In the Absence of Serpents
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Neither Here nor There — But Where, Darling by HQ_Wingster
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
01 Jan 2021
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Summary
Being a Parselmouth in winter was the closest thing to Hell. Because instinctually, he should be hibernating. But as a human, he could not. So to contend with that matter, both sides of him had to compromise. Meaning that heat and its prevalence and its consistency in his environment were the very things he needed to tame the animal inside of him, and it couldn’t come from magic or any man-made appliance because the snake inside of him — he knew it didn’t like it.
As the nights are growing colder and as he’s restless as a result, there is comfort to be found near the fireplace and in Harry’s arms.
Series
- Part 10 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 1 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
Because when you’ve known something for ten years and have used it for just as long — where no longer was it a habit, but an instinct at this point — could you find yourself changing it or find yourself moving on? Were [Tom] younger, he might’ve done it. But as of now, he could not.
Perhaps there would always be feelings he could never find a word for; but for as long as he’s had Harry, it hasn’t been an issue if he couldn’t name them.
Series
- Part 12 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 2 of In the Absence of Serpents
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A nest of one’s own is not a pile of twigs easily threatened by the wind, ready to collapse at any moment; but rather, it’s a hole — baked wonderfully by the sun; laden with many rocks, tree limbs and mice. Where to survive here would be a pleasure through many a First Frost, where to raise and to die here would be the dream for any hunter. So as one sees it, my Speaker has done well on this front: having chosen one with a Mate, far warmer than the sun
Finding a nest of one’s own is not easy, Nagini knows, but she is proud of what her Speaker has selected as his home. Even though at times, she’ll tease and will drive him up a wall.
Series
- Part 3 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
There was a fondness to how he did it, to how he kissed him ‘goodnight’ — wandering softly from his shoulder before meeting him in the darkness, Harry would hold there for a moment before closing the air between them; ever gentle in that pursuit as sort of his way of ‘I love you,' ever tender when he nuzzled, when he heard him say, “Me too.”
It wasn’t often he fell asleep as early as he would rise from it, but there was something about the sheets and about Tom that were lulling him — further and further down until he collapsed into his pillow, fuzzy and content, with arms wrapped around his loved one.
Series
- Part 13 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 4 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
“If I’m to say this in a language only the heart would understand, I hope yours could comprehend it when I whisper it between your hands. For nothing’s greater than what I’ve found — here, at this moment — where I know you feel what I feel, where you know I hear what you hear.”
Above the stirrings of a finger, finding purchase around another's, Harry whispers in a language that moves him a little closer. And even though it’s just a word, it’s meaningful when Tom hears it: it’s luring him from his pillow until he’s settled beside his boyfriend.
Series
- Part 15 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 5 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Tender Is the Breath — meeting Me as I am by HQ_Wingster
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
23 Feb 2021
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Summary
‘You really are his godson and a bit of mine, I’ll confess’ — and there was nothing short of amusement when Tom held him near his chest, laughing softly as the child undid another of his buttons so he could cuddle and hear him and feel the fondness from his uncle. And while breathing softly near his collarbone, little Teddy fell asleep — nuzzling as he listened to the heartbeat underneath.
Tom Marvolo Potter is a man of simple pleasures: give him an afternoon of tummy time with his favorite little godson and like clockwork, he's wobbly to every manner of affection.
Series
- Part 17 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 6 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
In a small crooked cottage, finding root in Devonshire, there lives a witch and her little one and all the love within their world. There isn’t much they have between them, but there’s enough to chase the cold. Especially as they lay together and find comfort in each other’s hold: Tom snuggles beside his mother while Merope holds him close, singing to him a lullaby she had once heard as a girl. Kissing softly into his hair, she wishes him the world.
Series
- Part 18 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 7 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Lightning in a Bottle, Tender in My Arms by HQ_Wingster
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
05 Mar 2021
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Summary
It’s rare that it happens and it’s annoying when it does, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything as Harry falls into his arms. So he could feel him, breathe him, hold him like the world — forget that mornings do exist while moments last forever. Because Tom Marvolo Riddle wants to sleep a little longer and having Harry right beside him makes the minutes even better. So he’s knitting all his limbs into the seams of his partner, burying his cheek into the crook of a shoulder, and he’s mumbling a bit of nonsense that only this lion will ever hear.
He’s asking him to stay and like a vow, he hears, “I will.”
Series
- Part 19 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 8 of In the Absence of Serpents
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If You Come Softly (Or Not, Barrel In) by HQ_Wingster
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
05 Jul 2021
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Summary
Maybe the safest place in the world is no wider than a hug, as you tuck all your angles and nuzzle deeper into those arms: where the depth of which is in metres and in thousands if you count, stripping bare all your worries until you land beside a heart; where it’s the most grounded thing in the universe and it’s your shield and it’s your sword. It’s your knight, it’s your kingdom — you’re protected inside its walls. That there’s nothing that can hurt you, that could bother you anymore, as you rest here and nest here and feel safe within these arms.
It’s the afternoon when he creeps in, when he settles into Harry’s arms — collapsing to his chest and finding comfort within his warmth. That he snuggles himself in and breathes all he is, pillowed by a heart that has always had room for him.
Series
- Part 24 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
- Part 9 of In the Absence of Serpents
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There’s Wild, Then There’s You by HQ_Wingster for Feu_Eau
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
11 Jul 2021
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Summary
As with their robes, their buttons, their ties and their shirts, Tom pried this without magic and he went about it as if he were Muggle. Because to feel the distance in-between them and how currently, it was swallowed; to count the lashes near his eyes and every fractal and streak of white, zigzagging from the pupils like a stray bolt of lightning; and to taste the tremors from his mouth and the hitch when he touched him — not a part of him would forfeit this when Tom loosened Harry's glasses. And then slid them into a pocket, so that them and he and Harry could enjoy this with no interruptions.
There are a few words he can identify. There are a few of which he understands. Especially when Harry hears them, rolling softly from the other's lips: the annoyance, the pleasure, the pride, the admittance, the aversion, the penchant, and every version of his name. How they're hissed when he hears them, when he fetches them — but not there; they're anywhere but on those lips and they sound a little bit like this. Low, guttural and are accompanied by a glance. That's no darker than that of magic and the edges of the Forbidden Forest. And that there's nothing more familiar than meeting it, just like this.
Series
- Part 10 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
The way he smiles — and then he shuddered when Tom coaxed him to turn his head, when the latter nipped him at the apple and at the rhythm of his neck; and without a doubt Tom had done so with a smile at his lips because there was this when Harry felt it, this fire above his skin — Is a language in itself. And, while I do understand, I want him to teach me his every word. I want to be fluent when he grins.
While curled near the fire and cushioned beneath the night, Harry’s caught between the arms and all the fondness of his delight.
Series
- Part 11 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
He noticed Harry — long before the other graced him with his lips. Before he pawed at the blankets until they tumbled to his waist, before the weight of him caught the mattress when Harry knelt with a pure reverence, and before he tiptoed from the carpet and caught the sight of him still asleep. And yet Tom never, never stirred until Harry touched him just like this, just like that, and just like then — and had him arching like a flower with nowhere else to run because Harry met him with an intensity that could rival any star.
Series
- Part 12 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
It started with an earnest, and it's how they ended here — from the library to the bedroom and all the years in-between — with Harry trading hisses for kisses where he wants as Tom holds him like the world and with a dopey, little grin. Hissing softly, ‘Where next?’ when Harry tells him, ‘Come here.’
Series
- Part 13 of In the Absence of Serpents
- Part 28 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
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Summary
Halloween had come and gone, yet the howls were all the same: there was something in the clouds that at nightfall, roamed the streets. That it nosed, here and there; that there was winter in its stare; that it growled and then it seethed like a wild, wild thing. And ravenous down the sidewalk, you’d hear it haunting and then a shriek — as all the laughter from October had whittled down into nothing. And what remained were all the storms and the fronts due up north, and that fussing throughout the night — behind a cupboard and out of sight, were the grabbings and the wails of a little, orphaned boy.
And he was drowned — there was thunder — and he was muffled by the oak, thwacking every window on Privet Drive, Number Four. And still he cried; still he fussed; still he hissed, ‘Could someone come?’ as he was scared and all alone.
He didn’t know where else to go.
Series
- Part 14 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Summary
It was the longest, shortest, coldest weekend of all. Yet none of that really mattered when he found himself in Harry's eyes. Lost behind the maze of adoration and charm that would flick, saunter and trace him from where he was when Harry eyed him above the bottles of butterbeer upon their table.
Then Harry found him with a smile, or maybe he had found him first, and then he wound across the table and cradled him to his palm. And the way he held him was so precious—it was so gentle and warm—because he had wrapped him around the ribbons of all his fingers and his thumbs. They were red, they were golden and they were firm for Tom to hold; he couldn't describe them as anything else without burning to Harry's notice.
And then the lion went and asked him—and what a gentleman he could be—if he could walk him back to Hogwarts because he knew Tom had to leave, and that the walk could be rather lonely and pretty cold without a friend. That wouldn't it be a little better if Harry could escort him along the way, and have his shoulder and his neck be what chased the cold away?
'I have it bad' he’d like to think, if at this moment, he didn't grin.
Series
- Part 15 of In the Absence of Serpents
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Like Salt Where It Hurts by HQ_Wingster for kubraustun1178
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
18 Dec 2021
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Summary
‘Harry—Harry, Harry, Harryharryharry…’ When Tom shifted, I felt the whole of him meeting me somewhere up my back. Until gravity found it funny and now, he's slouching along with me. And cascading to my shoulders and even past them had he wanted, but he doesn't.
He wouldn't. He's exactly where he wanted: like a serpent within the leaves or the antlers of a tree, sprawled at its finest for there was nowhere it'd rather be. And then he flicked for my attention, then he nuzzled into my neck, and then that weight of adoration began to saunter through a tilt.
Tom looked to me as an answer, and I looked at him like he was trouble. That if he wanted me for any reason—if he wanted me to waver—then his best bet to remember is who's the hunted and who's the hunter. Because the mouse upon my shoulder needs to settle before I let him: let him kiss me, hold me and love me before breakfast.
If you want to have a staring contest, Harry found his without trouble when a pair of dark, lovely eyes consumed him—bit by bit, Be prepared, Little One. You'll forfeit before I'm ready.
Series
- Part 16 of In the Absence of Serpents
- Part 30 of Chasing Covers & Finding You
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Summary
An amused, indulgent Tom curls deeper against his partner as Harry mumbles a bit of nonsense in the early morning in Parseltongue. Because it’s only when he’s tired that he intones like a native Speaker.
Series
- Part 17 of In the Absence of Serpents
- Part 37 of Chasing Covers & Finding You