#thdlm

Fully revised and now with a new chapter!

Harry/Voldemort, E, 100k+

Dark(ish) Slow Burn Romance

How did one even address a letter to Lord Fucking Voldemort? He’s about to just write, “Voldemort,” when it occurs to him that the Taboo might apply to written language, too. 

“Well… you brought it on yourself,” he mutters under his breath as he begins writing.

Tom, Let’s chat. No Order, no Death Eaters—just you and me.

Read it from the beginning here.

And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!

—Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Harry is running now. The sky is dark—not with night, exactly, but with heavy storm clouds, rumbling with thunder. There’s no rain yet, but the wind is so strong, it makes it feel like he’s running through water.

“SY!” he shouts, his voice almost entirely swallowed by the wind.

Harry runs, screaming Sy’s name into the wind, for what must be at least a minute before he realizes something.

Andromeda’s manor is nowhere in sight. All around, virtually identical hills roll like the endless waves of a grassy ocean under a storm-roiled sky until they vanish into the mist. Harry spins around, confused, losing track of which direction he’d been running.

He’s out on the moors. Outside the wards.

Great question! I apologize in advance—I can already tell this is gonna be a long Voldemort meta post lol.

My head canon for Voldemort more generally—but particularly in the Heir de la Mort—is that he falls somewhere on the Asexual Spectrum (I don’t consider Cursed Child canon, btw). Specifically, I think of him as basically aroace with a big exception for Harry.

He may have had sex in his younger years as Tom Riddle, but if he did, it was purely transactional. Just another tool to manipulate people or get something he wanted.

A big part of his becoming “Lord Voldemort” is that he tries very hard to shed any semblance of humanity because for him, it represents vulnerability and his humble origins as the poor, unwanted kid who grew up in a muggle orphanage. Part of that shedding of humanity is (at least outwardly) rejecting things like relationships and sex because he believes those are weak things that mere mortals do. So, once he fully adopts the persona of Voldemort, I don’t think he even has transactional sex anymore.

I do see him as having a general desire for human connection (though this gets more and more repressed the older he gets). But he’s never actually felt sexual passion or desire, let alone romantic love, for another person.

That is, until Harry comes along.

I think Voldemort initially feels pulled to Harry because of the horcrux, even before he knows about its existence. The fact that Harry literally contains a piece of his own SOUL makes him grow to understand Harry in a way he’s never understood anyone before, and that opens the door for him to start feeling emotions he’s never felt.

So, long-story short, I guess, Voldemort is oblivious here because he’s experiencing actual attraction to another person for the very first time in 70+ years! Up until now, he’s been too single-mindedly focused on killing Harry to really notice anything unusual going on, or if he did, he probably just chalked it up to really, really, REALLY hating him and wanting him dead. But now that he isn’t actively trying to kill him, he has the opportunity to feel new things. At first through the horcrux connection, but as time goes on, that line will become more and more blurred.

It also doesn’t help that he’s severely lacking in self-awareness more generally. Like, he’s magically brilliant, no doubt. He’s very book smart, very clever, cunning, etc. And he’s exceptionally good at manipulating others, which means he has to have some level of emotional intelligence… He just reaaaallly doesn’t have the self-awareness part. Or the empathy part (yet).

On a serious note—no pressure tho. Take all the time you need! Even if we have to wait like 5 years. Tomarry shippers are devout lol

For those of you who have been anxious to see Voldemort again: enjoy 😈. He... well, he hasn't been anxious to see you, too, but he HAS been very anxious to see a certain runaway Horcrux and his son.

“He will not like it, what you are doing,” Nagini says shrewdly as he finishes his writing. She is speaking, of course, of Potter. As all voices do.  His own is not an exception. 

I was going to get caught up on my comments before posting, but then I didn't feel like waiting. I will get caught up eventually, but I'm already about a month and a half behind 🫠. Just know I am reading all my comments, even if I don't respond right away!

Read it from the beginning here :)