Chapter 4:

Harry had started to notice little things at first. When he would go to reach for something, somehow the object of his desire would slide closer until his fingers wrapped around it. Or like how when his room would get too dark, the curtains on his windows would fly open and let the sunlight pour through. Then there had even been that one time, just last week, when he had accidently caused Mildred's book to slam hard in her pig face after he had witnessed her push one of the younger children out of their chair. Her nose had started bleeding at the impact and when Tom had lifted his head towards the commotion, he had raised a curious brow before glancing at him knowingly - as if he just knew that it had been him that had been the cause. And in reality, if there was anyone that had the slightest clue what his nine year old self was going through, Tom would be it.

He had seen what Tom had the capability to do - that image from his first day at Wool's would forever be imprinted into his memory - and at the initial start of his...odd dwellings, Harry had thought that Tom's abilities were wearing onto him. He had felt a strong rush at the thought but as the weeks went by, Harry found that no matter how hard he stared at the bullies of Wool's, they would never drop to their knees in pain like Tom would make them. Harry didn't have the power to suddenly make blood pour from their bodies but he could still do things that normal people couldn't.

Tom had practically gone giddy when he had started to tell his brother about what he could do, and that was a sight all in its own. Tom never turned giddy; rarely ever laughed in general either. After that, the two of them had thrown themselves into a competition of sorts, seeing who could do what and at what extreme. Tom was always the stronger of the two, but like any good brother, he would push Harry to try harder the next time.

"You have to better yourself," Tom had said. "So that when the day comes, you'll be prepared to overcome anything that gets in your way."

Every time Tom would spew those infamous words of his, Harry would ask what day he was supposed to be anticipating but Tom would always shrug and change subjects. Sometimes, Harry thought that Tom didn't even know. It didn't, however, tamper Tom's crave for power nor did it slow his advance. There would be times when he would catch Tom staring so intently at an object or person, that he feared they would burst into flames or double over in death.

His reactions were always the same when he would watch Tom in action. There was two separate options he had; either be terrified of Tom's abilities to the point where he wanted to run away screaming or he would watch in amazement, slightly jealous that he was nowhere near Tom's talent level. There was more reactions of the later. It was rare for Harry to truly get terrified of Tom and that was when he was certain his brother had been the cause of a car wreck across the street. An entire family had crashed their automobile into a man's pickup after they had swerved into the opposite lane. None of the six individuals had survived. The youngest had only been two. That event had only happened a few months ago, just days after his ninth birthday.

Harry tore his gaze away from the piece of paper that he had been staring at for the past five minutes as his door swished open. He knew who it was automatically, no one else ever dared venture this far down the hall. Tom was always the one who opened his door anyway, apart from those few times Mrs. Cole would check that his bed was made.

"There's a funny man here," Tom said with apprehension. He nodded his head over his shoulder to gesture towards his bedroom. "Come look. He's just arrived."

Harry jumped up at the command. "Someone that's been here before?" Both of them quickly stridded across the hall to peer down through the window.

"Definitely not," Tom whispered. "Dressed something like that, I would've remembered."

Harry laughed in return, eyes absorbing every detail of the man walking up the sidewalk of Wool's Orphanage. It was a queer looking old man with grey hair and a beard that rested past the middle of his chest. The elder was dressed strangely in a set of deep purple trousers and jacket with a long, spotted scarf that sat around his neck and a bright purple overcoat that was folded across his arm.

"What do you s'pose he wants? He can't possibly be here for an adoption, he didn't bring a vehicle."

"Maybe he's someone's relative," Tom murmured. From the corner of Harry's eyesight, he caught Nagini's movement as she slithered towards Tom. "He's probably just here for a visit."

"A visit for who?"

But Tom's attention shifted to his shoulder as Nagini began to hiss into his ear. Harry always longed for a pet of his own, especially one that he could talk to and understand such as Nagini. He always tried not to eye Tom skeptically when his brother would hiss back at the reptile, but it was quite hard and a larger part of him was downright terrified of the python. It's beady green eyes always gave him the chills.

"What's she saying?" Harry asked aloud, watching as the odd man disappeared beneath them.

"She said the man is like us," Tom answered but his brows were furrowed in concentration. "She can feel his abilities like a warmth - the same that we have, only a lot stronger." He turned his head and began to hiss at the snake, Nagini staring at her owner unblinkingly.

Harry watched the interaction silently, and it wasn't until Tom stopped that Nagini nodded her head and slinked off of his arm and across the floorboards, disappearing into the shadows.

"Where is she going?" Harry tried to squint into the darkness to make out her figure, but it was impossible. Nagini had vanished.

"I told her to go find the man. It's bothersome to know he's like us," Tom's jaw hardened. "He can be a threat. Especially if he's stronger than us."

"How can you be so sure Nagini is right?" Harry asked with a raised, curious brow.

Tom turned on him in the blink of an eye, staring him down with narrowed slits. "She was right about you."

Harry couldn't refute that. It was still quite unsettling that the only reason Tom had ever reached out to him was because of that snake. Without her, Harry would still be that small boy who was picked on and would have spent each of his mornings elbow deep in his list of chores. A lot of things would be different; everything, actually.

"This man, someone like us, pops up out of the blue and comes to our orphanage?" Tom was talking to himself as he threw himself onto his bed. "That's too many coincidences. He's bound to be here to talk to one of us."

"What makes you think that? Perhaps he is like us but is here to talk to someone else. Maybe someone else in this orphanage is like us."

Tom scoffed. "That's impossible. Nagini would've told me the minute they arrived. There can't be that many people like us, Harry. Otherwise it wouldn't be such a secret as it is now."

"What if they keep it a secret because everyone else keeps it a secret-"

The older boy sat straight up in his bed, looking at him with a sly grin. "But we don't keep it a secret, Harry. That's the beauty of it all. We know we're different and so do the other children, even Mrs. Cole. Why else do you think they avoid us at all costs? They fear what they don't understand."

"That's hardly fair-"

"I don't give a damn about what's fair in life," Tom drawled. "It's what they deserve. If we're better than them, why hide it?"

Harry's brows crumpled in confusion. "But we don't?"

Tom's smile grew fangs. "Exactly."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Ending Note: Apologies for the short chapter but I'll be updating again very soon.