Lexie's POV: As I finished my last tank I realised that I just had my first normal conversation with Professor Lupin. I stopped and looked over at Lupin who was still busy taking notes. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. At least he actually taught us about defence against the dark arts.
On the other hand, he also gave me detention for four weeks. Maybe he was just a dick having a good day.
As if he felt my gaze he stopped scribbling and said: "Miss Hatchet, what lesson were you supposed to learn with this detention?"
"Never trust a man with power?" I asked sarcastically.
"Do you really think you're in the position to make jokes?" Lupin stood up and leaned against his desk with his arms folded in front of his chest.
"Well, last week I would have said no, of course. On the other hand, last week I also thought being disrespected by a Professor and then getting detention for it would be impossible, so what do I know really," I grumbled.
"That's the point, Miss Hatchet. What do you know? What do you know about disrespect?" Apparently, he was not having that good of a day after all. As he stepped over to me a shadow darkened his face.
"Probably more than a man who hides behind his Professor title to play power games with students."
I knew that I went too far the second the last word left my mouth. Within one moment Lupin had grabbed my collar and pushed me against the wall, his wand at my throat. His warm green eyes turned icy, as he slowly moved his wand up to my chin. I gulped.
"You know nothing about being disrespected," he whispered.
I just stared at him, unable to speak. After what felt like an eternity he slowly removed his wand and loosened his grip.
"Finish up, then leave." Before I could answer, he stepped away to his desk and started taking notes again.
I put my hands in my coat so that he would not see them shaking, then I cleared my throat. "Actually... I'm already done, sir", I said.
He looked at me and then at the clean cages and tanks surrounding him.
"How did you..." He started before his gaze fell onto my wand in my pocket.
"I said no magic, Miss Hatchet."
I finally found my courage again. "Proof it."
I did not wait for his answer to get out the door. I was still shaking a bit. What on earth did just happen?
I always thought that there were two kinds of anger. The emotional one, where your heart sank in your stomach, your voice broke and tears filled up your eyes while you screamed your pain into the world. And then there was the cold one. The kind of anger that rushes over you when the world rushed over you too many times; when the anger and frustration left you cold and empty inside. I shivered as I thought about Lupin's reaction again.
Maybe Flint and the boys were still training. Quidditch seemed like a fairly good idea to get my mind of the recent events, I thought to myself.
As I was a few feet away from the arena, I started hearing screams. As I ran into the stadium one of the weirdest sights opened up to me. A tumult of red and green tossing and turning over the field. The Gryffindor and Slytherin team were at each other's throats.
"STOP", I yelled but no one seemed to hear me.
I pulled my wand and seconds later both teams were hit by a shock wave that pushed them gently to the ground.
"What on EARTH is going on here?" I yelled as the teams slowly recovered. "Are you out of your goddam minds?! We could both get DISQUALIFIED for this. Is that what you want, he? YOU BLOODY IDIOTS!" Angrily I stomped towards them. "Look at you! We can't go to Madam Pomfrey like this! We'd get detention for the rest of our lives! You want to see the next Quidditch game from the window of the trophy room, cleaning the medals of people with at least some brain cells behind their foreheads?"
I let my eyes wander over the crowd. Luckily most of them only had scratches or maybe a few bruises, Wood was developing a black eye and Marcus... I faltered. Marcus was hanging with a bleeding nose over the lifeless body of Veronica. I ran towards them, but Wood stood in my way.
"Don't you dare touch her," he growled.
"I see no one of your team cowering by her side." I snapped back, before pushing him aside and kneeling down next to her. I checked her pulse and breathing before looking at Marcus and then at Wood.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I hit her with a badger, so Angelina took her place, but then she attacked me and then she just sank to the ground," Marcus stuttered. "I really didn't mean to hurt her like that." He added, blood still running down his nose.
"Oh get here," I said, pulling out my wand.
"Episkey." I whispered and his nose stopped bleeding.
"You too" I said looking at Wood, who instantly started protesting.
"Look", I said, "she's stable. This whole mess was just a little bit much for someone with a broken bone. She will be alright", I said, looking the Gryffindor team one by one in the eyes.
"Let me fix your bruises first so that I can solely focus on her afterwards."
"We're not letting one of our best players in your hands, Hatchet," one of the Weasley twins said.
I sighed. "You have two options: You can either trust me and let me help you or go to Madame Pomfrey, explain this mess and get both of our teams disqualified."
"So, you just want to save your ass."
"I don't want to save my ass, I want to save my team and you all know that Shelley would have done the same."
"Come on, we all know that she's one of the most talented witches of our school and she helped Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing for like 3 years. Just let her do it." Marcus intervened.
One by one, the Gryffindors gave in as I healed their bruises and scratches. After both teams had been taken care of, I kneeled down next to Shelley again and expected her lifeless body in detail.
"Brackium Emendo", I finally whispered and Shelley groaned quietly in response.
Carefully I felt her leg. "Okay, the bone is healed again. I'm going to wake her up now but she will probably be quite … confused I would say. Can you get her safely to your dorm?" I asked.
"Of course, we can." Wood looked deeply offended by the suggestion that they might not be able to.
I rolled my eyes and turned to Shelley again.
"Rennervate", I said pointing my wand at Shelley, who groaned in response.
Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked.
"What hap-" I did not hear the rest of the question. I was already on my way up to the castle with the Slytherin team.
"Lexie, wait!" I turned around. Angelina came to a stop in front of me. "I just wanted to say.."
"Don't", I interrupted.
She looked at me bewildered for a moment before continuing: "…thank you. I mean it."
"And I mean it, too. Don't mention it. Ever. I saved my team and healing Shelley was the way to do so. Let's not get too friendly about this," I answered coldly and turned away again.
Sure, saving the Slytherin team was my motivation, but something deep down inside of me whispered that I would have helped her anyways. I did not like that something at all.