Chapter Text
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In 1942, about a month before the school year ended-Tom Riddle, 15 years old, received a letter; telling him of the change of housing-as the orphanage council had all agreed to evacuate the children of the orphanage for their safety, due to the high risk of location. Wools orphanage resided in London-which was a high-traffic area for the war, so Tom wasn’t all that surprised to receive such a letter telling him he was to be hosted by a family out in the countryside until further notice.
‘We were, fortunately, able to find some hosts that fit your, unique, abilities.’
Tom huffed, glaring down at the letter-folding it back up and sliding it into the envelope it had come in. Hosts that fit his unique abilities, eh? That either meant a wizarding family, or a family that knew of magic. The rest of the letter had just informed him of what to do after returning from his 'private' school-as that was what Mrs. Cole was told when Tom had first left the orphanage 5 years ago now-and had provided train tickets within the letter.
If he said he was looking forward to this; he would be telling a half-truth. Because yes, he would be free of the orphanage for a whole summer-maybe even the summer after that-but he would also be in a place that wasn’t Hogwarts-a stranger's home, possibly with some random kids who had also been evacuated from London.
Tom set aside the letter-going back to his breakfast as his ‘friends’ all chattered away, not caring for the world around them. Tom glanced to his side, raising his brow a bit when he saw (y/n) Prothero looking at him, a letter in her hands, she blinked at him and then folded her letter-looking away as she returned her gaze to her friend across from her-who was speaking very…wildly.
Prothero was in his year, and his house-muggleborn-he hadn’t interacted with her much-maybe once or twice within the last 5 years, usually if they were partnered together for an assignment.
He had heard many call her weird-which Tom thought was odd, since-they were all wizards and witches, they were weird by that alone. The weirdest thing Tom had ever seen her do was pick up a rat snake and carry it away from a screeching horde of first-years who were terrified of the thing.
Then again, Tom didn’t interact with Prothero much-so he supposed that was why he hadn’t seen how weird she was.
Tom’s mind was back in the present with the sound of the bell, and everyone rushed to grab their things and head to class-Tom taking his time and strolling down the halls to his first class-wondering what the summer would be like now that he wouldn’t be in London for the first time in 15 years.
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Tom stepped off the Hogwarts Express, nodding goodbye to his ‘friends’ as they all went off to their parents, heading to their mansions for the summer. How lucky for them. Tom looked down at his train tickets, making his way to the platform and ticket booth as described on the tickets. “Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Tom said as he handed over the tickets, the woman on the other side of the booth examined them and then handed them back-along with a slip of paper connected to a safety pin.
“Wear that at all times sweetheart, until you arrive at your destination, it will allow the marshals to identify you and get you where you need to go.” Tom nodded, politely thanking the muggle woman and pinning the paper to his jacket-one of the marshals examining it as he passed by-his Hogwarts trunk being taken by a station worker as many many other children joined him-saying goodbye to their parents, some sobbing and some attempting to cheer their families up-saying they would see each other again soon.
Tom spotted a familiar face amongst the crowd-Prothero, handing over her trunk and larger belongings before climbing into the train-not wearing a slip like Tom and many other children were. Tom just hummed, curious but not curious enough to ask her where she was going. Tom eventually climbed onto the train-passing by other children hanging out the windows-saying goodbye to their parents.
The train began to move-and Tom quickly found an empty car to sit in. he slid his bag into the overhead bin and sat down-opening his potions book and began to read-ignoring those who passed by his car as the train pulled out of the station-all the children still saying goodbye to their families as they were sent off the countryside.
Tom eventually looked up, surprised to see Prothero standing at the door-looking just as surprised to see him. She blinked, and then glanced at the seat across from him. Tom just looked back at his book and Prothero took that as a ‘whatever’ and sat down-closing the car door and sitting next to it, separating the two by a few feet.
They didn’t speak for nearly the entire ride-but they would both look out the window at each stop along the way, watching as children were picked up by their host families as they rode deeper into the countryside.
Finally, as night began to fall, Tom looked up, closing his book(the 3rd he had read so far on the trip) and glanced at Prothero, who was drawing. “you’re not wearing a slip,” Tom said, his voice slightly raspy from hours of not being used. Prothero looked up at him, and nodded.
“I live out here,” was all she said and that was good enough for Tom, who stood and slid his book back into his bag-grabbing another one to read. At that moment, his stomach growled and he huffed, sitting back down and pressing his hand to his gut. “Are you hungry at all, Riddle?”
Tom snapped his head up, looking at Prothero, who was digging through her bag-the jingle of coins catching Tom’s attention. “I don’t need your charity,” Tom muttered and Prothero frowned, glancing back at him.
“I was just being nice,” She muttered, standing and flipping a few coins between her fingers. “but if you don’t want anything,” With that, she stepped out of the car, most likely going down to the club car to get food.
Tom ignored the hunger he felt, he had far gotten used to doing so anyway. Especially during summer. But when Prothero returned, she tossed a wrapped sandwich over to Tom, who flinched as it landed next to his thigh. He narrowed his eyes at Prothero, who ignored him, opening her sandwich and taking a bite-only looking back when Tom continued to glare.
“It’s just a peanut butter sandwich, I bought jelly if you wanna add it,” Prothero muttered, holding up a few small rations of jelly, strawberry and grape. Tom just blinked and then stood, taking the grape jelly and going back to his seat-muttering a small thank you as he did. “you’re welcome,” Prothero said back, once again ignoring him as they ate in silence.
It was dead into the night when the train arrived at the station Tom was to get off. So he grabbed his bag and got off the train, waiting for his luggage as a station worker went to grab it. he looked behind him as he felt a presence, seeing Prothero once again, also waiting for her luggage.
“A coincidence our destination ended up the same,” Tom said politely, turning back to the train, watching as his luggage was rolled over to him-Prothero’s luggage not far behind. “Yep,” was all Prothero said, glancing over her shoulder. Tom felt as if she knew something, but before he could ask about it-two figures came up to the platform.
“Ah-there you are! Tom Riddle, I assume?” the older woman called, her hair pulled back into a bun, holding a slip of paper. Tom nodded. “Have you all your things?” the woman asked Tom and he nodded again, all he really had was his luggage and bag, he didn’t have many personal items. “very well, I’m Brenda Prothero, and that is my husband, John,” Tom looked around-seeing a man dressed comfortably, with kind eyes and a goatee, hugging Prothero.
Oh, huh. So that’s why Prothero had the same destination, her parents were to be his hosts for the summer. Interesting. “-and I assume you and (y/n) are already acquainted.”
“Yes ma’am,” Tom said, polite as ever, he wasn’t fond of muggles-but he would keep his manners if he wanted this summer to be pleasant in the slightest. At least they were aware of magic. “Wonderful, let’s get going then-I’m sure you’re both tired and need food,” And with that, Tom followed Mr. and Mrs. Prothero out of the station-which was really just a platform with a single building-and climbed into the car awaiting the family and Tom.
They drove deeper into the countryside, passing through a comfy-looking town and into farmland-where Mr. Prothero drove up to a comfortable house that had a farmhouse a good 100 feet away, and a large building about a mile away-all surrounded by fencing.
Tom blinked, sleep eating at his eyes and brain, and he shuffled out of the car as it turned off-and he followed the Prothero family into the home. “Your room is upstairs, to the right of the upstairs hall,” Mrs. Prothero said, pointing at the stairwell to the right of the kitchen-which was bigger than Tom thought it was going to be-blinking at the long table by the window that faced the path back towards town.
“(y/n), show him to his room, please?” Mr. Prothero said, sounding very tired, and Prothero nodded, grabbing her trunk and bag-nodding Tom towards the stairs-he followed, not bothering to say goodnight to his hosts-since they were already shuffling into their room-the light turning off almost as soon as the door closed.
The upstairs hallway was one long hallway, with two doors on either side-photos and portraits decorating the walls, and a door in the middle of the hall between the two ends. “Your room is there,” Prothero said, pointing down the right end, and then she pointed at the other end. “that one’s mine, that’s the bathroom.” she pointed at the middle door. “We share it-and there’s doors in our rooms that connect to it-locks on the inside. So if you use it, make sure to lock the doors when you do.”
Tom nodded, lugging his trunk down the hall and opening the door-nodding at what he saw. It was nearly as big as the dorm room at Hogwarts-but with only one bed. The bed was quite nice, with cream sheets and a green throw blanket at the end, it was just a bit bigger than his bed at Hogwarts and had plenty of pillows to spare.
Tom didn’t bother to examine further-he was exhausted, he had never been on a train so long since his first ride on the Hogwarts Express. He set his trunk on its side and opened it, grabbing his sleep clothes and getting changed, hearing Prothero in the bathroom through the door in the corner of the room. Tom looked through the window next to it-blinking up at the stars that were so bright Tom shut the curtains.
When he heard the door unlock and the other door close-he grabbed his toothbrush and went into the bathroom-brushing his teeth and relieving himself, after washing his hands he shut off the light and unlocked the door on Prothero’s side. He turned off the light in his room and slipped into bed, sinking into the mattress.
This wasn’t bad.
At least he wasn’t at the orphanage, surrounded by stupid muggle kids.
-end of p1-
Welp-I’m in this now, hopefully I’ll actually finish it lol