AN: Will edit all other prompts in tomorrow evening and rejig the formatting.
mischiefmaker by day; matchmaker by night
AlwaysPadfoot
Lee Jordan stretched his arms above his head and subsequently cracked his neck as he headed along the first-floor corridor.
Detention with Professor McGonagall had become just a standard evening now. Following his detention with Umbitch, in which she'd used a blood quill, Lee had gone straight to his head of house. With the twins gone he felt as though he had no one else to go to. It had been an oddly harrowing experience — seeing the fury in Professor McGonagall's eyes.
The ultimate decision they'd come to — well, McGonagall had — was for her to give Lee detention until the end of the term.
His adopted red-haired brothers had been right: Minnie was a fierce mama lion.
Lee usually arrived early, bringing plenty of work to get on with. Sometimes McGonagall would give him tasks, or offer him tea. Occasionally, they'd chat openly, or sit in content silence. It just depended entirely on how the two felt.
That being said, however, upon Lee's arrival there was another student in the Professor's office.
Tall, her blonde hair in an elegant top knot, Lee racked his brains for her name — Greengrass, Greengrass. Delphine? Daph—Daphne, it was Daphne Greengrass. Lee made its personal mission to recall the name of every customer that WWW got. Daphne was particularly fond of Nosebleed Nougat and Patented Daydream Charms. She turned upon his arrival, raising an eyebrow.
Lee offered her a broad smile. "You got detention too?"
Making a noise of affirmation, she gestured to the empty room. "Professor McGonagall isn't here yet."
"You don't say," Lee responded, taking his usual seat on the sofa between the flooded bookshelves. "She is sometimes late when she has to deal with unruly students like us."
"I'm not—"
"Why you in detention?" Lee asked before she could protest her innocence. He found Slytherins were always quick to shift the blame onto someone else and protest their innocence.
"I charmed a sixth years mouth shut."
Lee leant forward with great intrigued his elbows resting on his knees as he studied her expression. She wasn't lying.
"Why?"
"Mr Jordan the reasoning behind Miss Greengrass' behaviour is none of your business."
The firm voice of Professor McGonagall made him jump, and Lee swore he saw Daphne smirk. McGonagall was stood in the doorway, accompanied by a red-head Hufflepuff student.
This time Lee recalled the new face's name instantly. Susan Bones: her aunt worked the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Miss Bones, if you'd take a seat alongside Miss Greengrass, I will assign you both a suitable task for detention." Professor McGonagall was in stern teacher mode and Lee knew better than to ask why Susan was here as well. "Mr Jordan, if you could get on with your Transfiguration essay."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Lee pulled the work from his bag, dragged the coffee table closed to the sofa, and pretended to begin whilst McGonagall busied herself sorting the two fifth years out.
They were assigned the task of alphabetically arranging the bookshelves, which neither seemed particularly impressed by, but got to work on straight away. Being right beside the shelves Lee listened in on their hush whispers.
"I think we should take them all off the shelf—"
"Why on Merlins Earth would we do that?"
"Because smart-arse it will make it easier to sort."
"I'm sorry, do Slytherins pride themselves being big-headed?"
"Can you at least—"
"Daphne, I'm messing with you. Lighten up."
The blonde seemed startled. "Wait, what?"
"She was joking," Lee sang to himself, loud enough for the pair to hear.
They exchanged a look with one another and then shifted their attention to Lee, who grinned but didn't look up at either of them.
"Why does he just get to doodle whilst we get tasked with manual labour?" Susan muttered.
"Because, Ladies, Minnie's wrapped around my little finger," Lee said.
"I most certainly am not Mr Jordan," McGonagall interrupted, making all three jump in unison this time. "Please return to your assigned tasks otherwise I will have you all back here tomorrow."
Lee didn't think now was the appropriate time to remind her he would be here every evening so he returned to his parchment, actually beginning to plan the long-since-due essay. That being said he continued to listen to the two girls he was in detention with.
They were quite the team once they actually began, emptying the shelves and then reordering them way before he was anywhere near finishing his essay.
It was odd. He'd never seen the two together before and yet they worked so cohesively he wondered whether he was wrong. Their moods actually seemed to improve as the detention dragged on unlike Lee's. He was tired, cranky, and ready to hit the hay. But Daphne, who he had only encountered stoic and über Slytherin-like, was actually stifling laughter at things the redhead said. Her stiffness had eased almost entirely.
Then Lee spotted it. The familiar twinkle in Daphne's eyes. She may not be aware but that was a look he'd only seen in a handful of people: Fred and Angelina, his older sister and her husband, his parents. Daphne was looking at Susan like she was her missing half.
Lee felt a smile grow on his face, despite his weariness.
As the three were dismissed later that evening, Lee cleared his throat to get the girls' attention before they all went their separate ways.
"It was a pleasure serving detention with you both — you should... stay in touch with one another."
They both gave him inquisitive looks, but before he could be asked to clarify, he spun on his heel and strode away. His good mood had returned. So they probably thought he was crazy, but the seed was planted.
The two would cross paths again — he was sure of that.
Comps and Prompts
Assignment 6: Media Studies - Cult Classics: The Breakfast Club - Write about a group of students in detention (the students mustn't be friends prior)
IHC - 504. Action - Jumping
365 - 120. Era - Trio
Film Festival - 41. Plot - Serving Detention
WC - Character Appreciation - 21. Character: Lee Jordan
WC - Ami's Audible Admirations - 10. This ain't no Normal Radio Show - Character: Lee Jordan
WC - MMU CBP - 10. Phil Coulson: write about someone who brings people together.
Word Count: 971