Harry looked at the test paper Tierra had brought out, and an endless sense of despair suddenly welled up inside him.
But when Harry looked up and met Tierra's unwavering gaze, he knew there was no escaping it. Tierra had clearly made up his mind to make him finish these questions.
"All right, all right, I—I—I'll do my best to answer these questions," Harry said helplessly, then shook his head, trying to pull himself together.
But a warm hand quickly pressed against it.
"Just shaking your head won't give you more knowledge," Tierra teased. "Practice is what puts knowledge in your head. Come on, Harry. Let's start with this one."
Tierra's slender finger tapped the test paper on Harry's desk.
Following Tierra's finger, Harry lowered his gaze to the paper. He painfully and slowly read through the question, struggling to recall what Tierra had taught in class and trying to understand the mathematical and dimensional concepts involved.
Harry considered how to solve it, then began writing calculations across the test paper.
About ten minutes later, Harry stopped writing. After a pause, he added a few more scribbles, and then—
Harry cautiously looked up, wanting to see what Tierra was doing.
The midsummer morning sunlight filtered through the mottled windows of the Dark Magic Classroom, seeming to gild everything within with a faint golden edge.
Tierra sat on a tall stool behind the lectern, quietly reading a book in his hands. The corners of his mouth were faintly raised, wearing that same ever-calm smile.
"What? Finished already? That fast?" Seemingly noticing Harry's gaze, Tierra lifted his eyes and looked at Harry with lively eyes.
"Ah, I—I—I—I haven't, um. There's one question I don't know how to do," Harry said awkwardly. "I forgot how to solve it. I mean, I wrote it