Taming The Serpent [Tom Riddle/Tomione]

14. Swirling in Memories - Part 2

When Tom withdrew his wand, a silvery substance came away, stretching from temple to wand like a thick gossamer strand, which broke as he pulled the wand away from it and fell gracefully into the Pensieve, where it swirled silvery-white again. Hermione peered into the pensive; a boy was sitting on top of grey blankets, his legs stretched out in front of him, holding a book.

"Go." snarled Tom quietly. "Before I change my mind." Throwing a curious look at Tom before repeating the same process as before, Hermione bent over the Pensieve warily and was hastily sucked into darkness. She landed outside the first door in a long corridor, the door behind her was opened and she saw that the boy was now standing in the middle of the room, waiting for something.

"Tom? Tom Riddle!? "A sharp voice sounded from the staircase. Hermione watched as Mrs. Cole hurried towards the boy, Tom, with a furious look on her face. "Tom, how many times have I warned you not to scare the other children?"

Hermione followed the matron inside the room; it was a small bare room with nothing in it except an old wardrobe and an iron bedstead. There was no trace of regret nor fear in Tom Riddle's face. His eyes narrowed slightly at the woman and he put on an innocent expression. "Mrs. Cole I didn't do anything. Billy started it. He called me mad."

"Tom..." said Mrs. Cole, walking forward and pointing a finger at his face. "You better be telling the truth." The boy hesitated, then nodded his head. The matron sighed before walking toward the door. "Be as it may Tom, you're grounded anyway. No playground for you today."

The door closed with a loud thud and the scene dissolved into darkness. Hermione felt herself being drawn in every direction before landing in a small and dim lit room. She took a good look around and concluded it was the Laundry Room, for piles of greyish uniforms were hanging on ropes, and an old washing tank stood at the far corner, next to a dusty window. There was a creaking sound behind her and Hermione turned to see the door opening slowly, the young Tom Riddle walking inside cautiously. He walked toward a shelf, and Hermione saw as he grabbed a small white cage.

Tom was glaring at the inside before opening the metallic door and retrieving a small rabbit. The poor animal jumped to the floor and began to run around, desperately looking for some sort of food. Tom grabbed a small carrot from his pocket that he had stolen from the kitchen; the action caught the rabbit's attention, who ran toward Tom's small pale hand and began to eat. The dark haired boy took the chance to grab the animal once again.

"I'm not mad. " he said, while glaring intently at its eyes. The sound of laughing caught Tom's attention and he walked slowly toward the window, narrowing his eyes furiously at the children playing at the playground; Amy Benson failed miserably at giving Dennis Bishop a piggy back ride, causing both 9 year olds to fall to the ground. What infuriated him most though, was Billy Stubbs, the chubby little kid who was imitating Tom by running around in circles screaming the words 'I'm crazy. I'm crazy. I'm Tommy the crazy', earning a roar of laughter from the others. He subconsciously tightened his grip around the rabbit, almost choking it to death. Upon hearing its squeals, he looked down at the animal, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "I'll show him."

He grabbed a small rope and walked toward the porch and stood on top of a chair; he circled the rope around its tiny neck and hung it from the rafters, slowly choking it to death. Hermione had desperate tears rolling down her eyes; he was a monster, even back then.

The scene dissolved once again; this time Hermione landed on a small beach. A large dark coloured rock stood on the sea, near the land, and not too far from her a small cave could be seen. She saw Mrs. Cole walking down the sand, holding her huge hat in her head, afraid it would be taken by the strong wind. "Move on children, almost there." She shouted over the loud ocean's breeze. A line of around twelve excited kids followed their matron down the small hill. Huge waves crashed on the shore, leaving behind big amounts of foam.