Always || Tom Riddle

Always ~ Chapter one

I sat in the corner of the room, a feeling of dread rising within me, upon hearing their high pitch girly giggles, and designer shoes clattering across the corridor growing closer to the play room; where I sat huddled in a corner with the photo album left to me by my mother and father who had died soon after I was born, although no one had ever told me why, so this was the closest thing I had to my parents.

I froze as the girls filed in, it was them happily skipping across the wooden floorboards which creaked under their weight, while the rain outside battered against the window.

"Oh look its the freak!"A bright blue eyed, blonde haired girl whose hair was pulled back into a ponytail, who went by the name of Lily pointed an exceptionally small finger towards me, her eyes widening with excitement.

She seized the chance to use the time it took the rest of the children and teachers to get to the playroom from assembly against me. A mousy brown haired, much younger girl stepped out from behind Lily, kicking my foot with her metal toed shoe, I hissed in pain, I didn't dare look up for I had made that mistake once before, ending up paying for it greatly the next day.

"Get up!"She yelled and kicked me again, while I ignored the throbbing pain in my foot; soft leather shoes did not offer very good protection. I began to concentrate on the sound of the rain hammering against the window, anything to deal with the fact that it would be at least another five minutes before I could escape to the safety of my room; when the rest of the orphanage children joined us in the playroom.

"Can you hear me?" She kneeled down so that she was eye-level with me. "Unfortunately" I replied miserably, the lump that now resided in my throat making it hard to speak; finally getting a reaction out of me, the girls let out high pitch giggles.

"You always carry around this measly old book, I would not be surprised if you had found it in the trash"Lily commented, a light golden brow lifting; flicking the black leather photo album with her finger making me flinch which I attempted to hide as a shiver, after all, the orphanage never was very well heated. "Leave me alone!" The strong, angry voice that I tried to put on to make them scared, had in fact failed and done the exact opposite to what I had thought would happen.

"Ooh, do you hear that girls? She says she wants us to leave her alone" Lily grabbed my hair roughly, pulling me up so that I was standing straight. Upon realising that I was taller than her, she proceeded to tug my hair down, dragging me out of the play room as some of the younger orphans of Wools Orphanage stood by and watched with their mouths agape.

"You will learn Clara Pevensie that no one messes with Lily Partridge" Lily voice grew higher in pitch as she dragged me round the hallways by my hair. No one made any move to stop her when it came to bullying we had to deal with it ourselves. Lily triumphantly led me off to a dead end and pushed me into the wall, as I made contact with the black tiled wall, I smacked my head and my photo album fell to the floor a few meters from me, I reached out to grab it but a hand scooped down and took hold of it before I had the chance to snatch it away.

"Oh no, you don't!"Lily stomped onto my hand, causing me to scream out in pain as she began to flick through the photo album, scornful eyes moving over each of the page' contents, before hastily moving on. "No, please, give it back!"I begged as she began to rip up the photos into shreds, having had her fill with the photo album; suddenly she froze her smirk fading as her gaze moved to an unseen threat.

"Leave her alone!" A voice sounded from behind the corner, Lily flinched dropping my book in the process, fleeing to the safety of the playroom where the rest of the children and teachers now resided.I slid down the tiled wall and buried my head in my knees, beginning to cry only stopping to look up when I felt a hand go on my shoulder. I looked up into a pair of dark black eyes and found out that my saviour was in fact, a boy. "Why did you help me?"

"I get bullied too, I know how it feels not to have anyone stick up for you" I smiled, wiping away my tears and standing once more, feeling self-conscious of my appearance, I began to run my fingers through my hair, in a failed attempt to rid it of the numerous knots that had formed through Lily's tight grip. Remembering my manners, I stuck out my hand for the boy to shake; for a moment he simply stared at it, his dark hair shining in the faint light that was provided by the small gas light above before he too stuck out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Clara. Clara Pevensie that is...It's very nice to meet you!"

"Tom Riddle; pleasure, to make your acquaintance"My gaze moved to the torn up photo album that lay at my feet, Tom must have followed my gaze because he crouched down to get a closer look, glancing up at me sadly. "This meant a lot to you?"He asked, in his now thick London accent. "It was the closest thing I had to knowing what my parents looked like"I replied softly smiling a little but it faltered and tears welled up in my eyes."It's too late to save it now, what's done is done-" Tom began to hover a hand over the scattered pieces of the pictures, and as if by magic, the shredded pictures moved back together; Tom smiled up at me cockily, obviously more than pleased with himself.

"You didn't even touch them" Crouching down and bringing the photo album to my chest.I realised that he must be like me so I stood, as his eyes pierced into mine, by the looks of it he was carefully analysing my every move. I looked to the gas light on the ceiling, making it flicker out as the corridor filled with darkness. I had turned the whole orphanages lights off, and the sounds of confused teachers and scared orphans made a satisfied smile twitch at my lips. With a bit of concentration on my part, the lights turned back on; revealing a snake next to Tom, his eyes had been trained on the snake but now had returned his gaze to me, his black eyes meeting with my blue ones. "You're like me aren't you?"

"They always have doctors in to look at me, but I'm not mad...apparently, no one else sees it that way" At my sudden outburst, Tom smirked, but upon seeing my embarrassed and hurt expression an apologising look flashed within his eyes. "I will be your friend...if you want me to" Tom said softly, smiling sheepishly at me as Mrs Cole; the patron of the Orphanage arrived at the top of the stairs behind him. I gasped in horror, searching for any sign of the snake, which had thankfully now disappeared; having a pet in the orphanage, especially a wild one, resulted in being sent to the headmaster's office, from which children often returned with large, bleeding wounds on their hands from the cane.

"What are you two doing up here? You know the rules, no lingering in the corridors!"Mrs Cole shooed us away, to which we without hesitation hurried off the safety of our rooms.

"Good night, Tom"I called out from across the corridor, stopping momentarily in front of my door, receiving a timid smile in return.

"Good night, Clara" He replied, before I opened my door, quickly closing it quietly behind me, a large smile tugging at my lips. I fell asleep that night feeling not so lonely in this big world.