Harry stared, his breath coming in short, quick bursts. He stood still, but Tom noticed the way his thumb slid across the Gaunt ring. How had they gotten married without even knowing it? Well, bonded. Plenty of his classmates held bonding ceremonies in addition to their weddings. The ritual magic was said to give any offspring the best chance at inheriting the family magics, but Tom and Harry had not performed any rituals.

Though hadn't he thought the magic in the manor felt different this morning?

"The house is sentient," Harry said suddenly. "Like Hogwarts. Thousand-year-old wards take on a life of their own."

Tom looked at him, and Harry smiled wryly.

"It wouldn't take a ritual or ceremony or anything. The intent was clear in the wording."

The flush on his cheeks was delectable. Tom reached out a brushed his finger across the skin.

"I meant it too. You are mine."

Harry turned into his touch. "I know. And now it's official."

He wondered if Nagini had been able to sense the shift when they had been there. In her snake form, she was more sensitive to magic. She had called Harry his 'mate'.

"What if we went away for a while?" Harry asked suddenly instead. "We could get away from all of this. Just us."

Tom let out a breath. "If I thought you were saying it just to go on holiday, I would say yes in a heartbeat." He leaned in, breathing against Harry's skin. His lips brushed the shell of his ear. "I know you better than that, darling."

He did. It was how he knew Harry loved him, despite never saying the words. In the quiet moments, when they were together, doing such very domestic things, Tom thought he might be able to say such a thing as well. He didn't know what it felt like to love someone though. He did know that he felt a fierce affection for Harry, that everything made sense and yet was turned upside-down when he was around. The thought of spending the rest of eternity with Harry at his side seemed like more than he deserved, while the thought of him disappearing from his life, or worse, having never met him at all, seemed like a hellish reality he never wanted to live in. Even if Harry was to vanish now, Tom's life had been forever changed by him. He was more because of Harry.

"Why are you running away?"

Harry closed his eyes. His head leaned in and he let Tom pull him against his chest. "It's a lot."

"It is."

"I don't know how to do this."

Tom ran his fingers through Harry's hair, savoring how he relaxed against him. The trust from someone who had seen the horror of the choices he might have made…

"My longest relationship was with my best friend's sister. She didn't exactly love me practicing Dark Magic. Not that she was practicing any lighter magic, but it was the typical hypocritical bullshit sprouted by the Light and the Progressives." He laughed. "She once owned your diary and had spent the better part of a year possessed by it."

Tom blinked. "My diary?"

Harry nodded, his cheek catching on Tom's shirt. "Lucius Malfoy gave it to her cause he hated her father. Diary you broke second year me's heart."

He gave his diary to a Malfoy?

"I should curse Abraxas. He clearly doesn't know how to raise children."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, don't do that. His grandson was actually decent once we stopped being such prats to each other."

Tom tilted his head, hoping Harry understood the question.

"Draco."

"You didn't get along at first?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, you can say that. He grew up hearing all that blood purity nonsense, so the first time I met him, he sprouted a bunch of that off." He looked up Tom with a sharp, feral grin. "It was right after I learned I was a Wizard. And on my birthday."

"So you're proving my point, darling." He ran his finger across Harry's cheek. "The Malfoys can't be trusted with children." Harry laughed, burying his face into Tom's shoulder. "So, you interacted with my diary?"

"Yeah," Harry said, voice muffled by the fabric. "I thought I said that."

"You said you stabbed it with a basilisk fang, not that you interacted long enough to have your heart broken by it."

"Oh."

Tom carded his fingers through his hair again. "Care to elaborate, darling?"

"I mean, you know you're bloody gorgeous. You were good-looking back then too."

Tom already knew that, but his ego did enjoy hearing it. From someone so dear to him, no less. His husband. The word made him feel warm.

"And I wrote in the diary a few times before it got stolen from me. Thought we were friends. Then I found out he was mad that I somehow blew up Voldemort as a baby and set a basilisk on me." Harry shook his head, shifting only slightly before Tom felt fangs sink into his collarbone.

Tom groaned under the feeling, holding Harry still as his tongue laved against the wound. The gentle draw of blood made Tom smile. If he didn't know better, he would assume Harry truly was a vampire. With as often as he bit and as much as he enjoyed licking the blood from the wounds, it wouldn't have surprised him.

When he pulled back, Tom was satisfied to note that the feral look had faded some. He wiped the blood and venom from Harry's lip with a swipe of his thumb, enjoying the way Harry's eyes darkened as Tom sucked his thumb clean.

"Better?"

Harry nodded before he swallowed anything else Tom might have said.

"So, everything really is okay?" Alexander asked.

Tom smiled. He was doing that more lately— smiling for no reason other than he felt content. He had hope, and it was a strange and beautiful thing. No wonder why people went on about it so much. Since Hogwarts, his world had become bleak, devoid of color and any desire for the future to happen. Harry brought the light into everything.

Perhaps love really did change everything.

"Everything is better than I could have hoped." He watched Alexander. "I plan to be at the next Wizengamot sitting."

Dumbledore could no longer block his paths to politics. Dumbledore could not control his life at all any longer. He was free.

Well, as free as he could be with the Old Man still alive. Somehow, he didn't think Harry would consent to killing Dumbledore. Perhaps not yet, anyway.

Alexander smiled. "Good." His fingers ran along the stem of the glass. "It's good to see you happy."

Tom blinked.

"You were in a dark place. When you disappeared for days, I…"

His fingers ran along the invisible scars on his arms and Tom understood then. The smile faded off his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, and this time he actually meant it. He should have known better, after he found Alexander and got to experience the panic and actual concern for another person for the first time ever. Of course, his mind would go to that, after all he had experienced. If Alexander had worried about that… Tom blinked. Perhaps he was wrong about his earlier analysis.

"Are you coming back?"

Tom shook his head. "No. Harry and I…"

How to say what had happened?

"It's complicated."

Alexander frowned. "Is there a simple explanation then?"

Tom ran his tongue over the back of his teeth. His jaw felt sore; most of the time he spent with Harry was with his fangs exposed. Being with another Parselmouth meant it wasn't a danger to either of them and he felt most like himself when he had them out.

"We met about a week before Yule."

Alexander blinked, clearly not expecting that answer.

"I didn't see him again until New Year's Eve." Realization flashed over Alexander's face, and he continued. "I didn't realize he was a lord until I saw it in the newspaper." He let out a breath. "We have a bond. I don't know how to describe it."

Saying they accidentally got married sounded ridiculous, almost as insane as Harry being a time traveler from fifty years in the future.

"Is it serious then? He's clearly practiced in politics and I couldn't tell the other night."

"Yes, it's serious."

"And this is what you want? You're happy?"

Tom nodded.

Alexander smiled. "Then I'm happy for you. You deserve it."

Tom felt warm sitting there and wondered, ever so briefly, what his face looked like. It felt like something odd might be going on with it and he felt overcome with the strangest urge to bury his face in his hands.

It was something of a miracle that he refrained.

Zippy appeared the next moment. "Master be having a guest in the floo room."

Tom frowned and his eyes darted to Alexander.

"I didn't invite anyone." Alexander looked at his elf. "Who is it?"

"Heir Malfoy be in the floo room, Master."

Tom sucked in a breath. He had been more or less avoiding Abraxas since the embarrassing lack of an invitation to the Yule Ball. He pushed himself to his feet. There was more than one way out of the manor, and he really didn't want to see Malfoy or any of their old classmates.

"Stay," Alexander said, then flushed when he realized it sounded like an order. "Even if you're staying with Lord Peverell, this is your home. I won't see you being run from it."

"I'm not running."

He refused to. He wasn't going to let Abraxas catch him so off-guard again. He made himself comfortable in the chair, rearranging himself until he looked like he belonged there. He had more of a right to be there than Abraxas did, showing up without warning.

"Show him in, Zippy."

The elf popped away and a few moments later, Abraxas strode in like he owned the manor. Tom watched his steps falter when the Malfoy heir caught sight of him. He recovered, but the weakness had been there.

"What is it?" Alexander asked. His eyes never left the paper. Alexander was a lord of the Wizengamot and outranked Malfoy. As far as etiquette was concerned, walking into a lord's home uninvited was trespassing.

"I—" Abraxas swallowed, eying Tom. "Did you hear there's supposed to be a new lord added to the Wizengamot in tomorrow's sitting?"

Alexander straightened ever so slightly, his eyes slipping over his paper to meet Tom's for a moment before he looked back to Abraxas. "I heard."

Tom very much doubted that. He knew for a fact that the identity of the new lord had been kept tightly under wraps. There had been a great deal of speculation as to where the lord or lady fell in the parties, Harry had told him gleefully that morning as they lazed in bed. There had been many lazy mornings since he'd taken up residence in Harry's—their bed. Neither of them had been able to be so utterly indulgent with their time growing up, and Tom rather enjoyed the time they spent curled around each other between the blankets. It had been something of a surprise to realize he actually liked the softness, the tenderness, that they shared.

"My father sent me to find out if you knew anything…"

Abraxas' eyes flickered back to Tom again.

"I… do you know something about this… my lord?"

The last two words were hesitantly tacked on, and anger swirled in his stomach.

"Those who don't give up faith are rewarded, Abraxas. Alexander has been loyal to me." Tom tilted his head slightly, a smirk playing across his lips as he watched the color drain from the Malfoy heir's face. "It's a shame the same can't be said for everyone."

Abraxas stilled, dropping his gaze to the floor, but he felt Alexander's eyes upon him.

"My lord, I never meant any disrespect. I only… it's just…"

Tom flicked his hand and Abraxas cut off suddenly, choking on his words as his eyes grew wide.

"Alexander, anything to say to Heir Malfoy?"

He could no longer keep the chill from his voice, and he delighted in watching Malfoy flinch. It was better than the hurt, in his opinion. He refused to let Malfoy see such weakness. The way Malfoy had abandoned him so easily hurt, especially when seeing how Alexander had stayed steadfast. And Alexander would be rewarded for his loyalty. He would see to it.

"No, my lord," Alexander said, and the words flowed easily from his lips.

"Then you may leave, Heir Malfoy."

Malfoy bowed deeply, backing out of the room like one might have backed away from the king. Tom smirked at the thought, watching Malfoy stumble slightly over his feet and out the door.

"You're still angry with him then," Alexander noted as he folded the paper and set it on the table.

Tom took a sip of tea and didn't answer.

"What did he do?"

"It's more what he hasn't done." Tom let out a sigh. "You were right when you said I was in a dark place."

"You've felt alone," Alexander said, his voice soft.

Tom took a breath, but refused to meet his eyes.

"You're not, though. I won't leave you. I doubt Nagini will either." He paused and the paper rustled. "I don't think Lord Peverell will either."

Tom looked up. "He won't."

Alexander smiled.

"So the mystery lord?"

His lips twitched. "I have no idea what you mean."