Yearning | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter Five : Electives

If Sabrina thought that the first week of classes was hard, she had a feeling that the second week was going to be much worse.

It started with a nightmare. It was the first nightmare she'd had since school ended for the summer a few months before. In it, she was reliving the painful memory of the repository under Hogwarts and the goblin Ranrok, and how she had been made to kill him and destroy the magic he was after. But the part that woke her up was seeing her mentor and uncle, Professor Eleazar Fig, lying on the ground dying from the impact of the collapsing cave and the angry ancient magic. Sabrina had made a promise to him that no one else would die because of this power, and she had let him down. She was the reason he didn't make it.

She woke up crying for Fig and feeling like her mind was swallowing her whole.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, most everyone in class had been able to get a small, white mist out of their wands when casting the Patronus charm. No one was able to summon the corporeal patronus yet, but many had been able to at least get a good sized shield around themselves.

Sabrina, on the other hand, could hardly get any mist out of her wand. Even when she practiced alone with Sebastian or Anne, she couldn't focus on a single happy memory to get her spell to work. It was as if every happy memory she could think of was being tainted by something, and her brain wouldn't allow her to block it out.

It was even worse in Potions. Ominis was still refusing to speak to her unless he absolutely needed to, and because of this the pair had already burned at least two potions since the start of term. Professor Sharp was clearly unhappy with their progress, but Sabrina felt like she was about ready to throw her cauldron if he gave her another disapproving look.

Not even when she had joined Hogwarts as a new student last year did she ever have this much trouble. Between Poppy's depressing theory about her patronus, the search for Theodore Lewis, and whatever was happening with her and Ominis, nothing seemed to be going right.

On Wednesday, every student began their elective classes, and Natty gladly walked with Sabrina as they headed towards the Divination Tower. "I am excited to start Arithmancy," she said. "Everyone has said it is a very interesting class. And my mother says it ties in well with Divination, which I'm very good at already."

Sabrina had also been looking forward to class, but now she felt nothing but exhaustion. "At the rate I'm going, I'm not very confident in how well I'll be," she admitted.

"Why do you mean?"

"I mean I can't even cast a damn spell, Natty! I can't brew a potion, I can't cast a patronus or any spell correctly for that matter, so why the hell should I expect this to go any different? I don't even know why I am here. I should just go back to London—"

Natty put a hand on Sabrina's shoulder and forced her to stop. "Listen," she said in a tone not far off from her mothers' teacher tone. "You have only been training in magic for less than two years. You were raised among Muggles with no inkling of magic or this type of world for so long. There are those who have been raised here who still struggle. Try not to beat yourself up for something that is out of your control. You will get through this, I promise."

Sabrina frowned, taking a deep breath. "I hope so."

"Besides," Natty smiled mischievously. "Just think about how much fun Sebastian Sallow must be having with Poppy. I hope she knocks him down a peg or two. Or at the least lets him get his nose cleaned out with a puffskein."

That managed to bring a small chuckle out of Sabrina.

—

Sebastian turned the corner and saw the familiar cottage of Professor Howin. How many times had he run by this house never giving it a second thought? Now, as he headed towards the outdoor classroom, he couldn't help but groan and kick himself for finding himself in this situation.