Inseparable

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

True to Mrs Cole's words, the next day found Tom and Harry in the garden weeding and planting seeds.

Nagini was slithering around the edge of the gardening patch, rolling around in the freshly turned soil.

Tom hated gardening; it was slave's work, not his. He was a wizard for crying out loud! He should be the one gaining out orders, order the puny muggles to weed their puny gardens and plant their puny seeds.

Therefore Tom stood for most of the day with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Harry, however, didn't really mind gardening. It was relaxing and not that hard once you know how to do it. He was pretty sure that he could do it in his sleep: pull out the weed, make a small hole, put a seed in the hole, move over, pull out the weed, make a small hole, put a- well, you get the idea. It was repetitive and easy.

He would allow his mind to wander and think of all the things he could think of.

...

The three of them were in the garden when a horribly loud siren went off- the air raid siren.

The sudden noise startled everybody, Tom and Harry included.

Harry was so startled he almost dropped his trowel.

Mrs Cole was standing at the orphanage steps calling all the children to come in from outside.

Some of the younger children, around five or six, who were playing a game of tag started to cry. Older ones gathered them up and took them to the orphanage, where they would line up in pairs. There was a buddy system in place, which meant that every under the age of nine would be paired with an older orphan so that they wouldn't get left behind.

"Come on Harry, we should join the line," Tom said.

"What about Nagini, we can't leave her here," Harry said. Just then he had the brilliant idea to hide the snake under his jacket. 'Nagini, hide under my jacket, we'll take you with us.'

'It's okay hatchling, Nagini has a burrow she hides in every time it gets loud. Stay safe hatchling and Tommy,' Nagini hissed before slithering off into the woodlands.

Tom and Harry ran to the end of the line, which started to move towards the orphanage's kitchen. They each received a small tin box with a small sandwich, chocolate bar and their water bottle.

"Now, if there are any essentials, and I mean absolutely essential, you have forgotten you have less than thirty seconds to get them," Mrs Cole said after everyone had their tin box. Immediately and rush of children ran up the stairs to get their essential thing. Harry and Tom walked up to their room and grabbed their thin blankets, and slipped their wands in their sleeves, then they headed back downstairs. None of them really had anything of importance.

Back downstairs, children were being counted and ticked off on a register.

Once everyone was accounted for, they walked in their line of twos out the orphanage and into the street. The sky was getting dark with the setting sun. In the distance, over the roofs of houses, was the last of the orange sky.

They walked all the way to the closest station of the London underground. They walked through the entrance, where there were many other people as well trying to get in.

Mrs Cole led them down the steps until they reached the bottom. She then led them along the platform to the very end.

As they walked, they could see many people, some even in sleeping bags, sitting and lying at the side of the platform.