Lexie's POV: I took another deep breath, before knocking on Professor Lupin's door.
"It's open", his voice resounded from within.
"Good evening, Miss Hatchet. Why don't you take a seat while I finish my work here."
I closed the door behind me and sat down. Thankfully Professor Lupin seemed to be in a good mood, so I took a moment to examine his office. To be honest, it was quite the view. The room was filled with an assortment of cages and tanks containing dark creatures.
"Oh, I've never seen them in real life," I said jumping back up and walking to a cage of doxies.
"You've never seen a doxy? They're fairly common in Northern Europe."
"I know, my father told me about them. He works at the ministry." I added, still examining the shiny beetle-like wings and the double row of sharp teethes.
"I know", Lupin muttered.
I turned around. "You know my father?"
For a short moment, Lupin went pale again. "Briefly. I suppose he is also responsible for your Patronus today?"
I dropped back into the chair across from him.
"Partly," I said, smiling. "The bigger part, of course, is attributable to my unique capabilities." My smile grew bigger.
"Of course", Lupin said sarcastically. "So your father teaches you defence against the dark arts? He works in that field if I remember correctly?" He seemed tense.
"Yeah, he works in the werewolf section of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and since your predecessor didn't really do the job, he did."
"Your father must have very interesting stories to tell."
I focused on the Doxy again. "He did. Up until the moment I revealed to him as a 10-year old that I wanted to become a werewolf. Since then he doesn't really talk much about work." I said, trying to hide how much that bothered me.
"No one wants to be a werewolf", whispered Lupin darkly.
"I guess his stories were just too intoxicating for a child. Of course, I wouldn't want to become a werewolf anymore, but the fascination stayed." I said, before realising who I was sharing my story with.
"I guess, that explains your Patronus," Lupin said looking back up from his work.
I shrugged my shoulders in response. Lupin rolled up the parchment and folded his arms in front of him.
"Let's switch to more delightful topics, shall we? Your detention starts today."
I gloomed at him in response.
"Since you showed so much interest in my ensemble of dark creatures, I'm sure that you will rather enjoy cleaning up their cages and tanks."
"I see now why I got detention," I said sarcastically. "Someone needed a cleaning lady."
"Oh now don't degrade yourself, I was thinking more of like a personal assistant. If you do well today, I might let you prepare a lesson for the first graders next time."
"Great." I got up and started my work. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could leave.

Nicki's POV: I got on my broom and pushed off the ground. It was a fairly mild day so at least I wasn't as cold as last time. We went into position while Alicia waited and then threw the quaffle up in the air. I had to give it to her, the quaffle went up in a straight line, not favouring any of the teams. Not what I would have done, but then Alicia had always been calmer and fairer. I couldn't stop to think about this now, though, so I crouched low over my broomstick and raced towards the quaffle. From the corner of my eye, I could see the other chasers doing exactly the same. But I was fastest, reaching the quaffle and immediately securing it by pressing it to my body. I abruptly turned my broomstick to the right when I noticed Flint coming right at me, not slowing down. Then I picked up speed again and flew towards the Slytherin goalposts as fast as I could, while I heard Fred shout at Flint: "What the bloody hell, Flint? The match has just started and you already start fouling?"
I couldn't hear Flint's reply if there even was one. I concentrated on not dropping the quaffle and reaching the goalposts. I felt a swish right at my ear, a faint stream of air and winced. A bludger had just passed me. Too close. It had been too close. I had to stay focused but my emotions were a messy mixture of anger at me, anger at Flint and the Slytherins, confusion and the need to win. I could see the Slytherin keeper zeroing in on me, ready to stop me from striking. But I could see the opening in his defence and without hesitating, I threw the quaffle and it flew right through the right goal. I could hear Alicia cheer from where she now sat on the stands.
"That'll be the only one you score today", Flint said while pulling up beside me.
I shot him a glare but couldn't reply anything before he was off and caught the quaffle from the keeper. I immediately went after him.
Angelina was faster than me and when he wanted to pass the quaffle to Pucey, she was there and caught the quaffle midflight. I turned and off we went towards the Slytherin goalposts again. When Flint came after Angelina, she quickly passed the quaffle to me and I caught it, didn't even catch it really and immediately made my throw for the goal.
Score! "HA!", I shouted to Flint and this time it was him who shot me the glare.
But then the tide turned. Slytherin had the quaffle and they didn't make any mistakes. After their fourth goal, Flint passed me and had the audacity to wink. Wink! I angrily flew after him, ready to wrestle the quaffle out of his cold dead hands. But I wouldn't be the first to foul, my pride would simply not allow it. So I just made attempts and then finally, it was Pucey's fault I got the quaffle again. A well-aimed bludger from George hit him right in the shoulder and he let it drop and I immediately caught it, flying off with it. I was almost in front of the goalposts when something hit me hard in the side. It was all I could do not to fall off my broom completely, but I could feel that something wasn't right. My leg was throbbing in pain and I couldn't properly pull it back up the broom so it just sort of dangled there. I looked at what had hit me. Flint.
Alicia shouted from the stands: "Break! Let her come down so I can take her place, she's not fit to play anymore." Unfortunately, this was true. I was pretty sure my leg was broken.
I met her on the ground and said: "Don't let Flint get away with it. Finish him off."
She nodded, a determined look on her face, then pushed off the ground and the game continued. I watched from below as the quaffle was thrown back and forth and bludgers were whirring through the air. I could see every single foul from both teams. It was probably the dirtiest play I had ever seen and it ended when Wood left his post, flew towards Flint and gripped him by the collar of his cloak.
The game was over or put on hold and the players all sunk to the ground. Angelina ran over to help me walk and we hobbled towards the others.
Wood and Flint were at each other's throats over something, probably the latest foul in which Flint had almost knocked Angelina off her broom the same way he kicked me out of the game. He hadn't hurt her though.
"This game really wasn't a good idea", Alicia murmured, when we came to stand next to her. I nodded in agreement.
"... weak, then she wouldn't be hurt now", Flint was saying at this moment.
"Weak? Who are you calling weak?", Wood said. "You are just a giant troll with no control over his body and mind. Merlin's flowery pants, I can't believe I agreed to play this match when I knew full well how it would end."
"End?", Flint replied and suddenly smirked. "This was just the beginning."
And this was the point something inside me just... snapped. I let go of Angelina's shoulder and flung myself towards him, ignoring the screaming pain that went through my whole leg. With a well-placed strike, I hit Flint on the nose and I don't know if it was the hit or the surprise, but he tumbled to the ground beneath me with a soft "oomph" as I landed on his chest.
I can't remember properly what happened afterwards, but I think punches were thrown in all directions. I, for my part, didn't let go of Flint and punched him again. Or tried to, since he had his defences up by then and threw me off.
Someone grabbed my cloak and pulled me back up but my leg wasn't carrying my weight anymore and I slumped back onto the ground with a groan. The pain was getting too much and I could see black spots in my vision, the world around me unfocusing.
"Hey", someone said, probably Wood? I wasn't sure.
"Hey! Veronica!" Someone shook me but I could only barely manage a groan before I passed out.