Knowledge Is Power

"Laura – I don't know her last name. She's the one in the pink dress; she keeps tugging on it...I imagine it's difficult to play tag with the boys in such an inconveniently fluffy dress...it's really a wonder no one's bragged about seeing her knickers yet. Her hair was braided when she got to school this morning, but now it's a mess – it's everywhere and covered with dirt, just like her dress.

She's awfully loud...unfortunately her voice is squeakier than the boys', and way more annoying. The week she was recovering from tonsillitis was definitely a treat...she's not too bad when she loses her voice. I think she'd rather be wearing trousers and a jumper than that garishly pink dress...I think she wishes she weren't a girl, and I imagine her mother's not too happy about that.

"Tyson Green, the one in the soiled hoodie and ripped jeans. He's crass and makes a point of swearing whenever the teachers aren't around...I used to think he was retarded, because I only ever heard him say 'bloody hell' and 'shit' and 'fuck off'.

I also used to think he was from one of the poorer neighbourhoods, but then I noticed his shoes. They change every few weeks, and they're always cleaner than his clothing. They're nice shoes, too. I think the only reasonable conclusion is that his parents are pretty well off, but he doesn't want people to know. Nobody ever notices the shoes.

"Anna Selvig. She's wearing that nice peacoat with the Sunday shoes. She wears the same thing every day, and makes it her primary mission in life not to soil it. You'd think her parents didn't own a washer...well, maybe they don't.

I saw her coat up close the other day...it has a fancy-looking brand name on it, but the seams are crooked on the sides and the bottom's a bit frayed. I think it's a nice coat she bought second-hand. Her lunches tend to be comparable to mine, so I'm thinking either her parents don't like her much or her family's pretty poor.

"Tim Wellington – in the shorts and t-shirt. It's still March, what an idiot. I mean, honestly, I'm wearing two t-shirts under my coat and I'm still cold. Maybe he thinks he has something to prove, but I think his strange behaviour can probably be chalked up to he fact that he has a brain the size of his little finger...and he has small hands."

Harry paused, and that was when the bell rang, alerting all the children in the school yard that their hour of freedom was over. Invigorated by the crisp spring air and the over-abundance of calories they'd consumed, they were rather quick to sprint back into their respective classrooms, with Harry trailing slowly behind.

It had become an almost daily task, to narrate the events of the playground in a voice that only Tom could hear. At first, Tom had tasked him with learning all his classmates' names, and after finally managing that he'd been ordered to "search their faces, their steps, and their words for any sign of weakness."

"Remember, knowledge is power."

Thus had Harry become what Tom called 'observant'. Harry just thought he was being a creep. However, as far as Tom's requests went, Harry's daily creeping was a relatively minor inconvenience. And there were a lot of such requests, because Tom had expectations of him. No one had ever expected anything from Harry before.

Sure, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia expected him to do his chores; that was actually the one thing Tom agreed with them on. To be clear, Tom didn't think Harry should have to do any manual labour, but Harry refused to actually do anything to follow through with the threats he made and was unwilling to physically hurt his Aunt and Uncle, so Tom said he'd have to live with the consequences.

"You can only use a threat so many times before it becomes idle."

So, since Harry refused to step up his game, so to speak, he had to leave his idle threats for when he really needed them.

Thankfully, after the bedroom incident, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had, on their own, become a little more lax in their demands concerning Harry's chore schedule. He didn't even have to make meals anymore. And this left Harry more time to deal with Tom's expectations.

Some of Tom's expectations were rather tedious, like the creeping. Harry understood, of course, that this was just one of Tom's many ways of looking out for him; Tom wanted to make sure that Harry took advantage of every skill at his disposal, and in order to do that, Harry had to actually know how to use these skills. Tom said he had a lot to learn, and Harry agreed. Tom had a lot to teach him, and Harry wanted to learn it all.

One of the first things Tom had requested of Harry was that he learned something called Occlumency. According to Tom, some witches and wizards had the uncanny ability to read minds (apparently this was a gross oversimplification, but Harry allowed himself the luxury of referring to it as such), which he would apparently be able to do as well. Harry was rather troubled by this fact - he definitely didn't want anyone looking around inside his head - even Tom couldn't tell what he was thinking, and Harry trusted Tom more than anyone.

....

Read ahead by joining my Pa#treon for more thrilling chapters!

Link : pa*treon.com/GalaxyWonder (Remove the *)

Unlock a weekend bonus chapter by reaching 100 power stones.