Tom Riddle Imagines

Childhood Best Friends

Pre Hogwarts Era

A little girl, no older than 5 stood in front of the rusty gates of Wool's orphanage. The ancient building looked like it could collapse with a strong enough gust of wind. To Y/n, the place looked dark and scary, making her clutch her tatty old teddy bear closer to her chest. It was the only reminder she had of her home, if you could even call it that.

Her mother had died after giving birth, and her father had blamed her for it ever since. She didn't understand his emotions, how could she? But a 3 year old child can comprehend pain, both physical and emotional and the daily beatings she'd recieve would scar her forever.

Each night, she'd dream of a castle where she'd get to learn and be happy, a place of wonderous magic. And then she'd see him, a boy abandodned just like her, who desperately needed a friend, and despite his cold behaviour, she'd befriend him and protect him from those trying to do him harm. 

The day after her 4th birthday, her father had introduced her to her new mother, and if her life hadn't been a living hell before, it had certainly become hell over the past year. Her stepmother was far worse than her father.

She'd pretend to be nice, to care for the girl, but she'd stay silent whilst her father beat her. Afterwards, she'd blame Y/n for making Daddy angry and would yell at her before giving her a beating of her own and then starving the girl of dinner. When she turned 5, they gave up.

They called up the orphanage and kicked her out, burning any reminders they had of her in the house. She cried for hours on end, but was soon silenced by the social worker who had smacked her round the head, making her thoughts fuzzy.

The social  worker had dropped her off at the orphanage's gates and disappeared into the winter night. The girl shivered as a gust of wind brushed her face, and with all her force pushed open the iron gates and stumbled up to the wooden doors. She knocked twice and waited, believing that this place couldn't be worse than her home, but boy was she going to be proven wrong. 

*****

It had been 3 weeks since Y/n arrived at the orphanage, and she'd kept to herself to avoid being picked on by the other children. She broke out of her silence however, when she rounded the corner after lunch in the 'dining room' and saw a crowd of children beating a boy on the ground.

She remembered her 'home' and instantly marched up to the crowd, pulling one of the boys off him. "Leave him alone!" she shouted as loud as she possibly could. "Awwh Tom, you have a girlfriend!" the boy taunted, shoving her. The rest of the boys started circling her, making fun of her.

She tried to calm down a bit, until one of the boys snatched up her teddy from her pocket. "Oh, whats this?" one of the older boys asked mockingly, dangling the stuffed bear above her head. 

She tried reaching for it, but one of the boys from behind kicked the back of her legs, and she fell down, tears pooling in her eyes. "Awwh is baby boo gonna cwy?" the eldest asked, cackling as he pulled out a pair of scissors and snatched her bear from the other boy's hands. "no, please! give him back!" she pleaded, her eyes widening as he raised the scissors.

He simply laughed in her face as he cut the bear's head off. The tears pooling in her eyes before were now falling down her face in heavy streams, and the boys laughed before running off, taking her bear with them. 

She stopped for a minute when she noticed the boy that was getting beat up, slowly stand from the floor. "Are you alright?" she asked, wiping her tears. "I'm fine. You should've just minded your own business and then your bear wouldn't have been beheaded" he muttered coldly before pushing past the girl. Y/n was shocked at his words, and locked herself in her bedroom for the rest of the day. 

*****

The next day, Y/n was woken by the sound of screaming. She bolted upright, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and ran out to see what all the commotion was about. The sight that she saw shocked her. The boy who cut her bear yesterday, was stood in the hall, a dead rabbit in his hands.

He was wailing like crazy, and for a moment she felt bad, but then her eyes met Tom's and when she recalled what they had done to him she brushed away the guilt. She only wished she knew who did it so she could thank them.