jemina // sirius black

thirty-six

--This chapter picks up EXACTLY where the last one left off - it's literally the same thought. --

Since I knew that it would take at least a little while for him to show up, I decided to change.

I moved to my personal quarters and started shuffling through my trunk of clothes. I needed to wear something formal, but I didn't want to wear something itchy.

Once again, I found myself thinking about all of the stores in London that I could go to. Perhaps I would take the girls on a shopping trip over the Christmas holidays. I knew that, at the very least, Lilian would love to come with me. I could take them the same day that I went to my meeting with Fudge... if his business with the Tournament doesn't give him a solid excuse to postpone.

I ended up settling on a pair of dark red straight-leg dress pants, a maroon turtle neck, and a black cardigan. All of which were made of decently soft fabrics. Since I had taken a shower the night before, I figured there was no need to take another one so soon. I also just didn't have enough time to take one, since I knew he'd be here soon enough.

As soon as I was finished changing, I sat in front of the small vanity I had across from my bed. I had never imagined the professor's quarters at Hogwarts to be roomy, so when I was first shown to mine, I was surprised.

Albus had given me a large classroom with a short circular 'stage' platform at the back. I had yet to find a use for the platform, but I guess it was good to have if I ever did need it. The classroom had a wall of large windows, so it was incredibly well lit. The wall at the front of the classroom was almost entirely chalkboard, which was used very well. Like with most classrooms, there were stone arches across the ceiling, incredibly intricate designs in the walls, and wrought iron chandeliers. My classroom matched the overall design of the Defense Against the Dark Arts room but was nearly as large as McGonagall's Transfigurations classroom. I genuinely loved it.

The one downside is that there isn't an office attached. Most of the classrooms at Hogwarts had offices attached to them, with a door connecting the two. In the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, there was a really neat staircase up into a round office. In McGonagall's classroom, there was a 'secret' door inside the classroom, hidden in the stone behind a bookshelf. She never used that one, preferring the corridor doorway that lead into her large office.

Despite being one of the nicest classrooms, mine didn't have an office attached or particularly close to it. So to make up for that, Albus gave me a large office that had sizable private quarters attached to it instead.

While my room at Hogwarts wasn't as large as my childhood bedroom, it was similar to the size of my room at the cottage in Godric's Hollow. It comfortably fits a full-sized bed (what use would I have for anything larger?) a large wardrobe with two large lower drawers, an old vanity with a stool, and a low-to-the-ground two-drawer dresser beside my bed that I used as a nightstand.

I was rarely in my quarters, spending most of my free time in my office, working or reading. Since my office had three massive windows compared to my room with none, it was overall a more comfortable place to relax.

As I sat at my vanity, my thoughts drifted to my dream. I was already so tired of thinking about it, since all it did was make me feel sad. It made me feel sad and wistful.

I used a few charms to tidy up my hair, mostly to smooth the frizzy curls. The older the girls got, the harder having long hair was. It was harder to manage, even with the help of magic. I cut it to above my shoulders when Lilian was 5, and it's remained rather short since then. It was the longest it had been since then, mostly because I hadn't gotten around to cutting it after getting out of the hospital. It was just below my shoulder, at a sort of awkward stage between long and short. Even though it was growing longer, it still looked silly if I didn't manage the frizziness.