The Serpent
[Every great evil
has a humble beginning]

2nd January 1927
Sunday

"Tom, wake up!" The infant was ungently awakened from his slumber.

Where was the gentle voice that always woke him?
Or mostly the other way around...
Now the boy had no soft voice that tried to sooth him when he screamed.

Only the warden had remained here and raised Tom from his bed.
Outwardly he appeared calm, but the baby's cheeks began to gain a red hue, his dark eyes also flashed red briefly.

Tom was changed and then taken to the kitchen to the screaming kids, who kept staring at him again.
Yes, he was the youngest child here, and Tom looked really cute, but he hated it when people stared at him!

He got his bottle and drank it quickly.
He didn't want to be hold by the wretched woman longer than necessary.

Miss Penny wasn't loving.
She was a strict warden who did everything conscientiously, but she was not loving.
She preferred the older children over the small ones and babies.

She found it very unfortunate that Katherine hadn't been allowed to take Tom with her.
She really didn't like the boy.
He was a strange little fellow.

Tom watched Miss Penny through his dark eyes.
His eyes were dark brown, but Katherine had noticed that Tom sometimes got a red tint in them.
He would start to scream as soon as one of the children touched him.

That was an absolute taboo for the baby.
Katherine was allowed to touch him.
Miss Penny was an exception because Katherine was nowhere to be found, but not the other kids!
They were terrible!
He hated them.
Tom hated it when someone laughed loudly or screamed.
He hated it to be touched by random people, and he hated it when people stared.
He also hated it when he was hold too tightly, just like Miss Penny was doing now!

The baby's cheeks turned red again.
He took a deep breath, as if he were about to dive.
Then he began to scream.
He shouted with all his might, it frightened Miss Penny and she reinforced her grip even more, which in turn led Tom to scream even louder. Some of the children had started to stare at him which was only making matters worse.

Tom's eyes were turning red and he tried to yell even louder.
This old hag should loosen the grip!
She was hurting him!

Miss Penny stared angrily at Tom, before she realized that she was to blame for the shouting.
As soon as she loosened her iron grip, Tom was back to normal.
As normal as it was for the little Tom Marvolo Riddle.
So really not normal at all.

The red in his eyes disappeared, only his cheeks were still red from shouting.
The blush when he got angry was approximately where the cheekbones were.
But that was now gone.

Miss Penny never tightened her grip on Tom ever again.
She generally tried to stay out of the boys way.
Normally, it worked well, but now she had to watch him.
Fantastic!

Tom held out his hands.
He got thirsty from all the crying.
His stance said a lot.
Even as a baby one could tell that he wanted to have something immediately.
He had this dominant position.

However Miss Penny didn't understand what he wanted.
Seeing, however, that his cheeks had a reddish colour, she had been able to piece together what this meant, she filled a little milk in the bottle and held it out to Tom.

The orphan ignored the woman.
Only the bottle mattered.
Miss Penny was only a means.
He only needed her because he couldn't drink alone, she wasn't good for anything else at the moment.
That was also the reason why he then ignored her again.

Miss Penny wasn't comfortable.
She hadn't taken her arm from his side, but she wasn't holding him as tightly as before.

Katherine was more comfortable.
There, Tom felt reasonably well.
She was not fat, but not as thin as Miss Penny.

Besides, Katherine used to place her left arm next to him, so that Tom still felt somewhat free.
Now he felt crushed and imprisoned.
Tom didn't like this feeling.

Tom struggled a bit, but Miss Penny left her arm where it was.
The boy narrowed his eyes to slits and glared at the arm.
He wanted that arm to be gone!

Tom was already thinking further as the other children his age. He was wiser that one could already notice in the first week of his life.

Still angry he glared at the arm as Miss Penny suddenly winced and pulled her arm away.

With a very slight smile, invisible to others, little Tom saw that the arm had a red dot, which Miss Penny rubbed at.
"This stupid mosquitoes now even survive the winter!" She cursed under her breath.

With the good feeling of power Tom closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
He would have liked to sleep until Katherine came again!
She at least knew how to handle him.