disclaimer i don't own Harry Potter? no me gusta.

warnings possible slash in later chapters. Most likely TRHP.
rating may change in the future.
this is not beta-ed.

Chapter One

Each room in the orphanage was built to accommodate the needs of at least two people. The room's were all coloured a dull gray, fitting the colour scheme of the whole orphanage. The only source of light available in each room was a small light bulb hanging on from the ceiling in the centre of the room, and a small window that lay opposite to the door. Each room had a clock, a wardrobe, a desk, a chair and in most cases, two to three beds. In Tom's case, before Harry Evans had arrived at least, there was only one bed. Tom had his own room since no one had been willing to share with him.

He remembered about it being something about the other children not wanting to be anywhere near him, and so he wondered why the case was different with Evans.

"You'll be taking that bed." Tom drawled to Evans as they entered a small room, pointing towards a bed that had a small suitcase on top of it. Earlier that day he had wondered why there was another bed in his room, but had never gotten a chance to question the matrons on it. Evans' bed had been pushed into a corner, and looked as if it hadn't been used in ages. It probably hadn't.

"Erm. Okay. Thanks, Tom." Evans said, nodding gratefully at him. Tom hummed in response, and made his way towards his own bed. He took out a book and began reading, every once in a while shifting his gaze towards Evans, who was busy unpacking his things.

Tom frowned at him. He didn't like sharing anything, not even when what he was supposed to share wasn't even his. He wondered briefly if perhaps he scared Evans enough, the boy would go to Mrs. Cole and complain to her about wanting to change rooms. That wouldn't work out well, though. Mrs. Cole had left Evans in his care, which meant that no harm as to come on to him, unless Tom wanted to get punished. And Tom didn't like getting punished - it made him feel weak, and pathetic.

But Tom supposed he wouldn't mind much if Evans didn't disturb him.

-x-

Both Harry and Tom rarely ever talked to each other, despite staying in the same room. They spoke to the other only to exchange small greetings, such as 'hello's' and 'good mornings' and the like, out of courtesy over everything else. Sometimes they discussed school work as well. But never just for the sake of it. Harry had tried, of course, at first to chat up Tom, but the boy always ended up ignored. So it came as a shock, albeit a pleasant one, when she saw the both of them talking together a week later after Harry had moved in.

She smiled contentedly, satisfied that the two were becoming friends, and hoped that neither got into trouble together.

It was mid-day. The sky was clear, the weather nice, and overall it was a perfect day to go outside. And as Mrs. Cole wanted the children to get some sun, instead of causing a ruckus and making a mess inside the orphanage, the orphans were practically thrown outside while she watched them from inside her office, finishing up her paperwork for the month.

-x-

"Tom?" Tom jumped, turning around to glare at whoever disturbed his chat. "What?" Tom hissed, making sure that he switched languages to English. "I was wondering what you were doing." The boy asked, curious, though for some inane reason, Tom suspected that the boy knew, in fact, what he was doing.

"None of your business," Tom frowned, looking at the boy that had disturbed him; and as it turned out, it was his room mate. Tom realized that he hadn't spoken to him in quite awhile, not that he often did.

"Masssster, who iss the boy?" Tom glanced back at the garden snake he had been talking to, before Evans had disturbed them. Tom hissed out a quiet command for the snake to be silent, and to leave for now. He also added for the snake to return to him soon, once he took care of the boy. The snake, if it was even possible, snorted as if it was offended. But it obeyed nonetheless, and slithered away.

"If you'll excuse me, thanks a lot for disturbing me." Tom hissed the last part out, glaring at Evans, who was frowning. But as Tom stood up, patted the dirt off his pants, and walked away, he could of sworn that he heard Evans hiss back a reply.

"Whatever."

His voice had been barely audible, and Tom had almost missed it. But he didn't, and although when he turned back Evans was already gone, Tom knew then that there was something different about his seemingly innocent room mate.

-x-

"Psst. Dennis. Dennis!" Denis Bishop jumped, startled at the sound of his name being said so harshly. He turned around, and met the gaze of a rather jumpy looking Harry Evans. "Harry?" Dennis said, looking confused. Harry smiled sheepishly at him, and tugged Dennis's arm from the hem of his sleeve.

"Come on!" Harry urged, pulling Dennis towards a small storage room. Dennis followed him behind Harry, wondering what the younger boy was doing.

Harry closed the door behind him, and stared at Dennis, who suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. There was something Dennis couldn't quite place with Harry Evans; he reminded Dennis of Riddle at times, but at others, he was the complete opposite of him. And it confused him. "What do you need me for, Harry?" He asked curiously, watching as Harry fidgeted nervously in front of him.

"Dennis, you've been here longer than I have, right?" Harry asked, and Dennis nodded. He'd been at the orphanage for five years, but why would Harry be asking him that?

"Yeah. Why?"

"I need to ask- to ask you something."

"What do you need? Do you need help with something? Is there something troubling you?" Dennis asked, but Harry shook his head.

"Actually, its about Tom. Tom Riddle." Harry said, and Dennis visibly flinched. Well, no surprises there. Riddle was, to put it simply, scary. And Harry - the poor guy - shared a room with him. And though as much as Dennis wanted to help Harry, Riddle was just too freaky. He wouldn't even of lasted a day in Harry's position. Dennis had used to mess with Riddle a few times when they were kids, though that had proved to be a wrong move on his part.

"Sorry, Harry, I can't-" Dennis began, but Harry interrupted him.

"I'm not asking for help." Harry said, waving both of his arms in a gesture that said 'no'. "Just questions."

Dennis gave him the oddest look he could manage. "Questions? I suppose that's fine." He said, then reconsidered his words. "But what if Riddle overhears us? He doesn't like people talking behind his back, you know." He stated nervously, glancing around the room as if Riddle would appear magically out of nowhere. And he wouldn't be surprised if he actually did.

Harry grinned cheekily at him. "Don't worry - Tom's outside reading a book. I checked."

Dennis blinked. "Oh. Okay. What do you want to ask, then?"

"Well. Tom is... How do I say this? Strange, yeah. I wanted to, you know, know more about him." Harry paused. "So what do you know of him?"

"Know of him?" He said, and looked around the room again to make sure that no one was eavesdropping or spying them. You can never be too sure, especially with Riddle. "You're not going to tell this to anyone, right? Especially not Riddle."

Harry looked strangely at him. "Of course not."

"Okay, good." Dennis said, sighing in relief. "Well. All I know is that he's been here, like, forever. He likes books. And, erm, he doesn't eat as much as the others. He's quiet, and doesn't like to talk with the others much. We don't know much about him, not really. That's it, I guess." Dennis said, shrugging.

"That's... it? That's all? Are you sure?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah." Dennis said, nodding.

"That can't be it. Come on, Dennis." Harry pleaded, using the best puppy-dog look he was able to muster.

Dennis faltered, wanting to look at anything but the boy standing in front of him right now. And Tom, he didn't want to look at him. "Please - don't push this. I... I'm not allowed to say, if he finds out, I'll-"

"He won't." Harry reassured, pushing him to continue.

"You promise you won't tell anyone, right?" Dennis said, fear evident in his voice.

"No," Harry shook his head. "Promise."

"If he finds out I said this..." Dennis sighed, rubbing his neck. "He does things. Y-you know what I mean, right?"

"I think I do." Harry said, not exactly knowing what Dennis meant. "He does strange things, I guess."

"Yeah." He nodded. "What I'm trying to say is that- well. The things he does. Its not normal."

"What do you mean?"

"Most of us are scared of him. Especially the younger kids. Even some of the older kids are too. He doesn't do much to us, unless we start first. But... what he does is..." He faltered for a moment, before continuing. "When he does the things he does- its scary." Dennis shuddered, remembering a particular memory he didn't want to remember. "Things break, and he's nowhere near them. He can make things move without even touching them, its... I don't know!" Dennis growled, and Harry stared at him, never having seen the boy like this before.

"Listen, Harry. You shouldn't hang out around him much. Don't go about questioning about him, either. He'll know if you do. I told you, he doesn't like people talking behind his back. And he has a way of knowing, well, everything." Dennis warned, frowning. "Try to not be on his bad side. Don't make him angry. Ignore him, if you can. We all do, most of us do. If you ignore him, he'll ignore you. That's the way it goes."

Dennis glanced back at the door that stood behind him, and took a step backwards. "I should get going soon. See ya, Harry." Dennis exited the room before Harry could speak up.

-x-

"Tom?" Tom was hit by a strong sense of deja vu. He recognized that voice, though he deeply wondered what Evans of all people was doing out of bed so late at night. Perhaps he had been to noisy and woken him up? Evans was a light sleeper. That much he knew. But Tom had been extra quiet when sneaking out, he had made sure of that. Tom turned swiftly around on his heels, eyeing the messy haired boy suspiciously.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Tom asked, and Evans shrugged.

"I could ask the same thing about you." He countered, taking a cautious step forward.

"I couldn't sleep." Tom said, wondering why he wasn't just ignoring Evans instead of making small talk. "What's your excuse?"

"I couldn't either." Evans said, and Tom nodded, unable to bring himself to care.

Tom didn't reply after that, choosing instead to be silent. For a few more minutes, the only noises being made were paced breathing, and the occasional awkward shuffling of feet from Evans. Another minute later Evans spoke, seemingly uncomfortable in the silence. "I've seen how the other kids look at you, you know." Tom glanced at him, wondering what Evans was saying. Oh, he knew what he was talking about, of course, but not why he was bringing the subject up. "They're afraid. Because you do things to them."

"Do I?" Tom questioned, arching an amused eyebrow.

"Yeah. You do." Evans snapped back irritatedly. "You do things to them - that's why they're so afraid of you." Evans paused. "You hurt them. They're scared of you. But I'm guessing you already knew that?" When Tom didn't reply, he continued. "I'm worried."

Tom blinked in surprise. "Worried?" He repeated, looking sceptically at him. "About them?"

Evans looked at him strangely. "No. Well, yes. But... Not just them."

"And who else, then?" Tom asked, leaning forward.

"You, of course." Evans said, frowning. "Who else?"

"Me?" Tom asked, sounding doubtful. He asked him again. "Why?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Evans retorted. "I've seen what you do, Tom. I'm not afraid." Evans said, taking a daring step forward.

"What have I done?"

"You hurt the other kids!" Evans hissed.

"Do I?" Tom said again, glaring at Evans.

"Yes. And you don't scare me." Evans said, though he looked like he was.

"Why not?"

"Because-" He faltered.

"Because?" Tom urged him, wondering what he was going to say. Because he was evil and would be brought to justice? Please.

"Sometimes, it happens to me too." He sighed out. Tom blinked, the answer he was given was unexpected. "When I get really mad. I don't do it often - not as often as you, but it happens. Sometimes, things happen. To me... And to them."

"I'm not following." Tom said, but it was an obvious lie.

Evans didn't seem to notice, since his head was bowed, looking at the ground below him. "Once, at my old school, some older kids were chasing me. I was running away from them, and I was cornered into an alley. They were closing in, and I remember thinking that I wanted to get away from them... and then all of a sudden I did, I was on the roof. I didn't know how I got there." Evans shrugged.

"That's all?" Tom said, clearly disappointed. He had done that too, once. Scared the wits out of the Benson girl. He smirked at the memory.

"No." Evans said, and Tom's interest was peaked again. "I broke a window once, too. I was nowhere near it. I was fighting with one of the kids, and I remember being angry at him - and all of a sudden, the window breaks." He frowned. "I get scared whenever those things happened. It isn't normal for anyone to do that." He looked up expectantly at Tom. "You are too, aren't you?"

Tom barely refrained himself from laughing at the boy. Scared? Him? No. He wasn't scared. He wasn't naive or moral like Evans was, he didn't care that he hurt people. Not any more. He wasn't scared of whatever he did, of course he wasn't. At first he might of; but that was only natural. And even then he was more piqued by what he did than scared.

After some experiments, and continual use, he began to use whatever it was that he did for his own gains, on a regular basis. People feared him now. They didn't bother him any more, and Tom liked it that way. The other kids did whatever he wanted them to do, without - or with almost no - complaint. And most of the matrons left him alone, too.

"No." Tom said finally. "There's no point in being afraid, after all."

"But its not normal!" Evans protested, quite loudly. Tom threw him a glare, reminding him that they weren't in their rooms, where at least there they wouldn't be heard, but in the open hallways where someone could find them. And worse case scenario, it would be Mrs. Cole. They weren't even supposed to be having this conversation, especially not after curfew. Evans frowned, mumbled a small apology, and continued in lighter volume. "And... You hurt people. The adults say that we shouldn't hurt other people. Its bad."

Tom pursed his lips, beginning to find Evans' naivety starting to become more annoying than it was amusing. "Hurting other people is bad? And you believe them?"

Evans looked bewildered. "What? Of course I do. Its bad to hurt others!"

Tom snorted. "There is no good or bad, Evans." He snarled, walking past Evans as he made his way back to their room."I- or we, as much as I loathe to admit, have a power that none of the others have. If what you were saying actually did happen, of course."

Tom stopped abruptly in his tracks, startling Evans who had been following close behind him. "We have a special kind of power, and guess what? They don't. Don't you see? We are above them. They are the ones that should be afraid of us. Not the other way around."

Evans opened his mouth, getting ready to argue with him. Well, he would of, had not Tom interrupted him before he could let out a sound. "There is only power, Evans, and those too weak to seek it." Tom said with finality, and entered their room, heading towards his bed.

Evans followed him inside, closing the door shut behind them as quickly and as silently as he could. Tom covered himself in blankets, resting his head on his pillow, ignoring Evans for the mean time, and promptly fell asleep.

-x-

Harry frowned. He would continue his discussion with Tom tomorrow, then. The boy yawned as he made his way towards his bed. Harry plopped himself ungracefully onto the bed, pulling the fluffy blanket over his shoulder. What Tom had said made him think, though. Perhaps... Perhaps he was right. That he- they- were special, and the other kids weren't. But that didn't give Tom an excuse to treat others like they were below him! Right?

Harry needed to think more about this.

a/n em. thanks for all who added this... thing to their alerts/fav's. And to those who reviewed. ;; o u o
I want more though. Reviews, I mean. they make me feel better 'bout myself. /shot.

Anyway, last chapter was more prologue than anything, so i changed it into one :I
as in i edited the 'chapter one' part. problam?
Anyway, longer chapter this time c:
I am writing the next chapter as you read this.

Will update soon, hopefully!

whenever a review isn't made, draco becomes more of a queer than he usually is. :I
nawp im joking!