The boy sat up quicklyfrom bed with sweat beading down his cheeks. He glared around the room with fear in his eyes as though he was expecting something to jump out at him. When he finally realized that he was at home he stood up and looked out the window. Darn, he thought when he noticed it was still dark outside. But he welcomed the ominous backdrop and sat on the edge of his bed and frowned with envy at all of the others who were dreaming peacfully around him. The cots of the new kids were scattered around randomly and several of them were quite loud when it came top snoring.He knew it would be useless to try and immediately get to sleep: with the dreams he had been having lately, any sleep at all was a blessing.The ten year-old boy sat staring at the floor wondering why he was different than all the other orphans. His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, a young dark haired child with bright green eyes and an attitude to back them up. He had several friends, everyone liked him because of his bright nature and his unique attitude. His best friend was Seymore Snape, the two were frequently in trouble and seemed to break all of the rules they could. The other children were in pure admiration of the genius of the two and idolized them. At the Happy Children orphanage, Tom and Snape were the heroes. Because of his extreme popularity you would assume that he would have been adopted and happy in a nice family. Unfortunately, no. His father, Tom Riddle senior, wouldn't allow anyone to adopt him because he knew the secret behind the boy. He knew his ancestry and was only trying to keep him away from civilization. Tom junior, did not know this fact, at least not yet. After regaining his composure and calming down, Tom walked over to his pet rat's cage. Hearing the cage open, Seymore woke up to find his friend letting the rat run along the cupboard.
"What's up Tom?" Having not noticed his friend awaking he jumped at the sound of a voice. When he realized who it was he frowned and turned around. Snape was smiling through crooked teeth at realizing that he had just scared the crap out of Tom.
"Nothing that concerns you, Seymore. Go back to bed."
"Calm down. You are quite edgey tonight. Have another dream?" Tom looked away wishing that Snape would shut up and listen to him. He didn't want to talk about it at all, and here his friend was going to want all the bloody details, and there were quite a few of them.
"Yes, I had another dream. But I don't want to talk about it. Got that?" It was Seymore's turn to frown. Tom was usually excited and enjoyed talking about his dreams.Tom was usually happy and fun to be with. But not tonight.This one must have been a sucky one.
"Why do I dream about insane things?" Seymore jumped at the sudden mood change Tom had had. Why did he have to ask such random questions that no one ever knows the answer too?
"I dunno. Maybe you can see the future or something. Who knows, maybe you are some freaky psycho who can predict things hundreds of thousands of years before they happen. Oooh the scary and manipulating Tom may predict the fate of your children. Watch out, here comes Tom!!" Tom began to laugh along with Seymore. That was one of those things they both thought existed, Snape knew. He wouldn't tell tom though because he knew two things. Tom was a parselmouth and Tom could control people without much thought. Tom, if accepted into the wizarding world, would be powerful and not the one you would want to be against. But Snape didn't mind, he would remain on Tom's side no matter what. That's what friends are for. The sun finally began to peek out from behind the hills and Tom smiled relieved that he would not have to go back to bed. Seymore frowned realizing that in fifteen minutes it would be time for Tom and he to begin cleaning the ink they attacked Butch Markson with off the steps. It wasn't the best idea they had ever had, but it was hysterically funny. No one liked Butch, he was rude, no brains, no attitude, a coward, and ugly. Tom got up and began to throw off his pjs and throw on some old ratty clothes in his trunk. Then Seymore followed suit along with several other orphans. Butch got up last and extremely slowly.His bright blonde hair still had black remnants in it andhis nose was red where he had been rubbing it. It was quite despicable because now his eyebrows didn't match his face or his hair. At seeing him, Tom was immediately tempted to solve his problem of boredom by taking it out on Butch.
"How are you doing today, inkhead? Gotten that little clumsy problem you have settled?" The boy frowned and a sense of fear could be seen in his eyes. Snape immediately saw what was going on and decided to stand nearby in case something happened. Tom was enjoying himself all too much.Butch wanted to run away and never come back, but the crowd of children around him and Tom was blocking him in.
"Well, are you going to answer? Or just stand there until you pass out with your knees locked? Do you know how to talk? Hello? I'm talking to you? Are you ignorant? Speak to me and maybe I'll go easy on you."
"I...uh am fine. How are you..." Tom began to laugh a cold laugh that seemed to rub off on everyone elae. Then he stopped and let his friends continue. Butch had tears falling down his face and was trembling as though some outer power was holding him down.
"I'm doing well, thank you. I have been thinking, do you the power of someone who is haviing fun?" That was more than the kid could take. He fell to his knees begging for mercy and screamed that Tom wouldn't kill him like he had been telling him he would. Tom was in pure shock and horror. He hadn't said anything about killing the guy, he had just asked him a couple of questions. Then Manfred Malfoy stood up and grabbed Butch by his neck.
" Don't lie about things Tom has said. He is not a liar. He never said anything about killing you. Get yourself together. Don't you know how to stand up for yourself? Don't you know that the reason you have no friends is because you have no guts? Get up and don't come back up here until you know how to fend for yourself." With that he threw him back on the floor and went and sat down on his bed. He was two years older than Tom and had mysteriously disappeared the past two years during school time. rumors had it that Malfoy had a better school to go to because his parents cared for him. The reason he was in an orphanage was because they had to travel frequently and needed a place he could stay while they were gone. Hearing the commotion upstairs, Mrs. Wilhite ran to see a shocked Tom standing over a screaming Butch with Seymore standing next to them in the middle of a circle. Infuriated she began to scream at the boys who were torturing the child and grabbed Tom by the throat and pushing him into the wall. He couldn't breathe and couldn't fight back so he just began to concentrate on putting her in immense pain as well. Manfred jumped up realizng what Tom was going to do a minute too late and she fell to her knees, dead. He couldn't move, he would be put in prison, murdered for something he had no intention of doing. Butch got up weakly, and looked at her in horror, then looked up at Tom. She was glowing a light green and her pupils were gone. Tom had small tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He didn't mean to do anything but save his own life. He had simply gotten some urge to live, was that so bad?
"Tom, you monster! You killed her!She was not doing anything but trying to save me and calm you down. How did you do it? Why? You may have hated me, but what did she ever do? What?" Butch wastrying to get her to breathe when Manfred walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry Tom, you'll be at Hogwarts soon, and it won't matter there. They will understand you, and you'll be happy. Just relax, I don't think she is dead. They can help her at St. Mungos, then you'll be cleared, you were, after all, in a life threatening position." He smiled at the boy then walked away.
