Closed A Bad Start

[Monty Pendleton]

The prank potions Monty gave to his students during their first lesson were quite harmless, but not everybody saw the funny side. One particular Gryffindor had apparently drawn the short straw that morning when he'd picked a potion that had made him spontaneously burst into tears. Monty wasn't sure whether the potion itself had caused him to cry, or whether its effects (whatever they were) had distressed him to the point of tears, but he couldn't let him leave without making sure he was all right. Dismissing the class, he headed out into the corridor, shortly followed by a flood of first years. "Er - hold on, could you wait a moment, please?" he called out to the Gryffindor, not knowing his name to address him appropriately. He waited for the other children to make their way down and out of the dungeon passage before he continued. "I'm so sorry, I don't know your name," he said, more gently. "Could you please come back inside for a moment?"

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric had been eager to get out of the potion class after his humiliating experience. The potions professor had seemed nice, but now that Eric had seen the effects of some of the prank potions he wondered if the man wasn't really just mean and trying to humiliate his students while seeming like a nice person. He didn't trust adults easily, and it seemed to him like it was a pretty reasonable thing to assume. He wanted to leave, but was called by the professor to wait. Annoyed, Eric stuffed his hands into the pockets of his robes and watched as his classmates left, then he looked at the professor with a frown. What was he going to do? Eric hadn't even acted up in his class, but he supposed teachers talked and they already had him in their minds as a troublemaker. "I'm Eric Holland." He said shortly. "Fine." He headed over to the classroom and headed inside, his hands still deep in his pockets and his shoulders hunched.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Another Holland. Monty wouldn't have guessed. The Hollands he had taught so far didn't stick out in his mind for their short temper and sullen attitude. "Come in, Eric," he said, closing the door behind him. "I won't keep you a minute. What happened there, hm?" He was almost certain he knew what had happened, but he wanted to give Eric the chance to explain in his own words, first.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric looked at the teacher impassively as he closed the door and started to speak. He really wasn't sure what the man was doing. Was he going to blame him for something? Eric was wary as he answered, a frown on his face. "I don't know. It was your potion." He said with a frown. "I took it like you told me to and the stupid thing made me cry. That happened." He said with a shrug. If the professor meant something else, he would eventually say so.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"Right," Monty said. "Yes. That was what I feared. In fact, that's why I called you back. I wanted to apologise." Monty didn't have a very good track record of apologising to students when he ought to, and he was determined not to let history repeat. "I should have realised that potion might upset somebody - well, you know, more than it's supposed to. Not all pranks are funny, hm? I've learned a lesson today. But I'm sorry that it had to be at your expense. Are you all right? If it's any consolation, everybody was much too distracted by their own potion to notice anybody else. I really don't want us to get off on the wrong foot, so... could you forgive me?"

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was ready for any sort of accusation or reprimand, but hadn't expected an apology. He looked at Professor Pendleton in surprise for a moment, before putting his usual scowl back on. He didn't trust this, and had the sinking feeling the deputy head was just looking for an excuse to talk to him for a moment because he'd already heard Eric was a troublemaker. "Whatever, I wasn't upset. The tears were fake." He said with a shrug. "But fine, I guess. It wasn't a big deal." He murmured, even though he had felt like it was a big deal. Crying in front of others was shameful to him. But talking about crying in front of others was even worse.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"All right," Monty said, knowing full well that wasn't true, but seeing that the matter had already been pushed as far as was good for it. "Good. I'm glad. Thank you. You'd best get on, then - I'll see you next week, Eric." With that he stood and opened the door to let the Gryffindor leave.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was sure there was more to come, and he waited warily for the other shoe to drop. He frowned when the professor let him go. "Was that it?" He blurted out, unable to help himself. "I'm not in trouble?" He knew he probably should just have gone, but the words had come out on their own accord. Hopefully it wouldn't give the deputy head any ideas about getting him some detention anyway. For whatever reasoning he'd doubtlessly heard of from colleagues.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty frowned. "Why would I...? Eric, it was my fault. Of course you're not in trouble. I just wanted to make sure you were all right," he said. It hadn't occurred to him that Eric was expecting to be told off. But it made sense. Monty remembered less than fondly the scores of times he had ended up in detention for 'acting up', when really he had just been upset, or anxious. He was going to have to keep an eye on Eric. "Go on, off you go - don't be late for your next class."

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric scoffed when the professor pretended not to understand what Eric meant. He was sure his reputation had spread by now, and didn't really believe what the man was saying. "Right. Sure. Yeah." He muttered, shouldering his bag. "I'm off then, bye." He left the office quickly, before Professor Pendleton could ask him more questions.