Closed A Textbook Case

[Corn Seymour VII]

Approval ID #122620​

OWLs. OWLs. The thought that had obsessively plagued Cornelius' every thought for a year was here, leaving him nowhere to hide. He had studied, Merlin how he had studied. He felt as though the pages of his textbook were burned into his retinas, for all the time he had spent staring at them. And yet somehow, Cornelius had managed to take nothing in. The information was all tangled and knotted in his brain, information that should be tidy and clear instead tied into a rat king of terror. He was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, a complete and total failure, the end of the great line of Cornelius Seymours. Matter of fact, that was the only way he had ever managed to be outstanding. Such a complete and total f*ckup that he was undoing seven generations of heritage, all in one lifetime.

It was a thought that made Cornelius sick to his stomach, and had led him to desperate measures. He couldn't fail his family, there wasn't a single worse fate that he could think of. And it wasn't cheating... not really. Just a memory aid, really. When you thought about it. Other people could keep information nice and tidy inside their heads, herds of walking textbooks roaming the halls, but Cornelius had never been cut out for that life. No, he was no good at storing information inside his head. So what was so wrong with storing it on the outside instead? He was just putting himself on an even playing field, really. And this way he could answer all the questions easily, get through his OWLs, and avoid completely shaming his entire family.

Cornelius could feel his heart thudding in his adam's apple as he was checked for the standard cheating apparatuses - enchanted quills and the like. He hadn't gone for anything quite so obvious, and he couldn't see any reason it wouldn't work. The scans were looking for magic, after all, and he had removed as much of that from the equation as possible. He had even used a muggle pen to be safe, painstakingly copying pages and pages of his Defense textbook onto his arms in the tiniest font he could manage. It had taken most of the night, he had barely slept at all, but he was fairly sure his exhaustion would be chalked up to a late night cram session. Which, he supposed, it had been, really. He had just been cramming the information onto his forearms, instead of into his brain.

Scans passed, Cornelius let out a shaky breath as he took his seat. He had made it. All he had to do was keep his head down and make sure Professor Cade and the Ministry proctor didn't see him rolling up his sleeve. The adrenaline had his blood rushing in his ears almost loud enough that he missed the call to begin. But he turned over his parchment with the rest of his classmates, an entire roomful of students descending into the same misty unknowns. But Cornelius was unique, the scrawls on his arm a light in the darkness, his saving grace. He didn't even check what the first question was before inching his sleeve up - it hardly mattered. Even if he thought he knew the answer, going by the book was going to be a much more surefire way to go. He winced when he actually saw his arm - the nervous sweats had smudged a lot of the writing into unreadable blurs. Far more of it than he could afford, frankly. As if to rub it in, Cornelius felt his nervous sweats get even worse at the revelation. But it wasn't all a total write off, and thankfully he could see the first answer he was looking for, jotted neatly just over his radial artery, and he quickly began copying it onto his parchment. This was going to work, he was sure. Most of the writing wasn't totally smeared, and it would be plenty to get him past this horrible, nightmarish ordeal, and cruising through towards his future as an Auror.

Despite needing a bit of help, Cornelius couldn't help thinking he was actually the smartest person in this room.

 

[Professor James Cade]

O.W.Ls were an incredibly stressful time. James remembered it well from his time as a student and he had been reacquainted with the stress levels in his first couple of years as a professor. For many students it was the first taste of genuine stress that didn’t come from their adolescent drama and complicated love lives. Many students buckled under the pressure and their grades reflected that, some excelled under it, and the rare few went to extraordinary, and often illegal, methods in order to get an advantage. When he applied for the job to teach it hadn’t occurred to him that he would be part of catching exam cheaters.

James walked up and down the aisles of desks, keeping an eye on things alongside an independent ministry proctor. He didn’t welcome the outside presence over his exam, but he knew that for something as important as O.W.Ls, it was needed. James expected everyone to be acting within the rules and the spirit of the exams, but what he did not expect to see was someone rolling up their sleeve and seemingly look at something on his arm before starting to write an answer on his paper. James sighed and caught the attention of the proctor and nodded towards the student in question. James approached the student, Cornelius Seymour and cleared his throat. “Mr Seymour could you come with me please,”

 

[Corn Seymour VII]

Really the school should be embarrassed, Cornelius thought to himself. For all the fussing about charmed quills and self-scrawling ink, all it had taken was a muggle pen and a few hours of time, and he was going to breeze right through with a perfect score in his OWL. OWLS, since no doubt he'd be able to pull off this same method for all of his exams. He was a genius, frankly, and he deserved the perfect scores he was about to get from this school full of idio-

Cornelius' blood crystallised in his veins at the sound of his name, quill sending ink splattering over his desk and robes as he unsubtly yanked his sleeve down. SH*T. "Why?" He squeaked, trying for nonchalant and winding up somewhere near motorised toy running out of battery. This couldn't be happening. All his dreams up in smoke just because some dimwitted failed cop had happened to notice something for once in his life. A big part of Cornelius wanted to flip the desk and run; flee to the grounds, live in the lake, marry the eel. That'd be an easier future than what his father would have in store if he ever discovered what he had done. Knees shaking under him, Cornelius got to his feet, wondering if it was possible to make himself faint at will; surely this whole thing would all go away if he just passed out right this second?

 

[Professor James Cade]

Why? Cornelius had been caught red handed yet he had the nerve to ask James why he’d been stopped so early in his exam. He had to give it to the kid, it took some balls to attempt what he was and then to try and play it cool when caught, as if James hadn’t noticed him frantically pulling his sleeve down to hide the evidence. “Let’s not make a scene,” James said keeping his voice low as to not disturb the other students in the middle of their exam.

James stepped back as Cornelius got to his feet, he looked a little unsteady which James put that down to the nerves of the situation. Without another word James led Cornelius toward the corridor, nodding over at the proctor so they knew what was happening. James escorted Cornelius out of the classroom and began the journey toward the headmasters office. “Let’s not pretend we don’t know what you did, I might act the fool in class but I can spot cheating a mile off,”

 

[Corn Seymour VII]

Cornelius followed after Professor Cade with feet of lead; dragging and trailing miserably along the floor. He would be throwing up if his stomach weren't tied in a thousand painful knots. His life was over. Totally and utterly over. He would be disowned; expelled; thrown to live on the street. Seven generations of Cornelius Seymours, and he had managed to be the worst one, the failure who ruined the family line. "Please, Professor..." He croaked, embarrassed to find that he was almost crying. "I can't flunk, I can't be expelled - my father, my grandfather, they're all Aurors, for generations. I have to pass, I have to become an Auror too... I can't - they'll never forgive me..." But they might forget him. They would forget him. His father would disown him and start over, have a brand new Cornelius Seymour VII and pretend he never existed; one who wouldn't be such a complete and utter failure that he undid hundreds of years of legacy in one stupid, stupid moment. One who could just pass an exam, like a normal person.

Or one who was better at cheating, at least.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James would never get used to students begging not to be in trouble. The consequences of their actions always seemed like a terrifying prospect immediately after they had been caught, the truth was James would have no say in Cornelius’ punishment, that would be for the headmaster, he delt with serious issues like cheating during exams. James’ job in all of this was simply to escort the Slytherin to the headmasters office on the floor above. “You might want to save your begging for the headmaster, he’s the one who will actually deciding your punishment, not me,” James kept silent as he led Cornelius to the staircase and then up to the headmasters office.