Although it may have not looked as such from the outside, Ezia thought her first day of classes had went rather well. She'd given points, she'd taken points, she'd given more than enough detentions to make sure the storeroom would be organized better to suit her needs and the classroom would be spotless. However, there were two students that had left her with a rather unpleasant feeling, and if anything the Potions Mistress was not easily fazed by such events.

Following the incident with said two students, Lucrezia immediately owled the father of the instigator - Tapendra Trishna, fellow co-worker and father of one highly temperamental Cyhirae Trishna. The letter was short and precise, informing the man of his daughter's behavior and requesting a meeting to decide on the disciplinary actions the girl would be suffering. She wouldn't have brought a parent in the conversation, if the man didn't also happen to be her Head of House. And she couldn't miss the chance of personally seeing for herself who had brought up the girl. And what and why could've possibly gone so wrong...

She was enjoying a cup of coffee in her office, red ink well on her right and a mountain of written class assignments in front, when she heard a knock on her door. Without even raising her head from her paperwork, the door opened with a swish of her wand. Once she was finished writing a rather scathing remark in the corner of an essay littered with grammatical errors, she eventually raised her eyes, past the rim of her reading glasses to see one Tapendra Trisha, the man of the hour. She nudged her head towards the armchair on the other side of her desk - an invitation to take a seat.

Finally dropping the quill back in the well, she leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap. "Good afternoon, Professor. I trust you have received my message" she half-asked, half-stated in a cold uninterested voice.

The new Potions mistress's owl had arrived in his office after Cyhirae and Ambrose had, making the incident slightly old news. Cyhirae had gone to his classroom after her departure from Potions, and as curious as he was to see what teacher had driven her from the classroom, he was certainly not going to grant her a break from class; thus, the two students had found themselves with their potions textbooks open in front of them, stuck studying the potion they'd walked out of the lesson on. He'd set them doing that until they had to leave for their next class. He'd left disciplinary action off the menu until he knew more.

Cyhirae had her mother's temper, which he'd learned made it hard to be neutral with just her side of the story - if he'd listened to her, he'd have thought Ignan Storm a cold, sinister bully of a man. He knew that not to be true - Ignan Storm was a cold, sinister bully with a sense of humor. And a heart that had some gold in it, bless him.

He'd gone down to the dungeons during one of his breaks, then, dressed in his usual professor attire of a waistcoat and slacks. The door swished open under his knuckles soon after he knocked, and he ducked into the room, tall form filling the doorway for a moment.

"Professor Di Luca," he said politely, with a flashed smile as he looked around the office a moment. It seemed clinical, as did her attitude - cold, frosty. She made Aileen seem a summer's day.

"I did. I trust this is a good time?" He added, gesturing to the papers in front of her. "If not, I can come back later."

"No need" she dead-panned, leaving the pleasantries for someone else. Such nonsense was for the high class society, of which Lucrezia would hear none of. "Please, take a seat" she gestured towards the chair again, with a tight lipped smile. "I'm afraid I can only offer you black Arabic coffee" she gestured towards the glass jug steaming on an end-table near the wall. You'd never find sugar or milk near Ezia's rooms. "But, surely the house elves would be eager to cater your needs" she raised her eyebrows questioningly, on stand-by to call one.

"As extensive as Hogwarts is, news tends to travel rather fast" Ezia continued, with obvious displeasure in her voice. "I assume, you've heard some version of what transpired during fourth year Potions?" she raised one perfectly defined eyebrow, steepling her fingers on the desk. "Should we start with Miss Trishna's rendition?" Lucrezia was just curious to see why the girl had left in the first place. Sure, she was harsh and demanding of her students, she'd had students rebelling or giving her a piece of their mind, but nobody to just... give up on the first class of their first day with her.

"No, thank you - I just had lunch," he said, with a smile and a slight wave of the hand as he sat in the guest chair.
The meat of why he was here was a slightly awkward one, naturally. Tapendra sat back and pressed his lips together thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to phrase what Cyhirae had told him in a civil manner. She had been rather..upset, when she spoke to him, in that burning way her mother had often gotten, too.

And while her story had certainly raised his eyebrows deep into his hairline, professionally he needed the reasons and version of the teacher in question. As a parent, he was upset on his daughter's behalf, but as a professor he was cautiously skeptical. This had to be some form of misunderstanding.

"She informed me you were coving the brewing of a Daught of Peace," he said, rubbing his chin as he covered the tale in more methodical terms than emotional ones. That seemed the best way to remove the expletives. "And in doing so, you broke the class into groups - and told them they could access the storeroom only once." An odd sort of thing to do, in his opinion, but he left that uncommented for now.

"And Mister Pepper sneezed, which ruined some of their ingredients." Not terribly surprising for poor Ambrose. "She seemed under the impression you were intending to give their table a zero and were, in her words, 'gloating about it.'" He only just resisted making airquotes, crossing his legs at the knee as he spoke, an eyebrow raised.

"She said that, at that point, she saw no point in remaining in class. She also seemed to be under the impression your 'no talking' policy applied to students asking questions?" That trailed off into a question, and he looked at her in polite bafflement. That had to be a misunderstanding, in his mind.

"I see" she said completely disinterested and with a tinge of displeasure in her voice. By the Gods, the things these children did to her. She was in no way surprised that Miss Trishna couldn't see beyond the mere tasks, to see the purpose beyond the words, nor that she couldn't be bothered to read the class syllabus which stated clearly the rules and protocol of the class.

"In only allowing one trip to gather the ingredients, in a roundabout manner, I was attempting to instill the notions of frugality in the students and hopefully, have them realize the importance of ingredients and how careful we must be when making use of them" she said, in her calm, slightly bored teaching voice. "There are circumstances in which an individual may only have one shot at brewing a potion correctly because of limited resources, as such I was hoping to prepare them for such eventualities" she continued, obviously displeased at having to explain herself to the man. "To further stress on the purpose of the exercise, any waste of ingredients would've resulted in disciplinary actions."

"I was intending to give the table a zero, only if they did not manage to brew the potion by the end of the class, which would've happened to anybody that didn't finish their assignment in the given time. I assume both Miss Trishna and Mister Pepper chose to walk away instead of think of ways they could salvage their ingredients, such as using a targeted vacuuming spell, a thorough cleaning charm or charmed filter paper—all knowledge they should have already had. If not that, surely some of their colleagues, despite my instructions, had wrongly measured their ingredients and could lend them some. But they gave up, without even trying" she raised her hands in defeat, shrugging her shoulders. "A classmate of hers, at least asked if there was a way to fix the situation, and she got her reply, your daughter simple walked away. And not only that, but in walking out in the manner she did, also encouraging another classmate to join her, she disrupted the entire classroom" this time she actually started the man intently, just a little bit of anger seeping through her words.

"She wasn't only disrespectful to me as her Professor, but also to her colleagues by taking their attention and mine, away from their tasks. And, pardon my saying so, but that is a severe misunderstanding and also ridiculous. Questions mean the students are actually paying attention, so if anything, I actually encourage them." Ezia almost huffed at that last imbecility. Really, what was wrong with this child?

"So, Professor Trishna, I hope you see how this would warrant further disciplinary actions" she ended icily, taking a sip out of her coffee mug.

Polite as his expression was, his brows knitted and his lips pressed together. While he could follow her argument, this was also his daughter – he was inclined to believe her side first, and skeptical that she could have stormed out had the professor's angle been known. Upset at it, certainly – Cyhirae was proof that temper could be genetic – but to storm out was unlike her.

“I see,” he said, an echo of her comment, smile careful and polite rather than sunny. “I can see the usefulness of such an exercise, of course – but you did make the point of it clear to them, yes? Our 4th years...and other years,” he added the second part with a slightly sarcastic tone, holding back a sigh, “Are prone to jumping to conclusions unless things are made clear, and as this was my daughter's first class with you, she have assumed such a harsh restriction was to be your standard practice. We have a high turnover of teachers here, you understand; the students have come to make snap judgements.”

If it was standard practice, it would be unreasonable, in his mind – while instilling frugality was important, it was also important that mistakes not completely impede a student's progress.

“Why do you think she assumed questions were forbidden?” He asked, rather than answering her question about punishment. He was still working his way around to that – and the strange gaps in Cyhirae's story made him skeptical of the both of them. “She was rather upset about that fact, when she spoke to me.”

"Of course I didn't" she replied with a confused sort of expression. What in Morgana's name was wrong with this man? Was he simply that... simple? "A lesson learned is a lesson earned" she said still eyeing the man skeptically. "If every fable came with a pithy maxim in the opening lines, or every parable led with the result or consequences, how many do you think would actually ponder on the given moral dilemma the story had presented?" she asked with an arched eyebrow and a tilt of her head. "Just like the apologue is a tool of rhetorical argument used to persuade, to teach, so was this lesson a means to an end. If your daughter had stayed until the end of the class, she would've realized said instructions were merely a vehicle for a lesson in frugality" she ended finally, in a bored sort of voice as her attention had dropped back to her cup of coffee, which was currently stirring itself.

"Also, Professor Trishna, I'm sure you agree that storming out of a class is rather extreme for a supposed snap judgement" she asked in a rather cold tone. "Besides, I thought the students were in my class to learn the art of brewing, not to philosophize or study the human character and behavior?" she said in a clipped voice, only raising her eyes once to stare him down, before redirecting her focus to her stack of papers, absentmindedly running her fingers over the top essay. "If the students have any sort of misunderstanding or fail to properly grasp instructions they are free to address me questions during the class, as long as they pertain to the subject of the lesson or during my office hours which are displayed on the door, as you may have seen when you walked in" she continued pointing at the door with one long bony finger.

Finally raising her head to once again stare incredulously at the Astronomy Professor, Lucrezia's face took a sort of confused and sort of pained expression as she tilted her head sideways, sort of like a dog would. "I'm sorry, Professor Trishna, but whatever makes you think I'd have any idea what goes on in your daughter's mind?" she asked almost perplexed. Teenagers were a sort of alien species without having a highly volatile temperament, she thought. And she'd long passed the age where she could even attempt to make out the working of a teenager brain. Not that she'd ever actually been able to resonate with other teenagers, even when she'd been one herself. "If anything, as her father I'm certain you know more about her process of making assumptions. I suppose, if you'd like an accurate answer, you'd have to ask her." Ezia took another sip of her coffee and straightened her back, a vertebrae or two making a rather loud *crack* in the grave silence of her office.

"Shall we get back to the terms of Miss Trishna's detention now?" she smiled tightly. She really wanted this to be over, she had essays to paint in red.

Tapendra echoed her expression with one of his own. Hogwarts students were not an audience, able to sit back and carefully think over the 'tale' of a lesson after experiencing it. Surely she knew that, if she'd worked with other people before? She was new to teaching, wasn't she...
 
"Perhaps," he agreed, half-heartedly. He was beginning to see why his daughter had left. He bit his tongue before he could remark she ought to be glad she'd only had two students leave; as far as new professors went, that wasn't bad. In a strange kind of way.

He drew himself up, tall figure straight and immovable as an iron bar.

"I merely wish to know if you can think of anything you may have presented or said that a student could misinterpret. Children are impressionable and, dare I say it, quick to jump to conclusions." He spoke with a tone a bit more sharp than he'd intended. The looks this woman kept giving him were beginning to get to him - the trickles of annoyance turning to an icy feeling. He made a note to question other students in Cyhirae's year. The story was a bit more tangled than he had expected, it seemed.

"Should you wish for her to serve detention with you or with another Professor -  I will leave that to your discretion. You are, after all, the injured party."

"No" she dead-panned seriously. "My instructions were clear enough for a first year student, as you can see from the fact that only your daughter and Mister Pepper have stormed out in the middle of it. Even more so, after the two had left, as it usually happens with young students studying Potions, there was obviously a minor accident involving an explosion. And even at that point, the students involved stayed in class and accepted the responsibility, as it is normal for a student" she explained conversationally.

"So, I can only conclude that your daughter seems to have some behavioral issues" she narrowed her eyes at the man, her lips twitching towards a scowl that she barely contained. "Regardless of anything that might've happened during the class, for a fourteen-year old to storm out in the middle of the lecture is completely unacceptable!" her voice actually louder, for the first time in the conversation. "This is an educational institution and Potions is a mandatory class, if everybody came and went as they pleased, where would we be? Regardless—" she took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I don't have the patience nor the will to teach somebody that doesn't want to learn. Your daughter should decide whether or not she can handle my class while acting the way a person of her status should, namely student, and only then return to my classroom" Lucrezia said with finality. "Meanwhile, she will be serving detention with me Tuesdays and Thursdays, at seven in the evening, with the option of making up for lost classes, until I say otherwise."

Did all the parents of this generation of the children have the nerve to question the Professors of their children on their methods of conducting class or was it just Trishna? Back when she was a student, if she had the nerve to walk out of class, not only would she have been severely punished by the school staff, but also by her parents... It was a wild world.

"Does that seem reasonable to you?" she asked as if daring him to say otherwise.

The smile was sudden and not entirely unforced, but it had an edge to it, one that gave away its masklike nature. De Luca's attitude was not one he appreciated, but her points were valid...mostly. Cyhirae did certainly not have behavioral problems, and he felt himself rankle at that; but given De Luca's tendency towards logical fallacy, her jumping to that conclusion followed what Tapendra had seen.

"Of course it's unacceptable, Professor," he said, reasonably, eyebrow rising as she raised her voice - did she think he had thought otherwise? "I apologize if you thought I was seeking to contest that."

He sat back a bit, adjusting his weight; his form relaxed, and he wove his fingers together, thoughtfully. "As far as I am aware, she has no schedule conflicts during those time periods. She will be attending your courses again on Thursday." Didn't matter if she wanted to or not.

"That said, I have no doubt of her willingness and desire to learn." She was certainly open about that, that was true. He could see a lot of similarities between Cyhirae and De Luca, in some ways.  "I know of no student in this school who has stormed out of a classroom due to an unwillingness to learn. Those students tend to be the ones who don't show up in the first place."

With eyes slightly narrowed and a little pause, she finally nodded curtly at his apology. It wasn't agreement, it wasn't disagreement, it was merely letting him know she'd hear his apology, however... unnecessary it had been. Just because the man was wrong did not mean he was not entitled to his own opinions. Not that she'd care enough to give further thought to them actually. Strange man...

The surety with which he next declared that his daughter will be in her class next Thursday, made Ezia think Miss Trishna would not, actually, get any say in the matter. How... sad. And uninspired. She'd long come to the conclusion that parents should be kept as little involved in their children's education as possible. Sicily, France, Russia, China, even Britain, wherever Ezia had taught, she had always hit a rather unproductive wall in the form of her students' parents. Education was an individual endeavor, it was only through one's own powers that one succeeded in furthering their knowledge and while she did not contest the fact that a parent might know their child best, when it came to studying and teaching, it was the instructor that could best aid the student. Regardless.

"Very well, then. I shall be expecting her in detention tonight and in class starting Thursday" she said curtly, straightening invisible creases in the essay at the top of the pile on her left. She raised her eyes to him, skeptical eyebrow arched as he went on to explain about storming out and truancy. When he was done talking, she merely continued to stare at him unimpressed for a couple of seconds. She then placed both arms on her lap and leaned back in her chair. "Oh? If not that, then why do you believe students storm out of class?" she asked, seemingly very interested and curious in the answer.