Northern Crown [t.r]

Chapter Seven

Tom feigned being asleep, laying on the pathetic mat on the floor with his head propped up on the lumpy pillow, arms crossed behind him.

He kept rerunning the event of seeing Elio the night before. How he was just a shadow, but not quite a ghost, He didn't know what it was, could apparitions travel across space time? Was it just a figment of his imagination? Then how would that explain him breaking free of the bracelets on his wrists? Maybe even then that was just his own magic projecting.

The train of thought was interrupted as the sound of the door creaking open met his ears. Shortly followed by a sharp tap on the bars. "Mornin' sunshine," Harrison mused, looking down at him with some small bitter enjoyment. Tom cracked one eye open, looking at the boy. Him and Delilah looked pretty similar, though his hair was a darker shade of blonde and his eyes were more on the hazel side.

"Good morning," he greeted calmly, the bracelets were still on his wrists, though bound there by his own magic now. He could've easily slipped away last night, breaking through the defenses of his cage even without a wand. But he had to think carefully about this, he needed their trust. Or at least some scrap of it. And Merlin knows how difficult it would've been to drag Delilah along with him discretely. The girl always found a way to make noise.

He smiled slightly despite himself at the memory of them in Ravenclaw tower. Tom wasn't a virgin before that escapade but Delilah certainly made him feel reborn.

"Someone has requested your presence, hopefully he doesn't end up bashing your head in." Harrison tsk-d, "though to be fair it'd be quite amusing if he did." As he made work to undo the lock Tom sat up, humming to himself. He was sure he was talking about Harry. Wondering what the boy could possibly want.

Maybe Delilah talked to him, convinced him. If she did he'd be a bit surprised, not to cut her short of credit but she wasn't the most well versed person in making such deals.

Harrison led him upstairs, the position a bit awkward due to Tom having the advantage of height on him. They went up another flight of stairs, Tom observing rooms as they went wondering which could possibly hold Delilah. Besides trying to convince the Order of his innocence, or at least prove he was helpful, he wondered what she'd been up to. Reconnecting with her friends, family. His mind trailed to Blaise, but shook his head. He felt secure in the fact that Delilah only wanted him. Though part of him worried, for a small moment, what if she no longer wanted to leave?

His quite frankly embarrassing panic attack came to mind, how his mind spiraled. Fearing she'd just leave him in there to rot. In a small cube of cement and thin cloth. Far too similar to how he felt as a boy at Wool's. Before he knew the true fate of his mother, he genuinely believed she'd left him in that orphanage to wither away.

  In a way she had.

Tom kept having to remind himself Delilah wanted him just as much as he did her. It was the only thing keeping his mind at bay.

Harrison opened a door and led Tom in, the lighting dim due to blinds being drawn and candles floated in the air. Harry was leaned against a far table, alone. Tom raised a brow at Harrison, but the boy said nothing and shut the door, leaving the two to themselves.

Part of him wondered if this was some scheme to kill him off. It was he had to give them light appraisal, he didn't think they were capable. Lately people have been surprising him.

Harry stayed at a distance, his arms crossed against his chest and holding his wand tightly. His eyes were startlingly green, staring at him behind his glasses with such strong ferocity.

Keeping his hands behind his back, Tom cleared his throat and kept his face neutral. Giving the silence another moment before starting, "I know it's not my place, or perhaps it is. I take full responsibility for any of the harm that's come not just your way but everyone else. I'm sorry." Even to his ears it sounded like bullshit, he just hoped Harry would see it differently.