"Please sit, Miss Parkinson," Anthony said politely.
Pansy stood in the doorway protesting silently for several seconds, then pulled out the chair stiffly and sat. Thanks to Anthony's obvious progress in Transfiguration, she sat in a properly sized chair.
When Anthony sent the detention notice via school owl to the Slytherin table, he watched Pansy tear up the note under the table with a stony face, angrily eat a few roasted potatoes, then put down her utensils and leave.
Nobody asked what happened. She stormed out furiously, roughly shoving aside two students exchanging Chocolate Frog cards.
"Don't make such noise with the chair, Parkinson," Anthony said. "Look, this is my first time giving a student detention. I guess it's probably your first detention too... no? How many detentions have you had?"
Pansy said stiffly, "Twice." Under Anthony's prompting gaze, she added, "Professor."
"All right," Anthony said. "What did you do in your last detention?"
"Cleaned classroom windows. No magic allowed," Pansy said angrily. Clearly, she didn't love housework.
Anthony pondered. "Not using magic is a punishment?"
Pansy's expression suggested he'd stated the obvious, but she nodded. "Yes, Professor."
"Then during this week's detention, you're not allowed to use magic either," Anthony shrugged. "I hadn't thought of that. Muggles manage quite well."
"Yes, Professor."
"What classes did you have today?" Anthony suddenly asked.
Confusion flashed across Pansy's gloomy face. She said, "Transfiguration and Potions in the morning. Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon."
"Sounds like a busy day," Anthony said. "Even knowing you'd have to wake early today, you still chose to search for Miss Davis late at night when she hadn't returned to the dormitory. You're good friends, aren't you?"
"No—yes, Professor Anthony. We're good friends."
Anthony smiled. "I noticed Miss Davis is second year, while you're first year. How did your friendship form?"
He could almost hear the student's brain working. She stammered, "I—she was bullied once. I helped her. She was grateful. I—we—became friends."
Wind made Anthony's office window rattle, like an angry person protesting something.
"You did well," Anthony said approvingly. "But you've only been at school a few months. Can you help a second-year avoid bullying?"
Pansy said without thinking, "Of course. I'm a Parkinson."
Aha.
"The Parkinson family..." Anthony repeated. "A family entirely composed of wizards, yes?"
Pansy said haughtily with a slightly offended expression, "Yes. I'm pure-blood. My whole family are Slytherins."
"Excellent. I hope you like the house that raised your whole family," Anthony said.
Pansy looked somewhat confused but relaxed for the first time since sitting. She leaned back in the chair and nodded. "I like it very much."
"Your family? Do they like it too?"
Pansy said proudly, "No excellent person dislikes Slytherin." She glanced at Anthony. Seeing he didn't intend to interrupt, she continued with satisfaction. "It's obvious, isn't it? Slytherin is the best house. No house can match Slytherin's power and influence."
She spoke very smoothly. "We value developed minds—unlike those Gryffindor idiots—are elite chosen through the strictest selection—unlike mediocre Hufflepuff—and have clear goals, destined for great success—unlike Ravenclaw lunatics. Slytherin has always worked to develop the magical world. We maintain magical bloodline purity and shape the magical world's future."
Anthony listened silently. She spoke so naturally, as if she'd repeated these words a thousand times. When she stopped with satisfaction, he asked, "Magical bloodline purity?"
"Those wizards with peculiar tastes..." the Slytherin student said contemptuously, completely ignoring that she was in the Muggle Studies professor's office, "sometimes choose to unite with filthy Muggles. And Mudbloods—" she wrinkled her face in disgust "—they—they actually call themselves wizards?! But we understand the importance of bloodline and heritage."
"You're a pure-blood wizard, so you have more say in the house?" Anthony asked. "What about Miss Davis?"
"She... she's half-blood." Pansy's face twisted. She didn't continue.
Anthony nodded sympathetically. "Breaking through prejudice to become her friend must have been difficult. What made you decide to help Miss Davis?"
Pansy stared at the inkwell on Anthony's desk and stammered, "I—I pitied her."
"No wonder you ignored curfew yesterday to find her," Anthony said with understanding. "Caring about classmates is good, Miss Parkinson, but you didn't need to find her yourself."
Pansy shook her head and said firmly, "If I didn't find her, she might have lost points."
"Are lost points serious?"
The young Slytherin sat bolt upright and glared viciously at the professor who'd emptied Slytherin's hourglass. "Of course. It determines which house wins the House Cup."
"A competition held every year with no reward except a cup," Anthony said.
Pansy said angrily, "As long as there's competition, Slytherin must win! I can't—we can't—tolerate those people climbing smugly over us!"
BANG. The window blew open hard. The cat jumped lightly inside and shook rainwater from its body.
"All right, I have no more questions," Anthony smiled. "Thank you for chatting so long, Miss Parkinson. Because of the insulting content in your conversation, tomorrow's detention is cleaning the Muggle Studies classroom windows."
Pansy glared at him, seeming to suddenly remember she was still in detention. "But I have Astronomy tomorrow night!"
"Then clean the Astronomy Tower windows," Anthony said accommodatingly. "Detention after class. Don't worry, I'll be there on time."
Pansy took several deep breaths but couldn't manage a word of compliance.
Anthony reminded her, "Astronomy Tower, Parkinson. Don't make me take more points from your beloved Slytherin. That's not my intention."
"Yes, Professor Anthony," Pansy said through gritted teeth.
She slammed the door hard. Anthony tapped his wand at the chair she'd shoved aside and let it return to normal size. The cat jumped up unceremoniously, wet paws messing up the cushion.
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