(A/N: I am starting to slow down on this story a little bit, unfortunately, having a computer die on you will do that. But rest assured that I have managed to salvage everything I had written for this and have backed it up. My wonderful fiancé bought me a new computer so that I wouldn't be without my only means of typing and all that. Shout out to the blue box store for having decent laptops for less than $250 or else I wouldn't be getting anything written again until well past tax return season. Anyway, no new warnings for this chapter so let's get on with the show.)

A Cold Sleep

Part 10

Harry felt himself waking up, even though he really didn't want to, he was comfortable beyond words, but his body had gotten all the rest that it wanted. Now he needed food and he hoped that he would be able to get something decent in his stomach before Hermione and Draco tracked him down for more attempts at letter writing. A long groan escaped his throat and he opened his eyes, staring blankly at the library around him, noting that everything was blurry. He reached up and touched his face, looking for his glasses, confused because he knew that he had not taken them off before he laid down to fall asleep. It was rare that he slept without them anymore, Hermione had found him an enchantment to make them unbreakable and he figured that it was better to not wake up and be disoriented in the event of an emergency.

"They're right here, calm down," Tom's voice was soft and calm as he placed the frames in Harry's grasping hands.

"Sorry, I'm not used to sleeping without them anymore," Harry responded, his breathing calming down as soon as the glasses were on his face. He looked at Tom and blushed running his hand through his hair and attempting to sit up without falling over onto Tom or the book that he was reading.

"It's okay, a reasonable response from the environment you'd been in for so long. Did you sleep well?" Tom said softly and with a wave of his hand sent the book to a safe place. He drew Harry into his arms, practically pulling the other man into his lap and holding him close.

"I did, you're remarkably easy to sleep next to," Harry admitted and shifted his weight so that he was fully seated in Tom's lap, his arms around the other man's shoulders. Tom smiled and drew Harry closer, kissing him softly on the lips and letting himself relax into the contact. Between them the silent mutual agreement to deepen the kiss occurred and soon their tongues were sliding against one another, hands grasping at each other's clothing.

"Would you perhaps then grace me with your presence at night now and again? I ask no more than for you to share my bed," Tom stroked a hand along the length of Harry's back. "It would not be so bad to keep each other warm once in a while, to sleep entwined as we did the other day," he said gently, letting his fingers splay out across the broad expanse of Harry's back. Now that he was being fed properly and getting the potions he needed, he was filling out as he should have done in the past few years, every day he looked more the man he was meant to be. Tom would perhaps always be a bit larger, but when it came right down to it there would be little real difference between them after Harry had caught up on his growth.

"You would want me to share your bed? You really mean it?" Harry asked softly, his face clearly displaying the shock that he felt at someone genuinely wanting to be in his presence for so long. He was adapting to the idea of course, after a month or so in the company of people that cared about him, but sometimes it still took him by surprise.

"Of course, I do," Tom said sincerely, his other hand cupping the side of Harry's face, stroking his thumb along the other man's jaw. He smiled gently and leaned in, gently capturing Harry's lips with his own, drawing him into the most intense kiss that they had shared yet.

"Yes, I will, whenever you want me to join you I will," Harry said with conviction as they broke apart and Tom's face practically glowed with the smile that he gave Harry.

"Tonight, for certain, I would hold you in my arms again," Tom said and kissed Harry's cheek, trailing his lips along until they reached the scar upon the other man's forehead. The unintentional Horcrux, the one that he had absorbed the night he had been reborn, the one that had set him well and truly upon the path to becoming himself again. Part of him wondered if he would have ever regained himself if that piece of him had not lived in Harry for so long, dwelling in the goodness of his soul and learning to let go of hate and madness.

"I will be there," Harry responded and kissed Tom on the nose, smiling with the other man wrinkled up his face at the display of affection. They were interrupted however, by the long and persistent growling of Harry's stomach, leaving the other man to blush fiercely.

"It is about time for lunch, let's go and join the others. I'm sure that I could use some food as well," Tom said softly and nudged Harry until he stood up and stretched himself out, groaning in satisfaction at the sensation.

"How is it only lunch time? I mean I swear I needed more sleep than that," Harry said and smiled when Tom stood up, also stretching, his long limbs seeming even longer than before. The fact that he had grown so much in so short a time had certainly helped Harry's confidence, but he had no relief from the constant pain of said growth. His muscles and joints constantly ached, and he needed his clothing adjusted every couple of days either to accommodate more height or a broadening of his chest. He wasn't complaining of course, he was glad that he was no longer so small, but he wished that he could at least have a potion for the pain now and then.

"The more relaxed you are when you manage to sleep, the more restful that sleep actually is," Tom said, sliding his arm around Harry's shoulders when he stood up. Pulling the other man close for a moment before dropping his arm so that he could twine their hands together. Harry blushed yet again, cursing himself for being so prone to doing so around Tom, but he couldn't really do anything else. That was just the way Tom made him feel, he assumed that it would be like that for some time, at least until he got used to being around the other man.

"Then I am going to sleep like never before tonight," Harry said confidently and it was Tom that blushed this time, realizing that Harry truly trusted him enough to relax fully around him. He would not have believed that such a thing was possible when he'd come back from near death, but he couldn't be happier for it.

(A/N: Well, there it is for now. I hope that you liked it and will leave me a comment or a review. If you notice anything off about formatting or something, let me know, this is a new computer and I have never used this version of Word before, I've been working with one that is 9 years out of date, so yeah. Thanks for reading.)