Chapter Text
“Here.” He said, and Tom looked up in surprise.
His smile was blinding, and Tom had to shield his eyes against its shine. He was holding a sweater, grey in colour and warm in temperature. Tom furrowed his eyes in confusion, and the boy laughed.
“Take it. You look so cold.”
Tom slowly took the clothing, raising it over his head and slipping it over his arms and his chest and letting the heat of him, of his sweater wash over him.
He smiled, and Tom smiled back, although hesitantly.
“It looks better on you!” He laughed, and Tom’s cheeks reddened from the cold weather and the warmth of this boy.
“What’s your name?” He asked quietly, staring in awe at the figure in front of him.
“I’m Harry! Harry Potter.”
Harry.
That was when the ice cold first gripped small Tom’s heart.
They became friends, after that.
Harry came to Tom on each snowy, rainy, or cloudy day, bringing cozy sweaters and warm drinks with him, and as the hot chocolates heated their hearts, so too did they to one another.
They started to trust each other. And every day in winter, they’d meet at their bench.
Until one day, when Harry was late.
Tom waited on the bench, icy hands shoved into his pockets, trying to find some reserve of warmth within the thin clothing. This was the first time Harry had been late, and he fidgeted nervously.
He tried not to worry; after all, anything could have held him up. It didn’t mean he was being abandoned. But still, Tom’s gradually warming heart became just a tad colder once again.
When Harry eventually did arrive, he carried no blankets nor sweaters. He didn’t even have an apologetic warm drink. He merely sat down next to Tom, a dreamy smile on his face. Tom nudged him, quirking an eyebrow.
“You broke the pattern.” He murmured, and Harry laughed breathily.
“Yeah, I guess I did. I did have blankets, I swear. But… I met this girl.”
Tom’s breath stuttered, and he tried not to show his hurt on his face. “Oh?”
“Yeah. She had this… gorgeous red hair. So bright, so warm, but she looked so cold. I couldn’t allow that, of course, so I gave her our blankets.”
“Of course.” Tom said faintly, and Harry turned to him with a grin.
“Her name is Ginny.” He said, crossing his legs and sitting on his hands to keep them warm; he usually wouldn’t have to. “She lives near here. I invited her to come see us next time.”
Oh. The icy claws on Tom’s heart tightened, and he gasped in a breath. Harry’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, and he leaned forward, looking Tom in the eyes with such painfully beautiful green irises that Tom’s caged heart thudded rapidly.
“You’re okay with that, right?” He asked, and Tom forced a smile.
“Yes, that’s fine. I can’t wait to meet her.” He said, and Harry sat back, relieved.
“You’ll love her, Tom. She’s… She’s awesome.”
Tom nodded, staring at the ground numbly, and his chest ached as Harry moved closer to him for warmth.
“Hi! I’m Ginny. I’ve heard so much about you!” The girl said, extending a beautifully dainty hand. Tom smiled thinly, reaching out with frozen fingers to shake it, and she recoiled in shock at the chill.
“Nice to meet you, Ginny.” Tom said, and Ginny shook her head slightly as she looked at him again. She smiled, the expression lighting up her face beautifully. Harry’s eyes stayed glued to her, transfixed, and Tom’s icy heart grew impossibly colder.
“I’m sure we’ll get along amazingly!” Ginny said, and Harry nodded vehemently in agreement. Tom just huffed a laugh, his breath swirling in front of his face as he did so; Ginny frowned, and Harry didn’t notice.
It wasn’t often that someone’s soulmate didn’t love them back.
Almost unheard of.
Even if they did, most usually stayed around their soulmates and grew a platonic relationship; that was often enough to keep from dire consequences.
Tom had never read nor heard of having a soulmate that is bound to someone else.
He was going to freeze. He knew it. But whenever Harry looked to him with that gorgeously warm smile, the icicles that gripped his heart thawed a little, and Tom couldn’t help the weeds of hope that wormed their way into his brain.
It would all be for naught, in the end.
Which was why he could not let Harry know that he was Tom’s soulmate.
Because Harry had already found someone else - someone better.
Even as the skin and flesh on his body turned pale, almost translucent, Harry was too caught up in his infatuation to notice. Tom didn’t mind, really. He knew he’d be the same. He didn’t blame Harry for any of this.
Ginny looked on in confusion as Tom told them he wouldn’t be able to meet up on cold days anymore (too cold, too dangerous), whilst Harry just nodded distractedly. She opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced by Tom's glare.
“I think there’s something wrong with Tom.”
Harry blinked, confused, and tilted his head. “Why do you say that? He seems fine to me.”
Ginny huffed in frustration. “You never see him anymore. He won’t come out in the cold. I think- I think he’s freezing.”
Harry paused the circles he was rubbing on Ginny’s hand, eyebrows furrowing. “No. No, he can’t be. I’m sure he just feels like a third wheel or something stupid. Besides, Tom hasn’t even found his soulmate yet. He’d tell me if he had.”
Ginny bit her lip, and Harry pulled her closer.
“Don’t worry about Tom. I’m sure he’s fine.”
She nodded, and Harry smiled.
Maybe Harry was right.
“Please, Tom.”
“No.”
“Maybe he’ll understand, maybe-”
“It won’t work, mother.”
“I hate seeing you like this.”
“I hate being like this - it’s not going to change anything.”
“How long did the doctor say?”
“A week.”
“My boy… my sweet boy-”
“Mother, please. I just- I just want to be alone.”
“...I understand.”
“Tom?” Harry’s voice was pixelated and muffled from phone static, but Tom could hear him all too well.
“Hey.” He croaked in return, and could practically feel the smile from the other end of the line.
“I-I have some… news.”
“What is it?”
“It’s sort of embarrassing…”
“I promise I won’t laugh.”
“Okay, well… Ginny and I… We-we had sex yesterday.”
The frost on Tom’s heart dug deep, deep inside the muscle, and he cried out in pain. His mother came rushing into the room, but he shooed her away weakly, moving to sit up in his bed. He clutched his chest, and could feel the cold as it swept its way over his body.
“Tom? You there? You promised you wouldn’t laugh!”
“I’m not laughing.” He wheezed, then was cut off with a gasp as a shoot of pain went through his kidney.
“...Are you okay? You sound like you’re out of breath or something.”
“I’m fine.” Tom hissed through his teeth, and the shards of ice made their way to his stomach, his lungs, his thighs.
“You don’t sound fine.” Harry said, and Tom tuned out Merope’s sobs of grief as he doubled over on his bed. “Is that your mum? Is she okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” Tom whispered. “Just- Just promise me something, Harry.”
“What is it? You’re scaring me, Tom.” Harry asked, and he did indeed sound scared; a little too late, Tom thought, and a painful laugh forced its way out of his swelling throat.
“Don’t forget me.”
“What? Why would I-”
Merope gathered Tom in her arms, and Tom’s body lurched towards her, seeking any warmth it could find. She held him desperately tight, crying hysterically as Tom’s body shuddered and convulsed. The phone fell from Tom’s numb hands, and Merope rubbed them frantically; trying to give him heat, to give him safety.
Harry’s voice echoed in Tom’s ears, muffled and distant as he succumbed to the cold;
“It looks better on you!”
