Chapter Four – the Dream

The occupants of the fourth-year-Slytherin-dormitory were rudely awoken by a loud, pain filled, scream in around one o'clock that night. Moving towards the source of the noise Malfoy found Harry wriggling in pain, his hand pressing against his famous scar, nails drawing blood from the skin around it, his breading bother loud and heavy. Horrified he forcefully removed Harry's hand while ordering one of the other students to go and fetch Tom. The other teen was soaking in sweat but otherwise he seemed to slowly calm down and return to normal.

Just as Tom came rushing in to the room, Harry was fixing glasses handed to him on request only a second earlier, by the worried blonde. Practically shoving the said person out of his way Tom jerked Harry's face closer to him so that he would have perfect view of the scar.

"Is that thing hurting?" He whispered, wiping away blood with his sleeve.

"I'm fine; I was just having a really strange dream." Harry told him with a reassuring tone. "Nagini was in it, I… it was really strange. It all seemed so real too…"

"Nagini?" Malfoy repeated with wide eyes but shut up when seeing the murderous warning in Tom's eyes as he looked up at him over Harry's shoulder.

"She is our snake." Harry muttered, unaware of the effect the name seemed to have on a few the other teen. "I wonder if she is still alright."

"I'm sure she is." Tom assured him. "She is smarter than all the brats back at there. Are you alright now?"

"The scar stings a bit."

"It's really the scar?" Harry nodded, leaning his head against Tom's chest. "Stay with me?"

"From cradle to grave." Tom promised quietly before slipping into the bed with him, his eyes telling the others to go back to theirs and do the same.

Lying down Tom gently pressed his sleeve against Harry's forehead. Upon receiving Harry's questioning look he quietly told him it was to stop the bleeding. "Sleep. It's a few more hours until breakfast."

Long after Harry returned to the land of dreams, Tom remained awake by his side pondering the possibilities to why the scar his future-self had left Harry would play up so suddenly and violently.

Four hours, DDDDD of theories later and with on last look at the still irritated scar, Tom gently shook the boy beside him up awake.

"What's going on?" Harry asked with a yawn, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before looking up at Tom's seated form. "It's still dark outside."

"We'll go eat before the others wake up, hurry."

Harry couldn't remember the last time he saw the Great Hall completely empty with the exception of the four fully set breakfast tables. The ceiling was still shifting colours though soon settled for a light blue colour as the sun fully rose outside.

"Tell me about the dream." Tom ordered as Harry began to fill his plate with the delicious food the houselves had provided. "Your scar has never bothered you before; maybe it's connected to the one who gave it to you."

"It isn't, Nagini was in it. The scar hurting and dream was just a coincident Voldemort is gone." Harry told him disinterested, missing the annoyance in Tom's eyes.

"Don't be naïve. You may have defeated him somehow but you don't become a dark lord without power and Dumbledore said he is still alive. He will want revenge."

"Do you think we know him?" Harry asked curiously, dismissing Tom's worry. "Considering the time he rose, it would be possible for him to have gone to Hogwarts when we did."

"He tried to kill you." Tom hissed angrily. "There must have been a reason why he went after a baby. I wouldn't kill anyone without a reason."

"My parents fought for the light, that's probably the reason. They were probably the real target." Harry told him. "But I will train to protect myself so he can't kill me if comes after me. More to the point, since when do you believe everything Dumbledore says?"

"Tell me about the dream." Tom insisted.

"I was in an old house on the top of a hill. I saw Nagini and a man, he really looked more like a rat than human being, on the floor in one of the rooms, but they didn't see me. There was a another man in there too, he was sitting in a black chair with his back turned to me so I couldn't see him. But he tortured the man with one of the unforgivables after telling him that his blunder hadn't ruined everything after all…"

Tom didn't get a chance to comment for just as Harry finished the current headmaster stepped into the hall in an, even for him, unusually colourful robe smiling jollily at the two teens.

"Why, Good morning Harry, Tom. What brings you two here so early?" He greeted. "I do believe this is the first time in years I wasn't the first to arrive in the morning."

"Professor." Both greeted as Tom grabbed Harry's arm. "We were just finished. Have a nice day, sir."

"You too, Tom." He answered before looking over at the other boy. "Harry, do try to come and see me sometime. You should know more about your family."

"I will do my best, sir." Harry assured him, though his voice sounded anything but.

"You really don't care about your family at all?" Tom asked when they were out of (magically enhanced) hearing reach from Dumbledore. He sounded uncertain and even frightened as he asked, though Harry doubted it was the question itself that had that effect on him.

"I used to think they didn't want me. That they were muggles and I did some accidental magic or that they were wizards who thought I was a squib so I stopped caring. All I knew was that they didn't want me. It wasn't like with your mum who died giving birth to you, who named you. I didn't know if Harry was really my name or just a name on a blanket they had found." As he said this he sounded as if he didn't care, as if he was discussing the weather. "I'm happy to know I'm not an unwanted child, but even if I was it wouldn't have mattered, it doesn't change anything. You wanted me, you accepted me, you protected me. What I know this; Tom is the only family I need." Even as he finished his tone hadn't changed, his eyes hadn't once turned to look at the other boy, but a small smile tucked Tom's lips.

Tbc…