Detention

Erika stood waiting in the greenhouse with her arms crossed over her chest. She was not pleased that there had been students in the Forbidden Forest and she hated having to give detentions, but it was necessary. On a table beside her sat three pairs of gloves. All that was left was to wait for the troublemakers to arrive and serve their punishment.

James sighed as he made his way to the greenhouse. He was super bummed that this was his second detention, not really deserving the previous one, and this one, well... He could see why she had given him one, but was still mighty upset that they were caught.

It's all that Irish girls fault, James thought to himself. That voice can be heard for miles.

James saw that Professor Cooper was at the greenhouse but Alli and Sami hadn't arrived yet. He didn't want to seem eager for this detention, so he hung back until he saw one of the other two girls arrive.

Alli flounced down to the greenhouses as if nothing was wrong. She wasn't ashamed of having detention but there was no reason to really advertise it to everyone she passed. She could see the Gryffindor boy, James, hanging around outside the greenhouse. "No point in waiting out here," she said when she reached him. "You're only prolonging the inevitable doom."

She gave his shoulder a nudge and nodded her head at the door, indicating that he should go in first. She silently wondered if she would be able to trick either him or that stupid Sami girl into doing her portion of whatever they were going to have to do for this punishment.

James turned his head as he heard someone approach. He recognised the Slytherin girl.

"I suppose so," he muttered, moving in the direction of the greenhouse. He hadn't taken Herbology, so he really didn't know what to expect when he entered the greenhouse. Professor Cooper didn't seem the type to dish out easy detentions either. James sighed. Allison was right, there was no putting this off. He'd just have to get it over and done with.

Sami quickly made her way towards where her classmates had told her the place where she'd be serving her detention. She simply wanted to get this over and done with, no lectures or fellow accomplices to try and talk to her. She broke the rules and wanted to deal with her punishment as soon as possible, without distractions. It was bad enough getting caught, but being seen by someone who (as far as she saw) hardly ever gave out detentions made it all entirely worse. She glared at the Gryffindor and gave a small glance to the other second year, not believing she had to work with them.

"Let's just get this over with," the witch whispered, determined not to let it get the best of her. It was only one detention after all. Sami fast-walked towasrds the greenhouse, opening the door and praying that it wouldn't be too harsh.

Erika nodded at each student in turn as they entered the greenhouse. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my little troublemakers," she gave them a soft smile. Just because they were being punished didn't mean that she had to be mean to them.

"I hope you all realize that what you did was very foolish and dangerous," she said seriously. "There is a reason that the forest is forbidden. You're all very lucky that you were not injured."

Three long tables sat in the greenhouse, each lined with a variety of plants waiting to be attended to. "Since you seem to have a lot of spare time to go wandering off, I thought we could put that time to better use. You're going to be fertilizing these plants. Sami, you take the table on the left, Alli, you can take the middle table, and James you do the table on the right. There is a pair of gloves here for each of you and a bag of fertilizer at the end of each of your tables."

Erika hopped up onto her desk to keep an eye on them as they worked, though she quickly busied herself with marking essays for her NEWT class. It wasn't too difficult a task so all three of them should have been able to perform it with ease.

-You will need to do a minimum of three posts with no fewer than 100 words each in order to complete this detention-

James rolled his eyes high as possible towards Sami's retreating back as she walked into the Greenhouse. He didn't know what he did to warrant a glare from the Ravenclaw but he copped one anyway. James shrugged. He didn't care what the third year thought of him.

Following Sami, James stood with his arms crossed as he listened to the instructions from Professor Cooper. Just some fertilising? Sweet! James thought, slightly grinning. It wasn't that he was expecting something so completely mundane and exhausting... Hell.. who was he kidding, that was exactly what he was expecting, but hearing that they only had to fertilise some plants, James felt a though Christmas had come early.

He moved to the right table that was all his and put his gloves on, trying to catch eye contact with Alli. He didn't even know why he wanted to do such a thing, but he kind of wanted someone to grin with about not having to do something horrible.

He turned back to his bag of fertiliser, which, incidentally, smelt like something had died in it, and got to work.

Alli was relieved that their task was menial and average, but at the same time she was disgusted by what they had to do. She hated Herbology to start with so taking care of the plants that she despised was the most awful thing she could think of, at least, it was until she smelled the fertilizer, which probably won the award for most awful thing ever to be smelled by anyone.

She grabbed her gloves and as she was putting them on, looked over at James, who seemed to be trying to get her attention. What? she mouthed at him, since she doubted that conversation was allowed. She was perfectly content to ignore Sami altogether, since she still firmly believed that it was Sami's fault that they were there in the first place.

She opened the bag of fertilizer to reach her arm in and was assaulted by the stench, which she was sure would never come off her. However, it gave her an idea. James was a boy. Boys liked smelly things. Boys also liked throwing things, particularly at annoying girls (of which Sami was obviously one).

With a wicked gleam in her eyes, she looked back at James. Once she had his attention, she looked down at her bag of fertilizer then tilted her head ever so slightly toward Sami. She knew he'd probably get in more trouble if he did it, and she would if he ratted her out, but it would be completely worth it to see Sami get pelted with fertilizer.

James felt eyes on him, and turned to see Allison trying to get his attention. He raised an eyebrow as he tried to decipher what she was trying to tell him without getting the attention of either Sami or Professor Cooper. As neither of them seemed to be paying attention, James continued to watch Alli, and then almost snorted. Was she mad?, he though, flicking his eyes over to Sami and then back at Alli. He would get in an immense amount of trouble if he did it, but boy, did he want to. Serves her right for glaring at me, he thought.

James grinned at Alli, and cupped a handful of fertiliser in one hand, steadying himself with his feet shoulder width apart. Here goes nothing, James mused and flung the foul smelling stuff across at the Ravenclaw, the mess heading for the back of her head.

James bit his lip, holding back a laugh, and knew that the punishment he'd get for this would be far worse than what they had to do now.

Sami nodded, and got to work on fertilizing the plants in front of her. She was a bit egged on having to work next to Walker, but said nothing. She had hepled plant and fertilize a few plants back at the cottage with her aunt, and had a fairly good idea of what she had to do. She grabbed a pair of gloves, slipped them on her pale, chalky fingers and began to work. She withheld the urge to push back her bangs, wishing that she hadn't gotten them in the first place.

At the sound of whirring dirt headed straight towards her, she ducked on instinct and dropped to the floor, only having a small chunk of the dirt making contact with her head. She was not stupid; there was a reason she was a Ravenclaw, which they obviously missed. Their head-nods and whispers were not at all subtle. In fact, she was amazed that Professor Cooper hadn't caught on to it (as far as she was aware.) This was a prime example of why she didn't like to associate herself with stupid Gryffindors and annoying Slytherins. Nothing good could possibly come out of it, as shown.

As annoyed as Alli was that Sami managed to evade the fertilizer that was tossed at her by James, she was amused to see the girl drop to the dirty floor to avoid it, and even more amused that the professor didn't seem to have noticed a thing. She looked back at James and rolled her eyes.

She started down the line of plants that they needed to fertilize. She was fairly certain that one of the ones on her table was singing opera. Dreadful, just dreadful. When she found it, she gave it a sharp jab with her gloved finger, which shut it up. Luckily, she hadn't encountered any vicious plants yet. She hoped that Sami got stuck with them all. A week ago, she would have wished the same fate on James, but he was turning out to be somewhat useful as a partner in crime.

Through the plants on her table, she glared over at Sami. It was clear that the third year thought that she was better than them. She was going to have to teach the girl a lesson. Or better yet, get James to do it for her so she didn't have to get her hands dirty.

Glaring at the two, Sami quickly got up and brushed the small specks of dirt off of her clothing. It seemed like the two kiddies were out to get her, for, what it seemed like, no reason in paticular other than just being nasty. They probably blame the whole getting caught thing on me, she thought, her ugly side coming out. Although they were the ones who entered the Forbidden Forest with me, fully knowing the consequences.

"I don't know what ye're playin' at," she hissed quietly, moving onto the plant nearest the middle table. During the small moment in which nothing was happening, she managed to fertilize about one-third of the plants on her table. These included a few normal-looking ones, a muggle plant that she thought resembled a rose bush, and another trying to make a break for it. A good, firm poke stopped its struggling, though. The thirteen year old continued fertilizing the plants in front of her, biting back a curse when one bit her gloved finger. She had yet to see a single plant bite or harm the two troublemakers, but knew there was surely one in there that she recognized from Terry's Herbology textbook. "But wha'ever it is, I suggest ye stop. Before it gets ugly."

Uglier than your smug, Slytherin mop, I hope. Sami smrked, the worst in her being brought out into the open. It was times like these that brought out the worst in her, and hoped they were praying it wouldn't last. After all, she did have all of Ri's pranking supplies available to her....

James didn't know how Sami ducked so quickly, but was shattered that it missed her. He was entirely pleased that the Professor didn't notice what was happening though. He may just get through this detention unscathed.. Well.. That was if Sami could quit being so annoying. He didn't know if he could resist the opportunity to throw something at her again if she kept it up.

James grinned at Alli as he caught her eye roll and mirrored the action back to her. This was going to be a long detention. He turned back to the plant on the table which seemed to be swaying slowly. Creepy, James muttered as he placed a fresh pile of fertilser at the base of the plant. This action seemed to make the plant sway even more so. James pushed the pot aside and began work on the next one. Boring... he thought in a dry sing song voice.

I don't know what ye're playin' at, but wha'ever it is, I suggest ye stop. Before it gets ugly.

James snorted into the pot plant when he heard that. What an ultimatum! It was almost enough of a threat to entice James to continue throwing dirt at the girl, just to see what this ugly, of hers, would look like.

Alli turned her back to Sami and kept working, though she laughed out loud when she heard Sami's mumbled threat. She was sure that a kitten could do a better job of being more threatening than her. She caught James' eye again as Sami talked and made the dumbest face she could at him while moving her lips in time with Sami's. The Ravenclaw girl was making it all too easy to mock her.

She kept working down the line, stopping only to stifle a laugh as one of the plants bit Sami. She'd have to find out what plant it was so she could store that knowledge away for the next time that Sami or someone else annoyed her. She turned her back to Sami again and muttered to James, "What do you think to odds are that we could get away with just running over there and dumping the fertilizer on her head?"

James stifled a laugh again at the faces Alli was making. They would seriously get into trouble from the Herbology teacher if she kept this up. It sure was funny though.

He decided that he'd get this darn detention done already so that he could get out of here. Although his nose adjusted to the awful smell, he still didn't take a liking to the idea of being in this Greenhouse with all the plants and dirt and annoying Ravenclaws.

James laughed again. "I would do it. Merlin, I really would, but I'd rather not spend anymore time in this Greenhouse. I opt we trip her up on the way up to the castle."

He sped through the rest of the fertilising, finally placing the dirt on the last of the plants on his table, sighing with relief.

"Done!" he exclaimed, looking around to see where Alli and Sami were at. He hoped that Alli had finished as well, so that the two of them could leave Sami there alone to finish up.

Alli finished with the rest of her plants on her table as quickly as she could. She just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so that she could get away from Sami before she got so annoyed with just being in the same area as her that she would slap her.

When she finished her last plant, she set the fertilizer on the floor and took of the gloves and set them on the end of the table. Since the Professor had said they were done when they had finished their table, she didn't wait for a dismissal before making her way to the door. She "accidentally" knocked one of Sami's plants off the table to the floor as she went. "Sami! You should be more careful! Plants are delicate things!" she scolded sternly, looking down at the mess on the floor before flouncing out of the room.

She waited until she was outside of the greenhouses to burst into giggles. She decided to wait for James, just to have another laugh at Sami's expense before back to her dorm to share the story with Jasmine.

James watched as Alli finished the detention as well and then made to leave, but turned back around when he heard the sound of pottery breaking. He grinned to see that one of Sami's plants had fallen off the bench. He knew Alli would have had something to do about that, but he was too happy to care; not that he'd care anyway.

He walked out the door behind Alli, laughing alongside the Slytherin.

Sami sighed contentedly as she finished up her last plant to be fertilized. She raised her hand, as if answering a question, then noticed one half-way fertilized plant in the middle. She scurried off to finish the job as fast as she could, noticing the Gryffindor scum heading out, and the other second year headed towards the exit.

"Professor, I've finished fertilizing the plants." But just as she spoke those words, the sound of pottery crashing and a plant thumping on the floor, it appeared as though something wished to prove her wrong. Or someone; a Slytherin named Allison Walker, to be exact. She even had the nerve to blame it on her, then skip on her merry way, out. "Sami! You should be more careful! Plants are delicate things!"

This was going to get brutal. Very fast. Very soon.

She was beyond furious that that- that, thing would even attempt to do something like that; in front of a professor, no less. But, by the looks of it- Professor Cooper was doing absolutely nothing to stop it from hapennig. She was angry at the little brats who started the whole mess, angry at her Head of House for sitting around doind nothing while this all occured, and angry at herself for even associating herself with such trash like them. She ran outside the greenhouse, not waiting for the professor and screamed, "YOU BLOODY COWARD! YOU WON'T HEAR THE LAST OF ME, SLYTHERIN DUNG! YOU TOO, WILSON!"

She calmly walked back into the Greenhouse to face the so-called 'teacher'. "Well. This was a productive evening, wasn't it Professor Cooper?" Heavy sarcasm. She stalked out of the greenhouse in the opposite direction, towards the Owlry to write a very long, angry letter to the the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin about two students in particular.

Erika sighed to herself as one thing after another went wrong in the detention. She continued to mark papers throughout, making a note of each thing that happened beyond what was supposed to. As a mother, especially one with years of teaching experience, very few things escaped her attention, and she'd learned that it was best to just let them get it all out before she gave any sort of reaction. Children will be children.

Once fertilizer had been thrown, a pot broken, and rude words said, Erika calmly set about taking care of the plant, then sat down to write three calm but stern notes.

The first was to James:

Quote :

Dear Mr. Wilson,

Your second detention will be taking place with me in the greenhouses this Saturday at 6 AM on the dot. Throwing fertilizer at another student is unacceptable behavior and is something that I would expect from a first year. I will also expect a written apology to Miss Criss to be handed in to me at that time.

Professor Cooper

Her second note was to Allison:

Quote :

Dear Miss Walker,

Your second detention will be taking place with me in the greenhouses this Saturday at 6 AM on the dot. Destruction of school property is also against the rules and I would expect better of you. I will also expect a written apology to Miss Criss for trying to blame this incident on her to be handed in to me at that time.

Professor Cooper

Her final note was to Sami:

Quote :

Dear Miss Criss,

I must say that I'm disappointed in how you handled yourself today in detention. I would like for you to meet me in my office this Saturday at 8 PM to discuss this further.

Professor Cooper

She went back into the greenhouse office to Silas' cage and tied one of the notes to the owl's leg and sent him to the appropriate student. Upon his return, she repeated this for each of the other notes, then locked up the greenhouse and headed back up to the castle to tell Tai about this disaster of a day.