The time quest

Wisked away

Holly woke up with a mission.
She was going to get Tom today

But first, she had to talk to the elves to avoid any nightmarish scenarios. She got to the kitchen and called them all together.

"Everyone, I'm telling you in advance so that nobody freaks out. I will be bringing a little boy back home with me today."

The elves looked scandalized

"Does mistress have anything she forgot to say to Kippy?" The elf said with a slightly menacing tone.

"No no, I mean he is blood-related to the family"
Kippy looked about ready to faint and the other elves' expressions were growing deeply alarmed she explained more.

"He lives in an orphanage-

"MISTRESS ABANDONED HER OWN CHILD?" Kippy screeched in horror cutting off the rest of her explanation.

" No! don't worry Kippy he is only very distantly related to me, he's not actually my son"

She muttered something that Holly couldn't hear

"What was that Kippy?"

"Oh nothing mistress" She said with a shit-eating grin

"Well I'll be off then, please be nice to him when we come back"

*******************

Tom sat under the biggest tree in the yard talking to the snake who visited him from time to time, it had been a while since the snake had come to visit him. In fact, the last time it was here was when Holly came to visit.

Holly.

Tom would love to be able to say that he didn't miss her and desperately want her to come back, but he would only be lying to himself.

He would love to think that she hadn't affected him that much

And if he was only able to go to sleep every night if he was thinking about that day or the promise that she had made to him, that she would be back, then he didn't give it a second thought.

Tom had always been good at lying to himself.

He was scared, so scared that it wasn't real and that it didn't happen. He'd never been so scared in his life, not when the matron beat him, not when he was locked in the basement as a punishment this was much worse to him. So when he saw her enter his field of view looking as beautiful and magical as ever, he thought he was hallucinating.

He basked in the view for a while until he realized that she was walking straight towards him and the closer she got to him the more real she got. It wasn't until she was stopped a meter away and started talking that it finally registered.

"Hello Tom, would you want to come home with me today?" She asked with a breathtaking smile, and he was stunned, he started shaking and a look of panic quickly replaced the smile that was on her face. He launched himself in her arms and before she could ask what was wrong he did something he had never done before, he cried, not just a couple of tears, no, he was bawling his eyes out, he couldn't believe it! He felt so light and so ...happy?  He had never felt like this before and was surprised at the sudden explosion of emotions that came over him. He kept mumbling series of yes' through his tears. Holly's hand came to play with his hair and only then could he calm down trying desperately to focus on that rather than his newfound feelings.

Once he had regained a bit of dignity he looked up at her and smiled so wide it was hurting his face.

"Can we go home now?

"Of course Tom, but don't you want to pay a little visit to Mrs. Cole before we leave?"

Tom thought that that was the worst idea anyone has ever had but when he detected the look of sarcasm plastered on her face he knew that what would follow would prove to be interesting. So, still in her arms, he let her lead them to Mrs. Cole's office, she didn't bother knocking and just walked straight through the doorway. They found her scrambling to hide the stash of Brandy that she was drinking, no doubt paid for by the donations made to the orphanage.

Holly motioned for Tom to get off of her,  and he wouldn't have let go if she hadn't promised that he could latch on right back after she was done.

He watched as Holly walked over to the woman and slapped her hard across the face.

"You are the worst kind of woman I have ever met, I have half a mind to kill you right now, nice and slowly, but I wouldn't do that in front of Tom. I am taking him, by the way. Seeing the relieved look on her face creep up behind the fear made Holly want to retch. You are a horrible excuse for a person and I hope you never find peace.

Little did Tom know she had actually cursed the woman, she was never to find respite in her life, never to find happiness ever.  He was still stuck on the fact that Holly had slapped the insufferable woman on his behalf, the thought made him all warm and fuzzy inside, he had never felt so vindicated.

Holly had the passing thought that maybe preaching violence in front of an impressionnable Tom was probably a terrible idea but that wench deserved it. And when she looked at Tom again she found that she honestly couldn't care less.

Holly held out her hand out for him to hold and he clutched if so tightly she was honestly scared he might break something in her hand.

"We will be leaving now. Tom close your eyes and hold on tight" That last comment which was very much not needed as he only gripped himself even harder with the addition of wrapping his arms around her waist equally as tight to the point she was scared for her breathing.

The last thing she saw was the horrified eyes of Mrs. Cole as she apparated away.

AN: Hey everyone I hope you like the new chapter there is a lot of wholesome stuff to come, and less wholesome things aswell. I'd like you all to keep in mind that Tom is 6 years old, he's not evil or sadistic yet and I know it feels like he's a bit out of character but at this point he's just a very lonely kid who needs people like him to value him. This isn't to say that he will be a goody two shoes or anything, but I still don't think that anyone is genuinely evil at that age he's just a scared kid.

Once again thank you for reading
Lots of love
Willow<3