"Where in the bloody hell were you?" Dominique bellowed.
"We have been searching for you like crazy, and you are walking in as if you just had nice date with someone!" Draco shouted as well. Harry just stood there with his gaze fixed on the floor.
"And you tried to do that shit again? Dear lord Harry, you clothes are full of blood stains." George said reaching out for Harry's shirt.
"He tried to cast the killing curse on himself. So, I had to find a way to distract him from his 'kill myself' mission." Tom said shaking his head.
Shit. Harry could only think this before two hands slammed on both side of his face. He looked shocked at the two identical figures in front of him. "How dare you?" the twins growled.
Tears started forming in Harry's eyes as he was remembered of his vile and cruel relatives. "I—I'm sorry to bother you all." Harry said before running away towards the boys' dorm.
The twins' eyes widened as they realised what they had done. "Shit!" they uttered before all of them ran towards the dorm.
Harry ran to his bed and pulled the curtains. He placed several wards and silencing charms around his bed. He bounced his face into his pillow and started sobbing hard. He was all over again reminded of the torture of the Dursley's.
Draco, Dominique, Fred and George ran towards Harry's bed, followed behind shortly by Tom.
"Harry, we are sorry!" they shouted as they reached for the curtains of the bed, only to be pushed back.
"Damn, he has installed wards around the bed." Fred said punching his other palm.
"Let me check." Tom said coming in front of them. He waved his wand around the bed, but nothing happened. He sighed as he realised that Harry has used yet another self invented wards, which he didn't know how to open. "He and his inventions," Tom glared at the bed.
"Harry, come out. They are getting worried about you!" Tom called.
Dominique sighed. "Tom, it's no use. He's put a silencing charm." Dominique said.
The twins and Dominique had tears in their eyes.
"Where did you go by the way?" Draco asked.
"About that, I need to talk with you all; in private." Tom said looking around the dorm. He walked out of the dorm towards the common room.
They all frowned at each other, but followed Tom out of the dorm.
"What did you want to talk about, Tom?" Dominique asked as they all entered the common room.
Tom didn't answered, but just placed a silencing charm around the room. "Sit down," Tom gestured on the couch beside him.
"I and Harry opened the Chamber of Secrets today." Tom said calmly. They heard gasps from fellows around him.
"But—" Fred breathed out with wide eyes.
Tom just ignored his reaction and continued. "We opened the Chamber and also summoned the basilisk, but just to see it. Don't assume that I wanted to kill somebody or anything. I had ordered it back to its own place, so don't worry. And, there's another thing I need to disclose to you all." Tom said looking around him.
They were frowning but they had a tinge of relief on their faces. So, Tom continued. "I know that you all are from future."
"What!"
"Calm down, listen to me." Tom said impatiently. "When I summoned the basilisk, Harry had a kind of panic attack and he revealed some information that made me suspicious. Also, I have been noticing all of your actions and found many things to be suspicious. Like you know too much about Hogwarts for a week old student and you all have been talking about saving me from something that is yet to happen; so I just summed up the incidents. Harry had told me all about you...plan. And don't worry; I won't let a word slip to Dumbledore about this." Tom finished.
Everybody was gaping at him with wide eyes. Tom rolled his eyes at their reaction. "Stop gaping like trolls." Tom said.
"Okay...so...um..." Dominique started.
"So what you all are going to do right now is, tell the truth about yourselves; like who you all really are." Tom said cutting off Dominique.
"Okay, um, we're George Weasley and Fred Weasley, son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett. Arthur Weasley is the son of Septimus Weasley and Cedrella Black. You may know them." they made a face.
"I'm Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black and grandson of Abraxas Malfoy." Draco said nodding.
"So your mother is a pureblood?" Tom asked. Draco just shrugged.
"You won't know my family; the Sapphire family doesn't have such a long family line. I'm Dominique Sapphire, daughter of Marilyn Sapphire and Henry Sapphire. By the way, I would like to inform you that Harry's official name is Harold. And he is the son of James Potter and Lily Evans; and grandson to Fleamont Potter and Euphemia Braithwaite." Dominique said.
Tom nodded. They stayed silent for a while before Tom spoke up again. "Why are both of you with Harry and not with your family?" Tom asked turning to Fred and George.
"That's because, we find the thing to use someone for your own means very disgusting and pathetic. And we love Harry as our brother; we can't even imagine of using him for his money." Fred and George scowled.
Tom peered at them for a second before turning to the fire. "Thank you for saving me." Tom spoke up.
"You deserved it." Dominique said smiling.
Tom glanced at Dominique with a bit of surprise in his eyes. What did I do to deserve this?
That night the group of students couldn't get a good sleep. But nevertheless everybody went to their respective beds; except one; Tom. He sat on his bed for the whole night; occasionally trying o detect and disable the wards. He could only see the outline of Harry's body. It wasn't moving. His body seemed to be as still as a rock.
He must have fallen asleep; must have got tired from crying for so long...But what if this time he had succeeded in... Tom's breathing was heavy, filled with fear and tension. Once again Tom got up from his bed; his wand clutched in his hand. He waved it once again expecting to break the ward this time; but still didn't succeed. Damn it...
The next morning, Draco found Tom sleeping in an awkward position; his wand was held in his hand tightly and he had a deep frown on his face. Draco hesitated at first; but then decided to wake him deciding that he won't be very happy to be late for any classes.
"R—Tom, w-wake up," Draco called a bit nervously. It obviously didn't work. "T-Tom, wake up, you are going to get late for your classes." Draco said shaking Tom gently; still no success. Draco frowned in frustration. He cleared his throat in determination.
"TOM, WAKE UP! It's 7:30 already!"
Tom woke up with a start. He jolted up with a jerk which resulted in throwing his wand in other side of the room. He looked around the room, finding Draco standing with a smirk on his face.
Tom sighed in irritation rubbing his forehead with his palm. "Was that necessary?" he asked raising his eyebrows.
Draco just shrugged and turned around. He swished his wand and Tom's wand flew into his hand.
"I tried the polite way, first. Guess you were awake the whole night." Draco said eyeing Harry's bed.
Tom rolled his eyes. "I was trying to break the wards. Your cousin's ward just won't budge." Tom said exasperatedly.
Draco smiled. "Thank you for making me realise that we are cousins."
Tom sighed. "Yeah, you're welcome. Why is he acting like a bloody three year old?" asked Tom.
Draco plopped down on his bed. "Maybe because he could never act like one when he was actually three? Honestly, I could never know him properly. When we came to Hogwarts for the first time, Dumbledore and his pawns had already poisoned his brain with the Gryffindor superiority. I tried to be friends with him, though by being a jerk, but he refused it. I actually insulted the Weasel who apparently was his first friend. Later I came to know that I acted like his piglet cousin who bullied him back in his 'home'; if you can call the hell hole that. He used to live in a cupboard under the stairs, until he was eleven. Apparently he's cooking from when he was five. Those filthy muggles didn't even feed him every day. Bloody rapists..." Draco scowled.
When Draco looked up to Tom, he saw something he hadn't expected to see even in his dream. Tom was crying. His cheeks were stained with tears and eyes were filled with fresh tears. When he saw Draco looking at him, he just stood up and walked away to the bathroom.
Draco sighed sadly. He couldn't imagine leading a life even near to Harry's. He felt a bit guilty that even after knowing Harry's condition, he couldn't do much to make his life a bit better. He walked up to Harry's bed and a tear rolled down his cheek as well.
"Scar face, please be okay. We love you very much. I think you even melted Tom's heart; bloody attention seeker." Draco said punching the curtains lightly; only to be pushed away.
"Got any response from Harry?" Dominique asked Draco in the Slytherin Table.
Draco shook his head. "No, Tom had tried to break the wards, but he couldn't. I just hope he's fine." Draco said poking the egg on his plate with fork.
Dominique sniffed and looked at the Gryffindor Table. She saw the twins looking back at them. She just shook her head looked back at her plate.
"Hey, Harry will be fine." A voice said from beside her.
She looked up to see that Alphard was smiling at her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Dominique nodded with a wry smile. She hooked one arm around his arm and placed her head on his shoulder.
They have told the rest of the group only about the nightmare and the suicide. Alphard was trying to calm Dominique down from the time he has heard about Harry. As much she appreciates his effort, Dominique couldn't keep herself from worrying about her brother.
"I hope so." said Dominique. Alphard, leaned down and kissed her head; which made a real smile appear on Dominique's lips.
After breakfast, the twins left for their classes with a heavy heart. They were walking towards the potions classroom.
"Hey, Fred, George, wait for me!" somebody called from behind.
They turned around to find a lean and lanky boy walking towards them. They recognized him to be Septimus Weasley. He too was in Gryffindor and in their year. They smiled at him a bit difficultly.
"Hello, Septimus, how are you doing?" Fred asked.
"I'm fine, but you two don't seem to be." The boy said looking closely at the twins.
"We're fine. It's just a hard day." George said smiling.
"Come on, it's just the beginning of the day. How can it be already difficult?" he insisted.
They sighed. "You know Harry, right?" asked Fred.
Septimus nodded frowning. "Harry Potter, the one in Slytherin, right?"
They nodded. "He's a bit...ill." said Fred.
Septimus knew that the Slytherin boy was a very good friend of them. They treated the boy like their own brother. He nodded in understanding. "Don't worry; he'll be fine." He said patting their back. They nodded in acknowledgement.
Draco and Dominique sat in there Transfiguration class. They were continuously glaring at the old man standing in front of their class.
"You'll burn two holes at the back of his head like that, Nick." Alphard whispered in her ears.
"I don't care," Dominique sneered.
"Whoa, why do you hate the man so much? What has he done to you?" Alphard asked.
"Nothing," she answered shortly and turned towards her book. Nothing you can imagine.
She glared at her book with frustration. She was reminded of all the manipulations and tortures of Dumbledore. Her wand hand was twitching uncontrollably. She was so drowned in her thoughts, that she didn't notice the damage she was doing to her surroundings.
"Nick, what are you doing? Calm down!" Draco whisper shouted from beside her. Dominique didn't budge.
"Oh lord, what has gotten into her today?" Alphard said. "Nick!" he called giving a good shake to her. Dominique was snapped out of her trance. As her attention came back to her book, she saw her book was lying on the floor in pieces.
Dominique grimaced. "Bugger,"
"Don't worry about that, I will repair it." Roxanne piped up from beside Draco.
Dominique raised her eyebrows at Draco. "Well...thank you..." Dominique said slowly. Draco just looked away blushing.
Roxanne got up from her seat and pointed her wand at the book. "Reparo," she muttered. The book instantly was pulled together like a magnet and was lying on the floor like a new one. A proud smile appeared on her face.
Dominique smiled at her in acknowledgement and glanced at Draco one more time, before picking up the book. As she turned to Alphard, he had a smirk on his face.
"Is there any problem, dear students? I can feel someone is very excited today." Dumbledore asked peering at Dominique.
Dominique instantly put on her friendly facade and gave the old professor a dazzling smile that quite resembled to Tom. "Absolutely not professor, we're not facing any problem. I just accidentally dropped my book. So, Roxanne there was just helping me." She said pointing at the smiling girl beside Draco. Dumbledore just eyed the group for a second, before turning back to the blackboard.
Alphard and Roxanne just raised their eyebrows at Draco, who just shrugged after a second.
Tom on the other hand, was looking perfectly normal; at least from outside. He had his usual blank face on, and was taking his classes with full attention. From inside, he was seething with anger and hatred for the same old man.
Unlike every day, he was waiting for the classes to come to an end, so that he could run back to the dorm and check Harry again. But it was just the beginning of the day.
At last the time came. As soon as the bell rang for the last class, Draco, Tom and Dominique ran towards the dungeons; leaving a surprised Roxanne and an exasperated Alphard behind.
"I'm sorry Roxanne, I'll be back soon!"
"Alphard, I'll be in a minute, sorry."
Draco and Dominique called back before running off after Tom.
"It's okay..." Alphard and Roxanne replied at the same time. They glanced at each other awkwardly, before walking away in opposite directions.
They entered the common room making a great commotion. Their gaze instantly got fixed on Harry's bed.
But Harry wasn't there. They frantically looked around the room, but it was empty.
"Oh no..." Dominique breathed out.
"Fred and George..." Draco whispered.
He ran outside the dorm and then out of the common room; shortly followed by the other two teenagers. As soon as the gargoyle opened, they saw two figures already standing outside impatiently.
"Where's Harry?" Fred and George asked together.
"He's not in the dorm." Draco replied.
"OH GOD!" they stomped their foot on the ground in frustration.
All went silent for a second, before the twins spoke again. "The Marauder's Map," they muttered before pushing through the three figures into the common room.
They ran up to the dorm, before running to Harry's trunk. They snapped open the trunk and took out the Marauder's Map.
"You know how to operate it?" Tom asked the twins.
They nodded. "We gave this to him." they informed before taking out their wands. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." They whispered.
As usual, the yellowish parchment started to fill with ink. They looked all over the map. But Harry was nowhere to be found.
"He's not in the map." Fred said folding the paper.
"That means, either he is in the chamber of secrets, or in the room of requirements." George spoke up.
"I barely think that he will go to the chamber of secrets." Tom suggested.
"Room of Requirements," Fred and George spoke up together.
Their demeanour changed instantly, and they slumped down the ground, putting their faces in their palms. Tom stood there confused.
"Well, if he's in that...room, then why don't we go and just find him?" Tom asked frowning.
Dominique sighed. "Tom, we just cannot go and find him in The Room of Requirements. That—that room is different for everybody. There can be thousands of people at a time, but you'll still be alone when you get in, if you don't get in together. And to find a person there, you need to have same wishes and requirements as the person you are finding. It's—it's not that easy, Tom." Dominique slumped down again defeated.
Tears were rolling down her cheeks. The twins rubbed her back soothingly.
"The best we can do, we can wait for him in front of the room. But that would be too risky, as nobody still knows about this room till now." Draco explained.
"What these blood traitors are doing here?" a female voice asked from behind them.
They turned around to see the same two girls from the first day; Abigail Malfoy and Megan Yaxley.
"Not now..." the twins grunted.
"What, here again to look after your baby Potter? Didn't he recover from the slaps yet?" Abigail said in a mock concern voice.
"Shut up, Malfoy," the twins instantly snapped.
Draco glanced at them for a second and opened his mouth to say something. "Never mind..." he whispered and looked back to his lap.
"Oh look, Harry Potter went missing again. Should we inform the ministry, for you?" Megan whined in fake concern.
"What an irony..." Draco muttered under his breath; but it was loud enough for the four teenagers sitting near him, to hear.
"Shut up, you two," Tom snapped at them. The two girls immediately shut their mouth close with a sound.
"Tom, are you sure it's only about the two slaps?" another voice asked from behind.
Tom didn't have to turn to know who it was. "No, I'm sure that it was just not about the slaps."
"What?" Alphard asked frowning.
Tom turned around and eyed the three students behind him. They all had confusion in their faces.
"I think we should tell them about the...situation. It'll only help you. I ensure complete concealment of the information." Tom said turning back to his front.
The four time travellers frowned at him for a second before eyeing the students behind them the same way as Tom. "Are you sure?" Dominique asked. Tom nodded. She glanced at her friends before nodding herself.
Tom turned and poised himself straight like a leader. "I want everyone in the common room; now."
He said before exiting the dorm himself. Alphard, Megan and Abigail immediately followed them. Dominique rolled her eyes at Tom's action and dragged herself up; gesturing everybody to come.
"Dmitri, Nicholas, Eileen, Andrew, Walburga and Orion stay here; rest get out of here right now." Tom ordered.
The twins, Dominique and Draco watched in amusement, as the common room was left by all other students obediently and silently. Draco made his famous 'not-bad' face.
"Sit down," Tom asked in a stern face after everybody else had left.
Tom looked around and narrated the whole situation. Everybody's eyes went wide. They were continuously looking from Tom to the other teens.