Harry Potter and the Sympathy of Souls

XI) "The Sympathy of Souls"

PART THREE: SOULCRUX

"Harry," Tom announced one day, a few weeks after the death of Nagini, "I'm ready."

They had been in the midst of a chess match, and Harry had been staring at the board, a look of deep concentration on his face. Tom had been staring at Harry.

"Ready for what?" Harry asked absently, not taking his eyes off the chess set. Tom was extremely sharp, and Harry knew that one poorly thought out move would spell his doom.

"I'm ready for my soul to be whole again. I want to feel complete, to experience emotions to their fullest extent. I'm ready to take back the piece of my soul that was placed in you."

Harry looked up, startled. It was silly, but he had almost forgotten about the last piece of soul still needing to be absorbed. In the past few weeks, as Harry had spent more and more time with Tom, he had begun to know him better. The better Harry had gotten to know Tom, the more he had fallen in love with him. He had begun to feel as if things were perfect and need never change.

True, Tom would still fall silent and contemplative on occasion, and sometimes there would be a look of unbearable sadness in his eyes, but Harry was very good at bringing a smile to his face even in his worst moods.

Still, the thought of Tom finally being complete and happy was wonderful, even if Harry did have to squash the fear that lingered in the back of his mind, worrying if Tom would still want to spend time with him once he no longer needed help from Harry in getting his soul back.

"I'm so happy for you!" He said with genuine pleasure, "What made you finally decide you were ready?"

Tom shook his head slowly. "I just realized that my desire to heal overrides all of my fears by far. As much as death scares me, I want to experience the things that make life worth living so much more."

"That's wonderful." Harry smiled, then he faltered as he remembered what Tom still had to go through. "Though I wish it were already over with. It won't be pleasant. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes, I think you can. Could you..." Tom swallowed, "could you tell me about what it was like for you? Growing up without parents, not having anyone who cared about you?"

Harry paled. He did not like thinking about his childhood with the Dursleys, and the thought of causing Tom pain and guilt was repugnant to him. "I think it was pretty similar to your own experience." He said evasively.

"Please, Harry. You promised to help."

Tom was right, he had. But all Harry could think of was the pain in Tom's eyes when he tried to absorb the Horcrux in Nagini. The unbearable anguish that had prompted Harry to kill Nagini in order to spare Tom.

"I know I promised I would help, Tom, but I just don't know if I have the strength to talk about it." He said helplessly.

Tom deflated. "Yes, I'm sure it's painful to remember. I understand, Harry, I do."

"It's not that!" Harry protested, "I just- I can't stand the thought of purposely causing you pain and making you hurt." He gazed at Tom beseechingly, willing him to understand. "I don't hate you for what happened, I forgive you wholeheartedly. I've already suffered the pain once, why should you have to suffer it too? I don't want you to."

"You- you don't want to talk about it, just for my sake?" There was awe in Tom's gaze as he stared at Harry. "You're not bothered by reliving the trauma and dredging up your own pain, all you care about is preventing my own. Oh Harry," There was moisture in Tom's eyes. "as much as I appreciate your desire to spare me, and I really truly do, you can't protect me, not from this.