𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 || 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖

Chapter Twenty-One: Normality

Chapter Twenty-One 

Even by just the next day, Matty's condition improved greatly. With the aid of the sleeping draught, she had been sleeping well, eating more, and had basically gone back to the way she was before all this mess. Sure, there were still things on her mind but they didn't bother her nearly as much as this had.

It had everyone who was aware of her struggle extremely confused. Grateful, but confused. Soon after they made it back to the school, Sebastian asked Matty what it was that had been bothering her so badly that she needed to see Lyssa.

Matty simply shrugged off the question and told him that it was nothing to worry about—or at least not anymore now that she was feeling fine.

However, the sly looks Lyssa gave her as she passed by her in the hallways said otherwise but Matty never caught them and she had no idea that Lyssa had a massive piece of blackmail she could at any time if she wanted to. All the while Matty stayed blissfully unaware of the crime she had accidentally committed.

Now for her, life was back to focusing on school. It was already mid-November which meant people were beginning to plan what they were going to do for the holiday season. Some were staying, some were going home. Matty would love to go back for the holidays but she wasn't sure if her parents would be too keen on her going back to London after what happened the last time.

Mr. Hathorne's killer was still a mystery to them as they had not found either of the men Matty had described to the authorities and since they were both wizards being tracked by muggles—she doubted that they would, even if she had tried to get the Ministry involved. So, Ada and Howard were slightly hesitant to have Matty come back to London until school was over.

By then, she'd be eighteen, which was a crazy thought for Matty to have. She was considered an adult in the wizarding world since she was allowed to use magic outside of the school but she was considered official in both worlds until she turned eighteen. And that's when life got a little tricky since that meant choosing her career.

Recently, because of how poorly the Ministry was treating matters such as the Azkaban prisoner's death, Leona escaping custody, and more, she was beginning to question just what was right for her. Did she still pursue he career as an Auror in hopes that she'd actually be able to get things done and help people or was she too weary of the Ministry to do so?

Well, it was close to impossible to get a job outside of the Ministry that had much to do with magic or other sets of skills that Matty lacked. And even then, the Ministry had some sort of hand in everything because they were nosey. Even the students' NEWTS were taken just so that they could discern where they could work in the Ministry after school.

It was convenient, she would admit. Knowing that there would most likely be a place for her to work after school, but at the same time, she was so annoyed with the way they did things she didn't know how long she'd last being a Ministry working—especially an Auror where she'd be ordered around constantly. But perhaps, if she was, she'd actually get the job done instead of allowing them to be ignored.

The poachers in the area had yet to be investigated—not to mention the poachers from two years ago when Matty first showed up hadn't even been investigated either. As time had passed since Matty assumed Victor had a hand in the Ministry to get them to shut up about it and not investigate. After all, when she and Professor Fig had gone to Rookwood castle and overheard him talking to Ranrok saying he had tracked the portkey container via "several ministry favors", it revealed a lot.

But Rookwood was dead and had been dead for so long so why were the poachers back? Did someone take up the poaching ring? Did he have family she didn't know about who took over? One night while she was doing her research about him in fifth year, she had discovered that Rookwood had inherited the poaching ring from his father after his "mysterious" and "sudden" death. Usually, those two words in the same sentence pointed to murder—which was unsurprising. But no siblings were ever mentioned.

And since the poachers were so loyal to the Rookwoods, she assumed no one else could pick up the ring and have a following like they did. Perhaps the poachers in the area were just there stupidly messing around only to get fought off by the Centaurs who were protecting their homes.

And this wasn't even accounting for the missing goblins. Now that was a whole mess itself that needed to be unpacked.

Although there was still a lot to reflect on and compare with her fifth year, present-day Matty was just trying her best to do what she came to do in school in the first place—learn. One never goes to school with the mindset that they'll be fighting poachers and goblins, being betrayed by those they trust, and encountering murders and villains around every corner but that's how she ended up spending her school days.

But she had to remind herself that her education was important and that was the whole reason she was here in the first place. So, she put her mind and energy towards just that.

She did well in her classes, studied hard, and put effort towards it. She still had difficulty in Professor Willoughby's class and he still unfortunately decided to keep things hard for them. The work that was given wasn't so bad. The bad part was the limited amount of time that they were given to do the assignments. That, and being in his classroom in general.

Some of his strict (and quite ridiculous) rules were: No taking notes in class while he was speaking, you could wait till he was done. Since that was somehow a "distraction" to write notes while he was speaking. Which meant you had to rush to write things that you could remember when he sat down and allowed the class to do so.

There was a strict no-talking policy. Unless you raised your hand or were called on, he didn't want to hear a single peep from your mouth. When Everett was once messing around in the back of the classroom, Professor Willoughby had quite loudly stated that this was his classroom so no one else was to speak in it since he was the one teaching, not them.

Matty couldn't say she wasn't learning anything, because she was, but the strict classroom was enough to make her drop out of the class. But she didn't since she needed the credit for it. But she kissed goodbye the "easy" credit after the first day of his teaching.

"Do you think the other Professors are annoyed by him?" Matty asked Esme over lunch one day after Professor Willougby's class.

Esme nodded her head. "Oh, of course." She replied. "I've even overheard Professor Sharp and Professor Ronen talking about him. Of course, Professor Ronen would be up in arms about it—that's not surprising at all. But Sharp saying he's too strict is saying something for sure."

Matty nodded her head in agreement. Professor Sharp was strict so that his students were safe while brewing potions—which was one of the most dangerous classes in the school—and so that the classroom would have order enough to function properly. But he didn't desire to control his student's every waking move.

"I wonder what Professor Weasley thinks about him," Matty said, taking a sip of her drink. "I can't imagine she likes him too much. I'm extremely grateful for her, otherwise, the school would be full of professors like Willoughby, knowing how much the headmaster likes him and all."

Esme rolled her eyes. Having known Headmaster Black her entire life—he was one of the most insufferable people alive. And being best friends with his daughter didn't help either. To hear about her father all the time from her required a lot of patience. She didn't know how Zerena could stand him. "The school would be a failure without her. Who's idea it was to put that man in charge of the school, I don't know. But whoever picked Professor Weasley to be deputy Headmistress made a good choice."

Professor Weasley had been such a great help to Matty these past two years. She was trying to help her even from the beginning when she didn't even know what was going on. She looked out for her students, and cared about them, and their education. All she wanted was for them to learn and to enjoy their time while doing it.

And for that, she was one of the most loved Professors in the entire school.

A/n: a quick, semi-unimportant chapter before we get back into the serious stuff again 😂