As Neville walked away, Tom seemed to sense something, but he didn't pay it much mind. If it had been important, Neville wouldn't have left. And if he remembered correctly, the Longbottoms lived in St. Catchpole village too. If anything came up over the holidays, he could always go find him.
With that thought, Tom turned his attention back to the three across from him. It wasn't very nice to admit, but seeing the utterly miserable look on Harry's face made Tom's mood inexplicably better.
Time passed quickly. The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop, and they finally arrived back at King's Cross Station in London.
Everyone exchanged reluctant glances. They would see each other again next term, but it still felt hard to say goodbye. Whether it was Harry or Draco, neither of them had ever really had friends they could trust before. Now that they finally did, being separated—even for a few weeks—left a hollow feeling in their chests.
As for Ron—by the time the train was pulling into King's Cross, he was already shaking like a leaf. He was so nervous he didn't even react to Draco's usual jabs.
You could say failing a class had hit him harder than expected. Hard enough that he'd completely forgotten to invite Harry over for the summer.
"Poor little Ronnie…"
George and Fred, who had noticed their little brother's state, came over. They glanced at each other with matching looks of sympathy as Ron sat there, clearly spiraling over what Molly was going to do to him when they got home.
They were troublemakers, sure, but they had never actually failed a class. That meant they had no idea how to comfort him. So for now, all they could do was let Ron calm down on his own.
(Of course, with the twins' personalities, the fact that they weren't actively making it worse was already generous. Comforting Ron? Not happening.)
"Eh, let Mum deal with little Ronnie's problems. Harry, you should come visit us over the holidays! All of you should! I can't wait to see Mum's face when she finds out Malfoy and Ron are actually friends now~"
George grinned at Draco with a distinctly evil smile. Clearly, the twins already had new pranking plans forming.
"Thanks, but… visiting probably isn't a good idea. My father—"
Draco shook his head helplessly. If Lucius found out he'd become friends with a Weasley—the news would reach him in the morning and the transfer paperwork would be filed by afternoon.
It was just one summer. He could always write letters. There was no need to take that kind of risk.
As for whether Crabbe and Goyle would snitch? They'd have to actually see Lucius first for that to matter.
"What about you lot?"
George looked at Tom and the others.
[Me? I'll probably be traveling for part of the break.]
Tom scratched behind his ear.
[If I'm back in time, maybe.]
"Fair enough. Your place is right near ours anyway. Once Harry comes over, Ron can just pop by and check if you're home."
George nodded.
"Shame the Ministry still sends those 'no magic over the holidays' warnings. With your level of magic, you could go anywhere~"
Tom didn't bother responding. A simple Trace? He had plenty of ways around that.
Honestly, with George and Fred's current alchemy skills, they could probably break the Trace themselves if they knew how it worked. They just didn't.
Even if they did use magic over the break, it wouldn't matter. St. Catchpole was a wizarding village—detecting magic there was normal. Whether it came from them or not? The Ministry wasn't about to confiscate their wands to check.
"Honestly, the Dursleys don't even know we're not allowed to use magic at home. This summer I'm finally going to have some real fun with Dudley!"
Harry's face twisted into a distinctly mischievous grin. Neither Tom, Hannah, nor Hermione had any objections. They'd all heard enough stories about how awful the Dursleys were.
Still, watching that expression, Tom thought for a moment and decided to give Harry an extra option.
Magic could intimidate the Dursleys, sure. But intimidation only worked until they realized Harry couldn't actually use it. The original timeline had already proven what happened then.
Besides, the Ministry's Trace was ridiculously unreliable. What did they mean it only triggered if it detected spell traces around the wand? That was clearly designed to catch Muggle-raised wizards specifically.
And what if some unlucky Muggle-born wizard happened to live near a wild wizard who cast magic nearby? They'd be screwed.
Just thinking about how flawed the Trace was made Tom want to complain. To be safe, he poked Harry—who was looking far too pleased with himself—and handed him a small cloth pouch.
[This is for you. As long as you keep your wand inside it, the Ministry won't detect any spell traces. I also put one of my own wands in there. If you need to cast anything, use that one instead. And don't tell George and Fred about this. I don't want to see them blow up the Burrow.]
"Really?!"
Harry's eyes lit up. Being able to actually use magic to teach the Dursleys a lesson instead of just threatening them? He was all in.
[Just don't go overboard.]
"Don't worry. I know when to stop."
Harry nodded seriously as he took the pouch. Then a sly look crossed his face. "Hey, Tom… do you still have any of that gender-changing potion?"
[?]
Tom slowly raised a question mark.
[I have some. Why?]
Don't tell me Harry had gotten addicted to being Harriet.
"What are you thinking?!"
Harry could tell exactly where Tom's mind had gone. "I just want to test it on Dudley. If I can avoid breaking the Ministry's rules, I'd rather do that."
You? Following Ministry rules?
Tom gave Harry a deeply skeptical look. This was the same kid who had broken every rule he could—and some he couldn't. And now he was claiming he wanted to be a good little wizard?
Still, Tom reached into his space and dropped a few vials of the pink potion into the pouch anyway.
[Use them sparingly. These are coming out of your share.]
"Don't worry. I might not have much else, but I've got plenty of Galleons."
Tom rolled his eyes at Harry's rich-kid attitude but still added a warning.
[One more thing—once you're home, keep your real wand inside the pouch and don't take it out. The Ministry tracks spell traces around your wand specifically. You're kind of a celebrity. If one of your obsessed wizard fans decides to cast something near your house, you really don't want the Dursleys finding out about magic that way.]
"Got it. I'll be careful."
Even as he said it, Harry's expression looked far too eager. Tom had the distinct feeling the idiot was already planning some kind of fishing expedition.
He probably shouldn't have given him that extra wand.
Then again… the Dursleys had raised Harry, even if they were awful about it. But Harry was his friend. Tom helped his people. That was just how it was.
"Ah! Harry Potter! Look, Mum—Potter's over there!"
While they were talking, the group had left the platform. A high-pitched voice suddenly rang out from nearby.
"Oh, that's Ginny. Our little sister."
George smiled fondly. Unlike Ron, who existed mostly to be messed with, their little sister was someone they actually doted on. As the youngest, Ginny was the family's precious treasure. Even the twins didn't prank her.
"Don't shout like that, Ginny. It's not polite."
Molly smiled and ruffled her daughter's hair before turning to the group. "Oh, Harry! It's been a while. Do you remember me? We met on the platform."
"Of course, Mrs. Weasley. It's good to see you again. And thank you for the fudge and the sweater. I really liked them."
"I'm glad, dear. You're welcome to come visit us over the holidays if you have time."
Molly gave him a warm, motherly smile—until her eyes landed on Ron. The smile vanished instantly.
"Ronald!"
"Yes, Mum! I'm here!"
Ron snapped to attention so fast it was almost comical.
"Your report card came in the post."
Molly's voice was deceptively light, but Ron went rigid.
"Um—sorry, I—"
Molly sighed and shook her head. What could she really say? He was her son, and this wasn't the place for a proper scolding anyway. After a moment, she reached out and took his hand.
"Never mind. Just this once. Come on. Let's go home."
Ron looked up in surprise. He had been fully prepared to be yelled at in front of everyone.
"Some things are just genetic. Like intelligence."
George grinned as he delivered the verbal knife. "Mum won't blame you for not having enough of it~"
"George!"
"Coming, Mum~"
George cheerfully patted Ron's shoulder before hurrying off.
(Tom gave the owl in the cage a light smack on the head. Why was George—the pet—so stupid? He didn't expect the bird to be as smart as Norberta, but at least as smart as Cosmia would have been nice. Did he need to kill it and bring it back again? Looking at the completely oblivious owl, Tom gave up on the idea. It was just a mail owl. As long as the letters got delivered, intelligence wasn't that important.)
Tom said his goodbyes to Harry and the others, then slipped away while Ginny was excitedly inviting Harry over to see her pet.
Just as he was about to find a quiet corner to teleport home—
"Tom! Over here!"
He paused. That voice sounded familiar.
Curious, he looked up through the crowd—and spotted a very familiar figure.
(Am I hallucinating? Why does it look like Luna's here? I can't be missing her that much already.)
He had only gone home recently. There was no way he was seeing things.
"It's not a hallucination~"
The figure laughed softly as she approached. "I know you could've gone back on your own, but I thought it would be nice if your family came to pick you up. Dad and Mum agreed."
"I only came because Luna wouldn't stop pestering me. I wouldn't have bothered picking up this smelly cat otherwise!"
Xenophilius's voice came from behind Luna.
"Filus, don't be so tsundere. You wanted to come pick Tom up too~"
"Don't expose me like that, Pandora! You're just making this damn cat even more insufferable!"
"It's fine. He's our child. A little smugness doesn't hurt."
Pandora and Xenophilius pushed through the crowd and joined them.
Tom stared at the three of them. The corner of his mouth curved upward despite himself.
He really had found the best family here.
"Are you going to stand there all day? Let's go. Three people showing up just to collect one cat—if any Muggles see this, we're going to end up on the front page."
"Would ending up on a Muggle newspaper be such a bad thing? It could be good material for the next issue of The Quibbler. Should I dramatically reveal that I'm a wizard right here?"
[Don't say dangerous things with that calm expression!]
"Then hurry up."
[I'm coming, I'm coming. Stop rushing me!]
Faced with Xenophilius's urging, Tom made a face. He and the old man really didn't get along.
[How exactly are we getting home? Don't forget—the Underground doesn't allow cats on the train. Did you bring a Muggle car or something?]
"A Muggle car? You mean those metal boxes on the road? Of course not."
Xenophilius said it like it was obvious. "As for how we're getting back… we have you, don't we?"
[You came all the way to the station to pick me up, and now you want me to take you home? You three literally came here for nothing!]
"We wouldn't have had to if someone could use Floo powder. Then we could've just gone whoosh and been home already. That's how all the other Muggle-raised students get back."
[...Fine.]
Tom really wanted to complain about them making him come pick them up after they came to get him, but Luna's excited expression made him sigh instead. He teleported the four of them straight back to the Lovegood house.
[What kind of nonsense is this? If you three hadn't interrupted me, I would've been home ages ago.]
"Tom looked pretty happy to see us, though~"
(Don't call me out like that, Luna!)
Still, just like Luna said—Tom's complaints were only on the surface. Deep down, he knew this was what home felt like. This was what family was supposed to be.