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 12: Hogwarts

After the boat ride, Harry and Draco went to pack away their things. The adults had decided to give the teens their own room, but Harry didn't really feel comfortable with the fact that he had to be so far away from Tom. His new friends understood perfectly and Draco helped Harry to carry his packages to the Dark Arts classroom where he assured Harry that there was a secret passage into Tom's living quarters.

Tom had either expected his decision or read his mind about it because he opened the door for them before they could even knock at the classroom door. He smiled and pulled Harry into a hug before showing them to his quarters. He showed them to a guest bedroom and Harry couldn't help but smile.

Except for the few nights that he needed Tom for comfort, the man had actually been extremely adamant about not doing anything until he was out of school and they were married so they mostly slept apart. It did make lot of sense to Harry even though it frustrated him sometimes as well since it was so easy to get used to waking up next to a warm body. At the moment though, he was too busy dealing with the fact that he hadn't quite gotten used to people worrying about him and caring for him, so it mostly took the forefront of his mind.

Harry was surprised to see that the room had already been decorated for him and he turned to Tom, who shrugged sheepishly. "I knew that I was going to need a room for you. Luckily most of the students won't know if you stay behind in the classroom because very few people know about the fact that each classroom has a hidden passage to the teacher's rooms."

Harry smiled and nodded, but then he frowned. "I probably won't be able to kiss you or hold your hand when school starts, will I?" Tom smiled and pulled him into his arms once again and Harry saw out of the corner of his eye that Draco just shook his head with a smile and left the room to give them some privacy before he turned his full attention back to Tom.

"Harry, we are mates so there will be no restrictions, but we would have to at least keep it out of the public eye. We aren't planning on telling the public everything and so it will look strange if a teacher were allowed to date a student when the school rules clearly state that they are against it. Only mates have that privilege, but like in our current situation, the rules state that the couple should not flaunt their relationship in front of others."

Harry nodded in understanding and Tom lifted his chin to give him a chaste kiss before he grabbed Harry's hand. "Come on, I have something to show you." Harry smiled and nodded as he followed Tom up some stairs and down a multitude of corridors. He could clearly see by the sideways glances Tom was giving him, that the man knew he had Harry on the edge with curiosity.

Harry followed him into what seemed to be the girls' bathroom. His mind backtracked at the thought. Girls' bathroom? What the heck were they doing here? He really hoped that Tom didn't have some kind of strange fetish of checking out girls in the bathroom. 'Thwack!' Harry's thoughts had barely started running down a dangerous road when Tom gave him a smack on the head.

"No, I do not have some strange fetish of checking out girls. I am actually here to show you something much cooler… but if you don't want to see it then I guess we could head back…" Harry glared at Tom's retreating back and he tried very hard to keep his curiosity at bay, but he couldn't.

"Come on Tom, I'm sorry for that thought. Please tell me about the thing you wanted to show me." Tom chuckled and turned around. "Ok, but keep in mind that I've never liked girls in that way." Harry blushed and followed Tom to one of the sinks. It didn't look much different from the rest until Tom pointed out that it had a small symbol of a snake.

Tom looked at him expectantly. "Can you take a guess on how to open this?" Harry felt confused about why he would even know how to open anything in a girls' bathroom until he realized that the single snake symbol meant something. His first guess would have been abracadabra, but he doubted that the wizarding world would know anything about wannabe muggle wizards. So he simply hissed - Open -.

At first, nothing happened and he looked at Tom, who only smiled. He was about to say something when a deep rumbling noise filled the air. Harry took a step back as the sinks split open and a tunnel was revealed. He took a few steps closer to the hole and gasped when he saw that it went straight down. Tom chuckled at his look of amazement.

"Come on, there is someone I would like you to meet." Harry looked at him skeptically. "There's someone who actually lives down there?" Tom grinned and Harry gulped as he sensed that Tom was planning something, but the man distracted him by kissing him senseless. He felt a slight jerk and started screaming as his body felt nothing but the air around him until he felt Tom dragging him into his arms just before they started descending down what seemed to be a slide.

Tom laughed. "Sorry Harry this is the only way down the first time." Harry's eyes widened as he looked at Tom. "Then how are we supposed to get back out again!" the man just smiled. "Don't worry, there is another way that we can use, but it would only be visible when you have gone down the slide once. It's kind of like a test of courage, but in this case, it is to test how much you want a certain person's knowledge."

They finally got to the bottom and Harry had to support his arms on his knees to try and get his heart out of his throat. "What do you mean a certain person?" Tom kept silent and Harry looked up… right into the eyes of an enormous snake as it curled itself together behind Tom. His mind immediately registered that it was a basilisk if the pictures in the books he read were anything to go by, and he closed his eyes.

"Tttt-ooom-mm, don't look behind you, th-e-ere's a basilisk!" Harry heard a chuckle and he thought that his mate was going mad until he felt Tom's arms around him. "Don't worry Harry, you're a Parseltongue. That means that you can both talk to snakes and no snake can harm you. This is Sephra. She was Salazar's familiar until I found her down here. Now she regards me as her master until the true heir returns. You might have heard about it from those old coots already during your Animagus training, but even though I am an heir of Slytherin, he is not my guardian."

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Tom in surprise. The older man winked at him. "Yes, from what you have told me about your experience with Merlin and Salazar, it means that you are the heir." Harry looked at Sephra as the meaning dawned on him, but then he frowned…which made the giant serpent worried. -Have I dissspleasssed you in any way massster?"- Harry jolted and shook his head. - No, you haven't Sephra, I just don't like the idea of being anyone's master. I would rather have you be free, on the condition that you don't hurt anyone except our enemies of course. -

Harry didn't really want to add the last bit, but he was quickly reminded of Dumbledore using the torture curse on poor Peter. Sephra seemed to look at him in surprise then smiled. Or at least did something with her lips that resembled a smile. - Master Ssslytherin had hoped that hisss dessscendantsss would be kind and he had given me the option of not following the new massster'sss orders if he or ssshe were cruel. I sssee now that the massster'sss dessscendantsss hold on to the kindnesss. Thank you. I ssshall call you both friendsss from thisss day forward and I ssshall not harm anyone on your ssside -

Tom and Harry grinned, but it was Harry who stepped closer to Sephra. - I don't just want a friend, I want you to be a part of our family. That isss what you truly are after all. No one can call you a mere familiar or just a friend when you had actually been a part of the family for even longer than we ourselves have been. - The snake's 'smile' seemed to grow even bigger and she leaned in close.

- I wish to give both you and your mate a gift. I will inject my venom into you, but it will not hurt you, instead it will give you the ability to withstand almost all poisons. It isss not much, but it will ssstop mossst evildoersss from getting their way and sssince both of you are alssso bonded with the phoenix, it ssshould insssure that you live a long and happy life no matter what troublesss may follow you. -

Harry looked at Tom, who nodded in awe and they both stepped closer to receive the piercing of the basilisk's fang. Their phoenixes erupted and quickly healed them directly afterwards. Tom and Harry grinned at each other as the wounds healed. They sat down and talked with Sephra for a while and when they had to leave Harry could see that the snake was lonely.

He looked at Tom. "Isn't there some way that we can take her with us? I know this was Salazar's secret rooms, but she probably gets very lonely down here." Tom looked like he wanted to shake his head, but he paused before his eyes widened. "There is! I saw it in Salazar's library." Tom rushed to the library with Harry and Sephra following hot on his heels. They had barely entered the Slytherin library when Tom took out a book from one of the top shelves.

"I wanted to try it a while ago, but we didn't know who the heir was so I didn't want to get Sephra's hopes up before we met the heir." Tom held out a book to Harry and Harry scanned it. "It's relatively simple although the wand movements need to be very precise." He looked at Tom. "Can you do it? I'm afraid that I will mess it up." But Tom shook his head. "This was your idea and your responsibility Harry. Have a little more faith in yourself. I have never seen someone adapt to magic as fast as you did. I know you can do this."

Harry turned to Sephra with pleading eyes, but she shook her head as well. - Tom isss right. Only the true heir can perform the ssspell. It was a condition that wasss built into the ssspell to keep the heir'sss enemiesss from usssing the ssspell againssst him or her. I'm afraid that Tom would experience a backlasssh of hisss own magic before the wordsss were even voiced. -

He looked at Tom and Sephra in shock. - How sssure are you about me being the heir? - Tom grinned. "We are about fifty percent sure." But the man hastily rushed to reassure Harry when he saw that he had become as pale as a ghost. "I joking Harry! Don't worry we can both sense that you are Salazar's chosen heir. Do you really think that I would allow you to do something dangerous?" Harry grimaced as he thought back on the flight incident. His new family would definitely not allow him to do anything dangerous.

He swallowed nervously and then took out his wand. He uttered the words to make sure that he had the pronunciation of the spell right, but he didn't really get as far as casting it. A wave of mist suddenly surrounded him and he gasped as he felt another presence beside him. "So someone is finally going to release Sephra from her proverbial cage. It's about time someone thought about it. My other heirs were too scared of her. But then again, except for you and your mate, only two others ever made it in here in one piece."

Harry turned his head and raised a surprised brow as he saw that it was Salazar standing next to him. The apparition seemed solid and Harry was very surprised when his hand met flesh as he reached out to test it. Salazar smirked. "Yes, for a mere few moments I have come back to life. It was quite an ingenious spell actually. It had to be cast moments before the witch or wizard dies and they have to connect the trigger with a spell that only they know. Now let's stop the common chit-chat shall we?"

Salazar moved to stand in front of Tom. "You know, I would have made you my heir too if that idiot cousin of mine hadn't decided to beat me to it. That was one joke he literally took too far." He then turned to Sephra and Harry was surprised to see that the snake had wetness around her eyes. Could snakes even cry?

- Asss for you my dear Sssephra. It is good to sssee you. You have grown a lot sssince I last sssaw you. Would you truly like to be able to conceal yourssself and to be with Harry and Tom? - The snake nodded insistently as she moved closer and placed her head against Salazar's chest. - I really want to go with them after being in here alone for ssso long. -

Salazar smiled. - Thisss ssspell will return you to when you were younger and sssmaller. It will alssso conceal you to look like a regular sssnake, but you will ssstill have all your giftsss at your disssposssal. Now, think of the form you would like and I will cassst the ssspell. Keep in mind that it is permanent and you will only grow back to your presssent length when the appropriate number of yearsss hasss passsed. -

Sephra hissed in agreement and nodded to Salazar. The founder quickly started weaving the spell and a brilliant green snake with silver markings stood in the place where a basilisk once was. All three men gasped at the sight of her and Salazar bent down and stroked her reverently. - Any ssspecific reason why you chossse the sssymbol of the houssse of sssnakesss, my dear? -

The newly formed snake slithered up Salazar's offered arm and settled in his neck. It was shocking to see how small she was. - It isss to honor both you and your dessscendantsss. I have not found another family like thisss one in the time that I have lived… althought… -

Sephra looked at Tom and Harry. - It sssoundsss like I may be gaining a lot more alliesss in the future, but my heart will always be with the ssspeakersss ssstanding within thisss very room. - Harry was puzzled. He didn't know why the snake would sound like she had already known him for a very long time instead of just barely a half an hour, but he found that he already cared for her as well.

He turned his gaze to Salazar. "Why did you choose this spell as a trigger when there was no guarantee that someone would read the books in the library or that someone would want to free Sephra?" The founder smiled. "Because only a true Slytherin would endeavor to learn all the knowledge that they can in order to protect themselves and others and only someone who wasn't scared of Sephra, would try to take her out of the chamber. That also brings me to the reason for why I am here. I wanted to ensure that the heir, who took Sephra out of the cavern, wasn't doing it for financial or any other gain."

Salazar looked at them and smiled. "I really didn't expect two of my descendants to be mates though. I am glad that Sephra has found her new family." Salazar's form began to grow transparent and he laughed as he saw that it looked like Tom wanted to ask him a lot of questions really badly. "If any of you have any questions, then Harry might be able to call me up through his link with me. But be warned, it would take a lot of energy to give me a corporal form, yet I am sure you will manage."

Two descendants and a snake found themselves nodding almost dumbly as Salazar disappeared. It wasn't every day that you were told that you could summon one of the founders at will after all. Harry looked at Sephra, whom Salazar had put down before he had disappeared, and bent down to pick her up again. She was barely 60cm long and it was strange to think that such a deadly snake was now concealed behind a harmless façade.

He looked at Tom. "You really know how to plan surprises, don't you?" Tom laughed. "Don't look at me I'm not the one who can summon a founder at will." Harry watched in fascination as a mist seemed to materialize behind Tom and a hand settled on his arm causing Tom to curse, spin around and yank out his wand all in one movement.

A laugh echoed through the room and Tom cursed again. "That was not funny Godric!" He turned to Harry. "Why did I have to be saddled with the biggest prankster ever?" Harry tried to keep his laughter in, but he couldn't so he just let it out. He looked at Tom as he tried to catch his breath a few seconds later. "I think it's because you said that I am able to summon a founder. He might have thought that you had forgotten about him."

Tom shook his head. "I don't know what he's going on about I just said that because I can't summon him to get information. Otherwise, I would have asked him for tips in dueling a long time ago already." Harry thought for a moment. "I know you showed me a lot about the history of the wizarding world that time when I had to sleep so long, but I didn't actually understand what their true strengths were. I only know that someone mentioned that Godric loved something called Serpent Skin." Tom's eyes widened and Harry felt Sephra curl up tighter around his arm and Harry laughed.

"Not real snakeskin! Apparently, Serpent Skin was a type of sweet you got that was made from long lines of flattened licorice with patterns on them that kind of made it look like a shed snakeskin. I looked it up, it's easy to make. Maybe we would be able to draw him out like that for you." Tom shook his head and smiled. "Only you would ever think to bribe a founder with their favorite snack."

Harry shrugged and smiled back. Tom took his hand and let him out of the chamber to a door that wasn't there before. Harry looked back at the chamber in regret. He didn't want to leave just yet, he wanted to explore. Tom gave his hand a squeeze. "You can come down here again whenever you like. I also would like to ask you to come down here if you find that you are ever in need of a place to hide. People who don't speak parseltongue aren't allowed in here without the permission of a speaker."

Harry nodded and they made their way out the door. Harry froze in surprise as he realized that the exit they used, was situated just across from where the door to the Dark Arts classroom was. He looked at Tom, who winked at him and they entered the door to the classroom. Harry looked back, but the door still didn't disappear.

"The door will always stay visible to you now. Just try to only enter it when no one else is around. The door will glow a greenish color if there is someone else within viewing distance or if someone is watching you through a spying spell. They may not be able to get in or see the door, but it would raise too many suspicions that could compromise the safety of the chamber." Harry nodded and they went to their rooms.

Harry didn't feel like sleeping alone though so he waited until he believed that Tom was asleep before he climbed out of bed and silently sneaked into the older man's room. He looked at Tom's sleeping face as he neared the bed and the sight brought a smile to his own. He silently walked around the bed and very slowly climbed on in order to not wake Tom, but a hand reached out to drag him onto the bed and he fell into Tom's arms with a squeak.

"You know, you aren't very good at sneaking." Harry could hear the humor in the sleepy man's voice so he relaxed. Tom was going to allow him to stay. "I'm good at sneaking, but you are just a lot better a detecting me and listening in on my thoughts." He heard Tom chuckle softly at that and snuggled deeper into the man's arms as the same arms tightened around him, pulling him closer to the man's warm body.

Harry smiled and sleepily closed his eyes. He always fell asleep immediately once Tom held him. He mentally shrugged. It must be a mate thing. A soft hiss came from a bed in the corner where Sephra was sleeping and Harry softly hissed back. A few seconds later, Harry smiled as Sephra curled herself up on the covers next to him. His last thought before sleeping was that he was very lucky to have such an amazing family.

Sorry for only updating now. I had to work and since then we have been sitting without internet because the company we rent the line from didn't realize that there was a fault in the line. Thank you for reading.