An Exquisite Pain

Injured Pride

Downstairs, Danielle and Riddle were greeted by at least fifty other glum, miserable faces sitting around a long wooden table. The orphans, who seemed to range in age from toddlers to teenagers, all stared at Danielle. She noticed with displeasure that they were all sporting the ugly gray tunic Amy Benson had been wearing. Except for Riddle, of course. What excuse had he made to get out of that?

"Here we are, Clara," Mrs Cole said, appearing out of nowhere to smooth down Danielle's clothes as if she were a baby. "I left a uniform in your wardrobe, but no matter," she muttered before clearing her throat. Children," she announced to the room at large, "This is Clara Ashford, and she will be staying here for the Christmas holidays. I hope you will all do your best to make her feel welcome."

There was a general mumble of "Good evening, Clara" but most of the orphans seemed more interested in the food a young woman was doling out onto their plates.

Danielle slipped into the nearest empty seat, between Amy Benson and another boy about her age with brown hair.

"Hi, Amy," she said to the girl, who was staring at her. "I'm Clara."

"I know," Amy replied. "Mrs Cole just told us."

Danielle blushed. "Er, so, how old are you?"

"I just turned sixteen," said Amy. She picked up her fork and stabbed a bit of food that somewhat resembled a potato.

"Interesting," said Danielle, looking down at the food on her own plate. "I'm not sixteen till April."

"Neither is Dennis," said Amy. She pointed at a blond boy sitting on her right. He looked over at Danielle, but his face showed no expression.

"What day were you born?" Danielle asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"April the thirteenth," Dennis said. His voice was unusually high-pitched for a boy.

"You're two days older than me then," Danielle said, smiling weakly. Dennis merely grunted and went back to eating.

Amy didn't seem to want to continue the conversation, so Danielle turned to the brown-haired boy on her other side. He raised his head when he felt Danielle's gaze on him. She felt a peculiar jolt when their eyes met. "Hello," he said politely. "I'm Billy Stubbs. I know who you are, don't worry," he said as Danielle opened her mouth. "Welcome to the worst place on Earth, or as you know it, Vauxhall Orphanage."

She couldn't help but laugh. "It's not that bad…"

"So, how'd you wind up here? Word has it you're at the asylum where Riddle goes," Billy continued. "We've all been taking bets on whether you're mad or not."

"Don't worry, I'm not mad in the least," Danielle assured him. "But Riddle…there's a different story."

"Tell me about it. Everyone here, even Mrs Cole, is scared of him. He's…odd. When I was little—" Billy stopped abruptly. Across the table, Riddle's gaze was fixed on them.

Danielle lowered her voice. "Tell me about it later, okay?"

"Sure thing." Billy smiled widely at her. Another tug on Danielle's heartstrings. Merlin. Was she attracted to a Muggle boy? It sure felt like it.

After dinner, Danielle followed the rest of the orphans to bring her plate into a tiny, overheated kitchen where they washed and dried the cutlery. "I feel like Oliver Twist," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Billy. That was a Muggle book, right?

Luckily, he laughed. "That's one of my favourite books. So is A Christmas Carol."

Danielle nodded. That was by the same author, right? She had fuzzy memories of the books sitting on her Muggle grandparents' shelf long ago…