Sirius Black has a reason for hating Astronomy class.
The teacher does not know. All she knows is that he is very good at it. She knows he is an intelligent boy and doesn't realize that he works faster in this class than any other; doesn't realize that his handwriting is normally graceful script, professional, a child who was tutored to be precise - doesn't realize that the sharp, angular letters on his papers are anything other than normal.
The teacher does not understand why he has so much interest in the moon and its phases, why he and his friends pay heed to it much more than any others. But the stars? His attitude is dispassionate at best when she tries to speak to him about it.
Sirius Black is well-known for his temper, but she does not understand this, for in her class, he is quiet, subdued. She takes it for either pensiveness or weariness. But sometimes she stares at the boy and wonders at him, having heard stories in the teacher's lounge and knowing that this boy has just come out of detention for maliciously beating a Slytherin boy. This boy. Quiet. Almost shy. They could not be the same person.
He has little to say. She hears them say, in the hallways, what a disruption he is in class sometimes, how much he speaks with his friends - but he sits apart from all the rest, so that she would not even know who his friends were if the four of them were not such legends.
He is the first out of the tower every day. She wonders if he is just eager to get back to sleep.
He never comes for extra study-time, although the quiet of his friends, the studious one, the prefect of the group - the werewolf - she knows it, from Dumbledore - he comes very often. She has asked him, sometimes, why he comes alone. The boy Remus Lupin merely gives a shrug and a bit of a smile. He is there alone so often, and she thinks perhaps he is uncomfortable, because he knows that she knows what he is...and sometimes he sees her eyes on him as he catches himself staring at the moon.
Sirius knows so very much about the constellations that she knows his family must all set great store by them. With their names - Sirius, Regulus, Andromeda, Cepheus, Bellatrix, Cassiopeia - she is not surprised. Perhaps it is this that causes him to work so quickly - because he knows so much about them already. Because he studies them at home.
His brother Regulus has a fervent love for the stars, and is very adept also in her class. She enjoys having him. He always offers some history to each of the constellations, some variation on legend, points out something about their connection to Divination. Of him, of Regulus Black, she sees great potential as a Seer. The Divination professor boasts of his accomplishments with pride as if he were her own son. They can look forward to seeing a great future for Regulus Black.
She worries about the Black boys. She does not like stereotyping, but Regulus' Slytherin crowd is rough and ruthless, and Sirius' legends of record numbers of detentions are even more worrying.
In his seventh year, in their last class, the elder Black boy comes to her and apologizes. She immediately asks what for, searching her mind for anything this boy has ever done wrong in her class and can think of nothing.
He responds that he had never given her subject a fair chance, and again she questions him, why?
He looks at the ground and she sees the Sirius Black that she has always known again, but also realizes for herself that this is not the boy the rest of Hogwarts sees.
When he looks up, she thinks she may see a sparkle of tears in his eyes. He responds that it is because he was taught to love them as a child. She does not understand, and he realizes this quickly and reluctantly explains farther - about how utterly he rejects the teachings of his family. He begins to open up, to speak more words in a few minutes than he has spoken altogether in her prescence in all his seven years in her class. He tells her of his family, of how horrible he thinks them - even admits that he ran away from their house the summer before.
And then he smiles, and tells her that she is a very good teacher and apologizes again, saying he should have taken advantage of her teaching unbiased, should have listened more. He says he never thinks he deserves the grades she gives him, and has actually twice purposely done worse than he could on the finals so that he will get a grade more appropriate to his participation.
And she understands, and gets a feeling that he has let her see a side of him that no one else has ever seen before.
He smiles, nods to her, thanks her, says goodbye, and walks out of the door for the last time.
And when the new school year comes again, she can never quite think of Regulus in the same way again.
She knows that Sirius Black has a good reason for having hated her class.
There was no apology necessary.
The teacher does not know. All she knows is that he is very good at it. She knows he is an intelligent boy and doesn't realize that he works faster in this class than any other; doesn't realize that his handwriting is normally graceful script, professional, a child who was tutored to be precise - doesn't realize that the sharp, angular letters on his papers are anything other than normal.
The teacher does not understand why he has so much interest in the moon and its phases, why he and his friends pay heed to it much more than any others. But the stars? His attitude is dispassionate at best when she tries to speak to him about it.
Sirius Black is well-known for his temper, but she does not understand this, for in her class, he is quiet, subdued. She takes it for either pensiveness or weariness. But sometimes she stares at the boy and wonders at him, having heard stories in the teacher's lounge and knowing that this boy has just come out of detention for maliciously beating a Slytherin boy. This boy. Quiet. Almost shy. They could not be the same person.
He has little to say. She hears them say, in the hallways, what a disruption he is in class sometimes, how much he speaks with his friends - but he sits apart from all the rest, so that she would not even know who his friends were if the four of them were not such legends.
He is the first out of the tower every day. She wonders if he is just eager to get back to sleep.
He never comes for extra study-time, although the quiet of his friends, the studious one, the prefect of the group - the werewolf - she knows it, from Dumbledore - he comes very often. She has asked him, sometimes, why he comes alone. The boy Remus Lupin merely gives a shrug and a bit of a smile. He is there alone so often, and she thinks perhaps he is uncomfortable, because he knows that she knows what he is...and sometimes he sees her eyes on him as he catches himself staring at the moon.
Sirius knows so very much about the constellations that she knows his family must all set great store by them. With their names - Sirius, Regulus, Andromeda, Cepheus, Bellatrix, Cassiopeia - she is not surprised. Perhaps it is this that causes him to work so quickly - because he knows so much about them already. Because he studies them at home.
His brother Regulus has a fervent love for the stars, and is very adept also in her class. She enjoys having him. He always offers some history to each of the constellations, some variation on legend, points out something about their connection to Divination. Of him, of Regulus Black, she sees great potential as a Seer. The Divination professor boasts of his accomplishments with pride as if he were her own son. They can look forward to seeing a great future for Regulus Black.
She worries about the Black boys. She does not like stereotyping, but Regulus' Slytherin crowd is rough and ruthless, and Sirius' legends of record numbers of detentions are even more worrying.
In his seventh year, in their last class, the elder Black boy comes to her and apologizes. She immediately asks what for, searching her mind for anything this boy has ever done wrong in her class and can think of nothing.
He responds that he had never given her subject a fair chance, and again she questions him, why?
He looks at the ground and she sees the Sirius Black that she has always known again, but also realizes for herself that this is not the boy the rest of Hogwarts sees.
When he looks up, she thinks she may see a sparkle of tears in his eyes. He responds that it is because he was taught to love them as a child. She does not understand, and he realizes this quickly and reluctantly explains farther - about how utterly he rejects the teachings of his family. He begins to open up, to speak more words in a few minutes than he has spoken altogether in her prescence in all his seven years in her class. He tells her of his family, of how horrible he thinks them - even admits that he ran away from their house the summer before.
And then he smiles, and tells her that she is a very good teacher and apologizes again, saying he should have taken advantage of her teaching unbiased, should have listened more. He says he never thinks he deserves the grades she gives him, and has actually twice purposely done worse than he could on the finals so that he will get a grade more appropriate to his participation.
And she understands, and gets a feeling that he has let her see a side of him that no one else has ever seen before.
He smiles, nods to her, thanks her, says goodbye, and walks out of the door for the last time.
And when the new school year comes again, she can never quite think of Regulus in the same way again.
She knows that Sirius Black has a good reason for having hated her class.
There was no apology necessary.