Prelude: December 1943

Amy Knight, formerly known as Amy Benson, had sworn she would never return to Wool's Orphanage. And yet, there she was, standing in front of the looming, desolate, brick structure. The warm coat her adopted parents had given her could could keep her from chills that ran down her spine at the sight of it.

"You don't have to do this." Her mother had said, giving her a gentle hug.

But Amy had shook her head, as stubborn as ever. There was no way her adopted parents, as lovely as they were, could ever truly understand. There was only one way to make the nightmares go away. She had to face the problem at its roots...even if that meant going back to the one place she had sworn she would never return.

Steeling herself, Amy walked down the long path that led to the front door. Nostalgia overwhelmed her senses, every step bringing back memories. 5 years. And yet the outside remained eerily unchanged. It was as if time had stood still for Wool's Orphanage and Amy was simply walking back into her old life, as if she had never left.

Amy stopped outside the door, listening to the faint sound of children yelling and chattering from within the walls. How many familiar faces would she even recognize?

Inhaling sharply, Amy raised a hand and knocked on the door. She waited for a moment, not hearing footsteps, and then knocked again. This time, she heard a child cry out and Mrs. Cole snap back at the child. Heavy footsteps approached the door and then the door opened. Amy stared up into the face of the woman she had thought she would never have to see again.

Mrs. Cole's eyes widened and then narrowed. "Amy Benson!?" She cried.

"Hi Mrs. Cole." She said.

"What in heaven's name are you doing here?" She asked, her bushy eyebrows furrowing together. "You haven't been abandoned again, have you?"

"No." Amy said quickly. "I just wanted to stop by and visit...if that's okay?"

Mrs. Cole's eyebrow's furrowed even more. "You want to visit? Child, who do you want to see? Dennis? He's moved out. Taken some kind of job at the local factory. Billy's gone too. Said he was going to go to university but I don't see how the lad could afford it. Molly was adopted 2 years ago - it's always the girls that get the placements. You're lucky you weren't born male, girl."

"Is Tom here?" Amy asked, bracing herself for the reaction that was sure to follow.

Sure enough, Mrs. Cole's expression went from confused to suspicious in less than a millisecond. "Tom? You want to speak to Tom Riddle?"

"Yes." Amy said, fighting to keep her voice from wavering. Every muscle in her body was telling her to run; leave before it was too late.

"And why on earth would you want to do that?" Mrs. Cole asked.

Amy took a deep breath and met Mrs. Cole's eyes. "It's nothing important." She said.

Mrs. Cole narrowed her eyes. "You came all the way back here to talk to a boy you haven't seen in 5 years and you say what you have to tell him instead even important? You're going to have to do better than that, girl, if you want me to let you in to see him."

Amy sighed. "Forget it then, it's fine." She said petulantly. "He's turning 17 in 2 days anyway. I'll talk to him then when you can no longer prevent me."

At this, Mrs. Cole's face reddened, a hint of her old fury returning. "Don't take that tone with me, girl-"

"I'm not your girl anymore." Amy said, her heart pounding even as a part of her was reveling in the vindictive thrill of the moment. "I can take whatever tone I like."

"Not on my property you can't!" Mrs. Cole exclaimed. "If you won't even show me the least amount of respect then you had better be going. This isn't your home anymore."

Amy took a step back, fury making her bold. "It never was." She said, turning her back on a still fuming Mrs. Cole.

Let her fume. Let her scream and rant and rage. She held no power over her anymore. She continued walking until she heard Mrs. Cole slam the door and then turned around, looking up at the rows of dusty windows. Three floors up, five to the right. That had been her room. And two to the left of that...

Amy bent down and picked up a rock and threw it, trying to hit the window she knew had belonged to Tom when she had lived in the orphanage. The rock missed and hit the side of the building. Undeterred, Amy tried another rock, this time succeeding at shattering the window to the right of Tom's. A child's scream came from within it and in a second, multiple windows were pulled open. Children of all ages stared down at her, their heads peaking out the windows and their noses pressed against the glass.

Amy raised a hand and waived, a smile breaking out across her face despite herself. Her smile faded as the front door reopened and a red-faced Mrs. Cole descended the steps.

"You will pay for that window young lady!" She screamed. "If you don't, I will call the police and you will see how you like being arrested for vandalism and destruction of property!"

Amy looked back up at the window she had hit and did a double take when she saw that all of the windows were intact. She looked back at Mrs. Cole, beyond confused until she saw the dark-haired teenage boy in the doorway behind her. Without having seen him in 5 years, still she could recognize him instantly. His demeanor and the look in his eyes alone was distinctive enough that she would know who he was even if it had been 100 years.

"What window?" Amy asked innocently, looking back up at the windows.

"What do you mean what window?" Mrs. Cole demanded. "Don't get smart with me! The one you threw a rock through-"

Mrs. Cole's voice trailed off as she took in the windows. Her eyebrows furrowed together for a moment before a dark look came over her face and she turned around. She caught sight of Tom in the doorway and her cheeks flushed with fury. Tom raised an eyebrow, looking almost amused by the matron's anger.

"I heard I had a visitor?" Tom asked, his eyes sliding past Mrs. Cole and landing on Amy.

Amy met his eyes and felt her heart do a little somersault. He was even more handsome now that he was older.

"You little..." She began and then trailed off, seeming to give up. "Make it quick." She snapped, shoving past Tom and disappearing into the building.

Amy couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as the matron disappeared. She walked back up to the front door and looked up at Tom. "When did you become so tall?" She asked.

Tom raised an eyebrow, his eyes colder than she remembered. "Why are you here Benson?"

"My name's not Benson." Amy said.

"Right, I suppose you have a new name from your new family now." He sneered.

"Not new." Amy said, crossing her arms. "It's been 5 years."

"Yes, yes, there's no need to show off." Tom said, waving his hand dismissively, and Amy remembered why she had always found Tom Riddle so infuriating.

"Can we go inside?" She asked, sharply. "I'm freezing out here."

"Fancy coat can't keep out the cold?" Tom mocked, and Amy glared at him.

"Jealous much?" She asked, taking the liberty of pushing past him into the orphanage.

Another wave of nostalgia hit as she entered the front room. She looked around herself, inhaling the familiar smell of mildew. "That smell..." She said.

Tom rolled his eyes and started up the stairs without waiting for her to follow.

Amy quickly kicked off her boots and followed him up the old wooden stairs. Every step was a memory, every crack in the wall and creak in the stairs familiar.

When they reached the top, Amy looked down the hallway that had once been hers. Tom did not stop to allow her to take in the moment so she followed him, her heart beating wildly in her chest as she took in the names on the doors. She recognized so very few. So much had changed in 5 years.

Tom stopped in front of his room and unlocked the door. She followed him in and closed the door behind them. Tom's room was nothing like it had been. It was now filled with things from Hogwarts. Piles of parchment and books covered the tables. Amy picked up a spellbook; flipping through the pages as bitterness poisoned her heart.

Tom snatched the book out of her hands, giving her a dirty look.

"What?" She snapped. "I can't even look at a spellbook?"

"Not that one." Tom said, shoving it into his desk and closing the drawer.

"Why? Is it dark magic or something?" Amy asked and Tom snorted.

"What do you know about dark magic?" He sneered.

"Enough to know it never ends well." She said, crossing her arms.

"Look are you going to tell me what you're here for or not?" Tom asked sharply.

Amy sighed, suddenly finding the words were hard to get out. "You know how I'm a squib?" She began slowly and Tom rolled his eyes.

"How could I forget?" He replied.

"And you remember how my parents abandoned me because of it?" She asked, and, this time, Tom did not react at all.

"Well I want to find them." She said.

Something flickered behind Tom's eyes. "No." He said, and Amy blinked.

"What do you mean no?" She asked.

Tom fixed her with a stare that sent shivers down her spine. "No, you're not going to find them, Benson." He said.

"Amy." She corrected, but he ignored her.

"You don't want to find them." He continued, seeming more upset by this than made sense. "You might think you want to but you don't."

"I'm pretty sure I want to." Amy said, becoming more irritated by the second.

"Why?" Tom snapped. "So you can accomplish what exactly? Hear them tell you that, yes, they did abandon you because you're a squib, and, no, they do not regret it in the slightest?"

Amy flinched but Tom went on. "Why would you give them the satisfaction of watching you crawl back to them? Don't you have any self respect?"

Amy's face flushed with anger. "I didn't come here to ask your opinion." She snapped. "I came to ask for your help."

Tom let out a bark of laughter. "Well that's a good joke." He sneered, turning his back on her to go arrange papers on his desk.

"So you aren't going to help me?" She asked.

"Help you do what exactly?" Tom asked, turning back to look at her.

"Help me find them." Amy said, and Tom gave her a cold look.

"No." He said, in a tone that brooked no disagreement.

"You're the only wizard I know." She begged, and Tom snorted.

"So this is why you came back." He sneered. "Charming."

"Well I guess it was a mistake." Amy snapped, crossing her arms once more and regarding him coldly.

"That it most certainly was." Tom agreed, turning his back on her once more.

Amy stood there, fuming as she stared at him. She watched his long pale fingers sift through the papers on the desk. He was packing. Already a trunk seemed ready to go in the corner. She couldn't imagine how terrible it would have been to have remained in this place all of this time. She had only spent two years in the orphanage and it had been enough to scar her for life.

"Where are you going to go?" She asked, curious despite the anger still coursing through her veins.

Tom froze, his back still to her.

"When you leave on your birthday." She said. "Where are you going to go?"

Tom turned back to face her, the look in his eyes sending shivers down her spine. "Home to the wizarding world." He said, and Amy got the feeling he was hoping this answer would hurt her. And the irritating thing was that it did. It hurt because she was the squib girl who would never belong - not in the wizarding world nor in the Muggle world. She was the girl destined always to float in the in-between spaces.

"But where specifically?" She asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Tom asked, his voice as sharp as a knife. "We're not going to see each other again after this. I don't want you coming to me asking favors because I'm the 'only wizard you know.'"

Amy swallowed the hurt that rose up in her chest at these words. Sure they had never been friends. Tom had never had friends at the orphanage. But he had never hated her either. Not the way he had hated the others.

"Right then." Amy said, fighting to hide the hurt from her voice. "Understood. I won't inconvenience you with my presence again."

"Marvelous." Tom said sardonically and Amy shot him one more poisonous look before turning and leaving, closing the door a little too hard on the way out.

She barely saw anything as she walked back down the hallway and staircase, fuming. She was busy pulling on her boots when Mrs. Cole's voice startled her out of her internal thunderstorm.

"Had a good visit?" She asked mockingly. "Charming boy, isn't he, that Tom."

"I wonder why that is." Amy mumbled under her breath, but Mrs. Cole heard it.

"What did you just say?" She snapped.

"I said I wonder where he learned his manners from." She repeated, loud and clear.

"Girl, I always tried to do right by you." Mrs. Cole said, glaring at her. "I tried to protect you from him. I know he did something to you and Dennis that day in the cave. He hurt you didn't he? You can tell me, you know."

Amy glared at the matron, her anger at Tom not enough to outweigh the anger these words invoked in her.

"We were just exploring. Nothing happened." She said, daring the woman to challenge her one for more.

Mrs. Cole stared at her, her clenched jaw pulsating slightly. "Why, after all this time, are you still covering up for him?" She asked.

Amy glanced up the stairs, willing to bet a million pounds that Tom was listening to this conversation. "I'm not."