Getting Off Easy Detention

Eleanor walked into the library, trying to hide the sullen expression on her face. This was the last thing she wanted to be doing on her Saturday morning. Admittedly, she probably would have ended up in the library anyway since she hadn't made any friends in her house yet and she still had a lot of making up to do for the colossal disaster her sorting had been. The fact that her grandparents still hadn't sent her an owl back in response to the news that their granddaughter was a Slytherin was not promising.

"Maybe they think I'm not even worth the cost of a howler." Eleanor thought to herself. Beating herself up was her specialty, and maybe detention would take her mind off of the unending train of self hatred her brain had been stuck on since she had arrived. 

She spotted the prefect who had given her and Lallie detention across the way and began to make her way over. She hoped whatever she was in for wasn't anything too humiliating, she wasn't sure if her ego could take much more of a beating. Glancing around, she also hoped Lallie would show up soon. They hadn't spoken since that night in the owlery and she hadn't gotten a chance to make her end of the promise since they were interrupted before she got the chance. Eleanor hoped she hadn't lost one of the very few potential friends she had at Hogwarts just because of the inopportune timing of how they had met.

She took a deep breath as she approached the prefect, trying to release the tense fist her hands were balled into and praying that her nails hadn't drawn blood again. "Hi." she said shortly, eager to get this over with. "I got your owl."

Lallie had her head down and was hurrying down to the library. She had gotten up later than she anticipated so she was not as put together as it normally was. Lallie cursed herself for that

Great now you're going to detention on one of your first weeks at Hogwarts and you look like a hot mess. she thought, checking her watch to see if she would get there in time, Good, 8:45, I won't be late. Lallie was hoping that she wasn't going into detention alone. Though they probably won't be able to talk to one another, it would be less awkward there with Eleanor.

She got to the library with a couple of minutes to spare. She walked up to where Eleanor and the Perfect that gave her detention were. She gave a knowing glance to Eleanor. She was relieved Eleanor was here, it would be super awkward if she was here with a Perfect she barely knew. She then faced back to the Perfect. "Uh hi. I-i'm Lallie. I got your owl. I'm sorry I'm kind of cutting it with time and I look a mess, I woke up later than I expected." she said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

Amanda looked up as the dark-haired girl entered the library and approached her. “Good,” was her only response to the girl’s statement. Moments later, the other girl scuttled over to them and apologized for her unorganized behavior. Amanda waved a hand to dismiss it. “You’re here on time and that’s all that matters.”

Amanda let out a sigh and put her hand on one of the carts. “See these carts? You two are going to sort through these and put them in alphabetical order by author first, then title. And then, when you’re finished with that, you’re going to shelve them. Got it?” Amanda’s brown eyes studied the girls before swiveling to her work ahead of her. “While you guys are working on that, I’ll be here doing my homework. Don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything.” She picked up her blue quill and dipped it in the ink. “You can sit at this table while you sort, if you’d like.” And with that, any sign that Amanda noticed the girls was gone. She began to write down a potion recipe out of her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions, occasionally redipping her quill in the ink.

Eleanor felt her hands relax as she heard Lallie approach and awkwardly apologize to the prefect for something she herself would never apologize for. Burkharts never apologized, as there was always a reason behind what they did. Always some purpose or motive for their actions. Unless they were eleven year old half breeds apparently, she thought to herself.

She responded to the look Lallie gave her with a half smile before turning her attention back to the directions the Ravenclaw prefect was giving them. She could feel the irony, someone from Ravenclaw giving detention to two wayward children from predominantly Ravenclaw families. Eleanor might have laughed if it wasn't so tragic. 

Once the prefect had finished giving them their instructions, Eleanor nodded with a blank expression before turning to the cart of books. It wasn't that she had a problem with authority, but she was eager to get out of this embarrassing situation that she had absolutely no leverage in or control over. She began to sort through the books in silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke. 

"I'd like to apologize." she whispered softly, maintaining her air of being calm and collected. They weren't in the Owlery anymore where the rules hadn't applied. Out here was a whole other arena, one where she couldn't be as vulnerable and open. She hoped quietly to herself that the red headed girl would understand. "If I hadn't thrown that rock at you, you probably wouldn't be here right now."

She nodded when the Perfect dismissed her apology. She expected just as much since she had done everything in the letter the owl sent, but she couldn't help but apologize. She grew up in a home where even if what you were doing was right, or if you haven't done anything wrong you'd still apologize if you'd think anyone would be upset by your actions. She doesn't really like that habit, why should she apologize every single time she makes a mistake? It is, however, a habit and she's had trouble shedding it from her.

When the Perfect gave her and Eleanor the orders to go sort the books she went over to the side of the cart Eleanor wasn't on to make things easier and started sorting. She shook her head when Eleanor made her last comment. "Eleanor I would've ended up in detention even if you weren't at the Owlery when I was. I was there to bunker down until dawn when I could get in the castle safety, remember? And we would've bumped into each other even if I didn't get hit in the head. This isn't your fault Eleanor" she said keeping her voice down. She was glad that Eleanor seemed to, at least for Lallie, be shedding her closed off side a bit.

Eleanor listened as Lallie tried to push off her apology. It was touching that she was trying to make her feel better, but she knew what she had done. She couldn’t fault the girl for trying though, so she decided to make her feel better by accepting her words, at least on the outside.

“I suppose.” Eleanor murmured, that being the closest she could get without outright lying. She looked down at her hands, cursing herself mentally as she noticed the one of the cuts on her palms was bleeding slightly. Without pulling attention to it, she continued her task, wiping her hand on her robe covertly in between sorting books to try and hide it.

“So, what have you been up to since that night? I haven’t really seen you around.” Eleanor said passively, trying to make small talk. As far as she could tell, her and Lallie’s schedules didn’t intersect much, or at least they hadn’t in the classes since the incident. 

It was also her fault yet again that she hadn’t caught up with Lallie sooner. She had been too deep into her schoolwork for her to have any time for socializing. Having friends was nice, but she couldn’t let her academics suffer as a result.

Lallie puffed out a breath. What hadn't she done since she was with Eleanor. There was of course schoolwork which hasn't been as bad, she's never had much trouble with that. She's made a couple of friends, mostly just people in her dorm because of the normal house discrimination and such. She also has made a couple of enemies. Mostly Slytherin since they think they're better than her. So far Eleanor seems like the only nice Slytherin.

Other than that she finally worked up the courage to send her parents and owl stating that she got into Gryffindor. She got a reply from them last night which is why she was up so late. They clearly were upset for so many reasons. Their happier than normal tone, their not directly saying they're proud of her for getting Gryffindor, their differing writing style, and Leo cryptically making fun of her for not getting Ravenclaw.

Lallie glances over at the Perfect. She knew better than to complain about her family problems in front of an authority figure. She turned back to Eleanor and decided to answer as safely as possible. "Oh, you know schoolwork and stuff. I like how Hogwarts doesn't ease up on homework in the beginning and just throws us into the deep end. How about you?" she notices how Eleanor keeps wiping her hands on her cloak. "Hey what do you got on your hands? Dust or something, these books don't seem that dusty?" she asks quizically.

"The same." Eleanor answered passively, "God forbid getting an education be easy." All the preparatory work that had been drilled into her mind back in Whepstead was helping, but nothing could have prepared her for all the additional things that she had to deal with at Hogwarts. Between the various events, social life, and the academic portion, it was hard to keep up. And there was no room for failure, especially for her. 

She froze slightly when Lallie mentioned her hands. This was the second time in as many weeks that somebody had drawn attention to them. She needed to be more careful, lest someone recognize this outlet for what it was; her lack of self control flaring up. 

Eleanor continued on with her sorting, giving Lallie a clipped answer. "There was a copy of Hogwarts, A History that was weirdly greasy. Who knows what some of the kids around here have on their hands." She was banking on the fact that Lallie wouldn't care to see her hands or touch the book itself for fear of having to touch something gross. She turned her body away from the other girl slightly to hide her palms. "So, what do you have planned after this exhilarating exercise in organization?" she asked, trying lamely to change the subject.

Lallie paused for a moment. She remembered she had sorted that book and it was actually one of the cleanest ones. Lallie shook that thought from her head though.

Maybe I was thinking of a different book. Anyway even if she is lying it's kind of weird to check her hands for anything. And maybe she's just embarrassed about something on her hands or got a papercut. Don't worry about it.

She smiled to herself when Eleanor asked if she had any plans today. "Well actually I and one of my friends were going to hang out and just kind of walk around the castle." Her friend was a Hufflepuff and they met each other in one of the classes they have together. Her friend was always so nice and friendly and within a couple of minutes of conversation you could have started talking about dogs and end up talking about human philosophy. She and Lallie have spent quite a bit of time with each other, as they have most of their classes together, and Lallie has grown quite attached to her.

She came back to reality and awkwardly looked back at Eleanor. "So what about you? Gonna be doing more schoolwork?" Lallie said trying to skip over that awkward moment of silence.