Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 15 : Rubby-rub

They finally arrived at the janitor's office after walking through most of the castle. Filch hissed as the paint on Aymee dripped onto his floor. He quickly regained his smile when Snape told him she would be his servant —or rather his slave— for as long as he needed to make up for her rubbish. Snape left her in Filch's care after casting her one last haughty look.

Filch shot Aymee a mean look. He took malicious pleasure in having her scrub the floors of all the corridors they had passed through so that "there wouldn't be a drop of paint left on the tiles". Aymee was only allowed a bucket of soapy water and a ragged rag to accomplish the colossal task given to her by the janitor. Filch patted Mrs Norris with an amused glint in his eyes as he watched her scrub the floor on all fours.

"And don't forget the corner over there," he reminded her. "And if you're lazy, don't forget Professor Snape said the detentions would continue until you finished the task I gave you."

Aymee took a deep breath to stay calm. Honestly, the task he gave her might have been a long one, but Aymee could hardly call it difficult. Not after Chiron had already punished her by forcing her to wash the dishes with the harpies in the lava. Not after she once had to tend the stables alone for a month. Not after living alone with her father on the road for over a year. Not after all that, no. Scrubbing the floor, she could do it with her eyes closed. No, if she had to remain calm, it was because of Filch's mocking and haughty gaze. Like most of the students, she had of course heard the rumors that he was a squib. That it was the frustration of not having magic that drove him to hate everyone who had it, which explained why he made students do more or less merciless muggly tasks.

I don't have to put up with his self-loathing, she groaned to herself.

"Something to complain about?" the janitor hissed, seeing her expression.

"No."

"Then scrub. I see red over there."

Aymee discreetly rolled her eyes before crawling to the place the janitor had pointed to. Aymee scrubbed vigorously to remove the half-dried paint. It was still quite a vicious punishment. She had to wash in the opposite direction to the path they had traveled. The thing is, the paint had been dripping mostly at the beginning of the trip, and the more time she wasted scrubbing a more or less clean spot, the more the paint dried. Acrylic on stone versus a soapy cloth. Not ideal.

Aaah... And to think I could miss the lava pshit-pshit and the asbestos gloves of the harpies... I didn't think I would think that one day.

Aymee continued her task. After about an hour, Filch got tired of seeing her crawling around to scrub the floor. He entrusted Mrs Norris the task of watching over Aymee while he went about to his own housework. A few hours later, in the afternoon, Aymee could hear the screams of the supporters echoing in the stone walls of the castle. Then, a rumble took over, followed by an impossible hubbub. Luckily for her, Aymee was in a wing rarely used by the students, so she didn't cross anyone. Judging by the cheers, she assumed the Gryffindors had won. Aymee peeked out a window. She had started scrubbing barely an hour after breakfast and the sun was already setting. The young half-blood must have done three-quarters of her task.

"I'm not doing so badly," she judged.

"Miss Parker?"

Aymee turned around. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were at the other end of the hall. They both had cheer goodies and streaks of red and gold makeup on their cheeks. They approached, curious.

"What might you be doing on the floor?"

Aymee took her chance.

"Professor Snape thought me guilty of Peeves' prank by accident and relegated me to Filch, who told me to scrub all the way back to wash off the paint."