Chapter 11
Sirius did some magic fuckery and Tommy's eyes were no longer red and swollen, though his hands still shook a little more than usual.
"You'll have to apologize to George for nearly knocking him out."
"I know, Sirius." Tommy muttered. "I'm really sorry- you know, right? That I didn't mea-"
"Yes, Tommy, I know." Sirius interrupted gently. "You don't have to try and prove it to me."
Tommy sniffed quietly, tucking his hands into his lap. "Sorry."
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Sirius's words prodded at Tommy like a gentle reminder.
Silence coated the two like a heavy blanket, and Tommy's eyes darted everywhere except Sirius.
"I don't wanna talk about it with someone I hardly know," Tommy muttered angrily. His words didn't sting like he hoped they would. They just felt wrong and fuzzy in his mouth.
Sirius looked at him, and Tommy's heart skipped a beat. Something in his eyes was so understanding and gentle and well, fuck, it hurt.
"Why can't you just be...angry with me?" Tommy spat jerkily, voice breaking. "Why can't you be normal? It's fuckin' weird and I really hate it."
"That isn't normal, Tom-"
"But it is for me, Sirius!" Tommy cried. "It is!"
"It shouldn't be."
And there were the words and the tone, again, that made Tommy's heart ache like it never had.
"I'm just gonna say sorry to the...clones and get it over with." Tommy spat, and his voice trembled more than he wanted it to.
"Clone...the twins? Have you never seen identical twins before?"
"No." He muttered.
Techno and Wilbur were twins, weren't they?
Wilbur.
"-separate people that look the same. Their own mother can't tell them apart sometimes." Sirius chuckled lightly, shaking his head.
Tommy stood up. "I'll go apologize now." Sirius blinked a few times before nodding, dropping into step behind Tommy.
"Talk to me, Tommy. You have to," Sirius whispered.
"I can't help if you don't tell me what hurts."
Please.
"I- don't walk behind me. On the stairs." Tommy was ready for the poorly-hidden curiosity, but it never came. All that came out of Sirius's mouth was a simple, "Okay." Nothing else.
Nothing else?
Tommy was deathly silent as the two descended the stairs. Sirius in the lead. Tommy in tow. He glanced at the large, velvety curtains again and swore they rustled untouched. It nearly looked like breathing.
Though that was a bit much, even for this world.
..
No, it wasn't. What was he saying?
He smiled despite himself. Paintings talked, and a couple words could make most things float. Breathing curtains wasn't anything special. Tommy could hear shouting in the room below and glanced down at Sirius. Sirius turned his head to meet Tommy's eyes, offering a small shrug. Tommy could just make out the words.
"-for one, and what kind of person just goes and decks someone across the face because they got a little scared?!"
"You have to understand, Ron, he..." Lupin trailed off, eyes moving to the stairs where Sirius now stood, Tommy hovering close behind.
"He what?" Ron demanded, unaware of the two new additions to the room. Lupin nodded towards the stairs and Ron turned just enough to catch a glimpse of Tommy's blonde hair, grunting quietly and crossing his arms as he turned back around.
Tommy could hardly see the clones sitting next to each other on the couch. It looked unnatural, really, seeing two people that looked so similar. His face tried its very hardest to burn red, and Tommy fought back with equal passion.
"Which- uh..."
Shit, he really should have planned this out.
"Who you of George sorry?"
Tommy's face burned brighter than the flames he now wanted to throw himself into.
"Sirius, I hope you know a go-back-in-time spell because if not I'm going to take a hop into your fireplace."
Tommy looked back when Sirius made no effort to respond, only to see the man doubled over with silent laughter, clinging to the bannister and shaking.
"Sirius," Tommy choked. "You're a horrible man."
Sirius crumpled on the stairs and, if Tommy hadn't known better, he'd have thought Sirius was having a panic attack. He decided it was best to distance himself from the mentally unwell.
"You're George," Tommy accused, pointing at the clone with the slightly swollen eye. "I'm really, really sorry about...um. Punching you- really hard."
George's lips turned upwards and he opened his mouth, but Ron butted in before he could so much as breathe out. "Sorry doesn't fix the issue of you having no reason other than a little scare to give him a black eye."
Sirius had warned him of this, but Tommy still felt caught off guard. He blinked a few times, stumbling over his words. "I- th- well- I have a thing. With explosions or- or things that sound like bombs. I really don't...like the sound. It's, um-"
Tommy crouched down, hiking up his pant leg and pulling one sock away from his heel. The scar disfigured further as he looked at it and he allowed the room's inhabitants only a few seconds to gawk before he hastily buried his leg under fabric again. "I got hurt a while ago and my-" he laughed nervously, "-I still feel bad thinking about it."
He stood back up, glad Ron had retreated, and nearly dipped his head on instinct. "I know it's not really the greatest excuse, and- I mean, I dunno, I don't really have an excuse for it, it's not something excusable, necessarily, but I...am really sorry, I promise."
The two clone-twins had stood up by now, and George had something of a reassuring smile on his face. "I wasn't really mad about it, it was kinda funny. Especially how Ron freaked out." He looked mischievously at his twin. "Now mum'll finally tell us apart. Good thing we can't do anything to make us both look the same." He winked at Tommy, patting the blonde's shoulder.
The two sauntered off, cackling madly, and Tommy didn't know what to say. He wanted to count that as a successful apology, but it shouldn't have been that easy. A hand tapped his shoulder and Tommy flinched. It was Sirius.
"Good job," he murmured, following the twins into the dining room. Tommy stared at his back as he disappeared around the doorway. It didn't even bother him as Ron brushed by with a little more force than necessary, arms folded tightly across his chest.
Good job..?
"I expect Sirius talked to you already, Tommy?"
Lupin was sprawled across the couch, looking up at Tommy expectantly. The blonde tensed, hands curling into fists.
"Yeah, he did."
"Good. Then I won't have to say much."
Tommy felt his chest tighten.
"Is your shoulder okay? You hit it pretty hard on that bedframe."
Lupin was staring into Tommy's soul. Something curled deep within his eyes and Tommy almost saw himself in the man, blinking out of his daze. "It's George who got hurt."
"We resolved that already. I'm asking if you're hurt," Lupin repeated.
Tommy huffed. "My shoulder's fine."
"And you?"
A beat.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Tommy spat. "Stop bein' cryptic."
Lupin tilted his head. "Your shoulder is fine, but are you?"
Oh.
"No." Tommy blurted. "I mean- well- I, uh...not at the moment, but I will be. I mean. Yeah, I'm okay."
Lupin sighed quietly, smiling as he stood up. "Sirius is a good man. You can trust him." He dug around in his pockets, pulling out a small shiny rectangle. "Do you like chocolate?"
"Cho...colate?" Tommy murmured. He'd heard the word before, but it wasn't something he was necessarily familiar with. "I haven't had it before."
"First time for everything. It'll make you feel better." Lupin outstretched his palm and Tommy warily took the shiny rectangle, raising it to his face to inspect it. He brought the rectangle to his nose and caught a whiff of...something that reminded him an awful lot of a jungle biome.
He decided it wasn't poisoned and promptly took a large bite of the rectangle. Lupin made a strained noise and Tommy made a face.
"Tommy, you're- supposed to peel back the wrapper first." Lupin croaked. Tommy's eyebrows raised and he slowly removed the rectangle from his mouth. Something brown peeked through the wrapper and Tommy assumed that's what he was after.
It took him almost a minute to tear apart the wrapper, fingers moving faster as he grew ever more frustrated. The shiny stuff had been tucked into one of his pockets, and a deep brown rectangle sat in his palm. He looked up at Lupin as he raised the chocolate to his face and received a reassuring nod in return, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth.
If it was poisoned, he might as well enjoy the whole thing before he died, anyway.
It tasted good. Very good. It reminded him of dirt, but sweeter and with a little bitter undertone. Dirt. It really reminded him of dirt. He shot Lupin a thumbs up, swallowing heavily and sucking the rest of the chocolate from his teeth. The taste had spread across his whole mouth, settling in every crevice it could find.
"It's good," he said quietly, pulling the wrapper out of his pocket. Sirius had said no one here would demand things in return, so Tommy decided he was safe with just an expression of gratitude. "Thanks."
"Of course." Lupin replied. He sunk back onto the couch and folded his arms, doing that strange head tilt he seemed to have a habit of doing. "Unless you want me to bore you with basilisk facts. Sirius did tell me you're trying to catch up on your studies."
Tommy hesitated, hands poised near his chest. It felt like his legs had moved on their own as he sat down, albeit on the opposite end of the couch as the man, facing Lupin.
"Right, so, basilisks. Essentially, they are just giant snakes, until you get to their eyes. That's the largest difference, they can kill or paralyze people completely just through eye contact. The strange thing is it doesn't have to be direct, it can also be through reflections. Are you following me so far?" Lupin asked, almost eagerly.
"I- I dunno what a snake is," Tommy admitted.
"Oh. That's an issue. Well, okay. Have you ever seen a worm? Or a...noodle?"