Chapter 727 - Interview for Divination Post Ⅱ

On the outskirts of Hogsmeade despite the cold and wet night, a lonely figure makes her way to the Hogs Head Inn. The witch is rather thin with large glasses magnifying her eyes several times more than their natural size. Beneath her cloak, she had a dr.a.p.ed gauzy, spangled shawl. It had been her grandmother's and now she wore it for luck and comfort.

Sybill Trelawney was rather nervous and hoped that the interview went well. Her hands were encrusted with rings and babbles as they nervously fiddled around underneath her cloak. One of her jewelry-rimmed hands clutches the innumerable chains and beads that hang around her spindly neck. After her disastrous marriage, much of her confidence had been eroded by her now ex-husband, Higglebottom. He had stolen away so many things from her, but not her name at least she had been strong enough to fight him on that.

Sybill Trelawney paused for a moment beneath a candle-lit streetlamp and shivered under the freezing sleet. She knew she wasn't much to look at a half-blood at that. Her father had been a muggle, who had abandoned her mother upon learning she was a witch. Her mother had given birth to her and with the aid of her grandmother, they had raised her together until it came time to send her to Hogwarts.

Sybill had been so excited to attend Hogwarts, but quickly her delight had eroded at being compared to her great-great-grandmother the famous seer, Cassandra Trelawney. She desperately wanted to be seen for who she was. She tried her utmost best to succeed at Divination to make her family proud. And she did, she received an Outstanding in Divination, but no matter what she did her efforts always fell short of her great-great-grandmother.

Bitter and disappointed, Sybill ceased to try and instead turned her attention to possibly living her life as a normal witch. She wasn't much to look at, so she had been told, but she wasn't too homely nor ugly. To her delight and her mother and grandmother, she found a suitor by the name of Higglebottom. She hadn't noticed it at first during their courting, but Higglebottom always found fault in her appearance and actions.

Thinking that she must be doing something wrong, Sybill always allowed herself to be corrected as her already low self-esteem became even lower. By the end of their marriage, Sybill had become shrill and uncertain of everything. With the aid of her mother and grandmother, Sybill had managed to leave and file for a divorce.

Higglebottom did not even protest the divorce as he had already found someone new and far better, he had proclaimed at their final divorce proceeding. Sybill had found that hurt more than anything else as she had always hoped that she would be special at least to someone, but she would never be special to anyone. Resigned, she spent many days locked in her bedroom until her grandmother forced her to go out and get a job at the local grocer's.

Unhappy with the position, Sybill began to search for a better job and despite the various openings in the Ministry of Magic and the wizarding world, she could not apply for many. Though a half-blood she had been raised in the wizarding world for all her life and knew less to nothing about the muggle realm. Her N.E.W.T.'s grade results were rather average except for an Outstanding in Divination, thereby not high enough to garner her a position based on academic merit alone. She did not have much work experience beyond working at a grocer's shop. In the end, she once again found herself aimlessly adrift until she spotted the job posting for a Divination Professor at Hogwarts.

Feeling hope for the first time, Sybill tentatively sent an owl to the Headmaster, and to her and her family's great delight she found that she received a reply with a date and time to interview for the position. As the day drew nearer, she found herself more apprehensive. What if she failed? What if she did not meet the Headmaster's expectations? And what if she truly was worthless and of no use to anyone just like Higglebottom had so often told her?

Sensing some of Sybill's anxiety her mother and grandmother had dressed her that evening. Sybill found it garnish to wear so many bangles, beads, rings, chains, and even her grandmother's beaded shawl. But her mother and grandmother said that these things would give her courage as if they were there standing next to her. In the end, she had relented and set off on her way to the interview with the Headmaster.

Rowdy laugher and loud chatter can be heard as Sybill removes her hood looking like a large glittering insect. Her eyes appear unusually large behind her glasses as she searches the rowdy crowd, before at last spotting Professor Dumbledore. Hurrying over, she takes care to not trip nor bumps into any of the wizards and witches in the pub.

Coming to a halt before Professor Dumbledore, Sybill tries to remember her mother and grandmother's words on making a good appearance. In a soft, misty, ethereal voice which she had practiced countless times with her family, she says, "Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, I thought that we might meet as I saw a raven flying at the bottom of my tea this morning."

"So, it would seem," Albus Dumbledore replied with a polite expression. "Please have a seat, Miss Trelawney."

Sybill tries not to panic and sits down rather loudly as her beads, bangles, and chains clatter loudly around her. She tries not to wince nor flush in mortification, but she nervously clenches her grandmother's beaded shawl about her. She could do this, she thought to herself for comfort.

"I have studied the presented work curriculum, Miss Trelawney in-depth," Albus slowly said as his piercing blue eyes studied her behind half-moon spectacle. "And there seems to be a lack of teaching experience unless a position of employment failed to be mentioned?"

Sybil clenches her shawl and tries to keep her soft, misty, ethereal voice to answer. "I find that the Spirits themselves have been my teachers and I shall reveal that which they have shown unto me."

Albus' expression does not change as he lightly tugs on his long, beard as if not convinced. "Well, and what might be your expertise in Divination, Miss Trelawney?"

"As my work curriculum notes, I have studied every single branch of Divination in-depth and my N.E.W.T. grade of an Outstanding showcase that talent for it," Sybil replied in a less than softy, misty, ethereal voice that sounded rather uncertain instead.

The two lightly discuss several subjects as Albus tests Sybil's knowledge, and despite answering every single question correctly Sybil gets a sicky feeling in the pit of her stomach. She did not appear to have impressed the Headmaster, and she was not going to receive the position. Unbidden moisture wells up in her eyes that she desperately holds back lest she begin to cry. She wouldn't not here at least!