Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 32

At the end of the Ancient Runes class, while Diana was packing her bag to leave, Remus went to give Professor Kumar their assignment which he had finished all on his own in an attempt to avoid working with Diana.

     But though he told the professor that it was teamwork, she couldn't help but feel that there was a tension between her two favorite students. As it seemed, pairing them up didn't have the outcome she had hoped for.

     The rest of the day didn't wear out Diana's resentment. She felt unable to listen to her other classes for the rest of the week, whether it was Charms, Transfigurations, Potions, or Herbology. History of Magic was worst of all.

     She was also frustrated that the Divination book she had gotten was no use, so she returned it to the library, along with the rest of her Ancient Runes books she had burrowed for their assignment.

     A whole week elapsed before she could finally let go of her foul mood. Only a few days were left to Christmas break, and though she wasn't looking forward to going back home only to be scolded by her mother, Diana still thought it could be a good chance for her to forget about Lupin.

     It was their last Divination lesson of the year before Christmas, and the last time they would be working on Crystal Gazing. After Christmas, and Professor Tenebris told them, they would be starting on Dream Interpretation.

In that day's lesson, unlike usual, Diana didn't even try to look into the crystal orb for anything peculiar. She just opened her book, wearily writing down fake predictions just like Layla.

     When the lesson finally came to an end and Professor Tenebris dismissed the students, a chatter of excitement fell over the classroom as everyone got up to leave.

One by one they wished the strange Professor a merry Christmas, but nobody minded that he didn't bother to say it back to anyone. They didn't really expect anything more from someone who had never even looked anyone in the eye, even when a person was talking to him directly.

     "Ready to go?" Layla asked with her bag already over her shoulder when she saw that Diana was fixed on the spot, staring at Professor Tenebris's direction with an odd expression on her face. "Diana?"

    "What?" Diana turned to look over at Layla, finally snapped out of her thoughts.

     "I said do you wanna leave, or are you in a staring contest with Tenebris?" Layla said with a grin.

     Diana rolled her eyes. "You go on. I want to talk to him."

     Layla took aback at those words. "About what?"

     "A lesson related question," Diana answered casually. "In page twelve it says that seeing a snake in the crystal orbs means wealth, but in page twenty-seven it means enemies. I want to know which one we should write in our exam if it comes up in our O.W.Ls."

    "Oh." Layla nodded in understanding. "Well, could you tell me his answer later? I'm meeting up with Tom right now."

    "Yeah, sure."

     "Great, thanks. See you later." And so with a small wave, Layla left the gloomy classroom along with the other students, leaving Diana behind.

Diana was relieved. There was no mention of snakes in page twenty-seven. She was counting on the fact that Layla never studied Divination.

She needed to talk to Professor Tenebris alone.

Diana stood in the corner of the shadowy room with her bag over her shoulder, waiting for everyone to leave. As soon as a group of Ravenclaw girls bade the professor goodbye, Diana made a move to walk forward.

But before she had even taken the first step, Professor Tenebris said without looking up from his desk, "Finally. You've been wishing to talk to me for weeks, Miss Greengrass. Although I admit, I thought you would approach me sooner."

Diana froze on the spot, taken off guard. Gulping, she mustered all her courage and walked toward Professor Tenebris who was standing behind his desk, looking down at a few star charts in his hands.

"Sorry to bother you, Professor, but I —" Diana started, but she swallowed up her words when Professor Tenebris suddenly looked up at her with his amber eyes, their gazes connecting.

Diana felt a shiver of fear rush down her spine. This was the second time Tenebris had looked directly into her eyes, as though piercing through her soul.

In all those years that had passed, he was well-known for never looking anyone in the eye, which led some to think that he was blind. But here he was, standing before Diana and halving his tallness above her, his golden eyes fixed on hers.

"I — I have been — um..." Diana stammered, forgetting every word that she had practiced with herself throughout the lesson under his intense gaze.

Professor Tenebris lowered the papers in his hands and placed them on the desk before him without breaking eye-contact, before saying, "I see you, Diana."

Diana gulped once again, thinking to herself that this was probably the creepiest moment of her life. She suddenly regretted that she had come to speak with him in the first place.

"You may not realize this just yet, but you have a gift. That is why I see you. We are the same," Professor Tenebris spoke on. "But this is exactly why you are here, is it not? Because you have already felt it."

Diana's gut told her that he was talking about the pain and darkness she had felt twice already; the first time her hand had touched Lupin's in Diagon Alley, and the second time happened when she had seen a moon in the orb.

She couldn't figure out how on earth he knew about this, but now that she was here, Diana decided to put aside her fear and talk to him.

"What did it mean?" she asked, throwing her gaze down with a frown as she spoke with him, just to avoid his eyes. "The feeling... it was stranger that anything I ever imagined. It was dark, cold, lonely... and painful, even. The first time, I felt the pain in all my bones, but the second time the pain was only in my left shoulder. It was real. Too real. What — what does it mean? What happened to me?"

Professor Tenebris didn't speak right away. He regarded her intently for a few seconds before finally saying, "It means that you have eyes like mine now."

Diana took aback. This was the last thing she had expected to hear, and it was completely pointless.

"It means that," he went on, "you can finally see."

"Er... see what, exactly?"

"Everything," he whispered. "This is not a curse, Miss Greengrass. It's a blessing. It is nothing to be afraid of. But mark my words when I say that those two times were not the last. They were just the beginning. Your eyes can finally see now."