Reposted: December 22, 2021
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Summary: Harry (and an offscreen Remus) recover from the dementors; revelations take place; Tom earns himself a(nother) new nickname
All throughout the night Harry tossed and turned. Several times Tom woke up to him trying to push away, as if he forgot who he was sleeping with.
If Harry was this affected by the dementors, Tom hated to think how Remus was faring.
Tom sat up. What was he supposed to do? He wanted to reach out, but earlier he tried that and Harry had flinched violently. At that point, he had calmed down on his own, but Tom didn't think that would be the case this time.
'Let me.' Azure climbed onto the bed, taking care to avoid the thrashing limbs. She positioned herself near Harry's head and began hissing in soothing tones. Gradually, Harry relaxed, and Azure motioned for Tom, who placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.
'You've done this before?' Tom asked.
Azure nodded solemnly. 'After some weeks, I managed to convince him to take me into his room. He had nightmares even though they left him alone for the most part. They ceased after a while.'
It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Tom.
'I think he should be fine,' Azure said after a moment. 'But I'll stay nearby in case you need me.'
She slithered off the bed and settled down by the window, her eyes fixated on Tom and Harry.
Tom laid back down, bringing an unresisting Harry into his arms. Harry pressed his face into Tom's shoulder and breathed out softly.
No nightmares disturbed him for the rest of the night.
A few hours later, Tom awoke and couldn't fall back asleep. He checked the time. It was almost nine; he may as well get up.
He took a quick shower and returned twenty–five minutes later. Azure was still at the window, dozing, but she lifted her head as Tom approached. 'He moved around a bit, but that's all.'
Tom turned to Harry. His lips quirked upward; Harry had somehow maneuvered in a way that resulted in his feet sticking out from under the blankets.
He poked his foot, making Harry giggle. "Hey, you. Wake up."
"How about you wake up?" Harry muttered.
"I already am. You should probably take a shower. You stink."
One green eye opened. "Look who's talking."
"I just took a shower," Tom protested, gesturing to the towel. And his still damp body, which did not help the situation.
"Yeah, but you still reek from yesterday's game. Also you missed a spot here." He poked Tom's face. "And here. Here. Or maybe those are your freckles. Can't tell, they're very light."
Tom grabbed his hand. "You're an idiot."
"I know." Harry kissed him and left the room.
He let out a puff of air as the warm water hit his back. His mind drifted back to the dementors. He hadn't thought about his oh-so-loving relatives in that much detail in months. Sometimes, he would wonder how they were coping with their new lives, but he wouldn't dwell on it. Once or twice, he pictured Dudley and Petunia being nicer, but that was just laughable.
Vernon was hopefully still rotting in the hellhole of prison. If anyone deserved Azkaban, it was him, Harry thought savagely. Too bad he was just in a Muggle prison, which was much less haunting.
A new thought struck him, and he winced. He knew he had nightmares, even though he couldn't recall them in any great detail, and if he had been shifting around, he would have woken Tom up at some point. Maybe even multiple points.
He looked at the clock and froze. He had been here for nearly ten minutes. Then he remembered where he was. "This isn't the Dursleys," he scolded himself out loud. "You're fine. No need to worry. Relax."
But he ended up finishing barely a minute later. Man, he really hated dementors.
Tom jerked his head up as Harry abruptly bolted the room. "That was fast," he noted.
"I know." Harry grabbed a clean shirt and pants and put them on. "Did I wake you up?"
"Yes," Tom said honestly. "Multiple times. But don't you dare say you're sorry," he added as Harry was opening his mouth.
"So—" Harry stopped himself and decided to change the topic. "Shall we head down for breakfast?"
Tom's stomach growled.
"I'll take that as a yes," Harry said with a grin.
Tom rolled his eyes. "Shut up." He scooped up Azure, who wrapped herself over his shoulders, and followed Harry out.
Barty and Bella had just arrived moments prior; their plates were still relatively full.
"Morning," Bella said. "How do you feel?" she asked after a small pause. It didn't take a genius to figure out what memories the dementors had triggered for him. Every time she thought of wretched monsters, she had the urge to go out and make their lives hell, especially Vernon. Unfortunately, she would just be putting herself at risk as Remus and Barty would often say. Sirius, though, often had the same line of thought.
"Better, thanks. Where's the annoying duo and Severus?" he asked before anyone could comment on the clearly smaller serving on his plate.
"Dunno," Barty said with a shrug. "Remus might still be sleeping. Do you have any idea what he was remembering?"
Harry shook his head. "Sirius doesn't know, either."
Barty frowned. That was a first. Sirius and Remus were practically joined at the hip; what one knew, so did the other.
Harry finished first, brushing off Azure's blatant attempts to get him to eat more by pushing a roll toward him, and stood up. "I'm gonna go see how Moony's doing."
Azure looked put out as she stared at the roll. 'Well, that was a bust.'
'Don't worry, I'll get him to eat it,' Tom said.
Harry reached Remus' bedroom and was about to knock when he heard Severus' voice. He froze and slowly lowered his fist. Carefully, he leaned forward and pressed an ear to the door.
"I don't know if it's too taxing on your mind, Remus, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the most likeable person on the planet."
"Really?" Remus sounded as sarcastic as ever. "Wow, I haven't noticed at all."
"Remus." That was Sirius speaking, for once the one reining them in.
"Look, my point is I don't care," Remus said exasperated. "Severus, I care about you a big deal, okay? Just as much as I do Sirius."
"But why?" Now Severus sounded pained.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" There was sound of footsteps, and Harry realized Remus had begun pacing. "You think it's weird enough that I return your feelings, but what I don't get is that two people return mine!"
Okay, that was new. Severus had feelings for Remus? And vice versa? He had to be in a different universe.
Both Severus and Sirius had gone quiet.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius finally spoke.
"I'm a werewolf," Remus replied bitterly. "How can one person, let alone two, like me like that? Or however Severus said it earlier?"
"You idiot," Sirius said fondly. Harry could picture him grabbing a hold of Remus' hand. "I've said it a million times before and I'll say it again: Only fools would dislike you solely for being a werewolf."
"And you're a fool for liking me," Severus said.
"But the biggest fool is Harry for eavesdropping," Remus said.
And then the door opened and Harry fell flat on his face. He slowly climbed to his feet and looked at the adults with as much dignity as he could muster.
Remus still looked exhausted, but he gazed at Harry evenly with a raised eyebrow. Behind him, Sirius looked as embarrassed as if he had been the one caught eavesdropping and Severus looked wary.
"You..." Harry pointed to Severus. "And you..." Remus. "Why? When? How long?"
"For me, it was since the Yule Ball," Remus admitted, shooting a glance at Severus.
"Since your name had come out of the goblet," Severus said.
"How come I hadn't noticed?" Harry wondered, more baffled to feel anything else.
"You didn't even suspect? Even with that map of yours?" Severus asked, surprised.
Harry frowned and tried to remember. Many times, when they didn't have a class to teach, Severus would be in Remus' quarters or vice versa. During mealtimes, they chatted amiably. Then he remembered the pure fury in Severus' eyes when Karkaroff had spat in Remus' face.
"I had more on my mind at the time," Harry pointed out quietly.
"That's true," Remus said just as quietly.
Harry turned to Sirius. "And you're okay with this?" he said without judgement.
"If it makes Moony happy, yes. Do you, er, have any other questions?"
"Just one." Harry looked between them again. "Does this mean I have four dads now?"
Severus groaned. He should have anticipated that. "You are not going to call me dad."
"You got it, Sevvie."
Remus burst out laughing, partly in relief it went so well and because it was such a Harry thing to say.
"Can I tell the others?" Harry asked hopefully.
"No need to tell Tom," Remus said, examining his nails. Without looking, he flicked his wand toward the door.
Tom came staggering in as the door opened, but he did not fall on his face, much to Harry's disappointment. He cleared his throat. "Good morning?"
"Good morning, peeping Tom," Remus said.
Tom cringed. Well, time to add that to the ever-growing list of nicknames. "You didn't eat much," he said instead to Harry since he didn't have a good retort to make.
"Not that hungry," Harry lied.
Tom held out the roll Azure had been trying to get him to eat. "At least eat this."
"No."
"Harry."
"Fine." Harry snatched it and took a huge bite. "'appy?"
"Very." Tom looked back at Remus. "Are you feeling well enough to come down and eat?"
"I know you're genuinely worried about me, but I also feel like you just want to tell Barty and Bella with us present," Remus said, eyes narrowed.
Tom grinned. "Sounds about right."
Sure enough, when they all were situated back in the dining hall, Tom said, "Apparently, Moony has been moony over these two."
Two pairs of eyes darted between Remus and Severus.
Severus' cheeks turned slightly pink and he resolutely avoided Barty's approving whistle and Bella patting him on the back.
The rest of the day went by smoothly for the residents of Black Manor. It was just so unfortunate the same couldn't be said about a certain resident of Hogwarts, who was still fighting off Howlers and wondering why the wards would not hold.
For those of you who didn't want Wolfstar/Severus, I made it a queerplatonic relationship between Severus and Remus. It's just as strong as any healthy romantic one, it's just... not romantic, which means if you want to continue viewing it as only good friends, that is totally fine. I hope that clears it up
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Since I am not the best at explaining things, especially regarding a non-tangible topic like this, I highly recommend researching queerplatonic relationships and tertiary attraction. The LGBTA wiki is a great place to start.