#i always felt like i had to earn myself art supplies by...acquiring enough skill to ''deserve'' them

[brbarou]

god i'm so grateful that i get to do commissions. i earn just enough not to have to borrow money from my parents for everyday stuff + i get to buy myself more books than i usually would. which in turn leads to me making more art. which is the whole point of everything

[mister-tom-a-dildo-lover]

Strive Pt. 15

{PART 1} {PART 2} {PART 3} {PART 4} {PART 5} {PART 6} {PART 7} {PART 8} {PART 9} {PART 10} {PART 11} {PART 12} {PART 13} {PART 14}

Pair: Tomarry

Rating: M-E(depends)

Tags: Mild Language, Homosexuality, Sexism, Obsessed Tom, Time-Travel/Dimension-Travel, Teacher/Student, Eventual Romance, Teacher-Harry, Grey!Harry, MoD(sort of), Death!being,

Tom was very intent upon having his Patronus mastered as soon as possible. Especially since that very weekend would have the students in the first Dueling Club meeting for the seventh years, and Tom wanted so badly to be ready. He needed to prove his superiority above the other students in his year and in order to gain Professor Potter's higher regard, this was the only method he currently had.

This or becoming an Animagi. Tom had everything he needed for that particular undertaking, it was just having the time that held him up. Keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth for an entire month was difficult enough. But then getting the full moon to cooperate for the potion that the leaf would be added to, was also hell. The weather could not truly be controlled, only held at bay for a period of time.

Basically, the Patronus was easier at present, and since he had actually managed one already, it should be easy from there on out. He just needed to follow Potter's advice, which was to use thoughts instead of memories, because summoning a happy thought as opposed to a happy memory, was far simpler for those who didn't have good memories to begin with. And Tom had many thoughts that made him happy, as opposed to fabricating a happy memory.

So far, thoughts of Professor Potter managed to fuel his Patronus every time he cast it. Tom's deep appreciation for the man being decent to him out of genuine kindness and no other reason, made him feel warm inside. And he actually felt like there was someone in existence who actually liked him as a person and had no other nefarious reason to treat him well. Not like other people.

It was very Hufflepuff in nature, to be touched by someone's kindness and to hold onto that, but Tom would bring that information to his nonexistent grave. No one would ever know how oddly soft he was becoming toward one person. One wizard who managed to be different in many frustrating but amazing ways. A man worthy of respect.

Before the beginning of the term, he would have stated that such relationships would be a weakness. But Tom took mental note of everything happening recently. He managed to ingratiate himself into the Malfoy family's favour, thanks to Potter's assistance. He learned a difficult piece of magic because of Potter's instruction and advice. He now had at his fingertips, the history of Hogwarts as told by Salazar Slytheirn himself, because Potter allowed him to borrow a book. And soon Potter would be letting him look into another book so he may learn more about the Gaunts.

So when he considered everything in full, Tom had all along, been shown more lenience and attention by the Defence professor. It just hadn't been blatant like he'd grown used to over the years. Potter answered his questions instead of assuming he knew all the answers like the rest of the professors did. Potter actually treated him like a person. Potter was kind. Potter was helpful no matter what.

He didn't single Tom out because Tom was the favourite. In fact, Tom was certain that if anyone else bothered to come to the man with questions, he would gladly answer and help them out. It was simply Tom being the only one taking the initiative to better his education and his experiences as a wizard as a whole, that had him within Potter's scope of reference on a regular basis.

Tom had the man's attention because he worked for it. He found himself madly grateful that his fellow seventh years were too daft to consider approaching the professor personally for assistance. It left him to have Potter's attention and Tom preferred that immensely.

No one could ever deny that Tom was greedy. It came with being poor and an orphan. He clung to anything he perceived as his, with a viciousness. And he would work to keep himself in Professor Potter's favour. Especially since the man's attention was about to be broken up even more than it already was, and Tom would be in a race for the man's approval.

Too many students were beginning to taken an interest in the attractive, young professor who was of marrying age. It would be a very... interesting competition.

When I consider the past several years and the time it took for us to finally see this goal through, I am astonished that we even managed to get this far. 'Tis true, we four are of the most talented magicals on the isles, but vision is not the only skill when reaching for any type of accomplishment. Having a castle built for us was the most trying part of the entire process. The rest dealt mostly in mine and Helga's talent in persuasion for our would-be pupils.

Once we had a building that would serve as the primary base of our desired institution, Rowena and Godric then began the torturous and tedious process of warding the grounds. As was their contribution to the structure themselves. Helga and I handled the stones, each at a time, saturating them in our magic before they were stacked on top of one another when forming the actual building.

Creating the ward stone for the area within the mountains had been more work than any of us anticipated. The weather was never doing as it should, and needing one person to keep everything calm so the others could work, had slowed our progress drastically. I often found myself swearing and bearing Rowena's disapproval over such actions. She has never been one to support vulgarity, but rarely do I ever fall into such boorish habits. I feel that I am allowed some latitude on the random occasion I give in to my baser instincts.

After three full summers of waiting for the castle to be built, we finally had the establishment necessary to house the magical students in. Of course with this came the immediate desire to see our future pupils safe from any sort of danger. Once the wards had been set into place and we were assured of the safety measures being of good quality so nothing could pose a threat, we set our focus on the actual housing arrangements, which had each of us choosing a section of the castle to be our 'domain'.

I chose the dungeons. Many would consider my choices to be a cause for alarm, but I prefer to think of it as intelligence at it's best. Anyone with skills in brewing would understand that the temperature down in the dungeons remains steady, which is preferable for a place meant to store our potions supplies. The water is my primary element of choice, and with the lake close to me at all time, I feel tranquil. The solitude can at times by cathartic, so it was the wisest decision for my sanity.

I am also the most adept at the Dark Artes, among our motley group. Ironically, Dark Magick is best performed in darkness. Darkness lends additional strength to any sort of Dark Magick one wishes to make use of. The same is with any magic of Light origin. If performed under the sun or in bright areas, it'll add more power to the casting. So for me, choosing the dungeons benefits me in every way. The other three will probably never understand it, but they do not need to. The choice had been made.

Rowena and Godric always fancied the sky, and each took a tower for themselves. Helga had always been a devout lover of the soil however, and she was perfectly happy to be on level with the ground. It had to do with her Tasseomancy, though I could never understand it. We each personalised our respective spaces. Mine beheld a great many shades of green and silver, as they are the very colours personal to Slytherin's coat of arms.

It was after these events that we decided to add a few more (many) protections to the institution. Magical creatures would surely send an attacker off in fear before even daring to follow through with the plan of assault. My choice was a Basilisk. Being a - what we all decided to term - Parselmouth is a boon when handling any serpents. I hatched the deadly snake specifically to protect the school. Godric managed to acquire the dragon he had always longed for, while Rowena paid for a Sphinx to be brought in from her home in the Southern countries. As for Helga, she somehow earned the allegiance of a Phoenix who was kind enough to offer a tear or two for potions now an then.

In some ways, it seemed as if our goal was infallible. And that there would be nothing to stand in our way if we had such good fortune on our side.

We were wrong.

The entire chapter had been accompanied by sketches from Salazar himself. Examples of particular objects added in for the reader to better envision the story being told. And it was interesting despite not being fiction. Biographies tended to be very dreadfully mundane. Also, each word that appeared like a miniature snake upon first glance, would change until it seemed as if he was reading basic English. But common English of his day and nothing like he had assumed it would be. To be blunt, he didn't feel as if he was reading Shakespeare. He felt as if he was reading another one of Professor Slughorn's anecdotes. Though Slytheirn's writing was infinitely more interesting.

Perhaps it was a spell on the book itself, to keep up with modernisation?

Still, Tom sat back to consider the contents of the first chapter alone. There was a sketch of Hogwarts from a distance, probably across the lake. Salazar included a sketch of the Hogwarts ward stone, though he didn't mention where it resided.

He'd also just learned that performing Dark Magic at night or in darkness would empower his spells. He had never considered that to be a possibility, but it was actually very interesting once he considered it in full. And he also hoped that it was incredibly bright when he went to demonstrate his Patronus for Professor Potter.

Speaking of the young and attractive man, Tom had made note of how correct he'd been. The Founders had each placed a creature in the castle for the protection of the students. And it meant that the dramatic tales about how Slytherin placed a monster in the school in order to kill unworthy students... were false. The Basilisk wasn't mean to harm anyone but attackers and those who tried to hurt the students.

It would explain just why the creature had been so downtrodden after accidentally killing Myrtle and how she refused to leave the chamber after that.

But this put many things into perspective. One of the more well-known legends about the Chamber of Secrets was actually false. So what other information, that people he been using as fact over the years, was also incorrect? And who was the one to drastically change the truth so it was mutated into the worst possible version of the story? And finally, if that ended up being a lie, then what else was wrong?

Did Tom even know his great ancestor as well as he thought he did? If the Basilisk wasn't meant to drive the unworthy from the scho- or perhaps the 'unworthy' weren't Muggleborns as legend suggested. Perhaps the 'unworthy' in Salazar's mind were those who wished to see Hogwarts torn down. Or to see magic dead and gone?

Reading further would be his only way of finding out. And he wasn't certain if he was ready for whatever else would be tossed at him. Had he, like many other Slytherins, allowed centuries of liars to shape the way he viewed his own House Founder? Tom's ancestor? Were they really acting as Salazar would approve of, or was it all a lie?

A/N: So now Tom is faced with the reality that he might not actually know anything about Slytherin and that bias has twisted the image of his ancestor to a ridiculous level.

Next chapter is Harry’s POV.