Catch The Snitch

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 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."

"Well, it's not like they'd know...I won't say anything if you don't," Quinn said with a smirk. "There might be some spiders around, but there's not much we can do about that." She brandished her wand and pointed it at some cobwebs. "Ventus!", she cast, and a gust of wind streamed out of her wand and blasted the cobweb down, circulating a plume of dust in the process. "Sorry about that, you might want to cover your nose." She tugged the top of her T-shirt to cover her own nose and mouth. "Ventus! ... Ventus! ... Ventus!", she cast at several more cobwebs in rapid succession. She wandered through the room so she could check every joist from both sides, and realized she'd missed some cobwebs. "Ventus!" One of the cobwebs was particularly sturdy and not dislodging with her wind charm. Reluctantly, she grabbed one of the brooms and attacked it manually, letting her T-shirt settle back into place as she needed both hands for this.

The ceiling was looking good now, though it was taking some time for all the dust to settle. "I think we should move all the furniture to one side of the room, then we can tackle half the floor. Then dust the furniture before moving it to the clean side, then work on the other half of the floor? Unless you've got another idea."

Quinn pushed the closest desk against a wall, then, while still leaning against the desk, she turned her head and her gaze fell on Nixa. She'd never seriously dated before, or even dated a girl for that matter, but she couldn't deny that she felt a certain attraction to this Slytherin chaser who'd gotten stuck with her, with her pretty face and nice curves. How cool she seemed. Was this just a girl-crush, or something more? She recalled that Nixa had dated girls before, though not met with much success in the past year or so. She also didn't know whether Nixa was currently in a relationship or not.

Quinn hesitated. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thought to herself. She stood. "Hey, Nixa. You heard about the winter solstice dance, right? Are you planning to go? Do you have anyone special in mind for that?"