Chapter 2

Tom opened the door to his room feeling immensely confused.

It wasn't that surprising for someone new to show up, although he didn't expect to gain a roommate. Mrs. Cole had made it clear pretty early on how much disdain she held for him, even though he always tried to be polite in her presence. But why would she make someone room with him?

Oh. Tom remembered. The orphanage was getting pretty full now. Chances are, his was the last room left.

Mrs. Cole barked out a short introduction, punctuated with perfunctory motions between him and his new roommate, before she left. Ah, it never changed. She didn't like spending more time in his presence than was absolutely required.

Tom decided to study his roommate.

He really hoped that his roommate was nice. He'd tried to make friends with the other orphans, but something always made them act weird around him. Jumpy, even. It wasn't as bad as Mrs. Cole, but nevertheless, it still made something inside him hurt. His new roommate looked rather non-threatening; not like the bullies that terrorized Tom in the dark halls. That seemed to be a good sign.

In fact, Harry, as Mrs. Cole had called him, looked a little bit like Tom. He also had dark hair, although his hair looked as if it had been through a terrible storm and had been left to dry. Despite that, it was straight, unlike Tom's wavy hair. He wasn't very big for his age, which appeared close to Tom's, which made Tom happy. It wasn't often that he was bigger than someone in this horrid place. He also had the most curious green eyes that could have been glowing, being so intensely green. Tom suddenly realized that those eyes were staring at him with a terrified look.

That didn't bode well at all.

"Why are you here?" Harry blurted out. Tom stared at him in confusion. He lived here. It made more sense for him to be here than Harry! What kind of question was that? And the lack of manners! Mrs. Cole was going to be mad, Tom knew.

"What kind of question is that?" Tom asked with a tinge of anger. This was going all wrong. He was supposed to get along with his new roommate! This was his chance to win an ally before the other children in the orphanage scared him away. Harry didn't even have any time to grow to dislike him yet. His chance at maybe having - dare he say it - a friend seemed to be disappearing faster than the sun at sunset. The second that thought crossed his mind, Tom immediately wiped it. There was no use being hopeful; it would only lead to disappointment in the end.

The next words out of Harry's mouth completely baffled Tom. Wizard? Muggle? He cautiously repeated them, watching Harry's face carefully. Was this a joke? A new prank that the other orphans had cooked up just for him, with this new stranger? So that he would not expect it? But something felt different about this. He couldn't quite understand what it was, but he had the feeling this was not a prank. Something in Harry's face - the way "muggle" rolled off his tongue with a practiced flair - clued him in. He felt a little bit of hope rise up in him. Harry had said "wizard." Having someone else call him a wizard made him remember those times. When, inexplicably, Tom had made something happen just because he wished it. Wizards did magic? That's what the books that Martha read out loud mentioned (not that he listened, of course). Was that what he did? No, he was being ridiculous. He was getting his hopes up for absolutely nothing. Remember, Tom, hopes lead to disappointments. Better to clear your mind of them before you get hurt. Magic did not exist; magic could not exist.

However, the horrified face that Harry pulled after blurting out that strange statement, complete with his panicked mutterings, struck a bolt of unease and fear down Tom's spine. He needed to find out what was going on. The way that Harry had mentioned him "not knowing something" as if it was expected for him to know this was too telling. It indicated truth. Tom had become rather skilled at detecting truth and lies; it was necessary to avoid the numerous traps the older orphans enjoyed setting up for him. Tom had to know more.

"Know what?" Tom demanded, grabbing onto Harry and pushing him onto the bed. Oh no, that was too rough. Bad idea. What happened to his resolve not to scare this one away? Too late anyway; Harry had been scared before even properly meeting Tom. Tom's mind was whirling with hopeful thoughts, with furious denials, and overall a blanket of sheer confusion and disbelief. The worst part was that there was a little part of his mind that was telling him that this was true; that Harry was to be believed.

Harry, gone pale, stared at him in fear before suddenly his eyes blanked and closed, Harry's body relaxing into the thin mattress.

Tom froze. Did Harry just...faint on him? Like the ladies that Martha told about in the books she read the other orphans? Like the swooning maidens who were too delicate to handle the tiniest bit of stress? For some reason, that thought seemed inappropriately funny as he looked at Harry's face.

Tom unclenched his hands from Harry's shirt and stared at him. Harry looked a little bit ragged. His plain white clothes that looked much like pajamas were covered in dirt and grass stains. There was also a long bit of thread that was hanging out of the hem of his shirt that appeared to be particularly frayed. Harry probably had a nervous habit of some sort. Tom continued looking him over, scanning him. Even though he knew that it wasn't really sleeping that Harry was doing, Tom felt an absurd amount of relief that someone actually permitted themselves to be unconscious in his presence (no matter how accidental it seemed).

As Tom's eyes wandered to Harry's hands, he noticed a streak of red curling over the fingers of his right hand. Tom looked Harry over closely, trying to find the source of blood that he thought he saw. As Tom's gaze drew by Harry's feet, he felt himself breathe in sharply. Harry's feet looked absolutely horrible. They looked dirty and bloody, and Tom could see a few cuts scattered. They also looked a bit pale and bluish. Why didn't Harry have shoes? Did he even bring anything with him besides the clothes on his back?

Tom decided that this wouldn't do at all. Martha hadn't brought by a new bed yet, so Tom was going to try to keep his bed as clean as possible while Harry took his unplanned nap. Mind set, Tom got up and walked out the door to the third floor bathroom down the hallway. He snatched a worn towel off of the handrack and walked over to the battered sink, wetting it. The water was cold, but he didn't want to go to the kitchens to heat it; better not to be a target. He clutched the wet hand towel and carefully ferried it to his room without dripping too much on the floors. Mrs. Cole would be very mad. Tom shivered.

Harry was still lying on his bed. Tom sighed a little before walking over and carefully trying to wash Harry's feet. Something in Tom rebelled at that action, but Tom quelled it. He didn't want a mess, and Harry's feet did look very battered. After he was done with that, he tried to clean off Harry's clothes somewhat, with limited success. His self-imposed tasks finished, Tom sat down next to Harry on the bed and thought over what had happened.

What did he know for sure? Harry looked terrified at first, much like the other orphans did whenever Tom was around. But they didn't start doing that until much later. At first, they were just reluctant to get near him. But Harry had recognized him or saw something in him that made him so scared. But then the way that he had looked at Tom almost incredulously when mentioning "wizard" and that strange word, "muggle," made it seem like Tom was missing a vital piece of information. It was like Harry was privy to some information that he thought Tom should have.

Maybe...he could also do magic. The fact that Harry seemed horrified when Tom didn't know made it seem like somebody forbid him to talk about it. Did that mean that there were more people out there? Tom wasn't sure if he dared to believe that magic existed, although it would explain so much. How Billy Stubbs began screaming when after he tried to punch Tom in the face. How his injuries didn't last longer than a day. How, when he was very hungry, the amount of food on his plate seemed to stay the same no matter how much he ate.

Tom desperately wanted answers. Harry had dangled something tantalizing right in front of his face before pulling it out of reach. For now, Tom decided, he was going to operate on the assumption that magic did exist, and that Harry knew something about it. Excessively hopeful or not, Tom had the feeling that he was right.

Hearing the dinner bell ring, Tom glanced quickly at Harry's still unconscious form and sighed. He headed down the stairs, nervous but also hopeful. Maybe he should try to grab some dinner for Harry. He would probably be hungry - no, he would be more receptive to Tom's questions - and would appreciate the food.

-break-

Tom was sitting in his room, slowly plodding through a dictionary he found in the play room, when he heard a sound. Suddenly excited, he put the book down and watched as Harry groaned and lifted his hands to rub blearily at his eyes. Harry slowly sat up, still rubbing, before slowly dropping his hands. Then, Harry's odd, glowing green eyes flashed to Tom, widening slightly. Harry's mouth dropped open.

"You passed out," Tom supplied helpfully. "You were probably hungry and tired. I snuck you some dinner." He motioned to the plate of vegetables and potatoes with the meager slice of ham that was lying on the windowsill.

Harry was looking at him suspiciously. "Okay." Harry looked in the direction of the windowsill for a moment before his face fell.

"Aren't you going to get it?" Tom asked incredulously. "You must be hungry."

"I am!" insisted Harry before looking down at his hands and fiddling with that one long thread. Tom was right; it must be a nervous tick. "I just can't see so…"

"What do you mean?" Tom asked. "Of course you can see; you definitely were staring at me earlier when Mrs. Cole brought you in. And when you woke up you definitely saw me."

Harry's face contorted into a rather suspicious expression. "Well," Harry said hesitantly, "I can't see muggle things."

That word again! "What does 'muggle' mean?" demanded Tom. "You mentioned it earlier like I was supposed to know what it means."

"I guess it's too late now," Harry said, fingers accidentally ripping the thread out of the shirt. They began scrabbling around in search of another. "Uh, hi Tom. I'm a wizard, and I'm pretty sure you're a wizard, and we're both in this orphanage, and 'muggle' means nonmagical."

Tom was silent for a moment before asking, "how do I know that you're telling the truth?"

Harry looked surprised for a moment before settling into a contemplative expression. "I guess you have to trust me?" he asked, peeking at Tom through his eyelashes. That reminded Tom of Harry's claims to be unable to see.

"So you're saying that you can't see things without magic? So you can only see magic?" That was the most bizarre thing he'd ever heard of. It did rather explain why Mrs. Cole was holding on to him in that odd way when he walked in. Wait a second..."So I have magic?"

"Well, from what I can see, yes," Harry said, studying him. "Yours is blue. It also has little bits of green in it." Harry coughed awkwardly. Tom thought he heard a low mutter of "I think it's pretty" from Harry's direction, and preened a little.

"Thanks," Tom said. "I think I believe you." Something was certainly going on, and the part of him that was insisting that what Harry was saying was true was growing. It felt absolutely right to think of magic and wizardry and muggles. Tom always knew that he was different, although he wasn't sure how. But now he had a name for why, and it was a brilliant reason. He had magic! And he wasn't alone. Looking at Harry's wide green eyes, he felt extremely reassured. Harry seemed to know things. He would explain.

Tom couldn't understand why he was trusting this stranger. But he couldn't bring himself to even contemplate the possibility that it was all a hoax.

"So, Harry…" Tom started, "what exactly do you know about this, then?"

The most fascinating four hours of Tom's rather short life began there, dinner forgotten. Harry told him about the Wizarding World, how there was a Ministry of Magic to keep law, how wizards would go to a school called Hogwarts and learn how to control their magic with a wand, how dragons and fairies and werewolves were real, how there was a whole secret community just hiding in plain sight all along. How Tom and Harry were part of this secret community already, from the very beginning. How when they were eleven they would receive a letter and would go away to school for most of the year, far away from the orphanage. How the reason that Tom was so above his peers was because wizarding children matured faster at a young age to keep accidental magic occurrences down. How great witches and wizards like Merlin and Morgana le Fay shaped the world. How Tom suddenly had a future that he could look forward to.

How Harry had been part of an attack on his parents and how he was hit with a spell of some kind that completely destroyed his sight. How even though his eyes were healed (in a magical hospital!) he couldn't see. How he eventually began to see magic, how he decided to escape the hospital so that he wouldn't be given away, and how he had ended up here. How Tom was the only other wizard in the orphanage, how magic was to be kept secret, how they were now bound together with a secret kept for ages that only they knew.

By the time Martha marched through the third floor hallway, calling lights out, Tom and Harry had already squeezed onto Tom's bed (Martha didn't have the greatest memory, so she forgot to bring an extra bed) and all Tom could think of was that he thought that he had made a friend and how determined he was to keep him from being taken away.


This is Chapter 2! It turned out a bit short, but I just wanted to give Tom's point of view on the matter. He's particularly difficult to write. I'm afraid I made his thought processes sound a bit jagged. I went over this three times trying to fix that! Chapter 3 should be up soon.