A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

71: The Aftermath of the Bonding Ceremony

Reposted: February 4, 2022

Sorry for keeping y'all waiting. College, you know?

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Not even a week and I'm updating again? That hadn't happened in... I don't know, I don't keep track of the times I update.

Summary: Harry Riddle spends the rest of the summer getting used to his new name. Then it's time for Harry Riddle to go back to Hogwarts. And have I mentioned his name is now Harry Riddle?

Also, you might want to pay attention to the author's note at the bottom.

The hot summer sun beat down on Harry's back as he sat back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had been working on the garden all morning after breakfast with Sirius, who had been curious about the Muggle gardening process and wanted Harry to show him how it was done.

So far, it was going very well.

"So how are you enjoying your new life, Harry Riddle?" Sirius asked.

Harry sighed. "It's hardly new, Padfoot. And must you call me that every time you address me?"

It had been two weeks since the bonding. Unsurprisingly, Sirius joined Bella in never letting them forget.

"Good morning, Tom and Harry Riddle," he would say when they came down for breakfast.

"Did you sleep well, Harry Riddle?"

"Look, Moony, it's the Riddles!"

Even Severus joined in once, which Harry thought was revenge for all the crap he had put the potions master through.

"Can you pass me the salt, Riddle?" he had asked, looking directly at Harry.

Harry had narrowed his eyes. "Can't you summon it yourself?"

"I can. But I'd rather you pass it over." A pause. "Riddle."

"Fine. Snape," Harry retorted, very aware of Sirius' grinning face beside him.

It was the same look Sirius had now. "Must I? No. But it's fun. And I know James would have joined in."

Harry groaned at the thought of his birth father calling him Riddle at least twenty times a day. Although maybe Lily would have reined them in. Or she'd join in. Yes, she'd definitely join in.

"How long did it take for him to get over the fact I was apparently destined to be with Voldemort?" Harry asked. He remembered his own shock, which had numbed him until later when he was back in his room. Then he had demanded to Azure how in the world he was supposed to get together with someone who tried to kill him. If only he knew what would transpire in the years following...

Sirius was silent for a moment as he patted down the soil around the sapling like Harry had directed. "Not that long, actually. Then again, with the circumstances, he didn't have much time to process it."

His expression had gone solemn.

"But he had been born in the wizarding world. He grew up hearing about soul bonds. Not in great detail, of course — they're not common enough to warrant much discussion — but he was aware of their status. It was Lily that took a while to process it."

"Did she react badly at first?"

"Mm, I wouldn't say badly per se," Sirius said, "just... not positively. I don't know, I wasn't there when they went to Gringotts. But she seemed to have gotten over it when she and James told me and Moony."