mahogany ; d.m

38 - the trophy room

The detention that Snape had given all five of them was to take place the next morning, which unfortunately clashed with the Quidditch match of Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. This had extremely frustrated Athena as not only was it her own house playing, as well as her friends but Cedric was too.

As ill natured as she may have felt towards him at this current moment in time, they were still together and she wanted to give her support. Though it was probably a good match to not attend as she wouldn't have a clue who to cheer for.

They had all been split up for their detention. Maeve and Blaise were to clean out the owlery together, Draco was given the punishment to sort the ingredients stored in the potions cupboard that had been disorganised and to her complete dread, Athena was paired with Theo to clean the awards in the Trophy Room, unfortunately without using magic.

It wasn't that she disliked Theo, but it was that she dreaded spending any time alone with him for she knew what he could be like, having already had an uncomfortable interaction with him. Perhaps the reason he said those crude things the other night was due to being under the influence of the substances they were consuming. Though this could not deter from the strange connotations she had gathered from him.

She was to go to the Trophy Room immediately after she had eaten her breakfast and had been given strict instructions not to leave until she had cleaned at least a hundred of the trophies, which seemed completely ridiculous for how an earth would they be able to tell.

She gave her luck to Harry, Ginny, Fred and George for the game before she exited the Great Hall. Hermione left with her as she wanted to visit Ron in the hospital wing. He was rather piqued that Harry had replaced him with McLaggen, even if it was only temporary.

When Athena approached the Trophy Room, Theo had already arrived and was loitering idly outside of the door. When he noticed her presence, he leaned one arm against the wall and formed the smuggest look on his face which made Athena feel slightly uneasy. They stood by awaiting Filch's arrival but not in silence. Theo continued to make unnecessary comments that he could tell irritated her but sustained his provocative behaviour.

Once Filch finally arrived holding a giant set of keys, she felt a brief relief for not having to be stood with him anymore but this sooner faded as she remembered she would have to spend the entire morning with him, trapped in this one room.

"After you, gorgeous," he grinned complacently, towering over her as she walked past him.

Filch gave the supplies and began explaining the instructions to clean the awards with greatest pleasure until Theo interrupted him by grumbling, "yes alright, I've done this many times. I think I can remember."

Filch gave a menacing grin whilst Theo rolled his eyes. The caretaker left them too it, exiting the room with a humoured cackle and Theo muttered "filthy squib" with the upmost disgust. Athena let out a harsh sigh to his derogatory attitude and glared at him before fleeing to the far end of the room to begin feathering and scrubbing a silver plaque that was completely caked in dust.

For the most part, Theo had left her alone, except to occasionally call out, commenting on some of the awards he would come across, yelling things like "I didn't even know they gave awards for that," or "watch me get one of these". Truth be told, Athena gradually found herself thinking him quite amusing but would obviously never have told him that. His ego was already sky high.

After cleaning what may have been the fortieth trophy until it was glistening, she felt absolutely exhausted and needed to take a break. At the opposite end of the room, next to a giant, golden statue of a phoenix, sat a burgundy, velveteen divan sofa. She dragged her legs over there, feeling a pleasant relief as she collapsed onto it.