TORMENT (Harry Potter Sequel)

Chapter Five

He hated how weak he was. He swallowed again and finally reached out his hand. He prepared to brace himself before slowly knocking on the door.

From the other side of the door, he could hear a chair screeching backwards. He heard clear footsteps coming towards him. He heard an audible cracking of knuckles. The door creaked open and standing in the doorway was the matron, wearing her signature sickly sweet smile. She reached out to grab Tom's arm that bristled at her touch and pulled him in unresistingly. As usual, she pulled out her wooden stool for him to sit on. He did and, as was routine by now, shut his eyes and waited for it to be over.

"Quidditch!"

A loud voice silenced the many conversations that were happening within the first-year class. They all stood outside in the Grounds of Hogwarts mostly segregated into four groups, each child hanging out with others from their house. It was still early in the morning so the air was cold and Tom stood alone, he himself an outcast from all four huddles of other students. He was feeling much better today, having slept better than he did the night before but even so, he did not gain the confidence to go over to other people and engage in conversation. This was not helped by the fact that Tom had woken up earlier than he should've and had thus awoken everyone else in the dormitory by accident. He had been as apologetic as he could be but his roommates were less than forgiving.

All of that was irrelevant now though because a witch with jet white hair and wearing strange goggles was now standing in front of them.

"Quidditch!" she repeated, making sure she had the attention of everyone, "I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of that!" There was a general murmur of agreement and excitement. The witch smirked and continued, "Well to those of you from Muggle families, I will explain it briefly: Quidditch is a sport performed on Broomsticks. It's highly competitive and requires a lot of skill."

Tom scratched his chin in thought. He had heard Dante go on and on about Quidditch and how awesome it was but he had never been told what it was.

"-so today...!" Tom came crashing back to reality just in time to hear what the lesson would be about. The teacher continued, "We will be seeing this year's aptitude with a broomstick. Remember..." she held a finger to emphasise the importance of this, "Using a broomstick isn't easy. In fact, I'd say it's very hard. I doubt any one of you will be able to fly. It's a skill that takes years and years of practice. Only a prodigy would show a mastery at a young age..." the teacher paused yet again. She looked at the class in front of her. For the most part, they looked rather downtrodden after her spiel. A friendly smile appeared on her face, "But with that said it's the beginning of the year, we don't have to do serious lessons so what the heck. Let's have fun!"

The class cheered and the broomsticks began getting handed out. The students were forced to stand in two lines, opposite each other. In front of each of them, a broomstick was placed on the grass and they were instructed not to touch them. Tom had to admit the broomsticks looked different to the ones he imagined. The broomsticks Tom was used to seeing were all plastic and had a dark black brush. These broomsticks were wooden and sturdy with a brown brush that seemed more natural and classic than the 'muggle counterpart'.

"Hey," Tom's head shot up at the word and darted around. Much to his surprise, standing next to him was Aubyn Young wearing his Gryffindor robes and the same friendly smile that he had had on the train.

"H-hello," replied Tom unsurely. How was he meant to talk to him? Internally his whole brain was panicking.

'He's talking to me? But I'm a Slytherin! He's a Gryffindor! Gryffindors don't talk to Slytherins!'