Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all rights to it belong strictly to J.K Rowling.

I am simply having fun with my imagination.

...They would help him with his mission afterwards…to find this Chamber of Secrets. He would not give up on his search for his father though. He would find him. Track him down. After all, that was what Slytherin would have done...

CHAPTER 7: MRS. COLE AGAIN

Returning to Wool's Orphanage was the worst thing Tom had ever had to do, to date. After having experienced the marvellous things that Hogwarts and the Wizarding World itself had to offer, this was almost like a punishment. What's worse, he was told several times that he was not to use magic outside of school. This meant that that perfectly beautiful wand that he had would be of no use to him that summer.

And so it was that with a heavy heart, Tom climbed out of the Hogwarts Express at the end of June, took his bags, bid farewell to Avery, and began to walk to the orphanage. He had never wanted anything more than to burn down the home. Sooner than desired, he reached the front steps of the orphanage, sighed, and pushed open the door.

Mrs. Cole was in her office, as usual, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigarette. At the sight of Tom, she quickly sat up in her chair and folded up the newspaper.

"Tom," she said, anxiously. "You're back."

"I am," said Tom from the doorway.

"Good," said Mrs. Cole. "Welcome back."

Tom stared at her. She had not changed one bit in his absence. She was still the same, ordinary-looking woman, though her hair was rather messy today.

"Um…well, I…unfortunately, we had to give your room to a newcomer in your absence," said Mrs. Cole, who was now shuffling through sheets of paper on her desk. "But I have a key here somewhere and I've made a space for you down below."

"Down below?" repeated Tom.

Mrs. Cole looked up at him almost apologetically.

"Uh, yes Tom. The private room in the basement. I'm sorry but it's all the space that I have available right now. Later, when Olivia turns 18 and leaves to live on her own, we will give you her space but for now—"

"That's alright," said Tom. "I want the basement."

Mrs. Cole stared at him.

"You…you want it?"

"Yes," said Tom. "I'd like to be by myself."

"Uh, alright," said Mrs. Cole, uncertainly. She gripped the key in her hand tightly and then rose from her chair. "Follow me, then."

The following morning, the breakfast bell echoed throughout the orphanage, waking up its inhabitants. Tom sat up in his bed and turned on the lamp. It was most definitely better to live down here in the basement. Mrs. Cole hardly ever checked up on him so he could finally live in peace. Still, his days were sure to be pretty dull. He would not get his new booklist until the end of the summer, so he did not have much to do with his time. All he had was a book that Professor Flitwick had let him borrow, titled Hogwarts: A History, but that was only one book for two whole months.

Tom got up, dressed, and went upstairs for breakfast. The eating room was already full when he entered it, though all of the children froze at the sight of him.

"Oh, I forgot to mention!" said Mrs. Cole, awkwardly. "Tom is back from school, everyone. He will be staying with us until the end of the summer, won't you Tom?"

Tom strode over to an empty seat and looked around.

"Where is Billy?" he asked Mrs. Cole, without looking at her.

He saw Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop, both of whom avoided meeting his eyes but merely looked down at their eggs and bacon.

"Billy is not feeling well this morning," said Mrs. Cole, who also sat down.

"That's a shame," said Tom, suppressing the urge to grin.

Later that day, when Mrs. Cole had retreated to her office to do whatever unimportant things she had to do, Tom snuck upstairs and entered Billy's room without knocking. Billy, who had been sitting by the window, jumped up at the sight of Tom, looking very frightful.

"You look like you're feeling just fine," Tom observed, closing the door behind him.

"I…uh…well…I…" stammered Billy, backing away into a wall now.

His eye began to twitch. Had Tom really scared him that much? He looked to be on the verge of wetting himself. This would be interesting.

"You know," said Tom, casually walking over to the chair and sitting down. "I had a brilliant year."

"D-did you?" said Billy, unmoving from his spot.

"Yep," said Tom, smiling brightly at him, "Learned a whole lot of stuff."

"T-that's…uh, cool," said Billy.

"The kind of stuff that I showed you, that is," said Tom, "And loads more."

"Right," said Billy, in a small voice.

"Billy?" the door swung open and there stood Amy Benson, freezing at the sight of Tom. Her face went as pale as the moon and her eyes darted to the floor. "H-hello."

"Hi," said Tom, even more brightly. "Come in, come in. Won't you join us?"

"I…" Amy continued to look down at the floor. "I don't want to."

"I do," said Tom.

Amy continued to look down at the floor and then slowly made her way over to the bed and sat down.

"Will your friend be joining us as well?" said Tom.

Amy shook her head.

"Dennis is in his room."

"I'd like him to join us," said Tom. "Go and fetch him."

Nodding once at the ground, Amy stood up and left the room. Billy continued to stare at Tom from the corner of the room.

"W-why d-do…you want…D-Dennis?" he asked, his voice slightly trembling.

"I just thought we could all sit together, like old times, you know," said Tom, looking around the room. "Why are you shut up here? The old cat said you were sick or something."

Billy turned scarlet.

"Well?" said Tom, raising an eyebrow.

"It still hurts," said Billy, in barely more than a whisper.

"Does it?" said Tom, thoughtfully. "I had no idea."

Billy nodded, then looked up hopefully.

"Could…could you maybe…fix me?"

Tom stared at him, no longer smiling.

"I could but I don't want to."

"B-but…I…"

But before Billy could finish, Amy had returned with Dennis.

"Shut the door," Tom ordered and they did so.

"Sit."

The three sat together on the bed across from him, none of them meeting his eyes. Tom leaned forwards.

"I only came here to clear something up," he began, "From now on, I will be coming back only for the summers and I will be living in the basement. I command you to pretend that you do not know me and in return, I will pretend that I do not know you."

The three nodded in unison.

"You do understand this, yes?" said Tom, pausing. "You are to reveal to no one what had happened in that cave, what I can do, or even this conversation. You are not to forget it…you are to keep it as a sort of reminder as to what I will do to you if you upset me or disobey me."

The three nodded again.

Pleased with his day's work, Tom straightened up, crossed the room, and closed the door on them.

"Hello, Tom," said Mrs. Cole as she entered his room, leaving the door open, as always.

Tom sat up on his bed, slipping Hogwarts: A History under the covers, and stared at her.

"C-could we talk?" said Mrs. Cole, smiling sweetly.

Tom said nothing but continued to stare at her. Deciding that this did not mean no, Mrs. Cole crossed the room and sat on the chair next to the bed.

It was the first day of August. Tom had spent most of the day in his room reading, not even coming out to eat. He did not feel hungry much these days. He just spent every hour waiting. . . waiting hopelessly for the first of September to finally arrive. He could not wait to get out of there.

"I…I suppose I just wanted to find out a little bit about…about…how your year was like," said Mrs. Cole, avoiding his eyes.

"It was fine," said Tom, simply.

"Could you maybe tell me about it?"

"There's nothing to tell."

She had come there to spy on him. She had come there to find out where it was that he had been sent. Did someone talk? Had it been Amy or Dennis? Billy would be foolish to. On second thought, they would all be foolish to.

"Oh that can't be true; you were there for a whole year! Surely, there must be something you could tell me."

Tom thought for a long minute.

"It was very…informative."

"Yes, go on," nodded Mrs. Cole.

"I learned a lot," said Tom. "And I like it there. I will be returning every year until I am grown."

"That's…that's nice," said Mrs. Cole. "What did you learn?"

"All sorts."

"Examples?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Mrs. Cole, looking offended, sat back in her chair.

"Now Tom, I went to school, if you didn't already guess, so I of course will understand, if you tell me."

"No, you won't," said Tom. "No one who hasn't gone there will understand."

Mrs. Cole stared at him for a long time, then got up from her chair abruptly and left the room, shutting the door hard behind her. Smiling slightly to himself, Tom took Hogwarts: A History out from under the covers and continued to read.