O r p h a n ● Tom Riddle [Harry Potter Fanfiction]

➋ Deux - Found, but never lost.

The woman who answered the door just frowned and sighed at the sight of me. She quickly ushered me inside, slamming the door as soon as both my brown boots hit the old wooden floor.

“Got another one!” she yelled into a small desk area where a guard was seated, reading his newspaper. He snorted in what seemed like disgust, and walked over to unlock the dark brown door ahead of me, which the woman, again, ushered me through.

There was the obvious flight of stairs directly in front of me and I could see two separate corridors to my left and right with various other doors (dark brown, dark brown!). The floors were made of dark wood and the walls had a depressing paneling of a greyish blue with the same dark wood as the floor on the bottom half. There wasn’t much furniture except for the odd chair or couch that seemed to be randomly placed throughout the corridors. The walls to my left and right held frames of pictures with whom I assumed were the many children and staff that inhabited this ‘humble abode’.

They all looked dull.

This entire place was dull.

What only added a bit of liveliness to the place was the sound of children playing outside… outside? Perhaps this place had a playground, or a courtyard of sorts….

I was, at least, a bit hopeful.

The woman began to usher me up the flight of stairs, and then down the hall to the right.

More doors. More depressing….

We stopped at the door right at the very end. The woman opened said door and shoved me through (yet again!), stating that she’ll be back, slamming the door, and then rushing off elsewhere.

I sighed. I was glad they at least didn't try to take anything from me, but I'd at least thought she’d try to get my name.

“Just like that”

I walked over to the bed. This would be my room from now on… This dull, grey, and dark room with it’s single barred window. Maybe I’ll be able to at least put up some of my drawings… I hope mother packed some crayons and paper into my bag… or maybe there will be some I could find here.

Unpacking my bag, the first thing I pulled out was the book, it was leather bound, and had a beautiful engraving of a golden rose on it’s spine. Pretty. I needed to keep it safe and hidden, but for now I laid it down on the bed.

There wasn’t anything else in my bag.

That was it.

The book.

*****

The bed wasn’t as comfortable as the one I usually slept in at home, but then again, comfort obviously wasn’t this orphanages’ forte to begin with.

The woman had come back a few minutes after I hid the book under a loose floorboard beneath my bed. She’d finally asked me for my name, but didn’t care for much about anything else I had to say. I didn’t mind, they were mostly lies.