The school year was finished. The Summer Feast was over. Now the entirety of the school was marching towards the station to get on the Hogwarts Express and pile on all the way back home. Tom had had a bad morning. As usual, his internal alarm clock woke him up at 6am on the dot after a series of nightmares throughout the night. By the time he felt like he could even stumble out of the bed he felt like he was going to die. After that he left his dorm to find the entirety of the Slytherin common room to have been completely destroyed. Books were everywhere. Couches had been overthrown. And on top of it all was a note from a group of Gryffindors who had found the password in and "done a few pranks". Tom wasn't the only one grumbling after the Head of Slytherin house, Professor Huntail (who was getting progressively iller throughout the year), came out to say that the Slytherin boys would have to clean up the mess. All the Slytherin boys ended up being late to the Summer Feast and were jeered and laughed at as they entered the hall by the Gryffindor table. Due to the events that had occurred, Tom wasn't able to sit near Alannah who he spied sitting near the front of the table by herself. He sat alone and in silence as he ate his food. The Headmaster's speech was uneventful as well. The only thing of interest that was mentioned was that Professor Huntail had become too ill to continue being Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and was stepping down and retaking his place as Potions teacher. But even then that wasn't too interesting.
Eventually the Summer Feast ended. Tom piled out of the Great Hall along with the rest of the school. He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. His main priority was simply getting out. He was on one of the edges of the crowd and waiting for the main exit to clear so he could get through. While he was waiting, a sudden hand reached out and tapped his shoulder. He spun around, slightly startled although he did not look it. When he saw who it was though, he relaxed his posture.
The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Harry Potter, stood in front of Tom. He pulled him out of the crowd and off to the side. Tom wasn't the most willing participant; he resisted coming but he knew that he would probably be punished if he refused outright. This was the 'matron' of the school after all.
"So you're Tom Malumis, right?"
Tom nodded stiffly at the Headmaster's question. He was surprised at his tone. He would've thought there would be more hate there; more venom. But instead his voice sounded... friendly and welcoming. Tom instantly didn't trust it. It was against his better judgement to trust someone like this.
"Hagrid told me all about you and he even suggested a few things-"
Tom wasn't willing to hear the rest. He pulled his shoulder out of Harry's grasp.
"No," he said bluntly and began walking away.
Harry was so stunned by the reaction that he completely froze in place, his eyebrows raised in shock. When he finally came to realise what had just happened, Tom was already gone. He looked around slightly, confused by what had just occurred.
"What?"
Tom continued marching on toward the train station. Hopefully he'd see Alannah before he arrived back at London but he wasn't holding his breath. In all honesty he didn't expect to see her again.
"Hey!" Alannah appeared right beside Tom causing him to slightly jump in shock. Alannah giggled, "Did I get you?"
Tom shook his head slightly, "No."
Alannah giggled again with a playful, evil grin on her face, "I did, admit it."
"I don't jump," Tom said, as stoically as ever.
"Apart from just then," Alannah breathed a sigh of contentment, "It's so fun messing with you. You give the best reactions. But even that's almost as fun as cleaning up those Gryffindor kid's mess- how was it?"
Tom grumbled, "Not fun."
Alannah burst out laughing, "Must've been awful, you guys were cleaning that for hours and the people who actually did it-"
Tom interjected, "Had a nice meal with all their friends!" his voice was mimicking one that sounded perky and happy. Alannah frowned.
"That's a bit out-of-character, you never talk like that."
"Talk like what?" Tom instantly fell back to his normal persona.
"Like... sarcastic. Or sassy," Alannah snapped her fingers, searching for the word, "I don't know how to say it."
Tom shrugged, "I guess I'm changing. Maybe next year I'll be more emotional."
"That'll be the day," Alannah rolled her eyes, "I hope you do- it gets annoying talking to a brick wall. But then again-" Alannah looked up at the sky. They were currently walking alone on one of the many paths from the Hogwarts Castle to the station, "I kinda like you being like this."
"How? Even I think I'm unlikable."
"Well you don't think anything is likable," Alannah looked back down at Tom. Tom opened his mouth to reply but was suddenly interrupted as two Gryffindor boys crossed in at the path in front of them. One of them was small and one of them was large. Tom recognised the small one as Charlie. He stopped his pace, as did Alannah.
"Well, well, well," Charlie swaggered forward until he was around 4ft opposite them, "If it isn't that desperate, ugly bitch," his words were like venom. Alannah took a step back, her face going pale. Charlie smirked at her reaction and continued.
"How's life with no friends been going? Must be bad but personally I couldn't relate," he laughed loudly. Alannah took another step back. Tom kept his eyes forward, not really reacting at all to the situation. He wanted to. He really wanted to but... he just wasn't finding the strength to put himself out there like that. This was his time to step in- to have her back- but he was still too scared that she might betray him like everyone else had. But he didn't want that to stop him now. He turned his head slightly to look at Alannah who was still backing away slowly from Charlie who was stepping forward ever so slightly.
"You begging slut!" his onslaught of words was still continuing. The taller Gryffindor just stayed in the background overlooking the situation. He appeared to be Charlie's bodyguard of sorts. Charlie kept walking forward until he was standing right next to Tom. He was still yelling and laughing at Alannah who now had tears pricked in her eyes.
"You ugly bitch! You didn't seem to get the message the first time because I still see your ugly ass smiling and that pisses me off so I'm coming to make sure you understand fully this time-"
Charlie's tirade was stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He yelped in shock when it grabbed onto him. Alannah looked up, tears still shining on her face.
Tom clutched Charlie's shoulder with an iron grip. Tom's usually blank face now had a new expression clear all over it: rage.
With a terrifying tone of calmness and composure Tom spoke, almost gently, "You should stop."
Charlie, petrified, looked up slowly at Tom. In the first and second years they had been equal height but Tom had grown and Charlie had not. He now loomed over him. The strength in which Tom was holding Charlie's shoulder increased. Charlie's 'bodyguard' moved forward but Charlie told him to stop with a small hand gesture.
"Y-you! Unhand me! I'm a Gryffindor! I'm a friend of Aubyn Young's!"
Tom's tone didn't change, "Like I would ever care about that."
Charlie turned back to Alannah to jeer some more, "So after being rejected by Aubyn, this is who you chose to be with? You're an even bigger loser than I even thought you were if you're with him-"
Charlie was cut off by a hard punch. He was thrown back a few meters by it even though Tom barely exerted himself. His voice didn't even change in volume.
"I told you to stop."
Charlie forced a laugh, "HA! YOU don't tell me anything! I'm a Gryffindor and you're a Slytherin! Did you forget who rules around here or do we need to beat you up again?"
"This time next year, you'll never be able to do anything like what you did ever again," Tom tilted his head from side to side slightly, keeping his gaze locked on Charlie like an animal hunting its prey, "I suggest you scatter."
Charlie, pale-faced, turned to his 'bodyguard' who had been entirely useless, "Come on," he whispered and they went back off towards the station. When he was sure that they were gone he turned to look back at Alannah.
"You alright?"
She wiped her face, "Y-yeah," she whispered, "Sorry about..." words left her but she gestured around the tears on her face.
"It's fine," Tom murmured, the rage having left his face and it having returned to its natural state of blankness.
"W-what were they talking about?" Alannah elaborated, "About you... and the... beating up..."
"What were they talking about with you? The rejection and the stuff like that?" Alannah looked at the ground and Tom turned back the way facing the station and began walking forward, "Let's talk about it on the train."
It'd started raining by the time Tom and Alannah had made it to the Hogwarts Express. They rushed onto a carriage and were lucky enough to find a completely empty compartment. In silence they entered and sat down facing each other. The rain splattered across the window as they waited for the train to start its journey. For a moment they sat in complete silence. Alannah was still wiping the tears off her face. It took Tom a second to realise that she wasn't going to start the conversation this time.
"I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner," he looked out at the rain hitting on the window. The sound it made as it hit the glass was in a way hypnotising.
Alannah sniffled, "It's fine. I should've stood up for myself. But I c-couldn't..." she looked up at Tom and gave a half-smile, "But thanks for having my back."
"That's what friends do."
Alannah sniffled again but was still smiling, "I guess we are actually friends now."
There was another brief silence. It was broken when from outside they heard a whistle blow and a huff of steam from the front of the train. They slowly began to pull out of the station.
"What was he talking about back there?" Tom said bluntly. He didn't want this whole trip to be in silence. Alannah sniffled and averted eye contact.
"I-I don't wanna talk about it..."
"I've told you about my history. Now give me a bit of yours."
Still avoiding eye contact Alannah snapped at him, "You've barely given me any of your history," Tom didn't react and Alannah quickly calmed herself down. She mellowed, "Alright I'll tell you," she conceded, "But you have to tell me about your past after."
"Of course," Tom said calmly. Alannah hesitated. She didn't even really know if she wanted to tell the story.
"In my family... we aren't usually Slytherin," she began unsteadily. It was clear to see this was an embarrassing topic for her. She persevered, "The Estevans are actually a predominantly Gryffindor family apart from y'know a few Hufflepuffs here and there," the rain outside the window quicked its descent, "So when they found out I was a Slytherin... they really didn't like it. And I didn't like it either. So I thought the next best thing was... to... to..." she was struggling to get the words out, "To... hang out... with the Gryffindors."
Tom breathed out knowingly. He understood now.
"For my whole first and second year," Alannah continued, "I tried so hard to get Aubyn Young's attention or really any of them... and they all..." she stopped as she remembered how Charlie had verbally abused her, "Apart from Aubyn. I only spoke to him once but he was actually nice to me," Tom grumbled something unintelligible. Alannah ignored it and went on, "And of course they all laughed at me. And by the time I went back to Slytherin it was all too late. Nobody wanted to talk to me because I was 'that girl always with the Gryffindors'. That's why I have no friends and that's why... that guy said that stuff to me..." she hung her head down in shame.
"I'm sorry," Tom didn't really know what to say after that. He wasn't good at dealing with emotions. His own were bad enough but others? They were impossible for him.
"It's fine," Alannah's usually strong voice came out as a whisper, "You've helped a lot. I'm the one who should be sorry for crying like a little baby because someone's being mean to me."
Tom leaned back in his chair, "Sometimes I just want to crawl up in a ball and cry."
"And you don't?" Alannah chuckled humorlessly. Tom shook his head seriously.
"Never. Even if I want to," Tom was speaking with deadly honesty.
"Even when you were a baby?" Alannah chuckled for real this time.
Tom sat up in thought, "The matron said I was very quiet when I was a baby. She said she was glad she didn't have to look after me."
Alannah put a hand over her mouth in realisation, "Oh yeah you live in an orphanage! I'm so sorry I forgot! You probably hated me complaining about my family," she paused, "But then again you wouldn't want to have abusive parents."
'I would,' thought Tom instantly but he managed to refrain from saying it. Instead he simply said, "'Abusive'?"
Alannah shrugged, "Yeah but not really. Just occasional slaps on the wrist. That sort of thing y'know?"
Tom shook his head, "No."
Alannah's eyes widened, "Damn! They must treat you really well at that orphanage then! You're actually lucky haha!"
Tom didn't respond. Instead he decided to change the subject.
"You said you wanted to hear about my past and what he was talking about," said Tom, looking out of the window as he spoke.
Alannah nodded, "Yeah and what you meant when you said something about... 'next year'. What did you say?"
"I'll come to that," Tom waved it away lazily, "But first I'll talk about second-year."
"What about it? Was it as bad as mine?"
"That Gryffindor boy came into my compartment on the trip down to Hogwarts with a bunch of bigger guys. They pushed me to the ground and beat me up until I was lying in a puddle of my own blood," Tom spoke as bluntly as possible. Alannah's eyes widened.
"Okay maybe your year was as bad as mine..."
"But that's not gonna happen again," Tom said, straightening up. He thought back to that moment. When they punched and kicked and beat him to the ground until he looked like he might die. When Alistair Young hit him with that spell to hurt him just for fun. He still had the mark by his right shoulder where it had hit him to this day. He now felt the anger he should've felt them build up now. His fists clenched, "I'm going to get stronger."
Alannah smiled, "I'll get stronger too. By next year I won't care about those Gryffindors. They can bully me as much as they want for all I care."
Tom wanted to smile. But he couldn't. As always his face wouldn't budge and it was stuck how it was. He looked up at Alannah.
"Have a good summer," he murmured stiffly. Alannah laughed and beamed back at him.
"And you too. You should tell me what happens at the orphanage on the train journey next year!" she suggested. Tom turned to look out at the rain whizzing by out the window.
"I don't think I'm ready to talk to you about the orphanage yet."