Destinies Collide

Night of Samhain

A/N: so... it's been a minute, huh? (more for Ao3 readers than any others XD) Sorry bout that, can't really control when the muse cooperates. Hopefully, this chapter makes up for it.

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The ride back home is quiet, which has him worrying until he realises Harry is fast asleep. Michael can't blame him, it's only four in the afternoon but his ward has had quite an emotional time so far and if all of it was making him tired just thinking about it, he can't imagine how the eight-year-old must feel.

He'd never seen his parents , he sighs at the thought. The constant anger at the Dursleys, which had reduced to a simmer, burning steadily stronger.

Michael hadn't thought to ask, and it's not as if the few history books that mentioned the Potters had ever provided an illustration. He should have thought of that, but at least there's still time to correct this mistake. He will reach out to Chang first, of course, to be sure any inquiries won't raise the wrong sorts of questions, but it should be fine if he's suitably discreet about it, maybe look for some equivalent of a Hogwarts yearbook, some old newspapers, or ask around for their old acquaintances to part with copies of any pictures they might have. That is, however, something he can't fix in a rush and thus a worry for another day.

The lack of urgency doesn't stop him from trying to think up strategies on how to contact the necessary people, without alerting the wizarding world that he has custody of Harry, until the moment he parks in front of his home. The door closing behind him doesn't startle his ward out of his impromptu nap and even opening the boy's door doesn't disturb his sleep at all, so he resigns himself to unbuckling the seatbelt and pulling the child into his arms, a little glad when the weight is a bit more significant than the last time and with a passing thought to thank Dahlia for the nutritional potions. A smile pulls at the corner of his lips when Harry loops his arms around his neck, face pressing on his shoulder, clearly not too asleep but not wanting to wake up fully, it brings back memories of his own childhood habit of feigning sleep so his mother or father would carry him to bed, though it hardly worked once he'd aged over five.

He ignores the stairs leading up to Harry's bedroom once he's made his way inside and just tucks the boy onto the couch with a throw blanket, not seeing the need to wake him up when they'll both need to be awake later than usual for the ritual at midnight, Harry could definitely use some rest to ensure he doesn't fall asleep in the middle of it. Said ritual still requires a couple of preparations, so he leaves his ward and starts on those, looking into the fridge to find his requests to Marie had been fulfilled during their outing and various dishes for their dinner were properly stored to be finalised at the correct time. Setting the table takes some time and it's the last of the indoor tasks, allowing him to move on to the back garden.

They had taken care of some of it the day before - though most of it had been spent studying the holiday and memorising the ritual along with Harry - and the garden now sported a makeshift fire pit where they'd dug out the grass and made a circle of stones, in the centre a pile of wood waiting to be lit in a few hours. There are some leaves strewn about that were not there the day before, so he goes to fetch the rake from the shed to clear them out. Opening its wooden door, his eyes stray to a few items he hasn't made use of in a while and an idea crosses his mind, solidifying by the second.

Hopefully, Harry will enjoy it.

~

Harry wakes up nearly rolling out of the couch before actually realising where he is and panicking just enough to make him fall out of it, legs tangled on the throw blanket but his arms at least protecting his head while he gets his breath back from his spot on the floor. He hears footsteps coming close quickly and sits up in a hurry, nearly making himself dizzy all over again.