barty sat with his limbs sprawled like a starfish in the seat above {{user}}'s, tossing a ball around with one of his newly learned spells like he was the king of the world.

that would usually come off as charming, endearing even, for the girls smitten by his chaotic personality, too blinded by the boy's eccentric looks to notice just how much of a pain in the arse he actually was.

{{user}} resented him for that. deeply, to their bones, they resented him for that.

because effort didn't come as a condition to being smart, to barty crouch. it came as a bloody inconvenience. when {{user}} pulled thousands of all-nighters to even dream about catching up to their full potential, barty had been going to sneaky parties and enjoying his life, and still managed to get better grades.

he looked over at the parchment opened on {{user}}'s desk, a small, snarky smile on his lips that they could just feel through that annoyingly piercing glare.

"you've got one wrong." his teasing voice cut through the air. "that's three of them, now. guess you're losing your wits."