Surprise

Opening his eyes, Harry wondered which paramour had he brought home for the night.

He wasn't promiscuous, per se but sometimes he yearned for companionship and in the intervening years since the war, he had found it easy to have physical companionship over an emotional one because most people only wanted to have The Man Who Conquered as a notch on their belt rather than listen to him reminiscence about his friends or listen to his burdens.

Bringing someone to one of his Fidelius Charmed House's was a thing he did a few times a year.

Therefore, when he woke up and found his arms and legs entangled with another person, the first thought Harry had was that he would have to politely but firmly throw his latest companion out.

However, when he raised his eyes to look at the aforementioned person, imagine his shock when his eyes feasted upon the face of an eleven-year-old child who resembled a younger version of Voldemort.

Merlin willing, before Harry could jump out of the bed and hex his partner, his fuzzy mind cleared and he recalled everything that had happened last night.

As his no so distant past came back to him, Harry realised with horror that he wasn't playing some sick fantasy but was actually in bed with a pre-teen Tom Riddle.

He also had an errant thought if he should cry about the present situation or rejoice.

Anyways, it was fortunate that the other person was sleeping.

Exclaiming happily at having dodged a bullet, just as Harry was about to shift his body away from Tom Riddle, he saw that the other boy's ears had turned red.

Red?

Damn!

That meant Riddle was awake.

But was he trying to act asleep so as to spare them both the awkwardness of being in bed with each other or was the other boy so shy that he couldn't face the person he had obviously nursed through the night?

Giving it some thought, Harry realised it that it might be a mixture of both, so he decided not to mention anything about last night or his subsequent actions to Riddle and simply got off the bed and into the washroom.

--------Line Break--------

Harry had thought that Riddle would avoid him after what had happened because the other boy was shy to a fault sometimes and being caught helping someone wasn't his forte.

However, Riddle surprised him.

Instead of avoiding him like the plague or making excuses about his behaviour that night, the other boy had taken to spending time with him.

He was with him almost as much as Abraxas used to be and even though Harry liked spending time in solitude, he let Riddle accompany him.

It was better than neglecting someone who had helped him and moreover, if he rejected his help, the perfects would saddle him with someone even whinier or obnoxious.

After all, Hogwarts Halls had become dangerous to wander around in all alone.

Most of the time they spent together was in the library - working on their homework or doing some extra reading.

Occasionally Harry would ask Minerva to join them during the study sessions and Riddle's lips would pucker up - as if he had bitten into a sour lemon.

That look prompted Harry to call Minnie even more often.

Still, Harry wondered when the favour he owed Riddle would come to bite him back in the behind.

Slytherins were politically guarded and to owe an open-ended favour to someone who had enough power and brains to rival even himself wasn't easy.

Harry would subconsciously wince whenever he thought about repaying the favour.

However, it had been a few weeks since then but Riddle hadn't talked about it of his own initiative.

All he did was accompany him to and fro from classes and spend time in the library.

Most of that time was even spent in silence. However, sometimes they would discuss their classes and subjects and Harry could admit that the talks were always fascinating.

The unadulterated passion Riddle showed for magic was only surpassed by his determination to do better than others and carve a space for himself in a world he had known nothing about in the first decade of his life.

Slowly, without either of them noticing, their relationship had once again taken a turn for the better.

--------Line Break--------

When Abraxas returned from The Malfoy Manor, he told Harry is private that Grindewald was somehow pressuring his grandfather into joining The Dark Camp but the elder Malfoy had decisively refused.

In retaliation, Grindewald had somehow sent his men after Dupont's father and the debacle that had followed had been plastered across the front pages of The Daily Prophet.

However, none of them could decide if the spell Caster had been given a dose of Polyjuice Potion and act as Lord Malfoy or if the whole farce had been decided by Grindewald and then had been acted upon by his Acolytes and if House Dupont had a hand in it.

Anyway, no matter the clamouring outside, Minor House Dupont hadn't sent any notices against House Malfoy in The Wizengamot and that was what mattered to the various Lords and Ladies in power.

Hence, the whole thing had been somewhat swept under the rug and no waves had been made.

Though Harry agreed that it was better to not rock the boat in these troubles times, he was somewhat disappointed that The Heads of Houses in Magical Britannica weren't taking the steps to push Grindelwald's Acolytes away from their borders.

As time passed many pairs of eyes in Hogwarts were turning haunted because the said person had personally felt the effects of the ongoing wars - magical or muggle and house rivalries and dissent in opinions was high.