Reposted: December 28, 2021

There's a small chance I may revise this chapter in the future. How, I don't know.

——————————

This chapter is short (only about 1100 words), but do not fear. The good stuff is coming. I swear I'm probably more excited about this than you are

Summary: the holidays; another epic snowball fight; Tom has a surprise for Harry

Before Harry knew it, it was the holidays.

The Malfoys invited everyone over for Christmas, so it was on December 24 Harry and his family came over.

Their manor was as grand as Black Manor and almost just as spacious. The children all went outside, where they split into teams for a snowball fight.

The teams lasted all but ten seconds before someone turned on their teammates. That someone was Blaise, who accidentally hit Millicent when she was chasing Harry.

"Shit," Blaise muttered as Milli changed directions and headed for him.

"Better run, pretty boy," Harry called, waving as Blaise took off.

"Pretty boy?" a voice said in a deceptively calm tone behind him.

Harry sighed and turned to face Tom. "Oh, don't be jealous, Tomalongadingdong. Blaise may be pretty, but you are bloody gorgeous."

"Oi, lovebirds!"

SPLAT!

It was Tracey. "Joining the game anytime soon or what?"

She didn't give either of them time to answer, running off to help Pansy get Draco. Harry followed close behind and tackled Draco into the snow.

"Oi, watch the hair!" Draco yelped.

"I am watching the hair!" Harry said.

Draco groaned, resigned to his fate. "Somebody help me."

Sirius heard his cry for help and came to the rescue, pulling Harry away. "Harry, I am disappointed in you," he scolded. "You know not to mess with people's hair."

"You mess with Moony's hair all the time!" Harry protested.

"Irrelevant."

"Your face is irrelevant!"

Remus appeared suddenly. "I'll have you know, Harry," he said in a pompous voice, "Sirius' face is far from irrelevant."

"Easy for you to say. You were practically swallowing it in the library."

"I was not!"

Harry smacked some snow onto Remus' face. "Hope Sirius enjoys licking that off!"

Sirius leapt onto Remus, bowling him over. "I sure will," he said. He then proceeded to lick Remus' face— while still in human form.

"You are disgusting," Remus muttered, resigned to his fate.

As noon approached, the snow became thicker and the weather grew colder.

"All right, everyone, let's get inside," Remus called. "Harry, Tom, you both have beautiful eyes, but I think you can manage for one second and get moving before you freeze your arses. We don't need you to get sick."

"Yes, Dad," Harry said, turning to follow the others.

Severus, who had arrived about midway through the fight, gave Remus and Sirius a disapproving stare. "You two are going to catch a cold," he said.

"We'll be fine," Remus reassured him.

Severus cast a drying charm on them, muttering about how he was the one taking care of two stubborn Gryffindors.

Harry leaned over and whispered in Tracey's ear, "Who knew Sev could be such a mother hen?"

Tracey stifled a snort.

He wasn't the only one to notice; the Carrows were staring at Severus as if they'd never seen him before, and Draco's parents had ceased conversation for a moment. Theo even rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly.

Lunch was extravagant, much like the manor. Dobby, eager to serve such great people, helped his former elf-mates in bringing out the food.

The adults discussed Dumbledore, which Harry did not like as he didn't want to lose his appetite.

Meanwhile, Draco was fretting over his hair again. "I look terrible."

"No, you don't," Pansy said. "Honestly, Draco, it's not that bad."

"Not like me," Harry added, gesturing to his own hair, which was sticking out even more than usual.

"Nobody's hair looks as bad as yours," Daphne pointed out flatly.

Harry gasped, giving her a look of betrayal. "Daphne! I can't believe you would say such a thing. Well, I can, but I choose not to!"

Tom snorted. "Your hair looks fine. But I think you have something in it."

"Where?"

"Right here." Tom ruffled his hair, and Harry ducked away with a yelp.

"Hey, watch it, Tommy-boy or else!"

"Real threatening, Harry," Draco remarked dryly.

"That was lovely," Harry said, flopping down on his bed. "We should all hang out more often."

"Not an easy feat given you're all at Hogwarts," Tom said.

"True." Harry looked at Tom. "You okay? You look a bit antsy."

"You know how I've been busy for the past few months?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've been researching something. It's— well—" He fidgeted in place, avoiding Harry's gaze.

Now Harry was really curious. "What?"

Tom steeled himself and brought out a book. Harry took it and peered at the open page, his eyes widening slightly.

"Will you bond with me?" Tom asked, a note of uncertainty in his voice. "Officially?"

Harry didn't answer for a few seconds as he read over the words. It was a very simple ritual, one that required the blood of both participants and runes like most rituals. What set it apart, however, was the fact it was one of the rarest, as only soulmates could perform it.

Azure turned to look at Harry, tail quivering excitedly.

"This was the big fuss?" Harry said, eyes gleaming.

"Maybe. Will you answer?"

"Yes."

"Yes as in you'll answer, or yes as in—"

"I'll bond with you, you idiot."

Tom beamed and scooped Harry up, kissing him like he had never kissed him before.

'Finally!' Azure crowed. She slithered over to the window where Hedwig perched. 'Did you hear that, Hedwig? They're bonding at last!'

Hedwig couldn't understand snake, but she did know her Harry was happy— no, ecstatic. She hooted appreciatively and flew around the couple in two circles.

Harry laughed and pulled back slightly to gaze up at Tom. "Why the long wait? I would have said yes a long time ago."

"Well, between the articles on Dumbledore and finishing up my N.E.W.T.s, I didn't have much time to research bonding rituals," Tom pointed out. "Also, both participants must be of age."

Harry conceded this with a nod. "Just out of curiosity, what else did you find?"

"Well, many of the other rituals required consummation."

The look on Harry's face told Tom he was right to not use any of those.

"Right," Harry said, feeling a shudder of revulsion. "So when should we do it? During the summer?"

"During the summer," Tom repeated. "On your birthday."

Harry looked at the book and back at Tom. "That sounds perfect."

Relieved, Tom smiled and closed the book.

"I can't wait to tell the others."

Tom laughed. "You do love your dramatics."

Harry tapped his nose. "And don't you forget it. You know," he added, "I'm surprised you didn't wait until tomorrow to tell me about the ritual."

"I was going to."

"But you couldn't wait."

"Yep." Tom didn't look remotely abashed.

'Tomling has the patience of a puppy,' Azure said.

'Says you,' Tom and Harry said together.

16 is the legal age in Britain, so I used that

I have written exactly one other Tomarry fic when I was still fairly new at writing HP, so go check out the short stories collection I recently started. It's called Om and it's the second story