It was my Willing Choice

Chapter IV: An Unforgettable Discussion

Maybe...maybe robes would have been the better choice?

Harry swallowed thickly as he turned red and gazed away from Tom now; the man eyeing him in confusion before his own gaze widened and then stared at Harry. He had forgotten about his magic sensitivity...

"You...felt that?" He said softly

Harry flushed redder; which made Tom want him more, but surprisingly the younger boy didn't deny that he had indeed felt the waves of emotion from him.

Tom sighed, "Come on. We really need to talk now. And I don't want to be doing this in the hallway." He scowled, "Even when I well know that no one is just going to drop in."

The walk back to Harry's chambers were silent and uncomfortable; both wizards didn't know how to approach this. When they entered, Harry immediately went to one of the chairs before the fire and grabbed his sketchbook out of Tom's reach before curling into the chair in on himself.

Tom's eyes saddened; he hadn't meant to cause Harry to react this way. He slowly sat down on the sofa across from him and thought of how best to start this. He sighed in despair, "There's no easy way to approach this, is there?"

He eyed the fire hard as Harry glanced to him silently.

"I left you earlier this afternoon to research something that pertains to the connection between us; something that was occurring naturally, even when I had thought it shouldn't be. I had to contact several people for specific books and to cross-reference them with information I had in some others that I own." Tom said quietly, "After several hours of reading through old and practically non-existent practices; crossing the information with what I myself had tested before...I now know for absolute certainty that I was incorrect; what was occurring was not due to the Horcrux."

He spoke quiet, "It was already there between us both, but it had been...amplified by my fragment that attached itself to you. And not in the normal way such a thing would usually amplify something."

Tom's gaze darkened, "I cannot say how amplified the connection was by it; we need to test some things to see how you respond and I respond to it. But I'm afraid that you're not going to like what I say. That you will deny it; reject it, and wish to be elsewhere."

"As far as you could go to be away from me or the Light."

His voice was barely a whisper now as Harry looked to him with concern again.

Tom breathed, "I told you before that my soul was divided too much for you to possibly feel my emotions; my real and genuine ones. Yet, you were anyhow."

Harry nodded, "I remember."

Tom paused, "I theorize that this is only possible because even if you had not become a Horcrux to one of my soul fragments; that when I attacked you all those years ago, we both still would have survived. I think this because I now believe that Albus not only wanted to be rid of me, but also you."

"Because even without the Horcrux; we were and still very much are bound to the other. I do not know for certain in what way we are bound; though I suspect several options, some more strongly than others. However, now we really do need to get to Gringotts as quickly as we can. They will be able to give you your answers and to do the tests we need to prove what I believe."

Tom eyed him, "I believe that part of the answers you are seeking; they are why Albus wanted you ignorant to your heritage and kept in the dark. Why he wanted to use you and your family against me to be rid of us."

Harry glanced to the wall dimly now as he pondered this; had Albus really seen him as a threat to him when simply an infant? Albeit, a very powerful one, but still...