Chapter Text
On one random day, early in the school year, Tom and Matt sat together in Divination, reading each other’s tea leaves. Their instructor stood at their table to examine and walk them through the process if they needed help. So far, it was pretty easy in Tom’s opinion. He could also see why Tord wouldn’t be fond of this class. It’s more about guessing and speculation. Tord preferred problems with a solid conclusion at the end of it. Logical, straight and to the point kind of answers. Math and shit, you know.
“Go on Mr. Reginald. Read Mr. Harvest’s tea leaves and tell us what you see.” Their instructor encouraged.
“Uh Well,” Tom started. He took a second to look at the leaves and find the shapes in the textbook. “this shape looks more like this in the book, which indicates some kind of mishap or poor judgment on your end. And the leaves congregating near the rim of the cup tells me… uh, that it will happen… soonish?”
“Will my face be alright?” Matt asked nervously.
“No, your face will definitely suffer.” Tom said sarcastically.
Matt clutched his face with both hands. “Oh no! Not my pretty, pretty face!” He cried. Tom snickered at his friend’s reaction before he was stopped by the look his teacher was giving him.
“I’m sorry, Matt. It was only a joke. I’m sure your face will be fine. Look on the bright side, we get to go to Hogsmeade for the first time tomorrow.” It was usually easy to cheer Matt up. His ginger friend gave him a discouraged look.
“Tom, you know stress isn’t good for the skin.” He chastised, which made Tom apologize one more time before moving on to Matt’s turn in reading Tom’s tea leaves.
“Hm. Well, I see two shapes. Scissors and…” Matt paused to check the book. “a bouquet? The book says scissors indicate a separation of some sort. Like a breakup? But the bouquet means good luck in relationships and stuff.”
“Look at the placement. Where are the two symbols located within the cup, Mr. Harvest?” The instructor asked calmly.
“They are placed opposite of each other. Oh, and they’re in the middle of the sides of the cup, indicating something could happen in the future.” Matt exclaimed proudly.
“Exactly. Very good observation, Mr. Harvest.” The ginger shook a little in excitement from the teachers’ praise. It went unnoticed to everyone but Tom. Typical Matt. “The two opposing symbols on opposite sides is a very important detail. Most clairvoyants might interpret this as a divided future. A fork in the road. The future is not determined yet. This could mean many things. Somewhere in Mr. Reginald’s future, he could lose a friend/lover and maybe make a new friend or find a new lover after. Or maybe this is about the same person and whether you lose this friendship with them or it progresses into something more, is not yet determined.” Tom’s eyes were like two dark saucers. He needed time to process that whole mess. ‘This guy’s a bit of a rambler.’
“Or it could be something completely different, who knows. Very well done, boys. Talk amongst yourselves, I’m going to help the others.” And with that, the instructor was on to the next pair.
‘I am either losing someone as a friend or partner and gaining a new one after them. Or I could be losing one person as a friend or partner in the future.’ Tom thought to himself. ‘Holy pineapples in a blender.’
For some reason, he thought of Tord. His friend, out of nowhere, started becoming distant with Tom. Just Tom. He hasn’t brought it up to Edd or Matt yet since it’s not the first time Tord was in one of his moods. It’s normal for his Norwegian friend to become distant when he’s focused on a project or a competition. But this distance between them felt off and the tea reading was making him feel a little insecure now. If Tord was focused on a project, then he would be distant with both him and their two other friends.
But his distance was only directed at Tom.
The Joke shop the next day…
Tom lightly tapped on Tord’s arm as soon as they had some space from their two other friends.
“Hey. Is everything… ok with you?” He asked the Norwegian awkwardly. Startled by the touch and Tom’s sudden appearance by his side, Tord looked at his shorter friend in surprise with eyes wide open and his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. He just stood there staring at his friend, just trying to get his brain to work when he saw the way Tom’s head shifted. Indicating to Tord that the Brit’s attention was elsewhere and was now looking past him. Tord followed the direction he guessed Tom was looking, only to spot Kevin and his friend smirking at them. Their smirks disappeared at the sight of Tord’s signature glare. The glare that told anyone that if they didn’t back off, he’d find a way to make them miserable later. If there was one thing enemies of Tord understood, it was that the Norwegian followed through on his threats.
As soon as Kevin and his friend left the store, Tord turned away from Tom, pretending to be engrossed in shopping. The short Brit rolled his eyes after realizing his friend was going to continue ignoring him. He turned and walked to another shelf farther away from Mr. Edgy crybaby himself. Then he felt Edd’s presence not a moment later.
“Hey man.” He whispered. “So, uh… did you and Tord have a disagreement or something?”
“Ah, so you’ve noticed, too.” Tom said slightly sarcastic. At least he didn’t have to bring this up to Edd or Matt. “No, we haven’t fought or anything like that lately.”
“You think it has something to do with the Boggart from DADA’s?” Edd pressed.
“I don’t know!” Tom whispered yelled, surprising his taller friend standing next to him with his small outburst. Guess the tea reading from yesterday and Tord’s weird behavior toward him was stressing him out. He quietly apologized to Edd. Both awkwardly stood looking at the shelves of jokes before being startled by the sound of Matt literally throwing money at the register before booking it out of the shop.
Tom was going to be needing another butter beer after this.
It had been three months and Tord felt like he was working overtime trying to keep things under control. He was barely sleeping most nights and was constantly worrying about Kevin’s and his crony’s next move. Yeah, he was worried about a moron like Kevin because this idiot saw Tord on edge. This wasn’t good. One of his enemies sees him in an emotionally vulnerable state. Now Kevin thought he was King Shit just because he saw Tord slip up and become flustered ONE TIME! Just his luck.
They had two days left before they could finally leave for the holiday break. For once, Tord couldn’t wait to go back home, get some real sleep, and maybe try talking to Tom like normal again. He had been avoiding any real interaction with his shorter British friend these last few months. Just spent time trying to hash out his feelings for his friend while dealing with a moron that somehow got Tord paranoid. But what was maybe upsetting Tord the most was the fact that word about “boggart Tom” had gotten around to the real Tom. Edd confirmed it to him. He expected their shorter friend to demand Tord explain himself, but he never spoke a word to the Norsk. Tom never brought it up ONCE. Was he weirded out by it? Did he not care? These were the questions that circled his mind constantly. He was both scared, yet desperate to know Tom’s thoughts on the matter.
The boy couldn’t keep dwelling on this right now, he had a class to get ready for. It was his Alchemy class, and he needed to finish the final pages of his paper before turning it in later. He’s been finishing his papers later than usual, almost turning them in at the last minute, which also wasn’t normal for Tord. Normally he’d have his papers done a couple of days before they’re due.
Needless to say, Tord was stressed out.
The whole class period, him and his classmates spent that time finishing their papers and talking quietly amongst themselves. The teacher was a little bit chill today because of the holidays coming up.
In potions, it was pretty much the same except it was a lot more peaceful this time. After the Boggart lesson, Kevin had tried getting back at him by trying to sabotage his potions like Tord does to those who have pissed him off. Tord’s been able to catch it every single time since Kevin’s not as stealthy as he is. A real moron. It has kept Tord on his toes more, however. Like this idiot was intentionally driving the Norwegian crazy. But not this time. He didn’t give that idiot the satisfaction of looking over his shoulder at him. But he did make eye contact with Tom (the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs shared Potions again). Tom was really staring him down this time, making his cheeks turn that faint pink again. So, he looked away quickly, hoping the brit would let it go.
After class ended, Tord was walking down the corridor to his next class when Tom caught up to him.
“Tord. Are you ok?” He asked worried.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” The Norsk answered quietly as he quickened his pace. This seemed to piss Tom off.
“No. Stop. Stop.” The short Brit ordered, gripping onto his arm and tugging him to a halt. There were still people around, but for once, Tom didn’t seem to care. They stopped in the middle of the hallway, Tom examining Tord’s odd demeanor with a furrowed brow.
“Dude, are you not sleeping? You look exhausted!” Tom exclaimed. He was right. Tord was exhausted. He was in a state Tom had never seen before, and it was worrying.
“I told you I’m fine. Don’t you have a class to get to?” Tord deflected, trying to pull his arm out of his friend’s grip.
Tom sighed.
“You would know I have a free period right now if you’d bothered to talk to me even once these last few months.” He retaliated back. “I didn’t see you at breakfast. Did you eat anything this morning?” The guilty look he received from the Norsk had Tom officially putting his foot down on the matter.
“Tord, I want you to rest in the requirement room as soon as your last class is done. Ok? I think we need to talk about whatever’s been going on. I’ll even bring you something to eat.” He practically ordered, leaving no room for argument. Before Tord could even think to respond back, they heard snickering off to the side. Both turned their heads to find Kevin and his buddy watching the whole ordeal.
“You worrying the missus, Tord?” Kevin taunted. Tom raised his eyebrow in confusion.
“What?” He asked. To Tom this was a new insult compared to what they’d called him before. Tord’s face hardened at Kevin’s remark.
“Why don’t you go ahead and tell your freaky boyfriend what’s got your knickers in a twist.” Kevin said.
Tom rolled his eyes. ‘Ugh, Kevin.’ The short Brit tugged on Tords arm a little to get him to move away.
“Come on, I can walk you to your class, just ignore the idiot.” He tried coaxing his friend to follow him, but Tord wouldn’t budge. Tom stopped his tugging once he saw the glare he was giving Kevin, causing him to finally let go of his friend’s arm. Then he noticed the small crowd forming around them. The moron noticed too, which seemed to fuel his taunts even more. The Norsk never resorted to violence or did anything that would tarnish his record of good behavior. Even his friends knew he had fooled the teachers. But Tord was never violent because he always got people back for wronging him and/or his friends. He was sneaky and was never caught by the adults, and no one could prove it was him.
“Oh ho, someone’s mad.” Kevin inched forward, testing Tord. “Yeah, Tord. Let the freak escort you to your class. Maybe he’ll serenade you on the way-”
Kevin didn’t get to finish his sentence due to Tord’s left hook connecting hard with his face. Immediately, the Norwegian was on top throwing more punches at him. This startled everyone, including Tom.
“HOLY SHIT! TORD, STOP!” He exclaimed as he tried pulling his friend off. It didn’t work as Tord just pushed him away and continued his assault. It sucked that Paul and Pat weren’t there to help. Both had to rush to their own elective class, right after Potions, that was slightly farther away. Luckily, two teachers who heard the commotion were making their way through the crowd.
“Stop this at once!” Teacher One ordered. Teacher Two pulled out their wand and pointed it at the duo. A spark flashed from the tip of their wand and the back of Tord’s robes were pulled by an invisible force, yanking him off Kevin, and knocking him right into Toms arms with an ‘oomph’. Tom sat up as much as he could, immediately wrapping his arms around Tord’s larger torso, ready to hold him back. But the exhaustion caught up to the Norwegian. The boy was panting, his body felt shaky and limp as his eyelids became heavy. Then he completely passed out in Tom’s arms.
When Tord came to, he found himself on a bed in the nursing ward. His hands ached as he flexed them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone sitting next to him on his right. It was Tom reading a book. Tord sat up catching his friend’s attention.
“Hey.” Said Tom, putting his book down. Tord replied back with his own “hey”. Then Tom just stared at Tord again just like in Potions. Not being able to take his intense stare, the Norwegian kept his gaze on his own lap. After a moment of waiting for either one to say something to the other, Tom took the initiative instead.
“Well, it looks like you’re all rested up. So, I’m going to inform you of the situation.” He almost sounded like a parent. His friend explained that his parents, and Kevin’s, were informed of what happened and were on their way right now. The school board was gathering information before their parents showed up. Tord had laid back down, dragging his hands across his face at this point. ‘Great. My parents are on their way.’
“You have people defending your side. I’ve already told them what happened and what I saw.” Tord groaned at this, acknowledging his friend’s words. “I was also there when Paul and Pat told them the reason why you went off on Kevin like that.”
So, Tom knew the whole story now. Tord just felt defeated. He really didn’t want his friend to know about the juke box, that stupid song, and fake Tom. Well, he had already heard about fake Tom, but he never got the full story until now. At the same time, however, Tord also felt a little relieved that it was finally out. On the one hand, the Norsk really wanted to know the Brit’s thoughts on the matter. At the same time, he was really worried that Tom would be weirded out by Tord somehow.
Tom crossed his arms, gave his signature scowl, and said, “Let me make it clear that my opinion of you, as a friend, has not changed.” He took his paper book and lightly smacked Tord’s leg along with what he said next, “So, stop (smack) wallowing (smack) in self (smack) -pity (smack). Ok? It’s so lame, man.” Tord stared at him for a minute, almost caught off guard by Tom’s bluntness. Then something welled up inside Tord’s chest. Something familiar. A kind of defiance to match Tom’s.
The Norwegian softly scoffed, looked to the side, and said, “Alright, fine. Sorry mom.” Tord looked back to see Tom looking back at him wide-eyed.
“Did you just scoff at me, young man?! You know what-” Tom started smacking Tord’s arm with his book, playfully scolding Tord like a disappointed mother. Tord laughed – really laughed – alongside Tom for the first time in months. He missed this. He was feeling like his normal self again and it was relieving. He felt well rested and ready to face –
Oh yeah, he still had to face his parents and the school board.
It really didn’t take long for Tord’s and Kevin’s parents to show up to the school. They did that cool teleportation spell that the boys desperately wanted to learn so badly.
Kevin’s parents wanted Tord to face a serious punishment for assaulting their son. There were enough witnesses from both students and teachers to testify to this. But there were other people defending the Norwegian’s reaction due to Kevin being a notorious bully as well. And because it was clear that Tord was so sleep deprived, it was agreed that his actions were caused by the pressures and stress of becoming a third year. Now, this didn’t mean Tord was exempt from any punishment, he still attacked another student and that couldn’t be ignored. But tomorrow was the beginning of the holiday break, so dishing out detentions now seemed a little ridiculous. After some more discussion and negotiations from Tord’s parents, they came to an agreement. At first, it was suggested by the headmaster to keep the Norwegian boy at the school and help the grounds keeper with their duties as punishment. But Isak and Tori made it clear they wanted their son to come home, not only to participate in holiday family fun, but to also have a talk with him on the matter that brought them there to begin with. They argued that it was also their duty, as Tord’s parents, that they should guide their son and talk to him like they should.
So, it was agreed that Tord would go home with his parents for the holidays. When he comes back for the next semester, he will have a month’s worth of detention as punishment. The school also couldn’t let go of Kevin’s bullying either, so his punishment was slightly similar, except he would have to write an essay instead after the holidays.
Tord still had to ride the train back home, since his parents didn’t use a flying car to get to Hogwarts. The journey from Hogwarts was a bit of an awkward situation with how the other Slytherins looked at him as they passed his car. Even Kevin and his buddy were sitting as far away from him as possible. But Paul and Pat made it bearable.
The entire time, Tom filled his mind more than Tord liked to admit.