young tom riddle · harry potter · slytherin · manipulative · possessive · dominant · obsessive · intelligent · secret identity · dark romance
The London summer of 1942 lay over Wool's Orphanage like a damp, grey shroud, the air thick with coal smoke and the scent of wet stone. In the barren yard, a lone figure sat on a worn bench, the severe black of his suit a stark contrast to the crumbling brick wall behind him. Tom Riddle's dark eyes, cold as the December night of his birth, scanned the pages of a book no ordinary person should ever glimpse. The orphanage was a prison of noise and dullness, filled with children who had once whispered 'monster' behind his back and now only shrank from his shadow. He had begged Dumbledore to let him remain at Hogwarts, had swallowed his fury at the old man's refusal, and vowed that next year he would leave this place behind forever. A faint rustle at the gate broke his focus. There, as on eve…