Detention (Nixa)

[Quinn Rockwell]

Saturday morning, late November, 2005

The school's caretaker met Quinn and Nixa in the Entrance Hall, pushing a wooden custodian cart with an assortment of brooms, mops, mop-buckets, sponges, and rags. After confirming the girls' identities, he led them through a disused wing of the castle, and into a musty, abandoned classroom that seemed to have been neglected for at least a decade. There was an assortment of student desks, some broken, some overturned. There were a few bookcases filled with old books. There were cobwebs all over the massive ceiling joists and all the furniture. There was a curio cabinet that had long since been broken into and looted (there was broken glass on the floor). The floor was so dusty that you could hardly tell it was a hardwood floor, except where some footprints exposed the woodgrain. Some students had left rude messages regarding some teachers on the chalkboard. A rat scurried across the floor and disappeared into a hole in the wall. There were rat droppings scattered all over the floor as well.

"Clean this room from top to bottom," the caretaker said as he parked the custodian cart. "I'll come back later to check on your progress." Without any further instruction, he left the girls to it.

Quinn stepped further into the room to get a better look. After surveying the extent of how much work was ahead of them, she sighed. "This could very well take us a couple hours," she said. "I guess we should sweep the cobwebs from the ceiling first?" It was only the second time she'd been alone with Nixa, after bumping into each other in the burned portion of the Forbidden Forest.

Knowing that they'd be cleaning, Quinn had worn an old T-shirt and a pair of shorts, so she wouldn't get too hot while working or risk ruining her nicer clothes.

[Nixa Swan]

Nixa had no idea what she was in for when they were given detention. Sure, she'd been in trouble a time or two before, but it never really involved other people. Now, they made their way through the castle with a cart of cleaning supplies, and Quinn walked beside her. It wasn't until they reached the classroom they were meant to clean that it all really sank in. The room was in disarray, and she couldn't believe that they even let a classroom get this bad. What was the point? Just a form of punishment because they obviously didn't use or even need this room. A deep sigh escaped Nixa's lips as she took in the atrocious sight in front of them.

"I'm guessing magic isn't an option?" She groaned and she looked up at the ceiling where the cobwebs that Quinn mentioned hung. "Probably a good place to start. If we don't start there, we are just going to make a bigger mess for ourselves later." She grabbed one of the brooms from the cart and looked up. "Think there's spiders in those webs? Are we destroying their homes?" She let out a chuckle before raising the room above her head. This was going to be a long night, but at least she wasn't alone. The company she had wasn't bad to look at, either.

They both wore shorts and t-shirts, knowing this probably wasn't going to be pleasant work. "Well, at least we aren't alone."