His Guardian Angel

Chapter 16

"Tom?" A ridiculously good smell was emanating from the kitchen. Harry's feet led him from the doorway to find out exactly what smelled so good.

Harry was used to cooking once he walked through the door, giving Tom enough time to stop brewing for dinner. He'd most certainly never seen Tom at the cooker stirring a pot of what smelled suspiciously like french onion soup and had never imagined that Tom would ever even touch his apron let alone wear it.

"Harry-I wasn't expecting you to be home for another hour." Tom looked quite taken-aback at being caught cooking and the only word Harry could come up with to describe it was 'adorable'.

"Are you making french onion soup?" Tom nodded, still stirring the pot with the ladle he'd yet to put down. "Why is it that you're making my favourite meal when it takes well over a full work-day to make? You've been engrossed with your research, I thought you were following a new lead."

"I was. And I followed it and came to a reasonable conclusion and I think this one might work." Tom started ladling soup into bowls and set about topping them before sticking them in the oven.

"Do you have proof that it'll work?" Tom shrugged and closed the oven before setting a timer.

"Not hard evidence but all the theories line up."

"And who, exactly, did you have in mind to test this potion? The last four testers all backed out whenever you tried to give it to them." Tom had already taken off the apron and hung it back up before making his way over to Harry and wrapping his arms around Harry's waist.

"Why don't you test it?" Shock flooded Harry's system followed very closely by an incredibly strong wave of hope.

"Why me?" Tom drew back with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I thought you wanted to have children."

"I do, Merlin I do but I don't know that I'd be okay if this one works and halfway through it suddenly stops working."

"Oh Harry, do you really think I would suggest giving it to you, the only person I've ever loved, to take it if I wasn't one hundred percent sure it'll work?" Harry's heart skipped a beat. Sure they'd insinuated love for each other over the years and yes, they'd been sharing a bed for the better part of two years, but they'd yet to throw around the word 'love' like that before. He couldn't stop his face from smiling so much and he definitely couldn't contain his knee-jerk reaction of returning the sentiment.

"I love you too Tom." He moved his hands from Tom's chest and pulled him down for a kiss. He briefly wondered-yet again-when Tom had grown taller than him and just like every other time, promptly ignored the question in lieu of much better pursuits.

By the time they broke apart they were both breathless and smiling like lunatics. Tom pulled a crystal phial filled with a lilac coloured potion from his back pocket and held it up between them.

"It won't taste good, the changes are permanent and it'll take you at least a week to fully recover. I won't be able to use healing potions, spells, creams etc on you until the changes are done. And it'll be painful, I'm sure." Harry snatched the phial and playfully glared at Tom.

"If you're trying to talk me out of it, you'll have to work harder than that." He uncorked it and a pleasant smell of blueberry permeated the air between them.

"Harry, you don't have to. I just want you to know that before you take it. I plan on being here with you, by your side no matter what may happen. When I say I love you, I mean it with every fiber of my being. I know you still have secrets and that I likely won't ever find out all of them, but I don't care because I trust you to tell me if and when you are ready to. We have plenty of time." Harry just smiled up at him.