- Chapter Twelve -
"We have Mr. Filch for a reason."

"PLEASE."

"No."

"Pretty please."

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top, there's some cream there too."

"Miss Opal," Professor McGonagall whirled around with her face already looking exhausted despite only being in the presence of the young girl for no more than five minutes. "Your pleading will get you nowhere. Now for the sake of my sanity, please stop talking until we arrive at the Owlery."

"Where's that?" Sherry asked, a bucket in one hand and a dustpan and brush in the other. She had gotten back to school a couple of hours ago, leaving the good time she had at Hogsmeade at the gates and entering with her nonchalant attitude when once again inside of the stone walls. Dinner had gone smoothly until she got a note at the end telling her to meet Professor McGonagall in the entrance hall to go up to her second detention with Potter.

Sherry had been begging for McGonagall to tell her what she would be doing and if she could just make it up to her another time, preferably without Potter, but the woman would dismiss all of her words .

"It's the next tower along." McGonagall said, walking towards said tower as Sherry followed, seeing a spiralling staircase going up the side of the stone. "Oh, Potter, there you are."

Sherry looked around to see Potter walking towards them with a dustpan and brush in his hand, his eyebrows furrowed slightly at it as he approached. Looking in between his dustpan and brush and her bucket, Sherry connected the dots and began to put the bucket down to run away but McGonagall had her hand wrapped around the wrist before she could get far.

"No." She struggled, trying to yank her hand out of the woman's grip but McGonagall just stood there impassively like the girl wasn't using nearly all of her strength to try and get free. "I am not...going to...clean the Owlery...it stinks already but I'm pretty sure that's just Potter."

"Wait, cleaning the Owlery?" Potter exclaimed, turning incredulously to his Head Of House. "Please, Minnie, just let us off this once." He pleaded as Sherry continued to struggle.

"Yeah, Minnie, please."

"Oh look, you're agreeing with each other on something." McGonagall said blandly and both of them shot out protests at once.

"No!" They said together, practically shouting but McGonagall remained stoic. Sherry grumbled under her breath and gave up on her attempt to leave but the elder woman didn't let go of her wrist.

"So you want to clean the Owlery?" She asked, feigning curiosity and confusion as she tilted her head to the side.

"No!" Both of them shouted again before turning their heads to glare at each other furiously. "Stop it!"

"Okay, well, no time for dawdling. Potter get the bucket." McGonagall ordered and he did so, grimacing at the thought of cleaning the Owlery without any magic. Sherry's wrist was still clamped in McGonagall's hand to prevent a timed escape that could happen any moment, Potter noticed that McGonagall had taken Sherry's wand and could only guess that she would take his too.

The three of them climbed the staircase slowly, the teenagers wanting to be anywhere but there and McGonagall wanting to go quicker so she could retire her office for an hour sooner. Sherry's wedge heels scuffed against the rough stone steps as she dragged her feet and James's flat shoes slapped against it too, the two of them making as much noise as possible to voice their complaints without actually saying anything.

James had gotten changed from what he had gone to Hogsmeade in, his coat and red sweater having been replaced by a white t-shirt and a black and white flannel over the top of it. His hair wasn't covered by a thick bobble hat anymore but instead let free and floppy over his head, a couple of strands hanging in front of the lenses of his glasses. Sherry was still in the same outfit but she had taken her tights off since they had gotten wet from the puddle earlier so her bare legs under her skirt had risen with goosebumps in the October breeze.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Potter asked, pinching his nose and grimacing in disgust as they got closer to the entrance to the Owlery.

"Owl shit." Sherry answered with a small roll of her eyes, McGonagall had let go of her wrist to hold her long robes instead to avoid tripping on them and going tumbling down the stairs.

"You're Owl shit." Potter grumbled in response, running a hand through his hair as it blew all over the place due to the wind. He looked at Sherry's hair and frowned at the sight of it staying perfectly in place whist his was going every which way.

"Real creative." Sherry said sarcastically, nodding her head exaggeratedly. "You should seriously think before you speak because somewhere out there, a tree is tirelessly producing oxygen for you. You owe it an apology."

"If I throw a stick, will you leave?" He asked with a small groan, McGonagall turning to glare at him slightly.

"Oh, sorry." Sherry laughed mockingly. "Was I meant to be offended by that?"

"Stupid." James muttered, glancing up to see if she had heard him. He hoped that she did.

"Yeah, you're rubbing off on me." She said with a tone of mock sincerity and ignored the exasperated sigh of McGonagall in front of her. "Which is also sad because you are incredibly dumb. Like, you're not the dumbest person on the planet but you better sure hope they don't die."

"Miss Opal, that's enough." Professor McGonagall finally snapped, Sherry smirking in satisfaction of getting the last word and insult. But her smirk dropped when she realised they had arrived at the Owlery already and the smell of shit had gotten larger. She pulled the top of her turtleneck over her mouth a nose and gagged into it slightly.

McGonagall stepped inside with no problem and Sherry went in too, grimacing at the straw all over the floor. An Owl flew over head and she flinched as she looked up and sighed in relief when it only tucked itself into a hole for the evening.

"Now," The woman said whilst James placed the bucket and dustpans on the floor in front of him. "The two of you are to clean the floor free of the straw, rocks, spare bits of paper and droppings using the dustpan and brush, you are then going to put it on the bucket. Once the bucket is full, one of you will take it down to Hagrid who will empty it before giving it you back so you can come back up and fill it again."

Sherry glanced out of one of the windows to see Hagrid's hut all the way down over the field and cringed at the fact that she would be doing a lot of walking. Unless...

"You are not to use magic or broomsticks to make it more convenient for yourselves."

Never mind.

"The holes need cleaning too and restocking with hay that Hagrid will also give to you when you tell him that you've finished with the floor. The food and the water also both need refilling and the final thing I have to say to you is that you both must help each other. Potter, your wand please." She held a hand out to James who reluctantly put his wand in her open palm. "Have fun."

She swept back out of the Owlery and back down the spiral staircase quickly, leaving the two teenagers together to serve their detention. Sherry whined and walked over to the doorway, poking her head around the side and shouting down the staircase which she had disappeared from.

"We have Mr. Filch for a reason!" She said and tuned back around with a small pout and a grimace mixed into one at the sight and the smell of the place. A cold breeze from the open archway and windows blew her hair. "God, I hate the wind."

"How is your hair not messed up?" James asked irritably, brushing his hair away from his glasses again with a bit of difficulty as he swore softly.

"It's called Hairspray. Harmony hairspray to be exact." She answered him, flipping it slightly. "Works like a charm."

Potter only grunted and slowly got down on his knees in a clean spot to start sweeping dirty hay and stuff on the floor into the dustpan. He did one and stood to pour it into the bucket when he saw Sherry stood aimlessly by the archway, arms crossed and not helping.

"Opal, come on, sooner we do it, sooner we go back to our common rooms."

"You are crazy if you think I'm walking all the way down to that hut with a bucket full of reeking owl shit." She told him, shaking her head and nearly gagging at the mere thought of it. "I'll help but only if you're the one to carry the shit bucket."

"That's not fair."

"It's totally fair."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Fine, you know what?" He sighed, aggravated and looked her straight in the eyes with his annoyance flaring massively inside of them. "If you help, I'll take the shit buckets and when we're done with the floor, you come with me to get the new straw and then you refill the water and the food. Sound fair?" He held the second dustpan and brush up to her with a raised eyebrow.

She stayed stood still for a couple of seconds, she really didn't want to get on her knees and clean owl shit when she could be destroying Louis at Wizard's Chess or flirting shamelessly with the boys and some select girls that were milling around the hallways. But she knew that the only way she would be doing that was if she got this over and done with first, so with a hard glare of established reluctance, she snatched the dustpan and brush from him and carefully lowered herself down to a crouch instead of on her knees.

The bristles of the brush swept all the dirty hay and round owl droppings into the small expanse of the metal dustpan and she stood up easily again before pouring it into the bucket. James had filled his dustpan again and went to stand up but put a had on his knee and groaned slightly as he stood which made Sherry snort as she crouched back down.

"What now?" He looked over at her with a bored expression, the contents of the dustpan gaping into the bucket so now about 1/4 of it was filled.

"You stand up like a middle-aged man with a receding hairline."

"Okay, what the fuck?" He went to go back down but stopped and looked over at her with furrowed eyebrows. She only laughed at his expression so he rolled his eyes and went back down to his knees whilst trying to withhold his small groan which would only crack her up more.

"Keep rolling your eyes, you might find a brain back there." She said, standing with her full dustpan as James did the same, the both of them now stood in the front of the bucket at the same time.

"Okay, that wasn't that original, I've heard it before." James said with a proud smile and Sherry scoffed, turning to him with raised eyebrows. He turned to her with the same expression as if challenging her to prove herself.

"Who said it to you?" She asked with a smirk growing, if it was who she thinks it was then his smile was going to drop in seconds.

"Remus." He puffed his chest out slightly and smiled cockily at her but seeing the amused glint on her eyes, his shoulders slumped slightly and he sighed quietly. "You said that to him first, didn't you?"

"Yeah." She nodded with a smile and he willed himself not to roll his eyes but instead went back down to get some more waste onto his dustpan.

"Ugh!" He exclaimed, darting back up quickly. "I knelt in owl shit!"

Sherry broke out into a small wheeze of laughter but it trailed off when James pulled out some gloves from is pocket, probably from the Hogsmeade trip earlier and pulled them onto his hands. He got a handful of the straw and a couple of owl dropping and held it out to her threateningly with a sarcastic smile and she flinched away from him.

"Gross!"

James launched it at her, it hitting her on her top before dropping down to the floor. He chuckled but it turned nervous when she looked up with a large glare, steam practically boiling out of her ears and he gulped apologetically.

"I hate you." She breathed out and wanted to be away from him more than usual now, he had just thrown owl shit at her white shirt. James felt a bit scared of what she was going to do but what scared him more was when she just continued to quickly fill the bucket until it was full before handing it to him without a word and just a glare.

He glared back viciously at her, the small moment of laughter and teasing long gone as he walked down the stairs of the Owlery with the shit bucket. No matter how hard the teachers would try, they would never get along and Sherry never gives anyone satisfaction.

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: I will never get over how much Ashley Benson's (the face claim for Sherry) Instagram would literally be Sherry's if she had one.

(She would have made Remus take this one)

(She would've taken this one herself)

(She would've also made Oliver take this one)

(Amber took this one just because she wanted to and her best friend is a hottie)

(I feel like Oliver would've taken this one too, idk why I just do)