TITLE: Dom is for Domesticity
AUTHOR: Slytherin Psychopath
RATING: T
WORD COUNT: 2,819
SUMMARY: The Order finds out Tom has Harry and try to save him. Like Tom will let that happen. What if he isn't there against his will?
PROMPT: "I'd love to see something where the Order find out about their relationship…"~AccioTomMarvoloRiddle
BACKGROUND: This is set with the understanding that after the events in Order of the Phoenix, Harry ran away to Voldemort. Voldemort was in the middle of planning to infiltrate Hogwarts himself, but when reconstructing a younger body for himself, he accidentally made it look too much like his own body. Angry at his foolish mistake, he sent Draco to do the job, but Draco and Snape were unable to kill Dumbledore. This is set during the timeframe of Death Hallows, but before the Battle at Hogwarts.
~Slytherin Pyschopath~
The morning light that washed over Harry's skin was warm but uninvited. Had it not been so bright, he might have wanted to spend the entire day just lying asleep. He rolled over with a groan and his hands blindly searched for his lover, but Tom's side of the bed had gone cold. Harry opened blurry eyes and scowled in protest. All this could only mean it was time for him to get up. He had once considered himself a morning person, but the lull in responsibility that was brought by living with Tom had slowly begun to make him much fonder of sleeping in. Hogwarts had been a vacation compared to the Dursley's, but Riddle Manor was a palace in which his feet were not allowed to touch the spotless ground for it might get him dirty. The pampering Harry could live without, but the sleeping in was nice.
He rolled over again, this time looking into the sunlight of the new day. He groped the nightstand for his glasses. With his superb luck, he knocked them off all together. The glass shattered on the floor. This is why he had to blindly search for his wand. Once he was sure he was holding it the right way, he repaired his glasses.
With his glasses firmly on his face, the room was so much clearer. He could now see the high, arched windows from which light poured onto the cold stone floors. The biblical murals on the walls were highlighted by this light but were in strict contrast with Tom's usually dark demeanor. Harry found out when he moved in with Tom that after his time with Merope, Tom Riddle Sr. had lived on his parent's dime and became a priest. Tom Riddle Sr. was the reason these beautiful depictions of cherub angels and heaven and biblical stories glistened in nearly every room of the house. Harry's Tom just didn't care enough to bother getting rid of them. Harry didn't mind them either. They were rather cheerful compared to the dark green and black of the rest of the furniture
Harry shivered as his bare feet touched the cool ground, but he continued on his way to the adjoined bathroom where he took a quick shower. The warm beads of water ran over his toned muscles and scars from past punishments at the Dursley's. He washed himself quickly; he wasn't really thinking much at all, just wondering what the new day would bring. As he got out, he saw Tom standing in the doorway with a smirk on his charming face. Harry ignored him and began drying off.
"Good morning, beautiful," Tom spoke with a voice like melting butter as Harry walked passed him to pick out clothes for the day.
"Don't even think about it, bastard," Harry said knowingly. He grumbled under his breathe, "Makes me wake up alone and then think he's getting some. Bastard."
"Someone's sore this morning," Tom purred into his double entendre.
Harry wanted to glare at him and act upset but snort of amusement made him a little less menacing. Only a little. Tom smirked at having gotten that out of him before dropping onto the edge of their bed unceremoniously. Harry blinked before shaking his head. Sometimes it was too easy for him to believe that his lover really was the twenty-year-old he appeared to be instead of the seventy-year-old his mind truly was.
"What is the agenda for today?" Harry asked as he pulled on a pair of silky black boxers.
"Well, for one, those are going to be on the floor within the next minute if you don't put some pants on," Tom said pointing at the boxers. Harry rolled his eyes but shoved his legs into some dark denim jeans. "Damn," Tom swore having quite liked his idea of how their morning would go. "Well, since someone's being pissy, our first plan for this morning is meeting with the congregation then one with the inner circle."
Harry groaned. It's not that he didn't like supporting Tom and being there for these meetings. It was sure as hell better than being Dumbledore's pet, but it would mean talking civilly to Bellatrix Lestrange. That just wasn't something Harry liked to do.
The woman was insane. She thought she had a chance with Tom. That was bad enough, but she would flirt with him in front of Harry. On more than one occasion, Harry would get up as if to stretch his legs and would stand behind Tom with his hands on Tom's shoulders so that he was flashing both the Gaunt family ring and his wedding ring right in Bellatrix's face. The witch would just scowl and pout for the rest of the meeting.
There was also the other factor that she had killed Sirius. Enemy or not, she had killed Sirius and showed absolutely no remorse. Once she even blew it off and said Sirius was just one of Dumbledore's ball-licking peasants. It was the first and only time Harry cruciated a Death Eater during his reign with Tom. This time she didn't get up laughing at him. She had gaped at Tom like he would say something against Harry's action, but Tom just said to the congregation, "Now do you all understand why I warn against antagonizing Harry?"
Any trouble the underlings had given Harry before that day quickly evaporated. The respect he wasn't able to earn through kindness and understanding and Tom's threats were won by that display of ruthlessness and power.
"Bella shall be on her best behavior. She's still rather shook up from your punishment," Tom smirked. Harry frowned in response. At the time, he had wanted for Bellatrix to beg for death as his feet, but now Harry just wanted to apologize. As much as he hated the crazy lady lusting after his husband, he hated more to see the fear and nervousness in her eyes every time he walked in a room. Fear just wasn't something he knew as a part of Bellatrix Lestrange. She had grown up a Black. If Walburga's portrait is anything to measure what her own parents were like, then this girl had seen a lot worse than an angry Harry. The messy-haired boy knew it wasn't his punishment that hurt her so bad. It was Tom's mocking so quickly afterward. Falling in love with Tom was easy. He knew this first hand. Loving him was hard. Loving him after he cut you at the knees and patronized you was hard. Falling asleep and waking up alone because Tom puts his work before anything or anyone was hard. Wondering if he ever came to bed at all was hard. Knowing he didn't know how to love was hard. No matter how much Tom tried to feel and be the person Tom thought Harry deserved, Harry knew Tom just didn't have it in him after all these years. It was a fact Harry was willing to accept, but a fact that Bellatrix couldn't understand.
"Come on then." Harry sighed and walked towards the door. He might as well get it over with. Tom followed behind him and joined him shoulder-to-shoulder as they walked down the hall towards the floo. The meeting would be held, as always, at Malfoy Manor. Upon arrival and a short walk to the conference hall, Tom walked in first as was customary. This always made Harry roll his eyes. Everything was a power-play with that man.
The meeting was long and boring. Harry struggled to stay awake and only did so because Tom got pouty - well Tom's version of pouty which was more like a blank look and clipped tone – when Harry didn't pay attention. Harry knew that being second-in-command meant responsibilities, but only half of what was said would be of any use to them anyway. The inner-circle meeting was much more interesting. Severus was reporting on the Order's blunders and victories when Bellatrix pointed out that anyone could have known what he did by having a two minute conversation with that loud-mouthed Weasley boy. Harry assumed she meant Ron and he actually laughed. How else could he react? Despite different political opinions and such, Harry still cared deeply for his best friend. He knew better than anyone that Ron wasn't the most tight-lipped person in the Order. Harry could probably owl him saying he was underground working as a spy for Dumbledore, and Ron would believe him and tell him everything. This is why he had changed sides in the first place. The utter ignorance Dumbledore's followers had. Half of them with children that thought war was glory and honor while the other half had wavering faith in Dumbledore or were too blinded by pretty promises of an unrealistic world to care.
That was when it happened. Every fairy light and candle were extinguished. Clouds of white dust fell and the sounds of apparition could be heard. Harry's eyes widen as he took in the flashing faces of Dumbledore, Hermoine, Ron, Remus, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Moody, Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Bill, and so many others. Curses began flying instantaneously as people leaped and dashed around to avoid being hit. For all the fighting Harry had seen in his life, he was frozen in place at the battle commenced around him. What could he do? No, he didn't like Dumbledore, but the others were still as much his family as Tom. He couldn't attack the people that took him in when he had no one else. He didn't care if they were under Dumbledore's thumb or not. He could hardly attack his own side of the cause to protect his friends.
A tearing feeling ripped through Harry's arm as a curse accidentally hit him. It didn't take him long to figure out everyone was avoiding him. However, this one hit him, and he hissed in pain. He looked up to see who his attacker was, only to see Hermione's mouth slightly agape and her eyebrows knitted in confusion. He could only barely make out her face through the darkness and flashes of the light the curses supplied. She quickly went back to dueling with none other than Bellatrix.
"YOU MUDBLOOD! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE LIGHT LORD?!" Bellatrix shouted angrily and sent Hermione crashing into the wall behind her. Harry gasped. He jumped as both someone grabbed his left wrist and another someone grabbed his right bicep. Tom was holding onto his wrist with frantic eyes while he saw Remus holding onto his arm. His stomach fell as the two men locked eyes. Everything seemed to work in slow motion. He heart lurched into his throat.
"Don't." He said in a barely audible voice. The two men looked at Harry, stunned.
"STOP IT!" Harry shouted with pain in his voice. A wind whipped through the room and the ground shook slightly. From him, in a burst of uncontrolled magic, a bright blue, translucent wall erected between the two dueling groups. Remus was the only Order member on Harry's side of the wall. The light lit up everyone's faces dimly.
"Let go of him, you filthy death eater!" Ron shouted at Tom. If looks could kill, Tom would have killed Ron on the spot.
"Death Eater. Hah!" Tom sneered. He dropped Harry's wrist and walked forward threateningly. "I am your living nightmare. The being that haunts your every waking moment. I revel in the blood spatter of your foul kind– weak, ugly little bloodtraitor - in ecstasy. You should bow to me. I am Lord Voldemort. The greatest wizard to ever live!" He struck the wall fiercely, making the redhead, whose eyes were now wide, flinch.
"Harry," Hermione said, one hand resting against the barrier with concern.
"SILENCE, FILTH!" Bellatrix barked at the frightened looking girl.
"Let down the barrier, Harry. I'll disapparate us," Remus whispered in Harry's ear. Harry looked at everyone torn.
Tom's eyes bore into Harry's expectantly. Remus looked at the boy that looked so much like James. He saw the confusion in Harry's eyes.
"You know, Harry, I think I once told you that your mother—extraordinary person—saw the good in people when they themselves couldn't see it. I've always known you're more like her than James," Remus spoke in quiet understanding as he let go of Harry. Of course, Voldemort was the reason all his friends were dead, but killing him wouldn't bring James or Lily or Sirius back. It would only hurt Harry who was alive and there in that moment. "I know you're only doing what you think is right. Can't help who you fall in love with, eh?" He gave a weak smile. Harry hugged Remus tightly. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I don't want to choose," Harry said hoarsely, not letting go. Remus petted his hair and clutched him closely.
"I know, Harry. I know you don't," He murmured. Harry let go and stepped back. He held out his hand to Tom who took it with a protective glint in his eyes.
"Lupin, is it?" Tom said slowly, ignoring the loud protests and shouts of disgust from the Order. Tom's eyes were nearly predatory as he took in Remus. "Harry has told me such much about you. So long as you cease to fight against me and my followers, I can promise you will not die by our hands."
"So long as you still try to kill people based upon their blood, I can't stop fighting you." Remus informed him boldly. He walked over to the wall, and Harry allowed him to walk through it.
"You choose these murderers over your friends! Over your family! He killed James and Lily!" Moody snarled. "I knew it, Potter – you disgrace the name! I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on you that you'd be no good. I knew you'd go dark! You disgrace James and Lily! They lie in vain because of you!" Harry's face contorted in pain and shame.
"You know nothing!" Tom hissed, dangerously close to slipping into parseltongue.
He wasn't the only one to protest. Molly, sweet Molly, slapped Moody across the face. That made the Order members fall silent.
"Don't you dare speak like that! Don't you dare, Alastor!" Was all Molly said before disapparating. One by one, the others gave Harry a mix of reactions between Hermione's confusion to Moody and Ron's anger to Remus and Tonks's understanding. Before the last two left, Tonk jokingly brought up that if he wasn't too caught up in being a dark lord that he might like to be the godfather to her and Remus's unborn child. He smiled weakly and promised to make time. They left bittersweetly. With that, the wall fell and the lights flashed back on.
Everyone was silent as they tried to figure out what had happened. Harry wrapped his arms around himself and Tom rubbed his arm in silent comfort.
Unsurprisingly, Bellatrix was the first to speak, "I don't know about you, but Molly Prewett would have been an awesome person had she not got mixed with those Weasleys." Harry cracked a smile and a few people chuckled.
~Slytherin Psychopath~
Tom didn't leave Harry's side that evening. The Order's discovery of their relationship had done a number on Harry's psyche. Moody's words kept replaying in his head, but the other part of his mind rebutted with Remus's reassurance. Tom tried to talk him out of his nearly comatose state, but nothing worked. Harry sat unmoving for hours on end. Of course he had known that the Order would eventually find out, but he hadn't expected that. It was all so suddenly and earth-shattering.
He barely glanced up when he saw Tom return from the bathroom in the silly Quidditch pajamas Harry had gotten him as a gag gift for Christmas. Harry titled his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Shakily, a smile crawled onto his lips. Tom climbed into bed and pulled Harry into an embrace.
"Is the great Lord Voldemort cuddling?" Harry teased weakly.
"No, Tom Riddle is comforting the man he loves. Is that a crime?" Tom muttered, obviously uncomfortable with such a sentimental action. Harry chuckled and rested his head against Tom's chest.
"Not a crime at all," Harry sighed. He still hurt, but something about Tom's uncharacteristically thoughtful action warmed his heart. Just for a moment, he allowed himself to believe that Tom really did love him. He allowed himself to believe that his Mom and Dad were looking down at him and understood that he couldn't help who he fell in love with. He allowed himself to believe that this wasn't the end to anything, but the beginning to a new tomorrow – a tomorrow with Tom and him making the world a better place. He wanted to believe all this, but a part of him retained the truth.
It's all just a lie.