The rest of the school year flew by, being as busy as it was. Tom found
that he had to stop his rat experiments if he wanted to get enough sleep to
stay awake for the day so that he could study for exams. And study for
exams he did, every spare second he had. He didn't know why he did; his
intuition told him that his scores wouldn't matter anyway for what he would
end up being after he left Hogwarts. What he would end up being, he wasn't
entirely sure just yet.
The last week of school finally came. Almost all the students were stressing out about how they did on their exams so the grounds were unusually quiet, except for the odd child going outside in the sweltering heat to try to take their mind of their would be scores.
To most, it appeared as if Tom was really curious about his test scores as well, but he wasn't. He was getting more and more nervous about what was coming for the summer. He just wanted to get it done and out of the way.
He knew he wouldn't cherish killing Courtney, but he hadn't planned on the wait for the right time to be this-if you will-exciting. He was getting to the point where he insanely looked forward to it, though he knew it would only be painful for him to go through with it. But he never once doubted he could.
The last day of school finally came and with it a farewell feast for all the seventh years who would be leaving. Tom was packed and ready to go before he had even gone to bed that night, which was, granted, very late. And he decided he could sneak in one more rat 'experiment'. So, he snuck off to his little place and tortured the rat like he had almost all of the more recent ones. It was insane, but he enjoyed it. He would put the Cruciatus Curse on a rat for an extended amount of time just to hear it squeak out little screams of pain and writhe around on the ground like a helpless snake.
He rose with the sun in the morning, after a short three hours of sleep, and prepared himself to leave. He ran though, in his mind, one last time, his plan of stalking Courtney for the first day or so of summer before she became deceased.
The day seemed to drag by as slow as could possibly be. The train ride back to King's Cross seemed to take the better part of forever. But, since he was by himself, Tom allowed himself a couple hour nap so that he would be awake and alert when he left the train station. He had to keep track of Courtney. Losing her would not do.
When the train stopped, Tom got up with his stuff and got off the Hogwarts Express. He then stood by himself waiting for Courtney to disembark. While he waited, he concentrated on blending in and looking as inconspicuous as he could. It obviously worked because nobody so much as glanced twice at him.
He waited patiently, knowing that being patient was something that he would be practicing a lot for the next couple days. It was odd, but now that it was coming closer to the time of him killing her, he wasn't nervous in the least; he actually felt relaxed and comfortable about what he was about to do.
His wait was a short one. Courtney got off the train just a few minutes after Tom and stood on the platform, saying good-byes to her friends. Tom moved casually a little closer. He got as close as he could without being noticed. He was close enough to hear a little of their conversation, for which he congratulated himself; that had been his goal.
"...my parent's house. Where are you going this summer?" One of Courtney's friends were saying. Tom counted three of them other than Courtney. He had to be careful that none of them noticed him.
"My parent's house as well. But only for a while, I plan on moving over to Australia to see if I can get a job at their Ministry," One of the other three said.
"My mum wanted to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron place next Wednesday. Seems that she is on vacation in America right now and won't be back until then. She wants me to stay there until then."
Courtney was going to be at the Leaky Cauldron until Wednesday? A plan started forming itself in Tom's mind. He blocked out their voices now, trying to concentrate. It was simple, really. He had to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron before or after Courtney, preferably after, probably by a day or two. If he did it right, she wouldn't even know he was there until it was too late for her anyway. Tom nodded to himself then turned from the girls and casually as he could, left the platform. He shrunk his luggage to a size so small that he could put it in his pocket then walked through the barrier between the Muggle world and the Wizarding world.
The last week of school finally came. Almost all the students were stressing out about how they did on their exams so the grounds were unusually quiet, except for the odd child going outside in the sweltering heat to try to take their mind of their would be scores.
To most, it appeared as if Tom was really curious about his test scores as well, but he wasn't. He was getting more and more nervous about what was coming for the summer. He just wanted to get it done and out of the way.
He knew he wouldn't cherish killing Courtney, but he hadn't planned on the wait for the right time to be this-if you will-exciting. He was getting to the point where he insanely looked forward to it, though he knew it would only be painful for him to go through with it. But he never once doubted he could.
The last day of school finally came and with it a farewell feast for all the seventh years who would be leaving. Tom was packed and ready to go before he had even gone to bed that night, which was, granted, very late. And he decided he could sneak in one more rat 'experiment'. So, he snuck off to his little place and tortured the rat like he had almost all of the more recent ones. It was insane, but he enjoyed it. He would put the Cruciatus Curse on a rat for an extended amount of time just to hear it squeak out little screams of pain and writhe around on the ground like a helpless snake.
He rose with the sun in the morning, after a short three hours of sleep, and prepared himself to leave. He ran though, in his mind, one last time, his plan of stalking Courtney for the first day or so of summer before she became deceased.
The day seemed to drag by as slow as could possibly be. The train ride back to King's Cross seemed to take the better part of forever. But, since he was by himself, Tom allowed himself a couple hour nap so that he would be awake and alert when he left the train station. He had to keep track of Courtney. Losing her would not do.
When the train stopped, Tom got up with his stuff and got off the Hogwarts Express. He then stood by himself waiting for Courtney to disembark. While he waited, he concentrated on blending in and looking as inconspicuous as he could. It obviously worked because nobody so much as glanced twice at him.
He waited patiently, knowing that being patient was something that he would be practicing a lot for the next couple days. It was odd, but now that it was coming closer to the time of him killing her, he wasn't nervous in the least; he actually felt relaxed and comfortable about what he was about to do.
His wait was a short one. Courtney got off the train just a few minutes after Tom and stood on the platform, saying good-byes to her friends. Tom moved casually a little closer. He got as close as he could without being noticed. He was close enough to hear a little of their conversation, for which he congratulated himself; that had been his goal.
"...my parent's house. Where are you going this summer?" One of Courtney's friends were saying. Tom counted three of them other than Courtney. He had to be careful that none of them noticed him.
"My parent's house as well. But only for a while, I plan on moving over to Australia to see if I can get a job at their Ministry," One of the other three said.
"My mum wanted to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron place next Wednesday. Seems that she is on vacation in America right now and won't be back until then. She wants me to stay there until then."
Courtney was going to be at the Leaky Cauldron until Wednesday? A plan started forming itself in Tom's mind. He blocked out their voices now, trying to concentrate. It was simple, really. He had to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron before or after Courtney, preferably after, probably by a day or two. If he did it right, she wouldn't even know he was there until it was too late for her anyway. Tom nodded to himself then turned from the girls and casually as he could, left the platform. He shrunk his luggage to a size so small that he could put it in his pocket then walked through the barrier between the Muggle world and the Wizarding world.