Her Dark Artifice [t.r]

Chapter 14: The Monster in Her Mind

XIV

In late-November, a veil of snow coated Hogwarts like a white tapestry emblazoned with glittering specks of silver. Evadne was sat in the Great Hall behind a small desk amongst the entirety of the fifth year cohort, scribbling away at her last mock examination – potions. Professors traipsed slowly between the aisles of concentrated students, occasionally peering down at their exam papers to inspect their onslaught of variegated answers.

As she was answering a question about liquid luck, Evadne felt an imposing presence hovering over her shoulder behind her. She slowly craned her neck to see Professor Slughorn gazing down at her paper, with an expression Evadne could not clearly decipher. They had not studied Felix Felicis yet! That was sixth-year content.

She was all of a sudden overcome with doubt. Was she writing the right thing? Were her answers incorrect? She worriedly bit down on her lip. And then when Slughorn gave her a light, reassuring nod, and Evadne smiled gingerly, picking up her quill to resume the potions exam.

"Ten minutes left," Slughorn whispered, tapping against the glass of a small golden watch fastened on his pudgy, sallow wrist.

"Thank you, sir."

*

"How was it?" Katherine asked as they walked out of the Great Hall into the dimly-lit foyer.

"Awful," Nicholas drawled glumly. "I want to die," he murmured, sullen.

"How was it for you?" Evadne asked Katherine. She already knew that Katherine found the exam easy. Every so often, Evadne would surreptitiously look up from her own paper to quickly pan the room to see how everyone else was fairing and whether or not, judging from their facial expressions, they were also struggling to answer certain questions. Katherine Lersaint was hunched over her parchment the entire time, writing so fast Evadne thought that her wrist ought to have hurt — and unsurprisingly, Katherine was the first person to finish the paper.

"It went well," Katherine said, grinning magnanimously.

Evadne rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm a little unsure about mine. I think I tried my best at least. When do we receive our results?"

"As soon as we return from the Christmas break," said Nicholas, biting his nails worriedly.

Evadne had never been very adept at potions. She was always better at Defense Against the Dark Arts and charms; the muggle studies exam went exceptionally well – when the muggle studies students departed the Great Hall, Evadne gathered from eavesdropping on a myriad of conversations that she was the only one that had answered all eighty questions.

Tom Riddle too, of course.

Lilian Clearwater was in the other potions class, so she was sat further up the aisles taking her examination. She was one of the last groups to disperse out of the Great Hall. As she approached the group in the foyer, Evadne noticed from her sore eyes and snuffles that Lilian had been crying.