No Matter How Hard You Try..

[Justin Cliffeton]

It had been a couple of months now since the morning Justin had woken up and found that his common room had been trashed by some people. In this time since he'd spoken to all of his Ravenclaws, gotten a few leads, but had ultimately been able to cross each and every one of them off the list of suspects. Things like this took time, though but he had been certain all along that they wouldn't have been able to get away with this. All this time later, he had two suspects but he also knew that there was a third since they had found three sets of initials, and they'd been seen entering and leaving together. He sighed, not happy that a meeting like this had to happen at all. He'd sent out notes to the two people he was suspicious of, as well as one of their friends who he felt most likely to have been the third member, and now awaited their arrival.

Please come to my office as soon as you receive this.

Professor Cliffeton.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt had heard through the grapevine that the Ravenclaw Head of House was working hard to find out who had destroyed the Ravenclaw common room but he felt certain that the three friends had covered their tracks pretty exceptionally. It wasn't as if two Gryffindor and a Slytherin could easily get into the common room anyway. Most wizards wouldn't have had that logic apparently so when he received a letter from Professor Cliffeton the boy was nervous but knew that at the end of the day they could have zero definitive proof of what they'd done. Even if they had found their initials the school was so large that it would be hearsay as his mom would call it. The boy thought to reach out to Marisol first but figured this would be most suspicious so he packed up his books and went to the office as instructed, keeping a cool exterior because he would have to to survive this.

After approaching the boy knocked on the door and waited, perhaps he was being commended for his work in the hospital wing. There really were so many options that he didn't feel it necessary to work himself into a tizzy.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol had been on a such a personal high after the three of them had secretly gotten their revenge on the Ravenclaw girls and gotten away with it. It had been months since they had gotten away with it so when she first got a note from the Deputy Headmaster, she didn't think the incident was related at first. It wasn't until some consideration afterward that she thought perhaps it could be related to the break in, though she couldn't imagine how or why now. Just in case it had anything to do with that incident, she made sure not to contact Wyatt or Asaiah just in case she was being watched. Once Marisol had finished with classes she headed out to the professor's office and saw Wyatt already waiting at the door so her heart sank and she knew it must be about the Ravenclaw room. She had forgotten that the Deputy Headmaster was also Ravenclaw's Head of House. But Marisol wasn't going to sweat it just yet. "Hey," she said to him with a small smile, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited to see if he was in his office.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah had been pretty happy with the way things were going. Teagan wasn't talking or provoking either one of them, which he considered to be a good thing because it meant that she had gotten their message loud and clear. However, his happiness vanished like a shadow in the sunshine when receiving a note from the Deputy Headmaster, telling him to come to his office at once. He nervously wondered if it had anything to do with the destruction of the Ravenclaw common room, and them finally being caught after months whilst making his way up to the Deputy's office. As the Slytherin arrived he saw his two best friends standing in front of the door which only confirmed his suspicions. He nodded his head when approaching them and whispered, ''Admit nothing. Deny everything. Make counter-accusations. I'm guessing he is just following leads so he probably doesn't know if it was us for sure unless we give him a reason to think so.''

 

[Justin Cliffeton]

Justin heard the knock on his door and he got up to let them in. "Come in, take a seat." He told them calmly. He wasn't going to let anything slip about what he knew so he had a full-on poker face. When they had sat down, he looked at them. "Do you know why you're here?" He asked them, but before he waited for them to answer he turned to a portrait on his left. "Why don't you tell them?" He asked, ensuring that things would become clear sooner rather than later. He'd wasted enough time leading up to this, and he was curious if they would deny it or not.

 

[Ms Fortune's Portrait]

Ms Fortune waited patiently inside of her portrait for the three students to arrive at Professor Cliffeton's request, a slight deviation from the usual on-goings of her day. By now, she'd have visited Madam Marth in the Hospital Wing for a cup of tea, but the on-going Ravenclaw situation was far more important. It had been quite the exciting night, but they were silly to think they could trash an entire house common room without consequences. What on earth were they thinking?

Three familiar faces soon graced the Deputies Office, and Fortune was called upon to explain their reason for being present, which she was very excited to do. The life of a painting could be so dreary at times. Beaming out from her canvas, she began. "It was quite late at night when it occurred. You see, I was on my way to visit my dear friend Cassandra Brittlebone in the towers when suddenly I heard young, hushed voices conspiring. That was when I witnessed these very three students I do see before me, wearing robes of blue and bronze. They were in the act of concealing their identities with false hair and glasses. I was ever so curious as to why they needed to disguise themselves, so I continued to watch as they attempted to guess the riddle to Ravenclaw's tower. It was quite the struggle, I must say. I'm sure you can guess what they did next. Imagine my surprise when not a few days later, I saw them again in their true colours! Very deceiving, indeed!" Oh, the scandal! Attempting to frame Ravenclaw for an attack on its own house! It had been quite shocking to learn that only one of them was a Slytherin. "Poor Godric must be turning in his grave, to be so betrayed!"

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt greeted both his friends with a smile and a quick 'hello' but gave Asaiah a harsh look to tell him to be quiet. Who knew if Professor Cliffton could hear them through the wall or not but they were welcomed in and the boy took a seat. He looked over to see a portrait speaking about the Ravenclaw incident. Although the boy wanted to roll his eyes he said, "Excuse me Professor. I don't know what the portrait of... whatever is talking about but I'm fairly certain that it has nothing to do with me so if you'd like to cut to the chase?" The boy felt certain that denying anything would suit him well. His mother, a criminal defence lawyer, did not raise a fool.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol had already come up with a million ways in her head as to how they could get out of trouble for the incident in the Ravenclaw room, but she was not going to admit to having any indication as to knowing why the three of them had been called in. She hated when professors tried to be threatening like that and just wished the Deputy Headmaster would get on with it so she could begin her counter-argument. The addition of a portrait as a witness did surprise her at first, but as the Gryffindor listened to the woman's story, she cocked her head to the side. Something didn't add up. If the portrait had seen them and then identified them days later, why did it take so long for them to be called in to the office? It didn't seem likely that the portrait had actually seen anything and could likely have been a trap to get them into confessing, so Marisol was not about to admit to anything. "I'm still not sure why we're here," she added after Wyatt's comment.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah sat down in one of the three seats if front of them when entering the Deputy Headmaster's office, and curiously looked around as he had always wondered what it would look like. Asaiah looked confused when the portrait was done telling her story of seeing them moments before entering the Ravenclaw common room. He wasn't a very good liar, but the Slytherin knew how to give a convincing confused look, because it had helped him a lot whenever his sister tried to accuse him of starting a fight between them. ''I, too, would like to know why we're here, sir.'' he commented after them.

 

[Justin Cliffeton]

Justin sighed deeply when they all said the same thing about not knowing why they were all there. He had expected them to complete ignore the portrait, and it was probably his fault for waiting far too long to call them in. He didn't care, though, as he knew that at least two of them had done it, and he assumed that Asaiah was the missing part of WAM. "You're here because the three of you trashed the Ravenclaw Common Room." He told them simply. "The Gryffindor Portrait told me herself, along with Ms Fortune here, that the two of you," He pointed to the Gryffindors, "were seen returning to the common room quite late at night, not too long after Ms Fortune reportedly saw you leave my common room." He told them. He'd like to see them find their way after this one. He wrote down their names on a piece of paper, highlighting their first initial. "WAM, right?" He asked, with a smirk. "But, of course, feel free to continue telling me your lies about how you didn't do it." He told them. Looking at Asaiah once more, "You can expect Professor Styx to hear all about this Asaiah and I'm sure he'd be a lot harder on you than I would, if you want to take that risk.." He finished.

Wyatt
Asaiah
Marisol

 

[Ms Fortune's Portrait]

For the briefest of moments, Fortune was genuinely as confused as the children were pretending to be. The lady of the portrait had, quite literally, just explained the exact reason they were present in the office, yet for some reason they were acting as if she'd spoken in another language entirely. Was her canvas damaged? Was the charm keeping her animated wearing off, after all these years, leaving her ability to communicate with the real world diminished? Nervously, the woman glanced about the painted scene she was occupying, searching for a tear, or some sort of damage to her enchanted space, yet finding nothing. No, it appeared that she was fine. She couldn't be sure the same could be said for the three young children, of whom the past few years of education had apparently been wasted.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt's face looked dumbfounded. He was great at lying by now - he'd pretended to be fine for so long that he wasn't bothered by lying about a stupid prank. He didn't say anything though until Clifefton pointed out their private name for themselves and he shook his head, trying not to seem amused as he said, "I can't say anything else until I have a parent or lawyer present." Of course the boy had one in the same but he knew his mother would advise he said nothing, whether he was guilty or not.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol did her best to refrain from rolling her eyes at the Deputy Headmaster because she knew that would not end well so instead she crossed her arms across her chest. She dug her fingernails into her palm, angry and unable to say anything that would give them away. She looked over at Wyatt when he mentioned a lawyer and chuckled a little because it was so like him to say something like that, but she doubted as students in this school they'd have any sort of agency to request something like that, especially considering it was a wizards school and they probably didn't have the equivalent. Magic really wasn't all it was cracked out to be. She looked down at their names as the professor pointed out their first initials and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, puzzled. "I'm still not sure what our names have anything to do with this," she pointed out. As far as she could tell, the man still hadn't pointed out any significant hard proof and stating their nickname for each other didn't prove anything.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah honestly didn't know that to say when the Deputy Professor highlighted their first initials and showed it to them, he looked to Wyatt and Marisol when they responded and then added. ''Why would we leave our initials behind for you to find them? Wouldn't that be kind of stupid for us to do? I'm sorry professor but I really think that you're questioning the wrong people at the moment. Besides, that's not the nickname, or whatever you think it is, that we use for each other. She's Mari, he's Wy, and I'm Asher. And isn't WAM like a music band or something? It'd be weird to call ourself after a band..'' He told the man, not looking at the piece of paper anymore because it was just bullsh!t without any real evidence of them being seen there since he did not consider a portrait seeing them walking around as real evidence.

 

[Justin Cliffeton]

Justin shook his head at Asaiah's outburst, but he had to hold back a laugh when Wyatt asked for a parent or a lawyer. "I guess it's lucky for me that as Deputy Headmaster I double as a parent. As does Cyndi, and I can have her join us if you'd like?" Justin offered. Looking at Asaiah next, "Well, Asher, I guess it's all a coincidence that my portrait friend saw you fleeing the Ravenclaw common room late at night, right? Not to mention, a lot of the teenagers that I know love to brag about getting away with their actions.. maybe you left the WAM around thinking that nobody would be able to tie it to you, not counting on literally getting seen minutes later." He offered to them. He took a deep breath, and this time directed his gaze on Marisol. "You're here, Ms. Woods, because I have sufficient evidence to believe that yourself, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Finch are the three assailants that broke into Ravenclaw House, trashed my common room, and for some reason put animal manure into one of the students pillows, as I already said. Playing dumb will get you nowhere with me." He told them.

Justin didn't understand what had been going through their heads at the time. "I have every reason to punish you, when there's a portrait seeing you running away from the Ravenclaw Common Room moments after, and then returning to the Gryffindor Common Room soon after you're pretty well screwed. I plan to punish you whether or not you admit to it or not, but the severity of the punishment depends on whether or not you guys grow up and accept responsibility for your actions. I already know that Professor Styx is very interested in talking to you next semester, Mr. Murphy, maybe I can put in a good word letting him know that you cooperated." He told them, crossing his arms knowing that they sure wouldn't want to get too badly punished. He turned his gaze to Wyatt, "It'd be a shame if you were asked to stop volunteering in the Hospital Wing, wouldn't it?" He asked. "Or playing on the Quidditch Team, permanently?" He added to the others.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt couldn't hold his tongue at Professor Cliffeton's comment. It was so wrong that he had to speak up. "With all due respect, no. You do not double as a parent and neither does Cyndi - whoever that is. You do not get to make end of life decisions nor do you have any guardianship over me so no, you're not my parents," Wyatt said, getting angry now. The wizarding world had taken him away from his parents and the life he wanted and now one of those dirty wizards claimed to be one of his parents was just the icing on the cake. His face was getting red with anger the more he thought about it, trying not to swear because that would get him no where but he was livid that he had the gull to say such a thing so insidiously. He knew enough about New Zealand to know this was not the case and as an American child of a lawyer he was particularly litigious and would not shy away from his rights. The boy was so livid about this fact that he hadn't listened to all else that was going on. His life had been ruined for this sh*t and whether he was guilty or not was debatable with his lawyer. If he knew anything about the law it was that guilt was nothing that should be paid any attention to. All Wyatt knew was that he was more distant every day from dad for this school that he had to go to and to take the title away completely was crushing in ways the man could never understand. "What a good parent you must be. Taking away the future from a child a second time," Wyatt practically growled under his breath as if the man was to blame for him having magical lineage and abilities. He didn't care about Hogwarts but if he had to be here he should have a fair shot at doing the closest he could to getting his future sorted. If he was ever upset or had bouts of intense anger this was it. He was just trying so hard to get through his troubles and if he was going to have medicine taken away from him a second time he saw no point to his efforts at all.

 

[Marisol Woods]

If looks could kill, Professor Cliffeton would be dead where he stood given the way Marisol was glaring at him. She knew the wizarding world didn't really have the same practical laws and science as the muggle world she and Wyatt had grown up in, but she didn't realize logic wasn't applicable to the wizarding world either. Just because he was a parent didn't mean he was their parent, but he didn't seem to understand the concept of legality so Wyatt's arguments were useless at a time like this. She scoffed when the professor said they were getting in trouble regardless even though he had still not provided them with sufficient evidence to pin it on them. His and the portrait's story did not add up at all to what had actually happened but he had already proved incapable of logic so she wasn't going to try and point out the flaws in his "witness" and their story. Besides it would be useless if he was planning to punish them either way which wasn't even fair given he was not their Head of House. She didn't say anything the entire time, afraid that a wolfish growl would escape her if she tried. He was already threatening to take away the two most important things to her best friends and she felt nothing but pure anger inside her but she wasn't going to say anything to make it worse. If either of them didn't get to play Quidditch or Wyatt was unable to help out in the Hospital Wing because she lost her temper - as she was very prone to do - then she'd never forgive herself, so she had to restrain herself. Marisol balled her hands so tightly into her fists she could feel her nails digging into the scars that were already there and forming fresh wounds.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah listened in silence whilst the professor spoke. He couldn't believe that the man was threatening them with kicking them off the Quidditch teams and pulling Wyatt away from his job at the hospital wing. It was outrageous. He glanced sideways at his friends, and saw Marisol digging her nails into her hands. Asaiah put his hand on hers and gave his friend a look that said 'calm down'. He wanted to pass that same look over to Wyatt but the boy wasn't looking his way. He turned his head back to the professor. Asaiah wanted to be just as angry as his friends but if he was going to have an outburst they would be farther away from home. So instead he tried to remain calm. ''If you want to punish us so badly, then punish us by giving the three of us detention, not by threatning to ban us from any extra curriculars. We're teens, we'll rebel, especially since you're the Deputy Headmaster. I mean, that is not nearly as impressive as just Headmaster, or in this case, Headmistress.'' He said with a smirk. ''Until you have solid prove that it was us who trashed your precious common room, I suggest you let us go, because no one is going to believe a poorly painted portrait over us.'' Asaiah told professor Cliffeton. He had nothing on them, there was simply no way the portait could have identified Marisol and Wyatt.

 

[Justin Cliffeton]

Justin kept an impassive expression throughout both Wyatt and then Asaiah's outbursts. He noted that Marisol had kept quiet throughout both exchanges and took into account just how difficult it would have been to keep her anger in check, especially considering her condition. He shrugged both of their arguments off, he knew how a boarding school worked. As far as he was concerned all of his Ravenclaws were basically his children and he was sure the parents would agree with him. He took a deep breath. "I have a portrait that saw you fleeing from the Ravenclaw common room, as well as the Gryffindor portrait seeing two of you returning to the Gryffindor common room late at night, suspiciously close to the same time that you left the Ravenclaw common room." He started, still with an impassive look on his face. "I found the word 'WAM' drawn in the Ravenclaw common room, and I've taken this evidence to the Headmistress, Professor Kingsley, and I've spoken with Professor Styx. All three agree with me that the best fit is the three of you." He told them. "Not bad for a Deputy, huh? Perhaps you should have picked a better name than WAM." He said, looking at Asaiah.

He cleared his throat. "As for your punishment, it's most certainly not going to be something as simple as detention." He told them. "For starters, each and every one of you aren't allowed to participate in any club activities, which includes Quidditch as well as assisting in the Hospital Wing. You're to be confined to your common rooms when not in classes or at meals. You will also each be stripped of 100 house points, each." He told them with a sigh. "Whichever one of you spreaded manure on my students pillows will attend mandatory counselling. If neither of you owns up, you'll all go." He wasn't going to let people think he was a pushover and he was more than happy to bring down the hammer on them, hard. "These punishments will be reviewed at the beginning of your next year at the school and we'll decide whether or not they remain in place." He concluded. "Do you have any questions about anything that I just said that doesn't relate to me being serious? I assure you, I am." He told them.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

As furious as Wyatt was at the complete disregard for his parents he said nothing because he didn't have his lawyer nor parents present. Instead the boy listened and slammed his wand on the desk once the professor was finished. He was tired of pretending that he should like magic when it was the one thing that ruined his life. "I'm done with this. Expel me. Wipe my memory of this place and everyone in it," the boy said angrily yet with a stern expression that showed this was just what he wanted. As much as he cared about his best friends he knew that they would be better off without him too so he just hoped that Professor Cliffeton would listen to sense. He couldn't take magic anymore. He just wanted to go back home. He wanted his dad to look at him the same way he had before. He wanted his mom to understand him when he spoke about what he was learning. He wanted not to be a freak. He wanted to be a surgeon and as much as he had tried to think positively about being a healer there was a grief for his life that he couldn't escape and no one could understand the loneliness he felt. Somehow even Stella, his sister, couldn't.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol's fists softened when Asaiah put a hand on her and she relaxed when she looked up at him. But without her taking her frustration out in physical form on herself so she wouldn't hurt anyone else, she had no where else for her anger to go. And as soon as the Deputy gave out their punishments, Marisol could no longer hold it in and felt all her anger rushing out of her before she could stop herself. He was taking everything they cared for away from them. Quidditch, the Hospital Wing, each other. She wasn't going to restrain herself if he was punishing them regardless. Marisol shot up from her seat and stood up to face the man. She was about to open her mouth when Wyatt spoke up first and she saw him surrender his wand.

She glared at Wyatt briefly before refocusing her anger on the older man in front of her. Wyatt had given up trying to explain legal matters to the man but Marisol wasn't going to give up fighting for the three of them. "So you're saying not one, but two portraits saw us that night within five minutes of the incident...but it took you months to call us in?" she finally began pointing out all the flaws in his so called evidence. "And you're claiming to have found our initials drawn in the common room...where?" she demanded. Professor Cliffeton had not provided sufficient information as to when and where their initials were found because there were specific steps they had taken to leave their mark and if the Deputy didn't specify anything then there was no way he had actually found them. They referred to each other as WAM openly so it wasn't hard to falsify their initials anywhere. "Don't you see all your evidence may allegedly point towards us, but doesn't actually prove it was us?" she said scathingly. If the portraits had actually seen them within five minutes of the event, they would've been caught immediately, not months later. "You have nothing concrete to pin on us! Yet you're punishing us anyway!" she began to yell, no longer caring. "There are people in Ravenclaw that hate us for whatever stupid reason, for all we know they could've been framing us!" she argued.

Then when he brought up the manure and asked one of them to own up to it, Marisol actually threw her hands up exasperatedly! This man was hopeless. She looked incredulously at the older man, truly dumbfounded at his lack of deductive reasoning skills. Wasn't he the head of Ravenclaw? It had been no secret what they had done to Teagan, Zara, and Agrippina, because Teagan, ever the drama queen, had made sure the entire school knew about the incident, which is why it wasn't hard to deduce it had happened in the girls room. She scoffed and said, "Seeing as only girls were targeted with manure, that means only a girl could have done it." She made a point of looking at the three of them exaggeratedly and pointed at Wyatt, Asaiah, and then herself. "Looks like I'm the only girl here, Professor!" she pointed out, her tone dripping with contempt.

The angrier she got and the more she shouted, the more she understood Wyatt's surrender. She was already being punished and had already mouthed off so she decided not to hold back anymore. "You know I heard someone was tagging the walls of the dungeons, why don't you go find a portrait to make up some lie and pin it on us," she suggested sarcastically. "Or better yet, why not just expel us while you're at it?" she added, breathing harshly.
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