Let's see if I can keep up.

Warnings: This is shonen ai, yaoi, slash, gay, whatever you wish to call it.

Notes: (X) is pov change and or time jump. Flash is Tom remembering something Voldemort did or said.

Chapter, 26: Another Memory

With everything that had happened, Dumbledore had rescheduled their lessons quite a few times before they finally managed to meet. It seemed that every time Tom was feeling up to the gathering, he'd go crazy before the night lesson. A week later, Dumbledore had smartly scheduled the meeting Saturday morning. Since it was also Halloween and the school was hosting a small party courtesy of Slughorn, the heir had grumblingly made his way to the headmaster's tower with Harry.

"Just so you're aware, I do not want to be here," Tom muttered.

They were both sitting in the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. The headmaster looked much better than he had the week before. Perhaps the changing of the meeting had not been for Tom's sake alone.

"I can view the memory and you can wait for us," Harry offered. Tom hissed at him and grabbed his arm. Thanks to the death eater's attacks, Tom had rarely left Harry's side. While the Gryffindor was grateful for the attention, he was beginning to worry that Tom may never have the courage to leave him alone again. He didn't want his boyfriend living in fear the rest of his life.

"You would just love that," Tom said, his anger evident. "You've been trying to ditch me all week."

"No, you just keep surprising me," Harry said honestly. "I could barely get any of your time and now you're everywhere." He leaned over the chair arm and kissed him. "It's an improvement, believe me."

Tom looked down his face red.

"I am sure this does not need to be said, but Hogsmeade has been canceled for everyone for the rest of the year," Dumbledore explained. "So I would not worry about Harry vanishing from you."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who almost got himself kidnapped," Harry, grinned.

"Well, if I have to be saved, I suppose it might as well be by the great Harry Potter," Tom sighed rolling his eyes. "Let's see how much more miserable you can make my life old man. What are you showing this time?"

Harry felt a small twinge of guilt at being so excited about the memories when Tom hated them so much. The first memory hadn't even involved Tom, to Harry's disappointment, but it was interesting to know about his boyfriend's past. Sure one side of his family was overly prideful and mad, the other handsome and easily fooled, but that was a part of who Tom was. Both sides were evident in him. Dumbledore's raising him seemed to have a rather large impact on Tom, but his ancestry was still evident. He hadn't grown up to become another Voldemort after all.

"I'm glad you approve of my pedigree," Tom growled at him causing him to jump.

"I wasn't thinking anything bad," Harry said trying to defend himself. "It's interesting."

"So now I'm just interesting?"

"Well, you've always been interesting," Harry, admitted. "But there are a lot of things that don't make sense and since I'll probably end up spending the rest of my life with you, it'd be nice to figure some of you out."

Tom's entire face was bright red then, his bond shutting down, but not before Harry had seen the immense embarrassment going through it. Even Dumbledore was looking slightly pink at Harry's words. That was fine with Harry. He'd already told Draco and Ron he wouldn't mind marrying Tom one day, he was sure the Slytherin had told his boyfriend the first chance he got.

"Well then…now that I've been informed that you will probably be my son-in-law," Dumbledore started with a nervous cough. "I think we should get down to business. We shall be heading to the orphanage in which Aderes and Voldemort had attended. I'm sure you remember that," Dumbledore said smiling at Tom.

"You mean when you adopted Tom?" Harry asked curiously.

"No, I took Tom in at the age of four. Voldemort was in the orphanage until the age of eleven…however…perhaps I should start explaining some of this," Dumbledore said with a small sigh. "Tom was not always here and when I realized the damage that been caused, because of Voldemort I used a time turner to go and attempt to fix things. I went back to the orphanage and was going to adopt and raise him, hoping that giving him a loving upbringing would stop him from going towards dark magic, however…that was not quite what happened."

"Can we see that memory?" Harry asked. "I mean…well," he looked at Tom blushing and back to the headmaster.

"There isn't much to tell. I went in there to adopt Voldemort and ended up with Aderes, while the real Voldemort was still there. I did not realize what had happened until Aderes was home with me and he began talking about the other children at the orphanage. It seemed there had been another boy there with the same name. They were twins. You could understand my shock."

"So somehow…just by wanting to adopt Voldemort you actually rewrote time?" Harry couldn't believe just a thought could cause so many things to change.

"Yes, it would seem so. How is a wonderful question, but I'm afraid I do not yet know the answer."

"So…we'll be seeing the younger Voldemort then," Harry said wondering how things were going to go.

"Who you'll be quite pleased is a spitting image of Aderes," Dumbledore said standing up. "However, Aderes is in this memory as well."

"Don't tell him that," Tom muttered looking at his feet.

"Yeah, because I wouldn't realize you're in the memory when I see two of you," Harry said rolling his eyes. Dumbledore smiled and entered the pensive, Harry following him quickly. He wanted to see what kind of place his boyfriend had been at before Dumbledore had taken him in. Actually, he wanted to see Dumbledore's memories of raising Tom. They were no doubt amusing.

They appeared seconds later in old London where a younger Dumbledore and Aderes walked down the street, Aderes' hand in his father's own. The younger Dumbledore had auburn hair and was wearing a plum velvet suit. The younger Aderes on the other hand was clad in small dark blue robes with pants underneath them. Aderes looked like he was ready for a trip to Diagon Alley rather than an orphanage.

"He wouldn't change out of them," Dumbledore chuckled as they watched the backs of younger Dumbledore and Tom.

"I see," Harry, said trying to hold back a laugh. Indeed, Harry had rarely seen his boyfriend in muggle clothing. Most of the time it was robes, even when they were in the common room.

Aderes looked away, his face still red and remained silent.

"Let us go then," Dumbledore said cheerfully.

The two students followed the headmaster down the old roads, horse drawn buggies heading up and down the cobblestone streets. Harry found that he liked it. If it wasn't for the horses it could have been Diagon Alley. At least what it was like before Voldemort had gotten back into power.

The three of them stopped upon arriving at a dank and old building, one that needed much attention by the looks of it. Harry couldn't help, but be reminded of Tom's grandfather's house from the last memory, but said nothing. A large steel gate surrounded the building, but whether it was trying to hold something in or keep something out was hard to tell.

The younger Dumbledore stopped in front of the building, nodded and headed up the stairs. The three of them followed the younger Albus knocking on the door and then they waited. A few moments later, a distressed looking middle-aged woman wearing an apron opened the door. She looked Dumbledore up and down almost as if she wanted to make sure he was real.

"Good afternoon. I have an appointment with a Mrs. Cole, who, I believe, is still matron here?"

"Yes…she's here…just a mo'," the woman said moving away from the door to let him in. The younger versions of Tom and Dumbledore walked in and soon the present day ones and Harry followed behind. "Madame! She called heading off down the hall. She came back a moment later and nodded. "She's on 'er way." That said she walked off quickly in another direction.

"Was she here when I brought you home?" Albus asked Aderes.

Aderes shook his head silently. He looked quite handsome to Harry now that he finally managed to get a look at his boyfriend's younger self. He walked around the younger Dumbledore and heir as they waited for Mrs. Cole to show up and couldn't help laughing again.

"You're adorable," Harry said at last. Even at this age, Harry could see Tom's high cheekbones and brilliant dark hair, his dark red eyes. He was more cute than handsome at this point, but he could see his boyfriend easily in the child. "I bet you could charm anyone."

"Shut up!" Tom shouted.

"He did try," Dumbledore said looking far too amused. "A lot. And it worked on some. He found himself in trouble with the others."

"Only because you warned them first," Tom snorted. "If I had spoken with them before you did, they would not have stood a chance."

"I sure didn't," Harry, said getting surprised looks from both Tom and Dumbledore. "Even as a shadow, I just had a feeling…You'd never said anything about dating or loving me, but somehow I knew we were going to be together."

Tom looked away again, only he wasn't blushing. He looked like he'd done something horrible, a look Harry knew all too well. Before Harry could ask, what was wrong Mrs. Cole came walking towards them barking out orders to other apron-wearing woman. She didn't seem mean to Harry, rather just overly stressed as the other woman had. She mentioned something about iodine before she stopped, staring at the two figures in front of her.

"Tom," the woman said looking him up and down. "You're not bringin him back are yeah?" Mrs. Cole asked narrowing her eyes at the younger Dumbledore.

"Certainly not. I've come to talk to you about his twin brother Tom," Dumbledore assured her. "You see, I told you before I was a school teacher…it seems both of them are to be going to my school, their mother signed them up as soon as she found out she was to have twins, to my embarrassment however we had lost the papers until now."

"I see," the woman said looking young Aderes over again. "He treating you well?" She asked sharply.

"Yes," he said quietly with a quick nod. "Dad and Minerva have been really nice to me."

"That so? Aren't you a bit old to be playing dress up though?"

"Aren't you a bit young for wrinkles?" Aderes shot back at her, his eyes narrowed. He looked rather annoyed and walked off down the hall before anyone could tell him otherwise.

"Aderes," The younger Dumbledore warned, but he'd already walked out of sight. "I apologize; I do try and teach him manners."

"Pft, he's a lot better than his brother, that's for sure," the woman said nodding to a door. The five of them walked into the room, which turned out to be some kind of an office. "So, his brother has a place in the school too huh? How long do you suppose you'll be keeping him?"

"I've my hands full with Tom or Aderes if you will. It gets so confusing and he wanted his own name."

"And he chose Aderes?" Mrs. Cole asked raising an eyebrow.

"Alas, I'm afraid I left him alone to long with some books. Tom however will be attending this school with his brother over the course of the school year. He'll be returning during the summer holiday's however...I hope that won't be much of a problem."

"Not a problem at all. The more I don't have to see him, the better. He scares the kids, Tom…I mean Aderes got off lucky. He used to mime his own brother. Do odd things to him while he was asleep," the matron said shaking her head. "No, by all means. How's T, Aderes doing?"

"Quite well, if I do say so myself. He's managed a lot of complicated studies and has even mastered two languages already," the younger Dumbledore said pleasantly. "He's a very smart child and I cannot wait to see him performing at my school."

"You actually told her that?" Present day Tom asked.

"Well I didn't modify my memory in order to please you," Dumbledore said winking at him.

Aderes' face turned a darker shade of red.

"He always was you know. Any time he could get away from Tom he'd take the others with him and hide. He'd read to them. Couldn't believe I had a four year old who could read, but there he was. Walked in on him myself one day, all the other kids surrounding him as he told the story. Wish you'd taken the other one," Mrs. Cole said not looking at all regretful for having said the words.

"May I talk to Tom then? I'd like to see how he reacts to-" The younger Dumbledore's voice was cut off with the sound of what seemed to be a loud explosion. Mrs. Cole and Dumbledore took one look at each other before the both of them went running out of the room as quickly as they could. Harry, Tom, and Dumbledore having to rush to keep up with the memory.

(X)

The two Toms were standing in front of a doorway, both of them staring each other down. Tom's fists were clenched and he was growling at Aderes who looked just as angry. It was amazing to Harry how alike they looked. If not for the clothes, he would have never been able to tell them apart.

"What are you doing back here?" Tom demanded his eyes flaring. "You're a traitor!"

"It's not my fault I was adopted! I wrote you letters!" Aderes screamed back.

"Boys!" Dumbledore warned suddenly getting both of their attentions. Both Tom and Aderes looked at the headmaster seeming rather pale. "I believe I'll take it from here Mrs. Cole, thank you."

Mrs. Cole seemed more than happy to have an excuse to leave and nearly ran for the staircase. When they were alone Dumbledore pointed to the room and walked into it, the two younger boys following him. This room consisted of nothing more than an iron bed and a wardrobe. The younger Dumbledore shut the door behind them. Harry, present day Tom, and Dumbledore barely made it inside. Younger Dumbledore pulled his wand out and locked the door.

"He really pissed me off," present day Tom muttered. "He tried ripping my robes."

"So you were fashion conscious all the way back then?" Harry asked.

Tom went silent again.

"Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves! And Aderes, I thought I'd taught you better than that! How dare you cause any type of explosions-?"

"It wasn't me! It was Tom!" He screamed. "He tried to take a knife to my robes!"

"Tom, do you have a knife on you?" the younger Dumbledore asked glaring at the boy.

Young Voldemort who looked just as Dumbledore had said, a carbon copy of Aderes, shook his head fiercely.

"I haven't done anything to him! He's the one who left me here alone!"

"You were setting snakes on me!" Aderes snapped.

The younger Dumbledore seemed to notice that this confrontation was going down a very dangerous direction and pulled the boys away from each other.

"Now both of you, I don't care if you're friends or not, but you are bound by the same laws. Aderes, have you told Tom anything?"

"No," Aderes growled walking over to the nearby window. "Why would I tell this git anything? I didn't think you were going to be letting him go to Hogwarts."

"What's Hogwarts?" Tom asked quietly. He seemed to have regained his self-control quickly, something that unnerved Harry.

"Hogwarts is a school for magic," Dumbledore said tiredly. He was looking at the twins no doubt having hoped the meeting would have gone better. "And it is where you'll be attending…should you wish."

"So you were just as moody then as you are now?" Harry asked grinning.

"Oh yes, actually I have to say that Aderes was in fact much moodier before he met you. You've seemed to have calmed him down," the present day Dumbledore said before Aderes could.

"That's…possible?" Harry asked.

"TOM! ADERES!"

Harry jolted around to see what the younger Dumbledore was screaming about. Tom had managed to pin Aderes to the wall and was trying to get his hands wrapped around his throat.

"Petrificus Totalus!" the younger Dumbledore screamed, both boys falling over. They crashed hard into the floor, Dumbledore placing his wand back into his suit. "What are you two doing?"

"He jumped me!" Aderes screamed getting a very shocked look from the younger Dumbledore and now Harry.

"You could move while under that spell?"

"I was really mad," the heir muttered.

"So even if I use that spell on you, you can still move if you're mad enough?" Harry asked walking over to him. He wrapped his arms around Aderes' waist. "That's pretty cool."

"It is?" Aderes asked shocked. "I guess it is…"

"Do you need me to take you to Diagon Alley?" Harry heard the younger Dumbledore ask. "It is where you will buy all the supplies you'll need for school. Money is not an issue, I assure you." Younger Dumbledore removed the body-binding spell, watching both twins cautiously.

The younger Voldemort eyed his twin for a moment before shaking his head.

"I can do it myself," Tom said. "Will I have to be in classes with him?"

"You two are more alike than you know," young Dumbledore said taking a seat on Voldemort's bed. "Tell me Tom. If I had taken both of you home with me, would you really have gotten along with your brother? Family is important and Aderes is the only blood relative you have."

"He was mean to me!" Voldemort shouted. "He was always mean. He would tell the other kids lies, hurt them pretending to be me and then tell Mrs. Cole it was me!"

"Then perhaps you should be glad I separated you two?" young Dumbledore asked raising an eyebrow. "You no longer need to put up with his injustices. Even so. I hope the two of you are mature enough once you enter the school to not do harm to each other."

"I don't want to be friends with him," Voldemort pouted.

Harry thought the look was absolutely adorable until he saw the eyes. It was easy to tell that Voldemort was lying and cared nothing at all for his brother. The hate in his eyes was something Harry had never seen in Tom's, except when he spoke of Voldemort.

"And he's a liar," Aderes screamed. "I changed my name so I wouldn't be anything like you, but I still look like you! I'm going to go home and cut my hair!" Aderes jerked his hand out from Dumbledore's then and ran out of the room.

"Let's go," present day Dumbledore said.

"Don't want him to see the rest?" present day Tom asked, smirking.

"Tom," present day Dumbledore warned and suddenly they were standing back in Dumbledore's office.

Harry did want to stay and see what happened next, but the headmaster was already ushering the two out. He didn't see what could have possibly happened after that that Dumbledore wouldn't want him to see. It had to be something or his boyfriend wouldn't have mentioned it.

Dumbledore motioned to the chairs and they both sat down again silently.

"There are some things that I would like to explain to you…Some things that aren't exactly clear with Aderes there. Voldemort, or Tom, as you might, did not like to be connected to anything. He wanted to be one of a kind, but that was obviously quite impossible. Tom and Aderes not only shared the same face, but the exact same name as Merope did not know she was with twins. It is one of the reasons why he hates Tom so much."

"Alright" Harry said. He understood wanting people to see you for yourself and not others. How many times had he been compared to his parents? That was maddening enough, to have a twin that you despised whom you were constantly being compared to…

"Well excuse me for not wanting to have the same name as Voldemort…who'd want a name like that anyway," Tom demanded.

"One who knows that no one else would ever think of it…where did Aderes come from?" The Gryffindor asked suddenly curious. His boyfriend had never mentioned once why he'd chosen the name Aderes.

"A book," Tom muttered. "I just happened to really enjoy it." He dropped the subject at that, but Harry stored that information away for later to ask Hermione if she'd ever heard of a story with that name being used. He might actually sit down and read it if she could find it.

"Now, despite what you may believe given that scene, Voldemort honestly does not care for anyone. It was not the fact that Aderes left him alone at the orphanage that angered him, rather the fact that he couldn't watch his every move. To Voldemort, Aderes was the perfect tool."

The gravity of the words set down on Harry quickly, and he found himself looking at his boyfriend with a frown. He was beginning to understand just why Tom was always so offended when it seemed like Harry was using him in some way. The Gryffindor made a yet another mental note, this one to avoid making it seem like he was doing that. It also made more sense now why Voldemort hadn't killed Tom when he'd taken him at the ministry. He probably hadn't been trying to hurt Harry with the act as much as he'd wanted Tom working for him.

"Didn't work too well did it?" Harry asked grimly.

"It did at first," Tom said quietly. "I saw my mistakes."

"Yes," the headmaster cut in smiling. "You made the right choice. And finally I would like to point out that though you did not witness this characteristic, Voldemort likes to collect trophies."

"Trophies?" Harry asked nervously. He distinctly remembered learning about muggle murderers who took body parts and such after they killed someone. He wouldn't put it past Voldemort to do such a gruesome thing he just hoped he was wrong.

"After doing mean things to others at the orphanage he would take something of theirs as a trophy. I always had to get their things back," Tom, explained.

"Oh…so no body parts," Harry said letting out a sigh of relief.

"No," Tom said, sounding somewhat amused.

"Well, it's getting late," Dumbledore said cutting into their conversation. "So, was today better than last time? I promised not to make this one as traumatizing." The headmaster's gaze was on Tom, his eyes twinkling.

"Yeah, but now we have more to cover next time," Tom said annoyed.

"You weren't here last time," Harry said cutting in getting looks from the other two. "I saw your home and family without you."

"I came the next night," Tom explained. "I had to see it."

Harry nodded. Of course, Tom would want to see his family. And hadn't they talked about it before? Tom had been taunting him about how good looking he was and would be?

"I am sure the both of you could use some cheering up after everything that has happened. The party will start at dinner." The headmaster smiled brightly then walking them to the door. "And you'll be thrilled to hear Tom; I ordered those special bat pastries you seemed to have fallen in love with a few years ago." He winked at Tom as he opened the door. "So don't be late."

The two students left the office and started down the stairs together. The bond was opened now and Harry could feel any tension Tom had fall away. Every time the bond shut, his body seemed to react to it.

"Did you mean it," Tom asked quietly when they were in the hall and walking back to the Gryffindor tower.

Harry almost asked, "Meant what", but saw exactly what Tom was talking about through the bond.

"Yeah. I meant it."

"So if I asked you to marry me, you'd say yes?" Harry stopped. Tom had kept walking, noticed that Harry had stayed behind and turned around. He looked Harry over and slowly approached him. "Harry?"

"After everything…you want to marry me?" Of course, Harry wanted to be with Tom. He did want to marry him as stupid as the idea was. They didn't need marriage to prove any feelings. And he was just as giddy with the thought now as he had been when Draco had mentioned it. Wasn't it too soon though? They were still in school. If Voldemort killed one of them that kind of made the entire thing pointless. Or did he have it backwards? Should they get married quickly, because one of them or even both of them could die so soon? "Are you sure?" He moved towards the wall to lean against it. "We fight all the time…and—"

"And we always make up," Tom said joining him beside the wall. "I was a little hesitant before. I was worried you might leave me and with all the anger I had from the summer….but after I saw you hurt Rodolphus, I haven't felt any anger towards you at all. Even when you're trying to annoy me for fun, I don't get mad anymore." There was relief on his face and the bond and he was smiling at Harry in what had to be a pure way. Harry wasn't even sure he'd seen a smile like that on the heir before, but it had his heart skipping beats. It was beautiful.

"Yeah…I'd, no I will marry you." Just saying the words didn't mean they'd be getting married the very next day. There would still be time to piece together everything and to live more. They could see how well they could handle each other in Privet Drive over the summer. Harry suddenly felt light. Tom really wanted to be with him and not just for a while, but the rest of his life.

"Well I was going to buy a ring first and actually purpose," Tom started.

"I don't need a ring. Your words are enough," Harry said instantly. "With everything going on…I never expected you…" He took Tom's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you."

"So…we're…what's the word Draco used...Engaged?"

"You're not that old," Harry said with a laugh. He gave his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek and they started walking down the hall together. "Yeah, we're engaged…Just make sure you really think this through before we're really married." While he couldn't be happier at being asked, a part of him still thought that Tom could do better. "If we did break up, and I do mean if, because I don't want to. Can the bond be removed?" The thought of him trying to survive if he had to feel all of Tom's emotional reactions to another person was not a happy one.

"No, so we should probably just make sure we stay together." He grinned at Harry. Harry's face must have looked as conflicted as his mind, because Tom started explaining quickly. "The bond isn't supposed to be for long term use. To be honest, I don't think anyone has ever tried it for more than a few hours at most."

"But you couldn't talk in shadow form, so…"

"No, I could," he said frowning slightly. "Harry, I didn't…" he shook his head, Harry only managing a glimpse of the Tri-wizard tournament before it vanished. "Please don't ask about this right now. We're happy, we're engaged," he said suddenly dropping his arms beneath Harry and lifting him up wedding style.

"ADERES!"

"I love you more than anything. I would have never allowed the bond to form as it has if I didn't." He brought Harry's face inches to his own. "It had nothing to do with trust or talking or any of that. I simply made it, because I had no other choice." He kissed Harry again, the Gryffindor giving in.

There was no hint of a lie in Tom's mind or words. He was telling the complete truth and yet Harry wanted to know why. What possible reason if not for trust, would Tom go out of his way to make a bond? And to let it form? Tom must have had a reason to keep it and let it grow stronger. There were still times, heck now, that Tom did his best to hide things from Harry. Surely his life would be easier without the bond.

For now Harry would let it drop. After all, his boyfriend was holding him in the middle of a hallway. It was Halloween, which meant Tom was going to be in a good mood regardless. Any holiday that involved sweets it seemed his boyfriend enjoyed.

Tom set him down and they started back to the tower.

I hope this isn't temporary. He's been so attached to me since Hogsmeade... He hoped that was not the case. Tom hadn't shown much interest in him and especially none where marriage was concerned before now. With any luck, Harry having shown Tom that he could fight and protect him when he most needed it had been enough to prove to Tom that he was worth his time and affection. Then he remembered that his luck was near nonexistent.

When they made it back, Tom released his hand and bolted over to Hermione. She looked worried at first until Tom started talking. She let out a small scream and threw her arms around Tom tightly. Soon enough they were both of laughing.

Harry walked over to Draco and Ron who were looking at him wearily.

"She's gone mad," Ron said shaking his head.

"Why is he so happy," Draco asked.

"Because he suddenly had the bright idea to ask me to marry him and I was stupid enough to say yes," Harry said.

Draco's mouth dropped open. Ron looked thrilled for some reason.

"Have you gone mad?!" Draco demanded. "After everything you've gone through this past year, just the past few months!"

"Yeah well…he's bound to get me killed one way or another. Might as well be happy until then." He looked his friends over before nodding towards the dorm stairs. They both looked at him curiously and followed. Once they were in the dorm and Harry was sure no one was there he dropped onto his bed. "So, Dumbledore's lesson this time…"

(TBC)

I somehow misplaced chapter 27…I'm rewriting it now.