Inseparable

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The parents of Tom's friends were all lined up like the proud purebloods they were, waiting patiently for their children.

Lord Malfoy was there, standing next to his wife.

Tom and Harry were about to take their leave to the other side of the platform, onto King's Cross Station, where Mrs Cole would be waiting for them when Abraxas dragged them off towards his parents.

"Greetings mother, father. These are my friends Tom Slytherin and Harry Peverell," Abraxas said.

Lord Malfoy took an immediate interest in the two boys and examined them with a close eye to see if there was anything special about them- there wasn't. They looked fairly normal, just like any other teenage boy, he could even say that his son looked more proper than them.

"Hello Lord Malfoy," Tom said. So this was what an influential wizard looked like, Tom thought. Tall, chin up, looking down at everyone before him. Wore expensive looking robes with a snake-headed cane in his hand. Tom was confused, Lord Malfoy looked like a person who could stand without the support of a cane. Maybe the cane was for whacking stuff. Perhaps if there was something small and annoying in front of him, he would give it a whack with his cane.

"Heir Slytherin," Lord Malfoy replied. "A pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about you," he said shaking Tom's hand

"It's good to meet you as well Lord Malfoy, however, we must be leaving. We really shouldn't keep Mrs Cole waiting," Tom said.

With that Tom and Harry left the Malfoy family and headed towards the barrier separating the magic and muggle worlds.

Mrs Cole was waiting in her old car and snapped at them to get in. The journey back to the orphanage was long and silent, with Tom and Harry sitting awkwardly in the back and Mrs Cole occasionally glaring at them through the rear view mirror.

Once they were at the orphanage, Mrs Cole snapped at them again to leave the car and get to their room. They both followed Mrs Coles orders and went to their room. On the way they noticed that the basement of the orphanage was converted into spare bedrooms for some of the children to sleep in. Luckily, Tom and Harry still had their room. No one dared to enter, even when they were away.

After they unpacked their stuff, Harry wanted to go and check on Nagini. He dragged Tom down with him to the gardens, where they went to the back of the orphanage where they usually spent time with the snake.

'Nagini!' Harry hissed excitedly when he saw the large snake lounging around on a rock.

'Hello Hatchling,' Nagini said looking up, 'hello Tommy, you're here too.'

'Yes, here for the whole summer,' Tom drawled.

'You'll never guess what we found at Hogwarts,' Harry said, 'we found the Chamber of Secrets, there was a giant basilisk inside as well. He's called Venus.'

'A basilisk!' Nagini hissed alarmed, 'what are you doing near a Basilisk!'

'So you know what one is? How did you know that?' Harry asked curiously.

'My mother told me stories of the basilisk- the great snake king- when I was only but a snakelet,' Nagini answered. 'But that doesn't explain why you were visiting one. Basilisks are powerful creatures, they will kill you if you look into its eyes.'

'Venus was actually a very nice basilisk and did not try to kill us,' Harry replied.

... 

It was later in the evening and Tom and Harry were sitting in the dining room away from everyone else. They ignored the stares and curious glances from all the other boys and girls, and continued to eat their slop. Dinners at the orphanage somehow got worse than last year, which was saying something. Last year the vegetables were squishy and mouldy while the bread was hard and stale.

However the orphanage cook has managed to do the impossible and made it worse. There wasn't anything on the plate which resembled food. It looked as if everything was thrown into a blender and mixed together and served to them.

It was positively disgusting, if they had to be honest. However, they still sat, not complaining and forced themselves to eat it. It was the only food they would get.

It was all quiet in the dining room until the air raid siren went off. This was certainly something which Tom and Harry did not miss. The poor unprotected orphanage was absolutely nothing compared to the complex wards protecting Hogwarts and every other wizarding house.

Just like clockwork, everyone in the dining room got up and stood in their two by two line and processed out of the orphanage.

The sky was dark and a few stars might have been visible if not for thick smoky clouds looming in the sky.

They walked their usual route to the underground, followed Mrs Cole through to the end of the platform and sat down.

The end of the platform was always reserved for the orphanage. There was normally always a warden standing outside of the platform waiting for Mrs Cole to lead the way and scare off anyone who was already at the end of the platform.

Tom and Harry sat down next to each other, leaning against the back wall.

"Tom," Harry whispered and Tom hummed in response, "do you remember what Abraxas said."

"Abraxas said a lot of things."

"On the way to Hogwarts, at the beginning of the year. He said that he went to all the wizarding worlds in Europe. I want to travel the world one day. After we graduate from Hogwarts, go and see everywhere. I want to climb to the top of a mountain one day and on another we'll jump down waterfalls," Harry said quietly, leaning his head on Tom's shoulder.

Harry had never been anywhere apart from at the orphanage or Hogwarts. He wanted to go and see the world. See all the beauty everyone would talk about, because right now Harry couldn't find any of the beauty. His world was covered with thick smoke and the sounds of bombs falling in the distance.

Tom looked down to his shoulder, where he saw Harry already begin to doze off. He wrapped a protective arm around Harry and held him tightly. Travelling around the world might be a nice thing to do. Once they graduated from Hogwarts of course, and maybe secured a place in the ministry. From what he heard, it was more commonly found that they freshly graduated were preferred over the ones who had taken time off in the muggle world.

If he was ever going to be minister he would need to start with a job in the ministry.

... 

Far away, west of London, in Wiltshire, two people were currently occupying the study of Malfoy Manor. The two people being Lord Malfoy and his son, Abraxas.

"...They've created a study group father, they named it the Knights of Walpurgis. They've even offered to teach advanced spells and theory," Abraxas told his father, explaining all he knew about the two boys.

"Tell me again about the letter you sent me."

"So basically-"

"Don't say basically. Malfoys don't say basically. Use proper words," Lord Malfoy said, interrupting his son.

"Right, we were sitting in the room of requirement waiting for Avery and Lestrange. They were seven minutes late to the meeting. I think Tom had become impatient because of the spell he used. He said it was a spell he learned from the restricted section. He said that the incantation for the spell was dolor, and when he cast the spell he barely said it out loud. It was almost nonverbal. The spell was pink and when it came in contact with Avery he fell to the floor and started screaming loudly. I almost thought it was the cruciatus," Abraxas explained to his father.

"Ah, I think I recognise the spell now, I've only used it a small number of times myself actually. I didn't think Hogwarts would have a book on that curse even in the restricted section. You were right to think that it was the cruciatus. They are very similar spells, the Dolor spell doesn't have the ministry trace on it, meaning that you can cast it without the ministry knowing. However, the ministry can still trace dark magic which means that you should still be under the right wards, just in case," Lord Malfoy explained.

"So what should we do now?" Abraxas asked.

"Well, what is there to do. We have figured out that the both of them have very ancient blood. Just stay close to them, being their friend may have some advantages once they reach seventeen."

(Words: 2119)