CW: orphanages, construction, ghosts

Chapter Thirty-One: Reparations and Reconstructions

Tom had never been so exhausted in his life. Every day since that long night, he had gone to Wool's Orphanage to reconstruct the building. It had been extremely difficult to figure out how to even get his hands on the building when there were so many muggles involved. Death had taken him to a connection who worked around muggles for a living, and they had largely handled the paperwork. But Tom himself had to create a temporary living arrangement for the current orphans and staff, then make the site disappear from muggle eyes while he reconstructed it.

Now, to any muggle passing by, it looked like a construction crew was working on the site, while underneath the mirage Tom used obscene amounts of magic to make Amy's sketches a reality. Death helped in certain areas, but for the most part just observed Tom working. She had to be present so that all of the ghost orphans and Billy could watch, and she honestly didn't seem to mind watching Tom work while she relaxed.

The children loved watching Tom work, and Billy even seemed to enjoy himself occasionally. The easiest day had been when Tom got to break down the building to its elements, then sorting it into piles. He'd then used magic to multiply materials he needed, but tried his best to use only what had already existed. Tom used to hate this place, but now looking at the building he was creating, he wanted its history to be acknowledged. Tom made a huge fireplace on two sides of the building, the kitchen and the infirmary, but then used magic to expand that heat throughout all of the other rooms.

After the first floor was roughly finished, Tom had to rest. The children all clambered onto Tom as soon as he sat down on the grounds, but he honestly didn't mind. He just lay back on the snow, his coat keeping him warm as he breathed out clouds of frosty air.

"You sure you won't catch cold?" One of the little kids asked, flopping onto his stomach and staring at him.

"Nope," Tom said, craning his neck to look at the kid. "You lot are keeping me warm."

And they were - in a weird way, their little beings were warm and comforting. They didn't have much weight either, but Tom could feel their little presences all around himself. It was bizarre, but Tom was done trying to understand the complicated nature of Death and everything around her.

"Oh good." The kid grinned, burrowing closer into Tom's chest.

After a few more minutes of this, Tom gently sat back up. "I have to go back to work now, or I won't be finished in time for supper."

The children sighed heavily, but got off of Tom's legs so he could continue working on the orphanage's outside structure. He had been too ambitious before, trying to fully construct each floor separately. His new goal would have to be creating the basic structure today and worrying about the interior tomorrow. It brought up a lot of Tom's anxieties and insecurities about aging, but he tried to breathe through that.

The next three floors were given the bare bones and structure they needed, but it was still magically exhausting. Tom felt himself sweating and looking reproachfully at Death. She was utterly relaxed, and if he didn't know better Tom would think she was asleep.

"Oh, fine." Death muttered eventually, lazily waving her finger and creating the roof. "But just this once."

"Thank you, Death." Tom panted, taking another rest with the children.

She waved him off casually. "I'm only doing it because you still have to make dinner."

Tom groaned, remembering that he did, in fact, need to go home and make dinner. Marvolo, as the family had very recently found out, was absolutely atrocious at cooking. And, with Merope working full time and studying for her N.E.W.T.S., that left Tom to make all the food and get all the groceries. And today's supper was even more important, because Merope's first tests were the next morning.

Sighing heavily, Tom stood back up with the help of some enthusiastic ghost children. He waved goodbye to them all, then apparated away from the site. He began walking very slowly down the path, when he heard something strange coming from the dining room. It was, if Tom wasn't much mistaken, some sort of music.

Walking slowly and quietly, Tom made his way to the window. Looking inside, he found Marvolo rocking in his chair and playing a wooden instrument to himself and Morfin. There wasn't any sort of recognizable tune or melody, but Tom found himself transfixed by the scene. He'd watched Marvolo grow softer and kinder over the months, but this was just another example of how much Marvolo had changed.

Tom made sure to announce himself though before he opened the door. He didn't want Marvolo to feel pressured to share this new hobby, and he noticed that Marvolo slid the musical instrument into a pocket of his robes.

"Welcome back, Tom." Marvolo grunted. "You've been out a while."

"Yes," Tom nodded, taking off his muddy boots and cloak. "I'm working on a bit of a larger project lately."

"Oh?" Marvolo looked curious, which Tom supposed was fair since he'd been completely focused on their family the whole time they'd known him.

Tom smiled at him, crossing into the kitchen and getting down ingredients. As he started cooking, he replied.

"I recently took up a reconstruction job in London. It's an orphanage that I was in for a while, until my relatives found me."

The relatives bit was a lie that Tom had used to explain how he'd found the Gaunt family, but it felt good to share this part of his history. After a few long moments of silence though, Tom turned to see if Marvolo was still in the room.

"That's really...decent of you, Tom." Marvolo said gruffly, his eyes a little bright. "I'd like to see it when it's all finished."

"Certainly." Tom said awkwardly, surprised that Marvolo would care so much about this topic.

They didn't talk much after that, Tom just trying to get dinner finished so he could relax. The fire crackled merrily as they sat together though, watching supper cook and waiting for Merope to return. Neither of them really acknowledged it, but they always missed her when she was gone.

Tom had made a charm that notified them when Merope was coming through the Floo after one disastrous landing, so he managed to move the cauldron of food before she came through. She'd also become quite neat at the process, not getting soot everywhere like the first few times. They'd also put a nice hook for her cloak by the fireplace. She smiled at them both, hanging up her cloak and taking off her shoes.

"How was today?" Marvolo asked once she had settled into a chair.

"Oh, much better!" She said, grinning. "That coworker I told you about got moved to another project!"

"How'd that happen?" Tom asked, setting down their dinner and taking his seat.

"They exploded one of our test phials!" Merope cheered. "I thought Mr. Hodgens was going to explode himself - he looked so mad."

"Well, good," Marvolo said, pouring himself some soup. "This way you won't have to clobber them."

The family burst into laughter, easily falling into their normal routine. And, for the first time, Tom really felt like he deserved to be there. Like he deserved to feel happy and enjoyed their company. Because he knew now that he was on the right path and that he was not just making up for his past mistakes, but creating a better future for others he would never meet.

Notes:

Watching Tom's character growth is just the best thing. Also, we are now into the live writing, so there may be a little more mistakes. All my previous chapters were written over the course of 2020.

Happy Reading!