The Tale of Tom
Chapter 7: Options
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Frank ushered the stunned Tom into the harsh outside light. Tom glared
enviously at a family who had just walked out of a shop, talking and smiling.
His mind thought the words he thought so often. This isn't fair.
"What now?" Tom said with a touch of bitterness in his voice.
"Er--I'm not really sure," Frank admitted.
"What about your father?"
"What about him?" Tom snapped.
"Is he, um, is he," Frank lamely started. "Is he with your
mother?"
Tom silently laughed at Frank's attempt to ask if his father was dead. It made
things slightly better. "I don't know. I assume so. Miss O'Flannery always avoids talking about him."
"Did he leave any money behind?"
Tom glared. "How should I know?" he said bitterly. "Miss O'Flannery probably would have told you if he did. That or
it was combined with my mother's."
Frank nodded while Tom continued glaring at the happy groups of children.
"Well, I think I have an idea of what we can do."
"What?" Tom asked, forgetting his anger for a moment.
"Just follow me," Frank said with a grin.
"What about my bicycle? It's still by the Leaky Cauldron," Tom had a
suspicion they would be going further than Diagon
Alley.
"I was wondering how you got here. You can just leave it there for now,
we'll come back."
Tom nodded and Frank steered him to a nearby store. The store had many small
instruments and other various goods which Tom could find interesting even with
the current scenario. "Oy, Tom!" Tom turned
his head and walked over to the counter where Frank was. "Here," he
said holding a container out to Tom.
"Er, what?" Tom
said peering at the substance in the container that looked like colored sand.
"Floo powder," Frank said simply.
Tom grabbed a bit and remembered that Frank had said Floo
powder was one of the ways to get to Diagon Alley.
"How do I use it?" he asked.
"You throw it into the fire, step inside it and yell where you want to
go," Frank explained.
"And where would that be?" Tom said doubtfully.
"1245 Byward Street,
my house," Frank said, taking some Floo Powder
for himself.
Tom threw his powder into the fire and was surprised to see it change to an
emerald green. Frank nodded at him and Tom stepped into the roaring flames.
"Twelve forty-five Byword Street!"
he yelled. Tom found the process not very comfortable, to say in the least. The
spinning was making him very queasy. Luckily, it was soon over.
When it ended Tom blindly stumbled out of the fireplace, promptly tripping on
something.
"Ow," Tom said quietly to himself, while
sitting up. He turned to see what he had tripped on and saw a baby rattle.
Tom's eyes became wide with fear. He realized he must have mispronounced the
address and thus was in the wrong house. After all, somehow Tom doubted Frank
had baby rattles lying around his house.
Tom was about to make a run for the front door when he heard a noise. Instantly
he froze. A woman with light brown hair and a baby in her arms walked into the
room Tom was in, the living room. When she looked up and saw Tom, who was in
plain sight, she let out a small gasp. Tom opened his mouth to explain but no
sound came out. It was then the woman started talking.
"Who are you?" she asked with a combination of anger and fear.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Tom Riddle, J.K. Rowling does.
A/N: Okay, I managed to get another chapter up before I left before my trip. =)
Now, don't expect any updates until I get back.
