Harry Potter and the Time Fluke

Magical

The sun left the sky and darkness fell to the ground with Harry still sitting by his window, alone.

He waited there in the same position until it was nearly lights-out before he decided it was time to sleep. The fact that Tom still hadn't tried to come find him played at the back of his mind as he snuggled under the thin sheets. Did their friendship really mean that little? A sudden bout of emotions slammed into his chest and Harry instantly felt like he was going to cry. He bit his lip and stared up at the ceiling, listing off all the spells he knew in his head to keep the tears at bay. Fifteen minutes later, the matron came around knocking on everyone's doors, telling them to blow out their candles and go to bed.

Harry lay there in darkness, listening to her footsteps retreat and unable to go to sleep. The events of that day, small though they were, were too much for him to handle. A lone creak from the hallway near his door made his thoughts stop and his eyes blink. Someone was out of bed and it shouldn't be the matron; she only did one round before retiring for the evening. It couldn't be one of the many rats Harry had seen over the years either because they never had enough weight to them that made the floorboards moan. A soft knock sounded at his door.

"Harry?" came the whispered question.

Harry sat up, mildly confused. "Tom?" Without answering, the door opened then closed. Harry could see Tom's outline in the darkness as he made his way carefully over to Harry's bed, sitting down on the edge. The clouds outside lazily moved out of the way of the moon and it's light illuminated Tom's weary face for Harry to see.

"Didn't see you at dinner."

Harry half-shrugged even though his friend's eyes were averted. "Wasn't hungry."

Tom shook his head. "You haven't been hungry before but you still came down to talk anyway. What's wrong? Are you sick?"

Harry didn't reply. What could he say? That he was jealous Hogwarts was stealing Tom from him even though he supposedly had no idea what Hogwarts was? Tom sighed at Harry's lack of response.

"A man came to see me today. He said his name was Professor Dumbledore. He wants me to come to his school, free of charge."

Harry stiffened. "Are you gonna go?" He didn't look at Tom. He already knew the answer.

"Yeah. It's a boarding school though, and it's far away. I didn't want to go if I couldn't see you, but the school is," he struggled to find the right word, "magical."

Mentally surprised that he'd come straight out with the truth, Harry looked back at Tom, eyebrows raised in confrontation. "Magical? Tom, you've never even been there before. How can you describe a place you've never been to as magical?"

Tom's face twitched slightly with hurt, and it made Harry feel incredibly guilty inside because it was rare that Tom was ever this open with him and even rarer when the boy showed he was unhappy.

"I–," Tom paused and made an expression as though he were internally debating something. He met Harry's eyes with his own and said in his most serious voice, "I'm about to tell you a big secret. You can't tell anybody. That one professor made me swear not to tell anyone, and I'm already breaking that contract by telling you."

Harry nodded, managing to keep a straight face even though his stomach was nervously flip-flopping faster that when he'd seen Dumbledore earlier that day. Could this really be happening?

"I'm a wizard, Harry."

"You're a-a-a what?" He had to act properly surprised of course.

Tom nodded his head. "A wizard. I can do magic. Real magic. Like turning people into frogs and stuff."

"But-but how?"

"I'm not quite sure really; only I know that I've done it before. Accidental magic is what Professor Dumbledore called it. Magic I did without knowing I was doing magic. You remember that time we were at the caves and I, erm, punished Amy and Denis?" Harry nodded. He'd never forget an event as hectic as that. Especially when it contained an all too freaked-out Mrs. Cole. "Well, while we were in the cave, I got so mad at them and all the things they were saying about you that I accidentally used magic. I hurt them. Badly. That's why they never told the adults what went on in there. They're frightened of me, of what they think I'd do to them if they ever let slip the truth."

Harry stared at Tom in disbelief. His friend had already admitted to being a wizard, but coming clean about something that had happened a year ago too... It was turning out to be a night of confessions on Tom's part.

"That's what you–they were talking about me?"

Tom bit his lip and gazed at the floor. "I'd heard some not-so-nice rumors about you at school and found out that Amy had started them. I had her follow me to the caves to confront her, but Dennis came tagged along. When I told her I knew she'd been saying things about you and told her to stop, she and Dennis just laughed, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world that I actually cared about someone, and began saying more things about you to hurt me." Tom's mouth twisted into a wicked smirk that Harry had only ever seen on Voldemort's face. "But in the end, it was them who got hurt; and they'll never forget it."

Silence followed as Harry tried to work out how to respond to Tom's admission. The only reason Tom had harmed the other orphans had been because of him. Also, Tom's verbal acknowledgement of caring for Harry had rendered him speechless. It was the first time he'd ever heard directly from Tom in words that the boy felt the same about Harry as he did for Tom.

"I believe you, Tom," he said with a smile, reverting back to the original topic since he still couldn't find any words to explain his feelings on Tom's other confession. "About being a wizard, I mean."

Tom looked surprised for a second, but then broke out into a huge grin. "Really, you do?"

"I do."

"That's great." Tom turned his body to face Harry. "Don't worry, I'll write you every day, and come home whenever I can. It's a school for magic, so I'm going to be going there with other witches and wizards, just like me." Tom paused, his eyes widening in sudden realization. "Bloody hell, I'm going to be so far behind the rest of them in anything that has to do with magic!"

Harry laughed. "Don't worry, I believe in you." He was more worried about Tom's other personality than he was about him being behind in magic. When Tom was with Harry, he came alive and acted like the Tom Harry had grown to adore, but when he was around other people... he did tend to remind Harry, sometimes, of the Tom in Dumbledore's memories; except that this anti-social Tom had a more snobbish, aristocratic attitude rather that a creepy, psychotic one.

"Shhhhh, keep it down. You don't want the matron to hear, do you?" Harry's giggles immediately stopped. "Well, now that I know we're still friends and you won't burn me at the stake," Tom threw Harry an appreciative glance, "I guess I'll be going back to bed now." He shifted his weight forward and started to slide off the bed.

Harry didn't know what made him do it–maybe it was looking at Tom's back leaving and knowing it would be gone for a year–but he grabbed the other boy's wrist. Tom looked down, then up again, a question mark written plainly across his face. Harry took a deep breath. "Sta-stay with me. Tonight. Please. I need you here, beside me. I just feel so overwhelmed with the knowledge that you'll be leaving soon, I-" Harry didn't know what else to say so he looked at his friend with pleading eyes. Tom and he never had much physical contact unless they were roughhousing or Tom was abusing Harry's skull with flicks and smacks.

Tom stared at him for a long moment with no expression on his face. Pretty sure that his request would be answered with a negative, he began releasing his grip on Tom's appendage.

"Scoot over."

Shocked, Harry let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding in, let go of Tom's wrist completely, and moved over to make room for his best friend. Tom crawled under the covers and lay on his side, facing Harry. He could feel the heat of Tom's breath on his face. Neither said anything, just resting there in comfortable silence. Tom smiled and Harry returned it. "G'night, Harry."

"G'night, Tom." Their eyes closed as one and they both drifted off into the land of dreams.

AN: Tom is finally going to Hogwarts. Now things will get more exciting! Will Harry be attending next year? Stay tuned for more updates. :))