Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count: 1523
Warning: Rated M for sexual content. (Nothing particularly graphic, but it's definitely there.)
AN: Hogwarts!AU - Harry and Tom attend at the same time, with characters of various Era's in random places. Just go with it :P
Assignment 3: Etymology: Task #4: Hell - Include the dialogue: "I feel like hell, nothing new."
Mine
Ron was staring at him. Again. It was nothing new, as much as Harry dearly wished it was.
"You doing okay, mate?"
"I feel like hell, nothing new," Harry retorted, a little sharper than he'd intended. He sighed. "Sorry."
Ron waved off the apology. "S'fine."
"It's not," Harry murmured. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you. I just… yeah. This sucks."
Nodding his head, Ron asked, "have you given any more thought to just… telling him?"
Harry shook his head. "He hates me, what's the point?"
"Hate is a strong word. He just doesn't like how easy school is for you when he's gotta put the work in. He's jealous of your natural ability."
"Did Hermione tell you that?"
"Yes. Yes she did."
Harry snorted and then laughed outright.
Ron grinned at him.
"It'll be fine," Harry said eventually. "It's only a few more months until we're done with school. Hopefully, it'll be better when I don't have to see him every day."
"I don't think that's how that works, mate."
"Maybe not, but I can hope."
"You don't have to be strong all the time, you know. And yes, Hermione said that as well."
Harry threw a pillow at him to signal the end of the conversation.
…
He hadn't expected the wings.
When he woke up on his seventeenth birthday with back pain, he hadn't realised that he had an inheritance. There had been no indication he had one from Sirius or Remus, and as far as Harry had been aware, both of his parents had been fully human.
They certainly hadn't been part fae.
Sirius had later dug through the genealogy books and found out that Harry's great Grandmother had been half fae. The gene had remained dormant in the rest of his ancestors, but something in his blood had woken it up in him.
Because of course it had.
A week after his seventeenth birthday, Harry had ultramarine wings fluttering on his back, and had been forced to slice holes in his t-shirts to fit them through.
Fun times.
Upon further research—Harry had learnt that he should never tell Remus he wanted to research something, his pseudo godfather was worse than Hermione—they'd come to the conclusion that Harry was a nature fae.
And that he had a mate.
A soulmate.
Fun.
…
"You really should just tell him, Harry," Hermione said.
Harry shook his head, picking at the food on his plate. He wasn't hungry—he rarely was these days—but he knew he had to eat. It just looked so… unappetising.
It was a dilemma.
"It's making you ill. It's like we're losing you right in front of our eyes," she pressed.
Harry bit his lip to stop himself from snapping at her. It wasn't like he was doing any of this on purpose, and it wasn't like he could be blamed for not wanting to tell his rival of seven years that they were soulmates.
That was just common sense.
"Leave him be, Hermione," Ron said, when she opened her mouth again. "It's Harry's choice. We've just… gotta be there for him."
She sighed but nodded.
Harry pushed his plate away.
…
"Potter, what's going on with you?"
Harry ignored him, flipping through the book he was supposed to be reading. A hand was pressed over the pages, stopping the movement.
"Potter."
Harry looked up into dark brown eyes and sighed. "What do you want, Riddle?"
"What has happened to you?" Riddle demanded.
Frowning, Harry glanced over his shoulder at the wings fluttering on his back.
"You were fine at the beginning of the school year," Riddle pointed out, getting the inference. "Lately you've been… sad. I don't like it, so sort it out."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll get right on that, just for you."
Riddle wrinkled his nose. "See that you do."
…
The Astronomy tower had always been one of Harry's favourite places at Hogwarts. Especially at night, when the stars were out.
He perched himself on the open ledge, his legs folded beneath him. It was freeing, being so high up, and he'd always enjoyed that.
Not that he was feeling much joy. He'd always thought 'lovesick' wasn't a real thing, but apparently it was when your creature inheritance was pining for its mate.
He heard footsteps on the stairs and wrinkled his nose. It was probably going to be Snape—the man had a sixth sense for when Harry was out of bed—but he couldn't bring himself to care.
Points and detention really didn't matter.
"I talked to Weasley." Harry blinked and then looked over his shoulder to see Riddle walking towards him slowly. "He told me I'd find you up here."
"Why were you looking for me?"
Riddle sat down beside him on the window ledge, turned towards Harry slightly. "I did some research."
Harry frowned. "Okay?"
"You're a Nature Fae, correct? The colour of your wings made that quite evident."
Nodding, Harry tilted his head. He hated that he already felt a little better, just from being so close to Tom.
"You've a mate, and you've met them."
"How do you—"
"The signs are all there, Potter. Lack of appetite, forlorn, unfocused. All things that usually would never describe you."
"Why do you even care?"
"So then I got to thinking, why would Potter not have told his soulmate about their bond?"
"Riddle—"
"And then the answer came to me. It has to be a Slytherin, right? Someone you don't get on with. So I looked at my housemates, and I considered them all. Lucius was my first thought, but he's got a quarter veela inheritance, and it's very unlikely for two creatures of different species to mate with each other."
Harry pulled a face at the thought of Lucius Malfoy being his mate. Riddle snorted.
"Really, when it came down to it, there was only one possible option."
Harry swallowed hard. "How do you know that I didn't tell my mate and they rejected me?"
"Nobody in their right mind would reject you. Why didn't you tell me, Harry?"
Harry blinked at him. He opened his mouth a few times, but no words came out. He hadn't expected Riddle to figure it out, or care even if he did.
Riddle reached out and ran his fingertips over Harry's palm, and it was like an explosion of sensation everywhere he touched, sending sparks of pleasure to all of Harry's nerve endings.
He gasped, and Riddle's lips curved upwards slightly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he repeated, words little more than a whisper now.
"I…" Harry swallowed hard, eyes on Riddle's hand, which was still tracing patterns on his palm. "I didn't think you'd want any part of it. We've been at each other's throats since we started Hogwarts."
"Did you never wonder why?"
Harry frowned. "What?" He couldn't focus much past the feeling on his skin, his wrist now, where Riddle seemed to be writing his name in cursive with the very tip of his finger.
"Did you never wonder why I was always in your face?" Riddle repeated. "You were just so… you, with your emerald eyes, and that pretty smile, but you wouldn't have looked at me twice if I hadn't been right there in front of you all the time, would you?"
Harry stared.
"Have you never heard that any attention is good attention, Harry?"
The sound of his name on Riddle's—Tom's—lips made Harry gasp.
"I thought that was publicity," he murmured, sitting up slightly. The movement meant he was even closer to Tom, and the other man smiled as he lifted his fingers away from Harry's lips.
"And publicity is attention, is it not?"
Harry closed his eyes as Tom cupped his cheek with a gentle hand. He couldn't stop himself from leaning into the touch, and he could feel his wings fluttering behind him.
Tom guided him forward until their lips met, and Harry surrendered immediately to the feeling. He never wanted it to stop. He'd never felt anything so good, and as lust surged within him, he pressed closer, until Tom wrapped an arm around him, holding him in place.
When their lips parted, Tom immediately latched onto Harry's neck, biting, and sucking marks there. Harry moaned wantonly, back arching as he pressed into Tom for moremoremore.
His arms wrapped around Tom, holding him in place, tugging him closer until Harry was straddling his lap, pressing against him eagerly.
With firm but gentle hands, Tom guided Harry's movements until pleasure erupted and sparks lit behind his eyelids.
Tom gentled him until he was left panting against Tom's neck, humming as a large hand petted his hair, Tom's other hand stroking his hip.
"You're beautiful," Tom murmured, kissing Harry's temple. "And you're all mine."
Harry nodded, pulling back just enough to look Tom in the eye. "You mean it?"
"I'll never let you go, Harry Potter," Tom promised, eyeballing the lovebites on Harry's neck with a possessive smile. "And I'm going to make sure everybody knows it."
The romantic in Harry preened at the knowledge that Tom didn't want to hide their involvement, and he smiled. "Good."
Written For:
Film Festival: 5. Friendship
Games Corner: 13. Fae
Trope of the Month: 4. Lovesick
Sophie's Shelf: 8. Leaving lovebites
Amber's Anime Adventure: 15. Explosion
Elizabeth's Empire: 5. Friendship
Limited Edition: Children's Books: Winnie The Pooh: Friendship
Valentines or Palentines: OTP Prompt, Day 5: Lust
Twister Match Up: Left Foot, 5: "You don't have to be strong all the time, you know." / Left Hand, 3. Soulmates
Days of the Year: 47. February 13th - National Wingman Day: Write about being there for your mate
Play God Day: 9. Romantic
Appreciate a Dragon Day: 13. Toothless: Friendship
Colours: 1. Ultramarine
Alphabetti: E: Emerald
NeonFae's Nibbles: Jam Roly Poly: Fae (4)
365: 265. Dilemma
Musical Yearly: 34. 90's: Don't Speak: I really feel like I'm losing my best friend.
Character Collection: 351. Ron Weasley
Insane House: 117. Fairy/Fae
