jemina // sirius black

thirty-one

chapter thirty-one

Hogwarts was buzzing in excitement for the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. 

Even I was rather excited for that part. I had been extremely interested in International Magical Cooperation, and foreign Magical customs and cultures, for a long time. I spent twelve years learning different languages, just for fun. Now, all of that was proving useful. 

Esme and Aubrey had asked me to teach them some essential phrases in Bulgarian and French, so they could be as helpful to the newcomers as possible. For the two weeks leading up to their arrival, we spent every night in my office. They were catching on very quickly, but I made sure to let them know that I was, by no means, good enough at either language to help them with their dictation and pronunciation. I taught them the simplest things that I could and did my best to avoid words or phrases that were too close to something with an offensive meaning. 

I suggested that they make quick friends with students that speak their native and English, so they can help with the little things. 

Lilian tried to participate, but she got very bored with it quickly. She couldn't roll her tongue, and she struggled with the throaty sounds. She gave up three days in. I didn't blame her, and I didn't try to make her stay.

The night before the other schools arrived, Esme and Aubrey spent the majority of the night talking about how excited they were. Aubrey filled me in on how her friendship with Marissa was going, and how her relationship with Blaise was going. She admitted that he was a very confusing person, as he was expressing interest in her, but at the drop of a dime would pretend that she didn't exist. 

I didn't need to tell her that she deserved better than that, Esme beat me to it. Aubrey fiend agreement, but I could tell she didn't really believe her sister's words. 

None of us realized it was past curfew until it was long past curfew. I immediately felt bad that I had accidentally kept them for so long, since they did have morning classes. So did I, but I was notorious for not sleeping at all. Esme and Aubrey didn't have the years of experience in sleeplessness that I did. 

I escorted them back to the Gryffindor tower and made my way back to my office. My back was aching by the time I made it to my quarters, so I laid down and desperately wished for sleep. 

The next morning, I woke up nauseous as hell. Part of me knew it was just stress, but another part of me was so afraid. There was certainly something wrong. Luckily, I had made an appointment with Arlo to talk about my back before I go home to see Sirius. I desperately hoped that it was just stress. 

Besides, everything that was happening was far more stressful than almost anything I'd ever experienced. The only thing that had been more stressful was the 3-day period between sending Sirius to my brother and finding out that they were all gone. That was the most stress I'd ever been in. This was a very close second. I imagined that it was not going to get better anytime soon. I had a feeling that it was only going to get worse. 

I wish I had been wrong. 

Between the gut-feeling I had about the Triwizard Tournament, Severus' Dark Mark, worrying about being caught harboring a fugitive, and being unexplainably terrified of Sirius being taken back to Azkaban or worse. Not to mention worrying about my girls, Harry, and Remus. 

Remus still hadn't responded to any of my letters, but I was still sending them. Since he had written Lilian recently, I knew he was alive. Best case scenario, my letters weren't reaching him, but it was highly likely he was just ignoring me.