jemina // sirius black

sixteen

chapter sixteen - exams

Gryffindor won the match against Slytherin, therefore winning the Inter-House Quidditch Cup for the first time since Charlie Weasley was Seeker.

The pride that I felt in Esme and Harry was unmatched, and I knew that James would have been the proudest father and uncle in the world. They played phenomenally, and the excitement that they felt was impossible not to see.

Esme was beyond happy, and her sisters were unbelievably proud of her. Lilian was almost constantly name-dropping Esme to her friends, and even Aubrey seemed extra excited that her sister is a Quidditch star. Her talent rivals James', and that is saying something. I never played for the team, but I had always been better than James. Esme was very good, possibly better, and she played on the team.

Oliver Wood thanked me for bringing Esme into the world and then ran off to continue celebrating the fact that in his last year at Hogwarts, he brought Gryffindor glory.

It felt like almost no time had passed before the end of May was upon us, and all students had shifted their attention from the continuing buzz around Gryffindor's victory to exams. I knew that both of my girls were freaking out.

Esme and Aubrey were studying very hard for their exams, especially Divinations. I was doing what I could to help them, but I had to worry about Remus too.

Hermione had come to me and asked if Remus was a werewolf. When I asked her why she asked such a preposterous question, she told me of Severus' chosen lesson plan the day that he had to take over for Remus. I asked her if she had mentioned it to anyone, even her friends.

When she assured me that she hadn't, and she wouldn't, I told her the truth. Remus was, indeed, a werewolf, but he was on heavy doses of Wolfsbane, and the entire staff knew. Albus wouldn't have allowed Remus to teach at Hogwarts if he had thought he'd be a threat. I assured her that my friend was under control and that she was safe.

I made her promise not to tell a single soul, and she agreed.

Then, I made the decision not to tell Remus she knew. If he knew that a student had learned of his condition, he would assume many more had learned the same. He would panic and leave.

Hermione was incredibly intelligent, she was likely the only one who put those pieces together.

Had I thought that Hermione wasn't the only one, I would have gone after Severus and cursed him into oblivion. I warned him not to do anything that could hurt Remus. If anything happened to him because of this, Severus would have that reckoning I promised him.

Aubrey had managed to convince Harry and Ron to do their best to get good enough marks on their exams to qualify for my class. She had tried to convince Hermione not to drop Divinations, but she was unsuccessful. I wouldn't lie and say that I wasn't disappointed that I wouldn't have Hermione in my class, but I understood how frustrating the art of the unknown can be to someone who wants to know everything she can.

Fifth year Divinations exam was held when the third years were having their Care for Magical Creatures exam. I had helped Esme study the best that I could, and I hoped that it would pay off.

I was the proctor for all of the Divinations exams, entirely because Albus had worried that Sybil hadn't been as vigilant as she should've been the last few years. He didn't want any trickery, and there had been small evidence of it in most classes over the last six years.

When Esme walked into the room that morning and took her seat, she didn't notice me. It wasn't until everyone was seated and ready that she looked up to the front and realized that I was there. I found it amusing, the expression of surprise on her face, immediately followed by this look of pure nerves.

The one thing that I disliked about being a mother was that my girls strived to make me proud, and they got incredibly nervous if they felt they would disappoint me. I had tried, so hard, to let them know that I never expected anything of them, but it was apparent in Esme.

Knowing that I was watching her take her Divinations exam made her far more nervous than she would have been if it was Sybil.

I tried not to walk past her too often since each time that I did, her hand froze and her eyes got wide. I knew she was thinking to herself, What if she sees that I've answered something wrong?

That was why I avoided looking at their exams. I knew the answers quite well, having gotten almost perfect scores in Divinations each year.

She darted out of the room when they were dismissed.

My favorite exam block was my sixth and seventh years, as they had two different exams but were all bunched in one room. We had sat them with alternating years, each seventh year was had a sixth year beside them and vise versa, making cheating off of one another impossible.

That was Minerva's idea, and I found it ingenious.

Aubrey's exam went by much less awkward for the two of us, I presume that was because Esme had warned her I was proctoring. The only one who seemed nervous that I was there was Harry, though he seemed nervous as a whole.

I asked Harry and Ron to take the crystal balls back to Trelawney for me, and they agreed readily.

Aubrey hung back outside of the room, waiting for me to come out. She then informed me that today was Buckbeak's execution. I tried to comfort her, but she was far more worried about Hagrid. She wanted me to go down to his hut with them, to give him some comfort when they inevitably were forced to leave.

Since I had little better to do, I agreed. I would stay with Hagrid after Buckbeak's execution, to comfort him.

Unsurprisingly, that afternoon did not go as planned.

Oh, hey, first Author's Note of the story?? Yes, please. 

I just wanted to say thank you all for the love and support. I have never enjoyed writing more than I do now because now I don't feel so awful about writing. I used to write just because I was bored and had nothing to do, but I didn't know just how much I wasn't enjoying it. Now, when I'm not struggling with writer's block, I write because it's fun again. 

Despite having dozens of people expecting updates, it feels like there's less pressure. I don't feel so stressed about my writing possibly being bad. 

So yeah, I really appreciate all of the support, all of the love that you all are giving my story and Jemina. We have a very long way to go, but I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do. 

I'll post two chapters since this one is a baby compared to the majority of the chapters I write. Kind of just a transition chapter.

On another note, anyone interested in the Pinterest board I made for this story? 

Much love, 

Reanna <3