[Corridors] Detention with the Head!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Pulling off his glasses and folding them up carefully Dan just stared at the long list of names that were in front of him. He already had to compile the list of names of the new students who would be arriving at the school next year, the next generation of Witch and Wizards were all down on this sheet of paper, just names and addresses. Running his hand through his hair Dan looked around his office, his gave lingering ever so slightly on Dia who was sat on the bench against the far wall, lost in the world of her book. Moving his gaze away Dan looked over at the Grandfather clock in the corner of the room and swore loudly when he saw that it was ten to seven.

Jumping out of his chair Dan picked up his jacket and hurriedly put it on as he ran over towards Dia, quickly kissing her on the cheek he ran to the office door, down the steps and the Gargoyle just jumped out of his way letting the headmaster hurry on his way to the fifth floor.

Skidding to a halt outside the bathroom Dan folded his arms and took a deep breath to calm himself down. This was not how he had planned on spending his Friday night, seeing as it was one of the only evenings he got to spent with his wife, but then the person receiving the punishment had been stupid enough to argue with Dia, that was bad idea. People who shouted and generally irate his wife made Dan madder then watching someone hex a room full of Hufflepuff’s, if you cared for your life it was just something you did not do!

[Erys Grace]

She wasn't late, she wasn't early. Erys was right on time as she joined the Headmaster outside the prefect bathrooms, the echoing of a grandfather clock's trill informing her she had made it at 7 so there was no reason for him to jump down her throat for being tardy. She didn't expect this to be a pleasant experiance, with the Headmaster's wife insulting her and her fighting back and all. She suspected he'd be terribly hard on her even though the other Hubbles--in her opinion--hadn't handled herself very maturely. She'd insulted Erys! What teacher had the right to taunt any student? Not very professional at all, and just got her more defiance. Of course the Slytherin had steamed off by the time she returned down the hallway for detention, an unfathomable but collected look on her face as she stared at Hubbles. Oh, how she wished Darrow was back. Could they have picked a more Puff-biased Headmaster?

"Headmaster." Erys greeted him a little flatly, the tone having drained from her voice before she said it. Whatever he threw at her, she wasn't about to cry over it or bend under his scrutiny. She'd been here, what, nearly all her life, and none of the professors knew that? Phenomenal. She wasn't about to use any disrespect just yet in her voice either, she didn't need to get kicked out. ..Well that wasn't true, she was graduated, but she was sure Hubbles would prevent her from getting a job here in the near future. And the prospect of not staying her displeased her so greatly it was impossible to not control herself.

"Reporting for immediate detaining, sir." The corner of her mouth twitched but she fought the grin back and kept her face neutral, for her sake if anyone's.[/color]

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The chimes of the clock reverberated down the corridor to signal the clocking of a new hour and right on time just like he had requested Erys Grace sauntered down the corridor towards him. It was not exactly a look of determination on her face, but a thoughtful one, almost as if she was thinking on the matter at hand and this bemused Dan slightly. Not only the prospect of a Slytherin thinking but he could only imagine what she was thinking, most likely grumbling about house bias and Dia for putting her in this detention.

Erys greeting was more of what Dan had expected, plain, emotionless and slightly cold. With a small nod of his head Dan did not say anything in return, this was not a causal meeting where they would go and drink tea and eat crumpets. It was a serious matter and it was about time that Erys Grace learnt how to respect her elders especially teachers. He did not care what her side of the story was, Dan had done his research by talking to the portraits on the walls, but more importantly he trusted the word of his wife then a mardy seventh year Slytherin.

Once again Erys started to talk once again and Dan could see the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth and Dan just feared she was not going to take any of this seriously. With a small cough to clear his throat the Headmaster gave the Slytherin a small side ways glance.

“Just detaining is not what I had in mind Miss Grace.” It was not Dan’s turn to smile as he started to walk off down the corridor, signalling for Erys to follow. “We are going to do a bit of hard labour, well when I say ‘we’ I mean you.”

Dan led the way down the corridor a bit more until they reached a very battered looking door, pulling out his wand Dan tapped the handle and there was a succession of loud clicks signalling that many bolts were being undone. Wrapping his hand around the handle Dan slowly opened the door, straight away the fumes speeded out and even through his cold he could smell the sickly fumes, god knows what it would have been like to someone with increased sense of smell. The walls it’s self were coated in green and orange gung, that over the years had crusted over, some had fungi growing out of them, others were just turning blue with mould.

However before Dan entered the room he turned around to look at the Slytherin and held out his hand. “I will need your wand Miss Grace. You can have it back at the end but it will not be needed in this detention.”

[Erys Grace]

“We are going to do a bit of hard labour, well when I say ‘we’ I mean you.”

Of course. Erys thought shutting her eyes to hide the roll that threatened to toss them around in their sockets. As he opened the door and the fumes overwhelmed her she turned a small shade of green, but other than that she showed no other weakness. The rank stench was worsened by her heightened sense of smell, and she just wished she hadn't the stomach and ended up puking all over his shoes. It took her a moment to respond to him after he asked for her wand, and she shrugged her shoulders with a small smile, handing it over. Had he not remembered she received outstanding marks in that Wandless Magic class that had been taught a year or so back? Apparently not, he hadn't warned her about not using that skill. "Sure thing, gram- sir." She had nearly called him gramps. Swallowing back a laugh that threatened to bubble out of her throat, only because she didn't want to lose any more points for her house, Erys waited for him to tell her where the broom/chisel was so she could get to work. It was going to be a long night.

"When does this end?" She asked him, reluctant to enter the room but would do so gracefully when he gestured her forth. This wasn't her first detention, and wouldn't be her last. Heck, next lesson with Mrs. Hubbles she'd probably end up in detention for a week. The thought made her laugh, albeit inwardly, that the Mrs. was met with resistance and was nearly kicked off her high-horse by a student. If only the other professor hadn't come to her rescue.. Lame.[/color]

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan could not work out if it was wrong that he took pleasure on such things, seeing someone turn a slight shade of green, the sheer look of not wanting to be there it was actually fun. It was like when you were little and would pluck the wings off flies, you knew it was wrong and cruel but still you did it because it was fun, this was exactly the same and tonight Dan Hubbles was going to pluck those wings from Erys Grace and watch her squirm. Yet there seemed to be a bit of fight in her and that was always a good thing, her almost slip up of the tongue at calling him Gramps. He may have almost been thirty and moaned a lot about being old but he did not think of him as a Granddad, at least not yet. He did however decide to let that small jab go, the detention would start when they entered the room and hopefully that would have helped Erys get it out of her system, but somehow he doubted it.

Placing her wand safely in his jacket pocket Dan once again gave Erys the signal to follow and stepped into the mould covered room. The report had it that this was the remains of a potions lesson gone wrong and some of the ingredients used in it were not the most appealing of things when fresh, let alone when they were almost three years old. Admiring the mess chuckling happily to himself Dan heard the little protest from the Slytherin asking when she could leave.

“It will end when we have reached two glorious aims Miss Grace.” Dan looked over at the Slytherin and grinned at her. “The first will be when this room is spotless and the second is when you have actually worked out why the hell you are this detention.”

With a flick of his wand the desk and chair and the end of the classroom cleaned itself up, looking almost brand new and Dan happily sat down on the chair and put his feet up on the desk. He then started to rummage around in the draws and pulled out a sheet of paper and some gold star stickers and some black circular stickers.

“You see Miss Grace if you are going to act like a five year old, I am just going to have to treat you like one. Every time you do something right you will get a gold star, once you have ten gold stars you are free to go. However every time you say or do something that angers me in the tiniest way you will get a black spot…which cancels out two gold stars.”

Dan’s voice was overly patronising and he knew it, he even made a small gasp at the end to add to the affect. If this so called Slytherin graduate was going to act like a first year and play the whole ’She started it game’ then Dan would truly treat her like one, and Dan Hubbles was not a man you crossed swords with!

“Feel free to start now, the sponge, old tooth brush and bucket of warm soppy water is over there.” Dan pointed to behind the door. “And just to show how much I trust you not to use magic I have cast a few charms on the room so if you even dare to try a bit of fancy magic Miss Grace you shall be caught.”

[Erys Grace]

“The first will be when this room is spotless and the second is when you have actually worked out why the hell you are this detention.”

[/I]
Lovely. Erys thought with a scowl. This place will be as clean and tight as the butt of an eagle on a power dive, but he will never get me to admit that I was wrong. Sure, I may have been childish, but his woman wasn't exactly professional in the way she handled the situation. Ending the thought with an inward chuckle at the simile, the Slytherin swallowed back the gag reflex, so desperately wanting to add 'Like, oh my gosh! I'm going to get pretty gold stars!' in her own little high-pitched gasp of enthusiasm, but she refrained, clenching her jaw and snapping her mouth shut at the difficulty of it. Oh, she needed to say it. She just had to, but she couldn't, she had to get out of here. There always was the possibility of her getting on his nerves and getting all those black dots.. Sure, she'd have a lot, but she'd rile him up in the process, and that was always a fun idea.. Though he could start knocking down the house points and she couldn't have that for Slytherin. Decisions, decisions.

As he told her about the spells he cast on the room she grimaced; he had seen through what she was planning, the old codger. Damn it. Guess she wasn't about to use any wandless magic here, especially with him puppy-guarding her like a baby. Peachpuff-biased fool.

Five year olds don't know what I know. Erys thought with a sneer, accepting the ratty old tooth brush, sponge, and bucket of warm water with an agonized look. She wasn't the type of person who bit back what she wanted to say and bottled it up. No, she'd rather stand up for herself and what she believed in, but that would further damage the cause.. Again with the decisions. Whirling around and heading to one of the walls--thankfully the ceiling wasn't covered with the goop, or was it?--she stood there and thought a moment. Is there anything she could do to make this easier? Perhaps if she tried to loosen some of the gunk to make it less difficult to get it off with the sponge? Letting her claws slip out and concentrating on reigning the anger in the Slytherin leaned forward, scraping at the goo until she found the wall underneath. The gunk was a good inch, maybe two at least, thick, so if she pressed her claws just hard enough she could hit the bottom of it and not tear up the wall in the process. Hubbles would surely give her the oh-so-dreaded black dots for that. Resting the bucket and cleaning utensils on the nearest place that wasn't completely covered like the rest of everything else Erys started to claw at the gunk, and would have grinned with satisfaction if she wasn't concentrating so hard on not pressing too much, as chunks of it started to break and peel away. There was still a good amount left on the wall to be scrubbed off with the sponge, but less than what was there when she started, and by the time a half an hour had passed she had scraped at a good section of the wall. Almost half, by the looks of it, but it was still only one wall.

Glancing at her hand as the claws were sucked back in to fingernails Erys went back to the bucket, dipping the sponge in the water and approaching the peely, clawed up goo. Smashing the sponge into it she scrubbed and scrubbed away, biting her lip with the hopes that what she wanted to tell him didn't slip out. Must refrain, must refrain.. She thought with a grin, laughing a little at how ridiculous that sounded. The first time she'd ever had to do that, and she probably wouldn't have held it in, had he not been promoted to Headmaster. Damn it. As pieces got stuck in the sponge and fell away she spotted faded but intact pieces of wall underneath the Slytherin's smirk grew even more pronounced. Sure, her hands were already pruning, and the water was slowly but steadily dropping in temperature, but she should be able to get this done before a week was up.

Keeping up the routine of loosening the gunk with her claws--oh she was going to be in desperate need of a manicure and hunt in the morning after this--then scrubbing away with the sponge and the toothbrush, the hours ticked by, but her strength never faltered. The fact that she was also planning on getting a job here later on in life also forced her to keep her mouth shut. Oh, the things she could say.. Pompous, biased, ignorant, idiotic fool.. She thought angrily, then laughed. I swear, if I ever catch him unconscious I'm stringing him by his eyelids on rusty coat hangers from the Gryffindor tower. Now that thought made her laugh, and she shook her head, growing quiet again.

Her hands were getting tired and she lost track of time--how long had it been since she started? Hours?--but she was finishing up on one wall and advancing on to another one when she ran out of water. "Uh, Professor Hubbles? I ran out of water." Gesturing with a pruned finger to the empty bucket, Erys wondered if he was going to make her lick it off with her tongue. If that was the case she'd be getting her mother and aunt to speak with him soon.[/font][/color]

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan spent the first half an hour just watching Erys work away, a small satisfied smile on his face at the thought that a Slytherin was actually being forced to do manual labour. The only problem in his eyes was that she was clearly using something else other then the toothbrush and sponge, large clumps of the gung was just coming off and though it was not ‘magic’ as such it was the definite use of special abilities. It was common knowledge to everyone in the castle that Erys Grace was a Bengal cat animagus and the fact that she stalked along the castle in this form thinking no one would know it was her way hysterical in Dan’s eyes.

The problem was that this display of Erys cleaning and smirking to herself, no doubt thinking of some even plan to get equal with the Hubbles clan, whether it be himself or Dia. So instead Dan turned to the Daily Prophet for source of entertainment, the news articles were as quaint as usual seeing as not much had been happening in the wizarding world recently, meaning that Dan spent hours just on the puzzle page as he waited for Erys to break the silence that was filling the room. Come half past eight and still Erys had not said anything; she had just got on with the task. Dan half thought that was worth a gold star just for her determination to remain silent, but he did not give it out of spite to what she had said to his wife…ok so this detention was a little personal, but since when has Dan Hubbles ever been fair?

Dan had now moved onto writing his weekly report to the Minster of Magic which had turned less into reports of progress to more of talking about Quidditch results and which Ministry official was sleeping with whom. The Headmaster was only half way though this letter when Frank the House Elf appeared in the room carrying a tea tray with a brewing pot of Earl Grey and a selection of biscuits. These wee just what Dan needed and he also had a small conversation with Frank about the goings on in the Kitchen and which students had been going down in the middle of the night. Gossiping was such a fun thing to do, and not just something for the female of the species in Dan’s opinion.

Finally the Slytherin who was also occupying the room spoke up and it took Dan slightly by surprise as did the fact she had finished one of the walls. Placing his quill down on the table and pulling of his glasses Dan looked at Erys and her empty bucket. It seemed a very sensible request and one he was very willing to comply too but first of all he wanted to make sure things were sinking in through the thick skull of hers.

“I shall fill your bucket Miss Grace.” Dan offered her a small smile. “However I shall only do that if you tell me the reason you were sent here? I need not remind you that the point of detention is to help you think over what you have done and so unless you know then there is no point in either of us being here.”

Dan knew that Erys would carry on scrubbing the walls till the end of time so long as she did not look weak in front of someone, let alone someone who was a Hufflepuff. No, the way Dan had to get to Erys was to try and make her admit she was in the wrong, attack her pride and get her to admit her own faults.

[Erys Grace]

He would fill her bucket.. But there were always strings attatched with him, weren't there? Shouldn't he know what I did? He probably had the portraits prattle it all off to him. I'd have them burnt. She thought, her thoughts cold but her face calm. "I disrespected two staff members." She replied evenly, a neutral answer, knowing he would push further and try to get her to delve deeper and re-word her answer that better pleased him. Erys hated appearing weak, he knew it, and he was just toying with her now. There was no one on this planet she detested more than Hubbles. Not even Stormwrath, but she was a close second. Standing there, fingers and wrists pruning, the Slytherin waited for him to either accept or deny that as a suitable answer, figuring it was probably the latter of the two. Damn him.

She hadn't even spoken a word for hours and he hadn't even presented her with at least one gold star. Leave it to Peachpuff to make this personal. Standing there idly, flicking gunk from underneath her fingernail, Erys wished she could just conjure the water. She wasn't technically using magic to take the gunk away, just get her more supplies! It hardly counted.[/color]

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan raised an eyebrow when Erys came out with the answer straight away, it was not that elaborate and Dan half wondered if she had the right idea about which staff members she had disrespected. The look on her face showed that she was ready for some form of comeback from Dan, for him to give her the third degree on the matter but instead the headmaster chuckled to himself, gave a wave of his hand and the Slytherin’s bucket was full of warm soppy water once again.

“You think a bit more on the matter Miss Grace while you start on the next wall, cause from what I have heard it was more then two.”

Dan leaned back on his chair, arms crossed and a smug little smile on his face. He may not have been spending the evening with Dia but this was just as entertaining, not something he would like to do every night, but still for a once in a while experience teasing Erys Grace was a blast.

“When you have come up with a suitable answer and explanation for your actions Miss Grace I might even think about giving you your first gold star. The previous wall does not count to your total as you used your special abilities”

The smug grin turned into a cruel little smile and Dan put his chair back on its four feet and got back on with writing his letter to the Minister. He was not expecting a direct come back from Erys, in fact he was half expecting another few hours of silence…maybe he should get another cup of tea?

((So sorry this post is terrible hahaha!))