Dammit, by Merlin’s beard, I swear that charms professor jinxed me. If I see Samuel anytime soon, I’ll… I’ll… oh who am I kidding, I won’t do anything. Daisy raised her hand to her forehead to calm herself. She was having a hard enough time trying to figure out disciplinary action for a student, it wasn’t like she was actually going to have the guts to go yell at a teacher, especially over something as trivial and superstitious as bad luck. Sure the two had recently been talking about how he had been dealing with fights upon his Gryffindors and how she hadn’t had really any issues, but that certainly wasn’t the cause of one of her students coming to see her now.

No, @sutton, was responsible for her own actions and had made the choices that called for a meeting with the Ravenclaw head of house. Daisy hated that she was going to have to confront one of her students for inappropriate behavior. It’s so hard to believe. When I was a Ravenclaw, no one in the house really broke the rules. In fact, that was sort of why Daisy took this position. She figured Ravenclaws would be easy to manage and if she would be calling anyone into the office, it would be because they got into a heated intellectual argument, not because they had been out past curfew, and, Merlin forbid, skipping class.

She shuffled through the reports multiple times already, but nonetheless, she stood next to her desk looking through them again to find anything that would give her some hope in the girl. Sutton had been found on the second floor corridor when she had broken curfew, which was nowhere near the library where Daisy had hoped she snuck off to do some late night studying. The report all said she had skipped classes all day, so the arithmancy professor had assumed that maybe the sixth year was sick, but the matron said she hadn’t seen her that day. Sighing and throwing the reports to the side of her desk, the professor plopped down into her seat. It was evident that there was probably nothing in this student’s defense like Daisy had hoped and she would have to deal some sort of punishment, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Sutton wouldn’t care anyway. If she didn’t care enough to actually break the rules, I doubt she will care about any sort of consequence.

Passing judgment on someone wasn’t something Daisy Lowry would ever do. Despite what her more seasoned colleagues had told her about Sutton, she was going to form her own opinion. Heaven knows, she hated that people had formed their own opinion on her about how Daisy was probably just as talented and lovely as her older sisters. No, Daisy would reserve judgment and learn the sixth year without the words of others clouding her, although, Sutton wasn’t starting off with making the best impression.

As she contemplated and tried to play out exactly how this conversation would go, she heard the knock at her door. “Yes, you may come in,” she said rather proud of the confidence that escaped her along with those words. Perhaps she felt less like a nervous wreck talking to students because unlike people of the same age, students didn’t really know of the other Lowry sisters and therefore, didn’t compare her to them.

Pretty much, Sutton just tolerated Hogwarts. She tolerated the students, and the professors… she barely tolerated the classes. The only reason that it was worth her time at all was because her sister was there, and because graduation was a very bright light at the end of an apparently incredibly long tunnel. Graduation meant that she and Tinsley could go anywhere and do just about anything, like finding rich husbands to buy them an island, or go traveling and club hopping all over Europe. It got them away from their pathetic mother, and they could leave any lingering thoughts about their sister and father behind. It was all going to be perfect—they just had to get to graduation without dropping dead of boredom from life in this dull castle. Tinsley did a bit better at this than Sutton did, she could admit that. For the most part, her sister attended classes…at least, regularly. Sutton would deem her own attendance more semi-regular, but she was a bloody Ravenclaw for a reason and not because she liked to study. She was just naturally brilliant, and if that meant that she could pass her classes with sub-par attendance, her professors should be thrilled they had less to worry about.

Apparently, though, her new head of house hadn’t gotten that memo. Sutton had yet to meet with the woman, and had thought maybe the other professors at this ridiculous school had let her in on the secrets and tricks of the trade. At first, Sutton had been almost pleased with that, knowing that her reputation preceded her. But then she’d gotten word about this little meeting, and suffice it to say, she was no longer happy.

She rolled her eyes as she approached the office door, still in slight disbelief that this meeting was even taking place. Of course, manipulation was her forte and she was almost slightly intrigued by this new professor and if this would be an entertaining encounter. After all, nothing interested her more than reading people’s emotions, facial expressions and tics and seeing what she found out. If the woman was intriguing, perhaps this wouldn’t be an entirely wasteful hour of her life.

Sutton knocked very briefly on the door, hardly even waiting for a response before pulling it open. She let the door click closed behind her as she glanced over at the woman, examining her openly for a moment before stepping further into the room, “You summoned?” She said, dryly, before dropping into the seat across from her.

While Daisy had no issue talking to students, she certainly didn’t like having to be the one to confront them about how their negative behaviors were putting them on the track for expulsion. Luckily, this wasn’t quite the case for the young Ravenclaw she had called for today. Sure, some professors may have argued that Sutton had checked out and had too many chances already. However, with Daisy being a new professor, this was Miss Odell’s chance in her mind to be given a clean slate. Maybe all Sutton needed was the encouragement that this was a new chance for her, and if she didn’t take that, at least Daisy could say she tried to give her the benefit of the doubt before she ever passed judgment on her.

Sutton entered the office and sat down. The professor smiled politely at her. She wasn’t surprised to have received no cheerful greeting. Students never liked being taken away from whatever activity they had been doing to meet with some adult figure. Daisy surely would have appreciated a bit more niceness from the girl, but she didn’t necessarily need it. She knew as professor and head of house, she wasn’t really there to be a friend to the students, but she didn’t feel any harm in trying to be. In fact, she figured things may go more smoothly if she presented with a friendly demeanor. The woman certainly didn’t want to make enemies out of her students though.

“Yes, then, you must be Miss Odell. It’s nice to meet you. As I’m sure a smart girl like yourself has already figured out, I am your new head of house, Professor Lowry,” she said with a friendly nod towards the young student. Daisy figured if she was friendly and respectful towards the girl, this meeting would go a bit more in her favor. “I asked you to come here today because quite frankly, I don’t know you, and I wanted to talk to you about some things. I figured it would be fair to hear what you had to say, don’t you think?”

Standing from her seat, she took the reports that she had flung to the side of her desk. As she flipped through them one last time for the sake of clarity, she moved to the front of the desk and leaned on it. “I received reports that indicated you had skipped all of your classes one day. Naturally, I was concerned about your health and asked our matron in the hospital wing if you had been sick. I was a little put off to find that you hadn’t been there. I also received a report that you had been out past curfew. Now,” she paused to throw the reports back on her desk, “these are usually signs of something causing a bit of unrest in a student. You may not feel comfortable telling me, but I must ask as a concerned staff member, is there something going on? Because please, Miss Odell, if there is anything in my power I can do to help make sure you are successful here, then I would very much like to help you.”

Sutton determined that she was boring almost immediately after sitting down. As a rule, she considered Ravenclaws to be a dull lot, apart from herself, of course. In fact, she was still quite certain that the Sorting Hat had placed her in the house as a joke, though she supposed her natural intelligence might have played a hand at that. However, she could tell that this new head of house was just as boring as her housemates, which was too bad. She wouldn’t have minded even a mild bit of entertainment at this point, even at the price of a meeting. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she examined the woman, attempting to get a read on her. There was always the slight possibility that she wasn’t as tiresome as she looked, so Sutton supposed she could keep an open mind for a few minutes to see if Lowry was worth her interest. So, for now, perhaps she would keep a rather sunny disposition—for her, at least. Nothing was more amusing than turning it off abruptly when she got bored and watching the subject scramble when they were caught off guard by her change in demeanor. “That’s me,” she said, brightly. Sometimes she only had to channel her sister’s personality, as she was at least marginally friendlier, “It’s simply a pleasure to meet you, Professor Lowry,” Sutton added.

What Sutton found particularly interesting was trying to figure out a professor’s true personality. When she was around professors like this one, she did wonder why they felt the need to fake it to such an extent. There was no bloody way that this was how she acted all of the time. Sutton wondered if the woman had ever been in charge of anyone before, because she was taking it straight from a damn textbook thus far. She was very quickly getting bored, potentially a record for a new interaction. Predictability was frankly dull, and Lowry seemed incredibly obvious. It would be more prudent for her to just leave now, and save herself the trouble of listening to a professor trying to emphasize and care. “By all means, professor, I’m willing to discuss anything,” she replied, nodding solemnly. And so the boredom would progress steadily along, Sutton already having determined exactly how this was going to go.

She watched as the woman got up and looked through what looked like reports, her eyes flickering down at the parchments before moving her gaze back to Lowry. The moment that she began to speak again, Sutton realized that there was simply no reason to continue being polite to the woman. That had bored her already, and she at least needed to entertain herself to an extent while in the presence of such a sad individual. Hell, Sutton was bored just looking at her. The friendly smile fell from her face smoothly replaced by the self-amused smirk that commonly graced her features. Skipping classes one day and one time getting caught out past curfew. The new head of Ravenclaw had really seen nothing yet if that was enough for this visit. “You’re new, so I understand that you’re trying to get everything sorted, exert your authority, put on a caring face—all that. But let’s just skip ahead a few chapters, shall we?” Sutton began, raising an eyebrow. She could learn about a person merely from their small reactions to her own histrionic remarks, and Sutton had a feeling Lowry wouldn’t be too hard to figure out. “You’ve a house full of students with their pretty little heads stuck too far into books that they’ve got permanent hunchbacks. I expect you won’t find yourself in many situations where they venture far enough from the library to get into a lick of trouble.” Sutton paused for a moment, wondering if that was why the woman had taken the job to begin with. It certainly would be easy to lead a house filled with this lot. “I don’t need books, or studying to pass my classes. Hell, I don’t even need to go sometimes,” she told her, blithely, though she had thought the woman would have learned that just from the reports that she’d surely read about her. Professors liked to talk, as well, and so Lowry should be well aware of all of this by now. “In my opinion, that works for everyone’s benefit. One less student to teach, and one less boring lecture for me to sit through.”

Getting caught out past curfew wasn’t something that was new for her. When she didn’t want to get caught, she often didn’t. That night, in particular, she’d been so bored that even the brief purposeful encounter with the professor had amused her enough to make up for getting into trouble. “Curfew and I often don’t get along,” she said, shrugging. It was common, and just as dull, that she apparently had to have some problem that was causing her to act out. That was the solution that all professors wanted to come to, as if there was something that needed to be fixed and magically they no longer would have a student breaking rules and causing conflict. As far as they wanted to think, a student had to have some deep family issue or ridiculous school drama that caused any issue, and that was where their ideas seemed to end. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but you’ll find that I’m not acting in any way that is abnormal for me. My puppy didn’t die, my boyfriend didn’t break up with me, and I didn’t get into a spat with my best friend. I’m sure your life would be a lot easier if that were the case.” Predictable—as she had thought. The woman wanted a quick fix, but the quickest of them all would simply be letting it go and focusing on whatever other ridiculous problems she had going on in her life. There just clearly had to be something.

The Ravenclaw girl that sat in Daisy’s office was extremely difficult to read. It was very unusual for any student to appear so bubbly before their head of house. Even the prefects that consulted with the head of house on a regular basis always seemed nervous. The arithmancy professor knew she had offered the girl some kindness, but there was no way the girl would replicate that to her, was there. Her pleasant introduction was just too good to be true. If this was the real Sutton Odell, then why in the hell was she here meeting with the head of house? Nevertheless, Daisy continued smiling at her.

Professor Lowry watched closely for any changes in the student’s expression. However, there were none. She seemed just as keen to defend or explain herself, which is what Daisy really needed. Really, she didn’t need it, she just preferred it rather than to dish out some punishment without hearing the student’s side. Regardless, Sutton would still receive a consequence, but maybe more than that, she could get whatever help she needed.

As their discussion continued, Sutton’s disposition seemed to change into sort of what Daisy had expected. In fact, it was a relief to see the girl suddenly turn to something normal instead of whatever game she had been trying to play that the woman didn’t understand. When Sutton spoke, Daisy could feel herself getting slightly angry and a bit flustered. The professor did her best to keep all of this hidden really. Samuel had warned her against appearing upset in front of her students. Of course, she knew this before he had told her, but the fact that she had just been reminded by him helped her remember to keep herself composed. Sutton’s words were slightly harsh, but the Ravenclaw head of house kept her held high and gave the same polite smile as she calculated her response. The girl’s arrogance was slightly annoying. How in the hell is she a Ravenclaw and not a Slytherin?

Miss Odell continued on and on with excuse and self-indulgent reasons of why she couldn’t be bothered to attend class or follow the curfew guidelines. It was sickening, yet hilarious that this girl found herself so above the rest of society. Daisy had to admit, she got along more with the underdog students, so this personality from the Ravenclaw sixth year that she was now seeing was slightly unfamiliar to her. She was pretty sure she did not like it, but couldn’t just dismiss one of her students as uncared for. Stifling a laugh at the girl’s words, Daisy returned to the seat at her desk.

“I appreciate your honesty, Miss Odell. I always try to give respect and honesty in hopes that people will do the same to me. Therefore, allow me to be completely honest with you. Actually, more than honest, let me be frank,” she said slightly dropping her cheerful manner for a more serious manner. “I have run into my fair share of students, even when I was a student here myself that believed just because they were sorted into the wisest house they were a gift to this school and Hogwarts should be lucky they even decided to attend. Let me assure you, that has never been the case with anyone, as they still need to learn humility and respect, and it certainly isn’t the case with you, either, Miss Odell.” Daisy paused. She didn’t like being this harsh to a student, but she knew sometimes she would have to be in this position. It had been told to her time and time again. “Look, you are nearing the end of your sixth year. You either are of age or are getting close to being the age where you can decide if you want to stay here or not without needing parental consent. If you don’t want to be here, then don’t. For your sake, don’t. If it isn’t worth it to you, then don’t make yourself miserable.” Daisy considered adding that it isn’t fair to the people that want to be here, but thought maybe the girl could care less about others since it didn’t seem to matter what her professors thought. “However, if it is a goal of yours to actually graduate from here, then like it or not, Miss Odell, you will have to attend your classes and start following the rules here a bit. If you don’t, it will just result in summer classes and expulsion, which force you to stay here even longer.” She paused to see if she could gage if Sutton would prefer graduating or dropping out. Maybe the words were a little more than what Daisy had wanted to say, but she needed to convey that the girl did have a choice in being here. “Besides, if you are as smart as you say are, classes should be a breeze, right,” she said with the same polite smile.

According to the Ravenclaw girl, there was no reason to act the way she did, although the examples Sutton provided were quite shallow. Daisy wondered if there was some more uprooting childhood issue. Surely no one comes out of the womb being this bitchy. The professor then thought about her older sister Rose, and thought maybe some people were born with a mean streak. “Miss Odell, seeing that a student is unhappy enough here to cause disruptions is never easy regardless if there are reasons to their antics or not. Trust me, a consequence for your actions was always the plan regardless if you had reason or not. I just like my students to see me as a resource rather than a punishment dealer. However, you have made it very clear that you are not interested in receiving my help, or rather the help of anyone. Which I can appreciate in a way, it shows that you are accepting full responsibility for your own actions. With that being said, why not take some responsibility in your own disciplinary action,” Daisy paused and gazed into the eyes of her student, “you may either miss the end of the year ball and spend the time in your room writing an apology letter to every professor of each class you missed, or you may spend time in detention, after curfew since you enjoy being out so late and that is the only time of day we could fit it into anyone’s schedule, cleaning out the cages and pens of Professor @tiwaz’ creatures. Your choice, Miss Odell.”

As the woman began to speak again, Sutton wondered vaguely what had happened to Ravenclaw’s last head of house. Frankly, she didn’t even remember the woman’s name…or had it been a man? They had known better than Lowry did, apparently, as she hadn’t recalled any particular meeting of importance with them. Either they had accepted that she did what she had to do to pass classes, but other than that it was best to leave her alone… or they simply had been too absent-minded to care. To Sutton, the answer to that didn’t matter, since it had worked in her benefit and that time was apparently over. Now she had this ridiculous twenty-something that had no clue how to be assertive, though she was putting on a decent face. But Sutton found that she could see through most of those, and this woman was nothing but a blathering, pedantic imbecile. How incredibly disappointing, she mused, having wished that she’d be issued something of a challenge for once.

Instead, she was being subjected to Lowry’s incessant and never-ending mouth. Sweet Merlin could the woman talk. Did she think that the more words she threw out into the conversation, the more believable this little ‘authority figure’ façade seemed? It was flimsy at best. “Trust me, professor, the house that idiotic hat put me into has nothing to do with it.” It was certainly amusing to her that Lowry thought she was arrogant because she was a bloody Ravenclaw. Her confidence had absolutely nothing to do with being deemed wise by that ridiculous Sorting Hat. If that was what people based their level of self-worth on, then they had some damn issues to work out. “Let me be frank with you,” she stated, mirroring the woman’s attempt at a more serious tone of voice. “I’m at this school because the end results far outweigh the miserably boring road it takes to get there.” Getting out her mother’s house was the only reason she was at Hogwarts, and she annoyingly couldn’t give up on that mission just yet. She and Tinsley only had one more year until they could say goodbye to this irritating school, and more importantly, say goodbye to their mother and the lives that they would be leaving behind. Good riddance, she thought, though she knew that they weren’t quite there yet.

Her lips quirked into an amused smirk at the mention of having to attend classes, or risk expulsion or summer school. The woman was acting like she hadn’t been to a class all damn year. Missing a few a week was hardly a crime, particularly when she was still passing with better marks than some of the students that actually went. Gods, this woman was boring. She hadn’t stepped a foot off course from the way Sutton had anticipated this conversation going. It was if she was following a script written for professors with no skill at … discipline, authority, or any of the fundamental basics for actually being successful at ones’ job. It was sad, almost, if it wasn’t so dull. “Quite right, professor. Simply a breeze,” she replied. Was that supposed to be a compliment to make up for the ‘harsh words’? If so, then the woman had less backbone than she thought. That, or the woman was now passing her passive aggressive and backhanded compliments. Either way, it showed that she belonged in a profession with very little human contact. She’d be perfect in a back room somewhere… then she wouldn’t have to stress herself out trying to ramble her way to a point.

Sutton was starting to wonder how long this meeting was going to go on. There seemed to be a risk of it being bloody long simply while the woman tried to figure out how to even do her job. It was her first foray into discipline, that was for certain—even if her rambling didn’t prove that to her, the fact that she was the head of Ravenclaw did. “So sorry to worry you, professor, but I can clear that up for you right now. I’m not unhappy—causing disruptions because I’m so deeply miserable about myself… talk about a cliché.” Frankly, she was just bored. She was always so bloody bored here, which was possibly the worst part, as she knew that graduating and being able to get on with her life with her sister was infinitely worth it. In the long run. But in the short-run, this was what they were stuck with. She had no idea how her sister managed to stay out of trouble for the most part, when she was just as bloody bored—though she supposed Tinsley had the capability of being a bit subtle, a gene that Sutton didn’t possess. Raising her eyebrows at the woman’s mention of choosing her own disciplinary action, Sutton waited for the woman to continue. She was unable to stop herself from laughing under her breath, not that she would have even attempted to stifle the noise if she had noticed its approach. “You’ll find I don’t waste much time with apologies,” she replied, offhandedly. Missing the end of the year ball would be a … slightly irritating punishment, and she found herself not normally giving a damn about many disciplinary actions that had been tossed her way. But the ball was perhaps one time that the school has mildly interesting. But magical creatures… Sutton certainly wasn’t a fan of those dirty animals. “As I told Professor Tennebris, there’s a reason I don’t take Care of Magical Creatures,” Sutton added.

While it was certainly too late now, Daisy did wish she would have been more thorough on reading up on Sutton. The woman had no idea if the previous head of house had had these talks with her. If she had, perhaps there would have been some kind of clue for Daisy to see where to even start with the sixth year. Even if it was nothing else other than using her career choice as motivation or seeing what consequences had worked well in the past. Unfortunately, Professor Lowry had nothing as she did not think to even look at that. It made her wonder though if the poor girl had always had some issues with school attentiveness. It didn’t matter now though.

Sutton was proving that she would have been challenging enough regardless if Daisy had ammunition or not. And Merlin, did the little sixth year have quite the attitude. It took a source of divine intervention for Daisy to restrain herself from showing just how much the girl’s enormous ego was pissing her off. Miss Odell certainly liked to give off the impression that she certainly knew everything there was to no. Perhaps she would like to just have my job? Or would that be damning the whole school to ruin? The girl imitating her own words was just confirmation of her inflated self-worth. Still, Daisy had to admit that at least the girl was somewhat acting with intelligence when she spoke of wanting to remain at Hogwarts. “I never doubted you were smart, Miss Odell, and you’ve just proven that even more. You are right: staying here and graduating would be far more beneficial,” she said calmly, though her inner thoughts were screaming obscenities about how the girl should start acting like it.

The conversation continued and Daisy continued to look for any signs of sincerity from Sutton, but she was impossible. The professor was not stupid enough to believe her words would convince the student to do a complete turnaround. No, the whole point of the meeting was simply to warn her and make her aware of the consequences of her behavior, just in case no one else did, When the young girl spoke in agreeance that her classes would be a breeze, Daisy could not tell if Sutton was saying that she agreed to go to classes, but she was not hopeful that this was the case.

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes and stifle a laugh at the student as she apologized for worrying her and made some terrible remark about a cliche, Daisy just continued to gaze on at the girl. There was no use continuing to talk. Her words at this point were falling on deaf ears. It was so damn evident that Sutton gave two shits about any help Daisy wanted to offer her, and it was quite frankly, disappointing. Nevertheless, Daisy would still give the appearance of the helpful professor outwardly. However, she wasn’t about to offer more to this meeting than what she had to unless Sutton was going to show something more than arrogance and apathy. In fact, her whole demeanor was starting to give Daisy some pleasure in giving her a consequence. Perhaps it would tone her down. But when Sutton denied both punishments, the Ravenclaw head of house feared that nothing would ever put this unfortunate attitude at bay.

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear Miss Odell. You’ll have to forgive me. I thought I was perfectly understandable when I stated the choices you had. See, you’ll find that I gave you two options. Refusing both was not a choice I gave. However, it is a choice you CAN make and one that will result in a meeting with the headmistress, which I’m guessing with how thrilled you are to meet with me, isn’t something you really want to do.” She paused giving her student a more playful look indicating she too could play her fair share of games. “You must also understand should you refuse both options, I will still pick your punishment from the two choices I gave you. See, what I am trying to show you is your actions do have consequences. You don’t get to just walk free. So unless you want to lessen the control in your life and give the reigns to someone else, someone I’m quite confident you don’t care much for,” Daisy paused as she gave the obvious jab at herself, “then I would suggest you pick before you find yourself having not only a consequence for your recent behaviors but your defiance as well.” Daisy stared at the girl and folded her hands in front of her. “Your choice, as it always has been, Miss Odell.”

When the Sorting Hat had put her in Ravenclaw, she had thought it mad. She had told her sister on several occasions that she must have done something to irritate the ridiculous thing to put her in arguably the most boring house at Hogwarts. Yes, she supposed she was naturally intelligent, but was that enough to condemn her to seven years of boredom? Luckily, Sutton was bloody fantastic at twisting situations to amuse herself; even if nothing of interest was going on, it only really took a bit of manipulation to cause any number of interesting situations to arise. It was a test of her skill with these damn Ravenclaws, and now she apparently had this incredibly dull and fresh-faced head of house to deal with. The woman had no experience with any of this, and it showed. Now, she just wanted it to show more—it couldn’t take that much to piss the woman off, clearly. She seemed well on her way there already, as much as she was remaining outwardly calm. Sutton was good at noticing ticks, and although she was doing a decent job of masking her irritation, Sutton could see through it to an extent.

She was bored already and that was rare. Although most everyone in this school was tiresome, Sutton did find the occasional meeting interesting, if only for a while. Never before had she been so bored of someone she had just met. Crossing her leg over the other, Sutton gazed at the woman as she talked about her apparently being smart in deciding to stay here and graduate. She was always going to do that, so she had no idea why Lowry was acting like this was some revelation she had come to. Sutton would make her way to graduation, and get out of this boring place and leave her even drearier past in the Muggle world. If Lowry really thought that getting in trouble was going to stop that from occurring, she simply hadn’t looked enough into her marks since beginning Hogwarts. Obviously, she’d had her share of detentions and the like, but no one could deny that her grades were impressive, particularly when everyone knew how little she actually tried. “Obviously,” she said, dryly, wondering if she was going to start spouting the importance of an education. Since she was as predictable and boring as professors came, Sutton wouldn’t be surprised.

Sutton just wanted to crack this demeanor of hers, and it seemed that she was well on her way. The woman had seemed sincere enough when this meeting had begun, worried about something being wrong and the like, which had been amusing. But this was far more interesting to Sutton, because now Lowry wouldn’t shut up. The idea that she really did have to talk her way to a point seemed to be proven truer by the moment, and Sutton always did find the ‘less is more’ approach to be far more affective with the professors at this school. Rambling was… sloppy, particularly when everything that was being said could be rephrased in a far neater package. The more a person talked, the less Sutton did, as she found that proved more entertaining. Would she continue to ramble even when she had less to go off of? When Lowry started going on about actions having consequences, Sutton could have groaned out loud, but she kept her expression impassive. Professor Lowry was a walking, talking—or rambling, really, cliché. Her inexperience was showing, and Sutton did wonder why the woman ever thought being a professor was for her. “As much as I love the ‘choose your own adventure’ game, wouldn’t it be far more beneficial for you to choose?” Sutton loved unraveling the logic of others’ more than anything, and this would be one she gained a hell of a lot enjoyment out of. “After all, if you really wanted to teach me that actions have consequences, it would be more realistic for me to understand that sometimes the consequences are completely out of my hands?” Really, Sutton just wanted to throw the woman off of her game, and she also was not about to lower herself to choosing her own manner of irritating punishment.

It wasn’t new for Daisy to question the Sorting Hat and where it put students, and hell, she suspected she wasn’t the only one to ever question it. At first, she expected it to put her in Ravenclaw, as she came from a long line of them, but after her first transfiguration class left her feeling like a complete failure, she wondered if it had messed up and she should be in Hufflepuff instead. Her sisters even wondered the same thing. However, time went on, and the witch proved herself to be quite the skilled and smart sorcerer in many other areas, and she no longer questioned it. She figured that the Sorting Hat could see things that others couldn’t see, and maybe that was the case with Miss Odell. Therefore, the professor tried her hardest to appeal to what she hoped was inside of Sutton that the damn Sorting Hat could see that she unfortunately couldn’t.

Sutton did nothing to hide her lack of disinterest in what Professor Lowry was saying. It came out in her dry tone. While the sixth year may have been looking right at the professor, Daisy guessed her thoughts were elsewhere. Really, it was to be expected. The woman hadn’t expected that some epiphany would come to the girl about how she was growing up and needed to start acting like it. No, this whole encounter had been more so that one day, if it ever came when Sutton decided she had enough of her piss poor attitude, she could at least look back and see that someone had tried to help her. The head of house had no idea if that day would ever come, but she sure as hell hoped it did.

Damn, is this girl stubborn and annoying. Daisy had to hide a smirk. It was her argument and trying to debate her punishment that made her quite sure that the girl was clever and perhaps a Ravenclaw after all. Or I suppose, you could still argue Slytherin with trying to be cunning. Nevertheless, Daisy found the girl’s argument to be, well silly and didn’t make much sense to her. “Then, I’m afraid you’ve missed the point, dear.” Daisy paused to stand and walk around her desk. She leaned against it and looked right at Sutton. “There will be consequences out of your control, yes, but what I am trying to teach you is the responsibility you have over your actions and how you can choose to do the right thing. Plus, Miss Odell, at the end of the day, when you show complete disdain for whichever consequence, you can just be mad at yourself for it is what you chose.” The professor fought yet another smirk that tried to creep. “Now, I have other things to do, and I am sure you don’t want to be cooped up with me all day, so what will it be?” She folded her arms and waited for a response.

Since it was that important to the woman, Sutton would pick her own consequence. It would not at all prove whatever point that she was trying to prove, however, and she still did believe that her own logic made a hell of a lot more sense than whatever Lowry was thinking. The head of Ravenclaw apparently thought picking her own detention was going to somehow affect her in a greater manner, or perhaps she just thought it would successfully irritate her. It wouldn’t, since Sutton made a concerted effort to never give the expected or desired reaction to anyone. Sutton wasn’t going to make it all that easy on the former Ravenclaw. Surely, she was smart enough to realize that nothing was ever going to go exactly according to plan when Sutton had control over it. And that was what the head of Ravenclaw was doing, giving her control of a situation.

Although she had thought this meeting was going to be boring, she found herself a bit intrigued by this incompetent witch. Sutton raised an eyebrow at her words, but didn’t speak. At the end of the day, she would just be mad at herself for the option that she had chosen? Unlikely; Sutton never did anything that wasn’t a calculated plan, and nothing ever required her actually being mad at herself. Being mad at herself implied that she wasn’t happy with her decisions, and that was just impossible. She never made a choice that she didn’t stick with, no matter what. In fact, she had already chosen which of these ridiculous detentions she wanted and she had figured out just how entertaining it would be already. Missing the ball and writing letters of apology was not amusing in the slightest. There was no face-to-face interaction with anyone and it meant actually having to work in terms of writing damn letters. She got no benefit out of this option, and had to miss the ball on top of it. But the other option…well, she didn’t think that Professor whatever the hell his name had been would be all that difficult to gain amusement from. Perhaps he was easy to irritate, or rattle. Maybe he was just interesting, though she doubted it.

Yes, that was the option that she actually could get a benefit out of, because she would more than likely learn something that she could use about the man in the process. It was always good to know the weaknesses of others’. “I really do hate to disappoint, but that’s a result you’re not going to receive, if that’s the point. I stick with my choices and am certainly not going to wallow around being mad at myself for… anything, really, because that would imply that I’ve made a mistake. And frankly, that doesn’t happen.” It was called confidence, which was something that the older woman in front of her was obviously lacking or that option wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. Mad at herself, she thought again, actually laughing out loud. No, that was not something that would be happening. “Now what gave you that idea, Professor? I simply can’t think of what I would love to do more than to sit here with you.” Sutton replied, saccharinely. She would obviously pick an option, but she simply saw no reason to do it on Lowry’s schedule.