Reposted: January 22, 2022
I still have at least two more revisions to make on previous chapters, but I decided to go ahead and continue reposting. So enjoy!
——————————
Enjoy the chapter! It's mostly a filler, but it's fairly fluffy
Summary: Tom and Remus are back home at Black Manor
The first thing Tom registered when he awoke was the warmth surrounding him. That was odd. Azkaban wasn't supposed to be warm. Then he remembered.
He and Remus had been released. Dumbledore had been arrested and was awaiting a trial. Harry had been given permission to go home and stay with Tom for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Remus, too, had gone home, not that he would have been teaching anyway; the other professors were taking turns taking over D.A.D.A until he felt better.
Tom lifted his head. Normally, it was he who held Harry in his arms, but they had switched positions. Harry's arm was slung over Tom's shoulder.
"I'm home," Tom murmured.
"Hm?" Harry opened his eyes sleepily, revealing brilliant green. "Yeah, you are. And so am I. Do you want to take a shower?"
"That would be nice," Tom replied. He hadn't washed at all in a week and when they got home he had been too tired to do much more than change into decent clothes and fall into bed despite it only being early afternoon. "What time is it?"
"Almost eight. No doubt Kreacher and Dobby have dinner ready."
Tom slid out of bed and headed to the bathroom. It felt so good washing away the remaining traces of Azkaban from his person, one step closer to normalcy. He finished quickly but allowed a few extra minutes of just standing there, letting the warm water wash over his skin.
He stepped out and dried off and redressed before heading back to the bedroom.
Harry was sitting on the bed. "You ready to go?" he asked.
Tom nodded and they went down to the dining room.
The other adults were talking together in hushed voices when they arrived.
"There you are," Sirius said. "I was just about to come get you."
"How are you feeling?" Barty asked.
Tom shrugged. "Better."
Dobby popped onto the table. "Master Tom must be hungry! Dobby has prepared food." He snapped his fingers and a plate full of food appeared in front of Tom.
"Thanks." Tom began eating.
He didn't join in the conversation as he ate, just listened as Bella and Barty discussed how they were going to integrate back into society. It wouldn't be easy given they were renowned Death Eaters, but they wanted to prove they followed Harry and Tom, neither of which were anything like Voldemort.
"I met your husband," Tom said after a moment.
Bella looked at him in surprise. "Did you? Did he say anything?"
"He called me his lord at first, but he backed off when I told him to stop." Tom paused, taking another bite of his dinner. "When it became clear I wasn't the same person he followed, he just... I don't think he really cared all that much for his 'lord' after that."
Bella snorted. "He's been in there for too long." But she clearly held no strong feelings, so Tom let the subject drop.
"Peter was there, too," Remus muttered.
Sirius put his fork down with a clang. "He's still alive?" he groused.
"Yes. And unlike Rodolphus, he wouldn't shut up." Remus frowned at his potatoes. "Kept saying we must be allies since I clearly follow the Dark Lord. And when it finally sunk in I don't, he began saying I should."
Sirius stared at him, his expression unreadable.
"He also found about about us and Severus."
"Oh, I'd love to hear what he had to say about that," Sirius said.
"'You're going out with Snivellus?'" Remus mocked in a squeaky voice. He rolled his eyes. "I would have hexed his arse if I wasn't feeling so tired."
There was a pop from outside the dining room and a happy squeak from Dobby. "Master Sevvie has arrived. Dobby has food if he wants any!"
"No, thank you, Dobby. I already ate." Severus came through the door with Dobby on his heels.
"Master Sevvie?" Harry said, and Severus closed his eyes.
"Shut up, Harry."
Harry sniggered into his drink.
Severus handed Tom and Remus a small vial each. "It'll help with the after-effects of Azkaban. Take it before bed."
"Thanks, Sevvie," Tom said. Harry sniggered even harder.
"Oi, shut it, you two," Remus said. "Thanks, Severus."
"You're welcome, Remus," Severus replied, pointedly ignoring Tom.
"So how did the students react to all this?" Harry asked, his laughter subsiding.
"Shocked, mostly," Severus answered, taking the seat by Sirius. "But they weren't overly surprised."
"Yeah, Ron had thought it was all staged for Dumbledore to regain his former glory and whatnot," Harry recalled. "He wasn't completely wrong, either."
"Smart lad," Remus commented.
"Mhm. Oh, that reminds me. Tracey and I managed to convince Hermione to tell him how she felt."
"That explains why they were holding hands," Severus said.
"They were successful? Yes!" Harry punched the air. "I swear could feel the tension between them from the dungeons."
Remus grunted in agreement. During class, Hermione would be fighting a smile whenever Ron performed a spell, and Ron was always quick to compliment Hermione whenever she did.
"From the dungeons?" Barty echoed, amused. "It was that bad?"
"You'd feel it too if you met them," Harry said seriously.
He had finished dinner at this point, so he stood, taking his plate over to the sink to be washed. Kreacher appeared and began cleaning it for him.
Tom followed him less than a minute later, and they headed back to their room. Already, despite having barely been up, he was tired. He flopped onto the bed with a relieved groan.
Harry's fingers ran through his hair. "You're gonna be extra cuddly tonight, aren't you?"
Tom mumbled something unintelligible.
"I'll be right back," Harry said, kissing his temple. He left the room for a moment and came back with a book. "May as well get some reading done."
He lifted Tom's head and laid it back down on Harry's lap and opened his book.
Tom's eyelids grew heavy in the silence, which was only broken by the pages being turned.
Some time later, Harry set the book aside and adjusted his position so he was lying down. "Good night, Tom," he murmured even though Tom was already asleep.
"Sirius, you don't have to carry me, I can walk just fine."
"Hush, Moony, you love it when I carry you."
Remus rolled his eyes but didn't deny this.
They reached the bedroom. Sirius set Remus down on the bed and grabbed a nightshirt.
Remus fought back a yawn as he changed into his pajamas. Azkaban certainly did a number on him. "I know we mentioned it before, but I still don't know how the hell you managed for so long."
Sirius shrugged. "Neither do I. But you shouldn't have to ever go back in that hellhole."
Severus nodded in agreement.
Remus shivered a little. He could still hear his screams echoing in his mind. "Can you distract me?"
"Sorry?" Sirius said.
"Distract me. Talk about something, anything. Just distract me."
"Oh, um..." Sirius looked at Severus for help. Being put on the spot like that often resulted in all thoughts flying out the window.
"Do you remember that time you had me carry you to the staff room?" Severus said.
Remus nodded slowly. "It was before a full moon," he recalled. "You carried me on your back."
"Mhm. You refused to get up. And you made us late," Severus added with a frown.
"It was ten seconds," Remus pointed out. "And Trelawney was even later."
"First of all, Trelawney is always late. Secondly, I prefer being there at least five minutes early."
Sirius snickered. "Also, Moony, I know you like grading assignments as much as the next person, but I don't think you should be snogging the parchment."
"I do not snog the parchment!" Remus protested, glaring at him.
"I had to remind you of the charm that enlarged the text," Severus said. "Twice!"
"And I doubt parchment is a good kisser," Sirius muttered.
Remus smirked and leaned over sideways to gaze up at Sirius' petulant expression. "Why, Sirius, you're not jealous of parchment, are you?"
"No."
"You are. Well, you needn't worry, Padfoot. All I need is you and Sev."
Sirius still didn't move. Then he must have moved on for he let out a stifled snort.
"What?" Remus asked, wondering if he really wanted to know.
"Remember that one full moon?"
A horrified expression crossed Remus' face. "Oh, no."
"What?" Severus looked between them.
Sirius was grinning broadly. "It was the summer after I was freed. We were playing fetch and—"
"He pretended to throw the fucking stick!" Remus broke in.
Severus snorted.
"It's not funny!" Remus whined. "I was running around for like ten minutes looking for that bloody twig!" He glowered at the other two. "You know what, maybe I should go cuddle with Barty."
He made a move as if to get out of bed— not that he actually would have— but Sirius wrapped an arm around his waist and held him back. "Oh, no you don't. You're staying with us."
Remus narrowed his eyes at him, turned to Severus and back, and sighed. "Okay. I'll stay."
A smile crossed Severus' face for a few seconds, a sight that very few people were privy to.
The shit-eating grin on Sirius' face, however, was a very familiar sight to many. "I knew you wouldn't leave. Now come on, you need to rest."
He pulled Remus closer and reached over to grab Severus and pull him closer as well.
Remus, practically squashed between the two taller men, had never felt safer.
The next morning, Harry took advantage of his day off by going into the garden in the back and just walking around. Tom had slept in for a little while longer, and Harry hadn't wanted to disturb him, so he had carefully slipped out of the room and gone out. Azure was to inform Tom when he woke up where Harry was.
As expected, everything looked wonderful. The flowers had bloomed, the leaves were vivid shades of green, and birds chirped overhead. The fountain looked like it had been recently polished; the light from the rising sun made it give off an almost heavenly feeling.
At one point, Harry paused. He was standing exactly where Remus had nearly been given the Kiss. All thanks to Umbridge. Harry briefly wondered how she was faring before deciding she wasn't worth the time. He moved on.
Breakfast was probably almost ready by now, but Harry allowed himself to take it slow walking back.
Excitement rose in his chest. Summer had never felt so far away, yet at the same time with Dumbledore out of Hogwarts now, Harry felt like it was just around the corner. And with that, the day he could officially complete his soul bond with Tom.
Suddenly, he couldn't keep still. He ran the rest of the way back to the manor, nearly colliding with Tom at the doorway.
Tom barely had a chance to speak before Harry threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. When they broke apart, Tom looked at Harry questioningly. Harry just shrugged, his face as bright as the sun. No words were needed.
Silently, they headed to the dining room, hand in hand.
One last thing I want to say: holy Snitch on a Quidditch pitch, this fic has reached 1 million views! (Well, almost if you subtract the views for the Reading Checkpoint, but anyway) Thank you guys so much!
——————————
Regarding future chapters, I don't think any of them will be revised. However, I'm not 100% certain, so keep that in mind moving forward.