"Tom..." Harry only received a hum in reply. "Are you... mad?"
"Why, no Harry," Tom responded in that same dismissive tone, but Harry sensed sarcasm in his inflection. The wild haired boy frowned, and stood up from his chair. Tom, who had just finished waving goodbye as Goldie walked out of sight with that infuriatingly charming smile, turned his head towards Harry.
"You're acting strangely," Harry bit out accusingly.
"Am I now."
"Yes. And I don't like it." Tom's expression was blank and weirdly unguarded as he slowly blinked at Harry. On pure instinct, the scarred wizard took a tiny step back.
"You're smart when you want to be, Harry, but you talk too much." Tom slid up closer to Harry, the corners of his mouth quirking up into a sweet grin. Harry remained frozen in place, emerald eyes widening.
"T-talk too much...?" He managed to stutter out.
"Far too much," Tom spoke idly as he stared at the other boy, his voice quiet. He reached up with ice cold hands and placed them on the back of Harry's neck and head, almost as if he was curious to see if he could find a string to pull there. At his touch, the time traveler flinched and couldn't help a small gasp at the freezing temperature.
"I don't see how I'm talking too much..." Tom sighed disparagingly, his fingers curling, gripping the messy hair at the back of Harry's head.
"See, it's times like this that I worry for your intelligence. Perhaps "smart," isn't the right word to describe you... "Perceptive." Yes, that word is much more exact. Don't misunderstand me, Harry, I'm proud of your ability to gauge my emotions. But..." Tom gave a hard yank to Harry's hair, forcing the bright eyed boy's head back, making him wince at the pain, "when I want to keep calm in a public place, it... vexes me when you insist on a confrontation." With that, Tom let go of Harry and stood. "Carry our things."
"Ah... um... yes, Tom..." Harry scrambled to gather all the books and parchment, stuffing them into his bag and quickly panicking when Tom was already putting quite a bit of distance between them. "Tom! Wait...!" Groaning in frustration when he was ignored, he did a split second double check and hurried after his demanding companion. Desperate to regain sight of the disappearing eleven year old, he ignored the librarian shouting at him to slow down and not yell as he dashed through the doors.
Spotting Tom walking among the loitering students, he ran after the other boy. He didn't manage to catch up until Tom entered a room. Looking around, Harry could see it was one of the classrooms, but it seemed as if it served more as a storage space going by the amount of clutter and random array of objects.
Harry heard the click of the door being closed behind him, and he turned to see Tom wit his hand on the door knob. Bright green eyes gazed warily at the silent, deceptively calm wizard.
"You're... you're mad, right? That I... was talking to someone without permission... and that I... p-pushed the issue, right...? Harry Couldn't bear to look Tom in the eye by the end of his statement.
"Why would I be mad, honestly, Harry?" The surprise was enough for Potter to raise his gaze to Tom and wish that he hadn't. Tom was smiling, but it wasn't the kind he wore when he wanted someone's defenses down. This smile was the kind only Harry had ever seen. The sharp twisting of lips and the barring of canines. The kind of smile a snake wore as it slithered close to an immobilized prey.
"Because...!" Harry's words got caught in his throat as fear bubbled up in his chest. This was different than normal. It wasn't a "punishment to teach a lesson," this time. Tom was excited. He was going to enjoy what was coming. He was anticipating it. It was the same as that night in the cave. Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop had never recovered from whatever Tom had done to them. Whatever they had done to them. Harry could feel the color drain away from his face.
"What's wrong, Harry? You're so chocked up." Tom was barely trying to mimic concern, instead he slowly walked up to Harry, resting a hand on his shoulder and leaning over to speak quietly in Harry's ear. "Can't speak?"
"Ngh..." Harry felt an invisible force grip his neck, cutting off the flow of his windpipe. He gagged, trying to gasp for breath but to no avail. Tom was silent for a while as Harry struggled to swallow air, then the force was gone. However Tom didn't step back. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the now panting boy. Relief flooded Harry, both for the oxygen filling his lungs and the storm that was Tom's anger seemingly passing.
"Looks like things will have to change from now on, Harry.." Tom drew only so far away as to be face to face with Harry and take the wild haired boy's face in his hands. Tom's eyes were dispassionate, his lips a clear straight line and his brow relaxed. "Otherwise you'll grow too comfortable... you'll start to think it's okay to live without me."
No matter how fast and hard Harry's brain worked to comprehend Tom's actions, he couldn't do it quick enough. With a hand snatching Harry's wrist, Tom pulled, sending him tumbling down onto the floor.
"Ah!" Harry cried out as his palms stung from catching his weight.
"How dare you..." Tom muttered, and Harry felt a weight pin him down when Tom sat on his back, hands pressing down on Harry's shoulder blades. Tom's eyes were wide and glazed over with fury. "You can't fool me, Harry, every time you look at any one else, you see "freedom." But there is no freedom from me, Harry. There is no escape. If I have to carve that into your mind to leave a scar to remind you, I'll do it."
"Tom, you're wrong! I'm not going to leave you or anything like that!" Harry felt tears prick at his eyes as he desperately tried his best to meet Tom's gaze, trapped as he was. That gave Tom's rage pause, and Harry could tell dark eyes were borrowing into him, studying him, trying to detect lies. Finally though, Tom got off and stood.
"Stay there until I order you to come out." Tom demanded as he bent and picked up the bag full of books, fishing one out and flipping through it.
"I can't stay in here...! Why would I, when I don't know when you'll come back?!" Quick as lightning, Tom's dark eyes snapped to Harry's with unbridled fury.
"You will do as I tell you to, Harry... or you'll end up very hurt." His eyes narrowed, the complete opposite of Harry's contracting emerald orbs. "Don't think I won't do it... my good will has a limit, even for you."
"Tom... you can't be serious... please! I'm sorry-!" Harry had scrambled to his feet only for Tom to kick his chest, forcing him onto his back again.
"I won't say it again, Harry... I may treasure my possessions, but that doesn't mean you can become conceited. If you can't stay in you proper place, I'll be harsher towards you. Now... think on your behavior a bit."
Tom then turned coldly away, opening the door and stepping out, sending a cruel smirk Harry's way as he raised his voice in panic.
"Tom! I didn't mean to-!" The door closing shut between them cut Harry off. The sound of the door locking in obedience to Tom's carefully whispered words on the other side ripped a frightened sob out of Harry.
He wasn't afraid of the dark, or the idea of being trapped. Not even Tom's wrath was the full cause to the terror bubbling in his chest. It was the confirmation that he was, in fact, no different from anyone else in Tom's eyes. He was effectively disposable.
Tom had been the only person in Harry's whole life to consider him even the least bit valuable. Even in Hogwarts, Harry knew his worth directly rode on Tom. Tom was the smart one, the attractive one, the charismatic one. So if Tom threw Harry away, what was left of Harry's worth in the world?
AN: Basically everything done in this chapter is a big no-no in real life. It's important to love yourself Harry... lol, not like I'm gonna let him though! Fun fact, I actually had Lightning listed as a "hurt/comfort" story, back when I didn't really know what I was planning for the story. What a riot that would be if it was still labeled under that category. Another fun fact: both Tom and I suffer from perpetually cold hands.
I've been... trying to get myself in order. The chapter needs to stop here, and not just so I could be mean and give you a cliff hanger. So... it's short. But hey... at least it didn't take a year to get posted! Sophomore year of high school was my darkness, and I never want to say hello again.
Reviews are, as always, my bread and butter, my life source, my reason to keep on going...! No, seriously, a kind word helps a great deal to make sure this account keeps updating.
