Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, yeah... not mine, never was, never will be.

ALSO... a huge, great, AMAZING thanx 2 ravenclaw, my first ever reviewer!!!!

*****

'Tom...? Tom...?' the voice sounded distant, and not entirely real, and the sound crawled through the darkness of his head.

Tom sighed, giving into the inevitable, and peeled his eyes open. His head hurt, and his throat was sore. He groaned, squinting at the bright light.

'Tom, are you alright?' Lucy was peering at him, pulling his arm, and helping him to sit up. He leaned limply against her shoulder, running his hands through his damp hair. It all seemed unreal. Something was… wrong.

'Tom?' repeated Lucy, taking in his strange and slightly listless look. 'Are you ok?'

'Hmm,' Tom blinked, remembering Lucy. 'Yes… Yes, I'm fine. Just fine. Are YOU ok?'

'I... I think so,' Lucy slowly stood up, rubbing the mud off her damp dress. 'But... Tom, WHAT HAPPENED?? I don't understand! Those boys, they were... and then...?'

'I think,' Tom gulped, grabbing Lucy's arm and pulling himself slowly and shakily to his feet. He still wasn't quite sure if his legs really belonged to him. 'I did... you know,' his voice fell to a hoarse whisper. 'Magic.'

It was dark already, but not the dark of night. The sun must've gone down only a couple of minutes ago, and thin rays of dim light still hung over the horizon. Tom stared intently into the half-gloom, brushing an anxious Lucy away and ignoring her frantic questions.  But she hovered by his side anyhow, noticing how scared and ill he looked, and not quite himself. Tom ignored her, kneeling down by the fallen body of James. His stomach heaved.

He was a murderer.

Tom's natural instinct was to vomit, but his whole body seemed to be in complete shock. He shivered, backing away from the still body. The Gang must've run off, leaving their fallen soldier to rot.

'Lucy,' he mumbled clutching at her cold and clammy hand. 'I killed him. I didn't mean to, I swear. But I KILLED him. I'm a murdered, Lucy!'

'It wasn't you're fault.'

'Yes it was. I could've just HIT him, Lucy! Hit him and ignored it. I could've just taken it.'

'No, tom. He PUNCHED you, tom, right in your FACE. It was only natural to fight back.'

'No, Lucy! I wanted him dead, I WANTED to kill him!' he grabbed her shoulders frantically, eyes wide and pupils dilated in terror. 'I said the KILLING curse!'

'The what?'

'You know! Avada Kedavr-' Lucy gasped and clapped her free hand over his mouth. Tom paled.

'I almost said it AGAIN, Lucy! I could've killed YOU!'

'I know,' Lucy nodded sadly. 'So you see? You MUST go to the wizard school. Or you'll never learn to control it!'

'But Lucy,' tom closed his eyes, and hugged Lucy. 'I'm scared.'

'We both are, tom,' whispered Lucy sadly, resting her head on his shoulder.

*****

The two remained in each other's until the first star came out, shortly followed by the rest. Soon the great black canvas of the sky was sprinkled all over with tiny diamonds. The moon rose. An owl hooted.

Tom and Lucy slowly started the journey back to the orphanage in silence, as each was wrapped in their own confused thoughts.

After a hurried goodbye, tom closed his dormitory door, and flopped onto his dormitory bed, listening to the dormitory silence.

Something had happened between Lucy and him. He wasn't sure what, and neither was she, but SOMETHING had happened, that tom was certain of. But he was tired, and his eyes were heavy. He would, he decided as he drifted off to the land of dreams, work it out in the morning. With that he fell asleep.

Little did he know there would be an old and mysterious man waiting for him at the door in the morning, and he would not see his best friend for a long time.