Chapter 1
The Serpent in the Grass

He had just turned 7. Spending yet another year in the hell hole they called an orphanage. When he was younger he would hope and dream of his mother or father or some other unknown relation coming to take him away, those dreams died away fast. Watching other children come and go, he soon became carefree of the other children, not caring much of went on about the place. Often, when bored, he would use the other children for his amusement.
Tom Riddle was a peculiar boy, at least according to the matron, Mrs. Cole. Tom could sense that she, and all of the others, went out of her way to avoid him as much as possible. Not that this bothered Tom much, he actually preferred to be alone. Usually shut up in his room reading.
Would it really be another eleven years before he could leave this insufferable place he thought miserably as he stared blankly at a page he was no longer reading.
"Time to go children!" Mrs. Cole's voice rang out through the halls.
A thunderous sound of many running feet floated in from the hall as the other children ran to the front door to meet the matron before departing on their trip. Tom closed the book and placed it gently next to him as he swung his legs off the bed to follow the other children downstairs.
"Hurry up now Tom, the other children are already ready to go." Mrs. Cole said as she continued counting the heads of the children.
Continuing his slow decent down the stairs he was the last one out the door. He didn't enjoy the summer trips he and the other children were forced to go on. The other children were unbearable to be around with their constant chatter and singing. Tom much preferred to stare out the window of the van. Today, Mrs. Cole had informed them, they were to be going to a small village near the sea.
As the got closer to the village they could smell the sea air and see a cliff some ways from the road, past a large open field. The town had an old fashioned feel to it. There was one main road, not even paved, with small shops on either side. Peering in through the windows you could see a grocery store, another one had odd little trinkets and things, an ice cream parlour, and pub. But where they were going was at the end of the road, a farm.
Tom grew bored of the farm very fast. He didn't want to milk cows, feed chickens, or give pigs a wash. It seems the animals wanted nothing to do with Tom too. Whenever he approached an animal it would get distressed and try to get away. Chickens wouldn't go near him, he threw down the mix he was supposed to be feeding them and left the pen.
He began to wander around the farm on his own when he saw a movement in the tall grass behind a barn. Approaching warily, just as Tom got close enough to touch the grass, a black and white slithered its way out and raised itself up so it was eye level with Tom, who was crouching down, hand still outstretched.
Tom was frozen, he did not know whether this snake was poisonous or not. Slowly he began to back away.
"You don't need to be scared." A small voice said.
Tom looked curiously at the snake when it spoke again.
"That's right, I'm talking to you. I was drawn here to your presence."
"But how can I understand you?" Tom asked standing upright again.
"That I do not know, but very few can understand our language"
"What is your name?"
"I do not have a name, as a serpent we do not give our kin names, our names are derived from the families in which we are born."
"Where do you..." Toms sentence was cut short by Mrs. Cole's shriek.
A farm worker had walked up to Tom and began to gently pull him back. The snake still raised up, faced the intruder and started hissing. Back up the road outside the ice cream parlour Mrs. Cole was making sure Tom didn't get bit by the snake.
"It wasn't going to hurt me" he told her.
"You can't know that Tom, now let's get you kids some ice cream before we start back home."
Tom didn't want any ice cream. He was looking out towards the cliff. Two children appeared at either side, licking an ice cream cone. An idea occurred to him and an evil smirk appeared across his face.
"Do you want to get a closer look at the sea?"
"We'll be leaving soon." Amy said.
"It will only be a minute" Tom urged
"I don't know" replied Dennis.
"I wish for you to come have a look." Tom said. It was more of a commanding tone than anything.
Each nodded in turn, Tom whirled around and set off. Was it really that easy to get someone to do what he wanted, he thought as they walked. He thought at the very least he would have to persuade them a little more even taunt them to get them this far.
Looking down on the sea they could see the waves hitting the rock and splashing upwards, the mist could be felt on their faces. At some point along the cliff there was a break in rock wall, where instead of the water splashing against the cliff it was pushed into a cave. Pointing it out he began his decent, climbing down the rock. With hesitation the other two followed.
Glancing up every now and again he could see the other two were scared. A smirk appeared on his face, it was pleasure to see them scared about their wits. Finally they had reached the cave. It wasn't much just a small hole carved out of the cliff. Once back at the top of the cliff Tom faced the other two children in his commanding tone said "you will not tell anyone about this little adventure" Both nodded in fear.
Back in the town Mrs. Cole was frantically looking for the three missing children. They snuck in at the back of the of the group as the matron came around the corner with the same farm worker that had pulled Tom away from the snake. Spotting Tom and the other two children in the group she ran forward.
"Where have you been?"
Noting the panic in her eyes Tom pointed to the shop across the road with all the trinkets "we were just having a look around"
She looked at the other two for confirmation, they nodded but they were wide eyed and fearful.