Jessamine wasn’t quite sure if her face was just wet because she was bleeding that profusely from her nose or because she had started crying, but she laid on the ground, frozen when she heard Professor Foxwood’s booming voice and felt Autumn go flying off of her. She didn’t like it when men yelled, especially in that way, it reminded her too much of her father, and the painful feeling in her whole body like she just got beaten into submission only made those horrible feelings that much worse; it took a moment before she could talk herself down from the panic attack it had caused before she could force herself to sit up and get up off the floor to a standing position, though it hurt quite a bit thanks to the bruises that were already forming. At least she knew how to cover that sort of thing up with beauty charms by now as it wouldn’t be the first time she needed them.

Her eyes flickered forward, though her left eye was almost swollen shut with how hard Autumn must have hit it, and she had to hold the torn sleeve of her robe to her nose so the blood wouldn’t stain the carpet. Minnie couldn’t feel more humiliated if she tried as she glanced at Professor Foxwood, then Matilda, then back at the floor; she was in such a state of disarray in front of a male professor, first of all, she shielded her modesty the best she could since Autumn tore her robes, but it wouldn’t stop him from seeing how her hair was matted, her ribbons gone, bites, bruises, scratches, and so forth all over her exposed skin, and that just as the redhead thought - she looked like she got hit by a carriage. Then there was the humiliation factor that she was being blamed for the fight and she never once caused this much trouble in her life; she could be a gossip, sure, and she’d had a detention once or twice in her whole seven years, but never this. Finally, surely everyone saw how she froze up in terror and didn’t get up at first because of her anxiety. Minnie thought she was going to be sick if she didn’t leave soon.

It took a brief moment, but Minnie turned her eyes to look at Millie, as if willing her to take her side, to defend her honor somehow; she was the only ally she had in this whole situation and it really broke her heart when she just apologized for what happened rather than defend her. But, she didn’t blame her like everyone else, and that was certainly something to consider once her emotions weren’t running so high. “Professor,” she finally said, her voice was almost as quiet as Penelope’s was, it even cracked some because she now felt the tears, “I would never hit a first year, you know me, I would never kick or punch or do any of that. I won’t deny I may have said something a bit unkind that perhaps Miss Fairfax took the wrong way, but I would never resort to such violence.” She swallowed hard, tasting blood, and took a moment to stare down at the floor before forcing herself to look back up, “May I please go to the nurse? I think I’m going to be ill and my nose is bleeding.”