jemina // sirius black

five

chapter five - our hope

We made it to Hogwarts rather safely. I got to see a very different side of Esme and Aubrey, one that reminded me so much of myself at that age. 

Esme kept up with Fred and George's banter with a fiery attitude. She teased Fred every single time he teased her, and she smirked the entire time. She was insanely flirty with him. It was such innocent flirtation, and with every single time she batted her eyelashes at him as she playfully said something slightly insulting, I watched him fall deeply entranced with her. With each time that Esme countered one of his joke with one of her own, I watched his smile slowly start to show a sort of infatuation. 

It was mildly concerning.

George seemed to agree, as with each time that Fred's expression made it clear how much he was falling into a trance, George's expression began to turn into one of pure concern for his twin.

Each time that Fred grinned as Esme's giggled softly, George's eyebrows furrowed further into a unibrow. Every time my daughter rebutted one of Fred's comments with that innocent smirk on her face as she gently elbowed him, George looked more, and more, disgusted.

That part was quite amusing.

I then watched as Aubrey and Hermione began to talk about school. I had never really seen her passionate about anything school-related, but they were both looking forward to Potions, Arithmancy, and Divinations. 

I was a little sad to hear them talk about it, as Trelawney had both of them in her class. I had 6th and 7th years and specific 4th and 5th-year classes that only applied to those that had passed their previous Divinations exams with an Outstanding. I was overjoyed when Esme had gotten an O on her exam the previous year, as that meant she was in my fifth year class for 'Advanced Divinations'. It differed slightly to Trelawney's fifth-year curriculum as it was faster paced, and focused on the things she did teach, but also the things that she didn't.

Now we kind of thought that perhaps I am not a Seer, but rather just a defense against Voldemort.

Albus had done the scheduling the way that he had to entice more students to try harder to get higher grades in Divinations while keeping Trelawney from believing that he was trying to edge her out. Most students found Trelawney infuriatingly fake, and while both of us knew that she was not, it was hard not to understand why. 

He believed Divinations to be a very vital topic to be knowledgeable about, but the number of students in 6th and 7th-year Divinations was incredibly low every year. There were maybe ten seventh-years each year, most of them from Ravenclaw, and just a few more sixth-years per year, also mostly Ravenclaw. Due to the tiny class size for the sixth and seventh years, both were in the same block. Trelawney's seventh-year curriculum is the same as what my sixth-year curriculum is planned to be. My planned seventh-year curriculum is impossible to teach properly without knowing the previous year's curriculum, so this year's seventh-years haven't learned it yet. 

It was extremely disheartening, but it was what it was. 

Albus and I hoped to increase interest in the class, but there was not a lot we could do right away. It'll be a couple years before we see much improvement.

Aubrey was never one to be very excited about schooling, but something seemed to be different this year. I wondered if maybe Minerva somehow managed to convince her to work harder, or maybe she was given some sort of exciting offer from her. I wasn't sure. 

When we'd arrived at Hogwarts, Esme and Aubrey hugged me and Remus to say goodbye before darting off with their friends. Lilian clung to me, her hand tightly grasping mine until I introduced her to Hagrid.