Professor Quigley didn't understand "No, I was never kind to him." he didn't even like Gregoire to begin with. "You want me to lie to his Family, tell them I'm sorry for their loss. A loss I helped cause. Because of me he couldn't scream for help." He did take a step forward from the corner. "Are you going to write to his Family Professor?" Professor Quigley was there too, and he did nothing to stop the Acromantula's. IN FACT they should demand the Centaurs write to the Bastian's too! He was the cause of this whole fiasco and ultimately killed Gregoire (If he hadn't made that clear enough already)...but no one did anything, but him to try and prevent the Death.

Gabriel was still...awkwardly STARING around the small dungeon cell; mind racing with the fact that he'd somehow misunderstood the owl. It hadn't said anything about ENTERING the room and waiting...but maybe there had been other context clues suggesting it? The piece of parchment was just in his bag. Nervously reaching for it, he scanned the contents again; eyes darting between it and the room occupants. No, he didn't see anything...

There was a pause as he took some much needed deep breaths; the parchment shaking in his hands. The last thing Gabe wanted to do was faint from the stress of the situation or violently throw up, because he'd definitely done that before. Like in CoMC class. The added embarrassment really wasn't wanted OR needed right now...

He handed his wand over.....and was just about to launch into a lengthy, rambled explanation when AEGIS....LIED. Gabriel stared at the Gryffindor, immediately convinced that he was trying to get him into even more trouble. Three reasons. It was easily fact checked. The Healer was terrifying...and wasn't the biggest fan of his, anyway. It was a LIE to Professor Quigley...who was one of Gabe's current favorites....even with this confusing detention. The man had given him the idea of using journals, instead of pieces of parchment with the Protean charm...and Gabe didn't make a habit in lying to professors, anyway. He liked to think he was smarter than that, sans recent events.

>.>

Of course, Professor Quigley had seen right through it...and had said other things, but Gabe was distracted by the out-of-place adults. He was very carefully listening to their dialogue...about taking memories.

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"I was....waiting for you to...." His eyes were wide. He wasn't even looking at the Professor...but the other adults. Taking memories. What. "...I mean..." O.O "...I thought I was supposed to wait to be collected. The owl didn't say to come in and wait." Yes, it was a literal interpretation...but....

...and Gabe had just noticed the Headmistress was also in the room now. He lowered his head and proceeded to flush the most brilliant shade of red known to mankind.

Maddox didn't know which was more perplexing at the moment; the fact Aegis was being adamant in his stance to NOT write...or Gabriel....not knowing he wasn't going to come get him.

Best tackle one thing at a time because MER-LIN.

Maddox rubbed at his face, feeling the last of his patience flitting away. "Let me try to understand this. Are you saying you aren't sorry the boy met his end in the forest?" He did say he would be lying if he wrote that he was sorry and as much as Maddox could understand that on a personal level it didn't mean he'd accept it. Sometimes one needed to understand that a lie worked out better for all involved. Like the young Gryffindor here. Might make all the difference in how long he stayed down here.

"If that's the case, then yes, I do expect you to lie and lie SO WELL that the family believes you're willing to dig through the foulest pits on earth to find a resurrection stone and bring their son back at the simplest request from them. Lie SO WELL that I actually believe you and the boy shared a laugh and a plate of cookies. Lie so well, I feel like letting you out of detention, otherwise it's going to be a long night."

Eyes back on the Ravenclaw but now he was far less focused on his issue of technically being lost. At this point, it didn't even matter and the man simply gestured to the Pensieve. "I trust you know better now, step up to the Pensieve and have a look."

Hopefully he would be more cooperative after.

The Gryffindor was so caught up in fear that he was going to be expelled that he hardly even noticed when— No wait. That was a lie. Of course he’d notice when the Headmistress arrived. Oh Merlin. How many people were they going to try and fit in here by the end of the night? Professor Quigley never said anything about any others, though, the Charms Professor did look a bit confused himself too… Interesting. The Fifth Year slowly lifted his head as the scary woman made her way near there table. Prefect??? Did that mean—?? Were they getting—??? Did she have—???

Were they getting their badges back after all?!

Merlin. This detention really was a roller coaster ride, huh? ”Yes, ma’am.”

And oh. Oh they weren’t going to lose their memories. Well in that case, you can copy them all you want Mr. RandomDetentionVisitorDude. As long as it meant that he wouldn’t forget because as much as he wanted to… He didn’t want to, you know? Zander was about to say something about consenting, too by the way, but before he could Puck had already beaten him to it. While the one guy was taking care of Puck’s memories, Zander turned to the other. ”You can do mine too,” then they’d be able to leave right? Or would they have to answer more questions…?

Also. Aegis Dane, out of all the possible times to choose not to cooperate, you’ve got to choose detention? Oh Merlin.

"That's not it at all!" Aegis uncrossed his arms and shoved them in his pockets. He had not meant to shout just now, but he had. "You're right. What Gregoire did to himself was his own Fault, but I helped him along to his Death. What I'm sorry about more than Gregoire is that I couldn't fix that mistake. That He got dragged off and Eaten. I tried to save him, and what did you do!? What did you do to Help? You let them take him!"

He sat down at the Desk and began to write very aggressively. He wasn't happy about it, but he was going to write.

Quote:

I'm Sorry for what I did to Gregoire, and I'm sorry I couldn't save him.

-Aegis Dane

"Happy?" He said as he finished writing. He crossed his arms once more and lowered his head to look away from everyone.

Puck gave the shockingly blue eyed older man a nod. Don’t be alarmed? There was a mist on her was she like going to go all-inhuman like…wait…her heart that had raced for a minute calmed and she just grinned. “I’m Puck, Puck Greyvson” she looked Corin in his eyes as she sat there.

“Gryffindor. Fifth year…I’m…I was his CoPrefect” she motioned toward where Zander had been standing. Not that the man needed to know but she was relaxed and really Zander was nice.

The calming sensation seemed to leave and she just furrowed her brows. “Was it this loud earlier?” She asked and glanced over toward Gabe…oh so they got him too? But really the commotion was coming from Aegis and Quigley. Maybe Aegis should have looked at the memory? She thought maybe that would help.

She righted herself and fidgeted with her uniform for a moment. “Thank you sir,” she muttered and grinned. “…” blinking she just furrowed her eyes and grinned slightly. “You know I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with eyes that blue ever” she chuckled and nervously shifted where she was standing. She just wanted to ask Headmistress Truebridge about her standing in the school and to apologize but she could wait to do that right?

All of Gabe's attention was effectively pulled back to the Professor...when he went into the 'lying' spiel. Gabriel BLINKED at Quigley...and then looked at Aegis, blinking a bit more.

.....

Okay.

Point made.

Not wanting to deal with confrontation, he approached the pensive and lowered his face to the glassy surface. Gabe remembered vividly enough from his own memory of the 'incident'...and found he was increasingly more nervous to see it from the victim's? point of view. It'd been traumatic enough several yards away.

Taking a deep breath, he broke the pensive surface and fell into Gregoire's memory. When the more gruesome bits began playing out, his emotional response was similar to what it'd been that night. Detachment. Indifference...but only because Gabe had learned to distance himself (in the moment) some time ago. Of course, there were a few important elements he'd missed....Like Aegis silencing the Slytherin.

...........Actually, at the time, Gabe had wondered why the guy wasn't screeching in pain. This answered that question....It also made him feel slightly bad since....Well, he'd done the same thing. At the beginning of the term. Oops.

Thrown back from the pensive once it finished, he gasped for a moment...and tried to collect his thoughts. There were a lot of them...Thoughts. Also, opinions....but Gabe wasn't like Aegis Gryffindor. He wouldn't dare voice any of those things. Zero bravery to speak of.....And Quigley was probably going to flip out in a moment if he didn't calm down.

On THAT note, because he'd heard what the instructions had been to his fellow detainee, Gabe took a seat and pulled some parchment and a quill from his bag. Was this okay?....Or was it a requirement to argue first? Either way, Gabriel began writing.

Maddox winced at the yell noticeably affected by the volume of the Gryffindor. It wasn't bad enough he'd come in late and defiant, now he was trying to send him off with a headache? Definitely didn't sign up for this at all. Was it too late to drop him back in the forest and tell the acromantulas to have fun? The man was sure they'd be better sports about keeping the body away this time.

But the man wouldn't voice this, not with so many others present; hardly. Not even with all the wild accusations of the frantic boy. Instead, he stood with feigned patience and watched the boy scribble. Occasionally he would glance over at Banner to be sure he was still on the right track but Aegis had his attention.

Happy? "Elated." He lied dryly as he snatched the parchment from the table. "I'm impressed. You put so much work into this warm up that it nearly jerked a tear." Wand raised. "Incendio."

Chilled sapphire eyes watched the flames engulf the parchment until there was nothing left. It was only then that he allowed himself to look at the boy but he wouldn't shout like he did. "What did I do? I stayed out of the forest because I have the common sense to. I wanted a quiet walk and I took one on the grounds away from the forest like I know to. I didn't force a Prefect to come into the forest after me and silence another student. You say you tried to save him but none of you would need saving if you lot had stayed out of the forest. Perhaps if the boy could scream I'd have known he was there with you and saved him--oh wait.......someone made that job very difficult even for my sensitive ears. What was I meant to do? Assume when I had no reason to? I'm not a Seer, Mister Dane."

He reached for another piece of parchment and placed it before Aegis. "What did I do? Absolutely nothing. This isn't my fault but here I'm forced to remain down in the dungeons because children can't read and don't know their own sense of danger. Now you will write a proper letter, as the others have done and I will keep burning it until I feel like you're finally taking this seriously. This self-pitying and Professor blaming won't get you anywhere." Unfortunately.

There was the headmistress. Carter gave his former professor a nod in greeting before turning his attention back to the children. Awk-ward. The small one was yelling. But thanks to that outburst, they now knew a little more about the situation.

They also had volunteers. Gryffindor Prefects. "I was a Gryffindor." he said. He took his wand out if his pocket and aimed it at the boy's temple. "Ready?" he asked. "It helps to find something to look at. I'm afraid my eyes aren't quite as blue as Corin's though."

Gryffindor? Zander almost smiled at the funfact, just like he had almost smiled when the Headmistress called him Prefect Adair. But who could blame him, right? Situation was still pretty tense. Which only furthered the fact that it'd be a lot harder to relax than these Governors could probably imagine. Though, they were a lot nicer than Zander had thought they'd be... And they weren't here to expel anyone... So it could be worse.

Anyways, Zander nodded his head in confirmation, though he was sure he'd never really be ready to share his memory of exactly what had happened that night. Gulp. "Oh uh, that's okay.." It'd be kind of weird to stare at the man's eyes anyways. Totally weird. Instead, he found a nice spot on the wall. Perfect.

So uh, let it happen Mr. Governor man.

Corin stood from his seat after labeling the vial. So this girl too was a Prefect. Gryffindor Prefects, her and the nervous one. His icy blues drifted quickly to the last two students that came in. He just had to wonder...

He had just pocketed the vial when LOUD VOICES started echoing around the close confines of the chamber. More interesting details unfolding between the recuperated boy and the Charms Professor. Corin made a mental note of the things he heard as more questions started branching out from existing ones that percolated in his head. Regardless of whose’ fault it was, its clear that this boy was in emotional and psychological turmoil.

Corin’s gaze shifted to the last boy when he began to speak. The Governor furrowed his brows slightly and regarded the boy very carefully, watching him go through the motions of the tasks. There's something.... he cant quite put his finger on it....

His musings was interrupted for a moment when the young girl began to speak again. He started to nod his head to acknowledge her thanks when she added something else. Blink. That he didn’t expect, or maybe he should have. Its been a while since he was a teenager “Uh thank you... they are a family trait.” Polite smile.

He made room for his fellow Governor when he started attending to the other Gryffindor Prefect. He handed Carter the vial where the memory strand can be stored and the small pea-sized sphere “That is for calming them down in case it gets hairy in there.” The how-tos and why fors of obtaining a copy of the memory he will leave that to Carter.

He suddenly looked up when he saw the flickering of the flames. Huh... Quigley was burning Dane’s letter. Its like a trip to the dentist with these two.

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.

Gabriel was just going to focus on what he was doing...because if he accidentally made eye contact with anyone, they might try and drag him into the commotion. Gabe did NOT do well with commotion. So...there weren't any problems here. No, thanks.

Well, that might not have been totally true.

......but Quigley was imploring them to be dishonest, essentially. So....if he wanted a parchment full of lies, Gabe could/would make that happen. In fact, he idly wonder if they'd be able to tell he was lying....and that made him curious as to how they actually pulled the right memories. Was there some type of cataloging system in the brain that helped to flicker through the lot?

It was normal to be nervous about what they might see, right? Because he was nervous. About that and in general.

..........

No, no. That didn't sound right...and calling their son stupid probably wouldn't comfort anyone. Gabe quickly crossed some of that out...and tried again.

Eh.

He was not comfortable with emotional content. And would the Gryffindor reference offend his family? Sighing, Gabe crossed more things out...feeling the stress of being watched, while expected to write out something heartfelt and sincere. The Slytherin had been troublesome, arrogant, and rude...but he supposed if he just focused on the violent nature of the death, Gabe could maybe...make this work.

No one deserved to be eaten by an angry pack of acromantulas. So...

There. Parchment full of lies achieved.

Merlin Merlin Merlin... so many things were happening here. Quigley and Aegis were going at it, toe to toe, with the boy seeming to be in a state of self-pity. Anastasia quietly watched their interactions, but didn't intervene. Maddox had this handled, and wasn't saying anything wrong to the boy...

So, she drifted over to watch the memory-harvesting going on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

Oh holy mother of…Headmistress Truebridge was there. Puck gave her one of her trade marked wide eyed almost startled look like her hand had been caught in the proverbial cookie jar but it hadn’t. “Hello Headmistress Truebridge…” she paused for an extended moment, “I’m sorry for any trouble that I might have caused you earlier with everything,” she earnestly spoke as she did feel sorry, more sorry about Gregoire’s demise than anything else.

Aww, Puck. Since both former current Gryffindor prefects were done now, she approached them, pulling their badges out of her pocket as she did.

"It's alright now," she replied to Puck first, speaking quietly so as not to disturb the detention in progress. "What happened was not directly your fault... nor yours, Zander." Her blue eyes drifted over to pull him into this conversation. "Of course, no one should have been out by the Forest at all, but after reviewing the boy's last memories... it became clear to Professor Flamsteed and myself that you two deserve a second chance with your badges."

So. She carefully pinned on Puck's badge first and then Zander's. "If the Governors have no more questions, you can go back to your dormitories. Please, PLEASE learn from your mistakes. Consult a professor when you have an unruly housemate on your hands. Do NOT patrol dangerous areas--- or you could end up doing more harm than good."

There were several pairs of eyes on him that he could tell. Just what he needed, an audience. The man straightened just a bit, sticking his hands deep into his pockets as was his usual stance and waited for the boy to comply.

Until such a time that he was ready, however, Maddox would drift over to the 'Claw Prefect who seemed just about done. A spark of hope in this dismal detention and he would take it--literally. The Charms Professor extracted a hand from his pocket to snatch the parchment on the table. His eyes scanned the content once...twice then he moved it to the pile with the others. "Very good Mister Banner." Did he care whether the boy meant an ounce of it? Nope. It was written and sounded nice enough to pass.

He nodded toward the Governors. "Let them have your memory then you're free to go as well."

Which would mean there was only one left.

Sigh.

This was going to be a long night, wasn't it?

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......and this was the part he was dreading.

Gabriel tucked his quill back into his bag and looked towards the two out-of-place men, puzzling over how they were going to do this again. How would they know which memory was the right memory? Were they planning to look through several?

He was....ready? So...

Cue awkward staring at them until they did something...

Carter accept the sphere and the vial from his fellow Governor. While he wasn't a fan of magic sedatives potions, he decided he didn't want a freak out on his hands. It was much better to get what he needed to and get the students back to their dorms.

He smiled ever so slightly at the Gryffindor prefect's reaction. That's okay, kid. He'd rather not anyone look into his eyes. He held the sphere above the prefect's forehead before it distributed the mist. Then, after a quietly whispered spell he slowly pulled his wand away from the boy's temple. ...quite a bit slower than Corin. While he might not be on the nonverbal level, the quidditch player might have been overly proud of himself at the moment. He hadn't really had any reason to do this before.

He sealed the vial before tossing a handkerchief in the boy's lap. There, kiddo. Clean your face. "All done." And with hopefully no permanent damage.

"We're good with questions for now." They could always come back if needed.

He then made his way over to the non yelling late arrival. "You ready?" he asked switching out the vial in his hand with an empty one.

Was he ready?

No.

.....but this was all mandatory, right? So, instead of running from the room, Gabe focused his eyes on Zander....looking for any strange, brain-washed-equs behavior. His fellow Prefect seemed okay, generally speaking.

After a moment, Gabriel nodded.

Could they just....get it over with? He had to prepare for Astronomy and do some homework.

There was something he was forgetting wasn't there...?

Ah yes, the boy's wand. Maddox fished it from the inner pocket of his robe as he had done with the wands of the other two then extended it to the bervous looking Ravenclaw. "I believe this is yours." Wouldn't want him having to stop by the office later to pick it up and he wasn't sure he'd be able to convince himself to make the trek all the way up to Ravenclaw Tower.

Long distances were plainly a no for him if he didn't have to.

.

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Oh. Right.

"Thank you," Gabe whispered, as he accepted his wand back from Professor Quigley. He was still waiting for this stranger to take his memory, though...So, until that happened....Well, he was just going to stand here and stare at said man.

He really needed to get back to his common room. There was a pile of homework waiting with his name all over it.

Zander did raises his eyebrows ever-so-slightly at the sphere thing, but didn't actually question it out loud. This guy was supposed to be an expert.... Uh... Right? And Puck looked fine so it wasn't like there was too much that could go terribly wrong with this memory removal/copying process. Or so he hoped.

He flinched a bit as the man drew a wand towards his forehead, oops, but otherwise stayed still as it happened. He felt strangely relaxed... Maybe it had something to do with that odd misty stuff that had been circulating around him only moments ago. Maybe. And before he knew it there was a glowing strand of something or another coming out from the tip of the Governors wand, well more like following his wand and that was probably it. How was it possible that such a horrible tragedy could be reduced to such a weird little strand? Magic was weird.

Anyways, he wasn't exactly sure as to what he was meant to do with the handkerchief, but uh... He was going to use it for his face or something? Maybe some of the mist did something to it? Yes, yes he was clearly no Ravenclaw, okay? As he did so, he turned to face the Headmistress once again.

Wait.

Truebridge say what now? Was this real life? Or is this just fantasy? Ahem. She was practically seething the first time in Professor Q's office. But.... But now she was saying that it wasn't their faults? Well, not directly anyways. Huh. The rest of what she said kind of blurred together after the whole 'you're getting your badges back' thing. BECAUSE WHAT???

Not that he was complaining because this was a good thing. But also an unexpected thing and-- Wait. He hadn't been saying anything for a very, very long time. Uh. Oops. "Thank you, Headmistress Truebridge. Next time, I will think twice before I even consider handling a situation like that on my own." Ahem. And hopefully Aegis would think twice before deciding to do something like that. But you know, that was up to the boy.

And thank Merlin for no questions. Zander quickly rose from his seat once again and gave a small nod to Puck. "You can go ahead and go towards the dormitories if you'd like, I've just-uh-got to check to see if Sophie Brown's still waiting for me in the corridor." She was the one person he wanted to see right now. Of course. And with that, he was off because really who needed to be told to get out of a Torture Chamber? Not Zander, that's who.

Aegis just kept his head down as Professor Quigley wrapped around his excuse on not saving Gregoire, Fine whatever...they should still make the Centaurs write letters to the Bastian's too.
All that speech really did to Aegis feel gravely more responsible for the Frenchie's Death. He was furious with himself for ever picking the Forest now. Yeah it was quiet, it really was until Zander came over. He had a letter from his Father he was going to read...and possible toss further into the Forest...he didn't care for the Muggle Man, he was going to write to his Uncle to see if he was responsible for reconnecting him.

In fact he still had the letter, on him in his robe. He never removed it from the previous day.

So what, Lie to Gregoire's family? Apologize about...you know what he won't say he's sorry about that in this next letter. he pressed quill to parchment once more and wrote something new down.

Quote:

Dear, Bastian Family

I was first in the Forest when this all happened. I did what I had to protect everyone, and I tried to help. I couldn't do it though. I'm sorry for your Loss.

My Deepest Regards,
Aegis J. Dane

There he had to lie a little bit in the letter, but he apologized for what he wanted to, and not for Gregoire.

He set the Quill aside and gave Quigley a quick glance.

Carter once again readied himself for the memory retrieval. Yes, it was pretty cool, but also kind of creepy. But mostly kind of cool.

Anyway.

He held another sphere over the other boy's forehead. A few seconds later it dissolved into a mist. Honestly, he wasn't worried about pulling the memory from this boy. The student seemed to be still in shock and not the trembling mess the other one had been. That should make things easier, right?

For the second time, he put a wand to someone else's temple. Much quicker this time, he started pulling his wand away. Attached to the end of it was floating silvery wisp. In a flash, he had it sealed in vial. Quidditch reflexes.

"You're all done." he said taking a few steps back. Three down, one to go.

This time, Maddox didn't bother picking up the parchment, he merely leaned onto the desk and gave it a once over. If his patience hadn't been shot to hell by now he might have told the boy to keep writing but figured that would make the detention carry on for the rest of the night going back and forth between the two so he simply collected the parchment with a nod and added it to the others.

"Shoddy work but I don't suspect I'll get much better out of you tonight." The Charms Professor placed the boy's wand back on the table for him to retrieve then neatly tucked away the letters the students had written.

"You're free to go after you've surrendered a copy of your memories to the gentlemen waiting."

And that meant HE was officially free to go--wait...that one had said something about speaking with him. Merlin's beard he just wanted his bed.

.

.

No. FYI. Gabriel didn't think there was anything cool about someone rooting around in his brain. ZERO cool. ALL creepy.

....and there was a ridiculous amount of moisture being produced by his sweat glands. His skin was crawling with the discomfort.

....but Gabe let the man carry on with what he had to do. This big fiasco just seemed to continue tacking things on; only getting bigger and more confusing. He supposed that was the one good element to this madness. They were going from memories. Yes, it was still creepy...but the most honest 'explanation'...as they typically didn't lie. Altering memories was far too advanced for anyone his age.

When the actual pulling began, Gabe could FEEL it being extracted...and clenched his eyes shut in response. He could feel a headache coming on and grimaced; resisting the urge to throw his hands and arms up to protect himself. Gabe had to remind himself that was wasn't being attacked. The struggle was real.

...but just as quickly as it had started, the man had finished.

"I'm....just going to...." He gestured towards the door, trembling. That was it, right?

Mhm. Gabe was gone.

Who cared about that frail thin piece of stick now?

he was unworthy to wield it. He stayed in his chair and kept his head down, only briefly though. He eyed the two men in the room still. "So you're gonna copy mine too?" he said to them "my memories?" not sure why? He essentially spilled his guts in detention about what he did, and what he saw.
Why would he lie about that?

from what he observed of the Ravenclaw Prefect...it was sort of unpleasant, but fast.

Right anyways, Aegis did have a Question to ask. He then turned his head to the Headmistress and to Professor Quigley. "I want to see my Uncle....please."