"Oh!" Hermione gasped. She had successfully transformed the cloak into a dagger but…. unfortunately the dagger was rather sharp. Blood ran down her arm in a think stream. Hermione was nonplussed, on the other hand, the same could not be said for Sirius. Frantic cries of 'Ah! Hermione!' could be heard as he searched for a make-shift bandage.
"Magic?" She suggested with an almost teasing expression.
"Right. I knew that…" replied Sirius. He waved his wand a bit and then finally conceded;
"I missed that lesson."
"Here, let me." Hermione smiled at him and began to wave her wand. With a sharp intake of breath as her hand moved in a circular motion she conjured up a bandage.
"I'll take that." He took the bandage from her and carefully began to rap it around her hand.
"Sorry 'bout that. If you're ever seriously injured then I don't think I would be very much help." Sirius apologized.
"No I'm the one who should be apologizing. It was my fault in the first place."
Sirius did not know how to reply to this so he did what he did best.
"Would you like me to kiss and make it better?" He asked in rather flamboyant manner.
"Oh, Sirius! Please do!" She said with almost as much dramatics as her friend. Her eyes widened just a bit as he actually did. Sirius took her hand in his as if to propose and planted a theatrical kiss upon the bandage. They smiled at each other briefly and decided to take a break from their practice. As they walked together with no particular destination Sirius made a proposition.
"How about we go over to Madam Pomfrey's and have her fix up your hand." He said as he turned her around so they would be walking in the right direction.
"Sure. Sounds like a plan." she said as she glanced at the pictures that followed their movement down the hallway.
"Oh my! What ever happened to you dear?" Madame Pomfrey shrieked, her hands subtly flailing in the air over her head.
"Well you see..." Sirius began-
"We were practicing transfiguration when-"Hermione finished.
"I see." Madam Pomfrey interrupted, showing her over to one of the beds.
After having her hand dressed, her and Sirius sat on the bed and started a conversation. It was interrupted by hysterical crying. Sirius looked up with a quirked brow, as did Hermione. Madame Pomfrey was desperately trying to get the girl's story straight. All Hermione heard were fragments, it was one of her roommates. Candis' story vaguely went along the lines of; Jeremy, in the courtyard, such a forceful boyfriend, her refusal, his violent temper. She had a bruised arm and the left side of her face fiercely red. Hermione got up so fast Sirius didn't even register it at first; she was halfway out the door before he went after her. Even in blind anger she had no problem finding the wretch. Just follow the lines of whispering students. In no time at all she found herself in the courtyard where Jeremy, a rather attractive blonde, (remind you of anyone?) stood in a group with his fellow Ravenclaw buddies. Hermione walked over to the small group.
"Jeremy?" she inquired. Candis seemed like a nice a girl, and Hermione wondered how she had gotten herself tangled up with someone like him when there was so many others out there... Cockily, he raised an eyebrow and said,
"Yes?"
"How dare you."
"How dare I what?"
Hermione's breaths came in puffs of barely controlled anger.
"You don't even know? You don't even know!" She was shouting now. His group had slowly dissipated into a large surrounding group.
Meanwhile, Sirius chased after her, on his way, running into James and Remus. Without feeling the need to inform them of the situation (he didn't even know what was going on) he just grabbed their arms, relaying the urgency.
"No I don't know what I 'did.' What the hell is your problem?" Jeremy shouted back.
"My problem? It's very much your problem. How could you do such a thing to your girl friend? She doesn't deserve that!"
"How do you know? Who are you to preach to me about my relationship? It was her fault in the first place. Little bitch deserved it."
The words, 'little bitch', really set Hermione off. She began to say something else when his hand raised,
"Shut up!"
and he slapped her hard across the face. It hurt but not as much as she was going to make him hurt.
"Slap two girls in one day? Don't you have anything better to do?" With as much force as she could muster, she hit him twice in the stomach. He looked like he was going to be sick, but that was the point.
That was when Sirius, James, and Remus arrived. For a moment they just stood there, taking in the scene. Enraged, Jeremy raised his fist. Hermione had moved aside and caught the boy's wrist, avoiding the punch. He went to strike again but by that time James had already started moving.
"Hey!" he called, "If you're going to punch someone. Make it me."
James punched him once and he staggered back a few steps, nose bleeding. Before Jeremy had time to properly react, James punched him again, this time knocking him out.
Silence.
James and Hermione exchanged a glance.
Then,
"Nice hit James!" Sirius announced, rather loudly, from the crowd. The crowd dispersed before any faculty could arrive. Looking around, they realized that that might be a good idea, although they would most likely get busted anyway.
While in the hall, James stopped.
"Are you okay Emily?" he touched her now red cheek with a worried expression.
"Gentlemen!" McGonagall said sternly as she approached them. "And Emily..."
A few moments later they found themselves in her office.
"Detention!" Sirius blanched. "The bloke hit her! Emily is innocent."
Hermione put her hand on his knee and under her breath called for him to calm down.
"It doesn't matter Mr. Black. You, of all people should know the school policy on violence. All participating parties must receive proper punishment." Mrs. McGonagall stated, not too thrilled herself.
"But-"he protested.
"But, I will say this. I take no pleasure punishing the victim." She looked at them squarely and continued." Miss Chanlier, Mr. Potter, Detention during your free period tomorrow. "
As they walked away from McGonagall's office Sirius said,
"Well look on the bright side! It could be much worse."
"Sirius." Remus said his name.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
The way to dinner remained quiet, but that was okay. Hermione didn't mind.
Hermione was glad that during her salmon and wild rice dinner, Candis came by.
Hermione gave a small gasp as two slim arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Emily" Candis cried. She sat down next to Hermione after she gave her another gracious hug.
"I feel so bad that you got hit for sticking up for me. Although I'm glad he got hit."
They shared a laugh.
"Yeah, it wasn't a problem, it felt good to scream at him. Why were you dating him in the first place?" Hermione had now turned, leaving her dinner half-eaten.
"He was cute, and he was nice. Guess I was wrong. You know what? You're new, but I'm glad you stuck up for me. Maybe we can get to be good friends?" Hermione smiled at this and agreed. After a while Candis was called back by her friends, leaving Hermione happy and content.
"Look. Emily has made a new friend." Remus whispered in James' ear. Remus and James continued whispering for a few more seconds until Hermione looked over. Sirius stared at her, making strange faces, James put on an angelically innocent face as if to say, 'who, me?', and Remus just smiled. All together it was a nice moment, the kind of moment where nothing was going wrong and it was just nice to be friends. She missed Harry and Ron and wondered what they would be doing at this moment.