Not Your Typical Detention Session

When Cygnus Darrow entered the empty classroom a sea of his own Hogwarts memories washed through him and he couldn't help but smile. Oh how he missed being a student around here. His experiences weren't exactly all good - some of them were quite to the contrary but the bad seemed irrelevant to the nostalgia he was feeling. He steped towards one of the empty desk and with his finger traced some of the student made engravings. In addition to the usual 'Bored to death' and 'So-and-so was here' notes, there was a rather admirable rendition of a professor being eaten by what seemed to be a hybrid between a troll and a turkey. He chuckled at the drawing and decided to sit on one of the desk. They were smaller than he remembered he noted. There he waited for his charge. He was meant to supervise a detention from a Slytherin student - the crime he wasn't exactly clear on.

Ella made her way down the halls taking an easy pace that would ensure that she would arrive at her detention destination on the dot: not too early that she would end up serving extra time, and not too late that she'd end up upsetting the Professor. Personally, she didn't see why she ended up with a detention. All she did was switch out Olive Bullstrode's wand with one that only shot out butterflies. It wasn't her fault that the old show-off decided to volunteer for the class demonstration during Dueling class, and ended up hexed by a bat boogey hex that she couldn't put a shield charm against... Really, now! Professor Aquila was just being unreasonable. She groaned inside at the thought of what was in store for her this detention. Knowing here luck, Aquila would probably have her polishing trinkets and such the muggle way. 

Whistling in order to amuse herself, Ella crossed the final hall before reaching the Dueling classroom. Knowing that she was just about on the dot in terms of time, she opened the door to where she knew long hours of a dull, dreary detention awaited her...

Only to see something, or someone, rather that she would only more than happily work on.

The whistle she had been carrying out merged into a complimentary wolf-whistle of sorts as she gazed in appreciation of the rather good looking young wizard in front of her, sitting on top of a desk, forget detention! There were better things to do than spend a few hours writing out lines and such! For starters, she could learn what this dashing wizard's name was. And for dessert she could have him!

"Shall I be polishing something for you today?" she asked with a flirtatious tilt of her head, her German accent noticeable, but not overbearing, within her pick-up line. Blue eyes swept over the mysterious wizard's form with an appreciative, interested gaze.

Cygnus was quietly admiring one of the swords up on the wall. He had seen them numerous times but they never failed to impress him. His grandfather had great taste. It seems strange to see them in a Hogwarts classroom.

Cygnus stood up on his feet at the moment the student entered the classroom. He greeted her with a timid smile. He couldn't help but blush at her rather friendly greeting.

"Hello," he chuckled nervously. "Professor Aquila had a meeting with his dueling associates. So I'm going to supervise instead." He looked towards the weapons on the wall. "Erm... yes you're meant to polish the swords the Muggle way until they're... shiny." He grinned at her.

The friendly smile on Ella's face grew at the blush. Ooh, how she loved a wizard who blushed. It added an 'adorable' aspect to the overall appeal of the wizard before her. 

"Ah. What a shame Professor Aquila couldn't make it to detention today." she replied, never taking her eyes off the wizard. However, it was blindingly clear that the witch wasn't the least disappointed that her Professor was absent. If anything, she was fighting the urge to break out into a little victory dance. She grew rather excited at the wizard's confirmation that she was to "polish the swords the Muggle way"...

Until she noticed his eyes were looking at the Professor's display of swords. A rather large display, if she should say so.

"A-All of them?" she asked, blinking at the rather large number of weapons she was to handle. Her smile faltered briefly at the task at hand but when she looked back at the wizard and noticed he was grinning she couldn't help but smile as well. A reply of "I'd rather polish your sword..." flashed in her mind, but she stopped herself from saying it. At least, not just yet. Maybe in a moment or two when she at least knew her mystery wizard's name.

"They already look pretty shiny to me." she replied flirtatiously. "In fact, I can see those hazardous, injury-inflicting things reflecting in your lovely eyes," she added in a compliment with a wink.

Something told Cygnus she wasn't at all disappointed that his grandfather could not make it. He smiled, he understood. He was a student once too. Substitutes were a breath of fresh air in the tyranny of the Professors.

Cygnus glanced at the wall yet again. It was a rather significant collection. "Nah just those on the middle right there." Cygnus pointed to a section of about a dozen.

Cygnus chuckled properly at the comment. The fact that she was flirting with him, did not escape him. He was both amused and flattered at the sentiment. His smile seemed to be firmly placed. "Ah well - we should call it a day then." He winked back.

"But I feel it's my duty to warn you. He probably has some sort of spell or whatnot to find out if you had really done it or not. Trust me - it's best to just humor him. Else you might end up polishing the whole lot - or worse, he'll have you doing tedious exercises at the crack of dawn." He shook his head at the memory.

Ella let out a silent sigh of relief at being told her task was limited to only a dozen of the swords. Although, admittedly, "only" a dozen was a rather loose term and she still saw the task as rather daunting. It truly was just her luck that she'd end up with such a physical task for detention. Though, in all fairness, it was also a great deal of luck that she happened to come across this mysterious wizard.

Eyebrows rose in intrigue and Ella fought the urge to giggle girlishly at the returned wink. "Absolutely! Let's ditch this joint! She replied enthusiastically. The witch had even turned around to make towards the door when the wizard added his warning.

Grudgingly the witch nodded in understanding and agreement. He had a point. She knew the Professor was by no means a fool. In fact, considering his skills and how rapidly he had caught on to her prank Ella had to admit he was one of the more brilliant Professors she had come across. It was indeed likely he had such a trick up his sleeve to check if the swords had been done. And as much as she'd like to scram from the classroom and attempt to persuade the wizard to join her, Ella couldn't help but hesitate. Exercises with the wizard before her? Absolutely, Ella would be there in a heartbeat! Exercises with her Professor... Yeah, Ella would rather pass on that. As tempting as the idea of leaving was, Ella eventually deduced that she'd rather polish the swords while in the company of the handsome stranger than polish even more, or worse, within the company of her Professor.

"Very well, if you really want me to stay that badly then I shall," she mock-sighed in a light-hearted tone with a smile to match. "If I am going to be your polishing captive though, may I at least know the name of my dashing captor?"

Cygnus smiled at her dramatic sigh. Cygnus was finding her to be rather lovely. He almost felt sorry for her for getting detention. Such a waste of a Friday evening. "Oh right -" he shook his head and chuckled at himself. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Cygnus Darrow - well Cygnus really."

"And might I know the name of my captive? Professor Aquila failed to mention your name."

"Ooh, cool name. Nice to meet ya, Cygnus." Ella beamed in greeting. At the back of her mind, Ella wondered where she had heard that name before. It sounded rather familiar. Was it Astronomy that she had heard it? She couldn't recall, likely because Astronomy was one of the classes she tended to skip more often due to it's rather inconvenient scheduling in the middle of the night. Oh well, worse comes to worse she could crack open a book at some point to find out what his name meant, or perhaps even ask Cygnus himself.

"Giselle Heigel." she replied brightly. "But no one calls me 'Giselle' though. At least, not unless I'm in really deep dragon dung. Everyone calls me Ella."

"You look a lot more mature than the Hogwarts boys I've seen around here. I'm guessing you're no longer a student?" she asked curiously. She could tell Cygnus was a few years older than himself and was curious as to what his backstory, such as whether he was a new or incoming Professor and such. Actually, in all honesty, Ella was interested in everything about Cygnus. Part of it was, admittedly, to stall for time and not have to dive first into sword polishing, but the much larger reason was from a genuine curiosity and desire to get to know the wizard better.

"Pleasure to meet you," Cygnus said with a smile. "Ella."

"Yes," he nodded. He walked over to his messenger bag nearby and pulled out a container. "Not a student anymore. Not since..." he paused. "Well let's just say it's been awhile. Though I do miss it - well granted not the exams nor the," he grinned, "detentions." He popped the lid open, grabbed an apple slice and ate it. "Sorry, I haven't a chance to eat lunch yet. Do you want one?"

"Ah, I see. So do you just pass by the school during your free moments and whenever you have a chance to do so?" Ella asked in curiosity. After all, it wasn't every day she came across a graduated student who returned to Hogwarts, especially one as dashing as Cygnus. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that brought him back on this particular day.

"Ja, as familiar as I have gotten to be with detentions I will definitely not be missing them once I'm out of here." Ella laughed lightly. "Though, I have to say, you don't look like the troublemaking type to me. Were you in detentions often during your time here?"

At the offered slice Ella immediately agreed, nodding. "Sure." she replied brightly, for apples were her favorite fruit. "Danke" she nodded in thanks as she took an offered slice and bit into it.

"Well no - not exactly. I'm here to sort of help Professor Aquila out with the dueling association and to visit my sister - on the side. I haven't been back here since I'd been a student. I've always wanted to come back - I had great memories around there but I never really had the chance to. So naturally when Professor Aquila requested that I came, I used up some vacation time, packed my bags and got aboard the Hogwarts Express." He beamed.

"You're welcome." He thought he heard a mild german accent. He was getting rusty. Then again, he never really had the ear for language. Seven years of french classes taught him little more than bon jour.

He folded his arms and quirked a brow. "How do you know I'm not the trouble-making type?" His tone was playfully challenging. He really wasn't the trouble-maker type but he was curious to know how she picked up on that. Was he really that obvious?

"Oh, ok. Well that's cool." Ella replied, nodding in comprehension. She wondered briefly who Cygnus' sister could be, though frowned slightly at the thought of it being anyone she had crossed clashing paths with. "Your sister isn't Olive Bullstrode, is she?" she asked warily. 

At Cygnus' stance with his folded arms and quirked brow Ella couldn't help but giggle. "I didn't know, suber, you just told me." she replied with a wink. Amidst her reply she tossed in a German pet name for Cygnus, Suber. It was likely a pet name meaning "cutie" she would be likely be using to refer to him from this point onward.

"Well, you do have a bit of an 'innocent' look to you. You don't really catch me as the type who would willingly break the rules... Or would you?" Vaguely, Ella wondered if there were such rules when it came to limits on students and Assistant Professors. She was of age and he wasn't exactly completely a Professor... 

Cygnus chuckled while shaking his head. "Bulstrode? Merlin no. Why do we look alike?" Cygnus didn't think it was exactly prudent to tell Ella about his sister when his sister herself didn't know she was in fact his sister. Too much family drama to load onto a stranger. He smiled instead.

He didn't quite catch the petname she decided to use, he figured it meant 'friend' like mon ami or amigo. He didn't really mind - Cygnus found her accent incredibly charming.

"An innocent look?" His other eye brow came up as the other one went down. "I mean, you are quite right - I wouldn't." He admitted. "But I'll have you know, I've done my share of detentions." He added quickly. Pushing his chest out in exaggerated pride.

"Oh, good! I won't have to like you less, then!" Ella replied cheerily, relieved that he wasn't related to the pug-faced reason Ella was here in detention on this fine day. Though, Ella had to admit to herself, considering the company she found herself in, perhaps she owed Bullstrode one. 

A giggle escaped the witch once more at Cygnus' exaggerated actions, finding it to be endearing. This detention was certainly becoming one of her favorites. Perhaps she should switch out her classmate's wands more often. "Oh, I'm sure." she nodded in exaggerated agreement. "Would that be around a hefty lion's share of two or three detentions?" she asked teasingly.

"It's four thank you very much." Cygnus turn his body slightly away from her in mock indignation. "And one of them was actually intentional!"

For dramatic effect, he ate another apple piece.

His eye suddenly caught one of the swords on the wall. He was having such a pleasant time he completely forgot himself. He glanced at the clock. "Aren't you supposed to be polishing?" He narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be trying to distract me so you wouldn't have to actually log the hours, would you?" He gave her a suspicious look.

He placed his apple container down on a desk and closed the lid. "Alright I'll tell you what Miss Heigel - since I seem to have an embarassing number of hours of detention how about I help you polish some of these hazardous, injury-inflicting things."

With his wand, Cygnus conjuried two rags and offered one to Ella.

"Oh, really? Well, well, looks like we do have another troublemaker here after all!" Ella exclaimed in exaggerated in surprise, even giving Cygnus a bit of an applause. "I commend you, Lord of the Detentions. You are a worthy captor, indeed!"

Her eyes looked at the apple, following the path it took past Cygnus's kissable-looking lips. She semi-mimicked him, finishing the remnant of her own slice, though instead of stopping after she had placed it into her mouth, she took a moment to lick the finger that had been holding the fruit. Unoriginal in terms of flirtations, and not really necessary considering the apple wasn't in the least bit messy, but all was fair in the game of Flirting in Detention, wasn't it?

"I'm working on my polishing. I already learned your name, didn't I? Give it a few more minutes or so for the "polishing" to really get there." Ella teased with another wink.

She could only smile angelically at the look of suspicion. "Me? Distracting you? Now why would a little, innocent, single witch such as I myself want to distract a handsome, "troublemaking", hopefully also single wizard like yourself?" she asked in a innocent enough tone, though her eyes flamed with illuminated mischief.

Blue eyes brightened further in delight at the offer from Cygnus to help her in the task at hand and she nodded enthusiastically. "That would be amazing, Sir Captor!" she beamed in reply, taking one of the offered rags.

At her blatant display of flirtation, Cygnus couldn't help but laugh aloud but not unkindly so. Cygnus wasn't thick enough to not realise who and what her little show was for. He had to admire her for her forwardness but he didn't exactly wish to encourage the behaviour if it meant disappointment in the end. She was a student and he was - well he wasn't exactly a teacher but still, he was still in some sort of power position. "How old are you anyway?"

An eyebrow arched at Cygnus's laugh, though a smile remained on the witch's face. She appeared to be calculating Cygnus, analyzing if her "polishing" was having the desired effects. She could understand hesitation, considering she was technically still a school girl. However, that didn't necessarily halt Ella's game plan. If anything it only encouraged her onward. After all, she was of legal age, and wasn't it every man's fantasy to be with a school girl?

"Seventeen going on eighteen." she replied brightly. "I'll be out of here in just a few more months."

"And yourself?" Ella inquired, genuinely curious.

"Seventeen huh?" So she was of age, that did explain why she was so gutsy. It wasn't that Cygnus wasn't attracted to her, he had to admit, she was pretty. It was just that he never entertained the possibility of it. He was ten years her senior.

Cygnus grinned, and looked at her challengingly. "How old do you think I am?"

"Yep. Almost past seventeen, actually, considering graduation is just around the corner, but seventeen and an adult." Ella grinned, emphasizing her of-age status. She had a feeling that Cygnus was uneasy about the age-gap and wanted to try and persuade him that age was but a number, especially if the age was a legal one.

At his question she truly pondered for a moment. Although she could tell by his appearance, stance, and admissions that he was older Ella couldn't quite define the number. He looked mature... but not old. Just a handful of years, in her eyes. "Twenty-two?" she ventured.

Cygnus picked up a sword from the wall and started polishing it. He chucked at her obvious attempt to emphasize her of-age status.

He beamed. "You think I'm twenty-two?" He unconsciously put his hand through his hair. "Well I'll accept that." Cygnus nodded to one of the swords on the wall so she'd start polishing as well.

Ella attempted to follow Cygnus's lead and pick up a sword from the wall to start her literal polishing. Unfortunately, the combination of a lack of muscular buff-ness on her part and a particularly heavy weapon lead to a situation far less graceful than Cygnus's. Slipping through her hands, the sword fell to the ground with a loud clang echoing through the room.

"... That never happened." Ella uttered hastily as she picked up the sword with a stronger hoist than she had began with. "I didn't dent the thing, did I?" she asked with a slight wince, inspecting the sword for damage.

An eyebrow arched in intrigue at Cygnus answer. Judging by his response she must have guessed younger than he actually was. "So you're older? Hmm... Twenty-five?" she ventured another guess.

Cygnus snickered at Ella's feeble attempts to pick up the sword. He gently put the sword he was polishing down. "Don't worry, the swords here are sturdy enough to withstand anything a seventeen-year-old can throw at them." He winked and helped her carry the sword up.

"I'm actually twenty-seven." He confessed finally with a somewhat sheepish grin. "Though I'm very flattered by your guesses."

A light blush splashed Ella's pale features. She didn't get embarassed or shy very easily, maybe not even ever, but she was kind of irked at herself for letting Cygnus see what a klutz she was. Attempting to recover, she dove headfirst right back into the flirtations. "Is that maybe something you and the swords have in common?" she asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. She was sort of throwing herself at him, after all... The question was, whether or not he'd let her in or cut her off, in which case Ella was definitely hoping for the former.

Ella paused mid-polish to gap at Cygnus. Twenty-seven? No way... he looked so young! "You're kidding." Ella uttered as she stared in Cygnus in disbelief. She glanced at him even closer than before, inspecting his featuresas though that would confirm his age. "You don't look it at all." she offered in a complimenting grin. Would the age gap hinder the witch's flirtations?

"Ah well, age adds hotness." she added lightheartedly with a wink.

Nope, no hindering at all. Not for this witch.