Always || Tom Riddle

School trip ~ Chapter three

I hurried down the hall to the breakfast room where there was one long Oak table with over sixty kids all sat side by side, all busy paying attention to each other's conversations. Many of them stopped what they were doing and stared, my gaze passed over numerous children before it landed on Lily, who sat sniggering with her group of friends as I passed them by. At the very end of the table, I found Tom sat quietly trying to make the best of what was a very poorly cooked porridge. "Hey!" I announced my arrival in a singsong voice; ever since Dumbledore had visited the Orphanage I felt I had a brighter future, that there was something better just around the corner waiting for us, as a result, I had found I was in a far better mood than how you would usually find me. Tom slid down the bench, making room for me to sit next to him, ignoring how when he moved, the rest of the kids on the bench moved even further away from him down the table. 

"I saved you a seat, I knew you would be down soon, and it's not like anyone else is going to want to sit next to me."Toms dark eyes glanced over each and every orphan that was gawping at him while taking another mouthful of porridge, just him looking at them sent them into a flustered state, and swiftly look back down at their food. I picked up my own wooden spoon and began stirring what I liked to call "the slop" around in the bowl, wrinkling my nose up in disgust, if the cook was trying to make us lose weight, her plan was working; a quick glance at the other children who were forcing the slop down with disgusted grimaces plastered on their faces would tell you that, although there were far more children who skipped breakfast altogether, pushing the bowl of porridge away from them in protest.

"I hope at Hogwarts they do better food than this"Tom smirked at me as I remained hesitant to even begin eating, simply stirring the badly cooked porridge around in the bowl, in an ever failing attempt to make it look at least like I was trying to eat it."It's not that bad today" Tom replied, taking pleasure from the scowl I sent him.I took one last glance at an overly pleased Tom before putting a spoonful of slop into my mouth, swallowing with great difficulty, and then coughing as my body tried to rid itself of the bad food, that with the war on was likely to be gone off; Tom mockingly patted my back as I regained myself."Ew, Tom how can you eat this. It's disgusting!" I said, all the while pouting down at the bowl of slop, using my spoon to pick the slop up, before letting it slowly drip back into the bowl 

"Act like its chocolate" He nodded his head to the bar of chocolate that one of the members of staff was discreetly eating, sighing loudly, I took another spoonful of the slop all the while trying to pretend it was chocolate, as I successfully began to grow closer to victory. And that was how I managed to finish the bowl of badly cooked porridge which tasted like a mixture of garbage and old socks had been thrown in for texture. "I still cant believe I finished that bowl of slop!"I remarked proudly to Tom, pulling my red coat on over my white dress. I was in my room getting ready for a trip to the seaside, as Tom sat on my bed playing idly with the dice, dressed and ready to go.

"Alright, does this look ok?"I asked turning away from the small dirty mirror, to Tom who looked me up and down, as though he was thinking hard about his answer before smiling and nodding. "Good, I don't need yet another reason for those stupid girls to call me a freak" I made for the door and Tom put the dice back onto my shelf, following after me as we proceeded to trail behind the stream of kids, walking out of the hallways down the stone staircase, and out into the cobble courtyard, enclosed by large black spiked metal fencing; whether it was to keep the orphans in or unwanted visitors out was debatable.

"Boys are to join the line on the right and girls on the left"Mrs Cole instructed, having to shout over the loud chatting and laughter, as the fold up steps from the buses were pulled down to the ground.I froze as I saw the group of girls that I had dreaded about all night, Lily Partridge and her gang, Tom must have picked up on my sudden stiffness, for he gently took my hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "Let me know if they do anything" He said as he let go of my hand and joined the boy's line, while I moved over to the back of the girl's line, trying to hide behind my brunette waves from Lily. Lily looked up from her friends and soon spotted me, but upon her eyes glancing over the crowd of boys and finding Tom already glaring at her, she swiftly turned back to her friends, her complexion turning much paler than before. Eventually, I managed to get onto the bus, I ended up at the far back of the bus, I could not have been happier, I was nowhere near Lily, and being sat by the door allowed me to get off the bus first, avoiding the large swarms of excited kids that all tried to get off of the bus at once.  

I watched out of the single glazed window as the tightly packed London buildings went out of sight, and we grew closer to the beach, eventually, we pulled to a stop, and the rush of everyone trying to clamber out of the bus at the same time began.Finally having fought my way out of the bus, I managed to spot Tom with some boys crowded round him, I slowed to a halt to figure out what they were doing, and overheard snippets of their cruel jokes at him, just as I had gathered the courage to stand up for him they ran away from him screaming, Tom turned to me triumphantly as I strolled beside him, making our way down the pebble beach as the waves crashed against the vast array of sharp rocks lining the shore. 

"Do you think we will ever get out of the orphanage?"I asked Tom as we sat down on a large rock outside of the entrance to a cave, as I glanced over to Mrs Cole happily talking to the other teachers. "I will make sure we will, even if I got the chance to get out I won't leave without you Clara I promise" A warm feeling of love and content rose within me, giving me hope that we were going to be in this together, I would always have a trusted friend to be by my side."Thank you, Tom" I replied just as two little orphans named Dennis and Amy happily skipped over to us.

"We are going to explore the cave, wanna come?"Amy chirped at us, brazenly wandering into the cave side by side with Dennis. "I don't see why not"I looked to Tom who stood and walked beside me as we followed them into the cave, the darkness swallowed us up. "I cant see a thing!"I grumbled under my breath to Tom who I thought was walking with me, but as I continued to feel my way through the darkness, I came to the realisation that no one was in front or behind me.

"That's just great!"I muttered to myself,  just as a high pitch scream echoed throughout the cave and cold air moved beside me, as someone who I guessed was Amy sprinted to the exit, shortly followed by Dennis, who wasted no time in escaping whatever they were running from by shoving me out of the way. "Tom?!" The air became dense and it started to become harder to breathe as I entered a deeper end of the cave. Stumbling on, afraid to trip on the jagged rocks if I I were to move too quickly, it was then that I heard hissing echoing around me, I followed the noise blindly walking deeper into the darkness until the hissing came again from what could only have been a few meters away, I froze holding my breath, waiting for whatever it was to pass.

"Do not move, she is only trying to find out who you are" Tom's voice broke through the silence, for which I could not have been more relieved. "How do you know the snake is a she?!" I  ferociously whispered, feeling braver now that I knew Tom was nearby. "She said!"Tom replied as a matter of factly; as if it was perfectly acceptable to be able to understand snakes."Has she found out who I am yet? I am scared, Tom, I don't like this!"

"Don't be, she will not harm you, you are not a threat to her"Tom replied in the darkness.I let out the breath which I had been holding, sighing in relief. I felt a warm hand grip onto mine, in a gesture that was supposed to reassure me, but only increased my fear; the hand was far too large to belong to Tom. "Don't go anywhere will you?" Tom said but he sounded different, as though he had aged all in the space of a minute. "What do you mean?!"I replied, more confused than ever, beginning to think that this was all a figment of my imagination due to having stayed in the cave for far too long."I don't like being lonely all the time" Tom replied and we heard the faint voice of Mrs Cole just outside the cave.

"Come on, we better go."I said and felt Tom let go of my hand, as we cautiously made our way back towards the entrance. "There you two are!"Mrs Cole exclaimed, sounding happy and relieved, but her forced relieved expression said otherwise. I was left wondering as I looked over at Tom who walked quietly beside me back to the buses, was being able to speak to snakes normal for someone like us?