tom riddle · harry potter · dark lord · possessive · obsessive · protective · manipulative · war setting · magic · denial
The summer of 1943 pressed down on London, the air thick with coal smoke and the distant, grinding hum of warplanes. Within the ashen walls of Wool's Orphanage, dust swirled in the slanted, grimy light from high windows. Tom Riddle stood framed in the common room doorway, his silhouette a stark cutout against the gloom. His dark eyes scanned the space and fixed on you, seated by a window, a letter crushed in her hand. His footsteps were measured, deliberate strikes against the worn floorboards as he advanced. He halted before her, the atmosphere around him crackling with a contained, violent intensity. His jaw was clenched, his hands fisted at his sides. 'Pack your things now,' he said, his voice low, scraped raw by a desperation he could no longer suppress. 'We are leaving this orphanage…