Pet Wars or "how did the rabbit get up there?”
Title: Pet Wars or 'how did the rabbit get up there?”
Characters: Mrs. Cole, Tom Riddle, Billy Stubbs, Amy Benson, Dennis Bishop, Apophia (from Apophis) the snake and Jonathan Lowsley (last two characters created by me)
Where/when: the orphanage 1937.
Notes: argument between Tom and Billy over a stolen mouth organ and a snake culminates in murder.
Warnings: rabbit murder. >)
Disclaimers: JK Rowling owns the characters, not me
Feedback is appreciated. If you spot grammatical problems, please give a shout. English is my second language. :) Small sketch included. Larger version here.
Walking back to the orphanage, the dark haired boy should have known better than to pocket Apophia, but his conversation with her had been interrupted by Mrs. Cole's annoying call to regroup. Apophia called herself so after her mother, she'd told him, and so did her long line of female ancestors who'd crossed many rivers and lands to settle here. She'd also accepted his offer to come with him.
He could feel her undulating in his trousers' right pocket as he made his way back to the other children. “Don't move so much, they'll see you and we'll get in trouble!,” he whispered urgently, fingering his newly acquired living and talking treasure. He thought she must have heard him because she stopped moving altogether and became something close to a small, limp, deadweight mass.
“Tom!” Mrs. Cole called out as she spotted him. “Hurry up! Come on! Why do you always have to be the last one to answer my call?”
“I'm coming, I'm coming!” Tom shouted back, almost too irritatingly for Mrs. Cole's taste.
“Well, you had better keep up. Your friends must already be on the grounds by now.”
“They're not my friends,” he answered, carefully taking his hand out of the pocket.
“What do you have in there, Tom?” she asked, warily pointing at it.
“Nothing.” he replied, his dark eyes widening. “Why, may I ask, do you wish to know?”
Mrs. Cole knew he was lying, but another long hard look assured her whatever it was in that pocket of his could not have been more than a rock.
“Don't answer me with another question, Tom. That's a very bad habit of yours,” she said and pushed him forward by the shoulder. “Come on, and go.”
~~~~~
Tom held a sigh of relief once he reached the relatively safe confines of his room. He still could not believe Amy'd asked him the exact same question Mrs. Cole had earlier. The girl could be so inconvenient sometimes, he muttered.
He carefully let Apophia out and watched her slither on his bed.
“I hate this place!” he confided, staring at her little knowing eyes and the tiny forked tongue which poked out every now and then.
He sat in front of her, careful to expose his back to the door, just in case anyone of those idiots would have the brilliant idea of interrupting him again.
“But it's all I've known,” he continued, almost more to himself than her. “Sometimes I wish I could hurt them all. Make them disappear.“ He smiled and reached out to touch the underside of her head. “Could you bite them for me?”
Apophia slid to his arm and made her way up it, circling. “You ask for favors, human boy,” she said, “and besides, I am not poisonous.”
“Too bad,” replied Tom, clearly disappointed. His eyes brightened, “But...could I watch you bite a prey sometime?”
“That, I can let you do.” she said in a soft whisper. Tom was about to answer when a loud series of knocks resonated into the room. “Not again!” he muttered, grabbing a pillow to cover his arm. He turned his head toward the door. Billy Stubbs' blue eyes peeked inside.
“Amy said you had something in your pocket you didn't want to show her. Somebody stole my mouth organ just yesterday! I bet it's you! Give it back to me!”
“You're an idiot, Stubbs. What would I do with a mouth organ if I can't play it without anyone hearing me?” Tom answered quickly, having previously pondered the accusation.
Stubbs seemed obviously stumped. “Err...but that's not the point. I've heard you talk like a freak again!” he said. “You're not getting away with this. I'll tell Mrs. Cole you've got a snake in your room!”
Tom got up at once, revealing Apophia in plain view of Billy. “Come in and close the door behind you, Stubbs. I've got a secret to share with you.”
“I'm not stupid enough to do that, Riddle! I'm going to her at once!” he replied, panicky.
“You don't want to hear my secret?” he said almost pleasantely. “I know you have a pet rabbit. Stew, isn't it?”
“IT'S STEWARD, FREAK! And you're not getting that snake of yours anywhere near it!”
“Then you had better close the door.” he said, casually but with certain authority. “ I can ask a thousand snakes to come and play with your Stew.”
“You lie!” replied a suddenly very frightened Billy.
A flash of red hot anger suddenly coursed through Tom's entire body. “CLOSE THE DOOR NOW, STUBBS. I WON'T SAY IT TWICE!”
Billy didn't know quite exactly how it happened, but soon enough the door slammed closed and he stood in the middle of the room.
His eyes moved from Tom to the snake.
“Afraid of her, Stubbs?” Tom asked softly without looking at him. He turned to walk toward the window. “I won't let her bite you, if that's what you think.” He grabbed the latch and opened it. “Go now, Apophia. Will you come back later?”
“Yessss...” he heard her answer. He closed the window just in time for Mrs. Cole to open the door.
“Is everything alright, boys? I heard some shouting. What's going on?” she asked, a concerned look on her skinny face.
Tom stepped closer and glanced at Billy, who was clearly dying to tell on him.
“Billy was upsetting me, Mrs. Cole. He came here uninvited and I told him to leave, but he wouldn't.”
“Billy, is that right?” Mrs. Cole asked incredulously.
“Well..” Billy said, his voice shaking, “he just had a...snake with him, and...and--”
“He lies, Mrs. Cole.” Tom interrupted calmly. “You can search my room if you'd so like. You won't find anything.”
“A snake?” Mrs. Cole laughed. “Billy, my dear! Had he brought a snake with him, I would have known. Now, I want you both to go to bed. It's late already. Come on, come on!”
She ushered Billy out who glared at Tom before disappearing into the corridor.
“And you, Tom. Try to be a little more social next time, do you understand me? I will not tolerate shouting in this place and at this hour.”
“Yes, Mrs. Cole,” Tom replied.
“Now go to bed and try not to sneak out again tonight. I've got my little eyes and ears on you.” she said, pulling at her earlobe.
“I won't, Mrs. Cole,” he said with a smile.
Mrs. Cole closed the door, leaving a very frustrated Tom behind.
~~~~~
At breakfast the mood was dull. Little cliques formed around the tables chatting away over milk and toast. When Tom showed up, everyone went quiet. He wondered if Billy had not already gossiped about the night before's incident. He sat down, making sure he met every single one of their curious pairs of eyes. He definitely would not be intimidated. Not today because today was to be a very special day. Apophia had not come back last night and because of Billy, he'd had a very boring evening.
He sat alone and ate idly, his eyes fixed on Billy's back at the next table. Coincidently the only one who hadn't looked at him. Soon enough, chatter filled the room again and Tom got up with his half-eaten toast.
“Hey, Stubbs,” he called out, navigating his way to Billy. He placed a knee on the bench and bent close to the boy's fearful face. “Nice stinking pile of bullocks you pulled on me last night, but I forgive you.”
Billy's friends, Dennis, Big Jonathan and Amy looked at each other in confusion.
“That's..that's fine. Pl-please go away,” Billy replied.
“Oh, I am, Stubbs. What do you think? I don't have all day chatting with you.”
Tom left the dinner room at once, leaving his untouched milk behind. He hurridly walked through the maze of greyish hallways toward Billy's room, making sure no one was following him. Once at the door he looked left and right and reached for the knob.
“Bloody hell! It's locked!” he exclaimed.
He peered inside through the small glass window opening. At least his rabbit's in there. His eyes swept the room, looking for a solution to his predicament. The window, of course! He concentrated hard on it and watched the latch slowly moving.
Click.
Tom laughed quietly, a fuzzy feeling of triumph filled him with warmth. “Well, that was easy!”
A few short minutes later, Tom stood panting outside the building by Billy's open window. He reached for the windowsill, jumped and crawled into his room.
“Hello, dear Stew,” he said opening the rabbit's cage. “Let's go for a trip, you and I.” He took the struggling rabbit in his arms and quickly crawled back out.
Once safely back on the ground with his loot, Tom concentrated again on the window and watched it lock from the inside. He looked around the courtyard and called out for Apophia. She had to be nearby. “Apophia! Apophia!” he shouted, “I've got something interesting for you!”
“Yess..?” he heard a faint voice call back. He spotted her hanging from a nearby tree, her eyes riveted on Stew. Tom opened his mouth when he heard a sudden, loud scream.
Billy had just entered his room!
“The cheeky bastard! That's too soon!” Tom muttered under his breath, the rabbit kicking more fiercely for release. He scanned the courtyard wildly, hearing a small crowd of hurried footsteps and a raging Billy yelling his name. “RIDDLE DID IT! RIDDLE DID IT, MRS. COLE! HE TOOK STEWARD!”
Tom had to think fast. His plan had just been ruined but he wasn't about to get caught red-handed with Billy's rabbit. He looked and looked for a possible solution. Should he release it? Hell no. He hadn't gone through all this trouble to witness Billy eventually getting it back. Should he just snap its neck and leave it on the ground? No. Too obvious. They could always, somehow, explain locked windows and doors.
He stomped his foot, apparently defeated, when he looked above him.
The rafters.
Characters: Mrs. Cole, Tom Riddle, Billy Stubbs, Amy Benson, Dennis Bishop, Apophia (from Apophis) the snake and Jonathan Lowsley (last two characters created by me)
Where/when: the orphanage 1937.
Notes: argument between Tom and Billy over a stolen mouth organ and a snake culminates in murder.
Warnings: rabbit murder. >)
Disclaimers: JK Rowling owns the characters, not me
Feedback is appreciated. If you spot grammatical problems, please give a shout. English is my second language. :) Small sketch included. Larger version here.
Walking back to the orphanage, the dark haired boy should have known better than to pocket Apophia, but his conversation with her had been interrupted by Mrs. Cole's annoying call to regroup. Apophia called herself so after her mother, she'd told him, and so did her long line of female ancestors who'd crossed many rivers and lands to settle here. She'd also accepted his offer to come with him.
He could feel her undulating in his trousers' right pocket as he made his way back to the other children. “Don't move so much, they'll see you and we'll get in trouble!,” he whispered urgently, fingering his newly acquired living and talking treasure. He thought she must have heard him because she stopped moving altogether and became something close to a small, limp, deadweight mass.
“Tom!” Mrs. Cole called out as she spotted him. “Hurry up! Come on! Why do you always have to be the last one to answer my call?”
“I'm coming, I'm coming!” Tom shouted back, almost too irritatingly for Mrs. Cole's taste.
“Well, you had better keep up. Your friends must already be on the grounds by now.”
“They're not my friends,” he answered, carefully taking his hand out of the pocket.
“What do you have in there, Tom?” she asked, warily pointing at it.
“Nothing.” he replied, his dark eyes widening. “Why, may I ask, do you wish to know?”
Mrs. Cole knew he was lying, but another long hard look assured her whatever it was in that pocket of his could not have been more than a rock.
“Don't answer me with another question, Tom. That's a very bad habit of yours,” she said and pushed him forward by the shoulder. “Come on, and go.”
~~~~~
Tom held a sigh of relief once he reached the relatively safe confines of his room. He still could not believe Amy'd asked him the exact same question Mrs. Cole had earlier. The girl could be so inconvenient sometimes, he muttered.
He carefully let Apophia out and watched her slither on his bed.
“I hate this place!” he confided, staring at her little knowing eyes and the tiny forked tongue which poked out every now and then.
He sat in front of her, careful to expose his back to the door, just in case anyone of those idiots would have the brilliant idea of interrupting him again.
“But it's all I've known,” he continued, almost more to himself than her. “Sometimes I wish I could hurt them all. Make them disappear.“ He smiled and reached out to touch the underside of her head. “Could you bite them for me?”
Apophia slid to his arm and made her way up it, circling. “You ask for favors, human boy,” she said, “and besides, I am not poisonous.”
“Too bad,” replied Tom, clearly disappointed. His eyes brightened, “But...could I watch you bite a prey sometime?”
“That, I can let you do.” she said in a soft whisper. Tom was about to answer when a loud series of knocks resonated into the room. “Not again!” he muttered, grabbing a pillow to cover his arm. He turned his head toward the door. Billy Stubbs' blue eyes peeked inside.
“Amy said you had something in your pocket you didn't want to show her. Somebody stole my mouth organ just yesterday! I bet it's you! Give it back to me!”
“You're an idiot, Stubbs. What would I do with a mouth organ if I can't play it without anyone hearing me?” Tom answered quickly, having previously pondered the accusation.
Stubbs seemed obviously stumped. “Err...but that's not the point. I've heard you talk like a freak again!” he said. “You're not getting away with this. I'll tell Mrs. Cole you've got a snake in your room!”
Tom got up at once, revealing Apophia in plain view of Billy. “Come in and close the door behind you, Stubbs. I've got a secret to share with you.”
“I'm not stupid enough to do that, Riddle! I'm going to her at once!” he replied, panicky.
“You don't want to hear my secret?” he said almost pleasantely. “I know you have a pet rabbit. Stew, isn't it?”
“IT'S STEWARD, FREAK! And you're not getting that snake of yours anywhere near it!”
“Then you had better close the door.” he said, casually but with certain authority. “ I can ask a thousand snakes to come and play with your Stew.”
“You lie!” replied a suddenly very frightened Billy.
A flash of red hot anger suddenly coursed through Tom's entire body. “CLOSE THE DOOR NOW, STUBBS. I WON'T SAY IT TWICE!”
Billy didn't know quite exactly how it happened, but soon enough the door slammed closed and he stood in the middle of the room.
His eyes moved from Tom to the snake.
“Afraid of her, Stubbs?” Tom asked softly without looking at him. He turned to walk toward the window. “I won't let her bite you, if that's what you think.” He grabbed the latch and opened it. “Go now, Apophia. Will you come back later?”
“Yessss...” he heard her answer. He closed the window just in time for Mrs. Cole to open the door.
“Is everything alright, boys? I heard some shouting. What's going on?” she asked, a concerned look on her skinny face.
Tom stepped closer and glanced at Billy, who was clearly dying to tell on him.
“Billy was upsetting me, Mrs. Cole. He came here uninvited and I told him to leave, but he wouldn't.”
“Billy, is that right?” Mrs. Cole asked incredulously.
“Well..” Billy said, his voice shaking, “he just had a...snake with him, and...and--”
“He lies, Mrs. Cole.” Tom interrupted calmly. “You can search my room if you'd so like. You won't find anything.”
“A snake?” Mrs. Cole laughed. “Billy, my dear! Had he brought a snake with him, I would have known. Now, I want you both to go to bed. It's late already. Come on, come on!”
She ushered Billy out who glared at Tom before disappearing into the corridor.
“And you, Tom. Try to be a little more social next time, do you understand me? I will not tolerate shouting in this place and at this hour.”
“Yes, Mrs. Cole,” Tom replied.
“Now go to bed and try not to sneak out again tonight. I've got my little eyes and ears on you.” she said, pulling at her earlobe.
“I won't, Mrs. Cole,” he said with a smile.
Mrs. Cole closed the door, leaving a very frustrated Tom behind.
~~~~~
At breakfast the mood was dull. Little cliques formed around the tables chatting away over milk and toast. When Tom showed up, everyone went quiet. He wondered if Billy had not already gossiped about the night before's incident. He sat down, making sure he met every single one of their curious pairs of eyes. He definitely would not be intimidated. Not today because today was to be a very special day. Apophia had not come back last night and because of Billy, he'd had a very boring evening.
He sat alone and ate idly, his eyes fixed on Billy's back at the next table. Coincidently the only one who hadn't looked at him. Soon enough, chatter filled the room again and Tom got up with his half-eaten toast.
“Hey, Stubbs,” he called out, navigating his way to Billy. He placed a knee on the bench and bent close to the boy's fearful face. “Nice stinking pile of bullocks you pulled on me last night, but I forgive you.”
Billy's friends, Dennis, Big Jonathan and Amy looked at each other in confusion.
“That's..that's fine. Pl-please go away,” Billy replied.
“Oh, I am, Stubbs. What do you think? I don't have all day chatting with you.”
Tom left the dinner room at once, leaving his untouched milk behind. He hurridly walked through the maze of greyish hallways toward Billy's room, making sure no one was following him. Once at the door he looked left and right and reached for the knob.
“Bloody hell! It's locked!” he exclaimed.
He peered inside through the small glass window opening. At least his rabbit's in there. His eyes swept the room, looking for a solution to his predicament. The window, of course! He concentrated hard on it and watched the latch slowly moving.
Click.
Tom laughed quietly, a fuzzy feeling of triumph filled him with warmth. “Well, that was easy!”
A few short minutes later, Tom stood panting outside the building by Billy's open window. He reached for the windowsill, jumped and crawled into his room.
“Hello, dear Stew,” he said opening the rabbit's cage. “Let's go for a trip, you and I.” He took the struggling rabbit in his arms and quickly crawled back out.
Once safely back on the ground with his loot, Tom concentrated again on the window and watched it lock from the inside. He looked around the courtyard and called out for Apophia. She had to be nearby. “Apophia! Apophia!” he shouted, “I've got something interesting for you!”
“Yess..?” he heard a faint voice call back. He spotted her hanging from a nearby tree, her eyes riveted on Stew. Tom opened his mouth when he heard a sudden, loud scream.
Billy had just entered his room!
“The cheeky bastard! That's too soon!” Tom muttered under his breath, the rabbit kicking more fiercely for release. He scanned the courtyard wildly, hearing a small crowd of hurried footsteps and a raging Billy yelling his name. “RIDDLE DID IT! RIDDLE DID IT, MRS. COLE! HE TOOK STEWARD!”
Tom had to think fast. His plan had just been ruined but he wasn't about to get caught red-handed with Billy's rabbit. He looked and looked for a possible solution. Should he release it? Hell no. He hadn't gone through all this trouble to witness Billy eventually getting it back. Should he just snap its neck and leave it on the ground? No. Too obvious. They could always, somehow, explain locked windows and doors.
He stomped his foot, apparently defeated, when he looked above him.
The rafters.