Tayla worked silently as Professor Hadley instructed the class. She really liked the teacher, but she wasn't as confident with Arithmancy as she was with most of her other classes. Though Tayla received good marks, even in Muggle school she struggled with numbers.

She furrowed her eyebrows and practiced, hoping Professor Hadley wouldn't notice how confused she was at the moment. She just needed to keep her head down...

"Reduce? What does she mean by 'do not reduce'? Perhaps the sum? Ugh..." she thought. Tayla's head throbbed while she tried to concentrate. "Paragrams...Pythegorean...are they different or the same?"

Tayla sighed as she heard Professor Hadley saying they were all doing great. "I wish I were, too..." But she didn't want to show her work unless she felt more confident it was right.

"Okay," she whispered bracingly to herself. She sat up straight and tried to focus.



"I guess that wasn't too hard...not sure...am I right...?"

Tayla glanced towards Josh's direction. She also stared at his Slytherin girlfriend and sighed. She turned back to her parchment and laughed softly at herself, crossing out her calculations at the bottom. "Might as well ask Professor Hadley if I'm right...and for some help maybe.

She raised her hand and called, "Excuse me, Professor Hadley?"