“You are both lucky that we don’t expel both of you right now!” Minerva McGonagall yelled. I cringed at the harshness of her tone, “I’ve seen my fair share of your pranks, Mr. Black, but stealing? Even in the Muggle world they send people to their ‘jails’ for that! Mind you, this wasn’t a serious offence in the eyes of the Ministry, but large enough here for serious punishment. And you, Miss Casson! I would have expected much better from you. Professor Flitwick has been notified and will take on your punishment decisions. Mr. Black, if you could follow me. Maria, please stay here.”

I hung my head and obediently stood in front of the Deputy Headmistress’ desk. A string of profanity escaped from my mouth as I cursed myself for allowing this to happen. The footsteps of Sirius and Professor McGonagall gently faded, and as they left the room, I saw Sirius shoot me an apologetic look. I didn’t bother to return it.

I shouldn’t have to be sorry for anything! It’s not like I had a choice! He practically forced me to go back there! I argued those points with myself, but I knew they were hollow. I’d chosen to go back there, and I knew it.

I shifted from foot to foot anxiously, awaiting the arrival of Flitwick. I heard him shuffle around the corner before I saw him, but he made a high pitched squeaking noise as he walked into the room.

“Miss. Casson,” he sighed, “I didn’t think it was true. I hate punishing my best students.” He shook his head and motioned for me to follow. His little speech hadn’t made me feel any better. I unwillingly followed and was lead down the halls. We turned a last corner and arrived at Professor Flitwick’s classroom where hundreds of quills sat in piles everywhere. As I looked over the room, I felt my muscles relax into what I’m sure was an expression of shock. Quills were everywhere: stacked on desks, in piles on the floor, in the bookshelves, and even hooked onto the light fixture. I kept opening my mouth, looking like a gapping fish.

“I’m sorry to say this, but you, Miss Casson, need to sharpen all of these quills as part of your punishment. And no wands.” With that, Flitwick held out his hand. I stared at it dumbly before it registered that I was supposed to put my wand in his hand. I quickly searched my robes, checking the pockets. As I felt the dread slowly rise in my chest, I handed over my well used holly wand, never knowing the next time that I’d see it. I watched the professor swiftly place it on the inside of his robe and motioned for me to get to work.

“But how-”

“I’m sorry Casson, but I am not permitted to help students with their punishments.” That was the last thing he said to me before walking bitterly toward his large desk at the front of the room and seating himself. He opened a massive looking book and seemed to forget that I was in the room entirely.

I stood there, dumbfounded. Looking from side to side, I tried to figure out a way to sharpen the damn quills. The room was bland of anything sharp enough to do any damage to them.

“Is this some sort of joke?” I asked aloud, but no response sounded from the front of the room where the small man sat. I starred at him, waiting for a response, and when none came, I sighed in exasperation. I figured that there had to be something to sharpen these quills and, by God, I was going to find it. I searched the floor, in the stacks of quills, and in the hallway outside the classroom until I got in even more trouble for being outside the room.

“Maria, use your head. Think about it. Where would you find a sharp object?” Professor Flitwick’s squeaky voice arrived across the long room and rang in my ears.

“Sharp objects?” I repeated stupidly, and sat down, before actually thinking about it.

Sharp objects aren’t setting around a room. He must want me to use something I’ve already got on me. A long overdue inspiration hit me, and I rooted through my coat pocket. Nothing. I quickly switched pockets. Nothing…again. I sighed in defeat and threw myself down in the nearest desk in exasperation. The only thing it seemed I could do was think, but there was nothing to think about! Well, other than the facts that I still hadn’t figured out how to end my detention, had no idea where Sirius was, and had a test tomorrow.

“Oh my gosh! I’ve got a test tomorrow!” My voice bounced off the walls, as I yelled the apparent obvious. A massive clamor at the front of the room snapped me out of my epiphany as I tried to hold back my laughter.

On the right side of his desk, Professor Flitwick was splayed across the floor. His small wire-rim glasses were askew across the bridge of his nose, and his robes were twisted around his tiny legs and arms. I had to put a hand over my mouth to stop the laughter from escaping. Believe me when I say that there is nothing funnier than watching your fully-grown, half-sized, professor on the floor. He tried to untangle himself, and as he stood up ended up with them completely turned around.

“Miss Casson, I will be back as soon as possible. I trust you will not do anything to earn yourself another detention.”

“Yes, sir.” With that, Professor Flitwick left the room, grumbling. After I was sure he was around the corner, I plopped down on the floor in one of the clearer spots. I laid there for a while, not bothering to watch the time, when another tumult from the hallway made me sit up straight as a board.

Long before anything could be seen from my spot on the floor, loud shouts and clanks echoed down the hallway, coming closer and closer to the classroom.

“Mr. Black! Stop this instant!” I could hear McGonagall and Flitwick’s angry shouts going after the one person that I seriously wanted to hurt. I knew that I couldn’t, but it felt good to think that all the same.

“Mr. Black, I said ‘stop’!” At that moment, colors whirred past the door and then doubled back at a slower pace. Sirius was strapped to a pair of sponges, one on each foot and had spilled water all down the corridor, leaving a soapy death trap for any unsuspecting persons. I could help but stand up to see what was happening.

“What do you think, Maria?!” he yelled on his way by and tossed something at me. I didn’t even bother to look at it. All I could do was stand dumbfounded, watching him zoom back and forth while the professor tried, in vain, to get him to stop.

“You should-” he went father down the hall before doubling back “-try this! Its tons-” he wend down again and then stopped sharply in front of the door. I had wandered over to the large doors by now also. “-of fun.”

“No. You’re going to get into even more trouble now. You’ve gone completely mad!” My voice seemed to jump back into my throat, and even I was surprised at the amount of volume it seemed to produce.

“Fine then. I’ll leave you to your detention of sharpening quills.” Sirius put on a half hurt-half puppy dog face and then zoomed off down the hall. Professor Flitwick then trudged around the corner of the hall, gasping for breath.

“I suggest, Miss Casson, that you get to work and don’t run into any problems,” he gasped and flung himself in the chair at the front of the room.

And now I’m right back where I started. I thought glumly and turned to look where Sirius had last been. A soapy trail marked where Sirius had last slid and his fun had been cut short by a set of foot prints, which I assumed to be another professor’s. I shook my head in mock amusement and turned back to the classroom. The sun hit the large window behind the desks on the West side of the room and hit the floor. Somewhere among the feathers, something glinted and because I had nothing else better to do at the moment, I was determined to find it.

It didn’t take long, because it was in the nearest pile on quills near the top. As I picked it up, it felt a little awkward in my hands as I tired to snap it open. The top half was metal and the bottom half was made of a smooth, dark, polished wood about the same size.

A pocket knife? My thoughts raced to figure out when that would have gotten there. Obviously it landed in the pile after I searched for something to sharpen the quills. The only idea that I could come up with was when Sirius came by. Then another long overdue inspiration hit me and I remembered him tossing something in my direction. I quickly closed the knife again, as to not cut myself and held it tightly in my hand. My feelings shifted from annoyance to pure adoration.

“Thank you Sirius,” I whispered and found the nearest seat with a desk full of quills. The knife flipped open a little easier this time, and I set to work sharpening the multitude of the writing utensils from hell.

“Maria!” Lauren stumbled off the couch, but didn’t let that hinder her loud voice. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore her loudness, the time, and my pounding headache. My eyes seemed to be unable to open from the squint I had held almost the entire evening. My right hand was cramped and my neck had a sharp pain in it from bending over the quills.

“Lauren, please, I just want to go to bed,” I mumbled and held my hand up to stop her.

“Fine then. I guess you don’t want the turkey sandwich I got for you from dinner, risking my record of no…” Whatever else she said went in one ear and out the other as I hungrily found the sandwich on a plate on the coffee table in front of the fire. I dropped my bag and bent down on my knees to devour the sandwich, ignoring Lauren and everything she said. “…and that is why you should be ever grateful to your great-aunt Bessie!” she concluded and I gave her a look that was meant to be demeaning, but ended up looking pitiful.

“Well, you need to get to bed. We’ve got that test tomorrow and-”

“The test! I’ve got to study for that. I’d entirely forgotten since we’d been so busy planning the date with Sirius. Now what am I going to do?” I wailed and threw myself down on the floor like a three-year-old.

“Don’t worry. We’ve still got-” she glanced quickly at the clock just as it chimed one in the morning. “- 9 hours if we skip showers, breakfast, and getting on new clothes.” Lauren didn’t even bother to ask if I wanted to study for nine hours straight without sleeping, eating, or even changing clothes. She just went and got her books from the table near the window and threw them on the couch. Her books for Ancient Runes included, but were not limited too, Ancient Runes Made Easy, Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, and Spellman’s Syllabary.

“Now, one more thing,” she said quietly and pulled out a small pile of chocolate chip cookies from underneath the couch.

“How long have those been under there?” I asked warily.

“Only since dinner. I checked for any dirt or dust or anything, but there wasn’t anything at all! Those house elves sure do a great job.” She commented before grabbing a cookie and flipping open the first book on the pile. I hesitantly did the same, starting a very long study session.