Going Against the Flow Detention with Henry L. Finished

Putting the prank together had been wonderful, when Henry first thought of it. While attempting to do homework, something Daniel had done once before in one of the family bathrooms had come into his mind. Upon the thought, Henry had immediately gotten up to go do it. What hadn’t crossed his mind was the reaction of whoever was at the butt of the prank. It was unlike him to play a prank on a random person, not knowing if it was something they were okay with or not. Usually, he stuck to pranking friends and family, because he knew whether they felt comfortable with it. However, something about the memory of the prank had struck him so hard, this usual care for another person’s feelings had gone out the window. He was feeling worse about it the longer he thought about it.

It didn’t help that the Ravenclaw prefect had been the butt of the prank.

Pulling his sweater hastily over his head, Henry left the Ravenclaw dorms and went racing down the hallways. He had gotten distracted, as per usual, and almost missed the time he needed to leave to arrive at his detention on time. His footsteps thudded quickly against carpeted floors and tapped loudly against stone, the pace of the sounds being sporadic. It was normal, for him to be late, but he was pretty sure he shouldn’t be late for the detention. It was important he get this out of the way so he could learn his lesson. At this thought, Henry visibly grinned, holding back a laugh. Alright, so detentions hadn’t taught him lessons in the past. But he had never been to a wizarding detention, so perhaps it would be different.

Soon, he was out on the grounds, this time breaking into a full sprint toward his destination. As he approached, his pace slowed and what he was coming up to finally came into focus. Standing next to the biggest, smelliest pile of dung he had ever seen was his prefect. Finally slowing completely to a walk and then stopping in front of it all, Henry looked from the dung to Sylvain then back to the dung. The owl he had gotten had told him all about what he needed to do. He’d made sure to keep it tucked in his pants pocket, as he would most definitely forget everything if he did. However, the instructions in the letter hadn’t indicated how big of a task this was. Alone.

“Erm, well, this is….a lot.” He muttered, looking toward Sylvain and then back to the dung one more time. He stood there for a second before he realized that he already had his instructions and should probably get started. With a start, he jerked himself toward the coral. “I guess I’ll, er, get started, then.” He said, not entirely sure where to start, since he had no way to shovel the dung. Was he going to have to use his hands? He shuddered at the thought.

@Sylvain Wyllt

Hexcode= #507091

At first, Sylvain thought Henry must've had a lot of nerve to risk running late for his own detention, but as the kid burst out of the courtyard in a full sprint Sylvain found that the truth was something more relatable. Henry was just a forgetful kid, and there were more than a handful of times Syl could remember himself having forgotten important things and as a result having been late on accident. He would let it slide without mentioning it, if not because of his understanding then because of the pitiful look on his face when confronted with the reality of his situation.

"You're not wrong," Sylvain said, a layer of mounting self-doubt lining his words, "it's definitely more than what you bargained for." Still that morbid curiosity of his held his thoughts at a stand still. Even when faced with a punishment that far outweighed the actions leading to it, Henry appeared to show very little remorse from Syl's perspective. He didn't seem to be penitent for having done anything wrong, just the one look of shame lingering from his scolding. It irked Syl all the more to think that Henry didn't care about the rippling affect of his actions, but thankfully he was in a position to ask questions and come to an understanding.

Before Henry could pick up a hoe, a tool he would become best friends with shortly, Sylvain interjected with his thought process hoping to find something worth his curiosity's interest. "Henry," he said gently, his voice almost a whisper while Minerva landed near the two her eyes watching them both while she let her wings rest. "I thought your prank itself was clever but," he squinted in confusion as he said the next words, "I just don't understand why you did it. I mean, of all the people you could pull a prank on, why me? and if you didn't know who you were pulling the prank on, I mean, why do it at all?" It was hardly a reasonable course of events, and as confounded as he was, Henry held all the answers.

Quietly as he had asked the question, the prefect had already made up his mind. He would stay and help Henry if the punishment didn't match his intentions, because that was the right thing to do. Even if it was Henry's fault he was in this mess, it would be unlike himself to let a decent person suffer it alone. That and it wouldn't be a fair punishment. Having thought it through, Henry didn't seem like the kind of jerk who deserved to scrape up mooncalf dung by his lonesome. He just seemed incredibly distracted and forgetful. Neither of which were really all that offensive unless taken personally. All things considered, pranksters were one of the best types of people to make friends with. They were usually quick witted with a desire to make people smile. It was the ignorant malice of it that had struck him as odd. "Did you even stop to consider how it would make me feel?"

Mentions @Henry Llewellyn

Being late had been the reason for a few of his detentions back at his primary school. Though Henry’s mum had always dropped her kids off to school on time, that didn’t stop him from dilly dallying with friends before the first bell. Of course, he was occasionally late and got a few detentions for it. Luckily, he was pretty sure he was right on time. If he was late, he really hoped he wouldn’t get a second detention for it. Maybe just a warning? Thankfully, Sylvain didn’t mention it, so maybe he hadn’t noticed. Henry would have sighed with relief if he hadn’t been attempting to catch his breath in the midst of the stench. He was glad Sylvain seemed to be in a sort of good mood, he had heard about really mean professors holding detentions. Granted, Sylvain’s amiableness was counterbalanced by the severity of the task at hand.

“Yeah,” Henry muttered in response to Sylvain’s comment about him not being wrong. When Sylvain had first said this was what he was going to be doing, he hadn’t really anticipated as much as was before him. Care of Magical Creatures was not a class he would get to take for a while, so he had no idea what mooncalves were really for or how much dung they produced. Apparently, the answer to the second question was: tons. It was too bad he couldn’t use magic outside of classes, because they had just gone over the levitation charm in class. That would have proved extremely useful. Unfortunately, the only tool he could see was the hoe. He figured he was going to get very dirty doing this job. That would not be very fun. Still, he was glad he would have the hoe, it was better than just his hands.

Before he could get started, though, Sylvain asked him a question. Shuffling his feet awkwardly, Henry looked at the ground, wringing his hands. He had a few habits when he was nervous. “Well, erm, I’d done it before with my siblings and I kind of just felt like doing it again. I didn’t mean to get you specifically!” He added on quickly, “I just, kind of thought whoever walked in would, er, be soaked.” This brought him back to the every cringeworthy thought that he had managed to randomly get a Ravenclaw prefect. He hadn’t been thinking very much about what he was doing, it wasn’t like him to prank a complete stranger. However, Henry’s lack of a filter didn’t just mean he said whatever came to mind, it also meant that his actions often went unfiltered and he did things without thinking of the consequences.

Flinching very subtly at the following question, Henry felt a pang in his heart. His mum had always praised him as the thoughtful one out of her three youngest. He was the one who made sure everyone was comfortable with pranks or surprises before pulling them. Daniel and Diana had always protested that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he told them about it ahead of time, but Henry knew. He knew that getting consent was most important, that it would still be a surprise as to specifically when the prank would happen. It was important to consider other people’s feelings. He just…hadn’t this time. “I should’ve, really. I usually do! I feel really bad, I really didn’t mean to get you. I should’ve thought about who would get caught up in it. I’m really sorry.” Every word was said with the deepest sincerity Henry could find in his heart. His lack of inhibition had gotten the better of him. He would do better the next time.

@Sylvain Wyllt

Hexcode= #507091

His apology at least sounded sincere, though the fact that he'd caused the suffering due to a lack of thought was something that Sylvain thought definitely deserved the discipline he had been issued. "That's okay Henry," Sylvain said, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face. "Just don't let it happen again and I can forgive you." Whatever morbid curiosity he once had was sated when his housemate confessed to being too wrapped up in nostalgia to think of others. Admittedly, there was one thing in particular Sylvain was feeling nostalgic for himself. A bath. A nice hot bath sounded like a promising way to relax himself, and any thought of staying to help went out the window once he had the thought.

"Since you seem truly remorseful," Sylvain said, the grin turning to be a tad more serious. "I'll stop and ask Ivar for a shovel before headed back to the castle. One hoe is hardly enough to get the job done after all." The thought just crossed his mind that Henry might try to use magic to lighten the burden of his lesson. That was clearly against the rules, but he wanted to make sure he remembered. In case he forgot, or got wrapped up in nostalgia for something... less stinky. "Shame you can't use magic either, but then again, we wouldn't want you erroneously setting Ivar's shed on fire." Making a face as though he were worried he wasn't clear enough, Sylvain reiterated himself, but this time in different words. "Just to make myself clear, do not use magic or you're going to be repeating this detention all over again."

With Henry's acknowledgment still withstanding, Sylvain would then walk over to knock on the door to Ivar's shack before Henry could respond, promptly returning with a shovel before making his way back up the path that led back to the castle proper. It was the least he could do, as providing Henry with the right tools for success would hopefully remind him that kinder people could still suffer from thoughtless actions. Not that Sylvain thought of himself as such a kind person undeserving of a little hi-jinks, but rather he knew that there were people less kind than himself, and most certainly there were plenty of people less forgiving.

Mentions @Henry Llewellyn

Henry was more than willing to admit that he would never let it happen again. Of course, his seeming inability to control himself would make that difficult, but he was determined to never prank someone by surprise again. Especially not by soaking them. “I won’t let it happen again, promise,” he responded, nodding his head enthusiastically. Not thinking seemed to be a signature of his, but he knew he would at least try. Henry was unaware, however, that Sylvain was thinking of maybe helping him. Because of this, he was also unaware that Sylvain had changed his mind anyway. Henry hadn’t expected to get help, this was his punishment for being thoughtless. It was certainly more severe than his mum’s punishment would be, but it was still his punishment.

Henry perked up a little when Sylvain said he would stop and grab a shovel for him. “Oh! Thank you so much!” He said, truly grateful for the generosity that was being shown to him, even after everything. A hoe was definitely not going to be as effective as a shovel, so he was glad for the added benefit of the shovel. “Okay. Yeah, I won’t use magic.” Henry responded, once again nodding his head enthusiastically. It wasn’t like he knew very many spells that would help him with this, anyway. Perhaps the levitation charm, but even that might not be all that helpful. If he knew the fire-making spell, he wouldn’t even think about using it, he had heard that some animal dung was flammable. He couldn’t remember where he had heard it from, but it was something that had struck him as odd, at the time.

When Sylvain returned with the shovel, Henry thanked him graciously and immediately got to work. Despite the new benefit of the shovel, Henry still couldn’t avoid getting the dung all over his arms and legs. He struggled to shovel the dung into the bags while keeping the bags open. This grueling work continued for what felt like hours before he was finally done, dragging all the bags up the hill to the greenhouses. When he finished the last of the things he needed to do, he sought to return his tools and then headed back inside. He was so exhausted he almost actually debated not showering before bed, but knew his dormmates would not appreciate that.