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"You truly have no idea how I feel about Harry, do you, Molly?"
Molly scoffed and opened her mouth to reply, but Sirius held a hand up, stopping her in her tracks.
"I know Harry isn't James Molly,” Sirius said. “For all that he looks like James, he's nothing like his father, not really."
Sirius looked over at Harry, who had a surprised expression on his face, and Sirius—well, he didn't like what that entailed.
"Has no one ever bothered to mention your mother at all?" Sirius whispered. When Harry shook his head, Sirius couldn't stop the horrified expression that crossed his face. He looked over at Remus and had to fight to contain the way a scream clawed to leave his throat. Remus was the only person who truly knew Lily left in Harry’s life before Sirius escaped, and despite that, Harry didn’t know a single thing about his mother.”
"Oh, Merlin..." Sirius took a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists to stop the anger that was building in his chest. He couldn't believe no one mentioned Lily at all.
“Tell me, Harry,” Sirius spoke slowly. “What has anyone told you about your mother?”
Harry squirmed in his seat a little, heat rising to his cheeks at the sudden attention. "Um, that she took the killing curse for me; she was one of the brightest witches of her age, and I have her eyes.”
Sirius hummed, his anger boiling just below the surface, but he smiled at Harry to show that his anger wasn’t directed at him. Sirius mentally patted himself on the back when his godson relaxed.
"Firstly, Harry, you don't just have your mother's eyes; you have her nose, and thankfully none of you share that trait with her wretched sister.” Sirius scrunched his nose at the reminder of how horse-like Petunia looked. How she was related to Lily was still something he was sure was a trick of fate.
“You have her compassion, and from what I've seen with blowing up your aunt Marge, you definitely have her temper."
"Really?" Came his soft reply, and that just about tore Sirius in half.
Sirius smiled softly at him and nodded. "You have much more of your mother's personality. Sure, I can put James in there with the recklessness, sarcasm, and general disregard for the rules, but your mother is in there too. It's shameful that no one took the time to tell you about her.” Sirius took that time to send a glare Remus’s way. They would be having a talk about that later when the children were asleep.
“She wasn't just the wife of James; she was on her way to becoming one of the youngest charm masters the Wizarding World had ever seen. She was brilliant and sharp, and she had a mind that flawlessly connected muggle science and magic on a level I'm almost positive we won't be seeing ever again. Lily was fiercely protective of all her loved ones, even Petunia, though she didn’t deserve an ounce of it. Although James was the best at pranks, your mother had a sense of humor that could rival and sometimes outdo his on any given day. She was an excellent baker who had an obsession with anything that tasted like spiced pumpkin.” Sirius stared intently at Harry whose eyes were misting over and he fought his own tears back behind his eyes.
“Your mother was a lot of things, and I’ll be all too glad to tell you about it later."
By the time Sirius was done speaking, Harry was quietly sniffing, trying his hardest to fight back his tears. The rest of the room was quiet as they took in what he said. Sirius would be glad to shout from the rooftops how wonderful Lily Evans was as a person, a witch, a friend and a mother but Harry would be the first to know. Nonetheless, it angered him just how easily forgotten she’d become, she deserved more than that. She deserved to be more than just the muggleborn who gave birth to Harry Potter.
Sirius noted the look of shame that graced Remus's face and his stomach tightened at the sight of it. Sirius, however, felt no remorse in his words and how pointed they were at the one man besides himself who knew Lily and James. Sirius knew that Remus kept his distance from Harry due to his "condition," as he liked to call it, and because Dumbledore told him to. Sirius was quite frankly sick and tired of people failing his godson, Lily, and James by not keeping their memories alive.
Despite what people think, Sirius didn't lose his ability to observe just because his mind wasn't what it used to be. Sirius wasn't left with the worst parts of himself, like what people believe he has. It's funny now that he thinks about it—just how much people truly believe Sirius is incapable of taking care of himself or Harry. Followed by a mistake—not even a real mistake if one thought about it—Sirius couldn't escape pre-imposed judgments about his character. It made Sirius wonder just what Dumbledore and Remus told everyone about him.
"Back to the topic at hand, I don't see Harry as a replacement for James, and I would never be reckless with his life. I wish Harry didn’t have to worry about this, but keeping him in the dark is going to get him killed." Sirius stated it bluntly, and he refused to react to the collective flinch that came from the room's occupants.
"Voldemort has been trying to kill Harry since he was a year old. He possessed a teacher his first year at Hogwarts; he possessed Ginny; and set a bloody Basilisk on Harry in his second year. I’ll take the blame for the third year, and in Harry’s fourth year, he meddled with the goblet and illegally entered Harry into the deadliest competition ever created; he had Cedric killed in front of him, proceeded to resurrect himself, and then tortured Harry with the cruciatus curse.” Sirius took a breath after he was finished and was glad at the looks of horror everyone wore.
“And that’s not even the worst part,” Sirius continued. “No, the worst part is that he isn't going to stop until either he kills Harry or someone else kills him. I mean, come on, how many death eaters killed children in the first war, Molly? How many babies were taken from their mothers and slaughtered right in front of them? How many families were torn apart, and how many people are still considered missing?"
"That's enough!!" Molly screeched, and for a moment, Sirius listened, and he let her catch her breath. He let the words he had just spoken settle before he decided to plow on. It was cruel, yes, but if these kids were truly Harry's friends, they were going to become targets by association. So Sirius shook his head no and continued.
"No. They need to know the dangers that await them. Ron and Hermione have been with Harry every year except for the last one. Do you think that information hasn't gotten to Voldemort?? They will be targets just because they're his best friends. The rest of your children are targets because their parents are blood traitors. They're already marked for death, and you think that keeping vital information about the people who want to kill them away from them is going to safeguard their lives? You lived through the war, Molly; you know that isn't going to help."
Now the silence that permeated the room was a heavy weight that sat upon all their shoulders. While Sirius felt guilt for being the one who placed it there, he wouldn't take it back.
"Dumbledore won't let that happen," Molly whispered, and Sirius sighed heavily but sat back down, shaking his head.
"Dumbledore is one man Molly," Sirius replied softly. "He cannot take on all the death eaters by himself. Cedric was killed because Voldemort outsmarted Dumbledore. James and Lily are gone because he was able to turn Pettigrew against us. Alice and Frank are in St. Mungo's because, even without Voldemort, his followers care only for the destruction of our society."
Sirius looked at Harry, and a small smile graced his face as he looked at the boy that he had escaped Azkaban for. The boy that Sirius would give his life for in a heartbeat without question before he turned back to face Molly.
"You need to take the lives of your children in your hands and stop relying on others to do it for you. Make sure that if you, Merlin forbid, happen to die, your children can protect themselves and each other in your absence. You are not just a member of this organization, Molly; you're a mother in a war. It's about time you started acting like it."