The classroom settled into a silence that felt too deliberate to be natural.
Once the reports were collected and displayed through the magic screen hovering before the half-circle of desks, even the students who usually found small ways to distract themselves became still. Tactical Espionage had always carried a different atmosphere from the other classes, but that afternoon, it felt especially sharp.
Seven second-years sat beneath the gaze of Lady Seraphina Vale and Professor Veylan Kaine, waiting as their work was not merely graded, but exposed. In most classes, a report could be read privately and marked with corrections. In this class, apparently, embarrassment was part of the curriculum.
The only disruptions came from Charlotte.
