Snow White

Part 1

The woman tightly gripped your hand as you encouraged her through the birth of her child. It was a rough birth for sure. You and Ms. Cole had figured the sickly woman would not survive the night.

After the baby was delivered, the mother said she wanted him to be named Tom Marvolo Riddle. While Ms. Cole took the child to be cleaned, you stayed with the woman to comfort her in her last moments.

"What's your name?" You asked trying to keep her mind away from her impending death.

"Merope." She muttered.

"That is a beautiful name." You said softly. It was odd name, but you thought hearing kind words might help ease her mind as she slipped into death's cold grasp.

"What is your name?" Merope struggled out.

"Y/N." You responded.

"You seem... like a lovely person... Y/N. Please... keep my baby safe." Merope's breathing was almost nonexistent.

"I will, Ms. Merope." You said softly.

"Thank you, for not letting me die alone." She managed with her final breaths before inevitably dying.

Ms. Cole returned with the child and handed him off to you before dealing with Merope's body. You figured it was best to offer to stay the night to help with the babies instead of going back to your own home.

"Would you like me to stay tonight, Ms. Cole?" You asked to make sure she needed the help.

"Please, especially with this newborn, and this body. We will need all the help we can get." She said as she moved quickly around the room.

You got up and brought the baby to his crib to be put to bed. You noticed he was eerily quiet for a newborn. He had not even cried during birth, and for a moment you worried something might be medically wrong with him. You spent the night tending to all of the babies in the nursery when they would wake up. You were unaware of what they did with Merope's body, if they gave her a proper burial or not. You hoped they had, but it was unlikely since Ms. Cole thought she was a member of a circus, and people in the circus were treated more like wild animals.

You were at the orphanage volunteering a lot more after that eventually moving in to assist more. Tom seemed to take a liking to you and it made it difficult to leave the young boy on his own. 

When Tom got older into his toddler and younger child years. He was convinced you were his mother and he just had to stay there because you stayed there. He would call you "ma" or "mama", and you would respond by correcting him with your first name. 

Most of the day Tom was following you around or clinging to your dress and wanting to be held while you tended to the other children. He would bring you "gifts" and try to show you some of the stuff he could do. Tom liked that you fawned over him no matter what he did, and that you would always get on to the other children when they teased him. In reality, you fawned over all the children and always got on to the misbehaving kids. It was your job to make the children feel loved and happy, even in their miserable circumstances.

As Tom aged, he got better at handling his powers and you were always the only person he told about it. Bad things also started to happen to the children that would cling to you during story time or other planned activities. Their favorite toys would go missing or end up broken. Their clothes would be ruined, or sometimes the children would turn up hurt. 

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Tom silently climbed into your bed. He was supposed to be in his room, but after Ms. Cole went to bed he would run to your room. Usually, he would curl up in your bed and fall asleep while you read silently at the desk in your room. When he fell asleep you moved him to his room so you could finally get some rest, but this time he sat up and watched you read.

"Why can I not call you mother? You are my mom?" Tom asked while staring at you with big brown eyes.

You turned to look at him "oh Tom... I am sorry, but I am not your mother. Your mother passed away after giving birth to you."

"You are lying. You are my mother." He folded his arms. It was an adorable sight but now was not the time.

"I promise I am not your mother." You knew he was probably trying to cope with being an orphan. Many children assumed the orphanage workers were there parents, and in most cases it just took some explaining for them to understand the grim truth. It had seemed like this was the case with Tom, he had not tried to call you "ma" "mom" "mama" or even "mother" since he was a toddler. 

Tom did not argue anymore. You heard him huff before flopping down in your bed. Tom was mad at you, but he still wanted to fall asleep surrounded by your scent in your warm bed. Tom was for sure you were his mother and just had to pretend you weren't because you worked at the orphanage.

Not long after Tom turned eleven a man showed up to speak with Tom privately. It was about Tom going to a private school for gifted students. Ms. Cole jumped at the opportunity to be rid of Tom at least until next summer and she had you drive him to be dropped off at the train station. He was still convinced you were his mother, despite you, Ms. Cole, and the other children telling him otherwise. The other children always befell some sort of mishap after they would tease Tom for believing you were his mother. Even Ms. Cole had misfortune fall on her in these moments, though they were not near as frequent as the other children.

Tom knew the other children were jealous he had a mother, and they didn't. Especially a mother as nurturing as you were, and Ms. Cole was jealous that she couldn't be as pretty and kind as you were. 

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You had moved out of the orphanage while Tom was at school. Ms. Cole did not need as much help, and you were happy to go home to your area after work finished. Meanwhile, Tom's obsession with the idea of you being his mother was only growing. He missed falling asleep in your bed and scent and wondered if there was a spell, he could use to trap it into a blanket or pillow. Tom even wondered if you had powers like his own. If you had magic and were a witch that just got stuck working at that miserable orphanage. Even if you did not have wizard powers, he was more than happy to use his to protect you the same way you protected him while he did not have full control over them.