Motivation ? Tom Riddle ?

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It was a bit odd as Tom put some thought into it, and he had many times before. Though he was pleased that perhaps they'd thought Avery was still very close with Abigail instead of Tom. Avery leaned back over and ate his meal in silence as he read through his Potions book. It wasn't normal to see Abigail so tense and unlike her usual, chirpy, content self. She had very blank, expressionless features, and it seemed as though her eyes had changed it's normal tone of blue. Not even her plate was piled as it usually had been, and it consisted of one egg and a pancake. Tom almost grimaced; an egg and a pancake was definitely a terrible mixture of a meal.

It was very unusually quiet in the Great Hall, seeing as many of the students had been reading over notes and revising, whilst the rest of the school was considerably silent and allowed them to revise in peace.

Abigail didn't even glance over at Tom, and he was trying his best to make it obvious that he'd been staring at her for a whole minute. But, still, she kept to herself and ate in silence.

"Come on," Avery finally broke the uncomfortable silence. The bell had started to ring just after Avery stood. "We have Potions."

Tom reached down to grab Abigail's bag from the floor to hand it to her, but she was already there and snatched it up away from him, and stalked off quickly out of the Great Hall before he could even stand from his seat. Tom sat there for a moment, frozen and confused. Even Avery was frozen for a moment before he cleared his throat and rotated his finger spirally beside his head. Tom quickly grabbed his bag and left the Great Hall with Avery, and headed toward the dungeons.

The desks in Professor Slughorn's classroom had been rearranged, and each was further apart from the one beside it and behind it, set in a strange set of rows. Many of the seats were already taken, even the ones beside and behind Abigail's seat. She was in the very front.

Professor Slughorn motioned for the boys to sit down quickly, and he began to hand out the exam papers, telling the students not to open them just yet.

Both Tom and Avery watched Abigail for a moment, her head looking over her shoulder for a brief second before she rolled her eyes and quickly twisted back around fully in her seat, her back tensing.

Avery scoffed from beside Tom, loud enough for Tom to hear it even with their desks a meter apart. "What's her problem?"

"That is what I'm trying to figure out," Tom admitted, chewing the inside of his cheek. Abigail seemed perfectly fine the last time Tom and her had spoken with each other, what, in less than twenty-four hours, could possibly have set her off?

"Read through the questions carefully, and thoroughly, and do not rush through it - that is just taking your knowledge for granted and you will answer incorrectly, mark my words. I know that many of you will get through the exam without any troubles, but for the few of you who might struggle with this," Professor Slughorns eyes darted to Avery for a moment, and Tom heard him cough awkwardly, "don't hesitate to ask me anything but the answer to the question. You may begin."

There was no hesitation as the class had opened it's exam booklet and the sound of quills against paper moved quickly. Many people groaned as they continued to read on through the exam, and Tom was not one of them. These questions seemed like first-year stuff to him and he had no trouble answering any question right away. It was the exact same as when he was in his fifth year; he never struggled with anything and was, quite obviously, the smartest boy in his year. He always was. At some point later, Avery grew envious and had even tried to get a few answers out of Tom, but Tom chose to ignore his friend.

"Just give me the answer to question six," Avery had mumbled quietly. "I don't even know how to pronounce that word. Come on, Tom, I studied really hard for this, I don't want to fail."