Chapter 7: Masks and Tutors

Disclaimer

I don't own HP or any of its characters, JK does.

TOM'S POV

My lessons with Harry were unlike anything I could have ever imagined. He is a person with mounds of knowledge and knows how to keep a person's attention.

Every time I looked at him, I could not comprehend how different he was. He had moments where I could clearly see the darkness underneath and he never tried to protect me from it. He treated me as an equal. And although I could see that I did not know him, as he was constantly wearing a mask, projecting the image people wanted to see, I wanted to tear them down and see him for who he really was, to understand him, (own him), My mind whispered .

I got a chance to catch a glimpse of the darkness underneath one morning after he was out of the house for a whole night.

I was in the downstairs dining room having breakfast and I didn't think he expected me to be awake. I was surprised when he suddenly appeared in hallway with an unconscious man levitating behind him.

The man appeared relatively unharmed and had a face that was not distinctive enough so I doubt anyone would notice him missing.

He glanced at me and I caught a different expression on his face, it was chilling, hungry and altogether able to instill fear in the minds of the most hardened warriors.

He didn't look at me for long, just a moment but it was all I needed to see his eye, eerie and glowing a green so bright just like the curse he had taught me about yesterday in one of our lessons.

He nodded in acknowledgement and continued on his way without saying anything to me and I could hamper a guess on where he was going to do to that man. I didn't care either way.

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I saw Harry again that night at dinner. He seemed awfully cheerful and I knew it had everything to do with the screams I heard earlier. I wondered why he didn't put the silencing spells he had told me about and I could only come to one conclusion, he wanted me to hear him. And So I decided to test my boundaries with him when he sat down across me;

"You look cheerful" I said to him "has it got anything with the man you brought in unconscious this morning?"

He didn't hesitate to answer me.

"Yes it does. I think it's time we had a talk Tom. I'm a man with very little restrictions and with me being a Lord of a large estate, I don't have to work and I get bored; I have to relive that boredom somehow."

He said all that while still eating like the discussion about him torturing someone was a thing he talked about every day and for the first time.

I looked at him and saw a glimpse of the monster under the man and I could not be more excited.

The things I could learn.

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Since the 'incident' as I had come to call it a few days ago, I could see harry starting to relax around me. Dropping it mask often and letting me catch a glimpse of then real him and I offered him the same courtesy.

And so when he came down to join me for dinner a week later, I knew something was going on. I could see it in his body expression, how tense he was.

He opened his mouth to speak; "Tom, you know that you are turning ten on Saturday"

I just nodded my head and signaled for him to continue speaking.

"You only have a year before Hogwarts and I think it best if I hired a tutor for you."

"A tutor" I said, shocked. "Why would I need a tutor? You are here".

"Because" he began saying "There are some things you will need to know before you enter of you want to stand out. You are smart but someone else could always be smarter."

I knew what he meant but that did not mean I had to like it.

"Why can't you teach me like before?" I asked impatiently, I didn't want someone in our house. I was unwilling to share him.

His answer was a little impatient;

"Because I said so Tom"

I could see he was frustrated and so I dropped it. Let the unlucky person come and see if they are ever leaving here alive, I thought darkly.