Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 6:
Tom hates. He hates this with a viciousness that startles his young body and mind. But he can't stop. He thinks that maybe he doesn't want it to stop either. He hates it so much, that he knows that if it were personified before him, he would kill it and rejoice over its death. He hates.
He hates, because if he doesn't hate, then he'll start bawling and his papa would be sad (sadder) and he doesn't want that, so he hates.
He feels helpless in the face of his papa's mourning. Papa says he's mourning over the people lost to him (Like Tom's Mum) and who he misses. It's only a few days in a year that papa becomes sad, and mourns, but it's still a few days too many in Tom's eyes. His papa is supposed to be happy, always. And he is happy, Tom knows, papa says so. Papa says Tom makes him happy! It always gives Tom a thrill when papa says that, it makes Tom feel happy and proud and a little shy.
Papa sometimes tells him about the people he's lost - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Albus, Merope (His Mum!) and others. Papa's smile when he talks about them is weird, so Tom asked why (Papa always answers Tom's question, even if he doesn't know the answer). Papa told him it's because he's both sad and happy talking about them. Sad that they are no longer there, and happy that they had been a part of his life for so long.
Tom doesn't understand that. He is only five, and there's a lot he doesn't understand (Papa says that it's okay, that Tom'd understand as he grows). His snakes (Nagini, Sheba, Ruby, Rald, Cleo, Willow, Ouro, Loki and Anna) say that life is circle of life and death, that everyone dies at some point. The snakes don't feel bad about it, it's not the way they are.
He feels a lot better though, when papa looks at him and smiles, and says softly- "Am glad you're here, Tom. Love you."
Tom thinks that it okay now that he doesn't understand death and mourning and the circle of life, because the thing he does understand is that Papa loves him, and he loves Papa. And that?
That is enough to kill the hatred mourning brings.
AN: Thank you so much for the reviews! For those who wanted bigger chapters, I apologize, but I am a beginner at writing fiction and as such, am still trying to find my footing, so it'll take me a while to write big. Please be patient!
Thank you!