𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 ➵ j.potter (eng)

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV: Sweet Juno
"Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; He fleeth also as a shadow, and coninueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?"

       That day marked the end of McGonagall's detention—six long days of cleaning the school's oldest cauldrons, which were usually used in Transfiguration class. Several of the cauldrons ended up turning into rats when touched, to which Professor McGonagall had warned her that she should find them and return them to their original form. Therefore, not only had Daphne been cleaning greasy, fragile cauldrons with liquids of dubious origin, but she had also been practising Transfiguration as well. Daphne had to give McGonagall the credit, she had aced it this time. She wondered if it was a premeditated punishment that was waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it on her, if perhaps she had a hidden list of clever punishments to use on unmanageable students -of course, James Potter didn't come in there- or if she simply had the magnificent spontaneous ability to think of them. Maybe it was some kind of natural talent in professors at Hogwarts or maybe it was a trait acquired after you became one.

     The truth was, Daphne hated Minerva McGonagall, and Minerva, unjustifiably hated Daphne Bell. She could act like the big woman, since, well Daphne was the minor. Because, what the fuck? Keep it together, Minerva. Who releases their anger on children? Whatever. Daphne was a little bitter that she didn't know what James' detention punishment was. She actually thought McGonagall forgave that one for him... So, yeah. She was bitter.

     So that was that. On the other hand, Daphne's days at the castle had become noticeably calmer since Juno Sayre had decided to ignore her completely. The first day—that was, the day that chaos had completely broken loose, bringing to light several traumas that had previously been well hidden.Yuck—Daphne thought hey, it's okay. She feels ashamed, give her time. The next day, the blonde's patience was beginning to have unwanted nervous tics. A person could be patient for a certain time; then, it was only fair to lash out at the person who abused her patience. So Daphne did the right thing.

      She waited patiently for her dear friend to leave her Muggle Studies class after having meticulously analysed her schedules, found a small time bridge between her next class and the end of this one, and cornered her as soon as she stepped out of the classroom. Now, to be honest, Daphne didn't think it was really necessary to scream the way Juno did. In her opinion, it had been exaggerated; but Daphne was a reasonable person, open-minded even, so she understood -in a way- when Professor McGonagall repeated to her the guidelines expected to be followed by a student in her year. Just as she understood when she was lectured about the possible dangers of taking a person by surprise, imprisoning them against a wall, while wearing a cloak over their head.

      Now, about that last detail, Daphne could not be more insistent about how necessary the cloak over her head had been. It was a dreich day! The only thing dangerous was the high humidity percentage, not her apparent "apathetic tendencies", in McGonagall's words, of course. Which in Daphne's youth, there were no such terms, but then again, she was an open-minded person. If her teachers said that Daphne should watch her actions, she would give it a thought.

      Of course, she knew that there was nothing to change. In any case, it was Juno who needed urgent intervention, and to be explained the importance of being aware of her surroundings at all times —who forgets a scroll with their schedules in a book borrowed from the library? C'mon, she was practically begging for something like that to happen to her. That experience would serve as a learning experience—, especially with how screwed things were in war contexts. Actually, maybe she should be rewarded and not punished for her actions; she was sort of bringing awareness to a delicate and unspoken subject. Juno was a pure-blood witch but you never knew when it came to the wizarding world.. So, yeah. A favour to Juno, you would say. That bitch –sorry, witch– should thank her because now she would know to always be alert to her surroundings.