Tom knew without a doubt that he still loved Courtney. None of that had
changed. The only thing that had changed was her love for him. He repeated
that over and over to himself, finding a strange kind of comfort in the
thought.
Once Tom was sure that he still loved Courtney, he started planning the best time to do the ritual. He could only do it on the last days of the term, otherwise she would be missed. And, if he did it on the last day of term, he would have to carry her body home, which he didn't really want to do. It was almost impossible for him to be able to do it anytime during the school year for those reasons. She would be missed and/or he would end up carrying her body with him everywhere for a couple days.
The only other way to do it would be to stalk her the entire summer and catch her by herself. After thinking about a couple other ideas for a while, that is the one he decided on in the end. If he did it right, he would never be caught and she would be just put on the 'Missing Wizards and Witches' list.
After Tom's confrontation with Courtney, he steered clear of her, as did she him. He tried to act as though he didn't care what she thought about him, though he felt that he did a terrible job at it. At times he could feel her eyes piercing him with their gaze, as if trying to read his mind to see if he still planned on killing her or not. When that happened, Tom would turn slowly around toward her and meet her gaze, which always made her turn away.
Tom still had no friends, so he started to draw back into himself again. He became the loser kid who sat by himself at meals, sat by himself in classes, and who had a weird look about him. He was the weird kid who didn't have any friends and the kid who everybody hated. But Tom found he didn't care. If they wanted to think that about him, then let them. One day, he would show them. One day, when he was powerful, he would go and show them, the hard way. Or, he would get them to follow him. People followed people with power, and power was something he planned on having plenty of.
With his withdrawal from the real world, Tom started reading more and more on power and how to get it. He paid close attention to the news and started listing down the people who annoyed him; the people he would kill first. He became obsessed with learning how to do the Unforgivable Curses, of which there were four. There was Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, the Imperius Curse, which allowed a witch or wizard to control another's mind, the Cruciatus Curse, which inflicted a lot of pain, and the Omniciento Legere, which allowed a wizard to read another's mind.
Tom had used the killing curse before; on his father and his grandparents, but he had yet to use the other three. He memorized the incantation for them and would have used them on somebody at the school, if he hadn't known that he would surely be caught and expelled. So instead, he lured all the rats in the school to him and kept them in a large cage that we in his trunk. He kept the rats quiet with a simple charm so that nobody would hear them and suspect something. Then, in the middle of the night, he would gather a couple of the rats into a bag, still with the silencer charm on them, and leave the Slytherin Common Room and go to an abandoned classroom where he would quietly practice each of the four curses on the rats.
When he first stared practicing on the rats, he did it for enjoyment, mostly. Then, after a couple days, he learned that he could learn stuff from what the rats were thinking. So, he went into a sort of routine. He would cast the mind reading curse on them and read their mind, then put the Cruciatus Curse on them for just a few seconds, then read their mind again. Then the Imperius Curse and make them do something stupid, then read their mind again. It got to the point where he would read their mind after everything he did to them, and he learned that their thoughts would change to how much the Cruciatus Curse hurt to wonder about the feeling of being controlled. Then, when he figured he had done enough experimenting with a rat, he would kill it, sometimes out of the pity of how much pain he had put it through.
Tom practiced the curses on so many different rats, that he became an expert at each, but only when experimenting with rats. He greatly desired to experiment the mind reading curse on a human, but he didn't know how he could pull it off without getting caught. A solution to his minor problem came to him one day during Transfiguration. He was gazing at Dumbledore, almost asleep, when it came to him. Asleep. When somebody is asleep, he could cast the curse on them. There was almost no way they could sense that they were being cursed and wake up and catch him.
To Tom's tired mind, the thought made perfect sense. It didn't occur to him that there were other people in the dormitory that could very possibly wake up and catch him. It didn't occur to him that he had to talk do the curse, increasing the chances that somebody would wake up. None of that occurred to his tired mind, only the thought that when somebody was sleeping, he could read their mind with ease.
And so, since he hadn't been paying attention in Transfiguration in the first place, Tom started planning out, in his head, who, when and where to do the curse. At first, he couldn't really think of anybody that he would want to do the curse on; he had no desire to read the mind of just anyone. He was about to mentally run through a list of people when an obvious choice came to him. Courtney. He could read Courtney's mind and see what she thought about while she was asleep.
It was a perfect choice. Who better to try this curse on than his ex? Now all he need was a when and where. Tom decided right as the bell was ringing and the class was being released, that he would wait for a time to come. He was certain he would get a good chance at it soon. How right he was.
It was that evening that he had his chance. It was late, and people were starting to slowly filter out of the Common Room and into their dormitories. Tom stayed by himself in a corner studying for N.E.W.T.s and working on homework. Courtney was sitting on a couch with some of her girlfriends doing a group study thing that, to Tom, didn't appear to work very well. They were giggling and telling secrets more than they were studying.
After about midnight or so, two of the girls had fallen asleep and the rest of them had retired to their beds. Tom, who was sitting behind the couch the two had fallen asleep on, waited for the rest of the Common Room to empty before getting up and checking who was sleeping.
"Luck must be with me today. Two sleeping girls...and one of them just happens to be the one I was waiting for. Imagine that," Tom whispered to himself when he had identified them. He smiled slyly then pulled out his wand, pointing it to Courtney's friend first. "Omniciento Legere!" Tom said as quietly as he could while still being able to put the right amount of feel into it.
A sense of control came over him then, one stronger than it ever was with the rats. Tom closed his eyes and let the girl's thoughts come into his mind. At first the girl seemed to fight a little in her sleep, but then the thoughts and the dreams came quickly, almost willingly. He discovered that she was dreaming about her crush, the well known Gryffindor who played Quidditch. She was dancing with him in her dream, but in a way Tom had never seen before. The two were on brooms, circling each other and holding hands. Tom watched her dream for a few seconds longer before letting it go in disgust. A Slytherin liking a Gryffindor. Disgusting.
The other thoughts that Tom got from her were mostly about the girl's friends, the upcoming exams, and her life after she was graduated from Hogwarts. Completely boring.
Tom opened his eyes and let go of the concentration that made the spell work. He then turned his wand on Courtney. "Omniciento Legere," he whispered softly and full of a couple different emotions. He closed his eyes and allowed her thoughts into his mind.
Her thoughts were basically of the exams, her friend problems, her homework etc. Tom almost stopped the spell right there, but something made him stay put. Suddenly a strong emotion came flowing into his mind. It was an emotion that he knew all too well. It was filled with sadness and loneliness. Mixed into those was a small amount of anger and an emotion that almost made Tom break the connection from surprise. Fear tinged with a nice mix of love and hate. But mostly fear. The dominant emotion in it.
What did she have to fear? Curious, Tom let go of the emotion and started in on the thoughts. And the answer was laid out for him clear as glass.
She was sad that she had had to break off the relationship with Tom and lonely because of it as well. Her friends just couldn't fill in that gap that leaving him had made in her heart. The anger was because of Tom's goal and his willingness to do anything to accomplish it. She stilled loved him, but she hated him because of her being his only love. And that is where the fear came in. She was scared of him. She was scared of dying and scared of Tom killing her. She feared about how her parents would react if they found her dead and how her friends would take it. Tom was taken completely by surprise.
Feeling he had done enough, he let go of the connection, deep in thought now. He hated himself, suddenly, for what he had put her through. And then he knew that on that last day of school, on the ride home on the Express, he would have to stalk her so that he could kill her, it was the only way. Tom turned then, away from the two girls and gathering his stuff up, went to bed.
Once Tom was sure that he still loved Courtney, he started planning the best time to do the ritual. He could only do it on the last days of the term, otherwise she would be missed. And, if he did it on the last day of term, he would have to carry her body home, which he didn't really want to do. It was almost impossible for him to be able to do it anytime during the school year for those reasons. She would be missed and/or he would end up carrying her body with him everywhere for a couple days.
The only other way to do it would be to stalk her the entire summer and catch her by herself. After thinking about a couple other ideas for a while, that is the one he decided on in the end. If he did it right, he would never be caught and she would be just put on the 'Missing Wizards and Witches' list.
After Tom's confrontation with Courtney, he steered clear of her, as did she him. He tried to act as though he didn't care what she thought about him, though he felt that he did a terrible job at it. At times he could feel her eyes piercing him with their gaze, as if trying to read his mind to see if he still planned on killing her or not. When that happened, Tom would turn slowly around toward her and meet her gaze, which always made her turn away.
Tom still had no friends, so he started to draw back into himself again. He became the loser kid who sat by himself at meals, sat by himself in classes, and who had a weird look about him. He was the weird kid who didn't have any friends and the kid who everybody hated. But Tom found he didn't care. If they wanted to think that about him, then let them. One day, he would show them. One day, when he was powerful, he would go and show them, the hard way. Or, he would get them to follow him. People followed people with power, and power was something he planned on having plenty of.
With his withdrawal from the real world, Tom started reading more and more on power and how to get it. He paid close attention to the news and started listing down the people who annoyed him; the people he would kill first. He became obsessed with learning how to do the Unforgivable Curses, of which there were four. There was Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, the Imperius Curse, which allowed a witch or wizard to control another's mind, the Cruciatus Curse, which inflicted a lot of pain, and the Omniciento Legere, which allowed a wizard to read another's mind.
Tom had used the killing curse before; on his father and his grandparents, but he had yet to use the other three. He memorized the incantation for them and would have used them on somebody at the school, if he hadn't known that he would surely be caught and expelled. So instead, he lured all the rats in the school to him and kept them in a large cage that we in his trunk. He kept the rats quiet with a simple charm so that nobody would hear them and suspect something. Then, in the middle of the night, he would gather a couple of the rats into a bag, still with the silencer charm on them, and leave the Slytherin Common Room and go to an abandoned classroom where he would quietly practice each of the four curses on the rats.
When he first stared practicing on the rats, he did it for enjoyment, mostly. Then, after a couple days, he learned that he could learn stuff from what the rats were thinking. So, he went into a sort of routine. He would cast the mind reading curse on them and read their mind, then put the Cruciatus Curse on them for just a few seconds, then read their mind again. Then the Imperius Curse and make them do something stupid, then read their mind again. It got to the point where he would read their mind after everything he did to them, and he learned that their thoughts would change to how much the Cruciatus Curse hurt to wonder about the feeling of being controlled. Then, when he figured he had done enough experimenting with a rat, he would kill it, sometimes out of the pity of how much pain he had put it through.
Tom practiced the curses on so many different rats, that he became an expert at each, but only when experimenting with rats. He greatly desired to experiment the mind reading curse on a human, but he didn't know how he could pull it off without getting caught. A solution to his minor problem came to him one day during Transfiguration. He was gazing at Dumbledore, almost asleep, when it came to him. Asleep. When somebody is asleep, he could cast the curse on them. There was almost no way they could sense that they were being cursed and wake up and catch him.
To Tom's tired mind, the thought made perfect sense. It didn't occur to him that there were other people in the dormitory that could very possibly wake up and catch him. It didn't occur to him that he had to talk do the curse, increasing the chances that somebody would wake up. None of that occurred to his tired mind, only the thought that when somebody was sleeping, he could read their mind with ease.
And so, since he hadn't been paying attention in Transfiguration in the first place, Tom started planning out, in his head, who, when and where to do the curse. At first, he couldn't really think of anybody that he would want to do the curse on; he had no desire to read the mind of just anyone. He was about to mentally run through a list of people when an obvious choice came to him. Courtney. He could read Courtney's mind and see what she thought about while she was asleep.
It was a perfect choice. Who better to try this curse on than his ex? Now all he need was a when and where. Tom decided right as the bell was ringing and the class was being released, that he would wait for a time to come. He was certain he would get a good chance at it soon. How right he was.
It was that evening that he had his chance. It was late, and people were starting to slowly filter out of the Common Room and into their dormitories. Tom stayed by himself in a corner studying for N.E.W.T.s and working on homework. Courtney was sitting on a couch with some of her girlfriends doing a group study thing that, to Tom, didn't appear to work very well. They were giggling and telling secrets more than they were studying.
After about midnight or so, two of the girls had fallen asleep and the rest of them had retired to their beds. Tom, who was sitting behind the couch the two had fallen asleep on, waited for the rest of the Common Room to empty before getting up and checking who was sleeping.
"Luck must be with me today. Two sleeping girls...and one of them just happens to be the one I was waiting for. Imagine that," Tom whispered to himself when he had identified them. He smiled slyly then pulled out his wand, pointing it to Courtney's friend first. "Omniciento Legere!" Tom said as quietly as he could while still being able to put the right amount of feel into it.
A sense of control came over him then, one stronger than it ever was with the rats. Tom closed his eyes and let the girl's thoughts come into his mind. At first the girl seemed to fight a little in her sleep, but then the thoughts and the dreams came quickly, almost willingly. He discovered that she was dreaming about her crush, the well known Gryffindor who played Quidditch. She was dancing with him in her dream, but in a way Tom had never seen before. The two were on brooms, circling each other and holding hands. Tom watched her dream for a few seconds longer before letting it go in disgust. A Slytherin liking a Gryffindor. Disgusting.
The other thoughts that Tom got from her were mostly about the girl's friends, the upcoming exams, and her life after she was graduated from Hogwarts. Completely boring.
Tom opened his eyes and let go of the concentration that made the spell work. He then turned his wand on Courtney. "Omniciento Legere," he whispered softly and full of a couple different emotions. He closed his eyes and allowed her thoughts into his mind.
Her thoughts were basically of the exams, her friend problems, her homework etc. Tom almost stopped the spell right there, but something made him stay put. Suddenly a strong emotion came flowing into his mind. It was an emotion that he knew all too well. It was filled with sadness and loneliness. Mixed into those was a small amount of anger and an emotion that almost made Tom break the connection from surprise. Fear tinged with a nice mix of love and hate. But mostly fear. The dominant emotion in it.
What did she have to fear? Curious, Tom let go of the emotion and started in on the thoughts. And the answer was laid out for him clear as glass.
She was sad that she had had to break off the relationship with Tom and lonely because of it as well. Her friends just couldn't fill in that gap that leaving him had made in her heart. The anger was because of Tom's goal and his willingness to do anything to accomplish it. She stilled loved him, but she hated him because of her being his only love. And that is where the fear came in. She was scared of him. She was scared of dying and scared of Tom killing her. She feared about how her parents would react if they found her dead and how her friends would take it. Tom was taken completely by surprise.
Feeling he had done enough, he let go of the connection, deep in thought now. He hated himself, suddenly, for what he had put her through. And then he knew that on that last day of school, on the ride home on the Express, he would have to stalk her so that he could kill her, it was the only way. Tom turned then, away from the two girls and gathering his stuff up, went to bed.