Twisting love for a Laugh
Chapter 7 – Detention all round
Monday Morning
"Faye." Mrs Professor stated for the third time. The entire class was deathly silent around her; no one even dared to breathe. Their eyes were all glued to the back of the classroom where the said student was standing regarding the teacher with a steely gaze.
"Faye." The fourth time. Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, almost visibly thinking of something to say to her pupil, she closed it again. Opening it once more she managed, "It's nice to see you Faye."
"As always it's a pleasure to come to your lesson too." Faye said in reply, smirking only slightly. She took a seat near the back of the classroom next to a rather dodgy looking Ravenclaw. McGonagall took this as a hint to move on with the lesson and turned towards the blackboard and proceeded to write upon it the method of transfiguring a bean into a blackbird.
One by one the heads of the class slowly turned back towards the front from where their eyes had been glued to Faye's new hair style. The marauderers were the last to look away. Sirius and Remus' mouths hung open in shock, wondering if it was James that had caused this new and surprising lack of hair. James looked very pale; his eyes were more or less wide with fear, wondering if it was him that had caused Faye to practically shave her own head.
Faye continued to look straight at the board in front of her, wearing a –I'm-only-really-pretending-to-look-interested-in-this- expression on her face.
"Right then, I want you all to all take a bean from the front and, following these steps carefully, try to transfigure it into a blackbird. I am warning you now, do not let the birds fly loose once you have transfigured them, I do not want birds flying around the room!" professor McGonagall told the class sternly.
The students made their way to the front in a, er, orderly queue and collected their beans. Trying to jab and wave their wands they proceeded to attempt to change the beans into birds.
The first to master the spell was a Ravenclaw called Adrian Stubbs. Mrs McGonagall hurried over to his desk with words of praise. After about half an hour most people had managed to master the spell. Faye hadn't even attempted to. She gazed in a bored manner at the bean in front of her before carefully placing her thumb and middle finger together, aiming, and flicking the bean off of her desk.
It hit Peter in the back of the neck, causing him to jump and prod the bean violently with his wand. It then burst into flames, not good when resting on a wooden desk. He row of desks soon were all in flames. Peter stood mesmerized by the flames before being pulled back by Remus so that he too wouldn't become part of the bonfire.
"You have wands don't you?" Professor McGonagall screeched at the boys, "Then use them!" she shot a jet of water over the fire from her wand and the marauderers looked on in dismay at smouldering ruins of the desks.
"Who is responsible for this?" she tapped her foot impatiently, "Come on now, desks don't just catch fire of their own accord. Who is responsible?" The marauderers looked at each other, none of them had seen the bean hit Peter, they had only seen Peter jab his own bean and set fire to it. They weren't about to dob in a friend. "Well?" McGonagall asked for the last time. She sighed, "Detention for all of you then, tonight at 7.30, my office."
"But I've got Quidditch practise!" James protested. McGonagall pursed her lips, she wanted her house to win the Quidditch cup this year and to do that they had to practise.
"Very well, make it tomorrow night then." James and Sirius cheered in relief, "Now Peter," she turned to the said boy, "Have you got any burns?" Peter held out his arm showing a painful looking burn along it from the fire, "Right, I'll just take you down to the hospital wing. The rest of you," she turned to face the rest of the class, "Stay right here and continue with the spell, any more accidents and you can consult one of my colleagues next door. " Taking Peter by the arm (the non-burned one) she swiftly led him out of the door.
Everyone turned back to their desks, apart from the marauderers who quickly found that they had none. A general murmur of chattering was heard now that Professor McGonagall had left the room. The students continued to try and change their beans into birds, not wanting to have to do it for extra homework, they had enough to be doing as it was.
Faye stared into space, her bean untouched on her desk. The boy next to her, Mike Leach, smirked at his mates behind him before turning to Faye.
"What's the matter, your brain gone with your hair?" he called out loudly. She didn't move. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled louder. The class went silent, what was this boy thinking? No one said stuff like that to Faye. "I said look at me!" he screeched getting annoyed that she wasn't responding to his taunts and therefore making him look stupid instead of her.
The marauderers watched this scene from the other side of the classroom. Remus stood up, worried that Faye, well, he wasn't quite sure why he was worried about Faye. Maybe it was because he was certain she was going to do something stupid or maybe he was worried she wasn't going to do anything at all. In a way that was more frightening. He may not like Faye at all but he knew that it's better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
Mike reached for her shoulder to pull her round to face him. As his hand touched her shoulder she spun round, her hand clenching into a fist as it flew through the air, and hit him square in the face.
There was a sickening crunch of bones as her hand made contact and he fell backwards ungracefully from his stool and onto the floor. Blood issued from his nose in a steady stream. He reached a hand up to touch it and withdrew it with a cry of pain. "You bitch." He spat.
Drawing his wand he pointed it at her, "Rictusempera!" he cried. A jolt of red poured from the wand tip flying quicker than you could see at Faye. But almost a split-second after Mike had fired his spell the counter curse came. But not from Faye, from Remus who had suddenly appeared beside her.
The class looked in confusion at him. Or in Mike's cause anger, but he didn't try to strike again, Remus' eyes on him told him that would not be a smart move. The marauderers cast anxious glances at each other.
But before they could ask any of the questions that had appeared in their heads Professor McGonagall entered the room. Her sharp eyes darted about the scene in front of her.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here today?" she seethed, "I leave you for two minutes and all hell breaks loose. Who is responsible?" she asked although she already had a pretty good idea who was.
"It was her." Mike accused, pointing at Faye. "She punched me."
McGonagall looked at Faye, not even bothering to ask her side of the story, "Detention on Tuesday." She barked at her. "You can join these boys"She motioned to three Marauders behind her. Then she looked at the boy beside her. "Remus?" she questioned, "I certainly hope you didn't participate in this!" Remus looked at the floor, not knowing what to say, not quite understanding it himself. The professor tutted, "I'm disappointed in you Remus. You'll have to go to detention too."
"I already have a detention. With Sirius, James and Peter"
"I though this year that you'd made a real effort to stay out of trouble but now, I'm really am disappointed in you. However I'll let you off this once seeing as you already happen to have one detention. Don't let anything like this happen again or I won't be so kind"
She looked once more at Mike who was still on the floor, "Remus, take this boy to the hospital wing. I don't trust this class on their' own anymore."
"I can walk myself." Mike growled.
McGonagall raised her eyebrows and regarded him carefully, "Very well Leach. But straight to the hospital wing, I shall be checking with Madame Pomfrey." The boy scuttled off out of the door.
"Right, I want all this mess cleaned up by the end of the lesson. Lupin and Pent get the blood of the floor. Pettigrew, Black and Potter you can see the caretaker after school about some new desks. You will have to pay for them though and a letter will be sent to your parents." She ordered before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Sirius looked ready to faint at the thought of a letter being sent home to his parents; James smiled sympathetically at him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Faye avoided eye contact with anyone for the rest of the lesson, especially Remus.
The bell rang for the end of the lesson. She picked up her bag and headed for the door. She paused for a moment by Remus, where he had returned to his desk, then continued her way to the door, leaving Remus staring after her, a troubled look on his face.