Reposted: November 27, 2021

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Virtually nothing changed regarding the Death Eaters attacking, so I skipped to a few days later

Summary: the Quidditch World Cup ends on a sour note; Harry and Tom take a walk, then a shower; Harry messes up Tom's hair

SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP

"Ministry blunders... culprits not apprehended... lax security... Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace... brought to you by Rita Skeeter," Sirius said, tossing the newspapers onto the table.

"Who else would write such wonderful things about the Ministry?" Tom drawled. He was back to his normal self now, although that didn't stop Harry from calling him Cody or Something among his many other nicknames.

The day after the World Cup had begun in complete chaos. A group of masked wizards had marched through the tents, causing everyone to flee. Sirius and Remus had gone to help the Ministry, leaving Harry and Tom to run for the woods. They joined Pansy and Tracey, who had twisted her ankle after tripping in the darkness, and huddled together, waiting for the turmoil to cease.

An unknown man not far from them shot an image of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth into the air. Despite the severity of the situation, Tom couldn't help but scoff inwardly at the design. Harry was right. His future self really was into aesthetics.

Unfortunately, the man escaped, leaving behind very unsettled Ministry workers. Yesterday, Tom had suggested sending their elves out to look for the man that had cast the Dark Mark. So far, they had found nothing.

"Well, they aren't exactly the most competent group, are they?" Harry said, opening the parcels containing his school supplies.

In the last parcel, Harry pulled out a set of dress robes that looked much like his school ones except they were deep emerald in color.

"What are these for?"

"They're on the school list," Remus told him.

"They're lovely," Harry said, carefully folding them and placing them in his trunk. "But you still didn't answer my question."

"I know."

"And you're not going to."

"Yep." Remus smiled cheekily, and Harry threw a napkin at him.

"Don't you have a moon to howl to?" he grumbled.

'Be nice to the wolf,' Azure said, patting the top of his head with her tail.

'Why are you defending him?'

'He didn't forget to feed me yesterday,' she hissed pointedly.

'You're the one who insisted on hunting for everything while you're here!' Harry protested.

"It is so weird hearing a full conversation in Parseltongue," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I never have any idea what you're saying. You could be insulting me for all I know."

Harry considered this, then turned to Tom. 'Sirius is an idiot.'

'And he reeks.'

'Eugh.'

"What was that about?" Sirius asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

"Just saying how beautiful your eyes are," Harry replied without missing a beat.

"Stunning," Tom added.

Sirius' eyes narrowed even more. "I don't believe you."

"They are pretty," Remus muttered. Because of Azkaban, Sirius' eyes had dulled to a stormy gray. Now they were back to their vibrant blue, and the idiot loved batting his eyes at Remus whenever possible.

"You think so?" Sirius said, and predictably batted his eyes.

Harry let out what seemed to be something between a sigh and a huff and stood up. "I'm going for a walk. Coming, Tom?"

Tom rose from his seat and followed.

The two strolled through the garden in silence. The clouds overhead covered the sun, casting everything in shadow.

"What do you think the wizard was doing?" Harry wondered, sitting down on a rock by the fountain. Tom followed suit. "I doubt anyone would just cast a Dark Mark for no reason."

"Voldemort was never fully destroyed," Tom recalled. As always, he found it strange to be referring to himself as such. Just what could have possibly been going through Dumbledore's mind when he brought him up into his office that day? Surely not even he would have fathomed the consequences of basically altering a person's identity.

Harry raised his head to look at him. "You think he's still out there? Sending a message that he's back?"

"Yeah."

"It does make sense. Although given the Death Eaters' reactions, I don't think it did much more than scare them."

He turned back to the fountain, watching the water as it made its way down. "Do you think any of the later Horcruxes would have broken away from the compulsions if given the chance?"

"They might have," Tom said thoughtfully, reaching down and picking up a small pebble in his hand. He turned it over between his fingers idly. "Although, given that splitting your soul tears at your mind, I doubt it would have made much of a difference."

Harry hummed in agreement. A drop landing on his shoulder made him look up. "The rain's coming down a bit earlier than I thought."

Tom wrinkled his nose as a raindrop hit it. "We should go back inside."

"Why?" Harry said. "It's refreshing."

"Is this the part where we dance and kiss in the rain like in those Muggle films?"

Harry scoffed. "As if either of us need an excuse to kiss each other." To prove his point, he leaned over and pressed his lips to Tom's. Tom immediately responded by running his hand through Harry's hair, pulling him closer.

It was the rain that brought them both back to their senses. "We're wet," Tom commented.

Damp would be more accurate since it was only lightly sprinkling. But with the rain persisting, they would be soaked very soon.

"Fine, let's go."

They set off at a brisk pace back to the manor. Lightning flashed from somewhere beyond the building, and thunder boomed faintly behind them.

Harry noticed that the lower-hanging branches were already dipping under the weight of the rainwater. Grinning mischievously, he nudged the tree.

An unsuspecting Tom let out a squeak as water suddenly seeped through his robes, soaking him to the skin instantly.

"You just squeaked!" Harry said, trying to stifle his laughter. When Tom turned to glare at him, he completely lost it.

Glancing up, Tom wandlessly cast a charm that shifted all the branches above. Harry's laughter was cut off abruptly as he too was soaked.

Tom sidled up to him and leaned down. "Sorry to rain on your parade, my dear, but you can't be the only one enjoying yourself on this fine day."

He smirked at Harry's dumbfounded expression and sauntered off. A few seconds later, he heard the pattering of feet hurrying to catch up.

"Just you wait," Harry muttered darkly. "I'm gonna make you regret that."

"We're both wet, I'd say we're even."

"Well, what if I want to be odd?"

"You're already odd."

Harry's only response was to scoop up a wad of mud and fling it onto Tom's head.

To Tom's credit, he didn't make any embarrassing sounds like the squeak from earlier. Instead, he paused, took a deep breath, and continued walking with dignity.

"I was wondering when you were going to be back," Remus said, leaning against the doorway like a very unimpressed mother who had caught her sons doing something idiotic, which wasn't far off from the truth. "Dinner will be ready soon, I expect, so go and clean up."

Tom shivered in revulsion as he flicked off the majority of the mud from his hair. "That's nasty."

"Relax, dildo lover. You still look beautiful." Harry gave him a disgruntled look over. "Unnaturally so."

Tom sniffed. "Yeah, well, you're not ugly, either. You and those big green eyes of yours."

As one could see, both Harry and Tom were excellent in compliments.

"You want to shower first?" Tom asked as Harry grabbed his toiletries.

"I was hoping you'd join me," Harry replied.

"Really?" Tom gave him an incredulous look.

"Why not? It would save time. Plus, isn't this what couples do?"

"I suppose." Remus and Sirius certainly showered together frequently, sometimes coming out much longer than usual. "But still, they're both adults."

"We'll just stay in our boxers, then," Harry decided.

They headed up to the bathroom and stripped off their wet robes, tossing them into the hamper, where they disappeared for the elves to wash. Tom was first in the shower and turned in the water. As with most things magical, they didn't need to wait for it to heat up. It came out as whatever temperature it was set out.

Harry joined him, a sigh leaving his lips as the warmth drove away the chill from the rain. "Much better," he murmured. He let out a small noise of protest as he felt Tom begin massaging shampoo into his hair. "I can do it myself."

"What's the point of me being here, then?"

Harry shrugged and fell silent.

He was slightly tense, Tom observed, head slightly turned to the door as if expecting someone to barge in. When there was a knock a few minutes later, Harry minutely flinched, gripping the shower head tightly.

"Dinner's ready, just so you know," Sirius told them.

"We'll be out shortly," Tom replied. Harry remained silent.

"You're both in there?"

Tom could just picture the grin on his face. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Black, and go away."

"Sorry, sorry." They heard his footsteps recede.

Harry only fully relaxed once he no longer heard Sirius' retreat. He shook his head slightly, wishing he would stop reacting like a deer in headlights. Unfortunately, some scars ran too deep to forget easily. Like the ones on his back. He hadn't done anything about them, having forgotten them for the most part. With a jolt, he realized Tom had probably seen them. The thought made him turn around abruptly.

Tom nearly jumped as Harry whirled around but refrained from commenting. Instead, he took the shower head from Harry's tense grip and rinsed his own hair out.

Harry's eyes roamed Tom's form. In the time they've shared a bed, he had never gotten a good look at his mate. Tall, pale-skinned, lightly freckled...

Tom felt a hand gently touch his face and looked down. "What?"

"Freckles," Harry said, staring at them in awe.

Tom's face flushed lightly. "Yeah, they're not exactly..."

"Not exactly what?" Harry said sharply.

"Nothing." No one had ever noticed his freckles before. Normally, he would hear whispers from girls saying how they could cut their hand on his jaw or something else that was even more disturbing.

"I'm finished," Harry said.

Tom blinked. It hadn't even been ten minutes. "Okay."

Harry stepped out of the shower and dried off, once again rushing like there was no tomorrow.

Tom gazed at the door, suddenly feeling very exposed without Harry by his side.

"That was a fast shower," Tom said as they were heading back up to their room.

Harry halted. "I was hungry," he said, suddenly finding the painting on the wall very fascinating. It was a simple one, streaked with blue and gray and hints of pink. If one were to squint, they may notice the flecks of gold...

"Harry," Tom said pleadingly.

It certainly wasn't the first time he had noticed.  Harry almost never took more than ten minutes in the shower. The longest he had been in the bathroom was approximately seventeen minutes, and when he finally came out, he had looked skittish, as if expecting someone to say something about it. Tom had refrained from saying anything at the time, but he stored the information for later.

Harry stopped trying to feign ignorance. "I rarely got to properly bathe myself," he began. "And when I did, I only had ten minutes, fifteen if Vernon was in a good mood."

"And if you went over?"

Harry's face became closed off. "What do you think?"

"Right." Tom mentally berated himself. That had been a stupid question. "It should have been obvious. Those damn Muggles have messed up a lot of things with you."

"They're in prison now," Harry said, still not completely used to people defending him. "It's not a big deal. Besides, I only went over the time limit twice."

The pride in Harry's voice made Tom wince. To be proud of something you shouldn't even have to think about made his stomach churn. "You can go over that pathetic time limit here," he said. "Hell, the rest of us do all the time."

"Not as much as Draco does," Harry commented, shaking his head.

Tom grinned despite himself. Then he said more seriously, "You should try taking longer showers. You'll feel better."

"If you say so. Did I ruin it?" he asked as they slid into bed. Part of him regretted suggesting they showered together. He had thought he was over the past, but apparently not.

"You could never ruin anything," Tom replied.

"Except your hair."

"Yes. And that was not an invitation to ruffle it!" he yelped as Harry reached up.

"But you look adorable!" Harry protested, raising his hands and successfully tousling up Tom's hair. "Like a fluffy hedgehog."

"Dark Lords are not adorable."

"And they apparently don't cuddle, either."

Tom looked at him exasperatedly, though the smile spreading across his face betrayed his fondness. "I thought we were over that."

Harry kissed him. "Never. Love you, Something." He laughed as Tom shoved him with a groan.

"I love you, too, you prat."

I like freckles. They're pretty

I looked up how to write shower scenes without sex and— surprise, surprise— what were the first results? Shower scenes WITH sex. Ew

Edit April 2, 2021: Close out of the fic, drink some water, stretch, and go to sleep (assuming it's night/extremely early morning). This is a long story, do not neglect your health for it.

Only exception to drinking water is if it's Ramadan at the time you are reading this.