My head was pounding. Like, really badly. So the first thing I did was groan in pain.

"Miss Tygris, can you hear me?" A woman asked.

My eyes fluttered open, only to close again because of the bright light hurting them.

"Mhm," I said. "'s just bright."

"Oh thank Merlin," a male voice exclaimed.

"That's alright, dear. Take your time, but please, don't sit up," the woman instructed, ignoring the other voice.

And I didn't complain, because I was in way too much pain to use my body anyway.

I slowly opened my eyes again, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing over me. I was in the hospital wing, and at the end of my bed where Aleya, Lina, Valerie, Sirius and - to my great surprise - Regulus Black. Sirius didn't look too happy about that.

Aleya and Regulus were still in their Quidditch uniforms, so they must have come here directly after the match.

I'd gotten hit on the back of my head, I remembered. Again. Oh goodness. And the whole school had seen that, how embarrassing.

"How are you feeling?" Lina asked in a concerned voice.

"My head hurts like shit," mumbled, and Sirius cracked a smile.

"I see; it didn't do too much damage, you're still the same."

Whereas I weakly smiled, Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"This is no time to joke around, young Mister! That boy cracked her skull! She would have died if your brother hadn't caught her!"

My jaw dropped. "What!?" My eyes flickered back and forth between the two Black brothers.

Regulus looked quite unfazed, and Sirius looked angry.

"Who did what? Someone cracked my skull??" I was confused beyond belief, and Regulus answered with a sigh.

"Avery, our Beater, was angry at you, because you basically made us lose by blocking my way to the Snitch. So after your Seeker ended the game, he went for a Bludger and - despite my warning - shot it to your head. You fell off of your broom, but since I've been close to the ground anyways, I managed to catch you." Regulus eyed me, his deep grey eyes almost identical to the one's of his brother. He sighed again and touched the bridge of his nose. "I'm really sorry for Avery's actions. He shouldn't have done that, it was absolutely unfair and irresponsible."

"Why can't he apologise himself, huh?" Sirius glared at Regulus. "Does Mister Death Eater feel too high and mighty to talk to a Halfblood? Let alone apologise, because they were just better than the sacred Pureblood?"

A shadow crossed Regulus' face and he was about to snap back, but Madam Pomfrey interrupted them harshly. "If you two are here to fight, I must ask you to leave. The patient needs silence and peace, and you're just disturbing! I have to mend a skull here!"

Sirius stood there, quiet and moody. Regulus looked guilty. "Sorry Madam Pomfrey, I didn't want to cause a scene." Then he looked at me again. "And again, on behalf of my team, I'm sorry for what happened. You're a great Beater. Get well soon."

With that, he turned to leave, but he stopped in his tracks when I called out. "Wait!"

Regulus lifted an eyebrow at me, and I gave him a thankful smile. "Thank you for saving my life."

He nodded slowly, his eyes wandering to meet Sirius'. "You're welcome."

With that, Regulus Black gracefully left the hospital wing, his green Quidditch robes flattering behind him.

Sirius looked at him until he was out of eyesight. His jaw was tensed, and I thought that he'd say something insulting, but he didn't. He just returned his gaze to me, smiling again. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, we are, too," Aleya added. "That was a really hard and fast Bludger."

"Exactly," Madam Pomfrey interjected. "Which is why I still have to heal her, and why Miss Tygris really needs some quiet time. Would you mind leaving?" Her expression made it clear that that hadn't been a question.

"Yes," Sirius said in a heartbeat, ignoring the nurse's glare.

Her expression turned stone cold. "I'm not asking twice, Mr Black. If Miss Tygris' wellbeing means anything to you, you'll leave now."

"Come on, Sirius," Lina said. She smiled at me weakly. "You heard it, we have to go. Bye, Freya, get well soon."

"See you tomorrow," Valerie smiled, and Aleya waved me goodbye.

Sirius was reluctant to go, but he eyed Madam Pomfrey and sighed. "You were amazing on the field, Frey, I'm really proud of you. Get well soon."

With that, he left, too, and I really prayed that Madam Pomfrey didn't have a magical way to keep track of my heart rate. That would've been embarrassing. He had called me 'Frey'. That was a nickname, wasn't it? He'd given me a nickname!

But if she had, she didn't let me know. "I'm going to mend the bone," she announced, "And then you'll have to take some potions for concussions and better healing. Since that was a pretty severe injury, I'll keep you in the hospital wing over night, and then I'll see how well you have recovered, alright?"

I would've nodded, but my head still hurt too much to move. "Okay," I said instead, and let Madam Pomfrey do her magic.

~~~~

That night, I slept terribly. It was a full moon, and I was really sensitive to light when I wanted to sleep, so I blamed the white moonlight flooding the room for my insomnia. I tossed and turned, and when I managed to fall asleep it was only for one hour at the most.

At around half past two, I couldn't take it anymore. Maybe if I walked around, I would get tired. Or maybe Madam Pomfrey had a sleeping potion ready for me?

I took my time standing up, since my head still hurt really bad and my body got dizzy very easily.

It was chilly, so I wrapped myself into my blanket and strolled through the hospital wing.

Stopping for a little while at each window, I looked at the beautiful and peaceful grounds of Hogwarts. I was sure that they would calm me down, and I think that the quiet atmosphere had actually managed to make me fall asleep again.

Because the only thing that I could remember was a wolf, a black dog, something small and a stag tolling around near the black lake.

The next thing I knew was that I was woken up by loud laughter, so I was sure that the animals had been part of my dream.

I opened my eyes and sat up. The throbbing pain in my head had subsided to a small headache.

The laughter came from a bed opposite me, and I was very surprised to find the marauders all sitting in one bed.

Remus was in the middle, squished between Peter and Sirius, and James laid where their feet had to be.

Sirius had a nasty gash on his cheek, and Remus had a bruised eye.

"Oh, shoot, did we wake you up?" James sat up, his hair even messier than usual. He looked guilty, but not injured.

But I was too surprised by the scene in front of me. "What happened to you!?" My eyes were glued to Sirius' injured cheek. The gash strechted from next to the tip of his nose to his temple. That had to hurt.

And Remus looked completely knackered.

"Did you have a fight with someone?" I guessed.

James snorted. "Not really, no."

"Well, what happened!?" I was actually worried. They had been completely fine yesterday!

"Oh, our experiments went wrong," Sirius said dismissively. "My fizzing frisbee went wild and got me, and Remus couldn't sleep the whole night. Too much adrenaline, I think."

"Oh, I get that," I slowly nodded, careful to not shake my head too much. "I couldn't sleep either."

"How are you feeling now, though?" Peter asked shyly. Maybe it was the lighting, but his face looked really flushed.

I shrugged. "A lot better, but the pain is still not completely gone."

Sirius' expression was reeeeally pissed. "I swear, if I get my hands on Avery-"

"Hey, no, just let it go," I interrupted him. "He's not worth the attention, and you don't have to get detention because of me!"

"For you," Sirius corrected. "And of course it would be worth it. That scum nearly killed you! He should get punished for that!"

My chest filled with that warm and fuzzy feeling again, but I tried to ignore it.

"Doesn't he have detention for the rest of the school year, already?" I recalled Madam Pomfrey mentioning something like that when she had treated my head.

"Still, he deserves it," James agreed and slumped back down on the bed. "I hate Slytherins."

"Hey!" I automatically complained. Although I usually didn't dare to speak my mind, that had turned into a reflex. I hated house prejudices.

"My oldest childhood friend is a Slytherin. And a Slytherin saved my life yesterday, in case you've forgotten."

"But it was a Slytherin who broke your skull, too," Sirius talked back.

I probably would've continued to bicker with him, but Remus rubbing his temple made me shut up. "Remus, are you okay?"

He looked up with tired eyes. "Yeah," he mumbled. "I'm just really tired."

He closed his eyes and leant his head against the headboard.

"We're glad you're okay now," James didn't sit up again, so he smiled at the ceiling, but I knew that he was talking to me. "You were so pale and your head was bleeding. You've really given the whole school quite the scare."

Peter was quiet, and Sirius looked pale himself.

I tried to not think too much into it.

"Sirius, is everything okay?" I asked worriedly.

He looked at me, smiling. "I'm just glad you're okay."

I smiled back at him, the familiar butterflies in my stomach going wild again.

"So-" I started, but Madam Pomfrey entered the room and noticed all of us. "Oh, you're here," She said to the marauders. "And you're awake," She said to me.

"Hi, Madam Pomfrey."

"Good morning."

"Oh, Mr Black, what have you done with your cheek now," Madam Pomfrey sighed, but still got her wand out and wordlessly healed the cut on Sirius' face.

"Now, I'll fetch some potions and give you all your treatments afterwards." She eyed Remus and me.

I thought he was just exhausted and tired?

Weird.

But I shrugged it off, not wanting to pry. The marauders had their secrets, I knew and respected that no matter how curious I was.

Then, Madam Pomfrey returned and we all were treated.

I hope you like it.

And I really wanted to update today because IT'S SEPTEMBER 1ST!!!

Happy Hogwarts Express-day!

Another year and I haven't gotten my letter 🤨😀.... 😭😭

But this story kinda makes up for it. Creating fake scenarios at Hogwarts kinda feels like being there, I guess.... *continues to cry in the corner*

Stay happy!

Xoxo, your fangirl