Motivation ? Tom Riddle ?

47

"Me...nothing...uh. Er. Nothing, I was trying to stop them from fighting. I had nothing to do with it; I was quiet." It was partly true. She had tried stopping them from ripping each others throats out, and she was, indeed, trying to keep them as well as herself quiet.

"Really?" he mused, as students began making their way back up to bed, mumbling to each other. "Then what's with those two over there?"

Abigail, still frowning, glanced over at Billy and Chris, who were sitting in chairs with their heads in their hands, muttering to each other and glancing occasionally her way. She didn't want to get Caitlyn in to any more trouble than she was already in, seeing as it wasn't Caitlyn's fault that she had uncontrollable anger issues, and a sentence formed in her head as she looked at the thick green goo that the boys were coated in.

She shrugged, eyeing the prefect again. "Slytherins I suspect. The green stuff gives it all away, don't you think?"

Though, Abigail had to give it to Caitlyn - a prank without magic was a prank by far, especially when the victim is unprepared. She wasn't sure whether she'd mention it to Caitlyn or not, but she definitely wanted to see one of her pranks with magic next time, if there was ever going to be a next time.

The prefect frowned and eyed her suspiciously. "What green stuff? All I see is feathers."

Thankfully, saving Abigail having to answer the annoying prefect, the Head of Ravenclaw burst through the portrait with the students who had left not long ago. A woman, who was not Abigail's teacher for any of her classes, slightly short and stern faced, dressed in her nightgown, looking quite angry, eyed the commotion with narrowed eyes. And as she ordered everyone off to bed, Caitlyn, Abigail, Alison, Billy and Chris to the Headmasters office, Abigail gulped.

After agreeing that Abigail, Chris and Billy were, indeed, not in trouble as everything had been explained to Dippet, it was settled that Caitlyn and Alison were not to speak to each other anymore, go near each other unless absolutely necessary, and were given detentions for the rest of the week, Abigail was told to make her way to the hospital wing at half past one, eyes drooping and feet tripping over themselves.

The nurse emerged from behind a curtain at the sound of the door creaking open, and Abigail wandered in, not at all knowing how her nose looked at the moment. She knew it was definitely bleeding, but she wasn't sure it was broken. She hoped not. Abigail didn't remember the nurse's name, and instantly felt bad about it.

"Oh, dear," the nurse tutted, gesturing for Abigail to sit on the edge of the bed beside the one that had a curtain around it. "Let's clean this up. Want to start by telling me what on earth happened at - what time is it?"

"Probably nearly two," Abigail responded with a small yawn. "Can I please explain later? I'm tired."

The nurse nodded sympathetically, waving her wand in front of Abigail's face, and she could feel the blood had been cleared as she could no longer smell it or feel how stuffy it was. "May I?" she referred to touching Abigail's nose, who nodded, feeling how weird it was to have someone prod and move her nose around. "You're lucky; it isn't broken, but it's bruised badly. You'll most likely wake up with a purple nose. But, for now, you can rest here as there is no point in you returning back to your tower half asleep. Good night."

Abigail didn't bother responding as she pushed herself up, and laid back fully on the bed, her head lolling to the side, and her name being said from the bed beside hers - but she was far too tired to care, and fell asleep right away.

She woke up earlier than she had hoped for the next morning, stretching, and then rubbing her eyes furiously to wake herself. It took a while for Abigail to remember what had happened in the early hours of the morning. All she knew was that yesterday she'd had a water fight in the rain with some friends, and then later that evening Caitlyn had suggested a prank on the boys who took the fall for the rain fight and earned themselves a detention, and then she and Alison had started fighting, Abigail tried stopping and ended up getting hurt herself, while Caitlyn and Alison had been given a weeks detention, funnily enough.