When We Were Young

C H A P T E R T H I R T Y

A/N: Sorry for the long ass wait! This year has not been kind to me :( A lot of people around me passed away, my cat died too, and this school year has been STRESSFUL to the max! I'm doing better now, though! It's time to get the ball back rolling for this book!!!

Also, remember what my version of the Master of Death is: the MOD lives multiple lives by dying in one life and reincarnating into another. Death is not the end for Harry :)

Here's one more warning: Pay attention to the dates on each chapter. The book won't go in chronological order anymore.

¤¤¤¤¤

October 31st, 1944

"Well? How have you been?!" Eliza said, her smile seeming to radiate beams of sunlight. Harry tried not to smile too widely, nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie. They had met up in the kitchens, and the elves were more than happy to serve them cookies and milk.

"I've been good---really good, actually!" The smile Harry was trying to push down resurfaced with a revenge, and his cheeks actually started to hurt from smiling so hard.

"Oh~? Do tell!" Eliza cooed, a teasing smile on her lips.

"Well," Harry drawled, taking a sip of warm milk, "as I'm sure you know, my relationship with Tom is out of the bag."

Eliza hummed, motioning for Harry to get to the good stuff.

Harry faked a long sigh, his lips twitching. "I don't know what else to say. There were only a few little changes in the past months. The Slytherins are a bit more fearful of me, and a few have whispered their disapproval of my permanent relationship with Tom, but Tom's pretty quick to shut those whispers down. I don't know! How have you been, Eliza?"

"No, no no. This conversation is about you! Have you and Tom talked about boundaries and pet peeves yet?"

Harry tilted his head. "I know all of Tom's pet peeves, and he knows all of mine. We've known each other since forever, so we don't really have many boundaries."

"I would say otherwise," Eliza warned, brushing off cookie crumbs from her hands. "Remember the boundary mishap you had with Tom? Both you and Tom touched each other before asking if it was okay to do so, and the direct outcome was not a happy one."

Eliza paused, a hard look coming about her eyes. "I could care less what adults say about provocation; ask consent for any and all intimate touches, okay?"

Harry nodded, his worried eyes scanning the hard lines of Eliza's face. "Are you okay, Eliza?"

Eliza bit her lip. "I won't say any specifics since it isn't my story to tell, but someone I know was recently sexually harassed, and when she told her Head of House about the harassment, they said that she provoked that response! That she was to blame for the harassment!" Eliza scoffed, furiously biting into another cookie. "It disgusts me."

Harry casted his gaze down at the table, thinking back to when he said something similar about himself. Now that he really thought about it, the. . . incident between him and Tom, it was not Harry's fault for being kissed, but he did an. . . erm, intimate gesture to Tom without permission. Both were at fault, but it was water under the bridge between them now.

"I'm sorry your friend had to go through that," Harry said quietly. "Hand?" he questioned, reaching out his hand toward Eliza's.

"Yeah," Eliza whispered back, lacing her bigger fingers through Harry's little ones.

"Hug?" Harry asked, using his other hand to pat Eliza's hand.

Eliza laughed a bit, using their laced hands to pull Harry to her. Bundled in her arms, Harry felt like a little baby, warm and cared for.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Harry whispered, "You remind me of my mother."

Eliza's heart ached at the confession, and she held the vulnerable boy tighter.

"I'll always support you," Eliza whispered around the lump in heer throat, rocking them side to side, ever-gentle.

¤¤¤¤¤

Tom watched Harry throughout the day. His actions weren't overtly different, but there was something off about Harry today, almost melancholy. Harry was fairly even-tempered, so his bad mood wouldn't pop out of nowhere, but Tom just knew. Something was wrong.

It wasn't unusual for Harry to be a bit downtrodden on Halloween (although he never told Tom why he was as so), but this year, he was more bothered than usual, his brows furrowed and his eyes troubled when he thought no one was watching.

It was inside an empty common room, with the fire roaring and Tom and Harry sharing Tom's favorite armchair, when Harry sighed and snuggled into Tom, his body curled up in a tight ball.

"I'm sure you've noticed my bad mood on Halloween," Harry murmured, his words barely intelligible from the way his cheeks were squished between Tom's neck and the spine of the armchair.

Tom hummed, patting Harrys back in comfort. "It's fine if you don't tell me why."

Harry hummed back, snaking his arms around Tom's middle. "Thanks, Tom. I'm feeling a bit worse this year, that's all. I don't mean to worry you."

This response was crystal clear despite the hushed tone Harry sported. Tom wondered if Harry purposefully slurred his words when admitting his melancholy on Halloween, and a smirk pulled at his lips.

"It's okay. Shall we head to bed, lovely?"

Harry gave Tom a scornful look, a blush rising to his cheeks at the endearment. Way to break the somber atmosphere, Tom.

Harry climbed off of Tom and led the way to their personal dorms, hearing Tom's snickers (read: cackles) echo behind him.

Jerk.

¤¤¤¤¤

Harry's hands were gripping the ceramic sink bowl, water dripping down his face and goosebumps down his arms. Just moments ago, the temperature of his bathroom dropped, the mirrors fogged up, and he felt a cold breeze by his left ear, carrying the words: "Time is ticking away, Master. Hurry."

His stomach dropped.

Why did it feel so. . .

ominous?

¤¤¤¤¤

A/N:

Sorry everyone! I know this is more of a filler, but I felt the need for it as a gentle reminder that the story is set in the 1940s. Sexism and homophobia are POTENT. Women are NOT treated well :( Although I wrote the wizarding world to be more tolerant for same-sex couples, I kind of want to spread more awareness on the idea of provocation beliefs and historical gender inequality. I laid the seeds for the latter a few chapters ago, when Tom first kissed Harry, and now it's fully grown.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Another chapter is coming out soon, since this one was relatively short and more filler-type :)