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CHAPTER FORTY
burn bright, burn fast
"I DON'T KNOW, I'm feeling pretty confident on this exam," Betty reasoned from her place next to Aisling at their regular table in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. There was chatter all around the room as the anticipation of their marks hung in the air. She made sure to keep Regulus Black in sight as she waited for her parchment to be handed back to her. Confident that she'd see the blue "O" that she'd become accustomed to and maintain her intellectual superiority over Regulus, only one finger tapped on the desk in front of her.
"I'm not. I'm absolutely rubbish at all of this. I don't know why I took this class," Aisling groaned.
"You're not rubbish. You got into the N.E.W.T. class!"
"Only because the new professor lowered the expectations."
Betty frowned. "You're better than you think."
Slowly, the room quieted down as the professor stalked forward, the pieces of parchment in hand. Her eyes were trained on Regulus Black's desk, which was two rows above her and to the left, meaning he would get his mark back first. Slowly, the parchment descended onto desks and a mixture of groans and muffled cheers were starting to erupt. She caught the sight of the familiar blue ink on Regulus's parchment and her finger pounded harder on the desk. The professor passed by her and her parchment landed on her desk. The ink wasn't blue, it was green. An "E.E." was written on the top along with a small note from the professor: "Well done, but not your best work".
Her heart sank and she felt her stomach churning. Her eyes widened as she looked for a way out of the classroom. She felt Regulus's eyes land on her desk and she looked up. This face was stoic, but she knew what she was looking for—the subtle smirk of victory. One more mistake would cost her top slot and he knew it. He sat back into his chair, his eyes back to the front, but he leaned and whispered something to Evan Rosier, who was next to him, making his eyes flick back to her and back to Regulus once more with a chuckle.
"See! You got an E.E., I got an Acceptable. Which is fine, but I just want to drop all of this. Go to the charms classroom and only take that."
But Betty couldn't hear her, only nodding along absentmindedly. The rest of the lesson drowned out as she could feel Evan Rosier's laughter run down her spine and seize her, shaking her core.
In a daze, she made her way to charms with Aisling, who was in a significantly better mood when entering her favorite classroom and sat, ready to receive another mark. Regulus Black sat across from her, exactly. His eyes were trained on her. Nearly in every single class together, this would be the last mark to determine whether she retained her status as top of the class. Carefully, she looked at him as the lesson began. She couldn't focus as the professor droned on about the Blackboard Writing Spell. Finally, the clock turned until it hit the five minutes before class ended.
