Harry followed obediently as Ron dragged him away from the Great Hall, followed by the other Weasleys and Hermione. The Slytherins were all busy catching up with each other anyway, after they had exhausted all their questions and congratulations for Tom and Harry.
He knew what was about to come of course, and honestly, he couldn't really blame them either. They'd all reacted well with the others around, but he expected at least one lecture about how stupid and dangerous it was to date the enemy. Not that Harry really considered Tom an enemy anymore at this point. The older teen was smart and charming and he could do just as much good than he did bad, maybe even more if he set his mind to it.
At last, they arrived at the Caretaker's office and the twins took the lead. They threw open the door with a loud bang as it hit the wall and strode in, followed by a fuming Ginny and Ron holding onto Harry, dragging him inside forcefully while Hermione strolled behind them with a deep frown etched onto her face. Sirius looked up from the paper he had been reading which had a large headline about a murdered couple in Diagon Alley.
"What's happening? Something attacking us?" the adult male asked, jumping up from his seat warily.
"Harry's dating Riddle!" Ron exclaimed.
Sirius raised an amused eyebrow and relaxed a bit.
"I know," he replied chuckling.
"They've been connected by the lips since Christmas."
"That must have been one hell of a Christmas present," Fred snorted.
The youngest two Weasleys didn't see the joke in the whole thing and glared at Harry.
"How could you do this, Harry?" Ginny asked softly.
"After everything he's done to all of us, to you!"
"He didn't do anything. That was all Voldemort."
"He is Voldemort!" Ron exclaimed angry, wincing slightly as he said the name.
"Not the same one," Harry gritted out.
"Tom never opened the Chamber, he never killed my parents and he never killed Cedric. I can prevent that from happening!"
"How can you be so sure?" George asked quietly.
Harry sighed and carded his hands through his hair. He looked at his friends, all looking at him expectantly. Ginny and Ron were glaring, and Fred and George didn't look too happy with him either.
"I don't," he conceded reluctantly.
"But everyone deserves a second chance."
"Not him!" Ginny hissed furiously.
"Yes him! That's what we came to do!"
"Harry's right," Hermione cut in.
"We came to stop Riddle. If that can be done peacefully, all the better."
"It's Riddle! We can't trust him not to cut Harry into pieces and not send us his head with a nice postcard," Ron growled.
"I can take care of myself!" Harry shouted aggravated.
"I'm your friend! Least you can do is trust me, even if you can't trust Tom."
The twins deflated visibly, and Hermione smiled. The brunette walked up to him and hugged Harry tight.
"Of course we trust you, Harry!" she said as she let go of him again.
"I'm really happy for you and Tom, just, be careful, alright?"
"I am, don't worry."
. . . . .
"You're a right bastard, you know that?" Harry hissed the second he spotted Tom lounging in the common room.
Several of the others sitting around tensed and turned their heads towards Tom as they held their breath, waiting for the reaction of their Lord.
"That's not very nice, is it?" Tom asked calmly.
"Certainly no way to talk to your boyfriend."
"That's just the point! You know how my friends are! I wanted to ease them into it, not throw it in their faces!"
"Now what would they have as reason not to let me date you?" Tom asked, eyes glinting as he smirked at Harry.
The green eyed time traveller tensed. They both knew perfectly well the reasons they didn't like the idea of Tom and Harry dating, but that wasn't something Harry could say out loud of course. The others probably thought the Weasleys didn't like it because Tom was Slytherin. They all already thought especially Ginny and Ron hated Slytherin, with the exception of Harry.
"Because they're a bloody overprotective lot, and their parents pretty much raised me! I'm their brother, Tom. And worrying is what family does."
"How cute! Does Ickle Harrykins need his siblings to coddle him some more?" Nicolas teased chuckling.
Harry rolled his eyes and glared at the older teen.
"I'm going to bed," he growled annoyed.
He stomped off towards the dorms, but Tom's voice stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Don't I get a goodnight's kiss, darling?" the young Dark Lord called out teasingly.
"Hell no! You bloody pissed me off with that stunt Riddle!"
. . . . .
When Harry woke up the next morning, he wasn't alone in his bed. Tensing at the heat radiating from right next to him, he found a bare chested Tom sitting there, comfortably under his covers reading a book. He sat up immediately and blushed as he realized he too, was only sleeping in his boxers, like he often did.
"What the hell are you doing, Tom?" he hissed quietly, glancing around the room and finding that most of the others were already up and gone.
"When I'm bored, I tend to be generous to the rumour mill," the older teen replied shrugging.
"Damnit, Tom! You're making me regret dating you!" Harry groaned, dropping back down on his pillow.
"Too late to back down now, sweetheart!" Tom told him cheerfully.
The Slytherin Heir got up out of bed and walked over to his own to grab his clothes.
"I told you before, I'll cling to you as hard as I can. You even agreed to that," he said.
"If you want to get rid of me now, you'll have to kill me, and we both know you'll try avoiding that as long as possible."
Harry didn't reply and just glared at the handsome teen as he too got up. Tom looked over at him and grinned teasingly.
"I'm taking a shower, care to join me?" he asked.
"No? Pity. See you at breakfast then, darling."
Harry shook his head and chuckled a bit. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't stay angry at Tom for very long. The other was everything Voldemort was not, and that alone warranted that Harry wanted him close to him. If he could help it, Tom would never have to suffer any kind of tragedy in his entire further life.
. . . . .
Time for the party came closer and closer until evening finally fell. The Slytherins were all in the common room, having put on their best dress robes for the occasion.
"Ready to go, 'Burga?" Nicolas called out.
The quidditch captain gave the burly 6th year a cold stare before striding over. Her dark green dress cascading down her hips and turning her into a beautiful forest nymph instead of a terrifying banshee. She was wearing the earrings Harry had bought her and a large golden and emerald necklace hung heavily around her neck.
"Show some respect, Nicolas. I can still go with someone else," the girl threatened.
It was true of course. The Blacks were all well known for their dark beauty and Walburga would have easily found a new date by shouting she was single in the halls. Even now, several of the boys in the room were eyeing her lustfully. The other members of Tom's gang didn't really pay much attention to the duo though and just talked among each other a bit more.
"So I guess that means you're going with Tom then, huh?" Avery asked grinning.
"Guess so," Harry replied with a smile.
"And who're you going with?"
"Olive Hornby from Ravenclaw."
Harry remembered that name from his own time of course. It was the girl that bullied Myrtle the day she died, and she was part of the reason why Octavian would take his own life.
"I'm going with Sandberg," Michael piped up, grinning widely.
"She usually never goes on dates because her father doesn't allow it, but he made an exception for this. Says it's a perfect opportunity. My parents are thinking about setting up a contract between us anyway, so it's good I get to know her better."
"Don't you want to be with someone you actually like?" Harry asked frowning.
"Sure. But as long as the contract isn't there yet I can fool around as much as I like," Michael shrugged.
"Besides, Sandberg is pretty hot. I wouldn't mind waking up next to her in the mornings."
Harry scowled a bit at that, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Better not get in between old family habits after all.
"And who're you taking, Mulciber?" Avery called out.
"I asked Lucretia, but she shot me down," the tall 6th year started.
"Big shocker there," Dolohov snorted.
"-So I asked Tate, from Hufflepuff," Mulciber continued with a glare at the 4th year.
"And we know Alphard goes with Weasley," Nott said smirking.
"So all we need to know is who's taking Megan."
"You won't know then," the girl told the younger boy with a grin.
"I'm picking him up right now. See you boys at the party!"
Harry laughed at the disgruntled looks of the 4th and 3rd years in their gang and turned towards Tom.
"Shouldn't we get going too?" he asked.
"Of course. Let's all go then," Tom agreed.
. . . . .
The party was as boring as it could be. Slughorn's guests, aside from some elite students, existed from high society ex-students and successful business owners and Ministry officials. The sight of a certain man, who looked to be a younger version of Lucius Malfoy, or an older version of Draco, had Harry tense up and narrow his eyes. Tom had laughed at him for it, before greeting the man.
"Abraxas! It's been too long," Tom said smiling.
"Tom, good to see you," the blonde replied.
He was standing next to Ravina Lestrange, whom Harry soon learned was Malfoy's fiancée. They wished Tom a belated Happy Birthday and Malfoy went on telling them about his job at the ministry. Harry quickly lost interest there.
"Abraxas was a classmate of Charlus," Tom told Harry, stopping the young wizard's attention from wandering.
"Really? So you know my cousin?" Harry asked interested.
"I do, though I can't say we were friends," the Malfoy spoke stiffly.
"Potter and I had a hard time agreeing about anything. Still do by the way."
"Doesn't Charlus work at the ministry as well?" Tom asked curiously.
"I know his father, Henry Potter, is very influential in the Wizangammot."
Harry once again lost interest in Malfoy's reply and decided to just look around himself. He saw Hermione stand next to Alphard a little ways off, with Walburga and Nicolas talking to them. Avery and Hornby were dancing, and so were Michael and Sandberg.
His eyes fell on two red heads in the back of the room. He scowled. What were the twins doing here? He was pretty sure they weren't invited. One quick glance back towards Tom showed he was too deep in conversation with Malfoy and an elderly lady. Smirking, he snuck away from the group and approached the red haired party crashers.
"How did you even get in here?" he asked as he walked up to the duo of trouble makers.
"Harry!" Fred greeted cheerfully.
"Bit of a dull party, isn't it?" George commented lightly.
"Figured we'd come check it out after Ron started bragging about going," Fred spoke.
"Bit of a let-down, really. But don't worry, we know how to cure that!"
Harry frowned in confusion.
"Ron's here?" he asked surprised.
"With who? Why didn't he say so?"
"Probably because when he told us, Gin yelled at him for being a bloody hypocrite," Fred said shrugging.
"I mean, being angry at you for dating Riddle and then smooching on Yaxley…"
"He's here with Megan?!"
"There you are!"
Harry jumped when he felt a hand fall heavily on his shoulder and he turned his head to find Tom smiling at him. The twins grew tense immediately and glared hatefully at Tom, but the young Dark Lord didn't seem fazed by them.
"Sneaking away like that… I think you might have insulted Malfoy with that," Tom told Harry.
"Yeah, well, if he's anything like his grandson, I'm not sorry," the green eyed teen snorted.
"Megalomania does run in the family," young Voldemort mused.
"How about a dance, Love?"
"I can't-…"
"I'll lead."
Before Harry could refuse anymore, he was pulled away from his friends and onto the dancefloor. Tom pressed their bodies close to each other and started moving them around at a fast pace that Harry barely could follow. He was reminded of his mortification during the Yule Ball last year, or in 1994, if he wanted to think chronologically correct.
"They still hate me," Tom muttered, nodding his head towards the Weasley twins.
"You tried to kill their little sister in my time," Harry mumbled.
"They don't really think there's a difference between that you and this one."
Tom hummed and twirled Harry, making the time traveller stumble a bit before catching him again.
"I might have furthered that mind-set a while ago," he admitted smirking.
Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but widened again as he was dipped.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"Trying to get information from them."
Harry rolled his eyes. Of course Tom would have done something to piss them off even more. He knew how useless it was to play nice, so he probably was as blunt as he was to Harry, maybe even more since he didn't want to get in their pants… at least Harry hoped he didn't. He shook his head off the thoughts and as they continued dancing, his eyes fell on Megan and Ron standing near the back, talking animatedly together.
"Megan's mystery date is Ron, by the way," Harry told his dance partner.
"I know," Tom laughed.
"You hadn't noticed how she always seems to zone onto him whenever we have class with the Lions? She actually smiles with Red around… it's a bit creepy if you ask me…"
"I always thought that was because you told her to," Harry said surprised.
"At first, yes. But I never told her to flirt with him," Tom replied shrugging.
"She's always been very picky with her guys. Never shown any interest. I guess your friend actually does have some good qualities if he can get past that cold mask of her."
Harry laughed and shook his head fondly. Ron always had a gift of bringing out the best and worse in people. He was glad he was at least trying to get along better with the Slytherins now. Maybe his interest in the Slytherin Ice Queen would bring them all closer together.
The song ended and Tom and Harry stopped dancing. For a short moment, they just stood in the middle of the room, looking at each other and smiling, but an enthusiastic one-man applause had them look up, finding Slughorn red-faced and grinning at the side of the dance floor.
"Wonderful! Beautiful!" the pompous teacher exclaimed loudly.
"You two are such a marvellous couple, so beautiful… ah! How wonderful it is to be young and in love!"
The man walked up to them and threw and arm over each of their shoulders. Harry winced at the booming laughter in his ear and pulled up his nose as the scent of alcohol reached him.
"How I wish I had someone to love…" their Head of House said, suddenly looking on the verge of tears.
"What I wouldn't give for finding someone to hold close and- Pumkin pie! They are delicious! Have you tried them yet?"
Several of the people around snickered as Slughorn shoved Harry and Tom to get to the food table. Tom scowled, glaring at the man's back as he rubbed his arm, a petulant pout on his lips. Harry rolled his eyes and looked around. He saw the twins standing next to the punch bowl, laughing and whispering. As one of them noticed Harry staring at them, he grinned mischievously and waved.
Harry groaned and rubbed his face.
"What was that all about?" Tom asked angrily.
"Slughorn never acts like that! He never even bloody drinks more than two glasses!"
"He didn't drink more," Harry muttered, earning a weird look from his boyfriend.
"What do you know that I don't?" Tom asked through gritted teeth.
The question made Harry smirk. Tom hated not knowing, and the fact that Harry had the upper hand for once was clearly not sitting right with the older teen. He had half a mind to gloat, but decided against it for his own health's sake.
"The twins spiked the punch," he told Tom.