Ulkras had gotten Tom the full details on the birth rites for each of the heirships he was in line for after they visited the Peverall's Vault and the empty vault that was Tom's and Tom's alone, though Tom waited to review it until they were back at Chadwick's, which was probably for the best considering his brain was swimming.
The Peverell Vault was especially deep underground and ten times the size of the Gaunt Vault- though otherwise was very similar in its contents. Despite the ceiling being two or three times as tall as the Gaunt Vault, furniture and books were stacked nearly to the ceiling in disarray. Further back into the vault, it was only a tad more organized with faded scrolls and paperwork shoved onto shelves with ancient tomes that seemed to be falling apart at the seams. While the London Library had been losing interest, it now seemed he had a whole new selection of books to choose from in the two family vaults he suddenly had access to. And of course, Tom's vault he'd been assigned was the smallest of the three by far and completely empty- though at least this one seemed like it had been cleaned somewhat recently and was a shorter cart ride away than he'd been expecting, located among of row of other smaller vaults closer to the top.
In regards to the family rites, Slytherin's truly had very little in overall requirements to be considered an heir- just a direct lineage to Salazar Slytherin. The Lordship was both more loose in some ways, and much stricter in others. It was the youngest of all the age caps, as apparently the age of majority had shifted through the centuries and while now, according to Mrs. Chadwick, it was more common for Lordships to require the lord be at least sixteen or seventeen, some of the more ancient houses had them set to younger ages. Unlike other lordships, there wasn't anything disqualifying women who were Slytherin Heirs from inheriting, which was more common in the wizarding lordships formed in the 17th century and onwards, but significantly more rare in one as old as the Slytherin Lordship. Apparently, there was no stipulation about the lordship being unable to be passed through maternal lines or about children being born out of wedlock, which was great because otherwise, Tom would have no chance. The only other family rites listed were that only heirs who had opened the Chamber of Secrets could qualify to take the title of Lord and that they should be in possession of the family's signet ring. Should two Heirs meet the requirement within a year and a day of each other, they would duel to determine the Lord. Meaning even if Tom were to discover the Chamber, he would need to wait a year and a day to make sure no one else, like this grandfather, did before he could claim the title.
The Peverell Family had no restrictive rites like the Chamber or ring, but Ulkras had included the stipulations just in case- the Lordship was currently held by Tom's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, his mother's father, and the Peverell family listed sixteen as the age able to inherit, and that women were eligible to as well, but listed nothing else. The Gaunt Family's Lordship was also held by Marvolo Gaunt, but only listed the "age of majority", which currently was seventeen, and while women could claim heirship as a way to pass the lordship to their sons, they were not able to claim it for themselves.
Tom was curious why Marius had been unable to meet the requirements if his own father had been able to himself, but Ulkras hadn't had any immediate answers, and Tom didn't want to press the goblin further about the subject. Not that Ulkras seemed to mind, if anything Tom had the sneaking suspicion that the goblin was taking great delight in being asked to deliberately invade a wizarding family's personal business and pry for more information for Tom.
For the next few weeks, he moved away from focusing on learning how to defend himself and spent what Chadwick insisted was an unreasonable amount of time at Gringotts, trying to go through and understand the paperwork and books that had been crammed into the two vaults. Unfortunately, much of it seemed to be financial records- ancient scrolls with tax information and rent and tenant dues from those living on property owned by the Lordships. The muggle article that had mentioned that the land in Hangleton was tied up in trusts made much more sense seeing all the scrolls. Tom found in the Gaunt Vault that while the Gaunts had sold what they could of the Gaunt land, much of it hadn't been able to be, because the deeds were trapped in their Vault, which they were either too prideful to access or did not have the knowledge of, or was included in the Gaunt trust and couldn't be sold.
He did figure out why the goblins had been less than eager to pursue the Gaunt Family in accessing their vaults because in the fine print at the bottom of Tom's own vault application was the condition that if the vault was left untouched for more than a hundred years, it would revert in ownership back to Gringotts. Tom asked one of the tellers about this in regards to the Peverell, Gaunt, and Slytherin Vaults, and very old contracts and vault applications were produced, showing that the amount of time had been negotiated to be much longer for the older family vaults- Slytherin's vault application stated five hundred years, while the Peverell and Gaunt Vaults each listed three hundred instead. Clearly, the goblins had been hoping eventually all three vaults would revert back to them, along with all of what they contained, but two of those were off the table now that Tom had accessed them.
While Tom spent as much time trying to make heads or tails of if any of the vast amount of ancient tax records were worth keeping (the Goblins had been no help and even Mrs. Chadwick had seemed a bit overwhelmed by it and had even owled her brother-in-law to ask discreetly how long such things were needed), Chadwick seemed to be determined to try and piece out where the hell the Chamber of Secret was, not that any of his suggestions were actually very helpful.
It was about here Tom did something very stupid, telling Chadwick about the biography that Professor Slughorn had loaned him and what he'd pieced together himself after his conversation with the snakes in the Slytherin Common room.
How was this stupid? Because Tom didn't understand immediately why Chadwick looked so confused and and dumbfounded after his discussion and Tom then immediately remembered he had kept his ability to talk to snakes from all of his friends, especially after how Professor Dumbledore had reacted to the news.
"So you've not only been a bloody heir this entire time, but you're also a Parselmouth?" Chadwick had demanded hotly and loudly as they worked through some of the bookshelves in the Peverell's Vault. Tom barely had time to slap a hand over Chadwick's mouth, hissing at him to shut it, but it had still been said. Thankfully it hadn't been on Diagon Alley proper, but rather in the vault where the only one Tom had to worry about overhearing them was the goblin, Grogar, who had escorted them down.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Chadwick continued. Tom seemed to be on the receiving end of many of his rants lately, and while he did enjoy the company while he parsed through the vaults (usually he enjoyed being alone but something about being miles underground with only one person in earshot to hear you sent shivers up his spine), sometimes the boy got on his nerves.
"Professor Dumbledore knows and he made it seem like it wasn't a good thing to be able to do," Tom snapped back, causing Chadwick to frown. Tom conveyed his experience with the man to the Gryffindor, who continued to frown.
"Well, yeah, but he's the head of Gryffindor- some of the really old wizarding families have big magic like that in their lines they're better at than most- but you're in Slytherin House, you'd be top dog if they knew you're one of the Heirs of Slytherin and you speak Parselmouth-" Chadwick paused, started to frown and then broke out into a large maniacal grin so fast it worried Tom just a bit, "You said the snakes in the common room moved when you talked to them- You could scare the living shit out of Nott and he'd never mess with you again!"
Tom ignored him and went back to sorting through the books- it had been a catalogue process in some ways, still trying to decide what to do with it all, while Chadwick had insisted they needed to look for ways to get into the Chamber of Secrets.
Chadwick also admonished Tom for not demanding more answers from the snakes in the Slytherin Common Room, even when Tom expressed he didn't know how helpful they could have been. Tom explained their odd and confusing answers when he'd inquired when the last heir had been there and Chadwick's lips twisted together in a smug look.
"Did you ask who the last heir was?" Tom paused and frowned, before admitting he hadn't, and Chadwick seemed to be pleased by that. "So they might not know the years or dates, being snakes stuck in a dungeon, but maybe they know who the last Heir they interacted with was? If you can figure that out it might get you somewhere."
Tom knew he kept the other boy around for some reason.
All of this had the unintentional side effect of putting some distance between Tom and Jack once more, not that the younger two boys had even noticed it in their interest in Tom's family history. It wasn't until Jack begged off from Tom a few different times that he wondered if the older boy was upset with him. He'd likely sensed Tom was spending more time with Chadwick, and in this Tom had no way to safely involve the muggle boy, making him feel trapped between both worlds.
All that being said, despite the rising tension in the news, Tom had never felt time pass quite so fast as it had that summer, except maybe perhaps when he was at Hogwarts. The summer before it had dragged on and on, but before he knew it it was halfway into August and he'd completed his school shopping with the Chadwicks again. He had a hard bit of time organizing his trunk, given he couldn't let any of the other boys that shared the room see any of the odd titles on the textbooks, or any of the odd potion ingredients. He'd shoved most of it all in while still in the store wrapping, determined to figure it all out at night after everyone had gone to bed.
Somehow that all got put off until the evening before he left. Tom waited until the room had gone quiet and all he could hear was gentle breathing. He slipped from his bed and pulled his trunk out, unwrapping some of the books and shuffling things around. When he'd first gotten the trunk with Professor Dumbledore, it had felt like it was far too large- too many compartments to store things in, but now that he did have more things, he was finding it useful.
"You're still up then?" A voice hissed and Tom froze and looked over his shoulder at the open window. He could only make out a dark outline just outside but he recognized the it easily enough. He closed the lid of his trunk and slid it back into place before moving over to the window.
Jack was sitting on the roof just outside where the slope evened out before meeting the wall and Tom sat on the ledge, pulling his knees up to his chest and enjoying the cool feeling of the roof tile under his feet. "Yeah, I remembered I hadn't finished my trunk," he said, lying easily.
Jack nodded his head slowly and looked out at London. Before when they'd done this there had always been people out and about- even if they weren't in the heart of downtown it was London and there were so many buildings and people there was never any true silence anywhere before, but with the curfew in place, the quiet felt a little deafening.
"You leave in the morning, right?" Jack asked. When Tom nodded he gave a small smile that looked a touch sad, though Tom wasn't certain why. "I'll be at work, but hopefully you have a better year," Jack said.
"You'll be safe here, right?" Tom asked, his stomach twisting in a knot. He wasn't entirely certain why- there was talk about more people coming back from the countryside as the hostilities stretched and no significant damage to London came. He hoped whatever it was would be figured out while he was away and when he came back it would be more normal, whatever that meant.
"It's London," Jack said duly, "Is it ever really safe?" He paused and leaned back. "You'll be safe though- you have a good punch on you now and so does Chadwick. He'll keep you in line." Jack leaned over and bumped his shoulder into Tom's, the touch familiar and friendly. Once Tom would have leaned away, but he'd grown so used to the casualness of physical affection between friends because of Tammy and Mia that he didn't, instead leaning into it.
"Yeah, I'm hoping he doesn't try to punch Nott in the face immediately upon seeing him," Tom said, smirking only a little at the idea. "We'd have a time trying to figure out how to explain that."
"Tell them he insulted his mother-" Jack said with a serious nod, having met Chadwick's mother once or twice when he'd been over at their house. "No one will question it."
Tom laughed and shifted when Jack loped an arm over his shoulders and tousled his hair. "Probably not," He wanted to tell Jack that it was funny because it even made sense given Chadwick was pants at practical spells, so punching Nott would likely be better suited to the Gryffindor anyway. Before having magic and keeping it from muggles had felt like a privilege, a special secret just for him that made him feel special, but now, it made him feel… just different. Like he couldn't really belong, not fully.
His smile slipped at the thought and Jack noticed the shift. "You sure you'll be alright?"
Tom nodded and took a deep breath, trying to banish the uncomfortable train of thought from his mind. "Yeah."
"You can write me if-" Jack started to say but hesitated and Tom looked over at him. Jack's arm was still around his shoulders and he was startled to see how close their faces were. Had Jack always had freckles? Tom stared, wondering why he'd never realized it about the older boy.
"If?" Tom said, brows furrowing, still slightly distracted by Jack's freckles, "I thought we were already writing each other?"
Jack blushed suddenly and Tom's brows furrowed the rest of the way in confusion as the older boy turned and pulled his arm from around Tom's shoulder, clearing his throat, leaning back as he stretched his arms. "Yeah, no, I mean if there's, y'know, a girl you like or something or need any help with anything. I mean, not that I can help you with the academic stuff, that's all on you, I'm not smart enough for any of that-"
Jack continued to ramble as he said a lot of words that didn't seem to mean much of anything and Tom looked him up and down trying to understand what had just changed- it was like only seconds ago it was a relaxing and calm moment between them on the roof and now suddenly everything felt strained and Jack wasn't meeting his eyes.
"Hey!" Jack suddenly said and Tom released some of the tension in his expression as the older boy twisted and began fidgeting for something in one of his pockets. "So I- it was slow at work and I made this," he pulled something out of his pocket but twirled it quickly enough between his fingers that Tom couldn't see what exactly it was. "There were some bent paperclips they were going to trash and it's not, y'know, a wood block like I'd like but at first I tried to twist them into a flower or something but the metal is pretty hard to work with-"
Tom reached out and stilled Jack's hand so he could get a better look at what he was twirling and blinked at the sight of twisted metal. It took a moment for him to recognize it, but it was clearly supposed to be a snake coiled up, the wire of the paper clips woven together to be a body that wrapped around itself.
"It's really tiny-" Jack was saying and Tom was only getting parts of it occasionally as he took the coiled wire snake out of Jack's hand.
"And it's not very well made because it's just paper clips and not-" Tom ignored Jack's rambling and turned the tiny thing over in his hand. Once the boy had given him his knife and showed him how to carve with it, but Tom had taken that as just an older kid trying to get him out of their hair. This was more than that, even if he'd completed it in a day, which was unlikely, but still impressive. He'd clearly put a lot of effort into it.
"It's perfect," Tom said, looking over at Jack, interrupting him. Jack's eyes were wide and his blush had extended from his neck up to his cheeks.
"It's pretty stupid," Jack insisted quietly and Tom shook his head.
"No- it's not," Tom paused, admiring it one more time and then handing it back out.
"No!" Jack said loudly, holding his hands up and then shook his head and lowered his voice again, "No- I mean, I made it for you, but if you don't want it, it's fine, I can take it-"
Tom froze and frowned, looking at the snake, to its creator, and then back again. He wanted to ask him why, but even though he wanted to know, he knew the boy might feel insulted, so he kept the question on his tongue. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah- I mean, yes, it's a gift." Jack finished, sounding more certain by the end, "I didn't want you to…" He trailed off, looking down at his hands.
"To what?" Tom asked, still holding the snake, not really sure what to do with the small thing. He didn't want to drop it, or put it into his pocket and worry about bending it or squashing it, so instead he held it gingerly, cupping it in his hands.
"I didn't know if you'd be mad," Jack said.
Thrown by the question, Tom raised an eyebrow, "Why would I be mad about a gift?"
Jack froze and Tom waited, confused. It was like the more he learned about his peers and how they worked, the more confusing and complicated it became. Had something happened? Yes, Tom was excited about the gift, delighted by it, even- but Jack's reaction to it and him was nothing but confusing.
"I-" Jack started to say something and then cut himself off, running a hand over his face. "Never mind, it's stupid, I'm stupid, I shouldn't- I'm going to go to bed-" Jack rose to his knees and tried to crawl around Tom, which just meant he had to crawl over him to get back to the open window. Tom took a deep breath, feeling flush in the same way he had through the summer when they'd been sparring, and reached out, grabbing Jack's arm.
"What's stupid?" He demanded.
"Jesus-" Jack cursed, freezing up as Tom grabbed his arm, hoving over him at an awkward angle, "If I fall off this bloody roof Tom, it's your fault-" They both froze and went silent when they heard one of the boys from inside the room cough and stir, but then the silence resumed and both boys stayed still as statues until at least a minute passed before they visibly relaxed.
"What's stupid?" Tom demanded, more quietly but harsher.
Jack looked slightly murderous, and Tom felt momentarily afraid the boy was going to take a swing at him because the only other times people gave him a look like that it was usually followed with a cuff to the head or a hex. Jack moved, but instead of yanking his arm out of Tom's grasp he leaned into it suddenly and pressed Tom back into the steep slope of the roof behind him.
Somewhere between that and about ten seconds passing Tom's brain short-circuited. One second he was trying to figure out what he'd done to piss Jack off, the next he pressed against a roof realizing that those were definitely lips on his lips and that meant he was being kissed. By Jack.
He didn't really know what to do with it- the information, or the lips, or Jack himself- blokes didn't kiss other blokes- he'd seen adults snog and older students at Hogwarts as well when they thought they wouldn't get caught by one of the professors, and they'd always seemed to enjoy it, but it was usually a man and a woman, not two of the same kind - did he enjoy this? He honestly didn't know, as quickly as his brain had shut down it had turned back on and now there were too many thoughts there compared to none.
He opened his mouth, pulling away slightly, their teeth clicking together awkwardly and he could feel Jack's tongue on his lip as they pulled apart. Jack was staring at him, almost expectantly and Tom could only blink owlishly. He only just then realized they were both out of breath- had he stopped breathing while they were kissing?
Jack swore, looking away and pulling his arm out of Tom's grasp, "Listen, I'm sorry- just, don't tell anyone-"
"Wait," Tom said, his brain both moving too sluggishly and too fast as he continued to try and understand what was happening and how he even felt about what was happening, but Jack slipped past him and back into the window. Tom took a deep breath, touching his fingers to his lips and then scurried after him, but by the time he rolled to his feet and shut the window behind him, Jack was gone. His bed was empty even though Tom was up for hours after that, too wired to fall asleep, he didn't come back.
A/N: I'm back with a vengeance and I'm going to make it everyone's problem. Sorry for the long hiatus, the babus are two now and absolute terrors. I get very little time to myself but was inspired by the recent posting of Full Circle to write more. Part of my issue if this scene with Tom and Jack was kicking my ass in all the worst ways and I wanted to skip but but how else are we supposed to have us some full-blown Bi/Gay-Panic mess of a boy if this shit didn't happen? Updates will continue to be sporadic at best. Love all'a'y'all.