AU: Tom and Harry are in Wool's Orphanage at the same time.
History may hate us, but they'll never forget our names.
How wonderful; how strange. To be loved by something that hates all else.
Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, b...
*Trigger Warning: Mentions of Suicide. Skip to the first scene break to avoid it.*
Narrator's POV
Mr. Wool was old man who had faced many tragedies in his life: all of his five children had died, his wife had left him, he lost his brother in World War One —though to him it was just the Great War— and he had lost his eye to the same explosion that took his brother.
After the war and his recovery, he built the orphanage since that had been his younger brother's dream before death.
Walking into said orphanage in the fall of 1927, he walked past the playing children and found Mrs. Cole —his assistant— in the nursery.
"Hello, Mr. Wool." Mrs. Cole greeted, rocking the youngest orphan
This little one was found on the porch a month ago with a note:
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Inside the nursery, there were only five children: one girl and four boys.
The oldest of the bunch, Tom Riddle, watched Harry with curiosity in his eyes.
Mr. Wool made sure to stay away from the blue-eyed one year old, he gave him the creeps —his entire story did.
Mr. Wool could remember the cold winters night on December 31, 1926 when he and the staff were waiting for the new year to cheer for.
When suddenly they could hear a pounding in the orphanage's doors.
He answered the door himself that night and was met with a young woman no older older than twenty that had stringy black hair, crossed eyes, and was heavily pregnant.
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Mrs. Cole rushed up behind him and brought the woman inside from the bitter cold.
Within minutes this mystery woman went into labor and the female staff helped her with her delivery.
And twenty minutes before the clock struck midnight for the new year, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
"He looks just like his father." The woman smiled, holding her baby
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"What will you name him?" Mrs. Cole asked
"Tom after his father and Marvolo after my father. Tom Marvolo Riddle, I like the sound of it." The woman chuckled
And just seconds before the twelfth clock chimed at midnight, the woman died and she was buried in the nearby cemetery in the morning.
"Can you watch Harry for a little while? I need to check on the older children." Mrs. Cole said, knocking him out of his memory
"Sure." Mr. Wool replied, taking the baby from her
Right after the door closed behind Mrs. Cole, Harry began to cry.
No matter what funny face he did, bottle he offered or diaper change, the baby would not stop crying.
Finally hitting his breaking point, Mr. Wool spat, "Shut up, you little brat!"
From behind him, Tom scowled at the man, even as a one year old he could tell the words weren't nice.
Unknown to all, Tom's magic flared and went to the old man's head and Mrs. Cole returned, took Harry back, and set him on the floor next to Tom.
Almost immediately, Harry crawled to be as close to Tom as he could and the older child held him close to hug him.
Mrs. Cole laughed, "They've become quite fond of each other."
Mr. Wool didn't reply and went into his office.
As soon as the door closed and he sat at his desk, the magic that had laid dormant in his head sprung to life.
It flashed every painful moment in his life on a nonstop loop and he didn't even notice himself pulling the gun from out of the drawer and putting it into his mouth until he shot it.
Hearing the gunshot, Mrs. Cole ran to the room and saw the body of her employer.
Mr. Wool was buried the very next day.
***
In the Summer of 1932, the recently turned five-year-old Harry Potter played tag with several other children in the small field that Wool's Orphanage owned.
Tom sat against the brick wall, content with watching his best-friend play the chasing game with several others.
Running around the field happily, Harry was being chased by Eric Whalley who was it.
As he caught up to Harry, Eric promptly pushed the much smaller Harry to the ground, "You're it!"
"OW!" Harry shouted in pain, tears beginning to form as he pushed himself up
Tom's blood boiled when he saw that Harry's elbows and knees had been scraped by the older boy.
Hurrying to his friend's side, Tom helped Harry up and got inside to treat his wounds.
That night at dinner, Tom saw red when he sat across from Eric.
Looking back to Harry —who had several bandages on his large scrapes— rage filled him, but outwardly he was calm.
Unknown to the blue-eyed boy, his magic was worming itself into the Muggle's head, messing with Eric's brain.
Late that night, Mrs. Cole would need to call the asylum since Eric Whalley had gone insane.
***
After all didn't Mrs. Cole say there had been incidents with the other children?
And Tom's magic seems to be extremely protective over Harry, even before they started dating...
