Thank you all for reading this far :)

"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down."
- Arnold H. Glasgow

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James stood there, quite uncomfortable, as he tried to support the unconscious Joey. He glanced around, looking for help, only to realize that everyone was out enjoying their first Sunday at Hogwarts. Silently cursing to himself, he hoisted Joey up so he was supporting her back in one arm and legs with the other. Glancing back at Diggory, who was still sprawled across the floor in an insensible heap, he gave a shaky, sarcastic laugh. "Sorry about that, mate."

He then rushed off to the hospital wing, leaving Amos there alone, in the corridor. On his way towards the medical wing, James could see Sirius sitting down on the base of a statue, obviously lost in thought. He shouted out to him, and Sirius, confused at where the shouting was coming from, turned his head over towards his best friends. A look of panicked horror struck his face when he saw Joey.

"Oh my God! What the hell happened?" He roared as he came sprinting over to James' side.

"Sirius, I desperately need you to help me. I can take care of Joey and bring her to the hospital wing, but I left Amos over by th-" this was all James was able to say because a now livid Sirius was practically barking back at him.

"AMOS DID THIS TO HER!"

James shrugged carefully, trying hard to keep a good grip on Joey. "I'm really not sure what happened with them. I don't want to draw any false conclusions, but I think they got in a fight. Joey banged her head pretty bad against the stone wall. I have a feeling we won't find out what really happened until she comes to."

"James, just tell me. Where the hell is that fucking Diggory bastard!" Sirius was so angry he was practically steaming from the ears.

"He's just outside of the Hufflepuff common room. He's. . .uhhhh-" James suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "He's kind of unconscious at the moment."

Sirius suddenly tore off towards the Hufflepuffs' corridor before James could say another word. James turned around and continued heading towards the hospital wing. 'Oh, dear, lord. . . please don't let Sirius do anything stupid. . .please!' When James arrived at the quite-empty hospital wing, he found Madam Pomphrey ("Merlin's Beard!" she cursed under her breath, when she saw Joey), who then helped him over to a bed.

"Oh my, Mr. Potter! What has happened to this poor girl?" Madam Pomphrey asked with a terribly distressed tone.

"She banged her head really badly, and I think she was crying a lot before hand. I don't think the combination did her much good. . ."

"Well, give me a few minutes to make sure she's breathing and that her heart rate's okay, then I'll look her over a bit more closely."

Joey woke up with a start, right around mid-night. She had no idea where she was, and it was pitch black all around her. She was lying in a fairly comfortable bed, and she soon realized that she was wearing her favorite pair of flannel pajamas. Her head was slightly propped up with pillows, and there were thick sheets and a warm blanket tucked around her. Her head was feeling a lot worse than it did the day before, and now she was having trouble thinking straight because she was so exhausted.

Wearily, she tried to sit up a little more, but she couldn't. The sheets were tucked so tightly around her, they wouldn't allow her to shift in the slightest. Trying to figure out what was keeping the sheets so taut, she realized that she was not the only thing on the bed. There was a rather large, furry object sitting on the bed next to her. It was keeping her nice and warm, and she suddenly realized that it was another body. Nervously, she reached over and put her hand on what she assumed was the creature head. She felt the sleeping creature's head nuzzle up to her hand, and a slow, steady breath was issuing from its nose. This was a very relaxing sensation, and she slowly drifted off back to sleep.

The second time she woke up, it was early that morning, around six thirty. Now, she could see the hospital wing's draping all around her bed. The memories of the day before came rushing back into her brain, and she suddenly became very uneasy. She tried forcefully against the unyielding sheets to sit up. The jerking motion caused her to look back down at the dark, furry creature on her bed, as it woke up with a startle. Seeing that she was awake, the rather large black dog leapt up from where it was lying on the bed next to her, began whimpering softly from relief, and started licking her furiously all over her face.

"Sirius!" she tried to whisper, making an effort to pull away from the excited dog. "You're too big to be mauling me like this!" she tried to suppress the giggles that were emitting from deep inside her.

"Joey, dear! Are you awake?" It was Madam Pomphrey's voice coming from the other side of the hospital bed's draping. The dog pulled away and resumed sitting next to her, with a huge smile planted across its face. Madam Pomphrey came around the curtain and was standing next to Joey's bed. "Oh! Git! Git!" She said to the big dog as she forced him off the bed. "I'm sorry dear, I tried to get him to leave your side last night, but he just wouldn't budge! I didn't think I should persist when he started growling menacingly at me!"

"Oh, that's alright!" she said, smiling over at the large black dog. "Padfoot is one of my best friends!"

"Well that may be, my dear, but I had no idea whose dog that belongs to, and with the state you were in last night-. . . You had quite a nasty black out, you know!"

"Oh. . .I don't really remember much besides the splitting headache!"

"Well, I concluded that you passed out from a great amount of stress along with that nasty head bump! Something must have just completely mentally exhausted you for you to go out like a lamp post, like you did!" Madam Pomphrey explained, shaking her head. "Well, you should be okay now. Here's some medicine I readied for you in case your head was hurting much worse this morning." Joey reached for the cup that the nurse was holding out to her and drank its contents. Her headache cleared up almost immediately.

"Thank you, Madam Pomphrey. I think I'll be on my way now if I plan to make first period's class today." Joey said as she began getting out of the bed, barefoot.

"Well, dear, I sent Mr. Potter over to Dumbledore last night to give him the message that you were in the hospital wing. He actually excused you for the whole day from classes if you felt that you weren't able to attend."

"Oh, I think I'll be alright! Good bye. . . and thank you!" she said as she began walking towards the hospital exit. The big shaggy dog bounded after her and resumed walking by her side as she entered the corridor outside the hospital. Madam Pomphrey just silently watched the two figures walk out the door together.

Shaking her head slowly, she mumbled under her breath, "Children these days. . . you just can't hold them down for a second!"

Joey walked into the cold hallway of the Hogwarts castle, and stopped in her tracks. She looked down expectantly at the huge black dog standing next to her. The dog rolled its eyes and began transforming back into the very handsome, Sirius Black. He stood up and look down on the smiling Joey.

"You stayed with me the whole night?" she asked surprisingly.

"Of coarse I did!" Sirius said soundly a little aggrieved. Joey smiled at him and kept walking. Suddenly she shivered from the piercing cold of the stone ground that she was walking on barefoot. "What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned tone.

"Oh, nothing; my feet are just a little cold from this stone floor." She said as she continued walking. Suddenly she felt herself being swept her off her feet. She looked up at Sirius' face that was right next to hers and gave him half a smirk.

"Better?" he asked sounding a little pleased with himself. Joey just shook her head and pretended as though she wasn't enjoying being pressed against his warm, comfortable chest.

"Sirius?" she asked.

"Hmm?" he murmured back to her.

"What happened to Amos?"

"Well," Sirius began with a deep sigh, "James left him unconscious in the hallway, and told me to go deal him. He was easy enough to find. . ." he said as he chuckled lightly to himself, picturing the hufflepuff lying in an unconscious heap in the empty corridor. "I found him when he was just starting to wake up. He turned around and saw me, and we. . . 'negotiated' for a little while. He explained to me what happened and told me he felt really bad about it."

"But what did he 'say' happened?"

"Well. . .it was kind of hard to completely understand him between his sobs (Sirius paused and began chuckling again), but I think I got the gist of it. . . You can probably expect him to give you a formal apology some time today."

"Sirius. . ." Joey was getting a little impatient with his vagueness. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh. . .nothing, really. At least he doesn't think I did anything to him. . .it was just a friendly black dog who paid him a visit!"

Joey let out an impatient sounding sigh. "Sirius, can you put me down?"

Sirius paused in his tracks and gave her a confused look. "What did I-"

"Can you just put me down, please?" she asked again. Sirius put her down immediately. They didn't say another word on their way back. Joey couldn't help feel a little annoyed with him. She knew he was trying to defend her, but she had a feeling he'd just taken advantage of the situation in order to get to beat the crap out of his enemy.

They arrived at the Gryffindor tower, gave the fat lady their password, and headed into the warm common room. Big smiles crept up on both of their faces at the sight they saw. The other four of their best friends were all crowded and squished onto the couch and chairs that surrounded the Gryffindor common room's fire. Remus and Peter had taken the chairs, and Lily and James had curled up comfortably on the couch together.

Sirius and Joey exchanged looks and went over to wake up their friends. Joey squeezed on the couch next to Lily, and the pretty redhead's eyes fluttered open. She lifted her head off James' chest, which she had been sleeping on, and glanced over and saw Joey. Excitedly, she rapped her in a firm hug and began to get a bit teary eyed.

"Oh, Joey. . .we were so worried when we heard. . ." she trailed off in sobs. This had apparently been loud enough to wake everyone up, because Joey suddenly felt all of her other friends come over and rap her into a giant group hug. Everyone was feeling very relieved that she was okay, and they began talking excitedly all at once. Soon, they all decided to go up and get ready for breakfast and their first classes of the new year.

Please review! love, SJ