Hey all! :) Thank you to my awesome reviewers, lilyflower101, Ilse, and luvinmylife247365! :) Don't worry, things WILL get better for the boys, and Karma is going to be a b**ch (especially for Aurelius lol)

Anyways, I am currently working on chapter 22, and I am hoping to be able to finish this story this month! :)

WARNING: Some angst.

Hope you like it! :)

He had taken him to a small office, the room was furnished with nothing but a desk and a chair, and a round table with three chairs. There was no window, and it was cold- or maybe it was just Gryffindor's look on his face that made him feel cold.

They were both sitting at the table, and since Gryffindor had taken him here about ten minutes ago, he had refused to say one word. The Founder had not said much either, he had spent most of the time looking at him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"How are you, Thomas?", he finally asked and he wanted to laugh in disbelief, "you already asked me that."

"Sir."

"You don't have to call me Sir, Gryffindor."

"You are asking for a spanking, Thomas."

"You can't spank me, you are not…not my father", he refused to look at him.

Gryffindor let out a small laugh, "if I was, we wouldn't even have this discussion- my sons would not even dream of disrespecting me like this."

He hated himself for it, but he had to ask, "you…you have kids?"

"Two boys- fifteen and thirteen."

Tom did not know how to reply to that, so he just kept staring at the ground.

There was another silence.

"You still have not answered my question, Thomas."

"Yeah, I did- you asked me and I said fine. Answer's still the same."

"I am asking you to tell me the truth, though- you don't seem fine."

"That's because I am here with you. I am fine. I am doing fine. Everything is just…fine."

Gryffindor sighed, "so no one has been…bothering you?"

Tom felt a lump in his throat, and he had to swallow.

I can't believe he has the nerve to ask me that.

"Wouldn't you be the first one to know about that?", he finally spat out, "you fucking hypocrite, what the hell do you want from me?"

Gryffindor got up, and Tom knew he had finally crossed the line when he saw the look on his face, "what I want from you, Thomas?", he grabbed him and forced him to stand up, "first of all, I am done with the blatant disrespect from you- and secondly, I am tired of you lying straight to my face", he dragged him over to the desk, "bend over- and do not dare to move."

He was too surprised to react for some seconds, but then he started to struggle with all his might, "no! Fuck you, you won't hurt me anymore! Get off me, leave me alone!"

He screamed, more from the shock than the pain when Gryffindor delivered one hard swat to his backside, "hold still, Thomas."

Tom suppressed a sob, but when Gryffindor carefully pulled his pants down, he started to struggle again, "NO! No, don't! Don't, leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

He held onto his pants desperately, and then for once he acted like the scared little boy that he really was- and bolted. He turned around and ran for the door, but he had not even made it passed the table when Gryffindor grabbed him, "no, Thomas", he said calmly, "you don't get to do that anymore."

He easily picked him up and carried him back, and Tom cried out in frustration and shame when Gryffindor pulled his jeans and underwear down.

"You…you bastard, I'll tell them, I'll tell!", he was crying, hating how vulnerable this made him feel, and he kept yelling and cursing at the Founder, and it took him several minutes to realize that Gryffindor was not hitting him.

"Who did this to you, Thomas?", he finally asked, and his voice sounded…strange somehow, and Tom stilled.

He can see the bruises- and the marks…

And suddenly, something inside him snapped. He turned around, not even caring anymore that he was standing in front of the Founder with his pants down, "you, you did this to me!", he was shouting now, and his face was an expression of fury, "your thugs beat me up every day since I got here, telling me to keep my damn mouth shut- just what you wanted me to do, so no one ever finds out about your lies and deceits! They…they fucking beat me so bad I passed out, they spit on me, they broke my rib, they…they kicked me, and hit me, and they threatened to cut my tongue out if I tell you…", he sobbed, "I…I am not fine, but you knew that already, I am sure you get daily reports from Evans and Thompson!"

"Evans…and Thompson?"

Tom sobbed again, "stop playing dumb! The guards who you bribed, I know this is all a joke to you, but…"

"Pull your pants up."

He blinked, but did what he was told.

"Wait here, Thomas."

Tom stared after him in complete disbelief when he suddenly left the room.

What the hell?

Minutes passed, and his anger slowly deflated, and instead, he suddenly felt scared.

He had yelled at Gryffindor, he had called him a bastard, and he had told on Evans and Thompson…

"He is going to kill me", he whispered to himself, "he is probably getting the cane right now…why, why did I not keep my mouth shut?"

He sobbed, and even though he knew it was childish, he crawled under the desk to hide there.

More minutes passed, and he flinched when he suddenly heard Gryffindor's voice outside, and he was yelling at someone, and then someone was screaming…

Tom trembled, not understanding anything anymore. Who is he so mad at?

The screams turned into howls and all of a sudden- there was a silence.

And then, the door opened again.

Gryffindor.

Tom closed his eyes, pushing himself harder against the wood of the desk, and he heard Gryffindor's footsteps coming closer, and he whimpered quietly.

This is it- he is going to beat me, and torture me, and kill me…

"Tommy?"

Another whimper.

"What are you doing under the desk?", Gryffindor's voice was soft, "are you hiding?"

He nodded; his eyes still pressed tightly closed.

There was a noise, and he realized that Gryffindor was sitting down in front of him now, but he made no attempts to pull him out from his hiding spot, "did you hear the screams just now?"

Another nod.

"That was Thompson screaming", Gryffindor informed him, "I know that does not undo the things he did to you- and I am sorry. I am so sorry."

Tom blinked and carefully opened his eyes, "why…are you sorry, Sir?"

Gryffindor flinched at the Sir, "Tommy…I did not tell anyone to beat you up, and certainly not Thompson and Evans. I had no idea how they were treating you."

"That's why…they did not want…me to tell you, Sir", his voice was hollow, "but…this is not making any sense, who…"

"Evans confessed straight away after he saw Thompson getting what he deserved. Dumbledore had bribed them, and Dumbledore is also responsible for the other boys hurting you."

Tom stared at him in shock, "that…that means…"

"Dumbledore knows- not everything, but about as much as what you found out, yes."

"And…that's…not good, right?"

"No, Tommy, that's not good", he carefully pulled him out, and Tom made no attempt to resist, "Dumbledore has an advantage- and we are running out of time."

"His advantage is- the elder wand", Tom mumbled thoughtfully, and Gryffindor smiled at him, "smart boy", he praised him, "yes, and he is protecting that with all he's got- Salazar has been trying for months to steal it from him."

"What…are you going to do then?"

Gryffindor sighed, "there is not much we can do- we have to keep trying. If Dumbledore…if he finds out everything, it will destroy the wizarding world. He will destroy it."

"That's what you meant when you said there's a bigger picture."

"Precisely."

They were sitting on the floor in silence for the next minutes, both of them deep in thought.

Eventually, Gryffindor got up, "come on, we can't stay here all day."

Tom did not respond, but he got up as well.

"Back to my cell then?", he finally asked, hating you hopeless he sounded.

Gryffindor chuckled softly, "you really think I am going to leave you here, Thomas? You are clearly in danger here- Dumbledore will not stop to make you silent."

His heart started to beat faster, "Azkaban then?"

"You are fourteen- a little too young to stay in Azkaban, don't you think? I am going to take you home with me, Thomas."

"Ho…me?"

"Gryffindor Manor."

And all he could do was stare.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Sirius flinched, "yeah, course I am!", he lied, avoiding to look at Colin, who had been going on and on about the Quidditch game again, "just…tired I guess."

He was always tired these days. Aurelius not only forced him to spend hours on his homework, but he also had to study after dinner, and if he was not studying, he was supposed to work on making a plan to get the cloak.

He had had a couple of ideas already, but Aurelius had rejected them all, and since he was still not really comfortable in using Ginny to get the cloak, he still had…nothing.

And Gryffindor was supposed to come to check on his progress in a couple of days, which was giving him nightmares already.

"Are you…okay though?", Colin sounded concerned now, "I mean…it's none of my business but you sometimes seem…kinda sad."

I am sad.

Sirius forced himself to laugh, "no, don't worry about me, I am just stressed out about…", he was thinking frantically, "I…am stressed about the tryouts."

Colin's eyes went wide, "are you thinking of applying to the team?"

He hadn't until now, but now that he started the lie, he needed to go through with it- if Colin got more suspicious, he could end up blowing his cover- and then Aurelius would probably not hesitate to do much worse to him than make him kneel on a log- and that had been the worst pain he had ever experienced.

"Yes, I think I am."

"That's so cool! Hey, Ginny, Callum, listen- Scipius wants to try out for the Quidditch team!"

Ginny and Callum, another third grader, came closer.

"Really? Do you know which position you want to try out for?", Callum asked, interest in his voice.

"I…I think I want to try for the Seeker position", Sirius replied, he was not really into Quidditch- and Seeker was the first thing that came to his mind.

"It would be awesome if you could get in- you would be the only third grader!", Ginny said, "my brothers are on the team, too- you know, Fred and George."

Sirius nodded, "they are friends with my brother."

"By the way- have you heard the news about your brother?", Callum suddenly sounded excited and Sirius' heart sank.

How he wished the others would see Aurelius like he saw him- cruel, arrogant, and cunning.

"What news?", Colin asked before he got the chance to.

"Aurelius is the new prefect!", Callum announced triumphantly, "there was some kind of petition going around in replacing him with the old prefect- and he got so many signatures that Dumbledore had no other choice than to elect him!"

Sirius forced himself to smile, "that's awesome! I did not know that, but I am not surprised- Aurelius will be the perfect prefect!"

Perfect prefect to abuse his new role to torture me even more.

"I knew about it- I signed the petition", Ginny now said, "and he will definitely do a better job than my brother Percy is doing currently", she rolled her eyes, "anyways, I have to get going- I need to get some books for my Potion's homework. Does anyone want to come to the library with me?"

Callum and Colin both decided to go with her, and Sirius stayed back, stating he needed to go find his brother to congratulate him- even though it was the last thing on his mind.

How does no one else see what I see?

Salazar looked up from the book he was reading when Tom came storming into the room, "I told you to knock, didn't I?"

"Did you?", Tom repeated mockingly, "must have forgotten that. Anyways, I wanna go out."

"Out?"

Tom snorted, and it did not sound very respectfully, "yeah, as in outside. I want to explore and all your doors are locked."

"They are not locked- Godric put a spell on them, he does not want you to go outside", Salazar answered calmly, "but you can certainly explore the Manor- I can show you the…"

"Listen, Slytherin, I am not interested in anything in here", Tom hissed, and his eyes were sparkling now, "I...I need to go out. Get some fresh air, breathe…"

I miss looking at the sky with no walls around me.

"I am sorry, Tom", Salazar replied, but he did not sound sorry at all, "but Godric said that you…"

"Godric said again? What are you, his slave?", Tom sneered, "this is ridiculous. I am not a hostage, let me go out now."

Salazar sighed. He had not known how difficult it would be to deal with Tom- when Godric had brought him home two days ago, he had been quiet and subdued, and had spent most of his time with sleeping and resting.

Today, Godric had left to take care of some unfinished business as he had called it at the juvenile detention center Tom had stayed at- and he had announced he would most likely not be back until the next day because he was also going to see Aurelius and Sirius at Hogwarts- which meant, he had to deal with Tom on his own.

And now that he was well rested and healed, Tom had shown his true face- he was not quiet anymore, he was rude and demanding, had no table manners or any manners- and was now harassing him about going outside- the one thing Godric had told him not to let him do.

"He will ask you to go in the park, or to see the lake- and you will have to say no to him", he had said.

"But…why? The Manor is protected and fenced in, what's so bad about letting him get some fresh air?", Salazar had replied.

"Because it is the only thing that matters to him."

He remembered that he had laughed, and told Godric that that did not make any sense- but now, he started to understand.

Tom really did not care about any privileges that would mean something to other boys his age- like expensive clothes, or the newest games and books, or even a decent bedroom- all he seemingly wanted was to spend time outside.

"As I said before- I cannot let you out. You will have to talk to Godric when he comes back."

Tom grimaced, and his handsome face looked quite ugly for a second, "and when is that going to be?"

"Tomorrow, most likely."

"Tomorrow? I am supposed to wait a whole other day? Fuck that, that's not going to happen!"

Salazar forced his voice to be firm, "you will have to- and if you keep using that tone with me, you will go to bed without dinner tonight."

Tom laughed, he actually laughed in his face, "that's the worst you can do? Sending me to bed without dinner? You really have no clue, Slytherin. You are an idiot."

"That's enough", Salazar got up, pointing at the door, "go to your room- and stay there. I do not want to see you again until breakfast tomorrow morning."

Tom blinked, "and what am I gonna do in the room all day?", he refused to called it his room, "stare at the walls?"

"Think about your behavior, for a change- and maybe think about what you can improve about yourself."

Tom suddenly grinned, but it was not a happy grin, "improve? Well, that's an easy one", and with that, he turned around- and was gone.

Salazar sat back down, feeling tired and drained. This was not how he had expected things to go down- Tom kept challenging him, disobeying him, and he knew he did not have the natural authority Godric had- and the worst thing was, Tom knew that, too.

Hours later, he decided to check on Tom- so he walked up the stairs to the third floor, where the bedrooms were.

Tom had one of the nicest rooms with a huge canopy bed, antique furniture, his own bathroom and a walk in closet filled with brand new clothes, and the view out of the windows to the park was just spectacular.

There was no sound from the inside, and Salazar suddenly got worried.

He knocked.

"Tom? May I come in?"

No answer, but he thought he heard some noise- laughter, spiteful laughter.

He opened the door- and nothing could have had prepared him for what he had to see now- all he could do was stare at the room in stunned silence.

"I did some improvements to this room", Tom finally said smugly, enjoying the shock on Salazar's face, "you said I should improve myself, right? Well, I decided there's not much to improve there- so I went to the next best thing. It's a lot better now, isn't it?"

The room was- wrecked. The old rugs were cut into pieces- and how in the world had he managed to do that- all what was left of the canopy bed was the mattress, on the floor, and the new clothes were dumped all over the room, the mirror was broken, the paintings destroyed, and the chairs were stacked together now, forming a labile looking tower.

"You don't like it?", Tom asked innocently, "there's more to see in the bathroom if you…"

Salazar was still at a loss for words. Aurelius had always been the perfect son, and even Sirius would never have dared to act like this- but Tom was just standing there, smiling, and Salazar just wished Godric would be there.

"You will have to explain this to Godric tomorrow", he finally said, his voice cold, "and I can assure you, you will get punished for this…this act of destruction."

"Oh yeah? No dinner, right?", he was outright mocking him now, "I personally can't wait for Gryffindor to see this- and then maybe he will realize that he made a mistake."

"What are you talking about? What mistake?"

"Bringing me here, of course", Tom replied calmly, "that was a big mistake."

lol...next chap, Godric will be back and take care of Tom, and that will not go too well for Tom.

I'd love some feedback!

xoxo,

Antonie :)