They were in Marvalos's office now. Harry sat at his desk, staring at Marvalo. Harry sat differently than the last time he sat in his chair. Harry now sat straight, his posture aligned and his head held so that they could make eye contact if need be. He unusually sat with his legs thrown over the chair swinging. His posture was awful to the point where it gave Marvalo backaches looking at him. His head was always staring at the ceiling as he hummed some stupid song. He misses those songs right now.
"Harry" Marvalo began. He didn't like talking about his feelings when they already forgave each other- somewhat, but they would have to discuss it lest it turns into a bigger problem. And the situation would not be good if Severus's rants about the 'boy's horrid temper were to be believed'.
"Why did you think it would blame you for my father being hurt Marvalo?" Harry asked slowly. He knew there was a reason, a different one than Harry's well-known temper. Marvalo was a smart and usually rational man. After all, one had to have been to become a Dark Lord.
Marvalo's face did many things at that question. Internally, he winced at being caught off guard, but he seemed to let his guard down around Harry, since their argument in the Room of Requirement the man had let his mask down around him, it seemed only fair. That, and he trusted Harry.
"I-Harry." During a battle, many people have gotten hurt, whether under my guidance or not. There will always be a possibility, no matter how much protection I offer, of a stray spell hitting them. This has happened several times over the years, more than I would like. The families of the injured... sometimes blame me. They were correct; they were fighting under my name. But I suppose I-" Marvalo faltered.
"You thought I would blame you as well," Harry whispered, before shooting out of his seat over to him and wrapping his arms around Marvalo.
Warmth buzzed between them as both their magics reacted strongly to the onslaught of information. They both buzzed before the magic dissipated. Marvalo snaked his arm around Harry's waist before bodily yanking him into his lap. With a smug smile, he saw Harry yelp as he was pulled from hugging him.
"Now shall we talk about why you thought I would be upset when you didn't contact me because your father was quite injured"? Marvalo asked as Harry shifted in his lap to get comfortable.
"Marvalo, most people would have gotten quite upset," Harry said slowly.
"Would you have been upset, Harry, if the roles were reversed?" Marvalo asked back, looking down at the man in his lap.
"No, of course not, I would have-Oh," Harry said, his rant coming to a stop.
"I'm sorry for this," Harry whispered.
" It's not your fault, darling; you have to understand that. In fact, neither of us are at fault. We just had a silly misunderstanding, and we have to accept that these things will happen sometimes. We have to move forward and communicate so that it does not happen again, "Marvalo said.
"Alright smarty pants, when did you become such a professional?" Harry said with a laugh.
"I've been reading a lot," Marvalo mumbled back under his breath, as Harry laughed harder.
The fucking Dark Lord was getting relationship advice from books. Harry couldn't help but see the humor in this. He glanced up to see Marvalos's face faking a frown.
"Oh, thank you for reading up on relationships, my dearest Dark Lord." Harry got out before he was laughing again.
"my dearest Dark Lord", Marvalo deadpanned before he was also laughing into Harry's shoulder. He didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed with Harry at this point, so he settled for laughing.
Once their humor had died down, Harry sighed and leaned into Marvalo. He sat comfortably as Marvalo did some of the particularly urgent paperwork that he had been putting off in favor of researching the curse that had hit Lucius.
"Did you mean what you said, Harry, about the courtship?" Marvalo asked after a long while, his eyes trained on Harry. Sharp and observing as ever.
Harry jerked awake as he had been lightly dozing and shifted his weight, getting comfortable. "Yes, of course, I don't go around saying things like that willy-nilly, you know."
Marvalo snorted as Harry glared up at him. One thing Marvalo knew was that life would never be boring with Harry around. Marvalo would do anything to keep him around.
Marvalo didn't know if it was possible to be more in love. Harry brought out emotions in him, emotions he had considered weak and buried deep down long ago.
Yet somehow, somewhere along the way, they had surfaced again and were now wreaking havoc in his mind.
He couldn't really understand why when Harry's lips curved downward, I had the irrational urge to kiss him till he had forgotten whatever had made him frown. But he was the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord did what they wanted. So he kissed Harry until both their minds were blissfully blank. He had yet to hear complaints about it.
He also found Harry to be the most interesting person in the world. Marvalo was a teenager, no matter how much Marvalo tried to fool himself that the boy was younger than him and most of his stories involved drunken shenanigans, but Marvalo found he lived them anyway. Not only because they were funny and entertaining, but because of the way Harry's face lit up when he told a story, the way he moved his hands with exaggerated movements, and the way he'd snort when Marvalo made yet another sarcastic comment.
Marvalo wondered at times why he'd fallen for someone who was clearly out of his league. Then he'd remember that Harry made mistakes too. The boys' bad memory was really becoming a problem. He'd seen Harry walk in and out of rooms aimlessly searching for something. When Marvalo had asked what he was looking for, Harry had said he had forgotten. But Marvalo found that he wouldn't trade it for the world.
He saw Harry arguing at meetings and he saw Harry say please and thank you and he saw Harry plan pranks and he saw Harry drunk and he saw Harry crying. He loves all those Harrys, and all of them mean something to him. Each expression or phrase Harry repeats makes its way into Marvalos's heart and vocabulary because he loves this boy so very much.
He loves the way he blinks sleepily when he wakes up from a nap, and Marvalo loves the way he smiles up at Marvalo after he's gotten his way yet again.
So it's safe to say that Marvalo is a little in love with Harry, and the way Harry smiles at Marvalo, he thinks, with a smug smile, that Harry's a little in love with him too.