16 January 1923
Tuesday, 7:00-9:30pm
By mid-January, the novelty had worn off. At least for the staff.
What had begun as a harmless fascination with Butterwand & Co.'s newest sweets had evolved into weeks of disruptions, emotional outbursts, secret trades, confiscations, smuggling operations, and an alarming amount of paperwork.
In Gideon's opinion, the paperwork had been the true tragedy.
Standing at the front of the dungeon detention room, he watched as students gradually filtered inside. Some looked annoyed. Others looked bored. A few looked around the room with varying degrees of concern.
The classroom itself appeared surprisingly empty. Just rows of desks, parchment, quills, and a single stack of envelopes resting neatly upon Gideon's desk.
The professor waited until the final student entered before closing the door with a quiet click.
"Good evening. I assume most of you are aware of why you're here."
His tone was calm. Pleasant, even. Which somehow made detention worse.
A few students shifted in their seats. The corner of Gideon's mouth twitched ever so slightly.
"By now, your parents have received correspondence from Hogwarts regarding Butterwand & Co. confectionery and the issues it has caused throughout the school."
Issues was perhaps putting it mildly. Broken friendships. Dramatic reconciliations, some in the middle of lessons. Confessions that should have remained private. Arguments over absolutely nothing. At least one duel. Several classroom disruptions. An unfortunate incident involving enchanted armor and a bag of Fizzing Starshards. The less said about that, the better.
"Despite these letters, many of you continued to acquire, distribute, conceal, purchase, trade, barter, smuggle, and, in one particularly creative case, attempt to professionally market the sweets."
His gaze lingered briefly on no one in particular.
"And so, for the first portion of today's detention, you will each be writing a letter home. You will explain why you are here. In your own words."
A pause.
"Don't worry. I will be reviewing them to ensure all pertinent information has been included."
The collective suffering in the room was immediate. Gideon ignored it completely.
"Once your letters are complete, we shall move on to the second half of detention. This portion will take more than one evening to complete, so you will be required to attend until the task is finished."
Now there was the faintest hint of satisfaction in his voice.
"Over the last several months, staff have confiscated a truly impressive quantity of sweets."
The air shimmered. Boxes appeared.
Then more boxes. Then crates.
Then entire stacks of crates.
Velvet Cloud Truffles. Fizzing Starshards. Rainbow Pop Lollies. Midnight Cocoa Cubes. Enough confectionery to stock a small shop.
Several students immediately stared. Several others looked downright heartbroken. More than one person drooled.
"Before anyone asks, the sweets have been permanently charmed to remain within this room. They cannot be removed."
Another box appeared.
Gideon folded his hands behind his back. "The wrappers have been permanently affixed. They cannot be opened. The candy cannot be eaten."
Another box shimmered into existence. A collective groan rose from the room.
"Any attempt to circumvent these enchantments will result in an additional detention for each individual piece involved."
Silence. A room full of mourning teenagers stared back at him.
Gideon nodded once.
"Excellent. Then we understand one another."
He gestured toward the growing mountain of confectionery.
"Once your letters are finished, you will inventory, sort, catalogue, and assist in the destruction of every confiscated sweet in this room. The boxes and crates are mixed. Your job will be to separate the candies by type, count them, and record the totals. Once everything has been categorized and inventoried, we will destroy them."
He glanced over the mountain of candy.
"There are approximately six thousand, three hundred and twelve pieces. Though I wouldn't become too attached to that figure. We continue to find new stashes on a near daily basis."
For the first time all evening, Gideon allowed himself the smallest trace of a smile.
"You may begin."
Returning to his desk, Gideon reclined in his chair, his feet crossed at the ankles and resting atop the desk. If he had to guess, this detention would last at least two weeks.
If they kept finding candy at the current rate, it might take months.
((OOC: Welcome to the candy rush detention! I plan on updating this every 3 to 4 days, depending on how active posting is. For your first post, please come in, react to having to be there, how is your character doing? In withdrawals? Still sitting on a stash, so feeling pretty good? Get started on your letters, and react to the future destruction of all that glorious sugar.))
"Good evening. I assume most of you are aware of why you're here."
His laugh was genuine, but likely uncalled for. Still, Evan couldn't help himself. Looking around those gathered there, he instantly knew why they were being wrangled together like a herd of lost sheep, only to realize that they were heading right to the slaughter. And, thinking about that, he laughed again.
The stain that Butterwand & Co. had caused both themselves as an enterprise and the castle as a whole would be felt for quite a time. It had instantly changed all manner in which the school, at least its students, went through the day. The results were chaos for those used to the stillness, used to the days to repeat as they always had. They were ill-prepared for just what some inspired candies could do to a populace lacking self-confidence, dealing with self-image issues of changing bodies, and burdened with the crisis of hormonal imbalance.
Evan was one of the first to realize that there was money to be made. He'd been early to the shops back in October, when they'd first made their appearance and realized what happened when kids began to lose their inhibitions.
Girls who would have not dared approach him did and, well, he'd say it was the candy's fault at what came next.
Skipping class to go back, he spent all of his money in hording them once the supply began to run out. He made so much money by the Christmas break; he didn't even know what to do with it all.
"–in one particularly creative case, attempt to professionally market the sweets."
That had him laugh again. It was always nice to be brought up.
Though they were in detention and the Deputy Headmaster looked like he could produce diamonds with how tight his asshole must have been, Evan couldn't be bothered to really care. That was, until all of the confiscated candy made an appearance. Then, his mind really started to race.
"Any attempt to circumvent these enchantments will result in an additional detention for each individual piece involved."
He was almost an adult now. It wouldn't be that long, would it?
Blackwood took his seat, finally deflating fully of all his bluster. Evan looked around the room, chortling at those that actually started to write. Instead, he reached for his pocket and, in an act he might consider brash if he took anything seriously, unwrapped a Rainbow Pop lolly he'd hidden in his sock and began to lick it for all to see.
Benji had heard there was a detention and having been sorely lacking in earning them this year, he thought it'd be nice to attend one. He'd been far too well-behaved lately, and his reputation was suffering for it.
"Good evening. I assume most of you are aware of why you're here."
Nope. Benji had no idea why they were here. With a blueberry muffin in hand and half of it stuffed into his cheek, the boy took a seat, leaning back lazily into the chair while he took inventory of his surroundings. Whistler was here. Unsurprising. Benji knew him to not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but a troublemaker all the same. The Hufflepuff could appreciate it, not being too far off the mark himself, but it still didn't explain what this particular detention was about.
Knowing Blackwood, it could be anything. Perhaps someone had offended him with scuffed shoes and now everyone had to pay for it.
"Despite these letters, many of you continued to acquire, distribute, conceal, purchase, trade, barter, smuggle, and, in one particularly creative case, attempt to professionally market the sweets. And so, for the first portion of today's detention, you will each be writing a letter home. You will explain why you are here. In your own words."
Benji's grin grew as wide as his cheeks allowed, hazel eyes sparkling with realization. The drug shit. Cleverly (or not) disguised as candy by some Butterwands weirdo. At least that was the rumor. Benji didn't know much about it outside of what he'd gathered from his peers. He'd never partook, steadfast in his resolve to not allow any new vices to take hold of him. But it had been amusing all the same to watch.
Not with Marge, but overall. It certainly had Rae's nerves fired up in regards to the Hospital Wing.
Apparently they were meant to write letters. What was he supposed to write?
'Dear Mum and Maddox, so sorry for not taking drugs.
Your ever-angelic son, Benji'
Or something along those lines.
Stuffing another bite of muffin in his mouth, this seemed exactly the right detention for him. Destroying the candy meant nothing to him and would likely earn him a little reward from his straight-and-narrow girlfriend. The others...well he'd enjoy watching all of them fall into a rabid spiral of withdrawal.
you cling to that old adage, this hurts me more than you
well i doubt it
For a time, the only sound in the room was quills to parchment scratching out the words to their parents. A few sighs, more than one muttered curse under their breath. More than one parent would be sending a howler, he was sure of it.
Standing, Gideon walked through the room, weaving between the desks. He looked at the letters taking shape, one student had already crossed out an entire paragraph. Another, a young Hufflepuff, sat still with his hand shaking, no words on the page.
He watched their faces, various levels of discomfort and worry. They had done this to themselves. His eyes fell on Benji, sitting there, seemingly done with his letter after minutes. Eating a muffin…. He was an interesting case. His parents were in the castle, this might need more of a personal touch. Walking past Benji’s desk, Gideon took what was left of the muffin, dropping it in a nearby trash bin. ”This is not breakfast Mr. Laurence.
Then came the unmistakable sound of a wrapper. His eyes lifted, slowly, deliberately. The room followed suit. There, sitting quietly, liking a rainbow lolly, was Evander Whistler. With the subtlety of a fireworks display.
Gideon stared, Evander licked the candy, the room seemed to hold their breath.
"...Mr. Whistler." His tone was calm, in a dangerous way.
"Would you care to explain why, after listening to instructions regarding confiscated sweets, enchantments, detentions, parental notifications, and impending destruction, you felt this was a good decision to pull out a lolly pop and start… On second thought, don’t."
As he got to Evander’s desk, Gideon took out a handkerchief, laying it over his extended hand. “The lolly. Now.”
While waiting for Evander, Gideon’s attention briefly looked around the room.
"I would like everyone to take note of this moment. It is a fascinating case of cause and effect. The cause being poor judgement." A pause, looking down at Evander. “The effect being Mr. Whistler joining me for detention, three times a week, for the rest of the term.”
The faintest smirk touched Gideon’s face. “Assuming he survives the letter home.”
Looking back over the class, he simply said, “Continue.”
OOC: Feel free to join if you haven’t already. For those that are done with their letter, it’s time to start organizing the candy. You can work together, or alone. Use an NPC if you’d like. There is a large wood crate for each of the candies. Your job is to sort through boxes, upon boxes, upon boxes of the sweets into their proper crates. Some of the candy is half eaten, sticky, gooey. This is not a clean job. Have fun! But not too much. And remember, the candy in the boxes cannot be consumed. The wrappers cannot be opened.
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