The Odd Combination of Fate and Humor

Notes:

Disclaimer:

You know the drill already: I do not own Harry Potter in any way; those rights belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and any extra characters are my own though.

Warnings:

This story WILL contain slash! This means that this story will be purely male x male slash regarding the main characters. Please do not read if you find it offensive to read about two guys kissing…etc.

Everyone else… please enjoy

Key:

"speech"

"soft-spoken or seemingly vague speech"

'thoughts'

- Parseltongue -

'Latin words'

Mental messages

Letters

Chapter 8: Adoptions

Harry was relaxing on a chair in the library. The book he had been reading lay forgotten on his lap as his mind wandered. It had already been a day since their trip to Gringotts and he had noticed that strange things had been happening around him.

He wasn't really scared since Severus and the goblins had explained that he might develop a few new abilities, but he didn't really know what to make of the entire thing. At first, he thought that he just knew his family so well that he was able to guess what they were doing at a particular moment when he thought of them, but then he realized that it was something completely different.

Somehow he was able to think of a person and he would immediately know what they were doing. He knew it could just be his imagination, but he really wanted to find out if it really worked. Maybe Severus would know? The moment he thought about the potions master, he found himself looking at the man while he was brewing a potion.

It was what Severus always did, so he didn't put much thought into it, but the scene gave him an idea. He looked at the color of the potion as well as the ingredients and motions that the man added. It only took a moment for Harry to realize that he was making a simple but powerful healing potion.

Harry sat up and placed his book on the table before making his way to the potions lab. He hesitated at the door, but then softly knocked. It didn't take long for Severus to call out, but Harry knocked again. He didn't want to see the potion before he tried out his theory.

He knew that Severus had just added the unicorn horn dust and that meant that the potion had to simmer for half an hour otherwise he wouldn't have risked interrupting him. Agitated footsteps made their way to the door and Harry was glad that Severus hadn't just simply opened the door with his magic.

He could actually see the angry frown on the headmaster's face and it made him grin. But the grin turned into a puzzled frown as Severus opened the door and he couldn't see himself. Instead, he found his vision snapping back into his own body and a few second later he found himself held in two strong arms as he looked up into two worried faces.

Tom had somehow felt that something was wrong so he had apparated directly to Harry's side and it was clear that the actions had forced the glamor spell to wear off because even though he felt Tom's magic, the man now looked a lot sexier. The dark brown hair and the red eyes made him stand out more and for a split second, Harry wondered whether the man was wearing contacts or using a spell that allowed his eyes to change color.

Harry knew he couldn't really explain things unless he tested out his theory first so he turned to the potions master while trying to keep his thoughts off his sexy soul mate. But the look Tom gave him, made it clear that it wasn't really working. "Sorry if I scared the two of you. Something strange happened earlier and I wanted to see if it really worked. Before I tell you what it is though, I want to ask you something."

Severus nodded and Harry reached out to take Tom's hand before he spoke. "I know you are making a potion. It is that one healing potion that becomes stronger when the dust of a unicorn horn is added and you added the dust just before I knocked."

The room was quiet for a few seconds before Severus sank back into the seat behind him. Harry realized that they had taken him into the living room and he glanced around until Severus cleared his throat. "How do you know this Harry? Does it have something to do with the way you collapsed?"

Harry looked at Severus as Tom pulled him onto his lap. "So I was right?" The potions master nodded and the raven-haired boy took a deep breath. "I was thinking about everything earlier and at first I thought that I just knew everyone well enough to imagine what they were doing at that specific moment in time, but then I realized that there was a lot more to it than that."

Both Tom and Severus motioned for him to continue and Harry nodded, but he didn't miss the wonder he saw in Severus' eyes and instinct told him that Tom had the same expression of wonder in his eyes as well. He felt himself relax. He knew they would always accept him, but old habits die hard and he'd been worried that they would think that he was a freak.

Harry realized that both men were still waiting for him to continue and he blushed. "I thought I would ask you about it Sev and the moment I thought about you, my vision kind of zoomed in on you. I saw that you were making a potion and I decided to use the potion to see if I'm actually seeing what I thought I'm seeing. That is why I wanted you to open the door. I didn't want to risk seeing the potion."

Tom and Severus looked at each other and nodded before the headmaster turned back to face Harry. "You were right about me making the potion and you were right when you said that I just added the unicorn horn dust, but why did you collapse when I opened the door?"

Harry thought for a bit before he answered. "Well when you opened the door, I thought I was just going to see myself standing there, but I saw nothing and the moment my mind registered that my body wasn't there, it kind of snapped back into my body."

The potions master looked extremely worried about this revelation, but he just nodded before looking at Tom. The brunet changed Harry's position on his lap in order to face him and the serious expression on his face worried Harry. "I want you to do something for me. We don't know what this new ability of yours is and we don't know what the consequences are for using it, so please try and control it for now. It could lead a certain lunatic right to you."

Harry's eyes widened in shock and he nodded. It was hard to keep his mind off the subject, but he still managed it somehow. Tom lightly kissed him on the forehead before holding him close. "Would you mind if we consulted the rest of the family? The more people we have on this, the better the chances are for finding answers, but we will make sure that they tell no one else." Harry nodded with a small smile. It's barely been two weeks since Nagini found him and it already felt like it had been years instead.

He allowed Severus to cast a quick diagnostics spell and nodded in relief when nothing out of the ordinary was found. "We might have to contact a mind healer if we can't find answers. A nurse at Hogwarts will be able to help. Her name is Peony Pomfrey. She works with her sister, whose name is Poppy. She has been sworn to secrecy due to her medical practice and she even cast an oath on herself stating that she refuses to give out information on her patients and if she were ever to break that oath then she would lose her magic."

Harry felt a look of horror cross over his face, but Severus shook his head. "She cares a lot for her patients and she made the oath herself in order to keep others from bothering her for information. The oath alone has made her one of the most sought after nurses in the wizarding world, but she only helps children. She has however delegated some time out of her Sundays to help at St. Mungo's."

Harry nodded in relief. Anyone who was that passionate about their work couldn't be too bad. Severus then returned to his potion and he was left alone with Tom. "I'm sorry Harry. I wanted to keep the glamor up for a little while longer, but I completely lost it when you collapsed."

Harry just smiled and hugged him. "I already knew who you were and we already promised to take things slow, so the glamor thing was kind of pointless." He grinned as Tom gave him a mock angry look and playfully shoved him.

"Hey, that wasn't nice. But I know what you mean; I was actually wondering the whole point of it myself. Hope you're not too shocked by it though." Harry laughed as Tom motioned over himself as if to show off his look.

"Nope, you are a lot sexier than your glamor though. Do you still have some work to do?" Tom blushed at the comment but nodded. "Yes, school starts in two weeks and I'm going to have to learn everything there is about the curriculum if I'm going to be teaching the Dark Arts. I know Draco has been looking for you though. I saw him wandering around in the garden."

Harry grinned and kissed Tom on the lips before the man could even think to pull back. He quickly ran out the back door to hide his grin at the man's startled face. It didn't take long to find Draco. The silver-haired boy was standing and talking with Remus and it seemed like they were pretty deep in their discussion.

Harry didn't want to bother them so he turned around and was about to enter the house again when two pairs of hands grabbed him and dragged him into the bushes next to the door. Fear coursed through him as a hand covered his mouth and he felt like he was ready to black out because of the panic, but two young voices reached his ears.

"Sorry, we don't know who you are, but could you stop struggling? We're trying to prank Draco." Harry noticed that his eyes were shut and he opened them to see a pair of red-haired twins with mischievous grins. "I'm Fred Weasley…and I'm George Weasley…Nice to meet you."

The twins let their grins fall when they realized that the boy they held was extremely scared. "We didn't mean to scare you. We'll let you go okay? We grabbed you because you almost saw us and you would probably have given away our position if you said anything. We don't mean any harm and if you want you can even join us with the prank. Just don't give away our position. We want to prank our boyfriend since he has been neglecting us lately."

Harry knew that he should probably run inside and warn everyone once the twins let him go, but there was something about the energy around them that told him that they weren't a threat. So Harry decided to see how things played out. He nodded and kept still when they let him go. "I don't know anything about pranking so I might mess it up."

The twins' grins reappeared and they leaned in closer. "Don't worry about it. We've been trying to figure out how to get Draco close to these bushes, but we couldn't come up with anything." Harry was reminded of the two men Severus had spoken of when he and Draco had tumbled off the bed. So Severus was teasing Draco about the twins? It made a lot of sense now he thought about it, but he just hoped that he was right.

"Okay, so you want me to lure Draco to this bush with his back turned?" Both twins nodded. "Yes, we won't make you an accomplice though, so you don't have to worry about getting into trouble." The fear must have reappeared on his face because both twins rushed to reassure him. "No one will get in trouble; we just meant that we usually pull off our pranks alone so no one will even suspect that you are involved."

Harry nodded in understanding, but he still felt a bit of trepidation as he stepped from the bushes. Draco saw him just as he took up a spot in front of the bush and the silver-haired man ran over. "Hey, Harry. I was looking everywhere for you until Remus came outside. I take it Tom must have found you and told you about it."

Harry nodded and subtly started to turn slightly as if he was getting ready to walk. Draco immediately walked up to his side. The blond was about to talk, but he was cut off when two pairs of hands grabbed him like they had done with Harry. Laughter could be heard and Harry looked to his side to see a laughing Remus starring at the bushes.

It appeared that the twins had spoken the truth, but Harry got worried when no one made a move to leave the bushes. A pop was heard and Harry ran into the bushes, only to see that no one was there. He knew that the pop meant that they had apparated Draco away, but before he could return to panic mode, he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"Don't worry; the twins won't let anything happen to Draco. They just haven't been able to see each other for a few weeks. We are keyed into this place with our magical signatures, so you can be sure that those two were the real twins. Come on, I think I heard Sirius mention something about a present for you."

Harry nodded and gave one more glance back before he moved to follow Remus to another part of the garden where his Godfather seemed to be stressing about something while holding an oddly shaped package. Peter stood with him and it seemed like the man was trying to calm Sirius down.

It didn't look like it was helping though and Harry wondered why the man seemed so distraught. Harry walked closer with Remus and he could see that Peter had noticed them, but the man did nothing to warn Sirius. Instead, they just kept on talking while Harry and Remus walked close enough to hear the conversation.

"…but I thought it was a good idea at the time. It was only after I got home that I realized that Harry might not even like flying. I wanted to teach him and I thought it was the perfect gift, but I don't want to give him something he might not like. I know James liked flying, but that doesn't mean Harry would like it as well. Maybe I should just go back and get him a different gift."

Harry felt his chest squeeze as tears sprung to his eyes. It was such a strange feeling to have someone so worried about a gift for him. His body moved before his mind even registered the sensation of moving and he practically tackled Sirius to the ground as he hugged him. Remus' and Peter's laughter echoed around them as he hugged his Godfather tight before lifting his head.

"Thank you, no one has ever worried so much about giving me a gift before. Ever since I heard about flying I wanted to try it, so this is perfect." Sirius gave him a broad grin before lightly pushing him away and sitting up. He then handed Harry the present.

"It's the latest model, so it's the fastest. I was thinking that I could teach you how to ride on my broom before you rode this one." Harry nodded and excitedly opened the package, but he froze and ran his hands over the broom in reverence. The carving on the handle said that the broom was a Firebolt and Harry smiled. A slight glow settled over him and the broom as he touched it.

Instinct took over inside him and he mounted the broom without a second thought. A second later he was racing through the sky while the rest of the men looked up at him in shock. The panicked and shocked voices seemed to have caught the attention of the rest of the occupants in the house and soon enough Tom and Severus joined the crowd.

Harry looked up at the sky and decided to see how high he could go. He was oblivious to panicked voices below him until he pulled the broom straight again. He looked down and smiled when he could barely even see the house. The thought made him shiver and he grimaced when he realized how cold it was so high off the ground.

He brushed his hand over the front of his hoodie but froze in shock as a small frame fell out. Harry felt his blood run cold as the small frame with a picture of his parents, tumbled towards the ground. Severus had given it to him the day before as a way to remember his parents and he didn't even want to know how angry his Godfather would be if the frame his mother made, broke.

Without a second thought, he plunged into a dive. The ground was rushing towards him at a frightening pace, but he didn't care. The frame was getting closer and closer to the ground and all that mattered was whether he could catch it. Harry flattened himself to the broom even more and it gave an extra burst of speed just before the frame collided with the ground.

Harry grabbed the frame and sharply pulled up as hard as he could. He knew that he would probably be in big trouble for the stunt, but he also knew that it was important to save the picture and frame that Severus had entrusted to him. The thought gave him a boost of strength and it allowed him to level out the broom before coming to a stop and sinking to the ground while cuddling the frame tightly in his hands.

Everyone rushed over and Tom was the first to grab him into his arms and hold him tightly. He even saw the twins and Draco among the spectators and wondered whether he had been in the sky for longer than he had imagined. Harry winced at the look Severus gave him. To say that his Godfather seemed angry would be an understatement. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed torn between being impressed and also being angry.

The rest of the expressions mirrored one of the other and sometimes both. Tom was the first to get to him though. "What the bloody hell was that Harry?! I tell you to find Draco and the next thing I know you're doing stunts on a broom when you've never flown before in your life! Why did you dive like that? Were you trying to kill me with a heart attack?"

Harry winced and looked down at his clenched hands. It felt so amazing to fly, but now he wanted to cry. He could sense that Severus was about to say something, but Peter interrupted him softly. "What have you got in your hands, Harry? I saw something fall out of your pocket before you dived with the broom to catch it. What was so important that you had to risk your life for it?"

The calm tone soothed everyone and they all looked at Harry's hands as they realized that Harry had indeed tried to catch something. Harry mentally thanked the man for his calm nature before he opened his clenched hands. Gasps were heard from those who recognized the frame and Harry took it as an opportunity to explain.

"When I touched the broom, I immediately felt connected to it. It was like it was a part of me. Instinct told me to get on and so I did. It was like the broom was teaching me how to use it. I watched the clouds and wanted to see how high I could go, but the frame fell out of my pocket when I couldn't go any further. My immediate thought was that people will get angry at me for allowing my mother's picture frame to break, so I dived after it. I'm sorry."

A stunned silence followed his words and he looked up only to see that no one seemed to be angry anymore. Tom gave him a tight hug before holding him at arm's length. "It may have been made by your mom, but your life is more important Harry. Your parents wouldn't like knowing that something they made caused your death. Picture frames can be repaired, but we can't repair you in the same way if we lost you."

Harry nodded and held Tom close. He knew he should have thought about it that way, but he hadn't. Sirius spoke then. "Well it seems like you have a lot of talent on the broom, but next time I give you a broom, please don't take off like that. You still need to learn the finer points of flying before you pull another stunt like that. One thing I can say though is that it is obvious you have no fear of heights."

Harry laughed as the situation took hold in his mind. His new family seemed to surprise him at every turn and it wasn't hard to see that the bonds that kept them together were extremely strong. He glanced around and noticed that Severus, Sirius, and Remus kept glancing at each other when they thought the other man wasn't looking.

He knew he couldn't interfere in their relationship, but maybe he could do something to make them realize that their feelings were returned. The thought made him smile Severus looked at him and handed over a letter. "I just received this from the Ministry moments ago. I hope you will like the idea."

Harry cautiously opened the letter. He didn't know what it held, but with it coming from the Ministry, he didn't know whether it would be good or bad. He let the envelope flutter to the floor as he held the letter in shaking hands and he glanced around, but no one else seemed to know what information the letter held either. So he decided to just open it and get it done with.

Dear Mr. Potter

We are pleased to inform you that your adoption has been approved. You are to be known in the future as Harry James Prince-Black-Potter. Your Godfathers, Mr. Severus Tobias Snape-Prince and Sirius Black, will now also be known as your adoptive fathers and they alone, will now be responsible for your health and well-being. The blood adoption ceremony will take place two days from now at 5 o'clock. Please arrive at Gringotts no later than half past 4.

Please contact us if you have any further inquiries.

Regards

The Ministry of Magic

Harry stood frozen for a moment before he allowed the tears he had been trying to hold back, to fall. He knew that Severus and Sirius had promised him a home, but he hadn't expected them to do so right away. It was one thing to be told something, but it was another to actually see proof that they had kept their word. "I don't have to go back to the Dursleys ever again?"

Everyone shook their heads and he couldn't help but smile as happiness took over. He looked at Severus and his smile turned into a frown. Why did it seem like Severus was unhappy about something? "Severus, aren't you happy?" The man snapped out of his thoughts and gave Harry a tight hug.

"Of course I'm happy; I've always wanted a son. There is just something else that I have to tell you, but I don't know how you're going to take it." The words made Harry freeze and he looked up at his new father as he waited for him to explain.

Severus took a deep breath. "I did go do a test on your cousin to see if he is magical in any way, but the results came back negative. What I did find, however, is that the entire Dursley family was under the Imperius curse. They have been under it for so long that they would be mindless puppets even if the curse were to be removed. The investigators are trying to figure out whether it would be better to leave them as they are or whether they should put them in a magical coma for a while to see whether their minds could be saved."

Silence enveloped everyone and even Harry found his thoughts repeating the words twice before his mind could comprehend them. "So they might not have been treating me like that by their own free will?" Severus shook his head.

"We don't know Harry. I think that your cousin broke through the curse that one time and the only explanation can be that it was your own magic that allowed the toy to fix itself. Seeing the magic might have frightened or intrigued your cousin, but we will never know since that incident has been obliviated from his mind. It seems like your cousin will get better, even though his parents might not."

Harry nodded. He didn't know what to think about the entire situation so he decided to give it more time. The rules of the Wizarding world, wouldn't allow his cousin to be part of it, but he will have to try and do something in order to ensure that his cousin has a life if he ever wakes up with his mind intact. Instinct told him that his aunt and uncle was a little too far gone to be helped, but if magic could heal with a spell, then his cousin might get his family back. He didn't need to question who the culprit was behind the curses, but he also didn't want to think about it.

Thank you for reading, sorry about the late chapter, it kind of gave me a few problems and I had to rewrite it until I was happy enough.