She Saved Me | Tom Riddle

Evolving

Hey all you lovely people, good to see you again! This is kind of a filler chapter to be honest. But we're back to Hogwarts and things can get wrapped up nicely as we near the end (of this story). Don't worry though, we have quite a few chapters left yet.

Listen: Money by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans

39| evolving

It was just another day, a bleak and ordinary insignificant day. Well it was as far as Tom was concerned. It was the day they would be going back to Hogwarts; a day that Tom never found to be interesting. In fact he found it to be quite morose. When he was younger he looked forward to any reason to get away from Wools. But the novelty wore off quickly once things became too routine for him. He always wanted more than what was right in front of him.

That was the line of thought that continued as he packed the last of his things away in his trunk. They would be leaving in just twenty minutes and he knew the girls were excited to get going. He could hardly stand being around them at breakfast. It was too much for him to stomach, especially so early in the morning.

Once everything was ready to go, Tom just sat on the bed. His bed, which he now thought of as. He was finally comfortable referring to the room and everything in it as his. Of course nothing in the room was truly his, but Gwen assured him more than a few times that it was his to do with as he pleased. He hadn't taken her up on the offer so far. As soon as they were graduated from Hogwarts, Tom would have to figure out what to do. As would Ava.

Tom wasn't naive enough to think it wouldn't be expected he go out on his own and choose a career. As much as the Merins attempted to treat him as such, he wasn't part of their family. In just a few months he would be on his own. But for now he would only focus on what was coming that day. Just as he came to that resolution, a light knock came at the door.

Ava flashed Tom a smile when she got his attention. "Are you ready to go?"

Tom stood up and looked around quickly. "I believe I have everything," he said dimly.

"Great." Ava's good mood dampened a bit when she noticed how emotionless Tom was. "We're going to head to King's Cross now."

"Then I suppose I am ready," Tom said resolutely as he grabbed his trunk.

Ava just bit her lip and nodded as Tom walked around her. "Alright then," she whispered to herself. The way he had been acting since last night was very off-putting to her.

Instead of saying anything about it, Ava let out a lengthy sigh. She went to her room and grabbed her own trunk and went downstairs as well. Once there, she saw everyone gathering together to get ready for their departure. Her mother was attempting to tame some of Lizzie's excitement. Her father was shrinking all of the trunks for them as the others were distracted at the moment. Tom, on the other hand, was standing silently with a blank expression. She didn't miss this emptiness.

This all stayed the same even as they walked through the station. Tom didn't wait for any prompt before going through the wall to the platform. Ava was the next to go through and nearly tripped over herself when she had to stop suddenly on the other side. A small group of students had walked right in front of her.

"You should be more careful."

Ava's gaze snapped in the direction where Tom's voice came from. "How was I suppose to know they'd be there?"