Magic Will Find a Way

By: Ryu Katanna

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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Three

'The poor kid cried himself right out.' Owen thought as he looked down at the sleeping form of the teen with dried tear tracks on his face.

Outside, the storm had faded as quickly as it had appeared once Harry had fallen asleep after having been emotionally wrung out. If Owen had been left with any doubts about the kid's story; they were well and truly gone now. The storm had come in so swiftly, and with a violence that matched the grief and torment that Harry had been experiencing, only to fade from the sky as soon as sleep had claimed him after Owen had gotten him changed into dry clothes. The skies were clear once more as the sun heated the air; becoming humid in the wake of the torrent of rain that had fallen.

Owen wasn't really one to believe in fantastical things like magic, but he couldn't deny what he'd witnessed. If the kid called it magic then he found he couldn't tell him he was mistaken. Not with what he'd witnessed today, and not when he couldn't detect even a hint of a lie in what he'd been told. Magic apparently did exist, and this kid had it.

It was then Owen's mind focused on that fact. Harry was still just a kid. A fourteen-year-old kid who was very far from home. Who had survived despite the odds that had been against him. A kid who had magic. Who could summon such a storm just because his emotions had been unstable when he'd figured out just how far he really was from home. Who had slept in a nest with four of the most deadly predators to have ever existed, and not only lived, but been seemingly adopted into the pack.

If it had been anyone other then Owen, their Alpha, who had tried to take Harry from the enclosure then he didn't think the girls who have allowed it so easily.

There were people who had seen the kid inside the enclosure that morning. Who had seen him curled up with them as if he was the safest kid on earth, and in a way, he had been. Anyone else would have been dead without even a chance of survival. Owen himself didn't have the confidence to say that he would have been able to even be on the same side of the bars as his girls without danger to himself. He'd raised the four of them from the time that they had hatched and even he knew that much.

He didn't doubt that word was already getting around to the other workers on the island. Soon, he may be receiving calls from people like Masrani, or Dearing who would want explanations. Who would want to know if there was some way to use the kid for their own purposes. He knew for a fact that Hoskins would come running as soon as he got word about the kid. He knew the man had some sort of agenda when it came to the raptors. When he found out Harry had been adopted by the pack then he would have questions.

Questions of which the answers could be very dangerous if the wrong people found out. The kid had no documentation. He was underage and had no parents or guardians. He had no protection from those who could try to get their hands on him. Who would use him if they ever found out that he had some kind of power. Who would want to find out what that power was and where it came from.

Harry was only fourteen. He was just a kid.

Owen looked back over at the form curled up on his couch. He couldn't let it happen. He couldn't leave this up to chance. He couldn't let the kid go into the hands of someone else who wouldn't or couldn't care about him as a person. As the confused and alone teenager that had lost everything he was. Who would see him only as some kind of test subject.

The kid had lost everyone he'd cared for. Anyone he could have trusted in their ability to protect him. He had his magic, but from what he'd said, he still didn't know everything he could do with it. He'd be a tool, and weapon, an experiment to anyone else who found out. Anyone but Owen.

He'd already been trying to trust Owen by telling him as much as he had, and the man wasn't about to turn his back on him. The kid had obviously been mistreated by those who had been supposed to care for him. By those he should have been able to trust not to hurt him. It was as plain to Owen in Harry's hesitance when talking to him as the scars he'd seen on the kid's back.

Turning to the table, Owen picked up his phone and pressed a few buttons before holding it up to his ear. He would have to call in a few favors, owe a few more, and probably pay out a bit of his savings, but he should have everything done in time if he put a rush on it.

"It's Grady. Yeah, hey. I need a favor."

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A groan from the couch caught Owen's attention a few hours later as he hung up the phone with Barry.

"Ugh. My head... please tell me someone seen where that bloody Horntail went?" Harry gave another pain-filled groan as he sat up and rubbed at the side of his face.

"I'd be sure to let you know; if I even knew what a Horntail was. Here." Owen replied with a small chuckle as he held out a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of water that he had gotten ready not long before.

"It's a dragon. Thanks." Harry said before downing two pills along with half of the water.

"Other than the headache, feel alright?" Owen asked as he shifted to sit on the now vacant spot next to Harry, and decided now wasn't the right time to ask about what the kid meant by it being a dragon.

"Still a bit stiff. I felt better waking up with the raptors." He whimpered out the reply as he curled into the corner of the couch and waited for the pills to take effect.

"Yeah, speaking of that, we have to talk." Owen said only to chuckle at the grumpy expression from the teen.

"Okay..."

"A good number of people saw you sleeping in that paddock this morning. The story has probably made it around the park by now. There are people here that you really don't want finding out what you can do. So don't tell anyone else what you told me. It's fine for them to just speculate, but if they find out the truth..." Owen trailed off as he saw the look of understanding and alarm on Harry's face.

"What do I do? Technically, I don't even exist." He murmured sadly only to look down as Owen placed printed copies of documents in his lap that he had placed on the table after they had come through the fax machine a bit earlier.

"Actually, you do now." Owen said as the teen's brows furrowed before looking down at the papers.

Birth Certificate, Social Security Number, and more. Everything to verify his existence in the muggle world. Everything looked to be signed in all the right places and sealed. Legal. Harry felt his jaw drop as he looked at the Birth Certificate.

Hadrian James Grady.

Two pairs of green eyes met as Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times like he wanted to ask, but didn't know how. Looking back down at the paper he could see Owen Liam Grady listed under father. It had the stamp that proved authenticity in the state of Montana. It really was a legal document.

"I called in a few favors to some people I know and paid a few others to get everything within a few hours while you slept. We just have to come up with the details for a believable cover story." Owen told him as the teen just kept looking back and forth from the papers to him.

"Why? Why would you do this for me?" Harry asked as he set the paper back down with the pile on his lap.

"You told me your story, and while I know it wasn't everything, it was enough that I know you're going to need help. Also, I don't want you getting lost in the system until you turn eighteen. I... lost my parents when I was ten. I was shipped from foster home to foster home until I joined the Navy at eighteen. The Seals were good to me, for the most part, but it's not a life for everyone." Owen explained as he shifted a little uncomfortably at the old memories this conversation was bringing up before sighing and looking back over at Harry.

"This way I can protect you. I don't really know what the magic you have can do, but I do know I don't want you to be used as some kind of lab rat. The best way I can do that is as family. As your father. You don't have to call me dad. We can explain you calling me by my name by telling people that I wasn't around while you were a kid because of my enlistment with the SEALS or something." Owen rushed to explain so Harry wouldn't misunderstand and think that Owen was trying to force this on him.

"Are... Are you sure? I mean... you'd be stuck with me as your son until I'm eighteen. With other people believing I'm your kid, it could be even longer. I mean, I..." Harry stuttered in disbelief as he stared at the papers on his lap.

"My girls have already adopted you, Harry. You're already accepted by them as part of the pack. They wouldn't have shared their nest with you if they didn't. Why not make it official? I know you're comfortable with them. This way you don't have to leave them. People won't say anything about you spending time around the paddock, as my son." Owen explained as he watched Harry's body language carefully.

He could see that the kid wanted to accept, but something was holding him back. Owen knew he had been mistreated. He had seen the scars on Harry's back and that had been evidence enough along with the undertones of what he had said of his past. If Harry had been abused then it was likely that it had been the relatives who had raised him. The kid might not know how to put trust in any kind of relationship if that was the case.

When the ones who are supposed to love you are the ones that hurt you, it can be hard to trust anyone else not to do the same. Owen had seen a lot of similar cases while he had been in the system. His parents had loved him. He'd had ten years to know what that was like to know the difference, and even so, thought humans were overrated as a species. There were very few other people Owen could get along with. Harry had been orphaned so young and then put with people who had hated magic. Magic that he couldn't help that he had if losing it could kill him as he'd said before.

He didn't doubt the kid would have some major trust issues.

"Do you think you can try to trust me, Harry. To trust me not to hurt or use you, but to protect you. Everyone else can think we are father and son, but if you don't want us to do so then I can just be your friend while everyone else believes we're family in order to keep you as safe as possible." Owen said as gently as he could; smiling a bit when green eyes finally looked up at him.

Harry thought quietly for a moment before he finally spoke.

"What about you? Do you want to... to be my father for more than just appearances?" Harry's voice was strained as he said the words.

"Right now I just want to make sure that the people who would want to use you can't get their hands on you. I've been alone for a long time Harry, and I can't know how we'll feel about everything in the future. If you just want to be my son for appearance's sake; I can't know that I won't really see you as my kid someday." Owen said truthfully as Harry's eyes widened just a bit before he continued.

"Right now, I'm leaving how you want to do this up to you. You've just lost everything. If you want to be a family for real... To try to build that kind of bond with me then we can try. Just know that either way, I'm still going to do what I can to keep you away from the people on this island who wouldn't see you as who you are if they knew what you can do. I'm still going to do what I can to protect you." Owen waited for Harry's reply patiently as the teen's breath hitched.

It seemed like something out of a dream for Harry. He'd been an orphan since he was still a baby. His relatives had raised him until then, reluctantly, and had sooner shipped him off to an orphanage than actually adopt him. They hadn't cared for him and had made a point to make sure he would never forget that fact.

They had never let a day pass while he was with him without reminding him exactly how much they hated him.

Yet, here was Owen. A man he had only met that morning who was offering Harry something he had only dreamed of. He wanted other people to know him as Owen's son. He wanted to protect him. He'd said that there was no guarantee that he wouldn't see him as his kid someday even if Harry chose to be his son just for appearances. That had to mean that he was open to the idea of being Harry's father for real, right?

It was the one thing Harry had ever wanted as a small child living in a cupboard under the stairs at his relative's house. It was something that he had given up on even dreaming of, and here it was being offered to him. He had never been wanted and in a way that was what Owen was saying. He wanted Harry. As family.

The only one who had ever said they wanted Harry before had been Sirius, and now Owen.

He was leaving the choice up to Harry. He was asking Harry; who had never been given a choice before by an adult. He'd always had the choices made for him in his life when it came to anything important or had none at all. Yet, Owen was offering him this one.

Harry felt the words leave him breathlessly.

"Okay..." Harry said softly after a few minutes of having been lost in thought.

"Okay?" Owen asked to confirm what the teen was agreeing to.

"Okay. As far as everyone else knows, I'm your son. I know I can't do this by myself... I haven't even finished with school, and now there's no chance of that. I might be able to learn wandlessly, or I might not. The ambient magic is wild, but I feel more connected to it too. I might be able to learn enough with time to protect myself. I do have some books I can read in my bag in the bathroom that I can try a few things from. Right now though, I know I can't really do much." Harry admitted before curling into himself again as he continued.

"Things between us... I don't really know what it's like to have a parent. I don't know that I could be a good son for you. I'm not really normal, and I don't really want to cause you more trouble because of my being some kind of freak. So if you just want to ignore me when we're alone then I'll understand why." Harry's voice grew more and more quiet as he spoke, but Owen heard him clearly and felt his hand curl into a fist as his suspicions were pretty much confirmed.

No child called themselves a freak in the way that Harry meant it unless they had heard it directed to them from someone else first. No kid would expect to be completely ignored by an adult unless that was what they had already experienced. Biting his tongue, Owen took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He knew that Harry would have to be the one to tell him about whatever abuse he had suffered.

It wasn't something he could make the kid tell him about. Not if he ever wanted the kid's trust, and without any trust between them, there was no way to build a real relationship. Honestly, he would rather they be able to build some kind of bond. He would be living with him in close quarters for at least the next few years.

"Harry, we'll be living together at least until you're eighteen. I'm not going to ignore you, and I knew about your magic before I offered to help. You are not a freak. You're just different, and that's not a bad thing. The girls would have killed you if you weren't. " Owen told him with a small quirk to the corner of his lips.

"As for building a parent-child relationship. I haven't been anyone's parent before either. We could learn together. It depends on what you want. How you want to do this." Owen's voice was deep and calm as he spoke so as not to scare the kid currently curled into a ball in the corner of the couch.

"I..." Harry started before biting his lip and going quiet.

Owen waited patiently for him to continue. He knew the boy had to think of what he wanted for himself. Owen had the last few hours to think over everything for himself. He knew what he would like. It would be nice to have a connection with the kid. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone he could call family. They would both have to adjust either way, but he wouldn't push Harry into something he didn't really want.

It was several minutes spent in silence before Harry looked timidly up at the man. Finally, he took a steadying breath.

"I... I want to see if we can really be a family." His voice was soft and not very loud, but Owen smiled when he heard it.

"Then that's what we'll be." He replied before holding out his hand to the teen.

Harry's heart sped up with hope. He had lost everything except the few things he had brought with him, and here this man was offering him a new start. Voldemort had probably hoped to kill Harry with that last curse. While he had lost everyone in his life, he had also gained something. An adult who listened to him, who he might really be able to trust, and hopefully a real family.

Harry smiled as he took Owen's hand only for both of them to stare in shock as a light flashed before enveloping their hands. Harry felt the wild magics around them surge as a small wound opened up painlessly on both of their palms before blood flowed between the two of them. Their blood mixed as they tried to pull away, but the magic held them in place. There was another flash of light that spread over both Harry and Owen as they were finally able to pull away. Once the light was gone, Owen looked at Harry who had curled up with a groan of pain. He moved quickly to see what was wrong even as he noticed that the cuts on their palms had healed leaving no sign they had been there except the traces of blood that remained.

"Harry? What the hell happened?! Are you alright?" He asked as he took Harry's arms gently to move them away from his face only to stare in shock at the slight changes he was seeing while Harry started to relax with small pants.

"I-I don't know. It was the ambient magic here." Harry huffed in confusion as he rubbed gently at the slightly sore muscles in his face before moving down to his neck and staring at his hand in astonished confusion.

"Um, you might want to go look in the mirror." Owen replied before green eyes squinted to look up at him, and something in his tone got Harry moving as he shot to his feet and stumbled into the bathroom.

His sight was blurred and so he took off his glasses to rub at his eyes only to find that he apparently didn't need them anymore. Harry could only gape at what he could see looking back at him in the mirror when he looked up. The changes were subtle, but they were there. The sharper pureblood features of James Potter had softened. His perpetually messy black hair had smoothed into a slight wave that curled toward the ends and had been highlighted with dirty blond streaks that looked natural as they blended into darker strands.

He could still see James in his features, and Lily's eyes, but that dirty blond hair didn't come from either of them. Harry looked to the doorway where Owen stood to find him watching his reaction. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back from the mirror and placed his glasses down on the sink. It would appear he wouldn't be needing them anymore.

"I can kind of guess what happened. You do look more like me physically now. I just don't know why." Owen said only for Harry to pick his folded leather bag off the back of the toilet before picking up the clothes he had shown up in early that morning out of the sink.

"I might have an idea. Let's go sit back down." Harry replied before leaving the bathroom.

He threw away the clothing that couldn't be worn again before carrying the bag back over to the couch. They both sat back down while Owen looked at the small bag in Harry's hands with some curiosity. Harry's lips quirked as he held it up.

"I had this on me during the last task. I didn't know what kind of things we would be seeing in the maze that we had to find our way through. Luckily, I kept most everything except my clothes in it. It's because of that I still have this much, at least. Some of it is actually sentimental, and I'm glad I haven't lost them." Harry explained as he opened the bag and slipped his hand in before going up to his elbow as he felt for what he needed.

Harry let out a chuckle at the surprise on Owen's face before finally pulling out a heavy book. He pulled out three before setting the pouch aside. Opening the one on top, Harry leaned over the small table as he flicked through the pages. After a moment he found what he was looking for. He left that page open as he shuffled to the next book and then repeated the process. It took him almost an hour to read through everything and find what he was looking for. Soon, all three books were open to various sections. It took Harry time to read through the sections, but he explained what he found as he did.

"I thought so. Every witch and wizard is a child until the age of seventeen. It's because my magic is still that of a child. Magical children are not taught before the age of eleven because our magic isn't developed enough. It's not until we turn seventeen that our magical cores become fully developed. Until then we're more vulnerable to the influence of the natural magic around us." Harry explained as he sat back with a slightly guilty look.

"This is my fault. It's because I'm a child of magic. Witches and Wizards form bonds with our parents when we are born. That's why we also have godparents. It's a secondary parental bond so that if our parents die before our majority we still have the bonds with our godparents to keep us stable. It can cause madness among other things if we don't have a bond when our cores fully develop at seventeen. Those bonds must have been broken when Voldemort hit me with that spell. Here." Harry said as he pointed at one of the books with a saddened look.

"What does it say? What language is that?" Owen asked as he leaned over to look at the book only to find he couldn't understand any of it.

"Sorry, all our spells are in Latin so we learn to read it in our first year of school." Harry said a little sheepishly before explaining.

"I lost my bond with my parents when I was still really young. It was alright because even though my godfather was in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, he was still alive. The bond wasn't broken and so I was alright. The spell Voldemort hit me with removed me from that world... I felt like something was missing when I woke up in the paddock. If that was because the bond was broken... Sirius will have felt the bond break. He'll think I'm dead." He forced himself past the hitch in his throat; this was not the time to think about that.

He really didn't need two emotional breakdowns in one day.

"I am a child of magic who had no bonds to stabilize me as my core develops. We've already established that I'm the only one here because of the state of the ambient magic. This is only a guess, but I think that the wild magic acted to protect its child. When we touched after agreeing to see if we could become family, magic itself must have acted to form the bond through blood." Harry said only to see some confusion on Owen's face.

"So what, exactly, did it do?" Owen asked just to clarify it was what he thought.

"You expressed a desire to protect me as family. As a parent. I've always wanted a real family. I think that magic acted on those desires from us both. I'm pretty sure that if we took a DNA test that it would come back that you are my father biologically."

"I thought it would be something like that, but I didn't know how it had happened. Well, it will certainly help if anyone does demand a test to prove you're mine." Owen said thoughtfully only for Harry to choke on his own breath.

"You're really alright with this? I mean... You agreed to act like my dad for appearances and to see if we could have that kind of bond, but this is more than even that. I can't even begin to guess everything the magic did to us when it mixed our blood." Harry said softly as he watched the man that magic itself had proclaimed to be his father now.

"Well, we apparently have that bond until you come of age now. We can just build on that. I told you, Harry. I've been alone for a long time. Thanks to this, neither of us is really alone anymore. Magic just made sure that no one else would be able to disprove our connection. We'll figure out the rest if anything comes up. I'm good, Harry. I had time to think about what I wanted while you were sleeping. Are you alright with this?" Owen asked as he looked at Harry directly so the teen would know he meant what he'd said.

"I... Yeah. I am." Harry replied; a slow smile growing brighter on his face.

"Good. Now we just have to sort out what we're going to be telling people. We'll be having company tomorrow morning, and we're going to want to have our story straight before then." Owen said as he picked up a pen and paper to keep track until they had everything down.

Harry couldn't keep the smile off his face as he turned to start on this new discussion. He knew he would be hurting again in the not too distant future when he thought when the magnitude of what he'd lost hit him again. For right now though, he would bask in this new feeling. This feeling of knowing he had a parent who really did seem to want him.

Magic wouldn't have chosen him if he didn't.

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Well, this didn't come out how I'd planned it originally, but I think it works. Magic taking such a role in the story actually works with the title anyway. That's it for this chapter. The next one is in editing at the moment. Just needs some fleshing out. Happy Holidays and New Year!

Let me know what you thought,

~Ryu