Thanks to: Cabuckeye!

I will however say one thing, because tons of people have asked this and it has nothing to really do with the story.

Question: The necklace is a Horcrux isn't it?

Answer: No, the necklace is not a Horcrux. It is something else completely different that has nothing to do with a Horcrux nor does it function like one.

Great, glad we got that carried out of the way. Tom does mention Horcruxes, actually he did just in the past chapter, but the necklace is not one of them and if you paid attention to what he said it was "As the true Voldemort, the one with a complete self, not some stupid idea where he went and separated his soul into a bunch of different pieces,"

In other words, Tom is not the same Voldemort that went and chopped his soul up.

Warning: Shonen ai, gay, slash, Tom Riddle/ Harry Potter. Tom's here there is going to be trouble now that he's shown himself. That's right; Rape will ensure at times, I've yet to decide how graphic it will be. The first one they talk about though is not graphic.

Notes: (X) is POV change and/or time jump

Chapter 21: Fading Reality

Harry groaned as he finally came to and tried to take in his surroundings. The second he opened his eyes though he was forced to close them due to the constant spinning of the room.

He tried to remember what had happened. He had said bye to Ron, Hermione, and Draco, they had left, and…Aderes had stayed….

'No not Aderes,' Harry thought to himself pulling the blanket around him closer. 'It had been Tom Riddle. The Tom Riddle, before he'd lost his mind and separated his soul, the original Tom…but how in the world was he here…and how had he…'

Harry let out another groan remembering the events that had taken place afterwards. Tom had told him who he was and that Harry was his and then he'd proven it. He'd shoved Harry to the ground and against his will claimed him.

'I feel like I'm going to be sick.'

He wondered if he should get up, but decided against it. There was nothing holding him down, no arms, no words of comfort, the Shadow was nowhere to be found so it had to be the truth. Aderes was merely a name Tom had been using to fool the school while the Shadow had been nothing more than a spell done by him to be able to stick by Harry.

And for what? So he could just get Harry to trust him so later on he could rape him? Or was there some other meaning behind all of this. Was he trying to get Harry to trust him so he could turn him against the others or was there some other completely different reason that he couldn't even think of?

'I need to get up, but I still feel sick,' he shoved himself up shaking slightly as he did so. He nearly lost the contents of his stomach.

"I can do this," he whispered harshly to himself managing to get to his feet without puking. "I have to find some way," he growled as he made his way to the stairs. He had to take a bath. "Come on," he said forcing himself to open the door to the boy's dorm and proceed to walk out.

He closed the door behind him and still shaking, grabbed the railing of the stairs.

"Slowly," Harry said to himself quietly as he took his first step down, then another. He made it down four stairs before his legs gave out and he began tumbling down them at a fast speed slamming into the wall. He closed his eyes trying to prepare himself for the impact of the bottom. Suddenly though he was no longer moving.

"Hermione," he asked nearly losing his stomach this time. He closed his eyes again and remained unmoving.

"No you idiot, she's in her room asleep and unaware like she should be," Tom growled pulling Harry into his lap. "Why the hell did you try and make it down the stairs. That was your first time wasn't it? You can't move so soon after that!"

"Well maybe if someone hadn't have," he started, but ended up cutting himself off with a groan and finally puked. Lucky for him he managed to hit the stairs instead of Tom who'd of no doubt beat him to death had he done so.

"Are you alright," he asked flatly rubbing Harry's back gently. Harry sighed relaxing a bit regardless of what his mind was telling him. He was lying in the future Voldemort's lap and was relaxing. That couldn't be a good sign. However, the Shadow, Tom, had kept him safe for so long, why should now be any different?

"I feel better," he admitted quietly.

"Good. Move over a bit." Harry did as he was told and Tom pulled out his wand cleaning the stairs up. He shoved his wand back into his robes and then stood up, Harry in his arms. "I seriously don't suggest that you do that again."

"I want to take a bath."

"You can take a bath later."

"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't need a bath now, would I," Harry seethed. "So either put me down or help me get to it," he demanded.

"Temper, temper that fire won't ever go out no matter what I do will it" Tom asked nuzzling him gently.

"A, Aderes! Stop it!"

"Heh, you remember now, it's Tom. So don't call me that stupid name unless we're around the others."

"I'll call you whatever I want if you don't let me go take a bath," Harry growled trying to get down.

"Pushy pushy, fine. I'll take you to the baths, but you need something to change into. You're doing that on your own." He dropped Harry onto the floor and folded his arms across his chest waiting.

Wincing, Harry got up and managed to get back into the dorm grabbing a change of clothes. He came back out a few moments later eyes still narrowed.

"I always knew you were the perfect person for me," he smirked picking Harry up again.

"Put me down!"

"Obviously you're having trouble walking. Wouldn't want you to break those legs, now would we Potter?"

Harry blinked and shook his head slowly. Tom smirked thinking he'd won, Harry threw up again this time not bothering to avoid his boyfriend.

(X)

Harry closed his eyes allowing himself to sink into the bath until the water was up to his shoulders. He realized instantly that he didn't feel as dirty as he'd thought, just tired and sore. When he was sure he could open his mouth without screaming he turned his attention to Tom who was sitting in the bath next to him.

"Why?" he finally asked looking at him. "Why would you do such a thing to me?"

"Maybe I don't always have great control," he said turning his head to Harry. "Or maybe I was just worried I was going to lose you to Cho."

Harry's mouth dropped open and he just stared for a moment as he did his best to digest what Tom was saying. He would have never dreamed that the Slytherin's thought process could be so screwed up.

"You realize what you did is more likely to make me want to break it off with you than anything to do with Cho, right?"

Tom opened his mouth then, eyes wide. It looked like he was going to say something then decided against it.

"I almost lost you to Cho last year, do you really think I wanted to go through that again?" He demanded.

"Cho is…nice," Harry said choosing his words carefully. "She's pretty and she's good at Quidditch. You're the one who's been there for me." When Tom moved closer he stopped him with his hand. "But right now, I'm not sure how much I trust you."

"Enough to let me into the bath with you," the Slytherin pointed out.

"Like you would have let me stay here by myself," he said looking away. "I'm still mad at you. You don't do that to people. It's wrong."

"I love you," Tom said simply and Harry was once again caught off guard and staring at his boyfriend unsure of what to say. "It's not wrong…"

"It is when the one you supposedly love is begging you to stop," he snapped his face turning red. He tried to ignore the memories, the begging, the screaming, trying to fight away from his boyfriend until he'd finally given up. "Forcing yourself on me isn't going to make me love you," he said finally.

"So you're saying you don't love me yet," he asked eyeing him.

"Not right now I don't."

(X)

They separated at the portrait as they always did. Harry watched Tom's form disappearing into the dark and entered the Gryffindor tower. He ignored the portraits protests of his being out pass lights out and started for his bed. He felt better after the bath, the water had been relaxing. He knew things would be hard for a while, but he wanted to try and get himself under control.

He climbed into his bed and wrapped himself up in the covers, only to find himself staring up at the ceiling. The shadow nor Tom were in his bed, something he thought he'd be grateful for, but instead made him annoyed. He almost felt like he'd been used and then thrown to the side, even though he'd been the one to scream at Tom not to come to his room.

Muttering a curse he flipped over in the bed forcing his eyes closed. This didn't help at all either. He removed the necklace hoping that would give him some relief, but the item ended up never leaving his hand. He couldn't bring himself to drop it down on the side table and groaned. He knew he'd been obsessed with his boyfriend, with the necklace and its powers…Voldemort's powers. He hadn't wanted to believe his obsession had gone this far and now that he knew the truth, it only made him that much angrier.

'How can I forgive him for any of this?' he demanded of himself. 'He practically raped….practically?' he threw one of his pillows off the bed onto the floor as hard as he could. He HAD taken Harry despite the screams, despite his pleadings, but had Harry really fought back? He hadn't been ready, there was no doubt about that, but, did he really hate his boyfriend for it?

The more he thought about it, the worst he felt. His face flushed, he turned over again wondering how long he'd be up trying to figure this all out.

'So I don't hate him,' he admitted to himself finally. 'I'm just mad…and if I'm just mad, because he did it…or did it without my full consent….Doesn't that mean…?' He blinked a few times, groaned again, and shook his head. He couldn't. There was just no way. He couldn't deny the feelings tugging at him though.

"Great…" He dropped back down onto the bed rubbing his eyes. 'If I had myself over he's going to do whatever he wants me whenever he wants. I can't take that, but…' one glance at the empty side of his bed and he knew he couldn't handle that either. 'There has to be some way around this…'

"Move over…."

Harry's entire body jerked at the voice. He turned onto his side so he could get a good look at his boyfriend then who seemed to have snuck in despite their fighting.

"Why are you here?" he demanded. True, he wanted his boyfriend next to him, but he had to play this safe. He refused to be turned into some kind of toy. "I told you not to come."

"Like you're sleeping any better?" Tom asked his eyes flashing. "Or were you just too excited to fall back asleep?"

"I, you can't be here," Harry said firmly. "I meant it. If you think I'm just going to let you do what you want—"

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry," he said again dropping onto the bed. "I'm…I'm not sorry for doing it, but I'm sorry I didn't wait until you were ready."

"You're impossible…." Harry muttered. "You have to promise me you won't do that…not again. Not until I'm ready…."

"Whatever, just move over—"

"Promise me," he hissed at him. "Promise me or I'll find someone else to sleep next to so I can sleep."

"You wouldn't dare," Tom growled. Harry knew he had hit a nerve though, because his boyfriend was nodding slowly despite the glare on his face. "Fine. I promise."

"That's all I want," Harry said a smile somehow finding its way onto his face. He wrapped his arms around Tom tightly, his boyfriend embracing him as well. "We're pretty pathetic huh?"

"Speak for yourself." The words completely contradicted Tom's actions as he pulled Harry closer.

(X)

"Alright then, here's my plan," Hermione said brightly as she held up a basket of what looked to be a bunch of Galleons. "Everyone takes a Galleon, and see this here," she said holding up the coin. She pointed to the numbers on the edge. "Usually this is where they put the serial number, but instead ours will have the date and time of the next meeting. I put a Protean Charm on Harry's so when he chooses the date, everyone else's will to. Also, if the date has to be changed, it'll get hot and if you have it with you you'll know," she said smiling proudly to herself.

"Nice," Tom said smirking. "You've outdone yourself this time Hermione," he said grabbing a Galleon and looking it over.

"Th, thanks Aderes," she said a small blush on her face. Ron nearly launched his wand into Tom's throat.

"Anyway, umm any questions?"

"You can cast a Protean Charm," Terry Boots asked out of nowhere. "That's NEWT standard! With brains like that why you aren't in Ravenclaw," he demanded.

"Well…the sorting hat had thought about putting me in there," she admitted blushing even more. "In the end though he decided on putting me into Gryffindor."

"Better than where he almost put me," Harry muttered looking at his own fake galleon.

"What, Slytherin," Aderes joked.

"Yes," Harry stated flatly and the rest of the room went silent.

"So, Gryffindor is just where they throw kids the sorting hat can't decide where to put in the 'real houses'," Draco joked grinning. The other kids save for those in Gryffindor, all started laughing and Harry thanked whomever it was watching over him for Draco's fast cover up.

The students once again began leaving in small groups of three or four as always until they made it back safely to their houses.

"Things are going so great," Hermione said happily throwing herself onto one of the cushions. "Everyone is learning so much and we're all getting so much better. Harry, you're an amazing teacher."

"Well…Aderes is helping to," Harry said eyeing Aderes a bit a smile crossing his face.

"Helping what? Trying to rape you every lesson in front of everyone? Seriously Aderes, can't you control yourself for just one night," Hermione asked looking over to them. "I swore you were going to push Harry down right in front of us tonight."

"I was seriously thinking about it," Tom admitted wrapping his arms around Harry. "But I decided the class was a bit more important, for now anyway."

Draco rolled his eyes while Ron moved a bit closer to Hermione. He was seriously beginning to miss the Shadow and wanted him back instead of Aderes constantly being all over Harry.

"Hermione…just curious, but those coins…they're a lot like Voldemort's death mark aren't they?" Tom asked.

"Well yes…that's what I fashioned them after, however if you've noticed, I carved the times into coins, not our members skin," she said a bit defensively.

"I like it this way myself," Harry admitted.

"I don't," Tom said. "However, it is less likely to find. A death mark can be found so easily while these galleons will be harder to detect," he admitted looking it over some more.

"Yes…" Hermione said looking a bit uneasy.

"So…do you two plan on staying here or are you actually going to come back with us for once," Malfoy asked trying to change the subject.

"We're staying, we have a few things to prepare for the next class, then we'll leave," Harry said stretching. Tom nodded.

"Whatever. If you two want to go and be rabbits, don't lie about it," Draco said rolling his eyes. "Come on; let's get out of here before Aderes loses all self-control in front of us."

Hermione nodded getting up and Ron quickly followed after the other two.

"You really do need to learn self-control," Harry admitted turning to look Tom in the eyes. After the mishap a few weeks ago, when he'd fallen down the stairs they had made a truce, at least for the time being. After all, neither of them could sleep it turned out, unless they were next to the other.

"Yes. I have self-control, but Aderes doesn't," he grinned and walked over to one of the bookshelves. He grabbed a book off it and began flipping through it. "So have you gotten any lesson plans for the next class," he asked casually without looking up from the book.

"I was thinking about maybe something more defensive now. We know how to attack, but what about defend? You know, like shields and stuff," he said walking to a cushion and sitting down.

"Defense works I guess. They better be able to throw a shield up pretty quick though if they want it to be at all effective."

"I was thinking more along the lines of being able to use it after having harmed an enemy and they're trying to gather themselves," Harry explained and Tom looked up.

"They could have just killed them off then if they were trying to gather themselves."

"Unlike you, a lot of us don't want to kill."

"That's the way things work love, things die and usually it's us that end up killing them," he said placing the book back onto the shelf. Smirking he walked over to a glaring Harry and sat down on his lap. "And you will be the leader of my army," he went on wrapping his arms around Harry's neck.

"No, you will be the outcast of my army of undead," Harry joked leaning back.

"An outcast? I believe I'm already an outcast," Tom smirked moving to Harry's neck. He smiled reassured after seeing the mark he'd made on his lover was still there and bit down on it.

"Tom…"

"You're still mine…you'll always be mine," he hissed pulling Harry closer. "I'll give you up to no one and my mark will make sure of that."

"I don't know if you were more possessive as the Shadow or as you are now."

"Now." He kissed Harry deeply.

(X)

"Quidditch, I hate Quidditch," Tom growled looking from one of the four to the other.

"Aderes are you mad because we're going to kick your team's butt," Harry asked grinning.

"Excuse me, I think you're mistaken Potter. Our team's going to smash yours into the ground," Draco smirked.

"I highly doubt that," Ron growled.

"We'll see."

"Y'know, we're all friends remember," Hermione cut in finishing up the last bit of her homework.

"And I still think Quidditch is a pointless game and we should all be doing D.A.," Tom whined and latched onto Harry's arm.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked back down at the essay he'd been writing. It was covered in drawings of a lion on a broomstick roasting a snake over a fire on the Quidditch field. He coughed a bit nervously and shoved the paper into his bag.

"Pointless or not, we enjoy it," Harry said eyeing Malfoy. "And I guess I'll have to admit, whosever team wins, wins. We still have to stick together so we can defeat You-Know-Who," Harry said calmly.

"And that stupid Voldemort who's getting stupider by the day," Tom growled slamming his fist into the table. A few people looked at them thinking it'd been Harry, though upon seeing it was just Tom, ignored it.

"Yes, and you're so worried about Voldemort's reputation why," Draco asked glaring.

Tom just sat there glaring and poked Harry's Potion book with his quill.

"Look, the sooner you drop this whole 'I hate Quidditch', allow us to practice and one of our sides win, than everything will be okay and we won't have to worry about any more fights or Quidditch for a while, alright," Harry pointed out.

Tom nodded poking the book again. He looked utterly depressed.

"Harry, maybe you and Aderes should go spend some time together…he looks awful," Hermione broke into their conversation again. It was the first time Harry had ever heard her say something along the lines of 'ignore homework, go have fun'.

"Well…I guess I could," he said smiling a bit.

"Great. Go on you two." Before they knew what was happening Hermione had shoved both boys out of the classroom and slammed the door shut. "Man they're annoying," she growled sitting back down. Draco and Ron started laughing.

(X)

"You cut off D.A. you get homework cut off by teachers, you ignore us, and all you do is fly on that stupid broom. I'm going to set it on fire then use it to roast your owl like I promised before," Tom hissed.

"Are you done," Harry asked, arms folded across his chest.

"Pretty much."

"Good, can I go to bed now?"

Tom pouted climbing onto the bed next to Harry and shook his head. He'd attacked Harry for no reason while he was asleep, though he couldn't have been sleeping more than six minutes, and demanded to know why Harry had blown off their meeting for the day.

"All I wanted to do was talk to you-"

"All you wanted was to rape me," Harry corrected and wrapped his arms around his pillow. "I'm really tired though and I want to get some sleep. The big match is coming up. So shut up and let me get some rest."

"I'm going to kill your family."

"By all means, please do so," Harry muttered yawning. "I'd enjoy seeing them suffer."

"There's my dark wizard," Tom said playfully wrapping his arms around Harry. Of course, this just made Harry fall asleep all the more faster. He stared at the young wizard frowning a bit then glared. "When this is over I am snapping that broom in half."

"Do and I'll shave you bald."

"You're awake!"

"Shut the hell up and go to sleep."

"Hmph."

(X)

"Ron…are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"No," Ron admitted looking around the boy's dorm. "I feel horrible, I look horrible, and 'Arry I know I'll play just as horrible as I feel," he groaned.

"You do not. Look, you're just nervous. After you eat a bit everything will be just fine," he said encouragingly. Ron however just nodded numbly and followed him out of the Gryffindor tower.

They made it to the great hall where Harry noticed the Slytherins cheering loudly as Ron and he made their way to the table.

"Remember, for this morning Malfoy is against us. After the game though, we're all…" Harry's voice trailed off seeing Aderes and Draco still at the Gryffindor table as usual only this time they were wearing green and silver clothing.

"We're going to destroy you today on that field," Draco said emotionlessly as he took a bite of his cereal.

"Well I know you're going to try…which is why I'm shocked you're sitting here," Harry said sitting down.

"We're enemies on the field, not at the table," Draco muttered and Harry nodded in agreement. He liked those rules.

"Alright, let's do our best then to beat each other in this game," Harry said happily.

"And then I'm setting fire to your broom," Aderes said happily.

"And then I'll take Draco's broom and ram it somewhere you won't enjoy," Harry stated threateningly. No one argued with his threat, they all believed it.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this. Harry I'm going to screw up," Ron whined grabbing Harry's free arm, Tom had grabbed the other one.

"Ron…you'll do just fine, here," he shoved the spoon of cereal into Ron's mouth. "Chew."

Ron made an attempt to do just that, but he looked about as sick as Harry had felt after his first time with Tom.

"It'll be fine. Just relax Ron; you're going to do brilliant I just know it."

"Yeah," Hermione said smiling as she sat down, Ginny next to her. "We all know you can do it Ron. You're going to do just fine and bring our house to the winning side."

"Or die trying," Malfoy stated smirking.

"Draco don't scare him even more, you do want a challenge out on the field don't you?"

"A challenge? He's not going to be a challenge. We're going to-"

"Will you all stop talking about Quidditch," Tom demanded. "The match is in a few hours, just prove what you have to on the field and shut up," he growled looking away from them.

Harry stared at him for a few minutes and shoved a butterbeer into his hands.

"After the match I promise, I'll make it up to you alright?"

"You better."

"I will, win or lose."

TBC