Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated, JKR does. Happy?


Tom didn't like the orphanage.

At this very moment, he was lying, cowering in front of Billy Stubbs. He hated Billy Stubbs, he really hated him.

Stubbs was kicking him in the stomach. He hoped one of the nicer women at the orphanage would come. Not Mrs. Cole, because Mrs. Cole always took Billy's side, even if it was Tom who was lying on the floor, bleeding. Once, he'd had a broken arm, and he hadn't gotten any dinner for "provoking" the older boy, while Billy had gotten an extra helping of desert. All because he was, in Mrs. Cole's words, a Devil's child.

Well, if she wanted a Devil's child, she could have one.

If anyone would rescue him, would help him, he would have been really rather grateful. Anyone. It didn't matter who. Just that he wasn't in this place anylonger, where one had to fight to survive, and only the toughest came out alive. He spent hours day-dreaming of a place where there was peace, where you could actually be safe, and not just where you were left to the wolves to fend for yourself.

He had an inkling that such a place didn't exist, and if it did, it wasn't for him, but it was all he had, as he got another kick into the stomach.

He concentrated, and Billy was pushed back.

He made sure he stood upright, tall, as he walked away. One couldn't show weakness.

He'd show him. He'd show them all.

Now, the only thing he had to do was devise a plan to make sure Billy didn't bother him anymore.

Billy... he had a rabbit. Treated him better than Tom.

Tom didn't like the rabbit much. He would do - perfectly. That would definitely persuade Billy to pick on someone else.

A cruel smile formed on Tom's lips. Maybe he could even influence Billy on whom to pick. There were some people who liked to rip apart his homework...