A/N: I know there were mixed feelings about the last chapter, more specifically Sirius' behavior. Personally, I agree that what he did was "more unfeeling and mean than funny", as one reviewer put it. Even when you find out that maybe Sirius' 'joke' wasn't as bad as it seemed, I still wanted to show that there's a side to him that I don't agree with. We all know that both he and James, and partly also Remus were bullies in school, and even though they probably "grew out" of it, I don't think his maurader side would have completely disappeared.

But enough stalling for now, on with the story and sorry for the impossibly long wait!

Hermione was still furious at Sirius, and anger always clouded her mind, so she didn't really know what to do next. She just knew that she needed to get out of that hospital right then, she detested lying around feeling useless and weak.

Hermione ignored the doctor's recommendation that she stay in hospital at least until the evening, and left "at her own risk".

She apparated straight to her apartment and after changing into some concealing clothes (she really didn't feel like being recognized) she went for a walk in the nearby park. That managed to calm her down a bit, just as she hoped.

When she got to her apartment, she decided to call into work, to find out what damage Sirius had really done. (Surprisingly enough, she and some fellow muggle-born workers had managed to persuade the heads of the ministry of the usefulness of phones just two years ago.)

Swallowing hard, she picked up her own phone. Best get it over and done with!

Mr. Burton picked up nearly at once. He obviously had gotten used to the caller identity display: "Hello Ms Granger, you really didn't need to call in! I hope you're doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks", replied Hermione, somewhat surprised. So he did know that she was sick after all. What exactly had Sirius told him?

"Good, good. My wife had her appendix taken out just a year ago, I remember that they said that the most important thing was just to take things easy afterwards."

"About the holiday…"

"Yeah, your friend who called earlier told me that you wanted to take the two weeks following the one you're on sick leave."

Hermione was startled for a second. That was not what Sirius had told her earlier on. "Yeah, right. I just wanted to check whether that's alright with you?"

"Of course it is. I don't know anyone who deserves a holiday as much as you do", Mr. Burton reaffirmed her. "I guess we'll see you in three weeks then, Miss Granger."

"Yes. Good-bye", Hermione answered, still confused.

"Good-bye." With that, her boss hung up.

If anything, that conversation had just made her even madder at Sirius. What the heck was he playing at? Couldn't he just have told her what he had actually told her boss? She had nearly made a fool of herself there…

And her boss! He hadn't even given her a chance to object. She didn't want this bloody holiday! Frankly, she didn't need it!

Cleaning up had always been one of Hermione's techniques to blow some steam off, so she started doing just that. But since she kept her place neatly most of the time anyway, there wasn't really that much cleaning up for her to do.

When she threw something into the bin, she saw a piece of the first draft of her speech. How could she have forgotten all about that? And why hadn't she received any notification yet as to what their decision was?

Great! Now she was both mad at Sirius and nervous. And soon a third emotion joined those: boredom. Hermione hardly ever had any time to herself, usually she had loads of things to work on. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

She picked up "Hogwarts – A history" soon afterwards, but not even her favourite book could keep her occupied and she was still fidgeting. Running around in her rather small apartment didn't help things either.

A look at the clock revealed that it was six in the evening. That meant Sirius was most definitely back from the shop.

Grabbing her cloak, Hermione stepped out of her apartment and apparated over to Sirius's. She needed some way to blow off some steam and Sirius seemed to be the perfect candidate. And anyway, he deserved it!

She more or less stormed into his place, the wards allowing her to get in. There were noises coming from the kitchen, so he was obviously preparing dinner. Not bothering to slow down and causing as much noise as possible (slamming the door was probably a good start), she was greeted by Sirius' surprised face.

But what he said next definitely didn't help the situation. "Calm down, Hermione" was just nothing you told Hermione when she was truly mad. He seemed to realize that just a second later, for a look of worry briefly crossed his features. But just a second later he had his emotions back under control. He just looked his typical, oh-this-is-going-to-be-fun, self-confident, smug way, which infuriated Hermione even more. Oh, this wasn't going to go down easily and frankly, Hermione was looking forward to a nice confrontation, at least that was sure to distract her from other things. Like the fact that still no owl from the Wizengamot had arrived.