A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

16: Going Down Like a Lead Balloon

Reposted: July 12, 2021

Last edited: January 27, 2022

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Only got two more finals left to go, so I decided to update again

Over the summer, Harry's main source of communication was Tom, who was still stuck in the diary. When Harry was alone in the house, Tom could risk coming out of the diary to converse in person, as writing took too long.

The first time he had done so, Tom was not very impressed with the house. "This is your room?" he had said, quirking an eyebrow.

"It used to be Dudley's second bedroom," Harry informed him.

"Second bedroom? Where the hell did you live, then?"

Harry sighed. "In a bloody cupboard under the stairs."

"A cupboard?" Oh, Tom really wanted to hurt his so-called relatives.

"Calm down. The last thing we need is for the Aurors to come here wondering about a second magical signature."

Azure had took that moment to slither into sight. 'Tomling, you're back!' she said happily.

Tom promptly disappeared back into the diary, making Azure do what was equivalent to a pout.

Every night before bed, Harry would meditate to strengthen his mind shields. He had not been entirely surprised when Tom said that Dumbledore most likely used Legilimency to read unsuspecting students' surface thoughts. So Tom had Harry practice as often as he could to prepare himself. Dobby was ordered to get a book on Occlumency for Harry to read to better understand its importance.

Tom performed Legilimency on him a few times to test out his shields and became satisfied that Harry would be able to keep out people reading surface thoughts.

Now, Harry was waking up, feeling very tired after writing with Tom late into the night. He had gotten caught up in discussing the advanced technologies and ideas in the Muggle world, something he brought up a week ago. Tom had been against talking about them at first, but gradually he became more and more interested. Of course, when Harry teased him about liking Muggle-related things, Tom had abruptly stopped writing.

"Happy birthday," came his soft, velvety voice.

"Wha'?" Harry sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, I'm thirteen. Yay me."

He didn't sound very thrilled, not that Tom could blame him. None of the Dursleys made an effort to remember his birthday, and this year would be no different.

"When I get my body back, I will make sure we celebrate every single birthday," Tom promised. "We'll throw the biggest parties and stuff ourselves silly and you'll have dozens of presents."

"No need to go overboard there, Tom," said Harry.

Tom huffed. "You deserve it."

Harry smiled up at him. Even being cooped up in his room most of the summer did not dampen his summer. In fact, this was probably his best summer yet, as sad as that may sound.

"Well, at least I have something to look forward to," he said finally.

There was a knock on the door. Tom swiftly disappeared back into the diary, which Harry shoved out of sight.

"Breakfast is ready," Aunt Petunia called.

"Coming." He opened the door.

The reporter on the television was in the middle of talking about an escaped convict.