An Ally

Chapter 10

The next day sunlight woke Harry up. It was just starting to leak into his room, brightening the space. There was a pile of boxes on the floor by his armchair along with a note on top of them.

He got out of bed and padded to the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself before reading the note.

Here's the robes Fredrick made. The muggle clothes are already hung in your wardrobe. I was interrupted by one of my idiots making a grave error this morning. I should be back shortly for breakfast.

Setting aside the note, he sat down and opened the first box so he could start to put his new clothes away.

The first box was filled with a ruby red robe and a black lining. It reminded him of Tom's eyes. When he hung it up, he searched through the muggle attire as well. Soft cotton t-shirts, even softer silk button down shirts, two suits: one grey and one black, a pair of black sneakers and a pair of black leather shoes. The next box had three sets of black robes. They all had the same filigree design sewn into them with matching linings although the lining and thread differed for each robe. A deep green, an even deeper blue and interestingly enough, a royal purple.

The next few sets of robes were similar. A new couple of robes for school with the Hogwarts crest although these looked like they would fit him much nicer than all his others. A new quidditch robe that would likely hug him closely to cut down on drag. He paused when he opened the last box, as baby blue velvet caught his gaze. The lining was the same silk that the pajamas he had been wearing was made out of, but in silver. The blue velvet practically screamed 'touch me' and Harry quickly dressed. It hung a little, no doubt the clothes had been made with the assumption that he would be filling out before school started. He practically ran to the mirror in the bathroom and gasped.

There before him was someone that couldn't possibly be him. He wasn't used to noticing how dark his hair was or how light his skin had gotten. And he especially wasn't used to thinking that his reflection was quite attractive once you got over how thin he was.

He took off the blue robes before turning his attention back to the last box. This one contained two plain robes, one black and one charcoal. The charcoal robes were slung on as they felt a bit softer than the black ones. There was a heavy winter cloak with the filigree on it to match some of the other robes at the bottom of the box.

A gentle knock came at the door from the hallway.

"Harry, could I come in?" Harry simply opened the door in response and waved him in before thanking him for the robes. "Well, I'm glad you like them. I shudder to think how well the others will look on you if the plain ones look this good. I figured we could eat some lunch and then you must focus on your studies while I finish up with these damn followers I have."

They ate in a comfortable silence, neither one of them wanting to break the quiet. Eventually, Harry's curiosity got the better of him.

"What happened to make you so upset at them?" The older man sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Nothing that can't be fixed. Apparently some of my less loyal decided to act on my behalf last night and had to be stopped by my most trusted. It gained the media's attention; however, no one was hurt. At least this will work in my favor." He continued, upon Harry's questioning gaze. "The ones that decided to act negatively were effectively stopped by people that were rumoured to be working for me in the past. This will make it easier for people to believe that Dumbledore let his followers get ahead of themselves and will further their scepticism of him." Harry nodded and took another bite of his sandwich.

"So...now that you aren't trying to kill me, what are you going to do?" Tom shrugged, a little too nonchalantly. "Oh, come off it. I've been manipulated my whole life, what is it you're planning?"