Death's Gift - Chapter Thirty-Five
The First Night
"Come with me, I want to show you something."
Harry raised an eyebrow but followed Tom out of the room.
"Does this have anything to do with the Death Eaters that are still here?" Harry asked, putting his hands in his pockets.
"No, but that reminds me."
Tom came to a stop in the hallway and turned to Harry, waving his wand as he did so. Harry halted to a stop as he felt something touch his face. He looked at Tom incredulously and reached up to touch his face, pulling away a black half-mask.
"What is this?" Harry asked, holding it up.
"A mask." Tom said, "I would assume that you would rather not reveal yourself to the other Death Eaters."
"I could just put a glamour over my scar." Harry told him.
"Your face is still very recognizable." Tom told him.
"Then I can just use a full glamour." Harry shrugged.
"Don't." Tom said, looking Harry directly in the eyes.
Harry blinked and swallowed thickly. Something about Tom's voice sent a shiver down his spine.
"Well, Bellatrix and Lucius already know that I joined you, and I doubt that any of the Inner Circle would go around talking about me if you told them not to. Besides, I'm an adult right now, no one would believe them."
Tom raised an eyebrow, "You're comfortable with them knowing?"
Harry scratched at the back of his head, "I guess?"
Tom smirked, "And who was the one who said he would never join me?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "That was years ago. It's not like that applies now."
"Yes, and I rather like this way."
Harry grinned, not even having to voice how he felt, Tom already knew he felt the same. Tom continued to walk and Harry cautiously followed him. The two continued in silence, exiting Tom's wing of the building and waking past the meeting room. They took a turn and went down a flight of stairs. Harry found himself looking all around as the wallpaper came to a stop and beautiful stone covered the walls. The came to a stop in front of a large set of Ebony doors. Tom pushed them open to reveal a large and very grand training room. Harry's eyes widened as he began to take note of the dueling floor, the targets around the room, and the dummies that no doubt had magical enchantments on them to act like actual people in a fight. Probably being able to fire stunners. Harry looked over at Tom.
"This is what you wanted to show me?" He asked.
Tom nodded, "As you spend so much of your time concealing your magic, I figured it would be good for you to have a chance to let go. There are protection wards around this room, so you can't damage it, but you can finally let your magic run wild since the attack on your muggle relatives."
"Well that explains the dueling clothes." Harry hummed, walking in and staring at the room in awe.
"You could still change if you wanted."
Harry shrugged, "It's fine. I'm used to fighting in jeans anyway."
"And what if you burn your clothes?"
Harry raised an eyebrow, "You think I can cast the killing curse but not know how to protect my own clothes?"
Tom shrugged.
"You just want to see me in dueling clothes, huh?" Harry grinned.
"That could very well be a possibility."
Harry shook his head, "I'd stand back."
"I'm the dark lord, I think I can handle a bit of magic." Tom said, crossing his arms.
"Okay, but I warned you."
Harry dropped his shields and his the hair on his arms immediately stood up. His magic flooded the room, making Harry's skin tingle. There was a slight pop and Harry looked over at where Tom was standing, but the man wasn't there. Less than a second later, an arm wrapped around Harry's waist, pulling him close and he felt as Tom pressed his lips against Harry's neck. Just the action was enough to send a chill down Harry's spine.
"Tom?" He asked.
"It's intoxicating." Tom said, Harry feeling his warm breath as he talked.
"Well..." Harry said, "I'm not planing to conceal it while I'm here so..."
Tom pulled away and gave a small nod, as if he approved. Harry cracked a small smile. He was about to say something when the door to the room blew open and in the doorway stood Bellatrix, her wand raised and aimed at Harry. She didn't even have a chance to do anything before her wand flew out of her hand and landed on the floor, curtesy of Tom flicking his hand.
"My lord," She began, noticing Tom standing there, "I thought there had been an intruder-"
"Nope. Just me." Harry said.
Bellatrix gave him a glare, "And who are you?"
Harry gave her a bewildered look, "Seriously? Do you just have a bad memory?"
"How dare-"
"I suggest you stop there unless you want to be cursed for insulting something of mine." Tom glared at her, his voice sounding dangerous.
"I'm not a thing, Tom." Harry told him.
Bellatrix blinked, "Potter?"
"The one and only." Harry said sarcastically.
"Why-"
"I'm staying here for the Holidays."
"Then that magic, it was yours?" Bellatrix asked, "It was never that strong before."
"That does not concern you." Tom told her, waving his hand and sending her wand back into her hand, "You may leave."
"Actually," Harry began, "I could use someone to duel against."
Tom raised an eyebrow and Harry shrugged, Bellatrix started to laugh.
"You should know, Potter, I'm undefeated within the Death Eaters." She grinned wildly.
Tom pinched the bridge of his nose as Harry chuckled.
"I'll even give you permission to cast the killing curse." Harry said, "That's how confident I am about wining."
Bellatrix grinned, "Then I believe we've got ourselves a duel."
Harry flicked his wand and his clothes quickly morphed into his dueling robes, Tom's eyes immediately snapping over to him.
"I thought you said you wouldn't change?"
Harry smirked, "Well if I'm going to be dueling someone~"
The man simply stalked away, leaving Harry and Bellatrix on the floor. Tom counted them down as they took five steps. Bellatrix turned around the first second, and Harry allowed himself to be hit with the killing curse, only that instead of coming back after the fall, he decided to return in mid fall and caught himself, standing back up and firing a spell at Bellatrix, the woman being too shocked to dodge. She was fired backwards but regained her footing. Harry danced around her, ducking and weaving through all of her spells. He cast a reducto at her feet and as she jumped to the side to dodge, Harry slammed her with a wandless severing charm. Being a capable opponent, only a fair chunk of her wild hair was cut off, and this absolutely enraged her. She came at Harry with even more might, deciding to only cast the killing curse, but Harry didn't allow another spell to hit him. He sent back a wave of raw magic that knocked her from her feet, deciding that he was done messing around and hit her with a full body bind curse.
Harry came to a stop and stretched his arms, "I never realized how out of shape I'd gotten."
Tom raised an eyebrow and Harry undid his curse on Bellatrix. The witch grumpily got up, not pleased with having being beaten.
"I must say, you're a good opponent." Harry told her, extending her hand.
Bellatrix simply stalked from the room, making Harry blink.
"I really thought she'd like me more."
Tom chuckled, "I'm surprised that she didn't try to get an underhanded curse at you."
. . . . . . .
That night, Harry got to meet the rest of the Death Eaters that lived in the Manor. He and Barty had hit it off real quick, the wizard was rather funny. Harry had made sure to tell him that there for no hard feelings for Barty having drugged him before. Tom had chuckled at this, but Harry simply ignored him. Bellatrix, while still bitter about their duel earlier, was rather fun to talk to. She had interesting stories and told some of the best jokes, ones that had the rest of the Death Eaters crackling. As for the Lestrange brothers, they reminded Harry so much of Fred and George that it was uncanny. They talked about pranks they'd pulled off, joked around most of the time, and were overly dramatic. Harry had quickly grown comfortable around them, feeling as though he was just sitting at dinner with a bunch of his friends instead of with the Dark Lord and his followers.
"I didn't expect the Death Eaters to be so welcoming." Harry said after dinner, pulling out a book to read while Tom sat down to do some plotting.
"That's only because they know what will happen to them if they stepped out of line." Tom replied.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Please, if that were the case then they would've been more on edge. They're actually pretty nice."
"You do realize you're saying this about Death Eaters, right?" Tom looked over at him questionably.
Harry shrugged, "And? Just because they're a little bit mad doesn't mean they can't be fun. Take you for example."
"I'm not mad." Tom said.
"A little nutty?" Harry offered in exchange.
Tom pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing, "Nor am I that either. I'll have you know that I have been relatively sane since coming back."
Harry nodded, "If you weren't then I wouldn't still be willingly on your side."
Tom looked over at him. Harry was simply lounging in one of the chairs, a book in his hands, reading. Tom wondered if the man had even realized what he said. Of course, Tom knew that Harry was choosing to be with him, but it had always taken an amount of pushing to get him to actually say it out loud. It was probably the first time Harry had ever said it without Tom bringing it up or having to look into his mind. The man fell silent. Harry, noticing the silence, looked up, meeting Tom's eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." Tom said, returning to his work, putting his back towards Harry.
A look of confusion crossed Harry's face.
"What?" He asked again.
"It was nothing." Tom repeated.
"I'm not daft, Tom."
"I've seen evidence that states otherwise."
Now getting annoyed, Harry closed his book and walked over to the man, standing right next to him and crossing his arms. Tom looked over at him, raising an eyebrow in question.
"What we're you thinking?" Harry asked.
"As I said before, it was nothing." Tom said.
Harry scoffed, "Please, I think a I know you well enough to know when you're thinking about something. It's not fair if you always get to look into my mind for answers yet I can't even get you to say something."
Tom smirked and leaned back into his chair, putting the tips of his fingers together, "Are you trying to tell me that you want to be able to look into my mind right now?"
"Why can't I?" Harry asked, "You get to look into mine. It's only fair."
Tom's smirk just widened slightly, "I think you know me well enough that I'm not one to make fair deals."
Harry sighed frustratedly, "We're in a relationship, Tom. It's a give and take situation. You can't just take without giving."
Tom simply hummed in response, "So you want access to my mind?"
"It's either that or you withdraw from mine." Harry stated.
Tom met Harry's eyes and in a matter of seconds, Harry's face had gone completely red and he practically marched away, plopping back down in his chair and burying his face into his book. Tom chuckled at the other man's behavior only to have Harry snap at him, calling him out for what Harry had seen. Tom merely shrugged.
"You were the one who wanted access."
Harry groaned, "I retract my previous statement."
. . . . . . .
That night, Harry returned to the room that Tom had prepared for him. He got changed into his pajamas and climbed into the bed, noticing that the sheets must've been some kind of silk from how they felt. He looked up at the ceiling, his mind wandering. He wondered how Sirius and Remus were handling break at the Burrow. He was looking forward to seeing them on Christmas day, but the fact that Ron, Ginny, and Molly would be there made him seriously want to reconsider going. Though he love the idea of celebrating with the twins and Neville while so blatantly rejecting the three Weasleys. Was Hermione holding up okay at the burrow. He knew the place was still uncomfortable for her, so maybe she convinced her parents to stay home for the Holidays. He'd send a letter in the morning.
Harry rolled over onto his side, looking at the black doors that led to his room. He sighed comfortably. If he'd ever been told that he would eventually end up dating Tom Riddle of all people as well as spending the night in his manor, Harry would've never believed it. Even now, he still thought it was all really surreal. He never would've expected that when Tom said that he'd be coming to teach at Hogwarts it would lead to them getting together. Harry thought back to that first kiss. There was just something so different about kissing Tom than kissing Ginny. Kissing Ginny made his gut wrench, but kissing Tom made him feel as though he was on fire. It made his knees want to give out and caused his head to spin. It was just so- brilliant. Harry smiled and closed his eyes, but as soon as he did so, the images from earlier popped in to his head and his eyes shot back open.
The boy groaned and sat up, burning his head in his hands, feeling that his cheeks were blazing. Harry couldn't believe that Tom had actually let him into his mind like that. Harry had just expected Tom to tell him what had been going on, but actually seeing what he was thinking- Harry grabbed his pillow and stuffed his face into it. How was Tom not at all embarrassed? If it had been him, Harry would've been mortified, even more if he'd been thinking that way about Tom and Tom was the one who found out. Harry lifted his head up and looked around the room. Seriously, how was he even going to sleep tonight knowing that?
A/N
So exited to be getting back to this! I've been having a lot of writer block lately just because it's been so long since writing this story, so I'm still getting re-aquatinted with the more minute details/how I've decided to portray characters this far. Finished this chapter and wanted to upload it for you all. I'm still working on the next one, and the next few updates will be a bit sporadic, just as a heads up. There are a lot of new stories I've been working on, but I know how much people love this story, and it will forever be special to me, it was my first one to blow up that I actually thought was well written, so while it may not be my #1 priority as of current, I will be working on it and updating when I can, but my current stories will be taking priority, as well as other things going on in my life. With all that said, I hope you enjoyed!
-Author