THE MAGICIANS [t.r.]

FOUR

act one, chapter four
the child and the beast

IN WOOL'S ORPHANAGE, the children who died of inhalation or cholera were buried in the back yard. their papers were burned and their existence turned opalescent until it became transparent. the ravages of war were still visible in the eyes of those whose parents had been slaughtered in the trenches.

in the inter-war period there was no place for childhood, a term for more modern times. the children were nothing more than soldiers too weak to hold a rifle. every year, the British Army visited the orphanage and implanted its military propaganda in those delicate young minds, desperate for glory. Tom Riddle still remembers the lessons he learned there from the four horsemen of the apocalypse:

Death; a girl with crimson cheeks fell asleep under a willow tree, a winter storm awoke her as the rain soaked her clothes. she cried out but Mrs. Cole had closed all the windows and doors. the girl freezed to death and was buried in the yard. T̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶M̶r̶s̶.̶ ̶C̶o̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶b̶u̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶d̶u̶s̶k̶

Famine; during the war, anti-tank mines had been cultivated in the fields and the farms. there wasn't much food and the prices were too high. the children were fed once a day, if they were lucky. some children, the most skilled ones, killed street cats and sold them among the others for the right price. T̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶w̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶r̶a̶w̶

War; the soldiers came during summer, gave them clothes and fed them with stew. the orphans listened closely as the generals compared the devotion they felt towards the homeland to the love provided by a parent. after each visit, boys dreamt about becoming soldiers and girls looked forward being nurses. while they played, they made the shape of guns with their hands and pretended to kill one another in cold blood. T̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶w̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶r̶a̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶a̶t̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶e̶r̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶n̶a̶m̶e̶

Plague; many children were affected by tuberculosis, others by cholera. Mrs. Cole locked them up in the cellar and pretended they no longer existed. those who did not perish to the disease were eaten alive by the rats, those very few who survived became vile towards the gods who had abandoned them in the dark. T̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶y̶m̶p̶t̶o̶m̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶l̶e̶r̶a̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶e̶l̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶s̶l̶a̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶n̶a̶k̶e̶s̶