Tom realized that there was something strange lately, but he couldn't put his finger on it. One day, he saw Annabeth looking a little bit upset.
"Why are you upset? What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing," Annabeth said, but she wasn't convincing. She sighed. "Apparently, my future self has a crush on this one boy in her class. He's the only one who lets her be herself, he's there for her, he understands her and her situation, .etc."
"So why are you upset?" Tom asked. Why did that bother Annabeth? He saw her think.
"Because it's contagious, and now I have a crush on someone who I don't know. Isn't that just brilliant!" Annabeth groaned. Tom nodded. That did make sense. He couldn't imagine having a crush on someone, or falling in love. He had seen teenagers in love, and they just seemed like addled fools. I mean, what good does love do?
"Oh yeah, I can see why you're so upset, but don't worry about it." As the days went by, Annabeth told him what her future self was going through. She also told him about the bits of advice she'd throw, which seemed to work for her future self, such as not telling anyone about her crush. That way, her future self stayed friends with her crush, and at least she had his friendship. Tom agreed. Especially if the boy didn't feel the same way back, telling him about it would've been a sign of weakness. He had noticed Annabeth look at Tom strangely, but he was sure nothing was wrong with him or different about him. Tom and Annabeth's tenth birthdays arrived, then their eleventh birthdays, and then summer was here. Tom noticed that, over time, not only was Annabeth more inclined to learn, but she was more independent. That's good, he thought. It's better to do everything on your own basis. Then you can be more proud of it. Around July, Tom noticed something different about Annabeth. She was a bit uneasy around him, almost nervous. What's wrong? I don't think I did anything.
"Annabeth, why are you nervous around me? I haven't done anything."
"Oh, nothing. I just don't want to always hang around you and possibly annoy you." Tom could tell that Annabeth was lying, though. She never seemed to worry about that. She hung around him a lot, and she knew that he didn't hate it, but he decided to let it go for now. Maybe it was just something her future self had said. One day, Mrs. Cole came into Tom's room.
"Tom! Oh Annabeth, you're here too. I thought so. Good. You have a visitor!" In followed a strange man with an auburn beard. Brilliant. Mrs. Cole probably noticed our magic and thinks that we're crazy. He has to be from the nuthouse. The man's eyes twinkled, and he seemed to smile at Tom, as if sharing an inside joke with him. Tom was puzzled. He looked over at Annabeth, who seemed just as surprised.
"Hello," the man said. "I'm professor Dumbledore."
"You're from the nuthouse, aren't you? You have to be! I'm not crazy, and neither is Annabeth!" Tom yelled.
"Shut up, Tom, and just listen! Sorry professor, please continue," Annabeth said. Wow! Annabeth is worrying about being polite to someone who's probably a madhouse doctor!
"Thank you, Miss Sharma. Mr. Riddle, if you hadn't interrupted, I would've been able to tell you sooner that Hogwarts isn't a school for mad people. It's a school of magic." Tom and Annabeth both looked astounded. I knew there was something special about me, Tom thought.
"M - magic, professor? Is that what Tom and I can do?" Tom heard Annabeth ask.
"Yes indeed. You two are very special children, indeed."
"But we haven't got any money for tuition, books, and supplies and stuff." Tom replied, his heart sinking. But surely this professor Dumbledore realized that they didn't have any money?
"The school will provide the money for the books, supplies, and uniform. The tuition and board is free. The school goes from September to June." It dawned on Tom then. He would be escaping from this orphanage. Well, for atleast most of the year. And he didn't have to give up his friendship with Annabeth, which meant that he would know one person before he even got to Hogwarts. One thing nagged at him, though.
"Where are we going to get the supplies, professor?" Annabeth asked before Tom could.
"Ah, it's at the Leaky Cauldron. I can take you, if you'd like," professor Dumbledore offered, but Tom wanted to go alone; well, with Annabeth. He didn't want and adult intruding in and ruining his first glimpse of the magical world. He wanted to enjoy it in the way that only unsupervised children can, wandering around with only his friend, and talking without an adult around. He also didn't want to have to rely on someone, anyone.
"It's okay. We want to go ourselves," Tom said. He saw the look on Annabeth's face. She seemed to agree with him, but seemed upset about something he had said.
"What he means, professor, is that we may want to take our time in enjoying our first glimpse of the magical world, and we don't want to tie you up, since you probably have other important things to do. Also, I dunno, the adults we've dealt with in our past have been uptight, and they always ruin our fun. Therefore, we're more used to doing things independently. We promise that we won't do anything stupid, sir," Annabeth said politely and sweetly.
"Very well," the professor replied. He made a piece of paper and pencil appear out of nowhere, and wrote out something. "These are the instructions on how to get into the Leaky Cauldron, and then how to get to Diagon Alley from inside the Leaky Cauldron." He handed them to Tom, and then gave a pouch to Annabeth and one to Tom.
"This is the money to buy supplies. I take it you two accept your place into Hogwarts?"
"Of course!" Tom and Annabeth replied eagerly.
"Very well, then. I'll...erm...convince the matron to drive you two to the train station. Here are the tickets. To get onto platform 9 and 3/4, you must run into the barrier between platform 9 and 10. See you two at Hogwarts!" With that, the professor walked out. As soon as he did, Annabeth rounded on Tom.
"Why did you have to be rude to him, Tom?" Annabeth demanded.
"Because - because he's a meddling fool!" Tom replied.
"I don't know why you think that, he's the one who gave us the escape route from this dump of a place, so atleast be a little bit grateful. The least you could've done is pretend to be grateful! I mean, I didn't want an adult with us on our first major step into the world where we rightfully belong, but you could've been a little politer. He'll probably think the worst of you before you've even arrived at Hogwarts!" Tom realized that Annabeth was right. It was just that, all of his life, the authority figures he'd dealt weren't pleasant, so he was convinced that authority didn't give a crap what happened to you, they just cared about themselves and their system. However, Annabeth was definitely right about one thing. He could atleast pretend.
Yes! They've learned about Hogwarts! The next chapter will tell you the other main reason why Annabeth is nervous and uneasy around Tom, and it isn't just the fact that she has a crush on him! Any guesses? Do review!
