A few weeks go by and Harry has spent every second possible at Malfoy Manor. Between helping Tom with the potion for the ritual and spending time with his boyfriend, Harry was positively exhausted. The day that Draco had asked Harry to be his boyfriend was still replaying in his mind. He loved the praise from Tom for finding the ritual and of course he was over the moon about finally getting asked to be Draco's boyfriend. When he got back home that evening, he ran straight to Sirius and Remus to tell them the news. To say they were excited for the boys would be an understatement. Both men were ecstatic, Sirius possibly being just as excited as Harry.
***
Harry had stayed the night at the Malfoy's as it was important to be up early to continue the potion. He woke up to arms around his waist. He smiled at the blond boy next to him who was still asleep. Harry grabbed his wand from the nightstand and cast a quick tempus.
"4:28am. That gives me a couple of minutes to get to Tom's room." He mumbled to himself.
He went to remove himself from the blond's arms, but Draco tightened his grip and nuzzled his face into Harry's pyjama top.
"Dray, let me up. I need to pee."
Draco's grip slackened and Harry slid out of his arms and quickly got changed as Draco mumbled in his sleep. Harry opened the door to leave, but paused as he smiled at the messy haired boy who he had left fast asleep in the warmth of the bed. Harry closed the door and strolled to Tom's room. He silently slipped into the room to find Quirrell dressed and standing at the cauldron.
"Good morning Tom. Good morning Quirinus. Have you started without me?"
"Of course not. We need your incomparable brains for this." Tom said with a smile.
A slight blush formed on Harry's cheeks. But Tom was the only one to notice. The fact that Harry blushed at his words made Tom feel special.
"Let's get started then shall we? It should be finished by 4:30 this afternoon if we stay on track." Harry stated.
The two began slicing and crushing the last ingredients to add to the potion. Harry had enchanted the potion to self-stir at his command.
***
The potion was finally complete, now they just had to perform the ritual. They went down to the dungeons as they weren't sure of the exact pain that Tom and Quirrell may experience. So the dungeons were the best option to keep the sounds contained without having to cast a spell as they didn't want to risk the magic interfering with the ritual. Lucius stood just outside the door to watch from a distance. Harry stood in the room across from Quirrell and Tom.
"Ready?" Harry asked.
"Ready." Tom stated.
"Okay the last few things that need to be added are a few drops of blood from Quirrell."
Quirrell pricked himself with a pin and a few drops of blood dripped into the potion. The potion turned from green to red.
"And a few drops from someone else."
"I'll do it." Lucius said.
But it was too late, Harry had pricked himself and was letting a few drops fall into the potions. The potion turned crimson red. Harry scooped some up into a goblet and walked behind Quirrell and held it up to Tom's lips. He slowly poured it into Tom's mouth. Tom drank it all. Quirrell began to fall, Harry dropped the goblet and caught him. He lowered Quirrell to the floor and laid him down on his stomach. Quirrell let out a blood curdling scream and a bright light flashed around the room. Harry panicked as he was temporarily blinded. The light disappeared and Harry rubbed his eyes as his vision came back. He opened his eyes to find a boy, only a few years older than him, standing in front of him while pulling on some robes.
"Thank you Harry. I'd now like to reintroduce myself. I am Tom Riddle." The boy said as he gave Harry a huge hug.
Harry just smiled as he realised what he had accomplished.
***
Harry slept peacefully that night. The memory of first laying his eyes upon the young, dark haired Tom Riddle played on repeat in his mind. The silky smooth sound of his voice bringing an overwhelming sense of calmness to Harry. Of course, when Harry woke up the next morning, he had no recollection of dreaming of the boy. He headed down to breakfast and found Sirius and Remus at the table. Remus was immersed in the Daily Prophet, while Sirius was buttering a slice of toast.
"Good morning Pup!" Sirius said.
"Good morning Harry" Remus said while glancing up from the paper.
"Good morning Siri and Remus."
"You've got some mail."
Harry picked up the pile of mail, two of which were addressed to him. One was his Hogwarts letter, but the other he didn't recognise. The elegant handwriting on the envelope was unlike any Harry had come across. He sat down and opened it slowly. He unfolded the letter and began to read.
Dear Harry,
I'd like to thank you once again for all the research you have done over the past year. You have a brilliant mind and I am forever in debt to you for your help while I was helpless. To thank you, I would love to take you out for lunch today, all expenses paid of course. If this is something you'd be interested in, please write your address on the back of this parchment. No need to send it, as this is enchanted to connect to another piece of parchment in my possession.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours truly,
Tom Riddle.
Harry's cheeks tinged red as he grabbed a self-inking pen and wrote his address on the back. He watched as the ink sunk into the paper and the elegant handwriting appeared.
I look forward to it. I shall pick you up at 11:45 sharp.
Harry cast a quick tempus and saw that it was only half an hour until Tom would be here. He jumped out of his chair and ran upstairs to get ready. He had to put in extra effort considering that Tom would be paying for his meal. And let's be honest, knowing Tom, they'd be going somewhere extravagant.
While Harry was rushing around upstairs, Sirius and Remus were sharing a look.
"Do you reckon it was a letter from Draco?" Sirius asked.
"No definitely not. Draco's handwriting is different." Remus replied.
"Any ideas who could be making our son blush?"
"Not a single idea. But I do think that Harry has no idea that he feels like this towards whoever it maybe."
"I think you may be right about that one."
"When am I ever wrong Siri?"
"Never."
