A/N: I would like to note that there was such a long stretch in chapters not because I haven't been writing but because writing every moment of this chapter was like pulling teeth because Tom just Does Not Want to Be Here (not as in Hogwarts but among the living where he has to ponder his budding sexual orientation which isn't even much of a thing he's ever considered before). Like most writers, I always try and get in his headspace for what I'm writing but it's kind of hard to do that WHEN THE BOY JUST WANTS TO DISASSOCIATE. I wrote the next four chapters before I even finished this one because my Get Up and Go Had Got Up and Went about this chapter. I even scrapped what I had written three times. Apologies, but at least the turnaround time for the next 5 chapters will be short because they're all mostly done. That being said, because I happen to have a metric fuck ton of muse for it, I have also begun the re-write of Empathetic which will be called Empathy. I'm waiting to post until I have the first 5 chapters completed so I can drop one a week as a thank you for putting up with my long waits between chapters.

After much tossing and turning, Tom eventually fell asleep and if Jack returned, he was gone by the time Tom woke up. If Mrs Cole noticed Tom was acting out of sorts, she did not mention it, but it gave him the time he needed to compose himself before the Chadwicks came to retrieve him, even if it did mean he had to sit and stew in his confusion.

On the one hand, he was very grateful Jack didn't come back because then he didn't need to try and deal with any of… that, but at the same time he was a little offended because, for all of his lack of social etiquette, he was one hundred percent certain you were not supposed to kiss a bloke and then run away. At least that put some of Jack's previous behaviour into better context, about being awkward about the snake and giving it to Tom. Clearly, he intended it as some kind of courting gift, which made Tom's cheeks blush- the snake was wrapped in a handkerchief and tucked safely into its own little compartment in the trunk where Tom knew it wouldn't get damaged.

He still didn't know what to think about that either- from what he'd gleamed the wizarding world was fairly progressive compared to the muggle world in that romantic relationships between those of the same sex weren't ostracized, but at least from what he'd seen within the Slytherin House it was still expected for you to marry a partner of the opposite sex to begat more pureblood babies. There was a pureblood sixth-year in Slytherin who was openly seeing a boy from Hufflepuff, while also engaged to a girl. He'd heard the upperclassmen teasing him about dating a Hufflepuff, but little had been said about the fact they were both men.

Later on if anyone asked Tom what had transpired between the orphanage that morning and getting to King's Cross, hell, getting to Hogwarts, he would have looked quite confused because even though he returned the hug Chadwick's mother gave him and made sure to reply adequately to all of his friends commentary as they spoke, he certainly didn't process much of any of it.

The first thing truly of note that brought him from his thoughts, which were scattered and confused as he analysed literally all of his and Jack's interactions and replayed them over and over again in his head, was that he realized there were quite a few more students as they exited the platform at the station by the school than he'd noticed getting on.

He honestly had no idea if he missed it himself, but he was glad to see most of the students around him seemed a little confused by it as well.

"Where did all these people come from?" Tammy said, looking up and down the platform. Tom, realizing just about then that he had been zoned out for the entirety of the trip, forced himself to pay attention now- not allowing his brain to go back into auto-pilot.

"Beauxbatons," Mia said, as if that meant something. Well, Tom knew it meant something since it was the name of the French Wizarding School, the one Miles's fiance went to, but that didn't explain the crush of bodies on the platform- his mind still lost in a confused daze of trying to process emotions that he wanted to ignore.

An older student bumped into him from behind and offered a quick "Excusez-moi," and Tom realized he didn't see a patch on their robes, which were just black- the more he looked for it, he was seeing it more and more- a good portion of the students around them were completely unfamiliar and wearing plain robes.

"The occupation," he said quietly, realization dawning on him.

"What?" Chadwick asked, grabbing the back of Tom's robes and pushing him forward, "Riddle move your arse, get us out of this,"

He would have replied but apparently, over the summer he'd become the tallest of the four- he'd spent all summer with Chadwick and hadn't noticed a difference but both of them were taller than the girls now. Instead, he let Chadwick and whichever of the girls hold onto his robes by the back as he pushed through the throng of students and made their way to the carriages.

"Is that Dumbledore?" Tammy asked from behind him, pausing, her hand still knotted in the back of his robes causing him to pause as well before Chadwick shoved him forward again, forcing him to walk towards the man. The professor in question was talking to a man Tom didn't recognize- his normal dark ginger hair seemed more grey than it had previously, and there were more lines on his face like he was exhausted despite the school year only just getting ready to start.

"Professor!" Chadwick called, pushing past Tom for which he was grateful, not wanting to deal with the Gryffindor's head of house. "What's the hold-up?"

"Good evening, Mr. Chadwick," Professor Dumbledore said, giving them a slight smile as he gestured to the carriages, "We had tried to prepare enough carriages for all but unfortunately we will likely be ferrying students up to the castle for a bit longer than normal tonight- as you can see several of the Beauxbatons students are being accommodated here while there is still conflict on the Mainland." He paused and turned back to the other exhausted man, "Kettleburn will still take the first years by way of boat since those we were much better prepared for- we shall fill the carriages as we are able and the rest can walk the path they take to the Village from the school-"

"We need to walk?" Chadwick complained and then cursed loudly, looking over his shoulder, "Lyall!" More of their group had found them and were creating a choke point by the carriages, so Tom and Tammy grabbed whoever was closest to them and forced them away from the overwhelmed Deputy Headmaster.

"We could just wait for a free carriage!" Chadwick complained as Tammy dragged him towards the path Dumbledore had mentioned.

"Or we could walk and be there before we even get a carriage," Tammy replied, rolling her eyes, "Stop complaining- I'm the one stuck carrying a cat!"

"I'm sorry, are you not a witch?" Tom asked, tilting his head as the witch glared at him and Tom felt his stomach drop again considering the night before when someone had looked at him like that they'd proceeded to kiss him.

Luckily Tammy was the type who was more apt to punch him than kiss him. "Have you ever levitated a cat?" She asked, still glaring at him, "They don't very much like it!"

Kelly took the moment to make herself known, yowling irritably at them from inside her wicker carrier.

"Wait up!" Someone behind them yelled and Tom stepped to the side, taking the cat carrier from Tammy and also pulling her to the side as well, forcing Mia and Chadwick to halt once more. Luckily the throng continued to move around them with little issue.

"Goodness-" Sable said, squeezing between some students and popping up beside Mia, who gave the Slytherin a quick hug. "This is a bit much, isn't it?"

"I thought Beauxbatons was staying open due to the armistice?" Chadwick said, looking around, "Mum said we'd get some new students cause of the people fleeing occupation but I don't think they were prepared for a whole bloody school."

"Not a whole school," Lyall explained, "They are still open, but a decent amount of families had to flee unexpectedly. My grandparents only just got out just a couple of weeks ago- it's… it's bad."

"Delaney!" Tammy yelled and pushed forward into the students passing them, grabbing the other Slytherin girl and dragging her back towards them.

"Are we waiting for the rest?" Tom asked, referring to the remaining missing Slytherins and Ravenclaws from their group.

"Do you see any of them?" Mia asked, standing on her toes as she tried to peer at passing students and carriages.

"We're all going to the same place, move!" Tammy instructed, grabbing Tom by the back of the robes once more and pushing him forward again. Tom rolled his eyes and clutched Kelly's wicker cat carrier tighter as he led the group along the well-trod path that connected Hogwarts to the village's train station. It felt good to be back as they passed through the gates, the last of his disassociation fading from his mind as a sense of being home settled his nerves.

The girls were exchanging stories from the summer and Tom was glad they were absorbed in their conversation and allowed himself to hang behind them beside Chadwick and Lyall. Lyall usually had a steady calmness to him, but now he just seemed tired- Tom was aware he hadn't been paying close enough attention to the slight changes in his friends, things that he just assumed they would tell him if they felt the need, but if anything was screaming at Tom that he needed to check in on the Gryffindor it was that Chadwick wasn't making bad jokes or pestering him about something, bouncing ideas and the like off his housemate as he often did with Tom.

He'd gotten taller too, but instead of just that there was a leanness to him, his face- no pun intended- gaunt. "You said your grandparents made it to the UK?" Tom asked and Lyall blinked and looked over at him before nodding slowly. "Yeah, it was rough."

Tom knew if it were Tammy or Mia they would push more, but Tom recognized the way Lyall didn't look at him or Chadwick and thought it best not to. "If Chadwick and I can do anything, you need only ask," he said instead. Chadwick nodded his head in agreement and Lyall gave another small smile and nodded his head.

Tom had never seen the Great Hall so crowded. The stool that first years would sit upon to be sorted was up in its normal spot, but instead, Headmaster Dippet was standing with Professor Beery and going through a long scroll as a line of older students stood in between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. They ranged from looking like they could be first or second years all the way to older teens, likely hitting their majority. All of them looked some kind of variation of how Lyall had- tired. The younger ones seemed skittish and the older ones seemed hardened, all of them nervous. Mia had given Lyall a tight hug and Tammy had taken Kelly's carrier back and given him and Chadwick each a quick one-armed hug before the group broke apart and headed for their respective tables.

Tom settled beside Delaney, Sable on her other side. The tables were still empty of food, but that wasn't odd since the feast didn't usually start until the Sorting Ceremony was done.

"Did the hat do its song before Sorting started?" Sable asked and Tom didn't hear if she got an answer- the hat was calling out, "Slytherin!" and there was a scattered round of polite claps. This happened every minute or so as the line of older students shortened and the flow of students into the Great Hall stemmed.

Instead of allowing himself the chance to get stuck in his head again, Tom examined each of the tables and tried to see if he could pick out the new students, passing the time as Sable and Delaney chatted with their housemates- one thing he appreciated about the pair was they tended to let him sit in companionable silence with them, not pestering or prodding him to join the conversation, but never making him feel like he was imposing on them by being there.

Professor Dumbledore led the new first years in once it appeared all of the upper-class students were inside, leading them up the same aisle that the older students had queued up in, and pulled a scrolled out from his robes, taking the Sorting Hate from the Headmaster, unfurling the scroll and calling out more names.

More effort was put into the applause for the first years as things seemed to right themselves back to a more normal routine and the tables were finally filled with the rest of their house. Tom clapped along with his housemates for the new first years who joined their house, scooting this way and that as needed as they came to join the table. He did wonder if the tables had had this much extra room and they'd simply never noticed and enjoyed not being bunched up too tightly, or if Dippet had elongated them beforehand.

With the last student sorted into Ravenclaw, Headmaster Dippet rose from his seat as Professor Dumbledore picked up the stool and took it off the platform. "Wonderful, welcome welcome, students, new and old. As you can see, due to the ongoing hostilities on the mainland and the current occupation of France, we have opened our doors for any families who did not feel safe remaining. As such, I expect all of our Hogwarts staff and students to welcome them with open arms and provide them with any assistance in navigating the castle and settling in." He opened his arms to the professors behind him at the staff table, "Your Heads of Houses will complete proper introductions after dinner and likely pair new students with those in their dormitory to assist as they get acclimated, but as some of our new students are still getting used to using English conversationally, any students who already know French will likely be asked to assist as well. I thank you all for your patience in this trying time, and now, without further delay, let us dine!"

The applause to this was significantly loud, the entire hall grateful for food, Tom included. However, even as he loaded his plate, mouth-watering, it wasn't Sable or Delaney who initiated conversation first, surprisingly, but Miles, who was sitting across from him, Mulciber on his other side, further away from Tom and the girls. Luckily, Nott was nowhere in sight.

"How was your summer, Tom?" Miles asked, levitating a pitcher from in front of Delaney over to pour himself a drink.

Tom stopped mid-bite into his steak and kidney pie and swallowed. "Long." He said shortly, but at the look Miles gave him he continued, "Hot. But honestly it was fine, I spent most of it with Chadwick mucking about."

"How was London?" Delaney asked, looking over, "Besides going by Diagon Alley and then to Kings Cross we weren't around, but I saw a lot of the buildings in Muggle London and near Diagon Alley were boarded up."

Tom nodded, "Yes, most of the women and children were evacuated because they were worried about air raids."

Miles gave him a quizzical look, "I thought nothing came of that?"

Tom shook his head, "Not in London, but they started doing it again this summer over some of the muggle airfields and military bases, so they are worried they will launch an attack on London."

"Savages," Sable grumbled on the other side of Delaney, and Tom couldn't help but agree with her. While he tried to stay apprised of the ongoing events, he had quite a bit else going on, and from what he could understand, there was no truly good reason for any of it.

"Didn't Diagon Alley have wardstones put in surrounding it after the Great War?" Delaney asked, looking from Tom to Miles. "I think I heard my grandfather talking about it."

Mulciber nodded, scooping some potatoes onto his plate. "Yes, my father said that last year when the Muggle Parliament declared war that they were all reinforced, so there souldn't be any issues there, at least- King's Cross as well, and the Ministry."

Tom had a moment to wonder if the wizarding families in London also had wards of somekind for their homes, if that was something the Chadwicks had, but the conversation was pulled toward the discussion of Hogsmeade trips they would be allowed to go now that they were third years, and Tom was grateful that Ms. Cole had signed the form with no questions. It would have been awkward trying to explain why he couldn't go to the village otherwise.

It had been a rough first day, followed by a rough first week, and then a rough first month, and Tom felt just a little bit bad that he was glad it wasn't just him having a rough go of it.

It had started small at first- As a third year he began his elective courses and had less free periods available to him, so learning his new schedule became even more of a pain than it had first been, and he quickly found he often didn't have time to store his books between his classes. Thankfully though with the influx of new students, Nott hadn't bothered him or tried to make good on his threats from the year prior. The classes were larger, and there were even more students getting lost, more people jamming up the corridors in between the clases and creating blocks on the moving stairs as the first-years and new students learned to navigate them, making everyone else late for their classes. At least even the most strict of his professors were granting leniency for it, waving away excuses before pointing silently to open chairs.

There were three new students among the third-year Slytherins, as well as two to three in each of the other houses. The two new girls were partnered off with Lindsay Eaton and Olive Hornby, who were both fluent in French and had begun quite the clique, giggling loudly together. There was a boy as well, Lucas, but his English was better than the girls. At first Slughorn had introduced him to Mulciber and Avery, but he shared the same elective classes with Tom and began bouncing back and forth between them. He was the chatty type and seemed to think a lot of himself, so Tom tended to tune him out, but he did have to admit that despite that, he didn't act like too much of an ass to Tom or Chadwick or the others when he'd been introduced.

The first weekend no post arrived on Sunday, which was odd, but not too concerning considering there had been plenty the day prior. There was no post again the following morning on Monday as well, no letters from home and no papers and the staff were talking quietly amongst themselves, which put everyone on edge. No one got post every day, but there was ever rarely a day that no post arrived at all.

The shoe dropped the day after that, on Tuesday after the start of classes. Tom didn't have a first-period class on Tuesdays and Thursdays but had Ancient Runes at nine so he hurried through a light breakfast while comparing the answers on their first assignment with Lucas and Myrtle Warren, the only other Slytherin who was taking Ancient Runes that period with him. There was another morning of no post and students were asking the professors about it, but they were vague and no one was happy with the answers they were given. Tom would have worried more, but given he rarely received post himself, it wasn't something that took priority to him. They made it through that class and then Transfiguration with the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors.

At lunch Tammy physically dragged him to the Hufflepuff table to show her the wand movements that they'd learned the week prior for Cheering Charms because she'd been too busy doodling on her parchment so he didn't immediately see that a few owls came soaring in until Mia pointed it out. Given the distinct lack of post, everyone was looking up as several more owls joined the first- circling before swooping over their intended targets and either lighting down on their shoulders, or dropping their letters and soaring out.

"I thought they made all those adjustments to the wards for post last year?" Mia asked, looking and trying to spot her parents' owl.

"Something has to have happened with how dodgy the professors are being," Tammy grumbled, still struggling to mimic the correct hand motions. "Blast it!"

"Stop clutching your wand so tightly," Tom said, grabbing a few chips, "It's a Cheering Charm, not a hex."

"What's that even mean?" Tammy demanded, staring at him like he was mad.

"Wembley told us last year our grips and grasps should reflect the types of spells we're casting," Tom said before shoving some more chips into his mouth.

"What does that even mean?" Tammy repeated, groaning loudly and slumping forward.

Tom raised an eyebrow as he finished chewing, but before he could answer someone was roughly shoving him over.

"Chadwick-?" Mia asked as the Gryffindor climbed roughly over the bench, unfurling a paper and nearly smacking Tom in the face with it.

"Shut up and read!" He nearly shouted, drawing the attention of the students around them. Tom leaned over the paper- a muggle paper, the Daily Express, but the headline made everyone freeze;

"BLITZ BOMBING OF LONDON GOES ON ALL NIGHT"

Several hands grabbed for the paper all at once but Tom was both the closest and the strongest and he won out, Mia shouting at him to read it out loud and he obliged;

"Two buses hit: Hospital ringed by explosions, East End Again: More Fires," Tom read, trying to force himself to keep his eyes on the words he was reading and not allow them to jump ahead and trip over his tongue in the process, "Goering restarted his Great Blitzkrieg on London last night promptly at black-out time- one minute to eight. Half an hour before that time he made a gloating, boasting broadcast to the German people, 'A terrific attack is going on against London,' he said. 'Adolf Hitler has entrusted me with the task of attacking the heart of the British Empire.'"

More students were surrounding them, but it seemed the post that had come in had led to pockets of this going on across the entire Great Hall- Tammie ripped the paper from his hands and continued reading as Chadwick dug his nails into Tom's arm, looking a little frantic, his hair stuck up in different places like he's mused it up- "Mum sent the paper, she and a bunch others were evacuated, she's gone to the Potter's Estate in the countryside to stay with my aunt and uncle- but," he paused, and Tom realized his hand was shaking slightly.

There was a sort of ringing in Tom's ears- he had no way of knowing if anything had happened to Wool's or to any of those who had remained there, specifically Jack. Did he even have a place to go back to?

Tom took a deep breath and reached out, steadying Chadwick who was deathly pale. "Breathe, Chadwick."

The Gryffindor nodded slowly, and then took a deep breath. "Lyall-"

"I'm here," a voice said over their shoulders and Tom looked to see the other Gryffindor standing there, looking spooked. "Wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not."

"What do you mean?" Chadwick asked.

Lyall gave them a look that Tom could only describe as haunted. "My uncle was killed helping my grandparents get out of Germany… I told you- it's bad. If you talk to some of the French students they can tell you, their air raids started like this over the summer. Paris is wrecked, from what I've heard."

Tom looked around, not sure what he was looking for since he wasn't as well acquainted with the French Refuges that were in Hufflepuff, and he couldn't see the Slytherin table for the students who had gathered around them. Similarly to the start of their second year, the staff were moving amongst them, trying to calm students and regain control. Had they known? Tom tried to quell some of the anger beginning to fester in his chest, but his fear won out, his heart thumping like a jackrabbit in his chest.