Little Serpent

Just A Young Child

"You're so small~" A voice in the dark of the Wool Orphanage nursery cooed, the shadowy figure leaning over the crib of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. Skinny pale arms reached out and picked up the peacefully sleeping baby, holding him close to a young chest and rocking him back and forth in his arms. The baby opened his 10 month old eyes and blinked up at green eyes that glowed vibrantly in the dark.

"Good morning, Tom. My name is Harry. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with you." The darkly haired young adult proclaimed, nuzzling his face against the baby's. Little Tom cooed in response, reaching his hands up to grab at Harry's face. They giggled together before Harry placed Tom back in his crib, leaning over to let Tom play with his fingers.

"I'll be with you in one form to my other from sun up to sun down and around again, my darling." Harry promised, glancing up at the window as the beams of first morning light peeked through tree branches. And when Harry looked back at Tom, he was no longer human.

>-<

A loud shriek woke Tom, and he started to fuss, upset at the disturbance to his sleep.

"Ms. Cole! There's a snake in one of the babies' cribs!!" Squealed the nursery attendant, practically flying out of the room of startled and crying babies to get the matron.

"What a cowardly woman. Can't she see my form is a baby, too?" The small serpent hissed, jade green with patterns of black near and on his head. The snake turned to curl and play with Tom, hissing calmly and shushing the baby.

"There! See! That Fowl creature in Tom's cot!" The attendant cried, pointing sharply at Tom's crib. Ms. Cole grumbled at the shrieking woman who was waking all of the babies and marched over to peer into Tom's crib, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the tiny snake.

"The thing is tiny and harmless, Clarice. You could've dealt with this yourself." Ms. Cole huffed, reaching into the crib for the snake. The snake rose its head, hissing defensively while wrapping its tail around Tom's chubby arm. Tom subconsciously grabbed a hold of the snake, weary from his instinctual fear of predators. This action caused Ms. Cole to pause, and she huffed again.

"Fine then. Let the boy keep the snake. Maybe he'll crush it in his sleep, or the snake will end up eating him when it's bigger. Either way, it's one less mouth to feed." Ms. Cole said dismissively, turning and leaving the room quite easily.

"Oh, and shut up those other brats. Their screaming is giving me a headache." The matron snapped at the nursery attendant before finally fully leaving. Clarice looked around with thinly veiled horror. She's got a busy day today. And now a snake.