I've been asked by certain people to warn you when things like sex happen. Now, I know this is a sequel, but for god's sake, there's a label in the summary that says HPLV, not HPTR. If the thought of HPLV disgusts you, even if you like HPTR, then please don't read this story, because Harry is now with an older, more experienced and scaly Tom, called Voldemort. :P
Warning for kissing.
I've decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King Jr.
¤
As much as he wanted to, Harry couldn't set out right away. He had to wait until he was sure all of his dorm mates were sound asleep. He could tell that Ron had only just settled in from his restless breathing.
He was restless as he lay there, mind racing through countless possibilities. Why had it taken so long for Tom to call him? Maybe he didn't want to talk. Maybe he was going to hurt him, hurt him as much as he could for all the pain Harry had caused. His breath hitched as bloody images of Tom turning his wand on him flew through his head.
'No! Don't be stupid. Why am I only thinking of these things now?'
It was a little late for doubts. He just had to move forward.
Finally, the deep snores of every occupant in the room alerted him to the fact he could now slip away undetected. He pulled his wand from under the pillow.
"Accresco capillus," Harry whispered under his breath. He felt his hair snake its way down to his shoulder blades once more. Another wave of his wand summoned his cloak. He didn't know where he was going to end up and it was chilly tonight.
As the clasp clicked together, Harry cast a final glance around the room. Clear. Letalis slithered up his arm and around his neck, shrinking to a diminutive size.
Then Harry disappeared, following the ever insistent call.
He didn't see Ron sit up.
¤
The fire in the hearth had long since gone out, dying beneath his inattention. The room was now only illuminated by the soft glow of candles and dim lanterns that hung from the walls. Voldemort leaned against the stony wall, bracing himself with one hand while staring into the fire pit.
He'd opened the link several hours ago and now the waiting was causing his skin to crawl. Doubts were creeping into his head. Maybe the other had changed his mind, found Voldemort in his new body disgusting. Perhaps he'd decided to stay with the Light-
His thoughts were cut off by a shift in the air, displaced by another entity. Immediately Voldemort felt his skin tingle with the power of an unleashed Dark aura. In his age, Voldemort was able to feel it much more intensely than he had before. The very texture of the darkness begged him to turn around and be closer to the being it was emanating from. He fought the urge, his shoulders tensing with the strain. He just didn't know what to say.
-Oh, for Merlin'sss sssake, jussst talk to him, Assspen!-
The hiss startled him. Voldemort hadn't sensed another in the room. Slowly, he turned, eyes roving about the room until they landed on Aspen's shadowed form, white coils draped about his shoulders. The coils took the form of a snake, who cocked her head in his direction.
-Long time no sssee, Tom.-
It was the mysterious snake that had driven his mind so far in the past, Letalis. Here was the final proof to the boy's story.
Aspen walked cautiously forward, each step slow and unsure. When he made no move to do anything, the boy came closer, until Voldemort could see his face in stark detail.
He'd been young and foolish in those days, when he'd fallen in love with that face, that body, that soul. Young, he may no longer be, but it appeared he was still just as unwise. He could almost forget that the person before him was an enemy.
-Thisss isss boring. Kissss and make up ssso I can go back to sssleep,- Letalis once again interrupted Voldemort's thoughts. He was about to speak to her when the other finally stepped closer and Letalis slid from his shoulders to the floor.
Aspen's metallic eyes met his own, quivering with some unreadable feeling. He finally spoke.
-I loved you, you know. Even though I knew who you were and what you'd become.-
Voldemort's hand slid off the stone wall to fall to his side. He drew himself up to his full height to face Aspen squarely, but didn't say a word.
The vampire drew near to him until he was only a foot away. Voldemort took in the way his shoulders shook with nervousness, but couldn't bring himself to pick one emotion out of the many that boiled in his chest. Out of them all, even though he'd already made a decision, doubt prevailed.
-Do you really think I'd stop now?-
The words were in Parseltongue and the boy was speaking nothing but the truth. This time he whipped red eyes to meet the other's pensive expression.
-Yesss.- His answer was clear and without hesitation. It was almost morbidly amusing to see the shock that riddled the vampire's face. -There is very little I can truly believe anymore. How can you say you say you still love me, when I am torn between the urge to kill you…- Voldemort took a ominous step forward, his right hand shooting out to grasp the boy's chin, -…and kiss you?-
Already warmth was seeping into his joints from contact with Aspen's skin. He fought the compulsion to move it, to let his fingers rove all over the other's flesh. Aspen, for his part, didn't jerk away. He stood still, listening.
-You were sent back in time, far from the horrors of today's world. It would have been so easy for you to forget what you'd left behind, and fall in love with me,- Voldemort bent low, his face mere inches from Aspen's, -What you say, Potter, can only be truth, but how do I know that your rose-tinted vision will not shatter in disssgussst at my evil, murdering waysss?- as his throat closed up with emotion Voldemort's speech descended to a sheer hiss, and the last part said in searing sarcasm.
Gentle fingertips pressed against Voldemort's cheek, along with the reminding edge of deadly nails.
"Tom." There was that name again, reminding that he was the only person besides Dumbledore who spoke it, who would ever have permission to call him anything but "my lord."
-I know better than anyone else of the crimes you've committed. I was disillusioned long ago. Tom, I know it will be hard for both of us, but…I will always love you.- Aspen tilted closer so that his nose touched Voldemort's nonexistent one and he could feel the heat of his breath. -I swear.-
This was too much temptation for Voldemort to resist. He finally gave in to action and bent to claim Aspen's lips.
¤
As soon as Tom slid his arms around his waist, he knew what was coming and joined in, pulling him closer with a hand to the neck.
Harry felt a fire where their mouths melded together. It sent a jolt down his spine stronger than he'd ever experienced before, even with Tom's younger self.
For a man with no visible lips, there was a surprising amount of suction.
And there was pain beneath it all. Pain and desperation radiated off the other, from the kiss to the way he held Aspen so tightly.
Harry broke the kiss with a gasp and looked up into burning eyes.
"How…long has it been since your last kiss?" he forced the words from reluctant lips. It almost hurt to ask. Voldemort's nonexistent eyebrows scrunched together in a suffering wince.
"Fifty-four years."
Harry gaped in shock. "You mean…since I-" Voldemort's palm caressing his cheek once again cut him off.
"There has been nothing since you left, Aspen. I have accepted no one." He leaned down so that Harry could feel breath upon his face. It burned his cheeks red. "I loved no one else."
Tom kissed him again.
¤
"I have to leave. Sunrise is in an hour and I have to get back before anyone notices I'm gone."
Voldemort said nothing, simply watching as Aspen picked up his cloak from the back of the couch where they'd sat. Nothing more had happened after the kiss. Neither were ready to take another step in rebuilding their relationship with things so delicate between them.
They'd talked for hours, about things both important and inconsequential, attempting to bridge the gaps between them. Sometimes Letalis joined in, and it was only at her prompting that the younger remembered the book he'd brought with him- Slytherin's journal.
When he'd reached out to take it, he almost missed Aspen's reaction. The vampire gasped at the sight of the promise ring on his left hand, eyes flickering to his face and back before his face broke into a wide smile. After things calmed down a bit, it was Voldemort's turn to be shocked by the ancient book in his hands. Though he'd itched to start pawing through it right away, he put Aspen as a first priority.
Said vampire broke him from his thoughts.
"What happened to that girl, the one who sent me back with the Killing Curse?"
Voldemort's hands clenched into fists and visions ran across his sight. He remembered breaking the binding spell, blinded and empty but for rage and sorrow, tearing at her throat with his nails, demanding that she give him back.
Give him back…
Tom hadn't cared about Maddie's revenge for her brother, the Head of the orphanage that he'd killed for beating him.
He'd only wanted his Aspen back.
"I killed her."
That was all he said.
¤
A/n: I will say it again, things that may seem wildly random now may have significance later. Other things…are just random. I like to touch on things mentioned way earlier in the story. It's something I've always liked about To Kill A Mockingbird and the HP books themselves: the insignificant details play major parts.
Latin- grow hair. Reviews, pretty please?