Tom Riddle was a strange child; anyone could tell you that. If one asked Ms. Cole, the stern woman who ran Wool’s orphanage, the orphanage in which Tom lived, she would say that he was a miscreant, disgusting little vermin that could never do anything right. If one asked the other children, maybe the ones that went to the child's school or the ones that lived in the same orphanage as him they would fearfully look around, bite their lip before quietly saying something about him being nice and very smart looking quite fearful.
Young Tom Riddle’s story would begin on December 31, 1926. When his mother, a young, unwed, and heavily pregnant woman collapsed upon the steps of Wool's Orphanage. Soon after, at 11:59 pm, Tom was born. His mother died shortly thereafter, only having enough presence of mind to name her new son, and so Tom became a rather permanent feature at Wool’s Orphanage. That's not to say that no one tried to adopt him, he was a rather beautiful child after all, however only days after the couple who adopted him would return muttering about devil children with bags under their eyes looking as though they had not slept in days and soon, just before his 7th birthday no one tried anymore.
The very first incident that Tom could remember what made him strange child occured when he was about 8. Allow me to paint a picture of a young black haired cherubic looking child sitting outside in the sun with a book on his lap peacefully reading when a group of other young boys walked right on up to him and began sneering, Tom was still very entranced in his book and had not yet noticed. He only noticed the other boys when the largest one, a rather heavy set blond kid, spoke up saying with derision in his tone, “Well looky here boys it's the freak.”.
Even ignoring all the strange things that happened around Tom, he was a rather small child and it often made him a target for the other boys at the orphanage and school. In return Tom said with the same tone of derision, “Well looky here it’s the idiots who have nothing to do but bother me”.
The blond kid's friend evidently decided that talking and bantering was not the proper way to annoy somebody and so leaned down, easily plucking Tom’s book out of his hand. In mere seconds Tom was on his feet glaring at the trio of boys. The blond kid seeing that they had gotten to Tom took the opportunity to make another remark this time he sneered out, “Oh so little freak cares ‘bout his book, lets see what you think of us ripping it up”.
The boy who had originally took the book did not hesitate and begin ripping out pages, however before he could get more than two or three handfuls out Tom yelled, it was not a yell that had words but more of one that communicated wordlessly how angry he was as he witnessed these boys destroy one of his few possessions. In a millisecond maybe less all three of the boys were knocked flying when a huge gust of wind that was in no way natural, blew straight into them. Tom barely realized as he ran to the ruined book he had previously been reading tears streaming down his face like rain on a window. The boys, not knowing what had happened, got up with tears in their eyes, gripping their heads and ran in the vague direction of the orphanage, never looking back. Leaving Tom who was still crying over his ruined book, alone.
This was the very first time the child had been able to defend himself, because while he was often bullied he had never really been able to defend himself and this incident began a truly terrifying change in Tom Riddle, for now he knew he was different and knew he could defend himself.
Over the years, though this next incident only occurred two years after the first, Tom began to realize more of what he could do, things such as controlling animals, twisting them to his will, creating little ball of light in his hand to help him read at night, and most importantly he found ways to get back at those who had bullied him whether it be ripping apart their toys just as they had done to his book or even killing their pets in impossible ways, Tom had made utterly certain that no one would ever bully him again, in fact it all got to the point that the other children were afraid of him. However let's go back to the new incident that I previously mentioned, the one that occurred two years after Tom’s book was ripped.
This part of Tom’s story all started when Ms. Cole, the owner of Wool’s Orphanage, caught Tom while he had a small ball of light hovering over his head to read. This of course occurred at night, why else would Tom need to create a ball of light to read, when Ms. Cole in an utterly random event woke to the screams of a child in the throes of a nightmare, and had walked, not run, up the stairs to the bedroom the child who was screaming shared with 3 others. After calming the child and putting him back to sleep to the best of her abilities she had decided to check on the other children to make sure they were also okay, in doing so she had slowly opened the door to Tom’s room which squeaked just the slightest bit, like a rat in the wall, and saw something that would shock her to the very core. She saw, to put it simply, a child who had a book in his lap, a guilty look on his face, with a light surrounding him almost like an angel's halo. She screamed, as you might imagine by my earlier descriptions, this was quite the shocking event as she was once again a stately and stern woman, to hear her scream a bloodcurdling scream almost like she was in physical pain was shocking to say the least. Her scream was, in the end, loud enough that two very specific things happened. One Tom RIddle's little halo of light was extinguished; he couldn't exactly keep it up, startled as he was by her scream. The second thing to occur as a direct result of Ms. Cole’s scream was all the children waking up and running to where they had heard the scream, it truly was a loud scream. These children walked in on quite a strange sight as they saw Tom Riddle looking just as shocked as them, some saw the book on his lap and wondered in the back of their minds how he could be reading in the dark but these thought were quickly pushed aside as they noticed Ms. Cole, white as bone with a truly horrified look on her face pointing at Tom.
As it was the 1930’s Ms. Cole shook off her shock, though it was quite hard and stormed, looking furious, up to the bed Tom was laying on grabbing him by his hair, ripping out quite a few strands in the process and dragging him up. She dragged him all the way to the basement that was not really used and threw him in there, he was quite a small child, before yelling, “In the morning you are going to the priest, you disgusting demon”.
She then stormed right back up the stair of the basement, threw the door open in a loud bang of noise as it hit the wall before throwing it closed just the same. Ms. Cole, after doing this still very angry, continued to storm to where the other children were waiting, hoping to hear but all they heard was her parting remark of ‘disgusting demon’ and that was all they needed to begin making up all sorts of stories about what had happened. She began yelling again ordering the children back to their room to go back to sleep, though that last bit was quite useless as no one in the house slept that night, least of all Tom Riddle who was laying on the cold wet floor of the basement crying.
The next morning the matron, Ms. Cole, walked her way to the door of the basement, slowly beginning to unlock and open it as though she was afraid that something may jump out at her, of course nothing did since the only being in the room was young Tom who was too busy laying shivering on the floor to try to attack her. She called out in as strong of a voice she could gripping tightly on the door frame she was leaning against for Tom to get up and move slowly towards her. Once he had dragged himself up and over to her she put her hands out with the rope she had grabbed on her way and roughly tied his hand together before leading him out to the brightly lit corridor. Though Ms. Cole did not care, the other children, who had peaked out to see what was going on, saw the large ugly looking bruises all over his arms and what other of his skin could be seen and gasped loudly. Ms Cole heard and wasted no time in barking sharply at the nosy children to mind their own business and go away. She continued to lead Tom who had not yet spoken all the way through the building to the back. This is where she had left the priest she had talked about earlier to grab Tom. The priest looked highly interested in the boy, Ms. Cole was leading and wasted no time in asking, “Is this the demon boy you told me about?”.
Ms. Cole in her most respectful voice answered a quick yes. The priest, deciding not to waste anymore time, grabbed Tom’s chin lifting it up as he looked at the child. He clearly did not like what he saw as he quickly let go as if the boys face was covered in dirt and turned back to Ms. Cole saying in a voice full of venom, “They do like the pretty ones, easier to trick good people Thank God you noticed”.
Ms. Cole looking at the priest dead in the eye and said in an almost worried tone, “ So there is no doubt? Will you do the exorcism?”.
The priest with a soft look on his face answered, “There is not a single doubt.” seeing the worried look on her face he continued, “Do not worry though dear it will be painless for Tom.”.
He grabbed Tom’s hands, still tied with the rope, and led him to a basin full of holy water. He grabbed the neck of the child and shoved his head in reciting a Latin exorcism. Tom had begun fighting nearly as soon as he touched the water but he was small while the priest though not large was of average size and an adult could easily hold him down. Soon, as the exorcism reached the two minute mark Tom’s body began to feel weighed down and he stopped fighting for he had no energy. Around a minute later the priest pulled the still body of Tom out of the basin and began pushing on the child's chest, a few seconds later water flowed out of Tom’s mouth onto the ground, though he did not wake. The priest, beginning to look worried, motioned Ms. Cole over as he pushed harder on Tom’s chest. The matron, also looking worried, began lightly slapping Tom’s face, about thirty seconds later both the priest and matron began looking seriously worried. Tom's mouth then opened as he breathed in, his eyes slowly opened looking bleary as he came out of his faint. The matron quickly grabbed Tom and began dragging Tom back through the corridor and into his room, he had his own room due to the other children having night mares that he may or may not have had something to do with, and onto his bed. Tom, who still had not really woken up, quickly fell back asleep on his bed. The priest seeing this led the matron back out of the room to have a quick word before he left. Leading her out slowing he said quietly, “The demon is out now just let him rest for a day and then continue normally.”.
The matron, still looking quite shook, just nodded and showed the priest out before returning to Tom’s room to check on him once more. Seeing that he was still asleep she left again to go back to her room and maybe have a drink.
That of course was not the end, the other kids who had heard very little still thought that Tom was a demon. They also realized that the matron though maybe not on purpose and began watching Tom closer becoming quick to blame Tom first. Tom had also realized this and was back to not being able to defend himself lest she see and call the Priest back. All in all the next year passed with Tom miserable and often in pain do to the other kids hurting him in their bullying or the matron in her punishments that often involved a cane of some kind, so when December 31, Tom’s birthday came by he did not expect anything to happen, instead his entire life changed with the visit of one Albus Dumbledore who came with a letter in hand.
As Albus walked up the same steps Merope Riddle, Tom’s mother, had collapsed on 11 years ago exactly, he looked around noticing how desolate it looked with dead or dying plants and dirty walls. He looked entirely out of place with his plum suit, but Albus never really noticed things like that so he continued to whistle out a happy tune as he walked up the last few steps and knocked on the doors. After only a few seconds the door opened to reveal Ms. Cole looking the same as always. He said with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes, “Hello I am Albus Dumbledore, I sent you a letter about Tom Riddle and his place at my school.”.
Ms. Cole’s eyes widened slightly but she kept her composure as she responded coolly, “ Ah yes how about you come and we can talk?”.
Albus didn’t say anything and simply nodded, waving his hand as if to say lead on. Ms. Cole stepped to the side and let him in. As they walked to her office she had a contemplating look on her face as she clearly thought something through. Albus did not really mind and simply fell into step behind her. Soon they reached the office and she opened the door and let him in. She nodded her head at a seat in front of a desk and then walked around to the other side to sit in the chair behind the desk. As she sat she nodded to herself in a decisive movement as she reached an answer to what she had been thinking about on the walk. Albus went to say something but just as he opened his mouth Ms. Cole quickly asked, “ Are you entirely certain that we are talking about the same Tom Riddle?” with a questioning lilt to her voice
Albus responded quickly though he looked kind of shocked and said, “ If you’re Tom Riddle had his birthday today then I do believe we are talking about the same one.” Ms. Cole looked shocked at what he said so Albus continued, “ Why is it that you looked so shocked.”.
Ms. Cole bit her lip as she thought for just a second longer then asked, “Does he have a guaranteed spot at your school?”.
Albus responded in the positive so she continued by saying in a delicate tone of voice, “He is just a bit of a strange child.” here she looked round nervously “It’s just that a lot of the other kids here are scared of him. He doesn’t even have a roommate because they kept getting nightmares!” she finished off her sentence with a note of hysteria in her voice.
Albus, noticing this said, “How about I just go talk to him and get a feel. Don’t worry though he will always have a place.”.
Ms. Cole nodded looking slightly distracted and said, “ Okay…okay let me just go show you the way.”.
She led him through the many corridors of the orphanage and stopped in front of a door just like all the others. She knocked quietly and said with a note of steel in voice that she had lacked when talking to Albus earlier, “Tom someone is here from a school. Be nice.”.
She backed away before turning around and going back the way she came, leaving Albus standing in front of the door with no choice but to open it. He did and noticed Tom near immediately but continued to let his eyes roam around the clean almost sterile room that housed a simple wooden bed, side table, and dresser. On the bed was Tom with a book in his lap like always. When Albus had entered he had looked up with suspicion in his eyes. As Albus greeted him with an easy, “Hello Tom I am Albus Dumbledore headmaster of Hogwarts.”.
Tom’s eyes narrowed as he said in a highly emotional voice “No matter what she told you I am not crazy I swear!”.
Albus looked quite confused as he said, “Why would you think that I think you are crazy”.
Tom began to look at him in anger rather than suspicion and responded in an even louder voice, “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid I know you are some doctor from some crazy place that she wants me to go to! Don’t lie!”.
The last bit was said with a force in Tom’s voice that, on any other normal person would have forced them to do what he said but Albus was not a normal person and so did not acknowledge it. Albus responded to Tom in the same casual voice that he had spoken in earlier, “I am not lying about anything. See I teach at a school for people like us.”.
Tom with suspicion back in his voice again asked, “What do you mean people like us”.
Albus in a mystical tone of voice, he liked to do this with muggleborns as a joke, said, “Wizards. What else would I be talking about.”.
Tom's eyes widened and he said with a tone of derision “ Wizards don’t exist”.
Albus still with a whimsical smile on his face said, “Are you saying that I don’t exist? But can you honestly say you’ve never done anything strange, anything that should have been impossible”.
Tom’s eyes widened even more as a bit of wonder entered them and said almost excitedly, “I have, I can make light to read by at night, I can tell people to do things and they do it, I can defend myself.” here his voice dropped off in bitterness as he mumbled under his breath, “or at least I used to.”.
Albus deciding to ignore the last bit felt his smile turn to something a bit frostier and he said, “Well I certainly would hope you don’t try to control people at Hogwarts after all it is considered illegal.”.
Tom’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he said quickly, “How do I know you can do this too.”.
Albus pulled a long thin stick out of his pocket and Tom watched as he flicked it, before he saw his dresser on fire and leapt to his feet with a cry in his throat as he saw all he had burn. Before he could turn around to yell at Albus he saw as his dresser stopped burning, looking entirely fine. He spun on his heel as he turned to Albus and looked in wonder at the wand in his hand.
In the end after a lot of hesitating and suspicion Tom finally agreed to let Albus lead him out of the orphanage and into London. As they walked Tom continued to study Albus as he simply whistled merrily looking entirely insane to everyone else. Soon though they reached The Leaky Cauldron and entered. They pushed through the crowds of slightly drunk witches and wizards. Tom was in a state of wonder everywhere there were small pieces of magic that amazed him over and over again. Eventually though they reached the back and exited into a little back area out of the building yet did not lead to anywhere but a wall. Tom looked at Albus wondering what they were doing only to see him pull out his wand and tap seemingly random bricks, Tom was seconds away from asking what Albus was doing when he heard a grinding noise. Looking back at the wall Tom did a double take as he saw the bricks moving revealing an opening. When Tom finally looked away from the moving bricks and through the opening he found himself speechless as he looked into a world of dragons, of flying broomsticks, of robes and witches hats, of color, and of magic, it was here that Tom promised himself he would never go back, not to the exorcisms nor the bullying he would stay in this wonderful world of color and magic.