Series title: Paternity

Chapter 4/4

Title: Fate Is Kind

Writer: Azure K Mello

Prongs, I've missed you.

Words: 1,171

They sat talking until the clock struck four in the morning. James asked about Draco Malfoy saying, "So Harry dated his cousin? What's he like? I mean, how is the child of Narcissa and Lucius friends with our boy?"

"Well, I was in hell when it all went down, so I'm a little patchy on it. They wanted him to follow in the family tradition of bigotry and brought him into the fold. Voldemort gave him the assignment of killing Dumbledore. He couldn't do it, lost his nerve, and admitted he was only doing it to protect his mum because apparently she was the collateral they were holding against him. So Dumbledore put her under protection. Meanwhile, he'd been badly poisoned so Severus spent weeks curing him. Draco was then in danger because he'd failed so they had to hide him. And where better to hide a failed Death Eater than with Harry Potter?"

"So they became friends?"

"I really don't know. They hated each other so much. I guess they were both scared and Harry's always had problems sleeping through the night and Draco was running away from his whole life. By the time I found Harry he was very much in love with Malfoy."

"So why's he dating Oliver?"

"They decided they wanted a year apart. They both took gap years between school and university and they wanted to date other people and do interesting things. Next fall they're both enrolled at the University of Sussex for Magical Careers and they'll be talking about getting back together. But Oliver is one of Harry's best friends. They've been traveling all around the world since they graduated. They hooked up with Ron and Hermione a couple of weeks ago in Prague. I think they've already decided to break up after New Years. Then Harry is going to Romania to help Charlie Weasley who works with dragons. He's always had a soft spot for Charlie."

"What do you think's going to happen?"

"They're going to get married."

"Even though they're cousins?"

"Only distant cousins. Draco might even be happier because he was worried about what his family would think of his marrying a wizard with mixed blood. Twenty years ago their matrimony would have been encouraged to keep the line pure. They're too distant to be incestuous. They love each other. And it's not as though the rest of the world will ever know about their blood relation."

"You don't want people to know you're his father?"

"Lily died for him. It seems unkind to tell everyone now that she wasn't his mother."

James bent over his sleeping son's form and slowly kissed his husband. "Love you so much and missed you so badly," said Sirius as James curled his fingers into his hair.

Laughing breathlessly James said, "I'm so pleased your hair grew back out. You looked silly with it cut short."

"Harry was shocked when he saw an old picture, he couldn't imagine in short." He pulled James closer to deepen the kiss but still had their sleeping son's head in his lap.

"We should put him to bed. And then I think you should fuck me through the floor." James stroked the sleeping teen's face, "He seems so nice."

"He really is, James, so much better than we ever were. He even invited Snivellus to Christmas. He's brave and clever and lovely. Honestly, I look at him and the man he's growing into and I can hardly believe he's ours. I'm so proud of him." He smiled at James before he called softly, "Harry? Time for bed."

Harry sat up blinking slowly, "Time?" he asked.

"About four," said James.

The two men guided their son up the stairs. They stopped in front of the curtained picture of Sirius' mother and before she could start screaming Harry said, "You were wrong. My mother wasn't a mud blooded whore; she wasn't my mother at all. Sirius is my father. And I'm as pure blooded as you. Because you're my gran!"

And, as she started screaming about the traitorous fruit of her loins, Sirius pulled the curtains shut and she was forced to fall silent. Sniffing dryly Sirius said, "That was fun." They kept walking.

Harry was half asleep as he fell into bed. Too tired to take off his boots, crawl under the covers, or release his tight grip on Sirius' hand. "Cedric," he muttered and Sirius winced.

"What did he say?" asked James.

"He's dreaming about his first boyfriend being murdered. He always dream about Cedric or me dieing when he's stressed."

"This is my fault," James said sadly.

"No. Not wholly. I should have told him years ago that I was his dad." Harry was clinging to his hand so tightly that Sirius' fingers were going blue. Laughing he kicked his shoes off and said, "I'm sorry, we're in here for the night. He dreams less if there is someone else in the bed."

"Hey," said James with a smile, "in my mind we made love all afternoon."

Sirius stroked his face and asked in a whisper, "What do you remember?"

"Lil and I were in hiding with the baby. So I brought him home for the day 'cause you hadn't seen him in close to a week. And you held him for ages and put him down for a nap. We went to bed for a few hours. We cooked supper together and gave Harry a bath. I took him back to Lily's house. Voldemort came and I sent Lily upstairs with the baby. There was a flash of green light and then I was here with you. For the most part it was a good day."

Sirius sat silent and James couldn't figure out why until he saw his husband's tears glistening in the soft light. Until then Sirius had been turning it off; he hadn't wanted to cry in front of his son. Wordlessly James pulled him into a hug even though heir boy was still holding Sirius' hand. "It wasn't good," he said into James' shoulder, "It was bloody brilliant. I had been so lonely and worried for you. And then there you both were and I had my boys to myself for hours. And then you were gone and I wasn't allowed to even hold my son. I thought I would never see either of you again. You're here now and Harry knows the truth. What if this is one of my turns? What if I'm totally mad? If I am, I don't want to be sane. I just want to stay with you and Harry."

Stroking Sirius' hair rhythmically James kept promising he was real and not going anywhere. The taller man wore himself out and fell into a restful sleep. As he pulled his shoes off James reached for his wand and transfigured Harry's bed into a California king. He conjured a comforter to cover the three of them and extinguished the last of the candles. Today had been seventeen years long.

The End.