We made it! The world didn't end! And in celebration I have decided to update. Yay! Update! Its also an early Christmas present from me to you guys for being so patient with me. Enjoy!

EDITED: 8/5/17


Meant To Be

Chapter 16

Over the next few weeks, Tom would come over to visit Wynter; once sometimes twice a week just to see her. Harry always stayed in the room when he was over and he didn't allow Tom to hold her either. He was still wary that if he did, Tom would take off with her. Tom seemed to understand because he didn't ask or get angry about it.

But Harry was starting to relax. He allowed Tom to touch Wynter now, just little touches to her face or hands. It seemed to Harry that Tom was almost afraid to touch her, not that he blamed him. Harry had gone through a period when Wynter had been born of being so gentle with her like she was made of glass. It took a while to realize that she wouldn't shatter beneath his fingers.

And Harry was right. Tom was afraid to hold Wynter in fear that he would drop her. She was so small and fragile. Harry was a natural at taking care of her, even going so far as to only hold her with one arm while he did something else. Tom didn't think he could do that, not that Harry was ready to give her up anyway. He was content to just sit and watch her lay there and touch her little hands.

While he was there, Tom would ask more questions about Wynter and Harry would answer enthusiastically complete with a story. But mostly they would just watch her as she lay on the floor playing with her toys. They would watch her for what seemed like hours and would never tire of it. Wynter also seemed to like the attention of the new man; she would give a little smile when she saw him come over and Tom would melt when he saw it. They hadn't known each other long but Wynter already had Tom wrapped around her little finger.

Everything was perfect between the bonding of Tom and Wynter. She seemed to understand that this man was an important person in her life and was more than willing to let another person bask in her cuteness. However, it was an entirely different matter between Harry and Tom. If there was a word to describe it, it would be awkward. With what had happened before seemed to just sit there unspoken about, not that either of them minded, they both just wanted to pretend it didn't happen.

Nothing would happen when Tom was over though and they made sure that it didn't. It seemed that whatever it was that was pulling them together only acted out when it was just the two of them, so Harry always made sure that Wynter was there with them. But of course, before they had figured that out there had been a little incident.

Wynter had still been taking her nap and Tom had come over. They had just sat on the couch making small talk when suddenly they were both too close to each other, close enough that Harry could see the little flecks of red in Tom's blue eyes. They had been saved by Wynter's cry from the baby monitor announcing that she was awake. Harry had jumped away from Tom and practically ran from the room to get her while Tom composed himself. Tom had then come to the conclusion that if left alone something would happen between them.

Even though nothing happened, there seemed to be something boiling just near the surface. They both felt it though it was ignored. But over time it just seemed to get worse to the point where Harry wouldn't be able to sleep because of the heat in his nether regions that no amount of touching himself could relieve it. The same could be said for Tom.

But then Tom had an idea that changed everything.

"I can't do this," Tom muttered and stood up to pace in front of the coffee table.

"W-What do you mean?" Harry asked getting up and placing himself in front of Wynter who was lying on the floor.

Tom paused and looked at Harry in his defensive position. "Not about Wynter. No. It's…this," he said gesturing between them.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"I know you can feel it. This…this pull that is between us. I don't know what it is but it's distracting."

Harry gulped, "Oh." He knew what Tom was talking about. That feeling that he felt right under his skin, especially when Tom was near him. When he left it almost felt angry? Frustrated? It was worse when he went to bed and was relaxing, he would feel all hot and bothered for hours and it irritated him to no end. "D-Did you find out anything?" he asked.

"No," Tom said crossing his arms, the fingers of his right hand touching his lips lightly. Harry recognized it as Tom's thinking pose. "I can't find anything remotely close to our situation. It's like an itch I can't scratch."

Harry nodded. He knew how that felt. He was feeling like that right now.

"The only way that seems to make it go away is to…" Tom trailed off.

"No," Harry said flatly.

"You think I want to?" Tom asked annoyed, "I just need to figure out how to relieve it without bedding you."

Harry flinched, "Do you have to be so crude. Wynter can hear you, you know."

Tom blinked and looked down into Wynter's curious green eyes. "Sorry."

After that, Tom sat down again, but after a while, he seemed to be getting closer and closer until Tom was right next to him. Harry could feel the warmth of Tom's skin through his shirt and where they were touching made him feel hot. He couldn't move either, he was trapped between the armrest and Tom and Wynter was on the floor in front of him. He wasn't sure if Tom did it on purpose or it was unconsciously done to get closer to Wynter to play with her feet. But he couldn't just get up, one, it would point out that he was uncomfortable and two, Wynter was enjoying herself, giggling her little head off. Plus, Tom was smiling, actually smiling. It was nice…

No! It is not nice. Stop thinking like that! Harry scolded himself firmly.

"What's wrong with her?" Tom suddenly asked.

Harry glanced down at Wynter who had her face scrunched up almost like in concentration. He smiled, "Someone needs a change." Tom made a face and Harry couldn't help but laugh as he scooped Wynter up. "Come on then."

"What?" Tom asked bewildered.

"If you want to be a part of her life you have to learn to take care of her," Harry said as he took a hold of Tom's arm and pulled him off the couch. "That includes changing her diaper."

Harry pulled a stunned Dark Lord down the hall to Wynter's bedroom and gently laid her down on the changing table, then moved aside.

Tom stared blankly at his daughter on the table then up at Harry. "You're seriously going to make me change her?"

"Of course. It's part of the parenting experience. And no magic. I do it the old fashioned way."

"…What do I do?"

Harry smiled and proceeded to direct him. "First you have to get to her diaper so open the buttons…"

It took a little longer to change Wynter, but it got done. Harry was impressed that Tom didn't gag when he opened the diaper; then again he was a Dark Lord and was probably used to seeing gross stuff like that. Harry was just used to it by now, especially after he had the experience of changing her after starting Wynter on solid foods. Now that had been disgusting.

After Wynter was changed and dressed again, Harry picked her up. "There. Not so bad, was it?"

"How do you do that every day?"

"It's because I do it every day that I can do it."

"I see."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it too."

Tom nodded and watched as Harry placed Wynter on the floor in the living room and went into the kitchen to prepare a bottle. Harry kept an eye on them from the door way just to make sure Wynter was okay and when Harry came back Tom was in his "thinking pose" again. He thought nothing of it as Tom got that way time to time and sometimes took a few minutes to snap out of it. As Harry made to go to Wynter Tom suddenly stepped into his path. "W-What are you doing?" Harry asked when Tom suddenly pulled him flush against him.

"Testing something," Tom said before his lips were on Harry's.

Harry struggled at first; placing his hand against Tom's chest and the bottle in the other hand pushing against his shoulder, trying to pull away. But Tom put a hand on the back of his neck to hold him in place. After a few seconds, Harry melted into the kiss.

It was simple and sweet; there was no tongue, just simple lips on lips. And it was amazing. It was like a tide of relief washing over them both, soothing the treacherous monster that lived inside of them. Harry let out a little sigh as Tom nibbled on his lip leaving him breathless before Tom pulled away.

Harry slowly opened his eyes and looked up into Tom's blue eyes feeling like he was floating on a cloud. Then he became aware of what had just happened and pushed away from him and Tom let him go. "W-What was that for?!" he asked, his voice higher than usual.

"Like I said, testing something." Harry scoffed. "I'm sure you've noticed I've been closer than usual to you today."

Harry felt his face heat up and turned away so that Tom wouldn't notice. Yes, he had noticed how could he not. He looked over at Tom who smirked at him. He quickly looked away. Damn him and his stupid face! Harry thought vehemently. He looked down at Wynter who was watching them, fascinated. Harry felt his blush deepen and scooped her up and gave her the bottle.

"It seems that what ever this is between us is appeased by physical contact, but simply being near you isn't enough. Intimate contact, however, seems to work."

Harry thought for a moment and realized that the "itch" that had been there was gone. Well not completely, he could still feel it but it was bearable. "That doesn't mean you can just…do that."

"It's just a kiss."

"To you!" Harry seethed.

"It was the only way to test my theory," Tom said simply, seemingly unaffected by the kiss. "Would you have let me kiss you if I had asked?" Harry said nothing. "I thought so. However, I do not know how long the effects will last."

"So what? You have to kiss me again?" Harry asked bitingly.

"Yes." Harry stared at him gob smacked. He couldn't believe him! "Or we can just let it go and in a few weeks or days we end up in bed together again," Tom added.

Harry glared in his directing and gently patted Wynter's back until she burped. As much as he hated to admit it, Tom was right. These emotions or whatever was bound to spiral out of control sooner or later. It was better to head it off and try to appease it any way they could. It's just a kiss, no big deal…right? "Fine," Harry agreed; his heart racing a mile a minute.

Tom nodded. "Until I figure out how to stop it completely it is what we will have to do."

And that was exactly what happened. Tom would come over and before anything else, he would kiss Harry. Like before nothing over the top, just a kiss. Then Tom would go on like nothing happened. Harry would pretend to, but on the inside, he was a whole mess of emotions.

He hated the kisses and yet he didn't. They were short and sweet, sometimes lingering kisses that took Harry's breath away and he loved the feeling. They were so gentle and caring, so different than what he thought a Dark Lord would kiss like. Yet it was because Tom was a Dark Lord that he hated them. The kisses stirred up things inside him that he didn't know how to even begin to explain. It was all so complicated and just so…ugh. He just blamed it all on the connection thing and left it at that.

Harry wasn't the only one having conflicting thoughts. Tom was feeling things that he hadn't felt in years yet he had no idea what it was. He had first come up with the theory and idea to kiss Harry to get rid of the itchy feeling that crawled underneath his skin every time he was in a room with him. Only kissing Harry felt like heaven and he had wanted to keep doing it again and again; which is why after a few days of kissing Harry he started giving him another when he left. It had stunned Harry the first time he had done so but he hadn't been able to resist kissing those sweet lips of his. Not that he told Harry that. No. He just told him that it was just an assurance until they next saw each other. Harry hadn't complained.

All these visits and kisses stirred up uncertain emotions that they did not know what to do with and left them both very confused.

xxx

It had been a week and a half since what Harry called "the kiss deal" and it was already turning into a normal thing. It was like Tom was kissing him in greeting, then kissing him good bye when he left. It was almost like…

Harry shook his head. No. What am I thinking? There's no way that we are a family. Tom is only coming here because of Wynter. That's all; he nodded to himself and continued to fold laundry.

Yet the more he thought about it the more it seemed like they were. Not that he wouldn't be…opposed to it. They sort of already were, with the both of them here acting as parents to Wynter, taking care of her together. Sure it wasn't a relationship, more like a mutual agreement but it was something. And what Harry wanted the most in the world was a family. So it wasn't a bad thing. But now with all these swirling thoughts and emotions confusing him because of this connection. It was almost as if he—

A sudden knocking at the door startled him. He's here!

Harry quickly tossed the carefully folded laundry in the basket and put it behind the couch so the living room wouldn't look cluttered. He checked on Wynter, who was playing with her toes again, to see that she was still there and that she was okay and then made his way to the door. As he made his way over he stopped and backpedaled to look at himself in the small mirror hanging on the wall; trying in vain to comb out his hair with his fingers and trying to make it lay flat. He suddenly caught himself and he stopped. What am I doing?! Since when do I fix my hair for Tom? What is wrong with me? He quickly went to the door and opened it to find…Ron and Hermione.

Disappointment suddenly flooded him like a wave and it shocked him. "…hey."

Hermione's smile wavered slightly as she saw him, "Hey Harry…Were you expecting someone?"

Harry snapped his attention to her and stood up straight. "O-Of course not! Come on in," he said gesturing them inside. What was wrong with him? These were his friends, he should be happy to see them. But you wanted it to be Tom… came the snide voice in his head. He ignored it.

Hermione and Ron shared identical grins as the stepped in. Hermione made a beeline for Wynter and picked her up. "Aww! Look at you! You're so big!" she cooed as she held Wynter up in the air. Wynter squealed in delight at the two familiar faces and reached for her. Hermione "Awed" and hugged her tight.

"You remember us, don't you Wynter?" Ron said with a smile.

"Of course she does. You're her godparents," Harry said.

"I know, but we don't visit as often as we should," Hermione said.

"That's okay, I understand. You're busy and she knows that too, which makes you coming over even more special."

"We just don't want her to forget us,' Ron said tugging on a foot.

"She won't forget, I talk to her about you guys all the time," Harry replied.

"What are you looking at," Hermione cooed, as Wynter looked around the room. Harry tensed slightly, she wasn't looking at something, she was looking for someone, but Hermione didn't notice. "Has she started talking yet?"

"No she just babbles nonsense," Harry smiled as Wynter started doing just that.

Hermione Awed again and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I don't want to miss anything."

"Me neither," Ron said.

"I always have my camera with me," Harry said.

"Good," Hermione said, "So, Harry who was it?"

"Who was what?" Harry asked.

"Who were you expecting?"

"I wasn't expecting anyone."

"Come on mate, you can tell us," Ron said.

"No really. There was no one. I just wasn't expecting you today. You usually come on Saturdays," Harry said.

"We both got a day off and decided to come visit," Ron said. "So?" he asked not letting it go.

"So, what? There's nothing to say," Harry said with a plastered smile getting up to make tea, "I'm not seeing anyone if that is what you are implying."

"Harry, you were clearly expecting someone else when you opened the door," Hermione pressed.

"Yeah, you didn't look too happy to see us," Ron added.

"Of course I was happy!" Harry said coming back in with the tea set, "I just wasn't expecting you."

"So you were expecting someone else," Ron said with a smirk.

"No. I was not expecting someone else. I wasn't expecting anyone," Harry said, getting annoyed. "I am not seeing anyone, okay."

"There's no need to be shy, Harry," Hermione said bouncing Wynter on her lap, "There's no shame in finding someone and going on dates. It will be good for you."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron added, "So is it someone from the Muggle town?"

"There are a lot of cute boys out there that I saw the last time we went to town, one of them catch your attention?"

"Is he nice?"

"Is he hot?"

"Does he treat Wynter okay?"

"Does he-"

"Stop it! That's enough!" Harry snapped, tired of the badgering.

"Harry-" Hermione said, startled.

"No. I don't want to hear it anymore. There is no one, okay. I am not seeing anyone, so drop it."

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself as Ron and Hermione looked apologetic and glanced down at Wynter in Hermione's lap. She looked startled by Harry's outburst and was about to cry. Harry hurriedly took her into his arms and rubbed her back soothingly and kissed her forehead to calm her down.

Harry didn't know why he was getting so angry. They were just harmless questions. Any other time he would have laughed his ass off or would have played along and made up some fantasy guy to catch their interest until they realized he was playing with them. He wasn't seeing anyone and definitely wasn't seeing Tom. Okay, sure he had been expecting Tom at the door, so what? It's not like we're dating, he thought and immediately thought of one of Tom's kisses. He burrowed his face into Wynter's curls to hide the coloring of his cheeks and mentally shook his head to rid himself of the image. No, he defiantly wasn't seeing anyone…so why was he so angry?

"Harry. I- We're sorry," Hermione said, "We didn't mean to push."

"Yeah, mate. Sorry."

Harry sighed and lifted his head. He gazed down at Wynter to see if she was okay and gave her a smile, which she copied. "No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so angry. I just…I guess I'm going a little stir crazy here." Which was true, so he wasn't lying. He missed the magical world and wanted to see the rest of his friends and the rest of the Weasley's. And definitely, introduce Wynter to everyone…but he couldn't.

"I guess you would, being stuck here," Ron said.

"But you can go outside, go to town…" Hermione put in.

"Yeah, but it's not the same."

"I know but just hang in there okay?" Hermione said.

Harry nodded and settled back against the couch with Wynter against his shoulder. "So how's work?"

With that, they both launched into a conversation about Ron's Auror training and Hermione's job at the Ministry and other topics. They told him how everyone missed him and that everyone was doing okay. They avoided talking about Voldemort and his evil doing so as to not darken the mood. Harry was mostly ignorant of the goings on in the world because he wanted nothing to do with the war anymore, not since Wynter. Sure he got the Daily Prophet but he just glanced through it and Tom never said anything either. It was an unspoken rule between them that Tom wouldn't bring his "work" into the house.

Harry listened with rapt attention, drinking in everything they said about the magical world. Hermione didn't leave out a single detail so that he didn't feel like he missed out at all. But all the talk was making him feel home sick anyway.

"So, how about you? Anything going on around here?" Hermione asked.

Harry paused and thought for a moment. That was a good question. Was there? He glanced down at Wynter who was staring up at him as if to say Yeah, daddy was here! But that wasn't something he could just tell them, could he? Saying something would reveal the secret that Harry had been keeping about Wynter's father, but it would also mean that Harry had been inviting his enemy into his house, willingly. It would mean that Dumbledore would take him and Wynter out of here and Harry would be away from Voldemort, far away from the man who was a threat to him and his daughter. But that wouldn't be fair to Wynter. She already adored Tom and had gotten used to seeing him. Not to mention it wouldn't be fair to Tom. He had been so nice to the both of them and hadn't made any attempt to harm them. Besides Tom was right, Wynter needed her mother, but she needed her father too. Really the reason Harry went into hiding in the first place was to hide from Tom, but since he was really no threat to them there was no reason to tell.

The good thing that would come out of telling the truth would be to get away from those kisses and smoldering blue eyes and the unwanted attraction he felt, those he could live without. They were becoming unbearable. So what should he do?

"…"

"Harry?" Hermione questioned.

Harry looked up and smiled, "Nothing. There's nothing."


Holy crap 10 whole pages, aren't you guys lucky. Not much happened but things are finally moving along nicely. Tom and Harry are getting closer and a little bit more about their "special" connection. Some of you have already figured out what it is, but I won't spoil it for everyone. And Harry gave up on the opportunity, to tell the truth that Tom was around. Big step there, go Harry!

For those of you who have asked. Wynter is 3 and a half months old and in my mind, it is March here since she was born in December. I'm sorry if all the baby stuff is inaccurate, I don't have a baby nor have I ever been pregnant. I get all my information from the Internet. God bless the Internet! What would I do without you?

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to those of you that don't celebrate it and have a Happy New Year if I don't get the next chapter up before then. Probably not so don't count on it. See you next year!

phoenixmaiden