Chapter two: Dursleys
It was around eleven o' clock (a.m.) when they reached Number four, Privet Drive. Tom was deeply scowling, and Albus was trying to keep Tom and Harry from arguing again.
Harry walked inside the house reluctantly and quietly looked around. Dudley was upstairs in his room, he could hear him stomping around.
Quietly, Harry sneaked upstairs, the other two following him, and he pushed them inside of his room and ran a hand through his hair.
"Clothes," he muttered, looking around. "I have shirts and jeans, that's all, and I'm sure they'll fit."
The other two said nothing at all. He tossed shirts and jeans to both of them and Albus went into the wardrobe to change (Harry didn't know how he fit in there) and Tom glared at Harry, who turned around and faced the wall, scowling as he changed clothes.
They both held their robes and Harry took them, putting them in his closet.
"We're going to go downstairs, stand in front of the door like we just came in, okay?" whispered Harry.
"Fine," said Tom, as Albus nodded his agreement.
So, they sneaked downstairs and stood in front of the door. Harry opened it then closed it again.
Aunt Petunia heard the door, came into view, and jumped.
"Who are these people, boy?" she asked quietly, but with obvious annoyance.
"These," he whispered, trying not to let Uncle Vernon hear, "are my...err...friends. Tom and Albus. Both of their parents are on a....vacation and they locked them both outside. They need a place to stay for a while, just until their parents get home. It shouldn't be too long."
"What time will they leave?" she hissed.
"Err....a few days, maybe a week or two?" He twisted his hands nervously.
"Are they...one of you?" she spat.
Harry stared at her. "No, Aunt Petunia, no."
Albus and Tom, both good at Legilimency (even though they were sixteen), knew he was lying even though they had no idea what she was talking about.
Aunt Petunia gave them dirty looks. "I suppose," she grunted. "But none of the rules in this house change for you. This is not a house for rejects, now get upstairs and out of my sight."
"Thank you," he whispered, and he walked upstairs, a disgruntled Tom and a quiet Albus following.
As he ushered them inside and closed the door behind him, he sighed.
"That was extremely lucky," he whispered. "She doesn't think you're wizards, so don't show that you know anything about the Wizarding World, okay?"
Tom said nothing and Albus nodded.
"Don't like you much, does she?" grinned Tom. "I like her."
"No, she doesn't," said Harry, glaring at him.
"Your dear old mum's sister, isn't she?"
"Shut up about my mum, you stupid piece of rubbish," snarled Harry.
"Temper..temper.."
"Yeah that's right," he spat. "Wanna test it some more?"
"Stop it," said Albus. It was a quiet but forceful voice, and Tom and Harry fell silent. "You two may hate each other, but you have to act like you don't while you're here."
Tom opened his mouth to say something until they heard Uncle Vernon roar something downstairs, then someone knock on the door.
"What?" Harry growled.
"Hey Potter, heard you actually have some friends! Just wanted to congratulate you," the person laughed.
"Shut up, Dudley, I'm not in the mood for you."
"Can't do anything in front of your little friends!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Keep knocking on the door and we'll see what I can and can't do!"
Silence.
Harry put his face in his hands and rubbed his face, then looked at Tom and Albus, who were still standing up and looking at him.
"You guys gonna stand up all day?"
Albus and Tom fought over the desk chair, and Albus won. Tom sat on the bed as far away from Harry as possible.
"Well, it looks like you'll grow up to be a little dark wizard, Harry, you know? Torturing Muggles and all that?" taunted Tom.
Harry crawled across the bed slowly, his eyes blazing and focused on Tom.
"I would never sink to your pathetic level," he said angrily. Tom only smirked, and Harry leapt across the bed and tackled him to the floor, his hands wrapped around Tom's neck.
Albus watched for a second as Harry choked Tom, wondering if this was how the prophecy would be fulfilled one day, by suffocation.
He stood and crossed the room, and broke up the fight.
"You two," he said calmly, "are going to have to stop this nonsense. I can't let you kill each other, we need you both alive to work out this spell..."
Albus stood between them until they calmed down, Tom coughing again where Harry had attempted to choke him to death.
And so they all sat down again, Albus trying to run through possible spells in his head while Tom was rubbing his neck and Harry was staring furiously at him.
"Would you stop staring at me?" Tom finally asked. "Or are you in so much awe of me that you can't stop?"
It was meant to be a cruel kind of statement, but instead it was more pleading. Harry, sensing the pleading in his voice, didn't want to look away, but he did anyway.
"POTTER!" came a thunderous voice from downstairs.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon?"
"What are you doing? Sitting up there doing nothing?"
Harry didn't know what to say. Albus and Tom watched him closely.
"Get your ruddy self down here and prepare dinner! Bring your friends and cook for them too!"
Harry gestured at Tom and Albus to follow him and they went back downstairs. Uncle Vernon glared at Harry as he walked past and didn't even look at Tom or Albus.
"Hurry up," snarled Aunt Petunia. Harry immediately got to it as his Aunt and Uncle left the room, leaving Tom and Albus.
"They're going to ask you about your parents," whispered Harry. "I know they are. Tell them something that won't bring up many questions, please make it as Muggle as possible."
This time, Harry's voice was more pleading. He returned to cooking the spaghetti, and when he had drained it and poured the sauce, Dudley came in and poked him in the back.
"What do you want?"
"Mum and dad said you can't eat today," taunted Dudley.
"I don't care. Go away."
Tom sneered at the whale-like form of Dudley as he sat down at the table with Albus.
Finally Harry finished and his Aunt and Uncle came in and shooed Harry out, then the five of them began eating. Albus however, watched Harry leave sadly and suddenly lost his appetite, and merely acted like he was eating. Albus could see why Harry hated coming back to the Dursleys', they didn't even let him eat!
Tom had noticed as well, but it didn't stop him from eating.
"So, boys," said Uncle Vernon in an impressive manner. "May I ask what your parents do for a living?"
Tom and Albus exchanged a quick glance.
"Our fathers are construction workers...." lied Albus quickly. "My mother is a nurse and his is a---err--teacher."
Tom's nose crinkled. Teacher?
"Really? What does she teach?"
"Primary school," answered Tom, sighing with annoyance.
"What are your full names?" asked Aunt Petunia curiously.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," said Tom, mentally cursing her. 'If she laughs...I'm going to hex her...'
She didn't laugh, she only nodded and looked expectantly at Albus.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," he said, then gasped slightly, covering his mouth.
'Great, I forgot she knew who I was...' he thought wildly.
Aunt Petunia dropped her spoon and gaped. "Dumbledore?"
"I'm full," said Albus quickly. "It was delicious, thank you."
Aunt Petunia was looking at him suspiciously. They asked no more questions to Tom and Albus's relief.
Upstairs, Harry was sitting furiously in his bedroom. Oh, so Lord Voldemort proudly ate with his relatives, probably plotting how to kill them, but he had to stay upstairs with no food at all. He hated being Harry Potter.
The door opened a few minutes later, revealing a full Tom and a not-very-happy looking Albus.
A bit angry, Harry didn't look at them, and he stood up to find some pajamas.
"I'm going to take a shower. Oh, are you guys going to take a shower? Or does Lord Voldemort not take showers?" he shot at Tom.
Tom frowned. "Lord Voldemort is very hygienic, thank you very much."
Harry rolled his eyes at him. "Albus?"
"Yes, Harry, I'd like to take one.."
Harry went through his closet, pulled out two pairs of loose jogging pants and two big shirts, and threw a pair to each.
"As for underwear," he said, "I'm not providing those, but if you go downstairs and throw them in the washer, I'll wash them. Or..err...does Lord Voldemort not wear underwear? And I'm assuming you two know what a washer is?"
"I know what a washer is," said Tom shortly. He completely ignored the other question.
"Well, the bathroom's down here on the right when you guys come to take a shower."
Harry disappeared to take a shower, and when he returned, his hair wet, he looked at the two of them.
"What were you talking about?" he asked.
"Politics," said Albus. "Cornelius Fudge, mostly."
"He's a git," said Harry curtly. "Who's next for a shower?"
"Me," said Albus and Tom at the same time.
Tom impatiently tossed his head. "Go ahead."
"Thank you," said Albus, with a bit of a hiss in his voice.
So Tom and Harry sat on the bed, not really looking at each other.
"You know," said Tom. "This will be the only time I will sit in the same room with you and not try to kill you."
"I know, I don't much like you either."
Harry had wanted to say "same here" but chose not to.
"Kind of strange, this," said Tom. He wasn't sounding much like Lord Voldemort anymore. "I remember living in quite the same situation you are in. Parentless, an orphan."
"You chose to loose both of your parents, though. I didn't. You may not have murdered your mum, but you did your dad. Then you went off and killed mine after a while," his voice was a forced calm.
Tom was silent for a moment. "I don't understand you, Harry Potter."
Harry stared at him. "What d'you mean by that? You know it's true--"
"That's not what I'm talking about, you fool," he said sharply. "How is it that you keep escaping from me? What is it about you, eh? And you live a life so much like mine was, why?"
Harry was starting to get a bit creeped out. "I have no idea, why are you asking?"
The door opened, revealing a clean and slightly out-of-breath Albus, and the two fell silent.
"I'm surprised," said Albus. "I would have figured one of you had tried to murder the other while I was gone."
"Didn't have enough time," said Harry. "You're fast."
Tom stood up to take a shower without another word.
When he returned, they got ready to go to bed, except Harry, who had no intention of falling asleep with Lord Voldemort in the same room.
"One of you can sleep on the bed," grumbled Harry. "It's not comfortable anyway."
"Are you sure?" asked Albus.
"Yeah, I don't care..."
Tom was about to protest that he wanted to sleep on the bed, but Albus climbed on it without another word and covered up. Harry gathered some blankets and pillows from downstairs, made himself a bed on one side of the real bed, and threw the others at Tom, telling him to make his own. ("Didn't want you to make it anyway," Tom had snapped)
Albus was the first to fall asleep, and Tom was dozing slightly, but he didn't want to fall asleep, much like the same reason Harry had. But after a while, he laughed to himself. Was he afraid to fall asleep?
So, he settled down and finally fell asleep.
Harry was awake, leaning against his closet, twirling his wand. He'd give so much just to curse Tom right now. He found himself opening his eyes less and closing them more, and he slid off the closet and hit the floor, waking up again. 'What am I doing?'
He decided he'd lay down and stay awake, that he'd close his eyes for just a few seconds...just to rest a few seconds.
But he fell asleep. And as soon as he did so, the dreams started.
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As Sirius was falling through the veil, a high pitch laugh rang in his ears. The laugh of Lord Voldemort, a cruel and evil laugh.
"See what you've done?" whispered Voldemort. And as Sirius disappeared, Harry could hear him. "Harry! Harry!"
"Look what you've done!"
"It's all your fault," said a voice, oddly like Cedric's. The words echoed through his head.
It's all your fault.....it's all your fault.....it's all your fault.
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Tom woke up to a small whining noise, and so did Albus. The both of them were light sleepers, and the sound of whining immediately caught their attention.
Albus looked over the bed onto the floor, where Harry was squirming, his eyes scrunched and his breath coming in short little bursts, making him whine slightly.
"Harry?" whispered Albus.
Tom stood up and walked around the room. He had never been there in person while the boy was having a dream, and he wanted to see one for himself.
He looked down at Harry, slightly shocked at the sight of him.
He was covered in sweat, but he was shivering, mouthing incoherent words, tears running down his face. He tossed and turned until Albus got down on the floor beside him.
"Harry, wake up, Harry..." Harry stopped tossing and mouthing, as if he were listening.
"Open your eyes, it's just a dream...wake up..."
Harry opened his eyes, the first person he saw was Albus, then Tom.
Tom Riddle.
Harry backed up against the closet, breathing deeply as he ground out at Tom, "I hate you."
Tom said nothing, and Albus stood up.
"Back to bed," he said sternly, and looked at Tom straight in the eye before climbing back on the bed. Tom glared at him. How dare he boss about Lord Voldemort?
But he was in no position to argue, especially with Albus Dumbledore, and walked back over to his little nest on the floor and listened to Harry, whose breathing was shaky and loud.
He wondered what the boy had dreamt about, but he thought he had a pretty shrewd idea.
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A/N: By the way, if you're wondering what happened to the underwear, Harry washed them while he was downstairs getting pillows and blankets. ..hehe.