"You are getting it now, boy!" David yelled, slapping Tom hard.
The boy winced in pain and tried to protect his face.
"You are going to your room right away and you're lucky the matron doesn't allow me to properly punish you or I would teach you a lesson! In your room, now!"
He hit him at his back one more time before throwing him in his room. Tom staggered while the door was forcefully thrown closed and even locked. Scowling in anger, Tom furiously wiped at his eyes to keep his tears out of them. Stupid bloody Billy Stubbs! The bastard had been taunting Tom so much lately that he just wanted to curse him.
A soft ticking on his window had Tom look over and scowl. Another owl. The black eagle owl from the Blacks if he was right, and he usually was anyway. He strode over to the window and slammed his palms against the glass, scaring the creature.
"Get out of here you stupid bird!" he hissed.
"I'm in enough trouble as it is! I don't need you around making it worse!"
He'd been getting more and more owls around lately, and it started to get noticed by the others. The matron held an annoyingly close eye on him ever since he'd returned, and David always had some more work for him to do. As if that wasn't enough, Billy Stubbs and his gang had apparently decided they needed to make up for the past year where they hadn't been able to bully him because of his absence and kept bothering him at any moment of the day. Because of all that, Tom had been sending the owls back to their owners more and more often without accepting the letters, and he hadn't yet been able to send any kind of reply to any of them.
Sudden commotion in the hall had him forget temporarily about his misfortune and he pressed an ear against the door to better hear.
"Riddle?" he heard Billy Stubbs' incredulous voice.
"What would you want with that freak? He's bloody creepy!"
The next thing that was heard was a loud shout in surprise and shock, again in Billy's voice, which made Tom grin. The little bastard deserved to be slapped around some. Even better, Crucioed.
"Leave it, sis. This dirt of society isn't worth it," someone said coldly.
Tom's eyes widened when he recognized the voice as Seth Knight and he stepped back from the door with a scowl. What were the Knight twins doing here of all places.
"Well, how about someone finally tells us where we can find Tom already!" he heard Hope shout in aggravation.
Tom sighed. Quickly, he took the loose nail out of the broken floorboard and put it in the lock of his door. He'd done this several times before, and by this point, he was able to pick the lock within ten seconds flat. The door swung open easily enough and he stepped out, ignoring the pang of shame he felt when he saw how sharply dressed his friends were compared to him.
"Hey," he greeted them as casual as he could.
"How are you two doing on this fine summer evening?"
Seth and Hope both scowled and Hope stepped up to him.
"How are we doing?" she asked in an annoyed hiss.
"Not one bloody letter! Do you have any idea how worried we all are?!"
Tom glowered at the girl and pushed past her.
"Let's not talk about that here," he said.
"Fine," Seth grumbled, stopping his twin before Hope could explode.
"We have a carriage waiting in front. We'll talk at home."
Tom tensed and looked at his friends with a shocked expression which caused Hope to snort.
"You didn't think we came all the way just for a 'hi', right?" she told him.
"We figured that since you never answered, you were probably being mistreated by these m-people, so we came to save you!"
"I'm swooning," Tom drawled.
With that, he turned back around and walked down the stairs to where his stuff had been locked away by the matron, who had gotten scared by the weird-looking books and had decided they weren't to be used at the Orphanage. He easily took care of that lock too and pulled his trunk out before turning around and finding David and the matron standing next to a big, dark man.
"This is Jack, our bodyguard," Seth introduced the man.
"A bodyguard. Why am I even still surprised?" Tom muttered.
Hope chuckled.
"Technically, he's our mum's because she has a bit of a dangerous job as head of the Department of Mysteries," she explained.
"But when we told her where we were going, she insisted we'd bring him along too. It could be dangerous in London."
"That explains everything," Tom said, rolling his eyes.
He had always known that his friends were rich and important, but he hadn't yet realized how much this was true. The Knights were quite possibly the most influential family in Britain that didn't have the dubious honour of being on the Sacred 28. In fact, they were better off than at least half the people on that list, with the Malfoys and the Blacks still above them, of course.
"Well I see you next summer I suppose," Tom spoke gleefully at his caretakers.
David glared hatefully at him, but didn't dare to open his mouth. He looked awfully pale and shaky next to the big guy and Tom grinned innocently at him. Now the bastard knew how it felt to be helpless and at the mercy of someone else. Still grinning, Tom followed the twins outside and his mouth fell open.
"Is that what I think it is?" he asked choked.
"Don't worry, the muggles don't see the wings," Seth told him smugly.
Before him stood a black carriage with silver ornaments and six black pegasi in the span. On the reigns sat a man with long silver hair that was pulled back with a blue bow and he wore a nice black jacket.
"That's our handler, Phillip," Seth told Tom before clambering into the carriage.
Hope laughed at Tom's expression and pushed the boy towards the carriage. Slowly, Tom climbed in before he was joined by Hope while the bodyguard Jack climbed up to sit next to the handler. He was surprised again when he found Abraxas already sitting in the nice, velvet blue seats with a book in his hands and a bored expression on his regal face.
"Took you long enough," the boy drawled lazily, closing his book.
"Good to see you too," Tom replied with a roll of his eyes.
. . . . .
The four kids were dozing by the time the carriage landed and they came to a halt. The bodyguard Jack opened the door and glared at Tom with his dark eyes. Tom worried for a moment the man would do something, but just then, Hope stirred and all Jack did was grunt and step aside to let the girl out. Quickly, Tom followed her.
To his surprise, it was already dawn and he stared wide-eyed to the rising sun that peeked out over the lake and the weeping willows that stood next to the large Mansion. It didn't look much like those big Victorian ones that he saw in the nicer sides of London, instead, the windows were large and the walls an off white. Where they were now was on a large lane to the side of the house that led towards the stables and Tom could already see several dogs lying lazily in the first light of the morning sun.
"C'mon! Mum will be glad to see you," Hope said, grabbing Tom's hand.
She dragged him over the path to the backdoor. It was a small servant's door, painted light blue. They entered immediately in the kitchen, where Tom could see a small, odd looking creature tending to the stove, but Hope didn't pay it much mind aside from calling a cheerful greeting towards it.
They walked through another door, painted white this time and ended up in a spacious dining room. It had a large table of dark wood with a white cloth that had golden flowers embroidered on it. It had a total of eight chairs around it, all with deep, sky blue and gold cushions on it. Instead of a door to lead towards the drawing room, there was a large, high open arch and Hope didn't hesitate going through.
In one of the large, Slytherin green couches that stood around the hearth, both Mr. and Mrs. Knight sat. Mr. Knight had the Daily Prophet in hand and was calmly reading through it while Mrs. Knight read a book that had likely come from the large bookcase that occupied the entire back wall, top to bottom and side to side.
"How was London?" Mr. Knight asked without even looking up from his paper.
"We didn't see much of it, but the orphanage wasn't pretty," Seth shrugged.
This had the man look up and he observed Tom with a scowl.
"That's sad to hear," he said with a wry smile.
"I hope at least that your stay here will be a happy one."
"I'm sure it will be, sir," Tom said respectfully.
"Amadeus, please," the man said smiling.
"It's very good to see you again, Tom," Mrs. Knight spoke up, smiling at Tom.
"I'm sorry we haven't been properly introduced as of yet, but I'm Lorena."
"It's very nice to meet you," Tom said politely.
The woman pursed her lips and looked Tom over with a critical eye that made the young boy feel somewhat uncomfortable.
"We'll go shopping for some proper clothes for you this afternoon," she decided.
"I won't have any child walking around in such rags on my watch."
Tom blushed a bit in shame.
"I don't have any money…" he mumbled.
"I'm taking you shopping, child," the woman said determined.
"And money won't be an issue. I'll be paying for anything, otherwise, all that money would just rot in my vault anyway."
Tom opened his mouth to deny her generous offer, but Mrs. Knight just held up her hand to silence him before turning to the other three kids with a bright smile.
"Why don't you all help Tom get settled?" she suggested.
"I've had Silky prepare the room across from Abraxas'. You should really write Alphard and Artemis too, they've floo-called us only half an hour ago, sick with worry, and even that kind young Weasley girl called. After that, I'm sure breakfast will be ready."
"Yes mum!" Hope and Seth spoke in unison.
Once they had gotten Tom's stuff upstairs and into the bedroom, which had deep purple wallpaper and a large canopy bed with blue sheets, a big oak writing desk, its own bookcase, a very beautiful looking wardrobe and a dark blue loveseat, they all went back downstairs.
"I wrote Alphard and Artemis, Weasley and even Megan," Abraxas informed the others calmly when Seth started complaining that the other blond boy hadn't helped Tom unpack.
"That's good. I know for a fact that they were all just as worried as we were," Hope said with a grin.
"Yeah! Alphard and I were almost sure that the muggles had burned you on the stake!" Seth laughed.
"Well, that's what I thought at least. Alphard thought they had chopped you up in tiny bits and made you into soup to feed the other starving orphans."
"If they would kill me, then they'd definitely use Alphard's method," Tom agreed.
"It's sickening to even think how muggles could abuse magical people," Abraxas said, scowling unhappily.
"It's sickening to think how anyone could abuse anyone," Hope corrected with a frown.
"But at least Tom is with us now! Safe and sound, that's all that counts, right?"
The others all nodded in agreement just as they walked back into the drawing room. They had barely entered or the small creature Tom had seen in the kitchen rushed in. Now that he had more time to look at it, he saw it was rather humanoid, with large bat ears, a long, thin nose, bulbous light blue eyes and it wore a fancy looking pillowcase with holes made into for the head and thin arms and 'Cookie' embroidered in silver thread on the chest.
"Breakfast is served Masters," it squeaked in a high-pitched voice.
"Thank you, Cookie," Mr. Knight said smiling.
He stood up and walked over to the dining room with his wife and Hope while Tom stayed rooted on the spot, staring wide-eyed as the small creature disappeared with a sound of a cracking whip.
"What was that?" he asked.
"A House Elf," Abraxas replied.
"They serve wizarding families."
"We have two of them," Seth told Tom.
"I mean, we could easily afford more, but we don't need any more. Silky does most of the household stuff and Cookie does the cooking. We also have a gardener, but he's a Squib… I think he's the cousin of my dad's uncle, but I can't be sure…"
"Silky and Cookie… Do they all have such odd names?" Tom asked.
"Most do," Abraxas shrugged.
"House Elves don't have names until they start serving a family."
By now, they had walked into the dining room, and Tom and Seth had sat down across from Hope while Abraxas sat down next to the girl.
"We named Silky and Cookie ourselves, after our old Elf, Yoyo died," Hope said.
"Silky because she is so soft and sweet, and Cookie because she used to bake the most amazing chocolate chip cookies."
"She still does," Seth added with a grin.
. . . . .
Tom had expected that going shopping for new clothes meant leaving the mansion for a visit to Diagon Alley, yet instead, Mrs. Knight flooed a middle-aged lady over to get Tom fitted and make some handmade outfits. Tom had been shocked beyond belief at this.
"Madam Greengrass," Mrs. Knight greeted with a smile.
She quickly ordered her two kids and their other guest to go play outside, and the three platinum blondes disappeared immediately to play some Quidditch. Tom was infinitely grateful he didn't have to suffer through that murderous game.
Tom and the seamstress, Madam Greengrass, were lead to an empty guest room, where the golden blond haired woman conjured a small pedestal and ordered Tom to stand on it. Measuring tape and several rolls of cloth started floating around while the two adult women talked about what would best fit Tom. The boy just looked on nervously.
"Strip. Then we can get started," Madam Greengrass suddenly ordered, glancing only minutely at Tom.
The boy tensed, eyes widening in horror and he quickly shook his head.
"I-I rather not," he mumbled blushing.
Mrs. Knight frowned in worry and stepped closer.
"What is it, Tom?" she asked softly.
"Just take off your top. I'm sure it won't be that bad."
Tom knew it was that bad, but he still nodded, dark grey eyes focused on the two women before him.
"Promise you won't ever tell anyone," he said softly.
"Of course, dear," Mrs. Knight agreed readily.
With a deep sigh, Tom undid the buttons of his grey shirt and took it off. With one last warning glare at the adults, he turned around. His eyes closed when he heard the gasps of horror behind him and his jaw clenched. He knew what his back looked like, a cross-cross of cane marks and scars from whips.
He had only been whipped once, when David was especially angry with him over something he couldn't even remember anymore. The Matron was luckily against that kind of punishments, so Tom only ever had to endure beatings and canings, but never whips. Not after that first time.
"Oh sweet Morgana," Mrs. Knight whispered.
Tom turned back to look at her, a cold expression in his dark eyes.
"Not a word of this is breathed outside this room," he spoke threateningly.
Both women were too shocked to do much else than nodding their heads in agreement. Tom nodded back at them stiffly and allowed the seamstress to start with measuring him. He didn't flinch away from her overly gentle hands, didn't even look at her. Tom refused to show weakness. No. This was strength, he decided. He survived and one day, he would exact revenge on every single muggle that had dared lay a hand on him. They would all burn.