The Tale of Tom

Chapter Eight: Supplies?

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"Er, I-I, um, I-," Tom stuttered. The woman was now looking at him with a confused look on her face.

Tom was about to run for the door when the fire behind him turned emerald and roared. The woman considerably relaxed and said "Hello, Frank."

"Hello, Susan," Frank said. An awkward pause followed until Frank brightly said, "I see you've met Tom."

"Oh, he's that boy you said you were going to show around Diagon Alley, isn't he?" Susan said with recognition dawning.

Frank nodded. "Why don't you go outside and get the soot off your clothes, Tom."

Tom nodded and went to the front door. He had a suspicion they wanted to talk in private. Right before Frank closed the front door Tom caught sight of his wedding ring. Tom mentally scolded himself for not noticing earlier. He prided himself on noticing things other people didn't.

As he brushed the soot off his clothes he wondered why Frank had brought him to his house. He patted his pockets for the Hogwart's letter and supply list, feeling slightly comforted when he found it.

"Hey, Tom," Frank yelled from inside the house.

"Yeah?"

"Can I see your supply list?"

"Okay," Tom said, slightly confused.

Tom entered the house, now soot-free and walked to where he thought Frank would be. "Here," he said, handing Frank the supply list.

"Oh thanks," Frank replied, distracted. He seemed to be looking at the books in a very large bookcase. "You can go back outside, now."

Tom no longer had any soot on his clothes but he took the hint to leave. He sat on the front steps for what seemed like a very long while, wondering how an eleven-year old boy could earn enough money for everything on that list. Tom also wondered vaguely if the twittering birds in the nearby trees were always this noisy.

Tom heard the door open and looked up. It was Frank's wife, holding a very disgruntled owl. "Here," she said roughly.

"Er, what?" Tom asked.

"Frank said you would want to see the owl set off."

"For what?" Tom asked, stroking the owl gently.

"For Hogwarts, with your letter of acceptation."

Tom nodded as she let the owl take flight. "Thank you," he said softly as she slammed the door. He figured she was still mad at him for appearing so suddenly.

More time passed before Frank finally came outside. "Come on in." Tom stood up and followed him inside the house. "Here," he said handing Tom a large stack of tattered books. "They're my old school books," he said, as though sensing Tom's question. "Luckily they haven't changed the course books too much."

"Er, thanks," Tom said, stumbling over to a table to set them down.

"I can give you some of my older robes, although they're probably a bit large."

Tom was about to refuse out of politeness but then he realized that he would need robes. "Alright," he said.

Frank disappeared and returned soon after with several robes. He set them on top of the books and said, "There's a hat and a winter cloak in there too." Tom nodded and said his thanks while Frank looked at the list again. "Hmm, I might have an extra cauldron and telescope. Let me check." Frank disappeared once more. Tom looked around the room he was in and tried to ignore the large crash he heard. Frank returned once again with a small cauldron which seemed to be holding several items. "This is my old cauldron. The bottoms kind of thinning out, but you can still use it."

Tom nodded. "What's in it?"

"Other stuff you need. In other words the vials, telescope, and scales. I managed to find a pair of gloves too. They're not dragon hide but they're still gloves. You're going to have to get your own wand, though."

Tom nodded. "You'll really let me keep all of this stuff?"

"Of course," Frank said smiling. "I don't use a lot of it anymore."

"How are we going to get all of this to the orphanage?" Tom asked.

"Umm, I'm not quite sure, but that does remind me. You still need a trunk." Tom didn't say anything. "I'm not sure what happened to my old school trunk anymore, though." He distractedly ran his hand through his hair. "And Susan never went to Hogwarts so she wouldn't have one either," he trailed off.

"Do you know where it might be? We can look for it," Tom said hopefully.

"Let me ask Susan if she knows where it is," Frank left the room to find his wife. Tom went to the door and opened it a crack. Doing so let him hear their conversation.

"Your old trunk?"

"Yeah, from Hogwarts."

"I think it's in the basement."

"Okay, thanks."

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, Tom needs a trunk."

"You're giving him an awful lot of your old school supplies."

"Yeah, well he needs them."

"I'm not saying it's not nice what you're doing, but--"

"But what?"

"Don't you think Tom might be leeching off you, just a bit?" Tom felt anger surge through his veins. He would have loved nothing more than if both of his parents were alive and able to take care of him.

"No, he doesn't really have any options."

"Alright," she said skeptically, "Just—you're so trusting. Make sure to watch out for yourself."

Tom heard Frank descend the steps to the basement and softly closed the door. Frank was soon back from the basement with a battered trunk. "Found it," he said, smiling.

Tom forced a smile, and tried to ignore his feelings of hatred toward Susan. "Will it hold everything?"

Frank nodded, and opened the trunk. He reached in and pulled out a small black bag. "Oh hey, this is my old book bag. You can use this, too." Tom smiled and helped Frank put all of the supplies into it.

"What now?" Tom asked.

"Well," Frank started, "we need to get all of this to the orphanage."

"And how, exactly, are we going to do that?"

"The first thing that jumps to mind is to take the muggle bus. There's a bus stop nearby where you live, isn't there?"

Tom nodded. "But I don't have any money."

"That's okay. Muggle buses are cheap enough I can pay."

Tom nodded. "Thanks, for—for everything."

"No problem, glad to be of help. You still need to get a wand, of course, but you can do that once you save up some money. "

"Oh, yeah. But, how am I going to get inside Diagon Alley if I don't have a wand?"

"A friend of mine works at the Leaky Cauldron so I'll ask him to let you in. And I'll bring you you're bicycle back, soon enough."

"Thanks," Tom said again.

Frank said his regards to Susan and they left for the bus stop. Tom was surprised to find the faintest tinges of night beginning to snake their way across the sky. "It's late," he said, voicing his thoughts.

Frank simply nodded. They reached the bus stop in silence and waited it for to arrive. When it did Frank paid for both of them and they rode in silence. Tom looked at the sky outside. Pink and orange tints were now joining the darkening blue. "We're here," Frank said, bringing him out of his stupor. Tom dragged the trunk to the door and said farewell to Frank, thanking him also.

As he walked to his room he caught sight of Rose. "Hi, Tom. What's with the trunk?"

"It's from the treasure hunt," Tom said, quickly thinking of a lie.

"Can I see what's inside it?" Rose asked, looking at the battered trunk.

"Not yet," Tom said, grinning at Rose's confused look. "I can only open it on September 2nd at 9:37 pm."

"Whoa, cool," Rose said. "You're going to have to tell me what's in it," she continued, grinning.

"Of course," Tom said, going to put the trunk in its temporary home.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Tom Riddle.

A/N: I tried to make this chapter a bit longer and sorry for such a long wait. As always, check my profile for update info.