What to do?

by BEWD Sorcerer

Disclaimer: I make no money from this; I only bask in the compliments, work to do better because of the critiques, and so far have received no flames, but if I did, then I would make s'mores. Yum.

AN: Sadly I have reverted to Reader Mode, so if I write, it'll probably won't be anything spectacular. Amazing what warding off depression can do, hm? I wrote some of my best then.

#shifty eyes# No, I haven't been playing DDR instead of writing. Don't be silly. #smiles nervously#

"telepathic link speech"

"out loud speech, English"

'Parseltongue'

#action in special circumstances#

8. Cracked

Tom aka Voldemort woke, stretching lazily and feeling oddly full. It felt so good to feel this way, but he didn't know why he felt that way. Then he remembered offering shelter to his mate and the information received and behavior analyzed.

Harry wouldn't fit well in Gryffindor anymore. He would have to be resorted and then Severus and Draco could keep a closer eye on him. Severus could also protect him better, being the Head of House he is. McGonagall might be formidable, but Severus knew what was going on and who the enemies were.

How they were going to manage resorting him, they'd have to be a bit more cunning with the Grey Wizard present.

He yawned, then jerked as he heard an echoing yawn. Something within him shifted and he was forcefully reminded how full and good he felt as he sank back into the bed.

"Harry? Is that you?" Another shift followed by another ripple of pleasure.

"Tom? What is it?" Harry's timid voice snapped him out of his pleasured lethargy.

"Are you alright? You sound... almost scared. Did something happen?" Panic shuddered down their link.

"I feel strange and - and I can't... please, don't make me go back!" Voldemort blinked in surprise. Gryffindor's heir was not supposed to be like this; Harry wasn't like this. Something was wrong. He was about to ask when Lucius bust into his room, hair and robes askew.

"My Lord, Severus has just reported." Lucius goes to bow, but Voldemort grabs his arm.

"I appreciate the gesture, but if it's that important, spit it out." Nodding, Lucius straightens up, Voldemort's hand falling from his arm.

"Harry hasn't shown any signs of waking up, so they moved him into a separate room after charming Severus and knocking out Draco. Harry's two friends were nowhere in sight, though Dumbledore probably talked them out of staying with Harry. Severus also overheard them discussing a potion they had given Harry. It's the real reason they moved him out of the Hospital Wing." A knot of dread tied itself in Voldemort's stomach, coupled by Harry's erratic emotions.

"What does it do?" Lucius shifts uncomfortably.

"We don't know. Dumbledore realized that Severus was at the door before he could hear. Luckily, Severus distracted them quickly with news about what you did to Harry." The blond is definitely nervous, shifting around like that.

"How did they take the news?"

"Neither were very happy. Dumbledore must have promised a virgin Harry to the Grey Wizard." Voldemort smirks, cuddling Harry's soul with the bit of his own.

"Are the potions ready?" Harry perks up a little at this.

"Yes, Severus gave them to me." Lucius hands over three potions, one dark blue with light grey specks, one electric purple, and one opaque grey with golden swirls.

"What does each one do?" Harry's curiosity shimmers down their link, muted by his uncertainty. He's so shy, but that doesn't make any sense. Why would he suddenly - he feels like slamming his head into the wall. It's the potion.

"The cobalt with pale grey specks will turn my eye color to slate; the brilliant violet potion will alter my voice and aura; the dark grey and gold one will change my physical appearance to that of Vincent Potter." Lucius waits patiently, knowing that his Lord is conversing with his mate and Harry makes a small noise of understanding. So bloody demure, cuter than anything, but coy will not rule the world.

Tom takes the potions, falling to his hands and knees as they take effect. They burn as the changes work themselves out. Salazar, it hurts! Harry's worried emotions jerk him from the lingering aches.

"I'm alright and now I'll be able to go to Hogwarts." Harry's soul presses closer to Voldemort's, relieved and worried at the same time. Voldemort regains his feet, pinning Lucius with a calm stare.

"Do I look right?" Lucius smirks and nods, holding out robes fitting for a man coming back into society, fairly worn and slightly faded black. "Then I'm off. Take care of things." Turning, he leaves, waving good-bye over his shoulder as Lucius inclines his head and murmurs, "Have a safe trip, my Lord."

#Shift#

After arriving at Hogwarts and answering question after question after question about everything under the sun practically, Vincent Potter is finally allowed in the same room as his cousin. His unconscious cousin who is the prophesied savior of the Wizarding world and the only one able to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort and looks so frail in the huge bed. Vincent Potter would have been moved, if he really were who he said he is.

Instead Lord Voldemort as said savior's mate is utterly pissed. Harry Potter had been so graciously moved from the public's eye to the private quarters of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Archibald Graham, who had no doubt done who knows what to Harry's body in the 18 hours it had been housed there. At least one potion had been shoved down his throat, so there could be more than one potion or spell's affects to watch out for. Now he just had to figure out how to convince Harry to return to his body.

"Harry?" His mate's soul shivers against his.

"Please, don't," he whimpers pitifully, pressing even closer.

"Do you want me to go in first?" Harry shudders, unsure.

"I don't want to - " He starts, but Tom interrupts gently.

"As much as I love your soul within me, it wouldn't be good to have your body decaying unnecessarily because of the absence of soul. I'll go check it out, so you'll have to take the reigns for a bit and then I'll be back, alright?" Harry nods, shivering and preparing to be in charge.

Making sure Dumbledore and Graham are distracted, Voldemort leaves his body, repressing screams at the pain, and enters Harry's body that accepts him easily.

Nothing. There are no traps, no tricks, just a lingering feeling of helplessness and inferiority. Luckily Voldemort has immense self-confidence, so he clears it away, conjuring all sorts of supportive feelings and thoughts for Harry to call upon once he was back. Then after checking and double checking to make sure it will be safe for Harry to return, he returns to his body to be glomped by a worried Harry who checks him over for injuries.

"I'm fine and it's safe for you to return. I made sure and left you a reserve of confidence for you to call upon and if you ever need more I am a renewable source." Harry gives him a timorous smile for his attempt at encouragement and moves to leave, but Tom presses close to him. "You're welcome any time." The two souls so close together quiver before Harry returns to his body.

He is right, as usual, and Harry settles in comfortably with the reserve of confidence Voldemort left him, preparing to wake up.

To say Dumbledore and Graham were surprised to see the boy savior awake and coherent would be a severe understatement. Thanks to Voldemort's gift he doesn't even twitch when the two meddlesome old men approach him to congratulate him on his return to consciousness, Dumbledore giving Harry a pat on the back with a no-longer-subtle wave of a nonverbal suggestion spell.

"I'm so glad you're awake, my boy. You gave us quite a scare," Dumbledore in all his twinkling madness chirps. "I'd like you to meet the new DADA teacher, Professor Archibald Graham." The Grey Wizard steps forward when Dumbledore indicates him and offers his hand.

Harry briefly entertains the thought of refusing, but he knows that this is another of Dumbledore's tests of his hold on him, so he grips the older man's hand, immediately being engaged in a hand-shake that lingers on a bit too long for Harry and Voldemort's liking.

Three minutes is a bit long for a simple handshake, especially with a new acquaintance even if the person is the Boy-Who-Lived.

After Harry finally wrenches his hand from the other man's grip, Dumbledore's eyes are twinkling and Graham is watching him with hungry eyes as Voldemort seethes in the back of his head. Anyone would be unnerved by look Graham is giving him, so he backs up warily, turning his head so he could see all three of the room's occupants. He gasped when he saw the third man.

Sure, he had been expecting someone who looked like him, but this was ridiculous.

"Are we related?" Outside, Vincent Potter smiles warmly at his cousin's innocent question; inside, Voldemort is barely repressing the urge to grab up the Sixth Year that looks like he should be a Fourth Year and kiss him senseless. Blushing, Harry looks down, knowing exactly what his 'cousin' is thinking and would no doubt do the moment they got some alone time. He hadn't meant his voice to be that coy, much less coy at all.

Dumbledore jumps in, no doubt planning on attempting to steer his attention back to the Grey Wizard, but Harry couldn't get the thought of Voldemort carrying him off to ravish him in some unused classroom out of his mind and he had a sneaking suspicion that said man was the reason why.

Then Blumblebore suggests that Harry stay in the DADA teacher's room to keep him safe from Voldemort, who mentally snarls at the meddling bumblebee. Harry shudders at the thought of all the things he'd have to deal with if he stayed in the Grey Wizard's rooms.

"Why can't I stay in his rooms?" He asks with wide, trusting eyes, shifting closer to his 'cousin', who wraps an arm around Harry's shoulders and mentally cheers at Harry's insight. It would look a bit suspicious if the known lone wolf (despite being a long-lost family member) insisted that the Boy-Who-Lived stay in his room, but it wouldn't be near as odd if an orphan was adamant about staying close to his only remaining relative.

Dumbles hesitates, obviously not expecting Harry to cling to someone who just showed up even if he is a family member, before trying to persuade Harry that staying with someone qualified to take down Death Eaters, but he refuses.

"He's my last living family member, isn't he?" Dumbledore nods reluctantly and Harry looks up at his cousin with wide, hopeful eyes. "I can stay with you, can't I?" Vincent shifts nervously, internally wanting to scoop him up and cover his face with kisses, but externally he simply nods and is hugged by an ecstatic orphan.

"Yay! You went to Hogwarts for schooling, didn't you?" Harry asks eagerly, grabbing his cousin's hand and dragging him off, completely ignoring the headmaster's annoyed stare and the new DADA teacher's jealous glares.

Prattling on for several minutes after they left the Grey Wizard's chambers, Harry watches his mate moving around in a different skin. Suddenly, his cousin looks around to make sure they're not being followed and drags him into an empty classroom to assuage his urges.

"Ridiculously - #kiss# - and - #kiss# – absolutely - #kiss# - adorable - #kiss#." Voldemort murmurs between each kiss on his mate's face. "You know that?" Grinning, Harry pulls him into a full-blown game of tonsil hockey.

"I didn't mean to, honestly," he gasps when they finally pull away. Voldemort kissing his way down his mate's neck, hands roaming possessively all over his body. "Do you think they'll come after us?"

"Probably not for a little while. They're most likely discussing what went wrong and how to get you with that pervert." Harry whimpers as his hands slip under his pajamas.

"You just can't keep your hands off me, can you?" Harry leans his head back, offering his body up to his mate who happily takes the invitation.

"You're gorgeous and my mate, why the hell should I?" He grumbles, squeezing Harry's ass and pressing their bodies together sensuously.

"Because we have a very embarrassed audience?" Harry whimper-giggles, causing Voldemort to whip his head around to see who was playing voyeur. Draco Malfoy stands with his back to the couple, arm braced against the doorjamb and forehead resting on his arm.

"Severus finally sobers and makes me go find you two because he's so worried; Lucius is worried because Sev is worried. Granger and Weasley with all the other little Gryffindors are worried, thinking that we Slytherins did something thus unanimously decide that it's my fault and harass me. And when I finally find you, you're preparing to have kinky sex in an unused classroom with a Grey wizard after your asses and a White wizard trying to marry one of you off and kill the other." Voldemort just laughs at Draco's muffled grumbling, while Harry blushes.

"Then we'll just have to find our rooms and have kinky sex there," the Dark Lord purrs, dragging Harry off and telling Draco that they'd see Severus soon, but not before said kinky sex. Draco just groaned before making his way back down to his dad's potions lab.

AN: Like, oh my gawd! I finally got a chapter up! Squeee! XP After much rewording and pondering (not to mention all the sneakiness and distractions) I have finally got this chapter finished. It's not as long, but it's still a new chapter, dammit!

Harry's probably going to be doing some comparing and contrasting next chapter. No one knows when that's going to be up.