Subject: Care of Magical Creatures
Task: Write about a character who is utterly useless in a certain situation.
Extra Prompt: Dudley Dursley
September Event: Back to School
Prompts: 1 (Word) Clueless, 26 (Action) Copying someone else's work
Word Count: 516
The Test
Dudley stared dumbfounded at the long, black chalkboard as he read the words: Pop Quiz.
A Maths test… on a Monday morning. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse after the weekend he had just had when his parents and teachers had decided it would be a fantastic idea to force a new, strict diet upon him
How was it possible that he didn't know about the test? Not that it would have made any difference as to whether he revised, but it would have given him the time to convince one of the first years to break into the desk and steal the answers. And if he refused then he could have at least got in some practice for his upcoming boxing match.
Now he was simply clueless and would have to cheat off the person next to him and hope for the best.
He yawned as he glanced over his shoulder and looked at his best friend, Piers Polkiss, who had look of equal shock, disappointment and confusion written on his face.
"What the hell?" he mouthed
"I know," Piers mouthed back with a subtle eye roll.
Dudley turned back around and glared at his teacher as she began to pass out the sheets of paper that would be the result of his first ever fail grade. He couldn't even begin to imagine the look on his mother's face when she heard her 'Little Diddykins' had been given an 'F' or the pure fury on his father's. Sure, outwardly, especially when Harry was around, they gave the impression that he could do no wrong, but when it was just the three of them, and where his education was concerned, they took a much harder line with him.
"You have thirty minutes, class," his teacher said. "Begin."
Dudley turned over the paper in front of him and stared blankly at the first question:
Find the value of x. Show your working out.
5x - 3 = 2x + 12
"Hey, Archie," Dudley whispered. "Let me see your answers."
"No," he hissed back, moving his arm and shielding his work from him. "Do your own work for once."
"Move your arm and let me copy your work or else I will break your fingers," Dudley threatened, reaching out and crushing his hand lightly for effect.
Archie winced slightly, tears from in his eyes as he tried to contain a loud cry of pain, and nodded his head. "Okay," he whispered. "You can copy off me. Please let go of my hand now."
Dudley released his hand and offered him a smug grin as Archie moved his arm out of the way.
He covertly glanced out of the corner of his eye, looking at Archie's answer to question one of what looked like an endless quiz full of algebra questions.
5x - 3 = 2x + 12
(-2x) 3x - 3 = 12
(+3) 3x = 15
(/3) x = 5
Dudley sighed audibly as he realised that the answers he was copying were only going to get longer and so much more complicated.
