Chapter 118:

It was decision day, and Harry had one left to talk to…the one person he wanted to forestall conversing with and avoid at all costs. Tom himself.

His mental conversation with Voldemort, as brief and bizarre as it had been, had gone a long way in aiding his choice - but the Dark Lord, it seemed, now had a tone of questions if the sudden, inexplicable, crippling, rage, fear and uncertainty he was receiving down the link was anything to go by - and also only consolidated that it was the younger he needed to talk with, not a pale imitation.

He could feel the searching gazes of anyone who knew about the ultimatum, but ignored it in favour of spreading margarine meticulously to all four corners of his toast. He wasn't particularly hungry, but it gave him something to do.

He avoided any Ravenclaws (the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match was tomorrow and hostilities had naturally risen, though nowhere near to the violently competitive levels that preceded a Gryffindor/Slytherin game) and merely studied his plate in a thoughtful, conflicted, silence.

Whichever way he ultimately went, this hadn't been an easy choice.

If it wasn't too melodramatic a claim, it had actually been one of the hardest decisions he'd ever had to make. Leaning towards one conclusion or not, he'd hardly got any sleep, and was suffering for it.

His lessons passed in something of a blur, and an impatience combined with a simultaneous, paradoxical desire for time to stop completely.

When he walked out of Transfiguration, he found Tom waiting.

All those in the know how around them froze, and then some other just froze in reaction to that. Tom didn't say anything, merely tilting his head in an indication that Harry should come with him.

Feeling oddly exposed, he did.

They'd barely exchanged a sentence since that conversation, and Harry had to admit the sudden chasm of distance between them bothered him.

He wouldn't pretend it wouldn't.

This silence was, apparently, probably, Tom's interpretation of business. They ended up in the Room of Requirement, because it was still too cold and wet to sit on the banks of the lake.

There was, on Harry's behalf at least, and uncomfortable silence. He had the wildest thought that he'd grown of practise in the art of being around Tom - which was ridiculous!

The other sat onto a chair …chair, not sprawled on the sofa, so he wasn't relaxed. Harry hesitated between taking a chair or going to sit by the fireplace, but wasn't relaxed enough for the latter either, and Tom's posture wasn't helping. Suddenly even more tense, he ending up just standing halfway between both.

"I take it you want to hear my response," he stated, struggling to sound casual.

"Before midnight," Tom said, appraising him intently. "I actually got the impression you wanted to talk to me." Harry's lip curled despite everything.

"What gave it away?" he asked, dryly. "

Well, you've pretty much talked to everyone else." Tom's eyebrows arched. "I used my powers of deduction."

Harry flushed.

"Did they tell you what I said?"

"Not specifically. In rare, unwelcome displays of defiance they advised me to talk to you about it if I wanted to know."

"Figures," he replied, inwardly touched that they'd denied their Lord's curiosity on his behalf. "They told me the same at the end of every conversation too…more or less. To talk to you, I mean."

"The first and last time you'll do as your told," Tom deadpanned. Harry scowled.

"Shut up."

"No, really, it's a waste. I had so many of my own orders you could have conceded to if you were feeling so unusually compliant."

Harry was silent, not sure if he felt up to his normal bantering skills, and loathe to try and make his tumultuous mental state more visible. Tom looked away, seemingly content for him to take the lead on this discussion.

Typical: the only time didn't he assert ruthless dominance and control was when Harry didn't want it either.

"Which option do you want me to pick?" he asked, finally. Tom's eyes snapped back to him, though he didn't otherwise move.

"It's your ultimatum, not mine. My opinion isn't relevant."

"It's relevant to me," Harry returned quietly. Tom made a noise in the back of his throat.

"And if you can't figure out the answer yourself, we clearly don't understand each other as well as I thought we did."

Harry frowned, lightly, dropping warily to take a seat opposite the Slytherin Heir, surveying him intently.

"Maybe you over-estimate my intelligence," he offered, waiting for the disappointment to blossom on the other's features. There was nothing, disappointment or otherwise. Harry bit his lip, his gut wrenching. "I don't know," he admitted, frustrated. Tom always seemed to manage to frustrate him.

"Yes, you do," the Slytherin Heir replied immediately. "You just don't explore those thoughts. Think. I don't misjudge characters."

"Well, rumour has it you don't give ultimatums either," he snapped.

"And build on it."

"Excuse me?"

"There's your evidence - I don't normally give ultimatums. Build on it," Tom elaborated.

Harry sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Why won't you just tell me?"

"Because I've come to the conclusion that simply telling you things isn't as effective as letting you work it out and come to your own decision. You can't deny your own answers like you dismiss everyone else's."

Infuriating man…but his mind was bubbling with the challenge now.

"Aloud, if you will," Tom added. "It saves us the part where I have to try and translate your messed-up psyche."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the comment, but let it slide, thinking.

"Um, right," he began, awkwardly. "You don't normally give ultimatums…but you're giving one to me. Er…which makes me, um, different?"

He nearly cringed at how presumptuously arrogant and childish that sounded…way to point out the obvious. It was time's like these that he hated Tom's genius - he felt so thick in comparison!

Tom inclined his head in acknowledgement, but didn't speak.

"And I'm different because, er, you…that means I'm basically, um, well, I'm not one of our followers like 'brax or Zevi or…Lestrange."

He flexed his left arm almost without thought, wondering again if that was wholly true. Tom's head tilted, and there was no way he missed the reflexive action, but he thankfully didn't comment on it. "You said we were friends…could be equals."

"I did," Tom agreed, still studying him.

"You're giving me the ultimatum because you've changed your mind?"

Tom's fists curled. Wrong answer, or so it seemed.

"Either your lack of self worth has decreased for some unexplainable reason, or you're scared of having gained some self-worth and having it crushed again, leading you to cringe from assessments you'd normally make with confidence," Tom noted, with that sharp analysis. "Try again."

Harry tipped his head back on his chair, tugging fingers through his hair, agitated. He looked back, to see what was almost a faint flicker of pain in the other's gaze.

He swallowed, mentally flinching and steeling himself.

"You're giving me the ultimatum because we're friends," he said.

He held his breath, waiting for the next 'try again,' and yet, at the same time…Tom said nothing, and Harry's throat felt parched.

"You want me to stay," he murmured, and he supposed he'd thought that might be true on one level, but hadn't wanted to base anything on the presumption. His brow furrowed. "Then why did you give me the ultimatum?"

"You tell me," Tom challenged.

"Are you going to do this with every question I ask you?" Harry questioned. There was no response. "Right…well, because you wanted me to choose." He sat up straighter. "You were testing me. You bastard-"

"-Am I bastard for checking if you actually want to spend time with me?"

Harry stopped dead.

For the first time, it hit him that Tom might actually second guess things too, despite his confident demeanour. His eyes closed for a moment.

"Because, sometimes, Harry," Tom continued, "it seems like I'm doing all the pulling in this…friendship, while you're just kicking and screaming."

Harry felt shaky, his bones like jelly.

"I don't," he injected some more steel into his tone. "Um, that's to say, I don't have a problem spending time with you…it's more that I don't like the feeling that I'm forcing my company onto people."

"When have I ever given you the impression I don't like having you around?" Tom looked incredulous, and Harry winced. Then Tom paused. "Wait…that's why you do it, run off so much while not backing down either, obviously we both thrive off the power plays and whatever, that goes without saying, but…it's confirmation for you if I push back."

Tom looked utterly fascinated, and Harry wanted to curl into a hole somewhere and never come out.

"Don't you dare comment on that," he muttered darkly. Tom smirked.

"That's practically an invitation, sweetheart."

There was a silence, awkward, but not so tense as before.

"And yet…you asked me for a business relationship, which has the opposite effect of giving you this confirmation…I've already established that you push your boundaries when you're uncertain, and that you dig deeper…and this is the opposite, withdrawal."

He could hear the silent 'why' on the air between them.

"You know full well that you're dangerous, without my commenting on the matter," was all Harry said. "And you tell me," he added, before Tom could question that statement further, causing the other to smirk.

Tom straightened, before abruptly standing and walking towards him.

Harry stilled, but didn't move, when the other's hand caught his jaw, fingers skimming probingly across the pulse on his neck, the grip tight enough to be uncomfortable and restrictive, but not enough to choke or hurt, balancing on the edge before pain. After a moment, the other let go.

"Think aloud…" Harry instructed, perhaps enjoying using Tom's own words back on him more than he probably should have.

Tom arched an eyebrow, but after a moment, complied.

"You tense around me, again, established, but you don't run in that way and you never have, despite the fact that I've hurt you before and would do it again," he said, locking their gazes. "You're not scared of me on your own behalf. Your choice is to stay."

There was a hint of hesitation there, and oddly, to see Tom figuring out his thought processes made it clearer to him too. He inclined his head, just slightly, and Tom continued.

"But, you have a terrible habit of playing the hero so you're torn between doing what you want, and what other people want and expect from you…so, you fear the consequences of staying on behalf of your friends and family. You fear that I'm danger to them, you fear that if you don't make me believe I shouldn't, I'll drag you to the past and obliterate them from existence." Tom paused, considering him. "You'd distance yourself if you thought it would save them, even if you wouldn't personally want to."

"As you've pointed out," Harry said, softly. "You play to win and I'm not quite naïve enough to think that the people I care about aren't just pawns and pieces for you to use as you wish, nor that they're not in some regards a liability as much as they are a strength."

Tom made a disagreeing, chiding sound, no doubt at the strength part.

"Note," Harry said sharply, just as Tom's eyes began to gleam, "that doesn't translate to any level of acceptance to your plan. I think the whole thing is awful and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole aside from to whack into unfixable smithereens."

There was another silence, shorter this time.

"You're going to make me ask, aren't you?" Harry questioned, not sure whether to be amused or not.

"Ask what?" Tom smirked.

Harry rolled his eyes, watching as Tom dropped onto the sofa across from him. They were in the Slytherin Common replica.

"Are you willing to negotiate on your ultimatum?"

He appraised Harry, feeling more relieved than he felt comfortable with.

Was he willing to negotiate? Yes. Yes he was, for Harry he was.

He didn't need to question what type of concession the other would demand of him; he wanted safety and protection for his family and friends, not that they didn't already have an element of it as Granger had discovered…but Harry didn't need to know that…the interesting part was what he could make Harry concede in return, because they both knew the actual agreement of Harry staying wouldn't work as a concession, because it wasn't.

They were negotiating to allow that to happen in the first place, and Harry had as good as admitted that he wanted to stay as much as Tom didn't want him to leave, so…what to demand?

It would have to be something Harry had a chance of accepting, which, unfortunately, meant no to getting Harry to go along with his plan and drop his own self-destructive one. And no to the Munin band.

"Yes," he said. "I'm open to negotiation. What are your concessions?"

"You will not harm, order harm or threaten to harm anyone that I care about…you will protect if need be and not use them against me," Harry stipulated, carefully. "Nor will they be harmed as a consequence of your actions."

He hid a smile at the last bit, knowing it was directed at his plan.

Except, to harm them meant to cause them physical, mental, or moral impairment or deterioration…and technically, none of that occurred if they simply didn't exist. There was nothing to harm.

Still, he narrowed his eyes, making a show of finding that more difficult than it actually was to agree to…if Harry didn't ask for more, he certainly wouldn't recommend greater concessions.

Of course, there was still a concession involved, he lost a huge amount of bargaining chips if he couldn't use the people Harry cared about to manipulate him.

The use of the word 'care' was also cleverly chosen on Harry's behalf, as though it included, naturally, his friends and family, but Harry wasn't limited to caring for them, and Harry had a capacity to 'care' for a lot of people. Hero complex.

It would be a huge liability if Harry ever did decide to fight against him in the future, as all his enemies or the light side would be automatically included.

Hmm. It was worth a shot…

"If you agree to my concessions, I will not intentionally harm, order harm or threaten harm to any of your friends or family, I will protect them if need be and not use them against you, nor will they intentionally be harmed as a consequence of my actions."

"People I care about, those words," Harry returned, raising an eyebrow.

Okay, it didn't work, he hadn't expected it to...but he needed to find some insurance then, though he couldn't help but distantly admire his handiwork on the boy. Harry might not have picked up on the importance of semantics and lexical choices a year or so back.

Concessions for Harry, if he were to agree to Harry's proposal…you will not work against me? No.

While he was sure Harry was resourceful enough to find a way around that, it would render their current games obsolete, and he couldn't specify you won't work against my plan, because the other would never accept.

Harry knew better than to try and use his Death Eaters against him, mainly because while he cared about them to some extent, it wasn't enough to give Harry any significant advantage, so that was a nonsensical concession to demand. Unless…

"If I agree to your concessions, you will agree that should you ever betray me, return to the light, or use these concessions to aid the victory of the light or my enemies against me, all negotiations between us become void, barring this stipulation that the negotiations become void and control of your magic, which you would lose from breaking the oath, will pass to me should I choose," he offered, watching intently.

It wasn't a concession in the same way Harry's was, but it was binding and it offered him a security he needed and wanted more than any other, more trivial, demand he could have made.

Harry's eyes widened with shock, clearly not having expected that to have been his response.

"I take it you're angling for a Wizard's Oath with the bit about magic and losing it, as opposed to the Unbreakable which would cause me to lose my life instead of my magic."

"Indeed. I'd rather not give you more opportunities to kill yourself," he returned. Harry spluttered.

"I'm not trying to kill myself-"

"-Then you'll have no objection to the Wizard's Oath and stipulations regarding magic thereof?"

"You have no trust in me whatsoever," Harry accused, adopting a wounded tone.

"Take it as a compliment," he replied dryly.
It was, kind of, because it consolidated that Harry was one of the few people who challenged him enough to warrant such measures. "Do you agree or not?"

"Who decided what actions count as a betrayal or return to the light?" Harry questioned warily, very cautious now.

"I do, though you can at the time, if you think you can arrange an audience with me without getting killed, tortured or captured etc, feel free to argue your case and rescind my judgement."

Harry was quiet for a while, looking thoughtful.

He knew it wasn't an easy concession, initial appearances aside, because it meant that Harry could never aid Dumbledore and his friends against Voldemort in that manner without risking their well-being further.

And yet…if he took it, he also gained them a level of protection and aid from Tom himself, and by addition, Tom's own followers, which could potentially stretch to Voldemort's Death Eater's depending on how any meetings between them went.

"Okay," Harry said, softly. "Deal."

A/N: So, I said I wouldn't update for a bit, but I had this chapter written already, so I thought I might as well give it to you because I have the terrible suspicion I'm as hooked on this story as you guys claim to be. Lucky you.

Thank you so much for the feedback, those of you who give it, it is very much appreciated and I love receiving it. Review Alert has turned me into a total email junkie. I get the compulsion to check it every hour if I have the opportunity ;) But anyway.

I hope I did their conversation justice, and if it didn't, then the next chapter might make it up to you. Feel free to try and guess what I have planned, haha. And no, I haven't forgotten about the Dumbledore deal :P

Anyway, adios again for now.
Reality beckons...

PS: Read and review Nara Merald's "Luck's Limits." It is AWESOME and I'm sure she'd love the feedback. :)