Beating (Closed to Sirius and Avalon)

[Sirius Black]

He had told the others to go on ahead. It was as he'd been half way back to the castle that he realized he'd left his ring in the locker room. James had offered to go with him or at least to wait, but Sirius told him that it was fine and that he'd meet him in the common room. He jogged the whole way there. He wanted to beat the rain. Luckily, he was able to get to the locker room, get the ring, and get back to the palace just as the rain began to fall.

The luck didn't last. As soon as he took a few steps in, he felt a splash of cold water on his back. His body tensed and went rigid in response to the cold, and he turned slowly to see a group of Slytherins laughing their butts off. A water balloon? Amateurs. Even so, one didn't throw water balloons at Sirius Black and get away with it. His hand tightened around the beater bat and he walked up to them.

"Who threw that?" he asked.

The continued to laugh until the big, ugly one stepped forward. "I did, Black. And what are you going to do about it?" he asked, pushing him as though to challenge him.

Sirius chuckled before swinging his fist to meet the Slytherin's pudgy face. He felt his knuckles sting when he knocked loose some of his teeth, but that didn't stop him. He swung the bat and hit him in the stomach before taking him down to the ground to continue punching him.

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

It was her designated night off and as such Avalon had dressed accordingly. She wore a perfect black Lurex halter top that tied at the nape and the small of the back, leaving her bareback. She'd traded in her wraparounds and shorts for black lounging pants that clung here and there and then gave way to blowing in the wind like silk charmeuse when the whim took over. Yes, she was definitely ready to apparate to a night out. "So please believe in me. When I say I'm spinning round, round, round, round... Smoke glass stain bright color... Image going down, down, down, down... Soapsuds green like bubbles..."

She stopped singing the moment she saw two idiots begin trading punches. Grumbling about stupid teenagers, she strode forward. "Break it up, you bloody twits!" Yanking on the robes of the boy wearing gold and red, she looked over at the boys wearing green. "Go on, bugger off, you idiots." Not bothering to see whether they would leave or not, she gave another hard yank. "Get off him or I'll hex you!"

[Sirius Black]

Sirius stopped when he felt the tug on his robes and quickly got off of him. His knuckles were bleeding and smarting a little, but man what a rush. He didn't even mind that he was wet anymore. He smiled and looked at the person who had broken up the fight and lost the ability to speak. There was no way that she was a professor. She looked too... un-professor-ish. "Sorry, professor," he said when he got his voice back. His smile came back too. "We were just exchanging some unfriendlies... but no harm done." Not counting that the Slytherin would probably have to spend the night in the hospital wing. "I have detention, don't I?" he asked.

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

Avalon didn't even spare him the time of day as she bent and inspected the Slytherin who had just received the beating of his life. "Come on, love, get up for me." She helped the dizzy Slytherin to his feet and looked around. Yep, just as she had expected, his cronies were still around. "Don't just stand there like morons, you twits, come help him to the Hospital Wing." She let of of the young man slowly, making sure he could stand on his own before turning and looking at the young lad responsible for the other guy's current appearance.

"No harm done? You were beating another student. What's wrong with you?" She asked, in disbelief to his stance on what had just happened. "What's your name, Gryffindor, and what year are you in?" She guessed he was an older student from his height and there was something about him that reminded her of someone. "And in answer to your question, yes."

[Sirius Black]

He shrugged. "I just don't like when I'm the target of their elementary pranks. Honestly... a water balloon? They could have at least filled it with something more respectable of water. It's like they don't even know who I am." He smirked. "And to be frank, it was stupid on his part. He threw a water balloon at a person carrying a beater bat. If you ask me, he kind of deserved it just for being stupid. It's really just Darwin at work here. Maybe if we're lucky, he learned his lesson."

He reached for the bat he'd dropped. "Sirius Black," he said. It had been a while since he had to introduce himself to anybody. "Seventh year. Head of house is Professor McGonagall. I could go and see her now if you want. She'll probably do something harsh like take fifty points or give me ten detentions. Nothing I haven't had done before."

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

"You think you're all that, don't you? Let me guess, you're the type of bloke who gets irritated if someone you dislike exists." She crinkled her nose in disgust. He reminded her of a lot of the guys she had dated during her years at Hogwarts and the years after she'd graduated. When he reached for the bat, she held out her hand. "Give me the bat, Black, and if you even think of telling me that rhymes I'll jinx you."

Sirius Black! She remembered him now. He'd only been a kid when she had graduated Hogwarts. He'd grown up...to be everything she detested in a man. Confidence was nice, but cockiness was just pathetic. "I think I can arrange for something more than just detentions and point reductions. How does detention while your team practices sound? Or better yet, while your team plays a game?"

[Sirius Black]

"No I don't," he defended. "I know exactly what I am. Strengths, weakness, and all. I'm just wondering where you get off passing judgement? You don't even know me. I'm sure McGonagall would just love to hear how you are berating students, putting them down so you can get your jollies off." Well, she hit half of it on the head. "Not really... Irritated is the wrong word. If I don't like somebody, they tend not to exist. For me, anyway. I would imagine it works like that for most people." There was only one person who irritated him. Where was Snivellus anyway? He handed her the bat and rose a brow. "What rhymed?" he asked. "Bat? Black? No... I don't think those rhyme at all. Just because the short vowel sounds sound similar does not a rhyming word make." Okay, he was really pushing his luck now.

He didn't mind detention while they practiced. Hell, he and James had missed so many already. But the second suggestion had him dropping his jaw, but he composed himself quickly. "It's your prerogative," he said. Of course if she went through with it, she was going to regret it until the day he graduated. She obviously didn't know who she was messing with. "Again... I'm not sure how my head of house would feel about that... but we'll just have to see."

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

Avalon laughed, "You know what's sad, and I'm going to tell you, is that in here," She gestured to the walls of the castle, "You're something, but out there. Out there, you're nothing. No one knows you and no one cares to know you. The people you frighten in here are the people you're probably going to end up scrubbing floors for." She smiled, enjoying the challenge. "You call this getting my jollies? No, this is ruining my night. My 'jollies' would have been going out, as was my intention, and having a good time with people my own age."

Just the thought of what she was missing pissed her off. "Bad move, Sirius Black. I've just decided that you're detention with me starts now and will go on until I see fit." She leaned in, placing a hand on his arm, "And I'm kind of thinking that after the first game is when I'm going to see fit."

[Sirius Black]

He laughed now. "Oh how very wrong you are," he said. "Though I wish you were right. I really do. You see... everybody knows who I am because I happened to have the unfortunate fate of being born to the Black family. That means that the odds of me having to scrub floors are very slim if they exist at all." He stood up straighter. "What I find amusing is that you are trying to put me in my place. Why is that, I wonder? You trying to instill me with some sort of worldly wisdom? Or are you really just a bitch?" Okay, so he deserved everything he got now, but who the hell did she think she was telling him that?

He smirked. "That's Mr. Black to you, Professor." He looked down at her hand on his arm and said, "I wonder what the professor's hand book says about putting your hands on a student. I'm sure I could look it up. It's just one offense on top of another with you." His smirk grew. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?"

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

"Make it until the third game. I'll go speak to McGonagall now." She turned, giving him her back, and headed for the stairs. Who the hell did he think he was calling her a bitch?! It took everything in her arsenal of patience not to slap him like she would have done in the past. Damn her for being a professor and damn him for being a student. Breathing in deeply, she continued toward the stairs. His words had stung, but she would never allow him or anyone to see that. She'd learned her lesson when it came to expressing emotions.

Stopping at the base of the stairs, she slipped off her heels and picked them up before going up the steps. Did she know what she was doing? No, not really, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. She was here to teach and teach she was going to do. Even if that meant dealing with idiots like that one she had left standing in the foyer. She paused half way up the stairs and looked back at the lad. "Sirius, it's you who I think doesn't know what he's doing."

[Sirius Black]

"What!?" he said, going after her. "You can't do that!" Okay, so maybe she could. But man, was he going to rain fire and hell down on her for doing that. And he wouldn't be alone. He knew his mate James would have his back for robbing the team of their best beater. He started running after her when he heard a small clang on the first stair. He stopped and picked up his ring. He really needed to start wearing it on a chain now that it didn't fit him anymore. He slid it on and was about to keep going when she stopped.

He didn't know what to say to that. There was very little to go on. He knew what he was doing. He also knew what he was doing was stupid. "And I think you're severely underestimating how much Professor McGonagall wants to see Gryffindor win again this year," he said. "I'll do the bloody detentions, just let me play the games."

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

"Let me think about that for a minute." She tapped her barefoot and tile for a few seconds before smiling innocently down at him. "Thought of it and the answer is," She drummed her hands on her stomach to build mock suspense, "Detention during the games!" She laughed, not giving a damn. "Professor McGonagall is a professor who takes her job seriously. Yes, she might want Gryffindor to win, but she won't put her desires before the belittling of a colleague by one of her students."

"You should have thought of that before insinuating that I'm a bitch." She saluted him and in the process of her enjoyment, her foot caught on the step and she tripped. It didn't surprise her. Things like this always happened when she was close to winning an argument. She just wondered how bad it was going to hurt when she landed on the hard marble steps and kept falling.

[Sirius Black]

"I didn't insinuate that you were a bitch. I plain said it. And I'll say it again, and would perfectly be right judging by how you're carrying on. They let people like you teach? My mum could do a better job, and she's mostly senile now." Full-blown crazy was actually closer to the truth. He was about to run around her to beat her to McGonagall's office, but then she went and did something she hadn't expected her to do. His reaction was completely reflexive, but she probably didn't mind considering the alternative.

He was able to get his arm around her waist and tugged her back, falling in the process. His other hand grabbed onto the rail to keep from hitting his backside too hard, but when he hit, he grunted in pain. That she had landed right in his lap hadn't helped matters either. He actually felt the wind get knocked out of him as she hit a spot he would have preferred never to get hit. This was why the needed to practice in full gear all the time! He would have had the proper protection then. But now, all he had was pain. "Bloody... hell..." he managed to say between wincing.

[Avalon N. Gaurdian]

Avalon hadn't expected him to catch her. Hell, she would have bet everything in her Gringotts vault that he would have let her fall before even thinking of helping her. After taking a moment to get passed the shock of finding herself in his lap, she rolled off him and on to her and hands and knees. The marble was cold against her skin, but after what had just happened, that was the least of her worries.

He was strong. She had felt that in the arm he had looped around her waist and in the chest he had pressed her back against. Clearing her head, she sat down on the bottom step and looked over at him. From the way he was grimacing she guessed that she had landed in the most inappropriate place. "Need a pack of ice. You can stay here while I go talk to your Head of House." She meant it partially as a joke since she really couldn't stay mad at him after him having kept her from hurting herself. "Thanks."

[Sirius Black]

"No," he grunted, trying to pull himself up. "I'll just... walk it off," he said, trying to take a step, but wanting to throw up instead. He looked down at her and smiled a genuine smile... At least the best smile he could manage considering he just got racked. "I couldn't just let you fall now. Not when we're becoming such marvelous friends. I'd miss you too much," he teased, leaning against the rail. "Okay... so I was a jerk. I shouldn't have said that to you. You're not a bitch. I'm was being a dick... I tend to do that when Slytherins throw water balloons at my back. I guess I hadn't gotten all my anger out of my system when I was beating him up, so I took it out on you. So... where is detention?"