Maybe a day later than planned: but a Happy New Year to you all!

Warnings: language.

Disclaimer: I don't own either the plot idea or the characters. I just wrote it :P

Enjoy!

He grimaced lightly as he took a sip of his firewhiskey.
The evening – the last one of the year – should have been spent happily with his girlfriend of three months, Ginny, at the Three Broomsticks. But she had sent him a short note that their relationship – or whatever they had had – was over just an hour before they had agreed to meet. She had wanted more than he wanted to offer after just a couple of months and being dumped over something like that hurt, badly so.

"I heard about what happened," a soft, smooth baritone could be heard softly from behind him.
"Of course you have," Harry said moodily as he glared at the liquid in his glass before he turned towards his pain-in-the-ass best friend, "everyone probably has by now."
But Tom just shook his head, "I doubt that."

They had been best friends since the first ride on the train in their first year.
Harry had stumbled into a – what he had believed to be empty – coupé only to come face to face with a tall, thin, dark haired boy of his age who had been searching for a book which had fallen on the ground. Apparently it had slid underneath one of the benches when the train had started moving and the boy had been forced to kneel on the ground to get it. But he was too tall and too broad to reach it. Harry, who had been smaller than Tom, had offered to pick it up if he could stay in the compartment.
So Harry had been allowed to join Tom – though Tom had been reluctant – and they had spent most of the time in silence. And they would have spent the entire time in silence if it hadn't been for Tom's snake.

Euryale – named after one of the Gorgons – had slithered in full view from her hiding place in an attempt to scare Harry away but he had taken one look at her before he had fired a large amount of question rapidly towards Tom. The other first year had blinked at him in genuine surprise before he had answered them all as well as he could.
Somehow they had touched upon the subject of talking to snakes and it wasn't long before Harry admitted that he had once set a snake on his cousin.

Tom had declared him his best friend not long after much to Harry's surprise and slight incomprehension and he remained such even after Harry had been sorted into Gryffindor and Tom had been sorted into Slytherin.
They made friends – or allies as Tom called them – in their own houses but Tom made sure that Harry had and always would consider him as his best friend. His other friends hadn't and still didn't like Tom or their friendship and most of the professors – especially the headmaster Dumbledore – had warned him away from Tom quite a few times but they were still best friends. Even after their somewhat explosive fights and their sometimes colliding ideas and morals.

"I could hurt her for you," Tom offered lightly as he slid next to him in the booth.
"Thank you, but no," Harry said firmly as he took another sip of the burning liquid.

Madam Rosmerta came by their table and Tom ordered two butterbeers.
"You need something else besides heavy alcoholic beverages," he told him sternly as Harry protested loudly.
"This is still my first glass," Harry informed him tersely.
"Of course it is," Tom said with an odd quirk of his lips. Harry opted to glare at him but didn't respond.

It didn't take long before Rosmerta arrived with the butterbeer and they slowly drank their chosen beverages – as he still hadn't finished his firewhiskey – in a companionable silence.

"I really thought that she didn't mind the fact that I wanted to go slow," Harry finally broke the silence as he miserably finished the last of the burning liquid, "I asked her at least four time if she minded and she told me at least four times that she didn't mind it at all."
He wrapped his hands around the warm butterbeer, just to have something to do with them.
"I know," Tom said soothingly.
"Why did she have to dump me over something like that," he moaned miserably, "didn't she love me?"
"She is just 16 years old," Tom murmured softly, "she probably only wanted a short relationship based on the more carnal activities. You were probably just an easy catch for her."

Harry couldn't help the tears sliding down his cheek and he bowed his head in an attempt to hide it from his best friend.
"Come on, it's almost midnight and I'll not have you moping in the last hour of my birthday," Tom stated firmly, not fooled in the slightest, "and you're most certainly not allowed to sulk on the day we agreed to celebrate said birthday!"
"You're such an unfeeling, selfish bastard!" Harry responded thickly but a small, watery smile managed to shine through the tears.
"I know," the other said smugly, "but you still are my best friend. What does that say about you?"
"That I believe firmly that everyone should have some in their corner," he answered with a slightly weaker grin than normally, "even undeserving, unchangeable people like you."

Their normal banter helped slightly to lift his mood and they smiled genuinely at each other – the kind of smile he knew Tom never showed anyone else. But the smile slipped from his face just as quickly as it had appeared and Tom threw some coins on the table with a shake of his head before they left together.
"Promise me something, though," Tom said softly as they made their way on the snow covered streets towards the gates of Hogwarts. He stopped walking and forced Harry to do the same.
"Next time something like this happens, come to me," he stated sharply, "if you believe that no one should be alone, than the least I could do is make sure you are not alone if you try to drink yourself into oblivion. What kind of best friend would I be if you were to die because I weren't there?"

Harry searched his face before he responded in all seriousness the situation demanded, "I promise. No more drinking alone."
Tom opened his mouth to respond but the first piece of fire work indicating that it was the first of January and therefore a new year stopped him from speaking.

The sight of the fireworks brought back the fact that he had been hoping to celebrate the start of new year with his now ex-girlfriend.
Tom moved closer to him and in a show of support gave him a one-armed hug, after which he rested his arm on his shoulders.
"Hey, don't worry," he stated gently, before he shot him an odd half smile, "I'll make sure everything will be alright. She'll never hurt you again. It'll be my New Year resolution."
"Happy bloody New Year to you too," Harry muttered sullenly but he lifted his arm to let it rest on the shoulders of the slightly taller boy.

Side by side they watched for another ten minutes as fireworks light up the sky before they finally continued walking towards the ancient castle, their arms still slung over the shoulder of the other.

oOoOoOo

"Hello Ginevra," he purred darkly as he approached the lonely figure seated in the Hogwarts library, "a word please."
She turned around slightly towards him and her face lightened up as her eyes fell on his figure.

"Oh Tom, hi! Happy New Year!" she greeted him cheerily, as her eyes roved over his form in appreciation. Her very looks towards him so shortly after she had dumped his best friend only confirmed what he had told Harry: she had only dated him for the more carnal activities.
"And it's Ginny, silly," she giggled as she gathered her items, "what can I do for you?"
"Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?" he told her, a vague and unreadable smile on his face and an odd gleam in his eyes.

Her pupils dilated slightly at his words, just as he had suspected they would, and together they left the library.
His longer legs and bigger steps forced her – much to his amusement and pleasure – to pick up her speed but he didn't slow down, not even when she asked him to.

It didn't take long for them to reach his destination; an empty classroom which hadn't been used for actual lessons for quite some time. He had discovered it a couple of years ago and he and Harry had used it almost daily until Harry had accidently stumbled upon the Room of Requirement.
It would do just fine for what he had in mind.

The Weasley chit looked around in confusion at their location – it was clear that she had never been in this part of the castle before – before she sat down on one of the tables in a way she believed to be either seductive or pleasant to look at. She turned her attention on him and repeated, almost sultry: "what can I do for you?"
He drew his wand from where is was hidden in its holster on his arm and flicked it casually towards the door. It locked with an ominous click.

"I believe your brothers threatened to hurt Harry if he ever were to hurt you," he started softly.
"Yes, they did," she replied, the confusion showed upon her face, "they do that to all my boyfriends. They have never acted upon it, of course."
"No, and I hope for your sake that they will not act upon it this time either," he stated sharply, "sadly enough, I guess no one ever threatened to hurt you in case you hurt someone."
Her confusion only seemed to intensify.

"I swore one January the first a couple of years ago that I would always protect Harry, from both physical and emotional pain," he told her flatly as he lifted his hand to study his nails, "he of course just laughed and thought I was joking, but seeing how he is an orphan whom wears his heart on his sleeve and who had no one on his side, I promised to make sure that I would guard him in a way he couldn't. That was my New Year resolution of that year, though I never meant it to last for just one year."

His looked up and pierced her with dark, angry eyes. She had lost her inviting pose sometime during his speech and was now sitting slightly slouched on the table. Her eyes wide with both the lingering confusion and a budding fear.
He knew that he had a reputation of being both volatile and quick to curse, but he had promised Harry that he wouldn't hurt her or any of his other friends.

"He got hurt due to the fact that you couldn't contain your own hormones," he sneered sharply at her, "I've no idea why he cared for you and I warned him more than once to be careful but he truly loved you and you threw it back into his face. Not only that, but the fact that you were seen without him while everyone knew that you were supposed to be on a date yesterday evening to celebrate the turning of the year together made some people assume things about said relationship. Your oaf of a brother somehow managed to come to the conclusion that it was you who was dumped, even though he could see how hurt Harry was."

He smirked at her darkly, and from the looks of her face he knew that she would do anything as long as he wouldn't look at her like that again.
"So, this is what you are going to do now," he stated ominously.

oOoOoOo

He was prodding his food somewhat listlessly as he listened to the small talk around him. Ron had yelled at him as soon as he had walked into the common room after he had returned from his would-have-been-happy visit to the town. He had been ignored by both him and some of their mutual friends ever since.
It had only been a couple of hours since he had been dumped cruelly and it still hurt worse than everything else had ever done in his life. He finally understood why some of the older Gryffindor girls – and some of the boys – had been so obsessed with chocolate and ice cream after they had been dumped.

Soft, slightly familiar steps sounded behind him but he didn't bother turning around. She wasn't here for him after all, not anymore. He stabbed his now unidentifiable breakfast harshly and watched in morbidly fascination as the first year in front of him flinched at the motion.

"Harry?" her voice sounded from behind him but he ignored her, he didn't want to get hurt even more.
The soft footsteps didn't move away from him, not even as Tom approached him and sat down gracefully next to him. After a couple of years of switching tables every once in a while nobody looked surprised at or protested his presence at their table.
But though she hadn't left yet, he could hear the soft, almost fearful intake of breath which meant at the least that his best friend had some words with her.

"Harry?" she repeated louder and he noticed that people started to pay attention to them.
"What?" he snapped irritated.
"Can we talk?" she asked softly.

He could hear Ron's annoyed growl and he could see his friend – were they still friends after last night? – stand up and stomp towards them.
"You better leave her alone, or else-," he started but Ginny interrupted him.
"No Ron, it wasn't… He didn't," she was clearly looking for words and it took a couple of seconds before she finally managed to get out what she wanted to say.
"He didn't dump me, I dumped him," she said in a rush, "I just wanted to fool around and I knew that he liked me so I asked him out. When he didn't want to go beyond snogging I dumped him."

It hurt even more to hear her say it as callously as she had.
"You did what?" Ron shouted furiously and Harry couldn't help but wonder if he was furious with the fact that she had hurt him or that she was just dating boys for – as Tom had stated it – the more carnal activities.
The shouting match that started not long after between the siblings showed that it was a bit of both.

The chin suddenly placed on his shoulder and the hot breath of his best friend shook him out of his thoughts. He turned his head slightly so he could look the other boy somewhat in the eye, even though it brought their noses and other parts of their heads and faces uncomfortably close together.

"She promised me that she'll leave you together after this," Tom told him softly, "she also promised that she would write home to make sure that they knew what had happened so her other brothers wouldn't bother you if you were to visit them during the summer. It's over, she'll never bother you again."

He moved his head away from his shoulder and shot him a small but genuine smile before he said uncharacteristically gently, "Happy New Year, Harry."

I hope you enjoyed this one shot.

Reviews are always appreciated!

~Marwana