By the way Alice is 9, Tom is 11 and Darren is 12. And I'm sorry is the dialect is out of character for their age (just pretend their really smart and read loads of books) and considering the time period. I'm just having fun writing this fan fiction tbh the serious work is for JK who owns the series. But please don't copy this story, thanks.

PS their might be typos (gasp) but I'm tired so give me a break ;D I'll edit it later.

Alice laid awake for hours, scolding herself, before finally drifting asleep. She could blame her outburst on a multitude of things including that boy but deep down knew she it was entirely her fault. Despite being only nine years old her parents had taught her better than to lose control and risk endangerment as well as exposure. She needed to be more careful but for now she could rest.

Waking up hungry was a new and unpleasant feeling for Alice. Surprisingly during her nap -which had soon turned into a deep sleep- none of the other bells had rung and awoken her. She might have slept through them, but that seemed unlikely considering her skittishness which awakened her with the slightest shrill of noise.

Her belly rumbled and she knew the mystery of the bell would have to wait. It was dark outside her small window, which wasn't unusual for October, but even so the complete lack of bird song gave the impression that it was far too early for breakfast. Her belly whined at the thought and Alice knew that she'd never fall back to sleep like this. She needed food.

'It's not really stealing' she thought to herself 'you missed dinner last night so you'll only be taking food you should've gotten then'. She bit her lip at her moral dilemma, from a young age she had been taught that stealing was stealing whether it be the Crown Jewels or a loaf of bread. But what if that loaf of bread was going to starving people who really needed it then surely the stealing was necessary, good even. Yes, she was doing the right thing by taking food.

Her quickly fabricated plan to obtain the meal was simple, yet effective, so there was no reason for failure. No one apart from her would ever find out.

As she approached the door she shivered partly in anticipation but mostly because of the cold. Therefore she grabbed her dressing gown and after a short, internal debate decided to abandon her slippers knowing that they made too much sound. Then, slowly she walked to the door and it creaked open. To her ears the noise was deafening but she supposed in the silence anything would appear as so.

With fear running wild in her veins she quickly descended across the corridor and down the stairs. She had originally planned to go slow and steady in order to minimise sound however the tall, menacing shadows looming in every corner were enough to make her run for the kitchen.

When she finally reached the equally daunting kitchen she quickly shut the door behind her. Alice could feel the chasing shadows claw at her skin as she turned the light on casting them away. Her hunger seemed almost a distant memory to her panicking brain but as her heart rate had calmed she gathered her bearings and searched for food where she soon came across some bread. Then she took two slices from the middle so no suspicion would be aroused, stuffed them in her pocket and made her way back to the door.

She was mentally preparing herself for the run back to her room when she heard it. At first she thought she was imagining things but then the noise arose again and she turned away from the door. The abnormal sound was coming from the left so she quietly followed hoping that her instincts telling her not to run were right.

As she turned the corner she saw it. An Adder snake.

Alice had never met one before so was quite amazed but quickly collected herself and said, "I don't know how you got in here but this is far too cold for you, even if you are a British native." It cocked its head sideways as if in confusion and she smiled, "I don't have anything to help you with the cold sadly but I saw some food over there that you'll love."

Quickly she grabbed the red meat she had seen earlier from the bin and then she ripped it into manageable chunks and fed it to the snake. It seemed to be enjoying its meal and she was glad however now her hands were all bloody. So she washed them thoroughly and returned to the snake who was swallowing the last chunk of meat, "Im sorry I can't help you anymore than that but I assume you are with that boy so I hope you find him or go back to where he keeps you because it's too cold for you here." She paused as she heard a creak from upstairs and increased her pace knowing that the sooner she leave the better, "Anyway it's been great meeting an Adder so close. I have seen many species of snake but mostly in captivity which makes me sad and I uh wish to do something about that in the future. Umm Goodbye."

She backed away slowly in order not to distress the snake but as soon as she was out of Peripheral vision, ran back to her room. And as she climbed back into bed she sighed in relief, mission accomplished with no human witnesses. Or so she believed.

Nobody noticed her crime and Alice was amazingly grateful. She had awoken by the patter of feet the next day and slowly made her way down for breakfast. At the point in her journey when she reached the stairs, she expected to see a scary looking police man waiting for her but of course that wasn't the case. And then when she reached the dining room she worried she might see a member of staff punishing someone for her crimes but again that didn't happen. Therefore as she sat down next to Samuel she was greatly relived.

Her relaxation must not have been on the subtle side because Darren took notice, "There's no need to be worried. Remember, he doesn't eat breakfast." He spoke in a more hushed tone this time -learning from his mistakes- and as a result nobody noticed their topic of conversation.

"It wasn't about him." Alice replied, beginning to ear her cereal until she saw Darren's confused face and asked, "Why?"

""You don't know?" She shook her head completely oblivious to any important news, "All of the meal bells broke last night which is crazy and crazy things only happen when he's angry-"

Oh no. His words began to slur as she paled. Alice hadn't just broken one bell, but all of them.

"Hey, hey Alice." He said waving his hand in her face, "are you ok?"

"I'll be ok." Her breathing hadn't calmed and neither was her tone convincing but it was all she could manage.

"Yeah, you won't ever get used to him, I've been here two years and I'm still petrified but eventually you adapt, we all do."

After that they settled in a comfortable silence, finished breakfast and then began chores. Her and Darren were paired which was pleasant and together they cleaned the bathroom. Despite the obvious disadvantages of cleaning such a smelly place it did give her time to reflect and towards the end of the job she gained the courage to ask, "Why haven't you tried doing anything, about him?"

Darren looked at her with distant eyes and said, "We did try something." He looked around and continued, "I'm not going to talk about it here, it's too risky but we could offer to do cooks grocery shop, which will get us out of here and I'll tell you then."

"Ok."

He smiled and said, "We'll just finish this and then we can go."

Darren wasn't half as hesitant to talk about the feared Tom Riddle as Alice would have expected. And, yes she found out the name everyone in the orphanage was reluctant to say. Tom Riddle.

Anyway, as soon as they exited the market, after the short walk there, with the food in their hands Darren had begun talking as they headed back but this time travelling a longer route, "As far as I know he's been at Wool's since birth and from the start he was weird. He had a crazy temper, threw violent fits and occasionally did unexplainable things whilst in these aggressive states. People where inevitably scared of him but the older ones would never admit that they were imitated by a eight year old so bullied him instead. For years it worked in keeping him and his powers" he sounded unsure about his choice of words but continued, "contained but then one night he… exploded.

"Sarah, Greyson and Christian where his main bullies and one night Sarah decided to go into his room and kill his pet snake. Since he had no human friends I suppose he saw the snake as his friend… so when it was killed, he went ballistic. Her entire room as well as all the other bullies were completely trashed and then one by one accidents started to happen. Greyson fell down some stairs and is now suffering from brain damage. Christian nearly drowned in the frozen lake and now suffers from a sever phobia of water in a asylum for the insane. Then finally Sarah got attacked by numerous venomous snakes, which aren't even native to England and is now in a coma.

"As you can imagine we became terrified of him but there's nothing we can do. He's made it clear what he wants from us and if anybody steps out of line, bam." She jumped as he shouted bam not liking the loud noise but soon recovered and took time to think about what he had said.

Tom clearly needed some help. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to have a friend die but that was no way to react.

"Did you pick on him?" Despite her unusual forwardness, Alice was glad she asked wanting to know.

"Uh." Darren looked quite taken aback by her question but carried on trying not to sound guilty, "We all played our part so yes I did."

"Why?"

"I don't know," He was beginning to sound defensive, "because everyone else was doing it. I wanted to fit in when I got here so I just followed what everyone else did."

"And that makes it right?"

"No, but… but he was really weird."

"So it was ok because he was different from you, that made it justified?"

"No and I'm sorry for what I did but it wasn't just me."

"It doesn't matter about everyone else… and I'm not the one who needs an apology."

"Yes, but your the one I care about. I know what I did was wrong and I'd never do it again."

"You promise?"

"Yes, of course."

"Ok." She said and then began walking to the main gate. Alice trusted Darren enough to keep his promise and she hoped she wasn't betrayed.

Hope you enjoyed! Remember to Vote and Comment because it really encourages me to see people are enjoying it as much as I love writing these sorts of things.

Sarah