Tom stepped out from the shadows and greeted the two vampire hunters and their two new assistants as they entered Riddle House. Ron and Hermione marvelled at the place. From town, the old mansion still looked decrepit and frightening. The only difference to the townsfolk from the outside was the large electric fence that had been raised around it. The inside, however, had been transformed into a cozy, inviting place to reside. Nothing too fancy, nothing cold despite the inhabitants who resided within.

Although Tom did not know or trust them as a companion of his, he knew that Harry trusted the two young adults with his life and would give his life for them. That meant a great deal to Tom, he needed help with this situation and as of yet the vampire was still mostly a recluse, he kept his circle of friends small and closed. He had no one else to turn to.

"Nice seeing you again, Tom," Hermione said, forcing herself to say it. Having found out her best friend's true fate, she could not help but hold caution with the vampire, knowing what he had done to Harry. Whether dead or undead - Harry was still dead.

Ron cleared his throat and shook Tom's extended hand after Hermione ignored him. "Nice seeing you again."

Albus and Aberforth greeted the vampire as their eyes scanned the room top to bottom for booby-traps.

"You're quite safe, I assure you. But, please, take your time looking over the room." Tom stepped back to let them do their thing in order to make them feel more comfortable. He watched Hermione shift her weight around uncomfortably. He had to gain her trust. "Hey," he said, touching her shoulder.

Hermione jumped and turned to face the vampire.

Tom pulled his hand back. He held both of them up, palms open, to reassure her. "I know now what I did was wrong, but I want to show you something. I want you to see how Harry's been living as one of us since I turned him."

He lowered his hands, offering them to Ron and Hermione. Both took one and then clasped their hands together to form a small circle. He opened his mind to them, allowing both of them to search deep inside to sift through his memories of Harry and he together, of life in the coven, of hunting and the humanity they gave their victims before they died.

"He's so happy," Hermione breathed, struck with awe. She could only remember their much younger selves smiling and laughing in the way Harry was now during his stay at Riddle House.

"If I hadn't stopped Draco and his gang from harming Harry, well, he was planning on killing himself. I couldn't let someone so injured, so innocent die without knowing how it felt to be alive, even if it came with a great penalty. His sadness and empathy surrounded me, allowed me to absorb his light. He's a beautiful person, even more so now that he can truly be himself."

"I see." Hermione stepped out of the circle, breaking their contact. "I still think it's awful that you didn't warn him before hand, but I do understand you now. Thank you for protecting him that night. That was the scariest thing any of us have ever encountered."

Tom closed his eyes. "I love him, Hermione, Ron…I would do anything to get him back safe and sound. I need your help…" He turned to the Dumbledores, including them with his plea. "I need all of you to help me stop Grindelwald before he does what I think hes going to do; once he gets into Harry's mind none of us are safe."

The the dead centre of the Forbidden Forest, Harry cried tears of blood as he stared down the enormous crucifix hanging from the branch of a tree and positioned near his face. He had been pinioned; his wings severed, parted from his body, and he was bound to a stake, where he would remain until Gellert got his clutches on Tom. Pinpoint lines of ultraviolet light shone closely on either side of his head, forcing him not to struggle or even turn his head away lest he be painfully burned. Torches attached to surrounding trees gave off unbearable light that kept whatever brainwaves he was able to control fixed on not being injured any further. The cloth bandanna trapped snuggly between his teeth could not stop him from warning Tom, but the witch sitting in the corner chanting could. He kept his thoughts scrambled as they attempted to warn his lover, nothing discernible would get through as long as the man chanted strongly enough to stop it. Despite keeping his eyes closed, Harry could see the symbol and light behind the lids; it's aura radiated onto him, its strength and voracity of light consumed him.

Viktor Krum was not proud of what he was doing in order to keep the dark prince silenced, but a job was a job, and after the untimely death of his grandfather, he and what was left of his family needed the money offered to keep this new vampire in check. "He said you'd be safe here vith me if I kept you from telling some dark vampire vere you are. I keeping safe from him, from abducting you. He said the man vos a true vampre, the most evil of your kind."

Harry tried to gesture to him that Tom was the opposite but the UV light burned deep into the flesh of his cheek.

Krum cringed while he watched the young vampire writhe in pain. "You've been brainvoshed, you only think you vont to be his companion." He quickly resumed his chanting. He had to remain focused and finish the job. And he would be saving this poor sap's life in the process. "Tell them how to fully penetrate Tom's mind and they'll set you free."

Harry screwed his eyes shut and blocked out as much of the chanting he could bear. The world was reeling around him. He had gone dizzy and weak from lack of blood.

In the distance, hiding behind a thick tree, Draco witnessed the fate of his friend. He had been lied to by his new master. He and Armand both lied to him. He could now see the error in his ways, allowing himself to run away from something that made him uncomfortable, as he always had in the past. It was time to grow up, to right the wrongs he had tortured and betrayed Harry with. Grindelwald and Armand had used him as a pawn, as they were now using Harry.

Using his gifts of enhanced senses, Draco reached out, looking for someone who could help him. Almost immediately, he sensed a presence approaching the forest. He knew this person and he knew this person could be trusted.

The blood moon beamed down upon the girl looking back upon. Despite the astronomical odds of it coinciding with a wolf moon, or death moon as some called it, there it was. Luna shivered as she felt herself begin to change. The horrid omen shining down upon her gave her worrying thoughts of Tom's blind arrogance and eminent death. She screamed, baring the torture of her bones breaking and skin tearing, to reform themselves back together as she fashioned into a werewolf. The chances of the two coinciding were not natural. Grindelwald was surely behind this curse, but as she changed, turned into the blighted form without her desire, the ability to think properly diminished. The moons drifted from her mind as it filled up with hatred for Grindelwald. She would tear him apart if he had laid a single finger on Harry.

They had agreed to stop at nothing in order to rescue one of their own. The risk was high. Some might even lose their lives, but they'd all die if they didn't get to Harry in time before they broke him and learnt everything they needed to know about the coven.

"They're here, master!" Teddy Nott raced through Nurmengard despite having to ability to communicate with his master telepathically. He was far too excited to assist his master in dealing with his nemesis permanently. "Revenge will be ours! Tonight, Riddle will die!"

Gellert and Armand acknowledged the young vampire as they walked hand-in-hand together into the sitting room, the place that their rival coven would soon be ushered into. Armand had Draco by the wrist, dragging him along with them. He had sensed his descendants wavering loyalty and would not let him spoil this moment. The remainder of their coven joined them, all resting on their knees at their master's feet. Armand forced Draco down beside them.

Gellert scanned over the group as they filed into the sitting room. He laid eyes on the new member and noted the absence of Romilda and Bellatrix. "My gods, you brought in Peter Pettigrew? Xenophilius, is that you? He's finally opened up to you?" He turned to Tom, letting the excitement shine through his eyes. "You've allowed a useless sloth and a madman, this bizarre eccentric into your coven? The only right thing you've done is induct this gorgeous specimen of a vampire I cannot take my eyes off of…" The ancient vampire batted is lashes at Cassius, who eagerly returned the gesture.

Tom caught their flirting in his heightened peripheral vision. He buried his apprehension, hoping Grindelwald did not pick it up.

He did. "Tell me," the man with the golden curls said said as a wicked grin formed on his face. "You neglected to bring your two strongest allies in a time like this? Are you still that arrogant, Tom?" Gellert watched Blaise and Severus shift around to hide their distaste for leaving the two witches behind, so the could help Tom elsewhere.

Tom snorted in his former master's direction. "You can try and take Warrington back to break my cirlce and weaken me, but as you can see we have more than thirteen. And besides, my witches have prevented this betrayeal from Warrington from happening," he replied with a smirk.

"Oh, they have, have they? Is that really so?" Grindelwald opened his mind and summoned the forever-young vampire, willing him, compelling him to return to their coven. The remainder of the man's wicked coven, all strictly vampire, bared their fangs at the rival coven; hissing, taunting them with promises of death. Grindelwald focused only on Warrington. "I can sense the pull he has on you, my beloved Cassius, but, please, ignore his weak attempt to control you by using witchcraft and return to me. Break the circle, weaken him further!" Casually, the man with the golden ringlets waved his wand over the traitor, whose eyes snapped open on command.

The deserter took his place at his master's side.

Gellert stroked the young man's face. "That's my boy…my beautiful Cassius."

Cassius leaned into his embrace. His eyes drifted closed as a wicked smile formed on his lips. "Oh, thank you, master. I love to serve you."

Tom's widened eyes flicked to Sirius. "He shouldn't have been able to do that," he told him through their linked minds. "Stay sharp."

And Gellert caught it; the look of surprise and the words Tom spoke to Sirius. He was winning. Soon, Tom and his bleeding-heart band of freaks would perish by his hand. Pure glee soared through Gellert's veins. He squeezed Armand's arm, unable to contain the excitement.

Everyone now sensed the tension rise. War was upon them.

The werewolves lowered their bodies, growling at their enemies, ready to pounce.

Hagrid was oblivious. He punched the palm of his hand several times to intimidate the ancient vampire, only to be laughed at by he and Armand in return. The half-giant slouched into submission, knowing they had not planned this rescue as well as Tom had assured the coven of their success.

"Hmm, you have brought with you all remaining allies of your coven, yet you left the most powerful member back home? I wonder how strong your witches' powers truly are, will their range of energy that has been stretched so thin be enough to aid you so far from home?"

Armand drew his wand and cursed Pettigrew and Neville, rendering both unconscious. Sirius and Severus held Tom back before he did something rash. "Stay calm," Sirius whispered to Tom telepathically. "We still have at least thirteen. Remember, Harry's here on the grounds.

"Not for long," Armand said, boasting about being able to enter their minds to eavesdrop as his master could.

Hagrid watched the vampires assault Luna, taking her violently to the ground. They moved onto Remus, repeating their violent actions. His large, questioning eyes filled with blood. "Tom?" Why would their master so carelessly walk them into such an obvious trap?

Draco gasped as he turned around to look up at his lover. "Armand, you both promised me you wouldn't hurt them."

Grindelwald scowled, watching their newest member of their clan start pleading for Harry's and the others' lives. The idea of him abandoning their coven as he had from Tom's worried him. He always stayed at a strict thirteen, believing that any more or any less would merely weaken their power. Tom still had a total of thirteen under his wing, not including himself. They would have to off at least two vampires to bring their coven's number down to twelve.

The ancient vampire gave Armand a shove before gesturing to Draco. "Get him out of here. His services are no longer needed this evening." The murderous coven of elder vampires very loyal to Grindelwald rose from the floor and advanced on the group. All of the remaining coven fought back. Grindelwald watched Armand order Draco to return to the castle. Victory was his. He grinned at Tom, knowing just what to say to him to get him to give himself up. He grabbed and crushed the crucifix keeping the boy powerless, and had his minions smash the UV lights. "Surrender peacefully and I'll spare the boy's life…your boy, Harry, this sweet little thing here whom I'm dying to torture and slaughter just to make you sad, Tommy. He'll live a long and peaceful life if you give yourself to me once more."

Tom dropped his head, unable to watch his closest allies being tackled and restrained any longer. Grindelwald, himself, moved over to stand in front of Tom. He pulled the shaking, defeated man into his embrace, soothing his worry away while Armand returned and bound his wrists behind his back with thin silver chain. "There, there, my sweet, beautiful Tom. It'll all be over soon. I'll make it quick, painless, for all of you…well, not for Harry. You get the honour of watching him burn at the stake in the Forbidden Forest - you all do!" He held his head on his shoulder, feeling Tom struggle to free himself. "Oh, come on, you didn't really think I'd let any of you live, did you? I set Harry free and have to go through this nightmare again, as I've suffered for centuries from being hunted by you? I think not."

Bellatrix closed her eyes. She threw a hand up to silence the vampire hunters so she could hear Tom's words in her mind. "He's being held somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. I can't access a pinpoint location. Perhaps we should split up and search this ares here. I feel him-"

"The Forbidden Forest is massive," Hermione interjected. Albus tipped his head as he and the others listened to the bright young girl list off all of the unnatural beings of myth and folklore about the place, creatures that could actually be real and lurking inside. "We need you, Bella, you're the only one who can protect us."

"She's right, to an extent." The Dumbledore brothers opened their trench-coats at the trio, causing all three to gasp in shock at what they were staring back at. Bellatrix smirked when Aberforth ran his fingers over the extensive amount of phials and weapons sewn into the lining. Both he and Albus gawked at the vampire. "Are you not effected by these weapons? They're usually very effective in subduing vampires in our experience," Albus said, curious.

Bellatrix held out a hand and Aberforth quickly handed her a crucifix. She held it up, jiggling it beside her face. "Not all of us."

Alberforth handed Hermione a crucifix, a silver chain and several bottles of holy water. Albus repeated his actions with Ron.

"This is amazing, but it's not going to help us locate Harry on time," Hermione said, moping.

Something rustled behind them. All five seekers of the coven whirled around, all of them shocked at what they found.

"Maybe not, but I can take you to him."

Tom shook his head as the blinding hood he was wearing was yanked away. He, and the others, were forced to kneel around the stake Harry was tied to. Tom and he locked eyes. "It's gonna be alright, please don't worry, Harry. Stay strong," he told him out loud, as he was no longer able to connect with anyone in the coven now. The chanting coming from the local boy grew louder, clouding all of their minds. The werewolves were being led around by leashes like they were dogs. Blindfolded, their scattered minds picked up Harry's scent as they were told to do. All four began to salivate as they they all blindly turned toward the boy's location.

Tom began to panic, watching the feral beings paw and salivate as they were led closer to their victim. "Please, Gellert," he said through a rush of adrenaline. "Just take me. Harry's innocent! I'm the one you want, not him. I'm the one who betrayed you."

Grindelwald rested back into the throne, the same one he has his minions carry him like a king out in to the forest. He laughed with mirth, watching Riddle beg and plead to him for mercy. It was all he could have dreamed of. He had thought about this day for centuries. "Tie the wolves' leashes to a tree, like you would to any other mongrel - and then bring Tom to me."

Draco Malfoy felt like a great fool for letting himself be so easily seduced. Not that his former coven hadn't helped sway his loyalty from Tom and direct it toward Grindelwald, making it very simple to turn his back on them. But the tremendous guilt he felt for ruining Harry's life soon after the first time they met, which continued on to the end of both of their lives gnawed hard at his conscious. He beckoned Bellatrix and the four humans to follow him deeper into the forest. He was going to right this wrong. They were going to rescue everyone.

Tom bowed his head. He was on his knees in front of his former master; his maker, the man he betrayed. "I was turning into you," he said as he raised his head and looked into the eyes of evil. "I was becoming what you were…what you are…what you've always been - a monster. I just couldn't live with myself knowing I had lost my humanity as you had. I had to leave, i had to break the circle."

"Open your mouth, child," Gellert whispered as he stroked Tom's face like a cat. Armand clutched and squeezed Tom's jaw, forcing his mouth open. Tom was flipped around, his back now to Gellert, with his head trapped between his master's knees. Grindelwald's current lover fondled and provoked Riddle into fighting back.

Harry was unbound and given to the villain, pinned down in Grindelwald's lap. He was so close to Tom but could not reach out and touch him. Grindelwald slashed the throat of the already weakened boy, while Armand sunk his fangs into his nemesis' throat. Both drank from the two tragic lovers, all the while the rest of the vampires sat helplessly by, watching their master and his equal slowly die in front of them.

Losing all self control, Tom's fangs slid down into place as he struggled to regain calm. Armand looked up to his master, who gave his lover a nod. "Take them."

With great strength, Armand gripped and yanked Tom's left fang out of his mouth, tearing the flesh open, then holding him down at his maker's feet as the blood began to flow from the wound. "You see?" Armand stood up, holding his prize, the tooth over his head for Tom's followers to witness. He pressed the heel of his boot down on Tom's sternum to hold him in place while he boasted his victory. "Your leader in toothless, literally and figuratively now."

When he was satisfied that he and Gellert had effectively terrorised their enemies Armand turned back to Tom, preparing to remove the other fang. "Did you honestly think I would not take offence to you making a descendant of mine your puppet, you little bitch?"

Pale and weakened to near unconsciousness, Tom managed to pull off a convincing snort. "Is that what this is about? If the thought of me taking one of your own fuels your hatred for me, then believe it to be true, but the reason I awakened him is far from that," he replied in earnest. "I know you'd like to think that I want to hurt you, Malfoy, that I allowed my hatred for you to fuel me into turning an innocent child and forcing him to serve me…but the truth is that after so many centuries - I'd merely forgotten who you were. Even after learning Draco's surname, nothing rang any sort of bell. I had no conscious memory of you or your name. I hadn't put two and two together - that you two might possibly be related until very recently…sorry."

The elder Malfoy scowled, having been humiliated in front of Gellert's and Tom's followers. He reached down, grabbing Tom up by the throat, and took his last fang between his fingers. "Compared to me, Riddle, you're still a baby, wet behind the ears. You could never defeat me. I want you to know that after I slaughter you I'm going to keep your little plaything as my own. Gellert promised Harry to me if I made you suffer long and hard enough." His fingers squeezed together as the beautiful blond delighted in watching Tom pale to a pasty-white before him. He yanked the tooth - but a hand snatched his away before he was able to pry it out of Tom's mouth.

"You think you're ancient? You ain't seen nothing yet." Bellatrix emerged from the shadows as mist. With lightning speed, she wrenched the blond's arm behind his back despite the vampire's enhanced strength, snapping the bone and cartilage at the elbow.

"Stay. Down," he heard her say, and he obeyed, crumbling from pain, having never truly felt it before that very moment. Snape was at her side mere seconds later to assist her.

Tom straightened up as he got to his feet, watching Albus and his brother trot across the clearing they were standing in, holding crucifixes out in front of them. Ron and Hermione helped the members of Tom's coven out of their bonds.

Sirius, Hagrid and Neville moved to release the werewolves, all three now back in control of their ferocity with the aid of their master.

Harry pushed off of a stunned Grindelwald and fell into Tom's arms. "Are you okay, love?" They embraced as close to each other as they could manage, and stayed that way while the others cleaned up the remaining threats around them.

Tom kissed him. He felt the sharp jagged edges of what was once the boy's wings and hugged him even tighter in his embrace. "I'm so sorry, love. So sorry I didn't get here faster."

Harry tipped his head up and began wiping the caked blood off of Tom's face. Tom cringed and looked away, knowing he had been maimed as well.

"Hey," Harry said, righting his face back in place so he could look upon the one thing he dreamed about every night during his time in captivity. "I like it. It's sexy. Makes you look tough."

Tom laughed. "It does?" He swished his tongue across his front teeth and prodded at the gaping hole left after the attack. It would take time to get used to having only one fang, but that time would be spent with his lover, Harry, and the rest of his kindred. Life, or being undead, was about to become a whole lot different for all of them.

Bellatrix and Snape detained the dumbstruck Grindelwald, who gaped up at her. "How is this possible? How were you able to defeat us so easily?" he asked the witch.

Her eyes flicked up toward Cassius as he sauntered over to meet his master eye to eye.

"Why don't you ask her yourself," Snape said, as all of them watched the young traitor's form begin to change, shifting back into her true guise; the last missing witch, Romilda Vane.

"Surprise!"

Gellert unconsciously allowed the Dumbledore brothers to subdue and bind him with silver-infused cord. His mind was too tangled to resist, still reeling from shock. He did not understand what had just happened. He stared blankly at the woman whom he thought was his own loyal servant. "You aren't Cassius? Then where is he?"

Tom stepped in to help the narrow-sighted man understand that true power lies not in physical strength and age, but in the persons' ability to work together as a team, to trust each other , even if their leader leads them all into harm's way blindly. He learnt to use what talents they possessed to the coven's advantage. "After I interrogated your boy Warrington and drained him of information about you and your ilk, all while the witches blocked the direct link between you two, I drained him of his lifeblood and put him in stasis, so Romilda could take on his form and connect that same link between you and her with the use of his blood. I assure you he is quite safe. Unlike you, we do not harm our own kind unless we have to."

Riddle watched the two vampire hunters haul the golden-haired vampire up to his feet, and asked that they wait one more minute so he could say all that he needed to say to his maker before they put the man in irons. He would be imprisoned forever to keep the world safe once more. "Our circle was never broken despite Cassius's betrayal. And your ignorant notion of the number thirteen you've rambled on about for centuries, that the number thirteen being more powerful than any other number..is wrong. We inducted the Dumbledore bothers and Harry's two best friends that very night to utilise their talents as part of our own, and look what we manged to accomplish here."

No longer feeling the need to boast about his coven's victory, the beautiful vampire gazed upon Draco as the blond-haired boy embraced and was embraced in return by Harry. Blood pooled into the corners of Tom's eyes as he watched them forgive and be forgiven in such pure and innocent fashion, a token of what he had always sought after. They came together not blindly, but from the heart. "It's never too later. We can always learn to forgive…to see what's right in front of you for what they really are, and give that person another chance, because sometimes they deserve it."

Tom's deep crimson eyes at last met with Albus's. He gave the old man a tip of the head, alerting him that he was finished with Grindelwald and would allow the brothers to put that monster away for as long as they could hold him.

Hermione pulled her mass of frizzy hair up and wound it into a bun before securing it off and entering the once grand ballroom, now turned into a laboratory. The curtains lining the ceiling-high windows were drawn. She noted Tom and Albus hunched over an enormous book together as they pored over the pages.

On the opposite side of the room, Harry, Draco, Ron and Neville were all jotting notes down on pads of paper, all intently watching and listening to Bellatrix and Romilda as they instructed them on the basics of witchcraft.

Blaise, Fenrir, Luna and Remus all worked together with Hagrid now. The half-giant had a way with them during the times of the month when the moon was full and their free will was sapped and replaced with raw rage. With time, they would learn to control their hunger with his help.

She moved quietly over to the experiment she had been working full-time on since graduation. There was no time to attend any university, and it was the furthest from her mind. Tom had insisted that she enrol in at least a few basic classes, and she would consider it, but not until she found a cure for the ailments that plagued certain brethren of hers. Aberforth, Severus and Sirius soon joined her in their partitioned corner of the massive room. It was littered with test tubes and various machines that detected the elements of whatever sample they were fed.

Everyone inside that room sought out the same conclusion: there had to be a way to live a somewhat normal life as a vampire or werewolf without having to pay such an enormous price in order to endure it. Their ultimate goal was to learn to feed without killing anyone, and, for now, only feed off of the terminally ill - and only if the person agreed to it.

On the plus side, they had nearly worked out the means to create and a produce a synthetic serum that closely matched human blood. Soon, none of them would have to hunt and murder for survival, they could plant their roots and enjoy the pleasantries their world had to offer.

Sirius tied his mane of thick black hair up into a ponytail and reluctantly pulled on his lab-coat. "Remember, we all agreed that research would only go until eight tonight. Got a hot date with some bird I met in London last week."

Hermione looked at him over her shoulder. Her eye twitched. "Bird?" Having the blight of enduring the group of people who all grew to adulthood in a different time than she had, she found it could be a bit grating on the nerves. She found herself educating a few of them about various things; like, slavery is bad, even if you treat them well, and how women are no longer to be treated like objects of desire if they don't want that. And that everyone was to be treated equal, no matter with colour, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation and whether you walked among the living or with the undead.

"Oh, here we go again…Lady?"

Hermione shrugged. "Um, close. Come on, think."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll say it: woman."

Hermione grinned. "There you go." Not all of them had any desire to modernise their ways of thinking, but she would always be there to remind them of how different times are now, far different than they were back then.

Several hours later on the other side of the room, Tom pushed back from the table and stood up. He smiled down at Harry and helped him stand, intent on spending the rest of the evening with him together. "I have a surprise for you."

Harry was intrigued. Tom had changed a great deal over the last year; after the ordeal with Grindelwald. He felt like a true leader now, and he treated everyone in their coven with respect and adoration. "Ooh, you know I love surprises."

Tom and he made their to the door. Tom scooped Harry up into his arms. "You're going to really like this. I've already given Draco this gift. He's over the moon about it."

If Draco liked it it had to be good. Harry touched Tom's mind as his lover busied himself with flying undetected over the town of Little Hangelton. "Hey, quit it," Tom sassed him as they landed on the stoop of Potter's Cottage. "It's a surprise!"

Harry gaped at Tom in awe. This place was was once his. He had grown up here. His parents lived here. "What's going on?"

Tom rang the buzzer while he grinned at Harry like a silly child. "I've made a deal with a very fine couple I recently met. They've agreed silence over this matter in exchange for time spent with their lost and only beloved child.

The door opened. Lily and James both grappled Harry in their arms and hugged him as hard as they could, never willing to let him go again.

Tom began to back away. This was their moment, they would need time alone to get used to each other again, but Lily and James had different plan.

"No, stay," Lily said. Clasping her fingers around one of his wrists. "We should all get to know each other better, we have a lot to learn about you and Harry's new life, and a lot of time to catch up on."

Harry smiled, tangling his fingers with Tom's to drag him inside. With time, all wounds heal. Theirs would be no different. Indeed, life had changed for all of them, but, at last, the change was for the good.

The end

AN: Ugh, this tale was the hardest thing I've ever written, despite the simplistic approach. I went way too far out of my comfort zone this time, I think I'm going to take an extended holiday from writing. I think I'll stick with comedy and the occasional smut fic when it compels me to write. Again, thank you all for the kind words and favorites on my fiction. I appreciate every single one of them because it lets me know you like my work, and really, that's what drives writers to write; knowing people enjoy your ideas and possibly want more...Big hugs to all!

If I left any plot holes open I'm sorry, I'll try and fix anything broken, but seriously, I need a break.

And if you did not like this I'm sorry I couldn't appease your tastes, please don't comment to me how badly I suck anymore, it's really not needed. Thank you.