Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Twenty-Six

[Chapter Twenty-Six]

The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom smelled heavily of burning sage and something else that Éponine couldn't pinpoint, but it didn't honestly matter because to her, it just reeked.It made her eyes somewhat watery, to the point where it looked as though she was going to cry and with the smell forcibly making its way into her nostrils, she was actually on the verge of crying out for help. She didn't appear to be alone either as most of her classmates had taken to covering their noses and mouths with the sleeves of their robes.  

The only person who didn't seem bothered by the smell was Professor Azariah, in fact, Éponine could hear the woman stop to take long and deep breaths, obviously enjoying the fragrance that she had placed in the room. It was hard to concentrate on what the older woman was talking about as she covered the topic of Counter-Spells. But the only thing Éponine could think of was trying to come up with a counter-smell for the odour in the classroom. 

"It smells like arse in here," Avery muttered loud enough for Éponine to hear. Upon entering the classroom with Regulus, the two had avoided arriving late, but the seating was limited. Normally, Éponine would have avoided sitting anywhere near Avery and Mulciber inside of a closed space but unfortunately, she didn't have another option for the rest of seats in the class were occupied. Emmarentia shot an apologetic look in the girl's direction as someone had taken the seat next to her, leaving Éponine to take the open seat next to Regulus.

She honestly didn't have a problem sitting next to the boy, but she feared what his friends would be sneering in her direction when they thought Regulus wasn't paying attention. However, since the start of class, neither one of them had said anything in her direction, at least, nothing malicious. 

"Rotten arse," Mulciber chimed in.

"Burning rotten arse."

"Burning rotten arse on a stick!"

The two went back and forth having a grand old time, each of them adding something to describe how terrible the smell was. They snickered lightly among themselves and as Éponine glanced over, she could see that Regulus was attempting to hide a smile behind his hand. Eventually, the antics of the boys had drawn attention and finally, Professor Azariah noticed that her class was highly distracted by the two. The sounds of giggling interrupted the lesson and suddenly the entire class was laughing as Mulciber pretended to die from the smell, falling into Avery's arms.

"Is there something wrong?" Professor Azariah questioned as she approached the table where the two sat. "I'd like to know the reasoning behind why you think it's appropriate to disrupt this class?"

"Well, quite frankly, Professor," Avery stated, " it stinks."

The offended look on the woman's face only added to the laughter of the students, except among the select few that wouldn't bring themselves to laugh at the joke made by a Slytherin. Immediately, with the use of her wand, Professor Azariah had both boys up by the back of their robes, leading them out of the classroom. They put up all the protest in the world but it fell on deaf ears as they were kicked out, told to see wait outside the Deputy Headmistress' office until their punishment was delivered.