Eternal Patience

Barnaby and Sarah shared a panicked look before the party broke out into mass chaos. There was a mad scramble for the door. 

Barnaby rushed over to Ismelda, who was still dancing, oblivious to what was going on. He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her after him, following Sarah as she, Jae, and Charlie fled for the door.

"Get back here, you delinquents! I'll have you expelled for this!" Filch wheezed. The students ignored him. Filch couldn't tell one student from another; as long as they could get back to their houses without being caught, they'd be safe. 

"Let's go!" Merula had followed them out as well. As students shot off in different directions, Barnaby dragged Ismelda away from Filch's voice. 

They weren't paying attention to where they were going, they were just trying to get as far as possible from the party. As luck would have it, they found themselves trapped in one of Hogwarts's several corridors with a dead end.

"Great, who let Lee lead the way?" gasped Merula. 

"I can't help that I'm so fast," he argued. 

"C'mon," said Charlie, "We've got to get out of here."

"I hear someone down here, my sweet." 

They froze. Filch was coming down the corridor. Any second, he would come around the corner and catch them. 

"Mum's gonna kill me," muttered Charlie. 

"Do you think Filch will recognize the auto-answer quills in my pockets?" whispered Jae.

"I'm gonna be expelled before I can free Beatrice," said Sarah. 

Barnaby turned to Merula. "Make sure Ismelda gets back safe, okay?"

He stepped forward. Sarah grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back, but he shook her off and ran around the corner, nearly knocking Filch over. 

"Ah ha!" he wheezed. He grabbed Barnaby's shoulder. "Got one! Not having such a great time now are you, you little rat? Who's your head of house, then?"

"Professor Snape," said Barnaby. 

"Excellent," said Filch, his yellowed teeth flashing. "Let's go and have a little chat with Professor Snape then, eh?"

He led Barnaby down the corridor, toward Professor Snape and away from his friends.

*****************

"You expect me to believe you were sleep walking in dress pants and shirt?" Snape hissed from across his desk. 

Barnaby looked down at himself. "Are these not my pajamas?"

"Easy as it may be for you to play dumb, Lee, we both know you were at the annual party Filch and I have been waiting to bust for years. Fifty points from Slytherin."

Barnaby winced. His prefects were not going to be happy with him. 

"Also, detention," said Snape. 

"In the kitchens?" he asked hopefully. 

Snape sneered at him. "Nice try. You'll be doing lines." He waved his wand and a piece of parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle appeared in front of Barnaby. 

"Right now?"

"Why not? I'm up, thanks to you." Snape leaned across the desk so that Barnaby was fogged with sleeping breath. "I want you to write 'I must not disregard regulations by engaging in frivolity and merriment outside my sanctioned dormitory after curfew.' One Hundred times. And," he stood up, his face twisted in an ugly smile, "for each word you misspell, I will deduct a point from your last exam score."