Archive of Our Own ^beta

They were in their last year at Hogwarts.

Tom was sitting on his favourite couch in the common room reading a book when he felt someone’s arms being wrapped around him from behind.

“Tom?” It was Harry. Of course it was, no one else would dare to touch him so casually like this.

“Yes, Harry?” he said, closing his book after memorizing the page he left off on.

“Why did you not tell me you got engaged?” Harry asked.

Tom looked at his best friend to see a smile plastered on his face.

“What?” he asked, baffled.

“There are rumours going ‘round Hogwarts, they say you got engaged to Bellatrix Black?” Harry said teasingly yet also curiously, Tom wondered about the origins of that particular rumour… never mind that, he’ll figure it out later.

“How typical. Don’t trust everything you hear Harry, you know what people are like.”

“So it’s just that then? A rumour?”

“Yes Harry, it’s just a rumour.”

Harry looked… relieved?

“As if I would get engaged while still being in school, we’re only dating.” Harry flinched hearing that last word.

Why was Harry looking at him like that? Their housemates dated people all the time, how is it any different when Tom does it?

“Dating?”

“Dating.”

“Oh…”

Thinking the conversation was over, Tom resumed reading his book.

“YOU ASKED SOMEONE OUT AND DIDN’T BOTHER TO TELL YOUR BEST FRIEND???”

A few of their housemates looked in their direction after hearing Harry’s outburst. Great, give them even more to gossip about. Tom loved attention, but not this kind of attention.

He glared at them, wordlessly telling them to mind their own business.

Tom looked at Harry pointedly and said: “She asked me out actually.”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT TOM!”

All eyes turned to them again.

Tom sighed.

“Harry relax, it only happened an hour ago at breakfast. When was I supposed to tell you? You were still sleeping ‘till half an hour ago. You know rumours travel fast, and it’s not like they were all that accurate anyway...”

“That’s not... You could’ve woken me up? This is big news Tom, you’re finally dating someone!”

“I don’t get why you’re making such a big deal out of this.” Tom didn’t either when Harry told him he asked that Ravenclaw girl out in third year.

“I’m just happy for you! You’re one step closer to the perfect life now,” Harry said.

“The perfect life?”

“You know… Marriage, kids, dogs, a house... all of that. The perfect life.”

“That’s subjective.”

Very subjective. Tom’s idea of a perfect life didn’t include anything but Harry, a warm place to stay and maybe a pet snake or two? One for Harry, one for-

Harry rolled his eyes, knowing Tom wanted those things in life too but always tried to deny it because he didn’t want to be seen as ‘soft’. Ridiculous.

“Besides, don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s just a date.”

“I know, I know. Now tell me! How did she ask you? Are you guys going to Madam Puddifoot's now like all those other cheesy couples? Are you going to wear a suit on your date? When will you-”

“She didn’t really ask, she just said ‘go out with me’. We were actually thinking about going to...”

*

“You know that if something as important as marriage would ever happen in my life, you’d be the first to know, right?” Tom asked Harry.

He didn’t mean to hide anything from Harry. Tom just wanted to let Harry sleep in today because he’s been tired a lot lately from studying for school and keeping up quidditch practice. Of course Harry would be the first person to know if he did something as silly as proposing to someone. Not like that would ever happen, and certainly not with Bellatrix.

Harry smiled at him and nodded.

“You’d also be the first one to know if something like that happened in my life.”

I better be, Tom thought.

*

Harry didn’t mind Tom dating anyone.

Really, he didn’t.

What he did mind though was Tom dating her.

Bellatrix Black. Harry never liked her. Not when Tom first introduced her to him, when he was still a tiny first year and she and Tom were in their second year of Hogwarts;

(He was still rather small though and Bellatrix was still bigger than him, much to Harry’s dismay.)

Harry didn’t start liking her any more when Tom tried to get them to spend time together. In fact, quite the opposite happened, he started hating her. The way she acted, the comments she made... it made his skin crawl.

That hate only grew stronger when she started dating Tom.

He thought he wouldn’t mind it at first. He really just wanted Tom to be happy. He wanted Tom to feel love, something they both had never gotten at Wool’s. Well, except from each other, but that’s not the same type of love Harry is talking about.

He thought he wouldn’t mind it.

Until she started taking up Tom’s time.

Until she started taking up ALL of Tom’s time.

They barely saw each other anymore and when they did it was only for him to see Bellatrix holding Tom’s hand, touching his hair, caressing his face, making him laugh..

It was infuriating.

But he calmed himself down. Because he knew these things were normal. The same thing happened with Ron and Hermione, when they finally got together they never were not together. He remembers the constant giggles and inside jokes but he also remembers them being like that for only a few months, it was only temporary.

Harry hoped for it to be only temporary this time too.

“Harry!” he heard Ron yell, “You up for a game of chess?”

At least he still had his other friends.

“Depends, are you ready to lose?” Harry grinned.

*

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at a table in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

Yes, Harry’s original thoughts on the place were… not so positive, but he hadn’t tried the macarons back then.

He shoved another vanilla-flavoured macaron in his mouth.

Seriously, they’re so good, he didn’t think he could ever stop eating them.

And yet... he stopped eating those delicious macarons when he heard the sound of the bell, signalling him someone just entered the shop.

He looked up only to see it was Tom walking to the counter.

Harry stood up from his seat to call Tom over. Tom would love to try these too, he thought.

“To-“

“TOM! HURRY UP AND JUST PICK A FEW!”

He was interrupted by Bellatrix’s yelling and he saw Tom looking back and rolling his eyes at her.

Of course she’s here too... why else would Tom be here, stupid.

His annoyance only grew stronger when he saw Bellatrix walking towards their table.

“Don’t eat too many of those now, I heard too much sugar makes you fat. We wouldn’t want you to get any uglier than you already are,” the bitch whispered in his ear.

“You b-“

He heard Ron starting to defend him. Sadly he never got to hear the rest of Ron’s sentence because Bellatrix was already walking away from their table. Did she seriously come over here just to call him fat?

“Don’t listen to her Harry, you know she’s only making that stuff up to hurt you,” Hermione said to him.

“I know...” Harry said.

He never finished the macaron he was eating.

Maybe he could stand to lose a few pounds, he weighed a lot more than he did back at Wool’s, given how much food Hogwarts provided for its students.

He wondered if Tom had noticed the weight gain? Probably, nothing ever gets past Tom.

*

*

*

Looking back at that moment, Harry supposed that would’ve been one of the first signs he loved Tom.

Harry was twenty-two now, a man, no longer that small boy at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop not aware of even his own feelings.

He and Tom were close friends again, though it took longer than just ‘a few months’ for that to happen. Tom’s last year at Hogwarts, they barely interacted because of Tom’s newfound relationship. The year after that was silent too.

That was until Harry read the Daily Prophet only to see the headline being “Heir of Slytherin gets engaged to Bellatrix Black”. He sent an angry letter to Tom, stating that Tom had lied to him saying he’d be the first one to know if something important ever happened in his life. Tom and Harry always kept their promises to one another, no matter what.

Then Tom replied with a “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m not engaged” and they started exchanging letters frequently after that, catching up on each other’s lives, meeting during Hogsmeade weekends and later on weekly when Harry finally graduated.

It was nice, being friends again. He still loved Tom as more than a friend (and it took him years to discover that, mind you) but it didn’t hurt as much anymore. Bellatrix didn’t bother him as much either, not because she became a better person, but because Harry only saw her a handful of times after their Hogwarts years. According to Tom, she was busy building up her own company. When Harry asked what kind of company it was going to be, Tom told him it was one that would sell well-made magical weapons, armour and such.

Harry thought it fitted Bellatrix. Didn’t her name mean ‘female warrior’ or something?

See, Harry, taking astrology wasn’t so useless after all, was it? The Tom living in his head rent-free said.

The joke’s on you, Tom, I didn’t learn that in Astrology, Hermione taught me.

The voice in his head didn’t respond.

Anyway, moving on.

Tom was going to come over tonight to watch a movie, he said he had important news for Harry.

Harry wondered what the news could relate to. Maybe Tom got a promotion? He was working at the ministry right now, slowly working his way to the top. Harry, on the other hand, was still trying to find out what to do with his life. He did have a job in a small convenience store in the muggle world but it’s not like he needed to have a job, his ancestors had left him enough money to last him twenty lifetimes or more.

It’s just that he needed to do something or else he’d go insane sitting in his apartment all day. Plus, he liked keeping in touch with the muggle world. If he hadn’t, he would’ve never gotten Tom to turn his recently bought TV magic-proof. Now, Harry can watch his Disney movies without having to worry about his TV breaking every time magic got near it.

He hopes Tom doesn’t mind watching Encanto again tonight, they only watched it three times after all. Harry could watch it a thousand times more if he had the time.

Speaking of Tom, I better start preparing dinner or it won’t be ready by the time he gets here…

*

“Sooo… what’s the big news?”

They were sitting at the dinner table eating Tom’s favourite: filet mignon with French fries.

Fries aren’t French, Harry.

Shut up head-Tom, the real you is sitting right in front of me, you’re not needed right now, please get out of my head?

“I’m going to propose.”

Harry choked on a piece of beef and proceeded to try and cough it up for a whole minute until Tom got the brilliant idea to just accio it out of his throat.

And this was why Harry didn’t like eating beef, not the first time he choked on it. You could say, he has beef… with the beef. Did he seriously just make that joke? Even if it’s in his own head, that’s a new kind of low.

I’m not impressed either.

Head-Tom? Didn’t I tell you to shut up just now?

“I did say you’d be the first one to know,” Tom said after letting Harry recover for a few minutes.

“Why now?” Harry asked. Isn’t that a bit too soon? They’ve only been together for a few years.

“It’s just a political move. Being married to a member of the Black family would help me gain recognition among the key players of the Wizengamot, allowing me to get into their good graces more easily.”

“You’re marrying her for politics? That’s the reason you’re marrying Bellatrix?” Harry asked, baffled.

They were almost done eating at this point. Tom was scraping the sauce from his plate with his leftover fries and putting them in his mouth.

Why did Harry think that was attractive?

“Well, yes, it always was,” Tom said, licking off some of the sauce he accidentally got on his fingers.

Is he doing this on purpose? Hey, I wouldn’t mind licking them off instea- no Harry don’t go there right now. Bad timing.

“What do you mean, it always was?”

He can’t mean..

“Technically, our whole relationship has been a political move. I take advantage of her being a pureblood and she gets to have access to some of my research and uses that to improve the quality of her company’s products. It’s the only reason we’re dating.”

Why are you only telling me this now?

“So you don’t love her?” Harry asked him curiously.

It’s not like it would matter if he didn’t... just because Tom doesn’t love Bellatrix doesn’t mean he would automatically love Harry instead, definitely not in that way.

“I do...”

There goes the small piece of hope Harry didn’t know he had left.

“...as a friend.”

And now it’s back.

“Do you really have to marry Bellatrix?”

They were watching the movie now, the dishes already cleaned, dried and put in the cupboard.

“You know I aspire to be the youngest minister in Britain’s history and Bellatrix can-“ Tom started reasoning but was interrupted by Harry.

“But does it have to be her? Why can’t it be m-”

Tom put his hand over Harry’s mouth. He hated being interrupted.

Me instead? Was he actually going to say that out loud? Get a grip, Harry.

“You know I aspire to be the youngest minister in Britain’s history and Bellatrix can help me achieve that because of her position in society and because she has been my girlfriend for years. Even if there was someone more suitable to propose to, I can’t because I’ve been with her for so long now. People would look down on me if I dumped her or would think me a bad man if she was the one dumping me. There would also have to be a few years between the break-up and my next relationship because otherwise, people would accuse me of infidelity and-“

Harry licked Tom’s hand, causing Tom to let go of him.

Tom stared at his hand in fake disgust. Faked because Tom already knew that would happen. Harry is very predictable… to Tom.

“I get it, Tom. I just want you to be happy...”

Tom smiled. “I know, you don’t have to worry about me, Harry. You know I never cared all that much about things like marriage anyway. Not as much as you.”

“I know… it’s just...” Harry didn’t know what to say.

“I understand.”

They were silent for a moment until Tom spoke up. “I don’t think I ever told you, but I really missed you. The time we couldn’t spend time together.”

Harry hugged Tom and whispered: “I missed you too.”

Tom gladly returned the hug.

“I promise that won’t ever happen again. I’m never leaving you again, we belong together, you and I. Always have.”

“Same goes for me, Tom. I’m not going anywhere.”