The Flames of Hatred and Love

Seventeen- Second Year

On the first of September, Tom and Harry arrived at Kings Cross Station an hour earlier than the designated time.

Uncle Vernon had an important meeting that morning and decided to just drop his nephew and the other one off at the station instead of making two trips.

The Muggle side of the station was busy with people hurrying to catch their trains.

This time, Tom walked up to the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 with confidence and purpose. Checking that no Muggles were looking in his direction, he passed through. He was pleased to see the Hogwarts Express gleaming in the morning sunlight.

Only a few Wizarding families were standing on Platform 9 and 3/4, but Tom supposed that made sense considering the early hour.

A few seconds later, Harry came through the barrier as well. They boarded the train and chose a compartment smack in the middle.

Tom propped his legs on Harry's lap and opened his copy of Standard Book of Spells Grade 2.

If he could read the whole book by the end of the month, he would be ahead of the rest of his Year. He could even potentially beat Hermione at top of their Year!

He would prove to everyone that despite his being a Half-blood, he was still better than any Muggle-born or Pure-blood!

The boys sat in a comfortable silence as the Platform filled with more and more students  and their families.

The compartment door slid open, and Ron plopped himself down next to Harry. His little sister, Ginny smiled shyly as she took a seat opposite Tom.

"Hi Harry! Tom! I can't wait to get to Hogwarts!" Ron said excitedly.

Harry grinned at his friend. "I can't either! How's the rest of your summer been?"

"It's been fantastic! I wonder what the new professor will be like."

"Entertaining I'm sure," Tom answered.

Ron let out an awkward chuckle. "Did the Muggles treat you alright?" His voice was pitched in concern.

Tom side-eyed Harry.

"No worse than usual," Harry said lightly. "Just made it nearly impossible for Tom and I to do our homework."

"Are they really bad?" Ginny asked. She was looking at Tom.

Tom stared into her brown eyes.

'Did those Muggles really hurt Harry or Tom? Please say no. Please say Ron, Fred and George are all wrong.'

"Yes. They hate anything to do with magic." Tom noticed the way Ginny's eyes widened a fraction, then dimmed. "But Harry and I are okay." He gave her a quick smile. "So Ginny what class are you most excited for?"

"I've always loved the idea of charming things."

"Charms is fun," Tom assured her. "And Professor Flitwick is a good enough teacher."

The compartment door slid open, and Hermione came in and sat down next to Ginny. She, of course, was already dressed in her robes.

"Hello everyone! Can you believe we're starting our second year?"

The train lurched forward, and Hermione and Ginny crammed together in front of the window to wave goodbye to their parents.

The train chugged along, and Tom half paid attention to the conversation happening around him. He stared out at the landscape wondering what this year would be like.

His bruises were mostly healed now. He wondered if perhaps he could convince Dumbledore to let him and Harry stay at Hogwarts over the summer.

'I wonder what Riddle would think?'