~ CONFRONTATIONS ~
Harry Potter watched curiously as thick flakes of dandruff fell like snow from Daisy Parkinson's hair onto a sheet of black parchment on her desk. Daisy leaned over the parchment, and examined it thoroughly. Smiling like the mad person she was, Daisy gently blew the excess dandruff off the sheet of paper. Then, she grinned happily, clapping her hands in delight with her masterpiece.
"That's REVOLTING!" Lavender looked disgusted.
"Actually, I think it's sort of interesting." Harry shrugged. Lavender shot Harry a skeptic glance.
"I-I'm in the art club." Ernie said brightly.
"That's funny, I didn't even know an art club existed at Hogwarts." Lavender raised her delicately plucked eyebrows.
"I've never heard of such a club either." Harry said.
Malfoy gave an exaggerated gasp. "You must be JOKING! Perfect Potter not knowing everything there is to know about Hogwarts? After all, this is the boy who found the supposedly impossible-to-find Chamber of Secrets in his second-year." Malfoy smirked. "But then, I s'pose a couple of hits to the head with a bludger and you're good for nothing but chasing the Snitch on the Quidditch field, right Potter?"
"At least I'm still ALLOWED to chase the Snitch on the Quidditch field." Harry narrowed his eyes. Malfoy had been banned from Quidditch just last year, when he'd deliberately knocked the Gryffindor keeper, Natalie McDonald, off her broom. Natalie had suffered immense injuries, including a permanent brain one that caused her to forget most major details, and Malfoy was punished accordingly.
Malfoy paused at the mention of his expulsion from Hogwarts Quidditch, and Harry felt glad; finally, he had touched the seemingly impenetrable Draco Malfoy. But Harry's triumph was short-lived. Malfoy recovered quickly and resumed his condescending smirk. "Who wants to be on the Quidditch team? Think about it Potter, there's so much more to do out there than Quidditch. And frankly, practicing two hours a day was tedious for me."
"Only because you can't…" Harry began to respond, but the door suddenly swung open and Filch stomped in.
"I heard talking." Filch shot quick looks about the room, glaring at the occupants, mostly Malfoy. Harry, Lavender, Malfoy, and Ernie sat in silence at Filch's glares; Daisy continued making her dandruff drawing. "I suspect you're talking because you have nothing else to do…well, I propose this solution. You will all write an essay about yourself, about who you think you are. That ought to take up a good amount of talking time. Macmillan, go fetch some parchment and quills from my office. They are in the left drawer of my desk. Do NOT look into any of the other drawers."
Ernie got up hurriedly and shuffled off. He was back within a minute, carrying thick sheets of parchment and several quills. Harry shook his head disbelievingly. If he was Ernie, he would have routed through all of Filch's drawers and then run off and never come back. But then, Harry assumed that Filch had asked Ernie to run this errand because he knew that Ernie would follow his directions. Filch gave each of them several sheets of parchment and a quill. "You will finish your essay by five o'clock."
"What if we don't finish at five?" Malfoy spoke up.
The corner of Filch's mouth curled. "Then you will stay in the detention room until you finish it."
"That's not very fair, Mr. Filch. Some of us can't write very fast, due to injuries that were beyond our control." Malfoy said, glancing deliberately at Harry.
"Shut-up, Malfoy." Harry muttered.
"Not until you, Potter." Malfoy answered.
"Shut-up, both of you." Filch snarled. "You have eight hours to complete this essay. I don't see how there is anyway that you cannot finish it."
"A-actually, I think that there are many ways that o-one may not be able to a-accomplish the essay..." Ernie said.
"I don't care what YOU think." Filch snapped at Ernie, who shrank back in his seat as if he had been bitten by a python. Filch then shot a death glare around the room at the rest of the occupants. "ALL of you will have the essays done by five o'clock, unless it's another Saturday's worth of detention you're looking forward to." With that, Filch left the detention room.
A dry laugh left Malfoy's throat, then another. Soon, he was guffawing wildly. "What are you laughing about, chuckles?" Harry asked harshly.
Malfoy met Harry's look with a sweep of his cold eyes. "An essay, I daresay our Filch is getting thicker. This has GOT to be his stupidest idea yet."
"No, I think his full list of banned items from Hogwarts is even stupider." Lavender stared glumly at her sheets of parchment. "I s'pose I better get started."
"You're actually writing it?" Malfoy said.
"Filch didn't mention any other options." Lavender said as she dipped her quill in the ink bottle.
"Has it ever occurred to you that there are options that aren't necessarily mentioned?" Malfoy placed his feet across the table and on the back of Harry's chair. Harry immediately pushed Malfoy's feet out of his face. Malfoy ignored Harry. He stood up, and swaggered slowly over to Lavender. He kneeled down and placed his elbow on her side of the table. "Have you ever done anything that didn't comply with school rules?"
"Of course she has!" Harry defended Lavender. "Would she be in here if she didn't ever break a single rule?"
"My bad, I thought I was talking to goody-two shoes Brown, not giant-mouth Potter." Malfoy sniffed and turned back to Lavender, who was staring at him stonily. "I really don't think you have, Lavender. You couldn't have. Would they still let you be Winter Queen if you had? That's certainly why they shot Pansy down."
"Pansy Parkinson lost the Winter Ball Queen position because she was a lazy slob! That's also why you lost the Winter King position, too." Lavender said; her face was bright red. "I'll have you know I worked hard. It's not easy impressing those judges. You could have been Winter King too, if you'd worked hard enough. But you didn't, and I'm happy you didn't. I consider Nick Chang a much more amiable partner than you."
"I'm glad I didn't win either…to speak the truth, I'd rather spend eternity with Pansy Parkinson than be stuck a day with you, as I am now." Malfoy said spitefully.
"Good!" Lavender spit at Malfoy's feet. Harry congratulated her silently.
Malfoy feinted mock horror at Lavender's spit. "My my, I doubt Finnigan would be pleased if he knew his girlfriend spat at someone's feet…oh wait, you're not Finnigan's girlfriend anymore, are you? I s'pose it was the spitting that made him drop you." Lavender's face remained unchanged except for the trembling in her bottom lip.
"Shut-up Malfoy; don't talk about things you don't know." Harry defended Lavender. Hermione had told him just how long Lavender had spent weeping in the girls' dormitory about her break-up with Seamus Finnigan.
"That was months ago, Harry. Really, how delicate do you think I am?" Lavender had recovered, and was now staring at Harry with an incredulous look on her face.
"I don't know. I was just remembering how upset you were at the time." Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I'm FINE with it. You can tell Seamus that, too." Lavender tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"Good. I'm glad you're FINE with it." Harry felt irked. He had only been trying to help Lavender, but instead she'd snapped at his help by humiliating him in front of the other three. Malfoy's smirk grew even deeper, Ernie was chuckling quietly, and Daisy Parkinson was giving loud guffaws. "Besides, I thought you WANTED people to feel sorry for you." Harry couldn't help adding.
"I do NOT!" Lavender frowned.
"Certainly seemed like it when you were stayed up late all those nights moping to yourself, or when you cried yourself to sleep and wouldn't let the other girls go to bed." Harry's tongue continued on, despite his brain telling him to shut-up.
"How do you know about that?"
"Er…" Hermione had told Harry strictly never to tell anyone else in these matters, Ron included.
"It was Hermione, wasn't it?" Lavender hissed. "How could she tell you?" Harry kept his mouth shut. "I can't believe she would do such a thing!"
"Oh no!" Malfoy clapped his hands to his cheeks melodramatically.
This time Harry laughed along.
"That doesn't sound like quills scratching on parchment!" Filch roared as he burst into the detention room. Malfoy barely had enough time to dash back into his seat.
"S-sir, b-begging your pardon, I-I can't write…I need to use the lavatory." Ernie said, raising his hand timidly.
Giving a great sigh of exasperation, Filch nodded assent. "Come on, Macmillan." Filch growled. Before long Ernie and Filch returned from the lavatories, and Filch escorted Lavender out.
Harry Potter watched curiously as thick flakes of dandruff fell like snow from Daisy Parkinson's hair onto a sheet of black parchment on her desk. Daisy leaned over the parchment, and examined it thoroughly. Smiling like the mad person she was, Daisy gently blew the excess dandruff off the sheet of paper. Then, she grinned happily, clapping her hands in delight with her masterpiece.
"That's REVOLTING!" Lavender looked disgusted.
"Actually, I think it's sort of interesting." Harry shrugged. Lavender shot Harry a skeptic glance.
"I-I'm in the art club." Ernie said brightly.
"That's funny, I didn't even know an art club existed at Hogwarts." Lavender raised her delicately plucked eyebrows.
"I've never heard of such a club either." Harry said.
Malfoy gave an exaggerated gasp. "You must be JOKING! Perfect Potter not knowing everything there is to know about Hogwarts? After all, this is the boy who found the supposedly impossible-to-find Chamber of Secrets in his second-year." Malfoy smirked. "But then, I s'pose a couple of hits to the head with a bludger and you're good for nothing but chasing the Snitch on the Quidditch field, right Potter?"
"At least I'm still ALLOWED to chase the Snitch on the Quidditch field." Harry narrowed his eyes. Malfoy had been banned from Quidditch just last year, when he'd deliberately knocked the Gryffindor keeper, Natalie McDonald, off her broom. Natalie had suffered immense injuries, including a permanent brain one that caused her to forget most major details, and Malfoy was punished accordingly.
Malfoy paused at the mention of his expulsion from Hogwarts Quidditch, and Harry felt glad; finally, he had touched the seemingly impenetrable Draco Malfoy. But Harry's triumph was short-lived. Malfoy recovered quickly and resumed his condescending smirk. "Who wants to be on the Quidditch team? Think about it Potter, there's so much more to do out there than Quidditch. And frankly, practicing two hours a day was tedious for me."
"Only because you can't…" Harry began to respond, but the door suddenly swung open and Filch stomped in.
"I heard talking." Filch shot quick looks about the room, glaring at the occupants, mostly Malfoy. Harry, Lavender, Malfoy, and Ernie sat in silence at Filch's glares; Daisy continued making her dandruff drawing. "I suspect you're talking because you have nothing else to do…well, I propose this solution. You will all write an essay about yourself, about who you think you are. That ought to take up a good amount of talking time. Macmillan, go fetch some parchment and quills from my office. They are in the left drawer of my desk. Do NOT look into any of the other drawers."
Ernie got up hurriedly and shuffled off. He was back within a minute, carrying thick sheets of parchment and several quills. Harry shook his head disbelievingly. If he was Ernie, he would have routed through all of Filch's drawers and then run off and never come back. But then, Harry assumed that Filch had asked Ernie to run this errand because he knew that Ernie would follow his directions. Filch gave each of them several sheets of parchment and a quill. "You will finish your essay by five o'clock."
"What if we don't finish at five?" Malfoy spoke up.
The corner of Filch's mouth curled. "Then you will stay in the detention room until you finish it."
"That's not very fair, Mr. Filch. Some of us can't write very fast, due to injuries that were beyond our control." Malfoy said, glancing deliberately at Harry.
"Shut-up, Malfoy." Harry muttered.
"Not until you, Potter." Malfoy answered.
"Shut-up, both of you." Filch snarled. "You have eight hours to complete this essay. I don't see how there is anyway that you cannot finish it."
"A-actually, I think that there are many ways that o-one may not be able to a-accomplish the essay..." Ernie said.
"I don't care what YOU think." Filch snapped at Ernie, who shrank back in his seat as if he had been bitten by a python. Filch then shot a death glare around the room at the rest of the occupants. "ALL of you will have the essays done by five o'clock, unless it's another Saturday's worth of detention you're looking forward to." With that, Filch left the detention room.
A dry laugh left Malfoy's throat, then another. Soon, he was guffawing wildly. "What are you laughing about, chuckles?" Harry asked harshly.
Malfoy met Harry's look with a sweep of his cold eyes. "An essay, I daresay our Filch is getting thicker. This has GOT to be his stupidest idea yet."
"No, I think his full list of banned items from Hogwarts is even stupider." Lavender stared glumly at her sheets of parchment. "I s'pose I better get started."
"You're actually writing it?" Malfoy said.
"Filch didn't mention any other options." Lavender said as she dipped her quill in the ink bottle.
"Has it ever occurred to you that there are options that aren't necessarily mentioned?" Malfoy placed his feet across the table and on the back of Harry's chair. Harry immediately pushed Malfoy's feet out of his face. Malfoy ignored Harry. He stood up, and swaggered slowly over to Lavender. He kneeled down and placed his elbow on her side of the table. "Have you ever done anything that didn't comply with school rules?"
"Of course she has!" Harry defended Lavender. "Would she be in here if she didn't ever break a single rule?"
"My bad, I thought I was talking to goody-two shoes Brown, not giant-mouth Potter." Malfoy sniffed and turned back to Lavender, who was staring at him stonily. "I really don't think you have, Lavender. You couldn't have. Would they still let you be Winter Queen if you had? That's certainly why they shot Pansy down."
"Pansy Parkinson lost the Winter Ball Queen position because she was a lazy slob! That's also why you lost the Winter King position, too." Lavender said; her face was bright red. "I'll have you know I worked hard. It's not easy impressing those judges. You could have been Winter King too, if you'd worked hard enough. But you didn't, and I'm happy you didn't. I consider Nick Chang a much more amiable partner than you."
"I'm glad I didn't win either…to speak the truth, I'd rather spend eternity with Pansy Parkinson than be stuck a day with you, as I am now." Malfoy said spitefully.
"Good!" Lavender spit at Malfoy's feet. Harry congratulated her silently.
Malfoy feinted mock horror at Lavender's spit. "My my, I doubt Finnigan would be pleased if he knew his girlfriend spat at someone's feet…oh wait, you're not Finnigan's girlfriend anymore, are you? I s'pose it was the spitting that made him drop you." Lavender's face remained unchanged except for the trembling in her bottom lip.
"Shut-up Malfoy; don't talk about things you don't know." Harry defended Lavender. Hermione had told him just how long Lavender had spent weeping in the girls' dormitory about her break-up with Seamus Finnigan.
"That was months ago, Harry. Really, how delicate do you think I am?" Lavender had recovered, and was now staring at Harry with an incredulous look on her face.
"I don't know. I was just remembering how upset you were at the time." Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I'm FINE with it. You can tell Seamus that, too." Lavender tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"Good. I'm glad you're FINE with it." Harry felt irked. He had only been trying to help Lavender, but instead she'd snapped at his help by humiliating him in front of the other three. Malfoy's smirk grew even deeper, Ernie was chuckling quietly, and Daisy Parkinson was giving loud guffaws. "Besides, I thought you WANTED people to feel sorry for you." Harry couldn't help adding.
"I do NOT!" Lavender frowned.
"Certainly seemed like it when you were stayed up late all those nights moping to yourself, or when you cried yourself to sleep and wouldn't let the other girls go to bed." Harry's tongue continued on, despite his brain telling him to shut-up.
"How do you know about that?"
"Er…" Hermione had told Harry strictly never to tell anyone else in these matters, Ron included.
"It was Hermione, wasn't it?" Lavender hissed. "How could she tell you?" Harry kept his mouth shut. "I can't believe she would do such a thing!"
"Oh no!" Malfoy clapped his hands to his cheeks melodramatically.
This time Harry laughed along.
"That doesn't sound like quills scratching on parchment!" Filch roared as he burst into the detention room. Malfoy barely had enough time to dash back into his seat.
"S-sir, b-begging your pardon, I-I can't write…I need to use the lavatory." Ernie said, raising his hand timidly.
Giving a great sigh of exasperation, Filch nodded assent. "Come on, Macmillan." Filch growled. Before long Ernie and Filch returned from the lavatories, and Filch escorted Lavender out.