Good news. Thank Merlin, and anyone else who might be listening, it was good news

Harry sat wheezing, in the chair Molly had conjured. He was giddy with relief and shortness of breath. Ginny ran up the stairs to come to stand by him, "I told you to stay in bed." she said, reprovingly. She didn't seem that upset, just exasperated.

"Mum?" Lily called. "We were in the drawing room. Dad's been lying down all afternoon, honest."

Molly must have cancelled the silence charm on the door.

"So why...didn't you...tell me..?" Harry gasped between each couple of words.

Ginny made an impatient noise in her throat, "Because you spent most of last week unconscious, if you remember. They filed the request on Wednesday. You didn't wake up properly until Friday morning."

"But.." Harry had to stop for a breath. His breathing got harder as he became more agitated. He suddenly saw the point of the calming potions. His lung was too new and too tender to withstand emotional shocks that made his heart race. "What" gasp, "happened?" another gasp.

"Only when you're lying down." Ron said, firmly, "C'mon, one of you." Ron pulled one of Harry's arms around him, Dudley grabbed the other side and they lifted Harry up easily, depositing him on the drawing room settee.

Ginny fussed with covering him up, calling "Kreacher! Bring whatever potions Harry was supposed to take."

Irritably, Harry wanted to tell her to leave him alone. Unfortunately he had no breath to tell her to leave him alone. Kreacher appeared with a pop.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Harry heard Lily whisper to Tim, "He's always like this when he gets hurt. Mum can hardly ever get him to look after himself." She said it in the exact same tone of exasperation that Ginny used.

Harry internally threw up his hands and just took the potions Ginny handed to him. His breathing grew easier and the alarming wheeze stopped. The false calm of the potion settled around him.

"You skipped your evening dose, didn't you?" Ginny said accusingly, as she looked at the empty vials.

Sheepishly, Harry nodded. "Don't like feeling stupid." he mumbled.

"We'll talk about it, later." Ginny promised, darkly, "Now if you'll stay still, we'll tell you what happened." she turned to Phillip, "I must say, I don't think I would have made it through this week without you and Dudley."

There was a sentence Harry never expected to be spoken in his house. Ever.

Dudley and Phillip had taken seats together on the short love seat. Hermione sat at the end of the widened setee, Ron pulled up one of the chairs and Molly the other one. Ginny was sat down next to Harry. Lily and Tim seemed content on the floor.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Ginny." said Phillip, modestly, "It's what I do."

"Well, I say you were bloody brilliant." Ron said enthusiastically, "I've never heard anyone talk in front of the Wizengamot like that. And bringing in what Tim said to Roz...There wasn't a dry eye in the house."

Phillip shrugged, "I thought his own words would be most effective. I'm just glad it was recorded. The rest of it; that was just the truth."

The children were looking curiously at the adults. Tim slipped his hand into Lily's, "So...what happened?" he asked. He seemed to be bracing himself for something.

Ginny pulled a sheaf of parchment out of her bag, "Well, good news is that the Smiths withdrew their petition without needing a judgment, so they can't appeal. The really good news is that we finished the guardianship paperwork." she smiled at him, "That means we've been named your undisputed, permanent guardians."

Tim's eyebrows came together in a frown, "I get to stay forever?" sounding as though he wanted to make it quite clear.

Ginny nodded enthusiastically, "And, on July 31, the permanent guardianship is eligible to become adoption." she looked at the boy questioningly, "Do you understand what that means, lovey?"

Slowly, Tim nodded, "It means that you and Mr. Potter...you'd be sort of...sort of my parents." he swallowed, hard.

"Only if you want it." Harry had caught his breath enough to say, "If it bothers you, we could just stay your guardians. If you want some time, it doesn't matter to us."

Lily looked from her parents to Tim.

Tim's face was closed, and frighteningly impassive for a boy his age.

Lily leaned over and whispered in his ear. He whispered back. Whatever he said made her eyes shine with tears. The tears didn't fall and she smiled. She shoved his shoulder as Harry had seen her shove her other brothers, "Don't be stupid. I don't care." she said, sounding a bit hoarse, "I already share them with James and Al."

Tim nodded, but still he had that closed expression.

"What Tim?" asked Ginny, a little anxious.

Tim's eyes dropped and he started fiddling with his hands, "Would that mean I'd call you 'Mum'?" he asked in a neutral voice

"Tim...I..." it was clear to Harry that Ginny would like that very much, but she didn't want to press him, "I wouldn't want to make you think I wanted you to forget about...I mean I...I'd be very pleased...as long as you thought..."

"Um...loads of kids in my old schools had two mums." the boy said, glancing up furtively to look at Ginny.

Ginny looked a little confused, "Sorry?".

"Divorce not that common in the magical world?" asked Dudley.

"I should think not," exclaimed Molly, sounding a little scandalized.

Phillip snorted, "So, that's why they're so befuddled over a custodial dispute."

Hermione shrugged, "I think we're about fifty years behind in social norms."

"And yet you don't have any trouble with same gender marriages?" asked Dudley.

Ron looked confused now, "Why would we?"

Dudley and Phillip glanced at each other and chuckled, "Another day, we'll explain it." said Dudley, with a little smile, "Tim, I daresay that Ginny won't mind whatever you call her." he paused, "And we already know what you said to Miss Roz." he said gently.

Tim bit his lip, "Oh. Yeah." his impassive expression slipped. Beneath it was a frightened little boy, "So...so you wouldn't...mind?"

Ginny swept the child up into a hug, unable to speak.

"Not a dry eye in the house." muttered Ron thickly, catching Harry's eye. Hermione had already handed Molly a handkerchief.

Tim whispered in Ginny's ear and she sobbed once, but took a deep breath. She pulled back to look at the boy. Her eyes were very red, "I think you and your sister need to have your dinner, am I right?" she said hoarsely.

Tim, nodded, "Yes, Mum." he whispered. And then the boy smiled, his rare delighted smile, that Harry had only ever seen the boy use when working with his wand.

"Come on, you two." Ginny wiped her eyes, "This lot can look after your father, for five minutes." She extended her hand to each of the smiling children, "Let's see what there is in the kitchen. Maybe Kreacher's worked out how to make pizza."

When Ginny had shut the door behind her and the children, Harry said hoarsely (obviously his chest was still a bit tight), "So are you going to tell me..."

"What happened?" put in Ron, brightly.

"Yeah."

Everyone looked at Hermione, "Well, the Smiths decided to ask for custody of Tim." she said, "I'm not sure what they were thinking. Maybe it was simple grief over their son. Plus he'd never told them about Mary and Tim. I'm sure they wouldn't have liked that he'd had a bastard child with a Muggle, but as it is, they decided they wanted to raise the boy as a Smith. We received the notification Wednesday about the hearing, and you know how Wizarding law works-blood relatives always get preference."

"Not that different in the rest of the world, either." put in Dudley with a sigh, "All you need is some bastard judge to decide that 'the Family' must be upheld and the poor kid's living with the dad she hasn't seen in two years..."

Harry noticed Phillip take Dudley's hand and squeeze it. He would have to ask Dudley about that, later.

"So, I looked it up, since Tim's a half blood, he had a right to Muggle representation as well as Wizard." said Hermione, "And we pulled all of Tim's records to show how coming to live with you and Ginny was in his best interests. Phillip was amazing."

"We kept getting stuck on the blood issue though-you know how the Smith's are an old Pure Blood family." Ron said, "They kept saying how it was only right that the boy be with the grandparents. That no matter what the son had done, Tim needed to be with his 'natural relations'. They were very grateful for the Potter's help, of course...blah,blah,blah..."

"It was like our Brianna all over again." growled Dudley.

"Brianna?"

"We fostered her for about two years," said Phillip, bitterly, "Similiar story, single mum with problems. No dad in the picture. Until he demanded her back after she turned two. Never mind that he hadn't seen her the whole time we had her. Never mind that he'd never looked to find out if she was all right. The judge said she 'deserved' to be with her family."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear." said Molly, sympathetically.

"Well, finally Phillip brought out Roz's Pensieved memories of her interview with Tim." Ron picked up the story, "Tim told her about how Smith Cruciated him again and how you came in. He said, 'My dad came in to save me.' and Roz asked him who he meant and Tim looked at her like she'd grown another head and said, 'Mr. Potter. The other man was only a sperm donor.' "

Molly gasped, "He never did!" sounding utterly shocked.

Hermione and Ron snickered at Molly's consternation, "He really did." said Ron

Harry was having a problem making that add up in his head. He remembered Smith grabbing Tim, not using an Unforgivable on him, "What-what have the healers said about that?" he asked. Could he have the episode that confused?

"Well, they say it doesn't seem to have hurt him any worse. That potion is amazing, apparently. The bruise on his face was pretty bad when he first came back too and Phillip showed the photos of those to the Wizengamot." replied Ron.

Was it possible the child had lied? No, there was no way a child of that age, and a Muggle born child to boot, could understand the rules on using the killing curse. Harry had assumed that Roz was using the threat of Smith's likely use of deadly force as the mitigating factor, a much narrower defense to be sure, but often ruled valid.

Perhaps he'd simply gotten the events confused. He had been missing half a lung, after all.

But the healers had said that Tim was very vulnerable to magic in his state...

"Harry?" said Hermione, "You okay? You drifted off."

He shook his head, "Sorry. Tired."

"Well, to cut a long story short, Phillip went for the throat after that." said Dudley, "He asked the Smiths if they realized what they were getting into taking on a special needs child. He brought out all Tim's behaviors. His night terrors and his self injury; the accidental magic. Then he asked them very sweetly and compassionately if they really were ready for that. Mr Smith blustered about how he thought that the potion had cured him." Dudley snorted, "The-Wizengamot you call it? The whole room went quiet, as though they had stopped breathing. Phillip told him very nicely that the potion was experimental and might not last. He said it was also possible that the worst case was that Tim could become completely autistic and then told them what autism was in very small words."

Hermione nodded, "By that time the Smith's looked like they were ready to be sick."

"I also told them that even if Tim's condition didn't change one iota or even if he was cured of the physical damage, he was still in need of intensive mental healing." Phillip said, "They asked for a recess and then they came to speak to me in the hallway. In fifteen minutes they'd withdrawn their request and Hermione had the proper papers drawn up for you to be permanent guardians."

"What would you have done if you're lost?" asked Harry, croakily.

"What any good solicitor does." smirked Phillip, "Stalled, appealed. Ernie said he could get Tim readmitted to St Mungo's as a last resort."

"Oh, that would have been a good idea." muttered Harry.

"Well, it didn't come to that." said Hermione firmly, "Well, I can see you're tired, Harry. Ron and I need to go pick up Hugo, anyway, so we'll leave you." she gave him a hug and Ron clasped his hand, "See you."

Dudley and Phillip stood too, "Eleanor's at Phillip's mum's, so we should go too." both men gave Harry a hug, as did Molly.

After a moment, Ginny came up the stairs, "You want help getting up to bed, or are you happy there?"

"I'll stay here, for now."

Ginny smiled happily before calling for Kreacher to bring Harry something to eat.

Tim came in shyly, and crawled up on the setee with him again. He didn't say anything, but snuggled himself in beside Harry, in the position they'd enjoyed earlier.

"Tim?" asked Harry after a moment, "Uh, when you talked to Miss Roz...they said that you said he used the Crucio Curse on you again...I think my memory must be muddled..."

Tim pulled back to look at Harry. His blue eyes were oddly flat, "That's how I remember it, Mr. Potter." he said solemnly.

That reminded Harry of something else, more pressing, "You know Tim," Harry said very quietly, "If you're going to call Auntie Ginny 'Mum', you could call me 'Dad'. If you wanted to."

The flatness left the boy's eyes to be replaced by bright depths. He nodded, clearly unable to speak. Harry pulled his youngest son into a tight embrace.