Closed Parent Teacher Conference One

After the smell of burnt papers began to dissipate, Zoë was hit with an unfamiliar putrid odor from something that she wasn’t really sure she wanted to know. Casting light throughout the room, she was able to get a better look at the actual destruction. The everpresent question still pounding through her mind was why… Why someone would do this to her classroom? Why anyone would do this to one of the classrooms?

It went beyond general disrespect or poor attitude. The move came across as genuinely vindictive and hurtful. Zoë had long prided herself on being a professor who was open and available for students to see and speak with. There were always going to be students who acted out but this just seemed fundamentally different. Breaking into her classroom at night for senseless destruction showed a complete and utter lack of basic common decency.

“Eliseo…I just don’t understand…What did I do?” Zoë asked. The question was rhetorical but she still felt at a loss for words. She could repair much of the damage but that didn’t make the situation any less hurtful or surprising. She was confident they would be able to track down the offender, Eliseo, in particular, had helped her in the past and was curiously good at investigating such things.

Still only taking an initial appraising look at the damage, she could feel Eliseo looming in the doorway behind her. Her attention suddenly shifted as another pair of familiar faces entered from the outside corridor. She would have thought that Octavius was just investigating the noise if not for the small student beside them.

“Professor Baird,” Zoë said in a short tone slightly adjusting her robe to make sure she was covered up. Her mind was still waking up and the circumstances had entirely drained any whimsical kindness from her voice. Her eyes immediately shifted to Clark. While she couldn’t be entirely sure, it didn’t seem likely that the Professor would be just casually bringing a student into her class at such a late hour. Unless they were the culprit.

“Professor, do you know anything about this?” Zoë asked quickly as she turned her attention back to the man. Her anger was brewing just under the surface but she had enough consciousness to keep it in check. At least until she knew for sure if Clark was the culprit of the attack.

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@Octavius Baird
@Clark Baird
@Eliseo Céspedes

A cold but stoic glare shifted to Octavius as the man requested that Eliseo offer the boy a few words of wisdom or advice about the poor behavior. As this was Zoë’s class, Eliseo didn’t quite understand why the other professor found it pertinent to address him before Zoë. Especially as the action had been taken directly against Zoë and her classroom.

The Groundskeeper’s unyielding glower then moved to the boy who only seemed to further display a complete lack of respect and responsibility. Eliseo could be an understanding and patient mentor to students, even for those students that acted out as long as they displayed some semblance of remorse or basic human decency. Clark, thus far, had not proved even that bare minimum.

“Let's not act like this was a simple prank and drop the niceties,” Eliseo replied with a clear edge to his voice as he took a number of steps closer. “If the boy wishes to act with a complete disregard for the property and feelings of others, then they will not find warmth or understanding from me.” He shifted his attention to the boy with a tilt of his head. “The reality is this, Clark. You are young, naive, and by all current accounts, you don’t know how to act like anything beyond an attention-seeking fool. In my time I have met plenty of petulant kids who think that they are somehow superior to the countless that came before them. In truth, their behavior is usually just a cover for stark mediocrity. Their lives are filled with disappointment and loneliness for driving all others away.”

Eliseo shifted his attention back to Octavius with a clear irritation painted over his face. “I understand they are your child, Professor. So if you have qualms with hardship and legitimate punishment, then I would seek out another to discipline the boy. Them acting like a jackass is equally a reflection on your ability to teach them even the most basic sense of conduct,” Eliseo added as he did not believe that Clark was the only one to blame for this. Had the boy not been in the class, Eliseo knew that he likely would have had a more vitriolic response to Octavius but he would currently avoid pressing matters too far.

Eliseo was not opposed to handling the punishment for the boy, but also knew that the breadth of the damage and potential threat to the child could warrant significantly more punishment than simple detention. Eliseo had doubts that the boy would find reformation after a few days or months of detention but he had been surprised in the past.

Zoë’s anger grew with each moment the Baird pair remained in her classroom. Already she felt insulted by the boy’s actions but the first thing Octavius did was address Eliseo for some inexplicable reason. Yes, Eliseo could be helpful in this situation. But this had been her room and belongings that the boy had decided to destroy.

“You apologize for the inconvenience?” Zoë said with clear anger grating against each syllable. “He didn’t toss an egg in my classroom Octavius! There are books destroyed, he threw god knows what over the desks and floor, and started a damn fire,” Zoë began to yell at the man before Clark again decided that he was not receiving enough attention.

Her jaw clenched as the boy started to shout some incoherent babble about his real self. She ignored the clear childish cry for attention. As Zoë watched the boy take out his wand, she completely lost her thread of patience and drew her own wand as a clear reminder to the boy that he was well out of his element if he even considered casting another spell in her classroom.

“Clark, learn when to shut up and let the adults talk. You aren’t powerful in the slightest and there isn’t an imagination to quench if you have the creativity of a cockroach. So just stand there or I promise this will be much worse,” Zoë warned with a hint of venom in her tone as she kept her wand out and in clear view. Should the boy even begin a wand movement or incantation, Zoë would cast Expelliarmus to disarm the child. “I want him the hell out of my classroom Octavius. He put students' lives at risk with his stunt! He put our lives at risk by starting that fire! Zoë again shouted.

“I couldn’t care less that they are your child. This is beyond unacceptable and just plain cruel. Endangering the lives of staff and students is justification for expulsion Octavius. So be a parent and keep your child in line. Don’t come in here with your platitudes and apologies like they do anything to fix the situation. It's insulting Octavius,” Zoë spat as she again made it clear that she had no desire to see the boy or listen to his immature babbling. She would make sure the incident was reported and that appropriate punishment would be found, but this was the last place she wanted him to be.

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@Octavius Baird
@Clark Baird
@Eliseo Céspedes