The next day, Harry woke up and got dressed in another outfit he borrowed from Billy. This morning was the same as what Harry had come to expect as normal. After Harry, Billy, and Gabriel had gotten ready, they walked down to breakfast together along with the horde of other children.
Harry searched over his shoulder for Tom. After a few minutes of jerking his head this way and that, and a few odd glances from Billy and Gabe, Harry managed to spot Tom in the back of the crowd.
Tom was dressed much the same as he had the day before, more put together than the rest of the orphans even though his clothes were actually much smaller and older than anyone else. He wasn't looking at anyone. In fact, he seemed to be trying to avoid looking at people around him. So much so that he was going out of his way to avoid eye contact.
Turning back to ace the front so he wouldn't fall flat on his face, Harry realized that Billy and Gabe had walked further ahead of him when he wasn't paying attention.
"Wait for me! Harry cried out as he jogged to catch up to the other two.
Tom's morning had bee fairly normal. So much so that he nearly forgot about what that boy had claimed to be bale to do, and almost what he had promised. Almost.
When he walked down and into the dinning room, he could feel the usual stares and hear the whispers. He was very hungry, so he sat down at a table closer to the corner, not wanting to be pestered.
The dinning room was the largest in the entire orphanage, as would be expected when you had more than 20 children in one building. There was one round table at the front of the room that the adults ate at. There were four chairs, but usually only two were used. The rest of the room had five long tables spaced out for the children to split themselves up in. Two tables were used by groups of girls, and the rest were used by prides of boys. There was one other long table used for serving food.
No one sat at "The Demon's Table," which was the one that Tom chose to call his own. Most were afraid by instinct, not wanting to get anywhere near Tom. But there had been one idiot who didn't pay attention and crossed the line the rest were at least smart enough to stay far away from. So, Tom made and example of the fool to make absolutely sure that he would be left alone at his table.
That's the way Tom liked it. Anything he considered as his, would be his, his alone, and would stay that way. His table, his clothes, and whatever else he claimed was his.
"Sorry, but I'm not really hungry. I'm just going to step outside."
Tom glanced up to see Harry walking away from the two he thought of as friends who were in the line to get breakfast. The bright eyed boy was smiling and had his free hand raised in a wave to the other two as he walked towards the door. His other hand was preoccupied with a cup of water, which almost spilled when he quickly turned back to face the front. He smiled at Tom, the expression so bright and happy the dark eyed boy almost didn't plaster on his own charming smile fast enough. Almost. Before anyone could notice, let alone comment on the exchange, Harry was out the door.
For the rest of breakfast, Tom stayed sitting at his table until Mrs. Cole shooed all of them outside, sending a disgusted glare at Tom as he hurried past her to be the first one out the door. Which he promptly ignored and continued walking outside into the dreary yard. Dark green eyes immediately zoned in on one Harry Potter, who was acting rather odd.
Harry had been crouched onto the ground, and when he saw Tom, who had stopped short in the middle of the doorway, deaf to the grumbles of the other children, there had been a splash of water droplets as the boy shot up to his feet, snatching the cup of water off the ground. He then proceeded to dump the water down his throat in what must have been a matter of seconds. Because of the speed, the innocent boy then started to cough and choke.
This odd display caused even Tom to show his minimal surprise and confusion. Billy shouldered past Tom, quickly striding over to him. Gabriel skirted around, avoiding Tom's almost black eyes before hurrying over, helping Harry try to force the water out of his air pipe.
Once the messy haired boy's hacking had calmed, he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. As the children that had come to surround Harry when he was choking dispersed, some clucking their tongues at him for his apparent idiocy, Harry laughed nervously. Tom went over to the wall of the orphanage and sat down on the ground, leaning against the bricks. He watched the rest of them with a blank expression, and his eyes kept on straying to the innocent, naïve boy with wild hair.
Tom had grown up from long before he could remember as something unnatural. Something to be feared. It was what was normal for him. When he finally understood why he was different, he no longer wanted to be treated the same as the other orphans. He was different, yes, but that just meant he was that much more better than the humans he was forced to live with and abide by. When he finally was able to, he'd go to bigger, better, and higher places than any of them ever would dream of.
For now, he was just biding his time. He had been content to just ignore all the others unless spoken to, or if someone managed to irritate him enough that he just had to shut them up. But he had been getting incredibly bored lately, and he wasn't sure what he could do about it. The last time he got this bored ended with him killing that stupid rabbit. He couldn't very well do that again. The blasted thing was permanently dead.
Just when Tom thought he couldn't take it any more, Harry Potter showed up.
It had been several months since a new orphan had been put under Mrs. Cole's care, and the boy had shown up in a quiet manner, as most of them do. Some tripe about most orphans being sensitive when first coming to an orphanage. When he first saw the bright eyed boy, he had immediately dismissed him. The mere fact that he was with the thickhead Billy and Gabriel was enough for Tom to think him just another inconsequential person. But he had been surprised when the boy had man-handled the rabbit idiot and gave an outburst in Tom's defense. It was then that Tom admitted that he perhaps wasn't quite as uninteresting as he had first thought.
It had only taken a few minutes of watching the boy for Tom to figure out what type of person he was. From his appearance alone, Tom had pictured a mischievous boy who would, or could, be very intelligent if he put enough effort in. With the black hair that was so untamed tendrils fell in his eyes and flew into the air, he could be labeled as the rabbit idiot's personality twin. But his eyes told a different story. The emerald orbs constantly shined with an intellect that shattered the initial image his hair gave. Because the boy was always with his two roommates, Tom got the idea in his head that the boy was a combination of the two. But the boy didn't have an ounce of the suffering his roommates had. He still had an innocent, optimistic outlook on life. It annoyed Tom when he saw that.
This boy was the same age as Tom, and he dared to smile like he had a happy life? He was sent to an orphanage for God's sake, something had to have happened to him. Those intelligent eyes that shone with such an innocence that it defied all facts of life dared to exist? This naïve child dared to say he was the same as Tom?
Tom leaned his head back, closing his eyes. His mind was going to go around in circles at this point.
"I'll sneak into your room, alright?" The question caused Tom to snap open his eyes to see the gullible boy in front of him, leaning over so their faces were more level than if he had stood up straight, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. His bright green eyes sparkled with a hint of mischievousness, and he was wearing that irritating smile again. As if he was taunting Tom with how he could remain happy.
Tom smiled up at Harry, making sure to seem happy at the prospect of a visit.
"Very well. I'll be waiting."
Harry's smile grew bigger, glad that his friend was willing to give him a chance to prove himself.
Tom's face hurt.
When night time came around, and the orphans were sent to bed, Tom quietly and expressionlessly went up the stairs to the attic. He refused to call it his room, since the orphanage was never a home, and never would be.
He had noticed that Harry had grown more and more excited as the day wore on. But despite Billy and Gabriel's near constant questions, Harry would only smile, shake his head, and say that it was a secret.
Tom got dressed in his nightclothes, which was only an old white nightgown that he had been given when one of the children had been adopted. He sat on top of the bed, his knees brought up and his back against the wall. It was when the grandfather clock in the warden's office downstairs struck eleven that Harry snuck up the steps. Tom had left a few lamps on, and he looked up.
The wild haired boy had changed into one of Gabriel's shirts, which was much too big. But then again, that was probably why they chose the large boy to give night clothes to the much skinnier Harry. Its sleeves nearly hid Harry's hands, only the tips of his fingers visible, and the boy didn't even need pants the shirt was so long on him. Again, the boy was carrying a cup of water in his thin fingers.
The boy's mischievous eyes flashed when he saw Tom. He walked over, placing the glass of water onto the desk before sitting in the chair across from Tom. The smile wouldn't leave his face, and he put his hands between his legs, leaning onto the chair eagerly as he faced Tom.
"So," there was a long pause, to which Tom raised perfect eyebrows in a silent way of telling the other boy to get on with it, "do you still not believe me?"
Tom kept his eyebrows raised in reply, staying silent. The answer should have been obvious.
"Right," Harry let out a huff of breath, closing his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck, "I've got to admit, I'm a little hesitant to do this. I wasn't allowed to do any freak things when I lived with my aunt and uncle." The boy's eyes slowly opened, a bitterness swirling in the emerald shade for the first time that Tom had seen. He hid his surprise well, not giving any reaction and watching Harry with critical eyes. "But, well, if this is the only way to get you to believe me..."
The boy got up from the chair as he trailed off, moving it off to the side as quietly as he could, so the cup of water was clearly visible. He jumped onto the bed beside Tom, causing the dark eyed boy to grasp the bed for balance.
"I've practiced this morning, so hopefully I won't mess up." The boy fell silent after saying that, and raised a hand up, his palm faced towards the glass on the desk, stretching his tensed fingers.
Slowly, the water floated up, leaving the cup behind. For a moment, the liquid retained the form the container had previously given it before welding into a churning ball that was constantly hit with ripples, causing it to look like it was wiggling to be free. Free itself it did, or at least it appeared to, as it rose to become a stream rather than an orb, continuing to wriggle as if struggling to move on its own. Following Harry's hand, it swayed from side to side like a snake around the room, before coming to a stop in front of Tom. It glistened, almost like a real snake's scales, as it rose onto one end, lashing out with the raised other, snapping open to bite at Tom's nose. After a few half-hearted tries, it was lead back to the glass, splashing cleanly down and becoming regular water again.
Tom stared at all of this with wide eyes. he snapped out of it when he realized his mouth had fallen open. Tom clicked his jaw shut and made his expression blank and cool in a few mere moments.
"I probably over did it. But there's absolutely no possible way that that could have been a prank, right?" Harry looked over at Tom, and seeing the lack of facial expression, started to assume the dark eyed boy still didn't believe him somehow. "Tom, you've got to believe me! I used to be treated like a freak by my aunt and uncle. Now that I'm here, I can hide it! But I've never met anyone else who can do these things, so when I realized... I want to be someone who can understand you, Tom."
Harry gazed pleadingly into Tom's eyes, and reached out, holding the dark eyed boy's hands in his own, causing Tom's eyes to widen again. He stared at the boy, unable to say anything.
This boy... how could he be so naïve, so ignorant, so gullible, and everything else Tom was not when they were so alike? They were almost exactly alike. Almost.
But Tom could fix that.
A wide smirk twisted a perfect, angelic face. A dark, evil smile.
Harry would be exactly like Tom. The first thing to do was get Harry away from the others, starting with the two idiots.
AN: I'm sorry for such a long delay when I had said I would update! I got a new laptop, and hadn't downloaded a word processor until I could get help. Then I had to deal with some personal things along with school, and was only now able to get most everything sorted enough to finally copy the chapters down. It seems that a lot of things are trying to stand in the way of this story, but I won't stop until I finish it. I will be copying down the rest of the chapters in secession, so until I have all of them uploaded, I won't have an AN. Please, enjoy.
