Exceptional love

Chapter 3

It started when Harry Potter was fourteen. That's when this fixation Tom Riddle had on Harry changed from simply wanting the boy to die into something entirely different. Happened the night he was returned to a body and he'd had to duel the boy. Harry had been scared. Terrified. But he'd never backed down. Harry's green eyes were bright with determination and scorn when he faced off for a duel he should have died in. That's when the fixation changed. That's when he started wanting the boy.

Though he did make a considerable effort to try and push all that away. He may be a mass murderer and an all around bastard, but Tom was no pervert and the boy had been too young. Not only that, but obviously Harry was still fighting for the Light. And still he needed to die. So Tom let his want turn into determination in killing Harry to end the ridiculous fascination he had with him. Only that fixation grew once again when he faced off with Harry at the Ministry of Magic. Invading Harry's mind that night had changed his life. It had linked them on a deeper level then what they'd had before.

Tom settled back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling in his office. Dumbledore probably thought I tainted the boy somehow, but really it was the other way around... though it wasn't any kind of taint... Harry had begun to heal me the moment I settled into his consciousness.

And though Harry didn't know this, ever since that night at the Ministry, Tom continued to travel into his mind for the express purpose of regaining himself. And now Harry wanted to be free from the war and Tom was free to pursue what he'd been coveting unlike anything else before. But not only did he want to pursue, Tom found he wanted to protect too. He wanted Harry to trust him and vice versa. He wanted Harry emotionally chained to him. Tom wondered if their link would make that happening easier or harder in the long run.

The object of his thoughts waltzed into the office just then as if he owned the place... as he had been doing the last week of his stay. Harry came in with a small smile and draped himself over the chair in front of the desk. "I'm a guest right?" he asked without greeting, swinging his legs absently.

"Yes," Tom answered slowly and warily. "We've been over this."

"And that makes you the host, correct?"

Tom nodded, eyes sweeping across the body lazily lounging in the chair and wondering if the young wizard were posing like that on purpose.

"Which means you are obligated to humor me, isn't that right?"

"I'm sure you're coming to a point..."

"Just be quiet and listen. Remember, you are humoring me."

"Potter..."

"Humor me!" Harry snapped. "If you can't sit there and listen, you could always turn back into the bunny and humor me that way. I bought this cute little collar and leash..."

Tom's lips pressed into thin lines and there was murder in his eyes. That was humoring too. "Right then..." Harry then cleared his throat before opening his mouth to sing in a clear upbeat tone.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears

It's a world of hopes, it's a world of fear

There's so much that we share

That its time we're aware

It's a small world after all."

Harry had to turn away, lifting his gaze to the ceiling to avoid looking and laughing at the horror struck Dark Lord. He continued on.

"It's a small world after all