Harry let his fingers glide over everything in the room, as if wanting to remember it with his skin. His eyes were closed in concentration.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't want to forget anything." The teen said. "If I can recall how it feels in my mind, then I know it was real."
"Aren't you forgetting something then?" he smirked, and Harry looked momentarily confused before chuckling.
"I'm saving the best for last." he said with a smirk.
"I'm sure Nagini will like that." Marvolo replied, and he laughed when Harry walked over to him and straddled his lap.
"You know very well who I meant."
"I'd hope so." he whispered huskily. "but before you are going to get your… remembrance of my body…" he said, and let his fingers ghost over Harry's face. "There is something else I want to do."
The teen looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"Come, dress yourself into a more… appropriate attire ." he said, waving vaguely to the bathrobe his lover was wearing.
"Where are we going?"
"Out. I promised you when we went to the Amazon Rainforest, that we would dine somewhere together as well, didn't I?"
Harry's face split into a grin, and the teen flung his arms around Marvolo's neck. "You're serious? We're eating out?"
"Yes. Now, give me some space, I need to… amend my looks."
"You'd better change mine as well. I might be recognized."
"No worries, we'll eat in the Muggle world."
"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Because I know a wonderful restaurant there. Do you like Japanese food?"
"Japanese? Please tell me we're just going to go to a Japanese restaurant in England, and not in Japan itself…"
"Well actually…"
Harry laughed. "I never tasted it, but if you think it is good, then I guess it is. I wish you wouldn't have to change your looks though…"
Marvolo looked at him with fondness. "I suppose that, if you really don't want me to do that… it is not like there will we wizards who eat there."
"Are you sure?"
"I have never seen magicians in that restaurant till now."
Harry smiled and kissed him on the lips. "So, what should I wear?"
"Casual, but neat."
"This would not be, perchance, the most expensive restaurant in the city?"
"I'm sure there are more expensive ones… if you search very hard."
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "That you still have enough money to finance a war is beyond me."
"The war doesn't really cost me money… I don't pay my servants, and the main weapons we need are wands. Which they buy themselves… There are only a few things that I have to finance."
"Like?"
"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. It is quite useful. Like a very thick, black smog. No spell can remove it or light a way through until the effect is gone. Now, dress."
Soon, Harry had changed into nice-fitting, black jeans and a dark green t-shirt with a black jacket over it. Marvolo looked him over with appreciation, and tried to flatten down his hair a bit.
"No use." The teen grinned, and turned his head to kiss Marvolo's fingers. "It won't lie down."
"Maybe you need to grow it out…"
"I don't know… the only thing I want to change about my looks are my glasses. I think contact lenses would be better. At least they can't break when someone hits me."
"Nobody will hit you from now on, and why didn't you ever just get your vision corrected with spells?"
"Spells?" Harry said, blinking. "There is a spell for that?"
Marvolo laughed. "You could have asked me sooner. I didn't know you wanted to get rid of your glasses. Wait…" He took his wand and pointed it at Harry's eyes. "Alright, do you have myopia or hyperopia?"
"Uh, what?"
"Nearsightedness or farsightedness." Marvolo sighed.
"Near."
"Hmm, let's see… Lens alternatus."
Harry felt his eyes become cold, and blinked a few times. When he opened them again, everything was blurry, until Marvolo took off his glasses.
"Wow." He said, looking around. He saw clearer than ever. How did you do that?"
"Normally, the light that falls into your eye reaches your retina on one point. With myopia, that point is too early, so when the light reaches your retina, the light has already crossed itself and your vision becomes blurry. This works just like a contact lens. It iss placed on your eye and makes sure that the light doesn't cross, but meets in one point again."
"Ah."
"Did you understand a word of what I said?"
"No, but I'm going to look it up so I understand it next time."
"Do that." Marvolo said dryly. "Now, are you ready?"
"Depends…" Harry asked, wary. "How will we travel?"
Smirking, Marvolo cast his wand at a nearby quill. "Portus." Still having a shit-eating grin, he dropped it into the upheld hand of a glaring boy.
A few nauseating moments later, Harry blinked against the lights of the city. It took him a few seconds to realise that, despite the lights, the sky was dark.
"It's night?"
"Three am I believe."
"What? Where are we going to find a restaurant that's still open?"
"This one is open 20 hours a day."
" They actually have customers at this time?"
"We'll be there, right?"
"Yeah, but we're wizards."
"The less customers, the sooner we'll have our food." Marvolo smiled, and Harry rolled his eyes while taking hold of Marvolo's arm, who looked down with surprise.
"Just a question, being gay isn't forbidden here, right?"
"No, though if we ever want to be wed, we can't do that here."
Harry stared at him with wide eyes. "Did you just…"
"It was just a matter of speaking."
"Oh." Harry said, looking to the ground, confused about his feelings.
"We're here."
He looked up, forgetting about his confused emotions, when he saw the building. "Whoa, it's beautiful!"
"It certainly is."
They entered the restaurant, and Harry was immediately taken with the nice atmosphere. It looked neat and comfortable, and had, once they reached the upper floor, a great view over the night life of the city.
"Where are we, exactly?"
"In the centre of Tokyo. Shinjuku."
"Tokyo… how strange, Brazil, Japan… to think I never even got outside of Surrey for eleven years…" Harry laughed. "Thank you. For taking me here."
Marvolo took Harry's hand and placed a kiss on it. "It's my pleasure." He murmured, and guided the teen to a table near the window.
"So, you come here often then? It seems you know the way."
"Indeed. I love the food here, and the view." He motioned to the city underneath them.
"It's lovely. Any suggestions as to what I should eat?"
"Take the first menu with Japanese bouillabaisse and Kobe beef, it's delicious."
"How much is 14600 yen in pounds?" Harry said, studying the menu –which was also in English, luckily enough-
Marvolo smirked. "Don't worry about the money and just order it love." he smiled.
The corner of Harry's mouth lifted and he closed the menu. The waiter soon came to take their orders, though he was visibly intimidated by Marvolo's appearance.
"Konbanwa, Akai-san." he said, and grinned when the man jumped and looked at him with fear, though he quickly schooled it.
"Konbanwa. Nani o osagashi de gozaimasuka?"
Marvolo ordered for them, but the only word he understood was Kobe, the name of the beef."You know him?" Harry asked as the man walked away.
"Tom Riddle knows him… I normally don't come here looking like I do now."
"What'd you say?"
"Just our orders and good evening. I bet he was surprised when I called him by his name though…"
They spent the next minutes looking out of the window or at each other, both basking in the atmosphere. The silence was broken when dinner was served, by the same guy as before.
"Arigatou gozaimasu." Marvolo calmly said, and Harry picked up the chopsticks, wondering how the hell he was going to eat with them. After a few tries, he put them down on his plate, and listened to the others.
"Shitte imasu ka?" the guy, Akaisan or something, said.
"Hai," Marvolo answered.
"Dochira kara?"
"Kochira de." He answered, a small smirk settling on his lips.
The man frowned and left again as someone called him. Marvolo looked at Harry's plate. "You shouldn't leave your chopsticks in your food."
"Why not?"
"Etiquette. "
"I can't eat with these."
His lover took them and transfigured them in a knife and fork. "Better?"
"Much."
"Ittadakimasu."
"No way in hell am I even going to try to repeat that." Harry laughed. "How many languages do you know?"
"Nine."
"Wow." The teen said, taken aback. "That's an amazing accomplishment."
Marvolo shrugged. "I had a lot of time. I learnt most of the languages that I know because I was staying in foreign countries while hunting down rare magic. It's handy if you can actually understand the people around you."
"You studied here as well?"
"For a while. They combined Muggle martial arts with magic here, inventing a completely original way to duel. Maho-shu."
"Maho-shu?"
"Magic hand. It's a pun on karate, which is written with the characters for empty and hand."
Engrossed, Harry listened to Marvolo's stories about his younger years, amazed by how driven one could be to learn every branch of magic he came across, and vowed to himself to study harder himself. Too soon, their plates were empty, and they paid the bill. This time it was a woman who came to them –maybe Akaisan had become too freaked out?-
"Shefu ni oishikatta to tsutaete kudasai." Marvolo said. The woman smiled and bowed while they walked out of the restaurant. "So, Harry, do you want to look around here or go home already?"
"What time is it at home?"
"Around nine."
"I wanted to take a bath and read a bit more before going to sleep, so could we go home?"
"Of course. "
Taking hold of Marvolo's arm, Harry brazed himself for the feeling of being whisked away by the portkey. A few horrible moments later, his feet hit the ground of their bedroom.
"I hate this," he grumbled, and Marvolo snorted. "Come." Harry said, and grabbed the man's arm."
"Where to?"
"I told you I was going to take a bath, didn't I?" Harry smirked, and dragged his lover with him to the bathroom. "I still need to get my remembrance of you."
He had a bad feeling about it all. A very bad feeling. The boy didn't seem to notice the dread that filled him and his reluctance to keep walking towards the enemy's lair, but well, what had he expected? Everyone agreed that Potter was nutters. Nutters, and in a position that gave him way more power than he could handle. Still, he was glad that the teen was on their side now, for he was the Light's only hope.
"Lucius?" a cool voice spoke, and the man's gaze locked with harsh green eyes as Potter turned to face him.
He involuntarily took a step backwards, taken aback by the icy look. Now he thought about it, he had seen it before, when he had been informed of his task of bringing the boy back to the Order. He had thought it to be a trick of the light then, but now, he couldn't deny that something about Potter was off. What had happened?
"Yes?" he said, not knowing how to address the teen.
He had opted for his surname, but now he was faced with that penetrating stare, he didn't think that was a good idea. However, he would never sink so low as to regard the other as his better, lover of the Dark Lord or not.
"Be nice to them. You must under no circumstance let them show you are sympathetic to the Dark Side."
Lucius seethed inwardly. How dare that boy assume he would do this anything but perfect! Stiffly, the man nodded, and Potter turned around again. A few minutes later, they stopped on a square in front of a row of old, small, dirty looking Muggle houses and Potter looked at a piece of parchment before handing it to Lucius. There was nothing on it except for two words and a number, the address of one of the houses in front of them, in the unmistakable handwriting of Albus Dumbledore. Lucius looked up to the buildings, watching calmly as they began to move until another one had squeezed its way in between the others. Potter took a step forward and rang the bell.
XXx
A few seconds later, the door slammed open and an agitating Mrs Weasley appeared. "How many times do I have to say it! Don't ring the… Harry!"
"Hello Mrs Weasley," he said, and hesitantly accepted a smothering hug.
It wasn't that he wasn't glad to see her, and he knew that before, he'd probably have smiled widely, but he just couldn't bring himself to be exuberant. For one, he was grumpy about the fact that he would actually need to return to the Wizarding world, where all the responsibilities were waiting for him –not that he would act on them, but still, he had to pretend-, and secondly, he wouldn't see Marvolo for the next few days.
"Oh, we've all been so worried! Before we received your letter, Dumbledore was going rampage. The whole Order was, truth be told. The headmaster said you'd been kidnapped by him! I'm so glad you're okay! And my, Mr Malfoy, it appears we have judged you wrongly. To save him and then bring our dear Harry back here…"
"Yeah, if it wasn't for Lucius, I would probably be sitting in dungeons, chained to a wall."
Wall, bed, what's the difference? Lucius thought, but didn't think it was wise to voice it within the teen's hearing range. The man smiled and reached his hand out, secretly wiping it off on his robes after Mrs Weasley had shaken it thoroughly.
"Can we come in?" Harry asked with a radiant smile. "Then we might speak further somewhere more comfortable."
"Naturally!" she exclaimed as they crossed the threshold, peering past her into the dark, dirty corridor.
Mrs Weasley motioned for them to be silent, and Harry raised an eyebrow at some of the stuff in the house, which was undeniably Dark. The woman opened a door and let them through, before drawing the attention of the other occupants to them when saying:
"Look who's come back!"
Harry snickered at the gob smacked expressions of the others. "Hey," he said.
"Hey? Hey?" Hermione shouted, and flew in his arms, hugging him tightly with a disbelieving laugh, which caused Ron to scowl a bit. "That's the only thing you can say? Two weeks of vague letters and… being god-knows-where, and you say hey? Ron, you say something about it!"
"Well…" the redhead said with his mouth half-stuffed with a muffin. "I waf gonna say 'ey mathe af well, buth feeing your reacthion…"
"Ronald! Don't speak with your mouth full!" his mother said, her hands planted firmly in her sides.
"Yeah, one of the twins said. "Do us all a favour-"
"—stuff you mouth-" the other continued
"And don't speak at all!"
"'Ey! Fath'f noth nife!" the boy exclaimed, sending crumbs flying through the room before swallowing his food down. "So, Harry. Good you're back, but… couldn't you just have told us you were at Malfoy's house?"
"The letter could have been intercepted. It was less likely now, now Voldemort gave up his search of finding a traitor among his followers."
"We understand…" Hermione said with another hug.
"Have you eaten already?" Mrs Weasley asked, and Harry nodded.
He hadn't really, but he wasn't hungry at all and just wanted to be left alone for a while. "I'm kind of tired. Is it okay if we speak tomorrow again?"
"Of course, of course! No problem at all. Ron and Hermione put all of your things in Ron's bedroom while you were gone… It's upstairs, second door on the left"
"Thanks." He said, and gave them a genuine smile before sprinting upwards.
He lay down on the creaking bed, and couldn't help but compare it to the bed he'd slept on for two weeks… He'd become used to 'the good life' way too fast. He got up again, undressed, and contemplated about whether or not he'd wear pajamas. He'd found it more comfortable to sleep without, but well, even though he knew Ron was straight and wouldn't bat an eye, Harry really didn't want anyone but his lover to see his body. Thus, he compromised, and pulled on some grey cotton pants before crawling under the blankets.
XXx
With a worried look, Lord Voldemort stared out of the window, in the direction where he knew London was. He wished he wouldn't have had to let Harry go, but he remained realistic. The teen needed more education, education that he couldn't give him right now… Maybe after… after it was all over. He glanced at his desk, where all his plans lay. He wondered if he was being selfish… he could probably act sooner than he had planned now, and probably save a couple of lives of his followers in the process… Yes, he was being selfish, he knew, but he also decided that he didn't care enough to change that. He needed to have Dumbledore's memories first, then search what he knew and what not, take precautions, obtain the diadem and kill Dumbledore, before the actual war could start. Half a year? A few months? Mere weeks perhaps? And then… hell would break loose.
It helped that he could enter Hogwarts himself now, so there were things he didn't need to bother Harry with. He turned his head again to stare into the falling night, hoping everything was well. He chuckled darkly. Of course everything was well. He might have needed to be worried before, but now, with Harry's personality change, the teen would be able to face every hardship that would cross his way. Marvolo grew somber. If only those hardships didn't have to cross his path… but his lover always seemed to attract dangerous situations.
He shook his head to clear it, wondering when he had grown this soft. It had been impossible for him to even feel compassion before… He frowned. Maybe it had to do with the resurrection ritual? He had started feeling this strange since then. It would make sense. His old body had suffered the consequences of not only the soul-splitting process, but also of the dark magic it had used so long. His new body didn't have those effects yet, though it suffered from having only one piece of soul in it, and adjusted its shape to that. Was it because this body was used to having only a sliver of soul, that the other effects were less? He hadn't noticed any changes since he had gained it, even though he had used severe dark magic. He should probably see into it. Tomorrow, maybe. Right now, his mind wasn't up to anything but worrying for Harry. He sighed again, and decided he could better try and get some good night's rest. Harry hadn't let him sleep very much the last few days. –not that he minded that so much.- Yes, sleep sounded nice…
"Harry? Breakfast is ready!" he heard, and groaned while blinking against the light.
"What?"
"Breakfast."
"Oh, ok… I'll come." He said, and yawned.
He hadn't been able to sleep well, missing the feeling of strong, cold arms around him and a heartbeat underneath his ear. He shuddered. It had felt too much like the nights at the Dursley's, and only Ron's snoring had convinced him that he was in a safe environment, instead of at the home of his relatives. Oh, he would make them pay for what they had done to him… A dark smile played on his face as he envisioned the torture he would put them through, and wondered why he had been so averse to it before. For their neglect, abuse and starvation, they didn't deserve anything but death and pain. He got out of bed, and his gaze fell on his trunk. He hadn't checked it yet, so he opened it, rummaging through clothes, books and magical trinkets until his hand reached the bottom, where his cloak and map were hidden. He sighed in relief when seeing his treasured items, and a thrill went through him as he stroked the fabric of the invisibility cloak, knowing now that he was touching a legendary item.
He closed the trunk again, dressed and went downstairs. He heard voices from the dinner room, and wondered how many members of the Order would be here. He'd only seen the Weasleys, but he knew Sirius should be here as well. He didn't really know the rest of the members well, having seen them only twice. Interested, he studied a couple of house-elf heads that hung on the wall and a black curtain underneath the stairs, not knowing if he wanted to peek behind it or not. He decided it was too risky, and headed in the direction of Ron's voice. It was strange how well he was able to blend in again, and couldn't help but feel a sting of guilt towards Marvolo. They were, after all, his enemies. Harry froze in the middle of a step. They were his enemies as well. He stared blankly at the wall. It had seemed all so nice here, but he would have to face the consequences of his actions. He was on the side of the Dark now, and while he would try to maintain the relationship with his friends, he would need to be able to sacrifice those bonds if Ron, or Hermione, or anyone else would not accept his choices. He'd better not become too attached to them again until he was sure how they would react.
He opened the door, seeing that there were some other people as well. There was Tonks, whom he had talked with once before, when Dumbledore had introduced him to the Order shortly after the Tournament; a large man of which he was sure that he was an Auror, but couldn't quite recall the name from anymore; a person with a lousy and filthy atmosphere; a stern-looking witch who vaguely reminded him of McGonagall and then there was… Snape. Harry smirked. This was going to be fun.
"Good morning." He said, and the man whipped around, his pose faltering a bit when his eyes met Harry's. They hadn't exactly parted on good terms last time, what with Harry commanding Snape and all…
"Harry! So you are back!" Tonks said, smiling widely. "Come on, sit and tell me your adventures!"
"I wouldn't really call it adventures. I've spent some weeks at Malfoy manor, hidden from the world…"
"Why?"
"Uh, Lucius actually had to kidnap me for Voldemort. However, when he had me, I talked in on him. I believe the message got through, for he decided it would be better for him if he would just pretend I had escaped to somewhere. However, he couldn't let me go either, for then Voldemort might be alerted to the fact that Lucius had lied to him. I couldn't tell anyone where I was either. Really, it wasn't that exciting… What have you all been up to? I don't have the Prophet at home and Lucius refused to tell me what was going on."
"He refused to tell you?"
"He still has his position in Voldemort's ranks. The more he spoke with me, the larger the chance that the Dark Lord would discover one of his memories of me."
"Makes sense. The Order has been trying to gain members of course, but we've also been looking out for Death Eater attacks to prevent them. The Minister refuses to acknowledge that he's back. Honestly, if You-Know-Who would ever throw a killing curse at him, he'd probably claim he'd been having a spontaneous heart attack instead of admitting that he was hit by that curse." She said, and Harry grinned. "We've also confronted Fudge about the breakout of Azkaban."
"The what?" Harry exclaimed, trying to sound shocked.
"Oh, of course, you haven't heard about it yet… It was just a few weeks after You-Know-Who was resurrected. He freed most of his followers that were locked up after the first war, and probably convinced a lot of other prisoners to follow him as well. Fudge covered it up. He's turning a blind eye to this as well, and refuses to admit that it could be You-Know-Who's doing. Meanwhile, that monster's forces are growing, and no-one but us are prepared to do anything about it… Even after we confronted him about it, he did not let it leak out to the public." she sighed sadly. "I can't reveal much of the other plans, for most of them are top secret, and you'd actually need to be in the Order to know them…"
"Can't I?" he said with a hopeful voice. "I mean, I'd love to fight! I need to fight." He said. It was the perfect opportunity to gain information about the plans of the Order.
"I'm sorry Harry, that's not up to me. Even so, I don't think you can. Not until you're of age, and we hope to have won this war before that."
He tried not to show his disappointment, and instead focused on something else. "Where's Lucius by the way?"
Tonks looked up with surprise. "Malfoy? He went home after dinner. I mean, he has a house, a family and a job does he not? Molly let him out I believe. Wasn't he just here to drop you off?"
That bastard Harry thought, fury beginning to form in his veins. "Ah yes, thanks. I just hoped I could have told him goodbye." he said, and gave a thin smile.
"If it helps, he wasn't planning to. He wanted to stay, but Molly was horrified by the thought that he couldn't spend his last days with his family, so she scolded him about it."
Oh. That made more sense. "It's fine. So, I wanted to go to Diagon alley actually. I haven't been able to go yet, and it would have been suspicious if Lucius had bought all that for both Draco and me."
"Sure. I think you'll have to be escorted though, sorry."
Inwardly, Harry was very displeased, but he tried not to show it. How dare they treat him like a little child! Escorts? Oh, so now Dumbledore was worried about his safety, huh? And what about in the Chamber of Secrets? The Tournament? Where was the help then? But no, after defeating deadly monsters and dodging lethal curses, surely he couldn't go to Diagon alley on his own to buy school supplies. Laughable, all of it. He breathed in very deeply a few times to calm himself down. He was being unreasonable and he knew it. They thought he'd just barely escaped a kidnapping of his supposed nemesis. Naturally they would be on their 'protection mode' for a while. He just hoped he would survive the coddling.
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xx GeMerope
