Chapter 17: Detention

When I arrived in the Great Hall at the beginning of dinner, I immediately scanned the staff table to see if any of my friends were there. Neither Alex nor Skye were present yet, but Cameron was just taking a seat on his end of the table. I made an immediate beeline for him, dropping myself into Alex's usual chair and turning my body to face him.

"I need your help," I declared.

"What with?" Cameron asked, turning so he was facing me as well.

"I have to run my first detention tonight," I informed him. "And I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Whoa! Detention on the second day. Wouldn't have taken you for the strict professor type," Cameron commented.

"I wasn't trying to be," I said. "But I didn't have a choice. Donnor was being insubordinate and arrogant and purposely created a scene and refused to follow my rules."

"Donnor… do you mean Donnor Dalman?" Cameron asked.

"I take it there aren't too many Donnors here?" I joked. It didn't seem like it would be a common name.

Cameron ignored this.

"This isn't the first time he's gone causing problems. This one time last year, Tessa took fifty points from him in one go. And it was from her own house," Cameron said.

I sighed. "Maybe taking points would have been easier," I muttered. "But it's too late now. I've already told him he has detention. I can't go back on it."

"Try not to stress about it too much," Cameron urged me. "Do you have a plan for what you want him to do?"

The truth was that I didn't. I knew I wanted my detentions to be educational, in that they would mirror the kinds of detentions one might get in a muggle school. But there were still so many options.

"I like the idea of having him bang out chalkboard erasers," I said, musing over the possibilities. "But I don't have the time to collect enough from around the school before seven."

"You could always start the detention by having him summon them all," Cameron suggested.

I shook my head fervently. "No way," I declared. "I refuse to involve magic in any part of my detention." This detention in particular needed to be completely magic-free if I wanted to make any sort of point.

Cameron nodded in acceptance and I continued thinking.

"I guess I could have him write lines," I said after a while. "I will not be insubordinate in class has a certain ring to it."

"Lines are always a miserable time," Cameron agreed. "Everybody hates doing them."

I hemmed and hawed for a moment as I decided whether to commit to the lines or not. On the one hand, it would be nice to come up with something unique that hadn't been done at Hogwarts before to truly showcase muggle culture. On the other hand, I didn't have enough time to be creative, and as long as Donnor was writing lines, I could just sit quietly and prep for my morning classes tomorrow.

"It's settled then," I declared.

"What's settled?"

I turned to find Alex standing behind my – well his – chair, looking down at me amusedly.

"Katie was just trying to decide what to do in her first detention tonight," Cameron said.

"Oof, detention so early in the term?" Alex asked. "You must have had a fun day."

"Don't even get me started," I huffed. The last thing I wanted was to start reliving it all.

"Who's the lucky candidate?" Alex wondered.

"Donnor Dalman," I replied. "Ravenclaw."

Alex nodded. "Never taught him myself," he muttered. "Isn't he the one Tessa took fifty points from at the end of last year?" he asked, looking to Cameron.

Cameron nodded. "That's the one," he agreed.

"Ouch," Alex said. "You've got yourself a handful there Katie. You sure you're ready?"

I nodded. "I'm just going to have him write lines for two hours. It shouldn't be too bad. And after our talk with Headmaster Slinkhard this afternoon, I'm hoping he won't be an issue in the future."

"You took this all the way to Slinkhard?" Alex asked in surprise. "Wow, it must have been bad."

"The real problem is that he doesn't respect my authority," I said. "Until the students get it wrapped around their brains that I'm just as much in charge as the rest of you, I'm going to keep having these problems. That's why this detention is so important. It's not just about Donnor, it's making a statement to the rest of the school too."

"It's a smart move," Alex agreed. "I support it."

I smiled, and then suddenly realized why Alex was still standing.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I just realized! I'm sitting in your seat!" I exclaimed, jumping up.

"Don't worry about it," Alex said, waving for me to sit back down. "I'm in no hurry."

"And I'm supposed to be supervising," I added, frantically looking around the room to make sure people were behaving. "I haven't been paying attention at all."

"Don't worry, Brunwell's watching too," Cameron assured me, pointing to the astronomy professor a few seats away. "And he's usually pretty alert at dinner because he only wakes up around three in the afternoon after classes are over for the day."

"Makes sense," I muttered, sinking back into Alex's chair. I sighed again. "I'm just really not looking forward to sitting in a room with Dalman for two whole hours, just the two of us."

"Do you want one of us there, in case he tries to pull anything?" Alex offered.

"No," I shook my head. "That'll just end up undermining my authority. It'll look like I need backup and can't handle things myself. I need to do this alone."

"Alright," Alex said. "But if anything does happen and you need help, feel free to bring me in."

"Thanks," I said, knowing that I wouldn't. If things got bad enough, I'd just threaten to send Donnor straight back to Slinkhard's office. I suspected that he wouldn't be too keen on visiting the Headmaster twice in one day.

As dinner came to a close, I felt myself growing more and more nervous. I'd been watching Donnor for the past twenty or so minutes, sitting at the Ravenclaw table with his friends, and I knew that they were wrapping up their meal pretty soon. It was five minutes to seven, and I didn't want to be late to my own detention, so I let Mark know that I had to slip out a few minutes early and headed up to my classroom ahead of Donnor to prepare.

When I arrived, I immediately went to the chalkboard and began writing out the sentence I wanted him to copy. I was just finishing up the end of it when a cough startled me and I whirled around. Donnor was standing in the doorway, staring at the blackboard with disdain.

"I suppose you expect me to write lines?" Donnor asked condescendingly. "How creative."

"The classics are classics because they work," I retorted, taking a seat at my desk. "You'll use a pen and loose-leaf paper to complete the assignment. Supplies can be found in the cupboard at the back."

Donnor dropped his bag next to a chair near the back of the room and shuffled over to the supply cupboard, opening it up and retrieving the supplies he would need.

"How many lines?" he asked as he tried to select the correct number of pages of paper.

"We'll see how many you can get done in two hours," I informed him.

Donnor dropped the paper back in the cupboard and crossed his arms in front of him. "How am I supposed to know how many pages to take if I don't know how many lines I'm writing?" he demanded.

"Take a stack, and if you need more or less, you can adjust later," I informed him. I wasn't going to let him rattle me, no matter how easily rattled I could get.

Grabbing a random number of pages, Donnor stalked back to his desk and sat himself down, clicking the pen open and getting ready to write.

I in turn took a seat at my desk and began to look over my lesson plan for my third years first thing in the morning. I was going to teach a lesson about pens vs. pencils and had decided that as a first assignment, I was going to have them all try out different muggle writing implements and write a paragraph about which one was their favorite and why.

The sound of someone clearing their throat forced me to look up, and I found Donnor sitting with his arms crossed again.

"Mr. Dalman, while I haven't set a specific number of lines, I am going to insist on a minimum requirement of twenty pages, back and front, so I would suggest you get started now," I said.

"My pen doesn't work," Donnor replied, as if this were reason enough to quit.

I ground my teeth together and had to take a breath to not explode. "Then choose another one."

Making a big show of things, Donnor stood up and walked back over to the supply cupboard to choose a new pen. He must have picked up a dozen different ones before finally selecting one and returning to his desk.

"I think I might have taken the same one again," he muttered. "It's still not working."

Reaching the end of my patience, I opened my top desk drawer and grabbed a handful of pens out of it. Then I stood, walked over to where Donnor was seated, and slammed the pens all down on his desk.

"There," I declared. "Now you have lots of pens. I'm sure at least one of these will work. Now quit stalling and write me those lines."

My little outburst seemed to shut Donnor up, at least temporarily. We spent the next little while in silence, Donnor writing his lines, me working on my third year lesson plan, and then moving onto the one for my fifth years in the afternoon. I skipped over the plan for the sixth years, because I planned to give them the same first lesson I'd given all my other classes.

About an hour had passed when Donnor spoke again.

"Done," he declared.

I checked my watch before looking up.

"I believe I'm the one who decides when you're done, Mr. Dalman," I said. "And I said this would be a two-hour detention."

"But I've completed my minimum number of lines," Donnor said. "You told me twenty pages, front and back, and that's what I've got here."

"It's called a minimum requirement for a reason," I said. "I never gave you a maximum. Keep going."

"Maybe I'll just sit here instead," Donnor declared.

I sighed. There really wasn't that much fight left in me, and I couldn't imagine sitting and staring at me prep my lessons would be any more stimulating than writing lines. In fact, it might be even less so.

"Fine with me," I decided. "But you're not moving from that chair until nine o'clock."

"What if I have to go to the bathroom?" Donnor asked.

I shook my head. "You should have gone before detention," I informed him. "You'll have to hold it. Now either sit there and be quiet or write lines. It's your choice, but either way, I have work to do."

To my surprise, Donnor did shut up. He sat back, crossed his arms, and sat completely still. I tried my best to ignore him, but it was difficult. I didn't get nearly as much done with my fifth year lesson plan as I'd meant to. I'd have to look it over again tomorrow sometime when I had a free period, but there wasn't much left to do, just come up with a homework assignment for them.

By the end of the two hours, I was exhausted. I excused Donnor, taking his lines and stapling them together. I then went into my office and filed them in a brand new folder that I made entitled 'Donnor Dalman'.

I thought about turning in for the night. I was exhausted, and I had an early start the next morning. I would be supervising my first breakfast, which meant I needed to be dressed, showered, and in the Great Hall by 6AM. But as I thought about it, I realized I didn't want to just go back to my quarters alone. The last two hours had been so stressful, I wanted to decompress with friends. So instead, I shut my classroom door and made my way to the teacher's lounge to see if anyone was there.

I found Skye, Cameron, and Alex all sitting around a table playing a game of exploding snap.

"Hey guys," I greeted them, walking in and taking a seat at the unoccupied side of the table. "Mind if I join?"

"Not at all!" Skye exclaimed happily, dealing me in. "We were wondering if you'd ever come by."

"I've just been adjusting to the new routine," I said by way of explanation. "Suddenly there's just so much going on. It's been so crazy."

"First few days are always the toughest," Cameron agreed. "But you'll get used to it quickly enough."

"How did detention go?" Alex wondered.

I shrugged. "As well as could be expected I suppose," I replied. "He fought me on every turn, but I got him to sit with me for two hours, and that couldn't have been fun for him, so I feel like I won. Well, maybe not won exactly, because my two hours were torture too, but at least I made my point."

"That's good," Skye said. "Establish yourself from the start, and you'll have less problems in the future."

"That was my thought exactly," I agreed. "But I have to say, I'm really hoping he ends up dropping the class and I don't have to deal with him anymore."

"I wouldn't count on it," Skye said. "I've dealt with him a bit, and he doesn't strike me as the kind to give up. More likely he'll stay and keep on messing with you."

"Gee, thanks," I groaned.

"Sorry, just speaking the truth," Skye said apologetically.

"It's fine," I replied. "I'm a teacher, it's my job to deal with this sort of thing."

"Well enough about work," Cameron declared, starting the round. "Let's just play the game."

We played for close to an hour, and then we went our separate ways. Cameron had night patrol, Skye and I both had an early morning supervising breakfast in the Great Hall, and Alex had some work to do before he turned in.

As I headed back to my quarters, I couldn't help but think how nice it was to have friends I could unwind with after a hard day, and how different this was from working any other kind of job, where you wrap up your day by going home to an empty apartment. While this job was so much more work and stress in a lot of different ways, I was happy I was here and looking forward to what was to come.