Mary had never been her name. It slipped past the matron's and the other adults' lips but it was not her name.

She never considered it so.

It was so... mundane.

And she was anything but mundane.

She was brilliant, there was power in her dreams and desire, she was... great.

Well, not yet. She was still just an orphan among the many orphans of the world, abandoned, neglected, and meaningless in the end of the day. But she will be great.

If it was a drive or a prediction, she didn't know. Only that she had always acknowledged the inevitability of it (in another world she would've been born a boy, Tom, and he would leave a scar in the history, remembered for his power and cruelty in the centuries that would follow.

"...He Who Must Not Be Named did great things- terrible, yes, but great.").
_

She was four when she realised that she was different. And that being different wasn't something nice. Because people didn't understand her and people feared what they couldn't understand. And hated what they feared.

She could do things other couldn't. It was this separate sentience from her, humming and growing just beneath her skin. Making It do what she wanted wasn't so much as bending it to her will as convincing It to agree with her. No one else seemed to have It.

She never even considered denying It. Because as much as It wasn't her, It was still a part of her and young and precocious (still innocent, still pure), she couldn't find the sense in denying a part of you. It was literally like alienating your own hand.

It was also then that she realized that other people were stupid. And that unfortunately, 'other people' consisted of the rest of the world. She'd briefly contemplated making it her life's goal to grow up and become a hermit but that was quickly shot down because as much as people were stupid, they weren't entirely useless. They were funny in their inferiority at least, as they struggled and clawed for things that were clearly beyond their reach.

She was five and a half when she made her first friend. They met under the shade of the tree in a nearby park. With how barren and dry the ground was, she'd thought it miraculous that something like a tree was even able to grow.

Narin -she'd named him, because snakes never cared to name themselves- was an adder.

And it was from him that she learned of people like her. Capable of the same things she could do.

Well, except for talking to snakes. So it seemed even among her race (magicals, he firmly told her, because saying she was human was like saying that he was a mamba) she was still special.

(odd, different, special; it's really interchangeable)

Granted, being your typical adder, he was hardly invested in the Magical society's goings-on, and he saw their movements through different eyes, so she wisely accepted everything he said with a grain of salt.

Still, she was enamoured with the world he weaved with words, so different from the dreary and gray London she'd come to know. She spent the following years sneaking to the park every chance she got and listening to the stories of a snake.

Often, she would mimic some of the displays of magic her kin did that Narin would relay to her. And always, she would patiently wait for the time she would be welcomed to their -her- world.

And that time did come. In a rather... unconventional way.

She was seven when she was kidnapped.

'Stranger danger', was a phrase that had been pounded into every orphan's head -the resident heretic or not, Riddle had ears and the caregivers repeatedly warned the others enough times that even as removed as she was from the others, it had reached her.

He introduced himself as Haashin. His brown hair was combed to the side, his skin was tanned and rich, and he had a pair of keen hazel eyes.

If it was his real name, she wouldn't know. He walked up to her in one of her rendezvous with Narin -who'd immediately slithered away when they saw him-, introduced himself, and plucked her from the ground -all with a charming grin. She was so stunned her mind blanked.

Then, realizing that she was being kidnapped -in broad daylight in a public place- she began struggling; kicking, flailing her arms around, and even screaming.

"Oh, hush. No one's coming."

She was compelled to agree with him. No one had even glanced in their direction, undisturbed in their peaceful lives.

People couldn't be this stupid, could they? This was bordering the line of retarded, she thought incredulously.

(Or maybe people were just this cruel?)

"What...!"

"Oh, don't worry, they hadn't spontaneously gone deaf." She gave him the look that deserved, "It's just that as far as they're concerned, we don't even exist."

...What did that mean?

"Let me go."

He glanced down at her on his hip, an eyebrow raised. "More importantly, aren't you scared? You're a pretty little lady and I just kidnapped you. That deserves some kind of reaction right?"

"I do have a reaction! I'm angry! Now let! me! go!" She scratched at him and even tried to bite his arm. He pushed her head away.

Oh, she was terrified alright. She just tended to lash out when she was scared. It had always been like that, and it had never failed her before (darkened eyes of disdain burning the side of her head, someone pushing down her bowl, her dresses torn, her only doll eyeless and his stuffing gone, she snapped-).

Urgently, Riddle called on It. If no one was going to even try to save her then she'd just do it herself.

He clicked his tongue, halted in the middle of the street -the other people going around him like water around stone-, and looked down at her sternly.

"Dont even try that."

She jerked in alarm. Did he know?!

"Trust me little witch, you won't like what'll happen if you test me."

It simmered just at the edges of her reach. She let her hold of it go, heart pounding in her ears.

He smiled, "Good."

He did. He definitely knew.

Then that could only mean- "You're like me."

Of all the scenarios she'd thought up of when the time she'll finally get to meet another like her came, this -whatever this was anyways- didn't feature.

"I'm a boy and you're a girl, so no, I don't think so." He said humorously.

"Magic, I mean." When Narin -who'd hopefully stayed safe- told her of what they referred to It was, she'd thought it trite at first before deciding that it was probably the self-proclaimed human magicians who'd perverted the word into something ridiculous.

He hummed. It wasn't like she needed him to verbally agree anyways, there could only be one right answer.

She settled in his arms, watching their surroundings gradually change from familiar to foreign, the odd behaviour of those around them now understandable.

They stopped by a nondescript car and he secured her to the passenger's seat. He drove them outside of the city -she'd never been this far from the orphanage and it was both liberating and frightening. The ride was silent and lengthy, and before long, she'd succumbed to slumber.

There were trees everywhere she looked, so close together the leaves blotted out the light and giving the impression of independence from the rest of the world. There was a single overgrown road leading to a clearing deep in the forest where a lone cottage of wooden logs and brick red chimney stood.

"Why did you take me?"

Now that she'd calmed down from the initial excitement of finally, finally, having left that horrid place, there were certain things that were brought to her attention.

First of all was that there was no resemblance between them whatsoever that she was certain that he was no relative. Second, was that he may be a wizard, but he was still a stranger. She was almost embarrassed by the ease that he'd made her put her guard down.

Was she this desperate? she thought angrily to herself.

"I thought you might be useful. You're still young with an unstable core and yet the feats you're capable of are quite refined."

She nodded. That made sense.

As expected, even as little her education in magic was, she still surpassed the standard.

"Where are we?"

"... how to word it... Well, it's like we're in another world that's been linked to the main world."

"How was it made?" she asked in wonder.

He shrugged, "A combination of ancient runes and large scale magic. This belongs to my family."

"Ancient Runes? Large scale magic? What's that mean?"

She waited. And waited. And waited. He didn't answer.

He was ignoring her.

She had the inkling that he was only going to answer questions when he felt like it and she was never one to waste time on something she knew was futile anyways, so she turned her gaze towards the direction they were walking to. She squinted her eyes when movement caught her attention.

"What's that?"

No answer.

Standing by the door was a creature about her height. It was a bit gray, with big droopy ears that made her think of an elephant, a long pointed nose, and a pair of wide protruding eyes the size of tennis balls. It was dressed in rags that seemed to her like the very old remnants of a mouldy quilt.

So FYI, all these Mary Riddle/Tom Riddle transmigration gender benders are actually all really old dribbles I'm only now finding. There's still a lot where they came from, so sorry if there are repeated phrases (as I've noticed).

Also, wow. I was obsessed with fem!Tom (and just Tom in general) alright.