x
The room was a too quiet. Tom knew immediately that something was missing and it took him but three seconds and one small movement (with the intention not to wake his bed-mate) for him to realise what.
Harry was gone.
A suddenly real fear that so far had always been hypothetical gripped him. Harry might have been in the bathroom, might have gone out… but… Tom couldn't feel him. The bond was stretched to the point of breaking and frozen in that state; the side that should have been Harry's faded into vacuum.
Tom curled up in a fetal position and shuddered. It hurt.
He already knew what had happened – he should have known before! He should have noticed the signs – the nightmares, the depression… He was alone, alone like he had been before Harry, like he had begun to believe he never would be again.
Harry was gone.
About an hour later, when he got used to his entire body aching (he would have to find a potion or a spell or a ritual to make that stop) he cautiously stood and staggered over to the table. Harry, who hadn't blinded himself to the signs, had left him a note – something to hold onto, a hope that the future wasn't as far away as it seemed at the moment.
Tom,
As I am certain you have already put together, I have been removed from your time. Please, believe me, had there been any way I could have remained, I would have. I never wanted to leave you. I never betrayed you.
The first thing I shall do, whenever I reappear, is find you and beg you to accept me back.
Please, forgive me.
With all my heart and soul,
Harry James Riddle
Tom burnt the note. He couldn't look at the pleading words. It wasn't Harry's fault, and he would eradicate anyone and anything that might suggest otherwise. He had once thought he had no faith left, but now he believed, with his entire being, in Harry's devotion and loyalty, and he would die before he betrayed the one person that gave him more than he thought was possible to receive.