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Harry Potter and the Slytherin Heirs	By : SilverAngel621 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 9448 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I make nothing from this fic.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Chapter 13
It had taken a lot of convincing and negotiating and guilting and then finally threatening with the twins to get Tom to let him go out to meet Luna on the 28th. It was the threat of sticking the twins on Tom that worked. He pulled out that card only when he was really desperate. Especially after the fiasco at the ministry when Harry came home with red rimmed eyes, Tom had been more reluctant to let him go outside. It was only because it was Luna that Tom let him go. He saw her as harmless and Harry usually came home with a lightened mood after one of their get togethers.
There was little café fashioned in the Parisian style, a hole in the corner place, in Hogsmead. Cheekily called La Petite Mort, it was a neutral place Harry could meet Luna. According to Luna, it had the best rose macarons. With an order of the famed sweets and a tea tray for them, Harry waited. Half a dozen death eaters in plain clothes surrounded him in various camouflages. One was even a waiter at the restaurant. Tom knew his habits and with the recent developments, Harry had to be extremely careful.
He'd gotten Luna's owl with the message saying she would be free to come meet him today, which was really code for the go ahead to the meeting. Though the message said to meet at Honeydukes, what he'd really meant was to have Luna leave her hair and a vial of polyjuice potion for the person he'd wanted to meet. They would have an hour to talk here, and even then it would have to be in codes. Privacy was a concept Tom was unfamiliar with. Paranoia ran rampant among all the other idiosyncrasies in that man's head. It had only gotten worst after the Russian incident.
“Harry.”
Glancing at his wrist watch, Harry saw she, or rather he, was right on time. Noon to the dot.
Luna stood stiffly before him, with none of her airy grace. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a disguised death eater guard scrutinizing them over his cup of tea. Plastering a large smile over his face, he pushed back his chair and wrapped his arms around Luna in a stiff hug.
“Luna, it is so good to see you!” The false cheer finally alerted Luna to the eyes around them and she offered a stilted smile in return.
Harry waved at the seat before him and she took the proffered seat. Her normally serene expression was confused and if not a bit angry. Before she could speak, Harry pushed the plate of macarons closer to her and took a sip of his lukewarm tea.
“I ordered your favorites, rose macarons.” Luna looked at the plate and took one gingerly in her fingers, expecting it to be poisoned. She lifted it slowly to her mouth, looking at him the entire time, before gingerly taking a bite. She chewed slowly and put the rest of the delicacy back on the generous pyramid of pink colored circles.
“Perhaps you are not hungry.” Harry reached forward for one of them and took a big bite. He made a show of chewing enthusiastically on it, though it tasted like dust to his taste buds.
“No, I am not. I was curious…” Luna, too obvious in her perusal, looked around for any suspicious faces but the death eaters were too well trained to be noticed by untrained eyes like hers. “…why did you call me here?”
“I haven't seen you in long time and it is normal to miss ones friends. How are things going with you? I've heard you opened a new office in New York?,” Harry begged with his eyes for Luna to understand.
Luna frowned for a minute before nodding uncertainly.
“I've always wanted to visit New York. I mean I’ve never actually been anywhere, not voluntarily anyway and certainly not for vacations.” Harry prattled on inanely. He needed to lull the death eaters into a sense of complacency enough for the them to overlook what he was about to do next.
“I'm not sure that I can Harry. A few things have come up-“ Luna yelped when Harry's clumsy hands tipped her untouched cup of tea all over her robes.
“Merlin, Luna I'm so sorry! Let me help you.” Harry rounded the table with a napkin in hand and began patting at the rapidly cooling wet spot. Luna tried to brush his hands off at the same time as she tried to clean up the mess herself with her wand. Two waiters hovered near them ready to help.
“Harry stop, its nothing I can just-“ this time Luna cut herself off when she felt the crinkle of parchment being tucked into the waistband of her jeans by Harry's fumbling fingers.
Laughing nervously, Harry waived the waiters off. One of them brought over another fresh pot of tea and a new cup set for Luna. They cleaned up the spilled mess on the table and took away the cup. Harry walked back to his seat. “Again, I’m sorry. I’m so clumsy sometimes and it's at the worst times too! At a ministry party last year, I tripped over the Princess of Hungary’s train and fell on top of the Minister of Magic of Canada. You remember, it was all over the papers. Yours was the only one that found it funny, all the others thought it was disgraceful of me.”
Luna smiled in amusement. “Yes, I remember.” Relaxing a bit, Luna sat back in her seat. “How have you been Harry?” She asked with genuine concern. Her voice lowered an octave. “I know the past days haven't exactly been easy for you, but you have to understand how much more painful it was for…us. It's like things have been stagnant for ten years.”
Before Luna could continue and give away their entire game, Harry reached forward and enfolded her idle hands in his own. “I've learned I need to stay out of things I have no business being in. It was a mistake.” He said meaningfully.
Luna nodded. “It was still nice seeing you. So how are the children? Hadrian still giving you trouble?”
“No more than usual. I'm sure you've heard about Rita Skeeter’s article and things have been a bit strained. But otherwise, health wise and everything-all the kids are good. Great, actually.” Harry regaled Luna all about his children. The real Luna knew all of this from their frequent correspondences but this polyjuiced Luna didn't. And Harry supposed they'd been friends once, and they might like to know about his children. Sure Severus, Fenrir, and the Lestrange brothers acted as uncles to the children and the Malfoys were a second home to the kids, but they were all Tom's minions that Harry inherited. He'd have liked his children to know his own friends, the ones he'd made at Hogwarts and that knew him in his younger years.
In the middle of a story about the twins and their endless terror, a strand of Luna’s moonlight blond hair turned to a garish, orange red.
“I'll have to cut this meeting short, Luna. I have to get back to Orion.” Harry caught Luna's confused expression and gestured with his eyeballs towards the revealing strand. Luna quickly caught on.
“Of course. I must be off as well. It's time consuming you know, running a magazine and all.” Luna stood up so quickly, her chair toppled back. But before the bit of furniture could bang on the ground, a hand caught it and put it upright.
Tom towered above Luna, smirking. “An interesting shade, Ms. Lovegood. Though I cannot say it suits you.”
Luna gulped. Her wand slipped out of her wrist holster and her rapidly changing fingers curled around the wooden length.
“What are you doing here?” Harry hoped to divert Tom's attention to him. He would not put another soul in danger because of him.
Tom called over a waiter to bring him a seat at the table. Fearful of him-as they should be- they hastened to comply and a second later Tom folded his large body between Harry and Luna. “Sit.” He commanded but he didn't allow Luna time to comply on her own.
“Tom-“
Taking a hold of Harry chin, Tom leaned in close and let the glamour fall from his eye. “Later.” Harry pulled away from him with a glare.
Two death eaters appeared behind Luna and forcibly pushed the girl into her vacated seat. Her skin rippled over her bones, expanding to accommodate a greater muscle mass. Her robes stretched over her expanding shoulders and chest. Muscles and bones expanded and shrank until Bill Weasley sat before them. Stark white claw marks stood out prominently across his face. Death eater hands still shackled him to the seat.
“Mr. Weasley, I cannot say it is a pleasure.”
Bristling, Bill sneered. “Voldemort. It seems we share the same sentiments.”
“I had always thought that Fenrir should have eaten you instead of keeping you as a pet. I should have pressed the issue harder back then. I will never understand the side bond.” Tom stole Harry's cup of tea and took a sip for himself, grimacing.
“My dear, this is offensive to the tongue.” Tom used wandless magic to warm up the contents to his liking. “Much better. Now why would you two be sneaking around my back just to have tea? Something to hide, perhaps?” He pulled out his wand and rested it in front of him. Bill followed the movements closely.
Harry slapped his hand over Tom's and the wand. “Tom, please, I called him here –“
“to apologize.” Bill interrupted. “Ron was angry when Harry came to the ministry two days ago. It was because of you that he was in Azkaban for ten year.”
Tom flipped his hand so that his palm pressed flush against Harry's sweaty ones. “Give me a reason to believe that lie.”
Harry huffed and folded his hands over his chest. He'd never been good at lies, or liked them for that matter, so he let the silence speak for him. Tom nodded, as if that was what he'd been expecting.
“Search him.” The death eaters sprung to action and cast revealing spells all over Bill. They broke through his bodily wards and ripped open his clothes. It yielded nothing. Growing impatient with their incompetence, Tom let go of Harry's hand and cast a silent spell. A small folded note appeared from thin air in front of bill. He floated to in front of him and opened the note.
He read it with a growing frown, casting a few spells on the paper. When nothing changed, Tom raised a brow and looked at Harry in question. Wordlessly he showed him the note.

Ron I am sorry. I never meant for things to turn out the way they have, but nothing can make me regret my children. I know you hate me, that Hermione hates me but I will always choose them. I am just sorry that choosing them put you in harm’s way. I can only wish the best for you. Know that I will treasure our friendship always.
-Harry

“You were telling the truth, Mr. Weasley. How refreshing to be proven wrong. However, I do disagree with the contents. You have nothing to apologize for, Harry.” He crumpled the paper.
Harry had to force himself to keep his relieved sigh a prisoner. He hadn't been sure if revealing spells would work against muggle invisible ink; he'd worked in his secret message within the spaces of the fake note on the assumption that most magic didn't work on muggle inventions. As long as Bill got the real note to Hermione and Ron, then Harry was happy to perpetuate this lie. Coming from muggles herself, Harry just hoped that Hermione remembered the few times they'd exchanged letters using invisible ink during the Great War.
“You may decide a lot of things in my life but you do not get to decide for what I feel sorry for.” Harry pried open Tom's fist and took out the piece of paper. With gentle hands he smoothed the paper out and refolded it before offering it to Bill again. “I need Ron and Hermione to know this, so if you could please have your lackeys take their hands off Bill?”
With an undecipherable look, Tom tilted his head fractionally in a nod. The death eaters took their hands of Bill.
Huffing, Bill stood up from his seat and straightened his robes. “Harry, it was nice seeing you. But I think I will take my leave now.” He gingerly stepped around the hulking death eaters and walked off. Though it was the holidays, Hogsmead still had a decent amount o people visiting. Bill disappeared among the other witches and wizards. Unnoticed to Harry or Bill, a death eater followed.
“Do I have to monitor all of your correspondences to Ms. Lovegood now?” Tom drawled.
Harry took back his cup. “”You don't have to monitor anything of mine.”
“Don't I?”
Harry blew delicately on his tea. “How did you figure out the code in my letter to Luna?”
“I didn't.” Harry blinked at him from over the rim of his cup, asking for an explanation wordlessly. “I'm having every one of the Weasleys followed.”
Harry slammed his cup down. Brown liquid sloshed over the rim and stained the pristine white lace cloth below. “What?! Why?” Now Hermione would never be able to do what he'd asked of her in his note.
“I saw a memory in Umbridge’s mind. She was in a meeting with Rita Skeeter and a red haired man.” Tom seemed annoyed at having to explain. He didn't like to share anything with Harry but discovered that keeping Harry in the dark put him in more danger.
“And you're tell me this just now? And please don't tell me you think only the Weasleys have red hair in this entire country?”
“Not with that particular shade of red, there is not. You should have asked him what he and his family were doing associating with W.A.N.D.S. I did not think members of the order would associate with blood traitors.”
Harry frowned. Tom wouldn't lie to him about this, but he could not image the Weasleys he knew willingly wanting to work with a woman like Umbridge. Perhaps they wanted Rita's book to discredit Tom, but in the article Skeeter had stated the book was primarily about him. But then he was a horcrux; what if Rita knew about horcruxes? It wasn't exactly a secret, anyone could find out about horcruxes if they did enough research like Tom had when he'd been a teen. Lily was a perfect example. He was at a large disadvantage not knowing what was in the book.
“Did you get a chance to look at that book?” He was already thinking up of ways to cajole Tom into letting him see the book.
“Yes. And no, you cannot read it. I already burned it. Someone took pages out of the book, but from what was left it is nothing good.”
“What do you mean pages were taken out? Who do you think did it? How could that happen, Tom?” Harry's voice got louder and louder in his agitation. If pages were missing than that meant someone had them, and that someone could give them to other someones. Someones like his children, who had no business knowing about Harry's and Tom's past more than what they'd already told them. “Tom, what if the missing pages turn up in the media? And our children see? Merlin knows what Rita's written.”
Tom clenched his fists, his nostrils flared. His upper lip curled over his sharp, canine teeth. “You think I don't know that? I've taken precautions but we still have to be wary. Which is why I can't have you meeting Order members at your leisure.”
“You pardoned them. They are no longer associated with the Order,” Harry refuted belligerently. The only reason the entire Weasley family wasn't rotting away in prison cells like many other Order members was because of Harry. He'd used his pull with Tom to influence their trials. They'd always been covered during raids and any death eater witnesses had been silenced by Tom's after Harry pleaded with him to spare them. He'd been pregnant with Hadrian at the time, highly hormonal and prone to random outburst of crying. Tom, who's been ill equipped to handle a pregnant man readily gave in to most of his demands when he'd started crying.
“That is irrelevant!” Tom snapped. “You are a Riddle; therefore they see you as an enemy. They will kill you.”
Harry laughed. “Last time I check, my name was still Harry James Potter, not a Riddle in sight in that name.”
Tom leaned forward until Harry was pressed back against his seat almost uncomfortably. He slouched down to avoid him.
“How tragically true. I can marry you and give you my name, would that make you happy?”
Huffing, Harry pushed his hands over Tom's chest trying to breath without the man inches from his face. “Do I look crazy? I don't particularly dream of joining my magical core to yours in a marriage and giving you even more power over me than this collar does.”
Tom let Harry push him back and relaxed back in his seat. “Pity. We could have had a wedding night to look forward too.”
Harry gasped, making Tom smirk in delight. Blushing profusely and with nothing to say Harry reached over for a macron and stuffed his face with it. Then he took another one to munch on as he glared at Tom. He didn't stop until the entire plate was finished.
Brushing crumbs from the corner of his mouth, Harry stood up. “Since you interrupted so rudely, you can pay the check.”
Harry flounced off without another backwards glance. He didn't look back to see if Tom was doing as he'd been told. He weaved through the other wizards down the street towards Honeydukes. A hand grabbed his elbow and stopped his short. Recognizing the iconic duo, other wizards gave them a wide berth as they hurried along.
“Where do you think you are going?”
Harry pulled experimentally on his arm but Tom had an iron hold on him. “I am going to Honeydukes to pick up some candy for the children. The minute they heard I was coming to Hogsmead, they wouldn’t let go of my leg until I promised to bring them some. And if I come home empty handed, I'm going to blame you and let you weather the twins wrath.”
Reasonably cowed, Tom released Harry's elbow. Instead, he intertwined his arms with Harry's.
Looking at their enjoined arms, Harry looked at it as if an extra limb had sprouted out of his side. “Um, what are you doing?”
Tom started straight ahead as he pulled Harry towards the brightly lit store down the snowy street. “I am accompanying you to your little shopping trip.”
Well, that was no explaination at all. Speaking slowly as if to a child, Harry asked again. “Yes, but why are you walking me there. It's more like you dragging me but thats just semantics, I suppose. But don't you have dark lord things to do? Like crucio-ing hapless minions?”
Tom huffed and rolled his eyes. Actually rolled his eyes. Harry smiled. “I needed a break from their stupidity.”
Harry chuckled. A harsh breeze blew cold air at them and Harry instantly cuddled closer to the closest source of warm. “That's very responsible of you. You might get carpel tunnel syndrome if you don't rest your wrist for a few days.”
Tom was not amused. “Besides, Salazar is running the office and the twins were driving me crazy. Thanks to Cerise I now know more that I want to know about the the digestive habits of dragon. Those three have made the manor uninhabitable. So I thought I could spend some time with you.”
“Ah, so I'm the least objectionable option?” Harry looked behind the table to see a contingent of death eaters openly following them. He was sure even more were following them with notice-me-not spells.
“Yes.”
They walked for a while until they stood into the doorway of the candy store. Tom signaled for the death eater to go on ahead and secure the place. They would make sure there were no threats and clear the store out of all other visitors. It was all normal procedure.
In the interim, Tom steered him under a small hang way to protect them from the falling snow. A few of the snow flecks decorated Tom's black hair and shoulder. He plucked a particulate large snowflake out of Tom's hair with a small laugh then blew it into Tom's face. At the man's grimace, Harry grinned wide.
Tom took out his wand and with one spell, cleared himself and Harry of the white flecks.
Harry rolled his eyes. “You're no fun. If I attacked you with a snowball I'll bet you'd just melt it away before it hit you.”
When he was a child, he and Dudley used to play in the snow during winters; if it could be called that at all. Dudley used to make a game out of pegging him with snowballs, always aiming for his face. His glasses had broken once during such an assault. With his children though, he got to rewrite the past. Every winter found him and his children roughhousing and playing in the snow. Snow angels, snow forts, epic snowball fights, snow men, the works. Even Salazar who came only for Harry as a nostalgic nod to winters he used to share alone with Harry before Hadrian and the rest came along. He'd stand and glare at anyone who dared to even think about hitting him with a snowball; the only one who got away with it was Harry of course. Salazar would grumble and glare while Harry laughingly offered him a snowball to get back at him. The stoic boy would always decline with a sneer, saying there were better ways to get back at his mother other than the simple (and unimaginative) means Harry had suggested. How much his eldest son reminded him of Tom.
“Why would you throw a snowball at me? It has no purpose”
“For fun Tom! Lemme show you.”
Harry bent down to scoop up some snow. Packing his handful tight between his palms, he took a small step back from Tom and gently tossed the snowball at Tom's chest. It smashed against the solid wall of muscle and crumpled in a white flurry. Tom brushed off the remnants of snow clinging to his dark coat.
“Yes, fun.” The bored intonation of his voice said otherwise. He pulled Harry back under the hang way, as Harry had stepped out far enough to be exposed to the weather again. Not a millimeter separated them as Tom brushed off the new layer of snow on Harry's wild mess of hair. The younger wizard stayed docile under his ministrations.
“We could almost pass for boyfriends you know,” Harry mused. “Standing underneath this hang way, maybe to steal a kiss. I've never had one. Never been on a date either. When I was fighting for the Order during those six years away, I was too busy hating you and the death eaters to do anything.”
Tom's hand dropped from Harry's hair. “And now?”
“Now I'm taking care of unruly Riddles to be too bothered to have a boyfriend - not to mention a really possessive bastard that's keeping me under constant surveillance,” Harry adopted a light tone, though a hint of censure seeped through the words.
“What does a boyfriend do?” Tom asked haltingly.
Harry cocked his head to the side in confusion. “You're asking the man who’s never had one.”
Tom shrugged. “Indulge me.”
Bemused, Harry pulled up all the tropes he'd seen in movies and the few juvenile examples he'd seen in his Hogwarts years. He wasn’t thinking of the couples he’d seen in adult hood. They knew themselves, knew their goals and expectations out of a relationship. No, he was talking about boyfriends at a time when it was new and fast and wild. The first time a couple kissed, when they started depending on one another with all the drama and exuberance of a teen. With unrealistic and unfulfilled hopes of a teenage romance, how beautiful and messy it was. Harry had never had that. He wanted the unexperienced fumbles of clumsy hands exploring in excitement, the shared laughter of awkward moments between two strangers just getting to know each other. He supposed older wizards also experienced the same but how would he know? He'd been thrust into the life of an adult with all the responsibilities the second Trelawny spoke that prophesy.
“I don't know, I guess they hug and kiss. They talk about whatever comes up to their minds and they make corny and stupid jokes. They grope each other when they get the chance and are practically inseparable. They smile whenever they think of each other, they fight but always make up. They overlook each other's faults, not because they don't pay attention but because the good outweighs the bad.”
“And do you want that?”
Harry tutted. “Where would I even get that?” At Tom's silence, Harry's eyes widened. His face said it all. The other man would never ask but Harry wasn't sure he had an answer either.
“Tom?”
With a frustrated growl, Tom pushed away from Harry and walked a few steps back. He couldn't find the words to voice what he wanted. There was so much history between them, too much baggage to start anew. Tom looked lost and frustrated and angry. But it was endearing to Harry. To see a man normally so composed, almost painfully so. It made him untouchable, unreachable. It made him human. But this uncertainty, it hinted that Tom was not in power. It gave Harry the confidence he needed to do this. What he and Tom had was unconventional. But it was the only thing he had. For the past days Tom had given him things he hadn't in the past. He listened to him and kept him abreast of the things going on. They were finally on the same page.
“Tom, I want to start over. Seeing how the children reacted, it put so many things into perspective. I want to give them the kind of parents I never had, I don't want them to hate you, or me. And to do that, I can't hate you. But you have to start trusting me and treating me like an autonomous person. Not someone you can spell into wanting you. You have to give me choices. And if I do something you don't like, you can get angry but don't force me to do things your way.”
Tom frowned at him but said nothing. Harry walked to him as if he were a dangerous predator. He had to tread carefully, lest the animal get spooked and leap at him. With a soft smile, Harry held up his hand. Bemused, Tom went to grab it. Harry grinned and shook it.
“Hi, my name is Harry. I have nine kids and a psychotic killer for a lover. Nice to meet you-?”
“What are you doing?” His tone clearly said that he thought Harry had gone completely bonkers.
Harry sighed. Of course Tom couldn’t play along to that. “I'm trying to be friends with you. I appreciate what you've done in the past days. You have kept me in the dark like you always do but you eventually told me about it. And you're also doing a lot of good things, and I can see that. So thank you.”
“Friends, you want to be friends? Tom scoffed.
“I think friends is a good start.” Harry countered. He wasn't ready for what Tom clearly wanted. He didn't know this man very well and yet he'd created this entire life around this man. Even after all these years, Tom was a mystery to him. He'd spent so many years hating Tom, and rightly so. But hating him consumed energy he didn't have to spare. It would be useless to waste away his days wanting something different from him. He'd rather expend his efforts to try and make what he wanted out of what he already had.
“I want get to know you, outside of you being a dark lord. Outside of you being my children's father. I want to know about Tom Riddle as a kid, as a teen. And I'll tell you about me. And you will continue to keep me informed about Umbridge and Rita and the W.A.N.D.S. Society and anything else that comes up. We're going to go slow. Okay?”
Harry gazed expectantly at Tom. He needed Tom to accept his proposal. He want things to change. They needed to talk and understated one another. For the past years, they'd only been putting a bandage over a festering wound hoping that hiding it didn’t bother them. But it did. If there was a silver lining in Rita's book, it was this. It made Harry realize how stagnant things had been and how much he wanted, no needed a change. Not only for the kids, but for himself. Taking the bandage off, treating the wound no matter how painful, and letting it heal properly is what he and Tom needed. It wouldn't erase everything, the wound would leave a scar, but they wouldn't need a bandage anymore.
“Alright.” Tom finally answered.
Harry beamed. This time around, he was the one to loop his arms through Tom's. The death eaters filed out of the store and held it open to them. It was warmly and cozy inside, with the sweet smells of chocolates and fruits permeating the air.
“I like this. We should do this more often. You know, go places and just do nothing or do everything. I always wanted to go the fair but the Durselys never took me, you know. I saw pictures of roller coasters and they looked so fun, but scary. I mean, if I fall, I could always apparated out of there, right?” Harry prattled on, and Tom just listened quietly. He was content to let Harry do all the talking and Harry found it very easy to talk to this Tom.
The store owner greeted them nervously but Tom waved him off. Harry took a bag and filled up one each for his children. Salazar liked dark and bitter chocolates with a fruity filling. Hadrian, Rom, and Reggie liked anything and everything sour. James liked gummy types of candies. Lily liked candied fruits. Alfred had a giant sweet tooth. Cerise liked spicy candy. He filled each bag to the brim and let Tom hold them.
“Do you think I should get some for Severus? And Rabastan and Rudolphus?” Harry got a grunt in reply, which he took for a yes. So he made up another bag of blood pops and other assorted candies he thought the dour Severus would like. Another bag for the Lestranges but that got him to thinking he should also make one for the Malfoys. That made him think about Theo and Blaise and of course Fenrir, which meant he also had to get candies for the entire pack.
But he time he was done, almost a quarter of the store was cleared out. The owner gaped at him when he brought his goodies to the check out. Harry smiled sheepishly and shrugged. He let Tom pay again. One of the death eaters came forward and shrunk the merchandise to mark it easier for transport. Thanking him, Harry turned to Tom, ready to leave.
“You didn't get a bag for yourself.” Tom randomly reached for some sweets and held out a bag of of Berties Every Flavor Beans.
With a pleased smile, Harry took the bag and lead Tom outside. Hand in hand again, Harry instructed the death eater holding the candy packages to go home with it and hide it until Harry got back to distribute it himself. Tom raised a brow but said nothing. Leading Tom on an aimless walk, Harry opened the bag and offered Tom first pick. He sneered and shook his head.
“Oh, don't tell me candy is beneath you now. Go on, take it, it won't hurt you.” Harry shook the contents under Tom's nose.
He was forced to take one to stop Harry's antics. But he was such a spoilsport; he just swallowed it whole. For his own bean, Harry made a show of chomping on it. It was peppermint candy.
“Yum, I got peppermint. Come on, try again, I'll bet you'll get a good one. And no swallowing this time, you have to chew.”
With an aggrieved sigh, Tom took out another one and actually chewed it. “It tastes like sweat”
Harry laughed. “Okay, let me see what I get next.”
One by one, they took turns tasting every single one of the beans. Harry enjoyed the faces Tom made immensely. He got flavors like slime, salt, even vomit. And Harry got mud, clay, and blood. It was nice. It was normal. But how long their tentative truce would last, only time could tell.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riddle manor wasn’t lacking for guards but with most of the Riddles off the grounds, they could be excused for not being as vigilant. No one noticed the shifty eyed intruder, blending into the household staff. When they broke away from their normal duties, no one paid mind. The intruder sneaked into the individual Riddle rooms with shaking and sweaty hands, but they had to carry out their demands. In each room, they placed a sheaf of papers, hidden but easily found in places only the inhabitants of the room would know. In Salazar’s room, they placed it inside some ministry files he'd taken home. As the wizard rarely used his old room, it was the only place the intruder knew Salazar would look at in his infrequently used room. In Hadrian’s room, they put it inside his boots. In James’ room, they put it inside his quiditch equipment chest. In Lily's room, they put it inside a book the intruder knew she was reading. In Alfred's room, they put it in a locked chest of letters from his beloved Scorpius. And the last room, the intruder entered with apprehension. They didn’t know what was in the papers, they were spelled to secrecy, but they knew it was something that would hurt Harry and the Riddles. And they liked the Riddles, especially Harry. But they none the less left the last couple of papers under Harry's pillow because their allegiance was to another.
With their mission complete, the intruder with heart pulsing went back to their duties. A few death eaters looked at them with a frown but they brushed it off. They couldn't know, it would be impossible to know. Not even Lord Voldemort knew they had been the ones to tamper with the book, and he was the most powerful man they knew.
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Harry Potter and the Slytherin Heirs