Tom was curious. While Sophia was talking, he noticed her strange accent, and figured out that she wasn't around here. He had never heard an accent like hers, so he wasn't sure exactly where she was from. He figured that she must be from a neighboring country. She must be Spanish, he thought, with her skin color and hair. Or maybe she's from a totally different and far-off country, but her family lived somewhere else, like in France. But then, how did she end up here? He decided to ask. It couldn't hurt, and she seemed nice enough, nicer than the kids at the orphanage.
"You know, I haven't seen you around before. You also have a strange accent! Where are you from? How did you get here?" Tom asked.
"You could've asked that in a bit of a nice tone, you know," Sophia replied. "Demanding it like that makes me not want to tell you. And besides, I don't have a strange accent; you do." Sophia sounded offended. Did he sound rude and demanding? He wouldn't know. It's not like I actually talk to other people, he thought bitterly. They think I'm too freakish. They don't have manners either. She's being nice to me, so it wouldn't do to offend her.
"Sorry," Tom replied politely. "I was just really curious that you ended up here and I didn't even notice. And I beg to differ about the fact that I have a 'weird accent'."
"It's okay," Sophia said cheerfully. She then became a little bit serious. Tom wasn't surprised. She seems lost, he thought."Honestly, I don't know how I ended up here. I fell asleep in my own bed last night at home, and this morning, I woke up to find myself in one of the rooms with three other girls. I want to go home, because I'm pretty sure that I'm not an orphan, but I don't know where home is. Oh no! What if I really am... No! But that still wouldn't explain how I ended up here. I don't even know this place. I've never seen it in my city." What? How could that happen? She must be joking. It's the only logical explanation. But I doubt that she would joke about losing her family, and she really seems to miss them. She's confused. Yes, that's it.
"Where are you from?" Tom asked.
"Mayfield," Sophia replied. It sounded so... strange in a common way. It didn't sound horribly foreign like cities from other countries did.
"Where's Mayfield? I've never heard of it."
"It's a city in Ohio," Sophia said. Okay, he knew the states of surrounding countries a bit better, and he knew that there wasn't a place called Ohio in Britain, and once again, it didn't sound foreign like French, Spanish, or German cities might.
"Ohio?" Tom asked. He saw a look of disbelief cross her face, as if she couldn't believe that he wouldn't know where Ohio was.
"Hah! You're kidding! Okay, I'll go along with it. It's a state in the United States of America! And most normal people in the United States have accents like mine, so there!" She was from the United States? How did she end up here? Surely, she would've remembered if she and family had come to Britain for vacation, wouldn't she?
"What?" Tom practically yelled."Well, that explains your accent."
"My accent? You guys are the ones with strange accents! You guys sound like those prim, proper, uptight British!" Was this girl so foolish? Did she not realize that she was in Britain? Though I'm sure that she couldn't imagine that she randomly ended up across the Atlantic Ocean, so I shouldn't be hard on her. I'd think that I was crazy if I were in her place, so I can understand how she feels, Tom thought.
"You are in Britain! And get your science stuff out, science is about to start. Though this class is a bit of a joke. All of them are."
"You're joking!" Sophia whispered.
"I know how hard it is for you to believe this, but you must. Ask the teacher if you don't believe me."
Sophia asked the teacher, who was the same as the math teacher, and would be the same for all other subjects, what country was next to us.
"But surely you must know that Great Britain is an island! Or are you not smart enough to know that?" he sneered. Tom saw Sophia's eyes widen in shock, but she tried to hide it. The teacher didn't notice anything strange, though, and continued on with all of the lessons and classes for the day. When they were done, Sophia went up to Tom.
"How could this have happened? It's impossible! Not unless my parents flew to Britain and left me at a random orphanage, but I don't see why they would! I don't think we have money problems, and we were going to Nepal this winter, and my parents bought my ticket too and everything! I saw the ticket with my name on it! They wouldn't have done that if they planned on abandoning me?"
"Well, I'm sorry, I can't say," Tom said. "You seem to have appeared out of nowhere, and you'll have to get used to living here. Maybe you might end up back home the same way; you might fall asleep and wake up at home." Could it have been magic? Nah, Tom decided. And besides, why would she of all people end up here? She didn't seem to deserve such punishment. Not like he did, either. He was too special to be doomed to a place like this, but he was born here. She didn't deserve to be unceremoniously plucked from her happy life and dropped into this snake pit. "It's time for lunch, so I suppose you'll want to talk to some of the other kids, try to make friends?" For some reason, Tom hoped that she wouldn't. She was the closest thing to an intelligent person, and while he was yet to see if she was like other girls, he wanted to at least get to know her. It was possible that she was different. Before she could reply, though, they were shoved hard to the ground.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here," two greasy, grimy, older-looking kids replied. Tom knew them. They were Billy and his friend Adam. They were two bullies who just loved troubling Tom, pushing him around and beating him up. While they were the same age as him, they were bigger in size, and two against one were never good odds for the one. Tom looked to his left and saw Sophia's eyes widen.
"Why did you push us? We didn't do anything to you! If you push others around, that must mean that you want to be pushed around. That must be the way you want to be treated!" Billy leaned in and punched Sophia in the nose hard. Blood started spurting out. Sophia tried to hold back a yelp but failed.
"OWW!" She yelled. Tom was angry. Not only did they bully him around, they've started bullying Sophia around? So now anyone who wants to be around me has to suffer at the bullies' hands? He admired Sophia's courage, but supposed that she had never come across bullies. No one who knew what the bullies could do ever stood up to them. He didn't get much time to think of all of this, though, when Adam started punching Tom while Billy was beating up Sophia.
"We is your betters, little girl. It would do you good to respect us. And you shouldn't hang out with the little freak over there." Billy indicated with his head toward Tom. "If you know what's good for you."
"Why do you care so much? It shouldn't matter to you who I hang out with. You don't even know me. You're such losers, both of you, that you have no meaning and use for your life. You are so useless that you waste time bothering us, even though we did nothing." Tom realized by the huge breath Billy took that Sophia had just provoked him by responding. He tried to look at her and caught a glimpse of Sophia trying to claw Billy with her fingernails. "Let go!" she screamed, and Tom could hear the pain saturated in each word.
"What you lookin at boy?" Adam asked. Adam looked over there for a second and Tom used the distraction to bite on Adam's hand. Hard. Adam yelped, and Tom got up. He saw Billy beating up Sophia ferociously. He was suddenly overcome with anger. These bullies were picking on him for no reason, and he couldn't fight back, which was enough. To top things off, they were picking on Sophia. She didn't know how to handle it. She'd never had to suffer like this, and now was suffering for being kind to him. He wasn't the devil here, they were.
"They'll pay," Tom hissed. He glared at Adam and Billy, and just when he was about to try to attack them with his hands, there was a huge boom. Billy and Adam flew back in the air and landed very hard on their backs.
"Billy, let's get away from them. They're not worth the trouble, and who knows what else the little freak can do!" Adam yelled, scared. Billy nodded, and they ran off. Tom stood there in wonder. A voice broke him from his trance.
"Tom? What did you just do?"
Meanwhile, somewhere that no one knows about, Fate sat there, writing in his book. He noticed how Tom saved himself and Sophia from the bullies. "I knew that de-aging Sophia to 6-years-old, wiping her memories of her life beyond 6, sending her back in time, and putting her in Tom Marvolo Riddle's orphanage was a good idea. They'll become friends now. And if things work out the way I want them to, then Tom Riddle will make a better soul mate for Sophia than one she could've gotten in her time."
