Hey everyone, as always, thank you all for the reviews and the favorites.

Major thanks to my new beta : Storm Scripter, who is amazing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Warnings: unexplained time travel, pre-slash

So without further ado :

Chapter 6

Every morning without fault Tom Molovo Riddle would get up at Six o' five A.M. and pick out his clothes go to the bathroom and take care of his morning needs, both bodily function and hygienic. Four to five minutes later he would walk back to the bedroom he shared with Harry and get dressed while the younger boy was still sleeping.

He would then proceed to sit across the room on Harry's bed and read whatever book he had borrowed from the library that week until the younger boy woke up and stumbled to the bathroom.

After he made sure that Harry, who was most often still half-asleep by the time he came back, put on his clothes correctly he would lead the green-eyed boy down to breakfast while resisting the urge to re-comb his friend's messy mop of hair.

Harry, usually by this time more awake, would then count just how many time Tom would wrinkle his nose at the other children's table manners and quietly mumble about them under his breath while Mrs. Cole did something similar while she drank her morning cup of tea.

After breakfast Harry would clear the table and go to the kitchen to help Martha with the dishes and chat with her about her sister who lived in the country side.

Tom on the other hand would be assigned to sweep the staff hall and straighten the children's shoes that sat on the floor into neat rows. While he hated the mundane tasked, He took comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one doing chores and that it was a rather simple task, one he could do by himself away from the other children and Mrs. Cole.

After the children of Wool's orphanage did their morning chores they could do as they pleased as long as no one came looking to adopt, until lunch was ready.

Most times for Tom and Harry, these hours spent in the quiet company of each other, reading or straightening the few things they had in their bedroom were a safe haven for the two boys. They would take turns on who made the bed, or made sure the clothes in the dresser were in neat piles. Though Harry enjoyed making the bed, Tom said it was only fair that he help out as he also slept in it.

Sometimes they would talk about what they would do when they were grown up; Harry insisted that he wanted to be a doctor while Tom said that he would rather be a lawyer. Both boys would then smile at one another and switch topics until they ran out of things to converse about.

At twelve they would be called down to lunch to join the rest of the children, and Tom would once again find himself disgusted with the others terrible table manners and silently thankwhoever was listening that Harry didn't eat like that, at least not all the time.

Then, depending on Tom's mood they would either go back to reading or go to clean the attic, the latter becoming an option since he had shared it with Harry around a month ago.

But today was different, today when they exited the dining room Isobel was waiting for them at the foot of the stair case, dress tastefully in a floral print, a thin brown belt of braided leather around her thin waist, and at her lace collar laid a golden butterfly broach.

"I was wondering if you two would like to spend the day with me." She asked, giving them a smile as they walked towards her.

Harry turned his eyes beseechingly to Tom, who sighed then looked at Isobel with a polite nod.

"Wonderful, I've already gotten Mrs. Cole's permission." She said as she pulled a slip of paper out of the pocket on the skirt of her dress and handed it to the elder boy.

Surprised, Tom saw that Mrs. Cole had indeed given Isobel the permission to take both boys out, not only that day but as she saw fit from then on unless it was a school day. He told Harry as much before handing it back to Isobel who tucked it back in her pocket.

He looked at the young woman, his slate gray eyes widening slightly before narrowing almost suspiciously.

"How?"

She gave the boys a secretive smirk.

"I have my ways, now go get your coats; it's still a bit chilly out." Isobel said as she walked to grab a long brown coat from the wooden bench pushed up against the nearby wall, putting it on quickly.

They did as told and found Isobel waiting at the door for them when they were finished. Soon they found themselves thrust into the hustle and bustle of the city, each of them holding one of Isobel's hands tightly so as not to get lost, though Tom wasn't quite pleased with it he knew from experience Harry's hand could be torn from his if the smaller boy was pushed hard enough by a crowd of people.

Isobel led them through a winding path of busy streets and quiet alleys until they came upon a particular dirty alley that was much narrower than the others, more like a gap between two buildings that an alley, a chill went down his spine as he stepped through from the last alley way and into a peaceful garden that took his breath away.

In that moment Tom felt more at peace then he ever had living in London, tension he hadn't known was there left his shoulders and his grip loosened from Isobel's soft grasp.

Harry let go of the young woman's other hand to grab Tom's and lead him to the roses bushes, urging him to smell them, the older boy giving in to his pestering quickly as Isobel made her way to the table and chairs where she had tea with Harry during their first meeting.

The young woman watched as the two boys ran around the garden, hand in hand, eager to explore its wild but safe interior. A hand went to rest thoughtfully on her barely there baby bump, hidden by the skirt of her dress, she would be a mother within the year and the thought scared her. What kind of mother would she be? She couldn't help but hope that she would be a better than her own mother, though perhaps that was the wish of all daughters when they found they had a new life growing within their bodies.

Sighing she looked up to see Harry leading Tom over to where she was sitting, the older boy had an expression that spoke of indulgence. When they reached her Harry took the seat to her left, while Tom sat directly across from her.

"Time for tea then?" She asked with a small smile.

"Please!" Harry said with a grin, most of his shyness melting away during his exploration of the garden.

Isobel nodded and stood.

"I'll be back in a moment."

Harry looked at his friend with a smile.

"I told you that you would like it here." He said as Tom looked around in wonder, much like the way he did his first time there.

"Indeed you did." Tom said turning his slate gray eyes on his companion.

"It surprises me how clean the air is here, you can barely tell that we're in London."

Harry nodded as he swung his legs back and forth under the table, careful not to kick Tom in the legs.

"Surprised me too, for a moment I thought it was another world..." He said remembering the first time he wandered into the garden.

Before they could speak further, Isobel came back with a tray with all the settings for an afternoon tea.

She set the tray on the table with a quiet 'clink' and gave both boys their tea before seating herself and taking a biscuit from the plate, watching as Harry added a plentiful amount of sugar to his tea, more than he had last time , while Tom drank his plain.

They chatted quietly, though most of the talking was done by Harry and Isobel, Tom had a surprisingly good time. He found he could tolerate Isobel quite well, she seemed to have become quite fond of Harry in her trips to visit them at the orphanage, little did he know that Isobel was fond of him also, though in a different way than Harry.

After they were done Isobel asked Tom to help her with the dishes while Harry explored the garden some more. The boy agreed and soon they were standing in the kitchen of Isobel's small flat, the young woman washing dishes and handing them to him to dry.

Tom had a noticeable lack of tension in his boy-ish shoulders now that she could examine him more closely , he looked much more child-like now with the shadows clear from his eyes and the frigid expression missing from his face. It made her wonder what kind of life he must have had to make him like that.

Shaking the thoughts from her head she handed him a plate to dry before she decided to speak.

"You know you're always welcome here Tom." Isobel said as she continued to wash the tea-cup she held in her delicate hands.

The boy froze; eyes glued to the plate he had been drying before he set it aside and looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Thank you Miss Isobel." He replied coolly, gathering his composure once again and began drying the tea-cup she handed him. It was a strange thing, he mused, the young woman had a way of making him both grateful and confused.

She was unlike any adult he had met before in the way she treated and spoke to him.

She treated him like a child, like the way she would fuss about him putting on his coat if it was cold outside, but she also spoke to him like an equal, instead of looking down her nose at him, like most adults before her had.

And because of this, he found himself thinking he just might be able to enjoy her company, with time that is.

Back out in the garden, Harry wove his fingers through the lush green grass beneath him, turning his face so that he could rest his cheek on it. The boy was stretched out on his stomach, a peaceful smile on his face as he listened to the wind whisper things into his ear.

It spoke of faraway places as it had traveled around the world, painting vivid pictures in Harry's mind, it even described something that resulted in a dragon like picture in Harry's mind, though he was sure it was a misinterpretation on his part.

Harry was pulled from his musings as Tom and Isobel walked back into the garden, strangely at ease beside each other. He briefly wondered what they could have talked about to have changed the awkward stiffness on Tom's part.

He would die before he told Tom he thought him awkward in any way, but the way he interacted with most others could only be seen as awkward in Harry's eyes. Something about the way that he shifted made him seem more like a polite child than the cool and collected one he knew. Tom sat down beside him, brushing his fingers gently over the grass as Isobel took her seat back at the table, her rose leaf green eyes watching them.

Harry rolled over to look at the sky, his green eyes carefully tracing the clouds, looking for the shapes they might imitate. Tom watched him for a moment before he too lay down on the grass to observe the sky. They took turns pointing at the clouds, commenting on what they saw, smiling at each other when they did so, though Harry would roll his eyes in exasperation when it was Tom's turn.

Finally Harry must have said something because Tom rolled over and started tickling him mercilessly. The smaller boy writhed under his fingers, squealing and giggling as he tried in vain to escape his tormentor.

As the boys laughed and rolled around in the grass, she couldn't help but wonder if her own child would one day be like them.

Harry gasped as he finally escaped Tom, his thin body still convulsing with breathless laughter. He rolled to the side, his green eyes shining with mirth and contentment as he smiled at his friend who had turned to look at him.

Tom was simply observing the childish joy that filled Harry's features, that was until Harry turned to look at him, in that action Tom realized that those green orbs that he thought he knew so well had tiny veins of gold around his pupil, maybe it was the sunlight that brought it out, as the older boy had never noticed them before. It was surprisingly cat-like and Tom found himself mesmerized by the contrast between the molten gold and the crystalline green that surrounded it. Harry's eyes were wide, as they always seemed to be and framed with dark lashes, though they weren't particularly long for a boy they were thicker.

Grass and bits of dry leaves were tucked into the dark bird's nest that was Harry's hair, he looked like he'd been attacked by nature, and Tom couldn't help but wonder what his own hair looked like. With a sigh he reached over and plucked a dried rose-leaf from his friend's hair.

"You'll have to comb your hair again." He said before reaching for a blade of grass that stuck out of Harry's bangs.

The younger boy snorted.

"When don't I?" He asked sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

Tom ignored him, sitting up and continued to remove debris from his hair.

So there's chapter six of Only You, I hope you liked it.

Please review, Thank You for reading :)

-Birdy