Chapter 16: Donnor Dalman

Tuesdays, it turned out, would be my sleep-in day. I didn't have to supervise breakfast, didn't have any morning classes, and didn't have to supervise lunch either. My first class wasn't until fifth period, at which point I had two classes back to back, first the seventh years and then the fourth years.

Lunch was almost over by the time I crawled my way out of bed and into the shower to get ready. It was luxurious. I took my time, dressed, chose a selection of pastries from my spread of food as my breakfast/lunch, and took my time making my way to my classroom.

I was feeling pretty good about the day. By now, word would have completely spread, both about my muggle nature and my wand ban policy in class. Presumably, anyone who might have a problem with either of those things wouldn't show up to class today. Which meant that if all went well, I might even manage to have a smoother day today than I'd had yesterday.

I got to my classroom with ten minutes to spare, during which time I sat in my office and went over my notes. There would be fourteen students in my seventh-year class – my smallest class yet (though the sixth-year class would be even smaller). Most of the class would be from Hufflepuffs, with only one student from Slytherin. I felt confident.

When it was time, I walked out into the classroom and greeted everybody with a bright smile.

"Alright everybody, so as you all know, my name is Professor Harris," I began. "By now you'll all have heard that I'm a muggle, so if it's alright, we'll just skip over that conversation and start with roll call."

I paused for a moment, and when nobody protested, I began to read the names off the list.

"Samantha Ackerly?" I called out.

Samantha raised her hand and I committed her face to memory.

"Kimberly Baddock?" I called next.

The one Slytherin in the class waved at me from the far back corner and I committed her face to memory as well.

"Paul Branstone?"

I went on, matching faces to names, right up until the last student on the list, Max Wilson. Once I'd finished, I placed the piece of parchment on my desk and picked up the basket.

"Now I'm assuming you've already heard about my classroom policies," I said. Judging by the expressions on the students' faces, they had. "And I'll give you all the choice I've given all my other students. You can adhere to the wand ban, put your wand in the basket, and take this class. Or you can feel free to walk out that door and choose another elective."

There was a moment of general muttering where the students discussed amongst themselves whether they were going to give in or not, and I gave them a minute to talk it out.

Maisie Brown, from Hufflepuff, was the first to stand up, walk up to the front, and drop her wand into the basket. The rest of the Hufflepuffs followed suit, then the Gryffindors, the Ravenclaws, and even Kimberly Baddock from Slytherin.

I was just about to move on to the lesson when I noticed one student still twirling his wand between his fingers. He stared at me with a smirk on his face and my heart sunk, knowing before it happened that this was going to turn into a confrontation. But I had to call him out.

"Donnor Dalman?" I asked, naming the Ravenclaw student who was so clearly flaunting the fact that he hadn't relinquished his wand.

"Yes, Professor Harris?" he asked, his voice high and innocent. I ignored this obvious ploy.

"I gave you two choices. I'd like you to choose one."

Donnor Dalman considered me for a moment and then leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His face was set. "I choose neither," he declared.

I nodded, having expected as much. "I understand that it's not an easy decision to make," I said. "But I am going to insist that you choose. I'm not forcing you to pick one or the other. I'm only saying you have to pick one."

"And I'm saying I'm not choosing," the Ravenclaw boy insisted. "I intend to take this class while retaining my wand on my person."

I sighed. "I'm afraid that's not an option, Donnor," I informed him.

"I'd prefer Mr. Dalman, if you don't mind," the boy declared.

I had to close my eyes for a moment to resist the urge to roll them.

"Alright Mr. Dalman. I'm going to have to insist that you put your wand in this basket in the next ten seconds, or else leave this classroom until you're ready to do so. I don't care if you drop the class or keep it. But you won't be welcome in this classroom until you're ready to play by the same rules as everyone else."

"No," I replied, digging in his heels. "I need this class on my transcript if I want to work as an obliviator. I can't drop it, and if I keep it and never come to class, you'll flunk me. And I'm not giving up my wand."

I had no idea what an obliviator was, but I gathered it involved some kind of work with or near muggles. I could see the boy's dilemma, but I wasn't about to make allowances, especially for insubordinate seventeen-year-olds.

"You have five seconds," I declared, hoping desperately that it would work, and yet knowing it wouldn't. "Five… Four… Three…" He fidgeted, and for a second I thought he was going to move. But then he settled and I had to keep on counting. "Two… Last chance Mr. Dalman. No? Alright then, one."

I came to the end of my count, and Donnor Dalman looked up at me defiantly, as if daring me to make the next move. The rest of the class looked on, and I knew I had to do something big if I was going to assert my power as a teacher. While I would have preferred be the nice friendly teacher, I wasn't going to be the teacher that got walked all over. And I wasn't going to let anybody think that just because I'm a muggle, I somehow have less authority than the other teachers.

"In my office, Mr. Dalman," I ordered, gesturing to the door at the side of the room.

A chorus of 'oohs' sounded from around the room, and with an arrogant swagger, Donnor Dalman stood and made his way to my office, plopping himself in the chair across from my desk and turning to wave at me obnoxiously.

I took a deep breath and turned back to the rest of the class.

"Alright, so my plan for today was to do a quick review of office supplies and make sure that you're all familiar with the supplies you'll be using to do your assignments for the remainder of the year," I announced. "Everything's in that cupboard at the back of the room," I pointed to the cupboard in question. "So for the next ten or fifteen minutes, I'll ask you all to head back there and acquaint yourselves with the supplies. When I get back, we'll go over any questions you might have and talk about any of the supplies you're unfamiliar with, and then we'll talk about how your assignments are going to be submitted from now on. Alright?"

There was a general nod of consensus, and I left the seventh years to their own devices while I walked over to my office, shutting the door between us and the other students.

"Alright Mr. Dalman, you've already made it clear why you won't drop this class. Let's talk about why you refuse to submit to the classroom wand ban," I said, taking a seat in my own chair.

Donnor shrugged. "I shouldn't have to," he said. "You wouldn't understand. You're a muggle."

"Try me," I challenged. Just because I wasn't a witch and didn't have a wand of my own didn't mean that I couldn't try to understand what was going on here.

Donnor rolled his eyes. "What's the point?" he insisted. "You won't back down now, will you?"

He had a point. I wasn't going to change the wand ban rule, regardless of his reasons. If I did, I would lose all the respect I'd gained so far. Nobody would take me seriously again. I was treading dangerous water, and Donnor was threatening to sink me.

"If I understood why you were so reluctant to relinquish your wand, maybe we could come up with an alternative. A middle ground," I suggested.

Donnor shook his head. "I don't think so."

I sighed. "Donnor – Mr. Dalman – if you refuse to talk to me, and you refuse to leave your wand with the others, and you refuse to drop my class, then I'm going to have to send you to the Headmaster's office to talk things over with him."

I'd hoped that the threat of the Headmaster would be enough to snap the boy out of whatever attitude this was, but apparently it had the opposite effect.

"I think I will talk to the Headmaster," he agreed. "I'd like to see what he thinks of this whole wand ban thing. I'm sure he won't like it either. Maybe he can get you to see reason."

I decided not to try fighting back on this one. I was never going to get anywhere with Donnor Dalman, so there was no point trying anymore.

"Then I suggest you head over there now," I informed him. I wasn't going to have him disrupting my class anymore. Once everything was resolved, he could either return to class and follow the rules or take something else and find a new career path.

"Whatever," Donnor muttered, getting up and heading for the door. "This whole thing is crap."

"Oh, and Mr. Dalman?" I added, before he opened the door. He turned and gave me a sour expression.

"What?" he demanded.

"I'll see you in detention tonight," I declared.

"Detention?" Donnor cried in outrage. "What for?"

"Insubordination in class," I informed him. "Feel free to argue that with the Headmaster too, but I guarantee he'll support my call."

Donnor grumbled but didn't say anything else. He swung the door open, stepped out into the classroom, and slammed the door closed behind him.

I gave him a full minute to vacate the class before re-entering the classroom myself. I didn't like confrontation or conflict, and I hadn't enjoyed our conversation one bit. But it had to be done, and I was glad that I'd stuck to my guns. Now I just had to wait and see how things went with the Headmaster and hope that he didn't torture me too much in detention later.

"Alright everyone, how's it going?" I asked, resuming my cheerful voice and trying to push away all the negativity of the encounter with Donnor Dalman. "Any questions?"

The rest of the lesson went very smoothly. On the bright side, my altercation with the Ravenclaw boy seemed to have put the fear in the rest of the students. Not that that's necessarily what I was going for, but I supposed I would have to take it for now.

I had my fourth year class immediately following the seventh years, and I had no big problems with them. A little reluctance from some at first to hand over their wands, but that was it.

Just as my second class was coming to an end, an owl flew through the window and dropped a note on my desk. I excused the fourth years, and curiously went over to read it.

It seemed that my presence had been requested in the Headmaster's office. Fantastic.

I'd only been inside Headmaster Slinkhard's office once before. I knew it was on the sixth floor, but I couldn't remember exactly where. I ended up having to ask a few of the portraits for directions, which was a little awkward. Especially when other students witnessed it happening.

When I arrived at the entrance, I announced my presence, and the rotating stairs began to move, allowing me to step on and be lifted up to the office. I knew what this was about and tried to put myself in the right frame of mind, but I couldn't. I honestly had no idea what I was about to walk into, and I was nervous about what Donnor may have said to the Headmaster.

I knocked at the door and they both opened in front of me to reveal both the Headmaster and Donnor Dalman waiting for me.

"Headmaster," I greeted him respectfully inclining my head. "Mr. Dalman."

"Come in Professor Harris," Headmaster Slinkhard invited me. "And let's clear up this whole mess."

I came forward and took a seat next to Donnor, preparing myself for the worst.

"Mr. Dalman informs me that you've insisted he give you his wand?" Headmaster Slinkhard said, the statement sounding much more like a question. He raised an eyebrow at me, as if begging me to clear up the confusion.

"Not permanently," I assured him. "And not specifically to me. I have no intention of taking or using the wands myself. All I'm asking is that he and the other students leave their wands in a basket for the duration of their time in my classroom. As an experiential learning device. Feeling what it's like not to have one at all times, the way that muggles do."

Headmaster Slinkhard nodded and turned to Donnor. "Well there you go, my boy, a perfectly reasonable explanation, just as I told you."

Donnor shook his head. "But that's not right," he insisted. "A wizard should never be required to give up their wand. I have rights. I'm legally an adult."

"You do," the Headmaster agreed. "And I'm sure nobody is forcing you to attend Professor Harris' class. Only insisting that you follow her rules if you choose to take it."

The Headmaster glanced at me and I nodded, glad that he and I were on the same page.

Donner exploded. "But I have to take muggle studies if I want to be an obliviator! It's not fair! Why am I the only one who's being interrogated here?"

"I assure you; nobody is being interrogated," Headmaster Slinkhard informed him. "And the reason you're here and not anybody else is because, I presume, you're the only student who's caused a commotion in class thus far?"

I nodded again so that the Headmaster would know this was true.

"What if I'm not comfortable leaving my wand in a basket where anyone could snatch it out at any time?" Donnor insisted. "What if I'm not comfortable being unarmed, even for an hour a day twice a week?"

"Then you can feel free to take the course at the Ministry over the summer and earn your N.E.W.T. that way," Headmaster Slinkhard suggested. "No one is saying that you don't have options."

"So that's it then?" Donnor demanded. "You're siding with the muggle?"

"I'm siding with Professor Harris," Headmaster Slinkhard said, emphasizing my name and title. "If you decide to abide by her rules, then I'll expect that you'll show up to your next class ready to do so. Otherwise, I would be more than happy to work with you in designing a new course load."

Donnor crossed his arms, this time in anger, not defiance. "And my detention tonight?" he demanded. "I suppose you intend to uphold that too?"

Headmaster Slinkhard nodded. "Professor Harris has full authority to issue detentions when she sees fit."

With a huff, Donnor grabbed his bag and stood, pushing his chair back forcefully. "Are we done here?" he demanded.

Headmaster Slinkhard shrugged. "I suppose we are," he agreed.

Donnor nodded, and then stalked out of the room.

As soon as he was gone, I immediately relaxed. The whole situation with Donnor had been so tense, I was just glad for some reprieve. Honestly, I almost hoped that he did drop my class, because I was so fed up with dealing with him.

"Thank you for backing me up, Headmaster," I said gratefully. I'd had mixed feelings about sending Donnor to the Headmaster, but as promised, Slinkhard had supported me.

The Headmaster nodded. "In the future, Professor Harris, I would prefer that you run radical policies such as your wand ban by me before implementing them."

I nodded. "Of course, Headmaster. I'm sorry I didn't mention it before."

Headmaster Slinkhard sighed and waved me away, an obvious dismissal.

I rose and started to head for the door.

"So much paperwork I'll have to do now," I heard him mutter.

I was pretty sure I wasn't meant to hear, so I pretended I hadn't and exited the room. Once the door closed behind me, I felt my heart sink. Headmaster Slinkhard had backed me up, not because he believed in my policy, but because I was a teacher and he had to. But I could tell now that he wished I'd never instituted the wand ban. I felt bad, because I hadn't realized it was going to cause so many problems. But now that we'd gone this far, I couldn't turn back.

I pinched my nose between two fingers and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to re-focus my thoughts. There was no use dwelling on the inconvenience I'd created for Headmaster Slinkhard now. I had other things to worry about. Primarily, what I was going to do with Donnor Dalman this evening in detention.