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The Fate Changed Now What?	By : Krysania Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Tom Views: 8638 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I'm not JKR , not own Harry Potter, and consequently earn no money whatsoever.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Harry’s pov

Harry came gradually to partial awareness, still half drugged from pleasure, due to a heavy weigh to his torso. A fast examination told him that it was Tom and a wave of unbelievable happiness filled his chest.

But then he remembered. . .and froze with horror, awakening completely. . .
What had he done?
At the time, he had given in because he couldn’t bear to hurt Tom, but in truth he had done the opposite, the problems were still the same and so was the solution. If things had ended, his friend (be honest here, the love of his life,) would have been hurt deeply, but also would have steeled himself for the much stronger pain that was coming and survive it. Now, he was completely defenceless and not only to his standards. . .

Harry had acted with his heart and hormones, not his mind. . .
His arms tightened around Tom reflexively and he buried his nose in soft hair that smelled faintly of sandalwood. He stilled, Tom mumbled something incoherent but other than that he didn’t even stir, continuing to sleep peacefully on Harry’s chest with his ear right above his heart.
He watched him suspiciously for a few moments, but neither breathing nor heartbeat changed pattern, Harry relaxed but was concerned too. What kind of hours did Tom keep to be sleeping like that? Usually, he slept pretty late yet he managed to awake within a heartbeat, from the smallest sound, or even a change in the air. . .
. . .Never mind why, that rare weakness was going to give him the time to sort off this mess. . .
Yet, now that he was again calm, Harry noticed that Tom’s sleeping stance had an eminently practical reason, than merely an emotional one. With all his weigh supported on his body and his arms under his shoulders, it was virtually impossible for Harry to move him, no matter how gently, without waking him. A wry smile touched Harry’s lips, trust Tom to try and control the circumstances even asleep. . .
Without an obvious escape in sign, he had to seriously think on what to do. For one, he couldn’t just leave without a confrontation, or even if he could, it would make things worse. Two, he couldn’t simply obliviate the knowledge from him. Aside from the ethical and emotional jam, there was the added complication that he had no idea on what Tom did the previous night and couldn’t obliviate him from fear of damaging him, or even making the tampering apparent and so useless.
Harry ignored, trying to not even contemplate it, the heady temptation to fell back asleep, to let Tom pretend that nothing was wrong and just allow him to distract him for the next days. Twenty more days in Tom’s company, twenty nights in his arms. Or the even madder possibility to accept Tom’s help in finding some way out, so he wouldn’t have to die and leave him. But there wasn’t such a solution that didn’t have an even heavier price, there was no hope . . .
Harry forcefully returned to the present, he wasn’t that cruel, he wasn’t. He wouldn’t hurt Tom more than he had to, but why had to hurt him anyway at all?

Now that he had even considered the unthinkable, why not go even further?

Obviously, he couldn’t accept a solution, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t continue like this for a while longer. . .
It was going to be beyond torturous and he would have to stay in constant guard to not hurt anyone else for every second, every day, of his life, but he had almost managed for nearly two years so far and this time was he going to remember. . .He was going to do this with his eyes wide open. . .
Harry could bring himself to stay alive for the next two, three, or even five years, without hurting anyone. Just enough to help pass the heaviest troubles on Tom’s way. . .
Tom loved him, he knew that now, but he was bored easily, how long could it last? Especially now that he would have him completely, nothing barred. . . So he should be alright with his death, after some years, even if he didn’t like it, and Harry would have some years of happiness.

Much better than he ever dreamed. . .
But if he given in into this how many more things he was going to give in at the future?

Who told him that if he capitulated now he wouldn’t do it again and again, for something worse?
What if Grindelwald proved too strong and, after they regrouped, the next battle would be for the wizarding’s world dominion, without said world’s consent?
Or even worst:
What if their campaign failed for some reason and Tom managed, in the end, to somehow convince him for the forceful approach?
Extreme scenarios aside, who simply told him that the next time he hurt an innocent Tom wouldn’t soothe him with his words, or his body?
‘The whole world can burn away and if you’re okay I would be too.’
That sentence hunted his every breath and was giving him shudders of both elation and terror; he couldn’t, shouldn’t have to, cope with this. . .
The punch line was that Harry couldn’t trust himself. . .
No matter how much he searched everything came back to this, he couldn’t continue like that, yet, whatever he did, he couldn’t shield Tom completely. . . but maybe, a lesser shielding would be enough to spare his friend’s, his love’s, life. . .
Decision taken, for all this stomach churning, Harry concentrated and started taking apart the protections in his partner’s Munin band. He was going to obliviate Tom from the memory of their coupling, he could do at least this much. . .
His friend was going to wake up hours later, dressed and believing that Harry had rendered him unconscious in their fight, Harry would be long gone and if things had gone right, already petrified in Ireland. He felt really bad for Charlus Potter, but when it came to that, his wellbeing meant next to nothing compared to Tom’s.
Maybe for that reason alone Harry needed to die. . .
Feeling sick with regret and guilt, but for all of that determined, Harry called his wand to him and tried to force out the incantation.

But a soft, too soft and steely, voice stopped him.
“Don’t.”
Harry met barely alert, darkened with rage and yet a strange understanding, violet eyes and held. What could he say? No apology was ever going to make this right and Tom wasn’t to remember anyway. The regret was drowning him, but the grieving was all in his eyes, his voice was steady as he uttered the incantation.
Yet, he didn’t manage to finish. Tom, exhausted or not, wasn’t sleepy enough to just accept it and flipped them over. Logically, being on top should have benefited him, but Tom used his fresh advantage and covered his lips with his own. Harry melted, for less than a second, but then his partner used just the right grip, making him release his wand.
The wand never crashed to the floor; Harry grabbed it in mid-air and, with the combination of a push and a jump back, was out of Tom’s clutches, but they were on an impasse, again. They faced each other, stony eyed, neither firing a spell, but neither backing down either.
“How dare you?” Tom’s voice held contempt.
Harry, for all his guilt, bristled angrily.

“You, of all people, telling me that?”
Tom, if anything else, glared even icier.

“I never said I don’t understand your reasoning, darling, it’s the hypocrisy that enrages me. You kept holding, that one action against me, up till today.”
Harry’s cheeks heated with shame and he offered a quiet:

“I know.” but he managed to follow up with a relatively confident:

“It’s not the same.”
Tom titled his head, simply regarding him, dreadful warming sigh . . .

The air itself felt oppressive.

“No? Mind explaining the difference to me?” silky, poisonous, tone. . .
Harry shivered at the implied menace, Tom’s eyes weren’t red, but it made hardly a difference. He could sense his friend’s rage, even under that heavy shielding and it was nuclear; barely a step before critical. . .
. . .But it was that precise reaction that given him ‘the idea’. . .

There was no way on earth to get out of this, none whatsoever, as long as Tom kept his wits and a veneer of calm. Even if they fought, again, it wouldn’t do him any good. Yet, if he goaded him beyond measure, while he, himself, remained calm, he had excellent chances to get away and even get another opening to obliviate him.
Harry straightened his shoulders and opened his mouth with utter confidence. After all he believed in what he was going to say.
“Of course there is a difference. I tried what I did, because there is no saving to me, I accepted it and I’m trying to protect you. You on the other hand were purely selfish, while there was possibly a hint of shielding; the main element of your own action was the desire to not get your plan disturbed.”
His plan had seemly more success than he had dared to dream. Veins started pulsing in his lover’s temples, neck and hands. Tom held his wand in a death grip, with said hands trembling violently, and his eyes were once again a blood red. Harry sensed that the only reason he didn’t curse him and even stayed in his place, so far, was that if Tom made a single move the next step would have been to tear him from limb to limb with teeth and nails.

But even that reaction could have been predicted. . .
“You soddin’ little shit, you utter, bloody, retard. . .” and many more that Harry didn’t understand even half of them, to his absolute shock.

“It’s completely the same thing. You only thought of yourself, trying to assuage your guilt for leaving me. But you didn’t care about me, just decided to die, you bloody coward.” Tom panted.

“I should have killed you a long time ago but I’m not going to make you the favour.”
If Tom had processed to beat the crap out of him, again, it wouldn’t have hurt half as bad, only his temper held him on his feet.
“You want to call me coward, selfish, hypocrite, do so. You will be right. But I can’t live like this, with my mind in scrabbles, I. Just. Can’t.” his voice broke, tears barely managing to not leak in his eyes.
Tom noticed his weakness and something undefined passed from his expression, he regarded him calmly; the anger and any other emotion had left his face, the only remaining rawness was in his eyes. . .
“Why you didn’t come to me?”
God no!

Harry closed his eyes tightly for a moment. Anger was so much easier to stomach. He couldn’t bear to look at Tom and this was the question he feared the most. How to answer this one without making things even more intolerable?
He chose defiance.

“It wouldn’t change anything in the long run.”
Tom’s eyes flashed and narrowed, his lips thinned, but he kept his anger under control.

“And the obliviate?” he pressured without mercy, voice again velvet over steel.
Harry didn’t know how long he was going to stand this, his defences were weakening.

. . .A deep breath to fortify himself. . .

“I offered the only mercy left to me to soften the blow and I won’t ask forgiveness for that.”
Tom still didn’t explode.

“Did you really think it would make a difference?”
Harry started trembling, he thought that he had faced the worst already, but he was wrong. That understated, yet there, vulnerability of Tom’s, for all the matter of fact tone, was worst than torture, of any kind.
Tom didn’t let him any time to regroup.
“That ‘this’,” he indicated their state, “made a difference to what we are to each other? Really Harry?” he asked with apparent dark humour, but the use of his given name deeply underlining how dead serious Tom was.
That was it, Harry’s defences were good as dust and the only thing he wanted and needed was to find shelter in Tom’s arms, if his love killed him now it wouldn’t have mattered in the slightest.
“Do you really think that I would have chosen to leave you if there was choice involved?” he admitted hoarsely, barely managing to contain himself and not give in to his need to seek comfort, but in the end it wasn’t about him and that helped. . .
Tom didn’t answer that one, merely continued to look at him with those wounded steely eyes, compelling him to surrender. Harry couldn’t stand that look, or their bareness, ‘psychic’ and physical alike, now that he was really aware of it, so he tried to call his clothes, without result. The only thing he managed to get back was his glasses.
“Look,” Harry said with the least of his weary will, “you, either, curse me, kill me, or let me leave; nothing else is going to happen.”
Tom tilted his head and smiled his shark smile.

“I don’t think so sweetheart. As you were so kind to remind me your promise earlier, demand one: Sit down and let’s talk about this, honestly, like civilised people and until we'll find a solution.”
Harry had no choice but to sit besides Tom, but strangely enough some of his raw despair had left him too. . .

Tom’s pov

Tom watched Harry, with narrowed eyes, as he hesitantly started to approach him and finally came and sat at the edge of their transfigured couch. (Much better for business than a mattress) The mixed look of concentration and irritation on his face and the shift of magic in the room was indication enough that he hadn’t admitted defeat, yet, trying to summon his clothes and even the door, back.
A faint smile crossed Tom’s lips. It was very fortunate, indeed, that it was his own wish that had gotten them into the room and so his desires held precedence. The more distracted Harry was the most chance he had to stopping him from doing something stupid.
To that effect he let him stew to his own juices for a little while, hoping that it would calm them both so that he would finally knock some vital sense into Harry’s stubborn head, without giving into his rage. He was still past angry, of course and frankly surprised with his restrain to not kill him, but much more so with the sanctimonious reasoning than the attempted obliviate.
He could accept that, to a point and even understand it; his Harry looked beyond panicked, not for himself but Tom and that helped too. Not that he wasn’t planning to chastise him and make him pay, repeatedly, in due time, but that was for when things were back under control.
Tom’s rage though shimmered, most of all, against himself due to his own weakness. He was aware, since long before, at how better he slept besides Harry, but while that hardly mattered before, due to the infrequence, this time his lack of sleep and their intimacy made him an easy victim. If Harry had fewer scruples, or truly wanted it, he would have ended obliviated and that was unacceptable.
Equally unacceptable was the depth that he was affected from said intimacy. If Harry hasn’t draw hastily back after he got kissed, Tom feared that he would had delayed his demand for an explanation, in favour to retaking him to bed and that, while useful by itself as distraction, wasn’t a guarantee, in any sense, that his crazy lover would stay were he was supposed to, instead of running away.
And that was the least of his problems with this!

Tom would never admit it on a living (or unliving,) soul, especially Harry, but he never expected that he would get so affected from a sexual act (or repeated ones). It wasn’t the pleasure, although it was much stronger than what he anticipated. No, everything came back again to their connection. . .
Tom had always been beyond drawn to the treasures of emotions that Harry was displaying with his eyes and this time he had gotten so much more than the simple view of them. Tonight, he had gotten Harry’s whole self and such love that would have suffocated many others, more acquainted with feelings than him, but strangely enough, he wanted to lose himself in this. . .
. . .And if that wasn’t enough, the moment of ecstasy had truly brought them together as one! It was utterly ironic that the dream of every idiotic couple, every sappy romance novel around the world for centuries, had been realised due to dark magic! But beyond paradoxically, Tom wasn’t repulsed with the fact. It was his to have and he was going to fight tooth and nail to keep it. . .
This was the closest he was ever going to get with Harry surrendering to him, getting voluntary and utterly under his power. His, all his, to the every meaning of the word. . .

There had never been a rush of power such as this!
. . .Not that it lasted that long. . .

Almost immediately post coitus Harry’s indomitable will was back and he was ready to do his thing and damn the consequences. . .
So he was quite conflicted at this moment, wanting to either kill Harry, both for insulting his emotions in such a blatant way and stirring them in the first place, bring him back underneath him, or run away, at the forbidden forest, to escape from his feelings. He wasn’t made for such humanity and emotions. . .
But even with such complete chaos inside him he couldn’t help a covert, cursory, glance at Harry. . . . They had gotten rid, between rounds of intimacy, their bruising from the fight and now the only marks left on Harry’s body had been caused from Tom’s lips, teeth, whisker’s burn, hands and nails. . .further proof of his ownership. . .
No other kind of official, stylised, mark was ever going to satisfy him on Harry, compared to this. Even the little snake, that he planned to return promptly, would look dull and without meaning compared to something so personal. . .
. . .But, what if he changed the properties of said mark a bit and instead he based it on sense memory? The snake would roam Harry’s body based on his back, instead of arm, and would recreate the feelings of each hickey, bite, graze, scratch, or kiss and could fade back to said marks, reminding Harry constantly on whom he belonged to, but without giving him a reason to complain for it. . .
Oh yes, that idea more than pleased Tom, and he felt much calmer . . . he could deal with his suicidal partner now, without throttling him. . .
And Harry, though he had left him unsupervised for quite a few moments, didn’t look like he was planning his escape. He still looked awfully tense and his forehead was creased in worry, but he was examining Tom, in his turn, with something like wonder in his eyes and burning cheeks. . .
Tom smirked knowing and leaned back against the couch’s arm to display better his own marks, even more noticeable than his partner’s due to his fairest skin. Usually a lack of clothes was perceived as weakness, this time it was the opposite. . .

Harry blushed even more and the heat caught to his eyes too, but he didn’t avert said eyes, knowing that he had every right to look and instead took his time tracing eagerly and purposely every single mark.
He truly didn’t mind it in the slightest that knowledge. . .

Tom felt every lingering glance like a caress and it thrilled him to his core that Harry was possessive and obsessing too. Their, finally, open link was bursting with the intensity of their feelings and their bond was almost complete. Harry’s feelings looked genuine; it was unlikely to ever leave him. . .
If he was completely honest, it was no small relief. . .Attraction was one thing and even flawed, this was so much more. . . Though there had been doubts on that line too. . . Tom wasn’t going to recall on how many times he had grew disgusted to be looked that way from anyone but the very one he may welcome, the only one who truly saw him. . .
. . .But those thoughts weren’t for now. . .
Tom waited until his, often infuriating, lover had his fill and when Harry raised his eyes, he met them straight on. Both sizzled with the intensity but he had no intention whatsoever to give in to this, again, until things were fixed. The tension mounted until it almost reached its peak. . .
Only then Tom spoke.

“I repeat, why you didn’t come to me?”
Harry recoiled as if slapped.

“I already told you, you can’t help me.”
Tom wondered if Harry was still trying to enrage him, but no, he sounded truly desperate. . .

“You’ll be surprised.”
Instantly Harry was suspicious.

“What did you do?”
A gleeful smile crossed Tom’s features, finally he could share. . .

“Yesterday night I acquired Philosopher's Stone!”
Harry froze.

Tom wanting to move hastily past the ethics’ bitching, (no matter how much he perversely missed those,) added:

“The Flamels are still alive.”
Harry still didn’t look happy. . .

Tom’s irritation started mounting again; he didn’t look up for Harry’s approval, but that was getting ridiculous. . .
Finally Harry spoke:

“For how long did you know?” his voice was hollow.
Something like relief washed over Tom. That was all?

“Not much, only since the battle on Halloween.” he teased.
Harry wasn’t amused.

“Weren’t you busy?” he asked archly.
Deep inside his mind, Tom was celebrating, Harry had been jealous after all! Still, it would hardly do to show his weakness. . .

“Yes, quite busy, saving you neck, like usual.” he pointed out sharply.
“Oh!”

Harry blushed but didn’t add anything more.
Tom was getting truly worried.

“What’s wrong with you? Horcruxes can add to instability, manic depression and mindless rage, but I've never heard of creating stupidity.”
Thankfully that snapped out Harry, a tiny bit.

“Really, what about Voldemort?” he smirked.
Tom smirked back but didn’t let go.

“Nothing that can explain you, now talk.”
Harry finally pinned him with his eyes.

“Me? You were the one that knew for so long and didn’t tell me.”
Subterfuge again, Tom returned the glare, not impressed.

“Really darling, the first thing you did was to try obliviating me, that doesn’t bode well at all for the rest, so I will retain my judgement.”
Harry didn’t respond even to this. . .
Tom didn’t have much patience and grasped his friend’s face, forcing him to look at him. The hell with the no touching policy, he wasn’t some idiot that couldn’t control his hormones.
Harry didn’t resist, instead he looked somewhat lost. His expression was neutral, but his eyes were telling a very different tale, even back to heavy occluding, with hope and despair fighting for dominance, with despair the clear winner so far.
“Harry?” he demanded.
Harry’s expression cleared, leaving behind a happy mask and he leaned more against his hands. Yes, even his eyes. . . but when the hell had Harry learned to lie with his eyes?

“Thank you Tom, for getting in all that danger for me,” his voice was honest in this, but probably it was the only thing that was. . .

“So when can I have some Elixir?”
Here it was, he had caught the sham, Harry, wasn’t exactly lying as were the terms of his obligation, but he was hardly telling the truth just the same, Tom didn’t betray any of his thoughts, waiting to catch him red handed.

“Not so soon, I haven’t managed to crack the Stone, yet, maybe we’ll need to leave for a while, as I promised, so that you won’t have to worry of accidentally hurting them.”
There wasn’t much of a reaction, except the smallest possible relaxation to his muscles. There was of course the option that it was due to the danger to his friends departing, but Tom didn’t believe it for a second. He changed his gripping from simply restraining to painful.
“You have no intention whatsoever to drink the Elixir, right darling?”
“Tom. . .”

There was a minute regret in the green eyes, which then turned into green fire and Harry pushed him away with all his strength and bolted off the couch.
Tom was already in a precarious position and the shoving hit him hard; he had been forced to let go of Harry’s face to keep his balance, but he didn’t let it to stop him, he continued his verbal attack, pointing his finger towards Harry.

“The truth, love, you’re under oath, you could lose your magic.”
Harry glared heatedly.

“Give me my clothes back.”
Tom smirked.

“I prefer you like that, give me some facts and maybe. . .”
Harry snarled, giving up any pretence.

“Damn it Tom, we both knew that I can’t take that philtre and everything that comes with that.”
Tom was a bit shocked; Harry was taking the term unpredictable to rare lengths. . .

“You are putting your aversion to been immortal above the safety of those around you, not something I would have expected of you, golden boy.” he taunted to get a comprehensible reaction.
The little bastard had the nerve to roll his eyes at him at a moment like this.

“I never expected you to play the idiot, Tom; we both know that it’s not the Elixir, nor being immortal, the problem, it’s the horcrux.”
Tom’s forehead creased, Harry couldn’t be saying what he thought that he was saying. . . Anything else aside, he didn’t even know where the horcrux was hidden. . .

“You will be safe, I thoroughly checked.” he edged to make sure.
Harry looked somewhere between crying his eyes out and murdering him.
“Fine, you want to hear it, you will,” he squared his shoulders and carried on. . .

“I’m so damn sorry for what I put you trough in my time’s year,” he walked purposely the few steps that parted them and fell almost gracefully on his knees in front of him.

“No matter how much heartfelt is my apology for this, or what I may do to make it up to you, it will never going to be enough. All the same, I lack the strength to endure the same thing.” his eyes were honest, painfully remorseful, but still steely. . .
Tom’s mind went almost completely blank, he couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing, yet, the meaning was completely clear. There was only one cohered thought in his head: only Harry could make kneeling a defiant gesture. . .
Once the uproar and chaos in his head calmed somewhat, thankfully quite fast, he called forth his best acting skills.

“What makes you so sure that I took it into myself?” he asked nonchalantly.

“. . .and get up, I don’t like you there. . .” almost as aftershock.
Harry merely looked at him with those eyes. . .

“Tom, give me some credit, I know that you value it, me, too much to put it anywhere but there.” then he realised what he said and blushed.

“Also our link had been doubled for as long as I have been here to the very least, as I said, give me some credit here.”
Tom had enough of this madness; he grabbed Harry, none too gently, and dragged him to their couch, all the while, half reassuring, half grounding himself that even Harry couldn’t love him that much. . .
“I assure you, I will be alright.” he greeted out.

But still, he should have anticipated this, Harry was nothing if not self sacrificing. . .
Harry wasn’t exactly reassured.

“Bullshit, if it was that easy I would have taken it back ten times over with my efforts, conscious and not, but you have locked it so deep inside that it’s now a part of your own soul.”
Tom told himself that a sound beating on Harry would have negative effects at the moment. . .

“I can guarantee to you that the danger to me is minimal, I will drink from the Elixir too. . .”
Harry wasn’t happy even with that. . .

“It’s not enough; you will be messing with your head and nothing can negate the danger to that, not even the Elixir from Philosopher’s Stone.” he declared in a final tone.
Tom’s blood started pounding dangerously again. . .

“You don’t know that for sure. . . according to my calculations the danger to me will be a tenth to what it was to you, if that. Anyway, even if I end with the mind of a little kid’s you’re going to raise me up splendidly, way better than the orphanage, I know for a fact that you will love me with everything you have.” he added the last part with deliberate cruelty, needing to shatter that pigheaded resolve to the matter once and for all.
Tom was prepared for the fist that came, flying, for him and shifted accordingly. Harry was on him the next second, but this time he was the only one mad with rage, with Tom himself quite calm, and it wasn’t very long that Harry ended beneath him, on the floor, panting, and with dilated eyes.
He told himself that it was only just a little bit more pressure and then they could deal with more pleasant things. . .

“I claim the second of the ten items owned to me. You will drink the Elixir and take the horcrux back.-”
Harry paled and then his expression firmed.

“No.-” he said simply.
Tom must not be hearing right, not even Harry could be idiotic and stubborn enough to go against this. . .no, this must simply meant, that as a last act of defiance, he demanded two, not one, favours to be used. . .
Tom could deal with that, it was small potatoes compared to the final reward.

“What do you meant, No?” he asked all the same.
Harry had turned a faint green but he regarded him serenely.

“Exactly what you guessed, Tom, I won’t go fort with that, for anything, so let our magical oath do what it will.”
The word stunned wasn’t covering even a fifth of what Tom felt at that moment.

Never in his life before had a storm of such magnitude taken place, not even when he tore his soul to create a horcrux and mended Harry’s.

His nutty, beloved, soulmate apparently loved him that much! Harry wasn’t just putting him above his life and sanity, which to be honest he risked regularly, at least the first part, for almost everyone. . . But above his magic, which was something completely different. . .

Tom felt the room turning around him. . .

Harry’s pov

Harry used Tom’s light-headedness to move him from above his body and was up in a flash getting towards the, now visible, door. His whole body was painfully tense, like the after-effects of the Cruciatus, as he literally felt his magic leaving him.
It was better that way!

He was almost regretting that he hadn’t thought of it sooner. There was no way that he could be a threat to a magical person as a squib, Tom would want nothing to do with him, of course, but even then he would still prefer him alive. Harry didn’t really want to die if he could help it; he was just nineteen for Salazar sake! He wanted the warmth of the sun and to see what changes Tom would do, even by the sidelines.

Who knows, maybe with time they could get back to a shadow of their friendship. . .
With the last vestiges of his magic he recalled his clothes and run as fast he was able to the stairs. He had barely reached the middle of the second staircase when Tom voice frozen him on his tracks, literally.
“Stop right there and stay still.”
Tom must have transferred the final demand as he felt his magic returning to him with a rush. He tried to resist the command, and just continue on, but his body was celebrating its magic’s return and refused to lose it again for something that simple, it didn’t obey him.
“Dammit, Tom let me go, it will be better this way.” he complained on principle, but somewhere inside himself was quite relieved to have his magic back, nonetheless the problem was still there. . .
“Really, how so? . . .Although I must admit that committing you at Janus’ Thickey Ward sounds more alluring by the second.” Tom answered lightly and took his time to descend the stairs.
Harry ground his teeth with something akin to hate, as he was forced to wait for him, long, endless, moments, almost helpless.

“Sounds better than your company.” he told his partner, half meaning it.
Tom finally reached him, almost completely silently.

“Don’t tempt me sweetheart.” he whispered to his ear.
Harry shivered with the tone, half promising half threat and averted his face. He wasn’t going to do him the favour. . .

Tom didn’t seem to care, either way, for his reaction, throwing him on his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes and taking up the stairs, again.
Harry cursed like a sailor in his outrage, but it provoked no reaction. Thankfully the moment Tom started moving his compulsory freeze stopped and was able to fight.

“Let me the hell down.” he ordered.
Tom continued to ignore him, he fought harder.

“Would you prefer bridal style, love, I don’t mind.” he mocked him.
Harry saw red.

“Tom, you bastard, let me down this instant, or you’ll pay.” he punched Tom’s back again and again.
Tom’s held on him became more painful and secure his voice a very dark promise:

“Bring it on later. But one more move now and I’m throwing you all the way down, so you can spend Christmas with Madame Wilson.”
Harry would have preferred to avoid that, even more than the pain and stayed still, only insulting his parentage and so forth. That, until they had, roughly, reached their floor. Then he started trashing, ferociously, again, Tom simply stunned him. . .
. . .He regained his senses the moment he was thrown back to their couch. The room looked like a fortress; Tom didn’t seem to taking chances. . .
“Back here?” he asked indifferently to gain time.
Tom smiled brilliantly but with an edge.

“I thought about taking you to the chamber, but I didn’t trust myself to not torture you to death. . .”
The tone was light and humorous but the threat very real, Harry nodded his understanding. . .
Tom continued on:

“. . .You also left your wand here. . .that was idiotic even for you. . .”
Harry shrugged.

“I knew that you would take it. . . you bothered to get dressed before getting me.”
Tom’s smile changed meaning, but was still very shark like. . .

“Someone was disappointed!” he teased, “don’t worry darling, it’s easily fixed, you needed only ask. . .” his hands moved to his tie.
“Tom, stop that. . .”

Harry ordered and to his horror it came out completely breathless. He blushed horribly, probably down to his chest, and realised that Tom was deliberately distracting him again. He needed to stop that before getting further. . .

“It would have been better if you had left me leave.” he resumed the previous matter, point blank.
All the teasing laughter left Tom’s face and it turned rather unpleasant.

“You told me that before, but without any backing up, so don’t expect me to take you seriously any time soon.”
Harry wanted to scream in aggravation. . .

What the hell? Did Tom really believe that he actually wanted to die . . .?

“You are well versed in logic so you know why better than me,”

. . .then he remembered something and paled with horror.

“It would have been better for you if you had stuck with Hermione.” he told his friend, (better to think of him only as a friend,) sadly.
Tom was both surprised and dismayed with that comment.

“Granger, what on earth has the little shrew to do with us?”
Harry, already drowning in guilt, since it crushed on him how hideously he had betrayed her with his actions, felt his shame turning to rage.

“Funny thing that,” he stated coldly, “since you spent almost a month in her bed and called her your fiancée to the whole school, but I guess its meant nothing. . .” he told Tom bitterly.
Tom seemed to be considering his next words very carefully as he recognised Harry’s expression and tone.

“I was never truly together with Granger, never mind engaged to her. She turned me down because she didn’t want to hurt you and we have been researching day and night on how to help you. The clues had always been there for one with your perception. I’ve never given her a formal promise, or a ring. The only jewellery she got from me was the snake pendant, modelled after your mark. I’ve been expecting you to catch on the date coincidence to the very least, but you missed even that. . .” he added with some bite.
Harry’s was stricken, Hermione had done that? He knew she cared for him deeply, but her feelings for Tom had been just as real and that was making his betrayal that much worst. . . But at the top of his misery he started thinking, what really told him that Tom wasn’t simply lying to get his cooperation? Hermione could do that for him, no question asked, but he hadn’t slipped in her presence, not even once. . .
“You are lying.” he accused Tom, almost certain.
Tom sent him a disdainful glare then smiled chillingly.
“Am I, really, are you sure? It sounds more like denial to me. . . Anyway Hermione wasn’t the only one working with me in this, Prince researched in his field as well, and even Minerva and your grandfather did everything in their power to help.”
Harry’s mind was in scrambles, trying to decide what was real and what not. Tom had that cold, smokescreen, attitude, but there was and a ring of truth as well. . . Also, it wasn’t in Tom’s nature to share credit, far from it, so while the target was undeniably to guilt him even more there was definitely some honestly there as well. . .
He was damn well succeeding; Harry couldn’t even bear to think about the others fighting to save him. . .and the thought of Hermione was the worst of all. A lighting fast perusing to his memories established that Tom had been somewhat truthful. While not obvious, there were many instances that Hermione had looked very uncomfortable with Tom acting her boyfriend, especially in his presence and not only recently.
But there were other memories as well. . . instances that he had seen them acting very couple like. Even a memory he would rather not have. . . the single time he honestly cursed their bond. . . Harry wasn’t going to discard that, no matter what Tom wanted, his friend had been after her for almost a year; it looked more like he had got bored with her than anything else. . .
. . .The last part was the most horrible of all. . .not only in regards to her pain, or the apparent conclusions Harry could make regarding his own relationship with Tom. . .But because he was selfish and had, somehow, been counting on said feelings, for Hermione to take care of Tom, afterwards.
The moment the horrifying thought crossed his mind he made the equally terrible mistake of raising his head and meeting Tom’s eyes. Their link was short of open and some of it passed through. . .
Harry barely managed to duck the curse headed his way, but there wasn’t much left of their couch.

“That was mean.” he called out.
Tom merely regarded him chillingly and sent another curse.

“Hardly.”
He managed to duck again, wondering why it was so terrible to set Tom off when the obliviate didn’t. . .

“I thought you wanted to save me, not kill me.”
Reason returned, momentarily, to the handsome features.

“You set me up with Her! Like if I was one of your Minions.” each word an icicle with the last words stretched.
Harry winced and raised his hands in a placating gesture. He could hardly disagree about semantics right now. . .

“Not really, I only wanted you to be friends, you did the rest by yourself. . .”

Another attack, hastily raised shields and impasses to block the way, but no returned attack.
Tom continued on. . .

“You suggested that I personally teach her the dark arts, you insisted on it. . .”
Harry’s blood started heating on with the familiar infuse of adrenalin. . .He refused to ponder at how close it proved to be on another kind of excitement. . .

“So? You took her to bed, that’s all on you. . .” he kept his voice normal with effort. . .
Tom. . .Tom was laughing. . .
“You’re still on that? I never took Granger to bed, not even once; I can’t believe you of all people fallen for that trick, especially after our second fifth year.”
Harry looked at Tom with wide eyes.

“You mean it was merely a conjured dream. . .But how, why?”
Tom returned the look, mockingly.

“You know perfectly well why, as to the how, you could do it too, quite easily.”
Harry glared.

“Of course I understand. . .you wanted me out of your hair to research, but I have still problems with believing the how. . . One, it was too clear a recollection to be anything but a memory, immediate or recent and two, you put too much time and effort with courting Hermione to be a sham.”
Tom nodded once sharply, conceding a point.

“Of course my courting to Hermione was real, she is too bright to remain alive unmarked and unchecked and she would have never conceded to get marked. This was the optimal way for me to let her live . . .yesterday’s reasons stands too. . .”
Oh. . .

A nameless kind of dread started coiling at Harry’s stomach at the clinical tone and he pushed it aside, for now. . .
“Thank you very much. . .” he was both sarcastic and honest.

He didn’t like this mess at all, but he very much appreciated Hermione staying alive. He bit his lips, disgusted with himself.

“Couldn’t you mark her unwillingly, like Umbridge?” he couldn’t believe he thought it, never mind said it. . .but if it kept her alive. . .
Tom shook his head and got into lecturing mood.

“No, for that kind of binding to last one must be willing, or at least accepting. The only reason that I managed to pull this off it’s because the bitch longed for that all her life, you have seen her how she looks at us. . .”
“Yeah?”

Harry had seen and frankly it was quite disgusting. . .but. . .break was over, time to face his fear. . .the bright side. . . if Tom had taken Hermione to bed some other time, his plan may still work. . .

“What about the dream then? I’ve never known you to been intimate with anyone before. . .” his cheeks were tinged scarlet, but he had asked.
Tom tried to stare him down but Harry persisted, for all his awkwardness. Finally his friend sighed in frustration and complied.

“You know perfectly well that I wasn’t. . . I can hardly stand anyone, except you, touching me, but needs must, I was going to tolerate it. . .Granger would have never accepted waiting until marriage and I had no intention whatsoever to been ridiculed. . . What you saw came from the pictures of a pretty explicitly illustrated book. . .”
There was a small part of Harry’s that felt quite the satisfaction that Tom never touched anyone but him, but on the most part he felt alarm. Tolerated? That was an ugly word when used on that connotation and the reassurance ‘other than you’ sounded too faked and farfetched to be much of comfort. . .
Fact one, Tom never seemed to have much, if anything, of a libido. Fact two, he would do literally anything to keep him alive. Fact three, at the height of passion, at round two, Harry’s hands had travelled instinctually very low and Tom had grabbed them immediately away. At the moment he had assumed that his lover was simply averse to receiving, ever, which was disappointing, yet predictable, and far from now. But what if the disgust went even further than that?
Those facts, together with Tom’s cementing admission, were creating a very grimy picture; Harry had been lightly distrustful of Tom’s motivations ever since he awoke, but now those suspicions were touching the whole encounter, not merely the end. . .It certainly wasn’t past him to set the whole thing up. . . with every breath he took the doubts became certainly. . .and his world turned to ashes. . .
He had to admit that he hadn’t fought as hard he could when Tom forced him back, he wanted to stay. . . and even started to reconsider staying without merging with the horcrux, but if Tom had only touched him as a means of persuasion what kind future did they had? How long until their personal moments were dwindled until they were used only as modification to his behaviour? How long until he turned into a male Bellatrix Lestrange? (Insane and all!)
Harry longed to die and get away of these all. . . he had foolishly believed that he had been past the worst kind of hurt that Tom could inflict on him, but this was asphyxiating. . .The most ironic part. . .? The knowledge that Tom was proven in love with him, just not in the truly physical way. . .

. . .He would have been much better off if he had managed to leave and never found out. . .
“You didn’t have to do that Tom, I would have stayed with you no matter what.” the words left his mouth without his permission, but utterly heartfelt.
Tom was surprised with this, but his look turned immediately to calculating.

“Would you, really?” voice soft and deadly as silk.
Harry had the affirmation ready, but he managed to think.

“Circumstances permitting, of course.”
Tom’s jaw clenched.

“Bullshit.”
Harry wanted to rub his eyes, hearing Tom swearing that frequently was quite disconnecting.

“Tom, please.”
Tom’s eyes flashed.

“Please what? You hypocritical creature. . . you knew perfectly well that people, other than you, mean nothing to me. How dare you to doubt me by using that? I’m a good actor, darling, but no one is that good. . .You were there. . .” the last part was a deadly hiss, like Tom couldn’t bear to admit his weakness in English and that seemed to steam him even more. . .
Harry started trembling; Tom’s words brought him back to those blissful moments and were hitting him like a tidal wave. Put it like this, his worries had no true leg standing to complain. . .but before he could admit that Tom continued.

“. . .I have far more valid reasons to doubt you, not only you’re planning to leave me like I meant nothing, but you were ready to go to bed with Diggory as well. . . maybe the whole point for you had been to have sex, irrelevantly with whom. . .”
Harry raised his hand to punch Tom, then he let it fell, his lover had a valid point. They weren’t the voiced reasons, far from it, but he almost got to bed with Diggory.

“You’re right, I thought about going to bed with him, but only because at the end I didn’t really care if I hurt him, I tried to resist you, us, for the opposite reason.”
Tom’s eyes had become twin clips of ice.

“How reassuring!” he drawled.
Harry gulped at the near hateful look he was receiving.

“I never, ever, wanted to hurt you. . .” the emotion in his eyes and voice was making the admission more than simply skin deep.
Something softened imperceptibly at Tom’s eyes, like a tiny chink, but his voice was hoarse.

“Then stop trying to convince me to allow you to leave me. . . to fucking die.”
Harry’s voice wasn’t too steady either.

“I don’t have a choice.”
Tom turned coaxing.

“Of course you have, you need only trust me, we will be alright, both of us. . .”
Harry barely held back his tears, Tom was all but pleading with him, even without using the actual words. . . He couldn’t stand the thought of hurting him, of breaking him, yet, it was happening. . . his mind started working furiously again, he couldn’t, wasn’t, going to do as Tom wished, but there must be something. . .?
A totally unhinged idea crossed his mind and he almost smiled. It was nauseating and beyond humiliating . . .but it could work. . .it left him stuck to the proverbial wall, completely at the other’s mercy. . .no more than a toy. . .But it would work. . .he just needed the courage to utter it. . .
Harry bit his lips bloody and managed it.

“I can’t accept your plan, but I will never leave you either. . . I won’t live like this, I lack the strength. But if you arrange for Sava to petrify me I will be alright with it. I will be safe from myself and you will have me all to yourself. . . If you need me to bounce ideas, to simply talk. . .or something else, I will be just a mandrake’s draught away.” he barely managed to avoid vomiting the heavy bile in his throat, due to his proposition, but his cheeks were still fire-red from the latest suggestion. . .
He hated it, how he hated it, and himself with it, but he hoped to God, or Gods, that Tom was going to accept it. . .

Tom’s pov

Tom took his second, heavy, shock of this night of shocks. The only reason he managed to avoid the dramatics of the previous one’s was that while huge on its on right it was truly dwarfed by the preceding one in comparison. Yet after some calming breaths and thought it wasn’t that much of a surprise. He was very aware of Harry’s nature and that trait was what he adored and despised most of all. His friend, lover, and everything in between and beyond, was utterly unable to bend where others dictated; he would rather shatter all the way first than giving in.
Harry looked like he wished to be anywhere but here, yet was well beyond determined to proceed. He may hate, no, not hate, it wasn’t strong enough a word, loathe was more accurately fitting, to give up control over himself and this was the ultimate surrender of every aspect of his life and self, but Tom could read him more than enough: he had already chosen petrification as his fate and wasn’t moving an inch from that decision, the only extra he was adding was giving him full access.
All in all it wasn’t such a bad bargain, few years back he may had been sorely tempted, somehow now it didn’t seem quite enough. . .
His thoughts remained private though and he made a show of examining his partner critically, not with the usual warmth or regard, but with the casual possessiveness he reserved for his less valuable things. Harry had taken a stoic mask, but under that gaze he started turning a faint green, obviously having second thoughts, with only his stubbornness to keep him steadily there.
Good! He needed to really think on what he was offering.
A truly chilling smile crossed Tom’s features and he raised his hand to mark his property. His lover’s eyes widened as he sensed the threat and he barely managed to not flinch. Tom’s nails were nowhere near long like a female’s but after a parody of a caress there were four new, long, bloody rivulets at Harry’s cheek, Harry didn’t move an inch, or complained.
“Do you really want that my love. . .?” the particular endearment used derogatory and not even close to the usual teasing.

Harry didn’t react. . .Tom continued on.

“To be nothing, but my property, a toy, less than that, a blow up doll that needs my permission to breathe?”
Harry’s eyes looked more pained with every word and he blushed horribly, but he accepted every verbal slap with equanimity, Tom needed to get more creative if he was to get a reaction.
“Are you so afraid that I will leave you that you prefer never finding out if I do?”
This time Harry actually flinched.

“Take it or leave it. . .” he growled out.
But Tom wasn’t fooled with that show of anger, that flinch told him all he needed to know and it was more than welcome. Maybe with a bit of trying he could get exactly where he wanted to, no compromising . . .
“There is a problem with that, my love,” this time it was indeed an endearment and his voice a soft caress at Harry’s ear.

“I don’t want a toy, or a blow up doll. . .What I need is my equal, my partner, at my side in either triumph or despair, from now till the end of time. . .Can you accept and give me that?”
He could read Harry’s answer both to the overwhelming warmth in his eyes and the feverish affirmative to his soul. Tom would deny it immediately, but his own heart had actually skipped a beat, too. Unfortunately it wasn’t verbalised that way, after barely a second Harry’s eyes cooled considerably and his shields came right back.

“I won’t risk you.”
This was getting tiring. . .

“Then we are through.” he almost but not quite bluffed.
Harry closed his eyes tightly but when he opened them a second later there was only acceptance.

“As you wish.”
Tom had more than enough with this. . .he was done with playing nice, it was truly time for Harry to remember with whom he was dealing with. . .
“Are you sure?” he purred. “Because if you leave, I won’t have but a single choice. . . So think carefully before answering.”
Harry looked alarmed but not even nearly close to a sufficient amount.

“What on earth do you mean?”
Tom sent Harry his more chilling smile to the day.
“You better kill me before leaving because if you leave me, by chance, alive my path will be set. . .and your friends will be the first to pay for that.”
Harry, typically, paid attention only to the less important declaration. . .

“Damn it, Tom, you won't hurt them.” his eyes flashed and it was more order than plea.
. . .Still, if it was working, Tom had no problem continuing with this vein.

“You will be dead, darling, it won't matter to you anymore, Granger will be the first to die, but she will not be the least of them.”
Harry blanched, but tried to reason with him.

“You gain nothing with that, except petty revenge and I won't be here to feel it.”
Tom’s lips thinned, Harry was still not getting it. . .

“True, golden boy, they are nothing but collateral damage to the long run, but their death will serve very much a purpose.” he smiled humourlessly.

“Didn't you ever wonder at the disparity between Voldemort and me?”
Harry blinked.

“I don't see what he had to do with this.” he dismissed forcefully.
He actually believed it!

Tom was actually impressed with his lover’s talent to stubbornly ignore everything and anything that was unbearable to him, but he really needed to break his bubble this time. . .

“He has everything to do with this, us. You never wondered at how we managed to fool him every time? The Horcruxes reduce reason not the intelligence. . .”
“Tom?”

Harry questioned like he couldn’t understand the meaning, but Tom could see the inner examination and the start of comprehension.
He pressed. . .

“. . .Yet we got away with everything. . . you truly never wondered at his insistence that you were in love with me and the opposite? At the time it was the further thing from us. . .”
“It can't be. . .”

Harry kept on insisting but there was already something defeated on his posture, time to finish things. . .
“Oh yes, my sweet love, it can. His true end game was to torture you for an eternity, never to kill you, what does that telling you? If my only chance to see you again is to become Voldemort I will do it and make certain that you will suffer everything that you have suffered just to be sure that it will be you. . .” he confessed with complete honesty.
Harry looked at him like he had hit him with Crucio and then Avada just for kicks. . . that betrayed. . .Rage started building, Tom started to believe that he was going to take him on the other leg of his threat. In all honestly he preferred it, killing or getting killed by Harry was better than to be left alone.
But then the fury and the build magical energy dispatched, just like that. Harry dropped his shoulders, looking defeated. The emptiness to his eyes and the bitter tilt at his mouth emphasizing all that. . .

“What will have me do? You don’t leave me much of a choice either. . .”
The dead tone hit him like a fist to the stomach; Tom had no qualms about doing what he must about Harry and periodically forcing an issue with him, but the last thing he wanted (or could bear) was to see him lifeless and defeated. He internally panicked; he couldn’t back down in this, the cost was Harry’s life, but this was also unacceptable. . .
Choices, he needed to give Harry choices.
“If you are so set against absorbing the horcrux back then there is only another thing that can be done.” he used intentionally a vague tone trying to get the other’s interest and not show how anxious he was.
Harry sent him a very wary glance but there was also interest and a tiny glimmer of hope.

“Like what?”
Tom told himself that he wasn’t nervous.

“You can bond with me.”
Harry’s eyes got enormous with shock and he started coughing.

“You can’t be serious!” he managed to wheeze out.
Tom forced out a ninety percent sincere smile. At least Harry looked again alive.

“I assure you that I’m serious as a grave.”
Harry blushed then sent him a suspicious glance and he seemed to be forcing himself to calm down.
“Why? I thought that we were already bonded what with the horcruxes and all.” he said a bit too casually.
Tom ground his teeth; the only reason he wasn’t leashing out was because he could tell that Harry was nervous, not outright rejecting it.

“We are in a sense, but a proper bond is going to work much to our advantage, especially yours.”
Harry’s expression didn’t change, he remained calm and collected.

“How so?”
Tom cursed up a storm on the inside. Why Harry kept his gryffindorish, jump with both feet, attitude only for battles and heroic actions and directed his Slytherin cunning and cautiousness just against him?

“I’m working on a ritual that it will let us to keep the horcruxes while allowing the soul pieces accessible to their source.”
Harry still didn’t look quite happy. . .

“That will be great, but do we really need to get bonded for that to work?” he asked avoiding his eyes.
Tom’s blood started boiling. Why the hell he didn’t simply say, No, to get over with? Even if he didn’t end cursing Harry, (more doubtful by the second,) he was going to need to torture someone soon for his peace of mind, maybe Diggory. He smiled unpleasantly.
“Yes, the ritual is based on Druidic bonding and that it’s nonnegotiable, but you can always opt to simply absorb the horcrux.” he added with almost unmasked cruelty.
Finally Harry met his eyes and Tom had the chance to really read them. It was quite a storm there, incredulity, apprehension, acute disbelief, nervousness, outright fear and yet, there was also half formed hope and drowned desire. He calmed a bit.
“I don’t want to trap you into something you don’t really want just to save me.” he admitted sadly.
Tom nearly rolled his eyes, Harry was unbelievable sometimes. What on earth he was expecting, some sweet nonsense?
“Tell me something sweetheart, how many times you have seen me doing something I don’t want and even less work for it?”
The battle in his eyes grew in intensity; Harry blinked, occluded and tried the rationality card once again.

“None at all, I admit, there is always something to be gained. But what do you gain with this?” he started calmly,

“Damn it Tom, we are nineteen, hardly ready to make such decisions; you will probably chance your mind soon and then what? Never mind it’s illegal in the first place and if the information gets out, any chance for a career is out of the window.” yet it gained momentum, in the end he was shouting. . .
Ironically it made Tom smile almost genuinely. It was beyond irritating, yet this was the Harry he knew and cared deeply for (loved). . .
“Why should I change my mind? It’s hardly any different from our fixed plans anyway; we have already agreed to share a flat and our time, the only thing that changed is sexual intimacy and I believe we both liked that part. Also who’s said anything about the information getting out?”
Harry gaped at him.

“That was the plan of the previous year; I thought you’d made new ones.”
Tom shrugged elegantly.

“Hardly, why change perfection? Even if I had married Hermione that part of the plans wouldn’t have changed.”
Harry gaped, some more, it looked ridiculous and rather unattractive.

“Are you for real?”
This time Tom rolled his eyes.

“Please, when did I care for other people’s opinions?”
Harry sent him a disbelieving glare.

“Yeah, only yours,” his lips twitched.

“This is not an incentive to marry you, you know.” he said a bit coyly.
Tom relaxed. It was getting there. . .

Yet, Harry had thawed a bit but he was still doubtful, not merely incredulous, he could see that. . . maybe if he sweetened the deal a bit more?

“I’m not entire unreasonable, your wants and needs matter to me,” a carefully extended breath and he dropped his bomb.

“I want you to write a thesis in defence, the lighter you can. . .”
It was indeed a bomb, even stronger than the previous ones, if at all possible. Harry looked like a deer in highlights.

“T-Tom, I-I can’t, this is your dream, too.”
Tom allowed a truly pleased smile for the slip.
“I know you Harry, you were almost eager to die, not only out of fear of hurting others, but because you didn't have anything truly engrossing you to live. Simply being with me it’s not, it can’t, be enough; life is far more than friendship or romance. You didn't believe me when I told you that I will leave everything to be with you and you were right, given enough time I would have resented you to the point of genuine hate.”
Harry looked at him more than fondly.

“This means a lot, Tom, truly. But my point stands, this is your dream, I won’t have you resenting me for this. . .” he smiled tenderly.
Tom was almost uncomfortable. Logically this seemed the perfect moment to attain victory, but he sensed that it was too soon, so he continued on the present matter.
“Yes, it was, but never to the same extends as to you. I'm far more interested to the Ministry. Frankly, everything that could be achieved by the position I will get it though you. Also, if you become the headmaster. . .and with Dumbledore gone, you will, in less than fifteen years. . . it will be imminently useful. Even, at the worst case, you get rejected and became Auror. . . Head-Auror it’s a very good and useful political position. . . You will be much better than dearest Amelia. . .” he couldn’t resist some snark.
Harry looked honestly impressed and Tom felt his chest expanding with pride, it wasn’t an easy thing to achieve.

“This was very considerate and well thought,” he kissed him not with carnal passion but such affection that Tom felt quite overwhelmed, almost shy.

“But would you mind terribly to leave Amelia out of it, you didn’t mind her yesteryear, it’s a bit hypocritical to do so now, just because we are together.” a hint of steel.
Tom blamed his next admission to Harry; it was beyond irritating to mention an ex after such a kiss. . .

“Didn’t mind her? Not even close. . . I couldn’t stand the bint and certainly made her pay both for daring to raise her eyes on you and even more so for hurting you like that.”
Harry certainly didn’t expect that. . . but if he really detested it, or not, it was another matter. . .

“Gods, Tom, what did you do?” his voice was weary for sure, but except the disapproval he could read and something else. . .
Tom didn’t need more persuasion, he shared gleefully the details.

“As she was so fast on leaving you I thought it appropriate that every time she would get close to an intimate moment her lover will suddenly get revolted and leave her at once. It’s set for both males and females, as there was a hint of rumour at your time.” he smiled pleased with himself.

“It must have already paid off, her relationship with Michael Abbot, the one after you, didn’t last that long and she hadn’t dared to get in another one yet.”
Harry’s reaction was even more pleasing. . .

“Tom, that was. . .” he seemed to search for the right word, “atrocious.” his voice steeled.

“You will drop the curse tomorrow,” he squeezed his hands insistently; “she paid already.”
That was what he was saying with his lips but Tom could read and the rest as well. . . there was the same heady mix of arousal and abandonment he had seen at his face the night of Walburga’s punishment. Irresistible!
He was certainly regretting not killing the Dursleys, if that was the customary reaction for defending him. . .
He licked his lips. Harry was his.

“What will you give me if I do?”
Harry’s lips firmed and he took a step back, dropping his hands.
Just like that all that progress he had made, his assured victory, the perfect moment after that perfect kiss, was out of the window.

He was tempted to leash out, but he was damned if Harry’s will proved stronger than his in this. . .
. . .He just needed something more. . .
Some careful calculations and he had the perfect idea. . . it was going to be a bit troublesome but nothing he couldn’t handle. . . Harry was going to be happy. More so, due to recent developments, he had a feeling he would be dissolving the sole reason of Harry’s attraction to females. . . .
Time to play. . .
“Very well, I know you want children, as soon as we are in a decent position in our respected occupation Granger will surrogate for us and the other will blood adopt the child as per pureblood custom.”
Harry’s second coughing fit was even less amusing than the first one.

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he shouted to the top of his lugs.
Tom didn’t appreciate at all to be talked like that.

“What the hell is your problem? I know you want this, I have suffered more than my share of your drunken confessions to how much you want kids.”
Harry blasted him with his eyes.

“Maybe so, but I never wanted, or have any intention whatsoever, to become part of a ménage-a-trois.”
It was Tom’s turn for a coughing fit. . .
“How on earth you came up with that? You already know my opinion for the woman. . . I never had any intention of touching her, my thoughts run towards artificial insemination as it’s used on your time.”
Harry snorted.

“Pull the other one Tom. Maybe you were honest, maybe your long range plans were the same from the start, but don’t you dare blowing smoke to my face. No matter what you say, the fact that of all my friends she was the only one you took with speaks by itself.”
Tom didn’t believe his ears. . . Really, he more than enjoined Harry’s jealously but this was getting preposterous. . .
“And you based your fit of jealously in this?” he asked archly.

“She was just at the right place the right moment; I would have taken any of your friends, even that blasted Lovegood.”
Harry looked at him strangely for his vehemence.

“Why are you so set against Luna? You told me once that she was the one that helped you when you were stunned and even told you how to save me.”
Tom didn’t really want to answer that question, but it could work to his favour. . .
“You’re right, I own her a lot, but you must understand my position, she was the only one, except me, that really gets you and she was pretty. You were vulnerable and spend all the previous year chasing skirts to hide under,” Tom disliked vulgarities and that he had slipped using them again, he hated how they betrayed his weakness even more. . .

“How long do you think it would had taken you to seek her comfort? If I had taken Luna instead of Hermione I’m more than certain that today she would have been wearing your intention ring to her finger.”
Harry examined his face critically with burning cheeks, but it wasn’t embarrassment, Tom could read bewildered but pure pleasure, they were in the same boat in this. . . but then Harry shook his head like wakening from a pleasant dream and smiled bitterly.

“Nice distraction, but nothing more than that, the truth now please?”
Tom tightened his fists until he calmed, Harry was so set on his fears that no assurance was going to work, what he needed was reality. He more than loathed remembering that night. . .

“As I told you Granger was there at the right moment. . .”
. . .But remember he must. . .
{Harry had collapsed in his arms, dead, . . .and for all that he know that he could, and would, bring him back at that moment he was more feral beast than sane person, he couldn’t care less for Dumbledore’s dead body only Harry mattered. . .
He was concentrating hard in finding the strength to manage and get them out of there. . .it wouldn’t do to get caught like this. . . . when he heard the softest of steps. . .

Granger was standing just inside the room with only a nightgown; (obviously she had collapsed too when she sent Lestrange back,) and looking with indescribable shock and horror at Harry. A glance at his face and she let out an almost noiseless gasp, taking a step back . . .
Tom would have killed her, at once, but it would have taken the last vestiges of his strength. He levelled his wand at her but both of them knew it was an empty threat.

“Don’t make a sound and check Dumbledore’s wand.” he ordered crisply.
She did, the action snapping her out of shock and her grief was freed in a quiet but abundant river of tears.

“Avada Kedavra, the bastard killed Harry.” the hiss was so quiet and angry that it could have been his own.
Tom saw no need to correct her, it was true after all. But he needed to deal with her.

“If you swear on your magic to not set the alarm until morning, I swear to you in turn to bring him back.” he offered, if that failed he was going to stun her and hope that it wouldn’t send him back to unconsciousness.
Her eyes widened in recognition, but the dark magic wasn’t a problem for Hermione Granger at the moment.

“You have it, on my magic. But what are you going to do if you get caught by someone? I’ll help, let me take him.”
Tom didn’t let her to point her wand with a ‘mobilicorpus’, he snarled his denial, holding Harry’s body even closer to himself, he know that it was irrational, but he was incapable of anything else at the moment.
Hermione raised a placating hand.

“Alright, but I will help on the way.” he shook his head to counter it but she insisted.

“What are you going to do, let him down to fight? I’m coming with you.”
It was more exhausting to disagree with her at the moment, he concurred. Tom let her lead the way to keep an eye on her and she proved more than useful, stunning the caretaker and a couple prefects.
At the middle to the way his meagre strength started to leave him but Tom clenched his teeth and managed to reach the RoR room, but he was barely past the door when said strength left him completely and collapsed in near coma with Harry still in his arms.
He awoke fifteen hours later; Hermione not only hadn’t left but had preserved Harry’s body and called his followers with a Patronus, a couple hours later they were in his time with Hermione in tow.}
Harry lived all that nightmarish experience with him due to their bond and was left close to tears, holding him without saying a word. After a long while he dared to speak:
“I’m so sorry.”
Tom glared mildly.

“Oh cut it, it’s anything but your fault.” he said trying and failing to sound snappish.

Harry let out a shaky laugh suspiciously close to a sob.

“Thank you!”
Tom told himself he wasn’t blushing and patted Harry on the back.

“You’re safe now.” pretending that he was the consoling one and thankful to his lover for allowing the pretence.
. . .Until he changed the topic.

“We own Hermione big.”
Tom privately agreed but he could see where Harry was taking it.

“I let her live and brought her here, isn’t that enough?”
Harry’s smile was almost carefree for once.

“Nope!”
Tom enjoyed that smile pretending to grouch.

“I left her and Prince unscratched, I’m not blind you know, isn’t that enough?”
Harry pouted.

“Hypocrite, they hadn’t done anything and you know it.”
Tom raised a finger.

“Yet!”
Harry took his stubborn expression, much better to defend Granger than anything stupid!
“I want you to promise me that you will let her live unscratched and without any kind of mark perpetually. . .”
Tom wanted to point out that it was too much, but at second thought, it really wasn’t. But before he could accept the deal Harry continued:
“I won’t take back the horcrux but I will stay with you anyway, no terms.”
Tom considered furiously, was it worth it as an offer? A look to Harry confirmed that it was a legitimate and honest one; he could always try to change his mind later. . . but what about the next crisis? He couldn’t afford it. . . But if he kept on pressuring they will be again at square one. . .
. . .Maybe the occasion needed just a different hook..?
“To be completely honest, if I gained a bit of contact with my horcrux, it wouldn’t be amiss, I had some disconnecting moments too.” he hated confessing it, but it was a near guarantee to work. . .
Harry was instantly worried, so much so that he forgotten to be wary.

“What? Why the hell you didn’t told me so?”
Score!
Tom smiled, just a little.

“It wasn’t anywhere near to your own symptoms but it exaggerated things and messed me enough that I needed time alone.”
Harry’s brow puckered in concentration and worry and he looked away.

“Give me your notes to the ritual.”
Tom didn’t allow himself to smile smugly. It wasn’t in the bag, yet. Sure, it was a concession and a heavy one at that, but Harry hadn’t accepted, yet and he had an air of preoccupation, something was amiss.
Still if Harry got involved it their ritual it was going to do him some good and strengthen the ritual in the process. He willed a copy of the notes and presented them with a flourish.
“Have a look; it’s everything I have to the matter.”
Harry sent him a grateful smile and after reconjuring their couch he started reading with complete concentration. Tom reminded himself that it was undignified to pace as he waited for the verdict. Fortunately the wait didn’t last for long. . .
“This is not a Druidic bonding.” it wasn’t exactly an accusation.
Tom relaxed a bit, it wasn’t a direct no, and couldn’t help being pleased, as even two years back, Harry wouldn’t have recognised a Druidic ritual.

“Indeed no, Druidic ceremonies create just the barest of soul bonds. The Druidic part is merely the foundation, using the timing and the form of sacrifice. I will base the spellwork elsewhere.”
He could feel the tension building at once, Harry was burning him with the intensity of his gaze. Tom returned the favour making his lover lightly blush but, as always, hold on.
“What kind of sacrifice?” his voice attempted for suspicious but it didn’t come out exactly that way.
Tom could tell that the question was just for confirmation and it brought him a smile, this time of pure male pride.

“The consummation, of course,” Harry blushed again and even more so as he elaborated, “Both virginities.”
Harry made his best impression of a fish. . .
“You will let me?” his voice held awe. . . “I thought you were disgusted with the idea.” . . .that he was too fast to drop. . .
Tom rather liked to see him so flustered.

“Disgusted is too strong a word.” he examined his nails.

“There is nothing so revolting a few charms won’t fix, not that I plan to repeat it other than this once.” he said looking completely disinterested and a bit cross, but truthfully looking forward even to that. . .
Harry took offence immediately.

“No need to force yourself on my behalf.” his voice as icy as it was awed before.
Tom sighed inwardly. . .What Harry expected of him, to admit of wanting things of that nature? . . .he shouldn’t. . .while that first awed reaction proved that he would gain immeasurable power over Harry with such intimacy, he was never going to admit something like that, not even after fifty years.

“True, I’m not exactly keen on the idea, but for the ritual to work as intends, or even at all, it will need things to be completely equal, why do you think I only stopped you instead of turning the tables as you obviously wanted. . .”
Harry’s eyes flashed.

“Assuming we proceed with the ritual, don’t expect a repeating either.” he pointed with clear asperity.

“But how on earth do you know for sure that I didn’t lose said virginity to Amelia?” he asked as a supposed afterthought.
They were going to see about that. . .

“Acceptable.” was his own tense reply but inside he was fuming

. . .Again with Amelia, maybe tomorrow he should throw her off the train, it probably wasn’t going to cost him. . .complains or no, Harry wouldn’t care that much. . .

“As for dearest Amelia and her failure to entice you, quite easy, your body language didn’t change, as in at all.”
Harry tried to oppose that opinion and he continued, proving his point.

“You bought it immediately on me, even without recalling the dream and I only imitated Black. Even without that, the way she broken up with you was quite telling, she obviously grew tired waiting for you to take the next step.”
Harry got even snappiest.

“You know perfectly well why she broken up with me and it had nothing to do with that, she was very explicit on her wish to keep my hands to myself.”
Tom sighed tiredly, only Harry could be so naive. . .and yet so faithful. . .that he could cure said naiveté without risking anything.

“Please, girls may not be so brazed, as in your time, but they still have needs. She just required keeping her image as a ‘good girl’ intact, if you had insisted on it she would have gratefully caved.”
Harry gaped and then smirked.

“This is extremely misogynistic, yet it seems to have some merit, how can you be completely sure I won’t use such sage advice?” he teased.
Tom smirked back.

He trusted Harry, above and including anything, except his own life and adored their power games. That didn’t mean that his partner would find pleasant the consequences of flirting with another at a try to get a rise out of him, better to be up front. . .
“My dearest Harry, I know, because if you dare to use it, it will automatically mean that you don’t care at all for your chosen interest. I won’t lift a finger to you for said indiscretion but I doubt that it would be left anything from said interest for the family to bury.” he said in his most pleasant voice.
Harry shuddered but it didn’t seem to be completely out of fear or revulsion. Tom took note of it; it looked like his lover had more than a weakness for his possessiveness, he got off on it. . .
“Right. . .”

Harry took another look at the notes and returned to the main problem.

“There is precious little spellwork here and I don’t recognise the origin, but I feel like I should.”
Tom was beyond pleased.

“Indeed you should, as this is very much the opposite of a horcrux in effect, I’m going to take elements from that ritual and reverse it.”
Harry froze and took a full mental turn.

“Are you out of your bloody mind? I was ready to consent to the bonding, but this is way out of hand.”
Harry was driving him completely crazy, what horcruxes and such nonsense, his partner was going to rob him from sanity far sooner than black magic ever would. . .
“And why pray tell is that?” he asked in his most soft and dangerous voice, but for once Harry didn’t take head of it. . .
. . .He was too busy gesturing wide and trying to put across his full disagreement, all the while keeping his voice civil and calm.

“I remember how it was when you created the horcrux. . . for invoking that kind of powers, now, even reversed, the only way it would work in that regard is if it literally welded our souls together.”
Really, Tom had started to regret at how much he had furthered Harry’s education. . .

“So, what is your problem? It’s the only relatively safe way for us to keep the horcruxes and regain a full soul.”
Huge green eyes met his wide with horror; Tom could have done much better without it.

“Safe?” his voice got a whole octave higher, “How the hell getting our souls welded together can be count as safe? Even if the ritual succeeds it could mix up irrevocably our brains to say the most obvious risk.”
Tom sighed and started explaining.

“The risk it’s not as high as you believe, why do you think I decided to use Beltane as both channelling and power surge?”
Harry didn’t look that much reassured.

“Then the risk moves more towards death than madness.”
Tom didn’t understand the depth of the negative reaction.

“Yes, but it gets at a more manageable level; I trust, us, our commitment in this.”
Harry exploded.

“How can you say that? . . .Failure is suicide.”
Tom smirked.

“I thought you were always ready for such plans.”
Harry winced.

“For me, not you; honestly, Tom, you didn’t even see me in that light before the horcrux, more like family, it’s too much. . .”
Instant fury took him, but dark humour prevailed.

“A husband is considered family too.” he pointed out.
Harry didn’t crack even the smallest of smiles.

“Please Tom, I need to know.”
Harry wasn’t easy to beg too. . . he sighed.

“I may not have seen you immediately as a sexual being, but I knew from the start that if I ever got to that route it wouldn’t be with anyone but you and yes even if we were related by blood it wouldn’t make a difference.”
Harry gaped like a fish again and then glared.

“You saw your uncle; your forefathers had probably similar thoughts as this.” he snapped as by instinct and then shook his head to clear it.

“No, this is crazy; it’s going too far Tom. . .”
Tom had gotten more than tired with the bloody game and ignored the dig on his maternal family.

“Suit yourself but don’t dare putting the weigh on me, not when you hadn’t even looked at me with desire before the Walburga incident. . .biology doesn’t lie, sweetheart.”
Harry gulped.

“This is not true.”
Tom met Harry’s eyes with everything he had.

“Then prove me wrong, bond with me.”
For the first time is his life Harry couldn’t keep his gaze.

“I can’t. It’s not worth your life.”
Suddenly Tom knew that Harry never had the intention of truly accepting the bonding. . . . and he shouldn’t had lied to himself into believing it (bad, bad, habit to take from his personal headache). . .
He was never more keenly aware at how much a disadvantage were his emotions, but no matter how much he longed to make him pay, deeply, his hand was halted yet again, due to a smudge of understanding, as all the fears Harry spouted were the exact mirror of his own. . . . He was going to give him one final chance and then they were truly over. . .
“As you wish, in that case you can either fight me to death right now, or wait until you take the horcrux back and then never grace me with your presence on pain of death, your choice.”
Harry wasn’t that keen to raise his wand against him, he was relieved to see that. In fact he didn’t look much better than when Tom threatened his friends but he didn’t have a problem to meet his eyes any more.

“None of these appealing to me, or are much of a choice.” he admitted.
Tom was done with showing weakness.

“I don’t care, I’m done with playing. This is the third and the last chance I’m giving you to leave; you won’t get another, so think clearly and decide now.”

Harry’s pov

Harry’s whole world halted for a moment and he lowered his eyes, again. He knew that tone, but what Tom was giving him could hardly be called a choice, the variables were impossible. His first instinct was to leave, but Tom was dead serious, the only way to leave now was over his dead body and he couldn’t stand it even as a thought.
The other option, to let him kill him, was unthinkable as well; on one part, he would personally be over the dilemma, permanently. But on the other, Tom’s threat on this was as good as gold; he would be responsible for sicking Voldemort on his friends and the future generations. . . he very carefully didn’t consider about his future self. . .
The third alternative was just as unpalatable.

To risk brain damage on Tom to just get a measure of freedom, though he would never be completely free, even if they never set eyes on each other, due to Tom’s horcrux, but then again his friend looked so frustrated that it wasn’t past him to fire an Avada at him and destroy a part of his own soul to get it over. Harry felt filthy for even thinking about it. No freedom, particularly his, was worth to cause something like that, especially to a mind such as Tom’s, that brilliant. . .

such fate was worse than death. . .
Naturally all that excruciating mess should have made the fourth option, bonding with Tom, at the very least palatable, but somehow it wasn’t the case. To survive the rite, as it was shaped, they needed to give everything they had, total commitment of body, mind, heart and soul, to that extreme. It was somehow in a way, as monstrous as the horcrux ritual.
Tom’s accusation was right on target; his feelings were possible only due to the horcrux. But it wasn’t in the way his friend thought; the feelings, friendship, love and obsession were always there, it was just as likely they would have ended lovers in his own time too, however if he hadn’t ended in the past, again, he very much doubted that he would had allowed himself to let them reach such extends of dependence.

It sickened him. . .
Due to that, he didn’t trust himself to give himself completely to the other, the ritual would fail and he would have killed Tom just as surely as if firing an Avada. It wouldn’t be even a shared fault as his lover’s feelings, while complicated and sharpened in the same way as his own, not to mention insanely mixed up, were far more focused.
While he had spent the previous year floundering and trying to acclimate to everything he had lost, for good, Tom had the comfort of his own time to short out exactly what he wanted and how to get it. That added more to the claustrophobic feeling, Tom’s ideas were more than well thought, brilliant truly, tailored for him and showed his care. . .
. . .Love damn it, name it properly. . .
. . .But obsessive love and need aside, Harry needed time to breathe and decide on his own to what he wanted and how far he could go.
Time! That was what he needed most of all. . .
“Tom, I can’t, this is too big a decision to take at once. Can’t we postpone it a bit? I won’t leave, I swear I won’t, but I need time.” he finally met again his lover’s eyes, offering everything he could.
If at all possible Tom’s face turned even more stone like.

“There is no time, you know your choices.” a breath, “I have seen your oaths.” Harry flinched.
The last bit was totally unfair and he honestly hated Tom for forcing him to choose, but he understood too, he had driven the other past madness with his repeated denials, (but never final ones,) and yet his (what word to use, friend-brother, beloved, destroyer or saviour?) Everything continued to offer him more and more, when every shred of patience should have been broken way back and things to have already resorted in violence.

Even more telling was the fact that even among those deplorable terms there was a solution that guaranteed Harry’s safety even at the cost of Tom’s own health.
This wasn’t the normal Tom Riddle: ‘I would be lying if I said that anyone could ever matter more, or even equally, to myself.’
Harry understood even his lover’s changed mind towards forcing him to leave if he absorbed the horcrux back, Tom had offered him everything he was and it looked like he had been rejected, it would have been easier to face the whole school naked than feeling that exposed. There was no way in hell to continue in the same way as friends, or even lovers, after something like that, if he was honest it was doubtful that they could have returned back to friends even back to after their lips touched for the first time. . .

. . .Yet the offer to leave free was still there. . .
“In that case you already know the answer.” he replied just as harshly.

“Damn it, Tom, we are going to die because of this.”
Something softened fractionally at Tom’s eyes, if not face.

“No we will not.” his voice was back to melodious, hypnotic, coaxing, but it was also honest.

“Do you know why, darling?”
Harry gulped, trying to force down the knot in his dry throat.

“No.” he believed that he was honest.
Tom minimised, to almost nothing, the distance between them.

“Because, before this,” he stroked softly Harry’s lower lip with a single finger and yet a sensuality that made him ache.

“There was this:” he grabbed his hand, palm to palm, intertwining their fingers and digging his nails, Harry couldn’t help but return the gesture.
“The commitment is already there, no matter its form. It’s the same reason that I followed you to your time and why when you woke up alive you didn’t grab Hermione to return back, if you had tried immediately there was a chance that it could have worked. We are going to survive the bonding because, no matter what is going on between us, the connection is going to stay, no matter how far the physical distance between us.”
Harry started trembling; this is what he was afraid of most of all, even above losing his independence. To survive the bonding, with their feelings reverting to like it was before, or even, in time, fading completely. To spend countless empty centuries with his only link to someone that had become a stranger and no way out. . .

Nothing lasted forever, especially good things.
But then again, even though his rational mind was screaming in fright, there was and another part of himself seeing things differently. Alright, there wasn’t a guarantee that they were going to live past April. Nor for how long their bond was going to last, in it’s whatever form. Decision taken, he was going to give everything he was and take everything he could in return, every drop of honey, every moment of happiness with Tom and every adventure, for as long it lasted . . . Harry was going to live life in the fullest. . .he wasn’t a coward.
“I love you.” he blurted out.
Time stopped.

Tom’s whole face lighted in pure delight, but he only raised an eyebrow.

“I know.”
Harry didn’t need a verbal confirmation anyway. His hand slipped on Tom’s nape compelling their lips to meet. It wasn’t surrender but a claiming of his own, he repeated those words soundlessly again and again against his lover’s lips and felt the response as the barest whisper in their link, it was beyond enough. But as things gotten heated again and he tried to steer Tom towards their couch there was resistance.
“What?” he asked and much to his shame it sounded irritable.
Tom smirked but it looked more like a smile.
“What, do you think that I will leave you to distract me again? We are not going anywhere until you give me properly you word.”
Harry was more amused than irritated, but he tried to hide it.

“What, my oaths are back to been good enough for you?” yet it wasn’t completely without bite.
Their eyes clashed in a short but fierce battle and then they were clutching each other in helpless laughter born out of sheer relief.
“Harry?”
It wasn’t an order, neither imploring, just a request. Harry preferred those most of all.
“Alright, I Harry James Evans Potter accept your troth, Tom Marvolo Riddle, I will bond with you at the fires of Beltane and spend with you as long as we have. Good enough?”
Tom tried to look cross but he could feel the satisfaction leaking from his pores.

“Immensely.”
He took his left hand again and Harry could feel Tom’ magic, not the room’s, at work, He raised their joined hands to see, there was a band of white and red gold, the heavy stuff, not a promise ring.
“What, not a family promise ring?” he teased to hide how touched he was with the gesture.
Tom rolled his eyes.

“I prefer this.” there was no mistaking the heavy possessive tone, more personal than anything else.
Harry blushed and tried to cover how much he liked it.

“You just can’t risk that I will become the master of death.”
Something passed from Tom’s eyes but it was too fast for Harry to catch the remembrance. He clucked darkly.

“I’m not completely against the idea, but I won’t leave you to use it as a means to get away from the bonding.”
As crazy as it sounded Tom meant it to some extend. Harry was too embarrassed and happy to answer with words. He concentrated on his own magic and a moment later a mirror of his own ring was resting at Tom’s slim ring finger.

“There.” he couldn’t hide his satisfaction.
Tom examined the ring and the heat returned to his eyes, he tugged him towards their couch.

“Remind me to beat you in the morning.”
For all that he knew it wasn’t an idle threat Harry laughed.

“What, now that you got me for sure you plan to take your blood back?”
Tom smirked.

“Exactly that, sweetheart.” the tugging became dragging to the last steps.
Harry resisted, just because he could.

“Don’t expect me just to accept it.” a challenge on multiple levels.
“On the contrary, darling,” biting claiming kisses between each word.

“I’m counting on that.”
But as they reached their couch the atmosphere changed again. There was deliberateness that there wasn’t here the previous two times, Tom made no attempt at banishing their clothes and he looked challengingly at Harry when he tried to do it himself.
He took his time undressing Harry piece by piece and he followed suit both wary and intrigued. The game became apparent soon enough; Tom was drawing things the further he could to punish him for making him wait but he probably tortured himself just as much.
But as he stood behind him, kissing the nape of his neck and descending very slowly to his nude back, Harry felt a familiar tingle of magic. He stiffened and called his own.
“Let me,” a honeyed caress to his ear that made him tingle.

“It will stay only until the bonding and I won’t take advantage of it. . .much.”
Harry found himself agreeing and it wasn’t due to the bone melting sensuality, or the humour. The link was open and he could sense that Tom didn’t want to do that only out of possessiveness, but because he needed to be able to pinpoint where he was and to stop him if he lost control again.
The moment the “Yes,” left his lips Tom repeated the progress but when he reached between his shoulder blades instead of a kiss he bestowed a sharp bite. Somehow the magic was different than the first time and Harry melted against Tom.
Things continued in that snail pace; his first estimation was right too and he even got close to beg Tom to finish things, not that he did him the favour. Though at mind to mind it was difficult to say who did a favour to whom. . . but when everything was over he collapsed in his arms and fell asleep immediately, without a goodnight.
Harry could tell that this wasn’t just a post sex male exhaustion but something far more ominous. A careful check, which he had neglected before, showed several Parsel glamours and the dark shadows under Tom’s eyes were considerate. . .
What kind of hours did he keep?
He didn’t know if now that he had his agreement he planned to calm down but even if Tom intended to continue like that, until he cracked the Stone, he had another thing coming. . .
Harry forced himself to stay awake as he felt the need to guard Tom’s sleep. He took a moment to lament a bit the loss of some of their trust. Tom may rest like a child at his chest, now, but he wasn’t at ease to turn his back anymore. . . But the regret was brief; in time Harry know he was going to get it back. . .
No matter what it may happen and it could be a lot, like Tom calming a bit and waiting some time until the bonding, or even not managing to crack the Stone, which would freeze things very effectively, Harry know that his place was there.
- 7
- 8
- 9
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The Fate Changed Now What?