Fall from Grace

To Make a Horcrux

Chapter 20

To Make a Horcrux

Harry dreaded the first day of term. He hated that he and Tom couldn't hold hands as much as they did during the winter break. Since being introduced to the diary, Harry found that he couldn't let it go. While he would cuddle with Tom at night, he would hold the diary, smiling as it warmed his chest. Sometimes, when Tom wasn't looking, Harry would add his own entries to the diary. They were usually more about their more intimate moments, especially when Tom "talks" Harry into using the skirt. The diary found them all amusing.

The day before the students are supposed to return, Tom took Harry in his bed, leaving the younger teen completely sated, before leaving to get a towel to clean Harry. Once Harry was clean, the two cuddled naked on Tom's bed when Tom reached over and pulled something out of his drawer. It was a ring. Harry stared at him curiously as Tom smiled at him.

"Princess, I have a personal gift for you," he said, sitting up to show Harry the ring. "This is my family's ring, well the Gaunt Family ring. My mother was a Gaunt, and over the summer I've... reunited with them and my muggle relatives. It is another Horcrux."

Tom slipped the ring on Harry's finger and the same warmth that Harry felt from the diary filled him. Harry couldn't help but smile softly at the warmth and weight of the ring. It had a black stone with a strange etching carved into it. "I want you to have it, my kitten," Tom said. "The world would hate our dating, but I hope that it can be a reminder that you are my boyfriend, always."

"Thank you, Tom," Harry said, staring at the ring. "I promise to protect it." He turned to kiss Tom, who just smiled with pride.

"And it will protect you, my Harry," Tom said. "Can you promise that you'll wear it all the time?"

"I'll never take it off," Harry said honestly. He turned so that he could kiss Tom fully, the ring glowing warmly and comfortably on his finger. They spent the rest of the day together, never leaving the bed until to eat.

The day that students arrived came with a dreadful feeling inside Harry. He did not want to hide his relationship with Tom. He wanted to walk the hallways holding hands, and have sweet public dates or meet-ups whenever they wanted. He wanted to sit by the lake's edge and snog the afternoon away as he saw other couples do. But instead, they were forced to keep to the shadows, their only escapes being when they were with the Knights or completely alone.

Speaking of the Knights, Harry and Tom had made an agreement to open up to them more. Tom did not want to tell them the whole truth, the secret that Harry was from the future will be theirs and theirs alone, but still, the boys figured that they should know that Dippet and the Minister has tried to abduct their leader's Prince over the holidays.

So it was that they met the first night, Harry sitting on Tom's left as he looked around at all his friends. Tom looked at all of them in silence as they settled themselves, most of them smiling at Harry and hoping he had a good holiday. "My friends, how it calms my heart seeing you all here hale and hearty. Tonight I wish to tell you of some developments that have happened over the break. Specifically, I wish to discuss Headmaster Dippet's and the Minister of Magic's attack on my Prince Harry and myself on Christmas Day."

He paused as the others gasped, their eyes shifting from Tom to Harry, who just sat calmly next to him, holding his hand under the table. "We are fine," he added to his friends, "They just wanted me to do something that I did not want to do."

"And so, your Lord has taken away their memories of everything involving Harry and the information they require from him," Tom said. "Moving on, what of Grindelwald?"

"No big news recently," Xavier said. "I've heard no news on his movement or plans from my parents or any of the adults during the Yule gathering."

"Neither have I," Sylvain said. "I'm sorry but it seems as if he is laying low for now."