Okay; I'm the worst updater in the world at the moment. I'm really, really sorry, because every one of you readers is awesome, and I keep letting you down. Please let me know how I can make it up to you, and I promise I'll try more. I want to go back to the once a week updating I was doing a while back, instead of this awful wreck my updating is at the moment.
Err, there's smut at the end of this chapter, at least. That's a good thing, right? I'm not even going to censor it on this site, so yeah, warning for lemon at the end.
X
Harry stared back at Algar Outterridge, mouth partway open as any words he tried to speak got lost.
The man's face was waxy and sullen, much like that of an Azkaban prisoner. He was drastically thin, with his cheeks hollowed, and his light brown-grey hair was tangled in impossible knots. Surprisingly he was clean shaven, but that didn't make him look any less wild.
Algar frowned, muttering to himself lowly when Tom sent a red warning light at his hand, and he reluctantly pulled it back towards himself, pacing in the cell as he continued muttering to himself.
Tom cast another charm over the bars of the room and pushed Harry through them as he copied the motion, before putting up a Privacy Charm so they couldn't be overheard.
Outterridge paid no attention while Tom did all that, though the resident across from him; a man who sat on all fours, seemed enthralled by the bright lights of the magic.
"Err, so…," Harry started, but Algar ignored him, continuing his pacing. His mutterings were getting even louder, but were beginning to sound less and less like understandable words.
"Cease your foolish actions and listen to me," Tom hissed, sounding horribly like Voldemort. The tone caught Algar's attention too, and he stopped what he was doing to eye Tom critically.
"I don't like you," he stated plainly, and Tom's lip curled.
"Pity," he said softly, yet the contempt was obvious.
"Listen, err, Mr Outterridge-" Harry tried again, but the man cut him off.
"Algar, please," he said, sending Harry a dazzling smile; Tom's hand curled painfully around Harry's arm.
"Algar," Harry accepted. "I was wondering if you could help me."
"When did you find out? How long have you been infected?" Outterridge asked, almost bouncing in excitement. "I can feel it in you; you must be new; why else would you be here?"
"I guess, so, yeah," Harry nodded. "I found out a couple of months ago really, but I probably had been, err, infected, for a while now." He had been twelve when Tom transferred the Horcrux into him; the Ancient magic must have been flowing through his veins since then.
"Well you need the right scenario to set it off," Algar said thoughtfully, tilting his head from side to side. "You look like an adventurer; are you one? But of course you must be; can you follow maps? I have a lot of maps here." He crouched down on the ground, a faint yellow glow dusting along the floor as he dug through the soft ground with his hands.
"I'm not an adventurer," Harry said, glancing at Tom who looked simply bored. "Look, I just wanted to learn more about how to control it."
Algar let out a high pitched laugh, pausing his digging and looking up at Harry. "Silly; you can't control it; it controls you. I thought I could control it; I tried so hard, but in the end I realised, why bother? It's raw magic; none of this silly wand stuff. Let it flow through you as it wishes, and you'll soon see better results. Aha, I found it."
Harry was going to ask what he had found, but a battered, rolled up map was pushed into his hands.
"I told you I'm not an adventurer," Harry stated, but Algar shook his head, gathering up an old metal compass and a rusty dagger and pushing them into Harry's hands as well.
"Oh, but you are, you are," Outterridge smiled. "You follow that map, and you'll find just what you're looking for. And don't forget; let your magic do what it wants; it knows more than you do. My dear lady Rowena Ravenclaw wouldn't have been caught dead with a wand."
Algar's head suddenly whipped around, staring at a blank spot on the grimy wall.
"Go; you must go," he said hurriedly, making a move to push Harry but being blasted back by Tom's wand before he had chance.
"Tom!" Harry hissed, but Tom sent Harry a glare and tugged him back through the bars. "We can't just leave him in there; he's going crazy here."
"I feel you've confused the words 'going' and 'gone', dear," Tom mused, but he looked thoughtful. "Outterridge," he snarled, "what is coming?"
"The lights. The lights," a woman muttered from a cell nearby, and the man who had been on all fours started howling.
They didn't even get chance to ask what the lights were, because then a blinding white light flashed through the building as a high pitched siren wailed loudly through the corridor. Harry shut his eyes and covered his ears with his hands, but the light and sound still filtered through painfully.
It stopped for all of two seconds, before starting again, and Harry jumped when Tom touched him.
"Does this happen all the time?" Harry said to nobody in particular when the lights stopped again.
"Yes," the on all fours man said, creeping nearer the bars of his cell. "Too much, too much."
"Every night," Algar agreed. "And every day; twice each time, but sometimes three."
"It happens whenever the birdies disappear," a woman said sorrowfully. "I miss them when they go; they sing such sweet songs."
"If you've quite finished making friends with the insane?" Tom muttered to him, but Harry shook Tom's hand off his shoulder.
"So do any of you here actually like it?" Harry said loudly, and he was met by a loud mass of hisses and snarls. "And it was the Mind Healers who locked you up? Or the Ministry?"
"Both; they both locked us up and torture us daily," a skeletal man hissed, leaning against the bars; he was so thin Harry was sure he could just slip through them. "I hate them, I hate them. I want to rip their skin from their bones."
"Yes; make them bleed," another woman shouted.
Tom was watching Harry passively now, but the fact he hadn't dragged Harry away already meant he was curious, even if he was trying to hide it.
The woman from the front desk was watching them carefully, her hands still covering her ears.
"Excuse me-?"
"Marissa," the woman supplied, her face suddenly smiling brightly.
"Marissa; do the residents here have their wands anywhere?" Harry questioned, and she nodded, hurrying away and coming back seconds later with a small box.
Tom casually aimed his wand at the box, blasting the locks on it open; by now, all the residents were watching with hungry gleams in their eyes.
"I don't like the Mind Healers," Harry announced as Marissa went to each cell, allowing each resident to find their wand. "They tried to lock me in here too."
"But you're a child," one woman declared, horrified.
"A baby," another agreed, making Harry scowl slightly, but otherwise ignored the comment.
"And I'm not happy with the Ministry either," Harry continued. They had lost his support the day he saw a Ministry worker spit at Remus and told the werewolf he'd be better off dead, and they hadn't particularly done anything to redeem themselves since. One look at Tom, who easily read his mind, and then the cell bars were disintegrating, allowing the people inside to shakily stumble forwards and gather around Harry and Tom.
"We'll let you go to the Ministry now," Harry said, smiling at the brief look of pleasure that passed over Tom's face. "St Mungo's and Azkaban are run by the Dark Lord; the Ministry can't send you to either, and I'm going to make sure this place no longer exists after tonight. You'll be free to live life as you want."
A roar of excitement coupled with disbelief went around the crowd, and Harry suddenly felt self-conscious feeling all the eyes on him.
"How?" somebody whispered.
"Why?" said another, and the second question seemed to get more murmurs.
"They treat you like filth in here," Harry answered honestly. "And you're not."
"I am," a frail looking, young-ish woman said, stepping forwards. "I killed my baby; I jumped with her in my arms, and she died but I didn't."
"That doesn't make you filth," Harry said, offering the woman a reassuring smile. She jumped forwards, grabbing Harry's hand and bursting into tears, only stopping when Tom snarled at her. "So go; cause havoc, and then live however you want."
"Can you destroy this place first?" a man asked. "Make it blow up; make those lights go away. Make the lights go away forever."
"Algar, you'll guide me?" Harry said, turning to the man who now had a smirk across his face.
The large group moved outside, the ex-residents all gathering behind Harry, Tom and Algar.
"There's nobody else inside, right?" Harry questioned, and he took the few nods as his answer.
"Remember, let your magic do the work," Algar whispered, his own fingers clenching as though itching to cast a spell. "Your mind and your magic are one; let it free."
Harry's arms rose upwards, mimicking the position Algar seemed to be insinuating.
For a moment he stared straight at the dreary, run-down building, feeling hatred bubble inside him, knowing the horrors that had been carried out within.
Then there was a bright flash of light, and he winced remembering the lights from earlier, but then the brightness moved inside the building, streams bursting through the cracks and casting rays on the dark ground around them, before finally the asylum began to crumble, debris scattering across the ground.
The group cheered, and the sobbing woman from earlier managed to capture him in a hug, while the crawling man sat at his feet and nuzzled his legs.
"I recommend you leave for the Ministry now," Tom announced, waving a Portkey above his head. "This is the time when the late workers finish and the night workers begin; more toys for your pleasure." He tossed the Portkey into the crowd, watching as the mass surrounded it and somehow transporting them all in one go, leaving only Algar behind.
"Did you not want to go?" Harry asked, and Algar shook his head.
"No, no, no," he said firmly. "My heart lies with Egypt; I must return there at once."
"Do you want your stuff back?" Harry said, holding the map out, and Outterridge shook his head again.
"I am too old now," he smiled. "You are the adventurer now; you proved it tonight. Take your reckless attitude and your openness with you, and thank you for setting me free at last." He grasped Harry's hands in a quick form of handshake, before Disapparating without another word.
Tom grabbed hold of him and Apparated before the dust from Algar's Apparition could settle on the ground.
They landed in Harry's room, and Harry was immediately pushed onto his bed with Tom clambering on top of him.
"Your mind is strange," Tom said, his lips just over Harry's, "and you accept the wrong sort of people, but you've proved your place beside me, tonight. Your name and mine shall be feared for eons to come; they will always know us, and know they are below us."
Tom's lips finally descended on Harry's, and all thoughts of Ministry workers being slaughtered were driven straight out of Harry's head.
X
A hand roughly shook his shoulder, but Harry squirmed and wriggled away from it, pulling the bed covers over his head.
"Get up," a voice snapped, but Harry wriggled further into his covers. His eyes were far too heavy to open, and he was perfectly content sleeping.
He felt the tip of something poke him through the sheets, and then a jolt of pain coursed through him, so severe that he yelled loudly and fell out of bed, his covers coming with him.
"Get ready; the earlier we leave the better," Tom said firmly, grabbing the covers off him and throwing them back onto Harry's bed.
"What time is it?" Harry said groggily, rubbing his eyes with his fists.
"Four," Tom answered dismissively, rummaging through a pile of books on Harry's floor.
"Four?" Harry repeated dumbly. "As in 'four in the morning' four?"
"Yes, of course in the morning," Tom answered sharply. "That means it's already six in Cairo, and I would like to be there by eight."
"Fine," Harry muttered, trying to throw Tom a glare, but his eyes were too tired to work properly.
He felt his slow movements getting ready was punishment for Tom waking him up so early, but it only took one dangerous look from Tom to make Harry speed up.
At half five, Harry was finally ready, but when Lily knocked on the bedroom door Harry could have almost laughed at the expression on Tom's face.
"I just wanted to see you off," Lily said with a small smile. The others had waited up for Harry the previous night, when Harry eventually got to go downstairs once Tom was done with him, and Harry felt she had an ulterior motive for being there now, given the suspicious look she was giving Tom.
"I'll be fine, Mum," Harry said. "Tom won't let anything happen to me, if that's what you're worried about."
"I know," she answered, almost too quickly. "There was a riot at the Ministry last night," she said after a moment's pause.
Harry immediately tried to not look guilty.
"There was a lot of property damage, and twenty workers were killed," Lily continued. "And I heard the asylum was destroyed last night too. The Order didn't see any sign of Voldemort or the Death Eaters behind it though."
She looked at Tom, and Tom smirked in response to her unasked question.
"No, I didn't have anything to do with it," he told her curtly, and Harry hoped she hadn't picked up on the emphasis on the word I.
"Who died?" Harry asked, trying to distract her from thinking about what Tom had said.
"I'm not sure you'll know anyone by name; oh no, of course you will. That horrid woman Umbridge was killed; not that I'm pleased about it, but the trouble she caused for Remus…" his mother told him, and Harry felt oddly happy that of all people to be killed, Umbridge was one of them. His hand itched subconsciously from where she had forced him to use a Blood Quill; he was fortunate enough to avoid so many detentions that his hand ended up scarred, unlike some unlucky students.
"Anyway," Lily continued, turning to Harry and gesturing for him to come forwards so she could hug him. "Be careful, and make sure you pay attention. Egypt has fascinating history, and you're lucky you get chance to visit. And you, Tom," Lily said, releasing Harry and facing Tom with a stern expression. "If anything at all happens to him-"
"You'll attempt to make it regret it, yes," Tom interrupted blandly, and then he sneered. "Fret not; I have no desire to be rid of Harry."
"Mm," Lily muttered, eyeing the pair warily. "Contact me every day, Harry, and be safe."
His mother gave him one last hug before leaving the room, and Tom's face held a distasteful expression.
"What?" Harry questioned. "She's my mother; of course she'll be worried about me going."
"I simply thought she was better at controlling her emotions than that; in the hospital she seemed very strong," Tom mused, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"She is strong, but that doesn't mean she can't worry about me," he said defensively. "She's irritating at the best of times with her constant nagging and worrying, but she's terrifying too; you've never seen her mad, have you?"
Tom raised an eyebrow but said nothing, and turned back to sorting through the parchments he had placed neatly on Harry's desk.
"Tom, can I ask you something?" Harry said after a moment of silence, waiting for Tom to turn around. "So like, those people I set free killed a lot of people."
"Does that bother you?" Tom asked nonchalantly, turning back the stack of parchment.
"That's just the thing; it doesn't. I mean, I despised Umbridge, but that doesn't mean I should feel glad she's dead, but I am," Harry admitted. "I remember a while ago you thought I was too innocent to kill anybody, and now look at me."
"You still are innocent," Tom muttered, scrawling on something with a quill. "You will forever be innocent to me; killing doesn't mean that's taken away. Don't view the world with visions of good and evil, because that's entirely wrong; the world is nothing more than yours for the taking. Innocent doesn't mean being good, because being good doesn't exist."
"But killing people is against the law," Harry tried, already knowing Tom would dismiss the point. To his surprise, Tom laughed.
"We didn't get to write the law; why should we accept it? Come here, lovely," Tom ordered, beckoning Harry to him. He held up the piece of parchment he had been writing on, detailing a rather complicated looking ritual of sorts. "This enchantment is the Darkest of all magic, yet it can bring your Godfather back to you. It is banned by our government, but who are they to deny you having people you miss back in your lives? Harry, we are going to make the rules one day, and people will follow what we say, and the only way we can get to that point is by doing what we need, instead of listening to the weak fools who think they're running our world. Now go finish getting yourself ready; we're to leave in ten minutes."
The ten minutes passed very quickly, and soon they were ready to leave. Even though they weren't going as tourists, Harry still felt excited about the prospect of going to Egypt. He and his family had travelled to a fair few places, but never out of mainland Europe, so going further afield was new to him. He knew Tom was taking him on nothing more than a business trip of sorts, but Harry hoped he could sway Tom into having at least one day as tourists.
"Have you Apparated overseas before?" Tom asked, holding his arm out for Harry to take hold of.
"No," Harry answered, shaking his head. "Mum prefers travelling the Muggle way, and Dad has a love affair with planes. I thought it was really difficult to Apparate overseas anyway. Wouldn't Floo or Portkey be easier?"
"Yes, it would be," Tom agreed, "but they are also heavily regulated. Apparating is impossible to trace, but I shall warn you that, being inexperienced, the journey shall be rather unpleasant for you."
"How unpleasant exactly?" Harry asked, but Tom dismissed him, and instead shook his arm slightly to encourage Harry to hold on.
The second Harry took hold, Tom Apparated.
The horrid sensation of being shoved through something too small seemed even more intense, and the sensation didn't seem to end. A wild wind was whipping around them, and Harry had to shut his eyes against the force of it, as water began to unwillingly stream from them.
The sensation stopped just as suddenly, and Harry stumbled and fell onto the ground, Tom jerking away from Harry's grip so he wasn't pulled over as well.
Harry decided to stay on the ground until it stopped spinning, and stood up only when Tom looked impatiently at him. He shakily got to his feet, reaching out to grab Tom so he didn't fall again. It was no wonder people didn't bother learning to Apparate long distances and overseas if it felt like that.
He brushed the sand off his clothes, and looked at his surroundings. Tom had Apparated them into the desert, and Harry could see pyramids in the near distance. The sight was rather awe inspiring, and Harry found he couldn't tear his eyes away. It was early, but the sun already seemed to be beating down on him, though he supposed he had just come from the English mid-winter, so it was bound to feel hotter. He couldn't begin to imagine what the heat would be like at midday.
Tom was shuffling around behind him, and when Harry eventually turned back, Harry could see nothing to suggest Tom had made any sound.
Tom gestured for Harry to hold his hand out, and he complied, jerking back when a dagger quickly sliced across his wrist.
"Give me your hand back," Tom demanded, and Harry reluctantly held it out again. Tom dragged him forwards slightly, jerking his wrist until a splatter of blood dropped onto the sand. The blood seemed to disintegrate with the sand, and then a small tent appeared in front of him.
"Blood Warding is the strongest protection," Tom explained as, opening the flap to the tent and stepping inside. "Not to mention numerous other Wards and Protection charms, combined with curses who anyone else who tries to enter."
Harry didn't want to imagine the sort of curses Tom might put on somebody, so instead he followed the man into the tent, and looked around at the impressive lodging.
Like any other magical tent, it was far bigger on the inside, and looked more like a fancy room that wouldn't have been out of place at Malfoy Manor.
There was a large sitting area, with a wooden pole at the centre, drifting up to the high ceiling of the tent, and a soft looking sofa at the side. A large wooden desk seemed to have pride of place, and it already had a stack of books and parchment on top of it. A small kitchen was just to the side, and Harry heard the clattering of pans; he looked at Tom curiously, but Tom ignored the unspoken question.
He followed Tom through the rest of the tent; a large, luxurious bathroom next door to a bedroom which had a four poster bed in the centre with deep green curtains hanging around it.
Orion and Bast were curled up together on the pillows, and Harry couldn't stop a grin from forming as he ran to greet his cats.
"I've finished with my experimenting on them, and the results were very successful," Tom stated, standing beside Harry. "They shall be accompanying us on our travels; they will come in very useful for your Curse Breaking training."
"Why?" Harry asked, but Tom simply smirked at him.
"You'll see in time," came the simple answer. "Now, we shall be out for some time, so I'd advise that you come and eat something now, or else you'll not be eating until tonight."
"Alright," Harry said with a shrug, following Tom back into the sitting room and onwards into the kitchen.
A two person table had been set, with plates of a variety of breakfast foods freshly prepared and cooked laid out.
"I hope Sirs are liking it," a squeaky voice announced.
"Dobby!" Harry grinned, turning to face the little House-Elf. "I didn't know you were coming with us."
"Narcissa was kind enough to lend me it," Tom said dismissively, taking a seat and snapping his fingers. "Elf, prepare us some water for our trip today."
"Right away Sir Riddle," Dobby said, bowing to Tom and hurrying to the sink.
"Thank you, Dobby; it looks really nice," Harry told the Elf, who looked at Harry tearfully, though one glance at Tom and he turned back to what he was doing.
"Sir Harry mustn't be thanking Dobby; Dobby is only doing as he is told," Dobby responded as he worked.
Tom rolled his eyes, but managed to keep any insults to the Elf quiet.
When they had finished eating, and when Harry managed to calm a tearful Dobby down after thanking him once more, they were back out in the desert.
Tom had shrunk everything they needed and put it in a small bag inside his jacket pocket, including the cats. Harry had been alarmed at this, but Tom somewhat reassured him by saying that he knew plenty of ways to hurt animals, and using a Shrinking Charm was not one of them.
"We're going to go to a Wizarding tomb first," Tom said, pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket. He handed it to Harry to have a look at; the parchment had a long list of notes on it, and a scrawled picture of an amulet on it.
"Is that amulet important?" Harry asked, and Tom shook his head.
"Not to us; it is for the Dark Lord," he explained with a slight sneer in his voice. "This amulet will be no good when we have what we're looking for."
Tom held his arm out, and Harry took hold, shutting his eyes as Tom Apparated them once more.
Thankfully they only Apparated a small distance, and Harry managed to land on his feet. Tom cast Invisibility and Silencing Charms over them so they could not be seen or heard, and they walked towards a crowd of witches and wizards who were all bustling around excitedly.
They were standing in front of a staircase descending into the desert, yellow brick walls surrounding the top.
A tour-guide seemed to be handing out tickets to the members of the crowd, but Tom led Harry straight past them and down into the tomb.
"Those tourists are only allowed to see parts of it," Tom said as they strode down the stairs. "And of course, any important artefacts are further back where groups aren't allowed to go."
Tom walked briskly through the tomb, but Harry took a slow pace behind him. The air was cool, and a pleasant change from the desert heat. The tomb itself was impressive to look at too; the walls were carved in a way which made the place spacious, and fascinating hieroglyphics were drawn on them. Harry tried to decipher some of them, but Tom told him to hurry up.
Harry managed to sneak a few shots with the camera Remus had given him, but had to break into a slight run to catch up with Tom so he wouldn't get lost.
Harry caught up to Tom just in time to see a silver shimmer fall to the floor.
"I hope they have no curious tourists with them in their groups today," Tom smirked, heading through an opening where the shimmer had fallen.
Harry copied Tom's steps, and stopped when Tom did. Tom had pulled out the bag, and grabbed both the cats in one hand, dropping them on the ground and enlarging them to full size.
Orion looked around the tomb, his eyes flashing red and creating almost a laser look across the ground. The red beam was focused on one wall in particular, and Tom smiled darkly.
"This is the entrance to the treasure room," Tom announced. "I have given the animal the ability to see curses that we can't; of course, it can't do anything regarding taking them down, but it's a far easier method of testing whether a curse is fully gone or not."
"How'd you get him to do that?" Harry questioned, looking from Tom to Orion.
"I happen to find creating new spells to be simple," Tom answered. "A difficult skill for most, but shaping magic is natural for me."
"So how do we take the Curse down?" Harry asked, peering at the wall intently as though the curse may break with just a look; unfortunately no such thing happened.
"Ostendete," Tom cast, his wand pointing at the wall.
Immediately faint beams of colours covered the wall in front of them, twisting around each other.
"There's your curse," Tom said, waving his hand in front of him. "When the beams have gone, the curse is broken. Think of it as a puzzle of sorts."
"Where are you even meant to begin?" Harry questioned, edging closer to the magical colours.
"It is possible with a wand, which I shall show you," Tom answered, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't get too close, dear; I don't want you dead. The magic in you will also be able to break any curses, but you need to be aware of every option, so you can practice by wand today."
Tom pulled Harry back, and moved to stand in his place.
"You need to look closely at these colours," Tom told him, and as Harry looked at Tom, he could see the man's eyes travelling rapidly across each strand. "See where they connect and where they split. Any lone colours should be taken out first; the inter-woven ones are harder to undo."
"Like the green one?" Harry said, pointing at the emerald light that was untouched by any of the other beams.
Tom nodded, and ghosted his wand over the green light. "Focus on the beams as magic, and imagine bringing them away," Tom explained, as the green started to weave around his wand.
When the beam was completely gone from the wall of colours, and wrapped around Tom's wand with an eerie glow, Tom flicked his wand towards the ground, releasing the green light and causing a small explosion on the ground.
"Don't keep the light on your wand," Tom said warningly. "You try with the purple beam now."
Harry stepped forwards nervously, his wand shaking in his fingers.
"Don't be nervous; you need a slight hand or you could deflect the part of the curse and harm yourself," Tom hissed, not helping in calming Harry's nerves.
Harry took a deep breath and counted to ten, before placing the tip of his wand just above the purple strand of light. Much like Luna had told him with the magic in the Vanishing Cabinet, and learning about his inner magic strands from Animagus training, imaging the beam of light as the magic they were was easy enough for him.
He subconsciously gave a small tug, and the purple started to wrap down the length of his wand, causing it to feel heavier in his grip. He could feel the magic pulsing through his wand, and when it was gone from the wall, he cast Aguamenti, hitting the far wall with a stream of glowing purple water.
The rest of the beams were connected with each other, some with only one other colour, and some from two or three. The red beam was connected with only the blue, but the blue was connected with red, black and orange.
Tom explained that removing each of these strands was the same technique as before, but each beam had to be removed part by part; apparently mixing the colours would infect your wand and backfire on you, likely killing you in the process.
It was more time consuming than the previous strands, but eventually they managed to get through it together.
"Make sure it's curse free before you touch it," Tom stated, picking up Bast and forcing her paws to touch the wall, ignoring Harry's protest. "Don't throw a fit over a useless animal; I've managed to create a resistance within the cat to any Dark magic. If it had been cursed, its body would now be convulsing as it destroyed the curse."
"How do you even do these things?" Harry questioned; Tom seemed to know all sorts of magic, some that Harry hadn't even heard of before. "They don't teach anything like this at Hogwarts."
"Of course they don't; the Ministry will only teach children spells necessary for jobs. Anything else is considered too dangerous, and is banned from the curriculum. The last twenty years have been very strict; when I attended Hogwarts, there was much more on offer, but most of what I've learnt has been self-taught; you need to read or study with accomplished wizards if you want to be a skilled wizard. You're fortunate that I know a lot of information, and will be willing to teach you if you'd like to learn," Tom drawled, and Harry's face lit up. "We will discuss this at a later time; now onwards."
The entrance they had broken the curse on led to a room full of treasure and gold.
"Don't touch anything," Tom warned. "Ostendete."
Everything in the room seemed to light up with the same beams of colour as before, and Harry now knew why Tom wanted to leave so early; there was so many curses to break, that it would be a lengthy process. The amulet they were looking for wasn't visible, so it must be hidden behind or underneath something else, meaning random selections had to be made until they spotted it.
Tom set Harry to work on one side of the room, while he brought out the parchment with the notes on it, looking down and examining objects throughout the room.
Hours seemed to go by, and Harry was starting to feel exhausted; he was bored and cold, and he wanted to at least talk with Tom, but every time he tried he got hushed. He hadn't imagined going to Egypt with Tom would be boring like this was.
"I found it," Tom announced eventually, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"Can we go now then?" he asked, hoping not to sound too eager.
"In a moment," Tom told him, holding the amulet above him and turning it around.
Tom tapped his wand against a colour beam that was left on another good, and after a minute strand attached itself to his wand, he let go, and transferred the light to the amulet.
"The curse won't be obvious by any detection spell, and there isn't enough of it to do any damage to the Dark Lord himself, but will slowly drain him off his magic instead. By the time he notices, it will be impossible to trace it back to us," Tom stated, an evil smirk lighting his face. "I apologise for keeping you so long; I needed to reflect over things, and thought having time to practice would be good for you."
"Oh I got practice," Harry agreed. "I'm just really bored now."
"The rest of our trip shan't be like this," Tom assured him. "You look very tired; perhaps we should return to our living quarters."
Harry nodded, and trailed after Tom and back into the desert.
There were even more tourists standing around outside now, and they had to step carefully through to avoid walking into anyone.
"Tom, can we be tourists one day?" Harry asked once they were away from everyone.
"Why would we want to do that?" came the short reply, and Harry shrugged.
"It would just be nice to do some sight-seeing, and I want to go snorkelling," Harry replied, walking into Tom when the man stopped abruptly.
"What's snorkelling? It sounds dreadfully Muggle, and you know how I feel about such things," Tom said, a dangerous tone to his voice.
"Well it is, but it's really good; you use this tube thing so you can breathe underwater, and you can see all the fish and the reef and things," Harry explained, and Tom looked bemused.
"I thought you hated being in water? If you want to do breathe underwater, I can cast the Bubblehead charm on you instead," he said blandly, making Harry laugh awkwardly.
"I don't like deep water, but there's cool enough stuff to see in the shallow parts too," Harry said, looking at Tom hopefully.
"If we've done everything we need to in the time limit, we can go on the last day," Tom said after a moment. "But we're doing it magically, and away from Muggles."
"Thank you," Harry grinned, throwing his arms around Tom's.
To his surprise, Tom hugged him back, but they may have just been to Apparate them back to their tent.
"Dobby!" Tom shouted when they walked inside. "Go and wait outside the tent until I say you're welcome back."
Dobby didn't even ask why; he just bowed and hurried out. Harry looked at Tom curiously.
His answer was Tom's lips against his own.
Tom pushed Harry back until his back hit the wooden pole that was in the centre of their tent, before Tom's tongue pushed forcefully into Harry's mouth, and he kissed him hard enough to bruise.
Tom's fingers curled around Harry's wrists, and pulled them above his head, resting them against the pole. Tom murmured something against Harry's mouth, and then a strange sensation floated around Harry's wrists; they felt like they were being wrapped in something not quite smooth, but not quite rough either, and he felt pricks of slight pain as something just managed to pierce his skin.
He managed to tilt his head back enough to glance up at his arms, and his eyes widened as he saw a stem of roses extending from around his wrists, and moving down, wrapping around each of his arms, the sharp thorns lightly scratching his skin.
He wriggled his hands slightly, but the movement had no effect on the flowers.
"I'm quite aware of the weakness of flowers," Tom said, and Harry turned back to face him. "These are magically woven; they won't break unless I want them to, and that shan't be happening for a while. What a picture you make, entwined with roses."
Tom's lips pushed against his once more, and he pressed his body closely against Harry's. A cold hand buried itself underneath Harry's shirt, while another moved underneath Harry's trousers, rubbing him to hardness through his boxers.
Tom stopped the kiss, resting his forehead against Harry's, and Harry thought he saw a flicker of a smile cross the other man's face for just a second.
"Roses are something to be cherished," Tom breathed, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "As are you, my lovely."
The hand on his chest ghosted down, slender fingers dancing across the Dark Mark scrawled on his stomach. A cold but not unpleasant feeling shook his body on the inside, and Harry shivered, shutting his eyes as Tom's fingers continued to caress him where the Mark lay.
Tom muttered a spell, vanishing Harry's clothing, and the cool air hit his skin instantly.
A cold hand grasped one of Harry's thighs, and he took the hint and lifted both his legs around Tom's hips, making the Dark wizard press even closer against him. The pole pressed harshly against his back, and his arms were starting to ache from their positioning, but Tom's rough kisses demanded his full attention.
The sound of rustling fabric filled the tent, and then Tom pushed inside Harry with one hard thrust, making the teenager cry out in shock.
Tom was a rough lover, and they had slept together the night before too, meaning Harry didn't really need too much preparation, but being taken completely dry was new to him, and he couldn't help but whimper at the slight burn.
Tom, who never bothered caring about other people's pain or discomfort, grasped at Harry's hips, sharpened fingernails digging into his skin, and he thrust harder, biting down on the junction of Harry's neck and shoulder.
It didn't hurt as much as his first time did, but there was still some pain, but when Tom finally hit his prostate, Harry cried out in pleasure as Tom ruthlessly drove against it.
Even with the uncomfortable position, and Tom's bruising hold of his hips, Harry couldn't help but to writhe against Tom, trying to bring him in deeper.
No words were said between them, and the only sounds were that of heavy panting and flesh slapping against flesh.
Tom's hand was fisting Harry's erection in time with each push inside him, and Harry could feel the pleasure building up inside him.
He bit down on his lip as his orgasm washed over him, shutting his eyes as Tom sucked on the faint bruise Harry had left on his lower lip.
Tom released inside of him moments later, breathing heavily and moving his hands up to Harry's bound ones.
Tom pushed something cold, and somewhat heavy, onto one of Harry's fingers, before moving his hands back down to rest on Harry's hips.
His arms suddenly felt free, and the roses fell to the floor beside them, the petals wilting and curling.
Harry slowly moved his arms back down, not even blinking at the small spots and lines of blood dotted about his skin that the thorns had caused.
His eyes lingered instead on the ring finger of his left hand, which had a thick gold ring wrapped around it. It had engraving of a circle made from entwined rope, with a small line beneath it; the shen ring.
X
I hope you liked the chapter, despite the wait for it.
For those of you who don't know, the shen ring means eternity. Tom's reasons for giving Harry this will be revealed soon.
Next chapter brings more Egypt, and the not-so-fun-for-Harry, but fun-for-us process of making a Horcrux.