"Don't you think I debate every decision I make about Harry a hundred times or more?" demanded Sirius hotly, knowing Remus had been as horrified as he had been when Dobby had let slip that Harry had thrown up the morning of the Wizengamot session.
"I know," Remus held up a hand placating Sirius, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to turn into Molly, it's just…" he hunched his shoulders as he crossed his arms tightly around himself, "sometimes I think your original idea of wrapping him in cotton wool and hiding him somewhere safe was the one to go with."
"Me too." Sirius said in a heartfelt way that made Remus snort. "Healer Allen says he's doing better."
Seeing a mind healer to help cope with the impact of the prophecy had been a very good idea. Jasper Allen was a former protégé of Noshi's and he was an excellent choice. He met with Harry and Sirius once a week and had helped them deal with some of the immediate fears: for Harry that he had to become a murderer and Sirius's that he would lose Harry and wouldn't be able to protect him.
"Harry's enjoying his art therapy." Remus said. "Some of his drawings are very good."
Sirius picked up his lemonade and took a swallow, wandlessly switching some of Remus's lemonade for the contents of a vial of potion secreted in his robes; Remus deserved it for giving him a hard time. "Do you think the Master of Death thing could be Harry's power, you know, the one the Dark Lord knows not?"
Remus paused, his own glass almost to his lips. He set it down again while he considered the question. "It's a bit convenient, isn't it?"
"It's power." Sirius commented.
"Let's pretend for a moment that it's true," Remus said, "we would need to find the Elder wand to complete the set…"
"I think Albus knows where it is." Sirius said. "Bertie has an idea. I'm sure it couldn't be that hard to track down."
"Yes," Remus said dryly, "because the Elder wand, the most powerful wand in the world which has been lost for ages, would be really easy to find if only we put our minds to it."
"Well, when you put it like that." Sirius complained.
"No, no," Remus said, "let's not throw realism over your enthusiasm, let's say we find it and Harry unites all three Hallows…what's the power?"
Sirius looked at him blankly.
"He has a cloak of invisibility," Remus listed, "which is good for hiding and that's great but he has that already. He gets a stone to bring back the dead but for what purpose? To answer questions or help him? Well, he already has the living for that and any other use of the stone will drive him mad. He gets a powerful wand but he's a fourteen year old wizard who, despite being an excellent duellist for his age, would struggle against Voldemort with his years of experience and vast range of dark spells. If Voldemort won a duel, he'd win the wand's loyalty and then where would we be? Nowhere, that's where."
"You're rambling." Sirius pointed out. "OK, look," he waved his hands to stop Remus talking, "I admit that individually each item has its uses and its disadvantages and possibly it makes no sense but if there is more to being the Master of Death, if it comes with some kind of other power…to, I don't know, call Death himself or take a life without using an Unforgiveable or blowing the bastard up…maybe it would be 'the power he knows not.'"
Remus looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I think you're nuts, Padfoot," he said finally, "but I'll investigate the wand."
"Thank you." Sirius said feeling a little vindicated.
His friend raised his lemonade in a silent toast, placed the glass against his lips and lowered it again abruptly.
"What?" asked Sirius. Remus couldn't be suspicious about the lemonade, could he? Sirius hadn't spiked any drinks for at least two weeks with pranking potion.
"Just…" Remus's face screwed up in thought for a second, "one of the origin stories for the family magic we found last week suggested that Merlin avoided one of Death's traps and when Death asked him what he wished for Merlin said that he wouldn't ask for anything in life but he would ask for something in death."
"And he asked for the family magic?" Sirius frowned.
"No, in the story Death sent Nimue who tricked Merlin into becoming a tree; always alive and never dead and thus he would never ask for his gift." Remus said. "Merlin, in a last ditch effort to save himself, cast a counter-spell to Nimue's trap. He sent his magic to the most powerful wizards and witches of the day with the condition that when a single wizard or witch united his magic once more, the tree would wither and die. At that point, he would be able to claim his gift from Death."
"Some common themes." Sirius commented. "But it's not the same is it?"
"No…just it made me think." Remus said, finally taking a sip of his lemonade.
His hair turned a nice shade of purple. Sirius kept his face straight; a reaction would give away the prank before its surprise revelation to Moony.
"I'm not sure any of the origin stories about the family magic are actually going to make sense of Harry's use of family magic." Remus mused out loud, stretching out and staring out at the garden. "I personally think his affinity for it will be the power in the prophecy. Voldemort doesn't have any family magic to draw upon although I guess we don't know if Slytherin devised something similar but his line wasn't part of the Wizarding Council at the time they became the Ancient and Noble Houses."
Sirius coughed to hide the bubble of laughter that rose up as Remus's hair turned pink.
"I take it with Albus back we're going to be able to organise getting into the Chamber of Secrets?" Remus asked.
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