HP partial update
Here’s the start of the next chapter to Becoming Brothers:
Chapter Three Snippet
Tom slipped into the restricted section for the fifth time in the last two weeks. The main part of the library held plenty of surface information on the founders, but nothing of much interest to him. The records of Salazar Slytherin in those books were limited at best. There was more to the founder: he wouldn’t be Slytherin if there weren’t hordes of things the man had done, things kept from the public. Even the restricted section probably wouldn’t contain all the detailed knowledge he wanted, but it was the best place to start.
He had two hours before the caretaker made his rounds. Tom settled in to read.
OoOoO
When the mail came at breakfast one morning in early November, Tom ignored the owls themselves, focusing on the students' reactions to their letters instead. That Gryffindor first year was still getting weekly letters from home. The Ravenclaw fifth year who always sat at the end of the table seemed to be having trouble with his girlfriend. Black had started submitting to the Daily Prophet...
An owl landed on the table in front of him. It took Tom a moment to recognize Wolf. (And he still couldn’t understand why Harry had chosen that of all things to name an owl.) Not that he cared. It was Harry's owl, after all, not his.
Wolf held out a claw, staring at Tom as if daring him not to take the letter attached to it. Around him, his Slytherin classmates were beginning to notice. Tom had never gotten a letter at breakfast before.
Rookwood reached for the pitcher of pumpkin juice sitting by Tom’s plate. Wolf snapped at his hand, ruffling his feathers in a protective show. Rookwood jerked his hand back, biting off a curse, and turned an angry look on Tom.
“Watch where you put your hand,” Tom snapped. He untied the letter quickly, before the bloody owl could gather even more unwanted attention, glancing at it only long enough to confirm that Harry had sent it. ‘I told him he didn’t have to write’, Tom thought furiously, stuffing the note in a pocket. He wasn’t about to open mail at the table, where anyone could see it.
Wolf was still sitting by his plate, glaring at him. Tom waved a hand, hoping he would leave. He didn't. Tom glared. Wolf started preening. Tom gave him a sausage. Wolf sat on the table a moment more, as if to prove he was leaving because he wanted to and not because he was being forced, before finally taking his prize elsewhere to eat.
Also, an explanation (could also be a bit of a rant, I suppose) on Harry’s Slytherin side: No, he’s not overtly ambitious. We’ve already got one of those personalities; I don’t want to try handling another. Harry does, however, know what he wants, and is taking steps to get there, which in my mind is a form of cunning. (He also knows what he doesn’t want, and no, he’s not going to lay down and let stuff happen to him if he doesn’t want it to.) A few examples: he wants a quiet life with a good, steady source of income, hence the NEWT test and studying for the Ward Mastery. (Which he’s managing to get for very little monetary sacrifice on his part, despite the fact that he had no official schooling.) He wants a family, which he’s begun building with Tom and, yes, is to an extent trying to start with Dumbledore. He wants to prevent Voldemort from existing, the entire premise of the story. Maybe I am downplaying his Slytherin side (possibly too much so- I’ll try to keep an eye on that), but to be honest? For me, Tom is more than enough of the overtly Slytherin attitude for one story.