Italics represents flashbacks.

"Excuse me. Do you mind if I sit here?" Harry finally found a train compartment that wasn't crowded.

There was just a boy sitting in the corner of it. He turned his face towards Harry, their eyes meeting for a brief section before he turned his head back to gaze outside the window.

Although he did not answer, Harry took it as if he did not mind, and moved into the compartment.

Harry did not say anything, because it seems like the boy did not want to be bothered, due to the look on his face as he stared out of the window.

"Finally! A compartment that's not crowded!"

Harry turned to see a boy with bright orange hair at the door of the compartment.

The boy in the corner turned to glance at the boy for a brief second before turning back to examine the view outside the window. Harry did not get why he was so invested in looking outside. It was beautiful, but he considered the boy's behavior quite rude.

The orange haired boy sat on the seat next to the boy, but not particularly close.

"I'm Ron Weasley by the way." He stated.

"Harry Potter," Harry responded.

Ron's eyes widen and his hand rose to point at Harry's forehead.

"You're real?" The boy said obviously shocked.

"Yes. I guess so." Harry was baffled.

"Can I touch it?"

Harry gave Ron a dubious look.

"Your scar. It's ok if you say no." Ron cleared up.

"Oh no. Sure you can touch it." Harry stated while pulling his hair back from his forehead.

Ron's index finger was light and cool and it traces his scare once.

"Blimey. That was so cool!"

Harry realized that the boy in the corner was observing this strange interaction between Ron and himself. Apparently, Ron realized too because he suddenly asked, "Who you?"

Before the boy got the chance to answer, the compartment door slid open, and a girl with large, bushy hair was standing in the doorway.

"Have any of you saw Neville's toad?" She asked glancing between the three of them.

"Who?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Neville." She repeated, zooming in on Ron. "First year. Quite irresponsible."

Ron shook his head, followed by Harry. The girl stared pass them to the boy in the corner. Ron and Harry both looked at the boy too.

Under the pressure of their gazes, he managed to declare a clear, and strong "No.", then returned to look out the window.

The girl looks offended, but gathered herself and announced, "I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?"

She looked at Ron. Ron eyed her then replied, "Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter," Harry announced when Hermione looked at his expectantly. The was a look of awe on her face for a brief moment before it disappeared.

She looked over to the boy in the corner, who was still gazing out the window.

"Anyway if any of you see Neville's toad-"

Before she could finish, Ron yelped jumped up on the seat and pointed to the floor.

There was a toad. It croaked and then continued to leap further into the compartment.

There was running outside the compartment and as Harry turned to look at the door, there were three boys peering over Hermione's shoulders.

One of the boy gasps and covered his mouth has a squishing noise filled the compartment. Harry turned to see that the boy in the corner was now standing and as Harry looked down he could see that his shoe was compressing something. Only when the boy lifted his shoe, Harry could clearly make out the toad's outline compressed on the compartment floor.

"You should have told Dumbledore." Hermione advised.

They were all sitting in a train compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"I did. Dumbledore called me to his office after I came out of the Chamber." Harry stated.

"And he did not tell you anything? No possible explanation?"

"If he did, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," Tom said in a low voice.

"Maybe Dumbledore don't even have a clue," Ron interjected.

"It's Dumbledore, we are talking about here…" Hermione argued.

"He did say it was interesting," Harry explained.

"And that's all he said?"

"Yes."

Before they knew it the Hogwarts Express was arriving at King's Cross Station.

After the lot said their goodbyes, and promise each other to send letters during the summer, they parted.

Tom spotted Nancy as he moved closer to the exit. She waved half-reluctant to him. He did not return the wave.

"I thought I told you, you didn't need to pick me up."

"I thought it would be nice if I meet some of your friends," Nancy replied looking pass Tom into the crowd.

"Why would I introduce you to my friends?"

Tom spotted Hermione from the corner of his eyes, as her parents embraced her.

He wanted to get off there before she spotted him also.

Too late. Hermione was now pulling her parents in his direction.

"Mom. Dad. This is Tom."

"Ahh. Hermione speak so highly of you. Said that you were second in the entire second year."

"Second?"

"Yes, Second," Hermione confirmed, smiling at Tom.

Tom almost rolled his eyes.

"And you must be Mrs. Riddle." Mrs. Granger declared promptly.

Tom could see from the corner of his eyes that Nancy was staring at him dubiously.

After some brief seconds, Nancy smiled and replied, "Yes, I'm ."

As Nancy shook hands with Mrs. and Mr. Granger, she gleamed," It is so nice to finally meet you. Tom speaks so highly of your daughter."

That was a lie. The only time that Tom mentioned Hermione to Nancy was when she wouldn't stop pestering him to tell her about his first year at Hogwarts. The woman was obviously disillusive if she thought that interest in him would make him any nicer to her.

Tom couldn't like her; it wasn't a choice.

After a few minutes of Tom standing to the side, deeply annoyed, and Nancy and Mrs. Granger exchanging telephone numbers, the lot parted saying lingering goodbyes to each other.

Tom could now feel the lingering gaze of Nancy's bright greens eyes on him. Tom thought about how Nancy and he had no resemblance. That was quite stupid on the Grangers' part to assume that she was his mother.

Nancy leaned down, hand outstretched towards Tom's luggage, but Tom moved away from her, his gray eyes blazing.

She sighed lightly and regress her hands.

"You don't need to be so difficult," Nancy said in a low voice.

Tom did not budge. "Can't we just go?"

Nancy nodded her head slightly and turned to walk through the crowded station. Tom followed her closely, as Nancy keep looking back frequently to make sure that she did lose him.

The ride back to the orphanage was silent. Tom didn't even know how Nancy knew that today was his day back from Hogwarts. He definitely didn't tell her.

"So…you didn't tell…" Nancy started.

Tom's eyes meet hers in the mirror, but Nancy returned her eyes to the traffic in front of her, and lightly tapped her fingers on the staring wheel.

"It's not something you have to be ashamed of." She paused for a moment, her eyes still lingering on the traffic ahead. "It was not your fault."

By this point, Tom wished that she would just shut up.

They were stuck in traffic and Tom couldn't stand the thought of having to listen to her pitying him.

"I don't need your pity, nor do I want it." He tried to put as much bitterness in his voice as he could manage.

Tom saw Nancy glanced at him through the mirror, then heard her sigh.