Chapter 5: Deliberate Encounters

Tom arrived early the next day with two cups of coffee in a paper tray and settled at his desk to wait. When Harry came in to do his regular photocopies, he would find the machine unserviceable, and then he would come to Tom for help.

"Coffee again?" asked Girl-Weasley. She was peering around their shared wall, her eyes narrowed with interest.

"Yes," Tom deadpanned. "It allows me to be productive, which is a habit you may wish to consider adopting."

"Maybe drink some of your coffee, since you're in such a strop." Girl-Weasley rolled her eyes at him, then walked over to Granger's cubicle. Tom guessed that the intention was for gossip, and decided to tune them out.

To prove his point about productivity, Tom switched his computer on and got to work looking through his email to pass the time. Whenever Harry finally came by, Tom would be the perfect image of a model employee.

Seven emails later, Tom glanced at the clock display. Fifteen minutes past the start of the workday. Harry had not arrived at the office yet; Tom would have noticed if he had. What was the cause of the delay?

Tom pushed back in his chair, eyeing the cup of coffee he had ordered especially for Harry. It was snug in its paper holder, but the longer it sat idle, the cooler it would get.

A few more minutes, then. If Harry did not appear by then, Tom would concoct an excuse to make his own photocopies.

One minute.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Almost fifteen minutes later, Tom was imagining scenarios in which the photocopier had turned into a demon and absconded with Harry into the underworld.

Granger stopped by his desk, a thin stack of paper in her hands. "Riddle, may I ask a favour?"

Tom allowed every bit of disdain he could muster to show on his face. "What is it?"

"As you know, I've had to rework the project timeline for the ERP system. I was wondering if you could bring a photocopy of this updated version of the charter to Malfoy. The last time I tried to get him to sign one, he ignored me for about three days, but this time it is actually very important that everyone involved reads the changes. I need it before the end of today. I know he'll do it if it's coming from you, which is why I've come to ask."

Tom rubbed at his temple. Did everything Granger say have to come in paragraph form? Was there no simple way of framing such a request? "Fine," he snapped. "Leave it here." At least this had given him an excuse to go use the machine.

"Thank you, Riddle." Granger dropped her charter on his desk, then departed.

Tom snatched the papers up along with his coffee tray and headed straight for the photocopier. If he heard Girl-Weasley snickering from her cubicle, he chose to ignore it.

Upon approaching the tiny room that housed the photocopier, Tom saw that yes, Harry had chosen to come here first thing in the morning. However, Harry had decidedly not chosen to go and seek out Tom's help, as he had said he would.

"Harry?"

Harry jolted upright, nearly smacking his head against the copier. "Tom! Hello, good morning."

Tom fixed Harry with a disapproving stare. "I told you that you could ask me for help."

Harry scowled at the machine. "I know. But I can fix it myself, really. You don't need to bother yourself with it."

"Apparently I do." Tom waved Granger's stack of papers in the air. "I need a copy of this."

"Ah," Harry said. "Well, let me just… finish up here."

Tom took pity on him. He set the papers aside and said, "I brought you coffee. Why don't you enjoy that, and I'll have a look?"

Harry hesitated, and so Tom raised a brow at him and held the tray out. "Cup on the left. It'll be cold if you don't."

That did it. Harry did not want the offering to go unappreciated. He took the tray from Tom's hands and retrieved the cup with his usual order labeled clearly on the side.

"I should pay you back for the coffee," Harry said sheepishly. "Or maybe I can pay for tomorrow's?" He turned the second cup around and squinted at Tom's order.

"That sounds like a wonderful arrangement."

Harry sipped at his coffee while Tom put the copier back to rights. When it was done, Tom made a show of dusting his trousers off. "I think that will do it."

"My hero," Harry said jokingly.

"Oh, any time," Tom murmured, stepping over to retrieve his own coffee, brushing past Harry as he did so.

Harry flushed and promptly shrunk back to make room for Tom to fiddle with the coffee tray. "Right."

"You need only ask," Tom continued, drawing his arm back and raising his cup to his lips. The coffee was mostly warm now, but that didn't matter to Tom anymore. "I promise I am only too glad to assist you with whatever you may require."

"I appreciate that," Harry said earnestly. "I just prefer to do things on my own, when I can. It's not meant as an insult."

Tom sighed loudly and placed a hand on Harry's forearm. "Harry," he said, in a gentle tone. "As your unofficial assistant, I will take it upon myself to fulfill all your needs. Do not concern yourself with the monotonous day-to-day workings of this branch. I am very happy to manage the tedium of the photocopier on your behalf."

Harry's arm twitched but remained otherwise still. Tom could feel the flex of muscle beneath his fingers—firm and well-built. Rugby, Harry had mentioned.

"I just wouldn't want to, er, take advantage. Although you may be right about the copier." Harry let out a nervous chuckle and gave the machine a pat. "I probably ought to let you handle it next time before it tries to eat me."

The only one taking advantage here would be Tom.

"Precisely," Tom said, dragging his hand down Harry's bicep before letting his arm fall away. "So you'll come to me from now on if you need anything, is that right?" Tom smiled, widening his eyes ever so slightly, as though the answer to his question was a forgone conclusion.

Harry shifted his arm backwards, then moved it back to its previous resting position. The indecisiveness would have been adorable if it wasn't such an unfortunate hindrance. "You can make your copies first," Harry said hastily. "That's Hermione's project charter, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. She asked me to make a copy for Draco."

"That's nice of you! I know they don't get along very well, though I'm not quite sure why." Harry ruffled his hair with his free hand in a stressful motion. "Maybe I should talk to Pansy about that, see if she has any ideas." Then he shook his head and set his coffee back down upon the table. "I shouldn't be talking about this with you, really. Sorry about that. It's not very appropriate of me, and I don't want to cause you any difficulties."

"I won't say a word," Tom promised. "You can trust me, Harry. Anything we do stays strictly between us."

"Yeah." Harry stared for a moment longer, hopefully turning the phrasing over in his head. Then he cleared his throat. "Um, yes. So go ahead and make your copies, don't let me keep you here!"

Tom took his time duplicating Granger's project charter. Once it was done, he stapled the new copy together and stacked it atop the original. He took his cup of coffee and dumped the empty cardboard tray into the paper recycling.

"Great," Harry said. "I'll just get to my own copies now. God knows they've been waiting long enough while I've been standing around and distracting you."

"Do you have copies every morning?" Tom asked, just to keep the conversation going.

"Not always," Harry admitted. "But there are some things that can't just be dumped into an email. I like to keep paper copies of certain documents in my office for easy access."

"I see." That meant it was only pure luck that today had gone as it had. Tom made note to pay closer attention to Harry's schedule.

"Don't worry," Harry said, seeming concerned by Tom's blunt response. "I promise I'll ask you for help if I need it, next time."

"For anything," Tom affirmed. "Not just the copier."

Harry nodded. "Sure." He paused, then, his hand resting against the open lid of the copier. "Thank you, by the way," Harry said, offering up a shy smile. "It's been really nice getting to know you. I'm a lot more comfortable here knowing that someone's in my corner."

Tom felt as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Of course, Harry. I know you'd do the same for me."

A/N:

hello, it's been a while! this story is still a thing that is happening.

i hope you all like this chapter. i'm not sure when the next one will be, but it will come eventually.

thanks for reading!