Disclaimer: Well, I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter, only this plot and a computer.

Sometimes in life, strange things happen. Not around Tom Evans himself, but around some other children who stayed or visited his foster family.

Especially when those particular people got really angry or sad.

Recently, this traumatized girl (was it Mattie Mason?) came, she was so mad at everything, and she threw forks and yelled some really bad words at Ms. Smith. But while she was yelling, Tom noticed that the lights flickered slightly, and the room got warmer in general. Everyone else was too busy gasping at Mattie's rudeness to notice. It was such a small detail, but it was there.

After Mattie rushed to the girls' bedroom without finishing dinner but dropping the temperature back to normal, Tom asked Ms. Smith if there was such thing as Magic. Ms. Smith gave all of the six children who still remained at the table a lecture about how magic only exist in fantasies. Tom didn't fully believe her, but don't have facts to support him, so remained silent.

She also emphasized about how what she is saying does not apply to the existence of a god (she specifically looked at Matthew Bates when she said this).

After dinner and cleaning up, they were allowed to do what they like around the house. Tom went to the tall bushes in the backyard with Jasmine Spence's (a nice older girl who was in school) science textbook, to read and think about the world. To find out whether or not some of the tiny strange things that happen, are supposed to happen.

A lady with a pile of papers came to pick Mattie up three days later, and Tom never heard of her again.

Tom held the twig in front of him, imagining it to be a magic wand. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing and reality in general.

He was going to make this typical grey rock float.

In science, it would be about gravity and forces and stuff, but this was Magic, so Tom just imagined the rock slowly rising from the ground.

He imagined gathering and spreading Magic that floated in the air, and centering them on the tip of his wand. He opened his eyes and chanted "Abracadabra" as focused as he can.

Nothing happened.

He tapped the still grey stone with the twig. It didn't even move.

"There's no such thing as magic!" Kevin Wright (a VERY annoying person) yelled from an open window upstairs.

Feeling foolish (and possibly blushing), Tom glared at Kevin as hard as he could, as if Kevin was the reason it wasn't working.

Kevin laughed annoyingly and closed the window, then left.

Tom snapped the twig in half angrily, and threw those useless pieces over the fence.

Tom went to school for the first time and came home with the understanding of what a library is.

He had asked Ms. Smith for the address of the loco library, and the permission to go there. He received an "Ask one of the older kids to walk you there for your first time, and remember to come back before curfew."

So he had Jasmine walking him to the library on a Saturday (Jasmine had homework on weekdays).

"Do think there is such thing as Magic?" Tom asked along the way to fill some unwanted silence.

"I don't think so, but maybe if you keep on being such a bookworm, you might become the next Matilda," she joked, "You've borrowed my textbooks countless of times already it might not even be healthy anymore. I'm surprised you haven't asked of this earlier."

"That's because I didn't know such things like a library existed," Tom said in an accusing tone.

Jasmine rustled his hair fondly with a smile at his accusation. This just made Tom more irritated while he tried to flatten his messed-up hair.

They didn't talk for the rest of the walk to the library. Jasmine grinned brightly all the way, while Tom had a scowl glued to his face.

When they entered the library, Tom decided a library is his favourite place in the world.

Hell, they've even got computers.

Kevin busted open his bush rudely without warning.

"Toooomm," Kevin singsonged, "it's dinnner time!"

"I'm coming!" Tom closed the book he borrowed from the library, "How did you know I was in here?"

"Oh please, everyone knows the nerd is always hiding in this bush with his books," he rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was not.

Kevin must have noticed Tom was staring at him in distaste.

"Jealous 'cause you have no friends?" Started Kevin. Man, that 'you have no friends' thing was getting old.

"I can get a friend whenever I want."

"Oh really?" That was a challenge.

Tom nodded his head confidently in acceptance.

He decided that he should befriend Jasmine. First, because she's a really nice and generally popular person. Secondly, she sometimes helps him in things. Thirdly, because Kevin has a crush on her.

So at dinner that very same day Tom befriended Jasmine through a conversation very successfully.

Right in front of Kevin.

Tom ran straight to home after he was dismissed from school. He normally wouldn't run (just speed walk), but today he had something important to witness.

He didn't run (just speed walk) when he was in the house though. No running indoors, you break it and you'll get punished. He didn't bother to put down his backpack, he sped walked straight to the tall bushes in the backyard. He looked for the trap (a trap using bait, a support stick, and a heavy glass container he did not take from the kitchen) he had set there. It was one of those subjects of things he would be interested in once in a while.

He saw motion, and found he caught a… chocolate frog? He sat beside the glass bowl container and stared at it. It was slightly melting, and one of its feet was pinned down by the rims of the container, so it wasn't able to move around that much.

He did his homework there and waited until Jasmine came home to show her the frog.

"Tom?" questioned Jasmine while Tom dragged her towards the bush by her wrist.

"I have something to show you," said Tom without looking back.

"At least let me put down my bag first!"

Tom continued to drag her towards and into the bush.

"Is this a frog?" She asked while removing the glass container without Tom's permission," Poor thing! Its foot is squashed!"

"Do you know what type of creature it is?" Tom questioned.

"Why would I know? It's a moving frog made out of chocolate!"

"You're older," Tom deadpanned.

Jasmine looked thoughtful.

"I could ask my science teacher tomorrow," She offered instead of an answer.

"Bring the frog with you," Tom added," If your teacher doesn't believe you, let him see for himself."

That doesn't mean Tom won't ask his teacher tomorrow about this.

At dinner, Ms. Smith asked the kids if anyone saw a big glass bowl.

Nobody saw it. Or at least, nobody said they've seen it.

When class ended, Tom walked up to Mrs. Honey.

"Excuse-me Mrs. Honey," Tom begins in a sweet voice, "May I ask you a question?"

Mrs. Honey turned around from what she was doing earlier. She smiled pleasantly at Tom's good manners.

"Sure thing Tom, what is it?"

"Do you know any species of frogs that are made out of chocolate-like substance?" Tom continued in that sweet voice.

Mrs. Honey looked a bit taken back at something he just said.

"No, I don't think… Well, I do know that some frogs are brown, so you might have thought it was made out of chocolate."

Tom didn't give her the irritated look for underestimating his observant skills he wanted to give.

"Do you think it's possible to animate a frog-shaped chocolate to behave like a frog then?" Tom continued to attempt gathering whatever amount of knowledge there was.

"Maybe there is a way, but none that I know of, and it's very unlikely that anyone will spend so much effort to make chocolate move."

"Well, do you have any explanation for a moving piece of chocolate that is shaped and acts like a frog?"

"Tom, maybe it was just a brown frog, not made out of chocolate," She continued to doubt him.

But that's fine, he only hoped she will believe him anyway. Jasmine got the proof, she'll have the answers. Or at least, that's what Tom thought.

"So, what is it?" Tom asked Jasmine when she came back from school.

"What?"

"The chocolate frog thing, what is it?"

"What chocolate frog thing?" Jasmine gave him a confused look.

"Haha, very funny," Tom was unimpressed.

"I'm not joking! What do you mean?"

"The chocolate frog you were supposed to ask your teacher about! What's the answer?"

"What?!" She repeated the second time. Something was amiss.

"Where's the frog?"

"What frog?"

Tom didn't need further confirmation this time. He stormed off immediately, leaving a very confused Jasmine behind.

He went to his bush in the backyard, yelled at a bird passing-by, pulled some grass off of the ground, and destroyed his own bush. Then he felt sad because he destroyed his own bush, and he started crying. Jasmine came after him, but he glared and walked away. He doesn't want to speak to her ever again.

After a while of pathetic displays of sadness, he forcefully turned that frown on his face upside-down and wiped the tears away. Why? Because he realized how pitiful he was being. Sure the only person he truly trusted betrayed him, but what would crying do (except for stress relive)? To comfort himself, Tom decided to think about the optimistic view of the picture. It wasn't an entirely lost cause: he had won a bit of history, an experience, and some life lessons.

He had learned that you need to manage your emotions to best suit the situation (he had lost his bush because he didn't know that before), and to never completely trust anyone (and that includes his own subconscious) because nothing is 100% certain.

In the end, Tom did not plan a revenge, although that would satisfy his emotional needs because 'Jasmine betrayed him, therefore, she must be punished so she'll never do that ever again'. When he thought about it logically, it might not even be her fault.

Plus, if something unspeakable happened to her right after this incident, it would raise way too many red flags.

So he researched about memory and things, and decided that Jasmine got some sort of dementia, however unlikely it was for a 10-year-old.

It was too cold to go outside, so Tom was in the boys' bedroom. Alone.

He was looking through a camera he found at the school's lost-and-found. It was a fairly decent camera. Whoever owned this before liked to take selfies a lot. Looking through the photos, Tom noticed two abnormal things.

Amongst one of the selfies taken outside in bright daylight, there was a suspicious-looking bird flying in the background. At first, Tom thought it was a seagull, but upon closer inspection, it was an owl, which was odd because owls were nocturnal.

Another picture was a group selfie taken with a nearby street as a background. The street is near, merely 4 blocks away, and Tom had been there many times before since it was in his route to the library. What was strange about this one is a tiny, grubby-looking pub in the background labelled "The Leaky Cauldron" that Tom never knew existed until he noticed it in the photo.

Tom recognized every shop in that photo except that one. He prided himself on his observant skills.

Strange.

Tom was walking to the library through snow, with some books he was going to return.

He also planned on visiting the Leaky Cauldron pub along the way. He probably shouldn't, but a peak can't hurt.

Plus, it's almost Christmas. He should probably start thinking about presents now. And that's all he thought about walking to the library: who to give a present to and what should he give.

Until he arrived in front of the library and remembered that he forgot all about the Leaky Cauldron. The same thing happened on the way back, he kept on repeating the words "Leaky Cauldron" to himself, but he still somehow forgot all about it.

Strange.

It was spring again, the snow melted and the ice disappeared. Maybe the sky and ice were friends, but the disappearance of ice caused him grave grief, so it was constantly crying for the last few hours.

Tom was in the attic fidgeting with an interestingly shaped stone, lost in his thoughts.

He was currently grounded for committing thievery because Kevin decided to search around in an unsuspecting victim's personal stuff and tell Ms. Smith about a camera. Tom was fine with the idea of being grounded until Ms. Smith kindly informed him that "to Tom only, grounding also means no books". Kevin looked so very smug at Tom's disbelieving look.

So now he was bored, and when he heard a muffled weeping, he took that as a cue and searched for the sound source. Something was better than nothing.

He found a younger boy named Sam Westcott (known for being a crybaby) crying behind a stack of boxes. Tom noticed the cold air that seemed to spread from the boy. It reminded him of the odd thing that happened when Mattie was here.

He decided to test his theory, he needed to make Sam emotional, which probably won't be hard.

"Are you crying?" Tom asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Are you crying?" Sam threw back angrily. That made no sense, but okay.

"No," Tom gave his best predatory smile and said in a viciously cheerful voice, "I'm laughing!"

The room temperature changed drastically and there was no wind, like how Tom had predicted.

"GO AWAY!" Sam screamed at Tom between more sobs, with red eyes and tears and snot all over his face. See, this is why Tom now chose which emotion to feel himself consciously.

"Is everything all right up there?" came Mrs. Smith's voice from downstairs.

"Yes, Mrs. Smith!" Tom answered with his sweet honey voice. Sam glared at him.

Before Sam was about to tell Mrs. Smith that Tom was bothering him, Tom let himself feel guilty. It didn't feel good, but it was needed for this situation, like how he needed to be mean to get Sam emotional (or maybe it was just easier to get people to feel sadness or anger than happiness).

"I'm sorry Sam," he knew he looked very apologetic. He slowly walked towards where Sam was crouching.

"May I ask why you are crying?" He said softly, "It might be better to deal with if you talked about it."

Sam was hesitant at first, but when Tom gently sat down beside him (a trick he once read in a book) he started talking. He looked pretty desperate too.

"My-y mom won't come b-back for me anymore," Tom suddenly felt like a therapist, "They d-decided that she wasn't g-good enough now. I don't even know most of them, but somehow they can decide everything for me. It's not fair! Who are they to say my mom's not good enough! Everything was fine!" He said that even though Tom could tell everything was not fine. Sam was just blaming them to let out his anger.

Sam resolved to sob again, this time much louder. If things continued to escalate like this, Mrs. Smith would hear him. Tom patted the younger child on the back comfortingly.

"I always tell myself that my mom loved me… but… now I think a part of me doesn't believe in that anymore. If she loves me so much why don't stop doing… whatever she's doing? B-but if she doesn't love me, then it wouldn't really matter to a single person whether or not I lived or died!"

It wasn't getting any quieter, but at least they were down to the crux of the problem. Honestly, Tom wanted to ask 'Does any of that matter right now?' but that wasn't going to help a crying little kid.

"If you want to be an important person to other people, well, emotions can be built," Tom spoke in his soft voice again, "You might get adopted into a family if you'd like and they'll all love you." And stuff.

Sam was breathing heavily, so Tom rubbed soothing circles into his back. The little boy calmed down quickly after that. Tom took note of how the wind and cold air was no longer there.

"Matthew told me that if I prayed to God every night, he will make sure I meet a good family," Sam looked up at Tom, "Do you believe in god?"

Tom looked at Sam with determination as if he represented something else entirely.

"I believe in Magic." Tom answered.

After three months of being friends with Tom, Tom was no longer grounded now. He dragged him to his street a few blocks away from the house. Sam's weak protests were unheard.

Tom said they were on a mission to unveil a huge secret, and Sam needed to help him. Sam's role was to take him to this shabby pub called "The Leaky Cauldron". Tom warned him to take him to that pub, no matter what. He even made Sam swear on his own life. Well, that's a bit unnerving.

After a while of walking around, Sam did find a small pub with the name Leaky Cauldron (it was a really small place), so he informed Tom.

"I see it!" he tapped the older boy on the shoulder. Tom kept on walking like he never heard him.

"Tom?" he asked, but he still kept on walking further and further. Sam gestured wildly to the pub, "The Leaky Cauldron!"

Tom still didn't acknowledge his existence, so Sam grabbed him by his wrist and dragged him towards their destination. Sam did swear on his life, after all.

"Stop it! Stop! Stop!" Tom looked very angry with him, but his eyes didn't have this usual light, it was glossed over," I have something exceedingly important to do!"

Sam took that as a cue to keep on dragging him towards to pub. The older boy wasn't very strong, but it's only about a year of difference. Tom kept on shouting at him all the way (he even scratched his hand), claiming he had something important to do, but he'll thank him later.

When they entered the pub, Tom stopped his shouting and scratching, and whispered "What…?" His eyes were wide, but no longer glossy anymore.

"You're welcome." Sam reminded him.

The pub was so much bigger on the inside it was like magic. It also looked very torn and old for some reason. A lot of people here dressed in long cloak-dresses, others wore oddly matched attires. Sam kind of felt like they time-travelled back in sometime.

There was a green-eyed man with crazy black hair talking to a blonde girl and her parents who dressed normally near them. The man finished his sentence with "…Diagon Ally", then stood up and was going to go somewhere, he also gestured to the girl and her parents to follow. Except he didn't walk towards the exit.

Tom silently followed the man. Sam followed Tom's lead.

They went into a room with a brick wall that was strangely out-of-place. He and Tom were spying on them by the doorway. The man pulled out a stick (maybe it's a wand), and tapped the bricks around a hole it the brick wall in a seemingly random pattern. He stepped back, and the bricks of the walls shifted open, revealing a busy street that defied the rules of physics (Tom helped him with his homework).

"Welcome, to Diagon Ally," The man said, he gestured for the three gaping people to go first, and they did.

He didn't immediately follow them, instead, he turned around and asked, "Where are your parents?" Even though he and Tom had already pulled their heads back.

Tom peaked out first, then grabbed Sam to come out with him.

"They're over there," Tom complied in an innocent voice while pointing to a couple of adults talking cheerfully within themselves.

"Why are you all the way over here then?"

"We got bored, so we were wandering around the pub," Tom was very good at his innocent voice. Sam wanted to clap.

The green-eyed man smiled in a bitter yet happy way, "Well then, better get back to them, you don't want to get lost."

Tom nodded. The man's green eyes stayed on Tom until the blond girl's dad call "Mr. Potter!" from the other side of the wall. He joined them and the wall shifted closed.

A while later, Tom decided to step into the room with Sam following, before they collect even more stares. Amazingly, Tom tapped the bricks in the same (or at least it looked about the same) pattern as the man did before, it didn't work though, nothing happened. Grabbed Sam's hand and used Sam's finger to tap the bricks again. This time it did work, the bricks shifted away, forming an archway of an entrance.

Sam felt a bit special, because he can come to this building by himself, and his finger works on this brick wall.

Maybe it was because this time they were stepping in it instead of spying from a distance, but the whole ally screamed "magic". It was mostly made up of shops, but they sold things Sam have never seen before. Owls were hooting, a group of kids were crowded around a window shop looking at something, bottles that had fizzing soda with some poor creature's tongue rolling in it … The street was swarmed with long coats and pointy hats, walking around and chattering about…

Sam wished he had eyes all around his head, so he can stare at everything at the same time. One mouth was also not enough for the gaping needed to be done. What in the world is this place? Are these people wizard and witches with their very stereotypical pointy hats? Does magic exist?

Somewhere in the busy street of Diagon Ally, unbeknownst to Sam, a very common, typical grey rock was floating above the ground.