[HP]Timepiece Countdown

A moment later, Piccadilly Circus.

By this time, most shops are closed for rest, but the streets are not deserted.A group of children were playing with small sizzling fireworks on the corner of the street, and there were not a few who went out for a walk with their families, and laughter was everywhere.It has to be pointed out that due to the existence of the bronze statue of Eros, there are still a lot of couples in the crowd.

Harry walked along the pavement, carefully skirting the clumps of white berries overhead - so many of them that he couldn't help but suspect that a woven of small colored lights was waving in midair in the square. The winged female angel figure is probably Aphrodite.

It's just Christmas, Muggles don't have to make it look like Valentine's Day...

"I think you'd better come out, Harry."

Hearing this, Harry turned to look at Voldemort.The man changed his appearance as soon as he went out. He was wearing the sweater he had just given him, and he didn't care that a small hole was burned on it.

Meeting Harry's eyes, Voldemort continued to suggest, "At least there's no ceiling outside." His voice sounded more sincere than ever.

There would be no piles of mistletoe without a ceiling, and of course Harry knew what the Dark Lord was implying.But he wondered more now why Voldemort was wearing a sweater when he didn't need it, and why he had to wear a couple's sweater with such a face on him—

It was really hard for Harry to actively choose to be exposed to the light, after all, it would be tantamount to exposing their ambiguous relationship to all Muggles who could see them.

"I don't want it," he refused, lowering his voice because he didn't want the people around him to notice, "unless you can explain how old you look now."

Voldemort, who was putting his hands in his pockets, tilted his head and showed a thoughtful look when he heard the words. "You think it's too young for me, don't you?" he reasoned, looking a little regretful. "I thought you liked that face better."

...Uh, he was discovered so quickly?

Harry almost screamed, his cheeks burning in the shadow of the colonnade. "Please, my aesthetics are normal." He couldn't help but defend himself, "And I believe most people are like me!"

Voldemort chuckled, as if he thought Harry's ability to change the subject was poor. "This is indeed true." He admitted, not bothering to embarrass Harry any more, "As for the age issue..." He shrugged nonchalantly, "In your terms, this is the last moment when my face conforms to the aesthetics of mortals. "

"...what?" Harry stopped in shock. "Do you mean that you have become... since you were in your 20s?" He swallowed back the snake face and the reckless evaluation in time, anyway, he guessed that the other party understood.

A few feet away, Voldemort also stopped. "Not quite, but about the same."

Harry could see that Voldemort really didn't care.And this made him even more confused, so confusing that he forgot to complain about mortals. "Can I ask, what do you really think?" He wondered, "You seem to have a big problem with your original face? I mean, you're handsome, and you obviously know you're handsome, but you Or..." He waved his arms indiscriminately, "I don't understand, it shouldn't be at all?"

The smile on Voldemort's face froze for a moment during Harry's first two sentences; but by the end, his hard expression eased. "I have my own reasons." He simply replied, and pointed to the front again, "There is a market there, do you want to go shopping?"

It sounded like a suggestion, but Harry, staring at the figure briskly walking away, realized that Voldemort didn't want to explain why.Moreover, before the man turned around, he finally noticed the change in the man's expression——

It was private, and he shouldn't have asked in the first place; Voldemort might have gotten a little too carried away when he didn't refuse his offer to go out together.

Thinking of the set goal, Harry temporarily suppressed his unsatisfied curiosity. "Hey, wait for me!"

Most of the markets are stalls selling handmade gadgets, and the rest are food.The two had just had their fill, and neither gingerbread nor sweet cakes nor mulled wine nor German sausages could keep them resident.As for handicrafts, things like blown glass and lace linen tablecloths were obviously not enough to attract the attention of the two after seeing all kinds of magical items full of whimsy.

Harry soon discovered that shopping, specifically in the Muggle world, was not at all an appropriate after-dinner pastime for two wizards.Sure, Ron's dad Arthur would have enjoyed it, but it just wasn't right for him and Voldemort—

If he was not mistaken, they had both grown up in the Muggle world, so there was nothing new about it.Looking around carefully, there is a ski jumping track in the distance, and the crowd who is reenacting the Nativity of Christ on the street seems to be heading towards the church——

No doubt, still no help.

Finally, Harry thought quickly about the possibility of going to Diagon Alley, and rejected it just as quickly—the probability of bumping into someone he knew was too high for him to take such a big risk.

Just as Harry was in a dilemma, Voldemort stopped outside an outdoor bar. "Would you like to sit down and have a drink?"

Harry couldn't think of a better alternative - he couldn't just go back home not long after he came out - so he nodded.They found two empty seats in the outer area, and Voldemort went to order a drink, and came back with a tray in a short time.Harry took a sip from his glass and realized it was hot ginger ale.He turned his head to look at Voldemort's again, unbalanced: "What's in your glass?"

"Scottish drink," replied Voldemort, as if he had noticed Harry's concern. "You don't like ginger? How about cocoa? Jasmine tea?" He said, raising his wrist to indicate that he had brought his wand.

Although this attitude can be said to be quite good, why did he feel that Voldemort's reaction was like coaxing a child...

Harry slandered, and couldn't help wanting to confront the man. "Maybe hot vanilla rum?" He pouted, squinting in the bartender's direction. "I bet they have it."

Voldemort laughed. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure." He said, taking a sip of his special blended whiskey, and then added: "After all, you are underage, and you have already drank a lot of eggnog before."

When he heard "Underage", Harry became nervous for a moment, looked around, and made sure that no one was looking at them before he was relieved. "Stop talking," he growled, "what do you think the two of us look like now?"

"Oh, I'm assuming you mean the sweater?" Voldemort said in a deliberately joking tone. "Just say you're my brother. Or, would you prefer to stick with that?" He drew out subtly. The syllable "before".

"Why -" Harry covered his face and groaned, feeling that no matter what he did, he would be played around by the other party. "Come on, although we both have black hair, we don't look alike at all!" He put down his hand and gestured vigorously between the two of them, "No one will believe that you and I are brothers in hell!"

He bit "Damn it" hard on purpose, but Voldemort had no special reaction. "Not necessarily, Muggles don't pay that much attention," he replied, with a look on his face that seemed amused by Harry's eagerness to draw a line.

Harry wanted to refute at first, but he suddenly remembered that Hagrid had said something similar, so he stopped resentfully.He picked up the glass again, angrily stuffed his mouth with ginger juice.But that didn't stop him from affirming in his mind that Voldemort had indeed changed tack, that he really treated him like a child now.If this had happened on the first day, the Dark Lord might have taunted him, right?

While Harry couldn't deny the age gap between them, he hadn't paid much attention to it - obviously, there were more important things to pay attention to, such as Voldemort killing his parents in order to kill him.Still, he couldn't focus on that now, when the past had to be put aside for a moment: because he had to push himself to grow as quickly as possible, to grow enough to stand up to the Dark Lord, no matter how hard it was.

Thinking of this, Harry glanced at the other side quietly.The man was casually swirling his wine glass, and the neon light made his profile look extraordinarily handsome.

So, Voldemort's current plan is to coax him until Christmas is over?

It was a good way for them to live in peace, Harry had to admit.Anyway, before today, he never dreamed that he would stroll with the Dark Lord, talk like ordinary friends, and the other party even forbade him to drink alcohol when ordering drinks...

Both of them had to make compromises in order to eliminate the side effects.Calm without tension was nice, but inside it was still false, and Harry didn't know if it would be of any use, and to what extent.

But there are so many problems between them, how can they expect to reconcile sincerely in a short time?

Harry thought about it, and couldn't help but sighed heavily.

"You needn't push yourself," said Voldemort abruptly. "There's nothing shameful in being a child, because you are."

"I..." Harry reflexively wanted to deny it, and then found that he really didn't want to ask why you know what I was thinking again. "Well, I am," he admitted reluctantly, "but not in front of you."

Voldemort's gaze remained unfocused in the direction of the passing crowd, still not looking at Harry. "Why do you think so?"

"Maybe it's because you chose me that I have to take on that responsibility?" Harry laughed dryly, "Anyway, I'm sure that if I wasn't different from others, you wouldn't want to be with me." Sitting in a Muggle open bar."

"Yes, I thought the distinction was obvious," Voldemort agreed softly.

Is the Dark Lord hinting at soul mates?This answer is too evasive...

Harry couldn't help staring back at the profile. "Don't make it sound like you care about soul mates. Don't be too quick to deny it - when I was in that dark room of yours, I figured you had something else to say. Big stuff , is definitely more important than soul mate. I have reason to believe that it is because of this part of the reason that you just..." He didn't go on, and he didn't need to go on.

Voldemort finally turned his head, and there was nothing in his dark eyes. "That's just your guesswork."

Harry looked at the other person quite carefully, but couldn't find the slightest clue from that calm face.This was so normal, considering that this face belonged to the most dangerous dark wizard ever, even if the other person looked handsome at the moment, it wouldn't change the essence. "Why don't you make a bet with me?" He ventured boldly.

"It's not necessary." Voldemort resolutely refused, ignoring the provocateur hidden inside.He did have something of a secret about longevity, and he believed it wasn't too long before Dumbledore told the boy about it.But in any case, it was one thing for Dumbledore to guess, and quite another for him to reveal it himself.

Harry slumped his shoulders in annoyance.This guy is too difficult to deal with, why can't he be soft and hard?

The man who was defined as being soft and tough just stared at Harry with deep eyes.The boy is indeed reckless, but he is also more sensitive and responsible than he imagined.Leaving aside Magic Geometry, the ability to think of a more suitable method and put it into practice within half a day is indeed beyond the average child's level of response; this was also confirmed in the dark room, although he always wanted to leave it to the boy. flawed.

This gave Voldemort a vague feeling.The ingredients are quite complex, and some of them can almost be described as expectations.

...wait, what's the anticipation?

A sense of danger began to ring, and Voldemort realized that he could no longer let the conversation go on. "It's getting late, let's go back." He got up without hesitation, "I'm going to make—"

"surprise!"

Before he finished his "account", the two of them were hit by a beam of bright light, and the sound of the radio resounded throughout the venue. "Special session! Now, as long as the people we choose kiss each other, they will be free of charge! Let's see who is the lucky one this time—"

Harry shielded his eyes instinctively, and it took several seconds to realize what had happened.He heard some people wailing, more people booing, and whistles coming and going.

—Hell, he dodged the mistletoe, but not this?

——Merlin, Voldemort's expression is too ugly!

"Wait, can I pass this on to someone else?" he asked desperately, trying to save the two of them before the man's backlit face got even darker - or rather, saving them would do nothing to what happened Knowing Muggles.

He was answered by more booing.Obviously, in the eyes of Muggles, the couple sweaters on the two of them already said everything.

Voldemort moved suddenly, and Harry stared at him nervously.But the man just took a step forward and whispered in his ear, "There are too many people here. If there are wizards present, you may be recognized, and you must be resolved quickly."

As he spoke, Voldemort turned his head and touched Harry's forehead like a dragonfly.

This level is obviously not enough to satisfy the onlookers, and there are endless boos in the audience.Voldemort turned a deaf ear to this and pulled Harry out of the high chair.At the same moment, the searchlight went out without warning, and there were screams and uproars of surprise all around.

The two left in a chaotic manner, turning a big corner before stopping. "Did you ... just tamper with that lamp?" Harry asked hurriedly, panting from walking so fast.

"Otherwise when will I be able to get away?" Hearing Harry's disapproval, Voldemort folded his arms defensively, "I have no obligation to perform in front of those people."

Recalling the feeling of that moment, Harry couldn't help asking: "You call that a performance?"

"What's not acting?" Voldemort's rhetorical question came more quickly, as if he was really that dull.

Harry pursed his lips and stared at the man intently.Again and again, even he couldn't ignore it - when Voldemort touched the writing on his chest, when the yew wand pressed against his skin, when they cast the healing spell at the same time...

Instinct clamored to break through the shackles of reason, and something in the chest swelled to nowhere to rest.And that point-to-point light kiss has one and only one function, which is to detonate everything he has been struggling to suppress before——

There was no point in arguing with Voldemort, who was always going in the wrong direction; what he needed was action.

Voldemort was impatient with the present standoff.But just when he was about to continue to say something, green branches with berries slowly fell from the top of the two of them. "You..." He stared in shock at the mistletoe that shouldn't have grown automatically, "What..."

Harry gave it all up.He leaned forward, staring more closely into the other's face, not for an instant. "Tell me, do you think it's right between us?"

Following this question, the mistletoe that he had avoided before grew faster and denser, and tended to form a tent around the two of them.

Voldemort's gaze followed the branch, slowly returning to Harry. "I have every reason to believe," he replied stiffly, finally meeting Harry's eyes, "that it was all wrong from beginning to end."

It sounded like a refusal at first, but Harry smiled.He suddenly stood on tiptoe, pulled down the other's head, and put his lips on it accurately, bringing the two into a real kiss.