A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

20: This Is What You Came For, Isn't It?

Reposted: July 13, 2021

——————————

Last edited: January 25, 2024 (just the chapter title, which was formerly "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Talons")

The changes I made are arguably the biggest I've made so far (minus the revised chapters), but they still don't impact the overall fic.

It wasn't even one day in and Hermione and Ron were arguing already. Normally, Harry would ignore them, but something caught his attention.

"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura!" Ron snapped. "You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"

Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table. "If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!"

Harry exchanged confused looks with Daphne, who had been in Arithmancy with him at the same time as Ron was in Divination. "Wasn't she in...?" Daphne trailed off.

Harry shrugged and sat down to eat.

After lunch was over, it was Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid decided to show the class a herd of hippogriffs, a cross between an eagle and a horse. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, bowing down and hoping it wouldn't lash out at you.

Draco, after Harry had done it successfully, swaggered up to the one called Buckbeak. "This is so easy," he boasted loudly. "I bet anyone could have ridden you. Ugly brute."

In a flash, Buckbeak reared up. Harry raced forward and yanked him out of the way. Hagrid rushed to calm Buckbeak down and wrestled him back into his collar.

"Draco," said Harry slowly, "what the hell?"

Draco's face was even paler than normal. "I didn't think he'd do that!"

"Clearly."

'What a dunderhead,' Azure grumbled later that evening. 'At least you and Tommy aren't as idiotic.'

With a jolt, Harry realized he hadn't spoken to his soulmate since that night in the Leaky Cauldron. His mind had been occupied with Sirius, Lupin, and of course, the Dementors. 'Come on, we're going down to the Chamber.'

The snake perked up at this and wrapped herself over Harry's shoulders as he grabbed his invisibility cloak and the diary and snuck back out.

He reached the bathroom and, after checking to make sure he was alone, hissed 'open' and slid down. Then he continued along until he reached the end of the chamber. "Tom?" he said, hoping the older boy wouldn't still be angry with him.

To his relief, Tom emerged from the diary. Harry went to speak— whether that was to say he was sorry again or not, he didn't know— only for Tom to demand several panicked questions at him.

"What happened on the train?" Tom looked his soulmate over. He didn't look hurt, but that was a small relief. "It felt cold all of a sudden."

"You could sense the Dementors even within the diary?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Dementors?" Tom paled. "On the train? Did anyone get Kissed?"

"No, they didn't," Harry said quickly. "Professor Lupin managed to force it out."

Tom frowned. "A professor rode on the train with you? That doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"Sirius said he should be able to be trusted," Harry replied.

"Are you sure we can trust Black?" Tom asked, not wanting to yell at Harry again but also wanting to shake some sense into him.

"Yes," Harry said. Azure nodded as well.

"Very well."

Azure suddenly felt impatient with the tense atmosphere. 'Hey, Tomalongadingdong, guess what happened?'

(Edit 11/23: Congratulations, you have reached the nickname™.)

Tom scowled at the snake while Harry threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, shut it, you," he muttered, but there was no heat behind his words. "What happened?"

Harry briefly explained Hagrid's first lesson and the moment leading up to Draco nearly getting attacked.

"And here I thought he was less of an idiot than that," Tom muttered, rolling his eyes.

Harry snorted. "I'm pretty sure everyone at least thinks that at least twice a day."

'I think of it four and a half times,' Azure piped up.

"Hagrid is an oaf and shouldn't be teaching classes, but I have to admit he does know his creatures," Tom remarked.

"Was it hard?" Harry asked, tilting his head and blinking up at Tom innocently. "Admitting that?"

"Harry?" Tom said sweetly.

"Yes?"

"Do shut up."

"I don't think I will."

Azure began circling them. 'Harry and Tommy sitting in the Chamber,' she sang. 'B-O-N-D-I-N-G.'

'You are the worst,' Harry groaned, eyes flicking away from Tom's intense stare. 'Where did you even learn how to spell?'

'I can read,' the snake huffed. 'I know big words, too. Like— like— equanimity.'

'Which you do not have,' Harry deadpanned.

Azure recoiled indignantly. 'Do, too!'

'You literally thought the world was going to end when you fell off the bed.'

'That was one time!'

Tom looked between the two, stifling a snort of fond exasperation. "Are you two always like this?"

"Yes."

'No.'

"Hey, Potter," said Seamus Finnigan, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning— they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."

Harry paused in cutting up his roots. "Where?"

"Not too far from here," said Seamus. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

"That's not good," Pansy said, giving Harry a worried glance.

"You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..."

Harry put away his unused ingredients and cleaned up his table. Once everyone was done, Snape tested Neville's potion on the toad, Trevor. To the relief of the Gryffindors, Trevor turned into a tadpole. But Snape was quick to ruin their good mood.

"Five points from Gryffindor. I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

Ron looked furious as he stormed out. "Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"

But Harry suddenly realized that Hermione was nowhere in sight. How odd...

Vocab word of the day:

Equanimity: evenness of mind especially under stress

– Merriam-Webster dictionary

That is totally NOT me at all