Had Kaiser come here to investigate? Yes. Did he feel like he shouldn't really be here? Also yes.

But he was curious, and apparently that was enough reason for him to come looking. Kaiser was an adventurer at heart, and that definitely applied to exploring the new castle. Potentially being out of bounds did not really bother him, and anyway, he didn't technically know for sure if this place was out of bounds. He was just guessing, based on the fact that he never saw anyone go into this room, although he had seen people come out.

Though he doubted very much that he'd find anything interesting inside the room when there was nobody else present, Kaiser was determined to look anyway. Having meandered his way from the broom closet to the mysterious room - it seemed wise to not look like he was walking with purpose, just in case - Kaiser paused only briefly in front of the door before trying the handle.

Unlocked. He pushed open the door, and poked his head inside.

It was just... a hall. A fancy hall, much like the rest of the place, with a big long table, but a hall nonetheless. Kaiser wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not. He wondered vaguely if the fact that it was so boring automatically made it less likely to be a forbidden area, and though that idea took away much of the appeal, he went ahead and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.

Not that there was much to really see in here. A table, an empty fireplace, some chairs up against the walls, extremely overdone decor that had no place being in a school. This was a meeting room, most likely. Kaiser wandered around it for a moment, and came to a halt in front of a chair much bigger than the others. For no other reason than to at least have done something on his little excursion, he sat himself in the big chair and surveyed his empire the empty hall.

Baron was just whistling down the hall and he was singing a song about a skunk. In the song, the skunk got inside a person's house to steal food. The owner of the house wakes up and discovers the skunk rummaging around in the kitchen. The owner gets sprayed and then time rewinds back to the start of the night. This repeats again and again, and the lyrics promise it will repeat for all eternity until the owner of the house repeats the skunk's true name in Latin. Alas, this person only speaks French...so this will be a long time indeed.

It was during this song that he heard a door closing down the hall. Well now, wasn't that the door to the Inquisitorial Hall? It was! Was someone getting punished?

Curiously, Baron pushed the door open. He very quickly realized that no one was punished, and there just so happened to be a student sitting in the Headmistress's chair.

"Greetings, my Headmistress!" Baron shouted in a booming voice, and he strode up the big chair and bowed down. "I don't suppose you would turn back into your true form? I have some questions I must ask you about two very disobedient students whom I witnessed committing a disobedience. It's a most grave issue. But you're making it rather difficult to talk to when you look just like a student."

"Please show me your true, beautiful form, my lady!

Gemma may or may not have gotten lost in her exploration of the castle. In her thirst for adventure she had wound up here. It didn't look important. Or particularly special.

In fact the first-year almost turned around to head back to the broom closet when she saw someone slip in. I mean if someone else is in their first then she had no other option to follow, right? Right. Also if she was caught and this place was off limits she wouldn't be the only one taking the fall. Before she had time time to talk herself out of it she pushed open the door.

It was just a hall. Nothing special like she thought.

It was of course beautiful like everything else in this place but still. There was a long table and a fireplace. It didn't really seem like the place was used all that much. These darn French people and their over decoration skills. Nothing really stood out to Gemma except the boy sitting at the head of the table. He was also a Slytherin, she recognized him from the broom closet and a few of their classes. She only recognized him because he was cute always tired looking.

"You look like the King of the castle." Gemma blurted out without thinking. Good first impression. She mental face palmed.

Someone else had entered the room. Did he really think the older Slytherin was the... Headmistress?

As fancy as this chair was, sitting in it didn't feel all that special, nor did it make his visit seem very worthwhile. He supposed it made sense that nothing all that interesting was in here; all the good stuff was probably behind locked or magically sealed doors.

Kaiser was just about to get up and go on his way again - perhaps to check out some of the other more mysterious parts of the castle he had noticed so far - when the door opened, and, one at a time, two very different people entered.

King of the castle, hm? Kaiser nodded, considering the girl for a moment. A first year, he assumed, or a second year transfer. Maybe third year. New, though, he was certain about that. Because she was a Slytherin, so he would have seen her in the common room last year if she'd been here longer.

Anyway.

"Yes. Or the emperor." That had a nice ring to it, especially as it was technically true, because he was the Kaiser of the castle.

King or emperor, either was better than headmistress.

"Uhh..." Kaiser said intelligently, as Professor Snozz went all... Snozz at him. Was he being serious? Or just joking? Was it better to go along with the potential joke, or clear up the potential misunderstanding? Dilemma.

He shifted slightly, because although he was the king-slash-emperor in jest, it was actually incredibly weird to have someone bow to him. Was this how the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts staff were supposed to address Headmistress Desmarais? Horrifying.

You know what? Kaiser could do with some fun. He looked down at himself and made an exaggerated display of mock surprise.

"I had no idea. How could this have happened?" he replied, doing his best French accent which turned out to be... not very convincing. His own German-Italian influences continued to peek through. It was surprisingly difficult to speak another language and employ an entirely different accent at the same time. "Perhaps you will just have to tell me while I am looking like this."

"AH!" exclaimed the professor as a first year Slytherin girl walked in. Krystal was her name, right? No, no, not Krystal. Gemma. This was Snozz's first year. He was a bit out of touch with student's names! No matter! "Please sit down, Gemma. Pick a chair, any chair. I think you might enjoy this conversation." He gave her a wan smile before turning back to face the young man.

"Well, my dear Headmistress, the situation is most grave. A student was caught passing notes in classes which contained highly offensive insults about the staff - both yours and ours. I caught the little whipper snapper in the middle of passing such a note, and I told her that I would seek your counsel before giving out punishment. SO! I seeked you out, and..."

He stopped mid-sentence, and an immensely puzzled look came over his face. He turned and looked back to Gemma, the little Slytherin. "I'm sorry, would you like a snack while you're here? I can summon up anything you want with my wand. Just say the magic word. Not literally the magic word, that's up to me. Heh."

And then it was back to the "Headmistress." "You wrote me a letter (from your office, of course), recommending that I should cast a charm to turn her hair into the color of skunk fur. This charm will wear off after one year. Now I know the spell, but I just want to be absolutely certain that these are your instructions. I agree that the child must be punished, but I fear for the cruel taunts she'll endure from her peers if forced to wear a hair color which she did not choose herself. I think a detention may be more in order. But of course we are all guests in your house and I will differ to you, even though technically she's not even your student. Heh! So...um, what do you think?"

"Your wish is my command."

It had been a long morning up in her office and the Headmistress was simply dying for a stroll out in her rose garden. Often, she liked to move about in the serenity of the flora and get lost in her own little world for a while. It was more calming than any potion either Healer could offer her and with the Hogwarts brood now here, she found herself in more and more need of this therapy.

Only problem? She didn’t quite make it there.

Giselle watched from up the corridor as Snozz? Snozz. It was Snozz, that was his name. The Headmistress watched as first Snozz then a little girl wondered into the inquisitorial hall. Strange....there wasn’t a meeting today. No one had asked permission to make use of it. No pressing matters had been brought to her attention.

The woman made quick strides, yanking the door open when she got there. First thing? Snozz was calling the boy “Headmistress”. Second thing? The boy was sitting in her seat.

The door remained ajar in her shocked. All the blood in her body rushed to her face and the woman had to fight to not shake as a rush of indignation swirled up. Were they mocking her on top of every other offense they were currently perpetrating? “What do you sink you are doing?? Doz zhis LOOK like a playground to you???? You sink zhis is funny????” In a flash, Giselle raised her wand. The seat rose off the ground and unceremoniously upended the boy. How he landed was no concern of hers. “Zhis iz zhe Inquisitorial Hall.” Said so just outside the door. Labelled as many of the castle’s rooms were. “It iz NOT a lounge and NOT zhe place for your idiotic games.”

Giselle whirled around at the “adult” present, if you could call him that. “Even if zhey can’t read and don’t know what zhis room is, YOU DO, monsieur. What sort of irresponsible, disrespectful behaviour are you encouraging?” And at that, the woman began going off in rapid French, much too annoyed to remember her courtesies of speaking the same language.

Mathys had been in the middle of performing an additional perimeter around Beauxbatons, checking in with the hundreds of stony companions lining the castle exterior. Sometimes it took a bit of creative thinking to reach them, but he was managing. He had just been about to dip out onto one of his personal favorite balconies on this floor when his ears perked and he heard the unmistakable shouts of his headmistress. Pivoting sharply in his Hebridean Black dragon hide boots, his long strides swiftly brought him to the slightly ajar door of the Inquisitorial Hall and took a moment to knock thrice before pulling it open and slipping inside.

And this was certainly a curious sight to behold. Had this been a scheduled hearing he surely would have been informed as such, which told him more about the situation at hand than much else. Though he did not wish to jump to too heinous of conclusions. He was one of the Beauxbatons faculty attempt to keep an open mind about their visitors. Even if the stench of poor taste seemed to have already seeped into the curtains like unwanted mildew. Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, mon Dieu.

"Excuses, headmistress," he greeted with a deep bow from the waist as he stepped inside and diligently shut the door behind him so the sound could no longer carry into the lavish corridor. "I heard your distress and came eemmediately." His brilliant blue eyes drifted to the one Hogwarts youth he was already far to familiar with on sight and in less than favorable circumstances and then to the young mademoiselle who felt as though she were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and then finally over to their History of Magic professor who he would be scrutinizing most of all once the details of the situation were revealed. "If I may be so bold as to suggest to you, headmistress, zat before you continue to administair your justice zat you remind yourself zat zere a significant learning curve for our guests and not everyone haz been exposed to our highair standards from ze beginning. Zese matters will take time and zey have not been here long to properly absorb your superior tastes."

Though hopefully it would be more like training crups than kneazles.

"You may respond now." So then the Baron as silence stretched on. Weirdly, he was smiling. Why would he give the Headmistress permission to respond? Mystery, mystery, what are thou? What game was he playing?

Well, whatever game he was playing was now game over. The Headmistress was here and she was demanding answers. And then there was another professor, a dude whose name didn't seem to be something that Baron's tongue could pronounce. (The y in Mathys...long or short?) Dearie oh dear!

Baron turned to smile at the Headmistress. "Headmistress!" he exclaimed, looking just a little guilty even though he was overtly beaming. 'Here, let me mutter the truth to you." And he walked towards her and began muttering in a low tone which may or may NOT have been low enough for everyone in the room to not overhear. "I'm sure you're wondering what we're all doing in your little torture hall. Believe it or not, I was just following this naughty young boy right here to see what he was up to." Obviously this meant Kaiser! "We were pretending he was you, even though I think he was really trying to trick me into thinking he was you, not knowing I was just playing a test on him to see if he was honest or not. I made up a story about a misbehaving student whose fate would be decided by you, and was just waiting to see if this young whipper snapper confessed to not being you. If he didn't, then I would have punished him by making him do chores for this young lady here." Obviously Gemma! He pulled back and clapped his hands together. "But now that you're here, I'll let you handle the matter in which way you see fit!" That last part was not said in muttering.

"Hello Nostredame," he said, giving a small nod to the other one. "I never know how to pronounce your first name, which is why you will hear my trying until you grace me with the wisdom of your parents at the hour of their naming you."

The more Snozz spoke, the more lost Kaiser got. He no longer knew if playing along was really very feasible, because he hadn't the faintest idea how to respond to any of that. (He was, however, very pleased to note that he actually managed to follow a good majority of what the professor was saying, and didn't lose his way - at least in terms of understanding the actual English - more than a few times.) But then Snozz stopped talking and a reply was somewhat expected, and Kaiser was so lost on exactly what he should say next that he just sat there silently, blinking and gaping. Until, of course, he saw her.

The Headmistress. The actual, real life, in the flesh Headmistress. And she was very clearly not pleased.

"I..." he began, trying to gather his thoughts to come up with some kind of recovery, only to flinch violently as she raised her wand at him. But instead of the curse he half-expected, Kaiser found himself being abruptly dumped out of the chair. He gave a startled yelp as he hit the deck, then hurriedly scrambled to his feet.

He knew he shouldn't be finding this funny, but Kaiser was soon having quite the internal struggle in keeping his face straight. The woman was incensed, because he'd entered the wrong room and sat in the wrong chair. As far as Kaiser's crimes went, this was easily his most minor. Easily. He couldn't help but stare at the Beauxbatons Headmistress with an expression of utter incredulity, which was thankful, as it meant his amusement was effectively disguised.

Just as Kaiser rubbed his elbow - he had knocked it during his sudden introduction to the ground - someone else appeared. De Nostredame, of course, because that just about summed up Kaiser's luck.

Was he being insulted? Kaiser had the strangest feeling that he'd just been insulted. Yet again, he opened his mouth to speak - protest, explain, lie, something - but the History of Magic professor beat him to it.

... Okay. Wow. Someone remind Kaiser to never so much as pass a tissue to Snitch Snozz in the future.

Quickly, before anyone else could speak up, he finally jumped in. "Please, Headmistress, Professor..." Not Snozz, that man didn't get a plea. "... I am sorry. Je suis desolé. I was just looking, and I was tired, so I sat. I did not read. I did not think. It is very easy to get lost in this castle, it is so big." So impressive, Kaiser wanted to say, but he thought that might be a bit much. These people were very dramatic, but he doubted they were unintelligent. "When the professor came in, I thought he was playing a game."

Then, mostly because it had just occurred to him that de Nostredame had also slyly badmouthed Trent with his definitely-an-insult (and he hated to hear it), Kaiser added, "Sir, it is true what you say. I do not fit your standards. I do not fit the standards at Hogwarts either. I come from nothing, I am still learning all these rules, that is why I made this mistake, not because of Hogwarts." Was he hamming it up? Absolutely. Well, when in Rome.

Uh... France.

Giselle was halfway through a rapid fire rant of everything that was wrong with the situation, the threat of 500 point deduction just by her lips...when Mathys walked in. Goodness. Did he see what this Hogwarts bunch turned her into? She thought to argue his point but chose to stop a moment and think.

They were coming from Hogwarts. Everyone knew it was a hooligan hole at best. It was likely they didn't know. She would have to assume they didn't know. Heated and seething as she still was....Giselle was trying to calm down. Trying until this offensive excuse for a Professor invaded her personal space to whisper nonsense.

The Headmistress shoved the man away from her, taking an extra step to create more distance. She did NOT appreciate the sudden intrusion. The more he spoke, was the more the pseudo calm Mathys had brought to her disappeared. He was....playing??

Her lips parted, ready to begin a fresh rant when the boy spoke. He didn't know. He was tired and hadn't read. It was as Mathys said. What caught her attention was him assuming the man had been playing--and why wouldn't he when it was obvious the man was???

Her rage redirected at the History of Magic Professor, she began once again. "Ar' you a Professor or a CHILD??" She demanded. "You see rule breaking and you decide to PLAY?? You don't step up and become ze adult in ze situation??? Zhis boy waz following you. Your lead! If you 'ad decided to do your job and corrected 'im, zhis would not be a problem! Zhis is on YOU! Leading zhis child into your folly! What iz wrong wiz you?!"

What could possess the man to begin a game with the boy when all he had to do was correct him??? It blew the Headmistress's mind entirely. Was this how Hogwarts Professors operated? Did they not know how to effectively discipline their own?

Oh dear.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! It appeared as though Baron Snozz had offended the headmistress. (If the shoving away did not give it away, then the angry tone and words definitely did!) Baron crossed his hands in front of him and tried to look as grim and respectfully contrite as possible.

"Believe me, Miss, I totally understand your frustration," said Baron in an attempt to placate the headmistress. Was calling her Miss appropriate in the circumstance? Probably not, but it was a slip of the tongue. Hopefully she wouldn't fixate on it too much. "I would probably be upset if I had people in my punish chambers without permission, too - if I had them, that is. I am very sorry for this breakdown of discipline. I assure you it most certainly shall not happen again while I am still breathing as history of magic professor."

All of this he said in as serious and contrite a tone as possible. But when he was done, he muttered something just loud enough for everyone to hear. "I didn't know this room was off limits. There's like, no sign at all."

Was this muttering meant to be heard? Probably not! But then again, maybe it was.

So...his idea of giving tours to all the students of all the professors bedchambers...was that a bad idea?

There were a list of places within Beauxbatons castle that Malachi wanted to be. The Inquisitorial Hall after receiving a SHRIEKING patronus (how, honestly how did one even conjure a patronus when in THAT much rage???) was not on that list. It wasn't in the same universe. It simply was the last place the man wanted to be on this once peaceful evening.

A cup of tea. That was all he'd wanted. He'd been sipping a fresh cup, his wife's baking laid out before him when he heard his name.....in that all too familiar voice.

The man barely managed to swallow before setting everything aside and making his way here. There hadn't been much in the way of details which naturally made him fear the worst. What he didn't understand was the mention of First Years.

First Years? Really? Statistically speaking, they were the least likely to have the Headmistress barking at him. Half of them were precious beans for Circe sake.

Rather than take a seat, the man stood by the seat he'd been shown would be his for the term. He would just...wait for them.

Analiese was the only non-first year to be interrogated. And she didn't even deserve to be here. It was a primal instinct in the protection of another. Tell her, what was she supposed to do when Desmarais was manhandling one of the first years?! Just stand there and watch?!

She stepped out of the Ombrelune Common Room which was on the opposite end of the corridor from the Inquisitorial Hall. Her echoing footsteps rang through the floor as she made her way towards the Hall. She waited outside for a few seconds before deciding to go in. Her eyes fell upon Headmaster Trent, who was thankfully a little softer towards her.

And that wasn't exactly soft.

Her strides were swift but graceful as she made her way back to the castle. No doubt, she’d been sufficiently urgent in her patronus. She expected Malachi Trent would already be seated and waiting to put a proper end to the nonsense his students had started from the moment they arrived. When she agreed to let them stay, she was told no funny business. So far, they had proven to be quite problematic guests.

“Hurry, hurry.” She chided, displeased with the speed at which they walked.

The woman was APPALLED one (Analiese)thought to veer off and head to her common room first when she had been told to follow her to the Inquisitorial Hall but what could one expect from unruly children that raised their wands at those in authority? Giselle would be mentioning THAT as well.

Nudging the door open, a new fury ignited in her the moment she found the man inside. It was only made worse by the girl who entered after, the one who’d gone to her common room. “I want zhem on ze first carriage out of ‘ere, tonight.” She demanded. No time for pleasantries. These students were trying to upend the very structure of her school. Did they think these actions were okay? Is this what they learned at Hogwarts? Disgusting but not unexpected given who she was dealing with. “Zhey ‘ave no respect! Zhey ar’ careless! Zhey do not follow instructions. You ‘ould not believe ze height of dizrespect—no, maybe you ‘ould. It seemz a growing trend among your studentz.”

And half the time he became the complicit Headmaster who just let them. “I don’t want zhem here. Find anozer school ‘oo will take zhem. Send zhem home, I don’t care where zhey end up but it won’t be ‘ere. I don’t know ‘ow you let zhem run wild but not in zhis castle zhey won’t!”

As much of a struggle as it was, the woman managed not to yell. How long that would last was yet to be seen.

The small blonde followed the headmistress silently, stewing in her emotions. Not ONLY was she afraid of how her parents would react to news of what was going on, she was afraid of seeing the look on Headmaster Trent's face when HE heard all the horrible things she was SURE the headmistress was going to say, true or not. By the time she actually slipped inside of the hall and took her place, she was filled with dread and her small hands were folded into fists to control the urge to fidget she was currently having.

And then the headmistress was speaking and Cecelia very slowly turned from nervous to angry, the urge to shout at the woman building and building inside of her. Thing WAS, Cecelia WOULDN'T shout. Her mum and dad had taught her BETTER than to shout at her elders. And MAYBE she HAD been careless in her spell, but she HAD had good intentions and how DARE the headmistress speak about her without even giving her a chance to explain. How DARE she make it seem like her students were better and smarter and that THEY were just students not worth her time. It made hot tears spill down her cheeks and she hung her head, not wanting anyone to see. She disliked THIS headmistress more than she'd disliked anyone and it made her SO mad having to listen to her, it did.

After daring to stubbornly wipe at her tears, the first year stood up straighter and smoothed back her hair, her gaze falling on THEIR headmaster. She already had it in her head that he was going to have her pack her bags, so she was going to at least try and be brave about it. The headmistress COULDN'T say she wasn't brave.

The little Snakette refused to be rushed along by the Crazy Lady. In truth (and very surprising to herself), she was more bothered about Bernie and her wand. The Gryffindor looked so devastated and for the first time since this entire messy situation happened, Claudine felt a sense of responsibility but it wasn’t for the rose garden; it was for Bernie’s wand. Bernie had only been trying to defend her when the gargoyles attacked.

Further thoughts were cut into as the arrived at the Inquisitorial Hall and the Crazy Lady immediately began raving about them getting out Beauxbatons. Did she mean all the Hogwartians? Did she mean just the four of them? Claudine wasn’t sure. She simply stood quiet for the moment, her intense gaze fixed on Trent.

Claudine was quite prepared to give the best, most innocent and sincere performance to get them all out of this situation. For the moment, she would stand there quietly.

Delayed by his return of wands to their rightful owners, save for those who had been called here and save for the one belonging to Mademoiselle Grantham who had never actually followed his instructions to drop it, Mathys allowed himself into the Inquisitorial Hall and remained behind the students with both arms crossed behind his back. He had arrived towards the end of his headmistress' tirade, one he knew better than to interrupt and would refrain from speaking entirely unless addressed to do so.

And he did have a few words he wished to share. More than a few.

Bernie wasn't really making eye contact with anyone. She was just putting one foot in front of the other, following the feet of the person in front of her, and trying her hardest not to full-on CRY. Even Claudine's assurance that they could find someone to fix it wasn't helping. She sniffled pathetically and came to a stop right behind the Beauxbatons Headmistress, nearly bumping into the woman, and finally looking up, and looking around a little. She saw Cece full-on crying, Claudine NOT saying anything, and... and the Headmistress.... s--she was going to send them HOME?!

Bernie was still holding her wand between both her hands, but at this announcement, she flat-out DROPPED IT. She could not--- she couldn't--- she didn't even---

"I don't even have a working WAND!" the first year wailed, BURSTING into tears and covering her eyes with both her hands. HOW COULD THEY SEND HER HOME when she was DEFENSELESS?!!!?!

This...was not what he was expecting. He’d already been skeptical when he heard First Years were behind this—one of which was not in fact a First Year—but seeing this lot...

Wasn’t that precious bean #3? What exactly was this abou—......and then it started. The man’s eyes widened only marginally and only for the briefest second before he went right back into his composure. Sending them home? Surely, whatever it was, it couldn’t have been that bad. It couldn’t have been worth full on expulsion.

Two were quiet, precious bean #3 was crying and Rainbow Truffles over there was wailing about her wand. Did he...even want to know what happened there? Something told him he’d be finding out sooner than he wanted.

The Headmaster took a small breath, not missing the way the Headmistress’s right hand man had slipped in. “Let’s not be too hasty....” He suggested carefully. While the Headmistress couldn’t expel his students, she had every authority to have them out of her castle and he had no authority to truly stop her. This was not Hogwarts. He could not force her to house anyone she didn’t want to especially if it turned out she had just cause. It made the situation all the more precarious and the man was honestly tired. His students had been acting up for whatever reason. One broke another’s face in, seemingly unprovoked. Whatever had gotten into his students, he would have to get to the bottom of it before every strand of hair on his head went gray and they were all kicked out.

“This is the Inquisitorial Hall. Cases are heard before decisions are made. Let’s...let’s go through all the proper channels, see if it’s really the best course of action. Everyone, let’s do this calmly.” No more screams about wands please. It was already broken. Crying wouldn’t fix it. Hoping not to do anything that might set the woman off, Malachi slowly and carefully sunk into his seat. Gray eyes watched her the entire time, trying to read her reactions. While the students didn’t seem to understand they were in a delicate situation, he did. ”Please, if I may be so bold, everyone sit.” He gestured them to the chairs about the table, making sure to pull out the Headmistress’s for her. “Why don’t we take this from the top? What offence have they committed that warrants expulsion? Students? What offences have you been brought here on?” He waited for each to speak in turn, get their side of the story out while he hoped against everything that this would all be one big misunderstanding that no one would laugh about after.

A man could dream.

Bernie was so, so, SO sad about her wand and it made Cecelia feel even ANGRIER at the headmistress, who was a cold hearted woman, she was sure. Maybe she needed to go take a boil in the Chaudron Étang to thaw it out. It could really only HELP at this point. Also helpful was Headmaster Trent, who MUST have been reading her mind or something because HE was saying JUST what she'd wanted. She was going to get to explain. That was good, wasn't it?! She could explain how she was JUST trying to help and ALL this could be cleared up and she could stay here with her friends where she belonged until Hogwarts was safe again. This HAD to work.

She ONLY moved when she was asked to sit and honestly, she was relieved because being SO mad and SO upset made you SO exhausted, did they know? Sometimes she wondered if grownups remembered just HOW exhausting it was to be eleven and trying SO hard only to have someone say you were too wild and too careless to do anything at ALL. It made her feel VERY heavy and she sunk, TOO, she DID. She sunk right into her chair and smoothed her hair and adjusted her uniform and tried not to cry again because if she had to explain, she had to do so calmly.

Only she DIDN'T want to explain first, so she looked to the others to lead. She just needed one little minute, please.

Claudine was immediately flustered when Bernie broke into tears. You see, she didn’t know how to deal with anyone when they were crying. She winced and looked around helplessly at the others. Couldn’t they see that the Gryffindor required some comforting? No? Were they blind? Well then… she hesitantly reached out a hand to Bernie’s nearest shoulder and patted it once, twice. Her hand was quickly withdrawn before she focused on Trent.

He was right, was he not? It was best to deal with this calmly, something which she was a lot more than a few minutes ago while they were out on the grounds. “Come on, Bernie.’’ Claudine hoped her friend would listen and follow her to one of the seats. She herself needed no second invitation and she took up a seat.

And since this entire thing started because of her, it was only right for her to lead the explanation.

“It was an accident on my end, Headmaster,’’ the girl began quietly. She took the time to make sure her eyes were fixed on Trent’s. Her face was arranged to look sad. “We were out in the Rose Garden for CoMC and were given a spell to practice but the wand movement was so complicated… I’ve never had more trouble with one. While I was practicing, my wand slipped. I tried to reach it but missed. It fell, and a beam of light and hit some of the roses…’’ Claudine lowered her gaze tactfully to the table. “They caught on fire.’’

She let that sink in for a while before continuing. “I didn’t do it on purpose.’’ Claudine looked up again at Trent, this time her eyes glazing over with unshed tears. “The Headmistress had no right to manhandle me by grabbing me by the collar of my robes. Bernie and Annalise were only trying to help me when the gargoyles showed up. Cece… I’m not sure what happened because of all the chaos but I’m very sure she was also only trying to help in some way. It was during the encounter with the gargoyles that Bernie's wand broke.''

To end that performance, Claudine gave an almighty sniff.

He did not understand the severity of the situation. Clearly he did not or he would not be asking her to handle this calmly. The Headmistress’s face had gained tremendous colour by the time the man finished suggesting they sit but rather than create an entire scene of it, Giselle grudgingly accepted her chair the man had pulled out.

The woman sank gracefully in her seat, waiting for the doctored versions of the truth the students would no doubt spew from lying lips to save themselves.

When the rose burner spoke, it was all the woman could do not to grab her by her collar again. “I don’t believe it waz an accident.” Better to make that clear from early on, but what REALLY needed to be clear was the “help” the Slytherin spoke off.

Little wonder she remained vague.

Zhose two,” She spoke up again, pointing both to the one with the broken wand and the Ravenclaw, “drew zheir wands at me. Zat waz ‘ow zhey tried to ‘elp! Disrespectful! You do not draw your wand at ze Headmistress. You don’t at any Professor. What will stop zhem from doing it again? I want zhem out!” If no one else, those two specifically. Drawing a wand at her, was that how they helped? All they’d done was anger her further and land themselves in hot water. Now they needed to leave. “My studentz ‘ould never raize zheir wands at me! Zhey know better. And that one!” She pointed to the first Gryffindor who had begun to cry earlier. “She DOUZED me in water—no doubt trying to ‘elp az zhis one called it. Zat iz ‘ow zhey ‘elp each ozer. Zhey hurt my roziz and when I reacted, zhey all tried to physically attacked me. Zhey ar’ lucky I did not retaliate like my gargoylez. Zat iz why zhey were attacked. Ze gargoyles perceived zhem az threatz because of zheir rotten behaviour. Mathys can vouch for zhis.”

She did not tolerate children who were poorly behaved. No, sir.

Straightening as the Hogwarts headmaster spoke, Mathys' expression remain solemn and composed but made no grand strides towards the seats. He was tempted to request that he remain standing, but once his headmistress had taken her seat ... so too did he. Long strides took him around the students towards the seat to the right side of his headmistress and he carefully pulled the chair out and slipped into it. Posture straight and sturdy, he waited passionately for the impassioned words of the Hogwarts students to cause one's ears to bleed. Though the words of Mademoiselle Blaze were not as enraged as he had anticipated, considering her tone in the rose garden. The shift was...curious, though he kept his opinions to himself.

Speaking of impassioned, his headmistress certainly was that. And a bit...shrill. Though he dared not speak such sentiments aloud.

And it would appear that his time to speak had come sooner than he had anticipated.

Smoothing his jacket and shirt, Mathys leaned forward slightly so that he could peer around his headmistress to meet the Hogwarts headmaster's gaze more directly.

"If I may, Headmaster Trent. Mademoiselle Blaze is telling ze truth zat ze wand movement was very complicated. Ze wand movement for Loricatus. I had warned zem of ziss and do believe zat it was an accident. Zat being said...I do not believe zat an appology was evair uttered and no remorse shown by Mademoiselle Blaze. Furthairmore, she encouraged hair classmates to cast offensive magic towards our gargoyles." Which reminded him that he would need to search the roof for Ogott later to see what kind of damage had been done and what sort of medical attention the gargoyle required. May need to regrow a tongue again. "When my headmistress appeared saw her rose bush ablaze, she apprehended Mademoiselle Blaze and it was in ziss moment zat Mademoiselle Grahntham lifted hair wand against my headmistress. Mademoiselle Anderson a little aftair zis. It was ziss sight zat ze gargoyles awoke to and attacked, believeeng zeir mistress was in dangair. Mademoiselle Summers was trying to help by putteeng out ze flames, something zat no one else had zought to do. Her aim needs much eempravement and she did not apologize to my headmistress eithair."

So much for Hogwarts having any semblance of manners, though he did recalled that Mademoiselle Summers did apologize to the gargoyles when they had turned on her next. Something he did not think wise to bring up, it would only set his headmistress off further hearing that students would apologize to beasts but not to her. He was, despite what most of those present likely assumed, trying to calm tensions.

Though this desire to mediate did not always win out against his own opinion and displeasure.

"Ziss is why I eenstructed everyone to drop zeir wands. Ze gargoyles will not attack ze defenseless. Zough I must eenform you, Headmaster Trent, zat one of your students who is not present among us now zought it wise to zen perform a series of athletic omaneuvers which only egged ze creatures on in zeir attahck. Zough I was assured by anothair that you had personally taught zem all to be vigilant."

Okay but NOW that she'd waited, Cecelia really wished she'd gotten things over with first 'cause people were speaking about her and her motives and it was giving her a BIG headache. She tried to be patient, only half-listening to what was being said, and when it was quiet she finally spoke up.

"I did spray the headmistress," The first year admitted softly, eyes on Trent. "But it wasn't on purpose. I wouldn't do that." Her gaze flicked to the woman briefly and then settled once again on her own headmaster. "But sometimes my spells don't work at all and this time I was emotional when I said it, so maybe that's why it was so strong, and I didn't expect that much water so it caught me by surprise." She was rambling, she knew, so she paused to take a breath. "I was only trying to help and I would've apologized eventually, only the gargoyles started to get so, so angry and one ran RIGHT at me and Kaiser, even. He ended up in a rose bush-the gargoyle, not kaiser-and I hope he's okay, but it was scary and I didn't mean to make the gargoyle angry, or the headmistress upset." Actually, she wasn't even sure WHY she'd been so upset in the first place. "I think maybe she was upset even before anything happened because the roses hadn't even got burnt yet when she came to stop class...and it's hard to apologize to someone who doesn't even like you even before really getting to know you, but I am sorry..." She ended with that, looking down again and fiddling with her hands.