It is not difficult to follow Tom's path, not with how agitated Moony is.
Well, and the scorch marks help.
Remus finds Tom in a nearby abandoned classroom. He sees the boy before he hears him, because Tom seems to have set up an incredibly competent silencing charm that keeps all the noise in. Remus pauses at the doorway, unwilling to walk in without scoping out the situation first.
The classroom is one that's never been cleared out, so there are dusty old desks and half-cleaned chalkboards littering the whole room.
Most of them are now in pieces strewn across the floor. Some of those pieces are on fire. Remus even sees a particularly sharp shard of chalkboard embedded in the stone wall, stuck in the mortar.
Tom's facing away from him, but Remus can see him waving both his wand and his non-dominant hand around, floating the furniture with one and then splintering it into pieces with the other. Then those pieces then get shot around the room, ricocheting around. Remus sees one rebound off the wall and miss Tom by inches, but the boy doesn't seem to notice it.
The lack of sound is a bit jarring, but Remus isn't as concerned with that as he is with the fact that it doesn't look like Tom's even using any sort of spell- just the force of his own emotions.
Even after meeting Tom, and living with him for a week, Remus thinks this is the first time he's truly been able to believe that Tom and Harry are related. This boy's magical prowess… it's incredible.
And is also going to make what Remus is about to do possibly quite a bit dangerous.
Remus pushes in through the doorway, feeling a phantom sensation of his ears popping as he enters the range of the silencing charm.
Remus isn't bothering to mask the sound of himself entering, but Tom doesn't seem to hear him anyways, despite the fact that he's not making any sounds other than the sound of furniture breaking.
"Tom," Remus says.
Tom had just destroyed a desk, and Remus hardly has time to slash his own wand up to keep the shards of it from slamming into his face, point first. They vibrate in the air in front of Remus for a moment, as though unwilling to give up the fight quite yet, before clattering to the ground.
"Remus," Tom says, a smile on his face as he stiffly turns around. The smile doesn't reach his eyes, which are bright and burning red. "I apologize, you startled me."
"Tom," Remus says again, putting his wand arm down at his side. Moony is on high-alert right now- something is very, very wrong, and the last thing Remus wants to do is to come off as a threat.
"Why are you here?" Tom asks. The smile doesn't fall at all. It seems almost frozen in place, as though Tom is able to keep it up but only just. "I did say that I'd be right back. Did you not believe me?"
"Forgive me," Remus says, raising his eyebrow, "but you have just been through something many would consider incredibly traumatizing, and something about that diadem set you off. I don't think you should be alone right now."
"Oh believe me- I'm not in any danger of hurting myself," Tom says, cocking his head.
"I wasn't worried about that," Remus says, shaking his head.
The smile flickers, but Tom has it pasted back on so quickly that Remus wonders if he'd imagined it.
"Worried I'd hurt someone else, then," Tom says.
It doesn't sound like a question.
Then, Tom lets out a little, hollow laugh. As he does, a chair explodes behind him. He doesn't even flinch.
"I wasn't worried about that, either," Remus says.
"Don't lie to me," Tom spits, face contorting in anger. Another chair explodes, and then the smile is back.
"Tom," Remus says, trying to keep the apprehension out of his tone. Well, at least he'd been right- Tom really, really shouldn't be alone right now.
"Only an idiot wouldn't be worried about that," Tom continues. "And you are a lot of things, but you don't strike me as an idiot."
Remus doesn't say anything- he just watches Tom, feeling wary.
Tom doesn't move and his expression remains fixed, but behind him the wreckage of the room starts to rattle. Remus has to make a conscious effort to keep his wand down at his side as the wood and metal splinters float shakily up off of the ground, and then shoot all at once up to the ceiling. They begin to move- slowly circling the outer edges of the room.
"Did Dumbledore warn you about me?" Tom asks.
Remus shakes his head, thoughts racing.
He needs to play this carefully- Tom is definitely hurting emotionally, but he doesn't seem like he knows how. Not without lashing out, anyways. But how is Remus supposed to help?
"Hm," Tom says. "He should've."
Remus realizes, all at once, what's happening here. And it feels like a punch to the gut.
"He didn't warn me about you," Remus says aloud.
Tom's grin widens into something more reminiscent of a snarl. The pieces begin to move faster, and Remus is suddenly very sure that if he hasn't read Tom correctly, this situation is going to turn into a duel.
"He didn't have to," Remus continues. "I never trusted you- not for a second."
Tom's smile falls, and his expression goes blank. But the pieces slow down.
Remus feels a pang deep in his chest, but pushes past it.
"Why would I trust you, Tom? Your story is absurd, and just believable enough for those who want to believe it, but- I think you're hiding something, hiding the real version of you.
"I let you into our home because Harry thinks of you as family, and because I thought he would be able to protect himself from you if you intended to hurt him. I was willing to give you a chance, Tom, but I never trusted you."
"I knew you weren't an idiot," Tom says. The smile is back- and it's making Remus feel sick.
If Remus didn't know exactly what to look for, he wouldn't see the conflicted feelings dancing behind the boy's eyes at all- but Remus does know what to look for. It's the same sort of tangle of vindication, hurt, and resignation that Remus himself has felt before.
Tom is trying to convince Remus that he's a monster, because the alternative is Remus finding out that he's a monster later, and then rejecting him for it. The rejection hurts less when you know it's coming.
Sometimes, if you play it right, you can convince yourself it doesn't hurt at all- and Remus thinks Tom has perhaps gotten very good at convincing himself of things.
It's the same trick Remus tried to pull in third year, when he'd told the Marauders the truth about where he'd been going every month.
And it's going to be about as effective for Tom as it was for Remus.
Tom readies his wand at his side. "Well then. Should I show you who I am? Who I really am?"
"I didn't trust you before," Remus says. And then, firm as he can, he says, "but I trust you now."
The pieces clatter to the ground, but Remus doesn't look away from Tom.
Tom's smile has fallen once more, his expression gone unsure. He looks, all of a sudden, like a sixteen year old boy.
"I- what?"
"You don't need to try and prove to me that you're a monster," Remus continues. "It doesn't matter to me if you're a monster. Because I'm going to trust you regardless."
Tom takes a step back, as though hit.
"No," Tom says, then shakes his head. When he looks back at Remus, the smile is back. "I'm not stupid, this is- Dumbledore put you up to this."
"Tell me this, Tom," Remus says, not bothering to address his accusations. "And tell me the truth."
Tom's eyes narrow, and the smile turns once more into a snarl.
"Did you or did you not run after Harry in an attempt to save his life."
Tom opens his mouth, eyes still glinting.
"Just a yes or a no, Tom," Remus says, narrowing his own eyes. He's not interested in whatever excuses the boy has made to himself in order to justify doing something selfless.
Tom's mouth snaps close, and then his expression goes furious. Something in Remus relaxes. Tom's dropping the masks.
"What do you think you're doing?" Tom asks.
"Yes or no."
"Yes," Tom says. "But-"
"Would you do it again? Yes or no."
"Yes, but-"
"Were you scared when he almost died?" Remus asks.
"Stop interrupting me," Tom hisses. The pieces shudder again.
"I'm sorry, Tom," Remus says softly. Whoops. "Sorry."
Tom doesn't respond to the apology. He just turns away, breathing hard. Then he looks back up to Remus, jaw clenched.
"I wasn't scared. I'd do it again, but not because I care," he spits. "I don't. I don't care about anyone but myself."
"Okay," Remus says, nodding. "That's okay."
Tom stares. And then-
"What are you doing?" He asks, louder than perhaps he meant. "What do you mean 'that's okay'? What kind of game is this?"
Remus shakes his head. "No game," he says. "It's okay to just care about yourself. Maybe not according to people like Dumbledore, but Tom- if you only know how to care about you, that's okay."
Besides- Remus is almost positive Tom cares about Harry, possibly more than he's cared about anyone else in his life (other than himself). Tom just… doesn't know it yet.
Tom blinks. It looks like he's having to try and reboot, which is good- the more caught-off guard he is, the less likely he is to try and attack Remus.
Remus decides to keep pushing. "And I wasn't lying earlier, I really wasn't worried about you hurting yourself, or anyone else."
"Then why follow me at all?" Tom asks, wand still held at the ready despite the lost look on his face.
Remus is, once again, distinctly reminded of Harry- the way he was, and still is sometimes, so baffled by the idea of kindness. Of an adult figure showing that they care- except Harry doesn't lash out with violence. Remus wonders why Tom does so- if it's just how he is, or if it was something he learned.
Either way, a child lashing out is still just that- a child.
"Because I'm not about to stand by and let you hurt, Tom. You've been through something horrible- not just the last few hours, but for decades. I followed you so that you didn't have to face it alone."
"I like being alone," Tom tries- although he lets his wand fall to his side.
"That doesn't mean you should be left alone all of the time, Tom," Remus says.
Tom just looks at him.
"I killed someone," Tom finally says.
"I've killed people," Remus says, shrugging despite the fact that he'd actually rather tell Tom that killing Lockhart hardly counts, even before the possession.
It's very possible that Moony is still out for blood as far as that sorry excuse of a Professor goes.
"I am a monster," Tom says.
"As am I," Remus reminds him.
Tom's jaw clenches. "You shouldn't trust me," he tries.
"Why shouldn't I? You saved Harry's life, and told me point blank you'd do it again."
"But I didn't do it for him," Tom says.
Remus would love to know how Tom is twisting the situation to make that make any sense, but now is not the time.
"I could not care less about the motive," Remus says, shaking his head. "I care that Harry is safe- and clearly you do too."
"No I don't," Tom says, tensing up again. Remus has to stop himself from cutting in, but it's obviously important to Tom that he gets to finish his thoughts. "I just said I don't."
"You just said you don't care about Harry," Remus reminds him. "You obviously care for his safety, though."
Tom relaxes again, face clearing. Apparently maintaining that distinction means something to him, even though Remus privately thinks there isn't much of a difference. That's something to work with Tom on later, though.
They stand in silence a moment, the remains of the classroom furniture littering the ground around them. The situation seems to be diffused- enough so that Remus decides it's time to try and move this along.
"I hate to say it, but we probably shouldn't keep Albus waiting."
Tom grimaces. "Probably. I am sorry for leaving so abruptly."
Remus doesn't know if that's true, but he's content to let Tom put his masks back on. He's been through a lot today, and Remus thinks they've had something of a breakthrough as it is.
Damn the pack instinct- Moony really won't be letting go of this one anytime soon. Although, Remus had meant what he'd said. Tom clearly cares about (at the very least) keeping Harry alive- and Remus could absolutely use people like that around.
"Do we think Dumbledore will be able to fix the diadem?" Tom asks, somewhat hopefully, as they begin to walk back to the office.
"I'm sure he'll try," Remus says, although he winces at the thought of the artifact laying in two pieces on that desk. Then, even though it's beyond stupid, and absolutely reckless, he asks, "is there a reason in particular the diadem is what set that off?"
Remus is watching carefully, so he sees the flash of fury that flickers across Tom's face before Tom's expression goes tired instead.
"I had my whole life stolen from me," Tom says after a moment. "I know it's completely irrational, but a part of me thinks- maybe I'd have been the one to find the diadem instead, and I'd have kept it safe. Instead of, you know, turning it into some… monument to myself."
"Is that what you think it was?" Remus asks, curious despite himself.
"I think that anyone who's running around cursing objects like that, even if it's just to make it easier to possess them, or whatever that was- well. I think they're probably a bit desperate for an ego boost, to be completely honest."
Remus lets out a bitter laugh. "You might be right," he says.
"Yes," Tom says thoughtfully. "I think I am."