A.N: Hi, sorry I originally had a story where Tom and Harriet were orphaned at the same orphanage but the storyline would just not fit to what I wanted it to be. I decided some things so that it is a little different but still the kind of the same. I want this to be a HP/TMR pairing but I am unsure if I should do a Fem!Harrry or not. Your feedback would be really useful.
This is unbetaed!
Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter
London July 31st 1934
The streets of London were bustling with people, cars, and buses and …. Children. You see, today was one of those of once in a lifetime days when the sun was completely out, promising a day filled with happy endings. The roads were filled with cheer as the children played outside with their skipping ropes, footballs, and homemade wagons. This glowing atmosphere did not however reach Tom Riddle as he sat alone in his bedroom watching all his peers playing joyously outside. Oh how he would have loved to join them in their small adventures but as soon as he set his foot outside the orphanage premise the matron will scold him and keep him in his room, at best. At worst…. Well he would rather not think about that.
Tom was different, he knew that, everyone kept telling him so. He personally didn't think there was anything wrong with being different but everyone else was afraid of different. The other children refused to play with him, or have any affiliations with him. Most refused to acknowledge him at any moment in the day. The others would call him names and push him around. The matron always turned away a blind eye towards his abuse. Even after she had found him bruised and bloodied after they had pushed Tom down the stairs. She nonchalantly patched him up and told him to stop being so clumsy.
The only time when he ever gets noticed, is when the adults come up for adoption. Tom observed the way that the people picked the children. They would choose not the smartest, or the strongest. No, they chose the ones that seemed the most contempt and happy in their environment. Tom at first was never picked because of the bleak atmosphere he outputted. However as the years passed he practised his smile and changed his mannerism to those of a 'happy' child.
There were many a times when he was so close to being adopted, so close from getting out of this hell hole. The adults brought his act and were about to sign the paperwork… until Mrs Cole comes an and intercedes them. She takes anyone that has any interest in adopting Tom into her office leaving Tom outside. The walls are thick but at times it leaks out a few words for the outside to hear. Words such as 'freak' and 'monster'. When they come out all of Tom's hopes of escaping the orphanage scamper away without once looking back. Then Mrs Cole always looks at Tom with the scrutiny as if she is the most disgusting thing she has ever seen in his life and orders him up into his room.
Tom absolutely detests his room, the sickly grey paint on the walls can be mistaken for green as mould slowly devours the wall. The floors are hardwood that has a habit of attacking Tom's feet with splinters and loose nails. The glass of the window has been broken, letting the shrewd winter wind trespass into the room and steal away the little heat he has. The bed is the noisiest resident, squeaking at the smallest movement as it carries a bag of rocks that one would call a mattress.
Tom never usually gave up, he would keep going but it seemed as if there was nothing really to live for anymore. There is nothing that he can do to live a normal life. All he wanted was to be cared for just by one person. For the first time in his life he prayed, prayed to whatever ethereal being there was in this universe. He prayed for a friend, or someone who would care that he was different, he prayed for someone who will stick by him till the very end. For the rest of the day he just sat there thinking about nothing until sleep consumed him taking him away from her this world into another.