Ambrosia • TMR

C.3

"To the well-organized mind, death is nothing but the next great adventure."
-Albus Dumbledore
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After that trying incident the duo were left alone to themselves for a long time with no incident. Irene and Tom grew closer with every conversation they held. Which more often then not was about the magical world. Over time Tom grew more and more comfortable to her touch and would even let her rest against his side as they both read.

Tom only asked her how she knew all of this stuff once. Only once. The look her eyes gained effectively steered him away about asking questions about that topic for a long while. Her response wasn't nearly as chilling as the look in her eyes when she spoke though. "I can't tell you right now Tom. I'll have to tell you when you're older so you can undersand better. The explaination of the magical things involved is honestly longer than the story." She had said and that was the first time Tom had seen Harlene Potter in her eyes. She had looked haunted and older than her age.

Soon the topic of hogwarts came up on Irene's seventh birthday. The day wasn't very special no parties or even recognition. Though the tired 'Happy birthday' that slipped from Tom's lips as he rolled off of his side of the bed that morning just like it did hers almost 4 months ago surely made up for the dull day.

Later that night laying in bed well after curfew she spoke of the place she once called home for many years. The place she died for once upon a time. "Tom." She had whispered to see if he was still awake just to see if it was too late to back out of her decision. "Yes, Irene?" The words came out clear, the boy was no doubt wide awake as she should have known.

"There's this place..this wonderful school where the halls radiate magic, ghosts prawl the halls after dark, and with an abundance of secret passages just waiting to be discovered. Magical creatures as guards and magical creatures as pets. The ceilings charmed to the highest degree, so much so that if we looked outside and someone looked up at the ceiling we'd be seeing the same stars." She took a breath and turned on her side to look at the boy lying next to her.

"You and me. We belong there. We're so special it's incomprehensable. We're even special among witches and wizards with our Parselmouth abilities. There we can be free to read what ever we wish, use our magic as we please." She looked him in the eye as a tear fell from her eye and into her hairline. "We can be free, Tom." Free from here, free from the whispers and shouts of freak. It was left unspoken but the implications were clear. "4 more years and we'll be more free then you could ever imagine." She whispered softly. Arctic blue eyes telling of an internal storm stared back at him illuminated by the moonlight shining through the window.

The boy could do nothing but swallow and nod, eyes wide filled with hope staring right back. The idea seemed almost ludicrous but somehow the look on her face, the genuine excitement in her eyes made it so real. "4 more years, Irene." He sounded choked. The thought of such freedom appealed to him so real he couldn't help but hope for it to be true.

The months passed in a blur and it wasn't until fall of the year that anything worth mentioning happened.

Everybody had chores at Wool's and today for Irene she had to wash the laundry. And that meant going from room to room and collecting clothes and sometimes having to search around the rooms for extra clothing because she would catch an earful if she didn't get all the clothes down for one big wash. Tom had his own job to do today and the two were seperated which was a very rare occurence.

Honestly, the perfect time for someone to inact 'revenge' on her. And of course that's the exact thing that happened. Murphy's Law was amplified by Potter blood it seemed.