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Life is a game of chance, if one honestly, truly thought about it. Whether or not one believed in God, gods, or science, life was still a game of chance. There was a chance it would be a sunny, a chance it would rain, a chance so-and-so would be arrested, a chance that someone would die in a car accident. Life and death, birth and murder, were the ultimate rolls of the dice. Ultimate gambles of absolute chance. And so, it was mere chance that four stars that should have never aligned, did align.
Emily Rain was born and raised on the street known as Private Drive, a street she eventually got her own house on as well. She lived in Number Eight, Private Drive, in face, just up the street from, only a house away, really, Number Four, where the Dursleys lived. Emily had never met the Dursleys herself, but her next door neighbor at Number Six, Mrs. Cinnamon, refused to stop gossiping about them. Mrs. Cinnamon would go on-and-on about how they were absolutely the worst case of child-spoiling she had ever seen and how their son, Dudley, would never amount to anything productive or contributive in life or to society. It could be rather tiresome to hear about.
It just so happened that, by chance, one rainy day in august, Emily found herself out of work. She had been suspended without pay for something she had not done, which was completely destroy the bathrooms of the fast-food restaurant she worked at. It was complete chance that Mrs. Figg was out of town when Mr. and Mrs. Dursley won a two-person ticket to go on a cruise. However, because this happened, Emily immediately volunteered to babysit their son for the two weeks they were gone.
Dudley Dursley was an absolute nightmare and within the first day, Emily absolutely regretted having offered to take the boy in. It was late at night when she decided to go for a stroll, having finally gotten the little rodent into bed. It was also the fifth day, leaving just nine more days to go. On her way back to her home, she happened to be walking right in front of Number Four when chance struck again. The light in the house was on, causing Emily to stop and frown at the building. That wasn't right - no one should be there.
Emily, of course, did the sensible thing and immediately called the police. She feared a thief, a robber had broken into the Dursley's home. What the police found, instead, completely rewrote how the entire neighborhood saw the Dursley's, the coming of the police waking up everyone. Little Dudley, calling the poor little boy who lived in cupboard under the stairs a "freak", proved that the small, black-haired child lived in Number Four. Emily was horrified to find the boy horribly malnourished and the entire street was in an uproar at the contrast in treatment between the two little boys that shared a house.
Within a week of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley's return to their home, Emily had managed to secure custody of the sweet little boy while Dudley was sent to live with his Aunt and the Dursley's were jailed for child neglect. Emily didn't pay attention to their bail charge or to the length of their sentence, immediately focusing on her sweet new little boy, whom she learned was named "Harry Potter", not that the boy had known that. She decided to keep his name a "Harry" and changed his last name to Rain. They did not know his middle name, so she left that alone.
Once the entire fiasco was done with, Emily was approached by a man named Remus Lupin, who had caught wind of what happened. He was apparently an old friend of his parents and told her everything she needed to know about little Harry. She might not have believed Remus had she not caught Harry playing with a snake (one that was acting shockingly docile) or seen Remus turn her phone into a turnip briefly. Somehow, Remus had been the only one to receive word about the trial of the Dursley's and Harry's change in custody in the Wizarding World (he'd told her that most wizards were horribly arrogant). Remus told her that Harry's middle name was James and urged her to leave the country with Harry, which in turn caused her to request that Remus come with her. Remus could not help but agree.
That was how Emily Rain, a normal woman by most definitions, found herself with the custody of a five-year-old wizard and a werewolf for a new roommate. They ended up moving to America and settling down in Manhattan, New York. They lived in peace for nearly a year before Emily, who had legally changed her name to Beatrice Lighthouse once gaining citizenship in America, found herself in custody of a six-year-old boy who was just barely a few weeks younger than Harry, who had the new last name of Lighthouse as well (Remus had also taken the name Lighthouse, the two claiming to be cousins).
It had been a somewhat stormy day, but without wind, lightning, or thunder, though any body of water still raged as though there was, when a knock had come to the door of the Lighthouse apartment. On the landing outside, absurdly dry, cradling a sleeping toddler with a tear-stained face in one arm and holding a trident in one hand, was a man dressed in a fishing shirt, kaki shorts, flip-flops, and a fishing hat. The little black-haired boy he was holding, who looked shockingly like Harry, was also suspiciously dry. As Beatrice, formerly Emily, stared at the trident, the man gave a weak chuckle.
"I see you're clear-sighted," the man said. "Yes, that's a trident. May I come in? I have a favor to ask of you and I promise that the explanation behind it will explain the trident. I can sense the magic in this house, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Beatrice? Who is it?" she heard Remus, who had kept his original first name but was wearing glamour to look more like he was related to her and to also hide his former identity, call.
"Just a visitor, Remmy," Beatrice called back to the man, whom she had become quite close friends with since the two had started living together. "Sure, c'mon on in."
And so the man, sighing in relief, came in. The toddler was laid down in Harrys' room with Harry watching over the other boy, promising to come right to Beatrice if the six-year-old woke up.
"So," Beatrice said cautiously, "who are you and why did you show up with your kid?"
"My name is Poseidon," the man replied, seeing no reason to lie to the woman. "By Poseidon, I mean Greek god of the ocean and all those other titles I have. That toddler in the other room is my son, Perseus Jackson, and a demigod."
This led into an explanation about demigods in the real world, about Camp Half-Blood, and how demigods were hunted down by all those ancient Greek monsters. As it turned out, Sally Jackson and her husband, Gabriel Ugliano, had been mauled to death by Hell Hounds. Poseidon had only arrived in time to save his son's life, having been keeping an eye on the boy because of how much he loved his son. Poseidon had been headed towards Camp Half-Blood over at Long Island, actually, when he had sensed the magic of Harry and Remus by chance. As it turned out, magical signatures somehow blocked a demigod's scent when the magic wasn't from that pantheon (the wizards had apparently broken off from the Egyptian pantheon's magicians years back, hence the need for a medium of some sort) and it helped even more that Remus was a werewolf.
Of course, Percy, just like Harry, came with some baggage in the form of bloody prophecy, only this one was much, much worse. This, of course, also led to an explanation about WWII and the Pact of the Big Three and the possible consequences placed on Percy because Poseidon had by chance fallen for Sally, who had supposedly been barren. Of course, Beatrice found that, like with Harry, she just could not turn the poor little boy away. And so, Beatrice found herself with the custody of one six-year-old little boy who had no other relatives to turn to and happened to be a demigod of all things.
Percy had taken the news about his adoption relatively well and was rather grown-up for a six-year-old, leading Beatrice to learn about the fact that Gabe had been abusive. Harry and Percy actually bonded over their experiences with abuse/neglect by someone who was supposed to be caring towards them and the two quickly became like twins instead of adopted siblings. In fact, when Beatrice and Remus moved to Jasper, Nevada (they could not possibly stay in the shadow of the Empire State Building - it was much too dangerous! Oh, and the desert hid Percy's hydrokinesis very well), Beatrice found people asking if it was hard raising a pair of twins despite having her cousin around. She didn't have the heart to correct anyone that she wasn't their birth mother (they all had black hair and some form of resemblance, so it wasn't too surprising they were being mistaken for a blood-family) and the boys also did not correct the fact that they were not twins. In fact, a year after Percy came into their lives, he demanded that he and Harry share a birthday like "all twins do". How could she possibly deny her little boys?
Since they had moved again, once again names had been changed. Harry and Percy kept their original names of "Harry James" and "Perseus" - Percy didn't have a middle name - while Beatrice and, this time, Remus changed their full names. They did it legally of course. This was how Jasper came to know "the Darbys", which, as far as the town was concerned, consisted of Juniper "June" Darby, Perseus "Percy" Darby, Harry James Darby, and Alexander "Alex" Darby.
It was two years after Percy came to live with them, in the year 2000, when June, formerly Beatrice and Emily, found herself saddled with a third, and final, child. June had been traveling all the way to the next town over to receive schooling for a medical degree so she could become a nurse at Jasper General, which meant that Alex, formerly Remus, had to watch Harry and Percy when they weren't at school (the two had turned into a pair of little pranksters on her somehow). It was late and June was about half-way back to Jasper and she was very, very exhausted, as she had to get up early and go to bed late to make the trip, when it happened.
June had slammed on her breaks to watch wide-eyed as, just a quarter of a mile away from her, something slammed into the ground. She saw the sands of the desert shift and felt the earth shake from the impact. June stared at where the dark, billowing smoke and the dying glow of something previously on fire was. She weighed her options before she finally decided to check it out. She shut off her car and walked over to it.
By chance, that "something" turned out to be an alien space pod. By chance, said space pod had broken open and inside came the sounds of wailing. The pod itself was completely silver in color and was leaking a strange fluid, one that had a scent that burned June's nose. The liquid was a glowing blue that was a shade she had never seen before, an alien shade. As the wails encased in static continued, June pushed forward despite the smell. The wails sounded like the recording of a baby crying, concerning her greatly.
When June peered into the crashed pod, however, she gasped in utter shock. There, on the seat in the insanely large pod, was being just about her size, but was very clearly a baby. It was wailing, a strange fluid dripping from it's eyes that did not smell like tears. It was different and look different than tears. The little being had the strangest shade of blue eyes she had ever seen and it was made entirely of metal. It was mostly silver, but in some areas there was something like an outer shell growing, a protective casing of some kind. It was mainly a midnight blue or dark grey color, but some spots were as black as she had seen space it be in pictures. June was so entranced in shock by the little creature that it took her a moment to realize that it had stopped wailing and was staring right back, eerily silent.
June didn't know what to do, but the little being let out a static-y giggle and reached out for her. It made a strange, coo-like click-whir sound at her as it reached towards her, as if asking 'are you my mommy?' She wasn't really sure how to react, but something inside of her, some deep instinct made her reach back. When her hand made contact with the smooth, slippery metal the little one was made out of, she could not help but wonder if it was covered in some kind of liquid. Shortly after she made contact, however, her knees felt week as a sudden spark went through her body.
When June was next aware of her surroundings, she felt as if she had been briefly blinded by a strange light. She was lying on the large seat in the broken pod, alerting her that it hadn't been a dream. Yet the strange being was just gone and a little boy was leaning over her with eyes much too intelligent for a boy who looked to be about ten years old. June took in his appearance and felt her eyes go wide in shock. He had her storm-blue eyes, pale skin, and messy black hair. She stared at the boy who suddenly giggled.
"New Mommy okay?" the little boy asked.
June's heart promptly melted at the sound of the little boy's voice and she knew that he was right. She made first contact with this odd little boy, who she had an odd feeling was little alien she had been staring at before, and he was hers now. He had no one else and she would look into legally adopting him as soon as possible. By the end of the week, she had completed her goal, leaving her in custody of three overly curious little boys who were utterly inseparable. This was how Jackson "Jack" Darby entered the family and June always smiled at the look on Harry and Percy's face when they met the strange little replica of their mother.
Over the years as June raised her boys, they quickly became known as the Darby Triplets and became quite well known in little Jasper, Nevada. Percy was the bad-boy who also got in trouble and defended his family from everything and never got bullied. He eventually became the hottest and most sought after boy in town with a perfect smile. Harry, despite his scrawny and weak appearance, became the best soccer and basketball player in town as he grew. He also had a few close friends while Percy was social butterfly as the years went on, though he gave June and Alex, formerly Emily and Remus, a heart attack when he returned home with an invitation to Ilvermorny on day of his eleventh birthday (they had been briefly terrified it was Hogwarts letter and Britain had found them).
Jack was the "odd" one of the family, a goody-two-shoes, if one would. He was the physically weakest and loved to tinker with things. Percy and Harry loved their brother and defended him always, though Jack disliked violence and was rather shy. He was a bookworm and loved to learn about things, especially history. Unlike Percy and Harry, Jack didn't do sports or anything social, really.
June loved her boys all the same, even if Percy drove her up the wall with his pranks and bad behavior. It was a tough day when a satyr and three kids found Percy, wanting his help in a war that would start on Percy's sixteenth birthday. However, the trouble that Harry and Percy would get into starting at ages eleven and fourteen respectively would never compare to what started when her three boys turned seventeen. The day that June finally learned the truth of where Jack came from, even if the boy never remembered it and June never told a soul.
Looking back on her life, June never regretted taking in those three little boys who had nowhere else to go. Even so, she wished that each of them came with a warning for just how hectic things would get. She knew of the two prophecies, but she was never told just how atrocious their luck would be. Even so, June was so happy to have raised her precious Darby Triplets, even if they were not truly triplets.
To think that it all could have never happened. That it all only happened by chance, but the aligning of stars that should never have crossed paths.