Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

OTP Challenge – Battered

Chapter One:First Sight

The first time he had ever laid eyes on Harry was when he had visited muggle London at the age of nine. It had been one of the few outings the Orphanage had actually managed to take them on and most of the children had received money to spend on something that caught their eye. Even rarer still, the Matron could not find a big enough fault in him to not allow him to go on the excursion.

He hadn't received any money of course, the Matron and staff at the Orphanage were 'punishing' him for something or the other yet again or better yet they would 'claim' to have forgotten him or not been able to see him at the time of them handing out the money. He hadn't even paid attention to the excuse they had given him. They would not have given him any money either way.

It wasn't the first time this had happened nor was it likely to be the last.

Tom didn't really mind not receiving money from them. He had doubted that he would find something he liked any way and even if he did he highly doubted the money would be enough.

He had seen the black haired, green eyed boy as he dashed down one of the alleys. He had looked battered and was sporting what looked like a painful bruise on his cheek. Tom could even notice the slight limp as he ran past indicating that the boy was more injured than he looked.

There were five very bulky looking boys running after him. Their movements were clumsy and heavy as they bumped into everything in their path gaining very annoyed looks.

Their eyes locked for a short moment.

The moment passed and Harry had looked back towards the boys that were chasing him with a wry grin on his face.

Tom's eyes widened as he saw a piece of cloth blow into what looked like the leader's face causing him to lose concentration and stop moving. The boys behind him slammed into the leader of their gang and ended up in a heap at the entrance of the alley while a cart tumbled over them, with the owner of the cart running after it.

Tom would have believed that it was all pure chance that had saved the other boy but there was no wind to have blown that cloth and the road was dead straight so there was no way that cart could have rolled by accident.

Of course, the satisfied grin that the other boy sported before he had disappeared into the shadows had also been a dead giveaway.