No Pain, No Glory | Tomarry

4: Play the game

Tom Riddle will always - always - loathe Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. He cannot help it.

These are the two bland and utterly boring people that Harry chose that first day on the train. He chose them over him. Him! And what were they, in the end? Underdogs that Harry's empathetic nature chose to protect.

There you go, ladies and gentlemen.The psychological profiles of these two idiots.

Subject n. 1, Ronald B. Weasley:

♤ A poor boy with jealousy/ anger issues and inferiority complex, which he tries to mask under the attitude of being the 'funny' friend.

Subject n. 2, Hermione J. Granger:

♤ A girl - a mudblood- who tries to cover her social awkwardness and obsessive compulsive disorder by trying to be the best. Empasis on trying. (She will never reach his level. No even if she reads the total of the school library.)

He hadn't expected for a boy of mere eleven years old to be able to see under his carefully constructed facade. And yet he did. He was the only one that did. He also expected to see an arrogant boy who would show off his amazing ability for solely being the only person getting rid of the world of Grindelwald. And yet, exceeding his expectations, Harry Potter was no boastful celebrity, like the cocky ones he had seen on magazine interviews.

Tom wasn't a fool.

◇ He had seen the clothes that were a little too big for his underweight body.

♤ The glasses that were a little too old to even help him see properly.

♡ The looks towards lovely mothers with their children that were a little too hungry, as if wishing, for once, to be in the place of these kids instead. To discard all of the fame, if that meant he would get to have this.

Affection. That was all the Chosen One craved for. Tom's eleven year old self knew how to exploit that.

He had grown up in Wool's, after all. The orphans there were pathetic.
Every time a potential parent would come, they would do their best to look sad. Some of them would even cry and beg and scream for the couple - usually it was a couple - to take them away from there. The one useful thing they taught him was that every abandoned child hopes for two things: acceptance and recognition. So accepting he was.

When he met the boy with the too crooked glasses on the train, he offered to fix them.

"I know how it's like to own a few things. You treasure them as best as you can." He had said. "So there you go." With a flick of his finger - he didn't even need a wand - the glasses weren't damaged anymore. "Good as new."

The boy's eyes lit up on the spot. If only they could stay like that forever. "Thank you. I will definitely need to remember that one, they keep breaking. My name is Harry."

He dared to smile and it was real. Probably the first time. "Tom."

The even made a proper handshake. They kept talking about the wanders of magic. All was well.

And then these two happened.

"Hey, mate! Aren't you coming?"

"Ron! Be a bit more subtle!"

"Come on, we saved you a seat!"

Harry then apologized before bidding him goodbye and leaving. Leaving him.
Tom decided not to allow that to happen again.

__________

Once Tom got sorted into Slytherin, he understood one thing: if people see you as a villain, why disappoint them?