A/N: I think I'm changing my update schedule to once every two weeks instead of once every week. At least for a while. I want to update some of my other stuff too.

With that said, please have a lookout for plotholes. I'm a horrible writer who don't read through my things before I post them.

It felt nice to have taken a real shower. Tom had probably casted cleaning charms on him during the week, but there were a clear difference between what magic could do and what a real shower could do. Harry felt refreshed, a feeling that was never quite there when magic was used. The only downside of the shower was that he couldn't wash his hair as he was used to. It felt different to shampoo dreads instead of his afro, and it had taken forever to squeeze the dreads dry. He wondered if a drying charm would help. He would have to look up if there were any specialized for his kind of hair. One could never know with cosmetic charms.

He had forgotten to bring a change of clothes with him into the bathroom. Again. Unlike last time, he decided to make do with the clothes that he had been wearing. Harry focused his magic on his dirty pajama pants and underwear to first clean the items and then to transfigure them into new clothing. Since a pair of pajama pants couldn't be transfigured into two pieces of clothing, he went with a jumpsuit. He didn't dare trying to conjure anything complicated until he had gotten used to his new magic. Just conjuring a hair scrunchie proved to be a hard task - it took a few tries before he conjured up one in the right size and that stayed one colour. Harry pulled his dreads back and secured them in a ponytail with the hair scrunchie. Dressed and as ready as he could possibly be, he left the bathroom.

The living room and therefore the kitchen were both empty except for him, but the hissing from Tom's bedroom clued him in to where Tom, Eglė and probably Nagini were located. Determined to avoid the conversation that he needed to have with Tom for as long as possible, Harry looked around. He had a vague memory of Tom mentioning an owl for him… Just as he had thought that, he spotted Hedwig sitting on the back of a kitchen chair.

"Hedwig!" Harry called, feeling happier and more relaxed at the sight of his familiar and friend. The brilliant snowy owl gave a wary hoot as answer, and flapped her wings once but didn't leave the chair. Harry frowned at her. There were no reason for her to be wary of him all of a sudden. Unless… what had Tom called him? An Echidna, but what more… Harry bit his lip as he recalled Tom's words. The mother of all monsters… That could certainly explain why Hedwig was wary of coming any closer, even if she recognized him.

"It's me, Hedwig. I haven't changed. You know that I would never hurt you." Harry cooed softly, and hoped it would be enough to coax Hedwig to him. He would have bribed her with owl treats, but he didn't have any and there was a risk that she would get scared if he got any closer to search for some food. Maybe he could conjure her a mouse? It would best if he could get the letter from her first though…

"I'll give you a big juicy mouse if you let me have the letter." he tried, not above bribing his own owl. He was rather happy that Tom couldn't see him right now, because the situation definitely felt ridiculous. At least the promise of prey worked, because Hedwig flew forward him and landed on his shoulder. She nipped after his fingers affectionately when he took the letter that had been tied to her leg.

"Thank you, darling." Harry cooed. He focused his magic and conjured up a mouse. It didn't come out right, it looked to be part guinea pig or something, but Hedwig apparently didn't care since she took off after it. If he could do this kind of magic wandlessly, he didn't want to know what he could do with a wand. How bad had the bound on his creature inheritance been if it affected his magic this much? Maybe Tom had an idea if he asked… Harry made a mental note to do that later, and sat down on his bed so that he could read the letter. He didn't have any hopes that it would be from his parents, since he doubted that they would think of using Hedwig if they knew he was behind wards.

It was with slightly trembling hands that he opened the letter, his magic licking his fingertips. For a moment, he feared that the letter would catch on fire. He wasn't aware that he had held his breath until he let out a relieved sigh. Harry looked down on the letter.

Dear snake in lion-skin,
I can't begin to tell you how upset I am that no one told me that you were missing. I happened to overhear Padfoot talking to Nymphadora about it, and then the bat confirmed it for me.

Have the riddle taken proper care of you? I sincerely hope so, or I will personally see to destroying him. No one harms my snake, especially not the riddle. Yes, I'm fully aware that you can take of yourself. Let me try to protect you anyway, snake.

Do inform me if you're in need of anything. As long as you use Hedwig, I'll make sure that you get what you need.

Also, a warning. Padfoot mentioned Dumbledore. I fear that he'll be involved.

Do keep me updated.

Sincerely,
your lion in snake-skin

Harry smiled at the use of codenames. Regulus definitely knew how to write a letter that if intercepted would be confusing, not that there was any risk when Hedwig was used. He debated answering the letter now, but after careful deliberation he decided against it. If he answered after he had talked to Tom, he would be able to inform Regulus more properly of the situation. It was likely that he would feel the need to talk about it with someone else too, and then Regulus were one of his best options. With this decided, Harry put the letter away underneath his pillow and rose from the bed. With a calming breath, he entered the bedroom.

"Hey." he said to make himself known, at once feeling awkward. Tom looked up from where he was sat on the bed together with Nagini and Eglė. Nagini was curled protectively around the smaller snake.

"Did you enjoy your shower?" Tom asked pleasantly. Harry gave a nod, not sure if he would manage to say something if he tried. Tom patted the place next to him to the bed. Harry obediently walked over and sat down.

"Mother." Eglė greeted him. She freed herself from Nagini to slither over to him and curl herself around his right arm. Harry smiled down at her and scratched her scales carefully. Eglė gave a pleased hiss.

"I'm very happy with my grand-hatchling." Nagini commented. "I hope you two will give me more soon."

"Nagini, it's not like that." Harry protested, quite obviously flustered.

"It's not? And here I thought that we would make great parents, darling." Tom said with a mock hurt expression.

"Please, just, don't. We need to talk." Harry answered with a groan, and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes in a sign of defeated irritation. Eglė's grip around his arm tightened at the sudden movement.

"My apologies. What do you want to start with?" Tom asked.

"I think you've explained most about why you did it and what Echidna is already…" Harry thought out loud. He did only vaguely remember the explanations and he wasn't sure if he actually understood them, but he would prefer to avoid those subjects for now.

"What about the ring?" he finally asked, and held up his left hand to show Tom what he was talking about. "You didn't even bother creating a memory for it."

"Have you tried to take it off?" Tom asked, with a look of curiosity in his eyes. Harry frowned slightly but shook his head as an answer anyway.

"I wouldn't succeed if I did try, would I?" he asked.

"I'm the only one able to take it off." Tom said. "I'm surprised that you didn't try to take it off."

Harry's only response was to shrug. He didn't know why he hadn't tried to take it off either.

"So. Why the left ring finger?"

"Which answer would you prefer to hear?" Tom inquired. "I have multiple."

"All of them."

Tom began to count off the answers on his fingers.
"To show everyone that you're mine, because it's easier to overlook a ring when it's on a finger with significant meaning, because it would be in your way if it was on your right hand, because I simply like how it looks on you, and because it will make you think of me with a meaning that the other fingers don't have."

"You're one disturbed human being." Harry deadpanned, and made a scene of trying to remove the ring even if he had been told that he would be unable to. Tom looked on with a sense of amusement.

"Thank you." he answered with heavy sarcasm. "If you're done, there's a real reason behind the ring."

Harry stopped trying to pull the ring off, and looked questioningly at Tom. Eglė was hissing at him since he moved her around with his gestures, but Harry calmed her by scratching her scales.

"Do you know about Death's Hallows?" Tom questioned. Harry tilted his head to the side as he thought about it.

"The Hallows are three items that were given to three brothers by Death. The brothers in question are said to be the Peverell brothers. I'm related to the youngest of the brothers, Ignotus Peverell. He's buried in Godric's Hollow. There's an invisibility cloak that have been passed down from father to son in my family for generations, it's said to have belonged to Ignotus."

Tom nodded.
"It's one of Death's Hallows. If you've seen the symbol for the Deathly Hallows, the cloak is symbolized by the triangle."

"A triangle split by a line, and with a circle inside of it?" Harry asked. "I saw the mark on Ignotus' gravestone once."

"What were you doing in Godric's Hollow?" Tom wondered.

"We have a cottage there." Harry said, and waved his hand as a sign for Tom to go on with the storytelling.

"Okay. You know that you're related to Ignotus. I come from the Gaunts, a line that is best known for being descendants of Salazar Slytherin. A lesser known fact is that they were also descendants of Cadmus Peverell. I stole the ring from my uncle. Not only does the stone have an inscription of the Deathly Hallows symbol, it's also the symbol for Peverell's family crest. I can only assume that's the reason no one found the symbol particular, especially knowing the tale of the three brothers."

"Are you telling me that I have the Resurrection Stone on my finger?" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Yes." Tom confirmed easily. "I gave it to you. Congratulations, dear, you're the owner of two of the Deathly Hallows. One more, and you'll be the Master of Death."

"This all seem ridiculously easy." Harry said faintly. "Why would I want to become the Master of Death? Why do you want me to become the Master of Death?!" His voice had rose an octave by the time he was done.

"Because of the power." Tom answered simply. Harry felt as if something heavier was implied.

"Don't you want the power for yourself?" he cried instead of asking about suspected implications.

"I already have power." Tom said.

"But don't you want more?!"

"Having you by my side will give me more."

"What if I don't want to be by your side?"

"Oh, darling, do you really think that you have a choice?"

Harry slapped him with the backside of his left hand. Tom's head flew to the side because of the impact. The Resurrection Stone wasn't sharp enough to cut him, but the slap was hard enough for a blood vessel in his mouth to burst. Tom spat out the blood in his palm, and looked up towards Harry. There were some spots of blood at the corner of his mouth.

They stared at each other. Harry looked unsympathetic and like he couldn't believe that he had just done that, while Tom looked fascinated.

Nagini looked between Harry and Tom. Her head was flattened and she had puffed up, a sign that she had been startled by their actions and was trying to look intimidating as told by instinct. Eglė had moved from Harry's arm to around his shoulders, and was now hissing threateningly at Tom.

"Mother doesn't belong to you! You're not his mate, and Mother is your superior, puny human!"

"You understand them?" Nagini asked. She had realized that she was in no danger and calmed down, but Eglė was still hissing threats and insults at Tom.

"I can understand all languages." Eglė answered proudly.

"Does that include owl?" Nagini asked curiously.

"I have never tried." Eglė admitted, and scrunched her nose in a way only a snake could.

"You should. I'd like to talk with Hedwig."

"Hedwig?"

"Mother's owl." Nagini explained. Eglė looked excited, and uncurled herself from Harry's arm.

"I can try to talk to Hedwig." she said excitedly. Nagini waited for Eglė to curl around her, and slithered down from the bed. They left the bedroom to find the owl and left their humans to work things out on their own.

"I'm not sorry." Harry broke the silence. "You deserved it."

"It's really a good thing that I like you." Tom mused. "Do you want to slap me again or are you done?"

"I will fucking punch you." Harry promised, before he let out a sigh. "We're not done talking though. Maybe later."

"What more do you want to talk about?" Tom questioned, with a raised eyebrow. Harry shrugged. He wasn't actually sure.

"What happened while I was asleep? Except for the letters."

"I would say nothing much, but I assume you want to know what happened in the wizarding world, not in the apartment." Tom said. Harry answered the underlying question with a gesture that was part-shrug and part-nod.

"I spent most of the week in the apartment. I did off a Ministry worker, and I would offer you details of who and how if I thought you would be interested." Tom paused to grin at Harry, a small sign that he was teasing. "I had Lucius contact Rita Skeeter for an article in the Daily Prophet. I wanted her to get the story before Dumbledore could get his hands involved. He should be under close inspection now."

"Did she write the truth?"

"The truth that she knew. Of course, Lucius had to feed her some white lies about the kidnapping."

"Are any of your white lies going to come back and bite me in the ass?" Harry asked. Tom smiled charmingly.

"Only if you let them. Though if you want to be bitten in the ass…" he trailed off. Harry snorted.

"I will punch you, Riddle."

Tom grimaced slightly.
"Gaunt. If you have to call me by a lastname, I prefer Gaunt. I prefer it when you call me Tom even more, though Marvolo would also be quite nice…"

"I will punch you, Gaunt." Harry corrected. Annoyed with Tom or not, he wouldn't use a name if Tom disliked it.

"Much better, darling." Tom praised. "And you know that I'll stop if you tell me to do so. You haven't, so I can only assume that you don't mind as much as you pretend that you do."

"You really do care about my consent, don't you?" Harry asked with a tone full of amazement. "You could have given me false memories of us kissing, or worse, but you didn't. You made up a reason for why I was sleeping in your bed, and that was it. I'm still cross with you for that by the way, but thinking about what you could have done, I'm not that mad. You can forget that I'll share your bed again though."

"You already have, my dear." Tom pointed out. "Of course I care about your consent. I'm a murderer, not a rapist."

"It was after an emotional breakdown and should not be counted!" Harry protested. "I know you're not, but that's not the only reason, is it?"

Tom was quiet for a moment, and then gave a quiet sigh.
"My mother tricked my father into a marriage with a love potion. She tricked herself into believing that he really loved her, and stopped giving him the potion. He left her. I detested him for it, but I can understand it. She took away his will. That's why I find your consent so important. I don't want to become my mother or my father."

"I- that's-" Harry started, but he couldn't find anything to say. "Detested? As in you don't anymore?" he asked instead.

"Oh, I murdered him. He was my first." Tom answered flippantly, as if they were talking about the weather. Harry wasn't sure what he had expected, but that had probably been it. He wasn't surprised. He would probably been more surprised if Tom liked his father, especially since it was just a moment ago that he corrected Harry on which lastname to use. Harry could only assume that Tom's mother's maiden name was Gaunt. Tom had said that he came from the Gaunts, but Harry hadn't been sure if it was a close relation or not. Now he apparently had an answer.

"Was there anything else?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow when Harry didn't say anything.

"No. Did you have an answer from Seve- Professor Snape?"

"He's your godfather, and you graduated years ago. You can say Severus. He's not even here to hear it." Tom commented, while he summoned the letter nonverbally and wandlessly.

"He's also told me to call him Severus." Harry admitted. "It's just force of habit."

"It's a bad habit, unlearn it." Tom said and handed Harry the letter.

"Why?" Harry asked breathily, and smiled like the cat who got the cream. "Are you jealous? Do you want me to call you professor Gaunt?"

"Sorry to let you down, darling, but I'm not into roleplay."

Harry rose from the bed with a small laugh.
"If you say so, professor." he said, and left the bedroom. He made sure to swing his hips on his way out. He heard Tom groan before the bedroom door closed. It was surprisingly fun to tease back.

The scene Harry was met with in the living room was one he had never expected to see. Hedwig was sat on the bed with Eglė in front of her and Nagini curled so that she was surrounding them, with her head resting on her body.

"What is she saying?" Nagini asked.

"That Mother is behind us." Eglė answered and turned around. Nagini only lifted her head and tilted it to the side.

"You're a hootmouth?" Harry asked, and laughed at his own joke. He wasn't really sure why he had started thinking about what an owl speaker would be called during his breakdown that morning, but the opportunity was too good for him to let it be. Too bad he was the only one present that could appreciate it.

"Hootmouth?" Eglė questioned.

"You can understand Hedwig?" Harry rephrased his question.

"Oh! Yes, Mother, I can. As I told you, I have all the knowledge of the world."

"That includes speaking all languages?" Harry asked, amazed.

"Understand, not speak. Your owl is highly intelligent though. We're almost having a conversation."

"That's amazing. I'll leave you three to it." Harry said and walked over to the kitchen area. He had a letter to read and a potion to work on.

Harry sat at the kitchen table, his potion notes spread out in front of him. He had expanded the table to be able to fit all of them, since with the addition of prof- Severus' notes he wouldn't be able to work otherwise. He should check how the potion lab looked since he hadn't yet, but for now he was content with working in the kitchen.

Tom sat on his bed together with the snakes and Hedwig, probably partaking in their conversation. Harry didn't pay him much mind with the exception for a glance now and then when the conversation got louder.

"You look adorable in the jumpsuit and with your dreads in a ponytail." Tom said. Harry looked up at the out of the blue comment.

"You're going to jinx the scrunchie." he mumbled distractedly and went back to reading through prof- Severus' notes while comparing them to his own and writing new notes.

"Jinx it?"

"It's conjured." Harry answered, and wrote down the number for lacewing flies that Severus had given. It was apparently fifteen or twenty one depending on how much dittany essence he was planning on using. It was just a circle of amounts depending on the amounts of other ingredients.

"Your magic is out of the control, isn't it?" Tom asked as if he just remembered. It was likely, since a lot had happened since that morning. Harry still doubted that Tom had forgotten.

"What makes you say that?" he asked sarcastically as he made a correction to how to prepare the chizpurfle carapaces. Crushing it to powder in a mortar would work better than using it whole.

"For one, you're glowing, if you haven't noticed. Secondly, every time you accidentally push down a paper it flies back onto the table."

Harry paused and looked up. After confirming that his skin was indeed glowing with a green sheen, he pushed down one of his papers. It flew back up before it reached the floor. Harry nodded to himself and went back to working. If he powderized the chizpurfle carapaces, then he should use three drops of antimony, and if he used three drops of antimony, he would need seven drops of dittany essence, which in turn made the amount of lacewing flies needed fifteen.

"Should I use the silverweed before the octopus powder or after?" Harry asked.

"It depends on if the pomegranate juice is the only ingredient before that, and how long after the pomegranate juice in that case."

"I think I'll add the lacewing flies twenty minutes after the pomegranate juice, let it boil for five minutes, let it rest for forty five, then add the silverweed, stir it twenty times counter-clockwise with every third stir clockwise making it a total of twenty seven stirs and then let it simmer for a hour and a half before I add the octopus powder."

"Let it rest for twenty minutes after the pomegranate juice, then boil for ten before you add the lacewing flies. After that, let it rest for fifty minutes, then stir five times counter-clockwise, three times clockwise, add the silverweed, stir twenty times counter-clockwise, and let it then simmer for a hour and a half before you add the octopus powder." Tom suggested. Harry nodded and made the correction in his notes.

"It will have to rest for a day after that. I need to figure out when to add Nagini's blood too. I know it has to be towards the end, but I'm not sure if I should use it as the last ingredient or it should wait until after the potion is bottled."

"Severus didn't make any suggestions?" Tom inquired. Harry put down his quill and started to shuffle through his notes.

"If he did, I can't remember it, but he sent me a lot of notes… Wait, here might be something." Harry trailed off as he started reading through the notes. Since the potion was specifically for Nagini, the best result would either be to use it as a base in lieu of water or add it after the potion was bottled. It would take too much blood to use it in lieu of water, not to mention that he had made all the calculations with a water-base in mind. With that issue cleared up he decided to consider the use of haliwinkles instead.

It didn't take much before he was engrossed in potion invention again.

A touch to his shoulder made Harry jump, and resulted in the inkwell exploding. Harry looked at his precious potion notes with rising panic while Tom vanished the ink for him. Harry sighed in relief when his notes turned out to be undamaged.

"If you had actually been listening, that wouldn't have happened." Tom said with a hint of amusement. Harry gave him a halfhearted glare.

"What did you want?" he asked, and vanished the broken inkwell that Tom had left.

"I made dinner. You've been immersed in your work for hours."

"Oh. Sorry! Let me just put this away, and I'll set the table." Harry said and rose up. He didn't trust his magic with the notes yet, so he started to gather them for hand. It took him by surprise when Tom started to help him.

"I know it's my fault that you feel that you're behind with your research, but you really shouldn't overwork yourself. Nagini is not in any danger yet, and Severus has offered his assistance, not to mention that I'm also helping you. Working nonstop for hours might sound good in theory but it's not good in practice." Tom said, his tone careful as if he were afraid to offend.

"I don't have much else to do." Harry pointed out. "Not to mention, it takes my mind of your bullshit."

"You could do me." Tom joked. Harry rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

"In your dreams, Gaunt."

"You're surprisingly fond of using my name all of a sudden, darling."

Harry hummed.
"Give me those papers so that I can put them away."

A moment later the kitchen table was clean from potion notes, and back to its normal size. Tom went to check on the food as well as feed their familiars while Harry started to get out plates, glasses and silverware. It didn't take long before the table was set and the food was served.

"I think you've cooked more than me since I got here." Harry said when they were halfway through dinner. Tom had cooked sausage with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables for them. It was actually pretty good.

"I can stop." Tom offered. His smile gave away that he was only teasing.

"I don't mind. You're pretty good in the kitchen." Harry answered, with a smile of his own.

"Oh, if you like me in the kitchen darling, then you'd love me in the bedroom."

Harry almost choked on his food. He coughed a few times and took a sip of water.
"Too much, Tom. That was too much."

"Sorry." Tom said, not at all sounding apologetic. "I'm not Gaunt anymore?"

"You made me food." Harry half explained, half defended himself. His answer was accompanied by a slight shrug.

"If only food was all it took." Tom mused. Harry rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

After dinner was finished and cleaned up after, they moved to Tom's bedroom. Nagini, Eglė and Hedwig had returned to Harry's bed after they had eaten their dinner, and they didn't want to disturb their familiars. Besides, Harry never got to read Breakfast on Pluto. While Tom settled behind his desk, Harry found the book and sat down in the armchair with it.

They spent a couple of hours in relaxed silence before Harry yawned. It was actually rather impressive that he'd been able to be awake for this long after a week of forced sleep. His hair scrunchie had disappeared and his dreads framed his face again, but he had barely noticed while he was immersed in reading. Now on the other hand, he tiredly moved the dreads away from his face so that he could try to focus on the steadily more blurry page.

By the time he had reread the same sentence five times without understanding it, Harry bookmarked the page by folding a corner and closed it. He transfigured his jumpsuit back to the pair of pajama pants as he stood up.

"I'm too tired, I'm going to sleep in your bed." he mumbled, and slipped down under the covers.

"Good night, my dear." Tom answered in the background. Harry hummed. It didn't take long before he was asleep.

A/N: Did anyone guess that it was Regulus? Yes? No?

There's still a poll on my profile regarding the summary of this.

If you happen to read Harrietta Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived then you'll be happy to know that I'll update it again.

As always, please review x and tell me if you found any plotholes x or worse, uneven characterizations.