A/N. New chapter :). I hope you enjoy this one. Please leave me a review to let me know.

In Darker Times – chapter 13

Harry felt exhaustion starting to take over the moment he let his body fall down on the sofa. He let his eyes fall shut and let out a relieved sigh. His friends where all staring quietly at him, all but one; Harry noticed Tom was missing.

"Where's Tom?"

Humphrey was the first to respond. "Detention, I reckon he will be back soon though."

"Detention for what?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know either. Now, tell us what happened, why did Professor Slughorn drop you off?"

"Did you get caught?" Vincent leaned forward, not looking worried at all. The other boys looked suspicious.

"Caught doing what, Harry?" Harry glared at Vincent, contemplating if he should tell his roommates. He decided he had to tell them something, thanks to Vincent.

"I went to the Restricted Section tonight." Seeing the eager faces of his friends he quickly added, "I didn't get caught though."

"Then why did Professor Slughorn bring you back to the Common Room?" Of course Humphrey wouldn't forget.

"He caught me when I was walking back, but he doesn't know where I went. He thinks I was out after curfew because I lost track of time."

Luckily for Harry, his roommates all believed him.

"Look, guys, I'm really tired. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed." He stood up and started to head upstairs when the portrait opened again. Turning around, Harry saw a sour looking Tom enter trough it. Instead of greeting them, Tom walked passed them and pushed Harry out of the way, before climbing the stairs. Harry quickly followed him to the Dormitory.

"What did they make you do for detention, Tom?" Tom glared at him, and Harry didn't expect to get an answer from him. Instead, Harry started to grab some clean clothing from his trunk.

"I had to stay in Dumbledore's office all night; he questioned me about something I had asked Professor Slughorn about." It was a quiet answer, but Harry picked up on it nonetheless.

"What did you ask Slughorn that was so important to Dumbledore?"

"That is none of your business!" Harry almost jumped at the anger coming from Tom; he glanced behind him to see Tom pacing in front of his bed.

"I went to the Restricted Section tonight, Dumbledore almost caught me. But you returned here after me, where did you go after you're… talk, with Dumbledore?"

Tom's interest was perked after that, he stopped pacing to stare intently at Harry.

"Clever, Harry, but it doesn't really matter where I went, does it? What book where you searching for?"

"It doesn't really matter what book I searched for, does it, Tom?" Harry smirked when he saw Tom becoming angrier.

"Don't turn the question around, Harry, tell me what book you where searching for!" Tom almost held a desperate tone in his voice.

"More then one actually, but I was only able to take one, Secrets of the Darkest Art. I wanted to practice some darker spells after our last lesson." Tom's face changed from angry to euphoric in seconds, making Harry wonder if there truly wasn't anything wrong with him.

"Give it to me! Dumbledore went to the Restricted Section to remove most of the dark art books, including this one, because he knew I was going to take it!" Harry frowned, he had never seen such display of emotions from Tom before, aside from anger, and it didn't sit well with him.

"No."

"What? I said… give me the book!"

"No."

Tom's face turned into a sneer, and Harry was almost afraid the boy would attack him at that point. But Tom took a few breaths and calmed himself down. His face turned back to the perfectly sculptured façade again, but Harry still saw the anger in his eyes. And he could clearly see the similarity between these ice blue eyes and the crimson ones from Voldemort; it was the same anger residing inside them, the same bitterness. It made Harry wonder what Dumbledore could have said to change him so much in one night, or maybe something else had happened.

"Harry, that book is very important to me; give it to me… please." Harry would have laughed at Tom saying please to anyone, if it wasn't for the anger surging trough the room.

"Tom, I want to know why you want it, and I want to read it first. I didn't go through all this trouble just to give it to you."

Tom advanced toward him, a predatory smile on his face, making Harry take a few steps backwards only to walk in the wall. He tried his best not to show Tom his discomfort, but he knew he failed horribly. Tom was only inches away from his body at the moment; he could feel the warmth radiating from his body.

"O, but I thought you where so generous, always willing to help another. Why not do this just for me?" Tom's voice was quiet, almost husky. Harry could feel the warm breath tickling the skin on his neck, making his eyes fall closed and goosebumps to rise on his skin. He couldn't think straight, but he kept tying to focus.

"I am willing to help; I told you that you could have it after I read it." His voice sounded weak in his own ears, and judging by the soft chuckle, Tom had noticed as well.

"But I want it, right now."

And that was when Harry felt his bag move, and he quickly snapped his eyes open to see Tom holding the book, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"You bastard! Give it back to me!"

"Stop pouting, Harry, I told you before, it doesn't suit you." Winking, Tom made his way back over to his bed. Sitting down with the book on his lap, he closed the curtains around his bed.

"I'll get it back from you, Tom!"

"Sure you will good luck with that, Harry."

Harry hated himself at that moment, and swore to himself he would find out what was so important about that book.

IDT

Paschal didn't know what had happened between Harry and Tom last night, but he felt very unnerved about them not talking to each other. Harry kept shooting hateful looks at Tom, and Tom kept pretending he didn't notice, but Paschal knew Tom had noticed.

He didn't like this at all; he had felt almost comfortable after Harry's arrival at the school. He hadn't trusted Harry at first, just as his friends hadn't trusted him. Humphrey had told them to give the boy a chance, he obviously had a rough life before coming here, and Humphrey was focused on his new project, he wanted to find out about Harry's life.

But Harry had been persistent, and Humphrey quickly gave up after starting liking Harry. Edmond had told them it where minor secrets, only a rough childhood and they should let it go. But Paschal didn't trust him, the boy hung around Tom to much. He knew things, and Paschal had wanted to find out what it was.

Of course Tom had wanted the same thing; Paschal quickly saw Tom's interest. And he knew that if Tom wanted something, or someone, he would stop at nothing. Paschal had almost immediately admitted his jealousy, not that he had feelings for Tom, he wasn't gay. But anyone always wanted Tom's attention, every one of his friends had tried to become close to Tom. The boy held an aura that drew people to him. Even Dumbledore had noticed that, because had had watched the boy like a hawk since first year. But maybe Dumbledore hadn't watched close enough, for he missed everything that had happened last year with Myrthle. Everyone believed Hagrid and his beast had killed the girl, but Paschal knew Tom had done something. He never figured out what he had done, and he probably never would figure it out, but he knew Hagrid was innocent.

And now Tom was interested in Harry, and Harry didn't even realize how special he was, how privileged he was for having that attention. At times, especially when Tom was angry, Paschal would almost drown in that aura, and Harry could be around him all day. He wished he could be that close to Tom. He would appreciate it more than Harry did, even after he had found out first hand what Tom was capable of…

He had confronted Tom a few weeks ago, a few days before their first Hogsmeade weekend. He had told him about what he thought about Harry. About how he didn't trust the boy so close to Tom. He told him that he was making a mistake for being interested in Harry, and he obviously made a mistake himself by saying that.

Tom had told him he never made mistakes, and that he should never question him again. Tom had gone on and on about how useless he was, that he was nothing to him, less than scum, and that he should just die.

And Tom had taken him to a room, a hidden room he had said, and he had practiced an unforgivable curse on him. The Cruciates curse. Paschal had heard about the unforgivables, but he had never used or witnessed one before then, and he never wanted to feel it again.

He had felt like thousands of knives where pierced trough his skin, like boiling water was poured over his body. And afterwards, Tom had just left him there, but not before telling him that he never wanted him anywhere near him again and that he should talk to no one about this.

And Paschal hadn't talked about it, not to anyone. He felt ashamed, dirty, and he couldn't help but to blame Harry for it. But he knew he could never say anything bad about Harry, or Tom wouldn't hesitate to cast that curse on him again. And he never wanted to feel that again, ever.

And now that Tom and Harry weren't speaking, his fear of Tom only intensified. Harry had kept him busy, he had kept Tom's thoughts away from other things, mainly himself, and Paschal feared what would happen if that attention came back to one of them. Paschal knew from the nervous faces of his roommates that they felt the same, but they could never talk about it of course.

Paschal looked up at the head table, and saw Professor Dumbledore talk to Headmaster Dippet. He had thought about telling one of them, and he still wanted to tell someone what had happened. Surely they wouldn't stand for torture in the school? But he knew Tom would torture him again if he found out that he told someone, he would find a way, and maybe he would do worse.

IDT

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air the next day at breakfast. Harry refused to talk to Tom and vice versa. Tom still sat down across from him, making it harder for Harry to ignore him. Tom had a smug look on his face, and it annoyed Harry greatly. He had been thinking about how to get the book back from Tom, but he knew Tom would keep it from him. He noticed Tom carried the book with him in his bag, so sneaking back to the dungeons was of no use. And he knew Tom guarded his bag so he had no change of stealing it.

The other boys where also on edge. They had tried to talk to him, asked him what had happened. But they had all stopped asking once Tom had walked in the great hall. No one spoke, and he noticed Vincent and Edmond shooting each other a look, after which they stood and walked over to sit with a group of fifth year boys.

Humphrey tried to talk to Paschal a few times, but the boy seemed awfully distracted. Thinking on it now, Harry noticed Paschal had been anxious and distracted for a few weeks now. He had wondered on it before, and asked him about it a few times, but the boy had always avoided the question or had even avoided Harry most of the time. Harry couldn't get himself to care very much; he had enough to worry about on his own.

Looking up, he saw Tom still smirking his way, taking a bite out of his toast. Harry didn't know what to think, he felt so angry and still, he had started to trust Tom somewhat. Tom had betrayed that trust, and he didn't care anything about it.

"You like this don't you?" Humphrey and Paschal fell silent, obviously listening in on them.

"Of course I do, Harry." Of course he did, what did he think Tom would answer?

Harry kept silent, not knowing what to say. Tom leaned back in his seat, sighing.

"Harry, I needed that book." Like that explained everything.

"What for?"

"I would have told you yesterday if I planned on telling you." Obviously.

"I went trough a lot of trouble getting that book, if not for me, Dumbledore would have it now and you would have nothing."

"I know, and I am eternally grateful." Tom held his hand to his heart, mocking Harry.

"Why didn't you just go to the Restricted Section yourself if you wanted it so badly?"

"Do you think Dumbledore would let me in there?"

"Dumbledore let me, didn't he?"

"Not if he knew you would go."

"So he knew you would be going?" Tom raised an eyebrow at his question, not bothering to answer. The answer was obvious, of course Dumbledore knew Tom would go, that was the whole reason he took all those books out of the library.

"Look, Harry, I'm not going to apologise to you, because I didn't do anything wrong," Harry rolled his eyes at that, "I didn't. But if you tell me why you wanted that book, maybe I can give you something to help."

Harry contemplated the offer; he still wanted to have that book. Now more then ever since he wanted to find out what Tom was so focused on. But he had wanted it for the Dark spells in the first place, and Tom most likely knew a lot of those.

"I still want that book back. But I wanted it mostly because of some Dark spells. I wanted to practice what you thought me with stronger magic."

"Why didn't you ask me right away?"

"I knew you would want something in return. And it was something I wanted to do on my own."

"Are you ashamed of yourself, Harry?" Harry took a few seconds to think it over. Yes, maybe he was ashamed. He had always considered himself a light wizard, and he knew Dumbledore would be disappointed in him if he found out that his Golden Boy was practicing the Dark Arts. But should he really be ashamed?

"I don't know, I never really thought about it." Tom only smirked knowingly.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of doing what you are destined for, Harry. Dark spells are only dark if the caster is dark."

"Who said I am destined for the Dark Arts?"

"I am." Of course he was. Harry only rolled his eyes in response.

"Well, since you are such a know-it-all, Tom, why do you need the book?"

"Nice try, Harry." Tom winked at him and stood from the table. "I'm going to class." And he left the great hall.

"Insane lunatic, that is what he is."

"Make sure he doesn't hear you say that, Harry." Harry had totally forgotten about Humphrey and Paschal. "He takes more from you than from us, but don't get to close to him. He will only break you if you get to close."

"Like I will get close to him." Like he would get close to the freaking Dark Lord.

A/N. I hope you liked this chapter. Please let me know what you think about Paschal's POV. I don't know if I will be using someone else's POV again, but if you like it, I might do it again.

That was all; please leave me a review ;)

M