Chapter Six: Back to Normal
Sybill drank. She was content with staying in her quarters. Minerva did not come to visit her anymore. The visions still upset her, but they had always done so. There was not a need in going to Minerva about it... Strange she should think that. Although, descending into the rest of the castle did fog her Inner Eye. She did not particularly like her visions, but she could not simply cast them aside, either. There was nothing she could do but embrace them. She Saw, she drank, and she put a silencing charm on her private quarters at Dumbledore bequest. She would have appreciated him coming up more often. He was busy, perhaps, with the centaur having taken over her classes. She would have liked to see the look on the Ministry toad's face when Dumbledore told her that one! That had happened awhile ago now, of course, but she had little else to think about since she was no longer teaching. It was a funny thing about visitors, she mused. They never seemed to turn up when you wanted them, but were always pestering you when didn't. She half-wished Minerva would come back at times, but she had an odd feeling that they had quarrelled. It had been nice having someone help her through her visions, while it had lasted.
Minerva drank her tea alone again. No more dramatic cries from her two-seater disturbing her in the middle of the night. No more insistences that her leaves should be read after every cup of tea. The silence both plagued her and comforted her. She had half a mind to modify her own memory, or use a Pensieve, but thought better of it. She should remember it – all the good of letting herself go for that short snip in time, as well as the fact that she was the one who took it away. It was for the better that she had done it. Relationships were always messy and unprofessional – and it was not part of the life that she had established for herself at Hogwarts. She had duties to attend to, and she could not allow anything to detract her from that. She was satisfied with where her life was.
She did feel bad for Sybill – the woman deserved a little happiness. She was rather unlikely to get it with how she behaved... Maybe Minerva was her only chance? Perhaps she shouldn't have done it... There was no going back now, though. If she righted the memory, it would still not lead to any good. Sybill would undoubtedly be upset with her, and then where would they be? At least this way she did not have to go through the loss. It was better this way.
Minerva commanded her knight to move to E5 in her solitary game of chess, and surveyed the room. She had, for no intellectual reason, not thrown out a few of Sybill's sherry bottles that she had accidentally left behind. She refused to return them – she did not need any encouragement to drink from Minerva. One of Sybill's crystal balls sat out of place on Minerva's mantle. She had returned from classes one day to find that Sybill had had one of the school's house elves retrieve it for her, and had chosen to avoid the arguement that she did not want crystal gazing occurring in her quarters. She simply went for a walk about the grounds each time Sybill appeared convinced that it was necessary for her to. She could not grasp why she would consistently push herself closer to something that caused her so much pain.
Sybill continued her solitary luncheons after she returned to her tower. She did not feel much like eating, but she knew she must. Minerva's words about St Mungo's rang loud in her head every time she attempted to skip a meal. Certainly their disillusions and disdain for Divination would cause a great kerfuffle and they would possibly attempt to keep her there indefinitely. No, she could not let that happen. She did not want to leave Hogwarts. It was her home.
Minerva sighed as the black queen took out her last chess piece. How was it that she had let that happen? She had missed something crucial, no doubt. As the pieces rearranged themselves for her next game, she got up and made herself another pot of tea. She could have done it by magic, naturally, but she preferred to do it herself. She rather liked quite a few Muggle tasks, which generally tended to surprise those who did not know her well when they found out.
It was hard for Minerva to sleep through the night. She had become so accustomed to Sybill waking her, that now she did it of her own accord. With no Sybill to comfort when she awoke, and no ability to fall back asleep, she had begun taking walks about the grounds at night.