**I don't own Harry Potter!**

**I know there is a mistake, and that Abraxas Malfoy is not Lucius Malfoy's father, but I work with what I have**

"Or you could say I'm your new best friend."

It was six the next morning when James kicked me out of bed.

"Huh?" I said groggily, the sun glaring in my face thanks to James having ripped my curtains open with a savage battle cry. Maybe that was why I woke up.

"First day of school, and you have detention? Good going, man." He raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up." I said, covering my face with a pillow and aiming a kick in his general direction. I really didn't want to wake up. It was a tradition for us to be late to the first class of the semester.

"Come on, McGonagall says, and I quote, 'If Black is late by even half a second, I shall double his detention.'" James pulled quite a believable McGonagall, actually.

That got me out of my bed really fast. I so did not want to spend the first four months of school in detention, bad enough that I was going to spend two.

"I'm hungry and I have a two month long detention." I sighed sadly.

"It won't be so bad, I reckon. And it's the first day of school; the elves will have those Bavarian éclairs. You could go tickle the pear." I could have punched him for his nonchalant attitude. He wasn't going to spend two months in detention anyway.

"So you say." I muttered.

"Have fun!" He said brightly.

"Stop that, Prongs." I growled.

"Nah, I like it. It's fun." He grinned impishly. Infuriating, really.

"Then I hope Lily puts you in detention as much as possible."

"Shut up." He threw my own pillow at me. I shot it down with a flick of my wand. He grinned at me and said, "It isn't like you haven't done it before. Come on, I'll even schedule the Quidditch tryouts so that you can come." He said, trying to mollify me. I grumbled all the way to the showers.

I showered quickly, not wanting to be 'even half a second late', and got into my robes. I practically sprinted downstairs, so I was barely paying attention to where I was going. I was certain nobody would be up at that godforsaken hour. As usual, just when I needed to be right, I was wrong. I collided with this giant group of third year girls.

"You're Sirius Black!" One giggled.

"Yep." I said shortly before striding away quickly.

I went straight to the portrait of the silver fruit bowl. I reached up to tickle the pear, but before I could reach even the banana, it shrieked and said, "Please, no! You could just ask, you know." The pear was quivering so badly, it was hilarious.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind next time." I grinned at it while it groaned.

"Next time?" It asked.

"Sorry. My hunger is like a force of nature." I told it. The portrait swung to the side and the door was revealed.

I burst into the kitchen and there were instantly about six elves surrounding me. They barely reached my knees.

"Anything we can get you, sir? Anything at all?" One of them squeaked.

"I'm starving." I told him. Dead helpful, they were. They were absolutely nothing like Kreacher. He'd murder me in my sleep if he thought he could get away with it.

"We have just the thing, sir." About three seconds later, they had brought me a sandwich about an inch and a half high.

"Take this as well, sir." Another one squeaked, pushing six of those amazing éclairs into my pocket.

"Thanks so much!" I grinned at them, looking at my watch. Breakfast began in four minutes. I tore out of the kitchen, praying McGonagall would be in a good mood. I unwrapped the sandwich and ate as I ran. Though I'd had to struggle to fit my mouth around it, I was still rather hungry. I pulled out an éclair from my pocket and was just about to eat it when I collapsed with someone short and slender. All I saw was a swish of black hair before we both went down.

"Ugh!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry." I got up, dusted off and checked my watch again. Shit. Two more minutes.

"Hey!" She called, still on the ground. "You spoiled my shirt!" She said. She had an enchanting voice. I cringed. I really was screwed.

I helped her up, wondering how mad McGonagall was going to be. She fished around in her robes for something, but came up empty. "Did I leave my wand in that room?" She muttered to herself. I secretly wondered what kind of person forgets their own wand somewhere. I checked my watch again. Minute and a half.

"I'd love to stay and chat," I told her because she was still holding my hand, "but I really have to go." I hinted, subtle as a gun.

"Yeah, of course." She said and I let her go. Unable to support her weight, though, she fell down again. It was then that I noticed the bandage around her knee. It was one that I recognized. Whenever my muggle neighbor broke his knee, he would get one exactly like it, and he would need crutches to get around. Which she did not have. Brilliant. What kind of guy would I be if I left her like that? So I risked an extra long detention to help her up. Supporting her weight with one hand, I offered her one of the éclairs. Not because I particularly wanted to share, mind, but because I really wanted to eat one and it would be rude not to give her one.

"Thanks." She said, taking it.

"Where do you need to go?" I asked her.

"I'm fine. I can walk." She snapped.

"Yeah, sure you are." I raised my eyebrow dubiously. I held on to her even more securely.

"Let me go!" She said, jerking away from me. I held her firmly in my grasp. Her bad leg was wobbling scarily.

"Just…tell me. I'll get you around. What's wrong anyway?"

She muttered something indiscernible.

"What?"

"I've got a broken knee. I can't walk."

"Then you need to go to Madam Pomfrey!" I exclaimed. The nurse would be able to fix that in a minute.

"No, I can handle it for a while. I just don't have my wand."

"Where is it?"

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" She asked, exasperated.

"You need to accept that you need help." I told her resolutely.

She sighed. "Third door on the left in the corridor with the portrait of the leprechauns."

"Right." I told her. It was not difficult to help her, rather drag her, to where she needed to go. I wrapped my arm around her waist securely, and was moving so quickly, that she didn't even have to move her legs. She simply picked up her feet with a dancer's grace and tucked them in tightly as I sprinted to the room she'd said. Her wand was stuck in the pocket of her jeans, which were draped (inside out) over a chair. She grabbed it and bandaged her leg securely.

"Thanks." She said a little hesitantly. "I'll see you around, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess so." I waved a small wave at her before running away at full speed once more. McGonagall's room was not far, and I really wanted to save as much as I could of my life at Hogwarts. She was going to eat me alive.


"I'm…here…Professor." I said, a stitch in my side.

"Ah, good. Good morning, Mr. Black."

"Morning, Prof." I said, raising my eyebrow at her politeness.

"We need to discuss your, ah, situation." I didn't say anything.

"This is Bianca Hughes." She said pointing to the girl I'd just noticed. First thing, bandage. Second, long black hair framing a very pretty face. Third, startlingly blue eyes.

"Oh." It was her. The girl I'd just helped.

"Hi." She said. I hadn't noticed the lilting brogue before. Irish. How charming. Snap out of it. She's new. I'd always had a thing for the Irish, though.

"She's new to Hogwarts, and she shall be in your year. The hat has sorted her into Gryffindor." Excellent!

"She was sorted with first years?" I asked, incredulous that James had not told me about her.

"Don't be thick, Black." She said, waving away the question, "She was sorted when she arrived at the school during the summer break." I nodded in understanding.

"Have you heard of St. Peters Academy in Ireland? It is the sister school of Hogwarts, which you would know if you had read Hogwarts: a History."

"You know I don't read, Professor."

"Yes, I do realize that, Black, and that is why I'm telling you this. Bianca is a transfer student from there."

She was going to continue, but I cut her off. "We have transfer students?"

"Stop interrupting me, Black, or I shall take points from Gryffindor. And yes, in special circumstances, we do take transfer students. Bianca is a brilliant girl, her grades indicate that, and we have excellent recommendations from St. Peters about her. Since she is new to the school, you shall escort her to all of her classes. You are hereby suspended from all further activities unless they coincide with Ms. Hughes'. You shall not try out for Quidditch unless she does. You shall also help her with any assignments, seeing as the Irish curriculum is slightly different from ours. Any time I see her without you, I shall take ten points from Gryffindor and extend your detention by a week. However, Black, this does not grant you permission into the girls' washrooms or the girls' dormitories. You shall escort her to Hogsmeade and stay here if she wishes to stay. Basically, you will be her shadow. And do make sure you don't get into any further detentions, as that would put Ms. Hughes' in detention as well."

My jaw dropped. "Isn't that a bit of a stretch, professor?" I asked, my eyes wide. What I was thinking was, that's a bloody bitch of a detention.

"No." She replied simply. "Here is your schedule, Black. Chop chop." She said to me.

"And as for you, dear," she said, twirling her wand at Bianca, "you'll need to go to Madam Pomfrey, but this ought to keep you from stumbling for a while. Would you wait outside for Black, please?"

She simply nodded. "Black, listen to me. This happens to be Professor Dumbledore's idea, not mine. This is as much a responsibility for you as a detention. Bianca is in grave danger. Lord Voldemort is after her, and he has his henchmen everywhere." Well she didn't beat around the bush.

"But…why, professor? He can't get her in here anyway. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world!" I repeated what I'd been told since I was a child.

"She didn't break her knee herself." She said tartly. Her lips had become very thin.

"Was it a Slytherin, professor?" I asked, my eyes narrowing infinitesimally. Obviously. He didn't have Hufflepuff followers. James' father had told us that lots of Slytherins from his time had joined Voldemort.

"We have our suspicions." She said. So that was a yes.

"Why me, professor? Isn't this a bit much for a detention?"

"You've taken the NEWTs for an auror, haven't you? Call it extra credit."

"Then tell me, Prof. Why's he after her?" I didn't mind hearing the name, but I'd grown used to people flinching when they heard anyone say 'Voldemort', so I just said he now.

"Who can tell? Dumbledore has some theories, but Lucius Malfoy's father, Abraxas Malfoy, was a rather infamous name in the paper for attacking the girl. Nobody knows how bad this is, Black, but in all honesty (and don't you dare repeat this to anyone), I have faith in you. Protect her from him, and herself." She smiled a little at the last part. "And stop calling me 'Prof', Black."

I nodded, a little pacified. I was still bewildered. Me? Really?

I walked out, where she was waiting, leaning against the opposite wall.

"So, you're my new bodyguard, huh?" Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally.

"I guess. Or you could say I'm your new best friend."

"We'll see." She said, as though she was actually considering it.

This was detention? I thought as I looked over her. Her long legs were very shapely. All I knew was that I was going to have a ball.

Man, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.


**Rate? Recommend?**

Rose.