday was set to begin, there were other concerns that Milo had to deal with and that was a very upset Harry approaching him.
"He says I can't go," Harry told him the morning of the End-of-Term feast as he found Cedric and Milo, sitting in one of the window seats. Milo's brows furrowed together in confusion as he looked at his little brother.
"'Arry, what are you talking about?" Milo questioned but as he saw the grief-stricken face, he quickly realized what Harry was hinting at.
"He says I can't go because the Dursleys already have custody and they were compensated for taking me in...I...he said that Sirius would have to go through all this stuff in order to get guardianship of me-"
"And he'll be more than willing to do so!" Milo said sharply, not upset with Harry of course, but he knew there was going to be a problem when it came to Dumbledore. "Don't worry, Harry, it'll all be sorted out. I can figure something out-"
"But you'll be with Newt Scamander-" Harry went to point out but Milo shook his head.
"Harry, if I have to, I will put that aside if it means helping you-"
But it was Harry's turn to tell his brother no because he was tired of Milo doing so much for him. The boy was so quick to sacrifice his own happiness for his brother but Harry couldn't allow him to do that.
"I don't want you to do that, Milo," Harry told him, " I rather live with the Dursleys and have you go with Newt Scamander than be the reason that you missed out on that opportunity."
"Harry, other opportunities will present themselves-"
Harry's eyes flickered to Milo's neck and knowing that his brother could have met death a second time, the question rose to mind of would Milo be around to accept another opportunity coming his way if he kept putting himself in danger for Harry's sake.
"Not like this one," Harry said. "I can manage the Dursleys."
His tone lightened and he sounded almost amused. "I mean, I don't think they're going to mess with me now that they see what I'm capable of and what I did to Aunt Marge. I'm sure that's still fresh in their minds. Anyways, if it's meant to be, I'll end up with Sirius and if not, it's okay. Besides Sirius needs some time to adjust back to this world and some time alone with Elspeth and Silas, he deserves that."
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As Milo sat at the Hufflepuff Table that evening for the End-Of-Term feast, everyone around him seemed to be in great spirits. For the third year in a row, Gryffindor had won the House Cup but everyone seemed happy for them. Milo was incredibly happy for his mother as she appeared to be beaming where she sat next to Professor Sprout, the two of them chatting away. For a second, Milo smiled until his eyes flickered over in the direction of Dumbledore and their eyes met for a moment.
The smile faded from his face as he met the old man's gaze and the usual twinkle in Dumbledore's bright blue eyes seemed to fade as well. It seemed everything around Milo became silent in those few seconds as if they were challenging each other. Milo broke eye contact first and glanced over in his brother's direction and Dumbledore's gaze seemed to follow. When the two looked back at each other, Milo hoped he got his silent point across to Dumbledore that if Harry was harmed because of his actions, there was no god or goddess that would be able to save him.