Much to his own surprise, Harry was starting to feel a bit nervous as he followed Tom across the lawn towards the gates. Harry wasn't worried at all. They weren't that kind of nerves. But Harry realized that going on a date to Hogsmeade with someone he was genuinely interested in was a rather novel experience.
Of course, back in his original fifth year, Harry had taken Cho to Hogsmeade once. That had been an unmitigated disaster, to put it lightly. Harry was a huge ball of hormonal rage at that age, fuelled by the Ministry's prosecution and Umbridge's torture detentions. Besides his own precarious state of mind, his attraction to Cho had been superficial at best. Yes, he thought at the time that Cho was pretty and that she was a good Seeker, but that was about all he knew of her. And, to be honest, it had been all he'd cared to know about her. Harry hadn't exactly gone out of his way even one single step to find out anything else about her.
And none of that took into account that poor Cho had lost her boyfriend Cedric only six months before she decided to accept Harry's invitation to Hogsmeade. That girl had her own traumas to process and Harry was in no way equipped to help her with that, immature and oblivious as he was at that age.
Yes, in hindsight, Harry was man enough to admit that his date with Cho was something doomed to failure before it had even started. Even if Harry hadn't been forced to cut his date short to go meet with Hermione and Skeeter, he was sure the day would have ended in disaster in some other way.
Other than Cho, Harry had never taken a date to Hogsmeade during his Hogwarts years. He'd never had the chance with Ginny, since they'd only officially dated for a few weeks at the end of Harry's sixth year, and Harry hadn't even spent his seventh year at the castle to begin with.
Of course, after the war there had been plenty of dates between Harry and Ginny, where he treated her to a meal in a nice restaurant or a day out to a Quidditch game, at least early on in their relationship. But by then they were adults, living their lives in the world beyond their beloved school.
So it was still a rather novel experience for Harry now, to actually go on a date to Hogsmeade with someone he knew very well, and who he genuinely liked, warts and murder attempts and all.
Tom Riddle at his best was a handsome, charming, clever young man anyone would love to go on a date with. And it was clear to Harry that Tom was on his very best behaviour, obviously determined to turn their afternoon together into an enjoyable and memorable date.
"I suggest we have lunch first," Tom said as they passed through Hogwarts' gates and turned onto the narrow path that led to Hogsmeade. It was lined with wildflowers and bramblebushes, with a few insects still buzzing about in the last days of summer.
"Excellent plan," Harry agreed while giving Tom a genuine smile. "I'm starving. Afterwards, I only need to get some ink, and perhaps some chocolate from Honeydukes." Harry's period would be arriving soon enough and he was determined to have a stash of chocolate at hand to help him through that. He already had a generous collection of pain potions to take off the worst edge, but a little extra chocolate to sooth some cramps had never hurt anyone.
"The Three Broomsticks serves a few delicious lunch options," Tom said as he carefully measured his steps so he wouldn't leave Harry in the dust. Tom was a good foot taller than Harry and naturally had a much longer stride. Harry appreciated his efforts. "It will be my treat," Tom said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Harry wanted to object on principle, since he knew only too well that Tom was a poor orphan. But then he remembered that Tom had made some money during his journey with Newt. "Thank you," Harry said instead. "Were you able to sell all the snake venom you harvested in Africa?"
Tom frowned for a moment, though Harry had no clue why. Tom had written in his last letter that he'd found someone to buy the venom from him and that his days of poverty were over, at least for a few years. Harry had been very happy for him because he only knew too well how frustrating it was to grow up without a knut to your name. "I haven't told you," Tom said, only adding to Harry's confusion. "I stopped writing letters before we travelled to South Africa."
"Told me what?" Harry asked, unable to curb his usual curiosity. Tom looked simultaneously full of pride and worried about Harry's reaction.
"We travelled to South Africa to meet a grootslang, the world's largest serpent," Tom said as he glanced down at Harry, who couldn't help but wonder if there existed a serpent that was actually larger than the basilisk Harry had done away with over the summer. "Unfortunately, one of our guides sent me to the wrong cave and I was attacked by an inkanyamba, a monstrous eel."
Harry blinked large, worried eyes at Tom, wondering if Tom had been seriously hurt.
Tom must be able to read Harry's worries on his face, because Tom stopped walking, pushed his robes to the side and pulled his shirt and vest from his trousers, exposing his pale skin that was lined with angry scars the size of daggers.
Before Harry could stop himself, he reached out a hand and stroked his fingers across some of the scars that ran all the way up Tom's side, clearly outlining a huge jaw of the beast that had bitten him. "For fuck's sake, Tom, you could have died. It looks like that thing almost ate you whole."
"I did die," Tom said in a quiet voice, his face a blank mask when Harry glanced up at him. That was the last thing Harry would ever expect Tom to confess to so easily. The Tom Harry thought he knew would do everything in his own power to avoid mentioning his own mortality. "The beast's teeth cut me up and I lost a lot of blood. Only Tina's quick medical intervention saved my life."
Harry briefly squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to think about Tom almost dying in any way, shape or form. And how ironic was that? Before, Harry had given everything, his own life included, to see Tom Riddle destroyed once and for all, and now he was having a mild panic attack at the thought of this Tom losing his life. Truthfully, Harry couldn't imagine his current life without Tom in it. He imagined, just for a moment, that Tom was killed for some reason. What sort of dull future awaited Harry if that ever happened? What other person out there could ever hope to challenge and compliment Harry in ways that Tom Riddle was naturally capable of?
Yes, the more Harry considered it, the more he realized he and Tom really were perfectly suited for each other.
"I'm fine now," Tom assured Harry with a soft smile while he lowered his shirt and tucked it back into his trousers. "After I recovered we tracked down the actual grootslang."
"What happened?" Harry asked, worried Tom might have gotten harmed again.
"The grootslang itself was very big and very boring, to be honest." Tom's mouth quirked up into a sharp little smile. "But it lived in a cave lined with rough diamonds and it let me collect as much as I wanted." Tom's brown eyes were full of satisfaction. "I'm not entirely sure how much my diamond collection is worth since I haven't had a chance to sell any of them yet, but I'm sure I don't have to worry about money for the rest of my life. The same goes for Newt and Tina and our local guides."
Harry's mouth dropped open and he started laughing. "I'm so happy for you," Harry said, meaning every word. "Growing up in poverty is a nightmare. It must be wonderful to have financial security for the future."
Tom's eyes narrowed as he stared at Harry. "I thought your father was a doctor? Yet you speak as though you personally know poverty."
Fuck. That was a very careless slipup, wasn't it? Harry managed to morph his grin into a reassuring smile. "That blasted war has made beggars of all of us, hasn't it? We've barely had enough to eat over the summer."
"Yes, I suppose that food restrictions hit everyone equally," Tom conceded as they resumed walking. For now, Tom seemed to accept Harry's excuses, but Harry vowed to be more careful in the future. The last thing Harry wanted was for Tom to become suspicious of him.
"Tell me about South Africa," Harry said, partially to distract Tom, but also because he was genuinely curious about Tom's adventures. He'd loved reading Tom's letters full of his detailed descriptions of life in Africa. For the rest of their walk to Hogsmeade, Tom told Harry all about the last two weeks of his travels in Africa, which did indeed prove quite entertaining and informative.
Hogsmeade was full of exuberant students and lots of witches and wizards doing a bit of shopping during one of the last mild weekends of the year. Soon enough the weather would provide only rain and cold winds, so Harry understood perfectly why the average person wanted to get a bit of fresh air in while they still could.
The Three Broomsticks was packed, but Tom quickly charmed a couple of younger Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors to finish their almost empty drinks and give their table to him. Harry sat down while Tom went to the bar to order them some butterbeers and steak and mushroom pies. The students sitting around them were quite loud for the most part, all very happy to be enjoying their day away from school, which limited the conversation Harry and Tom could have while they enjoyed their lunch.
Because of this, they didn't linger for long after they finished their food and drinks, instead preferring the fresh, outside air to the stifling atmosphere of the overcrowded pub.
Harry led them both to a nearby bookstore, which also sold writing supplies. Harry grabbed a few bottles of ink before he remembered something else he wanted to work on in the upcoming months. Tom followed Harry to the counter without comment after he selected a few quills and some ink for himself.
"Do you have any books on cartography?" Harry asked the young girl behind the counter as he placed his ink down. "Anything about charms used to make interactive maps, perhaps?"
The girl gave him a blank stare in return before shrugging. "You might want to try the Charms section."
"Right." Harry managed a rather stiff smile while he placed a few sickles on the counter to pay for his ink. That was utterly useless, since Harry didn't intend to spend hours browsing various Charms books in the hopes of finding a few useful spells.
"Are you still planning on making a map of Hogwarts?" Tom asked as they stepped out of the shop.
"Yeah," Harry said with a disappointed sigh, since he was no closer to figuring out how to construct such a map from scratch. He had no clue where to even start, and the only thing Sirius had ever told him about it was that they used a combination of charms and runes to create the original Marauder's Map, but he never mentioned which charms and runes specifically. "I had the idea over the summer, initially to make sure I could evade certain unsavoury characters," Harry said, suddenly struck with that bit of inspiration on how to explain why he wanted to create such a map so badly. He couldn't very well tell Tom it was to prevent a stray Acromantula from invading the Forbidden Forest sometime in the upcoming months. "But since that particularly unsavoury element is no longer a direct problem, I figured that such a map that shows people's locations might come in handy during our Prefect patrols."
"It would save lots of time," Tom said while giving Harry a knowing look and a teasing smile. "And allow us to spend our evenings doing other… more pleasurable things."
Oh, fuck yeah, Tom was definitely flirting with him, that horny little teenager that he was. Not that Harry could blame him for falling victim to his adolescent hormones. Harry himself was frequently plagued by those as well, after all. "I agree completely," Harry said, slowly licking his lips as several images of exactly what he'd like to do with Tom in the quiet hours of the evening sprang into his mind. "So you'll help me create such a map? I'm certain we'll need a combination of runes and charms to get started."
Tom briefly bit his lip, looking for a moment as if he wasn't exactly sure what to say or do next. Then he cleared his throat and gave Harry a small nod. "I'll be glad to help, of course. I would suggest starting with finding a way to tap into the wards if you want to find a way to constantly monitor everyone's locations inside the castle."
"Huh." Harry frowned as he thought about that suggestion. Tom actually made a pretty good point. "Yeah, that does seem to be a good starting point. And once we manage that, it shouldn't be too hard to anchor that magic onto a piece of parchment."
"Exactly." Tom smiled in obvious satisfaction as they slowly strolled in the direction of Honeydukes. "We can start on that tomorrow. Unless you have other plans?"
"No, I've got nothing in my agenda," Harry said, very amused how Tom effortlessly managed to get them to spend even more time together. He really was a greedy little orphan, wasn't he?
"It astonishes me now, how I never noticed you before," Tom said, looking like he was almost as surprised by that confession as Harry was.
"To be fair, I preferred to stay in the background until this summer," Harry quickly said, because the last thing he wanted was for Tom to make a detailed comparison between Harriet Hubble of the past and Harry as he was now. Too many inconsistencies were bound to come up and Tom was far too clever not to notice them.
"What changed?" Tom asked with a confused frown.
Harry stopped walking to give Tom a careful look, unsure if Tom really couldn't imagine what had happened to change Harriet Hubble's outlook on life. "Trauma changes people," Harry eventually said in a quiet voice. They stood in the middle of the street, people streaming past them on all sides. "Sometimes, the trauma is so great that it cripples people in ways that's difficult to imagine. But other times, trauma can give people strength they never realized they had in the first place. I like to believe the latter happened to me."
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Tom mumbled with a clenched jaw. "I read that in a Muggle book some years ago."
Harry swallowed, remembering that poor Harriet Hubble hadn't found strength in the aftermath of her trauma. She'd only found despair instead. "Yeah, something like that," Harry whispered and then visible shivered. "Let's talk about something more pleasant. Chocolate, for example." Harry gestured at the other side of the street, where Honeydukes promised many delectable treats. "What's your favourite kind?" Harry wasn't just trying to change the subject. He was genuinely curious to learn these small facts about Tom.
"I like dark chocolate," Tom said without hesitation as they resumed their walk. "But I'm also partial to their milk chocolate bars with caramel and sea salt."
Harry nodded in understanding. Both of those were fine choices. "I really enjoy their dark chocolate bar with a raspberry mousse filling."
"A decadent choice," Tom said, giving Harry an approving smile. "What is your opinion on hazelnut pralines?"
"Delicious in reasonable quantities, but they can quickly fill you up," Harry said with a chuckle, really enjoying seeing Tom Riddle treat the subject of chocolate as serious as he might treat a challenging magical problem he encountered in one of his classes. "How about dark chocolates with cherry liqueur?"
"Strong but delicious, can become overpowering if consumed in excess," Tom said with an adorable little frown, which made Harry want to kiss him right there and then. And Harry might have gone for it, if they weren't suddenly caught up in the small horde of students all trying to enter Honeydukes.
The store was packed, but Tom used his superior height to navigate the many shelves with ease while Harry grabbed hold of his arm so they wouldn't become separated in the crush of people around them. They both stocked up on an assortment of chocolate and wormed their way towards the counter to pay. Since Harry had his money pouch out already, he quickly paid for Tom's selections as well and then waved away his objections.
"You treated me to lunch," Harry said once they were back on the street and he could stuff his many bars of chocolate into his bag. "So I get to treat you to dessert." Harry held up a caramel and sea salt bar and ripped open the packaging.
"Very well," Tom finally said, and Harry was happy to see that Tom looked more amused than anything else. It would have been a huge red flag, if Tom had found it difficult to accept that Harry might want to take the lead during their date for a change. That might have pointed towards a pathological need for control on Tom's part that might have soured Harry's feelings towards him in the long run. But so far Tom was able to allow Harry to take charge every now and then without any temper tantrums.
Harry almost suggested that they walk towards the Shrieking Shack together, where they would probably find a bit of privacy, until Harry remembered that the Shrieking Shack didn't exist yet. He broke off a bit of chocolate and offered it to Tom, who accepted it with a small smile. Harry snapped off another bit and slipped it between his lips, sucking gently on the sweet and salty chocolate. Tom seemed mesmerized for a moment as he stared at Harry's mouth, before he eventually stuck his own chocolate in his mouth, moving it towards the side so that one cheek bulged.
Yeah, no matter what happened that day, Harry vowed he was going to kiss Tom at some point. It was simply ridiculous how obsessed Harry suddenly was by that idea.
"Harry!" Myrtle came running towards them, Ben on her heels. "There are two foreign men looking for you all around Hogsmeade," Myrtle said in a hushed voice once they met up in the middle of the street.
"What?" Harry stared at his friend with a frown. "What foreign men?"
"There's two," Ben said, sounding just a bit out of breath. "One blond one with very pale eyes, and one tall one with a dark beard."
"They were asking around if anyone knew where they could find Harriet Hubble," Myrtle added, eyes wide with concern as she looked Harry over a few times. "They asked us as well when we were just leaving the Three Broomsticks. Their accents sounded Hungarian or Polish or something like that."
Harry stared up at Tom to see if he might have some ideas about what was going on, because Harry honestly had no clue why a couple of Eastern European men might be looking for him.
Tom's tanned cheeks paled just a bit, which did nothing to put Harry's mind at ease. And what next came out of Tom's mouth was enough to make Harry's heart skip several beaths. "That sounds like it might be two of Grindelwald's men."
Myrtle inhaled a shocked breath, both her hands flying up to cover her mouth.
"The fuck?" Harry demanded, his whole body suddenly taut with tension. And then he remembered Ruby Baird had published a very controversial letter in the Daily Prophet with Harry's full name under it and suddenly he wanted to go and find Baird and curse her into next week. The last thing Harry wanted was to draw the attention of the current Dark Lord terrorizing Europe, but Ruby Baird might have just absolutely ruined Harry's chance to keep flying under the radar.
Tom grabbed Harry's elbow and pulled him a bit closer. "Thanks for letting us know," Tom said with a quick, superficial smile aimed at Myrtle and Ben. "We'll head back to the castle, just to be safe." And with that, Tom all but pulled Harry away from their friends before Harry could even say goodbye.
"Let me go!" Harry demanded as Tom lengthened his strides to such an extent that Harry had to jog to keep up. "Tom, stop!"
When they reached the end of the village, Tom finally let up and released Harry's arm. "If those are two of Grindelwald's men, you do not stand a chance against them."
"I can fight," Harry insisted, because he knew he was good enough to duel a couple of flunkies.
Tom blinked a few times, as though confused about what Harry was saying. "I doubt they're here to fight you, Harriet."
Now it was Harry's turn to blink in confusion. "What do you mean? If I somehow pissed off Grindelwald with that stupid letter in the paper, then of course his men are here to teach me a lesson. Why else would they be here, asking for me by name?"
Tom's lips quirked up and he released a dry chuckle. "To recruit you, of course. Your passionate insistence that there is no such thing as a muggleborn witch or wizard fits very well into Grindelwald's preferred narrative that Muggles are inferior to us and should therefore be wiped out."
Harry opened his mouth to argue but couldn't actually think of anything to say. So he stood there, gaping like a fish while Tom gazed down at Harry with an expression not out of place on a besotted fool. "I will never join Grindelwald," Harry finally said before swallowing a few times against some bile that suddenly tried to rise up in his throat. The last thing Harry wanted was to tangle with a Dark Lord. Again. "I certainly don't believe all Muggles should be wiped out or subjugated or something silly like that."
"Muggles have a tendency to intensely dislike magic," Tom said quietly while a dark frown appeared on his face. "And plenty of them turn that dislike into violence, if given the chance. Perhaps Grindelwald has the right of it, at least in that area."
Harry remembered the Dursleys' reactions to anything magical all too well. Yet he immediately said, "That is only a small percentage of Muggles, Tom. I think it's a far better idea to create stronger ways to keep both of our societies separated. Tighten the Statute of Secrecy as much as is needed."
"Perhaps," Tom said with a noncommittal shrug. That seemed to be as much as Tom was willing to concede at that time, but Harry took it since it was still better than Tom insisting that all Muggles die painful deaths, as he'd eventually done in Harry's previous life.
Straightening his shoulders, Harry took a look around, but aside from some students walking up the narrow path to return to Hogwarts, they were alone. "Besides, those men might not even have anything to do with Grindelwald," Harry said, mostly to make himself feel better. He really, really hated the idea of drawing another Dark Lord's attention in any way, shape or form. "They might just be a bunch of purebloods wanting to teach me a lesson because I've proven there is no such thing as muggleborns."
"Ah yes, because that is a much more preferrable option," Tom drawled with a roll of his eyes. "A couple of wizards wanting to curse you instead of recruit you."
Harry gave Tom a cheeky grin. "I much prefer a bunch of blood supremacists acting on their own accord than a couple of flunkies working for a Dark Lord." Tom snorted in response and shook his head while looking at Harry with eyes full of obvious fondness. "Now, I suggest we return to Hogwarts to avoid any trouble, so we can take a nice stroll around the lake instead." That way, Harry would have plenty of opportunities to kiss Tom at some point that afternoon without a Dark Lord buggering everything up.
Tom's gaze drifted down to Harry's lips and stayed there as he took a step closer. It seemed that perhaps Harry didn't have to wait very long at all for the opportunity to have a really good snog with Tom Riddle. Harry took a step closer as well, tilting his head up, his long curls falling over his shoulders down his back.
"Are you Miss Harriet Hubble?"
Fucking hell. Why was it that every fucking time Harry came close to kissing Tom they were interrupted.
A blond man with very pale, blue eyes and a tall man with a long, black beard came walking up to them.
Harry half stepped in front of Tom and whispered, "Watch my back." He trusted Tom completely in that regard and knew Tom, even at this age, was a talented enough duellist that he could help keep two adult wizards at bay. "Who is asking?" Harry called out to the wizards while he lowered his hand and let his wand slip out of it's holster. He caught it in his palm and grabbed it tightly, but kept the tip pointed downwards for now.
The two men seemed to understand that Harry and Tom weren't going to come quietly for whatever plans they had for them. The blond one held up his hands, showing they were empty. "We would just like to talk to you, Miss Hubble," he said in an accented voice that reminded Harry strongly of Viktor Krum. "Our associate was most impressed with your discoveries that the muggles cannot make magical children."
Fucking hell, Tom was right about everything. Harry sighed and quietly mourned his anonymity. He was going to turn Ruby Baird into a fucking tapeworm. "And who might your associate be?" Harry asked, even thought he already knew the answer. One thing he'd learned as an Auror was to always keep your opponents talking as much as you could. People spilled the craziest secrets that way without even realizing it.
"He wishes to remain anonymous for now, but he is very eager to meet with you," the blond wizard said with a benign smile that didn't fool Harry for even one second. "He's looking for likeminded individuals in this beautiful country."
In other words, Grindelwald was hoping to persuade Harriet Hubble to help him recruit enough other Brits so Grindelwald could eventually invade Britain. Yeah, that was never going to happen. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline your invitation," Harry said with a vacant expression, as though he didn't have a clue of what was really going on. "I'm far too busy with school to take any trips right now. It's my OWL year, after all."
The one with the black beard narrowed his eyes and in a second he had his wand in his hand.
Harry immediately cast the strongest shield he could, which absorbed the stunner the wizard sent their way. Tom, thankfully, was very good at teamwork and sent a barrage of curses at their opponents. The blond wizard raised his own shield to protect them from Tom's ongoing volley of magic. Harry renewed his shield and then aimed his wand at the ground. If there was one thing he'd learned during Auror training, it was that you should always play to your strengths. And Harry happened to have the heir of Slytherin standing at his back.
"Serpensortia," Harry whispered, summoning a large king cobra. "Engorgio," he added at once, enlarging the cobra until it was bigger than the biggest python that had ever lived.
Tom caught on at once what Harry was trying to do and hissed, "Bite those two men! Kill them!"
The cobra shot forward with a sharp hiss that was as loud as a train's whistle, their hood flaring as wide as an eagle's wingspan. But before the cobra could sink their foot-long fangs into the wizards, the blond one cast a fire-curse that consumed the cobra whole. It wasn't quite fiendfyre, but it was close.
Yeah, those fuckers weren't playing around, that much was obvious. They were lucky that they weren't trying to kill Harry and that whatever they sent his way was meant to subdue him. It quickly became clear that they had no such reservations when it came to Tom. A flash of green light flew at Tom, who could only barely duck out of its path. Before Tom could cast in return, a flash of red hit him and sent his wand sailing into the blond wizard's hands.
Yeah, fuck that. Harry was done with this shit. "Here," Harry said, quickly pressing his own wand into Tom's hand. If Tom couldn't defend himself, he'd be dead in seconds and Harry refused to let anyone kill him. Then Harry concentrated for a moment and transformed into his Animagus form. He no longer cared if anyone knew he was an illegal Animagus, or that his form was that of a male lion.
The second Harry stood on all fours, he roared to give voice to his anger and jumped at the two wizards in one giant leap. The muscles Harry had at his command in this body really were something else. Harry reached the blond wizard before he could even cast a spell at him and sank his large teeth into the man's shoulders.
The blond wizard cried out and fell backwards while several flashes of light flew over them from both directions. Harry unsheathed his claws and drove them into the wizard wherever he could find flesh while he pulled viciously at the man's body with his mouth. Somehow, the blond wizard raised his arms and buried his fingers into Harry's thick mane and then the tight feeling of apparition squeezed Harry through an invisible tube.
The next thing Harry knew was a middle-aged, blond wizard with a face Harry had only ever seen in history books staring down at him with raised eyebrows as Harry mauled the screaming man beneath him.
