Chapter 26
The house was as gloomy as a mausoleum, its walls steeped in an air of ancient decay. Dust coated every surface, and the dim lighting cast long, flickering shadows across the faded wallpaper. The air was cold, damp, and carried a faint, musty smell that no amount of airing out could seem to dissipate.
Harry didn’t seem to mind. He moved through the house like a specter himself, quiet and methodical, his bare feet making no sound against the worn wooden floors. Teeth trailed after him, its massive frame somehow fitting through the narrow hallways without knocking over a single piece of furniture.
Tom, however, found the place intolerable. He stood in the sitting room, his sharp gaze trailing over the tattered curtains and the peeling paint. “This is where you live?” he asked, his tone caught somewhere between incredulous and disdainful.
Harry looked up from the cracked tea set he was inspecting. “It’s not the worst place I’ve lived.”
Tom didn’t respond, but the sour look on his face spoke volumes. He picked up a book from a crooked shelf, the leather cover cracking under his fingers. The title had long since faded, but the contents reeked of dark magic, which made it slightly more tolerable.
Harry glanced at him, noting the way Tom’s lip curled as he turned the pages. “What? Not to your taste?”
Tom shut the book with a snap. “It’s not the book. It’s this… *place*. You live like a hermit in a crypt.”
Harry smirked faintly. “Better than the cupboard under the stairs.”
Tom’s hand stilled on the book, his dark eyes narrowing. He wanted to ask, but something in Harry’s tone stopped him. Instead, he straightened and gestured vaguely around the room. “And this is an improvement?”
Harry shrugged, carrying the tea set over to a rickety table. “It’s quiet. Nobody bothers us.”
Teeth let out a low, approving rumble from where it lounged in the corner, its massive claws idly tracing patterns on the dusty floor.
Tom glanced at the creature, his expression unreadable. “I imagine not. Anyone who stumbled in here would run screaming the moment they saw *that*.”
“Teeth’s not so bad,” Harry said, setting the teapot down with care. “He’s better company than most people.”
Tom’s gaze flickered back to Harry. “That’s a low bar, Potter.”
Harry’s lips twitched, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he poured two cups of tea and carried them over to the small table by the window. “Drink?” he offered, setting one cup down in front of Tom.
Tom eyed the chipped cup with obvious suspicion. “What is it?”
“Tea,” Harry said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Tom sniffed the liquid, half-expecting it to contain some kind of potion. When it seemed safe, he took a tentative sip. It wasn’t terrible, though the flavor was as muted as the house itself.
“You know,” Tom said after a moment, “I can’t decide if you’re entirely mad or just incredibly strange.”
Harry leaned back in his chair, cradling his own cup. “Probably both.”
Teeth let out a low, rumbling laugh, the sound echoing eerily in the gloomy room.
Tom turned to glare at the creature. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
Harry chuckled, a sound so soft and rare that it caught Tom off guard. For a moment, the gloom of the house seemed to lift, the oppressive shadows retreating in the face of Harry’s quiet amusement.
“You should laugh more,” Tom said suddenly, the words slipping out before he could stop them.
Harry blinked, his expression briefly unguarded. “Why?”
Tom’s lips curled into a faint smirk. “It’s unsettling. I like unsettling things.”
Harry snorted, shaking his head. “Of course you do.”
The room fell into a comfortable silence after that, the only sounds the occasional scrape of Teeth’s claws and the faint creak of the house settling. For all its gloom, the place felt… lived in.
Tom sipped his tea, his calculating gaze lingering on Harry. He still didn’t understand the boy—probably never would—but there was something oddly compelling about him. Something that made even this miserable, decrepit house seem less unbearable.
As the light outside began to fade, casting the room into deeper shadow, Tom found himself thinking that perhaps he could tolerate this arrangement after all. For now.