jemina // sirius black

six

"You saved my mother's life?"

"I guess so. The orphanages weren't the only visions I had. During my seventh year, I had a vision as I walked through the Great Hall for dinner, my friends caught me and held me. Every time I had one, it was as if I was having a seizure. Sometimes, if the deaths I saw were... extreme enough, I would thrash around and they learned quickly, when I knocked down a stack of books in Flourish and Blotts, punched my father in the face, and kicked my brother in the leg, that if they came when I was awake, it was dangerous for myself and others. I fell down a few stairs one time, and didn't realize how badly I was hurt until I got home. A broken rib. Anyway, the one I had in the Great Hall was the village. It was a small village with just over 400 occupants as of the Census they'd had five years prior. In the vision I had, the Death Eaters were using the Halloween festivities, Trick-or-Treating and the such, to grab children and take them to the town square. As their parents came to find them, the Death Eaters would murder the parents and toss them into a bonfire. They forced the children to watch. They did this, going door to door when they got all of those out and about, and once all of the adults were killed, the Death Eaters lined the children up and... They were a firing squad. Out of over 400 people, only 29 died that night. Because my friends, Dumbledore, and I got there before they had the chance to do any real damage. Two Death Eaters were arrested, and Bellatrix Lestrange took the information that the Seer thwarting their efforts was me back to You-Know-Who."

"What happened when they found out it was you? The Death Eaters."

"It put a target on my back. Everyone I knew was so worried that Hogwarts wasn't safe for me, that some student who was an aspiring Death Eater would kidnap me, Professor Dumbledore decided to rush me through my seventh year. I took my exams before Christmas break and didn't return when my friends did. Lily was infuriated with me because even though I was going through all that I was, I still passed my exams with perfect scores."

"Perfect scores?"

"Well, almost perfect scores. I missed a few points in Herbology, Care for Magical Creatures, and History of Magic. Ask Professor McGonagall, I hold the title of being the only student she's ever had to get a perfect score on the written and practical Transfiguration exams. I'm quite sure that if she ever decides to retire, or becomes Headmistress, I'll end up teaching Transfiguration."

They were silent for a few moments before Destiny raised her hand once more. I nodded at her, and she smiled weakly. 

"How many people, do you assume, you saved? In total? Who was the most important life you saved or didn't? And I don't mean to... be insensitive, but did you see one for your brother?"

Esme's eyes widen at the question, and I could see her contemplating cursing Destiny into oblivion. She likely had told them not to ask that last question, but it didn't bother me, surprisingly. 

I don't know why, but I enjoyed telling them about this. I had never talked to anyone about this who didn't already know, aside from the girls. These students had no idea who I was to the Wizarding world, they hadn't even known I had an Order of Merlin. They knew me as the girl who lost her brother and his wife because her husband couldn't keep a secret. 

"Dest-"

"It's fine, Esme. Really, calm down," My daughter looked at me with worry written all over her face, but she had no reason to worry. It was therapeutic, in a way, to talk to people who had no idea who I was about the things I'd seen. Everyone else either feared me, pitied me, or thought of me as a celebrity they could never approach. They saw me as their professor who had a very interesting past. A tragic past that they were curious about, and I couldn't fault them, "Which question first? I can only answer one at a time."