Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to Harry Potter or any of the chapter titles 11 onwards.
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Chapter 16: Justice in the Barrel
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Sirius barley left Hermione's side while she slept, and ignored the pleas from his friends to go to meals. Eventually they gave up and brought food to him in the hospital wing. Grasping one of the hands of the girl in the bed between his own Sirius laid his head down and decided to rest his eyes for a few minutes…..just a few…..
An hour later Hermione woke to the soft sound of someone sleeping. She looked down at the sleeping form of Sirius, his breath soft on her arm, and brought a hand up to brush a stray strand of hair from out of his face. The movement on the bed woke Sirius and he looked up and met hazel eyes.
"Hermione," he croaked, voice rough from his nap. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," she replied. "I bet I don't look it though," she said gingerly touching her face.
"You're still beautiful." Sirius said catching her eyes with his again.
She smiled slightly at the compliment but pulled away as he reached to stroke her cheek.
"Hermione," he whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know that right?"
"I know, I just….I don't know…" she tried to explain.
Sirius just nodded, seeing the guilt in her eyes., he tried to hide the hurt in his own soft grey pair, she had been doing so well and Malfoy had to go and pull her back, again….
They sat quietly talking for a while, Sirius giving her the space she needed as she recovered mentally from her ordeal. A while later everyone else arrived, pleased to see Hermione awake.
Lily stepped forward and gave Hermione a hug, Sirius felt a pang of jealousy at the innocent display but pushed it away.
"How are you feeling?" asked Lily, knowing that Hermione probably wouldn't open up with a room full of boys and mentally told herself to ask again when they were alone.
"I'm ok, a bit jumpy but ok."
James and Remus went to follow Lily's actions but were stopped by Sirius. They looked confused for a moment but understood what was in Sirius' eyes and stepped back.
Hermione noticed this and felt she should apologize to the people that had helped her. "I'm sorry… I'm not afraid of you, I just don't know…"
"Its ok Hermione we understand," Remus said. "We'll give you your space till your ready."
"In the mean time I think we should plan some Marauder-type justice," James grinned, eyes shining mischievously.
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A week later Hermione found herself out of the hospital wing and back in the Gryffindor common room with Lily and the Marauders.
"I don't think we should worry about Crabbe and Goyle," said James. "People wouldn't find it amusing if we did something to them too. No, the attention has to be on Malfoy."
"And Snape," Hermione added. Remus had done some research and found that the spell used against him and Hermione to disarm them was a Dark Arts spell, the counter-curse being taught to the seventh years closer to the NEWTS.
"And Snape," repeated James. "Always like an excuse to hex Snivellus."
Lily looked on with slight disapproval but didn't move to prevent the boys planning their pranks.
Hermione, not wanting to have anything to do with the blonde Slytherin spoke up. "Will it be ok if you guys deal with Malfoy and we deal with Snape?" she asked, gesturing between herself and Lily.
The boys nodded understandingly. "Alright," said James. "You two lovely ladies can deal with Snape, we've got the blonde slime-ball."
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The next week passed slowly for Hermione, she was glad not to have to put up with Malfoy in her classes, the only time she saw the Slytherin was at meal times, and she welcomed the security her friends provided.
One night while sitting in front of the fire Hermione's thoughts wandered to Snape. She was eager for a little revenge after all the years he treated her as an insignificant little girl. She shook her head and gave a smile as she realized the Marauders were rubbing off on her. At least the abnormally large nosed, greasy git deserved whatever her and Lily came up with. She sat up with a start.
"Hermione?" Sirius asked, the boys looking up from their prank planning on the floor. She ignored their curious stares and turned to Lily.
"Come, I just had the best epiphany," she said grinning, pulling the redhead behind her up to the girls dormitories.
The boys looked at each other. "I think we're rubbing off on her," stated Sirius grinning madly, eyes sparkling.
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Over the next few days Hermione and Lily pondered on how to go about their prank, they would have to borrow James' invisibility cloak and enter the Slytherin house in the dungeons, they were however stuck on whch particular charm to use.
"I can't find any!" Lily said sighing, throwing her charms book to the end of her bed.
"Neither," Hermione said. "You'd think that a simple charm like this would be in at least one of these texts."
Lily groaned. "I know but its not exactly a charm used in life or death situations."
Hermione didn't reply, instead she was staring at something intently that appeared to be under Louise's bed. She got up and picked up the magazine, and grinned at Lily. "Witches Weekly."
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Hermione sat quietly studying in the library the following afternoon and was so absorbed in her work she didn't notice the person walk up to her until she felt a hand on her shoulder and someone speak her name.
"Hermione?" Sirius started but stopped and pulled back when she jumped away from him holding a hand to her chest, a flicker of fear in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Hermione," Sirius said wincing. "I shouldn't have been so quiet."
Hermione caught her breath and sighed. "It's ok Sirius, I'm still just a little jumpy that's all."
Sirius nodded but Hermione could see a flicker of pain in his eyes.
"We're ready to do our prank tomorrow morning," he said quickly trying to hide what was expressed in his grey eyes. "That's if you and Lily are ready?"
Hermione nodded and smiled, tomorrow morning was going to be very interesting.
Inside Sirius calm demeanor however he was fuming 'Damn Malfoy, that Son of a Bitch just can't leave anyone alone!' he thought looking sadly at the beautiful girl in front of him he so longed to hold in his arms.
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Lily and Hermione sat in quiet anticipation during breakfast the next morning. The previous night they had used James' invisibility cloak to carry out their prank.
"Were going to have to thank Louise for that magazine," Lily said, her eyes occasionally shooting to the doors. Hermione nodded and smiled at the boys who were looking at the two girls intently in case they let slip what they had done to Snape.
The boys didn't have to wait long though before Snape walked into the hall, his usual morning scowl somewhat greater than normal. The boys stared at the Slytherin trying to work out what could possibly be different. Remus was the first to notice and turned wide eyed to the girls before erupting into peels of laughter. A few people looked up at the outburst but put it down to normal Marauder behaviour.
"What?" Sirius asked the werewolf. "All I see is the normal, large nosed, greasy haired…..ooohhhh, Prongs mate, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked, voice full of disbelief as Remus continued to laugh at the side.
"Padfoot, I think I am, but I never thought it would be possible."
Both boys turned to Lily and Hermione and said in unison. "You washed his hair?"
The two girls couldn't take it anymore and joined Remus in his laughter. Before long the others had joined in, the rest of the hall looking curiously between the group and their obvious source of amusement. A few others picked up on the difference too and joined the seventh year Gryffindors in their laughter. Even Dumbledore was chuckling slightly.
A hush gathered over the Great Hall however when Lucius Malfoy strode into the room. Gone were his beloved golden locks, in their place was a shiny round, bald scalp.
The girls tore their gaze away from the sight and turned to the Marauders. "You shaved off his hair?" Lily asked quietly.
"That's not the best part," grinned James as he nodded towards the Slytherin table where a loud shriek was heard.
"LUCIUS! What did you do to your HAIR?"
"Narcissa, I don't know what you're talking about, it looks the same as normal," he said as he moved his hand along his shoulder as if to sweep his locks behind him.
Hermione turned back to the boys. "He thinks he's still got his hair?" she asked, the four boys nodded gleefully.
"BLACK!" came the voice of said blonde as he sauntered across the hall menacingly.
Hermione, who was facing the Slytherin table, jumped out of her seat and quickly backed away from the advancing blonde.
"MISTER MALFOY!" boomed Dumbledore as the boys stood in front of the distressed Hermione.
Malfoy froze and turned to face the headmaster. "Professor…they…they did this, I know they did." He said pointing an accusing finger at the Marauders.
"Now Mister Malfoy, you have no proof of this, perhaps it was caused by your stress at missing classes or your guilt of your actions that landed you your suspension. I believe it could alsobe a common muggle disorder known as alopecia."
"I do not have a bloody Muggle disease!" fumed Malfoy. "It was those fucking Gryffindors."
"MISTER MALFOY" Dumbledore shouted, shocking everyone in the hall at this uncharacteristic raising of his voice. "You are already in enough trouble, now I suggest you return to your dorm to serve the rest of your suspension, I also suggest reading through your texts to see if there is something you can do to fix your little problem."
Malfoy turned and glared and the Marauders before storming out of the room and slamming the doors behind him.
Sirius relaxed slightly and felt Hermione's death-like grip on his arm. He turned to come face to face with a deathly pale Hermione who was presently trembling like a leaf. He bundled her up tightly in his arms and whispered words of comfort to calm her down.
"I don't want to fear him," she whispered. "He doesn't deserve that satisfaction."
"I know, but its understandable that you do fear him, what he did to you was wrong and he should be sent to Azkaban for it, you won't fear him in time, and when that day comes Malfoy will regret whatever he did to you."
Hermione just nodded and drew the comfort from the embrace.
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Sirius was at loose ends for what to do for Hermione, he wanted to do something special for her to show how her really felt, but didn't want to scare her away in the process. He was presently sitting in the common room thinking the situation over, Hermione was studying with Remus and Lily in the library but he still worried about her, especially after Malfoys suspension ended at the beginning of the week. He heard music drifting down from the girls dormitories and it suddenly hit him what he could do. He had just under two weeks to plan it, because of course he would give Hermione his gift on the most romantic day of the year.
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A/N: right I have some homework for you fine readers to complete between now and the next chapter. You can either a) do and internet search and download it or b) raid your own, parents, or spouses CD collection and find the following song: 'Bed of Roses' by Bon Jovi, listen to it, (and fall in love with it) by the next chapter, if your already a self proclaimed Bon Jovi fan that's even better ; ), I guarantee it will make reading it that much better.
