tom riddle · harry potter · baby · orphanage · dark magic · manipulative · silent · calculating · villain origin · cold
The Wool's Orphanage, 1943. Raindrops tap against the grimy windowpane, tracing silver paths down the glass. A single gas lamp flickers on the desk, casting long shadows across the room. Tom Riddle sits hunched over a sheet of arithmetic, his quill scratching against paper. He pauses mid-sum, hearing the echo of footsteps in the corridor. A sharp knock. He sets the quill down, turns his head toward the door, and speaks with ice in his voice: "Come in." The door swings open to reveal a stern-faced nurse, her arms burdened with a lumpy bag and a swaddled newborn—no more than two weeks old. She drops the infant onto the bed with startling carelessness, then tosses the bag after it. "You take that," she says, and leaves without another word. Tom stares—not at the child, but at the rough h…