Harry Potter and the Unlikely Alliances

Chapter 8: A Lovely Birthday

Chapter 8: A Lovely Birthday

It took two weeks for the paperwork to go through for the adoption. All Harry and Remus had to do was go to the ministry and sign some forms and it would be complete. They used the floo network to get there and arrived in the middle of the large atrium by the fountain that only a few months ago contained the statues of a wizened wizard, witch, centaur and house elf. They had been destroyed when he fought against Voldemort after the prophecy was smashed.

"I see they didn't rebuild the statues that were in the fountain." Harry mumbled on the way to the registration desk. The ministry seemed more subdued and less friendly since the last time he had been there during business hours.

"They did fix the statues, but they refused to be placed inside the fountain, so it remains empty. There was an article in the Prophet about it. It seems they kept wandering out of the fountain when they tried to place them back in there." Remus seemed to find the situation funny.

"I owe my life to those statues, if they hadn't been guarding me I'm sure I would have been hit with a few unforgivables." Harry told them as they stopped at the desk to check in. They handed the man behind the desk their wands.

"Harry Potter!" The young man exclaimed, "Is it true you fought against Voldemort right here in the atrium?" He seemed thrilled with the idea that a famous battle had taken place inches from where he worked.

Remus had his wand weighed and they left without answering the man's questions. They headed for the elevator and met Mr. Diggory on their way up. "Amos," Remus acknowledged.

"Hello Remus," Amos Diggory replied, he had lost a lot of the spark he had before Cedric died. "Harry. The house elf that was brought to me was disposed of, it would not cooperate in any way and used its magic to try and escape." He told them referring to Kreacher.

"Thank you, Amos. it was a danger to the Order." Remus told him, Harry looked surprised that Remus would mention the Order in front of a non-member. "Amos is a member Harry, don't worry." Remus smiled seeing the look on his face.

"I want to do everything I can to help you stop that man, after what he did to Cedric" Amos trailed off.

"I will make him pay for all the lives he's taken and destroyed or I'll die trying." Harry told the father of the first person he ever saw die.

"That means more to me than I can say, Harry." Amos said before Harry and Remus got off the lift. They finished signing all the paperwork. Remus was officially Harry's father; they were a family forever now.

"Now you just need to find me a mum," Harry joked as they left, "You know, Tonks is a nice girl." He loved the stunned look on Remus' face.

"That's just the thing, Harry, she still is a girl. I'm almost old enough to be her father." Remus told his 'son' he liked that Harry thought Tonks wasn't too young, it made him feel young.

"So what? I say that if you like someone, there should be nothing stopping you from being together." He told him, he knew that Tonks had a crush on his 'dad' but he wasn't going to say anything to Remus yet. Harry was much more perceptive than Hermione gave him credit for.

"You are one to talk; I don't see you going out with any girls." Remus told him

"I don't want to put anyone else in harm, everyone that Voldemort thinks I care about he tries to kill. You knew what you were getting into, how can I expect a girl to like me enough to risk dying just because I care about her?" Harry said as they arrived back home.

"But if you let him decide who you care about, you're just letting him destroy more lives." Remus said. It was sad that Harry couldn't be a normal teenager. "Let's just go to the kitchen and get some dinner." He said steering him to the door.