Disclaimer – I don't own anything. If I did, Harry wouldn't have married Ginny.
One line in this chapter was borrowed from the BBC show Sherlock. Anybody who recognises it shall be showered with fangirl praise.
X
By his second day back at Hogwarts, Harry was already beginning to feel the stress of N.E.W.T level work. His first class had been Ancient Runes. There were only four of them in the class; Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Justin Finch-Fletchley and himself. Malfoy all but grabbed him when they entered the classroom, announcing loudly that he refused to work with Mudbloods. He enjoyed the class, but the huge amount of coursework they got at the end of it seemed to be the start of the stress.
Then came Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape made more of an effort than usual to bring Harry down from the moment class began, and then he announced they were to practice nonverbal spells. This involved immense concentration, so Harry tried to think back to his Occlumency lessons with Tom, but Snape refused to leave him alone, breaking his concentration at every opportunity and then blaming him for it. Harry was sure the professor had gained more hatred for him over the summer and the lesson ended with him getting even more coursework.
Potions followed Defence Against the Dark Arts, and because Harry hadn't bought a textbook, he had to borrow a used one. Ron and Neville grabbed the presentable looking one for them to share, leaving Harry with an old tattered one covered in notes. The name on the back simply read 'The Half-Blood Prince', but following the notes led Harry to make the best potion of the class, which resulted in him being given a bottle of Felix Felicis, a luck potion, by a beaming Professor Slughorn.
His other electives of Arithmancy, Charms and Transfiguration gave a large amount of homework as well, although on a plus Harry was starting to get the hang of nonverbal spells without Snape breathing down his neck continuously.
The procrastinating side of him couldn't face going to the library straight away to start on the workload, so he began an aimless walk around the castle, lost in thoughts until he almost crashed into Albus Dumbledore; he really needed to work on looking where he was walking.
"Sorry," he muttered, keeping his eyes downcast. Dumbledore simply chuckled, and when Harry brought his eyes back up to meet the Headmaster's, it occurred to him that this man would not be around for much longer if Draco succeeded.
He felt himself pale, and all thoughts of school work left his mind; he wouldn't need to worry about his education when he was locked away in Azkaban for being a murder accomplice.
Not able to stand being in Dumbledore's vicinity any longer, he excused himself hurriedly and broke into a run, not stopping until he reached the dungeons. He needed to see Tom, and for that he needed Draco.
He had to admit his plan wasn't very well thought out; he didn't know where the Slytherin living quarters were, or even if Malfoy would be there.
He managed to follow a couple of first year Slytherins to the entrance of their common room, but he had more honour than to eavesdrop in order to gain knowledge of the password. Fortunately it wasn't long before he heard the familiar voices of Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Pansy gave him a dirty look when she saw him.
"If Gryffindor doesn't want you, we certainly won't," she said, looking at him with contempt.
Harry ignored her, trying to pretend he hadn't felt hurt by the comment which was basically the truth. He turned his focus onto Blaise instead.
"Have you seen Draco anywhere?" he asked desperately. Panic was still bubbling inside of him, so when Blaise nodded and left, returning moments later with the blond boy, Harry felt some of the pressure leave him.
"I need to see him now," Harry said the second Draco had angrily pulled him into an alcove.
"Who? Riddle?" Draco spat, narrowing his eyes. "We've only been here two days; why do you need to see him so urgently?"
"I just do," Harry retorted. "He said I could go to him whenever I wanted, and I don't think he'll like you undermining him."
"Is that some sort of roundabout way of threatening me, Potter?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow, but he pulled some parchment out from his robe and began to trace on it with his finger. "I'm seeing if he's available," Malfoy explained, pulling his wand, a blade and a quill from his pocket.
The Slytherin grabbed hold of Harry's hand and yanked it towards him, slashing at it with the blade and causing a splash of blood to fall onto the quill.
"What are you doing?" Harry hissed, jerking away from Malfoy who simply rolled his eyes, putting the blade back into his robes.
"Just hold on," Draco muttered, holding the bloodied quill towards him.
"You're making a Portkey? I didn't think we could use them at Hogwarts," Harry mused. Draco just looked at him like he was stupid.
"Of course we can use them. The wards have already allowed us into Hogwarts. We could Floo out too, but we can't be detected this way," Draco told him, his tone one that would be used on a small child. "Portus."
Instantly Harry felt the tug of the Portkey, and everything started to spin in a blur of colours. The experience stopped just as suddenly, and Harry held his arm in front of his face before he collided with the floor.
"What are you; ten? I've been sticking Portkey landings for years," Draco said boastfully, not offering to help Harry up.
Harry scowled as he pushed himself onto his feet; he had been raised using the Floo system.
Malfoy rolled his eyes and tapped on the wooden door in front of them. It swung open, revealing Tom with a large green snake at his feet.
"Leave now, and return in exactly two hours," Tom commanded, staring at the young Malfoy, who gulped and Portkeyed back to Hogwarts in a flash. Harry had to admit it was nice to see the stuck-up boy afraid.
Tom pressed himself against the door and gestured for Harry to enter the room. The Gryffindor eyed the large snake wearily as he complied. The creature seemed to be fixated with him; it's beady eyes following each movement he made.
The room was large and rather beautiful. The walls were painted a dark green colour, and the floor was covered in a plush black carpet that felt soft beneath Harry's feet. The furniture of the room was coloured similarly, and all made from a dark wood which looked smooth and flawless. There were two large chairs with a small table in between, placed in front of a large fireplace. There was also a wardrobe and a bed lifted onto a slight platform. It seemed to cry aristocratic Pureblood.
"She won't hurt you," Tom said, addressing Harry for the first time and indicating to the snake. "She merely finds you fascinating."
"Lovely," Harry muttered, feeling his legs buckle as he backed into a chair. He shakily sank into it, inwardly wincing as the snake slithered over to him and wrapped herself around Harry and the chair, resting her head on his shoulder.
Tom was watching with a look of sadistic amusement on his face, and a string of hisses fell from his mouth. The snake answered with her own hisses. Harry sat tense as he waited for their conversation to finish, but then he heard a distinctly female voice say "his scent."
"What?" Harry whispered, whipping his head around to stare at the snake, but she simply stared into his eyes until he could no longer hold the gaze.
"Is everything okay, Harry?" Tom asked, scraping a chair across the floor to sit in front of the boy.
"Yeah, I thought I just heard…but it doesn't matter," he answered with a shrug.
"Leave us, Nagini," Tom said, pointing towards the door.
"Nagini? Is that her name?" Harry asked, relieved as the snake slithered off him.
Tom nodded. "I do not believe you came here simply to discuss reptilian creatures with me, Harry."
"I don't know if I can do this," Harry responded, cursing himself for being so blunt.
"Do what?" Tom enquired, though it was obvious to Harry that Tom already knew the answer.
'Everything', Harry found himself wanting to stay, but in the end he settled with, "this whole Dumbledore thing. I ran into him today and all I could think was that it wouldn't be much longer before he'd be nothing more than a memory in Hogwarts. He can't come back from death, and I'm supposed to help take him to that state, but I don't want Draco to die either. Why can't both of them just live?"
"I'm sure you know very well why Dumbledore cannot stay alive. He has been tainting the magical world for far too long now; his time is up," Tom stated, eyes flashing a deep red.
"But couldn't you just split the country in half or something? We could send Dumbledore and the muggles and that side to one half, and you and the Death Eaters get the other," Harry tried, and to his surprise Tom actually chuckled darkly.
"You are too innocent, Harry. You do not understand how our world works or what you need to succeed. The basic concept of murder and death scares you because you have a pure soul."
"Well how does it work then? Why is my understanding wrong?" Harry asked, staring at Tom with questioning eyes.
"Your understanding is wrong because you're still splitting the world into good and bad. You don't want a man to die because you think murder is bad, yet did you ever consider how it could benefit others and be good for them? Nothing is one sided, or even two sided; everything in life is complex. An example; perhaps you see a man stealing food because he cannot afford to feed his family. Some would say this man is wrong, because stealing is illegal, while others would state his family comes first and so his thieving could be excused, but it goes deeper than that; could it be the man is unemployed through his own fault and so is using thievery to support his laziness? You see, to split things into good and bad only causes this confliction which you yourself are feeling," Tom said, power lacing his voice. His eyes looked distant, almost as if recalling a fond memory.
"How do you look at things then?" Harry questioned, and a cruel smile found it's way onto Tom's face.
"The world is a game of power. The people with the most power are the ones who are strong, and those who refuse are weak. The weak are the ones who say something is bad because they are afraid of it; afraid of using it. Committing murder is not wrong; it is simply a tool for self-benefit. I can sense your power, Harry. You need to lose your purity and embrace the power lurking beneath."
Tom spoke such cold words so passionately it made Harry shiver, but he wondered if the reason for that was because Tom was stating a truth that nobody wanted to hear.
"Will you do that for me, Harry?" Tom hissed, leaning forward so his face was mere inches from Harry's own. The younger boy nodded, and Tom smirked and moved even closer, his mouth hovering just over Harry's ear. "Good, because I haven't even begun to defile you yet. How is your schoolwork going?"
"Wait, what?" Harry asked alarmed; had Tom just mentioned something about defiling him? He had no idea what that could even mean.
"Your schoolwork," Tom stated, settling back into his own seat and looking as innocent as an angel. "In my days the difference between O.W.L and N.E.W.T work was rather substantial."
"Oh, err, yeah. I've got a lot of homework," he answered lamely, still thrown by Tom's strange comment.
"Your O.W.L results suggest you shall manage fine," Tom commended. Harry wasn't quite sure when Tom had seen his results, but he wasn't ashamed of them in any way; he had passed everything, mostly with Exceeds Expectations, but he had received a couple of Outstandings.
"What do you wish to do once you leave school?" Tom asked. Harry thought for a second about whether this was some sort of trick question, but in the end he concluded that Tom was simply curious.
"I want to be a Curse-Breaker," Harry told him, and Tom nodded.
"You have an interest in Ancient Egypt?"
"Yeah. We don't learn about it much though, and I've read the few books there are in the library," Harry replied, staring down at the chair's arm to avoid blushing at the gaze Tom had fixed on him.
"Of course; they shan't want you finding out too much," Tom muttered, more to himself than Harry. "When you arrive here with Draco Malfoy for our next meeting, I shall bring you some in-depth books. In fact, if I can steal you away from your parents in the holidays I will take you to Egypt with me; I have business I need to attend to there. Now, would you like a tour of Malfoy Manor?"
Well that explained to Harry where they were, but he felt unease at walking about the house.
"I don't know; each time I've been in a house belonging to Dark wizards something has gone wrong," Harry said, laughing awkwardly at how stupid he must have sounded.
"Do you make it a habit to go into homes belonging to Dark wizards?" Tom asked with a smirk. He stood and grabbed Harry's wrist to pull him up as well.
"Sirius inherited his parent's house, and my parents tried to keep me out of there as much as they could, but there were a few times they had to take me with them while they sorted stuff out. The first time I nearly got my hand sliced off, the second time I don't really remember but I was unconscious in hospital for a week and the third time I ended up cursing and killing our cat by mistake," the Gryffindor explained, trying to ignore Tom's amusement.
"How did you kill your cat?" he asked eventually and Harry cringed at the memory; he had been stupid as an eight year old.
"Well they locked me in Sirius' old room because they thought it was the safest place, but I found this old puzzle book of his and some were still unfinished so I completed them, and the last page said to draw somebody in your family as if they were old, and I thought it would be funny to draw the cat with a beard, but when we got home we found him all shrivelled up. My mum wouldn't let us have any pets after that," Harry said with a shrug.
"How tragic," Tom replied, lip curling. "Fortunately I am very knowledgeable about Dark artefacts so you should not be at risk; however I recommend you stay close to me."
Harry followed the older boy out of the room. He wasn't sure if Tom was being serious or simply mocking him when he told him to stay close, but he decided to take it seriously and stood as close as he could behind him, holding gently onto Tom's sleeve. Nagini had reappeared and seemed content to slither about Harry's feet, meaning he had to take extra care not to trip over the twelve foot snake.
The manor was just as beautiful as Tom's room had been. Slytherin colours and serpent motifs were the theme of the whole place, and it was carried effortlessly through each room they visited.
Malfoy Manor had a lot of rooms, some of which Harry felt were unnecessary. The dungeons would be the first thing he would get rid of; he felt a slight jolt of panic when Tom had taken him down there. But Harry could really see no point for some rooms such as the art gallery, although Harry could be biased considering each picture involved muggles being tortured to death in some way. Likewise, the room dedicated to practicing techniques for something called Muggle-Hunting made Harry feel rather ill.
He almost managed to jinx himself in the library. A small crystal figurine on a shelf seemed to be calling out for Harry to touch it; he had never seen Tom move so fast.
"I wouldn't touch that unless you want to spend the rest of your life suffering severe hallucinations involving real and unbearable pain," Tom told him warningly, tightening his grip on Harry's arm where he had reached out to stop him touching the object.
Tom kept an even closer eye on him after that, and soon there were only a few rooms left unseen.
"You have a choice now, Harry," Tom said, stopping and hissing to Nagini who went on ahead of them. "I'm sure you can understand that the Dark Lord wishes to meet you. Would you like to go now?"
Harry felt his mouth go dry. Tom and Voldemort may technically be the same man, but Tom was nothing like the media and Neville Longbottom made Voldemort out to be. From what Neville had said, Voldemort looked monstrous.
"Of course you don't have to," Tom continued, "but if not you shall have to be introduced this weekend, although there shall be a vast number of Death Eaters here then too."
He knew Tom was referencing to his dislike of groups, so he sighed and sullenly agreed, trailing after Tom as he led him towards Voldemort.
The manor began to lose it's warmth as the colour scheme faded and the walls and the floors turned into cold stone and marble, almost like being in a castle.
"Nagini shall take you and bring you back to me; he wishes to see you alone," Tom stated, and then he was gone, leaving Harry alone in the dark corridor. He was a Gryffindor though, he wouldn't let fear control him so he stalked forward with all the confidence he could muster and allowed Nagini to take him to the very depth of the manor, stopping outside a simple faded wooden door.
"Enter," came a cold voice from the other side, and telling himself Tom wouldn't allow his other half to kill him, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
This room was incredibly cold, and also very dull. The walls and floor were grey stone tiles and the only decoration on the wall was covered in a black drape. There were no windows, and all the room contained was a large desk with a single, high backed, uncomfortable looking chair behind it.
The room seemed to suit Voldemort though, for Harry now understood why Neville had compared him to a monster. He was almost like a cross between a snake and a man; he had a hairless, strikingly white face, with red eyes which were the same shape as a snakes, and he was missing a nose; in it's place were slits. He was wearing floor length black robes, revealing only his face and hands which were long and spindly. He began to pace around Harry, like a predator stalking it's prey.
"Harry Potter…so long I have waited, to meet Tom's obsession." Voldemort's voice was just as terrifying as his looks. It was menacing and sinister, and his 's' sounds came out as hisses. "A little Half-Blood boy turning his back on his blood-traitor family; how very curious."
Harry opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, but Voldemort stopped him before he could even attempt an answer.
"I do not need to know your reasons, child!" the man hissed, and Harry flinched at his tone. "I can see your usefulness, and I expect you to report to me any information Neville Longbottom gives you as soon as you are able to do so. "
"Okay," Harry said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the floor.
"While you are talking to me, you address me properly. Is that clear, boy?" Voldemort shouted, and Harry flinched again.
"Yes, m-my Lord," he muttered, raising his eyes to look at the furious face of the Dark Lord.
"I never quite understood Tom's fascination with you. I forgot how foolish I was when I was young; enchanted by pretty things," the Dark wizard growled, and he grabbed Harry's chin in his fingers, and Harry felt a strange sensation run through him. "I hold no interest in that now, but I should like to hear how pretty you scream. Crucio!"
Harry fell to the floor, shoving his hand in his mouth and biting down hard as what felt like thousands of red-hot knives forcing their way into his body. He felt blood fill his mouth and he whimpered as the curse was lifted.
"I want to hear you scream, boy," Voldemort hissed, and he felt his hand forcibly leave his mouth, and then the pain struck again, so intense he could barely hear his own screams. After what felt like hours but was likely not even a minute, the spell was lifted and he was literally thrown from the room, the door slamming shut behind him.
Nagini immediately was at his side, her tongue flicking against his cheek as if she was trying to comfort him. He followed her back to Tom quietly, and before he could knock on Tom's door, the snake crawled up his body and constricted him for a quick second before releasing him and prowled off down the corridor.
A smile managed to find it's way onto his face, after realising he had just been hugged by a huge and vicious snake. He knocked and the door opened instantly. He was pulled against a hard chest, its owner's arms wrapping themselves around his upper back.
"He would have been much more ruthless in front of others. I shall tell him he is to never hurt you again; you are much too precious," Tom murmured into his hair, and all Harry could do was nod, not quite believing that Tom was really hugging him, and he was disappointed when Tom pulled back. "Draco shall be here in a moment, but I shall see you on Saturday. When others are around, I would prefer for you to refer to me as Lord Riddle, or Marvolo if you are talking to me. The Death Eaters have been told I am the Dark Lord's son, with an unknown Pure-Blood mother who raised me out of the country, and schooled in disguise at Durmstrang."
"I did wonder," Harry muttered with a smile.
There was a knock on the door, and Tom's demeanour changed as Draco was allowed access to the room, and the older boy shut the door on them without even greeting Malfoy.
Draco ignored Harry too until they arrived back at Hogwarts, where he looked at Harry with genuine concern.
"The Dark Lord and Lord Riddle used the Cruciatus Curse on me a lot over summer; I know it well enough now to recognise someone who's suffered the same," the blond muttered, eyeing Harry as if checking for other injuries.
"I'm fine," Harry murmured, "it was just unexpected."
"Try a cooling charm over your skin tonight; it helps ease the after-pain. Don't assume I'm going to be your friend now or anything though; I just have sympathy for anyone who's been under that curse, even if they are an annoying Gryffindor," Draco said dismissively, but he looked like he was trying to hide a smile of sorts.
With that said, Draco bid him goodnight.
X
The rest of the week seemed to fly by. Harry made sure to purposely avoid Dumbledore, which didn't end up being too hard because he hardly saw him anyway. He spent most of his free time in the library working with Luna by his side. Hermione had joined their table after she realised they were there to study, and by Thursday Ginny had joined them too. She told them she was getting a head start on her O.W.L work, but when Hermione went to get a book from a shelf away from their table she confided in Harry and Luna that Dean was starting to get on her nerves and the library would be the last place he would look for her.
He spent Saturday morning and most of the afternoon lounging outside near the Forbidden Forest while the weather was still nice, and as the day started to draw to a close, he made his way down to the dungeons to meet Draco so they could Portkey to Malfoy Manor.
"Hold onto my arm with your free hand," Draco demanded as he held a large metal serpent figurine in front of them. "We shall be arriving in front of my mother and I don't want you to cause a scene by crashing onto the floor like an imbecile."
Harry could tell Draco would have rather he had fallen on the floor once they arrived at the manor. Instead Harry had pretty much fallen into Draco's arms, and while that amused his mother, Tom was giving the Malfoy heir such hateful glares he was surprised the blond boy wasn't being tortured already.
The meeting consisted of him, Draco, Tom, Narcissa Malfoy and Voldemort. Harry stayed silent throughout. The meeting didn't last long, because Draco didn't have too much to say. This obviously displeased Voldemort because it ended with Draco screaming in pain.
The Dark Lord left Tom to finish off while he attended to some Death Eaters who had arrived early, and so were also going to meet the wrath of Lord Voldemort.
"I should like for you to stay the night, Harry," Tom said casually, as if the pleading screams from the entrance hall were non-existent. "Go with Draco to his room, and I shall collect you when we are finished."
Draco was silent as he led Harry to his room, which looked much like Tom's room before, only one wall was covered from top to bottom with a book shelf, and there were numerous paintings and photos on the walls of Draco and his parents, and even some with his friends.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked.
Draco sneered at him. "Of course I am, and I don't need your pity anyway, Potter."
Malfoy picked up a book at random and flicked through it's pages, seemingly determined to stay focused on it.
Harry sat down on a chair and had looked at each painting at least twice when Malfoy's voice broke the silence.
"What's the deal with you and Riddle anyway?" he asked, placing his book down.
"We're-we're friends," Harry told him, and the Slytherin scoffed.
"Please, like Lord Riddle has friends," Draco sneered.
"He doesn't have friends; he's just got one," Harry retorted with a grin.
Draco grimaced. "Save that disgusting Gryffindor sentiment for the lion pit, Potter."
Draco shut up again after that, and Harry was glad when Tom finally opened the door. He gestured for Harry to follow him, and the Gryffindor happily left Draco's room.
"I have a gift for you," Tom told him as they made their way presumably to his room.
"Oh, those Egyptian books?" Harry asked, blowing a piece of hair away from his eyes.
"Those too, but I have something I believe you shall appreciate a lot more," Tom replied, opening the door to his room.
The first thing Harry saw was Nagini settled on Tom's bed. The second was a kitten with long black fur sat beside the snake.
"There's a cat on your bed," Harry said dumbly, and Tom smirked.
"It's your cat," the older boy said, leading Harry over to the bed.
"My cat?"
"I could see you still felt sorrow about the pet you killed when you were young, so I got you another," Tom stated.
Harry dropped to his knees in front of the bed, and rubbed his thumb and finger together. The cat moved forwards and nuzzled his hand. Harry stroked the kitten gently, marvelling at the softness of the fur.
"Thank you so much. It's so cute; what's it called?" Harry asked, grinning as the cat started to purr.
"He's your cat; you name him," Tom said, sitting on the bed to give some attention to Nagini. "Something acceptable though; no ridiculous muggle names like Fluffy."
"I'll call him Orion. That was Sirius' middle name, and Orion is a constellation and they're beautiful, much like this cat," Harry stated, laughing as Orion dropped down and rolled onto his back. "Nagini won't eat him, will she?"
"She's been warned. I gave her a nice treat earlier so she shan't be hungry for a few days anyway," Tom said with a smirk, and Harry didn't want to know what she had eaten to fill her up for so long.
Tom patted the bed beside him, and Harry got up and sat next to Tom, allowing Orion to crawl onto his lap.
"Where am I going to sleep?" Harry asked, realising he hadn't been given a room.
"I didn't think you would mind sleeping here with me," Tom answered, and Harry felt himself blush.
"Oh no, not at all," he muttered, focusing entirely on the cat. The bed was large enough to sleep four people comfortably, so it wasn't like they would be on top of each other.
"It's peculiar," Tom started, looking at Harry with a strange look in his eyes. "I've realised that over the summer I grew accustomed to your presence. It has been different not having you around. I don't tend to like being in the company of others, yet you've proved to be an exception."
Nagini moved to flick Harry's cheek with her tongue before she slithered off the bed and out of the room, allowing Harry and Tom to move up the bed towards the pillow. Harry lay down, pressing his head against the pillow, while Tom sat with his legs stretched out in front of him, his back pressed against the headboard and his long fingers absently stroking the top of Orion's head. The kitten was fast asleep on top of Harry now, purring loudly and Harry had never seen anything so adorable.
Tom's hand left Orion and grasped Harry's wrist instead, pulling it upwards. With his other hand he used his fingers to gently trace down the veins, every so often digging in to the skin slightly.
"Another peculiar thing about you," Tom said softly, pressing down harder now, "is that even now, after the Dark Lord tainted you with such a wicked spell, is that this blood flowing through your veins is still so pure. I wonder how it would be to tear your wrist open and watch your blood flow down your arms, and see it stain your skin."
"You're not a vampire, are you?" Harry asked wearily, ready to pull his wrist away if Tom showed any sign of acting out his curiosity.
"Do I show any characteristics of being a vampire?" Tom enquired, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at Harry.
"Well, you're sort of pale," Harry answered honestly, and Tom actually laughed.
"Oh my dear, if anyone were to be a vampire based simply on their pallor, it would be you. Not only is your skin pale, but you have striking eyes and hair to match. Your vampirism would be most unfortunate however, because of the two of us your blood would surely be the sweetest," Tom mused, moving his fingers to draw circles on Harry's palm.
"It would be nice to be a vampire," Harry muttered softly. "Imagine being able to live forever."
Without warning Tom swung his legs over on either side of Harry, making Orion jump onto the floor with a hiss. The older boy rested his hands by the sides of Harry's head, leaning himself down until he was inches away from Harry.
"Would you like to live forever, Harry?" Tom whispered his gaze intense and his words full of passion.
"If I had someone to live it with," Harry answered, as soon as he managed to regain his voice.
Tom lowered his face even more, and he was so close Harry thought Tom was going to kiss him; he could almost feel Tom's lips on his own.
"I can make you live forever, Harry. Together we can rule the world."
X
So what did you think? How did Voldemort come across?
I find it so easy to write a lot when Tom is involved. I think that's a good thing though. I know last chapter I said there would be a fluff, so sorry it didn't turn out that way. You got a bit though, with the hugging and kitten, but a seductive Tom always gets my fangirling going.
And I hadn't planned to add a Sherlock reference. I was writing that part as normal when I got reminded of the show, and because it's one of my favourite ever lines I couldn't not add it. I think I need help XD.