~Chapter 24~ Be careful what you say – 2 March 1995

(A/N: Hi all! Sorry it's so late, but the promised extra chapter is here , hope you enjoy it)

~Voldemort~

Voldemort woke with a sense that he wasn't in his room, but he relaxed the moment he recognized his study around him. He glanced down at Dimitri, who had fallen asleep despite his excitement. They had spoken well into the night after he managed to persuade Dimitri that a visit to the Founder of his house could wait a day.

It wasn't that he didn't want to meet the man, he did, quite badly at that, but with the amount of information that Dimitri had piled on the previous night, he'd known that he needed time to process one thing at a time.

Luckily he'd had the thought to extend the couch before he also succumbed to sleep, otherwise, he was sure that one or both of them would have been quite sore today from sleeping on a couch.

He didn't want to get up yet, and he wondered whether Dimitri would allow him to simply hold him like this from time to time. The fact that his mate was still disguised bothered him a little bit, but Dimitri's explanation about the potion had erased any doubt that his mate might not want to stay with him.

He thought back about their conversation and wondered whether Dimitri even knew that he'd sometimes spoken from a personal point of view as if he WAS Harry Potter instead of just being his guardian.

It wasn't that far-fetched, the hints had all been there. The fact that they had the same upbringing, the way that Dumbledore had become his magical guardian, and, if he didn't have it wrong, the fact that Dimitri's disguise would conveniently expire on Harry Potter's 17th birthday.

There had been other clues as well, such as the knowledge Dimitri seemed to have about him and how 'Ghost' had often stated in his letters that he didn't want to reveal himself because he was afraid of what Voldemort might do to him.

He'd also never seen both Harry Potter and any of Ghost's aliases together, and given that Dimitri was supposed to be Harry's guardian, he hadn't floo-called him or informed Voldemort that he was going out to visit him now that he thought about it.

Severus had also informed him that Harry wasn't with him or at Hogwarts.

Voldemort gave in to the urge to run a finger over Dimitri's cheek before moving his fingers higher to where the famous scar would have been. His heart gave a little leap as he felt the link he had with his Horcrux repair itself, and he was amazed to find that he could feel the man next to him.

He wondered if his mate would be able to feel it as well.

But as excited as he was about finally knowing his mate's true identity, it meant that he had to step up his work on quite a few things. He'd left the takeover for too long because he'd been spending time with Dimitri, but with his mate's true identity being Harry Potter, he needed to ensure that he'd be safe in the world he wanted to create.

His Death Eaters might know that Harry Potter was off-limits, but he still worried about their reactions once they found out that the Dimitri they had been spending time with, was Harry Potter. Not that he would tolerate any anger towards his mate and anyone that dared touch him would forfeit their lives, but he'd seen how happy it made his mate, to have people around him that didn't expect anything more than wanting to know whether the next batch of cookies could be ginger or chocolate-chip.

An idea suddenly occurred to him and he carefully extracted himself from where his mate had cornered him on the couch. He then pulled the blanket that he'd summoned during the night up over the other man's shoulders and lit the fire once more to warm up the room.

He then quietly left the room and made sure he was out of earshot before he called one of the elves, "Hina…", the elf quickly popped into the corridor, "…please bring us some tea and two full breakfasts." The elf nodded and popped away once more, leaving Voldemort to return to the study, only to find a confused-looking Dimitry (he'd decided to keep on referring to Harry as that until everything is resolved) glancing around the room.

His attention narrowed in on Voldemort as he entered the room and Voldemort noted that he was running a hand over the area where the scar would have been, quite frequently. "What did you do? Why could I feel you when you were outside the room?", Voldemort tried to keep his grin from showing by turning and closing the door. Well, that answered that at least.

He turned and allowed his eyes to fall on Dimitri's forehead, causing the other man to freeze in place before dropping his hand into his lap and watching Voldemort warily, "So you know…?"

Voldemort nodded before walking toward the couch, and he was pleased to see that Dimitri didn't flinch or scramble to get away from him as he'd expected the other man would once he worked out his identity. He sat down next to Dimitri and pulled him into his arms before covering both of them with the blanket once more.

"The connection between the Horcrux and my soul fixed itself when I trailed my fingers over your cheek and forehead. Of course, I suspected who you were a little before that…", he chuckled as Dimitri blushed bright red before a confused expression crossed his face once more and Voldemort continued, "…as you had, intentionally or unintentionally, revealed who you were by constantly referring to 'Harry Potter' feeling or thinking a certain way."

Dimitry closed his eyes and gave a sheepish grin, but they startled open at the sound of a pop, only to see Hina coming over with two plates loaded with food. He looked at Voldemort with a grin, "Breakfast in bed?", and Voldemort could only nod as he took in the excitement in his mate's expression. Technically it was breakfast on the couch, but hey it seemed he had the privilege of being the first to spoil his mate rotten.

Hina popped away once more and Voldemort transfigured one off the couch pillows into a coffee table. They set their food down on the table and ate in companionable silence before each going to their separate rooms to get ready for the day.

Dimitri had already contacted Severus to ensure that they knew that they were coming, and with the headmaster gone from the school, it was all too easy to simply walk in. As for Dumbledore, yes, he was still suffering the karma of the horrors he had inflicted upon his victims, but at this point, Voldemort couldn't care less about the man.

A part of Voldemort simply wanted to AK the man and be done with it…he froze and a smile crossed his face for a second before he schooled his features once more and made a slight detour towards one of the numerous other libraries that littered the castle.

He went to the last shelf close to the window and grabbed a nondescript, little black book from the middle shelf before walking once more towards his room. Maybe the old man can be of some use to him after all, he decided.

He placed the book down and grabbed a quick shower before getting dressed and heading downstairs once more, after grabbing the book and placing it in his pocket, of course.

Dimitri joined him a few minutes later and Voldemort found that his excitement was quite contagious, but before he could move to pull the younger man into his arms, Dimitri froze and abruptly turned around to face him, "I, uh, forgot to mention that Salazar is currently impersonating Lockhart at Hogwarts so don't be fooled when you see him, and he is also dating my two godfathers, so…"

Voldemort lifted a brow, "So don't try and order Severus around? You do know he stopped being a simple Death Eater in my ranks the moment I discovered his ties to you, right?" The blush told him that Dimitri hadn't known and he took the other man's hand.

"I would never try and control someone you care about unless it is either in your best interests or to protect you, this I promise you." He watched as Dimitri's face brightened into a smile as he lightly kissed his hand, but then something that Dimitri had said, caught his attention.

"Are your godfathers soulmates? I thought a soul could only be split in two, or that is what the texts say at least. And from what I remember, the Black heir was Severus' enemy." Dimitri nodded and cocked his head to the side as he thought about it.

"Apparently Sirius managed to botch his soulmate ritual due to rushing through it so he only saw Salazar's name, making him think that he would forever be mateless, and Severus didn't even know about the ritual, to begin with, because no one had ever thought to inform him of it, and by the time he did…well…he believed that even if he did the ritual, his mate wouldn't want him." Dimitri squeezed Voldemort's hand lightly as he led him to the apparation room while continuing his explanation.

"Salazar is the one that gave me the book that I gifted to you, so you can guess what he is. He is quite strong magically so he needs two mates to balance that out. Death said it happens very rarely, but it has happened once or twice before. In our case, the whole 'equality' thing ensured that we were both born magically even in power at least." They reached the apparation room and Dimitri gave him a cheeky smile, "I warn you, together they might be a bit of a handful…"

Voldemort frowned. Severus? A handful? The man barely liked leaving the shadows of his potions so what could Dimitri possibly mean by that?