Inside My Mind (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter LIII

Hogwarts, Unplottable Location, Scotland, Great Britain

Friday the 8th of October 1995

11:00 AM

"In. Now."

Lalita walked in, used to Professor Riddle's rude way of telling them to enter the classroom. The group of students walked inside. Lalita and Fay didn't separate. They went to sit down next to each other. Bella skipped in and sat down in her usual seat and propped her feet on the table in front of her. Riddle gave her a look.

"Feet. Down. Now."

"Feet. Up. Now," Bella mocked. Riddle glared at her and sighed.

"If you don't put your feet down, I might decide to change your grade to a 'T'…" Riddle threatened. Bella rolled her eyes. Blaise glanced at Bella.

"He's serious."

Bella slid her legs off the table, swiftly. Everyone sat and got situated. Just as Riddle was about to close the door, Ron ran inside. He looked around and sighed in relief. He walked up to Bella and Hermione.

"The smarmy git isn't here yet?" Ron asked, grinning. Daphne stifled her laugh. Most of the class just went on laughing. Neville's eyes were wide and a small smile was tugging at his lips. Ron frowned in confusion.

"The smarmy git is…behind you," Riddle hissed, annoyed. Ron froze and his grin slid right off his face. He stiffened when a hand went on his shoulder and pushed him down in a seat. Riddle walked to his desk and grabbed a piece of parchment and slammed it down on Ron's desk.

"Maybe if you listened to the 'smarmy git' then you'd get a better grade than a P. In truth, you deserved a D but I was feeling particularly generous yesterday," Riddle said, sharply. Bella's mouth curled into a smile.

Particularly generous. Tom was never generous. But, perhaps Bella had something to do with her friend's better grade...

Bella leaned back in her seat and looked at Tom and Ron. Ron was flushed in anger and humiliation. Tom was being rather cruel but he really didn't like Ron. Ron was relatively smart and he was a great strategist but he didn't apply himself and in Tom's eyes, that was sin.

"That's not fair! You're being unfair!" Ron shouted.

"How is that not fair, Mr. Weasley? You wrote an essay on Grindelwald and how 'evil' he was. Did you understand the reasoning behind his 'evil'? Do you even know what evil is, Mr. Weasley? From your essay and mannerism, I think not. Your essay was shallow and biased and showed that you did no further research into the essay. You're thesis was not fact. It was rude and offensive. 'All of the Dark people are evil followers of Grindelwald and Voldemort', you wrote. You wrote slander against the Malfoys and other Slytherin families. And then you insulted two students that you think are your best friends. You wrote. 'Anyone who practices Dark magic is stupid and evil and belongs in Azkaban so they can't hurt people'," Tom snarled, in anger.

The rest of the class froze and Ron's eyes widened when he looked at Hermione and Bella. He could see the hurt in their eyes and he knew that he had done it now. Bella glared at him and turned away. Ron swallowed and glared at Tom.

"I understand what evil is!" he protested. Tom slammed his hand on Ron's desk and Ron jumped.

"Then what is it! What is evil?" Tom shouted. The rest of the class was staring at Tom in horror. Bella cringed from Tom's anger. She had never seen him angrier than he was in that moment. His eyes were the color of new blood. Ron was an idiot for continuing the argument.