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 14: A Trip to the Forbidden Forest

Harry sat in the Great Hall with his friends because Tom needed to do a bit more preparation. He had a book open in front of him since he still needed to review a few things, but with Draco's supervision, he had managed to brew the last two potions that Severus hadn't gotten around to help him with, that morning.

The twins had helped him with a few charms that he had been struggling with and Neville had joined him as they walked through the greenhouses.

It was one thing to know that a plant could bite, but it was completely different when you actually saw a plant incapacitating then eating a mouse twice its size. He cast a tempus and saw that it was already very late in the afternoon, so he decided to go drag Tom away from his work so that the man could take a break.

Just as he stood up, he noticed that Severus seemed to be in a big hurry as he rushed out of the main doors of the castle. Harry excused himself from his friends, but he wasn't surprised when Draco followed him. The blonde must also have seen the tense look on the headmaster's face.

Their steps faltered a little as they saw that Severus was heading for the Forbidden Forest, but they picked up speed and called to him before he reached the first line of trees. They would get into trouble if they went into the forest alone even if they were just following Severus, but if they asked if they could accompany him then they wouldn't get into trouble.

Severus stopped and looked at them with eyebrows raised as Harry and Draco came to a stop in front of him. "You two should go back to the castle. There is a disturbance in the forest and I do not know what is causing it." Both teens frowned in worry and Severus gave a sigh. "Come along then. I guess that you would just follow me anyway if I didn't keep an eye on you."

Neither Draco nor Harry bothered to correct the man. He could think what he wanted if they were able to go with him. Severus took a moment to cast a shield and a concealment spell around them before they headed to where Severus felt the disturbance was.

It didn't take them long to find it and Draco and Harry forced themselves to not gape at the sight of what seemed to be a gathering of creatures. Centaurs, unicorns, sprites, fairies and a whole list of other creatures stood in a circle around something else. Harry, Severus, and Draco couldn't see much else, but Harry felt a draw to the center of the center and he unconsciously stepped forward. Deep in his mind, he heard a small voice call for help and he couldn't stop himself from wanting to do just that.

Severus tried to hold him back with Draco's help, but it was as if some unseen forced stopped them from interfering. They could only watch as Harry slowly neared the circle of creatures and they couldn't stop the surprise from showing on their faces as the circle parted to reveal a unicorn mare that seemed to be in labor.

Draco looked at the scene and then glanced at his godfather. "Sev, shouldn't we be stopping him? There's a stallion standing near the mare that looks a lot like the herd stallion. You told me that they don't like wizards so won't Harry be in even more danger if he goes near a mare that is about to give birth?"

Severus gave a pained nod, but just as he was about to speak a centaur made its way over to them. He had apparently heard what they had said because he shook his head. "The circle would not have permitted the youngling entry if it sensed negative thoughts. The herd stallion's first mare is about to give birth to the herd's prince and yet it seems as if there are some complications with the birth. It is not uncommon for unicorn magic to seek a pure soul to help them when they are in need, yet it is a surprise for the call to be directed to a wizard."

Severus was about to ask whether Harry would actually be able to help when the silence of the crowd caught his attention. He saw that Harry had finally reached the mare that seemed to be in extreme pain and he also saw that it looked like Harry was in some kind of trance. He glanced to the herd stallion but the unicorn seemed content to let Harry near his mare.

Harry felt strange as he finally reached the mare, but he didn't fight the lure. He slowly sank down to his knees and ran his hands over the mare. The touch seemed to soothe her a little bit as she opened her eyes and gazed at him before laying her head back down.

He didn't know what he was doing, but his magic sang in his veins and he decided to try and ease the mare's pain before directing his magic to help her with the birth. His magic somehow informed him that the foal was turned around so he lightly and slowly tried to turn the foal around.

He thanked Neville in the back of his mind as he remembered the book that the boy had on non-magical animals. The book had described the complete care of domestic animals and it was this book that guided him now. He didn't know how long he sat there while negating the mare's pain and slowly trying to fix all the complications, but the mare finally gave a final push and the foal was born just as the sky lightened with dawn around them.

Harry felt himself become lightheaded as the magic drain finally caught up with him, but before he could fall over he felt a creature with soft fur behind him stopping his fall. He was surprised to see that it was the herd's stallion. A faint whinny caught their attention and Harry watched in awe as a silver-white foal stood up on shaky legs.

Harry sagged in relief as he saw that the foal was completely healthy and he had to stifle an oomph as the foal lost its balance and landed on his lap. The sire and mare didn't seem bothered so Harry gave a hug before helping the foal onto its legs again.

The foal made its way to its father on wobbly legs and nuzzled him before walking back to its mother to begin nursing. Harry stood up with a soft smile as the stallion walked over to nuzzle the mare and he turned to make his way back to Draco and Severus so that he didn't interrupt their bonding, but he had barely taken two steps before he felt a tug on his shirt and he turned around again in surprise. He found himself face to face with the stallion and his body refused to move as the stallion lowered its head and placed its forehead just below the horn, against Harry's.

A peaceful feeling filled him as he felt his magic energy restored and a soft voice entered his mind. "Thank you for helping my son into this world. We were all unable to right the wrongs that had occurred during the birthing process. If it wasn't for you then both my first mare and my foal would have died and so I reserve the right to grant you a boon. Whenever you are in need of us all you have to do is call my name, Helios."

Harry blinked in surprise then smiled. "I will do so, but only if it brings you and your herd no harm." The unicorn chuckled softly in his mind. "Yours is a light soul that we have not had the privilege to see in a long time. You and yours are welcome in this glade, no harm will ever befall you here."

Harry smiled his thanks as he instinctively bowed and with a flash of light most of the creatures disappeared. Only the centaurs remained and the largest of the group walked towards him before stopping a small distance from him. "You have proven yourself to the unicorns and thus you have proven yourself to us. Both you and your family are safe with us and we would like to extend to you the right of a boon as well."

The centaur looked at him and Harry felt confused. This caused the centaur to laugh lightly. "Your innocence clearly shows that you did not do this for a reward. You just saved the unicorn prince and his mother and this will not be forgotten easily. Without the unicorn prince, the unicorns would die out in this forest and so the light and goodness that the unicorns provide would forever be lost to us here. I would still caution you if you were to enter this forest alone since there are many creatures that do not conform to the rules of protection, but we will protect you whenever we can."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, but I would rather not have anyone placing themselves in danger because of me. A voice was calling for help and so I helped him. What kind of person would I be if I ignored such a cry?" Harry frowned at the though and the centaur just shook his head with a smile on his face. "You sure are a strange wizard. My name is Bane. Please use it whenever you find yourself in need of some help."

With this, the centaur galloped away with the rest of the centaurs following him. Harry suddenly felt two arms crushing him to a strong chest and the tingling of his skin revealed that it was Tom. He winced as he realized that Tom must have been worried when he didn't return to their rooms and he turned around for what he thought would be a scolding.

Instead, Tom allowed him to turn around in order to be able to hug him tighter. It was then that Severus finally seemed to take pity on him. "Let up a bit Tom, you are going to kill Harry if you hug him so tightly." The man chuckled but he slightly loosened his grip. He looked down at Harry.

"Severus sent a Patronus a while ago so that we wouldn't worry." It was then that Harry looked around and saw his friends and family who were all presently at Hogwarts. Draco stepped up and lightly hit patted him on the back. "You really know how to charm, do you?"

Harry looked at Draco in confusion and the boy laughed. "First the werewolves, although that was a given since you are close to Remus, then the goblins and now both unicorns and centaurs. The last three never align themselves with wizards of any kind so this is truly a first."

This made Harry shrug. "I also don't know why they would do that. I mean our only problem is Dumbledore and his order and from what you have told me it sounds like it's only a few people. It's not like he has an army at his beck and call, otherwise, he wouldn't have to do things himself like when he tried to get Peter."

The people around him nodded, but he could feel Tom frowning through their link and this made him look up. Something was clearly bothering Tom, but Harry knew that the man would tell him when he was ready. The group made their way to the castle just as the sun rose and Severus called them all together.

Harry's friends circled him. The twins were impressed and even Ron and Neville pat him on the back with a 'that was awesome mate!' The rest of his friends nodded their heads in agreement. They all turned their attention to Severus as he cleared his throat.

"Since we actually have nothing to do today, I suggest that we have breakfast and then grab a few hours of sleep." He turned to Harry. "Draco told me that he and the rest have shown you everything that you need to know from the years that you have missed." Harry nodded and Severus smiled.

"Good, I would suggest that you all go glance through your books when you have some time later in order to familiarize yourselves with the things that you are going to be learning this year." He then turned to Sirius who seemed to be busy trying to sneak out of the hall.

"Sirius, I know that you haven't readied your schedule for the year yet so I suggest you get to it later unless you want either me or Remus to help you with it." Harry turned back to see that Sirius was embarrassed at being called out. He had to stifle a laugh though as he could practically see the gears overworking themselves in Sirius' head as he realized that he could get one of his crushes to help him.

Harry thought for a moment then turned to Severus. "Wouldn't it be better if both you and Remus help him? It would get done faster." It was just the excuse that the three men needed and they nodded their heads. Then everyone split up and headed off to bed. Harry hid his smile as he followed Tom and he could feel the man's amusement through the link. Harry slipped his hand into Tom's and they slowly walked to their rooms with a companionable silence.

Harry took a shower first and he was very tempted to ask the man to join him, but he knew that Tom wouldn't do that. It really was irritating that he still had to wait even though it was a nice sentiment when they first realized that they were mates. His body seemed to tingle every time that Tom was near him and it was starting to influence his thoughts a little too much.

He climbed out of the shower, dried himself off and then got dressed. He then walked out of the bedroom only to find a frowning Tom sitting on the bed. Harry mentally cursed and Tom's head shot up. Harry blushed red as he looked at Tom. "I really need to remember to stop broadcasting my thoughts don't I?"

Tom nodded and his gaze softened. "I'm sorry that I am making things so hard Harry, but we can't do anything that might give Dumbledore the chance to take you away, although I would like nothing more than to take you. Even though we are mates, the Ministry would be able to take you away since you are still underage. They could also take you away from Severus and Sirius because they would see it as them having consented to us having such a relationship by allowing you to sleep in the same room as me. But it won't matter once you have turned 16. I only thought that I would give you time till you are 17 because I didn't think you would accept the fact that I was your mate so easily."

Harry smiled and got onto Tom's lap to hug him. Tom kissed his head then stood up to lay him down on the bed before lying down next to him and pulling Harry's body against his. "Get some sleep Harry, we will be starting with your animagus training tonight so you need to get a lot of rest so that you are not tired out by the time you had gone through your books. You might think it weird, but teachers tend to ask questions from the books at the beginning of the year to see whether the students actually took an interest in what they are going to learn. This is how they see which students would excel in their class and which students they need to keep an eye on."

Harry nodded sleepily and cuddled deeper into his mate's side. Even though the herd stallion had restored his magic, his body still realized that he had not slept in more than 24 hours. It wasn't long before he passed out completely.

A few hours later…

Harry woke up to find Tom staring at him. He didn't even need to hear Tom's thoughts to know what the older man was thinking and it made him feel warm inside that Tom wanted him just as much as Harry wanted Tom. He lightly touched Tom's cheek and kissed him before getting up. He didn't want to make things even harder on his mate because he knew that Tom had very logical about things earlier and Harry really didn't want to risk his family and mate by having Dumbledore gain custody of him.

The thought made Harry frown. How did the Ministry not know what Dumbledore was up to? He looked at Tom and mentally directed the question towards him. It made Tom hug him closer to his body. "Unfortunately it seems to be a prerequisite to being an idiot if you want to become Minister. Ever since Dumbledore defeated the last Dark Lord named Grindlewald, everyone thinks that he is extremely powerful, but no one realizes that they were friends and Dumbledore used that to curse Grindlewald in the back."

Harry stared at Tom in shock and the man nodded. "I was very curious when I was younger and I actively searched for the man's prison. I found it too, but I did not like what I found. Grindelwald was locked behind wards that only allowed Dumbledore through, but he was able to hand me a diary even in his half-mad state. I visited him for a while until he begged me one day for a way to end it all. We both knew that he wouldn't be able to ever regain his sanity and he didn't want to place people in danger because it seems like Dumbledore was willing to use his release as blackmail over anyone who tried to kill the old coot."

Harry felt slightly sick at the thought of what Tom must have felt when he had to kill the man, but his attention was drawn to Tom when the man sighed heavily. "It's not as hard as you might think to kill a person with an Unforgivable. The death curse was initially made to take a sick person's life without them feeling any pain since it happens so fast. The main problem is that it feels like any other spell until you realize that you just took a person's life. The shell that stays behind haunts your dreams and it always makes you wonder whether you should have tried to save them instead."

Harry fiercely hugged Tom before turning the older man's face towards his. "It's not supposed to be easy to kill someone, you know. If people didn't have a conscience then most of the people in the world would be crazily killing other people right now. People already divide themselves into different nationalities without keeping in mind that we are all just people. People have a need to classify others as different because they think that this gives them an excuse to hate someone else. Unfortunately, a person always focuses on one bad memory even if the good memories are multiplied by a thousand. To tell you the truth, I am actually sick of people blaming each other rather than finding the problem in themselves and fixing it."

Tom looked at him in surprise and Harry just shrugged. "This might sound like a crude way to put it but a rapist always blames the victim for either teasing them or for doing something when the victim didn't actually intend it to be so at all and in the end it's the perpetrator's choice to follow through or not. People are greedy by default, but that does not mean that we should be ruled by our instincts." Tom lightly clubbed Harry over the head and this made Harry glare at the older man.

"You are not supposed to even know about stuff like that even if you are right in your way of thinking and this makes me feel the need to punish your family even more now." Harry shook his head with wide eyes. "It's not their fault remember? Dumbledore forced them…" But Tom interrupted his words and shook his head.

"Your parents told me about how your aunt was like and her husband really didn't sound like any better. Non-magical people would always be jealous of those who have magic because they think that it makes life easier, but they forget that magical people are in danger of a lot of things. Like it's legal to hex someone with a minor hex such as the bat bogey hex and no one can say anything about it. My point is that the dislike of magic was there so they didn't fight against the compulsion like your cousin did."

Harry nodded sadly as he laid his head on Tom's shoulder. "Come on you need to sleep a little while longer, Harry, I know I told you a lot and you want to think about it, but leave for tomorrow when you don't have to do anything." Harry nodded and closed his eyes and it didn't take Tom long to follow him to sleep again.

Sorry, yes I know this chapter seems a bit biased, but I didn't mean it to be. I just can't seem to understand why people can hate each other so much. At the moment there is a law that is pending here that allows the government to take anything you own without a chance of you getting repaid for it and I don't understand because this goes directly against the law that gives you a right to have all of the basic necessities to live and what's the use of buying something when it can get taken away? It seems like even your clothes and stuff like phones and laptops is on the list even if you bought it fair and square. So my family really seems to be into the moving to a different country thing and even I am excited to see new sights, but I guess it's my dreamer personality that longs for a place where people just accept each other I have a degree in editing and translating, but where could we move to?