A/N: Surprise, there's a part 2. (It should not be a surprise as this isn't marked as completed.)
I wrote everything in a few days - since after the first part was published actually - so there might be mistakes.
A month had passed since the battle of Hogwarts, as the Daily Prophet had entitled it. With the beginning of June, summer had arrived as well. That did not in any way mean that he could relax though. Far from it. There was still so much needed to reform the British wizarding world, and Harry found himself more than once regretting that the time-turners were stuck in an endless loop of falling back in the Time Room and therefore rendered useless. One could expect the Ministry to have gotten their hands on new ones since then, but sadly that wasn't the case. Harry made a mental note of importing more time-turners to the Department of Mysteries. There was something bitterly amusing with that thought, that he could actually make a difference in Ministry matters now, when he was barely an adult and had yet to finish his education. Part of it was of course because of his new role as the Dark Lord's mate, but a surprisingly big part of it was thanks to his own status as the Boy-Who-Lived.
Speaking of the Dark Lord… they hadn't had much time to themselves since they sat together by the Great Lake, but they were extremely aware of the other whenever they were in the same room. If not for that… awareness, Harry would probably never had noticed the glances that Tom gave him. They had gotten more frequent lately, and his chest felt tight whenever he noticed them, though it didn't say much as his chest always felt tighter around Tom. Nothing good could from those glances, a notion that had made him slowly distance himself from Tom. It was easy, and done in such a way that it wouldn't be obvious, with how much work there was to do. Especially in the Department of Mysteries, something that had become Harry's pet project. Sadly, nothing he did would make a difference if luck chose to abandon his side, as it so often did.
"Harry." Tom said, not as a greeting but as a demand of attention. Harry paused in his categorization of objects - all of them questionable and most of them dark - to look up.
"Tom." he answered, slow and calculating. If this was going to be a game, he would not only play it but also decide the rules. The years had only made him more Slytherin, and Gryffindor tendencies aside, he would probably have done great in the house of snakes as the Sorting Hat liked to remind him.
"Are you feeling okay?" Tom questioned, scrutinizing him. Harry smiled, deciding to humor him.
"Should I not?"
Tom paused.
"You should be in heat."
"And I would be, if there was time for it." Harry agreed. Tom looked at him as if he was insane.
"Are you on repressive potions?" Tom demanded, his tone on the border between being upset and being worried.
"I am." Harry answered, as he went back to his categorization.
"Have I done something wrong? Are you punishing me?" Tom asked, his tone more upset than worried now.
Harry paused for real this time.
"Is there something I don't know?" he finally decided to ask. Tom faltered.
"You're so young… I can't believe I forgot. I should have taken my responsible as an alpha much sooner…" Tom answered, more to himself than to Harry. Meanwhile, Harry felt the tightening in his chest return.
"Harry, tell me honestly. What do you know about being an omega?"
"...I go into heat once a month, and have done so since 16. My scent attract alphas, but less so now that I have a mate. A heat cycle can be repressed with the aid of potion for up to six months, before the body grows resistant and the residue needs to be washed out by a heat cycle." Harry answered slowly.
"And what do you know about being mated?"
"There's… there's an awareness whenever you're close, and my chest tightens."
"How much of this is from experience, and how much have you learnt in other ways?"
"It's all from experience… Tom, please just tell me what it is that I should know!"
"Not here." Tom answered, looking around in the very empty room. "I don't trust the Department of Mysteries to not have ears hidden in the walls." he paused. "Literally."
"Let me just put this away then…" Harry said, as he waved his wand. The things he had been organizing rose up in the air and returned to their previous places. As soon as the last object was placed, Tom gripped his hand and they disapparated.
"I always forget that our signatures are written into the wards…" Harry mused as they landed. Tom stood perfectly while Harry himself had fallen to the floor. "I would spare so much time if I apparated everywhere, but the landings would perhaps be a setback."
"I would prefer if you didn't. Salazar knows what you would manage to do to yourself if you did." Tom answered, and gave Harry a quite meaningful look while he helped Harry up from the floor. Harry looked around at where they had apparated to.
"Your chambers? Is this going to turn into a monthly ritual?" Harry asked with amusement.
"It could." Tom answered slyly, and it took Harry a minute before he realized that he was supposed to be in heat and that they were in Tom's bedroom. When it connected, Harry became flushed. They hadn't been intimate since the last time they were in here, except for fleeting touches and a kiss when they had time for it.
"Which brings me back to our problem." Tom then continued, as if Harry wasn't flushed red in front of him, even if he did take a moment to admit that Harry looked sinfully delicious. "You."
Harry walked over to one of the armchairs and sat down, not feeling inclined to stand up for this conversation.
"Do continue, dear. I really do want to know how I'm the problem this time."
Tom followed him, and sat down so that they faced each other.
"You have probably not noticed the difference, since I suspect that you are more accustomed to our Horcrux connection than I am, but there's a second connection now. We mated, we are mates, we are bonded together, and because of that we have a bond connection as well. It's both telepathic and empathic in nature, strengthening the connection we already had to something unique." Tom began. In Harry's eyes, Tom had slipped into his teaching role. The thought reminded him of a subject he had wanted to talk about for a while, but it had to wait until this conversation was over.
"When you repress your heat cycle with potions, the bond connection reacts and acts out. In biological terms, when you have a mate, there's no need to repress it any longer. The result is that both of us feel physically sick, and that I get the backlash of your hormones." Tom paused, probably to see if he had missed anything.
"Are you feeling okay? You never did answer…" Harry could hear the worry bleed through as Tom asked.
"I have told you already that my chest feels tight with you close." Harry protested. Tom looked at him blankly for a moment, before his eyes widened just slightly.
"When I'm close?" Tom repeated. "It's supposed to ache when we're separated!"
"Well, you know me, Tom. I was born to go beyond expectations." Harry answered with a great deal of sarcasm.
"It's no joking matter, Harry, but you might be thinking in the right directions."
"Do you have a better idea?" Harry snapped. They had gravitated towards each other as they talked, and the tightening in his chest was becoming unbearable. This was the longest they had been together since they had mated. Tom flinched back, and the distance between them made Harry breathe just a bit easier.
"I don't." Tom admitted softly. "Perhaps your Department of Mysteries can be of help? I'll raid my own and my followers libraries for information as well. For now though… is the pain in your chest the only problem?"
"I think so. There's been so much to do this last month that I have barely had time for myself." Harry answered and rolled his shoulders in a careless shrug, a motion that for Tom screamed how insignificant Harry thought himself.
"Take the next few days off." Tom suggested. "Take the counter-potion for the heat repressor too. It can be an overuse of the potion that is the problem."
"I will." Harry said. "On the condition that you listen to me now, and don't try to argue until I'm done."
Tom nodded his agreement, curious as to what Harry wanted.
"First things first, can you please remove the curse on the Defence position? I've only had two decent teachers, and one of them was a Death Eater in disguise sent by you."
"Consider it done. I'm… sorry for the inconvenience it has caused you." Tom said, not sounding sorry at all.
"Good. Then I want you to apply to it. It's the only thing you ever wanted to be, right? Except for a Dark Lord, I guess…" Harry added the last comment drily. "I think you would be a great teacher, if you were to be one as you and not as a ghoul possessing one. If not in Defence, then I'm sure no one can match your qualifications for Dark Arts."
Tom leant back in his armchair as he considered it.
"It would be a… treat so to say, to be able to call Hogwarts home once more. Even more so to actually teach, not just rest on the back of someone's head. I could not possibly be away from you most of the year though, and it would be a bad start for the renewed Hogwarts if one of the teachers were to only stay a year - which is assuming that you're planning on going back in the first place." Tom paused. "Are you?"
"It would be nice to have at least one year that is not going to end in some adventure that I'm far too young for." Harry answered slowly. "If there's still any adventures left that I am too young for."
Tom blinked at him.
"I'm aware that I disturbed your first, fourth and fifth year in person, but what else have you been through?"
"Second year, Lucius Malfoy gave your diary Horcrux to Ginny Weasley, and it posessed her to open the Chamber of Secrets. Your Horcrux was going to steal her life to gain a body. I found the Chamber, fought the Basilisk - Fawkes came with the Sorting Hat which contained the Sword of Gryffindor. Fawkes blinded the Basilisk, I stabbed the Basilisk with the sword through its mouth, and got bitten as I did. Then I took the Basilisk fang from my arm and destroyed your Horcrux with it. Fawkes cried for me, hence I'm still here. Third year, my godfather escaped from Azkaban after he saw a picture of Wormtail in his animagus form in the Daily Prophet. He spent the year trying to capture Wormtail, and with Sirius as an escapee from Azkaban the school was full of dementors - and dementors likes me very much. By the end of the school year, Hermione and I used her time-turner to save Sirius and a hippogriff from death. Our Defence teacher that year was a werewolf, and he turned as we were bringing Wormtail to the castle. Wormtail fled, as you probably guessed. Sixth year was a mix of seeing pensieve memories about you to learn about Horcruxes, and actual Horcrux hunting. Not to mention that you had arranged for Draco to kill Dumbledore. I was there for most of his failed tries, and I was there to witness when Snape killed Dumbledore instead. I think my third year is the only year where you weren't involved."
Tom honestly gaped at him.
"You are impossible!"
Harry smiled darkly in response.
"You found the Chamber at the mere age of 12? And killed the Basilisk? And destroyed my Horcrux?!"
"Impossible could just as well be my middle name. I cast a Patronus strong enough to repel a hundred dementors in my third year, the same year that I learnt the spell. I won the Triwizard Tournament at the age of 14, without any help from my friends as they had abandoned me and while competing against adults. I flew on thestrals and broke into the ministry at 15. I both broke into Gringotts and then escaped on a dragon the day before the battle."
"Are you actually human? How are you alive?" Tom questioned, obviously bewildered. Then he paused, as he realized what Harry had been saying.
"Have you destroyed my Horcruxes?" Tom asked, his tone enough to make Harry flinch.
"Not all of them! Dumbledore destroyed the Gaunt ring, and unless Nagini have died, you still have her, not to mention me."
Harry watched wearily as Tom regained his senses.
"Then I have to keep you with me at all times." Tom reasoned calmly. "The best way to do that would be to chain you up somewhere so that you can't escape, since danger seems to be following you wherever you go, but that would not make you like me any better… You're lucky that Hogwarts is one of the safest places in Britain. You will go back for your seventh year, and you will become the Defence professor after graduation."
"And who'll be the Defence professor when I'm a student? Are you agreeing to being the Dark Arts teacher then?"
"I think I will be your Defence professor for one year, and then the Dark Arts class can start after your graduation. If it's merely a change of position, and you become the Defence professor directly after graduation, I see no problem with the situation."
"I'm not sure where the greatest irony lies, in the Dark Lord and the Chosen One being mates, or in the Dark Arts and Defence professors being mates…" Harry mused.
"Then it's decided. Inform your headmistress of it as soon as possible, so that I can chose books needed for the next school year. Inform her that you're returning to finish your seventh year as well. For now, go take the counter-potion and sleep."
"This is the only time you can order me around, and only because I'm letting you." Harry said, and disapparated.
Tom grimaced at Harry's parting words before he disapparated as well, as he decided to raid his followers libraries sooner rather than later.
It was a week later that Tom visited the Department of Mysteries again. Harry was in the Entrance Chamber this time, putting up signs on the doors. It was too much of an inconvenience to spend hours opening doors when trying to get somewhere. He would have to make sure that the doors were warded to only let the Unspeakables enter instead. If Tom helped him put up the wards in parseltongue, there should not be any problems… and speaking of Tom.
"Have you found anything?" Harry asked without stopping what he was doing.
"I found a rare copy of an old text written in Thracian - a language that has been extinct since the early Middle Ages. It spoke of dominance and submissiveness in alphas and omegas." Tom said. Harry paused what he was doing and turned around to give Tom his full attention.
"It said that although alphas are seen as the dominant partner and omegas as the submissive, there have been rare cases when an alpha turns out to be submissive or an omega to be dominant. It causes a bit of a problem when it's an alpha's' instincts to take control and an omega's instincts to obey the alpha. There's no registered case of a submissive alpha and dominant omega mating, but there are some clues to what happens when both partners are dominant or submissive." Tom paused to let Harry take in the information.
"A mated pair where both partners are submissive does not have any outward symptoms, and relies on the personalities of the individuals. In the case of a relationship between two dominants, the omega's will fights against instinct which can take shape as pain. Especially if the alpha has an extraordinary strong aura."
"You're saying that I'm a dominant omega?" Harry asked, not quite able to believe what he had heard, but clever enough to not dismiss it.
"It may be extremely rare, Harry, but you should not be so surprised. You're capable of throwing of even my Imperius, it's clear that you have a magnificient will."
"Are you complimenting me?" Harry asked, his eyebrow raised and his smile amused. Tom smiled softly at him.
"Perhaps I am. It could also be the last puzzle piece to the prophecy - power the Dark Lord knows not. It's a bit of a stretch since I'm dominant, but it could be that you have the power to be dominant over me - which is certainly a power I've never known before. However it is, it does leave us with a problem though - we're both dominant, and you're in pain because of it."
"Does that book of yours offer any solutions?"
"Not any that were actually translatable or reasonable. We could add a room for it, but then we would have to wait years before the Unspeakables have any results, and you would have to let yourself be experimented on."
Harry grimaced at the thought.
"Should we fight for dominance?" he suggested. Their lives had been rather focused on fighting each other before.
"Your idea can hold some merit. The question remains if it's duelling or a physical fight that is needed."
"Or it could be a mental one. Perhaps it works like Slytherin's Power Plays."
"Then I say - let the best man win."
They looked at each other fondly, but the challenge between them was quite obvious in the air. Harry found it greatly amusing as a mere week ago he had been more than ready to play games.
"How was your heat?" Tom asked conversationally. Harry's smile lost its fondness as it widened. It was just too obvious what Tom was out after - for him to admit that he needed Tom.
"Much better than the last." Harry answered truthfully. He could see how Tom's jaw tensed, and knew that he had struck a nerve. It had been much better though, it had not lasted for as long nor had he been as overpowered with pure need. He had longed for Tom with his whole being, but he were not going to admit that out loud. Not while they were playing.
"Then we can only hope that it continues." Tom answered. Harry decided to give in for a bit, since he would rather not spend the next heat alone as Tom implied.
"I would rather hope that my bed will not be as cold the next time." Harry said, and took a step closer to Tom.
The door that lead into the Department of Mysteries opened and Unspeakable Rookwood entered. Both Tom and Harry turned their gazes towards him, as if they were predators and Rookwood were their prey.
"The minister wants to see you, my Lord." Rookwood said, before turning to Harry.
"Mr. Potter, the time-turners you've ordered have arrived. Shall I help you set them up in the Time Room?"
"Thank you, Rookwood. Harry, I look forward to seeing you later." Tom said and left.
Harry smiled softly at Rookwood.
"You have a great sense of time for when to arrive. Your help would be much appreciated."
Rookwood nodded at him, and together they went to retrieve the time-turners.
Harry left the Time Room first hours later. It was likely close to midnight, yet the Ministry was buzzing with activity. It would surely die down in a month or so, but for now there was still much needed to be done. Harry was walking towards the apparition point, although he technically did not need it, when Tom stopped in front of him - forcing him to stop as well.
"Darling, you didn't have to wait for me." Harry teased.
"I had the most curious realization earlier." Tom answered. "You've been to my home twice, yet I'm still unaware where you live."
"Technically, you've kidnapped me to your bedroom twice." Harry answered with a smirk. "I'll humor you though. I live in the house that I inherited from my godfather."
"You can still apparate there if you chose so." Tom said, casually waving his comment away. "You live in a Black house then?"
"Yes." Harry confirmed, seeing no harm in giving Tom information that would be easy to get anyway.
"Do tell, where is this house located?"
"It's in London." Harry answered, and shrugged with one shoulder. He could see that Tom grew frustrated with him.
"It's under the Fidelius charm." he added. He could play nice to.
"The secret-keeper?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow, more impatient than frustrated now.
"The Order of the Phoenix." Harry answered, and disapparated away. He probably ought to change that… could he re-cast the Fidelius and become the sole secret-keeper perhaps? It could wait until tomorrow though.
In retrospect, he should have done it as soon as he got home, Harry thought a few hours later after he had woken up to Tom staring down at him.
"Who?" Harry asked as he sat up. He stretched his arms out above his head and suffocated a yawn against his shoulder as he did.
"Mundungus Fletcher."
Harry sighed. He had somehow forgotten all about Dung. To be honest, he was surprised to find that the man was still alive.
"Just get into the bed already. I was quite happy being asleep." Harry grumbled and laid back down. Tom slipped in next to him a moment later. Tom wrapped his arm around Harry's waist, and Harry smiled to himself since he had easily won this battle. He had to give Tom some credit for finding an Order member so fast though. It didn't take long before they were both asleep.
The next time Harry woke up, Tom was once again staring down at him.
"You're not going to make a hobby out of that, I hope." Harry said and reached for his glasses.
"Good morning to you too, my dear." Tom answered and bent down to place a kiss on his scar. Harry slipped on his glasses, but stayed where he was. His chest didn't hurt quite as much now, so he assumed that his theory about Power Plays had been correct.
"Any plans for the day?" Harry asked.
"We could steal a time-turner from the Time Room and spend more time in bed, slowly exploring each others bodies with hands and kisses…" Tom started slowly as he trailed his fingers over Harry's side. "Or we could get up now and eat a quick breakfast before apparating to the Ministry and become swamped in work."
"Mmm…" Harry hummed in agreement to the first option. It would be so easy… too easy…
"What do you want for breakfast?" Harry asked, and got up from the bed.
"You." Tom answered. Harry glanced back at him, and saw the predatory smile spread slowly. Fuck.
"Go steal a time-turner. I'm gonna take a shower." Harry said, with a small sigh as he lost the battle. Tom apparated before Harry as much as took a step away from the bed.
Tom returned a few minutes later. Harry didn't notice until he felt a body behind him in the shower and a pair of arms sneaked around his waist.
"Are you going to show any of that impressive self control today?" Harry asked, and turned his head so that he could reach Tom's lips. He got an unbearably slow kiss as his answer.
/Mine/ Harry hissed, before Tom could claim him.
/Each other's/ Tom compromised. Touches and kisses blurred together after that, and Harry never quite gripped his head around how they moved from the shower to the bed.
They never did use the time-turner in the end, instead deciding that they had done more for the Ministry than could be reasonably asked from them and therefore had deserved a day off. As a consequence, they didn't get any more free time together for a while. Harry went through July's heat alone too, but Tom had promised to be there for the next. That was part of the reason to why they now - on Harry's 18th birthday - were in Tom's bedroom. The bigger reason was that Tom had once again apparated Harry there without warning.
"You do really need to stop making a habit out of this." Harry commented lightly.
"Then where would the fun be?" Tom asked, his innocent tone sounding completely wrong when coming from the Dark Lord.
"I thought we had dinner plans. With my friends." Harry said, as if he hadn't heard Tom.
"We do. I moved the dinner to my dining room. They're all waiting for us. I took you here first to give you your surprise."
Harry turned to look at Tom better, his attention clearly caught. Tom smoothly slipped down on one knee.
"If you're proposing, I'm walking right out of here and you'll have to search the whole planet to find me." Harry warned. As easy as their relationship was, and as stuck together they already were as mates, he was not going to agree to such an obvious sign of ownership as an engagement ring. Tom's only response was to grin at Harry as he took Harry's hand in his.
"I want you to mark me." Tom said.
"Mark you?" Harry repeated.
"Yes. We're equals, mates. You've borne my mark since the age of one, it would only be fair for you to mark me in return."
"Then I will. You scarred me for life, and I will scar you in return." Harry decided.
"I thought you might want to do that." Tom began, with a slight grimace at the thought that he was willingly letting someone put a scar on his perfect skin. "I had a ritual knife made so that the scar will never fade."
Harry helped Tom up from the floor.
"Give me knife, then remove your shirt and lay down on the bed on your back." Harry demanded. Tom did as asked without comment.
Harry straddled Tom on the bed and ran a hand over his pale chest. Where to place his mark? Harry bit his lip thoughtfully as he inspected Tom's chest. He had the perfect idea… Harry lightly ran the tip of the knife over where Tom's heart was.
"I could kill you now…" he realized, amazed at the trust Tom put in him.
"I would let you, but only, my Horcrux, because I would be able to come back and take my revenge."
"Such sweet words…" Harry mumbled, and pressed the knife into Tom's flesh. He carved a lightning bolt to match his own in the skin above Tom's heart.
"Mine for forever and forever…" he whispered, his tone bordering on worshipfulness.
"As you are mine for forever and forever." Tom answered, his tone soft with barely hidden amazement. Their situation was still new enough for such feelings.
Harry dropped the knife on the bed and bent down to kiss Tom with all the feelings that had surfaced. Their kiss was soft, only lips against lips, but it felt like it lasted forever. He had the fleeting thought that their Power Play could very well be the death of both of them, immortal or not. All too soon, their kiss was over and they cleaned themselves up so that they looked presentable for dinner.
A few hours later, they were back on Tom's bed. They laid on their backs and looked up at the ceiling, as they took the moment to relax after having socialized for so long.
"My chest doesn't hurt anymore." Harry said, and broke the comfortable silence that had been between them. Tom turned his head to look at Harry.
"Perhaps your dominant side settled after you marked me." Tom mused. "We have taken the time to prove that we can be dominant over each other without forcing the other to be submissive."
"So… Game over?" Harry asked. Tom was quiet for a moment, scrutinizing his face.
"No, let us play the game until there are no more games to play." Tom said.
"Until the end of the world then." Harry answered. "We'll never run out of moves, no matter how many times we are put in check."
"You really ought to have been sorted into Slytherin." Tom said with a short laugh. Harry merely smiled at him.
"I nearly was, but I was only 11 and those I had met told me that Gryffindor was the best house. Not to mention that Draco was a prat at 11, and if he was in Slytherin, I wanted to get as far away as possible. I'm a snake in a house of lions."
"Yet here, you are a lion in the snake den."
"Ah, but who said that I can not be both?"
"Only you, Harry, only you." Tom answered, and that was it. Words got exchanged for kisses and clothes got removed in favour of caresses.
September 1st came out of nowhere. After spending the beginning of August together, they had tons of things to accomplish in the Ministry before the Hogwarts school year started. They had still more to do during the school year. Tom was in constant correspondence with Lucius over different Ministry matters, while Harry had put Rookwood in charge over his beloved Department of Mysteries. They exchanged letters ever so often, written in codes that Tom always tried to decode. To Harry's great amusement, Tom had yet to succeed.
Tom and Harry sat together in a compartment, as Tom had chosen to go by train for old times' sake. Most of Harry's yearmates that had survived the war were also on the train, but he had decided that he could wait to greet them until the Start-of-Term feast. Tom had Nagini around his shoulders, and Harry had no pet at all. It hadn't felt right to get a new owl after Hedwig - he had borrowed one from the Ministry or used Tom's when he needed to send letters, and at Hogwarts he would be able to go to the Owlery whenever he wanted - and he had yet to find some other sort of animal he might want as a pet. There was also the small problem of Nagini getting along with the hypothetical pet. He actually liked the snake a great deal - she was witty and had a lot of embarrassing stories to tell him about Tom.
"What are you thinking about?" Tom asked.
"How trains have always signified a great change for me." Harry answered. "I do believe that if I ever die, I'll end up at Kings Cross to take the train to the afterlife."
Tom grimaced.
"Death is far too morbid a subject, Harry. This is a change for the better, not for the worse."
Harry smiled sheepishly.
"You must be right. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Defence professor at Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry… that must be the greatest change of them all." Harry teased.
"You might laugh now, but in one year it will be you that are in my position. Certainly no one would ever suspect the Boy-Who-Lived to settle for the role of a teacher, even in Defence."
"I wanted to be an Auror for a while." Harry admitted. "Although that was a long time ago…"
"What changed?"
"War. It was much too real. I don't believe I would ever be able to hunt Dark Wizards without getting flashbacks to the past… the stress would be too much. I'll take the role of a teacher over that any time."
Tom stayed silent. Harry understood, the war would always stay an uncomfortable subject for them.
"If I ever tire of being a teacher, I'm sure the Department of Mysteries will welcome me with open arms." Harry said, trying to get Tom's mind onto happier things. He must have succeeded, because Tom smiled at him.
"Well, Harry, we have all the time in the world to do what we want."
"And we'll do it all together."
End. Reviews are always appreciated x
Also; guess how many times Harry actually says Tom's name in this.
(Before you ask, a third part is planned)