Summary: A thoroughly impossible freak accident transports our favorite attractive psychopath forward in time from 1942 to 1996. Harry Potter/Tom Riddle slash. Harry and Tom share something special.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Tom Riddle, or any other people, places or objects that may appear in this humble work of fiction.
Warnings: Possible spoilers up to the fifth book. M/M, obviously. Rating is down as T for now but may, possibly, increase to M as things progress.
Author's Note: That elusive you-know-what that you have all been waiting for is finally here. I humbly thank you for your patience, and your reviews ;) Sweet God, this chapter is long, but I wanted to finally get it done. You know, it...

Chapter Twenty: A Sleepless Night

Draco Malfoy frowned suspiciously as he saw the metal door swinging open, seemingly of its own accord, which metal doors did not do as a general rule, even at Hogwarts. Yet there was no one around the opening door, and it swung shut loudly moments later, so he merely looked at it for a moment more, made a slight shrugging motion, and went back to his paper.

Harry Potter, meanwhile, let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he stood directly outside the door with Tom, both of them covered in his Invisibility Cloak.

'Fast thinking,' Tom whispered approvingly, 'but I'm stuck.'

Harry looked and saw that a large part of the Cloak, the part covering Tom, was stuck in the door, and Tom was holding his leg up to his chest so it wouldn't be uncovered. It was an awkward position, and Tom was leaning on both the wall and on Harry to balance himself.

'Open the door a little and tug the cloak out,' Harry whispered back urgently. 'We have to get out of here before someone bumps into us.'

'I can't!' Tom replied. 'I'd have to reach my hand out of the Cloak!'

'We can't just stand here!'

'Someone will come along soon to open the door. See? Look at that couple in the far right corner.'

Harry did so. It was a boy and a girl, sitting in chairs set close together, talking in whispers. They appeared to be around fourteen and were looking at each other in a – Harry felt himself blushing – suggestive way.

'So?' Harry asked. 'What about them?'

'They'll be wanting to use this closet soon enough. It's the Snogging Closet. Slytherins don't approve of public displays of affection, so if anyone gets too…well…' Tom couldn't seem to find the appropriate words to continue.

Harry snorted and let out a short laugh, and was glad, for once, that the room was so full, because no one could hear him. 'I see. Is that the official name?'

'They're coming over!' Tom whispered.

'What if they bump into us?'

'Get ready to move as soon as they open the door!'

Harry and Tom moved as far away from the door as possible without tearing the Cloak or exposing Tom. The Slytherin boy came over, with the girl squeezing his bicep and humming as he fumbled for the doorknob.

The moment it opened, Tom tugged the Cloak out of the doorway and set his leg back down on the floor, sighing with relief. 'Now we need to wait for someone to leave and we can follow them out,' Tom whispered. They then walked stealthily over to stand about a foot away from the entrance, pressed close to the wall. They waited.

A half hour passed, and Harry was about to suggest that they sit down when the wall near them opened and Snape swooped right past them like a large, grimy bat. The chatter in the common room halted immediately.

'I'm afraid you will all have to stay here a little longer,' Snape said. 'The missing students have not yet been located.'

That's why everyone's in here, Harry thought apprehensively. The teachers are looking for us.

'So Potter's gotten himself into trouble again, Professor, and we all have to suffer for it?' Malfoy simpered.

'It would appear so, Mr. Malfoy,' Snape replied, with a sneer on his face that Harry realized must be directed at the mere thought of him. 'But no doubt he will escape his proper punishment, as usual.'

'Dumbledore's always soft on him,' Malfoy agreed.

'Indeed. I should be getting back to the search. I will inform you when you are allowed to leave.' Snape turned on his heel, his cloak snapping behind him, and walked back to the entrance. Harry and Tom, covered by the Invisibility Cloak, walked as quickly and quietly as possible after him.

When they reached the dungeon hallway, and Snape walked straight ahead, Harry and Tom took another route to the left to get away from him.

'We should take off the Cloak,' Tom said abruptly, pulling it off his shoulders. 'It doesn't matter if we're found now. We'll have to explain, regardless.'

'Okay,' Harry agreed, pulling the Cloak off himself as well and stopping a moment to stuff it into his backpack. For the first time, he looked at his watch, and blinked. 'It's two in the afternoon! We've been missing for over five hours! No wonder they're on to us.'

Tom shrugged, looking supremely unconcerned. 'Should we go to the Headmaster's office? I suspect that's where we'll ultimately end up, so we should save ourselves the extra walking and get it over with.'

'Good idea. It's not far.'

They were making their way up the stairs out of the dungeons when they heard footsteps in the hallway above them. Tom grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him down to crouch on the stairs, then they both looked over the top step to see who was coming.

It was Professors McGonagall and Sprout; they were walking toward where Tom and Harry were hiding. Professor McGonagall was blowing her nose into her handkerchief, and her eyes were red. Professor Sprout was patting her on the arm to comfort her.

'…and Albus is beside himself with worry,' they heard Professor McGonagall say thickly. 'He's been trying to find Myrtle to ask her if she's seen anything, but we haven't been able to even find her!' She nearly tripped, but Sprout steadied her.

'There, there, Minerva. We'll find them. Has Dumbledore checked the lake?' Professor Sprout asked.

'No, he's gone there now. He thinks he might at least find Myrtle there, if not the boys,' she sniffed.

Harry felt ashamed for a moment before he realized that this escapade wasn't his fault. He gave Tom a half-hearted glare, and Tom smirked back, before the two of them stood up together.

'…and Potter's friends are terrified, we've had a job keeping them in the common –'

They both stopped dead, staring at the two students who had so miraculously just appeared.

Professor McGonagall's expression turned from sobbing concern to horrific anger in the short span of time it took her and Professor Sprout to walk over to them. Harry and Tom got to the top of the steps in time for her to begin her tirade.

'Where have you two been? Do you have any idea how concerned the staff – and your friends, Mr. Potter – have become? Furthermore, class has been cancelled and students have been confined to the common rooms, all because you decided to run off! Thank goodness you're all right,' McGonagall added at the end, swinging back from fury to relief.

'We didn't mean to worry everyone, Professor,' Harry replied sheepishly. 'Er, should we just wait in Dumbledore's office, then?'

'Yes,' she said, as her breathing slowed to normal. 'Yes, yes, that would be best. I will alert the other teachers and the students. Your friends will be relieved, I am sure.'

Harry and Tom were not sitting in chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk for very long before the Headmaster stormed in. He slammed the door behind him, loud enough to make even Tom jump, and strode over to his chair. He sat down and glared at them both with no kindness in his eyes. 'Explain.'

There was a nervous pause before Harry turned to look at Tom expectantly. Tom then told Dumbledore about going down to the Chamber of Secrets and coming back up again, with Harry occasionally interjecting. Tom sometimes looked up from his lap, and he didn't like what he saw on Dumbledore's face when he did.

When the story was finished, there was another pause. 'Harry, you will not ever rush into such danger again. You should have informed me straight away instead of going after Tom yourself.'

'There wasn't any danger,' Harry scoffed. Tom looked at Harry in alarm; he didn't think it was a very good idea to scoff at Dumbledore when he was in such a mood. 'If I had thought there was, sir, I would have told you, but I knew Tom wasn't –'

'You did not know what you might find,' Dumbledore interrupted firmly.

'Yes, I did, sir,' Harry argued. Dumbledore's frowned curiously; it seemed that Harry's resistance was taking him by surprise. 'I knew that there wasn't a basilisk down there even if that had been Tom's intention, and I knew it wasn't, because it wouldn't make any sense, sir, and you know it! It would be stupid to set that thing loose with both of us watching; we would obviously know who was behind it.'

'I am surprised that you have such faith, Harry,' Dumbledore said softly, all trace of anger remarkably gone.

'I have faith that he's not a total idiot, sir,' Harry replied simply. Tom had an urge to say something sarcastic, like 'Thanks,' but, as Harry said, Tom wasn't a total idiot, and he thought it would be better to let Harry handle Dumbledore, since he was doing so masterfully thus far. He kept his mouth shut.

'Tom,' Dumbledore turned his gaze on him, catching him in the eyes unawares. For some reason, what the Headmaster saw there made the smallest of smiles grace his lips. 'You did break our agreement, but taking Mr. Potter's testimony into consideration, I feel I have no choice but to forgive you this one trespass. I would warn you not to push me further.'

'Thank you, sir,' Tom replied formally.

'Do not thank me just yet. You will both be serving a week of detention with Professor Snape –'

'Snape?' Harry interjected. 'Why Snape?' Dumbledore gave Harry a quelling look over his spectacles, and Harry fell silent.

' – and fifty points from Gryffindor, I think,' Dumbledore concluded. 'As for why your detention will be with Professor Snape, it is because you both just confessed to me that you wandered into the Forbidden Forest, and Hagrid will not be available to take your punishment, as he will be going away for a few weeks on holiday.'

Tom felt relieved that they were having detention with Snape now that he knew who they might have had. He did think it strange for Hagrid to be going on vacation during term; no other teacher ever had except for medical emergencies in Tom's experience, but he couldn't bring himself to care. With that, Dumbledore dismissed them, and they walked through the still silent halls to Gryffindor Tower.

By the time Harry and Tom got to the Gryffindor common room, people were streaming out into the hallways, the teachers having released them. There were three people waiting in the common room for them specifically, however: Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. Harry nudged Tom in the ribs when he saw how unnaturally pleased he looked when his eyes fell on Ginny to remind him – not very subtly – not to bother her. All three looked annoyed, to varying degrees.

'Harry, where have you two been?' Hermione asked crossly. 'We missed all of Transfiguration and Ancient Runes because of you and classes have been cancelled for the rest of the day, so I suppose I'll miss History of Magic, too.' Even Hermione, however, didn't sound terribly unhappy about missing History of Magic.

'It's my fault,' Tom replied bashfully. 'I went to the Forbidden Forest, and Harry here,' he pointed his thumb at Harry, 'followed me in. I got lost, and it took him a while to find me.'

'Why did you go in there?' Hermione asked, astonished that Tom, of all people, would break rules so bluntly.

'I was curious,' he replied, a touch of shame in his voice. 'I had heard a lot about it from Harry and the name makes it sound so interesting. I suppose I should have thought that it would be dangerous, too.'

'We're both fine, though,' Harry cut in. 'Tom and I didn't mean to put the whole school at a standstill.'

Hermione looked utterly frustrated. Even Ron was shaking his head. Ginny looked like she was trying her best not to look disbelieving and failing miserably. 'Harry,' Ron sighed, 'you know you shouldn't have done that. Imagine what we were thinking; we thought You-Know-Who might have got you.' Ron shuddered at the thought.

'We were trying to break out of the common room,' Hermione added, 'but the Fat Lady wouldn't open up. You had us worried sick. Well,' she added cautiously, with a sidelong look at Ron, 'maybe not all the time, but we, er, didn't think you'd be gone so long.'

Harry raised an eyebrow; it wasn't like Hermione to be so subtle when she was scolding, and Harry wondered what she was going on about.

'It won't happen again,' Tom assured her, sounding thoroughly repentant. 'I feel awful for dragging Harry into that place after me.'

'It's not your fault,' Hermione waved at him. 'You don't know any better. Harry, on the other hand,' she said sternly, 'should have called a teacher instead of wandering off… or, er,' and she got that same nervous look on her face again, 'you shouldn't have taken as much time, you know.' Harry was sure she was blushing now. What is that all about?

'I'll tell a teacher next time,' Harry replied fervently, trying to take a leaf out of Tom's book and tell her what she wanted to hear just to end this already lie-filled conversation. Hermione did seem satisfied after that, but she was only truly content once she heard that they were both getting a week's worth of detentions with Snape and fifty points off Gryffindor. She then got to work on her Arithmancy charts. Harry really wanted to ask Hermione if Hagrid had told her where he was going for the next few weeks during their Care of Magical Creatures class that morning, but before he could get her attention off her work to ask her, Ron walked up to him. Just as good, Harry shrugged. Hagrid would have told Ron, too.

Before Harry could open his mouth, however, Ron whispered, 'Could we go up to the dorm to talk for a couple minutes, Harry?'

'Sure,' Harry said. He looked around for Tom; he was already sitting next to Hermione on the couch, reading a book he had probably plucked from her bag as he so often did, which was fine by Harry, since Hermione wouldn't be reading anything about how to turn people inside out. Anyway, Ginny was still there, and Tom wasn't terribly likely to dash off for a while. Satisfied, Harry stood up; he frowned when he noticed Ron blushing. Ron grabbed him by the arm before he could ask what it was about, though, and pulled him upstairs with him.

They went inside their dorm and closed the door. Ron paced around the room once, his face still burning, before he sat on the edge of his bed. Harry sat next to him.

'Look,' Ron began, carefully not looking Harry in the eye, 'you see, Hermione thought I should be the one to bring this up to you, because I'm your best mate and all, and I'm, you know, another guy – though I don't really see why that matters,' Ron muttered. Harry didn't see how it mattered what gender Ron was to tell him about where Hagrid had gone off to, either. 'I, er, well, we've noticed, you know, Harry – well, Hermione has, I don't really pay attention to that sort of thing, but you know how girls are… well, actually, I guess you don't… there was Cho, though…'

Ron was muttering again, and Harry was wondering if he was ever going to tell him where Hagrid was going. Finally, Ron managed to form a coherent sentence again. 'I thought you should know that it's okay by us, you don't need to hide it, and I don't have any problems with it at all… well, okay, when Hermione first mentioned it to me I thought she was mental, but it does seem pretty obvious after today…'

'Would you just get to the point?' Harry asked impatiently. He really didn't want to be sitting there listening to Ron's red-faced rambling for another hour.

Ron looked scared. 'I just did, didn't I? How much more plainly are you going to make me say it?' he pleaded. 'You and Tom. You don't have to hide it. Hermione and I don't mind.'

'What about me and Tom?' Harry asked bewilderedly.

'Your relationship!' Ron squeaked.

'What relationship?'

Ron frowned, looking puzzled. 'You mean you're not…?'

Harry suddenly realized what this was all about. 'Look, I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you and Hermione because of Tom. It's just that the Headmaster told me to watch out for him, so I've got to spend time with him, you know?'

Ron looked like he might cry out of frustration. 'No, that's not what I mean!'

'What is it, then?' Harry growled.

'You and Tom! Together! Boyfriends!' Ron yelled abruptly. Then his face paled, the same way it did when Harry said Voldemort's name. 'Blimey, I don't believe I said it,' he muttered. 'Hermione really should have done this, I'm no good.'

Harry cracked a smile. Then he chuckled. 'You… you think me and Tom are… Hermione thinks me and Tom are…?'

'It's the way you look at him,' Ron said seriously. He seemed relieved to have finally gotten the message across. 'Hermione picked it up.'

'I'm only looking at him because I need to look after him.'

'Yeah, but… Harry, you're always looking at him,' Ron objected.

'Ron,' Harry said, looking into his eyes. 'Tom and I are not together. The thought hasn't even crossed my… wait, did Hermione think that's why Tom and I were missing?' he asked, remembering the way Hermione had been nervously trying to hint at something as she lectured Harry and Tom on their return.

'At first,' Ron admitted, 'but when you were gone so long we got worried… then when you came back together, and you both looked fine, yeah, that's what she thought.'

'Well, tell her we're not for me, would you?' Harry sighed. 'I don't think I'm up to explaining.' Then he remembered why he had let Ron drag him up there in the first place. 'Did Hagrid tell you if he was going anywhere?'

Ron frowned. 'No. He told Hermione and me at the beginning of class to stay behind after, though, but then we were all called back here because you were missing.'

Harry groaned. 'Hagrid is going to be leaving for a few weeks, Dumbledore says. I was hoping he would have told you why he was going… and it sounds like he would have, if it weren't for me.'

'Well, it's too late now, so there's no point in worrying about it.' Then Ron, seeming like he wanted to cheer Harry up, said, 'Oh, and we have our first Hogsmeade weekend at Halloween, so just look forward to that in your detentions with Snape. Which reminds me…'

Ron started looking uncomfortable again, and Harry was praying to whatever deities there may be that he not mention the idea of Harry and Tom together again. 'Actually, it's kind of too bad about you and Tom, in a way, because now I feel a bit more guilty about… well, I may as well say it… Hermione and I are going together to Hogsmeade,' he said quickly, his face flushing again.

Harry raised an eyebrow. 'So? We always go to Hogsmeade together.'

Ron ran a hand through his hair. 'No, no, Harry, I mean… she and I. You know, on a… well… on a date,' he finished.

'Oh,' Harry said. 'Well, good on you,' he grinned, punching Ron lightly on the shoulder. Ron grinned, too. 'And don't worry about me; you just enjoy your date. I'm glad to see you two finally getting together. It's taken long enough.' Harry stood up, still grinning and, giving Ron the thumbs up, he walked out the door.

It took him just a few moments to hear Ron's cries echo from the dormitory: 'What do you mean, it took us long enough?' Harry just chuckled and walked faster down the stairs before Ron could catch up.

Harry found the string of detentions with Snape over the next week surprisingly bearable. He and Tom had to clean cauldrons and pickle gross things with Snape sneering at them all the while, but having detention with Tom turned out to be a lot like having detention with Ron, in that it made it more pleasant just being together. Harry turned that thought over in his mind, examining it; even if he was reluctant to admit it, he did like Tom. He was intelligent and witty, and they had a lot in common, and when he smiled – really smiled, not that fake stuff he gave to everyone else – his whole face lit up, and it made Harry feel like he'd done something very important. Harry still knew he shouldn't trust Tom, and that Tom was into the Dark Arts up to his eyeballs by most standards even if he hadn't had any opportunity to go further lately , and that Tom was a cunning, manipulative, power-hungry Slytherin at heart. None of those bad things mattered much in detention, though, and they only mattered a little when they talked together at night, since they limited the things Harry could say. On the whole, they just weren't important on a day-to-day basis.

They had been spending more time together outside of their nighttime talks, too. Harry wanted to give Ron and Hermione more space, and liking Tom just made it easier, because he still had someone to talk to. Not that he didn't like talking with Neville or Seamus or Dean, but Seamus and Dean were best friends the way Harry and Ron were, and Neville… much as Harry felt guilty admitting it, Neville, while a very nice person and good to talk to sometimes, was hard to carry on a long conversation with without becoming bored. Harry's problem with Tom was quite the opposite; sometimes he just couldn't shut up.

So it was only natural that he and Tom go down to Hogsmeade together on Halloween weekend. At first, Harry had thought Dumbledore wouldn't allow it, but as time went by and Dumbledore didn't say Tom or Harry couldn't go, Harry took that as an affirmative. He would admit, however, that he rushed Tom down to the village rather faster than he would have had he known they were allowed.

Once they were there, Harry felt the need, as he never had since his first visit, to see everything all at once. Or, more accurately, he felt the need to show Tom everything all at once; he didn't know how much the village might have changed since Tom's time, after all. There were probably a few new tricks in Zonko's Joke Shop since the forties, and maybe one of them would make Tom laugh – not that stupid, high, creepy, evil laugh, but the nice, deep, soft one Harry had heard only once, when he was telling Tom about the man who wore a dress to the Quidditch Cup because he liked a 'healthy breeze' round his privates. Harry had tried to make him laugh since then; he had even fallen off his broom into a mud puddle on purpose when he was flying down at the end of Quidditch practice that week, but Tom hadn't even cracked a smile. Hell, he had looked pale, and the rest of the team had wanted to take Harry to the Hospital Wing to get his head examined and have his broom tested for jinxes, convinced that nothing less than a brain tumor or foul play could make Harry fall off his broom.

So they went to the joke shop first, which Tom said had been expanded since he had last been there, and Harry went around the store showing Tom at least half the inventory. Tom didn't laugh, and they left earlier than Harry had wanted to because he could tell Tom was getting bored, but at least Tom did smile for real when a Nose-Biting Teacup bit Harry on the nose. Then they went up the hill to the Shrieking Shack, which Tom already knew wasn't haunted because of Harry's stories, and then to Honeydukes.

'This place wasn't nearly so well stocked in my time,' Tom said, 'because of the war and all.' It wasn't as crowded, either, Tom thought apprehensively as he and Harry struggled to move through the throng. He wasn't worried that anyone else could eavesdrop – he had to practically shout for Harry to hear when they were standing beside each other – so mentioning his old life was safe.

Just like in Zonko's, Harry seemed keen on showing him around, especially when he heard Tom hadn't seen it at its best before; unlike Zonko's, this time it was appreciated, especially when Tom learned that the tasty-looking lolly he was ogling would burn a hole through his tongue if he tried it. He ended up mostly purchasing some old favorites: Licorice Wands (which had hardly ever been in stock, and he hadn't had the money to buy more than one before), Chocolate Frogs, Jelly Slugs, and a handful of Pepper Imps (which were new to Tom).

Tom had never met someone he could relate to so well. Harry was clever – not brilliant, but he could find his way out of a tough situation like an expert, which Tom respected – and he shared Tom's sense of humor (well, he had thought so before Zonko's, anyway). Tom felt comfortable telling him more about himself than he had ever told anyone because Harry understood; he had lived through many of the same experiences himself, and he didn't look at Tom with that annoying pity Dumbledore had shown him when he was young. Even though Harry wasn't too interested in the Dark Arts, he was definitely good with a wand if even half his stories were true. He also appreciated that Harry had been really trying hard to help Tom with his flying, and he was almost an equal member of the team now because of it. Tom tried to help Harry with his homework in return – they almost inevitably talked instead of worked, though. And he hadn't had to go through a full nightmare since visiting the Chamber, and that alone made him happier than he could ever remember being.

If it weren't for Harry, he didn't know that he could have kept up being Tom Maxwell for so long; Harry didn't mind if Tom let the happy-go-lucky Gryffindor mask slip when it was just the two of them. That didn't mean that Harry wasn't still an idealistic, sometimes stupid, Dumbledore-loving Gryffindor prig, but all that seemed to go away when they were talking, or scrubbing cauldrons together, or sharing witty remarks at Malfoy's expense in the halls. Tom didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, of course, and he still had every intention of taking advantage of Harry's growing trust in him at the nearest opportunity, but that was all a given, and he figured he may as well enjoy Harry's company while it was there. No self-respecting Slytherin would deny himself a pleasure that also brought him closer to his goals, after all.

'Are you up for The Three Broomsticks next, Tom?' Harry asked, still having to talk loudly as they exited Honeydukes.

'Sure,' Tom replied. As they walked there, Tom flicked a beetle off his sleeve.

When they reached The Three Broomsticks, Harry looked around; he could see Parvati, Lavender, and Padma Patil sitting at one table gossiping, and decided he'd better stay away from there, unless he wanted to endure them drooling over Tom for several hours. At another, in a secluded corner, he saw Ron and Hermione, and that he definitely wanted to avoid. Harry had decided on a table in another corner for himself and Tom when he heard someone shouting his name.

'Oi! Harry, Tom, over here!' Seamus shouted. Harry felt his stomach sink as he turned toward the sound; sitting at the table were Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ginny, and…

'Fred? George?' Harry said in surprise.

'Wouldn't miss a Hogsmeade weekend,' Fred grinned. 'We came to see you and Ron and Ginny, but Ron's occupied,' he smirked, indicating Ron and Hermione's table.

'And about ruddy time, too,' George added. 'Come have a seat and introduce us to your friend.'

The introductions commenced, and when they were over, the group of eight was joined by Katie Bell, who gave Fred and George each a hug. Madam Rosmerta came over and the twins ordered a round of Butterbeers – their business, they said, was still booming.

Between all the excitement of a Hogsmeade weekend and the long time spent catching up with the Weasley twins, Harry was exhausted by the time the Halloween Feast began. Ron and Hermione weren't back yet, and Harry couldn't help but be thankful that he wouldn't be subjected to any more discussion that day. Since they weren't there, Tom and Harry ended up sitting alone together – Parvati and Lavender were busy flirting with a half-dozen Ravenclaw boys, for which Harry couldn't have been more grateful.

He and Tom hadn't gotten a chance to talk much together all day, after all. It had been great seeing the twins again, but he had barely been able to get a word in edgewise to Tom until they headed back to the castle, and Tom hadn't been in much of a talking mood then. As a matter of fact, he had stayed quiet – almost sullen – when they were with the twins, and he didn't seem to be in a very good mood now, either.

Tom was sitting beside Harry, just beginning to pick at his food, an annoyingly neutral expression on his face, when Harry leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, 'I like a healthy breeze round my privates, thanks.' Tom nearly spit out his mouthful of pumpkin juice, but he did manage to swallow before cracking a grin.

'Arsehole,' Tom replied, turning to Harry and smirking, looking as though he was trying not to reach a full-fledged smile.

With the ice newly broken between them, Harry ate heartily between sentences as they discussed Ron's planned tactics for the upcoming Quidditch game against Slytherin, the answers to the Transfiguration quiz they'd had on Thursday, and other meaningless subjects that made things comfortable between them again. When he was finished dinner, Harry burped louder than he ever had in his life, and Tom laughed hard. Other people were laughing, too, but Harry could barely hear them. He felt ten feet tall, and how could he worry about Draco Malfoy jeering at him three tables away when he was a giant?

They were the first two back in the common room from their year, and even though Harry was exhausted, he didn't want the day to end. He and Tom played wizard chess together for the first time, six times, and Tom absolutely trounced him in each and every match. Harry did manage to extend the games for longer near the end, however, though it might have just been because Tom was playing with his eyes closed half the time for the last two rounds.

But when two o'clock in the morning came and went – most of the others had gone to bed hours ago, and even Ron and Hermione had called it a night over an hour before – and Tom was falling asleep in his chair, Harry figured it was time to end the day. It had been long, but highly enjoyable.

'Finally conceding defeat, Potter?' Tom asked with a yawn as they ascended the stairs together.

Harry smiled. 'I'd have to get you dead tired and drunk to even hope to get a draw out of you. At least Ron lets me win sometimes.'

'A Slytherin,' Tom yawned again between words, 'never…'

'Yeah, yeah, you don't have to tell me, oh Great Lord of The House of Serpents,' Harry grinned, making a mock bow that was awkward on the narrow staircase.

'I like that,' Tom smiled, his eyes half closed. 'I'll have to use it some day. Don't expect any credit.'

Harry and Tom continued bantering tiredly as they made their way to the dormitory, and even continued in a whisper as they got ready for bed. Tom was so exhausted that he was fumbling with the buttons of his robes, so Harry went to help him when he was finished struggling out of his own. He smirked and whispered, 'Funny how the great Serpent King can't even undress himself,' which earned him a swat on the head. He couldn't stand to stop the exchange even when Tom was crawling into bed – Hell, he'd hex me for saying half these things if he were awake enough to hold a wand – so he rolled himself onto the other side of the bed and kept going. Harry was feeling giddy in the way that only the bone-weary could, but Tom was losing steam fast.

'So, tell me, how do you intend to – are you even listening?' Harry was lying face to face with Tom, speaking to him from a foot across the bed. He was too tired to bother sitting up, and Tom probably couldn't hear him unless he was this close, anyway, since he was falling asleep.

'No,' Tom murmured, snuggling deeper into the sheets.

Harry didn't feel much like moving; he remembered the textbooks and clothes he had thrown on his bed that morning so he could find his Sneakoscope to show Tom, and wasn't at all sure he had the energy to clear his bed off enough to sleep on it. He won't even notice if I stay, he's already dead to the world. So Harry wriggled under the covers. Better.

By the time he looked back, Tom was already asleep, and Harry was the same moments later.

It hardly seemed like he had been asleep at all when he was woken up by a fist colliding with his ear. Blinking himself to alertness, he saw that his ear was a casualty of one of Tom's nightmares; Tom was shaking his head madly, moaning and squirming on the other side of the bed. Harry felt himself suddenly and completely awakened by a burst of anger. It's not fair! Why can't those stupid dreams just leave him alone for one night?

Harry threw his arms around Tom's chest under the sheets. 'Shh, shh, it's okay,' he whispered, holding on tightly as the thrashing slowly subsided.

'Harry?' Tom said, a few moments after his body stilled, patting his hand on Harry's head as if to make sure what he was seeing was real. 'Are you okay?'

Harry let go of Tom and shuffled back about half a foot. 'You were having another nightmare,' Harry whispered back. 'It's okay now.'

'Okay, thanks,' Tom whispered, rolling over onto his side towards Harry, his eyes slowly closing again.

It took Harry several long moments to notice that he had a hand on Tom's arm; Tom didn't seem aware of it at all. Harry lifted it away and settled it instead on the back of Tom's head; he had to scoot a little closer to do so, but he barely registered that when he felt Tom's hair. It's soft, he thought dully, his sleepy senses all concentrated on that single observation. Tom's eyes widened until they were halfway open again, and he was very still.

Harry watched Tom's eyelids flutter as he moved in, his hand not just touching Tom's hair now, but stroking it instead. That hand shifted down to Tom's neck as Harry came in so close that they were sharing each other's breath; when Harry pressed his lips to Tom's, just to see if they were as soft as his hair, that hand pulled Tom in nearer.

And just like that, without even thinking anything like I want to kiss him, or I wonder if he'd mind if I kissed him, or wouldn't it be nice if I kissed him? Harry was kissing him, and his lips were even softer than his hair.

Tom kissed him back, and he didn't think about it, either.