Disclaimer: I own nothing but my laptop. Nada. The plotline is mine though, but if you want to use anything form it, all you have to do is ask. I share very well. Most of the time.

Chapter Nine Replacement Revolution

Harry was in a strangely good mood the next night and Tom was beginning to wonder. His experiments were his life's work true, but…He frowned. There was something up. Voldemort watched his Puppet Master speaking to Severus in a dark corner of the patio, a bright smile on his face. It wasn't just that he was smiling though. There was a softness in his eyes that he just didn't look at anyone else with. A smile on Severus's face was another anomaly. The cranky potion's master rarely smiled. For him to do it so easily with Harry made something hot and ugly coil tight and furiously in the Dark Lord's stomach. It made a hiss pass through his mouth, unheard by anyone else. He turned from the sight and back into his rooms. He had been just about to go down to the party when he had spotted the couple from his personal balcony. With one glance back, he noted that the two were now missing from the scene. He sincerely hoped that they had gone back into the party but something told him that they hadn't. Voldemort aimed a glare of fury at his room before throwing a globe across the room, watching it shatter against the far wall. He swallowed his feelings as best as he could and slowly walked to the party, hoping for Harry's sake that they were somewhere in the crowd.

Harry sat with Severus in the center of the maze of hedges, a soft smile on his face. He hadn't felt such lovesick giddiness since…never really. His head swam with it. With Tom, he had a dark sort of love. One that was centered around the fact that Tom had to remove his head from his arse before he could finally give in. With Lucius it had just been mutual fun. With everyone else it had been mainly to secure alliances and his powerbase. He had never felt this sort of freeing feeling. In half of his mind, he was disgusted with himself for allowing such a display of childishness. On the other hand however, he genuinely adored Severus. All of the man's quirks and sarcasms, everything. He chuckled lightly at the rambunctious fairy that had taken to buzzing around Severus's hair and spinning rapid braids in it. The potion's master swatted the thing away with an amused scowl, grimacing at the three braids. Harry grinned and reached up to untangle them himself. His hair was so soft. When he looked back at Severus's eyes, he saw an amused reflection of his own longing for that one person, the fabled One. When Severus's lips timidly found his, he didn't rush in like he did with all others. He didn't pull away. Harry kissed him back just as chastely. He didn't want lust, like he sought from the others. He didn't want to control him. Harry wanted his love. He supposed that it was unfair of him to wish such a thing because they both knew that he would be with Tom in the end. Neither of them could bring themselves to not want it though. This tender affection that neither had ever experienced in full. So they kissed under the full moon in the Dark Lord's gardens and let themselves enjoy it, knowing full well that when they went back to the party, to the rest of the world they would have to be just colleagues, maybe friends, once more. Harry knew for sure that Severus was the only person he had been with to date whose arms he had lain in that loved him. Not his body, but HIM. It was a thought that made him very…sad. So he let himself cry as Severus held him beneath that full moon. His partner didn't need to ask why. Severus already knew. He knew him better than anyone else ever would.

Voldemort watched his two masters come back into the hall together, chatting about some potion or another that Harry was using in his wide arsenal and how it could be best suited for different circumstances. He could feel that coiled rage inside him simmer and lash out at his insides, making his anger spike dangerously. Lucius seemed to notice something was wrong because he gently but quickly tugged the glass out of his Lord's hand. The glass had fine cracks running up it. Narcissa came to her husband's aid immediately.

"My Lord, may I steal you away from Lucius for this next dance?"

Xavin watched the Puppetmaster approach, a small grin on his mouth. He let the delicious young man pull him away silently, a mischievous look in his eyes. What was the teen up to now? He thought that the little minx wanted to have some more fun until he noticed the Dark Lord's potions master following them inconspicuously. So it was something they didn't want anyone to know about? He looked at Harry and smirked. Well, he would be glad to assist the beauty. After all. One day, Harry would be his anyways.

Voldemort retired to his rooms alone that night, silently fuming over the way that Harry and Severus were close when even he and Harry hadn't approached that level of intimacy. He swore and kicked his shoes off. There would be no rest for him tonight. Not with this one his mind. Oh well. At least he could work on the alliance papers for the next day.

Harry groaned, the burn coursing through his blood. He leaned against the door panting. The pain was excruciating but the urge hurt him to the core. His intended was here! He had to be! He needed relief! He needed HIM! It was mere seconds before Tom came through the bedroom door curiously, lured by his presence. He immediately attached himself to the Dark Lord's mouth, much to the man's confusion. The pain began to abate, lulled by the promise of relief to come. Harry felt his eyes roll back into his head at the sensations that overwhelmed him at that moment.

"{Touch me.}" He hissed in parsle.

Tom was just about to joyfully comply when the door burst open admitting a very hassled looking potion's master.

"Don't! He's been slipped a lust potion!"

Tom immediately held the squirming, cursing teen away from him. Harry groaned, biting off the sound with a plea in the snake language. The Dark Lord himself was cursing his stupidity. He wanted Harry so badly that he had completely missed the obvious. He had nearly taken advantage of him! If he ignored Severus now though, he could have Harry…No. That wasn't the way to assure the puppet master's affections. It was the way to assure his rage and hatred. He glared at Severus making the man take a nervous step back.

"Who?! How could you let this happen?! Where are his protectors?!"

"Tom!"

"No, Harry. Not this way. I won't take advantage of you like this." He whispered, instantly sobering and he painfully distanced himself.

Something flashed in those fey-like eyes as Severus rushed over to inject the anti-serum, but the Dark Lord did not see it. He had turned away so he would not be further tempted. As much as he was angry at the couple behind him, he wouldn't let himself vent at them. Severus was his…trusted colleague. He wouldn't alienate him just because he slept with Harry. He bitterly had the thought, who HADN'T slept with him, other than him, of course. Severus looked awkwardly between the two of them, shooting Harry a smile before leaving the couple to the conversation they were surely bound to have. Tom felt small, familiar hands slip into his own from behind. Harry laid his cheek against his back as if he were resting there peacefully.

"You did it, Tom…"

"What?"

"You did it. You finally showed that you respect me." Tom sat a moment in stunned silence before Harry's last comment took him off guard, "I knew you could do it…"

Finally, Harry thought with a relieved sigh and gently tugged Tom into his bedroom. Tom respected him at last. They could FINALLY be together.

Tom lay next to his beloved, caught up in in elation and blissful exhaustion after the touches, the kisses and the burning heat that had coursed through them. He was not so caught up that he wasn't thinking the situation through though. Harry was by no means a virgin and he had made it very clear that he was not interested in monogamy. The thought made him cringe inside but it was true. Harry used the desires of others to secure his powerbase and to create alliances. As a Dark Lord, he understood that one had to give something before you could get something in return, but he wasn't sure he could get passed having to wonder every moment of every day where and with who his husband was with. Harry smiled over at him, frowning though when he saw the thoughtful look on the Dark Lord's face.

"What's wrong, Tom?" Harry whispered, fear beginning to find a place inside him.

It felt as if there were cold ice sitting in his stomach and his heart seemed to have stopped and then sped up all in the same moment. Tom looked into his eyes and Hary hoped he couldn't see the uncertainty he felt there.

"Harry, how many people have you ever been with?"

The question made him reel and he sat up, completely shocked by it. His face closed off.

"Tom, that's quite a question to ask NOW." He said shortly, in a clipped tone.

He felt Tom sit up beside him but the only sound that met his ears was his steady breathing. Harry felt his protectors hover anxiously around him as if waiting for something big to happen. That made him even more nervous. They always knew when something was about to happen. The dead talk after all. He got up and began replacing his missing clothes, leaving his long hair down.

"Harry, I want you to be with me. Just me."

The Puppet Master froze at the mirror, looking into it at the crimson eyed man he adored sitting silently on the bed behind him.

"You know I can't do that…"

"Then…I can't do this. If you won't be with me alone, then I can't be with you at all."

His eyes widened and his hands stilled in his hair where he had been brushing it out with his fingers. He felt his heart seemed to stop beating. Tom was his…everything. He had waited so long to be with him. He had been waiting years for Tom to grow up enough for them to finally be together. He had refused to build many relationships just because of him. Tom was his past, present.. .His entire future.

"So that's how it is, then…" He whispered, his voice seeming to be stuck in his throat.

He felt a moan of grief and despair build in his chest but refused to give it voice until he was out of the sight of the man.

"Yes."

He couldn't even speak. He merely nodded at the man before quickly taking his leave. As he walked out the door, he swore he could hear the sound of his own heart breaking. He could go to Severus…No. Just the thought of looking at the man with such a broken soul, a shattered heart, made his stomach turn. He turned into his rooms and with one look around the place he had called home since he was young, he flicked his wand, flinging his things into his magical bottomless bag. He couldn't stay. This place was no longer his home. Not without Tom. Surely the man despised him. He had rejected him but…the thought that hurt him the most was that Tom had slept with him first, before telling him he had no intention of being with him. He had just used him. Harry couldn't help it. In the midst of his rooms, he sank to the floor, dissolving into tears.

Severus walked into his rooms, leaving his lab at long last. He was surprised to see Harry sitting silently on his bed. He had thought that he and Voldemort would be together all night. He certainly didn't expect the teen to look as if his closest friend had just died. Harry looked…crushed. He vaguely noted that despite how calm he looked, there were tear tracks on his face and his eyes held the looked of a shattered soul. What had happened?

"Harry? What's wrong?" He ventured gently, stepping over to sit down beside him.

Harry was silent for a long time before finally answering the concerned man.

"Tom doesn't want me. At all. We…" Harry just shook his head, tears spilling from those broken emerald eyes but Severus understood. They had been together, " But then after, he told me that if I wouldn't be with only him, then he wouldn't be with me at all."

The Potion's master froze in shock. What…?

"I'm going away. I don't know for how long. I just wanted you to know so yo didn't think that you had done something wrong…"

He ran shaking hands through his dark hair and Severus's heart broke for the distressed boy. How long would it be before he saw Harry again? Weeks Months? Years…? Merlin he hoped not. He merely nodded and kissed the top of the Puppet Master's head. With an aching heart he watched Harry Potter walk out of his door and disappear into the night. He let him go because that was what Harry needed. He needed someone who loved him enough to let him walk away.

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