A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

21: Mapped Out

Reposted: July 15, 2021

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Last edited: March 24, 2021

On Saturday, Harry snuck back down to the Chamber with his Invisibility Cloak on. "I'm here," he said.

Tom materialized out from the diary. "I do so hate being cooped up in that damn book."

"You've been in it for fifty years, Tom. You can wait a little longer."

Tom rolled his eyes as Harry stepped up and hissed, 'Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four!'

He turned back to Tom as the mouth opened. "Egotistical much?"

Athanasia greeted Harry warmly by licking him with her tongue. 'You have come back, little one.'

'Yes, I have,' Harry replied as he staggered backwards. 'I am here to look at Slytherin's library.'

'Oh, yes. Tomling spent much of his time in there.'

Harry snickered, still not over that nickname.

Tom shoved him forward. 'Get moving.'

'I'm going, I'm going. Tommy.' He laughed as Tom groaned loudly behind him.

His jaw dropped in awe as he took in the massive space. "Merlin's pants, this is amazing!" he exclaimed.

Along the walls were bookshelves, many, many bookshelves. It was clear that the room was one of those that were bigger on the inside, for Harry doubted that all this would have fit without magic. The furniture was dark green and brown and looked as if they were brand-new. On the far side was a dark gray door.

"That's the potion's lab," Tom said, following his gaze.

Harry whipped his head around, eyes gleaming. "There's a potion's lab?"

"There is."

Tom had a smug smirk on his face that softened slightly to a half-smile as he watched Harry walk alongside the shelves. It was times like this that he forgot Harry was still fairly new to the magical world.

'What do you think, Azure?' Harry asked the snake that was slithering past the bookshelves.

'It's lovely, hatchling. I could live down here.'

Harry, still looking around the massive space, couldn't disagree.

He browsed the books eagerly for a while before picking out one written in Parseltongue.

"That's the first one I read," Tom recalled. "You'll find a lot of good information in there."

"Well, no time like the present!" Harry said, sitting down on one of the couches and opening the book. He took a seat next to Tom on the couch, unconsciously leaning over while Tom's long fingers ran through his hair.

Harry spent a good couple hours reading before Azure hissed he should eat. With great reluctance, Harry closed the book and raised his head. He started as his eyes met Tom's. He hadn't realized that he had relaxed completely into the taller boy's side. "Um..."

Tom just smirked as he returned Harry's gaze boldly. "Something wrong?"

Harry stood up quickly, but he could not hide his reddening face. "You're a creep, Riddle."

"Am I not allowed to admire my soulmate?" Tom asked rhetorically.

Harry put the book back up. "The first thing I'm doing when I get back to the dorm is put a Parselward on my things."