Oh, Ophelia | Tom Riddle

Summer

If she had gone to his school. If she had been in the church the Orphanage went to every sunday. If she herself had been in the Orphanage. Of course he wished none of this on her.

Living in London during the second world war was akin to living in hell. Constant bombing drills. Constant fear of a blitz of bombings.

But he still wondered what life might have been like if he'd met her, properly met her sooner. If he had given her a chance to speak to him when they were first years. What might have been a lifelong friendship.

Tom had a photographic memory, which is why he did so well in school. He remembered everything. Right down to a Hufflepuff with honey hair sitting next to him his first charms class. He remembered she was shy then but still sweet. She had introduced herself and smiled. She wanted to be his friend, because he seemed smart.

What might have life been like for him at Hogwarts had he accepted her offer of friendship instead of listening to what his dorm mates had to say about Hufflepuffs. He remembered when his knights had questioned him about the nature of his relationship with Ophelia. How he had to simmer it down to saying that she was just a piece of ass.

But she wasn't just a piece of ass. He greatly enjoyed her ass but that was beside the point.

The point was that he wanted to hold onto power and hold onto Ophelia for as long as he could.

Tom was called down to dinner he brought a book with him, he always did. He hated conversing with anyone else there. He despised the food served in the grim Orphanage. He reminded himself that he had a dessert this time. He looked at the potatoes before him. They were hardly even cooked.

He ate begrudgingly knowing to keep up his strength it was necessary. Billy Stubbs sat to his right, talking about god knows what with the other boys.

Usually it was a conquest. Which Tom found hard to believe thanks to Billy's lack of manners and muggle Londons hatred of premarital sex.

"What about you, Tom?" Asked Billy, turning to face him, Kieran Holloway day across from Billy and now faced Tom.

Tom looked up lazily from his copy of Hamlet. He marked his page with her golden ribbon, and looked at Billy.

"What about me, Billy?" He asked, his voice cold and domineering. Billy's chin trembled for a moment.

Before he spoke up again, "Have you ever scored some tail?"

"What gave you the impression we were friends?" Asked Tom, arching a perfect eyebrow at him.

Billy shook a little bit at Tom's tone.

"Come on, Tom, you're a bloke. It's not impossible that you've done it at that fancy school of yours." Said Kieran, who hadn't seemed to notice the shift in the room.

"Who's ribbon is that?" Asked Billy, and Tom put the book beside him out of Billy's view.

"None of your business." He sneered and suddenly Billy found himself gasping for air. As though an invisible force were choking him.

Tom ate a small amount of his food and left promptly. He prepared himself for bed.

He lay there And thought of her. Ophelia running up to him in the halls and kissing him. He enjoyed the way she held his hand. He enjoyed the trust she had placed in him.

Tom was never even remotely worried that she would stray. Most of the boys in the school knew she was 'Riddles girl.' Going near her would be a death sentence.

He saw red whenever he thought about how she had been attacked because of orders that he had given. He saw red whenever he pictured her with anyone else.