TORMENT (Harry Potter Sequel)

Chapter Twenty Two

Tom stood motionlessly in the middle of the corridor. The moonlight shone through the windows. The only light that could be seen was produced by dim candles that were strewn around the Hogwarts castle. Tom was breathing in and out, looking directly forward. There was no one there. There was no one around him at all. The rest of the castle and its inhabitants were winding down to go to bed. The time was 9 o'clock and Tom was set to begin his 'session' with the Headmaster Professor Potter. In fact, he was set to begin the session half an hour ago but instead decided on staying here. In the middle of the corridor. Doing nothing. He felt awkward just standing there but he simply couldn't find the strength to move. This was ironic because of how built he looked; and still he couldn't find the strength. He hated that.

'I've worked so hard to be like this. To finally be strong,' Tom clenched his fists, 'But I'm still not strong strong. My body may be like this...' Tom continued steadily breathing in and out through his nose, 'But inside I'm just as weak as always.'

Tom let his hands go loose, 'No,' he told himself, 'No! I won't be weak anymore!' He managed to take a step forward, 'I am strong now. I am. I will prove this. These sessions won't scare me anymore. I am strong!'

Tom kept repeating this in his mind. He walked down the long- the seemingly infinite- hallway. For some reason his body felt cold; clammy. After an eternity of small steps, Tom found himself where he needed to be. The entrance to Professor Potter's office. There was a large statue of a bird. Tom stopped in front of it. He guessed he was meant to say a password. But before he could do so, the statue sprung to life. It spread its wings and a passageway opened. Tom climbed up a set of stairs that had been revealed and entered into the beautiful office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. It was huge with large, tall shelves of beefy books. There were trinkets and artifacts placed around with the utmost care and a telescope placed in the middle of it all, staring out through an opening into the night sky. At the opposite side of the large, large room, there was a desk. Tom was so distracted by everything else he didn't notice it. He found himself wandering around the room, staring up at everything that was so tall it dwarfed even him.

"Ahem," Tom was clued into someone else's presence as they cleared their throat. His head shot in the direction of the desk and noticed finally that there was someone sitting at it. Professor Harry Potter got up out of his desk and walked up to Tom welcomingly.

"Good evening, good evening!" he said in a friendly tone with his arms wide in greeting. Tom remained silent and still. He eyed the Professor suspiciously. Harry noticed the action but decided to ignore it and focus. He went back to his desk and gestured for Tom to follow him. He had prepared a seat by his desk for him. Tom did not move an inch.

"Tom Malumis, I am happy to really meet your acquaintance! I am Professor Harry Potter- but of course you knew that," he smiled and waited for a response. He got none. So he continued, "I must say you have changed a lot since last year; you've grown a few feet!" he laughed. Tom still didn't move. Harry gestured to the seat again, "Sit."

Tom robitcally moved. With methodical movements, he took a few steps towards the chair and carefully sat himself down in it. Harry was pleased with the turn of events.

"Good! Now I want to tell you what the contents of these sessions are going to be."
Tom was terrified although he didn't necessarily look it. He knew how 'sessions' worked. He'd had plenty at the orphanage. He thought he could leave it all behind him; he thought that that chapted had ended. But now he knew he was wrong. He had been dreading this for the past day and now the time was finally here. His whole body was on edge. At this point he was just waiting for the inevitable beating.

'Maybe it won't hurt as much this time. I mean I am much more muscular,' Tom tried to console himself. It didn't have much effect.

"I'm thinking of maybe having 1 sessions a month, how does that sound to you?" Harry was speaking in a friendly tone. Too friendly a tone. Tom did not respond. His facial expression was still blank and did not show the true stress he was feeling at this moment.

"I was thinking we could just discuss any topic you want to talk about. Hagrid told me that you were struggling with a few things: aims, goals and other such. Maybe I could help?" Again Tom didn't respond. Harry laughed, trying to make it less awkward. This was going to be hard. Tom felt something stir within him as Professor Potter laughed at him. He felt his fists clench as he heard the laugh. He did not like the sensation. At all. It was like someone was scratching a plate with a fork right next to his ear.

"You're not very talkative are you?" Harry asked and laughed again. Again Tom felt the same reaction. Something, somewhere inside him, began bubbling. He did not respond.

Harry tried again to start a conversation, "Do you want to talk about anything?"

The something that was bubbling inside him was now boiling. Tom could recognise what it was now as well. It was a feeling he knew all too well but never like this before. Tom felt... rage. Before he knew it, he couldn't control it. It all came bubbling to the surface. Professor Potter opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted as Tom suddenly stood up.

"SHUT UP!!" his voice boomed around the office. It was way deeper than Tom was used to it being. Because of Tom's size and the speed in which he got up, instinctually Harry recoiled in momentary fear. He quickly recovered and acted like nothing had happened but Tom had noticed. Tom began to breathe heavier and heavier and picked up the chair he had been sitting on with one hand.

"Shut up!" Tom's voice changed with his second use of the phrase. When he had first said it, the anger in his voice was more sudden but now when he said it... the anger was more underlying. It was clear that it wasn't just a spur of the moment. Harry Potter, with the calm collectiveness that he'd learnt over the years as a teacher and auror, instantly collected himself and tried to fix the situation.

"Woah, woah, calm down, calm down-"
Tom interrupted him, "Don't talk to me! Why would you even want to talk to me!?" Tom's voice was booming and his anger was clear in every word. But there was another emotion clear in every word as well: confusion. Because in all honesty Tom was confused. He did not know why he had just exploded like that. He'd never done that before. And it was random. But here he was. Whilst anger was the main emotion in Tom's words, confusion was (whilst not necessarily clear) evident as well. And Professor Potter noticed it.

"Look. Look. Calm down-"
Tom interrupted him again, "You! You-! I don't trust you!" Tom didn't even know what he was saying anymore. A frenzy of emotions was just flurrying around his head. He just couldn't control it. He smashed the chair he was holding with one hand, sending large splinters of wood flying across the floor.

"Don't talk to me!"

"Look Tom, I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. I just want to talk to you," Harry spoke with as calmness as any human could manage. Tom shook his head fiercely.

"No. No!" he turned away from Harry and continued breathing heavily. He didn't even know what to do. He saw the exit and decided that he'd had enough time here. He turned back to the Headmaster one last time, "I don't want to ever talk or hear about any 'sessions' ever! Never! I-I hate you!" he stormed down the stairs with Harry still watching. He was left too stunned for words and eventually just stumbled back to his desk and sat back down. He looked over to the carnage that had been caused. Pieces of wood were strewn across the floor. It was weird to see someone who looked and acted (most of the time) like a large stoic man explode like that. Harry would admit that it was one of the last things he was expecting that would happen tonight. Although he would also admit that he didn't expect Tom to be so resistant to the idea of these sessions. Why he would be- Harry had no idea why but the fact that he was made him all the more determined to try them out. And he was already determined with these sessions before - as shown by his willingness to keep going even after Tom showed up so late.

Harry now knew that Hagrid was right. These sessions were definitely the right course of action. Not only did the boy need direction- he just needed help. Harry thought back to when he was younger. He also had issues with his anger and Tom was clearly much more destructive than he was. He looked again at the remains of the chair on the floor. Maybe they had a few more similarities than just that. Maybe they were a lot more similar than anyone thought.