Chapter 781 - Slug Club Banquet Upshot

At long last, the carriage rolled to a halt before the grand front doors. From inside, a black booted foot emerges followed by a dark blue skirt, and dark leaf green cloak with a gleaming silver pin. The thin form of Sybill Trelawney lets out a soft sigh as if tired, happy, and even reluctant to find herself back at Hogwarts. She had made both happy and unhappy memories here.

Sybill reaches up with one finger to push back her glasses that were slipping down her nose. She knew that her glasses were rather ugly as they magnified her eyes several times their natural size. But she truly did have a rather poor vision and needed them desperately in order to even see.

After her return from the interview with the Headmaster, Sybill had joyously told her mother and grandmother the good news. They had been so excited that they had broken out a bottle of Sherry! With great enthusiasm, they waited for a letter from the Headmaster, but it did not arrive nor the next day.

Sybill's hope began to dwindle one by one until at long last the letter bearing the seal of the Headmaster of Hogwarts arrived at their humble home. Within the letter, Professor Dumbledore offered her the position of Divination Professor. Professor Dumbledore considering that Sybill lacked any formal teaching experience an assistant Professor had been hired to aid in the transition. The assistant Professor was named Ronan and was a centaur. The board had approved the second hiring. In addition, Professor Dumbledore had assigned Sybill a classroom on the second floor right next to the winding staircase as Ronan had been granted the use of a classroom on the first floor near the winding staircase. It would ensure that both professor's classroom was near each other, but separate.

Sybill's grandmother, Cressida had been a bit disappointed by that as she had wanted Sybill to teach in the attic to create a mystical ambiance. Sybill's mother, Edith, on the other hand, had been pleased. She said that would make the transition easier and if Sybill needed any aid, the assistant Divination Professor would be nearby. Excited, the three women began to pack anything that Sybill might need. Several heirlooms that belonged to her great-great-grandmother Cassandra Trelawney, Grandmother Cressida passed down for Sybill to use.

Among those was the dark leaf green cloak that Sybill was wearing with the gleaming silver pin at the collar. Grandmother Cressida said that she was rather young when her grandmother Cassandra had passed away. Despite the passage of time, Grandmother Cressida still recalled the might and strength that the hunched-over figure of her elderly grandmother. Even then, Cassandra in her old age still possessed the great power of seer especially when she wore her favorite cloak. The antique cloak had been gifted to Sybill for courage, and she mostly had felt that up until her arrival at Hogwarts.

Reaching into the carriage, Sybill removes a single carpetbag and a cat carrier. Her things had already been taken by the Hogwarts house elves and sent to her quarters. She only carried a few last-minute personal items in the carpetbag, but primarily, Miss Arlo's things. Miss Arlo was a gray British short-haired cat. It had been just before her divorce when Sybill had found the abandoned kitten. Not long after, Miss Arlo had given her the strength and courage to leave Higglebottom, who had hated the kitten on sight.

Sybill is rather quiet as she moves almost causing her to miss the innumerable chains and beads that were hung around her spindly neck during the interview or the countless bangles and rings that had been on her arms and hands. After telling, her mother, Edith, and great-grandmother, Cressida what Professor Dumbledore had suggested, Cressida was rather disappointed. Cressida had wished to dress Sybill up in grandiose fashion again, but Sybill refused and settled for a simpler fashion.

In the end, Sybill had relented to her grandmother's whims within reason. She wore a silver ring with an amethyst center, an amber pendant, and a round moonstone bracelet. They were all magically conducting crystals and would not be too much. However, shad had agreed to only wear the gauzy, spangled shawl on occasion if not in the privacy of her personal quarters.

Sybill is startled out of her thoughts as the invisible horse-drawn carriage sets off towards where the carriages were stored. She knew that the school's carriages were drawn by Thestral's. She had never seen the invisible horses, but in retrospect, they could simply be not as terrifying as people said. It was strange to see that which she had always viewed with fear with new eyes. Then again, she had viewed the world so differently once, and much had changed since then including herself.

A loud meow brings Sybill back to the present as she opens the cat carrier to release Miss Arlo. A gray British short cat emerges with a short, dense coat. Everything about Miss Arlo was rather round. Miss Arlo had a round head, round golden eyes, round paws, and even a rounded tail tip. Miss Arlo had a rather serious demeanor about her and though she was big, she was most certainly not fat!

A bit nervous about the future, Sybill says, "Alright Miss Arlo, you know what to do." Sybill took a step back to better view her cat's movements. Ailuromancy (also known as Aeluromancy or Felidomancy) is a form of divination using cat movements to predict the future, but mostly for the weather. Even so, Sybill at least wanted to know how things would for her tomorrow! Tomorrow would be her first-day teaching, and she was rather nervous!

Abruptly Miss Arlo runs away across the muddy, frozen grounds. Sybill panics as she watches her cat fade away into the darkness. The Forbidden Forest was right at the edge of the grounds! This was a new place, what if Miss Arlo wandered into the forest! Miss Arlo would surely be eaten, and her white glistening bones only left after having been spat out!

Frightened Sybill picked up the hem of her skirt to run and raised her wand high with the other. "Lumos!" She cried out searching for any sign of which direction Miss Arlo had gone.

From the darkness, a very tall figure appears carrying the purring form of Miss Arlo to their b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t. Sybill flushes as she takes in the handsome centaur striding towards her. His human half is that of a young man with red hair with a short beard. His upper body is rather toned all the way down to his waist which turns into a c.h.e.s.tnut's body with a long, reddish tail.

Sybill suddenly feels her mouth is very dry, but hurriedly remembers the reason for her search. "Excuse me and thank you, but would you please return Miss Arlo to me?" Sybill asked trying not to look at the centaur's b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t, while idly wondering in the back of her head if he didn't feel the cold. She flushes and becomes rather fl.u.s.tered at her thoughts. She did not mean to be rude, but she felt rather disarray at the bare-c.h.e.s.ted appearance of the centaur since she had never seen another man's c.h.e.s.t beside that of her ex-husband.