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They met, officially, in Borgin and Burkes. Harry, was on a scouting mission to find any dangerous magical objects that may be kept in the quiet little shop. He was too low of rank to actually do anything useful other than tell the higher ups “Yes, they have something,” or “No, I couldn’t find anything”.
If he found something they would send in the “actual Aurors”, as his boss likes to say, to do the arresting. If not, then they would “send someone more competent in their job,”. Either way, Harry was not going to be able to prove himself.
His boss, Alastor Moody, thought that he only got as far as he did from the reputation his father had. His father was a great leader, public figure, and Auror. Without him, there would be hundreds of murderers and other dark wizards on the streets.
Harry thought that he did well enough on his own. He received good marks in all of his exams at Hogwarts, but when he arrived for Auror training and some of the more experienced Aurors started treating him special. It had made him wonder if what Moody said about him was true.
Harry had seen Tom in school. He was in the year ahead of him, and was the top student of his year. Tom was always surrounded by his Slytherin house mates or other students who admired him. Harry had always thought, alone with most of the student population, that Tom’s looks went beyond handsome. There was something about him that seemed to draw everyone in.
His friend Ron, thought that there was no way that Tom wasn’t using a type of spell to get all of the attention he got. “He isn’t even that good looking. Why are they all hanging over him? Hermione is way smarter than him, and looks ten times better.”
“I don’t know,” Harry had replied staring at Tom from across the great hall. “He looks… something.”
They had never spoken before at school, so when Harry entered the Store and found Tom Riddle with his back to him yelling in a strange language at him from behind the counter, he was surprised. “You complete idiot! You can’t leave these things next to each other! They will react to each other and kill everyone on the street! Do you want ANOTHER reason for us to be investigated by the damn ministry! Merlin damn it all! You would be dead a hundred times over if it weren’t for me!”
“Um… are you okay?” Harry asked worriedly. Tom spun around and saw Harry standing in the doorway with shock on his face.
“My apologies,” Tom said as he composed himself. “I thought I was alone.”
“You yell a lot when you are alone?” Harry said half teasing.
“Only when it is important,” Tom replied charmingly. “My employer is… well he is something.”
“I understand that,” Harry smiled. It was strange for him to see the great Tom Riddle working in a common shop in Knockturn Alley. He always expected Tom to be first in line for a major Ministry position.
“Please excuse my rudeness. What can I help you with?” Tom asked Harry as he walked fully into the store.
“I am looking for something for a friend. It’s her birthday soon and I’m running out of ideas.” Harry lied. “Do you mind if I look around?”
“Of course,” Tom smiled. “Not at all.”
Harry carefully walked around the store, looking at every little item there was, checking to see if they had even the slightest chance of being dark. He knew that they probably would keep anything actually dangerous out of view of the public eye, just in case someone like him came snooping around. But, it wouldn’t do to say he wasn’t being thorough.
Tom might have been pretending to be working on something else, but Harry could feel his eyes on him as he moved from isle to isle. “Would you have any book recommendations?” Harry asked Tom as he was finished looking around. “My friend, she loves reading, but I think she has read everything in Florish and Blotts by now. Do you have anything…I don’t know… Old?”
“I could have something like that,” Tom walked over to the bookshelves and pulled a large and dusty book from the top shelf. “It’s about gifts and their meanings. It used to be important among wizarding culture, but as muggle culture became more and more of an influence among wizarding kind, the art was lost.”
“A gift about gifts? What’s not to like? Thank you, I think she will love it.” Harry pulled out his money and asked “How much?”
Harry payed for the gift, and Tom put the book in a bag for him. “Thank you, I hope you will return again despite my little episode.” Tom smiled at him.
“Of course. I always wondered what happened to you after you graduated. I expected you to be well on your way to minister of magic by now.” Harry laughed.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Did we go to school together?” Tom asked apologetically. “I’m afraid I don’t remember you.”
Harry just smiled softly, if not a little sad. “I was in the year below you in Gryffindor. I didn’t do much compared to you in school. The only thing I ever did was play Quidditch and I don’t think you ever went to many of the games.”
“Oh, that’s right. You were the Gryffindor star seeker. My…friends would often talk about how they hated playing against you. You must have been truly something to make them that jealous of you.” Tom complimented. “Sorry, I was usually working on school work. I didn’t have much time to go to any of the games.”
“That’s understandable. My friend was much the same way,” Harry held up the book. “there isn’t much now by way of books that I can gift her now that she hasn’t already looked into.”
“Well then it is nice to officially meet you. I would love to hear about what you are doing nowadays. Would you like to get a drink or something some time?” Tom offered. “I don’t see many of my friends from school anymore. They are all off doing merlin knows what.”
Harry looked at him surprised and a little flustered. He never would imagine that Tom Riddle of all people would ask him out. Sure, he is probably just looking for someone to spend time with that isn’t his employer, but he felt excited all the same.
“Sure! I mean that sounds good,” Harry smiled.
“I’ll write to you later then,” Tom nodded. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Tom watched Harry trip out of the door, a ghost of a smirk on his face. He had the uncanny ability to sniff out an Auror the second they walked in the shop. With Harry’s reputation, he would never had been able to lie to him about it if he could.
But, that wasn’t why he had asked him out in the first place. In truth, Tom had lied. He had known Harry while he was in school. It was impossible not to notice Harry as he walked thought the halls. The first time Tom saw Harry in his quidditch robes, and messy hair, he knew that he had a…something for him.
Tom didn’t think he would ever have a type, but if he had to put a name on it, it would be Harry Potter. Harry was almost as popular as Tom was in school, but for a very different reason. Sure, his parents were famous, but Harry had a look and talent all of his own. He had a natural charm and made friends easily. He was the best quidditch player that the school had ever seen in the last hundred years, and was the captain as well.
Harry was the perfect image of the Gryffindor golden boy. Everyone thought that since Tom was the heir of Slytherin, that he should be disgusted by Harry and his reputation. That was probably why the exact opposite happened. Tom never pursued Harry in school, least he would damage the image he wanted everyone to have of him. But, now that they were out in the real world, he was free to do as he pleased.
He never dreamed that an opportunity like this would pop up. Perhaps he could finally live out his school fantasy with Harry and then he would move on with his life. He didn’t plan on staying around Harry for longer than he needed to. Tom was sure, that Harry would not want to stay around him once Harry discovered what kind of person he truly was. Not many did.
What made it even more perfect, was now Harry had joined the Aurors, and Tom was well on his way to becoming a Dark Wizard, his fantasy of him and Harry was even more appealing. A perfect image of a light wizard and the ideal image of a dark wizard getting it on? Tom couldn’t help but get a little excited at the thought.
Tom wrote to him that night, asking to meet up the next day for drinks. He received his answer quicker than he thought. A snowy owl flew through his window and landed on his desk. She held out her leg and as soon as he took the letter, she flew off again not bothering to wait for a reply.
Dear Tom,
It was nice finally getting to meet you. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Harry
“Too easy,” Tom thought.
Harry was late too their meeting at The Three Broomsticks and was already apologizing before he sat down. “It’s fine,” Tom smiled. “I understand. Rough day at work?”
“You don’t even know the half of it. But, I’d rather talk about something else. What have you been up to since you left school?” Harry asked.
“Traveling mostly,” Tom told him truthfully. “I didn’t want to get to into a career right out of school. So, I went to any place I could think of. You wouldn’t believe the different kind of magics they have around the world. And the creatures! The world seems so big when you try to see them all. It took a long time, and I still feel like there is so much I haven’t seen.”
“Really?” Harry said in awe. “That’s amazing! My parents wanted me to get ahead in the working world as fast as I could, so I wouldn’t have to just be known for being their son. It’s a nice idea, but I wish I could have done what you did. Seeing so many things… it sounds wonderful.”
“Who says there still isn’t time? You have your whole life ahead of you, and I’m sure the people that mattered to you would understand if you paused your work life for a little while.” Tom told him
“You make it sound so simple,” Harry sighed. “If I quit now, I’ll be known as nothing more than a failure and my family’s reputation will go down the drain. It won’t matter if my parents would understand or not. They would suffer for my selfishness and it would be all my fault.”
Tom put his head in his hands and grinned. “You really are as noble as they say, aren’t you? A Gryffindor Golden Boy through and through.” To Tom, Harry was only proving to him yet again how perfect he was to him.
“Thanks?” Harry replied confused. “If I wasn’t so noble, I’d be on a beach somewhere right now, or up in a mountain. Being the Golden Boy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
A waitress sat two glasses of fire whisky down in front of them. Tom held his up in his hand loosely and said “Well here is to you then. May you one day find yourself among us commoners so that you can take a well-earned vacation.”
Harry laughed at Tom’s antics, and clinked his glass to his. They sat there and talked for hours. Tom found himself being drawn into story after story that Harry told him about his life, and Harry did the exact same. As Tom spoke of his travels, Harry found himself hanging onto every word.
He would feel himself being lost in Tom’s stories and imagining himself on the adventures with him. It was not only the desire that Harry felt to travel the world that kept him hooked, there was something about the way that he spoke, the way he held himself, that kept Harry’s attention. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was just yet, and he wanted to stick around to find out.
Tom loved the attention that Harry was giving him. It was unlike anything he had experienced before. In school when someone paid attention to him like this, it was because they wanted something whether it was to pretended to be his friend to boost their own social status, or because they wanted a more intimate relationship with him. Harry, seemed to be gently interested in what he had to say, and kept asking for more and more details about his adventures which Tom was happy to provide.
Too soon for either of them, it was time to go and he realized that he had not made a single move towards Harry in the way he wanted. “It was nice to talk to you, Tom. We have to do this again sometime soon.” Harry said as he departed The Three Broomsticks.
Tom didn’t even understand what had happened. He was certain that he was going to sleep with Harry when the night began, but they had just started talking and then before he knew it, several hours had passed. Never had he gotten so off track before. What the hell had happened?
The next time they met at the Three Broomsticks, four weeks had passed. They had exchanged long letters everyday each telling more and more about themselves. Tom did not even think twice about being honest with Harry. In turn, Harry was honest with him.
They spoke about their dreams, their fears, their hopes for the future. One thing they noticed, was that although many of their thoughts and feelings were the same, their methods of dealing with them were vastly different.
Tom realized how dangerous of a situation he was getting himself into. He had never gotten so close to another person before, and to him that was beyond dangerous. It was unacceptable. He was going to have to get over…whatever it was he was starting to develop with Harry and fast.
There was one thing he that was certain would help him get over whatever it was that was keeping him distracted. Tom thought that if he could just sleep with him, then he would be cured of his constant thoughts about Harry Potter.
What could help him more was the love potion Amortentia.
If he could just slip a little of it into Harry’s drink the next time they met, then there would be no more distracting green eyes starting at him and urging him to tell another story, hanging on his every word. He could suggest that they fuck right there and then and Harry would be helpless to say no.
It was the perfect plan, one he felt a little guilty about. But, he was sure the rewards would be better than the cost. Outright asking Harry to sleep with him seemed a long shot. Sure, Harry might be interested in him as a friend, but in the papers always showed him with Ginevra Weasley and painted them in a romantic light. So, he might not even be interested in Tom in the way that he wanted him to.
He sat nervously at the bar while he waited for Harry to arrive. The potion rested in his pocket like a brick, the knowledge of what he was about to do weighing heavily on him. “Should I really do this?” Tom thought to himself and then shook his head. “No, I need to do this. I have to.”
Harry arrived with a smile on his face. “Tom!” He greeted and to Tom’s surprise and pleasure, gave him a hug. “This took too long to arrange. How have you been?”
They chatted, at first, like they did before. Tom couldn’t help himself. The way Harry looked at him and he spoke to him had him wanting nothing more than to spend every second of his time with the man. It was the very reason he carried the potion with him, hopefully the second after they slept together, he would get this ridiculous infatuation out of his head.
Tom thought he might actually give up on his quest, he kept getting distracted by Harry’s eyes and forgetting what was in his pocket. They were disturbed by a group of Aurors entering into the bar. One of the men loudly said “If it isn’t the little Potter boy! Trying to use your daddy’s name to get yourself a free drink?”
Harry instantly stiffened up and looked away form Tom. Not likening the change in events, Tom looked over to the rowdy group and glared at them.
“They were in the same class as me in Auror training. They never liked it when our instructors showed favoritism towards me. I didn’t like it either, but they took it personally.” Harry informed him. “Just ignore them and they will go away.”
“Come on Potter, where is your girlfriend? She know that you are staying out late without her? Come here to pick up a whore?” The man walked over to them and stood close to Harry who didn’t turn around. Tom felt his patience beginning to break.
“Here, I’ll tell you what, me and my buddies here will take you out back and show you what you’ve been missing with your girl. Little princess Potter needs a real man to show him-”
The man was cut off by Tom’s fist hitting his nose and breaking it. “What the hell?” The man shouted. “You fucking bastar-“ Tom hit him again in the chest making him stumble back. The man recovered quickly and threw himself at Tom knocking them both to the ground.
The other man, clearly not used to muggle fighting, stood no chance against Tom who had spent his childhood fighting against muggles in the orphanage. They fought until the man’s group of friends split them up. “Are you insane?!” One of the man’s friends shouted at him. “You want the boss to find out about this? Come on, let’s get him out of here.” They dragged him out of The Three Broomsticks kicking and screaming.
Tom picked himself up and sat back down in his chair. Harry was looking at him in a way that Tom could not describe. “You…why did you do that?” Harry asked.
If he were honest, Tom would tell him that he didn’t like it when people touched or threatened his things. Especially when they threatened someone important to him. Instead, he said “They were harassing you, and it’s not like you could have done anything about it.” Harry continued to look at him in a way that Tom didn’t understand.
Tom sighed and took a long drink of his fire whiskey. “So, does your girlfriend know you are here?”
“Girlfriend? Oh, you mean Ginny?” Harry seemed to shake himself of whatever he was thinking about. “She knows I’m here, I talked to her about you before. She is excited to meet you. She’s happy that I finally found a friend who isn’t her brother or Hermione. She thinks I should stop being a third wheel sometimes in their relationship.” Harry laughed.
“A friend, huh,” Tom whispered to himself and then said louder “Well how about another drink?” Tom put one hand in his pocket to take out the potions and with the other, waved his hand to the bartender. Two drinks appeared in front of Tom. With the potion hidden in his hand, he dumped the contents into one of the drinks and handed it to Harry.
He watched Harry closely as Tom took a sip of his own drink. Harry did not outwardly appear to notice anything off and to Tom’s delight, slowly took a sip of his own drink. Harry’s eyes seemed to light up before him and then meet Tom’s gaze. “Hey…You look great today! Did I tell you that yet?”
Tom couldn’t help the grin that formed its way on his face. “No, you haven’t.”
“Oh, well you do. You look great every day I’m sure. Well, every time I see you at least. I mean I used to see you every day in school, and of course you looked great then, but now you look... I don’t know more.” Harry ranted.
“Thank you,” Tom chuckled. “I like the way you look too.”
“No, I mean….do you want to get out of here?” Harry asked boldly. “We could go to your place. I’ve always wondered what it looks like. Or maybe we could go to mine if you want? My house is a little messy, but if you don’t want to-”
Tom cut him off with a kiss that shocked Harry. “We can go to my place if that would make you feel better. Come on.” He grabbed Harry’s hand, tossed some galleons on the bar to pay for their drinks. Tom led him outside where he apparated them both to his apartment.
“Wow, I didn’t expect you to live in such a … normal place.” Harry commented.
“That was the idea,” Tom replied as he opened the door. “Less chance of anyone finding me easily.”
“You need to hide from someone?” Harry asked, stepping into Tom’s apartment.
“Don’t you? How often do you have reporters following you home?” Tom pointed out.
“Touché,” Harry agreed. “But that’s only because of my supposed fame. What reason would someone have to follow you home?”
Tom grinned and stepped closer to Harry so that they were face to face. With his hand, he closed the front door, so it looked almost as if he were blocking Harry’s exit. Not that Harry would complain one bit.
Harry’s eyes darted to Tom’s lips as he spoke. “For starters, I have been talking to you for weeks now, and I’ve just brought you into my home. I’m always doing reckless things, but this might be the most dangerous thing I’ve done. I work in a shop that’s known to sell dark artifacts, and here you are… Auror Harry Potter… in my home…What am I going to do with you?” Tom smirked at him.
Harry couldn’t seem to contain himself anymore. He closed the distance between the two by kissing Tom. He could feel Tom’s smirk against his lips and felt as Tom’s hands cupped his face. Harry wrapped his arms around Tom to bring them chest to chest. He could feel both their heart beats getting faster as the seconds wore on.
“Bedroom?” Tom asked breathlessly. Harry nodded.
Tom led Harry by the hand into his room. People usually thought that he was a neat freak, but his room told a different story. Clothes, and books cluttered the floor, and a cup of day old coffee sat on his nightstand. To Harry, it made him only feel more comfortable.
Together, they fell onto the bed with Tom on top of Harry. Tom wasted no time in settling himself between Harry’s legs and pressing himself against him. Harry ran his hands up Tom’s back and gently clawed his way down, earning a moan from the man on top of him.
Not one to be outshined, Tom spelled both of their shirts to the floor so that he could feel his chest fully pressed against his with no barrier between them. He pulled Harry’s hair so that his head tilted to the side leaving his neck exposed. Then, he brought his lips to the crook of his neck and started sucking at the skin.
Harry opened his mouth in a silent moan, but for Tom it wasn’t enough. He griped Harry’s hips and slowly thrusted himself against him, making Harry’s breaths quicken.
“You’re hard to please,” Tom said against his neck. “What’s it going to take to get you to moan, hmm?”
Harry grinned and responded. “I’ll guess you’ll have to discover that for yourself.”
“Is that a challenge Harry Potter?” Tom said as he moved so that he was looking down at Harry. “I don’t take challenges lightly.”
Harry grinned mischievously up at him. “Neither do I.” He replied and pulled Tom back down so he could kiss him again.
In the end, Tom made Harry moan.
Again
And again.
And again.
And again, until Harry’s voice went sore and if he left it like that along with the love marks in the crook of his neck, he would have some uncomfortable questions asked of him in the morning. Good thing there was potions for just such occasions.
Tom thought that he was finally cured of his unending desire to spend more and more time with Harry, but after the night they spent together, he was horrifying to realize that it had only gotten worse.
In the morning, Tom woke before Harry did. He watched him sleep, his breaths deep and even. Tom did not know how Harry would react when he woke up. Would he be confused? Angry? Would he even know what had happened between them?
Tom didn’t want the night that they had together to end, but once Harry woke up, the love potion would have long since worn off and he would no longer want to be as intimate as he had been. He did not want to become like his mother, giving someone a love potion just to remain with them. Tom would rather obliviate himself of all his memories of Harry than to become that pathetic if it ever came down to it. Still he held onto the hope that Harry would still feel something for him when he woke up.
When Harry finally did wake up, he found that he was alone. Gathering his clothes, he made his way out of the bedroom and into the living room where he found Tom drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet.
“Morning,” Tom greeted casually. “I hope you slept well?” He was trying to get a read on how much Harry had remembered. He heard that people who were poisoned with a love potion sometimes did not remember events from the night before. If he was lucky, he could just play it off as though Harry had too much to drink.
“I slept fine, thank you,” Harry replied giving nothing away. “Anything interesting happening?”
“Not much. I think the joke shop your friend’s brother’s own is about to release a new line of merchandise.” Tom told him.
“That sounds neat. I’ll have to ask them about it,” Harry said as he sat down on the couch next to him.
Tom sipped his coffee, unsure of what to say. He wasn’t getting any information on Harry this way, and the way he was staring at him was unnerving.
“Do you know what kind of things they teach us at the Auror academy?” Harry asked suddenly.
“How to catch a criminal?” Tom rolled his eyes.
“Of course, but I’m talking about the little details. Battle strategies, how to talk to a criminal, how to talk to a victim, how to look at a murder scene, how to detect love potions in our fire whisky…” Harry stopped there and Tom froze with his cup a few inches from his lips.
Harry scooted closer to tom, a smirk on his face. “What, you thought I got to be an Auror just for my parents’ fame too? I know a love potion when I see one.”
“Then why?” Tom asked honestly. “Was it all some joke to you?”
“I could ask you the same thing. I always had a little crush on you back in Hogwarts, and talking to you these past few weeks only brought it back stronger. You always seemed… out of my league, and when I saw the potion I thought that you might have felt the same way. Maybe it meant that you just needed a little help. Plus, you had just fought a guy who had been harassing me. That’s never happened to me before. So, I pretended to take the love potion, and whatever barrier was between us temporarily broke down.” Harry explained.
“What about your girlfriend?” Tom wondered. “Wouldn’t she be upset by all this?”
“You should know by now that the prophet isn’t very accurate. She’s just a friend. We started hanging out more ever since Ron and Hermione started dating. She’s been trying to get me to sleep with you ever since I saw you in Borgin and Burks.” Harry rolled his eyes. “She’s been insistent about it every time I bring you up.”
“I like her,” Tom declared. Things were looking better than he had ever hoped. “So, what happens now.”
“Now, I am late for work. But, I don’t have any dinner plans yet. If you want, you could be the one to pretend to take the love potion this time, if you are still nervous about hitting on me properly.” Harry teased.
“I’m sure I can manage on my own just fine now thank you very much,” Tom grinned. “We can even go to your place this time.”
“It’s a date,” Harry agreed. They couldn’t spend much longer together that morning since Harry truly was late for work. But, Tom did not let him leave without kissing him properly first. As he watched Harry apparate away, he thought about what their relationship might mean. Sure, it might hold him back on his plans for the future, but if he played his cards right, Harry might be more of an asset to him than he could ever have hoped.
Perhaps if he spent more time with Harry, then one day this …feeling he had for him would go away. Maybe next time he decided to travel, he could convince Harry to go with him. He was sure that Harry would love to see Africa, or perhaps even Antarctica. There were such fascinating creatures that lived in the snow. Tom would have to ask Harry where he wanted to go. As far as Tom was concerned, he would have to take Harry across the entire world to truly be able to see if what they had started was something worth keeping. Luckily, the world was a very large place and they had plenty of time to find out.