Wool's Orphanage

A/N: I'm going to try my best to stay active with updates but I can't promise much regularity :(

The spinning slowly came to a halt and Hermione swayed for a few seconds before raising her head to take in her surroundings. Much to her surprise, her arrival in the middle of a cluttered street went completely unnoticed. Evidently, the time turner Dumbledore had thrown over her came with some kind of portkey imbued into it, as she stood in the streets of Blitz torn London instead of the cushy Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Hermione's eyes swelled with tears as she looked around, seeing children climbing through the rubble of the obliterated buildings looking for trinkets and valuable items. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself and alleviate the headache she could feel building in her temples, she marched onwards, remembering Harry saying Wool's was in Poplar. She gathered herself and slipped into an alleyway to transfigure her clothes into something more appropriate for an orphaned muggle in the 1940s.

What seemed like hours later, she found herself standing in front of looming iron gates, the rusted words above it spelling 'WOOL'S ORPHANAGE'. This is it, she thought to herself, time to enter the snake's den. She took in a deep breath and breathed out shakily, mentally preparing herself to be in the presence of a much younger and more handsome Dark Lord. Hermione pushed open the gates and walked with a confidence she definitely did not feel to the entryway, ringing the doorbell when she arrived at the peeling black door. It looked absolutely miserable. A tired but kindly looking woman who seemed to be in her early 40s opened the door to her.

"And who might you be?" she asked in a very direct manner.

"My name is Mia, ma'am, Mia Smith." This was it. "Hmm. Mrs Cole. What do you want then?" the older woman asked, clearly impatient to get back to whatever business she had been attending to prior to opening the door to Hermione.

"Please, ma'am, Mrs Cole, I am an orphan, I just arrived here from France and I was wandering for hours until I stumbled upon your establishment, I really need somewhere to stay, I have no money and no home..." The tears that began to leak out of Hermione's eyes were not altogether fake, she had been fighting to keep them away, but as soon as she spoke the idea that this was the reality for her now hit her like a ton of bricks. Mrs Cole's face softened as she looked upon the crying girl, and she wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders, ushering her into the surprisingly clean corridor.

"I'm afraid we don't have much space, but I'm sure I can squeeze you in, dear," Mrs Cole started, looking concentrated as she led Hermione down the hall. "Ah, we have an extra bed in young Mister Riddle's room, he's an odd duck that one, but hopefully he won't bother you, he's not once had any inclinations towards the girls in the area, so I am sure it shall be fine..." she trailed off, looking very unsure of the situation, but given that everybody refused to share a room with Tom, this was the only extra bed.

"Thank you, Mrs Cole."

"Alright dear, this is the one." The matron stated as they reached the end of the corridor and stood facing room 26. "I'll ask one of the girls to bring you an outfit or two, dear, it's not much but it's more than you have now." and with that, she rapped her knuckles on the door.

"Yes?" a voice called from within the room.

"Open up Mister Riddle, you have a new roommate."

The door swung open at an alarming speed and quite possibly the most handsome boy Hermione had ever set her eyes on stood and observed her in the doorway, an unimpressed expression spreading across his face momentarily before it was drawn up into a blank mask.

"Alright" was all he had to say on the matter, and he took a step back, allowing Hermione to enter the rather depressing looking room. The walls were a pale grey and a simple oak wardrobe sat in the corner of the room settled opposite what appeared to be Tom's bed, an empty bed lay on the other side of the room.

"Mia Smith." she said, holding her hand out for him to shake. He didn't. "I don't care who you are or why you're here just stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours." Well then. Hermione thought to herself. Isn't he a ray of fucking sunshine. Then she supposed he mustn't have very much to be cheerful about. Clearly, she was in for a rough time of it.

A/N: So, they meet! The chapters will start to get a bit longer soon, I'm just trying to set up the story at the moment. Please leave reviews and let me know what you think!