Hello after a long time yet again. Sorry for not updating for such a long time, but I hope you'll like the chapter anyways x3 It's not 'beta'd' yet, so if you see any mistakes feel free to note me. The next chapter's gonna be about... yes! Valentine's Day! x3 Don't expect any hardore action yet though, lol. Or maybe... x3 Well, enjoy!
9. Of motherly solicitude & tough decisions
It was a peaceful day, even Ron making fun of Pansy and crushing down her whole world hadn't made it a bad one. The golden trio and Draco, who decided that after the famous coming out he could eat meals with Ron, were sitting at Gryffindor table eating dinner. The atmosphere was good. Tom had left that morning earlier than Harry so the boy hadn't been late for his classes. Also the Weasley twins had stopped harassing Draco (well, some teasing was inevitable, right?) and they didn't have Potions that day. There was nothing that could make it a bad, at least they had thought so until a certain red haired woman rushed into the Great Hall.
"Ronald Weasley!" shouted the woman, eyes of every student in the room falling onto her. Ron curled on his chair, knowing all too well what to expect.
"Hello… mom" he said quietly. The woman stormed next to him, her hair in disarray. She looked angrily at her son, it seemed like she hadn't seen Draco yet.
"What's the meaning of this?!" she shouted pointing at some parchment in her hand.
"Um… I don't know…?" Ron replied honestly in a quiet voice.
"I'll tell what this is! I got a letter telling me that you're going out with Draco Malfoy! How could you do this to me and your father?" she screamed, tears starting to fall from her eyes. Ron stood up and walked to her, his head down. He felt guilty and would take this like a man. "From all of the people…!" she wept. "From all of the people…! Why him?!" Molly sniffed and wiped the tears off her face using her hand. "Why did you choose that filthy scoundrel?!" Draco winced visibly.
"Mom…" Ron started, but his mother stopped him.
"Don't you dare to interrupt me!" she cried. "It's not even that he's a man. He's a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! Your brothers at least do it with each other, but you had to choose that… that… rascal!" The woman wept loudly and sat on a chair next to Draco. He hesitantly gave her a tissue. She thanked him quietly, still not realizing who he was, and blown her nose out.
"I-I'm sorry… I simply l… wait, what did you say?!" Ron asked suddenly.
"I sa-a-aid t-that he-e's a rasca-a-a-al!"
"No, before that" the boy inquired, frowning his brows.
The woman instantly stopped crying.
"Way to go, mother" said Fred, who was sitting only a few chairs away next to his brother.
"We should announce this…" started George.
"… the 'Weasleys' comin' out of the closet' week" ended the other twin.
Silence fell in the Great Hall. No one dared to say anything, which was quite an achievement since at least few tens of people were present there.
"Mom… let's go somewhere else" Ron suggested and caught his mother gently by her arm and started dragging her into the door's direction. Draco and the twins followed them, Harry and Hermione stayed on their seats. This was a family affair and they shouldn't witness it. They had seen too much already. They and all of the present students.
"Sit down" Ron told his mother when they got to the Gryffindor main room. He crouched in front of her and put his hand on hers. He glanced at Draco, telling him with his eyes to come closer. The blond neared them and stood next to Ron. Molly looked up at the boy and grimaced.
"You!" she exclaimed making the boy wince. All Weasley boys sighed.
"Aw, come on, mother…" said George.
"We all know he's a prick, but…"
"…he's not that bad after all."
"Yeah, and it seems that…"
"…at least our Ronnie…"
"…is happy with him" finished both of them.
Molly looked at Draco, whose hand was clenching onto Ron's shoulder. She sniffed, lowered her head and whispered silently:
"Are you?" she asked. Ron glanced at Draco and looked seriously at his mother.
"Yes, I am" he replied. Mrs. Weasley looked up and met her son's eyes.
"Do you love him?"
Draco held his breath. Love was something they didn't discuss. They joked about it, yes, sometimes one would say the L-word during sex, but they had never seriously talked about it. They were happy with each other, happy with how the things were, they had realized their feelings long ago, yet this wasn't something they could just simply say. It had been like that for two years and it seemed it was the moment the truth would be shown.
Ron stood up slowly and grabbed Draco's hand. He looked him in the eye and then looked at his mother, who was watching them. He tightened his grip on Draco's hand, looked once more in the blue eyes and knew the answer. He looked down at his mother.
"Yes, I love him" he said, like it was the easiest thing in the world to say. However, it had taken a lot of courage for him to actually say it. Draco let out the breath he had been holding and squeezed Ron's hand. Those few simple words made his insides curl and warmed him even more than hot chocolate he had drunk with Ron on Christmas Eve. He smiled slightly staring at the floor.
Mrs. Weasley sighed and stood up.
"Mr. Malfoy" she said and the boy looked at her, trying hard not to show any fear, although the woman could easily see through that, she had six sons after all.
"Y-yes?" he asked and slapped himself mentally for stuttering.
"You'd better take good care of Ronald" she said seriously. Draco nodded his head and subconsciously moved closer to the red haired boy. Finally Molly smiled at them. "I give you my blessing" she said and hugged them both at the same time, knocking air from their lungs. When they finally broke out from the death-grip, Ron smiled at his mother and looked at Draco, who also smiled and looked at his lover.
"The hell…"
"…give us a break!" said the twins.
It seemed that everything would be fine for now.
"Harry, what do you think? Will they be okay?" Hermione asked when they were leaving the Great Hall. It had already passed about fifteen minutes so they believed it would be safe to enter the Gryffindor tower and not be killed by infuriated Mrs. Weasley.
"I'm pretty sure they will" the boy answered. "It's not like the first time they had to defend their relationship. But, bloody hell, Mrs. Weasley sure is scary when she's mad."
"You can say that again." Hermione said and slowed her pace. "Harry… about Fred and George… was it truth?"
Harry looked at her. She had worry in her eyes. He sighed.
"Yeah, it is. I saw their mother when she found that out."
"Oh?"
"Well… after the wedding night…" the boy blushed slightly at the memory of the night and the things Tom had tried to do to him "…when me and Tom went to breakfast we overheard Mrs. Weasley shouting at Dumbledore. Something about him being gay and that it didn't mean that every guy at Hogwarts was gay. And then the twins blushed and looked away, it was quite amusing, I have to add, and she found out" he explained. "Oh, and then she fainted" he added.
"Hm… Poor Mrs. Weasley… finding out that three of her sons are homosexual… And twins together! Oh my…"
They continued their walk in silence. They had gone through the half of the way when Harry spoke.
"Um… how exactly did you find out about Ron and Malfoy?" he asked. Hermione smiled a little.
"Oh, you know… Pretty the same way as Fred and George had."
"That is?" Harry inquired.
"Oh, it was about one year ago… by the way, you hadn't noticed up till the wedding? Oh, Merlin, Harry, you're so slow sometimes…!"
"Just continue" he cut her rant and snorted.
"Ah, okay, yes. So it was about one year ago, I was coming back from the library and I heard some voices. Like, you know, some weird voices, so I was intrigued and wanted to check what that was. When I turned into the corridor that leads to Transfiguration classroom I ran into them. Turned out that they had a make-out session in the hallway" she giggled and laughed when she remembered something. "I swear that the sigh of a shrieking Malfoy is priceless!"
Harry laughed as well. Yes, that surely had to be a big surprise for the guys.
"Um… Harry?" Hermione solicited hesitantly.
"Yeah, 'Mione?"
"How... How are things going with… um… Tom?" she inquired and looked bashfully at Harry's face, which flushed faintly.
"Wha… Erm… Well, it's…" he started stuttering, making her giggle. "Hey!" he exclaimed and poked her arm.
"Okay, okay…!" she chuckled. "It's just… you made such a cute face!" Hermione laughed even more.
"Fine, laugh as much as you want. I won't tell you a damn thing!" he huffed and started walking faster. The girl, chuckling, ran after him.
"All right, I'm sorry" she said, not looking sorry at all. The young wizard sighed.
"We're fine, don't worry about me."
"Hm, that's good to hear. Thought you might have some problems, since, you know…"
"I know." He stopped her. He had to fight his demons on his own; he couldn't stand other people bringing the topic up. It was his problem, which troubled him so much. Yet the only thing he could do was not to think about it. He couldn't change the past and had to live the present.
"So…" Hermione started in a sing-song voice. Harry had a bad feeling.
"Yes…?"
"To which base have you gotten?"
"Hermione!" Harry blushed like hell. She only giggled and started running away. He ran after her cursing Hermione and her will to know everything.
After a few minutes they stopped running and panted heavily.
"Don't you dare to ask such a question ever again!" Harry exclaimed and tickled her. She laughed.
"Yes! Haha…Yes! I won't! Hahaha! I promise!" She said through laughter.
"Okay, tell me tomorrow morning how things between Ron and his mom went, I'm going to my rooms now" he said and waved his hand.
"Goodnight!" she also waved. "Have fun both of you!" She added and ran off. Harry's face reddened but he shrugged it off. Seriously, Hermione was becoming one of those yaoi fan girls.
When he got to his and Tom's rooms, the Dark Lord wasn't there yet. He threw his school bag onto the floor and loosened his tie. Harry lied on the couch stretching his arms, let out a breath and was absorbed into his thoughts.
How were things between him and Tom? Well, he had said it was all fine, but was it really so? Tom was obviously hitting on him or toying with him. Harry didn't know which was it, there were times he was sure it was the first one, there were times he was sure it was the second one. He was getting slowly used to it and it scared him. This was becoming dangerous. It was just so simply comfortable to wake up and feel a warm body next to his, to be embraced like that, to be kissed as a good morning and goodnight. He sighed. Carpe diem, he would just live his life. If something goes wrong he'll have time to worry about it then.
The door to the room opened. Harry closed his eyes and didn't move; somehow he decided it would be better to pretend to be asleep. He heard Tom's footsteps getting closer and some bag being laid down. Harry was sure the man would wake him up or leave him alone. Yet, he was to be surprised once more.
Harry felt a hand touch his cheek delicately. He expected a kiss to come and he was prepared to back away as soon as it came. But it never did. The footsteps were heard as Tom went to a chair next to the table and sat on it, sighing. The boy heard the sound of papers rustling. He cautiously cracked one eye open. Tom was indeed sitting on the chair, leaning down above the table and reading some papers. He had a grimace on his face and was clearly displeased with what he read.
"Tom?" Harry asked quietly. The man looked surprised at him.
"You're awake?" Tom said.
"Yeah…" the boy replied and slowly walked up to the man. "What are you doing?"
The man covered the papers with his hands.
"Oh, this? Don't mind it, it's nothing. Just some papers I have to read and sign."
"Show me" the boy demanded and took one of the pages before Tom could have done anything, in a similar way as Tom had done when reading Harry's homework. The paper was about some of the agreements points. There was a lot written about Death Eaters, conditions for the peace and such. "What's this?" he asked and Tom growled.
"It's nothing, like I said" Tom answered and snatched the page back. He glanced at the boy, who stood with angered face and sighed. "It's from the Ministry. There is still a lot to discuss and the whole policy is killing me. The Ministry insists on dozens of papers, signs and all those useless things" he complained.
"I see…" the young wizard answered and he felt some kind of compassion for the man. It surely wasn't interesting; he knew how the Ministry was. He sat on a chair next to Tom. "Um… You know, I was wondering… What exactly made you want to contract peace?" he avoided Riddle's eyes. "I mean, you had your Death Eaters, the war was on and nothing was foretelling the end of it" he finally looked up at the man, whose eyes were serious.
"It's not that I made the decision in one night" the Dark Lord said. "It had taken me a lot of time before I came to the conclusion that it was quite pointless to continue the war." Harry looked interested at him.
"Really?"
"Yes. After all I had been fighting for my ideals for quite a time, hadn't I? So many years… Yet it brought me nothing, only people on both sides were dieing and I was running short on my subordinates. And besides that the whole experience from the other side had to mean something. Maybe it was a sign I had to try some other methods?" Tom explained lost in his thoughts. Harry stood up and put a hand on his shoulder, surprising the man.
"But it was a good decision" the boy said and smiled.
"Yes, it looks so" he replied and went back to reading the papers. "Just sometimes the Ministry overdoes it."
It was the November 1996. Lord Voldemort was in his mansion thinking how the war had been going on so far. It was getting troublesome for both sides. Many Aurors and Death Eaters had died in battles and it was getting them nowhere. He heard the sound of doors opening and growled.
"My lord, I've got bad news" Lucious' voice was heard.
"What is it?" The Dark Lord asked irritated.
"There are some troubles with… Death Eaters."
"…"
"Two of our men have been killed by Aurors not taking down any of the members of the Order. The situation is getting worse and worse each day and we're starting to run out of people. Even after the flight from Azkaban the number of our people… "
"Enough" Voldemort said and stood up from his chair. He walked up to the chimney in which fire was burning. "What about the disobedient ones?"
"They quieted down a little after Crucio curse, but they still disobey some of your orders, my lord. They attacked a group of muggles again even though you forbade them."
"…"
"My lord…" Malfoy started, afraid if he was saying the right thing. "If I may, I suggest that you…"
"Silence!" the Dark Lord hissed and Malfoy curled only slightly. He looked at this subordinate, who looked down. He sighed and sat back onto his chair. "You may continue."
"Yes, my lord" Malfoy started speaking again hesitantly. "I suggest… that you think of some other way of achieving your goals… The old methods are clearly not working anymore. Maybe…" Lucious swallowed hard and took a deep breath, fearing what the Dark Lord's reaction might be for what he was about to say. "Maybe it's time to… end this."
Voldemort didn't say anything. The blond was starting to feel afraid that the Lord hadn't heard him, but then Riddle spoke.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, contemplating the suggestion.
"Well… Dumbledore's on his limit as well. The old fool will agree to everything just to bring peace to the world. It might be a good idea to… offer treaty." The Dark Lord sighed. "My lord…"
Voldemort stood up from his chair again and walked up to the window. It was already dark outside; neither moon nor stars could be seen on the sky. Tom Riddle thought about the suggestion. It was true in fact, that Dumbledore would do anything to ensure peace. Tom remembered well how the world was during the 2nd World War, when so many people were killed. He didn't want his servants to be bloodthirsty beasts that only longed to kill other people. He wanted to take over the world, yes, but his actions and goals were logical and coherent. If only the Light Side would see it… But those bloody morons just had to take Dumbledore's side! Always blame the revolutionary one, just when he only wanted to make some changes. What if those changes were to be radical ones? What mattered was that Tom was right! He growled.
"What is Fudge's attitude towards the war?" Voldemort asked, snapping at the other man. Malfoy cleared his throat and took the Daily Prophet out of his coat.
"They have announced the flight from Azkaban and officially admitted that you, my lord, have come back." Lucious explained and gave the newspaper to the Dark Lord. "It looks like the young Potter is being more bothered by them than by us."
Voldemort looked at the front page. 'The Boy-Who-Lived Remains Silent! When will the Chosen One defeat The-One-Whose-Name-Should-Not-Be-Said?" The Dark Lord sighed. When will those fools learn?! Next to the article there was a photograph of Harry Potter, who was trying to hide from the cameras and reporters, looking truly embarrassed about the whole situation. Tom Riddle smirked.
"Lucious, it may not be a bad idea to change the methods after all" he said and threw the paper into the flames, where it burnt silently.
The time passed by quickly, and before they realized it, it was already 9th February, Friday. Nothing much changed, except for the fact, that now the Weasley twins, instead of selling prank-stuff, were doing fan-service for yaoi fan-girls. Draco and Ron were being open now, even though Draco would blush whenever the red-head hug him in public. Hermione kept writing letters with Crum, Snape was still snappish as ever and Tom never stopped teasing Harry. It turned out to be a daily routine, which was nevertheless very amusing.
"So… Harry" Hermione began when they were sitting in the library doing their homework. "When are you going to get something for Tom?" she asked.
"Huh?" the raven haired lifted his head from his Herbology essay.
"It's Valentine's Day next week" she explained and looked at him meaningfully. The boy looked at her surprised. Somehow he couldn't associate the Dark Lord with fat flying pink cherubs.
"And?" he cracked an eyebrow.
"Well… he is your husband. Even if it's political, I guess it's advisable for you to give him something" the boy wanted to oppose but she quickly continued. "Like a chocolate or a card, nothing much."
"Hermione, I really value your will to help, but… I don't really think that…"
"Come on, mate" Ron cut into the sentence. "Ya know she's right."
"…Potter, I must admit, that indeed the girl is telling the truth" said Draco, who was sitting next to Ron, leaning slightly on the red-head.
"…" Harry didn't say anything and honestly started considering the suggestion. He had no idea if he felt something for the man, yet they were right, he ought to get him something. He sighed and went back to doing his homework. "Fine. But you're going with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow."
"Sure thing" Ron replied and smiled broadly to Draco, who also went back to doing his homework, which only a little worsened Ron's mood. Hermione rolled her eyes and went to the bookcase to find another book about the effect of lizard's tail combined with dragon's blood on poisoned rats. Like that would ever be useful for them…
The next morning Harry woke up earlier, so that his disappearance wouldn't be noticed by Tom. He had asked Dobby to show up in their bedroom at 6:30 AM (as Tom woke up at 7). And, indeed, Dobby did show up.
A loud popping sound was heard and Harry woke up suddenly. Yet again, he was lying on Riddle, but he had gotten used to it. He nervously looked around, saw the house elf and then hastily looked at Tom's face. He sighed; thankfully the man hadn't woken up. He carefully untangled himself from the Dark Lord's arms and sneaked out of the bed. He silently thanked Dobby for the waking up and instructed him, that if the elf was asked such a thing again, he should be more… quiet. Hearing such words from the boy's mouth, the house elf grabbed the leg of the bed and wanted to slam his head into it. Potter quickly stopped him and dismissed the house elf. He reached for his glasses, which were lying on the cabinet. Then suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and pulled back onto the bed.
"Going somewhere?" murmured Tom into the boy's ear, which made him shiver.
"Um… Erm… W-Well…" Harry started stuttering and his face reddened. "Well… I'm going to Hogsmeade with my friends…"
"Students are allowed to leave the castle at 10 AM the earliest" the man remarked. Harry flushed and looked away. Then Tom thought about something. "You're going alone without a teacher?" he asked.
"Yes… since you're on our side there's nothing to fear anymore, is there?"
Voldemort didn't answer. He thought about the rebellious Death Eaters, who were just waiting to find a good opportunity to find some weakness of his. He was sure they would attack Harry, as they believed he cared about the boy. Damned morons, even he didn't know whether he cared about Harry or not, yet he knew they would try to kidnap the raven haired.
"You're not going there alone" he said, now fully awake. He looked Harry in the eye.
"Of course I'm not! I'm with Hermione, Ron, Draco, Ginny, Neville and Luna..."
"I'm going with you" Tom said emphatically and his eyes showed that he wouldn't accept any demur. Potter tried to find some words to object somehow; still it was impossible to do so under those dark eyes.
"Y-yes…" he silently agreed, sure he would regret it later.
EDIT: I've edited the chapters 1-9 today, just to correct the mistakes and the date (1996 instead of 2007). Sorry for not uploading in such a long time but I promise I'll upload something in the next week! I promise! x3
