The Blacks
2AM October 7 1971:
Poppy didn't expect to see Professor Sprout this early in the morning but then again, she didn't expect to have a werewolf son or a wife but here we are. "What is the meaning of this?" She asked, she was still in her pj's but had thankfully remembered to put on her dressing gown in her half sleep state.
Professor Sprout held up Sirius slightly higher, "Found these two having a fist fight. Don't know why yet, but questions can wait till they're both healed." Poppy nodded, now she took a closer look at the two Blacks she realised how bruised they both were, Sirius looking far worse than Bellatrix with his bloody nose and black eye, while Bellatrix had escaped with only a few bruises and red scratch marks from Sirius's nails.
Why they decided to fist fight Poppy did not know and nor did Pomona Sprout by the look on the professor's face. It was fairly common for two or more students to have a duel with jinxs and hexes, but fist fighting wasn't really a thing that happened in Hogwarts. Why would it be when you have magic that can cause far more damage than a fist?
Bellatrix takes a seat on a bed with a smug and proud look on her face, unlike Sirius who sat down on a different bed with his head tilted towards the ground. The Irish nurse could not help but be far more gentle with Sirius's healing than she had with Bellatrix. Professor Sprout waited nearby and once Poppy gave her the all clear, she took Bellatrix out of the room to talk while Poppy talked to Sirius.
"Sirius, can you tell me what happened?" She asked as she fluffed upped his pillows on the bed, the boy didn't need to stay overnight for the minor injuries but she felt that he may feel more comfortable in the hospital wing than having to climb all the way to his dorm in the middle of the night.
And this way she can hopefully stop her wife from exploding on Sirius and talk to her beforehand.
Sirius did not lift his head but still gave a slight nod, "She got annoyed at me at dinner, sent me an owl telling me to meet her in the astronomy tower at midnight." He pulled the piece of parchment out of his pocket and handed it over to Poppy, who quickly read it over before nodding for Sirius to continue. "She started calling me names, which isn't anything new..." he sighed, his voice going quieter "she made fun of my friends, called them slurs and everything." It didn't take a genius to know who the friends were, for someone so confident as Sirius himself, he didn't really have many friends outside Remus,Peter and James.
"I didn't mean to punch her! But I just go so angry at her and couldn't help it!" He defended himself, growing louder with each word. Poppy nodded along and hummed in response,taking a moment to respond as the young boy calmed down from his outburst.
"I know you didn't mean to Sirius, can you tell me why Miss Black was annoyed at you at dinner?" Poppy had a feeling there was something else missing from the story and the guilty look that flashed on Sirius's face proved her right. "I may have pranked her.." he admitted quietly, his head held low in shame. Not for doing the prank but for getting caught and causing Poppy a night of distress.
"Hm, that does explain things. I won't make you tell me what the prank is, merlin knows we all need to have some fun, but I do hope you'll learn from this, now won't you?" She asked him with a wink, a silent way of telling him that she wasn't angry at him. He nodded as he lifted his head to look at Poppy, who smiled at him. She would give him a detention in the morning but for now she would let the boy get some rest.
---
An hour later Poppy returned to her quarters and was greeted by Remus immediately. "Mum had a nightmare, she came and checked on me." He said quickly before yawning, Poppy nodded and told him to go back to bed and she'd see him in the morning.
She walks into her bedroom and sees her wife awake still, with a book in hand. "Hm, love? It's 3am. Why are you still awake?" Poppy asked gently as she climbed back under the covers of her bed. She already knew what was wrong but wanted to give Minerva the choice of telling her or not. Minerva sighed and shook her head, the nightmare having shaken her too bad to try recall it to Poppy.
Poppy hummed her understanding, taking Minerva's book and glasses off her face and set them aside on her bedside table. "I'm here now love, try get some sleep you have a busy day tomorrow." Minerva raised a eyebrow in a questioning manner, which made Poppy chuckle and shake her head. "You'll find out once you've actually slept." which earned a groan out of the Scottish witch. But none the less she still burried herself into Poppy's chest.
"Your evil.." Minerva slurred as sleep slowly took over her body. Poppy chuckled at her wife before leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "G'night to you too."
---
August 7 1971. 8AM:
"How the fuck did I go to sleep and wake up to this shit?" Minerva asked as she and Rolanda Hooch looked at paper work that needed to be filled and the many owls sent from the Black family. "Maybe Alphard sent the owls? Missed his dear old friends?" Rolanda suggested and frowned at the Scottish witches snort. "Nah, he'd send biscuits as well to make sure I don't kill him."
The news about Bellatrix's and Sirius's fight was soon known by everyone in the castle and The Noble and Ancient House of Black, who were not pleased to here that the future heir to the family had done such thing and were worried (as worried as that cruel family could be) about Bellatrix's reputation. Apparently Narcissa had sent an owl home to tell her parents about had happened before Sirius could. When she was asked why she replied with 'He's endangering the family reputation.' and when Minerva heard that she nearly adopted Narcissa, as much as the kid was cruel she was also brought up to believe certain things and how things should be done.
Although over the last year or so, Narcissa has been spotted hanging out with a girl named Alice from Gryffindor who had taught Narcissa that being herself was okay in school and that she was safe to do so. It was rather heartbreaking to hear that the girl, who was 14, was only just learning how to be herself.
Minerva groaned loudly as she opened the first of many letter from the family and read it, then threw it away. "Wallburga giving a lecture on how to teach kids properly, not like she married her cousin or anything." she mumbled while Hooch shrieked with laughter. Minerva tilted her head and stared at Rolanda in a confused why. "Why are you laughing?"
Rolanda quickly composed herself before answering. "What you said was funny, so I laughed!" The flying professor already knew where this conversation was heading, she had had it a thousand times with Minerva by this point. So before Minerva could say anything she spoke again. "What about you go make some coffee for us? I can handle these owls by myself for a minute."
Minerva nodded and quickly disappeared to do what she was asked while Rolanda skimmed through the rest of the owls. Minnie quickly returned with tow cups of coffee and hummed at Rolandas' thanks. The duo kept on working in silence, which was odd because usually they could never stop talking or causing trouble when left alone together but after all the letters and replies on top of their paperwork kept the two quiet as they focused on working.
"What punishments are Sirius and Bellatrix getting anyway?" Rolanda asked, breaking the silence that had settled over the two. "A weeks detention, it was Sirius's first incident and we both know how that family treats their kids." Minerva looked up from her work to look at Rolanda, giving her her full attention. Rolanda nodded in response "Fair enough." And for the rest of their lunch period they worked in comfortable silence.
---
Minerva McGonagall had been ready to go give a lecture to Sirius about fighting when Poppy had stopped her in her tracks and told her to listen.
"The kid doesn't need a lecture, he needs to rest and to calm himself down. He's anxious enough as it is without you being thrown into the mix. Send him an owl with information about his punishments, okay?" Poppy had told her quickly, her responding with a nod and a quick kiss before Poppy was rushing off again. So, not one to disobey her wife's orders, she did as told and sent Sirius a letter containing all his information about his detentions.
So now her son, Remus, was sat in his dorm with a stressed out Sirius, listening to all his worries about his family sending owls and telling him that whatever his family said meant nothing.
"What do they know? They don't see the fun kid that likes to cause some mischief." Remus told him as he sat on the floor next to Sirius, who had his knees to his chest and his head burried into them. "Fucking assholes." Sirius said as he calmed down from his original state of distress, he looked up with his tear stained eyes and smiled at Remus.
"Thanks Remus."
"Anytime Sirius."
The two smiled at each other before the door flew open, revealing James and Peter. "SORRY WE GOT LOST." James gasped as he panted hard for breath, Peter was in a similar state and by the looks of it the duo had ran as fast as they could to the dorms.
"WE HEARD WHAT HAPPENED" Peter exclaimed as he caught his breath and patted James's back to help the boy catch his. "Guys can we maybe not talk about it?" Sirius asked quietly as he slowly picked himself off the floor and when he saw the looks of concern flash through his friends faces he knew they weren't going to let this go easily. "Please." he added, his voice with a tone of begging that he hoped the others would take as a sign to drop the subject.
Thankfully they all did and just nodded. "Did you hear that Madam Hooch was caught kissing Professor Sprout supposedly?" Peter asked and soon the boys were engaged in their flying professor and herbology professors' love lives. Remus found it enjoyable to hear the wild and ghastly ideas of how the two began dating, he already knew this as Auntie Ro and Pom were both chatterboxes, especially when it came to how they started dating.
But that's a tale for another day.
---
It would much later that day, hours past dinner but not quite at midnight. that Minerva would finally collapse into bed on top of her wife. Poppy laughed as the tired transfiguartion professor started mumbling about paperwork and 'stupid Black family causing trouble.' It was clear that Minerva was simply too tired to try filter herself and was letting everything come out, which was perfectly fine for Poppy since she agreed with most of her wife's opinions and laughed at the ones she did not.
She brought the covers up and hid away Minervas body as only her head was visible as she tried to use Poppy as a personal pillow. "My love, really?" to which Minerva flipped her off and stole more of the bed covers.
"Okay okay, you win Minnie. Your lucky I love you."
It took a moment but Poppy could barely make out Minnie's response.
"I love you too."