Chapter 2

"Tom, go to your room and get dressed," Mrs Cook said. "We are going to the zoo. Ah...no arguments, Tom," she added when she saw the Tom was about to protest.

With a resigned look on his face, Tom started to dress up. "Its going to be so boring over there," he muttered to himself. Just then, the door swung open and the hulking figure of Dennis stood there, casting a dark shadow in Tom's room. Tom turned and faced his nemesis.

"What is it?" Tom asked, without a trace of fear in his voice even though Dennis was twice his size. "Come to take something?"

Dennis smirked. "What are you muttering under your breath, Riddle?" he asked. "Going insane like your mother, aren't you?"

The taunt didn't affect Tom at all. He kept staring directly up at Dennis' eyes. He inched closer to Dennis and beckoned him to come closer.

"Ohh...so Little Tom cannot hear me from down there," Dennis laughed and crouched down to Tom's level.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you," Tom whispered. "You know what happened to your bulldog, right Dennis?"

The colour drained off Dennis' face. "Y...you are a f...freak," he shouted and ran away.

Tom laughed silently to himself. He knew very well what had happened to Dennis' dog. Last week, after a particularly cruel bout of bullying by Dennis, Tom was making his way to his room when he came across Dennis' dog, Casper. Casper, like his master, despised Tom. He growled up at Tom, who nonchalantly walked past him. Enraged at being ignored, Casper bounded up to Tom and tried to bite him, but ricocheted off and hit the wall instead. Casper died on the spot. Naturally, everyone suspected Tom but no one could prove it.

~*~

The little group of children reached the zoo and immediately dispersed in different directions. Predictably, Tom was left alone. He wandered around aimlessly and found himself at the entrance of the reptiles section. He walked in and looked around. On his right, he saw a massive python sitting on some eggs. Fascinated, Tom walked towards the glass partition which separated the python and her eggs from Tom.

Just then, one of the eggs hatched and a tiny, baby python emerged from it. Tom stared at it, his eyes shining brightly.

"I wish I had one of them," Tom whispered. "I could use her to bully the kids back in the orphanage." No sooner had he finished, the big python looked at him. And just then, suddenly, the glass partition vanished and the python nudged at the little python that had just hatched.

"Take her," she hissed up at Tom.

Eyes blazing with unrestrained excitement, Tom stretched out his hand and let the baby python slither up in his arms and slipped her into his pocket.

"Thanks," Tom whispered. He went out and brought out the baby python. He looked at her. She was his first friend.

"You will be my only friend, Nagini," he whispered.

Chapter 1

Little Tom watched the snake slither past him, his eyes gleaming with curiousity and excitement. He noticed that the snake seemed to slow down when it approached him. He wanted it to stop.

"Stop," he whispered but was surprised to notice that it sounded more like a hiss. He was even more surprised to see that the snake actually stopped at his command.

"I can talk to snakes," he whispered to himself.

"Yeah right," Tom heard a sneering voice behind him and spun around to face a mean looking boy.

"What is it, Dennis?" Tom asked, his voice calm and dangerous.

"Oooo....I'm scared!" Dennis smirked. "What will you do, Tom? Ask your snake pal to bite me?" Dennis' companions burst out laughing.

"Should I?" the snake hissed and Tom was startled again. He shook his head slowly.

Dennis and his friends laughed harder. "You're a freak, Riddle," they taunted him.

The taunts didn't affect Tom. "I'm not a freak," he said to himself. "I'm not mad as Mrs Cook thinks. I'm special."

~*~

Mrs Cook looked out at the garden and saw Tom walking back inside the orphanage, muttering to himself. She rushed out.

"Hello Tom," she greeted him, eyeing him warily. "Don't you want to play outside with your friends?"

Tom looked at her squarely in the eyes and Mrs Cook flinched. She hated to admit that Tom intimidated her. Very much.

"I have no friends," he replied, his voice bare of any emotions.

Mrs Cook placed a nervous hand on Tom's shoulder but took it away almost instantly when Tom stared at her. She wanted to find a way to get rid of him. Other children complained about his thieving and bullying. Though she never witnessed either, she couldn't ignore the tell-tale but unusual signs of bullying. And when questioned, Tom denied it all.

"I know I can make bad things happen to people who are bad to me," he would say. "But I don't know how." And he would retreat back to his room.

Mrs Cook was not surprised at Tom's current claim about not having friends. No one wanted to be his friend. They were all frightened of him. Some of them displayed their fears openly whereas some others, like Mrs Cook herself, hid it behind a mask of indifference.

But the truth was: they were all scared of Tom Marvolo Riddle. And Tom knew it. And he liked being feared. It gave him a sense of authority over them. A feeling of power.