Ha! Just made it right before midnight to post this. This chapter is a bit more of a filler, revolving less around the gift than some of the others, but there's a reason for that. Enjoy.
ShadeDancer
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. I'll get over it.
Eleventh Day
Harry woke to feel Tom's eyes upon him, the older man's eyes full of love and quiet contemplation. Harry returned the perusal, gazing upon Tom's strong and handsome face—there were still times when he could not reconcile the man before him with the creature that had been reborn at the end of his fourth year.
"What is it?" Harry finally asked, his voice slightly scratchy from sleep.
"Nothing." Tom smiled slightly, though he couldn't hide the apprehension in his eyes; for once in his life he had something to lose as they entered battle the next day. "I was just watching you sleep. I haven't been able to do that lately. I missed it."
Harry shifted on the bed so he could lean his head against Tom's shoulder, knowing the Dark Lord loved when he did that despite the fact that he would never ask for Harry to cuddle up to him. Harry in turn would never admit to how safe he felt curling up in the arms of Voldemort, how much strength he gained from feeling those comforting arms around him—it was like coming home—but they both had reputations to maintain.
"Oh." Tom rolled away from him for a moment, quickly rolling back so that Harry was in his arms once again. "I nearly forgot, your gift for today."
Harry found himself presented with eleven slips of paper, each with Tom's precise writing on them.
"What are they?"
Tom nudged him. "Read them."
Harry looked suspiciously up at Tom. "I'm not sure if I should. The last thing you sent me to read was those spells two days ago and now I'm a Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge and could be killed at anytime because of it."
Tom didn't have the grace to look sheepish, he merely chuckled. "These aren't anything like that."
"You're positive?" Harry asked mock-suspiciously. "You're not lying to me just to get me to read these?"
Tom's gaze softened. "I did not know those spells would cause so much trouble, or I would not have presented them to you. I did not know they were forbidden by anyone other than our own Ministry. Harry, I would give you the world if you would let me."
Harry leaned up to kiss Tom lightly. "I know, Tom, I know. But you don't have to give me the world, I already have it. I want nothing and no one but you and as long as I have you I have my world."
Tom traced a line down the side of Harry's face with a gentle finger. "What did I do to deserve you, Harry? I've been so horrible, I've done terrible things, and yet I find myself with you at my side giving me your love. I don't deserve you."
Harry kissed away Tom's doubts. "You do. You were willing to do anything to protect me, you changed yourself for me. It's I who does not deserve you. Now let's see what you've given me today."
Tom pulled Harry closer as Harry flipped through the eleven small slips of paper, each one containing a different activity Harry could cash in on. Tom would never admit it, but he had stolen the idea from muggles and had known immediately that Harry would enjoy this particular way of giving gifts.
"Tom." Harry choked at one particularly inventive and graphically described coupon. "Is that even physically possible?"
Tom chuckled, even despite all that Harry had been through there were some things that still managed to surprise the younger man.
"Oh, it is very possible." Tom hissed seductively in Harry's ear, switching to the more erotic parseltongue. "I can show you exactly how possible it is if you want to cash that coupon in right now."
Harry's eyes glazed over in anticipation as he clumsily attempted to separate the one coupon from all the others, hissing back as Tom's emotions spilled over into him. "Yesss."
Tom took the coupon from Harry's hand and vanished it since Harry was cashing it in, tossed the others onto the nightstand, and leaned down over Harry—
A knock sounded on the door, causing Tom to curse violently and Harry to start in surprise; he had nearly forgotten that not only were they supposed to be preparing for a war but that they currently weren't the only ones residing in the manor house.
"What is it?!" Tom snapped.
Hesitantly Severus' voice answered; Tom was less prone to throwing out undeserved curses, but that didn't mean the Death Eaters who had been with him during his first rise to power had forgotten how to watch their actions. "Our allies from Durmstrang have begun to arrive, My Lord."
"They can wait." Tom decreed impatient to get back to Harry's body, but Harry had already sat up.
"We can't make them wait Tom, not after how far they've come to pledge their allegiance to you." Harry pointed out wisely. "We'll have plenty of time for bed play later. We have our whole life together ahead of us. This wasn't the smartest time to start anything and you know it."
Tom sighed, but relented. "You're right, but I will claim you later Harry. That's a promise. Now let's get dressed, only I'm allowed to see you in such a disheveled state of undress."
Harry smirked. "Possessive much?"
"Very." Tom growled in return before darting in to claim Harry's lips for his own; only reluctantly did the two finally leave their bed to greet their guests, Tom slipping the unredeemed coupons back into Harry's hand. "For later."
… … … … …
"Viktor." Harry strode forward and shook the Quidditch star's hand while Tom was busy speaking to some of professors who had arrived from Durmstrang via the boat; Durmstrang had been the transportation point for their Russian allies. "It's good to see you again."
"It is good to see you as well, Harry." Viktor's voice had lost a good deal of its heavy accent since Harry had last seen the Bulgarian.
For a few minutes the two continued to make small talk, Viktor expressing his disappointment on having to fight against Hermione in the upcoming battle. Harry didn't understand his attraction to the girl at all, but then there was all the personal history between him and Hermione to account for in that judgement. Harry finally made his excuses though, passing Viktor off on Blaise much to the Slytherin's dismay, continuing to circle around the room to make sure their allies felt welcome and could see that he truly was the boy-who-lived instead of a trick set up by Voldemort.
Then, seeing a bit of suspicious activity going on in one of the corners of the manor's greeting hall, Harry made his way to where Fenrir Greyback and the twins were tinkering with something. Who would have known that the most bloodthirsty werewolf in recent history had a pranking streak in him that could rival that of the Weasley twins?
"What are you working on?" Harry slipped into the little huddle with ease, the twins always pleased to include the only heir to the Marauder's legacy; it also didn't hurt that because of Harry and Tom the two troublemakers had free reign of experimenting as long as Tom was given the first look at anything they created.
"Remember that movie you took us to over the summer?" Fred asked innocently.
Harry nodded, remembering the twin's excitement over muggle cinema. He suddenly felt a slight apprehension as he understood where this was going. He did not want to be around until after the twins had a chance to properly test their new product.
"And do you remember the grenade?" George picked up in true twin style.
"Just tell me where this is going." Harry knew Tom would be looking for him to join him at his side soon. "I want to know if I should find someplace in the manor to hide when you start testing—come to think of it I'll take Tom with me too so he doesn't end up killing you for all the commotion you'll likely cause with this group around."
Fenrir grinned shark-like at Harry. "Too late."
From outside the front of the manor came a resounding boom that made everyone sway unsteadily on their feet, Tom's raised voice yelling at the twins as angry shouting came from outside. Harry sighed, the twins really needed to work on their timing, their Veela allies had just arrived right at the moment of detonation.
"You might want to run." Harry informed the twins out of a sense of friendship. "Not only have you upset Tom, but you pissed off the Veela—Fleur's among them and she knows who you are."
The twins looked at each other in horror. They knew what Fleur was like when pissed.
"Let us make a hasty exit." George proclaimed.
"Yes." Fred agreed. "It's every twin for themself."
With a slight crack the twins disapperated, leaving a puzzled Fenrir and a laughing Harry behind.
… … … … …
Finally, after a long day of discussing strategy and politics, Harry and Tom managed to take their leave and disappear to their chambers. It had been a long day and would have been even longer if Tom and Harry hadn't already been preparing their forces to move towards battle at a moments notice. They had no illusions that it would be a quick and decisive battle, they had been preparing for the past year for it to be a long haul, but they were also confident that they had done all they could for the time being. Later as things dragged out they would have to make changes, but at the moment they had the advantage in possessing not only a wide variety of allies but in having high placed spies in the Light ranks.
Feeling drained all of a sudden Harry climbed into bed next to Tom and pressed himself up against the older man, silently asking for Tom to put his arms around him. A shiver had run down his spine as if someone had just walked over his grave.
"Harry?" Tom asked the question with nothing more than his name, but Harry had no answer for what suddenly plagued him.
"Just hold me." Harry told Tom. "I just want to lie here in your arms and feel your heart beat beneath my cheek."
"Alright Harry." Tom dropped a light kiss on Harry's lips, secretly desiring to pick up where they had left off earlier. "I'll hold you for as long as you wish. Now get some sleep. There's a lot to do tomorrow before we make our stand."
Harry closed his eyes with a sigh, pushing aside his misgivings as Tom carded a long-fingered hand through his hair with an expert touch meant to soothe him. Belatedly he remembered the coupon from earlier as Tom shifted and he felt Tom's erection press against him, but in his current mood he would be unable to do Tom's gift justice and he suddenly couldn't seem to rouse himself from lethargy.
Harry would come to regret that later.
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas the Dark Lord gave to me:
Eleven carnal coupons…
Posted On: January 4, 2008