Chapter 53
"You know, despite that End of the Year Ceremony being exactly the same as the other six and the fact that I had thought that the entire thing was boring last year, it felt a whole lot different than I remember."
"You know, Abraxas?" Charlus said in a voice that imitated Abraxas's perfectly, "You're getting extremely sentimental in your old age. Soon, you'll be doting on house elves and hippogriffs because the last time you'd seen it was in a Care of Magical Creatures class."
"Not that you're much better. I saw you running your hands along the walls of Hogwarts like a five year old!"
Charlus turned pink, "I did not! Tracy had told me she saw a doorway disappear from that wall! I was just trying to check if the doorway became invisible instead!"
"Were you going to get out your wand and add colour too? Will you be doing the same on the train? Maybe this time your excuse would be that you wanted to leave a mark…"
"Were you living on the train, Abraxas? Maybe I missed that part the entire year," Charlus shot back, the faux seriousness in his expression
"Really, Abraxas, sometimes I wonder why you weren't just Sorted into Gryffindor," Rachel teased.
"Why do you all like ganging up on me? I'm innocent! Right, Xeno?"
"No. Absolutely not. Last time-" Xeno said, without looking up from the magazine he was reading. "Wait. What were you talking about?"
Abraxas looked deeply betrayed, and Aidan could feel the grin on his face starting to ache. The Court had been like that since they had met in the Great Hall that morning. The seven years of living in Hogwarts for most of the year, and the idea of leaving it, potentially never stepping foot in it again, was something that hadn't quite hit them until that moment. It hadn't hit Aidan either, but Tom had disappeared for several hours the night before they left. Aidan had a sneaking suspicion that Tom had visited the Chamber of Secrets during that time but didn't bring it up.
Their joviality lasted weeks after they had left Hogwarts, with Abraxas offering Charlus paint the next time they visited Malfoy Manor, and while it was shared by Aidan and Tom, both were also busy with their other project of trying to find a new home. Dumbledore had been insistent on paying for at least some of cost for their home, 'after everything they had been through because of him' was his excuse. Aidan couldn't deny Dumbledore that much if it made him feel just a little bit better, but had told Dumbledore he would have liked his help with the wards instead. Tom sighed in defeat when Dumbledore had offered to help with that as well only seconds later.
Tom and Harry had searched muggle and wizarding villages alike, getting progressively further from Hogwarts. There were some places that had potential in Aidan's eyes, Morgan's Creek being one that Aidan had particularly liked, but Tom hadn't found whatever he was looking for among those places. He had never given a real reason behind not liking those places, but Aidan was perfectly fine with that as he liked many of the houses and was sure he would like the house Tom liked as well.
It was a bit strange thinking that, had he been in his own time, Aidan wouldn't have had to do all this looking around. He could have just lived in the home his parents had lived in, which was… was…
Aidan realised that he didn't actually know where he had lived for the first year of his life. No one had ever actually mentioned the specific place, only mentioning that it was a house, or more ruins that would need a lot of time and effort to fix. He didn't even know where his parents had been buried, or ever thought about visiting their graves since entering the wizarding world at eleven. If the professors were as close to his parent as they said they had been, surely one of them would have taken Aidan with them if he'd asked.
Reminding himself that it wouldn't make a difference now, because Tom wasn't Voldemort and so they probably wouldn't die seeing as it looked like Aidan would continue to live in this time, still didn't relieve him of the guilty of never thinking about something that important. The event that killed Lily and James Potter may never come to pass, but they may never be his parents either. Because if Aidan did have parents, there was only a small chance he would be able to return to this time and know to save Tom.
Aidan didn't know what Tom was looking for until, one day, Tom suddenly found it. Not that Aidan knew what 'it' was anyway. He had liked the house, there was no doubt about that.
The house wasn't too big, despite being double storey, but there were enough rooms for them and perhaps another pair if they were willing to share a bedroom, or convert one of the other rooms into a bedroom. Each bedroom had a bathroom. Aidan and Tom doubted many of them would like to stay in such a small home anyway, but they were open to surprises, although the idea of Abraxas staying in a small room was hilarious. There was a small kitchen: enough for the two of them. Aidan had no idea what they would do with the other rooms, but Aidan didn't doubt that they would find a use for it.
"Two Slytherins living in Godric's Hollow, huh?" Tom mused after they had agreed to buy the place.
"No, the Heir of Slytherin living in Gryffindor's home town. Salazar must be rolling in his grave right now," Aidan teased.
"You're a parselmouth too," Tom replied, eyes glinting with humour. "I think it would be Godric rolling in his grave knowing two Slytherins were living in his home town. Salazar would be proud of us for getting in."
"Good thing there's no rivalry, huh? I doubt we'd survive this if both Houses held the grudges their namesakes would," Aidan laughed. "Gryffindors tend to have the attack first, questions later, policy that I'm sure you might have noticed on Minerva and Charlus sometimes."
"I've seen it on you more times than I've seen it on them," Tom said, pulling Aidan close to him. They had returned to Hogwarts, at Dumbledore's insistence, until they found a home for themselves. None of the other Professors had argued either, so they had agreed, perhaps a bit more willingly than they would have liked, not knowing how long they would remain within their first homes. Tonight would be their last night in the castle before they would only be welcomed back as guests.
Aidan pulled back slightly, arms still wrapped around Tom, "You have to admit, you weren't the most friendly of people when I met you."
"I was polite! The Court would agree with me!" Tom complained. "You were the one who jinxed me in the library before I'd even said anything!"
"You were sneaking around! What did you expect me to do? I was in the same dorm as you but you were happy stalking me even though it was completely unnecessary!"
"I'd still stalk you, if I were given half an opportunity," Tom grinned, "but I'd find that rather pointless now because you're right here, and why would I stalk you if I could just hold you like this? Much better, don't you think?"
Aidan felt the ridiculous urge to laugh, but restrained it since he didn't think Tom would appreciate it. He had never noticed that Tom was this corny. It was either that or Tom was just trying too hard.
"Of course. It's better not to think that you're the rather creepy guy staring in the corner, huh?"
