𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊!───james potter

chapter three!

"I'M going to fucking strangle you."

"You're so obsessed with me, I swear."

A loud groan reaches Vera's ears from the other side of the table. She just rolls her eyes at her brother and her best friend as she continues with the assignment in front of her. She tunes out their bickering voices, trying to focus on the words written on the parchment, but the harder she concentrates, the more the letters get all jumbled.

She resists the urge to scream out loud.

It is frustrating how she could spend every second of her free time studying and she still wouldn't be able to understand what the hell is going on in any of her classes. Everyone around her seems to be able to get the concepts immediately and can ace any exam the professor throws their way.

But that's not Vera. She has to spend countless hours going through her notes and re-reading pages of her books while simultaneously getting Nora or Adonis to help her.

It is exhausting working ten times as hard as everyone else and still not being able to comprehend the stupid fucking words in her notes.

Pushing back her chair, Vera stands and looks down at her best friend and brother.

"I'm going to take a break."

Nora furrows her eyebrows in concern. "You okay, V?"

Vera nods, but it must not look convincing because now Adonis is frowning.

"Is something wrong?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes in mock annoyance. "I'm fine, guys. I'm just going to go for a little walk. Clear my head before I resort to ripping all my hair out because of that Potions assignment."

Nora and Adonis share a look. They don't agree on much, nor do they ever team up on anything, but Vera's insecurities when it comes to the way she learns are the one thing they will always be on the same terms with.

Adonis used to tease her about being smarter than her because he got into Ravenclaw. It was only a joke and he never actually believed it, but it cut Vera deep every single time. To her, it was embarrassing that she wasn't able to learn like everyone else. That letters and numbers got all jumbled up, making it so that she couldn't really read until she was ten.

She dreaded it every time her muggle teachers would ask her to read in class, because the anxiety of everyone's eyes on her mixed with the out-of-place words made her feel pathetic and worthless.

Her first boyfriend told her she was stupid.

She can't remember anymore what she did to make him say it, but at fifteen, when a boy you really, really like tells you that, it makes you feel like shit. She hasn't had actual feelings for anyone ever since.

If you don't care about someone, what they say can't hurt you.

On the outside, Vera is warm and all smiles. But on the inside, she is ice cold, and no one can get through the protective layer she has built around her heart.

When they realized that Vera has dyslexia, Adonis immediately stopped saying any sort of comment about Vera's intelligence. He became even more protective than he already was, and anyone who even so much as looked at Vera the wrong way would have to go through him.

He's looking at her the way he's looking at her right now because he knows how much hurt it causes her when she can't understand something in her classes. He hates that she thinks that determines what makes her smart.

Nora is the same way. It's not like she's as smart as Adonis or always gets the best grades. She barely even manages to get her own average grades. But still, Vera somehow thinks Nora's smarter than her because she can read without hesitating. It is frustrating watching your best friend beat herself up because she thinks her learning disorder is what defines her.