A few weeks had passed since Tom had been visited by Dumbledore at the orphanage. All of Tom's thoughts circled around the information that he was given on his 11th birthday. He, Tom, was a wizard. If anything that further cemented his idea that he wasn't supposed to be here. The bullying had slightly lessened, not because the children had changed in their feelings towards Tom, no. But, because Tom has decided to be more active in honing his powers. He wasn't sure if he'd be seen as different at school because he's not coming from growing up in a magical home. Therefore, he actively practiced whatever he could, whenever he could, in the hopes that come September he wouldn't be seen as different from any of the other students he's bound to meet.
About a fortnight after the visit from Dumbledore the children that usually took to bullying Tom noticed his demeanor. That he wasn't as depressed looking as he used to be before his 11th birthday. They decided to do something about it. Thursday, January 13 Billy, Dennis, and Amy decided to strike against Tom. Walking back from Supper the three cornered Tom off the landing to the third floor, which holds the older children's rooms. Tom was about halfway down the corridor when he heard them.
"So, little Tommy is all by himself," Dennis teased walking up the corridor flanked by both Billy and Amy.
Tom turned to see Dennis and the others. Internally he flinched a little. Knowing that this wasn't going to turn out well for himself. Externally he just arched one of his eyebrows ever so slightly. "What is it that you want, Dennis?" asked Tom, trying to keep the weariness out of his voice. This was the last place he wanted to be at the moment. These three always spell trouble. They try to play themselves as a modern day Three Musketeers. But, Tom knows better. They're nothing but hateful bullies that just love to be in control. They use whatever means necessary to get their prey, meanwhile doing it in a way that the adults never seem to take notice.
"We felt it was due time for your comeuppance, Tom. You see, we don't like freaks." here, Billy spat the word freak as if it were a dirty word "We saw that old man that visited you a few weeks ago. Heard that you were going away to school in autumn. You see, we couldn't let you just leave without knowing your proper place here, Riddle." At this, the other two chuckled then sneered at the predicament that Tom found himself in.
Tom knew he was in for it. They were halfway down the corridor. There wasn't really anywhere for Tom to go. If he were to continue on, he could feasibly make it to his room before the other three. That was his plan. To turn and just hope to make it before the others firmly caught up with him. Of course, Tom's plan never came to be. The trio must've had this all thought out because whilst Tom was mentally working a way out of this predicament Billy and Dennis came up to flank him whilst Amy just grinned like a Cheshire cat.
"Ah, not so fast, Riddle." Amy practically purred something that caused an involuntary shiver down Tom's spine. "You didn't think you'd be able to just walk away from us. Did you?" Amy purred in a sweet but condescending voice.
Before Tom knew it, both of his arms were being held behind his back by Dennis and Billy. With Amy edging ever so closer. His eyes started darting around, trying to pinpoint their next step in the plan, or where he was even being led to. Suddenly, they were right in front of the abandoned storage closet. The one that even the maid didn't frequent often. As Amy opened up the door, Dennis had let go of him, giving all the control to Billy, as he searched for something to keep Tom quiet and restrict his movements. Moments later Billy returned with an old rag that he tied around Tom's mouth and some rope to tie him to the shelving unit bolted to the back of the closet.
As soon as they were done Billy turned around and winked at Tom. "See ya, Tommy. I wonder how long it'll take the matron to realize you're missing then how long it'll even take to find you. Good luck with that." With that, Billy and Dennis turned as one to walk out of the closet while Amy blew a kiss and skipped away. The door shut with a click and Tom was left tied to the shelf in a drafty cold cupboard. His paranoia turning to rage as he could hear the three merrily skipping back down the corridor.
An indiscriminate amount of time passed by. Tom could feel something building up inside himself. His rage at the trio coupled with his shame of actually being caught up by them ignited something deep within him. One second he was thinking about how long he'd be stuck in this ruddy old cupboard and wishing he could untie his hands from behind his back, and the next second the rope was suddenly lax. Tom blinked in surprise. He moved his arms to the front of himself and slowly rolled his wrists in circles followed by his shoulder blades to bring the feeling and blood flow back to them then undid the bloody cloth tied around his eyes. It was at this time that Tom had a thought, They will pay for how they treat me. Starting with Billy. With a flick of his hand and the narrowing of his eyes the door creaked open and Tom stalked out of the cupboard to his room.
Later that evening Tom lay in bed staring up at the giant crack that spiders out from the light fixture in the middle of the ceiling. Suddenly, his blue eyes came to life and a smirk graced his face. They are going to think twice before bullying me again if I have anything to say about it, Tom thought as he listened to the silence that permeated the orphanage at 3 in the morning.
Slowly Tom willed himself to creep down the corridor quietly, not quite realizing that in his current state that he had cast a silencing charm around his person. Ever so cautiously he crept four doors down to Billy's room, the dull light from further down the corridor filtering in through the crack to Billy's room, illuminating the sleeping boy and the cage on the desk where a white rabbit lay sleeping - ignorant of what will come of it in the coming moments. Knowing that the power in which he possess now is in fact magic, Tom willfully brings it forth to silently open the cage and bring the Rabbit out of it and into his hands. Before Tom is able to back out of the room Billy rolls over in his sleep towards the still calculative Tom, "Stupid, Tom. We got him good tonight. Let's see what he has to say when he's finally let out…." mumbles Billy in his sleep. Bringing forth the emotions bubbling up within him top makes the temperature drop in the room as he turns and stalks out cradling the rabbit in his arms.
Coming into the main hallway leading into the Dining room, there was an exposure of the rafters from the ceiling - it gave Tom the perfect idea for the rest of his plan. Glad that he decided to stop at the broom cupboard to pick up the rope that was used to tie him up he uses it to tie a noose around the neck of the white rabbit. Using the power he could feel escalating within his center he pushed it out and levitated poor Billy's rabbit and the noose all the way to the pieces of wood that made up the rafters. With deep concentration Tom tied the other end of the noose tightly around the rafter and pulled then simply turned and stalked back to the stairwell to him room, enraptured that he is finally getting Billy back for all the hell he's put him through over the years. Let's give Dennis and Amy a bit of quiet…..they'll never quite know what hit them. Thought Tom as he shut the door quietly with a flick of his wrist and climbed into bed and under the somewhat thin and scratchy blanket content with how the day ended.
The sun was shining just over the horizon and hitting Tom Riddle in the face. He started to wiggle around under the covers wanting to burrow down deeper to sleep. That is until he realized that it was indeed morning time. How could he forget about the escapades of last night? Like a shot, he jumped out of bed and started getting ready for the day. He could hear the others in their rooms starting to stir so, he waited until he heard the others, including the infamous trio, start to walk down to breakfast before he left his room. With a slight twinkle in his eyes and an arched eyebrow he thought to himself, I couldn't have planned it any better…
As the children were heading down to the Dining Room, Mrs. Cole and the rest of the staff were entering from the side door coming in from the kitchen proper. Therefore, they didn't see what would soon cause such a commotion in the coming moments. Like every morning, Mrs. Cole and the kitchen staff always bring the plates of food out to the center of the table for everybody to serve themselves. Just as Mrs. Cole had set down the tray with the pots of tea on the table, she heard a loud yell, followed by more shrieks and screaming coming from just outside the main door. Rushing into the hallway she would've never imagined what she came face to face with. Staring at her was the back end of little Billy Stubbs rabbit, with dead red eyes staring across the landing right into Billy's eyes.
"Who is responsible for this?" commanded Mrs. Cole in a voice that brooked no arguing. She looked out staring each child present in the eyes - a sharpness to not only her voice but her eyes as well - trying to see if any of them would be giving themselves away. After all, surely none of them could be that good at covering their expressions, she thought. She couldn't find a single one of the children giving themselves away. Although, she could see Billy Stubbs, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop having a non-verbal conversations with their eyes and hands.
Meanwhile, Tom Riddle was standing in the midst of the crowd of children. He kept his face, cool, calm and collected when Mrs. Cole was trying to discern which child was the perpetrator of this "crime". Of course, a child with the caliber such as Tom's wouldn't be caught out by an aging matron over something this small. He'd been honing these skills easily for the past 6 years at least.
"It was Tom, Ma'am!" The trio yelled at once. As one all of the students turn to look at Tom, whom had taken a look of pure confusion and horror at the sudden accusation.
Before any more accusations could be cast Mrs. Cole turned back to the trio and asked them why they felt that Tom is the one at fault. At once, each of the trio looked amongst each other and then down at their feet mumbling something incoherent to everybody around them. "Speak up, at once," Mrs. Cole demanded, her green eyes turning to the color of dark stone in frustration.
"No, Dennis! Keep your mouth shut!" Amy and Billy snapped, causing Mrs. Cole to raise an eyebrow at the scene the trio was currently causing.
"Dennis, answer me. Why would you three automatically assume that it was Tom that did such an evil thing?" Mrs. Cole snapped. She must've figured that this was the only way to get any of the children to cooperate and answer her inquiries.
"Last night we, Amy, Billy and Myself, cornered Tom and teased him a bit…" Dennis began, " then, weshovedhimandlockedhimintheclosetonthethirdfloorbeforelightsout." he rushed out in one breath. Dennis didn't dare look anybody in the eye, let alone Mrs. Cole. His breathing was ragged, and his hands were shaking by his sides.
"What was that? Say it again. We haven't been raising you to act in such a deplorable manner." replied Mrs. Cole.
Dennis took a long, deep calming breath in and let it out a bit shakily. "I said, Last night we, Amy, Billy and Myself, cornered Tom and teased him a bit. Then, we shoved him and locked him in the closet on the third floor before lights out. Billy didn't think he'd be able to get out on his own and that he'd be stuck there for quite some time before somebody had found him." Dennis refused to look up at Mrs. Cole or towards Billy and Amy. His shoulders were hunched over, and his hands were still shaking - as if he was expecting a blow at any moment.
"You three," she seemed to look around the crowd of children for a moment, "and you, too, Mr. Riddle will follow me to my office this instance. The rest of you, head into the dining room and have breakfast." With that, Mrs. Cole turned sharply and made her way down the hallway to her office. The four children walking right behind her. Three in a single horizontal line and one bringing up the rear.