Hi guys! This is the promised sequel to Kitten Troubles!
If you haven't read the first, then I suggest you read that first. It'll make everything seem more sensible than just jumping in.
No, I do not plan on making another sequel after this. Please don't ask. In time I may change my mind, but I don't forsee any other outcome for this story to have a third installment.
Yes, I do plan on this being just as long as the first.
I don't own the characters in this story, I only manipulate them to do my bidding.
Happy Readings!
Although two years had passed between the famous Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, it seemed like less to them. Time just seemed to fly by for them at a rapid pace, too fast to keep up with and yet somehow they did it. Harry had spent a lot of time dedicated to making sure that everyone did as they were told and to making sure that Tom saw just how much he meant to the shadow demon. And Tom spent it going to meetings and political debates deciding on major issues and what punishments should be for wrongdoers and being the leader that the Wizarding World had needed for years.
It wasn't until May of their second year of dating that things started to go south quite quickly.
Tom was slowly being sucked into the political world and wanted less and less to do with his companion, regardless of how many times Viper tried getting his attention to win back his affection. And because of Tom pushing him away, Viper slowly started to want nothing to do with him.
He had had people push him away before, but that wasn't a big deal. He was used to someone blowing up on him and then leaving for months on end, and yet Tom would yell at him and then two hours later be apologizing. He didn't seem to care that the constant ups and downs were wearing Harry down quicker than quicksand would swallow a stick. He just didn't want to break Tom's heart by being brutally honest.
And then one day, it happened.
Tom had gotten home late again, and started an argument on why Harry shouldn't stay up for him. Nevermind the fact that Viper didn't need to sleep as often as he did nor did he need the same amount of sleep Tom did. And Viper blew up.
"Look Tom, I love you but you don't know what you're doing to me by yelling and screaming at me for nothing and then apologizing and spewing some romantic crap about how much you wish you could take it back. If you were sorry then you wouldn't be doing this to me in the first place! I don't care how much this might hurt your pride or your feelings at this point, because clearly you didn't care about that two minutes ago when you decided to treat me like this and worse on other occasions. You need to either grow up and learn how to treat the people you're around or you're losing me. You've already pushed all your friends away, including Severus and I refuse to be left behind by more sensible people if you really can't learn from your mistakes the first time. Get it together and fast or I'm gone." He got up and left the bedroom in favor of a couch in the library.
That's where he spent the next week sleeping.
And it wasn't for lack of trying to sleep in the bed, it was because every night a similar occurrence would happen and he would leave to seek the solitude the library gave him. It was a library that locked from the inside for once instead of just the outside so no one could get in if they wanted to if Viper didn't want to be disturbed. At one point the doors could recognize Tom's magical signature but he had long since put a block on even that.
He just couldn't handle being around him and most definitely didn't need him bursting in to demand that he come back to bed only so Tom could fall asleep right away and Viper could cry himself to sleep. That wasn't what he wanted in a relationship nor did he ever envision that happening between the two of them. It was breaking his heart to see the way that the relationship was going.
And it was the next day that he couldn't take it anymore.
He had overheard Tom muttering to himself in an angry slur of whispered questions; apparently he was wondering why he was still with Viper. When he left, Harry called Severus to come as soon as he could. When Severus did get there, it all came spilling out.
Viper had tried and tried to keep it all in to himself, tried making sure that no one knew there was any issues between him and Tom, but he couldn't pretend anymore. It was time to ask for help. And Severus seemed the most trustworthy person he could contact that would be able to make it within minutes.
Severus rarely disappointed.
He had listened carefully and attentively for hours on end while the demon spilled all of his secret despairs about the relationship he felt trapped in and let it all hang in the air like a heavy weight that had just been exercised from the man in front of him. He could feel the heartbreak the man was feeling and didn't want to say anything that would trigger another river to flow from his sweet eyes. Anyone that did that to someone they were supposed to love didn't deserve love from anyone.
"Would you like my opinion, little snake?" For little snake is what he had been calling Viper since he knew about Harry Potter being a shadow demon. At the timid nod he continued. "I suggest you get some space. Move out, get some fresh air and travel to a different climate. It couldn't hurt and you'll be able to see new lands and have some free time to yourself. Let Tom handle everything, he's more than capable. Tell you what. I've been planning on taking a holiday myself, why don't you join me? I was planning on going to my mansion in Italy for awhile to just get back to what makes me happy and then going to France as a tourist to enjoy everything I've ever wanted to see with it's full impact. Would you like to come? It'll be a few months rather than weeks. My holidays are never short, I hate feeling rushed." Severus was astonished when he saw him nod his consent and was even more amazed to find out that he had been planning leaving for a few nights he just needed a push to do it.
That night, Tom came home to an empty castle with a lonely note on the freshly made bed. It read,
'Tom, I warned you. You kept pushing me away and now it's too late to go back and fix it. I still love you, and I'll miss you. But I need time away. Maybe for a week, maybe forever. But for now, we're through. This isn't going anywhere. I'm sorry.'
The note had left Viper crying after he left it and it left Tom furious. Who was he to tell him that they needed to be through? He'd be back, their relationship wasn't broken. It was just fine, he just needed time to see that.
When he found a small box with an engagement ring inside Viper's pillow, it hit him. And Tom Riddle cried for the first time he could ever remember.
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