"she was the type of person who'd explain how she was going to stab you in the front before she actually shoved the knife in... and you'd let her.
she'd probably even pass the knife to you so you can shove it in your own chest...and you would."
tom...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
t o m h a d gone through with his plan- Evelyn's plan- because of the rumors that had coursed through school.
Students were being pulled from Hogwarts.
The girl in the bathroom, Myrtle Warren, a muggle-born witch, had been attacked.
Olive Hornby, a girl in Myrtle's year, had found her and told everyone. Tom hadn't been upset about this at first, but when the rumors of the school shutting down had also started circling, he was a bit more concerned.
At first, Tom had thought it would blow over. He had even gone to the Headmaster's office and asked if he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer. Headmaster Dippet had told him a firm, but sympathetic, no. Hogwarts would be closing for good if the monster who had done this wasn't caught. Tom had stormed all the way down into the hallways that Evelyn had shown him and had spied the large Gryffindor student Hagrid leaving the room where the giant spider was hiding. He hadn't confronted him at first, but after waiting until the end of the week, just a few days before they would all leave for summer break, he finally made his move. Rubeus Hagrid had been expelled quickly after the discovery, his wand snapped.
Tom had been rewarded greatly for his bravery and the sacrifices that he had made for the school. Now that the beast had been caught, the school would remain open-though he was still not allowed to stay for summer.
With the hecticness of the end of year, and the sealing of the Chamber of Secrets, Tom had been so busy he hadn't noticed Evelyn's absence at first. The last time he had seen her was the night he had been rewarded when she had slipped out of the hall in the middle of his speech. He hadn't remembered to ask her why.
On the very last day of term, when every student headed down to board the Hogwarts Express once more, he had finally been clear-minded enough to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. He had boarded and stared at the empty seat across from him before his followers had all crammed themselves into the train cabin. They had asked about Evelyn, but Tom hadn't answered them.
When Tom finally saw Evelyn, it was only for a brief minute when he stepped through Platform 9 ¾'s barrier. She had been gliding through the crowds that had swamped King's Cross station as if she were a ghost. People had just seemed to step aside for her as she passed. She never looked back.
***
That summer at the orphanage had been close to torture for Tom. His inability to use magic was straining, even though he spent most of his free time practicing wand movements and pronouncing spells. He wanted to learn wandless magic, so he had asked the librarian if he could borrow some books in order to study. She had agreed with only a promise that they be returned right away at the beginning of the following year. When she hadn't been watching, he had borrowed some of the darker books they had in the library.
