The Tale of Tom

Chapter Five: Dragon--I mean Diagon--Alley

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Tom didn't know how long he'd been riding his bicycle. He guessed about an hour. It didn't help that he kept going down the wrong roads. Looking at the map, he finally saw the circled area. It was around the words "Leaky Cauldron." Tom wondered vaguely what type of place was referred to as a leaky cauldron. Semi-luckily Tom found himself in front of it before he had too much time to wonder. He tied his bike to a pole with a spare piece of rope and proceeded inside.

It was surprisingly dark when Tom first entered and he couldn't see a thing. He had just managed to make out a clock that said 12:05 when a voice called to him.

"Oy! Tom!" Tom blindly tried to find where he thought the voice had come from. His eyes were still not completely adjusted when he started walking. Besides running into one table and stubbing his toe, he managed to reach the person who had called to him without further incident.

"Ow," Tom said under his breath as he slid into a chair across from the man. The man was dressed in--in robes and had dark brown hair.

"Hello, Tom. You've grown."

"Are you Frank?" Tom blurted out, hoping he wasn't being too rude.

The man gave a smile and said, "Yes, I'm Frank. I suppose it'd have been too much to hope you'd recognize me."

"Er, pardon, but where am I supposed to recognize you from?" Tom said, squinting in the dull light.

"From the orphanage," the man--Frank--said simply.

"You've never been there," Tom said suspiciously.

"Not long, no. Only for about a week before I went off to my final year at Hogwarts. I think you were about six. But I had a feeling I'd see you again, ever since you mysteriously caused all the potted plants to turn purple."

Tom smiled at the memory. He had a vague recollection of who Frank was now, mainly because he was the oldest person to have stayed at the orphanage. "Yeah, I remember you," Tom said, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Miss O'Flannery asked me to show you around Diagon Alley, you know, start you off." Tom nodded. It would be helpful. "Well, that's one of the reasons. Another reason is there are only three ways to get into Diagon Alley. Floo powder, which you don't have, or apparation, which you can't do yet."

"What's the third way?" Tom asked.

"The third way requires a wand. So you'll be able to go on your own next year but this year you can't." Tom nodded, trying to take it all in.

"So come on," Frank said, standing up and gesturing Tom.

They left the Leaky Cauldron and Frank steered him toward a small courtyard. Tom looked at Frank with confusion but he just smiled. "What--" Tom started.

"Just watch," Frank said pulling a long piece of wood from inside his robes.

"Is that a wand?" Tom asked, eyeing the piece of wood.

Frank nodded and grinned. "Now let's see if I can remember how many over and how many up." Frank started counting and tapping bricks with his wand. "Er--no, okay, let's try two up three across," all of this Frank said to himself while Tom watched. "Ah ha!" he said as the bricks suddenly started moving.

Tom jumped backwards, startled and watched in awe.

"This, my friend, is Diagon Alley."

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Disclaimer: I do not own Tom Riddle, etc.

A/N: I recently changed chapter 2 and 3 to html and 4 is already. I'm not really sure it matters but just so you know. I'll probably post them all in html from now on. And sorry that the chapters have been so short lately. I hope I have semi-made up for it by updating more often.