jemina // sirius black

thirteen

chapter thirteen - snakes

Esme kept a very close eye on me after she saw my panic attack. 

I had always been good at hiding them from the girls, but I had no way of hiding it from her that night. Remus had been waiting by the doors for me, likely getting there right after I had actually come in, with Esme. They wanted to check and see if I was doing okay. 

Harry and Ron came in, without me, and Esme asked if I was still with Hagrid. 

Ron said no, and Harry explained that I had left in quite a hurry. He said that I had to meet with Aubrey. 

Remus and Esme knew that I didn't, and so they got worried and went to find me.

I know that if Remus had thought I'd be in a state like that, he wouldn't have let Esme in the room. 

She refused to leave my side all night, sleeping beside me when I finally decided that maybe I should get some semblance of sleep. She walked with me to breakfast, parting when she got to her seat beside the twins and watched me until I was sat beside Remus. 

Remus and I had asked her not to tell Aubrey or Lilian, and she agreed readily. 

Over the course of the following two months, any time that Esme spent outside of classes was studying with me, or at the Pitch. The last game of the season was held the weekend after the Easter holidays, but there was a deciding game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. The winner would play Slytherin in the final game. I knew that Esme would be practicing harder than anyone else, as she took Quidditch very seriously.

The longer it had been since my panic attack, the less that Esme seemed to worry. By the start of March, she spent more time studying with her friends than she did with me, and I was grateful. I knew that Esme dedicated herself to make sure that those she loves are alright when she knows they are struggling, but I didn't need her to babysit me. 

I had a lot of important things to worry about, like making sure that Aubrey passed her exams in order to get her into my class the following year. Like making sure that Harry was safe, that Lilian was healthy. I had to worry about the lesson with Hagrid and Biscuit, which was bringing me far more anxiety since I had just learned that Buckbeak had been sentenced to death. The idea of the same thing happening to my beloved snake, because some arrogant prat decided not to respect him, scared me. 

That morning, I had sat down in my office with Biscuit and talked to him for several minutes. I asked him to be good, not to bite anyone, and if he did, to please not bite Draco Malfoy. 

I then put him in the carrier and levitated it behind me. I kept a blanket over the top of it to not scare students, and to keep Biscuit calm.

The first class was the third years; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Aubrey's class. My daughter had been incredibly excited for them to meet Biscuit, as apparently she talked about him a lot. I was nervous because while it was Hagrid's lesson, I needed to stay to make sure that Biscuit stayed calm and didn't try to strangle anyone. 

I arrived before Hagrid and the students did, and so I got Biscuit out of the carrier and allowed him to roam around on the grass. He had always loved being outside. 

About ten minutes after I arrived, I heard someone shout, "Watch out, there's a snake!"

I barely saw the curse out of the corner of my eye, and barely managed to block it from hitting Biscuit. 

"What did you just do?"

"What?"

"What spell did you just use?"