Nervous Hitches; Unnerving Glitches PV

Emile was a shy, introverted person, but he was always up for an adventure. He also loved pranks. He considered pranks to be small adventures, but never the less something he loved to do. In his life time he had only played small pranks on the kids who were his neighbors, or his grandparents, but never someone like who he would be playing one on today. Or trying to play one on. He hoped he wouldn't get caught.

He had been invited by a Slytherin to come and play a prank on the Headmaster, and they were to meet today at his office. 

Emile decided to wear a black sweater under his black robes. It made him feel kind of like a bandit, even though he could obviously be seen in broad daylight, but it was just part of the fun.

On the way up to the Headmaster's office, he started to doubt himself. He got nervous he might actually get in trouble. "I can do this." He mumbled. He took a deep breath and soon he was standing in front of the door, which seemed to be unlocked. He opened the door slowly, as not to make any noise. He looked side to side, saw there were no students or professors around, and slipped inside of the office. 

It was a beautiful office, to say the least. The paintings were a bit creepy, but all of the books in the office made him stand in the middle of the room for a little bit, before noticing how stupid of an idea that probably was. He quickly searched around the room for the other student, and spotted her in the corner. He jogged over to her and grinned. 

"Hello," He whispered. "So, what prank are we planning to do?" He asked. Anyone who looked at Emile would be able to tell how excited he was for this.

"All dressed in black, huh?" Koko commented when she saw the other child's attire. She... she wasn't exactly sure. "Maybe we could sneak around the office and try snagging something off of his desk, perhaps a quill." Not that the headmaster would miss a quill. A prank... Koko had some chocolate, but not the means to melt it. If the headmaster got up from a chair, or if there were a vacant chair, she could always try to spread it on the chair--but why waste innocent chocolate that could be used for eating purposes instead?

She took another quiet step into the office. A little cluttered, but cozy all the same. For a moment, she visualised herself sitting at the desk, but then she shook her head. No. She wouldn't be a headmaster. Too many worries...

And she probably wasn't a good enough decision maker. That was for sure. She couldn't make a decision unless it were a life-or-death situation. "Do you have any ideas?" she asked the Gryffindor beside her, her voice low so that she might not be heard. "I'm Koko, by the way." The Slytherin adjusted her robes, a nervous habit, and she pulled out her wand to be ready. Of course, the sneezing hex might not do much against the Headmaster... but it would still be funny.

"Ah, yeah. It made me feel more criminal like. Not like we're criminals, but I think you get what I mean." He said, chuckling. He made sure to be extremely quiet in everything he did. "It probably would have been better to wear my normal school clothes now that I think about it." Emile said, regretting his decision. He would have blended in better. Well, what's done was done. Time to move onto the more important decision they had to make–what prank would they be playing? 

"Maybe we could sneak around the office and try snagging something off of his desk, perhaps a quill." The Slytherin suggested. Emile nodded, though he still seemed unsure. He had snuck into the Headmaster's office, why not go all out with a prank? He started to think of something elaborate they might be able to do. He pulled out his notebook and flipped through most of the pages, scanning for anything that might be able to give him an idea of what to do with Koko. 

"Since we're already here, why not do something crazy?" Emile asked. 

"Do you have any ideas?" She asked, seeming to not be able to make a decision. Emile thought for a moment, then he had an idea! "Yes, I do actually! And I'm Emile. It's a pleasure to meet you, Koko." He said smiling excitedly. He looked a bit mischievous, which was unusual for him. 

"This notebook was a gift to me from my family. They're authors, and thought it might be useful for me to have if I ever wanted to be an author like them. It has endless pages. Maybe we could cover his entire office in paper, leaving little notes in some places? If you have another idea you'd like to do, I'm totally okay with that too." He told her. 

This was one of those awkward moments where Solomon just stood there, in the doorway behind the duo of students with a chocolate frog in hand listening to their plans to prank him. He bit off the head of the squirming chocolate frog, delicious chocolaty flesh. He could feel it wiggle down his throat and wobble in his stomach. After a few moments, and his chocolate frog was consumed, Solomon would let out an obvious cough as he blocked their only means of egress.

"I would normally say it is a pleasure to meet you Emile and Koko," he paused a moment and recovered a second chocolate frog from his satchel. "Then ask what brought you to my office," he smiled. "But it seems that I know the answer to the later." He looked around the room at the paintings, "you can stop pretending... you never sleep when there is something of interest in progress." A few of them would open a single eye before cocking their head to the side as if they were continuing to snooze. 

If they tried to run out the the office or drew their wands he would simply catch them and lift them by his collar. He was stronger than he looked. "Take a seat, preferably by the fire," he ordered either gesturing towards a pair of seats or carrying them there. "And explain to me your logic."

Well shit. They'd been caught. It wasn't as if they were going to do anything bad, it was just that... well... she had thought that they were more stealthy than that.

"Y-yes, sir!" Koko stammered, scrambling across the room until she took a seat in a chair beside the fire. "Are we in trouble?" She asked evenly. She had regained her composure and didn't seem intimidated. In fact, the child seemed to be at home. She would, however, still sit rigidly, because she wasn't too willing to get a detention. That in itself made her wonder why she had tried to do this in the first place.

Koko, beginning to wonder if she should feel guilt, suddenly became very interested in her very interesting ballet flats. Her face was red at the very aspect of being caught out of place. It was very unlike a pureblood such as herself to be brought to such a low. "O-our logic?" she wondered aloud, caught by surprise. The girl's golden eyes were still watching her engrossing shoes. She thought for a moment. "W-well... I suppose we wanted to have some fun... and it would be more fun to... maybe prank the headmaster... than anyone else," Koko said, her voice growing softer until the end of the speech.

She kept her wand concealed. She knew where it was in her robes, but she didn't think that she would need it. She shouldn't need it; she was in a room with the headmaster of Hogwarts. She would be fine...

"I would normally say it is a pleasure to meet you Emile and Koko," A voice had said behind Emile and his new friend. He knew immediately who it was. Inside his head he started to freak out. Not just worry, he felt like his chest was going to close in on him. He had gotten too caught up in adventure. He had gotten too caught up in the idea of playing a prank, something he had loved. He was probably going to get a detention. He looked worriedly at Koko, with a look that said: "Busted." 

"Take a seat, preferably by the fire and explain to me your logic." The Headmaster said, and pulled up chairs. Emile followed Koko and took a seat next to her. He was silent, and he didn't even look like he was breathing. His hands were shaking. If he weren't probably about to get a detention, his notebook would have been out and he would have been scribbling away all of his feelings.

Emile took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, which he half succeeded at. "W-well... I suppose we wanted to have some fun... and it would be more fun to... maybe prank the headmaster... than anyone else," Koko said. She was looking at the ground, so Emile figured he might pick it up from there.

"I-I-I promise we w-weren't going to steal anything. We were still deciding what we wanted to do when you got here. All I thought we might do is put paper everywhere." Emile admitted. There was no use lying to the Headmaster, it would do more harm than good. At least that's what Emile thought. 

"S-so..do w-we have a punishment?" Emile asked nervously, and glanced over at Koko. Emile's eyes that were usually full of excitement and curiosity looked almost dead. Anyone who looked at him could tell he was as nervous as an actor on opening night..maybe even more than that. He didn't want to go to detention, but maybe that was what de deserved? 

He couldn't afford to think what would happen to him if he got punished, he had to think of what was happening now. 

Sorry for my slothful reply. I have been engaged in a staff related matter the last several days that took the sum of my free computer time.

-- Solomon.

"Yeah, I suppose that punishments are what a responsible Headmaster would do from here," Solomon answered evenly as he glanced up at the sorting hat. The sorting hat had seen it all, centuries of miscreant youths and while merely an animate object, had all of that experience possessed in that tattered form. The hat gave no answer, no encouragement or discouragement. Always silent when he had a query and a chatterbox when he wanted peace. 

He pondered momentarily, muttering something about a suitably evil punishment. Then it came to him, a streak of inspiration, a flash of intuition. if they wanted to have "fun" then by-jolly they would have it. He let out a sign, "I suppose teaching you a lesson is why I became a Professor rather than an incredibly handsome adventurer..." He stood up and walked towards his desk and recovered a few pictures, in the pictures there was minimal movement just blinking as the sense that they were breathing. About one-hundred or so pages with the same or at least similar images.

A sharp inhale sounded from the girl. Of course they would be given a punishment. Koko kept fidgeting as she began to feel even more awkward. It only made matters worse when Headmaster Lear started talking to himself. But then he said,

"I suppose teaching you a lesson is why I became a Professor rather than an incredibly handsome adventurer."

Koko couldn't help but laugh at that. It was a strained, awkward laugh. That type of laugh that one makes when they're undeniably nervous. so was he going to punish them? Was that what teaching them a lesson would mean? Or was it something else, like forcing them to sit through hours of studies. Honestly, Koko wouldn't care if it were the latter. But if there were no punishment, then what would happen to them?

Her question was answered sooner rather than later. What is he doing? She thought as a small smirk appeared on her pale face. Headmaster Lear began with two sentences about pranks. Is he..?

Adhere these images, alter them slightly to make them scary. Cut out my face and have it peer through the blinds of a window. Pour a bit of glitter over the eye area and then place it in a shadowy or dark place that is not entirely black so they see a glint in a vent shaft.

Yes. Yes he was. Koko's smile grew as he talked, her golden eyes brightening with excitement. Her first real prank--and advice from the headmaster! What could possibly be any better?

Still, it wasn't the most elaborate prank. It didn't need to be. Hanging up pictures all around the school, in air vents, and other things... That would be particularly interesting, especially for the others to see. But one thing remained...

"What happens if a prefect catches us and gives us detention?"

A stupid question, yes. But it was also one that she felt needed to be voiced. What if they had special permission? Then a prefect couldn't try and get them in trouble. Problem solved. Koko still looked worried, though, as she clasped her hands together in near-excitement, almost bouncing in her seat.

<sub>"Yeah, I suppose that punishments are what a responsible Headmaster would do from here," The headmaster said, looking up at the sorting hat. Emile wondered what he did that for. Could the sorting hat give them guidance? He had only really known it for sorting into houses, and being a bit sassy while doing so. Emile looked up at the Headmaster, his hands shaking a bit. Would they be punished? Lear didn't seem like he was going to..but you never knew. 

"I suppose teaching you a lesson is why I became a Professor rather than an incredibly handsome adventurer..." Emile couldn't help but laugh a bit about the part of becoming a handsome adventurer. Had he wanted to become an adventurer? Sailing the seas, seeing the sights of the world, learning..Why had he decided to be a Headmaster instead. This sparked some curiosity. Emile, on instinct, pulled out his notebook from his robes and the pen with it. He then realized he might have come off as rude for doing so. "Sorry, it..it was on instinct. Can I write something down really quick?" The Gryffindor asked, then quickly scribbled into his notebook. Anyone could tell his handwriting was extremely messy. He quickly closed his notebook, then slipped it back into the pocket it was in before, with a final turn of his head back to Lear. 

Emile was pleasantly surprised when Lear went into a bit of a lesson on pranks. This was definitely not something he had suspected when he had first seen the Headmaster walk into the room. He thought they would be cleaning the toilets or running errands for teachers by now. He had a sigh of relief, then realized this pranking information might be good for him and his friends in the future, and started to write that down too, quickly retrieving his notebook from his pocket. 

"...For all the ladies that likely have a crush on me. Plaster my face all around their study or work space with hearts and candles." The Headmaster finished, handing him and Koko a stack of pictures each. He took it gladly, and also got extremely excited. He looked over at Koko and smiled widely, then back at Lear. 

After, he even suggested that they come back after they finished playing the prank. He even said he would give them another simple joke. Emile knew that this school was in good hands as soon as the Headmaster finished. Koko then asked a very important question. "Yes, that is true, Sir. What should we do if someone catches us?" Emile echoed.</sub>