Controlling

Chapter 23

Harry was curious about what made Tom ask him to go to the RoR after the Halloween fest.

He has time before he needs to do that and when he remembered the ansious Tom asking him to go meet him there, he couldn't say no.

So, that's how Harry ended up in the RoR waiting for Tom to show up a little after dinner was over.

He arrived a bit earlier and he was waiting while seating and working on a complex set of runes and math equations, although he disliked the latter, he couldn't escape them if wants his plan to succeed.

Harry briefly glanced up when he heard the door opening before looking back at his work.

His mind hadn't catch up to what he saw and was still focus on his work, it was only after he processed it that he looked up again to see Tom scrolling in.

He sat down in front of Harry while the latter waved his hand and cleared the table of the papers on it.

After that, he focused all of his attention on Tom who had a hand on his pocket while fidgeting with his fingers.

"What do you want to tell me of importance?" Harry asked, eyeing the nervous Tom.

"I wish to apologize" Tom confessed with a sigh as if it had taken all of his energy to just say the phrase.

"About?" Harry asked raising a brow in confusion.

"Killing your parents" Tom said looking away, not wanting to see Harry's reaction "Here" he added, passing over the pounch where he put all the things he wanted to give to redeem himself.

"What is this?" Harry asked curious as he pulled the pounch closer and took a peak inside.

"I-i just didn't think that saying sorry was enough for what i had done. So, i thought that by giving you gifts it might help" Tom said in a calm voice, trying hard to mask his nervousness as Harry took the things out one by one.

The first to come out was a book collection that consists of five books, all about runes, their uses and how to use them safely.

Harry put them aside, no visible reaction on his face.

He, then, took the second thing out, inspected the well preserved potion ingredients and put them beside the books.

Harry took out the last item in the pounch, raising a brow when he saw a piece of paper rolled up with a straw.

He pulled the straw and opened the folded paper and what greeted his eyes was an blank paper.

But after looking closer, Harry saw small runes drawn on the edge of it.

After deciphering what these runes did, Harry tapped on the papers with his finger and watched as the papers slowly filled with stars and galaxies.

Harry was sitting on the edge of a building that was in the verge of colapsing.

The war with the muggles has been going on for over a year already and the number of death has already reach millions, on both sides, but that has nothing to with Harry.

"Despist all this time, the sky always remained the same" Harry mumbled gazing the stars, who have been his friends for a centuries already.

As the sound of screams, shots and crys and as the smell of gunpounder, blood and rain filled the air, Harry remained in peace as he looked at the starry sky from the building.

"Happy Birthday, Master" a raspy and cold voice took Harry's attention for a second before he was looking back at the stars.

"How many?" he asked, knowing that Death will answer what he wants to know.

"500" was the as answer.

"I already feel dread when thinking about the amount of paperwork acumolated to deal with" Harry said with painful groan.

"Yes, not the best gift to receive" Death helpfully added.

"I had worse" Harry said before falling back to silence "How many?" he asked bearly above a whisper after a minute or so like this.

"5637" they replied, informing of how long Harry has been walking on Earth.

"Well better get going" Harry said, standing up while cleaning the dust off of his clothes "I don't want to get burned" he added when he heard a missile aproching.

"Thank you, Tom" Harry said, his eyes sparkling in delight as the softest smile Tom has seen graced his lips.

He glanced away, feeling his heart skip a beat at the smile and his ears redding a bit at the compliment.

Harry, who even when he was focused on the stars, paid close attention to Tom, saw this, he smiled even more gently as his eyes soften a bit.

"Come with me. I have something to show you" Harry said, standing up and offering his hand to Tom.

Tom took it and stood up, following Harry as he guided him through the corridors.

Harry didn't let go of Tom's hand, enjoying the little warm it offer, letting him know that he is here and real.

Tom let himself being guided to the Astronomy Tower where Harry let go of his hand.

Tom hold back the urge to grab back that hand and instead focused on Harry who walked to the other side of the room.

With a gentle wave of his hand, the things occupying the room disappeared being replaced by a strange pattern drawn on the ground in black.

It was a circle made entirely of runes with a pentagram inside with a triangle upside down, from his perspective, with a circle and a line dividing it in half inside.

"What does it do?" Tom asked after recognizing some of the runes and its purpose, but others left him puzzled about its meaing.

"As you know, during Samhain the veil between the living and the dead thins, allowing the two worlds to interact with one another" Harry explained what many didn't know "This ritual here" he gestured to the ground where the dark ink laid in patterns "thins the veil even more, allowing the dead to remain on this plane longer. The extra runes is just to call foward a specific soul" he explained.

(Revised)