Hide and Seek ● Tom Riddle

🇬🇧 ♦ 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟖 ♦

Melanie ran inside and waved at her mother without even saying anything. She wanted to already be in Tom's room, but her mother grabbed her by her coat.

"Melanie! What do we say?", Mrs Benningfield sighed.

"Good afternoon!"

"How was school?"

"Fine", Melanie rolled her eyes, "Can I visit Tom now?"

"Tom's got a visitor", her mother said mysteriously.

"A visitor?", Melanie's jaw dropped a little, "Someone from his family?"

"No"

"Someone wants to adopt him?!", she panicked.

She knew that it was mean but she didn't want anyone to adopt Tom. She didn't want to lose him.

"No, honey. Some strange man from a boarding school. They want to give him some kind of scholarship or something. I don't know"

"Alright, I'll wait then", Melanie nodded her head and sat by the table in the kitchen.

She was nervously tapping her fingers and watching people on the stairs through the open door. Finally, a strange man her mother was talking about came down. He whispered few things to Mrs Cole, gave Melanie a warm smile and left.

She immediately ran upstairs and opened the door to Tom's room. He was standing by the window and looking out of it with a solemn expression.

"Tommy!", she greeted him, "Who was he?!"

"A wizard", Tom answered seriously and turned around to face her.

"What?", Melanie giggled.

"I mean it. How was your science test?", he asked and closed the door behind her.

"It went fine... But what do you mean a wizard?"

"Turns out that... There are more children like me...", Tom tried to explain, "Special ones", he whispered, "Magicians. He said that my mother had been special, too"

"You've got to be kidding me, Tommy!"

"I am not. Of course you can't tell anyone about it. But there's a special boarding school for children like me and I'm going to attend it", he approached her.

"B-boarding school?", she asked and her voice shook a little, "But Tommy, I don't want you to leave me...", she was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not going to leave you. I'll be coming back for the summers"

"So I'll have you for three months a year?", she sniffed and hid her face in her hands, "Tom, please don't go"

"I have to. I don't belong here", he said.

"You'll forget about me"

"I won't", Tom hugged his crying friend, "I promise I won't"

"Maybe ask them if I can go there, too!"

"I doubt that, Mel", he chuckled.

"I know I'm not special, but... I can sweep the floors there or something!"

"You're funny, Melanie", Tom hugged her even tighter, "You're not made for sweeping the floors. You have to keep going to school here in London. One day you're going to be a journalist, remember? That's your biggest dream"

"I'm going to terribly miss you", she admitted and looked into his eyes.

"I know. I'm going to miss you as well. But I'm going to come back here every summer and tell you stories from my school", he promised and extended his pinky finger.

She locked hers with his and smiled through the tears.

"Tommy... Are you sure that man wasn't from some kind of an Asylum or something?", she lowered her voice, "Because if they lock you somewhere, don't worry. I'll rescue you", she whispered.

"No, he wasn't from an Asylum", Tom rolled his eyes, "But you're sweet, Mel", he took her glasses off and cleaned them using his shirt, "There you go", he placed them back on her nose.

"Thank you, Tommy", she sniffed.

"You can't tell anybody about my special school, though", he told her.

"I know"

"Don't cry anymore. We still have few months", he cheered her up, "Let's go outside"

"Fine", she nodded her head and they went out.

As always, the other children gave them nasty glares and whispered something behind their backs. Tom and Melanie didn't care about it. They had their favorite spot under the willow tree.

"Is she here?", Melanie asked him and sat on the grass.

"I'll try to find her", Tom started to search on the ground, "Ah, there she is", he handed her a small viper, "She missed you"

"Tell her that I missed her, too"

He hissed something to the viper and it crawled on Melanie's hand. She petted it and brought it closer to her face to place a gentle kiss on the viper's head.

"Be careful. I don't want your mom to see you with the snakes again. She's going to be angry at me like the previous time", Tom mumbled.

"Don't worry. She likes you just as much as me! She just doesn't know you like I do"

"She does? She likes me?", Tom asked surprised.

The Wool's Orphanage's patronesses didn't like him in general. They were scared of him.

"Yes, she does. My mom says that you're just misunderstood"

"Mhm"

"Oh, come on, Tommy! She doesn't mean anything bad"

"I know", he smiled at his friend, "I like your mom, too"

"But not more than me, right?", Melanie asked shyly.

"Of course not, Mel! I don't like anyone as much as you", he assured her.