“Squibs count as pure-blood too, don’t they? Was Slytherin originally against even those?”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM9LY1i7a5
Luna asked Tom during Defense Against the Dark Arts, bored as always.
Tom, equally bored, replied, “Who knows?”
He watched the dramatics unfolding at the front of the class, thinking how nice it must be to write novels for a living—somehow, even that could qualify one to become a teacher here.
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Luna continued, “So who opened the Chamber last time?”
Tom glanced around. No one seemed to be paying attention to them. He cast a Muffliato charm to block out any eavesdroppers.
“Why do you want to know?” he asked in return.
“My father wrote to me. He says Hagrid was expelled for it,” Luna said.
Tom rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t him. He’s innocent.”
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Luna’s curious gaze stayed fixed on him, her interest piqued further.
Tom mulled over the situation. He’d informed Dumbledore of both Luna and Ritchie’s suspicions before.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmpnL9LimT
Dumbledore’s advice? “Handle it as you see fit.”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsnfNH109v
And so, Tom had been cautious, mindful of Ginny’s feelings to her friends.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKb615FmjVi
Through his observation, since Halloween, they haven’t reacted to much pressure…
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Luna offered, “How about we trade secrets? I know Ricky’s been looking at schools in Australia.”
Tom, who still partnered with Ricky in classes, had never heard of this.
Ginny’s voice shouted in his mind, “You have to stop this, Tom!”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGPg57uZKt
“I know, I know!” Tom thought back.
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Luna pressed, “So who was it? Who opened the Chamber?”
“Voldemort did,” Tom said dismissively. “Happy now?”
After Transfiguration, Tom cornered Ricky.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyHFcLTDjw
“Can we talk?”
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They had barely spoken during class.
Tom preferred this kind of distant, mature relationship.
He wasn’t Ginny—he had no interest in delicately maintaining lifelong friendships.
“I’m transferring. Next term.” Ritchie didn’t bother sugarcoating it too.
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He’d guessed Luna would tell Tom. He had accidentally dropped his school information pamphlet in front of her during Potion class.
“Because of me?” Tom asked directly.
Ritchie’s eyes were cold. He stared for a long moment before answering, “I don’t trust you.”
He had already privately visited Hagrid, seeking confirmation that his memories hadn’t been tampered with.
Hagrid had opened the door with a scowl, mocked him with bitter remarks, and warned him never to bother Ginny again.
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Day after day, Ritchie had walked past the blood-stained wall.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUiYnzfSRW
He’d heard Peeves chant endlessly about Potter’s fate.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJwm99p1TY
Every conversation seemed to circle back to the Chamber.
Ritchie couldn’t tell the truth from lies anymore. He just wanted out.
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He finally said, “Ginny… you need help. I’m not going to report you, so please don’t hurt me. And I’m sorry I ever made you hurt, but that’s not an excuse to take revenge on the school.”
Tom stared, dumbfounded. He and Ginny were so different. How could he not see?
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Anger tightened Tom’s throat. He forced the words out, bitter and strained. “I. Am. Real.”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NfYLdYAyi
And silently thought: Don’t impose your small-minded thinking on me.
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Ritchie now looked at Tom the same way he looked at Luna—but with far more fear.
“You need help,” Ritchie repeated. He felt he was being generous.
He had no proof of Tom’s existence. He couldn’t report him, but he feared Ginny’s retaliation if he failed.
If Luna hadn’t exposed him, he would have packed everything over Christmas and broken the news to his parents face-to-face:
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He would never return to Hogwarts.
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Ginny, still in Tom’s mind, was furious.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFdy5XKkfs
“Forget it. He’s an idiot. Tell him to leave and stay gone forever!”
Tom considered far crueler thoughts, like, “You killed Ginny. You just won’t admit it, so you twist me into an illness instead.”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEKm8aOt0O
But as an adult, he held back.
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“Fine. If that’s what you want.”
He promptly informed the “doctor”—Dumbledore.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMLTbV5G7k
He never saw Ritchie again.
Ritchie didn’t even manage to complete a term at Hogwarts.
Like Stephanie and Kenny, he would have to repeat first-year at another school next year.
Compared to them, Eugene, who had switched schools decisively from the early start, seemed remarkably wise.
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Tom had even more classes where he had to work alone.
The gossip confirmed that he was the “Gryffindor Princess,” and anyone paired, grouped, or even slightly connected to him couldn’t last long at Hogwarts.
Tom didn’t care about how Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs avoided him like the plague. He consoled Ginny in his mind, reminding her that even when he was in his first year, he had been treated just as suspiciously.
On the surface, he seemed oblivious—polite, silent, and composed—eliciting sympathy from teachers.
The professors occasionally probed Dumbledore about why Ricky had withdrawn. Dumbledore suggested that it was a decision made after careful discussions with Ricky’s parents and had nothing to do with Ginny.
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Professor Sprout kept Tom after Herbology one day to help tidy the tools in the greenhouse.
As they worked, she asked, “Is it hard to attend classes all by yourself?”
Tom felt a surge of complicated emotions: being pitied made him feel humiliated. When no one paid attention to him, he never considered himself pathetic. Fifty years ago, no one had offered to comfort the suspicious boy from Slytherin to such an extent.
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Taking a deep breath, he replied, “Plants do just fine growing alone in their pots.”
Ginny’s body seems to be more sensitive to emotion than his, but that wasn’t his fault. When he was still a boy…
Professor Sprout smiled kindly. “Ricky was too stubborn. We can see how hard you’ve tried.”
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She patted Tom’s shoulder with her large, soil-covered hands. Seeing no objection, she gave him a warm hug.
She was short and round, about the same height as Ginny, smelling of earthy roots and fresh soil. Her embrace was soft and boneless.
Tom froze. He had never been hugged like this before.
The only other time was when Mrs. Weasley rushed over in a fit of maternal instinct, but he had been too tense to feel the warmth properly.
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He thought coldly: If Ginny had been a boy, no one would have hugged him.
The red hair, the Weasley features—teachers felt a sense of familiarity and fondness because they had taught her brothers. Now they saw her as their own little daughter.
No wonder people called Ginny a “princess.”
Tom, in Ginny’s place, had to guard that trust carefully.
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Time passed peacefully until the first Quidditch match of the season: Slytherin versus Gryffindor.
This was Malfoy’s first game, and his father had donated seven Nimbus 2001 brooms to the team. But all eyes were on Harry.
“Why hasn’t the match been stopped?!” Ginny shouted, her voice frantic—but only Tom could hear her.
Dobby’s rogue Bludger kept chasing Harry relentlessly. The Weasley twins guarded him fiercely, preventing disaster.
When Gryffindor fell too far behind, they called a brief timeout. Ginny thought the game would be cancelled then, but play resumed. Harry even asked Fred and George to stop protecting him because he couldn’t catch the Snitch otherwise.
“This is unfair!” Ginny fumed.
Tom coldly explained, “There aren’t any free days in the Hogwarts schedule for a redo, and scores can’t be reset. If Dumbledore called off the match, it would look like favoritism. Without identifying the culprit or lifting the curse, this is the best course of action.”
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Last year, when Harry’s broom went haywire, the game continued. That was simply how the wizarding world worked.
Tom had thought Quidditch was barbaric from day one. People screamed from the sidelines, emotionally entangled with the players, sharing in their glory—or disgrace. It was public humiliation disguised as sport.
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“Go to hell with your 'best course of action'!” Ginny snapped at him, furious for Harry’s sake.
Watching her crush dodging for his life, flying wildly and drawing laughter from the crowd, she begged, “Tom! Do something!”
Tom ignored her irrational demand.
Harry finally caught the Snitch right beside Malfoy’s sneering face.
“Yes!” Ginny cheered.
Tom allowed himself a smile, savoring the victory.
But Ginny wasn’t done: “Go to hell with Lockhart too!” she raged when Lockhart managed to vanish all the bones in Harry’s arm. Tom was momentarily stunned.
Harry ended up in the hospital wing, but the Gryffindor common room buzzed with triumph.
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Tom didn’t hide away this time. He sat in the common room, outwardly enjoying the victory feast while inwardly sharing Ginny’s admiration for Harry’s flying skills. It was a rare moment of peace, free from their early mental bickering.
Colin seized the moment to boast, “Ginny, look! I got loads of photos of Harry!”
Hearing this, others swarmed around him.
“Can I have one?”43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq3DIu39Vj
“I need one to send home!”
When people suspected Harry of being the Heir of Slytherin, they eagerly unearthed his past spats with Filch as proof of his guilt. Now that Gryffindor needed a hero, they clung to his embarrassing moments as badges of camaraderie.
Tom felt disgusted. He doubted Harry would appreciate seeing those pictures circulated.
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But Colin, overwhelmed by the attention, mumbled, “I… I guess I could develop more copies.”
Older students even offered to pay double for extra prints, thrusting Galleons into Colin’s hands.
Ginny prodded Tom: “Can’t you do something? Stop him now!”
Most of the smarter Gryffindors kept their distance, not wanting to risk their reputation by warning the Weasleys or tattling to Percy.
The Quidditch team had their own private celebration group, and their judgment was dulled by Butterbeer at the moment.
Some students watched Ginny’s reaction warily, afraid she might rat them out to Percy.
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Tom didn’t care about Percy.
His first instinct was that they wanted to provoke him—hoping he would reprimand Colin, asking to confiscate the film, which, he had no authority to do so.
But the film would disappear.
That much, he would make sure of it.
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"Eh? It’s gone…" Colin was searching for his film that evening.
"What do I do…" He had taken deposits from many students, half being coaxed and half being pressured.
Not only had the photos from the Quidditch match disappeared, but even the earlier ones were missing too.
The pictures of Ron vomiting slugs, the forced photo of Lockhart pulling Harry in for a signed shot…
"All gone!" Colin was both angry and frantic.
He had worked so hard, so hard…
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After Kenny left, Colin had no roommate.
He had once covered the walls of his dorm with pictures of Harry.
To Colin, Harry represented the hope that he, too, could succeed in the magical world.
He memorized Harry’s schedule, shadowed him endlessly, and always tried to start conversations.
Because Harry was always kind to him, others would also ask Colin what Harry was like.
Just thinking about Harry made Colin happy. Harry was the center of his wizarding world—the common thread in all his interactions with classmates!
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Now, furious and flustered over the theft, Colin felt some relief that his camera was still intact, and he had fresh, blank film.
"Harry…"
Slipping the camera strap around his neck, Colin decided—for the first time—to break school rules and sneak out at night.
He was going to visit Harry, take a heroic bedside photo, and tell him just how terribly robbed he had been.
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Dumbledore received Tom’s signal and hurried to the scene in the middle of the night.
"Did he see you?" He observed Colin’s petrified posture, holding up his camera.
Tom shifted back from his cat form and replied, "No, I cast an illusion. There’s a mirror inside the camera, which fits the basilisk’s logic."
Tom believed Harry’s way of handling Colin was far too timid. If others saw Harry’s lack of resistance and decided to imitate Colin…
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Dumbledore sighed, "But why so suddenly? I thought you would shift your target. There are already too few students left in your year."
Eugene, Stephanie, Kenny, and Ricky—three houses had lost students in less than one term.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aQz8ftgD8
If this continued, Ginny’s personality would truly become suspicious. No matter how much the teachers liked her, outsiders wouldn’t…
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Tom said, "He was going to sell Harry’s photos. Ginny told me to act."
Dumbledore was somewhat angry. "No more reckless actions! From now on, anyone who has a conflict of interest with Ginny will be dealt with by me. Understand?"
Tom reluctantly mumbled, "Fine," before transforming back into a cat and slipping away.
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Dumbledore called Professor McGonagall. The two elderly professors, dressed in their nightclothes, carried Colin by his head and feet to the hospital wing.
Dumbledore explained that he had merely gone downstairs to make a cup of hot cocoa when he happened upon Colin in this condition.
Professor McGonagall didn’t question him further like, "Why hadn’t he simply summoned a house-elf to fetch the cocoa?"
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To ask would be to suspect Dumbledore of being the culprit, a thought she instinctively dismissed.
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Tom didn’t expect that after Colin’s incident, people would still automatically suspect Harry as the culprit.
Even though Harry had lost all the bones in his right arm and was lying in the hospital wing at the time of the event, rumors spread that Colin’s photographs had offended Harry, and therefore, Harry was surely behind it again.
Tom had no intention of making Harry take the blame for him.
On Halloween, he led Harry to the crime scene first, hoping Harry could observe all the clues before anyone destroyed the traces he had left behind.
But once Dumbledore noticed this trend, he told Tom to continue.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6S1EHxOr6
"Harry needs some pressure to understand who he can really rely on."
Tom didn’t object, but Ginny disagreed. She muttered, "Isn’t Harry troubled enough already?"
Tom echoed Dumbledore, "The price of making the wrong friends is high."
Ginny argued, "This way, he won’t have any friends at all."
Tom countered, "True friends wouldn’t leave him over mere rumors."
Ginny snapped back, "No wonder you don’t have any friends."
Tom almost retorted, "Neither do you," but thought of Luna and swallowed his words.
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Luna remained as whimsical as ever, even after Ricky’s withdrawal and Colin’s petrification.
One day, during Charms practice, Tom couldn’t help but ask her, "Aren’t you afraid of me?"
Luna, perfectly controlling the levitating feather without a tremor, asked back, "Why would I be?"
Seeing no one was paying attention, Tom lowered his voice, "You know. Colin—that was me."
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Luna pondered briefly before saying, "Oh. Do you need another victim? I’m available."
Tom sighed, "You’re a pure-blood and not a squib."
Luna complained, "Life is so unfair."
Tom asked, "Do you dislike Ricky?"
He had heard that after Ricky left, Snape humiliated the now-isolated Luna even more during Potions.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIIf4mVhTy
But Luna never argued back and would still toss any ingredient she fancied into her cauldron. (Snape might have been more wary of her for that reason.)
Their classmates whispered that Ginny was indirectly responsible for Luna’s misfortune.
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Luna, staring deeply at him, set her feather down and replied, "Colin never talked to me. I didn’t care about him."
Tom pressed, "I meant Ricky. Don’t you miss him?"
Luna simply said, "We were friends because of Ginny." She had always known that Ricky looked down on her.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvNEqTDvkP
He hadn’t bullied her, but that didn’t mean she liked him.
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Tom concluded, "So you didn’t like him—that’s why you gave me information."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Sure, if you prefer that. Yes, you were used, my Dark Lord."
Tom stared at Luna and saw her passivity.
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Luna wasn’t stupid. She had simply given up fighting.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2j1uuwPAK
She was tired, with no expectations that anything good would happen in her life.
Tom said, "You’re just waiting for me to hurt you." His heart ached even as he grew angry. Luna remained indifferent.
Tom, frustrated, declared, "I am not Voldemort!" He wouldn’t treat her nicely so that he could hurt her later.
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Luna replied, "I know." Her words said one thing, but her heart remained a fog of darkness and confusion.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQYPkzKKJ4
Her feelings toward Tom wavered—could they barely be considered concern?
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Ginny’s voice reassured him from within, "You don’t need to prove anything to her. I know you’re not."
Tom’s emotions calmed at last. He thought to himself, one day Luna would understand.
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Before the Christmas holiday, a notice captured everyone’s attention.
Even Daisy came to ask Tom, "Would you go with me? To the Duelling Club?"
Since Colin was gone, Tom and Daisy had gradually been paired in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, and other subjects.
Even in classes where Tom had originally partnered with Luna, Daisy had now seamlessly joined their group.
As Luna remained perpetually listless, Daisy ended up having more visible interactions with Tom over time.
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Tom replied, "It’s too early for first-years to learn duelling."
Daisy said, "But… I just want to watch." Her eyes were filled with a mix of hope and fear.
Tom softened and asked Luna, who was pretending not to listen, "Want to come too?"
Tom often dragged Luna along to do homework together because Professor Flitwick had changed the grading system to group-based marks for the term.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3I80lsi1s
If one member failed, the whole group would fail. (Luna had pushed him to desperation.)
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Luna absentmindedly twirled her quill and said, "Okay."
Tom felt a sudden urge to say, You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.
Ginny’s voice rang inside his mind: "Be nice to her, Tom!"
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"Expelliarmus!" Watching Snape send Lockhart sprawling on the floor was immensely satisfying. Ginny cheered inside Tom’s head.
But Luna, who disliked both conflict and crowds, took a step back. Daisy noticed her retreat.
When it was time to pair up, Daisy invited Luna first. Luna nodded.
Tom observed that Daisy never minded Luna’s odd behavior or nonsensical remarks. He figured that after what had happened with Stephanie, Daisy had learned not to judge by the cover of books.
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"Would you be my partner?" Dean Thomas, one of Harry’s roommates, asked Tom.
Tom had been prepared to stay alone, uninterested in practising.
Dean had originally arrived with Seamus, but Seamus had partnered with Ron. Hermione and Harry had been paired, but Snape split them up and forced them to partner with Slytherins.
So Dean was left alone.
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Surprised, but unwilling to refuse a fellow Gryffindor, Tom agreed.
"Expelliarmus!" Tom didn’t hold back, sending Dean’s wand flying.
"Wow, you’re good!"
Dean wasn’t upset—he’d already heard that Ron’s sister was a prodigy.
Seeing Dean’s pleasant demeanor, Tom summoned his wand back for him rather than making him retrieve it in front of everyone.
"Here." He handed it over.
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Dean took the wand and didn’t insist on continuing the duel. Instead, he asked, "Have you practiced at home?" His eyes, however, followed the chaos unfolding around Harry.
Harry and Malfoy were flinging hexes at each other, Hermione was wrestling on the floor with a Slytherin girl, and Lockhart clumsily attempted to intervene.
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Tom joked, "Too bad wrestling isn’t taught here. That seems far more practical."
Dean doubled over in laughter.
Lockhart then announced one-on-one demonstrations, and Snape, naturally, pushed Malfoy and Potter onto the stage together.
"Merlin’s beard," Tom sighed.
Dean chuckled. "With Harry around, lessons are never boring."
Tom asked, "You find this funny?"
Dean replied, "It’s hard not to… but I don’t mean any harm."
He found it impossible not to laugh at the daily rooster fights between Malfoy and Potter.
Tom sighed again.
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He thought, If I had a classmate like Malfoy, a headmaster like Dumbledore who didn’t intervene, a teacher who singled me out, and on top of that, people blaming me for things like the Chamber of Secrets… I’d probably be thinking of transferring schools too. Poor Harry.
Ginny added in his mind, "Exactly!"
Then Malfoy conjured a live snake. The audience stepped back in fear.
The crowd surged, making Tom lose his balance. Dean steadied him, and Tom thanked him without much thought, his focus entirely on Harry.
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"Move aside!" Harry commanded the snake. But others saw something very opposite.
"What are you playing at?" Justin nearly attacked by the snake, shouted in fury at the suspiciously evil-sounding Harry.
Harry stood there, dumbfounded. Ron and Hermione rushed on stage to pull him away.
Dean, uneasy, turned to Ginny and whispered, "You… do you know what’s going on?" His suspicion about Harry wavered.
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Tom answered firmly, "It wasn’t Harry." He didn’t want Harry to lose peace in his own dormitory.
Dean, affected by Tom’s conviction, regained some sense of reason.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYAgAuzY8k
"Sorry, I was overthinking."
Daisy and Luna had vanished in the crowd, so Tom walked back to Gryffindor Tower with Dean.
On the way, Dean remarked, "Trouble seems to follow Harry around."
Tom agreed, "It does."
Dean asked, "Aren’t you scared?"
Tom feigned sincerity. "A little."
Dean kept talking, "You know 'you know who' is also a Parselmouth, right?"
Tom answered vaguely, "Hmm."
Dean then joked, "What if Harry’s actually 'you know who'’s son?"
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Tom gave him a sharp look. "So Lily Potter cheated? Voldemort was in love with a Mudbloo- ."
Influenced by Slytherin's tendencies, he almost blurted out the forbidden word.
Dean was more horrified by the name than the insult. "You said his name!"
Realizing his slip, Tom remained defiant. "There’s no reason to fear him."
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Dean, now admiring Tom’s courage, gave him an awkward look of respect. Feeling uncomfortable, Tom found an excuse to leave.
"Now things are bad for Harry…" Ginny fretted inside his head.
Tom reassured her, "When the truth comes out, they’ll learn. I promise."
Ginny argued, "Even Dean almost doubted him."
Tom insisted, "As long as his real friends believe in him, it’ll be fine!"
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In the days that followed, Fred and George turned it into a running joke.
"Make way! The Heir of Slytherin is coming!" George would announce Harry’s entrance.
Fed up, Tom and Ginny yelled together, "Enough already!"
Seeing Tom react only encouraged Fred to escalate things.
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He and George ambushed Tom after class, leaping from behind a statue. "Monster’s coming!"
Their antics made her classmates laugh. Tom’s face flushed with rage.
"Get lost, or I’ll… I’ll tell Percy!"
At last, he remembered a normal older brother’s function.
George stuck his tongue out and backed off. He and Fred were only teasing out of concern.
When they saw that Daisy or Luna was always nearby, they stopped pestering Tom as much.
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One quiet day, Luna wondered aloud, "Why don’t your brothers scare you anymore?" She found Tom’s temper amusing.
Daisy, speaking sense for once, added, "Having brothers like that must be exhausting."
Tom…
43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAImHjszR0s
He felt sure Luna just didn’t like him.
Ginny told him not to overthink it.
43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjyRmNrfdv
