The Chamber of Desire [ Tomarry

Bottom's Up, Boys

(Slight warning, there's a little mention of eating disorders (more specifically anorexia). It isn't major, per se, but a little warning just in case)

December 27th, 1992.

The Sunday afternoon after Yule, Harry and Tom would be found painting the walls of Harry's new art room baby blue. Although, they weren't doing it manually. They had summoned a love seat and were cuddling while their paintbrushes flawlessly did the work for them. The room smelled like wet paint and there were old rags everywhere, but neither boy cared.

Harry hummed while Tom gently worked skilled fingers through his hair. He couldn't wait until this room was finished. He hadn't necessarily even thought about painting ever since he left for Hogwarts, and, although he loved it, Harry felt like he lost his abilities over the past year. 'That doesn't matter,' Harry reassured himself, slinking back into Tom's embrace. 'I'll get it back.'

The couple watched idly as the paint brushes swooped and swished in rhythmic patterns all over the wall in comfortable silence. Although Harry's mind was anything but silent.

Being reunited with his paints once more served as not only a gentle reminder that people cared for him, but also as the harsh reality check of his life before Tom. Harry thought back to when he had first came to the Manor— the only noticeable change was that he was 19 years old now. But Tom— and his friends, of course— taught him that his feelings were necessary, that his opinions were validated, and he had the freedom to do what he wanted with his life. But what had he done for them? Tom gave him a huge room for his age-old hobby, and Harry gave him a fucking snow globe. Tom was the one who gave Harry's friends shelter, not Harry. How could he deserve this? What had he done?

"Darling?" Tom questioned lightly, continuing his movements with one hand yet moving the other to stroke Harry's cheek. "Are you alright?"

Harry nodded. He must have become tense in the shoulders, or became rigid in his limbs. "Of course I'm fine. I just can't wait until this room is finished."

Tom chuckled and kissed the top of Harry's head. "Neither can I, love," he admitted gently, "I can't wait until I see some of your paintings."

Smiling slightly, Harry somehow cuddled more into Tom's embrace, closing his eyes as he basked in Tom's presence. No one had really shown an interest in Harry's artwork before. Sure, his friends were cool with him painting, but they had never really asked to see one of his paintings. He would have shown them if they had.

Harry's eyes shot open, and he jumped out of Tom's embrace. This must have thoroughly confused and worried his soulmate, who looked at Harry like he had grown another head. "Are you alright?" Tom asked worriedly.

"I'll be back in a moment!" Harry shouted, already on his journey out of the room. How had he forgotten? Harry had brought one of his paintings with him to Hogwarts— he had even hung it up next to his bed! Merlin, he had such a bad memory when it came to certain things.

Once he reached their room, Harry rushed to the closet where he stored his supposed to be empty suitcase and opened it, easily finding the shrunken painting and returning back to Tom.

Tom, who was still looking very worried about his soulmate's sudden outburst, sat up when he saw Harry enter the room. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Harry returned the painting to it's original state.

It was, admittedly, a very beautiful painting. It had been one of the last ones Harry had made before leaving for Hogwarts, therefore the hope Harry was feeling somehow showed in the painting.

Harry waited until Tom would say anything, but when the older boy continued to stare at the painting, Harry blushed. "I was running out of paints at the time, and it might be a little smudged because of my travels, but what do you think?"

Tom's mouth opened before it closed again, noticeably trying to find the correct words. He looked up at Harry, who was nervously biting his lip, in admiration. "When you told me you love painting," he finally said, "I never would have fathomed you were this good."

Harry blushed. "Well, it was basically the only thing I could do except for sleep and stare out the window in excruciatingly painful boredom, so I had a lot of practice."

The older male reached out and placed the painting on a nearby table before wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and pulling him onto his lap. "It's wonderful, darling."

~

Susan the snake was prowling the pipes near the girl's bathroom when she heard obnoxious voices.

"Dude, are we gonna be fat, or what?"

"Yeah man, I don't even think I will be able to leave this stall! They need to cut down on their eating habits. Can anorexia be passed on to them or something?"

"Xavier, dude, what the heck is that?"

The boy, Xavier, huffed. "Muggle saying. Talon, you lazy bum! When's the potion ready?"

It was silent for the next minute or so, and Susan assumed it must have meant that the person Xavier was talking to was mute.

"Five minutes?" The first voice exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us that you didn't know what you were doing earlier? Merlin man, we have to get this done and over with!"

Susan started lurking in the pipes. Never before had she heard such idiocy and anger coming out of someone's mouth, and she had been born in a time where human rights weren't really necessary, as one would say. And three kids making a potion in the middle of an abandoned bathroom? Susan doubted it was allowed in Hogwarts.

The heir and his mate wanted Susan to petrify the ignorant and idiotic, and Susan had zeroed in on three— Talon, Xavier, and one other.

"If you think I'm sipping this, you're on drugs."

"Brian, there's people being petrified."

The last boy, Brian, laughed coldly. "And what do I care about them? I don't even know half of these stupid idiots— and if they're stupid enough to be petrified, maybe they deserve it."

"Brian," Xavier sighed, "if you find out who the heir of Slytherin is, you'll become famous."

There was a silence. "Bottom's up, boys," was heard just before gulping noises rang out.