Awkward

Chapter - 15 Valentine's Day

Ever since the award ceremony, the Ravenclaw Prefect's popularity had reached new heights. Out of the blue, not just the students, but the whole wizarding world was interested in her. Daniel left the evening of the ceremony, leaving Seraphina without a concrete reason to excuse herself from the crowd of students. This time her achievement was far more exorbitant than surviving a Dragon. No matter where she was, be it the Great Hall, corridor, classes, or lavatory, she consistently found herself encompassed by a horde of students who were curious to know how it felt to duel the Death Eaters, or what the Ministry building looked like. Luckily, the lovebirds helped her squeeze her way towards the class without grabbing much attention towards herself. Unfortunately, the teachers were no better than the students themselves except for Batman, who still treated her the same way as before, every other teacher gave her special treatment, and her mistakes, which were rare in themselves, were either dismissed or blatantly ignored. Seraphina hated it; she hated it all; the special treatment, the attention and everything was so alien that the witch could not understand it. To cope with it all, the adolescent Ravenclaw decided to consistently keep her nose buried in a book, but little did she know that doing so could help next to nothing.

One night, after a tiresomely long day of answering the questions of fellow students and receiving a horde of letters from people she barely knew, Seraphina was performing her patrolling duty. Her nose was buried in a copy of ' Pride and Prejudice ' by the Muggle author Jane Austin. She was so into the book that she barely looked at the eerie corridor laid in front of her.

" Ignoring the path you are walking on might cause injuries, " a deep, cavernous voice fell on her ears as she realized her intense reading had caused her to zone out of the real world. The voice tugged the witch out of her ocean of thoughts.

" Oi, " cried Seraphina as she became genuinely scared. The girl gasped, and the book fell from her hands.

As Seraphina composed herself, she noticed Batman's wand delicately held in his long slender fingers, her book flying in mid-air near his wand.

" Enjoying the book? " remarked Batman with an arched eyebrow. His tone was dipped in heavy sarcasm.

" It's nothing like that Professor. It's just the..." before Seraphina could have explained herself, the voice of the man standing in front of her cut in.

" It's just the stress, I know. I have also gone through it, Miss Barclay, "

" Good Lord, somebody understands it! You know Professor it's just so irritating, " spat the witch with an austerely irritated visage.

" And what is it that irritates you, Miss Barclay? " asked Professor Snape. The Ravenclaw sighed before speaking.

" Professor, as you have also received the Merlin award, did you also feel that the behaviour of people changed towards you? Before this everyone called me a weirdo, but now it's all changed. Suddenly, out of blue, everyone wants to be my friend, hang out with me, or wants to be my seat partner- they don't even spare me in the library. I am still the same, but the people around me have changed so much that it feels like I am in an alien place, " aggregately said the young witch.

" People change their behaviour seeing your position in the world, Miss Barclay. Something similar happened with me too. Not everyone cared about me much before I defeated The Dark Lord. I suggest you ignore them and live your life like you have lived it to this very day," said Batman in a reassuring tone.

The Ravenclaw opened her mouth to ask something before quickly latching it. Eventually, she gathered the strength to ask what she wanted to. 

" I hope you don't mind answering one of my questions, Professor? Why do you call Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord? You killed him, why would you prefer to pay respect to him by calling him that? Because I read that the Dark Lord was a title given to him out of respect for his excellence in the Dark Arts, " questioned Seraphina in a hesitant voice.