I am not very happy with the chapter, but I forced myself to finish it. I'm not quite sure if I'm going to leave it here or continue it. There's a lot left unfinished, but I don't quite have the motivation for this one anymore...

Who knows. I do apologize that it's so weird and out of character. It's pretty much a crack fic, but I tried hard to make it to crackish.

Enjoy!

Kill Me With Your Touch

"I hear the words you say… to never walk away…" Promise of Lifetime – Kutless

Harry silently made his way through the corridors of Hogwarts, keeping an eye out for any teachers that may be prowling around. In one hand was his wand and in the other the marauder's map. It was open and tracking his movement as well as everyone around him. He could see several little dots clustered in a group on the third floor, his destination. Some of the dots surprised him, while some would never come across as surprising. While he was under the invisibility cloak, Ron and Hermione were walking beside him heavily cloaked by disillusionment charms. It was an advanced spell that Tom had apparently told Hermione, whom dissected it until she could understand it, of course.

Harry was trying to sneak out and go to the Room of Requirement to meet Tom and the others who supported his cause when Hermione caught him. She and Ron insisted in coming along. He wasn't so sure it was a good idea… but Hermione refused to take her eyes off of him otherwise. He sighed heavily under the cloak and padded up the last few steps to the 3rd floor. They stopped in front of the wall leading to the Room of Requirement and Harry put the map away before pacing 3 times as he focused. As the door began to materialize, Harry turned to his friends and murmured, "I hope you're ready for this…"

He didn't wait for their responses as he turned and opened the door. A myriad of voices reached his ears and he was surprised when he looked in the room and saw it practically filled with people of all different kinds. Not to mention the aroma of food magically procured thanks to Hogwarts. He paused in the entry way as Hermione and Ron canceled the charm on themselves and stepped up beside him. The three looked around and he sensed more than saw their confusion as Tom strode forward, looking just a tad bit different than he did earlier in the day.

To make it seem believable, Tom told him that he created a charm that let him appear to be younger than he really was. The original potion that gave him back his 20 year old body did make him look younger, but not young enough to attend Hogwarts as a student. So he made a charm to make himself look even younger. It was this version that Hermione and Ron were familiar with. But it was the 20 year old version, the one standing in front of them at that moment, that Harry was familiar with. He grinned up at Tom, strangely glad to see him as he was dragged into the group of chattering people.

"Why are Weasel and Granger here?" a voice called out. Harry turned his head to see Draco Malfoy standing next to Professor McGonagall, which was probably the reason why he said Granger instead of mudblood. He had a small sneer on his face, but nowhere near the extent he usually did as he continued, "I thought it was only going to be Potter showing up?"

"Yes, why are they here, Harry?" Tom's cultured voice made Draco's seem quite like a child's and Harry swallowed as Tom's sent shivers down his spine. How was it that the man he was supposed to hate could do this to him, he wondered.

"Ahh… well, you see…" he stammered out, unsure of how to explain. It felt a little foolish trying to explain that Hermione all but bullied him into letting them tag along. Sure, he could've ditched them at any point, but… they were his friends. He couldn't do that to them.

"We forced him to let us come along," Hermione said as she took a step further into the room. There was clear confusion in her eyes as she spoke, "We didn't quite trust Harry to go out on his own after everything's happened. Just what is going on here, Harry?"

"I think I know," Ron said as he walked forward, bypassing Hermione and padding over to the twins who stood there grinning at him. He looked around the room studying each person before his eyes landed on Tom and Harry. He nodded his head at them as he asked, "Is this who I think it is, Harry?"

"Ummm… depends on who you think it is?" Harry asked cautiously. He was kind of surprised that Ron was figuring this out quicker than Hermione. He thought for sure it would be Ron that was going to need an explanation of everything, but it seemed like the red head already deduced what was going on.

"Rittell? Really Harry?" Ron simply gave Harry a look as if he couldn't believe Harry was trying to simply pass this off as if it were nothing important. He shook his head as he placed his hands on his hips and said, "If it weren't for that and the fact that Malfoy is willingly standing in the same room as a bunch of Gryffindors, I would've never put two and two together. Are you sure this is what you want, Harry?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out, Ron. I really am," Harry said as he gave his best friend a smile. Many people thought Ron was stupid, and it seemed like it when compared to Hermione, but Harry knew that the red head wasn't quite as dumb as he let people believe.

"If he hurts you…" Ron began to say. Just because Tom happened to be who he thought he was, that didn't mean he wasn't going to get away without being told that at least once. He was Harry's best friend. He wasn't going to let anyone stop him from trying his hardest to protect him.

"Don't worry, little bro," Fred said as he threw his arm around Ron's shoulders with a grin.

"We already threatened,"

"To do the same thing,"

"Should he try and hurt Harry," George finished for his twin. The two had evil grins on their faces as they turned in unison and looked at Tom and Harry. It was distinctly unnerving for Harry to see all three of the red heads grinning in the exact same way.

"Wait. A. Minute," Hermione's voice broke through their moment of understanding and both boys turned to look at her at the same time. It threw her off for the briefest moment before she shook her head and said, "Just what is going on here? Ron? What do you know about this?"

"I'm impressed, Weasel," Draco spoke up before anyone could answer. He turned his head just a little and shot a look at Ron as he spoke, "You figured something out before the mudblood did. You surprise me."

"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said warningly. She shot him a glare that had him apologizing quickly and scooting away from her. Nodding her head firmly, she walked over to Hermione and took her by the arm as she led her to a bathroom that appeared within the Room of Requirement just off the main room as she said, "Come with me, Miss Granger. I believe I can explain just what is going on…"

Harry and Ron shot each other a look of confusion at McGonagall's actions, but shrugged silently. If McG could get through to Hermione while keeping her from exploding on the two of them, then why were they going to argue? Harry turned to Tom and said, "I thought you were going to tell me who all was on your side here at the school?"

"I did say I would do that, didn't I?" he replied as he looked around the room. Motioning with his hand, he pointed out various people. Some included people Harry already knew, like the Twins and Hagrid. Others were a bit of a surprise.

"He managed to get to you too, Luna?" Harry asked when Tom pointed her out. He never expected Luna to be on Tom's side. The young blonde was always a little bit weird like that, though… A good person… just weird.

"The Horklesnumpacks are floating around him, Harry," she said matter-of-factly. She gazed up at the ceiling as if she saw something the rest of the world didn't see. The small smile on her lips grew just a tiny bit as she said, "They always float around people that are good and right. Dumbledore has none."

"I see…" Harry said very slowly as he stared at her, trying hard to figure out what she was talking about. Horklesnumpacks? He really wasn't going to go there. Luna and her father both came up with some really weird things to explain life…

The door to the bathroom opened up and Hermione staggered out looking dazed and flushed. Her hair was a tangled mess and she had that "I just got snogged" look on her face as she stumbled over to a couch and flopped rather ungracefully into it. McGonagall followed out of the bathroom at a much more sedate pace looking for all the world like a cat just ate a canary. The canary in this case being Hermione. She sank down onto the couch next to her and simply leaned back with a satisfied look as Hermione said, "Uh, Min… Professor McGonagall explained everything to me. I can't quite say I understand, Harry… or accept everything yet. This is all… just so confusing."

Harry slid off of Tom's lap and walked over to Hermione. Kneeling down, he smiled patiently as he took her hands in his and said softly, "I know, Mione. It's still confusing for me. I mean, after finding everything out and discovering who he is… but things just kind of seem right, you know? Doesn't make it any less confusing, I know. He's been telling me of some of the stuff he wants to do. Did you know half of muggleborns go back to the muggle world after graduating school? That's a lot of people, Mione. Tom doesn't want to kill them. Well… not anymore. He just wants to stop the Wizarding world from being revealed to the muggle world. You know what kind of impact magic has on them…"

She sat there looking into his eyes, listening to his words and finding a cord ringing within her. She remembered very clearly the effect her magic had on her parents. While they accepted her and encouraged her, the magic she performed made them leery. They shied away from her more and more as she got older. It was frightening for them to see her perform magic more each year that she came back from school. And that troubled her. She nodded her head softly she said, "I understand what you mean… Can it really be this easy?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders with a goofy smile that told her all she needed to know as he answered, "Who knows? When has anything in my life ever been easy? But I think we should give it a try. It makes more sense than what we've been told up until now."

"I trust you Harry," was all she said in reply as she leaned forward to give him a hug. She laughed when Harry let go and padded back over to Tom almost obediently. She blushed darkly when McGonagall wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tried her best to melt into the couch so she wouldn't be seen, much to everyone's amusement.

Tom wrapped his own arm around Harry's shoulders as the younger one sat down next to him. He was vaguely surprised when Harry all but cuddled into him. Shaking his head softly, he turned to the group as he said, "I take it everyone in the room wants to be a part of the group then?

"Do we have to get marks and call you "my lord" all the time?" Fred said brazenly, not bothering to hide the grin on his face as he rocked back and forth on his heels. George next to him grinned just as wide as he finished the thought on his brother's mind, "Cause that would just suck."

"You're not really going to force us to get the mark, are you?" Harry turned his head and asked. He scrunched up his nose in disgust at the thought of being branded like that. It wasn't that he particularly disliked the dark mark, it was a bit creative if not sadistic in some ways, but he wanted nothing to do with having that on him. Especially with Dumbledore keeping such a close eye on him.

As if sensing his thoughts, Tom tightened his arm around Harry's shoulders as he said, "No, I'm not going to make you get the mark. Not with Dumbledore keeping an eye on you all. It would be much too risky and after getting everything that I have now, I'm not going to lose that. It would be better if we come up with some other way to communicate."

"What about the DA coins?" Hermione suggested. She pulled away from McGonagall and reached into her bag, digging around for the coins, her tongue pinched between her teeth as she searched. She gave a small cry of triumph as she fished them out and held them out in her hand, "We charmed these to respond to us whenever we needed. Would these work?"

Tom got up and walked over to her. He plucked one of the coins from her hand and started to study them. The two quietly began to talk about the coins and how they could be fixed to show their new purpose and if they could possibly make more. Harry simply smiled, glad to see the man who was slowly but surely capturing his heart talking with one of his greatest friends. It was definitely something he never thought he would see in his life.

As he sat there, Trelawney slowly made her way over to him, sinking down onto the couch next to him. He glanced at her and noticed that she seemed a little nervous to be there. While he didn't quite like her class, he never really disliked her. Sure, he found her strange, but he also found her a little sad. She tried so hard to use a gift that wasn't really showing itself. He paused for a few moments before turning slightly toward her and asking, "Professor, I have a question."

She jumped at the sound of his voice, not expecting anyone to be talking to her. Straightening her glasses, she fiddled with her clothes for a moment before she said, "What can I help you with, Mr. Potter?"

"I heard mention of a prophecy regarding Tom and myself… with everything changing the way it is, what does that mean in regards to the prophecy?" he hesitantly asked. He didn't really want to mention specifics, just in case she didn't remember what he was talking about.

"Oh, um, yes, that," she murmured nervously, looking around at everything but him. She fiddled with the gold bangles around her wrist as she talked, "Well, you see, normally prophecies are unbreakable, but sometimes fate changes things. Originally you two hated each other so much that the prophecy would come true no matter what. Now your hearts are changing and so is fate. The old prophecy will be rewritten by a new one."

"A new one? What will that be?" Harry said worriedly. What kind of new prophecy would be created because he and Tom changed feelings about each other? He didn't want something bad to happen now that things were finally seeming to go good…

"I do not know," she said with a shake of her head. She finally looked him in the eye as she said, "Changing one's destiny can have strange consequences. I cannot say how this changing of your relationship is going to affect the future."

Harry swallowed softly and turned his head back to the room. Her words shook him a little, but didn't throw him off of what he was deciding to do. While he still wasn't sure what he felt about Tom, he knew that whatever this was it was one of the better things to have happened to him in quite a while. Things were looking up for him and he finally felt like he found a place to belong…

That thought surprised him and he sat there, just staring around blankly at everyone. Tom caught his gaze and left Hermione in mid conversation as he bent over and grasped Harry on the shoulders as he said, "Harry? What's wrong?"

Harry focused his gaze on Tom's face, studying him and looking in his eyes for something he wasn't quite sure he would find. The worry and love for him shown through and Harry smiled softly as he said, "Yes."

"Yes?" Tom said in confusion, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what Harry was going on about. Yes to what? That wasn't quite the answer he was looking for when he asked the younger one what was wrong.

"Yes, I'll join you," Harry said as he rested his hands on Tom's arms. He felt a grin spread across his face, laughing softly at the delight that bubbled up in him. He finally said it! It was weird, saying that he wanted to join the man who was suppose to be his mortal enemy, but it was actually freeing.

Tom's eyes grew wide for a second, disbelief written quite clearly across his features as he grappled for something to say. He clutched his shoulders a little harder as he said, "Harry… what brought this on?"

"Look around you, Tom," Harry said as he motioned around the room. The two of them looked around, taking in the laughing and smiling faces of each of the people they had come to know over the years. Harry looked back at Tom as he spoke, "I feel like I belong, Tom. This feels right and it's all thanks to you. I want this."

Tom listened intently to Harry's reasons, a shard of hope blossoming in his chest. He closed his eyes for several long moments before leaning forward and kissing Harry as hard and deep as he could. He tried to convey his happiness at Harry's words into their kiss, breaking only when breathing became difficult. Smiling widely, he said, "The world will be our playground, Harry. Not even Dumbledore can stop us now. We will make this world better. This I promise you."

Again, I'm not really happy with this, but it's all I really could come up with at this point.

Please review.

Jaa!