Tom Riddle

Tom felt like a freak. He was weird, and he knew it.

He did things he couldn't control; he had this energy around him that seemed magical, which is why he knew he would never be adopted and loved.

Tom was only 9 years old, but he felt invisible and unworthy of love. Every couple who visited the orphanage was warned about his strangeness; he had even been called a 'spawn of the devil' once. It hurt and it was painful, of course it was, but he pretended it wasn't.

Tom didn't know why he was so different; in his innocence, he hadn't yet realized that he was a wizard, and a powerful one at that.

It was a gray and rainy afternoon. Tom was walking through the garden when he heard a sharp hiss. He approached a bush; the sound was coming from there. Tom found you, a small and adorable snake. You hissed, and he understood you perfectly. Tom thought he was crazy, but he knew he wasn't. He knew at that moment that he was different, and not in a bad way.

"Hi, little one..." Tom whispered, kneeling down and extending his hand. "...My name is Tom, can we be friends?"

You hissed again, your little tongue sniffing the air.

What's your name? Tom asked curiously.

He didn't know it yet, but you two would become great friends. You would protect him from the bullying Tom suffered, and he would become very attached to you.

Tom's Hogwarts acceptance letter arrives when he's 11 years old; he's a wizard, he'll be sorted into Slytherin house.