[Only Harry's missing? What about Ron? Is he on the train?]
Tom wasn't surprised to hear Draco's news. He had already guessed something like this might happen after failing to reach Harry over the holidays. Still, from the way Draco was talking, it sounded like only Harry had missed the train.
[If that's the case, this just got a lot simpler.]
Tom kept the thought to himself. Without Ron—the walking disaster magnet—around, Harry probably wouldn't be stupid enough to steal the Weasleys' car on his own. That made finding him much easier.
Worst case, he could always go to Dumbledore. The headmaster was far better at locating people than he was. Tom still remembered how, back when Harry hadn't received his Hogwarts letter, the man had managed to flood the Dursleys' house with letters.
"Huh? What does this have to do with Ron?"
Draco looked confused. When he had gone looking for Harry, the twins hadn't mentioned anything about Ron being involved.
Hannah's brows drew together as she listened. She set the snacks she was holding down on the table.
"Now that you mention it, while I was checking the nearby compartments for Tom, I didn't see either of them."
"Yeah… little Ronnie's not on the train either."
Fred appeared in the doorway looking awkward. It was hard to admit they had somehow missed the fact that their own brother wasn't on board.
Tom's mouth twitched. Classic twins—sharp enough to notice Harry was missing, but completely blind to their own sibling. Poor Ron.
[So you're sure neither of them made it onto the train?]
Tom took a deep breath, almost hopeful. What if Dobby hadn't caused any trouble this time? What if Harry and Ron had simply ended up in another compartment?
He really didn't want to go chasing after a flying car.
Unfortunately, the twins shook their heads in perfect sync, killing that hope.
"We searched the entire train. They're not here."
"We were running late because of traffic," Fred continued. "Mum was already rushing everyone through the barrier. After that, none of us really paid attention. But once the train started moving, Ginny came and told me she hadn't seen Harry come through."
"George and I, plus Harry's other friends and Malfoy's kid here, checked every compartment. Nothing."
It was obvious they hadn't found Harry. And only now were they realizing that it wasn't just Harry who had missed the train—their little brother was gone too.
"Maybe they got eaten by a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"
Luna spoke up from where she was flipping through an issue of The Quibbler, offering the theory in a soft voice. A second later she shook her head. "No, that doesn't make sense. Crumple-Horned Snorkacks live in water. They wouldn't attack on land."
"Crumple-Horned what?"
Draco looked lost. He knew what a snorkack was supposed to be, but a Crumple-Horned version? He had never heard of that.
Tom had heard Luna mention the creature before. It was one of Xenophilius's made-up magical animals. He didn't bother correcting her.
(You're right. And Harry and Ron aren't that stupid. They wouldn't go anywhere that dangerous, and they wouldn't have had time anyway.)
More importantly, he already had a pretty good idea where Harry and Ron actually were.
[Honestly, typical Gryffindors. All muscle, no brain. How reckless can you get?]
They knew the Weasleys had already gone through the barrier to see Ginny off. They knew the family car was parked right outside the station. All they had to do was wait near the entrance—or better yet, by the car itself—until Arthur and Molly came back out. Then they could explain what happened.
Failing that, Hedwig was right there with Harry. He could have just written to Dumbledore and asked for help.
How in the world had they decided that stealing Arthur's car and flying it to school was the smart move?
At this point, in Tom's mind, both Harry and Ron had officially been labeled "no brain cells."
Complaining wouldn't solve anything, though. They were still his friends, and he needed to help. Even if the original timeline had let them off easy, it was better to avoid unnecessary risks. If something actually went wrong, it would be a disaster.
Tom let out a long sigh.
[Fine. I'll handle it.]
Truthfully, he hadn't put many points into tracking skills. The few times he had needed to find someone or something, he had mostly relied on his owl, George. But George wouldn't be fast enough to catch up to a flying car.
He didn't want to get yelled at by his own pet either, so he dropped that idea.
Teleporting was an option, but it required knowing the exact destination. He knew Harry and Ron were in the air inside Arthur's car, but he had no idea of their precise location.
Still, he did have something that could work.
[Good thing I've got other tools. If the skill points aren't there, use items instead.]
[Anyone got something that belongs to Harry or Ron? Anything they've used before is fine.]
The twins glanced at each other. Fred spoke up.
"Would one of Ronnie's old textbooks from last year work?"
[That's perfect.]
They nodded, clearly expecting Fred to go ask Ginny for it. Instead, Fred reached into his own pocket, pulled out a book, and handed it over.
"Here. This one. I was gonna sell it to a secondhand shop, but I forgot."
Tom blinked. Since when were the Weasleys rich enough to sell used textbooks? He had assumed they would pass everything down to Ginny. He was actually curious what the girl who eventually ended up with Harry looked like.
Then he remembered—the Santa golem and their other projects had earned them a decent amount from Dumbledore and the school last term. They couldn't afford anything extravagant, but getting their favorite little sister a brand-new set of books was well within reach.
[This works. But do you have anything of Harry's?]
Having something from both of them would make pinpointing their location easier.
The twins exchanged another look. Ron's stuff was easy. Harry's personal items? They had nothing.
Then Draco hesitantly raised a hand.
"Um… would hair work?"
He looked awkward as he spoke. "I… might have gotten some on me by accident before. I kept it just in case it could be useful later."
George and Fred both let out low whistles at the same time, their expressions turning distinctly amused as they looked at Draco.
[It can work. But what exactly were you planning to do with Harry's hair? Polyjuice Potion?]
Tom's tone had also gone slightly strange. Collecting someone's hair wasn't unheard of in the wizarding world, but Draco's reaction…
He had a feeling there was more to this story.
"None of your business! Just tell me if it works!"
Draco's face flushed. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small box, then carefully took out a single strand of hair.
It was long.
And red.
If Draco was telling the truth, this wasn't Harry's hair.
This was Harriet's.
Tom sucked in a sharp breath. His gaze toward Draco became complicated.
So that was why Draco had been so easy to "reform." There was some cross-dressing involved in the equation.
[It works. But seriously, what were you saving it for?]
Tom decided not to press the issue further. Whether Draco was straight, bent, or something in between wasn't his problem. Let Harry deal with it.
(Though if Draco was into female Harry, then Ginny might also be in the picture later. That could get interesting.)
He took the items from both of them and pulled out a small, gun-shaped alchemy device he had made while trying to track Jerry. Once you loaded something carrying a person's magical signature and pulled the trigger, it would locate the target and open a rift.
It had limitations. The rift was one-way and temporary—it only went from this side to the other, and it collapsed after use. For Tom's current needs, that was fine. He wasn't planning to bring Harry and Ron back onto the train anyway. Those two had been reckless. Sometimes a little consequence was educational.
He pulled the trigger.
A shimmering blue spatial rift opened in front of them.
On the other side, Harry and Ron were laughing in the front seats of Arthur Weasley's flying Ford Anglia, clearly enjoying every second of their unauthorized flight.
"Wow, this is amazing! Best road trip ever! Why didn't we think of doing this sooner?"
George and Fred stared through the rift with matching expressions of pure excitement. As proper Gryffindors, they loved anything this reckless and cool.
"? Ron, I think I just heard your brothers' voices."
Harry suddenly paused mid-laugh on the other side of the rift. They were flying through the sky—how could he possibly be hearing George and Fred?
"I think I heard them too."
Ron nodded, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Stealing their dad's car was something the twins had done plenty of times, but Ron's face wasn't nearly as thick as theirs.
They both looked around but saw nothing.
Tom nodded to himself. The device apparently had some hidden functions—like making the rift invisible from the other side. It might even work for eavesdropping.
Improving it could wait. Right now, the priority was getting those two to return the car before Arthur got in trouble. Tom quickly wrote a message on his signboard and was about to push it through when Harry spoke again.
"Wait… I think I can see what Tom's writing too?!"
He looked completely bewildered. Hearing the twins was one thing—maybe a hallucination—but actually seeing Tom's text? That made no sense.
"Did we hit a ghost or something?!"
Ron was starting to look genuinely freaked out.
Tom, who had been about to send the message through, also paused in surprise. He hadn't expected his written words to be visible on the other side even when the rift itself wasn't.
He really needed to explore his own abilities more.
Still, the most important thing right now was making sure Harry and Ron turned the car around. Tom shook his head and wrote a new message.
[You didn't hit a ghost. I just used a special method to reach you. Stop tormenting Mr. Weasley. If you keep pulling stunts like this, you're going to get him fired one of these days.]
Not that it was likely. Arthur Weasley was head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. He had written most of the laws in that area himself and had built in plenty of loopholes for his own use. If he ever got caught, everything he did would technically be within the rules. Classic Arthur.
Thinking about that made Tom's gaze toward Ron turn slightly pitying. The whole family was clever—how had Ron ended up with so few working brain cells?
"So what do we do?"
Ron had no idea what Tom was thinking on this side of the rift. The moment he heard it might affect his father's job, he immediately looked panicked.
[What do you do? You turn the damn car around and take it back! You weren't seriously planning to fly it all the way to Hogwarts, were you?!]
Tom sounded exasperated. Then he caught the regretful look on Ron's face and couldn't hold back.
[Don't tell me that was actually the plan.]
"Well… if we take the car back, how are me and Harry supposed to get to school? The train already left."
[I'll handle getting you there. Just return the car.]
Hidden behind the rift where they couldn't see his expression, Tom allowed himself a small, slightly evil smile.
He would get them to Hogwarts.
Just not in any way they were going to enjoy.