"So, that's all there is, I guess," Harry finished after recounting a memory of the Dursleys.

"Do you ever think about them?" McCoy finally asked. "Your Muggle relatives, I mean?"

The young man frowned in confusion. "No. Why would I? They didn't care about me. Not like Dad and Mum do."

"Yes, well, it's clear Severus and Aurora love you. But I'm wondering if—"

"The Dursleys hated me, sir. I was the one thing that wasn't perfect in their life, so I'm pretty certain they were glad when Dad regained custody of me."

"Now, I'm sure that's not—"

Harry's eyes narrowed on the healer. He was getting rather annoyed with the doubts. "True?" the young man spat out. "Yeah, it is. They had me live in a cupboard until Hagrid came and got me, sir. They hated me with every ounce of their body."

McCoy allowed that subject to drop with a slow incline of his head and turned to Aurora.

"If this session is to show we have messed up families, I think we know that," she said with a shrug before she glanced back at her left hand. "We've come out better for it, though."

"Have you?"

She glanced back at him and shrugged again. "Certainly. Unlike my mother did to me, I show Harry almost every day how much I love him and how glad I am to be a part of his life."

"You don't believe Syra was glad to be a part of yours?"

"I was a disappointment to her. She frequently set out to remind me of that as well, because I wasn't the perfect daughter she wanted. I was weak in her mind because I cared about others."

"Why do you think that, Aurora?"

"Because it's true," she said with a shrug. "And that's fine. She showed me everything a mother shouldn't do to her child."

"She saved you last year, did she not?"

"Only because Severus and Minerva won't take no for an answer."

"Is that you think?"

"No. It's what I know," she replied.

McCoy then glanced at each of them before he shook his head with a sigh.

"What? It's true."

"I don't doubt it," quipped the healer. "Each of you has undergone so much trauma in your lives." He glanced at Aurora first. "You suffered unimaginable pain and suffering in your youth. And you did it all in silence, it seems, judging by Madam Pomfrey's case notes on your Hogwarts years."

Harry's eyes darted towards his mum instantly. What was the healer talking about?

"However, when you could no longer hide what had—"

"Hide?" Aurora gave a soft dark laugh. "I was left in front of the gates like a piece of trash when it was done. Filch was the one who found me. Difficult to hide when that happens, you know?"

McCoy closed his eyes briefly before he began again. "I apologize. I was unclear of my meaning. You hid your resulting pregnancy from others until you had miscarried."

"I was fifteen. Not exactly the age known for good judgment."

Harry's eyes widened. She was fifteen when she was pregnant the first time? All questions vanished from his mind, however, the moment he saw his father's stern look directed at him.

"You refused her suggestion for professional treatment of your emotional wounds."

"I thought I knew better," Aurora answered with another shrug. "I didn't a few years later, or haven't you seen that part of my file yet?"

"I've read it," McCoy replied. "But we both know that you were forced to undergo that treatment, so it does not count."

"I've dealt with all that pain long ago. It's taken time, but I've let go of all of my anger, my grief, and my heartache."

"How?"

"Dueling Death Eaters over the years helped tremendously," she said with a sad laugh. "But mostly just realizing that it wouldn't help to keep being so angry about what happened to me. Placing the blame where it was so rightly deserved helped. Speaking to others, and just letting go."

McCoy nodded slowly before he pinched his lips together and glanced at Severus. "Would you say the same about your experience? That you've let go of all the trauma you witnessed, either in your childhood or in your Death Eater days?"

"No," Severus replied honestly. "I'm still working through it. However, speaking to someone such as yourself—forgive me for saying this—but it's different sharing such darkness with someone you are mere acquaintances and someone you wish to spend the rest of your life with."

"So you've been sharing battle stories, as it were?"

"Slowly," Aurora said with a nod, glancing at Severus. "We all have as a family because Severus and I experienced very different childhoods than what Harry did."

Harry glanced at them for half a moment before his eyes fell back to the ground. From what he had heard from his dad over the years, he had a similar childhood to him.

"And does that help you? To hear what their childhoods were like?"

"I guess," the young man said with a shrug. "I mean, well, it shows me that I'm not the only one who had a crummy childhood."

"I see."

Harry's lip curled slightly. He hated that phrase.

"Are you happy, Harry?" McCoy asked quietly, causing Harry to look back up at him.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Because it's a valid question, one that shows your overall wellbeing."

"Well, it's a stupid question."

McCoy smiled thinly. "That may be, but it is one I need you to answer for me."

"Of course, I'm happy," Harry replied. "I have two parents who love me. Not because I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, but because I'm Harry. My dad was the first person here who didn't treat me with kid gloves or fall all over himself because the 'Savior' was in his class. And Mum . . ." He glanced at Aurora. "Two years ago, I nearly died after being attacked in the Forbidden Forest. She didn't really know me at that time. I was just some kid in her Astronomy class who didn't pay attention like all the rest. But she still, you know, wrapped her arms around me and sacrificed herself to save me. My mother, Lily that is, everyone goes on about how she sacrificed herself for me, but they don't know the whole story. They don't know that Lily did it because she thought I'd be someone special. She didn't do it out of love. Not like Aurora did."

"You think your mother didn't love you?"

"She didn't. I was just some sort of way she could be remembered."

"Harry," Severus murmured.

"No, Dad. It's the truth. You read her letter just like I did. She only wanted to have a kid with you because she believed that your child would be powerful or something. It wasn't love." Harry sighed. "Aurora—she loves me, loves us both. That's why it was terrifying to think that whatever was inside her would, you know, take her away from us, take that happiness from us. I just started getting used to feeling loved. I mean, Mrs. Weasley hugs me like that too sometimes, but with Aurora I don't have to share her with anyone. Well, other than you, Dad."

"What if you get a brother or a sister down the road?"

Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face. "That'd be wicked. I could teach him or her about Quidditch and spells and stuff. Intimidate all the boys when they'd try to snog her . . . Or, you know, make sure that she's the right girl for my brother. I've never been a brother before."

McCoy smiled as well. "Unfortunately, it's not always that easy."

"I know. And when things would be tough, like if she got in a fight with her best friend, I'd take her out for ice cream or something to cheer her up. Or, you know, play a pickup game of Quidditch and let him use my broom. I don't know. I'd be there for him or her, you know?"

"You have this all figured out, it seems."

Harry shrugged. "I haven't really had a family as long as everyone else has."

McCoy nodded slightly. "So it seems." He then glanced down at his notepad before he shook his head. "I suppose we can end our session there today. We at least touched on several of the issues."

"Touched on them?" Aurora repeated. "I think we bloody well covered them to death."

"We still haven't discussed Severus's losing of Lily, Harry's near-death, or your latest choice."

"I chose love. What's left to discuss?"

"Plenty," he replied, flipping his notepad closed.

"I didn't want to hurt either of them. They had already lost Lily, and while Harry may not remember her or understand her, she was his biological mother. I'm just the wicked stepmother."

"And as for my near death . . ." the young man said, picking up where she had left off. "It was scary, sure, but it gave way to something amazing. Them. I'm not alone anymore. Whenever I feel down or scared, I know I can go to either one of them."

McCoy had raised an eyebrow before he turned towards Severus. "Am I correct to assume you have something to add as well?"

"I do."

"Then, by all means, please enlighten me."

"I lost Lily, yes, but I've spent enough years grieving for her. For feeling guilty about her and Potter's deaths. She made her choice, and I made mine. I'm embracing my future, a future I never knew a few years ago was possible. So, we could discuss that further if you believe it's necessary, but I think it's a moot point, don't you?"

McCoy chuckled and shook his head. "I've never seen people more averse to therapy than you three. Fine. I'll cut my losses and admit defeat. However, that does not mean that I want our sessions to end for good. We'll compromise, and I'll cut it back to every two months. Is that agreeable?"

Harry glanced at his dad who glanced at Aurora.

"Deal," she replied standing up. "See you in two months, Healer." She then glanced at Severus and Harry, holding her hands out to them. "I believe we have a picnic to get to, hmm, boys?"

Clearly deep in thought, Harry nibbled on his sandwich as his parents talked quietly among themselves. He couldn't get McCoy's words out of his head.

"Harry?"

He blinked and glanced at his mum. "Yeah?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, everything's good." He kept his eyes down as he answered her.

"Harry," she said softly, leaning towards him before she gently tilted his chin up so he'd be looking at her. "It's us, not McCoy. So, out with it."

"I . . ." He had closed his eyes before he winced. "I just have been thinking."

"Clearly," his dad quipped.

"But it's okay," Harry said with a shrug. "I don't need to know."

"Know what?"

Harry's eyes darted to the safety of the floor. Why had he even been thinking about that? That was between his dad and mum, not him.

"Harry, answer me. What don't you need to know about?"

"I can't. It's not . . . I don't need to know." He heard her heavy sigh instantly.

"I take it this is about the whole brother/sister thing?"

"No," Harry answered quickly. He caught their surprise and glanced back down. "It's, well, you were pregnant twice."

"I was."

He swallowed his fear and slowly looked at her. He could feel his dad's eyes burning holes into him. "I—I mean, you don't have to . . . I don't even know why I'm asking . . . I just . . ."

"They weren't planned pregnancies if that's what you're asking."

"You do not need to answer, Aurora. I'm certain Harry would understand." His dad gave him a pointed look. However, before Harry could reply, Aurora spoke again.

"No it's fine. He's heard a little bit about your past. Might as well hear a bit about mine. Plus, it's not like I've told you even. Better to get it out than to keep it in, and all that." She inhaled slowly. "The Headmaster needed Slytherins in the first War. He wouldn't actively recruit them, of course, because who in their right mind would join when everyone else in their House was joining Voldemort instead? But I was tired of seeing my housemates dying because of a madman's hatred, so I joined. Or rather demanded he accept me into his Order of the Phoenix, the group devoted to kick Death Eater arse. Only a few people in the Order knew about me. Your mother, for example."

"You fought with my mother?"

"I did. Once." Aurora ran a hand through her hair again and sighed. "We were only supposed to follow, but somehow attention was drawn to us and so we dueled two Death Eaters together."

"I bet you were brilliant," Harry said with a smile.

"Oh, I was certainly something," she replied with a soft self-deprecating laugh. "Long story short, I . . ." Her voice faltered slightly, causing Harry's eyes to narrow on her. "Your mother hadn't noticed the Death Eater that had arrived to help his buddies. She was grabbed from behind, and he moved to take her back to the others to torture her and likely kill her."

"Did they take her?"

"No." Aurora shook her head. "I clipped the man with a cutting curse, and he released her. However, that action left me vulnerable, and I was brought back to the others."

"Oh." Harry closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mum. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine, Harry. You didn't know." She shrugged. "I had already been 'marked' as they called it." She slowly pushed her sleeve up and revealed the thin white carved Dark Mark to him. "So, I knew that I'd be released . . . eventually. And I was." She forced a thin smile. "Dumbledore decided after that your mother and I weren't to work together again. Mostly because he knew I'd hex her to hell and back if I saw her anywhere near me."

Harry nodded numbly. Why had he asked such a stupid question?

"It wasn't until another mission that I learned about my condition. I knew Minerva would go all motherly on me again, and I didn't want the looks of pity that came with it. So I did what I always do and kept it a secret. I truly thought if I ignored it, it'd go away. That was until your birthday."

His eyes darted back to her. "What?"

"Your mother was already at St. Mungo's, preparing to give birth to you. I didn't know that, of course. Not until I showed up in the lobby and Sirius was there."

"Were you two close?" Harry innocently asked. "I've heard you mention him before."

"No. Not really. I was friends with his brother, Regulus. But, I suppose, you could say that he was protective of me because of that connection with Reg. I'd imagine it's out of guilt or something."

"Oh."

"Either way, he stayed with me that night. Claiming it wasn't right to leave me alone when he wasn't doing anything productive."

"Did he know what had happened with my mother?"

"No, but I'm sure he knew it wasn't anything good. He knew how much I hated Death Eaters and how much I was hated by them. Not to mention, he and James were on loads more missions than I was."

Harry nodded slowly.

"I was hysterical after the healers told me about . . . Why should Lily haven't gotten her happy ending when it was because of her that I was in that situation? At least that was what was going through my mind nonstop at that moment."

Harry watched his dad slip his hand into Aurora's.

"I was so angry and so heartbroken. I told him how Reg had said he'd fix everything before he left. And I gave him the most potent weapon he could have used against me, against Severus. I told him that I loved Severus and that I would do anything to save him."

"You told him?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly, obviously. He only sat there, though, until I fell asleep. When I woke, he was gone. I only saw him once after that." She sighed heavily. "The night he killed that boy that followed them around all the time."

"Pettigrew," Severus said.

"Yeah, him."

"Is that why he was in jail?"

"Azkaban," his dad corrected. "Yes. He killed Pettigrew and twelve Muggles."

"Allegedly," Aurora mumbled.

Harry caught his dad's head whipping around instantly.

"What?"

"I said, 'Allegedly," she repeated, glancing at his dad. "Black may have been a royal bastard and loads of other adjectives, but he wasn't a murderer of Muggles."

"They got in the way of his killing Pettigrew," Severus offered. "Had it not been for the Aurors, Lupin would have been next."

"And, yet, Remus is fine. Other than always looking so sick lately."

"Perhaps Black is waiting for the right time. There are Dementors out there after all."

"Why would he have betrayed James, Severus? A man he considered his brother even more than Regulus? Or how about Pettigrew? Why him?" She raised an eyebrow when he couldn't come up with a reason. "Exactly. It doesn't make sense."

"It's Black. Who knows what was going through his mind at the time? We may never know."

"Before he left my flat, he was asking about Regulus. How I knew Reg had taken the Mark."

"So?"

"Someone betrayed Lily and James to break the Fidelius Charm. That's a fact we can agree upon, yes?"

"Yes," Severus agreed.

Harry felt slightly confused but sat there listening nonetheless.

"What if we had it wrong, and it wasn't Sirius? It wouldn't be the first time Albus left an innocent man—at least regarding his killing Muggles—in Azkaban. Now, would it?"

"It was Black," his dad declared. Harry could see the doubt, though. "It's always Black."