The Trigger

I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J.K Rowling.

Tom Marvolo Riddle closed the closet door as quick as he could, hoping that no noise would give his presence away.
He quickly cowered in the darkness, trying to hide himself with the brooms collecting dust in the corner. His pulse thundered in his ears as he tried to catch his breath, his blue eyes fearfully looking at the light seperating his hiding place from the hallway. He had realized long ago that the light was bad, that it always meant trouble. The light exposed him, made him vulnerable. In the dark, he could hide, he could be unseen and safe.

Tom suddenly noticed something was wrong. The silence. He could'nt hear the other boys searching for him anymore. He quietly approached the light to peek at the hallway. As soon as his eye came in contact with the wooden door,
his glance met with another. The door slammed open, hitting him and sending him on the floor. As he slowly started standing up and tried catching his breath, a blow to the ribs sent him on the floor again. He started sobbing helplessly, his already bruised body being hit again and again. He had lost count of the kicks when he fell into darkness.

The young boy woke up, noticing his head was in a small puddle of blood. He slowly attempted to lift himself off the dirty floor, but the sharp pain in his ribs sent him back to his position. A slight moan of pain escaped his lips as he finally succeeded in sitting down correctly. Tom quickly noticed the slice of bread and the dried fish beside him. He smiled a little. One of the maids, , had brought him food. He liked . She wasn't mean like all the other maids. She at least always made sure to give him some food. Tom quietly got out of the closet. He painfully stumbled to his room, knowing the other boys at the orphanage would at least leave him alone for the night. He slowly laid down on his hard cot, careful not to hurt the ribs he already felt were broken. He never understood why the other boys had always been so mean to him. He already had nothing. Contrarily to the other kids at the orphanage, he never had visitors. He didn't know anything about himself either. All he knew was that his mom died and that his dad had abandonned him.

The maids weren't much better. One night, when he was particularily hungry, he found himself being served twice as much food as usual. He happily ate, but the maids got angry when they realized his portion was bigger. They accused him of stealing food, which he honnestly hadn't done. The incident started hapenning more and more often. The other boys were all forced to give back food to the maids each time it hapenned and quickly started to hate Tom. He started to be beaten by other boys. One particularily rough night, tired of being mercilessly beaten by the kids who were all bigger and stronger then him, he hit one of the boys in the nose with a heavy paper holder that was nearby. Only Tom hadn't touched the paper holder. Liam, who had been hit by the paper holder, got up in anger and pinned Tom to the ground, chocking him. Defenseless, Tom gasped for air. Right when his eyes started being clouded by darkness, Liam fell off of him. Seizing the opportunity, Tom ran. He later learnt Liam had died during the fight.

The kids started being scared of Tom. They left him alone for a while, but the beatings quickly started again. Tom isolated himself in his room as often as he could, having for only companion a small snake he had found in a nearby creek.
He named the snake Nagini and talked to it day and night. He grew closer and closer to the snake, especially when he found out Nagini could protect him from the other children's violence. The beatings became more frequent and he continued isolating himself, often crying himself to sleep at night. On a field trip, while he was exploring a cave, two other boys found him He vainly tried to protect himself as they started hurting him, but his punches were nothing. He was again thrown to the ground and hit, when he instinctly touched the two kids' cheeks and screamed. As his scream echoed on the rock, he realized that he felt no pain at all anymore, but that the two bullies were now on the ground looked at his hands in awe. Maybe he could defend himself after all.

One particularily gloomy morning, Tom was sitting by his window observing the raindrops sliding down when he started overhearing a conversation down the stairs He recognized 's voice.

''I must admit to some confusion receiving your letter, Professor Dumbledore. In all the years Tom's been here, he's never once had a family visitor. There have been... incidents with the other children. Nasty things.''

Tom instinctively cringed. Was going to reveal all that had hapenned to him? And most important... Who was this visitor?

''Tom? You have a visitor'', he heard quietly say. Tom, suddenly scared, muttered a ''Go'' to the visitor as calmly as he could.

Tom: You're the doctor, aren't you? Visitor: No, I'm a professor. Tom: I don't believe you. She wants me looked at. They think I'm... different. Visitor: Well, perhaps they're right.

Tom suddenly felt the need to cry. He wasn't mad. He hadn't done anything. He just protected himself.

Tom: I'm not mad. Visitor: Hogwarts is not a place for mad people. Hogwarts is a school. A school of magic. You can do things can't you, Tom?
That other children can't. Tom Riddle: I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want without training them.
I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can make them hurt, if I want... Who are you? Visitor: Well, I'm like you, Tom. I'm different. Tom: Prove it.

The man looked to the side and Tom's wardrobe suddenly caught on fire, He stared calmly, feeling disbeleif inside. Was he normal after all?

Visitor: I think there's something in the wardrobe trying to get out, Tom.

Feeling like he had to obey the strangely powerful looking old man, Tom reached in his closet, grabbed the box at the bottom and dumped the contents on his bed as his wardrobe went back to it's original state. All his secrets were out now.

Visitor: Thievery is not tolerated at Hogwarts, Tom. At Hogwarts you will be taught not only how to use magic,
but how to control it. Do you understand me?

Good. The old man thaught he had stolen the knife and didn't think anything else of it. Tom wanted to keep the knife. Before,
he had considered the knife as a way out, when the beatings and his emotions worsened. Now, the knife reminded him of his past weaknesses. He didn't want to die. He wanted to prove them all wrong, everyone who had ever hurt him. He would prove them that one day, he would be able to defend himself. He would show them, one day, that pain hurts. He suddenly noticed Nagini crawling to go under the bed.

Tom: I can speak to snakes, too. They find me... whisper things. Is that normal, for someone like me?

The old man stopped walking away as he heard. Tom then realized that the old man was suprised, scared. And then, he understood. It wasn't normal. Even in a different world, with magic and wizards, he would never be normal. He would never be normal anywhere. He would never be happy anywhere. But neither would they. Someday, they would feel his pain.