Two for One

Chapter 8: Green Eyes

The man promises him something interesting.

He weaves tales of fantastic adventures and breathes to life infinite roads to walk just for the scenery, for the thousands upon millions of impossibilities that someone could encounter before even the first fork. Creatures larger than the Earth itself, powers that can influence destiny, secrets that can make a man a God.

Gellert looks back over his shoulder. Looks at his normal house, holding a normal family, with normal lifestyles and painfully normal expectations.

Even as young as he is, Gellert knows he's better than this.

Gellert peers up at green, green eyes and smiles.

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The man doesn't say much.

He kneels down in the mud without a care and strokes his fingers along the cold scales of an unmoving body. He pulls, and the snake moves, like there are puppet strings attached.

Tom follows, because he's so intimate with the idea of death, but has yet to encounter anyone who can overcome it like this man can.

Tom follows because he'll take the strange man with the green, green eyes over this God forsaken orphanage any day.

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Harry hesitantly creeps down the stairs a second time, not sure of what he's expecting but hoping for the best.

An adorably round face peers up at Harry, coming from a black haired boy with dark brown eyes that sparkle innocently in the morning light.

"You're like three years old!" Harry blurts out in shock, just registering the appearance of the small child.

"Excuse me," little Tom begins in the sassiest voice Harry has ever heard. "I am seven years old."

"What's the difference?" Harry retorts even though he knows he shouldn't start an argument with a little kid.

The bathroom door opens and another boy steps out, with sunshine blond hair and bright blue eyes. Gellert moves his left arm behind his back but that just calls Harry's attention to the suspiciously wand-shaped lump up the kid's sleeve.

Harry is a little bit impressed despite himself because that kid just went straight for the Elder wand Harry hid under the bathroom sink, didn't he?

Tom still has that offended look on his face and only now does Harry realise the child is clutching something in his left hand. How the hell did Tom get a wand?

Harry presses his arm against his side to check, but no, he still has the holly wand. The child hasn't managed to pickpocket him from all away across the room, thank Merlin.

Now that Harry is looking, Tom clearly has the too-big handle in a reverse grip and is hiding the rest of the implement behind his forearm. A little bit of silver peeks out though.

Death, now looking like a third child with light brown hair and hazel eyes, tugs on Harry's pants to grab his attention. "It's a knife," Death whispers.

Of course Tom has a knife. Harry should have expected that. He's actually not even surprised; if Gellert has a wand then why wouldn't Tom have a knife?

A small part of Harry curls up and tries to block out what's happening.

"Awesome," Harry says with forced cheer. He clasps his hands together, mostly so he can better block any spontaneous stabbings or reducto curses. "So who wants breakfast?" He pauses to recheck the brightness outside the windows. "I mean lunch."

Tom gives him a suspicious glare and Gellert stays quiet, sharp eyes watching everything.

No one is dead yet, so Harry is feeling pretty good about this.

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Despite his previous acknowledgement that he can't do any worse, Harry breaks after watching Tom use the knife to cut up his pancakes. Harry stays long enough to wipe the maple syrup smears from Gellert's face and then escapes upstairs.

Death pours from the wall and forms into that terrifying vulture again, perched on the headboard. "I still haven't heard a thank you."

Harry takes a large breath and lets it out slowly. It doesn't help with calming him at all.

"Okay," Harry begins. "We are going to put them on Dumbledore's front step and then knock and run."

Death cocks his head, beak opening. "Did you not hear me say Dumbledore is a Dark Lord? I mean I don't mind, but I figured you would."

"I heard you," Harry says with an eye roll. "What, did he take over the Ministry and make a national holiday for Lemon Drops?" Harry laughs. "Please, I bet the Minister is just scared of him like Fudge was and took it to the extreme. What evil could Dumbledore possibly do? Oh, I know, he-"

"Sent a teenager to walk straight to me," Death says.

Harry's smile falls away. There's a long pause. "Touché."

Death's beak snaps shut.

Harry looks away. "I... I'll deal with that later. New plan; put them back where you found them."

There's a movement in the corner of Harry's eye and he whips around to find both of the kids are staring up at him, hovering in the doorway. Harry tenses. Did they hear-

"I can take this one back," Death says casually with a nod at Tom. "It'll take a while with the blond, though. Travel that far is annoying unless someone dies on the other end, so you'll have to wait."

Harry slowly turns back to Death with wide eyes, trying to tell the deity to shut up before the kids catch on.

"I'm not going back to that hell hole!" Tom cries in anger, panic in his eyes as he runs out of the room.

A door slamming is soon heard and then there's scraping of something heavy against the floor. What was Tom's childhood like, that as a seven year old, he understands the concept of barricading the door? Never mind the fact that he grabbed a knife as his first action.

Gellert says something, but it's German so it goes right over Harry's head. Then the kid toddles forward, clambers onto Harry's bed and then goes to sleep because jet lag can be a bitch sometimes.

Death gestures at the doorway with one wing. "Off you go, call out your Dark Lord."

Harry hesitates. "He has a knife."

"He's seven."

"I don't see how that detracts from him having a knife and being able to stab me in the face with it."

"He can't reach your face, he's too short."

"Yeah, well, he can stab something even worse from down there," Harry argues. "I'll... get him when he's sleeping."

And so the first day passes with Gellert having claimed Harry's bed as his territory while Tom curiously digs through the things inside his barricaded room. Harry remains curled up on the couch downstairs, nodding off before he can successfully implement his plan of attack, a large vulture watching over him from the armrest at Harry's feet.