[OPEN] There are so many ways to find out, so why stick to one?

Kaiden was genuinely surprised about what had happened during class that day. Well, not exactly at what, but at who had caused the commotion over a disagreement about how a charm was pronounced, of all things.

The thing Kaiden had hated getting while he was at Hogwarts was now what he had given and it felt strange. Detention wasn't fun, for the students or for the professor who had to be there to watch them. Kaiden remembered being on the receiving end of that, it being one the few things he actually did remember, and while he would have liked to keep himself from having to give it, the Yaxley boy's last action in the fight had gotten him detention with Professor Poliakoff. The worst part of it all was which Yaxley had gotten the detention.

He was sure anyone would have expected it to be the older one, Cronis, because he was a Slytherin and he could be quite rude if annoyed, but it hadn't been. No, it had been Evander, the quiet Ravenclaw who usually kept to himself. Kaiden found it strange but he'd been noticing Evander's behavior changing with every class they had and though he knew something like this was bound to happen, he felt embarrassed that he'd not done a thing to prevent it from happening.

He supposed it was due to his wishful thinking that the Ravenclaw might have just been having a rough few days.

Merlin, was he wrong.

And Daniel Elliott's black eye in the morning was going to be proof of that.

Kaiden sighed, eyes lifting from the papers he was grading to check on Evander who was working on an apology letter for Elliott. Yes, it's a lame punishment but it did it's job because Evander didn't seem happy with having to write it. His eyes dropped back down to the papers in front of him but they were removed again, moments later, when he heard Evander say, "Professor?"

"What is it?"

"Nothing, sorry."

"Alright."

Kaiden wasn't interested in prying to try to continue the conversation that had barely even begun. But a few moments later, just as Kaiden had begun to write, a laugh came from Evander's seat. "What's so funny?" Kaiden asked, an eyebrow quirked up at the boy.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about how you haven't changed."

That caught Kaiden's attention. Evander knew something about him? It wasn't that strange, the Yaxleys would have been at Hogwarts by the time he graduated. They'd have only been second years, though, so he wasn't sure Evander really knew anything about him. "I haven't changed?" he asked.

"Yeah. You're still the hard-arse you were while you were still a student. I'm surprised you're back here, though. You were so set on working for the Ministry when you were a seventh year."

Kaiden blinked. A ministry employee? That was what he'd wanted to be before. What he was before? Kaiden didn't remember but he knew that being a Hogwarts professor wouldn't have been his first choice of jobs. He didn't regret it, though. "People's minds change over the years."

"Just like your wife's mind?"

"What?"

Clair handed the detention slip to Poliakoff and waited to be directed to do... whatever it was they wanted him doing today. He figured it would be something easy, like quiet studying or writing lines. It wasn't like he'd been caught drinking or part of a fight this time. Nope, today it was for predicting some very interesting (and steamy) futures in divination.

Poliakoff was already chatting to Evander Yaxley. Obviously, this was the first detention he'd had to supervise and Clair was tempted to ask whether it was a punishment or a social visit. The two had a lot in common, after all. If it weren't for Clair, they could probably pass the afternoon catching up on all the pureblood gossip.

Evander's mouth had curled into a smirk from the reaction he was getting out of the professor. He never thought he'd be able to get a reaction like that out of the man, but he was sure Cronis would have. That was probably the reason he'd decided to try it out. It was great that their families knew each other, even if it was kind of from a distance.

Obviously not far enough that the Yaxleys weren't aware of the problems between Kaiden and Adrienne.

"Sorry, maybe I should say ex-wife." He corrected himself, an eye roll added to the end of his sentence.

Evander dropped his quill, glad to have an excuse to stop writing the damned letter. He pressed his hands down on the table where he sat and pushed his chair back so it was only only on the two back legs, eyebrows raised like he was trying to challenge Kaiden.

Kaiden stared at the boy, almost in disbelief. Was this really Evander? It seemed hard to believe that he would be able to bring something like this up so casually, considering how quiet and shy he seemed to be in class and well.. just about everywhere else. He'd expect it from the older Yaxley but not from this one. The fact that he even knew about that created some curiosity in Kaiden, but he was unable to ask about it as another student came into the room.

Evander watched Professor Poliakoff gesture for Clair to take a seat, still clearly flustered over what he'd just said. Evander brought his head back down to the parchment in front of him again, trying to get the smirk to leave his face.

"Alright, Sauvage." Kaiden wanted to be the "cool" teacher and ask about the predictions but if he did, what would the point in being punished for it be? It would sound more like Kaiden was trying to encourage it and he wasn't sure he wanted to be seen that way. He needed to sound serious and somewhat stern. "You'll be writing lines, apparently. Write this 100 times." Kaiden wrote the sentence 'I will not treat Divination as a joke.' on the board, trying not to laugh at it.

He thought Divination had been a joke while he was in school. He still did, in fact. "Okay, you can start." He said passively.

So much for being stern.

Margo Richards was on Phase II of the Shag the Yaxleys Into Submission, though she supposed that title was a bit misleading, seeing as the shag wasn't exactly the endgame. She wasn't exactly what she was getting out of it, besides the obvious, but thought it could do the boys some good to be clear of the influence of a certain Mulciber, who was turning out to be some sort of dark temptress of sorts. Freeing them of her strange, unspoken bond could be considered a good enough act to excuse the means.

Phase I, the planting of the idea, had been more than done, she supposed. She could still do some work on Cronis, but she sensed he might be the easier of the twins - innuendo intended. No, it was Evander who was going to need some convincing, and it was why Phase II was so important, especially for him.

Phase II : run into him until he couldn't write it off as a coincidence.

Freyja always seemed to know where the boys were, so it hadn't been hard to figure out where Evan had gone off to. Detention was so perfect Margo wanted to pinch herself. The two of them alone, bored out of their minds... surely, something would have to fill the vacuum.

She didn't even bother faking a note, deciding to bound off to the Charms classroom. She burst into the room, naturally breathless from her rush, and stopped short.

Her eyes met Clair's briefly, standing up straighter in surprise. Oh.

The more the merrier, she supposed!

She offered Evander a small smile and then stumbled towards Poliakoff, saying, "I'm sorry - Professor Ashcroft just sent me this way. I'm in trouble for... looking at her the wrong way, I think? I'm not sure. I didn't think it was worth it to fight it."

Merlin, with any other professor it might have been a rotten lie. But part of her doubted Destrey would care too much about having an extra student giving her credit for a detention.

Ex wife?  Clair only caught the end of the sentence, but whatever Evander and Poliakoff were talking about, it clearly wasn't pureblood gossip.  Or maybe it was.  Who knew what purebloods gossiped about?  Clair wished he'd loitered outside the door before entering, now.

One hundred lines of not treating Divs as a joke.  It could be worse.  Clair could tell from Poliakoff's tone that he thought Divination was a joke, so he probably wouldn't be a hardarse about the actual number.  

He was just getting settled, pulling quills and ink out of his bag, when yet another person joined them.  Margo looked distinctly pleased for someone who'd just been given a detention, especially considering what it was apparently for.

Clair raised an eyebrow at her.  Really?