Professor Bellaire entered the hooligan hole and immediately made a face. She hated being down here, hated the smell but this was worth it. She had brought some things with her for Queen Ruby. Oh yes.

Sophia walked further into the danky room and placed the box containing Ruby's crown (yes it was the cushion crown) and a long old and very frumpy middle age dress, on the table. Where was the student now? It was almost time to officially start their detention.

She conjured her chair again and sat, then waited, while checking her watch.

Ruby wasn't looking forward to whatever this was going to be. Something told her it wouldn't be anything like the detentions (numerous) that she'd had at the Muggle schools she had attended here and there amongst her magical homeschooling. She had made SOME sort of effort with her appearance. Uniform buttons at least were done up, tie was relatively tidy and straight... skirt was still on the shorter side above the knee but pretty much within regulations, but probably the dragon lady would still find something wrong.

.... gross. Did it HAVE to be in an actual dungeon? Seriously?

Ruby went where she was told and seeing the professor, she stopped in front of her.

"So nice to see you, Professor Bellaire." Had she missed her? Totally had, right? Sweet smile for you, professor.

Professor Bellaire raised her eyebrows at Ruby's greeting. The girl's setting was stuck on cheeky wasn't it? Well she knew just how to fix cases like hers. "Of course it is." She pointed to the box on the table.

"Put those on, and there is a stick of chalk on the desk when you're done."

SOMEONE didn't know how to say hello properly. Maybe she was related to the sorting hat. Ruby's gaze followed the direction of the professor's finger, and she eyed the box for a moment before going over to it and looking inside.

Oh it was her pillow. How kind of Bellaire to return it to her right? Yeah, right. And what was this? Ruby pulled the old lady tent dress thing out of the box and held it up, expression doubtful. She shrugged and put it on over top of her uniform, less enthusiastic about it given there wasn't any audience here.

... and the chalk? Well she couldn't wear that. Ruby picked it up between finger and thumb, careful of her manicure, and then looked at the professor.

Smiling of course.

"Put the cushion on your head Miss Banner. It is your crown. You will wear it with pride and you will stand with pride." So no slouching, no hip out no sassy poses, nothing of the sort. Today she would be a proper lady. "You will write until "I must respect myself, my uniform and my professors," until I tell you to stop. You will do it without slouching, without your hands on your hip and without all the sassy body language. Got it Miss?"

Ruby DID put the cushion on her head but she stared at dragon in astonishment. "But I do respect myself, professor." And her uniform and professors but those things a little less in the grand scheme of things.

"I am inclined to believe otherwise. In any case Miss Banner, do as I say and if you insist on resisting, as it seems you like to do, we will be in this room for a lot longer. Believe me, I can wait." She sunk into her chair and eyed the girl. Yes Thranduil style. Yolo.

Why? That was dumb. Ruby wrinkled her nose slightly but started writing without any more comment... except she intentionally left a word out.

I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I rispect myself my unaform and my profesors

Aside from the misspellings, several letters appeared to be back to front and it was slow going. Ruby didn't look up, just kept going with the chalk, wishing Gabe was there with her.

Sophia eyed the girl as she wrote across the board. What in Merlin's name...? Was she still trying to cheek her? Did she think she was joking around?

"Miss Banner, do you think this detention is a joke? Erase that rubbish off the board this instant and write what I told you to. Stop clowning around."

A joke? Ugh. What did she do now? Was she really getting so worked up over one little word? Without turning around, Ruby rolled her shoulders to chase away the tense feeling and used the sleeve of the stupid old lady dress to rub the chalk off the board. Then she started again, putting 'must' back in there and pointedly writing it with thick strokes.

I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors

Ok. Sophia was seriously getting really annoyed right now. She got up from her seat, hands on her hips and fingers itching towards her wand. "Miss Banner, I am not playing and this is the last time that I am going to issue a warning to you. Erase that and write what I asked you to write...LAST TIME MISS BANNER." she growled.

What? But she had! Now she was just being unreasonable. Like unreasonably unreasonable. Even more unreasonable than before which was SUPER unreasonable.

Ruby rubbed the chalk off the board aggressively with her sleeve, shot a frustrated glare over her shoulder and then wrote AGAIN.

I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors
I must rispect myself my unaform and my profesors

Once again, aside from the misspellings, some letters were the wrong direction entirely. This was giving her a headache. She tried to focus on the words as she wrote them, the lines beginning to blur together.

"You insolent little child." Sophia snatched the chalk from Ruby's hand and wrote the sentence out on the board herself, after erasing what the student had previously writen.

I must respect myself, my uniform and my professors.

"That is what I want to see on the board, and so help me Ruby Banner..if you write anything but that. You will see a side of me that you will regret forever."

Ruby gasped at the chalk snatching and sucked in her bottom lip to keep it still. She glared at the professor and then stared at the shapes written up. Words. Sure. Whatever. Trying to copy was even harder than writing what someone told her to write. It swam before her eyes, like the letters thought it was funny not to stay where they belonged. Ruby knew what it said, but knowing what it said, reading what it said, and writing it, were three very different things. She lifted her chin and took the chalk then stepped close to the board again. She wrote painstakingly, determined and yet she was kind of shaken by it now and frustrated and anxious and that just made it even worse. The chalk didn't make it easier either, and the stupid dress and the cushion crown, and the professor looking at her like that...



Eyes prickling slightly now, she met Bellaire's eyes, chin still up and defiant.

Sophia watched as Ruby continued to mock her. The transfigurations professor was so livid she was shaking, her lips had transformed to a line and she could most definitely feel heat coming from her ears. It took all her will power to not transform the child into something unnatural.

To resist, she moved her hands away from her hip and away from the wand. "You have detention for a month Miss Banner and you will miss all upcoming Hogsmeade weekends until I think you have learned your lesson ." She had no idea how she was able to deliver that line calmly, but she did.


"What satisfaction are you getting from disobeying direct instructions?"

Detention for a month? No Hogsmeade weekends indefinitely?

Injustice!!11!1!!!one!!11!!

But still Ruby wouldn't admit that she had difficulty with certain things. She'd got this far without anyone bothering her about it, except for sometimes teachers calling her dumb and acting like she wouldn't amount to anything but whatever, it was just the way she was and it definitely wasn't on purpose. And okay maybe she was a little ashamed of it too so why would she admit that she couldn't do something that even the smallest little kids could do better than her?

So Ruby didn't say anything, she just gripped the chalk, white knuckled, and finally, looked away, jaw clenched, eyes brimming now.

A month of detention. No Hogsmeade weekends.

She sniffed once, quietly, but didn't answer the question. It was rhetorical to her ears anyway.

"We are the only two persons in this room Miss Banner and I am surely not talking to myself." She flipped her hair once over her shoulder and crossed her arms..."Therefore answer me....and write."

"I'm not disobeying." Or she hadn't been. She was about to now. Ruby snapped the chalk in half and tossed it on the ground. Stamped on both pieces until they were crushed into chalk dust, and then covered her face and burst into tears. She hated this school. Hated it!

"You can add another couple of weeks to that Miss Banner." Sophia did NOT tolerate temper tantrums. She gave the girl a bit of time to cry, all the while with her arms crossed and the frown still in place.

"When you pull yourself together, you will explain yourself. You are a big girl Miss Banner, not a baby." Only babies cry when they were sad and that was because they can't talk. She produced another chair, similar to her own, then reclaimed her own seat and waited.

What difference did it make? She was totally ruining her life. Ruby rubbed at her eyes, glad to have waterproof mascara because ugh, the last thing she needed was a raccoon moment and it was so frustrating!

"There's nothing to explain." Except that Bellaire was a bully and a dragon troll and none of it was even fair. She straightened up and lifted her chin again.

"Ooooooh." Ha! Sophia did a quiet little chuckle and vanished the conjured spare arm chair. Good. She was glad there was nothing to explain. "I suppose you like to cry for no reason and if that is the case, you should find a new hobby."

The child was just annoying and apparently liked to seek attention. "Write." A lazy flick of her wand saw another piece of chalk levitated towards the girl.

For no reason.

Ruby tossed her hair and narrowed her eyes. Oh fine. She'd write. She snatched the new chalk and wrote quickly not even bothering to be careful, which resulted in an almost unreadable scrawl

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤I must rispet mysalf my unafrom anb my profosers ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
A few LOVE HEARTS for effect, Bellaire.

Sophia took a moment to count, to deep breathe, to hooosah and just to generally calm herself but she could feel it. The moment was upon her, she was about to officially become, a murderer.

All these years she had resisted and now..it had come to naught.

"Can you spell Miss Banner?" The question was rhetorical, of course the child knew how to spell, she was a fifth year for crying out loud..but Sophia had long stepped over the annoyed threshold. She toyed with her wand..turned it over between her fingers and thought long and hard on a spell. "Do you know what the school's motto is, Miss Banner?" Because she was that dragon.

"M-I-S-S-B-A-N-N-E-R." Ruby snapped, her own patience completely spent and the frustration pulsing through her. Well what, she was JUST answering the EXACT question that Bellaire had just asked her. Just as she'd BEEN doing exactly as told, as much as she possibly could. Ugh. Stupid school.

And another question Ruby had an answer for: "No."

She didn't know the stupid motto. Who cared about the stupid motto.