Text legend:
Tommy's Mother (132, 77, 130)
Tommy (80, 166, 78)
Bully (255, 0, 25)
Patterson Family (51, 0, 255)

Tommy shoved a pack of crackers into his bag, the total contents:

1 change of clothing
1 pack of crackers
2 stuffed animals (one teddy bear with a green bowtie and one grey sloth)

He was packed and ready to runaway. When he told his family about being sorted into Slytherin, it was a disaster. His father seemed so angry that he didn't even say anything in response. He simply stood up and left the room. Tommy was used to his father being a stern and serious man, so this did not catch him off guard. His mother, on the other hand, had an uncharacteristic reaction. Tommy's mother had always been supportive of him, praised that he would be a renown seer, but now she seemed almost angry at him. "I see, not a Ravenclaw as I had expected or a Gryffindor as your father had". A cold, short, and almost emotionless response. Tommy left the room with his head hung low, he had never sent an owl home while he was away at Hogwarts, he knew this moment would eventually come and he expected to be in trouble for not having sent a letter home but it seemed no one at all cared.

Tommy zipped up the backpack he was finished packing and was ready to run away. He quietly crept down the stairs of his family house, tip-toeing to be as quiet as he possibly could. He must NOT be caught. He knew which steps were creaky and awkwardly avoided them by stepping over them, a difficult task while descending the staircase. Tommy reached the door. Freedom was in sight. He grabbed the golden (but in reality brass) handle of the door, twisting it to the left, and stepping into his new world, a world on the road. Tommy did not have time to reflect on this as he quietly closed the door, twisted the doorknob before closing it to make the least amount of noise as possible.

The summer heat beat down on Tommy's face. This was his chance. He had managed to sneak out now he had to make a run for it before they noticed he was gone. Tommy broke into a full sprint, running as fast and as far as his legs would take him, which turned out to not be very far at all. He reached the outer limits of where he was able to walk on his own, boundaries set by his parents, the local playground.

Tommy was unsure of what to do next. The park was empty at the moment. It was still early in the day. Tommy climbed under the slide. He had not eaten breakfast in the blur that was the events of the day. Tommy's stomach rumbled. Luckily for him, he had thought ahead. He pulled out his box of crackers and began eating. The salty cracker was full of flavor. After a few crackers, his mouth began to hurt. He looked for water; he emptied the bag completely, his clothing, stuffed bear, and stuffed sloth fell to the ground, but no water. How could he forget water? He was angry with himself. Luckily, he then remembered there was a water fountain at the park. Tommy re-packed his bag and walked to the fountain getting a fresh drink of water.

Tommy began to get bored. He noticed some birds nearby; he thought about how they didn't have homes to go to, at least not homes like his. He thought maybe they would be hungry. Tommy, being the caring boy he was, decided to feed the bird some crackers. The count of birds multiplied as he threw on a cracker, then another, and another. The birds began to swarm him and Tommy was overwhelmed. He dropped the crackers as the bird swarm consumed them. They were gone before Tommy could react. "Stupid birds, eating all my stupid crackers."

Tommy had no idea what he should do, no more food, and no reliable source of water. He wishes @Dorion Anderson were here. They would know what to do. They are so full of wisdom. Tommy wished he could have spent the month before summer camp with Dori, it would be more pleasant than spending it with his family that had practically disowned him when he told them he was a Slytherin, and certainly better than having to be around the neighbourhood children that bully him.

Not knowing what to do, Tommy returned to his spot under the slide to assess the situation. It was hard to think of a solution; it was even harder to focus as all Tommy could think about was how much he missed Hogwarts. He may have only had one friend at Hogwarts, Dori, but he also had a lot of people he looked up to as mentors. Thes first that came to mind was @Avery McCall, she was the one to make him want to become a beater after seeing her perform against his own house. She had given him her autograph. She was his first autograph and first target when he became a beater.

Speaking of beaters, he remembered the girl he met in potions class, @Rebecca Lark. He hadn't had too many interactions with the girl aside from one potions class, but she seemed very knowledgeable, helpful, as Tommy preferred Herbology to Potions. Although he expected to interact with her more in the future, especially since they were both on the summer planning committee. He knew that if he was able to make it on the Slytherin quidditch team, he would have more run-ins with both Avery and Bex, he hoped they would be on the non-painful side but ultimately he KNEW all quidditch matches with either of them would be EXTREMELY painful.

Tommy loved herbology class. He smiled at the memory of Dori sneaking him into the fifth year herbology greenhouse. They truly are an amazing friend. Dori was also the one who provided him with the laughing plant that he tried to get @Aleksandra FairBairn to eat. Unfortunately, he ended up eating the plant and having a fit of uncontrollable laughter. He still remembers the Herbology professor @Sarai Toussaint had to get involved. He knew he would be seeing Aleks soon. He had BEGGED her to attend summer camp when he found out he was on the planning committee. He needed his event to be a success to grow his reputation. He had no issues bugging the girl to help him, besides the felt she liked his 'annoying behaviour' as she may call it.

"Well if it isn't little Timid Tommy", calling Tommy little made almost no sense to him seeing as he was taller than the boy, but he was all too familiar with the name 'Timid Tommy'. A nickname he earned due to the amount he would cry when growing up from the neighbourhood kids bullying him. Although Tommy did not cry much anymore, he feared he would never escape this nickname.

This particular boy that called out to him was the worst of all the children. Tommy distinctly remembers a time the boy shoved his face in mud after a fresh rainfall. He asked himself, what would Dori do in this situation? They would probably hex the boy with magic, but Tommy did not excel in magic. That was not an option for him. The boy approached Tommy, grabbing his bag from him and pouring the contents on the ground. He grabbed the stuffed animals and began to taunt Tommy "Awe the little baby needs his stuffed animals to go outside?"

What would @Astra Norrick do? Tommy balled his right hand into a tight fist and put all his weight into one swing. Tommy heard a popping noise and felt his hand get wet. The next events seemed to happen in slow motion. The boy was knocked to the ground and began to cry. The other children at the playground were screaming. It was utter chaos. Tommy looked at his hand in almost as much surprise as the boy. Blood dripped from his knuckles, to his fingers, to the dirt below him. It felt warm on his hand. Tommy had never been one for conflict, violence, or fighting, but something changed in him due to the people he surrounded himself with at Hogwarts.

The boy struggled to scramble to his feet, mostly due to shock rather than actual blunt force trauma. "Just you wait until your parents hear from mine. You'll rue the day you did this! RUE IT TOMMY!" The threat meant little to Tommy at this point. He had run away, after all. Unfortunately for Tommy, it was quickly approaching lunch time. He was hungry and out of crackers. What would he do? He couldn't go much further, he knew little of London outside of the area he was allowed to walk, let alone the remainder of Westminster.

Tommy collected his belongs from the ground, blood staining some of the clothes littered on the ground below where the punch took place. Thankfully, no blood had gotten on his prized stuffed bear or sloth, but he knew he had to turn back and return home. This would surely go down in history as one of, if not the shortest run-away ever. Tommy slung the backpack over his shoulders. It felt heavier than before, maybe the weight of defeat added to it.

The walk of shame began. At a snail's pace, Tommy hung his head in sorrow, walking home to what he felt would be his doom. The break had started terribly and would only get worse. Would Tommy have to eat on the floor of his house with the kneazle his family owns? Would he be fed food at all? It would only be one month. Tommy was going to attend summer camp no matter what. ANYWHERE was better than home, especially if it meant he may see some of his mentors or his one friend, Dori.

Tommy reached the driveway of his house. It felt longer than before, never ending. He reached the bottom of the steps to the door. The staircase consisting of five stairs felt like it was a mountain, not just any mountain, but one dwarfing Mount Everest. Finally, Tommy was at the door. The handle turned as if it were rusted and filled with dirt, grit, slowly, and with great struggle. In reality, it was well oiled, light, and smooth. Tommy felt a lump in his throat, his stomach was in knots, and his brain was thinking of everything that could go wrong when he opened the door before him. He pushed on the door. It felt slow to move, like a stone door closed for hundreds of years. It was so much easier using his strength when he was throwing the punch at the bully, but now it felt like he had none at all. The door began to move, Tommy tried to keep his insides well... inside.

"SURPRISE"

The house was littered with green and silver decorations. His family was celebrating that he was in Slytherin? But as far as he knew no one in his family was ever in Slytherin, he thought they would be ashamed of him and hate him. All his extended family was in attendance. All of Tommy's favourite food was prepared: steak dinner with twice baked potato, corn on the cob, and cheesecake for dessert. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad? Tommy still thought it would be nice to visit his one and only friend Dori or a mentor next summer break. If Tommy was lucky, maybe he would run into one this summer before camp.