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.
Notes:
I know I haven't updated this fic in a while but I was torn between not knowing how to continue it, and how to do it in a way that hopefully haven't been done before. I have continued a few other fics, but for now, I will focus on finishing the three incomplete fics before I post any new ones.
Hope this counts as an awesome New Year's surprise.
Key:
"speech"
"soft-spoken or seemingly vague speech"
'thoughts'
- Parseltongue -
'Latin words'
Mental messages
Letters
Chapter 16: The Sorting
Harry stretched before he was even half-awake. The smell of pancakes filled the room and the smell of blueberries clued him in that Tom was cooking. His eyes shot open and he smiled. He was going to get sorted into a house today! He jumped out of bed and got dressed before he made his way to the kitchen area.
Tom gave him a smile before indicating that he should sit. A pile of pancakes immediately appeared before him and Tom poured a glass of orange juice for him. "Sleep well?" Harry nodded. He helped himself to a plate and waited until Tom also sat before they started eating together.
"Have you thought of a name you might want to use?" Harry shook his head before pausing and blushing.
"I would have… maybe something that could be shortened to Harry if someone slips up and call me by my name? I don't know, it's hard to think that I need to change my name and as for my surname…I don't want to choose one and then I feel bad about the others, even if I know that they wouldn't mind" Harry looked down slightly as he tried to puzzle it out, but he kept an eye on Tom.
The older man nodded before a thought of his sent a brief flare of happiness through the link, but he quickly squashed it. 'Not fast enough though' Harry mused as he turned his full attention to Tom.
The man slightly avoided his gaze before sighing and Harry was sure that the man was blushing. "Tom? What is it?"
It was clear that the man was about to brush it away with a nothing, but the look that Harry gave him must have changed his mind, and he leaned over to take Harry's hands in his with a serious, yet nervous look in his eyes.
"If you don't want to take on one of your other names because you are afraid of hurting someone's feelings, why don't you take mine? Riddle might not be the most famous surname and I know I should change it to Slytherin, but you can use it for as long as you need and I do not think it would draw too much attention. It would also make people think that we are related and it would give us an excuse to spend time together. We can always correct their thoughts once Dumbledore is taken care of, and…"
Harry jumped off his seat and bolted around the table while giving a happy laugh. He couldn't believe that Tom was so nervous about suggesting his own surname. Half of him thought it was cute and the other half was on cloud nine.
"Of course, I would love to use your surname! It's going to be mine as well one day anyway." Harry watched as Tom took a few seconds to process his words before the man gave a growl and dragged him into a possessive kiss.
"You really shouldn't say things like that Harry, you don't know how happy it makes me." Harry blushed as Tom held him close before forcing him to at least eat a little bit more.
"What about Hadrian Riddle? It is close enough to your real name to remember and you can still tell people that you prefer Harry. As much as I hate to think about it, we might even be able to spin a story about you being the son of my father's cousin. No one would go looking for information in the muggle world."
Harry was startled at that; how did Tom think up things so quickly? He gave a thoughtful nod as he felt Tom's gaze. "It could work, but how do we explain me being magical?"
Tom looked thoughtful for a bit, "My father's cousin married a wizard, but after their son was born they got into an accident while on a trip to see family. Only the son survived since the stuffed animals the family had spoiled him with had protected him."
Harry felt saddened by this. "What happened to the son afterward?" Tom got a faraway look in his eyes as he took a bite of his own food. "He was born a squib and another family took him in. Last I heard they told him about who he truly was, but he accepted it and carried on with his life with his new family. I didn't try to contact him after reading that from his mind and they live somewhere in Africa."
Harry still felt skeptical about it. "Wouldn't it be easy for someone to figure out that I am not him?"
Tom shook his head. "You have the Goblins on your side, and they could easily make it happen. You are not doing any harm after all; you are just using another identity to protect yourself."
Harry smiled before quickly eating the rest of his breakfast. After a quick shower, and telling Severus where they are going, they made it to Gringotts. The Goblins were only too happy to change his name on their public records (in private he still held onto his old name after the Goblin informed him that it could interfere with certain magical aspects if he changed his name without going through the proper channels) and a particularly sneaky Goblin named Stonejaw informed them that a paper regarding his presence at Hogwarts had already been filed at the Ministry.
By this time Harry could barely sit still and Tom had to summon Draco and the Twins for an impromptu flying session to get the raven to calm down.
The moment the train stopped, the Twins and Draco, as well as Harry, easily blended in with the crowd as if they had been on the train all along, and Harry was a little surprised to see how easily Neville and the rest joined them.
None of the other students even knew that there was someone new among them and Harry was very thankful for that.
Unfortunately, they had to split up, yet Harry felt his nerves disappear at the sight of Tom guiding the first years to the hall. The older man glanced around before nudging him softly and whispering into his ear, "You didn't think that I would let you walk up there alone, did you?"
Harry tried valiantly to fight off the blush he felt but failed miserably, and he fake-glared at the man beside him before giving in to the urge to smile.
Tom swept past him and guided the first years to the front, but Harry felt surprised when no one made any comment as he walked behind the first years. It was only once he noticed the confused then understanding expressions of his friends that he realized that Tom had sneakily distracted him before placing a Notice-Me-Not charm on him.
He really wanted to tease Tom about his clear act of possessiveness, but instead, he felt grateful that he didn't have to endure any more staring than needed.
The first years finally finished their sorting and Severus stood as if to deliver the usual speech. Instead, he came to stand next to Tom and the hall immediately silenced as every student turned their attention to the headmaster.
"We have one final sorting for tonight and I warn you not to hound him. Hadrian has been homeschooled up until his home situation changed and he is now attending Hogwarts as Professor Riddle is his closest living family member. Riddle, Hadrian please come forward for your sorting."
A few surprised gasps and chuckles were heard as Harry suddenly appeared beside the chair and he had to squash the urge to glare at Tom for taking the charm off so quickly. Yet everyone seemed to forget about it within a few moments as Severus placed the hat on his still-standing form.
Tom had already removed the little chair that Harry had been eyeing as if it could bite because it didn't look like he would be able to sit on it, and no one dared to comment on it as Tom's eyes swept over them.
The hat came to life and Harry felt it shuffle through his thoughts in a surprisingly un-invasive way. The hat let out a chuckle and Harry fought the urge to close his eyes as his mind started tingling with warning bells. This was going to be bad.
The hat let out another chuckle at his thoughts and shouted out, "House Embrys!"
For a moment the hall was quiet, but then the exclamations of shock began as the students began to question whether the sorting hat had finally lost its marbles.
Then the hall started to slightly expand as another table seemed to rise out of the floor in the center of the four tables. The wood looked darker than the others for a moment before the other tables seemed to lose a few layers of wood and the house emblem appeared on each table.
Slytherin house held their poised snake, Ravenclaw house held an intimidating-looking eagle, Gryffindor held its fierce lion, and Hufflepuff held its proud-looking badger.
The center table however held a flaming phoenix and Fawkes suddenly appeared, flying over all four of the tables, only for a few of the occupants to find themselves sporting a phoenix emblem with gold-lined robes before they were force-apparated to the center table.
The table now held Luna, the Twins, Cedric, and a few other students that Harry didn't know, but the most surprising was the bearded ghost that rose from the table with a huge grin before he waved his ghostly wand and the students stared at the ghosts of their Founders in shock as they appeared.
The old man immediately threw an arm around the Slytherin Founder as the man stared at Harry in shock and his next words echoed around the hall, "You got Tom so it's only fair that I get Hadrian."
The stoic-looking Slytherin's temper seemed to flare to life as he tried to twist himself out of the neck-lock. "You only got him because you bribed the hat, Merlin!"
The newly named Merlin laughed gleefully before dodging a ghostly spell that Salazar cast at him. "I call it empathic persuasion my little Slytherin, besides, he is obviously the first one to wake up the fifth house ever since we created it, so it is still very valid."
Gryffindor's ghost watched the pair before he floated over to Tom's side. "Just so you know, Salazar is pretty bad at gambling."