𝐀 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 | ʟᴜᴄɪᴜꜱ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇꜱᴛ ᴅᴀʏ

I brushed my hair and corrected my make-up. As I said, I was getting hungry, and I needed to attend dinner With a lot of various thoughts in my head, I got ready and headed to the Great Hall. I tried to keep my posture neutral, even though I knew not many people cared about it. As I got closer to the dining table, I saw Zelda smiling at me. 

"Exhausting day, huh?" She asked, making me look at her with a confused face.

Even if it was Zelda, this was too quick for her to realise what's been going on. "You look tired. Didn't you say that you have to tidy your classroom and office?" She asked, and I relaxed internally.

"Oh," I said with a nervous laugh, "Don't mention that. It was such a mess in there!" 

"I know, Remus was a wonderful co-worker, but he wasn't that tidy. And I know how tidy you are," she said, irony flowing in her voice. With that, she made me laugh.

I could be many things, but tidiness wasn't exactly my speciality. I don't enjoy cleaning that much, so I'd only do it once every two months. However, I was more than happy when I acknowledged that Zelda was clueless about the real reason for my fatigue.

We were talking about some books we've read recently while enjoying the chicken caesar salad we both chose for dinner. She told me how she spoke with Charity Burbage, who recommended some good books from non-British muggle writers. She fell in love with Dostoyevsky and Balzac for the first time, and I promised her I'd read them too. The books she described seemed interesting and made me want to peek through those pages.

I've observed my students who also chatted and laughed carelessly, which made me smile. 

"Catherine, dear," Minerva turned to me, "Albus said he'll need to speak with you tomorrow," She said, and I nodded with a smile.

When the dinner ended and everybody stood up to leave, I exited the Great Hall and went over to my chamber. It was a bit late, but I needed to make the test my fourth-years will write tomorrow.

I made myself a mug of tea and sat on the couch. I enchanted my quill and parchment to hover in the air and to write the questions as I've said them out loud. This technique was used by many journalists, as they couldn't write at the speed of their interlocutor's speech. I went through the lessons we did, and began forming the questions. The main topic was the Hex deflection methods, the area I was most interested in. 

Soon, the questions were all written down and I cast a spell to make copies of the test. As it was all over, I felt slightly sleepy, and I knew the day was over for me. 

***

I woke up pretty early - it was just about 5 o'clock as I shook off from my sleep. But, of course, I didn't want to get out of bed. I was rather lazily slumbering for an hour more when my clock needed to ring. But before I even gave it a chance to ring, I turned it off five minutes earlier. At that time, I truly had to get ready for the day. 

When I arrived for the breakfast, it was a quarter to seven. I still felt the morning slumber and yawned when I made my place by the table. As a sign of greeting, I smiled at Minerva and Albus and said 'hello' to Zelda. 

For today's breakfast, I chose two slices of bread with butter and marmalade and drank my daily morning coffee. It was interesting how there weren't many students awake at seven o'clock, so the staff could enjoy their breakfast in peace, without students' chattering. 

The breakfast for us ended about quarter past seven, and I still had time to do my make-up, take my notes and head to my classroom. I've put each copy of the test on every student's desk, set up my own desk and wait for the first class to begin. Soon, I heard my fourth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins enter the classroom, greeting me and talking among themselves.