Closed Detention

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie had of course been dreading this, she’d never had detention before, had really aimed to never have it, but she was heading to hers. It was without question in her mind that she deserved it, she had punched Blake in an open space without much hesitation. She deserved the punishment she got. However she knew that even knowing she’d get detention for it wouldn’t have dissuade her from doing it. She knew it was wrong to hit someone, and she was unlikely to ever hit anyone again, but she didn’t think she was wrong. Violence is not the answer but he deserved it. She’d pondered over how to dress, and had up until the professor’s note envision being dressed perfectly in her uniform, but the professor had said she’d be doing something outside with her hands so dress for that, so instead she’d mostly gone for what she wore when flying. Her hair was tightly tied back and though she was wearing more casual clothes it was clear she was visibly attempting to appear smart. Minnie hadn’t told her parents about this, and though she’d been tempted to, if only to get a reaction, she knew it was better if they didn’t know. Hopefully Professor Josephs hadn’t written home or anything. She felt tempted to ask, but knew that would only open her up to questions. She arrived where she was supposed to, just at the greenhouses and waited. She was of course early for it, not wanting to run even the slightest risk about being late. ​

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Punishing students for wrongdoings was by far Kahurangi's least favourite part of her job, but it was a necessary one, without a doubt. She had adopted a philosophy over the years, of trying to fit the punishment to the crime in a way that would address the problems that had caused the student to act out in the first place. It took some creative problem-solving at times, but she far preferred it to handing out dull punishments that didn't actually teach anything.

Minnie was thankfully one of the easier to read students Kahurangi had known in her time as a teacher, and it was clear to her what the girl needed more than anything was catharsis. Had she not been a teacher, Kahurangi didn't think she would have seen anything wrong with Minnie's decision to hit Blake, but rules were rules, and the most fitting punishment she could think of was giving the Ravenclaw something more productive to hit. After a quick chat with Professor Castillo she had found the perfect task for Minnie, and she was pleasantly surprised when the girl arrived at the greenhouses early. "Ah, excellent timing." Kahurangi smiled, approaching Minnie with an axe in one hand and dragonhide gloves in the other. "Pop these on, you're going to be helping Professor Castillo out today." She explained as she handed the gloves over. "There's a tree growing a bit too close to his greenhouse, and the roots are starting to interfere with some Herbology projects, so you'll be cutting it down, the muggle way." She explained, leading the way behind the greenhouse to where the tree stood. It wasn't an especially large one, having only been growing for a few years, but it would be quite the physical task nonetheless. "I'll be standing by to make sure the tree doesn't fall on anything it shouldn't, you just need to cut it down and chop it up for firewood." She gave Minnie a small nod as she handed over the axe. "Away you go, then."

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie pushed a polite expression to the forefront of her face as the professor arrived. She took the gloves and put them on, and then took the axe too. She couldn’t help but wonder why she was being made to do something a muggle way when she knew Diffindo, but perhaps detention wasn’t supposed to be easy, it wasn’t supposed to take two minutes it was supposed to be hard, challenging and maybe in this case give her something to hit. Minnie just nodded, she felt she had to do well, she had to excel at this, if the professor was watching her and she was supposed to be making up for what she’d done and in this case, cutting down the whole tree. She nodded, and lifted the weight of the axe. It wasn’t too heavy, she had imagined it would be impossibly so, but she did have some strength from quidditch. She glanced back at the professor briefly before she swung the axe. She swung and swung, hitting the tree with as much as she could, perhaps putting a little more into it than necessary as she tried her best to just show she was capable, be the best at this that she could be, not let the professor down in this.

Minnie was glad for the gloves though, she knew that without her hands would be in a bit of a state, with, it was probably going to be less so. She worked away, chopping down the tree with a determination that she usually only applied to her quidditch. She just wanted to show she was capable. Perhaps Blake’s words had stung in a way that she hadn’t really realised. She was capable, but seemingly recently never enough for people, not enough for her parents, not enough for the head of house, not good enough to win, and to it be boiled down to she could never by a boy who didn’t understand what it meant likely to work hard. She was so frustrated with people telling her she couldn’t with not being good enough for anyone that she was definitely taking out in this moment. SHe wasn’t sure it would help but it felt good in the moment. Time passed, she just worked away until there wasn’t anything seemingly left to do. She glanced towards the professor as if to ask, what next, what must I do next.​

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi watched as Minnie chopped away at the tree, relieved that the detention seemed to be having its desired effect. Sometimes physically working away the stress was the answer. When the trunk was thin enough to be a risk she used a quick flick of her wand to topple it to the ground far away from anywhere it could do any harm. She watched Minnie chop the log up, and gave the girl a small nod once she was done. "Very well done Miss Calida, thank you. I'll take those back." She said, reaching a hand out for the gloves and axe. "I'm sure Professor Castillo will appreciate the help as well. You're free to head back up to the castle now."