Motivation ⌁ Tom Riddle ✔

40

Muggle Studies seemed to drift by like a slow current for the seventeen year olds; old muggle films made it seem that way. Professor Callahan seemed to be the only one enjoying it for he had not taken any notice of the class not paying attention. They were doing other things to keep themselves occupied. Snogging, scribbling on desks, or in Tom and Abigail's case, whispering to each other.

Tom definitely did not pay attention to the muggle film; he was still repulsed by them - muggles. At this very moment, Bellatrix Black was sitting in Divination with more than half of his Knights. Nobody but his Knights knew what lies Bellatrix was speaking, only they were unaware that her lies were lies and not the truth. He had to keep reminding himself of the consequences to keep himself from doing anything he knew he would regret.

Avery walked into the classroom late and unnoticed by the professor; he was far too teary-eyed, glued to the film. Avery quietly took a seat beside Abigail, and on the other side of her sat Tom. Tom leaned forward, giving Avery a pointed look but Avery was only looking at Abigail, a sympathetic look plastered on his fine features.

"What? What is it?" Tom said in a hurry.

Avert looked away for a moment, his Adam's Apple bobbing up and then down again.

"Avery," Abigail's soft voice said questioningly, "what is it you know?"

"You, in particular, are not going to like it. Your friend Emily...she..."

Abigail gasped softly, her hand hovering somewhat awkwardly in mid-air. "Did something happen to her?"

"Well, other than the fact that she is joined up with Bellatrix, no. Nothing at all."

Tom waited for Abigail to react but she seemed to be frozen on the spot. Until she finally blinked and let her hanging hand lower onto the desk.

"Why would she do that? She hates Bellatrix. She hates the lot of you. Why would she - what - what about Brianna? Was she there, too?"

Avery shrugged. "If she was I didn't see her. But, I have to leave now. If I'm going to be your inside man, I need to be in all of Bellatrix's classes, eh?"

Tom cleared his throat loudly, announcing that he was still, in fact, sitting there, aware of Avery flirting with the girl beside him. "Our inside man, Avery."

Avery nodded, said a quick "right," and then dashed off to where Tom supposed Dippet's office was.

Abigail sunk back into her chair after she seemingly allowed everything to sink in. Tom knew exactly what she was feeling. Betrayed. He knew that feeling all too well. Bellatrix was once Tom's favorite; she was once very loyal to him. Or there was the time Tom believed Avery was choosing love with Abigail over his loyalty to Tom. Emily McKinnon was Abigail's best friend and the amount of betrayal that Abigail was feeling was probably twice was bad as what Tom was feeling.

"You never did tell me," Abigail suddenly said, leaving Tom in a bucket of confusion. She seemed to enjoy doing that to him.

"How many times must I remind you to be specific with these things?" Tom exhaled loudly out of his nose, waiting for the blonde's response.

"About Avery. That night in the library a while ago. Do you remember? You told me that Avery wasn't as innocent as I thought he was. What exactly did you mean by that?"

Tom chuckled quietly at the memory, and it was true what he had told her that night.

"My, my, Benjamin, I do fancy that memory of yours."

Tom noticed Abigail's lips tighten slightly as a small amount of colour was added to her cheeks.

"So, will you tell me, then?"

Tom nodded absently. "If you insist. But, I do not want you thinking differently of him. He isn't like me and he cares about what you think of him."

When Abigail nodded, Tom continued.

"You are already aware of how my father died. Let's just say I wasn't entirely alone that night. I had part of my group with me, the ones I could trust the most. Bellatrix, Malfoy, Lestrange, and Avery. Bellatrix, Lestrange and Malfoy didn't do very much other than give the man a good scare by screaming and shouting and trashing the entire place. Whilst they were doing so, I allowed Avery to torture him while I watched, and my father's suffering made me feel stronger until I myself ended it. That is what I was referring to that day in the forest, and that night in the library. Avery did not want anybody to know, especially not you."

Abigail's face had fallen by a lot, and it made Tom's stomach lurch and churn and feel all sorts of things he hadn't ever felt before. She uttered a faint, "oh," and leaned on the table with her fist against her cheek, eyes glued on Tom's face. Tom was shocked to the core by Abigail's next question. "Will you take me there when the term ends?"

"I beg your pardon?" Had he heard her right or were his ears playing up?

"Around your father's place. That day I was looking into your future, when I seen a boy drop dead, it was at a cemetery. A little further away from the cemetery there was a house. Look, I can't explain it but I know how it must look like."

"Are you implying that you want to see my filthy father's tombstone?"

Abigail nodded weakly. "That was a bit blunt, but, yes, I would like to I suppose. I take it he hasn't had many visitors lately. And then afterward I'd like for you to see my father's tombstone."

The words Tom wanted to respond with were cruel and harsh. He had better things to do then to visit a dead man's grave, especially a muggles, and it was a waste of his precious time. But, as he looked beyond Abigail, every inch of detail about her, he knew that he'd most likely do anything for her. To keep her satisfied at least. The amount of times Tom had given in to her had only proved that theory to be correct.

"Of course," Tom found himself mumbling. But, Abigail had her focus pointed at the old film at the front of the class, and he wasn't too sure that she had heard him.

Until her hand had unexpectedly slid itself into his own from under the desk. He didn't bother shaking it away.