The rest of Tommy's stay at the orphanage flew by. He finally understood what it must feel like to the orphans who were soon to be adopted; knowing that finally you were going to experience something else out there. Naturally, however, in his last week he suddenly gained a fondness for everything about St. Elizabeth's, and he often found himself staring wistfully at cracks in the wood or the initials carved into the beds.

And then there was Ethan. Tommy was particularly good at sensing people's moods, and Ethan was particularly bad at being subtle. Any mention of Tommy's departure brought a scowl to his face, which was replaced far too late with a pained smile. When he allowed himself to think about it, Tommy realized that his best friend would have trouble adjusting to living in the orphanage without him. Ethan was an incredible friend, and could often be downright hilarious, but the truth was he needed someone like Tommy to balance him out and talk him out of his ridiculous ideas that were bound to end in a detention.

This pre-departure homesickness was almost enough to make Tommy change his mind about going. Almost. 'But,' he thought as he lay awake in his bed one night, 'I have to remember who I am. I'm a wizard. This is my chance to become somebody; this is my only chance to follow my ambitions. If I don't do this, I'll probably end up on the streets, like half the people that leave St. Elizabeth's.' He felt relieved, and some of the guilt lifted from his chest. His last waking thought before he surrendered to his dreams was 'And I can't forget how much I hate this place.'

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It was the morning that Tommy was due to leave for Hogwarts. The other children had been told yesterday that he was going to an exclusive boarding school, a story they swallowed because Tommy was so smart. His train left at 10:07, so that he would get to King's Cross before eleven. He hadn't seen his best friend all morning, and it wouldn't have surprised him if Ethan had gone off pouting and refused to say goodbye. So, he latched his trunk and went out the back door to find him.

Predictably, Ethan was sitting by the Oak tree, a place where they sat and did schoolwork often. This confirmed Tommy's belief that he wanted to be found, but didn't want to look like he was giving in and supporting Tommy's decision.

"Hey," said Tommy, sitting down next to him, "I know you're angry with me, but I can't leave without saying goodbye." Ethan grunted. He was the most stubborn person Tommy knew.

Once, a teacher had held him after class for having cut a girl's pigtails off. The girl had been picking on Tommy for being small, and Ethan was always the type to defend people's honor. The teacher had told him repeatedly to apologize, but Ethan refused each time, and the punishments piled up. That was just the way he was.

"Tommy, will you promise me something?" Tommy looked up from his reverie and nodded. Ethan took a deep breath and continued: "It's no secret that you're going to succeed. You're smart, and have magical powers, and- wait, let me finish. I'm fit to do what? I'm no good at school, and I'm not like those rich kids who don't need to have anything in their heads to get a good job. Life's just not fair, and I'm always going to have a disadvantage. Just promise me, that no matter how different we become, you'll always stay in touch."

Tommy opened his mouth to argue, but he knew enough about the way things worked, that this very well might be true. He sniffed, trying vainly to pretend he wasn't on the verge of tears.

"I promise," he said. "I'm really going to miss you. But I'll write as often as possible, and I'll tell you about everything so that you think you're there. And I'm going to come back for Christmas, all right?" He glanced at his watch and realized that he should head to the train station with the headmistress if he wanted to catch his train. "I gotta go," he finished apologetically.

Trying not to cry, he hugged his friend, who made a valiant attempt to smile, although it ended up a grimace. He went back into the orphanage, reminding himself of how much he hated the place, grabbed his bags, and walked resolutely out the door. Headmistress Hettlebaum was waiting for him, and it wasn't until Tommy had struggled for two blocks with his trunk that she grudgingly took one end. It was a gloomy day out, but Tommy preferred clouds to sunshine because he had sensitive skin.

When they arrived at the train station, a conductor came and loaded his trunk onto the train. He imagined the trunk popping open, and the look on the man's face as jars of potions ingredients, foreign coins, and other magical items were scattered across the platform. Thankfully, this didn't happen, and Tommy made it onto the train a few minutes early. The Headmistress handed him a paper sack with a sandwich and mushy apple, before saying goodbye and warning him of how much trouble he'd be in if "that school writes to tell us you're causing problems." She left, muttering about how bad Ethan would be without Tommy to keep him in line.

The train was fairly empty, although there were a few people scattered about the car with briefcases, going to work. The ordinariness of it all struck Tommy; none of these people had any idea that later today, Tommy would be learning magic. Finally, the train screeched to a halt at King's Cross, and he saw as he got off that he was at platform 18.

He grabbed a cart and heaved his trunk onto it. When he finally arrived at platform's 9 and 10, his face was red and his sweaty hair was in his eyes. Suddenly, it struck him how ridiculous this all was. He was about to run through the solid barrier between the platforms. Wouldn't somebody see? Then, he remembered something Og had said, about how Muggles were "frighteningly unobservant" and wouldn't recognize magic if it bit them in the nose.

His watch read five minutes to eleven, so he had best do it now. He waited for a break in the flow of people, and then casually pushed his cart towards the barrier. He sped up until he was running, and his instincts were screaming for him to stop, but he was out of control. 'This is going to hurt.' He thought, and tensed up for the crash, but just as Og had said, he went through the barrier as if it wasn't there. He gasped, as he saw the scene playing out before him.

A large scarlet steam-engine was stopped on the tracks, and people were everywhere. He headed slowly to the train, picking up snippets of conversations as he passed. A tall boy was rolling his eyes as his parents gave him last minute instructions.

"Remind your brother to think smart thoughts before the sorting, so he gets in Ravenclaw. And if he tells us you've been picking on him, you'll have another thing coming."

Nearby, a boy with curly blonde hair was looking at his feet as his mother talked to him.

"Now sweetie," she said, "it's ok if you're nervous!" He sniffled.

"I'm not nervous mom. I-I'm fine. Stop p-p ester-"he burst into tears and hugged his mother.

Once he managed to get his trunk onto the train, his next challenge was to find a place to sit. He weaved through the aisles, since the first few cars were packed, and made his way to the back of the train, where the younger-looking children were sitting. He heard frogs croaking and the constant shrieking of birds, and even a few sounds that he had never heard muggle animals make. Finally, he found a relatively empty compartment and collapsed into a seat.

The other two occupants looked to be about eleven. One had bright red hair, more freckles than Tommy had ever seen, and had a look of awe on his face as his friend showed him his brand-new chess set. The other boy was short, around his height, and looked friendly enough. They noticed him watching, and beckoned him over.

"Hello," said the red-head, "are you a first year too?" Tommy nodded, relieved that he hadn't ended up sitting with seventh-years. "I'm Chester Weasley, and this is Myron Malcow."

"Er-hi," said Tommy, suddenly nervous. "I'm Tommy Riddle. Do you two know a lot about Hogwarts?" The grin on Chester Weasley's face doubled.

"Oh, I know everything about it! I have three older brothers; one's already graduated, one's in sixth year, and the other's in third year. I also have a younger brother, but he's not old enough to go." Myron Malcow smiled.

"My dad's a wizard, but my mom's a muggle. We leave down the road from the Weasleys, though, so I've been around magic a lot. I'm an only child. What about you."

Tommy had always been slightly embarrassed about telling people he was an orphan. He hated the looks of pity, or often disdain, on people's faces. He knew it was wrong, but the lie came out before he could stop himself.

"I'm an only child too. Both my parents are muggles." His two companions looked at each other, and preceded to tell him everything they knew about Hogwarts. He learned that the History of Magic professor suffered from short-term memory loss, so that if you left right away while he was yelling at you, he would completely forget about the incident. He learned that behind the painting of the Henry the Hopeless in one of the common rooms, there was a crack in the wall that let you see into the fourth year girls dormitory. He hadn't even noticed that the train had left, until he looked out the window to see gentle hills and fields whizzing by.

At one point, the two boys left to go visit Chester's brothers, and Tommy took the opportunity to begin a letter to Ethan:

Dear Ethan,

I've only been on the train for a couple hours, but I have nothing to do so I guess I'll just write you now. How's Linda? If you haven't had a real conversation with her by the time I come home for Christmas, you'd better watch out. I met a couple of kids my age on the train, and one of them reminds me a lot of you! He taught me all kinds of ways to sneak around the school and play pranks on teachers, which I know would be the first thing you would learn. Anyway, I'll send this letter (by OWL!) when I have a little more to say.

He left the letter unfinished in his trunk, before he lay back and stared out the window. Despite the wave of excitement that washed over him everytime he realized where he was going, he managed to fall asleep.

A/N: If you're reading this, please review!!!! I wrote this last chapter months after I wrote the others, so if there're continuity problems, I apologize! Toodleoo, have a nice day! (Also, thanks to the people that reviewed the first four chapters! You made me happy!)