Disclaimer Notice: Don't own anything you recognize.

Warning: Slash (male/male)

Guide: "talking"/thinking/ "parseltongue"

Chapter 8 – Getting Better and Getting Worse

Harry and Voldemort had just put Gallant in the kitchen and were walking back to their respective rooms when Harry had a sudden dizzy spell.

He stopped and leaned against the wall waiting for it to pass. But a minute later it was still raging, and the teen was becoming nervous. He slid down the wall and laid down right there on the floor.

Voldemort watched all this with concern. "Harry?" He knelt down beside him and put a hand on his mate's forehead. His concern grew when he felt heat coursing through his palm.

The dizziness subsided when Harry felt Voldemort's hand on his skin. And when the hand moved away the symptoms worsened. He grabbed Voldemort's hand and put it back on his forehead, keeping it pinned there with his own hands.

He needs to have to skin on skin contact! Voldemort realized it was the bond's effects making Harry act like this and he knew how to help.

He wrenched his hand from Harry's grasp, with much protesting from the black haired teen, and picked him up taking the last few steps down the hall and into Harry's room. Once there, he placed Harry on the bed and began to deprive the young wizard of his shirt. Harry struggled to keep it covering himself, but a harsh command in parseltongue, ordering him to stop, made him relax and put his fate in Voldemort's hands.

The Dark Lord threw the shirt to the floor and started to remove his outer robes, then his shirt was also discarded.

He climbed into bed next to Harry and pulled the covers over them, and as an afterthought he pulled the smaller body closer to himself and instantly felt his mate getting better…

XXX

Harry woke the next morning to find strong muscular arms wrapped tightly around his torso. His back pressed against a firm chest. He instinctively struggled.

"Be calm, young one."

Harry immediately stopped at the whispered command in parseltongue.

Oh, it's Voldemort. I'm safe…Wait a minute…'Voldemort' and 'safe' do not belong in the same sentence!

"What happened?"

"The bond is getting worse…"

"Oh." Harry's heart sank at that. He had thought he had more time than this… "Why are we in the same bed? We didn't – "

Voldemort knew Harry was asking if they had done 'it.' "No, we did not do anything. And to your other question: the bond is ordering us to become closer. You will continue to get dizzy spells and feel, for lack of a better word, awful."

"Oh." Harry said digesting this piece of information. "Will you let me go now?"

"No. This is your punishment."

"Punishment? For what?"Harry asked, bewildered.

"For calling me Voldie."

Harry had been, panicking until he heard Voldemort's answer and realized that the older man was teasing him.

"Yeah? Well what kind of a name is Voldemort anyway? It's too long."

"Oh, really?" Voldemort asked turning Harry around to face him.

"Really." Harry said, then, "Or I could just call you Red Eyes."

Voldemort lifted his eyes heavenward. "You could."

"Or maybe Tom would suit you better…"

Voldemort tensed and Harry's eyes widened.

I can't believe I just said that!

Voldemort looked back at him sharply. "What did you say?"

Harry's face flushed and he looked away quickly with a mumbled, "Nothing."

Voldemort hadn't heard his birth name spoken by another in such a long time…He had hated that name with enough intensity to rival that of a thousand suns. But when he heard his name drift across Harry's lips a burning desire gripped his heart. A desire to hear his name spoken again on those lips while that small body writhed in pleasure beneath him…

Voldemort mentally shook himself and chased away those thoughts for he found his pants to be very tight all of a sudden.

His gaze focused on the boy once more whose eyes were still avoiding him. "You may call me that, if you so desire."

Emerald eyes locked with ruby. "Seriously?"

Voldemort let out a soft chuckle. "Seriously." He then leaned over very slowly, so as to give the boy time to move away if he choose, and kissed him.

At first, the kiss was light and playful, but then Voldemort felt that hungering desire take over him and he deepened the kiss, slipping out his tongue to brush across his mate's lips, asking for entrance.

Surprising both of them, Harry relented and felt Voldemort's tongue caressing his own. Harry turned it into a type of battle and was disappointed when he lost, until Voldemort rewarded his submissiveness by rubbing circles onto his abdomen.

Then Voldemort broke the kiss and lay back down next to Harry moving his hand upwards and massaging Harry's neck.

"Why did you stop?" The teen asked, confused. It had felt so nice!

Voldemort locked eyes with him. "Harry, I honestly do not believe you are ready for all that I have to offer…"

Harry blushed and looked away for a second time when he knew what Voldemort was talking about, and realized that he was right. A kiss is okay, but… Harry's blush deepened as he realized something else. Hey, my first kiss! I have got to tell someone! But I'm still not sure what to think of Ron and Hermione…They said it's all right and they don't care that I'm in a relationship with a guy and they said I could always talk to them, but I don't think they want to hear about the details…Then the face of a blonde haired grey-eyed boy popped into his mind. I could tell Draco!

Voldemort was confused about where all of the emotion was coming from, so he asked Harry what was wrong.

"Nothing, it's just that…"

"What?"

"Well, you're my first kiss…"

Voldemort was shocked. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, had never been kissed before?

"You mean this has been your first experience? You've never had a girlfriend…or anyone?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope…Well, I did like this one girl, but I've lost interest…"

Voldemort was still shocked, but pleased. His mate truly was innocent. Untouched by other's hands. He was all for the taking…

I must stop thinking like this! He scolded himself, then turned his attention back to Harry.

"What would you like to do today?"

"Well…I sort of wanted to talk to Draco. Maybe show him Gallant and walk around a bit exploring…"

"Then you shall, love." Voldemort kissed him on the forehead. He dearly wanted to spend time with this green-eyed beauty, but he knew that absence made the heart grow fonder. And so, it was with great reluctance that he wrote a letter to Lucius telling him to once again to bring Draco with him and another letter was written to Severus telling him to just come to sit and talk among friends…

XXX

Harry was feeling better than ever as he leapt down the stairs and into the kitchen to see Gallant. He skidded to a stop beside the box and looked into it to see the puppy looking back at him with big brown eyes, wagging his tail. Not a puddle or pile in sight.

"Good," sighed Harry. He really didn't even know how to housetrain a dog and he was fairly confident that Voldemort didn't either.

Harry led Gallant into the living room where he found Draco standing beside his father and Snape.

"What's with the dog?" Was the first thing Draco said.

"This is Gallant. Hermione and Ron got him for me." Draco felt it was best not to degrade Harry's friends in front of him so he held his tongue. "You want to head outside now? I want to show you a really cool place…"

XXX

Well, that was my first kiss scene. How did you like it?

I have decided I'm going to keep Gallant because I've only gotten two negative reviews about him and about thirty positive reviews. So, he's staying...Plus, I'm going to turn him into a hound from hell... -grins evilly-

I would also like to add that Voldemort and Harry will complete the bond before Harry has to go back to school. :)

And, yes people, Hermione and everyone else really do mean what they say. This is one of those 'good' stories afterall...