Harry Potter and the Time Fluke

Christmas Eve

By December, snow fell upon Wool's Orphanage. Harry sat on his bed with the dark comforter from the bottommost drawer of his dresser pulled tightly around his shivering body. It was ridiculous how cold his room got during this season.

He heard shrieks coming through his window from the other orphans playing in the front yard. At lunchtime, a few of the older ones had declared that they would be having a gigantic snowball fight and anyone else who was interested would be welcome to join in. Harry had wanted to go out and play in the fresh powder, but he still had to put the finishing touches on his Christmas present for Tom.

He hadn't planned on making anything for the boy, and he certainly had no money to purchase a present, but one day as he was watching Martha knit a sweater in the commons, the idea had come to him. For Christmas, Harry was going to give Tom a friendship bracelet. It would be black, silver, and green (Slytherin colors) and made of yarn, but something was always better than nothing. It wasn't like he felt obligated to give Tom a gift either.

He simply wanted to.

He'd only recently obtained the strings from Martha's knitting kit while she wasn't looking and it was taking him a while to finish since he'd never really been good in the arts and crafts department. Tom was studying more of the books they'd gotten from their most recent trip to the library in his room and had specifically asked Harry not to bother him for another thirty minutes at least, which meant this was the perfect time for Harry to complete his gift as a whole. The green-eyed boy had complied with Tom's wishes and had gone straight to his room to finalize the bracelet and his very own Hallmark card.

A week before school had let out, Harry had managed to persuade Tom to retrieve some coloring material for him from the kindergarden's stash under the guise that Harry was bored and the books weren't always doing it for him. It had been a real hassle for him with Tom's constant interrogation over the matter, not believing Harry for a minute, but the boy had done it anyway. They were, after all, friends.

When he finally finished the bracelet he couldn't help but swell with pride about how good it looked. He checked the tarnished clock on his bedside stand to confirm if Tom had completed his homework and would be ready to entertain him, noting there were three minutes to go; just enough time for him to clean up and make a mad dash through the freezing air to the neighboring room.
Harry unraveled himself from the warm den he'd constructed atop his bed out of what little blankets the orphanage provided.

He placed the card and present in the bottom drawer of his dresser and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, warming his muscles for the speedy shuffle that was about to occur. When he was sure he wouldn't get a leg cramp, he dashed to the door and flung it open, pivoting and side stepping to Tom's room, knocking only once before entering anyway without and sound of approval.
Tom made a face as Harry invited himself into the room and clambered onto his bed. He continued to watch the smaller boy as Harry attempted to snuggle under the covers as well.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tom grunted.

Harry didn't look at Tom as he replied, "Trying to get warm."

Tom's eyebrow's rose a quarter of an inch, "By sneaking into my bed?"

"It's hardly sneaking," Harry explained with an innocent smile.

"You're looking at me now, aren't you?"

"That just means you're bad at it," Tom scoffed. "You still came in here without my permission." He narrowed his eyes and smirked at Harry's half-covered form.
"Maybe I should inform Mrs. Cole of your misdemeanor. I'm sure she'd take pleasure in any punishment brought down on you."