A Little Bit of Love and Laughter

Fred and I returned after dinner to Severus’s office. When we arrived, Severus was at his desk, sifting through various mixtures and ingredients taken from an open cabinet. He looked up and said in his sarcastic manner, “Nice of you to show up.”

I avoided Severus’s eyes, looking down at the floor, trying to make the situation less uncomfortable. Fred folded his arms across his chest.

Severus continued, “You two will serve your detention by scrubbing and cleaning the dungeon floor." A wicked gleam appeared in his eye as he added, "By hand."

I replied with a simple, "Yes, sir." Glancing at Fred through the corner of my eye, I saw that he had taken a rather deep breath and was clenching his teeth, probably in hopes that it would prevent him from doing or saying something he regretted.

Severus pointed to a pair of scrub brushes and a water bucket that had materialized on one of the tables. "I shall return to see your progress." And with a swoosh of his black cloak, he had left the room.

I groaned and took a seat on the floor. Fred soon after followed suit. I took one of the brushes, soaked it with soapy water, handed the other to Fred, and began to scour the floor.

Time did not pass rapidly during this menial task. What felt like an hour, what would have been the entirety of our detention, was, in fact, only six and a half minutes. Fred and I noticed the scarcity of conversation and both made an attempt, at the same time, to eradicate this issue. "So..."

I giggled a bit. "You first."

"Well, I was just going to say that this is a load of rubbish."

"Oh." I paused, making another attempt to scrub out a particularly difficult green stain, then sighed. "Do you think the question 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' is essentially a rudimentary and necessary precursor to the more modern and complex debate of evolutionism versus creationism? I mean, well, the chicken would, of course, be representative of the creationist view that all beings came from nothing, while the egg would conversely represent the evolutionist view that—"

He cut me off. "What in the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"Sorry," I answered, turning slightly pink from embarrassment. "I've always been really horrid at small talk."

He laughed. "You think too much; that's the problem, Em. In life, spontaneity is key. Let loose; have fun."

"We're in detention. I don't see how we can possibly have fun."

"Oh, really?" There was a mischievous gleam in his eye, and I was sure that he was up to no good.

I was about to reply when a handful of soap bubbles flew at my face. Upon hearing Fred snicker, I wiped the soap bubbles from my nose and tossed them back at him, laughing near hysterics as they landed in his hair. Then the whole thing evolved into a full-on bubble war.

There was a hiss coming from the corridor, and we looked up to see George’s face.

“Need some company?” Then he saw the mess. “Or some... help?”

The perplexed look on George's face caused Fred and me to erupt in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. We tried our best to clean up the remnants of our bubble war by the time Severus returned. George had already been long-gone.

"Pathetic," Severus sneered upon reentering the room. "After an hour's work, this is all you've done? Well it shall have to suffice for now. You are dismissed." Fred and I went to leave when Severus added, "Miss Prince, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Fred shot me an apologetic look as he continued out the door.

Severus waited until he was out of earshot before speaking to me. "As your guardian here, it is my responsibility to advise you, Emily, that it would behoove you to be more cautious of those with whom you choose to associate yourself. The Weasleys would certainly not be among my top choices."

"Yes, sir," I replied somewhat dolefully, though in reality I had no intention of heeding his counsel, and walked myself back to the Ravenclaw common room.