Tom was in deep thought.
He was staring into the fire in the Gryffindor common room that night, reflecting on what Malfoy had said. They did need a leader, but he worried it would cause tension between them. Regardless of this, he gathered them in the Room of Requirement the following afternoon, after a dreadful Defense Against the Dark Arts class which Lockhart bragged to them all about he would slay the monster in the chamber single-handedly. Several of the remaining Fateful Eight members were rolling their eyes reminiscing on the lesson, and chuckling to themselves as they had managed to evade the bumbling professor escorting the rest of the class back to the common room.
"Okay," Tom told them. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I think Malfoy's right. We do need a leader." There was an immediate uproar at this.
"What?" Nathan sputtered. "You're going to agree with him?" He looked visibly furious, as did a few of the others.
Tom put up his hands to calm them down, which was smart, as outright war would have broken out between them if he had not.
"I know, I know, it sounds wrong to admit that slime was right. But he makes a fair point. If we continue to run around like chickens with our heads cut off, we need order."
"Okay, Tony." Sean rolled his eyes.
Tom looked confused. "Tony? Who's Tony?"
"Oh, that's right, I forgot." He stood up. "You're too much of a bookworm to ever watch a movie."
Sean sighed exasperatedly. "Tony Stark. In this case I'm referencing Captain America: Civil War, everyone else knows what I'm talking about, right?" He glared at them and they nodded meekly.
Now Tom was incensed. He knew it would come to this. He sarcastically asked Sean,
"Do enlighten me, oh holy one."
Sean sighed again. "In the movie Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, has a disagreement with Captain America over whether the Avengers should be controlled by the government or not, and this leads to the Avengers being split. Meanwhile, the main villian, Baron Helmut Zemo, is trying to tear the Avengers apart from the inside, and he accomplishes his goal. Sound familiar?" he asked Tom while gritting his teeth.
"But I'm not asking for the gov-"
"Not the point, brainiac. You and Tony both want order. Me and Steve- Captain America- disagree."
"Steve and I," Tom remarked unnecessarily snobbily. "Grammar, Sean."
Sean sniffed. "If you're going to act that way, I'm leaving. Annoying prick." He pushed the door open and walked away.
The rest of them stood there stunned. Tom was hurt. Lily looked like she was about to cry. Tom stared at the spot where Sean had been, then turned towards the corner and did not speak for a long while.
Sean was not at breakfast the following morning, nor was he seen all day.
When classes resumed Monday Sean came out of his hidey hole, wherever it was, and attended classes in silence, staring at what appeared to be nothing. He did not once fall asleep in Binns' class, he did not once roll his eyes at Lockhart's silly jokes, it seemed to the rest of them that he was not capable of emotion at all.
Uncertainly, Tom asked the other four one evening- Natalie, Lily, Nathan, and Victoria- if he could be the -for now unofficial- leader of the Fateful Eight. Natalie nodded slightly while the other three remained silent. Not one of them looked at him.
Tom adjusted his glasses. He was afraid it would come to this. Not saying another word to the rest of them, he walked out. Concerned, Natalie followed him.
"Tom, be reasonable! You know this is Malfoy's work, he's trying to break the group up!"
"I know, I just wish.." his voice trailed off as he sank back into his thoughts.
"Control. That's what you want." Natalie smiled at him. "I understand that, but you're going to have to not let Malfoy make up your mind. He's a devious little prat."
Tom nodded.
"Tell you what," Natalie offered. "I'm going to see if I can talk to Sean and tell him that you want to talk to him. Is that okay?" she asked warily.
Another nod. Natalie brightened up.
"Excellent!" She beamed, and hurried off.
When the weekend rolled around Tom was uncertain about what the day would hold. Sean had agreed to meet him at 4 o'clock in the courtyard, or so Natalie told him. He didn't eat breakfast, barely touched his lunch, did a little bit of homework for Charms and Transfiguration, and left the common room for the designated spot at a quarter to four.
Sean was sitting there, looking impatient.
"Have you agreed that we don't need a leader?" he huffed.
"Mmhm," Tom responded.
"Good," Sean looked satisfied.
"However," Tom began. "I do think this needs to be a compromise, if you'll hear me out."
"Ugh, fine." Sean said. "What do you want?"
"I think that there needs to be a system in place where we vote on things as a group. You know, count hands?"
"I guess that works," Sean agreed. "We were kind of doing that anyway."
"Very well, then." Tom stood up and grinned at Sean, and the two shook hands.
"Natalie was right about one thing," Tom told him.
"What's that?" Sean asked."
"The negotiations were short." He laughed and walked off, leaving a stunned Sean in his wake.
Apparently the bookworm does watch movies, he thought.
A/N I apologize for such a short chapter but it was taking me a while so I figured I'd end here. Thanks!
