Sorry for the usual delay. I can't seem to get around it.

Warnings: It's shonen-ai. Yaoi, slash, gay, whatever. By chapter 42 if this hasn't sunk in, I'm so sorry.

Notes: (X) is pov jump and or time jump.

Chapter, 42: Unveiling

Yes, Tom would try. Didn't he always try? The problem was would he actually be able to keep himself under control? He hadn't exactly left the study group under the best of circumstances and he'd made it quite clear afterwards how much he loathed all of them. The study group might not even allow him back in.

"Do you actually think I care," Tom asked snorting. "I don't need to be a part of their group to follow Hermione." More distaste through the bond. "Besides, they're desperate to get me back." His confidence always managed to surprise and impress Harry. "I've had my share of doubts, but not where those sorry excuses for magic wielders are concerned."

Why do I even bother talking aloud, Harry wondered with some amusement.

"I can understand that," Harry said. How many times had he told the students in the study group to go away? More than he could count. At one point, they'd even been stupid enough to ask Harry to try and convince Tom to come back. Harry had laughed in their faces and walked away. They had not been happy and Harry had been pleased with their anger. The study group had caused him nothing, but problems, both with Tom's and his relationship and just in general. He understood when the Death Eaters had stormed the bookstore that they'd frozen. Freezing was quite a normal reaction, but eventually, you had to break through that fear. Yet, with all the knowledge they had, they somehow couldn't even manage to muster enough common sense to help Hermione shield.

"I think you hate them more than I do," Tom laughed.

"No," Harry said. "I think we're even."

"No, I definitely hate them more." He grinned kissing Harry on the cheek. He told the password to the gargoyle and the steps began forming in front of them.

"What do you think we'll learn tonight?"

"Given that it's Dumbledore teaching us?" He sighed, his hand on the door handle to the headmaster's office. "There's no telling." He turned the handle without knocking and stepped inside.

"You're supposed to knock first," Dumbledore said from the chair behind his desk. A pile of papers was spread out across its top, a bottle of ink next to them, a quill in Dumbledore's hand. Harry wondered if they'd accidentally come early, but a quick look at his watch told him they were right on time.

"There's a lot of things I'm supposed to do." Tom didn't even glance at the headmaster, instead going straight for Fawkes who was sitting on his perk. The Phoenix gave out a loud squawk when it opened its eyes and saw Tom. The bird jumped onto Tom's shoulder and began happily rubbing his head against Tom's temple.

Harry took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk and looked down at his hands. Tom was far too happy to see the phoenix and he actually felt like he was invading their privacy.

You are not jealous of a bird, he told himself sternly knowing how stupid he was being.

"Why doesn't Tom have a pet?" Harry asked trying to alter his attention and try to keep peace with the headmaster. He'd been curious about this subject anyway, but hadn't actually taken the time to ask. Tom loved animals and like with everything else, was brilliant with them. That he didn't have one was almost shocking.

"Because the only pets Aderes wants aren't allowed in the school," Dumbledore said.

The answer didn't surprise Harry. Of course, Tom would want something rare and no doubt dangerous for a pet. Normal just wouldn't do for someone like Tom.

Even Hagrid can't stick with normal, Harry reminded himself. Luckily the half-giant and Tom hadn't gotten together and attempted to smuggle something onto the school grounds. If they teamed up, Harry doubted even Dumbledore would be able to remove whatever creature they brought in. But, Harry had found Tom petting Crookshanks in the common room often, so why not a cat? Anything Tom could pet would probably suffice in the long run.

'Why do you think I keep you around,' Tom mentally asked.

'You're lucky I know you're joking,' Harry said his annoyance clear.

Tom looked over at Harry, a large smirk on his face.

"So why the last minute get together," Tom asked. He walked over to Dumbledore's desk and sat down next to Harry in the free chair. Fawkes jumped onto the desk. He nudged at Tom's hand until the teen took the hint and began stroking his neck. "You are so spoiled," he said grinning at the phoenix.

"A few reasons." Dumbledore's eyes fell onto Harry. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Harry said looking up.

"Aderes, have you discovered the reason as to why Harry has been having these sudden rush of memories?"

"…I'm not sure, but…" He let out another sigh, his mental mood falling. "I believe the mental bond is growing stronger. What I know, along with the bond, is straining the spell you cast to block everyone's memories of our fourth year. Learning the water charm was just too much. It broke, at least for that time frame."

"I was afraid of that." The headmaster placed the quill in his hand on the papers and sat back in his chair. "So in other words, we will either have to lift the spell from Harry, reintroduce him to his fourth year bit by bit, or he will be having constant flashbacks until his mind pieces it all together, which may drive him mad and take months, perhaps years to accomplish."

Tom said nothing.

"I would rather not go mad or have the flashbacks," Harry said. "They're painful." And, traumatic and a lot of other things that Harry didn't feel like trying to deal with again, not like that. Not knowing what was now, what had been a memory, and the emotions had been so raw, like he'd never dealt with them before. It was too much. He couldn't do that on a daily basis let alone get hit with them every day for possibly months. The idea of having the memories reintroduced little by little seemed much better. Safer. Perhaps he could keep what little sanity he was clinging to.

"I agree," Dumbledore said.

Tom scowled and stood up.

"Show him what you want."

"Aderes-," Dumbledore started.

"He wants to know about his fourth year anyway, so you might as well show him," Tom growled.

Harry noted the fear buried beneath all of Tom's anger. His fiancé was trying to hide that fear by lashing out. While Tom was distracted fighting with Dumbledore, he decided to look further into the emotions. There was so much tangled up in that fear and anger, Harry wasn't quite sure where to start, or how to unravel the emotions. If he forced his way through, Tom would notice and it would just lead to them fighting and he really didn't want to fight with Tom again. They'd fought enough and would no doubt fight again, but the longer they could be happy, the better.

He glanced up at the two. They were both red in the face, their voices rising. Harry found it hard to believe that just a few days ago Tom had been sleeping in Dumbledore's room at number twelve and spending a great deal of his time with his adopted father. The headmaster probably knew what Tom was doing to given how often he resorted to this tactic. Tom had become a master of such diversion techniques the year before.

Probably already was, he thought with some amusement.

"What's this meeting supposed to be about," Harry asked. Dumbledore had summoned them for a reason and it would be best if they just got to the point and moved on with their lives. Besides, Tom was always a mess after any kind of fight with Dumbledore and he didn't want his fiancé going through that. Bad things happened when Tom was mad at people he cared for.

"…I wished to talk to you about what I firmly believe to be Voldemort's trick to remaining alive despite all previous attempts, some better than others, at eliminating him."

"Firmly believe," Tom demanded angrily. "I told you exactly what he's doing!" He turned towards them, his eyes dancing with anger.

"Aderes, we have little proof," the headmaster said tiredly. They'd obviously had this conversation quite a few times.

"It doesn't matter if we have Slughorn's memory," he scanned Harry's thoughts fast, "that walrus's memory! My memory should be just as good! It's not like he saw that thing do it! My memories go as far as showing you the items he was trying to collect to perform the spells!"

Dumbledore sighed.

"What does Professor Slughorn have to do with any of this," Harry asked.

"I helped you destroy one," Tom shouted as he moved towards them. "Who else would have been capable of getting that ring and casting such a complicated spell that it took both of us to destroy it!?"

Harry couldn't believe the amount of betrayal he felt coming from Tom. He was really hurt that the headmaster didn't think his memory and help were proof enough of what was going on.

"Slughorn had his memories altered! Mine aren't!" He slammed both of his hands down onto the desk, his face twisted in rage and inches from the headmaster's own.

'Calm down!' Harry grabbed Tom's nearest arm. "What memory?"

"I've had this conversation before," Tom growled. "Call me back when you actually trust me or you have something new to say." He jerked his arm out from Harry's grasp. "I'll see you in the tower," he muttered. His emotions relaxed somewhat as did his eyes as he took Harry in. He leaned down and gave Harry a quick kiss on the lips.

Before anyone else could utter a word, the Slytherin turned his back on the two and left the room.

It took Harry a moment to digest what had just happened. Tom had shut the bond almost completely when he'd left, leaving just enough open so he could tell if Harry was in danger. Part of him wanted to go after Tom. He didn't exactly want to be left alone with the headmaster, not after his speech at Tom's birthday. Finding out what was going on before chasing after Tom would probably be to just advantage though. He redirected his attention to the headmaster.

"He gets angered so easily," the headmaster said shaking his head.

Fawkes was staring at the door, his eyes wide. It looked to Harry like the phoenix was stunned and feeling betrayed himself. Harry felt the same way. If nothing else, abandoned. When it was clear that Tom wasn't returning, Fawkes flew back over to his perch refusing to look at either Harry or Dumbledore.

Why is he mad at me?

"What's going on," Harry finally asked. And, why haven't I been told about any of this?

"A great deal," Dumbledore admitted. "And If I'm going to be honest, I am not entirely sure where to start. My lesson for tonight, until you were ambushed with memories from your fourth year, had been about how Voldemort has managed to stay alive thus far. This was proven," he said and Harry noticed he was looking at one of the cabinets. He noticed Harry's gaze and stood up. He went over to the cabinet and retrieved a small box from inside. He walked back to the desk, set what Harry recognized now as a jewelry box down, and opened it. Inside sat a gold ring with a black stone. Engraved in the stone was a weird symbol that Harry had never seen before. A triangle with a circle set inside and a single line dividing the two shapes in half from top to bottom. "This Harry is a ring Voldemort used in a very dark ritual to create something called a Horcrux."

"Horcrux," Harry asked repeating the word.

"Yes. This is very dark magic, about as dark as one can get. By performing this spell one is able to leave a sliver of their soul inside an object of their choosing, so even if killed, they do not actually die."

Harry felt his mouth open. Closed it.

"H, how—"

"I have, with Aderes' help, destroyed the piece of soul within this ring." He picked the ring up and held it out to Harry. Harry took it and examined it. It seemed like a normal ring. When he was finished, he handed it back to Dumbledore.

"So we can kill him, for good now, right," Harry asked his hope rising. If this stupid ring was the reason Voldemort kept coming back, then with the spell destroyed, all they had to do was find Voldemort and kill him. With Voldemort, dead Harry and Tom could have the normal life they so desperately wanted.

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore said. He placed the ring back into the box.

"Why not," Harry demanded.

"Because there are more than one," Dumbledore said.

Harry deflated and felt the blood drain from his face. More? Voldemort was crazier than he'd thought. The Dark Lord had actually split his soul more than once and placed it into multiple items.

"How many times," Harry asked quietly.

"We aren't sure," Dumbledore admitted. He placed the ring back into the cabinet. "Aderes believes at least four and at most twenty-two." Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Dumbledore held his hand up. "I highly doubt anyone is capable of even thinking if their soul is split twenty-two times. I believe anything over eleven really, would cause deterioration to the mind."

"How do we even handle this," Harry asked. "Where do we even start?" He hated the desperation in his voice, but this was about his future. This was a way for Tom and him to defeat Voldemort and be able to get married. A chance for them to live a long and happy life together.

"Aderes suggested this ring because it is technically a family heirloom. When Voldemort returned to school wearing it, he told Aderes how he'd obtained it, which sadly, was when he'd killed his father and grandparents."

"And Aderes didn't bother to mention that at all?" Harry refused to believe that Tom wouldn't have told someone about the deaths. Tom was too smart; he'd have known Voldemort was telling the truth.

"He did not. By the time he did, Aderes' soul was sealed in the necklace and Voldemort was gone."

They sat in silence while Harry tried to piece everything together.

"For the time being, let us push this to the side. I believe your mental state is far more important than you worrying about these objects at the moment, not with so many unknowns. Aderes and I are both considering what items Voldemort may have used. From there we will put together a plan to destroy them."

Harry's mind was racing. Aderes and Dumbledore had been working together to destroy Voldemort little by little and neither one of them had even hinted that they were doing it. Hadn't the prophecy said he had to be the one to kill Voldemort? He deserved a chance to kill him just as much as the next person. To think that they'd planned to keep such a thing to themselves for so long…

And, Tom had gotten sealed into the necklace? Tom seemed too brilliant to get himself trapped. Had Voldemort realized his error in admitting the murders to Tom and ambushed him immediately after? While he didn't want to endure another flashback any time soon, he really felt like dealing with Voldemort's split souls was more important.

"Harry?"

The Gryffindor looked up. Dumbledore was staring at him questioningly. He was already behind his desk, a pensive laying on top of it, a small bottle of liquid in his hand.

"I feared something like this might happen given your bond with Aderes and created copies of your fourth year before your memory was altered," Dumbledore explained. "You have plenty else to think about tonight so I will show you something easy. We'll see what happens afterwards and proceed from there."

"Alright…" Harry wondered when this had all happened. Had they just figured out that Voldemort was slicing his soul into pieces or had Dumbledore and Tom been working at it for a while? Why didn't they trust him enough to help? When had Tom been sealed into the necklace? Why had his memories from his fourth year been altered?

He stood up and was falling seconds later into the memory.

The memory shimmered before it came into view. Harry felt a smile form, his thoughts about Voldemort disappearing as he took everything in. His younger self was sitting in his seat, his eyes glued to the Quidditch field. A younger Ron and Hermione were beside him, both looked just as excited as he did. When he took in the rest of the room, he was surprised to see a younger Tom looking at his younger self. Glaring really, if Harry looked close enough. The younger Dumbledore was beside the younger Tom, clearly enjoying himself as he teased the boy.

"Tom was here," Harry questioned moving towards the younger Slytherin. Draco was sitting on Tom's other side as far away as he possibly could while remaining in his seat, which wasn't much. The seats were only so big. "I don't remember him being here…." It was unsettling. He could recall being at the World Cup, in this very box, but Tom was nowhere in his memories. "Why can't I remember him?" He turned to look at the present-day Dumbledore.

"That is a rather long story, one I'm sure you'll understand once you've seen everything."

Harry glared slightly at the headmaster and turned back to the younger Tom. Even at fourteen, he thought Tom was quite handsome. His high cheekbones were just beginning to stand out, his eyes had gone from large to slightly slanted. Harry felt his cheeks begin to burn.

"He's always been quite good looking," Dumbledore said.

"Yes," Harry agreed, embarrassed. It was awkward to look at his fiancé's younger form and still want to drag him off to somewhere private.

"AND THAT'S TWO PLAYERS DOWN!" A loud groan from the stadium erupted. "WE'RE GOING TO NEED TO TAKE A QUICK BREAK WHILE THESE PLAYERS GET MEDICAL ATTENTION! DON'T GO ANYWHERE FOLKS!"

"A break…?" Harry frowned. There had never been a break.

"We altered your memory differently than most. Your memories needed to add up without being suspicious. If you suspected something was wrong, yours could come back, so we removed the break entirely," Dumbledore explained.

Harry suddenly felt somewhat annoyed. It took him a moment before he realized that the emotions were coming from his younger self.

"I can feel my younger self's emotions."

"This is your memory," Dumbledore said. "All of your emotions, everything, will be returned to you as it is shown."

"You guys want anything?" Harry asked. When his two friends said no he darted out of the spectator's box. He made it halfway down, jumping over a few steps as he went and turned right. The small walkway curved with the stadium. A few minutes of trotting brought him to the concession stand. He was lucky enough that only two people were in front of him. He looked up at the clock hanging next to the concession stand. He'd only been gone three minutes, but even that seemed too long. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, looked over the shoulder of the person in front of him. The witch standing at the front of the line was staring at the menu posted above the opening.

He couldn't stand the silence and started looking around. He wouldn't forgive the witch if the match started again while he was in line.

"What are you doing here?" Aderes asked.

Harry jumped at the voice and turned, a frown forming. Aderes had followed him to the concession stand.

At least Draco isn't with him.

"I thought I was the only one foolish enough to run off and risk missing the show." He rolled his eyes like the very idea of Quidditch being entertaining was some sort of joke.

"There's no way you didn't see me run off," Harry said evenly. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he was kind of annoyed with the boy. It wasn't just his clear distaste for Quidditch either. There was just something about him. "Malfoy's house-elf refusing to listen to you?"

Aderes' eyes darkened at that and Harry swore he felt a sudden rush of cold air. It was gone so fast he wasn't sure if he'd really felt it.

"I don't use house-elves," Aderes said his voice almost a growl. "What point is there in using an elf to do what you can do yourself?"

I can't tell if he's considerable of house-elves or…? He couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. Whatever the cause, it seemed like Aderes didn't use house-elves. It didn't sound to Harry like it was out of consideration though; more like the teen thought people were lazy if they used them? Whatever his mindset, Harry felt his distaste fade a tiny bit.

"Sorry, I just figured..." Harry said awkwardly. He knew how wrong prejudging someone could be. People did it to him all the time, it frustrated him to no end, and yet he'd done it to Aderes and for what? Because he'd seen him with Draco? Because the teen had played him for a fool? Even with those two things in mind, Harry didn't actually know Aderes at all.

"Guess you aren't so smart are you Harry Potter? Did you miss the fact I'm here with Dumbledore?" Aderes asked. "Do you think he would have brought someone he didn't get along with to this game?"

"I thought you came with Malfoy," Harry answered honestly looking down. "And wait." He looked up glaring at the teen. "You were fighting with Dumbledore before the game started!"

Aderes walked around him, his words ignored.

"I'd like one chocolate mint ice cream."

"Hey!" Harry turned, shock and anger registering with him as he did.

"Pay attention next time, I like my sweets." That said Aderes took his ice cream from the concession worker and began licking it.

"I was right, you are a git," Harry said shoving pass Aderes. "One chocolate ice cream please."

"Don't take it the wrong way," Aderes said. He dropped a few galleons on the counter, enough to pay for both the ice cream cones. "I was raised by a sweet fanatic." Harry was about to say something, but he was more shocked than curious as to what was going on. "And I didn't come here to watch the game with Malfoy; it was my stupid father's idea."

"And since you came with Dumbledore because of Fudge," Harry said putting two and two together. "You got stuck entertaining Malfoy."

"Basically," Aderes sighed. Then without saying another word, he grabbed Harry by the wrist and jerked his ice cream towards his mouth. He took a quick bite of it and then let Harry's wrist go.

"HEY!"

"Alright, the chocolate isn't too bad," Aderes said swallowing the ice cream. "I think mine is better though."

"I can't believe you just did that!" Harry couldn't help just staring at the spot where Aderes had taken a bite out of it.

"You want some of mine?" Aderes asked. He held his ice cream out to Harry looking completely innocent. "It's good."

"You've already licked half of it," Harry said glaring.

"It's not like I'm sick. Come on. Chocolate mint is better." He waved the cone around in front of Harry's eyes as if he was trying to hypnotize him. "Just a small taste..."

"What is it poisoned?"

"I just ate some. If it was poisoned, I'd already be dead! Just try it."

"No!" Harry tried to pull away, but the teen was much stronger than he looked. Despite Harry's effort, Aderes held him in place with ease with one hand. This alone had Harry glaring at Aderes. This guy was out of his mind. His actions didn't add up in any way! Plus, he was wasting valuable time stuck in front of a concession stand instead of getting back to the spectator's box immediately.

"AND OUR PLAYERS ARE BACK!" The crowd began screaming wildly. Aderes' looked up, his grip on Harry's wrist weakening.

Harry managed to free his wrist and maneuver around the teen. If he ran fast enough he could make it back before anything good happened.

"Don't you dare!" Harry froze, fingers digging into the back of his neck. In one swift moment, he was being jerked around to face Aderes his ice cream held up to his face.

"Let go," Harry said dangerously. Why do I always attract the freaks!?

"After you try this," Aderes said simply. He shoved the ice cream into Harry's mouth until he was sure the Gryffindor had a taste of it. He waited for Harry to swallow before he moved the cone away. "Good?"

"You're mad!" Harry jerked and pulled, Aderes' hand falling away. He seemed content now that Harry had tried the ice cream, most of his interest in Harry gone.

"I asked if it tasted good."

"Yeah...it was kind of good," Harry admitted. He hoped if he agreed with this crazy boy, he could get back to his friends and Dumbledore. Surely, he'd be safe with Dumbledore. Not even Aderes would try something with Dumbledore watching him, right?

"Good," Aderes said his interest completely gone now. He walked around Harry, licking his cone absently, as if everything that had just happened between the two of them hadn't.

Harry could only stare as Aderes started up the stairs. He was sure he didn't want to deal with this boy anymore and hoped beyond anything that Aderes wouldn't be sorted into Gryffindor. He let out a small breath. The tension in the air seemed to fade, as Aderes got further away. At least he was sure of one thing. Aderes would not be getting sorted into Gryffindor. No. The insane ones usually ended up in Ravenclaw.

"AND THAT'S A GOAL!"

Harry's eyes widened. Aderes' sudden attack had made him forget all about the game. Panicked, he started up the stairs making sure to stay ten steps or so behind Aderes.

He was going to have a lot to tell Ron and Hermione when the game was over.

"I believe now is a good place to stop." The memory paused. Harry had been so entranced in the memory he'd completely forgotten that Dumbledore was with him. Without waiting for an answer, the memory dissolved and they were back in Dumbledore's office.

The warm happy emotion he'd been feeling disappeared. He made a face.

"Any bad side effects," Dumbledore asked.

Harry considered that. He ran through everything he'd just seen and experienced. He looked at the headmaster with slight awe. The memory fragment seamlessly fit in his mind. The old one was somewhat hazy, like if it'd been a dream. The new one just felt right. Like the correct puzzle piece had finally been placed in the proper spot replacing one that had almost fit, but not quite.

"No," he said. "None."

"Splendid." The headmaster beamed at him. "What do you think of your fiancé now?"

"I…." He tried to think of the right way to say it. "I feel like I should be angry or annoyed, but I'm not entirely surprised...what does surprise me is that he actually wanted to share his ice cream."

"You're right, that is surprising," the headmaster said. "Anything else?"

Harry shook his head. Everything felt fine, better even. Despite Tom's off the wall behavior, a part of him was happy to have access to it. Maybe since this was considerably mild compared to other behaviors Harry had experienced.

"Does it get worse?" Harry asked.

"We are talking about Aderes," Dumbledore said.

"Right."

"If you're not having any adverse reactions, then we can end this for tonight. If anything should happen at all, let me know immediately."

"Okay. Goodnight Professor."

"Good night Harry."

Harry moved towards the door, and hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. A part of him wanted to ask Dumbledore about the speech at Tom's birthday and if the headmaster still felt like Harry didn't deserve to be with Tom. He'd really thought this had been dealt with before they'd started the school year, but perhaps at that time, Dumbledore had thought they wouldn't get together. Maybe he'd thought with Asclepius' counseling, Tom would move on and forget about Harry.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I was just thinking about something." He stepped into the hall and closed the door. He took the stairs down fast hoping Dumbledore wouldn't question him about it next time. He didn't want to know if the headmaster approved, because, despite everything, a small part of him didn't approve. He knew he was being selfish and that Tom deserved better.

He stopped when he was almost at the bottom. Tom was sitting on the last step, a book in hand.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be down here alone?"

Tom snorted at that. The book shrunk in his hands and he dropped it into his pocket.

"Those who target me are the ones in danger." He smiled at Harry and took his hand into his own. "And that old man right now." He looked Harry up and down. "What did he show you?" His unease was evident.

"Your attempt at choking me with ice cream," Harry said. "It didn't work."

Tom's face flushed and he looked away.

"I had not been trying to choke you."

"So what were you trying to do?"

"…I wanted to know if we enjoyed the same things."

"You were quite the awkward child, weren't you?"

Tom growled, but Harry could tell it was from embarrassment, not anger.

I'm so lucky… Grinning he followed his fiancé back to the tower.

(TBC)

I really do apologize (don't I always?) I've been sick for months. Just sort of getting better? And yet it feels like I'm relapsing anyway? My doctor is running a ton of tests to see what's going on. She's as fed up as I am at this point. So sorry everyone. Especially if this chapter isn't quite up to par with the others (which makes it REALLY bad).